The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

160 HISTORY OF INITIATION.
had been reduced, alluding to the long and weary confinement
of the candidate in the pastos, where, in the
language of the bard, he was " subjected to the yoke for
his affliction ;" and the seven score knobs, 47 was a combination
of the sacred number sscvcn and three; ((7-J-3+3 2 )
X7+7) and doubtless had some mysterious 'astronomical
allusion.
The divine unity was a doctrine admitted by the
Druids. 43
They taught that time was only an intercepted
fragment of eternity ; and there are strong grounds for
believing that they held the Pythagorean hypothesis of
an endless succession of worlds for it is well ; known
that they believed the earth to have sustained one general
destruction by water and ; expected that it would un-
dergo another by
fire. 49
They admitted the doctrines of
the immortality of the soul, 50 a future state, 51 and a day
of judgment which will be conducted on the principle of
man's responsibility. In a word, the primitive religion
52 of the Druids was purely patriarchal and ; they retained
some knowledge of the redemption of mankind through
the death of a mediator. 53 Their place of eternal punishment
was a quagmire of never-ending frost, and abound-
ing with noxious insects and venomous reptiles. But,
though the most early Druids practised, with some varia-
tions, the rites of true worship, yet, in process of time,
other deities were introduced into the system ; and at
length, they paid divine honours to deceased mortals, who
were considered the representatives of the sun, the moon,
and all the host of Heaven. 54 A tradition of the Deluge 55
t
47 In Maurice's Plates of the Indian Avaters, the sacred Cow is uniformly
depicted with a collar composed of a similar wreath of knobs,
48 We learn from Selden that their invocations were made to the
ONE all-preserving power and ; they argued that, as this power was not
and the sacred symbol used
matter, it must necessarily be the deity ;
to express his Name was O.I.W. (Signs and Symbols, Lect. 2.)
49 Couditum mundum credebant, says Cesar, et aliquando igni periturum.
so
Borl< AnL Co 98>
61
Cesar debel. 1. Gal., vi.,
c. 13.
62
Stukcley. Itin. Cur., vol. ii., p. 14. M
Cesar, ut supra.
84 Vide my 'Hist, of
Beverley, p. 19,
in nota 14.
55 The legend preserved amongst the British Druids is inserted in
Signs and Symbols, (Lect. 5.) and History of Beverley, (p. 11,) where
it is evident that the vessel without sails was the Ark of Noah j (Gen.
vi., 14,) the bursting of the lake referred to the description of the
great central abyss; (Ibid, vii., 11,) the service performed by the Ychen