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On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
columns , was a work of great antiquity , it serves to confirm the fact , that in the construction of their ceremonies , the science of astronomy was not overlooked by the first idolaters . During the celebrations connected with the legend under our considerationa remarkable emblem of Osiris or the sun
, was produced ; viz . the Phoenix , which was described to the people as a bird that lived five hundred years , at the expiration of which time it was consumed by an internal fire , and a young bird produced from the ashes ; but to the initiated it was explained as referring to the great solar cycle of fourteen hundred and sixty-one years . It was
represented with painted wings , the colour of which varied when it was intended to signify the sun in his upper or lower course in the zodiac . In the former case the feathers were of a brilliant hue ; and in the latter of a dark blue colour . The account which Osiris gives of himself in Macrobius is remarkable . " The heavenly world is my head ; my belly is the sea ; my feet the earth ; in Heaven are my ears , and for my Allseeing Eye , it is the glorious lamp of the sun . "
The above interpretation is fully corroborated by the general system of religion which was inculcated in the Mysteries . In the received mythology , Jupiter was said to conquer , bind , and emasculate his father Saturn ; which in the initiations , was explained to mean that his li ght is eclipsed and his influence checked by him . Again , Venus was
reported to have been criminall y connected with Mars and Mercury , and to have borne them children ; which referred merely to some happy conjunction with those planets . Venus was called by the Chaldeans , Astarte ; ancl depicted in their solemn Mysteries , as heralded or attended by a star , ( aeponerij 9 aarnp . ) She was the same as the Sidonian Ashtaroth
; and it is very probable that the queen of heaven worshipped by the apostate Israelites , according to the prophet Jeremiah , was the same goddess . " In sideral my thology , Hercules , that is , the solar genius at a certain period risinc in the constellation Hercules , " according to Maurice , " is recorded to have slain the Lerncean hdrai the hdra
y , . e ., y of the sphere , by cutting off successively its golden heads , ( the numerous stars glittering like gold in that asterism , and therefore poetically called its golden heads ;) whose li ght was gradually extinguished , or become occult , as the superior
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
columns , was a work of great antiquity , it serves to confirm the fact , that in the construction of their ceremonies , the science of astronomy was not overlooked by the first idolaters . During the celebrations connected with the legend under our considerationa remarkable emblem of Osiris or the sun
, was produced ; viz . the Phoenix , which was described to the people as a bird that lived five hundred years , at the expiration of which time it was consumed by an internal fire , and a young bird produced from the ashes ; but to the initiated it was explained as referring to the great solar cycle of fourteen hundred and sixty-one years . It was
represented with painted wings , the colour of which varied when it was intended to signify the sun in his upper or lower course in the zodiac . In the former case the feathers were of a brilliant hue ; and in the latter of a dark blue colour . The account which Osiris gives of himself in Macrobius is remarkable . " The heavenly world is my head ; my belly is the sea ; my feet the earth ; in Heaven are my ears , and for my Allseeing Eye , it is the glorious lamp of the sun . "
The above interpretation is fully corroborated by the general system of religion which was inculcated in the Mysteries . In the received mythology , Jupiter was said to conquer , bind , and emasculate his father Saturn ; which in the initiations , was explained to mean that his li ght is eclipsed and his influence checked by him . Again , Venus was
reported to have been criminall y connected with Mars and Mercury , and to have borne them children ; which referred merely to some happy conjunction with those planets . Venus was called by the Chaldeans , Astarte ; ancl depicted in their solemn Mysteries , as heralded or attended by a star , ( aeponerij 9 aarnp . ) She was the same as the Sidonian Ashtaroth
; and it is very probable that the queen of heaven worshipped by the apostate Israelites , according to the prophet Jeremiah , was the same goddess . " In sideral my thology , Hercules , that is , the solar genius at a certain period risinc in the constellation Hercules , " according to Maurice , " is recorded to have slain the Lerncean hdrai the hdra
y , . e ., y of the sphere , by cutting off successively its golden heads , ( the numerous stars glittering like gold in that asterism , and therefore poetically called its golden heads ;) whose li ght was gradually extinguished , or become occult , as the superior