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Article HISTORY OF MASONRY. ← Page 3 of 10 →
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History Of Masonry.
constellations they formed the sphinx : ( his word , in the Chaldee di- *' alect , fignifies to overflow . ; and as the cause of the overflowing of the Nile was a riddle to the ancients , we hence perceive why the sphinx was said to be a propounder of riddles . The Egyptians excelled all nations also in their amazing labyrinths ; One of them covered the ground of a whole provincecontaining
ma-, ny fine palaces and a hundred temples , disposed in its several quar- . ters and divisions , adorned with columns of porphyry , and statues of their gods and princes ; which labyrinth the Greeks ^ long afterward , endeavoured to imitate , but never succeeded in their attempts . The successors of Mizraim , who stiled themselves the sons ' of antient kings , encouraged the royal art down to the last of the race , the
learned king Amasis . Histoiy fails us in the south and west of Africa ; nor have we any just accounts of the posterity of Noah ' s eldest son Japhet , who first ' replenished antient Scythia , from Norway eastward to America ; nor of the Japhetites in Greece and Italy , Germany , Gaul and Britain , & c . till their ori ginal skill was lost : but they were good
architects at their first migration from Shinar . Shem , the second son of Noah , remained at Ur of the Chaldees in Shinar , with his father and great grandson Heber , where they lived private , and died in peace ; but Shem ' s offspring travelled into the south , and east of Great Asia , viz . Elam , Ashur , Arphaxad , Lud , and Aramwith Sala the father of Pleber ; and propagated the arts as .
, far as China and Japan : while Noah , Shem , and Heber , employed themselves at Ur , in mathematical exercises , teaching Peleg , the father of Rehu , father of Serug , father of Nahor , father of Terah , father of Abraham , a learned race of mathematicians and geometriciansl
Thus Abraham , born two years after the death of Noah , had learned well the science and the art , before the God of G lory called him to travel from Ur of the Chaldees , and to lead a pastoral life in tents . Travelling , therefore , with his family and flocks throug h ' Mesopotamia , he pitched at Haran , where old Terah , in five years , died ; and then Abrahamaged 75 yearstravelled into the land of
, , the Canaanites : but a famine soon forced him down to Egypt ; from whence returning next year , he began to communicate his great skill to the chiefs of the Canaanites , for which they honoured him as a prince . Abraham transmitted his learning to all his offspring ; Isaac did the " same ; and that Jacob well instructed his family , we have a clear
example in his son Joseph , who retained such strong ideas of the early instructions received in his father's house , that he excelled the Egyptian masons in knowledge ; and , being installed their grand master by the command of Pharaoh , employed them in building many granaries f . nd store-cities throughout the land of Egypt , to preserve them from he direful effects of a long and severe famine , before the arrival of Jacob and his household .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
History Of Masonry.
constellations they formed the sphinx : ( his word , in the Chaldee di- *' alect , fignifies to overflow . ; and as the cause of the overflowing of the Nile was a riddle to the ancients , we hence perceive why the sphinx was said to be a propounder of riddles . The Egyptians excelled all nations also in their amazing labyrinths ; One of them covered the ground of a whole provincecontaining
ma-, ny fine palaces and a hundred temples , disposed in its several quar- . ters and divisions , adorned with columns of porphyry , and statues of their gods and princes ; which labyrinth the Greeks ^ long afterward , endeavoured to imitate , but never succeeded in their attempts . The successors of Mizraim , who stiled themselves the sons ' of antient kings , encouraged the royal art down to the last of the race , the
learned king Amasis . Histoiy fails us in the south and west of Africa ; nor have we any just accounts of the posterity of Noah ' s eldest son Japhet , who first ' replenished antient Scythia , from Norway eastward to America ; nor of the Japhetites in Greece and Italy , Germany , Gaul and Britain , & c . till their ori ginal skill was lost : but they were good
architects at their first migration from Shinar . Shem , the second son of Noah , remained at Ur of the Chaldees in Shinar , with his father and great grandson Heber , where they lived private , and died in peace ; but Shem ' s offspring travelled into the south , and east of Great Asia , viz . Elam , Ashur , Arphaxad , Lud , and Aramwith Sala the father of Pleber ; and propagated the arts as .
, far as China and Japan : while Noah , Shem , and Heber , employed themselves at Ur , in mathematical exercises , teaching Peleg , the father of Rehu , father of Serug , father of Nahor , father of Terah , father of Abraham , a learned race of mathematicians and geometriciansl
Thus Abraham , born two years after the death of Noah , had learned well the science and the art , before the God of G lory called him to travel from Ur of the Chaldees , and to lead a pastoral life in tents . Travelling , therefore , with his family and flocks throug h ' Mesopotamia , he pitched at Haran , where old Terah , in five years , died ; and then Abrahamaged 75 yearstravelled into the land of
, , the Canaanites : but a famine soon forced him down to Egypt ; from whence returning next year , he began to communicate his great skill to the chiefs of the Canaanites , for which they honoured him as a prince . Abraham transmitted his learning to all his offspring ; Isaac did the " same ; and that Jacob well instructed his family , we have a clear
example in his son Joseph , who retained such strong ideas of the early instructions received in his father's house , that he excelled the Egyptian masons in knowledge ; and , being installed their grand master by the command of Pharaoh , employed them in building many granaries f . nd store-cities throughout the land of Egypt , to preserve them from he direful effects of a long and severe famine , before the arrival of Jacob and his household .