Page 74 - LESTER'S LOOK TOTHE EAST

By speculative Masonry we learn to subdue the passions, act upon the
square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy and practice
charity. It is so far interwoven with religion as to lay us under
obligations to pay that rational homage to the Deity which at once
constitutes our duty and our happiness. It leads the contemplative to
view with reverence and admiration the glorious works of the creation,
and inspires him with the most elated ideas of the perfections of his
Divine Creator.

We work as speculative Masons only; but our ancient brethren worked
in operative as well as speculative Masonry. They worked six days and
received their wages. They did not work on the seventh day, because in
six days God created the heavens and the earth, and rested upon the
seventh day. The seventh, therefore, our ancient brethren consecrated
as a day of rest from their labors, thereby enjoying frequent
opportunities to contemplate the glorious works of the creation and to
adore their great Creator.

In conducting you into a place representing the middle chamber of
King Solomon's Temple, you will observe various objects that will
particularly attract your attention. These two great pillars, the one on
the right hand, the other on the left, are called Jachin and Boaz. The
word Boaz denotes strength. The word Jachin denotes establishment.
These names collectively allude to the promise of God to David, that he
would establish his kingdom in strength. These pillars were cast in the
clay-grounds on the banks of Jordan, between Succoth and Zarthan,
where all the vessels of King Solomon's Temple were cast by Hiram
Abiff. They were cast hollow the better to serve as a safe deposit for the
archives of Masonry against all conflagrations and inundations.

They were each thirty-five cubits in height, and were adorned with
chapiters of five cubits, making in all forty cubits in height. These were
adorned with lily-work, network and pomegranates, representing peace,
unity and plenty.

The Lily, by its purity and the retired situation in which it grows,
denotes Peace; the Network, by the intimate connection of its parts,
denotes Unity; the Pomegranates, by the exuberance of their seed,
denote Plenty.

The two pillars were further adorned with globes on their tops,
representing the terrestrial and celestial spheres. The globes are two
artificial spherical bodies, on the convex surface of which are repre-
sented the countries, seas and various parts of the earth, the face of the
heavens, the planetary revolutions, and other particulars. The sphere
with the parts of the earth delineated on its surface is called the
terrestrial globe, and that with the constellations and other heavenly
bodies the celestial globe.

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