[54]

    “The groves were God’s first temples.  Ere man learned
    To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
    And spread the roof above them—­ere he framed
    The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
    The sound of anthems—­in the darkling wood,
    Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
    And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
    And supplication.”—­BRYANT.

[55] Theologians have always given a spiritual application to the temple of Solomon, referring it to the mysteries of the Christian dispensation.  For this, consult all the biblical commentators.  But I may particularly mention, on this subject, Bunyan’s “Solomon’s Temple Spiritualized,” and a rare work in folio, by Samuel Lee, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, published at London in 1659, and entitled “Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple of Solomon portrayed by Scripture Light.”  A copy of this scarce work, which treats very learnedly of “the spiritual mysteries of the gospel veiled under the temple,” I have lately been, by good fortune, enabled to add to my library.

[56] Veluti pecora, quae natura finxit prona et obedientia ventri.—­SALLUST, Bell.  Catil. i.

[57] I Kings vi. 7.

[58] In further illustration of the wisdom of these temple contrivances, it may be mentioned that, by marks placed upon the materials which had been thus prepared at a distance, the individual production of every craftsman was easily ascertained, and the means were provided of rewarding merit and punishing indolence.

[59] “Each of the pagan gods had (besides the public and open) a secret worship paid unto him; to which none were admitted but those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation.  This secret-worship was termed the Mysteries.”—­WARBURTON, Div.  Leg.  I. i. p. 189.

[60] It must be remarked, however, that many of the Fellow Crafts were also stone-cutters in the mountains, chotzeb bahor, and, with their nicer implements, more accurately adjusted the stones which had been imperfectly prepared by the apprentices.  This fact does not at all affect the character of the symbolism we are describing.  The due preparation of the materials, the symbol of purification, was necessarily continued in all the degrees.  The task of purification never ceases.

[61] The classical reader will here be reminded of that beautiful passage of Horace, commencing with “Justum et tenacem propositi virum.”—­Lib. iii. od. 3.

[62] “Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres.”—­HOR. lib. i. od. 4.