The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

to prescribe by a legal ordinance , Avhat kind of songs and dances were to be used at the religious festivals . * And , indeed , in all religions from the time when David danced before the ark of the covenant , and the priests of Baal used the same practice to procure fire from heaven in the days of

Elijah to that of the most uninformed savages , dancing in a circle was considered to be a sacrifiee with which the deity was well pleased . This custom or belief probably originated the mystery attending the use of the ring

or circle of gold as a symbol of the union of man ancl Avife , although some attribute the custom to a much earlier period . They sayt that the inventor of the wedding ring was Prometheus , and the workmen who made it Avas Tubal Cain , who by the

advice of A . dam gave it to his son , wherewith to bind his wife in marriage , implying that their mutual love and affection should flow from one to the other without intermission , as in a circle , to the end of their lives . In Egypt , however , as we have been

told by Crates , the philosopher , the ring was a symbol of prostitution and worn about the ancles as au honourable badge . The Chinese circle or ring was supported by two serpents , as an emblem of the Universe supported by the wisdom and power of the deity .

Bro . Willoughby , an intelligent Mason , residing at Birkenhead , has an ingenious conjecture that the Masonic point within a circle refers to the second person in the Christian Trinity . His idea is thus stated in a letter to the author of this work : ¦—" As speculative Masons Ave should not be

content with deriving merely a single moral lesson from each emblem depicted on our Tracing Board ; each is but as a text upon whicli to build a copious lecture . I consider , then , that the point within a circle has a totally different application

when used in the first ancl third degrees . In the first it has a moral reference , and describes the boundary line of a Mason's path through this life , the limits of Avhich are the precepts of the kw ancl gospel by which he is circumscribed to prevent his

going into works of supererogation ; to Avhich precepts , if he will strictly adhere , that ladder Avhich is placed above Avill

conduct him by the three theological virtues to a heavenly mansion veiled from the eyes of mortal men . '' The same emblem in the third degree has a more mystical reference to Christ as our centre , according to His own

declaration , ' Where two or three are gathered together in My name , there am I in the midst of them ! ' The prayer which Avas formerly used is very applicable to this point , and it ought not to have been discontinued . It began thus : — ' 0 Lord

God , thou great aud universal Great or of the Avorld , and first Builder of man , as it Avere a Temple , be with us , 0 Lord , as thou hast promised that Avhere two or three are gathered together in Thy name thou wilt be in the midst of them & c . '

, " After our Lord ' s resurrection the disciples changed their day of assembling together , or Lodge clay , from the seventh to the first day of the week ; and oh that clay our Lord appeared to Mary and directed her to go to his brethren and

inform them that he Avas about to ascend into the presence of Him who was both his Father ancl their Father ; and on the same day , at evening , Avhen thev were assembled

( which custom has been preserved among ourselves , Masons' Lodges being usuall y held of an evening ) , the doors being closely tyled for fear of the Jews—cam . Jesus and stood in the midst of them , making use of that hig hly Masonic greeting , ' Peace be with yon . ' Our brethren Avould naturally

feel surprised at the presence of a stranger amongst them ; but when He had given them proofs by showing them the signs of distress in his hands and his side , that he was their Brother , that they Avere children of the same Almighty jiarentthey gladl

, y recognised Him that Avas lost b y an untimely death . " The Hindoos believed the circle to be a representation of the Supreme Being ; because , like Him , it is without beginning and without end , ¦ The first settlers in

Egypt transmitted to their posterity an exact copy of the point within a circle expressed in symbolical language . The universe was represented and explained by the hierophant at the exaltation of the candidate to the highest mysteries of religion , as a circle of boundless light , in the centre of Avhich the Deity was supposed to dwell ; ancl the idea was embodied in