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Article ON THE STUDY OF MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 2 of 14 →
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On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
at the present day ; an oriental custom but little varied since patriarchal ages . This hierarchy , unquestionably the first form of general government in that primeval period , preceded the establishment of a monarchy , and ruled Egypt for at least several centuries before the accession of Menes , the first Pharaoh . Champollion Figeac states— ' ' A theocracy , or a government of priests , was the first known to the Egyptians ; and
it is necessary to give this word priests the acceptation that it bore in remote times , when the ministers of religion were also the ministers of science ( and knowledge ) , so that they united in their own persons / too of the noblest missions with ivhich men can be invested , the WORSHIP OF THE DEITY , and the CULTIVATION OF INTELLIGENCE . " This is truly a Masonic union well worthy of our consideration ; but to continue . This priestly aristocracy had existed some time—how long cannot be accurately
determined , there being no means of arriving at dates during their rule so accurately as under the Pharaohs—when a rivalry sprung up between the two ruling powers , the priestly and the military ; and the latter wielding the elements of physical power , enabled a military chieftain to assume the reins of government , who established a kingdom , and made the throne hereditary in the line of the Pharaohs . Thus the social condition of Egypt was altered at a very early period of its history ; but the
priesthood did not lose the influence which superior knowledge always confers upon its possessors ; the sacerdotal power became united with the regal ; the two principles were interwoven and perpetuated for many centuries ; and the Pharaohs , initiated by the priests in the higher mysteries , display the origin of a royal priesthood . As to PHILOSOPHY and SCIENCE .
It has already been shown that that aggregation of human knowledge , emphaticall y denominated " the wisdom of the Egyptians , " supplied the copious sources from whence the sages of Greece and Rome derived mainly if not entirely their knowledge . Of the depth of this wisdom , the world has for centuries remained in ignorance ; and but for the truth which now glimmers from imperishable records , it would have been lost to the present age . The recipients of that wisdom give us but crude and distorted notions of it—sulling the purity of the oriinal
y g fountain , the stream became polluted . Thus we see how necessary it is to trace the elements of knowledge to their source , in order that we may be enabled to comprehend somewhat of that wisdom , the profundity of which even present enlightenment scarcely enables us to appreciate . AVe shall hereafter ( in the course of the present chapter ) have occasion to remark how valuable , and indeed essentially imnortant ' this enouirv is
to our present subject . The perfection to which the ancient Egyptians carried all the arts and sciences of civilized life , has been already adverted to ; and it may be observed as a matter deserving particular remark , that to the most remote period to which our investigations enable us to penetrate , the arts and sciences seem to have then attained as perfect a state as at any subsequent period . We are unable to trace anything like a gradual rise , or mark the progress of a nation through its various stages
from barbarism to civilization . The lights of Egyptian knowledge burst upon us at the very commencement of our enquiry . Of the profound skill of the ancient Egyptians in the sublime science of ASTRONOMY , we have only within a comparatively recent period been enabled to form the slightest notion . If developed during the darkness of our middle . ages , it would have been utterly incomprehensible . Until the days of Newton , Egyptian astronomical knowledge was far in advance
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
at the present day ; an oriental custom but little varied since patriarchal ages . This hierarchy , unquestionably the first form of general government in that primeval period , preceded the establishment of a monarchy , and ruled Egypt for at least several centuries before the accession of Menes , the first Pharaoh . Champollion Figeac states— ' ' A theocracy , or a government of priests , was the first known to the Egyptians ; and
it is necessary to give this word priests the acceptation that it bore in remote times , when the ministers of religion were also the ministers of science ( and knowledge ) , so that they united in their own persons / too of the noblest missions with ivhich men can be invested , the WORSHIP OF THE DEITY , and the CULTIVATION OF INTELLIGENCE . " This is truly a Masonic union well worthy of our consideration ; but to continue . This priestly aristocracy had existed some time—how long cannot be accurately
determined , there being no means of arriving at dates during their rule so accurately as under the Pharaohs—when a rivalry sprung up between the two ruling powers , the priestly and the military ; and the latter wielding the elements of physical power , enabled a military chieftain to assume the reins of government , who established a kingdom , and made the throne hereditary in the line of the Pharaohs . Thus the social condition of Egypt was altered at a very early period of its history ; but the
priesthood did not lose the influence which superior knowledge always confers upon its possessors ; the sacerdotal power became united with the regal ; the two principles were interwoven and perpetuated for many centuries ; and the Pharaohs , initiated by the priests in the higher mysteries , display the origin of a royal priesthood . As to PHILOSOPHY and SCIENCE .
It has already been shown that that aggregation of human knowledge , emphaticall y denominated " the wisdom of the Egyptians , " supplied the copious sources from whence the sages of Greece and Rome derived mainly if not entirely their knowledge . Of the depth of this wisdom , the world has for centuries remained in ignorance ; and but for the truth which now glimmers from imperishable records , it would have been lost to the present age . The recipients of that wisdom give us but crude and distorted notions of it—sulling the purity of the oriinal
y g fountain , the stream became polluted . Thus we see how necessary it is to trace the elements of knowledge to their source , in order that we may be enabled to comprehend somewhat of that wisdom , the profundity of which even present enlightenment scarcely enables us to appreciate . AVe shall hereafter ( in the course of the present chapter ) have occasion to remark how valuable , and indeed essentially imnortant ' this enouirv is
to our present subject . The perfection to which the ancient Egyptians carried all the arts and sciences of civilized life , has been already adverted to ; and it may be observed as a matter deserving particular remark , that to the most remote period to which our investigations enable us to penetrate , the arts and sciences seem to have then attained as perfect a state as at any subsequent period . We are unable to trace anything like a gradual rise , or mark the progress of a nation through its various stages
from barbarism to civilization . The lights of Egyptian knowledge burst upon us at the very commencement of our enquiry . Of the profound skill of the ancient Egyptians in the sublime science of ASTRONOMY , we have only within a comparatively recent period been enabled to form the slightest notion . If developed during the darkness of our middle . ages , it would have been utterly incomprehensible . Until the days of Newton , Egyptian astronomical knowledge was far in advance