The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY .

BY REV GEO . OLIVER , D . D . CHAPTER IX . THIRD SERIES OF SYMBOLS . [ Continued from , page 532 . ) " When the temple of Serapis was raised from its

foundations , tliere were found symbols inscribed on stones , called hieroglyphics ; of these some were in the form of a cross ; and such of the Gentile converts to Christianity as pretended to understand the hieroglyphics ; said that it signified the life to come . " SOCRATES .

The explanation of the above emblems appears perfectly reasonable , because it is analogous to the Hermesian system of hieroglyphics , as corrected and explained by the literary investigations , and important discoveries of our own times ; but the

concluding figure , which is now to come under our consideration , is not quite so easy of interpretation . It is both complicated and indistinct , and offers no certain clue to enable us to form a correct opinion . The circle and San cross are clear enough

, but the figure by which they are connected , has , I confess , puzzled me not a little , although the Hermesian symbol for Government bears some distant resemblance to a part of it . It may be an imperfect attempt to unite

the vesica piscis with the phallus symbolized by the San cross ; the former being the geometrical sign of recognition amongst the epopts of Egypt . This symbol , which was of great importance in every system of Masonry , was formed by the intersection

of two circles whose diameters are equal . It was formerly engraven on the tombs of the early Christians , as a fish ; in allusion to the three days entombation of Christ , of which the sign of the prophet Jonah was a legitimate t because a fish had

ype , been the tomb of Jonah for the same period ; and it was the only sign which Christ deigned to give to the inquisitive Jews . In the above situation the fish was

understood to represent the blessed name of Jesus ; the initials of Iycrous X / HOTOS © eou Yios SuTTip , forming the word IXOYS , afish . But the fish or vesica piscis has been applied to another purpose in Masonry .

It was formerly the emblematical Jewel worn by the stewards , and I have no doubt , considering the nature of their office , that it was adopted in allusion to the fish which St . Peter drew out of the sea for the purpose of providing for the

temporal wants of himself and his Master , as the stewards of a lodge provide for those of their brethren . In fact the whole of the Masonic emblems serve to prove that the early Christians introduced many of them into our speculative system . But to

return to the subject under our more immediate notice . The vesica piscis often appears on the Egyptian temples , and especially on the throne of Osiris ; referring to the doctrine of the priests on the subject of their trinity ; and representing geometrically the

birth of Orus , as the son of Osiris and Isis . It constitutes the chief element of the figures seen on the thrones of the Pharaohs , to represent materially a knot of love , and scientifically the birth of harmony , out of the contending elements of discord . It entered into the design of the structure of

the central room in the great pyramid , and was connected with the entire train of Egyptian Masonry * which that pyramid , internally and externally , embodied and comprised . The symbols before ushoweverwere

, , evidently intended to refer to physical generation , and in that character were highly venerated by every ancient people as emblems of the Deity or Demiurgus , in his prolific power of producing the fruits of the earth for the benefit of his creatures .

But the origin of the phallic worshi p is attributed to Ham , the Jupiter Hammon of the Egyptians ; the base rites of which prostituted religion are , by the just decrees of providence , stamped with tliat eternal brand of reproach , the hieroglyphic symbol of his crime , which is so well calculated to

impress upon the minds of men , and keep alive the memory of that primeval turpitude committed by the most ancient idolator , and the earliest tyrant after the deluge . t Faber , however , thinks that the phallic orgies were the invention of Melampus , in honour of Bacchus or Noah ; and that