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Article A DEFENCE OF MASONRY, ← Page 5 of 8 →
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A Defence Of Masonry,
Whether this fancy owes its origin to the number three , because containing a beginning , middle , and end , it s . eras to sig ify all things in the world ; or whether to the esteem the Pythagoreans and other philosophers had for it , on account of their triad , or trinity ; or , lastly , ( to mention no more opinions ) to its aptness to signify the power of all the gods , who were divided int . > three classes , ccelestial , ' terrestrialand infernalI shall leave to be determined by others .
, ; The gods had a particular esteem for this number , as Virgil asserts : Numero Deus impare gaudet . * U : ict { ual numbers please ihe Gods . We find three fatal sistersthree furiesthree names and appearances
, , of Diana . Tria virginis ora Diana :, —Three different forms does chaste Diana bear . Virgil . vEneid . lib . 4 . The sons of Saturn , among whom the empire of the world was divided , were three : and , for the same reason , we read of Jupiter ' s fuhmn trifdum , or three-forked thunderbolt ; and of Neptune ' s trident , with several other tokens of the veneration they bore to this
particular number . II . A particular ceremony belonging to the oath ( as declared by the Dissector ) bears a near relation to a form of swearing among the ancients , mentioned by a learned author : f ' The person , who took the oath , was to be upon his bare knees , with a naked sword pointed
to his throat , invoking the sun , moon , and stais to be witnesses to the truth of what he swore . III . A part of the Mas . ons ' . Catechism has g iven occasion to a great deal of idle mirth and ridicule , as the most trifling and despicable sort of jargon that men of common sense ever submitted to . The bans box and the toxo line have given wonderful diversion : I think there are some verses in the last chapter of the book of
Ecclesiastes , which , in some manner , resemble this form of expression : I shall transcribe them , with the opinion of the learned upon them , without making any particular application , viz . ' In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble ; and the grinders cease , because they are few ; and those that look out at the windows be darkened ; and the doors shall be shut in the streets ;
when the sound of the grinding is low ; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird ; and all the daughters of music shall be brought low : or ever the silver cord be loosed ; or the golden bowl be broken ; or the pitcher be broken at the fountain ; or the wheel broken at the cistern . ! ' | The expositors § upon these verses are almost unanimous in their
opinion , that they ought to be thus explained , viz . The KEEPERS of the house are the shoulders , arms , and bands of an human body ; the GRINDERS are the teeth ; THOSE that look out at the WINDOWS are the two eyes ; the DOORS are the lips ; the STREETS are the mouth ; the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Defence Of Masonry,
Whether this fancy owes its origin to the number three , because containing a beginning , middle , and end , it s . eras to sig ify all things in the world ; or whether to the esteem the Pythagoreans and other philosophers had for it , on account of their triad , or trinity ; or , lastly , ( to mention no more opinions ) to its aptness to signify the power of all the gods , who were divided int . > three classes , ccelestial , ' terrestrialand infernalI shall leave to be determined by others .
, ; The gods had a particular esteem for this number , as Virgil asserts : Numero Deus impare gaudet . * U : ict { ual numbers please ihe Gods . We find three fatal sistersthree furiesthree names and appearances
, , of Diana . Tria virginis ora Diana :, —Three different forms does chaste Diana bear . Virgil . vEneid . lib . 4 . The sons of Saturn , among whom the empire of the world was divided , were three : and , for the same reason , we read of Jupiter ' s fuhmn trifdum , or three-forked thunderbolt ; and of Neptune ' s trident , with several other tokens of the veneration they bore to this
particular number . II . A particular ceremony belonging to the oath ( as declared by the Dissector ) bears a near relation to a form of swearing among the ancients , mentioned by a learned author : f ' The person , who took the oath , was to be upon his bare knees , with a naked sword pointed
to his throat , invoking the sun , moon , and stais to be witnesses to the truth of what he swore . III . A part of the Mas . ons ' . Catechism has g iven occasion to a great deal of idle mirth and ridicule , as the most trifling and despicable sort of jargon that men of common sense ever submitted to . The bans box and the toxo line have given wonderful diversion : I think there are some verses in the last chapter of the book of
Ecclesiastes , which , in some manner , resemble this form of expression : I shall transcribe them , with the opinion of the learned upon them , without making any particular application , viz . ' In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble ; and the grinders cease , because they are few ; and those that look out at the windows be darkened ; and the doors shall be shut in the streets ;
when the sound of the grinding is low ; and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird ; and all the daughters of music shall be brought low : or ever the silver cord be loosed ; or the golden bowl be broken ; or the pitcher be broken at the fountain ; or the wheel broken at the cistern . ! ' | The expositors § upon these verses are almost unanimous in their
opinion , that they ought to be thus explained , viz . The KEEPERS of the house are the shoulders , arms , and bands of an human body ; the GRINDERS are the teeth ; THOSE that look out at the WINDOWS are the two eyes ; the DOORS are the lips ; the STREETS are the mouth ; the