john-r-bennett-the-origin-of-freemasonry-and-knights-templar

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLARprior to the reign of David in Jerusalem, and morethan six hundred years before the firstOlympiad,*the beginning of true Grecian history. They werecelebrated at the village of Eleusis, near the cityof Athens, Greece. Like the Egyptian Mysteries,they were divided into two classes, the lesser andthe greater. The lesser Mysteries were celebratedon the banks of the Ilissus, whose waters suppliedthe means of purification of the aspirants. Thegreater Mysteries were celebrated in the templeat Eleusis. They were public to the many andsecret to the few. They were dedicated to the goddessDemeter, the Ceres* of the Romans, who wasworshiped by the Greeks as the symbol of the prolificearth; and in them were scenically representedand secretly taught the loss and recovery of Persephone,and the doctrine of the unity of God and theimmortality of the soul. The scenic representations,secret signs and words of recognition, theinstruction in a peculiar dogma, and the establishmentof a hidden bond of fraternity, gave attractionto these Mysteries, which lasted until the veryfall of the Roman Empire, and exerted a powerfulinfluence on the mystical associations of the MiddleAges.* That which connects them with the moderninitiations of Freemasonryis evident in the commonthought which pervades and identifies both ; thoughit is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to trace allthe connecting links of the historic chain.Mysteries of Mithras.There are none of the ancient Mysteries whichafford a more interesting subject of investigation15