Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
the mouth of the sacred cave under heavy penalties . A tripod , emblematical of eternity , in reference to past , present , and future , was p laced there , and a priestess Avas appointed to receive and communicate the responses of the inspiring deity * . This oracle Avas aftenvards hi g hl y esteemed for the truth of its predictions . It informed the
Greeks that Troy should be taken in the tenth year ; ancl foretold also the birth of Christ at the commencement of Cassar Augustus . So great , therefore , was the dependance on its veracity , that if any event happened which could not be reconciled with the prediction , it Avas attributed to the impurity of the inquirer , rather than a reflection on Apollo ; for an universal belief Avas entertained b y idolaters , that the mysteries were profaned by the approach of an impure or
ceremoniall y unclean person . Such Avas the estimation in Avhich the mysteries Ave re held , that it Avas deemed impious to doubt the infallibility of their oracles . I shall not presume to offer an opinion on the above question , which has divided the learned world for so many generations , because it forms no part of the present inquiry .
It is enough for my purpose to know that these oracles did exist , and that they formed a very essential part of the mysterious institutions of heathen nations , which could not have retained any consequence or authority Avithout their aid . Ancl it appears extremely probable that this power of governing the minds of others by supernatural means , was
one great cause of the ovenvhelming influence which the initiations acquired and maintained for so many years over every people in the Avorld .
This degeneracy amongst the Jews AA as occasionally counteracted by the superior virtue of a pious monarch ; and the people , from the efficacy of his example , were induced to forsake and beAvail their apostacy . A temporary reformation was thus effected by Josiah , the grandson of Manasseh , who , in the twelfth year of his reign , made a
progress throughout all the land of Israel , which had been placed under his government as a tributary to the Assyrians , for the purpose of restoring the true reli g ion . Pie removed ancl defaced every vestige of idolatry , broke down the altars and polluted the places where they had been erected ; abolished the idolatrous initiations , encouraged the practice of that pure institution which had been the deli g ht
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The History And Antiquities Of Freemasonry.
the mouth of the sacred cave under heavy penalties . A tripod , emblematical of eternity , in reference to past , present , and future , was p laced there , and a priestess Avas appointed to receive and communicate the responses of the inspiring deity * . This oracle Avas aftenvards hi g hl y esteemed for the truth of its predictions . It informed the
Greeks that Troy should be taken in the tenth year ; ancl foretold also the birth of Christ at the commencement of Cassar Augustus . So great , therefore , was the dependance on its veracity , that if any event happened which could not be reconciled with the prediction , it Avas attributed to the impurity of the inquirer , rather than a reflection on Apollo ; for an universal belief Avas entertained b y idolaters , that the mysteries were profaned by the approach of an impure or
ceremoniall y unclean person . Such Avas the estimation in Avhich the mysteries Ave re held , that it Avas deemed impious to doubt the infallibility of their oracles . I shall not presume to offer an opinion on the above question , which has divided the learned world for so many generations , because it forms no part of the present inquiry .
It is enough for my purpose to know that these oracles did exist , and that they formed a very essential part of the mysterious institutions of heathen nations , which could not have retained any consequence or authority Avithout their aid . Ancl it appears extremely probable that this power of governing the minds of others by supernatural means , was
one great cause of the ovenvhelming influence which the initiations acquired and maintained for so many years over every people in the Avorld .
This degeneracy amongst the Jews AA as occasionally counteracted by the superior virtue of a pious monarch ; and the people , from the efficacy of his example , were induced to forsake and beAvail their apostacy . A temporary reformation was thus effected by Josiah , the grandson of Manasseh , who , in the twelfth year of his reign , made a
progress throughout all the land of Israel , which had been placed under his government as a tributary to the Assyrians , for the purpose of restoring the true reli g ion . Pie removed ancl defaced every vestige of idolatry , broke down the altars and polluted the places where they had been erected ; abolished the idolatrous initiations , encouraged the practice of that pure institution which had been the deli g ht