Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Explanation Of The Facultye Of Abrac.
AN EXPLANATION OF THE FACULTYE OF ABRAC .
See Vol . III . p . 82 . TO THE EDITOR . SIR , WAS extremely delighted with the copy of that ancient anct
I venerable manuscript concerning Free-masonry with which you obliged the public . Mr . Locke ' s notes and explanatory remarks do the paper great honour , and his declaration and the lady ' s have contributed to encrease the number of Masons in several lodges . There are however some passages so obscure that Mr . Locke
himself knows not what to make of them . The xvey of ivynninge the facitllye of Abrac is one ; which I shall endeavour to elucidate . I apprehend , that by the faculty of Abrac is meant the chimerical virtues ascribed to the magical term ABRACADABRA , written or repeated in a particular manner . This fanciful charm is supposed to have been invented by the elder Serenus Samoniacusjn the time of the Emperors Severus and Caracalla ; and was thought to be efficacious in curing agues , and preventing other diseases . —The way of writing it was thus :
A paper so inscribed was tied about the neck of the patient . It is the more probable that this may be the true explanation of the facultye of Abrac , because we see that several of the mysteries of masonry ' enumerated in this old piece , are obscurely , imperfectly , or corruptly expressed . For instance , Peter Gower . Who would imagine that Peter Gower was Pythagoras in disguise ? Yet how
naturally and satisfactory is the corruption accounted for , by the medium which Mr . Locke has so happily discovered ? Pythagoras seems to have been fated to transmigrations . The transmigration of Euphorbia into Pythagoras seems scarce more incredible , than ( at first si ght ) the transmigration of Pythagoras into Peter Gower . Another explanation of the above is to be seen in Mr . Hutchinson ' s Spirit of Masonry , p , 33 , and in Brother Preston ' s Illustrations of Masonry ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Explanation Of The Facultye Of Abrac.
AN EXPLANATION OF THE FACULTYE OF ABRAC .
See Vol . III . p . 82 . TO THE EDITOR . SIR , WAS extremely delighted with the copy of that ancient anct
I venerable manuscript concerning Free-masonry with which you obliged the public . Mr . Locke ' s notes and explanatory remarks do the paper great honour , and his declaration and the lady ' s have contributed to encrease the number of Masons in several lodges . There are however some passages so obscure that Mr . Locke
himself knows not what to make of them . The xvey of ivynninge the facitllye of Abrac is one ; which I shall endeavour to elucidate . I apprehend , that by the faculty of Abrac is meant the chimerical virtues ascribed to the magical term ABRACADABRA , written or repeated in a particular manner . This fanciful charm is supposed to have been invented by the elder Serenus Samoniacusjn the time of the Emperors Severus and Caracalla ; and was thought to be efficacious in curing agues , and preventing other diseases . —The way of writing it was thus :
A paper so inscribed was tied about the neck of the patient . It is the more probable that this may be the true explanation of the facultye of Abrac , because we see that several of the mysteries of masonry ' enumerated in this old piece , are obscurely , imperfectly , or corruptly expressed . For instance , Peter Gower . Who would imagine that Peter Gower was Pythagoras in disguise ? Yet how
naturally and satisfactory is the corruption accounted for , by the medium which Mr . Locke has so happily discovered ? Pythagoras seems to have been fated to transmigrations . The transmigration of Euphorbia into Pythagoras seems scarce more incredible , than ( at first si ght ) the transmigration of Pythagoras into Peter Gower . Another explanation of the above is to be seen in Mr . Hutchinson ' s Spirit of Masonry , p , 33 , and in Brother Preston ' s Illustrations of Masonry ,