The Arcana of Freemasonry (1915) - The Masonic Trowel

THE ARCANA OF FREEMASONRY 205
We have in our forms and ceremonies, Signs and
Symbols, the cult of these old Wise Men of Egypt,
and it is not difficult to trace back how we came,
and how all our Signs and Symbols have been
brought on. We must not think, as some people
do, that they worshipped these Signs and Symbols,
because they did not ; we will take as an instance
this so-called Idol, Tandayudhaswami, " if this was
a Figure or Symbol of the Great God Atum," as
Iu, it must have been Atum they worshipped and
not the Symbol.
The old faith has never died, and we Free-
masons have it in the purest form, with the addi-
tions which indicate the progress of humanity.
Although we use the old Signs and Symbols as
ancient types, we have replaced these by a
language unknown to our old Brotherhood, in
which we have developed a higher Spiritual
terminology.
It is only within the last few years we have
been able to read the Hieroglyphics. Even now
we have very few students who can read and under-
stand their ancient Astro-Mythology, and the
evolution from this into their Eschatology, or their
doctrine of final things. No country has yet
attained again that high state of knowledge of
Astronomy and Mathematics that these old Mystery
Teachers possessed. They kept their wisdom to
one class— these in Egyptian were called the " Hir-