ARITHMETIC. The science of arithmetic is indis pensable to the architect, and highly prized by him. It is a very ancient science, and was perfected in ancient Greece. Far be it from every Mason to give himself up to the superstitious practice of foretelling human events by the science of arithmetic; but he knows that it is by the assistance of arithmetic that we have discovered the courses of the heavenly bodies ; that without its assist ance we could not know when the moon would shine, when it would be ebb or flood, when summer or winter would c Dmmence.—Gadicke.
ARK. The ark of the covenant was a kind of chest or coffer, placed in the sanctum sanctorum, with the two tables of stone containing the decalogue, written with the finger of God, and containing the most sacred monument of the Jewish or any other religion. Along with the ark were deposited the rod of Aaron and the pot of manna. The ark was a symbol of the divine presence and protection of the Israelites, and a pledge of the stability of the theocracy, so long as the people adhered to the articles of the covenant which the ark contained. This sacred chest was made of shittim wood,
or the timber of a thorny shrub which grew in great profusion in many parts of the wilderness where the Israelites were directed to encamp, and gave its name to particular place, which was hence called Abel Shittim It is supposed to have been the wood of the burning bash, which was once held in such veneration in our Royal Arch Chapters. This timber had a close grain and consequently was capable of receiving a beautifu polish, and, like the cedar, from its fragrance exemp from the attacks of worms and rottenness. Hence th ark endured, without losing any of its specific virtues from the time of its construction in the wilderness to th demolition of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, a periot of nine hundred years. It was made by Aholiab and Bezaleel, under the direction of Moses, and according to the pattern which Jehovah had shown him on the Holy Mountain; and appropriated to such a sublime office, that all persons were forbidden to look upon or touch it under pain of death.