Part 48 (1/2)

What a mult.i.tude of wonders, indeed, has chemistry unveiled to our eyes!

Think only that if some single law enacted by G.o.d were at once repealed, that of attraction or affinity or cohesion, for example, the whole material world, with its solid granite and adamant, its veins of gold and silver, its trap and porphyry, its huge beds of coal, our own frames and the very ribs and bones of this apparently indestructible earth, would instantaneously dissolve, with all Suns and Stars and Worlds throughout all the Universe of G.o.d, into a thin invisible vapor of infinitely minute particles or atoms, diffused throughout infinite s.p.a.ce; and with them light and heat would disappear; unless the Deity Himself be, as the Ancient Persians thought, the Eternal Light and the Immortal Fire.

The mysteries of the Great Universe of G.o.d! How _can_ we with our limited mental vision expect to grasp and comprehend them! Infinite s.p.a.cE, stretching out from us every way, without limit: infinite TIME, without beginning or end; and WE, HERE, and NOW, in the centre of each!

An infinity of suns, the nearest of which only _diminish_ in size, viewed with the most powerful telescope: each with its retinue of worlds; infinite numbers of such suns, so remote from us that their light would not reach us, journeying during an infinity of time, while the light that _has_ reached us, from some that we _seem_ to see, has been upon its journey for fifty centuries: our world spinning upon its axis, and rus.h.i.+ng ever in its circuit round the sun; and it, the sun, and all our system revolving round some great central point; and that, and suns, stars, and worlds evermore flas.h.i.+ng onward with incredible rapidity through illimitable s.p.a.ce: and then, in every drop of water that we drink, in every morsel of much of our food, in the air, in the earth, in the sea, incredible mult.i.tudes of living creatures, invisible to the naked eye, of a minuteness beyond belief, yet organized, living, feeding, _perhaps_ with consciousness of ident.i.ty, and memory and instinct.

Such are some of the mysteries of the great Universe of G.o.d. And yet we, whose life and that of the world on which we live form but a point in the centre of infinite Time: we, who nourish animalculae within, and on whom vegetables grow without, would fain learn how G.o.d created this Universe, would understand His Powers, His Attributes, His Emanations, His Mode of Existence and of Action; would fain know the plan according to which all events proceed, that plan profound as G.o.d Himself; would know the laws by which He controls His Universe; would fain _see_ and _talk_ to Him face to face, as man talks to man: and we try not to believe, because we do not _understand_.

He commands us to love one another, to love our neighbor as ourself; and we dispute and wrangle, and hate and slay each other, because we cannot be of one opinion as to the Essence of His Nature, as to His Attributes; whether He became man born of a woman, and was crucified; whether the Holy Ghost is of the _same_ substance with the Father, or only of a _similar_ substance; whether a feeble old man is G.o.d's Vicegerent; whether some are elected from all eternity to be saved, and others to be condemned and punished; whether punishment of the wicked after death is to be eternal; whether this doctrine or the other be heresy or truth;--drenching the world with blood, depopulating realms, and turning fertile lands into deserts; until, for religious war, persecution, and bloodshed, the Earth for many a century has rolled round the Sun, a charnel-house, steaming and reeking with human gore, the blood of brother slain by brother for opinion's sake, that has soaked into and polluted all her veins, and made her a horror to her sisters of the Universe.

And if men were all Masons, and obeyed with all their heart her mild and gentle teachings, that world would be a paradise; while intolerance and persecution make of it a h.e.l.l. For this is the Masonic Creed: BELIEVE, in G.o.d's Infinite Benevolence, Wisdom, and Justice: HOPE, for the final triumph of Good over Evil, and for Perfect Harmony as the final result of all the concords and discords of the Universe: and be CHARITABLE as G.o.d is, toward the unfaith, the errors, the follies, and the faults of men: for all make one great brotherhood.

INSTRUCTION.

_Sen. W. Brother Junior Warden, are you a Prince of Mercy?

_Jun. W. I have seen the Delta and the HOLY NAMES upon it, and am an AMETH like yourself, in the TRIPLE COVENANT, of which we bear the mark.

_Qu_ What is the first Word upon the Delta?

_Ans_ The Ineffable Name of Deity, the true mystery of which is known to the Ameth alone.

_Qu_ What do the three sides of the Delta denote to us?

_Ans_ To us, and to all Masons, the three Great Attributes or Developments of the Essence of the Deity; WISDOM, or the Reflective and Designing Power, in which, when there was naught but G.o.d, the Plan and Idea of the Universe was shaped and formed: FORCE, or the Executing and Creating Power, which instantaneously acting, realized the Type and Idea framed by Wisdom; and the Universe, and all Stars and Worlds, and Light and Life, and Men and Angels and all living creatures WERE; and HARMONY, or the Preserving Power, Order, and Beauty, maintaining the Universe in its State, and const.i.tuting the law of Harmony, Motion, Proportion, and Progression:--WISDOM, which _thought_ the plan; STRENGTH, which _created_: HARMONY, which _upholds_ and _preserves_:--the Masonic Trinity, three Powers and one Essence: the three columns which support the Universe, Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual, of which every Masonic Lodge is a type and symbol:--while to the Christian Mason, they represent the Three that bear record in Heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY SPIRIT, which three are ONE.

_Qu_ What do the three Greek letters upon the Delta, _? ? S_ [_Iota, Eta_, and _Sigma_] represent?

_Ans_ Three of the Names of the Supreme Deity among the Syrians, Phoenicians, and Hebrews ... IHUH [Hebrew: ???]; _Self-Existence_ ...

AL [Hebrew: ?]: _the Nature-G.o.d, or Soul of the Universe_ ... SHADAI [Hebrew: ??] _Supreme Power_. Also three of the Six Chief Attributes of G.o.d, among the Kabbalists:--WISDOM [IEH], the _Intellect_, ([Greek: ????]) of the Egyptians, the _Word_ ([Greek: ?????]) of the Platonists, and the _Wisdom_ ([Greek: S?f?a]) of the Gnostics: ... MAGNIFICENCE [AL], the Symbol of which was the Lion's Head: ... and VICTORY and GLORY [_Tsabaoth_], which are the two columns JACHIN and BOAZ, that stand in the Portico of the Temple of Masonry. To the Christian Mason they are the first three letters of the name of the Son of G.o.d, Who died upon the cross to redeem mankind.

_Qu_ What is the first of the THREE COVENANTS, of which we bear the mark?

_Ans_ That which G.o.d made with Noah; when He said, ”I will not again curse the earth any more for man's sake, neither will I smite any more everything living as I have done. While the Earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and Winter and Summer, and day and night shall not cease. I will establish My covenant with you, and with your seed after you, and with every living creature. All mankind shall no more be cut off by the waters of a flood, nor shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. This is the token of My covenant: I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth: an everlasting covenant between Me and every living creature on the earth.”

_Qu_ What is the second of the Three Covenants?

_Ans_ That which G.o.d made with Abraham; when He said, ”I am the Absolute Uncreated G.o.d. I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and thou shalt be the Father of Many Nations, and Kings shall come from thy loins. I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy descendants after thee, to the remotest generations, for an everlasting covenant; and I will be thy G.o.d and their G.o.d, and will give thee the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.”

_Qu_ What is the third Covenant?

_Ans_ That which G.o.d made with all men by His prophets; when He said: ”I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My Glory. I will create new Heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. The Sun shall no more s.h.i.+ne by day, nor the Moon by night; but the Lord shall be an everlasting light and splendor. His Spirit and His Word shall remain with men forever.

The heavens shall vanish away like vapor, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die; but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not end; and there shall be Light among the Gentiles, and salvation unto the ends of the earth. The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and everlasting joy be on their heads, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.”

_Qu_ What is the symbol of the Triple Covenant?

_Ans_ The Triple Triangle.

_Qu_ Of what else is it the symbol to us?