The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

of their OAVII offspring . Hacon , King of Norway , sacrificed Ms son to 0 dm , that he mig ht obtain a victory over Harold ; and Anne , King of Sweden , devoted his nine sous that the deity might be induced to prolong his OAVII life . * In our OAA'n island a firm belief Avas entertained that the death of a criminal was a most acceptable sacrifice to avert the divine displeasure . And nothing can be a clearer illustration that the doctrine of the Atonement AA'as belieA'ed and transmitted by the Druids than the ordinances of these priests in the management of their public sacrifices .

Thus Caesar informs us t that AA'hen any epidemic disease raged amongst the people , or AA'hen they were engaged in a doubtful Avar , tbey either sacrificed human victims , or some eminent person voAved an oblation of himself , using , in all such cases , the ministry of the Druids . They AA'ere of opinion that the immortal gods could not be appeased without the commutation of the life of one man for that of many ; ancl therefore they had public sacrifices of that kind institutedancl in extreme cases a multitude of human

, victims were immolated in a wicker idol as an expiatory sacrifice . It is scarcely conceivable that this uniformity of knoAvledge and practice , respecting the most important eA'ent connected AA'ith the salvation of man could have been conveyed throughout the AA'hole heathen Avorld for a period embracing thousands of years in any other manner than through the agency of the secret mysteries of religion , Avhich Ave denominate the Spurious Freemasonry ; because no other uniform institution existed

by which it could have been preserved intact during all those organic fluctuations in religion ancl politics , Avhich involved the fate of nations , produced bloody revolutions , changed dynasties , and established new tyrannies over an enslaved people . They AA'ere the oidy secure depository of ancient knoAA'ledge ancl tradition , although Clemens Alexandrinus asserts they contained the most voluptuous symbols , insulting theologies , institutions of libidinous deities , satyrs , naked nymphs , ancl contests of buffoons exposed

in shameless nudity . " J It is worthy of our most serious consideration , Ai'hether the allegorical death and resurrection of the heathen initiations § did not shadow forth the Atonement of Christ . They Avere believed to do so by some of the earl y Christians , Avho were better able than ourselves to form a correct opinion of the real tendency of this remarkable ceremony . It appears clear that while in one sense the opiumism ancl euresis of Osiris referred to

the departure ancl reappearance of the sun , in another they typified the inclosure of Noah in the Ark , and his subsequent liberation ; thus uniting , in these extraordinary ' celebrations , the arkite and the sabian idolatry , or death in Adam and fife in Christ .

The learned Fathers possessed a better knoAA'ledge of their true import than it is possible to acquire at this distance of time ; because the Avorks of Melanthius , Sotades , Menander , and others Ai'bo wrote on the subject , are unfortunately lost . And though they had reason to dislike the Mysteries on account of their moral turpitude ancl irreli gious tendency , it is a well-known fact that they studiously transferred the terms , phrases , formularies , rites , ceremonies , ancl discipline into our holy religion , ancl thereby earl

very y vitiated and depraved what even a pagan writer could see ancl acknoAA'ledge was absoluta , et simplex as it came out of the hands of its Divine Author . It must , then , have been a more than ordinary veneration of the people for these Mysteries that could influence the Fathers of the Church to have recourse to such a proceeding . However , the fact is notorious , and the effects are but too visible . )) The cathedral of Chartres contains a curious illustration of the above hypothesis in i painted window wMch appears to display the mythology of India . Vishnu , Avho is painted blue and red , is placed in the midst of a sea of milk , surrounded by a rainbow ; and Brahma is seated on a white lotus which issues from his bosom . In a AA'M CIOAV