The Builders: A Story and Study of MasonryNewton, Joseph Fort
Religion
The Builders: A Story and Study of Masonry
Newton, Joseph Fort
Freemasons
Meanwhile, the waters carried the chest out to sea, as far as Byblos
in Syria, the town of Adonis, where it lodged against a shrub of
arica, or tamarisk--like an acacia tree.[40] Owing to the virtue of
the body, the shrub, at its touch, shot up into a tree, growing around
it, and protecting it, until the king of that country cut the tree
which hid the chest in its bosom, and made from it a column for his
palace. At last Isis, led by a vision, came to Byblos, made herself
known, and asked for the column. Hence the picture of her weeping over
a broken column torn from the palace, while Horus, god of Time, stands
behind her pouring ambrosia on her hair. She took the body back to
Egypt, to the city of Bouto; but Typhon, hunting by moonlight, found
the chest, and having recognized the body of Osiris, mangled it and
scattered it beyond recognition. Isis, embodiment of the old
world-sorrow for the dead, continued her pathetic quest, gathering
piece by piece the body of her dismembered husband, and giving him
decent interment. Such was the life and death of Osiris, but as his
career pictured the cycle of nature, it could not of course end here.
Horus fought with Typhon, losing an eye in the battle, but finally
overthrew him and took him prisoner. There are several versions of his
fate, but he seems to have been tried, sentenced, and executed--"cut
in three pieces," as the Pyramid Texts relate. Thereupon the faithful
son went in solemn procession to the grave of his father, opened it,
and called upon Osiris to rise: "Stand up! Thou shalt not end, thou
shalt not perish!" But death was deaf. Here the Pyramid Texts recite
the mortuary ritual, with its hymns and chants; but in vain. At length
Osiris awakes, weary and feeble, and by the aid of the strong grip of
the lion-god he gains control of his body, and is lifted from death to
life.[41] Thereafter, by virtue of his victory over death, Osiris
becomes Lord of the Land of Death, his scepter an Ank Cross, his
throne a Square.
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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