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Article ON THE INSTITUTION OF FREEMASONRY.* ← Page 3 of 13 →
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On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
are compelled ( o suppose , either that they have all blindl y followed a hastil y made assertion , or that the Fraternity themselves arc in the possession of traditions or records inaccessible to the uninitiated : I must , however , believe the former . That in Egypt there was an associated bod y of men , to
whom all scientific knowledge was confined , who preserved strict secrecy upon all matters connected with their ordinances , and used symbols familiar onl y to themselves , appears nearl y as certain as that , among the Greeks , the initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries , so far as regarded their government and the lessons inculcated , also closel y resembled the Freemasons ; but this is all that we know . At the last-mentioned and celebrated festivals , viz ., those of Eleusis , the neophyte about to be admitted underwent , as
among the Masons , an ordeal of no common severity ; the princi p les of probity , charity , and humanity were impressed upon his mind , and the secrets of the mysteries were sworn by him to be held sacred . The tenets of the initiate we find , too , were not confined to Eleusis ; for about 1300 years before our era , says one , " Laurie ' s History of
Freemasonry , " they reached Athens , and , ultimately , France , and probably , Britain ; but in the records of this association we can discover no evidence of that which appears to have been the one great object of the Fraternity of Masons , namely , the stud y and practice of geometry and architecture ; terms which , as they say , were with them synonymous ,
and comprehended the basis of all their proceedinp-s . With the initiated of Eleusis it is not possible , therefore , to connect Freemasons . Coming on to rather late times , we see that the disci p les of the Dionysian mysteries , instituted in honour of Bacchus , to the clue celebration of whose
festival we owe the invention of theatres , were men intimatel y connected with science : they were termed the Dionysiac artificers ; and , as a body , possessed the exclusive privilege of erecting temples and theatres in Asia Minor . These artificers were incorporated at Teos b y the kings of Pergamus , where they built a magnificent temple to Bacchus ;
sufficient of which even yet remains to attest its grandeur , and to justif y the terms in which Vitruvius speaks of its splendour . ( See the Introduction to Wilkins' "Vitruvius . " ) They used symbols known onl y to themselves ; at certain periods met for convivial purposes ; and , according to some accounts , were actually divided into Lodges , governed by
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
are compelled ( o suppose , either that they have all blindl y followed a hastil y made assertion , or that the Fraternity themselves arc in the possession of traditions or records inaccessible to the uninitiated : I must , however , believe the former . That in Egypt there was an associated bod y of men , to
whom all scientific knowledge was confined , who preserved strict secrecy upon all matters connected with their ordinances , and used symbols familiar onl y to themselves , appears nearl y as certain as that , among the Greeks , the initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries , so far as regarded their government and the lessons inculcated , also closel y resembled the Freemasons ; but this is all that we know . At the last-mentioned and celebrated festivals , viz ., those of Eleusis , the neophyte about to be admitted underwent , as
among the Masons , an ordeal of no common severity ; the princi p les of probity , charity , and humanity were impressed upon his mind , and the secrets of the mysteries were sworn by him to be held sacred . The tenets of the initiate we find , too , were not confined to Eleusis ; for about 1300 years before our era , says one , " Laurie ' s History of
Freemasonry , " they reached Athens , and , ultimately , France , and probably , Britain ; but in the records of this association we can discover no evidence of that which appears to have been the one great object of the Fraternity of Masons , namely , the stud y and practice of geometry and architecture ; terms which , as they say , were with them synonymous ,
and comprehended the basis of all their proceedinp-s . With the initiated of Eleusis it is not possible , therefore , to connect Freemasons . Coming on to rather late times , we see that the disci p les of the Dionysian mysteries , instituted in honour of Bacchus , to the clue celebration of whose
festival we owe the invention of theatres , were men intimatel y connected with science : they were termed the Dionysiac artificers ; and , as a body , possessed the exclusive privilege of erecting temples and theatres in Asia Minor . These artificers were incorporated at Teos b y the kings of Pergamus , where they built a magnificent temple to Bacchus ;
sufficient of which even yet remains to attest its grandeur , and to justif y the terms in which Vitruvius speaks of its splendour . ( See the Introduction to Wilkins' "Vitruvius . " ) They used symbols known onl y to themselves ; at certain periods met for convivial purposes ; and , according to some accounts , were actually divided into Lodges , governed by