respecting its use and application became engrafted on the naked doctrine,7" until it puzzled the wisest philosophers," who confounded the properties ascribed to the various persons, attributing them indiscriminately to either of the three forms of the sacred triad; and the true meaning was lost amidst the darkness and trinity to consist of three equal persons; while Jamblichus, and a few of the later Platonists, would exalt the first person to a rank superior to the other two. 70 The perversion of the primitive doctrine of the trinity before the coming of Christ, was so complete, that the philosophers of the East unanimously confessed that the sun was the emblem or representative of the three great deities jointly and individually; that is, of Brahm, or the supreme ONE, who alone exists really and absolutely; the three small divinities being only Maya, or illusion. (Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 144.) In another point of view, the triad being referred, as we have already seen, to the triple offspring of Noah, was dramatised in the Spurious Freemasonry, by the funereal ceremony of initiation; which was divided into three degrees or steps-preparation, initiation, autopsia; and for the same reason the infernal regions consisted of three parts-elysium, purgatory, tartarus. The preparation was also threefold; so careful was the hierophant that a veneration for this sacred number should be inculcated in all the ceremonies of initiation. The candidate was placed in the pastos, or preparing room, on the evening of the first day; remained an entire day enclosed, or dead in the language of the Spurious Freemasonry, and was liberated for initiation, or in other words, restored to life on the third. This ceremony produced a series of triad references. 71 Virgil has given a curious illustration of the number three in his description of the materials which the Cyclops used to form the thunderbolts of Jove. Tres imbris torti radios, tres nubis aquosæ difficulty which surrounded the interpretation. The notion, however, of a triad resolving itself into a monad,72 how obscure soever it might be, was undoubtedly propagated; that being familiarised to the mind by the direction of an overruling Providence,73 72 This doctrine produced the tetrad, which was either four, or by combination ten. It is illustrated in the construction of the decalogue, which consists of ten commandments, the first four of which relate exclusively to the divine Giver. In Freemasonry, it is exemplified in the ten mathematical characters which constituted the mark of Hiram Abiff; and it constituted the oath of Pythagoras, which was administered in the following form : : By that pure, holy, four letter name on high, The parent of all souls that living be, By Him, with faithful oath, I swear to thee. Lucian ridicules both the doctrine and the practice when he says, "Do you not observe that what you take to be four is in reality ten, being the sacred triangle on which we confirm our vows?" And again, in the Philopatris, if he wrote it, he ridicules the trinity, by terming it an arithmetical oath. "You teach me numbers," says Critias, one three three one. I do not understand it." The Jewish cabalists entertained the idea of ten sephiroth, or sovereign lights, which emanate from the First Cause, and are therefore rays of his divinity; and as God is immutable, when he acts mercifully, it is said he acts by the sephira called mercy; when rigorously just, he acts by the sephira called might. (See Signs and Symbols, p. 151.) They also believed that there are ten orders of the celestial hierarchy, and named them thus:-1. Holy Beings; 2. Wheels; 3. Supremes; 4. Spiritual Essences; 5. Seraphim; 6. Angels; 7. Powers; 8. Offspring of Powers; 9. Cherubim; 10. Souls. And they had ten names of God:-1. Eel; 2. Elohim; 3. Elohe; 4. Sabaoth; 5. Helion; 6. Eheie; 7. Adonai; 8. Shaddai; 9. Jah; 10. Jehovah. 73 Mr. Maurice traces the idea in the Gentile world to a perversion of Jewish hieroglyphics. He says "The illuminated heads, the mankind might be prepared to receive the true doctrine, when it should be propounded to them by authority in that glorious dispensation, which, in God's good time, will constitute the universal religion of the whole habitable globe. innumerable eyes, and the extended wings of the cherubic beings, which, in the Jewish hieroglyphics, ever accompanied that refulgent symbol, were doubtless intended to represent the guardian vigilance of the Supreme Providence, as well as the celerity of the motions of that celestial light and spirit which pervades and animates all nature. The innocent and expressive emblem which devotion had originally formed, was caught up and debased in the pagan world. The fire, light, and spirit, which, among the former were only typical of the Supreme Being and his attributes, were by them mistaken for the Supreme Being, and were accordingly venerated in the place of that Being. These three principles became inextricably involved in their theology, and inseparably incorporated in all their systems of philosophy. They called elementary fire Ptha, Vulcan, Agnee; the solar light they denominated Osiris or Mithra, Surya, Apollo; and the pervading air or spirit, Cneph, Marayen, Zeus or Jupiter. Under those and other names they paid their divine homage, and thus having by degrees, from some dark, ill-understood notions of a real trinity in the divine nature, united to that mysterious doctrine, their own romantic speculations in the vast field of physics, they produced a degraded trinity, the sole fabrication of their fancy, and instead of. the God of nature, nature itself, and the various elements of nature, became the objects of their blind and infatuated devotion. LECTURE X. THE COVERING OF THE LODGE. Coming to a desert plain, and the sun being gone down, he was obliged to take up his abode there for the night, where he had the cold earth for his bed, a stone for his pillow, and the canopy of heaven for his covering; and as he slumbered, in a vision he saw a ladder, the bottom of which rested upon the earth, and the top reached to heaven, whereon the angels of God were ascending and descending; those who were ascending were going to receive the divine commands, and those descending were commissioned to put the divine laws into execution."-ASHE. 66 Charity is regarded as one of the great pillars of our Order. We are taught by it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bind up the wounds of the afflicted. Ours is essentially a charitable institution. Charity is a principle of action which pervades every degree, from that of an Entered Apprentice, and should never be lost sight of. There is no institution whose laws more strongly enforce, or whose precepts more earnestly inculcate the virtue of charity, than that of Masonry. It is among the first lessons we are taught when we pass the threshold of the mystic temple.-TANNEHILL. AMONGST all the various opinions which exist on the antiquity of our Order, and their name is Legion, there is one point on which Masons cannot differ-and that is the antiquity of the Landmarks. The numerous references which our Lectures contain to events that occurred in the very first ages of the world, are of themselves sufficient to stamp an importance on the system, and confer upon it dignity and worth in the estimation of all true and sincere Brothers.' The study of the Landmarks carries us back to the most remote antiquity. It makes us conversant with the habits and customs of those holy men who worshipped God in spirit and in truth, and practised the divine precepts which were first delivered to Adam after he had sinned, to prevent him from listening to the suggestions of the tempter who had betrayed him, and to make him capable of renewing the happiness after death, of which he had already enjoyed a foretaste in Paradise. The same precepts were renewed to Noah, The Landmarks of Masonry constitute the foundation of our faith in the system, and it is this coincident which stamps the Order as the handmaiden of religion. "We look for a house," eloquently exclaims our Rev. Bro. Roberts, "not built with hands, eternal in the heavens. We journey towards a city, whose builder and founder is God. We aspire to enter that great temple, never to be dissolved, which the great Architect of the Universe himself has framed for the reception of all who, having done their work, shall be assembled to receive their due." 2 The study of Freemasonry is the study of man as a candidate for a blessed eternity. It furnishes examples of holy living, and displays the conduct which is pleasing and acceptable to God. The doctrine and examples which distinguish the Order are obvious, and suited to every capacity. It is impossible for the most fastidious Mason to misunderstand, however he may slight or neglect them. It is impossible for the most superficial Brother to say that he is unable to comprehend the plain precepts, and the unanswerable arguments which are furnished by Freemasonry. Thus it is in Masonry as practised at the present day. “A cheerful compliance with the established religion of the country in which they live, is earnestly recommended in the assemblies of Masons; and this universal conformity, notwithstanding private |