Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
and Gideon and Jephtha , on the latter of whom Freemasonry expatiates largely , as his history constitutes an epoch in the Craft . The Stone remained by the ark in the tabernacle at Shiloh for three hundred years ; and was in the custody of a debased hierarchy when Samuel was presented and
consecrated to the Lord . It bore the ark in that disastrous removal from the tabernacle to the camp at Ebenezer , when the Israelites were defeated , and these holy articles fell into the hands of au idolatrous enemy . And here the insulted majesty of God displayed itself in terror . The idols fell down prostrate before the ark ; and into what place soever the Philistines removed it , in the extremity of their dread , the inhabitants of that place were smitten with divers diseases , and died in great numbers .
After having retained it seven months , the Philistines determined to send it back , as it produced nothing but calamity to their nation . It was received with great joy , and deposited in the house of Aminadab , as a place of temporary security . Here , however , it remained fifty years , until the eighth year of David ' s reign , when it was removed
to the residence of Obed Edom for three months , preparatory to its transmission to Jerusalem . And , between thirty and forty years from this period , the stone was placed , with solemn ceremonies , in the foundation of the temple on Mount Moriah , along with the foundation stones of Dan and Asher , beneath the centre of the Most Holy Place , where the ark was overshadowed by the Shekinah of God .
And here I cannot resist the impulse of quoting a very interesting passage from Clarkson's Essay on the Temple Church , as it bears upon the symbolical form of our Foundation Stone . — " Of the symbolic meaning of the architectural cube , handed down from the most remote freemasonry to the freemasonry of the present day , no person can entertain
the smallest doubt . It succinctly demonstrates what is meant by the word masonry ; namely , a moral axiom conveyed by an architectural form . In the symbolic language it meant divine truth—always equal , always based upon itself , and invariably just in its proportions , under whatever aspect it may be varied . It uniforml y had the same meaning , in
profane , or sacred , or Christian interpretation . Hence it was that the ark of the mysteries , placed mysteriously on one of the foci of an ellipse in the pyramidal great lodge ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions.
and Gideon and Jephtha , on the latter of whom Freemasonry expatiates largely , as his history constitutes an epoch in the Craft . The Stone remained by the ark in the tabernacle at Shiloh for three hundred years ; and was in the custody of a debased hierarchy when Samuel was presented and
consecrated to the Lord . It bore the ark in that disastrous removal from the tabernacle to the camp at Ebenezer , when the Israelites were defeated , and these holy articles fell into the hands of au idolatrous enemy . And here the insulted majesty of God displayed itself in terror . The idols fell down prostrate before the ark ; and into what place soever the Philistines removed it , in the extremity of their dread , the inhabitants of that place were smitten with divers diseases , and died in great numbers .
After having retained it seven months , the Philistines determined to send it back , as it produced nothing but calamity to their nation . It was received with great joy , and deposited in the house of Aminadab , as a place of temporary security . Here , however , it remained fifty years , until the eighth year of David ' s reign , when it was removed
to the residence of Obed Edom for three months , preparatory to its transmission to Jerusalem . And , between thirty and forty years from this period , the stone was placed , with solemn ceremonies , in the foundation of the temple on Mount Moriah , along with the foundation stones of Dan and Asher , beneath the centre of the Most Holy Place , where the ark was overshadowed by the Shekinah of God .
And here I cannot resist the impulse of quoting a very interesting passage from Clarkson's Essay on the Temple Church , as it bears upon the symbolical form of our Foundation Stone . — " Of the symbolic meaning of the architectural cube , handed down from the most remote freemasonry to the freemasonry of the present day , no person can entertain
the smallest doubt . It succinctly demonstrates what is meant by the word masonry ; namely , a moral axiom conveyed by an architectural form . In the symbolic language it meant divine truth—always equal , always based upon itself , and invariably just in its proportions , under whatever aspect it may be varied . It uniforml y had the same meaning , in
profane , or sacred , or Christian interpretation . Hence it was that the ark of the mysteries , placed mysteriously on one of the foci of an ellipse in the pyramidal great lodge ,