The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

" According to the account of Maimonides , as given in the More Nevoachiur , the Tsabeans acknowledged the existence of a Supreme God . This mighty and ineffable Being they supposed to dwell in eternal glory , inaccessible and invisible . Innumerable sp iritual natures had emanated , it was imagined , from the divine essence ; and these , in countless myriads , peopled the universe , and ministered to the will , as they were instructed by the wisdom of the deity . ' The sun and stars were first considered the emblems of God ancl of the angels who govern the worldaud who preserve the

, order of nature , under the control of their omnipotent king . In process of time , liowever , the types came to be mistaken by the populace for the prototypes . The invisible God was forgotten , with all the spiritual agents that execute His will , and the stars ancl the elements , unconscious of the honour , were elevated to the rank of deities by the degraded understandings ancl the misguided imaginations of men . " * Under these circumstances the study of astronomy became a favourite employment

, and every new discovery tended to strengthen their belief in the universal attributes of the deity . They looked anxiously for the promised Deliverer whose appearance was to he heralded by some celestial confirmation , and it was faith in him that translated Enoch , the last eminent astronomer of the antediluvian world , to heaven , without experiencing the pains of death .

This great and good man was identified by the Egyptians with our Hermes , under the surname of Trismegistus , who is said to have projected the zodiac , discovered the true course of the planets , pointed out to his followers the necessity of worshipping the deities represented by these luminous orbs , and exhorted them to wait patiently- for the fulfilment of the promise made to their great progenitor . It was the concurrent belief of the ancient world that Enoch engraved on two

pillars the science of astronomy , including the great Promise , that it might never be forgotten , and that a knowledge of the astral sign of it might survive any great convulsion of nature , ancl thus be transmitted to posterity , even though the whole race of men should perish , and the earth be peopled by a new creation . Thus was the tradition of a Deliverer transmitted from the fall to the deluge ; and if , according to the theory of Whiston , that great event was produced by means of a comet , the belief in astral influences would be strengthened , and the propriety of worshipping the host of heaven in the way of propitiation confirmed .

There are reasons for believing that Cain ancl bis descendants , having observed the predilection of the pious race to the science of astronomy , entertained an opinion that it contained some mysterious power of communication with the Most High , in which they were forbidden to participate . Hence , after the deluge , the sons of Noah became acquainted with the Promise and its attendant signs . Nimrod or Belus , the grandson of Hacer , with his two associates Cush and Phut , founded a splendid superstition on

astronomical principles , which he veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols , embodying a few important traditions connected with the salvation of man that had been acquired b y his progenitors before the flood ; and it rivalled , and ultimately superseded and swallowed up the original system of pure and holy worship commended and practised by the patriarch Noah . His subjects became famous for their astronomical knowled ge , and formed many clusters of stars into constellations , painting in the heavens

a plain description of the process of initiation into the mysteries , together with the great historical and prophetical facts which were intended to be perpetuated ; and the record remains unchanged to the present- clay . Prideaux observes that "the true religion which Noah taught his posterity was that which Abraham practised : the worshipping of one God , the Supreme Governour of all things through a MediatorMen could not determine what contained this

, . essence power of mediation , no clear revelation being then made of the Mediator whom God appointed ; because , as yet he had not been manifested to the world , they took upon hem to address him by mediators of their own choosing ; and their notion of the sun , moon , ancl stars being that they were habitations of Intelligences which animated the