A History Of Freemasonry.

shall agree in our delineation of the past , in our explanation of the cause and continuance , and secret and certainty of Masonic life in the world . But what we ought to try to do to-day is , as it seems to me , to avoid handing on unverified statements , to test all previous assertions , so that , if it be possible , which may , perhaps , after all , be doubtful , we may present a rational and readable history of our truly great order , divested of childish fable and heated romance , and which will be equally acceptable to the Masonic reader and the non-Masonic critic ,

Sacred Books Of All The Peoples.

SACRED BOOKS OF ALL THE PEOPLES .

BY BRO . JAMES B . GRANT , 32 ° . rnHE Vedas or Vedams are the sacred books of the Hindoos , as the Bible is J- supposed to be ours . Thej are three in number , the Rig Veda , the Yadjonr Veda , and the Sama Veda . These books are very rare , being written in the most ancient language of the Brahmins . Those who count four Vedas

have added the Altar Veda , which treats of ceremonies . In addition to these books there are a collection of commentaries upon them which are called the Oupanashada , of which we have a French translation , published by Anquetil Duperron , under the title of "Oupen Akliat " ; a curious book this , and it gives an idea of all the others . The date of the Vedas , twenty-five to thirty centuries before our era , and

their contents , show that all the reveries of the Greek metaphysicians came from India . After the Vedas followed the Shasters , to the number-of six . They treat of theology and science . Then comes to the number of eight the Pouranas , which treat of mythology and history . The book entitled "Manava-Dharma-Shastra" contains the laws of the first reformer , Menon , or Moses . After the sacred books of the Hindoos come those of the Persiansthe Sadder

, and the Zend-Avesta , the religious code of the Bactrians , Assyrians , Chaldeans , and Modes ; they contain the doctrine of Zoroaster . The Boun-Dehesch , the book of Genesis of the Parsees , successors of the ancient Persians , is a complication of the ancient laws of the Magi . After these come the five books of Hermes , the Priest-King of Egypt , founder of the castes , who lived about 3370 B . C . Then theTaote-King and the Chou-King of the Chinese , the first

of which contains the metaphysocial doctrines of the Lao-Tseu , and the second the sublimely moral doctrines of Kong Tseu , or Confucius ; then in point of time may be ranked our Bible , the Old Testament of which contains the cosmogony of the Jews and Christians , and the laws of Moses , with a history of the Hebrew people , and the New Testament , which embraces the Gospels of evangelical morality , peace and charity of Jesus Christ , the founder of Christianity .

The Koran of Mahomet , containing the precepts and doctrines transmitted by him to his followers , would necessarily follow to make the list complete . Egypt is the only country which possessed a complete code of doctrines of great antiquity . Clement Alex , of Alexandria , has transmitted to us a curious detail of forty-two volumes which were used in the procession of Isis . " The Chief , or Singer , " says he , "carries an instrument symbolical of music , and two books of Mercury ( Hermes ) , one of them containing the hymns of the Gods , the other the list of the Kings . After him followed the horoscopist , observer of