Masonic Celestial Mysteries.

be it is when the sun enters Cancer , that the sun entering libra is the autumnal equinox , and that it is mid-winter when the sun enters Capricornus . Certainly this is making the sun to perform the circle , and not the earth . Tell an astronomer

that the vernal equinox is when the earth enters libra , or that it is autumnal , equinox when the earth enters Aries , and he will laugh at your heterodoxical ideas , and at the same time will admit what yon say is correct . Let any one now

attempt to follow up Galeleo ' s proposed reformation , and what will be the result . There is now no existing Grand " chief of enlightened men , " no power that could compel a recantation , so he would be allowed to promulgate his doctrine

unmolested . So an English map maker might take it into his head to place a locomotive engine iu the place of Aries , and a steamboat instead of old fashioned Argo Navis , but such ridiculous innovations , such laughable conceits would probably not be sanctioned even by any modern European astronomer , certainly not by any Asiatic .

There is a passage m the book of Joshua considered as recording a wondrous miracle , when in fact , astronomically , it refers to nothing more than the ordinary course of nature interpretable by means of the Masonic laws—the passage is that in

which Joshua , meaning " the Lord the Saviour , " commands the sun to stand still on Gibeon , and the moon in the valley of Ajalon * Daily does the sun momentarily stand still , that is , neither rising nor falling in the midst of heaven , and that

is at high noon—this is well known to all mariners ! At the annual high noon" at the solstice of summer , the sun actually stands still , or is silent in its motion , during about a whole day , and this any nautical almanack will prove .

Reading the statement of Joshua , it becomes questionable whether the writer could have pointed out the position of Ajalon on the earth , it certainly could not be in the Holy Land , because every portion thereof is north of the equator ; so when the sun stood still in the midst of heaven in

the north during the clay , the queen of heaven , the moon , must have stood still , if in Ajalon , during s whole night in the southern hemisphere under the equator . There can be no doubt about the command of the man Joshua , or Hercules , or Hiram , being for the sun to stand still upon Gibeon , which means a hill or cup or that which is lifted up . "

The peak of Mont Masnalus , and the cup of Oentaurus denote the autumnal equinox , and these are in the astronomical libra which sign is apportioned to the " rebels'" or Amorites . These are by the Masonic laws delivered up before the

children of Israel the gemiui at 106—thus uniting the autumnal equinox with the summer solstice . It is mere matter of opinion as to whether the command was that the moon should stand still in Agalon , certain it is that the next verse tells us

the moon only " stayed . " In that same verse it is reasserted about the sun standing still , and hastening not to go down about a whole day . The sun standing still in the midst of heaven , or at high noon if it remained so about a whole day

would be motionless for ( say ) twelve hours . It would require eight hours of summer from sunrise to the high noon , and eight hours more to

sun set , so this extraordinary day would be of 40 hours duration . As explained astronomically the sun stands still about a whole clay at the solstice , and hasteneth not to go down the descent for a time from the colure being almost imperceptible .

Sir William Drummond , says , "Ajalon signifies a ram , the allusion to Aries in the zodiac , he says , can hardly be mistaken . But wherefore did Joshua command the sun to stand still in the vault of heaven , and the moon in the sign Aries .

Ought he not to have commanded the earth to stand still rather than thesun , " * Sir Williamlittlethought how such a question would puzzle astronomers ; he little dreamt he was upholdingthe Galeleo reformation . Astronomers can see precisely wherethesnnis ,

but they cannot see where they are themselves , and that is the reason why the apparent motion of the sun was adopted for all astronomical purposes .

Cruden differs from Sir William Drummond as to the interpretation of Ajalon , which , Cruden says , means , " a chain , otherwise strength , or stag . " The strength and stag imply Hercules , and the stag or deer , Capricornus , opposite Cancer .

The moon never stands still , but at both the equinoxes the moon does stay , or apparently is retarded on her course * on rising . Ancl this is owing to her orbit being nearly parallel with the horizon . When the sun is in Libra , and the earth

in Aries , then the moon at her full , or in her virgin state , would , as regards the sun , be in Aries . The word Ajalon means " chain , & c . "