the exclusive purpose of religious worship; for they jointly possessed the essential properties which characterize the three great sustaining Pillars of our Lodge; the one had Wisdom to contrive; another had Strength to support;* and the third possessed genius and ability to adorn the edifice with unexampled Beauty. The result of this union was "a building which highly transcended all that we are capable to imagine, and has ever been esteemed the finest piece of masonry upon earth, before or since."† "This magnificent work was begun in Mount Moriah, on monday the second day of the month Zif, which answers to the twenty first of our April, being the second month of the sacred year; and was carried on with such speed, that it was finished in all its parts in a little more than seven years, which happened on the eighth day of the month Bul, which answers to the twenty third of our October, being the seventh month of the sacred year, and the eleventh of king Solomon. What is still more astonishing, is, that every piece of it, whether timber, stone, or metal, was brought ready cut, framed and polished to Jerusalem; so

"Tatian in his Book against the Greeks, relates, that amongst the Phænicians flourished three ancient historians, Theodotus, Hysicrates, and Mochus, who all of them delivered in their histories, an account of the league and friendship between Solomon and Hiram, when Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon, and furnished him with timber for building the Temple. The same is affirmed by Menander of Pergamus.” Sir Isaac Newton's Chron. p. 114.

↑ Noorth. Const. p. 26.

that no other tools were wanted nor heard, than what were necessary to join the several parts together. All the noise of axe, hammer, and saw, was confined to Lebanon, and the quarries and plains of Zeredathah, that nothing might be heard among the masons of Sion, save harmony and peace."*

These Pillars refer further to the three governors of the Lodge. The pillar of Wisdom represents the W. M. whose business is to exert his judgment and penetration, in contriving the most proper and efficient means of completing the intended work, of what nature soever it may be. The pillar of Strength refers to the S. W. whose duty is to support the authority, and facilitate the designs of the Master with all his influence amongst the Brethren, and to see that his commands are carried into full and permanent effect. The pillar of Beauty is the J. W. whose duty it is to adorn the work with all his powers of genius and active industry; to promote regularity amongst the Brethern by the sanction of his own good example, the persuasive eloquence of precept, and a discriminative encouragement of merit. Thus by the united energies of these three presiding Officers, the system is adorned and established firm as a rock in the midst of the ocean, braving the malignant shafts of envy and detraction; its summit gilded with the rays of the meridian sun, though stormy winds and waves beat eternally on its basis.

*Noorth. Const. p. 25.

Ꮮ

In the British and other mysteries, these three Pillars represented the great emblematical Triad of Deity, as with us they refer to the three principal officers of the Lodge. We shall find however that the symbolical meaning was the same in both. It is a fact, that in Britain, the Adytum or Lodge was actually supported by three stones or pillars, which were supposed to convey a regenerating purity to the aspirant, after having endured the ceremony of initiation in all its accustomed formalities. The delivery from between them was termed a new birth. The corresponding Pillars of the Hindu mythology were also known by the names of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, and placed in the east, west, and south, crowned with three human heads. They jointly referred to the Creator, who was said to have planned the Great Work by his infinite Wisdom; executed it by his Strength; and to have adorned it with all its Beauty and usefulness for the benefit of man. These united powers were not overlooked in the mysteries, for we find them represented in the solemn ceremony of initiation by the three presiding Brahmins or Hierophants. The chief Brahmin sat in the east, high exalted on a brilliant throne, clad in a flowing robe of azure, thickly sparkled with golden stars, and bearing in his hand a magical rod; thus symbolizing Brahma, the creator of the world. His two compeers, clad in robes of equal magnificence,

* Hanes Taliesin, c. iii.-Dav. Druids. p. 230.

occupied corresponding situations of distinction. The representative of Vishnu, the setting sun, was placed on an exalted throne in the west; and he who personated Siva, the meridian sun, occupied a splendid throne in the south.

The Masonic Lodge, bounded only by the extreme points of the compass, the highest heavens, and the lowest depth of the central abyss, is said to be supported by Three Pillars, Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. In like manner the Persians, who termed their emblematical Mithratic Cave or Lodge, the Empyrean, feigned it to be supported by Three Intelligences, Ormisda, Mithra, and Mithras, who were usually denominated, from certain characteristics which they were supposed individually to possess, Eternity, Fecundity, and Authority.* Similar to this were the forms of the Egyptian Deity, designated by the attributes of Wisdom, Power, and Goodness;† and the Sovereign Good, Intellect, and Energy of the Platonists, which were also regarded as the respective properties of the divine Triad.‡

It is remarkable that every mysterious system practised on the habitable globe, contained this Triad of Deity, which some writers refer to the Trinity; and others to the triple offspring of Noah. The Oracle in Damascius asserts that " throughout the world a Triad shines forth, which resolves

Vid. Ramsay's Travels of Cyrus and Dissertation thereto annexed. + Plut. de Isid. and Osir. p. 373,

Plat. in Timæo.

itself into a Monad;" and the uniform symbol of this threefold deity was, an equilateral triangle; the precise form occupied by our pillars of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. In the mysteries of India, Brahma-Vishnu-Siva, were considered as a tri-une god, distinguished by the significant appellation of Tri-murti.* Brahma was said to be the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Judge or Destroyer. In the East, as the pillar of Wisdom, this deity was called Brahma; in the West, as the pillar of Strength, Vishnu; and in the South, as the pillar of Beauty, Siva; and hence, in the Indian initiations, as we have just observed, the representative of Brahma was seated in the East; that of Vishnu in the West; and that of Siva in the South. A very remarkable coincidence with the practice of ancient Masonry.

Mr. Faber offers the following reasonable conjecture on the origin of these idolatrous Triads. "Adam was born from the virgin earth; Noah was produced from his allegorical mother the Ark, without the co-operation of a father. Each was a preacher of righteousness; each dwelt upon the paradisiacal mount of God; each was a universal parent. If Adam introduced one world, Noah destroyed that world and introduced another; and

“The word MURTI OF FORM, is exactly synonymous with dwλov; and in a secondary sense means an image; but in its primary acceptation it denotes any shape or appearance assumed by a celestial being." Wilford in Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 359.