Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
the belief that the latter were also Masonic ; but this conclusion , as it appears to me , ought not to be too hastily formed , particularly when we are told , that " to believe without evidence and demonstration is an act of ignorance and folly ; " it therefore behoves us , when mere statements are offered for facts , not to permit credulity too hastily to form conclusions for us , when an examination and dissection of the foundations on which such statements are built , though possibly capable of an affirmative construction , may , nevertheless , lead another person to a very different result .
It may , without fear of contradiction , be asserted that the principles of Freemasonry existed at a period more remote than that which claims the birth of Druidism , although history leaves us pretty much in the dark as to the latter event . In investigating , therefore , the principles which are characteristic of the two orders , and endeavouring to disperse the clouds which envelope them , difficulties present themselves which are almost insurmountable , from the frequent checks which are experienced in unravelling the treasures of truth and artwhich are found
, wrapped in an almost impenetrable mythological veil ; and to dispel these difficulties it becomes necessary to extend research into an unlimited space , in order to bring the events , histories , measures , and actions , of different and distinct climes and countries , in days that are now numbered as " those that have been , " to bear upon each other . Fortunatel y however , our ancient historians have occasionally been led from their general rulesby relating events and actionswhich though not strictl
, , y in keeping with the general tenor of their relations , have been remarkable and interesting in some other point of view ; for otherwise , we should have been left in almost total ignorance of the character of the religious doctrines and observances of the people who first inhabited this and other countries , which are remote from that spot in the East ,
from whence sprung all those blessings anil religious consolations which are vouchsafed to us by that book of truth , the Bible . In this , much to be lamented scarcity , of authentic and sufficientl y comprehensive sources from which we should be enabled to derive information that would correctly illustrate the real character of the doctrines and ceremonies practised by the Druids , or that would furnish a "key" by which we should be enabled the better to pierce the "allegorical veil" under which their doctrines and ceremonies were hidthe inquisitive
, Mason ought not , with the advantages his Masonic knowledge affords him , to content himself with the bare chronological register of events which Ctesar , and other early historians , have bequeathed to him ; but he should , whilst jealously looking to the symbolical rights and practices of the Druids , with all their attendant ceremonies and objects , endeavour to draw some comparisons between them and those of other nations ; and from such comparisons to trace the source from whence they sprung
, and the consequences to which they gave rise , and thereby to satisf y himself whether they are consistent with the Freemasonry practised during the same periods ; or whether they do not form one of the various classes of the spurious order , so early set up in opposition to the pure Science .
' Freemasonry , it has never been doubted , " first had its rise in the East , and thence spread its benign blessings and influence into the West ; " and it is more than rtrobable that Druidism was also of exotic origin , whence also originated all the numerous systems of spurious Masonry , profane worship , and idolatrous ceremonies , that , dictated by
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
the belief that the latter were also Masonic ; but this conclusion , as it appears to me , ought not to be too hastily formed , particularly when we are told , that " to believe without evidence and demonstration is an act of ignorance and folly ; " it therefore behoves us , when mere statements are offered for facts , not to permit credulity too hastily to form conclusions for us , when an examination and dissection of the foundations on which such statements are built , though possibly capable of an affirmative construction , may , nevertheless , lead another person to a very different result .
It may , without fear of contradiction , be asserted that the principles of Freemasonry existed at a period more remote than that which claims the birth of Druidism , although history leaves us pretty much in the dark as to the latter event . In investigating , therefore , the principles which are characteristic of the two orders , and endeavouring to disperse the clouds which envelope them , difficulties present themselves which are almost insurmountable , from the frequent checks which are experienced in unravelling the treasures of truth and artwhich are found
, wrapped in an almost impenetrable mythological veil ; and to dispel these difficulties it becomes necessary to extend research into an unlimited space , in order to bring the events , histories , measures , and actions , of different and distinct climes and countries , in days that are now numbered as " those that have been , " to bear upon each other . Fortunatel y however , our ancient historians have occasionally been led from their general rulesby relating events and actionswhich though not strictl
, , y in keeping with the general tenor of their relations , have been remarkable and interesting in some other point of view ; for otherwise , we should have been left in almost total ignorance of the character of the religious doctrines and observances of the people who first inhabited this and other countries , which are remote from that spot in the East ,
from whence sprung all those blessings anil religious consolations which are vouchsafed to us by that book of truth , the Bible . In this , much to be lamented scarcity , of authentic and sufficientl y comprehensive sources from which we should be enabled to derive information that would correctly illustrate the real character of the doctrines and ceremonies practised by the Druids , or that would furnish a "key" by which we should be enabled the better to pierce the "allegorical veil" under which their doctrines and ceremonies were hidthe inquisitive
, Mason ought not , with the advantages his Masonic knowledge affords him , to content himself with the bare chronological register of events which Ctesar , and other early historians , have bequeathed to him ; but he should , whilst jealously looking to the symbolical rights and practices of the Druids , with all their attendant ceremonies and objects , endeavour to draw some comparisons between them and those of other nations ; and from such comparisons to trace the source from whence they sprung
, and the consequences to which they gave rise , and thereby to satisf y himself whether they are consistent with the Freemasonry practised during the same periods ; or whether they do not form one of the various classes of the spurious order , so early set up in opposition to the pure Science .
' Freemasonry , it has never been doubted , " first had its rise in the East , and thence spread its benign blessings and influence into the West ; " and it is more than rtrobable that Druidism was also of exotic origin , whence also originated all the numerous systems of spurious Masonry , profane worship , and idolatrous ceremonies , that , dictated by