in this emblematical sentence, Arrian tells us, that the people entertained such a high veneration for their temples, that they approached them on their bended knees; and in times of public calamity, the women prostrated themselves in the pronaos, sweeping the pavement with the hair of their heads.30 The poets, historians, and philosophers of Greece, all of whom had been initiated, unite in describing the Supreme Being as ONE, single, divine, and unapproachable essence, who created and governs the world.31 And in India the Supreme Deity is thus made to describe himself in one of the sacred books, which has been preserved and transmitted from an unknown period by successive hierophants of the spurious Freemasonry. "I was even at first, not any other thing; that which exists, the supreme; afterwards, I am that which is; and he who must remain am I."32

30 Montf. Ant. tom. ii. p. 37, 38.

31

31 Thus Macrobius, speaking of the Syrians, says, "They give the name of Adad, which signifies one, to the god on whom they bestow the highest adoration." And Lucan affirms, "Jupiter est, quodcumque vides, quodcumque moveris."

32 M. Anquetil de Perron, as we are informed by Mr. Orme (Hist. Mogul Empire, p. 239), says, that a translation was made in 1656, by command of the Sultan Darah, of an Oupunishat, extracted from the Vedas, which are deemed the oldest books in the world except the Jewish scriptures. This word means, "the Secret that is not to be revealed." And what was this great mystery which was so carefully concealed in those ancient books? Like the secret of the Egyptian and Grecian mysteries, it was nothing less than the unity of the godhead, under the name of RUDER; which is thus explained in another of their sacred books:-" The angels having assembled themselves together in heaven before Ruder, made obeisance, and asked him, 'O Ruder, what art thou?' Ruder replied,' were there

23

Thus, by the obscure traces of an original revelation preserved in the spurious Freemasonry of ancient times, the abstract knowledge and belief of one God the Creator, as represented in our Lodges by the letter G, was perpetuated amongst mankind," although it is remarkable that with the clearest admissions of the truth, the wisest men amongst the heathen were altogether ignorant of the value or practical utility of the knowledge they possessed.35 And this displays in

any other, I would describe myself by a similitude.-I always was, I always am, I always shall be. There is no other, so that I can say to you, I am like him. In this ME is the inward essence, and the exterior substance of all things. I am the primitive cause of all things that exist in the east, or west, or north, or south; above or below, it is I. I am all. I am older than all. I am the king of kings. My attributes are transcendent. I am truth. I am the spirit of creation. I AM THE CREATOR. I am almighty. I am purity. I am the first, and the middle, and the end. I am light.' Here we have a striking coincidence in sentiment with what is expressed in our own prophetical writings; but how inferior in sublimity and pathos does it appear, after reading the matchless passage in Isaiah xlv. 5, &c.

33 In the degree of Secret Master we find the following passage :"What signifies the letter G in the blazing star? Glory, grandeur, gomel. What do you mean by these three words? By glory I mean God. Grandeur signifies that a man may become eminent by virtue. Gomel is an Hebrew word which signifies thanksgiving. It is said to have been the first word that Adam spoke when he beheld Eve."

34 Zoroaster the Magian (Euseb. de Præp. Evan. 1. i.), says of God, that “he is the first, incorruptible, eternal, unmade, indivisible, most unlike everything, the leader or author of all good, unbribable, the best of the good, the wisest of the wise. He is also the Father of equitable law and justice, self-taught, perfect, and the only inventor of the natural holy."

35 The Abbe Barthelemy puts the following admission of this truth into the mouth of the high priest of Ceres.--" In our days we have

NN

striking colours the total insufficiency of human reason to penetrate the secret mysteries of the divine economy with regard to man; for after these sages had exhausted their ingenuity in searching into the attributes of God, they died, if not altogether without hope, at least in utter uncertainty whether their knowledge would improve their condition in another state of existence. Thus bewildered by the incoherent and contradictory speculations of philosophy, many wise men abandoned the inquiry, and waited for a teacher divinely authorised to communicate the attributes of the Deity and the true system of human salvation.

36

seen the existence of the Deity either totally denied, or called in question; that existence so long and uniformly attested by the consent of all nations. Some philosophers formally reject it; others overturn it by their principles. But all those reasoners who attempt to fathom the essence of that infinite being, or to account for his operations, necessarily lose themselves in the incomprehensibility of their subject. Ask them what is God? they will answer, that which has neither beginning nor end.—A pure spirit, an extremely subtle matter, air, a fire endowed with intelligence, the world-no, the soul of the world, to which it is united as the soul is to the body. He is the single principle of all things. He is the principle of good. Matter is the principle of evil. Everything is executed by his command, and under his eye." (Anachar. vol. iii. p. 149.)

36 They were in the precise situation which was foretold by an inspired prophet of the true God. (See Isaiah xxix. 10, 11, 12.)

37 The further consideration of this interesting subject, and a view of its application to Freemasonry, is deferred till we come to the Royal Arch (Lect. xliv.), when it will be resumed in a copious explanation of the Jewish Tetragrammaton, or Sacred Name of God, as enunciated in that sublime degree.

LECTURE XXII.

THE INUNDATIONS OF THE RIVER NILE.

In the time of Euclid the river Nile overflowed so far, that many of the dwellings of the people of Egypt were destroyed. Euclid instructed them in the art of making mighty walls and ditches, to stop the progress of the water; and by geometry measured out the land, and divided it into partitions, so that each man might ascertain his own property."-OLD MASONIC MANUSCRIPT.

"The inhabitants retiring into their towns on the warning of the northern wind and the dog-star, remained idle for two months or more, till the waters were perfectly drained. Therefore the prudence of the Egyptians, before the overflowing, chiefly consisted in observing the termination of the vernal winds, the return of the northerly, which began with the summer, and at last, the rising of the dog-star, which circumstance was to them the most remarkable point of the heavens." LA PLUCHE.

THE Tyrians, by their intercourse with the Greeks, had greatly improved their system of astronomy' and

1

Astronomy was first introduced into Greece by the Cyclops.Quicquid magnitudine suâ nobile est, Cyclopum manu dicitur fabricatum." The Cyclopians were of a size superior to the common race of mankind. Among the many tribes of the Amonians which went abroad, were to be found people, who were styled Anakim, and were descended from the sons of Anac, so that this history, though carried to a great excess, was probably founded in truth. They were also famous for architecture, which they introduced into Greece, as we are told by Herodotus. And in all parts, whither they came, they erected noble structures, which were remarkable for their height

geometry, and were therefore well qualified to perform any service within the range of those noble sciences. A very few years after the Babylonish captivity, Tyre produced an able Brother, whose name has descended to our times with so much honour, that many have ascribed to him the absolute invention of geometry.3 I refer to Euclid, whose fame has been transmitted in the authorised lectures of Masonry.

When Egypt was first peopled by Mizraim and his followers, they cast their seed into the ground at the usual season, and it produced a plentiful crop. But when the corn was nearly ripe and fit for the sickle, they were surprised to find the labours of the year destroyed by a fearful inundation of the river, which

and beauty." (Bryant. Anal. vol. ii. p. 225.) It has been argued, on good grounds, that the Cyclops were Titan Celtæ; and thus Fosbroke forms his analogies. (Encyc. of Ant. vol. i. p. 6.) "The abacus of the gate of the lions at Mycenae, which was built by the Cyclops, supports four balls, or circles, which are again surmounted by a second abacus, similar to the first. They are supposed to have been derived from the worship of Mithras, the lion being the symbol. The triangular form of the stone had a particular signification. The Cyclops were worshippers of fire, Vulcan, and the sun."

Tyre was at this time a place of princely magnificence, as appears from the 27th and 28th chapters of Ezekiel, which will repay the trouble of perusal.

3 It will be unnecessary to add that geometry was fully understood before the time of Euclid, although he improved and polished the science by his superior genius, and reduced it into such a systematic form as to render it more accessible to those who came after him. He was an expert Mason, and applied his geometry to the improvement of several other sciences.

"The Nile," says Tzetzes, quoted by Diodorus, "has had three names: the first was Ocean; the second Actos, on account of its rapidity; and the third Egyptus. The name of Nile is modern."