Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
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
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
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