Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
the operative portion , to give some description of the Dionysians of Asia Minor , the colleges of architects of Ancient Rome , and the various fraternities of builders , by svhom the most magnificent monuments of antiquity svere erected , svith an account of tlie Freemasons of the middle ages , our more immediate predecessors , svho travelling in Lodges , and patronized by kings and nobles , filled Christendom svith those splendid cathedrals and ecclesiastical structures , svhich still stand unrivalled
monuments of architectural beauty , symmetry , and skill , and contrast most strikingly svith the debased and unmeaning style adopted after our ancient Brethren had closed their Lodges , and ceased to svork as operative Masons .
And first , then , as to the speculative portion of our subject . —As LIGHT , both physical and intellectual , springs from the east , sve naturally refer to that bright region to trace the dasvn of intellect , the source of the arts , antl as the spot svhere the first practical development svas given to the beneficent and comprehensive principles of Freemasonry . I have before observed that the mysteries svere unquestionably pure in origin , in fact , they comprehended in their institution the simple rites and pure principles of a patriarchal form of worshisvith the interposition of such
p , guards as svere gradually found necessary to preserve them from profanation . They svere instituted in the infancy of the post-diluvian svorld , svhen the svaters of the deluge had subsided , and Noah and his family descended from mount Ararat to occupy and replenish a purified earth . It svould seem more in order , therefore , to commence this part of the subject svith some description of the mysteries of India , probably the most ancient ; but at present a cloud of darkness hangs over the early
history of that portion of our globe . There empires have perished , of ss'hich sve do not even know the name—they may have been ruled over by dynasties , but they are forgotten— -they may have possessed records , but they have been destroyed—patriots and poets may have flourished and sung , but their literature is lost—their history is a blank . And svhat remains of Nineveh the mighty , and Babylon the proud ? The city , svith its hundred brazen gatesits stately svallsits hanging gardensits
, , , temples , palaces , and tosvers , has been sss'ept from the plains of Shinarits very site unknosvn . We therefore propose to leave the valley of the Euphrates and turn , in the first instance , to the valley ofthe Nile . In Egypt sve find vestiges of the most remote antiquity , monuments of grandeur , and ss'orks so stupendous as to seem almost superhuman , and thesemoreoverwrought in a material apparentlimperishable ; for
, , y though four thousand years have rolled over them , they still preserve their pristine freshness , the mark of the workman ' s chisel is still clear and distinct , and in the mystic characters they bear , events are recorded svhich occurred contemporaneously svith their erection . In the valley of the Nile sve thus have a most interesting field for investigation , and I svill commence the speculative portion of my subject svith some account of
ANCIENT EGYPT . For nearly tsvo thousand years thick darkness laid upon the history of the land of the Pharaohs , and all attempts to disperse it failed . Vague surmises , svild imaginings , and absurd hypotheses , svere all that the svorld beheld in the vain but laborious attempts of the learned " to uplift the veil of Isis ; " but the persevering efforts of modern hierologists , directed
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
the operative portion , to give some description of the Dionysians of Asia Minor , the colleges of architects of Ancient Rome , and the various fraternities of builders , by svhom the most magnificent monuments of antiquity svere erected , svith an account of tlie Freemasons of the middle ages , our more immediate predecessors , svho travelling in Lodges , and patronized by kings and nobles , filled Christendom svith those splendid cathedrals and ecclesiastical structures , svhich still stand unrivalled
monuments of architectural beauty , symmetry , and skill , and contrast most strikingly svith the debased and unmeaning style adopted after our ancient Brethren had closed their Lodges , and ceased to svork as operative Masons .
And first , then , as to the speculative portion of our subject . —As LIGHT , both physical and intellectual , springs from the east , sve naturally refer to that bright region to trace the dasvn of intellect , the source of the arts , antl as the spot svhere the first practical development svas given to the beneficent and comprehensive principles of Freemasonry . I have before observed that the mysteries svere unquestionably pure in origin , in fact , they comprehended in their institution the simple rites and pure principles of a patriarchal form of worshisvith the interposition of such
p , guards as svere gradually found necessary to preserve them from profanation . They svere instituted in the infancy of the post-diluvian svorld , svhen the svaters of the deluge had subsided , and Noah and his family descended from mount Ararat to occupy and replenish a purified earth . It svould seem more in order , therefore , to commence this part of the subject svith some description of the mysteries of India , probably the most ancient ; but at present a cloud of darkness hangs over the early
history of that portion of our globe . There empires have perished , of ss'hich sve do not even know the name—they may have been ruled over by dynasties , but they are forgotten— -they may have possessed records , but they have been destroyed—patriots and poets may have flourished and sung , but their literature is lost—their history is a blank . And svhat remains of Nineveh the mighty , and Babylon the proud ? The city , svith its hundred brazen gatesits stately svallsits hanging gardensits
, , , temples , palaces , and tosvers , has been sss'ept from the plains of Shinarits very site unknosvn . We therefore propose to leave the valley of the Euphrates and turn , in the first instance , to the valley ofthe Nile . In Egypt sve find vestiges of the most remote antiquity , monuments of grandeur , and ss'orks so stupendous as to seem almost superhuman , and thesemoreoverwrought in a material apparentlimperishable ; for
, , y though four thousand years have rolled over them , they still preserve their pristine freshness , the mark of the workman ' s chisel is still clear and distinct , and in the mystic characters they bear , events are recorded svhich occurred contemporaneously svith their erection . In the valley of the Nile sve thus have a most interesting field for investigation , and I svill commence the speculative portion of my subject svith some account of
ANCIENT EGYPT . For nearly tsvo thousand years thick darkness laid upon the history of the land of the Pharaohs , and all attempts to disperse it failed . Vague surmises , svild imaginings , and absurd hypotheses , svere all that the svorld beheld in the vain but laborious attempts of the learned " to uplift the veil of Isis ; " but the persevering efforts of modern hierologists , directed