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Article ON MASONIC NUMBER. Page 1 of 9 →
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On Masonic Number.
ON MASONIC NUMBER .
BY THE REV . GEO . OLIVER , D . P . G . M . FOR LINCOLNSHIRE . IT is well known that in Masonry there are a series of distinguishing numbers , each serving as a medium of reference to assist the recollection , and to fix permanently upon the mind some very important moral or historical truths .
From this circumstance , doubts have been entertained unfavourable to the Craft , as if its professors were superstitiously attached to particular numbers , from a belief that they contain a talismanic power of preventing dangers and conveying blessings . This peculiarity will be easily defended by its own appropriate and significant illustrations ;
and the custom may be satisfactorily accounted for from sources of high Masonic authority . The wisest of the ancient philosophers , many of whom practised our science , had a high veneration for number ; and in the Old and New Testaments we find most extraordinary evidences of the same feeling . Bishop Horsley says" I am persuaded
, that the choice of the number seven was a solemn and sio--nificant appropriation of the offerings of the Supreme God , the Maker of the world . The last business in the Book of Job , when the great argument between Job and his friends is brought to a conclusion , is a solemn sacrifice ; not devised by Job or any of his friendsbut prescribed by the
, express voice of God . And this sacrifice , like Balaam ' s , consists of seven bullocks and seven rams . It should seem , therefore , that in the earliest ages , it was a characteristic rite of the pure patriarchal worship , to sacrifice , on occasions of great solemnity , by sevens . "
Pythagoras , who is represented in an ancient manuscript written about the beginning of the fifteenth century , as having gained admission into the " lodges of Maconnes , where he lerned niuche , and retournedde , and woned yn Grecia Magna , wacksynge , and becommynge a myghtye wyseacreancl gratelyche renouned ; and her he framed a
, grate lodge at Groton , ( Crotona in Italy , ) and maked manye Maconnes , some where offe dyde journeye yn Fraunce , and maked manye Maconnes , wherefromme , yn processe of tyme , the arte passed in Engelonde ; " this great
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Masonic Number.
ON MASONIC NUMBER .
BY THE REV . GEO . OLIVER , D . P . G . M . FOR LINCOLNSHIRE . IT is well known that in Masonry there are a series of distinguishing numbers , each serving as a medium of reference to assist the recollection , and to fix permanently upon the mind some very important moral or historical truths .
From this circumstance , doubts have been entertained unfavourable to the Craft , as if its professors were superstitiously attached to particular numbers , from a belief that they contain a talismanic power of preventing dangers and conveying blessings . This peculiarity will be easily defended by its own appropriate and significant illustrations ;
and the custom may be satisfactorily accounted for from sources of high Masonic authority . The wisest of the ancient philosophers , many of whom practised our science , had a high veneration for number ; and in the Old and New Testaments we find most extraordinary evidences of the same feeling . Bishop Horsley says" I am persuaded
, that the choice of the number seven was a solemn and sio--nificant appropriation of the offerings of the Supreme God , the Maker of the world . The last business in the Book of Job , when the great argument between Job and his friends is brought to a conclusion , is a solemn sacrifice ; not devised by Job or any of his friendsbut prescribed by the
, express voice of God . And this sacrifice , like Balaam ' s , consists of seven bullocks and seven rams . It should seem , therefore , that in the earliest ages , it was a characteristic rite of the pure patriarchal worship , to sacrifice , on occasions of great solemnity , by sevens . "
Pythagoras , who is represented in an ancient manuscript written about the beginning of the fifteenth century , as having gained admission into the " lodges of Maconnes , where he lerned niuche , and retournedde , and woned yn Grecia Magna , wacksynge , and becommynge a myghtye wyseacreancl gratelyche renouned ; and her he framed a
, grate lodge at Groton , ( Crotona in Italy , ) and maked manye Maconnes , some where offe dyde journeye yn Fraunce , and maked manye Maconnes , wherefromme , yn processe of tyme , the arte passed in Engelonde ; " this great