john-r-bennett-the-origin-of-freemasonry-and-knights-templar

FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAROn his descent to the infernal regions Proserpine*(Queen of Hades) became, like Venus, so attractedby his beauty that, the entreatiesnotwithstandingof the goddess of love, she refused to restore himto earth. At length the prayers of the despondingVenus were listened to with favor by Jupiter(Father of Men and Gods) who reconciled thedispute between the two goddesses, and by whbsedecree Proserpine was compelled to consent thatAdonis should spend six months of each year alternatelywith herself and Venus.The ceremonies commenced about the season ofthe year when the river Adonis began to be swollenby the flood at its source, It is a small river ofSyria, which, rising in Mount Lebanon, enters theMediterranean a few miles south of Byblos. It isa fact that, after a sudden fall of rain, the river,descending in floods, is tinged with a deep red bythe soil of the hills in which it takes its rise, andimparts the color to the sea, into which it is discharged,for a considerable distance. The worshipersof Adonis believed that this reddish discolorationof the water was a symbol of his blood.The Israelites called him Thammuz.The Mysteries of Adonis were celebratedthroughout all the countries of Syria,* and formeda part of the ceremonies of the Dionysian Architectsof Tyre, by whom they were introduced into Judea.The sacred rites began with mourning, and the daysset apart to the celebration of the death of Adoniswere passed in cries and wailing, many oftenscourging themselves. On the last of the days ofmourning, funeral rites were performed in honorof the god. On the following day the restorationii