Expatiation On The Mysteries Of Masonry In Malling Abbey Lodge,

had pre-eminence . They Avere of that higher class who were , in a manner , set over others in the work of building a Temple to the Most High . Their error was that they thought too highly of themselves , and of their privileges . They relied on the

sufficiency of their law for everything . They could not believe that they were yet in darkness , or that they had any need to follow the guidance of the Star in the East . The inferior position of P . O . would not satisfy them ; but they were not prepared to seek for the higher degree in the right

way . Hiram Abiff is a type of Christ . One beautified and adorned an earthly , the other a spiritual Temple . The Pillar of Beauty has reference to both , but in the highest sense to Christ . Isaiah

had foretold that in Him beauty should appear , but that the Jews would not recognise Him : — " The Branch of the Lord shall be Beauty and Glory—when we shall see Him , there is no Beauty that we should desire Him . " The builders rejected Him who was to be the Chief Corner Stone of the Spiritual Temple .

All ab first were hostile to Him ; but after awhile the common people heard Him gladly . The tAvelve tribes would have received him ; but the three estates of the rulers were more obdurate . And being unable to prevail against Him , they

determined to put in execution their atrocious purpose , even to the extent of taking His life , He told them that , by diligence and patience in the service of God , they would in time come to a knowledge of the mysteries which He came to

reveal : — " If any man Avill do His will , he shall know of the doctrine . " The very officers whom they sent to apprehend Him said , " Never man spake like this Man . " But they persevered in their murderous purpose , though the three estates

stood alone in their hostility . They asked , contemptuously , " Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him ? But this people , Avho knoweth not the law , are cursed . "

The time chosen for the execution of their purpose was the Feast of the Passover . They knew that Christ Avould then go up to the Temple to pay His devotions to the Most High , according to the law . Those whom they sent to apprehend

Him were awed by His demeanour . When He said , "lam He , " they Avent backward and fell to the ground . But nothing could keep the hardened conspirators from their purpose . They would ,

however , have been powerless against mm , but . for the weapons with Avhich they were armed . First there was the Avrath of God against sinners , which He had consented to endure . Tried by the plumb rule of God ' s justice , all had offended ,,

and He bore the iniquity of all . Had He been a mere man , the weight of this must have crushed Him to the earth . But He was Himself free from , sin ; the prince of this world came and found nothing in Him . The weight of our sins brought

Him on His knees , but it could do no move , for He had no guilt of His OAVU . Next there Avas the mortality of our nature which He had assumed . He had taken upon Him the form of a servant , and was made in the

likeness of man , and being found in fashion as a man , He humbled Himself , and became obedient unto death . He brought Himself doAvn to the level of human nature , and so permitted Himself to ba struck down by the Great Leveller , Death . BuG though He sank beneath the blow , He saw no corruption , and rose again .

Lastly Christ Avas to redeem man from the curse of the law , and this He did Avhen He submitted to be crucified ; He ivas then made a curse for us , for it is written , cursed is everyone that hangefch on . a tree . On this cross , composed of a ,

perpendicular and horizontal beam , He was lifted up at the sixth hour—the hour of high tAvelve , and darkness overspread the earth until the ninth hour . The hammer which fastened Him to it was the

setting maul , which laid the elect ancl precious corner stone of the Spiritual Temple . Thus must every stone be laid , and thus must each one of us be brought to a knowledge of himself , and instructed how to die .

Tried by the unerring plumb rule of divine justice , none of us is upright . If the full Aveight of merited punishment fall upon us , there is no hope . But Christ has made an atonement ; the blow is turned aside by His intercession , it smites

us , but it glances from us that we may not be destroyed . Death too must be encountered , but his sting is taken from him by the hope of resurrection to eternal life . We have , besides , to undergo a death in another sense . We must die

beneath the setting maul Avhich is to place us in the Spiritual Temple . We must have a burial ^ too , foreshadoAved in the temporary entombment of the candidate for initiation into the mysteries of ancient Masonry . The idea of a burial is ahvays