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Article TO THE EDITOR. ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor.
Whether from some regard to the sacredness of his obligation , or whether it was to adapt his doctrines to the taste of a voltitile people , he has so hashed and frittered those things which lie learned , so disguised , mangled , and involved them , that , it would almost puzzle a Mason to separate the grain from the chaff , in the confused mass of his various treatises . A few Masonic jewels sparkle among them .
The Masons did not suffer only from treacherous brethren ; they felt the cruellest strokes from the iron hand of power , which ought to have been exerted for their protection a ' iid security . Cambyses , the Persian monarch , made a complete conquest of Egypt . He sternly demanded an account cf their masonic doctrines ; but on refusal , without his submission to the usual ceremonies of obli gation , this haughty ptince , with his wonted temerity , resolved on the total extermination of the Masons .
Lierceand implacable , he destroyed all those that were assembled , burned their lodges , and sacrificed every individual of them that could be met with . A considerable number of otir brethren had sufficient courage and conduct ( what might not such men perform !) , to emigrate to an basis , about three hundred leagues distant from hence . An oasisof which there are several in Africais a sort of island
, , in the midst of burning sands . This is about fourscore leagues , or two hundred and forty miles iu length , and sixty in breadth ; abounding With every tiecessary ancl convenience of life ; the rivers lose themselves in the sands , while every vegetable and animal is tobe niet with that can be found on the rest of . the globe .
It . was inhabited by a few innocent and simple people , who received the Masons with open arms . The arts and sciences are there still cultivated to the highest perfection . There , and there only , remains all the knowledge and learning of the ancient world of Masons . Cambyses sent an army of seventy thousand men to pursue and destroy them . This army were all buried in a whirlwind of sand .
He sent a second more numerous , which shared the same fate . ' It is said , that some Masons , disguised , were employed as < niides , who knew when and where those violent gusts arise , and volunta'ril y sacrificed themselves for the preservation of their brethren . Cambyses raised a third army for the same purpose , determined to lead it himself ; his death defeated the project .
These facts are all ,. well known " and attested by Asiatic historians . — From that day to tit is no one has ever visited this oasis , except Alexander the Macedonian , and a few of his followers . Alexander lost the greatest part of his people , and suffered incredible hardships himself before he reached this oasis . What was an Alexander not equal to ? He was highly pleased with his
entertainment there , and they taught their royal visitor to return in safety . Though it is next to impossible to arrive there , it is seldom more ' tha ' n thirty or forty years that a few do not venture to visit Egypt , yet no one attempts ( though belongs in vain ) to return .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor.
Whether from some regard to the sacredness of his obligation , or whether it was to adapt his doctrines to the taste of a voltitile people , he has so hashed and frittered those things which lie learned , so disguised , mangled , and involved them , that , it would almost puzzle a Mason to separate the grain from the chaff , in the confused mass of his various treatises . A few Masonic jewels sparkle among them .
The Masons did not suffer only from treacherous brethren ; they felt the cruellest strokes from the iron hand of power , which ought to have been exerted for their protection a ' iid security . Cambyses , the Persian monarch , made a complete conquest of Egypt . He sternly demanded an account cf their masonic doctrines ; but on refusal , without his submission to the usual ceremonies of obli gation , this haughty ptince , with his wonted temerity , resolved on the total extermination of the Masons .
Lierceand implacable , he destroyed all those that were assembled , burned their lodges , and sacrificed every individual of them that could be met with . A considerable number of otir brethren had sufficient courage and conduct ( what might not such men perform !) , to emigrate to an basis , about three hundred leagues distant from hence . An oasisof which there are several in Africais a sort of island
, , in the midst of burning sands . This is about fourscore leagues , or two hundred and forty miles iu length , and sixty in breadth ; abounding With every tiecessary ancl convenience of life ; the rivers lose themselves in the sands , while every vegetable and animal is tobe niet with that can be found on the rest of . the globe .
It . was inhabited by a few innocent and simple people , who received the Masons with open arms . The arts and sciences are there still cultivated to the highest perfection . There , and there only , remains all the knowledge and learning of the ancient world of Masons . Cambyses sent an army of seventy thousand men to pursue and destroy them . This army were all buried in a whirlwind of sand .
He sent a second more numerous , which shared the same fate . ' It is said , that some Masons , disguised , were employed as < niides , who knew when and where those violent gusts arise , and volunta'ril y sacrificed themselves for the preservation of their brethren . Cambyses raised a third army for the same purpose , determined to lead it himself ; his death defeated the project .
These facts are all ,. well known " and attested by Asiatic historians . — From that day to tit is no one has ever visited this oasis , except Alexander the Macedonian , and a few of his followers . Alexander lost the greatest part of his people , and suffered incredible hardships himself before he reached this oasis . What was an Alexander not equal to ? He was highly pleased with his
entertainment there , and they taught their royal visitor to return in safety . Though it is next to impossible to arrive there , it is seldom more ' tha ' n thirty or forty years that a few do not venture to visit Egypt , yet no one attempts ( though belongs in vain ) to return .