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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 5 of 5
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On Freemasonry.
" Rambler , " of the climacteric periods , says , ' ¦ ' the writers of medicine and physiology have traced , with great appearance of accuracy , the effects of time upon the human body , by marking the various periods of the constitution , and the several stages by which animal life makes its progress from infancy to decrepitude . Though their observations have not enabled them to discover how manhood may be accelerated , or old age retardedyet surelif they be considered onlas the amusements
, y , y of curiosity , they are of equal importance with conjectures on those tilings more remote , with catalogues of the fixed stars , and calculations of the bulk of planets . It had been a task worthy of the worthy philosophers to have considered with equal care the climacterics of the mind ; to have pointed out the time at which every passion begins and ceases to predominate , and noted the regular variations of desire , and the succession of one appetite to another . "
Amongst the ancients , number was divided into two parts , intellectual and sciential . The former was considered the root and origin of all things ; the cause of the existence of gods and men ; the principle of the universe and all that it contains , by which matter was arranged into form and order , and the systems perform their accustomed revolutions with accuracy and precision . The sciential division was subdivided into two portions , odd and even , the former limited , the latter infinite . According to the definition used by the Pythagoreans" even number is
, that which at once admits division into the greatest and the least ; into the greatest magnitudes ( for halves are the greatest parts ); the least in multitude ( for two is the least number ) according to the natural opposition of these two kinds . Odd numbers cannot be thus divided ; for they are only capable of being separated into two unequal parts . "
Pythagoras called the monad the father , and the duad the mother of number ; whence it was concluded that those numbers which resembled the monad , by which were meant the odd numbers , were considered the most propitious . Hence , in all the heathen systems , odd numbers were esteemed the most perfect , and represented the celestial deities . It is , however , somewhat at variance with the mysteries of the fairy mythology of our own country , which seems to entertain a predilection for even numbers .
Thus , in Morgan ' s " Phoenix Brittanicus , ' ' is a curious tract on the subject of fairies , entitled " An Account of Anne Jefferies , now living in the County of Cornwall , who was fed for six months by a small sort of Airy People , called Fairies ; and of the strange and wonderful Cures she performed with Salves and Medicines she received from them , for which she never took one Penny of her Patients . " In this tract she gives the following account of her commerce with these creatures , which I quote so far as it applies to my purpose . She says , " that in 1645 , as she was one day sitting knitting in an arbour in the garden , there came over the hedge , of a sudden , six persons of a small statureall clothed
, in green , which frighted her so much as to throw her into a great sickness . They continued their appearance to her , never less than two at a time , nor never more than eight , always in even numbers , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 . " But , in order to a right understanding of the application of the numeral system , it will be necessary to give a general outline of tbe occult signification of the digits , as taught in some of the ancient systems of the spurious Freemasonry ; and this will show to what a beautiful moral purpose it is capable of being applied . But it will be undignified to commence this sublime process at the close of an article , and I shall therefore defer it to a future opportunity .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
" Rambler , " of the climacteric periods , says , ' ¦ ' the writers of medicine and physiology have traced , with great appearance of accuracy , the effects of time upon the human body , by marking the various periods of the constitution , and the several stages by which animal life makes its progress from infancy to decrepitude . Though their observations have not enabled them to discover how manhood may be accelerated , or old age retardedyet surelif they be considered onlas the amusements
, y , y of curiosity , they are of equal importance with conjectures on those tilings more remote , with catalogues of the fixed stars , and calculations of the bulk of planets . It had been a task worthy of the worthy philosophers to have considered with equal care the climacterics of the mind ; to have pointed out the time at which every passion begins and ceases to predominate , and noted the regular variations of desire , and the succession of one appetite to another . "
Amongst the ancients , number was divided into two parts , intellectual and sciential . The former was considered the root and origin of all things ; the cause of the existence of gods and men ; the principle of the universe and all that it contains , by which matter was arranged into form and order , and the systems perform their accustomed revolutions with accuracy and precision . The sciential division was subdivided into two portions , odd and even , the former limited , the latter infinite . According to the definition used by the Pythagoreans" even number is
, that which at once admits division into the greatest and the least ; into the greatest magnitudes ( for halves are the greatest parts ); the least in multitude ( for two is the least number ) according to the natural opposition of these two kinds . Odd numbers cannot be thus divided ; for they are only capable of being separated into two unequal parts . "
Pythagoras called the monad the father , and the duad the mother of number ; whence it was concluded that those numbers which resembled the monad , by which were meant the odd numbers , were considered the most propitious . Hence , in all the heathen systems , odd numbers were esteemed the most perfect , and represented the celestial deities . It is , however , somewhat at variance with the mysteries of the fairy mythology of our own country , which seems to entertain a predilection for even numbers .
Thus , in Morgan ' s " Phoenix Brittanicus , ' ' is a curious tract on the subject of fairies , entitled " An Account of Anne Jefferies , now living in the County of Cornwall , who was fed for six months by a small sort of Airy People , called Fairies ; and of the strange and wonderful Cures she performed with Salves and Medicines she received from them , for which she never took one Penny of her Patients . " In this tract she gives the following account of her commerce with these creatures , which I quote so far as it applies to my purpose . She says , " that in 1645 , as she was one day sitting knitting in an arbour in the garden , there came over the hedge , of a sudden , six persons of a small statureall clothed
, in green , which frighted her so much as to throw her into a great sickness . They continued their appearance to her , never less than two at a time , nor never more than eight , always in even numbers , 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 . " But , in order to a right understanding of the application of the numeral system , it will be necessary to give a general outline of tbe occult signification of the digits , as taught in some of the ancient systems of the spurious Freemasonry ; and this will show to what a beautiful moral purpose it is capable of being applied . But it will be undignified to commence this sublime process at the close of an article , and I shall therefore defer it to a future opportunity .