Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Secrecy Imposed On The Mysteries Of Masonry,
duced the best of consequences to the young prince ; of whom it is . recorded , that , with this great excellence of taciturnity , he not only divested himself of that close mysterious air , so common to the re- , served , but also constantly avoided telling the least untruth in support of this part of his character . A conduct highly worthy the imitation of every one to whom secrets are entrusted ; affording them a pattern of easeand sincerityfor while he seemed to carry his
openness , , ; , whole heart upon his lips , communicating what was of no importance , yet he knew how to stop just in the proper moment , without pror . ceeding to those things which might raise any suspicion , or furnish even a hint to discover the purposes of his mind . If we turn our eyes to antiquity , we shall find the ancient Egyptians had so great a regard for silence and secrecy in the mysteries of their ¦
religion , that they set up the god Hurpocrates , to whom they paid peculiar honour and veneration , who was represented with his right hand placed near the heart , and the left down by his side , covered with a skin before , full of eyes and ears , to signify , that , of many things to be seen and heard , few are to be published . And among the same people , their great his , the Minerva of the Greeks , had always an image of a Sphinx * p laced at the entrance of her temples , to denote that secrets were there preserved under sacred cb = verings , that they mig ht be kept from the knowledge of the vulgar ,
as much as the riddles of that creature . famblicus , in his life of Pythagoras , confirms the above opinion , by observing , that from the mysterious knowledge of the Egyptians that philosopher drew the system of his symbolical learning and instructive tenets , seeing that the principles and wise doctrines of this nation were ever kept secret among themselves , and were delivered downnot in writingbut onlby oral tradition . Andindeedso
, , y , , cautious and prudent were they in these matters , that every disciple admitted to their wise and scientific mysteries , was bound in the same solemn manner to conceal such mysteries from . the vulgar , or . those wlibse ideas -were not sufficiently exalted to receive them . As a proof of this , we need only recollect the story of Hipparchus , a Pytharrorean , who having , out of spleen and resentment , violated and of the held
broke through the several engagements society ,, was in the utmost detestation , expelled the school as one of the most infamous ' and abandoned , and , as he was dead to the principles of virtue and philosophy , had a tomb erected for him , according to their cusr torn , as though he had been naturally dead . The shame and disgrace that justlattended so great a breach of truth and fidelitydrove the
y , mi happy " wretch to such despair , that he proved his own executioner ; and so abhorred was even his memory , that he was denied the rites and ceremonies of burial used to the dead in those times ; instead of which , his body was suffered to lie upon the shore of the isle of Samos .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Secrecy Imposed On The Mysteries Of Masonry,
duced the best of consequences to the young prince ; of whom it is . recorded , that , with this great excellence of taciturnity , he not only divested himself of that close mysterious air , so common to the re- , served , but also constantly avoided telling the least untruth in support of this part of his character . A conduct highly worthy the imitation of every one to whom secrets are entrusted ; affording them a pattern of easeand sincerityfor while he seemed to carry his
openness , , ; , whole heart upon his lips , communicating what was of no importance , yet he knew how to stop just in the proper moment , without pror . ceeding to those things which might raise any suspicion , or furnish even a hint to discover the purposes of his mind . If we turn our eyes to antiquity , we shall find the ancient Egyptians had so great a regard for silence and secrecy in the mysteries of their ¦
religion , that they set up the god Hurpocrates , to whom they paid peculiar honour and veneration , who was represented with his right hand placed near the heart , and the left down by his side , covered with a skin before , full of eyes and ears , to signify , that , of many things to be seen and heard , few are to be published . And among the same people , their great his , the Minerva of the Greeks , had always an image of a Sphinx * p laced at the entrance of her temples , to denote that secrets were there preserved under sacred cb = verings , that they mig ht be kept from the knowledge of the vulgar ,
as much as the riddles of that creature . famblicus , in his life of Pythagoras , confirms the above opinion , by observing , that from the mysterious knowledge of the Egyptians that philosopher drew the system of his symbolical learning and instructive tenets , seeing that the principles and wise doctrines of this nation were ever kept secret among themselves , and were delivered downnot in writingbut onlby oral tradition . Andindeedso
, , y , , cautious and prudent were they in these matters , that every disciple admitted to their wise and scientific mysteries , was bound in the same solemn manner to conceal such mysteries from . the vulgar , or . those wlibse ideas -were not sufficiently exalted to receive them . As a proof of this , we need only recollect the story of Hipparchus , a Pytharrorean , who having , out of spleen and resentment , violated and of the held
broke through the several engagements society ,, was in the utmost detestation , expelled the school as one of the most infamous ' and abandoned , and , as he was dead to the principles of virtue and philosophy , had a tomb erected for him , according to their cusr torn , as though he had been naturally dead . The shame and disgrace that justlattended so great a breach of truth and fidelitydrove the
y , mi happy " wretch to such despair , that he proved his own executioner ; and so abhorred was even his memory , that he was denied the rites and ceremonies of burial used to the dead in those times ; instead of which , his body was suffered to lie upon the shore of the isle of Samos .