CHAPTER XXIII.

JEWISH SYMBOLS.-FRINGES ON GARMENTS.

A PECULIAR Ordinance of the Jewish law was the making of FRINGES upon the borders of garments. This was an ordinance not only for the Priests, but for all the people, intended to remind them continually that they were holy unto the Lord. The law is in these words :- "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the border a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God" (Num. xv. 38-40). Everything here is sufficiently explained in the words of the law, except the blue ribband, the explanation of which must certainly be supposed to be the same with that of the blue in the vestments of the priests, blue being the accepted symbol of truth and universality.

CHAPTER XXIV.

JEWISH SYMBOLS.-CITIES OF REFUGE.

THE CITIES OF REFUGE of the Jews,-three on the east side of Jordan, and three on the west side-appointed by the law (Num. xxxv.)-that the man-slayer who had not committed wilful murder might flee to them and be safe from the Avenger of Blood, were doubtless typical or symbolic of the refuge which the sinner finds in the Great Saviour. It was requisite for safety that the man-slayer should remain in the City of Refuge to which he fled until the death of the High Priest; "but after the death of the High Priest," the law says, "the slayer shall return into the land of his possession " (Num. xxxv. 28). The connection thus established between the abode of the fugitive in the City of Refuge, and the term of the High Priest's life, was unquestionably symbolic, and leads to the thought of the Great High Priest who lives for ever, and by whose life the life of all who depend upon Him is for ever secured.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE ANCIENT CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN SYMBOLS.

THE use of symbols has extensively prevailed in the religions of all nations, except in Christianity, in which none are universally recognised and employed except those which are found in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the washing with water in Baptism, and the giving and receiving of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper. To these, however, it is enough merely to allude. They have no special connection with Freemasonry, as the symbols of the Jewish system have; for from these many of the symbols of Freemasonry have been derived, as becomes apparent when they are compared together, and when the early history of Freemasonry is considered, and its great development in connection with the building of Solomon's Temple. Nor does it seem necessary for our present purpose to give any account of the symbols employed in the various systems of heathenism, ancient or modern, and particularly in the ancient mysteries, the secrets of which were communicated, generally amid circumstances calculated to fill the heart with terror, to the initiated alone. Much learned research has been devoted to the subject of these mysteries; but an attempt to exhibit, in any satisfactory manner, the fruits of these labours, would occupy far more space than can be given to it in the present work, and would, moreover, withdraw our attention too long from its proper subject. It may be stated, however, in general terms, that whilst it has been made to appear not only probable but certain, that a knowledge of the existence of one supreme God, and of a future state, was preserved in some of the ancient mysteries, and indeed that the teaching of

these great truths was originally intended in them all; yet, on the other hand, these doctrines became gradually obscured and corrupted, and the mysteries declined in their teaching almost to the level of the vulgar polytheism, their secret rites becoming at the same time debased by the grossest licentiousness. That Freemasonry derived its origin from any of the mysteries of the ancient heathen nations, has been most conclusively disproved; it has been fully shown to have sprung from a better and purer source; yet, unquestionably, there was a connection between these mysteries and it; they having derived all that was really good in their teaching from that primitive religion, the doctrines of which were more fully developed in Judaism and exhibited in the Jewish symbolic institutions; whilst Freemasonry possesses these very doctrines maintained and taught in their purity, amidst that light of truth which shone in the land of Israel, when all the rest of the world was covered with darkness. It is not too much to affirm, that Freemasonry is the original institution from which all the mysteries were derived; for they exhibit evident traces of derivation from an association originally designed for the conservation of sacred truths, and for the co-operation of its members in the great objects of the increase and profitable application of knowledge. The agreement of the various ancient mysteries in certain essential points is clear proof of the common origin of them all; and these points are such as could only be found in a system of purity and truth. The argument from the mysteries in favour of the great antiquity of Freemasonry -of its existence before the primitive religion, divinely taught to "the world's grey fathers," had become generally corrupted, as the various forms of heathenism had sprung up-is of the same nature with that in favour of the truth and divine origin of the religion taught in the Bible, from the legends of all the heathen religions, and the evident reference which they have to doctrines which are revealed, and facts which are recorded, in the sacred Scriptures alone.

CHAPTER XXVI.

MASONIC SYMBOLS.-THE ALL-SEEING EYE.

THE All-seeing Eye may be regarded as the first and most important of the Masonic Symbols. It is presented to the contemplation of every Freemason whenever he enters a Lodge, and is ever before him all the while that he is there, reminding him of that first great truth which, as a Mason, he professes to believe-the existence of God, the great Architect of the universe, the Maker and Preserver of all things. He is reminded that God looks down from His exalted throne on all the host of heaven, on the sun and moon and stars; that He is everywhere present, and that nothing is hid from His view; that "the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He pondereth all his goings" (Prov. v. 21); that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. xv. 3); and he is encouraged also to consider that "the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, even upon them that hope in His mercy" (Ps. xxxiii. 18). There is a peculiar sacredness in the Lodge, which makes it specially proper that God's omniscience should be constantly remembered there; but the Mason is not taught to regard God's presence as limited to it, but as equally extending everywhere; and he is required, therefore, so to conduct himself as always remembering that God seeth him. There is an awfulness in the doctrine of God's omniscience, not less in that of His omnipotence. Does He weigh the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Does He hold the waters in the hollow of His hand, and take up the isles as a very little thing? Does He make the clouds His chariot, and walk upon the wings of the wind? Then,