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1 st Degree . Bro . Tidswell said it was with much pleasure that he responded to the wish of the W . M . and the Brethren of the Lodge , to deliver a lecture on the first tracing-board , for two reasons—first , that Bro . Tyler , who had been recently initiated , would have an opportunity of knowing that the 1 st Degree consisted of something more than the initiatory form ; and the second reason , that the attention
of the Brethren could not too often be drawn to the lectures , as they necessarily led the members to the paths of virtue and happiness . In commencing his lecture , he must be excused for referring to a subject which had occupied some portion of their attention on the previous Lodge night , for he could not see anything which could induce him to believe that we were copyists from the Egyptians , but the contrary appeared to him to be the fact . He would refer his hearers to the Egyptian Historian Berosus , in his " Berosi Chaldseorum Historia , " in which ,
speaking of Abraham , he writes , " He was great and skilful in the celestial science , and Josephus says he taught them ( the Egyptians ) the science of astronomy ; for before Abraham came into Egypt , they were unacquainted with those parts of learning , for that science came from the Chaldeans . " The Egyptians had evidently copied from the usages of the Hebrews and Masons : for instance—not understanding , they had taken the type for the thing itself—the shekinah , the blazing star , emblem of the sun , and of the G . A . O . T . U ., they had worshipped
under the name of Osiris , and hence they became worshippers of the sun ; and to say then that we copied from the Egyptians , was like saying the pupil taught the master . The lecturer then stated that he had been some years back much surprised to read works that . were published by professed Masons ; one in particular , by a Pole , which stated that Masonry did not exist previously to the eighteenth century . The portals of a higher Lodge than a Craft Lodge having been opened to
him ( the lecturer ) , and there finding it was necessary to know something of the Hebrew language to thoroughly understand the beauties of the tenets of that Lodge , he was well satisfied that all language had sprung from the Semetic , Phoenician , or Hebrew period , and that philology might satisfactorily prove the antiquity of Masonry . All the languages spoken in the world were related to each other . For instance , the languages now spoken in Europe had sprung from the Gothic , Slavonic , Lithuanic , Classical , and Celtic stocks ; thus , from the
Gothic spring the Swedish , Icelandic , Norway , Danish , English , and Germanic ; from the Slavonic , the Bussian and Polish ; from the Lithuanic , the Hungarian and Turkish ; from the Classical , the Greek , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese , and Erench ; and from the Celtic , the Welsh , the modern Cornish , and Irish .
He would not occupy their attention upon this subject further than by referring them to an analytical table he had drawn out , in which he had given the Lord ' s Prayer in twenty-one languages , so that they could , with very little trouble , satisfy themselves . All languages , purely Gothic or Classical , took the possessive pronoun after the noun , while the Celtic placed it before the noun ; and languages which had either the Gothic or Classical engrafted on the Celtic retained the
Celtic mode , as the English and the Erench . By a careful examination of this table , they could satisfy themselves upon the subject , and extend their view . Upon the table they would readily find that all written languages were derived from Semetic , Phoenician , or Hebrew period . The Hebrew was the vernacular tomme of Abraham , and , according to the Bible chronology , Abraham was
contemporary with Noah ; at all events , if not contemporary , he was in existence shortly after Noah , and no doubt spoke the same language . Noah was antediluvian as well as postdiluvian ; therefore the language Noah spoke in his old days he spoke in youth ; the Hebrew , then , was spoken before the flood . If , then , the Hebrew had been handed down with the higher Degrees in Masonry from its
origin , philology inferential ! y proved most satisfactorily the antiquity of Masonry . Again , as to the antiquity of Masonry , what was its name ? Why , according to the ancient patriarch , it was "Light ; " according to Solomon , " Wisdom ; " Pythagoras , " Philosophy ; " Euclid , "Geometry ; " the Greeks , Aarofioc , meaning a " Stone-cutter . " The Masons , i . e . the stone-cutters , showed their wisdom by carving their tenets and secrets on stones , which was done before
the Hebrew became a written language . The lecturer then gave a full explanation of the symbolical tracing-board , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
1 st Degree . Bro . Tidswell said it was with much pleasure that he responded to the wish of the W . M . and the Brethren of the Lodge , to deliver a lecture on the first tracing-board , for two reasons—first , that Bro . Tyler , who had been recently initiated , would have an opportunity of knowing that the 1 st Degree consisted of something more than the initiatory form ; and the second reason , that the attention
of the Brethren could not too often be drawn to the lectures , as they necessarily led the members to the paths of virtue and happiness . In commencing his lecture , he must be excused for referring to a subject which had occupied some portion of their attention on the previous Lodge night , for he could not see anything which could induce him to believe that we were copyists from the Egyptians , but the contrary appeared to him to be the fact . He would refer his hearers to the Egyptian Historian Berosus , in his " Berosi Chaldseorum Historia , " in which ,
speaking of Abraham , he writes , " He was great and skilful in the celestial science , and Josephus says he taught them ( the Egyptians ) the science of astronomy ; for before Abraham came into Egypt , they were unacquainted with those parts of learning , for that science came from the Chaldeans . " The Egyptians had evidently copied from the usages of the Hebrews and Masons : for instance—not understanding , they had taken the type for the thing itself—the shekinah , the blazing star , emblem of the sun , and of the G . A . O . T . U ., they had worshipped
under the name of Osiris , and hence they became worshippers of the sun ; and to say then that we copied from the Egyptians , was like saying the pupil taught the master . The lecturer then stated that he had been some years back much surprised to read works that . were published by professed Masons ; one in particular , by a Pole , which stated that Masonry did not exist previously to the eighteenth century . The portals of a higher Lodge than a Craft Lodge having been opened to
him ( the lecturer ) , and there finding it was necessary to know something of the Hebrew language to thoroughly understand the beauties of the tenets of that Lodge , he was well satisfied that all language had sprung from the Semetic , Phoenician , or Hebrew period , and that philology might satisfactorily prove the antiquity of Masonry . All the languages spoken in the world were related to each other . For instance , the languages now spoken in Europe had sprung from the Gothic , Slavonic , Lithuanic , Classical , and Celtic stocks ; thus , from the
Gothic spring the Swedish , Icelandic , Norway , Danish , English , and Germanic ; from the Slavonic , the Bussian and Polish ; from the Lithuanic , the Hungarian and Turkish ; from the Classical , the Greek , Italian , Spanish , Portuguese , and Erench ; and from the Celtic , the Welsh , the modern Cornish , and Irish .
He would not occupy their attention upon this subject further than by referring them to an analytical table he had drawn out , in which he had given the Lord ' s Prayer in twenty-one languages , so that they could , with very little trouble , satisfy themselves . All languages , purely Gothic or Classical , took the possessive pronoun after the noun , while the Celtic placed it before the noun ; and languages which had either the Gothic or Classical engrafted on the Celtic retained the
Celtic mode , as the English and the Erench . By a careful examination of this table , they could satisfy themselves upon the subject , and extend their view . Upon the table they would readily find that all written languages were derived from Semetic , Phoenician , or Hebrew period . The Hebrew was the vernacular tomme of Abraham , and , according to the Bible chronology , Abraham was
contemporary with Noah ; at all events , if not contemporary , he was in existence shortly after Noah , and no doubt spoke the same language . Noah was antediluvian as well as postdiluvian ; therefore the language Noah spoke in his old days he spoke in youth ; the Hebrew , then , was spoken before the flood . If , then , the Hebrew had been handed down with the higher Degrees in Masonry from its
origin , philology inferential ! y proved most satisfactorily the antiquity of Masonry . Again , as to the antiquity of Masonry , what was its name ? Why , according to the ancient patriarch , it was "Light ; " according to Solomon , " Wisdom ; " Pythagoras , " Philosophy ; " Euclid , "Geometry ; " the Greeks , Aarofioc , meaning a " Stone-cutter . " The Masons , i . e . the stone-cutters , showed their wisdom by carving their tenets and secrets on stones , which was done before
the Hebrew became a written language . The lecturer then gave a full explanation of the symbolical tracing-board , and