C AN EXPOSITION OF THE MYSTERIES, OR RELIGIOUS DOGMAS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, PYTHAGOREANS, AND DRUIDS. ALSO AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PURPORT OF FREEMASONRY. BY JOHN FELLOWS, A. M. L'Unity de Dieu etait le grand Dogme de tous les Mysteres. NEW-YORK: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY GOULD, BANKS AND CO. 1835. UNIVERSITY ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by JOHN FELLOWS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. EXPLANATION OF THE FRONTISPIECE. The two Pillars represent two imaginary columns, supposed to be placed at the equinoxes, to support the heavens. The one on the left is called Boaz, and indicates Osiris, or the Sun: the one on the right is called Jachin, and designates Isis, the symbol, both of the earth and its productions, and of the Moon. The Arch, supported by the two pillars, is a representation of the semicircle made by the apparent course of the sun in the upper hemisphere, from Aries to Libra incluBive; from whence originates the name of the royal arch degree of masonry. The Seven Stars, are the Pleiades, "a small platoon of stars, says Pluche, very remarkable, most known, and easiest to be distinguished, of all the constellations. They were particularly useful to regulate the informations given to the disciples of the priests, by means of an atlas." "They were, says Bailey, very famous among men, because they intimate the season of the year." The Blazing Star is Anubis, the Dog-star; whose rising forewarned the Egyptians of the approach of the overflowing of the Nile. Hence the great veneration in which it was held by them, and which has descended to the Freemasons. The G indicates Geometry, the knowledge of which was of vast importance to the Egyptians in measuring their lands,—the boundaries of individual property being removed by the inundation of the Nile. This science, consequently, was considered by them divine; and acquired a sort of mystical union with the Deity. The G, however, was not intended as the initial of the word God, that term being unknown to the Egyptians. The Square and Compass, as instruments in the science of geometry, became an emblem of justice; because through their means, every one had his "old land-marks" restored to him. The Cornucopia, or Born of Abundance, was a symbol used by the Egyptians to denote the sun's being in the sign Capricorn, when the harvest was gathered, and consequently an abundance of provisions laid up in store. The Armorial Bearings are those of royal arch masonry; for an explanation of which, see Cherubim, page 243. The Checkered Flooring, called mosaic or musaic work, represents the variegated face of the earth in the places where the ancients used formerly to hold their religious assemblies. This imitation was made when temple-worship was introduced, to reconcile the people to the change. For the origin of the term mosaic, or mosaic work, see page 288. The Cenotaph, or Mock-Coffin, used in the anniversaries, is typical of the death of the sun in the inferior hemisphere, under the name of Osiris; who is personated by the Hiram of masonry. The Mysterious Trunk, on tho left of the coffin, is a copy of those used by the ancients for a deposition of memorials of past events; and the box, on the right, is the form of those used by Freemasons for a similar purpose. Among the emblems of masonry, in Cross's Chart, is the figure of a Key, which is also generally displayed in masonic Monitors. The key was the attribute of Anubis, the Dog-star, in aftertimes denominated Mercury, and indicated the closing of one year, and opening of another; because the Egyptians formerly commenced the year at the rising of this star. Its employment was afterwards extended to the opening and shutting the place of departed spirits. Tho Popes of Rome, consequently, now claim it as their appropriate badge of office. The meaning of this symbol not having boon preserved in the lodge, is there assigned to its Treasurer. |