Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
whom an enterprising genius , joined to an ardent pursuit of knowledge , procured , though a stranger , initiation into the Egyptian mysteries , notwithstanding the painful rites of pieparation , and the various obstacles which , to damp his ardour , the priests neglected no opportunity of casting in his way . It was this illustrious cliaracteiwho first rejecting the name of SAGE , SOPHIST , or WISE , which men of science had before his time
with sufficient arrogance assumed , wns satisfied with the more modest and humble appellation of PHILOSOPHER , that is , LOVER OF WISDOM . The probationary silence of five years which he imposed upon his disciples -before they were admitted to the full knowled ge of his doctrine is well known ; an ' , whilst it amply justifies the less ri gorous restrictions of our Order , must lace the abilities of this
p wonderful man in a most respectable point of view , who could procure attention to his doctrines , notwithstanding their extraordinary severity of aspect , and attract such multitudes of followers , undeterred either by compliance with the difficult injunction just mentioned , or by the " still harder observance of the previous disci pline . But the most august and venerable institution in all antiquity of
the symbolical kind , and which , nevertheless , encountered the most virulent abuse , was that celebrated every fifth year with the utmost solemnity at Eleusis , a cit y of Attica in Greece . There is no question that these Mysteries , termed Eleiisinian from the place of their celebration , and sometimes The Mysteries , by way of eminence , did not always retain their primitive purity ; and that they owed their declension to which
a cause must ultimatel y prove destructive to any society—the introduction of mean and dissolute members It is equally certain , however , that at first they were admirably qualified in an age " wholly given to idolatry" and vice , to check the torrent of impiety and licentiousness , by impressing the mind with sublime apprehensions of the Divine Nature , with gratitude for all his providential kindness and with
, an ardent desire and emulation to excel in virtue , by the hopes which they inspired of a state of felicity as the reward of the virtuous beyond the grave * . Accordingly , from the time of Solon , the great Athenian lawgiver , to that ° of Cicero , a period of more than five hundred years , scarce a character distinguished for probity or wisdom , who became not an associate in this MASONRY , as I may term it , of the heathen world ; and that Socrates
anity . -There is a pleasing account of this matter , and a full confutation of the writers just mentioned , as well as an excellent contrast betwixt the character conduct , and mode of instruction of Chp ' st and Pythagoras , in the first volume ot the Observer , an agreeable collection of moral and literary essays laiely published , and which is ascribed to Mr . Cumberland . * "Among many other advantages which we have derived from Athens , " says Cicero , speaking of these mysteries , " this is ihe greatest—that it has not onl ht to live cheerfull
" y taugus y , but to die in the hope of a more happy fut" . j } ly : "~ nV " S stcr " neque solum elm leentiu vivcndi ntimem accepts , sti sliam cum she ra _ -. iV . i- morimdi . CJCKBO de Le"ious , lib . ii . °
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
whom an enterprising genius , joined to an ardent pursuit of knowledge , procured , though a stranger , initiation into the Egyptian mysteries , notwithstanding the painful rites of pieparation , and the various obstacles which , to damp his ardour , the priests neglected no opportunity of casting in his way . It was this illustrious cliaracteiwho first rejecting the name of SAGE , SOPHIST , or WISE , which men of science had before his time
with sufficient arrogance assumed , wns satisfied with the more modest and humble appellation of PHILOSOPHER , that is , LOVER OF WISDOM . The probationary silence of five years which he imposed upon his disciples -before they were admitted to the full knowled ge of his doctrine is well known ; an ' , whilst it amply justifies the less ri gorous restrictions of our Order , must lace the abilities of this
p wonderful man in a most respectable point of view , who could procure attention to his doctrines , notwithstanding their extraordinary severity of aspect , and attract such multitudes of followers , undeterred either by compliance with the difficult injunction just mentioned , or by the " still harder observance of the previous disci pline . But the most august and venerable institution in all antiquity of
the symbolical kind , and which , nevertheless , encountered the most virulent abuse , was that celebrated every fifth year with the utmost solemnity at Eleusis , a cit y of Attica in Greece . There is no question that these Mysteries , termed Eleiisinian from the place of their celebration , and sometimes The Mysteries , by way of eminence , did not always retain their primitive purity ; and that they owed their declension to which
a cause must ultimatel y prove destructive to any society—the introduction of mean and dissolute members It is equally certain , however , that at first they were admirably qualified in an age " wholly given to idolatry" and vice , to check the torrent of impiety and licentiousness , by impressing the mind with sublime apprehensions of the Divine Nature , with gratitude for all his providential kindness and with
, an ardent desire and emulation to excel in virtue , by the hopes which they inspired of a state of felicity as the reward of the virtuous beyond the grave * . Accordingly , from the time of Solon , the great Athenian lawgiver , to that ° of Cicero , a period of more than five hundred years , scarce a character distinguished for probity or wisdom , who became not an associate in this MASONRY , as I may term it , of the heathen world ; and that Socrates
anity . -There is a pleasing account of this matter , and a full confutation of the writers just mentioned , as well as an excellent contrast betwixt the character conduct , and mode of instruction of Chp ' st and Pythagoras , in the first volume ot the Observer , an agreeable collection of moral and literary essays laiely published , and which is ascribed to Mr . Cumberland . * "Among many other advantages which we have derived from Athens , " says Cicero , speaking of these mysteries , " this is ihe greatest—that it has not onl ht to live cheerfull
" y taugus y , but to die in the hope of a more happy fut" . j } ly : "~ nV " S stcr " neque solum elm leentiu vivcndi ntimem accepts , sti sliam cum she ra _ -. iV . i- morimdi . CJCKBO de Le"ious , lib . ii . °