Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
first of the spurious systems of Masonry invented by the Cabiri , that there is little room to doubt they were derived from the same source , and to this invention may be ascribed , not as Mr . Davies supposes , " a gradual or accidental corruption of the Patriarchal religion , " but an intentional corruption of it , and as intended to form a positive rival to the pure doctrines of Freemasonry , delivered by Seth to the Patriarch Noah .
Acts , such as those which are described as practised by the Druids , are so contrary in their tendency to the pure elements which have ever distinguished Freemasonry , that it is impossible it could have existed with ceremonials founded upon any such religious principles . " The ancient and honourable science of Freemasonry has EVER been identified with the worship of the one TRUE and onlg God ; " * but the primitive religion of the Cymry was a decided apostacy from the patriarchal
religion , and an institution in its place , of a worship of the patriarch ( Noah ) himself , under a multiplicity of titles as a deity , and exhibiting with their Arkite superstition a mixture of Sabian idolatry , precisel y similar to that which was found blended with the same species of mythology over great part of the antient world ; and further representing the visible world , not as formed b y the word of a wise and beneficent Creator , but as an enormous monster , ascending out of an abyss , the abode of an
evil principle . The Phoenician gods , —aided by the mystical and captivating , but idolatrous doctrines of the Cabiri , were found in early times so powerful an opponent to the pure doctrines of the Mosaic dispensation , that their
introduction , during tne reign of Manassah , threw the laws of God into entire oblivion , even amongst his chosen people ; and the circumstance that one of the chief objects of Druidical worship was frequently called Beli Bel , or Bid , ( a corruption of the Phoenician Baal , which , as they all bore the same interpretation , was not uncommon even amongst the people by whom the god was first set up , j ) would seem to tend to strengthen the impression that it was derived from the Phoenicians , and that its worship was alone of an idolatrous character . —The Phoenicians
, like the Egyptians , bad also an hereditary priesthood , who were the sole repositories of all religious and historical knowledge , and they chiefl y studied to improve their ascendancy by practicing on the ignorance and superstition of the people ; and for this end veiled their doctrines and traditions under fables and allegories which were unintelligible to the many ; and if , in thus describing the Phoenician priesthood , the term Druidical had been substituted , no one word that lias been used would
have required alteration . Of the fact that the Druids also practised , in fheir original or first stage of mysticism , " the pure and simple Arkite theology of the Cabiri , " there seems abundant testimony , ;) . ' and this circumstance proves its derivation by the Druids to be of very ancient date ; for the practices of the Cabiri , in their original unadulterated state , did not exist for any very lengthened period ; which , perhaps , is best accounted for , from their
having bad no true faith to guide or support them , —in consequence of which innovations and additions , as it suited the necessities or mystical ideas of its priests , were frequently made , so that at length it required no ordiuary degree of penetration to discover what had really been its
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Knowledge Of Freemasonry By The Druids.
first of the spurious systems of Masonry invented by the Cabiri , that there is little room to doubt they were derived from the same source , and to this invention may be ascribed , not as Mr . Davies supposes , " a gradual or accidental corruption of the Patriarchal religion , " but an intentional corruption of it , and as intended to form a positive rival to the pure doctrines of Freemasonry , delivered by Seth to the Patriarch Noah .
Acts , such as those which are described as practised by the Druids , are so contrary in their tendency to the pure elements which have ever distinguished Freemasonry , that it is impossible it could have existed with ceremonials founded upon any such religious principles . " The ancient and honourable science of Freemasonry has EVER been identified with the worship of the one TRUE and onlg God ; " * but the primitive religion of the Cymry was a decided apostacy from the patriarchal
religion , and an institution in its place , of a worship of the patriarch ( Noah ) himself , under a multiplicity of titles as a deity , and exhibiting with their Arkite superstition a mixture of Sabian idolatry , precisel y similar to that which was found blended with the same species of mythology over great part of the antient world ; and further representing the visible world , not as formed b y the word of a wise and beneficent Creator , but as an enormous monster , ascending out of an abyss , the abode of an
evil principle . The Phoenician gods , —aided by the mystical and captivating , but idolatrous doctrines of the Cabiri , were found in early times so powerful an opponent to the pure doctrines of the Mosaic dispensation , that their
introduction , during tne reign of Manassah , threw the laws of God into entire oblivion , even amongst his chosen people ; and the circumstance that one of the chief objects of Druidical worship was frequently called Beli Bel , or Bid , ( a corruption of the Phoenician Baal , which , as they all bore the same interpretation , was not uncommon even amongst the people by whom the god was first set up , j ) would seem to tend to strengthen the impression that it was derived from the Phoenicians , and that its worship was alone of an idolatrous character . —The Phoenicians
, like the Egyptians , bad also an hereditary priesthood , who were the sole repositories of all religious and historical knowledge , and they chiefl y studied to improve their ascendancy by practicing on the ignorance and superstition of the people ; and for this end veiled their doctrines and traditions under fables and allegories which were unintelligible to the many ; and if , in thus describing the Phoenician priesthood , the term Druidical had been substituted , no one word that lias been used would
have required alteration . Of the fact that the Druids also practised , in fheir original or first stage of mysticism , " the pure and simple Arkite theology of the Cabiri , " there seems abundant testimony , ;) . ' and this circumstance proves its derivation by the Druids to be of very ancient date ; for the practices of the Cabiri , in their original unadulterated state , did not exist for any very lengthened period ; which , perhaps , is best accounted for , from their
having bad no true faith to guide or support them , —in consequence of which innovations and additions , as it suited the necessities or mystical ideas of its priests , were frequently made , so that at length it required no ordiuary degree of penetration to discover what had really been its