character; for he does not seem to have ever once reflected that all religious societies have tares amongst the wheat.

He was made a Freemason in the St. John's Lodge, at Leicester, about 1796, and in the following year engaged to produce an original Masonic song every Lodge night from St. John's day, 1797, to the same festival in 1798, which he accomplished, and presented a copy of the whole twelve songs to the Lodge when completed. He paid great attention to the business of Masonry, and soon became an expert Master of the work. The unpublished manuscript of a long Masonic Ode, composed by him, is now in the possession of his son. At this time of life our Rev. Brother exhibited tokens of stability and endurance which would astonish a clergyman of the present day. He attended his school with great diligence and assiduity, including the management and private lessons to his fifty boarders, six days in the week. On Saturday evening he rode forty miles to his curacies: on Sunday performed three full duties, and returned home in the evening, generally arriving about midnight. At seven o'clock on Monday morning he was in his desk at school; and on Lodge nights, he set off on Wed nesday evening, after his day's work, usually on foot, (for he was particularly fond of walking exercise,) to Leicester, thirteen miles distant, and returned after Lodge business was over; and, notwithstanding the distance, he was considered to be one of the most regular attenders.

Soon after this he retired from public life, and resided at Gotham, in Nottinghamshire, as the curate of that place and Ruddington; from whence he removed to Whaplode in 1801. The winter of 1805 was a very severe one to him, for he was so grievously afflicted with that plague of the fens, which is now in a great measure subdued by the improvements in agriculture, that he had every phasis of the disease on him at the same time, viz. the quotidian, the tertian, and the quartan ague; and consequently he suffered two or three paroxysms every day. It continued to torment him till midsummer 1806; about which time, when the worst features of the disease were obliged to be counteracted by pouring in vast quantities of opium, as he lay on his bed in a burning fever in the day-time, he saw three frogs crawling up the curtains, which deliberately placed themselves in a row close to his chin. The first frog appeared to say- "Open your mouth, and suffer me to leap down your throat, and I will heal your disease! He shook his head by way of dissent from the proposal, for his faculties appeared benumbed, and he found himself unable to speak. The second frog then addressed him, saying "Open your month, and suffer me to leap down your throat, and I will not only heal your disease, but I will give you an abundance of wealth!" He gave a second token of dissent; at which the third frog made his proposal— Open your mouth, and suffer me to leap down your throat, and I will not only heal your disease, and give you an abundance of riches, but I will also grant you extreme length of days for their enjoyment!" When these proposals were thus a third time repeated-as the venerable old man used to say, with great sublimity;" By a strong and vigorous effort I roused myself from the benumbing torpor, and, with outstretched arms, exclaimed aloud-Get thee behind me, SatanI put my trust in the Most High!" Immediately his eyes were open-the unclean creatures vanished-and every thing remained as it was a few minutes before. Shortly afterwards he went into the high country on a visit to his son, who then resided at Caistor, in Lincolnshire, and after remaining with him a few weeks, the change of air, with the blessing of God, effected a complete and radical cure, and he never had a return of his complaint to his dying day.

He remained at Whaplode fortytwo years, preaching three times every Sunday, and being paid for preaching only once; till the death of the vicar in 1842, when a new incumbent was appointed "who knew not Joseph," and he was removed from the curacy, without the slightest remuneration, at the advanced age of nearly ninety years. Fortunately, a few months afterwards, the rectory of Lambly, in Nottinghamshire, was presented to him, and it became a comfortable retreat for his latter days. Here he died on the 9th of August last, after a short illness, greatly respected by his parishioners, "being old and full of days," and three generations of his posterity followed him to the grave.

He was a perfectly original character. His actions all sprang from impulse, and were not the result of experience; and consequently he was occasionally hasty in his decisions. His system of divinity was sound and good, because it was founded on the writings of the old Anglican divines, with which he was familiarly acquainted; and if he was sometimes severe in his remarks on the sin of schism, it sprang from a purely conscientious motive. He considered it his duty to defend the principles of the Church of England, to the utmost of his power; and he conceived that the best means of doing it was by exposing the errors of those who had dissented from her communion. He has been heard to say that he felt himself divinely commissioned to "cry aloud and spare not," against dissent in all its forms; and that if he omitted to do so, he should grievously wound his own soul, and be guilty of an unpardonable offence against God. Such examples of firmness and orthodoxy are rapidly departing from the land.-F. Q. Review.

ON THE STUDY OF MASONIC ANTIQUITIES.

BY BRO. THOMAS PRYER.
CHAPTER V.

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES-ISIS AND OSIRIS-THEIR SYMBOLS, AND REFERENCES-ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF IDOLATRY-SUN AND STAR WORSHIP ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES-THEIR ESOTERIC DOCTRINES, DEGREES, AND REFERENCES.

IN proceeding with the speculative portion of our subject, the ancient mysteries now claim particular attention. The term "mystery" is Phoenician, signifying "veil," or "envelopment;" indicating a hidden property in things not obviously perceptible, and which the mind is incapable of comprehending without due preparation.

The connection of the mysteries with the genuine system of Freemasonry has been explained in the second chapter, and, in pursuing our future investigations, it is essential that the explanation there given should be steadily borne in mind. Many have sought to trace the ancient history of our Order through the mysteries. This is incorrect. These institutions, though of common origin, were varied in almost every nation. In some they partook more of the nature of religious, in others, of political institutions; and they are not to be regarded as forming an essential part of the system of Freemasonry, any more than any established religion does at the present day.

The history of our Order, regarded chronologically, can alone be correctly traced through the operative part of our subject. It is true that many of our ceremonies assimilate to certain of the rites practised in various of the mysteries, and the correct explanation of much of our system of symbolism will be found to present similar analogies; but then it must be recollected that the mysteries originated from a genuine source-many of their rites remained unpolluted even after their perversion, and the primitive source of both will account for the similarity where it exists. Independently of which, circumstances occurred which brought the new systems into frequent contact, and at many periods in the history of the ancient world they were interwoven together in the same manner as the operative Freemasonry of the middle ages became connected with the Christian Church. Many of our symbols and emblems, as well as our symbolical and allegorical mode of instruction, can alone be thoroughly explained by a reference to the mysteries; this, therefore, affords an additional reason for regarding them with peculiar attention, whilst pursuing our investigations in the present branch of the subject. With regard to the mysteries themselves, we labor under considerable disadvantage in not possessing any genuine records to which we can refer during

their early and purest stage. In most cases they are presented to us at a períod when their primitive application had been deformed by superstition; and cumbrous machinery,-in many vast-terrific-monstrous-had superseded the simple, practices which marked their early origin. Thus, in many instances, hideous images are presented to the mind, which revolts at the startling picture; and we can scarcely be disposed to believe that superstition so gross, and acts so revolting, could have sprung from the perversion of immutable truths, from the pollution of a primitive faith, and the misapplication of pure and simple rites. But such is nevertheless the case, and the further we withdraw the veil which shadows the esoteric secrets of the mysteries, the further we perceive the fact of their pristine innocence and beneficial tendency, as well as the stupendous truths which they envelope. Indeed a vast variety of facts might be collected, from which might be componnded a Pagan bible, bearing corroborative testimony to the reality of the leading occurrences recorded in the early part of Holy Writ. This is a most important question, deserving particular notice; but it is one which could be more readily discussed at the conclusion of the present investigation, when the Masonic student has made himself acquainted with the leading points resulting from the examination of the theogony, history, ritual, and recondite application of the mysteries practised in every principal nation of antiquity. The preceding remarks are applicable to nearly the whole of the ancient mysteries, but it will of course be understood that among the different systems, the perversion from original purity was greatly varied in degree, some ultimately runuing into the grossest idolatry, and practising the most abominable and sanguinary rites, whilst others retained to a late period much of the spirituality and simplicity of reference which characterised their early stages.

In Egypt, a careful investigation leaves us but little reason to doubt, that at the time the earliest descriptions we have of the mysteries practised there were written, little was known of their origin and primitive meaning-at least by the parties who wrote upon them-and at the last when shortly before their suppression, their celebrations became more splendid and gorgeous than ever-even the priests themselves were dazzled by the magnificence of the display-ignorance and gross idolatry had enchained their minds, and the sublime references concealed beneath their holiest symbols were completely forgotten and unknown. The glimmering of a primitive faith, now only traceable by means of hieroglyphical analysis, had even then become obscured beneath the cloud of superincumbent darkness, that had settled upon the ancient sacerdotal colleges. In short, long before the downfall of the mysteries, the wisdom of the Egyptians was lost. The hierophants sought only to terrify, to dazzle, and bewilder the noviciate-to captivate his senses by scenes strange and unearthly, rather than to illuminate his mind by those lessons of truth, of practical wisdom, and personal holiness, which the mysteries were originally intended to inculcate, and which were at first taught within the closed recesses of their temples, or beneath the shadow of their sacred groves.

It is evident, therefore, that at this stage of the inquiry much labor will be required to separate the wheat from the chaff, and distinguish the genuine from the spurious Freemasonry. This, however, by perseverance can be accomplished, and in the results arrived at the patient Masonic investigator will meet with his due reward.

In tracing the origin and progress of the mysteries, it will be necessary to keep some leading points in view, which, being of general application, will be found to render great assistance in the investigation. Thus, in the explanation given in the last chapter as to the nature of the Deity, and the three fold distinctions of that nature as symbolized by an equilateral triangle within a circle, we have a certain recognized principle, which, with certain modifications, is traceable throughout every nation of antiquity. We see this as well in the Cneph, Osiris, and Ptha of Egypt, which formed the subject of illustration, as in the Brahma, Vishna, and Siva of India-in the Orosmandes, Mithras, and Arimanius of Persia-in the Apollo, Vulcan, and Mercury of Greece-in the Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva of Rome and in the Hu, Ceridwen, and Creirwy of the Celts.

In like manner it will be found that another principle of a duplex character is of equally extensive signification, and was as universally understood. This principle was in Egypt symbolized by the junction of OSIRIS and ISIS. In this sense, OSIRIS figuratively represented the active masculine energy and mysterious power emanating from the Divine Architect, by which all created things are generated and nourished. Isis represented the passive feminine principle, or generative nurse and mother of the world-the grand receptacle of the benign influences of Osiris, producing by her plastic power, both fruits, and flowers, and animated things. She is thus "the goddess of a thousand names, the infinite Myrionyma, endued with the property of receiving all kind of impressions, and of being converted into all manner of forms which the supreme reason shall impress upon her." Isis was therefore a personification of nature, and Osiris of the creative energy by which nature is rendered prolific. The effects of this Divine union were perceptible in the variegated face of creation;-in the smiling harvest-in the purple vineyards in the luscious fruits and blooming flowers-in the verdant meads and shady woodlands-and in all which ministered to the comfort and enjoyment of man. But the mysterious process by which nature nurtured and matured the embryo seed entrusted to her bosom, the potent energy which caused the sapling to spring into a goodly tree, and the simple grain to throw forth stems and burst into a thousand blossoms, though referred to in the celebration of the mysteries, were secrets which the human mind, from its finite nature, could not then, nor in its present imperfect state, can ever hope to penetrate. The inscrutable secrets of nature are, by the unerring wisdom of the Almighty, veiled from mortal comprehension. Around them he has thrown ramparts as impassable as those which of old shadowed the Holiness of his Presence at Sinai. Into the profound arena of nature no living eye can be permitted to gaze. Thus we may apprehend what was intended by the solemn and comprehensive description of Isis engraved on the front of her majestic temple at Sais-"I am every thing that hath been, that is, or shall be; and no mortal hath ever yet removed the veil that shadows my divinity from human eyes."

In the Egyptian triad, before explained, it has been observed that all the emblems are ultimately resolvable into one Eternal Deity, the distinctions being in the nature of essences, indicative rather of peculiar attributes than of distinct beings. The same explanation is here applicable to Isis and Osiris. Both being in fact the same, though at first regarded separately as individual emanations, and subsequently united to personify or allegorize certain results perceptible in the operations of nature, but incapable of complete comprehension by the human intellect. Thus each, representing in fact the same divine power, would, as a meniber of the sacred triad, be symbolized by the triangle, and the peculiar junction of the divine essences here alluded to, would be indicated by the intersection of a second triangle; and this, I apprehend, was in the east the earliest signification of the following well-known emblem, a double triangle within a circle, with a dot in the centre, though the attributes and essences it was there intended to symbolize were distinguished by different names, and known under different personifications.

In Egypt, this mystical union with its effect was more frequently symbolized in a somewhat different manner. Thus, the SQUARE was the emblem of matter (IsIs) and the TRIANGLE of the creative power or generating fire (OSIRIS.) From their conjunction all things were said to proceed. THE QUADRANGULAR PYRAMID, formed from the union of these symbols, thus became an emblem of those profound mysteries involved in the conjoint operations of the creative and productive powers of nature. It has been imagined by some that the great pyramids were constructed by the Hebrews during their sojourn in Egypt. This is however mere conjecture, unsupported by evidence. These wondrous efforts of Masonic skill, in all probability the oldest remaining on the face of the earth, were hoary with age when the children of Israel settled in the land of Goshen; and were emblems of sublime truths known to a civilized nation when Abraham and his

family were wanderers in the wilderness; and the early patriarchs tended their herds and fed their flocks amid the mountains and plains of Syria.

In the abuse of these sacred emblems we trace the prevalence of gross superstitions, which at one time spread over the greater portion of the ancient world; we see the origin of the phallic worship, and under varied symbols and rites, trace the perversion of the knowledge of these profound and mysterious energies in almost every country--a perversion which in all its grossness, still lingers in the east. OSIRIS and Isis were further symbolized by the SUN and the MooN. These luminaries, as material objects, were the first to receive a degree of adoration. The existence of the supreme presiding principle was at first fully recognized and taught to the initiated; yet, regarded as the most glorious object in the visible universe, as the fountain of light and source of heat to the material world, the sun beaming with resplendence in oriental climes, and under whose genial influence the buds burst forth into blossoms, and the teeming earth produced her fruit, was supposed to offer an imperfect resemblance to the attributes of Osiris, and, as a faint copy of the brightness of the Divine original, worthy to be honored with external worship. The throne of Osiris was considered to be seated in the sun, and that resplendent region was imagined to contain the paradise of the blessed.

The moon, sailing with silvery beams across the clear expanse of eastern skies, diffusing a mild irradiance over the starry vault of heaven in those delicious regions, where the mildness of the clime permits the inhabitauts to repose in open air, could not fail to arrest the watchful eye of the contemplative, and she was accordingly deemed to be a fit representation of the consort of Osiris. The sun and moon thus became equally objects of adoration-at first simply as material emblems of the attributes they represented, but afterwards in a more idolatrous

sense.

The universality of these objects is likewise remarkable; they pervaded Egypt and India, Greece and Rome, and were equally regarded among the Scandinavian and Celtic races. They appear as symbols, with other mythological emblems, on ancient British coins. They are impressed in like manner on the Great Seal of England, in the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion; and also appear within a triangle on the reverse of the Hibernian coins of King John-and, as expressive symbols of the beneficence of the great Architect of the Universe, as well as for their astronomical references, are still retained as conspicuous emblems in our Lodges.

The various phases which the sun-worship presents are no less remarkable; but the most important will be found in Persia, from whence this system of adoration travelled into western climes, and, no doubt, at a very early period into the British Isles.

We thus have the commencement of an idolatrous system of worship in the undue reverence paid to the material emblems of the secret and mysterious processes of nature. Superstition had afterwards a wider field in the perversion of the language of astronomy. This was a science in which the ancient inhabitants of Syria, as well as the Egyptians, had attained great perfection. Carefully noticing the various celestial phenomena in their mild and delicious clime, where the stars glitter with a brightness unknown to our northern skies-marking their ascension and descension-they learned to divide the year into seasons, and to regulate the time proper for the tillage of their soil and the growing of their grain. By degrees they arranged the stars into separate series, and classified them under different constellations. Each constellation was represented by some hieroglyphical device, and hence arose mythological fables, which at first referring solely to astronomical phenomena, were afterwards regarded as actual Occurrences. Another ingredient of idolatry originated (through the proneness of the human mind to superstition) in a belief in the influences of the heavenly bodies. Observing the consequences resulting from their particular situations and conjunctions at various times in the heavens, it was imagined that these glittering orbs must in their revolutions exercise like influence upon the earth, upon