Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
ON FREEMASONRY . EVIDENCES , DOCTRINES , AND TRADITIONS .
1 !\ THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . B . ( No . 12 . ) THE traditional meetings of the Fraternity in " the lowest of valleys , " or sacred crypts , ori g inated from an ancient
belief , derived from patriarchal observance , and common with all nations , that valleys were hol y places . Moses erected an altar to Jehovah , in the valley beneath the hill of Sinai , where he offered his burnt offerings and peace offerings before he was permitted to appear in the Divine presence ; and when Balaam retired for a space from Balak and the rinces
p of Moab , to consult the will ancl pleasure of the Deity , it is supposed by our best commentators that he went into a valley for that purpose , and not to the summit of another hill ; because the true reading of the passage is expressed in
the margin of our bibles , " he went solitary , " or into a solitary place , apart from the compan y he had left . Thus he went from " the high hill , " where he had just offered a public sacrifice to the true God , and sought the seclusion of the nearest valley , where he might commune with the Divinity in secret , and unrestricted b y the fear of
interruption . And in this valley Jehovah condescended to communicate to him his will and p leasure . The p lace where Elijah resided in his latter days , was a cave in Mount Carmel , * and he was supposed to have secluded himself in a hill or valley when he was translated to Heaven . These instances , together with the mention of " the valley
of vision " as a holy p lace , by Isaiah , may have been the prototypes of the custom pursued b y our ancient Brethren , of holding their occasional Lodges in "the lowest of valleys . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
ON FREEMASONRY . EVIDENCES , DOCTRINES , AND TRADITIONS .
1 !\ THE REV . G . OLIVER , D . B . ( No . 12 . ) THE traditional meetings of the Fraternity in " the lowest of valleys , " or sacred crypts , ori g inated from an ancient
belief , derived from patriarchal observance , and common with all nations , that valleys were hol y places . Moses erected an altar to Jehovah , in the valley beneath the hill of Sinai , where he offered his burnt offerings and peace offerings before he was permitted to appear in the Divine presence ; and when Balaam retired for a space from Balak and the rinces
p of Moab , to consult the will ancl pleasure of the Deity , it is supposed by our best commentators that he went into a valley for that purpose , and not to the summit of another hill ; because the true reading of the passage is expressed in
the margin of our bibles , " he went solitary , " or into a solitary place , apart from the compan y he had left . Thus he went from " the high hill , " where he had just offered a public sacrifice to the true God , and sought the seclusion of the nearest valley , where he might commune with the Divinity in secret , and unrestricted b y the fear of
interruption . And in this valley Jehovah condescended to communicate to him his will and p leasure . The p lace where Elijah resided in his latter days , was a cave in Mount Carmel , * and he was supposed to have secluded himself in a hill or valley when he was translated to Heaven . These instances , together with the mention of " the valley
of vision " as a holy p lace , by Isaiah , may have been the prototypes of the custom pursued b y our ancient Brethren , of holding their occasional Lodges in "the lowest of valleys . "