Mystery

(mis'tur-e.) [Same der iv.] Something secret or concealed, impo ible or difficult to comprehend. The Eleusinia, or sacred rites of Ceres, solemnized at Eleusis, were called, by way of eminence, the Mysteries; and with such superstition were they concealed, that if any person divulged any part of them, he was thought to have called down some divine judgment on his head, and it was accounted unsafe to abide under the same roof with him; Horace, indeed, declares that he would not put to sea in the same ship with one who revealed the mysteries of Ceres. The whole religion of the Egyptians was mysterious, and both their doctrines and worship wrapped up in symbols and hieroglyphics. The religion of the Jews was likewise full of mysteries; their laws, nay, their whole constitution and nation, were mysterious. [s. 628]