THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

considered as a Hermetic Philosopher, thus alludes to this subject, and
his language, as that of a learned and shrewd investigator, is well
worthy
of quotation:--
"With, perhaps, the majority of readers, the Tabernacle of Moses and
the
Temple of Solomon were mere buildings; very magnificent indeed, but
still
mere buildings for the worship of God. But some are struck with many
portions of the account of their erection, admitting a moral
interpretation; and while the buildings are allowed to stand (or to
have
stood once) visible objects, these interpreters are delighted to meet
with
indications that Moses and Solomon, in building the temples, were wise
in
the knowledge of God and of man; from which point it is not difficult
to
pass on to the moral meaning altogether, and to affirm that the
building
which was erected without 'the noise of a hammer or axe, or any tool of
iron,' was altogether a moral building--a building of God, not made
with
hands: in short, many see in the story of Solomon's temple a symbolical
representation of MAN as the temple of God, with its _holy of holies_
deep-seated in the centre of the human heart." [205]
The French Masons have not been inattentive to this symbolism. Their
already quoted expression that the "Freemasons build temples for virtue
and dungeons for vice," has very clearly a reference to it, and their
most
distinguished writers never lose sight of it.
Thus Ragon, one of the most learned of the French historians of
Freemasonry, in his lecture to the Apprentice, says that the founders
of
our Order "called themselves Masons, and proclaimed that they were
building a temple to truth and virtue." [206] And subsequently he
addresses the candidate who has received the Master's degree in the
following language:--
"Profit by all that has been revealed to you. Improve your heart and
your
mind. Direct your passions to the general good; combat your prejudices;
watch over your thoughts and your actions; love, enlighten, and assist
your brethren; and you will have perfected that _temple_ of which you
are
at once the _architect_, the _material_, and the _workman_." [207]
Rebold, another French historian of great erudition, says, "If
Freemasonry
has ceased to erect temples, and by the aid of its architectural
designs
to elevate all hearts to the Deity, and all eyes and hopes to heaven,
it
has not therefore desisted from its work of moral and intellectual