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Article ORIGINAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY FREEMASONRY. ← Page 5 of 9 →
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Original And Supplementary Freemasonry.
the chosen people , must we look for the maintenance and practice of true Masonry , and more particularly to the line of the house of Abraham . In the account given of this patriarch in the "Antiquities of Freemasonry , " he is represented as a profound philosopher , eminent for his learning throughout the whole world . He is said to have taught wisdom to the Egyptians , to have reformed and instructed the Persians , and to have been in direct and intimate communication with the patriarch
Shem . Now , for any portion of these assertions there is no foundation whatsoever , except it be sought for in the absurdities of Rabbinical tradition . _ From the accounts given of the patriarch , in the only authentic history which we possess of him , the book of Genesis , we find that he was horn in Uz of the Chaldees , a country under the dominion of the great Cathie family , and whatever knowledge he possessed , must have been derived from Chaldean sources . He is never mentioned as a
teacher , as a hierophant , or chief of a religious association—bis name is connected with no works of Operative Masonry;—he was a dweller in tents , a pastoral patriarch , the head of a small tribe of shepherds and herdsmen , whose numbers when mustered to avenge the piratical invasion of a few petty chieftains of the Cuthic race , amounted to three hundred and eighteen men . Of the story of his acquiring knowledge directly from the patriarch Shemwho is to be considered as the same with
, Melchizedec , I can only profess an utter disbelief ; for , independent of the complete silence of the Hebrew history on so important a circumstance as this would be , and the absence of any collateral evidence , the chronological difficulties are such as to render it all but impossible ; and I think Orellius is right in classing it with the ¦¦ suspiciones vel somnia potius" of Bishop Cumberland . It may be observed , that this
Melchizedec is represented as the priest of El Elian , a Chaldean word , signifying " the Most High , " whilst in all other parts of the book of Genesis , the name of God is written Elohim or Adonai . I find it impossible to suppose that Abraham could carry to the Egyptians any information worth their receiving ; and the statement that he went to that country for the purpose of arguing with them on theological and philosophical matters , is a little too absurd . The scripture informs us that he went
down into Egypt because there was a famine in the land in which he dwelt ; that he stood in considerable dread of the Egyptians , by whom he was entreated well for the sake of Sarah his wife , and that on the discovery of the error , which through his means Pharaoh had been led into , he was dismissed from Egypt . We hear nothing of Masonry , or of any thing resembling it , throughout the whole line of Abraham ' s descendants up to the time of their in
settling Egypt , in the land of Goshen . That the descendants of Abraham , in the persons of the twelve sons of Jacob , practised Masonry , appears indeed to be a supposition entirely gratuitous ; that is , if by Masonry we are to understand an association for the cultivation of Masonic principles , governed by regular laws , and conducted with peculiar ceremonies and fixed solemnities , —such , in short , as it is now , has been since the building of the Temple of King Solomonand must
, necessarily , from its immutable character and the inviolability of its landmarks , have been in the time of Abraham and Joseph , if it had any existence at all . To confine the idea of Masonry to the worship of the true God , is to destroy the idea of it as an association or brotherhood ; and , in fact , the only Masonry which we can acknowledge , is that with ivhich we have become acquainted in our Lodges ; which includes the practice of every moral and social virtue , the cultivation of the arts and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original And Supplementary Freemasonry.
the chosen people , must we look for the maintenance and practice of true Masonry , and more particularly to the line of the house of Abraham . In the account given of this patriarch in the "Antiquities of Freemasonry , " he is represented as a profound philosopher , eminent for his learning throughout the whole world . He is said to have taught wisdom to the Egyptians , to have reformed and instructed the Persians , and to have been in direct and intimate communication with the patriarch
Shem . Now , for any portion of these assertions there is no foundation whatsoever , except it be sought for in the absurdities of Rabbinical tradition . _ From the accounts given of the patriarch , in the only authentic history which we possess of him , the book of Genesis , we find that he was horn in Uz of the Chaldees , a country under the dominion of the great Cathie family , and whatever knowledge he possessed , must have been derived from Chaldean sources . He is never mentioned as a
teacher , as a hierophant , or chief of a religious association—bis name is connected with no works of Operative Masonry;—he was a dweller in tents , a pastoral patriarch , the head of a small tribe of shepherds and herdsmen , whose numbers when mustered to avenge the piratical invasion of a few petty chieftains of the Cuthic race , amounted to three hundred and eighteen men . Of the story of his acquiring knowledge directly from the patriarch Shemwho is to be considered as the same with
, Melchizedec , I can only profess an utter disbelief ; for , independent of the complete silence of the Hebrew history on so important a circumstance as this would be , and the absence of any collateral evidence , the chronological difficulties are such as to render it all but impossible ; and I think Orellius is right in classing it with the ¦¦ suspiciones vel somnia potius" of Bishop Cumberland . It may be observed , that this
Melchizedec is represented as the priest of El Elian , a Chaldean word , signifying " the Most High , " whilst in all other parts of the book of Genesis , the name of God is written Elohim or Adonai . I find it impossible to suppose that Abraham could carry to the Egyptians any information worth their receiving ; and the statement that he went to that country for the purpose of arguing with them on theological and philosophical matters , is a little too absurd . The scripture informs us that he went
down into Egypt because there was a famine in the land in which he dwelt ; that he stood in considerable dread of the Egyptians , by whom he was entreated well for the sake of Sarah his wife , and that on the discovery of the error , which through his means Pharaoh had been led into , he was dismissed from Egypt . We hear nothing of Masonry , or of any thing resembling it , throughout the whole line of Abraham ' s descendants up to the time of their in
settling Egypt , in the land of Goshen . That the descendants of Abraham , in the persons of the twelve sons of Jacob , practised Masonry , appears indeed to be a supposition entirely gratuitous ; that is , if by Masonry we are to understand an association for the cultivation of Masonic principles , governed by regular laws , and conducted with peculiar ceremonies and fixed solemnities , —such , in short , as it is now , has been since the building of the Temple of King Solomonand must
, necessarily , from its immutable character and the inviolability of its landmarks , have been in the time of Abraham and Joseph , if it had any existence at all . To confine the idea of Masonry to the worship of the true God , is to destroy the idea of it as an association or brotherhood ; and , in fact , the only Masonry which we can acknowledge , is that with ivhich we have become acquainted in our Lodges ; which includes the practice of every moral and social virtue , the cultivation of the arts and