Geometrical And Other Sybols.

wherefore it is said , Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord [ a very singular thing ( for the heathen ?) to say of a heathen ; did we not recollect that Babylonia , or at least Chaldea , Avas the native country of Abram , the "father" ofthe JOAVS , as of all " the faithful ; " and that the Chaldeans were magicians , as Nimrod himself was ; and asin after times

, , the Jewish prophet Daniel , the Grand Master of the Babylonian and Chaldean Magicians , also was ; being full of " the S pirit of the holy gods , " as Nebuchadnezzar the king himself admitted when he someAvhat unreasonably commanded Daniel to tell him "the visions ofthe dream" he had himself forgotten ] . And

the beginning of his kingdom was Babel , and Erech , and Accad , and Calneh , in the land of Shiuar . Out of that land went forth Asshur , and builded Nineveh , and the city Rehoboth , and Calah , and Reseii , between Nineveh and Calah : the same is a great city . " Ereemasons Avere of tAVo distinct orders , —those of

the leather aprons and those of the silk ; or in other words , the Avorking guilds and the mystical masons . So far as the brethren of the working guilds Avere more than mere craftsmen , they were of the mystical order , or associates of the nominal masons or " symbolical philosophers ; " but it seems probable that , at

one time , all Ereemasons Avere craftsmen ; and those who Avere not so may have been afterwards introduced as honorary members , just as we have even the Prince of AVales made an honorary Eishmonger or an honorary Tailor by the City guilds of London . If so , however , the honorary class amongst the Ereemasons

appear to have at last completely SAvamped and ousted the modest craftsmen . But hoAvever this may be , that the craft and mystery of Ereemasonry Avas of old especially connected Avith church or temple building , there can be no doubt ; and neither can there be any that they allegorised the temple-building process : hence the mystical use of Solomon ' s temple and its builder .

Now the true temple , or church , of God is the human body itself : " AVhat , know you not that your body is the temple ?"—the " temple of the Lord , " " —of " the Lord for the body , "—the " temple of the Holy Ghost , "—the "temple of God . " And a church or temple , built and completed , or perfected , is therefore

the human body brought to perfection , physical as well as mental , and illuminated by " the Light" of the Holy Spirit , shining Avithin and upon it , as " a ci'OAvn of glory" on its head . AVe can see , therefore , hoAv , as is alleged , Ereemasonry , though at one time essentially a church-building community of working

masons , they liaA'e , quite relevantly , had secret and allegorical reference to reli gious or mystical doctrines relating to human perfectibility and reparadisement . Thus Ave find it maintained , in an JUssai sur les Mysteres , et le veritable Objet , de la C ' onfrerie des M-ancs-JIfacons , published at Amsterdam , as a second edition , 1774 , that the end and purpose of Ereemasonry is the

" Restoring to man his primitive goodness [ in Paradise , where he Avas perfected by the ' creation' of the angelic ' woman' out of ' the man / aud so made ' very good' ] , and causing a revival in his heart of the laAvs of [ his ] nature in their greatest perfection : religion had the same end iu vieAV : ... it is Freemasonry alone Avhich has understood the best means of accomplishing it . " And , in the same Essay , it is declared that the " allegory of Ereemasonry" is this : —they propose to

build a temple : the instruments of this building are symbols of the architecture of the heart , —the square , the triangle , the compass : the work is done " in the light ; " and before being introduced or initiated into this glorious work , or made fit to work in and at this august temple , man is a wretch who wanders in

darkness ; and he must be cleansed and purified . "All Ereemasons , " we are also told , " are not capable of developing this allegory : " I should rather think so ! "The Aveli-informed Mason knows , " however , "that the jewels , as they are emphatically called , of the lodge , are only ensigns of the inward man . " The

line , says " brother" Jieans , in an old " oration" at Southampton , " points out the direct but narrow path Avhich leads to a glorious immortality" [ a physical or natural immortality on the face of this earth , with the re-enjoyment of Paradise , or celestial glory , as could be easilshoAvn ] . The " rough ashlar" is " the

y brute stone , without shape or form , as taken from the quarry ; and is emblematic of the mind of man in its pristine state , rude and unfashioned like that stone . " The " smooth or perfect ashlar" is " a polished stone , of a true die square , which has undergone the skill of the experienced Mason [ as a hierophant of

the mysteries ] , and is emblematic of the mind of man in its improved state : " and so on . Again , "Ereemasonry deals in hieroglyphics , symbols , allegories ; and to be qualified to reveal their meaning a man must knoAv more than a mere nominal mason . The

full interpretation of them , like that of the mysteries of old , is in select hands , —has been committed only to those of tried fidelity , who conceal it with suitable care ; and those—if not deficient in intellect yet—Avanting in industry or inclination to explore the penetralia of the temple are not qualified , if willing , to betray it : hence the secrecy which has so long

distinguished the fraternity , " Ereemasonry , then , was probably meant , in its secret rites of initiation , mystically to show forth hoAv the human frame may be built up , finished , and perfected , as the true temple of tlie actual Lord and Master of itwho is not the human soul or the man

, himself , —erroneousl y conceived to be its master ; but the divine S p irit , who , in the perfected and finished state of ' his temple , as it was in its "primitive goodness , shall illuminate it from within , —as the penetralia of the temple shone solely by the inward " light " of the Divine glory .

Highly initiated Ereemasons admit , and indeed they urge and insist , that Ereemasonry is essentially identical with the ancient religious mysteries , and with the Eosicrucian philosophy . There is , doubtless , in all this , too , a good deal of the " divine dark , " no less than in Ereemasonry ; but let us try if Ave cannot get

at least a glimpse of what is known as to these ancient mysteries . For brevity ' s sake , I must give as condensed an idea of the professed object of the mysteries as possible ; and , in doing so , prefer quoting at second hand , as it Avere , from others Avho have already g iven condensed ideas of these mysteries ; and from a point of vieAV altogether different from my own preconceived ideas .

Thus , in a paper on "The Buddhist Emblem of Architecture , " in vol . xiv ., p . 033 , of The Asiatic Journal- of Bengal , Captain T . Latter says : — " In all these mysteries , Avhich were held in such high veneration by the ancients , and" the types of which have