Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Transmission Of Masonic Art And Symbolism In The Fourth Century.
retained and perpetuated the secret principles of constructive art , and appear to have elaborated many branches of the useful sciences . In the reign of Tiberius , a distinguished craftsman , by means of ingenious mechanism , restored to an exact perpendicular the leaning sides of the principal entrance to the city . The Emperor at first expressed great pleasure , but envying the skill of the architect , whose name he jealously interdicted from publicity , refused him just
compensation and expelled him from the city ; but he returned , and seeking to secure favour by displaying a specimen of extraordinary handicraft , produced a glass vase , which he besought the Emperor to hurl with violence upon the floor . This was done , whereupon the skilled artificer picked it up , and the vessel being wrought with a material more tenacious and elastic than gold or silver , he readily pressed each indentation into its proper shape . The only compensation which this unusual work of art received was a
prompt order that the craftsman's head should be cut off . Tiberius subsequently explained that the introduction of such manufactures would debase the-value of metal utensils . With so limited encouragement it is not surprising that the secret of malleable glass has been lost . Symbolic appliances , as well as allegorical representations from the remotest epochs , were freely used to add impressive weight to the hidden mysteries of initiation into the sacerdotal orders . It was by such material aids that the lessons of religious import and the explanations of occult science
were rendered doubly effective . Blany of these have survived to the modern Craft of Freemasons , with much of their original purport and emblematic significance . These symbols reach far back into pre-historic ages , and were familiar objects in the Egyptian , Phoenician , and other oriental secret orders . They present themselves with oft-recurring frequency in the diversified systems of religion which threatened to disintegrate Christianity in the first three centuries , and appeal to the Blasonic eye with
the same unequivocal meaning as arrested the inner thoughtfulness of the Gnostic or Manichean devotee . Before the fourth century , and previous to the period when Christianity had reached its powerful development , strong efforts were made by the converts from paganism to unite the system of the more ancient reli gion with the doctrines of Christ , and in this attempt some of the most cultivated minds among the proselytes were profoundly interested . Out of this process arose numerous sects , such
as the Gnostics , Basilideans , and . Manicheans , the first of whom , it is presumed , was in existence in the time of St . Paul . All these at a later date had the form of a regular and secret organization , into which none were initiated , except such as volimtarily assumed binding obligations . Ultimately these sects presented the appearance of oathbound corporations , whose religious ceremonials , based upon symbolized mathematical problems , as in case of the BasDideans , were divided in several grades or degrees ; to each of which belonged specific symbols , directly appropriated from heathen temple
worship or from oriental sources . In the time of Josephus , the Essenes , of Asiatic origin , maintained a close organization , and used mechanical emblems , which in many respects resembled the typified use of Blasonic tools . The central figure of the Gnostic system was the demiurgic , opifeco mundi , or architect of the Universe , whose potential means of creation was the Tetragrammaton , or ineffable word Jah , or Jehovah , and sometimes Abrax , which signified the sacred name under another form .
Notwithstanding the fact that Philo Judaeus largely contributed by his writings , in the first century , to familiarize the diverse schools of Alexandria with the Hebrew traditions and sacred observances , it is beyond controversy that these rival sects did not derive their knowledge of the presumed efficacy of the divine word from Israelitish sources , but perpetuated it as an integral portion of the occult lore transmitted through Egyptian or Phoenician channels .
The five-pointed star or pentalpha of Pythagoras was ' notably familiar to such religious systems as came from Tyrian sources , and advanced as far westward as the Druids , who marked it upon the soles of their shoes . This symbol in the hands of the mediaeval Freemasons was extensively used as a mark . As typified , the Blanichean system represented the universe , supported by columns , and ' in this particular was identical with the ancient Germanic temple at Upsala . A strange perpetuation of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Transmission Of Masonic Art And Symbolism In The Fourth Century.
retained and perpetuated the secret principles of constructive art , and appear to have elaborated many branches of the useful sciences . In the reign of Tiberius , a distinguished craftsman , by means of ingenious mechanism , restored to an exact perpendicular the leaning sides of the principal entrance to the city . The Emperor at first expressed great pleasure , but envying the skill of the architect , whose name he jealously interdicted from publicity , refused him just
compensation and expelled him from the city ; but he returned , and seeking to secure favour by displaying a specimen of extraordinary handicraft , produced a glass vase , which he besought the Emperor to hurl with violence upon the floor . This was done , whereupon the skilled artificer picked it up , and the vessel being wrought with a material more tenacious and elastic than gold or silver , he readily pressed each indentation into its proper shape . The only compensation which this unusual work of art received was a
prompt order that the craftsman's head should be cut off . Tiberius subsequently explained that the introduction of such manufactures would debase the-value of metal utensils . With so limited encouragement it is not surprising that the secret of malleable glass has been lost . Symbolic appliances , as well as allegorical representations from the remotest epochs , were freely used to add impressive weight to the hidden mysteries of initiation into the sacerdotal orders . It was by such material aids that the lessons of religious import and the explanations of occult science
were rendered doubly effective . Blany of these have survived to the modern Craft of Freemasons , with much of their original purport and emblematic significance . These symbols reach far back into pre-historic ages , and were familiar objects in the Egyptian , Phoenician , and other oriental secret orders . They present themselves with oft-recurring frequency in the diversified systems of religion which threatened to disintegrate Christianity in the first three centuries , and appeal to the Blasonic eye with
the same unequivocal meaning as arrested the inner thoughtfulness of the Gnostic or Manichean devotee . Before the fourth century , and previous to the period when Christianity had reached its powerful development , strong efforts were made by the converts from paganism to unite the system of the more ancient reli gion with the doctrines of Christ , and in this attempt some of the most cultivated minds among the proselytes were profoundly interested . Out of this process arose numerous sects , such
as the Gnostics , Basilideans , and . Manicheans , the first of whom , it is presumed , was in existence in the time of St . Paul . All these at a later date had the form of a regular and secret organization , into which none were initiated , except such as volimtarily assumed binding obligations . Ultimately these sects presented the appearance of oathbound corporations , whose religious ceremonials , based upon symbolized mathematical problems , as in case of the BasDideans , were divided in several grades or degrees ; to each of which belonged specific symbols , directly appropriated from heathen temple
worship or from oriental sources . In the time of Josephus , the Essenes , of Asiatic origin , maintained a close organization , and used mechanical emblems , which in many respects resembled the typified use of Blasonic tools . The central figure of the Gnostic system was the demiurgic , opifeco mundi , or architect of the Universe , whose potential means of creation was the Tetragrammaton , or ineffable word Jah , or Jehovah , and sometimes Abrax , which signified the sacred name under another form .
Notwithstanding the fact that Philo Judaeus largely contributed by his writings , in the first century , to familiarize the diverse schools of Alexandria with the Hebrew traditions and sacred observances , it is beyond controversy that these rival sects did not derive their knowledge of the presumed efficacy of the divine word from Israelitish sources , but perpetuated it as an integral portion of the occult lore transmitted through Egyptian or Phoenician channels .
The five-pointed star or pentalpha of Pythagoras was ' notably familiar to such religious systems as came from Tyrian sources , and advanced as far westward as the Druids , who marked it upon the soles of their shoes . This symbol in the hands of the mediaeval Freemasons was extensively used as a mark . As typified , the Blanichean system represented the universe , supported by columns , and ' in this particular was identical with the ancient Germanic temple at Upsala . A strange perpetuation of the