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Article CliASSIOAL EEBEMASONRY, ← Page 10 of 11 →
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Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
Perpetml waters tier the pavement gMde \ TVo marble doors unfold on either side ; Sacred the sonthj by which the gods descend ; But mortals enter at the northern end . ** Pope , Od . i . xiii . v . 122
The gate of entrance for the aspirant was from the north ; hut when purged from his corruptions he was termed , indififerently , " new-horn" or " immortaV and the sacred south door was accessible to his steps . ^
It is only necessary to observe further , on this head , that it is ! not only in detached parts of those several poets from which we have quoted that a resemblance to the principles and ceremonies of Free * masonry are plainly seen , hut whole cantos contain a full description of the rites then observed .
It has happened , fortunately for the republic of letters , that the higher species of poetry are exempted from the same licentious use of allegory and metaphor from which sprung the fables of the wa ^ s of the giants , of the birth and education of Jupiter , of the dethroning of Saturn , and of the provinces assigned by the Supreme to the
inferior deities ; all of which are subjects said to have been , particularly treated by Orpheus . f Jn the loose fragments of the early writers , however , imagination was permitted to take its full career ; and sentiment was rendered at once obscure and agreeable by being concealed behind a veil of the richest poetic imagery *
. The love of fable became , indeed , so remarkably prevalent in the earliest ages , that it is now a difficult task , in many instances , to distinguish yeal from apparent truth , and to discriminate the persons who were uSeful members of society—the Freemasons of those times
from those who exist only in the works of a poet , whose aim was professedly to excite admiration . Thus several events of importance to the Order were disfigured by the colouring of poetic narration , so that we are often unable to separate truth from a perplexed system of real and fictitious incidents .
It is necessary to observe in general on this subject , that whatever degree of superiority the reasoning faculty ought ultimately to possess in the sphere of composition , we are not to consider this power as acting the same part in the work of a poet which it should always act in that of a philosopher . In the performance of the latter an appeal to reason is formally stated , and is carried on by the
process of connected argumentation ; but in that of the former , the judgment is principally employed in the disposition of materials . Thus the philosopher and the poet are equally entitled to the character of judicious , when the arguments of the one are just and conclusive , and when the images of the other are apposite and natural . We shall only further observe , in conclusion , that no one who is familiar with the history of the past , and those great and lofty minds associated
* Oliver ' s " History of Initiation , " sec . vi . f Orphic Hymn in Apollon . Hhod .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
Perpetml waters tier the pavement gMde \ TVo marble doors unfold on either side ; Sacred the sonthj by which the gods descend ; But mortals enter at the northern end . ** Pope , Od . i . xiii . v . 122
The gate of entrance for the aspirant was from the north ; hut when purged from his corruptions he was termed , indififerently , " new-horn" or " immortaV and the sacred south door was accessible to his steps . ^
It is only necessary to observe further , on this head , that it is ! not only in detached parts of those several poets from which we have quoted that a resemblance to the principles and ceremonies of Free * masonry are plainly seen , hut whole cantos contain a full description of the rites then observed .
It has happened , fortunately for the republic of letters , that the higher species of poetry are exempted from the same licentious use of allegory and metaphor from which sprung the fables of the wa ^ s of the giants , of the birth and education of Jupiter , of the dethroning of Saturn , and of the provinces assigned by the Supreme to the
inferior deities ; all of which are subjects said to have been , particularly treated by Orpheus . f Jn the loose fragments of the early writers , however , imagination was permitted to take its full career ; and sentiment was rendered at once obscure and agreeable by being concealed behind a veil of the richest poetic imagery *
. The love of fable became , indeed , so remarkably prevalent in the earliest ages , that it is now a difficult task , in many instances , to distinguish yeal from apparent truth , and to discriminate the persons who were uSeful members of society—the Freemasons of those times
from those who exist only in the works of a poet , whose aim was professedly to excite admiration . Thus several events of importance to the Order were disfigured by the colouring of poetic narration , so that we are often unable to separate truth from a perplexed system of real and fictitious incidents .
It is necessary to observe in general on this subject , that whatever degree of superiority the reasoning faculty ought ultimately to possess in the sphere of composition , we are not to consider this power as acting the same part in the work of a poet which it should always act in that of a philosopher . In the performance of the latter an appeal to reason is formally stated , and is carried on by the
process of connected argumentation ; but in that of the former , the judgment is principally employed in the disposition of materials . Thus the philosopher and the poet are equally entitled to the character of judicious , when the arguments of the one are just and conclusive , and when the images of the other are apposite and natural . We shall only further observe , in conclusion , that no one who is familiar with the history of the past , and those great and lofty minds associated
* Oliver ' s " History of Initiation , " sec . vi . f Orphic Hymn in Apollon . Hhod .