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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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On Freemasonry.
also thirty-nine . The cabalists say that this letter 3 has a point above and another behind , signifying that the Lord who is in heaven created the world , which is represented by the antecedent letter , that is the ^ formed by two i s , and a 1 , making together twenty-six , the same number as the Tetragrammaton . Reason apparently supports the idea that profound mysteries are contained in the characters of this holy language ; anil who will contend that they do not all involve many secrets and
reasons for being used in the law of Gocl , from the perfect art with which they are formed ?" The same results were obtained by means of the Magic Square , which is a figure made up of numbers in arithmetical proportion , so disposed in parallel and equal ranks , that sums of each row , taken either perpendicularly , horizontally , or diagonally , are equal , as in the adjoining diagram . Such squares seem to have been so called because
they were used in the construction of talismans . It is pro- 2 7 6 bable they were so employed in consequence of the ranks ~ n ~ T ~ T always making the same sum , a circumstance extremely surprising in the more ignorant ages , when mathematics 4 3 8 passed for magic . The magic square was held in great veneration among the Egyptians ; and the Pythagoreans , their discipleswhoto add more efficacy and virtue to this squarededicated
, , , it to the then known seven planets divers ways , and engraved it upon a plate of metal that was esteemed in sympathy with the planet . The square thus dedicated was enclosed by a regular polygon , inscribed in a circle , which was divided into as many equal parts as there were units in the side of the square , with the names of the angles of the planet ; and the signs of the Zodiac written upon the void spaces
between the polygon and the circumference of the circumscribing circle . Such a talisman they vainl y imagined would befriend the person who carried it about with him . See " Chambers ' s Tracts . Natural Magic . " ' Divination by numbers , or , to speak more correctly , the appearance of it , was not confined to Jewish or heathen nations , but occupied much attention at different periods of Christianity ; and superstitious properties , I am afraid , are still attached to particular numbers , as forming
climacterics or grand climacterics ; for the days of a man ' s life are usually considered to be affected by the septenary year , which , as it is frequently believed , makes considerable changes in both body and mind . But the most remarkable change in a person ' s life is at the climacteric , or 7 x 7 = 49 years ; or the grand climacteric 7 x 9 = 63 , or 9 x 9 = 8 ] years ; each of which is conceived to be fraught with a peculiar fatality . And there are numbers even in tbe nineteenth century , who contemplate these periods with some degree of terror , and esteem it a relief
when they have passed over . Several other numbers have superstitious meanings attached to them . Brown , in his " Pseudodoxia Epidemica" says , that , " six hath found many leaves in its favour ; not only for the daies of the creation , but its natural consideration as being a perfect number , and the first that is completed by its parts ; that is , the sixt , the half , and the third , 1 , 2 , 3 ; which drawn into a sum , makes six . The number ten hath been as highly extolled , as containing even , odd , long , plane , quadrate , and
cubical numbers ; and Aristotle observed with admiration , that barbarians as well as Greeks did use a numeration unto ten ; which , being so general , was not to be judged casual , but to have a foundation in nature . So not only seven and nine , but all the rest have had their elogies , as
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
also thirty-nine . The cabalists say that this letter 3 has a point above and another behind , signifying that the Lord who is in heaven created the world , which is represented by the antecedent letter , that is the ^ formed by two i s , and a 1 , making together twenty-six , the same number as the Tetragrammaton . Reason apparently supports the idea that profound mysteries are contained in the characters of this holy language ; anil who will contend that they do not all involve many secrets and
reasons for being used in the law of Gocl , from the perfect art with which they are formed ?" The same results were obtained by means of the Magic Square , which is a figure made up of numbers in arithmetical proportion , so disposed in parallel and equal ranks , that sums of each row , taken either perpendicularly , horizontally , or diagonally , are equal , as in the adjoining diagram . Such squares seem to have been so called because
they were used in the construction of talismans . It is pro- 2 7 6 bable they were so employed in consequence of the ranks ~ n ~ T ~ T always making the same sum , a circumstance extremely surprising in the more ignorant ages , when mathematics 4 3 8 passed for magic . The magic square was held in great veneration among the Egyptians ; and the Pythagoreans , their discipleswhoto add more efficacy and virtue to this squarededicated
, , , it to the then known seven planets divers ways , and engraved it upon a plate of metal that was esteemed in sympathy with the planet . The square thus dedicated was enclosed by a regular polygon , inscribed in a circle , which was divided into as many equal parts as there were units in the side of the square , with the names of the angles of the planet ; and the signs of the Zodiac written upon the void spaces
between the polygon and the circumference of the circumscribing circle . Such a talisman they vainl y imagined would befriend the person who carried it about with him . See " Chambers ' s Tracts . Natural Magic . " ' Divination by numbers , or , to speak more correctly , the appearance of it , was not confined to Jewish or heathen nations , but occupied much attention at different periods of Christianity ; and superstitious properties , I am afraid , are still attached to particular numbers , as forming
climacterics or grand climacterics ; for the days of a man ' s life are usually considered to be affected by the septenary year , which , as it is frequently believed , makes considerable changes in both body and mind . But the most remarkable change in a person ' s life is at the climacteric , or 7 x 7 = 49 years ; or the grand climacteric 7 x 9 = 63 , or 9 x 9 = 8 ] years ; each of which is conceived to be fraught with a peculiar fatality . And there are numbers even in tbe nineteenth century , who contemplate these periods with some degree of terror , and esteem it a relief
when they have passed over . Several other numbers have superstitious meanings attached to them . Brown , in his " Pseudodoxia Epidemica" says , that , " six hath found many leaves in its favour ; not only for the daies of the creation , but its natural consideration as being a perfect number , and the first that is completed by its parts ; that is , the sixt , the half , and the third , 1 , 2 , 3 ; which drawn into a sum , makes six . The number ten hath been as highly extolled , as containing even , odd , long , plane , quadrate , and
cubical numbers ; and Aristotle observed with admiration , that barbarians as well as Greeks did use a numeration unto ten ; which , being so general , was not to be judged casual , but to have a foundation in nature . So not only seven and nine , but all the rest have had their elogies , as