Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
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vaults or caverns , accordingly , says the legend ,, the pillars above mentioned were found , in a pla . ce called Syringes , described to be certain winding apartments under ground , near Thebes , beyond the Nile , and not fer from the sounding statue of Memnon .
We have already alluded to the origin assigned to the mysteries after the deluge by the Bev . Gr . B . IFaber , and by Dr . Warburton , Bishop of Gloucester ; Dr . Oliver assigns it as follows . The universal deluge ^ he observes , would doubtless produce a tremendous effect on the minds of the survivors ; and as a knowledge of this terrible event was propagated amongst their posterity , it would
naturally be . accompanied by a veneration for the piety , and afterwards for the persons , of the fevoured few who were preserved from destruction by the visible interference of the Div ^ increasing with the march of ^ the peculiar manner in which their salvationwas accompHshed , at length a . ssumedl the form of an idolatrous worship ; and Nimrod , the
first open apostate , instituted a , series of drvme honours to Noah and his triple offspring , who were identM gaye the origihal impulse to the Helio-arl ^ ^ Hence the sun and Npah , are said to have heen worshipped the moon and the a ^
female principle , and was acknowledged in different nations under the various appellations of Isis , "Venus , Astarte , Ceres , Proserpine , Rhea ^ Sita , Oeridwen , IPrea > & c . ; while the former , or male principle , assumed the names of Osiris , Saturn , Jupiter , Neptune , Bacchus , Adonis , Hu , Brahma , Odin , & c—the various appellations which different peoples bestowed on the same divinity , the founder of their
nation , male or female- —which constitute the same false principles to which the mysteries were universally consecrated , and which , by degrees , introduced the abominations of the phallic worship . On these rude beginnings , says Dr . Oliver , the whole complicated machinery of the mysteries was formed , which completely banished from the political horizon of idolatry the true knowledge of God and of a superintending providence .
We must here join issue with Dr . Oliver . We do so with all respect , and in doing so fully acknowledge his great research , his voluminous writings , his extensive knowledge , and feel that we are doing , to say the least , a bold thing , in differing , however courteously , with him , who was but so lately , and for so long a time , our predecessor , as a contributor to the pages of this Magazine , ( chiefly , we believe , in its " quarterly" time . )
Having premised thus much , by way of apology , we must observe that Dr . Oliver , although assigning a means of the continuation after the deluge of such mysteries as existed before that event , names two distinct periods for the institution of the mysteries , viz ., one after the deluge , the account of which we have just given almost in his own
* Vide former papers ( on the ancient mysteries ) , on the worship of Isis and Osiris , in conjunction with the lunar vessel ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
0!He Ang
vaults or caverns , accordingly , says the legend ,, the pillars above mentioned were found , in a pla . ce called Syringes , described to be certain winding apartments under ground , near Thebes , beyond the Nile , and not fer from the sounding statue of Memnon .
We have already alluded to the origin assigned to the mysteries after the deluge by the Bev . Gr . B . IFaber , and by Dr . Warburton , Bishop of Gloucester ; Dr . Oliver assigns it as follows . The universal deluge ^ he observes , would doubtless produce a tremendous effect on the minds of the survivors ; and as a knowledge of this terrible event was propagated amongst their posterity , it would
naturally be . accompanied by a veneration for the piety , and afterwards for the persons , of the fevoured few who were preserved from destruction by the visible interference of the Div ^ increasing with the march of ^ the peculiar manner in which their salvationwas accompHshed , at length a . ssumedl the form of an idolatrous worship ; and Nimrod , the
first open apostate , instituted a , series of drvme honours to Noah and his triple offspring , who were identM gaye the origihal impulse to the Helio-arl ^ ^ Hence the sun and Npah , are said to have heen worshipped the moon and the a ^
female principle , and was acknowledged in different nations under the various appellations of Isis , "Venus , Astarte , Ceres , Proserpine , Rhea ^ Sita , Oeridwen , IPrea > & c . ; while the former , or male principle , assumed the names of Osiris , Saturn , Jupiter , Neptune , Bacchus , Adonis , Hu , Brahma , Odin , & c—the various appellations which different peoples bestowed on the same divinity , the founder of their
nation , male or female- —which constitute the same false principles to which the mysteries were universally consecrated , and which , by degrees , introduced the abominations of the phallic worship . On these rude beginnings , says Dr . Oliver , the whole complicated machinery of the mysteries was formed , which completely banished from the political horizon of idolatry the true knowledge of God and of a superintending providence .
We must here join issue with Dr . Oliver . We do so with all respect , and in doing so fully acknowledge his great research , his voluminous writings , his extensive knowledge , and feel that we are doing , to say the least , a bold thing , in differing , however courteously , with him , who was but so lately , and for so long a time , our predecessor , as a contributor to the pages of this Magazine , ( chiefly , we believe , in its " quarterly" time . )
Having premised thus much , by way of apology , we must observe that Dr . Oliver , although assigning a means of the continuation after the deluge of such mysteries as existed before that event , names two distinct periods for the institution of the mysteries , viz ., one after the deluge , the account of which we have just given almost in his own
* Vide former papers ( on the ancient mysteries ) , on the worship of Isis and Osiris , in conjunction with the lunar vessel ,