THE ESSENES.
26
tlie
Templnr link;
wliicli,
veiy early period of
connected the Soldiers of the Cross with the Ophites, and not
liowever,
the Gnostic heresy,^ and that
it
lie
lielieves to liave liccn forged at
the Maniclieans, their far later successors.
.1
—
"
such as lions, serpents, and the
The prevalence of Gnostic symbols," says Dr Mackey
like
in the decorations of churches of the Middle Ages, have led some writers to conclude
that the Knights Templars exercised an influence over the architects, and that by them the
But Stieglitz denies the
Gnostic and Ophite symbols were introduced into Europe."^
"
—
Gnostic tenets, together with
Oriental and Platonic philosophy, were ultimately absorbed by Christianity, thinks that
whatever Gnostic doctrines were accepted by the builders or architects, derived their sanction
correctness of this conclusion, and, whilst admitting that
many
its
from the love of mysticism so predominant in the earlier periods of the Middle Ages. But he
considers we should go too far were we to deduce a connection between the Templars and the
an assumption which he prouounces
Freemason.?, on the ground that the former were Gnostics
—
to
be as unwarranted as the alleged connection is untrue.^
According to Mackey, an instance of the transmutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic
symbols, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Kosicrucianism, and medieval architecafforded by a plate in the Azoth Philosophorum of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic
ture, is
philosopher,
who
This plate, which
flourished in the seventeenth century.
is
hermetic in
its
design, but is full of j\lasonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle
within a square, and on it reposes a dragon.
On the latter stands a human figure of two
hands and two heads surrounded by the sun, the moon, and
jjlanets.
One
of the heads
is
five stars, representing the seA'en
that of a male, the other of a female.
The hand attached
to
the male part of the figure holds the compasses, that to the female a square. The square and
compasses thus distributed appear to have convinced Dr Mackey that originallj' a phallic
meaning was attached
to these symbols, as tliere
was
to the point within the circle,
"
which in
The compasses held by the male figure
would represent the male generative principle, and the square held by the female, the female
The subsequent interpretation given to the combined square and
productive principle.
this plate also appears in the centre of the globe.
compasses was the transmutation from the hermetic talisman to the Masonic symbol."
IL
"
The problem
*
THE ESSENES.
De
"
is the most important, and, from its
the most interesting, but the most difficult of all known historic problems." ^
mysteriousness,
The current information upon this remarkable sect, to be found in ecclesiastical histories
of the Essenes," says
Quincey,
and Encyclopsedias,
is derived from the short notices of Philo, Pliny,
Josephus, Solinus,
Of these seven witnesses, the first and third were
Eusebius, and Epiphanius.
Porphyry,
Jewish philosophers the second, fourth and fifth, heathen writers and the last two, Christian
;
;
church historians.^
'
«
*
Von Hammer, Mines
d'Orient Exploitees, vol.
Mackey, Encyclopsedia,
p. 746.
Mackey, Encyclopaedia (Talisman).
5
ri.
;
Mysteries of Bapliomet Revealed.
'
C. L. Stieglitz,
^
De Quincey, Essays
Geschichte der Baukunst, 1827,
(Secret Societies,
and
])p.
334, 335.
others), edit. 1863, Preface, p. 1.
C. D. Ginsburg, The Essenes their History and Doctrines, 1864.
In this Essay, of which the preliminary outline
given in the text is little more than an abridgment, the author not onl}' presents the entire evidence, which is scattered
: