Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater ...

XX
Introduction.
look for uninterrupted threads, yet nevertheless will
the careful student find the lines of transmission unmistakable,
and the interruptions no bar to the
proof of transmission from age to age.
Masonry deals largely with the ethics and symbolism
of the Ancient Mysteries. The writer believes
that through the well-timed efforts of Masons
today the grandest achievements in knowledge ever
gained by man, which were originally
concealed in
the Greater Mysteries of Antiquity, and in time became
lost to the world, may be again recovered.
In
the strictest sense this knowledge has never really
been lost, as there have always existed those who
were possessed of the Great Secret. It was originally
veiled in order to conceal it from the profane,
and written in a universal language of Symbolism
that the wise among all nations and throughout
all time might read it, as it^were, in their own
language. It was also written in parable and allegory,
so that the unlettered and common people
might not be deprived of its wise precepts, and of
its force in shaping character, dissipating ignorance,
and inspiring hope.
This Ancient Wisdom is
the fountain from which Masonry takes its rise.
The true Science of Symbolism in time became
lost; the Temples of Initiation fell into decay, or