son's character; to do justice, and to have charity are excellent steps in human life; but to act uprightly, gives a superlative degree of excellence; for we shall thus become examples in religious, in civil, and in moral conduct. It is not enough, that we are neither enthusiasts, nor persecutors; that we neither bend towards innovation, nor infidelity; nor is it enough, that we should be in the passive only; but we should appear in the active character. We should be zealous observers and practisers of religious duties. In civil matters, we should submit to the laws of our country without murmuring, and endeavour, as far as may be in our power, that our constitution should remain pure and uncontaminated. In morality, it is required of us, not only to abstain from error by injuries, betraying or deceiving; but that we should do good as far as may be practicable, in that station of life, in which kind Providence may have ordered our lot.

By such metes, let the mason be proved, and thus convey to the world, that his emblematical jewels are only ensigns of the inward man. He will thus stand approved before God and his fellow mortals, purchasing honour to his PROFESSION, and happiness to the PRO

FESSOR.

CHAPTER XIX.

A Description of Solomon's Temple.

THE first worshippers of God, in the nations of the East, represented the Deity, by figures of the SUN and MOON, from the influence of those heavenly bodies on the earth, professing, that the universe was the temple in which the divinity was, at all times, and in all places, present.

They adopted these with other symbols, as a cautious mode of explaining divine knowledge: but we perceive the danger arising from thence to religion; for the eye of the ignorant, the bigot, and the enthusiast, cast up towards these objects, without the light of understanding, introduced the worship of images; and, at length, the worship of OSIRIS and Isis, became the gods of the Egyptians, without conveying to their devotees, the least idea of their great archetype. Other nations, who had expressed the attributes of the Deity by outward objects, or who had introduced into their sacred places as ornament, or rather to assist the memory, ran into the same error, and idols multiplied in every direction.

Amongst the ancients, the worshippers of idols had at last, entirely lost the remembrance of the original, of whose attributes, these images were at first, merely symbols; and the second darkness in religion, was more tremendous than the first, as it was strengthened by custom, by bigotry and superstition.

Moses had acquired the knowledge of the Egyptians, and derived the doctrines of truth from the enlightened men of the East. He was also illuminated by Divine Grace, and taught the people of Israel the worship of the true God, without the enigmas of the idolatrous nations which surrounded them.

The ruler of the Jews, perceiving how prone the minds of ignorant men were to be led aside, by show and ceremony; and that the eye being attracted by pomp and solemn rites, perverted the opinion, and led the heart astray; and being convinced, that the magnificent festivals, processions, and ceremonials of the idolatrous nations, impressed the minds of mankind with an enthusiastic devotion, thought it expedient, for the service of the God of Israel, to institute holy offices, though in a less ostentatious mode, well judging, that the adoration

of the Deity, must be established in the judgment and conviction of the heart of man, with which ignorance

was ever waging war.

At an after period, SOLOMON built a temple for the service of God, and ordained its rites and ceremonies to be performed with a splendour equal to the most extravagant pomp of the idolaters.

As this temple* received the second race of the servants of the true God, and as the craftsmen were here proved, in their work, it may not be improper to crave the attention of my readers to those circumstances, which are gathered from holy writ, and from historians, touching this structure, as an illustration of some of the most important secrets of masonry.

In the fifth chapter of the first book of Kings, we are told, that "Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants unto Solomon; and Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, Behold, I intend to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God;" and Solomon raised a levy out of Israel, of thirty thousand men, and he had seventy thousand, who bore burthens, and eighty thousand hewers in the mountains; besides three thousand and three hundred persons, who In the fourth year after he had beacted as overseers. the materials, the foundation of the temgun to prepare ple was laid, and in the eleventh year, it was completely finished, when Solomon sent for Hiram, from Tyre. He was a widow's son, of the tribe of Naphthali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he cast two pillars of brass, with two chapiters, and these

* Ezekiel xliv. 2, 3, 4. "The east gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in it; because the Lord, the God of Israel hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince: the prince shall sit in it, to eat bread bef re the Lord. Then he brought me by the way of the north gate, before the house."

N

And he set up

be set up in the porch of the temple. the right pillar, and called the name thereof JACHIN, and he the left pillar, and called it Boaz.

set up

In the second book of Chronicles, chapter ii. &c. we read, that he set three hundred and ten thousand men, to be bearers of burthens; eighty thousand, to be hew❤ ers in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred to be overseers of the work. We are further informed, that Solomon sent to Hiram, king of Tyre, to send him a man skilled in working in gold, in silver, in brass, &c. And Hiram sent unto him a cunning man, endued with the understanding of Hiram his father. And he made the veil of the temple of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen. And he made before the house two pillars, and called the name of that on the right hand JACHIN, and that on the left Boaz.*

When this splendid structure was finished, "Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands and said, O Lord God of Israel, there is no God like

*The raising of pillars and obelisks was a custom of the Eastern nations, and of Egypt in particular; the use of which was to record the extent of dominion subject to the Egyptian empire, &c. or in commemoration of memorable events. Diodorus tells us, that Sesostris, signalized his reign by the erection of two obelisks, which where cut with a design to acquaint postery of the extent of his power, and the number of nations he had conquered, one of which was afterwards transported to Rome, and placed in the Campus Martius. The obelisk of Shannesses exceeded all, which had preceded it; Constantine and Constans his son, caused it to be moved to Rome, where it remained the noblest piece of Egyptian antiquity existing in the world. Solomon had followed this custom in erecting his pillars in the porch of the temple, which he designed should be a memorial to the Jews, as they entered the holy place, to warm their minds with confidence and faith, by the recollection of the promises made by the Lord, unto his father David, and which were repeated to him in a vision, in which the voice of God proclaimed, 1 Kings ix. 5. "I shall estab fish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever."

thee in the heaven or in the earth. O Lord, my God, hearken unto the cry, and the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee; O Lord God, turn not away the

face of thine anointed.”

In the conducting of this stupendous edifice, we must admire the wisdom of this pious architect. He perceived the necessity of assigning to portions of his people, the particular labour which they were to pursue, and gave them particular signs, and secret tokens, by which each rank should be distinguished, in order, that the whole might proceed with propriety, and without confusion. He likewise selected such religious men as were most skilful in geometry, and had been initiated and proved in the mystical learning of the ancient sages, and those he made overseers of the work. It is further to be observed, that the whole was conducted with so great a degree of reverence, that the noise of a tool or instrument of any kind, was not permitted to disturb the sacred silence on MOUNT MORIAH, sanctified by the presence of the Almighty, and by his miraculous works. Was it not then, reasonable to conceive, that no part of this structure was to be formed, unless by men of pure hands and holy minds, who had enrolled themselves under the banner of true religion and virtue; and, as the sons of Aaron, were alone admitted to the performance of sacerdotal rites, so none but devotees were allowed to participate in this labour. On this stage, we see those religious persons, who had imbibed the truth, engaged as architects in this holy work. This, together with the construction of the tabernacle under Moses, are the first instances of our predecessors being exhibited to the world as builders; for although it is certain, that the sages amongst the Hebrews, Egyptians, Persians, Chaldeans, Greeks, Romans, Druids, &c. understood geometry, and the rules of proportion and numbers, we have no evi