Masonry From Seleucus Nicator To The Death Of Herod The Great.

found them startled at the proposal , to deliver thorn from their fears , he told them that he would not take down the old temple till he had all the materials ready for erecting a new one in its place ; and , accordingly , he made all manner of preparations for it , employing therein 1 , 000 waggons for carrying off the stone and timber ; 10 , 000 masons besides labourers , to fit all things for the building , and marshalled them into lodges , under 1 , 000 Priests and Levitesskilful in all

, parts of architecture , to supervise and direct them in the work , himself acting as Grand Master , with his AVardens , Hillcl and Shammai , two learned Rabbins of great reputation . By these means , in two years' time , he had got all things ready for the building , and then , and not before , did he pull down the old temple to the very foundation . Thc foot stone of the new temple was levelled just 46 years before the first Passover of Christ

' s personal ministry , at whicli time tbe Jews told him ( John ii . 20 ) , "Forty and six years hath this temple been in building . " For although then forty-six years had passed from the time it was begun , yet that part which was most properly the temple , that is , that which contained the holy place , the Holy of Holies in the East , ancl the porch in the AVest , through which was the passage leading to bothwere finished at an amazing cost in the short

, space of one year and six months ; and the vest , designed by Herod , in eight years more , when thc fraternity celebrated the cope stone with great joy and in due form , and the king solemnized its dedication with great pomp and expense , and the day appointed for it falling in with the day of the year on when he first received

the crown , augmented the solemnity . Josephus describes the temple of Herod ( Lib . 15 , chap . 14 , ) as a most admirable and magnificent fabric of marble , set off with the greatest profusion of rich and costly decorations , and the finest building upon earth since the days of Solomon ; being much larger than thc temple of Zerubbabel , besides the advantage of thc Grecian style and the Corinthian order of architecture , with all its later improvements . " While Herod

was accomplishing these great works in Judea , the temple of Janus was shut up at Rome , being only the fifth time of that ceremonial since the building of that city , and at this time there was a general peace over the world , and so continued for 12 years together , which was a very proper prelude for ushering in his coming , who was the Prince of Peace ; for , at this periodJesns ChristEmanuelthe great architect of the Christian

, , , Church , was born at Bethlehem , of Judea . This transcendent event fell on the fourth year before the vulgar Christian era , the 4 , 000 year of Masonry , the twenty-third of King Herod , and the twenty-sixth of Augustus , after the conquest of Egypt-Some months after the birth of Christ , King Herod died , and notwithstanding his vast designs , and prodigious expense in Masonryhe died rich .

, During the long reign of Augustus , the Craft , we have seen , was well cultivated , and worthy craftsmen everywhere employed and encouraged , as well in Europe as in Asia , till his death , which happened at Nola , in Campania , after a glorious reign of fortyfour years .

Masonic Oration.

MASONIC ORATION .

[ THE following beautiful oration , delivered by the unfortunate Br . Dodd , then Grand Chaplain of England , at the dedication of Freemasons' Hall , on Thursday , the 23 rd of May , 177 G , the year previous to his execution , though no doubt well known to many of our older readers will , wc aro convinced , be read with pleasure by the younger brethren ] .

Most AVorshipful Grand Master aud brethren all—there never was a stranger paradox advanced , than that which thc gloomy philosopher of Malmesbury bath laboured to support , against the sociability of man . Every feeling of the human heart—every trait in the human character—every line in the history of civilized nature , serves to explode the idea , and to convince us " that man is a being formed for societ }' , ancl deriving from thence his highest

felicity and glory . " Nay , indeed , the history of mankind might well be considered as " the history of social life ; perpetually and invariably tending more and more to perfection . " It is not to he doubted that the mighty master hand , which with so much facility created from the dust of thc earth the two first inhabitants of it , could , with equal case , have created thousands of the same speciesand have given them all the means and

, advantages of perfect civilization . But he thought good to create two only , with an evident purpose to a gradual population of thc earth which he had formed ; and to a gradual advancement of those improvements for ivhich he wisely fitted the human mind ; and in which he as wisely determined to keep that mind continually occupied ,

llcucc , we perceive , that from this fertile and unexhausted storehouse of human intelligence and . invention , arts , sciences , and culture of every kind have proceeded , with gradual progress ; ancl man—peculiarly distinguished as he is from tho whole animal creation , by his boundless capability of invention and improvement—man hath still gone on to cultivate and adorn social life : and to beautify and bless that life with all which utility could

ask ; which reason could approve ; nay , or even the luxuriance of fancy itself , with charmed eyes , could delight in and admire . Immortality and glory crown the men—those truly great and distinguished ' worthies who have nobly added to tho advancement of human happiness by the advancement of civilization—who , by thc invention or improvement of arts and sciences—of religion and lawsbhuman or civil culture— -have been instrumental to

, y exalt the dignity and to enlarge the comforts of their species . Kings of the earth I who have furled with exulting triumph your standards , crimsoned in fellow creatures' blood—mighty conquerors—who have proudly built your fame on widespread ruin and fearful devastation- —how doth your false honour fade , and sink into darkness and obscurity , before the ever-living lustre of their genuine lory—those fathersfriendsand

benefacg , , tors of mankind— -those true heroes , who , like their just emblem , the sun , have perpetually diffused life , blessing , beneficence ; have existed only to instruct , improve , and humanize the world . Those , illustrious hearers , are the men whom we exult to call brethren ; and of this truly honourable fraternity it is , that Masonry , throughout all ages , hath been composed : an

institution—not , as the ignorant and uninstructcd vainly suppose , founded on unmeaning mystery and supported by mere good fellowship—but " au institution founded on eternal reason and truth ; whose deep basis is the civilization of mankind ; and whose everlasting glory it is to have the immoveable support of those two mighty pillars—science and morality . " In proof of what I advance , permit me just to touch , with a

passing pencil ; as the time , not as the unlimited nature of my subject will admit ; just to touch upon ; ( 1 . ) the antiquity ; ( 2 . ) the extent ; ( o . ) the comprehensiveness ; ( 4 . ) the excellence and utility of our royal art ; of whose daily advancing progress ! highly flourishing state and unquestionable merit , who can doub , a moment , that beholds this splendid edifice ; that considers this lovelhonourableand illustrious assemblage ?

y , , 1 . And permit me to observe that the brightest title suffers no diminution of lustre ; nay , that nobilitj' itself derives distinction , from thc support ancl countenance of an institution so venerable . For if antiquity merits our attention , and demands our reverence —where will the society be found that hath an equal claim ? Masons are well informed from their own private and interior recordsthat the building of Solomon ' s Temple is an important

, era , from whence they derive many mysteries of their art . Now , he it remembered , that this great event took place above a thousand years before the Christian era ; and consequently more than a century before Homer , the first of the Grecian poets , wrote ; ancl above five centuries before Pythagoras brought from the east his sublime system of truly Masonic instruction , to illuminate our western world .

But remote as is this period , we date not from thence the commencement of our art . For though it might owe to the wise and glorious King of Israel some of its many mystic forms and hieroglyphic ceremonies , yet certainly the art itself is coeval with man , the great subject of it . Nay , it may be well styled coeval with creation ; when the Sovereign Architect raised on Masonic principles this beauteous globe ; and commanded that master science ,

geometry , to lay the rule to the planetary world , and to regulate by its laws thc whole stupendous system , in just unerring proportion rolling round the central sun . 2 . And as Masonry is of this remote antiquity , so is it , as might reasonably be imagined , of boundless extent . AVe trace its footsteps in the most distant , the most remote ages and nations ofthe world . AA'e find it amongst the first and most celebrated civilizers

ofthe east ; ive deduce it regularly , from the first astronomers on the plains of Chaldea , to thc wise and mystic kings and priests of Egypt ; the sages of Greece , the philosophers of Rome : nay , and . even to the rude and gothic builders of a dark and degenerate age ; ivhose vast temples still remain amongst us , as monuments of their attachments to the Masonic arts , ancl as high proofs of a tastewhichhowever irregularmust always be esteemed awful

, , , and venerable . In truth , in no civilized age or country hath Masonry been neglected : the most illustrious characters—kings and nobles , sages and legislators , authors and artists—have thought it their glory to protect and to honour it . And , at the present hour , while we find the brotherhood successfully established in every kingdom of