because he is not only intellectual, but that great and eternal Intellect from whence all intellectual beings are; as also their operations, exercised by virtue of the more pure, and ethereal, and igneous spirits." The subject, therefore, can be treated only as the Almighty himself has condescended to treat it, in pity to the weakness and incapacity of his creatures, viz. by a reference to material fire and Light, under which his personal appearance has been manifested amongst men. These preliminary ideas naturally direct our attention to the divine SHEKINAH, or blaze of Light which usually accompanied the divine appearance on earth. It consisted of a visible splendour, or pure emanation of the Deity, and has been termed splendor gloriæ Dei, as St. Paul described the glory of Moses' countenance when he returned from the mount. This Light, in the form probably of a bright cloud, conversed with Adam in paradise." After his unhappy Fall, Light guarded the entrance of this blissful abode, that no profane steps might penetrate to the tree of life. The same spiritual Light confirmed the piety of Abel, and probably conveyed Enoch to the eternal regions of Light, without tasting the bitterness of death. From this time to the Flood, it has been thought the Shekinah was withdrawn, on account of the increasing wickedness of men.13 This, however, does not seem to be borne out by sufficient testimony; for it is certain that God conversed with Noah on the subject of the Earth's corruptions; destroyed the world by water united with Fire14 confounded the language at Babel, 1 More. Apoc. p. 197. 12 Gen. ii. 16. Dr. Lamb, (Hierogl. p. 82.) says that the image by which our first parent communicated his knowledge of the Creator to his descendants, was a picture of that vision of the cherubim which appeared to Ezekiel and St. John; and that the Hebrew letters or hieroglyphics for a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle being put together, produces the phonetic word ELOHIM; and this he thinks was the origin of animal worship. 13 Ovid's fable of Astræa fleeing to heaven in consequence of the world's impiety, appears to be a tradition of this probability.-Metam. i. 149. 14 Pionus, who suffered martyrdom in the year 250, under the Emperor Decius, thus addressed his persecutors: "You yourselves, from your old traditions acknowledged that the deluge of Noah, whom you call Deucalion, was mingled with fire, &c."--Pont. Hist. Norw. p. 52. See also Whiston's Cause of the Deluge illustrated. and on every occasion manifested his displeasure against sinners for Speculative Masonry had its system of Justice as well as Mercy-and confirmed the faith of the righteous, by imparting a portion of that Light and Truth, which constitute the divine essence; humiles per claritatem suæ ostensionis illuminat; a striking evidence of His approval of that system of religion which was practised by the holy patriarchs. This supernal Light protected Abraham in the fiery furnace of the Chaldees, as it did subsequently Shadrach, Mesech, and Abednego, in that of Nebuchadnezzar; shewing that while the divinity assumed the appearance of "a wall of fire" for the protection of his people, he was "a consuming fire" for the destruction of their enemies. Abraham enjoyed the advantage of frequent revelations of Light from on high; and the same Shekinah destroyed the cities of the plain. It was a gracious manifestation of Light that the Almighty vouchsafed to Jacob, when, benighted and weary on his journey to Padanaram, he saw the vision of that wonderful Ladder, with Seraphim ascending and descending, which was intended to increase his Faith, encourage his Hope, and animate his Charity, while the Great Architect of the Universe, in a flood of Light at its summit, gave him those cheering promises which were so amply fulfilled in his posterity. Moses, at the Burning Bush, was favoured with the inspiration of Light, and received that holy and incommunicable name which still constitutes the awful Secret of Speculative Masonry. The Shekinah, manifested on this important occasion, was a very significant symbol. The Bush burned with fire but was not consumed; and Israel was subjected to the fiery oppression of Egypt, and was not destroyed; although possessing no greater power of resistance against Pharaoh and his people than the feeble bush to prevent the encroachments of the devouring element. The truth is, God was in the midst of both; and, therefore, fire and persecution were equally powerless. Moses was here instructed to approach the majesty of God with his feet bare, and his face covered; and it was not till the deliverance of Israel 15 Zech. ii. 5. 16 Heb. xii. 29. from bondage that the Light shone permanently amongst them. The preparations for this remarkable Deliverance were solemn and imposing; and the difference between the Darkness of idolatry and the Light of Truth, or, in other words, between the Spurious and the true Freemasonry, was specially manifested for the instruction of the Israelites, as well as the punishment of the Egyptians. A thick and tangible darkness was upon the latter for three days. All business ceased-no man moved from the place where this awful visitation overtook himfields, houses, streets, and highways were peopled with living statues; food was not sought-rest unheeded; and terror and dread the only feelings which prevailed. There they stood, each as in a cell of darkness-monuments of the divine displeasure; wondering in silence and solitude. what the result of such an unlooked for judgment might be. Visions, like the dramatic scenery of their Spurious Freemasonry, flitted before their imagination;17 awful shapes, heart-rending lamentations, and gibbering noises, as if in mockery of the darkness, which was celebrated in those institutions by divine honours and loud acclamations.18 But the Israelites had Light in their dwellings. They were illuminated by the true Shekinah, or Light of Heaven; which was a mystery to the Egyptians equally incomprehensible with the preternatural darkness in which they themselves were shrouded. The Light shone in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. From this time the Light took the form of a pillar of Cloud and of Fire, which in the day time was bright, and perhaps transparent; and at night was like a fierce fire of ample dimensions to enlighten a camp of twelve miles square. It may be objected that the heat of such a fire would have consumed the tents, the tabernacle, and every thing within its focus. But this was no natural or elemental fire, for it existed without fuel; and, like the fire at the Burning Bush, its consuming properties were restrained, although it retained sufficient light for the most distant tribes. In a word, it was the cloudy Pillar, 17 Wisd. xvii. 14. &c, 18 Euseb. præp. evan. 1. iii. 9. Damascius. illuminated by the Shekinah of God. This divine Pillar took its station amongst the people, and formed the sublime object of Jewish Freemasonry. It continued with them during all the fluctuations of their history, till their renunciation of the true, and abandonment to the abominations of the Spurious Freemasonry, induced the Almighty to withdraw the Light of his presence, and give up their city and temple to the rage and fury of an idolatrous people. Nothing could have been assumed to point out, in a more clear and explicit manner, the essential difference between Light and Darkness, than the divine Shekinah at the period when Israel passed through the Red Sea. It was a Light and a guide to them, but a darkness and a terror to their unhappy pursuers, who were annihilated by the junction of the waters, when Moses lifted up his rod as a signal that the power which restrained them had been withdrawn. It was the Shekinah of God that appeared in clouds and fire on the holy mountain when the Law was delivered to Moses. The mountain was clothed in darkness, and nothing but the smoke or cloud was visible to the people; while the legislator at the summit was favoured with a view of the Shekinah as a lambent flame of Light, out of which Jehovah conversed with him on the religious and political government of the people whom he had redeemed, with signs and wonders, from the power of the Egyptians. The dark cloud has been thought to symbolize the law of Moses, which was a type of the Light of the Gospel. Congruit, says Borrhaius, nubes in functionem legalem quæ tenebrarum est non Lucis; intimating that the true Light would not be made perfect till the advent of the Messiah; and Christianity contains the most complete system of morals that ever was proposed to the mind of man. It was an emanation of the Shekinah which illuminated the countenance of Moses when he descended from the mountain where he had conversed with the Almighty face to face. -and we Shall one day, if found worthy, so defin'd, See our God face to face as he did then Byron. This glory was imparted ad honorem legis, and as a special token of God's love and favour towards this meek and holy patriarch. It may likewise be considered as an unquestionable credential, whence the people might be assured of his divine commission, and hold him, as the vicegerent of God, in greater reverence and esteem. They were unable to endure the lustre proceeding from the reflected brightness of the Shekinah-a striking evidence that their minds were not sufficiently enlightened to bear the revelation of the mysterious system which was typified by the Law. Moses, therefore, drew a veil over his face as a token that "their minds were blinded ;" and that though the true Light was shadowed forth, gloriously indeed, in the Jewish religion, it would not be fully developed till the veil was removed by the appearance of the Messiah, or Light personified. These emanations of the Deity form constituent parts of the system of Speculative Masonry, as it is practised at the present day. In the wilderness, Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their company, were punished by the Shekinah for endeavouring, illegally, to intrude themselves into the priest's office; and it was the same divine Light that manifested itself in mercy or indignation on various signal occasions. gory and others think that this mixture of mercy and justice was symbolized by the mild and bright cloud which led them by day, and the terrible fire by night.19 And it was always accompanied by a subdued radiance of that holy Light which shone in heaven before the worlds were created. Gre I have already remarked that the Creator was called "the Father of Light." Iamblichus, in his Book of Mysteries, agrees with this interpretation; for he says that "Light is the simplicity, the penetration, and the ubiquity of God." And it is remarkable that the earliest inhabitants of Egypt, the source, probably, of Spurious Freemasonry, were called Auritæ, from the Hebrew or Chaldaic root AUR, LIGHT. If this be true, the Egyptians did not gather the above idea of Light from a tradition of the power of Moses, and the pillar of fire which destroyed the army of Pharaoh, because the probability is that they entertained some such notions before the 19 Greg. Hom. 21. in Evan. |