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Article HISTORY OF MASONRY. ← Page 9 of 10 →
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History Of Masonry.
morality and good fellowship ; each knew his peculiar business , and the grand design was vigorously pursued at a prodigious expence . When the workmen were all duly marshalled , Solomon , who had heen still adding immense quantities of gold , silver , precious stones , and other rich materials to those which David had laid up before his death ; put them into proper hands , to be wrought into an infinite variety of ornaments . The vast number of hands employedand the
, diligence , skill , and dexterity of the master of the work , the overseers and fellow-crafts , were such , that he was able to level the footstone of this vast structure in the fourth year of his reign , the third after the death of David , and the 480 th after the children of Israel passed the Red Sea . This magnificent work was begun in Mount Moriahon Monday the second day of the month Zifwhich answers
, , to the twenty-first of our April , being the second month of the sacred year ; and was carried on with such speed , that it was finished in all its parts in little more than seven years , which happened on the eighth day of the month Bui , which answers to the twenty-third of our October , being the seventh month of the sacred year , and the eleventh of King Solomon . What is still more astonishingisthat every
, , piece of it , whether timber , stone , or metal , was brought ready cut , framed ancl polished to Jerusalem ; so that no other tools were wanted , or heard , than what were necessary to join the several parts together . All the noise of axe , hammer , and saw , was confined to Lebanon , the quarries and plains of Zeredathah , that nothing might be heard
among the Masons of Sion , save harmony and peace . The length of the temple , o > - holy place , from wall to wall , was sixty cubits of the sacred measure ; the breadth twenty cubits , or one third of its length ; and the height thirty cubits to the upper cieling , distinct from the porch : so that the temple was twice as long and large every way as the tabernacle . The porch was izo cubits high ; its length twenty ; and breadth ten cubits . The symmetry of the
three dimensions in the temple is very remarkable ; and the harmony of proportions is as pleasing to the eye , as harmony in music is to the ear . The oracle , or most holy place , was a perfect cube of twenty cubits , thereby figuratively displaying the peifection of happiness : for Aristotle says , " That he who bears the shocks of fortune valiantly , and demeans himself uprightly , is truly good , atid of a
square posture without reproof . " Beside , as the square figure is the most firm in building , so this dimension of the oracle was to denote the constancy , duration , and perpetuity of heaven . The wall of the puter court , or that of the Gentiles , was 7 , 700 feet in compass ; and all the courts ancl apartments would contain 300 , 000 people : the whole was adorned with 1 453 columns of Parian marbletwisted
, , , sculptured and voluted ; with 2 , 906 pilasters , decorated with magnificent capitals ; and about double that number of windows ; beside the beauties of the pavement . The oracle and sanctuary were lined with massy . gold , adorned with sculpture , and studded with diamonds , and other kinds of precious stones .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
History Of Masonry.
morality and good fellowship ; each knew his peculiar business , and the grand design was vigorously pursued at a prodigious expence . When the workmen were all duly marshalled , Solomon , who had heen still adding immense quantities of gold , silver , precious stones , and other rich materials to those which David had laid up before his death ; put them into proper hands , to be wrought into an infinite variety of ornaments . The vast number of hands employedand the
, diligence , skill , and dexterity of the master of the work , the overseers and fellow-crafts , were such , that he was able to level the footstone of this vast structure in the fourth year of his reign , the third after the death of David , and the 480 th after the children of Israel passed the Red Sea . This magnificent work was begun in Mount Moriahon Monday the second day of the month Zifwhich answers
, , to the twenty-first of our April , being the second month of the sacred year ; and was carried on with such speed , that it was finished in all its parts in little more than seven years , which happened on the eighth day of the month Bui , which answers to the twenty-third of our October , being the seventh month of the sacred year , and the eleventh of King Solomon . What is still more astonishingisthat every
, , piece of it , whether timber , stone , or metal , was brought ready cut , framed ancl polished to Jerusalem ; so that no other tools were wanted , or heard , than what were necessary to join the several parts together . All the noise of axe , hammer , and saw , was confined to Lebanon , the quarries and plains of Zeredathah , that nothing might be heard
among the Masons of Sion , save harmony and peace . The length of the temple , o > - holy place , from wall to wall , was sixty cubits of the sacred measure ; the breadth twenty cubits , or one third of its length ; and the height thirty cubits to the upper cieling , distinct from the porch : so that the temple was twice as long and large every way as the tabernacle . The porch was izo cubits high ; its length twenty ; and breadth ten cubits . The symmetry of the
three dimensions in the temple is very remarkable ; and the harmony of proportions is as pleasing to the eye , as harmony in music is to the ear . The oracle , or most holy place , was a perfect cube of twenty cubits , thereby figuratively displaying the peifection of happiness : for Aristotle says , " That he who bears the shocks of fortune valiantly , and demeans himself uprightly , is truly good , atid of a
square posture without reproof . " Beside , as the square figure is the most firm in building , so this dimension of the oracle was to denote the constancy , duration , and perpetuity of heaven . The wall of the puter court , or that of the Gentiles , was 7 , 700 feet in compass ; and all the courts ancl apartments would contain 300 , 000 people : the whole was adorned with 1 453 columns of Parian marbletwisted
, , , sculptured and voluted ; with 2 , 906 pilasters , decorated with magnificent capitals ; and about double that number of windows ; beside the beauties of the pavement . The oracle and sanctuary were lined with massy . gold , adorned with sculpture , and studded with diamonds , and other kinds of precious stones .