(and who is free from them ?) mention them not; but in all your commerce with your brethren or the world, " supply the wants and relieve the necessities of your brethren to the utmost of your power and ability; on no account wrong them or see them wronged, but timely apprize them of approaching danger; and view their interest as inseparable from your own."*

* Charge to the Second Degree.

T

CHAP. X.

CONTAINING FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SEVEN YEARS.

VIEW OF MASONRY FROM THE DELIVERANCE TO THE DEDICATION OF KING SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

In every society, however constituted, some form of government is necessary to preserve a spirit of subordination amongst its members; and to prevent it from degenerating into contempt or oblivion. In this respect also Masonry supports its claim to respect and veneration. An argument favourable to its beneficial tendency may be deduced from the excellence of its government; which is founded upon a pattern the most pure and perfect; the government of the Jewish and Christian churches.

In the early ages of the world, every head of a family united in his own person the threefold office of priest, prophet, and king; and it was not until the Mosaic dispensation was revealed that the concerns of religion were conducted by three distinct officers, or orders of men. Masonry,

in like manner, was transmitted, during the antediluvian ages, without the regular government which afterwards distinguished it.

At the Flood there is an appearance of something like a regular government, consisting of three distinct officers, who unitedly formed the head of the establishment, when organized in DUE FORM. But it was not until the erection of the tabernacle that our craft was reduced to the .perfect form which it has ever since retained. Moses, when, by the revelation of God, he was dividing the priesthood into three distinct heads, modelled Masonry after the same fashion; himself being grand master, and Bezaleel and Aholiab grand wardens.

The false religions, which, indeed, were originally but perversions of the true, acknowledged the same form of government; because the ingenuity of man could not discover any form more firm and permanent than that which had been revealed from heaven. Hence Thoth, the great founder of idolatry, after the Flood, was surnamed Ter maximus; because he was Philosophus maximus, Sacerdos maximus, and Rex maximus.*

After prophecy had ceased the teachers of Israel continued to be distinguished under three several appellations, each possessing distinct attributes ;

* Alex. Neapolit. l. ii. c. 6.

viz. wisemen, scribes, and disputers. These were comprized by St. Paul in a single verse, when writing to the Corinthians : "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer?"*

This number, it should seem, constitutes perfection; for the Christian church, of which all other dispensations were only types and shadows, has been placed under the same system of government. Jesus Christ united the threefold office of the ancient patriarchs in his own person, for he was a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedec; who was no other, according to the best authorities, than the patriarch Shem, the son of Noah, who was king, priest, and prophet of his family; and in that capacity blessed Abraham, who was his child in the ninth generation. These offices, however, were distributed by our Saviour; who divided the priestly dignity amongst three distinct orders of men, in imitation of the temporary dispensation of Moses.

Hence if the government of the Jewish church, established under the immediate superintendence of God, or if the Christian church, modelled by Jesus Christ, be considered as specimens of perfection, the same must be admitted of FreeMasonry; as one of its orders, confessedly not Christian, is governed by a king, a priest, and a prophet, invested with an equal dignity; and the rest of Masonry, which inculcates the only true

religion, is directed by a mode of government equally perfect, and equally unobjectionable.

When Moses had escaped from the snares of the Egyptians he conducted his charge towards Mount Sinai, where he had received his commission from God; intending to offer sacrifice on that spot, in obedience to the divine command. But his progress was obstructed by the Amalekites, who entertained many jealous fears respecting the movements of such a large body of people; against whom, however, they hoped to wage successful. war, encumbered as they were with women and children, flocks and herds. Four other nations joined in this enterprize against the Israelites; tempted, most probably, by the hope of an easy conquest and abundant spoils.

The Providence of God had prepared the Israelites for this exigency, by casting up the dead bodies of the Egyptians on the shores of the Red Sea. For the Israelites had retired from Egypt without weapons or means of defence against the numerous enemies they would probably have to contend with, before they should be peaceably settled in the promised land. They spoiled the Egyptians of their offensive and defensive armour, and thus became prepared to meet every obstruction which might impede their design of entering into Canaan.

Thus provided, Moses placed his army under