-
Articles/Ads
Article ON MASONIC NUMBER. ← Page 2 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Masonic Number.
Freemason says in his discourse concerning the Gods * , that " number is the princip le most providential of all heaven and earth , and the nature that is betwixt them ; it is the root of divine beings , ancl of gods , ancl of demons ; the princip le , fountain , and root of all things , which first existed in the divine mind , and out of which all things were
digested into order ancl regularity . " Odd numbers were called masculine , and appropriated to the celestial godsf ; and these were deemed perfect +. Even numbers were accounted imperfect and female , and dedicated to the infernal deities § . Whatever was generated of odd numbers was , in like manner , of the male kind , and of even nummulti
bers , female || . And a number produced from the - p lication of odd and even was denominated dpfenB ^ i , hermaphrodite . Hence Pythagoras concluded that Monad
was the father of number , and Duad the mother f . Phis doctrine constituted one of his ineffable secrets , and was communicated to his disci p les at their initiation , as we learn from Jamblichus ** , who says , quoting from a fragment of a book ascribed to him , " I learned this when I was initiated at Libeth in Thrace , A g laophemus administering the his
rites to me . Orpheus , son of Calliope , instructed by mother in the Pangasan mountain , said , that number is an eternal substance , the most provident princip le of the universe—heaven , and earth , and middle nature—likewise the root of divine beings , and of gods and demons ft . " And this is agreeable to the system of Masonry as now practised ,
which g ives a decided preference to odd numbers . I subjoin a statement of the general reference which the most prominent of our Masonic numbers bears to the great truths which they are intended to illustrate .
ONE . This number alludes to the unity of the Godhead , and to the union of the royal , the priestly , and the prophetical dignity in one person , during the patriarchal ages . The p hilosophers held that the Monad was God , because it is the beginning and end of all ; itself having neither beginning nor end ; and also hermaphrodite , because it is both male
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Masonic Number.
Freemason says in his discourse concerning the Gods * , that " number is the princip le most providential of all heaven and earth , and the nature that is betwixt them ; it is the root of divine beings , ancl of gods , ancl of demons ; the princip le , fountain , and root of all things , which first existed in the divine mind , and out of which all things were
digested into order ancl regularity . " Odd numbers were called masculine , and appropriated to the celestial godsf ; and these were deemed perfect +. Even numbers were accounted imperfect and female , and dedicated to the infernal deities § . Whatever was generated of odd numbers was , in like manner , of the male kind , and of even nummulti
bers , female || . And a number produced from the - p lication of odd and even was denominated dpfenB ^ i , hermaphrodite . Hence Pythagoras concluded that Monad
was the father of number , and Duad the mother f . Phis doctrine constituted one of his ineffable secrets , and was communicated to his disci p les at their initiation , as we learn from Jamblichus ** , who says , quoting from a fragment of a book ascribed to him , " I learned this when I was initiated at Libeth in Thrace , A g laophemus administering the his
rites to me . Orpheus , son of Calliope , instructed by mother in the Pangasan mountain , said , that number is an eternal substance , the most provident princip le of the universe—heaven , and earth , and middle nature—likewise the root of divine beings , and of gods and demons ft . " And this is agreeable to the system of Masonry as now practised ,
which g ives a decided preference to odd numbers . I subjoin a statement of the general reference which the most prominent of our Masonic numbers bears to the great truths which they are intended to illustrate .
ONE . This number alludes to the unity of the Godhead , and to the union of the royal , the priestly , and the prophetical dignity in one person , during the patriarchal ages . The p hilosophers held that the Monad was God , because it is the beginning and end of all ; itself having neither beginning nor end ; and also hermaphrodite , because it is both male