rors, seemed to bathe the whole in floods of golden splendor. His office was to instruct the neophytes, after they had passed their various trials, in the secrets of divine science.

The Torch-Bearer represented the sun. His duty was to lead the procession of torch-bearers, when the wanderings of Ceres on Mount Etna were represented, and to purify the neophytes and prepare them for initiation. The Sacred Herald imposed. silence on the assembly, and commanded the profane to withdraw. The Priest officiated at the altar, and bore the symbol of the moon. The Archon, or king, preserved order, offered prayers and sacrifices, compelled the vicious and uninitiated to retire, and adjudged all, who disturbed the solemnities, to the appointed punishments.

To appreciate the utility of these Mysteries, and their value as instruments or means of instruction, it is necessary to consider that the ancients, in all their instructions, whether moral or religious, employed less of words, and more of the language of signs-of solemn shows, and symbols, and dramatic representations—than do the moderns. All great truths were inculcated, enforced, and elucidated, through the medium of the drama. The great mystical drama of initiation at Eleusis was admirably arranged for this purpose, and well adapted to this end. It presented a series of most striking pictures to the eyes of the candidate, all of which

were well calculated to arrest his attention and excite an inquiring spirit. This will appear the more clearly when we come to describe the initiatory rite.

It is worthy of remark, with what jealous vigilance the secret rites of that ancient association were guarded. Any violation of the obligation of secrecy on the part of the initiate was punished with death; and at the time of the celebration of the Mysteries, the profane were driven far from the temple, and were not permitted to approach within a certain distance, on pain of instant destruction. At each commencement of the ceremonies, the herald proclaimed," Hence, hence from these sacred places, all ye profane !"

After having passed through the required probation, and, by abstinence, fasting, prayer, and penitence, prepared himself for the solemn rite, the neophyte was received into the sacred enclosure. He was blindfolded, and conducted on a long and painful pilgrimage through many dark and circuitous passages. Sometimes it seemed to him as if he were ascending steep hills-walking over uneven and flinty surfaces, which tore his feet at every step; and then again he felt that he was walking down into low valleys, or through dense forests, where he found it difficult to proceed. Meanwhile, as he advanced, all possible sounds of terror-the fierce roar of wild beasts, and the hissing of ser

pents were multiplied around him. Approaching at length the term of the first portion of his mystic pilgrimage, the bandage was removed from his eyes, and he found himself in what appeared to be a wild and uncultivated country. The light of day never penetrated that gloomy region, but a pale and spectral glare just served to light up all the horrors of the scene. Lions, tigers, hyenas, and venomous serpents, menaced him from every point; while thunder and lightning, fire and water, tempest and earthquake, threatened the destruction of the entire world. Recovered from his surprise and terror, and his eyes accustomed to the twilight of the place, he discovered before him a huge iron door, on which he read this inscription: "He who would attain to the highest and most perfect state, and rise to the sphere of absolute bliss, must be purified by fire, and air, and water."

He had scarcely read these words, when the door turned on its hinges, and he was suddenly thrust through it into a vast apartment, also wrapped in gloom. Horrible groans and shrieks now assailed his ears, and a loud plaint of sorrow, a mighty voice of pain, as if from the regions of hades, wailed through those shadowy corridors, filling him with unutterable terror. At the same time, two immense gates of iron, at his right hand, were thrown open with a thundering crash, and disclosed to his frightened view a fathomless gulf of flame, from

which issued the most appalling sounds. By certain mechanical contrivances, all of the ancient theory of the penalty of God's violated laws-all the pains and sufferings of grim and dread Tartarus-were made to pass as real verities before his vision. There he saw represented, by these ingenious mechanisms, the spirits of those who had been false to their fraternal obligations and duties on earth, passing and repassing through the flames, pursued by the avenging furies, and suffering the terrible purification of fire.

Behind him yawned a dismal and dark abyss, whence issued a strong and burning wind, commingled also with the voices of suffering and woe. Approaching the brink and looking downward, he saw another class of delinquents expiating their offences—some suspended from the jutting points of overhanging precipices, and others from the numerous points of a mighty wheel, which rolled without cessation-and working their way toward heaven's final rest through the purgatorial air.

On his left another scene attracted his attention. It was a spectacle representing the purification by water-a gloomy lake, half concealed by clouds and shadows, into which souls less guilty than the abovementioned classes were supposed to be plunged, that their sins might in this manner be purged away.

After wandering for a while among these start

ling spectacles, which were intended to shadow forth some of the most awful verities of Religion, and especially to declare that great Law of Retribution which reaches through all worlds, and from responsibility to which no one can escape-he was led by his guide to the third degree of initiation. Another iron gate, which had before been concealed, was now disclosed to view, and the neophyte and his guide paused before it. At this stage of the proceedings, the conductor chanted, in a deep and impressive voice, the following portion of one of the Orphic hymns, addressed to the hierophant, beyond the gate of iron :-

"I am about to declare a secret to the profane! Oh! illustrious descendant of the brilliant Silena, be attentive to my accents. I will announce important truths."

And addressing the neophyte, he added:

"Consider the Divine Nature-the Supreme ONE. Contemplate him without ceasing; rule thy spirit, and purify thy heart, and, walking in the ways of justice, and the safe path of truth, admire him, who is alone the master of the world. He is one, he is self-existent. To him all beings are indebted for life."

This brief exhortation ended, a response was heard within; the gate of iron opened, and the expectant neophyte passed from the regions of gloom, and fear, and error, to the illuminated circle, where