was underftood, efpecially by tbofe who had been initated into the mysteries in 
Egypt; yet in fucceeding ages, when reprefented with more attention to the exter- 
ternal ceremonies, than to the fublime communications which they had involved ; 
the whole eafily became refolveable into the marvellous ftory of fome very remark- 
ably diflinguifhed perfon thereby commemorated. 
But this fhall finally be more fully elucidated in the progrefs of a comment on the 
figures fculpturedon the feal of the annexed plate, marked ^InttWtlOU- 
“ It evidently reprefents fome formidable ceremony in a facred place where a 
•< Pontiff prefides inflate ; one hand on his bread, expreffive of ferioufnefs, the other 
“ firetched out at a right angle, holding a rod and crofs, the badge of high office, 
“ while he makes fome aweful appeal refpefting a fuppliant, who, in aloofe robe, blind- 
“ folded, with Teeming terror, kneels before the fleps of an altar, as undergoing fome 
f ‘ fevere humiliation; while feveral attendants withdrawn (words, brandifhedthem over 
“ his head As fome explanation of the above, it may beoblerved that there is a re- 
markable concurrence of defign and refemblance of perfons and attitudes, in the 
figures of the above feal, with thofe in a print accompanying a pamphlet on masonry, 
publifhed by an officer at Berlin ; and this is the more worthy of notice, becaufe he 
there gives an account of the ceremonies of initiation ; and the prints are appofite re- 
prefentations of them. That which exhibits the manner of adminiftering the tremen- 
dous oath of fecrecy, tnd of receiving the rudiments of the occult fcience, at the com- 
munication of the firfl beams of light, is a pretty exaft counterpart of the figures 
on the feal of the plate; and the proltrate perfon in both, brings to remembrance 
a defcription which Plutarch in his famous Efiay " de Osiris,” gives of the engrav- 
ing of a Seal, which the Prielts of Ifisufed in their folemnities, viz. that of a" max 
" kneeling, with his hands bound, a knife at his throat. See .” 
And it is not a little remarkable, which is more to the.prefent purpofe, in how ma- 
ny particulars, the myflerious fate of Osiris, as recorded by the above celebrated' 
author, correfponds with the accounts of Hiram, given in the mentioned pamphlet, 
a ftrong infinuation that the annals of' the latter, however mutilated and defaced, 
have fome how or other, been defeended from the Elucinian Myflerics / and that the 
Masonic rites of admiffion into a Lodge, are a faint fketcb, an imperfeft epitome, 
of the auguft ceremonies which took place at Initiation into the fecrets which 
hallowed the primeval Fanes: and this high origin, when aifeerned may have, 
been atthe bottom of thatgeneral refpe£l:,'which men of learninghave avowed forthein.f 
This fubjeft, as an amufing refearch into antiquity, may be refumed ; it only re- 
mains at prefent to fpecify. 
That Hyram £ coming forth in hallowed dignity of chara&er, from within the 
veil of the fan&uary ; violated in the open Temple of the World, by the ignorant 
and; 
* The other Seal ofLiNDORES, with the Autograph of the Abbot’s hand writing, reprefenting the 
Holy Virgin, and Homage paid to the Word of God manifeiled in human form, needs no illuftmion. 
here. f See Mr. Lock’ Letter on the Subjeft, &c». $ The Lighu 
