Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry

«The Blue Degrees are but the outer court or portico of the Temple. Part of the symbols are displayed there to the Initiate, but he is intentionally misled by false interpretations. It is not intended that he shall understand them; but it is intended that he shall imagine he understands them» — la afirmación más fuerte del corpus sobre el secreto masónico, y la hace un masón de grado 33: al iniciado de los grados azules se le engaña a propósito, y lo que se busca no es que entienda sino que crea entender.

«Their true explication is reserved for the Adepts, the Princes of Masonry» — y la reserva correlativa: la explicación verdadera queda para los Adeptos.

«The symbols of the wise always become the idols of the ignorant multitude» — la razón general que da para ese régimen de ocultación.

«It is only required of him that he shall weigh what is taught, and give it fair hearing and unprejudiced judgment» — su instrucción de lectura, en el preliminar: al lector solo se le pide que sopese lo enseñado, no que lo acepte.

«Masonry is a march and a struggle toward the Light» — su definición del oficio como camino, no como doctrina cerrada.

«Masonry was the first apostle of EQUALITY» — la adscripción política que reclama para la orden.

«The rough Ashlar is the PEOPLE, as a mass, rude and unorganized» — su lectura del símbolo de la piedra bruta, que traslada del plano moral al político.

«All religious expression is symbolism; since we can describe only what we see, and the true objects of religion are THE SEEN» — su fundamento del simbolismo religioso. La edición imprime «THE SEEN», pero la propia frase pide lo contrario —solo podemos describir lo que vemos, y por eso hace falta el símbolo—: la lectura propuesta es «THE UNSEEN», y no se corrige dentro de las comillas.

«mistaking the sign for the thing signified, fell into a ridiculous superstition» — su diagnóstico de cómo degenera un símbolo cuando se lo toma por la cosa.

«Thought is a force, and philosophy should be an energy» — la divisa con que abre el primer grado.

«THE following work has been prepared by authority of the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third Degree, for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, by the Grand Commander, and is now published by its direction.» — declara la procedencia institucional del libro: lo prepara el Gran Comandante por autoridad del Supremo Consejo del grado 33 para la Jurisdicción del Sur, y se publica por orden de ese cuerpo.

«It contains the Lectures of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in that jurisdiction, and is specially intended to be read and studied by the Brethren of that obedience, in connection with the Rituals of the Degrees.» — precisa qué es el libro y para quién: las Lecturas del Rito Escocés Antiguo y Aceptado en esa jurisdicción, destinadas a leerse junto a los Rituales de los grados por los hermanos de esa obediencia.

«It has been copyrighted, to prevent its republication elsewhere, and the copyright, like those of all the other works prepared for the Supreme Council, has been assigned to Trustees for that Body.» — consigna el régimen de propiedad de la obra: el copyright existe para impedir su reedición fuera y está cedido, como el de las demás obras del Supremo Consejo, a fideicomisarios de ese cuerpo.

«The Brethren of the Rite in the United States and Canada will be afforded the opportunity to purchase it, nor is it forbidden that other Masons shall; but they will not be solicited to do so.» — acota la circulación: se ofrece a los hermanos del Rito en Estados Unidos y Canadá, no se prohíbe a otros masones y no se les solicita que lo compren.

«It not being intended for the world at large, he has felt at liberty to make, from all accessible sources, a Compendium of the Morals and Dogma of the Rite, to re-mould sentences, change and add to words and phrases, combine them with his own, and use them as if they were his own, to be dealt with at his pleasure and so availed of as to make the whole most valuable for the purposes intended.» — su propia descripción del método de composición, y la clave para leer el resto del libro: dice haberse tomado la libertad de hacer un compendio con todas las fuentes accesibles, refundiendo frases y palabras ajenas y usándolas como si fueran suyas.

«He claims, therefore, little of the merit of authorship, and has not cared to distinguish his own from that which he has taken from other sources, being quite willing that every portion of the book, in turn, may be regarded as borrowed from some old and better writer.» — la consecuencia que él mismo saca de ese método: reclama poco mérito de autoría y no se ha cuidado de distinguir lo suyo de lo tomado de otros, de modo que cualquier parte del libro puede venir de un escritor anterior.

«The teachings of these Readings are not sacramental, so far as they go beyond the realm of Morality into those of other domains of Thought and Truth.» — acota el alcance de lo enseñado: las Lecturas no son sacramentales en cuanto pasan de la Moral a otros dominios del Pensamiento y la Verdad.

«The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite uses the word "Dogma" in its true sense, of doctrine, or teaching; and is not dogmatic in the odious sense of that term.» — precisa en qué sentido usa el Rito la palabra Dogma del título: doctrina o enseñanza, no imposición.

«Of course, the ancient theosophic and philosophic speculations are not embodied as part of the doctrines of the Rite; but because it is of interest and profit to know what the Ancient Intellect thought upon these subjects, and because nothing so conclusively proves the radical difference between our human and the animal nature, as the capacity of the human mind to entertain such speculations in regard to itself and the Deity.» — su abstención más explícita, y conviene tenerla presente al leer los capítulos cabalísticos y herméticos: las especulaciones teosóficas y filosóficas antiguas no van incorporadas como parte de las doctrinas del Rito, sino por el interés de saber qué pensó el Intelecto Antiguo.

«FORCE, unregulated or ill-regulated, is not only wasted in the void, like that of gunpowder burned in the open air, and steam unconfined by science; but, striking in the dark, and its blows meeting only the air, they recoil and bruise itself.» — abre el grado de Aprendiz con su tesis política: la Fuerza sin regular no solo se desperdicia, sino que al golpear a ciegas retrocede y se hiere a sí misma.

«Intellect is to the people and the people's Force, what the slender needle of the compass is to the ship--its soul, always counselling the huge mass of wood and iron, and always pointing to the north.» — la función que adjudica al intelecto sobre la fuerza popular, dicha con el símil de la brújula del barco que siempre apunta al norte.

«When all these Forces are combined, and guided by the Intellect, and regulated by the RULE of Right, and Justice, and of combined and systematic movement and effort, the great revolution prepared for by the ages will begin to march.» — su condición para la revolución: que las Fuerzas se combinen, las guíe el Intelecto y las regule la Regla de lo Recto y lo Justo.

«Yet it is this very Force of the people, this Titanic power of the giants, that builds the fortifications of tyrants, and is embodied in their armies.» — el reverso que sostiene: es esa misma fuerza del pueblo la que levanta las fortificaciones de los tiranos y se encarna en sus ejércitos.

«The military power, not subordinate to the civil power, again the HAMMER or MACE of FORCE, independent of the RULE, is an armed tyranny, born full-grown, as Athenè sprung from the brain of Zeus.» — su regla sobre el poder militar: no subordinado al civil es una tiranía armada que nace ya adulta, como Atenea del cerebro de Zeus.

«That Force must be limited, restrained, conveyed by distribution into different channels, and by roundabout courses, to outlets, whence it is to issue as the law, action, and decision of the State; as the wise old Egyptian kings conveyed in different canals, by sub-division, the swelling waters of the Nile, and compelled them to fertilize and not devastate the land.» — su prescripción para encauzar la fuerza popular, con el símil de los canales del Nilo que los reyes egipcios abrieron para que el agua fertilizara en vez de devastar.

«The FORCE of the people, or the popular will, in action and exerted, symbolized by the GAVEL, regulated and guided by and acting within the limits of LAW and ORDER, symbolized by the TWENTY-FOUR-INCH RULE, has for its fruit LIBERTY, EQUALITY, and FRATERNITY,--liberty regulated by law; equality of rights in the eye of the law; brotherhood with its duties and obligations as well as its benefits.» — la lectura política que da a las herramientas del primer grado: el mazo es la voluntad popular en acto y la regla de veinticuatro pulgadas el límite de la ley, y su fruto son libertad, igualdad y fraternidad.

«The perfect Ashlar is said to be "a stone made ready by the hands of the workmen, to be adjusted by the working-tools of the Fellow-Craft."» — la definición de la piedra pulida que recoge de la fórmula ritual, en boca de ella: una piedra que las manos de los obreros dejan lista para ajustarla con las herramientas del Compañero.

«As the number 12 includes the sacred numbers, 3, 5, 7, and 3 times 3, or 9, and is produced by adding the sacred number 3 to 9; while its own two figures, 1, 2, the unit or monad, and duad, added together, make the same sacred number 3; it was called the perfect number; and the cube became the symbol of perfection.» — su razón numérica para que el cubo simbolice la perfección: el 12 contiene los números sagrados 3, 5, 7 y tres veces 3, y sus dos cifras suman de nuevo 3.

«Though Masonry neither usurps the place of, nor apes religion, prayer is an essential part of our ceremonies.» — el deslinde que hace entre la orden y la religión, y a la vez su reclamo del rezo como parte esencial de las ceremonias.

«It is said to be supported by three great columns, WISDOM, FORCE or STRENGTH, and BEAUTY, represented by the Master, the Senior Warden, and the Junior Warden; and these are said to be the columns that support the Lodge, "because Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, are the perfections of everything, and nothing can endure without them."» — recoge la fórmula de las tres columnas de la Logia -Sabiduría, Fuerza y Belleza, representadas por el Maestro y los dos Vigilantes-, citando la explicación recibida, no formulándola él.

«"Because," the York Rite says, "it is necessary that there should be Wisdom to conceive, Strength to support, and Beauty to adorn, all great and important undertakings.» — adjudica expresamente al Rito de York la razón de esas tres columnas: sabiduría para concebir, fuerza para sostener y belleza para adornar toda empresa grande.

«The Wisdom and Power of the Deity are in equilibrium.» — su enunciado del equilibrio divino: la Sabiduría y el Poder de la Deidad se equilibran entre sí.

«The laws of God are not obligatory on us because they are the enactments of His POWER, or the expression of His WILL; but because they express His infinite WISDOM.» — sostiene que las leyes de Dios no obligan por ser actos de su Poder ni expresión de su Voluntad, sino porque expresan su Sabiduría infinita.

«They are not right because they are His laws, but His laws because they are right.» — la formulación breve de esa misma tesis, que invierte el voluntarismo teológico.

«They have other and profounder meanings, that may at some time be unveiled to you.» — su reserva de instrucción, dicha al iniciado dentro del propio texto: los símbolos tienen otros significados más profundos que quizá se le develen en algún momento.

«To reconcile the moral law, human responsibility, free-will, with the absolute power of God; and the existence of evil with His absolute wisdom, and goodness, and mercy,--these are the great enigmas of the Sphynx.» — nombra como enigmas de la Esfinge los dos problemas que no resuelve: conciliar la ley moral y el libre albedrío con el poder absoluto de Dios, y la existencia del mal con su bondad.

«You entered the Lodge between two columns. They represent the two which stood in the porch of the Temple, on each side of the great eastern gateway.» — sitúa las dos columnas de la Logia como réplica de las que estaban en el pórtico del Templo, a los lados de la gran puerta oriental.

«These pillars, of bronze, four fingers breadth in thickness, were, according to the most authentic account--that in the First and that in the Second Book of Kings, confirmed in Jeremiah--eighteen cubits high, with a capital five cubits high.» — da las medidas de esas columnas apoyándose en los Libros de los Reyes y en Jeremías, y declara esa la versión más autorizada.

«The pillar or column on the right, or in the south, was named, as the Hebrew word is rendered in our translation of the Bible, JACHIN: and that on the left BOAZ.» — consigna los nombres de las dos columnas según los rinde la traducción bíblica que usa, JACHIN al sur y BOAZ al norte.

«In the Mithraic ceremonies, the candidate went through seven stages of initiation, passing through many fearful trials--and of these the high ladder with seven rounds or steps was the symbol.» — traslada al candidato masónico el esquema mitraico: en aquellas ceremonias se pasaba por siete etapas de iniciación y la escala de siete peldaños era su símbolo.

«The Bible is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Christian Lodge, only because it is the sacred book of the Christian religion.» — su regla sobre el libro sagrado del altar: la Biblia es parte indispensable de una Logia cristiana solo por ser el libro sagrado de esa religión.

«The obligation of the candidate is always to be taken on the sacred book or books of his religion, that he may deem it more solemn and binding; and therefore it was that you were asked of what religion you were.» — de ahí su regla de obligación: el juramento se toma sobre el libro sagrado de la religión del candidato, y por eso se le preguntó cuál era la suya.

«The former, therefore, is an emblem of what concerns the earth and the body; the latter of what concerns the heavens and the soul.» — su lectura de las dos herramientas mayores: la escuadra emblema de lo terrestre y corporal, el compás de lo celeste y anímico.

«although in this Degree both points of the Compass are under the Square, and you are now dealing only with the moral and political meaning of the symbols, and not with their philosophical and spiritual meanings, still the divine ever mingles with the human;» — dato de grado, dicho por él mismo: en este grado los dos puntos del compás van bajo la escuadra y solo se trata el sentido moral y político de los símbolos, no el filosófico y espiritual.

«The nations are not bodies-politic alone, but also souls-politic; and woe to that people which, seeking the material only, forgets that it has a soul.» — su advertencia a las naciones, formulada como corolario político del símbolo del compás.

«The Master of Light and Life, the Sun and the Moon, are symbolized in every Lodge by the Master and Wardens: and this makes it the duty of the Master to dispense light to the Brethren, by himself, and through the Wardens, who are his ministers.» — adjudica al Maestro y a los Vigilantes la representación del Sol y la Luna, y de ahí deriva el deber del Maestro de repartir luz.

«"The Sun and Moon," says the learned Bro∴ DELAUNAY, "represent the two grand principles of all generations, the active and passive, the male and the female.» — atribuye expresamente al hermano Delaunay la lectura del Sol y la Luna como los dos principios de toda generación, el activo y el pasivo.

«There is no evidence that there was such a pavement or floor in the Temple, or such a bordering.» — objeta la historicidad del pavimento mosaico: no hay evidencia de que hubiera tal suelo ni tal cenefa en el Templo.

«To find in the BLAZING STAR of five points an allusion to the Divine Providence, is also fanciful; and to make it commemorative of the Star that is said to have guided the Magi, is to give it a meaning comparatively modern.» — objeta también la lectura recibida de la Estrella Flamígera: leer en ella la Providencia le parece caprichoso, y hacerla conmemorativa de la estrella de los Magos, un sentido comparativamente moderno.

«Our French Brethren place this letter YO_D in the centre of the Blazing Star.» — consigna un uso de jurisdicción: los hermanos franceses ponen la letra YOD en el centro de la Estrella Flamígera.

«The Jewels of the Lodge are said to be six in number.» — enumera el inventario de la Logia empezando por sus seis joyas.

«Our Brethren of the York Rite say that "there is represented in every well-governed Lodge, a certain point, within a circle; the point representing an individual Brother; the Circle, the boundary line of» — cita a los hermanos del Rito de York para el símbolo del punto dentro del círculo, donde el punto es el hermano individual y el círculo el límite de su conducta.

«It is a common Egyptian sign for the Sun and Osiris, and is still used as the astronomical sign of the great luminary.» — adjudica a Egipto ese mismo signo, como figura del Sol y de Osiris, y anota que sigue usándose como signo astronómico del astro.

«Our Brethren add that, "this circle is embordered by two perpendicular parallel lines, representing Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, and upon the top rest the Holy Scriptures" (an open book).» — sigue citando la explicación del Rito de York: las dos paralelas serían San Juan Bautista y San Juan Evangelista, y encima descansarían las Escrituras.

«The Holy Scriptures are an entirely modern addition to the symbol, like the terrestrial and celestial globes on the columns of the portico.» — objeta esa explicación por historia del símbolo: las Escrituras son una añadidura enteramente moderna, como los globos terrestre y celeste sobre las columnas del pórtico.

«But the tropics are not perpendicular lines, and the idea is merely fanciful.» — objeta también la lectura astronómica de las paralelas, que las haría los trópicos, por razón geométrica.

«God makes visible to men His will in events; an obscure text, written in a mysterious language.» — su doctrina de la revelación por los hechos: Dios hace visible su voluntad en los acontecimientos, pero como un texto oscuro en lengua misteriosa.

«Each party believes or pretends that it has the only true text, and each faction believes or pretends that it alone possesses the light.» — de ahí su diagnóstico del sectarismo: cada partido cree o finge tener el único texto verdadero y cada facción poseer ella sola la luz.

«Nevertheless, Masonry, which is Morality and Philosophy, must not cease to do its duty.» — su definición operativa de la orden, dicha en medio del argumento: la masonería es Moral y Filosofía, y no debe cesar en su deber.

«Masonry should not be a mere watch-tower, built upon mystery, from which to gaze at ease upon the world, with no other result than to be a convenience for the curious.» — su objeción al masón contemplativo: la orden no debe ser una atalaya construida sobre el misterio desde la cual mirar el mundo a gusto.

«Masonry, successor of the Mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching.» — su adscripción genealógica de la orden, base de casi todo el volumen: la masonería es sucesora de los Misterios y sigue enseñando a la manera antigua.

«Christianity taught the doctrine of FRATERNITY; but repudiated that of political EQUALITY, by continually inculcating obedience to Cæsar, and to those lawfully in authority.» — su deslinde de la doctrina cristiana, con la razón que da: enseñó la fraternidad pero rechazó la igualdad política al inculcar de continuo la obediencia al César y a la autoridad legítima.

«It was but a development of the original purpose of the Mysteries, which was to teach men to know and practice their duties to themselves and their fellows, the great practical end of all philosophy and all knowledge.» — acota qué eran los Misterios en su lectura: no una revelación, sino la enseñanza de los deberes hacia uno mismo y hacia los demás, fin práctico de toda filosofía.

«Truths are the springs from which duties flow; and it is but a few hundred years since a new Truth began to be distinctly seen; that MAN IS SUPREME OVER INSTITUTIONS, AND NOT THEY OVER HIM.» — la verdad moderna que sitúa en el centro de su política: que el hombre es supremo sobre las instituciones y no ellas sobre él, verdad que data de unos pocos siglos.

«It made Tyranny and Usurpation the enemies of the Human Race. It created a general outlawry of Despots and Despotisms, temporal and spiritual.» — deriva de esa verdad la proscripción general que atribuye a la orden: tiranía y usurpación quedan por enemigas del género humano, y los déspotas temporales y espirituales fuera de la ley.

«But knowledge itself is not Power.» — su corrección al lugar común ilustrado: el conocimiento por sí mismo no es Poder.

«Wisdom is Power; and her Prime Minister is JUSTICE, which is the perfected law of TRUTH.» — de ahí su jerarquía: la Sabiduría es el Poder y su primer ministro es la Justicia, ley perfeccionada de la Verdad.

«It is the great truths as to all that most concerns a man, as to his rights, interests, and duties, that Masonry seeks to teach her Initiates.» — declara el objeto de la instrucción masónica: las grandes verdades sobre los derechos, intereses y deberes del hombre, no la acumulación de datos.

«But mere knowledge makes no one independent, nor fits him to be free.» — insiste en el límite del saber sin virtud: el mero conocimiento no hace independiente a nadie ni lo capacita para ser libre.

«Liberty is a curse to the ignorant and brutal.» — su reserva sobre la libertad misma, que acota su propio programa: para el ignorante y el brutal es una maldición.

«If Masonry needed to be justified for imposing political as well as moral duties on its Initiates, it would be enough to point to the sad history of the world.» — su justificación de que la orden imponga deberes políticos y no solo morales: la historia del mundo bastaría por argumento.

«The true Mason is he who labors strenuously to help his Order effect its great purposes.» — su definición del masón verdadero por el trabajo y no por el grado: el que se esfuerza en que su Orden cumpla sus grandes propósitos.

«But it is necessary to say, that even in the ordinary affairs of life we are governed far more by what we believe than by what we know; by FAITH and ANALOGY, than by REASON.» — su tesis sobre el gobierno de la conducta: incluso en los asuntos ordinarios manda más lo que se cree que lo que se sabe, y más la fe y la analogía que la razón.

«A man's Faith is as much his own as his Reason is.» — su fundamento de la libertad de creencia: la fe de un hombre es tan suya como su razón.

«No man or body of men can be infallible, and authorized to decide what other men shall believe, as to any tenet of faith.» — el corolario que saca, y que enfrenta a toda autoridad doctrinal: ningún hombre ni cuerpo de hombres es infalible ni está autorizado a decidir lo que otros han de creer.

«Reason must hold the helm; but these supply the motive power.» — la fórmula con que reparte los papeles entre razón, fe y amor: la razón lleva el timón, las otras dan la fuerza motriz.

«It is GENIUS that gets Power; and its prime lieutenants are FORCE and WISDOM.» — su tríada política, distinta de la del taller: el Genio consigue el Poder, y sus lugartenientes son la Fuerza y la Sabiduría.

«The free country, in which intellect and genius govern, will endure.» — su condición para la duración de un país libre: que gobiernen el intelecto y el genio.

«To give a nation the franchise of the Intellect is the only sure mode of perpetuating freedom.» — de ahí su prescripción educativa: dar a una nación la franquicia del Intelecto es el único modo seguro de perpetuar la libertad.

«"I am the State," said Louis the Fourteenth to his peasants; "the very shirts on your backs are mine, and I can take them if I will.» — pone en boca de Luis XIV la fórmula del absolutismo que combate, dicha a sus campesinos.

«Religion is a power, and he must control that.» — su lectura del despotismo como sistema, donde la religión entra como pieza a controlar.

«Civil and religious Freedom must go hand in hand; and Persecution matures them both.» — su tesis sobre las dos libertades, y el papel que adjudica a la persecución en la maduración de ambas.

«And the maxim is no less true than old, that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.» — recoge como máxima vieja y verdadera que el precio de la libertad es la vigilancia eterna.

«The truth is, that creed has, in general, very little influence on the conduct; in religion, on that of the individual; in politics, on that of party.» — su diagnóstico escéptico sobre las creencias declaradas: el credo influye en general muy poco en la conducta, ni en la del individuo ni en la del partido.

«As a general thing, the Mahometan, in the Orient, is far more honest and trustworthy than the Christian.» — el ejemplo con que lo ilustra, y que atraviesa el prejuicio de su época: en Oriente el mahometano es por lo común más honesto y confiable que el cristiano.

«Predestination insists on the necessity of good works.» — su lectura de la predestinación, que la vuelve exigencia y no excusa: insiste en la necesidad de las buenas obras.

«The rule may be regarded as universal, that, where there is a choice to be made, a Mason will give his vote and influence, in politics and business, to the less qualified profane in preference to the better qualified Mason.» — su acusación contra los propios masones, dada como regla universal: puestos a elegir, favorecen al profano menos capacitado antes que al masón más capacitado.

«One will take an oath to oppose any unlawful usurpation of power, and then become the ready and even eager instrument of a usurper.» — el segundo cargo, sobre el juramento: se jura oponerse a toda usurpación ilegal del poder y luego se sirve de instrumento al usurpador.

«Masonry does not change human nature, and cannot make honest men out of born knaves.» — el límite que reconoce a su propia orden: la masonería no cambia la naturaleza humana ni hace hombres honrados de bribones de nacimiento.

«Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being an abstraction.» — su rendición de la sentencia del apóstol Santiago, a la que añade la palabra abstracción.

«When SOLON was asked if he had given his countrymen the best laws, he answered, "The best they are capable of receiving."» — recoge la respuesta de Solón sobre si dio a sus paisanos las mejores leyes, y la usa como criterio de legislación.

«It means this,--that all truths are Truths of Period, and not truths for eternity;» — la doctrina que extrae de ella, y que acota todo su propio libro: las verdades son verdades de época y no verdades para la eternidad.

«Remember, also, that there is an education which quickens the Intellect, and leaves the heart hollower or harder than before.» — su advertencia sobre la instrucción: hay una educación que aviva el intelecto y deja el corazón más hueco o más duro que antes.

«Science, not teaching moral and spiritual truths, is dead and dry, of little more real value than to commit to the memory a long row of unconnected dates, or of the names of bugs or butterflies.» — su condición para la ciencia: la que no enseña verdades morales y espirituales es seca y muerta.

«Alexander of Macedon has left a saying behind him which has survived his conquests: "Nothing is nobler than work."» — atribuye a Alejandro de Macedonia la sentencia sobre la nobleza del trabajo y la usa para dignificar el oficio del Compañero.

«The two greeds are twin plagues of the leprosy, and make the man unclean; and whenever they break out they spread until "they cover all the skin of him that hath the plague, from his head even to his foot.» — su figura de las dos codicias como plagas gemelas de la lepra, tomando la fórmula del texto levítico sobre el leproso.

«Destruction is not annihilation, but regeneration.» — su principio cosmológico, formulado como corrección: la destrucción no es aniquilación sino regeneración.

«An unfaithful smith, by the slovenly shoeing of a horse, causes his lameness, and, he stumbling, the career of his world-conquering rider ends, and the destinies of empires are changed.» — el ejemplo del herrero infiel cuyo herraje descuidado tumba al jinete y cambia el destino de imperios, con que ilustra la cadena de causas.

«A civil war in America will end in shaking the world; and that war may be caused by the vote of some ignorant prize-fighter or crazed fanatic in a city or in a Congress, or of some stupid boor in an obscure country parish.» — su pronóstico sobre una guerra civil en América, que sacudiría al mundo y podría nacer del voto de un ignorante cualquiera.

«LUTHER, with his sermons, worked greater results than Alexander or Hannibal.» — su comparación entre el predicador y el conquistador, que pone a Lutero por encima de Alejandro y de Aníbal.

«From the political point of view there is but a single principle,--the sovereignty of man over himself.» — el único principio que reconoce en política: la soberanía del hombre sobre sí mismo.

«Instruction! Light! all comes from Light, and all returns to it.» — su fórmula de la instrucción como origen y término, que enlaza la luz del taller con la educación pública.

«Rhetoric, Plato says, is the art of ruling the minds of men.» — adjudica a Platón la definición de la retórica como arte de gobernar las mentes de los hombres.

«The mere talker, however fluent, is barren of deeds in the day of trial.» — su desconfianza del orador: el mero hablador, por fluido que sea, es estéril de hechos en el día de la prueba.

«Imposture too commonly rules in republics; they seem to be ever in their minority; their guardians are self-appointed; and the unjust thrive better than the just.» — su diagnóstico de las repúblicas, donde la impostura gobierna y los guardianes se nombran a sí mismos.

«The verdicts of Legislatures and the People are like the verdicts of juries,--sometimes right by accident.» — su comparación de los veredictos de legislaturas y pueblo con los de un jurado, aciertos por accidente incluidos.

«Injustice in bestowing or withholding office ought to be so intolerable in democratic communities that the least trace of it should be like the scent of Treason.» — su regla sobre el reparto de cargos: la injusticia al darlos o negarlos debería oler a traición en una comunidad democrática.

«But however palpable and gross the inherent defects of democratic governments, and fatal as the results finally and inevitably are, we need only glance at the reigns of Tiberius, Nero, and Caligula, of Heliogabalus and Caracalla, of Domitian and Cornmodus, to recognize that the difference between freedom and despotism is as wide as that between Heaven and Hell.» — su balance entre los dos males, que mantiene pese a todo lo anterior: entre libertad y despotismo hay la distancia del cielo al infierno.

«Let Masonry use the pen and the printing-press in the free State against the Demagogue; in the Despotism against the Tyrant.» — la instrucción práctica que da a la orden: usar la pluma y la imprenta contra el demagogo en el Estado libre y contra el tirano en el despotismo.

«Absolute Power, once in fear for the safety of its tenure, cannot but be cruel.» — su ley del poder absoluto: en cuanto teme por su permanencia, no puede sino ser cruel.

«England, he says, disgusted with an Equality and a Liberty, the consequences of which she had felt in the struggles of her Lollards, Anabaptists, and Presbyterians, had "purged her Masonry" from all explanations tending to overturn empires;» — recoge el relato del abate Barruel sobre la masonería inglesa, que habría purgado sus explicaciones capaces de derribar imperios tras la experiencia de lolardos, anabaptistas y presbiterianos.

«It is of the essence of a free government, that the people should not only be concerned in making the laws, but also in their execution.» — su definición del gobierno libre por la participación doble: el pueblo no solo interviene en hacer las leyes, sino también en ejecutarlas.

«France became centralized in its government more by the apathy and ignorance of its people than by the tyranny of its kings.» — su explicación de la centralización francesa, que carga a la apatía y la ignorancia del pueblo antes que a la tiranía de los reyes.

«When the central government feeds part of the people it prepares all to be slaves.» — la regla que deriva de ello sobre la dependencia pública: cuando el gobierno central alimenta a una parte del pueblo, prepara a todos para ser esclavos.

«FAITH is the Saviour and Redeemer of nations.» — su fórmula sobre el papel de la fe en la vida de las naciones, no del individuo.

«When Christianity had grown weak, profitless, and powerless, the Arab Restorer and Iconoclast came, like a cleansing hurricane.» — nombra a Mahoma como restaurador e iconoclasta que llegó como huracán de limpieza cuando el cristianismo se había vuelto débil y sin provecho.

«The Sword is also, in the Bible, an emblem of SPEECH, or of the utterance of thought.» — adjudica a la Biblia la equivalencia entre la espada y la palabra, que es la que da sentido al arma del grado.

«To write on the rock is to write on a solid parchment; but it requires a pilgrimage to see it.» — su comparación entre soportes de la memoria: escribir en la roca es escribir en pergamino sólido, pero exige peregrinar para verlo, hay un solo ejemplar y el tiempo lo gasta.

«The true word is verily a two-edged sword.» — su lectura de la palabra verdadera como espada de dos filos, que traslada la imagen bíblica al oficio del orador político.

«A watchword or a catchword is more potent with the people than logic, especially if this be the least metaphysical.» — su observación sobre la eficacia política del lenguaje: una consigna puede más con el pueblo que la lógica, sobre todo si no es metafísica.

«The true alchemist will extract the lessons of wisdom from the babblings of folly.» — su figura del alquimista aplicada al discernimiento moral: el verdadero extrae las lecciones de sabiduría del balbuceo de la necedad.

«war is the baptism of blood and fire, by which alone they can be renovated.» — su lectura de la guerra como bautismo de sangre y fuego por el que solo así se renuevan las naciones.

«Even in the flame and smoke of battle, the Mason discovers his brother, and fulfills the sacred obligations of Fraternity.» — el deber fraterno que mantiene incluso dentro del combate: en la llama y el humo de la batalla el masón reconoce a su hermano.

«Two, or the Duad, is the symbol of Antagonism; of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness.» — abre su tabla de números con el dos o Díada, símbolo del antagonismo entre bien y mal, luz y tiniebla.

«THREE, or the Triad, is most significantly expressed by the equilateral and the right-angled triangles.» — sigue con el tres o Tríada, que expresa con el triángulo equilátero y el rectángulo.

«Trinity of the Deity, in one mode or other, has been an article in all creeds.» — consigna la trinidad divina, en un modo u otro, como artículo presente en todos los credos.

«Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the great symbols of the alchemists.» — adjudica a los alquimistas sal, azufre y mercurio como sus grandes símbolos, dentro de la misma tabla numérica.

«All language is symbolic, so far as it is applied to mental and spiritual phenomena and action.» — su tesis del lenguaje: todo lenguaje es simbólico en cuanto se aplica a lo mental y lo espiritual.

«All words have, primarily, a material sense, however they may afterward get, for the ignorant, a spiritual non-sense.» — el corolario materialista de esa tesis: toda palabra tiene primero un sentido material, aunque después adquiera para el ignorante un sinsentido espiritual.

«The very word "spirit" means "breath," from the Latin verb spiro, breathe.» — el ejemplo con que lo prueba, del latín spiro, respirar.

«For as with the visible symbol, so with the word: to utter it to you does not inform you of the exact meaning which it has to me; and thus religion and philosophy became to a great extent disputes as to the meaning of words.» — su razón de por qué religión y filosofía degeneran en disputas de palabras: proferir un signo no informa del sentido exacto que tiene para quien lo profiere.

«We come at last to define spirit by saying that it is not matter.» — el límite al que llega su análisis del espíritu, formulado como negación.

«Thus language too is symbolism, and words are as much misunderstood and misused as more material symbols are.» — la consecuencia que saca para el estudio masónico: también el lenguaje es simbolismo, y las palabras se malentienden y maltratan igual que los símbolos materiales.

«There are dangers inseparable from symbolism, which afford an impressive lesson in regard to the similar risks attendant on the use of language.» — su advertencia sobre el peligro inseparable del simbolismo, que traslada al uso del lenguaje.

«in which many, says PLUTARCH, "mistaking the sign for the thing signified, fell into a ridiculous superstition; while others, in avoiding one extreme, plunged into the no less hideous gulf of irreligion and impiety."» — atribuye expresamente a Plutarco el diagnóstico de la doble caída, en superstición ridícula por confundir el signo con lo significado, o en el abismo de la irreligión por evitar el otro extremo.

«It is through the Mysteries, CICERO says, that we have learned the first principles of life;» — adjudica a Cicerón la tesis de que por los Misterios se aprendieron los primeros principios de la vida.

«Nature is the great Teacher of man; for it is the Revelation of God.» — su definición de la naturaleza como revelación de Dios, y por eso como maestra del hombre.

«It is the text without the commentary; and, as we well know, it is chiefly the commentary and gloss that lead to error and heresy and persecution.» — el corolario de esa figura, que da la razón por la que desconfía de la doctrina: la naturaleza es el texto sin el comentario, y son el comentario y la glosa los que llevan al error y a la persecución.

«Two forms of government are favorable to the prevalence of falsehood and deceit.» — abre su análisis de la mentira pública con dos regímenes que la favorecen.

«Under a Despotism, men are false, treacherous, and deceitful through fear, like slaves dreading the lash.» — el primero: bajo el despotismo se miente por miedo, como esclavos que temen el látigo.

«Under a Democracy they are so as a means of attaining popularity and office, and because of the greed for wealth.» — el segundo: bajo la democracia se miente como medio de ganar popularidad y cargos, y por codicia de riqueza.

«When office and wealth become the gods of a people, and the most unworthy and unfit most aspire to the former, and fraud becomes the highway to the latter, the land will reek with falsehood and sweat lies and chicane.» — su descripción del país donde el cargo y la riqueza se vuelven dioses, con el fraude por camino real.

«When France was in the extremity of revolutionary agony, she was governed by an assembly of provincial pettifoggers, and Robespierre, Marat, and Couthon ruled in the place of Mirabeau, Vergniaud, and Carnot.» — el ejemplo francés con que ilustra la escasez de grandes hombres en la crisis, con Robespierre, Marat y Couthon en el sitio de Mirabeau, Vergniaud y Carnot.

«Fraud, falsehood, trickery, and deceit in national affairs are the signs of decadence in States and precede convulsions or paralysis.» — su semiología política: el fraude y el engaño en los asuntos nacionales son señales de decadencia y preceden a convulsiones o parálisis.

«it is a nation possessed by the devil of commercial avarice, a passion as ignoble and demoralizing as avarice in the individual;» — su diagnóstico de la avaricia comercial como pasión de nación, tan innoble y desmoralizadora como la del individuo.

«When a Republic begins to plunder its neighbors, the words of doom are already written on its walls.» — su sentencia sobre la república que empieza a saquear a sus vecinos, dicha con la imagen del muro escrito.

«A war for a great principle ennobles a nation.» — su distinción entre guerras, primera parte: la que se hace por un gran principio ennoblece a la nación.

«A war for commercial supremacy, upon some shallow pretext, is despicable, and more than aught else demonstrates to what immeasurable depths of baseness men and nations can descend.» — segunda parte, y el juicio más duro: la guerra por la supremacía comercial bajo pretexto endeble es despreciable.

«The slave-trade is as acceptable to a people enthralled by that greed, as the trade in ivory or spices, if the profits are as large.» — el ejemplo con que mide esa codicia: la trata de esclavos le resulta tan aceptable como el comercio de marfil o especias si las ganancias son iguales.

«If there were a community anywhere, in which all stood upon the strictness of this rule, there should be written over its gates, as a warning to the unfortunates desiring admission to that inhospitable realm, the words which DANTE says are written over the great gate of Hell: "LET THOSE WHO ENTER HERE LEAVE HOPE BEHIND!» — pone sobre las puertas de la comunidad regida por el derecho estricto la inscripción que Dante escribe en la puerta del infierno.

«Justice, divorced from sympathy, is selfish indifference, not in the least more laudable than misanthropic isolation.» — su definición negativa de la justicia sin simpatía, que iguala al aislamiento misantrópico.

«we cannot define our duties by mathematical lines ruled by the square, but must fill with them the great circle traced by the compasses;» — traslada las dos herramientas del taller a la ética: los deberes no se trazan con líneas regladas por la escuadra, sino que hay que llenar con ellos el gran círculo del compás.

«The nation that adds province to province by fraud and violence, that encroaches on the weak and plunders its wards, and violates its treaties and the obligation of its contracts, and for the law of honor and fair-dealing substitutes the exigencies of greed and the base precepts of policy and craft and the ignoble tenets of expediency, is predestined to destruction;» — su sentencia contra la nación que anexa por fraude y violencia, viola tratados y sustituye el honor por la conveniencia.

«The Republic cloaks its ambition with the pretence of a desire and duty to "extend the area of freedom," and claims it as its "manifest destiny" to annex other Republics or the States or Provinces of others to itself, by open violence, or under obsolete, empty, and fraudulent titles.» — nombra el caso de su propio país: la república que encubre su ambición con el deber de extender el área de la libertad y reclama como destino manifiesto anexar a otras.

«The thirst for power is never satisfied. It is insatiable. Neither men nor nations ever have power enough.» — su ley de la ambición política: la sed de poder es insaciable, y ni los hombres ni las naciones tienen nunca poder suficiente.

«Masonry alone preaches Toleration, the right of man to abide by his own faith, the right of all States to govern themselves.» — el reclamo de exclusividad que hace para la orden en materia de tolerancia, y que conviene leer junto a su reserva de los grados: solo la masonería predica el derecho de cada hombre a su propia fe y de cada Estado a gobernarse.

«It rebukes alike the monarch who seeks to extend his dominions by conquest, the Church that claims the right to repress heresy by fire and steel, and the confederation of States that insist on maintaining a union by force and restoring brotherhood by slaughter and subjugation.» — las tres condenas paralelas que de ahí saca, contra el monarca conquistador, contra la Iglesia que reprime la herejía con fuego y acero, y contra la confederación que mantiene la unión por la fuerza.

«Revenge has been said to be "a kind of wild justice;" but it is always taken in anger, and therefore is unworthy of a great soul, which ought not to suffer its equanimity to be disturbed by ingratitude or villainy.» — recoge la definición de la venganza como especie de justicia salvaje, y la objeta porque se toma en cólera.

«The law of God is, that the consequences of wrong and cruelty and crime shall be their punishment; and the injured and the wronged and the indignant are as much His instruments to enforce that law, as the diseases and public detestation, and the verdict of history and the execration of posterity are.» — su doctrina de la sanción inmanente: la ley de Dios es que las consecuencias del daño sean su castigo, y los agraviados son instrumento suyo igual que las enfermedades o el veredicto de la historia.

«What light is, we no more know than the ancients did.» — su declaración de ignorancia sobre la luz, que iguala la del presente a la de los antiguos.

«According to the modern hypothesis, it is not composed of luminous particles shot out from the sun with immense velocity; but that body only impresses, on the ether which fills all space, a powerful vibratory movement that extends, in the form of luminous waves, beyond the most distant planets, supplying them with light and heat.» — expone la hipótesis moderna que sí conoce, la ondulatoria, donde el sol imprime al éter un movimiento vibratorio en forma de ondas luminosas.

«It is not strange that, thousands of years ago, men worshipped the Sun, and that to-day that worship continues among the Parsees.» — su lectura del culto solar como cosa no extraña, y su dato de que continúa entre los parsis.

«They personified him as BRAHMA, AMUN, OSIRIS, BEL, ADONIS, MALKARTH, MITHRAS, and APOLLO; and the nations that did so grew old and died.» — enumera las personificaciones solares que adjudica a las naciones antiguas, de Brahma y Amón a Mitra y Apolo.

«An argument that convinces one mind has no effect on another.» — su escepticismo sobre la persuasión, que acota su propio libro: un argumento que convence a una mente no hace efecto en otra.

«It is merely absurd 'to add the word "Abif," or "Abiff," as part of the name of the artificer.» — objeta como absurdo añadir la palabra Abif al nombre del artífice del Templo, contra el uso corriente de la leyenda hirámica.

«The identity of the legends is also confirmed by this hieroglyphic picture, copied from an ancient Egyptian monument, which may also enlighten you as to the Lion's grip and the Master's gavel.» — declara que la identidad de las leyendas queda confirmada por una estampa jeroglífica copiada de un monumento egipcio, y remite con ella al agarre del León y al mazo del Maestro.

«HORUS was the mediator, who was buried three days, was regenerated, and triumphed over the evil principle.» — su lectura de Horus como mediador sepultado tres días, regenerado y triunfante sobre el principio del mal, dentro de la serie con que compara la leyenda del Maestro.

«The word HERI, in Sanscrit, means Shepherd, as well as Saviour.» — apunta que la voz sánscrita HERI significa a la vez pastor y salvador, dentro de esa misma serie comparativa.

«Buddha is declared to comprehend in his own person the essence of the Hindu Trimurti; and hence the tri-literal mono-syllable Om or Aum is applied to him as being essentially the same as Brahma-Vishnu-Siva.» — consigna la identificación de Buda con la esencia de la Trimurti hindú y con el monosílabo Om o Aum, en la misma cadena de equivalencias.

«Then all the deceitful visions of equality and the rights of man end; and the wronged and plundered State can regain a real liberty only by passing through "great varieties of untried being," purified in its transmigration by fire and blood.» — su pronóstico sobre el Estado saqueado, que solo recobraría la libertad real pasando por variedades de ser no probadas y purificándose por fuego y sangre.

«The first principle in a Republic ought to be, "that no man or set of men is entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislature, nor judge, to be hereditary.» — el primer principio que reclama para una república, y con él la prohibición de cargos hereditarios de magistrado, legislador o juez.

«But, to preserve liberty, another must be added: "that a free State does not confer office as a reward, especially for questionable services, unless she seeks her own ruin; but all officers are employed by her, in consideration solely of their will and ability to render service in the future; and therefore that the best and most competent are always to be preferred.» — el segundo principio que añade para conservar la libertad: el Estado libre no concede el cargo como recompensa sino por la voluntad y la capacidad de servir en el futuro.

«Politicians, in a free State, are generally hollow, heartless, and selfish.» — su juicio sobre los políticos de un Estado libre, dicho sin atenuantes.

«Compromises which bring fundamental principles into doubt, in order to unite in one party men of antagonistic creeds, are frauds, and end in ruin, the just and natural consequence of fraud.» — su regla sobre los pactos de partido: el compromiso que pone en duda los principios fundamentales para unir credos antagónicos es fraude y acaba en ruina.

«Sallust said that after a State has been corrupted by luxury and idleness, it may by its mere greatness bear up under the burden of its vices.» — recoge de Salustio la tesis de que un Estado corrompido por el lujo y la ociosidad puede sostener sus vicios por su sola grandeza.

«The Forty-seventh Proposition is older than Pythagoras.» — su dato de historia de la geometría, que retira a Pitágoras la propiedad del teorema: la Proposición Cuarenta y Siete es más antigua que él.

«Now the Egyptians arranged their deities in Triads-- the FATHER or the Spirit or Active Principle or Generative Power; the MOTHER, or Matter, or the Passive Principle, or the Conceptive Power; and the SON, Issue or Product, the Universe, proceeding from the two principles.» — expone la tríada egipcia como Padre principio activo, Madre materia y principio pasivo, e Hijo o universo producto de ambos, dentro del comentario a esa proposición.

«PLUTARCH says, in his book De Iside et Osiride, "But the better and diviner nature consists of three, that which exists within the Intellect only, and Matter, and that which proceeds from these, which the Greeks call Kosmos; of which three, Plato is wont to call the Intelligible, the 'Idea, Exemplar, and Father'; Matter, 'the Mother, the Nurse, and the place and receptacle of generation'; and the issue of these two, 'the Offspring and Genesis,'" the Kosmos, "a word signifying equally Beauty and Order, or the Universe itself.» — cita a Plutarco por su tratado sobre Isis y Osiris, y con él los términos de Platón para la naturaleza mejor y más divina, la Idea padre, la Materia madre y el Kosmos engendrado.

«You will not fail to notice that Beauty is symbolized by the Junior Warden in the South.» — enlaza esa exposición con el taller, haciendo notar que la Belleza la simboliza el Segundo Vigilante en el Sur.

«Then he adds that this triangle is right-angled, and its sides respectively as 3, 4, and 5; and he says, "We must suppose that the perpendicular is designed by them to represent the masculine nature, the base the feminine, and that the hypothenuse is to be looked upon as the offspring of both; and accordingly the first of them will aptly enough represent OSIRIS, or the prime cause; the second, ISIS, or the receptive capacity; the last, HORUS, or the common effect of the other two.» — sigue citando a Plutarco para el triángulo rectángulo de lados 3, 4 y 5, donde el cateto es Osiris, la base Isis y la hipotenusa Horus.

«Honor and Duty are the pole-stars of a Mason, the Dioscuri, by never losing sight of which he may avoid disastrous shipwreck.» — nombra el honor y el deber como estrellas polares del masón, con la figura de los Dioscuros que evitan el naufragio.

«The true statesman ought to see in progress the causes that are in due time to produce them; and he who does not is but a blind leader of the blind.» — su definición del estadista por la anticipación: ha de ver en curso las causas de lo que vendrá, y quien no lo hace es ciego guiando a ciegos.

«The Public Opinion of the civilized world is International Law; and it is so great a force, though with no certain and fixed boundaries, that it can even constrain the victorious despot to be generous, and aid an oppressed people in its struggle for independence.» — su identificación de la opinión pública del mundo civilizado con el derecho internacional, y la fuerza que le adjudica sobre el déspota vencedor.

«Finally, the three greatest moral forces are FAITH, which is the only true WISDOM, and the very foundation of all government; HOPE, which is STRENGTH, and insures success; and CHARITY, which is BEAUTY, and alone makes animated, united effort possible.» — traslada las tres columnas del taller a la moral: la fe es sabiduría, la esperanza es fuerza y la caridad es belleza.

«The result will at length be free governments among men, when virtue and intelligence become qualities of the multitudes; but for ignorance such governments are impossible.» — su condición para el gobierno libre, con su reverso explícito: es imposible para la ignorancia.

«Undoubtedly, labor and death and the sexual passion are essential and permanent conditions of human existence, and render perfection and a millennium on earth impossible.» — su límite antimilenarista, que acota todo el optimismo del capítulo: trabajo, muerte y pasión sexual son condiciones permanentes y hacen imposible la perfección en la tierra.

«But society can be improved; and free government is possible for States; and freedom of thought and conscience is no longer wholly utopian.» — lo que sí concede dentro de ese límite: la sociedad puede mejorar, el gobierno libre es posible y la libertad de pensamiento ya no es del todo utópica.

«Accordingly, men become daily more free, because the freedom of the man lies in his reason.» — su fundamento de la emancipación progresiva: la libertad del hombre está en su razón.

«There is no waste in nature, either of Matter, Force, Act, or Thought.» — su principio de conservación aplicado a lo moral: no hay desperdicio en la naturaleza, ni de materia ni de fuerza ni de acto ni de pensamiento.

«Unanimity of opinion is so obtained. It only exists among the multitude who do not think, and the political or spiritual priesthood who think for that multitude, who think how to guide and govern them.» — su explicación de la unanimidad, que la hace signo de no pensar: solo existe entre la multitud que no piensa y el sacerdocio político o espiritual que piensa por ella.

«Masonry seeks to be this beneficent, unambitious, disinterested guide; and it is the very condition of all great structures that the sound of the hammer and the clink of the trowel should be always heard in some part of the building.» — define el papel que reclama para la orden, guía desinteresada y sin ambición, con la imagen del martillo y la paleta que nunca dejan de oírse en la obra.

«Masonry has already helped cast down some idols from their pedestals, and grind to impalpable dust some of the links of the chains that held men's souls in bondage.» — el balance que hace de lo ya conseguido, en verbos de derribo y no de fundación.

«Long before the Reformation, a monk, who had found his way to heresy without the help of Martin Luther, not venturing to breathe aloud into any living ear his anti-papal and treasonable doctrines, wrote them on parchment, and sealing up the perilous record, hid it in the massive walls of his monastery.» — el ejemplo del monje que, herético antes de Lutero, escribió sus doctrinas en pergamino y las selló dentro de los muros de su monasterio.

«He went into Judæa, where he procured himself to be circumcised, that he might be admitted to the secrets of the Kabalah, which the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel, not without some reservations, communicated to him.» — consigna que Pitágoras se hizo circuncidar para ser admitido a los secretos de la Cábala, comunicados por Ezequiel y Daniel con reservas, dato que da por recibido y no contrasta.

«Pythagoras gave the magistrates of Crotona this great religious, political and social precept: "There is no evil that is not preferable to Anarchy."» — pone en boca de Pitágoras el precepto dado a los magistrados de Crotona sobre que ningún mal es peor que la anarquía.

«The Holy Kabalah, or tradition of the children of Seth, was carried from Chaldæa by Abraham, taught to the Egyptian priesthood by Joseph, recovered and purified by Moses, concealed under symbols in the Bible, revealed by the Saviour to Saint John, and contained, entire, under hieratic figures analogous to those of all antiquity, in the Apocalypse of that Apostle.» — su cadena de transmisión de la Cábala, de Caldea a Abraham, de Abraham a los sacerdotes egipcios por José, recobrada por Moisés y revelada por el Salvador a san Juan, dada como tradición recibida y sin fuente nombrada.

«It is to this philosophic and incontestable reality, which is termed The Idea of God, that the Kabalists give a name.» — adjudica a los cabalistas el nombre que dan a esa realidad que él llama la Idea de Dios.

«Light is not Spirit, as the Indian Hierophants believed it to be; but only the instrument of the Spirit.» — su corrección a los hierofantes de la India, que separa la luz del espíritu y la deja en instrumento.

«The great Apostle Saint John did not borrow from the philosophy of Plato the opening of his Gospel.» — su objeción a la lectura corriente del prólogo de Juan, que niega la deuda con Platón.

«It is not beyond the tomb, but in life itself, that we are to seek for the mysteries of death.» — su desplazamiento del misterio, de la ultratumba a la vida.

«He who passes behind the veil that hides this mystery, understands that it is in its very nature inexplicable, and that it is death to those who win it by surprise, as well as to him who reveals it.» — su doctrina de la reserva iniciática, dicha como advertencia: quien pasa el velo entiende que el misterio es inexplicable por naturaleza y mortal para quien lo arranca por sorpresa y para quien lo revela.

«"God has arranged all things by weight, number, and measure," says the Bible; and this luminous doctrine was also that of Plato.» — cita la sentencia bíblica sobre la disposición por peso, número y medida, y la adjudica también a Platón.

«The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahveh reversed; for Satan is not a black god, but the negation of God.» — adjudica expresamente a los cabalistas la doctrina de que el verdadero nombre de Satán es Yahveh invertido, y de que Satán no es un dios negro sino la negación de Dios.

«For the Initiates, this is not a Person, but a Force, created for good, but which may serve for evil.» — precisa que para los Iniciados eso no es una persona sino una fuerza creada para el bien y que puede servir al mal.

«The Pagans accused the Christians of worshipping an ass, and they did not invent this reproach, but it came from the Samaritan Jews,» — consigna que la acusación pagana de que los cristianos adoraban un asno no la inventaron los paganos, sino que venía de los judíos samaritanos.

«"A Spirit," he said, "that loves wisdom and contemplates the Truth close at hand, is forced to disguise it, to induce the multitudes to accept it.» — pone en boca de Sinesio, obispo de Ptolemaida a quien llama gran cabalista de ortodoxia dudosa, la tesis de que el espíritu que ama la sabiduría se ve forzado a disfrazarla para que la multitud la acepte.

«If the sacerdotal laws allowed the reservation of judgments and the allegory of words, I would accept the proposed dignity on condition that I might be a philosopher at home, and abroad a narrator of apologues and parables» — sigue citando a Sinesio en la condición que ponía para aceptar la dignidad episcopal, filósofo en casa y narrador de apólogos y parábolas fuera.

«Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it.» — el segundo enunciado del régimen de ocultación, y hay que leerlo junto al de la p. 1352: pone a la masonería en la misma serie que las religiones, los Misterios, el hermetismo y la alquimia, y declara que usa explicaciones falsas para desviar a quienes solo merecen ser desviados.

«So God Himself incapacitates many men, by color-blindness, to distinguish colors, and leads the masses away from the highest Truth, giving them the power to attain only so much of it as it is profitable to them to know.» — la justificación teológica que le da, con Dios incapacitando a muchos por daltonismo y apartando a las masas de la verdad más alta.

«The Teachers, even of Christianity, are, in general, the most ignorant of the true meaning of that which they teach.» — extiende el diagnóstico fuera de la orden: los maestros, incluso los del cristianismo, son en general los más ignorantes del verdadero sentido de lo que enseñan.

«Masonry jealously conceals its secrets, and intentionally leads conceited interpreters astray.» — la formulación más breve de esa política, en dos verbos: oculta con celo y desvía a propósito al intérprete engreído.

«AGLA (formed of the initials of the four words Ath Gebur Laulaïm Adonaï) expresses the synthesis of the whole dogma and the totality of the Kabalistic science, clearly indicating by the hieroglyphics of which this admirable name is formed the Triple Secret of the Great Work.» — adjudica al nombre AGLA, formado con las iniciales de cuatro palabras hebreas, la síntesis del dogma entero y el Triple Secreto de la Gran Obra.

«MASONRY is a succession of allegories, the mere vehicles of great lessons in morality and philosophy.» — su definición del oficio como sucesión de alegorías, meros vehículos de lecciones de moral y filosofía.

«Imagine not that you will become indeed a Mason by learning what is commonly called the "work," or even by becoming familiar with our traditions.» — su advertencia al recién iniciado: no imagine que llegará a masón por aprender lo que se llama el trabajo ni por familiarizarse con las tradiciones.

«The streams of learning that now flow full and broad must be followed to their heads in the springs that well up in the remote past, and you will there find the origin and meaning of Masonry.» — lo que en cambio le pide, y que define el método del libro: remontar las corrientes del saber hasta sus manantiales en el pasado remoto.

«To learn, to attain knowledge, to be wise, is a necessity for every truly noble soul; to teach, to communicate that knowledge, to share that wisdom with others, and not churlishly to lock up his exchequer, and place a sentinel at the door to drive away the needy, is equally an impulse of a noble nature, and the worthiest work of man.» — su deber doble de saber y enseñar, con la figura del tesorero que pone centinela a la puerta para espantar al necesitado.

«To attain the truth, and to serve our fellows, our country, and mankind--this is the noblest destiny of man.» — su enunciado del destino más noble del hombre, con el que cierra el grado.

«Secrecy is indispensable in a Mason of whatever Degree. It is the first and almost the only lesson taught to the Entered Apprentice.» — su dato más neto sobre lo que se enseña en el primer grado: el secreto es la primera y casi la única lección del Aprendiz Admitido.

«The obligations which we have each assumed toward every Mason that lives, requiring of us the performance of the most serious and onerous duties toward those personally unknown to us until they demand our aid,--duties that must be performed, even at the risk of life, or our solemn oaths be broken and violated, and we be branded as false Masons and faithless men, teach us how profound a folly it would he to betray our secrets to those who, bound to us by no tie of common obligation, might, by obtaining them,» — la razón que da para no revelar los secretos, que es de reciprocidad y no de doctrina: las obligaciones se asumen hacia todo masón vivo y se cumplen aun a riesgo de la vida.

«For obedience to the Law does not mean submission to tyranny; nor that, by a profligate sacrifice of every noble feeling, we should offer to despotism the homage of adulation.» — su acotación al deber de obediencia: obedecer la ley no significa someterse a la tiranía ni rendir adulación al despotismo.

«Weigh well what it is you promise; but once the promise and pledge are given remember that he who is false to his obligation will be false to his family, his friends, his country, and his God.» — su regla del voto, que hace de la palabra dada un indicador del carácter entero.

«A whole senate, a whole people, cannot dissent from its paramount obligation.» — su tesis sobre la ley superior: ni un senado entero ni un pueblo entero pueden disentir de su obligación primordial.

«Masonry is useful to all men: to the learned, because it affords them the opportunity of exercising their talents upon subjects eminently worthy of their attention; to the illiterate, because it offers them important instruction; to the young, because it presents them with salutary precepts and good examples, and accustoms them to reflect on the proper mode of living;» — su enumeración de para quién sirve la orden, del docto al iletrado y al joven, con la utilidad propia de cada uno.

«A Freemason, therefore, should be a man of honor and of conscience, preferring his duty to everything beside, even to his life; independent in his opinions, and of good morals; submissive to the laws, devoted to humanity, to his country, to his family; kind and indulgent to his brethren, friend of all virtuous men, and ready to assist his fellows by all means in his power.» — su retrato del francmasón como hombre de honor y de conciencia, independiente en sus opiniones y sometido a las leyes.

«Thus will you be faithful to yourself, to your fellows, and to God, and thus will you do honor to the name and rank of SECRET MASTER; which, like other Masonic honors, degrades if it is not deserved.» — cierra el grado nombrándolo, y con la advertencia que repite en otros: el título de Maestro Secreto degrada si no se merece.

«For an idle person is so useless to any purposes of God and man, that he is like one who is dead, unconcerned in the changes and necessities of the world;» — su condena de la ociosidad, dicha con la equivalencia entre el ocioso y el muerto.

«To learn and to do!--this is the soul's work here below.» — su fórmula del trabajo del alma en este mundo, en dos verbos.

«the soul imbibes knowledge and by a divine alchemy changes what it learns into its own substance, and grows from within outwardly with an inherent force and power like those that lie» — su figura de la alquimia divina del alma, que convierte en sustancia propia lo que aprende y crece de dentro hacia fuera.

«To sleep little, and to study much; to say little, and to hear and think much; to learn, that we may be able to do, and then to do, earnestly and vigorously, whatever may be required of us by duty, and by the good of our fellows, our country, and mankind,-- these are the duties of every Mason who desires to imitate the Master Khu_ru_m.» — su regla de conducta para quien quiera imitar al Maestro Khurum, con el nombre del artífice tal como lo escribe el Rito.

«Lie not at all, neither in a little thing nor in a great, neither in the substance nor in the circumstance, neither in word nor deed: that is, pretend not what is false; cover not what is true; and let the measure of your affirmation or denial be the understanding of your con-tractor; for» — su precepto contra la mentira en el trato, en el registro de manual devocional que adopta aquí sin nombrar fuente, y con la medida en el entendimiento del contratante.

«Detain not the wages of the hireling; for every degree of detention of it beyond the time, is injustice and uncharitableness, and grinds his face till tears and blood come out; but pay him exactly according to covenant, or according to his needs.» — su precepto sobre el salario del jornalero, donde toda demora es injusticia y falta de caridad.

«It should be the earnest desire of every Perfect Master so to live and deal and act, that when it comes to him to die, he may be able to say, and his conscience to adjudge, that no man on earth is poorer, because he is richer; that what he hath he has honestly earned,» — el examen de conciencia que pide al Maestro Perfecto para la hora de morir, que nadie en la tierra sea más pobre porque él es más rico.

«Duty is the moral magnetism which controls and guides the true Mason's course over the tumultuous seas of life.» — su definición del deber como magnetismo moral que gobierna el rumbo del masón, con la figura náutica que sostiene todo el pasaje.

«And therefore, that we may not languish in our endeavors after excellence, it is necessary that, as Africanus counsels his descendants, we raise our eyes to higher prospects, and contemplate our future and eternal state, without giving up our hearts to the praise of crowds, or fixing our hopes on such rewards as human power can bestow.» — recoge el consejo que Africano da a sus descendientes, elevar los ojos a perspectivas más altas y no entregar el corazón a la alabanza de las multitudes.

«We are not born for ourselves alone; and our country claims her share, and our friends their share of us.» — la fórmula clásica sobre que no nacemos solo para nosotros, con la parte que reclaman la patria y los amigos.

«The generous man is not careful to return no more than he receives; but prefers that the balances upon the ledgers of benefits shall be in his favor.» — su definición del generoso por el saldo del libro mayor de los favores, que prefiere a su favor.

«Nor can any man any more be a Mason than he can be a gentle-man, unless he is generous, liberal, and disinterested.» — su condición para ser masón, que iguala con la de ser caballero: generosidad, liberalidad y desinterés.

«if we are unfaithful parents or undutiful children; if we are harsh masters or faithless servants; if we are treacherous friends or bad neighbors or bitter competitors or corrupt unprincipled politicians or overreaching dealers in business, we are wandering at a great distance from the true Masonic light.» — la lista de conductas privadas que alejan de la luz masónica, del padre infiel al comerciante abusivo y al político sin principios.

«He that does me a favor, hath bound me to make him a return of thankfulness.» — su doctrina de la gratitud como obligación nacida de la naturaleza de la cosa y no de pacto, en el mismo registro devocional sin fuente nombrada.

«because a man may forgive an injury, but he must never forget.» — el límite que pone al perdón, que separa perdonar de olvidar.

«Above all remember that Masonry is the realm of peace, and that "among Masons there must be no dissension, but only that noble emulation, which can best work and best agree.» — su definición de la orden como reino de la paz, citando la fórmula sobre que entre masones no debe haber disensión sino noble emulación.

«If that treasure were sunk in the sea, it would be calamity enough; but it is put to worse use; for it is expended in cutting into the veins and arteries of human life, until the earth is deluged with a sea of blood.» — su cuenta del gasto militar, que lo mide en venas y arterias abiertas y no en dinero.

«In our intercourse with others, there are two kinds of injustice: the first, of those who offer an injury; the second, of those who have it in their power to avert an injury from those to whom it is offered, and yet do it not.» — su distinción entre dos injusticias, la de quien ofrece el daño y la de quien pudiendo evitarlo no lo hace.

«So active injustice may be done in two ways--by force and by fraud,--of which force is lion-like, and fraud fox-like,--both utterly repugnant to social duty, but fraud the more detestable.» — su distinción entre las dos formas de la injusticia activa, la leonina de la fuerza y la vulpina del fraude, con el fraude por más detestable.

«Punishment is not the execution of a sentence, but the occurrence of an effect.» — su definición del castigo como ocurrencia de un efecto y no ejecución de una sentencia.

«God will not interpose between the cause and its consequence; and in that sense there can be no forgiveness of sins.» — la consecuencia doctrinal que saca, y que es de las más fuertes del libro: Dios no se interpone entre la causa y su consecuencia, y en ese sentido no hay perdón de los pecados.

«Repentance is still as valid as ever; but it is valid to secure the Future, not to obliterate the Past.» — el lugar que deja al arrepentimiento dentro de esa doctrina: vale para asegurar el futuro, no para borrar el pasado.

«The air is one vast library, on whose pages is forever written all that man has ever said or even whispered.» — su figura del aire como una vasta biblioteca en cuyas páginas queda escrito para siempre todo lo que el hombre dijo o susurró.

«Every criminal is by the laws of the Almighty irrevocably chained to the testimony of his crime; for every atom of his mortal frame, through whatever changes its particles may migrate, will still retain, adhering to it through every combination, some movement derived from that very muscular effort by which the crime itself was perpetrated.» — extiende esa permanencia a la materia del cuerpo, con cada átomo del criminal conservando el movimiento derivado del esfuerzo muscular del crimen.

«In the Masonic law, to cheat and overreach in trade, at the bar, in politics, are deemed no more venial than theft; nor a deliberate lie than perjury; nor slander than robbery; nor seduction than murder.» — su tabla de equivalencias penales en la ley masónica, donde engañar en el comercio no es más venial que el robo ni la seducción menos que el asesinato.

«Human justice must be ever uncertain.» — su tesis sobre el juicio humano, formulada sin salvedad.

«It may well be doubted whether the ad-ministration of human laws, in every country, is not one gigantic mass of injustice and wrong.» — la duda que añade sobre la administración de las leyes en cualquier país, que podría ser una masa gigantesca de injusticia.

«We cannot say, with certainty, even of our nearest friend, that he has not committed a particular sin, and broken a particular commandment.» — el límite del conocimiento que alegamos de los demás, que no alcanza ni al amigo más cercano.

«No man need covet the office of judge; for in assuming it he assumes the gravest and most oppressive responsibility.» — su advertencia a quien juzga: nadie ha de codiciar el oficio de juez, porque asume con él la responsabilidad más grave.

«that you exercise your office cautiously and charitably, lest, in passing judgment upon the criminal, you commit a greater wrong than that for which you condemn him, and the consequences of which must be eternal.» — el riesgo que le señala, que al condenar al criminal cometa un daño mayor que aquel por el que lo condena.

«But to the Mason, it is the form of sacred humanity that is before him; it is an erring fellow-being; a desolate, forlorn, forsaken soul; and his thoughts, enfolding the poor wretch, will be far deeper than those of indifference, ridicule, or contempt.» — lo que pide que vea el masón donde la multitud ve un despojo, la forma de la humanidad sagrada y un alma desolada.

«It does not become the frail and sinful to be vindictive toward even the worst criminals.» — su regla sobre la venganza incluso ante los peores criminales, fundada en la propia fragilidad.

«The wretch whom the execration of the thronging crowd pursues to the scaffold, is not worse than any one of that multitude might have become under similar circumstances.» — su argumento de igualdad ante la tentación: el desdichado a quien la multitud persigue hasta el cadalso no es peor de lo que cualquiera de esa multitud habría llegado a ser.

«JUDGE NOT, LEST YE YOURSELVES BE JUDGED: FOR WHATSOEVER JUDGMENT YE MEASURE UNTO OTHERS, THE SAME SHALL IN TURN BE MEASURED UNTO YOU.» — pone en versales el precepto evangélico de no juzgar, con la medida que se devuelve, como divisa del grado.

«The Battery of this Degree, and the five circuits which you made around the Lodge, allude to the five points of fellowship, and are intended to recall them vividly to your mind.» — dato de ritual, dicho por él: la batería del grado y los cinco circuitos alrededor de la Logia aluden a los cinco puntos de fraternidad.

«While the Sectarians of former times enfeebled the religious spirit, Masonry, forming one great People over the whole globe, and march under the great banner of Charity and Benevolence, preserves feeling, strengthens it, extends it in its purity and simplicity, as it has always existed in the depths of the human heart, as it existed even under the dominion of the most ancient forms of worship, but where gross and debasing superstitions forbade its recognition.» — su definición de la orden como un solo pueblo sobre todo el globo bajo la bandera de la caridad, frente a los sectarios que debilitaron el espíritu religioso.

«It does not meddle with the domain of religion, nor inquire into the mysteries of regeneration.» — su abstención en materia de religión, que deja fuera el dominio religioso y los misterios de la regeneración.

«It does not dogmatize, nor vainly imagine dogmatic certainty to be attainable.» — la abstención correlativa en materia de doctrina, que conviene leer junto a su reclamo de instrucción: la orden no dogmatiza ni imagina en vano que la certeza dogmática sea alcanzable.

«It teaches that man has high duties to perform, and a high destiny to fulfill, on this earth; that this world is not merely the portal to another; and that this life, though not our only one, is an integral one,» — su tesis sobre esta vida, que la sostiene íntegra y no mero pórtico de otra.

«He is sent into this world, not to be constantly hankering after, dreaming of, preparing for another; but to do his duty and fulfill his destiny» — el corolario práctico, que envía al hombre a cumplir su deber aquí y no a soñar de continuo con otro mundo.

«They take very unprofitable pains, who endeavor to persuade men that they are obliged wholly to despise this world, and all that is in it, even whilst they themselves live here.» — su objeción a los predicadores del desprecio del mundo, en el registro y la sintaxis de un moralista del siglo XVII que no nombra.

«If life is worthless, so also is immortality.» — su argumento contra el desprecio de esta vida, que hace depender de ella el valor mismo de la inmortalidad.

«Masonry deems it no mark of great piety toward God to disparage, if not despise, the state that He has ordained for us.» — su deslinde frente a la piedad que desprecia el estado presente, al que llama ordenado por Dios.

«It does not absurdly set up the claims of another world, not in comparison merely, but in competition, with the claims of this.» — precisa el punto exacto de ese deslinde: no pone las pretensiones del otro mundo en competencia con las de éste, solo en comparación.

«Our love of life; the tenacity with which, in sorrow and suffering, we cling to it; our attachment to our home, to the spot that gave us birth, to any place, however rude, unsightly, or barren,» — apela al apego a la vida y al lugar de nacimiento como argumento contra las doctrinas del desprecio del mundo.

«It is fit that God should dispense His gifts as He pleases; and if we murmur here, we may, at the next melancholy, be troubled that He did not make us to be angels or stars.» — su regla de la conformidad, que remite el reparto de dones a Dios y advierte contra el murmurar.

«We ourselves make our fortunes good or bad; and when God lets loose a Tyrant upon us, or a sickness, or scorn, or a lessened fortune, if we fear to die, or know not how to be patient, or are proud, or covetous, then the calamity sits heavy on us.» — su tesis sobre la desgracia, que la hace pesar según la disposición de quien la recibe.

«If thou hast lost thy land, do not also lose thy constancy; and if thou must die sooner than others, or than thou didst expect, yet do not die impatiently.» — su precepto de la constancia ante la pérdida, dicho en el tuteo del manual devocional que adopta sin nombrar fuente.

«No man can make another man to be his slave, unless that other hath first enslaved himself to life and death, to pleasure or pain, to hope or fear; command these passions, and you are freer than the Parthian Kings.» — su definición de la libertad interior por el dominio de las pasiones, que la pone por encima de la de los reyes partos.

«So when the storm of a sad mischance beats upon our spirits, we may turn it into something that is good, if we resolve to make it so; and with equanimity and patience may shelter ourselves from its inclement pitiless pelting.» — su regla para la desgracia, que propone convertir la tormenta en algo bueno con ecuanimidad y paciencia.

«Enjoy the blessings of this day, if God sends them, and the evils of it bear patiently and calmly; for this clay only is ours: we are dead to yesterday, and we are not yet born to the morrow.» — su precepto del día presente, que declara al hombre muerto para el ayer y no nacido aún para el mañana.

«A Mason's contentedness must by no means be a mere contented selfishness, like his who, comfortable himself, is indifferent to the discomfort of others.» — el límite que pone a su propia doctrina del contento: no ha de ser un egoísmo satisfecho, indiferente a la incomodidad ajena.

«He is the faithless steward, that embezzles what God has given him in trust for the impoverished and suffering among his brethren.» — su figura del mayordomo infiel para quien no atiende al necesitado, por malversar lo que Dios le dio en fideicomiso.

«These Degrees are also intended to teach more than morals.» — el anuncio de lo que viene después de los grados morales: estos grados enseñan más que moral.

«Truth is not only symbolized by Light, but as the ray of light is separable into rays of different colors, so is truth separable into kinds.» — su analogía entre la luz descompuesta en colores y la verdad separable en géneros, con la que abre esa ampliación.

«It is the province of Masonry to teach all truths--not moral truth alone, but political and philosophical, and even religious truth, so far as concerns the great and essential principles of each.» — reclama para la orden la enseñanza de todas las verdades, política, filosófica y aun religiosa en sus principios esenciales.

«Masonry is not "speculative," nor theoretical, but experimental; not sentimental, but practical.» — su corrección al adjetivo que la propia masonería usa de sí misma, especulativa, que sustituye por experimental y práctica.

«It is amazing to see how men can talk of virtue and honor, whose life denies both.» — su observación sobre la distancia entre el discurso y la vida de quien lo pronuncia.

«Often, the more a man talks about Charity and Toleration, the less he has of either; the more he talks about Virtue, the smaller stock he has of it.» — su regla inversa sobre quien más habla de caridad, tolerancia y virtud.

«A man may be a good sort of man in general, and yet a very bad man in particular: good in the Lodge and bad in the world; good in public, and bad in his family; good at home, and bad on a journey or in a strange city.» — su descripción del masón dividido, bueno en la Logia y malo en el mundo, bueno en público y malo en su familia.

«It requires its Initiates to WORK, actively and earnestly, for the benefit of their brethren, their country, and mankind.» — lo que exige de los iniciados en verbo y en versales, trabajar activa y seriamente por sus hermanos, su país y la humanidad.

«It is not the mission of Masonry to engage in plots and conspiracies against the civil government.» — su negativa expresa a la acusación de conspiración, que conviene poner junto a los exposés que el corpus tiene: no es misión de la orden urdir tramas contra el gobierno civil.

«It is not the fanatical propagandist of any creed or theory; nor does it proclaim itself the enemy of kings.» — amplía esa negativa: no es propagandista fanática de credo ni teoría alguna, ni se proclama enemiga de los reyes.

«It is the apostle of liberty, equality, and fraternity; but it is no more the high-priest of republicanism than of constitutional monarchy.» — el equilibrio político que reclama, que la deja tan lejos del republicanismo como de la monarquía constitucional.

«It knows that where any man, or any number or race of men, are so imbecile of intellect, so degraded, so incapable of self-control, so inferior in the scale of humanity, as to be unfit to be intrusted with the highest prerogatives of citizenship, the great law of necessity; for the peace and safety of the community and country, requires them to remain under the control of those of larger intellect and superior wisdom.» — su doctrina de la necesidad aplicada a la ciudadanía, que deja bajo el control de los de mayor intelecto a quienes juzga incapaces de autogobierno, y que se consigna aquí como lo que el libro sostiene.

«But it does not preach revolution to those who are fond of kings, nor rebellion that can end only in disaster and defeat, or in substituting one tyrant for another, or a multitude of despots for one.» — el límite que pone a su propio programa: no predica revolución a quienes aman a sus reyes, ni rebelión que solo pueda acabar en sustituir un tirano por otro.

«Masonry teaches that all power is delegated for the good, and not for the injury of the People; and that, when it is perverted from the original purpose, the compact is broken, and the right» — su doctrina del mandato: todo poder está delegado para el bien del pueblo, y pervertido ese fin el pacto queda roto.

«resumed; that resistance to power usurped is not merely a duty which man owes to himself and to his neighbor, but a duty which he owes to his God, in asserting and maintaining the rank which He gave him in the creation.» — el corolario de resistencia, que la vuelve deber hacia Dios por el rango que dio al hombre en la creación.

«The true Mason identifies the honor of his country with his own.» — su definición del patriotismo masónico por la identificación del honor propio con el del país.

«And he who labors, often against reproach and obloquy, and oftener against indifference and apathy, to bring about that fortunate condition of things when that great code of divine law shall be everywhere and punctually obeyed, is no less a patriot than he who bares his bosom to the hostile steel in the ranks of his country's soldiery.» — iguala al patriota de armas con quien trabaja contra la indiferencia y la apatía para que se obedezca el código de la ley divina.

«But he who assails hoary abuses, regarded perhaps with a superstitious reverence, and around which old laws stand as ramparts and bastions to defend them; who denounces acts of cruelty and outrage on humanity which make every perpetrator thereof his personal enemy, and perhaps make him looked upon with suspicion by the people among whom he lives, as the assailant of an established order of things of which he assails only the abuses, and of laws of which he attacks only the violations,--he can scarcely look for present recompense, nor that his living brows will be wreathed with laurel.» — su descripción de quien ataca abusos venerados, rodeados de leyes que los defienden, y que apenas puede esperar recompensa presente.

«He has already lived too long who has survived the ruin of his country; and he who can enjoy life after such an event deserves not to have lived at all.» — su sentencia sobre el que sobrevive a la ruina de su país, dicha sin atenuante.

«But in these patriotic labors of peace, in preventing, remedying, and reforming evils, oppressions, wrongs, cruelties, and outrages, every Mason can unite; and every one can effect something, and share the honor and glory of the result.» — lo que en cambio abre a todos: en las labores patrióticas de la paz, previniendo y reformando males, cada masón puede unirse y hacer algo.

«A useless life is short, if it last a century; but that of Alexander was long as the life of the oak, though he died at thirtyfive.» — su medida de la vida por lo hecho y no por lo durado, con Alejandro muerto a los treinta y cinco por caso largo.

«But he does absolutely deny the right of any man to assume the prerogative of Deity, and condemn another's faith and opinions as deserving to be punished because heretical.» — el derecho que niega de raíz: que un hombre asuma la prerrogativa de la Deidad y condene la fe ajena como merecedora de castigo.

«But Masonry teaches, and has preserved in their purity, the cardinal tenets of the old primitive faith, which underlie and are the foundation of all religions.» — el reclamo doctrinal más fuerte de este grado: la orden habría preservado en su pureza los principios de la antigua fe primitiva que están en la base de todas las religiones.

«All that ever existed have had a basis of truth; and all have overlaid that truth with errors.» — el corolario que saca sobre las religiones existentes, todas con una base de verdad y todas con esa verdad recubierta de errores.

«True Masonry within must be morality without.» — su regla de correspondencia entre interior y exterior, que hace de la moral pública la prueba de la masonería íntima.

«His Masonry is his freedom before God, not his bondage unto men.» — su definición de la masonería del buen masón como libertad ante Dios y no servidumbre ante los hombres.

«This Degree is chiefly devoted to TOLERATION; and it inculcates in the strongest manner that great leading idea of the Ancient Art, that a belief in the one True God, and a moral and virtuous life, constitute the only religious requisites needed to enable a man to be a Mason.» — el dato de contenido del grado, dicho por él: está dedicado sobre todo a la tolerancia, y el único requisito religioso es creer en un solo Dios verdadero y llevar vida moral.

«Man never had the right to usurp the unexercised prerogative of God, and condemn and punish another for his belief.» — su tesis sobre la persecución, que la funda en una prerrogativa divina no ejercida y por eso no delegable.

«The fires of Moloch in Syria, the harsh mutilations in the name of Astarte, Cybele, Jehovah; the barbarities of imperial Pagan Torturers; the still grosser torments which Roman-Gothic Christians in Italy and Spain heaped on their brother-men; the fiendish cruelties to which Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, America, have been witnesses, are none too powerful to warn man of the unspeakable evils which follow from mistakes and errors in the matter of religion, and especially from investing the God of Love with the cruel and vindictive passions of erring humanity,» — su catálogo de crueldades religiosas, que pone en la misma serie los fuegos de Moloc, las mutilaciones por Astarté y Cibeles, y las hechas en nombre de Jehová.

«It is an imperative law of God's Economy, unyielding and inflexible as Himself, that man shall accept without question the belief of those among whom he is born and reared;» — su ley de la creencia heredada, que hace que el hombre acepte sin cuestión la fe de aquellos entre quienes nace.

«We know not what is the truth.» — la confesión de ignorancia sobre la que apoya toda su tolerancia.

«No man is responsible for the rightness of his faith; but only for the uprightness of it.» — su distinción entre lo recto de una fe y la rectitud con que se sostiene, que traslada la responsabilidad del contenido a la disposición.

«The sincere Moslem has as much right to persecute us, as we to persecute him;» — su prueba de reciprocidad contra la persecución, con el musulmán sincero por caso.

«No man truly obeys the Masonic law who merely tolerates those whose religious opinions are opposed to his own.» — su exigencia más alta en materia de tolerancia, que no da por cumplida la ley masónica con el mero tolerar.

«It holds that each man is absolutely sovereign as to his own belief, and that belief is a matter absolutely foreign to all who do not entertain the same belief;» — su fundamento para ello, la soberanía absoluta de cada hombre sobre su propia creencia.

«"On commencing a journey, the Faithful should turn his thoughts toward Ormuzd, and confess him, in the purity of his heart, to be King of the World;» — vierte el precepto zoroastriano del viajero que ha de confesar a Ormuzd rey del mundo en la pureza de su corazón, dentro de su antología de morales comparadas.

«It was his duty to confess his faults to a Magus, or to a layman renowned for his virtues, or to the Sun.» — sigue vertiendo esa misma disciplina, con la confesión de las faltas ante un Mago, ante un lego de virtud reconocida o ante el Sol.

«The doctrine of our Master consists solely in being upright of heart, and loving our neighbor as we love ourself.» — cierra la antología con la máxima que adjudica a la escuela de Confucio, rectitud de corazón y amor al prójimo como a uno mismo.

«Nothing is more natural," said CONFUCIUS, "nothing more simple, than the principles of that morality which I endeavor, by salutary maxims, to inculcate in you» — pone en boca de Confucio la declaración de que nada hay más natural ni más simple que los principios de la moral que inculca por máximas.

«Men in no respect so nearly approach to the Deity, as when they confer benefits on men.» — la fórmula clásica sobre el hombre acercándose a la divinidad al hacer bien a otros hombres, que recoge en esa misma serie.

«It asks that alone to be done which is easy to be done.» — su regla de exigencia mínima, que solo pide lo que es fácil de hacer.

«It does not expect one whose business or profession yields him little more than the wants of himself and his family require, and whose time is necessarily occupied by his daily vocations, to abandon or neglect the business by which he and his children live, and devote himself and his means to the diffusion of knowledge among men.» — acota expresamente a quién no exige: al que vive de su oficio y apenas cubre lo suyo, no le pide abandonar el negocio del que comen sus hijos.

«But it does require and expect every man of us to do something, within and according to his means; and there is no Mason who cannot do some thing, if not alone, then by combination and association.» — lo que sí exige de cada uno, algo dentro de sus medios, solo o por asociación.

«It can educate one boy or girl, at least, the child of some poor or departed brother.» — el ejemplo mínimo que da a la Logia que no puede fundar escuela, educar al menos a un niño o una niña, hijo de un hermano pobre o difunto.

«There is no law that limits the returns that shall be reaped from a single good deed.» — su principio sobre el rendimiento de la buena obra, sin ley que limite lo que una sola pueda cosechar.

«The widow's mite may not only be as acceptable to God, but may produce as great results as the rich man's costly offering.» — el óbolo de la viuda por caso, que iguala en resultado a la ofrenda costosa del rico.

«We must not overlook these elements, to which genius owes the best and proudest of her achievements; nor imagine that qualities so generally possessed as patience and pains-taking, and resolute industry, have no share in upholding a distinction so illustrious as that of the benefactor of his kind.» — su corrección a la idea del genio, que devuelve el mérito a la paciencia, el esmero y la industria resuelta.

«It is for God and for Omnipotency to do mighty things in a moment; but by degrees to grow to greatness is the course that He hath left for man.» — su regla del crecimiento por grados, que reserva lo instantáneo a la omnipotencia y deja al hombre el camino lento.

«The great distinguishing characteristic of a Mason is sympathy with his kind.» — su rasgo distintivo del masón, que no es el saber ni el grado sino la simpatía con los de su especie.

«He knows that the safety of every free government, and its continuance and perpetuity depend upon the virtue and intelligence of the common people;» — el fundamento popular que da a la seguridad del gobierno libre, la virtud y la inteligencia de la gente común.

«He does not flatter them to mislead them, nor fawn upon them to rule them, nor conceal his opinions to humor them, nor tell them that they can never err, and that their voice is the voice of God.» — el reverso que añade, y que lo aparta del halago democrático: ni adula al pueblo ni le dice que su voz sea la voz de Dios.

«We must not forget that great results are most ordinarily produced by an aggregate of many contributions and exertions; as it is the invisible particles of vapor, each separate and distinct from the other, that, rising from the oceans and their bays and gulfs,» — su figura de las partículas invisibles de vapor que ascienden del mar, con que explica los grandes resultados por agregación.

«For though we do not know why God, being infinitely merciful as well as wise, has so ordered it, it seems to be unquestionably his law, that even in civilized and Christian countries, the large mass of the population shall be fortunate, if, during their whole life, from infancy to old age, in health and sickness, they have enough of the commonest and coarsest food to keep themselves and their children from the continual gnawing of hunger--enough of the commonest and coarsest clothing to protect themselves and their little ones from indecent exposure and the bitter cold; and if they have over their heads the rudest shelter.» — su descripción del reparto material en los países civilizados y cristianos, que la masa quede afortunada si le alcanza el alimento y el abrigo más groseros, y que declara no entender por qué Dios lo dispuso así.

«The capitalist can live without employing the laborer, and discharges him whenever that labor ceases to be profitable.» — el desequilibrio que señala entre las partes: el capitalista puede vivir sin emplear al obrero y lo despide cuando su trabajo deja de ser rentable.

«For it is true now, as it always was and always will be, that to be free is the same thing as to be pious, to be wise, to be temperate and just, to be frugal and abstinent, and to be magnanimous and brave; and to be the opposite of all these is the same as to be a slave.» — su ecuación entre libertad y virtudes, donde ser libre equivale a ser piadoso, sabio, templado, justo, frugal y magnánimo, en el registro de una prosa republicana del siglo XVII que no nombra.

«And it is also sanctioned by the dictates of justice and by the constitution of Nature, that he who, from the imbecility or derangement of his intellect, is incapable of governing himself, should, like a minor, be committed to the government of another.» — su excepción a esa libertad, que somete al incapaz de gobernarse al gobierno de otro como a un menor de edad, y que repite la doctrina de la necesidad del grado anterior.

«Above all things let us never forget that mankind constitutes one great brotherhood; all born to encounter suffering and sorrow, and therefore bound to sympathize with each other.» — su enunciado de la fraternidad universal, fundada en el sufrimiento común y no en el pacto.

«Suffering is the discipline of virtue; of that which is infinitely better than happiness, and yet embraces in itself all essential happiness.» — su tesis sobre el dolor como disciplina de la virtud, que pone por encima de la felicidad.

«Virtue is the truest liberty; nor is he free who stoops to passions; nor he in bondage who serves a noble master.» — su definición de la libertad por la virtud, con la distinción entre el que se rebaja a las pasiones y el que sirve a un amo noble.

«Life is a school. The world is neither prison nor penitentiary, nor a palace of ease, nor an amphitheatre for games and spectacles; but a place of instruction, and discipline.» — su figura del mundo como escuela, que niega expresamente las otras tres, prisión, palacio y anfiteatro.

«Death is the great Teacher, stern, cold, inexorable, irresistible; whom the collected might of the world cannot stay or ward off.» — su personificación de la muerte como el gran Maestro, al que la fuerza reunida del mundo no puede detener.

«There is no evil in death but that which life makes.» — el límite que pone a ese temor: en la muerte no hay más mal que el que la vida le pone.

«Only the most abandoned of men, said Cicero, will deceive him, who would have remained uninjured if he had not trusted.» — recoge de Cicerón la sentencia sobre quien engaña al que habría quedado ileso de no haber confiado.

«The bases of Masonry being morality and virtue, it is by studying one and practising the other, that the conduct of a Mason becomes irreproachable.» — su fundamento del oficio en dos términos, moral y virtud, uno para estudiar y otro para practicar.

«The laws of Masonry, above others excellent, cannot wholly change men's natures.» — el límite que reconoce a las leyes de la orden, que no pueden cambiar del todo la naturaleza de los hombres.

«There are works yet left for Masonry to accomplish, greater than the twelve labors of Hercules; to advance ever resolutely and steadily; to enlighten the minds of the people, to reconstruct society, to reform the laws, and to improve the public morals.» — su programa para la orden, comparado con los doce trabajos de Hércules: ilustrar al pueblo, reconstruir la sociedad, reformar las leyes y mejorar la moral pública.

«And Masonry cannot cease to labor in the cause of social progress, without ceasing to be true to itself, without ceasing to be Masonry.» — la condición de identidad que de ahí saca: dejar de trabajar por el progreso social sería dejar de ser masonería.

«Alas, these conquer, and Masonry is forgotten!» — su queja sobre el estado presente de la orden, dicha en una sola línea.

«To waken that slumbering consciousness into life, and so to lead the soul up to the Light, is one office of every great ministration to human nature, whether its vehicle be the pen, the pencil, or the tongue.» — define como oficio de toda gran ministración humana despertar la consciencia dormida y llevar el alma hasta la luz, sea por la pluma, el pincel o la lengua.

«We never know the full significance of the words, "property," "ease," and "health;" the wealth of meaning in the fond epithets, "parent," "child," "beloved," and "friend," until the thing or the person is taken away; until, in place of the bright, visible being, comes the awful and desolate shadow, where nothing is: where we stretch out our hands in vain, and strain our eyes upon dark and dismal vacuity.» — su observación sobre el sentido pleno de las palabras, que solo se conoce cuando la cosa o la persona ya fue quitada.

«So the soul, however given up to the occupations of daily life, cannot quite lose the sense of where it is, and of what is above it and around it.» — su tesis sobre el alma en la vida diaria, que no pierde del todo el sentido de dónde está y de qué la rodea.

«So we live our little life; but Heaven is above us and all around and close to us; and Eternity is before us and behind us; and suns and stars are silent witnesses and watchers over us.» — la figura con que la cierra, la vida pequeña entre cielo, eternidad y astros por testigos silenciosos.

«There is no being so base and abandoned but hath some traits of that sacredness left upon him; something, so much perhaps in discordance with his general repute, that he hides it» — lo que concede al hombre más abandonado, algunos rasgos de aquella sacralidad, que a veces esconde por discordar con su fama.

«The same difficulty, distress, poverty, or misfortune, that breaks down one man, builds up another and makes him strong.» — su observación sobre la misma dificultad que hunde a uno y fortalece a otro.

«Never was a human being sunk so low that he had not, by God's gift, the power to rise, Because God commands him to rise, it is certain that he can rise,» — su tesis sobre la capacidad de levantarse, que deriva del mandato divino la certeza de que se puede.

«Let the Mason never forget that life and the world are what we make them by our social character; by our adaptation, or want of adaptation to the social conditions, relationships, and pursuits of the world.» — su regla sobre la vida y el mundo, que los hace obra del carácter social y de la adaptación de cada quien.

«A good man will find that there is goodness in the world; an honest man will find that there is honesty in the world; and a man of principle will find principle and integrity in the minds of others.» — el corolario que saca, con el hombre bueno hallando bondad en el mundo y el de principios hallando integridad en los otros.

«It is true that temptations have a great power, and virtue often falls; but the might of these temptations lies not in themselves, but in the feebleness of our own virtue, and the weakness of our own hearts.» — su localización de la fuerza de la tentación, que no está en ella sino en la flaqueza de la propia virtud.

«Believe that there is a God; that He is our father; that He has a paternal interest in our welfare and improvement;» — enuncia el contenido mínimo de la fe que la orden pide, un Dios padre con interés paterno en el bienestar y la mejora del hombre.

«The religious faith thus taught by Masonry is indispensable to the attainment of the great ends of life; and must therefore have been designed to be a part of it.» — declara esa fe indispensable para los grandes fines de la vida, y por eso la da por parte del designio.

«"I put my trust in God," is the protest of Masonry against the belief in a cruel, angry, and revengeful God, to be feared and not reverenced by His creatures.» — su protesta doctrinal, dicha con la divisa que lleva la moneda de su país, contra la creencia en un Dios cruel, colérico y vengativo al que se teme en vez de reverenciarlo.

«And if we were to sever all the moral bonds that hold society together; if we could cut off from it every conviction of Truth and Integrity, of an authority above it, and of a conscience within it, it would immediately rush to disorder and frightful anarchy and ruin.» — su analogía entre cortar los lazos morales de la sociedad y romper la gravitación que sostiene los mundos.

«Faith in moral principles, in virtue, and in God, is as necessary for the guidance of a man, as instinct is for the guidance of an animal.» — iguala la función de la fe en el hombre con la del instinto en el animal, y de ahí le da misión en la Providencia.

«God has ordained that life shall be a social state.» — su fundamento del deber social, que hace de la vida un estado social por ordenanza divina.

«The Public is no vague abstraction; nor should that which is done against that Public, against public interest, law, or virtue, press but lightly on the conscience.» — su tesis contra la abstracción de lo público, que niega que el daño al interés público pese poco en la conciencia.

«And yet the mind and soul of man have a value which nothing else has. They are worth a care which nothing else is worth; and to the single, solitary individual, they ought to possess an interest which nothing else possesses.» — su tasación del alma y la mente del hombre, que no tiene comparación con ninguna otra cosa.

«It is the soul alone that gives any value to the things of this world; and it is only by raising the soul to its just elevation above all other things, that we can look rightly upon the purposes of this earth.» — el corolario que saca, que hace del alma la única fuente de valor de las cosas de este mundo.

«The Hebrew word, in the old Hebrew and Samaritan character, suspended in the East, over the five columns, is ADONAÏ, one of the names of God, usually translated Lord; and which the Hebrews, in reading, always substitute for the True Name, which is for them ineffable.» — dato de logia, dicho por él: la palabra hebrea suspendida al Este sobre las cinco columnas es ADONAI, sustituto que los hebreos leen en lugar del Nombre Verdadero, para ellos inefable.

«The North Star, always fixed and immutable for us, represents the point in the centre of the circle, or the Deity in the centre of the Universe.» — su lectura de la Estrella del Norte como el punto en el centro del círculo, es decir la Deidad en el centro del universo.

«There is, after all, a "divine right" to govern; and it is vested in the ablest, wisest, best, of every nation.» — el derecho divino que sí concede, no a la sangre sino a los más capaces, sabios y mejores de cada nación.

«WHETHER the legend and history of this Degree are historically true, or but an allegory, containing in itself a deeper truth and a profounder meaning, we shall not now debate.» — su abstención expresa sobre la historicidad de la leyenda del grado, que declara no debatir aquí si es histórica o alegoría de una verdad más honda.

«We know that for many centuries the Hebrews have been forbidden to pronounce the Sacred Name; that wherever it occurs, they have for ages read the word Adonaï instead;» — consigna el dato de la prohibición hebrea de pronunciar el Nombre Sagrado y de la lectura de Adonai en su lugar.

«It is certain that its true pronunciation is not that represented by the word Jehovah; and therefore that that is not the true name of Deity, nor the Ineffable Word.» — su juicio sobre la vocalización recibida: la pronunciación verdadera no es la que representa la palabra Jehovah, que por tanto no es el nombre verdadero de la Deidad.

«They always had a double meaning, and sometimes more than two, one serving as the envelope of the other.» — la regla de lectura que gobierna todo el volumen: los símbolos y alegorías antiguos siempre tuvieron doble sentido, y a veces más, sirviendo uno de envoltura del otro.

«The mass of the Hebrews did not believe in the existence of one only God until a late period in their history.» — su tesis sobre la religión hebrea, que niega el monoteísmo del grueso del pueblo hasta un periodo tardío de su historia.

«as they believed, more powerful than the other gods of the same nature worshipped by their neighbors--"Who among the Baalim is like unto thee, O Yehovah?"-- expressed their whole creed.» — la prueba que aduce, la fórmula bíblica que compara a Yehovah con los baalim en vez de negarlos.

«And so in our day every Masonic Lodge represents the Universe. Each extends, we are told, from the rising to the setting sun, from the South to the North, from the surface of the Earth to the Heavens, and from the same to the centre of the globe.» — dato de logia: cada Logia representa el universo y se extiende del orto al ocaso, del sur al norte y de la superficie de la tierra al cielo y al centro del globo.

«The three Masters, Adoniram, Joabert, and Stolkin, are types of the True Mason, who seeks for knowledge from pure motives, and that he may be the better enabled to serve and benefit his fellow-men;» — su lectura de los tres Maestros Adoniram, Joabert y Stolkin como tipos del masón verdadero que busca el conocimiento por motivos puros.

«The Lion that guarded the Ark and held in his mouth the key wherewith to open it, figuratively represents Solomon, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who preserved and communicated the key to the true knowledge of God, of His laws, and of the profound mysteries of the moral and physical Universe.» — su lectura del León que guardaba el Arca con la llave en la boca, figura de Salomón como León de la tribu de Judá que conservó y comunicó la llave del conocimiento de Dios.

«The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical.» — califica de probablemente simbólica la leyenda de las columnas de granito y de bronce que se le atribuyen a Enoc, sin darla por histórica.

«Nay, they are more so, because ancient history is little instructive, and truths are concealed in and symbolized by the legend and the myth.» — su defensa de la parábola sobre la historia, porque la historia antigua instruye poco y la verdad va oculta y simbolizada en la leyenda y el mito.

«There are profounder meanings concealed in the symbols of this .Degree, connected with the philosophical system of the Hebrew Kabalists, which you will learn hereafter, if you should be so fortunate as to advance.» — la reserva graduada más explícita del volumen: dice que hay sentidos más hondos ligados al sistema filosófico de los cabalistas hebreos, y que se aprenderán después si el iniciado tiene la fortuna de avanzar.

«A permanent constitution, rooted in the affections, expressing the will and judgment, and built upon the instincts and settled habits of thought of the people, with an independent judiciary, an elective legislature of two branches, an executive responsible to the people, and the right of trial by jury, will guarantee the liberties of a people,» — su lista de garantías institucionales de la libertad, con judicatura independiente, legislatura electiva de dos cámaras, ejecutivo responsable y juicio por jurado.

«Masonry teaches its Initiates that the pursuits and occupations of this life, its activity, care, and ingenuity, the predestined developments of the nature given us by God, tend to promote His great design, in making the world; and are not at war with the great purpose of life.» — su doctrina del trabajo mundano, que hace de las ocupaciones de esta vida parte del designio divino y no guerra contra el fin de la vida.

«The appointed action of life is the great training of Providence; and if man yields himself to it, he will need neither churches nor ordinances, except for the expression of his religious homage and gratitude.» — el corolario más fuerte de esa doctrina, que deja iglesias y ordenanzas solo para expresar homenaje y gratitud.

«The oracles of God do not speak from the pulpit alone.» — su fórmula sobre dónde habla Dios, que saca los oráculos del púlpito.

«There is a natural religion of life, answering, with however many a broken tone, to the religion of nature.» — nombra una religión natural de la vida que responde, con muchos tonos rotos, a la religión de la naturaleza.

«The law of retribution presses upon every man, whether he thinks of it or not.» — su ley de la retribución, que actúa sobre todo hombre lo piense o no.

«The great law of Retribution is, that all coming experience is to be affected by every present feeling;» — su formulación de esa ley por la continuidad, donde toda experiencia futura queda afectada por cada sentimiento presente.

«The practical object of Masonry is the physical and moral amelioration and the intellectual and spiritual improvement of individuals and society.» — declara el objeto práctico de la orden, la mejora física, moral, intelectual y espiritual de los individuos y la sociedad.

«Neither can be effected, except by the dissemination of truth.» — y el único medio que le reconoce, la diseminación de la verdad.

«Public opinion is rarely right on any point; and there are and always will be important truths to be substituted in that opinion in the place of many errors and absurd and injurious prejudices.» — su juicio sobre la opinión pública, que rara vez acierta en punto alguno.

«There are few truths that public opinion has not at some time hated and persecuted as heresies; and few errors that have not at some time seemed to it truths radiant from the immediate presence of God.» — la prueba histórica que da, que pocas verdades no fueron odiadas por herejías y pocos errores no parecieron verdades radiantes.

«It is the universal, eternal, immutable religion, such as God planted it in the heart of universal humanity.» — el reclamo más alto que hace para la doctrina de la orden, que la llama religión universal, eterna e inmutable plantada por Dios en el corazón de la humanidad entera.

«The ministers of this religion are all Masons who comprehend it and are devoted to it;» — y sus ministros, que son todos los masones que la comprenden y se le entregan.

«Masonry, not in anywise derogating from the differing duties which the diversity of states requires, tends to create a new people, which, composed of men of many nations and tongues, shall all be bound together by the bonds of science, morality, and virtue.» — su proyecto de un pueblo nuevo, compuesto de hombres de muchas naciones y lenguas y unido por la ciencia, la moral y la virtud.

«Masonry represents the Good Principle and constantly wars against the evil one.» — su lectura maniquea del oficio, con la orden representando el Principio Bueno y en guerra constante contra el malo.

«evil and darkness, reigned everywhere and seemed invincible and immortal, it invented, to avoid persecution, the mysteries, that is to say, the allegory, the symbol, and the emblem, and transmitted its doctrines by the secret mode of initiation.» — su explicación histórica del secreto, que hace de los misterios, la alegoría y el emblema una invención para evitar la persecución.

«The Deity is thus not an object of knowledge, but of faith; not to be approached by the understanding, but by the moral sense; not to be conceived, but to be felt.» — su epistemología de lo divino, que saca a la Deidad del conocimiento y la deja en la fe y el sentido moral.

«And yet it is here that man most dogmatizes, classifies and describes God's attributes, makes out his map of God's nature, and his inventory of God's qualities, feelings, impulses, and passions; and then hangs and burns his brother, who, as dogmatically as he, makes out a different map and inventory.» — su reproche a la teología, que hace mapas e inventarios de la naturaleza de Dios y luego cuelga y quema al hermano que hizo otro mapa.

«It is our duty always to press forward in the search; for though absolute truth is unattainable, yet the amount of error in our views is capable of progressive and perpetual diminution; and thus Masonry is a continual struggle toward the light.» — el programa que de ahí saca, con la verdad absoluta inalcanzable pero el error disminuible, y la orden como lucha continua hacia la luz.

«The true word of a Mason is, not the entire, perfect, absolute truth in regard to God; but the highest and noblest conception of Him that our minds are capable of forming; and this word is Ineffable, because one man cannot communicate to another his own conception of Deity;» — su definición de la palabra verdadera del masón, no la verdad absoluta sobre Dios sino la concepción más alta que la mente pueda formar, y por eso inefable.

«God is, as man conceives Him, the reflected image of man himself.» — su tesis sobre la idea de Dios como imagen refleja del hombre mismo.

«The doctrines of the Bible are often not clothed in the language of strict truth, but in that which was fittest to convey to a rude and ignorant people the practical essentials of the doctrine.» — su tesis sobre el lenguaje de la Escritura, que a menudo no viste la verdad estricta sino lo más apto para transmitir lo esencial a un pueblo rudo e ignorante.

«A perfectly pure faith, free from all extraneous admixtures, a system of noble theism and lofty morality, would find too little preparation for it in the common mind and heart, to admit of prompt reception by the masses of mankind; and Truth might not have reached us, if it had not borrowed the wings of Error.» — la doctrina de la acomodación en su forma más neta, y la clave teórica de todo su régimen de secreto: la verdad podría no habernos alcanzado si no hubiera tomado prestadas las alas del error.

«The Mason believes that God has arranged this glorious but perplexing world with a purpose, and on a plan.» — su premisa sobre el mundo, que lo da dispuesto con propósito y según un plan.

«He holds that every man sent upon this earth, and especially every man of superior capacity, has a duty to perform, a mission to fulfill, a baptism to be baptized with; that every great and good man possesses some portion of God's truth, which he must proclaim to the world, and which must bear fruit in his own bosom.» — la consecuencia que saca para el hombre de capacidad superior, que tiene misión que cumplir y una porción de la verdad de Dios que proclamar.

«It was not given to a few men, in the infancy of mankind, to monopolize inspiration, and bar God out of the soul.» — su negativa al monopolio de la inspiración, que no quedó en unos pocos hombres de la infancia de la humanidad.

«Masonry, around whose altars the Christian, the Hebrew, the Moslem, the Brahmin, the followers of Confucius and Zoroaster, can assemble as brethren and unite in prayer to the one God who is above all the Baalim, must needs leave it to each of its Initiates to look for the foundation of his faith and hope to the written scriptures of his own religion.» — el reparto de altares que describe, con cristiano, hebreo, musulmán, brahmán y seguidores de Confucio y Zoroastro reunidos, y con cada iniciado remitido a la escritura de su propia religión.

«The Mason does not pretend to dogmatic certainty, nor vainly imagine such certainty attainable.» — su abstención dicha en el mismo lugar en que reclama fundamento para la fe: el masón no pretende certeza dogmática ni la imagina alcanzable.

«that a Supreme God created and governs this world, believes also that He governs it by laws, which, though wise, just, and beneficent, are yet steady, unwavering, inexorable.» — su doctrina del gobierno divino por leyes sabias, justas y benéficas pero fijas e inexorables.

«It cannot be that God, Who, we are certain, is perfectly good, can choose us to suffer pain, unless either we are ourselves to receive from it an antidote to what is evil in ourselves, or else as such pain is a necessary part in the scheme of the Universe, which as a whole is good.» — el límite que pone al problema del mal, que solo admite el dolor como antídoto propio o como parte necesaria de un conjunto bueno.

«To complain and lament is to murmur against God's will, and worse than unbelief.» — el corolario práctico, que hace de la queja un murmurar contra la voluntad de Dios y algo peor que la incredulidad.

«The hope of success, and not the hope of reward, should be our stimulating and sustaining power.» — su regla del móvil, que pone la esperanza del éxito y no la de la recompensa por fuerza sostenedora.

«We should toil and die, not for Heaven or Bliss, but for Duty.» — la formulación más dura de esa regla, que trabaja y muere por el deber y no por el cielo ni la bienaventuranza.

«that if he has labored, with purity of purpose, in any good cause, he must have contributed to its success; that the degree in which he has contributed is a matter of infinitely small concern; and still more, that the consciousness of having so contributed, however obscurely and unnoticed, is his sufficient, even if it be his sole, reward.» — lo que deja por recompensa suficiente, la conciencia de haber contribuido por oscuro e inadvertido que fuera.

«He knows that man is sent into the world, not a spiritual, but a composite being,» — su antropología, que envía al hombre al mundo como ser compuesto y no espiritual.

«The Mason does not dogmatize, but entertaining and uttering his own convictions, he leaves every one else free to do the same;» — la regla de conducta doctrinal que de ahí saca, exponer las convicciones propias dejando a cada quien libre de hacer lo mismo.

«Believe as you may, my brother; if the Universe is not, to you, without a God, and if man is not like the beast that perishes, but hath an immortal soul,» — el mínimo que pide a la creencia del hermano, un universo no sin Dios y un hombre que no perezca como la bestia.

«The Mason does not war with his own instincts, macerate the body into weakness and disorder, and disparage what he sees to be beautiful,» — su rechazo del ascetismo, que no macera el cuerpo hasta la debilidad ni desprecia lo que ve hermoso.

«Yet the Mason is not indifferent as to the fate of the soul, after its present life, as to its continued and eternal being, and the character of the scenes in which that being will be fully developed.» — el límite que pone a ese rechazo, que no lo vuelve indiferencia sobre la suerte del alma después de esta vida.

«Herodotus tells us that the Temple of Bal at Babylon was a tower composed of Seven towers, resting on an eighth that served as» — adjudica a Heródoto la descripción del templo de Bal en Babilonia como torre compuesta de siete torres sobre una octava.

«Faber thinks that the Mithriac ladder was really a pyramid with Seven stages, each provided with a narrow door or aperture, through each of which doors the aspirant passed, to reach the summit, and then descended through similar doors on the opposite side of the pyramid; the ascent and descent of the Soul being thus represented.» — recoge la conjetura de Faber, que hace de la escala mitraica una pirámide de siete estadios con una puerta en cada uno, para el ascenso y descenso del alma.

«Cicero says that Xerxes burned the Grecian temples, on the express ground that the whole world was the Magnificent Temple and Habitation of the Supreme Deity.» — cita a Cicerón para el motivo que dio Jerjes al quemar los templos griegos, que el mundo entero era el templo del Ser Supremo.

«Plato pronounced the real Temple of the Deity to be the world;» — adjudica a Platón la sentencia de que el templo real de la Deidad es el mundo, dentro de esa misma serie de autoridades.

«The symbolic mountain Meru was ascended by Seven steps or stages; and all the pyramids and artificial tumuli and hillocks thrown up in fiat countries were imitations of this fabulous and mystic mountain, for purposes of worship.» — consigna que la montaña simbólica Meru se ascendía por siete gradas, y hace de las pirámides y túmulos artificiales imitaciones de ese monte místico.

«The sacred Babylonian tower [‏ו ם?G?D?L‎, Magdol], dedicated to the great Father Bal, was an artificial hill, of pyramidal shape, and Seven stages, built of brick, and each stage of a different color, representing the Seven planetary spheres by the appropriate color of each planet.» — da la torre babilónica de siete estadios y colores como representación de las siete esferas planetarias por el color de cada planeta.

«All temples were originally open at the top, having for roof the sky.» — su tesis sobre el techo de los templos, que da a todos por abiertos en su origen y con el cielo por cubierta.

«All temples were surrounded by pillars, recording the number of the constellations, the signs of the zodiac, or the cycles of the planets; and each one was a microcosm or symbol of the Universe, having for roof or ceiling the starred vault of Heaven.» — su lectura de los pilares del templo como recuento de las constelaciones, los signos del zodiaco o los ciclos planetarios, y de cada templo como microcosmos.

«It is the motionless and stationary that most frets and impedes the current of progress; the solid rock or stupid dead tree, rested firmly on the bottom; and around which the river whirls and eddies: the Masons that doubt and hesitate and are discouraged; that disbelieve in the capability of man to improve; that are not disposed to toil and labor for the interest and well-being of general humanity; that expect others to do all, even of that which they do not oppose or ridicule; while they sit, applauding and doing nothing, or perhaps prognosticating failure.» — su imagen del obstáculo dentro de la propia orden, la roca inmóvil o el árbol muerto en torno al cual el río se arremolina, que aplica a los masones que descreen y aplauden sin hacer nada.

«let us still remember that the only question for us to ask, as true men and Masons, is, what does duty require; and not what will be the result and our reward if we do our duty.» — la única pregunta que reconoce al masón, qué exige el deber, y no cuál será el resultado ni la recompensa.

«Masonry teaches that God is a Paternal Being, and has an interest in his creatures, such as is expressed in the title Father; an interest unknown to all the systems of Paganism, untaught in all the theories of philosophy;» — su reclamo sobre la paternidad divina, que declara ese interés desconocido para todos los sistemas del paganismo y no enseñado por ninguna teoría filosófica.

«It teaches that the soul of man is formed by Him for a purpose; that, built up in its proportions, and fashioned in every part, by infinite skill, an emanation from His spirit, its nature, necessity, and design are virtue.» — su doctrina del alma como emanación del espíritu divino, cuya naturaleza, necesidad y designio son la virtud.

«The cloud will be lifted up, the gate of mystery be passed, and the full light shine forever; the light of which that of the Lodge is a symbol.» — su figura del final, con la nube levantada y la puerta del misterio pasada, y la luz de la Logia por símbolo de aquella.

«WE no longer expect to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. To us it has become but a symbol.» — el desplazamiento que declara sobre el Templo de Jerusalén, que ya no se espera reconstruir y para ellos quedó en símbolo.

«To establish all over the world the New Law and Reign of Love, Peace, Charity, and Toleration, is to build that Temple, most acceptable to God, in erecting which Masonry is now engaged.» — lo que pone en su lugar, establecer en todo el mundo la nueva ley y reino de amor, paz, caridad y tolerancia.

«The Princes of Jerusalem no longer sit as magistrates to judge between the people; nor is their number limited to five.» — dato de grado, dicho por él: los Príncipes de Jerusalén ya no se sientan como magistrados a juzgar al pueblo ni son cinco.

«A life of labor is not a state of inferiority or degradation.» — su tesis sobre el trabajo, que niega que la vida laboriosa sea estado de inferioridad o degradación.

«He has ordained that Work shall be done, in all the dwellings of life, in every productive field, in every busy city, and on every wave of every ocean.» — el fundamento que le da, la ordenanza divina de que se trabaje en toda morada, campo, ciudad y océano.

«There is no task of industry or business, in field or forest, on the wharf or the ship's deck, in the office or the exchange, but has spiritual ends.» — el corolario espiritual, que da fines espirituales a toda tarea de industria o negocio.

«All the barriers that had formerly kept the nations apart, were thrown down; and while the People of the West readily connected their faith with those of the East, those of the Orient hastened to learn the traditions of Rome and the legends of Athens.» — su cuadro del mundo helenístico, con las barreras entre naciones derribadas y Occidente y Oriente intercambiando fe y tradiciones.

«While the Philosophers of Greece, all (except the disciples of Epicurus) more or less Platonists, seized eagerly upon the beliefs and doctrines of the East,--the Jews and Egyptians, before then the most exclusive of all peoples, yielded to that eclecticism which prevailed among their masters, the Greeks and Romans.» — precisa las partes de ese intercambio, con los filósofos griegos casi todos platónicos tomando las doctrinas de Oriente, y judíos y egipcios cediendo al eclecticismo.

«It was one thing in the times of Moses and Aaron, another in those of David and Solomon, and still another in those of Daniel and Philo.» — su tesis sobre la variación histórica de la religión hebrea, distinta en Moisés y Aarón, en David y Salomón, y en Daniel y Filón.

«Do not despair because you have often seemed on the point of attaining the inmost light, and have as often been disappointed.» — la advertencia que da al iniciado en el umbral de esa sección histórica, que no desespere por haber creído tantas veces alcanzar la luz interior.

«the distinction between the esoteric and the exoteric doctrine, immemorial in other creeds, easily gained a foothold among many of the Christians; and it was held by a vast number, even during the preaching of» — su dato sobre la doctrina doble, que la distinción entre esotérico y exotérico, inmemorial en otros credos, arraigó pronto entre muchos cristianos.

«The Gnostics derived their leading doctrines and ideas from Plato and Philo, the Zend-avesta and the Kabalah, and the Sacred books of India and Egypt; and thus introduced into the bosom of Christianity the cosmological and theosophical speculations, which had formed the larger portion of the ancient religions of the Orient, joined to those of the Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish doctrines, which the Neo-Platonists had equally adopted in the Occident.» — su genealogía de la gnosis, que la deriva de Platón y Filón, el Zend-Avesta y la Cábala, y de los libros sagrados de India y Egipto.

«It is admitted that the cradle of Gnosticism is probably to be looked for in Syria, and even in Palestine.» — consigna como admitido que la cuna del gnosticismo se busque en Siria y aun en Palestina, dándolo por juicio recibido.

«Philo, who lived a century after him, following the same theory, endeavored to show that the Hebrew writings, by their system of allegories, were the true source of all religious and philosophical doctrines.» — expone la tesis de Filón, que hacía de los escritos hebreos y su sistema de alegorías la fuente verdadera de toda doctrina religiosa y filosófica.

«Whoever has meditated on philosophy, purified himself by virtue, and raised himself by contemplation, to God and the intellectual world, and received their inspiration, pierces the gross envelope of the letter, discovers a wholly different order of things, and is initiated into mysteries, of which the elementary or literal instruction offers but an imperfect image.» — vierte la doctrina alejandrina del que atraviesa la envoltura grosera de la letra y queda iniciado en misterios de los que la instrucción literal es imagen imperfecta.

«The distinction between the esoteric and exoteric doctrines (a distinction purely Masonic), was always and from the very earliest times preserved among the Greeks.» — su adjudicación más fuerte en materia de secreto, que llama puramente masónica la distinción entre doctrina esotérica y exotérica y la remonta a los griegos.

«Emanation from the Deity of all spiritual beings, progressive degeneration of these beings from emanation to emanation, redemption and return of all to the purity of the Creator; and, after the re-» — resume el esquema gnóstico en emanación de todos los seres espirituales, degeneración progresiva de emanación en emanación, y redención y retorno a la pureza del Creador.

«The Word is not only the Creator, but occupies the place of the Supreme Being.» — consigna que en ese sistema el Verbo no es solo el Creador sino que ocupa el lugar del Ser Supremo.

«The Intellectual City was but the Thought of the Architect, who meditated the creation, according to that plan of the Material City.» — vierte la doctrina de la ciudad intelectual como pensamiento del Arquitecto que meditó la creación según el plano de la ciudad material.

«Moshah and Aharun his brother, the whole series of High-Priests, the Council of the 70 Elders, Salomoh and the entire succession of Prophets, were in possession of a higher science; and of that science Masonry is, at least, the lineal descendant.» — su reclamo de descendencia, y de los más fuertes del volumen: Moisés, Aarón, la sucesión de sumos sacerdotes, el consejo de los setenta ancianos, Salomón y los profetas poseían una ciencia superior de la que la masonería sería al menos descendiente lineal.

«He created nothing; but everything emanated from Him; and of Him all the other Gods were but manifestations.» — expone la teología egipcia de la emanación, donde el dios no crea nada sino que todo emana de él y los demás dioses son manifestaciones suyas.

«The Ram was His living symbol; which you see reproduced in this Degree, lying on the book with seven seals on the tracing-board.» — dato de tablero, dicho por él: el Carnero era el símbolo viviente de ese dios y se reproduce en este grado sobre el libro de los siete sellos.

«He caused the creation of the world by the Primitive Thought [Εννοια, Ennoia], or Spirit [Πνευμα, Pneuma], that issued from him by means of his Voice or the WORD;» — sigue exponiendo esa cosmogonía, con la creación del mundo por el Pensamiento primitivo o Espíritu que sale del dios por su Voz o Verbo.

«The first HERMES was the INTELLIGENCE or WORD of God.» — consigna, dentro de esa exposición, que el primer Hermes era la Inteligencia o Verbo de Dios.

«He created after his own image, six Genii called Amshaspands, who surround his Throne, are his organs of communication with inferior spirits and men, transmit to Him their prayers, solicit for them His favors, and serve them as models of purity and perfection.» — vierte la angelología mazdeísta de los seis Amshaspands creados a imagen de Ormuzd, órganos de comunicación con los espíritus inferiores y los hombres.

«With Mithras and Ormuzd, they make a pleroma [or complete number] of 30, corresponding to the thirty Aions of the Gnostics, and to the ogdoade, dodecade, and decade of the Egyptians.» — señala la correspondencia numérica entre esa pléroma de treinta y los treinta eones de los gnósticos y la ogdóada, dodécada y década egipcias.

«AHRIMAN, second-born of the Primitive Light, emanated from it, pure like ORMUZD; but, proud and ambitious, yielded to jealousy of the First-born.» — expone el origen de Ahriman como segundo nacido de la Luz primitiva, emanado puro y caído por celos del primogénito.

«The image of Ahriman was the Dragon, confounded by the Jews with Satan and the Serpent-Tempter.» — consigna que la imagen de Ahriman era el Dragón, y que los judíos lo confundieron con Satán y la Serpiente tentadora.

«After a reign of 3000 years, Ormuzd had created the Material World, in six periods, calling successively into existence the Light, Water, Earth, plants, animals, and Man.» — vierte la cosmogonía mazdeísta de los seis periodos de creación, luz, agua, tierra, plantas, animales y hombre.

«They were less distinguished by metaphysical speculations than by simple meditations and moral practices. But the latter always partook of the Zoroastrian principle, that it was necessary to free the soul from the trammels and influences of matter; which led to a system of abstinence and maceration entirely opposed to the ancient Hebraic ideas, favorable as they were to physical pleasures.» — adjudica a los esenios el principio zoroastriano de liberar el alma de las trabas de la materia, y con él un ascetismo contrario a las ideas hebreas antiguas.

«It is a significant fact, that while Christ spoke often of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He never once mentioned the Essenes, between whose doctrines and His there was so great a resemblance, and, in many points, so perfect an identity. Indeed, they are not named, nor even distinctly alluded to, anywhere in the New Testament.» — su observación sobre el silencio evangélico, que llama hecho significativo: Cristo nombró a fariseos y saduceos y nunca una vez a los esenios, pese al parecido de doctrina.

«They must, therefore, have been Essenes.» — la inferencia que saca de ese parecido, que aquellos debieron ser esenios, dicha como conclusión y no como dato.

«Sadduceeism arose merely from an opposition essentially Jewish, to these foreign teachings, and that mixture of doctrines, adopted by the Pharisees, and which constituted the popular creed.» — su explicación del saduceísmo, que lo hace mera oposición judía a las enseñanzas extranjeras adoptadas por los fariseos.

«The disciples were first called "Christians," at Antioch, when Barnabas and Paul began to preach there.» — consigna el dato de Antioquía, donde los discípulos fueron llamados cristianos por primera vez con la predicación de Bernabé y Pablo.

«This faith, taught by John, and so nearly Christianity, could have been nothing but the doctrine of the Essenes; and there can be no doubt that John belonged to that sect.» — su tesis sobre Juan el Bautista, que hace de su enseñanza doctrina esenia y lo adscribe a esa secta.

«They had mysterious ceremonies, and initiations into their mysteries; and the Candidate promised that he would ever practise fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority, "because no one obtains the government without God's assistance.» — adjudica a los esenios ceremonias misteriosas e iniciaciones, con la promesa del candidato de guardar fidelidad a todos y en especial a los que mandan.

«The Tetractys, composed of round dots instead of jods, was revered among them.» — consigna que entre ellos se veneraba el Tetractys, compuesto de puntos redondos en vez de yods.

«Eusebius broadly admits "that the ancient Therapeutæ were Christians; and that their ancient writings were our Gospels and Epistles."» — recoge la afirmación de Eusebio de que los antiguos terapeutas eran cristianos y sus escritos, los evangelios y las epístolas.

«The Christian writers, and even Christ himself, recognized it as a truth, that all Scripture had an inner and an outer meaning.» — su regla de lectura de la Escritura, que atribuye a los propios escritores cristianos y a Cristo el reconocer un sentido interior y otro exterior.

«Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto men that are without, all these things are done in parables; that seeing, they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand.» — la prueba evangélica que aduce, el pasaje del misterio dado a unos y las parábolas para los de fuera, que vean sin percibir y oigan sin entender.

«Paul, in the 4th chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians, speaking of the simplest facts of the Old Testament, asserts that they are an allegory.» — la segunda prueba, la afirmación de Pablo en Gálatas de que los hechos más simples del Antiguo Testamento son una alegoría.

«He is not only the real cause of all Existences; he is Infinite [AINSOPH].» — expone la doctrina india del Ser Supremo como única existencia real, e identifica ese infinito con el AINSOPH cabalístico.

«Philo speaks of the Word as being the same with God.» — consigna que Filón habla del Verbo como siendo lo mismo que Dios.

«Thus, Cerinthus of Ephesus, with most of the Gnostics, Philo, the Kabalah, the Zend-Avesta, the Puranas, and all the Orient, deemed the distance» — agrupa a Cerinto de Éfeso con la mayoría de los gnósticos, Filón, la Cábala, el Zend-Avesta, los Puranas y todo el Oriente en la doctrina de la distancia entre Dios y la materia.

«To Basilides, God was without name, uncreated, at first containing and concealing in Himself the Plenitude of His Perfections;» — expone la teología de Basílides, con un Dios sin nombre e increado que contenía y ocultaba en sí la plenitud de sus perfecciones.

«The Jewish doctrine, differing in this from all the other Oriental creeds, and even from the Alohay_istic legend with which the book of Genesis commences, attributed the creation to the immediate action of the Supreme Being.» — señala la excepción judía dentro de ese cuadro, que atribuye la creación a la acción inmediata del Ser Supremo, y que difiere hasta de la leyenda alohaísta con que abre el Génesis.

«In the Talmud, every star, every country, every town, and almost every tongue has a Prince of Heaven as its Protector.» — consigna, del Talmud, que cada estrella, país, ciudad y casi cada lengua tienen un Príncipe del Cielo por protector.

«Seven spirits assist each; those of fire being Seraphiel, Gabriel, Nitriel, Tammael, Tchimschiel, Hada and Sarniel.» — da los nombres de los siete espíritus del fuego dentro de esa misma angelología, que la ficha consigna tal como la edición los imprime.

«The belief in dualism in some shape, was universal.» — su tesis sobre la universalidad del dualismo, en una forma u otra.

«To many there were two Principles; the Unknown Father, or Supreme and Eternal God, living in the centre of the Light, happy in the perfect purity of His being; the other, eternal Matter, that inert, shapeless, darksome mass, which they considered as the source of all evils, the mother and dwelling-place of Satan.» — expone la versión de los dos principios, con el Padre Desconocido en el centro de la luz y la materia eterna e informe como morada de Satán.

«The Apocalypse or Revelations, by whomever written, belongs to the Orient and to extreme antiquity.» — su abstención sobre la autoría del Apocalipsis, que declara del Oriente y de extrema antigüedad sea quien fuere el que lo escribió.

«The Christ of the Apocalypse, First-born of Creation and of the Resurrection, is invested with the characteristics of the Ormuzd and Sosiosch of the Zend-Avesta, the Ainsoph of the Kabalah and the Carpistes [Καρπιότης] of the Gnostics.» — adjudica al Cristo del Apocalipsis los rasgos del Ormuzd y el Sosiosch del Zend-Avesta, del Ainsoph cabalístico y del Carpistes gnóstico.

«And the definition of the Supreme Being, that He is at once Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end--He that was, and is, and is to come, i.e., Time illimitable, is Zoroaster's definition of Zerouane-Akherene.» — hace de la definición del Alfa y la Omega la definición zoroastriana de Zerouane-Akherene, el tiempo ilimitado.

«This Redeemer is the Word or Logos, the Ormuzd of Zoroaster, the Ainsoph of the Kabalah, the Nous of Platonism and Philonism; He that was in the Beginning with God, and was God, and by Whom everything was made.» — su ecuación final de las tradiciones, con el Redentor por Verbo o Logos, Ormuzd, Ainsoph y Nous de platónicos y filonianos.

«But Masonry still survives, vigorous and strong, as when philosophy was taught in the schools of Alexandria and under the Portico; teaching the same old truths as the Essenes taught by the shores of the Dead Sea, and as John the Baptist preached in the Desert;.» — el uso que da a todo ese aparato comparativo, que hace sobrevivir a la orden enseñando las mismas viejas verdades de los esenios del mar Muerto y de Juan en el desierto.

«That God is One, immutable, unchangeable, infinitely just and good; that Light will finally overcome Darkness,-- Good conquer Evil, and Truth be victor over Error;-- these, rejecting all the wild and useless speculations» — el residuo doctrinal que se queda tras rechazar las especulaciones, un Dios uno, inmutable, justo y bueno, y la victoria final de la luz sobre la tiniebla.

«Those speculations and fancies it is useful to study; that knowing in what worthless and unfruitful investigations the mind may engage, you may the more value and appreciate the plain, simple, sublime, universally-acknowledged truths,» — su instrucción de lectura para todo el capítulo, estudiar esas especulaciones para saber en qué investigaciones estériles puede ocuparse la mente y valorar mejor las verdades simples.

«could Masonry possess its character of Universality; that character which has ever been peculiar to it from its origin; and which enables two Kings, worshippers of different Deities, to sit together as Masters,» — su fundamento de la universalidad de la orden, que permite a dos reyes adoradores de deidades distintas sentarse juntos como maestros.

«Chrishna, the Hindoo Redeemer, was cradled and educated among Shepherds. A Tyrant, at the time» — consigna la leyenda de Krishna criado entre pastores y perseguido por un tirano, dentro de su serie de redentores comparados.

«Hence the Serpent in a circle, holding his tail in his mouth, was an emblem of eternity.» — su lectura de la serpiente en círculo que se muerde la cola como emblema de la eternidad.

«"Before the chaos, that preceded the birth of Heaven and Earth," said the Chinese Lao-Tseu, "a single Being existed, immense and silent, immutable and always acting; the mother of the Universe.» — pone en boca de Lao Tsé la doctrina del Ser único, inmenso y silencioso, madre del universo, anterior al caos.

«"I am," says Isis, "Nature; parent of all things, the sovereign of the Elements, the primitive progeny of Time, the most exalted of the Deities, the first of the Heavenly Gods and Goddesses, the Queen of the Shades, the uniform countenance; who dispose with my rod the numerous lights of Heaven, the salubrious breezes of the sea, and the mournful silence of the dead; whose single Divinity the whole world venerates in many forms, with various rites and by many names. The Egyptians, skilled in ancient lore, worship me with proper ceremonies,» — vierte el discurso de Isis, madre de las cosas y soberana de los elementos, cuya divinidad única el mundo entero venera bajo muchas formas y nombres.

«"When God resolved to create the human race," said Arius, "He made a Being that He called The WORD, The Son, Wisdom, to the end that this Being might give existence to men.» — atribuye a Arrio la doctrina del Verbo hecho por Dios para que ese ser diera existencia a los hombres.

«That is the True Word, the knowledge of which our ancient brethren sought as the priceless reward of their labors on the Holy Temple:» — enlaza toda esa serie con la leyenda del oficio, haciendo de ese Verbo la Palabra Verdadera que los antiguos hermanos buscaban por recompensa de su labor en el Templo.

«It is an old tradition that this passage was from an older work.» — consigna como tradición antigua que el prólogo de Juan proviene de una obra anterior, sin adjudicarlo.

«However this may have been, it is plain that John's Gospel is a polemic against the Gnostics;» — su tesis sobre ese evangelio, que lo declara polémica contra los gnósticos.

«Sosiosch, Chief of the Three, will regenerate the world, and restore to it its primitive Beauty, Strength, and Purity.» — vierte la escatología mazdeísta de Sosiosch, que regenerará el mundo y le devolverá su belleza, fuerza y pureza primitivas.

«The New Platonists substituted the idea of the Absolute, for the Supreme Essence itself;--as the first, simplest principle, anterior to all existence; of which nothing determinate can be predicated; to which no consciousness, no self-contemplation can be ascribed; inasmuch as to do so, would immediately imply a quality, a distinction of subject and object.» — expone la doctrina neoplatónica del Absoluto puesto en lugar de la Esencia Suprema, principio anterior a toda existencia del que nada determinado se predica.

«The absorption of the Spirit into that superexistence (τὸ ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας), so as to be entirely identified with it, or such a revelation of the latter to the spirit raised above itself, was regarded as the highest end which the spiritual life could reach.» — sigue exponiéndola en su término, la absorción del espíritu en esa superexistencia como fin más alto de la vida espiritual.

«Philo says: "He who disbelieves the miraculous, simply as the miraculous, neither knows God, nor has he ever sought after Him; for otherwise he would have understood, by looking at that truly great and awe-inspiring sight, the miracle of the Universe, that these miracles (in God's providential guidance of His people) are but child's play for the Divine Power.» — cita a Filón sobre el descreído del milagro, a quien reprocha no haber visto el prodigio del universo.

«In opposition to the anthropopathism of the Jewish Scriptures, the Alexandrian Jews endeavored to purify the idea of God from all admixture of the Human.» — consigna el propósito de los judíos alejandrinos, purificar la idea de Dios de toda mezcla humana frente al antropopatismo de la Escritura.

«"God," says Pythagoras, "is neither the object of sense, nor subject to passion, but invisible, only intelligible, and supremely intelligent.» — pone en boca de Pitágoras la definición de Dios como no sensible ni pasible, invisible, solo inteligible y sumamente inteligente.

«According to the Kabalah, as according to the doctrines of Zoroaster, everything that exists has emanated from a source of infinite light.» — señala la coincidencia entre la Cábala y la doctrina de Zoroastro, con todo lo existente emanado de una fuente de luz infinita.

«Before all things, existed the Primitive Being, THE ANCIENT OF DAYS, the Ancient King of Light; a title the more remarkable, because it is frequently given to the Creator in the Zend-Avesta, and in the Code of the Sabeans, and occurs in the Jewish Scriptures.» — consigna el título de Anciano de los Días o Antiguo Rey de la Luz, y hace notar que aparece igual en el Zend-Avesta, en el código de los sabeos y en la Escritura judía.

«You see, my brother, what is the meaning of Masonic "Light." You see why the EAST of the Lodge, where the initial letter of the Name of the Deity overhangs the Master, is the place of Light.» — el uso que da a toda esa cosecha, explicar al hermano qué significa la Luz masónica y por qué el Este de la Logia, con la inicial del Nombre sobre el Maestro, es el lugar de la Luz.

«The Degree of Rose ✠ teaches three things;--the unity, immutability and goodness of God; the immortality of the Soul; and the ultimate defeat and extinction of evil and wrong and sorrow, by a» — declara las tres cosas que enseña el grado Rosa Cruz, la unidad, inmutabilidad y bondad de Dios, la inmortalidad del alma y la derrota final del mal.

«It replaces the three pillars of the old Temple, with three that have already been explained to you,-- Faith [in God, mankind, and man's self], Hope [in the victory over evil, the advancement of Humanity, and a hereafter], and Charity [relieving the wants.» — consigna la sustitución de las tres columnas del viejo Templo por Fe, Esperanza y Caridad, con el contenido que da a cada una.

«The obligations of our Ancient Brethren of the Rose ✠ were to fulfill all the duties of friendship, cheerfulness, charity, peace, liberality, temperance and chastity: and scrupulously to avoid impurity, haughtiness, hatred, anger, and every other kind of vice.» — enumera las obligaciones que adjudica a los antiguos hermanos de la Rosa Cruz, amistad, alegría, caridad, paz, liberalidad, templanza y castidad.

«They took their philosophy from the old Theology of the Egyptians, as Moses and Solomon had done, and borrowed its hieroglyphics and the ciphers of the Hebrews.» — adjudica a aquellos hermanos una filosofía tomada de la vieja teología de los egipcios, como habrían hecho Moisés y Salomón, con sus jeroglíficos y las cifras de los hebreos.

«If, anywhere, brethren of a particular religious belief have been excluded from this Degree, it merely shows how gravely the purposes and plan of Masonry may be misunderstood.» — su objeción a la práctica de excluir de este grado a hermanos de determinada creencia, que declara mal entendimiento grave del plan de la orden.

«No Mason has the right to interpret the symbols of this Degree for another, or to refuse him its mysteries, if he will not take them with the explanation and commentary superadded.» — la regla que de ahí saca, y que acota su propio comentario: ningún masón tiene derecho a interpretar los símbolos de este grado para otro ni a negárselos si no los toma con el comentario añadido.

«It is found upon all the enduring monuments of the world, in Egypt, in Assyria, in Hindostan, in Persia, and on the Buddhist towers of Ireland.» — su dato de difusión de la cruz como símbolo, en Egipto, Asiria, el Indostán, Persia y las torres budistas de Irlanda.

«To the word INRI, inscribed on the Crux Ansata over the Master's Seat, many meanings have been assigned.» — su modo de tratar el INRI del grado, que enumera los muchos sentidos asignados en vez de fijar uno.

«They interpreted it thus, Igne Natura renovator integra; [entire nature is renovated by fire» — consigna la lectura alquímica de esas mismas letras, que toda la naturaleza se renueva por el fuego, adjudicada a los sabios de la Antigüedad.

«The four letters are the initials of the Hebrew words that represent the four elements--Iammim, the seas or water; Nour, fire; Rouach, the air, and Iebeschah, the dry earth.» — da la cuarta lectura, las iniciales de las cuatro palabras hebreas de los elementos, mares, fuego, aire y tierra seca.

«Plato says, "He expressed him upon the Universe in the figure of the letter X.» — cita a Platón para la cruz como signo de la Sabiduría creadora o Logos, expresado sobre el universo en figura de la letra X.

«There is no thoughtful soul that does not at times despair.» — abre la parte más sombría del grado reconociendo la desesperación como cosa del alma que piensa.

«More than eighteen centuries have staggered away into the spectral realm of the Past, since Christ, teaching the Religion of Love, was crucified, that it might become a Religion of Hate; and His Doctrines are not yet even nominally accepted as true by a fourth of mankind.» — su balance sobre el cristianismo a dieciocho siglos, con la religión del amor vuelta religión del odio y no aceptada ni de nombre por la cuarta parte de la humanidad.

«The Religion of Love proved to be, for seventeen long centuries, as much the Religion of Elate, and infinitely more the Religion of Persecution, than Mahometanism, its unconquerable rival.» — el término de comparación que elige para esa historia, que la hace más perseguidora que el mahometismo, su rival invencible.

«Heresies grew up before the Apostles died; and God hated the Nicolaitans, while John, at Patmos, proclaimed His coming wrath.» — su dato sobre la antigüedad de las herejías, que las hace crecer antes de que murieran los apóstoles.

«The world improves. Man ceases to persecute,--when the persecuted become too numerous and strong, longer to submit to it.» — su explicación cínica del progreso en tolerancia, que lo hace resultado del número de los perseguidos y no de la virtud.

«Of the whole of mankind, not one in ten thousand has any aspirations beyond the daily needs of the gross animal life.» — su medida de las aspiraciones humanas, no uno en diez mil por encima de las necesidades de la vida animal.

«The God of nineteen-twentieths of the Christian world is only Bel, Moloch, Zeus, or at best Osiris, Mithras, or Adonaï, under another name, worshipped with the old Pagan ceremonies and ritualistic formulas.» — su juicio sobre el Dios que adora la mayoría cristiana, que lo iguala a Bel, Moloc y Zeus bajo otro nombre y con las viejas ceremonias paganas.

«To the vast majority of mankind, God is but the reflected image, in infinite space, of the earthly Tyrant on his Throne, only more powerful, more inscrutable, and more implacable.» — la figura con que cierra ese juicio, con Dios por imagen refleja del tirano terreno en su trono, solo que más poderoso e implacable.

«At times, the baleful fires of war light up half a Continent at once; as when all the Thrones unite to compel a people to receive again a hated and detestable dynasty, or States deny States the right to dissolve an irksome union and create for themselves a separate government.» — su ejemplo de guerra por causa injusta, con los Estados negando a los Estados el derecho a disolver una unión molesta, escrito por quien había servido al bando derrotado en esa guerra.

«God seems to have abdicated, and Moloch to reign in His stead; while Press and Pulpit alike exult at universal murder, and urge the extermination of the Conquered, by the sword and the flaming torch; and to plunder and murder entitles the human beasts of prey to the thanks of Christian Senates.» — su figura del presente, con Dios abdicando, Moloc reinando, y prensa y púlpito exultando por el exterminio del vencido.

«It asks itself if it is not idle to hope for any great progress of Humanity toward perfection, and whether, when it advances in one respect, it does not retrogress in some other, by way of compensation» — la duda que pone en boca del alma que piensa, si el avance en un aspecto no se compensa con retroceso en otro.

«He asks himself whether it is not, after all, the evident and palpable injustices of this life, the success and prosperity of the Bad, the calamities, oppressions, and miseries of the Good, that are the bases of all beliefs in a future state of existence?» — la más corrosiva de esas dudas, si no serán las injusticias palpables de esta vida la base de toda creencia en un estado futuro.

«It did not occur to them that the existence of the Evil Principle, by the consent of the Omnipotent Supreme, presented the same difficulty, and left the existence of Evil as unexplained as before.» — su objeción al recurso del Principio del Mal, que deja el mal tan inexplicado como antes por consentirlo el Omnipotente.

«Given the tortoise, Faith is always satisfied; and it has been a great source of happiness to multitudes that they could believe in a Devil who could relieve God of the odium of being the Author» — su figura de la tortuga para el modo en que la fe se contenta con alejar un paso la dificultad.

«Exalt and magnify Faith as we will, and say that it begins where Reason ends, it must, after all, have a foundation, either in Reason, Analogy, the Consciousness, or human testimony.» — su exigencia a la fe misma, que ha de tener fundamento en la razón, la analogía, la consciencia o el testimonio humano.

«proven by unimpeachable testimony have been used as a foundation for Faith, in every age; and the modern miracles are better authenticated, a hundred times, than the ancient ones.» — el dato con que desarma el argumento de los milagros, que los modernos están cien veces mejor atestiguados que los antiguos.

«The Universe, which is the uttered Word of God, is infinite in extent.» — su definición del universo como la palabra proferida de Dios, infinita en extensión.

«To demonstrate the necessity for a cause of the creation, is equally to demonstrate the necessity of a cause for that cause.» — su objeción al argumento de la primera causa, que exige causa también para esa causa.

«"Instinct" is but a word without a meaning, or else it means inspiration.» — su tratamiento de la palabra instinto, que la deja sin sentido o la vuelve inspiración.

«Sohar declares that everything in the Universe proceeds by the mystery of "the Balance," that is, of Equilibrium.» — adjudica al Zohar la doctrina de que todo en el universo procede por el misterio de la Balanza, es decir del equilibrio.

«Justice and Mercy are contraries. If each be infinite, their co-existence seems impossible, and being equal, one cannot even annihilate the other and reign alone.» — el problema que plantea a la teología con esa doctrina, que justicia y misericordia son contrarias y no pueden ser infinitas a la vez.

«The mysteries of the Divine Nature are beyond our finite comprehension; but so indeed are the mysteries of our own finite nature; and it is certain that in all nature harmony and movement are the result of the equilibrium of opposing or contrary forces.» — la salida que propone, y que es el eje del grado: en toda la naturaleza la armonía y el movimiento resultan del equilibrio de fuerzas contrarias.

«Faith is the veiled Isis, the Supplement of Reason, in the shadows which precede or follow Reason.» — su figura de la fe como Isis velada, suplemento de la razón en las sombras que la preceden o la siguen.

«Science perishes by systems that are nothing but beliefs; and Faith succumbs to reasoning.» — el peligro doble que señala, la ciencia muriendo por sistemas que son creencias y la fe sucumbiendo al razonamiento.

«Man is a free agent, though Omnipotence is above and all around him.» — su enunciado del equilibrio aplicado al hombre, agente libre bajo la omnipotencia.

«When either obtains the permanent mastery over the other, and they cease to be in equilibrio, the encroachment continues with a velocity that is accelerated like that of a falling body, until the feebler is annihilated, and then, there being no resistance to support the stronger, it rushes into ruin.» — la ley de ruptura que formula, con el encroachment acelerándose como cuerpo en caída hasta aniquilar al más débil y arruinar después al más fuerte.

«"Light and darkness," said ZOROASTER, "are the world's eternal ways.» — pone en boca de Zoroastro la sentencia de que luz y tiniebla son las vías eternas del mundo.

«The Degree of Rose ✠ is devoted to and symbolizes the final triumph of truth over falsehood, of liberty over slavery, of light over darkness, of life over death, and of good over evil.» — declara a qué está dedicado el grado Rosa Cruz, el triunfo final de la verdad, la libertad, la luz, la vida y el bien.

«it does not belong to us as Masons to decide.» — su abstención en el punto doctrinal más delicado del grado, que declara no ser cosa de masones decidirlo.

«Paganism, its Temples shattered by Socrates and Cicero, had spoken its last word.» — su cuadro del paganismo al llegar el cristianismo, con los templos quebrados por Sócrates y Cicerón y la última palabra ya dicha.

«When, lo, a voice, in the inconsiderable Roman Province of Judea proclaims a new Gospel--a new "God's Word," to crushed, suffering, bleeding humanity.» — su relato de la irrupción evangélica desde una provincia romana insignificante.

«He selects his disciples not among the Pharisees or the Philosophers, but among the low and humble, even of the fishermen of Galilee.» — el rasgo que subraya de esa predicación, que eligió discípulos entre los humildes y los pescadores de Galilea y no entre fariseos ni filósofos.

«The Gospel of Love He sealed with His life.» — cierra ese relato con el sello de la vida sobre el evangelio del amor.

«We belong to no one creed or school.» — su declaración de no pertenencia, con la que cierra el grado y acota toda la exposición doctrinal anterior.

«Masonry also has her mission to perform.» — el encargo que le sigue, con la orden teniendo también su misión que cumplir.

«You are now her knight, and to her service your sword is consecrated.» — la fórmula de investidura del caballero, con la espada consagrada al servicio de la orden.

«THE true Mason labors for the benefit of those who are to come after him, and for the advancement and improvement of his race.» — su definición del masón verdadero por el destinatario de su trabajo, los que vengan después y el adelanto de su especie.

«That is an instinctive impulse, given by God, and often found in the rudest human heart; the surest proof of the soul's immortality, and of the fundamental difference between man and the wisest brutes.» — hace de ese impulso, dado por Dios y hallado hasta en el corazón más rudo, la prueba más segura de la inmortalidad del alma.

«Mahomet announced to the Arabian idolaters the new creed, "There is but one God, and Mahomet, like Moses and Christ, is His Apostle.» — consigna la proclama de Mahoma a los idólatras árabes, poniéndolo en la misma serie que Moisés y Cristo.

«The Thoughts of the Past are the Laws of the Present and the Future.» — la fórmula que resume su doctrina de la herencia, con los pensamientos del pasado por leyes del presente y del futuro.

«The desire to do something that shall benefit the world, when neither praise nor obloquy will reach us where we sleep soundly in the grave, is the noblest ambition entertained by man.» — su definición de la ambición más noble, hacer algo que beneficie al mundo cuando ni la alabanza ni el oprobio alcancen ya al que duerme en la tumba.

«It is the Dead that govern. The Living only obey.» — la formulación más breve de esa doctrina, en dos frases.

«The influences of Webster and Calhoun, conflicting, rent asunder the American States, and the doctrine of each is the law and the oracle speaking from the Holy of Holies for his own State and all consociated with it: a faith preached and proclaimed by each at the cannon's mouth and consecrated by rivers of blood.» — su ejemplo americano, con las influencias enfrentadas de Webster y Calhoun desgarrando los Estados y cada doctrina hecha oráculo consagrado por ríos de sangre.

«Not the Redeemer was unfortunate; but those only who repaid Him for the inestimable gift He offered them, and for a life passed in toiling for their good, by nailing Him upon the cross, as though He had been a slave or malefactor.» — su corrección sobre quién fue el desdichado en la crucifixión, que traslada la desgracia a quienes pagaron el don con la cruz.

«Except when the sluggish depths of the Human Mind are broken up and tossed as with a storm, when at the appointed time a great Reformer comes, and a new Faith springs up and grows with supernatural energy, the progress of Truth is slower than the growth of oaks; and he who plants need not expect to gather.» — su medida del avance de la verdad, más lenta que el crecimiento de los robles salvo cuando llega un gran reformador.

«To sow, that others may reap; to work and plant for those who are to occupy the earth when we are dead; to project our influences far into the future, and live beyond our time; to rule as the Kings of Thought, over men who are yet unborn; to bless with the glorious gifts of Truth and Light and Liberty those who will neither know the name of the giver, nor care in what grave his unregarded ashes repose, is the true office of a Mason and the proudest destiny of a man.» — su definición del oficio del masón por la siembra ajena, gobernar como reyes del pensamiento sobre hombres aún no nacidos que no sabrán el nombre del donante.

«Our Ancient Brethren who built the Temples at Jerusalem, with many myriad blows felled, hewed, and squared the cedars, and quarried the stones, and carved the intricate ornaments, which were to be the Temples.» — remite a los antiguos hermanos que labraron cedros y canteras para los templos de Jerusalén, con la miríada de golpes por figura del trabajo acumulado.

«The Apocalypse, that sublime Kabalistic and prophetic Summary of all the occult figures, divides its images into three Septenaries, after each of which there is silence in Heaven.» — su lectura del Apocalipsis como sumario cabalístico y profético de todas las figuras ocultas, dividido en tres septenarios con silencio en el cielo tras cada uno.

«The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apotheosis of that Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer.» — declara qué es el Apocalipsis para quien recibe el grado diecinueve, apoteosis de la fe que aspira solo a Dios y desprecia las pompas y obras de Lucifer.

«Doubt it not! for traditions are full of Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one Creed.» — su tesis sobre la revelación, que la saca de una época y de un credo y la deja en las tradiciones.

«The Sephar Yezirah, the Sohar, and the Apocalypse are the completest embodiments of Occultism.» — nombra las tres obras que da por encarnaciones más completas del ocultismo, el Sefer Yetsirá, el Zohar y el Apocalipsis.

«The more the great Hierophants were at pains to conceal their absolute Science, the more they sought to add grandeur to and multiply its symbols.» — su ley del secreto, que hace multiplicar los símbolos en la misma medida en que los hierofantes ocultaban su ciencia absoluta.

«1°. BEING IS BEING. In Philosophy, identity of the Idea and of Being or Verity; in Religion, the first Principle, THE FATHER.» — abre su tabla de principios con el ser idéntico a sí mismo, identidad de la idea y del ser en filosofía y el Padre en religión.

«The same number, Seven, continually reappears in the Apocalypse, compounded of three and four; and these numbers relate to the last Seven of the Sephiroth, three answering to BENIGNITY or MERCY, SEVERITY or JUSTICE, and BEAUTY or HARMONY; and four to Netzach, Ho_d, Yeso_d, and Malakoth, VICTORY, GLORY, STABILITY, and DOMINATION.» — su correspondencia entre el siete apocalíptico y las siete últimas sefirot, con benignidad, severidad y belleza de un lado y victoria, gloria, estabilidad y dominación del otro.

«The Sephiroth are commonly figured in the Kabalah as constituting a human form, the ADAM KADMON or MACROCOSM.» — consigna que en la Cábala las sefirot suelen figurarse como forma humana, el Adam Kadmón o macrocosmo.

«This Wisdom is the Logos that creates, mistaken and personified by Simon Magus and the succeeding Gnostics.» — adjudica a Simón Mago y a los gnósticos posteriores la personificación equivocada de esa Sabiduría creadora.

«THE true Mason is a practical Philosopher, who, under religious emblems, in all ages adopted by wisdom, builds upon plans traced by nature and reason the moral edifice of knowledge.» — su definición del masón verdadero como filósofo práctico que levanta el edificio moral del conocimiento sobre planos de la naturaleza y la razón.

«Instead of improving, it degenerated from its primitive simplicity, and retrograded toward a system, distorted by stupidity and ignorance, which, unable to construct a beautiful machine, made a complicated one.» — su juicio sobre la historia del propio rito, que lo hace degenerar de su simplicidad primitiva hacia una máquina complicada por estupidez e ignorancia.

«The rituals even of the respectable Degrees, copied and mutilated by ignorant men, became nonsensical and trivial; and the words so corrupted that it has hitherto been» — su denuncia del estado de los rituales, copiados y mutilados por ignorantes hasta volverse triviales y con las palabras corrompidas.

«Candidates were made to degrade themselves, and to submit to insults not tolerable to a man of spirit and honor.» — su denuncia de las pruebas de admisión, que hacían degradarse al candidato y soportar insultos intolerables para un hombre de honor.

«The Mason kneels, no longer to present his petition for admittance or to receive the answer, no longer to a man as his superior, who is but his brother, but to his God; to whom he appeals for the rectitude of his intentions, and whose aid he asks to enable him to keep his vows.» — el cambio que declara en la genuflexión, que ya no se hace ante un hombre superior sino ante Dios.

«It has not allowed Masonry to play the assassin: to avenge the death either of Hiram, of Charles the 1st, or of Jaques De Molay and the» — su negativa sobre la venganza ritual, que no ha dejado a la orden hacer de asesina para vengar ni a Hiram, ni a Carlos I, ni a Jacques de Molay.

«We teach the truth of none of the legends we recite.» — su declaración más útil para leer el volumen entero: no enseña por verdadera ninguna de las leyendas que recita.

«It lays no plots and conspiracies.» — su segunda negativa en el mismo lugar, que no urde tramas ni conspiraciones.

«Where domestic slavery exists, it teaches the master humanity and the alleviation of the condition of his slave,» — dato duro sobre su doctrina social, escrito en 1871: donde existe la esclavitud doméstica, la orden enseña al amo humanidad y el alivio de la condición del esclavo.

«that he commits an awful sin against Masonry and in the sight of God, if he closes his workshops or factories, or ceases to work his mines, when they do not yield him what he regards as sufficient profit, and so dismisses his workmen and workwomen to starve;» — su doctrina del deber patronal, que hace pecado grave cerrar talleres, fábricas o minas cuando no rinden el beneficio que el dueño juzga suficiente y despedir a los obreros al hambre.

«Except as mere symbols of the moral virtues and intellectual qualities, the tools and implements of Masonry belong exclusively to the first three Degrees.» — acotación de sistema: salvo como símbolos de virtudes morales e intelectuales, las herramientas del oficio pertenecen solo a los tres primeros grados.

«Thus the Initiates are inspired with a just idea of Masonry, to-wit, that it is essentially WORK; both teaching and practising LABOR; and that it is altogether emblematic.» — la idea de la orden que quiere inspirar al iniciado, que es esencialmente trabajo y del todo emblemática.

«The Great Moralists often had recourse to allegories, in order to instruct men without repelling them.» — su justificación del método alegórico, que los grandes moralistas usaron para instruir sin repeler.

«The Directors of the Work, or those of the 9th, 10th, and 11th Degrees are to report to the Chapters upon the regularity, activity and proper direction of the work of bodies in the lower Degrees, and what is needed to be enacted for their prosperity and usefulness.» — dato de estructura del rito: los grados noveno, décimo y undécimo son los directores del trabajo y reportan a los capítulos sobre la marcha de los cuerpos inferiores.

«They should inquire whether Masonry fulfills, as far as it ought and can, its principal purpose, which is to succor the unfortunate.» — el fin principal que declara para la orden al describir esa función, socorrer al desdichado.

«Forget not that, more than three thousand years ago, ZOROASTER said: "Be good, be kind, be humane, and charitable; love your fellows; console the afflicted; pardon those who have done you wrong.» — pone en boca de Zoroastro, con la fecha que le adjudica, el precepto de ser bueno, humano y caritativo y perdonar al que hizo daño.

«Nor that more than two thousand three hundred years ago CONFUCIUS repeated, also quoting the language of those who had lived before himself: "Love thy neighbor as thyself: Do not to others what thou wouldst not wish should be done to thyself: Forgive injuries. Forgive your enemy, be reconciled to him, give him assistance, invoke God in his behalf!» — hace lo mismo con Confucio, y anota expresamente que también él citaba el lenguaje de quienes vivieron antes.

«Be not wiser in your own opinion than the Deity, nor find fault with His works, nor endeavor to improve upon what He has done.» — su precepto contra la enmienda de la obra divina, que prohíbe tenerse por más sabio que la Deidad.

«No man, no woman, no household, is sacred or safe from this new Inquisition.» — su juicio sobre la difamación pública en su país, a la que llama nueva Inquisición de la que ningún hogar está a salvo.

«One ought, in truth, to write or speak against no other one in this world.» — el precepto extremo que de ahí saca, que en verdad no habría que escribir ni hablar contra nadie en este mundo.

«When a Mason hears of any man that hath fallen into public disgrace, he should have a mind to commiserate his mishap, and not to make him more disconsolate.» — su regla ante la desgracia pública ajena, compadecer el infortunio y no volverlo más desconsolado.

«This is, beyond any other, the age of falsehood.» — su diagnóstico de la época, dicho sin salvedad.

«If we even do know vices in men, we can scarce show ourselves in a nobler virtue than in the charity of concealing them:» — su regla sobre los vicios ajenos, que hace de ocultarlos una virtud más noble que denunciarlos.

«And, finally, the Mason should be humble and modest toward the Grand Architect of the Universe, and not impugn His Wisdom, nor set up his own imperfect sense of Right against His Providence and dispensations, nor attempt too rashly to explore the Mysteries of God's Infinite Essence and inscrutable plans, and of that Great Nature which we are not made capable to understand.» — su precepto de humildad ante el Gran Arquitecto, que prohíbe oponer el propio sentido de lo justo a la Providencia y explorar temerariamente los misterios de la esencia divina.

«Let him steer far away from all those vain philosophies, which endeavor to account for all that is, without admitting that there is a God, separate and apart from the Universe which is his work:» — su deslinde frente a las filosofías que explican todo lo existente sin admitir un Dios separado del universo que es su obra.

«which erect Universal Nature into a God, and worship it alone: which annihilate Spirit, and believe no testimony except that of the bodily senses:» — el segundo término de ese deslinde, contra las que erigen a la naturaleza universal en Dios y no admiten más testimonio que el de los sentidos corporales.

«and reverently upon the earth and looking with awe and confidence toward Heaven, let him be satisfied that there is a real God; a person, and not a formula;» — lo que pone en su lugar, un Dios real, persona y no fórmula.

«Our highest religion is named the Worship of Sorrow.» — nombra la religión más alta como culto del dolor, en el registro de un moralista contemporáneo suyo al que no cita.

«Whatsoever of morality and intelligence; what of patience, perseverance, faithfulness, of method, insight, ingenuity, energy; in a word, whatsoever of STRENGTH a man has in him, will lie written in the WORK he does.» — su tesis del trabajo como registro del hombre, donde queda escrita toda la fuerza que lleva dentro.

«Labor is the truest emblem of God, the Architect and Eternal Maker; noble Labor, which is yet to be the King of this Earth, and sit on the highest Throne.» — su definición del trabajo como emblema más verdadero de Dios, Arquitecto y Hacedor eterno.

«There is no Religion in stagnation and inaction; but only in activity and exertion.» — su tesis sobre dónde está la religión, en la actividad y el esfuerzo y no en el estancamiento.

«"Work; and therein have well-being," is the oldest of Gospels; unpreached, inarticulate, but ineradicable, and enduring forever.» — nombra como el más viejo de los evangelios, no predicado e inarticulado, el del trabajo y el bienestar que le sigue.

«The great law of human industry is this: that industry, working either with the hand or the mind, the application of our powers to some task, to the achievement of some result, lies at the foundation of all human improvement.» — su ley de la industria humana, con la aplicación de las fuerzas a una tarea por fundamento de toda mejora.

«In an artificial state of society, mankind is divided into the idle and the laboring classes; but such was not the design of Providence.» — su objeción a la división entre clase ociosa y clase trabajadora, que declara artificial y no designio de la Providencia.

«It is better for the Mason to live while he lives, and enjoy life as it passes: to live richer and die poorer.» — su consejo económico al masón, vivir mientras se vive, hacerse más rico y morir más pobre.

«It is best for him to know, that, in order to be a happy man, he must always be a laborer, with the mind or the body, or with both: and that the reasonable exertion of his powers, bodily and mental, is not to be regarded as mere drudgery, but as a good discipline, a wise ordination, a training in this primary school of our being, for nobler endeavors, and spheres of higher activity hereafter.» — la condición que pone a la felicidad, ser siempre trabajador de mente o de cuerpo y ver el esfuerzo como disciplina y no como faena.

«But if it is to do nothing for him, but to minister ease and indulgence, and to place his children in the same bad school, then there is no reason why he should desire it.» — el límite que pone al deseo de fortuna, que no lo justifica si solo ha de dar comodidad e indulgencia y poner a los hijos en la misma mala escuela.

«The busy marts, the rising cities, the enriched empires of the world are but the great treasure-houses of labor.» — su lectura de las ciudades y los imperios como almacenes del trabajo acumulado.

«God has not made a world of rich men; but rather a world of poor men; or of men, at least, who must toil for a subsistence.» — su tesis sobre el reparto, que hace de éste un mundo de pobres o al menos de hombres que han de trabajar para subsistir.

«The history of wealth has always been a history of corruption and downfall.» — su lectura de la historia de la riqueza, que la hace historia de corrupción y caída.

«men must become more generous and benevolent, not more selfish and effeminate, as they become more rich, or the history of modern wealth will follow in the sad train of all past examples.» — la condición que pone para que esa historia no se repita, que los hombres se vuelvan más generosos y no más egoístas al enriquecerse.

«To gather wealth never gives such satisfaction as to bring the humblest piece of machinery to perfection: at least, when wealth is sought for display and ostentation, or mere luxury, and ease, and pleasure; and not for ends of philanthropy, the relief of kindred, or the payment of just debts, or as a means to attain some other great and noble object.» — su comparación entre satisfacciones, con la de perfeccionar la máquina más humilde por encima de la de amasar riqueza.

«There are but two things worth living for: to do what is worthy of being written; and to write what is worthy of being read; and the greater of these is the doing.» — su reducción de lo que vale la pena vivir a dos cosas, hacer lo digno de escribirse y escribir lo digno de leerse, con el hacer por mayor.

«Masonry seeks to ennoble common life. Its work is to go down into the obscure and unsearched records of daily conduct and feeling; and to portray, not the ordinary virtue of an extraordinary life; but the more extraordinary virtue of ordinary life.» — el programa que declara para la orden, ennoblecer la vida común y retratar la virtud extraordinaria de la vida ordinaria.

«On the volume of Masonic life one bright word is written, from which on every side blazes an ineffable splendor. That word is DUTY.» — la palabra única que dice escrita sobre el volumen de la vida masónica.

«To aid in securing to all labor permanent employment and its just reward: to help to hasten the coming of that time when no one shall stiffer from hunger or destitution, because, though willing and able to work, he can find no employment, or because he has been overtaken by sickness in the midst of his labor, are part of your duties as a Knight of the Royal Axe.» — dato de grado, con los deberes del Caballero del Hacha Real, asegurar al trabajo empleo permanente y su justa recompensa.

«The most widely disseminated of the ancient worships were those of Isis, Orpheus, Dionusos, Ceres and Mithras.» — enumera los cultos antiguos que da por más difundidos, los de Isis, Orfeo, Dioniso, Ceres y Mitra.

«Many barbarous nations received the knowledge of the Mysteries in honor of these divinities from the Egyptians, before they arrived in Greece; and even in the British Isles the Druids celebrated those of Dionusos, learned by them from the Egyptians.» — adjudica a los egipcios la transmisión de esos misterios a naciones bárbaras antes de llegar a Grecia, y da los de Dioniso por celebrados por los druidas de las islas británicas.

«The Mysteries of Eleusis, celebrated at Athens in honor of Ceres, swallowed up, as it were, all the others.» — consigna la preeminencia de Eleusis, que según él absorbió a los demás.

«There were, in the Eleusinian feasts, two sorts of Mysteries, the great, and the little.» — da el dato de la gradación eleusina, con misterios grandes y pequeños.

«Clemens of Alexandria says that what was taught in the great Mysteries concerned the Universe, and was the completion and perfection of all instruction; wherein things were seen as they were, and nature and her works were made known.» — recoge de Clemente de Alejandría que lo enseñado en los misterios mayores concernía al universo y era el remate de toda instrucción.

«Plato said that the object of the Mysteries was to re-establish the soul in its primitive purity, and in that state of perfection which it had lost.» — adjudica a Platón la tesis de que el objeto de los misterios era restablecer el alma en su pureza primitiva.

«Where the Mysteries originated is not known.» — su abstención sobre el origen, que declara desconocido dónde nacieron los misterios.

«The method of indirect suggestion, by allegory or symbol, is a more efficacious instrument of instruction than plain didactic language; since we are habitually indifferent to that which is acquired without effort: "The initiated are few, though many bear the thyrsus.» — su defensa del método simbólico, más eficaz que el lenguaje didáctico porque lo adquirido sin esfuerzo se mira con indiferencia, cerrada con la sentencia sobre los pocos iniciados entre muchos portadores del tirso.

«Socrates, in particular, is said to have eschewed dogmas, endeavoring, like the Mysteries, rather to awaken and develop in the minds of his hearers the ideas with which they were already endowed or pregnant, than to fill them with ready-made adventitious opinions.» — adjudica a Sócrates el rechazo de los dogmas y el método de despertar en el oyente las ideas de que ya estaba preñado.

«The Mysteries, like the symbols of Masonry, were but an image of the eloquent analogies of Nature; both those and these revealing no new secret to such as were or are unprepared, or incapable of interpreting their significance.» — su equiparación entre los misterios y los símbolos del oficio, que a los no preparados no revelan secreto alguno.

«Whatever pictures later and especially Christian writers may draw of the Mysteries, they must, not only originally, but for many ages, have continued pure; and the doctrines of natural religion and morals there taught, have been of the highest importance; because both the most virtuous as well as the most learned and philosophic of the ancients speak of them in the loftiest terms.» — su defensa de la pureza original de los misterios frente al retrato que de ellos hicieron los escritores cristianos, apoyada en el elogio de los antiguos más virtuosos y sabios.

«All persons were initiated into the lesser Mysteries; but few attained the greater, in which the true spirit of them, and most of their secret doctrines were hidden.» — el dato de gradación que sostiene todo el sistema: todos entraban a los misterios menores y pocos alcanzaban los mayores, donde iba escondida la doctrina secreta.

«The ceremonies were performed at dead of night, generally in apartments under-ground, but sometimes in the centre of a vast pyramid, with every appliance that could alarm and excite the candidate.» — describe el escenario de aquellas ceremonias, en plena noche, bajo tierra o en el centro de una pirámide, con todo lo que pudiera alarmar al candidato.

«And accordingly Zosimus thought that the neglect of the Mysteries after Diocletian abdicated, was the chief cause of the decline of the Roman Empire; and in the year 364, the Proconsul of Greece would not close the Mysteries, notwithstanding a law of the Emperor Valentinian,» — recoge de Zósimo la tesis de que el abandono de los misterios tras la abdicación de Diocleciano fue la causa principal de la decadencia del Imperio romano.

«The spiritual regeneration of man was typified in the Mysteries by the second birth of Dionusos as offspring of the Highest; and the agents and symbols of that regeneration were the elements that affected Nature's periodical purification--the air, indicated by the mystic fan or winnow; the fire, signified by the torch; and the baptismal water, for water is not only cleanser of all things, but the genesis or source of all.» — su lectura de la regeneración espiritual figurada en el segundo nacimiento de Dioniso, con el aire por el aventador místico, el fuego por la antorcha y el agua bautismal por origen de todo.

«No doubt the ceremonies of initiation were originally few and simple.» — su conjetura sobre el origen del ceremonial, que da por pocas y simples las ceremonias primeras.

«The Initiate was invested with a cord of three threads, so twined as to make three times three, and called zennar.» — consigna el cordón de tres hilos torcidos en tres veces tres, llamado zennar, con que se investía al iniciado indio.

«The candidate, long wandering in darkness, truly wanted Light, and the worship taught him was the worship of God, the Source of Light.» — su lectura del candidato que vaga largamente en la oscuridad y necesita luz de verdad, con el culto enseñado por culto a Dios fuente de la luz.

«Then he was admitted to the Holy Cavern, blazing with light, where, in costly robes, sat, in the East, West, and South, the three chief Hierophants, representing the Indian tri-une Deity.» — describe la caverna santa resplandeciente donde tres hierofantes en el Este, el Oeste y el Sur representaban la deidad triple india.

«Bar Hebraeus says: "Enoch was the first who invented books and different sorts of writing.» — adjudica a Bar Hebreo la noticia de que Enoc fue el primero en inventar los libros y las distintas suertes de escritura.

«They studied particularly the most abstract sciences, discovered the famous geometrical theorems which Pythagoras afterward learned from them, calculated eclipses, and regulated, nineteen centuries before Cæsar, the Julian year.» — adjudica a aquellos sacerdotes los teoremas geométricos que Pitágoras aprendería después y la regulación del año juliano diecinueve siglos antes de César.

«He invented many things necessary for the uses of life, and gave them suitable names; he taught men how to write down their thoughts and arrange their speech; he instituted the ceremonies to be observed in the worship of each of the Gods; he observed the course of the stars; he invented music, the different bodily exercises, arithmetic, medicine, the art of working in metals, the lyre with three strings; he regulated the three tones of the voice, the sharp, taken from autumn, the grave from winter, and the middle from spring, there being then but three seasons.» — enumera las invenciones que atribuye a ese primer legislador, la escritura del pensamiento, el ceremonial de los dioses, la música, la aritmética, la medicina y el trabajo de los metales.

«It was he who taught the Greeks the mode of interpreting terms and things, whence they gave him the name of Ἑρμης [Hermes], which signifies Interpreter.» — da la etimología con que explica el nombre de Hermes, intérprete, por haber enseñado a los griegos el modo de interpretar términos y cosas.

«In Egypt he instituted hieroglyphics: he selected a certain number of persons whom he judged fitted to be the depositaries of his secrets, of such only as were capable of attaining the throne and the first offices in the Mysteries; he united them in a body, created them Priests of the Living God, instructed them in the sciences and arts, and explained to them the symbols by which they were veiled.» — su relato de la institución del sacerdocio egipcio por Hermes, que escogió depositarios de sus secretos, los hizo sacerdotes del Dios Vivo y les explicó los símbolos que los velaban.

«The Egyptian Priests related that Hermes, dying, said: "Hitherto I have lived an exile from my true country: now I return thither. Do not weep for me: I return to that celestial country whither each goes in his turn. There is God. This life is but a death.» — pone en boca de Hermes moribundo la despedida del exiliado que vuelve a su patria celeste, con esta vida por muerte.

«Among the sciences taught by Hermes, there were secrets which he communicated to the Initiates only upon condition that they should bind themselves, by a terrible oath, never to divulge them, except to those who, after long trial, should be found worthy to succeed them.» — consigna que entre las ciencias de Hermes había secretos comunicados solo bajo juramento terrible de no divulgarlos sino a quien fuera hallado digno tras larga prueba.

«Pythagoras, ever thirsty for learning, consented even to be circumcised, in order to become one of the Initiates: and the occult sciences were revealed to him in the innermost part of the sanctuary.» — consigna que Pitágoras consintió en circuncidarse para ser iniciado, y que las ciencias ocultas le fueron reveladas en lo más interior del santuario.

«Thus we owe the particular mode of instruction in the Degree of Fellow-Craft to Pythagoras; and that Degree is but an imperfect reproduction of his lectures.» — su adjudicación de origen para el segundo grado, que hace del Compañero una reproducción imperfecta de las lecciones de Pitágoras.

«The Druidical ceremonies undoubtedly came from India; and the Druids were originally Buddhists.» — su tesis sobre los druidas, que hace venir sus ceremonias de la India y los da por budistas en su origen.

«The circle was an Eastern symbol of the Universe, governed by an Omnipotent Deity whose centre is everywhere, and his circumference nowhere: and the egg was an universal symbol of the world.» — consigna el círculo como símbolo oriental del universo gobernado por una deidad cuyo centro está en todas partes y su circunferencia en ninguna, y el huevo como símbolo universal del mundo.

«This was the Yule, Juul, or Yeol feast, which afterward became Christmas.» — adjudica al solsticio de invierno gótico, la fiesta de Yule en honor de Thor, el origen de la Navidad.

«Such, my Brother, is the doctrine of the first Degree of, the Mysteries, or that of Chief of the Tabernacle, to which you have now been admitted, and the moral lesson of which is, devotion to the service of God, and disinterested zeal and constant endeavor for the welfare of men.» — declara qué grado acaba de recibir el hermano y cuál es su lección moral, devoción al servicio de Dios y celo desinteresado por el bien de los hombres.

«Be content, therefore, with that which you have seer and heard, and await patiently the advent of the greater light.» — la reserva con que cierra ese grado, contentarse con lo visto y oído y aguardar con paciencia la luz mayor.

«There has ever been an intimate alliance between the two systems, the symbolic and the philosophical, in the allegories of the monuments of all ages, in the symbolic writings of the priests of all nations, in the rituals of all secret and mysterious societies; there has been a constant series, an invariable uniformity of principles, which come from an aggregate, vast, imposing, and true, composed of parts that fit harmoniously only there.» — su tesis sobre la unidad del material que expone, con una serie constante y una uniformidad invariable de principios en alegorías, escrituras sacerdotales y rituales de todas las sociedades secretas.

«The Deity, in his revelations to man, adopted the use of material images for the purpose of enforcing sublime truths; and Christ taught by symbols and parables.» — su justificación teológica del símbolo, con la Deidad usando imágenes materiales en sus revelaciones y Cristo enseñando por parábolas.

«All the philosophers and legislators that made Antiquity illustrious, were pupils of the initiation; and all the beneficent modifications in the religions of the different people instructed by them were owing to their institution and extension of the Mysteries.» — su reclamo genealógico sobre la filosofía antigua, que hace discípulos de la iniciación a todos los filósofos y legisladores ilustres.

«Zoroaster and Confucius drew their doctrines from the Mysteries.» — nombra a Zoroastro y a Confucio como sacando sus doctrinas de los misterios, dentro de ese mismo reclamo.

«The rational Indian philosophy, after penetrating Persia and Chaldæa, gave birth to the Egyptian Mysteries.» — su ruta de transmisión, con la filosofía india penetrando Persia y Caldea y dando origen a los misterios egipcios.

«Initiation was considered to be a mystical death; a descent into the infernal regions, where every pollution, and the stains and imperfections of a corrupt and evil life were purged away by fire and water; and the perfect Epopt was then said to be regenerated, new-born, restored to a renovated existence of life, light, and purity; and placed under the Divine Protection.» — su definición de la iniciación como muerte mística y descenso a las regiones infernales, con la purga por fuego y agua y el epopta regenerado y nacido de nuevo.

«The doctrines of a future state of rewards and punishments formed a prominent feature in the Mysteries; and they were also believed to assure much temporal happiness and good-fortune, and afford absolute security against the most imminent dangers by land and sea.» — consigna que la doctrina del estado futuro de premios y castigos era rasgo prominente de los misterios, y que también se les creía dispensadores de fortuna temporal.

«Whether Egypt originated the legend, or borrowed it from India or Chaldæa, it is now impossible to know.» — su abstención sobre el origen de la leyenda, que declara imposible saber hoy si Egipto la creó o la tomó de la India o de Caldea.

«But the Hebrews received the Mysteries from the Egyptians; and of course were familiar with their legend,--known as it was to those Egyptian Initiates, Joseph and Moses.» — lo que sí afirma sobre esa transmisión, que los hebreos recibieron los misterios de los egipcios, con José y Moisés por iniciados egipcios.

«Osiris, said to have been an ancient King of Egypt, was the Sun; and Isis, his wife, the Moon: and his history recounts, in poetical and figurative style, the annual journey of the Great Luminary of Heaven through the different Signs of the Zodiac.» — su lectura astronómica del mito, con Osiris por el Sol e Isis por la Luna y la historia por viaje anual del astro por el zodiaco.

«In the Egyptian Fable, Isis wrote the sacred word for the instruction of men, and Typhon effaced it as fast as she wrote it.» — consigna la fábula egipcia de Isis escribiendo la palabra sagrada y Tifón borrándola a medida que la escribía.

«In Egypt they were Osiris and Isis: in India, Mahadeva and Bhavani: in Phœnicia, Thammuz (or Adonis) and Astarte: in Phrygia, Atys and Cybele: in Persia, Mithras and Asis: in Samothrace and Greece, Dionusos or Sabazeus and Rhea: in Britain, Hu and Ceridwen: and in Scandinavia, Woden and Frea: and in every instance these Divinities represented the Sun and the Moon.» — da su tabla de parejas divinas por naciones, de Osiris e Isis a Hu y Ceridwen y a Woden y Frea, todas por Sol y Luna.

«The mysteries of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, seem to have been the model of all other ceremonies of initiation subsequently established among the different peoples of the world.» — su tesis sobre el modelo, que hace de los misterios de Osiris, Isis y Horus la matriz de todas las demás iniciaciones.

«I am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can destroy the laws which I have established.» — vierte la inscripción en que Isis se declara reina del país, instruida por Mercurio y autora de leyes indestructibles.

«Nothing of this recital was historical; but the whole was an allegory or sacred fable, containing a meaning known only to those who were initiated into the Mysteries.» — su regla de lectura para todo ese relato, que nada de él era histórico y que el conjunto era alegoría con sentido reservado a los iniciados.

«Herodotus says, speaking of the reasons why animals were deified in Egypt: "If I were to explain these reasons, I should be led to the disclosure of those holy matters which I particularly wish to avoid, and which, but from necessity, I should not have discussed at all.» — recoge la negativa de Heródoto a explicar por qué se deificaban animales en Egipto, por no descubrir materias santas.

«So again he says: "Upon this lake are represented by night the accidents which happened to him whom I dare not name. The Egyptians call them their Mysteries. Concerning these, at the same time that I confess myself sufficiently informed, I feel myself compelled to be silent.» — recoge la segunda negativa del mismo autor, que confiesa estar suficientemente informado y sentirse obligado a callar.

«Cicero considers the establishment of the Eleusinian Mysteries to be the greatest of all the benefits conferred by Athens on other commonwealths; their effects having been, he says, to civilize men, soften their savage and ferocious manners, and teach them the true principles of morals, which initiate man into the only kind of life worthy of him.» — adjudica a Cicerón el juicio de que la institución de los misterios de Eleusis fue el mayor beneficio de Atenas a las demás repúblicas.

«The object of all the Mysteries was to inspire men with piety, and to console them in the miseries of life.» — resume el objeto que da a todos los misterios, inspirar piedad y consolar en las miserias de la vida.

«All the incidents were astronomical, with a meaning still deeper lying behind that explanation, and so hidden by a double veil.» — su regla del doble velo, con los incidentes astronómicos y un sentido aún más hondo detrás de esa explicación.

«It is a still greater mistake to imagine that they were the inventions of charlatanism, and means of deception.» — su objeción a quienes tienen los misterios por invención de charlatanes y medio de engaño, que declara error mayor todavía.

«The rude representation of physical torture in Tartarus was but an image of the certain, unavoidable, eternal consequences that flow by the law of God's enactment from the sin committed and the vice indulged in.» — su lectura de los tormentos del Tártaro como imagen de las consecuencias que fluyen por ley divina del pecado cometido.

«The Hierophants, men of intellect, and well understanding the disposition of the people and the art of controlling them, used every appliance to attain that object, and give importance and impressiveness to their ceremonies.» — su descripción de los hierofantes como hombres de intelecto que entendían el ánimo del pueblo y el arte de gobernarlo, y usaban todo recurso para dar importancia a sus ceremonias.

«Obscurity adds to impressiveness, and assists illusion; and they used it to produce an effect upon the astonished Initiate.» — el recurso concreto que les adjudica, la oscuridad que aumenta la impresión y ayuda a la ilusión.

«Nothing excites men's curiosity so much as Mystery, concealing things which they desire to know:» — su tesis sobre el resorte del secreto, que nada excita tanto la curiosidad como el misterio que oculta lo que se desea saber.

«They admitted that they concealed the highest truths under the veil of allegory, the more to excite the curiosity of men, and to urge them to investigation.» — consigna que aquellos sacerdotes admitían ocultar las verdades más altas bajo el velo de la alegoría para excitar más la curiosidad y empujar a la investigación.

«No one can be initiated, says Suidas, until after he has proven, by the most terrible trials, that he possesses a virtuous soul, exempt from the sway of every passion, and at it were impassible.» — recoge de Suidas la condición de la iniciación, probar por pruebas terribles un alma virtuosa y exenta del imperio de toda pasión.

«Apuleius represents Lucius, while still in the form of an ass, as addressing his prayers to Isis, whom he speaks of as the same as Ceres, Venus, Diana, and Proserpine, and as illuminating the walls of many cities simultaneously with her feminine lustre, and substituting her quivering light for the bright rays of the Sun.» — vierte el pasaje de Apuleyo donde Lucio, aún en forma de asno, reza a Isis y la nombra la misma que Ceres, Venus, Diana y Prosérpina.

«They commenced by easy tests and arrived by degrees at those that were most cruel, in which the life of the candidate was often endangered.» — describe la gradación de las pruebas mitraicas, de las fáciles a las más crueles, en las que a menudo peligraba la vida del candidato.

«The attraction of Secrecy was enhanced by the difficulty of obtaining admission. Obstacles and suspense redoubled curiosity.» — su explicación del atractivo, con el secreto realzado por la dificultad de entrar y la curiosidad redoblada por los obstáculos y la espera.

«the gates of the shades below, and the care of our life being in the hands of the Goddess,--the ceremony of initiation into the Mysteries is, as it were, to suffer death, with the precarious chance of resuscitation.» — vierte la fórmula que hace de la iniciación un padecer la muerte con la posibilidad precaria de resucitar.

«Under the Archonship of Euclid, bastards and slaves were excluded from initiation; and the same exclusion obtained against the Materialists or Epicureans who denied Providence and consequently the utility of initiation.» — consigna las exclusiones bajo el arcontado de Euclides, bastardos y esclavos, y también los epicúreos que negaban la Providencia.

«the great moral lesson of the Mysteries, to which all their mystic ceremonial tended, expressed in a single line by Virgil, was to practise Justice and revere the Deity;--thus recalling men to justice, by connecting it with the justice of the Gods, who require it and punish its infraction.» — adjudica a un solo verso de Virgilio la lección moral de todos los misterios, practicar la justicia y reverenciar a la deidad.

«Bacchus allowed none to participate in his Mysteries, but men who conformed to the rules of piety and justice.» — consigna que Baco no admitía a sus misterios sino a quienes se ajustaban a las reglas de piedad y justicia.

«All who had not used their endeavors to defeat a conspiracy; and those who had on the contrary fomented one; those citizens who had betrayed their country, who had surrendered an advantageous post or place, or the vessels of the State, to the enemy; all who had supplied the enemy with money; and in general, all who had come short of their duties as honest men and good citizens, were excluded from the Mysteries of Eleusis.» — enumera los excluidos de Eleusis, los que no combatieron una conspiración o la fomentaron, los que traicionaron a la patria o entregaron plaza o naves al enemigo.

«And this was the meaning of the idea, afterward misunderstood, that entry into Elysium was only allowed to the Initiates: because entrance to the sanctuaries was allowed to the virtuous only, and Elysium was created for virtuous souls alone.» — su corrección a la idea recibida sobre el Elíseo reservado a los iniciados, que atribuye a un malentendido posterior.

«The precise nature and details of the doctrines as to a future life, and rewards and punishments there, developed in the Mysteries, is in a measure uncertain.» — su abstención sobre el contenido de esa doctrina, que declara en alguna medida incierta la naturaleza precisa de lo enseñado sobre la vida futura.

«We are only concerned with the great fact that the Mysteries taught the doctrine of the soul's immortality, and that, in some shape, suffering, pain, remorse, and agony, ever follow sin as its consequences.» — el hecho único que retiene de todo el capítulo, que los misterios enseñaron la inmortalidad del alma y las consecuencias del pecado.

«To adhere to Justice and Wisdom, Plato holds, is our duty, that we may some day take that lofty road that leads toward the heavens, and avoid most of the evils to which the soul is exposed in its subterranean journey of a thousand years.» — adjudica a Platón el deber de adherirse a la justicia y la sabiduría para tomar el camino alto y evitar los males del viaje subterráneo de mil años.

«Death, says the author of the dialogue, entitled Axiochus, included in the works of Plato, is but a passage to a happier state; but one must have lived well, to attain that most fortunate result.» — recoge del Axíoco, que da por incluido entre las obras de Platón, la muerte como paso a un estado más feliz condicionado a haber vivido bien.

«and that the ground so lost is and will be in reality never so recovered as that the sin shall be as if it never had been committed; but that throughout all» — su doctrina de lo irreparable, con el terreno perdido por el pecado que nunca se recobra como si nunca se hubiera pecado.

«as Artemis, she is the principle of its destruction; but Artemis Proserpina is also Core_ Soteria, the Saviour, who leads the Spirits of Hercules and Hyacinthus to Heaven.» — consigna el doble papel de la diosa, principio de destrucción como Ártemis y salvadora como Core Soteria que lleva al cielo los espíritus.

«(how distinctly taught the Initiates we know not), the doctrine that pain and sorrow, misfortune and remorse, are the inevitable consequences that flow from sin and vice, as effect flows from cause; that by each sin and every act of vice the soul drops back and loses ground in its advance toward perfection:» — su abstención sobre lo que de eso se enseñaba a los iniciados, que declara no saber con qué claridad se les decía.

«And so in the Phædo, Socrates teaches that we should seek here below to free our soul of its passions, in order to be ready to enter our appearance, whenever Destiny summons us to the Shades.» — adjudica al Sócrates del Fedón el precepto de liberar aquí el alma de sus pasiones para estar listo cuando el destino llame.

«We see this truth glimmering in the doctrine, taught in the Mysteries, that though slight and ordinary offences could be expiated by penances, repentance, acts of beneficence, and prayers, grave crimes were mortal sins, beyond the reach of all such remedies.» — consigna la gradación penitencial de los misterios, con las faltas leves expiables y los crímenes graves fuera del alcance de todo remedio.

«Eleusis closed her gates against Nero: and the Pagan Priests told Constantine that among all their modes of expiation there was none so potent as could wash from his soul the dark spots left by the murder of his wife,» — da los dos casos con que ilustra esa regla, Eleusis cerrando sus puertas a Nerón y los sacerdotes paganos negando a Constantino expiación por el asesinato de su esposa.

«Hence sprung the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; which Pythagoras taught as an allegory, and those who came after him received literally.» — su distinción sobre la metempsicosis, que Pitágoras habría enseñado como alegoría y los que vinieron después tomaron a la letra.

«Plato, like him, drew his doctrines from the East and the Mysteries, and undertook to translate the language of the symbols used there, into that of Philosophy; and to prove by argument and philosophical deduction, what, felt by the consciousness, the Mysteries taught by symbols as an indisputable» — su lectura de Platón como traductor, que habría vertido a lenguaje filosófico el lenguaje de los símbolos de los misterios.

«Cicero did the same; and followed the Mysteries in teaching that the Gods were but mortal men, who for their great virtues and signal services had deserved that their souls should, after death, be raised to that lofty rank.» — adjudica a Cicerón la doctrina evemerista de que los dioses eran hombres mortales elevados tras la muerte por sus virtudes y servicios.

«And Cicero says, that the ancient soothsayers, and the interpreters of the will of the Gods, in their religious ceremonies and initiations, taught that we expiate here below the crimes committed in a prior life; and for that are born.» — recoge de Cicerón que los antiguos adivinos e intérpretes enseñaban en las iniciaciones que aquí se expían crímenes de una vida anterior.

«So Origen held, and the Bishop Synesius, the latter of whom had been initiated, and who thus prayed to God: "O Father, grant that my soul, reunited to the light, may not be plunged again into the defilements of earth!"» — pone a Orígenes y al obispo Sinesio, a quien da por iniciado, sosteniendo esa misma doctrina, con la oración de no volver a hundirse en las inmundicias de la tierra.

«Orpheus, author of the Grecian Mysteries, which he carried from Egypt to Greece, consecrated this symbol: and taught that matter, uncreated and informous, existed from all eternity, unorganized, as chaos;» — adjudica a Orfeo, a quien hace autor de los misterios griegos traídos de Egipto, la doctrina de una materia increada y eterna en estado de caos.

«Sanchoniathon tells us that in the Phœnician theology, the matter of chaos took the form of an egg; and he adds: "Such are the lessons which the Son of Thabion, first Hierophant of the Phœnicians, turned into allegories, in which physics and astronomy intermingled, and which he taught to the other Hierophants,» — recoge de Sanquniatón la teología fenicia del huevo, y con ella la noticia del primer hierofante que volvió alegorías la física y la astronomía para enseñarlas a los demás.

«The Christian Fathers contented themselves with reviling and ridiculing the use of these emblems.» — su reproche a los Padres de la Iglesia, que se habrían contentado con injuriar y ridiculizar el uso de aquellos emblemas.

«Not only the Egyptians, says Diodorus Siculus, but every other people that consecrate this symbol (the Phallus), deem that they thereby do honor to the Active Force of the universal generation of all living things.» — recoge de Diodoro Sículo que quienes consagraban el falo entendían honrar con él la fuerza activa de la generación universal.

«Proclus remarks that in the distribution of the Zodiac among the twelve great Divinities, by ancient astrology, six signs were assigned to the male and six to the female principle.» — consigna de Proclo el reparto del zodiaco entre doce divinidades, seis signos al principio masculino y seis al femenino.

«Plutarch admits that this theory of two Principles was the basis of all the Mysteries, and consecrated in the religious ceremonies and Mysteries of Greece.» — adjudica a Plutarco el reconocimiento de que la teoría de los dos principios era la base de todos los misterios.

«The connection of the different initiations with the Equinoxes which separate the Empire of the Nights from that of the Days, and fix the moment when one of these principles begins to prevail over the other, shows that the Mysteries referred to the continual contest between the two principles of light and darkness, each alternately victor and vanquished.» — su argumento por el calendario, que liga las iniciaciones a los equinoccios donde uno de los dos principios empieza a prevalecer sobre el otro.

«"We celebrate the august Mysteries of Ceres and Proserpine," says the Emperor Julian, "at the Autumnal Equinox, to obtain of the Gods that the soul may not experience the malignant action of the Power of Darkness that is then about to have sway and rule in Nature.» — pone en boca del emperador Juliano la razón de celebrar los misterios de Ceres y Prosérpina en el equinoccio de otoño.

«In April was celebrated the first triumph obtained by the light of day over the length of the nights; and the ceremonies of mourning and rejoicing had, Macrobius says, as their object, the vicissitudes of the annual administration of the world.» — recoge de Macrobio que las ceremonias de duelo y de gozo de abril tenían por objeto las vicisitudes de la administración anual del mundo.

«Athenagoras quotes this passage to show that not only the Statue but the Tomb of Osiris was exhibited in Egypt, and a tragic representation of his sufferings; and remarks that the Egyptians had mourning ceremonies in honor of their Gods, whose» — consigna de Atenágoras que en Egipto se exhibía no solo la estatua sino la tumba de Osiris, con representación trágica de sus padecimientos.

«"His death works your Salvation;" said the High Priest of Mithras.» — pone en boca del sumo sacerdote de Mitra la fórmula sobre la muerte del dios que obra la salvación del iniciado.

«All these Mysteries, says Clemens of Alexandria, displaying to us murders and tombs alone, all these religious tragedies, had a common basis, variously ornamented:» — recoge de Clemente de Alejandría que todos aquellos misterios mostraban solo asesinatos y tumbas, con una base común diversamente adornada.

«The tomb of Apollo was at Delphi, where his body was laid, after Python, the Polar Serpent that annually heralds the coming of autumn, cold, darkness, and winter, had slain him, and over whom the God triumphs, on the 25th of March, on his return to the lamb of the Vernal Equinox.» — expone la tumba de Apolo en Delfos y el triunfo del dios sobre la serpiente polar el 25 de marzo, a su vuelta al cordero del equinoccio de primavera.

«All these deaths and resurrections, these funeral emblems, these anniversaries of mourning and joy, these cenotaphs raised in different places to the Sun-God, honored under different names, had but a single object, the allegorical narration of the events which happened here below to the Light of Nature,» — su tesis unificadora sobre todas esas muertes y resurrecciones, que las hace narración alegórica de lo que le pasa aquí abajo a la luz de la naturaleza.

«So the Cherubim, according to Clemens and Philo, represented the two hemispheres their wings, the rapid course of the firmament, and of time which revolves in the Zodiac.» — adjudica a Clemente y a Filón la lectura de los querubines como los dos hemisferios, y de sus alas como el curso del firmamento y del tiempo por el zodiaco.

«So, Clemens says, the candlestick with seven branches represented the seven planets, like which the seven branches were arranged and regulated, preserving that musical proportion and system of harmony of which the sun was the centre and connection.» — recoge de Clemente la lectura del candelabro de siete brazos como los siete planetas, con el sol por centro de la proporción musical.

«The whole temple was an abridged image of the world.» — su fórmula sobre el Templo, que lo hace imagen abreviada del mundo.

«The hemispherical brazen sea, supported by four groups of bulls, of three each, looking to the four cardinal points of the compass, represented the bull of the Vernal Equinox, and at Tyre were consecrated to Astarte; to whom Hiram, Josephus says, had builded a temple, and who wore on her head a helmet bearing the image of a bull.» — su lectura del mar de bronce sobre cuatro grupos de toros hacia los puntos cardinales, con el dato de Josefo sobre el templo que Hiram habría edificado a Astarté.

«Mercury was charged with the conducting of souls through the two great gates; and in going from the sun to the moon they passed immediately by him.» — consigna a Mercurio encargado de conducir las almas por las dos grandes puertas, en el camino del sol a la luna.

«Then, says Apuleius, came "one who carried in his bosom an object that rejoiced the heart of the bearer, a venerable effigy of the Supreme Deity, neither bearing resemblance to man, cattle, bird, beast, or any living creature: an exquisite invention, venerable from the novel originality of the fashioning; a wonderful, ineffable symbol of religious mysteries, to be looked upon in profound silence.» — vierte el pasaje de Apuleyo sobre la efigie del Ser Supremo que no se parecía a hombre, ave ni animal alguno, símbolo inefable que se miraba en silencio.

«Zoroaster, says Eubulus, first introduced this custom of consecrating caves.» — adjudica a Zoroastro, por noticia de Éubulo, la costumbre de consagrar cavernas.

«Mithras, says Porphyry, presided over the Equinoxes, seated on a Bull, the symbolical animal of the Demiourgos, and bearing a sword.» — recoge de Porfirio a Mitra presidiendo los equinoccios, sentado sobre el toro, animal simbólico del demiurgo, y con espada.

«The first gate, says Celsus, was that of Saturn, and of lead, by the heavy nature whereof his dull slow progress was symbolized.» — expone la primera de las siete puertas planetarias, la de Saturno y de plomo, cuyo metal pesado simboliza su marcha lenta.

«The third, of brass, was that of Jupiter, emblem of his solidity and dry nature.» — expone la tercera, la de Júpiter y de bronce, emblema de su solidez y naturaleza seca, dentro de esa misma serie de metales y planetas.

«This order is not the real order of these Planets; but a mysterious one, like that of the days of the Week consecrated to them, commencing with Saturday, and retrograding to Sunday.» — acota que ese orden no es el real de los planetas sino uno misterioso, como el de los días de la semana que retrograda del sábado al domingo.

«Thus not the Deity, but His ministers, or a Principle and Power of Evil, were deemed the authors of vice and sin and suffering:» — consigna la solución antigua al problema del mal, que hacía autores del vicio y del sufrimiento no a la deidad sino a sus ministros o a un principio del mal.

«It was these events and incidents, says Plutarch, which Isis desired to represent in the ceremonial of the Mysteries, established by her in memory of her sorrows and wanderings, whereof she exhibited an image and representation in her Sanctuaries, where also were afforded encouragements to piety and consolation in misfortune.» — adjudica a Plutarco la noticia de que Isis quiso representar en el ceremonial de los misterios sus propias penas y andanzas.

«The Greeks fix the date of the establishment of the Mysteries of Eleusis at the year 1423 B. C., during the reign of Erechtheus at Athens.» — da la fecha que los griegos fijaban para el establecimiento de los misterios de Eleusis, 1423 antes de Cristo bajo Erecteo.

«Another tradition was, that Orpheus introduced them into Greece, together with the Dionisiac ceremonies, copying the latter from the Mysteries of Osiris, and the former from those of Isis.» — recoge la tradición alterna, que hace a Orfeo introductor de esos misterios en Grecia copiando los dionisiacos de los de Osiris y los otros de los de Isis.

«Ezekiel speaks of the festivals of Adonis under the name of those of Thammuz, an Assyrian Deity, whom every year the women mourned, seated at the doors of their dwellings.» — consigna que Ezequiel habla de las fiestas de Adonis bajo el nombre de Tammuz, llorado cada año por las mujeres a la puerta de sus casas.

«Plutarch says that Adonis and Bakchos were regarded as one and the same Deity; and that this opinion was founded on the great similarity in very many respects between the Mysteries of these two Gods.» — recoge de Plutarco la identificación de Adonis con Baco, fundada en el parecido de sus misterios.

«Neither the name of Bakchos, nor the word orgies applied to his feasts, nor the sacred words used in his Mysteries, are Greek, but of foreign origin.» — su argumento filológico sobre el origen del culto, que ni el nombre de Baco ni la palabra orgía ni las voces sagradas son griegas.

«The people who celebrated the complicated Mysteries were ignorant of the meaning of many words which they used, and of many emblems which they revered.» — su dato más corrosivo sobre aquellos cultos, que quienes celebraban los misterios ignoraban el sentido de muchas palabras que usaban y de muchos emblemas que veneraban.

«One of the most precious advantages promised by their initiation was, to put a man in communion with the Gods, by purifying his soul of all the passions that interfere with that enjoyment, and dim the rays of divine light that are communicated to every soul capable of receiving them, and that imitate their purity.» — declara la ventaja principal que prometía la iniciación, poner al hombre en comunión con los dioses purificando su alma de las pasiones que estorban ese goce.

«This was a symbolic death; the deliverance from it, regeneration; after which he was called διφυης or twin-born.» — su lectura de la muerte simbólica del rito y la liberación como regeneración, tras la cual el iniciado se llamaba nacido dos veces.

«the great Truth being often proclaimed, that "Zeus is the primitive Source of all things; there is ONE God; ONE power, and ONE rule over all.» — consigna la verdad que dice proclamada a menudo en aquellos misterios, que Zeus es la fuente primitiva de todo y que hay un solo Dios y un solo poder.

«Hadrian prohibited these Mysteries, on account of the cruel scenes represented in their ceremonial:» — consigna que Adriano prohibió aquellos misterios por las escenas crueles de su ceremonial.

«The Jews borrowed this from them, and represented God as appearing to Abraham in a flame of fire, and to Moses as a fire at Horeb and on Sinai.» — su tesis sobre la deuda hebrea, que hace tomado de allí el aparecerse Dios a Abraham en llama de fuego y a Moisés en el Horeb y el Sinaí.

«Zoroaster, like Moses, claimed to have conversed face to face, as man with man, with the Deity; and to have received from Him a system of pure worship, to be communicated only to the virtuous, and those who would devote themselves to the study of Philosophy.» — su paralelo entre Zoroastro y Moisés, los dos reclamando haber hablado cara a cara con la deidad y recibido un culto puro para comunicarlo solo a los virtuosos.

«After his novitiate, the candidate entered the cavern of initiation, and was received on the point of a sword presented to his naked left breast, by which he was slightly wounded.» — describe la recepción del candidato mitraico sobre la punta de una espada aplicada al pecho izquierdo desnudo, que lo hería levemente.

«The symbol of these stages was a high ladder with seven rounds or steps.» — da la escala alta de siete peldaños por símbolo de las siete etapas de aquella iniciación.

«Received in a place representing Elysium, in the brilliant assembly of the initiated, where the Archimagus presided, robed in blue, he assumed the obligations of secrecy, and was entrusted with the Sacred Words, of which the Ineffable Name of God was the chief.» — describe el remate del rito, con el Arquimago vestido de azul, las obligaciones de secreto y la entrega de las palabras sagradas, la primera de ellas el nombre inefable de Dios.

«The first, Tertullian says, was that of Soldier of Mithras.» — adjudica a Tertuliano la noticia del primero de aquellos grados, Soldado de Mitra.

«The Gods adored in the Mysteries of this island were termed CABIRI, an oriental word, from Cabar, great.» — da la etimología con que explica el nombre de los dioses de Samotracia, los Cabiri, de una voz oriental que significa grande.

«Children of tender age were initiated there, and invested with the sacred-robe, the purple cincture, and the crown of olive, and seated upon a throne, like other Initiates.» — consigna que allí se iniciaba a niños de tierna edad, investidos con la túnica sagrada, el ceñidor de púrpura y la corona de olivo.

«Blue Masonry has retained the Circuits, but has utterly lost the explanation; which is, that in the Mysteries the candidate invariably represented the Sun, descending Southward toward the reign of the Evil Principle, Ahriman, Siba, or Typhon (darkness and winter); there figuratively to be slain, and after a few days to rise again from the dead, and commence to ascend to the Northward.» — su acusación más precisa contra la masonería azul, que conservó los circuitos y perdió del todo su explicación, la del candidato figurando al Sol que baja al reino del principio malo y resucita.

«He received the sacred cord, and divers amulets or talismans; and was then invested with the sacred Word or Sublime Name, known only to the initiated, the Triliteral A. U. M.» — consigna la entrega del cordón sagrado y de la palabra trilítera A. U. M., conocida solo por los iniciados indios.

«In the second Degree, the Initiate was taught the Unity of the Godhead, the happiness of the patriarchs, the destruction by the Deluge, the depravity of the heart, and the necessity of a mediator, the instability of life, the final destruction of all created things, and the restoration of the world in a more perfect form.» — enumera lo que se enseñaba en el segundo grado indio, la unidad de la divinidad, el diluvio, la depravación del corazón, la necesidad de un mediador y la restauración final del mundo.

«They inculcated the Eternity of the Soul, explained the meaning of the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, and held the doctrine of a state of future rewards and punishments: and they also earnestly urged that sins could only be atoned for by repentance, reformation, and voluntary penance; and not by mere ceremonies and sacrifices.» — sigue enumerando esa doctrina, con la eternidad del alma, el sentido de la metempsicosis y los pecados expiables solo por arrepentimiento y penitencia y no por ceremonias ni sacrificios.

«The equilateral triangle was one of their symbols; and so was the mystical Y; both alluding to the Triune God, and the latter being the ineffable name of the Deity.» — consigna el triángulo equilátero y la Y mística entre sus símbolos, aludiendo ambos al Dios trino.

«He was obligated upon a naked sword (as is still the custom in the Rit Moderne), and sealed his obligation by drinking mead out of a human skull.» — describe la obligación druídica sobre espada desnuda, con la nota de que ese uso sigue en el Rito Moderno, y el juramento sellado bebiendo hidromiel en un cráneo humano.

«Clean hands and a pure heart were required of the candidates.» — su condición de admisión a los misterios, manos limpias y corazón puro.

«One must have been for some years admitted to the former, before he could receive the latter, which were but a preparation for them, the Vestibule of the Temple, of which those of Eleusis were the Sanctuary.» — consigna la gradación de Eleusis, con años entre unos misterios y otros, y los menores por vestíbulo del templo cuyo santuario eran los mayores.

«Before communicating the first secrets and primary dogmas of initiation, the priests required the candidate to take a fearful oath never to divulge the secrets.» — consigna el juramento terrible que los sacerdotes exigían antes de comunicar los primeros secretos.

«We do not certainly know the time that was required to elapse between the admission to the Lesser and Greater Mysteries of Eleusis.» — su abstención sobre ese intervalo, que declara no saberse con certeza cuánto había de pasar entre unos misterios y otros.

«that for the soul to be born is really to die; and that death was for it the return to a new life.» — vierte la doctrina que se comunicaba al llegar al grado de perfección, que nacer es en realidad morir para el alma y que la muerte es su vuelta a una vida nueva.

«The human mind still speculates upon the great mysteries of nature, and still finds its ideas anticipated by the ancients, whose profoundest thoughts are to be looked for, not in their philosophies, but in their symbols, by which they endeavored to express the great ideas that vainly struggled for utterance in words, as they viewed the great circle of phenomena,--Birth, Life, Death, or Decomposition, and New Life out of Death and Rottenness,--to them the greatest of mysteries.» — su regla de lectura de la Antigüedad, que busca sus pensamientos más hondos en los símbolos y no en sus filosofías.

«Maimonides says: "In the days of Enos, the son of Seth, men fell into grievous errors, and even Enos himself partook of their infatuation.» — recoge de Maimónides la noticia de que en los días de Enós los hombres cayeron en errores graves y el propio Enós participó de ellos.

«The first learning in the world consisted chiefly in symbols.» — su tesis sobre el origen del saber, que hace consistir en símbolos el primer aprendizaje del mundo.

«That was, Macrobius says, a settled opinion among them all; and they held it to be the only true wisdom, for the soul, while united with the body, to look ever toward its source, and strive to return to the place whence it came.» — recoge de Macrobio la sentencia de que la única sabiduría verdadera es que el alma, unida al cuerpo, mire siempre hacia su origen.

«The Galaxy, Macrobius says, crosses the Zodiac in two opposite points, Cancer and Capricorn, the tropical points in the sun's course, ordinarily called the Gates of the Sun.» — consigna el cruce de la galaxia con el zodiaco en Cáncer y Capricornio, los puntos tropicales llamados puertas del Sol.

«One, Macrobius says, in his dream of Scipio, was styled the Gate of Men; and the other, the Gate of the Gods.» — da los dos nombres de esas puertas según el sueño de Escipión, la de los hombres y la de los dioses.

«They assemble, says Plato, in the fields of oblivion, to drink there the water of the river Ameles, which causes men to forget everything.» — recoge de Platón la asamblea de las almas en los campos del olvido para beber del río Ameles.

«"If souls," says Macrobius, "carried with them into the bodies they occupy all the knowledge which they had acquired of divine things, during their sojourn in the Heavens, men would not differ in opinion as to the Deity; but some of them forget more, and some less, of that which they had learned.» — cita a Macrobio para la explicación de la discordia teológica, que si las almas trajeran consigo lo aprendido en el cielo los hombres no diferirían sobre la Deidad.

«We smile at these notions of the ancients; but we must learn to look through these material images and allegories, to the ideas, struggling for utterance, the great speechless thoughts which they envelop: and it is well for us to consider whether we ourselves have yet found out any better way of representing to ourselves the soul's origin and its advent into this body, so entirely foreign to it; if, indeed, we have ever thought about it at all; or have not ceased to think, in despair.» — su instrucción de lectura para todo el capítulo, mirar a través de esas imágenes materiales los pensamientos sin habla que envuelven, y preguntarse si hoy se tiene mejor manera de representarse el origen del alma.

«A modern Rabbi, Manasseh Ben Israel, says it was always the belief of the Hebrews.» — consigna que un rabino moderno, Menasseh ben Israel, daba esa doctrina por creencia constante de los hebreos.

«All souls are originally in the world Aziluth, the Supreme Heaven, abode of God, and of pure and immortal spirits.» — expone el esquema cabalístico donde todas las almas están originalmente en Aziluth, cielo supremo y morada de Dios y de los espíritus puros.

«The Gnostics made souls ascend and descend through eight Heavens, in each of which were certain Powers that opposed their return, and often drove them back to earth, when not sufficiently purified.» — consigna que los gnósticos hacían subir y bajar las almas por ocho cielos, con potencias que en cada uno se oponían a su retorno.

«In Plato, a familiar Genius accompanies man at his birth, follows and watches him all his life, and at death conducts him to the tribunal of the Great Judge.» — recoge de Platón el genio familiar que acompaña al hombre desde su nacimiento y lo conduce al tribunal del gran juez.

«It is not possible for us thoroughly to appreciate the feelings with which the ancients regarded the Heavenly bodies, and the ideas to which their observation of the Heavens gave rise, because we cannot put ourselves in their places,» — su cautela hermenéutica, que declara imposible apreciar a fondo lo que los antiguos sintieron ante los cuerpos celestes porque no podemos ponernos en su lugar.

«It became their first Divinity, a single ray of which, flashing into the dark tumultuous bosom of chaos, caused man and all the Universe to emerge from it.» — su reconstrucción del primer culto, con la luz por primera divinidad y un solo rayo suyo haciendo emerger del caos al hombre y al universo.

«Light was Ormuzd, adored by the Persians, and Darkness Ahriman, origin of all evils:» — nombra los dos términos persas de esa pareja, Ormuzd por la luz y Ahriman por la tiniebla y origen de todos los males.

«Thus, naturally and necessarily, time was divided, first into days, and then into moons or months, and years;» — deriva de esa observación la división del tiempo en días, lunas y años.

«Observing that, in the circle of the year, the renewal and periodical appearance of the productions of the earth were constantly associated, not only with the courses of the Sun, but also with the rising and setting of certain Stars, and with their position relatively to the Sun, the centre to which they referred the whole starry host, the mind naturally connected the celestial and terrestrial objects that were in fact connected:» — su explicación del nacimiento de la astrología, con la mente enlazando lo celeste y lo terrestre porque de hecho estaban enlazados.

«This belt, curving like a Serpent, was termed the Zodiac, and divided into twelve Signs.» — da el nombre y la forma del zodiaco, cinturón curvo como una serpiente dividido en doce signos.

«They knew nothing of the immutable laws of nature; and whenever the Sun commenced to tend Southward, they feared lest he might continue to do so, and by degrees disappear forever, leaving the earth to be ruled forever by darkness, storm, and cold.» — su tesis sobre el miedo que movía aquel culto, con hombres que ignoraban las leyes inmutables y temían que el Sol siguiera bajando hasta desaparecer.

«Arriving there, they said he had been slain, and had gone to the realm of darkness.» — de ahí saca el núcleo del mito, que al llegar el Sol allí lo decían muerto e ido al reino de la oscuridad.

«The Moon became Isis, the wife of Osiris; and Winter, as well as the desert or the ocean into which the Sun descended, became TYPHON, the Spirit or Principle of Evil, warring against and destroying Osiris.» — completa la ecuación con la Luna hecha Isis y el invierno hecho Tifón, principio del mal que combate y destruye a Osiris.

«The Celestial Vulture or Eagle, rising and setting with the Scorpion, was substituted in its place, in many cases, on account of the malign influences of the latter: and thus the four great periods of the year were marked by the Bull, the Lion, the Man (Aquarius) and the Eagle; which were upon the respective standards of Ephraim, Judah, Reuben, and Dan; and still appear on the shield» — consigna que los cuatro grandes periodos del año quedaron marcados por el toro, el león, el hombre y el águila, que estaban en los estandartes de Efraín, Judá, Rubén y Dan.

«Afterward the Ram or Lamb became an object of adoration, when, in his turn, he opened the equinox, to deliver the world from the wintry reign of darkness and evil.» — consigna el relevo del Carnero o Cordero como objeto de adoración cuando le tocó abrir el equinoccio y librar al mundo del reino invernal.

«The consequence is, what is termed the precession of the equinoxes, by means of which the Sun is constantly changing his place in the zodiac, at each vernal equinox; so that now, the signs retaining the names which they had 300 years before Christ, they and the constellations do not correspond;» — expone la precesión de los equinoccios y su consecuencia, que los signos conservan los nombres que tenían tres siglos antes de Cristo y ya no corresponden a sus constelaciones.

«From confounding signs with causes came the worship of the sun and stars.» — su diagnóstico del error que originó el culto astral, confundir los signos con las causas.

«Perhaps we are not, on the whole, much wiser than those simple men of the old time.» — la salvedad con que lo acompaña, que acaso no seamos hoy mucho más sabios que aquellos hombres sencillos.

«Theophilus says that the Osiris of Egypt was supposed to be dead or absent fifty days in each year.» — recoge de Teófilo la noticia de que el Osiris de Egipto se tenía por muerto o ausente cincuenta días al año.

«Before the colure of the Vernal Equinox had passed into Aries, and after it had left Aldebarán and the Hyades, the Pleiades were, for seven or eight centuries, the leading stars of the Sabæan year.» — consigna que las Pléyades fueron durante siete u ocho siglos las estrellas rectoras del año sabeo, antes de que el coluro equinoccial pasara a Aries.

«The crescent and disk combined always represent the conjunctive Sun and Moon; and when placed on the head of the Zodiacal Bull, the commencement of the cycle termed SAROS by the Chaldæans, and Metonic by the Greeks; and supposed to be alluded to in Job, by the phrase, "Mazzaroth in his season"; that is to say, when the first new Moon and new Sun of the year were coincident, which happened once in eighteen years and a fraction.» — expone el creciente y el disco como conjunción de Sol y Luna, y su puesta sobre el toro zodiacal como comienzo del ciclo llamado saros por los caldeos y metónico por los griegos.

«When the Sun is in Taurus, for example, that is, when Taurus sets with the Sun, Scorpio rises as he sets, and continues visible throughout the night.» — da el ejemplo con que explica la mecánica de las oposiciones, con Escorpión saliendo cuando Tauro se pone con el Sol.

«They are usually called the Seven Stars, and it is said there were seven, before the fall of Troy; though now only six are visible.» — consigna que a las Pléyades se las llama las Siete Estrellas y que se decía haber siete antes de la caída de Troya, aunque solo seis se ven ahora.

«Taurus was the prince and leader of the celestial host for more than two thousand years; and when his head set with the Sun about the last of May, the Scorpion was seen to rise in the South-east.» — da a Tauro por príncipe y guía de la hueste celeste durante más de dos mil años.

«When Aldebarán rose in the East, the Three Kings in Orion followed him; and as Taurus set, the Scorpion, by whose sting it was said Orion died, rose in the East.» — consigna el cortejo de Aldebarán con los tres Reyes de Orión, y la salida de Escorpión por cuyo aguijón se decía muerto Orión.

«The combat of Hercules with the Nemæan lion was his first labor.» — enlaza esa astronomía con el mito, con el combate de Hércules y el león de Nemea por primero de sus trabajos.

«The Phœnicians and Egyptians, says Eusebius, were the first who ascribed divinity to the Sun, Moon, and Stars, and regarded them as the sole causes of the production and destruction of all beings.» — adjudica a Eusebio la noticia de que fenicios y egipcios fueron los primeros en atribuir divinidad al Sol, la Luna y las estrellas.

«Only the Hebrews looked beyond the visible world to an invisible Creator.» — la excepción que consigna dentro de ese cuadro, que solo los hebreos miraron más allá del mundo visible hacia un creador invisible.

«Abulfaragius says that the seven great primitive nations, from whom all others descended, the Persians, Chaldæans, Greeks, Egyptians, Turks, Indians, and Chinese, all originally were Sabæists, and worshipped the Stars.» — recoge de Abulfaragio que las siete naciones primitivas de las que descienden las demás fueron todas en origen sabeístas y adoraron a los astros.

«They regarded NATURE as the great divinity, that exercised its powers through the action of its parts,» — resume la teología de aquellos pueblos, con la naturaleza por gran divinidad que ejerce sus poderes por la acción de sus partes.

«And we learn from Porphyry that Chæremon, a learned priest of Egypt, and many other learned men of that nation, said that the Egyptians recognized as gods the stars composing the zodiac,» — adjudica a Porfirio la noticia del sacerdote egipcio Queremón y de otros doctos de esa nación que tenían por dioses a los astros del zodiaco.

«Arid Clemens of Alexandria assures us that the four principal sacred animals, carried in their processions, were emblems of the four signs or cardinal points which fixed the seasons at the equinoxes and solstices,» — recoge de Clemente de Alejandría que los cuatro animales sagrados de las procesiones egipcias eran emblemas de los cuatro puntos cardinales que fijan las estaciones.

«And Timæus of Locria says: "The equilateral triangle enters into the composition of the pyramid, which has four equal faces and equal angles, and which in this is like fire, the most subtle and mobile of the elements.» — cita a Timeo de Locres para la entrada del triángulo equilátero en la composición de la pirámide, semejante al fuego por ser el más sutil y móvil de los elementos.

«There is no more striking proof of the universal adoration paid the stars and constellations, than the arrangement of the Hebrew camp in the Desert, and the allegory in regard to the twelve Tribes of Israel, ascribed in the Hebrew legends to Jacob.» — su prueba tomada de la Escritura, la disposición del campamento hebreo en el desierto y la alegoría de las doce tribus atribuida a Jacob.

«both of which numbers are well known and consecrated in Masonry.» — anota que los dos números que ahí salen son bien conocidos y están consagrados en la masonería.

«There is an astonishing coincidence between the characteristics assigned by Jacob to his sons, and those of the signs of the Zodiac, or the planets that have their domicile in those signs.» — declara asombrosa la coincidencia entre los rasgos que Jacob asigna a sus hijos y los de los signos del zodiaco o los planetas domiciliados en ellos.

«The Ram, domicile of Mars, chief of the Celestial Soldiery and of the twelve Signs, is the device of Gad, whom Jacob characterizes as a warrior, chief of his army.» — da el ejemplo con que la ilustra, el Carnero domicilio de Marte por divisa de Gad, a quien Jacob caracteriza como guerrero y jefe de su ejército.

«Plato, in his Republic, followed the divisions of the Zodiac and the planets.» — consigna que Platón siguió en su República las divisiones del zodiaco y de los planetas.

«Astrology consecrated the numbers twelve, seven, thirty, and three hundred and sixty;» — enumera los números que la astrología consagró, doce, siete, treinta y trescientos sesenta.

«Astrology was practised among all the ancient nations.» — su dato de extensión, que da la astrología por practicada entre todas las naciones antiguas.

«Louis XIV. consulted his horoscope, and the learned Casini commenced his career as an astrologer.» — su ejemplo moderno de esa práctica, con Luis XIV consultando su horóscopo y Cassini empezando de astrólogo.

«Saturn, from the length of time required for his apparent revolution, was considered the most remote, and the Moon the nearest planet.» — consigna el orden antiguo de los planetas por su revolución aparente, con Saturno por el más remoto y la Luna por el más cercano.

«The Sun was figuratively said to die and be born again at the Winter Solstice;» — su fórmula del mito solar, con el Sol muriendo y renaciendo en el solsticio de invierno.

«First the Bull and afterward the Ram (called by the Persians the Lamb), was regarded as the regenerator of Nature, through his union with the Sun.» — consigna el relevo de los signos regeneradores, primero el Toro y después el Carnero, llamado Cordero por los persas.

«The Persians commenced their year at the same time, and celebrated their great feast of Neurouz when the Sun entered Aries and the Constellation Perseus rose,--Perseus, who first brought down to earth the heavenly fire consecrated in their temples:» — expone la fiesta persa de Neurouz al entrar el Sol en Aries, con Perseo saliendo, aquel que trajo a la tierra el fuego celeste consagrado en sus templos.

«The Legislator of the Jews fixed the commencement of their year in the month Nisan, at the Vernal Equinox, at which season the Israelites marched out of Egypt and were relieved of their long bondage;» — consigna que el legislador de los judíos fijó el año en el mes de Nisán, al equinoccio de primavera, cuando Israel salió de Egipto.

«Thus the Sun seemed to regulate its swelling; and the time of his arrival at the solstitial point being that of the first rising of the Nile, was selected by the Egyptians as the beginning of a year which they called the Year of God, and of the Sothiac Period, or the period of Sothis, the Dog-Star, who, rising in the morning, fixed that epoch, so important to the people of Egypt.» — expone el año que los egipcios llamaron año de Dios y el periodo sótico, fijado por la salida matutina de la estrella del Can.

«This period of 1461 years, each of 365 days, bringing back the commencement of the Solar year to the Solstitial point, at the rising of Sirius, after 1460 complete Solar revolutions, was called in Egypt the Sothiac period, the point of departure whereof was the Summer Solstice, first occupied by the Lion and afterward by Cancer, under which sign» — da la cuenta de ese periodo, mil cuatrocientos sesenta y un años de trescientos sesenta y cinco días para devolver el año solar al punto solsticial.

«It was, says Porphyry, at this Solstitial New Moon, accompanied by the rising of Seth or the Dog-Star, that the beginning of the year was fixed, and that of the generation of all things, or, as it were, the natal hour of the world.» — recoge de Porfirio que en aquella luna nueva solsticial se fijaba el comienzo del año y como la hora natal del mundo.

«Not the astrologers alone, but Naturalists like Pliny, Philosophers like Plutarch and Cicero, Theologians like the Egyptian Priests, and Metaphysicians like Proclus, believed firmly in these lunar influences.» — consigna quiénes creían firmemente en los influjos lunares, no solo los astrólogos sino naturalistas como Plinio, filósofos como Plutarco y Cicerón y metafísicos como Proclo.

«The House of the Sun was in Leo, and that of the Moon in Cancer.» — da los domicilios de las dos luminarias, la casa del Sol en Leo y la de la Luna en Cáncer.

«A further division of the Zodiac was of each sign into three parts of 10° each, called Decans, or, in the whole Zodiac, 36 parts, among which the seven planets were apportioned anew, each planet having an equal number of Decans, except the first, which, opening and closing the series of planets five times repeated, necessarily had one Decan more than the others.» — expone la división de cada signo en tres decanos de diez grados, treinta y seis en todo el zodiaco, y su reparto entre los siete planetas.

«To each Decan a God or Genius was assigned, making thirty-six in all, one of whom, the Chaldæans said, came down upon earth every ten days, remained so many days, and re-ascended to Heaven.» — consigna que a cada decano se asignaba un dios o genio, y que los caldeos decían que uno de ellos bajaba a la tierra cada diez días.

«and its principles, Firmicus says, were not entrusted by the ancients, inspired as they were by the Deity, to any but the Initiates, and to them only with great reserve, and a kind of fear,» — adjudica a Fírmico la noticia de que aquellos principios no se confiaban sino a los iniciados, y a ellos con gran reserva y una especie de temor.

«When a Star rises as night ends in the morning, or sets as night commences in the evening, it is said to rise or set heliacally, because the Sun (Helios) seems to touch it with his luminous atmosphere.» — da la definición técnica de la salida y la puesta heliacas, cuando el Sol parece tocar la estrella con su atmósfera luminosa.

«Another and most important division of the Stars was into good and bad, beneficent and malevolent.» — consigna la división de las estrellas en buenas y malas, benéficas y malévolas.

«Thus the symbolic Egg, that issued from the mouth of the invisible Egyptian God KNEPH; known in the Grecian Mysteries as the Orphic Egg; from which issued the God CHUMONG of the Coresians, and the Egyptian OSIRIS, and PHANES, God and Principle of Light; from which, broken by the Sacred Bull of the Japanese, the world emerged; and which the Greeks placed at the feet of BACCHUS TAURI-CORNUS; the Magian Egg of ORMUZD, from which came the Amshaspands and Devs; was divided into two halves, and equally apportioned between the Good and Evil Constellations and Angels.» — enlaza en una sola serie el huevo simbólico salido de la boca de Kneph, el huevo órfico, el huevo mágico de Ormuzd y el que el toro sagrado japonés rompe.

«The Evil Principle was the motive power of brute matter; and it, personified as Ahriman and Typhon, had its hosts and armies of Devs and Genii, Fallen Angels and Malevolent Spirits, who waged continual wage with the Good Principle, the Principle of Empyreal Light and Splendor, Osiris, Ormuzd, Jupiter or Dionusos, with 'his bright hosts of Amshaspands, Izeds, Angels, and Archangels; a warfare that goes on from birth until death, in the soul of every man that lives.» — su cuadro de la guerra de los dos principios, con los ejércitos de devs y genios de Ahriman contra las huestes de Ormuzd, guerra que sigue en el alma de cada hombre desde el nacimiento hasta la muerte.

«And these invisible Intelligences, like the stars, are marshalled in two great divisions, under the banners of the two Principles of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness; under Ormuzd and Ahriman, Osiris and Typhon.» — completa ese cuadro haciendo formar a las inteligencias invisibles, como a las estrellas, en dos grandes divisiones bajo las banderas del bien y del mal.

«To Osiris and Isis, it was held, were owing civilization, the discovery of agriculture, laws, arts of all kinds, religious worship, temples, the invention of letters, astronomy, the gymnastic arts, and music; and thus they were the universal benefactors.» — enumera lo que aquella tradición debía a Osiris e Isis, la civilización, la agricultura, las leyes, las artes, el culto, la invención de las letras, la astronomía y la música.

«You have learned how Typhon, his brother, slew him. His body was cut into pieces, all of which were collected by Isis, except his organs of generation,» — consigna el desmembramiento de Osiris por Tifón y la recolección de las partes por Isis, salvo los órganos de la generación.

«She cured the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the paralytic whole, and even raised the dead.» — consigna los prodigios que se atribuían a Isis, curar enfermos, devolver la vista a los ciegos y aun resucitar muertos.

«Osiris and Typhon were the Ormuzd and Ahriman of the Persians; principles of good and evil, of light and darkness, ever at war in the administration» — su ecuación entre panteones, con Osiris y Tifón por Ormuzd y Ahriman de los persas.

«That Osiris and Isis were the Sun and Moon, is attested by many ancient writers; by Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch, Lucian, Suidas, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, and others.» — da por atestiguada por muchos escritores antiguos la identificación de Osiris e Isis con el Sol y la Luna, y nombra a Diógenes Laercio, Plutarco, Luciano, Suidas y Macrobio.

«The Sun was termed by the Greeks the Eye of Jupiter, and the Eye of the World; and his is the All-Seeing Eye in our Lodges.» — dato de logia dentro de esa exposición: el Sol era para los griegos el ojo de Júpiter y del mundo, y de ahí viene el ojo que todo lo ve de las logias.

«The force of Osiris, says Plutarch, is exercised through the Moon. She is the passive cause relatively to him, and the active cause relatively to the earth, to which she transmits the germs of fruitfulness received from him.» — recoge de Plutarco que la fuerza de Osiris se ejerce por la Luna, causa pasiva respecto de él y activa respecto de la tierra.

«Typhon, on the other hand, was the principle of aridity and barrenness; and by his mutilation of Osiris was meant that drought which caused the Nile to retire within his bed and shrink up in Autumn.» — da a Tifón por principio de sequía y esterilidad, y lee la mutilación de Osiris como la retirada del Nilo en otoño.

«Osiris was slain by Typhon his rival, with whom conspired a Queen of Ethiopia, by whom, says Plutarch, were designated the winds.» — consigna que con Tifón conspiró una reina de Etiopía, por la cual, dice citando a Plutarco, se designaban los vientos.

«Osiris descended to the shades or infernal regions. There he took the name of Serapis, identical with Pluto, and assumed his nature.» — consigna el descenso de Osiris a las regiones infernales, donde tomó el nombre de Serapis, idéntico a Plutón.

«The body of Osiris, enclosed in a chest or coffin, was cast into the Nile.» — consigna el arca o ataúd con el cuerpo de Osiris arrojada al Nilo, pieza central de la leyenda que compara con la del oficio.

«Eratosthenes calls by that name. It pictured a woman suckling an infant, the son of Isis, born near the Winter Solstice.» — lee el signo de Virgo como imagen de Isis, con la mujer amamantando al niño nacido cerca del solsticio de invierno.

«Typhon, hunting a wild boar by moonlight, discovered it, recognized the body of his rival, and cut it into fourteen pieces, the number of days between the full and new Moon, and in every one of which days the Moon loses a portion of the light that at the commencement filled her whole disk.» — su lectura lunar del desmembramiento, catorce pedazos por los catorce días entre la luna llena y la nueva.

«Day lengthens and the germs of evil are by degrees eradicated: and Horus (from Aur, Light) reigns triumphant, symbolizing, by his succession to the characteristics of Osiris, the eternal renewal of the Sun's youth and creative vigor at the Vernal Equinox.» — da la etimología de Horus por Aur, luz, y lee su reinado como la renovación eterna de la juventud del Sol en el equinoccio de primavera.

«The learned author of the Sabæan Researches, Landseer, advances another theory in regard to the legend of Osiris; in which he makes the constellation Boötes play a leading part.» — consigna que Landseer, a quien llama docto autor de las Investigaciones sabeas, propone otra teoría sobre la leyenda de Osiris con Bootes por protagonista.

«He observes that, as none of the stars were visible at the same time with the Sun, his actual place in the Zodiac, at any given time, could only be ascertained by the Sabæan astronomers by their observations of the stars, and of their heliacal and achronical risings and settings.» — expone el fundamento metodológico de aquella astronomía, que el lugar del Sol solo podía fijarse observando las salidas y puestas heliacas y acrónicas de las estrellas.

«To the latter sign, the Egyptians were nationally, traditionally and habitually grateful; for they conceived that from Osiris all the greatest of terrestrial enjoyments were derived.» — consigna la gratitud nacional de los egipcios hacia ese signo, del que hacían venir los mayores goces terrestres.

«Plutarch says Osiris was cut into fourteen pieces: Diodorus, into twenty-six; in regard to which, and to the whole legend, Landseer's ideas, varying from those commonly entertained, are as follows:» — consigna la discrepancia de las fuentes sin armonizarla, catorce pedazos en Plutarco y veintiséis en Diodoro, y a continuación la explicación de Landseer.

«the straight line is the first principle of Geometry, having length but no breadth, and being but the extension of a point, and an emblem of Unity, and thus of Good, as the divided or broken line is of Duality or Evil.» — su principio geométrico con carga moral, la línea recta como extensión de un punto y emblema de la unidad y del bien, frente a la línea partida que lo es de la dualidad y del mal.

«Algenib in Perseus and Almaach and Algol in Andromeda form a right-angled triangle, illustrate the 47th problem, and display the Grand Master's square upon the skies.» — su lectura de tres estrellas de Perseo y Andrómeda como triángulo rectángulo que ilustra la cuarenta y siete y despliega en el cielo la escuadra del Gran Maestro.

«Denebola in Leo, Arcturus in Boötes, and Spica in Virgo form an equilateral triangle, universal emblem of Perfection, and the Deity with His Trinity of Infinite Attributes, Wisdom, Power, and Harmony; and that other, the generative, preserving, and destroying Powers.» — su lectura del triángulo equilátero que forman Denébola, Arturo y Espiga, emblema universal de la perfección y de la trinidad de atributos divinos.

«We have already alluded to the relations which the twelve signs of the Zodiac bear to the legend of the Master's Degree.» — anuncia la clave con que va a leer la leyenda del tercer grado, sus relaciones con los doce signos del zodiaco.

«Khir-Om was assailed at the East, West, and South Gates of the Temple.» — da el dato del rito que va a interpretar, con Khir-Om asaltado en las puertas del Este, el Oeste y el Sur del Templo.

«Then, the Sun commencing again to climb Northward, as Osiris was said to arise from the dead, so Khir-Om was raised, by the powerful attraction of the Lion (Leo), who waited for him at the Summer Solstice, and drew him to himself.» — su lectura astronómica de la exaltación del Maestro, que lo hace levantar por la atracción del León que lo esperaba en el solsticio de verano.

«The names of the three assassins may have been adopted from three Stars that we have already named.» — su conjetura sobre los nombres de los tres asesinos, que podrían venir de tres estrellas ya nombradas, dicha como posibilidad y no como hecho.

«Thus the soul entered the realm of Evil and Darkness when it passed into the Constellations that belong to and succeed the Autumnal Equinox; and it re-entered the realm of Good and Light, when it arrived, returning, at those of the Vernal Equinox.» — expone la ruta del alma en aquella cosmología, que entra al reino del mal al pasar a las constelaciones posteriores al equinoccio de otoño.

«It lost its felicity by means of the Balance, and regained it by means of the Lamb.» — la fórmula breve de esa ruta, con la felicidad perdida por la Balanza y recobrada por el Cordero.

«Sallust the Philosopher, speaking of the Feasts of Rejoicing celebrated at the Vernal Equinox, and those of Mourning, in memory of the rape of Proserpine, at the Autumnal Equinox, says that the former were celebrated, because then is effected, as it were, the return of the soul toward the Gods;» — adjudica a Salustio el filósofo la razón de las fiestas de gozo del equinoccio de primavera, que efectúan como el retorno del alma hacia los dioses.

«For that reason, the old astrologers, as Firmicus states, fixed the locality of the river Styx in the 8th degree of the Balance.» — consigna de Fírmico que los viejos astrólogos situaban el río Estigia en el grado octavo de la Balanza.

«The sacred basilisc, in coil, with head and neck erect, was the royal ensign of the Pharaohs.» — consigna el basilisco sagrado enroscado con la cabeza erguida como enseña real de los faraones.

«The head of Medusa was encircled by winged snakes, which, the head removed, left the Hierogram or Sacred Cypher of the Ophites or Serpent-worshippers.» — consigna que la cabeza de Medusa, ceñida de serpientes aladas, dejaba al quitarla el hierograma de los ofitas o adoradores de la serpiente.

«By the Serpent of Autumn, souls fell; and they were regenerated again by the Bull on which Mithras sate,» — su fórmula del ciclo iniciático leído en el cielo, con las almas cayendo por la serpiente del otoño y regeneradas por el toro sobre el que se sienta Mitra.

«The Serpent-bearer, or Ophicus, was Æsculapius, God of Healing.» — consigna que el Serpentario era Esculapio, dios de la curación.

«According to Sanchoniathon, TAAUT, the interpreter of Heaven to men, attributed something divine to the nature of the dragon and serpents,» — adjudica a Sanquniatón la noticia de que Taaut, intérprete del cielo a los hombres, atribuyó algo divino a la naturaleza del dragón y las serpientes.

«The Phœnicians called the serpent Agathodemon [the good spirit]; and Kneph was the Serpent-God of the Egyptians.» — consigna que los fenicios llamaban a la serpiente Agathodemon, espíritu bueno, y que Kneph era el dios serpiente de los egipcios.

«According to Eusebius, the Egyptians represented the world by a blue circle, sprinkled with flames, within which was extended a serpent with the head of a hawk.» — recoge de Eusebio la representación egipcia del mundo como círculo azul salpicado de llamas con una serpiente de cabeza de halcón dentro.

«The property possessed by the Serpent, of casting its skin, and apparently renewing its youth, made it an emblem of eternity and immortality.» — su explicación del símbolo por la muda de la piel, que hizo de la serpiente emblema de eternidad e inmortalidad.

«It was therefore a religious obligation with every devout follower of Zoroaster to exterminate reptiles, and other impure animals, especially serpents.» — consigna la obligación religiosa contraria en el zoroastrismo, exterminar reptiles y sobre todo serpientes.

«The Serpent entwined round an Egg, was a symbol common to the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Druids.» — consigna la serpiente enroscada al huevo como símbolo común a indios, egipcios y druidas.

«Ahriman in serpent-form invades the realm of Ormuzd; and the Bull, emblem of life, is wounded by him and dies.» — expone la irrupción de Ahriman en forma de serpiente en el reino de Ormuzd y la muerte del toro, emblema de vida.

«The Persian Ahriman was called "The old serpent, the liar from the beginning, the Prince of Darkness, and the rover up and down.» — da los títulos con que se nombraba a Ahriman, la vieja serpiente, el mentiroso desde el principio y el príncipe de las tinieblas.

«There he is installed as the Sea-God Oannes or Dragon, the Leviathan of the watery half of creation, the dragon who vomited a flood of water after the persecuted woman of the Apocalypse, the monster who threatened to devour Hesione and Andromeda, and who for a time became the grave of Hercules and Jonah; and he corresponds with the obscure name of Rahab, whom Jehovah is said in Job to have transfixed and overcome.» — enlaza en una sola figura al dios marino Oannes, al dragón del Apocalipsis, al monstruo de Hesíone y Andrómeda y al Rahab que Jehová traspasa en Job.

«For these Asiatic symbols of the contest of the Sun-God with the Dragon of darkness and Winter were imported not only into the Zodiac, but into the more homely circle of European legend; and both Thor and Odin fight with dragons, as Apollo did with Python, the great scaly snake, Achilles with the Scamander, and Bellerophon with the Chimæra.» — consigna que esos símbolos asiáticos pasaron también a la leyenda europea, con Thor y Odín peleando con dragones como Apolo con Pitón.

«In the apocryphal book of Esther, dragons herald "a day of darkness and obscurity"; and St. George of England, a problematic Cappadocian Prince, was originally only a varying form of Mithras.» — su adjudicación sobre san Jorge de Inglaterra, príncipe capadocio problemático que sería en origen una forma variante de Mitra.

«The Persians represented Ormuzd and Ahriman by two serpents, contending for the mundane egg.» — consigna que los persas representaban a Ormuzd y Ahriman por dos serpientes que se disputan el huevo del mundo.

«The King of Evil Demons was called in Hindu_ Mythology, Naga, the King of Serpents, in which name we trace the Hebrew Nachash, serpent.» — su etimología del rey de los demonios hindú, Naga rey de las serpientes, donde rastrea el hebreo Nachash.

«A Druid in a poem of Taliessin says, "I am a Druid, I am an Architect, I am a Prophet, I am a Serpent (Gnadi).» — cita a un druida del poema de Taliesin que se declara druida, arquitecto, profeta y serpiente.

«The Caduceus, borne by Hermes or Mercury, and also by Cybele, Minerva, Anubis, Hercules Ogmius the God of the Celts, and the personified Constellation Virgo, was a winged wand, entwined by two serpents.» — describe el caduceo de Hermes, vara alada entrelazada por dos serpientes, y consigna que lo llevaban también Cibeles, Minerva, Anubis y la constelación de Virgo.

«The Crux Ansata was a Cross with a coiled Serpent above it; and it is perhaps the most common of all emblems on the Egyptian Monuments, carried in the hand of almost every figure of a Deity or a Priest.» — consigna la cruz ansada con serpiente enroscada encima como el emblema más común de los monumentos egipcios, en mano de casi toda figura de dios o sacerdote.

«The Prophet Ezekiel, in the 4th verse of the 9th chapter, says: "And the Lord said unto him, 'Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark the letter TAU upon the foreheads of those that sigh and mourn for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.» — cita el pasaje de Ezequiel donde se manda marcar la letra Tau en la frente de los que gimen por las abominaciones de Jerusalén.

«As the single Tau represents the one God, so, no doubt, the Triple Tau, the origin of which cannot be traced, was meant to represent the Trinity of his attributes, the three Masonic pillars, WISDOM, STRENGTH, and HARMONY.» — su abstención sobre el origen del triple Tau, que declara imposible de rastrear, y su lectura como trinidad de atributos y tres pilares masónicos.

«It is certain that the Indians, Egyptians, and Arabians paid veneration to the sign of the Cross, thousands of years before the coming of Christ.» — su tesis sobre la antigüedad de la cruz, venerada por indios, egipcios y árabes miles de años antes de la venida de Cristo.

«The Crux Ansata was the particular emblem of Osiris, and his sceptre ended with that figure.» — consigna la cruz ansada como emblema particular de Osiris, con su cetro rematado en esa figura.

«By the Tau Cross the Cabalists expressed the number 10, a perfect number, denoting Heaven, and the Pythagorean Tetractys, or incommunicable name of God.» — consigna que por la cruz Tau los cabalistas expresaban el número diez, número perfecto, y el tetractys pitagórico o nombre incomunicable de Dios.

«Tertullian, who had been initiated, informs us that the Tau was inscribed on the forehead of every person who had been admitted into the Mysteries of Mithras.» — adjudica a Tertuliano, a quien da por iniciado, la noticia de que el Tau se inscribía en la frente de todo admitido a los misterios de Mitra.

«All the planets known to the Ancients were distinguished by the Mystic Cross, in conjunction with the solar or lunar symbols; Saturn by a cross over a crescent, Jupiter by a cross under a crescent,» — consigna que todos los planetas conocidos por los antiguos se distinguían con la cruz mística junto a los símbolos solar o lunar, Saturno con cruz sobre creciente y Júpiter con cruz bajo creciente.

«The Blazing Star in our Lodges, we have already said, represents Sirius, Anubis, or Mercury, Guardian and Guide of Souls.» — dato de logia dentro de esa serie: la Estrella Flamígera de las logias representa a Sirio, Anubis o Mercurio, guardián y guía de las almas.

«Even the Dagger of the Elu of Nine is that used in the Mysteries of Mithras; which, with its blade black and hilt white, was an emblem of the two principles of Light and Darkness.» — su adjudicación de origen para un arma del rito, la daga del Elegido de los Nueve, con hoja negra y puño blanco por emblema de los dos principios.

«The original revelation died out of men's memories; they worshipped the Creature instead of the Creator; and holding all» — su explicación de la caída del culto primitivo, con la revelación original borrada de la memoria y la criatura adorada en lugar del Creador.

«The Arabs had a similar legend. The Prophet Amos explicitly asserts that the Israelites, in the desert, worshipped, not Jehovah, but Moloch, or a Star-God, equivalent to Saturn.» — consigna que el profeta Amós afirma expresamente que los israelitas en el desierto adoraron no a Jehová sino a Moloc o a un dios astral equivalente a Saturno.

«Each nation was supposed by the Hebrews to have its own guardian angel, and its own provincial star.» — consigna la creencia hebrea de que cada nación tenía su ángel guardián y su estrella provincial.

«Rahab always means a sea-monster: probably some such legendary monstrous dragon, as in almost all mythologies is the adversary of Heaven and demon of eclipse, in whose belly, significantly called the belly of Hell, Hercules, like Jonah, passed three days, ultimately escaping with the loss of his hair or rays.» — su lectura de Rahab como monstruo marino, adversario del cielo y demonio del eclipse en cuyo vientre pasaron tres días Hércules y Jonás.

«"I beheld," says Pseudo-Enoch, "seven stars like great blazing mountains, and like Spirits, entreating me.» — cita al Pseudo Enoc para las siete estrellas como montañas ardientes que suplicaban al vidente.

«Justin Martyr and Clemens of Alexandria admit that God had appointed the stars as legitimate objects of heathen worship, in order to preserve throughout the world some tolerable notions of natural religion.» — consigna que Justino Mártir y Clemente de Alejandría admitían que Dios destinó los astros a culto legítimo de los gentiles para conservar en el mundo alguna noción de religión natural.

«Christ was announced by a Star from the East; and His nativity was celebrated on the shortest day of the Julian Calendar,» — consigna que a Cristo lo anunció una estrella de Oriente y que su natividad se celebró en el día más corto del calendario juliano.

«Amidst an infinite diversity of opinions on all other subjects," says Maximus Tyrius, "the whole world is unanimous in the belief of one only almighty King and Father of all.» — pone en boca de Máximo de Tiro la unanimidad del mundo entero en la creencia de un solo rey y padre de todos, entre una diversidad infinita de opiniones.

«To call Him a Power or aForce, or an Intelligence, is merely to deceive ourselves into the belief that we use words that have a meaning to us, when they have none, or at least no more than» — su advertencia sobre el lenguaje teológico, que llamar a Dios poder, fuerza o inteligencia es engañarse creyendo usar palabras con sentido.

«"Among the Adityas," says Chrishna, in the Bagvat Ghita, "I am Vishnu, the radiant Sun among the Stars; among the waters, I am ocean; among the mountains, the Himalaya; and among the mountain-tops, Meru."» — vierte la declaración de Krishna en el Bhagavad Gita, sol radiante entre las estrellas, océano entre las aguas y Meru entre las cumbres.

«All great Reformers have warred against this evil, deeply feeling the intellectual mischief arising out of a degraded idea of the Supreme Being: and have claimed for their own God an existence or personality distinct from the objects of ancient superstition; disowning in His name the symbols and images that had profaned His Temple. But they have not seen that the utmost which can be effected by human effort, is to substitute impressions relatively correct, for others whose falsehood has been detected, and to re-place a gross symbolism by a purer one.» — su tesis sobre los reformadores, que combatieron la idea degradada del Ser Supremo sin ver que lo más que cabe es sustituir un simbolismo grosero por otro más puro.

«We may well say, in the language of Maximus Tyrius: "If, in the desire to obtain some faint conception of the Universal Father, the Nameless Lawgiver, men had recourse to words or names, to silver or gold, to animals or plants, to mountain-tops or flowing rivers, every one inscribing the most valued and most beautiful things with the name of Deity, and with the fondness of a lover clinging with rapture to each trivial reminiscence of the Beloved, why should we seek to reduce this universal practice of symbolism, necessary, indeed, since the mind often needs the excitement of the imagination to rouse it into activity, to one monotonous standard of formal propriety?» — cita a Máximo de Tiro para justificar el simbolismo universal, con el enamorado que se aferra a cada reminiscencia trivial del amado.

«Men cannot worship a mere abstraction.» — la razón práctica que da para todo ello, que los hombres no pueden adorar una mera abstracción.

«Like the belief in a Deity, the belief in the soul's immortality is rather a natural feeling, an adjunct of self-consciousness, than a dogma belonging to any particular age or country.» — su tesis sobre la inmortalidad del alma, que la hace sentimiento natural adjunto de la conciencia de sí y no dogma de una época o un país.

«To fortify, and as far as possible to impart this hope, was the great aim of ancient wisdom, whether expressed in forms of poetry or philosophy; as it was of the Mysteries, and as it is of Masonry.» — declara el fin común de la sabiduría antigua, de los misterios y de la propia orden, fortalecer e impartir esa esperanza.

«The typical death of the Nature-God, Osiris, Atys, Adonis, Hiram, was a profound but consolatory mystery:» — pone la muerte típica del dios de la naturaleza en una sola serie, Osiris, Atis, Adonis e Hiram.

«According to the dogma of antiquity, the thronging forms of life are a series of purifying migrations, through which the divine principle re-ascends to the unity of its source.» — expone el dogma antiguo de las migraciones purificadoras por las que el principio divino reasciende a la unidad de su fuente.

«as physical bodies are exalted from earth to water, from water to air, from air to fire, so the man may rise into the Hero, the Hero into the God.» — da la escala de esa ascensión por analogía con los elementos, de la tierra al agua, al aire y al fuego, y del hombre al héroe y al dios.

«The first was the Cup of Forgetfulness; while the second is the Urn of Aquarius, quaffed by the returning spirit, as by the returning Sun at the Winter Solstice, and emblematic of the exchange of worldly impressions for the recovered recollections of the glorious sights and enjoyments of its pre-existence.» — distingue las dos copas de aquella doctrina, la del olvido y la urna de Acuario que devuelve al espíritu el recuerdo de su preexistencia.

«The second birth of Dionusos, like the rising of Osiris and Atys from the dead, and the raising of Khu_ru_m, is a type of the spiritual regeneration of man.» — pone el segundo nacimiento de Dioniso, la resurrección de Osiris y Atis y la exaltación de Khurum en una sola serie de regeneración espiritual.

«They were not an idle speculation as to the order of the world, and about the soul, but a study of the means for arriving at the great object proposed, the perfecting of the soul; and, as a necessary consequence, that of morals and society.» — su lectura del propósito de aquellas teorías, que no eran especulación ociosa sino estudio de los medios de perfeccionar el alma y con ella la moral y la sociedad.

«This Earth, to them, was not the Soul's home, but its place of exile.» — la premisa de todo ese sistema, que hacía de la tierra no la casa del alma sino su destierro.

«And therefore Proclus and the other Platonists taught "that the Mysteries and initiations withdrew souls from this mortal and material life, to re-unite them to the gods; and dissipated for the adepts the shades of ignorance by the splendors of the Deity.» — adjudica a Proclo y a los platónicos la doctrina de que los misterios apartaban a las almas de esta vida material para reunirlas a los dioses.

«"This is the great work of initiation," says Hierocles;--"to recall the soul to what is truly good and beautiful, and make it familiar therewith, and they its own; to deliver it from the pains and ills it endures here below, enchained in matter as in a dark prison; to facilitate its return to the celestial splendors, and to establish it in the Fortunate Isles, by restoring it to its first estate.» — pone en boca de Hierocles la definición de la gran obra de la iniciación, devolver el alma a lo verdaderamente bueno y facilitar su retorno a los esplendores celestes.

«If the details of their doctrines as to the soul seem to us to verge on absurdity, let us compare them with the common notions of our own day, and be silent.» — su regla de trato con las doctrinas antiguas, comparar lo que nos parece absurdo con las nociones corrientes de nuestro tiempo y callar.

«If it seems to us that they regarded the symbol in some cases as the thing symbolized, and worshipped the sign as if it were itself Deity, let us reflect how insufficient are our own ideas of Deity, and how we worship those ideas and images formed and fashioned in our own minds, and not the Deity Himself:» — la segunda mitad de esa regla, sobre el culto del signo por la cosa, que devuelve el cargo a quien adora las imágenes formadas en su propia mente.

«None has the right to object, if the Christian Mason sees foreshadowed in Chrishna and Sosiosch, in Mithras and Osiris, the Divine WORD that, as he believes, became Man, and died upon the cross to redeem a fallen race.» — la libertad que reconoce al masón cristiano de ver prefigurado en Krishna, Sosiosch, Mitra y Osiris al Verbo divino hecho hombre.

«We do not tell the Moslem that it is only important for him to believe that there is but one God, and wholly unessential whether Mahomet was His prophet.» — lo que la orden no dice al musulmán, que le baste creer en un solo Dios y le sea indiferente si Mahoma fue su profeta.

«To every Mason, there is a GOD; ONE, Supreme, Infinite in Goodness, Wisdom, Foresight, Justice, and Benevolence; Creator, Disposer, and Preserver of all things.» — el credo mínimo que declara común a todo masón, un Dios uno, supremo, infinito en bondad, sabiduría, justicia y benevolencia.

«To every Mason, WISDOM or INTELLIGENCE, FORCE or STRENGTH, and HARMONY, or FITNESS and BEAUTY, are the Trinity of the attributes of God.» — la tríada de atributos divinos que declara común a todo masón, sabiduría, fuerza y armonía.

«Nor is it within its Province to determine how the ultimate triumph of Light and Truth and Good, over Darkness and Error and Evil, is to be achieved; nor whether the Redeemer, looked and longed for by all nations, hath appeared in Judea, or is yet to come.» — su abstención más precisa, que deja fuera de la competencia de la orden decidir si el Redentor esperado por todas las naciones ya vino a Judea o está por venir.

«Masonry is a worship; but one in which all civilized men can unite; for it does not undertake to explain or dogmatically to settle those great mysteries, that are above the feeble comprehension of our human intellect.» — su definición de la orden como culto en que pueden unirse todos los hombres civilizados, por no pretender explicar ni resolver dogmáticamente los grandes misterios.

«Philosophy has taught us nothing as to the nature of our sensations, our perceptions, our cognizances, the origin of our thoughts and ideas, but words.» — su balance sobre la filosofía, que nada nos habría enseñado sino palabras acerca de la sensación, la percepción y el origen de las ideas.

«Philosophers tell us that our senses make known to us only the attributes of substance, extension, hardness, color, and the like; but not the thing itself» — consigna el límite del conocimiento sensible según los filósofos, que dan a conocer los atributos de la sustancia y no la cosa misma.

«we try not to believe, because we do not understand.» — su diagnóstico de la incredulidad, que la hace un no querer creer nacido de no entender.

«the whole material world, with its solid granite and adamant, its veins of gold and silver, its trap and porphyry, its huge beds of coal, our own frames and the very ribs and bones of this apparently indestructible earth, would instantaneously dissolve, with all Suns and Stars and Worlds throughout all the Universe of God, into a thin invisible vapor of infinitely minute particles or atoms, diffused throughout infinite space; and with them light and heat would disappear; unless the Deity Himself be, as the Ancient Persians thought, the Eternal Light and the Immortal Fire.» — su hipótesis límite sobre la materia, que todo el mundo material se disolvería en vapor invisible con la luz y el calor, salvo que la Deidad sea la luz eterna y el fuego inmortal de los antiguos persas.

«For this is the Masonic Creed: BELIEVE, in God's Infinite Benevolence, Wisdom, and Justice: HOPE, for the final triumph of Good over Evil, and for Perfect Harmony as the final result of all the concords and discords of the Universe: and be CHARITABLE as God is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood.» — enuncia el credo masónico en tres verbos, creer en la benevolencia y justicia infinitas, esperar el triunfo final del bien y ser caritativo con los errores de los hombres.

«Qu∴ What is the first Word upon the Delta? Ans∴ The Ineffable Name of Deity, the true mystery of which is known to the Ameth alone.» — consigna el catecismo del grado sobre la primera palabra del Delta, el nombre inefable cuyo verdadero misterio solo conoce el Ameth.

«while to the Christian Mason, they represent the Three that bear record in Heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY SPIRIT, which three are ONE.» — consigna la lectura cristiana de ese mismo símbolo, los tres que dan testimonio en el cielo, que deja al masón cristiano y no impone.

«Ans∴ That which God made with all men by His prophets; when He said: "I will gather all nations» — consigna el último pacto de la serie, el que Dios hizo con todos los hombres por sus profetas al decir que reuniría a todas las naciones.

«No man hath seen God at any time. He is One, Eternal, All-Powerful, All-Wise, Infinitely Just, Merciful, Benevolent, and Compassionate, Creator and Preserver of all things, the Source of Light and Life, coextensive with Time and Space; Who thought, and with the Thought created the Universe and all living things, and the souls of men: THAT IS:--the PERMANENT; while everything beside is a perpetual genesis.» — enuncia el artículo primero del credo del grado, un Dios uno y eterno que pensó y con el pensamiento creó el universo, y que es lo permanente frente a la génesis perpetua de todo lo demás.

«The Soul of Man is Immortal; not the result of organization, nor an aggregate of modes of action of matter, nor a succession of phenomena and perceptions; but an EXISTENCE, one and identical, a living spirit, a spark of the Great Central Light, that hath entered info and dwells in the body; to be» — enuncia el segundo, el alma inmortal como existencia una e idéntica y chispa de la gran luz central, y no resultado de la organización ni agregado de modos de la materia.

«Nor did Tarquin less violate that Eternal Law, though in his reign there might have been no written law at Rome against such violence; for the principle that impels us to right conduct, and warns us against guilt, springs out of the nature of things.» — su ejemplo de ley natural anterior a la escrita, con Tarquino violando la ley eterna aunque en Roma no hubiera aún ley escrita contra esa violencia.

«It did not begin to be law when it was first written, nor was it originated; but it is coeval with the Divine Intelligence itself.» — la formulación de esa doctrina, con la ley que no empezó a serlo cuando se escribió y es coeva de la inteligencia divina.

«We may be forced, but are not under obligation, to obey the stronger.» — su distinción entre fuerza y obligación, que niega deber alguno hacia el más fuerte por serlo.

«God is the principle of Morality, but not by His mere will, which, abstracted from all other of His attributes, would be neither just nor unjust.» — su tesis sobre el fundamento de la moral, que la pone en Dios pero no en su mera voluntad, que abstraída de sus otros atributos no sería justa ni injusta.

«That man is not governed by a resistless Fate or inexorable Destiny; but is free to choose between the evil and the good:» — su afirmación del libre albedrío contra el fatalismo, con el hombre libre de elegir entre el mal y el bien.

«The great leading doctrine of this Degree;--that the JUSTICE, the WISDOM, and the MERCY of God are alike infinite, alike perfect, and yet do not in the» — declara la doctrina rectora del grado, que la justicia, la sabiduría y la misericordia de Dios son igualmente infinitas y perfectas.

«it follows that there must be another life in which these apparent wrongs shall be repaired:» — la consecuencia que saca de las injusticias visibles, que ha de haber otra vida donde queden reparadas.

«The wheels of Nature are not made to roll backward.» — su fórmula del progreso irreversible, en una sola línea.

«Ans∴ Lavation with pure water, or baptism; because to cleanse the body is emblematical of purifying the soul; and because it conduces to the bodily health, and virtue is the health of the soul, as sin and vice are its malady and sickness:--unction, or anointing with oil; because thereby we are set apart and dedicated to the service and priesthood of the Beautiful, the True, and the Good:--and robes of white, emblems of candor, purity, and truth.» — dato de rito, con los tres emblemas del grado explicados, el agua o bautismo por purificación del alma, el óleo por consagración y las vestiduras blancas por candor y verdad.

«In the truest sense, we eat and drink the bodies of the dead; and cannot say that there is a single atom of our blood or body, the ownership of which some other soul might not dispute with us.» — su argumento material sobre la comunión de los cuerpos, que hace comer y beber en sentido estricto los cuerpos de los muertos.

«the bread and wine teach us that our Mortal Body is no more WE than the house in which we live, or the garments that we wear; but the Soul is I, the ONE, identical, unchangeable, immortal emanation from the Deity, to return to God and be forever happy, in His good time; as our mortal bodies, dissolving, return to the elements from which they came, their particles coming and going ever in perpetual genesis.» — su lección sobre el pan y el vino, con el cuerpo mortal que no somos nosotros más que la casa en que vivimos, y el alma que es el yo.

«None can deny that Christ taught a lofty morality.» — lo que concede al cristianismo sin entrar en su dogma, que nadie puede negar que Cristo enseñó una moral elevada.

«It was no new religion, but the reproduction of the oldest of all; and its true and perfect morality is the morality of Masonry, as is the morality of every creed of antiquity.» — su tesis sobre esa moral, que no era religión nueva sino reproducción de la más antigua, y que es la misma de la orden y de todo credo de la Antigüedad.

«The Priest of Mithras promised the Initiates deliverance from sin, by means of confession and baptism, and a future life of happiness or misery.» — consigna que el sacerdote de Mitra prometía a los iniciados el perdón del pecado por confesión y bautismo, y una vida futura de dicha o de miseria.

«These Mysteries were divided into two parts; the first styled the Mass of the Catechumens; the second, the Mass of the Faithful.» — consigna la partición de aquellos misterios en misa de los catecúmenos y misa de los fieles.

«The discipline of the secret was the concealment (occultatio) of certain tenets and ceremonies. So says Clemens of Alexandria.» — adjudica a Clemente de Alejandría la noticia de la disciplina del arcano, ocultación de ciertos dogmas y ceremonias en la iglesia primitiva.

«They were called Brethren, the Faithful, Stewards of the Mysteries, Superintendents, Devotees of the Secret, and ARCHITECTS.» — enumera los nombres que aquellos cristianos se daban, hermanos, fieles, mayordomos de los misterios, devotos del secreto y arquitectos.

«Tertullian, who died about A. D. 216, says in his Apology: "None are admitted to the religious Mysteries without an oath of secrecy. We appeal to your Thracian and Eleusinian Mysteries; and we are especially bound to this caution, because if we prove faithless, we should not only provoke Heaven, but draw upon our heads the utmost rigor of human displeasure. And should strangers betray us? They know nothing but by report and hearsay. Far hence, ye Profane! is the prohibition from all holy Mysteries.» — cita la Apología de Tertuliano, que apela a los misterios tracios y eleusinos y aplica a los suyos la prohibición de los profanos.

«Clemens, Bishop of Alexandria, born about A. D. 191, says, in his Stromata, that he cannot explain the Mysteries, because he should thereby, according to the old proverb, put a sword into the hands of a child.» — recoge de Clemente en los Stromata la razón de no explicar los misterios, que sería poner una espada en manos de un niño.

«The formula which the primitive church pronounced at the moment of celebrating its Mysteries, was this: "Depart, ye Profane! Let the Catechumens, and those who have not been admitted or initiated, go forth.» — consigna la fórmula con que la iglesia primitiva abría sus misterios, mandando salir a los profanos y a los catecúmenos no iniciados.

«Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, was born in the year 315, and died in 386. In his Catechesis he says: "The Lord spake in parables to His hearers in general; but to His disciples He explained in private the parables and allegories which He spoke in public.» — cita a Cirilo de Jerusalén para la doctrina doble, con el Señor hablando en parábolas al común y explicándolas en privado a sus discípulos.

«St. Basil, the Great Bishop of Cæsarea, born in the year 326, and dying in the year 376, says: "We receive the dogmas transmitted to us by writing, and those which have descended to us from the Apostles, beneath the mystery of oral tradition: for several things have been handed to us without writing, lest the vulgar, too familiar with our dogmas, should lose a due respect for them. . . . This is what the uninitiated are not permitted to contemplate; and how should it ever be proper to write and circulate among the people an account of them?» — cita a Basilio de Cesarea para la tradición oral, con dogmas transmitidos sin escritura para que el vulgo, familiarizado con ellos, no les perdiera el respeto.

«St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, who was born in 347, and died in 430, says in one of his discourses: "Having dismissed the Catechumens, we have retained you only to be our hearers; because, besides those things which belong to all Christians in common, we are now to discourse to you of sublime Mysteries, which none are qualified to hear, but those who, by the Master's favor, are made partakers of them. . . . . To have taught them openly, would have been to betray them.» — cita a Agustín de Hipona despidiendo a los catecúmenos para tratar misterios sublimes, porque enseñarlos abiertamente habría sido traicionarlos.

«Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, was born in 354, and died in 417. He says: "I wish to speak openly: but I dare not, on account of those who are not initiated. I shall therefore avail myself of disguised terms, discoursing in a shadowy manner. . . Where the holy Mysteries are celebrated, we drive away all uninitiated persons, and then close the doors.» — cita a Crisóstomo diciendo que quisiera hablar claro y no se atreve por los no iniciados, y que se valdrá de términos disfrazados.

«Many of them [the Christians] know each other by tokens and signs (notis et insignibus), and they form a friendship for each other, almost before they become acquainted.» — consigna que muchos de aquellos cristianos se reconocían por señas y marcas y trababan amistad casi antes de conocerse.

«The tessera is a symbol and sign by which to distinguish between the Faithful and the Profane.» — consigna la tésera como signo para distinguir entre el fiel y el profano.

«This continual reproduction of the number three is not accidental, nor without a profound meaning: and we shall find the same repeated in all the Ancient philosophies.» — declara que la reaparición continua del número tres no es accidental ni carece de sentido profundo, y anuncia hallarlo en todas las filosofías antiguas.

«The Chaldæan and Persian oracles of Zoroaster give us the Triad, Fire, Light, and Ether.» — consigna la tríada de los oráculos caldeos y persas de Zoroastro, fuego, luz y éter.

«most ancient Trinitarian doctrine on record is that of the Brahmins.» — da la doctrina trinitaria de los brahmanes por la más antigua de que hay registro.

«The Eternal Supreme Essence, called PARABRAHMA, BRAHM, PARATMA, produced the Universe by self-reflection, and first revealed himself as BRAHMA, the Creating Power, then as VISHNU, the Preserving Power, and lastly as SIVA, the Destroying and Renovating Power;» — expone esa doctrina, con la esencia suprema produciendo el universo por reflexión de sí y revelándose como Brahma creador, Vishnú conservador y Siva destructor y renovador.

«The ancient Etruscans (a race that emigrated from the Rhætian Alps into Italy, along whose route evidences of their migration have been discovered, and whose language none have yet succeeded in reading) acknowledged only one Supreme God; but they had images for His different attributes, and temples to these images.» — consigna que los antiguos etruscos reconocían un solo Dios supremo y tenían imágenes para sus distintos atributos.

«The National Deity was always a Triad under one roof; and it was the same in Egypt, where one Supreme God alone was acknowledged, but was worshipped as a Triad, with different names in each different home.» — su regla sobre aquellos cultos, que la deidad nacional era siempre una tríada bajo un mismo techo, y lo mismo en Egipto donde se reconocía un solo Dios supremo.

«The Buddhists hold that the God SAKYA of the Hindu_s, called in Ceylon, GAUTAMA, in India beyond the Ganges, SOMONAKODOM, and in China, CHY-KIA, or FO, constituted a Trinity [TRIRATNA], of BUDDHA, DHARMA, and SANGA,-- Intelligence, Law, and Union or Harmony.» — consigna la tríada budista, Buda, Dharma y Sanga, que traduce como inteligencia, ley y unión o armonía.

«In the KABALAH, or the Hebrew traditional philosophy, the Infinite Deity, beyond the reach of the Human Intellect, and without Name, Form, or Limitation, was represented as developing Himself, in order to create, and by self-limitation, in ten emanations or out-flowings, called SEPHIROTH, or rays.» — expone el esquema cabalístico de la deidad infinita, sin nombre ni forma, que se desarrolla por autolimitación en diez emanaciones llamadas sefirot.

«The first of these, in the world AZILUTH, that is, within the Deity, was KETHER, or the Crown, by which we understand the Divine Will or Potency.» — nombra la primera de ellas en el mundo de Aziluth, Kether o la Corona, que entiende por voluntad o potencia divina.

«"Everything," says the SOHAR, "proceeds according to the Mystery of the Balance"--that is, by the equilibrium of Opposites: and thus from the Infinite Mercy and the Infinite Justice, in equilibrium, flows the perfect Harmony of the Universe.» — adjudica al Zohar la sentencia de que todo procede por el misterio de la Balanza, y de ahí saca la armonía perfecta del equilibrio entre misericordia y justicia.

«According to Philo of Alexandria, the Supreme Being, Primitive Light or Archetype of Light, uniting with WISDOM [Σοφια], the mother of Creation, forms in Himself the types of all things, and acts upon the Universe through the WORD [Λογος . .» — expone la doctrina de Filón de Alejandría, con el ser supremo uniéndose a la Sabiduría, madre de la creación, y actuando sobre el universo por el Verbo.

«Simon Magus and his disciples taught that the Supreme Being or Centre of Light produced first of all, three couples of united Existences, of both sexes, [Συζυγίας; ... Suzugias], which were the origins of all things: REASON and INVENTIVENESS; SPEECH and THOUGHT; CALCULATION and REFLECTION: [Νοῦς and Επίνοια, Φωνή and Εννοια, Λογισμὸς; and Ενθύμησις; . . . Nöus and Epinoia, Pho_ne and Ennoia, Logismos and Enthume_sis]; of which Ennoia or WISDOM was the first produced, and Mother of all that exists.» — expone la doctrina de Simón Mago y sus discípulos, con tres parejas de existencias unidas de ambos sexos por origen de todas las cosas.

«According to the Gnostic view, God was represented as the immanent, incomprehensible and original source of all perfection; the unfathomable ABYSS (βυθος . . buthos), according to Valentinus, exalted above all possibility of designation; of whom, properly speaking, nothing can be predicated;» — consigna la noción gnóstica de Dios como abismo insondable, según Valentino, exaltado sobre toda designación posible.

«Self-limitation is the first beginning of a communication of life on the part of God--the first passing of the hidden Deity into manifestation;» — consigna la autolimitación como primer comienzo de la comunicación de vida por parte de Dios y primer paso de la deidad oculta a la manifestación.

«Basilides, the Christian Gnostic, taught that there were seven emanations from the Supreme Being:» — consigna que Basílides, a quien llama gnóstico cristiano, enseñaba siete emanaciones del Ser Supremo.

«They agreed in holding that the framer of this lower world was not the Father of that higher world of emanation; but the Demiurge [Δεμιουργος], a being» — expone el punto en que coincidían los gnósticos, que el artífice de este mundo inferior no era el Padre del mundo superior sino el demiurgo.

«Other Gnostics, who had not been followers of the Mosaic religion, but who had, at an earlier period, framed to themselves an oriental Gnosis, regarded the Demiurge as a being absolutelyhostile to the Supreme God.» — consigna la variante más dura de esa doctrina, con el demiurgo por ser absolutamente hostil al Dios supremo.

«They rose no higher than the Demiurge; they took him to be the Supreme God Himself.» — consigna la acusación gnóstica contra los demás, que no habrían subido más alto que el demiurgo y lo tomaban por el Dios supremo mismo.

«St. John, at the beginning of his Gospel, avers that it was Jesus Christ who existed in the Beginning; that He was the WORD of God by which everything was made; that He was the Only-Begotten, the Life and the Light, and that He diffuses among men the Holy Spirit [or Ghost], the Divine Life and Light.» — expone frente a eso la afirmación de Juan, que hace a Cristo el Verbo por el que todo fue hecho y difusor del espíritu, la vida y la luz.

«The Valentinians, and others of the Gnostics, distinguished three orders of existences:--1st. The divine germs of life, exalted by their nature above matter, and akin to the Σοφία [Sophia], to the mundane soul and to the Ple_roma:--the spiritual natures,» — expone la división valentiniana en tres órdenes de existencias, empezando por los gérmenes divinos de vida emparentados con la Sofía y el pleroma.

«The essence of the ὑλικοὶ [Hulikoi] (of whom Satan is the head), is the direct opposite to all unity; disruption and disunion in itself, without the least sympathy, without any point of coalescence whatever for unity; together with an effort to destroy all unity, to extend its own inherent disunion to everything, and to rend everything asunder.» — expone el tercero de esos órdenes, los hílicos con Satán por cabeza, esencia de disgregación y esfuerzo por destruir toda unidad.

«By Marcus, the disciple of Valentinus, the idea of a Λογος του οντος [Logos Tou Ontos], of a WORD, manifesting the hidden Divine Essence, in the Creation, was spun out into the most subtle details-- the entire creation being, in his view, a continuous utterance of the Ineffable.» — consigna que Marcos, discípulo de Valentino, hacía de la creación entera una emisión continua de lo Inefable.

«The candidate then said: "I am established and redeemed; I am redeemed in my soul from this world, and from all that belongs to it, by the name of ‏ו ?Y?H?W?H‎, who has redeemed the Soul of Jesus by the living Christ.» — vierte la fórmula del bautismo pneumático gnóstico, con el candidato declarándose redimido de este mundo por el nombre que redimió el alma de Jesús.

«The Γνῶσις [Gnosis] of Carpocrates and his son Epiphanes consisted in the knowledge of one Supreme Original being, the highest unity, from whom all existence has emanated, and to whom it strives to return.» — expone la gnosis de Carpócrates y su hijo Epífanes, con un solo ser original del que todo emanó y al que todo tiende a volver.

«But the souls which, from a reminiscence of their former condition, soar upward to the contemplation of that higher Unity, reach to such perfect freedom and repose, as nothing afterward can disturb or limit, and rise superior to the popular deities and religions.» — consigna la consecuencia que esa escuela sacaba, que las almas capaces de contemplar aquella unidad quedan por encima de los dioses y las religiones populares.

«The Elxaïtes adopted the Seven Spirits of the Gnostics; but named them Heaven, Water, Spirit, The Holy Angels of Prayer, Oil, Salt, and the Earth.» — consigna que los elcasaítas adoptaron los siete espíritus gnósticos y los llamaron cielo, agua, espíritu, ángeles de la oración, óleo, sal y tierra.

«They deemed the intelligences of the Superior World too pure and too much the antagonists of matter, to be willing to unite with it: and held that Christ, an Intelligence of the first rank, in appearing upon the earth, did not become confounded with matter, but took upon Himself only the appearance of a body,» — expone la doctrina docética de que Cristo, inteligencia de primer rango, solo tomó la apariencia de un cuerpo por ser la materia enemiga del mundo superior.

«Paul of Samosata taught that Jesus Christ was the Son of Joseph and Mary; but that the Word, Wisdom, or Intelligence of God, the Νους [Nous] of the Gnostics, had united itself with Him, so that He might be said to be at once the Son of God, and God Himself.» — expone la doctrina de Pablo de Samosata, con Jesús hijo de José y de María a quien se unió el Verbo o Nous de los gnósticos.

«Arius called the Saviour the first of creatures, nonemanated from God, but really created, by the direct will» — expone la de Arrio, que llamaba al Salvador el primero de los seres creados, no emanado sino creado por voluntad directa.

«The dominant idea of his doctrine was Pantheism, derived by him from its source in the regions of India and on the confines of China: that the cause of all that exists is in God; and at last, God is all in all.» — llama panteísmo a la idea dominante de esa doctrina y la hace venir de la India y los confines de China, con la causa de todo en Dios y Dios al fin todo en todos.

«There are two Gods, one of Good and the other of Evil, each independent, eternal, chief of a distinct Empire; necessarily, and of their very natures, hostile to one another.» — expone el dualismo estricto de dos dioses independientes y eternos, cada uno cabeza de un imperio distinto y hostiles por naturaleza.

«To prevent the light from escaping at once, the Demons forbade Adam to eat the fruit of "knowledge of good and evil," by which he would have known the Empire of Light and that of Darkness.» — expone el mito donde los demonios prohíben a Adán el fruto del conocimiento del bien y del mal para que no conociera los dos imperios.

«The Light could not unite with the darkness. It but put on the appearance of a human body, and took the name of Christ in the Messiah, only to accommodate itself to the language of the Jews.» — consigna la doctrina de que la luz no podía unirse a la tiniebla y solo tomó apariencia de cuerpo y el nombre de Cristo para acomodarse a la lengua de los judíos.

«It is useless to trace these vagaries further; and we stop at the frontiers of the realm of the three hundred and sixty-five thousand emanations of the Mandai_tes from the Primitive Light, Fira or Ferho and Yavar; and return contentedly to the simple and sublime creed of Masonry.» — su corte expreso a toda esa exposición, que llama desvaríos y abandona ante las trescientas sesenta y cinco mil emanaciones mandeas para volver al credo simple de la orden.

«The universal belief of the Orient was, that the Supreme Being did not Himself create either, the earth or man.» — resume la creencia que da por universal en Oriente, que el ser supremo no creó por sí mismo ni la tierra ni al hombre.

«But, fortunately, it does not follow that we may not believe, or even know, that which we cannot explain to ourselves, or that which is beyond the reach of our comprehension:» — su regla epistemológica, que separa creer de explicar y admite conocer lo que está fuera del alcance de la comprensión.

«Our greatest difficulty is, that language is not adequate to express our ideas; because our words refer to things, and are images of what is substantial and material.» — nombra la dificultad mayor de todo el capítulo, que el lenguaje no alcanza para las ideas porque las palabras son imágenes de lo material.

«Infinite space and infinite time are the two primary ideas.» — da el espacio infinito y el tiempo infinito por las dos ideas primarias.

«We cannot but believe, indeed we know, that, how far soever we may have to run back along the chain of effects and causes, it cannot be infinite; but we must come at last to something which is not an effect,» — su argumento de la primera causa, que niega infinita la cadena y obliga a llegar a algo que no sea efecto.

«No wonder the ancient Persians thought that Light and Life were one; both emanations from the Supreme Deity, the archetype of light.» — consigna que los antiguos persas tenían luz y vida por una sola cosa, emanadas ambas de la deidad suprema, arquetipo de la luz.

«God breathed into man the spirit of life; not matter, but an emanation from Himself; not a creature made by Him, nor a distinct existence, but a Power, like His own Thought:» — su doctrina del aliento divino, que hace del espíritu del hombre una emanación y no una criatura ni una existencia distinta.

«The spoken words, being mere sounds, may vanish into thin air, and the written ones, mere marks, be burned, erased, destroyed: but the THOUGHT itself lives still, and must live on forever.» — su tesis sobre el pensamiento, que sobrevive a la voz que se disipa y a la escritura que se quema.

«Volition, like Thought, seems spontaneous, an effect without a cause.» — extiende esa misma condición a la voluntad, espontánea como el pensamiento y efecto sin causa aparente, provocada por las circunstancias pero no producida por ellas.

«God, therefore, is a mystery, only as everything that surrounds us, and as we ourselves, are mysteries.» — su fórmula sobre el misterio de Dios, que lo iguala al de todo lo que nos rodea y al de nosotros mismos.

«He is the Living, Thinking, Intelligent Sour, of the Universe, the PERMANENT, the STATIONARY [Εστως . . Estos], of Simon Magus, the ONE that always IS [Το Ον . . TO ON]» — nombra a Dios con el término de Simón Mago, el Permanente o Estos, y con el Uno que siempre es.

«immortal as Himself, when once conceived,--immortal before, because in Himself, utter Itself in THE WORD, its manifestation and mode of communication, and thus create the Material, Mental, Spiritual Universe, which, like Him, never began to exist.» — su cosmogonía propia, con el pensamiento de Dios profiriéndose en el Verbo y creando un universo que, como él, nunca empezó a existir.

«FOR THE THOUGHT OF GOD LIVES AND IS IMMORTAL.» — la sentencia en versales con que cierra esa exposición.

«that all evil and wrong and suffering are but temporary, the discords of one great Harmony» — enuncia el artículo de su credo sobre el mal, temporal y disonancia de una sola armonía.

«Times change, and circumstances; but Virtue and Duty remain the same.» — su tesis sobre la permanencia moral, con los tiempos y las circunstancias cambiando y la virtud y el deber iguales.

«Truth, in act, profession, and opinion, is rarer now than in the days of chivalry.» — su juicio comparativo sobre su siglo, que hace la verdad más rara que en los días de la caballería.

«The Press is the great sower of falsehood.» — su acusación a la prensa, a la que llama gran sembradora de la falsedad.

«Out of the Chapter, as well as in it, he must speak the Truth, and all the Truth, no more and no less; or else speak not at all.» — el deber que impone al Comendador del Templo, decir la verdad y toda la verdad, ni más ni menos, o no hablar.

«Make of Him no idols and visible images; but rather worship Him in the deep solitudes of sequestered forests; for He is invisible, and fills the Universe as its soul, and liveth not in any Temple!» — vierte el precepto contra los ídolos y las imágenes visibles, con el dios invisible que llena el universo como su alma y no habita en templo alguno.

«Let no man speak the WORD, for by it THE FATHER made light and darkness, the world and living creatures!» — vierte la prohibición de proferir la palabra por la que el Padre hizo la luz y la tiniebla, el mundo y los vivientes.

«Man was created pure; and God gave him TRUTH, as He gave him LIGHT.» — consigna la doctrina de la pureza original, con el hombre creado puro y la verdad dada como se le dio la luz.

«Before the world grew old, the primitive Truth faded out from men's Souls.» — su relato de la pérdida, con la verdad primitiva desvaneciéndose de las almas antes de que el mundo envejeciera.

«While yet the first oaks still put forth their leaves, man lost the perfect knowledge of the One True God, the Ancient Absolute Existence, the Infinite Mind and Supreme Intelligence; and floated helplessly out upon the shoreless ocean of conjecture.» — la figura con que la remata, el hombre flotando sin ayuda en el océano sin orillas de la conjetura.

«ATHOM or ATHOM-RE, was the Chief and Oldest Supreme God of Upper Egypt, worshipped at Thebes; the same as the OM or AUM of the Hindu_s, whose name was unpronounceable, and who, like the BREHM of the latter People, was "The Being that was, and is, and is to come; the Great God, the Great Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent One, the Greatest in the Universe, the Lord;" whose emblem was a perfect sphere, showing that He was first, last, midst, and without end; superior to all Nature-Gods, and all personifications of Powers,» — identifica al Athom o Athom-Re de Tebas con el Om o Aum de los hindúes, nombre impronunciable, y le da por emblema la esfera perfecta.

«The Mysteries taught the doctrine of Divine Unity; and that Power Whose Oneness is a seeming mystery, but really a truism, was Dionusos, the God of Nature,» — su tesis sobre lo que enseñaban los misterios, la unidad divina, con Dioniso por dios de la naturaleza en que esa unidad se cifraba.

«Dionusos or Poseidon had preceded Apollo in the Oracular office; and Dionusos continued to be esteemed in Greek Theology as Healer and Saviour, Author of Life and Immortality.» — consigna que Dioniso siguió teniéndose en la teología griega por sanador y salvador, autor de la vida y de la inmortalidad.

«His rule prescribed no unnatural mortification: its yoke was easy, and its mirthful choruses, combining the gay with the severe, did but commemorate that golden age when earth enjoyed eternal spring, and when fountains of honey, milk, and wine burst forth out of its bosom at the touch of the thyrsus.» — consigna que su regla no prescribía mortificación antinatural, con coros alegres que conmemoraban la edad de oro.

«He is the "Liberator." Like Osiris, he frees the soul, and guides it in its migrations beyond the grave, preserving it from the risk of again falling under the slavery of matter» — nombra a Dioniso el libertador, que como Osiris libra al alma y la guía en sus migraciones más allá de la tumba.

«MITHRAS was the Sun-God of the Persians; and was fabled to have been born in a grotto or cave, at the Winter Solstice.» — consigna que Mitra, dios solar de los persas, se decía nacido en una gruta o caverna en el solsticio de invierno.

«The Roman Calendar, published in the time of Constantine, at which period his worship began to gain ground in the Occident, fixed his feast-day on the 25th of December.» — consigna que el calendario romano publicado en tiempos de Constantino fijó la fiesta de Mitra el 25 de diciembre.

«He represented in a familiar form the beneficent aspect of all higher emanations and in him was developed the conception of a Being purely good, so that it became necessary to set up another power as his adversary, called Seth, Babys or Typhon, to account for the injurious influences of Nature.» — su explicación del dualismo egipcio por necesidad lógica, que al concebir a Osiris como puro bien obligó a poner un adversario que diera cuenta de lo dañino en la naturaleza.

«Death, therefore, in Egyptian opinion, was only another name for renovation, since its God is the same power who incessantly renews vitality in Nature.» — su fórmula de la muerte en la opinión egipcia, que la hace otro nombre de la renovación.

«The notion of a dying God, so frequent in Oriental legend, and of which we have already said much in former Degrees, was the natural inference from a literal interpretation of nature-worship;» — su tesis sobre el dios que muere, inferencia natural de tomar al pie de la letra el culto de la naturaleza.

«The unseen Mover of the Universe was rashly identified with its obvious fluctuations.» — el error que señala en aquel culto, identificar al motor invisible del universo con sus fluctuaciones visibles.

«Typhon his brother, the type of darkness, drought, and sterility, threw his body into the Nile; and thus Osiris, the "good," the "Saviour," perished, in the 28th year of his life or reign, and on the 17th day of the month Athor, or the 13th of November.» — da la fecha y la edad de la muerte de Osiris según aquella fábula, a los veintiocho años y el día diecisiete del mes Athor.

«But the death of the Deity, as understood by the Orientals, was not inconsistent with His immortality.» — acota que la muerte de la deidad, tal como la entendía el Oriente, no era incompatible con su inmortalidad.

«All the accessories of his great temple at Babylon, described by Herodotus, are repeated with singular fidelity, but on a smaller scale, in the Hebrew tabernacle and temple.» — su paralelo entre el templo de Bel en Babilonia descrito por Heródoto y el tabernáculo y el templo hebreos, repetidos con fidelidad singular a menor escala.

«"God," says Maximus Tyrius, "did not spare His own Son [Hercules], or exempt Him from the calamities incidental to humanity.» — pone en boca de Máximo de Tiro que Dios tampoco eximió a su propio hijo Hércules de las calamidades de la humanidad.

«ODIN is said to have borne twelve names among the old Germans, and to have had 114 names besides.» — consigna los doce nombres de Odín entre los antiguos germanos y los ciento catorce que además le adjudica.

«From the bosom of the waters a new world will emerge clad in verdure; harvests will be seen to ripen where no seed was sown, and evil will disappear.» — vierte la escatología escandinava del mundo nuevo que emerge verde de las aguas, con cosechas sin siembra y el mal desaparecido.

«The free fancy of the ancients, which wove the web of their myths and legends, was consecrated by faith.» — su regla de lectura de los mitos, que los ve consagrados por la fe y no urdidos como ficción.

«To those ancient peoples, this earth was the centre of the Universe. To them there were no other worlds, peopled with living beings, to divide the care and attention of the Deity.» — la diferencia de mundo que subraya, con la tierra por centro del universo y sin otros mundos poblados que repartieran el cuidado de la deidad.

«The worship of the Sun became the basis of all the religions of antiquity.» — su tesis mayor de este grado, que el culto al Sol fue la base de todas las religiones de la Antigüedad.

«His beneficent influences caused his identification with the Principle of Good; and the BRAHMA of the Hindu_s, the MITHRAS of the Persians, and ATHOM, AMUN, PHTHA, and OSIRIS, of the Egyptians, the BEL of the Chaldæans, the ADONAI of the Phœnicians, the ADONIS and APOLLO of the Greeks became but personifications of the Sun, the regenerating Principle, image of that fecundity which perpetuates and rejuvenates the world's existence.» — da la lista de los que hace personificaciones solares, Brahma, Mitra, Athom, Amón, Ftah, Osiris, Bel, Adonai, Adonis y Apolo.

«To them it was no machine, no great system of clockwork; but a great live creature, an army of creatures, in sympathy with or inimical to man.» — su contraste entre las dos miradas, la del universo por reloj y la de aquellos hombres para quienes era una gran criatura viva.

«No one can doubt, who studies them, that they all came from a common source.» — declara indudable para quien las estudie que todas aquellas religiones vinieron de una fuente común.

«In the beginning man had the WORD; and that WORD was from God; and out of the living POWER communicated to man in and by that WORD, came THE LIGHT of His Existence.» — enuncia su doctrina de la revelación primitiva, con el hombre teniendo la Palabra en el principio y de ella la luz de su existencia.

«God made man in His own likeness.» — consigna el artículo bíblico sobre el que apoya esa doctrina, el hombre hecho a semejanza de Dios.

«That image has been, in the breast of every individual man and of mankind in general, greatly altered, impaired, and defaced; but its old, half-obliterated characters are still to be found on all the pages of primitive history; and the impress, not entirely effaced, every reflecting mind may discover in its own interior.» — acota qué quedó de esa imagen, alterada y desfigurada pero con caracteres medio borrados aún legibles en la historia primitiva.

«Then the world declined from its original happy condition and fortunate estate, into idolatry and barbarism: but all nations retained the memory of that old estate; and the poets, in those early days the only historians, commemorated the succession of the ages of gold, silver, brass, and iron.» — consigna la memoria de aquel estado en las cuatro edades de los poetas, oro, plata, bronce y hierro.

«In the lapse of those ages, the sacred tradition followed various courses among each of the most ancient nations; and from its original source, as from a common centre, its various streams flowed downward; some diffusing through favored regions of the world fertility and life; but others soon losing themselves, and being dried up in the sterile sands of human error.» — su figura de la tradición sagrada como corrientes salidas de un centro común, unas fertilizando regiones y otras perdiéndose en arenas estériles.

«Increasing familiarity with early oriental records seems more and more to confirm the probability that they all originally emanated from one source.» — acota el grado de certeza de esa tesis, que la familiaridad creciente con los registros orientales parece confirmar cada vez más la probabilidad del origen único.

«But among the other early nations, a wild enthusiasm and a sensual idolatry of nature soon superseded the simple worship of the Almighty God, and set aside or disfigured the pure belief in the Eternal Uncreated Spirit.» — su relato de la degradación, con el entusiasmo salvaje y la idolatría sensual desplazando el culto simple del Dios todopoderoso.

«Zoroastrianism, like Buddhism, was an innovation in regard to an older religion; and between the Parsee and Brahmin may be found traces of disruption as well as of coincidence.» — consigna que el zoroastrismo, como el budismo, fue innovación respecto de una religión más antigua, con rastros de ruptura y de coincidencia entre parsi y brahmán.

«And although in my own nature I am exempt from liability to birth or death, and am Lord of all created things, yet as often as in the world virtue is enfeebled, and vice and injustice prevail, so often do I become manifest and am revealed from age to age, to save the just, to destroy the guilty, and to reassure the faltering steps of virtue.» — vierte la declaración de la divinidad que se manifiesta de edad en edad cuando la virtud se debilita, para salvar a los justos y destruir a los culpables.

«"The foolish" (he says, in Bhagavad Ghita), "unacquainted with my Supreme Nature, despise me in this human form, while men of great minds, enlightened by the Divine principle within them, acknowledge me as incorruptible and before all things, and serve me with undivided hearts.» — sigue vertiendo el mismo texto, con los necios que desprecian a la divinidad en su forma humana y los grandes espíritus que la reconocen incorruptible.

«The coming forth of the Eternal Being to the work of creation was represented as a marriage, his first emanation being a universal mother, supposed to have potentially existed with him from Eternity, or, in metaphorical language, to have been "his sister and his spouse."» — consigna que la salida del Ser Eterno a la obra de la creación se representaba como matrimonio, con su primera emanación por madre universal, hermana y esposa.

«The most popular forms or manifestations of Vishnu the Pre-server, were his successive avataras or historic impersonations, which represented the Deity coming forth out of the incomprehensible mystery of His nature, and revealing Himself at those critical epochs which either in the physical or moral world seemed to mark a new commencement of prosperity and order.» — expone los avatares de Vishnú como impersonaciones históricas de la deidad que se revela en épocas críticas.

«but the attempt to explain the nature of that Being, or in any way to assimilate it with our own, they considered not only a proof of folly, but of extreme impiety.» — consigna el límite que aquella teología ponía, que explicar la naturaleza de aquel ser o asimilarla a la nuestra era prueba de necedad y de impiedad extrema.

«And this was part of their doctrine: "One great and incomprehensible Being has alone existed from all Eternity.» — vierte el artículo primero de esa doctrina, un solo ser grande e incomprensible existente desde toda la eternidad.

«The fundamental principles of the religion of the Hindi's consisted in the belief in the existence of One Being only, of the immortality of the soul, and of a future state of rewards and punishments.» — resume en tres puntos los principios de la religión hindú, un solo ser, la inmortalidad del alma y un estado futuro de premios y castigos.

«The duty of a good man, even in the moment of his destruction, consists not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting his destroyer; as the sandaltree, in the instant of its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe which fells it.» — vierte el precepto del hombre bueno que al ser destruido desea el bien de su destructor, con la imagen del sándalo que perfuma el hacha que lo derriba.

«Creation is not considered as the instant production of things, but only as the manifestation of that which exists eternally in the one Universal Being.» — consigna la doctrina vedanta de la creación como manifestación de lo que existe eternamente en el ser universal y no como producción instantánea.

«The Being of Beings is the Only God, eternal and everywhere present, Who comprises everything.» — vierte la fórmula del ser de los seres, único Dios eterno y presente en todas partes, que lo comprende todo.

«"The dissolution of the world," they say, "consists in the destruction of the visible forms and qualities of things; but their material essence remains, and from it new worlds are formed by the creative energy of God; and thus the Universe is dissolved and renewed in endless succession.» — vierte la doctrina de la disolución del mundo, con las formas visibles destruidas, la esencia material persistente y el universo renovado en sucesión sin fin.

«The Jainas, a sect at Mysore and elsewhere, say that the ancient religion of India and of the whole world consisted in the belief in one God, a pure Spirit, indivisible, omniscient and all-powerful; that God, having given to all things their appointed order and course of action, and to man a sufficient portion of reason, or understanding, to guide him in his conduct, leaves him to the operation of free will, without the entire exercise of which he could not be held answerable for his conduct.» — consigna que los jainas sostienen que la religión antigua de la India y del mundo entero consistía en la creencia en un solo Dios que deja al hombre el libre albedrío.

«Behold the great fundamental primitive truths! God, an infinite Eternal Soul or Spirit. Matter, not eternal nor self-existent, but created--created by a thought of God.» — su propio resumen de todo el capítulo, un Dios espíritu eterno e infinito y una materia no eterna ni existente por sí sino creada por un pensamiento de Dios.

«The Vedas thus detail the creation of the world: "In the beginning there was a single God, existing of Himself; Who, after having passed an eternity absorbed in the contemplation of His own being, desired to manifest His perfections outwardly of Himself; and created the matter of the world.» — vierte la cosmogonía védica, con el Dios único que tras una eternidad de contemplación quiso manifestar sus perfecciones y creó la materia del mundo.

«Thus the fundamental doctrine of the ancient religion of India and Persia was at first nothing more than a simple veneration of nature, its pure elements and its primary energies, the sacred fire, and above all, Light, the air, not the lower atmospheric air, but the purer and brighter air of Heaven, the breath that animates and pervades the breath of mortal life.» — su tesis sobre el origen de esas religiones, veneración simple de la naturaleza, sus elementos puros, el fuego sagrado y sobre todo la luz.

«Ormuzd says to Zoroaster, in the Boundehesch: "I am he who holds the Star-Spangled Heaven in ethereal space; who makes this sphere, which once was buried in darkness, a flood of light.» — vierte el discurso de Ormuzd a Zoroastro en el Bundahishn, sosteniendo el cielo estrellado en el espacio etéreo y volviendo luz la esfera antes sepultada en tiniebla.

«Do not endeavor to understand the impetuous course of the Moon; for she runs evermore under the impulse of necessity; and the progression of the Stars was not generated to serve any purpose of yours.» — vierte el precepto contra la astrología puesto en boca de ese mismo dios, que prohíbe pretender entender el curso de la luna y niega que las estrellas se hicieran para servir al hombre.

«The Sun, the Archimagus, that noblest and most powerful agent of divine power, who "steps forth as a Conqueror from the top of the terrible Alborj to rule over the world which he enlightens from the throne of Ormuzd," was worshipped among other symbols by the name of MITHRAS, a beneficent and friendly genius, who, in the hymn addressed to him in the Zend-Avesta, bears the names given him by the Greeks, as the "Invincible" and the "Mediator";» — consigna los dos nombres griegos de Mitra en el himno del Zend-Avesta, el invencible y el mediador.

«Mithras is not only light, but intelligence; that luminary which, though born in obscurity, will not only dispel darkness but conquer death.» — su lectura de Mitra como luz y también inteligencia, luminaria nacida en la oscuridad que vencerá a la muerte.

«Ahura-Mazda himself is the living WORD; he is called "First-born of all things, express image of the Eternal, very light of very light, the Creator, who by power of the Word which he never ceases to» — consigna que Ahura Mazda es él mismo el Verbo viviente, primogénito de todo e imagen expresa del Eterno.

«His annual sacrifice is the Passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement or pledge of moral and physical regeneration.» — llama pascua de los magos al sacrificio anual de Mitra, expiación simbólica y prenda de regeneración moral y física.

«Iamblichus (De Mys. viii. 4) says: "The Egyptians are far from ascribing all things to physical causes; life and intellect they distinguish from physical being, both in man and in the Universe.» — cita a Jámblico para la teología egipcia, que distinguía vida e intelecto del ser físico y no reducía todo a causas físicas.

«Thebes especially is said to have acknowledged a being without beginning or end, called Amun or Amun-Kneph, the all-pervading Spirit or Breath of Nature, or perhaps even some still more lofty object of reverential reflection, whom it was forbidden even to name.» — consigna que Tebas reconocía un ser sin principio ni fin, Amón o Amón-Kneph, espíritu que todo lo penetra y a quien estaba prohibido hasta nombrar.

«"CHANG-TI, or the Supreme Lord or Being," said the old Chinese creed, "is the principle of everything that exists, and Father of all living.» — vierte el credo chino antiguo sobre Chang-Ti, principio de todo lo que existe y padre de todo viviente.

«"The Chang-ti is represented," said Confucius, "under the general emblem of the visible firmament, as well as under the particular symbols of the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth, because by their means we enjoy the gifts of the Chang-ti.» — pone en boca de Confucio la explicación de por qué se representa al Chang-Ti bajo el emblema del firmamento y de los astros.

«The tradition of a purer faith and the simple Patriarchal worship of the Deity; appear never to have been totally extinguished among them; nor did idolatry gain much foothold until near the time of Mahomet; who, adopting the old primeval faith, taught again the doctrine of one God, adding to it that he was His Prophet.» — consigna que la tradición de una fe más pura nunca se extinguió del todo entre los árabes, y que Mahoma adoptó aquella fe primeva y enseñó de nuevo un solo Dios.

«although it is evident, from the Psalms of David, that a select body among them preserved a knowledge, in regard to the Deity, which was wholly unknown to the mass of the people; and those chosen few were made the medium of transition for certain truths, to later ages.» — su dato sobre la doble doctrina en Israel, con un cuerpo selecto que conservaba un conocimiento de la deidad del todo desconocido para la masa del pueblo.

«They professed to possess a knowledge of magic, and practised augury for the public service.» — consigna que los druidas profesaban conocimiento de la magia y practicaban el augurio para el servicio público.

«Almost every heathen nation, so far as we have any knowledge of their mythology, believed in one Supreme Overruling God, whose name it was not lawful to utter.» — su tesis sobre el nombre impronunciable, que da a casi toda nación pagana conocida por creyente en un solo Dios supremo cuyo nombre no era lícito proferir.

«"Zeus," says the Orphic line, "is the Beginning, Zeus the Middle; out of Zeus all things have been made.» — cita el verso órfico donde Zeus es el principio y el medio y de él salieron todas las cosas.

«During this ceremony, the people were directed to make a great noise, that the Sacred Word might not be heard by any who had not a right to it; for every other, said the Jews, would be incontinently stricken dead.» — consigna la costumbre judía de hacer gran ruido durante la ceremonia para que la palabra sagrada no la oyera quien no tuviera derecho a ella.

«What is called Magic is not a vain and chimerical act, as the Stoics and Epicureans pretend.» — vierte la defensa antigua de la magia contra estoicos y epicúreos, que niega que sea acto vano y quimérico.

«The names SABAOTH and ADONAI were not made for created beings; but they belong to a mysterious theology, which goes back to the Creator.» — sigue vertiendo esa defensa, con los nombres Sabaoth y Adonai que no se hicieron para seres creados sino que pertenecen a una teología misteriosa.

«The word AUM, says the Ramayan, represents "The Being of Beings, One Substance in three forms; without mode, without quality, without passion: Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite, Indivisible, Immutable, Incorporeal, Irresistible."» — consigna que el Ramayana define la voz AUM como ser de los seres, una sustancia en tres formas, sin modo, sin cualidad y sin pasión.

«The followers of Mahomet have a tradition that there is a secret name of the Deity which possesses wonderful properties; and that the only method of becoming acquainted with it, is by being initiated into the Mysteries of the Ism Abla.» — consigna la tradición musulmana de un nombre secreto de la deidad con propiedades maravillosas, al que solo se llega por la iniciación en los misterios del Ism Abla.

«The Druids expressed the name of Deity by the letters O∴I∴W∴» — consigna que los druidas expresaban el nombre de la deidad con tres letras.

«Among all the nations of primitive antiquity, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was not a mere probable hypothesis, needing laborious researches and diffuse argumentation to produce conviction of its truth.» — su tesis sobre la inmortalidad entre los antiguos, que no era hipótesis probable sino certeza viva como el sentimiento de la propia existencia.

«He never taught the doctrine in that literal sense in which it was understood by the people.» — su distinción sobre la metempsicosis pitagórica, que niega que él la enseñara jamás en el sentido literal con que la entendía el pueblo.

«Hierocles, one of his most zealous and celebrated disciples, expressly says that he who believes that the soul of man, after his death, will enter the body of a beast, for his vices, or become a plant for his stupidity, is deceived; and is absolutely ignorant of the eternal form of the soul, which can never change; for, always remaining man, it is said to become God or beast, through virtue or vice, though it can become neither one nor the other by nature, but solely by resemblance of its inclinations to theirs.» — apoya esa lectura en Hierocles, para quien el alma sigue siendo hombre siempre y se dice bestia o dios solo por semejanza de inclinaciones.

«Masonry, when properly expounded, is at once the interpretation of the great book of nature, the recital of physical and astronomical phenomena, the purest philosophy, and the place of deposit, where, as in a Treasury, are kept in safety all the great truths of the primitive revelation, that form the basis of all religions.» — su definición más ambiciosa de la orden, a la vez interpretación del libro de la naturaleza, relato de fenómenos físicos y astronómicos, filosofía y depósito de las verdades de la revelación primitiva.

«The Kabalistic doctrine was long the religion of the Sage and the Savant; because, like Freemasonry, it incessantly tends toward spiritual perfection, and the fusion of the creeds and Nationalities of Mankind.» — su tesis sobre la cábala, doctrina que fue largo tiempo religión del sabio y del sabio erudito porque tiende sin cesar a la perfección espiritual y a la fusión de los credos.

«After a time the Temples of Greece and the School of Pythagoras lost their reputation, and Freemasonry took their place.» — su relato de la sucesión, con los templos de Grecia y la escuela de Pitágoras perdiendo su reputación y la francmasonería ocupando su lugar.

«The Kabalah is the key of the occult sciences; and the Gnostics were born of the Kabalists.» — su adjudicación sobre la cábala, que la hace llave de las ciencias ocultas y hace nacer de los cabalistas a los gnósticos.

«Qu∴ What means the device, Omnia in numeris sita sunt? Ans∴ That everything lies veiled in numbers.» — abre el catecismo de los cabalistas con la divisa de que todo yace velado en los números.

«Qu∴ What is the most majestic number? Ans∴ 3, because it denotes the triple divine essence.» — da el tres por número más majestuoso, por denotar la triple esencia divina.

«Qu∴ What is the most mysterious number? Ans∴ 4, because it contains all the mysteries of nature.» — da el cuatro por más misterioso, por contener todos los misterios de la naturaleza.

«Qu∴ Which is the most sublime number? Ans∴ 9, because by it religion and nature are exalted.» — da el nueve por más sublime, por exaltarse en él la religión y la naturaleza.

«Qu∴ What is the meaning of the square? Ans∴ It is the symbol of the four elements contained in the triangle, or the emblem of the three chemical principles: these things united form absolute unity in the primal matter.» — su lectura del cuadrado como los cuatro elementos contenidos en el triángulo, o los tres principios químicos que unidos hacen la unidad absoluta en la materia prima.

«Ans∴ The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. From the action of these three results the triangle within the square; and from the seven angles, the decade or perfect number.» — consigna el triángulo dentro del cuadrado como resultado de la acción de los tres, y la década perfecta de los siete ángulos.

«The unit is the symbol of identity, equality, existence, conservation, and general harmony; the Central Fire, the Point within the Circle.» — da la unidad por símbolo de identidad, igualdad y armonía general, el fuego central y el punto dentro del círculo.

«But three lines form, by their junction, the TRIANGLE, or the first figure regularly perfect; and this is why it has served and still serves to characterize The Eternal;» — su razón geométrica de que el triángulo caracterice al Eterno, por ser la primera figura regularmente perfecta.

«It is to be noted that the name of God in Latin and French (Deus, Dieu), has for its initial the Delta or Greek Triangle.» — añade el argumento de las lenguas, que la inicial del nombre de Dios en latín y francés es el delta o triángulo griego.

«The quaternary is the most perfect number, and the root of other numbers, and of all things.» — da el cuaternario por número más perfecto y raíz de los demás números y de todas las cosas.

«Pythagoras communicated it to his disciples as a symbol of the Eternal and Creative Principle, under the name of Quaternary, the Ineffable Name of God, which signifies Source of everything that has received existence; and which, in Hebrew, is composed of four letters.» — consigna que Pitágoras lo comunicaba a sus discípulos como nombre inefable de Dios, compuesto en hebreo de cuatro letras.

«Four was a divine number; it referred to the Deity, and many Ancient Nations gave God a name of four letters; as the Hebrews ‏ו ?Y?H?W?H‎, the Egyptians AMUN, the Persians SURA, the Greeks ΘΕΟΣ, and» — da la lista de los nombres divinos de cuatro letras en varias naciones, el hebreo, el egipcio Amón, el persa Sura y el griego Theos.

«Wherefore Juno, the Goddess of Marriage, had for her hieroglyphic the number 5.» — consigna que Juno, diosa del matrimonio, tenía por jeroglífico el número cinco, compuesto del primer número par y del primer impar.

«The number 6 was, in the Ancient Mysteries, a striking emblem of nature; as presenting the six dimensions of all bodies; the six lines which make up their form, viz., the four lines of direction, toward the North, South, East, and West; with the two lines of height and depth, responding to the zenith and nadir.» — su lectura del seis como emblema de la naturaleza, por las seis dimensiones de todo cuerpo, las cuatro de dirección más el cenit y el nadir.

«No number has ever been so universally in repute as the septenary.» — declara que ningún número gozó de reputación tan universal como el septenario.

«The number eight symbolizes perfection: and its figure, 8 or ∞ indicates the perpetual and regular course of the Universe.» — da el ocho por símbolo de la perfección, y su figura por indicación del curso perpetuo y regular del universo.

«As the figure of the number 6 was the symbol of the terrestrial globe, animated by a divine spirit, the figure of the number 9 symbolized the earth, under the influence of the Evil Principle; and thence the terror it inspired.» — consigna la lectura sombría del nueve, la tierra bajo el influjo del principio malo, y el terror que inspiraba.

«Nevertheless, according to the Kabalists, the figure 9 symbolizes the generative egg, or the image of a little globular being, from whose lower side seems to flow its spirit of life.» — consigna la lectura contraria de los cabalistas, el nueve como huevo generativo del que parece fluir su espíritu de vida.

«The number 10, or the Denary, is the measure of everything; and reduces multiplied numbers to unity.» — da el diez o denario por medida de todo, que reduce a unidad los números multiplicados.

«To Masons it is a sign of union and good faith; because it is expressed by joining two hands, or the Master's grip, when the number of fingers gives 10: and it was represented by the Tetractys of Pythagoras.» — consigna qué significa ese número para los masones, unión y buena fe, expresado al juntar las manos en el toque del Maestro y representado por el tetractys.

«It is the image of the Zodiac; and consequently that of the Sun, which rules over it.» — da el doce por imagen del zodiaco y por eso del Sol que lo rige.

«His confidence in his guide, whom he is told to follow and fear no danger; his trust in God, which he is caused to profess; and the point of the sword that is pressed against his naked left breast over the heart, are symbolical of the faith, repentance and reformation necessary to bring him to the light of a life in Christ the Crucified.» — expone la lectura cristiana del rito, con la punta de la espada sobre el pecho izquierdo desnudo por símbolo de la fe, el arrepentimiento y la enmienda.

«This great Universe is no longer a mere machine, wound up and set going six thousand or sixty millions years ago, and left to run on afterward forever, by virtue of a law of mechanics created at the beginning, without further care or consideration on the part of the Deity; but it has now become to him a great emanation from God, the product of His thought, not a mere dead machine, but a thing of life, over which God watches continually, and every movement of which is immediately produced by His present action, the law of harmony being the essence of the Deity, re-enacted every instant.» — su cosmología frente a la del reloj, con el universo hecho emanación de Dios y no máquina abandonada a una ley mecánica creada al principio.

«The Master's word, supposed to be lost, symbolizes the Christian faith and religion, supposed to have been crushed and destroyed when the Saviour was crucified, after Iscariot had betrayed Him, and Peter deserted Him, and when the other disciples doubted whether He would arise from the dead; but which rose from His tomb and flowed rapidly over the civilized world; and so that which was supposed to be lost was found.» — expone la lectura cristiana de la palabra perdida del Maestro, que simbolizaría la fe aplastada en la cruz y recobrada en la resurrección.

«There is no pretence to infallibility in Masonry.» — su declaración más importante para leer todo el volumen, que en la masonería no hay pretensión de infalibilidad.

«It is not for us to dictate to any man what he shall believe.» — el corolario que le sigue, que no toca a la orden dictar a nadie lo que ha de creer.

«We have hitherto, in the instruction of the several Degrees, confined ourselves to laying before you the great thoughts that have found expression in the different ages of the world, leaving you to decide for yourself as to the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of each, and what proportion of truth, if any, each contained.» — el método que declara haber seguido en todos los grados, poner delante los grandes pensamientos de las edades y dejar al lector decidir su ortodoxia y su parte de verdad.

«The three murderers of Khir-Om symbolize Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas the High-Priest, and Judas Iscariot: and the three blows given him are the betrayal by the last, the refusal of Roman protection by Pilate, and the condemnation by the High-Priest.» — expone la lectura cristiana de los tres asesinos de Khir-Om como Pilato, Caifás y Judas, y de los tres golpes como la traición, la negativa de protección y la condena.

«There is a mere formal Atheism, which is a denial of God in terms, but not in reality.» — su distinción sobre el ateísmo formal, negación de Dios en las palabras y no en la realidad.

«All the great historical civilizations of the race have grown out of the national ideas which were formed of God; or have been intimately connected with those ideas.» — su tesis sobre la historia, que hace crecer todas las grandes civilizaciones de las ideas nacionales que se formaron de Dios.

«Thus the Christians, who said the Heathen idols were no Gods, were accounted Atheists by the People, and accordingly put to death; and Jesus of Nazareth was crucified as an unbelieving blasphemer, by the Jews.» — sus dos ejemplos de acusación cruzada, los cristianos tenidos por ateos y ajusticiados, y Jesús crucificado por blasfemo.

«A man says, There is no God; that is, no God that is self-originated, or that never originated, but always WAS and HAD BEEN,» — desmenuza la frase de que no hay Dios para mostrar qué se niega en ella, un ser no originado que siempre fue.

«It will ever make a vast difference in the conduct of a people in war or peace, whether they believe the Supreme God to be a cruel Deity, delighting in sacrifice and blood, or a God of Love;» — su tesis sobre las consecuencias prácticas de la teología, que la conducta de un pueblo en la guerra y en la paz depende de si cree cruel o amoroso a su Dios.

«It was soon found that the denial of a Conscious Power, the cause of man and of his life, of a Providence, or a Mind and Intelligence arranging man in reference to the world, and the world in reference to man, would not satisfy the instinctive desires of human nature» — consigna que negar una potencia consciente y una providencia no satisfacía los deseos instintivos de la naturaleza humana.

«Either there never was any such thing as a "plan," and the word is nonsense, or the Universe exists in conformity to a plan.» — plantea la alternativa en sus términos, o la palabra plan no significa nada o el universo existe conforme a un plan.

«and then he admits a. God, No doubt it is beyond the reach of our faculties to imagine how matter originated,--how it began to be» — el límite que reconoce a su propio argumento, que está fuera del alcance de nuestras facultades imaginar cómo se originó la materia.

«The evidence of .God has been ploughed into Nature so deeply, and so deeply woven into the texture of the human soul, that Atheism has never become a faith, though it has sometimes assumed the shape of theory.» — su tesis sobre el ateísmo, que nunca llegó a fe aunque a veces tomó forma de teoría.

«Did God enact it of His own mere pleasure; and if so, can He not, when He pleases, repeal it?» — la pregunta con que aprieta al voluntarismo teológico, si Dios promulgó esa ley por su solo agrado y puede entonces derogarla cuando quiera.

«"The name of God," says Hobbes, "is used not to make us conceive Him, for He is inconceivable, but that we may honor Him.» — cita a Hobbes para el uso del nombre de Dios, que no sirve para concebirlo sino para honrarlo.

«"When we attempt," says Philo, "to investigate the essence of the Absolute Being, we fall into an abyss of perplexity; and the only benefit to be derived from such researches is the conviction of their absurdity.» — cita a Filón para la investigación de la esencia divina, que hunde en un abismo de perplejidad y solo enseña su propio absurdo.

«But though a knowledge of the Divine Essence is impossible, the conceptions formed respecting it are interesting, as indications of intellectual development.» — el valor que rescata pese a ello, que las concepciones formadas sobre esa esencia interesan como indicios del desarrollo intelectual.

«God is a sphere whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference nowhere;» — consigna la fórmula de Dios como esfera cuyo centro está en todas partes y cuya circunferencia en ninguna.

«and it was only when philosophy, which is essentially progress, outgrew its first acquisitions, that religion became a thing apart, cherishing as unalterable dogmas the notions which philosophy had abandoned.» — su tesis sobre el divorcio de religión y filosofía, con la religión guardando por dogmas inalterables las nociones que la filosofía ya había abandonado.

«Even the lights of Heaven, which, as "bright potentates of the sky," were formerly the vigilant directors of the economy of earth, now shine dim and distant, and Uriel no more descends upon a sunbeam.» — su figura de la pérdida del mundo animado, con los astros que ya no dirigen la economía terrestre y Uriel que no baja más por un rayo de sol.

«But the real change has been in the progressive ascent of man's own faculties, and not in the Divine Nature;» — su corrección a esa nostalgia, que pone el cambio real en el ascenso progresivo de las facultades del hombre y no en la naturaleza divina.

«The eternal aspiration of the religious sentiment in man is to become united with God.» — nombra la aspiración eterna del sentimiento religioso, unirse a Dios.

«The attempts by which reason had sometimes endeavored to span the unknown by a bridge of metaphysics, such as the idealistic systems of Zoroaster, Pythagoras, or Plato, were only a more refined form of the poetical illusions which satisfied the vulgar; and man still looked back with longing to the lost golden age, when his ancestors communed face to face with the Gods; and hoped that, by propitiating Heaven, he might accelerate the renewal of it in the islands of the Far West, under the sceptre of Kronos, or in a centralization of political power at Jerusalem.» — su juicio sobre los sistemas idealistas de Zoroastro, Pitágoras y Platón, que llama forma más refinada de las ilusiones poéticas que satisfacían al vulgo.

«The division of the First and Supreme Cause into two parts, one Active and the other Passive, the Universe Agent and Patient, or the hermaphroditic God-World, is one of the most ancient and widespread dogmas of philosophy or natural theology.» — su tesis sobre la división de la causa primera en activa y pasiva, dogma que da por uno de los más antiguos y extendidos de la teología natural.

«The various ranks and orders of mythical beings imagined by Persians, Indians, Egyptians, or Etrurians, to preside over the various departments of nature, had each his share in a scheme to bring man into closer approximation to the Deity; they eventually gave way only before an analogous though less picturesque symbolism; and the Deities and Dæmons of Greece and Rome were perpetuated with only a change of names, when their offices were transferred to Saints and Martyrs.» — su tesis sobre la continuidad de los cultos, con los dioses y démones de Grecia y Roma perpetuados con solo un cambio de nombre al pasar sus oficios a santos y mártires.

«Orpheus, who studied in Egypt, borrowed from the theologians of that country the mysterious forms under which the science of nature was veiled, and carried into Greece the symbolic egg, with its division into two parts or causes figured by the hermaphroditic being that issued from it, and whereof Heaven and earth are composed.» — consigna que Orfeo, que estudió en Egipto, llevó a Grecia el huevo simbólico y su división en dos causas figuradas por el ser hermafrodita que salía de él.

«The Lingam, unto the present day revered in the Indian temples, being but the conjunction of the organs of generation of the two sexes, was an emblem of the same.» — consigna el lingam venerado hasta hoy en los templos indios como emblema de esa misma doble energía.