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Article THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF FKE... ← Page 15 of 15
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The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
poses for which it was used in the ancient temple ; for as it was there employed "to spread the cement which united the building in one common mass , " so is it selected as the symbol of brotherly love , that cement whose object is to unite our mystic association into one sacred and harmonious band of brethren .
Here , then , we perceive the first , or , as I have already called it , the elementary form of our symbolism—the adaptation of the terms and implements and processes of an operative art to a speculative science . The temple is now completed . The stones having been hewed , squared and numbered in the quarries by the apprentices—having been properly adjusted by the craftsmen , and finally secured in their
appropriate places with the strongest and purest cement , by the master builders , the Temple of King Solomon presented , in its finished condition , so noble an appearance of sublimity and grandeur as to well deserve to be selected , as it has been , for the type or symbol of that immortal temple of the body , to which Christ significantly and symbolically alluded when he said , " Destroy this temple , and in three days I will raise it up . ''
This idea of representing the interior and spiritual man by a material temple , is so apposite in all its parts as to have occurred on more than one occasion to the first teachers of Christianity . Christ , himself , repeatedly alludes to it in other passages , and the eloquent and figurative St . Paul beautifully extends the idea in one of his epistles to the Corinthians , in the following language : " Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God , and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you ? " And again , in a subsequent passage of the same epistle , he reiterates the idea in a more positive form : " What ! know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you , which you have of God , and ye are not your own ? " And Dr . Adam Clarke , while commenting on this latter passage , makes the very allusions which have been the topic of discussion in the present
essay . "As truly , " says he , " as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon , so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians ; and as the temple and all its utensils were holy , separated from all common and profane uses , and dedicated alone to the service of God , so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy , and should be employed in the service of God alone . "
The idea , therefore of making the temple a symbol of the body , is not exclusively Masonic ; but the mode of treating the symbolism by a reference to the particular Temple of Solomon , and to the
operative art engaged in its construction , is peculiar to Freemasonry . It is this which isolates it from all other similar associations . Having many things in common with the secret societies and religious mysteries of antiquity , in this " temple symbolism" it differs from them all .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
poses for which it was used in the ancient temple ; for as it was there employed "to spread the cement which united the building in one common mass , " so is it selected as the symbol of brotherly love , that cement whose object is to unite our mystic association into one sacred and harmonious band of brethren .
Here , then , we perceive the first , or , as I have already called it , the elementary form of our symbolism—the adaptation of the terms and implements and processes of an operative art to a speculative science . The temple is now completed . The stones having been hewed , squared and numbered in the quarries by the apprentices—having been properly adjusted by the craftsmen , and finally secured in their
appropriate places with the strongest and purest cement , by the master builders , the Temple of King Solomon presented , in its finished condition , so noble an appearance of sublimity and grandeur as to well deserve to be selected , as it has been , for the type or symbol of that immortal temple of the body , to which Christ significantly and symbolically alluded when he said , " Destroy this temple , and in three days I will raise it up . ''
This idea of representing the interior and spiritual man by a material temple , is so apposite in all its parts as to have occurred on more than one occasion to the first teachers of Christianity . Christ , himself , repeatedly alludes to it in other passages , and the eloquent and figurative St . Paul beautifully extends the idea in one of his epistles to the Corinthians , in the following language : " Know ye not that
ye are the temple of God , and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you ? " And again , in a subsequent passage of the same epistle , he reiterates the idea in a more positive form : " What ! know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you , which you have of God , and ye are not your own ? " And Dr . Adam Clarke , while commenting on this latter passage , makes the very allusions which have been the topic of discussion in the present
essay . "As truly , " says he , " as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon , so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians ; and as the temple and all its utensils were holy , separated from all common and profane uses , and dedicated alone to the service of God , so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy , and should be employed in the service of God alone . "
The idea , therefore of making the temple a symbol of the body , is not exclusively Masonic ; but the mode of treating the symbolism by a reference to the particular Temple of Solomon , and to the
operative art engaged in its construction , is peculiar to Freemasonry . It is this which isolates it from all other similar associations . Having many things in common with the secret societies and religious mysteries of antiquity , in this " temple symbolism" it differs from them all .