F

REESE LIBRARY
OF THK

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
**
Class No.

.
*
 IRCANA IAITICA
r-',-r-> , ^V

(T
BRIEFLY DISCUSSED

.fr

THREE ESSAYS
1
ON TJ-IH

MASONIC TRACING BOARDS.

I
1

WH*
JRft
r-J
^-

w AMOY:
??
PRINTED BY A. A. MARCAL,

1879.
 IN AMOREM

FRATRIS CARISSIMI

E.

TSTontrum illuminatt quambis ptope lurem

 -A'
x
ARCANA SAITICA
-t <-,-*!
v

BRIEFLY DISCUSSED

THREE ESSAYS
ON THE

MASONIC TRACING BOARDS,

AMOY:
PRINTED BY A. A. MARCAL,

1879.

UNIVERSITY ))
([
REESE
 R E F A
1 1 r\ C
L-t\J E
1 i_j

defence of the following short essays I will only

IN say that my attention being drawn to the explana-
tions given in the established lectures on Masonic trac-
ing boards I set myself to investigate their accuracy,
with what result I shall presently show.
I do not claim any originality for what I have
written: it is simply the result of a considerable amount
of, unhappily, somewhat desultory reading; and those
who have happened to study the works of Dulaure,
Dupuis, Sainte Croix, Knight, Faber, Higgins, Inman,
Cory and many others treating on kindred subjects
will l>e at no loss to discover whence I have drawn my
information.
a large number of Masons the eso-
1 believe that to
tericmeaning of the symbols and ceremonies in constant
use and practice amongst us is either unknown or dis-
regarded; but it surely cannot be uninteresting, even as
a matter of history, to know whence they were derived,
and to see how, even in our ancient and honourable
Society, the jewel truth has become encrusted until to
outward view it is like the pebble ignorance.
Finally, I would urge that the mission of Masonry
is not yet ended; its practical services in
preserving
knowledge in
days when the possession of such know-
ledge was too often the passport to a shameful death
deserve to be ever kept in remembrance, and even now
it may be that in a Lodge close tiled we can
impart to
each other matters of deep interest which vet it mav */ /

not be well to publish for the indiscriminate use of the

outer world.
The mission of masonry is search after Light in-
effable after perfect Truth.

111956
 Wlint snith
As below, so above timl ns above, ixjli-w.

S:iitli ricus of Mirandula,

Who ki o\vs himself knows all things in himself.

Saith Abipili,
I admonish thoe. whosoever thou art that desirest to dive into the inmost

])jirt of nature: if that thou scekest thou fiiulcst not within thee thou wilt
never find it without thee.

Saitb Pletho,
Invoke not the self conspicuous image of nature.

Saith Synesius,
To these he gave the ability of receiving the knowledge of light;
Those that were asleep he made fruitful from his own strength.

[
Time was; Time is; Time will be.

There was no beginning, there will be no end

Force; all pervading.

A. U. M.

Motion perpetual and rhythmical, the time alone varying.

Matter eternal, in forms infinite.

After excitement, birth: then repose, after calm, refruetification.

Death, concentration; Life, expansion.

Yet Death the beginning of Life and Life the forerunner of Death.

The circles infinite, boundless, from the centre-force so to infinity.

The centre omnipresent, the circumference non-existent.

Curve and recurve from the moneron up to the essence.

World without end.
 UNIX

THE FIRST DEGREE.

usual lecture on the first Tracing- Board is so

well known that I need only refer to it by name,
and I do not now propose to enlarge upon the moral
maxims beautiful as they are which are commonly de-
duced from the symbols we know so well; they are too
trite, too well worn to need further re-iteration. The
explanations usually given moreover, are those which
lie immediately on the surface of
freemasonry; and did
freemasonry go no farther, were there no more interest-
ing secrets hidden in its depths; it would indeed be a
most paltry study; a valuable charitable organization,
vast in extent, far reaching in its aims and power, but
most empty and unsatisfying to those who have joined
our body in the hope of extending their knowledge.
It is usually stated in the above named lecture,
that Freemasonry is a beautiful system of
morality,
veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. This is
partly true; nor is the veil to be lifted or the symbols
understood without some trouble, it is however some-
thing more than this for those who have the patience
to study and the wit to comprehend the
mysteries
which lie hid in symbols, words and ceremonies often
apparently meaningless or trivial. To those for whom
it is
merely a system of morality we can leave the
Masonry of aprons and badges, the dull changeless
ritual connected with the worship of an
Anthropomor-
phic Deity and the fanciful titles of a tinsel rank
they can never understand the nature of the mystic
tie which binds those even, who have but
just passed the
threshold of the real temple, with the dwellers in the
,adytum, infinite as is the distance between the initiate
and the adept.
 <i
t ]

First as to the antiquity of Masonry. While there

is no reasonable doubt that secret societies for the pre-
servation and extension of knowledge have existed
from prehistoric times, and that much of the sym-
bolism in our Lodges is derived from Egyptian, Chal-
daic and Babylonian sources, it is at the same time
beyond question that many of the statements in our
ritual have little further warranty than the
opinions of
those who drew it up about 160 years ago when in A, D.
1717 the descendants of the Building fraternities laid
aside their purely operative character and Freemasonry
assumed somewnat of present form.
its

I need not
pause to consider how much weight
should be allowed to the theological opinions of brothers
who could believe that at the command of a certain
mythical Joshua the earth's movements were stopped
in order to further the
marauding of an obscure tribe
of Asiatics, but will only premise that in
speaking of
the origin of Freemasonry 1 refer to the times and
opinions whence our oldest ceremonies are derived.
For the origin of Freemasonry regarded in this
light, we must go back to that dim twilight of the ages
of which no written record now remains; it existed
aeons before the word from which some derive its name
(the ^Hebrew Hassan or Massang, a stone quarry)
was formed, and was but a branch of the knowledge,
which was then so jealously guarded by its possessors.
At a very early period the necessity of imparting
knowledge to those alone who could fitly use it, in fact
of not trusting a child with edged tools, was recognized
"
by the master minds among men non cuivis homini
contingit adire Corinthum;" and to go no farther
back than some 4000 years, from which date at any
rate certain of our ceremonies have existed (the forms
of course being modified by time), we may readily

* '
Maia sons
'

Higgins suggests. among other fanciful deriva-

tions Mackenzie the medijeval latin Ma Conner, to build; or perhaps
the old gernian Metzen, to cut (H. M. Cyclopaedia.)
 <
[ ]

conceive that the munher of men who were then cap-

ahle of understanding the hidden mysteries of nature
was small indeed. Law could hardly he said to exist,
or at best it was the law of the strongest, and each
secret therefore which patient toil and clumsy appli-
ances had wrested from the bosom of nature, was, for
the benefit of the finder and his associates, disguised in
symbols and its application veiled in allegory. As a
result of this habit many valuable discoveries were
lostand we are even now in these later days redisco-
vering much which ages ago formed part of the lore of
the Chaldees.
It is unnecessary to, discuss the fable that the
world was created from nothing in seven days ending
on a Friday evening 4000 years B. C. This figment
has served to satisfy the curiosity of the ignorant and
vulgar for a considerable time, but in a Lodge just
pei feet and regular we need not so degrade The Gic.it
Architect of the Universe as to fashion him after our
puny likenesses.
The theory of the constitution of this planet and
its place in the solar system, was doubtless to some-
extent recognized from very early times it was believed,
;

at the earliest date from which we can take a departure,

that this system is but a part of others too vast for our
ken and that all go through the same endless round,
travelled alike by the earth and by the bodies we now
inhabit, of expansion, contraction, and re-expansion,
all in strictobedience to fixed natural law.
Naturally however, the demonstration of this
theory could then be comprehended by but few, and
in these later days Avhen thought and enquiry are com-

paratively free, I shall be pardoned, I hope for the ti ite

remark, that the Elohistic and Jehovistic accounts of
Genesis to be found in the Hebrew Writings we call the
Volume of Sacred Law are simply broad allegoric; 1
statements, of doubtful authorship, poetical, and like
all good poetry containing perhaps an element < f
truth in the kernel, if we have onlv wil to crack the nut.
 It may also not be out of place here to state
" "
briefly what meaning' the word God
is intended to

convey in the following pages.

Pari passu with the evolution of the human race
there has apparently been developed an anthropomor-
phic tendency which has led to the conception of a
man-like being of illimitable powers to whose agency
is to be ascribed the existence of every thing. The
names given to this being are too numerous for
recapitulation here, they refer to every known vice
or virtue in its highest form of development.
Mason ically speaking however the only profession
of belief required at the hands of a Mason is one in the
omnipresent existence of a Force which we agree to
designate God; whose infinite attributes we reverently
investigate, seeking always to improve those faculties
which alone enable us to make any progress however
slow, and however infinitesmal, in comparison with the
vastness of the subject, towards the Light.
At the door of the Lodge the Mason leaves all

religious questions, but Masonry precludes no man

from following the faith of his fathers, if it so seems
good to him, or the convictions of his heart, his consci-
ence or his reason.
In the terms I used just now, to wit Elohistic and
Jehovistic as distinguishing two different theories of
evolution, lies concealed an important fact. They are
in truth two theories, one propounded by a writer who
symbolized the creative force of nature under the
name "El," the other by a follower of "Jah":
Whether of these twain is the more ancient is by no
means certain, and at any rate we need not enter into
the question in this place.
"
Elohim " is a modern Hebrew corruption of
" Aleim " the kC
Al " or " El " which in
plural of
Chaldee is the sun, the creator, masculine it is made
feminine in the plural and under this Symbol the femi-
nine element, the preserver, was joined to it and the
God became androgynous.
 !'
[ J

Jehovah so pronounced according to tlie Maso-

ivtic punctuation, or more correctly Jahveh was an-
ciently written Jod-he-vau-he or leue, is identical with
"
*

love of the Latins and Etruscans it is

light sym-
bolized by the letters Joel and xlleph, it is
Alpha "and
Omega, Jah it refers to the male power exclusively.
The two
cults are frequently confounded one with
another the Hebrew traditions, but it may be broad-
in
ly stated that the worship of Jahveh refers to a belief
in one dominant force and that of Elohim to the deifi-
cation of the separate manifestations of that force.

is not much to be said for the

There morality of
either, but at any rate while the latter degenerated
into nature worship, devil worship and the lowest of
superstitions, the former by virtue of its monotheistic
basis had within it a germ of truth and with it we are
principally concerned.
From the earliest days, so soon as man had evolved
the power of grouping facts and drawing inferences
from them, it may be supposed that he experienced a
natural craving to find some explanation of the system
he saw in universal operation around him. Ceaselessly
he saw the sun apparently rise and set, the moon wax and
wane, the stars in their courses all obedient to some un-
changing law, the seasons in endless succession produc-
ing, ripening, dying and reproducing and he found him-
self, inobedience to natural instincts, the active agent in
reproducing his own species. He must have quickly
noticed the close analogy existing between all forms
of life from the lowest to the highest, so far as he was
capable of observing them, and with dimly awakened
mind he ascribed it all to the operation of some mys-
terious being, invisible, infinitely powerful, eternal.
Unable as yet to conceive all attributes united in one
force he symbolized each manifestation under appro-
priate forms. But, while he, the initiated, and his fellows
with intellects sharpened by use never committed the
 [10]
mistake of confounding the creature with the creator,
itwas not so with the outside world; tkey came to adore
the symbol instead of the force symbolized, and quickly
perceiving the power which knowledge gave and at the
same time how dangerous a weapon it was to intrust
to the brute force of the masses, the wise men, Magi,
sons of Maia, Masons, kept their lore a profound secret
from all but the initiated.

To keep their discoveries ever freshlv in their

minds they instituted mysteries or secret festivals with
many precautions against the intrusion of the profane;
from these, were in time developed the Eleusinian and
other mysteries, of which more anon, and of these
mysteries masonry formed a branch, but be it remem-
beredj there were chapters within chapters; not even
to every high priest of Isis was all the lore so patiently
accumulated, so hardly won, revealed. Seed so pre-
cious was not to be sown in unkindly soil and many
failed, many fainted by the way, more had not the
requisite powers of mind to attain to eminence.

Naturally the first object which would strike the

mind of primeval man with wonder, was the sun;
impersonated as a male it was considered a God whose
principal attribute was that of kindling life; it was the
sun who engendered the blade of corn within the body
of the Earth; tie was the life giver, he it was who
planted the point or speck or seed of life within the
circle or womb of the universe, that centre which is
every where, that circumference which is nowhere.
With the sun's name were compounded adjectives sig-
nifying strength warmth, fruitful ness, brightness. He
was Phra-on, Bra, Pra. the chief Pharaoh. He is
the most striking and important object depicted on
this tracing board. The analogy between him and
man's own power of reproducing his species soon
became apparent and he was worshipped under the
symbol of the phallus or linga; in this form he was
c ilhd by SOUK- Priaptis /. t*. Phra-ab. pra-ab. pra-apis. ah
meaning the father, hence in its full meaning "the. Sun
the father." How this worship was developed, fell
into extremes of coarseness, and finallywas stripped of
that coarseness and clothed in symbols till the real
meaning is difficult to find, we shall see
later; for the
resent I would only name that the rude stone column
])
or pillar which was an emblem of the sun, by
degrees
became symbolically ornamented until we have three
orders of architecture you see on the board before you.

I may here name that the words

pillar, pole, and
their congeners are derived from the Sanscrit phal ' '

to burst, to produce, to be fruitful, also a ploughshare,

hence Phallus means he breaks through or passes into,
and worship of the God under this form is usually
known Worship; it is common to all coun-
as Phallic
tries, nilages and exists still among our neighbours
the Japanese and Hindus in nearly its pristine forms.
Kvery temple was originally a microcosm of the uni-
verse as then understood, in imitation of which they
were surrounded with pillars recording astronomical
observations. The most usual number was 40, as at
Stonehenge and Abury, two of which as in those
Druidic circles were distinguished from the others,
standing at the porch, as emblems of the male and
female principles; they were in fact Jachin and Bonz;
the real meaning of the former is Jah strengthens, Jah
is hot with desire, and Boaz has the same
phallic
meaning referring to the other sex; the signification
of pillars however and the astronomical
knowledge
they preserved belong more fitly to another place.
To
the point within the circle I have already
alluded, was doubtless meant to symbolize the act
it
of generation the union of the phallus and the Yoni
and the mosaic pavement next calls for notice.
This was framed with no idle idea of beantv.
further than that all knowledge is in a sense beautiful.
 [ 12 ]

but was probably connected with some practical use in

the art of counting. I need scarcely say that when
our mysteries were first celebrated, the Arabic nume-
rals were unknown and the Chaldee must have
required some such contrivance as the Chinese swan-
pan to make them available for purposes of calculation,
adde\l to which the arts of writing- and arithmetic
were originally one, and one of the most valuable of
the secrets of the initiated. To give an instance
of the attainments of the ancient mathematicians I
would name that 350 years B. C. the philosopher
Callisthenes, grandson of Aristotle, who accompanied
Alexander on his Asiatic expedition obtained in Bab} Ion
a series of astronomical observations ranging back
through 1903 years, and Professor Draper states that
the Babylonian estimate of the value of the cycle of the
Saros (more than 6585 days, was within nineteen and
a half minutes of the truth.

The mosaic pavement was probably an enormous

" "
abacus or counting board the squares or chequers
of which were utilized in calculation: the word che-
" "
quers still survives in our Court of the Exchequer
the floor of which was originally in chequers also. The
history of the shape of the Lodge and of the blazing
star in the centre of the board belong more properly
to the consideration of the lecture in the next degree,
(though as regards the former I find I must here
make some brief mention) so that there remains now
but one important feature to notice namely the 72
triangles with their points outward or downward which
surround the board, known as the indented or tesselated
border.

The number 72 is a survival of an ancient myth.

The Sun-god was thought to have divided the year
into 12 months, with 12 signs, into each of which lie

passed successively; the whole year was divided into

two hemispheres of six months each, light and dark-
 [13]

ness; expansion, contraction; life, death; (luring one

of which the Genius of good or light prevailed, and
during the other, the power of darkness or evil. Each
month was divided into 1:2 parts, assigned to the
attendants of the disciple, or vice-god who ruled the
month and these multiplied by six for the hemisphere
gave 72, a mystic number, which will further be
explained hereafter; it referred to the discovery of the
precession of the equinoxes about which I hope to
speak when considering the lecture in the third degree.
The triangular form has been chosen by all an-
cient nations as a symbol of deity the equilateral
triangle being regarded as the most perfect of figures
from the consideration that it could not be resolved
any farther it had also a special signification with
which we are more immediately concerned viz:
The letter Delta, a triangle standing on its base
was used by the Greeks, who brought the idea from
the East, to express the muliebre.
pudendum Daleth
in Hebrew and Delta in
signify Greek
the door of a
house, also the outlet of a river, while the figure re-
versed, i. e. standing on its apex, was held to represent
the overshadowing fringe and was an emblem of
secrecv.*

I have to refer briefly to the shape of the

still

Lodge which stated in the usual Lecture to be of

is
an oblong square: in the length from East to West,
in breadth between North and South, in depth from
the surface of the earth to the centre and even as hiirh

* On the front of the temple of Isis at Sais was the following

description of her, in the form of ;i V apex dowmvanls in Seven lines:
1 Isis am all that has
l>een that is or shall
be; no mortal man
hath ever
me unvei
le
(1
 [I1J
as the heavens. Why the Brother or brethren who
are responsible for our ritual should have considered
these dimensions t:> form an oblong square 1 cannot
imagine but at any rate the meaningfgiven has nothing
whatever to do with the matter.

The Lodge is no doubt the Aik or sacred Argha

of the Hindus this was an oblong vessel of a sug-

gestively sexual character mod bv the High priests as

a sacrificial chalice, in the worship of Isis, Astarte and
similar deities. According to some of the most ancient
theories the world was supposed to be dest roved and
renewed at the end of certain periods and this process
was supposed to be of immense, perhaps eternal dura-
tion. At the moment of destruction Brahme Maia
w as believed to be in a state of inaction or repose, and
r

the male and female generative powers of nature were

said to float or brood, in conjunction, on the surface of
the viscous matter which was held to be the matrix
of all things. This operation of the two powers is
described by the Linga or Phallus in the shape of a
mast fixed in the Yoni in the shape of a boat, navis,
nave, Argha or Ark, floating in space.

Emblems in this form are countless and it

may
be that the position of the Senior Warden's column
during the time that the Lodge is at work is among
the number.

So in the centre of the Lodge, which is the Argha,

the ark, the nave or ship as it would more correctly be
painted, is the Sun, the Linga, giver of life; round the
Lodge are the yonis the preservers of life, in their
second capacity as guardians of his secrets, and how
that life is best employed, how to get the utmost benefit
from that priceless outcome of ages of evolution, it is
to be hoped we may learn from the lore which has been
handed down to us bv our brethren in Freemasonry
who have gone before.
 [-15]

In conclusion let me recapitulate the points wherein

I conceive that the lecture as usual! v delivered is wrong:
l.v/.
Temples were originally iu all probability
round, or huilt in some shape more or less circular for
purposes of recording astrouomicaj -discoveries.
2;/</. The
three reasons given why the Lodge
stands on holv ground are inaccurate as they are
drawn from the mythical history of a tribe of Asiatics
/

of comparatively small real importance (though puffed

up by bigoted priests and pseudo historians to an
enormous apparent size) and the history of our
symbols long antedates the appearance of this tribe on
the world's stage.

The esoteric signification of the Pillars

?>r(f. is

phallic or referring to the mystery of reproduction.

4f/t. Hebrew scriptures should not be
The
arrogantly called 77/r Volume of the Sacred law inas-
much as. for a Pafsee, the Zend Avesta and for a
Buddhist, the are equally volumes of
Dhammapada,
the sacred law the obligations on each are equally
binding, and both these two latter are well known by
competent scholars to have been codiiied prior to the
former.

5///. The tesselated border refers to an astrono-

mical calcu'ation.

6///. The point within the circle had originally a

more or less phallic signification.

1th. While always preserve the real

e -ireful to
ancient landmarks of our order believe we should
1

strive after further enlightenment rather than doggedly

adhere to a ritual which tends t:> retain us in the
pi'isun of Ignoianer.
 THE SECOND DEGREE.

this degree as in others, the origin of certain

I'X symbols and ceremonies is customarily assigned
to events as recorded in the Hebrew writings styled

collectively The Bible and it will be well therefore

here to state as concisely as possible what amount of
credence is to be attached to these records viewed by
the light of recent research. I may sum it up by

saying, historically speaking, very little; scientifically,

physically and morally, less; and as supernatural or
divinely revealed, none at all according to the con-
clusions arrived at by Professor Duncker, Dr. Inman
and many other eminent writers.
The Jews can hardly be described as anything
but a number of scattered bands of Asiatic thieves until
the time when David consolidated them into a nation,
and even then and at the highest point of their pros-
perity as a nation, they were but a small tribe having
little influence on the then known world.

The grandeur and magnificence were

tales of their
mostly fictionsinvented in true oriental fashion, to
flatter the pride and vanity of a weak people.

After their consolidation under David, the Jewish

nation, which by the way was largely composed of
foreign mercenaries, had all the brutal propensities of
a band of bravos; they were proud, sensual, ignorant,
superstitious and cruel. The prowess of David and of
one special band of cutthroats which he kept as a
body guard (The Gibborim) was magnified by their
successors who prided themselves upon a descent from
these worthies and despised all others.
 [IS]
So far as Moses and Joshua are concerned, there
is good reason to believe that they are both mythical
personages, and possibly both symbolical of the sun.
The story of Abraham. Isaac, Jacob and Moses
and the first seven books of the Old Testament were
fabricated shortly after the Grecian captivity or say
about B. C. 800 to 700 at about which period the pro-
phecies of Joel, Amos, Obacliah and Micah were first
written down, together with all the tales about Egypt
&c. and the extant traditions of David and his suc-
cessors.

Much of the Pentateuch including the giving of

the Law was framed about Josiah's time, but all
early manuscripts (if any existed) were lost during the
Babylonish captivity and when eventually committed
to writing as spoken of above, the record so made
was never public property but was altered from time
to time to suit the priestly intrigue of the day.

The Old Testament as we have it, amalgamates

Grecian, Phoenician, Babylonian, and Persian mythology
and rites of worship into a heterogeneous mass which
forms the Hebrew religion and it is to be noted that
there is an almost total absence of Egyptian elements
in Jewish books and nomenclature such as could

hardly fail to exist had the tribe ever really been in

Egypt; the whole story of the journey thither and
exodus was probably a fiction of the Ephrainitic
writer who compiled the account.

The origin ascribed to certain signs in this degree

istherefore clearly erroneous and they are more pro-
bably in part derivable from the Egyptian attitude of
adoration if indeed they have any very ancient origin
at all.

The object to which our attention is according to

ancient custom specially directed in this degree is a
certain letter and in the established lecture commonlv
 [19]
delivered on the Tracing board of this degree you are
told that this represents the great Architect of the
Universe.

In the various sections into which the usual Lecture

isdivided we are told that we are expected to make
the liberal arts and sciences more expecially geometry,
our study; various explanations of the constitution
of the earth, &c. are also usually given, which we
need no longer notice any more than it is in these days
necessary to enter into an elaborate disproof that the
sun moves round the earth. They sufficed for a time
when men were content to accept the theories of
ancient writers, even more ignorant than they, as
divinely inspired and therefore of necessity true; and
unhappily our uninitiated forefathers neglected the
Masonic axiom which should be Truth at any cost and
made their factsand explanations to accord with their
theories. But indeed as has been said by a learned bro-
ther of our craft, all these apparent absurdities had an
allegorical meaning; they do not. prove as some persons
have imagined, the falsity of our religion; they only
prove that the esoteric religion has not been thrown
open to the vulgar. The esoteric religion was a masonic
mystery and all that will, may learn.
As regards the aforesaid letter however, In ancient
Lodges this was more probably written Hebrew
in the
form Jeue, Jod-he-vau-he or in Chaldee, Jod Aleph and
Pe, for the Chaldeans adored the light and symbolized
it
by the letters Jod Aleph and Pe by which was meant
the extreme terms of diffusion of matter in the seven
planetary bodies. Jod answering to the sun, Aleph
to the moon and Pe to Saturn. The connection
between Jod and Jah is" obvious and we may
notice the sun rays which on our Tracing board are
emblematical of the light, light intellectual. Jao, as
the Linga, is also as may be noted placed in Daleth
as the Yoni, knowledge, This name was svmbolized
 [20]

only, never written; for our ancient brethren, aware

of human tendencies towards anthropomorphism,
enjoined that the name of God should be kept a pro-
found secret and never uttered, lest men should attempt
to define the indefinite, limit the illimitable, know the
unknowable, and so the creature be worshipped in the
place of the creator.
Of the two pillars Jachin and Boaz and their
phallic meaning I have spoken in another place but
these pillars and their congeners play such an important
part in the history of ancient symbolism that I cannot
refrain from again referring to them. Similar pillars
appear to have been placed in front of temples of
almost all generative gods of all nations in all climes
and from the remotest antiquity, they seem not only
to have been phallic emblems in which capacity their
form as syrnlDolizing the male power is
sufficiently
suggestive but under the name of Thoth or Hermes
they represented the god of Boundaries to offend
whom by removing land marks was a capital crime.
There are still remains of two pillars in front of the
ruins of the temple of Ceres at Eleusis. There were
two in front of the temple of Baal erected in Judea
about the year 900 B. C. In an engraving from an
old gnostic gem (vide Plates to Higgins Anacalypsis)
representing Samson carrying off the gates of Gaza, it
may be seen that he is bearing two pillars. In the
travels of Fa Hsien about A. D. 400, it is recorded
that at Chu-sa-lo or Oude, the elder Hsii-ta built a
shrine. On the eastern face he made the entrance,
and on each side placed a stone pillar (Giles's Record
of the Buddistic Kingdoms, page 41 ) similar pillars may
be commonly seen in the present day even, before the
gates of temples all over the east. In the ancient mysteries
it was said that under or in the shadow of these pillars
the initiate not only sought but acquired his knowledge.
It is possible this referred to the vow of continence

required from the Hierophants of Eleusis in entering

upon their obligations, who as we learn from St.
Jerome were accustomed to anoint themselves with
hemlock juice to aid them in keeping their vows
"
Herbis etiam quibusdam emasculabantur: unde jam
coirenon poterant." Students of psychology will be at
no loss to perceive the connection between the repres-
sion of sexual instincts while the senses were continually
being affected by phallic emblems and ceremonies and
cerebral excitement. The reason why the columns
should have been in pairs however is by no means
satisfactorily established. As we have before stated
the Hebrew names imply different sexes but the
symbolism in the case of the female sex seems very
obscure.The reader may have heard in the explanation
commonly given that they were adorned with two
chapiters each five cubits high and enriched with net
work, lilywork, and pomegranates, one hundred in
each row, as well as with two spherical balls, of which
adornments certain fanciful explanations are usually
given and I may as well name here that, (1) as regards
the net work, (which/ by the way we may further notice
in the upper chamber of the Lodge painted on this

board) it is intended to symbolize the barred access

to knowledge which is not to be forced open without
difficulty. Anciently this symbol referred to euphe-
is

mistically in the Hebrew writings as a

'

Grove;' it
consisted of a simple pillar in the centre of a lozenge-
like figure crossed with a lacing of cord tied up with
13 knots to represent the lunar months and was a
symbol of Isis; universal mother yet still virgo intacta.'
'

(2) Lily work. The exact meaning of this is involved

in some obscurity, but as in numerous ancient Assyrian
gems the fleur de lys or lily is to be found used as an
antithesis to the yoni it may be supposed to symbolize
creative force, or we might perhaps more correctly say,
evolution, (o) Pomegranate. From the shape of this
fruit and the number of seeds which it contains it was
selected as a fitting; emblem of the earth, the universal
 (223
mother; it was united with bells in the adornment of

the robes of the Jewish high priest. On Jachin and

Boaz there were 100 pomegranates each with six leaves
or rays at the top of the fruit (Park hurst); on the
high priest's robes there were 72 also each with six
leaves; these two sets of numbers multiplied together
give 600 and 432 respectively; the numbers of years
in certain astronomical cycles of which more anon. I

may further name that in Solomon's temple the pome-

granate was united with lilies and probably with the
lotus, the latter still in Buddhist symbolism the mascu-
line triad.

Next as regards geometry and kindred studies;

it would be presumptuous in me to dilate on the
pleasures to be found in the study of the exact sciences;
all those who tread such paths know well what rich
rewards the pursuit of knowledge brings, it may however
be of some interest to keep in mind, the painful strug-
gles of our forefathers, by whose labours after light we
in this day see less dimly, just as we may naturally
hope that the names of those who now are engaged
in a similar pursuit will, in the ages yet to come, be
honourably remembered; so through their works to
speak to millions yet unborn arid thus achieve their
noblest immortality. /

As regards the science of numbers; to quote from

"
the late Mr. J. S. Mill, the proposition that two and
one are equal to three expresses merely a truth known
to us by early and constant experience; an inductive
truth, and such truths are the foundation of the science
of number. The fundamental truths of that science
all rest on the evidence of sense; they are proved by

showing o to our eves and our fingers

*/ v^
that anv O
/ given
number of objects. 10 balls for example, may be separa-
tion and re-arrangement exhibit to our senses all the
different sets of numbers the sum of which is equal
to 10."
 [
23 J

Passing over the earliest struggles of primeval

man with numbers, the most ancient division of time.
though this too is prehistoric, was probably.
]
year =12 months =. 1 circle = 12 signs
1 month= 30 clays
= 1
sign
= ,50
degrees
1 day = 60 hours = 1 degree = 60 hours
1 hour = 60 minutes = 1 hour = 60 minutes
1 minute= 60 seconds = 1 minute = 60 seconds
and when man had arrived at this point he must already
have made considerable progress in astronomy, he
must have discovered the lunar year of 13 periods
each of about 28 days, which would presumably be far
nearer the truth than the solar year as up to that time
known.
He would have further divided the circle thus,
taking the five fingers of the hand as the initial means
whereby such calculations were wrought out:
5 degrees = 1 dodecan = 5 degrees
2 dodecans = 1 decan 10
3 decans = 1 signs = 30
3 signs = 1 quadrant = 1)0
,,

4 quadrants = 1 circle = 360

,,

,,

The cycle of 432 years to which I have before

alluded and which was the base of the great Indian
cycles was arrived at in the following manner. In
each sign there are 6 decans and 12 signs in the year
or circle; therefore 72 became a sacred number refer-
ring to the ordinary year and this again multiplied by
6 became the great year, of 432. The reader w ill r

recollect the 72 triangles forming the tesselated border,

which I referred to in a former place, and numberless
other instances where 72 is found in ancient writings
and mysteries will doubtless be called to mind.
The
cycle of the Neros, or of (>()() vears, arose in
all
probability later, i. e. so soon as it had been disco-
vered by astronomical observations that a precession
of the Equinoxes at the rate of about 1 degree in 72
years (
50 y/ 9 " -f in a year) was nearly correct, or at any
'

rate more nearly correct than the earlier calculation.

The complete elucidation of these numbers in

their different bearings would take too long for our
present purpose and the calculations themselves are
moreover AVI thin the reach of all suffice it to say
;

that the numbers 5, 7, (this latter number from the

number of the planets, the Sun, the Moon, Jupiter,
Mercury, Mars, Venus and Saturn) 12, 60, 72, 432,
and 600 have from time immemorial been held sacred
and will be found intimately connected with a very
large proportion of the myths in which ancient scienti-
fic discoveries were veiled. Their esoteric meaning
was known to the initiated and it is almost beyond
question that in the most ancient times from which
our order dates, the High priests of the Light that
had no written name, were themselves Arch Masons;
who else indeed could have constructed the temples
each of which was a microcosm of the universe so far
as known and every detail of which recorded a
discovery ?

How the tide of knowledge ebbed and flowed

just as victory inclined either to the side of brute
ignorance, sensuality, and darkness, or to the side of
truth and light is written in the history of every
nation, and in the earliest times of which that history
speaks we shall find the Brahme-Maia, Linga-Yoni.
that is, the male and female principles in union, were
the svmbol of the deitv adored.
/ /

After a while came division; in the East the follow-

ers of the Linga prevailed and the Yonijahs were
driven westward; hence the wars of the Mahabharata,
the fabled wars spoken of in the Greek myths, and
other legends. Unhappily too not to end there, for
the same contest has been waged but some few centuries
how cruelly let hecatombs of martvs tell, in our
 [25]
own land between the followers of the Virgin the
universal mother and the followers of the Creative
power. No where has knowledge found a more bitter
foe than among the ranks of the priesthood, the half-
initiated, possessed of that little knowledge which is
such a perilous acquisition, who seeing, have not seen,
and hearing, have not understood. It is against these,
that we as Masons seeking after light have often to
contend, though mindful always of the benefits we
owe them, for though done unwittingly, it is to them
we owe the preservation of many of our mysteries.
To paraphrase a saying of that great sage Con-
fucius :

Man's highest knowledge is to gauge his ignor-

ance.
 IN THE THIRD DEGREE.

\Ve now come to the tracing board of the third

degree, fitly called the sublime degree of a M. M. in
that we here touch the threshold of our knowledge,
here complete the triune symbol of Force creative,
Force preservative and Force destructive, the real
trinity; so complete and interwoven that each act of
either is but the operation of all.

Unlike the other Tracing boards, this one contains

no symbol which is not self evident to every M. M.
but it is not so generally known how the rites in which
we have taken part originated, or what they were
all

originally intended to symbolize, and these points I

will endeavour to explain as briefly as may be.

It may perhaps not be uninteresting if before

going farther I give as far as I am permitted a short

account of the rite of initiation as anciently practised
at least as far as the paralellism to our own third

degree extends. Of the higher and more perfect rites

I shall hope to speak on some future occasion.

have chosen the mysteries of Isis as an example

I
as these have perhaps been more commented upon
than others but those of Eleusis, Dionysos, of the
Essenes and in the present day of certain Hindu sects
might be described in almost the same words.
 MYSTERIES OF ISIS.

The initiate was divested of all clothing, sprinkled

with water by the priest, brought into the temple and
placed in the East at the feet of the goddess where
he remained in meditation for ten days, fasting from
wine, flesh, fish, and all luxurious food, and preserving
strict continence
*

After ten days he w as clothed in a new linen

r

garment and brought into the inner apartment of the

sanctuary where an oath of secrecy was exacted from
him, he was then blindfolded and subjected to great
torments, eventually being left, with the bandage indeed
taken from his eyes, but in total darkness in the rock
hewn labyrinth beneath the Temple. While he re-
mained here his senses w^ere appealed to by terrible
sounds, flashes of lurid light, apparitions in horrible
forms flitted by him, disgusting odours filled the air,
until weary and worn out with fasting and excitement
the neophyte believed himself on the borders of death,
whence he was finally rescued, light restored to him
and certain physical explanations of the symbolical
ceremonies he had gone through were communicated
to him.
He was then arrayed in twelve stoles (emblema-
ticalof the months) on which were embroidered the
signs of the zodiac, and the first part of the initiation
then concluded with a feast.
* This condition will be wondered at less when it is remembered
that the temples of the gods were in many cases little else than public
brothels as for instance: The Jewish Temple in the time of Eli,
the temples of Mylitta, Baal, Ceres and Laksmi Nayarana, with
countless others and enforced continence in the midst of such scenes as
those by which he was surrounded might naturally lead to great cerebral
excitement in the initiate and consequent hallucinations.
 The second degree was also prefaced like the
former one with a fast of ten days, but the neophyte
does not appear to have been subjected to any terrify-
ing experiences as in the case of his initiation. It should
be named however that during the interval which had
elapsed between his initiation and summons to enter
further into the mysteries, he had been most carefully
watched; his every movement, nay almost every thought
spied out and unless the results of this espionage were
eminently satisfactory, he received no summons and
never made further progress towards the light. Few
indeed were they who were admitted to the second
degree and shared the orgies of Serapis. Fewer still
they who made the final step which opened the door
of the adytum.

In the second degree, were communicated the

secrets of astronomy, the movements of the planets in
relation to the sun, and the postulant was instructed in
mathematics and kindred sciences. He further received
a certain portion of the revenues of the temple and
shared to some extent in the sacred services. He was
still kept under the same strict surveillance, he was

expected to fast often, to spend much of his time in

meditation and introspection, when not engaged in
studying the application of such formulae as had been
entrusted to him, and finally if judged worthy he was
summoned which was
to the final initiation, the result of
said to be either Death, Madness, or Mastery over matter.
The oath of secrecy seems to have been exacted
but once, the penalty attaching to the violation of it
however was invariably carried out and involved the
unlawful recipient of the secret as well as the discloser.
Hence, if it ever has been divulged no record remains
of such an act of perfidy.

The trials to which the postulant was subjected

surpassed in severity all his previous experience, were of
long duration, borne with complete abstinence from food
whether solid or liquid and all that can be gathered
from such hints as have been dropped by those who
have survived the trial, is, that after the last dread
moment where human endurance had been taxed to its
utmost, a semi-stupor supervened and when conscious-
ness returned to quote a fragment of Strobeitis" mentioned
by Dulaure,
u
Une lumiere miraculeuse et divine frappe les
yeux; des plaines brillantes, des pres emailles de fleurs
se decouvrent de toutes parts; des hymnes et des choaurs
de musique enchantent les oreilles. Les doctrines sublimes
de la science sacree y font le sujet des entretiens. Des
visions saintes et respectables tiennent les sens duns
1'admiration; 1'initie est rendu parfait; desormais libre, il
n'est plus asservi a aurune contrainte. Couronne, et
triomphant, il se promene par les regions des bien
heureux, et converse avec des hommes saintes et vertueux."
To return however to the explanation of the
symbols.
In order to trace these it will be necessary to go
back to the time when our forefathers invented the
cycle of 4o2 years, from a consideration of which number
it is evident
by inspection that they had arrived at a
point of astronomical knowledge which induced them to
assign the period of 'Jlft'J
years (5 times the above
number) for the time occupied by the sun in his progress
through one sign, this would give a precessional year of
25,920 years. In this progress and in the methods they
employed to correct the error in their calculation lies a
portion of the secret of our rites.

Asking pardon therefore for the recapitulation of

facts so wellknown I would here name that the earth
as our forefathers were well aware has three motions;
that of revolution round the sun, its parent, that of
revolution round its own axis and that which has been
compared to the swaying motion of a top about to cease
'spinning though in this simile there is one important
difference.
 [31]
In a top about to cease spinning the conical rotation
of the axis takes place in the same direction as the
rotation of the top about the axis unless the centre ot
gravitv of the whole mass be depressed below the point
of suspension, in which case as in the case of the earth,
the pole of the axis will revolve about the pole of the
ecliptic in an opposite direction to that in which it
revolves about its own axis.

This motion waxes and wanes, to and from a position

of perfect parallelism to its own axis and the time-
occupied in so moving determines the preccs^on of the
equinoxes.
If the constitution of the earth were such that the
resultant of the attractions exerted on all its parts by

any other body should always pass through a definite

point in its mass, its diurnal rotation would not be
affected by the attraction of any other bodies. If origin-
revolving about a axis of inertia it would
ally principal
continue to do so and the direction of the axis would be
constant. As a fact however, the attractions of various
bodies, the sun and moon especially, on the oblate
portion at the equator, tend to give it a rotation about
an axis in the plane of the equator and the combination
of these two rotations gives rise to a shifting of the ins-
tantaneous axis of rotation in the earth and also in space.
In fact the precession of the equinoxes is a slow retro-
grade motion of the equinoctial points from E to W
or
contrary to the order of the signs i. e. from Aries to
Pisces, and it is in consequence of this that the constel-
lations have changed the
position assigned to them by
ancient astronomers.

The equinoctial points during the time of Aristarchus

(300 B. C.) were fixed on the first stars of Aries and
Libra, but now the first star of Aries is in that portion
of the ecliptic or great circle in which the sun appears
to move, which is known as Taurus, the stars of Tatirb-.-
in Gemini and so on.
 [32]
The stars which in Aristarchus' time
therefore
were in
conjunction with the sun when it was in the
equinox are now a whole sign or 30 to the eastward.
The ecliptic' is divided into 4 quadrants or ares of i)n
each, by the equinoctial points and solstices, (the latter
being the periods when the sun is at its greatest distance
from the equator viz: at 22nd June and 22nd December. )
These quadrants are divided each into 3 arcs of 3u
each, called the signs of the Zodiac and the latter are
named from the constellations which happened to be
found in each when the division of the ecliptic was first
made. These divisions do not now coincide with the
constellations owing to the retrograde movement spoken
of, though the names are still preserved.
Astronomical calculations are made from that point
of intersection of the equator and ecliptic which is the
position of the sun in the heavens on the 21st March
and which is known as the first point of Aries.
The time occupied between the periods when the
earth is parallel to its own axis i. e. the time occupied in
the precession of the equinoxes, the great year, is com-
puted at 2f>,sGS years. Our forefathers therefore found
by observation that their calculations were out by a
little more than a an
day a quarter in each year.

They took their departure as regards time from the

beginning of the precessional year when by computing
backwards they found that the sun entered the first
point of Aries about the 21,t of our March. This day
they considered the aniversary of the birth of the Sun,
the creator, the life giver, to accomplish which birth it
was necessary that he should have first died; they fixed
the date of his death as after the 2'Jnd or 25th of December
or in the time of the winter solstice and figuratively spoke
of the intercalary time as of a period when the sun
wandered in Sheol the land of shadows, Hell, as early
Christian divines have rendered it. About the 23rd
March at the vernal equinox when all nature rejoices
 [33]
with returning spring they celebrated the birth with
annual rejoicing in allegorical ceremonies.
To these two festivals we owe
the myths of the
births, deaths, descents into Sheol and resurrections of
all the Saviours of mankind. Osiris, Ormuzd, Mithra,
Adonis, Brahma, Cristna, Hercules, Buddha, Christ, of
every one of whom the same story has been told with
but the trifling variations in detail induced
by the
difference of locality.

To show you more plainly the parallelism between

the rites in which we have all
participated and those of
early Magi or Masons, let me briefly describe one scene
the details of which have been transmitted to us
by an
eyewitness after a lapse of nearly two thousand five
hundred years.
The scene is laid in Baalbec. The time, midnight
on the 24th December some 450
years B. C.
Far above the mighty city of Heliopolis low crouching at
its feettowered the temple of Baal, Lord of the sun. All
through the starlit night there had been scarcely a break in the
long line of worshippers thronging towards the grandest fane
the world has ever seen, its origin lost in the mists of ages;
which even now, in ruins mocks the greatest efforts of the
mason of to-day but then, in all its glory of hewn stone and
carven pillar, of inlaid work and mystic emblem, was the seat of
all the learning of the east, the repository of the lore of the
Chaldees.
In the peristyle of the temple were 54 columns. The
outer court was about 300 feet in length by 160 feet in breadth
and covered four acres of ground, leading at the nortlfern end
into an octagonal court 160 feet in diameter. On the west, was
the especial temple of Ra; on the east the smaller temple of Isis,
this latter larger than the Parthenon of later days. Beneath the
whole were subterranean chambers of vast extent wherein were
celebrated the more hidden mysteries and wherein were held
the highest chapters of the perfect arch-masons, high priests
of Isis, Magi; around the great court ran double rows of pillars,
in number recording the astronomical discoveries of the time.
These were surmounted by a frieze on which were graven
mystic signs referring also to the secrets of the initiated. The
centre of the court was open to the vault of heaven.
 [
U ]

Through the long clay, thousands of priests had chanted

hymns in praise of Ra, standing in the octagonal temple wherein,
was the altar of Isis, behind the altar a veil covering the
Universal Mother; on her right the figure of Osiris, on her left
the image of Typhon; the Mystic Trinity; Life, Preservation,
Death; now however no priests stood within the inner temple
and all the crowd in the outer court were hushed in silent
expectation.
Then from the aisles on either side stole files of white
robed priests and from behind the altar carne the high priest of
Isis crying aloud Hear ye People ! this night we mourn the
death of our God Osiris. He, returning hither over the wine-
dark sea after that lie had rescued the nations from darkness and
the plagues sent by the angry Gods, after that he had taught
them wisdom and given them light; was slain by Typhon dweller
in darkness, jealous of the blessings given to mortals. His body,
rent asunder, was scattered to the four winds, neither was the
place of burial known. Him, sorrowing, Isis long sought;
reverently she collected the members save only those devoured
by the fish, and brought them hither. Far and wide her
lamentations resounded to the blue vault of Heaven, nor was
Ra unmindful of her prayers. Again he raised the dead to life
and light returned to bless the dwellers on the earth.
Then brought the acolytes the sacred ark and placed it before
the high priest. In front, of it came and stood a youth as
beautiful as the day. Him the high priest smote till as one
lifeless he fell into the ark, its door was closed upon his form,
and then the h gh priest rent his clothes and cried with a loud
;

voice, Osiris our God is dead. Lights were put out and from
all the people rose a great wail, as of a mother mourning for
her first-born.
All through the night, through the next day and till the
morning of the third day, feigned the priests to search for. the
limbs of the youth that had been slain. Then when the morning
broke and all the people waited as before in the great court of
the temple, came the high priest and raised the youth from out
the ark saying.
Rejoice O Sacred Initiated your God is risen, his death, his
pains and sufferings have worked your salvation. And all the
people shouted and sang praises to Osiris celebrating his new
birth with great festivity.

The connection of this myth with our mysteries is

so obvious that I need say little more in explanation of
the tracing board of this degree, but it may not unnatu-
rally be demanded from those who show that the
Hebrew
Scriptures are no more divine than the Vedas. the
 [
35 J

Avesta, the Dhammapada or the Koran and that the

Mosaic cosmogony but the unscientific speculation of
is

some literary Jew who lived about SCO or 900 years

B. C. that some bettor theory shall be supplied to fill
the place of that which has been demonstrated to be false.
Such a task has been happily accomplished.
Known or guessed at by the Magi of old, lo.-t, when the
tide of knowledge ebbed for nearly 1200 years, per-
ceived by Kant, worked out by Laplace in 17 .K> and (

now when we may fondly hope we are being carried by

a flood tide to a higher point than heretofore known,
triumphantly established, we can assuredly boast of a
probable theory of the genesis of the world.
I will endeavour to place an outline of this hypo-
thesis before you in the briefest terms I can command
in order that I may the better show how far the fragments
of ancient writings which are left to us, bear out the
opinion above expressed as to the knowledge possessed
by the sages of old.
At a very early date (time disappears in dealing
with such periods as those of which I now speak) the
entire solar system consisted of the sun, a mass ol infinitely
attenuated vapour in a state of incandescence, extending
at least so far as would include the orbit of Neptune;
the mean distance of which planet from the sun is about
285tf millions of miles.
Whether such a mass would cool quicker at the
surface by radiation or at the centre by pressure we have
not sufficient^ data to show, hue at any rate its contraction
would induce currents of motion the movements of which
would be determined by local influences but which would

finally end in a definite rotation in one direction and the

mechanical consequences of which would be that the
mass must at last assume the form peculiar to rotating
bodies the particles of which move freely upon each
other, viz: an oblate spheroid, flattened at the poles
and bulging at the equator because at the equator the
centrifugal tendency generated by rotation is greatest.
 [36]
Furthermore, as the mass contracts, its velocity must
increase (the total quantity of rotation being- unalterable)
and so its poles would become more and more flattened,
its
equatorial zone protrude still more until, the centrifugal
tendency at the equator, being greater than the force of
gravity there, this zone, unable to keep pace with the
rest of the mass in its contraction would at last be left
behind as a detached ring girdling at an ever increasing
distance the central mass.
Such a ring, unless subjected to absolutely equal
forces in every direction must at last break up into
fragments; with each fragment the same transition to
oblate speroidal forms would take place, they would
coalesce into globes and by the greater power of attraction
they would assume as consolidated bodies would revolve
round the sun and from mechanical considerations would
also revolve on their own axes. They in their turn
behaving in like manner would abandon similar rings
hereafter to form similar satellites.
These smaller bodies -would of course cool first
until their temperature permitted the manifestation of

vegetable and animal life and one of those smaller bodies

is the planet we inhabit.
If this hypothesis be true, we can scarce overrate
its
importance, and let me quote the
as to its truth
dictum of one of the master minds among men, the late
Mr. J. S. Mill.
" There is in this
theory no unknown substance
introduced on supposition nor any unknown property or
law ascribed to a known substance, it is an example of
legitimate reasoning from a present effect to a possible
past cause according to the known laws of that cause."
(System of Logic B. Ill Ch. XIV.)
And now to give a few examples of the lore of the
Chaldees, which the curious may find collected and
'
translated in that valuable work, Ancient Fragments
'

by J. P. Cory.
"
We learn that matter pervades the whole world,
as the Gods also assert."
 [
37 ]

He makes the whole woild of lire, and water, and

11

earth, and all nourishing ether."

'

Suspending their disorder in well disposed zones."

u
Oh all ruling Sun, Spirit of the world, Power of
the world, Light of the world/'
u
All things, therefore, are three, but not one;
"-
llyparxis, Power, and energy.
might add many more, but the above are probably
I
sufficient formy present purpose which is to show that
the greater part of our rites and symbols refer to ancient
discoveries in physical science. In fact to qnote from
Mr. S. Baring Gould.
"
The priests of ancient times were also philoso-
phers, but not being able always to preserve their
became void of
intellectual superiority, their doctrines

meaning, hieroglyphs of which they had lost the key.

arid then speculation ate its way out of religion, and
left it an empty shell of ritual observance void of vital
principle." (Origin and development of Religions
Belief. P. 120.J
Here, with a theory of the origin of life I bring
this brief es-ayon the Degree of Death to a close, and
and Death are so subtilely interwoven
fitly so. for Life
that each is but the genesis of the other, the terms are
interchangeable.
Whether when the tide of life has ebbed to the
slack and loosed the thread that binds each atom to its
neighbour, ultimate molecules can re-unite and leave no
important break in the continuity of consciousness, we
may reasonably doubt, but this we know, that matter
is eternal.
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, iu..t breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count lime bv heart throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, I'eels the noblest, acts the best.
(
Bniley'a Festus*. )

Tills is Life the Ignorance that dares not face a

truth it fears to know is Death indeed.

-
DELTA.
^ o \
UNIVERSITY
*
 RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
2-month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753
-year loans may be recharged by bringing
1

books to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4
days prior to due date.

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

APR 13 2001
 195
//S435
.-(35