4. Navicular character of the Celtic Ceridwen

5. Navicular character of the classical Ceres

6. Navicular character of the Phrygian Cybele

7. Navicular character of the classical Hera or Juno

8. Navicular character of the Syrian Semiramis

9. Navicular character of the classical Iris

10. Navicular character of the Phenician Astoreth

II. The great mother is equally proved to be a ship by the symbols, under

which she was represented

1. The sea-fish, the egg, the navicular cup, and the lunette

2. The floating lunar island

S. The lotos

PAGE

26

27

28

31

33

38

ib.

ib.

39

41

42

III. The whole history of the great mother corresponds with her navicular cha-

3. The Ark was the universal mother of the hero-gods and of the whole

world

49

4. The members of the Noëtic family and the rudiments of the new world
were born from a door in the side of the Ark

5. The Ark, previous to its appulse, was in an erratic state

51

ib.

6. The Ark afforded safety to one family, but appeared as the genius of de-

struction to all the rest of mankind

CHAPTER IV.

PAGE

Respecting the hermaphroditic unity of the great universal parent 60

I. ALL the gods of the Gentiles, male and female, finally resolve themselves into

one hermaphroditic divinity

60

1. This divinity was not the true God

62

2. The great hermaphrodite was compounded of the great father and the

great mother

65

3. The notion primarily originated from a mistaken view of the creation of

Adam and Eve

68

II. Examples of the hermaphroditic divinity. Rites of his priests

72

1. Seth, Cronus-Anubis, Adonis, Baal-Peor, Venus, Mars, Ardhanari,

Mexican great mother, Jupiter, Minerva, Bacchus, Janus

73

2. Supposed mutilation of the great father, and imitative mutilation of his

priests; exemplified in Siva, Osiris, Asclepius, Attis, Bacchus, Saturn,

Uranus

3. Hermaphroditus, Hermes

4. The Amazons

III. The worship of the sacred Omphalos

1. Instances of the superstition

2. The literal symbol of a navel was venerated

3. Mr. Bryant's etymological speculations on the subject shewn to be unte-

76

77

79

82

ib.

83

84

86

ib.

89

ib.

6. The sacred navel was the same as the mystic cups, and shields, and other
cognate symbols

CHAPTER V.

Respecting the doctrine of the two independent principles

PAGE

94

THE doctrine originated from the tenet of an endless succession of worlds, alter-

nately destroyed and reproduced

I. Comparative discussion of the doctrine

II. The two principles were necessarily deemed alike eternal, on the established

maxims of Pagan philosophy

97

III. The antiquity and real import of the doctrine appears from Scripture

98

CHAPTER VI.

Respecting the nature and purport of the ancient Mysteries

99

1. THE Mysteries of all nations were substantially the same, and treated of the

same matters

II. An inquiry into the origination of the Mysteries

1. Bp. Warburton's theory of deducing them from Egypt is unsatisfactory
2. The invention of them must have been anterior to the dispersion: con-
sequently, they must have been brought by all nations from Babel

III An inquiry into the nature and purport of the Mysteries

1. The theory of Bp. Warburton is unsatisfactory

(1.) It is unwarranted even by his own premises

VOL. III.

Pag. Idol.

ib.

104

ib.

105

106

ib.

108

b

2. Ideas attached to it. The ark was at once a boat and a coffin

121

4. The Mysteries, it appears, related to the inclosure of some person in an

ark, which was deemed his coffin

V. As the great father was Adam no less than Noah, the sacred ark represented
the earth no less than the ship of the deluge

132

ib.

1. The doctrine of an universal regeneration was set forth in the Mysteries

2. This will enable us to account for much that is said, both of the hero of

the Mysteries, and of the Mysteries themselves

133

135

VI. The doctrine of the Metempsychosis and the Metamorphosis was an essen-

tial part of the Mysteries

142

1. The Metempsychosis. Cupid and Psychè. The descent of Enèas into

Hades

144

2. The Metamorphosis. How it was literally exhibited in the Mysteries

3. Application of the Metempsychosis and the Metamorphosis to the Mys-

146

teries

149

VII. A summary of the peculiar doctrines taught in the Mysteries.

150

VIII. Substantiation of what has been said from the accounts which have come

down to us of the various modes of initiation

151

1. The first part of initiation represented a descent into hell, and was com-

pared to death

152

(1.) Examples of this process

ib.

(2.) The Egyptian plague of darkness alludes to the Mysteries

2. The second part of initiation landed the aspirants in Elysium

(1.) It was compared to a revival and a new birth

(2.) Vision of Timarchus, and other examples

155

159

161

162

PAGE

3. The aspirants were born again out of the infernal boat

163

4. An account of the Druidical Mysteries, as exhibited in the initiation of

(3.) The inclosure of the aspirant within the Kist-Vaen, representing

the womb of the ship-goddess

172

(4.) The committing of the aspirant to sea in a close coracle

174

(5.) His initiation was viewed, as a descent into hell, and as a passage

to the Elysian island over the infernal lake

175

(6.) The aspirant was liberated from the coracle at the same time that

Noah was liberated from the Ark

177

5. An account of the Persian Mysteries of Mithras

178

(1.) Regeneration of the aspirant from the door of a rocky cavern

(2.) The regeneration of the aspirant from a boat. Fable of Homai

and Darab

179

183

10. Free-masonry not improbably borrowed from the ancient Mysteries

190

CHAPTER VII.

Concerning the places used by the Pagans for religious worship 193

THE great father is thought to have been the first, who built temples and instituted

sacrifices

ibs.