Masonic Explanations Of The Numbers.

The ternary is the first of the unequal numbers . Tho triad , mysterious number , which plays so great a part iu the traditions of Asia and the 2 ) hilosoj > hy of Plato , image of the Supreme Being , includes in itself the ] iroperties of the two first numbers . It was , to the philosoimers , tho most excellent and favourite number ; a mysterious typerevered by

, all antiquity , and consecrated in the mysteries ; wherefore there are but three essential degrees among Masons ; who venerate , in the triangle , the most august mystery , that of the sacred triad , object of their homage and study . In geometry , a line cannot represent a body absolutely perfect . As little do two lines constitute a figure

demonstratively perfect . But three lines form , by their junction , thc triangle , or the first figure regularly perfect ; and this is why it has served aud still serves to characterize the Eternal , who , infinitely perfect in his nature , is , as Universal Creator , the first Being , and consequently the first perfection . The quadrangle or square , perfect as it appears , being but the second perfection , can iu nowise represent God , who is

the first . It is to be noted that the name . of God in Latin and French ( Deus , Dieu ) , has for its initial the delta or Greek triangle . Such is tlie reason , among ancients and moderns , for the consecration of the Trian gle , whose three sides are emblems of the three kingdoms , or nature , or God . In the centre is the Hebrew Jod ( initial of ffTrP ) , the

animating spirit or fire , the generative principle , represented by the letter G ., initial of the name of Deity in the languages of the north , and the meaning whereof is generation . The cipher 3 symbolizes the earth . It is a figure of the terrestrial bodies . The 2 , upper half of 3 , symbolizes the vegetable world ; the lower half being hidden from our

sight . 3 also referred to harmony , friendsl ^* , peace , concord , and temperance , and was so hi ghly esteemed among the Pythagoreans that they called it perfect harmony . Three , four , ten , and twelve , were sacred numbers among the Etrurians , as they were among the Jews , Egyptians , and Hindoos .

The name of Deit y in many nations consisted of three letters : among the Greeks , I . - . A . -. Q ,.: ; among the Persians , H . - . O . - . M . * . ; among the Hindoos , Aum ; among the Scandinavians , I . - . O . - . W . - . On the upright tablet of the king , discovered at Nimroud , uo less than five of the thirteen names of the great gods consist of three letters each—Aim ,

Sau , Yav , Bar , and Bel . The quarternary is the most perfect number , and the root of other numbers , and of all things . The tetrad expresses the first mathematical jroAver . 4 represents also the generative poAver from which all combinations are derived . The initiates considered it the emblem of Movement and the

Infinite , representing everything that is neither corporeal nor sensible . P ythagoras communicated it to his disciples as a symbol of the Eternal and Creative Princi ple , under the name of quarternary , the ineffable name of God , ivhich signifies source of every thing that has received existence ; and ivhich , in Hebrew , is composed of four letters .

In the quarternary we find the first solid figure , the universal symbol of immortality , the pyramid . Thc Gnostics claimed that the whole edifice , of their -science rested on a square whose angles were 2-y-,, Silence ; BaOoc , Profundity ; *'" t . Intelligence ; and AXifieia , Truth . For if the triangle , figured by the number 3 forms the triangular base of the

, Pyramid , it is unity whicli forms its point or summit . Lysis aud Tinueus , of Locria , said that not a single thing could be named ivhich did not deiiend on the quarternary as its root .

I here is , according to the Pythagoreans , a connection Jetweeu the gods and numbers ivhich constitutes a kind of uivniatiim called arithmomaucy . The soul is a number : it ^ moved of itself : it contains in itself tlie quarternary number . . J Matter being represented by the number 9 , or 3 times 3

and the Immortal S pirit having for its essential hieroglyphic the quarternary , or the number 4 , the sages said that man having gone astray and become entangled iu an inextricable labyrinth , in going from four to nine , the only way which he could take to emerge from these deceitful paths , these disastrous detours , and the abyss of evil into which he had 2 > lunged , was to retrace his ste 2 is , and go from nine to four .

The ingenious and mystical idea which caused the triangle to be venerated , was applied to the cipher 4 ( 1 ) . It was said that it expressed a living being , I , bearer of the triangle A , the emblem of God ; i . e ., man bearing with himself a Divine principle . Four was a divine number ; it referred to the Deity , and many ancient nations gave God a name of four letters ; as

the Hebrews , nirp , the Egyptians , Amun , the Persians , Sura , the Greeks , 0 EOS , aud the Latins , Deus . This was the tetragrammaton of the Hebrews , and the Pythagoreans called it tetractys , and sivore their most solemn oath by it . So , too , Odin among the Scandinavians , ZEYS among the GreeksPhta among the EgyptiansThoth among the

Phoe-, , nicians , aud As-ur aud Nebo among the Assyrians . The list mi ght be indefinitely extended . The number 5 was considered as mysterious , because it was compounded of the binary , symbol of the false and double , and the ternary , so interesting in its results . It thus energetically ex 2 iresses the state of imperfection , of order and

disorder , of happiness and misfortune , of life aud death , which we see upon the earth . To the mysterious societies it offered the fearful image of the bad jirinciple , bringing trouble into the inferior' order- —in a word , the binary acting iu tho ternary . Under another aspect it was the emblem of marriage ;

because it is comjj-osed of 2 , tho first equal number , and of 3 , the first unequal number . Wherefore Juno , the goddess of marriage , had for her hieroglyphic the number 5 . Moreover it has oue of the properties of the number nine , that of reproducing itself , when multiplied by itself : there

being always a 5 on the right hand of the product ; a result which led to its use as the symbol of material changes . The ancients represented the world by the number o . A reason for it , given by Diodorus , is , that it represents earth , water , air , fire , and ether or sjiirit . Thence the origin of leev-e ( 5 ) and liar , the universe , as the whole .

The number 5 designated the universal quintessence , and symbolized , by its form , <; , the vital essence , the animating sjjirit , which flows [ serpentat ] through all nature . Iu fact , this ingenious cipher is the union of the tivo Greek accents '' , placed over those VOAVCIS which ought to be or ought not to be asjiirated . Tho first sign ' bears tlie name of potent

spirit ; and signifies the Superior Sjiii-ifc , the Spirit of God aspirated ( spiratus ) , respired by man . The second sign ' is styled mild spirit , and represents the secondary sjiirit , the spirit purely human . The triple triangle , a figure of five lines uniting in five pointswas among the Pythagoreans au emblem of health .

, Ifc is the pentalpha of Pythagoras , or peutaugle of Solomon ; has five lines aud five angles , aud is among Masons the outline or origin of the fiveqiointed star , and an emblem of fellowship . The number li was , in the ancient mysteries , a striking emblem of nature ; as presenting thc six dimensions of all

bodies ; the six lines which make up their form , viz .: the four lines of direction , toivards the north , south , east , and west ; with the two lines of height and depth , responding to the zenith and nadir . The sages applied tiro senary to tho physical man ; while the septenary ivas , for therir , the symbol of his immortal spirit .

The hieroglyphical senary ( thc double equilateral triangle ) is the symbol of Deity . 6 is also an . emblem of health , and the symbol of justice , because ifc is thc first perfect number ; that is , thc first whose