The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

paired in that part of the globe ; and if one region escaped , it is not improbable that others might also remain unchanged during this aivful visitation , even should it be true , which it is far from my intention to assert , that the foundations of the earth were shaken by the resistless

ojieration of eternal fires , its axis changed , and its highest mountains forced up from the depths of the sea . ' Such a dissolution , " says Berrington , * "is actually , in fact , inconsistent with the present state of the earth , Avhich shows us that such a disssolution was not made .

It is granted that there Avere vast alterations caused in the earth by that inundation ; the very breaks in the rocks , and parts of the mountains overturned bv its force , demonstrate that there were great convulsions in many parts of the earth , yet the present situation of those

fragments ancl breaks convinces us that they Avere not all dissolved , but onlyaltered in their local position . " De la Pryme ' s theory is that , " the antediluvian Avorld had an external sea as Avell

as land , with mountains , rivers , etc ., and the deluge ivas effected by breaking the subterranean caverns and pillars thereof by dreadful earthquakes , and causing the same to be , for the most part , if not wholly , absorbed , swallowed up , and covered by the seas we now have . This

earth of ours arose out of the bottom of the autediluvian sea ; and in its room , just as many islands are swallowed down , ancl others thrust up in their stead . " Count Bjoinstjerna doubts the correctness of this theory . "I admit Avith

Cuvier , " says he , " that the surface of the earth has been the subject of a great and sudden revolution , the date of Avhich cannot go much farther back than five or six thousand years ; but I question the very possibility that this revolution has sunk

or caused to disappear all those lands which were then inhabited by man , made dry the former bottom of the sea , and formed of this , the land ivhich is now inhabited . On the contrary 1 think that the last great deluge overflowed the present parts of the world , and not a continent was sunk to the bottom of the sea , " ! When Noah emerged from the Ark , or

exchanged darkness for light , as was imitated in both the true and the spurious Freemasonry , as it rested upon the summit of Ararat , a constellation of symbols , preserved in the mysteries , Avere displayed to sanctify the oath of the Almighty , * that the earth never more be destroyed by a

flood . The clove and olive branch , the rainbow , ancl the cubical altar , were signs which the Noachidce and their posterity always held sacred , ancl preserved them with great care in their secret institutions . The respect paid to these emblems by the first postdiluvian race of men , was so devoted that when a new institution was

substituted by the Cabiri , at the construction of the tower of Babel , ancl perhaps at a still earlier period , they were not lost sight of , but transmitted with such fidelity that they existed in the Spurious Freemasonry of every nation under heaven ; and still flourish as invaluable appendages

to the true system , ivith a lustre that time Avill not be able to abate . In the Spurious Freemasonry the ark of Noah ivas symbolized by a bull , depicted with horns like a crescent , and on his back a dove . It is remarkable that in our own

country , the candidate ivho had been admitted to the highest degree , Avas denominated the Bull , as a title of distinction ; because he was now esteemed , like that animal , to be consecrated to the sun . And the Druids hallowed every thirtieth year , when Saturn entered into the sign of

Taurus . In Egypt , during the month Athyr , when the Sun was in Scorpio , the priests , amidst the celebrations , decorated a golden image of a Bull , and covered it with a robe of sable linen , in commemoration of the mourning of Isis for the loss

of Osiris ; or in other words , of Noah enclosed in the Ark ; f and it must be borne in mind that as the symbol of Osiris was a Bull , so that of Isis was a Cow or heifer . In a word every ancient nation esteemed the bull ur cow sacred in reference to the

escape of Noah in the Ark . Faber says that the moon and the ark were worshipped in conjunction during the initiations ; a kind of idolatry which he thinks arose out of the circumstances