PILLARS OF THE PORCH. 417 book, would be together 36 cubits: the difference of half a cubit in a colunin of that height might be swallowed up in the chapiter or base. The whole height, adding the capital of five cubits, according to different authorities, would be 35 or 40 feet. They were adorned with a considerable depth of lily work, and on the projecting part of the capital there were, in several rows, two hundred pomegranates, which, with other beautiful ornaments, crowned the head of each pillar as it rose in majesty before this holy house. These pillars Solomon ordered to be placed in the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.' Although these names have occasioned much dispute, stability is the fundamental idea they embody; the two names together form a kind of sentence, as the marginal interpretation reads; or it may be otherwise rendered-Jachin, it shall stand-Boaz, in strength. There have been various mystical speculations about these pillars and their names, which it is not necessary here to enter into. The walls of the temple were covered with fir and cedar; the latter, however, predominating to such a degree that the whole was said to be covered with it. 'All was cedar, there was no stone seen' (1 Kings vi. 18). Carving of plants and flowers beautified the woodwork. A partition separated the oracle from the holy place; it had doors of olive-tree, offering to the eye carvings of cherubims, palm-trees, and open flowers (ver. 32); a curtain suspended by gold rings and chains veiled the interior from the gaze of mortal, and over the central point of its mysterious depth the wings of cherubims met, indicating the care with which the heavenly powers watch over God's covenant and law. In Exod. xxv. we find the command given that two were to be made of pure gold, and overshadow the mercy-seat. The two belonging to the temple were of olive-wood. They were as colossal as some of the Assyrian figures, and there was a squareness about them, each covering a space of 10 418 FURNITURE OF THE TEMPLE. cubits, in height and length. The two thus rising either 15 or 17 feet, having their fore and hind wings extending over an equal portion of the breadth of the chamber, meeting and filling it from side to side (ver. 27), must have had a very imposing appearance. The small engravings we are accustomed to see deceive us in this matter. We must strive to paint it on the mind's eye in order to conceive of it correctly, and spread a canvas of the appropriate size before the imagination. Near the entrance of the oracle was placed the altar of incense, often called the golden altar. Here also, as in the tabernacle, were the golden candlesticks with seven branches, and the table of shewbread. The light of the holy place was wholly, or mainly, derived from the seventy lights; for it appears there were ten of them made according to their form,' which must mean that given in Exod. xxv., and therefore having three branches on each side of the shaft, thus making with the central light the number we have named. Five of these were placed on the right, and five on the left, before the oracle. The whole temple of which we have been treating was overlaid with gold in a style of extraordinary magnificence. The accounts given in the history baffle all conception. When the reader has occupied himself with only a small part of the details, he finds himself bewildered with their richness and variety. Nor, in view of the statement that Solomon made gold and silver at Jerusalem as plentiful as stones (2 Chron. i. 15), can we, as some seem disposed to do, suspect the writers of exaggeration. It is worthy of remark that the building of King Solomon's temple was begun on the 2nd day of the month of Zif, corresponding with the 21st day of April, in the year of the world 2992, or 1012 years before the Christian era, and was completed in little more than seven years, on the 8th day of the month of Bul, or the 23rd of October in the year 2999, during which period no sound. of axe, hammer, or other metallic tool was heard, every DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 419 thing having been cut and framed in the quarries or on Mount Lebanon, and brought, properly carved, marked, and numbered, to Jerusalem, where they were fitted in by means of wooden mauls. So of Freemasonry it has always been the boast, that its members perfect the work of edification by quiet and orderly methods, without the hammer of contention, the axe of division, or any tool of mischief.' The excellency of the craft in the days of our Grand Master Hiram was so great, that although the materials were prepared so far off, when they were put together at Jerusalem each piece fitted with such exactness, that it appeared more like the work of the Great Architect of the universe than of human hands. The Temple thus described retained its pristine splendour but thirty-three years, when it was plundered by Shishak, king of Egypt (1 Kings xiv. 25, 26; 2 Chron. xii. 9). After this period it underwent sundry profanations and pillages, and was at length utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, A. M. 3416, B.C. 588, after having stood, according to Usher, four hundred and twenty-four years, three months, and eight days. CHAPTER XXVI. THE NAME. THE ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF THE ORDER. THE SYMBOLIC COLOURS OF FREEMASONRY.-THE DATES OF MASONRY. 'Discover not a secret to another, lest he that heareth it put thee to shame.'-PROV. XXV. 9. ON THE NAME. 'FATHER OF ALL, in every age, In every clime adored, By saint, by savage, and by sage, THE English version of the Old Testament Scriptures invariably translates the name of God as THE LORD, although in the Hebrew it assumes different forms; the more usual is Jehovah; thus it appears in the Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, and also in many instances in the Psalms. From the time when God first announced His Name to Moses at the burning bush, and said, 'This is My Name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations' (Exod. iii. 15), it was the only name by which He was known to the Israelites. Although God had thus declared His Name, it was considered unlawful to pronounce it except on the great day of atonement, when it was only uttered by the high priest in the Holy of Holies, amid the sound of trumpets and cymbals, which prevented the people from hearing it. This custom is supposed to have arisen originally from a wish to prevent its becoming known to the surrounding THE INEFFABLE NAME. 421 nations, and being by them blasphemously applied to their idols. In consequence of the people thus abstaining from its utterance, the true pronunciation was lost. It will be readily seen that as the Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, the vowel sounds having to be supplied by the reader, if not previously made acquainted with the correct pronunciation, he was of course unable to pronounce the word. In this way it was that during the captivity the word was lost. The fundamental principle of Masonry is the knowledge of the True and Living God; hence His Name in varied form, as symbolic of His attributes, appears in the entire system. JEHOVAH is His ineffable and mysterious Name. 'I appeared,' says the Almighty, 'unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the Name of God Almighty (Al-Shaddai), but by My Name JEHOVAH was I not known to them' (Exod. vi. 3). SHADDAI signifies the Self-sufficient (or All-bountiful); JEHOVAH signifies the Self-existent, He who gives being and existence to others. There has been much written on this passage, which, as it stands in our translation, is taken to be a direct contradiction to several instances in which this Name appears to have been known long before Moses, and applied to the Supreme object of worship. The first woman, Eve, when she had got' her son Cain, appears to have designated the Deity by the name JEHOVAH; and in the same chapter (Gen. iv. 26) Seth called his son Enos-then the Lord was invoked under His Name JEHOVAH. In what sense, then, could God assert to Moses that his ancestors had not known Him by His Name JEHOVAH? Mr. Charles Taylor, in his English edition of Calmet's Dictionary, offers an elucidation which certainly clears away the difficulty. The word used in the original is (nodati), the root of which is to know; but knowledge has various degrees, and he cites several instances. of the different degrees of strength the verb and its |