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Signs and symbols illustrated and explained
Signs and symbols illustrated and explained Author:George Oliver Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LECTURE III. ON THE SERPENT. " So spake the enemy of mankind, enclosed In Serpent inmate bad, and towards Eve Address'd his way, not with inden... more »ted wave, Prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear Circular base of rising folds, that tower'd Fold above fold, a surging maze, his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes, With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass Floated abundant; pleasing was his shape And lovely." Milton. The Serpent is universally esteemed a legitimate Symbol of Freemasonry; yet though commonly introduced into all the groups of emblematical characters, which the fancy of ingenious Brethren may have designed, either for amusement or instruction, its origin and secret reference are not satisfactorily accounted for in the peculiar Lectures of Masonry. The subject may be involved in some uncertainty, but an attention to the general principles on which our Science has been founded, may do much towards unravelling the mystery; and may chance to produce a genuine illustration. One great result of the enquiry will certainly be, that the emblematical Serpent will be found to have had a place in the most ancient systems of primitive Masonry, and was a Symbol almost coequalwith its institution on this globe, by the first created man. You are not ignorant that the Serpent has an established place amongst our emblems; although its true allegorical reference is not given in our accustomed disquisitions. It may be urged that this animal is the Symbol of Wisdom, as the Dove is of Innocence, because our Saviour connects these qualities with the same creatures. But this is to be satisfied with a very contracted explanation of a significant emblem, which certainly represents o...« less