divine. And as the Mysteries and the rules of virtue which they cultivated and enforced, were useful to humanity, they were, of a consequence, providential institutions created by the will of the Eternal.

After what we have now said, it cannot be difficult to see clearly the true end and purpose of the Mysteries, the first and greatest fruits of which were, according to the ancients, to civilize savage people, to soften their ferocious manners, to render them sociable, and to procure them a kind of life more worthy of the dignity of man. Cicero places, in the number of supreme benefits which the Athenians enjoyed, the establishment of the Mysteries of Eleusis, the effect of which was, he tells us, to civilize men, to reform their wild and ferocious manners, and to make them comprehend the true principles of morality, which initiate man into an order of life which is alone worthy of a being destined to immortality. The same orator-philosopher, in another place, where he apostrophizes Ceres and Proserpine, says that we owe to these goddesses the first elements of our moral life, as well as the first aliment of our physical life, viz., the knowledge of the laws, the refinement of manners, and the examples of civilization, which have elevated and polished the habits of men and of cities.

Their moral end was well perceived by Arrien, who tells us that all these Mysteries were established

by the ancients, to perfect our education and reform

our manners.

*

Pausanias, speaking of the Eleusinia, says that the Greeks, from the highest antiquity, had established them as an institution the most effectual to inspire men with the sentiments of reverence and love for the gods. And among the responses that Bacchust makes to Pentheus, whose curiosity is excited by his Mysteries, he tells him that this new institution merits to be widely known, and that one of the greatest advantages resulting from it is the proscription of all impiety and crime.

From the above it appears that the Mysteries must have been of the highest utility in advancing the civilization of our race, in promoting the arts, and stimulating a taste for science and letters.

We have seen that the cultivation of Music commenced with the establishment of the Mysteries, and formed a great portion of the ceremonies. Sculpture and painting were encouraged, and received their first impulse in these institutions. Literature and Philosophy were pursued with ardor by the disciples of Orpheus and Eumolpus, and through them Religion shed a benign and gentle radiance over all of life. Through the Mysteries, society received wise and wholesome laws, and that moral and mental impulsion which raised Greece to the summit of human greatness.

*Paus. Phoc., p. 348.

Euripid. Bacch. v., p. 460.

The drama also owes its birth to these institutions. The first plays, symbolical of Man and his progress, his struggles, his trials, his labor, his combats and triumphs, were performed within the secret enclosures, secure from the intrusion of profane eyes. The ceremonies were themselves dramas, shadowing forth, more or less perfectly, the great truths of God, of Nature, and the Soul-pointing man forward to his great destiny, acquainting him with the conditions of moral perfection, and aiding him in advancing toward it.

Such were the Masonic societies of antiquity. Who can say, after this examination, that they were not useful?-that they did not bring new moral life to society, and contribute largely to the general amelioration and improvement of the condition of Man?

CHAPTER XI.

Templar Masonry.

IN the twelfth century, when the nations of Europe were yet young, and the piety of the church possessed all its primitive ardor, the universal heart of Christendom turned with affectionate reverence toward the East, and longed to pour forth its expressions of gratitude and of penitence at the tomb of the Crucified. Urged by this devout impulse, thousands every year set out on this pious pilgrimage to the Holy City, encountering indescribable difficulties, and exposing themselves to innumerable dangers. Moved by the enthusiasm of the age, and by the laudable desire to protect the Christian pilgrim on his journey through Palestine to the Holy Sepulchre, eight Christian knights established the society of the Templars. Subsequently the objects of the Order increased, and included the general defence of Christianity against the encroachments of the Mohammedans. The members took the vows of chastity, of obedience and poverty, like regular canons, and lived at first on the charity of the Christian lords in Palestine. King Baldwin II.,

of Jerusalem, gave them an abode in that city on the east of the site of the Jesuit's Temple, from which circumstances they received the name of TEMPLARS. Pope Honorius II. confirmed the Order in 1127, at the Council of Troyes, and imposed upon it rules, drawn from those of the Benedictine monks, to which were added the precepts of St. Bernard de Clairvaux, who was an earnest friend of the fraternity.

The Order grew in popularity, and in a few years came to be the most powerful corporation in Christendom. By the principle of the secrecy, the members were bound together in the closest unity, and cemented in the bonds of a mystical friendship.

The Templars were divided into three classes, viz knights, squires, and servitors, to which were added, in 1172, some spiritual members, who served as priests, chaplains, and clerks. All wore the badge of the Order—a linen girdle. The clerical members had white, and the servitors gray gowns. The knights wore, besides their armor, simple white cloaks, adorned with octangular blood-red crosses, to signify that they were to shed their blood in the service of the Faith. From the class of the knights the officers were chosen by the assembled chapters. They consisted of, first: Marshals and Bannerets, the leaders in war; second, Drapiers, the inspectors of wardrobes; third, Priors, the superiors of single preceptories; fourth, Abbots, Commanders, and