The herald., 1896-02-24
Some of the Sermons That We're
Delivered
FREEMASONRY THE SUBJECT
Of the Address Delivered at Unity
Yesterday Morning
The Conservation OF q Bishop In Detroit for
Los Angeles Commented Upon at St.
Paui's-Other Talks

Yesterday morning the pastor OF Unity
church, j. S. Thomson, preached a sermon
upon the Freemasonry of the New Testa-
ment, taking for the text, "Unto you it is
given to know the mystery Of the kingdom
of God; but unto them that are without all
these things are done in parallels, that,
seeing, they may see and not perceive,
and, hearing. they may hear and not un-
derstand. Mark, 4, 11.12. He said in
part:
Christ declared that he had come from
heaven and that he would return thither
after his work on earth was accomplished;
and this is the very doctrine of the ancient
mysteries. The soul descended into mat
ter, and would rise up out of it, and ascend
to the skies. A star directed the Magi to
the infant Christ. and they gave him gold,
frankincense and myrrh. These gifts,
thousands of years before, were offered to
Mithras, the goldman of the ancient Per-
slams; and he was born on the 25th day of
December, when the sun began to gain his
new strength and life. Christ, accord.
ing to Matthew, accepted the Ma
sonic presents from the Magi. and
acknowledged the worship and spirituality
of the Persian mysteries. John the Bap-
tist lived and preached in the neighbor-
hood of the Essenes, who were secret So
ciety, had all things in common, studied
the stars, we're very pious, led pure and
useful lives, and had two orders la.
borers and the healers; and John preached
the gospel of these people on the banks of
the Jordan. Before initiation the candi-
date had to be baptized; and Christ was
baptized by John in the Jordan, and then
he was led by the spirit into the wilderness
to be tested as a candidate. Satan pre-
feuted three temptations, which corre-
spond to the three degrees-the material,
the intellectual and the spiritual. When
the temptations were over, the congratula-
tlons OF angels were given to him. Pauls
third heaven, which he saw in a vision, was
grand enough to be his masters degree.
In the early Christian church the candi-
date for membership had to pass three ex-
aminations and obtain the third degree.
The outsiders, to whom the mysteries
OF the Christian religion were not
made known, were called the profane.
Doorkeepors were placed at the entrances to
prevent the profare from seeing the sacra-
ments, the resurrection and other myster-
les. The three degrees were the auditors,
the catechumens and the faithful. The
Greek and Latin fathers Of the church fav
pred and defended the mysteries. Tertul-
liam, Clemens, Origen, Sts. Basil, Ambrose.
Augustine, Chryostem, Theodoret and
many other great men have written about
the benefits OF the mysteries. Archelaus,
bishop in Mesopotamia in 27S, said:
"These mysteries the church now COM
municates to him who has passed through
the first degree. They are not explained
to the Gentiles at all, nor are they taught
openly in the hearing of the catechumens;
but much that is spoken of is in disguised
terms, that the faithful who have knowi-
edge may become moro learned and the
outsiders may receive no disadvantage"
asSA .ulu urv-I. I.r< Il
had twelve disciples, representing tho
twelve signs of tue Zodiac, the twslve
tribes. the twelve months, the twelve foun-
dations, twelve gates and twelve pearls
in the celestial city. OF these
t~elfe disciples, James, Peter and
nine an outer circle and the seventy a third
circle. To these he told secrets that he did
not tell to the public, and he charged his
disciples frequently not to tell these Sc
crets. He explained many things to his
school which he did not explain to the pub
lie. He spoke often in parallels to the
world and then he explained the parallels
to his school. His words were spirit and
life. They have IA spiritual as we'll as lit
eral meaning, and it is written that "the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life:"
and Paul says that ''neither eye nor ear
nor hear. can understand the mysteries,
but that God has revealed them to us by
the spirit" All our schools and colleges
Are conducted on the method that we must
learn the Subjects in lower class before
we can win promotion into a higher class.
The physicians, scientists, artists, business
men, have secrets that can be learned only
by experience and obedience and discip.
line. They talk of their secrets only with
the initiated. Every good man is a true
Mason, if he only knew it. Ma
sons meet to talk about and to
study the inner spiritual meaning of life,
rnft Pn rira Ina lixrnc oil J.,
days in a body that he takes care of and
that does him good service; but he knows
nothing about the anatomy and physiology
of his body. But another man studies his
body and learns many wonderful mysteries
about its creation and use g; al ne is like
Mason in this respect. Geometry, arithme-
tic, astronomy, architecture have meanings
of an occult nature which no schools can
teach; and the human body has hints in its
creation that Masonic physician cam
not guess. Masonry, and not the Catholic
church. has the keys to unlock the mean
ings of biblical mysteries. The pope never
received Peters keys; for if he had he
would have nothing to say against the Oldest
religious organization in existence. and he
would not need to consult his cardinals
about Interpretation of scripture. Neither
the pope nor representatives Of the So
called higher criticism of the Bible can in
terpret Ezekiel, Revelation and other
important parts of the scripture.
They do not possess the KEY.
The critics of Germany and Holland,
and the Protestant commentators max,
most absurd and laughable interpretations
of the Bible. They seem to forget that
.the letter killeth." The scene on the
Mount of TRANSPORTATION is Masonic. Two
great Hebrew Masons appeared to Christ
and his three disciples of the inner circle.
Moses was the adopted son of royal
priestess of Egypt, and he was ''learned
In all the wisdom of the Egyptians Eli
jah was q wonderfully spiritual man, and
he had q great deal to do with fire, and he
went to heaven in fiame.chariot. These
two past grand masters conversed with
the divine master about the revelation of
wonderful mysteries, soon to take place,
when Christ would fulfill all the prophe-
cies about the resurrection. The voice,
the dress. the light, the three tabernacles,
which we're three lodges, the face of Christ,
are all truly Masonic in their syInboiical
nature. The star. the lamb, the lion, the
dove, the cup, the crown, the cross, the SER
pent are symbols of Christ; and they were
symbols in the sanctuaries of the ancient
mysteries thousands of years before
Chrst's birth. The symbols of the Catho-
lie church, altar, holy water. confessional,
baptism, confirmation. real presence in
bread and wine, vestments, belonged to the
sanctuary Of Mithnas of Persia. 1t is Gu
rious that the Catholic church opposes
Freemasonry; for the church is copy of
the lodge, and there is nothing in masonry
that is hostile to the Catholic or any other
church. Liberty, equality and fraternity
are taught in the lodge. Itinculcates belief