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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
of science , to mourn over its fair lamp extinct . India alone may compete with her in grandeur and skilful architecture ; the knowledge and practice of the Royal Art have , by Meries and other learned writers , been supposed in India coeval , if not anterior to its introduction in Egypt : in the mythologies and superstitions of both countries we trace
amid fable and error fragments of pure and speculative Freemasonry . The vast Empire of Assyria , founded by Ninus , the son of Belus , whose ruins gave rise to the kingdoms of Babylon , Nineveh , and the Medes , in tlie midst of her impious idolatries cultivated the practical secrets of the Craft witli success . Tlie walls of the two foi * mer cities
, erected by their skill , are reckoned among the seven wonders ofthe world ; but as thc bricks of which they were built were cemented with bitumen and straw , or reeds , it is to be presumed that thev were ignorant of the Art of
converting stones into lime , and that their workmanship , though majestic in its character and design , was rude and unfinished in detail . The Phoenicians were no less celebrated . Their Temple of Dagon at Gaza , supported by only two slender columns , not too large for the grasp of Sampson , affords no slight of their
proof excellence in the art of building . This city , so famous in Holy Writ , was afterwards repaired by Hiram , king of Tyre , the friend and contemporary of Solomon , and one of the _ acknowledged Grand-Masters of our Order . He joined it to the Temple of Jupiter that stood upon an adjacent island , and adorned it with two noble new ones , which
he dedicated to Hercules and Astarte . This is the same Hiram who supplied builders and materials for the Temple at Jerusalem . From Egypt Freemasonry travelled into Greece . Thales of _ Miletus having visited that country , and consulted the priest of Memphis , from whom he obtained his knowledge of
geometry , astronomy , and philosophy , on his return calculated eclipses , and first gave the Grecians a correct notion of the system of the universe , and taught them to cultivate the arts , —where , fostered b y a genial climate and an ingenious people , they soon began to flourish , and at length arrived at a maturity and perfection which have rarelbeen
y equalled , certainly never excelled by succeeding nations . In tlie arts of design the Grecians had no rivals ; and , for a period of at least three centuries , from the time of Solon to fhe death of Alexander , they maintained a superiority of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
of science , to mourn over its fair lamp extinct . India alone may compete with her in grandeur and skilful architecture ; the knowledge and practice of the Royal Art have , by Meries and other learned writers , been supposed in India coeval , if not anterior to its introduction in Egypt : in the mythologies and superstitions of both countries we trace
amid fable and error fragments of pure and speculative Freemasonry . The vast Empire of Assyria , founded by Ninus , the son of Belus , whose ruins gave rise to the kingdoms of Babylon , Nineveh , and the Medes , in tlie midst of her impious idolatries cultivated the practical secrets of the Craft witli success . Tlie walls of the two foi * mer cities
, erected by their skill , are reckoned among the seven wonders ofthe world ; but as thc bricks of which they were built were cemented with bitumen and straw , or reeds , it is to be presumed that thev were ignorant of the Art of
converting stones into lime , and that their workmanship , though majestic in its character and design , was rude and unfinished in detail . The Phoenicians were no less celebrated . Their Temple of Dagon at Gaza , supported by only two slender columns , not too large for the grasp of Sampson , affords no slight of their
proof excellence in the art of building . This city , so famous in Holy Writ , was afterwards repaired by Hiram , king of Tyre , the friend and contemporary of Solomon , and one of the _ acknowledged Grand-Masters of our Order . He joined it to the Temple of Jupiter that stood upon an adjacent island , and adorned it with two noble new ones , which
he dedicated to Hercules and Astarte . This is the same Hiram who supplied builders and materials for the Temple at Jerusalem . From Egypt Freemasonry travelled into Greece . Thales of _ Miletus having visited that country , and consulted the priest of Memphis , from whom he obtained his knowledge of
geometry , astronomy , and philosophy , on his return calculated eclipses , and first gave the Grecians a correct notion of the system of the universe , and taught them to cultivate the arts , —where , fostered b y a genial climate and an ingenious people , they soon began to flourish , and at length arrived at a maturity and perfection which have rarelbeen
y equalled , certainly never excelled by succeeding nations . In tlie arts of design the Grecians had no rivals ; and , for a period of at least three centuries , from the time of Solon to fhe death of Alexander , they maintained a superiority of