The Legend Of The Lost Word. (Continued From Page 67).

and so" on until Capricorn is reached , which is the ninth sign from the vernal equinox , and the undermost one of the zodiac , corresponding to the ninth or lowest arch of the secret vault , and there , on the 21 st of December , at his

lowest declination to tho winter solstice , he is lost , and ' lies buried in darkness , until reviving , he commences his ascent toward the vernal equinox , and begins by his move potent rays to rebuild that glorious temple of light and beauty ,

adorned by flowers and fruits , which the rude assaults of winter have destroyed .

Another allegorical correspondence is found in the fact that the discovery of tbe word is made , according to the Masonic legend , by " three , " which agrees perfectly with

the number of signs , Aquarius , Pisces , and Aries , and the months January , February , and March , which separate the

winter solstice from the vernal equinox , where , according to the legend of Hiram , the sun is found , as before explained . The sacred name was engraved on a triangular plate of gold , which , according to astrology , is tho solar metal . This

triangular plate , according to the Royal Arch legend , was surrounded by a circle . This triangle within a circle would therefore correctly represent the diagram of the Egyptian

year . But , again , the legend informs us that this triangular plate of gold was fixed to a stone of agate of the same form : Now , each month , the ancient astrologers taught , had its appropriate gem :

MARCH , the Bloodstone . SEPT ., the Sapphire . JAN ., the Garnet . JULY , the Ruby . FEB ., the Amethyst . AUG ., the Sardonyx . APRIL , the Diamond . OCT ., the Opal . MAT , the Emerald . Nov ., tho Topaz . JUNE , the Agate . DEC , the Turquoise

The agate , therefore , is emblematic of the month of June , the summer solstice , aud the resurrection and exaltation of the sun . The whole was placed on a cubical stone , but the cube was sacred to Apollo , who was identical with Helios , the

sun-god . The altar of Apollo at Delos was in the form of a cube . The symbolism of this legend is therefore perfect in all its details—the emblematic correspondence is too absolute

to be accidental . The legend of the lost word is but another form of the solar allegory of the death and resurrection of Hiram , and teaches the same lesson . —Freemasons' Repository .

The Mysteries Of Osiris.

THE MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS .

FREEMASONRY , with its lesser and greater mysteries analogous to those of Egypt , Asia Minor and Greece , is the only representative of tho famous Mysteries of primitive times . The original of all were the Mysteries of Osiris , exemplified in Egypt at Phihe , Sais , Busiris and other places .

Of these we know all too little , and yet we know enough to satisfy us of their general character . As Bro . Gould has happly phrased it , " they contained the germs of great moral truths . " * They wero the most profound and curious ,

established in all the ages . Mr . Birch says they contained " Masonic mysteries . " The account of the death and resurrection of Oisiris reads not only like a Masonic legend

but also like a foreshadowing of the truth of Divine Revelation , as though it were based upon some early prophecy , information of which had reached Egypt .

The Mysteries of Osiris had their Great Light , as we have ours . It was what we now style " The Ritual of the Dead . " On the monuments and on papyrus were many of its fragments , which have been preserved and deciphered . The

oldest copy on any monument is of the Eleventh Dynasty ( B . C . 2400—Lepsius ) , while the oldest on papyrus , now in the Turin Museum , is of the Eighteenth Dynasty ( B . C . 1600 ) . The latter is on strips , twelve inches wide , and

some three hundred feet in length , covering one side of a wall in the Museum . Fragments of the Ritual differing two thousand years in age , have been found to be similar in thought and language . A copy of the Seventeenth Chapter

of this Ritual of the Dead was found on the coffin of Queen Mentuhept , whose era was fifteen hundred years before Moses lived . Near the ruined city of Ibreem , on a tomb , a

part of it remains to this day , in colours as bright as when first engraved and painted by the artist , forty centuries ago . Such is the antiquity of what Mr . Bon wick has termed the "Egyptian Bible , " the Great Light of the Mysteries of Osiris .

The Mysteries Of Osiris.

The greatest men among the ancients were initiates in the Ancient Mysteries of Egypt , or Greece . To name them would be to give a list of the most celebrated , of the early philosophers and writers . We instance but a few : Herodotus , Sophocles , Plutarch , Isocrates , Diodorus , Macrobius , Plato , Aristotle , Epictetust , Cicero , Sallust , Proclus and Strabo * Herodotus says : " Though I am well acquainted with tho Mysteries I will not reveal them . " Sir J . Gardner Wilkinson tells us : " Of the Mysteries , and of the festivals

in honour of Osiris , we can obtain little or no information from ancient authors . The former were too sacred to be

divulged ; and few of the Greeks and other strangers were admitted even into those of the lesser order . They were divided into the greater andlessermysteriesand before admission into the former , it was necessary that the intiated should have passed through all the gradations of the latter . But to merit this great honour , much was expected of the candidate ,

and many even of the priesthood were unable to obtain it . Besides the proofs of a virtuous life , other recommendations wero required ; and to be admitted to all the grades of the higher mysteries was the greatest honour to which any

one could aspire . It was from these that the Mysteries of

Eleusis were borrowed . " ! In Greece the comic poets of the time were not slow to avail themselves of opportunities to refer sportively to the Mysteries . For example , Aristophanes , in the " Frogs , " thus burlesques the chants of the Eleusinian Mysteries :

" Keep silence , keep silence ; let all the profane From onr holy solemnity dnly refrain ; Whose sonls unenlightened by taste are obscnre Whose poetical notions are dark and impure ; Whose theatrical conscience

Is sullied by nonsense ; Who never wero trained by the mighty Cralinus , In mystical orgies poetic and vinons ;

Who delight in buffooning and jests ont of reason , Who promote the designs of oppression and treason ; Who foster sedition , and strife , and debate—Aro traitors , in short , to the stage and the State . " !

In like manner Apuleius in the " Golden Ass , " makes Lucius . to be initiated into the Mysteries of Isis . The initiate finds he is also expected to be familiar with the

Mysteries " of the great God , and supreme father of the gods , the invincible Osiris . " Ofoneofthe initiates he says : " He also walked gently , with a limping step , the ankle-bone of his left foot being a little bent , in order that

he might afford me some sign by which I might know him . " So in the " Apologia , " the author of the " Metamorphosis , " says : " If any happens to be present who has been initiated in the same rites as myself , if he

will give me the sign , he shall then be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care . " Plautus , in his play of " Miles Gloriosus , " also says : Give me the sign , if you are one of these votaries . " §

Osiris was not the earliest god worshipped in Egypt—Khem , Amen and Ptah having preceded him , but he became the most popular , and was known as the national god of the Egyptians . On the monuments he is styled

the " Nameless One , " " Light of tbe World , " " King of Gods , " the " Eternal One . " The 147 th chapter of the Ritual of the Dead gives him a hundred names . His name is rare before the sixth dynasty ( B . C . 2744 ) ; while

m the twelth dynasty ( B . C . 2380 ) he was generally

acknowledged . The secret of his popularity lay in the apprehension that he had lived on tbe earth as man ' s benefactor , died for his advantage , and lives again as bis judge . "Amen , " we are told by the monuments ,

committed all judgment to his once suffering , but now triumphant Son ! Wonderful language , in the light of Revelation . Nay , more than this : The one only true and living God , whom the initiate in the Mysteries of

Osiris was taught to worship , was identical with the God of the Hebrews , for the initiate carried with him to his grave the name of his God , inscribed on a scroll , and it

was " Nuk pu Nuk " signifying , literally , " I am that I am . " | | What light does the knowledge of this fact shed on the mission of Moses to Pharoah—Moses who was skillod in all the learning of the Egyptians , himself in