I flatter myself that sufficient evidence has been adduced to substantiate a fact, concerning which many intelligent Masons have confessed themselves to have been much bewildered. I dare not produce any internal proofs drawn from the construction of our machinery in corroboration of the above reasoning; but every brother who has seriously considered the mechanism of the Third Degree, will be enabled to furnish them for the satisfaction of his own mind. I could imagine some slight objections that might be urged; but they are of little importance when put in competition with the weight of evidence in favour of the view which I have here taken of the union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at this precise period. The Wisdom of Solomon-the Strength of Hiram-the Beauty of Hiram Abiff, all combine to render this interpretation at the least feasible; and where records are wanting, truth can only be obtained by collating and comparing historical facts which are certain and undisputed. At the building of King Solomon's Temple we find Lodges-Signs and Tokens-and all the paraphernalia by which Secret Societies in all ages have been distinguished. Here were also gradations of rank, from the royal Grand Master, down to the lowest Entered Apprentice, and the Ish Sabbal. Lectures in Morals and Science were delivered by the Masters of Lodges, for the mental improvement of the brethren; and a series of regulations were promulgated for the preservation of order and decorum amongst such a vast concourse of workmen, which were enforced with the strictest severity of perfect discipline. These are symptoms of Freemasonry in its most palmy state; and whatever advantages we may possess from the progress of civilization, and the harmonizing effect of scientific arrangement, it is a question whether our Freemasonry is more perfect in its details, than was the system under the government of the Sacred Grand Lodge at Jerusalem. It was a pattern which we may profitably imitate; and doubts may exist whether, in our age of mental enlightenment, fewer instances of a departure from rectitude would be exhibited amongst ourselves, were we congregated to the number of nearly 200,000 men of all ranks and classes in society. So excellent were the arrangements, and so successful the results of the union of Speculative and Operative Masonry. LECTURE IX. THE DETAILS OF THIS FAMOUS EDIFICE CONSIDERED, FOR THE PURPOSE OF SHEWING THAT THE 66 ABOVE UNION CONVEYED ESSENTIAL BENEFITS TO MANKIND. Sound the full harmonious song; To Masonry divine the strain prolong; And first the grateful tribute bring Who, inspired by power divine, Made wisdom, strength, and beauty all combine Masonic Ode. THE harmony and union which existed amongst the Masons who were employed to build the Temple at Jerusalem, has been eulogised both in sacred and profane history. This agreement arose from the judicious regulations which the wisdom of Solomon suggested for the government of the various Lodges spread over the plains of Zeredatha, and the forest of Lebanon; and subsequently transferred to the holy mountain of Moriah. For brotherly love and immutable fidelity," says Calcott, "presented themselves to his mind, as the most proper basis for an institution, whose aim and end should be to establish permanent unity among its members; and to render them a society, who, while they enjoyed the most perfect felicity, would be of considerable utility to mankind. And being desirous to transmit it, under the ancient restrictions, as a blessing to future ages, Solomon decreed, that whenever they should assemble in their Lodges, to discourse upon and improve themselves in the arts and sciences, and whatever else should be deemed proper topics to increase their knowledge, they should likewise instruct each other in secrecy and prudence, morality and good fellowship; and for these purposes he established certain peculiar rules and customs to be invariably observed in their conversations, that their minds might be enriched by a perfect acquaintance with, and practice of, every moral, social, and religious duty; lest, while they were so highly honoured by being employed in raising a temple to the Great Jehovah, they should neglect to secure to themselves a happy admittance into the celestial Lodge, of which the temple was only to be a type." The method of preparing the materials of elegant structures remote from their intended site, so as to unite without any visible interstices, was an art which the Tyrian workmen derived from Egypt. The expert artists of that extraordinary country were famous for unique productions accomplished by this process. The great father of history has recorded the fact. He says: "The most celebrated of the ancient statuaries, Telecles and Theodorus, the sons of Rhoecus, made for the Samians the image of the Pythian Apollo. And it is said that one-half of the image was executed in Samos by Telecles, and the other half at Ephesus by Theodorus; and that both parts, when put together, agreed so well with each other, as to appear precisely as if they had been the work of one person; and that this kind of workmanship was never practised by the Greeks, but was very common among the Egyptians; for that with them it was not usual to judge of the symmetry of a figure by the sight of the whole, as with the Greeks; but that when the stones were quarried and properly cut out, they then proceeded by proportion from the smallest to the greatest; and dividing the whole fabric of the body into one and twenty parts and a quarter, they arranged the whole symmetry accordingly. And hence, when their artists consult with each other about the magnitude of any figure, although separated from each other, they still make the results agree so well, that this peculiarity of their practice excites the greatest astonishment. And that the image in Samos, according to this refinement of the Egyptians, being divided from the summit of the head and as far as the middle, is still perfectly consistent with itself, and in all parts alike." The same description of masonry was used in the walls of Byzantium, which were erected about the time when the Tyrians built Carthage, and long before the Temple of Solomon was designed. These walls, says Herodian, were composed of such immense blocks, so curiously squared, and artfully joined, as to appear like one entire stone. The site of the Temple had been revealed to David by God himself, in answer to his fervent supplications;1 and it was denominated "the Field of the Wood." On that consecrated spot Abraham proved his intuitive faith, by leading his only and well-beloved son Isaac a destined victim to the altar of his God. Here, on the floor of Araunah the Jebusite, David offered his mediatorial sacrifice, by which the plague was stayed. Here, also, the Almighty shewed to him the plan of that glorious Temple, which was afterwards completed by his illustrious son; and on that sacred spot God declared he would establish his most Holy Name. Preparations were made for the foundation by forming vaulted passages and filling up vast hollows, to produce a level space of sufficient capacity and firmness to contain and support the intended building. There are many Rabbinical traditions afloat in the Mishna and Gemara, respecting the existence of a subterraneous communication between the Temple and the royal palace, which had been secretly constructed, as a private passage for the use of King Solomon and his successors. This is said to have been an avenue which led to a small vaulted chamber underneath the Sanctum Sanctorum. It was furnished with an altar and its appendages, calculated to promote a devout abstraction, holy thoughts, and pious feelings. In this place, it is presumed, the king spent much time in meditation and prayer, apart from the toils of government and the cares of the world. Here he found leisure to reflect on the attributes of the Deity, and the mercy and loving kindness which had exalted him to the summit of glory, and placed him at the head of all earthly sovereigns. The existence of this private passage has been questioned. But vaults formed a necessary part of temple architecture in Egypt, at this early period. 1 Ps. cxxxii. 1—5. The pyramids and sphynxes were all furnished with arched vaults. They contained, indeed, but one small apartment, accessible only by long, intricate, and contracted passages, except in the subterranean cavities, which were probably known to none but the priests and hierophants. These secret crypts communicated equally with a chamber in the adjoining sphynx, and with each other. They were used for the purpose of initiation into the Spurious Freemasonry. We have reason to believe that all the early public buildings contained subterraneous vaults, intended for the mysterious celebrations, or as receptacles for the preservation of such facts or doctrines as were considered improper to be publicly known. Besides, vaults are mentioned by Josephus as existing beneath both the temple and the palace, and they were repeated by Herod on the re-construction of these edifices. It is probable, therefore, that there was some ground for the tradition; nor can we altogether reject the evidence which is contained in one of the Apocryphal books of our Scriptures. It is thus recorded as an undoubted fact, that when the desolation of the temple was about to be accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar, the priests furtively conveyed the sacred fire from the altar, and concealed it in a vault, where it remained till the re-edification of that sacred structure. And it was then revived by a process which Nehemiah dictated to the priests. Jeremiah the prophet, also, as it is recorded in the same book, hid the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense, in a vault or cave, and closed up the place so securely, that it could not be discovered; but he predicted that these holy utensils should be found when, in God's good time, the restoration of Israel "Recent discoveries in Ethiopia have brought to light," says a writer on the Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, "arches regularly constructed with the keystone. The same arch is also found in the vaulted roof of a small building or portico in the Egyptian style, which is attached to one of the sides of the largest pyramids at Assour. At Jebel Barkal, Mr. Waddington observed an arched roof in a portico attached to a pyramid." These pyramids are supposed to be of higher antiquity than the building of King Solomon's Temple. 3 Ant. Jud. b. viii. c. 2. Ibid. b. xv. c. 14. |