Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained, in a Course of Twelve Lectures on Freemasonry (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained, in a Course of Twelve Lectures on Freemasonry

In a word, light was rejected, and an unfathomable Darkness had taken possession of the Soul. Hence severe penances were instituted, which the wretched sufferers were taught to believe would propitiate the wrath of heaven; and hence arose also, united with the perverted meaning of an ancient prophecy, the horrid custom of sanguinary sacrifices, in which the polluted altars of the gods were stained with human gore.

The mysteries of Egypt contained all the secrets of their religion and politics; and inspired dread and terror through out the world. By the uninitiated they were regarded as vehicles of knowledge more than human; and the dispensers of them were reputed to possess some high and peculiar attributes of the divinity. The initiated themselves were struck with a sacred horror, at the recollection of that awful solemnity which attended their own initiation; and dared not even to name, or refer to them in familiar conversation, lest their indiscretion should elicit the summary vengeance of the justly offended deities.'

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.