ecause those in the ancient religions who were not
initiated in the sacred rites or Mysteries of any deity were not permitted
to enter the temple, but were compelled to remain outside, or in front of
it. They were kept on the outside. The expression a _profane_ is not
recognized as a noun substantive in the general usage of the language; but
it has been adopted as a technical term in the dialect of Freemasonry, in
the same relative sense in which the word _layman_ is used in the
professions of law and divinity.

PURE FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. The same as Primitive Freemasonry,--which
see.

PURIFICATION. A religious rite practised by the ancients, and which was
performed before any act of devotion. It consisted in washing the hands,
and sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water. It was
intended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart. It was a
ceremony preparatory to initiation in all the ancient Mysteries.

PYTHAGORAS. A Grecian philosopher, supposed to have been born in the
island of Samos, about 584 B.C. He travelled extensively for the purpose
of acquiring knowledge. In Egypt he was initiated in the Mysteries of that
country by the priests. He also repaired to Babylon, where he became
acquainted with the mystical learning of the Chaldeans, and had, no doubt,
much communication with the Israelitish captives who had been exiled from
Jerusalem, and were then dwelling in Babylon. On his return to Europe he
established a school, which in its organization, as well as its doctrines,
bore considerable resemblance to Speculative Masonry; for which reason he
has been claimed as "an ancient friend and brother" by the modern
Freemasons.

R

RESURRECTION. This doctrine was taught in the ancient Mysteries, as it is
in Freemasonry, by a scenic representation. The initiation was death, the
autopsy was resurrection. Freemasonry does not interest itself with the
precise mode of the resurrection, or whether the body buried and the body
raised are in all their parts identical. Satisfied with the general
teaching of St. Paul, concerning the resurrection that "it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body," Freemasonry inculcates by
its doctrine of the resurrection the simple fact of a progressive
advancement from a lower to a higher sphere, and the raising of the soul
from the bondage of death to its inheritance of eternal life.

RITUAL. The forms and ceremonies used in conferring the