Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
never contemplated in the pure times of simple and natural devotion . Instead of adopting the mystery ( Mv-myp-ou . Sacramentum , an inward grace illustrated by symbols , ) as a matter for the exercise of faith , which is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen ; they embraced the more literal meaning of the word ( res
abscondita ) , and instituted secret rites and ceremonies ( airoppriTa ) to conceal certain facts and doctrines from the people , ancl with a view of perpetuating , amidst darkness and seclusion , the knowled ge of important circumstances , which they considered mi ght be usefull y transmitted to posterity . Still there was a remarkable rite in the orgies of Mithras , from
which it would seem that they retained , amidst all their errors , some indistinct idea of the ori g inal purport of the mystery . And this was a kind of sacrament which the hierophant administered to the candidate at his initiation . We have the information from Tertullian , who was well versed in all the mysteries of Paganism ; but he erroneousl y ascribes the ori g in of the ceremony to Christianity . " A Diabolo scilicet , cujus sunt partes intervertendi veritatem . Qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum idolorum
mysterns semuiatur . Tingit et ipse quosdam , utique credentes , et fideles suos : expositionem delictorum de lavacro promittit et si adhuc memini , Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos , celebrat et panis oblationem , etimaginem resiu-rectionis inducit , et sub gladio redimit coronam . " The first retrograde step in the departure from truth was
taken on the plain of Shinar , by the Cuthite descendants of Ham ; although E p i phanius seems to think that the individual guilt of it lies with Serug , the son Ren in the posterity of Shem , who possessed some authority amongst them . First , the Invisible Deity was worshipped ; but soon a perverted ingenuity substituted an emblemand it was not lon <>
-, before credulity and superstition esteemed the symbol to be divine , and had honours offered at its altar . The primitive object of adoration used to represent the deity was a ron-di stone , whether a cube or a pyramid . Maximus Tyrius says , that the Arabians worshipped a square stone , anil the Paphiaus a white pyramid . Herodian reports that the
Phenicians paid their devotions to a conical pillar . Sometimes these emblems were applied indiscriminately to the same deity . Thus Pausanias affirms , that Jupiter Mei \ t tos at Argos and Sicyon was represented in one place by a pyramid , and in the other by a rough stone . And the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
never contemplated in the pure times of simple and natural devotion . Instead of adopting the mystery ( Mv-myp-ou . Sacramentum , an inward grace illustrated by symbols , ) as a matter for the exercise of faith , which is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen ; they embraced the more literal meaning of the word ( res
abscondita ) , and instituted secret rites and ceremonies ( airoppriTa ) to conceal certain facts and doctrines from the people , ancl with a view of perpetuating , amidst darkness and seclusion , the knowled ge of important circumstances , which they considered mi ght be usefull y transmitted to posterity . Still there was a remarkable rite in the orgies of Mithras , from
which it would seem that they retained , amidst all their errors , some indistinct idea of the ori g inal purport of the mystery . And this was a kind of sacrament which the hierophant administered to the candidate at his initiation . We have the information from Tertullian , who was well versed in all the mysteries of Paganism ; but he erroneousl y ascribes the ori g in of the ceremony to Christianity . " A Diabolo scilicet , cujus sunt partes intervertendi veritatem . Qui ipsas quoque res sacramentorum divinorum idolorum
mysterns semuiatur . Tingit et ipse quosdam , utique credentes , et fideles suos : expositionem delictorum de lavacro promittit et si adhuc memini , Mithra signat illic in frontibus milites suos , celebrat et panis oblationem , etimaginem resiu-rectionis inducit , et sub gladio redimit coronam . " The first retrograde step in the departure from truth was
taken on the plain of Shinar , by the Cuthite descendants of Ham ; although E p i phanius seems to think that the individual guilt of it lies with Serug , the son Ren in the posterity of Shem , who possessed some authority amongst them . First , the Invisible Deity was worshipped ; but soon a perverted ingenuity substituted an emblemand it was not lon <>
-, before credulity and superstition esteemed the symbol to be divine , and had honours offered at its altar . The primitive object of adoration used to represent the deity was a ron-di stone , whether a cube or a pyramid . Maximus Tyrius says , that the Arabians worshipped a square stone , anil the Paphiaus a white pyramid . Herodian reports that the
Phenicians paid their devotions to a conical pillar . Sometimes these emblems were applied indiscriminately to the same deity . Thus Pausanias affirms , that Jupiter Mei \ t tos at Argos and Sicyon was represented in one place by a pyramid , and in the other by a rough stone . And the