MYSTERY, MYSTERIES
MYSTERY, MYSTERIES
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of an o;\tli of allegiance or an obligation {de Cor. lilil. 11, (idr. Viilcnt. 30). Between these two ap- plications all other uses of the word fall— namely, as designating baptism, the Eucharist, the rule of faith, salvation, and religion itself. Nothing could show more clearly that the word is not always a strict rendering of ' mystery,' and Tertullian at times seems to have realized this himself.
liut how did sacriimoitinii come to have the significance of obligation and pledge '! Two con- ceptions are implied in the term: (1) that of a deposit of money, given by persons about to engage in a law-suit, relinquished to the deity by the loser, and thereby becoming actually a sacred or devoted thing ; (2) that of tlie military oath of allegiance taken on the standard. The idea of sacred obligation is thus common to both conce])- tions. The two were brought closer together by the payment of award for military service (Tacitus, Hist. I. Iv. 2). Thus sncramenlum as a military oath assumed the meaning of a sacred bond be- tween the pledge-giver and the pledge-receiver. This characteristic was carried into the significance of sacrament in the terminology of the Church and gave her sacramental rites the nature of pledges. But the idea embodied in fivuT-rjpioi' was still retained, so that sacramentum became as well the outward sign of an inward meaning or a spiritual grace. From this it is apparent that sacramentum has a wider and more varied meaning than the Greek term, which it, rather than arcanum, was chosen to represent.
The full conception held by Tertullian of the sacraments is still a debated question. G. Thomasius {Die christliche Dogmcngeschichtc", Erlangen, 1886-89, i. 425), Harnack (History of Doqma, ii. 145, n. 2), and Roman Catholic theo- logians (Struckmann, Die Gcgenwart Christi, p. 229tt'.) attribute to him realistic views, while the great majority of Protestant theologians believe that he held symbolical conceptions. But Harnack is quite sure that 'Leimbach's investigations of Tertullian's iise of words have placed this [that Tertullian did not accept a symbolical doctrine] beyond doubt.'
2. The kinds of mystery - religions. — The mystery-religions differed from each other in vari- ous ways. Some were State religions, such as the mysteries of Eleusis, near Athens, and the mysteries of Samothrace, an island in the Thracian Sea. Others, enjoying no State recognition, were cele- brated in secret associations by private individuals. To the latter class the Orphic mysteries and the mysteries of certain Oriental gods belong. Again, some centred about a male, others about a female divinity. The mysteries of Mithras constitute an example of the former, the mysteries of Cybele and Attis, and the mysteries of Isis, examples of the latter. Miss Harrison remarks (Prolcrjomenn, p. 150 f.) that 'in general mysteries seem to occur more usually in relation to the cult of women divinities, of heroines and earth-goddesses,' which is a well-supported statement. In the majority of the cults the female deity plays the chief part ; the male deity, Attis, or Adonis, or Osiris, occupies an inferior position. This may be explained by the assumption that the ceremonies of these cults had their remote source in pre-historic rites which were intended to renew the strength of the harvest field and enable it to produce abundant returns. Consequently Mother Earth, with her vegetation unfolding in the spring and di.sap|icaring in the autumn, was prominent in the primitive days, and retained her pre-eminence in the persons of the Egyptian Isis, the Phcenician Astarte, the Phry- gian Cybele, and the Greek Demeter, althougli J. G. Frazer ( GB', pt. v. , Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, London, 1912, i. 40) distinguishes
Demeter from Mother Earth. We reach here a striking contrast between the cults on the one side and Christianity on the other. While the pagan deity had his female associate, the Christ of the Christian in the earlier centuries was wholly unaccompanied. It was not until 400 years had elapsed tbat Mary the Virgin assumed a position in which her relation to Christ could feebly suggest the old association of female and male deities in the mysteries.
In many other respects the mysteries differed from one another. Dissimilarities marke<l off' those of P'.leusis from those of Isis ; and the mysteries of Mithras possessed a genius or spirit of their own. And yet they were united in one purpose and aim. Tiiey were essentially similar ; so that they mutu- ally recognized each other and excluded no one on the ground that he belonged to another cult or compelled him on his initiation into the new to relinquish his membership in the old cult. To- gether they were supposed to confer on the initi- ate protection against danger, to bring healing to his infirmities, and to assure him of a happy pil- grimage through this world and a blessed immor- tality in the next. The question of the moral in- spiration of the mysteries has been for some time a centre of earnest discussion. Eminent scholars are in disagreement here. So great an authority as E. Rohde {Psyche, Freiburg i. B., 1894, i. 298- 300) believes that the pagan cults were not uplifting in their effect on the initiate. Others, as H. Lietz- mann {An die Romer [ = Handbuch zum NT, ii.], Tiibingen, 1906, on Ro6'-') and K. H.E. de Jong {Das antike Mystcrienivesen, p. 69), are equally positive in the belief that the moral effect of the mysteries was elevating and helpful. The fact that the mysteries were pre-eminently ritualistic and formal would support the former view. Their rites of initiation appear to have been regarded as fully capable of accomplishing all that was necessary to bring their subject into union with the deity. Amid such conceptions it is likely that little em- phasis would be laid on the need of an upright moral life as an aid. On the other hand, the im- pressive and, in some respects, beautiful ceremonies would have their intiuence on the mind and heart of the candidates. It is possible that revolting features characterized the ceremonies of some of the cults. But, if such features, relics of the old Nature religions, accompanied the ceremonial, they were offset by others fitted to exercise an uplifting power. Isis herself was viewed and extolled as the guardian of chastity ; and consequently her initia- tions could have been no stimulation to a careless life. The testimony of the early Christian writers, however, and even of Flavins Josephus {Ant. XVIII. iii. 4), concerning the moral tone of the mysteries should not be contemptuously dismissed. Granted that they were inclined to exaggerate the dark side of the ceremonial of the pagan cults, they can hardly be charged with c(mi]ilete falsification of their true character. On tiie whole, it is highly probable that Rohde was nearer the truth in his unfavourable estimation of the soundness of the moral tendencies of the mysteries.