The Origin And References Of The Hermesian Spurious Freemasonry.

THE ORIGIN AND REFERENCES OF THE HERMESIAN SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY .

BY REV . GEO . OLIVER , D . D . CHAPTER XIII . THE RFIFERNCE TO THE DELIVERANCE OF

NOAH FROM THE ARK . ( Continued from page 403 . ) THE author of the Wisdom of Solomon has given a very graphic account of the feelings of mankind when the flood came upon the worldand they saw the

salva-, tion of Noah , and the certain destruction which awaited themselves . He says " they were troubled with terrible fear , and amazed with the strangeness of his salvation , so far beyond all that they looked for , ancl repenting ancl groaning in anguish

of spirit ; they said within themselves : This was he whom we had sometime in derision , and a proverb of reproach ; we fools accounted his life madness , and his end to be without honour . How is he numbered among the children of God , and his lot among the saints . "'" The wickedness of the world having at length attained to its climax , God spake

unto Noah saying , " the end of all flesh is come before me , and I will punish mankind with the earth . Make thee an ark of gophir wood , capable of containing thyself and family , as well as a pair of all living creatures , that the earth may be

replenished after the general lustration which I intend to bring upon it . " In pursuance of this command , a plan was communicated to Noah for the construction of the ark , so that it might be in no danger of perishing during the continuance

of those chaotic convulsions , by which the deluge would be produced aud accompanied . Should it be asked , why did God adopt this extraordinary machinery to destroy and repeople the earth 1 Could he not as

easil y have annihilated the globe and all that it contains 1 Was he not able to have struck it entirely out of the system , and

have created another terrestrial hall , and peopled it with a new race of men who should have retained no recollection , as the sons of Noah must have done , and served him with greater holiness and devotion ] The pious Freemason will answer , for the

reply is provided for him in the lecture of the Royal Ark Mariners Degree— " because he is a God of mercy . Because the Promise made at the fall of man was to the existing race , and not to a new creation ; and therefore this dispensation was

provided that His AVord might be stediasfc to his creatures , ancl be fulfilled to the utmost point . And it has been conjectured that the post diluvian world , even at its most extreme point of depravity , was never so essentially corrupt as was tho

world before the flood . " The dimensions of the Ark are calculated by cubits . Now , the Jews are not agreed about the exact measure of the cubit , which is usually considered to bo equal to IS inches . Bishop Cumberland

has given some strong reasons to prove that the Egyptian and Jewish cubit was nearer 21 inches . The Hebrews , however , used three sorts of cubits . Tho common

cubit was 18 inches , the sacred cubit 22 inches , and the geometrical cubit 9 feet . The Ark is supposed to have been constructed by the former measure , and therefore was in length 450 feet , in breadth 75 , and in height 45 feet . A scientific periodical asserts that 50 years theory , and

at least half that period of practical experience , has produced the following proportions as best adopted for vessels of any description . Length of keel ( 1 ) . Breadth of beam ( -jj ) . Dejith of vessel ( , ' u ) . The dimensions of Noah ' s Ark were exactly

identical with these proportions . Its length , 300 cubits , was equal to 1 ; its breadth , 50 cubits , to i ; and its height , 30 cubits , to TB . " The more judicious commentators make the dimensions of the Ark to bo the same

with those assigned by Moses ; notwithstanding others have enlarged them most extravagantly , as some Christian writers have also done . They likewise tell us that Noah was two years in building the Ark ; that it was framed of Indian plane tree ; that it was divided into three stories , - of which the lower was designed for the beasts , the middle one for the men ancl