857 



MYROXOCARPIN. 



MYTHOLOGY. 



when the acute or active stage is passed, while the difference of price 

 is the only reason for preferring one kind to another. 



MYROXOCARPIN (C 18 H 35 ). A resinous body extracted from 

 the white Balsam of Tolu. 



MYROXYLIC ACID. Carbolenzoic Acid. An acid obtained from 

 Balsam of Peru. It is probably impure benzoic acid. 



MYRRH, Medical Uses of. [BALSAMODEXDROX, in NAT. HIST. Div.] 



MYSTERIES. [DRAMA ; French Drama.'] 



MYSTERY (liuffT-fipiov). In the religion of the Greeks there were 

 rites and doctrines which were kept secret from the mass of the 

 people and only communicated to a chosen few. These things were 

 called mysteries. This word has been adopted by the writers of the 

 New Testament, who apply it to things which are kept secret for a 

 time and afterwards revealed, or to things which are kept secret from 

 some persons though they may be revealed to others, or lastly, to 

 things, which, though not kept perfectly secret, are only made known 

 by symbols. Thus the term answers pretty well to the English word 

 secret. It is frequently opposed to words which imply discovery. Thus 

 the New Testament writers speak of a mystery revealed (^uffr-fipiov 

 oo/caAw0eV) or la-might to light (<f>anaSfv) or made known (yvufw&iv}. 

 They call the gospel a mystery, as being a system which had formerly 

 been kept secret, but was now revealed to them, and through them to 

 the world (Rom. xvi. 25, 26 ; 1 Cor. ii. 7-10 ; Ephes. iii. 9 ; vi. 19 ; 

 Coloss. i. 26, 27 ; ii. 2 ; iv. 3). So Christ said to his disciples, " To you 

 it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to 

 them it is not given" (Matt. xiii. 11; Mark iv. 11; Luke viii. 10), 

 that is, you are permitted to understand those doctrines which are at 

 present kept secret from others. But afterwards they were commanded 

 to proclaim these secrets to the world (Matt. x. 26, 27 ; xxviii. 19, 20; 

 Mark iv. 22; xvi. 15; 1 Cor. iv. 1). It is also applied to individual 

 facts or doctrines. Thus the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges 

 of the Christian religion is called a mystery, because it had never before 

 been understood by the Jews (Rom. xi. 25 ; Ephes. iii. 3-5). The fact 

 that the living will undergo a change at the resurrection is also called 

 a mystery (1 Cor. xv. 51 ). To the same class belongs the only passage 

 in which the word might perhaps be understood to imply something 

 not merely unknown but actually incomprehensible, namely, 1 Tim. iii. 

 16, " Great is the mystery of godliness (or religion, eu<rf)3eios) ; God was 

 manifest in the flesh," &c., which means, " Great is the secret which 

 religion discloses God was manifest in the flesh," &c. In 2 Thess. ii. 

 7, "the mystery of wickedness" is "wickedness which is already 

 Kcretly at work ia the church," and of which the revelation is predicted 

 in ver. 8 (TO ~/bf luitrrfipior tfSri tvfpyci-rcu TTJS awifiias, . . . . xal TIJTC 

 aTO(caAwf>0<)<reTai l> Hyofios). The word is used in rather a singular way, 

 but still with the same meaning, in 1 Cor. xiv. 2, where it is_said of a 

 person who speaks in an unknown tongue, " in the spirit he speaketh 

 mysteries," that is, he communes with God in language unintelligible 

 to those around. We have examples of the use of the word to denote 

 the secret meaning of a figure or symbol in Ephes. v. 2 ; Rev. i. 20 ; 

 xvii. 5, 7. This general signification of a secret is the only one in 

 which the word mystery is used in the New Testament. In the 

 Septuagint its meaning is the same (Daniel ii. 18, 19, 27, 28, 29,30, 

 47 ; iv. 9). The early ecclesiastical writers applied the word to solemn 

 religious rites, and this is probably the reason why /j.v<rrfipun> is trans- 

 lated hi the Vulgate by tact-amentum. In modern usage a mystery is a 

 doctrine which is incomprehensible by the human understanding, or 

 which appears to involve facts irreconcileable with each other. Thus 

 the doctrine of the Trinity, the union of the divine and human nature 

 in the person of Christ, the consistency of God's perfect foreknowledge 

 and fixed plan of providence with the free-will of man, are spoken of as 

 mysteries. Not that these doctrines are considered as self-contradictory ; 

 for if such contradiction be proved, the doctrine is no longer mysterious 

 but impossible. We believe that they can be explained, though our 

 mental powers are not strong enough to explain them. It is worthy 

 of remark that mysteries (in the modern sense) are found in philosophy 

 and natural religion as well as in revealed religion. 



MYSTICS, a Christian sect which arose in the 2nd century, and 

 whose principles are probably to be traced to the philosophy of the 

 Christian Platonists of Alexandria, Ammonius Saccas and his followers. 

 They first appear as a distinct sect in the 4th century, under the 

 teaching of a Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out to be Dionysius 

 the Areopagite, one of St. Paul's converts (Acts, xvii. 34), and who is 

 generally regarded as the founder of the sect of the Mystics. 



Adopting the Platonic doctrine, that the human soul is a portion of 

 the divine nature, they held that every man has a divine light within 

 him which is sufficient for his guidance to present and future happi- 

 ness, but that this light is obscured by the grossness of our material 

 bodies and by the influence of external objects. To shake off these 

 evil influences, and thus to keep the soul in as close connection as 

 possible with its divine original, they considered to be the essence of 

 religion ; and this they endeavoured to accomplish by constant medita- 

 tion on spiritual objects, secret communion with God, and an austere 

 discipline of the body. As they considered everything external to the 

 soul as only calculated to obscure the divine light within, they set no 

 value upon accurate systems of doctrine nor upon religious observances 

 as contributing to the advancement of religion. One of their leading 

 doctrines was that real love to God must necessarily be disinterested, 

 that is, uninfluenced by the expectation of reward or punishment. 



The austere lives and apparent devotion of the Mystics caused their 

 principles to spread extensively in the Eastern church, and had a great 

 influence in the spread of monachism. In the 9th century they were 

 introduced into the West by a present which the Grecian emperor 

 Michael Balbus made to Louis le Debonnaire, of the works of Dionysius 

 the Areopagite, which however are undoubtedly spurious. The book 

 was translated into Latin by the order of Louis, and the principles 

 contained in it soon found many followers. In the 13th century the 

 Mystics were the most formidable opponents of the schoolmen, and 

 gradually many eminent men who were disgusted with the puerile 

 conceits and lifeless religion of the latter, attached themselves to the 

 Mystics, or rather to the- purely spiritual principles held by them ; and 

 just before the Reformation, nearly all the friends of spiritual religion 

 were included in this sect. In the 17th century the doctrines of 

 Mysticism were advocated by a Spanish priest, Michael de Molinos, 

 from whose representations of religion, as consisting in the perfect 

 tranquillity of a mind always engaged in communion with God, the 

 sect obtained the new name of Quietists. At the end of the same 

 century attention was called to Mysticism in France by the writings of 

 Madame Guyon, whose sentiments were opposed by Bossuet and de- 

 fended by Fdnelon ; and in the next century the Pietists of Germany 

 may be reckoned among them. In all these instances,-however, it is 

 more a general resemblance in first principles, than any ^adoption of 

 the tenets either of Ammonius or Dionysius. 



MYTHO'LOGY (/j.u6o\oyla.). The mythology of a people may be 

 said to consist of those legends and traditions which have been, at some 

 period or other, usually believed by the majority of the nation, but 

 which cannot be regarded as historical truths on principles of sound 

 criticism. The term therefore, although chiefly referring to them, is 

 not confined to the religious systems of the Pagan nations ; it includes 

 everything that has been an object of popular belief, not merely 

 respecting the origin, attributes, and adventures of the gods, but also 

 concerning the early heroes, migrations, and exploits of a people. 

 The historical inquirer has frequently great difficulty in determining at 

 what time the mythology of a nation may be said to cease, and its 

 history to begin ; and in fact it is impossible to determine the exact 

 time, since the transition from mythology to history must be neces- 

 sarily" gradual ; and many traditions, which appear at first sight 

 entirely mythological, may, upon further examination, be proved to 

 contain some great historical truths. 



Though a mythological event may be fictitious, it appears that 

 mythology differs from fiction or fable, in having been once generally 

 believed by a people as an account of events which actually took place. 

 That which is regarded by us as mythological, may therefore be con- 

 sidered by another people as an historical or religious truth ; and in the 

 same manner as the exploits and adventures of the gods and heroes in 

 the Mahabharata and Rarnftyana are viewed by us as mythological, so 

 the exploits and adventures of the Israelites in the conquest of 

 Canaan, in many respects as extraordinary and wonderful as those 

 of the gods and heroes in the great Hindu poems, may be looked 

 upon by the Brahmans as the mythology of the Christian religion. 



On few subjects perhaps has more learning been expended, than in 

 investigating the history and origin of the mythology of the principal 

 nations of antiquity. Among the various theories that have been pro- 

 posed on this subject, the four following appear to have met with the 

 greatest number of supporters : 



1. The Scriptural theory, according to which all mythological legends 

 are derived from the facts contained in the narratives of Scripture, 

 though the real facts have been disguised and somewhat altered. The 

 supporters of this theory maintain that all mythic personages may 

 be found in the Scripture ; that Deucalion is only another) name for 

 Noah, Hercules for Samson, Arion for Jonah, &c. This hypothesis 

 has been supported with a profusion of learned ingenuity and absurdity 

 by Jacob Bryant, in his ' Analysis of Ancient Mythology,' who saw the 

 patriarchs in every minute event of heathen mythology. Sir William 

 Jones, in his dissertations, in the ' Asiatic Researches,' on the Hindu 

 gods, applied Bryant's arguments to the Hindu mythology, though his 

 good sense preserved him to a great extent from the follies which 

 distinguished Bryant's work. Most of the Christian Fathers maintained 

 that the principal deities in the ancient mythology were in reality 

 devils, and that then- worship and history had been taught to man- 

 kind by the devils themselves. This theory has been adopted by 

 Milton, in the first book of his ' Paradise Lost,' in those lines beginning 

 with 



" First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with Wood 

 Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears," &c. 



2. The Historical theory, according to which all the personages 

 mentioned in mythology were once real human beings, and the legends 

 and fabulous traditions relating to them are merely the additions and 

 embellishments of later times. This mode of accounting fo rthe origin 

 of mythology appears to have been hi some measure adopted by the 

 Egyptian priests, and was maintained by many of the Greek writers. 

 The Egyptian priests told Herodotus (ii., 144) that then- deities origi- 

 nally reigned upon the earth, and that the last who reigned was Orus, 

 the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks called Apollo. An instance of this 

 mode of accounting for the origin of mythology may be seen in the 

 explanation which the Egyptian priests gave to Herodotus of the myth 



