Classical Theology.—Vi.

public good out of no worse evil than their own well intentioned appliances . In their own eyes , as the priesthood of Cybele , they were secular gods , or the Ickei Dactyli , which signifies "the fingers of Bhea ; " they served her in everything and everywhere ( says Julian ) , as her ten fingers . Digiti enim Greece diauntur SaKrvXot . In the eyes of the people they

were demi-deities , men prescient , inspired of the gods ; nay , as the Cabiri , they were said to be in the spirit of gods , the good genii , or gods themselves . In the eyes of the Most High , who is a jealous God , and the only one All Holy , these heathen , priests were neither his prophets nor his servants , and in nowise of Him ;

consequently , neither theocratically nor theurgically can they be said to have had any actual inspiration of divine wisdom . Of this truth even the most learned of heathen philosophers had but an imperfect knowledge ; and without a knowledge of the secrets of . Freemasonry , the mystery in their comprehension of Janus would be as undeterminable as otherwise it is irresoluble .

To this introspection our somewhat prolix induction may seem to have been leading . Certainly there were some rites and ceremonies in the sacrifices of Cybele , or rather of the Magna Mater , which we would not wish to explain , and others that could not be accounted for but by what we know of religious mania or uitherea tremens . Some suppose that the Gallior Corybanteswere actually possessed of

mali-, , g nant demons . Like the dancing Dervishes , their modified descendants , they danced in a mad fashion , tossing about their head , and butting with their foreheads like rams . And in this guise , during their sacrificial mysteries , theypilaced the initiate in a chair , and round and round him they circled , like so many tipsy maniacs . The question here naturall

y arises , in what did these ancient buffoons resemble those Cuvetes who derived their name from the long vests which they wore like to the garb of the young Grecian maidens ; or more probably from their being the Curators ( from Kjjp ) , to whose care , in accordance with Strabo , Pihea entrusted the education of Jupiter .

Let us now contemplate the exposition of Janus , represented with one body and two faces , as symbolical of the world established in wisdom of prudence , looking towards the morning and the evening , the past and the future ; or , as Tully says , " Keeping in remembrance the things gone by , and the foresight of the things to come . " According to

tradition and manuscripts , made worthy of ancient note , traced to the time of the first Ogygus , the image of Janus represented both Adam and Noah . Like the personations of the double Vesta , which hieroglyphicall y relate of the epochs of the twice substantiated earth , so too we find the odour of true sanctity in the ritual and solemnities of this emblematical god singularly identified with Freemasonry in . some of the mysteries of his sacrifices .

D ANGEROUS MEMBERS— - ' Yet there is -, v class of persons , ' who , when attracted to the altar of Freemasonry , though i ' reo from moral blemish , and ' under the tongue of good report , ' are far more noxious members of the fraternity than those who are stained by vice , and are otherwise unfit to mingle in our mystic rites—those whose intuitive wisdom scorns the dull labour of extracting knowledge of our institution from the dusty records of its past history , but with the celerity of

inspiration , comprehend , the defects of our organization and divine , the remedy . Although possessing no hostility against the Order , yet dissatisfied with come of its minor details , in their blind haste to amend , they proceed to demolish ; and while pluming themselves upon their successful efforts to improve , are industriousl y laying a train that must eventually explode in utter destruction . They sap the foundation of the Order by innovations , which , in their short-sighted , notions of policy and expediency , are demanded by the progress of the age ; and after a coursemore or

, less extended , of miserable strife and contention , feel , when too late , the necessity of retracing their steps ; or , stupidly hardened in their blundering folly , pull down the pillars of the institution , and like Samson at Gaza , vindictively overwhelm the innocent and the guilty in one common ruin . Beware , my brethren , of fTir wise in IlieW m ' Ai conceit . ' ' ~ 9 mnd Muster of lievrffia .-

Freemasonry And Its Institutes

FREEMASONRY AND ITS INSTITUTES

IS CONNEXION WITH THE LAWS AND KELIGIONS OF ANTIQuTTT . THE value of any science must be estimated according to the influence it exercises in the promotion either of private virtue or of those qualities which render man more extensively useful towards his fellow creatures . Some objects of pursuit have a secondary utility in furnishing rational amusementwhichrelieving the mind at intervals from the

, , fatigue consequent on serious employment in daily lift ? , invigorate and prepare it for renewed exertions . It is , says a learned writer , the perfection of any science to unite these advantages , to promote the advancement of public and private virtue , and to supply such a degree of amusement , combined with instruction , as to supersede the necessity of

applying to frivolous pursuits for the sake of relaxation . " Tis a pleasure , " says Burnet , " yea and a pleasure too , which comes to us without any trouble , to look upon a tree in summer , covered with its green leaves , decked with blossoms or laden with fruit , and casting a pleasant shade under its spreading boughs . But surely it is a greater pleasure , though not attained without some toil and trouble , to consider how this tree with all its beauties sprung from a little

seed , how nature shaped it and fed it in its infancy and growth , and added new parts , and still advanced it by little and little , till it came to its present perfection and greatness ; this is a greater pleasure , and one which is properly the contemplation of a divine wisdom in all the works of nature . " And so in like manner is the case as regards the different societiessects or associations into which mankind is divided

, ; for , as nature has divided the vegetable kingdom into many classes , with laws appertaining to each , yet with one grand fundamental law belonging to all , so every body of men have some code of laws peculiar to that body , and are at the same time amenable to one grand and universal law ; but whoever will take the pains to consider from what root all laws grow ,

will find that they all , whether natural or positive , divine or human , are so many boughs or branches of the law eternal ; and that their obliging power , which is the life and soul of every law , is of divine extraction , their origin is in the bosom of God himself , and their power is "from heaven , and not from men . " All the laws of morality and rules of conduct are verified by experience , and are by comparison constantly submitted to its test and examination .

Let us then first consider what is meant b y law , and then consider that law which God has laid clown from the beginning to be the rule and guide of mankind in all their acts and in their transactions with each other ; so that by considering the different sects or associations of men , and comparing their relative agreement or disagreement , and trying them by the touchstone of this universal lawwe may be

, enabled to trace them to their source , and also to perceive in what manner they differ from the pure and original stream . Eirst , then , as to what law is . Cicero ( tie Lea . lib . ii . ) says , "Lex est justorum injustorunique distinctio , " that a law is that which puts a distinction between that which is just , and what is unjust . Again , he says , it is " Quiddam jeternuin

in mento Dei exisfcens , i-ecta ratio summi Jovis , " i . p . ., a decree existing in the mind of God , and the highest reason of the greatest Jove . Grotius says that "law is a rule of moral actions obli ging to that which is just and ri ght . " Aquinas says a law is " a certain rule and measure by which any one is induced to actor hindered from acting . " Bishop

, Sanderson thus defines it , " a law is a rule of acting , which a superior having power and authority so to do , imposeth upon an inferior . " And the judicious Hooker ( Ecclesiastical Polity ) , says , " A law is a rule which an intelligent being sctteth down for the framing- of actions by . " That there is a law eternal can be doubted of by none but those who doubt

"'bother there is a G ' od—for this law is God himself , or that wisdom which God possessed in the beginning , and which was set up from everlasting , or ever the earth was *