The Burning Bush.

thou standest is holy ground . And Moses hid his face , for he was afraid to look upon God . " The glory of that vision ¦ was more than the glory of nature , but it was not for destruction . It was a fire , and though it wrapped the bush

round about , it did not . consume . Tho bush remained , every tender leaf , every delicate bud in its beauty and freshness was preserved in the garment of flame . Out of that marvel God had spoken to Moses , and from it he hacl received his charge .

At the Bush a grander force entered his soul . Doubt ancl fear passed away , and the higher nature of the man had taken its true position ancl held its kingly sway over the lower . Life was henceforth a mission to be

wrought out of God . The great passion of his being , the strength of his intellect , was to do the work He had o-iven him , in the consecration of spirit to the end . Ever before him was the vision , ever sounding in his ear was the

voice of Jehovah . His purposes were gathered up into a greater , a richer and more noblo form . The unity of his life , which seemed to float apart in space like a wandering star , falls into its true sphere in that firmament

in which God ' s purposes , like golden constellations , shine out clear before the eyes of man . He is strengthened and renewed . Tho vision transformed him , as he moved , leader , prophet , law-giver , for humanity , in the felt

presence of Jehovah . He is the bearer , henceforth , of a magnificent trust ; into his hands is given the charge to formulate a nation ; to receive a law ; to be the type of God when , in other ages , He should manifest Himself to mon .

And now , what is the meaning of that name which Moses heard , and what is the symbolism of tho burning bush which we perpetuate in our Royal Arch ? I am . This is the revelation of God ' s own being . He lives the author

and source of all existence . I am . He lives—life , the great attribute of Jehovah ; but it is life which had no beginning and will have no end . There was no power to create Him , and there is no power which can end His

being . He is above all , beyond all that He bag callod into existence . All things , however great , shrink into insignificance when compared with Him . Imagination is baffled as it reaches back into the past , and out into the future , to

determine what is the duration of His being . He was the I Am , through the countless ages of the past , before the earth was shaped into order , before the atoms that form the stars and brilliant worlds of the firmament were

combined , before the numberless spirits surrounded His throne . Of the creature , the grandest thing that can be said , is , he is or shall be ; but of God alone , He is the I Am .

The Burning Bush was the unfolding of a Name . It was not a new God that appeared in the flame bush , but only a name was given that was unpronounceable . It asserted that attribute of Jehovah which could not be

communicated to man— " I am that I am . " I am by Myself of Myself . I am with no dependence on creation , with no being or existence given Me by any power ; perfect in

Myself and of Myself , the fountain of all force and life . There is nothing greater than I , in heaven or in earth . All is below Me . I am the centre and the crown of the

universe . No time , or power , or decay , touches My bein ° * . From eternity to eternity , I am . In the Burning Bush there was the unfolding of His unchangeable nature . Duration , mutability , loss , succession

in time and strength , characterize humanity ; but God never changes . Through all changes of time He is the same . Change is the law of things that are seen . The solid earth npon which man treads is changing its relations

and its attributes and substances . The hills are yielding to the touch of years , the waters are taking other places , and matter in its manifold qualities is moving on to take other shapes . Even man in mind and life is undergoing

the process of change . To him belongs the law of progression ; he advances to a more splendid form of thought , to a larger range of knowledge , to a more varied culture , until he reaches his height , ancl then begins the working of

the law of retrogression and decay . But perfect in Himself , God has no law of progress or decay . Ho is the fulness of that which filleth all in all . He cannot change , for His being is eternal . He is the same , yesterday , today , and for ever .

The Bush spoke of His Almightiness . His power is present in all the universe . In every part there is the felt presence of His hand . His energizing force is whereever creation is . His will controls ; His providential care sustains ; His love fills all . But where no created thing is ,

The Burning Bush.

beyond our largest conception of space , in places where no word of creating power has been heard , Jehovah is therothe p * reat I Am .

I Am , not alone almighty , bat incomprehensible . It is the root of the name of Jehovah , and has the same meaning . Ifc is the greatest of the names by which He

is known . It has in itself all that He is . It is higher than Elohim , the strong ones . It is higher than the most magnificent conception of the mind , and gathers into itself all the attributes and perfections of God .

The flame of tho Bush was the outward and visible

sign of an eternal superiority . There was no material to feed and add to its flame . Nature about it gave it nothing to sustain or strengthen it . All that it was , all that it hacl , was in itself . A littlo thorn bush of the desert , with

delicate buds , could not be that which could maintain an abiding flame . And yet that bush was unhurt in the fire . And the fire burning ancl not consuming can be of no

earthly origin , for the grand law of earthly fire is to consume and reduce to other forms that which it consumes . Fire without material to sustain it could not be

of man ' s kindling . It must , therefore , have been fire as we can conceive of it in its pure , original nature . And so it is the symbol of a being without origin ; a being who has existed in Himself without first or last ; a

being who changes not , neither is weary—whoso glory is the eternal light . The Burning Bush was a symbol . Wc aro accustomed to speak of tho first three degrees of Masonry as the

symbolic degrees . But a closer study of all tho degrees shows that that they aro profoundly symbolic , and so enduring in their influence . And the Royal Arch has its abiding place , therefore , as it teaches by a grand symbolism .

There are certain likenesses or correspondences between the ideas which we conceive in our minds and the

objects in the world about us ; the nature , the force and relation of which man has recognised in every age . This is the source of symbolism , ancl is the reason that

symbolism has had such enduring power over the human mind . The grand , the beautiful within the soul has had its counterpart in the grand and beautiful in nature .

Language , that marvellous gift bestowed upon man , is but a universal symbolism . Words are the pictures of ideas ; the outward expression of the unseen thought . They are the forms by which , in the most potent manner ,

the mind transmits ideas , the intellect passes on its thought or philosophy to the minds of all men , and unfolds its secret working . Symbolism , therefore , is joined in the closest harmony with the inmost nature , the central and spiritual

condition of man ' s life . He is a being composed of body or matter , mind or intellect , and spirit which is too subtle to be defined . But to such an extent does matter prevail with spirit and mind , that it is onl y through the organism of

objects we see or touch , the most refined , invisible , immeasurable and spiritual thought can be conveyed . To express himself then by symbols is part of a man ' s constitution , and is the necessity laid upon him to find utterance for the

social and sensuous , the intellectual and spiritual in outward forms ancl signs . Hearing , seeing , touching , are gifts and senses , avenues of knowledge and power ; and this knowledge and this power are to find expression in the

outward signs again , no less than the thought of the invisible spirit and intellect with their vaster and grander sway . All are to be consecrated , not alone to man ' s own use , but for the use of men as individuals , societies or bodies

gathered for mental or spiritual improvement . Symbolism consecrates and perpetuates the observation of the senses , the ideas of the intellectual nature , in seen shapes and

figures , or in the printed book , to be an inspiration aud force in the ages . And as man in all times is the same in the constitution of

his being , in the secret working of his nature , however widely thought may manifest itself in civilization or in art , so he must have symbolism to be the expression of his thought or worship . It is so in moral aud social and

religious life . Hence the universality of symbolism . Symbols were used by the greatest of those nations which represented civilization before Greece gave her letters or her sculpture to the world . Egypt , the home of

the alphabet , used certain signs or characters to express in clearer or darker modes , the thought or objects to be formulated before the eye or mind . Its colossal architecture and massive statuary were exhibitions of the same principle . ( To be continued . )