In Paradise the essence of the divine world penetrated the essence of time, as the sun penetrates the fruit upon a tree, and ef fectually works in it into a pleasantness, that it is lovely to look upon and good to eat; the like we are to understand of the garden of Eden. The garden Eden was a place upon the earth where man was tempted; and the Paradise was in heaven, yet was in the garden Eden; for as Adam before his sleep, and before his Eve was made out of him, was, as to his inward man, in heaven, and, as to the outward, upon the earth; and as the inward, holy man penetrated the outward, as a fire through heats an iron, so also the heavenly power out of the pure, eternal element penetrated the four elements, and sprang through the earth, and bare fruits, which were heavenly and earthly, and were qualified, sweetly tempered of the divine power, and the vanity in the fruit was held as it were swallowed up, as the day hides the night, and holds it captive in itself, that it is not known and manifest. The whole world would have been a mere Paradise if Lucifer had not corrupted it, who was in the beginning of his creation an hierarch in the place of this world; but seeing God knew that Adam would fall, therefore Paradise sprang forth and budded only in one certain place, to introduce and confirm man in his obedience therein. God nevertheless saw he would depart thence, whom he would again introduce thereinto by Christ, and establish him anew in Christ to eternity in Paradise, therefore God promised to regenerate it anew in Christ, in the Spirit of Christ in the human property. There is nothing that is nearer you, than heaven, Paradise and hell; unto which of them you are inclined, and to which of them you tend or walk, to that in this life-time You are between both; you are most near. and there is a birth between each of them. You stand in this world between both the gates, and you have both the births in you. God beckons to you in one gate, and calls you; the devil beckons you in the other gate and calls you; with whom you go, with him you enter in. The devil has in his hand, power, honour, pleasure, and worldly joy; and the root of these is death and hell-fire. On the contrary, God has in his hand, crosses, persecution, misery, poverty, ignominy, and sorrow; and the root of these is a fire also, but in the fire there is a light, and in the light the virtue, and in the vir 255 tue the Paradise; and in the Paradise are the angels, and among the angels, joy. The gross fleshly eyes cannot behold it, because they are from the third principle, and see only by the splendour of the sun; but when the Holy Ghost comes into the soul, then he regenerates it anew in God, and then it becomes a paradisical child, who gets the key of Paradise, and that soul sees into the midst thereof. But the gross body cannot see into it, be cause it belongs not to Paradise; it belongs to the earth, and must putrefy and rot, and rise in a new virtue and power in Christ, at the end of days; and then it may also be in Paradise, and not before; it must lay off the third principle, namely, this skin or covering which father Adam and mother Eve got into, and in which they supposed they should be wise by wearing all the three principles manifested on them. Oh! that they had preferred the wearing two of the principles hidden in them, and had continued in the principle of light, it had been good for us. But of this I purpose to speak hereafter when I treat about the fall. Thus now in the essence of all essences, there are three several distinct properties, with one source or property far from one another, yet not parted asunder, but are in one another as one only essence; nevertheless the one does not comprehend the other, as in the three elements, fire, air, water; all And as one elethree are in one another, but neither of them comprehend the other. ment generates another and yet is not of the essence, source, or property thereof; so the three principles are in one another, and one generates the other; and yet none of them all comprehends the other, nor is any of them the essence or substance of the other. The third principle, namely, this material world, shall pass away and go into its ether, and then the shadow of all creatures remain, also of all growing things [vegetables and fruits] and of all that ever came to light; as also the shadow and figure of all words and works; and that incomprehensibly, like a nothing or shadow in respect of the light, and after the end of time there will be nothing but light and darkness; where the source or property remain in each of them as it has been from eternity, and the one shall not comprehend the other. Yet whether God will create more after this world's time, that my spirit doth not know; for it apprehends no farther than what is in its centre wherein it lives, and in which the Paradise and the kingdom of heaven stands. DEATH OF THE NIGHTINGALE. [LOUIS KONRATOWICZ, a Polish poet, born at Smalkow in 1822, died at Warsaw, 1862. He was a learned scholar and a vigorous writer, very influential over the youth of Poland. His "Chit-Chat" are full of powerful imagination, and his "Death of Acevnus" is a threnody in mournful numbers, upon the death of the Polish poet Klonorvicz, of the 16th century.] Shut in a wire cage amid the great city's roar, But his desire to sing grew on him more and more,— Here is no shade,-no elder tree,—no hazel bush FROM BACCHUS IN TUSCANY. [FRANCESCO REDI, an Italian poet, born at Arezzo in 1626, died at Pisa, in 1694, was distinguished for the light, airy, and sportive character of his poems. His most famous piece is the dithyrambic entitled "Bacco in Toscana;" a poem, in its kind, scarcely equalled by any thing in Italian literature. It has been well translated by Leigh Hunt. Should it be found too Bacchanalian for the taste of the present age, let the reader remember that Redi himself was one of the most temperate men of his day, and never drank wine without diluting it.] ICE NECESSARY TO WINE. You know Lamporecchio, the castle renowned But let it be frozen; Let it be frozen and finished with ice, And see that the ice be as virginly nice As the coldest that whistles from wintry skies. No sweet companion here,-for here no streamlets gush, Coolers and cellarets, crystal with snows, Should always hold bottles in ready repose, No dear ones here to hear him sing, though he should die No compound without it can give content: In the congenial open air he may not fly, His narrow cage is strong. Instead of gentle winds the wheels' harsh rumbling With shaking walls' loud jar; [blends From carriages of rich men, finely dressed, ascends The dust-cloud near and far. Murmurs of a noisy crowd, instead of streamlet clear Oh! where is peace and quiet? where is freedom here, His soft breast almost bursts; now his small head With sweet increasing melody he lifts his song, But soon his voice is drowned by hurrying throng, His notes soar higher and higher, o'er all the noise Thrilled by the memory of vanished joys, For weak is the brain, and I hereby scout it, OF THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. [FRANÇOIS MARIE Arouet de VoLTAIRE, one of the greatest names in French literature, was born at Paris, in 1694, where he died in 1778. In childhood he was remarkable for a precocious genius, and some clever verses written in his twelfth year, procured him a bequest from the celebrated Ninon de Lenclos, of 2,000 francs for the purchase of books. Educated in a college of the Jesuits, his great talents and singular freedom of opinion drew from them the prediction, afterward realized, that Voltaire would become the high priest of the skeptics. He wrote a satire on the death of Louis XIV. which procured him an imprisonment in the Bastille. Here he wrote part of his epic poem the Henriade, and finished his tragedy of Edipe, which had a brilliant success on the stage. Its author soon became a young literary oracle, a kind of idol in the best society of Paris, where Voltaire's brilliant and witty conversation, full of epigram and persiflage, caused him to be sought for in all companies In 1726, Voltaire visited London, at the instance of Lord Bolingbroke, where he pursued his studies in the exact sciences, then recently enriched by the investigations of Sir Isaac Newton. Here also he was on intiHis warm and tender heart just warbles one more strain mate terms with that society of free thinkers which assailed the established Church and its doctrines. Be His little wings are weak,—he flaps them all in vain ; But 'tis the note of Death! turning to France after three years, he wrote his laudatory “Letters sur Les Anglais" (publicly burned for their heresies) and soon made a small fortune by investing the profits of his books in speculations which proved profitable. After publishing his tragedy of "Zaire" (1730) and other books, he withdrew from Paris, being threatened with prosecution, and accepted a residence at Cirey with the Marchioness du Châtelet, a celebrated bas bleu of the day, who read much mathematics, and translated Newton from the Latin. Frederick the Great of Prussia invited him to his court, where Voltaire was at first treated with splendid hospitality, followed at a later period by a violent quarrel. Indeed, Voltaire was through life much involved in personal controversies, to which his caustic wit and arrogant temper contributed. In 1762 he purchased an estate at Ferney, near the borders of Switzerland, where he passed the closing years of his life in a busy and serene temper, writing to the last, and employing part of his large fortune in aiding poor men of letters, building cottages for laborers, and in entertaining the crowds of visitors whom his fame drew to Ferney. Voltaire was a pronounced theist; he built a church near his estate which he dedicated to the one God. Almost his last words were "I die worshipping God, loving my friends, without hatred of my enemies, but detesting superstition." The multifarious writings of Voltaire, prose and verse, (in 70 octavo volumes, of the best edition) abound in keen observations on men and opinions, unfailing wit, grace and vivacity, subtle irony and continual play of fancy. The highest gifts of imagination were denied to him; his histories, always entertaining, are far from accurate, and he was not in the highest sense a great philosopher. Yet with all these limitations, it has been said of him that no man ever so largely controlled the opinions of the world.] AMIDST the chaos of popular superstitions which would have converted the whole globe into an immense den of wild beasts, there arose a salutary institution, which prevented a part of mankind from falling into a state of brutal ignorance; this was the institution of mysteries and expiations. It was impossible, that among so many cruel idiots, there should not be some few mild and sensible people, and likewise philosophers, who would endeavour to bring back mankind to morality and reason. These sages made use of superstition itself to correct these enormous abuses, in the same manner as we employ the heart of the viper to obviate the ill effects of its bite. They combined a great number of fables with useful truths, and these truths were supported by fables. that they announced the great system of a future life; for Celsus says to Origen in his eighth book, "You boast of believing "in eternal punishments, and did not all the "ministers of the mysteries announce them "to the initiated ?" in all those mysteries. We have still the The unity of God was the principal dogma prayer of the priestesses of Isis preserved in Apuleius: "The celestial powers serve thee; "hell acknowledges thy power; the universe "turns under thy hand, thou treadest Tar"tarus under thy feet; the stars answer at "thy call; the seasons return at thy orders; "the elements obey thee." The mysterious ceremonies of Ceres, were an imitation of those of Isis. They who had committed crimes, confessed and expiated them; they fasted, purified themselves, and gave alms. All who were initiated into the mysteries, were bound by an oath to keep them secret, and this rendered them the more respectable. The mysteries were celebrated in the night, in order to inspire a certain holy horror. They represented a kind of tragedy, the story of which was calculated to display the happiness of the just, and the punishment of the wicked. The Platos and Ciceros, and others of the greatest men of antiquity, have given their testimony in favor of these mysteries, which in their time, had not degenerated from their primitive purity. Several very learned men have proved that the sixth book of the Eneid contains a figurative description of what was practiced in those secret and celebrated spectacles. There is indeed no mention made of Demiourgos, who represented the Creator; but the poet let us see in the vestibule, or first part of the piece, the children whom their parents had suffered to perish, and this was a proper lesson for fathers and mothers. Continuo auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens, Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo: Quos dulcis vitæ exsortis, et ab ubere raptos, Abstulit atra dies, et funere mersit acerbo*. EN. lib. vi. Now as they enter'd, doleful screams they hear, And tender cries of infants pierce the ear. Just now to life, by too severe a doom, Snatch'd from the cradle to the silent tomb! PITT. The reader will find many ingenuous remarks on this We are no longer acquainted with the mys-passage, in a Dissertation on the sixth book of Virgil's We know but little of Eneid, by the late learned Bishop Warburton. See his those of Isis; but it seems indisputable Divine Legation, &c. book ii. sect. 4. T. teries of Zoroaster. VOL. V., 113 In the next place appears Minos judging | the dead. The wicked were dragged into Tartarus, and the just were conducted into the Elysian fields. These gardens were all that ordinary men could aspire to. There were none but heroes and demi-gods who were honored with a place in heaven. All religions adopted a garden for the residence of the just; and even when the Essenians among the Jews received the doctrine of another life, they imagined that the blessed would go after death into gardens bordering on the sea; for as to the Pharisees, they adopted the metempsychosis, and not the doctrine of a resurrection. If among so many profane things, we may be allowed to quote the sacred history of Jesus Christ, we may remark, that when he said to the penitent thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me "in the garden," he conformed himself to the language of all mankind. a The Eleusinian mysteries became the most celebrated. One thing very remarkable is, that they used to read in them the beginning of Sanchoniathon's Theogony; a proof this, that Sanchoniathon had announced supreme God, the creator and governor of the world. This therefore was the doctrine they displayed to the initiated, who had been educated in the belief of polytheism. Let us suppose a superstitious people, among ourselves, who from their tender infancy have been accustomed to pay the same homage to the Holy Virgin, St. John and the other saints, as to God himself. It would perhaps be dangerous to undeceive them on a sudden; it would be prudent to begin with pointing out to the most moderate and rational of them, the infinite distance there is between God and his creatures. This was exactly what the mystagogues did. The persons who were initiated assembled in the temple of Ceres, and the hierophant† *We have here given M. de Voltaire's expression; but in our English translation of the New Testament, the reader will find the word paradise used instead of garden. See St. Luke, chap. xxiii. The Hebrew word , paradise, signifles a garden of pleasure. T. The hierophants, or mystagogues ('Iepodávτns MUSTTWYós) were the guides or conductors who in structed the initiated in the preparatory ceremonies, and led them through, and explained to them all the shows and representations of the mysteries. Among the Greeks, they were indifferently of either sex, but in Rome, the mysteries of Ceres were always celebrated by female priests. T. taught them, that instead of adoring Ceres, conducting Triptolemus in a chariot drawn by dragons, they ought to worship the God who nourishes mankind, and who had permitted Ceres and Triptolemus to bring agriculture into esteem. This is so true, that the hierophant began by reciting the verses of the ancient Orpheus; "Tread in the path of justice. "adore the sole master of the universe; he is one, to him all beings owe their existence; he acts in them and by them, "but never has been seen by mortal "eyes." 66 66 I own, that I do not conceive how Pausanias can say that these verses are not equal to those of Homer; it is certain, that in point of sense, they are preferable to the whole, both of the Iliad and the Odys sey. The learned bishop Warburton, altho' very unjust in many of his bold decisions, gives great weight to what I have just now said concerning the necessity there was for concealing the dogma of the unity of God from the vulgar, who were infatuated with polytheism. He quotes an anecdote related by Plutarch, of the young Alcibiades, who after having assisted at these mysteries, insulted the statue of Mercury in an hour of jollity with some of his friends, and that the people were so incensed at this, that they insisted on his condemnation. The greatest discretion was therefore required not to disgust the prejudices of the multitude. Alexander himself, when in Egypt, having obtained leave of the hierophant of the mysteries, to communicate the secret of the initiated to his mother, conjur ed her at the same time to burn his letter as soon as she read it, that she might not irritate the Greeks. They who have been so far misguided by a false zeal, as to pretend that these mysteries were instituted only for the most infa mous purposes, ought to be undeceived by the very term initiated, which implies that they began a new life. Another unanswerable proof, that these mysteries were celebrated with no other view than to inspire men with virtue, is the manner in which they dissolved the assembly. Among the Greeks, they did this by pronouncing the two ancient Phoenician words Koff omphet, which signify "Watch and be pure." In short we may observe, that when the emperor Nero visited Greece, after having been guilty of the death of his ALZIRA'S SOLILOQUY. mother, he could not be initiated into these FROM THE TRAGEDY OF ALZIBA. mysteries; the crime he had been guilty of was too enormous, and powerful as he was, the initiated would not have admitted him. Zozimus informs us also, that Constantine could not find pagan priests who were willing to purify him, and free him from the absolution of the murders he had committed. It appears evidently therefore, that among those nations whom we style pagans, gentiles and idolaters, there was a truly pure religion, while the bulk of the people, and the priests, had shameful customs, puerile ceremonies and ridiculous doctrines, and sometimes even shed the blood of their fellow creatures, in honor of certain imaginary deities, who were despised and detested by philosophers. This pure religion consisted in acknowledging the existence of one supreme God, and likewise his providence and justice. These mysteries, if we may believe Tertullian, were disfigured by the ceremony of regeneration. In order to be initiated, it was necessary that the aspirant should seem to be born again; this was a symbol of the new kind of life he was about to embrace. They presented him with a crown, and he trampled it under his feet; the hierophant then held over him the sacred knife, and feigning a blow at him, the aspirant fell down as if he were dead, after which he rose again as it were from the grave. There are still some remains of this ancient ceremony among the free masons. SHADE of my murdered lover, shun to view me! A parent's will, a pleading country's safety ! Cover that conscious face, and let death hide thee! Leave me to suffer wrongs that Heaven allots me, I AND MY WILLIE. and finished versification. VOLTAIRE. [CHARLES S. CALVERLY, an English poetical writer, Pausanias informs us, that in several of born in 1831, has published "Translations into English and Latin" (1866), “ Verses and Translations" (1871), and the temples of Ceres, they used to scourge "Fly-Leaves" (1872), the latter having been very popu the initiated; the odious custom was introduced long afterwards into several Christianlar, and several times re-printed. His poems are marked churches. I have no doubt that with all by delicate fancy, frequent strokes of subtle humor, these mysteries, the principles of which were The following spirited lines will be readily appreciaso sage and useful, they combined many ted as a successful parody upon a certain effusive school ridiculous superstitions. These supersti- of modern poetry. He died in 1884.] tions paved the way for debauchery, which was followed by contempt; so that at length the only remains of those ancient mysteries, were those troops of vagabonds whom we have seen in all parts of Europe, under the name of Egyptians, Bohemians, and Gipsies, dancing the dance of the priests of Isis, selling their balsams, curing the itch, though covered with it themselves, telling fortunes, and stealing our poultry. Such has been the fate of an institution the most sacred of any in half the known world. VOLTAIRE In moss-pranked dells where the sunbeams flatter (And heaven it knoweth what that may mean; Meaning, however, is no great matter), I Where woods are a tremble, with rifts atween; Through God's own heather we wound together, (Boats in that climate are so polite), |