Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
Chrysostom speaks of it as " the seat of the infernal deities , and abounding in dark mists and stinking chaos , " where , according to tho testimony of Theophilus , bishop of Antioch , from the Sib y lline verses , they " sacrificed unto devils . " * If , therefore , the heathen sacrificed unto devils in Hades , it must have been a place accessible to mortals ; and there
can be no other situation with which the locality can be reasonably identified , but the deep , tortuous , and gloomy cavern , where souls were regenerated by the rites of initiation ; or , in other words , " the lowest of valleys , " in which the Lodges of the Spurious Freemasonry were opened . It was , in fact , a grotto like that of the Cumasan Siby l , which
is thus described by Le Maitre : " I was carried , " says he , " on the back of a man through deep waters into a narrow passage , at the extremity of which I saw a dismal spot ,
exactl y corresponding with the idea which fancy would pourtray of the entrance of hell . And , as we descended still deeper into the cavern , I found reason to remember that even the descensus Averni could not be called facilis , since it was a task of some difficulty and labour . I was shown into a square chamber , into which onl y one person could
enter at a time , being the p lace where the siby l is said to have pronounced her oracles . There is another room styled the bath , the floor of which has a foot and a half of water , and on the wall appear some remains of ancient Mosaic" ! I would here observe , that the above expression of Eustathius— " appointed for souls "—is very remarkable , and
throws much li g ht on the subject ; for the Mithratic caverns were always furnished with allegorical bees ; and honey was profusel y used in the rites , for embalming the candidate ' s bed when he was in a state resembling death ; and for man y other important purposes . But the bees were symbols of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
Chrysostom speaks of it as " the seat of the infernal deities , and abounding in dark mists and stinking chaos , " where , according to tho testimony of Theophilus , bishop of Antioch , from the Sib y lline verses , they " sacrificed unto devils . " * If , therefore , the heathen sacrificed unto devils in Hades , it must have been a place accessible to mortals ; and there
can be no other situation with which the locality can be reasonably identified , but the deep , tortuous , and gloomy cavern , where souls were regenerated by the rites of initiation ; or , in other words , " the lowest of valleys , " in which the Lodges of the Spurious Freemasonry were opened . It was , in fact , a grotto like that of the Cumasan Siby l , which
is thus described by Le Maitre : " I was carried , " says he , " on the back of a man through deep waters into a narrow passage , at the extremity of which I saw a dismal spot ,
exactl y corresponding with the idea which fancy would pourtray of the entrance of hell . And , as we descended still deeper into the cavern , I found reason to remember that even the descensus Averni could not be called facilis , since it was a task of some difficulty and labour . I was shown into a square chamber , into which onl y one person could
enter at a time , being the p lace where the siby l is said to have pronounced her oracles . There is another room styled the bath , the floor of which has a foot and a half of water , and on the wall appear some remains of ancient Mosaic" ! I would here observe , that the above expression of Eustathius— " appointed for souls "—is very remarkable , and
throws much li g ht on the subject ; for the Mithratic caverns were always furnished with allegorical bees ; and honey was profusel y used in the rites , for embalming the candidate ' s bed when he was in a state resembling death ; and for man y other important purposes . But the bees were symbols of