The "Master Builder" is not only the inspiring synonym of the "Creator," but is the Sacred synonym of the "Master" in Free Masonry; used there as in general poetic literature as an ideal expression to describe or designate the one who has attained the highest knowledge of Architecture.

The most magnificent Temples have been erected to the deities of the various nations, and later to the Religion itself; but Pleasure, Beauty, and even Death, have commanded their share of the Temples.

Those wonderful cities of which there is no trace except tradition and veiled monumental record, nevertheless must have existed. As:

"On," the city and Temple of the Sun whose resplendence almost rivaled the Sun itself; and a similar temple - city - "Heliopolis," whose surpassing splendor words would fail to picture:

Colossal figures, imaging attributes of power, as represented in some of the deities; Temples whose vastness cannot even be imagined or guessed at the present day. 144

The first Builder was an Angel. No wonder "Free Masonry" was a Secret and Sacred order I To "Build" one must know: Mechanics, Mathematics, and all beautiful images of form. Prehistoric Architecture, revealed in the Pyramids and shafts of Egypt; in disentombed cities; temples, towers, walls, fountains; wonders upon wonders I

Whosoever caused to be laid the first corner stone (knowingly) of the first perfectly proportioned structure, was the Angel.

Back; back; through Ancient Egypt, following the Nile to its many sources; far, far across the seas to the ruins of Temples in Central America, and the "lost Atlantis I" And, returning to Egypt, whether "Hiram Abiff" or another, bore the secrets of the "Builder" into Jerusalem, some one greater must have borne them through Phenicia into Greece, and thence unto the world. Easily traced are the paths of these Angels, when the drifted sands and ravages of earthquake shocks have been removed.

Beautifull Beautiful!! Beautiful!!! Column and dome and tower I Ah, but the Infinite Master hath placed the Dome of Suns and Systems, and the Pillars of the Eternal Heavens. Build as they may and do, these Angels of God's Mighty Will, the works all perish; the vast processes of Time and Change bear them away; but the Soul of them Survives!

The endurance of Architecture was one of the favorite delusions of the Ancients, especially the Egyptians, who came to believe that their Builders had propitiated even Nilus himself, and that their Pyramidal style of Architecture could forever withstand the encroachments of the waters and the devastation of Time.

The pyramids, ruins of a few temples, cities, and wonderful edifices, alone remain. How many centuries of rifting and drifting sands and alluvial deposits cover those wonderful works of man! Earthquake, tornado, fire and water 1 The destructive forces of Nature that ever proclaim to man: "How feeble thou art with all thy wondrous Building and fashioning, since all these works of thy hand have been and will be destroyed!"

Yet again and again the nations build; and we pass into the age of such wonders in Architecture, as bids us pause in reverence and awe, within the presence of such majesty and beauty I

Yet we pass out beneath the Dome of Stars and Suns, we watch the tinted cloud curtains, we are among the solemn, seemingly eternal mountains I or, we tread the dim aisles and corridors of the forests - and we know that these also must pass.

The Infinite hath builded beyond the scope or ken of man's feeble imitation. Yet, the "enduring things," the Temple Eternal, hath not been fashioned of worlds, and suns, and space, but of Souls.

The history of nations, however, is traced in their Architecture, whenever and wherever the cities, Temples, or stupendous works like those of Egypt are found. Though buried for ages, these disentombed cities and temples reveal the majesty and grandeur of the Ancient Builders.

The wealth of Kings and Kingdoms was concentrated in the building of the Palaces - of the Kings - the Temples of Worship, and the resorts of pleasure. The "people" had little or nothing to do with this grandeur, except to toil in their construction and, under special permission, to share in the national worship or pleasure. Slaves, the subjugated people of some conquered nation, performed the work, did the drudgery for those who were the Conquerors.

Whenever, among the subjects of a Sovereign, or among the enslaved ones, a Genius appeared, he must devote all his time and gifts to the building, decorating, or ornamentation of these palaces and Temples of splendor for the King.

Such were the conditions under which the Angel Builders appeared.

In secret oftentimes the Builder would find a home among the lowly, but as soon as the "gift" was known he would be compelled to study with the "wise" ones, the "Masters" and perfect his work for the Temples and palaces of the Ruler.

This concentration of all power and all wealth led to the building of those marvelous cities and Temples whose ruins are now only partially revealed. And of others of more recent date preserved among the classical relics of Greece and Italy.

These ancient monuments of past greatness and splendor still challenge the admiration of the world and the "Builders" of today.

However lowly the birth of the one endowed with Genius, or with the gift of the Art of the Architect, he was welcomed as one to aid in the glory of his city, his nation, his Sovereign - the last being the first in point of consideration. It was undoubtedly during the period when Egypt was "mistress of the world," and the centuries that followed, that all the "arts of peace" were inaugurated and flourished; and that the order of Free Masonry bore its fruitage of Real Builders to the world.

The "crafts" and "guilds" were probably foundet then, for the better conservation and protection of the methods of working in metals and other substances and preserving the secrets of the processes, many of which are unknown to modem metal workers, Some of the Angels then appearing have not again returned, or have only reappeared to reveal the secrets of their skill, or when the need has been for other and widely varying methods.