Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
serving the very worst principles of idolatry , and consequently directly opposed to every Divine primordial element claimed as a landmark to the pure Freemasonry from which they seceded . Pythagoras ( whose father was a merchant , probably of Tyre , or some other Phoenician city , and had traded to Samos , where he had received the rights of citizenship ) was born about the year 5 S 5 , B . C , which was several centuries subsequent to the period in which the Phoenicians , in
all probability , first traded to this country ; and during this interval they no dcubt used the abundant opportunities afforded them , of disseminating their doctrines and mysteries amongst the Druids , who they found were held superior to , and consulted by , the natives in all their transactions ; and where no positive evidence can be adduced to prove the assumption that Pythagoras taught the Druids Freemasonry , or that the science itself was known toand practised by thema mere comparison
, , of their ceremonies -with those of Freemasonry ought not , even if they were found to assimilate to each other , to be admitted by the Mason as a conclusive test that those ceremonies , as practised by the Druids , were Masonic ; but bearing in mind the imitative disposition of those who set up the spurious mysteries of Masonry , he should jealously watch the religious doctrines and principles of Divine belief , and objects of worship of his own order ; and if those of the Druids should be found to
differ from that pure and simple faith which has been the type of Freemasonry , and its identification from the first hour of its formation to the present day , they should be treated at least with suspicious doubt , until some evidences and demonstrations are adduced to remove them .
To the Mason , a recapitulation of our ceremonies will be unnecessary , and to the " unenlightened" they must remain " a sealed book ;' ' but a comparison of the religious belief , doctrines , and ceremonies of the Druids , so far as they are know-n and generally acknowledged , with those which were practised in the East hy classes historically proved to have been seceders from pure Freemasonry , cannot fail , at least to raise a doubt , if it does not afford a proof , that the Druids were not Masons .
The religious doctrine of the Druids , says Davies , was Polytheism , and they practised some of the worst principles of the heathen idolatry . Their " system was one of superstition , composed of heterogeneous principles ; it acknowledged certain divinities under a great variety of names and attributes . These divinities were orginally nothing more than deified mortals and material objects , mostly connected with the history of the Deluge ; but in the progress of errorthey were regarded as
sym-, bolized by the sun , moon , and certain stars , which , in consequence of this confusion , were venerated with divine honours ; and this superstition apparently arose from the gradual or accidental corruption of the patriarchial religion , by the abuse of certain commemorative honours which were paid to the ancestors of the human race , and by the admixture of Sabian idolatry . " * Caesar states that their tutelary god was Mercury ; and next to him in their esteem they ranked Apollo ; then
Mars , Jupiter , and fl'Iinerva ; and that he found the attributes of each of these deities to he very similar to other countries holding mythological doctrines ,- )* and the rites and ceremonies appertaining to the idolatrous worship and general superstition of the Druids bear so strong an analogy to these of other nations known to have practised the Arkitc , or
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
serving the very worst principles of idolatry , and consequently directly opposed to every Divine primordial element claimed as a landmark to the pure Freemasonry from which they seceded . Pythagoras ( whose father was a merchant , probably of Tyre , or some other Phoenician city , and had traded to Samos , where he had received the rights of citizenship ) was born about the year 5 S 5 , B . C , which was several centuries subsequent to the period in which the Phoenicians , in
all probability , first traded to this country ; and during this interval they no dcubt used the abundant opportunities afforded them , of disseminating their doctrines and mysteries amongst the Druids , who they found were held superior to , and consulted by , the natives in all their transactions ; and where no positive evidence can be adduced to prove the assumption that Pythagoras taught the Druids Freemasonry , or that the science itself was known toand practised by thema mere comparison
, , of their ceremonies -with those of Freemasonry ought not , even if they were found to assimilate to each other , to be admitted by the Mason as a conclusive test that those ceremonies , as practised by the Druids , were Masonic ; but bearing in mind the imitative disposition of those who set up the spurious mysteries of Masonry , he should jealously watch the religious doctrines and principles of Divine belief , and objects of worship of his own order ; and if those of the Druids should be found to
differ from that pure and simple faith which has been the type of Freemasonry , and its identification from the first hour of its formation to the present day , they should be treated at least with suspicious doubt , until some evidences and demonstrations are adduced to remove them .
To the Mason , a recapitulation of our ceremonies will be unnecessary , and to the " unenlightened" they must remain " a sealed book ;' ' but a comparison of the religious belief , doctrines , and ceremonies of the Druids , so far as they are know-n and generally acknowledged , with those which were practised in the East hy classes historically proved to have been seceders from pure Freemasonry , cannot fail , at least to raise a doubt , if it does not afford a proof , that the Druids were not Masons .
The religious doctrine of the Druids , says Davies , was Polytheism , and they practised some of the worst principles of the heathen idolatry . Their " system was one of superstition , composed of heterogeneous principles ; it acknowledged certain divinities under a great variety of names and attributes . These divinities were orginally nothing more than deified mortals and material objects , mostly connected with the history of the Deluge ; but in the progress of errorthey were regarded as
sym-, bolized by the sun , moon , and certain stars , which , in consequence of this confusion , were venerated with divine honours ; and this superstition apparently arose from the gradual or accidental corruption of the patriarchial religion , by the abuse of certain commemorative honours which were paid to the ancestors of the human race , and by the admixture of Sabian idolatry . " * Caesar states that their tutelary god was Mercury ; and next to him in their esteem they ranked Apollo ; then
Mars , Jupiter , and fl'Iinerva ; and that he found the attributes of each of these deities to he very similar to other countries holding mythological doctrines ,- )* and the rites and ceremonies appertaining to the idolatrous worship and general superstition of the Druids bear so strong an analogy to these of other nations known to have practised the Arkitc , or