Excerpt from A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations, Jewish, Heathen, Mahometan, and Christian, Ancient and Modern: With an Appendix, Containing a Sketch of the Present State of the World, as to Population, Religion, Toleration, Missions, Etc; And the Articles in Which All Christian Denominations Agree Besides the public worship of the gods, to which all, without exception, were admitted, there were certain reli gions rites celebrated in secret by the Greeks, and several eastern countries, to which a small number was allowed access. These were called mysteries fl? And persons who desired an initiation were obliged previously 'to exhibit satisfactory proofs of their fidelity and patience, by pass ing through v'tli'iohs trials and ceremonies of the most dis agreeable kind. The secret of these mysteries was kept in the strictest manner, as the initiated could not reveal any thing that passed in them, without exposing their lives to the most imminent danger. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.