The Origin And Teachings Of Masonry.

the symbol for the thing signified , and hence , in the end , every representation became an idol ivhich attracted veneration or inspired fear . We can , hoAA'ever , estimate the li ght they really possessed , by the knoAvledge they actually imparted ; and the sacred record informs us the patriarchs OAved much of their knowledge to the sages of Egypt , Avhose maxims they folIoiA'ed in their civil , moral , and political institutions . Moses , too , enli b

ghtened y their tuition , rescued the Israelites from Egyptian bondage , and established the Avorship of the true and living God . He also ordained proofs and trials for the Levites ; and it is well knoivn that all the secrets of the priesthood ivere impenetrable to the other Israelites . To this same school the philosophers and illustrious men of all nations flocked ; and having been initiated , they returned to their respective countries , where they also instituted doctrinesfeats and mysteriesHere Lycurgus

, , games , . and Solon gathered the rudiments of their systems ; instructed here , Tnptolemus instituted the Eleusinian mysteries ; Orpheus , those of Samothrace ; and Pythagoras founded at Crotona his mysterious school of philosophy . But human institutions never attain perfection . The mysteries degenerated in Egypt . Pythagoras and his disciples were exposed to persecutions ; and light itself became nearly extinguished in the darkness of barbarism and ignorance . But the almihty Architectwho had permitted this salutary

g , check in order to humble the pride of man , Avished not the total extinction of kaoivledge ; he presen'ed the tradition of the forms of primitive Avorship , and signalized his beneficence to mankind in inspiring Solomon with the design to revive the ancient mysteries . Thus , then , ive trace Masonry diffusing the light of science , and teaching natural reli gion , philosophy , subordination , and the arts , on the banks of the Gauges , the sanctuaries of Eleusis , the halls of sages , the penetralia of

the temple , and the caves of Druids—till we mark its introduction in the British Isles , under that western apostle of Masonry , Pythagoras himself . After the dispersion of the Jews , their rites and mysteries became prostituted among the pagans ; and this desolation ivas general till the time of the Evangelists . In their days , a number of faithful brethren , illuminated by the morality of Christianity , and rendering homage to this new religion , separated themselves from the rest of mankind , and , in silence and secrecy ,

devoted themselves to the mysteries of man's redemption ; but persecution immediately followed , and they ivere constrained to symbolize all their religious practices . It was then they assumed borroived names , and adopted typical representation ; and , to guard against treachery and persecution , they established , in all their severity , the proofs and trials of the priests of Memphis . Surrounded as I amI dare not be more licitbut the experienced

, exp ; Mason will easily understand my allusion . Freemasonry , then , is primitive religion , enriched by revelation ; and the three degrees into ivhich it is divided have an apt and obvious reference to the progressive state of man . The first is emblematic of the darkness of chaos , which preceded man ' s creation—of the night , by which his understanding was obscured after his ori ginal transgression , till the light of natural reliion first beamed on his soul . The second is characteristic of

g our advance into the dawn ivhich ushered in the refulgence ofthe Christian day . Whilst in the third degree , the Masonic inquirer is brought to the bright blaze of the fullest revelation—to that bright star in the east whose rising brought peace and salvation to the faithful and obedient of the human race , and by Avhom he is raised from the tomb of transgression and the valley of the shadow of death to life and immortality . Having thus explained the nature and origin of our Order , it remains