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Article THE VISIBLE SYMBOL^ ← Page 3 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Visible Symbol^
A . t the construction of this stupendous ; edifice , -. ' stupendous not in magnitude , for many a parish church has excelled it in size , but stupendous in the wealth and magnificence of its adorninents ? the wise king of Israel ( with all that profound sagacity for which he was
so eminently distinguished , and aided and enlightened by the gentile experience of his powerful ally the king of Tyre , and that immortal architect who superintended his workmen ) saw at once the excellence and beauty of this method of inculcating religious truths , and gave therefore , doubtless , the impulse to that symbolic reference of material things to all intellectual sense which has ever since distinguished the m ^
If I deemed it necessary to substantiate by proof the truth 01 the assertion that King Solomon's mind was eminently symbolic in its propensities , I might easily refer to his writings , filled , as they are to profusion , with tropes and figures . Passing over the Book of Canticles , that great lyrical drama , whose abstruse symbolism has not yet but the only attempt to preserve it among the Pagans was in their mysteries , of which the lecturer gave a full , elaborate , and Highly interesting account . He particularly described the Dionysian or Bacchic mysteries , which were introduced
into Greece from Egypt . He established clearly the analogy between the murder of Bacchus by the Titans , and the slaying of Osiris by his brother Typhon , and identified the legends in those mysteries with the legend of the Third Degree . In all the mysteries there was a death , a restoration to life , and a rejoicing ( 'Evprjicafier , evyatoo / x £ ?/ ' ) , and these were no others than symbols of a great and universal doctrine , which taught the mortality of the body and the immortality
of the soul . The lecturer showed , by conclusive chronological evidence , that these mysteries were in full vigour at the time of the building of King Solomon ' s Temple ; and deduced , by evidence equally irresistible , the union of this branch of the Spurious Freemasonry , or the Tyrian workmen , with that branch of the Pure Freemasonry of the patriarchs which existed among the Jews at Jerusalem , from which resulted the union of speculative and operative Masonry to which the present institution owes its existence . 6 (
He then entered into a learned defence of the authenticity of the Legend of the Third Degree ; established its claims to truth as a tradition , by the application of the celebrated rule of Vincentius Lerinensis ( Quod semper , quod iibique , quod ab omnibus traditum csV ) , and explained the identity of its application with the similar legends of the mysteries . < f Rapidly passing over the history of the Order , he proceeded to a consideration
of its condition in the middle ages , and gave an account of the travelling Freemasons of that period , who , he contended , were a fair example of the united operative and speculative science which existed at the Temple . He next described the gradual progress by which the speculative element thrust out the operative one , and showed that about the sixteenth century Freemasonry began more and more to assume the form of a science , until in the beginning of the eighteenth century , it assumed its present philosophical form .
" Comparing Masonry with other initiative modern societies ^ he said that Masonry was like the venerable oak , the monarch of the forest , under whose shadow these assimilated institutions have sprung up like mushrooms , and fatted upon the soil which its own leaves and Mien fruit had nourished . [ The force of this figure will be seen when we recollect that Odd Fellowship , Sons of Temperance , & c ,, were all the fabrication of expelled Masons , whom the lecturer alludes to by ¦ ' fallen fruit . ' ) et
The lecturer then concluded with an appeal to his Brethren for the cultivation of Freemasonry , as a science of symbolism—an appeal which electrified his audience , and elicited the most vociferous applause . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Visible Symbol^
A . t the construction of this stupendous ; edifice , -. ' stupendous not in magnitude , for many a parish church has excelled it in size , but stupendous in the wealth and magnificence of its adorninents ? the wise king of Israel ( with all that profound sagacity for which he was
so eminently distinguished , and aided and enlightened by the gentile experience of his powerful ally the king of Tyre , and that immortal architect who superintended his workmen ) saw at once the excellence and beauty of this method of inculcating religious truths , and gave therefore , doubtless , the impulse to that symbolic reference of material things to all intellectual sense which has ever since distinguished the m ^
If I deemed it necessary to substantiate by proof the truth 01 the assertion that King Solomon's mind was eminently symbolic in its propensities , I might easily refer to his writings , filled , as they are to profusion , with tropes and figures . Passing over the Book of Canticles , that great lyrical drama , whose abstruse symbolism has not yet but the only attempt to preserve it among the Pagans was in their mysteries , of which the lecturer gave a full , elaborate , and Highly interesting account . He particularly described the Dionysian or Bacchic mysteries , which were introduced
into Greece from Egypt . He established clearly the analogy between the murder of Bacchus by the Titans , and the slaying of Osiris by his brother Typhon , and identified the legends in those mysteries with the legend of the Third Degree . In all the mysteries there was a death , a restoration to life , and a rejoicing ( 'Evprjicafier , evyatoo / x £ ?/ ' ) , and these were no others than symbols of a great and universal doctrine , which taught the mortality of the body and the immortality
of the soul . The lecturer showed , by conclusive chronological evidence , that these mysteries were in full vigour at the time of the building of King Solomon ' s Temple ; and deduced , by evidence equally irresistible , the union of this branch of the Spurious Freemasonry , or the Tyrian workmen , with that branch of the Pure Freemasonry of the patriarchs which existed among the Jews at Jerusalem , from which resulted the union of speculative and operative Masonry to which the present institution owes its existence . 6 (
He then entered into a learned defence of the authenticity of the Legend of the Third Degree ; established its claims to truth as a tradition , by the application of the celebrated rule of Vincentius Lerinensis ( Quod semper , quod iibique , quod ab omnibus traditum csV ) , and explained the identity of its application with the similar legends of the mysteries . < f Rapidly passing over the history of the Order , he proceeded to a consideration
of its condition in the middle ages , and gave an account of the travelling Freemasons of that period , who , he contended , were a fair example of the united operative and speculative science which existed at the Temple . He next described the gradual progress by which the speculative element thrust out the operative one , and showed that about the sixteenth century Freemasonry began more and more to assume the form of a science , until in the beginning of the eighteenth century , it assumed its present philosophical form .
" Comparing Masonry with other initiative modern societies ^ he said that Masonry was like the venerable oak , the monarch of the forest , under whose shadow these assimilated institutions have sprung up like mushrooms , and fatted upon the soil which its own leaves and Mien fruit had nourished . [ The force of this figure will be seen when we recollect that Odd Fellowship , Sons of Temperance , & c ,, were all the fabrication of expelled Masons , whom the lecturer alludes to by ¦ ' fallen fruit . ' ) et
The lecturer then concluded with an appeal to his Brethren for the cultivation of Freemasonry , as a science of symbolism—an appeal which electrified his audience , and elicited the most vociferous applause . "