the cement of civil society. Without the exercise of this virtue, universal confusion would ensue, lawless force would take away the barriers of equity, and social intercourse would no longer exist. And as justice, in a great measure, constitutes the really good man, so it ought to be the perpetual study of the accomplished Mason never to deviate from the minutest principle thereof.

ARGUMENT VII.

ON THE MODEL OR GROUND-PLAN OF THE TEMPLE; JACOB'S LADDER; THE GRAND ARCHITECT'S SIX PERIODS; AND JEPTHA'S BATTLE WITH THE EPHRAIMITES.

1

FROM the earliest period, mankind ever had the most convincing proofs of the existence of a Supreme Being. Yet in the most ancient and best historians we do not find it recorded that any place was set apart for worshipping the true God, till after the happy deliverance of the Children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage; when the time was then at hand that the Almighty revealed himself amongst men in so wonderful a manner that made his name glorious throughout all nations.

He did not lead the Children of Israel through the land of the Philistines, although a much nearer way, but through the wilderness, wherein he showed his great wisdom and mercy; as the spirit of liberty being yet in embryo, their hearts might fail them

1 But though all nations acknowledged the existence of a supreme and superintending power, none but the Jews worshipped him truly. All other people, as Minucius Felix says, "Conditorem suum aut ducem inclytum, aut reginam pudicam, sexu suo fortiorem, aut alicujus muneris, vel artis repertorem venerabatur, ut civem bonæ memoriæ. Sic defunctis præmium, et futuris dabatur exemplum."-EDITOR.

at the appearance of so warlike a people as the Philistines, and they might return to their former slavery.

He therefore commanded his faithful servant Moses to conduct them through the wilderness, to the borders of the Red Sea, in their way to the promised land; which made Pharaoh, king of Egypt, regret that he had let so many useful slaves (as he was pleased to term them) depart his dominions; and he ordered six hundred chosen chariots to attend him, with all the company of his captains that were in Egypt, for he was determined to bring them back to their former captivity, or perish in the attempt.

The Children of Israel finding themselves confined by the Red Sea in the front, by impassable mountains on the right and left, and the Egyptian army in the rear, fear overcame them, and in their despair, they murmured sorely against Moses, saying, "Was there not ground in Egypt for our interment, that thou hast brought us away to die in the wilderness?"

Moses spake with comfort unto them, and told them to fear nothing, for on that day they should observe the salvation of the Lord, who would fight for them; and in order to prove his assertion, he, by God's command, stretched forth his hand over the waves of the Red Sea, and caused a strong easterly wind to blow, which divided the waters so that there was apparently a wall on each side,

while the Children of Israel marched through on dry ground.

Pharaoh perceiving this, his heart was hardened, and he attempted to follow them, but the Almighty continued his protection, by a miraculous pillar, which had two wonderful effects, one was of light to the Israelites by night, to conduct them through the Red Sea, and the other as a pillar of cloud and smoke by day, which was darkness to the Egyptians, and prevented their pursuit; he also caused a further plague amongst them, for with a mighty hand and out-stretched arm, he sent an angel by night to strike off their chariot-wheels, which made them to drag so heavily, that the two armies came not together all that night.

When morning dawn appeared, Pharaoh perceiving the hand of God working sorely against him, attempted to return; but it was then too late, for by that time the Israelites had gained the opposite shore, when Moses desired them to look back upon their long-dreaded enemy the Egyptians, for in future they should see them no more; he then, by God's command, stretched forth his hand a second time over the Red Sea, which caused the waters to return into their primitive channel, and overwhelmed Pharaoh and all his host. And in

2 Chæremon tells a curious story about the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt. "The goddess Isis appeared to King Amenophis in a vision, and chid him severely for suffering her temple to be ruined in the war; and Phritiphantes, a holy scribe, suggested it to the king, that if he would clear Egypt of all

commemoration of so happy and glorious a deliverance, Moses marched three days into the wilderness, singing hymns, praises, and thanksgivings to the Most High; and they also erected a tent or tabernacle in the wilderness, agreeably to the plan given to Moses on Mount Sinai; which afterwards proved to be the model or ground-plan of that magnificent temple, built at Jerusalem by King Solomon, with such regal splendour and unparalleled refulgent lustre, as far surpassed all former exertions of human skill.

OF JACOB'S LADDER.-Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, well knowing there was a peculiar blessing divinely confided to her husband, was resolved to obtain it for her youngest son Jacob, although by birthright it belonged to Esau, her first-born; she no sooner, by fraud, had obtained this blessing for Jacob, but he was obliged to flee from the wrath of his brother, who proposed in his mind to slay him as he journeyed to Padanaram, in the land of Mesopotamia, where, by his parents' strict command, he was enjoined to go. Coming to a desert plain, and the sun being gone down, he was obliged to take up his abode there for the night, where he had the cold earth for his bed, a stone for his pillow, and the canopy of heaven for his covering; and as he slum

people labouring under foul and malignant distempers, he should never be troubled again with like apparitions. Upon this there was a call made of impotent and infirm wretches, and 250,000 of them were banished from the place under the command of Moses and Joseph, two of the number, and holy men."-EDITOR.