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The Drama of Faith
CHAPTER III
part I - the prophecy
the builders
Joseph newton
And so the Quest goes on. And the Quest, as it may be, ends in
attainment--we know not where and when: so long as we can conceive of our
separate existence, the quest goes on--an attainment continued henceforward. And
ever shall the study of the ways which have been followed by those who have
passed in front be a help on our own path.
It is well, it is of all things beautiful and perfect, holy and high of
all, to be conscious of the path which does in fine lead thither where. we seek
to go, namely, the goal which is in God. Taking nothing with us which does not
belong to ourselves, leaving nothing behind us that is of our real selves, we
shall find in the great attainment that the companions of our toil are with us.
And the place is the Valley of Peace.
--ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE, The Secret Tradition.
MAN does not live by bread alone; he lives by Faith, Hope, and Love, and the
first of these was Faith. Nothing in the human story is more striking than the
persistent, passionate, profound protest of man against death. Even in the
earliest time we see him daring to stand erect at the gates of the grave,
disputing its verdict, refusing to let it have the last word, and making
argument in behalf of his soul. For Emerson, as for Addison, that fact alone was
proof enough of immortality, as revealing a universal intuition of eternal life.
Others may not be so easily convinced, but no man who has the heart of a man can
fail to be impressed by the ancient, heroic faith of his race.
Nowhere has this faith ever been more vivid or victorious than among the old
Egyptians. 1 In the ancient Book of the Dead--which is, indeed, a Book of
Resurrection--occur the words: "The soul to heaven; the body to earth;" and that
first faith is our faith today. Of King Unas, who lived in the third millennium,
it is written: "Behold, thou hast not gone as one dead, but as one living." Nor
has any one in our day set forth this faith with more simple eloquence than the
Hymn to Osiris, in the Papyrus of Hunefer. So in the Pyramid Texts the dead are
spoken of as Those Who Ascend, the Imperishable Ones who shine as stars, and the
gods are invoked to witness the death of the King "Dawning as a Soul." There is
deep prophecy, albeit touched with poignant pathos, in these broken exclamations
written on the pyramid walls:
Thou diest not! Have ye said that he would die? He diest not;
this King Pepi lives forever! Live! Thou shalt not die! He has escaped his day
of death! Thou livest, thou livest, raise thee up! Thou diest not, stand up,
raise thee up! Thou perishest not eternally! Thou diest not! 2
Nevertheless, nor poetry nor chant nor solemn ritual could make death other
than death; and the pyramid Texts, while refusing to utter the fatal word, give
wistful reminiscences of that blessed age "before death came forth." However
high the faith of man, the masterful negation and collapse of the body was a
fact, and it was to keep that daring faith alive and aglow that The Mysteries
were instituted. Beginning, it may be, in incantation, they rose to heights of
influence and beauty, giving dramatic portrayal of the unconquerable faith of
man. Watching the sun rise from the tomb of night, and the spring return in
glory after the death of winter, man reasoned from analogy--justifying a faith
that held him as truly as he held it--that the race, sinking into the grave,
would rise triumphant over death.
I
There were many variations on this theme as the drama of faith evolved, and
as it passed from land to land; but the Motif was ever the same, and they all
were derived, directly or indirectly, from the old Osirian passion-play in
Egypt. Against the back-ground of the ancient Solar religion, Osiris made his
advent as Lord of the Nile and fecund Spirit of
vegetable life--son of Nut the sky-goddess and Geb the earth-god; and nothing
in the story of the Nile-dwellers is more appealing than his conquest of the
hearts of the people against all odds. 3 Howbeit, that history need not detain us here, except to say
that by the time his passion had become the drama of national faith, it had been
bathed in all the tender hues of human life; though somewhat of its solar
radiance still lingered in it. Enough to say that of all the gods, called into
being by the hopes and fears of men who dwelt in times of yore on the banks of
the Nile, Osiris was the most beloved. Osiris the benign father, Isis his
sorrowful and faithful wife, and Horus whose filial piety and heroism shine like
diamonds in a heap of stones--about this trinity were woven the ideals of
Egyptian faith and family life. Hear now the story of the oldest drama of the
race, which for more than three thousand years held captive the hearts of
men. 4
Osiris was Ruler of Eternity, but by reason of his visible shape seemed
nearly akin to man--revealing a divine humanity. His success was chiefly due,
however, to the gracious speech of Isis, his sister-wife, whose charm men could
neither reckon nor resist. Together they labored for the good of man, teaching
him to discern the plants fit for food, themselves pressing the grapes and
drinking the first cup of wine. They made known the veins of metal running
through the earth, of which man was ignorant, and taught him to make weapons.
They initiated man into the intellectual and moral life, taught him ethics and
religion, how to read the starry sky, song and dance and the rhythm of music.
Above all, they evoked in men a sense of immortality, of a destiny beyond the
tomb. Nevertheless, they had enemies at once stupid and cunning, keen-witted but
short-sighted--the dark force of evil which still weaves the fringe of crime on
the borders of human life.
Side by side with Osiris, lived the impious Set-Typhon, as Evil ever haunts
the Good. While Osiris was absent, Typhon--whose name means serpent--filled with
envy and malice, sought to usurp his throne; but his plot was frustrated by
Isis. Whereupon he resolved to kill Osiris. This he did, having invited him to a
feast, by persuading him to enter a chest, offering, as if in jest, to pre-sent
the richly carved chest to any one of his guests who, lying down inside it, found he was of the same size. When Osiris got in
and stretched himself out, the conspirators closed the chest, and flung it into
the Nile. 5 Thus far, the gods had not known death. They had grown old,
with white hair and trembling limbs, but old age had not led to death. As soon
as Isis heard of this infernal treachery, she cut her hair, clad herself in a
garb of mourning, ran thither and yon, a prey to the most cruel anguish, seeking
the body. Weeping and distracted, she never tarried, never tired in her
sorrowful quest.
Meanwhile, the waters carried the chest out to sea, as far as Byblos in
Syria, the town of Adonis, where it lodged against a shrub of arica, or
tamarisk--like an acacia tree. 6 Owing to the virtue of the body, the shrub, at its touch, shot up into a tree, growing around it,
and protecting it, until the king of that country cut the tree which hid the
chest in its bosom, and made from it a column for his palace. At last Isis, led
by a vision, came to Byblos, made herself known, and asked for the column. Hence
the picture of her weeping over a broken column torn from the palace, while
Horus, god of Time, stands behind her pouring ambrosia on her hair. She took the
body back to Egypt, to the city of Bouto; but Typhon, hunting by moonlight,
found the chest, and having recognized the body of Osiris, mangled it and
scattered it beyond recognition. Isis, embodiment of the old world-sorrow for
the dead, continued her pathetic quest, gathering piece by piece the body of her
dismembered husband, and giving him decent interment. Such was the life and
death of Osiris, but as his career pictured the cycle of nature, it could not of
course end here.
Horus fought with Typhon, losing an eye in the battle, but finally overthrew
him and took him prisoner. There are several versions of his fate, but he seems
to have been tried, sentenced, and executed--"cut in three pieces," as the
Pyramid Texts relate. Thereupon the faithful son went in solemn procession to
the grave of his father, opened it, and called upon Osiris to rise: "Stand up!
Thou shalt not end, thou shalt not perish!" But death was deaf. Here the Pyramid Texts
recite the mortuary ritual, with its hymns and chants; but in vain. At length
Osiris awakes, weary and feeble, and by the aid of the strong grip of the
lion-god he gains control of his body, and is lifted from death to life. 7 Thereafter, by virtue of his victory over death, Osiris
becomes Lord of the Land of Death, his scepter an Ank Cross, his throne a
Square.
II
Such, in brief, was the ancient allegory of eternal life, upon which there
were many elaborations as the drama unfolded; but always, under whatever
variation of local color, of national accent or emphasis, its central theme
remained the same. Often perverted and abused, it was everywhere a dramatic
expression of the great human aspiration for triumph over death and union with
God, and the belief in the ultimate victory of Good over Evil. Not otherwise
would this drama have held the hearts of men through long ages, and won the
eulogiums of the most enlightened men of antiquity--of Pythagoras, Socrates,
Plato, Euripides, Plutarch, Pindar, Isocrates, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius.
Writing to his wife after the loss of their little girl, Plutarch commends to
her the hope set forth in the mystic rites and symbols of this drama, as,
elsewhere, he testifies that it kept him "as far from superstition as from
atheism," and helped him to approach the truth. For deeper minds this drama had
a double meaning, teaching not only immortality after death, but the awakening
of man upon earth from animalism to a life of purity, justice, and honor. How
nobly this practical aspect was taught, and with what fineness of spiritual
insight, may be seen in Secret Sermon on the Mountain in the Hermetic
lore of Greece: 8
What may I say, my son? I can but tell thee this. Whenever I
see within myself the Simple Vision brought to birth out of God's mercy, I have
passed through myself into a Body that can never die. Then I am not what I was
before. . . They who are thus born are children of a Divine race. This race, my
son, is never taught; but when He willeth it, its memory is restored by God. It
is the "Way of Birth in God." . . Withdraw into thyself and it will come.
Will, and it comes to pass.
Isis herself is said to have established the first temple of the Mysteries,
the oldest being those practiced at Memphis. Of these there were two orders, the
Lesser to which the many were eligible, and which consisted of dialogue and
ritual, with certain signs, tokens, grips, passwords; and the Greater, reserved for the few who approved themselves worthy of being entrusted with
the highest secrets of science, philosophy, and religion. For these the
candidate had to undergo trial, purification, danger, austere asceticism, and,
at last, regeneration through dramatic death amid rejoicing. Such as endured the
ordeal with valor were then taught, orally and by symbol, the highest wisdom to
which man had attained, including geometry, astronomy, the fine arts, the laws
of nature, as well as the truths of faith. Awful oaths of secrecy were exacted,
and Plutarch describes a man kneeling, his hands bound, a cord round his body,
and a knife at his throat--death being the penalty of violating the obligation.
Even then, Pythagoras had to wait almost twenty years to learn the hidden wisdom
of Egypt, so cautious were they of candidates, especially of foreigners. But he
made noble use of it when, later, he founded a secret order of his own at
Crotona, in Greece, in which, among other things, he taught geometry, using
numbers as symbols of spiritual truth. 9
From Egypt the Mysteries passed with little change to Asia Minor, Greece, and
Rome, the names of local gods being substituted for those of Osiris and Isis. The
Grecian or Eleusinian Mysteries, established 1800 B. C., represented Demeter and
Persephone, and depicted the death of Dionysius with stately ritual which led
the neophyte from death into life and immortality. They taught the unity of God,
the immutable necessity of morality, and a life after death, investing initiates
with signs and passwords by which they could know each other in the dark as well
as in the light. The Mithraic or Persian Mysteries celebrated the eclipse of the
Sun-god, using the signs of the zodiac, the processions of the seasons, the
death of nature, and the birth of spring. The Adoniac or Syrian cults were
similar, Adonis being killed, but revived to point to life through death. In the
Cabirie Mysteries on the island of Samothrace, Atys the Sun was killed by his
brothers the Seasons, and at the vernal equinox was restored to life. So, also,
the Druids, as far north as England, taught of one God the tragedy of winter and
summer, and conducted the initiate through the valley of death to life
everlasting. 10
Shortly before the Christian era, when faith was failing and the world seemed
reeling to its ruin, there was a great revival of the Mystery-religions.
Imperial edict was powerless to stay it, much less stop it. From Egypt, from the
far East, they came rushing in like a tide, Isis "of the myriad names"
vying with Mithra,
the patron saint of the soldier, for the homage of the multitude. If we ask the
secret reason for this influx of mysticism, no single answer can be given to the
question. What influence the reigning mystery-cults had upon the new, uprising
Christianity is also hard to know, and the issue is still in debate. That they
did influence the early Church is evident from the writings of the Fathers, and
some go so far as to say that the Mysteries died at last only to live again in
the ritual of the Church. St. Paul in his missionary journeys came in contact
with the Mysteries, and even makes use of some of their technical terms in his
epistles; 11 but he condemned them on the ground that what they sought to teach in drama can be known only by spiritual experience--a
sound insight, though surely drama may assist to that experience, else public
worship might also come under ban.
III
Toward the end of their power, the Mysteries fell into the mire and became
corrupt, as all things human are apt to do: even the Church itself being no
exception. But that at their highest and best they were not only lofty and
noble, but elevating and refining, there can be no doubt, and that they served a
high purpose is equally clear. No one, who has read in the Metamorphoses
of Apuleius the initiation of Lucius into the Mysteries of Isis, can doubt that
the effect on the votary was profound and purifying. He tells us that the
ceremony of initiation "is, as it were, to suffer death," and that he stood in
the presence of the gods, "ay, stood near and worshiped." Far hence ye profane, and all who are polluted
by sin, was the motto of the Mysteries, and Cicero testifies that what a man
learned in the house of the hidden place made him want to live nobly, and gave
him happy hopes for the hour of death.
Indeed, the Mysteries, as Plato said, 12 were established by men of great genius who, in the early
ages, strove to teach purity, to ameliorate the cruelty of the race, to refine
its manners and morals, and to restrain society by stronger bonds than those
which human laws impose. No mystery any longer attaches to what they taught, but
only as to the particular rites, dramas, and symbols used in their teaching.
They taught faith in the unity and spirituality of God, the sovereign authority
of the moral law, heroic purity of soul, austere discipline of character, and
the hope of a life beyond the tomb. Thus in ages of darkness, of complexity, of
conflicting peoples, tongues, and faiths, these great orders toiled in behalf of
friendship, bringing men together under a banner of faith, and training them for
a nobler moral life. Tender and tolerant of all faiths, they formed an
all-embracing moral and spiritual fellowship which rose above barriers of
nation, race, and creed, satisfying the craving of men for unity, while evoking in them a sense of that eternal mysticism out of which
all religions were born. Their ceremonies, so far as we know them, were stately
dramas of the moral life and the fate of the soul. Mystery and secrecy added
impressiveness, and fable and enigma disguised in imposing spectacle the laws of
justice, piety, and the hope of immortality.
Masonry stands in this tradition; and if we may not say that it is
historically related to the great ancient orders, it is their spiritual
descendant, and renders much the same ministry to our age which the Mysteries
rendered to the olden world. It is, indeed, the same stream of sweetness and
light flowing in our day--like the fabled river Alpheus which, gathering the
waters of a hundred rills along the hillsides of Arcadia, sank, lost to sight,
in a chasm in the earth, only to reappear in the fountain of Arethusa. This at
least is true: the Greater Ancient Mysteries were prophetic of Masonry whose
drama is an epitome of universal initiation, and whose simple symbols are the
depositaries of the noblest wisdom of mankind. As such, it brings men together
at the altar of prayer, keeps alive the truths that make us men, seeking, by
every resource of art, to make tangible the power of love, the worth of beauty,
and the reality of the ideal.
Footnotes
1 Of course,
faith in immortality was in nowise peculiar to Egypt, but was universal; as
vivid in The Upanishads of India as in the Pyramid records. It rests upon
the consensus of the insight, experience, and aspiration of the race. But the
records of Egypt, like its monuments, are richer than those of other nations, if
not p. 40 older. Moreover,
the drama of faith with which we have to do here had its origin in Egypt, whence
it spread to Tyre, Athens, and Rome--and, as we shall see, even to England. For
brief expositions of Egyptian faith see Egyptian Conceptions of
Immortality, by G. A. Reisner, and Religion and Thought in Egypt, by
J. H. Breasted.
2 Pyramid
Texts, 775, 1262, 1453, 1477.
3 For a full
account of the evolution of the Osirian theology from the time it emerged from
the mists of myth until its conquest, see Religion and Thought in Egypt,
by Breasted, the latest, if not the most brilliant, book written in the light of
the completest translation of the Pyramid Texts (especially lecture v).
4 Much has
been written about the Egyptian Mysteries from the days of Plutarch's De
Iside et Osiride and the Metamorphoses of Apuleius to the huge
volumes of Baron Sainte Croix. For popular reading the Kings and Gods of
Egypt, by Moret (chaps. iii-iv), and the delightfully vivid Hermes and
Plato, by Schure, could hardly be surpassed. But Plutarch and Apuleius, both
initiates, are our best authorities, even if their oath of silence prevents them
from telling us what we most want to know.
5 Among the
Hindoos, whose Chrisna is the same as the Osiris of Egypt, the gods of summer
were beneficent, making the days fruitful. But "the three wretches" who presided
over winter, were cut off from the zodiac; and as they were "found missing,"
they were accused of the death of Chrisna.
6 A literary
parallel in the story of Æneas, by Virgil, is most
suggestive. Priam, king of Troy, in the beginning of the Trojan war committed
his son Polydorus to the care of Polymester, king of Thrace, and sent him a
great sum of money. After Troy was taken the Thracian, for the sake of the
money, killed the young prince and privately buried him. Æneas, coming into that
country, and accidentally plucking up a shrub that was near him on the side of
the hill, discovered the murdered body of Polydorus. Other legends of such
accidental discoveries of unknown graves haunted the olden time, and may have
been suggested by the story of Isis.
7 The Gods
of the Egyptians, by B. A. W. Budge; La Place des Victores, by Austin
Fryar, especially the colored plates.
8 Quests
New and Old, by G. R. S. Mead.
9
Pythagoras, by Edouard Schure--a fascinating story of that great thinker
and teacher. The use of numbers by Pythagoras must not, however, be confounded
with the mystical, or rather fantastic, mathematics of the Kabbalists of a later
time.
10 For a vivid
account of the spread of the Mysteries of Isis and Mithra over the Roman Empire,
see Roman Life from Nero to Aurelius, by Dill (bk. iv, chaps. v-vi).
Franz Cumont is the great authority on Mithra, and his Mysteries of
Mithra and Oriental Religions trace the origin and influence of that
cult with accuracy, insight, p.
50and charm. W. W. Reade, brother of Charles Reade the novelist, left
a study of The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids, finding in the
vestiges of Druidism "the Emblems of Masonry."
11 Col. 2:8-19.
See Mysteries Pagan and Christian, by C. Cheethan; also Monumental
Christianity, by Lundy, especially chapter on "The Discipline of the
Secret." For a full discussion of the attitude of St. Paul, see St. Paul and
the Mystery-Religions, by Kennedy, a work of fine scholarship. That
Christianity had its esoteric p.
51 is plain--as it was natural--from the writings of the Fathers,
including Origen, Cyril, Basil, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, and others.
Chrysostom often uses the word initiation in respect of Christian
teaching, while Tertullian denounces the pagan mysteries as counterfeit
imitations by Satan of the Christian secret rites and teachings: "He also
baptises those who believe in him, and promises that they shall come forth,
cleansed of their sins." Other Christian writers were more tolerant, finding in
Christ the answer to the aspiration uttered in the Mysteries; and therein, it
may be, they were right.
12
Phaedo.
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