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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 6 of 7 →
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On Freemasonry.
time . He commenced his work in fire and the fifth element : for there are five figures of solid bodies , which are termed mathematical . Earth was made of a cube , fire of a pyramid , air of an octaedron , water of an icosaedron , the sphere of the universe of a dodecaedron . And the combinations of the monad , as the principle of all things , are thus deduced . From the monad came the indeterminate duad , from them came numbersfrom numberspointsfrom pointslinesfrom linessuperfices ;
; , ; , ; , from superfices , solids ; from these solid bodies , whose elements are four , viz ., fire , water , air , earth ; of all of which , under various transmutations , the world consists . This great philosopher , Pythagoras , who , by the superiority of his mind , infused a new spirit into the science and learning of Greece , and founded the Italic sect , taught his disciples Geometry , that they might be able to deduce a reason for all their thoughts and actions , and to
ascertain correctly the truth or falsehood of any proposition by the unerring process of mathematical demonstration . Thus being enabled to contemplate the reality of things , and to detect imposture and deceit , they were pronounced to he in the road to perfect happiness . Such was the discipline ancl teaching of the Pythagorean Lodges . It is related , that when Justin Martyr applied to a learned Pythagorean to he admitted as a candidate for the mysterious dogmata of his philosophy ,
he was asked whether , as a preliminary step , he had already studied the sciences of Arithmetic , Music * Astronomy , and Geometry , which were the four divisions of the Mathematics , according to the system of Pythagoras . Ancl he was told that it was impossible to understand the perfection of beatitude without them , because they alone are able to abstract the soul from sensibles , and to prepare it for intelligibles . He was told that , in the absence of these sciences , no man is able to contemplate what is honest , or to determine what is good . And because the candidate acknowledged his ignorance of them he was refused admission into the
society . Above all other sciences or parts of the mathematics however , the followers of Pythagoras esteemed the doctrine of Numbers , which they believed to have heen revealed to man by the celestial deities . And they esteemed arithmetic the most ancient of all the sciences , because "being naturally first generated , it takes away the rest with itself , but is not taken away with them . Thus animal is first in nature before man ; for taking away animal we take away man , but not in taking away man do we take animal . " They considered the creation of the world only as the harmonious effect of a pure arrangement of number . Thus
Dryden—From harmony , from heavenly harmony . This universal frame began ; From harmony to harmony , Through alt the compass of the notes it ran , The diapason closing full in man .
Pythagoras asserted , according to Censorinus , that " the world is made according to musical proportion ; and that the seven planets , which govern the nativities of mortals , have a harmonious motion , and intervals corresponding to musical diastemes , and render various sounds according to their several distances , so consonant that they make the sweetest melody , but inaudible to us by reason of the greatness of the noise , which the narrow passage of our ears is incapable of receiving . " According to the above doctrine , the monad was cit ; emed to be the father of Number , and thc duad its mother ; whence the universal prejudice in favour of odd numbers , the father being had in greater honour
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
time . He commenced his work in fire and the fifth element : for there are five figures of solid bodies , which are termed mathematical . Earth was made of a cube , fire of a pyramid , air of an octaedron , water of an icosaedron , the sphere of the universe of a dodecaedron . And the combinations of the monad , as the principle of all things , are thus deduced . From the monad came the indeterminate duad , from them came numbersfrom numberspointsfrom pointslinesfrom linessuperfices ;
; , ; , ; , from superfices , solids ; from these solid bodies , whose elements are four , viz ., fire , water , air , earth ; of all of which , under various transmutations , the world consists . This great philosopher , Pythagoras , who , by the superiority of his mind , infused a new spirit into the science and learning of Greece , and founded the Italic sect , taught his disciples Geometry , that they might be able to deduce a reason for all their thoughts and actions , and to
ascertain correctly the truth or falsehood of any proposition by the unerring process of mathematical demonstration . Thus being enabled to contemplate the reality of things , and to detect imposture and deceit , they were pronounced to he in the road to perfect happiness . Such was the discipline ancl teaching of the Pythagorean Lodges . It is related , that when Justin Martyr applied to a learned Pythagorean to he admitted as a candidate for the mysterious dogmata of his philosophy ,
he was asked whether , as a preliminary step , he had already studied the sciences of Arithmetic , Music * Astronomy , and Geometry , which were the four divisions of the Mathematics , according to the system of Pythagoras . Ancl he was told that it was impossible to understand the perfection of beatitude without them , because they alone are able to abstract the soul from sensibles , and to prepare it for intelligibles . He was told that , in the absence of these sciences , no man is able to contemplate what is honest , or to determine what is good . And because the candidate acknowledged his ignorance of them he was refused admission into the
society . Above all other sciences or parts of the mathematics however , the followers of Pythagoras esteemed the doctrine of Numbers , which they believed to have heen revealed to man by the celestial deities . And they esteemed arithmetic the most ancient of all the sciences , because "being naturally first generated , it takes away the rest with itself , but is not taken away with them . Thus animal is first in nature before man ; for taking away animal we take away man , but not in taking away man do we take animal . " They considered the creation of the world only as the harmonious effect of a pure arrangement of number . Thus
Dryden—From harmony , from heavenly harmony . This universal frame began ; From harmony to harmony , Through alt the compass of the notes it ran , The diapason closing full in man .
Pythagoras asserted , according to Censorinus , that " the world is made according to musical proportion ; and that the seven planets , which govern the nativities of mortals , have a harmonious motion , and intervals corresponding to musical diastemes , and render various sounds according to their several distances , so consonant that they make the sweetest melody , but inaudible to us by reason of the greatness of the noise , which the narrow passage of our ears is incapable of receiving . " According to the above doctrine , the monad was cit ; emed to be the father of Number , and thc duad its mother ; whence the universal prejudice in favour of odd numbers , the father being had in greater honour