|
But we must proceed in our
work of showing the various origins of Christianity, as also the
sources from which Jesus derived his own ideas of God and
humanity.
The Koinobi lived in
Egypt, where Jesus passed his early youth. They were usually
confounded with the Therapeutae, who were a branch of this
widely-spread society. Such is the opinion of Godfrey Higgins
and De Rebold. After the downfall of the principal sanctuaries,
which had already begun in the days of Plato, the many different
sects, such as the Gymnosophists and the Magi -- from whom
Clearchus very erroneously derives the former -- the
Pythagoreans, the Sufis, and the Reshees of Kashmere, instituted
a kind of international and universal Freemasonry, among their
esoteric societies. "These Rashees," says Higgins, "are the
Essenians, Carmelites, or Nazarites of the temple." [43] "That
occult science known by ancient priests under the name of
regenerating fire," says Father Rebold, " . .
. a science that for more than 3,000 years was the peculiar
possession of the Indian and Egyptian priesthood, into the
knowledge of which Moses was initiated at Heliopolis, where he
was educated; and Jesus among the Essenian priests of Egypt or
Judea; and by which these two great reformers, particularly
the latter, wrought many of the miracles mentioned in the
Scriptures." [44]
Plato states that the
mystic Magian religion, known under the name of Machagistia,
is the most uncorrupted form of worship in things divine.
Later, the Mysteries of the Chaldean sanctuaries were added to
it by one of the Zoroasters and Darius Hystaspes. The latter
completed and perfected it still more with the help of the
knowledge obtained by him from the learned ascetics of India,
whose rites were identical with those of the initiated Magi.
[45] Ammian, in his history of Julian's Persian expedition,
gives the story by stating that one day Hystaspes, as he was
boldly penetrating into the unknown regions of Upper India, had
come upon a certain wooded solitude, the tranquil recesses of
which were "occupied by those exalted sages, the Brachmanes (or
Shamans). Instructed by their teaching in the science of the
motions of the world and of the heavenly bodies, and in
pure religious rites . . . he transfused them into the
creed of the Magi. The latter, coupling these doctrines with
their own peculiar science of foretelling the future,
have handed down the whole through their descendants to
succeeding ages." [46] It is from these descendants that the
Sufis, chiefly composed of Persians and Syrians, acquired their
proficient knowledge in astrology, medicine, and the esoteric
doctrine of the ages. "The Sufi doctrine," says C. W. King,
"involved the grand idea of one universal creed which could be
secretly held under any profession of an outward faith; and, in
fact, took virtually the same view of religious systems as that
in which the ancient philosophers had regarded such matters."
[47] The mysterious Druzes of Mount Lebanon are the descendants
of all these. Solitary Copts, earnest students scattered
hither and thither throughout the sandy solitudes of Egypt,
Arabia, Petraea, Palestine, and the impenetrable forests of
Abyssinia, though rarely met with, may sometimes be seen.
Many and various are the nationalities to which belong the
disciples of that mysterious school, and many the side-shoots of
that one primitive stock. The secresy preserved by these
sub-lodges, as well as by the one and supreme great lodge, has
ever been proportionate to the activity of religious
persecutions; and now, in the face of the growing materialism,
their very existence is becoming a mystery. [48]
But it must not be
inferred, on that account, that such a mysterious brotherhood is
but a fiction, not even a name, though it remains
unknown to this day. Whether its affiliates are called by an
Egyptian, Hindu, or Persian name, it matters not. Persons
belonging to one of these sub-brotherhoods have been met by
trustworthy, and not unknown persons, besides the present
writer, who states a few facts concerning them, by the special
permission of one who has a right to give it. In a
recent and very valuable work on secret societies, K. R. H.
Mackenzie's Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, we find
the learned author himself, an honorary member of the Canongate
Kilwinning Lodge, No. 2 (Scotland), and a Mason not likely to be
imposed upon, stating the following, under the head,
Hermetic Brothers of Egypt:
"An occult
fraternity, which has endured from very ancient times, having a
hierarchy of officers, secret signs, and passwords, and a
peculiar method of instruction in science, religion, and
philosophy. . . . If we may believe those who, at the present
time, profess to belong to it, the philosopher's stone, the
elixir of life, the art of invisibility, and the power of
communication directly with the ultramundane life, are parts of
the inheritance they possess. The writer has met with only
three persons who maintained the actual existence of this body
of religious philosophers, and who hinted that they themselves
were actually members. There was no reason to doubt the good
faith of these individuals -- apparently unknown to each other,
and men of moderate competence, blameless lives, austere
manners, and almost ascetic in their habits.
They all appeared to be
men of forty to forty-five years of age, and evidently of vast
erudition . . . their knowledge of languages not to be doubted.
. . . They never remained long in any one country, but passed
away without creating notice." [49]
Another of such
sub-brotherhoods is the sect of the Pitris, in India. Known by
name, now that Jacolliot has brought it into public notice, it
yet is more arcane, perhaps, than the brotherhood that Mr.
Mackenzie names the "Hermetic Brothers." What Jacolliot learned
of it, was from fragmentary manuscripts delivered to him by
Brahmans, who had their reasons for doing so, we must believe.
The Agrouchada Parikshai gives certain details
about the association, as it was in days of old, and, when
explaining mystic rites and magical incantations, explains
nothing at all, so that the mystic L'om, L'Rhum, Sh'hrum, and
Sho-rim Ramaya-Namaha, remain, for the mystified writer, as much
a puzzle as ever. To do him justice, though, he fully admits the
fact, and does not enter upon useless speculations.
Whoever desires to
assure himself that there now exists a religion which has
baffled, for centuries, the impudent inquisitiveness of
missionaries, and the persevering inquiry of science, let him
violate, if he can, the seclusion of the Syrian Druzes. He will
find them numbering over 80,000 warriors, scattered from the
plain east of Damascus to the western coast. They covet no
proselytes, shun notoriety, keep friendly -- as far as possible
-- with both Christians and Mahometans, respect the religion of
every other sect or people, but will never disclose their own
secrets. Vainly do the missionaries stigmatize them as infidels,
idolaters, brigands, and thieves. Neither threat, bribe, nor
any other consideration will induce a Druze to become a convert
to dogmatic Christianity. We have heard of two in fifty
years, and both have finished their careers in prison, for
drunkenness and theft. They proved to be "real Druzes,"
[50] said one of their chiefs, in discussing the
subject. There never was a case of an initiated
Druze becoming a Christian. As to the uninitiated, they are
never allowed to even see the sacred writings, and none of them
have the remotest idea where these are kept. There are
missionaries in Syria who boast of having in their possession a
few copies. The volumes alleged to be the correct expositions
from these secret books (such as the translation by Petis de la
Croix, in 1701, from the works presented by Nasr-Allah to the
French king), are nothing more than a compilation of "secrets,"
known more or less to every inhabitant of the southern ranges of
Lebanon and Anti-Libanus. They were the work of an apostate
Dervish, who was expelled from the sect Hanafi, for improper
conduct -- the embezzlement of the money of widows and orphans.
The Expose de la Religion des Druzes, in two volumes,
by Sylvestre de Sacy (1828), is another net-work of hypotheses.
A copy of this work was to be found, in 1870, on the window-sill
of one of their principal Holowey, or place of
religious meeting. To the inquisitive question of an English
traveller, as to their rites, the Okhal, [51]
a venerable old man, who spoke English as well as French, opened
the volume of de Sacy, and, offering it to his interlocutor,
remarked, with a benevolent smile: "Read this instructive and
truthful book; I could explain to you neither better nor more
correctly the secrets of God and our blessed Hamsa, than it
does." The traveller understood the hint.
Mackenzie says they
settled at Lebanon about the tenth century, and "seem to be a
mixture of Kurds, Mardi-Arabs, and other semi-civilized tribes.
Their religion is compounded of Judaism, Christianity, and
Mahometanism. They have a regular order of priesthood and
a kind of hierarchy . . . there is a regular system of
passwords and signs. . . . Twelve month's probation, to which
either sex is admitted, preceded initiation."
We quote the above only
to show how little even persons as trustworthy as Mr. Mackenzie
really know of these mystics.
Mosheim, who knows as
much, or we should rather say as little, as any others, is
entitled to the merit of candidly admitting that "their religion
is peculiar to themselves, and is involved in some mystery." We
should say it was -- rather!
That their religion
exhibits traces of Magianism and Gnosticism is natural, as the
whole of the Ophite esoteric philosophy is at the bottom of it.
But the characteristic dogma of the Druzes is the absolute unity
of God. He is the essence of life, and although incomprehensible
and invisible, is to be known through occasional
manifestations in human form. [52] Like the
Hindus they hold that he was incarnated more than once on earth.
Hamsa was the precursor of the last manifestation to be
(the tenth avatar) [53] not the inheritor of
Hakem, who is yet to come. Hamsa was the personification of the
"Universal Wisdom." Bohaeddin in his writings calls him Messiah.
The whole number of his disciples, or those who at different
ages of the world have imparted wisdom to mankind, which the
latter as invariably have forgotten and rejected in course of
time, is one hundred and sixty-four (164, the kabalistic s d
k). Therefore, their stages or degrees of
promotion after initiation are five; the first three degrees are
typified by the "three feet of the candlestick of the inner
Sanctuary, which holds the light of the five elements";
the last two degrees, the most important and terrifying in their
solemn grandeur belonging to the highest orders; and the whole
five degrees emblematically represent the said five mystic
Elements. The "three feet are the holy Application, the
Opening, and the Phantom," says one of
their books; on man's inner and outer soul, and his body, a
phantom, a passing shadow. The body, or matter, is also called
the "Rival," for "he is the minister of sin, the Devil ever
creating dissensions between the Heavenly Intelligence (spirit)
and the soul, which he tempts incessantly." Their ideas on
transmigration are
Pythagorean and
kabalistic. The spirit, or Temeami (the divine soul), was in
Elijah and John the Baptist; and the soul of Jesus was that of
H'amsa; that is to say, of the same degree of purity and
sanctity. Until their resurrection, by which they understand the
day when the spiritual bodies of men will be absorbed into God's
own essence and being (the Nirvana of the Hindus), the souls of
men will keep their astral forms, except the few chosen ones
who, from the moment of their separation from their bodies,
begin to exist as pure spirits. The life of man they divide into
soul, body, and intelligence, or mind. It is the latter which
imparts and communicates to the soul the divine spark from its
H'amsa (Christos).
They have seven great
commandments which are imparted equally to all the uninitiated;
and yet, even these well-known articles of faith have been so
mixed up in the accounts of outside writers, that, in one of the
best Cyclopaedias of America (Appleton's), they are garbled
after the fashion that may be seen in the comparative tabulation
below; the spurious and the true order parallel:
|
CORRECT
VERSION OF THE COMMANDMENTS
AS IMPARTED ORALLY
BY THE TEACHERS. [54]
1. The
unity of God, or the infinite oneness of Deity.
2. The
essential excellence of Truth.
3. Toleration;
right given to all men and women to freely express
their opinions on religious matters, and make the
latter subservient to reason.
4. Respect to
all men and women according to their character and
conduct.
5.
Entire submission to God's decrees.
6. Chastity of
body, mind, and soul.
7. Mutual help
under all conditions.
|
GARBLED
VERSION REPORTED BY THE
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
AND GIVEN IN PRETENDED EXPOSITIONS.
[55]
1. (2) "
'Truth in words,' meaning in practice, only
truth to the religion and to the initiated; it
is lawful to act and to speak falsehood to men of
another creed." [56]
2. (7)
"Mutual help, watchfulness, and protection."
3. (?) "To
renounce all other religions." [57]
4. (?) "To
be separate from infidels of every kind, not
externally but only in heart." [58]
5. (1)
"Recognize God's eternal unity."
6. (5)
"Satisfied with God's acts."
7. (5)
"Resigned to God's will." |
As will be seen, the
only expose in the above is that of the great ignorance, perhaps
malice, of the writers who, like Sylvestre de Sacy, undertake to
enlighten the world upon matters concerning which they know
nothing.
"Chastity, honesty,
meekness, and mercy," are thus the four theological virtues of
all Druzes, besides several others demanded from the initiates:
"murder, theft, cruelty, covetousness, slander," the five sins,
to which several other sins are added in the sacred tablets, but
which we must abstain from giving. The morality of the Druzes is
strict and uncompromising. Nothing can tempt one of these
Lebanon Unitarians to go astray from what he is taught to
consider his duty. Their ritual being unknown to
outsiders, their would-be historians have hitherto denied
them one. Their "Thursday meetings" are open to all, but no
interloper has ever participated in the rites of initiation
which take place occasionally on Fridays in the greatest secresy.
Women are admitted to them as well as men, and they play a
part of great importance at the initiation of men. The
probation, unless some extraordinary exception is made, is long
and severe. Once, in a certain period of time, a solemn ceremony
takes place, during which all the elders and the initiates of
the highest two degrees start out for a pilgrimage of several
days to a certain place in the mountains. They meet within
the safe precincts of a monastery said to have been erected
during the earliest times of the Christian era. Outwardly one
sees but old ruins of a once grand edifice, used, says the
legend, by some Gnostic sects as a place of worship during the
religious persecutions. The ruins above ground, however, are but
a convenient mask; the subterranean chapel, halls, and cells,
covering an area of ground far greater than the upper building;
while the richness of ornamentation, the beauty of the ancient
sculptures, and the gold and silver vessels in this sacred
resort, appear like "a dream of glory," according to the
expression of an initiate. As the lamaseries of Mongolia and
Thibet are visited upon grand occasions by the holy shadow of
"Lord Buddha," so here, during the ceremonial, appears the
resplendent ethereal form of Hamsa, the Blessed, which instructs
the faithful. The most extraordinary feats of what would be
termed magic take place during the several nights that the
convocation lasts; and one of the greatest mysteries --
faithful copy of the past -- is accomplished within the discreet
bosom of our mother earth; not an echo, nor the faintest sound,
not a glimmer of light betrays without the grand secret of the
initiates.
Hamsa, like Jesus, was
a mortal man, and yet "Hamsa" and "Christos" are synonymous
terms as to their inner and hidden meaning. Both are symbols of
the Nous, the divine and higher soul of man -- his
spirit. The doctrine taught by the Druzes on that particular
question of the duality of spiritual man, consisting of one soul
mortal, and another immortal, is identical with that of the
Gnostics, the older Greek philosophers, and other initiates.
Outside the East we
have met one initiate (and only one), who, for some reasons best
known to himself, does not make a secret of his initiation into
the Brotherhood of Lebanon. It is the learned traveller and
artist, Professor A. L. [Albert Leighton] Rawson, of New York
City. This gentleman has passed many years in the East, four
times visited Palestine, and has travelled to Mecca. It is safe
to say that he has a priceless store of facts about the
beginnings of the Christian Church, which none but one who had
had free access to repositories closed against the ordinary
traveller could have collected. Professor Rawson, with the true
devotion of a man of science, noted down every important
discovery he made in the Palestinian libraries, and every
precious fact orally communicated to him by the mystics he
encountered, and some day they will see the light. He has most
obligingly sent us the following communication, which, as the
reader will perceive, fully corroborates what is above written
from our personal experience about the strange fraternity
incorrectly styled the Druzes:
"34 BOND
ST., NEW YORK,
June 6, 1877.
". . . Your note,
asking me to give you an account of my initiation into a
secret order among the people commonly known as Druzes, in
Mount Lebanon, was received this morning. I took, as you
are fully aware, an obligation at that time to conceal
within my own memory the greater part of the 'mysteries,'
with the most interesting parts of the 'instructions'; so
that what is left may not be of any service to the public.
Such information as I can rightfully give, you are
welcome to have and use as you may have occasion.
"The probation in my
case was, by special dispensation, made one month,
during which time I was 'shadowed' by a priest, who served
as my cook, guide, interpreter, and general servant, that he
might be able to testify to the fact of my having strictly
conformed to the rules in diet, ablutions, and other
matters. He was also my instructor in the text of the
ritual, which we recited from time to time for practice, in
dialogue or in song, as it may have been. Whenever we
happened to be near a Druze village, on a Thursday, we
attended the 'open' meetings, where men and women assembled
for instruction and worship, and to expose to the world
generally their religious practices. I was never present at
a Friday 'close' meeting before my initiation, nor do I
believe any one else, man or woman, ever was, except by
collusion with a priest, and that is not probable, for a
false priest forfeits his life. The practical jokers among
them sometimes 'fool' a too curious 'Frank' by a sham
initiation, especially if such a one is suspected of having
some connection with the missionaries at Beirut or
elsewhere.
"The initiates include
both women and men, and the ceremonies are of so peculiar a
nature that both sexes are required to assist in the ritual
and 'work.' The 'furniture' of the 'prayer-house' and of the
'vision-chamber' is simple, and except for convenience may
consist of but a strip of carpet. In the 'Gray Hall' (the
place is never named, and is underground, not far
from Bayt-ed-Deen) there are some rich decorations and
valuable pieces of ancient furniture, the work of Arab
silversmiths five or six centuries ago, inscribed and dated.
The day of initiation must be a continual fast from daylight
to sunset in winter, or six o'clock in summer, and the
ceremony is from beginning to end a series of trials and
temptations, calculated to test the endurance of the
candidate under physical and mental pressure. It is
seldom that any but the young man or woman succeeds in
'winning' all the 'prizes,' since nature will sometimes
exert itself in spite of the most stubborn will, and
the neophyte fail of passing some of the tests. In such a
case the probation is extended another year, when another
trial is had.
"Among other tests
of the neophyte's self-control are the following: Choice
pieces of cooked meat, savory soup, pilau, and other
appetizing dishes, with sherbet, coffee, wine, and water,
are set, as if accidentally, in his way, and he is left
alone for a time with the tempting things. To a hungry and
fainting soul the trial is severe. But a more difficult
ordeal is when the seven priestesses retire, all but one,
the youngest and prettiest, and the door is closed and
barred on the outside, after warning the candidate that he
will be left to his 'reflections,' for half an hour. Wearied
by the long-continued ceremonial, weak with hunger, parched
with thirst, and a sweet reaction coming after the
tremendous strain to keep his animal nature in subjection,
this moment of privacy and of temptation is brimful of
peril. The beautiful young vestal, timidly approaching, and
with glances which lend a double magnetic allurement to her
words, begs him in low tones to 'bless her.' Woe to him if
he does! A hundred eyes see him from secret peep-holes, and
only to the ignorant neophyte is there the appearance of
concealment and opportunity.
"There is no
infidelity, idolatry, or other really bad feature in the
system. They have the relics of what was once a grand form
of nature-worship, which has been contracted under a
despotism into a secret order, hidden from the light of day,
and exposed only in the smoky glare of a few burning lamps,
in some damp cave or chapel under ground. The chief tenets
of their religious teachings are comprised in seven
'tablets,' which are these, to state them in general terms:
"1. The unity of
God, or the infinite oneness of deity.
"2. The essential excellence of truth.
"3. The law of toleration as to all men and women
in opinion.
"4. Respect for all men and women as to character and
conduct.
"5. Entire submission to God's decrees as to fate.
"6. Chastity of body and mind and soul.
"7. Mutual help under all conditions.
"These tenets are not
printed or written. Another set is printed or written to
mislead the unwary, but with these we are not concerned.
"The chief results
of the initiation seemed to be a kind of mental illusion or
sleep-waking, in which the neophyte saw, or thought he saw,
the images of people who were known to be absent, and in
some cases thousands of miles away. I thought (or
perhaps it was my mind at work) I saw friends and relatives
that I knew at the time were in New York State, while I was
then in Lebanon. How these results were produced I cannot
say. They appeared in a dark room, when the 'guide' was
talking, the 'company' singing in the next 'chamber,' and
near the close of the day, when I was tired out with
fasting, walking, talking, singing, robing, unrobing, seeing
a great many people in various conditions as to dress and
undress, and with great mental strain in resisting certain
physical manifestations that result from the appetites when
they overcome the will, and in paying close attention to
the passing scenes, hoping to remember them -- so that I may
have been unfit to judge of any new and surprising
phenomena, and more especially of those apparently magical
appearances which have always excited my suspicion and
distrust. I know the various uses of the magic-lantern, and
other apparatus, and took care to examine the room where the
'visions' appeared to me the same evening, and the next day,
and several times afterwards, and knew that, in my case,
there was no use made of any machinery or other means
besides the voice of the 'guide and instructor.' On several
occasions afterward, when at a great distance from the
'chamber,' the same or similar visions were produced, as,
for instance, in Hornstein's Hotel at Jerusalem. A
daughter-in-law of a well-known Jewish merchant in Jerusalem
is an initiated 'sister,' and can produce the visions almost
at will on any one who will live strictly according to the
rules of the Order for a few weeks, more or less,
according to their nature, as gross or refined, etc.
"I am quite safe in
saying that the initiation is so peculiar that it could not
be printed so as to instruct one who had not been 'worked'
through the 'chamber.' So it would be even more
impossible to make an expose of them than of the Freemasons.
The real secrets are acted and not spoken, and require
several initiated persons to assist in the work.
"It is not necessary
for me to say how some of the notions of that people seem
to perpetuate certain beliefs of the ancient Greeks -- as,
for instance, the idea that a man has two souls, and
many others -- for you probably were made familiar with them
in your passage through the 'upper' and 'lower chamber.' If
I am mistaken in supposing you an 'initiate,' please excuse
me. I am aware that the closest friends often conceal that
'sacred secret' from each other; and even husband and wife
may live -- as I was informed in Dayr-el-Kamar was the fact
in one family there -- for twenty years together and yet
neither know anything of the initiation of the other. You,
undoubtedly, have good reasons for keeping your own counsel,
"Yours truly,
"A.
L. RAWSON."
Before we close the
subject we may add that if a stranger ask for admission to a
"Thursday" meeting he will never be refused. Only, if he is a
Christian, the okhal will open a Bible and
read from it; and if a Mahometan, he will hear a few chapters of
the Koran, and the ceremony will end with this. They
will wait until he is gone, and then, shutting well the doors of
their convent, take to their own rites and books, passing for
this purpose into their subterranean sanctuaries. "The Druzes
remain, even more than the Jews, a peculiar people," says
Colonel Churchill, [59] one of the few fair and strictly
impartial writers. "They marry within their own race; they are
rarely if ever converted; they adhere tenaciously to their
traditions, and they baffle all efforts to discover their
cherished secrets. . . . The bad name of that caliph whom they
claim as their founder is fairly compensated by the pure lives
of many whom they honor as saints, and by the heroism of their
feudal leaders."
And yet the Druzes may
be said to belong to one of the least esoteric of secret
societies. There are others far more powerful and learned, the
existence of which is not even suspected in Europe. There are
many branches belonging to the great "Mother Lodge" which, mixed
up with certain communities, may be termed secret sects within
other sects. One of them is the sect commonly known as that of
Laghana-Sastra. It reckons several thousand adepts who are
scattered about in small groups in the south of the Dekkan,
India. In the popular superstition, this sect is dreaded on
account of its great reputation for magic and sorcery. The
Brahmans accuse its members of atheism and sacrilege, for none
of them will consent to recognize the authority of either the
Vedas or Manu, except so far as they conform
to the versions in their possession, and which they maintain are
professedly the only original texts; the Laghana-Sastra have
neither temples nor priests, but, twice a month, every member of
the community has to absent himself from home for three days.
Popular rumor, originated among their women, ascribes such
absences to pilgrimages performed to their places of fortnightly
resort. In some secluded mountainous spots, unknown and
inaccessible to other sects, hidden far from sight among the
luxurious vegetation of India, they keep their bungalows, which
look like small fortresses, encircled as they are by lofty and
thick walls. These, in their turn, are surrounded by the sacred
trees called assonata, and in Tamul arassa maram.
These are the "sacred groves," the originals of those of
Egypt and Greece, whose initiates also built their temples
within such "groves" inaccessible to the profane. [60]
It will not be found
without interest to see what Mr. John Yarker, Jr., has to say on
some modern secret societies among the Orientals. "The
nearest resemblance to the Brahmanical Mysteries, is probably
found in the very ancient 'Paths' of the
Dervishes, which are usually governed by twelve officers, the
oldest 'Court' superintending the others by right of seniority.
Here the master of the 'Court' is called 'Sheik,'
and has his deputies, 'Caliphs,' or successors, of which
there may be many (as, for instance, in the brevet degree of a
Master Mason). The order is divided into at least four columns,
pillars, or degrees. The first step is that of 'Humanity,' which
supposes attention to the written law, and 'annihilation in
the Sheik.' The second is that of the
'Path,' in which the 'Murid,' or disciple,
attains spiritual powers and 'self-annihilation' into the
'Peer' or founder of the 'Path.' The third stage is called
'Knowledge,' and the 'Murid' is supposed to
become inspired, called 'annihilation into the Prophet.'
The fourth stage leads him even to God, when he becomes a
part of the Deity and sees Him in all things. The first and
second stages have received modern subdivisions, as 'Integrity,'
'Virtue,' 'Temperance,' 'Benevolence.' After this the Sheik
confers upon him the grade of 'Caliph,' or Honorary Master, for
in their mystical language, 'the man must die before the
saint can be born.' It will be seen that this kind of
mysticism is applicable to Christ as founder of a 'Path.' "
To this statement, the
author adds the following on the Bektash Dervishes, who "often
initiated the Janizaries. They wear a small marble cube
spotted with blood. Their ceremony is as follows: Before
reception a year's probation is required, during which false
secrets are given to test the candidate; he has two
godfathers and is divested of all metals and even
clothing; from the wool of a sheep a cord is made
for his neck, and a girdle for his loins; he is led into the
centre of a square room, presented as a slave, and seated upon a
large stone with twelve escallops; his arms are crossed upon his
breast, his body inclined forward, his right toes extended over
his left foot; after various prayers he is placed in a
particular manner, with his hand in a peculiar way in that of
the Sheik, who repeats a verse from the Koran: 'Those
who on giving thee their hand swear to thee an oath, swear it to
God, the hand of God is placed in their hand; whoever violates
this oath, will do so to his hurt, and to whoever remains
faithful God will give a magnificent reward.' Placing the hand
below the chin is their sign, perhaps in memory of their vow.
All use the double triangles. The Brahmans inscribe the
angles with their trinity, and they possess also the Masonic
sign of distress as used in France." [61]
--
Isis
Unveiled, by Helena P. Blavatsky |
