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Article ON FREEMASONRY. THE NUMBER THREE. ← Page 6 of 10 →
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On Freemasonry. The Number Three.
subject , that his followers were not agreed whether he admitted three or more hypostases into his theory of the divinity . * And the style of reasoning adopted by his disciples abounds with such subtleties , that it is difficult to gather from their writings whether they themselves really understood their own arguments . Plato taught , according
to Porphyry , that the divine essence may possibly extend itself to three hypostases , viz ., the Supreme Divinity—the Creator—the Soul of the World . But in another place he says , " We must not consider the Supreme Divinity as one of the hypostases , because he is incapable of accidents , and has no communication with any other being ; and therefore , in considering the Divinity , we must begin with the Spirit
or Creator . " Hence Parmenidas , the Platonist , makes the deity fu < ai iroWa , not confining the hypostases to any specific number ; although Plotinus , in his Enneades , explains the expression by affirming that he meant a triad of archical hypostases . But the same philosopher , in another place , asserts that the trinity consists of more than three
hypostases ; whom , however , Porphyry , his pupil , does not follow , but confines the triad to its legitimate number , in conformity with the ancient belief . Aurelins makes the trinity to consist of three equal persons ; while Jamblichus , ancl a few of the later Plaionists , endeavoured in vain to extend the number of hypostases , and to exalt the first to a rank high above the rest .
Having thus shown that the knowledge of a triad of deity existed in the heathen world long before the birth of Plato , it will fully refute the assertion so boldly promulgated in these days , that the doctrine of the trinity was introduced into Christianity by Justin Martyr , who , before his conversion , was a Platonic philosopher .
The perversion of the primitive doctrine of the trinity before the coming of Christ was so complete , that the heathen philosophers -- confessed unanimously that the sun is an emblem or image of the three great deities jointly and individually ; that is , of Brahm , or the supreme ONE , who alone exists really and absolutely ; the three small divinities being only Maya , or illusion . " - ] - In another point of view
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Number Three.
subject , that his followers were not agreed whether he admitted three or more hypostases into his theory of the divinity . * And the style of reasoning adopted by his disciples abounds with such subtleties , that it is difficult to gather from their writings whether they themselves really understood their own arguments . Plato taught , according
to Porphyry , that the divine essence may possibly extend itself to three hypostases , viz ., the Supreme Divinity—the Creator—the Soul of the World . But in another place he says , " We must not consider the Supreme Divinity as one of the hypostases , because he is incapable of accidents , and has no communication with any other being ; and therefore , in considering the Divinity , we must begin with the Spirit
or Creator . " Hence Parmenidas , the Platonist , makes the deity fu < ai iroWa , not confining the hypostases to any specific number ; although Plotinus , in his Enneades , explains the expression by affirming that he meant a triad of archical hypostases . But the same philosopher , in another place , asserts that the trinity consists of more than three
hypostases ; whom , however , Porphyry , his pupil , does not follow , but confines the triad to its legitimate number , in conformity with the ancient belief . Aurelins makes the trinity to consist of three equal persons ; while Jamblichus , ancl a few of the later Plaionists , endeavoured in vain to extend the number of hypostases , and to exalt the first to a rank high above the rest .
Having thus shown that the knowledge of a triad of deity existed in the heathen world long before the birth of Plato , it will fully refute the assertion so boldly promulgated in these days , that the doctrine of the trinity was introduced into Christianity by Justin Martyr , who , before his conversion , was a Platonic philosopher .
The perversion of the primitive doctrine of the trinity before the coming of Christ was so complete , that the heathen philosophers -- confessed unanimously that the sun is an emblem or image of the three great deities jointly and individually ; that is , of Brahm , or the supreme ONE , who alone exists really and absolutely ; the three small divinities being only Maya , or illusion . " - ] - In another point of view