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

76 Mystic Masonry.
from those of the so-called Pagan world.
The Mystery
of Christ received a new interpretation after the
first Nicene Council, and as the Church sought dominion,
it lost the Great Secret, and since then has
denied that it ever existed, and done all in its
power to obliterate all its records and monuments.
While we are concerned with Masonry rather than
Christianity, it is, nevertheless, necessary to show
the connecting links, in order that the "Ancient
Landmarks" may not only be discerned, but correctly
interpreted. Neither Christianity nor Freemasonry
is the direct and lineal descendant of the
Greater Mysteries of Antiquity, but both are imitators,
and both have failed to preserve the Key of
interpretation, and are generally unaware that such
a Key ever existed. My contention is not against
either Masonry or Christianity, but for the rejuvenation
of both, through the restoration of the Secret
Doctrine to each. Modern Masonry never
possessed the Key, while many of the early Christian
sects had it in their possession, but in time lost
it through worldliness, the greed for earthly dominion,
and the decay of Spirituality.
Something further may be shown as to the origin
of the Christian Mysteries. In the year 525, b. c,
Cambyces, called "the mad," led an army into