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Article SIGNS AND SYMBOLS.' ← Page 7 of 8 →
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Signs And Symbols.'
rest on the Glory in the Centre ; then , with hearts overflowing with gratitude anil love , we bow reverentially before the All-Seeing Eye of God , which the sun , moon , and stars obey ; conscious that it pervades their inmost recesses , and tries our thoughts , words , and actions by the unerring touchstone of truth and eternal justice . " And the subject is illustrated by a reference to the darkness of death , on which we find these appropriate remarks .
" AVe anticipate with a strong feeling of horror , those bitter agonies , those dreadful pangs , which precede and accompany dissolution . AVe behold with terror the angel of death approach our dwelling : and when he lays hold on us to hasten our struggling nature away , we shrink from his grasp , and cling to the world with a delirious embrace , as if all our hopes and wishes were centred in its riches and gratifications . AVe do not reflect with sensations of leasure on that event which excludes us
p from the light of heaven , and consigns us to the damps and darkness of the grave , in which our body must eventually be deposited to he food for worms , and to encounter corruption and decay . AVe shudder at the thought of being placed in the earth and covered over with mould ; and when the green sod is laid upon our grave , to have taken a last , an eternal farewell of the world and its inhabitants . But we have still a
greater dread of this event when we reflect on the eternal destruction of the soul . AA e know it must be separated from the body ; we know that its doom , once pronounced , is irrevocable ; and we recoil from the prospect of the second death , with consternation and horror . A few brief instructions how to subdue these feelings , may he neither improper nor unacceptable at the conclusion of this Lecture . "—p . 126 . AVe are then presented with an admirable Lecture on the three Pillars , AVisdom , Strength , and Beauty , which constitute the support
of a Mason ' s Lodge , and together form that one moral power hy which the Brethren are governed , with an order and regularity equal to that which is displayed by the Sun and Moon in the formation of day and night . The three accredited superintendents of all the systems that ever flourished in the world were denominated a Triad , and denoted by emblems of great significancy . In the mysteries of Egypt , a famous symbol of the Deity was exhibited to the aspirant ; viz ., a serpent transmitted through a globe , and furnished with wings , which was explained , by a reference to the Divine Triad , —Eicton , Cneph , Phtha . " The
Globe , ' to use the Author ' s own language , " symbolized the supreme and eternal God ; the Serpent , the animating principle ; and theAVings , the hovering Spirit of God , which moved on the face of the waters at the creation of the' world . " In like manner , the mysteries of all nations possessed a triad of Deity , which we think can he accounted for only hy the supposition that some knowledge must have existed amongst mankind , when they all dwelt together on the plain of Shinar , of a Trinity in which
Unity , was symbolised in the mysteries by a three-fold governor , and was actually communicated to the candidate at a certain period of the initiation , called autopsia , by the emblem of an equilateral triangle . The principal Triads were these" The Grecian Triad consisted of Jupiter—Neptune—Pluto ; the Orphic of Phanes—Uranus—Chronus ; the Platonic of Tagathon—Nous —Psyche ; the Eleusinian of Bacchus—Proserpine—Ceres ; the Egyptian of Trismegistus of Osiris—Isis—Horus , perhaps of Eicton—Cneph —Phtha ; the Persian of the triplasian Mithras or Ormisda—Mithra—Mithras ; the Phenician of Ashtaroth—Milcom—Chemosh ; the Ty-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Signs And Symbols.'
rest on the Glory in the Centre ; then , with hearts overflowing with gratitude anil love , we bow reverentially before the All-Seeing Eye of God , which the sun , moon , and stars obey ; conscious that it pervades their inmost recesses , and tries our thoughts , words , and actions by the unerring touchstone of truth and eternal justice . " And the subject is illustrated by a reference to the darkness of death , on which we find these appropriate remarks .
" AVe anticipate with a strong feeling of horror , those bitter agonies , those dreadful pangs , which precede and accompany dissolution . AVe behold with terror the angel of death approach our dwelling : and when he lays hold on us to hasten our struggling nature away , we shrink from his grasp , and cling to the world with a delirious embrace , as if all our hopes and wishes were centred in its riches and gratifications . AVe do not reflect with sensations of leasure on that event which excludes us
p from the light of heaven , and consigns us to the damps and darkness of the grave , in which our body must eventually be deposited to he food for worms , and to encounter corruption and decay . AVe shudder at the thought of being placed in the earth and covered over with mould ; and when the green sod is laid upon our grave , to have taken a last , an eternal farewell of the world and its inhabitants . But we have still a
greater dread of this event when we reflect on the eternal destruction of the soul . AA e know it must be separated from the body ; we know that its doom , once pronounced , is irrevocable ; and we recoil from the prospect of the second death , with consternation and horror . A few brief instructions how to subdue these feelings , may he neither improper nor unacceptable at the conclusion of this Lecture . "—p . 126 . AVe are then presented with an admirable Lecture on the three Pillars , AVisdom , Strength , and Beauty , which constitute the support
of a Mason ' s Lodge , and together form that one moral power hy which the Brethren are governed , with an order and regularity equal to that which is displayed by the Sun and Moon in the formation of day and night . The three accredited superintendents of all the systems that ever flourished in the world were denominated a Triad , and denoted by emblems of great significancy . In the mysteries of Egypt , a famous symbol of the Deity was exhibited to the aspirant ; viz ., a serpent transmitted through a globe , and furnished with wings , which was explained , by a reference to the Divine Triad , —Eicton , Cneph , Phtha . " The
Globe , ' to use the Author ' s own language , " symbolized the supreme and eternal God ; the Serpent , the animating principle ; and theAVings , the hovering Spirit of God , which moved on the face of the waters at the creation of the' world . " In like manner , the mysteries of all nations possessed a triad of Deity , which we think can he accounted for only hy the supposition that some knowledge must have existed amongst mankind , when they all dwelt together on the plain of Shinar , of a Trinity in which
Unity , was symbolised in the mysteries by a three-fold governor , and was actually communicated to the candidate at a certain period of the initiation , called autopsia , by the emblem of an equilateral triangle . The principal Triads were these" The Grecian Triad consisted of Jupiter—Neptune—Pluto ; the Orphic of Phanes—Uranus—Chronus ; the Platonic of Tagathon—Nous —Psyche ; the Eleusinian of Bacchus—Proserpine—Ceres ; the Egyptian of Trismegistus of Osiris—Isis—Horus , perhaps of Eicton—Cneph —Phtha ; the Persian of the triplasian Mithras or Ormisda—Mithra—Mithras ; the Phenician of Ashtaroth—Milcom—Chemosh ; the Ty-