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Article MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 3 of 6 →
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Masonic Antiquities.
" The ' Masons' Catechism' has given occasion to a great deal of idle mirth and ridicule , as the most trifling and despicable sort of jargon that men of common sense ever submitted to . The bone-box and the tow-line hare given wonderful diversion . I think that there are some verses in the last chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes , which in some measure resemble thij > form of expression . I shall transcribe them , with the opinion of the learned upon them , without making any particular application . The passage is as follows : —
On this juinble of nonsense , which was published in 1730 , under the pretence of being the true Eitual of Freemasonry , Dr . James Anderson writes as follows in his ^ Defence' * of the Order : —
" ' In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble ; and the grinders cease because they are few ; and those that look out at the windows be darkened ; and the doors shall be shut up in the streets ; when the sound of the grinding is low ; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird ; and all the daughters of music shall be brought low ; or erer the silver cprd be loosed , or the golden bowl be broken , or the pitcher be broken at the fountain , or the wheel broken at the cistern . '
" The expositors upoa these verses are almost unanimous in their opinion that they ought to be thus explained : The keepers of the house are the shoulders , arms , and hands of the human body ; the grinders are
the teeth ; those that look out at the windows are the two eyes ; the doors are lips ; the streets are the mouth ; the sound of the grinding is the noise of the voice ; the voice of the bird is the crowing of the cock ; the daughters of music are the two ears ; the silver cord is the string of the tongue ; the golden bowl is the pia mater ; the pitcher at the fountain is the heart , the fountain of life ; the wheel is the great artery ; and the cistern is the left ventricle of the heart . "
In order to shew the real object of the author of " Les Jesuites Chasses de la Mac ^ onnerie , " in inserting Prichard ' s " Dissection , " of Freemasonry in the middle of his book , we append a brief sketch of the "Notes et Preuves" ( Notes and Proofs ) which immediately follow Mr . Prichard ' s work .
In order , he says , to facilitate the understanding of the Hitual , some observations are added on certain points , which , on account of the monkish device adopted by the Jesuits , might escape the attention of the most attentive readers . It is well known that the Jesuits have ever been strong , and in some instances formidable , opponents of Freemasonry ; and we cannot therefore be surprised that a vigorous upholder of the Order , such as the author of this work evidently was , should attribute to them or to
their agency any work , which in his opinion was in any way calculated to tlirow a slur , or to bring discredit upon it . As to the title , "Masonry Dissected , ' he observes , M and D , its initial letters , give the numbers 12 and 4 . Adding together 1 , 2 , and 4 , the number 7 is produced , which is equivalent to the letter G ( the seventh in the alphabet ) , which is the first letter of the word " General . " Nothin g can be more hard and forced than the title — —
„ , _ ... _ , rt — — — .- — .-" Magonnerie JJissequee : " the French language scarcely contains Words which , could frame a more barbarous title . But the author VOL . IV . S
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
" The ' Masons' Catechism' has given occasion to a great deal of idle mirth and ridicule , as the most trifling and despicable sort of jargon that men of common sense ever submitted to . The bone-box and the tow-line hare given wonderful diversion . I think that there are some verses in the last chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes , which in some measure resemble thij > form of expression . I shall transcribe them , with the opinion of the learned upon them , without making any particular application . The passage is as follows : —
On this juinble of nonsense , which was published in 1730 , under the pretence of being the true Eitual of Freemasonry , Dr . James Anderson writes as follows in his ^ Defence' * of the Order : —
" ' In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble ; and the grinders cease because they are few ; and those that look out at the windows be darkened ; and the doors shall be shut up in the streets ; when the sound of the grinding is low ; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird ; and all the daughters of music shall be brought low ; or erer the silver cprd be loosed , or the golden bowl be broken , or the pitcher be broken at the fountain , or the wheel broken at the cistern . '
" The expositors upoa these verses are almost unanimous in their opinion that they ought to be thus explained : The keepers of the house are the shoulders , arms , and hands of the human body ; the grinders are
the teeth ; those that look out at the windows are the two eyes ; the doors are lips ; the streets are the mouth ; the sound of the grinding is the noise of the voice ; the voice of the bird is the crowing of the cock ; the daughters of music are the two ears ; the silver cord is the string of the tongue ; the golden bowl is the pia mater ; the pitcher at the fountain is the heart , the fountain of life ; the wheel is the great artery ; and the cistern is the left ventricle of the heart . "
In order to shew the real object of the author of " Les Jesuites Chasses de la Mac ^ onnerie , " in inserting Prichard ' s " Dissection , " of Freemasonry in the middle of his book , we append a brief sketch of the "Notes et Preuves" ( Notes and Proofs ) which immediately follow Mr . Prichard ' s work .
In order , he says , to facilitate the understanding of the Hitual , some observations are added on certain points , which , on account of the monkish device adopted by the Jesuits , might escape the attention of the most attentive readers . It is well known that the Jesuits have ever been strong , and in some instances formidable , opponents of Freemasonry ; and we cannot therefore be surprised that a vigorous upholder of the Order , such as the author of this work evidently was , should attribute to them or to
their agency any work , which in his opinion was in any way calculated to tlirow a slur , or to bring discredit upon it . As to the title , "Masonry Dissected , ' he observes , M and D , its initial letters , give the numbers 12 and 4 . Adding together 1 , 2 , and 4 , the number 7 is produced , which is equivalent to the letter G ( the seventh in the alphabet ) , which is the first letter of the word " General . " Nothin g can be more hard and forced than the title — —
„ , _ ... _ , rt — — — .- — .-" Magonnerie JJissequee : " the French language scarcely contains Words which , could frame a more barbarous title . But the author VOL . IV . S