The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

exceeding great joy , ' * when they beheld the star which conducted them to Him who was born King of the Jews , if they had not believed that His salvation would extend to the Gentiles also ? Some learned writers entertain the opinion that this tradition was originally derived from the Jews , after their captivity aud dispersion into various countries . But there appears to be one inseparable objection to the hypothesis . When the star made its appearanceand Christ was bornthe Jewswho were in undoubted possession of the more

, , , correct version of the prophecy , in all its forms , whether as enunciated by the Divine promise to Adam , Noah , or Abraham , or by the more explicit words of Jacob , Balaam , or any of the Jewish Prophets , refused to aclmowledge Him as the Prince or Lawgiver referred to by the prediction ; how then could it be expected that the three heathen hierophants , whose knowledge of the tradition would be weak ancl imperfect if derived only from the Jewsfor whom they entertained very little respectwould have thus travelled

, , from far distant countries consentaneously to offer sacrifices to the newly-born King ? Ancl how coidd the Gentiles have been so ready to receive Him as the expected Deliverer after He had been rejected by the Jews , if the prophecy had been derived from them alone ?

Thus then it appears that while God communicated freely with His favoured people , He did not entirely desert those who had strayed the farthest from His fold . The Light shone amidst the darkness , although the darkness comprehended it not . t The idea of an expiatory sacrifice is perceptible in all the mysterious systems of religion practised by heathen nations , although perhaps its precise nature and typ ical reference "were not distinctly understood . But every country in the world , how ignorant soever its inhabitants might be respecting the general truths of religionwas prepared for the

, atonement of the Messiah , by an universal belief in the efficacy of bloody sacrifices , as will be explained at large hereafter ; and these always accompanied initiation . The most benighted savages , as well as the refined philosophers of Greece and Rome , where alike imbued with this overwhelming tenet .

Now it cannot be supposed that infinite wisdom acts without design , or that God would thus prepare the minds of His creatures for an event which was never to be verified . At length , therefore , after frequent plain declarations of His intention to the Jews , and amidst the universal expectation of the Gentiles—taught in their mysteries , and embodied in their symbols—by a wondrous display of power , God sent forth His only-begotten Son into the world , made in fashion as a man , ancl leading a human life on earthsin only excepted . Born of a pure virgin at the precise period of time when

, all mankind expected a new incarnation of tbe Deity ; in the province ancl town foretold by the Prophet Micah several centuries before ; attended by a blazing star , as had been predicted by Balaam , and universally transmitted in the mystical celebrations of the heathen ; aud His birth , announced by a multitude of the heavenly hosts .

And to prevent any mistake in the application of the prophecies , He is referred to as a Star in many places of Scripture . St . Luke uses the word avaroAi ) , OEIEUS , J translated " Dayspring ; " ancl corresponding with the * a _ tSov , o ao-rrip , ov aSoi / ev rq avaroXy of St . Matthew . In like manner St . Peter uses the phrase c /> o _ o % > os avar < ah ] , § the Star in the East . This word , which means the Blazing Star of Freemasonry , denoted amongst the cabalistic Jews , the eternal WISDOM of God ; which is the same as the eternal WORD of God , or Christ . Hence the early Christians , when they prayed , turned their faces towards

the East , which is the dayspring of light , and the same practice constitutes an essential ceremony in the lodges of Freemasonry , where WISDOM is placed in the east . Eusebius uses tbe _ same imagery when he says , speaking of the descent of Christ into hell , " the deeps of ' , hellish darkness saw the most bright Star of heaven . " Every , circumstance , whether prophetical or typical of tbe Messias of the Jews , and the expected "Deliverer of the Gentiles , was exactly completed and fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ . At His advent the heathen oracles ceased to yield responses ,