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Article WHAT IS THE ORDER OF FREEMASONRY? ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
What Is The Order Of Freemasonry?
true philosophers , and qtialifiea to officiate as Priests of Nature in the Temple of Wisdom . I shall withdraw in this present moment from all whom I have just now enumerated , and address those Brethren solely , who look upon the Order as a convivial association , and upon its Lodges as designed for mirth and glee only . To relieve them from so gross an errorI will resolve the question
, ' What is the Order of Free Masonry ?' Plere I must , as far as I am at liberty , unfold part of our sacred records . Even profane history teaches us , that iEgyptns was the founder of that vast empire , which bears his name to this day . This iEgyptusa prince of the most lofty wisdomand master of
, , all arts and sciences which the human mind is able to comprehend , instituted an Order for cultivating the mind , for making its members better than other men , and fit to be entrusted with secrets . Those , thus perfected , were admitted to the King ' s intimacy , and I ty himself instructed in the Grand Mystery of the Order—in that princely science , since termed Tim ROYAL ART .
There is no occasion to ailow , that handling the mallet was the mystic art KingiEgyptus imparted to his philosophic favourites , as the greatest mystery in Nature . —No : we may safely let the appellation Masonry pass as emblematical . For , as the Order is a building up of the mind with qualifications well squared for the purpose , Masonry is by no means an ill epithet ; becausewhen we are admonished to erect the Temple of Wisdom
, within us , we are apt to confound with it the idea of mechanical operations . And as the first orators that stood up among the members of this Order may have , perhaps , drawn their allusions from real fabrics , it is easily defined how the Order came to be called the Order of Masonry , and its members Masons , who soon added the foreword free , and styled themselves Free Masonsin order to be distinguished from
, operative Masons . And when we view the platform of our Order , where we behold a double triangle with the superscription , Divine Magic is the only road to the Temple of Wisdom , we are led to suppose , that ^ Egyptus nominated the same—the Order of Magicians , which is to say , of Philosophers .
Moses , who studied under the Magicians of Egypt , was no doubt initiated and raised to the hi ghest degree of the Order , which probably made him of . so much consequence with Pharaoh : and thence important as commander over Israel . From Moses the Royal Art was handed down to Solomon , under whom the Order suffered a revolution , as all experienced Brethren know ; and though we conform to the Solomcnic regulationswe have
, no authori ty to prove , that these were handed down to us in a direct line ; for we cannot deny , that Pythagoras introduced the Order in this island , and opened schools of wisdom among the Diuids for teaching the Royal Art ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
What Is The Order Of Freemasonry?
true philosophers , and qtialifiea to officiate as Priests of Nature in the Temple of Wisdom . I shall withdraw in this present moment from all whom I have just now enumerated , and address those Brethren solely , who look upon the Order as a convivial association , and upon its Lodges as designed for mirth and glee only . To relieve them from so gross an errorI will resolve the question
, ' What is the Order of Free Masonry ?' Plere I must , as far as I am at liberty , unfold part of our sacred records . Even profane history teaches us , that iEgyptns was the founder of that vast empire , which bears his name to this day . This iEgyptusa prince of the most lofty wisdomand master of
, , all arts and sciences which the human mind is able to comprehend , instituted an Order for cultivating the mind , for making its members better than other men , and fit to be entrusted with secrets . Those , thus perfected , were admitted to the King ' s intimacy , and I ty himself instructed in the Grand Mystery of the Order—in that princely science , since termed Tim ROYAL ART .
There is no occasion to ailow , that handling the mallet was the mystic art KingiEgyptus imparted to his philosophic favourites , as the greatest mystery in Nature . —No : we may safely let the appellation Masonry pass as emblematical . For , as the Order is a building up of the mind with qualifications well squared for the purpose , Masonry is by no means an ill epithet ; becausewhen we are admonished to erect the Temple of Wisdom
, within us , we are apt to confound with it the idea of mechanical operations . And as the first orators that stood up among the members of this Order may have , perhaps , drawn their allusions from real fabrics , it is easily defined how the Order came to be called the Order of Masonry , and its members Masons , who soon added the foreword free , and styled themselves Free Masonsin order to be distinguished from
, operative Masons . And when we view the platform of our Order , where we behold a double triangle with the superscription , Divine Magic is the only road to the Temple of Wisdom , we are led to suppose , that ^ Egyptus nominated the same—the Order of Magicians , which is to say , of Philosophers .
Moses , who studied under the Magicians of Egypt , was no doubt initiated and raised to the hi ghest degree of the Order , which probably made him of . so much consequence with Pharaoh : and thence important as commander over Israel . From Moses the Royal Art was handed down to Solomon , under whom the Order suffered a revolution , as all experienced Brethren know ; and though we conform to the Solomcnic regulationswe have
, no authori ty to prove , that these were handed down to us in a direct line ; for we cannot deny , that Pythagoras introduced the Order in this island , and opened schools of wisdom among the Diuids for teaching the Royal Art ,