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Show [ IP ] the Plain of Sh'mar, and built, with wondrous Art, the great City of Babel, and that ftupendous Tower fo much fam'd ever lince. Their Defign and End in building this prodigious • Tower fas we fuppoie) was not only for eftabliftiing a Name, but alfo to fix a Centre of Unity and Correfpon-dence, to which they might, upon any Occafon, repair,. : leaft for Want of fome fuch Remarkable, they might become difperfed over the Face of the Earth, and by that means loofe. that Intercourfe with one another .which they wanted to preferve: But their Defigns running counter to the Purpofe of the Allmightys what they endeavoured to avoid, he miraculoufly.brought about by the Confufion of Tongues, which gave Origin to the. M A S O N S antient Practice of converting without fpeaking,. by means of proper Signals expreftive of their Ideas. And the Profeffors of the. Royal Art, knowing the Ne-cefiity they were under of difperflng, in order to populate the Earth, eftablifhcd ieveral myfterious Ceremonials among themfelves, to ferve as Principles of Unity, and to diftinguifh one anothers by in Parts remote. Thefe fmalf Beginnings were afterwards much im-prov'd when the Israelites came to know the Secret Art% and that Mofes had given them feveral Charges, which have been in Force to this very Day. King Solomon added to thefe Charges, and conferred Honours upon the Craftfmen, who had fo well executed his Defigns in perfecting the rnoft beautiful and ftupendous Temple that ever was erected. After this M A S O N R Y wasimprov'd to the higheft Pitch of Perfection in the operative W a y: So was the Centre of Unity better fix'd, the M A S O N S Cabala became enlarg'd, and the Great and Good fought Day by Day to be admitted into the Sacred Brother* , hood. After that the great Nebuchadnezzar had deftroyed the Temple, and all the other glorious Edifices at Jerui fakm, and carried away the Jews Captive to Babylon, in |