The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

p hilosopher many useful and valuable secrets , and amongst the rest astronomy , which Avas now known for the first time by the inhabitants of that country . Dr . Lamb however identifies Hermes with Abraham , and says , " I have adopted the

generally received opinion that the Egyptians Avere the inventors of phonetic characters , and that Abraham derived his knowledge from them . It is not impossible that Abraham himself was the first AVIIO used them , and that the Egyptians

appropriated to themselves the credit of his discovery . " I am unable to subscribe to this opinion , although , if Hermes and Abraham Avere the same person , Avhich I also doubt , it Avill ap ;> e . ir to accord Avith the ancient traditions of Egypt that Hermes Avas the inventor of letters . I am persuaded however that a knowledge of letters or phonetic characters Avas of an earlier date than the

time of Abraham . * It appears to me quite clear that Astronomy was known in the East long before the time of Abraham ; for the first book of the Indian Vedas is computed to be of a date nearly 3000 years prior to the birth of Christ ; and this Avas nearly 1000 years before the time of Abraham . This book , like the Pentateuch of Moses , contains a detailed account of the Hindoo

cosmogomy . Archilles Tatius ascribes the invention of astronomy to the Egyptians . " No nation , " says Bryant from the authorities Avhich he quotes , " appears to have enjoyed a better established polity than the Egyptians . Their councils , senate , and tribunals seem to have been very august and highly regarded . Their community Avas composed of seven different orders . In most of these there Avere

degrees of honour , to lvhich particulars , upon their anyways excelling , were permitted to rise . They were deeply skilled in astronomy and geometry ; also in chemistry and physic . Indeed they seem to have been acquainted Avith every branch of philosophy ; which they are supposed of

all nations to have cultivated the first . The natives of Thebes above all others were renoAvned for their great Avisdom ; and for their knoAvledge in these sciences . Their improvements in geometry are

thought to have UBes-erwitig to the nature of their country ; for the laud of Egypt being annually overflowed , and all property confounded , they were obliged , upon the retreat of the waters , to have recourse to geometrical decision , in order to determine

the limits of their possessions . All the best architecture of Greece may be traced to its orig inal in Egyp t . In a word , Macrobius styles Egyp t the Parent of Arts '' * It is probable therefore that before the

time of Abraham the Egyptians had made some progress towards perverting the noble science of astronomy to the superstitious purposes of judicial astrjlogy ; and made it the unholy depository of magic , talismansdivinationand other occult and

for-, , bidden arts , Avhich were subsequently practised by the priesthood of all idolatrous nations , and acquired for thern the unenviable appellation of " liars , " for so the Avord Hairai , Papai , " astrologers , or diviners by the stars , " is translated in our scriptures , t

"In no country , " says Sir W . Druramond , % " Avere the abuses of the symbolical system carried further than in Egypt . The people fell into the grossest errors of idolatry ; and it Avas but too much the interest of those by Avhom they were governed to keep them in ignorance . Under these circumstances Ave cannot

Avonder that all the avenues to knowledge Avere made difficult of access ; that the cultivation of science Avas reserved for the 1 riests alone ; and that the truths of history were perverted to serve the purposes of those crafty impostors . The records of

early times Avere amplified by additions ; altered by fable ' s ; or explained aAvay into allegories . The simple facts which ancient monuments attested , or Avhich tradition preserved , Avere employed as the foundation on which fiction built a thousand fanciful

superstructions . The memory of truths , Avhich had been orig inally kept separate from fables , was gradually obliterated . Innovation had rushed forwards like a

mighty flood , and had swept aAvay the landmarks of chronology and history ; and Mythology , like those magicians which she herself has since created , had changed the