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On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
ON FREEMASONRY . THE SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY OF ANCIENT TIMES .
( No . IV . ) BY THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D . IN every modification of true religion , mysterious doctrines have been proposed by the Divine Author for the exercise of faith , and as a condition of existence . At the Fall , it
was propounded as a motive for consolation , under the pressure of that misery and humiliation with which disobedience to the Divine command had plunged the first created pair , that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head . This covenant was included in the Freemasonry of Adam , and illustrated by its symbol , a serpent , and a series
of expressive signs and tokens which are still preserved amongst us . The type of this consoling promise—viz ., animal sacrifices , was the primary mystery or sacrament which demanded implicit belief ; and it was the moving principle which prompted the antediluvian patriarchs to worshiGod in purityunder the lively hope of profiting
p , by the merits of the promised seed , who should thus atone for Adam ' s sin , and open to them the gates of heaven . After the Flood and the renewed apostacy of the idolatrous race of Ham , another mystery or sacrament was enjoined on the patriarchs which was equally incomprehensibleand demanded the tacit acquiescence of the pious
, worshipper : this was circumcision . In the Mosaic dispensation , the mystery of atonement by blood was more fully developed ; and the type was made perfect by the institution of daily and annual sacrifices—the sin and trespass oflerings , and more particularly by the scape goat ; the offering of Abraham on Mount Moriah having intervened , that the
promise and its type mig ht be kept alive in the memory and comprehension of those who adhered to the true worship , and with it to the practice of pure Freemasonry .
Now , it would be known to the Cuthite occupiers of the plain of Shinar , that the true religion was imperfect without the presence of symbol and mystery . In the formation of a new system , therefore , the idea was carried out to an extent VOL . V . U
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
ON FREEMASONRY . THE SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY OF ANCIENT TIMES .
( No . IV . ) BY THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . D . IN every modification of true religion , mysterious doctrines have been proposed by the Divine Author for the exercise of faith , and as a condition of existence . At the Fall , it
was propounded as a motive for consolation , under the pressure of that misery and humiliation with which disobedience to the Divine command had plunged the first created pair , that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head . This covenant was included in the Freemasonry of Adam , and illustrated by its symbol , a serpent , and a series
of expressive signs and tokens which are still preserved amongst us . The type of this consoling promise—viz ., animal sacrifices , was the primary mystery or sacrament which demanded implicit belief ; and it was the moving principle which prompted the antediluvian patriarchs to worshiGod in purityunder the lively hope of profiting
p , by the merits of the promised seed , who should thus atone for Adam ' s sin , and open to them the gates of heaven . After the Flood and the renewed apostacy of the idolatrous race of Ham , another mystery or sacrament was enjoined on the patriarchs which was equally incomprehensibleand demanded the tacit acquiescence of the pious
, worshipper : this was circumcision . In the Mosaic dispensation , the mystery of atonement by blood was more fully developed ; and the type was made perfect by the institution of daily and annual sacrifices—the sin and trespass oflerings , and more particularly by the scape goat ; the offering of Abraham on Mount Moriah having intervened , that the
promise and its type mig ht be kept alive in the memory and comprehension of those who adhered to the true worship , and with it to the practice of pure Freemasonry .
Now , it would be known to the Cuthite occupiers of the plain of Shinar , that the true religion was imperfect without the presence of symbol and mystery . In the formation of a new system , therefore , the idea was carried out to an extent VOL . V . U