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idolatry were also governed by a Triad, consisting of three supreme officers: if primitive Masonry was a system of Light, the initiated heathen equally paid divine honours to the Sun, as the source of light, by circumambulating in the course of that luminary, during the ceremony of initiation. The uniformity of practice which attended the progress of error in different nations is truly astonishing, They equally used the Ambrosia Petræ as vehicles of regeneration; they shrouded their rites under the impenetrable mask of secrecy; they possessed the same mode of conveying instruction by symbols, allegory, and fable; the same repugnance to committing their abstruse secrets to writing; the same system of morality; the same attachment to amulets, talismans, and perhaps magic; and equally inculcated the immortality of the soul, and a future state of rewards and punishments, which were alike pantomimically exhibited during the initiations.*

The departure from Free Masonry was indeed, at its original corruption but slightly marked. The object was changed by the substitution of surreptitious deities, but the ceremonial remained nearly the same. It was only by successive, and in some instances, very remote innovations, that the system

*Borl. Cornw. p. 174. Fab. Cab. c. 10.-Warb. Div. Leg. b. ii. s. 4.— Apul. Metam. 2.-Dav. Celt. Res. p. 289.-Cesar. de bel. Gal. 1. 6. 13.— Porph. de Abstin. 1. 4. s. 22.--Kæmpf. Japan. b. iii. c. 4.-Sacontala, Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi.-Dav. Druids, p. 277.-Warb. Div. Leg. b. iv. s. 4.—Brand's Pop. Ant. vol. ii. p. 376.—Orig. con. Cels. l. 3.

at length assumed a different character; and even at its last and most corrupted change, many striking points of resemblance may be traced, which unequivocally denote a common origination. Hence, however the mysteries of different nations might vary in ceremonial observances, they contain certain arbitrary landmarks, which are unquestionable evidences that they were derived from some true and primitive system; for they were nothing but Masonry or Lux, gradually preverted to the corrupt purposes of a false and spurious worship.

The system of hieroglyphics or symbols, which is proposed for illustration in these Lectures, was adopted into every mysterious institution, for the purpose of concealing the most sublime secrets of religion from the prying curiosity of the vulgar; to whom nothing was exposed but the beauties of their morality.* "The old Asiatic style so highly figurative, seems, by what we find of its remains in the prophetic language of the sacred writers, to have been evidently fashioned to the mode of the ancient hieroglyphics; for as in hieroglyphic writing, the sun, moon, and stars were used to represent states and empires, kings, queens, and nobility: their eclipse and extinction, temporary disasters, or entire overthrow; fire and flood, desolation by war and famine; plants or animals, the qualities of particular persons, &c. So, in like manner, the holy prophets call kings and empires,

* Ramsay's Travels of Cyrus, b. iii.

by the names of the heavenly luminaries; their misfortunes and overthrow are represented by eclipses and extinction; stars falling from the firmament are employed to denote the destruction of the nobility; thunder and tempestuous winds, hostile invasions;-lions, bears, leopards, goats, or high trees, leaders of armies, conquerors, and founders of empires: royal dignity is described by purple or a crown; iniquity by spotted garments; error and misery by an intoxicating draught; a warrior by a sword or bow; a powerful man by a gigantic stature; and a judge by balance, weights, and measures. In a word, the prophetic style seems to be a speaking hieroglyphic."*

The whole mystical system of Pythagoras was expressed by signs and symbols, which the initiated understood, while the rest of the world, though in the midst of light, remained for ever enveloped in the impenetrable shades of darkness.† His secrets were forbidden to be committed to writing, and were delivered orally from one to another as ineffable mysteries. The Pythagoreans so famous for their silence, conversed with each other chiefly by signs; a practice which was adopted, not only as an universal language, but to conceal from the vulgar their peculiar doctrines and modes of thinking. Symbolical instruction, which was found só useful in impressing on the mind the most dilated and comprehensive truths, that it had been adopted Warb. Div. Leg. b. iv. s. 4.

+ Jambi. c. 34.

from Masonry into all the mysteries, was in high esteem with Pythagoras; for he said, in treating of all things divine and human, the vastness of such a complicated subject demanded short symbols to help and assist the memory.* This system was attended with other very important advantages. The method of communicating ideas by signs and symbols, has in all ages given its possessors a decided advantage over the rest of the world; for "as Generals use watchwords to distinguish their Soldiers from others, so it is very advantageous to communicate to friends and brothers, some peculiar signs and symbols as distinctive marks of a society. These amongst the Pythagoreans were a chain of indissoluble love."†

The Druids also possessed a profound system of hieroglyphics, the principles of which were communicated with great reluctance, even to the Epopto themselves. The characters of this species of symbol were borrowed from the appearance of natural objects, and chiefly from the vegetable creation. "Thus, of a man who possessed an expanded mind, it would be said, he is an Oak; of another who was liable to be intimidated, was irresolute and wavering, he is an Aspen leaf; or of a third who was hollow and deceitful, he is a Reed." The knowledge of these symbols was properly denominated mystery; and the initiated were strictly forbad to

Laert. vit. Pyth.

+ Stanley's Life of Pyth. b. iv. c. 1. Davies Celt. Res. p. 247.

commit any portion of it to writing.* This method of concentrating the secrets of their order, and fixing them permanently in the recollection by means of visible images, was adopted to prevent the uninitiated from acquiring improperly any insight into their occult rites and disquisitions. Whatever was valuable in the system of Druidism was embodied in some visible and picturesque object, which thus became a depository of important truths. Hence, almost every object they saw could read them a Lecture on morality; and hence inanimate matter was said to speak with the lips of knowledge; and contemplation was assisted and enforced in every situation, by the actual presence of those silent, yet eloquent teachers of wisdom.

Geometrical figures, as lines, angles, squares, and perpendiculars, were ranked amongst the symbols of Druidism. "As the Druids had no enclosed temples, thinking them inconsistent with the majesty of the gods, so neither had they any carved images to represent them, and for the same reason; but instead thereof, rude stones were erected in their places of worship at some mystic, significant distance, and in some emblematic number, situation, and plan; sometimes in right lines, sometimes in squares, sometimes in triangles, sometimes in both; now single and fifty paces distant or more from the circles; or eminently taller than the rest in the circular line, and making a part of it like portals, not

Cesar de bel. Gal. 1. 6. 13.

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