Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
or , which is the same thing , who had incurred the displeasure of those in whose custod y these institutions were placed . And many a godlike form there met his eye , And many an emblem dark of mystery . SOUTHEY . ' Kehama , xvi . 2 .
And the open sanction of the civil magistrate was added , if it be true that the Senate assembled after each celebration , to inquire whether it hacl been conducted according to the prescribed formula , without , irregularity or profanation . When the mind had been subdued b y these scenes to the requisite point of implicit submission and unreserved faith
and obedience , the ineffable doctrines , on which the whole fabric of true reli g ion rests , were graduall y unfolded as profound secrets , the very whisper of any one of which could only be atoned for with life . " Si quis arcana ; mysteria Cereris sacra vulgasset , lege morti addicebatur . " These were the Unity and Trinity of the Godhead ,
including the startling fact , that the popular deities of their mythology were onl y dead men , who had been canonized by their ancestors for benefits rendered to mankind ; the creation and institution of a Sabbath ; the fall of man b y means of a serpent tempter , and his restoration through the voluntary obedience of a Mediator , who should bruise the serpent ' s head ; the universal deluge ; and a future state , with its necessary concomitant , the immortality of the soul .
These are doctrines which were essential to the true Freemasonry in all ages of the world ; ancl still remain to invigorate our Order with the vivif ying princi p le of relig ion , without which Freemasonry would be a skeleton of dry bones , and unworth y the attention of a rational being . That they formed part of the imitative systems of antiquity
there is no lack of proof . On all the above points the evidence is full and clear ; not consisting in detached and solitary allusions , and dark hints thinly dispersed throughout the writings of antiquity , but broadly declared in language which cannot admit of cavil or doubt . And there is nothing in the admission of this fact which
is inconsistent with the attributes of the Deity . If the Governor of the Universe thought proper to permit such an universal defection from truth , it was intended not onl y to conduce to some further purposes of his providence , but as a means of contributing to the perfection of those secret VOL . v . \ -
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
or , which is the same thing , who had incurred the displeasure of those in whose custod y these institutions were placed . And many a godlike form there met his eye , And many an emblem dark of mystery . SOUTHEY . ' Kehama , xvi . 2 .
And the open sanction of the civil magistrate was added , if it be true that the Senate assembled after each celebration , to inquire whether it hacl been conducted according to the prescribed formula , without , irregularity or profanation . When the mind had been subdued b y these scenes to the requisite point of implicit submission and unreserved faith
and obedience , the ineffable doctrines , on which the whole fabric of true reli g ion rests , were graduall y unfolded as profound secrets , the very whisper of any one of which could only be atoned for with life . " Si quis arcana ; mysteria Cereris sacra vulgasset , lege morti addicebatur . " These were the Unity and Trinity of the Godhead ,
including the startling fact , that the popular deities of their mythology were onl y dead men , who had been canonized by their ancestors for benefits rendered to mankind ; the creation and institution of a Sabbath ; the fall of man b y means of a serpent tempter , and his restoration through the voluntary obedience of a Mediator , who should bruise the serpent ' s head ; the universal deluge ; and a future state , with its necessary concomitant , the immortality of the soul .
These are doctrines which were essential to the true Freemasonry in all ages of the world ; ancl still remain to invigorate our Order with the vivif ying princi p le of relig ion , without which Freemasonry would be a skeleton of dry bones , and unworth y the attention of a rational being . That they formed part of the imitative systems of antiquity
there is no lack of proof . On all the above points the evidence is full and clear ; not consisting in detached and solitary allusions , and dark hints thinly dispersed throughout the writings of antiquity , but broadly declared in language which cannot admit of cavil or doubt . And there is nothing in the admission of this fact which
is inconsistent with the attributes of the Deity . If the Governor of the Universe thought proper to permit such an universal defection from truth , it was intended not onl y to conduce to some further purposes of his providence , but as a means of contributing to the perfection of those secret VOL . v . \ -