Moses in Egypt

"Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was initiated in all the knowledge of the WISEMEN of that nation, by whom the learning of antiquity had been retained and held sacred; wrapped up from the eye of the wicked and vulgar, in symbols and hieroglyphics, and communicated to men of their own order only, with care, secrecy, and circumspection. - This secrecy is not in any wise to be wondered at, when we consider the persecution which would have followed a faith unacceptable to the ignorance of the nations who were enveloped in superstition and bigotry; and more particularly, as these sages were in possession of that valuable knowledge of the powers of nature, of the qualities of matter, and properties of things, so dangerous to be communicated to wicked and ignorant men, from whose malevolence the most horrid offences might be derived: of which we may judge by the extraordinary and astonishing performances even of those impious and unenlightened men, who contended with MOSES, in the miracles he performed, under the immediate impression and influence of the Deity."

William Hutchinson, The Spirit of Masonry in Elucidatory Lectures 
Lecture One: The Design
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