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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 6 of 13 →
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On Freemasonry.
rior elegance , cushioned and decorated , as though they were intended for a nobleman's drawing-room in these effeminate days ; mirrors and bureaus , harps and other musical instruments ; all showing that the arts had attained a high perfection at a very early period in that country . The walls and ceilings of Egyptian buildings were painted
with radiant colours ; and often inlaid with ivory and the precious metals , in many a tasteful pattern . Thus Telemachus apostrophises a palace imitated from that country ; the walls and ceilings of which he terms—»
prodigies of art and wondrous cost Above , beneath , around the palace shines The sumless treasures of exhaustless mines . The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay , And studded amber darts a golden ray . Such and not nobler in the realms above , My wonder dictates , is the dome of Jove .
The Egyptians were impressed with such a firm belief in a future state , and a perpetual existence in another life , as induced them to bestow infinite care on the preservation oi the body after death ; they entertained a further opinion , that so long as the body remained uncorrupted , the soul hovered near it as a guardian or attendant on its former
habitation . Diodorus Siculus informs us , that " the Egyptians consider this life as of very trifling consequence , and they , therefore , value in proportion a quiet repose ¦ after death . This leads them to consider the habitations of the living as mere lodgings , in which , as travellers , they put up for a short time ; while they call the sepulchres of the dead ,
everlasting dwellings , because the dead continue in the grave such an immeasurable length of time . They therefore pay but little attention to the building of their houses , but bestow a cost and care scarcely credible on their sepulchres . " And from this cause it is that we find the catacombs of Egypt constructed with such an attention to solidity , as well as
grandeur , that even , though buried in the unventilated bowels of the earth for thirty centuries , they have verified the anticipations of their ingenious founders , and still remains in so firm a state , as to promise to continue till the pillars of the earth shall shake , and the round world be removed from its foundations . Denon has thus described the wonderful
grottos near Kurnu : — " They are constructed , " says he , " with magnificence ; consisting of a regular double gallery , supported by pillars , behind which was a row of chambers ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
rior elegance , cushioned and decorated , as though they were intended for a nobleman's drawing-room in these effeminate days ; mirrors and bureaus , harps and other musical instruments ; all showing that the arts had attained a high perfection at a very early period in that country . The walls and ceilings of Egyptian buildings were painted
with radiant colours ; and often inlaid with ivory and the precious metals , in many a tasteful pattern . Thus Telemachus apostrophises a palace imitated from that country ; the walls and ceilings of which he terms—»
prodigies of art and wondrous cost Above , beneath , around the palace shines The sumless treasures of exhaustless mines . The spoils of elephants the roofs inlay , And studded amber darts a golden ray . Such and not nobler in the realms above , My wonder dictates , is the dome of Jove .
The Egyptians were impressed with such a firm belief in a future state , and a perpetual existence in another life , as induced them to bestow infinite care on the preservation oi the body after death ; they entertained a further opinion , that so long as the body remained uncorrupted , the soul hovered near it as a guardian or attendant on its former
habitation . Diodorus Siculus informs us , that " the Egyptians consider this life as of very trifling consequence , and they , therefore , value in proportion a quiet repose ¦ after death . This leads them to consider the habitations of the living as mere lodgings , in which , as travellers , they put up for a short time ; while they call the sepulchres of the dead ,
everlasting dwellings , because the dead continue in the grave such an immeasurable length of time . They therefore pay but little attention to the building of their houses , but bestow a cost and care scarcely credible on their sepulchres . " And from this cause it is that we find the catacombs of Egypt constructed with such an attention to solidity , as well as
grandeur , that even , though buried in the unventilated bowels of the earth for thirty centuries , they have verified the anticipations of their ingenious founders , and still remains in so firm a state , as to promise to continue till the pillars of the earth shall shake , and the round world be removed from its foundations . Denon has thus described the wonderful
grottos near Kurnu : — " They are constructed , " says he , " with magnificence ; consisting of a regular double gallery , supported by pillars , behind which was a row of chambers ,