genius displayed in the Tower of Babel, the wonders of the city of Babylon, the Egyptian labyrinth, &c., assure us of the great perfection to which this science was carried in the most early ages of the world. The primitive inhabitants of Ethiopia, who received their knowledge of Masonry from Cush, the grandson of Noah, erected monuments of art which remain to this day.3

35

MUSIC.

"Music teaches the art of forming concords so as to compose delightful harmony, by a mathematical and proportional arrangement of acute, grave, and mixed sounds. This art, by a series of experiments, is reduced to a demonstrative science, with respect to tones and the intervals of sound. It inquires into the nature of concords and discords, and enables us to find out the proportions between them by numbers."

Music, the next in order of the seven liberal sciences, was successfully cultivated by the idolatrous nations, as well as the true worshippers of God, and has been a general Masonic pursuit from the time of its invention in the most early ages. This science was practised before the Flood; for

Egyptian assiduity, which will exist as long as the world shall endure, was cut out of a solid rock, and intended as a sepulchre for King Amasis.

35 Bruce tells us of obelisks, pillars, and prodigious fragments of colossal statues of the Dog Star, which are of the highest antiquity, and are still to be seen in this country: and adds, that "the Cushites, with unparalleled industry, and with instruments utterly unknown to us, formed to themselves commodious yet wonderful habitations, in the heart of mountains of granite and marble, which remain entire in great numbers to this day, and promise to do so till the consummation of all things."

36 Mas. Lect.

Moses informs us that Jubal, the son of Lamech, "was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ:""" and this is all we know, with any degree of certainty, of the origin and use of musical instruments before the Flood. Thoth or Hermes is said, by Apollodorus, to have invented music.38 His invention of the lyre was the effect of accident. Striking his foot against a dead tortoise, on the banks of the river Nile, whose cartilages were distended across the shell, and dried by the heat of the sun, the concussion produced a distinct and continuous sound. Impressed with this idea, he constructed an instrument in the form of a tortoise, and strung it with the dried sinews of animals.39 This instrument consisted of three strings; to improve which, Apollo (who was cotemporary with Hermes, for he is said to be the Phut of Moses, and was esteemed the most able musician of antiquity) added a fourth; a fifth was added by Corebus; a sixth by Hiagnus; a seventh by Terpander; and Pythagoras increased the number of strings to eight, and practised the method of tuning diatonically. This great man afterwards made an instrument with fifteen strings, which completed the double octave, and his system 37 Gen. iv. 21.

38

"No one person ought strictly to be called the inventor of an art which seems to be natural to, and coeval with, the human species; but the Egyptian Mercury is, without doubt, entitled to the praise of having made striking improvements in music, as well as of having advanced, in various respects, the civilization of the people, whose government was chiefly committed to his charge." (Morison.)

39 Apollodorus.

became at length distinguished by the appellation of the Pythagorean System. In process of time, the system was perfected by the introduction of the Chromatic and Enharmonic Scales; the former by Timotheus, and the latter by Olympus.40

The extraordinary effects produced by music on the passions of men in ancient times caused it to be much used in religious ceremonies. From Egypt the science was carried by the children of Israel into Canaan; and so attached were they to it, that every rite of their worship was accompanied with music. The priests were necessarily musicians; and the assistance of a musical instrument was a usual accompaniment to the delivery of prophecies, to express more feelingly the sentiment of joy or terror which they were intended to inspire.

The ancient Lodges of Free-Masons, whether congregated on the highest of hills or in the lowest of valleys, were opened and closed, as we have reason to believe, with solemn music, as well as solemn prayer; and at the dedication of King Solomon's Temple, as we are informed by Josephus, there were present twenty thousand musicians.

At this day our meetings, dignified by literary research and scientific illustration, are enlivened by the enchanting power of music, which lends a portion of refinement to our more social and relaxed

40 Eusebius relates (de Præp. Evan. 1. 2, c. 1) that Osiris, when he travelled about the world to plant colonies and civilize mankind, had with him, as companions, Apollo and Pan, as well as nine Virgins, so celebrated for their respective talents as to be afterwards termed, in Greece, the Nine Muses, because of the sweetness of their voices and instruments.

pursuits, and adds a charm to Masonry, which leaves no sting behind.

ASTRONOMY.

'Astronomy is that divine art by which we are taught to read the wisdom, strength, and beauty of the Almighty Creator in those sacred pages the celestial hemisphere. Assisted by astronomy, we can observe the motions, measure the distances, comprehend the magnitudes, and calculate the periods and eclipses of the heavenly bodies: by it we learn the use of the globes, the system of the world, and the preliminary law of nature. While we are employed in the study of this science, we must perceive unparalleled instances of wisdom and goodness, and through the whole creation trace the glorious Author by his works."

Philosophy and astronomy, as we learn from Strabo, were cultivated by the Egyptians, 42 who kept their mysteries secret from all but the initiated; this practice they derived from Thoth, their second monarch, whose wisdom exalted him to the confidence of his grandfather, Ham. Now, as Egypt is one of the most ancient nations in the world of

41 Mas. Lect.

"" are

42 The orders and motions of the stars," says Diodorus, observed at least as industriously by the Egyptians as by any other people whatever; and they keep records of the motions of each for an incredible number of years; the study of this science having been, from the remotest times, an object of national ambition with them. They have also most punctually observed the motions and periods and stations of the planets, as well as the power which they possess with respect to the nativities of animals, and what good or evil influences they exert; and they frequently foretell what is to happen to a man throughout his life; and not uncommonly predict a failure of crops or an abundance, and the occurrence of epidemic diseases among men or beasts. They foresee, also, earthquakes and floods, and the appearance of comets, and a variety of other things which appear impossible to the multitude."

which we have any authentic records, to Egypt we must look for the early perfection of many sciences which have not been noticed in the Mosaic Records.

The science of astronomy was certainly invented by the posterity of Seth, though the Jewish Rabbins insist that it was revealed to Adam by God himself. Josephus does not sanction this hypothesis: he merely observes, "That the children of Seth were the first persons who studied the motions and influences of the heavenly bodies." But Eupolé mus absolutely ascribes the invention of astronomy to Enoch:" and it is thought, from an observation of Josephus, that the antediluvians were acquainted with the grand period of six hundred years, in which the heavenly bodies return to the same relative situation.

Shuckford says-" Noah must be well apprized of the usefulness of this study, having lived six hundred years before the Flood; and he was, without doubt, well acquainted with all the arts of life that had been invented in the first world; and this of observing the stars had been one of them; so that he could not only apprize his children of the necessity of, but also put them into some method of prosecuting those studies."45

After the Flood, therefore, the line of Ham were by no means ignorant of this science; on the contrary, the Phoenicians and Egyptians attained a very early knowledge of the planets as distinct from the

43 Ant. 1. 1, c. 3.

44 Euseb. Præp. Evan. 1. 9, c. 17. 45 Con. Bk. 6.