damental principles of measuring surfaces were discovered. They probably began with those surfaces which terminated by right angles, and amongst these with the most simple. It is hard, indeed, to determine which of those surfaces, which are terminated by a small number of right lines, are the most simple. If we were to judge by the number of sides, the triangle has indisputably the advantage; yet I am inclined to think that the square was the figure which first engaged the attention of geometricians. It was not till some time after this that they began to examine equilateral triangles, which are the most regular of all triangular figures. It is to be presumed that they understood that rectilinear figure first, to which they afterwards compared the areas of other polygons, as they discovered them. It was by that means the became the common measure of all sursquare faces; for, of all ages, and amongst all nations of which we have any knowledge, the square has always been that in planimetery which the unit is in arithmetic; for though in measuring rectilinear figures we are obliged to resolve them into triangles, yet the areas of these figures are always given in the square." Thence I am led to determine that the square was the first and original figure in geometry, and as such was introduced to our lodges. The square was the figure under which the Israelites formed their encampments in the wilderness, and under which they fortified or defended the holy Tabernacle, sanctified with the immediate presence of the Divinity.1

3 The square was the first geometrical figure which was brought into practical use by operative masons. In the construction of cities and private dwellings, camps, and fastnesses, right angles were generally used; as in the ark of Noah, the camp of the Israelites, the cities of Babylon and Nineveh, with the temples of Egypt and India, or the established form of a Mason's lodge. The square is a symbol of perfection and happiness, arising out of morality and justice; and, with this meaning in view, it has been assigned to the Worshipful Master. Plutarch informs us, that "the incense offered at the evening sacrifice in Egypt is composed of no less than sixteen different ingredients; because their number forms a square of a square, and is the only number which, having all its sides equal, makes its perimeter equal to its area; and also on account of the rich aromatic nature of those ingredients."--EDITOR.

The square is formed by uniting the hypothenuse, or side subtending the right angle of two right angled isoceles triangles. Of trilate

As we before declared it to be our opinion that this society was never formed for, or of, a set of working architects or masons, but as a religious, social, and charitable establishment, and that the members thereof never were embodied or exhibited to the world as builders,5 save only under Moses, and at the Temple at Jerusalem, where, with holy hands, they executed those works of piety, as the patriarchs erected altars to the honour of the Divinity, for their sacrifices and religious offices; so we are persuaded that the adoption of geometry by Masons, or any emblem of that science, implies no more than a reverence for such device of the mind of man as should demonstrate the wisdom of the Almighty in his works, whereby the powers of Abrax are defined, and the system of the starry revolutions in the heavens determined.

If we should look upon the earth with its produce, the ocean with its tides, the coming and passing of day, the starry arch of heaven, the seasons and their changes, the life and death of man, as being merely accidents in the hand of Nature, we must shut up all the powers of judgment, and yield ourselves to the darkest folly and ignorance. The august scene of the planetary system, the day and night, the seasons in their successions, the animal frame, the vegetation of plants, all afford us subject for astonishment; the greatest too mighty, but for the hand of a Deity, whose works they are the least too miraculous, but for the wisdom of their God.

Then how much ought we to esteem that science through whose powers it is given to man to discover the order of the heavenly bodies, their revolutions, and their stations, thereby resolving the operations of the Deity to an unerring system, proving the mightiness of his works, and the wisdom of his decrees?

It is no wonder, then, that the first institutors of this society, who had their eye on the revelation of the Deity,

ral and quadrilateral figures, none are admissible into symbolical geometry but those whose respective lines and angles bear the relation of equality, or such integral proportions as may be adequately expressed by some of the numerical terms of the tetractys.-ED. See the notes to lecture xiii.

Genesis, iv., 3, 4; viii., 20; xxii., 9; xxviii., 18; xxxi., 7; xxxiii., 20. Exodus xx., 24; xxvii., 1; xxx., 1. Joshua xxii., 10, 11.

from the earliest ages of the world unto the days of its perfection under the ministry of the Son of God, that they should hold that science hallowed amongst them, whereby such lights were obtained by man, in the discovery of the great wisdom of the Creator in the beginning.

107

LECTURE IX.

THE MASTER MASON'S ORDER.

As we at first proposed to investigate the three progressive orders of Masons-Apprentices, Craftsmen, and Masters-by a definition and description of the several circumstances which attended the worshippers of the true God, so have we, in the former lectures, shown that, by the Apprentices' order, is implied the first knowledge of the God of Nature, in the earliest ages of man. Under the Craftsmen, we have shown the Mosaic legation and the building of the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem; together with the light which men received, for the discovery of divine wisdom, by geometrical solutions. We now proceed to the third stage-the most sacred and solemn order of Masons-the Master Mason's order.

Under the Jewish law, the service of God became clouded and obscured by ceremonies and rites, which had daily crept in upon it, through imitation of the neighbouring heathen. When the morals of the Jewish nation were corrupted, civil jurisdiction reeled upon its throne, innovations sapped the religious rule, and anarchy succeeded. No sooner was this compact loosened, than

By the Articles of Union, "it is declared and pronounced, that pure ancient Masonry consists of THREE DEGREES, and no more, viz., those of E. A. P., the F. C., and the M. M., including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch." After these Articles of Union were ratified, a new Book of Constitutions appeared under the denomination of "Part Second." The First Part, containing a general history of Masonry, was promised from the pen of Bro. Williams, P. G. M. for Dorset, and he was well qualified for the task; but it has not appeared. The design was probably frustrated by his death. But where are the papers? The Grand Lodge will surely not abandon a work so much wanted in the Craft. If no person better qualified shall appear, I should not object, under the above sanction, to execute the design.-EDITOR.

the strength of the Jews was dissolved, and the heathen triumphed in Jerusalem.

The gracious Divinity, perceiving the ruin which was overwhelming mankind, in his benevolence was moved to redeem us. He saw that the revelation which he had deigned to make of his divinity, might, majesty, and wisdom, to the nations of the earth, and more especially to the Jewish tribes, was not sufficient to preserve them in their duty; he weighed the frailty of mankind in the balance which his justice suspended, and to their imperfections he held out his mercy. The Egyptians had abused their learning and wisdom; the Jews had polluted God's ordinances and laws; and sin had made her dominion in the strong places of the earth.

Piety, which had planned the Temple at Jerusalem, was expunged; the reverence and adoration due to the Divinity was buried in the filth and rubbish of the world; persecution had dispersed the few who retained their obedience; and the name of the true God was almost totally lost and forgotten among men. Religion sat mourning in Israel, in sackcloth and ashes; and Morality was scattered, as it were, by the four winds of the air.

In this situation, it might well be said, "That the guide to heaven was lost, and the master of the works of righteousness was smitten." The nations had given themselves up to the grossest idolatry; Solomon had fallen, and the service of the true God was effaced from the memory of those who had yielded themselves to the dominion of sin.

In order that mankind might be preserved from this deplorable estate of darkness and destruction, and as the old law was dead and become rottenness, a new doctrine and new precepts were wanting to give the key to salvation, in the language of which we might touch the ear of an offended Deity, and bring forth hope for eternity. True religion was fled: "Those who sought her through the wisdom of the ancients, were not able to raise her; she eluded the grasp, and their polluted hands were stretched forth in vain for her restoration." Those who sought her by the old law were frustrated, for "Death had stepped between, and Corruption defiled the embrace;" Sin had beset her steps, and the vices of the world had overwhelmed her.