The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

ancient interpretation , because it Avas imagined to be always of the male sex , and casting the seed of generation into round balls of earth , for the purpose of bringing it to maturity , rolled them backwards with its hind feet , Avhile it looked directly

for-Avard ; aud from this practice it Avas considered a legitimate emblem of the sun , Avhich , during the period of its retrogradation , appears to take a path through the heavens contrary to the order of the signs . Ancient writers have assigned a variety of other references to the scarahraus besides

the above . It Avas an emblem of the world , because it was said to roll its excrements into the form of a globe ; of an only son , because they believed that the beetle Avas of both sexes ; of valour , whence it Avas embroidered on their standards , and

Avoru as an amulet ; of the moon , because it Avas horned ; surrounded by roses , it was the emblem of a , -voluptuous man . But its most interesting reference in the estimation of the free and accepted Mason , is to the resurrection . In its first stage of

existence it is a Avorm or grub ; and when arrived at maturity , it encloses itself in a shell or coffin , , and becomes for a season , to all appearance , dead , and actually buries itself deeply in the bowels of the earth ; after which it bursts its crust , and issues

forth into a new life , a Avinged insect . This AVOS too remarkable a picture of the death and revivification of Osiris to escape the notice of the intelligent hierophant .

In the earliest times it Avas used as an emblem of the deit y ; but Avas subsequently elevated into a deity itself ; and Avas also considered to be a symbol of divine love and immortality ; having , as I suppose , a reference someAvhat similar to the fly-god

worshipped at Ekron , called Baal Zebub , and mentioned 2 Kings i . 2 . It appears to have had the name of Tor or Thror , aud although found among the attributes of various divinities , Avas the emblem of the god Tore , a i > ersonincation of the sun .

It occurs Avith the heads of various animals , and is often represented in the act of thrusting fonvard the disc of the sun . The editor of the Pictorial Bible says , " what precise place the beetle filled in the religious system of that remarkable people

, has never , Ave believe , been exactly determined ; but that it occupied a conspicuous situation among their sacred creatures seems to be evinced by the fact , that there

is scarcely any figure which occurs more frequently in Egyptian sculpture and painting . Visitors to the British Museum may satisfy themselves of this fact ; and they Avill also observe a remarkable collosal figure of a beetle in greenish coloured granite . Figures of beetles cut H green

coloured stone occur very frequently in the ancient tombs of Egypt . They are generally plain ; but some have hieroglyphic figures cut on their backs , and Olivers have been found with lwmam , heads . " *

In the modern phonetic alphabet of Egyptian hieroglyphics , the Scarab stands for the letter D or T , or perhaps the HebreAv Tzi , which is supposed to have been formed from the hieroglyphic of an animal Avith tAvo horns , and hence referred to the new moon .

The Avings of this imaginary reptile are very different from the Avings of a beetle ; and there is no violation of probability in pronouncing them to be those of the hawk , because it Avas one of the sacred birds of Egypt . The Avings of a bird represented the winds of heaven . " The

tAvo particular winds that most affected Egypt , were the northerly Etesian wind , and the southern ; and these Avere represented by the two wings of the hawk . The latter springing up about the summer solsticedrove before it that A * ast body of

, aggregated vapours which , discharging themsehes in torrents of rain upon the high mountains of Ethiopia , caused the waters of the Nile to rise . The hawk , therefore , observing at a particular season the same courseAvas considered as the

, most natural typo of the Etesian wind . " } And this Avas probably the ori gin of the fiction Avhich placed Avings on the head and feet of Hermes in the character of Mercury , as the bearer of benefits to the people . The Egyptians painted him black and

Avhite , to portray his double office as a man and a god ; and as the messenger of the celestial aud infernal deities .

Hie patris magni part-re parabat Jmperio , et prinum , pedibus talaria nectit Aurea , qua sublimem alls , sive requora surra , Sen terrain rapido pariter cum flamine portant , Tuni virgam capit ; liac animas ille evocat Oreo Pallenles ; alias sub tristia Tartaramittit ; Dat somnos , adiinitque et luniina morte resignat . VIUGII ,.