CHAP. II.

CONTAINING SEVEN HUNDRED YEARS.

VIEW OF MASONRY, AS IT EXISTED FROM THE CREA

TION OF THE WORLD TO THE TIME OF ENOCH.

FROM the commencement of the world,”

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says the celebrated Preston, we may trace the foundation of Masonry. Ever since symmetry began, and harmony displayed her charms, our Order has had a being."* But ancient Masonic traditions say, and I think justly, that our science existed before the creation of this globe, and was diffused amidst the numerous systems with which the grand empyreum of universal space is furnished. The great Architect of the universe was the founder of Masonry; and it would be the province of bigotry alone to confine His beneficent revelations to so small a portion of created things as the limited dimensions of our earth contains. But there existed in infinite space numberless worlds, before our earth was formed out of chaos; for it would derogate from the attributes of an eternal

Preston's Illustrations, book i. sec. 3. In the thirteenth and last edition of this much esteemed work, edited by Stephen Jones, the History of Free-Masonry is brought down to the present year.

and self-existent God, to conceive that this great and glorious Being had remained inanimate, and in an useless and dormant state, until the commencement of our history, about 5,800 years ago. Now though we cannot comprehend the nature of that eternity which existed prior to the creation of this globe, yet we are certain that our system does not comprehend the whole of God's created works. With him a thousand years are but as one day;* what then is the short and contracted period which forms the bound of our insignificant ball? If we open our capacities, and take an enlarged view of space, beyond the reach of our actual investigation, can we be so blind and faithless as to admit that it is all vacant and unemployed, when almost every optical improvement demonstrates, by new discoveries, the existence of worlds piled on worlds, too far remote for human art to measure?

These orbs were surely not made for ornament alone, but for use; and as they possess every requisite for the support of animal life, there can be no doubt but they have been created for the residence of intelligent beings, of the same capacities perhaps as ourselves; probably of the same nature, and certainly intended for the same immortal destination. On these, or some of them, the Creator has bestowed his blessings from all

* 2d Peter, iii. 8.

eternity. They have been possessed of all the privileges we enjoy, millions of ages before this globe which we inhabit was reduced from nothing into its solid form: privileges perhaps superior to any we can boast, for who can limit the power of God to confer gifts upon his creatures? Amongst the most valuable of these was speculative Masonry for where there exists created beings, there must exist some knowledge of a Creator, and some principle of reverence to Him who can save and who can destroy. And speculative Masonry is nothing else but a system of ethics, founded on the belief of a God, the creator, preserver, and redeemer; which inculcates a strict observance of the duties we owe to each other, inspires in the soul a veneration for the author of its being, and incites to the pure worship of the incomprehensible Trinity in Unity.

"if this be true,

It may indeed be replied, why is it not recorded in the Holy Scriptures?" These Books were written, after the apostacy of man, with no other view than to promote his salvation, by explaining the nature of that transgression which introduced death into the world, and made all the posterity of Adam obnoxious to divine wrath; and pointing out the remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ. This being the chief end of Revelation, it would have added little to the furtherance of that grand object to have entered into metaphysical disquisitions on

the nature and extent of God's works before the creation of man. The Scriptures, however, are not wholly silent on this head. They proclaim the existence of God before the worlds were made;* and that Great Being himself declares, that" when the foundations of this globe were laid, the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy."+ The stars referred to in this passage are pre-existent worlds, and the sons of God are the angels of heaven. But to admit that our globe was the first fruits of God's power, is to blast and destroy our most valuable expectations for this admission would deny to God the attribute of eternity, and deprive man of his faith and hope; for a Being could not be worshipped, with full confidence in his power to save to the uttermost, if he possessed any trait of imperfection.

There existed also another order of beings before the earth was created, who had once been angels of light, and were expelled the society of heaven for disobedience. And this is a great and undeniable testimony of the pure existence of LIGHT and truth, and their determined opposition to darkness and error, in times too far remote for human calculation. The angels, who kept their

* Hebrews, i. 2.; Psalms, xciii. 2, &c.

Jude 6, and Rev. xii. 9.

+ Job, xxxviii. 7.

first estate, continually offer up their praises to the eternal I AM, in an unrestrained melody of Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, which WAS and is and IS TO COME.' In such pure

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Masonic employment were the angels engaged before the creation of the world; and in such employment will they be engaged to all eternity, augmented by that glorious assembly, who, having worshipped-God on earth, shall be placed on the right hand of the Judge, in the great and terrible day of the Lord.

In the beginning of this material world the great Creator sent forth his WORD, and called all things out of chaos into being. He laid the foundations of this earth on such a solid basis, that they cannot be moved; he constructed the beautiful fabric of the universe without the assistance of axe, hammer, or metal tool; lighted, warmed and ornamented as it is with all its luminous attendant orbs. His work was performed in six successive days, and the seventh was proclaimed an eternal sabbath. This division of time into seven parts does not imply that God possessed not the power of calling his works into immediate existence, but it affords a striking example of the WISDOM, STRENGTH and BEAUTY resulting from a methodical arrangement of time and labour; and

*Revelations, iv. 8.