Mysticism and its Results

Mysticism and its Results, by
John Delafield

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Title: Mysticism and its Results Being an Inquiry into the Uses and
Abuses of Secrecy
Author: John Delafield
Release Date: August 14, 2007 [EBook #22314]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MYSTICISM AND ITS RESULTS ***

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* * * * *
MYSTICISM
AND ITS RESULTS;
BEING AN INQUIRY INTO
THE USES AND ABUSES OF SECRECY,
AS DEVELOPED IN THE INSTRUCTION AND ACTS OF SECRET
SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS, OR CONFRATERNITIES,
WHETHER SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, OR POLITICAL, FROM THE
BEGINNING OF HISTORY TO THE PRESENT DAY, AND THEIR
EFFECTS ON THE MASSES OF MANKIND, THEN AND NOW.
BY JOHN DELAFIELD, ESQ.,
OF MISSOURI, AUTHOR OF "AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN
OF THE ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA."
SAINT LOUIS: PUBLISHED BY EDWARDS & BUSHNELL, NO.
97 FOURTH STREET, TEN BUILDINGS.
* * * * *
1857.
* * * * *
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, BY JOHN
DELAFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United
States, in and for the District of Missouri.
* * * * *
SAVAGE & McCREA, STEREOTYPERS, 13 Chambers Street, N.Y.
* * * * *

TO MY ALMA MATER, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK,
This Essay is respectfully Inscribed, BY THE WRITER.
* * * * *
{5}
PREFACE.
"THE WORD WAS GOD." That "WORD IS TRUTH." Truth can
never change, or it would contradict itself. Past, present, and future,
must be governed by immutable laws. Experience is acquired by the
careful study of history, and the present condition of all things. All is
governed now by that same law of truth, which was from the beginning
of the world, and ever shall be. What serious lessons, then, may be
learned by a careful examination of past ages; and how useful may they
not be to us and our children for future ages? We can only judge of that
which is to come hereafter, by studying the past, and carefully noting
the present.
This little book has collated some facts, perhaps, somewhat out of the
usual range of reading; but which it is sincerely trusted may be of
practical {6} utility. If it only induces thought, study, or research, by
intellectual and honest minds, its object will have been attained. The
writer can only claim the indulgence of the reader to consider the essay
suggestive--not didactic. Many a far abler pen may enlarge upon and
carry out the ideas presented. May it be
J. D.
* * * * *
{7}
CONTENTS.
* * * * *

CHAPTER I.
Secrecy; its Uses and Abuses.--Mystery; its Definition.--Mysticism,
and its Definition. ... PAGE 9
CHAPTER II.
The Distinction between the Early Elohistic and Jehovahstic Ages of
Primeval Patriarchal Times.--The Secrecy of Original Worship on
Mountain Tops.--The Collation and Reconciliation of the Patriarchal
Traditions brought together by Moses.--The Commencement of the
Jehovahstic Age.--The Origin of Mythology.--The Magi; their
Organization and Modes of Worship.--The Deification of Nimrod, and
the Source of Political Power at its Beginning.--The Secret Writings
they adopted.--The Dead Invokers.--The Mysteries of Egypt, Greece,
and Rome. ... 16
CHAPTER III.
The Origin of the Cabbalistæ; the Chaldeans, and their Antagonism to
Patriarchal Tradition.--The Hand-Writing on Belshazzar's Wall.--The
Secret Writings of the Cabbalistæ.--How Daniel read the
Same.--Ezra.--The Origin of the Masoretic Text.--Zoroaster.--His
Reformation and Reconstruction of the Religion of the
Magi.--Pythagoras, and his "League."--The Thugs.--The Druids. ... 41
{8} CHAPTER IV.
The Discipline of the Secret in the Origin of the Christian Church.--The
Inquisition.--The Mystics.--The Rise of Monachism.--The Mendicant
Orders.--The Orders of Knighthood.--The Jesuits, their Organization
and History.--The Rosicrucians, &c. ... 71
CHAPTER V.
The Struggle between an alleged Jus Divinum Regum, and Popular
Sovereignty.--And the Efforts now attempted to destroy our Grand

Experiment of Self-Government.--Practical Results. ... 104
* * * * *
{9} MYSTICISM, AND ITS RESULTS.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
Secrecy; its Uses and Abuses.--Mystery; its Definition.--Mysticism,
and its Definition.
It is not true, as has been sometimes said, that wherever there is secrecy
there is error.
Secrecy, like most all else, hath its uses and abuses: its uses, as
developed in modesty and domestic virtue, in religious meditation,
self-examination, and prayer, and in prudence in the affairs of life: its
abuses, in prudery, asceticism, superstitious awe,