They had very

common pursuit of searching after truth. indistinct notions of the true God, though his name was not unknown to them; and entertaining gross and sensual ideas of his nature, it is no wonder that Vice became deified, and that the commission of every unnatural lust, was not only permitted, but even made a test of reverence to the deity. Mercy was by one converted into vice;† by another, adultery was sanctified; and fornications and suicide were the common practice of all. Thus the purity of Masonry fled from these institutions as they retrograded from the true worship of God; and this purity it was they in vain endeavoured to recover. They practised vice; but then they thought that vice was virtue; they practised the worship of false gods or dæmons; but they verily thought, until the later ages, when a few sects dissented from the belief, that they were performing a service acceptable to God, by practising the rites of true religion through the intervention of mediators. And hence it is easy to demonstrate, not only that Masonry, as practised by Jews and Christians; but also, that every resemblance of it in all parts of the world, was professedly, if not practically devoted to the perfecting of man's mental powers, and to bear him through a life of virtue here, to the full enjoyment of it in a future state.

Under what denomination soever our Science has been known in the world; under what form soever it may have been practised from the fall of man to the present time; it

Lucian de Dea Syr.

Laert. in vit. Zen.

+ Herod.

Laert. de Demet.

Laert. de Arist,

has always been understood to have a distinct reference to the worship of God, and the moral culture of man. Whether it were received under the appellation of Phos, Lux, Synagoge, Mystery, Philosophy, Mesouraneo, or Masonry; whether practised by the antediluvians, the patriarchs, the idolaters, the jews, the essenes, or the christians; in all ages and amongst all people it possessed the same reference to the prominent truths of religion. The idolatrous mysteries, which were the most perfect imitation of Masonry that could be practised by those who had renounced its distinguishing principles along with the true worship of God, were founded to preserve amongst mankind the nominal practice of religion, although the incense might be offered to dæmons on an idolatrous altar; and they were usually celebrated in conjunction with the rites of divine worship. Thus were they generally applied to the purpose of perpetuating a knowledge of the divinity, and the doctrine af a future state of rewards and punishments; as well as to fix in the minds of the uninitiated vulgar, a deep and solemn reverence for the duties of religion. It is scarcely necessary. to enlarge on this point, because the fact is universally notorious; nor shall I discuss the unessential difference in each of these Mysteries, as that would involve many useless repetitions, for their nature and object were universally the same. The characteristic propensities of a people, the stateof their progress from barbarism to civilization; their intellectual attainments, the character of their government, or

Strab. Geogr. 1. i.

their intercourse with other nations, might and did create some distinction in the ceremonial, but the great essentials, broadly struck out by the Cabiric priests, did never vary. The same primary doctrines remained in the reign of Theodosius which were inculcated by the founders, though the ceremonial had become polluted with every species of abomination and uncleanness. If Masonry, or its idolatrous substitute, be considered under the worst and most forbidding forms, it invariably preserved the moral dogmas and institutes of each national religion. It is true that false religion produced false Masonry; and the latter, faithful to the principles by which it was supported, proceeded no farther than an idolatrous worship would sanction. In a word, the Mysteries were the only vehicles of religion throughout the whole idolatrous world; and it is probable that the very name of religion might have been obliterated from amongst them, but for the support it received by the periodical celebrations, which preserved all the forms and ceremonies, rites and practices of divine worship; and the varieties of custom in this particular, constituted the sole difference betwixt the Masonry (shall I so call it?) of different nations. Wheresoever the Mysteries were introduced, they retained their primitive form, adapted to the customs and usages of the national religion; and if varied in some unimportant points, it was to commemorate certain extraordinary performances of the tutelary deities, or to perpetuate some remarkable circumstance attending their first institution in a particular country. Hence the same, or similar ceremonies, which were applied to Osiris and Isis in Egypt, the

great source of secret and mysterious rites,* were celebrated in Greece, in honour of Bacchus and Rhea; at Eleusis, they were applied to Ceres and Proserpine; in Tyre and Cyprus, to Adonis and Venus; in Persia, to Mithras and Mithra; in India, to Maha Deva and Sita; in Britain, to Hu and Ceridwen; in Scandinavia, to Odin and Frea; and in Mexico, to Tlaloc and the Great Mother; for these appear to be but different names for the same deities, and most probably referred to Noah and the Ark. They were all originally the same System, founded on primitive Masonry; but being deteriorated by false worship, bore a very imperfect resemblance to the divine pattern. They all however preserved a disguised tradition of the creation and fall of man, and the universal deluge; they used as most significant emblems, the Theological Ladder; the triple support of the universal Lodge, called by Masons, Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty; the Point within a Circle, and many other legitimate emblems of Masonry; they used the same form of Government; the same system of secrecy, allegory, and symbolical Instruction; all tending to the same point, the practice of moral virtue. None were admitted without previous probation and initiation; the candidates were bound by solemn oaths; united by invisible ties; taught by Symbols; distinguished by Signs and Tokens; and, impelled by a conscientious adherence to the rules of the order, they professed to practice the most rigid. morality; justice towards men, and piety to the gods.†

Lucian de Dea Syr.

During the course of reading, necessary for the composition of

In treating on all the points connected with these Symbols, I trust it will be acknowledged that the Pledge contained in my Prospectus has been fully redeemed; that the Lectures

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profess not to rend the veil which conceals a single forbidden secret; they profess not to expose to the public gaze a single word, letter, or character, which may tend to excite sensations of alarm in the bosom of the most rigid and tenacious Mason; but undertake modestly to illustrate such points and symbols as may show the beauty of the System, and convince mankind at large that Masonry is really what it professes to be, an Order of Peace, Harmony, and Brotherly Love."

I have been scrupulously careful about the admission of a single sentence from the peculiar Lectures of Masonry which has not already appeared in a printed form in one or other of our legitimate publications. It is true, the following pages contain much genuine Masonry; but it is not marked by the use of a distinguishing type, and is distributed with so much. precaution as to render fruitless the attempt of an uninitiated person to determine where it is concealed; while to the

these Lectures, I have collected, from authentic sources, a tolerably correct account of the various modes of initiation used in the celebrations of the whole idolatrous world. Many of the ceremonies are equally curious and significant, and point to a source of more exalted purity than the professors of a false religion could lay claim to. At some future period it is probable that I may have leisure to arrange my materials and lay them before the public; and I have no doubt but they will prove highly interesting both to the uninitiated Scholar, and to the Free and Accepted Mason.