Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions. *
escaped unhurt from the field of battle , as a symbol of safety under the divine protection . For these causes it has been designated an emblem of LIFE . And in our own island , it was highly venerated in connection with the oak , which was a tree sacred amongst all nations , and considered as peculiarly sanctified b y the gods , if not their immediate
residence . * The fairest tree in the grove ! solemnl y consecrated with many superstitious ceremonies . ^; Sometimes it was divested of some of its collateral branches , and one of the largest was preserved , and so constructed as to exhibit the form of the Tau Cross . On the back of the tree they inscribed the word Tau , by which , says Borlase , they meant God . On the right arm was inscribed Hesus , on the left , Belenus , and on the middle of the trunk , Tharamis . § This was to represent the sacred triad .
It is rather curious , and displays the workings of an overruling Providence , that the Jews and Romans should have condemned Jesus to die by the very instrument which , in all nations , had been previousl y esteemed the symbol of eternal life . And hence it appears that this emblem "J " , amongst Christians , was not altogether primitive . But it is b y no
means clear that the earl y converts were acquainted with its use amongst their heathen neighbours ; although at Rome the statue of Osiris was distinguished b y it ; and in Egypt the same figure was sculptured on gems , and signified vitam eternam . And when the Temple of Osiris , at Alexandria , was destroyed at the command of Theodosius , crosses were found cut in stone , which , as we are informed b y Socrates , || occasioned many of the people to become Christians . " The
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions. *
escaped unhurt from the field of battle , as a symbol of safety under the divine protection . For these causes it has been designated an emblem of LIFE . And in our own island , it was highly venerated in connection with the oak , which was a tree sacred amongst all nations , and considered as peculiarly sanctified b y the gods , if not their immediate
residence . * The fairest tree in the grove ! solemnl y consecrated with many superstitious ceremonies . ^; Sometimes it was divested of some of its collateral branches , and one of the largest was preserved , and so constructed as to exhibit the form of the Tau Cross . On the back of the tree they inscribed the word Tau , by which , says Borlase , they meant God . On the right arm was inscribed Hesus , on the left , Belenus , and on the middle of the trunk , Tharamis . § This was to represent the sacred triad .
It is rather curious , and displays the workings of an overruling Providence , that the Jews and Romans should have condemned Jesus to die by the very instrument which , in all nations , had been previousl y esteemed the symbol of eternal life . And hence it appears that this emblem "J " , amongst Christians , was not altogether primitive . But it is b y no
means clear that the earl y converts were acquainted with its use amongst their heathen neighbours ; although at Rome the statue of Osiris was distinguished b y it ; and in Egypt the same figure was sculptured on gems , and signified vitam eternam . And when the Temple of Osiris , at Alexandria , was destroyed at the command of Theodosius , crosses were found cut in stone , which , as we are informed b y Socrates , || occasioned many of the people to become Christians . " The