ceive, and the sciences in which he might be instructed *. The doctrines of charity, of universal benevolence, and especially of affection to the Brethren of the Order, were warmly recommended to the young disciples; and such was the influence which they had upon their minds, that discord seemed to have been banished from Italy; and the golden age to have again returned. Strangers of every country, of every religion, and of every rank in life, were received, if properly qualified, into the Pythagorean association . Like Free Masons they had particular words and figns, by which they might distinguish each other, and correspond at a distance ¶. They wore white garments, as an emblem of their innocence**. They had a particular regard for the Eaft ++. They advanced from one degree of knowledge to another ‡‡. They were forbidden to commit to writing their mysteries, which were pre

* Jamblichus cap. 23. p. 104. + Id.

сар. 8. P. 53. cap. 33. p. 193. cap. 6. p. 43. cap. 23. p. 102. Basnage's History of the Jews, b. ii. cap. 13. § 21. Anthologia Hibernica for March 1794, p. 181.

Jamblichus, cap. 7. p. 46.

Gillies, v. 2. p. 28.

Jamblichus, cap. 33. p. 202. ¶ Gillies, v. 2. p. 27. Anthologia Hibernica, for March 1794, p. 181.

** Basnage, b. ii, chap. 13. § 21. Anthologia Hibernica for March 1794, p. 183.

++ Basnage, b. ii. chap. 13. § 21.

1 Jamblichus, cap. 17. p. 72.

F

preserved solely by tradition *: The Pythagorean symbols and secrets were borrowed from the Egyptians, the Orphic and Eleusinian rites, the Magi, the Iberians, and the Celts +. They consisted chiefly of the arts and sciences, united with theology and ethics, and were communicated to the initiated in cyphers and symbols. To those who were destitute of acute discernment, these hieroglyphic representations seemed pregnant with absurdity, while others, of more penetration, discovered in them hidden treasures, calculated to inform the understanding, and purify the heart. An association of this nature, founded upon such principles, and fitted for such ends, did not continue long in obscurity. In a short time it extended over the kingdoms of Italy and Sicily, and was diffused even through ancient Greece, and the islands of the Egean sea ¶. Like other secret societies, it was vilified by malicious men, who were prohibited from fharing its advantages, from the weakness of their minds and the depravity of their hearts **. Chagrined

*Jamblichus, part i. cap. 32. p. 191.

with

+ Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses, book iii. sect. 3. vol. 2. p. 132, 133. Jamblichus, cap. 8. p. 139. Gillies. v. 2. P. 27.

Jamblichus, cap. 8. p. 139. Gillies ut supra.

Jamblichus, cap. 23. p. 104; cap. 32. p. 191, 192. It is remarkable that this often happens in Free Masonry. Gillies, v. 2. p. 28. Jamblichus cap. 35. p. 207.

with disappointment, and enflamed with rage, they often executed vengeance upon the innocent Pythagoreans, and even set fire to the lodges in which they were assembled. But the disciples of the sage persisted in that honourable cause in which they had embarked; and, though the persecution of their enemies drove them from their native land, they still retained for each other the sympathy of brothers, and often suffered death in its most agonizing form, rather than violate the engagements into which they had entered †. An attempt, like this, against the society of Free Masons, has been witnessed in our own day. It has not, indeed, proceeded to such an extremity of violence. The spirit of extirpation, however, existed in sentiment, though it had not the courage to display itself in action. Disaffection to government, and disrespect to religion, were charged upon them with all the confidence of truth: And, had the governments of Europe been childish enough to swallow the dreams of a few nervous philosophers, their subjects might, at this moment, have been armed against each other, and the nations of the world embroiled in discord.

FROM these observations, it is manifest, that the Pythagorean and Masonic institutions, were similar in their external forms, as well as in the objects

Jamblichus p. 208. et seq.

+ Id. Id. chap. 32. p. 189.

1

objects which they had in view; and that both of them experienced, from contemporaries, the same unmerited reproach, Mr Clinch, in his Essays on Free Masonry *, has enumerated, at great length, all the points of resemblance between these two institutions. He attempts to prove, that Free Masonry took its rise from the Pythagorean Fraternity; but though he has been successful in pointing out a remarkable coincidence between these associations, he has no authority for concluding, that the former originated from the latter. In a Masonic manuscript, preserved in the Bodleian library, in the handwriting of King Henry VI. it is expressly said, that Pythagoras learned masonry from Egypt and Syria, and from those countries where it had been planted by the Phenicians; that the Pythagoreans carried it into France; and that it was, in the course of time, imported from that country into England +. This, indeed, is no direct proof of our opinion; it shows us, at least, that the same sentiments have been entertained about four hundred years ago by the Fraternity in England. It has been supposed by some philosophers, that Pythagoras derived his mysteries chiefly from

1

* Published in the Anthologia Hibernica for 1794.

the

Lives of Leland, Hearne, and Wood, Oxford 1772. Appendix to the life of Leland, No vii. A copy of this manuscript may be seen in every work on Free Masonry.

Faydit Lettre, Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres,

Octobre 1703, P. 472;

the Essenes, who were, at that time, much respected, and very numerous, in Egypt and Syria. The wonderful similarity, indeed, between these societies, both in the forms which they had in common with Free Masonry, and in those lesser customs and ceremonies, which were peculiar to themselves, render such a supposition extremely probable. It is remarked by all Ecclesiastical historians, that the Essenes were Pythagoreans, both in discipline and doctrine*; without ever considering that the former existed some hundred years before the birth of Pythagoras †. The Pythagoreans, therefore, were connected with the Essenes, and the Essenes with the Kasideans, who engaged to preserve, and adorn the temple of Jerusalem.

* Gregory's Church History, v. I. cent. I.

Pliny, book 5. cap. 17. Solinus, cap. 35. p. 43.

THERE

Along with these fraternities, the Druids might have been mentioned, as resembling Free Masons in the object, as well as in the ceremonies of their Order. But the learned are so divided in their sentiments, concerning the nature and opinions of this Fraternity, that it is difficult to handle the subject, without transgressing the limits of authentic history. The most probable of all the hypotheses concerning the origin of the Druids, is that which supposes them to have learned their mysteries from the Pythagoreans. For in the 57th Olympiad, about 550 B. C. a colony of Phocians imported into Gaul the philosophy and the arts of Greece (Justin, lib. 43. cap. 4.); and prior to this period, fraternities of Pythagoreans had been established in Greece. Ammianus Marcellinus, (lib, 15. cap. 9.) informs us," that the Druids were formed in

to