The right Tablet of the Law further signifies Jachin--the white pillar of light; the left Tablet, Boaz--the shadowy pillar of darkness. These were the names of the two pillars cast from brass set up on the porch of King Solomon's Temple. They were eighteen cubits in height and beautifully ornamented with wreaths of chainwork, nets, and pomegranates. On the top of each pillar was a large bowl--now erroneously called a ball or globe--one of the bowls probably containing fire and the other water. The celestial globe (originally the bowl of fire), surmounting the right-hand column (Jachin), symbolized the divine man; the terrestrial globe (the bowl of water), surmounting the left-hand column (Boaz), signified the earthly man. These two pillars respectively connote also the active and the passive expressions of Divine Energy, the sun and the moon, sulphur and salt, good and bad, light and darkness. Between them is the door leading into the House of God, and standing thus at the gates of Sanctuary they are a reminder that Jehovah is both an androgynous and an anthropomorphic deity. As two parallel columns they denote the zodiacal signs of Cancer and Capricorn, which were formerly placed in the chamber of initiation to represent birth and death--the extremes of physical life. They accordingly signify the summer and the winter solstices, now known to Freemasons under the comparatively modern appellation of the "two St. Johns."

Differently, the stones might be the various phases of salvation; some occupying the upper, some the lower parts of the entire body saved. The three...

It is said also in a certain oracle,- "A pillar to the Thebans is joy-inspiring Bacchus," from the history of the Hebrews. Also Euripides says, in...

The twelve stones, set in four rows on the breast, describe for us the circle of the zodiac, in the four changes of the year. It was otherwise...

Besides, the lion is with them the symbol of strength and prowess, as the ox clearly is of the earth itself, and husbandry and food, and the horse of ...

These seven double letters point out the dimensions, East, West, height, depth, North, South, with the holy temple in the middle, sustaining all...

Now the high priest's robe is the symbol of the world of sense. The seven planets are represented by the five stones and the two carbuncles, for...

Again, there is the veil of the entrance into the holy of holies. Four pillars there are, the sign of the sacred tetrad of the ancient covenants.

Well, then, that fire like a pillar, and the fire in the desert, is the symbol of the holy light which passed through from earth and returned again...

The Book of Successful Contemplation (Ying Kuan Ching) says: The sun sinks in the Great Water and magic pictures of trees in rows arise. The setting...

The golden lamp conveys another enigma as a symbol of Christ, not in respect of form alone, but in his casting light, "at sundry times and divers...

It enlighteneth also the heaven, the stars, and the deep above the earth, working in all things that are in this world, and is the king and the heart...

North of the altar of incense was placed a table, on which there was "the exhibition of the loaves;" for the most nourishing of the winds are those...

But I think it better to regard the ark, so called from the Hebrew word Thebotha, as signifying something else. It is interpreted, one instead of one ...

Now there are some who say that three hundred cubits are the symbol of the Lord's sign; and fifty, of hope and of the remission given at Pentecost;...

Now consider further the circle or sphere of the stars, they denote the various powers and wisdom of the Father, and they also are made by the power...

And perhaps the two tables themselves may be the prophecy of the two covenants. They were accordingly mystically renewed, as ignorance along with sin ...

The coveting, then, the barrier of popular unbelief, was stretched in front of the five pillars, keeping back those in the surrounding space.

The rods signify the kingly and directing faculty, making all things straight. The spears and the battle-axes denote the dividing of things unlike,...

Now concealment is evinced in the reference of the seven circuits around the temple, which are made mention of among the Hebrews; and the equipment...

The mysteries of truth are made known in symbols and images. The bedchamber is hidden, and it is the holy of the holy. At first the curtain concealed...