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On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
sources from which Pythagoras himself derived them , at a period prior to that in which that philosopher lived ; for it is recorded that he spent some time in Phoenicia , in intercourse with the priests of that country , and that by them he was taught their mysteries and religious doctrines ; and it is spoken of with confidence by several antiquarian historians , that the Phoenicians , particularly the Tyrians , were amongst the earliest , if not the firstcommercial power who visited this country .
, As early as the 18 th century before the commencement of the present era , the Phoenicians visited Africa in the course of their contraband trade , and Inachus led an Egyptian colony to Greece , in Phoenician vessels , about the same period . In 1500 A . I ,., in the time of Agcnor , several Phoenician colonies emigrated to Asia Minor , Crete , Lybia , and Greece ; and about the year 1000 A . L ., during the reign of King SolomonPhoenician voyages to Tarshishon the south-west coast of Spain
, , , were common ; and it is not unreasonably conjectured that these voyages were , at an almost equally early period , extended to the Cassiterides , a name given to a cluster of islands described by Strabo as visited by the Phoenicians , and being "ten in number , north-west of Spain , abounding with tin and lead , " in which metals the Phoenician merchants are stated to have been considerable traders . These Islands are evidently those now called the Scilly , where Dr . Borlase describes some huge
remains of Druidical monuments as being in existence in his time ; and as no remnants of tin or lead mines , or evidences that they ever produced these metals , are to be found in any part of the Scill y Islands , there is everv reason to believe these Phoenician voyages were extended thus
early to Cornwall , which , in their ignorance of the geographical character or extent of England , they very possibly treated as one of the Cassiterides , or Scilly Islands . Davies , in his Mythology of the Druids , adopts an old Druidical assertion , " that Druidism had its origin in the sacred Island of the Seon , " or Sena , which from the description of Pomponius Mela , he states must have been near the Land ' s-End , or amongst the Scilly
Islands ;'" ' and he states as his own opinion , that " what was exotic in the system of the Britains , came to them by the way of Cornwall , and therefore was probably derived to them from the Phoenicians ' ' ; f and a strong circumstance in favour of the hypothesis that all their religious doctrines and mysterious ceremonies were thus derived , exists in the fact , that remains of the most extensive and important of the Druidical erectionswhich were all more or less connected with their mythological
, rites , are more particularly found in Cornwall and Hampshire , and the immediately adjacent counties ; and this hypothesis is very materially strengthened by the numerous comparisons that are capable of being adduced to show that Druidism was instituted upon the basis of one of the systems of profane and idolatrous worship followed by the Phoenician race , who were the immediate descendants of the Canaanites , and the first to revolt from the pure worship of the Almihtyand to
g , adopt the doctrine of Polytheism , with the worship of images and human sacrifices ; blending also with these heathen customs the doctrines and mysteries of the Cabiri , who , though originally Masons , ! used the little knowledge they attained in that character , by founding an institution similar in a ceremonial point of view , but for the avowed purpose of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
sources from which Pythagoras himself derived them , at a period prior to that in which that philosopher lived ; for it is recorded that he spent some time in Phoenicia , in intercourse with the priests of that country , and that by them he was taught their mysteries and religious doctrines ; and it is spoken of with confidence by several antiquarian historians , that the Phoenicians , particularly the Tyrians , were amongst the earliest , if not the firstcommercial power who visited this country .
, As early as the 18 th century before the commencement of the present era , the Phoenicians visited Africa in the course of their contraband trade , and Inachus led an Egyptian colony to Greece , in Phoenician vessels , about the same period . In 1500 A . I ,., in the time of Agcnor , several Phoenician colonies emigrated to Asia Minor , Crete , Lybia , and Greece ; and about the year 1000 A . L ., during the reign of King SolomonPhoenician voyages to Tarshishon the south-west coast of Spain
, , , were common ; and it is not unreasonably conjectured that these voyages were , at an almost equally early period , extended to the Cassiterides , a name given to a cluster of islands described by Strabo as visited by the Phoenicians , and being "ten in number , north-west of Spain , abounding with tin and lead , " in which metals the Phoenician merchants are stated to have been considerable traders . These Islands are evidently those now called the Scilly , where Dr . Borlase describes some huge
remains of Druidical monuments as being in existence in his time ; and as no remnants of tin or lead mines , or evidences that they ever produced these metals , are to be found in any part of the Scill y Islands , there is everv reason to believe these Phoenician voyages were extended thus
early to Cornwall , which , in their ignorance of the geographical character or extent of England , they very possibly treated as one of the Cassiterides , or Scilly Islands . Davies , in his Mythology of the Druids , adopts an old Druidical assertion , " that Druidism had its origin in the sacred Island of the Seon , " or Sena , which from the description of Pomponius Mela , he states must have been near the Land ' s-End , or amongst the Scilly
Islands ;'" ' and he states as his own opinion , that " what was exotic in the system of the Britains , came to them by the way of Cornwall , and therefore was probably derived to them from the Phoenicians ' ' ; f and a strong circumstance in favour of the hypothesis that all their religious doctrines and mysterious ceremonies were thus derived , exists in the fact , that remains of the most extensive and important of the Druidical erectionswhich were all more or less connected with their mythological
, rites , are more particularly found in Cornwall and Hampshire , and the immediately adjacent counties ; and this hypothesis is very materially strengthened by the numerous comparisons that are capable of being adduced to show that Druidism was instituted upon the basis of one of the systems of profane and idolatrous worship followed by the Phoenician race , who were the immediate descendants of the Canaanites , and the first to revolt from the pure worship of the Almihtyand to
g , adopt the doctrine of Polytheism , with the worship of images and human sacrifices ; blending also with these heathen customs the doctrines and mysteries of the Cabiri , who , though originally Masons , ! used the little knowledge they attained in that character , by founding an institution similar in a ceremonial point of view , but for the avowed purpose of