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Article CliASSIOAL EEBEMASONRY, ← Page 4 of 11 →
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Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
originator of those mysteries which hear his name . And in order to identify themiwith this great man , it will he necessary to review his character and writings . Orpheus flourished at the time when the celebrated Argonautic expedition was undertaken , which renders him contemporary with
the j udges of the Jewish nation , before the regal government was established . The wonderful effects that are ascribed to his lyre , and the power which he is said to have possessed over the minds of men in this early and uncultivated period , lead us naturally to suppose that his own mind must have not only received from nature a higher share of intellectual qualities than others , but that these must
likewise have been improved by experience and study . Accordingly we are informed that both he and his pupil Musaeus travelled into Egypt , and in that land of mystery and allegory acquired the first principles of that mythology which he afterwards taught , and which , developed into its full luxuriance , we regard with admiration as the
highest effort of creative genius . Here it was that he learned first to sing of the generation of the gods , of the birth of the giants , of the creation of the world , and of the origin of man : he sung , we are told , of the aether , as separated from night and chaos ; of the light that first illuminated the world ;* of love , as the operating principle in this work ; he distinguished a first cause from inferior ministers ; and , in order to impress these lessons more powerfully on the minds of his wondering audience , he professed in all to be inspired by the power of divine illumination .
We must , however , acknowledge that as authors are at a loss with regard to the writings of Orpheus , so they differ still more from each other in their account of his theology . By some he is allowed to be the father of polytheism , on account of his deducing the generation of the gods . Others , however , considering his doctrines as mysterious exhibitions of the most sublime truths , affirm that he
inculcated the belief of the divine unity and self-existence ; insist , in proof of this , upon the esteem in which he was held by the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers ; and assert , that his seeming belief of polytheism arose from the characters of the people whom he addressed , who were wholly uncultivated , and whose attention could only be arrested by the objects of sense . f These opinions , however apparently contradictory to each other , may yet , we think , be
reconciled , especially when we consider that the Orphic philosophy was veiled in allegory . Upon this hypothesis , we need only suppose that Orpheus , as a poet , took the liberty of giving expression and action to the most important of those objects which he undertook to delineate 5 and we may believe that he might appear to have inculcated polytheism at the time when he acknowled the unity of God . Thus the names of Minerva , Mars , Apollo , Hermes , & c , and the
* 2 W ., ^ irepi Op $ . Tift ., & c . Iltf VW -VIK > 7 T D ^ PftK nn « n Gen . i . 3 , This , Longinus considers the most sublime passage in the Holy Scriptures , t See Burns , " Arcteol . Philosoph ., " pp . 120 , 121 . *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cliassioal Eebemasonry,
originator of those mysteries which hear his name . And in order to identify themiwith this great man , it will he necessary to review his character and writings . Orpheus flourished at the time when the celebrated Argonautic expedition was undertaken , which renders him contemporary with
the j udges of the Jewish nation , before the regal government was established . The wonderful effects that are ascribed to his lyre , and the power which he is said to have possessed over the minds of men in this early and uncultivated period , lead us naturally to suppose that his own mind must have not only received from nature a higher share of intellectual qualities than others , but that these must
likewise have been improved by experience and study . Accordingly we are informed that both he and his pupil Musaeus travelled into Egypt , and in that land of mystery and allegory acquired the first principles of that mythology which he afterwards taught , and which , developed into its full luxuriance , we regard with admiration as the
highest effort of creative genius . Here it was that he learned first to sing of the generation of the gods , of the birth of the giants , of the creation of the world , and of the origin of man : he sung , we are told , of the aether , as separated from night and chaos ; of the light that first illuminated the world ;* of love , as the operating principle in this work ; he distinguished a first cause from inferior ministers ; and , in order to impress these lessons more powerfully on the minds of his wondering audience , he professed in all to be inspired by the power of divine illumination .
We must , however , acknowledge that as authors are at a loss with regard to the writings of Orpheus , so they differ still more from each other in their account of his theology . By some he is allowed to be the father of polytheism , on account of his deducing the generation of the gods . Others , however , considering his doctrines as mysterious exhibitions of the most sublime truths , affirm that he
inculcated the belief of the divine unity and self-existence ; insist , in proof of this , upon the esteem in which he was held by the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers ; and assert , that his seeming belief of polytheism arose from the characters of the people whom he addressed , who were wholly uncultivated , and whose attention could only be arrested by the objects of sense . f These opinions , however apparently contradictory to each other , may yet , we think , be
reconciled , especially when we consider that the Orphic philosophy was veiled in allegory . Upon this hypothesis , we need only suppose that Orpheus , as a poet , took the liberty of giving expression and action to the most important of those objects which he undertook to delineate 5 and we may believe that he might appear to have inculcated polytheism at the time when he acknowled the unity of God . Thus the names of Minerva , Mars , Apollo , Hermes , & c , and the
* 2 W ., ^ irepi Op $ . Tift ., & c . Iltf VW -VIK > 7 T D ^ PftK nn « n Gen . i . 3 , This , Longinus considers the most sublime passage in the Holy Scriptures , t See Burns , " Arcteol . Philosoph ., " pp . 120 , 121 . *