Jeptha, in order to secure himself from the like molestation in future, sent and guarded the passes of the river Jordan, which he knew they must cross in order to return to their own country, with strict injunctions to his guards, that if any came that way, and owned themselves Ephraimites, to slay them immediately, and if they said nay, there was a testword put to them, viz., to pronounce the word Shibboleth, which they, for want of an aspiration peculiar to their dialect, could not frame to articulate, but called it Sibboleth, which small variation discovered their country, and cost them their lives: so that there fell on that day in the field of battle, and on the banks of the Jordan, as holy writ informs us, forty and two thousand Ephraimites, and that test-word was afterwards used amongst the Gileadites to distinguish friend from foe.

ARGUMENT VIII.

ON THE SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES-GRAMMAR, RHETORIC, LOGIC, ARITHMETIC, GEOMETRY, MUSIC, ASTRONOMY; AND ON THE SIX ARTS AND SCIENCES, AS BLENDED IN ASTRONOMY.

GRAMMAR, which comprehends orthography and etymology, teaches to decline nouns, conjugate verbs, and to express a variety of words and phrases, according to the idiom peculiar to the language we speak in. This being the basis of all the liberal sciences, it particularly concerns us, as Masons, to know its rules; for without this knowledge, we cannot be acquainted with the beauties of our own lectures, nor can we speak with correctness or propriety.

Rhetoric is the art of speaking with judicious emphasis, which enables us to regulate and vary the tone of voice, in order to persuade, soften, and affect the hearts of the hearers; it likewise leads the mind to the discovery of things that are new, or seem abstruse: this science is also enriched with figures, which add strength and beauty to elocution, and is therefore properly adapted to the subjects of our Masonic mysteries.

Logic is that delightful science which guides our reason, and directs our understanding to the know

ledge of things in general, as well for our improvement as the instruction of others; and as the excellency of Masonry consists in the four principal operations of the mind, namely,—conceiving, judging, reasoning, and disposing; this liberal science is highly essential to our fraternal institution.

Arithmetic is the ground-work, and absolute foundation of universal knowledge; for without the art of numbers, our natural abilities would in a manner be useless, or at least so vague, precarious, and defective, that scarce any material business could be conducted with certainty. Abraham first taught this useful science to the Egyptians, and it was afterwards much improved by Pythagoras, who introduced such hieroglyphical figures and allegorical emblems, as have enabled us to keep the popular world perpetually ignorant of our mysteries, until they become Masons.

Geometry is the origin of the mathematics, and the foundation of architecture; comprehending the doctrine of whatever is susceptible of increasing or diminishing; hence, not only point, line, superfice, and solid, come within our consideration, but also time, space, velocity, and magnitude in general. By the further study of this fifth science, on which Masonry is founded, we are led to contemplate on the inimitable works of the primary supreme grand Geometrician of this vast terraqueous globe.

Music is divided into speculative and practical, and is the art of so disposing and conducting sounds, under certain measures of tone and time, as to

produce agreeable harmony. This accomplished scientifical art may also be contrived and ordered by consonances or succession, or both by just intervals, so as to raise delightful sensations, and be the means of blending innocent mirth with our amusements, when the right worshipful master orders us from labour to refreshment.

Of all the noble sciences ever cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful; for it not only treats of the system, magnitude, distance, conjunction, and regular course of the celestial bodies, but it unfolds the mystical causes by which those wonderful revolutions are performed. By the further study of the planetary orbs, our mental faculties also become exalted, far above the contemptible doctrine of those who doubt the wisdom, power, goodness, superintendence, or even the existence of a Supreme Being.

Astronomy stands confessedly the most exalted and sublime science that has ever been cultivated by man. By this divine science the Grand Architect of the Universe has enabled the mind of man, not only to view his wonderful omnipotency in a much stronger light than he could otherwise effect, but also to demonstrate, even to the sceptic, if any such exist, that nothing less than the Almighty Power could establish such innumerable systems of the heavenly bodies, place them at their relative distances, and finally keep the whole in universal order. To view the starry firmament without this science,

mankind are impressed with a reverential awe of heavenly wisdom; but when we explore the science with its demonstrative truths, we are lost in astonishment at the boundless fields of ether, where those vast systems are placed. This noble science may justly be said to comprehend the whole of the other six as by grammar we correctly express the substance of our observations; by rhetoric we forcibly impress the truths therein contained; by logic we proceed to demonstrate those truths; by arithmetic we make our calculations; by geometry we measure the magnitudes and distances of those vast orbs ; and finally, we cannot but subscribe to the harmony of the whole, where there is not the least discord to be found in any of its parts. In short, it is by the help of this sublime science that mankind are enabled to plough the trackless ocean, to traverse the sandy waste of the immense desert; by commerce to civilize rude and savage nations, to unite men of all countries, sects, and opinions, and conciliate true friendship among persons who would otherwise have remained at an immense distance asunder.