The Otigin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

Sir W . Di'ummond has promulgated a curious theory on this subject which is worth quoting . He says .: "Among the similitudes ivhich policy had invented and AA'hich religion had sanctified , none could be more agreeable to monarch . " , than that Avhich compared the princes of the earth ivith the King of Heaven , and ivhich represented them as the emblems of the supreme ancl spiritual Governor of the Universe . The celestial court was imagined to resemble those of our nether world . The King was likened to the Sun , and the great men of the state Avere assimilated to the most brilliant of the

stars ; ancl thus ndiile the people looked up with rei'erence to then' masters upon earth , as images of their rulers in heaven , they became the willing slaves of a despotism AVMCII seemed to be founded on the authority of the gods themselves . " *

ine iorm ot tne faun being permanent , AIMS symbolized by a circle ; ana tlie changing moon by a semicircle or lunette , as it appears ivhen first visible at its monthly renewals . And the walls of their temples and obelisks ' were painted in permanent colours , or carved in relief , all the sacred symbols of their complicated system of religion , accompanied by zodiacs and celestial planispheres , numerous specimens of Avhich still remain at Tentyra , Esneh , the Temple of Isis at Philoe , ancl many other places ; and these mysterious symbols and diagrams were partly explained to the initiated aspirant

, and partly confined to the knoivledge of the priests alone . Accustomed , in the spirit of a perverted theology , to consider the seat of the divinity in the higher regions of the air , and inaccessible but to the purest celestial beings , they at first considered these behigs , ivhatever they ivere , in the light of mediators between God and man , through ivhom , therefore , their vows ancl offerings ought to be directed . But another question arose : IIOAV ivere they to ascertain the nature and

locality of these benignant intelligencies 1 The brilliant orbs of night were suggested as the intermediate objects between earth and heaven , and therefore the abode of those brilliant seraphim . Avhose business and delight it ivas to convey petitions from man to his Creator , and in return to disseminate blessings upon earth .

It ivas not , therefore , to the stars abstractedly that the devotions of the Sabean ivorship A \ 'ere originally addressed , but to the genii , seraphim , or spirits AA'I IO ivere reputed to inhabit them . Many of the Hindoo iihilosophers believed—and their system Avas framed on the Egyptian model—that the stars were the souls of men departecl this life , and raised to that high dignity in reivard for their virtues and austerities . The distinction , hoivever , in subsequent ages , when religion became deteriorated by the

grossest superstitions , and pure theology degenerated into a system of physics , ivas forgotten , and men paid adoration to the material and visible substance , instead of the invisible poiver . These superstitions ivere confirmed by the practice of judicial astrology . After the apotheosis of their eminent men , Avho ivere transjilanted into the firmament of heaven , it was taught that the stars possessed an actual influence over human affairs , ivhich

could arise from no other . cause than the favour or displeasure of their divine inhabitant . Hence , in the hieroglyphics of Egypt , a star ivas used to represent the Deity ; f and hence , doubtless , from an ancient tradition preserved in the Mysteries , of atonement through the shedding of blood , ancl the doctrine of an expiatory sacrifice , mankind were gradually led to propitiate these imaginary gods by prayers and bloody offerings . These at first consisted of beasts , then of enemies taken iu battle , and lastly of their OAVU children and friends .

The Druids of Gaul ancl Britain ivere in the habit of immolating human victims in sacrifice to Hermes , under the idea of an atonement for . sin—as Cresar expresses it ; t "Pro vita hominis nisi vita hominis reddatur , non posse alitor deoruni imniortalium numen placari , arbitrantur . " This approach to the true , doctrine must have proceeded from an unimpaired tradition which had been transmitted from the earliest inhabitants of the earth after the deluge .