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Article ORIGINAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY FREEMASONRY. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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Original And Supplementary Freemasonry.
the knowledge obtained by admission into these institutions . Orpheus , the author of these hymns , is said by Diodorus Siculus to have been the first who taught the Greeks the doctrines of the immortality of the soul , and of future rewards aud punishments . Of this theology , and of that of the Mysteries generally , the following is a specimen : —
Zevs Bao-iXevs' Zeus airos airavrav apj ( iyeveX 6 os ' Ev Kpdros fly Aacpav yiviro , pejus ap ^ tis AwdvTCDV , Xlavra yap ev u . eyakw Zrjvos raSe uapari KUTM . " Jupiter ( i . e . God ) is king ; he is the parent of all ; there is one power , one divinity , one ruler of all ; for all things are contained within the vast body of Jupiter . " Another hymn of the same poetaddressed to one of the initiated
, , recommends the worship of the one God—the Creator , to those who have entered into the Mysteries . " I will declare , " says the revealing hierophant , a secret to the initiated ; but let the doors be shut against the profane . Do thou , O Musreus , the offspring of the bright moon , attend carefully to my song ; for I shall deliver the truth without disguise . Suffer not , therefore , thy former prejudices to debar thee of that happy life , which the knowledge
of these sublime truths will procure unto thee ; but carefully contemplate this divine oracle , and preserve it in purity of mind and heart . Go on in the right way , and contemplate the sole Governor of the World . He is one , and of himself alone ; and to that one all things owe their being . He operates through all , was never seen by mortal eyes , but does himself see every one . " From the same source whence he derived these sublime ideas , namely the Egyptian Mysteries , Orpheus is said to have acquired ' a knowledge of philosophy , music , medicine , magic , and astronomy . " The desire of knowledge" was , indeed , one of the principal inducements to become members of these associations , aud it was from them
that the most celebrated philosophers and teachers of antiquity confessedly derived their wisdom , and laid the foundation of their future reputation . It was , in fact , from Egypt , where the Mysteries had attained their highest degree of celebrity , and where they were conducted with a pomp and solemnity unrivalled , that all the founders of the various schools of Greece and Italy obtained the essential principles of their religious and philosophical doctrines . Of these schools the two most important and
most celebrated were those of Thales of Miletus , the founder of the Ionic , and that of Pythagoras , the Samian , the founder of the Italic sect . From the tenets of these philosophers , and especially of the latter , we are enabled to ascertain the general nature of the knowledge derived by them from their Egyptian teachers in the bosom of the Mysteries . Pythagoras , in particular , is remarkable for the zeal and perseverance with which he appears to have sought knowledge where only , at that it to be foundin
period , was —the sacred associations I have spoken of . Having been first instructed b y Pherecydes , who had himself studied philosophy m Egypt , Pythagoras proceeded to Phenicia , where he was initiated into the Phenician Mysteries , and thence to Egypt , at that time the great fountain of all knowledge , and the storehouse of the collected wisdom of ages . After initiation into the Osiric Mysteries , aud a resilience of twenty-two years among the sacerdotal caste of that people , by whom he was instructed in their reli gious doctrines , as well as in practical astronomy , mathematics , and medicine , the philosopher returned at the age of forty years to Samos , his native country , where he
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original And Supplementary Freemasonry.
the knowledge obtained by admission into these institutions . Orpheus , the author of these hymns , is said by Diodorus Siculus to have been the first who taught the Greeks the doctrines of the immortality of the soul , and of future rewards aud punishments . Of this theology , and of that of the Mysteries generally , the following is a specimen : —
Zevs Bao-iXevs' Zeus airos airavrav apj ( iyeveX 6 os ' Ev Kpdros fly Aacpav yiviro , pejus ap ^ tis AwdvTCDV , Xlavra yap ev u . eyakw Zrjvos raSe uapari KUTM . " Jupiter ( i . e . God ) is king ; he is the parent of all ; there is one power , one divinity , one ruler of all ; for all things are contained within the vast body of Jupiter . " Another hymn of the same poetaddressed to one of the initiated
, , recommends the worship of the one God—the Creator , to those who have entered into the Mysteries . " I will declare , " says the revealing hierophant , a secret to the initiated ; but let the doors be shut against the profane . Do thou , O Musreus , the offspring of the bright moon , attend carefully to my song ; for I shall deliver the truth without disguise . Suffer not , therefore , thy former prejudices to debar thee of that happy life , which the knowledge
of these sublime truths will procure unto thee ; but carefully contemplate this divine oracle , and preserve it in purity of mind and heart . Go on in the right way , and contemplate the sole Governor of the World . He is one , and of himself alone ; and to that one all things owe their being . He operates through all , was never seen by mortal eyes , but does himself see every one . " From the same source whence he derived these sublime ideas , namely the Egyptian Mysteries , Orpheus is said to have acquired ' a knowledge of philosophy , music , medicine , magic , and astronomy . " The desire of knowledge" was , indeed , one of the principal inducements to become members of these associations , aud it was from them
that the most celebrated philosophers and teachers of antiquity confessedly derived their wisdom , and laid the foundation of their future reputation . It was , in fact , from Egypt , where the Mysteries had attained their highest degree of celebrity , and where they were conducted with a pomp and solemnity unrivalled , that all the founders of the various schools of Greece and Italy obtained the essential principles of their religious and philosophical doctrines . Of these schools the two most important and
most celebrated were those of Thales of Miletus , the founder of the Ionic , and that of Pythagoras , the Samian , the founder of the Italic sect . From the tenets of these philosophers , and especially of the latter , we are enabled to ascertain the general nature of the knowledge derived by them from their Egyptian teachers in the bosom of the Mysteries . Pythagoras , in particular , is remarkable for the zeal and perseverance with which he appears to have sought knowledge where only , at that it to be foundin
period , was —the sacred associations I have spoken of . Having been first instructed b y Pherecydes , who had himself studied philosophy m Egypt , Pythagoras proceeded to Phenicia , where he was initiated into the Phenician Mysteries , and thence to Egypt , at that time the great fountain of all knowledge , and the storehouse of the collected wisdom of ages . After initiation into the Osiric Mysteries , aud a resilience of twenty-two years among the sacerdotal caste of that people , by whom he was instructed in their reli gious doctrines , as well as in practical astronomy , mathematics , and medicine , the philosopher returned at the age of forty years to Samos , his native country , where he