25540 1450. Ante Ch.

And after they were poffefs'd of Canaan, the Ifrae- A. M. lites came not short of the old Inhabitants in Masonry, but rather vastly improv'd it, by the fpecial Direction of Heaven; they fortify'd better, and improv'd their City-Houfes and the Palaces of their Chiefs, and only fell fhort in facred Architecture while the Tabernacle stood, but no longer; for the finest facred Building of the Canaanites was the Temple of Dagon in Gaza of the Philistines, very magnificent, and capacious enough to receive 5000 People under its Roof, that was artfully fupported by two main Columns;* and was a wonderful Discovery of their mighty Skill in true Masonry, as must be own'd.

But Dagon's Temple, and the finest Structures of Tyre and Sidon, could not be compared with the ETERNAL God's Temple at Jerufalem, begun and finish'd, to the Amazement of all the World, in the short space of Seven Tears and fix Months, by that wifest Man and moft glorious King of Ifrael, the Prince of Peace and Architecture, SOLOMON (the Son of David, who

I III.

* By which the glorious SAMPSON pull'd it down upon the Lords of A. M. the Philiftines, and was alfo intangled in the fame Death which he drew 289 3. upon his Enemies for putting out his Eyes, after he had reveal'd his Secrets Ante Ch to his Wife, that betray'd him into their Hands; for which Weakness he never had the Honour to be number'd among Mafons: But it is not convenient to write more of this.

*

was refufed that Honour for being a Man of Blood) by divine Direction, without the Noife of Work-mens Tools, though there were employ'd about it no lefs than 3,600 Princes, or Mafter-Mafons, to conduct the Work according to Solomon's Directions, with 80,000 Hewers of Stone in the Mountain, or Fellow Craftsmen, and 170,000 Labourers, in all 153,600 befides the Levy under Adoniram to work in the Mountains of Lebanon by. turns with the Sidonians, viz. being in all

30,000

- 183,600 for which great Number of ingenious Mafons, Solomon was much oblig'd to HIRAM, or Huram, King of Tyre, who sent his Masons and Carpenters to Jeru

falem,

-Me מנצחים

In 1 Kings v. 16. they are call'd Harodim, Rulers or Provosts affifting King Solomon, who were fet over the Work, and their Number there is only 3,300: But 2 Chron. ii. 18. they are called natzchim, Overseers and Comforters of the People in Working, and in Number 3,600; becaufe either 300 might be more curious Artists, and the Overseers of the faid 3,300, or rather, not fo excellent, and only DeputyMasters, to fupply their Places in cafe of Death or Absence, that fo there might be always 3,300 acting Mafters compleat; ar elfe they might be the Overfeers of the 70,000 50. Ish Sabbal, Men of Burden, or Labourers, who were not Mafons, but ferved the 80,000 Ifh Chotzeb, Men of Hewing, called alfo Ghiblim, Stone-Cutters and Sculpturers; and alfo Bonai, Builders in Stone, part of - which belong'd to Solomon, and part to Hiram, King of Tyre, 1 Kings

V. 18.

falem, and the Firs and Cedars of Lebanon to Foppa, the next Sea-port.

But above all, he fent his Namefake HIRAM, or Huram, the moft accomplish'd Mafon upon Earth.* And

B 2

*We read (2 Chron. ii. 13.) HIRAM, King of Tyre, (called there Huram) in his Letter to King SOLOMON, fays, I have fent a cunning Man, ' le Huram Abhi, not to be tranflated according to the vulgar Greek and Latin, Huram my Father, as if this Architect was King HIRAM's Father-; for his Defcription, ver. 14. refutes it, and the Original plainly imports, Huram of my Father's, viz. the Chief MalterMafon of my Father, King ABIBALUS; (who enlarg'd and beautify'd the City of Tyre, as ancient Hiftories inform us, whereby the Tyrians at this time were most expert in Masonry) tho' fome think HIRAM the King might call Hiram the Architect Father, as learned and skillful Men were wont to be call'd of old Times, or as Jofeph was call'd the Father of PHARAOH; and as the fame Hiram is call'd Solomon's FATHER, (2 Chron. iv. 16.) where 'tis faid

Shelomoh lammelech Abhif Churam ghnafah,
Did Huram, his Father, make to King Solomon.

But the Difficulty is over at once, by allowing the Word Abif to be the Surname of Hiram the Mafon, called also (Chap. ii. 13 Hiram Abi, as here Hiram Abif; for being fo amply defcrib'd, (Chap. ii. 14.) we may eafily fuppofe his Surname would not be conceal'd: And this Reading makes the Senfe plain and compleat, viz. that HIRAM, King of Tyre, fent to King Solomon his Namefake HIRAM ABIF, the Prince of Architects, defcrib'd (1 Kings vii. 14.) to be a Widow's Son of the. Tribe of Naphthali; and in (2 Chron; ii. 14.) the said King of Tyre calls him the Son of a Woman of the Daughters of Dan; and in both Places, that his Father was a Man of Tyre; which Difficulty is remov'd,

by

And the prodigious Expence of it also enhaunceth its Excellency; for befides King David's vaft Prepara tions, his richer Son SOLOMON, and all the wealthy Ifraelites, and the Nobles of all the neighbouring Kingdoms, largely contributed towards it in Gold," Silver, and rich Jewels, that amounted to a Sum almost incredible.

Nor do we read of any thing in Canaan so large, the Wall that inclos'd it being 7700 Foot in Compass;

far

by fuppofing his Mother was either of the Tribe of Dan, or of the Daughters of the City called Dan in the Tribe of Naphthali, and his deceafed Father had been a Naphthalite, whence his Mother was call'd a Widow of Naphthali; for his Father is not call'd a Tyrian by Descent, but a Man of Tyre by Habitation; as Obed Edom the Levite is call'd a Gittite by living among the Gittites, and the Apostle Paul a Man of Tarlus. But fuppofing á Mistake in Tranfcribers, and that his Father was really a Tyrian by Blood, and his Mother only of the Tribe either of Dan' or of Naphthali, that can be no Bar against allowing of his vaft Capacity; for as his Father was a Worker in Brass, so he himself was fill'd with Wifdom and Understanding, and Cunning to work all Works in Brafs: And as King SOLOMON fent for him, fo King HIRAM, in his Letter to Solomon, fays, And now I have fent a cunning Man, endued with Understanding, skilful to work in Gold, Silver, Brafs, Iron, Stone, Timber, Purple, Blue, fine Linnen and Crimson; also to grave any manner of Graving, and to find out every Device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning Men, and with the cunning Men of my Lord David thy Father. This divinely inspired Workman maintain'd this Character in erecting the Temple, and in working the Utenfils thereof, far beyond the Performances of Aholiab and Bezaleel, being alfo univerSally capable of all forts of Masonry.

far lefs any holy Structure fit to be nam'd with it, for exactly proportion'd and beautiful Dimenfions, from the magnificent Porch on the Eaft, to the glorious and reverend Sanctum Sanétorum on the Weft, with most lovely and convenient Apartments for the Kings and Princes, Priefts and Levites, Ifraelites, and Gentiles allo; it being an House of Prayer for all Nations, and capable of receiving in the Temple proper, and in all its Courts and Apartments together, no less than 300,000 People, by a modeft Calculation, allowing a fquare Cubit to each Perfon.

And if we confider the 1453 Columns of Parian Marble, with twice as many Pillafters, both having glorious Capitals of feveral Orders, and about 2246 Windows, befides thofe in the Pavement, with the unspeakable and coftly Decorations of it within; (and. much more might be faid) we must conclude its Profpect to tranfcend our Imagination; and that it was justly esteem'd by far the finest Piece of Masonry upon Earth before or fince, and the chief Wonder of the World; and was dedicated, or confecrated, in the most folemn manner, by King SOLOMON.

A. M.

3000.

1004.

But leaving what muft not, and indeed cannot, be Ante Ch, communicated by Writing, we may warrantably affirm, that however ambitious the Heathen were in cultivating of the Royal Art, it was never perfected, until God. condescended to inftruct his peculiar People in rearing the above-mention'd ftately Tent, and in building

at