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Article A DEFENCE OF MASONRY, ← Page 6 of 8 →
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A Defence Of Masonry,
SOUND of the GRINDING is the noise of the voice ; the VOICE of the BIRD is the crowing of the cock ; the DAUGHTERS of MUSIC are the two ears ; the SILVER COED is the siring .. f the tongue ; the GOLDEN - BOWL is the pia-mater ; the PITCHER at the FOUNTAIN is the heart , the fountain of life ; the WHEEL is the great artery ; and the CISTERN is the left ventricle of the heart ! IV . There could not possibl y have been devised a more
significant token of love , friendship , integrity , and honesty , than the joining of the ri g ht bands ; a ceremony made use of by all civilized nations ^ as a token of a faithful and true heart . Fides , , or Fidelity , was a deity among the ancients , of which a learned writer * has g iven us this description , viz . ' The proper residence of Faith , or Fidelity , was thought to be in the right hand ; and , therefore , this deity sometimes was represented by two riht hands joined together ;
g sometimes by two little images shaking each the other ' s ri g ht hand ; so that the ri g ht hand was by the ancients esteemed as a thing sacred . And agreeable to this are those expressions in Virgil , iEneid , IV . En dextra jldesque ! as if shaking by the ri ght hand was an inseparable token of an honest heart . And iEneid I , cur dextras j : mgere dexlram
Non datur , et veras audire et reddere voces ? that is , Why should we not join ri ght hand to ri ght hand , and heap and speak the truth ?
In all contracts and agreements ( says Archbishop Potter , f in his Antiquities of Greece ) it was usual to take each other b y the ri ght hand , that being the manner of plighting faith . And this was done either out of respect to the number ten , as some sa } -, there being ten fingers on the two hands ; or because such a conjunction was a token of amity and concord ; whence at all friendly meetings they join hands , as a sign of the union of their souls .
It was one of the cautions of Pythagoras to his disciples , ' Take heed to whom you offer your rig ht hand ! ' Which is thus explained by Jamblichus . % . Take no one by the ri ght hand but the initiated , that is , in the mystical form : for the vulgar and profane are altogether unworthy of the mystery ! V . The Dissector frequently' faking notice of the number seven ,
I instantly recurred to the old Egyptians , who held the number seven to be sacred ;§ more especially they believed , that whilst their feast of seven days lasted , the crocodiles lost their inbred cruelty : and Leo Afer , in his description of Africa , Lib . VIII . says , that even in his time , the custom of feasting seven days and ni ghts was still used for the happy overflowing of the Nile . The Greeks and Latins professed the same regard for that number ; which mi ght be proved by many examples . VI . The accident , by which the body of Master Hiram was found after his death , seems to allude , in some circumstances , to a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Defence Of Masonry,
SOUND of the GRINDING is the noise of the voice ; the VOICE of the BIRD is the crowing of the cock ; the DAUGHTERS of MUSIC are the two ears ; the SILVER COED is the siring .. f the tongue ; the GOLDEN - BOWL is the pia-mater ; the PITCHER at the FOUNTAIN is the heart , the fountain of life ; the WHEEL is the great artery ; and the CISTERN is the left ventricle of the heart ! IV . There could not possibl y have been devised a more
significant token of love , friendship , integrity , and honesty , than the joining of the ri g ht bands ; a ceremony made use of by all civilized nations ^ as a token of a faithful and true heart . Fides , , or Fidelity , was a deity among the ancients , of which a learned writer * has g iven us this description , viz . ' The proper residence of Faith , or Fidelity , was thought to be in the right hand ; and , therefore , this deity sometimes was represented by two riht hands joined together ;
g sometimes by two little images shaking each the other ' s ri g ht hand ; so that the ri g ht hand was by the ancients esteemed as a thing sacred . And agreeable to this are those expressions in Virgil , iEneid , IV . En dextra jldesque ! as if shaking by the ri ght hand was an inseparable token of an honest heart . And iEneid I , cur dextras j : mgere dexlram
Non datur , et veras audire et reddere voces ? that is , Why should we not join ri ght hand to ri ght hand , and heap and speak the truth ?
In all contracts and agreements ( says Archbishop Potter , f in his Antiquities of Greece ) it was usual to take each other b y the ri ght hand , that being the manner of plighting faith . And this was done either out of respect to the number ten , as some sa } -, there being ten fingers on the two hands ; or because such a conjunction was a token of amity and concord ; whence at all friendly meetings they join hands , as a sign of the union of their souls .
It was one of the cautions of Pythagoras to his disciples , ' Take heed to whom you offer your rig ht hand ! ' Which is thus explained by Jamblichus . % . Take no one by the ri ght hand but the initiated , that is , in the mystical form : for the vulgar and profane are altogether unworthy of the mystery ! V . The Dissector frequently' faking notice of the number seven ,
I instantly recurred to the old Egyptians , who held the number seven to be sacred ;§ more especially they believed , that whilst their feast of seven days lasted , the crocodiles lost their inbred cruelty : and Leo Afer , in his description of Africa , Lib . VIII . says , that even in his time , the custom of feasting seven days and ni ghts was still used for the happy overflowing of the Nile . The Greeks and Latins professed the same regard for that number ; which mi ght be proved by many examples . VI . The accident , by which the body of Master Hiram was found after his death , seems to allude , in some circumstances , to a