Freemasoney And Its Institutes. —V.

Dr . Owen divides the whole of idolatrous worship into Sabaism and Hellenism ; the former consists in the worshi p ofthe sun , moon , " and stars , and the host of heaven , which probably had its orig in a few ages after the flood . "The true religion which Noah taught his posterity , " says Prideaux , ' was that which Abraham practised , the worshipping of one Godthe supreme Governor of all tilingsthrough a mediator .

, , Men could not determine what essence contained this power of mediation , no clear revelation being then made of the mediator whom God appointed—because as yet he had not been manifested in the world—they took upon them to address him by mediators of their own choosing ; and their notions of the sunmoonand starsbeing that they

, , , were habitations of intelligencics , which animated the orbs in the same manner as the soul animates the bod y of man , and were causes of their motion ; and that these intelligencies were of a middle sort , between God and them ; they thought these to be the propcrcst things to be mediators between God and them ; and therefore tho planets being the

nearest of all the heavenly bodies , and generally looked on to have the greatest influence on this world , they made choice of them in . the first place , as their Cod ' s mediators , who were to mediate with the supreme God for them , and to procure from him mercies and favours , which they prayed for . " Thus Jupiter Amniona name given to thc Supremo

, Deity , was worshipped under the symbol of the sun . He was painted with horns , because with the astronomers tlio sign Aries in thc zodiac , is the beginning of the year . Heat , in the Hebrew tongue , is Ilammah ; in the prophet Isaiah , Ilammamin is given as a name of such images . The custom

of depicting him with horns ( as we find him in a cameo in the British Museum , No . 191 ) , grew from the doubtful meaning of the Hebrew word , which at once expresses heat , splendour , or brightness , and also horns ; horns were also a symbol of strength , as we find from many passages of sacred writ , and may thus bo mount'to express the supreme strength and omnipotence of the Deity . The sun was also worshipped

by the house of Judah ( vide Godwyn ' s Moses and Aaron ) under the name of "Tamuz , " for Tuniuz , saith Ilieroine , was Adonis , and Adonis is generally interpreted the sun , from the Hebrew word Aden , signifying dominus , the same as Baal or Moloch formerly did—the lord or prince of the planets . The month which wo call Juno , was by the

Hebrews called Tamuz , and the entrance of the sun into tho sign Cancer , was iu the Jews' astronomy termed Tekupha Tamuz , the revolution of Tamuz . About the time of Christ the Jews held it unlawful to pronounce that essential name of God " Jehovah , " and instead thereof used " Adonai , " to prevent the heathen blaspheming that holy name , by the adoption of the name of Jove , etc ., to their idols . Concerning Adonis , whom some ancient writers call Osiris , there are

two things remarkable—his death or loss aa ) ai'icrpog , and thc finding him again ivcn ) crir . As there was great lamentation at his loss , so there was great joy at his finding . By the death or loss of Adonis wc are to understand the departure ofthe sun ; by his finding again , the return of that luminary . Now he seems to depart twice in the year , first when he is in the tropic of Cancer , in the furthest degree northward ;

and secondly , when he is in the tropic of Capricorn , in the furthest degree southward . Hence we may note that the Egyptians celebrated their "Adonia" in the month of November , when the sun began to be the furthest southward ; and the house of Judah , theirs in June , when the sun was furthest northward ; yet both were for the same reasons .

Some say that this lamentation was performed over an image in the night season ; and when they had sufficientl y lamented , a candle was brought into the room , which mystically denoted the return of the sun ; then the priest said softly , " Trust ye in God , for out of pains salvation is come unto us . " Again , Porphyry interprets the twelve labours of Hercules to be nothing else than the twelve signs of the aodiae , Some , however , fjiipstioii if the r . aine of Hercules

Freemasoney And Its Institutes. —V.

was known to the Jews ? It is probable it was , for Hercules was the god of the Tyrians , from whom the Jews learnt much idolatry . In the time of the Maccabees the name was known to them , for the high priest , " the ungracious Jason , " sent three hundred drachmas of silver to the saevificio of

Hercules ( 2 Mace . iv . 1 ° ) . From the authority of Banieiand others , we learn that the gods of the Egyptians were adopted by the Phoenicians , that their theology was propagated by the Phoenicians into the east and west , and some traces of them are found throughout Europe and Africa . According to Dr . Goguet ( On the Origin of Arts and Sciences )

the Phoenicians possessed originally most of the land of Canaan , which was conquered by the Israelites under Joshua . Seeing themselves threatened with entire destruction , they fled ; Sidon offered them an asylum and gave them ships , in which they voyaged to all parts of the known world . Jt is the opinion of the learned Dr . Stukely that there is no

doubt our first British ancestors were of the progeny of Abraham , by Hagar and Keturah , who came hither with the Tyrian Hercules to seek for tin , which was obtained from the isles of the Cassistorides , i . e ., the Scilly Isles and a part of Cornwall . In proof of this , Arthur Agard ( Deputy Chamberlain of-Exchequer , 1570 ) , adduces the measurement of our laud by hides , the etymology whereof is derived from Dido ' s act mentioned in Yirgil JEn . i . 367 : —¦

" -Afcrc ( itii | iic solum , facti de nomine Byrsam Tiiurino quantum posscnt circumdare tergo , " the word "Iiyda" not being to be found in any other language than ours . Admitting these facts , it follows that the Druids would thence derive their theological jirinciples and reli gious rites . In Syria wc find the sun under the name of Adonis , and the moon of Ashtaroth . The

Persians worshipped the sun and fire , and to this day the Guebres do so in India . The particular attention paid to the element of fire is not to be wondered at when we consider that whenever the Almi ghty deigned to reveal himself to mankind it was under this symbol ; thus we read ( Exod . iii . 2 ) " that the angel of the Lord appeared unto him [ Moses ] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush . God called to him out of the midst of the bush . "

And Exod . xiii . 120 , " The Lord went before them by night in a pillar of fire ; " and ( chap . xiv . 10 ) "The Lord descended upon it [ Sinai ] in fire . " Fire descended frequently from heaven on the victims sacrificed to the Lord , as a mark of his presence and approbation . When the Lord made a covenant witli Abraham , fire jiassed through the divided pieces of the sacrifice ancl consumed them . ( Gen . xv . 17 . )

Fire fell upon the sacrifices at the dedication of the tabornacle by Moses ( Lev . ix . 24 ) , also when Solomon dedicated the Temple ( 2 Chron . vii . 1 ) upon those of Manoah , Samson ' s father , and upon Elijah ' s , at Mount Carmel . To these may be added the Shechiriah . It would naturall y followthat man ivould look up to the sun as the throne of the

divinity , and thus fire became the emblem of the supreme God : the Chaldeans , Persians , Jews , Indians , Phoenicians , Greeks , Eomans , Druids , all used it as an object of worship ; thus in the celebration of the mysteries , the ' lepnijx ' u'Tiic , or revealer of holy things , was a type of the great Creator , and the cyoovyovor torchbearer of the sun .

, After considering the false systems of religion , it is necessary to examine the influence of the doctrines of eternal truth on human character and happiness as shown in the Mosaic dispensation . It—instead of' deluding the minds of tho people by oracles and auguries , by a variety of deities , the offspring of falsehood and superstition—taught them

under every circumstance of life to lookup to the great Author of their existence , thc omnipotent Buler of the universe , of whose protection and assistance they were assured so long as their lives and actions were conformable with his laws . The

peculiar advantage of the Mosaic reli gion was the excellency of its precepts—of which Monies was the mouthpiece from tiie Almighty—ami jlie facility which was afforded to the