Mason

(גּוֹדֵר, goder', a wall-builder, 2Ki 12:12; 2Ki 22:6; "epairer," Isa 58:12; חוֹצֵב, chotseb', 1Ch 22:2; 2Ch 24:12; Ezr 3:7; a "hewern"' of wood, Isa 10:15; or a stone-cutter, 2Ki 12:13; or of both, 1Ki 5:15; חָרִשׁ אֶבֶן, charash' e'ben, 2 Samuel v. 11, a "carver or worker of stone," as in 1Ch 22:15; חָרִשׁ קַיו, charash' kir, 1Ch 14:1, a wallworkman), a stone- mason or artificer in stone. From 2 Samuel v. 11, which states that "Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, and cedar-trees, and carpenters, and masons, and they built David a house," we may infer that the Hebrews were not so skillful in architecture as the Tyrians, though they had long sojourned in Egypt, where that art attained a high degree of perfection at a very early period. The ruins of immense temples and palaces at the present day fill the traveler in Egypt with wonder and astonishment. The sculptures on the granite, basalt, and hard limestone still remain undefaced. Upon the ancient monuments of Egypt the various processes of the building art are very numerous. Masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, brickmakers, etc., may be seen hard at work, and appear to be depicted with minute fidelity, and some of these seem to explain to us a curious circumstance mentioned by the sacred historian in the account of the erection of Solomon's Temple: "And the house, when it was in building, was built. of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer, nor are, nor any tool of iron heard in the house whilst it was in building" (1Ki 6:7). This previous squaring and preparation of the stones is frequently delineated; they are accurately measured under the superintendence of a principal architect, the shape marked on the rough block with a dark line, so as to determine the course of the stone-cutter accurately, and a mark or number is fixed to the finished stone so as to point out its place in the building. Masons' and carpenters' tools have frequently been found in the tombs. Most of the blades have been attached by linen bandages and an adhesive composition. On the blades of the larger, and handles of the smaller tools, is generally inscribed a line of hieroglyphics. Some of them are of remote antiquity, bearing the praemomen of Thothmes III. (See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 2, 305- 315.) The peculiar bevelled edges and immense size of the lower courses of the walls of Jerusalem and other cities of Palestine attest the antique art of Solomon's day. Similar advancement in the art of stonecutting is evident from the ruins discovered by Botta and Layard in Assyria. SEE HANDICRAFT; SEE SCULPTURE. Mason, Erskine, D.D., a Presbyterian minister, son of Dr. John M. Mason, was born in New York City April 16,1805; was educated at Dickinson College (class of 1823); was ordained in October, 1826; installed over the Church at Schenectady in May, 1827; pastor of Bleecker Street Church, New York, from 1830 to 1851; and also professor of ecclesiastical history in Union Theological Seminary, New York. from 1836 to 1842. He died May 14,1851. His memoir, by Rev. Wm. Adams, is prefixed to his sermons on practical subjects, entitled A Pastor's Legacy (1853, 8vo). See also Drake, Dict. of Amer. Biog. s.v.