PYTHAGOR E AN TR IAN GLE ;

TH E S C I E N C E OF N U M B E R S .

B Y THE

RE V
n
Past M R S Gra d C omma d rS
. GJ
’
G
ne ,
L IV E R , D D
3 3 for E g la d a nd Wa l
°
n n
. .

e
s

n
. .

Pa st of f/w G ra d L odg e o f M assaoh usett:

Pa st D P G M for L incoln /z :re
.

n n e
. . .

e e
H o ora ry M mb r of u m rous L odg : and L itermy S oci ti se e e
in every q ua rt r of tire Glob e e
A U T H O R or
“
ru n “ n a rrows or A moans ,
” “
TH E noon or m u:w oo s
msroaxcn m anu al s, m . m .

raw r dw wr yards
—H E R E I N .

WI TH D I A GR A M S .

LON DON
J O HN H O GG a
: co , . PA T E R N O S T E R R OW .

M DC C C Lx x v.

[All rig hto resemedJ

'
 PU B L I S H E R S N OTE
’

TH E following posthumous work by the late R ev .

G OLI VE R D D so widely and deservedly known

.
, . .
,

by his numero us M asonic writings is printed ,

verb atim ct literatim fro m his hitherto unpub

lished M S .

The
opinion of several distinguished Free
masons competent to advise in su ch a matter
,
.
,

was that the w ork should not be re vised added

, ,

t o nor in any way altered

,
This opi nio n has .

been the more confidently acted upon as the ,

M S bears evidence of havi ng been very carefully

.

revised by the Doctor s own hand and there is ’

,

his own statement to the e ffect that both the ,

plan and treatment of the book had been well

mature d .

LO N DON , N mbe
ove
r
1 8 75 .
 TAB LE OF C ON TE N TS .

PA GE
’
PU B LrsR E R s N orE

PR E FA CE

I N T R OD U C T I O N .

THE G
PYTH A O R E A N L
T R I A N G E E XPL A I N E D , WI TH A DIS S E R
T ATI O N ON TH E PE CU LIAR ITIE S OF M A S ON I C NUM BE R

C HA PT E R I .

T H E M O N A D O R POI N T D I S C U SS E D AS T H E O R I GIN O F A LL
CA LC U LATI ON .

( T h e Point,
M onad, U n ity, or the N U M B E R ON E )

C HAPT E R I I .

TH E DU A D OR LI N E E XE M P I L FI E D .

( The Lin e,
D uad,
D uality , or the N U M B E R T wo)

C H APT E R I I I .

I LLU S TR A TI ON O F T H E T R I A D O R S U PE R F I C E .

( T he S up erfice , or E q u ila t eral T rian le

g , T riad,
T ernary ,
or

the N U M B E R T H R E E )

C H A PT E R I V .

PR OGR E S S I VE G E N E R A T I O N O F TH E TE T R AD O R S O I D , L
R E PR E S E N TI N G FI R E .

( The S olid,
T etrad, Q uate rnary ,
or the N U M B E R F OU R )
 C ont ents .

C H A PT E R V .

P A GE

GE O M E T R I C A L A PPLI C A T I ON O F T H E PE N T A D O R PYR AM I D ,

R E PR E S E N T I NG W ATE R .

(T he Pyramid,
Pentad, Q uincunx ,
or the N U M B E R F I VE ) 1 23

C H A PT E R VI .

IN FI N IT E D I VI S I B I LIT Y O F T HE H E XA D O R D O U B L E

T R I AN GLE , R E PR E S E N T I N G E AR TH.

( T h e D ou b le T rian le
g , H ex a on
g , H ex ad,
or the N U M B E R
S Ix )

C H A PT E R V I I .

R E M AR K AB LE PR OPE e s O R T H E H E PTAD .

( T he H e ta
p g ,
on H ep tad, S ep tenary ,
or the N U M B E R S E VE N ) 1 6 7

C H A PT E R VI I I .

M YS T E R I OU S R E FE R E N C E S OF T HE O DOAD O R C U B E , G
R E PR E S E N T IN G AI R .

( T he C ub e, Ogdoad, Octaedron, or the N UM BE R E I G H T)

C HA PT E R I X .

A N C I E N T S U PE R S TI T I O N S A TT A CH E D TO TH E E N N E AD O R

T R I PLE T R I N GLE A .

( T he E nn e ad,
T rip le N angle, N onagon, or the N U M B E R
N IN E )

C H A PT E R X .

THE PE R FE CT N ATU R E OF T HE DE CAD O R CI R CLE ,

A N D TH E

L
P I C A T I O N O F T H E D O DE C AE DR O N A S A R E PR E S E N TA T IO
N
O F T H E S YS T E M O F T HE U N I VE R S E .

( T he C ircle,
D ecad,
Panteleia, or the N U M B E R TE N )
 PR E F A C E .

1 '

R E E M A S ON R Y is a science as every
,

brother knows , whose Landmarks are

and ordinances are pronounced to be the same

yesterday to day ,
-

, and for ever . B ut , alas " the

fail ure Of these conditions proves that M aso nry is

b ut a mere h uman institution after all . It would

be easy to prod uce a host Of altered Landmarks
for the purpose of sho wing that no Obsolete cere
mo ny or antiqu ated Observance has bee n able to
hold its own against the electric age ncy of modern
progress .
x Prefac

Accordingly , in tracing the science fro m the

e arliest period of its existence , we mu st prepare

ou rselves to meet with many change s wh ich have
periodically occurred in consequ ence Of improve

ments an d discoveries in the liberal arts ,

and the
a melioration of manners and customs as science ,

progressed from ignorance to le arning , and from

a comparatively savage condition to its present
pal my state of refinement and moral culture .

TO look for a di fferent result would be to ex

p ect imp ossibilities . I mpro ve ments in art , sci

e nce ,
and civilisatio n have a mutual , depe ndence

on each other . A change in t he one w ill neces

sarily produce a modification Of all . T his is a

truism that will not ad mit Of c n o tradicti on or

dispute . Whe n we hear therefore
, , Of ancient ,

quaint phrases , whether in general literature or

in Freemasonry being swallo wed up , and lost in

the u ndeviat in g march of sci nte ific and moral

inlp rov ement, and t he su s b titution of o thers
whi ch are more in accordance with the us ages
 I nevitable L aw o
f M utation. x i
,

Of a polished era , we are not to be su rprised at

such occurrences ,
nor co mplain as many, worthy

M asons of the Old school are apt t o do, of modern

i nnovations ; as if the i nstitution were expected
to stand still ,
and re main exempt from the inevi
table law of mutation to which all human sci

ences are exposed .

T hus , for instance , the present race of M asons

are ignorant of the reference to a M aster M ason s
’

clothi ng as the fraternity

, und erstood it a hun

dre d and fifty years a o,

g and wo uld scarcely
refrain from an incred ulou s smile when t hey are

told that it consisted of a yellow jacket and a

pair of blue breeches . B ut this was simply a
figurative expression to signify the Third Great
Light , which was appropriated t o the M aster, as
the i nstr ument by the u se of which he drew his
des igns on the T rasel Board as a direction for
the w orkmen ; the upper par t being of polished
brass , and its p oints bl u e steel . I n like manner ,

e eral other peculiar phrases have become

s v ob so
x ii Preface .

lete ,
and are now imperfectly un derstood as in

the instance of the Broached T hu rnel for the

apprentices to learn their work u pon co nnected
,

with the Trasel Board and the R o ugh A shlar

the triad having been changed to t he T racing

Board , R ough Ashlar , and P erfec t Ashlar .

Agai n what M aso n

, of the prese nt day un der
st ands the meaning of I R AH ,
which our ancient
brethren were so p roud of ? And indeed it has

p uz zled many acco mplished M asons of modern

times . Being associated with the second degree ,

it is believed by so me to have referred to a per

son . B ut
this exposi tion i nvolves t wo hostile
i nterpretatio ns neither O f which may be correc t ;
,

one party holdi ng the Opi nion that it signified

Hiram Ab ifi had a mysteri
’

and n a other that it

ou s reference to King Ja mes III .

,
as he was

designated by his follo wers ; and if the latter

i nterpretation be corre ct it , was probably one of

the symbolical words of the Order i ntroduced

into M asonry by the Jesuits , to express R ediet
 Peculiar and O bsolete Phrases .

(redeat, redib it
) Ad H ab enas ( Haereditat em);
accord ing to the anagrammatic for m of reading
by initials . T his was the opinion of Schneider .

So me i nterpret IR AH , to mean F ear as ,

the

fear o f God; while others take it to be rm b e

has taught ; and lastly it has been re ferred to
,

the Te mple, as who sho uld say , HE H A S L AI D T H E

F O UN D AT I ON . U tram horum mavis accip e .

W ho kno ws anythi ng at the present day about

the O bsole te degrees of the Li nk and Wrestle ?
T hey were for merly connected wit h the Ark and

M ark , the latter having been recently revived ;

whil e the Ark , or as the degree
,
was denomi

nated, the R oyal Ark M ariners , is in abeyance ,

and sel do m practised a mongst the E nglish M asons ,

although it bears a refere nce to a legitimate

M asonic event .

A co wan or listener
, , was a character extre mely
Ob nox ious to our prede cessors ,
and is not in much

more favour amo ngst ourselv es ; albeit their quaint

method of punishing him ,
when dete ct ed, is now
 Preface .

altogether unkno wn to pla ce him u nder the

eaves of a house in stormy weather until the
water ran in at his s ho ulders and o ut at his k nees
'

H ence the appellation of eavesdropper ,

and the
origin O f the cautionary excla matio n ,
IT R AIN S "

The modern treat ment Of a co wan is simply

contempt .

T he three fixed lights ,

Or w n i do ws subsequ ently
,

exchanged for our lesser luminaries were expl ained ,

one h undred and fifty years ago to signify the

three Persons , Father , S on, Holy Gho st and

were u sed to find ou t the meridian ,

“
whe n the
sun leaves the south , and breaks in at the wes t

w indo w of the Lodge . While the mossy

bed , the ancient signs Of disgust and recog ni

tion as , w ell as the pri mitive na me of a M aster

M aso n, are equ ally obscure at the present day

having been swept away along ,
with the origi nal
meth od of characterising che mical bodies by
symb ols as being , no longer n ecessary to the
s s
y tem . E ve n the M asonic cip her , Of which our
 D isusecl L andmarks .

brethren of the last cent ury w ere j ustly proud ,

is now in abeyance if , not obsolete , for it is con

sidered by the E nglish fraternity au seless appe n

dage that may be well dispe nsed with .

In the formula of O peni ng the L odge before

the union of ancient andmodern M asons in 1 8 1 3 ,

it was announced by the chair that all earing

sw ,

whisperi ng , and u n ma nnerly or profane co nversa

W ere s trictly prohibited d uring Lodge
ho urs ,
un der su ch penal ty as t he Byla ws shall
inflict or a maj ority think proper A nd the .

reason publicly assigned for this pr udent course

was, that the b usine ss of the Lodge being thus
happ ily begun might be con ud cted with decency ,

and closed in harmony and brotherly love .

”

T his formula was discontinued at the abov e

mentioned per iod , and a new form subs tituted ,

which bro ught the Christian tendency of the

Order more pro mine ntly before the Lodge .

T here are also so me p as sages in the Old lectures

w hich the brethre n once to ok for genuine Land

x vi Preface .

marks that hav e lo ng bee n dis u sed

, . I n t he

E ntered
’
Appre ntice s Lect ure ,
the follo wing
passage occurs What is the day for — TO see
in. W hat is the night for —TO hear in . H ow
—
blows the wi nd Z D ue east ‘
and w est . Again :
How long do ou ser ve your master — Fro m
y
M o nday mor ni ng till Saturday n ight . H OW

do ou serve him 7 — W ith ch alk charcoal

y , ,

and earthen p an, &c . When speaking in the

Fellow Craft s degree Of the elevation of the
’

middle cha mber , the door w as tech nically said to

be so high that a co wan co uld not reach to
stick a p in in . A nd the illumi nated letter ,

by which it was distinguishe d was said, to de not e

the Great Architect O f the U niverse , or H im

that was taken up to the topmost pinnacle of

H oly T e mpl e at Jeru salem ”

the .

As a co unterpoise to the abandonme nt Of this

gro up Of trivial Observances by modern practice ,

many v aluable additions were i ntroduced in the

revised lectures d ur ing the eighteenth cent ury as

 The D octrine o f M asonic N u mb er . x vn

matters O f detail ,
w hich our more ancient brethren
w o uld have been proud to ackno wledge as mani
fest i mprovements in the system . These were

at length collected and e mbellished by Bro W . .

Preston ; and his R itu al fo rmed the solid basis

on which the Lo dge Of R e conciliation ,
in t he year
1 8 1 4, constru cted the U nion Lect ures which are
now u sed in the E nglish Lo dges . D uri ng thes e
gradual improvements the doctri ne , Of M A S ON I C

N UM B E R slowly b ut certainly progres sed in eve ry

successiv e for mula ,
un til it re ached its ac me ,
in

t he above na med year

-

, b y the introd uction of all

those scientific num eral phe no mena which are

ded uced from a philosophical co nsideratio n of the

PY T H AGO R E A N T R I AN GLE .

I n the earlier rituals ,

N u mber is b ut incidentally
allu ded to . T he degrees steps lights ornaments
, , , ,

furnitu re ,
and je wels , &c .
, w ere arranged on the
prin ciple of the Triad ; the c ardi nal virt ues , with

the ir appropriate signs and references represente d

,

the tetra d , wh ich, t ogether with the five points

 Preface .

of fello wship and t he seve n liberal science s , a

p
pear to be all the num erical re fere nces which

they co ntai n and they were not enlarged on or

explained u ntil Preston pro mulgated his Lectures
under the sanctio n of the Gra nd Lodge . A nd

here the nu m bers 3 , 5 , 7, and 11 are illustrated

rather more in detail in his improved version of
the W i nding St aircase .

In the follo wi ng pages , the doctri nes and re

ferences which ec essarily result from a minute

n

consi deratio n of the Scie nce O fN umbers as e nun ,

ciated in the Pythagorean Tri angle will , be sub

ected to a scientific analysation ; for it is a

j
remarkable fact that altho ugh the i nsti tution of
,

Free maso nry is based upo n it we have no autho ,

rised lectu re to ill u strate its fundame ntal pri n

ci les or display its mysterio us properties At

p ,
.

every step w e find a triad refe rence b ut the

, ,

reaso ns why this occurs are not satis factorily

explai ned . T he mo nad , the d uad the triad, , and

the tetra d meet ,

us at eve ry turn ; and though
x x Preface .

bei ng considered by transition . A li ne is length

witho u t breadth extending bet wee n
, t wo p oints .

A su /
p rie
ce corresponds wi th the triad because ,

in additio n to the d uad le ngth it possesses a

, ,

t hird property viz breadth ;

, .
, which is e ffected by
setti ng do wn three points ,
t wo opposite the third
,

at the j uncture of the lines made by the other

tw o . A solid or c ube represents the tetrad ; for
if we make three points in a triangular form , and

set a fourth over the m ,

we have a solid body in

the form Of a pyra mid ,

which has three dimen
—
sio ns length ,
and breadth , and thickness .

In expressing their opinion of the R egular or

Platoni c bodies , t he follo wers of Pythagoras

argued that the w orld w as made by God “
in

thought , and not in time ; and that He co m

menced His w ork in fire and the fifth ele ment ;
for there are five figures of solid bodies which
are termed mathe mati cal E arth was made of a .

cu be ,
F ire of a pyramid , A ir of an octaedron,

Water Of an icosaedron , the f

S p here o the
 A S ubj ect o S sin
f p ur as g I nterest .

U niverse of a dodecaedron . And the combi na

tio ns O f t he monad as the principle O f all thi ngs
, ,

are t hu s ded uced From the monad came the

.

indeterminate d uad fro m the m came nu mbers

from bers poi nts ; from points lines ; from
num , ,

lines superfices ; fro m sup erfices solids ; fro m

, ,

these solid bodies

,
whose eleme nts are four ,

viz .
, fire ,
water, air earth ; of all
, of w hich ,

un der v arious transmutations , the world con

S uch dissertations ,
so far as they are a
pp li

cable to the Science of N u mber, have received

so me attentio n in the revised Fellow Craft s ’

Le cture O fDr He mming , by an elucidation of the

Pythagorean Tria ngle . The subj ect is one of sur
passi ng i nterest to the Free and Accepted M ason ,

particularly if he be a lover of general Science .

At my first i nitiation I soo n discovered the ,

num erical p eculiarity by which the Order is

disti nguished , and wo ndered that the Lectures

o taine d such a me agre explanation
c n of this
ext raordi nary fact . Being somewhat addicte d
to mathe matical stu dies I to ok , an intense interest
in the p u rsuit , and, duri ng a course of misesl
laneous reading made various collections
, on the

su bj ect of numbers simple and compound

, , which

I fo und i nval uabl e w hen I became the M aster

of a L odge .

T r ue I was sailing
,
in the dark ,
w itho u t

either compass or pilo t for the ph ilosophy of ,

M aso nry w as very imperfectly un derstoo d in

those d ays . M y re searches , ho we ver still mad e

,

a grad ual thou gh slo w progress ,

for wha t will

not perseverance e ffect ? W hatever I read con

tributed to my store for there is , no book so b ad

b ut so me be nefit may be derived fro m it by

i nd ustriou s man as the bee extracts honey
’

an ,

fro m the poisonous fl o wer ; and eve n when I

made no n otes I ,
was steadily a massing materials
for futu re u se in t he p ec uliar walk of M aso nic
li terature which I was destined to pursue . It
will readily be believed that I , had not the
 The O rig in f
o this Work . x xiii
lightest intentio n of writing for the press a
s t that

early peri od Of my career for M aso nic pub lica

tions at the comme nce ment Ofthe prese nt century
w ere by no means in favo ur w ith the E nglis h

Craft and therefore I thre w my acquisitions

,

together as they arose si mply for my own pri

,

vate reference , and w ith out su spec ting tha t they

w o ul d e ver appear in a printed for m . B ut man

proposes , and God disposes .

From these collectio ns the follo wi ng T reatise

w as drawn up . It has been several years in hand ,

and w as not originally intende d for publicatio n ;

b ut in compliance with an u rgent request which

has bee n rece ntly made u pon me I have allo w ed

,

the manu script to be p u t to press in the hope ,

that it will afford amu sement and i nstru ction to

the assid uous M aso n who co ns ults its pages wit h

the sober inte ntion Of i mprovi ng his kno wledge ,

by acqu rr mg a tore of addi tio nal facts which

s

may assist his i nvestigatio ns into the more

abstruse arcana of M asonic N umbers .
 It has been well O bserved that s uch specula
,

t io ns are by so me co nsidered as trifling and u se

less ; b u t perhaps they j udge too hastily ; for

few e mployme nts are more i nnocent o e more
, n n

ingenious , nor, to those who have a taste for

t hem more a musing
,
and mathe matical a mu se
me nts so metimes lead t o importa nt and u seful
discoveries .

GE O . OL I VE R .
 I N T R OD U C T I O N .

TH E P Y T H A G OR E A N T R I A N GL E E XPLA I N E D,

D I S S E R T A T I ON ON TH E PE C UL I A R I TI E S OF

M A S ON " C N UM B E R .
 The Pythag orean T riang le .

of the ature origin and progress of the i nsti

n , ,

t ution that they may be e nabled to determine

,

whether or not its principles are in any shape

connected w ith the principles Of revolutio na ry
anarchy and whether or not the co nd uct O f its
,

members has ever bee n si milar to the co ndu ct of

A nd fro m the p ublicatio n of su ch
”
traitors .

senti ments it mu s t be evide nt to every bro ther s

’

experie nce that the feeling against Freemaso nry

, ,

w hich displayed itself so O pe nly o nly a fe w years

,

ago has assumed a much milder form if it b e

, ,

not e ntirely re moved .

It will not ho wever be difficu lt to acco unt

for the dearth Of maso nic w riters in a preced
ing age Before the eightee nt h ce nt ury sym
.
,

b olical maso nry bei ng li mited to the si mple

,

ceremo nial needed fe w illustrations ; because as

, ,

the science was chiefly operative the most val u ,

able secrets wo uld be t hose which had a reference

t o b uilding— to the scient ific orname nt s and de
c orations of each par tic ular style of arc hi tec tu re

as it flo urished in its own excl usive perio d and

these mysteries were co mmunicated gradually as ,

the candidate rose thro ugh the di ffere nt stages Of

his order or pro fessio n .

There appears to have been one general pri n

ci le wh ich extended itself over e v ery style fro m
p ,

the early E nglish to the florid decorated and , ,

perpendicular and constituted one of the mos t

,

ineffable secrets of the M aso nic Lo dges I t is .

n ow kno w n to h ave bee n the hierogly phical device

styled VE S I C A PI S C I s ;
“
which may be tra ced
 Prevailing S ecrets in E arly Times . 5

fro m the Chu rch O f St John Lateran and the Old ,

S t Peter s at R o me to the Abbey Ch urch at Bath ,

’
,

w hich is one of the latest Gothic buildings O f any

c o nsequ e nce in E ngla nd It was formed by t wo
.

e qu al circl es c utti ng each oth er in the ce ntres and ,

w as held in high ve neratio n having bee n inv ari ,

ably a dopted by master maso ns in all co u nt ries .

I n bas reliefs which are seen in the most a ncie nt

-

ch urches over door ways it usually c irc umscribes

, ,

t he figu re of ou r Savio ur It was i ndeed a prin

.

cip le w hich per vaded every b u ildi ng dedicated to

t he C hristia n religio n and has bee n excl usiv ely

,

attribu ted to the scie ntific acquire ments of

” 1
E uclid .

The prevaili ng secrets of the Lodges in the se

early times w ere the profo und dogmata of Geo
,

metry and Arith metic by the u se of which all,

their co mplicated designs were wrought out and

perfected These scie nces are i nseparable fro m
.

t he syste m ; and accordi ngly have b ee n faith

fully tra nsmitted to our own times The secret .

meeti ngs of master maso ns w ithi n any part icular

district w ere co nfi ned to consultatio ns with each
,

other which mai nly tended to the communica

,

tio n of science and O f i mproveme nt in thei r art

, .

A n e vident res ult was seen in the general u ni

for mity Of their designs in a rchitecture with ,

respect both to plan and orname nt yet not ,

wit ho ut deviatio ns W e may co nclude that the

.

c raft or my stery O f architects and Operative

mas ons was involved in secrecy by which a ,

R e i h in A h
1
l l i p 292
tt c rc a
eo .
,
vo . x v . . .
 The Pythag orean T riang le .

kno wledge of their practice was carefully ex

cluded fro m the acquirement O f all w ho were
not e nrolled in their frater nity Still it was .
,

absolutely necessary that whe n they engaged in

contracts w ith bishops or patrons of ecclesiast i
cal bu ildi ngs a specificatio n sho uld be made O f
,

t he co mpo ne nt parts and of the t e rms by w hich

,

either co ntracti ng party should be rendered c on

versant with the m A certai n no menclat ure w as
.

then div ulged by the master masons for su ch a

p urpose and became in ge neral acceptatio n in
,

the middle ages .

1

T he abstruse calc ulations which acco mpanie d

the sciences Of geo me try and arith metic are no ,

longer necessary to Freemaso nry as an ins tit utio n

purely speculative and they were accordingly
o mitted I n the revise d syste m as it was recom
me nded to the notice of the fraternity by the
Gra nd Lo dge in 1 7 1 7 and w e retai n o nly the
,

beautiful theory of these scie nces w ith their ,

application to the practice of morality founded ,

on the po w er and good ness O f

It w o uld be an i nj ustice to our brethren O f the

last cent ury to believe that they did not enter
tain a pro fo und ve neration for the principles of
the maso nic order B ut the c ustoms and habits
.

of the people of E ngland living in that day , ,

differed materially fro m our own They were .

times when conviviality and a love of so cial

har mo ny prevailed over the more sedate p ursuits
and i nvestigatio ns of scie nce in which s uch an ,

1D llaw y A hit p 41 0
a a , rc .
, . .
 T he O rg anisation f
o F reemasonr
y . 7

a stonishing prog ress distinguishes the p resent

times I n the seventee nth and eighteenth cen
.

t uries Lo ndo n was an atmosphere of cl u bs and

, ,

a society O f this kind existed in every street for

the peculiar use of its i nhabitants besides those,

which were exclu sively frequ e nted by persons

possessing similar tastes or habits of amuse me nt .

A nd it w ill be no disparage ment to maso nry if ,

w e believe that its private Lodges did not s ustain

a much higher rank t han so me of these celebrated
meetings for the Kit Cat the Beefsteak and
-

, ,

other clu bs w ere frequ ented by the nobility

,

and most celebrated literary characters O f that

polished era .

It was the organisatio n of Free masonry that

gave it the distinctive character w hich elevated
its pretensio ns above the common ro utine Of
club life ; and although it is admitted that
-

the members of the latter entertained a strong

attach ment to their several i nstitutions yet none ,

w ere so e nth u siastic as those who had e nlis ted in

the cau se of masonry as we may learn fro m the
,

few testimo nies w hic h re mai n A mason of high

.

standing more than a ce ntury ago thus expresses

, ,

his feelings respec ting the order M as onry is

the daughter of heave n ; and happy are those
who e mbrace her By it youth is p assed over
.

w itho u t agitatio n the middle age w ithou t anx

“

iety and Old age w ithou t remorse

,
M asonry .

t eaches the way to content a thi ng al mo st un

,

kno wn to the greater part O f ma nki nd In .

short its ulti mate resort is to e nj oy in security

,
8 The Pythag orean Triang le .

the things that are to reject all meddlers in state

,

affairs or religion or of a trifling nature to em

,

brace those O f real mome nt and wo rthy tendency ,

with fervency and zeal unfeig ned as s ure O f ,

being unchangeable as e ndi ng in hap piness .

T hey are rich w ithou t riches i ntrinsically pos ,

sess ing all desirable good ; and have the less to

w is h for by the e nj oy me nt of what they have .

Liberty peace and tra nquillity are the only Oh

, , ,
I ”
j ects worthy of their diligence and tro uble .

B u t this as w ell as al most all the testimo nies

,

O f that period to its su perior excelle nce is con ,

fined exclusively to the practice and re wards Of

Christian morality .

M odern revisio n has ho wever extended the

limits O f scientific i nvestigation in the order of
Free maso nry beyo nd w hat was inte nded by those
w ho decreed tha t t he privileges of maso nry
“

sho uld no lo nger be restricted to Opera tive

maso ns b ut extend to men of vario us professions
, ,

provided they were regul arly ap proved and initi

A nd D r Hemmi ng and
”
ated i nto the order .

his associates in the year 1 8 1 4 thought it ex p e

, ,

dient to i ntroduce some peculiar disquisi tions

from the sy ste m of Pythagoras on the co mbi na ,

tio ns O f the poi nt the line the sup erfice and the
, , ,

s olid to form rectangular trilateral qu adrila

, , ,

t eral multilateral figures and the reg ular bodies ;

, ,

the latter of which on account O f their si ng u ,

larity and t he mysterious nat ure u su ally as cribed

,

to the m were for merly kno wn by the name Ofthe

,

1
Pocket C ompanion, p , 296 .
 T emp erance and E ar ly H ours . 9

fiv e Platonic bodies ; and they were so highly re

garded by the ancient Geometricians that E u clid ,

is said to have compo sed his celebrated work on

the E le ments chiefly for the purpose of displayi ng
,

some of their most remarkable properties These

disquisitio ns u s ually co ncl ude with an explana
tion Of the forty seventh proble m of E uclid
-

which is called the E ureka of Pythagoras .

O ur transatlantic brethre n have i mproved u po n

this still further S ome of their Grand Lodges
.

have g ive n a pu blic sanctio n to the i ntrod uc tio n

of literary and scientific subjects not contai ned ,

in the u su al lectures and the open discu ssio n of

,

t he m at the private meeti ngs O f the society A nd .

a committee of the Grand Lo dge O f N e w Y ork ,

in their repor t for the year 1 8 42 decided tha t ,

masonic p eriodicals ifj udiciously conducted

, ,

a re calcula ted to acco mp lish a vast a mou nt of

by difiusing more ex tensively those sound,
'

ood,
g
mora l and benevolent p rincip les which so emi
, ,

u ently chara cterise this venerab le institution

your co mmittee t herefore recommend those p ubli
”
cations to the liberal patronage of the fraternity .

T o promote this la udable p urpose the Grand ,

Lodges have recomme nded te mperance and early

ho urs a general observance O f which I am per ,

suaded w o uld not o nly af

,
ford ample leisu re for
scie ntific i nvestigatio ns b ut w o u ld als o operate
,

v ery fav o urably both for the welfare and credit of

the society ; and it is much to he wished that

su ch a system of discipline co uld b e e stablished
by a s i milar au th ority in the E nglish Lodge s ; for
10 T he Pythagorean T riang le .

a lax ity Of practice in these particulars is calcu

lated to introduce loose and i ncorrect habits
which cannot fail to prove i nj u rio u s to their
pop ularity If a L odge be O pened beyond the
.

prescribed time its labours may be protracted

, ,

particularly if its me mbers are too mu ch a ttached

to refresh me nt to a la te hour w hich will be in
, ,

consis te nt wi th domestic co mfor t and may pro ,

bably create dissatisfac tion and hostility in their

families T here is a delicate sensibility in the
.

female mind which is easily excited and an im ,

pression may be made in a moment which w ill be

fo und diflicult to eradicate T he me mbers O f a
.

L odge therefore o ught to be e ver on their g uard

, ,

les t an u nfa vou rable prej udice agai nst the craft
be thu s created ; because in su c h a case every
, ,

little deviation which under ex traordi nary cir

, ,

cumst ances may be u navoidable w ill be magni

, ,

fl ed i nto a s eriou s fault Andw hen transgressio ns

.
,

even tho ugh they be i maginary are multiplied in ,

the Opi nions of those who ou ght to be most dear

t o the fraternity and w hose happi ness it is their
,

duty t o promote by every atte ntion in their

po wer an estrange me nt of heart may be occa
,

sioned ,
w hich w ill e mbit ter do mestic co mfort ,

and produ ce mis understandi ngs and disagree

me nts for which the pleasu res and enjoy ments

,

of Free maso nry will be in vain expected to com

p e nsate .

N othi ng can supply the loss of do mestic com

fort which is the one great source of happi ness
,

that an all Wise C reator has provide d for us on

-
12 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

pe nd I n these days bodies O f men meet together

.
,

for other p u rposes than to hear the rep eated reci

t ation of a s eries of co mmo nplace maxi ms w hic h ,

s oo n lose th eir i nterest and beco me as so unding

brass and a ti nkli ng cy mbal E ve n an acqu ai nt
.

a nce wit h the traditio ns Of Free maso nry i s not

w it ho u t its utility T hey lead to so methi ng of a
.

higher character and are i nti mate y co nnected

w it h its philosophy
,
l
The most minu te l egend
.
,

al tho ugh abs tractedly it maybe considered trifling

and u nme ani ng is no t w itho ut its u se
, and if ,

traced to it s eleme nts w ill be found to bear a

,

rel ation to facts or do ctrines co nnected with our

best and dearest i nterests .

It appe ars to me that in the revisio n Of the

,

E ngl ish R itual at the U nio n a great o missio n ,

occu rs w hich it w ould be w ell to supply ; and in

t he pres ent taste for scientific lectu res and inv es
t ig at ions n othi ng w o u ld te nd to elevate t he cha
,

ract er of Free maso nry more tha n to af ford an

O p ortu ni ty for its i n dulge nce by fu rnis hi ng the
p
means O f carryi ng out its references in t he i ntro
d u ctio n of a higher range of science Free .

masonry to be co mpletely s u cc essful should take

, ,

precedence l n scie nce as i t does I n morals and the

exer cise of charity for there are few i nstitutio ns
.

w hich equ al i t in the w alks of benevole nce Its .

chari ties are u nrivalled It cherishes the orphan

—it supp orts the wido w— it relieves the destitute
.

-
and provides for the w orthy aged brother an
c"

as ylum from the storms of pe nury and indige nce ,

at that hel ple ss p eriod of life w he n his stre ngth

 A H ig her R ang e f
o S cience . 13

fails him ,
and he
is no longer able to wrestle suc
c essfully w ith adversity and wa nt .

It is tru e the seven liberal sciences are re fer red

to in the seco nd degree b ut wit h the exception ,

O f Geo metry they occu py no i mportant pl ace in

,

t he lect ure And for this reaso n I su ppose that

.
, ,

in a ncie nt ti mes the order w as deno mi nated Ge o

metry On this science w ith its applicatio n to
.
,

archit ecture our disquisitio ns are ab unda nt and

,

po werfully interest ing ; and whysho uld not a lec

t ure on the ele mentary pri n ciples of other scie nces
be eq ually gratifyi ng to the me mbers of a Lodge
Arith metic or the science O f N umber is ne arly
, ,

allied to Geo metry ; we patro nise M us ic in p rac

t ice b u t hear no thing of it in theory ; and of As

t ronomy w e are merely told that it is an art by
w hich w e are taught to read the wo nderful w orks
of God in t hose sacred pages the ce lestial he mi

sphere and that w hile we are e mployed in the

,

study Of this science w e perceive u np arallele d

,

ins ta nces of wisdom and goodness and thro ugh ,

the whole Of the creation trac e the glori ous Au

thor by His works .

T hat great philosopher Pythagoras who b y the , ,

s uperiority of his mind i nfused a new spiri t into

,

the science and learning O f Greece and fo un ded ,

the I talic sect taught his disciples Geometry

, ,

that t hey might be a b le to ded u ce a reaso n for all

t heir thoughts and actions and to ascertai n cor ,

rectly the t r uth or falsehood O f any proposition

b y the u nerring process Of mathe matical demon
st ration . Th us being e nabl ed to co nte mplat e t he
14 The Pythag orean Triang le .

reality O f things and to detect impos ture and

,

deceit they were pro nou nced to be on the road to

,

perfect hap piness Suc h was the discipline and

.

teaching O f the Pythagorean Lodges It is related .

,

that when Justin M art yr applied to a learned

Pythagorean to be ad mitted as a candidate for the
mysterio us dogmata of his philoso phy he was ,

asked whethe r as a prel iminary step he had al

, ,

ready studied the scie nces O f Arith me tic M usic , ,

Astrono my and Geometry which were estee med

, ,

the fo u r divisions of the mathematics ; and he

was told that it was i mpossible t o u nderstand the
erfectio n of bea tit u de witho u t them becau se they
p ,

alone are able to abstract the so ul fro m sensibles ,

and to prepare it for intelligibles He was further .

told that in the absence of these scie nces no man

is able to conte mplate w hat is honest or to deter ,

mi ne what is good And beca use the candidate

.

ackno wledged his ignorance O f t he m he was re

fused admissio n into the society .

Above all other sciences or parts of the ma

thematics ho wever the follo wers of Pythagoras
, ,

esteemed the doc tri ne O f N UM B E R S w hich they ,

believed to have b een revealed to man by the

c elestial deities A nd they pro no u nced Arith
.

metic to be the most ancie nt O f all the sciences ,

becau se being naturally first generated it takes

, ,

aw ay the rest with itself b ut is not t aken away ,

°

w ith them For insta nce animal is first in nature

.
,

before man for by taking away animal we take

aw ay man b u t by taking a way man we do not
take away animal They consi dered numbers ex
.
"
 The D octrine ofN u mb ers . 15

tending to the decad to be the cause of the essence ,

of all other things ; and t herefore estee med t he

'

creat ion O f the world as nothing more than the

harmoniou s efl ect of a p ure arrange ment of num
’

ber This idea has bee n adopted by Dryden

.

F rom h armony, from h eavenly harmony,

T h is u niversal frame b egan ;
F rom h armony t o h armony,
T hrough all the c omp ass of t he notes it ran,
T he diap ason closing full in man .

Pythagoras had another idea as we are i nformed ,

by Censori nu s respecti ng the creatio n of the

,

w orld and tau gh t that it was fashio ned according

,

to the pri nciples of musical proportion ; that the

seve n plane t s which govern the nativity of mortals
have a harmoniou s motio n and intervals corre ,

s ondin to m u sical diast emes and re nder variou s

p g ,

sou nds accordi ng to their several distances so ,

perfectly consonant that they make the s weetest

melody b ut i nau d ib le to us by reaso n of the
,
“

greatness of the noise which the narro w passage ,

”
of our ears is i ncapable O f receivi ng .

A nd further he estee med the mo nad to rep re

,

sent the gre at and good Creator u nder the name ,

of D is or Z eus or Z au and the d uad he re

, ,

ferred to the evil and co unteracti ng principle or

”
daemo n s urrou nde d as Pl utarch e x presses it
, , .
1

w ith a mass of matter ” ”

A nd Porphyry add s .
,

that the monad and duad of Py thagoras se em to

have bee n the same with Plato s w pa q and i re po ’ ’
e c z
’
-
i v,

his fi nite and infi nite in his Phileb us the forme r

1
D Pl iti Pl it
e m l i
ac s 7 ac Vit Pyth p 47
oru , . . c. .
3
. .
, . .
16 The Pythag orea n Triang le .

of w hich two o nly is s ubst antial t hat first most ,

si mple Bei ng the ca u se of all u ni ty and the mea

,

sure O f all things .

According to the above doctri ne the monad w as ,

estee med the fathe r o f N u mber and the d u ad its ,

mother whe nce the u ni vers al prej udice in favo u r

of odd nu mbers t he fat her bei ng had in greate r
,

hono ur than t he mo ther Odd numbers being .

masculine were co nside red pe rfect and applic able ,

t o the celestial go ds w hile eve n nu mbers bei ng

, ,

fe male w ere considered i mp erfect and g ive n to the

, ,

terrestrial and i nfernal deities Virgil has recorded .

several i nstances O f this predilectio n in favou r Of

O dd nu mbers I n his eig ht h E clog ue he says
.
, ,

T erna t ib i h aec p rimum t rip lici diverse c olors

Licia circumdo ; t e rq ue h aec altaria circum
E fi g iem duc o ; N u mero deos imp ure gaudet .

T h us translated by D ryde n
A rou nd his wax en imag e first I wind
h w l
T ree oolle n fil et s o f t hree colours j oin d
’

Thrice b ind ab o ut h is th rice de voted head,

-

W h ich rou nd t he sacre d altar thrice is led .

U nequal numbers p lease the gods .

T he E astern na ti ons of the prese nt day appear

to reverse this pri nciple W he n t wo yo ung p er .

sons are betrothed the nu mber of letters in e ach

,

of their names is subtracted the one fro m the

other and if the remai nder be an e ve n number it
, ,

is co nsidered a favo urable o me n b ut if it be O dd , ,

the inference is that the marriage will be unfor

t u nate .
 A rithomancy . 17

So me c urio us superstitions O f this character

were still in existe nce d u ri ng t he l ast ce ntu ry
amo ngst oursel ves and may not at the prese nt ,

time b e al toge ther O bsolete A Sco ttish minister .

,

w ho wro te a treatise on w itchcraft in 1 7 0 5 says , ,

“
Are there not so me who c ure diseases by the
cha rm of numbe rs after t he e x ample of Balaa m , ,

w ho u sed mug iam g eometric am B uild me here ,

seven al tars and prepare me seve n oxe n and

,

seve n ra ms T here are so me w i tc hes who enj oin

.

the sick to dip their shirts seven ti mes in water

”
that ru ns to wards the so uth Sir Henry E llis .

has collec ted many i nstances of the use of odd

numbers in his notes on Brand s Pop ular Anti
’
,
”
i i o w h ich the c u rio u s reader is refe rred
1
q u t e s t , .

T he s uperstition of div inatio n by number ,

called A rithomancy w as so fir mly planted in the ,

mi nd of man by the O b servances of ancie nt times ,

that it appears impossible e ntirely to erad icate it .

A n old writer quai ntly remarks

“
I will not be ,

su perstitiou sly opi nionated Of the misteries of

nu mbers tho ugh it bee of lo nge sta ndi ng amo ngst
,

ma ny learned men ; nei ther wil l I posi tively aflirm

that the number ofsix is fatall to weomen andthe ,

nu mbers of seav en and nine to men ; or that thos e

nu mbers have (as many have w ritte n) mag num
in tota rerum na t ura p otestatem g reat po wer in ,

kingdo ms and common weal ths in fami lies ages , , ,

of bodies sickness health wealth losse &c or

, , , , , .

1
S l
ee th i
a so on bj t C e de di t e
s su Phil d
ec nsor . e na .
, . 1 1 1. o o

lg i
e .
,
B di de R e p b 1 i
. o n 2 V i G ll 1 iii J
u .
, m in
. v. c . . arro n o .
,
. . ero

Am os, v.P ti e f Pie ty f l 41 0& 8 0

rac c o , o .
, c. 5 .
l8 The Pythag orean Triang le .

w ith Seneca and o thers S ep timus quisque annus , ,

dre . E ach seaventh yeare is remarka b le w ith men ,

as the s ixth is w i t h weomen Or as divi nes teach .

, ,

that in the nu mber O f seaven th ere is a misticall

perfectio n which our u nderst andinge canno t at
taine unto and that nat ure herself is observant
O fthis nu mbe r .

E very t e kno ws that O ddnu mbe rs are ma so n

ic and if he be ignorant of the reaso ns why 3 ,

5 7 and 1 1 have been adopte das land mark s let

, , , ,

him apply to t he M aster O f his Lodge for infor

matio n and he will the n be sati sfied of the
,

w isdo m o f t he appropri atio n b ecau se nu mber ,

forms one Of the pillars which co ntribute to‘

the su pport of scientific maso nry and co nsti tutes ,

an ele men tary p ri nci ple of Geo metry T hu s in .

,

the celeb ra ted Pythagorean tria ngle co nsi sti ng of ,

t en points t he u pper si ngle dot or

,

d is m o nad or u nity and re re

p ,

sents a p oint for Pythagoras con

,

sidered a poi nt to c orrespo nd in

proportion to unity a line to 2 a

.

ce to 3 ; a solid to 4 ; and b e defi ned a poi nt

p fi
su er

as a mo nad h aving position and the beginning ,

of all t hi ngs ; a li ne w as thought to correspo nd

with d uality be ca use it was prod uc ed by the first
,

motion fro m i ndivisible nat ure and formed the ,

unctio n of t wo poi nts A su erfice was com

j p .

pared to the nu mb er th re e because it is the firs t ,

O f all cau ses t hat are fo u nd in fig ures ; for a

circle whic h is the principal Of all ro und fig ures

—
, ,

m —
co p rises a triad in centre space circumfer
,
20 The Pythag orean Triang le .

the digi ts we no lo nger w onder t hat the inhab i

,

tants of the ancient wo rld in their ig norance O f ,

the mysterious secrets of scie nce and the abstruse ,

doc trine Ofcauses and eflects sho uld h av e ascri b ed

’

to the i mmediate i nter position of the D eity t hose

miracu lo u s resul ts which may be prod u ced by an
ar tfu l combi nation O f par ticular numbers E ven .

philosop hy was s taggered ; and the most refined

theorists e ntert ained sing ular fancies which they ,

w ere u nable to solve wit ho u t havi ng reco urse to

su perna tu ral agency Hence the pse udo science
.

of A rithomancy or divinat io n by numbers beca me

, ,

v ery prevale nt in the ancie nt w orld ; and was

u sed by Pythagoras as an act ual e ma na tio n of

t he D ei ty By this me ans ac cordi ng to Tzetzes

.
, ,

he not o nly w as able to foretel future e ve nts b ut ,

red uced the doctrine to a scie nce governe d by ,

s pecific ru les whic h he trans mi tted to posterity

,
”
in his Book of Prognostics .

T he a ncie nts had a ki nd of o no mantic arith

metic the i nventio n of which was in like manner
,

ascri b ed to Pythagoras whe ther tr uly or not is,

O f no i mpor ta nce he re in w hic h the letters O f the

,

alph ab et t he pl anets the days of the w eek and

, , ,

the t welve z odi acal sig ns w ere assimilated with ,

certain nu mbers ; and th us by the u se O f pre ,

scribed t ables co nstructed astrologically accord

,

ing to the a spects quali ties dig ni t ies and de hili

, , ,

ties O f the p lane ts relatively to wards the t wel ve

signs & c the ad ept would authoritatively pro
,

n o u nce an opi nio n on qu e stio ns af

fecti ng l ife and
deat h go od and evil fort une jo urneys de tectio n
, , ,
 The J ewish C a b alists . 21

of theft or the success of an enterprise It must

,
.

be co nfessed ho wever that these pre dictions were

, ,

n ot al ways correct ; for the r ules laid do wn in

dif fere nt syste ms varied so essentially that the ,

wis est magician was frequently p u zzled to s elect

an appropriate i nterpretatio n T he nu meral sys
.

t e m has bee n i nt rod u ced i nto the modern practic e

of astrology and very i mporta nt res ults appear
,

to depe nd on the tri ne quar tile and sextile aspect

, ,

O f the pla nets in the horoscope .

So mething Of this sort was used by the Je w ish

cabalists ; and he nce one of the rules of their
cabala was called g emetria or numeratio n w hich
, ,

w as chiefly confined to t he i nterpre tat io n of the ir

s acred writi ngs The lette rs O f the Heb re w lan
.

guage being numerals and the whole Bible being

,

co mposed of diffe re nt combi natio ns of t hose let

ters it was supposed that the correct meaning Of
,

difficult passages could o nly be ascertai ned by

resor ti ng to their nu merical val ue The Tal .

mudists e ntertai ned an O pi nion that the mystery

O f nu mbers w as act ually t a ught in their scrip

t ures because after the idolatrous priests of

,

Baal had a ccepted the challenge O f E l ijah that ,

prophet constr ucted his al tar of twelve sto nes ,

correspo nding with the t welve tri b es of I srael ;

b ut they s ay that whe n he took this number for
the special p urpose of co nciliating the favour
of Jehovah it was not merely becau se the so ns of
,

Jaco b were t welve in nu mber b ut be cause that

,

particular number w as s upposed to contai n a pro

fou nd and u nfathomable mystery .
22 The Pythag orea n Triang le .

T he syste m this doctri ne was founded

on which
appears to be that every letter in the Hebre w
,

alpha b et is in reality a distinc t light or attribute ;

and he nce the l e t ters are sy mb ols O f everythi ng
w hi ch the ear th andheave ns contai n T he R abbi .

B arahiel taugh t that nu mbers p roceed fro m H im

who was befo re all numbers as they go not b e ,

o nd t en T he e light are d eno mi na ted n I BD

'
'
y . s s

in the si ngular w hich is derived fro m lBD num

,
‘

bers ; eac h possessing the property of the nu mb er

whic h it represents And he nce the theologians
.

say tha t the T e tragrammato n represe nts the Ten

S overeig n Lights in which all the divi ni ty 1

,

fuse d because t he words formed by these let ters

,

are invariable ; and al th ough t hey ad mi t of

t welve t ranspositions and combi na tions every ,

one of the m means H e nce t he .

prophet M alachi says I am the Lord and , ,

change not ; for the Tetragra mmato n or Sacred ,

N a me ho wever it may b e tra nsposed ne ver

, ,

changes its meaning .

T he R abbi M anasseh B en Israel in his ex pla , ,

nati on of the cabala says T he fo ur th r ule is “

, ,

fo unded on the shape of the letters If it be .

aske d W
, hy does the law begi n w it h a 3 7 T he

a ns wer is Beca use it is for med by three lines

, ,

or 1 s which bei ng writte n at le ngth spell 1m

’
, , , ,

nu merically thirtee n ; this number bei ng multi

plied by three ( the three lines) makes thirty ,

nine eq ual to w
, as for ( t he L ord is One) also ,

thirty ni ne The cabal ists say that this letter 3

-
.

has a point above and ano ther behi nd sigui ,

 The M ag ic S quare . 23

fying t hat the Lord who is in heaven crea ted the

w orld which is represe nted by the a ntecede nt
,

le tter that is t he N for med by two s and a 1

, ,
I
’

maki ng toge ther t wenty six the sa me number as -

the Te trag rammato n R ea so n appare ntly sup

.

por ts the idea t hat p rofo u nd mys teries are con

t ained in the c haracters of t his holy la ng ua e ;
and w ho w ill co nte nd t hat they do not all invoT ve
many secre ts and reasons for being used in the
law of God fro m the perfect art wi th which they
,

are for med 1

T he sa me res ults were O btai ned by means of

the M agic Squ are whic h is a figure made up of
,

nu mbers in ari th meti cal proport io n so disposed ,

in p arallel and e qu al ranks tha t t he s ums of each

row w h e ther take n perpe ndic ularly ho riz ontally
, , ,

or diago nally are eq ual as in the

, ,

a djoi ning diagra m S uc h squ ares

.

see m to have bee n so called b e

cause they were u sed in the con
s tr uc tion O f talis mans It is pro .

bable they were so e mployed in

co nsequ ence of the ranks al ways making the same
su m a circu msta nce extre mely su r rismg in the
, p
more ignorant ages wh en mathe matics passe d for
,

magic .The magic squ are was held in grea t

veneratio n amo ng the E gyp tians ; and the Py
t hag oreans their disciples in order to add more
, ,

ef ficacy and virt ue to this squ are dedicate d it to ,

the the n k no wn seve n planets divers ways and ,

e ngraved it u pon a plate of tha t particular metal

which was estee med in sympathy with the pl anet .
24 The Pythag orean T riang le .

The square thu s de dicated was e nclosed withi n

a regular polygo n inscribed in a circle w hich w as ,

divided i nto as many eq ual par ts as there w ere

u nits in the si de of t he squ are w i th the na mes O f ,

the a ngles of the plane t ; and the signs O f the

zodiac writte n u pon the void sp ac es betw ee n the
polygon and the circ umference O f the circu m
sc ribi ng circle Such a talisman they v ai nly
.

i magi ned would befriend the person who c arried

it abo ut wi th him .
1

D ivi natio n by nu mbers w as not co nfi ned to

Je wish or heathe n natio ns b ut occupied mu ch ,

attentio n at different peri ods of C hristianity ;

and s u pe rstitio u s properties I am afraid are s till , ,

attached to partic ular numbers as fo rming cli ,

macterics or gra nd cli macterics ; for t he days of

,

a man s life are u sually co nsidered to be affected

’

by the septe nary year whic h as it is frequently , ,

believe d prod uces considerable changes in both

,

body and mind B ut the most re markable

.

change in a person s life is at the cli macteric ’

or 7 x 7 49 years ; or the gra nd c li macteric ,

—
7 x 9 6 3 ; or 9 x 9 8 1 ye ars ; e ach of
w hich is co nceive d to be fra ugh t w ith a p ecu liar
fatality And t here are numb ers O fpe rso ns even
.
,

in the ninet eenth c ent ury w ho co ntemplate these ,

perio ds wit h some degree of terror and estee m it ,

a rel ief whe n t hey hav e passed a way ‘

.

Several other numbers have superstitio us mean

i ngs attached to the m D r Bro w n in his .
,

m e f th i in C h mb de th he d f N t l’
I S ee or o s T t a ers s rac s, u n r e a o a ura

M ag ic
.
 S up erstitions Ill eanings f
o N u mb ers . 25

Pseu dodox ia E p idemics says that six have ,

fo und many leaves in its favou r ; not o nly for

the daies of the creatio n b ut its natural consider ,

atio n as bei ng a p erfect nu mber and the fi rst that ,

is co mpleted by its parts ; t hat is the sixt t he , ,

hal f and the t hir d 1 2 3 whi c h draw n i nt o a

, , , ,

sum makes six

, The number t en hat h be en as
.

highly extolle d as co ntaini ng even odd lo ng

, , , ,

plane qu a dra te and cu bical nu mbe rs ; and

, ,

Aristotle observed with ad miration that barba

rians as well as Greeks did u se a nu meratio n u nto
t en w hich bei ng so ge neral was not to be j u dged
, ,

casu al b ut to have a fo undation in nature S O

,
.

not o nly seve n and ni ne b ut all the rest have ,

had t heir elogies as may be O bs erved at large in

,

R hodig inu s and in several writers ; si nce every

,

on e extolli ng number accordi ng to his s u bject ,

and as it adva ntaged t he prese nt disco u rse in

handfi
’

On the same s ubject S mith in his Life of , ,

“

William M arqu is of Berkeley w ho w as born

, ,

in 1 42 6 tells us that he
, closet h the seco nd

septe nary nu mber fro m Hardi ng the D ane ,

as much difl ering fro m his last ancestors as

’

the Lord T ho mas the fi rst septe nary lord did

, ,

fro m his six former forefathers A nd he t hen .

”

proceeds to say I w ill not be s uperstitio usly

,

Opi nio nat ed of t he misteries O f nu mbers tho ugh ,

it bee O f longe standi ng a mongst many l earned

men ; neither will I positively affi rm tha t the
nu mber of six is fatall to w eomen and the ,

numbers Of seaven and nine to men ; or t hat

26 The Pythag orea n Triang le .

those numbers have (as many have written)

mag num in tota rerum natura p otestat em,
great
po wer in ki ngdo ms and commonwealths in ,

families ages of bo dies sick ness heal th w eal th

, , , , , ,

lo sse & c or wi th Se neca and o thers S ep timus

,
.
,

q u isqu e a nnus 8t c E ach seav enth

,
.
y ear e i s re

ma rkable wit h men as the si x th I S wit h w eomen

, .

Or as divi nes teach that in t he number of seaven

, ,

there is a misticall perfectio n which our under

st anding e cannot attai ne u nto ; and that na ture

herself is observant of this number .

N u meral divi natio n on so me u nimporta nt poi nts

w as at le ngth red u ced t o an unerri ng syst em ; and
the me mory O f a few brief rules wo uld enable even
’
a child to dive i nto another s tho ughts and thu s ,

e x cite a high degree of asto nish me nt by a process ,

w hich cannot fail to produce a correc t res ult .

For i nstance if any person has an even number

,

of cou nters in one hand and an odd number in ,

the o ther it will be easy to determine in which

,

hand the O dd or even nu mber is by the follo wing

certai n r ule D esire the person to multiply the
.

number in his right ha nd by any odd figureo ,

and the nu mb er in his left by an eve n one ,

and i nform you w het her the prod ucts when

added together are odd or even If eve n the .
,

ev e n nu mb er is in the right hand ; if O dd the ,

eve n nu mber is in the left hand .

B y a si milar process a number which any ,

person may th ink Of will be easily ascertained .

T hu s request him to do uble the number with

,

the addi tion of four ; then let him multiply the

28 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

climacteric periods says The writers of medicine

, ,

and physiology have traced w ith great appear ,

ance of accuracy the effects of ti me upo n the

,

h uman body by marking the variou s periods of

,

the constitution and t he several stages b y which

ani mal life makes its progress fro m i nfa ncy to

decrepitude T hou gh their observatio ns have not

.

e nabled them to discover how manhood may be

accelerated or old age re tarded yet s urely if
, , ,

they be considered o nly as the amuse me nts of

c urios ity they are O f equ al i mportance wi th con
,

ect u res on those thi ngs more re mote with ca ta

j ,

log u es O f the fixed s t ars and calc ulatio ns of the

b ulk of planets It had been a ta sk worthy of
.

the gre atest philosophers to have considered wi th

equal care the cli ma cterics of the mind to have
poi nted out the ti me at which every passio n
begi ns and ce ases to predo minate and noted t he ,

regu lar variations of desire and t he su cce ssion of ,

”
one appetite to a nother .

Amo ngst the ancie nts nu mber was di vide d ,

into t w o distinct parts intellect ual and scie ntial

, .

The for mer was co nsi de red the roo t and o rigi n of
all thi ngs ; the cause of the existence of go ds and
men ; the principle of the uni verse and all tha t
it contai ns by which matter was arranged i nt o
,

form and order and the syste ms perfor m thei r

,

accu sto med rev ol utio ns w ith acc u racy and p re

c ision
. T he sciential division was s ubdivide d
i nto two portions odd and eve n the former
, ,

li mited the latter i nfini te According to the

,
.

definition use d by the Pythagoreans e ven nu m ,

 O dd and E ven N u mb ers . 29

her is that which at once ad mits division into

the greatest and the least ; i nto the greatest
magnitudes (for halv es are t he greates t parts)
t he l east in multitu de ( for t wo is the leas t
nu mber) acc ordi ng to the natural O ppositio n O f
these t wo ki nds Odd nu mbers canno t be thus
.

divided ; for they are o nly c apable of being

separated into t wo unequal parts ”
Pythagoras
.

called the mo nad the father and the d uad the

,

mother of nu mber ; w hence it was concl uded

that those nu mbers w hich rese mbled the monad
were most propitiou s .

Hence in all the heathen syste ms O dd nu m

, ,

bers w ere estee med the mos t perfec t and repre ,

se nted the celestial deities In our own cou ntry

.

how ever and under the i nfluence of Christianity

, ,

w e fi nd a predilectio n for eve n numbers in con

n ection with the mysteries of fairy mythology
so prevalent in the middle ages I n M organ s .
’

”
“
Ph oenix Brittanic u s is a c ur io us t ract on this
s ubj ect e ntitled A n acco unt of A nne Jefleris
’

, ,

now l ivi ng in the co unty of Cornwall w ho w as ,

fed for six months by a s mall sort of airy people

called fairies ; and of the strange and wo nderful
c ures she performed wi t h salves and medici nes
she received fro m them for which she never took
,

one pe nny O f her pa tie nts I n this t ract she

gives the follo wing acco unt of her commerce
with these creat ures which I quote so far as it
,

applies to my p urpose She says that in 1 6 45

.
, ,

as she was one day sitting knitting in an arbour

in the garde n, there came o ver the hedge of a ,
30 The Pythag orean Triang le .

s udde n six persons of a s mall stat ure all clothed

, ,

in green which fri hted her so much as to thro w

,
g
her i nto a great sic k ness They co n ti nued their
.

appearance to her never less tha n t wo at a ti me ,

and never mo re than eight and always in even

,

nu mb ers, 2 , 4, 6 , 8 .

In order to a right u nderstanding O f the

application of the nume ral sys tem it will b e
,

necessary to g ive a detailed ex pla natio n O f the

occu lt mea ni ng of the seve ral digits as ta u ght in
,

some of the ancie nt syste ms of t he spu rio us Free

maso nry ; and this will sho w to what a bea utiful
moral p urpo se it is capa b le O f bei ng applied .
TH E M ON AD
, OR P O IN T , DIS C USSED AS

TH E ORI GIN OF A L L C A L C UL A TION .

U N I T Y, OR TH E

N UM B E R
 C H A PT E R I .

TH E P OI N T:

M ON A D , U N I T Y, OR TH E N UM B E R ON E .

A POIN T is enoug h h l ld
t o p ut all the sc oo s in t he wor in a com ue b
ti on. h eed
B ut w at n k h
has man to no w t at p oint, sinc t he e
h ll be
creation of suc a sma bey d
ing is on e his p ow r ? A fortiori, p hi
b b l y he f h h
losop hy acts against p ro a i it w n, rom t at point w ic ab h
b d e ed
sor s and isconc rts all h er m e e
itations, she pr sum s t o pass on
e e ld de de ”
ee
—
’
t o t he g n ration of the wor , or th e or ring of Gods cr s .

LA PLU OE E .

e e
The sci nc s may w ell compose

A no ble e
stru ct u r , vast

l e
A p oint, a in , a su p erfice,
ld l
B ut so i is t he ast .

A N C I E N T L E crU B E s or M AS ON R Y .

HE
exalted ideas which were entertai ne d
by the ancient poets and p hilosop hers re ‘

specti ng the mysterious prop erties Ofnum

bers may be estimated fro m the superstitious uses
,

to w hich they were made s ubservie nt in all coun

t ries whether the i nhabitants were savage or refined
, .

T he for mer saw that the number O f his fi ngers

e nded at ten ; and this constituted the amount of
C
34 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

his knowledge It formed the standard of all his

.

co mpu tatio ns Whe n a savage on his war path

.
,
-

—
w as asked the number of his e nemies if few he
w o uld hold u p one or more of his fi ng ers—if many
,

them all And in w hatever manner his i deas o f

.

units might be designated the calc ulatio n wo ul d,

al ways end in ten Th u s in Ho mer Prote us

.
, ,

cou nts his sea calves by fives or in other w ords

-

by t he number of fi ngers on his hand Several .

natio ns in the wil ds of A merica have to this day

no other i nstr ume nts of calc ulatio n It is an .

other strong pres umption of the tr uth of w hat I

now advance that all civilised natio ns co u nt by
,

tens ; te ns of tens or hu ndreds ; tens of hun

,

dred s or tho usands and so on b ut al ways fro m

, ,

t en to ten We can discover no reaso n why this

.

nu mber sh ould be chose n rather than any other

for the term O f numeratio n except the pri mitive ,
1
practice of cou nting by the fing ers .

T his was the general c us to m although there ,

w ere so me except ions For instance M de la

.
, .

Co ndamine tells u s of a certai n tribe in Sou th

A merica who had no particular word for any
number beyo nd three ; w hile in M exico and C en
2

tral A meri ca t hey added this three to their ten

fingers and co unted as far as thirtee n ; beyo nd
,

which poi nt they agai n co mmenced wit h t he

u nit. B ut the r ule wi ll hold good for the gene
ral us age of antiqu ity ; and as such has been
delivered do wn to our own times .

1 Gog uet, O rig in of L aws, v ol i . . p . 21 6 .

l
R e at de la riviere des A maz on
. e p
s, . 67 .
36 The Pythag orean Triang le .

c essors ; til the superstition became so firmly

un
grafted in the hu ma n mind that ti me and e du ,

catio n have failed entirely to exti ng uis h it A n .

exami nation int o the mysterious proper ties of

numbers has co nsti tuted t he serio us occupation
of many a man of real talent in comparatively
modern times B ut the O ld philosophers e m
.

bodied in their numeral system su ch excelle nt

doctrines and beautiful lesso ns of morality as
,

have bee n dee med w orthy of introd uction i nto the

science of Freemasonry for the edifieat ion O f the
brethren ; and the absurd s up ersti tions in which
they were originally e mbodied may be forgive n ,

as bei ng incide ntal to thei r i mper fect and sp uri

ous rel igio n for the sake of the ge ni us wit h w hic h
,

they were decorated and enriched .

Amongs t these sages the M O N A D represented

,

t he throne of the Omnipotent D eity placed in the ,

centre of the e mpyrean to indicate T , .

by who m all things w ere made and are preserved .

T his di spositio n was symbolised by the hierogram

of a Point within a circle or equilateral triangle ,

to exe mplify equally the uni ty O f the divi ne

essence and His eternity havi ng neither begin
, ,

ni ng of years nor end of days A nd this dedu c .

tion appears perfectly reasonable becau se the ,

M onad or Poi nt is the origi nal and cause O f the

e ntire numeral syste m as God is the cause of all
,

things being the only and great Creator on w ho m

,

everyt hin depe nds for if there w ere more all

p owerful IBeings than one none wo uld be i nde
,

pe ndent nor would all p erfections be centred in

,
 The M ysterious Prop erties of N u mb ers . 37

one individ ua neither for mally by reaso n of

their distinctio n nor eminently and v irtually
, ,

for the n one should have pow er to produ ce the

other and that nature which is producible is
,

not divi ne B ut all ackno wledge God t o be

.

absol u tely and i nfinitely perfect in who m all ,

perfections i maginable which are si mply su ch , ,

mu st be contai ned for mally and all o thers ,

which i mply any mixtu re of perfectio n v ir ,

”1
t ually .

And to the same e ffect S thenidas the L ocrian ,

says , The first god is conceived to be the father

both of gods and men becau se he is mild to ,

every thing which is in subjection to him, and

n ever ceases to govern w ith providential regard .

N or is he alo ne satisfied with bei ng the maker of

all thi ngs b u t he is the no urisher the preceptor
, ,

of everything beauti ful and the legislator to all ,

things equ ally .

The u niversal symbol by which this great Bei ng

w as designate d v iz the p oint within a circle
, .
, ,

it may be necessary to e x plain with so me de

ree O f minu te ness becau se it co nst it u tes one of
g ,

the mo st important e mble ms of maso nry O ne .

of the earliest heathe n philosophers of whom his

tory gives any accou nt w as Hermes Trismegistu s ,

and he desc ribes the M aker of the u niverse as

an intelligible sphere w hose ce ntre is ev erv he re ,

and w hose circu mfere nce ca nnot be defined be ,

cause the universe is boundless and He ex isted ,

Pe t h C eed A t 1
1
arson on e r ,
r . .

T yl F gment p 27
a
’
or s ra s, . .
38 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

from all eternity David expressed a similar sen

.

t iment when he said Thou art the same and , ,

Thy years will have no end

” 1
,
W e are told tha t .

the Persia ns when they wished to pay a h igh

,

re spect t o the D eity ascended to the top of a ,

high mountai n and ex panding both b ands they

, ,

prayed to H im in the name of the circle “

of heaven I n like manner the Je ws e nter

.
,

t ained a belief that the heave n of heavens “

could not co ntain H im T he R o mans placed .

a circular target as a symbol of the Deity b e ,

cau se as in the circumfere nce there is b u t one

,

point at its ce ntre and can be no more so in the, ,

w hole circumfere nce O f the u niverse there can

be only one perfect and powerful God ; nor is
it possible there should be another .

I have received a suggestion from a very in

t ellig ent brother r especting this s ymbol w hich ,

meri ts consideration He s ays Whe n the W M . , . .

elect enters i nto t he O bligation of an I nstalled

M a ster the brethren form a circle ro und him he
, ,

be ing in the centre ; and in this situation he is

said t o be the represe ntative of Solomon t he son ,

of David N ow as this is unquestionably a Chris

.
,

tian degree I unde rstand this son of David to be

,

a fig urativ e expressio n for the R edee mer of man

kind The W M is the n specially i ntrusted with
. . .

the Holy Script ures and invested with a je wel ,

which is e mble matical thereof and it the n b e ,

c o mes his d uty to exhort his brethren to se arch

t hose S criptures be cause they contain the words

,

P lm n 28 1
sa o . .
 T he P oint within a C ircle . 39

of et ernal life and testify to the divinity Of

,

Christ Searchi ng i mplies something lost and

.

our a ncie nt brethre n the early Chris t ia ns after , ,

they had lost by an untimely death their Lord

, ,

and M aster re me mbered th at while assembled

,

together in Lodge here below He had promised ,

that when t wo or three w ere gathered together

in His name He w o uld be in the midst of them
,

and cheered by the recollectio n they were nat u r ,

ally led to hope that He wo uld al ways be fo und

in the centre of their circle whe never reg ularly ,

asse mbled together in a j ust and perfect Lodge

dedicated to Godand holy S t Joh n I n like man .

ner w e are re mi nded by that s acred symbol that

,

—
He is al ways in the midst O f u s that His all
seeing eye is al ways upon us and therefore ex ,

hort ed to discharge ou r d uty to wards H im and

our fellow creatu res with freedo m fer ve ncy and
-

, ,

zeal
The M o nad amongst the Grecian philosophers
, ,

was a sy mbol of the her maphrodite deity or j unc ,

tion of the sexes because it partak es of two ,

I n a mysterio us pas sage of the Yaj ur

l
nat ures .

Veda Brah ma is spoke n of aft er his e manation

, ,

from the golde n egg as experiencing fear at bei ng,

alone in t he universe ; he therefor e willed t he

existence of another and instantly became mas ,

culo fe mi ni ne T he t wo sexes thu s existing in

-
.

one god w ere i mmediately by another act of voli ,

tion divided in t wai n and became man and wife

, , .

This tradition seems to h ave found its way int o

1
M acrob in somn S eip
. . .
, i 6
. .
40 The Pythagorean Triang le .

Greece ; for the Androg yne of Pla to is b u t an

other v ersion Of this O rie ntal myth If the
l
.

M o nad be added to an O dd numb er it makes it ,

ev en and if to an even nu mber, it makes it O dd

,
.

Hence it was called Jupiter because it stands at ,

the head of numbers as J upiter is at the he ad of

,

gods and men and also Vesta or Fire becau se , ,

like the point within a circle it is seated in the ,

midst of the w orld I t was also called the Throne

.

of J upiter from the great po wer which the centre

,

has in the u niverse being able to restrain its

, .

general circular motion as if the custody of the ,

’
M aker of all thi ngs w ere constit u ted therei n .

Pl utarch tells us that N uma b uilt a temple in

an orbicular form for the preserv ati on of the sa
cred fire intending by the fashion of the edifice
to shadow out not so mu ch the ear th as the whole
,

universe in the centre of which the Pythag or

eans placed Fire which they called Vesta and
,

U nity The Persia ns w orship p ed the circumfer

.

ence b ut it co uld only ref

, er to the apparent course
of the sun in the firmament which is the boun ,

dary of common observation ; for the real circum

ference is far beyond the comprehension of finite
man And the sun under the symbol of a poi nt
.
,

within a circle was the great O bject of worship

,

amongst the Dionysian artists who built the

Temple of Solomon .

On thi s interesting subj ect a learned andintel

ligent brother Of fers the following Opinion in a
1 The H indoos, v ol i p 1 66
. . . .

Frocl in T immum, com iv

. . .
 S un Worship . 41

let ter to the auth or The more I study the sub

e ct of maso nry the more I am co nvinced tha t
j ,

the mysteries were unkn own at Jerusale m till

i ntrod u ced by the Dionysian artificers and that 1

t he cere monies w ere astr onomical mixed wit h ,

paganis m and sun worship I believe also that

-
.

S olomo n divested the m O f t heir evil t endency and ,

created a new legend b ut tha t the mai n O bject

w as an astrono mical e mblem T he Je ws did not .

require masonry to keep the m religio u s for their

religion was open to all whereas t hat of the Dio ,

nysians was kno wn only to t he i nitiated M aso nry .

c o uld not the n be u sed for a religio u s p u rpose

amo ng t he Je ws although the cere monial may

,

have bee n adapted at that ti me to bo t h J ew and

Ge ntile so tha t the D io nysian ar tists thence
forth trans mitted the meani ng of the point wit hin
a circle not as bearing any reference to sun wor
,
-

ship b ut as regardi ng the sun merely as a great

,

w ork of the one u ncreated God T hu s the em .

hlems of the su n and moo n became i ntrod uced

into masonry ; and ho wever we may explai n the m
in our Lodges they appear to me unquestionable
,

remains of the solar worship or at least of astro ,

nomy .

For so me such reason H ierocles the Pythag or

ean co ncl u ded that the gods are immutable and ,

firm in their decrees so that t hey never change

the conception of w hat appeared to the m to be
fit fro m the begi nni ng Hence they were likened
.

1
S J eph Hip p lit D A t S k t h f th D i y i n
ee os o
’
as
’ ’
cos a s e c o e on s a

Artificers .
42 The Pythag orean Triang le .

to the M onad ; because there is one i mmutability

and firmness of the virtu es which it is reaso nable ,

t o s uppose subsists transce nde ntly w ith the gods ,

and w hich imparts a never faili ng stability to -

”
their conceptions U nder this descriptio n the
.

M o nad represented M i nd because it is station ,

and for a si milar reaso n it was called

1
ary

Good ; and se minal po wer because it is the root

2
, ,

origin and s ummary of all numbers

,
3
It was
also considered the vehicle of number as a ship at ,

sea or a chariot on land contai ns many persons

and thi ngs ; and hence it had the na me of both

these vessels .

It was a sy mbol of l ove and friendship ; and

taught the mild Pythagoreans the doctrine of
—
forgi veness of i nj uries ; for they argued Will not
a man who is a brother or eve n anycas u al person , ,

who deserves attentio n in a much greater deg ree

than a brute be changed to milder manners by
,

p roper treat me nt tho ugh he sho uld not e ntirely

,

fors ake his r us ticity " I n our behavio u r therefore

'

, ,

towards every man and in a much greater degree

,

to wards a brother we should i mitate the reply of

,

Socrates to one who said to him M ay I die ,

u nless I am reve nged on you F or his a nswer .

was ,
M ay I die if I do not make you my
frie nd .

T he M onad further signified Chaos the father ,

of life su bs tance the ca use of T r uth reaso n and

, , , ,

the receptacle of all thi ngs Also in greater and .

3 A lex Ap h d in met p h
. ro . P ph it Pyth
a . or . v . .

M t C pel ar . a .
, VII .
44 The Pythag orean Triang le .

After this is the circle which comprehe nds the

remaini ng relatives N ext to th is is that which
.

contains the common people then that which ,

comprehends those of the sa me tribe after wards ,

th at which contai ns the citizens ; and then t wo

other circles follow one being the circle of those
,

that d well in the vicinity of the city and the ,

other of those of the same provi nce B ut the .

o utermos t and greatest circle and which co mpre ,

hends all the other circles is that of the w hole ,

human race ”
T his ad mirable passage says T ay
.
,

lor is so conformable to the follow i ng b eautiful

,

lines in Pope s E ssay on M an th at it is most

’

probably the source from whe nce they were de

rive d
S lf l
e b t r
-
ove th irt u mind t w k
u se ves e v uo s o a e,

A s the small p eb b le stirs the p eaceful lak e

The centre moved, a circle straig ht succeeds,
l
A nother sti l, and still anoth er sp reads ;
F riend, p arent, neighb ou r, fi rst it ill emb race, w
x
H is country ne t, and n ex t all human race ;
w
W ide and more ide the o erfiowings of th e mind,
’

T ak e every creature in of e very kind .

T he learned Aben E zra on the 1 1 th chapter of ,

D aniel says that the number one is in a manner

, ,

the cause of all numbers and is besides a com ,

lete number ; it cau ses m u ltiplicatio n and

p
re mainder b ut does not admit of either itself
, .

And in another place he says N umbers are ,

”
founded on the unit one The sage La t if oh .

serves the sa me According to E uclid in his

.
,

seco nd definiti on of the seve nth bo ok nu mbers ,

 M asonic R eference for the M ouad . 45

are formed of many units ; b ut unity being i ndi

v isible has no co mposition nor is it a number
, , ,

b u t the fo untain and mother of all nu mbers .

B ei ng the cause of all nu mbers they are formed ,

by a plu rality of units T h us 2 is t wice 1 ; 3 is .

t hree u nits &c ; so that all numbers require the

, .

M o nad while it exists by itself with out requiri ng

,

an
y other A ll w
. hich is to be co nsidered of t he

Firs t Cause ; for as one is no number b ut t he ,

cau se and beginning of nu mber so the Firs t ,

Cause has no affinity to creatures b ut is t he ,

ca use and beginni ng of them they all stand in

need of H im and He req uires assis tance from
,

none . He is all in all and all are incl uded in ,

H im in the mos t si mple u nity T he Je wish .

R abbins agree that He is One and there is no ,

u nity like His in the u niverse the nearest idea

that w e can for m of H im is symb olised by the
1
u nit or the figu re O N E .

The Pythagoreans say The M o nad is t he ,

principle of all things From the M onad came .

the i ndetermi nate duad as matters s ubjected t o

the cause M onad ; fro mthe M onad and i nde
,

ter mi nate duad N umbers from numbers Points

, ,

poi nts L ines; fro m li nes S up erfi ces; from super

, ,

fices S olids ; from these soli d Bodies whos e

, ,

ele ments are fo ur Fire Water A ir E arth ; of , , , ,

all w hich t ransmu tated and t otally cha nged

, , ,

t he W orld consists
3 ”
.

B ut Freemaso nry has a pec uliar re ference for

M n 1 h b I el C il l i p 1 05
a asse en sra , onc .
,
vo . . . .

Laert in Vit Pyth

. . .
46 The Pythag orean T riang le .

the M onad which pro duces some v ery striking

,

and re markable coi ncidences in every na tio n

u nder the sun I n an old ritu al of the Fello w
.

Craft s degree used about the middle of the last

’
,

cent ury w e find the follo wi ng passage in refer

,

ence equally to the first step of t he w inding

staircase the Point and the letter G : God the
, , ,

great Architect of the U niverse who m it is at all ,

”
t i mes ou r d uty to w orship and obey I n a ritu al .

still more ancie nt t he same meaning is rather

,

differe ntly expressed viz the Grand Architect ,

.
,

and Co ntriver of the U niverse ; or He tha t w as

taken u p to the t opmost p innacle of the Holy
T e mple .

T his ackno wledgment of the divine u nity or ,

poi nt within either a circle or a triangle was ,

commo n to all the syste ms of Spuriou s Free

maso nry that e ver existed fro m I ndia and Japan ,

to the extremes t w est inclu ding the Goths the , ,

Celts and the aborigines of America All ac

, .

knowledge the u ni ty of w hether

involved in the deepest ignorance or refine d by ,

civilisation and a kno wle dge of philosophy and

science The sages of Greece through a series of
.
,

w ire drawn reasoni ng ca me to t he same co ncl u

-

sio n as the uninfo rmed sa vages of Bri tain Scan ,

dinavia M exico or Per u

, , .

It may be u seful to exami ne a few of these

systems all emanating fro m the Spuriou s Free
,

masonry to sho w the bearing of this u niversal

,

belief which will prove t he sup eriori ty of revela

,

tion over the sp eculations of unassisted reason .

 The D ivine U nity . 47

The Divi ne B eing was called by the R o mans Jove ,

or JA H ; by the Chaldea ns the Phoenicians, and ,

t he C eltae Bel or B U L ; and by the I ndians and

,

E gyptians , A um ( Om) or ON T he first was .

plainly Jehovah ; the second was a co mmon name

o f God ; and the l ast w as u sed by the early

Christians to express the B ei ng whom they wor

”
o O N It al 6 m
i
shipped at 6 i d G
t
.
px u evoc o
,d ,
[c
, ,

w hich is and was and is t o co me B ut it must

1
.
, ,

al w ays b e kep t in mi nd that t he heathen in ,

ackno w le dging the ir chief god to be the M aker

or G . did not understand it in the ex
act sense in which it is received by Jews and
C hristiafis They believed that God built the
.

w orld out of ex isting materia ls we are satisfied

that He created it out of nothing The divi ne .

u nity was plai nly revealed to the Je ws at their

deliverance fro m the b ondage of E gypt Thu s .

w hen M oses p ro mulgated the L aw he said , ,

He ar O Israel : The Lord our God is one

,
2
Lord . T his declaration was so frequ ently
repeated that the Jews amidst all their rebel
, ,

liou s and religious defections never do ubted its ,

truth I n like manner the Vedas of I ndia the

.
, ,

Zends of Persia the Herme sian writings of ,

E gypt the E d das of the northern natio ns of

,

E urope & c all contained the same truth ; and

, .
,

from these original sou rces it was conveyed ,

through Th ales and Pythagoras to the p hiloso

h ers of Greece and R ome
p .

T he l atter great philosopher styled the S up re me

1
R ev i 4. . .
1 Dent . vi
. 4
.
48 The Pythagorean Triang le .

D eity the U N I T Y and p m s the M ON A D ; a

7 0 so, , o ,

term by which he do ubtless i ntended to express

his conception O f the simpl icity as well as p urity
of the di vine nature As the sole cause and firs t .

pri nciple of all that exists Pythagoras esteemed ,

the D eity t o be the centre of u nity and source of

h armony He like wis e conferred on this Al
.

mighty S overeign the name by w hich Plato

after wards dis tinguished the fi rst hypostasis of
his triad dya o , T othe C hief g ood
r
From thi s
ov, .

eternal M onad ho wever from this p rimeval , ,

U N I T Y accordi ng to Pythago ras and all his dis

,
l
cip les there sprang an i nfi nite d u ality
, .

T he philosophers of mos t natio ns e ntertai ned

similar Opinio ns respecting the undivided u nity
of the S upreme God which they learned thro ugh ,

the medi um of the Sp uriou s Freemaso nry Zoro .

aster is s u b lime in his descriptio n of the D eity ;

b ut he had e nj oyed the advantage of associa ti ng

w it h the learned Je w s at Babylo n and fro m ,

the m dou btless he had acquired his kno wledge

, , .

He taught that God is the First i ncorrup tible “

,

e ternal u nmade
, i ndivisible not like anything
, , ,

t he a u thor of all good the w isest of the wise , ,

t he father of j ustice self taug ht and absol ut ely ,

-

perfect Anaxi me nes the follo wer of Thales

.
” 2
, ,

like his master was a bold and subtle re asoner

, ,

and called everythi ng by its proper na me He .

deno minat ed the one God Z e us by which he ,

intended t o i nti mate that l ike t he air we ,

1 M I d A t ite d f m D i g La rt 1 iii p 50
aur, n . n . 7 c ro o . e .
, . v . . .

1 B osch de Pimp E van , 1 i

. . . . c. ult.
 A necdote o f the E mp eror Traj an . 49

breathe He is i nfi nite o mni prese nt and eternal

, , ,
.
1

Xenophanes the pri ncipal leader of the E leati c

,

sect entertai ned the sa me belief ; and described

,

that Great Being wh om they all admitted to b e

,

i nco mprehensible as i ncorp oreal in substance

, , ,

and fig ure g lob ular ; and in no respect si milar to

man T hat He is all sigh t and heari ng b ut does

.
,

not breathe T ha t He is all thi ngs the mind and

.

w isdo m ; not generate b u t eternal i mpassible , , ,

and i mmutable
”
Parme nides h eld that
.
“
the
principle of all thi ngs is O N E ; b ut that it is
immovable S ophocles assu res u s that in his
.

time the bel ief in one God who made heaven

, ,

and earth w as prevale nt a mo ngst those who had

,

been initiated i nto the Greater mysteries .

Socrates and his pu pil Plato maintained the

same opinion .
”
By the name of God said they , ,

w e mean the pare nt of the world the builder

of the sou l ; t he maker of heave n and earth ;
w ho m it is diflicult to k no w by reason of His in
cre dible po wer ; and if kno wn it is i mpossible ,

to clothe our kno w le dge in words Anaxagoras .

1 The E mperor T raj an, in a conv rsation wit the R a i os ua, e h bb J h

he l e
aring the att r say t at h
God is v ryw r pr s nt ;e e he e e eo s rv b e ed
,

h l ke
I s ou d li to see H im Go s pr s nc is ind
. d ee e’
eed e e y he e
v r w r ,
”

el J h
r p ied os ua, ee
b ut H e cannot b e s n no morta eye can b o H is l eh ld
gl y
o r . eT h e E m p r or in sist W l ,
”
edsa.i el
os ua,dJ h
“
supp os we e
fi k
t ry rst to loo at one of H is am assadors b e
T he E mp ror cons nt . e ed .

bb k e
T h e R a i too him into t he op n air at noon a , and b id h im ook dy l
at t h e su n in it s m ri i an e d
s p n o ur Ile d
ca nno t— the ig t
. l h d le
az z s

me . T hou art u nab le, sai

"
os ua, dJ h
to endu re the lig ht of H is
crea tu res, and ca net thou ex p ect to behold the resp lendent g lory o f the
C reator ? W ou ld
not su ch a sig t anni i ate you ? h hl ” —( Goodhug h s '

bl ph
L ectures on B i iog ra ica L iterature) l .
50 The Pythag orean Triang le .

o te nded for the supre me government of one

c n

God b u t ack nowle dged that he was u nable t o

,

comprehe nd His nat u re H is p upil E uripides

.
,

ho wev er w as more fortunate for he discovered

, ,

the o mnipresence of the Deity ; and confesses it

by asking whether it is possible to co nfine H im
w ithi n the w alls of a te mple b uilt wit h hands ?
.

Protagoras was banished by the Athenians for

impiety in declaring that he kne w nothing of
“
,

the gods because in so short a life it was imp os

,

sible to acquire a knowle dge of t he m .

”

The revol utio n of ages did not e fface this pro

fession of the divine u nity though it shook t he ,

credit of the Spurious Free maso nry through whose ,

mediu m it w as co nveyed The sole mn obliga

.

tions under the seal of which this great secret

,

was co mmu nicated prove db ut a sle nder tie upo n

,

the more sceptical philosophers w ho felt lit tle in ,

clination to be satisfied w ith the pop u lar reaso ns

assigned for paying divine hono urs to a mixe d

multitude of deceased mortals Cicero argue s .

the being of a God fro m the regular stru cture of

the universe ; and Virgil in his description of ,

the process and end of initiatio n winds up his ,

detail with a v ie w of the divi ne u nity .

I n like manner Zeno taught the u nity and

,

eternity of the Dei ty Pl utarch learned in all

.
,

the r ites and doctrines of the Spurious F ree

masonry of E gyp t and Greece expresses himself ,

plainly on th is point in his treatise of Is is and

Osiri s Aristides believed and taught his dis
.

ci les that
p
“
J ove made all e x ist ing thi ngs in t he ,
52 The Pythag orean T riang le .

him for Zeus or J upiter and not a few for Pan

, .

T his was an unnece ssary e mbarrass ment ; for they

were a ll titles of the same god there bei ng
o rigi nally by no means that diversity which is
i magi ned as S ir Joh n M arsha m has very j u stl y
,

observe d N egue enim tanta vrox vdeo rm Gen

.
-
.

tium qu anta fuit deorum wok vww ma

” 1
, .

W e shall see ho wever in ou r exa mi natio n of

, ,

t he D ua d, that this belief correc t as it was in ,

principle , d mitted of so me modificatio n

a .

1
B ryant, Anal ,
. vol. i
. p . 3 86
.
TH E D UA D OR E XE M PL I F J E D .

TH E LI N E ,
D U A D , D U A L / T Y, or

N U J VB E R T W0 .
 C H A PT E R I I .

TH E LI N E .

D ”A D , D a rr, or TH E N UM B E R

ex y
T m: n t t wo p oints in the P thagorean Triang e are d nominate l e d
e ee be
D uad, r pr s nt ing t he nu m r t wo, and answ rs to t he g eomet e
e h h le h h
rical L in , w ic , consisting o f ng t wit o ut r a t , is oun bedh b ded
by ex
t wo —
t re me p oints
”
H n mmo s LE C T U R E S
’
. .

T h e mblem t i l bje t
e a h t e i t i f th
ca o c s c arac rs c o e second dg
e ree of

M y th t w b e pill t h winding staircase, and th e

—I
aso nr ,
are e o raz n ars, e

bl i g t wit h th lette G i th
az n s ar e r n e c B I D.

HE
t wofol d reaso n of diversity and ine
quality andof e verythi ng that is divisi
,

ble in mutation and exists sometimes ,

one w ayso metimes another the Pythagoreans calle d ,

DU A D for the nature of the D uad in particular

,

things is su ch These reasons were not confined

.

t o the Italic sect b ut other p h ilosophers also have

,

left certai n unitive p o wers which comprise all

things in the u niverse and amongst them there
are certai n reaso ns of qual ity dissimilitu de and , ,

diversity N ow the se re aso ns that the way of

.
,

t eachi ng might be more p erspicuous they called by ,

56 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

the names of M o nad and Duad ; b ut it is all one

amongst them if it be called bifor m or squaliform , ,

or diversiform 1
. Pierius in his thirty seve nth ,
-

book of Hieroglyphics confirms this doctrine ,

.

He says I p se vero dualis numeru s mystico

,

sig ni cor oream indicat nat uram e t pro

fi ca to
p ,

imanundis accip itur in sacris qub d is numer us ,

sociandis enerandis u e cor orib u s a te ri solet

g q p p .

D e quo v idendus Adamanti ns lib tertio i n epis .

t elam Pauli ad R o manos ub i de p rop itiatorio ,

lo quitur S ummonet D Hiero n in hanc sen

o

. . .

t entiam adversu s Jov m1 anu m animadv ert endum

e sse j u x ta H eb raicam v eritat em in p rime et , ,

tertio et quarto et quinto et sexto die ex pletis

, , , ,

o erib us sin ulorum sub ect u m es se E v idit

p g j , t ,

D eus qub d esset bonu m I n secundo v er b die .

hoc omnino sub t ractum ut admoneremur non ,

e sse bo nu m du licem nu meru m u b d ab u nio ne

p q ,

div idat . N am unitas tota D ei est du a litas nerd ,

sig nifi cet hiero l

g yp hic e foeolera nu
p tia ru m q u i ,

b u s u bique Hiero ny mus p aulb se infensiorem

”
ostentat .

Fro m such definitions and pri nciples it will not ,

be d ifficu l t to see that the D uad was sufi ciently ,

c o mprehe nsive to ad mit of a vast nu mber of refer

onces andtherefore the prolific fa ncy of poets and

philosophers assigned to it a variety of re markable

quali ties Being even it was esteemed an nu
.
,

lucky number and de dicated to the malig nant

,

g e nii an d the i nfer nal d eities beca u se it co nveyed ,

t o the mind ideas of darkness delusi on v ersa , ,

P p h H i t Phil p 32
1 or . s .
, . .
 A n U nlucky N umber . 57

1
t ility, and steady co nd uct unFor th is reaso n .
,

the Pythagoreans spoke of t wo kinds of pleasure ,

whereof that whic h indulg et h to the belly and

t o lasciviousness by profu sion of weal th they , ,

co mpa red to the murdero us songs of the Syrens ;

the other w h ich consists in things hones t and
,

j ust comprisi ng all the necessary i nd ulge nces of

,

life is quite as at tractive as the former and doe s

, ,
”
not bri ng repe nta nce in its trai n
2
.

T he D uad was co nsid ered i ndefinite and inde

termi nate becau se no perfect figure can be made
,

from t wo points only which if united w o uld , , ,

merely beco me a right li ne w he nce a no tio n

w as originated that it is defective in its pri nciples ,

and superfl uo u s in its applicatio n to the scie nc es .

It signified also misfor tune fro m a general belief ,

in its u npropi tio us qualities ; and discord becau se ,

in mu sic that which re nders disso na nces g rati ng ,

is that the sounds whic h form the m ins tead of

, ,

u niti ng to prod u ce harmo ny are heard eac h by ,

itself as t wo disti nct sounds tho ugh prod uced at ,

one and the sa me ti me

3
Brand tells us that .
,

there is a little history extant of the unfor tunate

reigns of Willia m [L Henry I L E d ward II , .
,

R ichard II Charles II and James II e ntitled

.
, .
, .
,

N umerus I nfaustus ; in the preface to which

“
the a uthor says Su ch of the k ing s of E ngland ,

as were the S econd of any name prove d ve ry , .

”
u nfort unate p ri nces .

The number t wo was re ferred to several of t he

female deities and par ticularly to Ju no b ecau se
, ,

1 P p h it Pyth p 8 4
or . v lbid p 25
. P p Ant
.
, l iii p 1 45
. . .
,
. . o .
, vo . . . .
58 The Pythag orean Triang le .

1
she the sister and unfe of Jove ; and he nc e
'

was
the D uad became a sy mbol of marriage On this .

su bj ect H ierocles says t wo thi ngs are necessary

,

to all men in order to pass through life in a

,

becomi ng manner v iz the aid of ki ndred and

, .
, ,

sy mpathetic be nevole nce B ut we cannot fi nd .

anyt hing more sy mpathetic tha n a wife nor any ,

t hi ng more kindred than childre n b oth of w hic h ,

are a fforded by marriage And to pro duce thes e .

t wo be neficial e f fects C allicratides giv es the ,

follo wi ng excellent advice : Wedlock should be

coa dapted to the pec u liar to ne of the soul so t ha t ,

the h usband and w ife may not only accord wi th

each other in p rosperou s b ut also in adverse ,

fortune . It is requisite therefore that the , ,

h usband should be the regulator maste r and , ,

preceptor of his wife T he regulator indeed .

, ,

in payi ng dil igent atte ntio n to her af fairs ; b u t

the master in governing and exercising authority
,

over her ; and the preceptor in teaching her su c h

”
thi ngs as it is fit for her to k now .

B u t how unfortunate soever the D uad may have

been esteemed as a ge neral principle it was not ,

devoid of its share of b eneficent properties to

balance against those th at were malignant or for
bid ding . The two pri nciples
”
said the Para ,

celsic Lect ures of Co ntine ntal M aso nry are not ,

al ways at strife b ut so meti mes in leagu e with

,

each other to pro duce good Thus death and

, .

angu ish are the cau se of Fire b u t fire is the ,

cause of Life To t he abyss it gives sting and

.

M t C p el E l g in m S ip
1 ar . a . no . so e. e .
60 The Pythag orean Triangle .

third principle the v isible world the life and

, ,

s ubstance w hereof is come out of the eternal

nat ure the Fire and ou t of the g reat mystery
, ,

the Lig ht also ou t of the Darkness which is

, ,

the separator of Fi re and Light Love and ,

”
E nmity Go od and E vil Joy and Pai n
, And , .

t hey went on to say tha t the re are t wo sorts of

,

Fire and t wo sorts of Light which they explai ned

, ,

mystically .

T he D uad w as elevated by the anc ie nt p hiloso

h ers of the Italic sec t i nto a sy mbol of Ju stice
p ,

because of its t wo equ al p arts Hence Archytas .

,

who was a follo wer of Py thagoras says

“
T he , ,

ma nners and p ursu its of the citizens should be

deeply ti nctured with j ustice for this will c au se
them to be s ufficient to themselves and w ill be ,

the means of distributing to each of the m that

w hich is due to him accordi ng to his desert For .

thus also the sun movi ng in a circle throu gh the

,

z odiac ,distributes to everything on the earth ,

generation nutriment and an appropriate portion

, ,

of life ; admi nistering as if it w ere a j ust and ,

equi table leg islation t he excellent temperature of

,
”1
the seasons .

It signified also scie nce because the demonstra ,

t io n of an unk nown nu mber or fact is produ ced

fro m syllogistic reasonings on some other number
o r fact which is k no w n ; and this is ded u cible by

t he aid of science I t w as fur ther considered as

.

a symbol of the soul which is said to be div ided ,

i nto t wo p arts the ratio na l and the irrational

,

F gme t f A hyt p 1 6
1
ra n s o rc as, . .
 S ymbols f
o the D ua si . 61

the latter bei ng subdivided into the irascible and

the appetitive The rational par t enables us to
.

a rrive at t he tr ut h by co nte mplation and j udg

me nt ; w hile t he irratio nal u niformly i mpels the
so ul to evil And it signifie d Opi nion w hich must
.
,

b e ei ther tru e or false ; and Har mo ny whe nce t he ,

anci ents int rodu ced music at their banq u ets alo ng
w i th wi ne ; that by its harmo nio u s o rder and
soothi ng e ffect it migh t prove an a ntidote to the
lat te r which be ing drank i ntemperately renders
, ,

both mind and body imbecile .

I n the science of astro no my there are t wo

n od e,
s calle d the drago n s head an d tail
’

; an d in
astrolo gy the aspe cts are of t wo kinds dex te r and ,

siniste r accord ing as they are agreeable w ith or

, ,

contrary to the s uccessio n of the Signs and the

,

D u ad referre d particularly to the moo n by reason

o f her t wo ho rns whe n at the c hange I n t he .

fi rst chapter of Genesis the D uad is applie d to the

S un and M oo n ; which are there ter med t he t wo
g reat L ights the for m
,er to ru le the day and the

latter to r ule the night ; and mystic ally sigui

1 ”

fied the light of ti me Freemaso nry has adde d

.

a third .It will be obser ve d ho wever that t he , ,

sun and moo n are called grea t lights partly fro m ,

their natu re and effects because they give more

light than other stars T he sun appeareth alo ne
.

in the day not because he is alo ne b ut because

, , ,

t hro ugh his exceeding bright ness the other stars ,

c a nnot be see n T he moon also in her bright

.

ness ob scu reth many stars and being more

1 Gen i 1 6,
. .
62 The Pythag orean Triang le .

beautiful than any othe r hat h w orthily the chief ,

pre e mine nce in r uling the night

-
1
.

The Pythagorean philosophy says R e uchlin 2

, ,

taught t ha t the M o nad and D uad w ere a symbol

of the principles of the u niverse for whe n we
make inqui ry i nto the causes and origi n of all
t hings w hat soone roccu rs than one andt wo ? That
,

which w e fi rst behold w it h our eyes is the same ,

and not a nother that which we first co nceive in

ou r mi nd is Ide ntity and Al terity
‘
— one and t wo .

Al cmaeo n afiirmed two to b e many which he sai d , , ,

were contrarie ties yet unco nfi ned andindefi ni te as

, ,

white and black s w ee t and bitter good and evil

, , ,

great and s mall These multiplicit ous diversities

.

the Pyth agoreans desig ned by the number T en as ,

proceeding fro m the D uad ; viz finite andi nfi nite .

, ,

even and odd one and many right and left male
, , ,

and fe male steadfast and moved straight and

, ,

crooke d light and darkness squ are and oblong

, , .

T hese pairs are two and therefore co ntrary ; they ,

are red uced all i nto t en tha t being the mos t ,

perfect nu mber as co ntaini ng more ki nds of

,

numeratio n than t he rest : eve n odd ; square , ,

cube lo ng plain the firs t unco mpo unded and

, ,

first co mpounded than which nothi ng is more ,

abs ol ute si nce in t en proportions fo ur c ubic

,

nu mbers are cons u mmated of whic h all things ,

consist .

“
Categories red ucible to t wo S ubstance and
, ,

Accident both springing from one essence ; for

,

t en so loves t wo tha t fro m one it procee ds to t wo

, ,

1
A q in ex C h y H m i
u . r s. A C b l l n o .
,
v .
1
. a a . .
 F ancies about C olours . 63

and by two it reverts The first T ernary into one .

is of one and t wo not co mpo unded b ut co nsistent ;

,

one having no positio n makes no co mposit io n ; ,

an unit, w hilst an u nit ha th no positio n nor a , ,

point whils t a point T here being nothing before .

one, we rightly say one is first t wo is not com ,

pounded of numbers b ut a cc ordinatio n of units ,

-

only I t is therefore the fi rst number being the

.
,

fi rst mul ti tude not co mme nsurable by any

number b u t by a unit the commo n meas u re of
, ,

all nu mber ; for one t wo is nothi ng b u t t wo so

, ,

tha t the multitude w hic h is called T riad arithme ,

t icians term the firs t nu mber unco mpou nded the ,

D uad bei ng not an u nco mpo unded number b u t ,

”
rather not comp o unded .

T he Chi nese philosophers entertained si milar

fancies about the colour of b l ue which is formed ,

by a mixture of red and black This colou r they .

,
“
say bei ng the colou r of heaven represents the
, ,

active and passive principle reunited in one the

male and female the obscure and brilliant All
, .

c orporeal bei ngs are produ ced by i napprehensibl e

natu re e ma na ting fro m bl u e which fo rms the

, ,
1 ”
origin of all s u b tile nat u res I n the scie nce of .

astrology which was very prevale nt half a century

,

a o t he signs w ere i nvested with sig nificant

g,

colours T h us it w as said that T au r us w as

.

designated by white mixed wit h ci tron ; Aries

and Ge mi ni by w hite and red ; Cancer gree n
, ,

and ru sset ; Leo red and ree n ; Virgo black

g , ,

sp eckled w ith bl ue Libra black or dark ,

C l b k Phil phy f th H ind p 21

1
o e roo , oso o e us, . .
64 The Pythag orean Triang le .

c rimson ; Scorpio bro wn Sagittarius yello w or

, ,

g ree n C apricorn black or r u set ; Aq uarius a

,
s
,

sky col our or bl ue ; and Pisces by a brilliant

white .

N or were the Je ws dest itu te of a respect for the

number t wo which w as i ndeed i nculcated in the
M osaical writi ngs Th us while the clean beasts
.

w ere ad mi tte d i nto the ark of N oah b y se ve ns ,

t he unclea n o nes w ere allo wed to e nter o nly by

pairs The angels that w ere deputed to destroy
.

Sodo m were t wo Lot had two daughters ; t he

sons of Isaac and the da ughters of Laba n were
each two in number as were also the sons of ,

Joseph M oses was directed to make t wo cheru

.

b im ; the O nyx stones of rememb rance on the

-

high priest s sh oulders w ere t wo to symbolise

’
,

the S un and M oon as Josephus says ; b ut Beda

,

thi nks they were e mblematical of the fai th and

practice of the patriarchs and prophets while ,

o thers su ppose w i th greater probability that t he

, ,

high priest bore them on his sho ulders to pre

fig ure the manner in wh ich C hrist w as t o bear
the sins of His people The Je wish o ffe ri ng s
.

w ere frequently directed to be by pairs ; as t wo

lambs t wo pigeo ns t wo turtles t wo kids & c
, , , , .

T he waive leav es were t wo ; and t he she wbread

w as placed on the table in t wo ro ws ; the s ilve r
tr umpets to direct t he march of the Israelites in
the w ilderness were the sa me number .

Again Jo shua erected two monuments on pass

,

ing the river Jordan one in the bed of the river , ,

and t he ot her on it s ba nks ; the te mpl es of S 0 10

 The Princip le f
o D uality . 65

men and Gaz a were each supp orted on t wo

of
pillars ; Jerob oam made t wo golde n cal ves and ,

set them up at Dan and Bethel there were t wo

wi tnesses against N aboth , as the M osaic law re
quired in cases affecting hu man life ; and two
b ears w ere e t to v i ndicate the character of
s n
E lisha . I n the case of N aaman the Syrian we ,

find the u se of thi s nu mber fully exe mplified in

—
the t w o mules burde n of earth two yo ung men
’

—
of the so s of the prophets two talents two
n —
—
changes of garments t wo servants & c I n the , .

visions of Daniel the ram had t wo horns and in

Z achariah we have t wo olive trees two anoi nted-

o nes and t wo staves c alled Beau ty and Bands an

, ,

e mble m of brotherhood Similar coincidence s

.

might be fo und in the Gospels b ut the detail ,

wo uld be tedi ous and the res ult witho ut utility

, ,

as far as regards Freemasonry .

I n our syste m the principle of the du ad is

,

plainly e nunciated (altho ugh t wo is not esteemed

a masonic number) in the t wo Pillars of the
Porch of Solo mon s Te mple which were placed
’
,

in that sit uation by the w ise and j udiciou s

monarch to comme morate the re markable pillar
,

of a cloud and of fire the for mer of which proved

a light and guide to the I sraelites in their escape
fro m their E gyptian oppression ; the other rep re
sents the cloud which proved the destru ction of
Pharaoh and his b est in their atte mpt to follo w
the m through the depths of the R ed Sea Ournoble .

and ill u strio us Grand M aster placed the m in this

consp icu o us sit uatio n tha t t he Je ws might have

n
66 The Pythag orean T riang le .

t ha t memorable event in
their recollection ,

both in going in and co ming out fro m divine

worship .

T hese two famous pillars did not sta nd i nsu

lated or detached fro m the building but were .

applied to the u seful pu rpose of suppor ting t he

e ntablature of the pronaos T hey w ere of cast .

brass and th eir di me nsions use and ornaments

, , ,
’
are particularly described in the Fello w Craft s
Lect ure The chapiters represented the syste m
.

of the creation ; and the balls by which they

were s ur mo unt ed the cele stial and terrestrial
,

globes The net work denoti ng the stro ng and

.

beau tiful texture of all created t hings ; the chai n

W ork t he di f
, fere nt and co mplicated evolutio ns
of the several syste ms movi ng w ith regu larity
,

thro u gh the vast expanse and revolvi ng on their

,

o wn ax es ; the ope ning fl o wers de note the mild

and ge n ial i nflue nce of t he fixed stars ; and the

pomegranate the secret and unkno w n power

,

by whic h the u niverse is sustained Their .

height re mi nds u s of the t wo Gra nd M aster

Hira ms while the s phere and cylinder are
subli me and significant e mble ms which contain ,

the principles of the two higher branches of

Geometry .

I n the sp uriou s Free maso nry of so me ancient

natio ns t his pri nciple of d uality was ex te nded t o
,

su pport the doctrine of a good and evil po wer ,

w ho posse ssed almos t equ al gover nme nt in thi s

lo wer world and the prosperity or decadence of
a natio n was suppo sed to be prod u ced by t he
68 The Pythag orean Triang le .

M as onry of the last century thus explaine d the

t wo principl es ofLight and Darkness From the .

eternal ce ntre is made the eter nal substantiali ty

as a body or weakness bei ng a si nking do wn and , ,

t he S pirit is a spri ngi ng u p whe nce c omes motio n , ,

pe netration and mu ltiplic atio n ; and when the

,

spirit created the s ubstantiality i nto an i mage ,

breathing the spirit of the Trini ty into it the ,

whole essences eve n all forms of na ture the

, ,

power of Light and Dark ness and the whole ,

eternity it i nstantly blosso med and became the

,

paradise or angelical w orld I n the Darkness is .

t he ge netrix in the L ight is the wisdo m the firs t

,

i maged by devils the other by angels as a simi

, ,

litu de of the whole eternal bei ng to speak as a ,

creat ure And Lu cifer i maging beyond t he meek

.
"

ne ss of the T ri nity ki ndled in hi mself the matrix

,

of Fire and that of nat ure beco ming cor p oreal

, ,

then was the second form of the matrix viz the , .

,

meekness of the su b sta ntiality e nki ndle d w henc e ,

w ater originated out of w hich was made an hea

,

v en to captivate the fire and of that Fire and ,

Water came the S tars .

Other Orie nt al natio ns carry their belief of goo d

and evil genii (Ji nns) who are for ever co nte ndi ng
,

agai nst each other ; the one to extend the do

minio n of vice and the other that of virtue The
, .

beautifu l fictions in the Arabian N ights E nter

t ainments are fo unde d on th is belief T he origin .

o f the Jinn is th us given by Lane from E l Kaz i

-

v eenee . It is related in histories tha t a race of ,

Jinn in ancient times before the creation of

.
,
 Good and E vil Powers . 69

Adam inhabited the earth and covere d it the

, , ,

land and the sea and the plains and the mo un

,

t ains ; and the favours of God were multiplied

u po n the m and they had governme nt and pro
, ,

h and religio n and law ; b ut they trans

p ec
y , ,

ressed and o ffended and opposed their prophets

g , ,

and made wick ed ness to abo und in the earth

w here u po n God whose na me be exalted sent

, ,

against them an army of angels who took posses ,

si on of the earth and drove a way the Ji nn to the

,

regio ns of the isla nds and made many of the m

,

riso ners and of those who were ma de priso ners

p
was Az az eel after wards called I b lees fro m his
, ,
”
despair .T he Ji nne s have fire circ ulati ng in
their veins in the place of blood ; and when
any of the m receiv es a mortal w o u nd this fire
generally co nsumes him to ashes When they .

appe ar to manki nd it is usu ally in some hide ous

form.

The legend of the Sp urio us Free masonry is

fo unded on the above principle of d uality It .

speaks of a good and evil po wer the for mer being ,

destroyed by the machinatio ns of the latter ; and

after a variety of advent ures the body is fo und ,

and restored to life This gives vivacity to an

.

other form ofthe duad The ap hanism and euresis

.

were both celebrated d uring the initiations lamen

t ation and sorro w marking the first as a sacrifice ,

du e to the i mmolated deity ; while the last was

a season of rejoicing at his recovery ; and the
formula was R ejoice ye M ystae for yo ur g od, ,

is fou nd 1 And the legend was the same in all

70 The Pythag orean Triang le

material poi nt s whether the celebratio ns were in

,

hono ur of Osiris Ado nis Bacch us or the deity of

, , ,

any other cou ntry ; and the d uality w as still fur

ther ext ended by the s uppo sition that the wife of

t he di sme mbered god was t he i ndi v id ual depu ted
to search for the body The reference was pre .

served as well in Osiris and Typho n as in Osiris

and Isis and the correspo ndi ng deiti es in ever
, y
natio n of the earth .

T he s uperstitio n w hich w as so co mmo n thro ugh

,

ou t all antiqu ity of realisi ng the d u ality by com

,

bining the worship of the s erpent with that of a '

tree or ofl ering rites to the Ophite d eity in a

,

sacred grove originated with the paradisiacal

,

serpent and tree of knowledge This united wor .

ship i s depicted on the sep ulchral mo nu ments of

the Greeks and R omans on the coins of Tyre and , ,

a mo ng the F etiches of Whidah W e shall find .

the m in the same u nion pervading the religio n

, ,

of the Hyperboreans of every descriptio n the ,

superstition of the Sca ndinavians and the wor ,

shi p of the Druids .

Pythagoras in his s stem e nunciated the d ual

,
y ,

pri nciple l n the exoteri c and esoteric character of

the mysteries T he candidates for admission were
.

strictly examined respecting their moral character ;

and if they bore the test they were ad mitted as ,

exoterics which conti nued five years duri ng which

, ,

period they were subj ected to very serio us trials ,

both bodily and mental and doomed to a per ,

etual sile nce ; and afterw ards they were mad e

p
De n S e p t p 23 1
1 a .
, r en , . .
 F orms f
o I nstruction . 71

e soterics and permitted to see the M aster which

, ,

they had never yet been allo wed to do although ,

they had heard him deliver his lec tures on t he

o u tside of the screen If they were rejected they
.
,

w ere looked up o n as dead and a to mb w as erected , .

t o t heir me mory .

Agai n the form of instru ction used by this

,

philosopher was t wofold ; and his disci ples passed

und er the de n o mi natio n of the A cousmat ici and
the M athematici The former were i nstru cte d
.

o nly in the ele me nts and the latter in t he more

,

elaborate and secre t pri nciples of scie nce And .

Pythagoras taugh t still adheri ng to the pri nciple

,

of the du ad that every man was placed bet wee n

,

virtu e and vice like the lo wer part of the letter Y

, .

As there can be no ne h appy before their death so ,

no n e is to be estee med u nhappy w hil st he lives .

B u t if at his death he is b urde ned w ith v ice his ,

misery the n begins T his misery the philosopher

.

divided i nto t wo ki nds ; so me he said wo uld , ,

ulti mately be delivered fro m p u nish me nt others ,

w ould e nd ure i nfi nite pai n everlasti ngly Agai n .

o ,

he taught that there are t wo mansio ns in the

lo wer regions one called E lysiu m for those
, ,

who will u ltimately ascend i nto heave n and ,

T artar us for those w ho are never to be delivered

,

from torme nt On the other hand those w ho

.
,

have chose n t he pat h of virtue who have lived ,

piou sly and died in peace shall ascend into the

, ,

t ranspare nt eth er and live w ith the blessed as

,

gods.

I n Christian ph ilos ophy the d uad is equally ,

72 The Pythagorean Triang le .

esteemed because it i ncl udes the e ntire essence

,

of the system as expounded by its di vine a uthor

, ,

who po ssessed t wo nat u res and was co mprehe nded ,

in t wo great moral precepts the love of God and ,

our neig hbo ur For the same reason Christianity

.
,

has two sacraments and a divine symbol of two ,

u nited equilateral triangles t o figure the t wo ,

natu res of Christ It represents man in a t wofold

.

state as refe rri ng to ti me and eternity

, teaches
that the future will have t wo places of re w ard
and pu nish me nt which are attai ned by two pre
,

p aratory steps deat h and j udg ment The two

, .

great covena nts or dispe nsations represented by ,

Isaac and Ish mael are symbolised in Free masonry

,

by a most beau tiful type Thus St Paul says .

, ,

Abraham had t wo sons the one by a bondmaid , ,

the other by a free woman B u t he who was .

of the bond woman was born after the flesh ;

b ut he of the free w oman was by pro mise .

W hich things are an allegory ; for these are

the two covenants ; the one from M ount Si nai ,

w hich gendereth to bo ndage w h ich is Hagar ,

.

For this Hagar is M o unt Sinai in Arabia and , ,

ans wereth to Jerusale m which now is and is ,

in bo ndage with her ch ildre n ; b ut Jeru sale m

w h ich is above is F R E E whi ch is the mother of ,
”1
us all .

Here we hav e a plain exposition of the t wo

cove nants the L aw and the Gospel t he first of
, ,

which was a shado w of the seco nd “

H o wbeit .

that was not first which was spiritual b ut that ,

1 6 8 10 iv .
 The T wo C ovenants . 73

w hich w as nat ural, afterward that which was

and
spiritual ; the first man is of the earth earthy ; ,

the second man is the Lord fro m heave n ”1

O ur .

firs t estate is Time our seco nd E ternity T he

, .

sa me beau tifu l allegory is kept u fro m the tim e

p
of the first prophecy relative to the two seeds ;
and as it was the n with Cai n and Abel he that ,

w as born after the fl esh persecuted him that was

born after the Spirit I t appears then to have
.
, ,

bee n understood not o nly by M oses and Solomo n ,

b ut by all oth er holy men of old that t he two ,

colo urs of the M osaic pavement black and white , ,

were a figure of the divine and h u man natu re of

H im w ho was in the pillar of a clo ud and of fire ,

the R edeemer of His people fro m E gyptian be nd

ag e
.

I n like manner there are t wo w itnesses men

,

t ioned by St Joh n in the Book of R evelatio n

( R e v. xi
. w hich is in strict accor da nce w it h
custo ms of great antiquity ; as M oses and A aron
in E gypt E lijah and E lisha in the apostasy
,

of the t en tri b es and Zerubbabel and Jeshu a

,

after the Babylonish captivity to who m these ,

t w o wit ne sses are particularly compared Our .

Saviou r sent forth His disciples by t wo and

t wo ; and B ishop N e wto n has observe d that ,

the pri ncipal R eformers have u su ally appeared

as it were in pairs as the Walde nses and ,

Albigenses John Huss and Jero me of Prague

, ,

Luther and Cal vi n Cranmer and R idley and

, ,

their follo wers .

1 46, 47
1 C or . x v. .
74 The Pythag orean Triang le .

One great principle of the d uality is in the for

mation of the sexes for the propagatio n of each ,

particular sp ecies of man and bea st The cabal .

istic Je w s had some cu riou s ideas respecti ng the

origin of male and fe male in the human s ubject .

T he R abbi Samuel bar N ach man held with many ,

other of his brethren that wo man was j ointly ,

created w ith man; bei ng attach ed to his b ack ;

so that the figu re of Adam was double one part ,

before being man and the oth er part behind being

,

w o ma n ; and he s u bseq u e ntly says that God

separated this back figure from man Thi s e
.

opinion is adopted b y Jarch1 Aben E zra R , .

B echayai E liezer Askenasi and Isaac C are in

, , ,

their comme ntaries who all agree that by the ,

w ords male and female created He them is ”

to be understood literally that A dam and

E v e were crea ted together in one form w hich ,

w as c alled Adam and signifies both male and ,

fi md e .

The lectures of the old German R ose Croix

contain a curiou s application of the duad w hich ,

was adopted by M Peuvret i nto his Paracelsic .

degrees It is as follo ws
. Adam seeing t wo ,

divine forms in himself one paradisiacal within , ,

hi ms elf the other without him he thought to eat

, ,

of both viz the para disiacal and the mixed of

,
.
,

ood and evil till he s unk i nto a sleep w hic h

g , ,

signifies d eath where the spirit of t his w orld

,

formed him i nto su ch a man as we now are and ,

1
S ee a
g e t de l
r am e t hai bje t i t h
or C n il i
ont f t h s su c n e o c a or o e

R bbi M el l i p 1 7 ”
a h b
anassa I en sra ,
vo . . . .
 IL L US TR A TION O F TH E TR IA D,

OR S UPER F IC E .

TH E S UPE R F I C E , OR E Q U I L A T E R A L T R I A N GL E , TR I A D ,

T E R N A R Y, OR TH E N UM B E R THR E E .
80 The Pythag orea n Triang le .

su perior world intended for superi or powers

, ,

called by Py thagoras in his Golde n Ve rses the ,

immortal gods produ ced by the divine M ind

, .

T he third w orld called s upreme is the abode of

, ,

the O ne Great Deity who existed from eternity , ,

and has the sole governme nt of the w orl d T hese .

three worlds were called receptacles ; the first of

qu antity the seco nd of i ntelligences the third
of principles ; the first circumscrip tively the ,

seco nd definitively and the third reple tively , .

B ut the ternary or triad w as not only accou nted

a sacred nu mber amongst the Pythagoreans b ut ,

also as co ntai ni ng so me mystery in nat u re w as

therefore made use of by other Greeks and

Paga ns in their religiou s rites ; for Aris totle
says disti nctly that the number three was taken
fro m nature as an observati on of its la w s as ,

the most proper to be u sed in sacrifi cing to

t he gods and other p urifications ( D e C eelo . .
,

l 1 c
.
, .

T he triad was esteemed the first perfect num

b er and h ence oracles were delivered from a tri
,

pod I t was de no mi nated by w ay of e mi ne nce

.
,

the mystical nu mber ; and both Socrates and

Plato ack no wledge three principles of thi ngs ,

God Idea and M atter which had bee n already

, ,

s mbolised by Pythagoras in three secret figu res

y ,

v iz . Infi nite One and T wo the former was the

, , ,

w ay in which he designated the s u pre me D eity

by unity he meant form ; and by al terity matter ; ,

infinite in the supre me world one in the i ntel

, ,

lect ual and two in the sensible T he peace and

, .
 The Three B lessings o
f a M arried S tate . 81

concord which spring fro mhappy marriages was ,

represented by the triad ; whence probably it was

designated in the notatio n of the C hinese by the
, ,

fig ure of a p oint within a circle T he Pythag o .

reans ta ught the d uties which appertai n to a man

and his w ife in order to sec ure the t hree bless
,

i ngs of a married state The things say they .

, ,
“
which are peculiar to a man are three viz to , .
,

lead an army to gov ern and to speak in public

, , .

T he oflices peculiar to a w o man are also three in

nu mber ; i e to be the g uardian of a h ou se to
. .
, ,

stay at home and to be attentive to the co mforts

,

of her h usband A nd the virtues which make

.

the marrie d state happy ap pertain eq ually t o ,

them both ; and these are F OR T I T UDE J US T I C E , ,

and PR UD E N C E For it is fit that both the hus

.

band and the wife sho uld posse ss the v irt ues of
the body and the soul heal th streng th and , ,

beauty Fortitude and Pr ude nce pertai n to the

.

man while TE M PE R AN C E belongs peculiarly to

,

the woman ”
.

Like the duad this number was emble matical

,

of j ustice Pierius affirms that ut v erb tri ni

.

p rose u a
q mur significata t ernarium v eteres u t , ,

alibi etia m ostendimus Justitiaa dedicarunt , ut,

de Pythagoricis discip linis Plutarchus ait In .

j uria siqu idem aflicere nequ e non affici cum ex

‘
, ,

tre ma sint et idcirco v itiosa j ustum equaliter

, ,

utrinque reductu m in medio resi det SanePytha .

gorici non numerus tantum v erhm etiam figuras ,

deorum nominib u s dedica ru nt ; quipp e qui tri

g l m
en u a equilateru m M inervam appellab ant .

r
82 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

Verticig enam et Tritog eniam p rop terea qued tri ,

b us p erp endicularib us lineis ab angulis tribus

T o the above ex planatio n Pierius
” 1
dissecetur .

has s ubj oined these fig ures

T he triad was said to be a connective and col

lectiv e co mmunion as the symbol of j ustice ,
,

b e cau se it is that dispositio n of the so ul w hich

adapts itself to thos e that are near us For as .

rhythm is to motion and harmony to the voice so

, ,

is j ustice to communio n ; since it is the commo n

good of th ose that govern and those that are ,

governed becau se it co harmonises pol itical se

,
-

c iet
y. B ut eq uity an d be nig ni ty are cer tai n
assessors of j ustice : the for mer softe ni ng the

severity of p unishment and the latter exte nding ,

T he sa me
”
pardo n to less gu ilty oflenders 2
'

n umber also i nculcated the wisd om derivable fro m

prudence because men lo oking for ward to the
, ,

uture co nd u ct the mselves at resent by ex p eri

f ,
p
ence of the p ast And pru de nce w as defined
.

the fac ulty of disposing all the accidents of life

so as to prod uce h u ma n happi ness Th us we .

v alu e medicine not so much for the lo ve of

,

Pie H ie
1
f 292
r. r .
, o
. .

1
Di t g i T yl F gme nt p 25
’
o o enes n a or s ra s, . .
84 The Pythag orean Triang le .

case of the three holy men ment io ned by E z ekiel

( xiv. each of w ho m they say w as w i tness to
the creation destruction and restoration of the
, ,

world N oah saw the eart h reduced to chaos

.
,

and after the fl ood restored to its primitive state .

D aniel saw his country Jerusale m (a world in ,

miniat ure ) entirely destroyed and in his days

,

fl o urish agai n by the reb uildi ng of the T e mple .

I n like manner Job saW his ho use and fa mily (a '

s mall world to him) destroyed andafter wards b e ,

co me prosperous The prophet they add names

.
, ,

these three for their co nstancy and firmness

whe n tried N oah witho u t fear of bei ng kille d ,

buildi ng an ark in which he i nte nded to s ave

only himself Job agai nst Satan and D aniel in
the lions den He names them also fro m hav
’
.

—
ing escaped the three evils s word famine and , ,

wi ld beasts T hu s N oah was preserved fro m

.

ferociou s ani mals in the ark ; from the fami ne

that happened in his ti me ; and fro m the s word
w ith which men tried to kill him whe n they
saw that he alo ne w o uld escape at t he del uge .

Job escaped famine ; the sword which he ,

said cleaveth my veins asunder ; and from

,

the wild beasts of his country D aniel se .

caped famine d uring the three years when

N eb uchadnez z ar besieged Jerusal em ; the sword
whe n he was t aken prisoner and lastly fro m the ,
1
lions .

T he triad was said to be the cau se of wisdo m

and u nderstandi ng fro m its applicatio n to the
,

1
C onc il .
, vol. 1 1. p . 21 1 .
 The I nefi able S ecrets . 85

three sciences of M usic Geo metry andAstronomy , , .

T h u s the harmo nic triad 1 n music is co mpounded

of three ra dical sou nds co nsisting of a fu nda

me nt al note its third and its fifth the latter of

, ,

which is divided i nto t wo thirds by differe nt pro

cesses First harmonically as w he n the greater
.

third is lo west, in which case the triad is said to

be perfe ct andnatural Secondly a rithmetically .

whe n the lesser third is lo west ; and then the

triad is called flat or i mperfect I n the t wo .
l

latter sciences Pythagoras affirmed that the cube

of three has the po wer of the lunar circle because ,

he moo n goes rou nd her orb in t we nty seve n

S
-

ays.

I n the Hermes ian syste m the ineflab le secrets

'

were reputed to have bee n tra nsmitte d thro ug h

three patriarchs only viz Adam Se th and , .
, , ,

E noch the latter of w hom was ide ntified with

Hermes hi msel f t he founder of the spurio u s Free
,

maso nry of E gypt C udworth observes that

.

“
since all these three Orpheus Pythagoras and , , ,

Plato tra velli ng i n E gypt w ere there ini tiated

, ,

in that arcane theology of the E gyp tians called o

H ermaical it seemeth p rob ab le that this doctrine

,

of a divine triad was als o part of the arcane

theology of the E gyptians It hath been also .

noted that there w ere so me footsteps of s uch a

tri nity in the M i thraic mysteries amongst the
Persians derived from Zoroas ter ; as likewise
,

that it was expressly co ntai ned in the magic or

C haldaic oracles of whatsoever a uthori ty they
,

B by D i t M
1
i us , c . us . n voc.
86 The Pythag orean T ria ng le .

may be M oreover it hath bee n signified that

.
,

the Samothracians had very a ncient ly a certai n

tri nity of gods that w ere the highest of all their
,

gods and that called by an Hebrew name too

, ,

C ab b irim or the mighty god s ; and that fro m

,

the nce the R oman Capitoline trinity of god s was

”
de rived .

The triad of master and w ardens w hich dis ,

t ing uishes our system of Freemaso nry are the ,

legitimate reposit ory of its secrets and bear a ,

reference to cert ain att ributes of the Deity This .

t riad is not pec uliar to Freemaso nry b u t had ,

a correspo nding applicatio n 1n the spuriou s sys

t em of I ndia W isdom was represented by the
.

symbol of a circle of heads ; S trengt h by the

elephant ; and Beauty by horns or a ni mbu s ,

formed by the solar rays The great deity .

of India Siva or M aha Deo is frequently de

, ,

pi oted with three eyes de noting the past present , , ,

and fut u re and th u s co nstit uti ng a sy mbol of

,

prude nce I n general his name is co mpou nded

.
,

- — —
of the triad Cal Agni R u dra or Ti me Fi re Fate-

, .

The Fre nch philosophers who co ntrib u ted so

much to deteriorate ge nuine Freemaso nry abo ut
a cent ury ago affected to e nter tain a profound
,

respect for the mysteriou s institu tio ns of anti

q u it y ,
and co mprehe n ded t he doc tri ne of the
Pagan cosmogo nies co mpared with that related by
—
,

M oses u nder the form of t w o tria ds v iz t he .

,
—
,

exoteric consisti ng of B uddha Re v elatio n

,

—
Ch urch ; and the esot eric of intellect Logos
Great U nio n And in their cab ali stic j argo n
.
,
88 The Pythag orean T riang le .

fright imagining they had met with some goblin

,
.

By the way M ofl at fell and it ran over him and , ,

was at h ome at the ho u se as soo n as either of

t hem and stayed there a lo ng ti me
, One eve ni ng .
,

when the w o me n were milki ng the co ws in the

loan it was playing among the children near by
,

them when sudde nly they heard a lou d shrill

, ,

v oice cry Gilpi n H o m er " three times ; whe n it

started and said That is me I must away and

’
, , ,

instantly disapp eared and was ne ver heard of ,

more . Thi s being was an imp and n ot a fairy

”
, ,

which latter were some what obstinately att ached

to even numbers .

The number three was incorp orated i nto the

religious ceremonies of all natio ns Among the .

R o mans says B orlase

,
1
Corineus w ent three ,

times round the asse mbly at M isenus s funeral to ’

purify them ; three times was the effigy of a coy

lover to be drawn ro und the altar to inspire him
with lov e I n the festival called the Amb urvalia
.
,

the v icti m was to be led round the fields three

times I n the sacrifices of Bacch us the priestesses
.
,

were t o g o t hree ti mes round the altar with di

shev elled h air A mo ng the Greeks three t imes
.
,

did M edea in imitation of the B acch ae go round

, ,

the ag ed E son with fire ; three times with water ;

and three times with s ulphu r ; and whe n she w as
about to invoke the three p owers of the night ,

her goddess H ecate the mo on the stars and all , , ,

the i nferior deities resident in the elements of

nat ure thre e times she t urne d herself ab out
, The .

1 Ant C on ,
. p . 1 81 .
 M asonic Ap p lication f
o the N umb er Three 8 9 .

description of her the stillness of the night the, ,

propriety of the addresses and parts of her prayer , ,

are all extre mely poetical

T er se con vertit, ter sump tis fl umine crinem
q
I rroravit e uis, t ernis ulul atib us ora
S olvit, et in dat asub misso p op lite tet ra,
N o , ait, & c
x 1
.

The ames of the Pythagorean triad are legio n

n .

I e numerate a few of the m from Stanley :

Sat urnia Lato na Cornu copia Ophion Thetis
, , , , ,

Harmo nia Hecate E rana C haritia Polyhymnia

, , , , ,

Pl uto Ar etu s Lichelice Damatrame Discordia

, , , , ,

M etis T ridume Trito n Preside nt of the Sea

, , , ,

Tritogenia Achelo us N actis Agyiop ez a C uretis

, , , , ,

Crataeis S ymb enia M ariadge Gorgonia Phor

, , , ,

cia Trisamus Lydius Fro m hence it will be

, , .

evide nt that the philosophers at tached so much

veneration to the number three as to extend ,

its su pe rnatural i nfluence to every obj ect in

the creatio n It w as necessary to the success
.

of every undertaking and witho ut its aid a , ,

disgraceful failure was sure to be the i nevitable

result .

The applicatio n of this nu mber in our syste m

of Freemasonry 1s equally extensive although the ,

reasons for i t are i nadequately explained in the

lect ures I n one of the oldest known formulas we
.
,

find three degrees three chief officers three mov

, ,

able and three i mmovable je wels three k nocks , ,

t hree pillars three w orki ng tools & c b ut no

, ,
.
,

reason is assigned why this peculiarity had been

O id M t l ii 1 8 2 1 90
1
v , e ,
v .
-
.
90 The Pythag orean Triang le .

adopted I n another ritu al used later in the cen

.
,

t ury it is applied to the Holy Trinity and the

, ,

three Grand M asters at the bu ildi ng of Solo mo n s ’

T e mple A nd in the lect ures of He mmi ng and

.

S hadb olt refere nce is given to the three gre at in

,

t erior se nses or ele me nts of h u man i ntellect the

fi rst of which is p ercep tion the cause of si mple ,

ideas or i mpressions received from ex ternal ob

ects w itho u t an active exertio s of the ll
j , y n int e ec

t ual po wers The seco nd is j u dg ment or the

.
,

fac ul ty of digesti ng co mpari ng andreaso ni ng u po n

, ,

these simple ideas The third is volition or the .

,

concl usion which results fro m the operatio ns of

j udg ment and co ncentrates the whole e nergy of
,

the mi nd in a fixed and certai n point .

Freemaso nry contai ns another beaut iful illus

t ration of the number three w hich o ught not t o ,

be overlooke d It all udes to an a ncient and .

ve nerable exhortatio n in the Sacred Scriptu res

,
—
Ask and you shall have Seek and you ,

—
shall find Knock and it shall be o pened u nto ,

y ou.
77
T h ese w ords w ere u ttered by H im
w ho sp ake as neve r man spake ; and as H e
has t h us consti tuted a passport into an earthly
Lodge so also must He be our pass p ort i nto
,

a Lodge not made w ith hands eternal in the ,

heave ns .

M F ustier the i nv entor of a new syste m of

.
,

M aso nry on the Co nti ne nt i ntrod u ced into his ,

lectures from the theories of Beh me n and othe r

,

theosophical visio naries a disser tation on three ,

principles of L ight all of which are eternal ,

.
92 The Pythag orean Triang le .

t riad re fere nces w hich occur in the mechanism

‘

and lect ure s of our s ste m of Free masonry b e

y ,

cause they have been already expatiated on at

large in Lecture ix of the author s Historical .
’

Land marks of t he Order .

T he mysteries o f heathenis m i mitated this

triple pri nciple ; and in the religiou s services of
D elphi whe n the priestes s of Apollo delivered
,

her oracles she sat upo n a tripod which

,
“
Athenaeus calls the tripod of t ruth This .

w as a na me co mmo nly give n to any sort of

vessel or table w hich was s upported u po n three
feet . The tripod of the Pyt hian prie stess was
distingu ished by a base e mble matical of her god ,

co nsis ting of a triple headed serpe nt of brass -

whose body folded in circles gro wi ng wider

,

and w ider to wards the gro u nd formed a co ni ,

cal colu mn ; and it is well k nown that the

co ne was sacred to the solar deity The three .

heads were disposed triangularly in order to ,

s ustain the three feet of the tripod which ,

was of gold Herodotus tells u s that it was

.

co nsecrated to Apollo by the Greeks out of ,

the spoils of the Persia ns after the battle of

Plat aea .

1
I t may he r mar e e h ked he e
h l
r as a not , t at ou r B rit is S o omon,
J e h he ee ed de ble h
K ing am s, b re ached a t ria of w at d est m t esta t ing s,
fi h
u n t for be
u man ing s je y fe ed h e e he
H is M a st . p ro ss t at w r to
e de l
invit t he d e he h ld
vi t o a inn r, de he e h ee d he
s ou provi t s t r is s 1 . .

ed
A roas t i
p g .ll l
2 A p o o f in d
g an d m u stae
r A n d 3 A p ip o f
t o acco for ig stion —( Ap op t g ms o f King am s, p
. . .

b d e h he . J e .

1
h bje
S ee t is su e f lly e d
ct mor u e
t r ate h
on in D an s W ors ip of the
’

e e
S rp nt, p 1 98
. .
 Veneration for the N u mb er Three . 93

The British Druids so me of whose rite s and ,

institutions according to the O pinio n of H utchin

,

son and other a ncie nt brethre n were probably ,

retained in forming the ceremonies of M aso nry ,

had a peculiar veneration for this number ; and

arranged the classes both in their civil and
religio us polity upon ternary p ri nciples N o thing .

co uld be transacted w itho ut a reference to this

nu mber O n solemn occasio ns t he processions
.
,

w ere for med t hree times ro und the sacred en

closu re of Caer Sidi ; their i nvoca tions were
thrice repeated ; and even their poetry was
composed in triads T he ternary deiseal or .
,

processio n fro m east to west by the south ao ,

companied all their rites whether civil or ecclesi ,

ast ical ; and nothi ng was acco u nt ed sa nctified

witho ut the performance of this preli mi nary

c ere mo ny The te nets of their religion were
.

founded on three fundamental articles v iz rever ,

.
,

—
e nce for the deity abstaining from evil and —
behaving valiantly in battle ; and the triad r ule
—
for the preservatio n of health was cheerful ness
—temperance —exercise 1 I ndeed the nu mber .
,
”
three was sacred throughout all anti quity .

A nd both Aristotle and Plu tarch co uld say ,

equ ally w ith the British Druids that it was ,

held mysterious because it comprehended the ,

1 h
S mit , Ga el
A nt , p 8 0 . . . .

1
Virg E cl , viii 78
. . P ato in T im P u t
. . l . l . de I sid. et Osir , p 8 73 . . .

d
O vi , vii 1 8 9
. Olaus M ag H ist Goth Asiat
. . . . . R ea , vol i p
. 272 ,
. .

vol iii p 3 69, & c &c

. . . . .
94 The Pythag orea n T riang le .

— —
beginning middle end . T he j ovial Horace
also exclai ms
T rib us aut nove m
M iscent ur cyathis p oenla commodis .

Q ui musas amat imp ares,

T em os t er cy athos atto nitus p ete t
Vates ; t res p rohib et supra
x
R i aram met uens tangere Gratia
N udis j u ncta sororib us 1
.

Very superstitio us ideas were attached to bells

in the first ages of Christianity and the opposi
tion to the Pelagian heresy and the Druidical ,

triads united probably prod uced that singular

,

exhibition of v eneratio n for the Tri nity w hich is

T h ree clergy me n of St T elian s
’
t h us recorded .

three church es clai med his body when dead ; upon

which three several corpses appeared andone was ,

buried in each of t hese churches A nd Giraldas .

C amb rensis records tha t three perso ns u su ally,

sat do wn to the table in ho no ur of the Trinity ‘

2
at the period when he fl ourished N or are the .

su persti tions att ac hed to this number yet ex tin

S chefl er tells u s tha t the La la nders

'

u ished
g .
p
are in the habit of usi ng a cord tied wi th three
magical knots for raisi ng the wi nd W hen they .

u ntie the first kno t there blo ws a fav ourable gale

,

of wi nd ; which i ncreases at the second and b e ,

comes a perfect h urrica ne at the third M os t of .

the northern natio ns were addic ted to this super

stition . Amo ngst the M andingoes in the i nterior ,

of Africa according to Park whe n a child is

, ,

1H 1 iii
or. m 19
. . car .F b M h p 16
.
1
os r. onac .
, . .
96 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

prefers his v allor to a catechising oflice I n the .

name of Go d quoth b e what art thou ? whence

, ,

dost then come ? seeing so methi ng that he sup

”
posed to be a gh ost .

What a w eak and unstable creature is man "

W e all despi se these idle fancie s in others and ,

yet I am persuade d there is scarcely an indiv i

, ,

d ual at present in existence not withstanding the ,

i mprove me nts in scie nce and philo sophy which

distinguish our ow n times who is not in some , ,

respect or other under their i nfluence Is there

, .

no yo ung lady amo ng st us w ho will sit cross legged -

at the card table as the harbinger of g ood luck ?

- -

Is no one alarmed at hearing t he death watch or -

t he sight o fa single mag pie crossing his path ? I

— —
k ne w a man an edu cated man t oo who always
re moved his hat on s uch an occurre nce W hich .

of u s is really and truly exempt fro m the dread ”

of apparitio ns and v isions of the night ; or from

a belief in the efficacy of charms for ague cramp , ,

or toothache ? Let every one answer to hi msel f ,

and not to the world and his reply will be not far
,

from the truth .

A ain What opi nion shall we pass upon the

seug
.

o prophecies of Francis M oore physicia n

p
-

, ,

and his i mitators who have assumed the cabalistic

,

n ames of R aphael Zadkiel & c Of what valu e

, , .

wo uld their predictions be if their au thors did not

place a greater dependence on the cred ulity of
.

mankind than on t he stars and planets ? Su ch

men fatte n up on the weaknesses of their fello w
c reatures and t urn t heir superst itious feelin s to
, g
 The A rt of Transmuting M eta ls . 97

account S outhey speaking of John M uller bet

.
, ,

ter kno wn under the name of R egiomontanus ,

says He could talk of the fiery and ear thy tri

,

ens the aen al and the watery and of that pro

g
"
, ,

perty of a triangle whereby S ol and Jupiter Luna ,

and Venu s Sat urn and M erc ury respectively b e

, ,

co me joi nt trigonocrators leaving M ars to rule ,

”
over the watery trigon alone This is the kind .

of jargon which won golden Opinions from all

sorts of men a century or t wo back It not o nly .

advanced the science of astrology to e minence ,

b ut excited such a general belief in the art of

transmuting metals that an alarm was take n in
,

the highest quarters and an Act of Parliament was

,

passed 5 Henry IV 1 404 de termining that the

, .
, ,
“

making of gold and silver shall be deemed felony

”
.

Th is law says W atso n

” 1 “
,
is said to have resulted
,

fro m the fear at that ti me entertained by the

L ords and Co mmons lest the executive p ower
.
, ,

finding itself by t hese means enabled to increase

t he reve nu e of the Cro wn to any degree it pleased ,

should disdain to ask aid fro m the Legislature

and in co nsequence sho uld degenerate into tyra nny
”
and arbitrary po wer .

The u se of the number three is so firmly in

c orp orat e d into ma ny of ou r civil and religi ous

ceremonies that its Observance has become an

,

immovable item in the habits and customs of the

people Thus public approbation of a toas t or
.

se nti me nt is displayed at a ba nquet by the

h onours of three or three ti mes three acclama

1
C hemical E ssays, vol. i
.
98 Th e Pytha g orean Triang le .

tions W hen a hostile British man of war meet s

.
- -

the enemy the seamen salute him with thre e

,

hearty cheers And the pass ing bell at the de

.
,

cease of any individual commences and c oncludes ,

with three distinct knells for a man and t wo for ,

a woman each r epeated three times for the follo w

,

ing reason as is record ed in an old E nglish ho mily

,

for Trinity Sunday : The fou rme of the Trinity

w as founden in manne that was Adam our fore ,

fadir of earth can personne and E ve of Adam

, ,

the secunde persone ; and of them both was the

third persone At the deth of a man s three
.

shulde be ro nge as his knyll in w orsche

pp e
, ,

of the Trinetee and for a womanne who was the

, ,

secunde persone of the T rinetee two bellis should ,

”1
be rungen I n a word not only in refere nce to
.
,

t he T ri nity and to the death and resurrection of

,

Christ at three days distance from each other b ut

’

from many ancient superstitions both Je wish and

heathen the number three is likely to retain the
,

reputation of possessing mysterious properties as

long as man shall remain upon the earth .

I n atte mpting to explai n the arcane peculi

arities of the nu mber three we might be acc used of
travelling out of the record B ut there will be no .

i mpropriety in remarking that numbers which in

crease in arith metic al progre ssion by threes the ,

sum of the first and last terms will be equ al t o

that of the second and last b ut one or the t wo ,

middle t erms if t wo or t wi ce the middle one if

, ,

an unit .Thus for instance if we take a p rogres

, ,

S ee S trutt e M anners and C ustoms,

’
1 vol. iii p 1 76
. . .
PR 0GE E S S ] VE GE N E R A T I ON OF TH E TE TR A D

OE s ou p ,
R E PR E S E N TI N G F I R E .

TH E s ou p ,
T E TE A D , o T E R N A R y, on TH E

N UM B E R F 0U E .
10
4 The Pythagorean T riang le .

things . These are his w ords : The au thor of

these v erses shows that the tetrad which is the ,

fountain of the perpet ual orderly distribution of

t hings is the sa me with God who 1 s the D e mi
,

ur us ; an i ntelligible god the so urce of the

g ”
,

celestial and sensible goo d T he tetrad as M r .

,

Taylor thi nks is ho wever the animal itself of

, , ,

Plato who as S yrianu s j u stly observes was the

, , ,

best of the Pythagore ans subsists at the extrem

ity of the intelligible triad as is most satisfac ,

t orily sho wn by Procl u s in the third book of his

treatise on the the ology of Plato A nd bet wee n .

these t wo triads the one intelligible and t he other

, ,

intellectual another order of gods exists which

, ,

partakes of both extremes .

This number forms the arith metical mean b e

tw een the monad and the heptad ; and this
comprehends all powers both of the produc ,

tive and produ ced numbers for this of all , ,

numbers under ten is made of a certain number ;

,

the d uad doubled makes a tetrad and the tetrad .

,

doubled makes the hebdomad T wo multiplied .

into itself produces four and retort ed into itself

makes the first cube T his first cube 18 a fertile
.

number the gro und of multitude and variety

, ,

constit ut ed of t wo and four Thus the t wo prin .

ci les of temporal things the pyramis and cu be

p , ,

form and matter fl ow from one fountain the

, ,

tetragon wh ose idea is the Tetractys the divine

, ,

ex emplar .

Amongst the Hermes1ans the number four thus , ,

R hlin aC b l l n
1 euc a a a, . .
 S ymbols o f the N u mber F our . 105

amplified into a cube was the symbol of truth , ,

because in whatever point of view it may b e

contemplated it is al ways the same ; and for this
reason Hermes or M ercury was esteemed the god
of eloqu ence ; andthe Greeks and R omans offered
1

to him in sacrifice t he to ngues of animals The .

gift of eloquence ho wever according to Lucian

, , ,

w as co nferred by the Druids of Britain on a dif

ferent deity He was told by one Of the D ruids
.
,

as he stood admiring a figure of Hercul es to ,

w h ose to ngue w ere fastened chai ns of gold and

a mber which dre w alo ng a multitude of perso ns
,

whose ears appeared to be fixed to the other end

of the se chains that they did not agree with the
,

Greeks in making M erc ury the god of eloqu e nce .

According to our syste m he continued this ,

”
,

honour is due o nly to Hercules because he sur ,

passes M ercury in po wer ; we paint him advanced

in age because eloquence does not exert her most
,

animated po wers except in the mouths of aged

persons The link and the connection there is
.
,

between the tongue of the eloque nt and the ears

of the audience j ustify the rest of t he representa
,

tion By understanding the history of Hercules

.

in this se nse we neither disho nour him nor depart

,

fro m truth ; for we hold it i ndisputably true

that he succeeded in all his noble enterprises ,

captivated every heart and subdued every bru tal ,

passion not by the strength of his arms b ut by

, ,

t he power of wisdo m and the sweetness of his

”
persuasion .

T t l d ni F t
1 er u . e coro s es us.
106 The Pythag orean Triang le .

The most a ncient Greeks considered the tetrad 1

t o be the root and pri nciple of all thi ngs because ,

it was the nu mber of the elements The fire was .

considered to be Jupiter the air J m m the earth , ,

Pluto and water take n from the wo mb N estis

, , , .

On this subject Pythagoras taught that when fire

resolves the dissolution of water into air t wo ,

parts of air are generated and one part of fire , .

B ut when on the c ontrary water is ge nerated

, ,

fro m air three parts of air being resol ved the

, ,

fo ur triangles which are mingled together from

the same cause i e from condensation together
, . .
, ,

with t wo part s of air make one part of ,

w ater.

I n the system of the R ose as propounded

by Flu dd Behmen M eyer and others the four
, , , ,

elements w ere represented as being peopled and

governed by spirits who possessed a decided ih
,

fl uence over the destiny of man T hese elementary .

beings which to grosser eyes were i nvisible were

, ,

familiarly known to the initiated T o be admitted .

t o their acquai ntance it was previo u sly necessary

,

that the organs of human sight should be purged

by the un iversal medicine and that certain glass ,

globes should be chemically prepared with one or

other of the four elements and for one mo nth ex ,

posed to the beams of the sun These preliminary .

steps being taken the initiated i mmediately had

,

a sight of innumerable beings of a l uminous sub

stance b ut of thin and evanescent stru cture that
, ,

people the elements on all sides Of us T hose who .

S Pl t de Pl
1
ee Phil p 8 78
u . ac . .
, . .
108 The Pythag orean Triang le .

sophic degrees of M Peuvret called the R osy

.
,

Cross ; and was treated according to the funda

mental principles of light and darkness or good ,

and ev il . Thu s the ele ment of air corresponded

w ith h umility in the former class and pride in ,

the latter The earth in like manner was assimi

.
, ,

lated with meekness on the one hand and covet

ou sness on the o t her w ater with p atience and
envy ; and fire with love and hatred These .

principles arising out of the world s four elements

,
’
,

when applied to the science of light w ere denomi ,

u sted t he fou r elements of God and to darkness

, ,

the four elements of the devil The philosophy

.

of the subject was th u s st ated The fire preys

°

u po n the water and air ; the an 18 breathed out

of the water by the i ncitement of the fire ; the
water is the contraction of the air by the vici nity
of the astringent cold earth b ut the earth is one
,

body of no great intimacy with either of the

other being only a sediment resulting from the
,

separating power Of the other three elements .

N or yet may it be wo ndered that the four w ere

O nce one and proceeded fro m one
, seei ng they
are still one differing only in the degrees of rarity
,

and de nsity ; for as the earth driv es u the w ater

p ,

so doth t he water raise up the air and the fire ,

”
being v iolently active surmounts all The lec .

ture then goe s on to explain how the one was

separated into four ; b ut the exposition is t oo long
and too dry t o be inserted here .

It sh ould appear that the aboriginal sav ages of

America ( if savages they were) had some attach
 10
’

A ttachment to the N u mb er F our . 9

ment to the number four ; for the M exican priest s

were enjoined to b urn i ncense before the i mage of
the deity fo ur times a day T hey had a p ubli c .

celebration or ge neral j ubile e every fo ur years ;

and for ty day s before the annual fes tival of

Q uetzalcoatl the M exica

, n M erc u ry a slave was ,

p urchased and fattened as a victi m to b e sacri

,

ficed at the solemnity ; while the li ves of fo u r

childre n were offered to Tlaloc the god of rain , ,

when the corn was bursti ng i nt o spi ke in orde r ,

that he might b e propitio us and by send ing ,

genial sho wers produce a good and plentiful

,

harvest .

T hese sacrifices were of fere d on the s ummi t of

four square pyramids constructed for the purp ose ;
some of which re main in Central America t o the
present day ; and one of them is th us described
1
by Stephe ns It is six ty fee t high and one ,

h undred feet square at the base ; b u t it is now

c overe d with earth and tho u gh it retai ns t he
,

symmetry of its origi nal proportions it is so ,

overgro wn with trees that it appears a mere ,

wooded hill b u t p eculiar in its regularity of

,

shape . F our grand staircases each t we nty five ,

-

fee t w ide ascended to an esplanade within six

,

fee t of the top This esplanade was six feet in

.

width and on each side is a smaller staircase

,

leading to the top The summi t is a plain sto ne

.

platform fiftee n feet square Probably it was

,
.

t he great mo und of sacrifice on which the ,

riests in the sight of the a sse mble d p eople

p , ,

T el i Y t n l i p 1 3 1
1
rav s n u ca a , vo . . . .
 1 10 Th e Pythag orean T riang le .

cut out the hearts of h uman v ictims At a short .

distance from the base of the mound was an

opening in the earth forming another of those ,

extraordinary caves which have been already

mentioned The entrance was by a broke n
.
,

yawning mouth steep and requiring some care , ,

in the descent At the first resting place the

.
-

mouth opened into an extensive subterraneous

chamber with a high roof and passages branch ,

ing OH in every direction I n different places .

w ere remains of fires and the bones of animals ,

showing that it had probably been a place of

refuge or residence of men ; and in the e ntrance
,

of one of these passages we found a sculptured

” 1
idol .

I n Geometry the tetrad co mbi nes withi n itself

,

all the materials of which the world and all thi ngs
t herein are co mposed v iz the poi nt exte nded to , .
,

a line ; a line to a sup erficies ; andthe superficies or

triad converted to a solid or tetrad by the point
being placed over it T hu s in the original lect ures .

of M asonry which like those of the Druids were

, , ,

constru cted rhythmically that they might be more ,

easily remembered we have the follo wing p as ,

eagc
T he S cience five [Geometry]may w ell co mp ose
A nob le structure, vast
A p oint, a lin e, a su p erfice,
B ut solid is the last .

A ccording to Philo Judaeus the quadrate ,

1 S e e Hist I nit
. .
,
p . 294, new cd , w . he e th r e u se of t he e s e
cav rns is

p art ic l l d
u ar
y escrib e d
.
1 12 The Pythagorean Triang le .

The Pythagorea n w orld acc ording t o Plutarch

l
, ,

consisted of a double quaternary The quater .

nary of the in tellectu al world is T Ag athon N o u s

’
, ,

Psyche Hyle ; while that of the sensible w orld

, ,

w hich is properly what Pythagoras mea nt by the

w ord Kosmos is Fire Air Water and E arth
, , , , .

T he fo ur elements are called by the name of

riz omata the roots or princi les of all mixed
, p
bodies I n some ancie nt Greek verses to this
.

effec t Jupiter is the fire Juno the air Pl uto the

, , ,

earth and N estis the water and these are the

, ,

fou r roots of all existing things .

The i ntelligible w orld proceeds out of the

divine mind after this manner T he Tetractys .
,

re flecting upon its own essence the first unit pro , ,

du ctrix O f all things and on its own begi nni ng

, ,

saith thu s : Once one t wice two, immediately ,

ariseth a tetrad , having on its top the highest

unit and b ecomes a P ramis, whose base is a
, y
plain tetrad ans werable to a superficies u pon
, ,

w hich the rad iant light of the divine unity pro

duceth the fo rm of i ncorporeal fire, by reaso n of
the descent of Juno (matter) to inferior things .

Hence ariseth essential light not burning b ut ,

illuminating This is the creation of the mid dle

.

1 De anim p rocr , 1 0
. 27 . .
 A nalysis o f F emale B eau ty . 1 13

world w hich the Hebrews call the S upreme, the

,

world of the deity It is termed Olympus, entirely .

light and replete with separate forms, where is

,

the seat of the immortal gods deum domus alta , ,

whose t op is unity its wall trinity, and its super ,

” 1
ficies qu aternity .

It forms a curious coincidence with this philo

sophy that the Arabian analysis of female beauty
,

should be founded on the same principles and ,

thus made t o consist of 4 x 9 3 6 excellences 2

.

”
Four things in a woman says an a nonymous ,
’
author quoted by Lane should be black the ,

hair of her head the eyebrows the eyelashes , , ,

and t he dark part of the eyes — four white the

complexion of the skin the white of t he eyes the , ,

,
—
teeth and the legs fou r red the tongue the ,

lips the middle of the cheeks and the gums

, ,

fo ur ro und : the head the neck the forearms and , , ,

—
the ankles four long the back the fingers the , ,

,
—
arms and the legs fo ur wide the forehead the ,

eyes the bosom and the hips four fine : the

, ,
-

eyebro ws t he nose the lips and the fingers

, , ,

fou r thick the lower part O f the back the thighs , ,

the calves of the legs and the knees — four small : ,

the ears t he breasts the hands and the feet

, , ,
”
in all thirty six ,
-
.

The number four had a very significant reference

to masculine or manly performances ; and to b o dy
and so ul becau s e it consists of fo u r properties
, ,

mind science opinion and sense ; and also t o

,
3
, ,

R e hlin t p
1 uc p 68 9 A bi N igh t
,
u l i p 29
su ra, . .
1
ra an s, vo . . . .

Pl t Pl Phil i 3 1
u . ac . , . .
114 The Pythag orean T riang le .

j ustice because being qu adrate it is divided into

, ,

equals and is itself equal It was a symbol of

,
1
.

Wisdom Pierius says

. S ap ient iam 1n qu adrate ,
1

st atu eb ant ex hoc hieroglyp hico v olub ilem illam ,

u ti pau lo ante dix imus huj us v erb sedem firmam ,

et inconcu ssam indicant es E t nostri qu adrata .

ligna qu ae ad arcae N oes fabricam parari div inu m

u ssi t numen doctores et m istros in E cclesia
j ag
,

significare dicunt qu or u m sap i enti a i ncl usi i nt u s

,

populi conserv antur et ab incursantib us haereti ,

corum procellis muniuntu r E x quadratis enin .

liguis construere debere nos B ib liothecam admonet

Admantiu s non ex agrestib us ru dib u s ct im
, , ,

politis .
Q uippe ex Pro
p h et ici s et Apostolicis
v olu minib u s in qu iv us solis v era c ont inentu r
,

sapienti a u tp ote qui v itiis o mnibus resectis

,

ex cisisque qu adrat u m vita e ustioris tenorem

”
, j .

T he name of Harmo ny was given to the tetrad ,

becau se it is a diatessaro n 1 n sesquitertia The .

Pythag oreans ho wever were of opi nion according

, , ,

to Theon m his M athematica that the division ,

of the canon of the monochord was made by t he

tetractys in the duad triad and tetrad ; for it , ,

comprehends a sesquitertia a sesquialtera a d uple , , ,

a triple and a quadruple proport ion the section

, ,

of w hich 1s 2 7 I n the ancient musical notation ,

the tetrachord consisted of three degrees or inter

vals and four terms or sounds called by the
, ,

Greeks diatessaron and by u s a fourth I n the .

ancient music all the primitive or chief div1sions

,

were confined to fo ur chords so that the great ,

1
Alex Ap h d m t th
. ro . Hie glyp hi
e a f 290
.
, v .
1
ro cs, o. .
116 The Pythag orean Triang le .

A c uri ous argument has been used by St

Aug ustine to prov e that Christ could not pos
sib ly have added to the nu mber of His apostles ,

w hich is derived fro m the tetrad before u s ; he

says ,
The gospel w as to be preached in the four
“

co ners o
r

f the earth in the nam e of th e Tri n ity ,

and thre e ti mes fo ur make t w elve A modern

sect of Christians perhaps in i mitation of this
,

and the like mo de of reaso ning assumed the ,

na me of M ystics and co ntended for the propriety

,

of allegorising Scriptu re by a qu adruple process .

For i nstance they p ut this constructi on upon the

,

city of Jerusalem L iterally they s aid it is a city

.
, ,

of Judea if understood a lleg omcally it is the ,

Church militant if morally a sincere Christian ; ,

and if my stica lly heaven the Ch urch tri u mphant

, , .

T he T etragrammato n or four let tered N A M E O f

,
-

the M ost High mm appears to have been k no wn

, ,
“ 1
to the heathe n Archbishop Tenison says This
.
,

N ame was no mystery among the Greeks as is ,

ev ident from the mentio n O f Jeromb aal a priest ,

of the god I euo in S anchoniathon of Jaho in

,

St H ierom and the S ibylline Oracles ; O f Jaoth

, ,

or Jaho in Ire naeus ; O f the Hebrew God called

J aoia by the Gnostics of Jaou in Cle me ns Alex
andrinus ; of J so the first pri nciple O f the first
,

Gnostic heaven in E p iphaniu s ; the God of M oses

in Diodoru s S iculus ; the god Bacchu s in the or
acle of Apollo C larius and lastly as was said of , ,

the S amaritan god Jshe in Theodoret ”

, .

Thi s N ame is called by Joseph us the S acred

1
I dolat , p 404
. .
 Th e T etragrammaton . 1l7

—
Letters the shu ddering N ame of God and
Caligula in Philo s wears to him and the a mbas
, ,

sadors by the God wi th the u npro no unceable

,

N ame .The T etragrammat on even do wn to the ,

seventeenth century of Christianity was esteemed ,

a powerful amulet Thu s Stephens speaking of a

.
,

w itch says
, Her prayers and Amen be a ch arm
,

her contemplations and soule s de

'

and a c urse
’

light bee other men s mischiefs her portion and’

sutors be her souls and a succubus her highest

adora tions be yew trees dampish churchyards -

, ,

and a f ayre moonlight her b est p reservatives b e

odde nu mb ers a nd mig htie T etrag rammaton
1 ”
.

It was a doctrine taught by the Hebrew phil

oso hers that
p the T e tragra mm ato n and r
u n s
ali ke represent the substance of the Divi nity ; the
latter being in the future tense and first person
sin gular and the T etragra mmato n in the third
,

person forming between the two these three

, , ,

w ords was run J n WA S I s W I LL B E R J udah

,
‘
r
, , . .

aLevi in the Guz ari and the learned Abe n E zra , ,

on the 3 3 d chapter of E xodu s also explai n that ,

the name fl is likewise the su bstance ; for the

1

T etragrammaton is numerically 2 6 and the t w o ,

letters 11 written at full le ngth an

1
, are also 2 6 .

A nd this is what the Lord said to M oses Say ,

u nto Israel The T etragra mmato n and r ns hat h

,
u

sent me unto you for on his i nquiry what he ,

should say if they asked him the N ame of the

di vine E s se nce He answered the t wo names it
,

si nifie s
g So m.e lear n e d Je w s u nd erstand the

C hara ter p 3 75 1
c s, . .
1 18 The Pythag orea n Triang le .

words, W hat is His name ? to mean Wh at is His ,

” 1
Being or E ssence ?
M arcellus Ficin observe s on Plato as we are ,

told by the R abbi b en Israel that the N a me of ,

the Lord is writ ten and pronounced by all nations

withfour letters The E gyptians called H im T ent
.
,
°

the Arabs A lla ; the Persians S ire ; t he M agi

, , ,

Orsi the M aho metans A b di the Greeks Teos , , ,

°

the ancient T urks E sar and the Latins D eus , ,

to which Joh n Lorenz o Anania adds the Ger mans ,

call him Gott ; the S urmatas B ouh and I stu ,

the Tartars I tg a , .

I n the "Continental degree called the Philoso ,

p h es I n co nn u s the n um
,
ber fo u r is th u s noticed

Q u e sig n ifi e le n o m bre Q u atr e adopté da ns ls

Grand E cossisme de S Andre d E cosse le co mple

’

.
,

ment des progressions maponniques ? Outre le

parfait équilibre et le parfait égalité des qu atre
é lé mens dans ls pierre physiqu e il signifie ,

quatre choses qu il faut faire nécessairement ’

pou r l accomp lissement de l oeuvre qui sent

’ ’

, ,

comp osition ,
alteration, mix tion ,
et union,
lesquelles une fois faites dans les regles de l art
,
’
,

donneront les fils légitimes du soleil et pro ,

duiront le phénix to ujou rs renaissant de ses

cendres .

T here is a c urio us anecdote told respecti ng this

nu mber of Pep e I nnocent III
,
who sent to our .
,

King Joh n a present of fo ur ri ngs set with fou r

difierent colo ured j ewels ; ad mo nishing him at
'

the same ti me to consider seriously their four

1
C oncil , . v ol. 1
. p 10
. 7 .
1 20 The Pythagorean Triang le .

tion A few dry facts strung tog ether are not

.

favo urable to the currente calamo or p en Of the ,

ready writer If however there is no theory to

.
, ,

establish or syste m to demonstrate the writer

, ,

will escape the chances of O feri ng co ntradictory

f
arg uments or of u rging opini o ns which are at
,

variance with fact T his 13 so mething ; and may

.

serv e as a set off against the charge of d ulness

-

and ultra gravity -

ev en where gravity is mos t
—
,

appositely used in a dissertation on the subject

of Freemasonry N ow as the co mposition of a
.
,

delicious beverage may be considered by some of

our brethre n as connecte d in a slight degree with , ,

the refresh ments of the Lodge I shall attempt to ,

relieve the dulness of these dissert ations by tran

scribing the opinion of a philosopher who illu
minates the pages of B lackwood s M agaz ine on
’

the ingredients of a liquor called punch as it is ,

in so me measure ill ustrative O f the number under

ou r co nsideration He pronounces ex cathedra
.
, ,

that it ought like the fourth interval in music to

, ,

b e fo unded on the principles of the tetrad Thes e .

are his words Punc h is a liqu or made by

mixing spirit and w ater s ugar and the j uice of ,

lemo n and formerly w ith spice ; and is so called

,

from an I ndian wood called five t hat being the ,

nu mber of the i ng redients The Greek equivalent .

for punch or more properly p ounch is

, n ew s ,

b u t the spice is now admissible only in b ishop

wherefore in t he universities andin co nvocatio ns ,

of the clergy and in other a ssemblies of learned

,

men punch is more correctly called 81 a rea a apa w

, ,
 The I ng redients ofPu nch . 121

signifying a combination offour A small modi

cum ofthe latter compositio nis not t o be despise d
,

particularly if the three w eaker i ngredients be

well amalgamated and s moking hot before it is
,

enlivened by the spirit C an I conclude this

.

chapter more sweetly I t is very doubtful ; and

therefore I shall leave it u nat te mpted .
 C H A PT E R V .

TH E P YR A M I D .

PE N TA D , QUI N C UN X, O R TH E N UM BE R

T HE B l
az ing S tar is depi ted with
p oints or rays to show first
c fi ve , , ,

t hat in the const ru ction of t he T e mple five orders of architec ,

tu re were made us of se condly t o represe nt t he five p oints f

e
, o

felicity i e to walk t o int ercede for to pray to love and to

. .
, , , , ,

assist y b eth e
ou r t be ited with them ight he
r r n, so as o un r ar
tily ; t hi dly t
r ep e e t th fi e e whi h
,
o r r s n t it te th e ve s ns s, c cons u e

dig ity f m n f thly t ymb li e th fi lig ht f M

n o a o ur , osy; o s e ve s o asonr

ne inh bit ed by t h f t nity —T

”
an d fifthly th fi ,
e ve zo s a e ra er . HE
I N E FF A B LE LE C TU R E S .

remarkable that every number pre

T 1s

sents so me charm w hich may be applied ,

to a purpose not o nly pecu liar to itself ,

b ut also not transferable to any other s ubject

wit hou t 1mp air1 ng its efliciency S o thought our .

forefathers ; and the questio n is Do not we think ,

t he s ame I have already mentioned our predi

lection for the nu mber three and three ti mes ,

three cheers ; would five or five ti mes five answer , ,

the same p urpose ? It is not to be thought of .

There 1 3 not an assemblage of E nglish men from ,

the highest to the lo west rank b ut would resist ,

1 26 The Pythag orean Triang le .

the innov ation If any one b e troubled with

.

that unsightly excrescence in the eye which is ,

called l n some provinces a stye it can only be ,

cured by dra wing a lady s wedding ri ng nine ’

-

—
ti mes across the diseased part no other number
w ou ld do T he charm w ould be p rofitless if it
.

w ere exceed ed or diminished by a si ngle u nit The .

nu mber thirtee n 1 s supposed to be unpropitio u s at

—
a dinner party one of the co mpany is expected
-

to die withi n the year ; b ut no su ch belief 1 s

attached to t welve or foi 1 rtesn or an
y larger or ,

smaller nu mber .

Again the seventh son of a seventh son no

, ,

daughter intervening is co nsidered to be a physi

,

eian by birth and to be i ntu itively i mb u ed with

,

a kno wledge of the symptoms and treatment of

diseases ; b ut no s u ch superstitious belief is at
t ached to any other son w ho has he nce no so urce ,

of knowledge b ut what arises from incessant and

severe study I n an old Book of Knowledge the
.
,

following paragraph occurs : Astrono mers and

astrologers say that m the beginning of M arch ,

the seventh night or the fou rteenth day let thee

, ,

blend of the right arm ; and m the beginning of

April the eleventh day of the left arm ; and in
, ,

the end of M ay third or fifth day on w hether

, ,

arm tho u wilt ; and thu s of all that year tho u , ,

shalt orderl be kept fro m the fever the falli ng

y ,

gout the sister gou t and losse of thy sight

, , .

About the middle of the last centu ry or a little ,

later there lived a curiou s character w ell kno wn

, ,

by the appellation of King C ole He was a fish .

l 28 Th e Pythagorean Triang le .

e xtinguished by the arguments of sober reason ,

b e they ever so spe cio us and sound I t extends .

through all ranks of society and travels side b y ,

side with other superstitions the existence of ,

wh ich is a libel on the reaso n and understanding

of man It preys u pon his spirits forces his in
.
,

clinations out of their proper bi as co mpels him ,

to believe what in his inward conscie nce he

, ,

suspects to be delusive and induces his fears

to admit what his j udgment pronounces to be
false .

It is a curious fact that though we aflect to

'

pity the ignorance of t hose ru de barbarians of

antiquity w ho could believe that w hen the sun
,

and moon disappeared be neath the hori z o n they ,

became impure spirits and wandered abo ut the ,

world till break of day ; yet we admit at least ,

i nwardly the doctrine of wraiths ghosts appari

, , ,

tio ns andperhaps fairie s andfancy t hat departed

,

spirits or fiends linger over a forg otten b oard of

gold till it be appropriated to the lawful o wner .

Sir W alter Scott has accorded an illustration of

this kind of superstitio n which was furnished ,

by his friend James Skene E sq 1

N ear the , .

little v illage of F ranchemont near Spaw stands , ,

an ancie nt castle which is the subj ect of many

,

su perstitiou s legends It is fir mly believed by

.

the neighbouri ng peasant ry that the last baro n ,

deposited in one of the va ults of the castle a

ponderous chest c ontaining an immense treasure
,

in gold and silver which by so me magi c sp ell was

,

1
M armion, canto vi. note 7 .
 Pop ular S up erstitions . 1 29

intrusted to the care of the devil who co nstantly ,

sits on the ches t in the shap e of a huntsman .

Any one w ho is adve nt urou s enou gh to to uch the

chest is instantly seized with the palsy On a .

certain occasion a priest of noted piety was

,

brough t to the vault who used all the arts of

,

exorcism to persuade his i nfernal majesty to

vacate his seat b ut in vain ; for the h untsman
,

remained i mmovable At last moved by the .

,

earnestness of the pries t he told him that he ,

w o uld agree to resign the chest if he w o uld sign

his name with blood B ut the priest u nderstood
.

his meani ng and refu sed as by that act he would

, ,

have delivered over his soul to the devil Yet it is .

still believed that if anyone sho u ld discover the

,

mystical words u sed by the person who deposited

the treasure and pronounce them over the chest
, ,

the fiend would instantly deca mp ”

.

T he reality of this s uperstitio n is undoubted ;

and it w as so prevale nt d uring the eighteenth cen
tury that direc tions were formallygive n to regulate
,

the conduct of a discovery of such a secret heard ,

by a German writer of the name of S tryck He .

says If the spirit sta nds by and re mai ns neuter

, ,

have nothing to do with the treasure ; it is a

temptation from Satan to burn yo ur fing ers
there let it lie B ut if the spectre offers it and
.
,

presses it upon you you may take it safely

,
.
”

These s uperstitio ns are partly the e ffec t of some

u ndefined pri nciple in ou r nat ure which suggests , ,

we kno w not ho w that there are beings s uperior

,

to oursel ves by wh om our actions are go verned

,
1 30 The Pythagorean Triangle .

and direc ted ; and under th is impression we sub

mit to unforeseen calamities withou t u sing any ,

means t o prev ent their appro ach The supersti .

tionist as Pl utarch says w he n spe aki ng on thi s

,

su bject a ccounts every little diste mper in his

,

b ody or decay in his estate the death of his

, ,

childre n or other crosses or disapp oi nt ments as

, ,

t he immediate e ffects of God s a nger and t he in

’
,

cursions of so me vindictive de mon A ndtherefore .

he never at tempts to u se any remedy for his

relief lest he sho uld see m to fi ht against God or
,
g
,

despise H is correction Amon st C hristians how

”
.
g
,

e v er this feeling of despair o ught never to b e

,

indulged because it has been revealed to u s that

,

the prayer of a broke n and a contrite heart wi ll

neither be despised nor o v erlooked by a gracio u s
God who willeth n ot the death of a si nner b u t
, ,

had mu ch rather he w ould repent and be saved .

The feeling however remai ns u ns ubd ued at t he

, ,

present day and strange to tell neither reason

, ,

nor rev elation have been able to neutralise its in

fluence ov er the h uman mind .

The pentad is a pri mary nu mber becau se it is ,

divisible by unity only I t is the Pyramis itself; .

the species of fire of which a Pyramis having , ,

four bases and equal a ngles is comp ounded t he , ,

most immovable and penetrant for m without ,

matter essential separate light next to God

, , ,

sempiternal life T he work of the mi nd is life ;

—
.

h
t e work of God is i mortality eternal life
m .

God hi mself is not this created Light b ut the ,

aut h or of it whereof in t he d ivi ne T rini ty H e

,
1 32 The Pythagorean Triang le .

peculiar prop erties These five bodies were called

— 1 the tetraedon which has four equal triangular
.

, ,

faces ; 2 the hex aedron or cube which has six

, , ,

equal square faces ; 3 the octaedron which has , ,

eight equal triangular faces 4 the dodecaedron , ,

which has t welve equal pe nt ago nal face s and 5 ,

the icosaedron which has t wenty equal t riangu

,

lar faces These are the only forms which it is

.

possible for reg ular bodies to ass ume Kepler .

was transported with j oy w he n he made a discov

ery which b e co nceived t o be founded on these
principles He exclaimed in rapt ure : What I
.

prophesied two and twe nty years ago as soon as

- -

I discov ered the five solids among the heave nly

—
orbits what I firmly believed long before I had
,
’
—
seen Ptolemy s Har mo nics what I had pro mised ,

to my friends in the title of this book which I ,

named before I was s ure of my disco v ery w hat ,

-

sixteen years ago I urged as a th ing t o be so ught ,

— that for which I j oined Tycho Brahe and

—
settled in Prague for which I have devoted t he
,

b est part of my li fe to astro no mical co ntempla

t io ns at lengt h I have brought to light and ,

have recognised its truth beyond my most

sanguine expectations "
A nd what does the reader thi nk the profo und
discovery was which thus excited this great
astro no mer ? —
W hy it w as that as nat ure had ,

produced only five regular bodies there could not ,

p ossibly be more than six planets attached to our

system " And his theory was thus enunciated :
It so happ ens t hat thereare onlyfive regular solids ,
 The Pentang le f
o S olomon . 1 33

i e it
. .
,is possible to make only five solids of diffe
re nt numbers of faces so that all the faces of each
,

solid shall be equal to each other ; viz the tetrae .

,

dro n ; the cu be or hex aedron the solid of eig ht

,

faces or the octaedron the solid of t welve faces

, ,

or the dodecaedron ; and the solid of t wenty

faces or the icosaedron T he orbit of the earth
, .

is the ruler of all Place w ithi n this orbit tou ch

.
,

ing it at all points an icosaedron and draw , ,

wit hi n it a circle that will to uch all it s faces

internally and we have the orbit of Ve nus
, .

W ithin the orbit of Venus place an octaedron ,

and dra w a circle as before — that is the orbit of

M e rc ury Outside the orbit of the earth place
.
,

a dodecaedron and around this solid draw a

,

circle which is the orbit of M ars

, Outside of .

the orbit of M ars describe a tetraedron and ,

around this draw a circle and you will have the ,

orbit of J upiter ; and if you describe a hex aedron

outside of this orbit you will have that of Saturn
, .

N ow there are no more regular bodies therefore ,

there can be no more planet s and the obser ved

dista nces of the planets from each other corre
s ond exactly wit h the i nter vals bet wee n these
p ”
solids .

Free masons have another symbol referring to

this number in the star with five points which ,

is so meti mes called the seal and at others the ,

pentangle of Solomon It was thought that the .

oints corresp ond with the five wounds of Christ .

t was how ever used much earlierthan the ad

, ,

v e nt of our Saviour, b oth by Je ws and heathens

134 The Pythag orean T riang le .

as an e mblem of sa fety and he alth . S tukely has

the follo wing remark on th is figure One w o uld
b e apt to s uspect tha t the Dru ids had a regard to
t he sacred symbol and mystical character of medi
cine which in a ncie nt ti mes was tho ught of no
,

i nconsiderable virtue ; this is a pentagonal figure

formed fro m a triple trian le called by the name
g
,

of H yg eia becau se it may be resolved i nto the

,

Greek letters which co mpose that word T he .

Pythagoreans u sed it amo ng their disciples as a

mystical symbol denoting health ; and t he cabal
istic Jews and Arabians had the same fancy It .

is the pe ntalpha or p entagrammon a mo ng the

E gyptians the mark of prosperity
,
Antiochus .

Soter going to fight against the Galatians was

, ,

advised in a dream to bear this sign u po n his

”
b anner whence he obtained a signal victory
,
.

The att achment of the ancients to the nu mber

five was so g reat that they mixed five or three ,

b ut not fo ur parts of water with their w ine ; and

in the cure of dysentery and other co mplaints ,

Hippocrates mixed a fifth proportion of water

with milk The astrologers u sed five pri ncipal
.

aspects v iz, the conj unct the opposite t he

.
, , ,

sextile the trigonal and the tetragonal ; fro m

, ,

which they esti mated the good or bad fortune of

the native whose h oroscope was before them .

The p eculiarities of this nu mber were profusely

used in the scie nce of architect ure Th us every .

stru ct u re was compose d of five parts v iz the

”

.
, ,

foundatio n the ex ternal walls the openi ngs of

, ,

the doors and windows the ap art ment s and the

, ,
 The Pythag orean Triang le .

ber b ut the measure of spherical motion For

, .

spherical bodies move by fives ; and every globu

lar figu re placed u po n a lane 1 n direc t vol u ta
,
p ,

tion returns t o the first point of co ntaction in the

first touch accounti ng by the axes of the diame
,

t ers or cardi nal poi nts of the fo ur qu arte rs thereof

and before it arrives at the sa me point agai n it ,

makes five circles equ al unt o itself in each progress ,

fro m th ose quarters absolvi ng an equ al circle

”
.

The ancient s considered t he pentad t o be a

symbol of marriage and generation because it ,

includes the fi rst odd or male and the firs t eve n

, , ,

or fe male numbers 5 and was he nce a

, p ,

plied to Ve nu s Cytherea Lu cina J uga O p igura

, , , ,

and other deities who presided over nup tials and

p arturition A t weddings the R omans had con
.
,

sequently a regard for this number ; and as a

practical display of its reference to the business
in hand five w ax tapers w ere lighted and placed
, ,

in a co nspicu ou s situ atio n as a symbol w hich ,

could not be misu nderstood And the same .

people had a syste m of divination by the u se of

this number which determi ned the good or bad
,

for tu ne of the ne wly married couple -

.

Vallancey tells u s that in the M emoirs of the

”
E tru scan Academy of Corto na is a drawi ng of
a picture found in Herculaneum representing a ,

marriage I n the front 1 8 a s orceress cast ing five

.

stones The writer of the me moir j ustly t hinks

.

she is divi ning T he figu re exactly correspond s

.

w ith the fi rst and pri ncipal cast of t he Irish

p urim ; all five are cast up and the first catch l a,
 f
The F ire Virtues o a Wife . 13 7

on the back of the hand He has copied the .

drawing ; on t he back of the hand stands one ,

and the remai ning fo ur are on t he gro und Op .

p osite the sorceress is the m atro n wh o appears to ,

be attentive to the success of the cas t N 0 mar .

ria e cere mo ny w as performed w itho ut co nsu lting

g
the Dr uidess and her purim Auspices soleb ant .

”l
nup t iis int eresse The ancie nts also recko ned up
.

five virtues of a wife which are th u s e nu merated ,

by Phintys the daughter of Callicrates First

, .
,

in mental and bo dily p urity seco ndly by ab ,

staini ng from excessive ornaments in dress ;

thirdly by stayin at home fou rthly by refrain
ing fro m the cele%rat ion of the p ublic mysteries ;
, , ,

and fift hl by piety and te mperance

y ,
.

With a similar reference Plato recommended ,

t hat a still more significant u se sho u ld be made

of this number by admit ting the nu ptial gu ests
,
“
by fives This custom did not escape the pene
.

trativ e satire of R abela is I n the prophecy by .

,

signs of Goatnose a deaf and d umb wizard re

, , ,

specti ng the marriage of Panurge the following ,

3

passage occurs Then did he lift higher up than

.

before his said left hand stretching out all the ,

five fingers thereof and severing them as w ide ,

fro m one another as he p ossibly co uld Here says .

,

Pantagru el doth he more amply and fully msin

,

u ate u nto us by that toke n which he showet h

,

forth of the quinary number that you shall be ,

married Yea that you shall not o nly be affi

.
,

1B d P p l Antiq itie by S i H E lli l p 1 03

ran
’
o u ar u s, r . s, v o . 11 . . .

In L g i e . v. B k iii 20 3 oo . c . .
13 8 The Pythagorean Tria ng le .

anced, betrothed and married b ut that you shall

, ,

live merrily wi th yo ur wife for Pythagoras

c alled five the nu ptial nu mber becau se it is com ,

posed of a ternary the first of the odd andbinary

, , ,

t he first of the eve n nu mbers I n v e ry deed it .

w as the fashio n of old in the city of R ome at

marriage fes tivals to light five wax tapers nor
w as it permitted to kindle any more at t he mag
nificent nu ptials of the most pote nt and w e althy
nor yet any fe wer at the penu riou s w eddings of
the poorest and most abject in the world M ore .

over in times past the heathen i mplored the

, ,

assistance of five deities helpful 1 n five several ,

good ofiices to those that were to be married .

First to Jupiter the chief deity ; to Ju no as

, , ,

president of the feast to Venus the fairest of ,

w omen ; to Pitho the goddess of eloquence and

,

p ers uasion and to Diana whose aid and suc ,

”
co ur w ere required 1 n parturi tion .

A nd here t he coincidence 18 too remarkable to

be overlooked that our blessed Saviour in His
, ,

parable of a marriage classes the bride s attend ,

’

a nts by fives And hence it might probably be

1
. ,

that the pentad was a symbol of equality and

j ustice not o nly on acco unt of the presumed
,

equality of the bridegroo m and the bride b ut ,

also because it divides the ineffable number ten

into two equal parts ; and for this reason amongst ,

the heathen it had the name of a demi goddess

,
-

and was estee med a t win .

F urther the p entad was a sy mb ol of rec oncilia

,

1
M at t . x x v. 1 .
1 40 The Pythag orean Triang le .

which, according to the Chinese especially re ,

gards and i nfluence s the centre of the earth

also one of the five ele me nts 2 M U H the w ood . .
,

plane t or J upiter or that wh ich reigns in the

, ,

eastern part of the heavens 3 S H W U Y the water . .

,

planet or M ercury to which the dominio n of the

, ,

norther n he misphere is co nfided 4 KI N the . .

,

metal planet or Ve nu s who has the care of the

, ,

west . 5 H o the fire pla net or M ars to w hich

.
, , ,

the southern hemisphere is assigned T he reasons .

why these p lanets are placed at the corners of the

seal may be because they form the basis of
,

Chi nese astrological science and becau se they ,

are considered the extre me points of all created

”
thi ngs .

I n the Je wish syste m of religion the gifts du e ,

to the priests were regulated by t his nu mber :

rst fr uits ; ( 2 ) the
( )
1 Th e heave ofl erin
g or fi -

,
-

heave o ffer ing of t he Levites tithe ; ( 3 ) the

-
’

cake ; ( 4) the first of t he fleece ; ( 5 ) the field of

possession Again there were five things which
.
,

might not be eaten b u t in t he camp and after ,

w ards o nly in Jer usale m ; viz ( )

1 the breast .
,

and sho ulder of the peace o f ferings ; ( 2 ) t he

heave of feri ng of the sacrifice of t hanksgiving ;
-

the heave offering of the N az arites ram ; ’

the firstling of the clean beast ; ( 5 ) the

”
The Je w s w ere forbidden to eat of
1
t fr uits
-
.

t heir newly planted fr uit trees till they were five

- -

years old The princes peace offering was five

.
’
-

ra ms five b e goats and five lambs the trespass

,
-

1 Pict B ib . .
,
vol. i p 8 76, with
. . authorities.
 Peculiarities f
o the N u mb er F ire . 1 41

offering i mp ose d on the Philistines when they ,

w ere desiro us of returni ng the ark of alliance was ,

five golde n emerods and five golden mice

, .

There was evide ntly therefore so me pecul iar

, ,

proper ties attached to the nu mber five even in ,

the earliest ti mes as appears from the fact that

,

Joseph gav e Benjamin five change s of rai ment ,

and his mess w as five ti mes as mu ch as those of

his brothers A nd whe n Joseph was called on to

.

present his brethren to Pharaoh he did not take ,

them all b ut selected five only And David

, .
,

w ith a like predilectio n for this number selected ,

five pebbles from the brook as his weapons in

the encounter w i th Goliath .

1
D r Bro wn says that the Israelites being for
’

bidden to use the fruit of trees under five years

old was very agreeable unto the natural rules
of hu sbandry ; fruits being u nwholesome and lask
before the fourth or fifth year They did not .

approve of the second day of the week which is ,

the feminine part of five b ut in t he third or ,

masc uline part they believed that a double

benediction enclosed both creations whereof the ,

one in so me p ar t was b ut an acco mplish me nt of

”
the other .

The articles of belief in the religio n of M aho

—
met were five ; viz a belief in God angels the
.
,
—
— —
Prophet the day of j udgment and predestina
tion It had also five posi tive d uties ; viz prayer
. .
, ,

fasting p urifi catio n al ms and the p ilgrimage t o

, , ,

M e cca.

G den f C y
1 p 67
ar o ru s, . .
1 42 The Pythag orean Tri a ng le .

W he n C hristianity promulgated the same

w as ,

at tachment t o this number w as trans mitted by

our Savio u r and H is apos tles Fiv e thousand .

p ersons were fed in the w ilderness w i th fi ve

barley loaves and S peaki ng of t he probable e ffects
of Chris ti anity u nder so me of its phases — alas "
how accurately has the prophecy bee n aeco m
p lished — the Sa vio ur said T here shall
, be fi ve
—
in one ho use di vided thre e a ainst t wo and t wo ,

T he se w ere t e male and fe male

”
against three .

nu mbers and therefore H e goes on to say T he ,

father shall be divided against the son and the ,

son agai nst the father ; the mother agai nst the
daughter and the daugh ter against the mother ;
,

the mother in law against her dau ghter in law

- - - -

and the dau ghter in law agai nst her mother in

- - -

S t Paul affirmed tha t he had rather speak

” 1
law .

five words in a language which was unders tood ,

than ten tho usand in an u nkno wn tong ue which ,

is as the co mme ntators on the passage say

,
as ,

little as co uld well be spoke n ; i e a si mple pro . .

,

pos ition co nsists only of three words and a com ,

plex one not ordinarily short of five ”

Fro m .

these examples the Christian Church enj oined the

,

observ ance of five duties viz to keep hol the , .

,

festivals ; to observe the fasts ; to atten t he

public services of religion to receive t he sacra
ments and to adhere to the established customs
and u sage s of the Chu rch .

T he pentad was freque ntly used in the com

p osition of charms and th us produced some ve ry
,

L k 1
52 53 u e , .
I N F I N I TE D ] VI S I B I L I T Y OF T II E II E XA D
0R 00U B LE TR I A N G L E ,
R E PR E S E N T I N G

E A R TH .

TH E D O UB L E T R I A N GL E ,
HE XA GON ,
HE XA D , OR TH E

N UM B E R S IX
.
1 48 The Pythagorean T ri ang le .

of al most religio us reverence He should have .

regarded it as ennobled by the deeds of ill ustri

ou s men and have recog nised in the m his own
,

progenitors The records of its early history

.

should not be to him a scie nce ; they should not have

been the objects of laboriou s research b ut shou ld ,

have been familiar to him fro m his infa ncy ,

have spru ng up as it were spontaneously in his

, ,

mind and have gro wn up with his growth N or

, .

shou ld the period of its re mote a ntiquity be to

—
him a land of shado ws a Plato nic cav e in w hich
u ns u bstantial for ms move before his eyes as if he

w ere e ntranced in a dream T o him the langu age .

of its mythology should have been the voice of

”
tr uth .

T he maso nic writer ho wever posse sses so me , ,

advantages over the Athenian top ographer Dr .

W ords wor th goes on to say : T his we gladly ,

confess is not our case W e co mmence ou r de

, .

script ion of this city with avo wi ng the fact that ,

it is i mpossible at this ti me to co nvey or ent er

, , ,

tain an idea of Athens such as it appeared of old

to the eyes of one of its i nhabitants B ut there .

is another point of vie w from which we love to

—
co ntemplate it one which su pplies u s with re
fl ections of deeper interest and raises in the heart ,

s ublimer e motions than could have been ever sug

ges ted in ancient days by the sight of Athens to
an A the nian We see A thens in ruins
.
1
.

On the co ntrary we r joice becau se w e li v e 1 n

e ,

ti mes whe n M asonry 1 3 i n a pal my and prosper

W d w th G e e p 1 29
1
or s or
’
8 re c , . .
 F reemasonry not in R uins . 1 49

one state — flouri hing like a green bay tre e its

s — -

principles open to the i nspectio n of every inquirer ,

and its pro ud andlofty spirit a ni mati ng every i nsti

t u tion in existe nce in every regio n of the globe

, .

— —
T here it stands a tangible reality andtherefore
cannot be misrepresented by u nsound theories or ,

false hypotheses It occupies a sit uation on which

.

the ideal cannot be permitted to set her foot b e

ca use its g round is holy and its footstool is truth
, .

“
An d if Athens issued i ntellectual colonies into
”
every quarter of the w o rld as the lear ned Doctor
,

assures u s Free masonry has not been back ward

,

in i mitating so fru ctifying an example ; and has

accomplished the very same res ult which he
a ssigns to t he
g en iu s of the Athe nia ns— it has
become immortal .

W i th what feelings Free masonry in ruins might

be conte mplated it w o uld be diffi cul t to ascertain
, ,

because it stands on too firm a basis ever to b e

re moved It never w ill be in r uins b u t will last
.
,

u ntil ou r syste m shall be exti nguished If the .

mag nificent b uildi ngs of the Acropolis had been ,

like Freemasonry a nimated by the spirit of a true

,

faith they might s till have existed in all their

,

glory and not hav e distributed their shattered

,

frag ments to enrich the cabinets of modern na

tions Geniu s and intelligence maybe transferred
.

b ut no people how brave rich and po werful

, , ,

soe v er they may be ; no monument of art how ,

ever massiv e ponderous and construc ted for

—
, ,

durability if not supported and animated by the

p o wer of religi on and the p urity of an unsophis
,
1 50 The Pythag orean Triang le .

t icated worship—can escape fiat of the u niversal

annih ilation which the lips of W isd om have pro
”
nou nced agai nst all the works of darkness .

A nd as Free maso nry is confessedly a sys te m of

light there is no fear that it will ev er be ex tin
,

u ished
g .

Let u s th en as goo d and worthy M asons orna

, , ,

ment our Order with deeds of v irtue truth and , ,

brotherly lo ve and re member the advice of one

,

who was inspire d by wisdo m although not e nlight

,

ened b y revelation
'
S tat sua cuique dies b reve et irrep arab ile temp us,
Omnib us est vita ; sed famam ex tendere factis,
H oe virtutis op us . Vraarn .

The hexad was consid ered by all nations a

sacred number because the world was created in
,

six days
,
and six of the properties of natu re o nly
are said to belo ng to t he a ctive do minio n to good ,

and evil ; and the planetic orb is t he figu re of the

six properties of the spirit ual w orl d It was re .

presented by the dou ble triangle be ca use it has ,

six points which amongst the Pythagoreans de

, ,

noted he alth and w as define d the consistence

,

of a form while sickness was considered the

v iolation of it .

This figure was u sed by the heathen as a charm

against the influence of evil de mo ns The Arabs .

believe that communicable or contagio us diseases

are six : s mallpox measles itch p utridi ty mel
, , , ,

ancholy and p estile ntial maladies

, and that dis
eases engende red are also six lep rosy h ecti c , ,
15 2 T he Pythag orean Triang le .

circular fig ure than either doth the square or tri

angle A nd the co mbs the mselves are so r egu
.

larly co ntrive d that their mu tu al intersectio ns

,

make three lozenges at the botto m of every cell

w hich se verally regarded make three ro ws of
, ,

neat rho mboidal figu res co nnected at the angles , ,

and so co nti nu e three several ch ai ns thro ugho u t

the whole comb ”1

.

N ature herself see ms t o affect a par tiality for

the hexad in the formation of crystals ; all of
,

w hich are hexangu lar or six cornered ; for w hich -

Pliny and other ancient natu ralists endeavo ured

in vai n to assig n a reaso n There are three dif .

ferent for ms ho wever which crystals appear to

, ,

assume 1 T he per fect col umnar crysta l is com

.

posed of eighteen planes in an hex ang ular col umn , ,

terminated by an hex angular pyramid at eac h

end . 2 C rystals w itho u t a col u mn are co mposed
.

of t wo hexangular pyramids connected at the ,

base 3 I mperfect crystals have u sually an hex

. .

a ng ular col umn irregularly aflix ed to some solid

,

body sho wing also an hex angular or pe ntangular

,

pyramid W hich regular figu ration as Dr

.
,
”

Bro wn observes hath made so me to opinion , ,

that it hat h not its de termina tio n from circum

scription or as conforming u nto co ntiguities
, ,

b ut rather fro m a se minal root and for mative

pri nciple of its own even as we observe in ,
2 ”
sev eral other concretions .

The sceptics u sed to a muse the mselves by such

arguments as these If s omething he detracted
G den f C y
1
p 51
ar P d d i p 53
o rus, . .
1
seu o ox a, . .
 T he H ex ad the S ymb ol ofH armony
,
. 1 53

from another either an equ al is detracted from an

,

equ al a greater fro m a lesser or a le sser from a

, ,

—
greater B ut none of these therefore detractio n
.

is not possible T hat detrac tion is not made by

.

an of these w ays is manife st Th at w hich is

y .

de tracted fro m another must be contained in it

b ut an equ al is not co ntai ne d in an equ al as six ,

in six ; for that w hic h co ntai neth o u ght to be

greater than that w hich is contained N eit her is .

t he greater co ntai ned in the lesser as six in five ,

t hat w ere absu rd N either is the lesser co ntai ned

.

in the greater for if five w ere contai ned in six ,

by the same reason in five w ill be contained fo ur ;

,

in fo ur three ; in three t wo ; and in t w o one

, , , .

T h us six shall contai n five fo ur three t wo and

, , , ,

one , w hich bei ng p ut together make fiftee n ,

w hich mu st be co ntai ned in six if it be g ra nte d ,

that the lesser is contained in the greater I n .

like manner in the fifteen which is th u s con

,

t ained in six will b e co ntai ned thirty fiv e and

,
-

so by progression i nfinite nu mbers ; b u t it is

,

absurd to say that i nfi nite numbers are contai ned

in the nu mber six therefore it is absurd t o say
that the lesser is contained in the greater .

From the har moniou s move ments of the

planets the hexad w as considered an apt
,

symbol of harmony ; although the Pythagoreans

ascribed it t o a differe nt cau se They explained .

it in refere nce to musical proportions ; beca use 6

t o 1 2 produ ced a diap aso n co ncord w hich con
tains 1 2 se mi t ones ; and 6 to 8 a diatessaron or
-

fo ur th ; whence the hexad was sacred to Ve nus ,

1 54 The Pythagorean T riang le .

as the patroness of harmony M acrobi us B oethius .

, ,

and ot hers give a c u riou s account of the acci dent

,

by which Pythagoras fo und out these proportio ns

which may class w i th his d iscovery of the 47 th
propositio n of E u clid for which he is said to ,

have sacr ificed a heca to mb It 1 s thus related by .

N icomachus At o ne part of his life he w as par

t icularly anxio us to discover some i nfallible in
str ume nt of mu sic by the use of which the e ntire
,

syste m might be e nu nciated Accide ntally pass .

ing by a blacksmith s shop he took notice of t he

’

hamme rs striking on the anvil ; and after liste n

ing atte ntively for so me ti me he observed that the ,

so u nd formed three perfect co ncords Goi ng i nto .

the shop he made variou s trials hi mself and found

, ,

that the diflcrence in the sou nds was produced

'

by the w eight of the hammers and not accordi ng ,

t o the force of those w ho struck On this hint .

he tied fo ur stri ngs across his private room of the

same s u bsta nce to each of w hich he h ung a dif
,

ferent w eight T hen striking the stri ngs he dis

.

covered all the concords and that to w hich the

greatest wei g ht w as s uspe nded he found to be a ,

dia aso n B y t he same p rocess he fo und out all

p .
,

the 1ntervals .

Aristotle has u sed so me elaborate argume nts

to prove that there are no figures capable of
filling a place about one point except the ,

triangle the squ are and the hexagon ; viz by

, , .
,

six equilateral triangles fo ur squ ares and three , ,

hexago ns B ut in solids the pyramid and cube

.
,

w ill do the same I n this process he sho ws that

. ,
1 56 Th e Pythagorean T riang le .

sacred figure which represe nted the deity of the ,

Gentiles w as probably borro wed the subli me

,

—
metaphor of M alachi T he S U N O F R I GH T E O US
N E S S shall arise wi t h heali ng in His W I N GS .

A si mple globe withou t wi ng s fro m w hich issue ,

t wo serpe nts A wi nged globe throu gh t he

.
,

lo wer part of which passes a serpe nt A plain .

globe over w hich passes the serpe nt

, T he .

same as the first witho u t the circu mscribing

circle 1
.

I n t he T heosophic or R osicrucian syste ms of

Free masonry the number six was referred to t he ,

rainbo w beca use it displays that nu mber of

,

prismatic colou rs ; and fro m this principle they

ded uced the follo wi ng arg ument w hich was used ,

in their lec tu re s : The rai nbow is a toke n of

God s C ovenant a represe nt ation to man of all
’
,

the three pri nciples out of which he was created

— viz the red and dark bro wn betoken the firs t
.
,

principle i e the dark fire w orld the kingdo m

, . .
, , ,

of God s a nger T he w hite and yello w sho w the

’
.

second principle the majestic colo ur the holy , ,

w orld God s love T he gree n and blu e is the

’
.
,

—
third principle s colo ur the blu e from chaos the ’
,

g ree n from saltpetre where in the fl agrat the , , ,

sulphur and mercury do sever and prod uce ,

v ario us co lo u rs w hich betoke n the i nw ard w orlds

,

hidden in the four eleme nts T he rainbo w is a .

further symbol of Christ appearing in the three

principles as the Judge of mankind I n the first
, .
,

or fiery all evil thi ngs s hall be s wallo wed u I n

, p .

D e n S e p ent p 58 1
a ,
r , . .
 A S ymb ol of M arriag e . 1 57

the econd or that of light He will defe nd the

s , ,

good in love and meekness fro m the flames of

, ,

fire I n the third or kingdo m of nature the

.
, ,

humanity of the Judge is typified and S ho ws His

.
,

i mpartiality in passi ng sent ence on e very man

”
according to his w orks .

I n one of the degrees of ineflab le M aso nry the

’

same nu mber is denoted by the do uble equilateral

t ri angle which is there said to refer to the S ix
,

pecu liar branches of the noblest o ffice in the

—
T e mple v iz ( )
1 To s u rvey the co nstit utio nal
.
,

rolls prev io us to their bei ng deposited in the

archives of M asonry or hollow pillars of the ,

temple ; ( 2 ) to see that the stones fitted i nto

each other with perfect exactness and geo metrical
tru th ; ( 3 ) to inspect the Holy Place and ( 4) ,

the Sanctum Sanctorum ( 5 ) the ark of the

covenant ; and ( 6 ) all the other u tensils thu s
e mblematically pointed to by the do uble equi
lateral triangle .

Like the pe ntad the number S ix was an ancie nt

,

symbol of marriage bei ng formed by the multipli

,

cation of 3 the male wi th 2 the fe male number ;

, , ,

and fro m this cau se it was na med Co nciliatio n ,

becau se it li nks or conciliates by su ch involutio n , ,

male and fe male into one body husba nd and ,

w ife A nd the Pythagoreans extended the in

.

fl uence of this numb er to the perio ds of gestatio n .

T hey conte nded that ge nerally there are t wo

kinds of births ; one lesser of seven months , ,

w hich co mes i nto the w orld 2 0 7 days after con

ce tion t he other greate r of ten mo nth s whi ch
p , ,
1 58 The Pythag orean T riang le .

is bro ught forth in the 2 7 4th day The first and .

lesser is chiefly contai ned in the nu mber six for

the t wo first periods of 6 and 8 days make t he
first co ncord diatessaro n the third period is of
,

9 day s in which time it is made fles h these to

,

the first 6 are in se sq uial tera propor tio n and ,

make the second co ncord diapente The n follo w , .

1 2 days more in w h ic h the body is fully formed ;

,

these to the sa me 6 co nsist in d uple propor tio n ,

and make the diatessaro n co ncor d These fo u r .

numbers 6 8 9 1 2 added together make 3 5

, , , , , ,

days . It is not withou t reason therefo re tha t , ,

the nu mber S ix is t he fo undatio n of generation ,

for the Greeks call it T eleion or perfec t b ecau se , ,

its three p arts é and g 1 2

,
make it , , ,

perfect .The above 3 5 being mul tiplied by

6 make 2 1 0 days in whic h the mat urity is ,
”1
fulfilled .

T he cabalistic t heologists say that this nu mbe r

affects the operation of the senses during sleep
becau se they co nsider sleep to be the sixtieth
“ ”
part of death T he so ul they say , being
.
,

pure and holy ascends in contemplation by

,

degrees to the communication with angels by ,

which fu t ure eve nts are often re v ealed to it ;

w he nce desc ending after be i ng perfectly p urified
, ,

it brings do wn unmixed the k no wledge t hat has

, ,

—
been manifested to it these are p rOp hetic
dreams ; for fro m i magi nation not e nter ing i nto
,

the m they devia te in nothi ng fro m t he tr ut h If

, .

t he soul b e not perfec tly p ure it meets w it h ,

S t nley Pyth p 1 0
3 1 a , .
, . .
1 60 The Pythag orean Triang le .

of the ch ief essential attributes of the Grea t

Geo metrician of the U niverse .

There was an ancie nt and al most immemo

rial tradition amo ng the Je ws that the w orld was
t o last o nly 6 0 00years T hey divided the ages .
,

d uri ng which it was to cont inue in the follo wing ,

manner : T wo tho u sa nd years were to elapse

before the law took place ; t wo thousand were
to be passed under the law ; and two tho usand
u nder the M essiah I ndeed this sex millennial
.
,

du ration of the w o rld was it is probable too , ,

mu ch the belief of the ancient fathers who con ,

ceiv ed tha t as the creatio n w as for med in six

,

days recko ning according to that assertio n in the

,

Psal ms that e very day is w ith God as a thousand

,

years and w as co ncl uded by a grand Sabbath or

, ,

day of Al mighty rest ; so the world was ordai ne d

to last o nly duri ng the revolution of six tho usand
1 ”
So me v isio naries ho wever have been
.

years . , ,

bold enoug h to name the precise periods when

these six chiliads co mme nce and te rmi nate and ,

have made each of the m correspo nd with some

g r ea t historical epoch : 1 Fro m the creati on to .

the flood 2 To the pro mise made to Abraham

. . .

3 T o the co mme nc ement of David s ki ngdo m

’
. .

4 T o the Babylonish captivity

. 5 T o the . .

adve nt of Christ 6 T o the day of j udg

. .
.

ment .

B u t a reference to facts will pro v e this calcula

tion erroneous It is tru e the hypothesis that
.

t he d uration of the w orld will co ntinue six age s

1
M aur I nd An t
. . .
, vol. v. p . 8 31 .
 Th e D ura tion ofthe World . 1 61

may be quite consiste nt wi th analogy and the re

vealed will of God b ut the length of the i nter
,

mediate periods vary co ns iderably ; for the firs t

period fro m the creatio n to the del uge co ntains
, ,

1 6 5 6 ye ars ; the seco nd fro m the fl ood to Abra ,

ham if it be co nsidered to te rminate at the com

,

mencement of his peregrinatio n has o nly 42 7 ,

years ; the third to the beginni ng of David s

,
’

ki ngdom at the death of S aul has 8 6 6 years ; ,

t he fo ur th to the Babylo nish captivi ty 448

, ,

years ; the fifth to the advent of Christ 6 02

, ,

years and the sixth is now incomplete .

On this s ubj ect I re member readi ng a pamphle t

,

many years ago which interested me by its in

,

enuit and as the eve nts w hich it comme mo

g y
rat es are most of the m co mp ri sed in t he historical
'

lectu res of M asonry I w ill give a brief o utline of

,

it so far as my recollectio n will bear me out

,
.

T he author co mme nced by i nstit uting a compari

son bet ween the days of the week and the mil le

naries of the w orld in ill u stra tio n of the text, ,

“
One day is with the Lord as a tho usand years ,
” 1
and a tho u sand years as one day T he fi rst .

day of the week S unday or the first tho usand

, ,

ye ars w as according to this author opened by

, , ,

t he creatio n of the w orl d and closed w ith the ,

translation of E noch ; an event one wo uld t hink , ,

w hich co u ld scarcely fail to s trike a wicked race

w ith w o nder awe and re vere nce and produ ce
, , ,

the effect of turni ng them from their wicked

1 2 Pet iii 8
. . .
1 62 The Pythag orean Triang le .

n ess t o worship the livi ng God It faile d .

to do so ; and the prevalence of frau d and

v iolence brought on its destru ction by an u ni

versal deluge .

The next chiliad or M onday the second day

, ,

of the w eek he termi nates w ith the missio n of

,

Abraham ; and opens the third millennium or ,

T uesday with a series of gracio u s revelations

,

w hich heralded t he establishme nt of the Je w is h

Church a typ e of a more perfect dispe nsation
,

w hich w o uld ultimately be revealed fro m on

high During this period the M osaic dispe nsa
.
,

tio n was pro mulgated and the law firmly estab ,

lished for the civil and religiou s government of

the Hebre w natio n who w ere delivered from
,

their cru el bondage in E gypt and received ,

posse ssion of the Promised Land as an i nherit

ance .

The ne x t millennial period correspondi ng w ith ,

W ed nesday co mmenced w ith the constru ction of

,

Solo mon s T emple and the attainment of that

’

exalted s ummit of prosperity and po wer which ,

as had bee n promised to Abraham his po sterity ,

sho uld attain T his period commenced gloriously

.

for the Je ws b ut its progress was marked with

calamity Their kingdom was take n fro m them
.
,

and they were deprived of the po wer of govern

ing their own people At the period whe n their

.

sufferings were the most severe and the sceptre ,

had for ever departed from Judah a still more ,

refulgent era dawned upon the world T he day .

spri ng fro m on high called the bright M orni ng

1 64 Th e Pythag orean Triang le .

abo ut ti me v ast i mprov eme nts in ecclesi

which
astical architectu re w ere on the ev e of being
accomplished ; and t he Freemasons spread over
the face of every co untry where the religion of
Jes us was professed the prou dest speci mens of
,

h uman taste and genius which have disti nguishe d

an age or n atio n si nce the world was made
y .

From the co mmencement of the period in w hich

we live scie nce and learni ng have rapi dly in
,

creas ed and the day of perfect ci vilisation has

,

arrived W e are drawing near to the close of

.

this period and the opening of a glorious mil

,

—
lennium p efig e by the Je wis h Sabbath the
r u r d —
day on which God rested fro m His labours at the
creation of the world T his period will also con .

tinus a tho usand years when Christ will reign in ,

glory over the whole society of t he redee med ,

and Sata n be cast bo und i nto the bottomless

, ,

P i
.t
M anyof the pri mitive Christians and par ,

t icularly Barnabas the companion of St Paul

, ,

maintain this opinion T he latter writer in his .

,

Catholic E pistle says God made in six days

, .

the w orks of H is hands and He finished the m on ,

the seventh day ; and He rested on the seventh

day and sanctified it Consider then my chil
—
.
, ,

dren what that signifies H e fi nished the m in

,

—
six days The meaning of it is t his that in
.

60 00years the Lord God will bri ng all thi ngs

to an end ; for with H im one day 1 s a t ho usand
y ears as Himself t estifieth Therefore in six
,
.

days shal l all things be acco mpli she d And what .

 The D ay of R est
. 1 65

—
is this that He sai th and He rested on the
seventh day —
He meaneth this that whe n His
S on shall co me , and abolish the season of the
wicked one, and j udge the ungodly and change
,

the sun and the moon and the stars then He

,

s hall gloriously rest on th at seventh day .

 C H A PT E R VII .

TH E H E PTA G 02V .

S E P T E N A R Y, OR TH E N UM BE R S E VE N .

THE be e e w held t be ed by th H eb ew d l
nu m r s v n as o sacr e r s, an a so

by th M lm t thi d y wh e k e e lim te e e
e ussu ans o s a ,
o r c on s v n c a s, s v n

e e e he e
s as, s v n d m y h ll A di g t R bbi d
av ns, an as an e s. c cor n o a s an

M lm
u ssu th t h b dy f A d m w
an au m de f e e h d
ors, e o o a as a o s v n an

f l f m ld t ken f m th e e t g e f th e t h
u s o ou ,
a ro e s v n s a s o e ar .
”

W rnroan .

H ow old are yu
o
‘
l—U nde r se ven —OL D . L E C TU R E S OF M A S ON R Y .

T he e
r are s v n ee
y te i m y ge e e y f th e epti f th
s r ous v o a s n c ssar or e r c on o e

M te M
as r deg ee—1 Th did t e i i t t d i M i
ason s
’
r . e can a s ns ruc e n us c ,

P et y
o r dP i ti g
,
an 2 H i m de
a n q i t d wit h t h ie e
n . e s a ac ua n e e sc nc s

of G e l g y Ge g p hy
o o ,
d N t l Hi t y 3 H i t ght
o ra , an a u ra s or . . e s au

T he l g y M edi i e
o o d J i p de e c n Th f an the y geur s ru nc . e our o r vo a s
—
, ,

i t t
n s ru c him i t h till h i
ng he ie e R
e s 0 r sc nc s . 8 EN B E R G .

HILE e ngaged on the subject of numbers ,

w e cannot fail to be stru ck with its

illustration d uring the prevalence in this
country of the rage for lottery spec ulatio ns w hen ,

everything was supposed to depend on the choice

of a fortunate figure There are so me apposite .

remarks on this fever of the mind in the S p ec

l 70 The Pythag orean Triang le .

tator, N o . 1 91 , which
ho w its workings T he
S .

w riter says : Caprice v ery often acts in the plac e

of reason and forms to itself so me gro u ndless
, ,

i maginary motive where real and s ubstantial one s

,

are wanting I know a well meani ng man w ho

.
-

risked his good fortune upon the number of the

year of our Lord whatever it might be I am
, .

acquainted wi th a tacker that w ou ld give a good

deal for the number 1 3 4 On the contrary I .
,

have been told of a certain zealo us Disse nter who ,

bei ng a great ene my to Popery and believing ,

tha t bad men are the most fortunate in this

world will lay t wo to one on the number 6 6 6
,

against any other number ; becaus e says b e it is , ,

t he nu mber of the beast S everal w o uld pre fer

.

the number before any other as it is the ,

number of po unds in the great prize ; and a

premium was p ublicly adver tised for the ticket
nu mbered 1 3 2 I n short so me are pleased to
.
,

find their own age in the nu mber ; so me t hat

they h ave got a number that makes a pretty
appearance in the ciphers and others because it
is the same nu mber that s ucceeded in the last
lottery ; while so me are governed in the choice
of a number by dreams E ach of these u pon no
.
,

other grounds t hinks he stands the fairest for

,

t he great lot and that he is possessed of what

,

may not be i mproperly called the Golde n

N umber .

T he Pythagoreans co nsidered sev en t o be a

religious numb er and perfe ct and c onsequ ently ,
1 72 T he Pythagorean Triang le .

When Hi ppocrates divide d life into sev en ou r

degrees or stages he made the end of the first

,

period seven years ; of the seco nd fou rtee n of ,

the third twe nty eight ; of the fourth thi rty

,
-

fi v e of the fifth for ty seve n of the sixth fifty

,
-

six andof the seventh the last yea r w henever , ,

it happene th Herein we may obser ve he maketh

.
,

not his divisio ns precisely by seve n and nine ,

and o mits the great cli macterical Besides there .

,

is bet ween every one at least the latitu de of seven

years in which space or i nterval i e either in the
, , . .
,

t hird or fo urth w hatever falleth o ut is eq ually

,

verified in the whole deg ree as though it had ,

happened in the seve nth And h ence this num

1
.

ber was called T elesp horos becau se by it all ,

mankind are led to their endf T his s uper "

stition was not confined to those ages and

natio ns b ut has desce nded in all its force to ou r
,

o w n ti mes .

The number seven w as also a symbol of cu s

tody because it w as figu red or believed (no mat
,

ter w hich ) that the government of the w orld was

in the c ustody of the se ve n planet s A nd fro m .

this fictio n Pythagoras formed his doctri ne of

the spheres He called that a to ne which is the
.

di stance of the moon from the earth ; fro m the

moon t o M erc ury half a to ne ; from thence to
Ve nu s the same from Venu s to the sun a tone ,

and a half from the sun to M ars a tone from

thence to Jupiter half a to ne ; from Jupiter to
1
B wro P d d i p 249
n, seu o ox a, Phil d m d pif
. .
1
o e un . o .
 D octrine o
f the S p heres . 1 73

S atu rn half a tone and thence to the zodiac a

tone — th u s making se ve n tones which he called ,

a diapason h ar mony N ow it is well kno wn that.

there are in mu sic s eve n original notes ; b u t these “

are capable of being transpo sed i nto situations

more acu te or grave still retai ni ng their nu mber
,

and order ; and tho ugh the octave co nt ai n t w elve

semitonic i nterv als and every interval may be

,

i nfinitely divided still the e ighth note of every

,

divi sion d iatonically reckoni ng will pr oduce a

, ,

si mil ar so und From th ese seve n sound s taken

.
,

in v ario u s su ccessio ns and differe nt d eg rees of ,

time or measure all melody is formed ; and

,

the so unds b ei ng fixed in the mselve s nothi ng ,

is left to t he choice of the compose r b ut the ,

order and ti me in which th ey shall s u cceed each

”
other .
1

Addison had some reference to the above sys

t em w he n he wrote his celebrated parap hrase on
the nineteenth Psalm ; which co ntains a rep re
sentation of the su n moo n and st ar s co nti nu ally
, ,

e mployed in annou nci ng the wo nderful works of

the Creator
F or e ve r sing ing , as t h ey Sh ine,
T he h and t hat made u s 18 div me .

T he heptad w as considered to be the number

of a v irgin becau se it is unbor n ; w itho ut a father
,

e first odd nu mber 3 ) or a mother ( the first

( t h
eve n number b ut proceedi ng dir ectly fro m the
B by Di t M
1 I nt d
us , e . us. ro x 11.
1 74 The Pythag orea n T riang le .

monad , which is t he
origi n and crown of all
things On this principle the Arab s and most
.
,

E astern nat io ns u s ually na me and circ umcise

,

their child ren on the seventh day after their

birth ; and at the age of seven years teach the m to
read and pray The number seve n being thu s
.

i ntrod uced i nto the co mmo n ofi ces of Arab life ,

it is probable tha t the seve n deg rees of i nitiatio n

u sed by the E as ter n order of A ssassi ns established ,

b y the Sheik Hassan b en Sabah origi nate d

—
.
,

T hese were 1 The profa ne 2 The aspirants

. . . .

3 T he devoted
. 4 T he companio ns. 5 T he . . .

dais or ministers 6 The rulers 7 The grand . . . .

priors .

T he same nu mber was sacred to several male

and female deities as for i nstance to M i nerva , , , ,

becau se she was fath erless and motherless bei ng ,

he wn out of the skull of Jupiter with an axe It .

w as co nsecrated to M ars becau se he had seve n ,

attendants Bello na Anger Clamo ur Fear T error

, , , , , ,

D iscord and F ury , It w as a symbol of O siris.

,

because his bo dy w as said to have been divided

i nto seven p art s accordi ng to so me accounts and
, ,

t wice seve n according t o others by Typhon It , .

w as also sac red to A pollo or the su n beca u se b e ,

ing placed in the mid st of the seve n planets they ,

proceed har monio u sly together thro ugh the vast

exp anse whenc e the poets have feigned that t he
,

i nstrument on which Apollo plays is a harp with

seve n stri ngs Being t hus made an emblem of
.

the chief deity the Gre ek poe t says

,
1 76 The Pythag orean Triang le .

ences to the same number which it will be nu ,

necessary to add u ce here becau se they may be ,

found in the t we ntieth Lect ure of the H istori

cal Land marks of M asonry ”
.

T his universal venera tio n for the heptad might

probably derive its origin even amo ng the ,

h eathen natio ns who w ere u nacquai nted with the

M o saic writi ngs fro m the creation of the w orld ; ,

for the sevent h day w as looked u pon as sacred

1
througho ut the w hole w orld Hesiod u ses t he .

w ords T he seve nth is a sacred day

, and

Linu s says On the seventh day all things were

,

fini shed ; t he seventh is beautiful ; it is the origin

of all things it is perfect and co mp lete T heo .

hilu s Bishop of A ntioch writi ng to A u tolyc u s

p , , ,

has this rema rkable passage T he great est part

of the heathens are ignorant of the name of the
seve nth day neverth eless all men cel ebrate it
”
, .

Josephus agai ns t Apion aflirms that there is ,

n o Grecian city n or barbarian n or any natio n , ,

w here the custom of observi ng the sevent h day

”
has not reached .

T he Jewish cabalists as I have already ,

observed believed in the existence of seven

,

S ephiroth which they de no minated S trength

, ,

M ercy Bea u ty Victory Glory Fou ndatio n and

, , , , ,

Ki ngdo m The benefit of these divine sple n

.

dours were communicated by gradatio ns and ,

1
S ee Clem Alex S t . . ro m,
.
— E useb in the
vfi L . F gme
ra nts of A risto
bl
u us asw ell th p as e assages o ut of H esio d
, Ca llim h
ac us, and ot hers

t o th e m p p e
sa e ur os .
 S even H eavens anal S even H ells . 1 77

co mpared to ascending the steps of a ladder on ,

the su mmit of which were the three hypostases

of the divine nat ure su rmounted by a crown of ,

g lory and the thro ne of God T hese w ere con .

sidered equivale nt to s even heav ens or di visions

of the celestial ab odes T hey had als o seven .

hells because they say that Gehenna the place

, ,

of abode for wicked sp irits and si nful men is ,

me ntioned in Script ure u nder so many different

'

appella tio ns They were called I nfernus Perdi

.
, ,

t io Profundum T aciturnitas U mbra mor tis

, , , ,

T erra i nferior andT erra sitiens , .

I n like manner the follo wers of M ah omet had

,

their seven heav ens and seven hells Of t he .

former the firs t is described as formed of

,

emerald the second of white S ilver the third of

, ,

large white pearls the fourth of ruby the fifth , ,

of red gold the sixth of yello w jaci nth and t he

, ,

seve nth of s hi ni ng light Some asser t Paradise .

to be in the sevent h heaven ; o thers contend

tha t next above the seventh heaven are se ven
seas of light ; the n an u ndefinab le number of
v eils or separati ons of different substances ,

S eve n of each ki nd and t he n Paradise which ,

consists of seven stages one above another the —

first called the mansion of glory the se cond ,

the mansion of peace the third the garden ,

of rest the fou rth the garden of eternity the

, ,

fifth the garden of delight the S ixth the ,

garde n of Paradise and the seve nth the garden ,

—
of p erpetual ab ode or of E den th is overlook ,

11
1 78 The Pythagorean Triang le .

ing all the former, and canop ied by the t hrone

of God .

I n like manner, the sev en hells are situated one

beneath the other The first of these according
.
,

t o the ge neral opi nio n, is destined for the re

cept ion of wi cked M aho metans the seco nd for ,

Christians, the third for Je ws the fourth for ,

Sabians the fifth for the M agians the sixth for

, ,

the idolaters, and the seve nth for hypocrites .

T o comp lete the syste m the M aho metans believed

,

in the ex istence of sev e n earths, eac h forming a

story or gradation abov e the other ; the earth
which we i nhabi t being the next in successio n
be neath the lo west heave n and the first hell is ,

beneath the lo west ear th A nd hence the Ara .

bians assigned to the earth seven climates and to ,

h eaven seve n spheres E ach of these ea rth s

.

is inhabited : the first by men genii bru tes & c , , , .

t he second by a s u f focating wi nd ; the third

by the stones of Jahennum or hell ; the fo urth
by the sulphur of the i nfernal regio ns ; the
fifth by serpents ; the sixth by scorpions in ,

colo ur and siz e like black mules and with tails ,

like spears ; and the seventh by I b lees and his

”1
troops .

According to this syste m of belief the universe ,

was divided into three great portio ns and sub ,

divided into twe nty one s tep s or degrees situa te d

-

at equal distances fro m each other ; the lo wer

seve n being pla ces of p unish ment the interme
L ne A bi n N ig ht
1 a , ral i pp 2024
a s, vo . . .
-
.
1 80 The Pythag orean Tria ng le .

royal stars are suited in and qualified by the

three principles and seven p ro per ties of the
eternal nature .

T he sa me phil osophy w hich for med the general ,

material fro m which C agliostr6 M esme r Pe u vret , , ,

and o ther charlata ns of the last ce nt u ry con ,

str ucted their seve ral syste ms of Free masonry ,

professed also to believe that the gifts and graces

of the Holy Spiri t were seven in number v iz — .
,

wisdom u nderstanding counsel grace kno w

, , , ,

l edge piety and the fear of God ; and that ther e

, ,

were the same number of works of mercy t o

which a re ward would be attache d i e to in , . .
,

struct the ignorant ; to correct o ffe nders ; to

confir m the waveri ng ; to co mfor t the afflicted ;
to s uffer patiently ; to forgive i nj uries ; and to
pray for enemies I n the same syste m there .

—
,

w ere accou nted se ve n virt ues h umility liber ,

ali ty chastity quiet ness te mperance patience

,
'

, , , ,

and devotion and seve n deadly sins — pride ,

cov et ou sness lux ury e nvy glutt ony a nger and

, , , , ,

S loth

I n the French syste m of sy mbol ical M asonry ,

as it is now practised the number seven in the ,

Fello w Craft s degree is explained by a reference

’

not only to the seve n days of the creatio n and ,

the seven years employed in b uilding the Te mple

of Solomo n b ut also to the seve n v irtues w hich
,

every good M ason ought to practise witho ut

i nter missio n These differ S lightly from the
.

former and consist of wisd om strength beauty

, , , ,
 M asonic R eference of the N umb er S even 1 8 1 .

p ower h umility glory and ho nour ; and seven

, , ,

v ices which he o ught to tre ad u nder his fee t

-
h atred discord pride indiscretio n p erfidy,
, , , ,

rashness and cal umny

, The sev e n virtues .

reco mme nded by the same order are frie nd ,

shi u nity su b missio n discreti on fi delity

p , , , , ,

p r u de nce and te,m pera nce T hey referred the .

same number also as w e do to the seven , ,

liberal sciences Wi th respect to the latter

.
,

a curiou s tale is told by M d Aut un on .

’

learned incred ulity where it is sai d that the ,

use of the Arabian numerals w ere i mported

fro m Spain b y Pope Silvester to be used in ,

magical cere mo nies ; for it should appear that

magic was publicly taugh t in the recesses of a
dee p cavern at Salamanca T his Do mdaniel is .

said to have bee n fo u nd ed by Hercules and that ,

sev e n arts of encha nt me nt w ere taught therein .

Sir Walter Scott in his Lay of the Las t ,

M instrel observ es
,
“
that if the classic reader
,

inquires w here Hercules learned magic he may ,

consult L es faicts et p roesses da nob le et

vailla nt H ercules where he w ill learn that
,

the fable of his ai di ng Atlas to su ppor t the

heav e ns arose from t he said Atlas having
t a ugh t He rc ules the noble k night errant the
,
-

seve n liberal sc ie nces and in par ticular that of , , ,

1 ”
j udicial astrology .

I S hall here close my b rief remarks upon this

number because it is co p iously explai ned 1n the
,

1
Lay, canto ii. note 12 .
1 82 The Pythag orean T ria ng le .

Hist orical Land marks of Freemasonry There .

” 1

is no other number which is so freely used by the

professors of every religio n both true and false ,
.

It was uniformly considered to b e worthy of

v eneratio n and there appears to have been ampl e
,

cause for it in the profuse use of it which is

,

contai ned in the directions of the Almig hty re

specti ng the custo ms and cere mo nies of the
Je wish Ch urch This people ho wever had many
.
, ,

other superstitio ns besides a predilection for t he

number seve n as the harbi ngers of good l uck -
.

T he follo wing is to our p urpose be cau se it em ,

bodies a maso nic custo m : Some of the modern

“

Je ws are particularly careful while dressing the m ,

selves in a morning to p ut on the right stocking

,

and right shoe first withou t ty ing the m ; the n

,

to p ut on the left and so retu rn to the right

,

that so they may begi n and end with the

right S ide w hich t hey account to be the most
,
”
fortunate .
1

It may be observed here in reference to the ,

above practice that naked feet were a S ig n of

,
'

mo urni ng and also a mark of respect M oses

, .

had naked feet at the bu r ning bush and it is

believed that the priests served both in the taber
naele and te mple in the same manner It is sai d .

further t h at the Israelites were not permitted to

enter the holy place except they were divested of
their shoes It was cu stomary to loose the lat che t
.

Le t xx 1 c . .

L M dem p 1 7
1
ee. o , . ,
.
1 84 The Pythag orean T riang le .

right to walk enter into and tread upon the

, ,

la nd as his o wn proper and entire p o ssessio n .

Sometimes the right hand glove and some ,

t i mes a ha ndkerchief is substit uted for t he

,

S hoe.

M ichaelis s peaking on this subject says that

1
, , ,

in the age of D avid this u sage had beco me anti

q ua ted for the w ri ter i n trod uces it as a n u nk no wn
c usto m of for mer ti mes in the days of D av id s
’
,

great grandfather I have not bee n able to find

-
.

an
y farther trace of it in the E ast n or yet has the ,

D anish travelli ng missio n to Arabia as Captai n ,

N iebuhr hi mself i nforms me B ynaeus in his .

,

Book de Calceis H eb reeorum treats of it at great ,

’

le ngth ; b ut excepting the mere conj ectures of

,

modern literatu re he gives no account of the

,

o rigin of this stra nge sy mbol of the tra nsfer of

property I n t he time of M oses it was so familiar

.
, ,

that b arefooted was a term of reproach and pro ,

bably signified a man that had sold everything a ,

spe ndth rift anda ba nkr upt ; and in De utero no my

,

w e find that M oses allo we d it to be applied to the

perso n who would not marry his brother s widow ’
.

Could it have been an E gyptian custom as we ,

do not find it again in t he E ast ? T he E g yptians ,

when they adored the Deity had no shoes on ; ,

and of this the Pythag oreans gave the follo wi ng

explanation The man who came naked fro m his

.

mothers wo mb should a ppear naked before his

’

Creator ; for God hears th ose alone who are not

1
Vol i p 43 4,
. .
 B arefootecl S ymbols
. 1 85

burdened with anything extrinsic Among the

.

E gyptians too barefooted was equivale nt to

, ,

nake d and naked syno ny mo u s with havi ng no

,
’ ”
property one S self.
 C H A PT E R VIII .

TH E C UB E .

OGD OA D , OC T A E D R ON , OR TH E N UM B E R

W hen in his ark of g o pher wood

-

N oa h de b y
ro u o ant on t h e fl oo d ,

h de
O erwh elmed wit sad spair and woe,
’

l y e k d bel
A g u i t rac sun o wn ow .

W it h ble e de
st O mnip o te nc it s g u i ,

le
T he mast ss ark did sa fely deri ,

f d e f ee
And o n t he mou nt, rom ang r r ,
e
Did r st t he w oh le f y
rate rnit
’
.

F rom a n unp ublished M AS ON I O ODE .

T H E dou lb e bi l fig e h th lw y been li ely ep e e t ti n

cu ca ur a a a s a v r r s n a o

ef tt ib te f th Di i ity well t h t whi h ti

o f t h e chi a r u so e v n ,
as as a c cons

t t
u es th m t
e pit l p blem i M
os ca y wh i h i t h t f d b
a ro n asonr c s a o ou

li g th be nd w fi t p p d by th r le t D elph t
n e cu ,
a as rs ro ose e o ac a us o

t h e wh
os ked him wh t w e
o as y t be d e t t p th
a as n cessar o on o s o e

p e tile e whi h the

s nc g ed m g t t he m
c H t ld t he m t
n ra a on s e o o
e —O R A
.

d ble hi lt d th p l g e h ld
”
ou s a ar, an e a u s ou ceas . LD . .

L E oruaE S .

HE N theory was o nce establishe d

the
that names and numbers bore a mutual
relatio n to each other it became a ,

favourite employ me nt with the cabalists

,
—
Je wish Christi an and M ahometan to trace b y
,
1 90 The Pythag orean Triang le .

nu m bers the mysterious refere nce of certain

remarkable names T hus the E gyp tian M ercury
.

Thouth the representative of w isdo m or moral

, ,

stre ngth was denoted by the nu mber 1 2 1 8

, t he ,

era in which S a mso n fl o urished who w as ,

the greatest exa mple of physical stre ngth the

w orld ever prod uced 0 being 9 w 8 00 v 400 , ,

09 The monogram of Christ cru cified or I H T

, .
, . .
,
,

or more properly I H The for mer signifyi ng the .

t wo firs t lett ers of the Greek na me of Christ and ,

the l atter H is cross was fo und in the number ,

3 1 8 ; i e I 1 0; H 8 ; and T 3 0
. .
, , 0; bei ng the, ,

date of the abolitio n of that kind of deat h which

was i nfl ic ted on the Savio ur of mankind Again .
,

t he Hebrew letters of the name J a ha S hiloh or -

,
“
Shilo h sh all come are numerically the sa me as ,

those of t he word M essiah ; whe nce it was con

cl uded that Shiloh and M essiah were one and the
same person By a similar process the Creator
.

w as de noted by the number 7 3 7 ; and

L ateinos according to Irenaeus was fo und in the
, ,

number 6 6 6 , S ed et L ateinos nomen hab et

.

sex centoru m merum ; et valde

sex ag inta sea: nu

verisimile est qu oniam novissimu m reg num hoc

,

hab et vocab ulum L atini enim su nt gui nunc

.

sed non in hoc nos g loria b imur

”1
reg nant .

T he Arabs according to Lane , have a me thod

,

of divination used at marriages t o determi ne

, ,

whether the par ties will b e happy This is do ne .

by addi ng t ogether the numerical val ues of t he

1
I re n ,. l . v. c. 30
.
1 92 The Pytha g orean Triang le .

d uring tha t terrible ev ent A mo ngs t the Je ws .

,

it appears to have bee n the nu mber of circumci

sio n ,because that ceremony took place on the
eighth day ; and with the cabalists it was t he

nu mbe r of Jes c d or M erc ury t he dry w ater or , ,

water of i mmersio n in wh ich lay the w h ole fo un

,

datio n of the art of transmu ting metals They .

observe eigh t orders of purification of the baser

metal because the number of the word Z achu or
, ,

purity is equal to 3 3 w hich being multiplied b y

, ,

8 the number of Jes c d produces 2 6 4 the num

, , ,
1
ber of the word Jordan .

T he Pythagorean ph ilos ophers taught that the

cube proceeded fro m t he tetractys B ut they .

conceived t hat s ome third p ri nciple w as neces

sary to uni te the other t wo ; for matter andform
do not fl ow one i nto another spo ntaneously b e
" ,

cause the matter of one substance does not receive

the form of the other without somethi ng to im
p re ss it As for instance when the soul departs
.
, ,

ou t of a man the body does not bec ome brass or

,

iro n neither is wo ol made out of a stone T here .

must be so me third principl e to u nite the m ; and

that pri nciple can be nothing else b ut the Deity .

The nu mber eight had ot her references which

it may b e u seful to poi nt ou t It signified the .

harmonyproduced by love and friendship because ,

the perfect diapason constitutes the uniso n of t wo

notes in the sa me so und which is te rmed an octo
,

chord andco mprises eight notes andse ven degre es

,
.

This was a symbol of the inti mate unio n which

1 s
. a
Q ,
. 1 8 38, p 448 . .
 E ight estee med a S acred N umber . 1 93

su bsists bet ween t wo minds which are knit and

j oined t ogether by these t wo genial affections .

Pythagoras had a mu sical instrument whic h he

de no minated an octochord c omprehending the ,

t wo disj unct tetrachords expressed by the letters

E F G A B C D E
, , , ,
This number w as in
, , ,
.

v ested wi th the na me of several heathe n de itie s ,

both male and female ; as N eptune Cybele , ,

Rhea & c ,
.

The Pythagoreans held that there are in man

eight organs of kno wledge ; viz sense phantasy .
, , ,

art opinion pr udence science wisdo m and mi nd ;

, , , , ,

which constituted an i nexha ustible so urce of dis

u isit ion in the Pythagorean Lodges I n like
q .

manner the Christian syste m presents us with

,

eight beatitudes : p overty of spirit ; mourning ;

meekness ; desire ofrighteo usness ; mercy ; p urity
of heart ; the peace maker and sufl erin
’

f or t he
g
sake of righteo u snes s
1
.

T h is nu mber was highly esteemed in E gyp t

and in the sacred processio ns a v essel or boat was ,

carried co ntaining eight perso ns in reference t o ,

the N cetic ogdoad ; and Herodotus informs us

that the E gyptians had eight grea t gods N ow .
,

alt hou gh t his may not be strictly correct yet it ,

show s t hat eight was e stee med a sacred number ;

for the traditio n was universal that the world ,

had bee n destroyed by a del uge of waters and ,

eight persons preserv e d in a v essel which fl oated

on its s urface .

T he legend of initiation or the account of the ,

1
M ‘ tt o 7 . 1 10
0
-
1 94 The Pythag orean Triang le .

death of Osiris by the contrivance of Typh on has ,

been variously interpreted I n one sense it is

.

S ideral and in a nother dilu vian ; and their u nio n

,

may approxi mate nearest to the truth It is .

,

ho wever certain that a kno wledge of the uni

, ,

v ersal del uge was preserved in the spu rio u s Free

maso nry of ancie nt times ; and the tradition is

not obscurely i nti mated or conv eyed by symbol s
of doubtful i nterpretation b ut plainly de clare d,

andexplicitly proclai med The days of mo u rni ng

.

for the ap hanism were u sually 5 x 8 40; and

the rites of probation were forty days in allusion ,

to the time which marked the increase of t he

dil uvian waters T his was acco mpanied amongs t
.

the E astern nations b ya curio us ceremony They .

held that S in being the pollution of man s soul ’

rege neratio n c ould o nly be prod uced by bathi ng

in p ure water under the i nfluence of a particular
,

planet T hese ablutions w ere to be acco mpanie d

.

by many trifling and eve n ridiculous O bservances

, , ,

the absence of any one of which w ould ren der the

w hole cere mony ineflieacious According to M r .

Colebrooke the aspirant was taught to repeat

,

mentally the names of the seven worlds ; and

after sippi ng a little of the w ater he w as to cas t ,

so me of it eight times into the air repeating t he ,

prayer of ablution If he chanced t o spit or

.

s neeze during the performance of this ceremony ,

he was obliged i mmediately to apply the fore

finger of his right hand to his ear ; in complianc e
with the maxim — after s neezing spitting blow
, , ,

ing the nose sle eping p utting on ap parel or othe r

, , ,
1 96 Th e Pythag orean Triang le .

at this day called Prussian Knig ht s are the ,

descendants of Peleg chief architect of the to w er

,

of Babel . Th u s they trace the origi n of their

order to a more a ncie nt da te than the desce nd
ants of Hiram ; for the to wer of B abel was bu il t
many ages before the temple of Solo mon A nd .

for merly it was not necessary that candidates for

,

t his degree shou ld be Hiramites or Blu e M asons .

B ut a di ffere nt regulatio n w as after wards adopted ,

and to receive the degree of N oachite it is no w ,

n ecessary that the ca ndid ate sho u ld have per

for med the duties of a w orthy office in a regularly
constituted Lodge of Blue M asons T he order of
.

N oachites was established in Pr u ssia in 1 7 5 5 and ,

introduced i nto France by the Count St Gelaire

in 1 7 5
T he degree of the Ark andD ove has also a refer
ence t o the delu ge, and the eight persons save d
in the ark as its name i mports ; and describes
,

t he process by which N oah e merged fro m his con

finement after the w aters had subsided T here is
.

s till another degree w hich partially i ncludes the

same subj ect o nly it co nfines its reference to the
,

buildi ng of the ark It is called the Knight of

.

the R oyal Ax e and by so me t he Grand Pa triarch ,

Prince of Lib anu s because the timber for the ark

,

is feigne d t o have been felled in those extensive

forests.

As I am on this s ubj ect i nto which I have bee n

,

i nse nsibly led by its connectio n with the ogdoad ,

I may as well me ntion a traditio n which is p re

ser v e d in one of these degrees It is there sai d
.
,
 T he D iluvian Grip . 1 97

tha when N oah his family e ntered into the

and
ark they assisted each other by mea ns of a cer
,

There appears to be some doub t

”
t ain grip .

abou t t he correctness of this traditio n w hich in

,

deed is given by others in a differe nt form T hey .

say tha t whe n the a nte dilu via ns u nder we nt the

,

divine sentence and were struggling wit h the

,

w aves in the ago ny of death they e ndeavo ured to

,

e scape by u si ng the same grip t o p u ll eac h other

u p to the tops of mo untains or trees

, or ot her,

high places that prese nted a te mporary refuge

“

from the j ustice of that irrevocable decree which

brought destruction on th eir heads .
 C HAPTE R I X .

TH E T RIPL E T R IA N GL E .

E N N E A D , N ON A GON ,
OR TH E N UM BE R N IN E .

e h d h d
T he weir sist rs an in and,
e l d
Post rs of t he sea and an ,
h b b
T u s do g o a ou t, a out,
h e h e h e
T ric t o t in , and t ric to min , e
h e ke
And t ric ag ain to ma up nin
”
e .

S HA KE S PE B E .

be
T HE em l ms used t expl i th n mbe f th N i e E le t d Knight
o an e u ro e n c e s

we e ine
r n d e ni light i th h pt nd ni e t ke
re ros s, ne s n e c a er, a n s ro s

t g i
o dmitt e Th l w ymb li l f th bl d th t
a n a anc . e c o o ur as s o ca o e oo a

w hed in t h t mple d de ed t e m i the e till e e ge

as s e e an or r o r a n r r v n

mp leted —L
,

w as co .
”
r N E r K
E OT U B E o S THE IN E LE c E D'
N I GH T .

HE R E can be no doubt b ut the syste m

of numerical cab alism or divination by ,

n umbers co mmo nly called Arithomancy

, ,

may boast a very high antiquity By which I .

mean a syste m of foret elling remarkable events

,

by the combinations of numbers accordi ng to the

rules of art ; and the res ults were so meti mes
so e x tra ordinary as to startle the uninitiated .
202 The Pytha g orean Triang le .

W hether the sacred writings give a tion to any s nc

the practice is doubtful The J ews assert that .

they do and s urely they o ught to be the best

,

i nterpreters of their own holy books T he learned .

critic and Hebrais t Dr W ootton was of thi s , ,

o pinion ; and he thinks that we maysafely receiv e

t heir exposition w hen there is no reaso n to sus
ect an sec taria n bias or prej u dice in the mind
p y
of the commentator Let the m therefore ans wer
.

the question about the cabalistic applicatio n of

numbers in the i nterpretatio n of scriptu re if ,

—
they w ill I shall not ve nture an op inion on t he
subject .

We are quite sure howev er that divi natio n by

, ,

numbers for med a par t of the system of Pytha

goras ; for S tanley has given an e ntire chapt er on
t he s ubj ec t He says that Pythagoras derive d
.
,

his kno wledge of the proper ties of numbers fro m

Orpheu s and I amb lichu s asserts that i nstead of ,

the art of divining by s acri fices this philosopher ,

taught the art of predictio n by numbers w hich

b e conceived to be more sacred and divi ne and ,

more agreeable to the celestial nu mbers of the

gods Some authors hav e ascribed to Pythagoras
.

the inventio n of an ono mantic kind of arithmetic ,

in which partic ular numbers are assig ned to the

letters of the alphabet the planets the S ig ns of
, ,

the zodiac and the days of the week thereby

,

resolving q uestio ns concerning nativi ties victory , ,

j o urneys thefts prosperity or adversity life or

, , ,

death Dr Fludd in his M icrocos m affirms

.
, , ,

that future e vents may be p rognosticated by vir

204 The Pythag orea n Tria ng le .

any n i divid ual I n the universe taki ng the day of

,

his birt h for t he era ; and some promi nent even t

will certai nly mark every year which may b e
produced b ythe above process .

T he ancient s w ere much addicted to these

puerilities and consi dered every accide ntal cc
,

incide nce as an extraordinary co nfirmatio n of a

mystical or mag ical syste m And so it has de .

scended to our o wn ti mes Char ms for c uri ng

.

diseases are not e ntirely obliterated ; and a cen

t ury or t wo ago they were ab unda ntly prevale nt
amongst all ra nks and descriptio ns of people an d
every mid wife was for mally s worn b efore the civil
magistrate th at I n the discha rge of her d uties she
,

w ill u se no ki nd of sorcery or i ncantatio n in the

t ime of the travail of any w o man T he charms
”
.

which were in co mmo n u se mo st frequ ently com

,

b ined the nu meral sys t em in one shape or other .

For i nstance the fa mous amulet Abraca dabra con

, , ,

tains an odd number of le tters viz 1 1 for which , .

, ,

number the Je ws had a great ve neratio n bec au s e ,

it re minded t he m of the bo ndage of their fathers

in E gypt ; there being o nly eleve n patri archs re
maini ng w hen Jos ep h w as transported thither
and acco un ted dead ; b u t so me of the cabalisti c

Jew s ha ve given a more philosophical reason by ,

su pposi ng that the solar exceeded the l u nar yea r

by so many days .

Again the follo wing charm for woman that

,
”
t rav eylyth of chylde w hich w as direc ted to b e
,
“
b yndyd t o her t hye is fo unded on the nu meral
,

syste m for al most all the i nvo catio ns run by

,
 A ncient C harms . 20
5

t hree s I n N o mine Patris b et Fil m b et Spir

.
v v

it u s Sancti b A men b Per Virtu tem D omin i

v . v

sint M edicina mei pia Crux et Passio Christi b .

v

V ulmera quinqu e D o mi ni sint M edici na mei b .

v

Sancta M aria p ep erit C hristum b Sancta Anna .

v

e e rit M aria m b Sa ncta E lizabet p ep erit J o

p p .
v

hannem b Sanc ta Cecilia p ep erit R emig iu m b

. v .
v

Arep o te net opera rotas b Christus v i ncit b .

v .
v

Christu s regna t b Chris tus d ixit Laz are ve ni

.
v

foras b .Christus imperat b Christus te vocat

v .
v .

vb M u nd u s te ga u det b Lex te desiderat b .

v .
v

Deu s ultionu m D o mi nu s b D e us p relioru m . v

D o mi nu s libera famulum t u am N b D extra .

v

D o mi ni fecit V irtutem a g l a b Alpha b et . . . . . v v

12 b.
v Anna p eperit M ariam b E lizabet pre .
v

cursorem b M aria D o mi nu m nostru m Jes um

.
v

C hrist u m si ne d olore et t risticia

, O I nfa ns sive .

v iv u s sive mo rt uu s exi foras b Christ us te v ocat v

ad lucem vb . A gyos vb
Ag yos vb Agyos vb
. . .

Christus vincit vb Christus imperat vb Chris

. .

t us reg nat vb S a n ct.u s v

b Sa n ct u s v
b Sanctus
v
b D o m i nu s D e us v
b Christu s qui es qui eras
.
, ,

v
b e t q ui v en t u ru s es v
b A m e n O b u r
.n o u v
b .

C lict aono vb Christ us N az arenus vb R ex J ude

or u m fili Dei vb miserere mei vb Amen ”
. .

T he Je wish p urifications had an especial re

ference to the numbers 3 , 7 and 9 For instance, , .

a perso n who had bee n re ndered u nclea n w as

spri nkled on the third and seventh day by a
clean perso n wit h hyssop dipped in water mixed ,

w iththe ashes of a red heifer ritually prepared .

Lightfoo t infor ms us that nine of t he se heifers ,

206 The Pythag orean Triang le .

were slain bet ween the ti me of M oses and the

destruction of the seco nd te mple .

M any learned and wise men a mo ngst the an

cie nte were fully persu aded that divi nation w as
a fac ulty which they themselves p ossessed andit ,

w o uld be too much to charge so virtu ou s a philo

sopher as Pythagoras with the deliberate practice
of i mposture in his assumptio n of t he po wer of
foretelling fut ure eve nts T he tr uth is he was
.
,

hi mself de ceived and the fictio n of havi ng been

taught the art by Orpheus and Aglaophemus ,

w he n he was i nitiated into the spuriou s Free

maso nry of Thrace as I amb lichus informs u s
, ,

w as as firmly i mpl anted in his mi nd as the ,

fait h of Socrates that he was attended by a

,

familiar de mon who eit her ope nly or by the

, ,

mediatio n of dreams and o mens co mmunicated ,

to him every i mpor tant event of his life ; fore

w arning him of danger and freq ue ntly preve nti ng
,

him by a ti mely ad mo nitio n fro m committi ng

, ,

actions which he wo uld afterwards have repented

of.

rejected by E picur us He allo we d

All this was .

of no p ower either in oracles drea ms or divi na, ,

tion H e says T hey allege divination as an

.
,

argume nt to prove both Providence and the exie

te nce of demons b ut I am asha med at h uman
i mbecility when it fetcheth divina tions even out
,

of dreams ; as if God w alking fro m bed to b ed

, ,

did admonish supi ne perso ns by indirect visions

, ,

w hat shall co me to pass and out of all kinds

of portents and prodigies ; as if chance were not

208 The Pythag orean Triang le .

their natural order by 9 or by any of the ab o ve ,

products of 9 the result w ill co me out all in t he

,

same fig ure except in the place of te ns w hich w ill ,

be a O and that figure will be one which bei ng , ,

multiplied by 9 supplies the multiplier ; or in ,

o ther w ords if 9 be the mu l tiplier the prod u c t

, ,

will be all o nes if 1 8 all t wos if 2 7 all thre e s , ,

and if 8 be o mitted fro m the mu ltiplica nd t he 0 ,

will vanish and leave the prod u ct all ones t w o s

, , ,

threes & c as the case may be O nce more if a

,
.
, .
,

piece of square pasteboard be divided into ni n e

cells it has ofte n exercised the ingenuity o f
,

c uriou s perso ns to determine how the numbe rs

1 8 2 0 2 4 2 8 3 2 and 3 6 may be respect ive ly
, , , , ,

placed in the outer cells of the squares so as ,

to for m in every case the nu mber 9 and n o ,

more in each of the ro ws

, T he result is as .

follo ws

Another property of the number 9 is as fol

lows : viz t ake any number you ch oose as
.
, , , for
 The B ridecalce C harm . 20
9

instance , 8 6 5 3 7 42 5 4
Inver t their order and u s btrac t the m , 45 2 47 3 5 6 8

41 2 9006 8 6
t hen add together the figures line in the last ,

viz.
, If and

t he nu mb er in the u pper most li ne be s maller

t ha n the lo w er line and ca nnot be s ubtracted
,

fro m it then take the top line fro m the bottom

, ,

and the res ul t will be the same ; as for ex ,

ample , 1579
95 7 1

and or thrice 9 .

Amongst the heathen the p urificatio n of male ,

infants took place ni ne days after the birt h ;

w he nce the goddess w ho w as s upposed to pre ,

side over this cere mo ny was call ed N und1na ,

fro m nonus or the ni nth and for the same rea

, ,

son the R o man market days w ere ter med N nu -

dinae N ov endinae or F eriee nundinales becau se

, , ,

they were held every ninth day T he e nnead had .

,

ho wev er a variety of other refere nces so me of

, ,

w hich are too curio u s to be passed over in sile nce .

It was called l etos or perfect in reference to

Te , ,

the ti me of gestation in the wo mb And he nce .

it is a c usto m of very ancie nt standi ng at mar

riag es to u t slices of bride cake thro ugh the
p
w eddi ng ri ng ni ne ti mes and being th us inv este d
-

with some su pernat ural po wer the pieces are ,

distributed a mong st the young frie nds of the

0
2 10 The Pythag orean Triang le .

bride that being laid under their pillo ws th ey

, ,

may hav e a dream or visio n of the perso n who is

designed t o be their partner for li fe .

With her own hand she charms the destin d slice, ’

A nd through the ring rep eats the treb led thrice .

w
T he h allow ed ring, infusing magic p o er,
B ids H y men s v isions wait the midnight h our
’

T he mystic treasure p laced b eneath her h ead,

Will tell the fair if hap ly she may wed .

T he be r ni ne had the na me of L ikeness

num ,

beca use it is the first odd triangle and Pro me

theu s be cause it is a perfect ternary ; for he ma de
,

t he first man and wo ma n and a ni mated them w i t h

,

fire fro m heav en It was called Co ncord because

.
,

it unites and knits together all other nu mbe rs I t .

w as co nsi dered to be u nbounde d because as we

, ,

have j us t see n in all its co mbinations it re turns

,

into itself ; and therefore was c ompared equ ally

w i th the horiz o n and the ocean whence it w as
called E m epyoe for the ocean fl o wing abo ut t he
habitable earth is believed by some to be so
i mmediately place d under the arch of heaven ,

that the sun and stars rise from it and set in ,

it And the E pic ureans de mo nstrate d the fact

.

by this arg ument : The universe consisting of

v a cuu m and body is i nfi ni te ; for that w hic h is

fi nite b ath a bound that w hich hath a bound is

,

see n from some other thing or may be see n from

out of an interval beyo nd or without it B ut
, .

the u niverse is not seen ou t of any other thing s

beyond it ; for there is no i nterval or S pace which
it c ontaineth not withi n itself other wise it co uld
,
2 12 The Pythag orean Triang le .

the M essiah His several appearances

.
—
were 1 ,

in the garden of E de n ; 2 at the co nfusio n o f ,

tongu es ; 3 at the destr uctio n of Sodo m ; 4 t o

, ,

M oses at M o unt Horeb 5 at His appearance o n ,

M o u nt Sinai ; 6 and 7 t w o o ther appeara nces t o ,

M oses 8 and 9 in the T aber nacle , .

T here w as at Cairo d u ri ng the dynasty of t he ,

Fati mite Khali fs a secret society called t he , ,

Society of Wisdom T he members were clad in .

w hi te and held their meeti ngs t w ice a w eek

, .

The i nstitutio n co nsisted of ni ne degrees : 1 .

Probation ; in which the candidate was perplexe d

w ith abstr use q uestio ns and tau ght to regar d ,

his teacher with ve ne ratio n 2 T he Oath ; and . .

ack no wled gme nt of the divine a uthori ty of the

i mams 3 I nst ructio n ; principally consisting in
. .

a knowle dge of mystical numbers ; and partien

larly that seven was the noblest of God s creat ures
’
.

4 Ill ustratio ns of the nu mb er seve n ; in w hic h

.

he was taught that as there w ere seve n heavens

, ,

seven earths the same number of se as plane ts

, , ,

metals & c so there w ere seve n lawgivers seve n

,
.
, ,

helpers s eve n i ma ms & c 5 Illustra tio n of t he

, , . .

nu mber t w elv e 6 T he philosop hy of religion

. . .

4 Pa nth eis m
. 8 Scepticis m 9 T his deg ree in
. . . .

culcatedthat nothi ng w as to be believed andtha t ,

anyth ing may be done w hich in point of fact , ,

is D eism at t he leas t if not absol ute Atheis m ,

.

T he critical period of h uma n l ife according t o ,

a very ancie nt s uperstition as we have alread y ,

seen under t he nu mber seve n had a reference ,

to this numb er Th us 9 being multiplied by 7 .

 -
R emarkab le S up erstitions .

makes the climacteric or dangero us ye ar

63 ,
and 9 mu ltiplied by 9 makes 8 1 the gr and cli ,

mact eric or year of i mmine nt danger Levinus

, .

L emnius th u s a cco u nts for the existence of the

superstitio n Olde men he says . seldome , ,

passe their sixty third year b ut they are in con -

stant da nger of their l ives and I have observed

in the L ow Co untries al most i nfi nite exa mp les
t hereof N ow there are t wo y ears the sevent h
.
,

and ni nt h that co mmo nly bri ng great changes in

,

a man s li fe and gre at dangers wherefore six ty

’
,

t hree that cont aines b ot h these nu mbers mult i

,

plied together co mes not wit hout heap es of dan

,

gers ; for ni ne times seven or se ven times nine , ,

are six ty three A nd there upon that is called the

-

.
, ,

climactericall year ; beca use begi nni ng fro m seven , ,

it doth as it w ere by steps fi nish a man s life

, , ,
’
.
”

I shall concl ude this chap ter with the me ntion

of a f ew re markable s uperstitio ns co nnected with

the ennead which w ill sho w the hono urs that

,

w ere paid to it of olde n ti me I t appears that in .

the time when conj urers co uld profitably exercise

their art they u sed to raise spirits withi n a circle
,

ni ne fee t in diameter whic h they co nsecrated by ,

spri nkling w it h a mixt ure of holy wa ter wi ne , ,

and salt that they might be protected fro m any

o nslaught of the fiend Bra nd i nfor ms u s that .
,

it is unlu cky to cut yo ur nails upo n a Friday or

a S unday ; and that it ough t to be done on t he
ninth day except it fell on ei ther of the above
,

p eriods This custom was used by the R omans

.
1
.

1
Pop Ant . .
, vol. iii p 92.
. .
214 The Pythag orean T riang le .

Divination is meti mes practised by the

so u se of
this number even at the present day Thus t he
, .
,

fe male i nquirer after a sight of the perso n t o

w hom she is to b e married is directed to beg ni ne
keys of nine several persons fasteni ng the m
together by ni ne k nots of a three plaited braid of -

her own hair S he is then to tie the m to her

.

w rist at g oi ng to bed w it h one of her g arters o n

S t Peter s E v e repea ti ng
’

S t Peter tak e it not amiss

T o try y o ur favour I ve done th e
’

You are the rule r of t he keys,

F avour me th en ifyou p lease
Let me t h e n y o ur infl uence p rove,
A nd se e my dear and wedded lo ve .

I n divi natio n or fort une telli ng by cards the nine

,
-
,

of spades is the most unfort unate in t he w ho le

p ack ; the ni ne of diamo nds favo u rable to com
mercial men ; the ni ne of cl ubs for married w o me n ;
and t he ni ne of hearts for lovers of ei ther sex .

It w o uld be e asy to multiply i nstances of a

s upersti tio us a ffection for the nu mbe r nine b ut it ,

is u nnecessary as the me mory of ev ery reader w ill

,

be s ufficie ntly rete ntive to suggest cases withou t

end w here it occ urs Ou r ancestors named ni ne
.

w orthies in triads ; three bei ng heathen thre e ,

J e wish three Christia n T he former we re Hecto r

, .
,

A lexander t he Great and J uli us Cesar the next

, ,

Joshu a David and J udas M accabe us ; and the

, ,

last Ki ng A rth ur of B ritain C harle magne of

, ,

France and Godfrey de B ouillon King of Jeru

, ,

sale m .
216 The Pythagorean Triang l

their own impu rit ies

orship their fal se go d s
, or w ,

in the Holy City I think F aber has distinctly

.

shown that the pagan mysteries re fer to the A rk

—
of N oah to so me one who was dead or killed ,

and agai n ca me to life — and that the rising and

setting of the sun so aptly represented this per
son , t hat the type beca me su bseque ntly wor
shi pe d for the s ubsta nce M oreo ver all t he
p .
,

a nc ient mysteries seem to have bee n celebrate d

abo ut the time of the vernal equi nox and it is a ,

e n eral belief t hat K i ng Solo mo n laid the fo un

g
dation st one of the Te mple on the very same day
-

N ow Joseph us i nforms u s that the Tabernacle was ,

a represe ntatio n of the u niverse which inter ,

ret ation may al so be applied to the T e mple

p ,

because it was merely a rene wal of the T abernacl e

on a more magnifice nt scale B u t t he appearanc e
.

of the heavens is co nti nu ally changing ; and

therefore if the above mean anything t he T e mple
, ,

must have represe nted the universe at the exac t

perio dof its erectio n A l though then the modern
.
, ,

symbols may be derived fro m astronomy in imi

t at ion of the E gyptia n D iony siacs or T sab aists ,

still we need no more ad mi t the m to be inseparable

fro m the pagan idolatry than that as Solomo n s , ,
’

T emple w as i tself an astro no mic al or u niversal

e mble m Solo mo n had erecte d it for the rites of
,

t he paga ns i nstead of the w orship of the o nly

,

God Why Solo mo n did per mit s uch is not so

.

clear as that they mus t be vie wed in themselve s

,

as having no tendency to idolatry otherwise they ,

coul d not have bee n all owed t o b e used Tha t .

 F reemasonry D erivedfrom Geometry 2 1 7 .

after ward s Solo mo n and s ome of his s u ccessors

blended the symbolic wi th the gross rit ual of the
T sab aists is al most evident fro m several passages
of the B ible and it may have bee n after the
reign ofJosiah or at the reb u ildi ng by Zerubbabel
, ,

t hat the prese nt traditio n or lege nd of t he Third

D egree w as drawn u p ; probably acci de ntally fro m ,

some tradi tio nal account of a riot by a few of the

w orkme n to obtai n the secret of a s uperior deg ree ;
and in which they co nfo u nded H A B w ith U ri m . . .
,

literally Lights b ut being pl ural this was u sed ,

”
for the great light or the sun ,
.

I have no room for a further state ment of the

t heorv hich ascribes an astro no mical ori gi n t o
Free maso nry b ut this will be sufficie nt to sho w
t he li ne of argument by w hich the h ypo thesis is
atte mpted to be s upported I am pers uade d .
,

howe ver that the theory is erroneo us not with

, ,

standing the great names b y which it is upheld ;

amo ngst w ho m w e findthat of an e mi ne nt brother ,

Sir W Drummond the er udite a uthor of the

.
,

Origines fro m the peru sal of which I have de

”
,

rived both amuse ment and instructio n I t appears .

more probable that Free maso nry is an e ma nation

from Geo me try which was indeed one of its
,

pri mitive na mes ; and the basis of Geo metry is

t he scie nce of N umbers w hose ele ments are the
,

maso nic poi nt line sup erfice and solid

, , ,
.

I f the n we turn our atte ntio n to Geo metry w e

, , ,

shall find that it is the foundation of architect ure ,

which w e k no w was practised by the Tyrians and

D ionysiac s at the buildi ng of S olomo n s Te mple ;
’
218 The Pythag orean T ria ng le .

and this is more tha n we can say for the kno w

ledge of astro nomy ; for though it may be p er
fec tly correct that the T abernacle andTe mple were
e mblems of t he u niverse yet this might be an alle
,

orical co nceit of the later Je ws a f t er the inv en

g
t ion of the cabala ; for Joseph u s l iv ed at the very
lates t period of the Je wish polity and w itnesse d
,

t he fi nal destr uction of t he Te mple by T i t us . It

is reasonable therefore to co ncl ude that N umbers
, , , ,

displayed in the s cie nce of geo metry and ap plied

‘

to architecture the r ules of which are all fou nded

,

on its pri nciples were t he p rototy p e and origi n of

,

the masonic science .

 C H A PT E R X .

TH E C I R C LE .

D E C A D , PA N TE L E I A , OR TH E N UM BE R

Q ui v e
hic fl uctu s, fl uct u s sup eremine t
nit o mnes
’

e
Po st rior nono est, undecimoq u e p rior ”
.

A L with the S un in t he centre its rays issu ing f rth t o

T R IAN G E , o

e very p int is an emblem of th D ity represented by a C ircle

o ,
e e , ,

wh e e t e i e e y whe e
os c n r s v r r ,
and c irc u m fe renc e now he e he eby
r r
de ti g H i m ip e e e
no n s o n r s nc and t h at all H is att ri utes are b p erfe c
—OLD R
,

t ion A L acro s se
"
. . . .

HE R E is little benefit to be derived from

Free maso nry in this Christia n co untry ,

if it be divorced fro m all co nnectio n

w i th the Chris tian religio n ; altho ugh ad mitting
that it w o uld be a violation of the tr ue principles
of the Order to close our Lodges against the
sincere professors of any other faith which in
clu des the belief of one o nly God the creator and ,

governor of the world A nd the framers of our .

lectures entertai ned the sa me opinion A t the pre .

sent day there are t wo classes a mongst the fra

,
2 22 The Pythag orean Triang le .

t ernity who di ffer u pon t his point although the ,

dif fere nce is not very essential or difficult to b e ,

reconciled For this purpose a little discrimina

.

tive arrange ment is alone necessary It is readily .

ad mitted that anc ie nt M aso nry p er se might be

intended as an universal i ns tit utio n embracing ,

all ma nk ind w ho ack no wle dge and wo rsh ip the

Great S upreme B u t the L ectures o

.
f M asonry ,

as they are at prese nt co ns tit uted in this cou ntry ,

o ffer a modified vie w of the matter T hey c on .

sist al most excl usively o f a series of typical

references to the R edee mer of mankind There .

fore ho wever the Christian M aso n may be in

,

clined to ad mit the ap licatio n of M aso nry t o

p
all existi ng religi ons he cannot deny the fact s
,

contai ned in the lect ures w itho u t at the same , ,

time de nyi ng the veracity of the N ew T estament

, .

If a Chris tian brother ad m its t hat Freemasonry

is a syste m of Light and I think there scarcely
,

exists a difference of opinion on the proposition ,

he mu st also belie v e the truth of the w ords so

sole mnly delivered by ou r ve nerable Grand M aster

S t Joh n the E vangelis t who speaking of Christ

, , ,

plainly says H E is t he tru e Light which light

, ,

eth every man that co meth i nto the world If .

” 1
,

therefore M aso nry be a syste m of L ight and the

, ,

Light be Christ the unavoidable i nference is tha t

, ,

M aso nry is a branch of that u niversal religio n

w hic h is desti ne d at some fu t ure period to per
, ,

vade the whole earth as the waters cover the sea

, .

T he great error of those who can find no

Jh i9 1
o n . .
224 The Pythag orean Triang le .

v irtues whilst they do not suspect that al mos t

,

they have become Christians ”

.

O n the number ten t he ancients w ere quite

e cstatic both in their feeli ngs and their w ri tte n

d isquisi tio ns I t represe nted E lysium the abod e

.
,

of happy spiri ts Like the Deity it is a circle

.
,

w hose centre may be see n b ut w hose ci rc u m ,

ference is i nvisible T here is nothing beyo nd

.

it It fo rmed in the opi nion of the ancie nts

.
, ,

the bo undary and exte nt of every created thing .

W o uld you count a greater number than it con

tai ns you must recommence with u nity and g o
, ,

on till ou are ag ai n stopped by the decad an d

y ,

u nity once more rec urs .

W hat a s ublime idea does this number prese nt

to o ur mi nds w hen it refers us to boundless
,

space " Worl ds piled u po n w orlds at i mmeasurable

di sta nces fro m each ot her all illumi nated by t heir,

o wn su ns and myriad s so far remov ed that their ,

light tho ugh travelling for six tho usand years at

, ,

the rate of t welve m1llions of miles in every mi nut e

of time has not yet reached our globe Her
, .

schel with his for ty foot telescope as B ro M oran

,
-

, .

t ells u s in the F reemason s Qu arterly R eview

’

co uld de scry a cl uster of stars consisti ng of 5 000

i ndivid uals , t i mes deeper in space than
Siriu s probably is ; or to take a more distinct
,

standard of co mparison if it were at the remote ,

ness of miles or ,

in w ords el eve n millio ns se ven h u ndred andsixty

,

five tho usa nd fo u r h undred and seventy five bil -

lio ns nine h undred and forty eight th ousand six

,
-
 The D ecad the R ecep tacle f
o all Thing s . 225

hundred and seventy eight millions six h undred -

and seve nty eight tho u sa nd , six

-
hundred and
”1
s eve nty ni ne miles
-

If this i mmense space he the ce ntre where is ,

t he circ umference ? Bro M ora n advises w ith great .

,

j udgment in the above exquisite paper (wo uld

,

that w e had more of the m ") Pau se a mo me nt ,

and i magi ne if you can w hat it is that the

, ,

discoveries of Herschel have t hus unfolded ; a

distance b etwee n this earth and the re motest
visible syste m w e behold w i th the unhelpe d eye ,

ni ne h u ndred ti mes grea ter than that of the

sun f rom the earth T he n bear in mi nd that
'
.

s uch another syste m of stars is hu ng up in dis

tant space for no other object at least as appa
, ,

rent to terrestrial man than to serve as a specul ar ,

resemblance of that which u ntil the oth er day , ,

he fancied was infinite It is thu s only that we .

can co nceive of the Great Architect of the Heave ns ,

until the pu rifica tion of death shall quicken the

mortal conceptio n ”
.

Here the n we have an apt illustration of the

, ,

decad as the receptacle of all thi ngs Hence .

it was called U nive rse and Sphere because it ,

i ncl uded the nu mber ten viz the earth the , .

, ,

sev e n planets the heave n of fixed stars and an

, ,

tichthon It was also called K osmos or world

.
, ,

because the decad comprehe nds all numbers as ,

t he w orld co mpre he nds all forms T h us E cphan .

t us the C rotonian who belo nged to the scho ol of

, ,

Pythagoras affirmed that the nature of every

, ,

F Q R 1 8 3 7 p 3 2 7 n te
1
. . .
, , .
,
o .
22 6 The Pythag orean Triang le .

animal 18 adapted to the world and to the thi ngs ,

contained in the world ; because ev e ry animal

thu s co nspiring in unio n and co nsent and hav
, ,

ing su ch a colligation of its parts it follo w s a ,

series which is most excellent and at the same time ,

nece ssary through the attrac t ive f

, lux of the uni
ve rse about it which is effective of the general
,

ornament of the world and the peculiar perma ,

nency of everything which it co ntai ns He nce i t .

i s called K osmos and is the most p erfect of all

,
”
animals .

T he decad was the great number of the Pytha

oreans beca use it co mprehe nds all arith metic al
g ,

and har mo nic al proportio ns They dee med it t o .

proceed from the diffusive nat ure of the triad ,

and its mu ltiplyi ng properties Thus if unity .

,

and d uality be mul tiplie d in this fo rm o nc e ,

t wice 2 make 4 t he sacred Tetractys w hence

, ,

1 0 N o w t he half of 1 0bei ng 5
.
,

the middle number if we take the next su perior , .

and the next i nferior nu mbe rs 6 and 4 their su m ,

w ill be 1 0; the nex t t wo in a si milar progressio n ,

7 and 3 w ill also make 1 0; and so on thro ugho u t

,

the i ntegers i e 8 and 2 and 9 and 1 produce

, . .
, , ,

the s ame result ; and hence they called the nu m

ber 1 0the fou ritain of eternal nature or God ,

His body Light and His so ul Tru th N u mber s

, .
,

they said fall all u nder the mo nad ; th us one

,

mo nad is a monad ; one d uad is a duad & c ; b ut , .

the decad is the s ummary of number which can ,

not b e i ncreased w i tho u t ret urning to the monad .

T yl F gment p 27 ’
1 a or s ra s, . .
22 8 The Pythag orean Triang le .

tenth sphere , whi ch is inestimab ilis et incomp ara

b ilis mag nitudinis
”
.

The decad was als o called Ful ness and E te r

nity by reaso n of its being the perfectio n of all
,

number and co mprehe ndi ng all the nat ure of odd

,

and e v en right and wro ng good and evil ligh t

, , ,

and darkness Hence it was used by the Je wis h

.

prophe ts i ndefinitely for a gre at nu mber T hus, .

at the building of the Te mple of Zerubbabel ,

N ehe miah interprets t he ten generations men

t ioned in D e ut xxiii 3 , to mea n for ever
“
. .

and speaking of S anballat and his associates said ,

It came to pass that whe n the Je ws which d welt

,

by them came they said unto us ten ti mes from

, ,

all places whence ye shall retu rn unt o us they

” 2
w ill be u pon you M eaning that they had .

re u entl told the m so M os es Lo wman in his

f q y .
,

Commentary on the Book of R evelatio n speaking ,

of the ten horned beast says that ten in pro

-

, , ,

hetic la ngu age does not al w ays mean a precis e

p ,

number b ut is u se d as a certai n number for an

,

u ncertai n to express in ge neral several or many ;

,

so that t here see ms no necessity of fi ndi ng a pre

cise number of t en differe nt kingdoms e rected
”
on the ru ins of the R o man E mpire Several .

i nterpreters ho wever and amo ngst the rest

, ,

Sir Isaa c N e wton have e numerated these t en ,

kingdo ms .

T he number ten had the further names of S ol ,

U ra ni a M e mo ry N ecessity and Faith and was

, , ,

esteemed the first square b ecause it is comp osed ,

N h m iii 1
1 e e . x I bid i 1 2
. . . v. .
 The T enth Wave and E gg I deas . 229

of the first fo u r digits S ir Isaac N e wton speak .

,

ing on this subjec t says that the extent of ,

S olo mo n s T emple was 1 46 0 cu bits ; b ut if we

’

multi ply this nu mber by 4 and agai n by 3 6 5 the , ,

days in a sol ar year it w ill give the exact area of

,

the Te mple viz the squa re of

, .
,

cubits thu s practically illustrating the manner

in w hic h the Je wish c abalis ts co mbined the
scie nces of architect ure and as t ro no my for 1 46 0
was t he old E gyptian canicular year .

Of the nu mber t en Dr B ro wn says that , ,

l ctu s decumanus or t he te nth w ave is g reater

j u
‘

, ,

and more d angero u s tha n any other ; so me no ,

dou b t will be o ffende d if w e de ny ; w hich not

,

w i thst anding is evide ntly false ; nor can it be

made ou t by observatio n either upo n the shore ,

or the ocean as w e have w ith dilige nce explored

,

t h em both . O f affini ty hereto is that co nceit of

—
O vum decu manum so called because the t enth
egg is bigger than any other F or the honour we .

bear u nt o t he clergy w e cannot b ut wish this were

,

true ; b ut herein wil l be found no more v e rity

t han in the other ; and s urely few will assent here
to wi thout an implicit credulity or Pythagorical ,

su b mi ssion u nto every conception of nu mber .

For surely the concei t is nu meral and tho ugh , ,

not in the se nse apprehe nded relat eth u nto the ,

n umber of t en as Franciscu s Sylvi us hat h mos t

,

probably declared For whereas amo ngs t si mple

.

nu mbers or digits the nu mber of ten is the

,

greatest ; therefore whatsoev er was the greatest

23 0 T he Pythagorean T riang le .

in e very kind might be in so me , s nse e n amed

from t his number
” 1
.

T he foreig n M asons of the last e t ry who c n u ,

called t he mselves T heosophists or follo w ers of ,

Paracelsus made u se of this number in more than

,

one of their high degrees T hey taught that as .

,

there were ten ge nerations fro m Adam to N oah ,

t en fro m S he m t o Abraha m and ten spirit u al ,

g races in Christia nity v 1z love j oy p eace lo n g , , , ,

s ufferi ng gentleness goodnes s faith pru dence

, , , , ,

meek ness and temperance ; so there are in

,
2

nat ure t en forms of fire w hich th ey e nu merate d , ,

in i mitatio n of the frame rs of the R oyal Order of

H R D M ln doggrel rhyme
. . .

O i th t n f m f fi e kn w th kill
e or s o re o e s ,

T h e L iberty b ot h hat h and is the will .

N ext S trong desire T h ird, sharp dra ing M ig ht . w

M ak es an op p osing ill F ourth , fl ash of L ight w .

B rings A nguish A nd in t he fift h form doth lie

.

T he E ternal nature, or Great M ysteryz

S ix th, the two p rincip les of F ire and L ight,
The seve nth M agic w it h re fl ect ing sigh t .

w
The eigh t h it h Turb a ends t he outward life .

N int h Virgin tinctu re p acifying strife .

T he tent h mak es h oly fl esh and h oly earth ,

Of A ng els and b lest souls, t he h oly b irth .

The theological lad der which M asons make t o ,

consist of three rounds referring to Faith Hope , , ,

a nd Charity the Je wish c abalist s i ncreased t o

,

seve n and subsequ ently to t en principal steps

, ,

c alled t he seve n divi ne splend ours which w er e ,

1 P d E pid m p 404
se u o. S G l 22
e .
, . .
1 ee a . v. .
 The Pythag orean Triang le .

And agai n with respect to the nu mber 1 2

, .

T he sons of Ish mael and Jacob w ere alike t w elv e

in number the latter of who m for med the h ead s
,

of the ho use of Israel The table of shewbread

.

w as directed by God himself to b e furnished w it h

t welve lo aves and the o ffering of the pri nces at
the dedication of the al tars amo ngst other things
, ,

w as t welve golde n spoo ns or c e nse rs for i nce ns e .

Joshua set u p t welve sto nes in Jorda n ; resp ec ting

w hich an old maso nic formula in my p os sessio n ,

has the follo wi ng ill ustratio n : As Jo sh u a was

“

cond uc ting the Israelites to wards the Pro mise d

Land a re markable miracle was performed in b e
,

half of this people at the p as si ng of the riv er

Jordan . W he n the priests who bore the ark
came near the narro w bri dge w hich w o uld hav e ,

been extre mely incommodiou s for so l arge a body

of people to pass t he w a ters of the river miracu
,

lously separated as th ey had done before at t he

,

passage of the R ed Sea and left the b ed of the

,

river for a cons iderable breadth p erfectly dry so ,

that the Israelites might pass over w ith t heir ,

fa milies and cattle witho u t the slightest obstrue

,

tion I n co mme moration of this extraordi nary

.

i nterpo si tion of the M ost High in their behal f ,

Josh ua co mmanded that t welve of the large st

stones that co uld be fo und sho uld be taken fro m
the fou ndation on t he north side of the bridge ,

and deposit ed in the adj oi ning field of corn as ,

the basis of a pillar whic h was i nte nded to be a

,

me morial of this ev ent ; and that twelve si mila r

 App lication f
o the N u mber Twelve
. 23 3

stones should be collected fro m the country on the

opposite side of the river and placed in the situ a
,

tion fro m whence the othe r t w elve w ere taken to ,

form the basis of another pillar in the river .

T hese t wo pillars w ere sol e mnly dedica ted by

Joshu a to E L E L O H E I S R A E L or God of Israel ; and
,

t ogether t hey formed a s ubj ect of di squ i sitio n

w i th ou r a nci ent brethre n w hich exci ted mu ch
,
”
atte ntion in the Lo dges .

B ut to r et urn to the applic atio n of t he nu mber

t welve in t he Jewi sh script ures The chief officers .

of Solo mon s ho usehold were t welv e ; the pill ars

’

of the porch w ere t welve cu bi ts in circu mference

the molten sea w as supported by t welve oxe n ;
and the steps of Solo mo n s thro ne w ere fl anked by
’

t welve lions I n t he t emple described by E zekiel

.
,

t he altar w as directed to b e t w elve c ubi ts squ are .

I n Christian sy mbolism t he i magery w as the

,

s ame and had a particular allu sion to this num

,

ber formed out of the t wo perfect numbers the

, ,

t riad and tetrad ; th u s 3 X J esus Christ

w as tak en by His pare nts to keep the Feas t of the
Passover whe n He was t welve years old and He
chose for H is co mpanions t welve men whom He
t au ght His doctri nes and se n t forth to preach the
,

everlasting gospel to mankind I n the A poca .

lyp se we have a gloriou s fig u re w hich incl u des

,

t hi s nu mber : T here appe ared a grea t w o nder

in heaven ; a w o man clo the d with the S un and ,

the M oon under her feet and upon her head a,

cro wn of t welve S tars . Thi s refers to the p ri mi

234 T he Pythag orean T riang le .

tive Apostolic Chu rch before the apostasy w here

bei ng clothed wit h the S un signifies her being ,

enviro ned with the p ure ligh t of the go sp el o r ,

the S un of R ighteou sness co mmu nicated to her .

A nd her b i ng cro wned with t welve Stars de

e
notes that i t w as her glo ry and her cro w n tha t
, , ,

she had not dege nerated fro m the tru e Apostoli c

” 1
faith and pract ice .

T he new Jeru sale m 1 s re p rese nte d as bei ng ao

cessible by t wel ve gates dis p osed l n co nfor mity ,

with the cardi nal poi nts of the co mp ass and

those that were accounted wor thy to be ad mitt ed

i nto the holy city were sealed in their foreheads ;
,

v iz
. of each of t he tribes t welve t housand ; w hich
, ,

as D r M ore observes is not numerally to b e ,

“

u nderstoo d b ut sy mbolically noti ng the co ndi

, ,

tion of t he sealed And there were sealed an .

h undred and forty fo ur thou sand ; which ch iliad s

-

or thousands are c ubical numbers and signify ,

therefore stability or constancy B ut it is sai d .

t here w ere it being t he square number

of these chiliads or compani es of w hich t he roo t ,

is t welve the Apostolical nu mber

, Of all the .

tribes of the childre n of Israel viz the t welve , .

,

patriarc hs typ ically or figu ratively being p ut for

the t welve Apostles and the childre n of Is rael,

for the Ch urch of C hrist of which the Israelite s ,

are a type as they are in the E pistle to the

,

Church l n Pergamus in w hich Pergamenia n m ,

” 2
t erval this sealing begins .

M 1
Ap lyp i p 1 1 4
ore, oca s s, lb id p 63 . .
, . .