The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

But whether it be spurious or not , its contents are genuine , so far as the forms of the various figures are concerned , although their arrangement may be faulty , and not in accordance with the original ceremonies which distinguished the mysteries of Isis in the country where they were first

established . The Anaglyph before us , for instance , with its accompaniment of globe , serpent , and Avings , is found on the most ancient monuments of Egypt . Bin Was ' iih does not profess to have taken it from the Isiac table , but from ancient

Avritings on pillars and monuments , where all the figures previously existed which were transferred to that table , and used in the Hermesiau books b y "the sons of wisdom . "

Ihe symbols of the two institutions which , for the sake of distinction , I have called the true and the spurious Freemasonry , although the name was altogether unknown at the period referred to , are , in many respects , the same , but their

meaning differed materially ; because the former were used to embod y the sound morality of genuine reli gion , as it had been revealed to the patriarchs and prophets , aud practised fey the Noachida ? and their pious successors ; and the latter , h

thougprofessedly an imitation of the primeval system , Avas applied to the equivocal purpose of establishing and upholding the interests of a rival scheme , Avhich opposed itself to the promulgation of religious truth ; and Avhile it held out a promise of superior enli ghtenment , involved

its votaries in the mazes of superstition and idolatry , and substituted stocks and stones for the worship of the only and invisible Creator of heaven aud earth . An explanation of the symbols common to both these institutions would be an

effectual means of showing that they are not—and cannot be--identified Avith each other ; but such an attempt Avould be too diffusive for introduction here . In a few points the ceremonies appear to have been consentaneous ; Avhich also occurs in many other

societies differing widely from each other in nature and desi gn ; but the doctrines are diametricall y and irreconcilabl y opposed to each other , and the corresponding emblems have a widely different signification . The Jewish symbols which have been adopted into blue Masonry , Avere

exclusively descriptive of the sublime mysteries of their holy relig ion , aud of the name and attributes of the Deity , as they had been enunciated by Moses and the prophets ; Avhile the symbols of heathenism , though alike in form , were used to typify the

wildest fables of a perverted mythology ; and even in their most perfect and unadulterated form , Avere uncertain in their application , and varied materially as they were expounded to the aspirant in the graduated stages of his progress through

the seven gates of purification , Avhich were reputed to complete his formal initiation into the mysteries of the spurious Freemasonry . " How easily the tropical hieroglyphic fell into the tropical symbolAve may see

, by the following instances . Eternity was sometimes expressed by the Sun and Moon , and sometimes by the basilisk ; . Egypt , sometimes by the crocodile , and sometimes by a burning cense with a heart upon it . Where the simplicity of the first

representation in each instance , and the abstruseness of the latter , show that the one was a tropica ] hieroglyphic for communication ; and the other a tropical symbol invented

for secresy . Enigmatic symbols were formed by a mysterious assemblage of different things , as in the Caduceus ; or of the part of different animals , as in a serpent Avith a hawk ' s head ; or of things and animals together , as in a serpent with a hawk ' s head in a circle . The change of

the tropical into the enigmatic symbol , is seen in this instance ; to signify the Sun they sometimes painted a haivk , which was tropical ; and sometimes a scaraba _ us with a round ball in its claws , Avhich Avas of the enigmatic kind . " *

The principal figure in the Anaglyph before us is an enigmatic symbol , compounded of a hawk , a beetle , and a man . Champollion says , "les anaglyphes semblent etre des pages de cette ecriture secrete que les anciens auteurs Grecs et Romains nous

disent avoir etc connue seulement des pretres , et de ceux qu'ils initioient a , leur mysteres . Quant a lecriture hierogly phique , elle ne fut jamais secrete ; et tous ceux qui , en Egypte , recevoient quelque education , en possedoient la Connoissance . " NOAV

it is well known that the scarabseus and haAvk mutually symbolized Osiris , or the sun . The former , according to a very