"The ever-memorable occasion of the dedication of the temple is celebrated in out .odges. It is the groundwork of one of its most beautiful degrees. It has been celebrated for thousands of generations, and is hallowed in the memory of the craft."

SCOTT'S ANALOGY

THE sixth degree, or that of Most Excellent Master, is as intimately connected with the third or Master Mason's as the Mark Master's is with that of the Fellow Craft. The Master Mason's degree is intended, in its symbolic design, to teach the doctrines of the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul. But this corruption can only put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality by a passage through the portals of the grave. And here the degree of Most Excellent Master comes forward with its beautiful symbolism, to represent the man prepared to enter upon that eventful passage. In the preceding degrees the duties of life have been delineated under various types-the virtuous craftsman has been assiduously laboring to erect within his heart a spiritual temple of holiness, fit for the habitation of Him who is the holiest of beings. If the moral and religious

precepts of the order have been observed, stone has been placed upon stone-virtue has been added to virtue--and the duties of one day have been scrupulously performed, only that the duties of the next may be commenced with equal zeal.

And now all is accomplished-the spiritual edifice which it was given to man to erect-that "house not made with nands, eternal in the heavens"—upon the construction of which he has been engaged, day by day and hour by hour, from his first entrance into the world-has become a stately and finished building, and there remains no more to be done, save to place the cape-stone, DEATH, upon its summit.

This the last condition of man on earth, when all his labors have been completed-when he is about to lay aside for ever all his projects of ambition, of pleasure, or of business-to dissolve the ties which have bound him to the companions of his toils, and to go forth a wanderer on the unknown shores of eternity—to abandon, as useless, the implements of this world's work, and to leave the temple of life-is the solemn scene which is symbolically commemorated in the impressive ceremonies of the Most Excellent Master's degree.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

THE legend or tradition upon which the degree of Most Excellent Master is founded, is thus recorded in the Book of Constitutions:*

"The temple was finished in the short space of seven years and six months, to the amazement of all the world; when the cape-stone was celebrated by the fraternity with great joy. But their joy was soon interrupted by the sudden

* Anderson's Constitutions, second edition, 1738, p. 14.

death of their dear master, Hiram Abif, whom they decently interred in the lodge near the temple, according to ancient usage.

"After Hiram Abif was mourned for, the tabernacle of Moses and its holy relics being lodged in the temple, Solomon, in a general assembly, dedicated or consecrated it by solemn prayer and costly sacrifices past number, with the finest music, vocal and instrumental, praising Jehovah, upon fixing the holy ark in its proper place between the cherubim; when Jehovah filled his own temple with a cloud of glory."

The ceremonies commemorated in this degree, refer, therefore, to the completion and dedication of the temple. It is reasonable to suppose that, when this magnificent edifice was completed, King Solomon should bestow some distinguished mark of his approval upon the skillful and zealous builders who had been engaged for seven years in its construction. No greater token of that approbation could have been evinced than to establish an order of merit, with the honorable appellation of “Most Excellent Masters,” and to bestow it upon those of the craftsmen who had proved themselves to be complete masters of their profession. It was not conferred upon the whole body of the workmen but was confined, as Webb remarks, to the meritorious and praiseworthy-to those who, through diligence and industry, had progressed far toward perfection. Such is the traditional history of the origin of the degree. And it is still retained as a memorial of the method adopted by the wise King of Israel to distinguish the most faithful and skillful portion of his builders, and to reward them for their services by receiving and acknowledging them as Most Excellent Masters, at the completion and dedication of the temple.

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON.

As this degree refers to that important period when the temple erected by King Solomon for the worship of Jehovah was completed, and presented in all its glory and beauty to an admiring people, it is proper that the masonic student should here receive some brief details of this magnificent structure.

Mount Moriah, on which the foundations of the temple were laid, was a lofty hill, situated almost in the very northeast corner of the city of Jerusalem, having Mount Zion on the south-west, with the city of David and the king's palace on its summit, and Mount Acra on the west, whereon the lower city was built.

The summit of the mountain on which the temple was built, which, although not very high, was exceedingly steep, occupied a square of five hundred cubits, or two hundred and fifty yards on each side, being encompassed by a stone wall one thousand yards in extent, and twelve yards and a half high.

King Solomon commenced the erection of the temple on the second day of the Hebrew month Zif, in the year of the world 2992, which date corresponds to Monday, the first of April, 1012 years before the Christian era.

The foundations were laid at a profound depth, and consisted, as Josephus informs us, of stones of immense size and great durability. They were closely mortised into the rock, so as to form a secure basis for the superincumbent structure.

The building does not appear to have been so remarkable for its magnitude as for the magnificence of its ornaments and the value of its materials. LIGHTFOOT gives us the best idea of its size and form when he says that the porch was one hundred and twenty cubits, or two hundred and ten feet high and that the rest of the building was in height but thirty cubits, or fifty-two feet and a half, so that the form of the