O.F.F.
An Ex-Mason for Jesus
SealedEternal said:The story of Hiram Abiff parallels the story of Osiris in many ways,
The Third Degree of Freemasonry has to do with the Hiramic Legend. You are correct regarding its parallel to the legend of Osiris, though not explained as such during the degree or its lecture. Most Masons who learn of this parallel, do so by further study of Freemasonry and the speculated origins of its symbolism. Here is an example from the revered Albert Pike:
The Egyptian legend was that the King of Byblos cut down the tamarisk-tree containing the body of OSIRIS, and made of it a column for his palace. Isis, employed in the palace, obtained possession of the column, took the body out of it, and carried it away. Apuleius describes her as "a beautiful female, over whose divine neck her long thick hair hung in graceful ringlets;" and in the procession female attendants, with ivory combs, seemed to dress and ornament the royal hair of the goddess. The palm-tree, and the lamp in the shape of a boat, appeared in the procession. If the symbol we are speaking of is not a mere modern invention, it is to these things it alludes.
The identity of the legends is also confirmed by this hieroglyphic picture, copied from an ancient Egyptian monument, which may also enlighten you as to the Lion's grip and the Master's gavel.
Morals & Dogma, by Albert Pike, p. 81
The Lion's Paw or Grip, referred to, is the one used in the ceremony of the third degree ritual to raise a Master Mason from "a dead level to a living perpendicular on the square" (a Masonic waterless-baptism of sorts). And, the Master's gavel referenced relates to the "gavel of authority" of the head of a lodge who is called the Worshipful Master. So it makes perfect sense that this is no coincidence. As Pike says, if the symbols spoken of here (Hiram vs. Osiris, Lion's grip and Master's gavel) are not mere modern inventions, it is to these things (ancient mysteries) that they allude.
Additionally, the following excerpts from the legendary Dr. Albert G. Mackey, show the comparison of the two legends (Hiramic & Osirisic) and its ultimate purpose in Freemasonry of teaching the immortality of the soul:
A legend differs from an historical narrative only in thisthat it is without documentary evidence of authenticity. It is the offspring solely of tradition. Its details may be true in part or in whole. There may be no internal evidence to the contrary, or there may be internal evidence that they are altogether false. But neither the possibility of truth in the one case, nor the certainty of falsehood in the other, can remove the traditional narrative from the class of legends. It is a legend simply because it rests on no written foundation. It is oral, and therefore legendary. . .
Take, for instance, the Hiramic legend of the third degree. Of what importance is it to the disciple of Masonry whether it be true or false? All that he wants to know is its internal signification; and when he learns that it is intended to illustrate the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, he is content with that interpretation, and he does not deem it necessary, except as a matter of curious or antiquarian inquiry, to investigate its historical accuracy, or to reconcile any of its apparent contradictions. . .
Osiris, the husband of Isis, was an ancient king of the Egyptians. Having been slain by Typhon, his body was cut into pieces18 by his murderer, and the mangled remains cast upon the waters of the Nile, to be dispersed to the four winds of heaven. His wife, Isis, mourning for the death and the mutilation of her husband, for many days searched diligently with her companions for the portions of the body, and having at length found them, united them together, and bestowed upon them decent interment,while Osiris, thus restored, became the chief deity of his subjects, and his worship was united with that of Isis, as the fecundating and fertilizing powers of nature. The candidate in these initiations was made to pass through a mimic repetition of the conflict and destruction of Osiris, and his eventual recovery; and the explanations made to him, after he had received the full share of light to which the painful and solemn ceremonies through which he had passed had entitled him, constituted the secret doctrine of which I have already spoken, as the object of all the Mysteries. Osiris,a real and personal god to the people,to be worshipped with fear and with trembling, and to be propitiated with sacrifices and burnt offerings, became to the initiate but a symbol of the "Great first cause, least understood," while his death, and the wailing of Isis, with the recovery of the body, his translation to the rank of a celestial being, and the consequent rejoicing of his spouse, were but a tropical mode of teaching that after death comes life eternal, and that though the body be destroyed, the soul shall still live. . .
A similar legend and similar ceremonies, varied only as to time, and place, and unimportant details, were to be found in all the initiations of the ancient Mysteries. The dogma was the same,future life,and the method of inculcating it was the same.
The Symbolism of Freemasonry: Illustrating and Explaining, Its Science and Philosophy, its Legends, Myths and Symbols. by Albert G. Mackey, M.D.
The danger for Masons who claim to be Christians is that, as they study these ancient mysteries, they are more apt to get interested in mysticism, the occult, and the study of ancient and modern world religions in "the quest to gain more light in Masonry," than in the truth of Christ and Christianity, by studying the Holy Bible and its commentaries instead.
Over time, as one persists in Freemasonry and the study of its philosophy, I believe that a satanic spirit influences most Masons to come to believe that the idea of "one religion in which all men agree" is far more noble, and much more greater than the one relationship which sets all men free. And as a result, they slowly lose their loyalty and support of biblical truth in favor of central truth common to all religions. Of course, this assumes they had at least an ounce of genuine Christian faith to begin with.
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