Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
learned Greeks degenerated , that it is said they worshipped one statue of Jupiter covered with horse-dung , and another , called Jupiter Apomyos , in the shape of a fly ! And yet amidst all this abomination , it is remarkable how truly they propagated the externals of the Order , and with what fidelity they adhered to the ceremonies and symbolical
machinery of the system which inculcated virtue by precept , but failed to enforce it by example . Thus , I quote from Brother Laurie ' s History of Freemasonry in Scotland : — " Those who were initiated into the Mysteries , were bound by the most awful engagements to conceal the instructions they receivedand the ceremonies that were performed .
, None were admitted as candidates till they arrived at a certain age ; and particular persons were appointed to examine and prepare them for the rites of initiation . Those whose conduct was found irregular , or ivho had been guilty of atrocious crimes , were rejected as unworthy ; while the successful candidates were instructed , by significant symbols ,
iu the principles of religion ; were exhorted to quell every turbulent appetite and passion , and to merit , by the improvement of their minds and the purity of their hearts , those ineffable benefits which they were still to receive . Significant words were communicated to the members ; grand officers presided over their assemblies ; their emblems
were exactly similar to those of Freemasonry , ancl the candidate advanced from one degree to another , till he received all the lessons of wisdom and virtue which the priests could impart . But besides these circumstances of resemblance , there are two facts transmitted to us by ancient authors , which have an astonishing similarity to the ceremonies of the third degree of Freemasonry . "
In the succession of schools instituted by the philosophers of Greece , every new system laboured to defeat its predecessor ; and the great variety of speculations which have reached our times only tend to shew the vast superiority of revelation over the vague conclusions of unassisted reason ; and all unite to rix the conviction more firmly on our minds ,
that there exists in the world one only source of truth , whose credibility no argument has been able to shake ; and that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament , like their Divine Author , are the same yesterday , to-day , and for ever . The true explication oftlie complicated system of hieroglyphics which had been imbedded in the Mysteries was
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
learned Greeks degenerated , that it is said they worshipped one statue of Jupiter covered with horse-dung , and another , called Jupiter Apomyos , in the shape of a fly ! And yet amidst all this abomination , it is remarkable how truly they propagated the externals of the Order , and with what fidelity they adhered to the ceremonies and symbolical
machinery of the system which inculcated virtue by precept , but failed to enforce it by example . Thus , I quote from Brother Laurie ' s History of Freemasonry in Scotland : — " Those who were initiated into the Mysteries , were bound by the most awful engagements to conceal the instructions they receivedand the ceremonies that were performed .
, None were admitted as candidates till they arrived at a certain age ; and particular persons were appointed to examine and prepare them for the rites of initiation . Those whose conduct was found irregular , or ivho had been guilty of atrocious crimes , were rejected as unworthy ; while the successful candidates were instructed , by significant symbols ,
iu the principles of religion ; were exhorted to quell every turbulent appetite and passion , and to merit , by the improvement of their minds and the purity of their hearts , those ineffable benefits which they were still to receive . Significant words were communicated to the members ; grand officers presided over their assemblies ; their emblems
were exactly similar to those of Freemasonry , ancl the candidate advanced from one degree to another , till he received all the lessons of wisdom and virtue which the priests could impart . But besides these circumstances of resemblance , there are two facts transmitted to us by ancient authors , which have an astonishing similarity to the ceremonies of the third degree of Freemasonry . "
In the succession of schools instituted by the philosophers of Greece , every new system laboured to defeat its predecessor ; and the great variety of speculations which have reached our times only tend to shew the vast superiority of revelation over the vague conclusions of unassisted reason ; and all unite to rix the conviction more firmly on our minds ,
that there exists in the world one only source of truth , whose credibility no argument has been able to shake ; and that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament , like their Divine Author , are the same yesterday , to-day , and for ever . The true explication oftlie complicated system of hieroglyphics which had been imbedded in the Mysteries was