Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
concludes , most unphilosophically , that all remembrance ol the Deluge was lost , because it is not mentioned by Sanchoniatho , neither " are any traces of it to be found in Egypt in ancient records . " The fact is , that this knowledge was preserved by the Mysteries in the Anaglyp h , or
sacred character of the priests ; and to whomsoever it mi g ht be revealed , its publication was prohibited under heavy penalties . As in the genuine Freemasonry , secrecy was recommended and enforced by every possible expedient . The Egyptians set up a statue of Harpocrates , with his ri g ht hand on his heart , and his left pendant by
his side , and full of eyes and ears , but without a tongueto intimate that whatever may be seen and heard in the mysterious celebrations ought never to be spoken . The Greeks , in like manner , erected a statue of brass at Athens without a tongue , to enjoin secrecy ; and the Romans had a goddess of Silence , who was represented with her forefinger on her lips .
These practical lessons made such an impression on the people , that from a simple suspicion that Eschy lus had introduced into one of his plays some reference to the mysterious doctrines , the poet preserved his life only by taking sanctuary at the altar of Bacchus , until he hacl an opportunity of appealing to the Areopagus . Pausanias , in
his History of Greece , assigns to the Mysteries such a venerable sanctity that he is obliged to pass over them in silence . And , in another p lace , he excuses himself from making a revelation of their secrets by a very ingenious device . - ' I intended , " he says , " to have entered on a particular description of the Eleusinian temple at Athens , and
all its services ; but my design was prevented by a prohibition communicated to me in a dream . " And he accuses Homer of boldness for the insertion of certain particulars in his poem respectinr ) the souls in Hades , or , in other words , respecting the initiations . Indeed , the priests of all nations were so chary in the revelation of their sacred Mysteries , that it constituted their chief boast that no one was able
" to lift up their veil . " To make the impression still more affecting , the Greater Mysteries were celebrated at dead of ni g ht , in the deep recesses of caverns , amidst darkness and seclusion , attended with horrible representations of the sufferings which departed souls endured who had died without regeneration ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
concludes , most unphilosophically , that all remembrance ol the Deluge was lost , because it is not mentioned by Sanchoniatho , neither " are any traces of it to be found in Egypt in ancient records . " The fact is , that this knowledge was preserved by the Mysteries in the Anaglyp h , or
sacred character of the priests ; and to whomsoever it mi g ht be revealed , its publication was prohibited under heavy penalties . As in the genuine Freemasonry , secrecy was recommended and enforced by every possible expedient . The Egyptians set up a statue of Harpocrates , with his ri g ht hand on his heart , and his left pendant by
his side , and full of eyes and ears , but without a tongueto intimate that whatever may be seen and heard in the mysterious celebrations ought never to be spoken . The Greeks , in like manner , erected a statue of brass at Athens without a tongue , to enjoin secrecy ; and the Romans had a goddess of Silence , who was represented with her forefinger on her lips .
These practical lessons made such an impression on the people , that from a simple suspicion that Eschy lus had introduced into one of his plays some reference to the mysterious doctrines , the poet preserved his life only by taking sanctuary at the altar of Bacchus , until he hacl an opportunity of appealing to the Areopagus . Pausanias , in
his History of Greece , assigns to the Mysteries such a venerable sanctity that he is obliged to pass over them in silence . And , in another p lace , he excuses himself from making a revelation of their secrets by a very ingenious device . - ' I intended , " he says , " to have entered on a particular description of the Eleusinian temple at Athens , and
all its services ; but my design was prevented by a prohibition communicated to me in a dream . " And he accuses Homer of boldness for the insertion of certain particulars in his poem respectinr ) the souls in Hades , or , in other words , respecting the initiations . Indeed , the priests of all nations were so chary in the revelation of their sacred Mysteries , that it constituted their chief boast that no one was able
" to lift up their veil . " To make the impression still more affecting , the Greater Mysteries were celebrated at dead of ni g ht , in the deep recesses of caverns , amidst darkness and seclusion , attended with horrible representations of the sufferings which departed souls endured who had died without regeneration ,