I. An account of the pagan Mysteries. p. 379.

1. The doctrine taught in them relative to the great father. p. 380.

2. The speculations of the old theologists were scenically exhibited in the shews of the Mysteries. p. 382.

3. The door of initiation. p. 382.

4. The doctrine taught in the Mysteries relative to the great mother. p. 383.

5. The endless succession of similar worlds and divine genealogies. p. 383.

6. The mimic labours of the aspirants. p. 384.

7. Peculiar phraseology of the Mysteries. p. 385.

8. The penances undergone during initiation. p. 386.

9. The hierophant. p. 386.

10. The origination of the Mysteries. p. 387.

II. Allusive use of the word Mystery in Scripture. p. 389.

1. Whence it was, that Christ came to use the term or to allude to the thing. p. 391.

(1.) Passages, in which he uses the term. p. 394.

(2.) Passages, in which he alludes to the thing. p. 396. 2. The use of the term, or the allusion to the thing, in the writings of St. Paul. p. 404.

(1.) Passages, in which he uses the term. p. 404.

(2.) Passages, in which he alludes to the thing. p. 412.
(3.) His own account of the ground of such phraseology.
p. 414.

III. Opinion of the fathers, respecting the scriptural use of the word Mystery and the phraseology connected with it. p. 416.

1. Julius Firmicus. p. 416.

2. Origen. p. 417.

3. Lactantius. p. 418.

4. Tertullian. p. 418.

5. Clemens Alexandrinus. p. 419.

SECT.

SECT. II.

On the use of the word Mystery, with a special reference to the text which speaks of the Mystery of godliness, as directly establishing the true doctrine of our Lord's nature. p. 426.

A SPECIAL discussion of the text, which speaks of the Mystery of godliness. p. 426.

I. The Epistle, which contains it, is addressed to Timothy the bishop of the Ephesians. p. 427.

1. Respecting the superstition which prevailed at Ephesus. p. 427.

2. The evidence, that there is a designed allusion to the pagan Mysteries in the first Epistle to Timothy. p. 430.

(1.) Mystic tales and endless genealogies. p. 430.
(2.) The discourse of the initiating hierophant. p. 431.
(3.) Profane speculations of the early paganizing here-
tics. p. 432.

(4.) Their blasphemy. p. 434.

(5.) The faithful discourse of a Christian hierophant. p. 437.

(6.) Those which are without. p. 438.

(7.) Allusions to the paganizing heresy, which then in

fested the Church. p. 439.

II. The Mystery of godliness and its context. p. 441.

1. The house of God. P. 442.

2. The pillar and the firm foundation. p. 443.

(1.) The pillar. p. 443.

(2.) The firm foundation. p. 445.

3. The Mystery of godliness. p. 446.

III. The particular point of doctrine, which St. Paul wished to illustrate in this text by his studied allusion to the pagan Mysteries. p. 446.

1. The

1. The dispute relative to the genuineness of the word God, as it occurs in this text: for in different manuscripts three several readings are found to occur; C, OC, P. 447.

and O.

(1.) A discussion of the last reading, O. p. 448.

(2.) A discussion of the two first readings, C and OC. p. 449.

2. Respecting the proposed Socinian version of the passage. p. 450.

(1.) A specimen of the inconclusive reasoning produced by that version, even as it must strike a mere English reader. p. 453.

(2.) But the incongruity is much heightened, if we consider that the Epistle would be read by newly converted Gentiles. p. 458.

3. The reasoning of the apostle will be conclusive, only on the supposition that he held the doctrine of Christ's divinity. p. 463.

4. That doctrine is alike established, whether we adopt the reading OC or OC. p. 466.

SECT. III.

On the use of the word Mystery, with a special reference to the text which speaks of the Mystery of iniquity, and as illustrating the poetical machinery of the Apocalypse. p. 473.

THE predicted apostasy of the Church to demonolatry, and the principle of pagan toleration or intolerance. p. 473. I. Respecting the Mystery of iniquity, in St. Paul's prophecy of the man of sin. p. 481.

II. As this Mystery of iniquity is developed in the Apocalypse, the book is studiously written with a perpetual reference to the Mysteries of the Gentiles; and it may

be

be viewed as a kind of sacred drama, the machinery of which is borrowed from the old Mysteries. p. 484.

1. The prologue. p. 485.

2. The opening of the door. p. 486.

3. The sealing on the forehead. p. 4.86.

4. The silence: the perfecting of the Mystery: the honey. p. 487.

5. The terrific pageantry of what may be called the doleful part of the sacred Mysteries. p. 488.

(1.) The beast from the sea or from the abyss. p. 488. (2.) The seven-headed serpent. p. 489.

(3.) The beast from the earth or the false prophet. p. 490.

6. The potency of names. p. 490.

7. The interpreting hierophant, and the Mystery of the oceanic great mother. p. 490,

8. The infernal lake of initiation. p. 492,

9. The joyful part of the sacred Mysteries. p. 493.

(1.) The grand mundane renovation: the open gates: the river of Elysium: the waters of immortality. p. 493. (2.) The final discourse of the hierophant. p. 494. (3.) The dismission of the epopts. p. 495.