Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
was a pyramid or spiral flame ; while the zodiac represented the grand senate of the twelve gods . In like manner the mysteries of India were celebrated in honour of Buddha , who was the same as the constellation Bootes , and the Eoyptian Thoth represented by Cancer , formed in the mysteries of Mithras the fiery gate of heaven ; as Capricorn
was denominated the celestial flood gate , from the solstitial rains which fall when the sun enters that sign . Thus , I am pursuaded , much of the awopprfTa of the mysteries mig ht be satisfactorily explained . Being thus taught that the stars were the abode of deified mortals , the people , io-norant of these metaphysical nicetiesbelieved the
per-, sonages represented by them to be actual deities , and worshipped them accordingly . The priests however knew better ; ancl recent discoveries have proved , as an indubitable fact , that in the higher degrees of the mysteries the knowledge of one God the Creator was preserved in every nation under heaven ; although it was darkened by fables , and
degraded by mysticism . Thus Sallust the Platonist said ; " of the worldly gods , some make the world ; some animate it ; some adjust the parts of it ; ancl some govern or preserve it so composed . " Here then being four things and each of them consisting of first , middle , and extreme ; it necessarily follows that they who dispose them must be twelve in
number . Hence they who make the world are Jupiter , Neptune , and Vulcan . Those who animate it are Juno , Ceres , and Diana . They who adjust the parts of it are Apollo , Venus , Mercury ; and they who preserve it are Vesta , Pallas , and Mars . These first possessing the world before the pagan heroes ; we may imagine the others in them ; that is ,
Bacchus in Jupiter ; Esculapius in Apollo ; the Graces in Venus . We may also contemplate their several spheres . The earth , the orb of Vesta ; the water , that of Neptune ; the air , that of Juno ; the fire , that of Vulcan . Epicurus exclaims with astonishment ; " some assert that the stars are animate , or so many animals ; and moreover so many gods ;" and he enters into a series of arguments to disprove the theory .
Amidst such a mass of mythological absurdity , which contained some indistinct rays of light , weakly pointing through almost impenetrable darkness towards their pristine fountain ; the true system was undoubtedly disseminated . " For if there had not been once , " says Dr . Ellis , " a true reli gion we could never have heard of bad ones . Every
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
was a pyramid or spiral flame ; while the zodiac represented the grand senate of the twelve gods . In like manner the mysteries of India were celebrated in honour of Buddha , who was the same as the constellation Bootes , and the Eoyptian Thoth represented by Cancer , formed in the mysteries of Mithras the fiery gate of heaven ; as Capricorn
was denominated the celestial flood gate , from the solstitial rains which fall when the sun enters that sign . Thus , I am pursuaded , much of the awopprfTa of the mysteries mig ht be satisfactorily explained . Being thus taught that the stars were the abode of deified mortals , the people , io-norant of these metaphysical nicetiesbelieved the
per-, sonages represented by them to be actual deities , and worshipped them accordingly . The priests however knew better ; ancl recent discoveries have proved , as an indubitable fact , that in the higher degrees of the mysteries the knowledge of one God the Creator was preserved in every nation under heaven ; although it was darkened by fables , and
degraded by mysticism . Thus Sallust the Platonist said ; " of the worldly gods , some make the world ; some animate it ; some adjust the parts of it ; ancl some govern or preserve it so composed . " Here then being four things and each of them consisting of first , middle , and extreme ; it necessarily follows that they who dispose them must be twelve in
number . Hence they who make the world are Jupiter , Neptune , and Vulcan . Those who animate it are Juno , Ceres , and Diana . They who adjust the parts of it are Apollo , Venus , Mercury ; and they who preserve it are Vesta , Pallas , and Mars . These first possessing the world before the pagan heroes ; we may imagine the others in them ; that is ,
Bacchus in Jupiter ; Esculapius in Apollo ; the Graces in Venus . We may also contemplate their several spheres . The earth , the orb of Vesta ; the water , that of Neptune ; the air , that of Juno ; the fire , that of Vulcan . Epicurus exclaims with astonishment ; " some assert that the stars are animate , or so many animals ; and moreover so many gods ;" and he enters into a series of arguments to disprove the theory .
Amidst such a mass of mythological absurdity , which contained some indistinct rays of light , weakly pointing through almost impenetrable darkness towards their pristine fountain ; the true system was undoubtedly disseminated . " For if there had not been once , " says Dr . Ellis , " a true reli gion we could never have heard of bad ones . Every