As the sevants of one God, our predecessors professed the temple, wherein the Deity approved to be served, was not of the work of men's hands. In this the Druids copied after them:-the universe, they confessed, was filled with his presence, and he was not hidden from the most distant quarters of creation: they looked upwards to the heavens as his throne, and wheresoever under the sun they worshipped, they regarded themselves as being in the dwelling-place of the Divinity, from whose eye nothing was concealed.The ancients not only refrained from building temples, but even held it utterly unlawful; because they thought no temple spacious enough for the Sun, the great symbol of the Deity. "Mundus universus est 66 templum solis" was their maxim; they thought it profane to set limits to the infinity of the Deity ;when, in later ages, they built temples, they left them open to the heavens, and unroofed.

THE True Believers, in order to withdraw and distinguish themselves from the rest of mankind, especially the idolaters with whom they were surrounded, adopted emblems and mystic devices, together with certain distinguishing principles, whereby they should be known to each other, and also certify that they were servants of that God, in whose hands all creation existed. By these means, they also protected themselves from persecution, and their faith from the ridicule of the incredulous vulgar. To this end, when they rehearsed the principles of their profession, they pronounced,—" That they were worshippers in "that temple, whose bounds were from the distant

quarters of the universe; whose height was no

"otherwise limited than by the heavens, and whose "depth was founded on that axis, on which the revo❤ lutions of the starry zodiac were performed."

THE Egyptians are described to us, as being the first people who advanced to any high degree of knowledge in astronomy, arts and sciences:-those were the means of discovering and proving to them the existence of the Divinity, and they worshipped the Author of those sublime works which they contemplated; but through priestcraft, or national prejudices, they soon began to represent the attributes of the Deity in symbols; and, as the visible operations of his omnipotence were chiefly expressed in the powers of the sun and moon, whose influence they perceived through all the field of nature, they depicted the Deity by those heavenly bodies, and at length, under the names of Osiris and Isis, adored the God of nature.*

* Dr. Owen divides the whole of idolatrous worship into Sabaism and Hellenism; the former consists in the worship of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the host of heaven (which only is to my present purpose) which, it is probable, a few ages after the flood had its beginning. Dr. Prideaux says "the true religion which Noah taught his posterity, 66 was that which Abraham practised, the worshipping of one God, the "Supreme Governor of all things, through a Mediator. Men could "not determine what essence contained this power of mediation, no clear "revelation being then made of the Mediator whom God appointed, be"cause as yet he had not been manifested in the world, they look upon " them to address him by mediators of their own chusing; and their "notion of the Sun, Moon, and Stars., being, that they were habitations "of intelligences, which animated the orbs in the same manner as the "soul animates the body of man, and were causes of their motion; and "that these intelligences were of a middle sort between God and them: they "thought these the properest things to be mediators between God and them; and therefore the planets being the nearest of all the heavenly

As we derived many of our mysteries and moral principles from the doctrines of Pythagoras, who had acquired his learning in Egypt, and others from the Phoenicians, who had received the Egyptian theology

"bodies, and generally looked on to have the greatest influence on this "world, they made choice of them in the first place, as their gods' "mediators, who were to mediate with the Supreme God for them, "and to procure from him mercies and favours, which they prayed “ for.”—Herodotus says that Osiris and Isis were the two great deities of the Egyptians; and almost the whole mythology of that ancient people is included in what their priests fabled of them. Plutarch conceives, that by Osiris the Sun is to be understood, and this Macrobius confirms, adding that Osiris, in the Egyptian language, signifies manyeyed, and Isis the ancient, or the Moon. Osiris, according to Banier, is the same as Misraim, the son of Cham, who peopled Egypt some time after the deluge. And Dr. Cumberland, Bishop of Peterborough, says Misraim, the son of Cham, grandchild of Noah, was the first King of Egypt, and founder of their monarchy; and that Osiris was an appropriated title, signifying the prince, and Isis is Ishab his wife. Diodorus Siculus, who has transmitted down to us with great care the most ancient traditions of the Egyptians, asserts this prince is the same with Menes, the first King of Egypt. Perhaps at his apotheosis his name was changed to that of Osiris, according to some historians. As the images of Osiris were very resplendent to represent the beams of light from the Sun, so in their hymns of praise, they celebrate him as resting in the bosom of the Sun.

From the authority of Banier, and other historians, we learn, that the gods of the Egyptians were adopted by the Phoenicians: that their theology was propagated by the Phenicians into the East, and in the West; and some traces of them are found in almost every island of the Mediterranean.

In Syria we find the same theology, the Sun under the name of Adonis, and the Moon of Ashtaroth. The festival of Adonis is mentioned in Baruch, chap. vii. 30, 31. “The priests of that city sat in their "temples uncovered and shaven, and mourning as at a feast for the * dead." The prophet complains that Solomon went after Ashtaroth, and after Melcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

in an early age, it is not to be wondered that we should adopt Egyptian symbols, to represent or express the attributes of the Divinity.

THE Pythagorean system of philosophy also points out to us a reason for the figure of the Sun being introduced into the Lodge, as being the centre of the

The Chaldeans and Babylonians paid adoration to Fire, and held the Sabaism worship-The Persians worshipped the Sun and Fire.

St. Cyril, writing on the Pythagorean principles, says,—“ We see "plainly that Pythagoras maintained that there was but one God, the " Original and Cause of all things, who enlightens every thing, ani"mates every thing, and from whom every thing proceeds, who has given being to all things, and is the Source of all motion."

Pythagoras thus defines the Divinity :-" God is neither the object "of sense nor subject to passion; but invisible, purely intelligible, " and supremely intelligent. In his body he is like the light, and in "his soul he resembles Truth. He is the universal Spirit that pervades " and diffuses itself over all nature. All beings receive their life from "Him. There is but one only God, who is not, as some are apt to "imagine, seated above the world, beyond the orb of the universe; "but being all in Himself, He sees all the beings that inhabit his im"mensity. He is the sole principle, the light of heaven, the Father "of all; He produces every thing, He orders and disposes every thing; "He is the reason, the life, and the motion of all beings."

Plutarch says " "Osiris is neither the Sun, nor the Water, nor the "Earth, nor the Heaven; but whatever there is in nature well disposed, "well regulated, good and perfect, all that is the image of Osiris.”

Seneca the stoic says-" "Tis of very little consequence by what Iname you call the first nature, and the divine reason that presides over "the universe, and fills all the parts of it—he is still the same God."He is called Jupiter Stator, not, as historians say, because he stopped "the flying armies of the Romans, but because he is the constant support of all beings.-They call him Fate, because he is the first cause

on which all others depend. We stoics sometimes call him Father "Bacchus, because he is the universal life that animates nature; “ Hercules, because his power is invincible;— Mercury, because, he is

planetary system which he taught, as well as the emblem of the Deity which he served. This grand Megavia was a symbol expressing the first and greatest principle of his doctrines. This was also a representation of the Abrax, which governed the stellary world and our diurnal revolutions.

In the books of Hermes Trismegistus, who was an Egyptian, and said to be contemporary with Abraham's grandfather, is this remarkable passage; speaking of the Deity, he says, "But if thou wilt see him, "consider and understand the sun, consider the course "of the moon, consider the order of the stars.-Oh "thou unspeakable, unutterable, to be praised with "silence."

FROM hence we are naturally led to perceive the origin of the Egyptian symbolization, and the reason for their adopting those objects, as expressive of the might, majesty, and omnipresence of the Deity.*

"the eternal reason, order, and wisdom. You may give him as many names as you please, provided you allow but one sole principle, every' "where present.”

* The learned Dr. Stukely, speaking of Stonehenge, says he took his dimensions of this monument by the Hebrew, Phoenician, or Egyptian cubit, being twenty inches and three-fourths of an inch English measure. He dates this erection from the time of Cambyses' invasion of Egypt, before the time of building the second temple at Jerusalem, at an æra when the Phoenician trade was at its height; and he presumes that when the priests fled from Egypt under the cuelties committed by that invader, they dispersed themselves to distant parts of the world, and introduced their learning, arts, and religion, among the Druids in Britain.