Ancient Symbolism Illustrated.

of the former , while the drawing of Isis and Osiris in the boat being composed of several parts , each -admitting an especial application , furnishes an example of the compound or hiei-oglyphical symbol . Among the hieroglyphics in use at the present day , one in particular is mentioned b y the Piev . C . B . Elliott , rector of

Tattingstone , iu his interesting aud instructive Travels in Russia , Austria , and Turkey , which hieroglyphic , by the representation of palpable objects , carries out the association of abstract ideas . In Hungary ( he states ) a crescent surmounted b y -, i cross is an emblem of the defeat of the Turks by the Hungariansancl throughout Russia the ires of their

, sp churches are ornamented b y this emblem . Here two emblems , the crescent and the cross , not only symbolize two separate nations ivith their rival religions , but by their position , the cross surmounting the crescent , an association of ideas is generated by Avhich the actions of those nations ancl the

consequences of them is recorded . Upon the same principle the Cretans represented an abstract idea by a palpable symbol ; in their temple of Jupiter Olympus they depicted that gocl without ears , to denote that the sovereign Lord of the universe has no need of bodil y organs to hear the complaints ancl prayers of men . Every member of our fraternitis aware that a knowled

y ge of the customs of our ancient brethren has been preserved to us through the medium of symbols ; I will here instance the origin of one , which I believe to be not generally known , since most of us have rested satisfied ivith the reasons for its adoption , stated in the lecture of the tracing board of the third degree . Although invested with the authority of the

ancients , this has ever appeared to me unworthy of the wisdom of Solomon ; the custom to Avhich I allude is the wearing the lamb ' s or sheepskin badge , as an emblem or symbol of innocence . White has ever been considered an emblem of purity—yet had the innocence of the craftsmen been the subject to be symbolizedAvhite s and loves

, apron g of any kind would have answered their purpose , in the same manner as white flags are used as flags of truce , or symbols of peace ; but the . Pellowcrafts I ween , had older precedent and higher objects in view . AVith a A-ieAv to explain the following observances of the ancients , I must remind you that they conceived the earth

to be a fixed body , and that the sun revolved round it , passing through his twelve zodiacal signs , ancl travelling from the east to the ivest . They commenced their year at the vernal equinox , and observing that when the sun ivas to the north of the earth , ancl consequently its rays foil nearly in a perpendicular or vertical direction on the north pole , it was with them the summer solstice , they placed as northern signs upon the zodiac those which we , knowing the sun to be a fixed body , and that the earth constantly revolves round it

on its axis , more correctly p lace , in the south . The effect on the northern hemisphere would , in either case , be the same ; thus if the earth , as the ancients supposed , was the fixeel bod y , and the sun travelled from , east to ivest , when the sun Avas in Cancer , the north polo would receive its perpendicular rays , and it would be Avith them the summer solstice . Rut since the earth does in fact move round the sun , the earth

must pass to the south of the sun , having the sun in the north for summer , in tho northern hemisphere , and i : i the south for its winter solstice , of which you may readil y satisf y yourselves by looking for tho sun to-morrow , and noticing IIOAV far it AAUII be to the south of the meridian . It is necessary , however , to bear in mind this error of our i'neient brethren , in order clearly to understand their observances .

Astronomy Avas connected Avith all the ceremonies ofthe ancients ; the sun ' s entrance into Taurus , at the vernal equinox was the symbol in the heavens of reanimated productiveness . To the mysteries of the Eleusinia instituted at Eleusis , in Attica , by Enniolplius , 1356 years before Christ , a sheep or lanibsskiu dress ivas worn round the loins of the hierophruit

Ancient Symbolism Illustrated.

or high jiriest , to symbolize the season of the grand festival of Ceres—the goddess of corn and plenty—it being their harvest , consequently the time of the most propitious aspect of their deity , a period Avith their gocls of good will towards men . The goddess Ceres was , in reference to zodiacal signs , represented Avith a tunic girded round her by a belt consisting of twelve

beads , six were white , as symbolizing the six months of the ; summer solstice , the joyous period of her fertility , while six . Avere black , to mark the six cheerless months of winter . The vernal and autumnal equinoxes are produced by tho earth in its annual journey round the sun , having arrived at that part of the grand circle of the zodiac where the

ecliptic crosses the equinoctial line , or Avhere the line drawn round the centre . of the globe , dividing it into tAvo equal parts , is parallel with the rays of the sun ; when the earth taking its daily rotation , on its own axis , has one half of its surface lighted at one time , and the other half in darkness—thus producing an equal length of day ancl night . By reason of

what is called by astronomers precession , the sun enters each sign a little earlier every year ; tho calculation being that the slow processional motion of the equinoctial points . vill reverse the position of the equinoxes , or vary six months in from twelve to thirteen thousand years , or nearly one month in two thousand years ; thus , in the clays of Noah ,

four thousand one hundred and ninety-tAvo years from the jiresent time , the sun entered Taurus in April , or the second month . In the clays of Eumolphus , about three hundred and forty years before the building of Solomon ' s Temple , it AA'oulcl be found in Aries , and at the present date , two thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight years from Solomon ( as is the

case ) in Avhat was Avith the ancient the last sign or zodiac , Pisces , or the Pishes , permitting a variation , allowing for the clays of the different months , of someAvhat less than a sign or month in tivo thousand years , or six months in from tAvelve to thirteen thousand vears .

Thus , then , the first stone of the Temple being laid by Solomon , on the second clay of the second month , ivhen the sun ivas entering Aries , ( depicted as noiv hy the . figure of a ram ) as the most auspicious period of the year—Avhich time corresponds , according to De Costa , AA'ith the 20 th of April ( reckoning the sacred year upon the fixeel zodiac)—if the globe be rectified to the latitude of Jerusalem 31 ° 30 '

, , at that period of the year , you Avill haA'e the sun in . Aries , represented according to the Eleusinian hierophant not onl y by a ram or sheep , but by a man with a sheep or lambsskin girdle round his loins . In further illustration of this subject , I may inform you throughout Asia , from early date , and thence imported into England by the Brahminsor first

, Druids , the 1 st of April was observed as a hi gh ancl general festival , in which an unbounded hilarity reigned throughout all orders of society , for the sun at that period of the entering the sign Aries , at the new year , the benevolent aspect ofthe heavens Avas expected to haA'e a corresponding influence on

the inhabitants of tho earth , and at this period mirth and fun abounded , some relics of which have survived to the jiresent day . Colonel Pearce , in a paper published in the second volume of the Asiatic Society ' s Transactions , speaks of an ancient custom among the Hindoos at their festival called the Hull festival . "During the Huli" says the colonel " when mirth

, , and festivity among all classes are permitted with unbounded license , the grancl subject of diversion is to send people on errands and expeditions which are to end in disappointment ancl raise a laugh at the expense of the person hoaxed . Men of the hi ghest rank are not exempted from tliis pleasantry , and so far is the joke carried , as sometimes to include the

sending of letters , making appointments in the names of persons who it is known must be absent . The laugh is always in proportion to the trouble giA'en , and nothing coulcl exhibit worse taste and expose a person so practised on to the satire ancl contempt of his felloAvs in an equal degree as the failing to receive these jokes in good part . "