Masonic Celestial Mysteries.

rent a kid , and he had nothing in his hand . " * Samson , be it remembered , means " sun , " and the sun rises in his strength in Judah ' s Aries , and there Samson slew the young lion . The Ninevite

Fig . 1 . records show us the figure of Samson or Hercules strangling the young lion . The Greeks also represent Samson or Hercules in like manner , and he certainly has nothing in his hand ; but as the club is introduced , he might have ' used it in the conflict , had he so desired . The young lion being

killed , it ascended to heaven with the scaraboeics and other objects , and there it is as Leo Major . It will presently be explained that Leo Major and Leo Minor cover the Gemini , Castor and Pollux * and in the astronomical Gemini is a lion ' s skin

with Orion ; thus these two brothers may be allegorically called lion-like men , and Benaiah " slew two lion-like men ; also , he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day . " * The snow would indicate winter , and there at the winter solstice is

Samson or Hercules with the lion's skin as coveringto keep him warm , the brilliant of which skin is Algothi . The kid that Samson the Sun would have rent had he been with it is Lambda * the evening Passover lamb , heretofore fully

described , and , as stated , this lamb is at AR 76 ° 36 ' , opposite which precisely is Algothi at AR 256 ° 36 ' . So the sun rising at either position would be sun set to the opposite . " Behold , the lion of the trib & of Juda , the root of David hath prevailed to open the book . " It must be noticed that " Juda " is

here mentioned , and not "Judah "—they are precisely opposite to each other . As seen , Judah is Aries , and is the Sabbatical month of the civil year , whereas Juda or Judas is Libra , and there is Algothi in Libra the Sabbatical month of the

sacred year . " Judas , called Maccabeus , was like a lion . "t In the Masonic certificate—Irish—on the right side is a globe , the sub-divisions , being visible , denote light . Alongside the globe are twovolumes—the Old and New Testament generally

bound together— andnomaninheaven , norin earth , neither under the earth , was found worthy to open and to read the book , neither to look therein . " ^ On the opposite side of the certificate is another

globe , representing utter darkness and the heavenly book is open , and there , in Tishree ( libra ) it is sunset ; and night—there is Hercules or Sampson , the lion of the tribe of Juda , the root , as will be explained , of David opposite . The lion has proceeded to

open and read the book , and to loose the seven seals , when the heavenly brethren assemble toopen their lodge . And here is the Apprentice Mason exalted as in olden times . It is taken from Montfaucon's Antiquities , plate 115 , vol . 1 .

Mythological Apollo is derived from theological David . Both were celebrated harpists and singers of sacred songs . In the second Vase Room of the British Museum is a picture said to have been ' dug up among the ruins of Pompeii . The public