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Eiddles , drawn out of the midst of deep knowledge and secret learning ) , that it is impossible for any but the wise and well-given to approach or come near the matter . " ( See p . 19 , original edition . )

Speculations as to this winding maze that forefenced the secret entrance to the Rosy Croix society , to the end that they might be free from the power of Princes , will suggest themselves . Some other evidences of the connection of

Masonry and the Rosicrucians I am not at liberty to communicate . The theories of fraternity , humanity , liberty , and order , are held by us in common with the Rosicrucians . Valentine Andrea

in 1610 , sought to limit them to a Christian order of Eosicrucians : this was a narrow limit for a brotherhood of religious toleration . I have endeavoured to show the channels through which the student can trace our doctrines , symbols , and

rites , after he has explored beyond the era of Lodge records . Here , he enters the inner court for the study of our history , where arduous study , wide preparation , and slow results attend his zeal * As the geologists find traces of man ' s abode on

earth , or thousands of years before the vedas , the Pentateuch , or the Egyptian records , so present explorations lead the student in Masonry towards early recorded history . I have given some instances , drawn from our symbols : let me refer to some others . Whilst Zerubbabel sought truth , the Gnostic and

Johannite Christian ' s wisdom , —the Sophia , —the Mason looks for "light . " Light was Zoroastian and Chaldaic before the Jewish captivity . The sun was its visible symbol ; but its absolute fulness was to be found only in the presence of the triune

God , from whom all things emanated . The Chaldees worshipped God through its symbol and the sun was the emblemn of God . * The prophet Malachi says ( c . 4 , v . 2 ) , "But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness

arise with healing in his wings , " & c . Thus , after the captivity , we find the Chaldees and the Jews using the same symbol with the like meaning . In the third century of our era , when the old mythology of Rome had given place to a Chaldee Mithraicism which struggled with Christianity for the lead , we observe that Corntantine the

Emperor placed a sun on the observe of all his coins * this symbol was equally satisfactory to the followers of the cross and their opponents . The Greeks were accustomed to have it carved in stone to be worn as an amulet with the letter E—

the delphic E—in the centre , the mystic meaning of which I shall not stop to trace . We find the Freemasons in modern times using this same sun with the mystic letter G in its centre for a symbol . There is not a wide difference in the mystic

meaning of the two letters . Here you have a symbol descended to our time from a pre-Solomon age , carrying -a like meaning at the last , with strange evidences of the route by which it reached the Lodge-room , or of the antiquity of the

Lodgeroom . Those who search the Zohar will readily find the profound spiritual significance there attached to the pillars J . and B , as symbols of the victory and glory of the God of Sabbaoth . The triangle is Zoroastian is Hindoo as early

as the A edas is Budhist , also , and refers to the triune God in each . It is now found in the Freemasons' Lodge , and in the " Heaven and Earth League" of the Budhist : with the Hindoo , when the apex was upward it signified fire , when

reversed , water . Behmen , early in the seventeenth century , defines this symbol in the same way . Among the antique gems described by Mr .. King in his elaborate treatise , is one having on the reveise the letters H . I ., an eye , a crossed

square , and a triangle , evidently intended for a talisman . Was this an antique Masonic ring ? Fearing lest I exceed your patience , I will cite no more illustrations . For the same reason , I omit to notice the remarkable succession through

Talmudic , Kabbalic , Gnostic , and Mirthraic channels from the era of Solomon , concerning the the history of the " lost word" still honoured in our mysteries . With reluctance , I forbear from the history of the initiations in ancient times into

those secret and sacred mysteries where high moral and religious instruction was conveyed to those deemed worthy to receive it . New facts have been brought to light concerning the Essenian and other Hebrew as well as Egyptian

and Grecian mysteries , and the better opinion of scholars now is , that the love of virtue , faith in the unknown God , and the immortality of the soul , amid divers details , formed in all a common centre of faith in a spiritual life . Concerning the Mithraic mysteries , popular in the second and