ent people were right and good; nor that
every institution among the heathen was sinful and injurious; still,
that which was so popular among those whom the Bible declares to have
been filled with all unrighteousness; that which was so pleasing to
men whom God had given over to a reprobate mind and to vile affections
(Rom. i: 26-28); that which made a part of the worship which the
ignorant heathen offered up to their unclean gods, and which was
unknown among God's chosen people, is certainly a thing to be viewed
with suspicion. A thing of so bad origin and so bad accompaniments we
should be very slow to approve. The fact that many good men see no
evil in secret societies, and that many good men have been and are
members of them, is more than counterbalanced by the fact that many
good men very decidedly disapprove of them, and that, from time
immemorial, men of vile affections and reprobate minds, men whose
inclinations and consciences were perverted by heathenish ignorance
and error, and by a corrupt and abominable religion, have been very
fond of them.

3. Doubtless the authors and conductors of the ancient _mysteries_
made high pretensions, just as do the modern advocates of secret
societies. Perhaps the original design of the ancient mysteries was to
civilize mankind and promote religion; that is, pagan superstition.
But whatever may have been the _design_ of the authors of them, it is
certain that they became schools of superstition and vice. Their
pernicious character and influence were so manifest that the ancient
Christian writers almost universally exclaimed against them. (Leland's
Chr. Rev., p. 223.) Bishop Warburton, who, in his "Divine Legation,"
maintains that the ancient mysteries were originally pure, declares
that they "became abominably abused, and that in Cicero's time the
terms mysteries and abominations were almost synonymous." The cause of
their corruption, this eminent writer declares to be the _secrecy_
with which they were performed. He says: "We can assign no surer cause
of the horrid abuses and corruptions of the mysteries than the
_season_ in which they were represented, and the profound silence in
which they were buried. Night gave opportunity to wicked men to
attempt evil actions, and the secrecy encouragement to repeat them."
(Leland's Chr. Rev., p. 194.) It seems to have been of these ancient
secret associations that the inspired Apostle said, "_It is a shame
even to speak of those things