The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

The origin of this difference being the murder of Abel , and the expatriation of his brother , would doubtless form an historical event of sufficient importance to be perpetuated by significant rites and symbolsAvhich Avould ensure its transmission

, to a far distant posterity , Avithout undergoing any material alteration in the facts , amongst a people Avhose ignorance of letters would leave them no alternative but to

have recourse to oral communication . This , therefore , would be the ritual or legend of the secret Avhich was to be kept inviolable with respect to the apostate race of the murderer . The word or token Avould be the Sacred Name of God , and the password , the " Blood of Abel , " which was a type of the Redeemer ' s promise to Adam as an atonement for the sins of men .

But unhappily , this distinction did not continue unimpaired . In process of times the sons of Light became contaminated by the seductive allurements of the Cainites , whose superior ciAdlization , and excellence in the refinements of social life , Avere a snare too tempting to be resisted . The

consequences proA'ed fatal ; for instead of the pure system triumphing over the degraded Avorship of the inhabitants of tho vallies , it became amalgamated Avith the spurious practices which had been instituted in imitation of , and as a substitute

for , the legitimate mysteries of their pious contemporaries , and in the end swallowed up ancl extinguished them . According to Masonic tradition they Avere in danger of being entirely lost ; and Avere preserved only by the zeal of a feAv solitary

individuals who had sufficient virtue to resist the progress of contamination . The secrets were at length deposited for safet y in the bowels of the earth . This appears to receive confirmation from the surname given to Tubal , the

artificer in brass and iron—the great Giblite ( Heb . Gibal , Freemason ) of the ancient Avorld ; else , why should the degrading appellation of fratricide be affixed to him in particular who conferred more benefits on mankind by his ingenuity and

scientific acquirements than any individnal of _ his race ? He was thus distinguished , as it appears reasonable to believe , because he was the principal agent in the amalgamation ef the two great divisions of mankind , and the first of his family who received , or was initated into , a knoAvledge

of the mysteries of the pious race , which preserved the correct legend of the defection of Cain from primitive holiness , and the incidents which accompanied the murder of his brother . The Almihty strove basories of natural

g y means to prevent this universal defection ; for Avhen he said " my Sp irit shall not always strive with man . " * it is evident that he had already used ail the means Avhich he considered rig ht to Avean the Sethites from their absurd and superstitious apostacy ;

probably "by signs and wonders , and mighty deeds , " such as he used at a subsequent period to preserve the Israelites from contamination in the wilderness ; and these being ineffectual , he at length determined not only to shorten the life of

man , but to destroy the sinners from the face of the earth , and purge tbe Avorld of its corruptions by an universal deluge . If these conjectures have any fovmdation in truth , they will satisfactorily account for the union of the true ancl spurious Freemasonry , and the means by which the first idolaters became acquainted with the pure

and intellectual system of p rimitive Light . And it was a knowledge which they considered of too much value to be forgotten . Hence we find that Ham , who had . been instructed in these truths before the flood , by Lamech , as some think , t or more

probably by Tubal Cain , communicated them to his descendants : and they formed the groundwork on Avhich these designing innovators afterward * instituted and improved the diluvian mysteries ; Avhere the death of Abel Avas figured by that of Osiris

or Bacchus . It Avill be unnecessary to SIIOAV that Christanity was intended by the Almighty to be symbolized and transmitted in the Jewish religion . It is well knoivn , and cannot be controverted . All its ceremonies and

requisitions were but types and shadoAvs of a better dispensation . The laAV was merely a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ . ^ It may , however , be a useful and beneficial employment to prove that Christainity was embodied in every system of false religion ;

and that the secrets preserved with such care and circumspection in the spurious Freemasonry of these various systems , were no