Seal Of The Abbey Of Arbroath.

no part of the seal , but is in modern type below it , and is evidently only placed there to distinguish the Seal of Arbroath from the other one given on the same plate .

As Cordiner ' s text has been quoted with this word initiation as a proof of at least one earl y Masonic seal , it will perhaps be of interest to those who have no opportunity of referring to his book , to see what he has to say on the subject—valueless as his remarks are in the present instance . In mentioning the " Mysteries of Egypt , " he goes on to say : " But this shall finally be more fully elucidated in the progress of a comment on the figures sculptured on the

seal on the annexed plate , marked Initiation . * "' It evidently represents some formidable ceremony in a sacred place , where a Pontiff presides in state ; one hand on his breast , expressive of seriousness , the other stretched out at a ri ght angle , holding a rod and cross , the badge of high office , while he makes some aweful appeal respecting a suppliantwho in a loose robeblindfoldedwith seeming terror-kneels before

, , , , the steps of an altar , as undergoing some severe humiliation ; while several attendants with drawn swords brandished them over his head . ' As some explanation of the above , it may be observed there is a remarkable concurrence of design and resemblance of persons and attitudes in the figures

oi the above seal with those in a print accompanying a pamphlet on MASONRY , published by an officer at Berlin ; and this is the more worthy of notice because he there gives an account of the ceremonies of initiation , and the prints are apposite representations of them . That which exhibits the manner of administering the tremendous oath of secrecy , and of receiving the rudiments of the occult science , at the communication of the first beams of LIGHT , is a pretty exact counterpart of the figures on the seal of the late ; and the

p prostrate person in both , brings to remembrance a description which Plutarch , in his famous essay ' DE OsiBis , 't gives of the engraving of a Seal which the priests of Isis used in their solemnities , namely , that of a ' MAN KNEELING , WITH HIS HANDS BOUND , A KNIEE AT HIS THROAT , ' etc .

" And it is not a little remarkable , which is more to the present purpose , in how many particulars the mysterious fate of OSIRIS , as recorded by the above celebrated author , corresponds with the accounts of HIRAM given in the mentioned pamphlet ; a strong insinuation that the annals of the latter , however mutilated and defaced , have somehow or other been descended from the Elucinian Mysteries , and that the MASONIC rites of admission into a LODGE are a faint sketchan imperfect itomeof the august ceremonies which took lace

, ep , p at INITIATION into the secrets which hallowed the PRIM _ EVAL FANES . And this high ori gin , when discerned , may have been at the bottom of that general respect which men of learning have avowed for them . [ Note . —See Mr . Lock's ( sic ) letter on the subject , etc . ] J "This subject , as an amusing research into antiquity , may be resumed ; it only remains at present to specify

, " That HYEAM [ The Light ] , coming forth in hallowed dignity of character , from within the veil of the sanctuary ; violated in the open Temple of the World by the ignorant and prophane ; concealed for a time'in aweful secrecy ; tlie want of his presence patheticall y deplored . The ardent solemnity wherewith he is sought for , the acclamation of joy at finding him again , and consequent discovery of the UEartsalmost of itself developes the secret which the

, personification had involved . " All this , moreover , is no dubious echo of the clouded glory of OSIRIS ' dawning reign ; his appearing as the LIGHT of the World , a universal benefactor . The humiliation and indignities which he suffered from a degenerated