{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_11937/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_11937","id":"gutenberg_11937","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11937","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Other","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Freemasonry -- Symbolism"],"text":"[Transcriber's Notes: Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end\nof the work.]\n\n\n\n\nThe Symbolism of Freemasonry:\n\nIllustrating and Explaining\nIts Science and Philosophy, its Legends,\nMyths and Symbols.\n\n\nBy\n\nAlbert G. Mackey, M.D.\n\n\n  \"_Ea enim quae scribuntur tria habere decent, utilitatem praesentem,\n  certum finem, inexpugnabile fundamentum._\"\n\n  Cardanus.\n\n\n1882.\n\nEntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by ALBERT G.\nMACKEY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of\nSouth Carolina.\n\n\n\n\nTo General John C. Fremont.\n\n\n\nMy Dear Sir:\n\nWhile any American might be proud of associating his name with that of one\nwho has done so much to increase the renown of his country, and to enlarge\nthe sum of human knowledge, this book is dedicated to you as a slight\ntestimonial of regard for your personal character, and in grateful\nrecollection of acts of friendship.\n\nYours very truly,\n\nA. G. Mackey.\n\n\n\n\nPreface.\n\n\n\nOf the various modes of communicating instruction to the uninformed, the\nmasonic student is particularly interested in two; namely, the instruction\nby legends and that by symbols. It is to these two, almost exclusively,\nthat he is indebted for all that he knows, and for all that he can know,\nof the philosophic system which is taught in the institution. All its\nmysteries and its dogmas, which constitute its philosophy, are intrusted\nfor communication to the neophyte, sometimes to one, sometimes to the\nother of these two methods of instruction, and sometimes to both of them\ncombined. The Freemason has no way of reaching any of the esoteric\nteachings of the Order except through the medium of a legend or a symbol.\n\nA legend differs from an historical narrative only in this--that it is\nwithout documentary evidence of authenticity. It is the offspring solely\nof tradition. Its details may be true in part or in whole. There may be no\ninternal evidence to the contrary, or there may be internal evidence that\nthey are altogether false. But neither the possibility of truth in the one\ncase, nor the certainty of falsehood in the other, can remove the\ntraditional narrative from the class of legends. It is a legend simply\nbecause it rests on no written foundation. It is oral, and therefore\nlegendary.\n\nIn grave problems of history, such as the establishment of empires, the\ndiscovery and settlement of countries, or the rise and fall of dynasties,\nthe knowledge of the truth or falsity of the legendary narrative will be\nof importance, because the value of history is impaired by the imputation\nof doubt. But it is not so in Freemasonry. Here there need be no absolute\nquestion of the truth or falsity of the legend. The object of the masonic\nlegends is not to establish historical facts, but to convey philosophical\ndoctrines. They are a method by which esoteric instruction is\ncommunicated, and the student accepts them with reference to nothing else\nexcept their positive use and meaning as developing masonic dogmas. Take,\nfor instance, the Hiramic legend of the third degree. Of what importance\nis it to the disciple of Masonry whether it be true or false? All that he\nwants to know is its internal signification; and when he learns that it is\nintended to illustrate the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, he is\ncontent with that interpretation, and he does not deem it necessary,\nexcept as a matter of curious or antiquarian inquiry, to investigate its\nhistorical accuracy, or to reconcile any of its apparent contradictions.\nSo of the lost keystone; so of the second temple; so of the hidden ark:\nthese are to him legendary narratives, which, like the casket, would be of\nno value were it not for the precious jewel contained within. Each of\nthese legends is the expression of a philosophical idea.\n\nBut there is another method of masonic instruction, and that is by\nsymbols. No science is more ancient than that of symbolism. At one time,\nnearly all the learning of the world was conveyed in symbols. And although\nmodern philosophy now deals only in abstract propositions, Freemasonry\nstill cleaves to the ancient method, and has preserved it in its\nprimitive importance as a means of communicating knowledge.\n\nAccording to the derivation of the word from the Greek, \"to symbolize\"\nsignifies \"to compare one thing with another.\" Hence a symbol is the\nexpression of an idea that has been derived from the comparison or\ncontrast of some object with a moral conception or attribute. Thus we say\nthat the plumb is a symbol of rectitude of conduct. The physical qualities\nof the plumb are here compared or contrasted with the moral conception of\nvirtue, or rectitude. Then to the Speculative Mason it becomes, after he\nhas been taught its symbolic meaning, the visible expression of the idea\nof moral uprightness.\n\nBut although there are these two modes of instruction in Freemasonry,--by\nlegends and by symbols,--there really is no radical difference between the\ntwo methods. The symbol is a visible, and the legend an audible\nrepresentation of some contrasted idea--of some moral conception produced\nfrom a comparison. Both the legend and the symbol relate to dogmas of a\ndeep religious character; both of them convey moral sentiments in the same\npeculiar method, and both of them are designed by this method to\nillustrate the philosophy of Speculative Masonry.\n\nTo investigate the recondite meaning of these legends and symbols, and to\nelicit from them the moral and philosophical lessons which they were\nintended to teach, is to withdraw the veil with which ignorance and\nindifference seek to conceal the true philosophy of Freemasonry.\n\nTo study the symbolism of Masonry is the only way to investigate its\nphilosophy. This is the portal of its temple, through which alone we can\ngain access to the sacellum where its aporrheta are concealed.\n\nIts philosophy is engaged in the consideration of propositions relating to\nGod and man, to the present and the future life. Its science is the\nsymbolism by which these propositions are presented to the mind.\n\nThe work now offered to the public is an effort to develop and explain\nthis philosophy and science. It will show that there are in Freemasonry\nthe germs of profound speculation. If it does not interest the learned, it\nmay instruct the ignorant. If so, I shall not regret the labor and\nresearch that have been bestowed upon its composition.\n\nALBERT G. MACKEY, M.D.\n\nCHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 22, 1869.\n\n\n\n\nContents.\n\n\n\n     I. Preliminary.\n    II. The Noachidae.\n   III. The Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity.\n    IV. The Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.\n     V. The Ancient Mysteries.\n    VI. The Dionysiac Artificers.\n   VII. The Union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at the Temple of\n        Solomon.\n  VIII. The Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.\n    IX. Disseverance of the Operative Element.\n     X. The System of Symbolic Instruction.\n    XI. The Speculative Science and the Operative Art.\n   XII. The Symbolism of Solomon's Temple.\n  XIII. The Form of the Lodge.\n   XIV. The Officers of a Lodge.\n    XV. The Point within a Circle.\n   XVI. The Covering of the Lodge.\n  XVII. Ritualistic Symbolism.\n XVIII. The Rite of Discalceation.\n   XIX. The Rite of Investiture.\n    XX. The Symbolism of the Gloves.\n   XXI. The Rite of Circumambulation.\n  XXII. The Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light.\n XXIII. Symbolism of the Corner-stone.\n  XXIV. The Ineffable Name.\n   XXV. The Legends of Freemasonry.\n  XXVI. The Legend of the Winding Stairs.\n XXVII. The Legend of the Third Degree.\nXXVIII. The Sprig of Acacia.\n  XXIX. The Symbolism of Labor.\n   XXX. The Stone of Foundation.\n  XXXI. The Lost Word.\n\nSynoptical Index.\n\n\n\n\nI.\n\nPreliminary.\n\n\n\nThe Origin and Progress of Freemasonry.\n\n\nAny inquiry into the symbolism and philosophy of Freemasonry must\nnecessarily be preceded by a brief investigation of the origin and history\nof the institution. Ancient and universal as it is, whence did it arise?\nWhat were the accidents connected with its birth? From what kindred or\nsimilar association did it spring? Or was it original and autochthonic,\nindependent, in its inception, of any external influences, and unconnected\nwith any other institution? These are questions which an intelligent\ninvestigator will be disposed to propound in the very commencement of the\ninquiry; and they are questions which must be distinctly answered before\nhe can be expected to comprehend its true character as a symbolic\ninstitution. He must know something of its antecedents, before he can\nappreciate its character.\n\nBut he who expects to arrive at a satisfactory solution of this inquiry\nmust first--as a preliminary absolutely necessary to success--release\nhimself from the influence of an error into which novices in Masonic\nphilosophy are too apt to fall. He must not confound the doctrine of\nFreemasonry with its outward and extrinsic form. He must not suppose that\ncertain usages and ceremonies, which exist at this day, but which, even\nnow, are subject to extensive variations in different countries,\nconstitute the sum and substance of Freemasonry. \"Prudent antiquity,\" says\nLord Coke, \"did for more solemnity and better memory and observation of\nthat which is to be done, express substances under ceremonies.\" But it\nmust be always remembered that the ceremony is not the substance. It is\nbut the outer garment which covers and perhaps adorns it, as clothing does\nthe human figure. But divest man of that outward apparel, and you still\nhave the microcosm, the wondrous creation, with all his nerves, and bones,\nand muscles, and, above all, with his brain, and thoughts, and feelings.\nAnd so take from Masonry these external ceremonies, and you still have\nremaining its philosophy and science. These have, of course, always\ncontinued the same, while the ceremonies have varied in different ages,\nand still vary in different countries.\n\nThe definition of Freemasonry that it is \"a science of morality, veiled in\nallegory, and illustrated by symbols,\" has been so often quoted, that,\nwere it not for its beauty, it would become wearisome. But this definition\ncontains the exact principle that has just been enunciated. Freemasonry\nis a science--a philosophy--a system of doctrines which is taught, in a\nmanner peculiar to itself, by allegories and symbols. This is its internal\ncharacter. Its ceremonies are external additions, which affect not its\nsubstance.\n\nNow, when we are about to institute an inquiry into the origin of\nFreemasonry, it is of this peculiar system of philosophy that we are to\ninquire, and not of the ceremonies which have been foisted on it. If we\npursue any other course we shall assuredly fall into error.\n\nThus, if we seek the origin and first beginning of the Masonic philosophy,\nwe must go away back into the ages of remote antiquity, when we shall find\nthis beginning in the bosom of kindred associations, where the same\nphilosophy was maintained and taught. But if we confound the ceremonies of\nMasonry with the philosophy of Masonry, and seek the origin of the\ninstitution, moulded into outward form as it is to-day, we can scarcely be\nrequired to look farther back than the beginning of the eighteenth\ncentury, and, indeed, not quite so far. For many important modifications\nhave been made in its rituals since that period.\n\nHaving, then, arrived at the conclusion that it is not the Masonic ritual,\nbut the Masonic philosophy, whose origin we are to investigate, the next\nquestion naturally relates to the peculiar nature of that philosophy.\n\nNow, then, I contend that the philosophy of Freemasonry is engaged in the\ncontemplation of the divine and human character; of GOD as one eternal,\nself-existent being, in contradiction to the mythology of the ancient\npeoples, which was burdened with a multitude of gods and goddesses, of\ndemigods and heroes; of MAN as an immortal being, preparing in the present\nlife for an eternal future, in like contradiction to the ancient\nphilosophy, which circumscribed the existence of man to the present life.\n\nThese two doctrines, then, of the unity of God and the immortality of the\nsoul, constitute the philosophy of Freemasonry. When we wish to define it\nsuccinctly, we say that it is an ancient system of philosophy which\nteaches these two dogmas. And hence, if, amid the intellectual darkness\nand debasement of the old polytheistic religions, we find interspersed\nhere and there, in all ages, certain institutions or associations which\ntaught these truths, and that, in a particular way, allegorically and\nsymbolically, then we have a right to say that such institutions or\nassociations were the incunabula--the predecessors--of the Masonic\ninstitution as it now exists.\n\nWith these preliminary remarks the reader will be enabled to enter upon\nthe consideration of that theory of the origin of Freemasonry which I\nadvance in the following propositions:--\n\n1. In the first place, I contend that in the very earliest ages of the\nworld there were existent certain truths of vast importance to the welfare\nand happiness of humanity, which had been communicated,--no matter how,\nbut,--most probably, by direct inspiration from God to man.\n\n2. These truths principally consisted in the abstract propositions of the\nunity of God and the immortality of the soul. Of the truth of these two\npropositions there cannot be a reasonable doubt. The belief in these\ntruths is a necessary consequence of that religious sentiment which has\nalways formed an essential feature of human nature. Man is, emphatically,\nand in distinction from all other creatures, a religious animal. Gross\ncommences his interesting work on \"The Heathen Religion in its Popular and\nSymbolical Development\" by the statement that \"one of the most remarkable\nphenomena of the human race is the universal existence of religious\nideas--a belief in something supernatural and divine, and a worship\ncorresponding to it.\" As nature had implanted the religious sentiment, the\nsame nature must have directed it in a proper channel. The belief and the\nworship must at first have been as pure as the fountain whence they\nflowed, although, in subsequent times, and before the advent of Christian\nlight, they may both have been corrupted by the influence of the priests\nand the poets over an ignorant and superstitious people. The first and\nsecond propositions of my theory refer only to that primeval period which\nwas antecedent to these corruptions, of which I shall hereafter speak.\n\n3. These truths of God and immortality were most probably handed down\nthrough the line of patriarchs of the race of Seth, but were, at all\nevents, known to Noah, and were by him communicated to his immediate\ndescendants.\n\n4. In consequence of this communication, the true worship of God\ncontinued, for some time after the subsidence of the deluge, to be\ncultivated by the Noachidae, the Noachites, or the descendants of Noah.\n\n5. At a subsequent period (no matter when, but the biblical record places\nit at the attempted building of the tower of Babel), there was a secession\nof a large number of the human race from the Noachites.\n\n6. These seceders rapidly lost sight of the divine truths which had been\ncommunicated to them from their common ancestor, and fell into the most\ngrievous theological errors, corrupting the purity of the worship and the\northodoxy of the religious faith which they had primarily received.\n\n7. These truths were preserved in their integrity by but a very few in the\npatriarchal line, while still fewer were enabled to retain only dim and\nglimmering portions of the true light.\n\n8. The first class was confined to the direct descendants of Noah, and the\nsecond was to be found among the priests and philosophers, and, perhaps,\nstill later, among the poets of the heathen nations, and among those whom\nthey initiated into the secrets of these truths. Of the prevalence of\nthese religious truths among the patriarchal descendants of Noah, we have\nample evidence in the sacred records. As to their existence among a body\nof learned heathens, we have the testimony of many intelligent writers who\nhave devoted their energies to this subject. Thus the learned Grote, in\nhis \"History of Greece,\" says, \"The allegorical interpretation of the\nmyths has been, by several learned investigators, especially by Creuzer,\nconnected with the hypothesis of _an ancient and highly instructed body of\npriests_, having their origin either in Egypt or in the East, and\ncommunicating to the rude and barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and\nhistorical knowledge, _under the veil of symbols_.\" What is here said only\nof the Greeks is equally applicable to every other intellectual nation of\nantiquity.\n\n9. The system or doctrine of the former class has been called by Masonic\nwriters the \"Pure or Primitive Freemasonry\" of antiquity, and that of the\nlatter class the \"Spurious Freemasonry\" of the same period. These terms\nwere first used, if I mistake not, by Dr. Oliver, and are intended to\nrefer--the word _pure_ to the doctrines taught by the descendants of Noah\nin the Jewish line and the word _spurious_ to his descendants in the\nheathen or Gentile line.\n\n10. The masses of the people, among the Gentiles especially, were totally\nunacquainted with this divine truth, which was the foundation stone of\nboth species of Freemasonry, the pure and the spurious, and were deeply\nimmersed in the errors and falsities of heathen belief and worship.\n\n11. These errors of the heathen religions were not the voluntary\ninventions of the peoples who cultivated them, but were gradual and almost\nunavoidable corruptions of the truths which had been at first taught by\nNoah; and, indeed, so palpable are these corruptions, that they can be\nreadily detected and traced to the original form from which, however much\nthey might vary among different peoples, they had, at one time or another,\ndeviated. Thus, in the life and achievements of Bacchus or Dionysus, we\nfind the travestied counterpart of the career of Moses, and in the name of\nVulcan, the blacksmith god, we evidently see an etymological corruption of\nthe appellation of Tubal Cain, the first artificer in metals. For\n_Vul-can_ is but a modified form of _Baal-Cain_, the god Cain.\n\n12. But those among the masses--and there were some--who were made\nacquainted with the truth, received their knowledge by means of an\ninitiation into certain sacred Mysteries, in the bosom of which it was\nconcealed from the public gaze.\n\n13. These Mysteries existed in every country of heathendom, in each under\na different name, and to some extent under a different form, but always\nand everywhere with the same design of inculcating, by allegorical and\nsymbolic teachings, the great Masonic doctrines of the unity of God and\nthe immortality of the soul. This is an important proposition, and the\nfact which it enunciates must never be lost sight of in any inquiry into\nthe origin of Freemasonry; for the pagan Mysteries were to the spurious\nFreemasonry of antiquity precisely what the Masters' lodges are to the\nFreemasonry of the present day. It is needless to offer any proof of their\nexistence, since this is admitted and continually referred to by all\nhistorians, ancient and modern; and to discuss minutely their character\nand organization would occupy a distinct treatise. The Baron de Sainte\nCroix has written two large volumes on the subject, and yet left it\nunexhausted.\n\n14. These two divisions of the Masonic Institution which were defined in\nthe 9th proposition, namely, the pure or primitive Freemasonry among the\nJewish descendants of the patriarchs, who are called, by way of\ndistinction, the Noachites, or descendants of Noah, because they had not\nforgotten nor abandoned the teachings of their great ancestor, and the\nspurious Freemasonry practised among the pagan nations, flowed down the\nstream of time in parallel currents, often near together, but never\ncommingling.\n\n15. But these two currents were not always to be kept apart, for,\nspringing, in the long anterior ages, from one common fountain,--that\nancient priesthood of whom I have already spoken in the 8th\nproposition,--and then dividing into the pure and spurious Freemasonry of\nantiquity, and remaining separated for centuries upon centuries, they at\nlength met at the building of the great temple of Jerusalem, and were\nunited, in the instance of the Israelites under King Solomon, and the\nTyrians under Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif. The spurious\nFreemasonry, it is true, did not then and there cease to exist. On the\ncontrary, it lasted for centuries subsequent to this period; for it was\nnot until long after, and in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, that\nthe pagan Mysteries were finally and totally abolished. But by the union\nof the Jewish or pure Freemasons and the Tyrian or spurious Freemasons at\nJerusalem, there was a mutual infusion of their respective doctrines and\nceremonies, which eventually terminated in the abolition of the two\ndistinctive systems and the establishment of a new one, that may be\nconsidered as the immediate prototype of the present institution. Hence\nmany Masonic students, going no farther back in their investigations than\nthe facts announced in this 15th proposition, are content to find the\norigin of Freemasonry at the temple of Solomon. But if my theory be\ncorrect, the truth is, that it there received, not its birth, but only a\nnew modification of its character. The legend of the third degree--the\ngolden legend, the _legenda aurea_--of Masonry was there adopted by pure\nFreemasonry, which before had no such legend, from spurious Freemasonry.\nBut the legend had existed under other names and forms, in all the\nMysteries, for ages before. The doctrine of immortality, which had\nhitherto been taught by the Noachites simply as an abstract proposition,\nwas thenceforth to be inculcated by a symbolic lesson--the symbol of Hiram\nthe Builder was to become forever after the distinctive feature of\nFreemasonry.\n\n16. But another important modification was effected in the Masonic system\nat the building of the temple. Previous to the union which then took\nplace, the pure Freemasonry of the Noachites had always been speculative,\nbut resembled the present organization in no other way than in the\ncultivation of the same abstract principles of divine truth.\n\n17. The Tyrians, on the contrary, were architects by profession, and, as\ntheir leaders were disciples of the school of the spurious Freemasonry,\nthey, for the first time, at the temple of Solomon, when they united with\ntheir Jewish contemporaries, infused into the speculative science, which\nwas practised by the latter, the elements of an operative art.\n\n18. Therefore the system continued thenceforward, for ages, to present the\ncommingled elements of operative and speculative Masonry. We see this in\nthe _Collegia Fabrorum_, or Colleges of Artificers, first established at\nRome by Numa, and which were certainly of a Masonic form in their\norganization; in the Jewish sect of the Essenes, who wrought as well as\nprayed, and who are claimed to have been the descendants of the temple\nbuilders, and also, and still more prominently, in the Travelling\nFreemasons of the middle ages, who identify themselves by their very name\nwith their modern successors, and whose societies were composed of learned\nmen who thought and wrote, and of workmen who labored and built. And so\nfor a long time Freemasonry continued to be both operative and\nspeculative.\n\n19. But another change was to be effected in the institution to make it\nprecisely what it now is, and, therefore, at a very recent period\n(comparatively speaking), the operative feature was abandoned, and\nFreemasonry became wholly speculative. The exact time of this change is\nnot left to conjecture. It took place in the reign of Queen Anne, of\nEngland, in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Preston gives us the\nvery words of the decree which established this change, for he says that\nat that time it was agreed to \"that the privileges of Masonry should no\nlonger be restricted to operative Masons, but extend to men of various\nprofessions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the\norder.\"\n\nThe nineteen propositions here announced contain a brief but succinct view\nof the progress of Freemasonry from its origin in the early ages of the\nworld, simply as a system of religious philosophy, through all the\nmodifications to which it was submitted in the Jewish and Gentile races,\nuntil at length it was developed in its present perfected form. During all\nthis time it preserved unchangeably certain features that may hence be\nconsidered as its specific characteristics, by which it has always been\ndistinguished from every other contemporaneous association, however such\nassociation may have simulated it in outward form. These characteristics\nare, first, the doctrines which it has constantly taught, namely, that of\nthe unity of God and that of the immortality of the soul; and, secondly,\nthe manner in which these doctrines have been taught, namely, by symbols\nand allegories.\n\nTaking these characteristics as the exponents of what Freemasonry is, we\ncannot help arriving at the conclusion that the speculative Masonry of the\npresent day exhibits abundant evidence of the identity of its origin with\nthe spurious Freemasonry of the ante-Solomonic period, both systems coming\nfrom the same pure source, but the one always preserving, and the other\ncontinually corrupting, the purity of the common fountain. This is also\nthe necessary conclusion as a corollary from the propositions advanced in\nthis essay.\n\nThere is also abundant evidence in the history, of which these\npropositions are but a meagre outline, that a manifest influence was\nexerted on the pure or primitive Freemasonry of the Noachites by the\nTyrian branch of the spurious system, in the symbols, myths, and legends\nwhich the former received from the latter, but which it so modified and\ninterpreted as to make them consistent with its own religious system. One\nthing, at least, is incapable of refutation; and that is, that we are\nindebted to the Tyrian Masons for the introduction of the symbol of Hiram\nAbif. The idea of the symbol, although modified by the Jewish Masons, is\nnot Jewish in its inception. It was evidently borrowed from the pagan\nmysteries, where Bacchus, Adonis, Proserpine, and a host of other\napotheosized beings play the same r\u00f4le that Hiram does in the Masonic\nmysteries.\n\nAnd lastly, we find in the technical terms of Masonry, in its working\ntools, in the names of its grades, and in a large majority of its symbols,\nample testimony of the strong infusion into its religious philosophy of\nthe elements of an operative art. And history again explains this fact by\nreferring to the connection of the institution with the Dionysiac\nFraternity of Artificers, who were engaged in building the temple of\nSolomon, with the Workmen's Colleges of Numa, and with the Travelling\nFreemasons of the middle ages, who constructed all the great buildings of\nthat period.\n\nThese nineteen propositions, which have been submitted in the present\nessay, constitute a brief summary or outline of a theory of the true\norigin of Freemasonry, which long and patient investigation has led me to\nadopt. To attempt to prove the truth of each of these propositions in its\norder by logical demonstration, or by historical evidence, would involve\nthe writing of an elaborate treatise. They are now offered simply as\nsuggestions on which the Masonic student may ponder. They are but intended\nas guide-posts, which may direct him in his journey should he undertake\nthe pleasant although difficult task of instituting an inquiry into the\norigin and progress of Freemasonry from its birth to its present state of\nfull-grown manhood.\n\nBut even in this abridged form they are absolutely necessary as\npreliminary to any true understanding of the symbolism of Freemasonry.\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nThe Noachid\u00e6.\n\n\n\nI proceed, then, to inquire into the historical origin of Freemasonry, as\na necessary introduction to any inquiry into the character of its\nsymbolism. To do this, with any expectation of rendering justice to the\nsubject, it is evident that I shall have to take my point of departure at\na very remote era. I shall, however, review the early and antecedent\nhistory of the institution with as much brevity as a distinct\nunderstanding of the subject will admit.\n\nPassing over all that is within the antediluvian history of the world, as\nsomething that exerted, so far as our subject is concerned, no influence\non the new world which sprang forth from the ruins of the old, we find,\nsoon after the cataclysm, the immediate descendants of Noah in the\npossession of at least two religious truths, which they received from\ntheir common father, and which he must have derived from the line of\npatriarchs who preceded him. These truths were the doctrine of the\nexistence of a Supreme Intelligence, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of\nthe Universe, and, as a necessary corollary, the belief in the immortality\nof the soul[1], which, as an emanation from that primal cause, was to be\ndistinguished, by a future and eternal life, from the vile and perishable\ndust which forms its earthly tabernacle.\n\nThe assertion that these doctrines were known to and recognized by Noah\nwill not appear as an assumption to the believer in divine revelation. But\nany philosophic mind must, I conceive, come to the same conclusion,\nindependently of any other authority than that of reason.\n\nThe religious sentiment, so far, at least, as it relates to the belief in\nthe existence of God, appears to be in some sense innate, or instinctive,\nand consequently universal in the human mind[2]. There is no record of\nany nation, however intellectually and morally debased, that has not given\nsome evidence of a tendency to such belief. The sentiment may be\nperverted, the idea may be grossly corrupted, but it is nevertheless\nthere, and shows the source whence it sprang[3].\n\nEven in the most debased forms of fetichism, where the negro kneels in\nreverential awe before the shrine of some uncouth and misshapen idol,\nwhich his own hands, perhaps, have made, the act of adoration, degrading\nas the object may be, is nevertheless an acknowledgment of the longing\nneed of the worshipper to throw himself upon the support of some unknown\npower higher than his own sphere. And this unknown power, be it what it\nmay, is to him a God.[4]\n\nBut just as universal has been the belief in the immortality of the soul.\nThis arises from the same longing in man for the infinite; and although,\nlike the former doctrine, it has been perverted and corrupted, there\nexists among all nations a tendency to its acknowledgment. Every people,\nfrom the remotest times, have wandered involuntarily into the ideal of\nanother world, and sought to find a place for their departed spirits. The\ndeification of the dead, man-worship, or hero-worship, the next\ndevelopment of the religious idea after fetichism, was simply an\nacknowledgment of the belief in a future life; for the dead could not have\nbeen deified unless after death they had continued to live. The adoration\nof a putrid carcass would have been a form of fetichism lower and more\ndegrading than any that has been discovered.\n\nBut man-worship came after fetichism. It was a higher development of the\nreligious sentiment, and included a possible hope for, if not a positive\nbelief in, a future life.\n\nReason, then, as well as revelation, leads us irresistibly to the\nconclusion that these two doctrines prevailed among the descendants of\nNoah, immediately after the deluge. They were believed, too, in all their\npurity and integrity, because they were derived from the highest and\npurest source.\n\nThese are the doctrines which still constitute the creed of Freemasonry;\nand hence one of the names bestowed upon the Freemasons from the earliest\ntimes was that of the \"_Noachidae_\" or \"_Noachites_\" that is to say, the\ndescendants of Noah, and the transmitters of his religious dogmas.\n\n\n\n\nIII.\n\nThe Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity.\n\n\n\nThe next important historical epoch which demands our attention is that\nconnected with what, in sacred history, is known as the dispersion at\nBabel. The brightness of truth, as it had been communicated by Noah,\nbecame covered, as it were, with a cloud. The dogmas of the unity of God\nand the immortality of the soul were lost sight of, and the first\ndeviation from the true worship occurred in the establishment of\nSabianism, or the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, among some peoples,\nand the deification of men among others. Of these two deviations,\nSabianism, or sun-worship, was both the earlier and the more generally\ndiffused.[5] \"It seems,\" says the learned Owen, \"to have had its rise\nfrom some broken traditions conveyed by the patriarchs touching the\ndominion of the sun by day and of the moon by night.\" The mode in which\nthis old system has been modified and spiritually symbolized by\nFreemasonry will be the subject of future consideration.\n\nBut Sabianism, while it was the most ancient of the religious corruptions,\nwas, I have said, also the most generally diffused; and hence, even among\nnations which afterwards adopted the polytheistic creed of deified men and\nfactitious gods, this ancient sun-worship is seen to be continually\nexerting its influences. Thus, among the Greeks, the most refined people\nthat cultivated hero-worship, Hercules was the sun, and the mythologic\nfable of his destroying with his arrows the many-headed hydra of the\nLernaean marshes was but an allegory to denote the dissipation of paludal\nmalaria by the purifying rays of the orb of day. Among the Egyptians, too,\nthe chief deity, Osiris, was but another name for the sun, while his\narch-enemy and destroyer, Typhon, was the typification of night, or\ndarkness. And lastly, among the Hindus, the three manifestations of their\nsupreme deity, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu, were symbols of the rising,\nmeridian, and setting sun.\n\nThis early and very general prevalence of the sentiment of sun-worship is\nworthy of especial attention on account of the influence that it exercised\nover the spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, of which I am soon to speak,\nand which is still felt, although modified and Christianized in our modern\nsystem. Many, indeed nearly all, of the masonic symbols of the present day\ncan only be thoroughly comprehended and properly appreciated by this\nreference to sun-worship.\n\nThis divine truth, then, of the existence of one Supreme God, the Grand\nArchitect of the Universe, symbolized in Freemasonry as the TRUE WORD, was\nlost to the Sabians and to the polytheists who arose after the dispersion\nat Babel, and with it also disappeared the doctrine of a future life; and\nhence, in one portion of the masonic ritual, in allusion to this historic\nfact, we speak of \"the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded\nand Masonry lost.\"\n\nThere were, however, some of the builders on the plain of Shinar who\npreserved these great religious and masonic doctrines of the unity of God\nand the immortality of the soul in their pristine purity. These were the\npatriarchs, in whose venerable line they continued to be taught. Hence,\nyears after the dispersion of the nations at Babel, the world presented\ntwo great religious sects, passing onward down the stream of time, side by\nside, yet as diverse from each other as light from darkness, and truth\nfrom falsehood.\n\nOne of these lines of religious thought and sentiment was the idolatrous\nand pagan world. With it all masonic doctrine, at least in its purity, was\nextinct, although there mingled with it, and at times to some extent\ninfluenced it, an offshoot from the other line, to which attention will be\nsoon directed.\n\nThe second of these lines consisted, as has already been said, of the\npatriarchs and priests, who preserved in all their purity the two great\nmasonic doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.\n\nThis line embraced, then, what, in the language of recent masonic writers,\nhas been designated as the _Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity_.\n\nNow, it is by no means intended to advance any such gratuitous and\nuntenable theory as that proposed by some imaginative writers, that the\nFreemasonry of the patriarchs was in its organization, its ritual, or its\nsymbolism, like the system which now exists. We know not indeed, that it\nhad a ritual, or even a symbolism. I am inclined to think that it was made\nup of abstract propositions, derived from antediluvian traditions. Dr.\nOliver thinks it probable that there were a few symbols among these\nPrimitive and Pure Freemasons, and he enumerates among them the serpent,\nthe triangle, and the point within a circle; but I can find no authority\nfor the supposition, nor do I think it fair to claim for the order more\nthan it is fairly entitled to, nor more than it can be fairly proved to\npossess. When Anderson calls Moses a Grand Master, Joshua his Deputy, and\nAholiab and Bezaleel Grand Wardens, the expression is to be looked upon\nsimply as a _fa\u00e7on de parler_, a mode of speech entirely figurative in its\ncharacter, and by no means intended to convey the idea which is\nentertained in respect to officers of that character in the present\nsystem. It would, undoubtedly, however, have been better that such\nlanguage should not have been used.\n\nAll that can be claimed for the system of Primitive Freemasonry, as\npractised by the patriarchs, is, that it embraced and taught the two great\ndogmas of Freemasonry, namely, the unity of God, and the immortality of\nthe soul. It may be, and indeed it is highly probable, that there was a\nsecret doctrine, and that this doctrine was not indiscriminately\ncommunicated. We know that Moses, who was necessarily the recipient of the\nknowledge of his predecessors, did not publicly teach the doctrine of the\nimmortality of the soul. But there was among the Jews an oral or secret\nlaw which was never committed to writing until after the captivity; and\nthis law, I suppose, may have contained the recognition of those dogmas of\nthe Primitive Freemasonry.\n\nBriefly, then, this system of Primitive Freemasonry,--without ritual or\nsymbolism, that has come down to us, at least,--consisting solely of\ntraditionary legends, teaching only the two great truths already alluded\nto, and being wholly speculative in its character, without the slightest\ninfusion of an operative element, was regularly transmitted through the\nJewish line of patriarchs, priests, and kings, without alteration,\nincrease, or diminution, to the time of Solomon, and the building of the\ntemple at Jerusalem.\n\nLeaving it, then, to pursue this even course of descent, let us refer once\nmore to that other line of religious history, the one passing through the\nidolatrous and polytheistic nations of antiquity, and trace from it the\nregular rise and progress of another division of the masonic institution,\nwhich, by way of distinction, has been called the _Spurious Freemasonry of\nAntiquity_.\n\n\n\n\n\nIV.\n\nThe Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.\n\n\n\nIn the vast but barren desert of polytheism--dark and dreary as were its\ngloomy domains--there were still, however, to be found some few oases of\ntruth. The philosophers and sages of antiquity had, in the course of their\nlearned researches, aided by the light of nature, discovered something of\nthose inestimable truths in relation to God and a future state which their\npatriarchal contemporaries had received as a revelation made to their\ncommon ancestry before the flood, and which had been retained and\npromulgated after that event by Noah.\n\nThey were, with these dim but still purifying perceptions, unwilling to\ndegrade the majesty of the First Great Cause by sharing his attributes\nwith a Zeus and a Hera in Greece, a Jupiter and a Juno in Rome, an Osiris\nand an Isis in Egypt; and they did not believe that the thinking, feeling,\nreasoning soul, the guest and companion of the body, would, at the hour of\nthat body's dissolution, be consigned, with it, to total annihilation.\n\nHence, in the earliest ages after the era of the dispersion, there were\nsome among the heathen who believed in the unity of God and the\nimmortality of the soul. But these doctrines they durst not publicly\nteach. The minds of the people, grovelling in superstition, and devoted,\nas St. Paul testifies of the Athenians, to the worship of unknown gods,\nwere not prepared for the philosophic teachings of a pure theology. It\nwas, indeed, an axiom unhesitatingly enunciated and frequently repeated by\ntheir writers, that \"there are many truths with which it is useless for\nthe people to be made acquainted, and many fables which it is not\nexpedient that they should know to be false.\" [6] Such is the language of\nVarro, as preserved by St. Augustine; and Strabo, another of their\nwriters, exclaims, \"It is not possible for a philosopher to conduct a\nmultitude of women and ignorant people by a method of reasoning, and thus\nto invite them to piety, holiness, and faith; but the philosopher must\nalso make use of superstition, and not omit the invention of fables and\nthe performance of wonders.\" [7]\n\nWhile, therefore, in those early ages of the world, we find the masses\ngrovelling in the intellectual debasement of a polytheistic and idolatrous\nreligion, with no support for the present, no hope for the future,--living\nwithout the knowledge of a supreme and superintending Providence, and\ndying without the expectation of a blissful immortality,--we shall at the\nsame time find ample testimony that these consoling doctrines were\nsecretly believed by the philosophers and their disciples.\n\nBut though believed, they were not publicly taught. They were heresies\nwhich it would have been impolitic and dangerous to have broached to the\npublic ear; they were truths which might have led to a contempt of the\nestablished system and to the overthrow of the popular superstition.\nSocrates, the Athenian sage, is an illustrious instance of the punishment\nthat was meted out to the bold innovator who attempted to insult the gods\nand to poison the minds of youth with the heresies of a philosophic\nreligion. \"They permitted, therefore,\" says a learned writer on this\nsubject[8], \"the multitude to remain plunged as they were in the depth of\na gross and complicated idolatry; but for those philosophic few who could\nbear the light of truth without being confounded by the blaze, they\nremoved the mysterious veil, and displayed to them the Deity in the\nradiant glory of his unity. From the vulgar eye, however, these doctrines\nwere kept inviolably sacred, and wrapped in the veil of impenetrable\nmystery.\"\n\n\n\nThe consequence of all this was, that no one was permitted to be invested\nwith the knowledge of these sublime truths, until by a course of severe\nand arduous trials, by a long and painful initiation, and by a formal\nseries of gradual preparations, he had proved himself worthy and capable\nof receiving the full light of wisdom. For this purpose, therefore, those\npeculiar religious institutions were organized which the ancients\ndesignated as the MYSTERIES, and which, from the resemblance of their\norganization, their objects, and their doctrines, have by masonic writers\nbeen called the \"Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.\"\n\nWarburton,[9] in giving a definition of what these Mysteries were, says,\n\"Each of the pagan gods had (besides the public and open) a secret worship\npaid unto him, to which none were admitted but those who had been selected\nby preparatory ceremonies, called initiation. This secret worship was\ntermed the Mysteries.\" I shall now endeavor briefly to trace the\nconnection between these Mysteries and the institution of Freemasonry; and\nto do so, it will be necessary to enter upon some details of the\nconstitution of those mystic assemblies.\n\n\n\nAlmost every country of the ancient world had its peculiar Mysteries,\ndedicated to the occult worship of some especial and favorite god, and to\nthe inculcation of a secret doctrine, very different from that which was\ntaught in the public ceremonial of devotion. Thus in Persia the Mysteries\nwere dedicated to Mithras, or the Sun; in Egypt, to Isis and Osiris; in\nGreece, to Demeter; in Samothracia, to the gods Cabiri, the Mighty Ones;\nin Syria, to Dionysus; while in the more northern nations of Europe, such\nas Gaul and Britain, the initiations were dedicated to their peculiar\ndeities, and were celebrated under the general name of the Druidical\nrites. But no matter where or how instituted, whether ostensibly in honor\nof the effeminate Adonis, the favorite of Venus, or of the implacable\nOdin, the Scandinavian god of war and carnage; whether dedicated to\nDemeter, the type of the earth, or to Mithras, the symbol of all that\nfructifies that earth,--the great object and design of the secret\ninstruction were identical in all places, and the Mysteries constituted a\nschool of religion in which the errors and absurdities of polytheism were\nrevealed to the initiated. The candidate was taught that the multitudinous\ndeities of the popular theology were but hidden symbols of the various\nattributes of the supreme god,--a spirit invisible and indivisible,--and\nthat the soul, as an emanation from his essence, could \"never see\ncorruption,\" but must, after the death of the body, be raised to an\neternal life.[10]\n\nThat this was the doctrine and the object of the Mysteries is evident from\nthe concurrent testimony both of those ancient writers who flourished\ncontemporaneously with the practice of them, and of those modern scholars\nwho have devoted themselves to their investigation.\n\nThus Isocrates, speaking of them in his Panegyric, says, \"Those who have\nbeen initiated in the Mysteries of Ceres entertain better hopes both as to\nthe end of life and the whole of futurity.\" [11]\n\nEpictetus[12] declares that everything in these Mysteries was instituted\nby the ancients for the instruction and amendment of life.\n\nAnd Plato[13] says that the design of initiation was to restore the soul\nto that state of perfection from which it had originally fallen.\n\nThomas Taylor, the celebrated Platonist, who possessed an unusual\nacquaintance with the character of these ancient rites, asserts that they\n\"obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the\nsoul, both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a\nmaterial nature, and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual\nvision.\" [14]\n\nCreuzer,[15] a distinguished German writer, who has examined the subject\nof the ancient Mysteries with great judgment and elaboration, gives a\ntheory on their nature and design which is well worth consideration.\n\nThis theory is, that when there had been placed under the eyes of the\ninitiated symbolical representations of the creation of the universe, and\nthe origin of things, the migrations and purifications of the soul, the\nbeginning and progress of civilization and agriculture, there was drawn\nfrom these symbols and these scenes in the Mysteries an instruction\ndestined only for the more perfect, or the epopts, to whom were\ncommunicated the doctrines of the existence of a single and eternal God,\nand the destination of the universe and of man.\n\nCreuzer here, however, refers rather to the general object of the\ninstructions, than to the character of the rites and ceremonies by which\nthey were impressed upon the mind; for in the Mysteries, as in\nFreemasonry, the Hierophant, whom we would now call the Master of the\nLodge, often, as Lobeck observes, delivered a mystical lecture, or\ndiscourse, on some moral subject.\n\nFaber, who, notwithstanding the predominance in his mind of a theory which\nreferred every rite and symbol of the ancient world to the traditions of\nNoah, the ark, and the deluge, has given a generally correct view of the\nsystems of ancient religion, describes the initiation into the Mysteries\nas a scenic representation of the mythic descent into Hades, or the grave,\nand the return from thence to the light of day.\n\nIn a few words, then, the object of instruction in all these Mysteries was\nthe unity of God, and the intention of the ceremonies of initiation into\nthem was, by a scenic representation of death, and subsequent restoration\nto life,[16] to impress the great truths of the resurrection of the dead\nand the immortality of the soul.\n\nI need scarcely here advert to the great similarity in design and\nconformation which existed between these ancient rites and the third or\nMaster's degree of Masonry. Like it they were all funereal in their\ncharacter: they began in sorrow and lamentation, they ended in joy; there\nwas an aphanism, or burial; a pastos, or grave; an euresis, or discovery\nof what had been lost; and a legend, or mythical relation,--all of which\nwere entirely and profoundly symbolical in their character.\n\nAnd hence, looking to this strange identity of design and form, between\nthe initiations of the ancients and those of the modern Masons, writers\nhave been disposed to designate these mysteries as the SPURIOUS\nFREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY.\n\n\n\n\n\nV.\n\nThe Ancient Mysteries.\n\n\n\nI now propose, for the purpose of illustrating these views, and of\nfamiliarizing the reader with the coincidences between Freemasonry and the\nancient Mysteries, so that he may be better enabled to appreciate the\nmutual influences of each on the other as they are hereafter to be\ndeveloped, to present a more detailed relation of one or more of these\nancient systems of initiation.\n\nAs the first illustration, let us select the Mysteries of Osiris, as they\nwere practised in Egypt, the birthplace of all that is wonderful in the\narts or sciences, or mysterious in the religion, of the ancient world.\n\nIt was on the Lake of Sais that the solemn ceremonies of the Osirian\ninitiation were performed. \"On this lake,\" says Herodotus, \"it is that the\nEgyptians represent by night his sufferings whose name I refrain from\nmentioning; and this representation they call their Mysteries.\" [17]\n\nOsiris, the husband of Isis, was an ancient king of the Egyptians. Having\nbeen slain by Typhon, his body was cut into pieces[18] by his murderer,\nand the mangled remains cast upon the waters of the Nile, to be dispersed\nto the four winds of heaven. His wife, Isis, mourning for the death and\nthe mutilation of her husband, for many days searched diligently with her\ncompanions for the portions of the body, and having at length found them,\nunited them together, and bestowed upon them decent interment,--while\nOsiris, thus restored, became the chief deity of his subjects, and his\nworship was united with that of Isis, as the fecundating and fertilizing\npowers of nature. The candidate in these initiations was made to pass\nthrough a mimic repetition of the conflict and destruction of Osiris, and\nhis eventual recovery; and the explanations made to him, after he had\nreceived the full share of light to which the painful and solemn\nceremonies through which he had passed had entitled him, constituted the\nsecret doctrine of which I have already spoken, as the object of all the\nMysteries. Osiris,--a real and personal god to the people,--to be\nworshipped with fear and with trembling, and to be propitiated with\nsacrifices and burnt offerings, became to the initiate but a symbol of the\n\n    \"Great first cause, least understood,\"\n\nwhile his death, and the wailing of Isis, with the recovery of the body,\nhis translation to the rank of a celestial being, and the consequent\nrejoicing of his spouse, were but a tropical mode of teaching that after\ndeath comes life eternal, and that though the body be destroyed, the soul\nshall still live.\n\n\"Can we doubt,\" says the Baron Sainte Croix, \"that such ceremonies as\nthose practised in the Mysteries of Osiris had been originally instituted\nto impress more profoundly on the mind the dogma of future rewards and\npunishments?\" [19]\n\n\"The sufferings and death of Osiris,\" says Mr. Wilkinson,[20] \"were the\ngreat Mystery of the Egyptian religion; and some traces of it are\nperceptible among other people of antiquity. His being the divine goodness\nand the abstract idea of 'good,' his manifestation upon earth (like an\nIndian god), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the\ndead in a future state, look like the early revelation of a future\nmanifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable.\"\n\nA similar legend and similar ceremonies, varied only as to time, and\nplace, and unimportant details, were to be found in all the initiations of\nthe ancient Mysteries. The dogma was the same,--future life,--and the\nmethod of inculcating it was the same. The coincidences between the design\nof these rites and that of Freemasonry, which must already begin to\nappear, will enable us to give its full value to the expression of\nHutchinson, when he says that \"the Master Mason represents a man under the\nChristian doctrine saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the\nfaith of salvation.\" [21]\n\nIn Phoenicia similar Mysteries were celebrated in honor of Adonis, the\nfavorite lover of Venus, who, having, while hunting, been slain by a wild\nboar on Mount Lebanon, was restored to life by Proserpine. The\nmythological story is familiar to every classical scholar. In the popular\ntheology, Adonis was the son of Cinyras, king of Cyrus, whose untimely\ndeath was wept by Venus and her attendant nymphs: in the physical theology\nof the philosophers,[22] he was a symbol of the sun, alternately present\nto and absent from the earth; but in the initiation into the Mysteries of\nhis worship, his resurrection and return from Hades were adopted as a type\nof the immortality of the soul. The ceremonies of initiation in the Adonia\nbegan with lamentation for his loss,--or, as the prophet Ezekiel expresses\nit, \"Behold, there sat women weeping for Thammuz,\"--for such was the name\nunder which his worship was introduced among the Jews; and they ended with\nthe most extravagant demonstrations of joy at the representation of his\nreturn to life,[23] while the hierophant exclaimed, in a congratulatory\nstrain,--\n\n    \"Trust, ye initiates; the god is safe,\n    And from our grief salvation shall arise.\"\n\nBefore proceeding to an examination of those Mysteries which are the most\nclosely connected with the masonic institution, it will be as well to take\na brief view of their general organization.\n\nThe secret worship, or Mysteries, of the ancients were always divided into\nthe lesser and the greater; the former being intended only to awaken\ncuriosity, to test the capacity and disposition of the candidate, and by\nsymbolical purifications to prepare him for his introduction into the\ngreater Mysteries.\n\nThe candidate was at first called an aspirant, or seeker of the truth,\nand the initial ceremony which he underwent was a lustration or\npurification by water. In this condition he may be compared to the Entered\nApprentice of the masonic rites, and it is here worth adverting to the\nfact (which will be hereafter more fully developed) that all the\nceremonies in the first degree of masonry are symbolic of an internal\npurification.\n\nIn the lesser Mysteries[24] the candidate took an oath of secrecy, which\nwas administered to him by the mystagogue, and then received a preparatory\ninstruction,[25] which enabled him afterwards to understand the\ndevelopments of the higher and subsequent division. He was now called a\n_Mystes_, or initiate, and may be compared to the Fellow Craft of\nFreemasonry.\n\nIn the greater Mysteries the whole knowledge of the divine truths, which\nwas the object of initiation, was communicated. Here we find, among the\nvarious ceremonies which assimilated these rites to Freemasonry, the\n_aphanism_, which was the disappearance or death; the _pastos_, the couch,\ncoffin, or grave; the _euresis_, or the discovery of the body; and the\n_autopsy_, or full sight of everything, that is, the complete\ncommunication of the secrets. The candidate was here called an _epopt_, or\neye-witness, because nothing was now hidden from him; and hence he may be\ncompared to the Master Mason, of whom Hutchinson says that \"he has\ndiscovered the knowledge of God and his salvation, and been redeemed from\nthe death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution and unrighteousness.\"\n\n\n\n\nVI.\n\nThe Dionysiac Artificers.\n\n\n\nAfter this general view of the religious Mysteries of the ancient world,\nlet us now proceed to a closer examination of those which are more\nintimately connected with the history of Freemasonry, and whose influence\nis, to this day, most evidently felt in its organization.\n\nOf all the pagan Mysteries instituted by the ancients none were more\nextensively diffused than those of the Grecian god Dionysus. They were\nestablished in Greece, Rome, Syria, and all Asia Minor. Among the Greeks,\nand still more among the Romans, the rites celebrated on the Dionysiac\nfestival were, it must be confessed, of a dissolute and licentious\ncharacter.[26] But in Asia they assumed a different form. There, as\nelsewhere, the legend (for it has already been said that each Mystery had\nits legend) recounted, and the ceremonies represented, the murder of\nDionysus by the Titans. The secret doctrine, too, among the Asiatics, was\nnot different from that among the western nations, but there was something\npeculiar in the organization of the system. The Mysteries of Dionysus in\nSyria, more especially, were not simply of a theological character. There\nthe disciples joined to the indulgence in their speculative and secret\nopinions as to the unity of God and the immortality of the soul, which\nwere common to all the Mysteries, the practice of an operative and\narchitectural art, and occupied themselves as well in the construction of\ntemples and public buildings as in the pursuit of divine truth.\n\nI can account for the greater purity of these Syrian rites only by\nadopting the ingenious theory of Thirwall,[27] that all the Mysteries\n\"were the remains of a worship which preceded the rise of the Hellenic\nmythology, and its attendant rites, grounded on a view of nature less\nfanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken both philosophical\nthought and religious feeling,\" and by supposing that the Asiatics, not\nbeing, from their geographical position, so early imbued with the errors\nof Hellenism, had been better able to preserve the purity and philosophy\nof the old Pelasgic faith, which, itself, was undoubtedly a direct\nemanation from the patriarchal religion, or, as it has been called, the\nPure Freemasonry of the antediluvian world.\n\nBe this, however, as it may, we know that \"the Dionysiacs of Asia Minor\nwere undoubtedly an association of architects and engineers, who had the\nexclusive privilege of building temples, stadia, and theatres, under the\nmysterious tutelage of Bacchus, and were distinguished from the\nuninitiated or profane inhabitants by the science which they possessed,\nand by many private signs and tokens by which they recognized each\nother.\" [28]\n\nThis speculative and operative society[29]--speculative in the esoteric,\ntheologic lessons which were taught in its initiations, and operative in\nthe labors of its members as architects--was distinguished by many\npeculiarities that closely assimilate it to the institution of\nFreemasonry. In the practice of charity, the more opulent were bound to\nrelieve the wants and contribute to the support of the poorer brethren.\nThey were divided, for the conveniences of labor and the advantages of\ngovernment, into smaller bodies, which, like our lodges, were directed by\nsuperintending officers. They employed, in their ceremonial observances,\nmany of the implements of operative Masonry, and used, like the Masons, a\nuniversal language; and conventional modes of recognition, by which _one\nbrother might know another in the dark as well as the light_, and which\nserved to unite the whole body, wheresoever they might be dispersed, in\none common brotherhood.[30]\n\nI have said that in the mysteries of Dionysus the legend recounted the\ndeath of that hero-god, and the subsequent discovery of his body. Some\nfurther details of the nature of the Dionysiac ritual are, therefore,\nnecessary for a thorough appreciation of the points to which I propose\ndirectly to invite attention.\n\nIn these mystic rites, the aspirant was made to represent, symbolically\nand in a dramatic form, the events connected with the slaying of the god\nfrom whom the Mysteries derived their name. After a variety of preparatory\nceremonies, intended to call forth all his courage and fortitude, the\naphanism or mystical death of Dionysus was figured out in the ceremonies,\nand the shrieks and lamentations of the initiates, with the confinement or\nburial of the candidate on the pastos, couch, or coffin, constituted the\nfirst part of the ceremony of initiation. Then began the search of Rhea\nfor the remains of Dionysus, which was continued amid scenes of the\ngreatest confusion and tumult, until, at last, the search having been\nsuccessful, the mourning was turned into joy, light succeeded to darkness,\nand the candidate was invested with the knowledge of the secret doctrine\nof the Mysteries--the belief in the existence of one God, and a future\nstate of rewards and punishments.[31]\n\nSuch were the mysteries that were practised by the architect,--the\nFreemasons, so to speak--of Asia Minor. At Tyre, the richest and most\nimportant city of that region, a city memorable for the splendor and\nmagnificence of the buildings with which it was decorated, there were\ncolonies or lodges of these mystic architects; and this fact I request\nthat you will bear in mind, as it forms an important link in the chain\nthat connects the Dionysiacs with the Freemasons.\n\nBut to make every link in this chain of connection complete, it is\nnecessary that the mystic artists of Tyre should be proved to be at least\ncontemporaneous with the building of King Solomon's temple; and the\nevidence of that fact I shall now attempt to produce.\n\nLawrie, whose elaborate researches into this subject leave us nothing\nfurther to discover, places the arrival of the Dionysiacs in Asia Minor at\nthe time of the Ionic migration, when \"the inhabitants of Attica,\ncomplaining of the narrowness of their territory and the unfruitfulness of\nits soil, went in quest of more extensive and fertile settlements. Being\njoined by a number of the inhabitants of surrounding provinces, they\nsailed to Asia Minor, drove out the original inhabitants, and seized upon\nthe most eligible situations, and united them under the name of Ionia,\nbecause the greatest number of the refugees were natives of that Grecian\nprovince.\" [32] With their knowledge of the arts of sculpture and\narchitecture, in which the Greeks had already made some progress, the\nemigrants brought over to their new settlements their religious customs\nalso, and introduced into Asia the mysteries of Athene and Dionysus long\nbefore they had been corrupted by the licentiousness of the mother\ncountry.\n\nNow, Playfair places the Ionic migration in the year 1044 B.C., Gillies in\n1055, and the Abb\u00e9 Barthelemy in 1076. But the latest of these periods\nwill extend as far back as forty-four years before the commencement of\nthe temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, and will give ample time for the\nestablishment of the Dionysiac fraternity at the city of Tyre, and the\ninitiation of \"Hiram the Builder\" into its mysteries.\n\nLet us now pursue the chain of historical events which finally united\nthis purest branch of the Spurious Freemasonry of the pagan nations with\nthe Primitive Freemasonry of the Jews at Jerusalem.\n\nWhen Solomon, king of Israel, was about to build, in accordance with the\npurposes of his father, David, \"a house unto the name of Jehovah, his\nGod,\" he made his intention known to Hiram, king of Tyre, his friend and\nally; and because he was well aware of the architectural skill of the\nTyrian Dionysiacs, he besought that monarch's assistance to enable him to\ncarry his pious design into execution. Scripture informs us that Hiram\ncomplied with the request of Solomon, and sent him the necessary workmen\nto assist him in the glorious undertaking. Among others, he sent an\narchitect, who is briefly described, in the First Book of Kings, as \"a\nwidow's son, of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father a man of Tyre, a\nworker in brass, a man filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to\nwork all works in brass;\" and more fully, in the Second Book of\nChronicles, as \"a cunning man, endued with understanding of Hiram my\nfather's, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father, a\nman of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in\nstone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen and in\ncrimson, also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out any device\nwhich shall be put to him.\"\n\nTo this man--this widow's son (as Scripture history, as well as masonic\ntradition informs us)--was intrusted by King Solomon an important position\namong the workmen at the sacred edifice, which was constructed on Mount\nMoriah. His knowledge and experience as an artificer, and his eminent\nskill in every kind of \"curious and cunning workmanship,\" readily placed\nhim at the head of both the Jewish and Tyrian craftsmen, as the chief\nbuilder and principal conductor of the works; and it is to him, by means\nof the large authority which this position gave him, that we attribute the\nunion of two people, so antagonistical in race, so dissimilar in manners,\nand so opposed in religion, as the Jews and Tyrians, in one common\nbrotherhood, which resulted in the organization of the institution of\nFreemasonry. This Hiram, as a Tyrian and an artificer, must have been\nconnected with the Dionysiac fraternity; nor could he have been a very\nhumble or inconspicuous member, if we may judge of his rank in the\nsociety, from the amount of talent which he is said to have possessed, and\nfrom the elevated position that he held in the affections, and at the\ncourt, of the king of Tyre. He must, therefore, have been well acquainted\nwith all the ceremonial usages of the Dionysiac artificers, and must have\nenjoyed a long experience of the advantages of the government and\ndiscipline which they practised in the erection of the many sacred\nedifices in which they were engaged. A portion of these ceremonial usages\nand of this discipline he would naturally be inclined to introduce among\nthe workmen at Jerusalem. He therefore united them in a society, similar\nin many respects to that of the Dionysiac artificers. He inculcated\nlessons of charity and brotherly love; he established a ceremony of\ninitiation, to test experimentally the fortitude and worth of the\ncandidate; adopted modes of recognition; and impressed the obligations of\nduty and principles of morality by means of symbols and allegories.\n\nTo the laborers and men of burden, the Ish Sabal, and to the craftsmen,\ncorresponding with the first and second degrees of more modern Masonry,\nbut little secret knowledge was confided. Like the aspirants in the lesser\nMysteries of paganism, their instructions were simply to purify and\nprepare them for a more solemn ordeal, and for the knowledge of the\nsublimest truths. These were to be found only in the Master's degree,\nwhich it was intended should be in imitation of the greater Mysteries; and\nin it were to be unfolded, explained, and enforced the great doctrines of\nthe unity of God and the immortality of the soul. But here there must have\nat once arisen an apparently insurmountable obstacle to the further\ncontinuation of the resemblance of Masonry to the Mysteries of Dionysus.\nIn the pagan Mysteries, I have already said that these lessons were\nallegorically taught by means of a legend. Now, in the Mysteries of\nDionysus, the legend was that of the death and subsequent resuscitation of\nthe god Dionysus. But it would have been utterly impossible to introduce\nsuch a legend as the basis of any instructions to be communicated to\nJewish candidates. Any allusion to the mythological fables of their\nGentile neighbors, any celebration of the myths of pagan theology, would\nhave been equally offensive to the taste and repugnant to the religious\nprejudices of a nation educated, from generation to generation, in the\nworship of a divine being jealous of his prerogatives, and who had made\nhimself known to his people as the JEHOVAH, the God of time present, past,\nand future. How this obstacle would have been surmounted by the\nIsraelitish founder of the order I am unable to say: a substitute would,\nno doubt, have been invented, which would have met all the symbolic\nrequirements of the legend of the Mysteries, or Spurious Freemasonry,\nwithout violating the religious principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of\nthe Jews; but the necessity for such invention never existed, and before\nthe completion of the temple a melancholy event is said to have occurred,\nwhich served to cut the Gordian knot, and the death of its chief architect\nhas supplied Freemasonry with its appropriate legend--a legend which, like\nthe legends of all the Mysteries, is used to testify our faith in the\nresurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.\n\nBefore concluding this part of the subject, it is proper that something\nshould be said of the authenticity of the legend of the third degree. Some\ndistinguished Masons are disposed to give it full credence as an\nhistorical fact, while others look upon it only as a beautiful allegory.\nSo far as the question has any bearing upon the symbolism of Freemasonry\nit is not of importance; but those who contend for its historical\ncharacter assert that they do so on the following grounds:--\n\nFirst. Because the character of the legend is such as to meet all the\nrequirements of the well-known axiom of Vincentius Lirinensis, as to what\nwe are to believe in traditionary matters.[33]\n\n    \"_Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum\n    est._\"\n\nThat is, we are to believe whatever tradition has been at all times, in\nall places, and by all persons handed down.\n\nWith this rule the legend of Hiram Abif, they say, agrees in every\nrespect. It has been universally received, and almost universally\ncredited, among Freemasons from the earliest times. We have no record of\nany Masonry having ever existed since the time of the temple without it;\nand, indeed, it is so closely interwoven into the whole system, forming\nthe most essential part of it, and giving it its most determinative\ncharacter, that it is evident that the institution could no more exist\nwithout the legend, than the legend could have been retained without the\ninstitution. This, therefore, the advocates of the historical character of\nthe legend think, gives probability at least to its truth.\n\nSecondly. It is not contradicted by the scriptural history of the\ntransactions at the temple, and therefore, in the absence of the only\nexisting written authority on the subject, we are at liberty to depend on\ntraditional information, provided the tradition be, as it is contended\nthat in this instance it is, reasonable, probable, and supported by\nuninterrupted succession.\n\nThirdly. It is contended that the very silence of Scripture in relation to\nthe death of Hiram, the Builder, is an argument in favor of the mysterious\nnature of that death. A man so important in his position as to have been\ncalled the favorite of two kings,--sent by one and received by the other\nas a gift of surpassing value, and the donation thought worthy of a\nspecial record, would hardly have passed into oblivion, when his labor was\nfinished, without the memento of a single line, unless his death had taken\nplace in such a way as to render a public account of it improper. And\nthis is supposed to have been the fact. It had become the legend of the\nnew Mysteries, and, like those of the old ones, was only to be divulged\nwhen accompanied with the symbolic instructions which it was intended to\nimpress upon the minds of the aspirants.\n\nBut if, on the other hand, it be admitted that the legend of the third\ndegree is a fiction,--that the whole masonic and extra-scriptural account\nof Hiram Abif is simply a myth,--it could not, in the slightest degree,\naffect the theory which it is my object to establish. For since, in a\nmythic relation, as the learned M\u00fcller[34] has observed, fact and\nimagination, the real and the ideal, are very closely united, and since\nthe myth itself always arises, according to the same author, out of a\nnecessity and unconsciousness on the part of its framers, and by impulses\nwhich act alike on all, we must go back to the Spurious Freemasonry of the\nDionysiacs for the principle which led to the involuntary formation of\nthis Hiramic myth; and then we arrive at the same result, which has been\nalready indicated, namely, that the necessity of the religious sentiment\nin the Jewish mind, to which the introduction of the legend of Dionysus\nwould have been abhorrent, led to the substitution for it of that of\nHiram, in which the ideal parts of the narrative have been intimately\nblended with real transactions. Thus, that there was such a man as Hiram\nAbif; that he was the chief builder at the temple of Jerusalem; that he\nwas the confidential friend of the kings of Israel and Tyre, which is\nindicated by his title of _Ab_, or father; and that he is not heard of\nafter the completion of the temple,--are all historical facts. That he\ndied by violence, and in the way described in the masonic legend, may be\nalso true, or may be merely mythical elements incorporated into the\nhistorical narrative.\n\nBut whether this be so or not,--whether the legend be a fact or a fiction,\na history or a myth,--this, at least, is certain: that it was adopted by\nthe Solomonic Masons of the temple as a substitute for the idolatrous\nlegend of the death of Dionysus which belonged to the Dionysiac Mysteries\nof the Tyrian workmen.\n\n\n\n\nVII.\n\nThe Union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at the Temple of Solomon.\n\n\n\nThus, then, we arrive at another important epoch in the history of the\norigin of Freemasonry.\n\nI have shown how the Primitive Freemasonry, originating in this new world;\nwith Noah, was handed down to his descendants as a purely speculative\ninstitution, embracing certain traditions of the nature of God and of the\nsoul.\n\nI have shown how, soon after the deluge, the descendants of Noah\nseparated, one portion, losing their traditions, and substituting in their\nplace idolatrous and polytheistic religions, while the other and smaller\nportion retained and communicated those original traditions under the name\nof the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity.\n\nI have shown how, among the polytheistic nations, there were a few persons\nwho still had a dim and clouded understanding of these traditions, and\nthat they taught them in certain secret institutions, known as the\n\"Mysteries,\" thus establishing another branch of the speculative science\nwhich is known under the name of the Spurious Freemasonry of antiquity.\n\nAgain, I have shown how one sect or division of these Spurious Freemasons\nexisted at Tyre about the time of the building of King Solomon's temple,\nand added to their speculative science, which was much purer than that of\ntheir contemporary Gentile mystics, the practice of the arts of\narchitecture and sculpture, under the name of the Dionysiac Fraternity of\nArtificers.\n\nAnd, lastly, I have shown how, at the building of the Solomonic temple, on\nthe invitation of the king of Israel, a large body of these architects\nrepaired from Tyre to Jerusalem, organized a new institution, or, rather,\na modification of the two old ones, the Primitive Freemasons among the\nIsraelites yielding something, and the Spurious Freemasons among the\nTyrians yielding more; the former purifying the speculative science, and\nthe latter introducing the operative art, together with the mystical\nceremonies with which they accompanied its administration.\n\nIt is at this epoch, then, that I place the first union of speculative and\noperative Masonry,--a union which continued uninterruptedly to exist until\na comparatively recent period, to which I shall have occasion hereafter\nbriefly to advert.\n\nThe other branches of the Spurious Freemasonry were not, however,\naltogether and at once abolished by this union, but continued also to\nexist and teach their half-truthful dogmas, for ages after, with\ninterrupted success and diminished influence, until, in the fifth century\nof the Christian era, the whole of them were proscribed by the Emperor\nTheodosius. From time to time, however, other partial unions took place,\nas in the instance of Pythagoras, who, originally a member of the school\nof Spurious Freemasonry, was, during his visit to Babylon, about four\nhundred and fifty years after the union at the temple of Jerusalem,\ninitiated by the captive Israelites into the rites of Temple Masonry,\nwhence the instructions of that sage approximate much more nearly to the\nprinciples of Freemasonry, both in spirit and in letter, than those of any\nother of the philosophers of antiquity; for which reason he is familiarly\ncalled, in the modern masonic lectures, \"an ancient friend and brother,\"\nand an important symbol of the order, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid,\nhas been consecrated to his memory.\n\nI do not now propose to enter upon so extensive a task as to trace the\nhistory of the institution from the completion of the first temple to its\ndestruction by Nebuchadnezzar; through the seventy-two years of Babylonish\ncaptivity to the rebuilding of the second temple by Zerubbabel; thence to\nthe devastation of Jerusalem by Titus, when it was first introduced into\nEurope; through all its struggles in the middle ages, sometimes protected\nand sometimes persecuted by the church, sometimes forbidden by the law and\noftener encouraged by the monarch; until, in the beginning of the\nsixteenth century, it assumed its present organization. The details would\nrequire more time for their recapitulation than the limits of the present\nwork will permit.\n\nBut my object is not so much to give a connected history of the progress\nof Freemasonry as to present a rational view of its origin and an\nexamination of those important modifications which, from time to time,\nwere impressed upon it by external influences, so as to enable us the more\nreadily to appreciate the true character and design of its symbolism.\n\nTwo salient points, at least, in its subsequent history, especially invite\nattention, because they have an important bearing on its organization, as\na combined speculative and operative institution.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.\n\nThe Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.\n\n\n\nThe first of these points to which I refer is the establishment of a body\nof architects, widely disseminated throughout Europe during the middle\nages under the avowed name of _Travelling Freemasons_. This association of\nworkmen, said to have been the descendants of the Temple Masons, may be\ntraced by the massive monuments of their skill at as early a period as the\nninth or tenth century; although, according to the authority of Mr. Hope,\nwho has written elaborately on the subject, some historians have found the\nevidence of their existence in the seventh century, and have traced a\npeculiar masonic language in the reigns of Charlemagne of France and\nAlfred of England.\n\nIt is to these men, to their preeminent skill in architecture, and to\ntheir well-organized system as a class of workmen, that the world is\nindebted for those magnificent edifices which sprang up in such\nundeviating principles of architectural form during the middle ages.\n\n\"Wherever they came,\" says Mr. Hope, \"in the suite of missionaries, or\nwere called by the natives, or arrived of their own accord, to seek\nemployment, they appeared headed by a chief surveyor, who governed the\nwhole troop, and named one man out of every ten, under the name of warden,\nto overlook the nine others, set themselves to building temporary huts[35]\nfor their habitation around the spot where the work was to be carried on,\nregularly organized their different departments, fell to work, sent for\nfresh supplies of their brethren as the object demanded, and, when all was\nfinished, again raised their encampment, and went elsewhere to undertake\nother jobs.\" [36]\n\nThis society continued to preserve the commingled features of operative\nand speculative masonry, as they had been practised at the temple of\nSolomon. Admission to the community was not restricted to professional\nartisans, but men of eminence, and particularly ecclesiastics, were\nnumbered among its members. \"These latter,\" says Mr. Hope, \"were\nespecially anxious, themselves, to direct the improvement and erection of\ntheir churches and monasteries, and to manage the expenses of their\nbuildings, and became members of an establishment which had so high and\nsacred a destination, was so entirely exempt from all local, civil\njurisdiction, acknowledged the pope alone as its direct chief, and only\nworked under his immediate authority; and thence we read of so many\necclesiastics of the highest rank--abbots, prelates, bishops--conferring\nadditional weight and respectability on the order of Freemasonry by\nbecoming its members--themselves giving the designs and superintending\nthe construction of their churches, and employing the manual labor of\ntheir own monks in the edification of them.\"\n\nThus in England, in the tenth century, the Masons are said to have\nreceived the special protection of King Athelstan; in the eleventh\ncentury, Edward the Confessor declared himself their patron; and in the\ntwelfth, Henry I. gave them his protection.\n\nInto Scotland the Freemasons penetrated as early as the beginning of the\ntwelfth century, and erected the Abbey of Kilwinning, which afterwards\nbecame the cradle of Scottish Masonry under the government of King Robert\nBruce.\n\nOf the magnificent edifices which they erected, and of their exalted\ncondition under both ecclesiastical and lay patronage in other countries,\nit is not necessary to give a minute detail. It is sufficient to say that\nin every part of Europe evidences are to be found of the existence of\nFreemasonry, practised by an organized body of workmen, and with whom men\nof learning were united; or, in other words, of a combined operative and\nspeculative institution.\n\nWhat the nature of this speculative science continued to be, we may learn\nfrom that very curious, if authentic, document, dated at Cologne, in the\nyear 1535, and hence designated as the \"Charter of Cologne.\" In that\ninstrument, which purports to have been issued by the heads of the order\nin nineteen different and important cities of Europe, and is addressed to\ntheir brethren as a defence against the calumnies of their enemies, it is\nannounced that the order took its origin at a time \"when a few adepts,\ndistinguished by their life, their moral doctrine, and their sacred\ninterpretation of the arcanic truths, withdrew themselves from the\nmultitude in order more effectually to preserve uncontaminated the moral\nprecepts of that religion which is implanted in the mind of man.\"\n\nWe thus, then, have before us an aspect of Freemasonry as it existed in\nthe middle ages, when it presents itself to our view as both operative and\nspeculative in its character. The operative element that had been infused\ninto it by the Dionysiac artificers of Tyre, at the building of the\nSolomonic temple, was not yet dissevered from the pure speculative element\nwhich had prevailed in it anterior to that period.\n\n\n\n\nIX.\n\nDisseverance of the Operative Element.\n\n\n\nThe next point to which our attention is to be directed is when, a few\ncenturies later, the operative character of the institution began to be\nless prominent, and the speculative to assume a pre-eminence which\neventually ended in the total separation of the two.\n\nAt what precise period the speculative began to predominate over the\noperative element of the society, it is impossible to say. The change was\nundoubtedly gradual, and is to be attributed, in all probability, to the\nincreased number of literary and scientific men who were admitted into the\nranks of the fraternity.\n\nThe Charter of Cologne, to which I have just alluded, speaks of \"learned\nand enlightened men\" as constituting the society long before the date of\nthat document, which was 1535; but the authenticity of this work has, it\nmust be confessed, been impugned, and I will not, therefore, press the\nargument on its doubtful authority. But the diary of that celebrated\nantiquary, Elias Ashmole, which is admitted to be authentic, describes his\nadmission in the year 1646 into the order, when there is no doubt that the\noperative character was fast giving way to the speculative. Preston tells\nus that about thirty years before, when the Earl of Pembroke assumed the\nGrand Mastership of England, \"many eminent, wealthy, and learned men were\nadmitted.\"\n\nIn the year 1663 an assembly of the Freemasons of England was held at\nLondon, and the Earl of St. Albans was elected Grand Master. At this\nassembly certain regulations were adopted, in which the qualifications\nprescribed for candidates clearly allude to the speculative character of\nthe institution.\n\nAnd, finally, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, and during\nthe reign of Queen Anne, who died, it will be remembered, in 1714, a\nproposition was agreed to by the society \"that the privileges of Masonry\nshould no longer be restricted to operative masons, but extend to men of\nvarious professions, provided that they were regularly approved and\ninitiated into the order.\"\n\nAccordingly the records of the society show that from the year 1717, at\nleast, the era commonly, but improperly, distinguished as the restoration\nof Masonry, the operative element of the institution has been completely\ndiscarded, except so far as its influence is exhibited in the choice and\narrangement of symbols, and the typical use of its technical language.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe history of the origin of the order is here concluded; and in briefly\nrecapitulating, I may say that in its first inception, from the time of\nNoah to the building of the temple of Solomon, it was entirely speculative\nin its character; that at the construction of that edifice, an operative\nelement was infused into it by the Tyrian builders; that it continued to\nretain this compound operative and speculative organization until about\nthe middle of the seventeenth century, when the latter element began to\npredominate; and finally, that at the commencement of the eighteenth\ncentury, the operative element wholly disappeared, and the society has\never since presented itself in the character of a simply speculative\nassociation.\n\nThe history that I have thus briefly sketched, will elicit from every\nreflecting mind at least two deductions of some importance to the\nintelligent Mason.\n\nIn the first place, we may observe, that ascending, as the institution\ndoes, away up the stream of time, almost to the very fountains of history,\nfor its source, it comes down to us, at this day, with so venerable an\nappearance of antiquity, that for that cause and on that claim alone it\ndemands the respect of the world. It is no recent invention of human\ngenius, whose vitality has yet to be tested by the wear and tear of time\nand opposition, and no sudden growth of short-lived enthusiasm, whose\nexistence may be as ephemeral as its birth was recent. One of the oldest\nof these modern institutions, the Carbonarism of Italy, boasts an age that\nscarcely amounts to the half of a century, and has not been able to extend\nits progress beyond the countries of Southern Europe, immediately adjacent\nto the place of its birth; while it and every other society of our own\ntimes that have sought to simulate the outward appearance of Freemasonry,\nseem to him who has examined the history of this ancient institution to\nhave sprung around it, like mushrooms bursting from between the roots and\nvegetating under the shade of some mighty and venerable oak, the\npatriarch of the forest, whose huge trunk and wide-extended branches have\nprotected them from the sun and the gale, and whose fruit, thrown off in\nautumn, has enriched and fattened the soil that gives these humbler plants\ntheir power of life and growth.\n\nBut there is a more important deduction to be drawn from this narrative.\nIn tracing the progress of Freemasonry, we shall find it so intimately\nconnected with the history of philosophy, of religion, and of art in all\nages of the world, that it is evident that no Mason can expect thoroughly\nto understand the nature of the institution, or to appreciate its\ncharacter, unless he shall carefully study its annals, and make himself\nconversant with the facts of history, to which and from which it gives and\nreceives a mutual influence. The brother who unfortunately supposes that\nthe only requisites of a skilful Mason consist in repeating with fluency\nthe ordinary lectures, or in correctly opening and closing the lodge, or\nin giving with sufficient accuracy the modes of recognition, will hardly\ncredit the assertion, that he whose knowledge of the \"royal art\" extends\nno farther than these preliminaries has scarcely advanced beyond the\nrudiments of our science. There is a far nobler series of doctrines with\nwhich Freemasonry is connected, and which no student ever began to\ninvestigate who did not find himself insensibly led on, from step to step\nin his researches, his love and admiration of the order increasing with\nthe augmentation of his acquaintance with its character. It is this which\nconstitutes the science and the philosophy of Freemasonry, and it is this\nalone which will return the scholar who devotes himself to the task a\nsevenfold reward for his labor.\n\nWith this view I propose, in the next place, to enter upon an examination\nof that science and philosophy as they are developed in the system of\nsymbolism, which owes its existence to this peculiar origin and\norganization of the order, and without a knowledge of which, such as I\nhave attempted to portray it in this preliminary inquiry, the science\nitself could never be understood.\n\n\n\n\n\nX.\n\nThe System of Symbolic Instuction.\n\n\n\nThe lectures of the English lodges, which are far more philosophical than\nour own,--although I do not believe that the system itself is in general\nas philosophically studied by our English brethren as by ourselves,--have\nbeautifully defined Freemasonry to be \"a science of morality veiled in\nallegory and illustrated by symbols.\" But allegory itself is nothing else\nbut verbal symbolism; it is the symbol of an idea, or of a series of\nideas, not presented to the mind in an objective and visible form, but\nclothed in language, and exhibited in the form of a narrative. And\ntherefore the English definition amounts, in fact, to this: that\n_Freemasonry is a science of morality, developed and inculcated by the\nancient method of symbolism_. It is this peculiar character as a symbolic\ninstitution, this entire adoption of the method of instruction by\nsymbolism, which gives its whole identity to Freemasonry, and has caused\nit to differ from every other association that the ingenuity of man has\ndevised. It is this that has bestowed upon it that attractive form which\nhas always secured the attachment of its disciples and its own perpetuity.\n\nThe Roman Catholic church[37] is, perhaps, the only contemporaneous\ninstitution which continues to cultivate, in any degree, the beautiful\nsystem of symbolism. But that which, in the Catholic church, is, in a\ngreat measure, incidental, and the fruit of development, is, in\nFreemasonry, the very life-blood and soul of the institution, born with it\nat its birth, or, rather, the germ from which the tree has sprung, and\nstill giving it support, nourishment, and even existence. Withdraw from\nFreemasonry its symbolism, and you take from the body its soul, leaving\nbehind nothing but a lifeless mass of effete matter, fitted only for a\nrapid decay.\n\nSince, then, the science of symbolism forms so important a part of the\nsystem of Freemasonry, it will be well to commence any discussion of that\nsubject by an investigation of the nature of symbols in general.\n\nThere is no science so ancient as that of symbolism,[38] and no mode of\ninstruction has ever been so general as was the symbolic in former ages.\n\"The first learning in the world,\" says the great antiquary, Dr. Stukely,\n\"consisted chiefly of symbols. The wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians,\nEgyptians, Jews, of Zoroaster, Sanchoniathon, Pherecydes, Syrus,\nPythagoras, Socrates, Plato, of all the ancients that is come to our hand,\nis symbolic.\" And the learned Faber remarks, that \"allegory and\npersonification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of antiquity, and\nthe simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the shrine of\npoetical decoration.\"\n\nIn fact, man's earliest instruction was by symbols.[39] The objective\ncharacter of a symbol is best calculated to be grasped by the infant mind,\nwhether the infancy of that mind be considered _nationally_ or\n_individually_. And hence, in the first ages of the world, in its infancy,\nall propositions, theological, political, or scientific, were expressed in\nthe form of symbols. Thus the first religions were eminently symbolical,\nbecause, as that great philosophical historian, Grote, has remarked, \"At a\ntime when language was yet in its infancy, visible symbols were the most\nvivid means of acting upon the minds of ignorant hearers.\"\n\nAgain: children receive their elementary teaching in symbols. \"A was an\nArcher;\" what is this but symbolism? The archer becomes to the infant mind\nthe symbol of the letter A, just as, in after life, the letter becomes, to\nthe more advanced mind, the symbol of a certain sound of the human\nvoice.[40] The first lesson received by a child in acquiring his alphabet\nis thus conveyed by symbolism. Even in the very formation of language, the\nmedium of communication between man and man, and which must hence have\nbeen an elementary step in the progress of human improvement, it was found\nnecessary to have recourse to symbols, for words are only and truly\ncertain arbitrary symbols by which and through which we give an utterance\nto our ideas. The construction of language was, therefore, one of the\nfirst products of the science of symbolism.\n\nWe must constantly bear in mind this fact, of the primary existence and\npredominance of symbolism in the earliest times.[41] when we are\ninvestigating the nature of the ancient religions, with which the history\nof Freemasonry is so intimately connected. The older the religion, the\nmore the symbolism abounds. Modern religions may convey their dogmas in\nabstract propositions; ancient religions always conveyed them in symbols.\nThus there is more symbolism in the Egyptian religion than in the Jewish,\nmore in the Jewish than in the Christian, more in the Christian than in\nthe Mohammedan, and, lastly, more in the Roman than in the Protestant.\n\nBut symbolism is not only the most ancient and general, but it is also the\nmost practically useful, of sciences. We have already seen how actively it\noperates in the early stages of life and of society. We have seen how the\nfirst ideas of men and of nations are impressed upon their minds by means\nof symbols. It was thus that the ancient peoples were almost wholly\neducated.\n\n\"In the simpler stages of society,\" says one writer on this subject,\n\"mankind can be instructed in the abstract knowledge of truths only by\nsymbols and parables. Hence we find most heathen religions becoming\nmythic, or explaining their mysteries by allegories, or instructive\nincidents. Nay, God himself, knowing the nature of the creatures formed by\nhim, has condescended, in the earlier revelations that he made of himself,\nto teach by symbols; and the greatest of all teachers instructed the\nmultitudes by parables.[42] The great exemplar of the ancient philosophy\nand the grand archetype of modern philosophy were alike distinguished by\ntheir possessing this faculty in a high degree, and have told us that man\nwas best instructed by similitudes.\" [43]\n\nSuch is the system adopted in Freemasonry for the development and\ninculcation of the great religious and philosophical truths, of which it\nwas, for so many years, the sole conservator. And it is for this reason\nthat I have already remarked, that any inquiry into the symbolic character\nof Freemasonry, must be preceded by an investigation of the nature of\nsymbolism in general, if we would properly appreciate its particular use\nin the organization of the masonic institution.\n\n\n\n\nXI.\n\nThe Speculative Science and the Operative Art.\n\n\n\nAnd now, let us apply this doctrine of symbolism to an investigation of\nthe nature of a speculative science, as derived from an operative art; for\nthe fact is familiar to every one that Freemasonry is of two kinds. We\nwork, it is true, in speculative Masonry only, but our ancient brethren\nwrought in both operative and speculative; and it is now well understood\nthat the two branches are widely apart in design and in character--the one\na mere useful art, intended for the protection and convenience of man and\nthe gratification of his physical wants, the other a profound science,\nentering into abstruse investigations of the soul and a future existence,\nand originating in the craving need of humanity to know something that is\nabove and beyond the mere outward life that surrounds us with its gross\natmosphere here below.[44] Indeed, the only bond or link that unites\nspeculative and operative Masonry is the symbolism that belongs\naltogether to the former, but which, throughout its whole extent, is\nderived from the latter.\n\nOur first inquiry, then, will be into the nature of the symbolism which\noperative gives to speculative Masonry; and thoroughly to understand\nthis--to know its origin, and its necessity, and its mode of\napplication--we must begin with a reference to the condition of a long\npast period of time.\n\nThousands of years ago, this science of symbolism was adopted by the\nsagacious priesthood of Egypt to convey the lessons of worldly wisdom and\nreligious knowledge, which they thus communicated to their disciples.[45]\nTheir science, their history, and their philosophy were thus concealed\nbeneath an impenetrable veil from all the profane, and only the few who\nhad passed through the severe ordeal of initiation were put in possession\nof the key which enabled them to decipher and read with ease those mystic\nlessons which we still see engraved upon the obelisks, the tombs, and the\nsarcophagi, which lie scattered, at this day, in endless profusion along\nthe banks of the Nile.\n\nFrom the Egyptians the same method of symbolic instruction was diffused\namong all the pagan nations of antiquity, and was used in all the ancient\nMysteries[46] as the medium of communicating to the initiated the esoteric\nand secret doctrines for whose preservation and promulgation these\nsingular associations were formed.\n\nMoses, who, as Holy Writ informs us, was skilled in all the learning of\nEgypt, brought with him, from that cradle of the sciences, a perfect\nknowledge of the science of symbolism, as it was taught by the priests of\nIsis and Osiris, and applied it to the ceremonies with which he invested\nthe purer religion of the people for whom he had been appointed to\nlegislate.[47]\n\nHence we learn, from the great Jewish historian, that, in the construction\nof the tabernacle, which gave the first model for the temple at Jerusalem,\nand afterwards for every masonic lodge, this principle of symbolism was\napplied to every part of it. Thus it was divided into three parts, to\nrepresent the three great elementary divisions of the universe--the land,\nthe sea, and the air. The first two, or exterior portions, which were\naccessible to the priests and the people, were symbolic of the land and\nthe sea, which all men might inhabit; while the third, or interior\ndivision,--the holy of holies,--whose threshold no mortal dared to cross,\nand which was peculiarly consecrated to GOD, was emblematic of heaven, his\ndwelling-place. The veils, too, according to Josephus, were intended for\nsymbolic instruction in their color and their materials. Collectively,\nthey represented the four elements of the universe; and, in passing, it\nmay be observed that this notion of symbolizing the universe characterized\nall the ancient systems, both the true and the false, and that the remains\nof the principle are to be found everywhere, even at this day, pervading\nMasonry, which is but a development of these systems. In the four veils of\nthe tabernacle, the white or fine linen signified the earth, from which\nflax was produced; the scarlet signified fire, appropriately represented\nby its flaming color; the purple typified the sea, in allusion to the\nshell-fish murex, from which the tint was obtained; and the blue, the\ncolor of the firmament, was emblematic of air.[48]\n\nIt is not necessary to enter into a detail of the whole system of\nreligious symbolism, as developed in the Mosaic ritual. It was but an\napplication of the same principles of instruction, that pervaded all the\nsurrounding Gentile nations, to the inculcation of truth. The very idea of\nthe ark itself[49] was borrowed, as the discoveries of the modern\nEgyptologists have shown us, from the banks of the Nile; and the\nbreastplate of the high priest, with its Urim and Thummim,[50] was\nindebted for its origin to a similar ornament worn by the Egyptian judge.\nThe system was the same; in its application, only, did it differ.\n\nWith the tabernacle of Moses the temple of King Solomon is closely\nconnected: the one was the archetype of the other. Now, it is at the\nbuilding of that temple that we must place the origin of Freemasonry in\nits present organization: not that the system did not exist before, but\nthat the union of its operative and speculative character, and the mutual\ndependence of one upon the other, were there first established.\n\nAt the construction of this stupendous edifice--stupendous, not in\nmagnitude, for many a parish church has since excelled it in size,[51] but\nstupendous in the wealth and magnificence of its ornaments--the wise king\nof Israel, with all that sagacity for which he was so eminently\ndistinguished, and aided and counselled by the Gentile experience of the\nking of Tyre, and that immortal architect who superintended his workmen,\nsaw at once the excellence and beauty of this method of inculcating moral\nand religious truth, and gave, therefore, the impulse to that symbolic\nreference of material things to a spiritual sense, which has ever since\ndistinguished the institution of which he was the founder.\n\nIf I deemed it necessary to substantiate the truth of the assertion that\nthe mind of King Solomon was eminently symbolic in its propensities, I\nmight easily refer to his writings, filled as they are to profusion with\ntropes and figures. Passing over the Book of Canticles,--that great\nlyrical drama, whose abstruse symbolism has not yet been fully evolved or\nexplained, notwithstanding the vast number of commentators who have\nlabored at the task,--I might simply refer to that beautiful passage in\nthe twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, so familiar to every Mason as being\nappropriated, in the ritual, to the ceremonies of the third degree, and in\nwhich a dilapidated building is metaphorically made to represent the\ndecays and infirmities of old age in the human body. This brief but\neloquent description is itself an embodiment of much of our masonic\nsymbolism, both as to the mode and the subject matter.\n\nIn attempting any investigation into the symbolism of Freemasonry, the\nfirst thing that should engage our attention is the general purport of the\ninstitution, and the mode in which its symbolism is developed. Let us\nfirst examine it as a whole, before we investigate its parts, just as we\nwould first view, as critics, the general effect of a building, before we\nbegan to inquire into its architectural details.\n\nLooking, then, in this way, at the institution--coming down to us, as it\nhas, from a remote age--having passed unaltered and unscathed through a\nthousand revolutions of nations--and engaging, as disciples in its school\nof mental labor, the intellectual of all times--the first thing that must\nnaturally arrest the attention is the singular combination that it\npresents of an operative with a speculative organization--an art with a\nscience--the technical terms and language of a mechanical profession with\nthe abstruse teachings of a profound philosophy.\n\nHere it is before us--a venerable school, discoursing of the deepest\nsubjects of wisdom, in which sages might alone find themselves\nappropriately employed, and yet having its birth and deriving its first\nlife from a society of artisans, whose only object was, apparently, the\nconstruction of material edifices of stone and mortar.\n\nThe nature, then, of this operative and speculative combination, is the\nfirst problem to be solved, and the symbolism which depends upon it is the\nfirst feature of the institution which is to be developed.\n\nFreemasonry, in its character as an operative art, is familiar to every\none. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles\nof architecture to the construction of edifices for private and public\nuse--houses for the dwelling-place of man, and temples for the worship of\nDeity. It abounds, like every other art, in the use of technical terms,\nand employs, in practice, an abundance of implements and materials which\nare peculiar to itself.\n\nNow, if the ends of operative Masonry had here ceased,--if this technical\ndialect and these technical implements had never been used for any other\npurpose, nor appropriated to any other object, than that of enabling its\ndisciples to pursue their artistic labors with greater convenience to\nthemselves,--Freemasonry would never have existed. The same principles\nmight, and in all probability would, have been developed in some other\nway; but the organization, the name, the mode of instruction, would all\nhave most materially differed.\n\nBut the operative Masons, who founded the order, were not content with\nthe mere material and manual part of their profession: they adjoined to\nit, under the wise instructions of their leaders, a correlative branch of\nstudy.\n\nAnd hence, to the Freemason, this operative art has been symbolized in\nthat intellectual deduction from it, which has been correctly called\nSpeculative Masonry. At one time, each was an integrant part of one\nundivided system. Not that the period ever existed when every operative\nmason was acquainted with, or initiated into, the speculative science.\nEven now, there are thousands of skilful artisans who know as little of\nthat as they do of the Hebrew language which was spoken by its founder.\nBut operative Masonry was, in the inception of our history, and is, in\nsome measure, even now, the skeleton upon which was strung the living\nmuscles, and tendons, and nerves of the speculative system. It was the\nblock of marble--rude and unpolished it may have been--from which was\nsculptured the life-breathing statue.[52]\n\nSpeculative Masonry (which is but another name for Freemasonary in its\nmodern acceptation) may be briefly defined as the scientific application\nand the religious consecration of the rules and principles, the language,\nthe implements and materials of operative Masonry to the veneration of\nGod, the purification of the heart, and the inculcation of the dogmas of a\nreligious philosophy.\n\n\n\n\nXII.\n\nHe Symbolism of Solomon'S Temple.\n\n\n\nI have said that the operative art is symbolized--that is to say, used as\na symbol--in the speculative science. Let us now inquire, as the subject\nof the present essay, how this is done in reference to a system of\nsymbolism dependent for its construction on types and figures derived from\nthe temple of Solomon, and which we hence call the \"Temple Symbolism of\nFreemasonry.\"\n\nBearing in mind that speculative Masonry dates its origin from the\nbuilding of King Solomon's temple by Jewish and Tyrian artisans,[53] the\nfirst important fact that attracts the attention is, that the operative\nmasons at Jerusalem were engaged in the construction of an earthly and\nmaterial temple, to be dedicated to the service and worship of God--a\nhouse in which Jehovah was to dwell visibly by his Shekinah, and whence he\nwas, by the Urim and Thummim, to send forth his oracles for the\ngovernment and direction of his chosen people.\n\nNow, the operative art having, _for us_, ceased, we, as speculative\nMasons, symbolize the labors of our predecessors by engaging in the\nconstruction of a spiritual temple in our hearts, pure and spotless, fit\nfor the dwelling-place of Him who is the author of purity--where God is to\nbe worshipped in spirit and in truth, and whence every evil thought and\nunruly passion is to be banished, as the sinner and the Gentile were\nexcluded from the sanctuary of the Jewish temple.\n\nThis spiritualizing of the temple of Solomon is the first, the most\nprominent and most pervading of all the symbolic instructions of\nFreemasonry. It is the link that binds the operative and speculative\ndivisions of the order. It is this which gives it its religious character.\nTake from Freemasonry its dependence on the temple, leave out of its\nritual all reference to that sacred edifice, and to the legends connected\nwith it, and the system itself must at once decay and die, or at best\nremain only as some fossilized bone, imperfectly to show the nature of the\nliving body to which it once belonged.\n\nTemple worship is in itself an ancient type of the religious sentiment in\nits progress towards spiritual elevation. As soon as a nation emerged, in\nthe world's progress, out of Fetichism, or the worship of visible\nobjects,--the most degraded form of idolatry,--its people began to\nestablish a priesthood and to erect temples.[54] The Scandinavians, the\nCelts, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, however much they may have differed\nin the ritual and the objects of their polytheistic worship, all were\npossessed of priests and temples. The Jews first constructed their\ntabernacle, or portable temple, and then, when time and opportunity\npermitted, transferred their monotheistic worship to that more permanent\nedifice which is now the subject of our contemplation. The mosque of the\nMohammedan and the church or the chapel of the Christian are but\nembodiments of the same idea of temple worship in a simpler form.\n\nThe adaptation, therefore, of the material temple to a science of\nsymbolism would be an easy, and by no means a novel task, to both the\nJewish and the Tyrian mind. Doubtless, at its original conception, the\nidea was rude and unembellished, to be perfected and polished only by\nfuture aggregations of succeeding intellects. And yet no biblical scholar\nwill venture to deny that there was, in the mode of building, and in all\nthe circumstances connected with the construction of King Solomon's\ntemple, an apparent design to establish a foundation for symbolism.[55]\n\nI propose now to illustrate, by a few examples, the method in which the\nspeculative Masons have appropriated this design of King Solomon to their\nown use.\n\nTo construct his earthly temple, the operative mason followed the\narchitectural designs laid down on the _trestle-board_, or tracing-board,\nor book of plans of the architect. By these he hewed and squared his\nmaterials; by these he raised his walls; by these he constructed his\narches; and by these strength and durability, combined with grace and\nbeauty, were bestowed upon the edifice which he was constructing.\n\nThe trestle-board becomes, therefore, one of our elementary symbols. For\nin the masonic ritual the speculative Mason is reminded that, as the\noperative artist erects his temporal building, in accordance with the\nrules and designs laid down on the trestle-board of the master-workman, so\nshould he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type,\nin obedience to the rules and designs, the precepts and commands, laid\ndown by the grand Architect of the universe, in those great books of\nnature and revelation, which constitute the spiritual trestle-board of\nevery Freemason.\n\nThe trestle-board is, then, the symbol of the natural and moral law. Like\nevery other symbol of the order, it is universal and tolerant in its\napplication; and while, as Christian Masons, we cling with unfaltering\nintegrity to that explanation which makes the Scriptures of both\ndispensations our trestle-board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan\nbrethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament, or the\nKoran. Masonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of\nany one's religious faith. All that it asks is, that the interpretation\nof the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the\nrevealed will of his Creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the\nsymbol shall be preserved, and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it\nperemptorily excludes the Atheist from its communion, because, believing\nin no Supreme Being, no divine Architect, he must necessarily be without a\nspiritual trestle-board on which the designs of that Being may be\ninscribed for his direction.\n\nBut the operative mason required materials wherewith to construct his\ntemple. There was, for instance, the _rough ashlar_--the stone in its rude\nand natural state--unformed and unpolished, as it had been lying in the\nquarries of Tyre from the foundation of the earth. This stone was to be\nhewed and squared, to be fitted and adjusted, by simple, but appropriate\nimplements, until it became a _perfect ashlar_, or well-finished stone,\nready to take its destined place in the building.\n\nHere, then, again, in these materials do we find other elementary symbols.\nThe rough and unpolished stone is a symbol of man's natural\nstate--ignorant, uncultivated, and, as the Roman historian expresses it,\n\"grovelling to the earth, like the beasts of the field, and obedient to\nevery sordid appetite;\" [56] but when education has exerted its salutary\ninfluences in expanding his intellect, in restraining his hitherto unruly\npassions, and purifying his life, he is then represented by the perfect\nashlar, or finished stone, which, under the skilful hands of the workman,\nhas been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its appropriate place in\nthe building.\n\nHere an interesting circumstance in the history of the preparation of\nthese materials has been seized and beautifully appropriated by our\nsymbolic science. We learn from the account of the temple, contained in\nthe First Book of Kings, that \"The house, when it was in building, was\nbuilt of stone, made ready before it was brought thither, so that there\nwas neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while\nit was in building.\" [57]\n\nNow, this mode of construction, undoubtedly adopted to avoid confusion and\ndiscord among so many thousand workmen,[58] has been selected as an\nelementary symbol of concord and harmony--virtues which are not more\nessential to the preservation and perpetuity of our own society than they\nare to that of every human association.\n\nThe perfect ashlar, therefore,--the stone thus fitted for its appropriate\nposition in the temple,--becomes not only a symbol of human perfection (in\nitself, of course, only a comparative term), but also, when we refer to\nthe mode in which it was prepared, of that species of perfection which\nresults from the concord and union of men in society. It is, in fact, a\nsymbol of the social character of the institution.\n\nThere are other elementary symbols, to which I may hereafter have occasion\nto revert; the three, however, already described,--the rough ashlar, the\nperfect ashlar, and the trestle-board,--and which, from their importance,\nhave received the name of \"jewels,\" will be sufficient to give some idea\nof the nature of what may be called the \"symbolic alphabet\" of Masonry.\nLet us now proceed to a brief consideration of the method in which this\nalphabet of the science is applied to the more elevated and abstruser\nportions of the system, and which, as the temple constitutes its most\nimportant type, I have chosen to call the \"Temple Symbolism of Masonry.\"\n\nBoth Scripture and tradition inform us that, at the building of King\nSolomon's temple, the masons were divided into different classes, each\nengaged in different tasks. We learn, from the Second Book of Chronicles,\nthat these classes were the bearers of burdens, the hewers of stones, and\nthe overseers, called by the old masonic writers the _Ish sabal_, the _Ish\nchotzeb_, and the _Menatzchim_. Now, without pretending to say that the\nmodern institution has preserved precisely the same system of regulations\nas that which was observed at the temple, we shall certainly find a\nsimilarity in these divisions to the Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master\nMasons of our own day. At all events, the three divisions made by King\nSolomon, in the workmen at Jerusalem, have been adopted as the types of\nthe three degrees now practised in speculative Masonry; and as such we\nare, therefore, to consider them. The mode in which these three divisions\nof workmen labored in constructing the temple, has been beautifully\nsymbolized in speculative Masonry, and constitutes an important and\ninteresting part of temple symbolism.\n\nThus we know, from our own experience among modern workmen, who still\npursue the same method, as well as from the traditions of the order, that\nthe implements used in the quarries were few and simple, the work there\nrequiring necessarily, indeed, but two tools, namely, the _twenty-four\ninch gauge_, or two foot rule, and the _common gavel_, or stone-cutter's\nhammer. With the former implement, the operative mason took the necessary\ndimensions of the stone he was about to prepare, and with the latter, by\nrepeated blows, skilfully applied, he broke off every unnecessary\nprotuberance, and rendered it smooth and square, and fit to take its place\nin the building.\n\nAnd thus, in the first degree of speculative Masonry, the Entered\nApprentice receives these simple implements, as the emblematic working\ntools of his profession, with their appropriate symbolical instruction. To\nthe operative mason their mechanical and practical use alone is signified,\nand nothing more of value does their presence convey to his mind. To the\nspeculative Mason the sight of them is suggestive of far nobler and\nsublimer thoughts; they teach him to measure, not stones, but time; not to\nsmooth and polish the marble for the builder's use, but to purify and\ncleanse his heart from every vice and imperfection that would render it\nunfit for a place in the spiritual temple of his body.\n\nIn the symbolic alphabet of Freemasonry, therefore, the twenty-four inch\ngauge is a symbol of time well employed; the common gavel, of the\npurification of the heart.\n\nHere we may pause for a moment to refer to one of the coincidences between\nFreemasonry and those _Mysteries_[59] which formed so important a part of\nthe ancient religions, and which coincidences have led the writers on this\nsubject to the formation of a well-supported theory that there was a\ncommon connection between them. The coincidence to which I at present\nallude is this: in all these Mysteries--the incipient ceremony of\ninitiation--the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or\npurification. The aspirant was not permitted to enter the sacred\nvestibule, or take any part in the secret formula of initiation, until, by\nwater or by fire, he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of\nthe world which he was about to leave behind. I need not, after this, do\nmore than suggest the similarity of this formula, in principle, to a\ncorresponding one in Freemasonry, where the first symbols presented to the\napprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart, of which\nthe purification of the body in the ancient Mysteries was symbolic.\n\nWe no longer use the bath or the fountain, because in our philosophical\nsystem the symbolization is more abstract, if I may use the term; but we\npresent the aspirant with the _lamb-skin apron_, the _gauge_, and the\n_gavel_, as symbols of a spiritual purification. The design is the same,\nbut the mode in which it is accomplished is different.\n\nLet us now resume the connected series of temple symbolism.\n\nAt the building of the temple, the stones having been thus prepared by the\nworkmen of the lowest degree (the Apprentices, as we now call them, the\naspirants of the ancient Mysteries), we are informed that they were\ntransported to the site of the edifice on Mount Moriah, and were there\nplaced in the hands of another class of workmen, who are now technically\ncalled the Fellow Crafts, and who correspond to the Mystes, or those who\nhad received the second degree of the ancient Mysteries. At this stage of\nthe operative work more extensive and important labors were to be\nperformed, and accordingly a greater amount of skill and knowledge was\nrequired of those to whom these labors were intrusted. The stones, having\nbeen prepared by the Apprentices[60] (for hereafter, in speaking of the\nworkmen of the temple, I shall use the equivalent appellations of the more\nmodern Masons), were now to be deposited in their destined places in the\nbuilding, and the massive walls were to be erected. For these purposes\nimplements of a higher and more complicated character than the gauge and\ngavel were necessary. The _square_ was required to fit the joints with\nsufficient accuracy, the _level_ to run the courses in a horizontal line,\nand the _plumb_ to erect the whole with due regard to perfect\nperpendicularity. This portion of the labor finds its symbolism in the\nsecond degree of the speculative science, and in applying this symbolism\nwe still continue to refer to the idea of erecting a spiritual temple in\nthe heart.\n\nThe necessary preparations, then, having been made in the first degree,\nthe lessons having been received by which the aspirant is taught to\ncommence the labor of life with the purification of the heart, as a Fellow\nCraft he continues the task by cultivating those virtues which give form\nand impression to the character, as well adapted stones give shape and\nstability to the building. And hence the \"working tools\" of the Fellow\nCraft are referred, in their symbolic application, to those virtues. In\nthe alphabet of symbolism, we find the square, the level, and the plumb\nappropriated to this second degree. The square is a symbol denoting\nmorality. It teaches us to apply the unerring principles of moral science\nto every action of our lives, to see that all the motives and results of\nour conduct shall coincide with the dictates of divine justice, and that\nall our thoughts, words, and deeds shall harmoniously conspire, like the\nwell-adjusted and rightly-squared joints of an edifice, to produce a\nsmooth, unbroken life of virtue.\n\nThe plumb is a symbol of rectitude of conduct, and inculcates that\nintegrity of life and undeviating course of moral uprightness which can\nalone distinguish the good and just man. As the operative workman erects\nhis temporal building with strict observance of that plumb-line, which\nwill not permit him to deviate a hair's breadth to the right or to the\nleft, so the speculative Mason, guided by the unerring principles of right\nand truth inculcated in the symbolic teachings of the same implement, is\nsteadfast in the pursuit of truth, neither bending beneath the frowns of\nadversity nor yielding to the seductions of prosperity.[61]\n\nThe level, the last of the three working tools of the operative craftsman,\nis a symbol of equality of station. Not that equality of civil or social\nposition which is to be found only in the vain dreams of the anarchist or\nthe Utopian, but that great moral and physical equality which affects the\nwhole human race as the children of one common Father, who causes his sun\nto shine and his rain to fall on all alike, and who has so appointed the\nuniversal lot of humanity, that death, the leveller of all human\ngreatness, is made to visit with equal pace the prince's palace and the\npeasant's hut.[62]\n\nHere, then, we have three more signs or hieroglyphics added to our\nalphabet of symbolism. Others there are in this degree, but they belong\nto a higher grade of interpretation, and cannot be appropriately discussed\nin an essay on temple symbolism only.\n\nWe now reach the third degree, the Master Masons of the modern science,\nand the Epopts, or beholders of the sacred things in the ancient\nMysteries.\n\nIn the third degree the symbolic allusions to the temple of Solomon, and\nthe implements of Masonry employed in its construction, are extended and\nfully completed. At the building of that edifice, we have already seen\nthat one class of the workmen was employed in the preparation of the\nmaterials, while another was engaged in placing those materials in their\nproper position. But there was a third and higher class,--the master\nworkmen,--whose duty it was to superintend the two other classes, and to\nsee that the stones were not only duly prepared, but that the most exact\naccuracy had been observed in giving to them their true juxtaposition in\nthe edifice. It was then only that the last and finishing labor[63] was\nperformed, and the cement was applied by these skilful workmen, to secure\nthe materials in their appropriate places, and to unite the building in\none enduring and connected mass. Hence the _trowel_, we are informed, was\nthe most important, though of course not the only, implement in use among\nthe master builders. They did not permit this last, indelible operation to\nbe performed by any hands less skilful than their own. They required that\nthe craftsmen should prove the correctness of their work by the square,\nlevel, and plumb, and test, by these unerring instruments, the accuracy of\ntheir joints; and, when satisfied of the just arrangement of every part,\nthe cement, which was to give an unchangeable union to the whole, was then\napplied by themselves.\n\nHence, in speculative Masonry, the trowel has been assigned to the third\ndegree as its proper implement, and the symbolic meaning which accompanies\nit has a strict and beautiful reference to the purposes for which it was\nused in the ancient temple; for as it was there employed \"to spread the\ncement which united the building in one common mass,\" so is it selected as\nthe symbol of brotherly love--that cement whose object is to unite our\nmystic association in one sacred and harmonious band of brethren.\n\nHere, then, we perceive the first, or, as I have already called it, the\nelementary form of our symbolism--the adaptation of the terms, and\nimplements, and processes of an operative art to a speculative science.\nThe temple is now completed. The stones having been hewed, squared, and\nnumbered in the quarries by the apprentices,--having been properly\nadjusted by the craftsmen, and finally secured in their appropriate\nplaces, with the strongest and purest cement, by the master builders,--the\ntemple of King Solomon presented, in its finished condition, so noble an\nappearance of sublimity and grandeur as to well deserve to be selected, as\nit has been, for the type or symbol of that immortal temple of the body,\nto which Christ significantly and symbolically alluded when he said,\n\"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.\"\n\nThis idea of representing the interior and spiritual man by a material\ntemple is so apposite in all its parts as to have occurred on more than\none occasion to the first teachers of Christianity. Christ himself\nrepeatedly alludes to it in other passages, and the eloquent and\nfigurative St. Paul beautifully extends the idea in one of his Epistles to\nthe Corinthians, in the following language: \"Know ye not that ye are the\ntemple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?\" And again, in\na subsequent passage of the same Epistle, he reiterates the idea in a more\npositive form: \"What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy\nGhost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?\" And\nDr. Adam Clarke, while commenting on this latter passage, makes the very\nallusions which have been the topic of discussion in the present essay.\n\"As truly,\" says he, \"as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle and\nin the temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls\nof genuine Christians; and as the temple and all its _utensils_ were holy,\nseparated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the\nservice of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy, and should\nbe employed in the service of God alone.\"\n\nThe idea, therefore, of making the temple a symbol of the body, is not\nexclusively masonic; but the mode of treating the symbolism by a reference\nto the particular temple of Solomon, and to the operative art engaged in\nits construction, is peculiar to Freemasonry. It is this which isolates it\nfrom all other similar associations. Having many things in common with the\nsecret societies and religious Mysteries of antiquity, in this \"temple\nsymbolism\" it differs from them all.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.\n\nThe Form of the Lodge.\n\n\n\n\nIn the last essay, I treated of that symbolism of the masonic system which\nmakes the temple of Jerusalem the archetype of a lodge, and in which, in\nconsequence, all the symbols are referred to the connection of a\nspeculative science with an operative art. I propose in the present to\ndiscourse of a higher and abstruser mode of symbolism; and it may be\nobserved that, in coming to this topic, we arrive, for the first time, at\nthat chain of resemblances which unites Freemasonry with the ancient\nsystems of religion, and which has given rise, among masonic writers, to\nthe names of Pure and Spurious Freemasonry--the pure Freemasonry being\nthat system of philosophical religion which, coming through the line of\nthe patriarchs, was eventually modified by influences exerted at the\nbuilding of King Solomon's temple, and the spurious being the same system\nas it was altered and corrupted by the polytheism of the nations of\nheathendom.[64]\n\nAs this abstruser mode of symbolism, if less peculiar to the masonic\nsystem, is, however, far more interesting than the one which was treated\nin the previous essay,--because it is more philosophical,--I propose to\ngive an extended investigation of its character. And, in the first place,\nthere is what may be called an elementary view of this abstruser\nsymbolism, which seems almost to be a corollary from what has already been\ndescribed in the preceding article.\n\nAs each individual mason has been supposed to be the symbol of a spiritual\ntemple,--\"a temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,\"--the\nlodge or collected assemblage of these masons, is adopted as a symbol of\nthe world.[65]\n\nIt is in the first degree of Masonry, more particularly, that this\nspecies of symbolism is developed. In its detail it derives the\ncharacteristics of resemblance upon which it is founded, from the form,\nthe supports, the ornaments, and general construction and internal\norganization of a lodge, in all of which the symbolic reference to the\nworld is beautifully and consistently sustained.\n\nThe form of a masonic lodge is said to be a parallelogram, or oblong\nsquare; its greatest length being from east to west, its breadth from\nnorth to south. A square, a circle, a triangle, or any other form but that\nof an _oblong square_, would be eminently incorrect and unmasonic, because\nsuch a figure would not be an expression of the symbolic idea which is\nintended to be conveyed.\n\nNow, as the world is a globe, or, to speak more accurately, an oblate\nspheroid, the attempt to make an oblong square its symbol would seem, at\nfirst view, to present insuperable difficulties. But the system of masonic\nsymbolism has stood the test of too long an experience to be easily found\nat fault; and therefore this very symbol furnishes a striking evidence of\nthe antiquity of the order. At the Solomonic era--the era of the building\nof the temple at Jerusalem--the world, it must be remembered, was supposed\nto have that very oblong form,[66] which has been here symbolized. If, for\ninstance, on a map of the world we should inscribe an oblong figure whose\nboundary lines would circumscribe and include just that portion which was\nknown to be inhabited in the clays of Solomon, these lines, running a\nshort distance north and south of the Mediterranean Sea, and extending\nfrom Spain in the west to Asia Minor in the east, would form an oblong\nsquare, including the southern shore of Europe, the northern shore of\nAfrica, and the western district of Asia, the length of the parallelogram\nbeing about sixty degrees from east to west, and its breadth being about\ntwenty degrees from north to south. This oblong square, thus enclosing the\nwhole of what was then supposed to be the habitable globe,[67] would\nprecisely represent what is symbolically said to be _the form of the\nlodge_, while the Pillars of Hercules in the west, on each side of the\nstraits of Gades or Gibraltar, might appropriately be referred to the two\npillars that stood at the porch of the temple.\n\n[Illustration: Map of Mediterranean Sea and surrounding area.]\n\nA masonic lodge is, therefore, a symbol of the world.\n\nThis symbol is sometimes, by a very usual figure of speech, extended, in\nits application, and the world and the universe are made synonymous, when\nthe lodge becomes, of course, a symbol of the universe. But in this case\nthe definition of the symbol is extended, and to the ideas of length and\nbreadth are added those of height and depth, and the lodge is said to\nassume the form of a double cube.[68] The solid contents of the earth\nbelow and the expanse of the heavens above will then give the outlines of\nthe cube, and the whole created universe[69] will be included within the\nsymbolic limits of a mason's lodge.\n\nBy always remembering that the lodge is the symbol, in its form and\nextent, of the world, we are enabled, readily and rationally, to explain\nmany other symbols, attached principally to the first degree; and we are\nenabled to collate and compare them with similar symbols of other kindred\ninstitutions of antiquity, for it should be observed that this symbolism\nof the world, represented by a place of initiation, widely pervaded all\nthe ancient rites and mysteries.\n\nIt will, no doubt, be interesting to extend our investigations on this\nsubject, with a particular view to the method in which this symbolism of\nthe world or the universe was developed, in some of its most prominent\ndetails; and for this purpose I shall select the mystical explanation of\nthe _officers_ of a lodge, its _covering_, and a portion of its\n_ornaments_.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.\n\nThe Officers of a Lodge.\n\n\n\nThe Three Principal Officers of a lodge are, it is needless to say,\nsituated in the east, the west, and the south. Now, bearing in mind that\nthe lodge is a symbol of the world, or the universe, the reference of\nthese three officers to the sun at its rising, its setting, and its\nmeridian height, must at once suggest itself.\n\nThis is the first development of the symbol, and a very brief inquiry will\nfurnish ample evidence of its antiquity and its universality.\n\nIn the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, which are among the earliest\nthat have been transmitted to us, and may almost be considered as the\ncradle of all the others of subsequent ages and various countries, the\nceremonies were performed in vast caverns, the remains of some of which,\nat Salsette, Elephanta, and a few other places, will give the spectator\nbut a very inadequate idea of the extent and splendor of these ancient\nIndian lodges.[70] More imperfect remains than these are still to be found\nin great numbers throughout Hindostan and Cashmere. Their form was\nsometimes that of a cross, emblematic of the four elements of which the\nearth is composed,--fire, water, air, and earth,--but more generally an\noval, as a representation of the mundane egg, which, in the ancient\nsystems, was a symbol of the world.[71]\n\nThe interior of the cavern of initiation was lighted by innumerable lamps,\nand there sat in the east, the west, and the south the principal\nHierophants, or explainers of the Mysteries, as the representatives of\nBrahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Now, Brahma was the supreme deity of the\nHindoos, borrowed or derived from the Sun-god of their Sabean ancestors,\nand Vishnu and Siva were but manifestations of his attributes. We learn\nfrom the Indian Pantheon that \"when the sun rises in the east, he is\nBrahma; when he gains his meridian in the south, he is Siva; and when he\nsets in the west, he is Vishnu.\"\n\nAgain, in the Zoroasteric mysteries of Persia, the temple of initiation\nwas circular, being made so to represent the universe; and the sun in the\neast, with the surrounding zodiac, formed an indispensable part of the\nceremony of reception.[72]\n\nIn the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris, the same reference to the sun is\ncontained, and Herodotus, who was himself an initiate, intimates that the\nceremonies consisted in the representation of a Sun-god, who had been\nincarnate, that is, had appeared upon earth, or rose, and who was at\nlength put to death by Typhon, the symbol of darkness, typical of the\nsun's setting.\n\nIn the great mysteries of Eleusis,[73] which were celebrated at Athens, we\nlearn from St. Chrysostom, as well as other authorities, that the temple\nof initiation was symbolic of the universe, and we know that one of the\nofficers represented the sun.[74]\n\nIn the Celtic mysteries of the Druids, the temple of initiation was either\noval, to represent the mundane egg--a symbol, as has already been said, of\nthe world; or circular, because the circle was a symbol of the universe;\nor cruciform, in allusion to the four elements, or constituents of the\nuniverse. In the Island of Lewis, in Scotland, there is one combining the\ncruciform and circular form. There is a circle, consisting of twelve\nstones, while three more are placed in the east, and as many in the west\nand south, and thirty-eight, in two parallel lines, in the north, forming\nan avenue to the circular temple. In the centre of the circle is the image\nof the god. In the initiations into these rites, the solar deity performed\nan important part, and the celebrations commenced at daybreak, when the\nsun was hailed on his appearance above the horizon as \"the god of victory,\nthe king who rises in light and ascends the sky.\"\n\nBut I need not multiply these instances of sun-worship. Every country and\nreligion of the ancient world would afford one.[75] Sufficient has been\ncited to show the complete coincidence, in reference to the sun, between\nthe symbolism of Freemasonry and that of the ancient rites and Mysteries,\nand to suggest for them a common origin, the sun being always in the\nformer system, from the earliest times of the primitive or patriarchal\nMasonry, considered simply as a manifestation of the Wisdom, Strength, and\nBeauty of the Divine Architect, visibly represented by the position of the\nthree principal officers of a lodge, while by the latter, in their\ndegeneration from, and corruption of the true Noachic faith, it was\nadopted as the special object of adoration.\n\n\n\n\nXV.\n\nThe Point Within a Circle.\n\n\n\nThe point within a Circle is another symbol of great importance in\nFreemasonry, and commands peculiar attention in this connection with the\nancient symbolism of the universe and the solar orb. Everybody who has\nread a masonic \"Monitor\" is well acquainted with the usual explanation of\nthis symbol. We are told that the point represents an individual brother,\nthe circle the boundary line of his duty to God and man, and the two\nperpendicular parallel lines the patron saints of the order--St. John the\nBaptist and St. John the Evangelist.\n\nNow, this explanation, trite and meagre as it is, may do very well for the\nexoteric teaching of the order; but the question at this time is, not how\nit has been explained by modern lecturers and masonic system-makers, but\nwhat was the ancient interpretation of the symbol, and how should it be\nread as a sacred hieroglyphic in reference to the true philosophic system\nwhich constitutes the real essence and character of Freemasonry?\n\nPerfectly to understand this symbol, I must refer, as a preliminary\nmatter, to the worship of the _Phallus_, a peculiar modification of\nsun-worship, which prevailed to a great extent among the nations of\nantiquity.\n\nThe Phallus was a sculptured representation of the _membrum virile_, or\nmale organ of generation,[76] and the worship of it is said to have\noriginated in Egypt, where, after the murder of Osiris by Typhon, which is\nsymbolically to be explained as the destruction or deprivation of the\nsun's light by night, Isis, his wife, or the symbol of nature, in the\nsearch for his mutilated body, is said to have found all the parts except\nthe organs of generation, which myth is simply symbolic of the fact, that\nthe sun having set, its fecundating and invigorating power had ceased. The\nPhallus, therefore, as the symbol of the male generative principle, was\nvery universally venerated among the ancients,[77] and that too as a\nreligious rite, without the slightest reference to any impure or\nlascivious application.[78] He is supposed, by some commentators, to be\nthe god mentioned under the name of Baal-peor, in the Book of Numbers,[79]\nas having been worshipped by the idolatrous Moabites. Among the eastern\nnations of India the same symbol was prevalent, under the name of\n\"Lingam.\" But the Phallus or Lingam was a representation of the male\nprinciple only. To perfect the circle of generation it is necessary to\nadvance one step farther. Accordingly we find in the _Cteis_ of the\nGreeks, and the _Yoni_ of the Indians, a symbol of the female generative\nprinciple, of co-extensive prevalence with the Phallus. The _Cteis_ was a\ncircular and concave pedestal, or receptacle, on which the Phallus or\ncolumn rested, and from the centre of which it sprang.\n\nThe union of the Phallus and Cteis, or the Lingam and Yoni, in one\ncompound figure, as an object of adoration, was the most usual mode of\nrepresentation. This was in strict accordance with the whole system of\nancient mythology, which was founded upon a worship of the prolific powers\nof nature. All the deities of pagan antiquity, however numerous they may\nbe, can always be reduced to the two different forms of the generative\nprinciple--the active, or male, and the passive, or female. Hence the gods\nwere always arranged in pairs, as Jupiter and Juno, Bacchus and Venus,\nOsiris and Isis. But the ancients went farther. Believing that the\nprocreative and productive powers of nature might be conceived to exist in\nthe same individual, they made the older of their deities hermaphrodite,\nand used the term \u1f00\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03c5\u03c2, or _man-virgin_, to denote the union of the\ntwo sexes in the same divine person.[80]\n\nThus, in one of the Orphic Hymns, we find this line:--\n\n    \"\u0396\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f04\u03c1\u03c3\u03b7\u03bd \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf, \u0396\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2 \u1f04\u03bc\u03b2\u03c1\u03bf\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf \u03bd\u03cd\u03bc\u03c6\u03b7.\"\n\n    Jove was created a male and an unspotted virgin.\n\nAnd Plutarch, in his tract \"On Isis and Osiris,\" says, \"God, who is a male\nand female intelligence, being both life and light, brought forth another\nintelligence, the Creator of the World.\"\n\nNow, this hermaphrodism of the Supreme Divinity was again supposed to be\nrepresented by the sun, which was the male generative energy, and by\nnature, or the universe, which was the female prolific principle.[81] And\nthis union was symbolized in different ways, but principally by _the\npoint within the circle_, the point indicating the sun, and the circle the\nuniverse, invigorated and fertilized by his generative rays. And in some\nof the Indian cave-temples, this allusion was made more manifest by the\ninscription of the signs of the zodiac on the circle.\n\nSo far, then, we arrive at the true interpretation of the masonic\nsymbolism of the point within the circle. It is the same thing, but under\na different form, as the Master and Wardens of a lodge. The Master and\nWardens are symbols of the sun, the lodge of the universe, or world, just\nas the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of\nthe universe.\n\nBut the two perpendicular parallel lines remain to be explained. Every one\nis familiar with the very recent interpretation, that they represent the\ntwo Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist. But this modern\nexposition must be abandoned, if we desire to obtain the true ancient\nsignification.\n\nIn the first place, we must call to mind the fact that, at two particular\npoints of his course, the sun is found in the zodiacal signs of Cancer and\nCapricorn. These points are astronomically distinguished as the summer and\nwinter solstice. When the sun is in these points, he has reached his\ngreatest northern and southern declination, and produces the most evident\neffects on the temperature of the seasons, and on the length of the days\nand nights. These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's\napparent course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines\ntouch the circle, or, in other words, the parallels will indicate the\nlimits of the sun's extreme northern and southern declination, when he\narrives at the solstitial points of Cancer and Capricorn.\n\nBut the days when the sun reaches these points are, respectively, the 21st\nof June and the 22d of December, and this will account for their\nsubsequent application to the two Saints John, whose anniversaries have\nbeen placed by the church near those days.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.\n\nThe Covering of the Lodge.\n\n\n\nThe Covering of the lodge is another, and must be our last reference to\nthis symbolism of the world or the universe. The mere mention of the fact\nthat this covering is figuratively supposed to be \"a clouded canopy,\" or\nthe firmament, on which the host of stars is represented, will be enough\nto indicate the continued allusion to the symbolism of the world. The\nlodge, as a representative of the world, is of course supposed to have no\nother roof than the heavens;[82] and it would scarcely be necessary to\nenter into any discussion on the subject, were it not that another\nsymbol--the theological ladder--is so intimately connected with it, that\nthe one naturally suggests the other. Now, this mystic ladder, which\nconnects the ground floor of the lodge with its roof or covering, is\nanother important and interesting link, which binds, with one common\nchain, the symbolism and ceremonies of Freemasonry, and the symbolism and\nrites of the ancient initiations.\n\nThis mystical ladder, which in Masonry is referred to \"the theological\nladder, which Jacob in his vision saw, reaching from earth to heaven,\" was\nwidely dispersed among the religions of antiquity, where it was always\nsupposed to consist of seven rounds or steps.\n\nFor instance, in the Mysteries of Mithras, in Persia, where there were\nseven stages or degrees of initiation, there was erected in the temples,\nor rather caves,--for it was in them that the initiation was\nconducted,--a high ladder, of seven steps or gates, each of which was\ndedicated to one of the planets, which was typified by one of the metals,\nthe topmost step representing the sun, so that, beginning at the bottom,\nwe have Saturn represented by lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass,\nMercury by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by silver, and the Sun by\ngold, the whole being a symbol of the sidereal progress of the solar orb\nthrough the universe.\n\nIn the Mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to the ladder of\nseven steps; but here the names were different, although there was the\nsame allusion to the symbol of the universe. The seven steps were\nemblematical of the seven worlds which constituted the Indian universe.\nThe lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Reexistence; the third,\nHeaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region between the\nlower and upper worlds; the fifth, the World of Births, in which souls are\nagain born; the sixth, the Mansion of the Blessed; and the seventh, or\ntopmost round, the Sphere of Truth, the abode of Brahma, he himself being\nbut a symbol of the sun, and hence we arrive once more at the masonic\nsymbolism of the universe and the solar orb.\n\nDr. Oliver thinks that in the Scandinavian Mysteries he has found the\nmystic ladder in the sacred tree _Ydrasil;_[83] but here the reference to\nthe septenary division is so imperfect, or at least abstruse, that I am\nunwilling to press it into our catalogue of coincidences, although there\nis no doubt that we shall find in this sacred tree the same allusion as in\nthe ladder of Jacob, to an ascent from earth, where its roots were\nplanted, to heaven, where its branches expanded, which ascent being but a\nchange from mortality to immortality, from time to eternity, was the\ndoctrine taught in all the initiations. The ascent of the ladder or of the\ntree was the ascent from life here to life hereafter--from earth to\nheaven.\n\nIt is unnecessary to carry these parallelisms any farther. Any one can,\nhowever, see in them an undoubted reference to that septenary division\nwhich so universally prevailed throughout the ancient world, and the\ninfluence of which is still felt even in the common day life and\nobservances of our time. Seven was, among the Hebrews, their perfect\nnumber; and hence we see it continually recurring in all their sacred\nrites. The creation was perfected in seven days; seven priests, with\nseven trumpets, encompassed the walls of Jericho for seven days; Noah\nreceived seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and seven\npersons accompanied him into the ark, which rested on Mount Ararat on the\nseventh month; Solomon was seven years in building the temple: and there\nare hundreds of other instances of the prominence of this talismanic\nnumber, if there were either time or necessity to cite them.\n\nAmong the Gentiles the same number was equally sacred. Pythagoras called\nit a \"venerable number.\" The septenary division of time into weeks of\nseven days, although not universal, as has been generally supposed, was\nsufficiently so to indicate the influence of the number. And it is\nremarkable, as perhaps in some way referring to the seven-stepped ladder\nwhich we have been considering, that in the ancient Mysteries, as Apuleius\ninforms us, the candidate was seven times washed in the consecrated waters\nof ablution.\n\nThere is, then, an anomaly in giving to the mystical ladder of Masonry\nonly _three_ rounds. It is an anomaly, however, with which Masonry has had\nnothing to do. The error arose from the ignorance of those inventors who\nfirst engraved the masonic symbols for our monitors. The ladder of\nMasonry, like the equipollent ladders of its kindred institutions, always\nhad seven steps, although in modern times the three principal or upper\nones are alone alluded to. These rounds, beginning at the lowest, are\n_Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope_, and _Charity_.\nCharity, therefore, takes the same place in the ladder of masonic virtues\nas the sun does in the ladder of planets. In the ladder of metals we find\ngold, and in that of colors yellow, occupying the same elevated position.\nNow, St. Paul explains Charity as signifying, not alms-giving, which is\nthe modern popular meaning, but love--that love which \"suffereth long and\nis kind;\" and when, in our lectures on this subject, we speak of it as the\ngreatest of virtues, because, when Faith is lost and Hope has ceased, it\nextends \"beyond the grave to realms of endless bliss,\" we there refer it\nto the Divine Love of our Creator. But Portal, in his Essay on Symbolic\nColors, informs us that the sun represents Divine Love, and gold indicates\nthe goodness of God.\n\nSo that if Charity is equivalent to Divine Love, and Divine Love is\nrepresented by the sun, and lastly, if Charity be the topmost round of the\nmasonic ladder, then again we arrive, as the result of our researches, at\nthe symbol so often already repeated of the solar orb. The natural sun or\nthe spiritual sun--the sun, either as the vivifying principle of animated\nnature, and therefore the special object of adoration, or as the most\nprominent instrument of the Creator's benevolence--was ever a leading idea\nin the symbolism of antiquity.\n\nIts prevalence, therefore, in the masonic institution, is a pregnant\nevidence of the close analogy existing between it and all these systems.\nHow that analogy was first introduced, and how it is to be explained,\nwithout detriment to the purity and truthfulness of our own religious\ncharacter, would involve a long inquiry into the origin of Freemasonry,\nand the history of its connection with the ancient systems.\n\nThese researches might have been extended still farther; enough, however,\nhas been said to establish the following leading principles:--\n\n1. That Freemasonry is, strictly speaking, a science of symbolism.\n\n2. That in this symbolism it bears a striking analogy to the same science,\nas seen in the mystic rites of the ancient religions.\n\n3. That as in these ancient religions the universe was symbolized to the\ncandidate, and the sun, as its vivifying principle, made the object of his\nadoration, or at least of his veneration, so, in Masonry, the lodge is\nmade the representative of the world or the universe, and the sun is\npresented as its most prominent symbol.\n\n4. That this identity of symbolism proves an identity of origin, which\nidentity of origin can be shown to be strictly compatible with the true\nreligious sentiment of Masonry.\n\n5. And fifthly and lastly, that the whole symbolism of Freemasonry has an\nexclusive reference to what the Kabalists have called the ALGABIL--the\n_Master Builder_--him whom Freemasons have designated as the Grand\nArchitect of the Universe.\n\n\n\n\nXVII.\n\nRitualistic Symbolism.\n\n\n\nWe have hitherto been engaged in the consideration of these simple\nsymbols, which appear to express one single and independent idea. They\nhave sometimes been called the \"alphabet of Freemasonry,\" but improperly,\nI think, since the letters of the alphabet have, in themselves, unlike\nthese masonic symbols, no significance, but are simply the component parts\nof words, themselves the representatives of ideas.\n\nThese masonic symbols rather may be compared to the elementary characters\nof the Chinese language, each of which denotes an idea; or, still better,\nto the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, in which one object was\nrepresented in full by another which bore some subjective relation to it,\nas the wind was represented by the wings of a bird, or courage by the head\nand shoulders of a lion.\n\nIt is in the same way that in Masonry the plumb represents rectitude, the\nlevel, human equality, and the trowel, concord or harmony. Each is, in\nitself, independent, each expresses a single elementary idea.\n\nBut we now arrive at a higher division of masonic symbolism, which,\npassing beyond these tangible symbols, brings us to those which are of a\nmore abstruse nature, and which, as being developed in a ceremonial form,\ncontrolled and directed by the ritual of the order, may be designated as\nthe _ritualistic symbolism_ of Freemasonry.\n\nIt is to this higher division that I now invite attention; and for the\npurpose of exemplifying the definition that I have given, I shall select a\nfew of the most prominent and interesting ceremonies of the ritual.\n\nOur first researches were into the symbolism of objects; our next will be\ninto the symbolism of ceremonies.\n\nIn the explanations which I shall venture to give of this ritualistic\nsymbolism, or the symbolism of ceremonies, a reference will constantly be\nmade to what has so often already been alluded to, namely, to the analogy\nexisting between the system of Freemasonry and the ancient rites and\nMysteries, and hence we will again develop the identity of their origin.\n\nEach of the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry contains some of these\nritualistic symbols: the lessons of the whole order are, indeed, veiled in\ntheir allegoric clothing; but it is only to the most important that I can\nfind opportunity to refer. Such, among others, are the rites of\ndiscalceation, of investiture, of circumambulation, and of intrusting.\nEach of these will furnish an appropriate subject for consideration.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.\n\nThe Rite of Discalceation.\n\n\n\nThe _rite of discalceation_, or uncovering the feet on approaching holy\nground, is derived from the Latin word _discalceare_, to pluck off one's\nshoes. The usage has the prestige of antiquity and universality in its\nfavor.\n\nThat it not only very generally prevailed, but that its symbolic\nsignification was well understood in the days of Moses, we learn from that\npassage of Exodus where the angel of the Lord, at the burning bush,\nexclaims to the patriarch, \"Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from\noff thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.\" [84]\nClarke[85] thinks it is from this command that the Eastern nations have\nderived the custom of performing all their acts of religious worship with\nbare feet. But it is much more probable that the ceremony was in use long\nanterior to the circumstance of the burning bush, and that the Jewish\nlawgiver at once recognized it as a well-known sign of reverence.\n\nBishop Patrick[86] entertains this opinion, and thinks that the custom\nwas derived from the ancient patriarchs, and was transmitted by a general\ntradition to succeeding times.\n\nAbundant evidence might be furnished from ancient authors of the existence\nof the custom among all nations, both Jewish and Gentile. A few of them,\nprincipally collected by Dr. Mede, must be curious and interesting.\n\nThe direction of Pythagoras to his disciples was in these words:\n\"\u0391\u03bd\u03c5\u03c0\u03cc\u03b4\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03cd\u03b5 \u03d7\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u03cc\u03c3\u03d7\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9;\" that is, Offer sacrifice and worship with\nthy shoes off.[87]\n\nJustin Martyr says that those who came to worship in the sanctuaries and\ntemples of the Gentiles were commanded by their priests to put off their\nshoes.\n\nDrusius, in his Notes on the Book of Joshua, says that among most of the\nEastern nations it was a pious duty to tread the pavement of the temple\nwith unshod feet.[88]\n\nMaimonides, the great expounder of the Jewish law, asserts that \"it was\nnot lawful for a man to come into the mountain of God's house with his\nshoes on his feet, or with his staff, or in his working garments, or with\ndust on his feet.\" [89]\n\nRabbi Solomon, commenting on the command in Leviticus xix. 30, \"Ye shall\nreverence my sanctuary,\" makes the same remark in relation to this custom.\nOn this subject Dr. Oliver observes, \"Now, the act of going with naked\nfeet was always considered a token of humility and reverence; and the\npriests, in the temple worship, always officiated with feet uncovered,\nalthough it was frequently injurious to their health.\" [90]\n\nMede quotes Zago Zaba, an Ethiopian bishop, who was ambassador from David,\nKing of Abyssinia, to John III., of Portugal, as saying, \"We are not\npermitted to enter the church, except barefooted.\" [91]\n\nThe Mohammedans, when about to perform their devotions, always leave their\nslippers at the door of the mosque. The Druids practised the same custom\nwhenever they celebrated their sacred rites; and the ancient Peruvians are\nsaid always to have left their shoes at the porch when they entered the\nmagnificent temple consecrated to the worship of the sun.\n\nAdam Clarke thinks that the custom of worshipping the Deity barefooted was\nso general among all nations of antiquity, that he assigns it as one of\nhis thirteen proofs that the whole human race have been derived from one\nfamily.[92]\n\nA theory might be advanced as follows: The shoes, or sandals, were worn on\nordinary occasions as a protection from the defilement of the ground. To\ncontinue to wear them, then, in a consecrated place, would be a tacit\ninsinuation that the ground there was equally polluted and capable of\nproducing defilement. But, as the very character of a holy and consecrated\nspot precludes the idea of any sort of defilement or impurity, the\nacknowledgment that such was the case was conveyed, symbolically, by\ndivesting the feet of all that protection from pollution and uncleanness\nwhich would be necessary in unconsecrated places.\n\nSo, in modern times, we uncover the head to express the sentiment of\nesteem and respect. Now, in former days, when there was more violence to\nbe apprehended than now, the casque, or helmet, afforded an ample\nprotection from any sudden blow of an unexpected adversary. But we can\nfear no violence from one whom we esteem and respect; and, therefore, to\ndeprive the head of its accustomed protection, is to give an evidence of\nour unlimited confidence in the person to whom the gesture is made.\n\nThe rite of discalceation is, therefore, a symbol of reverence. It\nsignifies, in the language of symbolism, that the spot which is about to\nbe approached in this humble and reverential manner is consecrated to some\nholy purpose.\n\nNow, as to all that has been said, the intelligent mason will at once see\nits application to the third degree. Of all the degrees of Masonry, this\nis by far the most important and sublime. The solemn lessons which it\nteaches, the sacred scene which it represents, and the impressive\nceremonies with which it is conducted, are all calculated to inspire the\nmind with feelings of awe and reverence. Into the holy of holies of the\ntemple, when the ark of the covenant had been deposited in its appropriate\nplace, and the Shekinah was hovering over it, the high priest alone, and\non one day only in the whole year, was permitted, after the most careful\npurification, to enter with bare feet, and to pronounce, with fearful\nveneration, the tetragrammaton or omnific word.\n\nAnd into the Master Mason's lodge--this holy of holies of the masonic\ntemple, where the solemn truths of death and immortality are\ninculcated--the aspirant, on entering, should purify his heart from every\ncontamination, and remember, with a due sense of their symbolic\napplication, those words that once broke upon the astonished ears of the\nold patriarch, \"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon\nthou standest is holy ground.\"\n\n\n\n\nXIX.\n\nThe Rite of Investiture.\n\n\n\nAnother ritualistic symbolism, of still more importance and interest, is\nthe _rite of investiture_.\n\nThe rite of investiture, called, in the colloquially technical language of\nthe order, the _ceremony of clothing_, brings us at once to the\nconsideration of that well-known symbol of Freemasonry, the LAMB-SKIN\nAPRON.\n\nThis rite of investiture, or the placing upon the aspirant some garment,\nas an indication of his appropriate preparation for the ceremonies in\nwhich he was about to engage, prevailed in all the ancient initiations. A\nfew of them only it will be requisite to consider.\n\nThus in the Levitical economy of the Israelites the priests always wore\nthe abnet, or linen apron, or girdle, as a part of the investiture of the\npriesthood. This, with the other garments, was to be worn, as the text\nexpresses it, \"for glory and for beauty,\" or, as it has been explained by\na learned commentator, \"as emblematical of that holiness and purity which\never characterize the divine nature, and the worship which is worthy of\nhim.\"\n\nIn the Persian Mysteries of Mithras, the candidate, having first received\nlight, was invested with a girdle, a crown or mitre, a purple tunic, and,\nlastly, a white apron.\n\nIn the initiations practised in Hindostan, in the ceremony of investiture\nwas substituted the sash, or sacred zennaar, consisting of a cord,\ncomposed of nine threads twisted into a knot at the end, and hanging from\nthe left shoulder to the right hip. This was, perhaps, the type of the\nmasonic scarf, which is, or ought to be, always worn in the same position.\n\nThe Jewish sect of the Essenes, who approached nearer than any other\nsecret institution of antiquity to Freemasonry in their organization,\nalways invested their novices with a white robe.\n\nAnd, lastly, in the Scandinavian rites, where the military genius of the\npeople had introduced a warlike species of initiation, instead of the\napron we find the candidate receiving a white shield, which was, however,\nalways presented with the accompaniment of some symbolic instruction, not\nvery dissimilar to that which is connected with the masonic apron.\n\nIn all these modes of investiture, no matter what was the material or the\nform, the symbolic signification intended to be conveyed was that of\npurity.\n\nAnd hence, in Freemasonry, the same symbolism is communicated by the\napron, which, because it is the first gift which the aspirant\nreceives,--the first symbol in which he is instructed,--has been called\nthe \"badge of a mason.\" And most appropriately has it been so called; for,\nwhatever may be the future advancement of the candidate in the \"Royal\nArt,\" into whatever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic institution\nor his thirst for knowledge may carry him, with the apron--his first\ninvestiture--he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its\ndecorations, and conveying at each step some new and beautiful allusion,\nits substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honorable\ntitle by which it was first made known to him on the night of his\ninitiation.\n\nThe apron derives its significance, as the symbol of purity, from two\nsources--from its color and from its material. In each of these points of\nview it is, then, to be considered, before its symbolism can be properly\nappreciated.\n\nAnd, first, the color of the apron must be an unspotted white. This color\nhas, in all ages, been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity. It was\nwith reference to this symbolism that a portion of the vestments of the\nJewish priesthood was directed to be made white. And hence Aaron was\ncommanded, when he entered into the holy of holies to make an expiation\nfor the sins of the people, to appear clothed in white linen, with his\nlinen apron, or girdle, about his loins. It is worthy of remark that the\nHebrew word LABAN, which signifies _to make white_, denotes also _to\npurify_; and hence we find, throughout the Scriptures, many allusions to\nthat color as an emblem of purity. \"Though thy sins be as scarlet,\" says\nIsaiah, \"they shall be _white_ as snow;\" and Jeremiah, in describing the\nonce innocent condition of Zion, says, \"Her Nazarites were purer than\nsnow; they were _whiter_ than milk.\"\n\nIn the Apocalypse a _white stone_ was the reward promised by the Spirit to\nthose who overcame; and in the same mystical book the apostle is\ninstructed to say, that fine linen, clean and _white_, is the\nrighteousness of the saints.\n\nIn the early ages of the Christian church a _white garment_ was always\nplaced upon the catechumen who had been recently baptized, to denote that\nhe had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a\nlife of innocence and purity. Hence it was presented to him with this\nappropriate charge: \"Receive the white and undefiled garment, and produce\nit unspotted before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may\nobtain immortal life.\"\n\nThe _white alb_ still constitutes a part of the vestments of the Roman\nchurch, and its color is said by Bishop England \"to excite to piety by\nteaching us the purity of heart and body which we should possess in being\npresent at the holy mysteries.\"\n\nThe heathens paid the same attention to the symbolic signification of this\ncolor. The Egyptians, for instance, decorated the head of their principal\ndeity, Osiris, with a white tiara, and the priests wore robes of the\nwhitest linen.\n\nIn the school of Pythagoras, the sacred hymns were chanted by the\ndisciples clothed in garments of white. The Druids gave white vestments to\nthose of their initiates who had arrived at the ultimate degree, or that\nof perfection. And this was intended, according to their ritual, to teach\nthe aspirant that none were admitted to that honor but such as were\ncleansed from all impurities, both of body and mind.\n\nIn all the Mysteries and religions rites of the other nations of\nantiquity the same use of white garments was observed.\n\nPortal, in his \"Treatise on Symbolic Colors,\" says that \"white, the symbol\nof the divinity and of the priesthood, represents divine wisdom; applied\nto a young girl, it denotes virginity; to an accused person, innocence; to\na judge, justice;\" and he adds--what in reference to its use in Masonry\nwill be peculiarly appropriate--that, \"as a characteristic sign of purity,\nit exhibits a promise of hope after death.\" We see, therefore, the\npropriety of adopting this color in the masonic system as a symbol of\npurity. This symbolism pervades the whole of the ritual, from the lowest\nto the highest degree, wherever white vestments or white decorations are\nused.\n\nAs to the material of the apron, this is imperatively required to be of\nlamb-skin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be\nsubstituted without entirely destroying the symbolism of the vestment.\nNow, the lamb has, as the ritual expresses it, \"been, in all ages, deemed\nan emblem of innocence;\" but more particularly in the Jewish and Christian\nchurches has this symbolism been observed. Instances of this need hardly\nbe cited. They abound throughout the Old Testament, where we learn that a\nlamb was selected by the Israelites for their sin and burnt offerings, and\nin the New, where the word _lamb_ is almost constantly employed as\nsynonymous with innocence. \"The paschal lamb,\" says Didron, \"which was\neaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure, is the\ntype of that other divine Lamb, of whom Christians are to partake at\nEaster, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they\nare held by vice.\" The paschal lamb, a lamb bearing a cross, was,\ntherefore, from an early period, depicted by the Christians as referring\nto Christ crucified, \"that spotless Lamb of God, who was slain from the\nfoundation of the world.\"\n\nThe material, then, of the apron, unites with its color to give to the\ninvestiture of a mason the symbolic signification of purity. This, then,\ntogether with the fact which I have already shown, that the ceremony of\ninvestiture was common to all the ancient religious rites, will form\nanother proof of the identity of origin between these and the masonic\ninstitution.\n\nThis symbolism also indicates the sacred and religious character which its\nfounders sought to impose upon Freemasonry, and to which both the moral\nand physical qualifications of our candidates undoubtedly have a\nreference, since it is with the masonic lodge as it was with the Jewish\nchurch, where it was declared that \"no man that had a blemish should come\nnigh unto the altar;\" and with the heathen priesthood, among whom we are\ntold that it was thought to be a dishonor to the gods to be served by any\none that was maimed, lame, or in any other way imperfect; and with both,\nalso, in requiring that no one should approach the sacred things who was\nnot pure and uncorrupt.\n\nThe pure, unspotted lamb-skin apron is, then, in Masonry, symbolic of that\nperfection of body and purity of mind which are essential qualifications\nin all who would participate in its sacred mysteries.\n\n\n\n\nXX.\n\nThe Symbolism of the Gloves.\n\n\n\nThe investiture with the gloves is very closely connected with the\ninvestiture with the apron, and the consideration of the symbolism of the\none naturally follows the consideration of the symbolism of the other.\n\nIn the continental rites of Masonry, as practised in France, in Germany,\nand in other countries of Europe, it is an invariable custom to present\nthe newly-initiated candidate not only, as we do, with a white leather\napron, but also with two pairs of white kid gloves, one a man's pair for\nhimself, and the other a woman's, to be presented by him in turn to his\nwife or his betrothed, according to the custom of the German masons, or,\naccording to the French, to the female whom he most esteems, which,\nindeed, amounts, or should amount, to the same thing.\n\nThere is in this, of course, as there is in everything else which pertains\nto Freemasonry, a symbolism. The gloves given to the candidate for himself\nare intended to teach him that the acts of a mason should be as pure and\nspotless as the gloves now given to him. In the German lodges, the word\nused for _acts_ is of course _handlungen_, or _handlings_, \"the works of\nhis hands,\" which makes the symbolic idea more impressive.\n\nDr. Robert Plott--no friend of Masonry, but still an historian of much\nresearch--says, in his \"Natural History of Staffordshire,\" that the\nSociety of Freemasons, in his time (and he wrote in 1660), presented their\ncandidates with gloves for themselves and their wives. This shows that the\ncustom still preserved on the continent of Europe was formerly practised\nin England, although there as well as in America, it is discontinued,\nwhich is, perhaps, to be regretted.\n\nBut although the presentation of the gloves to the candidate is no longer\npractised as a ceremony in England or America, yet the use of them as a\npart of the proper professional clothing of a mason in the duties of the\nlodge, or in processions, is still retained, and in many well-regulated\nlodges the members are almost as regularly clothed in their white gloves\nas in their white aprons.\n\nThe symbolism of the gloves, it will be admitted, is, in fact, but a\nmodification of that of the apron. They both signify the same thing; both\nare allusive to a purification of life. \"Who shall ascend,\" says the\nPsalmist, \"into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy\nplace? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.\" The apron may be said\nto refer to the \"pure heart,\" the gloves to the \"clean hands.\" Both are\nsignificant of purification--of that purification which was always\nsymbolized by the ablution which preceded the ancient initiations into the\nsacred Mysteries. But while our American and English masons have adhered\nonly to the apron, and rejected the gloves as a Masonic symbol, the\nlatter appear to be far more important in symbolic science, because the\nallusions to pure or clean hands are abundant in all the ancient writers.\n\n\"Hands,\" says Wemyss, in his \"Clavis Symbolica,\" \"are the symbols of human\nactions; pure hands are pure actions; unjust hands are deeds of\ninjustice.\" There are numerous references in sacred and profane writers to\nthis symbolism. The washing of the hands has the outward sign of an\ninternal purification. Hence the Psalmist says, \"I will wash my hands in\ninnocence, and I will encompass thine altar, Jehovah.\"\n\nIn the ancient Mysteries the washing of the hands was always an\nintroductory ceremony to the initiation, and, of course, it was used\nsymbolically to indicate the necessity of purity from crime as a\nqualification of those who sought admission into the sacred rites; and\nhence on a temple in the Island of Crete this inscription was placed:\n\"Cleanse your feet, wash your hands, and then enter.\"\n\nIndeed, the washing of hands, as symbolic of purity, was among the\nancients a peculiarly religious rite. No one dared to pray to the gods\nuntil he had cleansed his hands. Thus Homer makes Hector say,--\n\n    \"\u03a7\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u1f76 \u03b4' \u1f00\u03bd\u03af\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u0394\u03b9\u1fd2\u03bb\u03b5\u03af\u03b2\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u1f0b\u03b6\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9.\"--_Iliad_, vi. 266.\n\n    \"I dread with unwashed hands to bring\n    My incensed wine to Jove an offering.\"\n\nIn a similar spirit of religion, \u00c6neas, when leaving burning Troy, refuses\nto enter the temple of Ceres until his hands, polluted by recent strife,\nhad been washed in the living stream.\n\n    \"Me bello e tanto digressum et c\u00e6de recenti,\n    Attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo\n    Abluero.\"--_\u00c6n._ ii. 718.\n\n    \"In me, now fresh from war and recent strife,\n    'Tis impious the sacred things to touch\n    Till in the living stream myself I bathe.\"\n\nThe same practice prevailed among the Jews, and a striking instance of the\nsymbolism is exhibited in that well-known action of Pilate, who, when the\nJews clamored for Jesus, that they might crucify him, appeared before the\npeople, and, having taken water, washed his hands, saying at the same\ntime, \"I am innocent of the blood of this just man. See ye to it.\" In the\nChristian church of the middle ages, gloves were always worn by bishops or\npriests when in the performance of ecclesiastical functions. They were\nmade of linen, and were white; and Durandus, a celebrated ritualist, says\nthat \"by the white gloves were denoted chastity and purity, because the\nhands were thus kept clean and free from all impurity.\"\n\nThere is no necessity to extend examples any further. There is no doubt\nthat the use of the gloves in Masonry is a symbolic idea borrowed from the\nancient and universal language of symbolism, and was intended, like the\napron, to denote the necessity of purity of life.\n\nWe have thus traced the gloves and the apron to the same symbolic source.\nLet us see if we cannot also derive them from the same historic origin.\n\nThe apron evidently owes its adoption in Freemasonry to the use of that\nnecessary garment by the operative masons of the middle ages. It is one of\nthe most positive evidences--indeed we may say, absolutely, the most\ntangible evidence--of the derivation of our speculative science from an\noperative art. The builders, who associated in companies, who traversed\nEurope, and were engaged in the construction of palaces and cathedrals,\nhave left to us, as their descendants, their name, their technical\nlanguage, and that distinctive piece of clothing by which they protected\ntheir garments from the pollutions of their laborious employment. Did they\nalso bequeath to us their gloves? This is a question which some modern\ndiscoveries will at last enable us to solve.\n\nM. Didron, in his \"Annales Archeologiques,\" presents us with an engraving,\ncopied from the painted glass of a window in the cathedral of Chartres, in\nFrance. The painting was executed in the thirteenth century, and\nrepresents a number of operative masons at work. _Three_ of them are\nadorned with laurel crowns. May not these be intended to represent the\nthree officers of a lodge? All of the Masons wear gloves. M. Didron\nremarks that in the old documents which he has examined, mention is often\nmade of gloves which are intended to be presented to masons and\nstone-cutters. In a subsequent number of the \"Annales,\" he gives the\nfollowing three examples of this fact:--\n\nIn the year 1331, the Chatelan of Villaines, in Duemois, bought a\nconsiderable quantity of gloves, to be given to the workmen, in order, as\nit is said, \"to shield their hands from the stone and lime.\"\n\nIn October, 1383, as he learns from a document of that period, three dozen\npairs of gloves were bought and distributed to the masons when they\ncommenced the buildings at the Chartreuse of Dijon.\n\nAnd, lastly, in 1486 or 1487, twenty-two pair of gloves were given to the\nmasons and stone-cutters who were engaged in work at the city of Amiens.\n\nIt is thus evident that the builders--the operative masons--of the middle\nages wore gloves to protect their hands from the effects of their work.\nIt is equally evident that the speculative masons have received from their\noperative predecessors the gloves as well as the apron, both of which,\nbeing used by the latter for practical uses, have been, in the spirit of\nsymbolism, appropriated by the former to \"a more noble and glorious\npurpose.\"\n\n\n\n\nXXI.\n\nThe Rite of Circumambulation.\n\n\n\nThe _rite of circumambulation_ will supply us with another ritualistic\nsymbol, in which we may again trace the identity of the origin of\nFreemasonry with that of the religious and mystical ceremonies of the\nancients.\n\n\"Circumambulation\" is the name given by sacred archaeologists to that\nreligious rite in the ancient initiations which consisted in a formal\nprocession around the altar, or other holy and consecrated object.\n\nThe prevalence of this rite among the ancients appears to have been\nuniversal, and it originally (as I shall have occasion to show) alluded to\nthe apparent course of the sun in the firmament, which is from east to\nwest by the way of the south.\n\nIn ancient Greece, when the priests were engaged in the rites of\nsacrifice, they and the people always walked three times around the altar\nwhile chanting a sacred hymn or ode. Sometimes, while the people stood\naround the altar, the rite of circumambulation was performed by the\npriest alone, who, turning towards the right hand, went around it, and\nsprinkled it with meal and holy water. In making this circumambulation, it\nwas considered absolutely necessary that the right side should always be\nnext to the altar, and consequently, that the procession should move from\nthe east to the south, then to the west, next to the north, and afterwards\nto the east again. It was in this way that the apparent revolution was\nrepresented.\n\nThis ceremony the Greeks called moving \u03b5\u03d7 \u03b4\u03b5\u03be\u03b9\u03b1 \u03b5\u03bd \u03b4\u03b5\u03be\u03b9\u03b1, _from the right\nto the right_, which was the direction of the motion, and the Romans\napplied to it the term _dextrovorsum_, or _dextrorsum_, which signifies\nthe same thing. Thus Plautus makes Palinurus, a character in his comedy of\n\"Curculio,\" say, \"If you would do reverence to the gods, you must turn to\nthe right hand.\" Gronovius, in commenting on this passage of Plautus,\nsays, \"In worshipping and praying to the gods they were accustomed to\n_turn to the right hand_.\"\n\nA hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is said to have been\nchanted by the priests of Apollo at Delos, while performing this ceremony\nof circumambulation, the substance of which is, \"We imitate the example of\nthe sun, and follow his benevolent course.\"\n\nIt will be observed that this circumambulation around the altar was\naccompanied by the singing or chanting of a sacred ode. Of the three parts\nof the ode, the _strophe_, the _antistrophe_, and the _epode_, each was to\nbe sung at a particular part of the procession. The analogy between this\nchanting of an ode by the ancients and the recitation of a passage of\nScripture in the masonic circumambulation, will be at once apparent.\n\nAmong the Romans, the ceremony of circumambulation was always used in the\nrites of sacrifice, of expiation or purification. Thus Virgil describes\nCorynasus as purifying his companions, at the funeral of Misenus, by\npassing three times around them while aspersing them with the lustral\nwaters; and to do so conveniently, it was necessary that he should have\nmoved with his right hand towards them.\n\n    \"Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda,\n    Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis oliv\u00e6.\"\n    _\u00c6n._ vi. 229.\n\n    \"Thrice with pure water compassed he the crew,\n    Sprinkling, with olive branch, the gentle dew.\"\n\nIn fact, so common was it to unite the ceremony of circumambulation with\nthat of expiation or purification, or, in other words, to make a\ncircuitous procession, in performing the latter rite, that the term\n_lustrare_, whose primitive meaning is \"to purify,\" came at last to be\nsynonymous with _circuire_, to walk round anything; and hence a\npurification and a circumambulation were often expressed by the same word.\n\nAmong the Hindoos, the same rite of circumambulation has always been\npractised. As an instance, we may cite the ceremonies which are to be\nperformed by a Brahmin upon first rising from bed in the morning, an\naccurate account of which has been given by Mr. Colebrooke in the \"Asiatic\nResearches.\" The priest, having first adored the sun while directing his\nface to the east, then walks towards the west by the way of the south,\nsaying, at the same time, \"I follow the course of the sun,\" which he thus\nexplains: \"As the sun in his course moves round the world by the way of\nthe south, so do I follow that luminary, to obtain the benefit arising\nfrom a journey round the earth by the way of the south.\" [93]\n\nLastly, I may refer to the preservation of this rite among the Druids,\nwhose \"mystical dance\" around the _cairn_, or sacred stones, was nothing\nmore nor less than the rite of circumambulation. On these occasions the\npriest always made three circuits, from east to west, by the right hand,\naround the altar or cairn, accompanied by all the worshippers. And so\nsacred was the rite once considered, that we learn from Toland[94] that in\nthe Scottish Isles, once a principal seat of the Druidical religion, the\npeople \"never come to the ancient sacrificing and fire-hallowing _cairns_,\nbut they walk three times around them, from east to west, according to the\ncourse of the sun.\" This sanctified tour, or round by the south, he\nobserves, is called _Deiseal_, as the contrary, or unhallowed one by the\nnorth, is called _Tuapholl_. And he further remarks, that this word\n_Deiseal_ was derived \"from _Deas_, the _right_ (understanding _hand_) and\n_soil_, one of the ancient names of the sun, the right hand in this round\nbeing ever next the heap.\"\n\nI might pursue these researches still further, and trace this rite of\ncircumambulation to other nations of antiquity; but I conceive that enough\nhas been said to show its universality, as well as the tenacity with which\nthe essential ceremony of performing the motion a mystical number of\ntimes, and always by the right hand, from the east, through the south, to\nthe west, was preserved. And I think that this singular analogy to the\nsame rite in Freemasonry must lead us to the legitimate conclusion, that\nthe common source of all these rites is to be found in the identical\norigin of the Spurious Freemasonry or pagan mysteries, and the pure,\nPrimitive Freemasonry, from which the former seceded only to be\ndeteriorated.\n\nIn reviewing what has been said on this subject, it will at once be\nperceived that the essence of the ancient rite consisted in making the\ncircumambulation around the altar, from the east to the south, from the\nsouth to the west, thence to the north, and to the east again.\n\nNow, in this the masonic rite of circumambulation strictly agrees with the\nancient one.\n\nBut this circuit by the right hand, it is admitted, was done as a\nrepresentation of the sun's motion. It was a symbol of the sun's apparent\ncourse around the earth.\n\nAnd so, then, here again we have in Masonry that old and often-repeated\nallusion to sun-worship, which has already been seen in the officers of a\nlodge, and in the point within a circle. And as the circumambulation is\nmade around the lodge, just as the sun was supposed to move around the\nearth, we are brought back to the original symbolism with which we\ncommenced--that the lodge is a symbol of the world.\n\n\n\n\nXXII.\n\nThe Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light.\n\n\n\nThe _rite of intrusting_, to which we are now to direct our attention,\nwill supply us with many important and interesting symbols.\n\nThere is an important period in the ceremony of masonic initiation, when\nthe candidate is about to receive a full communication of the mysteries\nthrough which he has passed, and to which the trials and labors which he\nhas undergone can only entitle him. This ceremony is technically called\nthe \"_rite of intrusting_,\" because it is then that the aspirant begins to\nbe intrusted with that for the possession of which he was seeking.[95]\nIt is equivalent to what, in the ancient Mysteries, was called the\n\"autopsy,\" [96] or the seeing of what only the initiated were permitted to\nbehold.\n\nThis _rite of intrusting_ is, of course, divided into several parts or\nperiods; for the _aporreta_, or secret things of Masonry, are not to be\ngiven at once, but in gradual progression. It begins, however, with the\ncommunication of LIGHT, which, although but a preparation for the\ndevelopment of the mysteries which are to follow, must be considered as\none of the most important symbols in the whole science of masonic\nsymbolism. So important, indeed, is it, and so much does it pervade with\nits influence and its relations the whole masonic system, that Freemasonry\nitself anciently received, among other appellations, that of Lux, or\nLight, to signify that it is to be regarded as that sublime doctrine of\nDivine Truth by which the path of him who has attained it is to be\nilluminated in his pilgrimage of life.\n\nThe Hebrew cosmogonist commences his description of the creation by the\ndeclaration that \"God said, Let there be light, and there was light\"--a\nphrase which, in the more emphatic form that it has received in the\noriginal language of \"Be light, and light was,\" [97] is said to have won\nthe praise, for its sublimity, of the greatest of Grecian critics. \"The\nsingularly emphatic summons,\" says a profound modern writer,[98] \"by which\nlight is called into existence, is probably owing to the pre\u00ebminent\nutility and glory of that element, together with its mysterious nature,\nwhich made it seem as\n\n    'The God of this new world,'\n\nand won for it the earliest adoration of mankind.\"\n\nLight was, in accordance with this old religious sentiment, the great\nobject of attainment in all the ancient religious Mysteries. It was there,\nas it is now, in Masonry, made the symbol of _truth_ and _knowledge_. This\nwas always its ancient symbolism, and we must never lose sight of this\nemblematic meaning, when we are considering the nature and signification\nof masonic light. When the candidate makes a demand for light, it is not\nmerely for that material light which is to remove a physical darkness;\nthat is only the outward form, which conceals the inward symbolism. He\ncraves an intellectual illumination which will dispel the darkness of\nmental and moral ignorance, and bring to his view, as an eye-witness, the\nsublime truths of religion, philosophy, and science, which it is the great\ndesign of Freemasonry to teach.\n\nIn all the ancient systems this reverence for light, as the symbol of\ntruth, was predominant. In the Mysteries of every nation, the candidate\nwas made to pass, during his initiation, through scenes of utter darkness,\nand at length terminated his trials by an admission to the\nsplendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary, where he was said to have\nattained pure and perfect light, and where he received the necessary\ninstructions which were to invest him with that knowledge of the divine\ntruth which it had been the object of all his labors to gain, and the\ndesign of the institution, into which he had been initiated, to bestow.\n\n_Light_, therefore, became synonymous with truth and knowledge, and\n_darkness_ with falsehood and ignorance. We shall find this symbolism\npervading not only the institutions, but the very languages, of antiquity.\n\nThus, among the Hebrews, the word AUR, in the singular, signified\n_light_, but in the plural, AURIM, it denoted the revelation of the divine\nwill; and the _aurim _ and _thummim_, literally the _lights_ and _truths_,\nconstituted a part of the breastplate whence the high priest obtained\noracular responses to the questions which he proposed.[99]\n\nThere is a peculiarity about the word \"light,\" in the old Egyptian\nlanguage, which is well worth consideration in this connection. Among the\nEgyptians, the _hare_ was the hieroglyphic of _eyes that are open_; and it\nwas adopted because that timid animal was supposed never to close his\norgans of vision, being always on the watch for his enemies. The hare was\nafterwards adopted by the priests as a symbol of the mental illumination\nor mystic light which was revealed to the neophytes, in the contemplation\nof divine truth, during the progress of their initiation; and hence,\naccording to Champollion, the hare was also the symbol of Osiris, their\nchief god; thus showing the intimate connection which they believed to\nexist between the process of initiation into their sacred rites and the\ncontemplation of the divine nature. But the Hebrew word for hare is\nARNaBeT. Now, this is compounded of the two words AUR, _light_, and NaBaT,\n_to behold_, and therefore the word which in the Egyptian denoted\n_initiation_, in the Hebrew signified _to behold the light_. In two\nnations so intimately connected in history as the Hebrew and the Egyptian,\nsuch a coincidence could not have been accidental. It shows the prevalence\nof the sentiment, at that period, that the communication of light was the\nprominent design of the Mysteries--so prominent that the one was made the\nsynonyme of the other.[100]\n\nThe worship of light, either in its pure essence or in the forms of\nsun-worship and fire-worship, because the sun and the fire were causes of\nlight, was among the earliest and most universal superstitions of the\nworld. Light was considered as the primordial source of all that was holy\nand intelligent; and darkness, as its opposite, was viewed as but another\nname for evil and ignorance. Dr. Beard, in an article on this subject, in\nKitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, attributes this view of the\ndivine nature of light, which was entertained by the nations of the East,\nto the fact that, in that part of the world, light \"has a clearness and\nbrilliancy, is accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed in its\ninfluence by a largeness of good, of which the inhabitants of less genial\nclimates have no conception. Light easily and naturally became, in\nconsequence, with Orientals, a representative of the highest human good.\nAll the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of\nthe frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were described\nunder imagery derived from light. The transition was natural--from earthly\nto heavenly, from corporeal to spiritual things; and so light came to\ntypify true religion and the felicity which it imparts. But as light not\nonly came from God, but also makes man's way clear before him, so it was\nemployed to signify moral truth, and pre\u00ebminently that divine system of\ntruth which is set forth in the Bible, from its earliest gleamings onward\nto the perfect day of the Great Sun of Righteousness.\"\n\nI am inclined to believe that in this passage the learned author has\nerred, not in the definition of the symbol, but in his deduction of its\norigin. Light became the object of religious veneration, not because of\nthe brilliancy and clearness of a particular sky, nor the warmth and\ngenial influence of a particular climate,--for the worship was universal,\nin Scandinavia as in India,--but because it was the natural and inevitable\nresult of the worship of the sun, the chief deity of Sabianism--a faith\nwhich pervaded to an extraordinary extent the whole religious sentiment of\nantiquity.[101]\n\nLight was venerated because it was an emanation from the sun, and, in the\nmaterialism of the ancient faith, _light_ and _darkness_ were both\npersonified as positive existences, the one being the enemy of the other.\nTwo principles were thus supposed to reign over the world, antagonistic to\neach other, and each alternately presiding over the destinies of\nmankind.[102]\n\nThe contests between the good and evil principle, symbolized by light and\ndarkness, composed a very large part of the ancient mythology in all\ncountries.\n\nAmong the Egyptians, Osiris was light, or the sun; and his arch-enemy,\nTyphon, who ultimately destroyed him, was the representative of darkness.\n\nZoroaster, the father of the ancient Persian religion, taught the same\ndoctrine, and called the principle of light, or good, Ormuzd, and the\nprinciple of darkness, or evil, Ahriman. The former, born of the purest\nlight, and the latter, sprung from utter darkness, are, in this mythology,\ncontinually making war on each other.\n\nManes, or Manichaeus, the founder of the sect of Manichees, in the third\ncentury, taught that there are two principles from which all things\nproceed; the one is a pure and subtile matter, called Light, and the other\na gross and corrupt substance, called Darkness. Each of these is subject\nto the dominion of a superintending being, whose existence is from all\neternity. The being who presides over the light is called _God_; he that\nrules over the darkness is called _Hyle_, or _Demon_. The ruler of the\nlight is supremely happy, good, and benevolent, while the ruler over\ndarkness is unhappy, evil, and malignant.\n\nPythagoras also maintained this doctrine of two antagonistic principles.\nHe called the one, unity, _light_, the right hand, equality, stability,\nand a straight line; the other he named binary, _darkness_, the left hand,\ninequality, instability, and a curved line. Of the colors, he attributed\nwhite to the good principle, and black to the evil one.\n\nThe Cabalists gave a prominent place to light in their system of\ncosmogony. They taught that, before the creation of the world, all space\nwas filled with what they called _Aur en soph_, or the _Eternal Light_,\nand that when the Divine Mind determined or willed the production of\nNature, the Eternal Light withdrew to a central point, leaving around it\nan empty space, in which the process of creation went on by means of\nemanations from the central mass of light. It is unnecessary to enter into\nthe Cabalistic account of creation; it is sufficient here to remark that\nall was done through the mediate influence of the _Aur en soph_, or\neternal light, which produces coarse matter, but one degree above\nnonentity, only when it becomes so attenuated as to be lost in darkness.\n\nThe Brahminical doctrine was, that \"light and darkness are esteemed the\nworld's eternal ways; he who walketh in the former returneth not; that is\nto say, he goeth to eternal bliss; whilst he who walketh in the latter\ncometh back again upon earth,\" and is thus destined to pass through\nfurther transmigrations, until his soul is perfectly purified by\nlight.[103]\n\nIn all the ancient systems of initiation the candidate was shrouded in\ndarkness, as a preparation for the reception of light. The duration varied\nin the different rites. In the Celtic Mysteries of Druidism, the period in\nwhich the aspirant was immersed in darkness was nine days and nights;\namong the Greeks, at Eleusis, it was three times as long; and in the still\nseverer rites of Mithras, in Persia, fifty days of darkness, solitude, and\nfasting were imposed upon the adventurous neophyte, who, by these\nexcessive trials, was at length entitled to the full communication of the\nlight of knowledge.\n\nThus it will be perceived that the religious sentiment of a good and an\nevil principle gave to darkness, in the ancient symbolism, a place equally\nas prominent as that of light.\n\nThe same religious sentiment of the ancients, modified, however, in its\ndetails, by our better knowledge of divine things, has supplied\nFreemasonry with a double symbolism--that of _Light_ and _Darkness_.\n\nDarkness is the symbol of initiation. It is intended to remind the\ncandidate of his ignorance, which Masonry is to enlighten; of his evil\nnature, which Masonry is to purify; of the world, in whose obscurity he\nhas been wandering, and from which Masonry is to rescue him.\n\nLight, on the other hand, is the symbol of the autopsy, the sight of the\nmysteries, the intrusting, the full fruition of masonic truth and\nknowledge.\n\nInitiation precedes the communication of knowledge in Masonry, as darkness\npreceded light in the old cosmogonies. Thus, in Genesis, we see that in\nthe beginning \"the world was without form, and void, and darkness was on\nthe face of the deep.\" The Chaldean cosmogony taught that in the beginning\n\"all was darkness and water.\" The Phoenicians supposed that \"the beginning\nof all things was a wind of black air, and a chaos dark as Erebus.\" [104]\n\nBut out of all this darkness sprang forth light, at the divine command,\nand the sublime phrase, \"Let there be light,\" is repeated, in some\nsubstantially identical form, in all the ancient histories of creation.\n\nSo, too, out of the mysterious darkness of Masonry comes the full blaze of\nmasonic light. One must precede the other, as the evening preceded the\nmorning. \"So the evening and the morning were the first day.\"\n\nThis thought is preserved in the great motto of the Order, \"_Lux e\ntenebris_\"--Light out of darkness. It is equivalent to this other\nsentence: Truth out of initiation. _Lux_, or light, is truth; _tenebrae_,\nor darkness, is initiation.\n\nIt is a beautiful and instructive portion of our symbolism, this\nconnection of darkness and light, and well deserves a further\ninvestigation.\n\n\"Genesis and the cosmogonies,\" says Portal, \"mention the antagonism of\nlight and darkness. The form of this fable varies according to each\nnation, but the foundation is everywhere the same. Under the symbol of the\ncreation of the world it presents the picture of regeneration and\ninitiation.\" [105]\n\nPlutarch says that to die is to be initiated into the greater Mysteries;\nand the Greek word \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u1fb7\u03bd, which signifies _to die_, means also _to be\ninitiated_. But black, which is the symbolic color of darkness, is also\nthe symbol of death. And hence, again, darkness, like death, is the symbol\nof initiation. It was for this reason that all the ancient initiations\nwere performed at night. The celebration of the Mysteries was always\nnocturnal. The same custom prevails in Freemasonry, and the explanation is\nthe same. Death and the resurrection were taught in the Mysteries, as\nthey are in Freemasonry. The initiation was the lesson of death. The full\nfruition or autopsy, the reception of light, was the lesson of\nregeneration or resurrection.\n\nLight is, therefore, a fundamental symbol in Freemasonry. It is, in fact,\nthe first important symbol that is presented to the neophyte in his\ninstructions, and contains within itself the very essence of Speculative\nMasonry, which is nothing more than the contemplation of intellectual\nlight or truth.[106]\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.\n\nSymbolism of the Corner-Stone.\n\n\n\nWe come next, in a due order of precedence, to the consideration of the\nsymbolism connected with an important ceremony in the ritual of the first\ndegree of Masonry, which refers to the north-east corner of the lodge. In\nthis ceremony the candidate becomes the representative of a spiritual\ncorner-stone. And hence, to thoroughly comprehend the true meaning of the\nemblematic ceremony, it is essential that we should investigate the\nsymbolism of the _corner-stone_.\n\nThe corner-stone,[107] as the foundation on which the entire building is\nsupposed to rest, is, of course, the most important stone in the whole\nedifice. It is, at least, so considered by operative masons. It is laid\nwith impressive ceremonies; the assistance of speculative masons is often,\nand always ought to be, invited, to give dignity to the occasion; and the\nevent is viewed by the workmen as an important era in the construction of\nthe edifice.[108]\n\nIn the rich imagery of Orientalism, the corner-stone is frequently\nreferred to as the appropriate symbol of a chief or prince who is the\ndefence and bulwark of his people, and more particularly in Scripture, as\ndenoting that promised Messiah who was to be the sure prop and support of\nall who should put their trust in his divine mission.[109]\n\nTo the various properties that are necessary to constitute a true\ncorner-stone,--its firmness and durability, its perfect form, and its\npeculiar position as the connecting link between the walls,--we must\nattribute the important character that it has assumed in the language of\nsymbolism. Freemasonry, which alone, of all existing institutions, has\npreserved this ancient and universal language, could not, as it may well\nbe supposed, have neglected to adopt the corner-stone among its most\ncherished and impressive symbols; and hence it has referred to it many of\nits most significant lessons of morality and truth.\n\nI have already alluded to that peculiar mode of masonic symbolism by which\nthe speculative mason is supposed to be engaged in the construction of a\nspiritual temple, in imitation of, or, rather, in reference to, that\nmaterial one which was erected by his operative predecessors at Jerusalem.\nLet us again, for a few moments, direct our attention to this important\nfact, and revert to the connection which originally existed between the\noperative and speculative divisions of Freemasonry. This is an essential\nintroduction to any inquiry into the symbolism of the corner-stone.\n\nThe difference between operative and speculative Masonry is simply\nthis--that while the former was engaged in the construction of a material\ntemple, formed, it is true, of the most magnificent materials which the\nquarries of Palestine, the mountains of Lebanon, and the golden shores of\nOphir could contribute, the latter occupies itself in the erection of a\nspiritual house,--a house not made with hands,--in which, for stones and\ncedar, and gold and precious stones, are substituted the virtues of the\nheart, the pure emotions of the soul, the warm affections gushing forth\nfrom the hidden fountains of the spirit, so that the very presence of\nJehovah, our Father and our God, shall be enshrined within us as his\nShekinah was in the holy of holies of the material temple at Jerusalem.\n\nThe Speculative Mason, then, if he rightly comprehends the scope and\ndesign of his profession, is occupied, from his very first admission into\nthe order until the close of his labors and his life,--and the true\nmason's labor ends only with his life,--in the construction, the\nadornment, and the completion of this spiritual temple of his body. He\nlays its foundation in a firm belief and an unshaken confidence in the\nwisdom, power, and goodness of God. This is his first step. Unless his\ntrust is in God, and in him only, he can advance no further than the\nthreshold of initiation. And then he prepares his materials with the gauge\nand gavel of Truth, raises the walls by the plumb-line of Rectitude,\nsquares his work with the square of Virtue, connects the whole with the\ncement of Brotherly Love, and thus skilfullv erects the living edifice of\nthoughts, and words, and deeds, in accordance with the designs laid down\nby the Master Architect of the universe in the great Book of Revelation.\n\nThe aspirant for masonic light--the Neophyte--on his first entrance within\nour sacred porch, prepares himself for this consecrated labor of erecting\nwithin his own bosom a fit dwelling-place for the Divine Spirit, and thus\ncommences the noble work by becoming himself the corner-stone on which\nthis spiritual edifice is to be erected.\n\nHere, then, is the beginning of the symbolism of the corner-stone; and it\nis singularly curious to observe how every portion of the archetype has\nbeen made to perform its appropriate duty in thoroughly carrying out the\nemblematic allusions.\n\nAs, for example, this symbolic reference of the corner-stone of a material\nedifice to a mason, when, at his first initiation, he commences the\nintellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is\nbeautifully sustained in the allusions to all the various parts and\nqualities which are to be found in a \"well-formed, true and trusty\"\ncorner-stone.[110] Its form and substance are both seized by the\ncomprehensive grasp of the symbolic science.\n\nLet us trace this symbolism in its minute details. And, first, as to the\nform of the corner-stone.\n\nThe corner-stone of an edifice must be perfectly square on its surfaces,\nlest, by a violation of this true geometric figure, the walls to be\nerected upon it should deviate from the required line of perpendicularity\nwhich can alone give strength and proportion to the building.\n\nPerfectly square on its surfaces, it is, in its form and solid contents, a\ncube. Now, the square and the cube are both important and significant\nsymbols.\n\nThe square is an emblem of morality, or the strict performance of every\nduty.[111] Among the Greeks, who were a highly poetical and imaginative\npeople, the square was deemed a figure of perfection, and the \u1f00\u03bd\u1f74\u03c1\n\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03c1\u03ac\u03b3\u03c9\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2--\"the square or cubical man,\" as the words may be\ntranslated--was a term used to designate a man of unsullied integrity.\nHence one of their most eminent metaphysicians[112] has said that \"he who\nvaliantly sustains the shocks of adverse fortune, demeaning himself\nuprightly, is truly good and of a square posture, without reproof; and he\nwho would assume such a square posture should often subject himself to the\nperfectly square test of justice and integrity.\"\n\nThe cube, in the language of symbolism, denotes truth.[113] Among the\npagan mythologists, Mercury, or Hermes, was always represented by a\ncubical stone, because he was the type of truth,[114] and the same form\nwas adopted by the Israelites in the construction of the tabernacle, which\nwas to be the dwelling-place of divine truth.\n\nAnd, then, as to its material: This, too, is an essential element of all\nsymbolism. Constructed of a material finer and more polished than that\nwhich constitutes the remainder of the edifice, often carved with\nappropriate devices and fitted for its distinguished purpose by the utmost\nskill of the sculptor's art, it becomes the symbol of that beauty of\nholiness with which the Hebrew Psalmist has said that we are to worship\nJehovah.[115]\n\nThe ceremony, then, of the north-east corner of the lodge, since it\nderives all its typical value from this symbolism of the corner-stone, was\nundoubtedly intended to portray, in this consecrated language, the\nnecessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truthfulness and\nuprightness of character, and of purity and holiness of life, which, just\nat that time and in that place, the candidate is most impressively charged\nto maintain.\n\nBut there is also a symbolism about the position of the corner-stone,\nwhich is well worthy of attention. It is familiar to every one,--even to\nthose who are without the pale of initiation,--that the custom of laying\nthe corner-stones of public buildings has always been performed by the\nmasonic order with peculiar and impressive ceremonies, and that this stone\nis invariably deposited in the north-east corner of the foundation of the\nintended structure. Now, the question naturally suggests itself, Whence\ndoes this ancient and invariable usage derive its origin? Why may not the\nstone be deposited in any other corner or portion of the edifice, as\nconvenience or necessity may dictate? The custom of placing the\nfoundation-stone in the north-east corner must have been originally\nadopted for some good and sufficient reason; for we have a right to\nsuppose that it was not an arbitrary selection.[116] Was it in reference\nto the ceremony which takes place in the lodge? Or is that in reference\nto the position of the material stone? No matter which has the precedence\nin point of time, the principle is the same. The position of the stone in\nthe north-east corner of the building is altogether symbolic, and the\nsymbolism exclusively alludes to certain doctrines which are taught in the\nspeculative science of Masonry.\n\nThe interpretation, I conceive, is briefly this: Every Speculative Mason\nis familiar with the fact that the east, as the source of material light,\nis a symbol of his own order, which professes to contain within its bosom\nthe pure light of truth. As, in the physical world, the morning of each\nday is ushered into existence by the reddening dawn of the eastern sky,\nwhence the rising sun dispenses his illuminating and prolific rays to\nevery portion of the visible horizon, warming the whole earth with his\nembrace of light, and giving new-born life and energy to flower and tree,\nand beast and man, who, at the magic touch, awake from the sleep of\ndarkness, so in the moral world, when intellectual night was, in the\nearliest days, brooding over the world, it was from the ancient priesthood\nliving in the east that those lessons of God, of nature, and of humanity\nfirst emanated, which, travelling westward, revealed to man his future\ndestiny, and his dependence on a superior power. Thus every new and true\ndoctrine, coming from these \"wise men of the east,\" was, as it were, a new\nday arising, and dissipating the clouds of intellectual darkness and\nerror. It was a universal opinion among the ancients that the first\nlearning came from the east; and the often-quoted line of Bishop\nBerkeley, that--\n\n    \"Westward the course of empire takes its way\"--\n\nis but the modern utterance of an ancient thought, for it was always\nbelieved that the empire of truth and knowledge was advancing from the\neast to the west.\n\nAgain: the north, as the point in the horizon which is most remote from\nthe vivifying rays of the sun when at his meridian height, has, with equal\nmetaphorical propriety, been called the place of darkness, and is,\ntherefore, symbolic of the profane world, which has not yet been\npenetrated and illumined by the intellectual rays of masonic light. All\nhistory concurs in recording the fact that, in the early ages of the\nworld, its northern portion was enveloped in the most profound moral and\nmental darkness. It was from the remotest regions of Northern Europe that\nthose barbarian hordes \"came down like the wolf on the fold,\" and\ndevastated the fair plains of the south, bringing with them a dark curtain\nof ignorance, beneath whose heavy folds the nations of the world lay for\ncenturies overwhelmed. The extreme north has ever been, physically and\nintellectually, cold, and dark, and dreary. Hence, in Masonry, the north\nhas ever been esteemed the place of darkness; and, in obedience to this\nprinciple, no symbolic light is allowed to illumine the northern part of\nthe lodge.\n\nThe east, then, is, in Masonry, the symbol of the order, and the north the\nsymbol of the profane world.\n\nNow, the spiritual corner-stone is deposited in the north-east corner of\nthe lodge, because it is symbolic of the position of the neophyte, or\ncandidate, who represents it in his relation to the order and to the\nworld. From the profane world he has just emerged. Some of its\nimperfections are still upon him; some of its darkness is still about him;\nhe as yet belongs in part to the north. But he is striving for light and\ntruth; the pathway upon which he has entered is directed towards the east.\nHis allegiance, if I may use the word, is divided. He is not altogether a\nprofane, nor altogether a mason. If he were wholly in the world, the north\nwould be the place to find him--the north, which is the reign of darkness.\nIf he were wholly in the order,--a Master Mason,--the east would have\nreceived him--the east, which is the place of light. But he is neither; he\nis an Apprentice, with some of the ignorance of the world cleaving to him,\nand some of the light of the order beaming upon him. And hence this\ndivided allegiance--this double character--this mingling of the departing\ndarkness of the north with the approaching brightness of the east--is well\nexpressed, in our symbolism, by the appropriate position of the spiritual\ncorner-stone in the north-east corner of the lodge. One surface of the\nstone faces the north, and the other surface faces the east. It is neither\nwholly in the one part nor wholly in the other, and in so far it is a\nsymbol of initiation not fully developed--that which is incomplete and\nimperfect, and is, therefore, fitly represented by the recipient of the\nfirst degree, at the very moment of his initiation.[117]\n\nBut the strength and durability of the corner-stone are also eminently\nsuggestive of symbolic ideas. To fulfil its design as the foundation and\nsupport of the massive building whose erection it precedes, it should be\nconstructed of a material which may outlast all other parts of the\nedifice, so that when that \"eternal ocean whose waves are years\" shall\nhave ingulfed all who were present at the construction of the building in\nthe vast vortex of its ever-flowing current; and when generation after\ngeneration shall have passed away, and the crumbling stones of the ruined\nedifice shall begin to attest the power of time and the evanescent nature\nof all human undertakings, the corner-stone will still remain to tell, by\nits inscriptions, and its form, and its beauty, to every passer-by, that\nthere once existed in that, perhaps then desolate, spot, a building\nconsecrated to some noble or some sacred purpose by the zeal and\nliberality of men who now no longer live.\n\nSo, too, do this permanence and durability of the corner-stone, in\ncontrast with the decay and ruin of the building in whose foundations it\nwas placed, remind the mason that when this earthly house of his\ntabernacle shall have passed away, he has within him a sure foundation of\neternal life--a corner-stone of immortality--an emanation from that Divine\nSpirit which pervades all nature, and which, therefore, must survive the\ntomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the decaying dust of death\nand the grave.[118]\n\nIt is in this way that the student of masonic symbolism is reminded by the\ncorner-stone--by its form, its position, and its permanence--of\nsignificant doctrines of duty, and virtue, and religious truth, which it\nis the great object of Masonry to teach.\n\nBut I have said that the material corner-stone is deposited in its\nappropriate place with solemn rites and ceremonies, for which the order\nhas established a peculiar ritual. These, too, have a beautiful and\nsignificant symbolism, the investigation of which will next attract our\nattention.\n\nAnd here it may be observed, in passing, that the accompaniment of such an\nact of consecration to a particular purpose, with solemn rites and\nceremonies, claims our respect, from the prestige that it has of all\nantiquity. A learned writer on symbolism makes, on this subject, the\nfollowing judicious remarks, which may be quoted as a sufficient defence\nof our masonic ceremonies:--\n\n\"It has been an opinion, entertained in all past ages, that by the\nperformance of certain acts, things, places, and persons acquire a\ncharacter which they would not have had without such performances. The\nreason is plain: certain acts signify firmness of purpose, which, by\nconsigning the object to the intended use, gives it, in the public\nopinion, an accordant character. This is most especially true of things,\nplaces, and persons connected with religion and religious worship. After\nthe performance of certain acts or rites, they are held to be altogether\ndifferent from what they were before; they acquire a sacred character, and\nin some instances a character absolutely divine. Such are the effects\nimagined to be produced by religious dedication.\" [119]\n\nThe stone, therefore, thus properly constructed, is, when it is to be\ndeposited by the constituted authorities of our order, carefully examined\nwith the necessary implements of operative masonry,--the square, the\nlevel, and the plumb,--and declared to be \"well-formed, true, and trusty.\"\nThis is not a vain nor unmeaning ceremony. It teaches the mason that his\nvirtues are to be tested by temptation and trial, by suffering and\nadversity, before they can be pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to\nbe materials worthy of the spiritual building of eternal life, fitted \"as\nliving stones, for that house not made with hands, eternal in the\nheavens.\" But if he be faithful, and withstand these trials,--if he shall\ncome forth from these temptations and sufferings like pure gold from the\nrefiner's fire,--then, indeed, shall he be deemed \"well-formed, true, and\ntrusty,\" and worthy to offer \"unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.\"\n\nIn the ceremony of depositing the corner-stone, the sacred elements of\nmasonic consecration are then produced, and the stone is solemnly set\napart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its surface. Each of these\nelements has a beautiful significance in our symbolism.\n\nCollectively, they allude to the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of\nRefreshment, and the Oil of Joy, which are the promised rewards of a\nfaithful and diligent performance of duty, and often specifically refer to\nthe anticipated success of the undertaking whose incipiency they have\nconsecrated. They are, in fact, types and symbols of all those abundant\ngifts of Divine Providence for which we are daily called upon to make an\noffering of our thanks, and which are enumerated by King David, in his\ncatalogue of blessings, as \"wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and\noil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.\"\n\n\"Wherefore, my brethren,\" says Harris, \"do you carry _corn, wine, and oil_\nin your processions, but to remind you that in the pilgrimage of human\nlife you are to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry, to send\na cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and to pour the healing oil of\nyour consolation into the wounds which sickness hath made in the bodies,\nor affliction rent in the hearts, of your fellow-travellers?\" [120]\n\nBut, individually, each of these elements of consecration has also an\nappropriate significance, which is well worth investigation.\n\nCorn, in the language of Scripture, is an emblem of the resurrection, and\nSt. Paul, in that eloquent discourse which is so familiar to all, as a\nbeautiful argument for the great Christian doctrine of a future life,\nadduces the seed of grain, which, being sown, first dieth, and then\nquickeneth, as the appropriate type of that corruptible which must put on\nincorruption, and of that mortal which must assume immortality. But, in\nMasonry, the sprig of acacia, for reasons purely masonic, has been always\nadopted as the symbol of immortality, and the ear of corn is appropriated\nas the symbol of plenty. This is in accordance with the Hebrew derivation\nof the word, as well as with the usage of all ancient nations. The word\n_dagan_, \u05d5\u05e0\u05d3 which signifies _corn_, is derived from the verb\n_dagah_, \u05d4\u05e0\u05d3, _to increase, to multiply_, and in all the ancient\nreligions the horn or vase, filled with fruits and with grain, was the\nrecognized symbol of plenty. Hence, as an element of consecration, corn is\nintended to remind us of those temporal blessings of life and health, and\ncomfortable support, which we derive from the Giver of all good, and to\nmerit which we should strive, with \"clean hands and a pure heart,\" to\nerect on the corner-stone of our initiation a spiritual temple, which\nshall be adorned with the \"beauty of holiness.\"\n\nWine is a symbol of that inward and abiding comfort with which the heart\nof the man who faithfully performs his part on the great stage of life is\nto be refreshed; and as, in the figurative language of the East, Jacob\nprophetically promises to Judah, as his reward, that he shall wash his\ngarments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape, it seems\nintended, morally, to remind us of those immortal refreshments which, when\nthe labors of this earthly lodge are forever closed, we shall receive in\nthe celestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides.\n\nOil is a symbol of prosperity, and happiness, and joy. The custom of\nanointing every thing or person destined for a sacred purpose is of\nvenerable antiquity.[121] The statues of the heathen deities, as well as\nthe altars on which the sacrifices were offered to them, and the priests\nwho presided over the sacred rites, were always anointed with perfumed\nointment, as a consecration of them to the objects of religious worship.\n\nWhen Jacob set up the stone on which he had slept in his journey to\nPadan-aram, and where he was blessed with the vision of ascending and\ndescending angels, he anointed it with oil, and thus consecrated it as an\naltar to God. Such an inunction was, in ancient times, as it still\ncontinues to be in many modern countries and contemporary religions, a\nsymbol of the setting apart of the thing or person so anointed and\nconsecrated to a holy purpose.\n\nHence, then, we are reminded by this last impressive ceremony, that the\ncultivation of virtue, the practice of duty, the resistance of temptation,\nthe submission to suffering, the devotion to truth, the maintenance of\nintegrity, and all those other graces by which we strive to fit our\nbodies, as living stones, for the spiritual building of eternal life,\nmust, after all, to make the object effectual and the labor successful, be\nconsecrated by a holy obedience to God's will and a firm reliance on God's\nprovidence, which alone constitute the chief corner-stone and sure\nfoundation, on which any man can build with the reasonable hope of a\nprosperous issue to his work.\n\nIt may be noticed, in concluding this topic, that the corner-stone seems\nto be peculiarly a Jewish symbol. I can find no reference to it in any of\nthe ancient pagan rites, and the EBEN PINAH, the _corner-stone_, which is\nso frequently mentioned in Scripture as the emblem of an important\npersonage, and most usually, in the Old Testament, of the expected\nMessiah, appears, in its use in Masonry, to have had, unlike almost every\nother symbol of the order, an exclusively temple origin.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.\n\nThe Ineffable Name.\n\n\n\nAnother important symbol is the Ineffable Name, with which the series of\nritualistic symbols will be concluded.\n\nThe Tetragrammaton,[122] or Ineffable Word,--the Incommunicable Name,--is\na symbol--for rightly-considered it is nothing more than a symbol--that\nhas more than any other (except, perhaps, the symbols connected with\nsun-worship), pervaded the rites of antiquity. I know, indeed, of no\nsystem of ancient initiation in which it has not some prominent form and\nplace.\n\nBut as it was, perhaps, the earliest symbol which was corrupted by the\nspurious Freemasonry of the pagans, in their secession from the primitive\nsystem of the patriarchs and ancient priesthood, it will be most expedient\nfor the thorough discussion of the subject which is proposed in the\npresent paper, that we should begin the investigation with an inquiry into\nthe nature of the symbol among the Israelites.\n\nThat name of God, which we, at a venture, pronounce Jehovah,--although\nwhether this is, or is not, the true pronunciation can now never be\nauthoritatively settled,--was ever held by the Jews in the most profound\nveneration. They derived its origin from the immediate inspiration of the\nAlmighty, who communicated it to Moses as his especial appellation, to be\nused only by his chosen people; and this communication was made at the\nBurning Bush, when he said to him, \"Thus shalt thou say unto the children\nof Israel: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God\nof Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this [Jehovah] is\nmy name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.\" [123] And\nat a subsequent period he still more emphatically declared this to be his\npeculiar name: \"I am _Jehovah_; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,\nand unto Jacob, by the name of _El Shaddai_; but by my name _Jehovah_ was\nI not known unto them.\" [124]\n\nIt will be perceived that I have not here followed precisely the somewhat\nunsatisfactory version of King James's Bible, which, by translating or\nanglicizing one name, and not the other, leaves the whole passage less\nintelligible and impressive than it should be. I have retained the\noriginal Hebrew for both names. El Shaddai, \"the Almighty One,\" was the\nname by which he had been heretofore known to the preceding patriarchs; in\nits meaning it was analogous to Elohim, who is described in the first\nchapter of Genesis as creating the world. But his name of Jehovah was now\nfor the first time to be communicated to his people.\n\nUshered to their notice with all the solemnity and religious consecration\nof these scenes and events, this name of God became invested among the\nIsraelites with the profoundest veneration and awe. To add to this\nmysticism, the Cabalists, by the change of a single letter, read the\npassage, \"This is my name forever,\" or, as it is in the original, _Zeh\nshemi l'olam_, \u05dd\u05dc\u05e2\u05dc \u05d9\u05de\u05e9 \u05d4\u05d6 as if written _Zeh shemi l'alam_,\n\u05dd\u05dc\u05d0\u05dc \u05d9\u05de\u05e9 \u05d4\u05d6 that is to say, \"This is my name to be concealed.\"\n\nThis interpretation, although founded on a blunder, and in all probability\nan intentional one, soon became a precept, and has been strictly obeyed to\nthis day.[125] The word _Jehovah_ is never pronounced by a pious Jew,\nwho, whenever he meets with it in Scripture, substitutes for it the word\n_Adonai_ or _Lord_--a practice which has been followed by the translators\nof the common English version of the Bible with almost Jewish\nscrupulosity, the word \"Jehovah\" in the original being invariably\ntranslated by the word \"Lord.\" [126] The pronunciation of the word, being\nthus abandoned, became ultimately lost, as, by the peculiar construction\nof the Hebrew language, which is entirely without vowels, the letters,\nbeing all consonants, can give no possible indication, to one who has not\nheard it before, of the true pronunciation of any given word.\n\nTo make this subject plainer to the reader who is unacquainted with the\nHebrew, I will venture to furnish an explanation which will, perhaps, be\nintelligible.\n\nThe Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, the vowel sounds\nhaving always been inserted orally, and never marked in writing until the\n\"vowel points,\" as they are called, were invented by the Masorites, some\nsix centuries after the Christian era. As the vowel sounds were originally\nsupplied by the reader, while reading, from a knowledge which he had\npreviously received, by means of oral instruction, of the proper\npronunciation of the word, he was necessarily unable to pronounce any word\nwhich had never before been uttered in his presence. As we know that _Dr._\nis to be pronounced _Doctor_, and _Mr. Mister_, because we have always\nheard those peculiar combinations of letters thus enunciated, and not\nbecause the letters themselves give any such sound; so the Jew knew from\ninstruction and constant practice, and not from the power of the letters,\nhow the consonants in the different words in daily use were to be\nvocalized. But as the four letters which compose the word _Jehovah_, as we\nnow call it, were never pronounced in his presence, but were made to\nrepresent another word, _Adonai_, which was substituted for it, and as the\ncombination of these four consonants would give no more indication for any\nsort of enunciation than the combinations _Dr._ or _Mr._ give in our\nlanguage, the Jew, being ignorant of what vocal sounds were to be\nsupplied, was unable to pronounce the word, so that its true pronunciation\nwas in time lost to the masses of the people.\n\nThere was one person, however, who, it is said, was in possession of the\nproper sound of the letters and the true pronunciation of the word. This\nwas the high priest, who, receiving it from his predecessor, preserved the\nrecollection of the sound by pronouncing it three times, once a year, on\nthe day of the atonement, when he entered the holy of holies of the\ntabernacle or the temple.\n\nIf the traditions of Masonry on this subject are correct, the kings, after\nthe establishment of the monarchy, must have participated in this\nprivilege; for Solomon is said to have been in possession of the word, and\nto have communicated it to his two colleagues at the building of the\ntemple.\n\nThis is the word which, from the number of its letters, was called the\n\"tetragrammaton,\" or four-lettered name, and, from its sacred\ninviolability, the \"ineffable\" or unutterable name.\n\nThe Cabalists and Talmudists have enveloped it in a host of mystical\nsuperstitions, most of which are as absurd as they are incredible, but all\nof them tending to show the great veneration that has always been paid to\nit.[127] Thus they say that it is possessed of unlimited powers, and that\nhe who pronounces it shakes heaven and earth, and inspires the very angels\nwith terror and astonishment.\n\nThe Rabbins called it \"shem hamphorash,\" that is to say, \"the name that is\ndeclaratory,\" and they say that David found it engraved on a stone while\ndigging into the earth.\n\nFrom the sacredness with which the name was venerated, it was seldom, if\never, written in full, and, consequently, a great many symbols, or\nhieroglyphics, were invented to express it. One of these was the letter\n\u05d9 or _Yod_, equivalent nearly to the English I, or J, or Y,\nwhich was the initial of the word, and it was often inscribed within an\nequilateral triangle, thus:\n\n      / \\\n     /   \\\n    /  \u05d9  \\\n   /       \\\n   ---------\n\nthe triangle itself being a symbol of Deity.\n\nThis symbol of the name of God is peculiarly worthy of our attention,\nsince not only is the triangle to be found in many of the ancient\nreligions occupying the same position, but the whole symbol itself is\nundoubtedly the origin of that hieroglyphic exhibited in the second degree\nof Masonry, where, the explanation of the symbolism being the same, the\nform of it, as far as it respects the letter, has only been anglicized by\nmodern innovators. In my own opinion, the letter _G_, which is used in the\nFellow Craft's degree, should never have been permitted to intrude into\nMasonry; it presents an instance of absurd anachronism, which would never\nhave occurred if the original Hebrew symbol had been retained. But being\nthere now, without the possibility of removal, we have only to remember\nthat it is in fact but the symbol of a symbol.[128]\n\nWidely spread, as I have already said, was this reverence for the name of\nGod; and, consequently, its symbolism, in some peculiar form, is to be\nfound in all the ancient rites.\n\nThus the Ineffable Name itself, of which we have been discoursing, is said\nto have been preserved in its true pronunciation by the Essenes, who, in\ntheir secret rites, communicated it to each other only in a whisper, and\nin such form, that while its component parts were known, they were so\nseparated as to make the whole word a mystery.\n\nAmong the Egyptians, whose connection with the Hebrews was more immediate\nthan that of any other people, and where, consequently, there was a\ngreater similarity of rites, the same sacred name is said to have been\nused as a password, for the purpose of gaining admission to their\nMysteries.\n\nIn the Brahminic Mysteries of Hindostan the ceremony of initiation was\nterminated by intrusting the aspirant with the sacred, triliteral name,\nwhich was AUM, the three letters of which were symbolic of the creative,\npreservative, and destructive principles of the Supreme Deity, personified\nin the three manifestations of Bramah, Siva, and Vishnu. This word was\nforbidden to be pronounced aloud. It was to be the subject of silent\nmeditation to the pious Hindoo.\n\nIn the rites of Persia an ineffable name was also communicated to the\ncandidate after his initiation.[129] Mithras, the principal divinity in\nthese rites, who took the place of the Hebrew Jehovah, and represented the\nsun, had this peculiarity in his name--that the numeral value of the\nletters of which it was composed amounted to precisely 365, the number of\ndays which constitute a revolution of the earth around the sun, or, as\nthey then supposed, of the sun around the earth.\n\nIn the Mysteries introduced by Pythagoras into Greece we again find the\nineffable name of the Hebrews, obtained doubtless by the Samian Sage\nduring his visit to Babylon.[130] The symbol adopted by him to express it\nwas, however, somewhat different, being ten points distributed in the\nform of a triangle, each side containing four points, as in the annexed\nfigure.\n\n      .\n     . .\n    . . .\n   . . . .\n\nThe apex of the triangle was consequently a single point then followed\nbelow two others, then three; and lastly, the base consisted of four.\nThese points were, by the number in each rank, intended, according to the\nPythagorean system, to denote respectively the _monad_, or active\nprinciple of nature; the _duad_, or passive principle; the _triad_, or\nworld emanating from their union; and the _quaterniad_, or intellectual\nscience; the whole number of points amounting to ten, the symbol of\nperfection and consummation. This figure was called by Pythagoras the\n_tetractys_--a word equivalent in signification to the _tetragrammaton_;\nand it was deemed so sacred that on it the oath of secrecy and fidelity\nwas administered to the aspirants in the Pythagorean rites.[131]\n\nAmong the Scandinavians, as among the Jewish Cabalists, the Supreme God\nwho was made known in their mysteries had twelve names, of which the\nprincipal and most sacred one was _Alfader_, the Universal Father.\n\nAmong the Druids, the sacred name of God was _Hu_[132]--a name which,\nalthough it is supposed, by Bryant, to have been intended by them for\nNoah, will be recognized as one of the modifications of the Hebrew\ntetragrammaton. It is, in fact, the masculine pronoun in Hebrew, and may\nbe considered as the symbolization of the male or generative principle in\nnature--a sort of modification of the system of Phallic worship.\n\nThis sacred name among the Druids reminds me of what is the latest, and\nundoubtedly the most philosophical, speculation on the true meaning, as\nwell as pronunciation, of the ineffable tetragrammaton. It is from the\ningenious mind of the celebrated Lanci; and I have already, in another\nwork, given it to the public as I received it from his pupil, and my\nfriend, Mr. Gliddon, the distinguished archaeologist. But the results are\ntoo curious to be omitted whenever the tetragrammaton is discussed.\n\nElsewhere I have very fully alluded to the prevailing sentiment among the\nancients, that the Supreme Deity was bisexual, or hermaphrodite, including\nin the essence of his being the male and female principles, the generative\nand prolific powers of nature. This was the universal doctrine in all the\nancient religions, and was very naturally developed in the symbol of the\n_phallus_ and _cteis_ among the Greeks, and in the corresponding one of\nthe _lingam_ and _yoni_ among the Orientalists; from which symbols the\nmasonic _point within a circle_ is a legitimate derivation. They all\ntaught that God, the Creator, was both male and female.\n\nNow, this theory is undoubtedly unobjectionable on the score of orthodoxy,\nif we view it in the spiritual sense, in which its first propounders must\nnecessarily have intended it to be presented to the mind, and not in the\ngross, sensual meaning in which it was subsequently received. For, taking\nthe word _sex_, not in its ordinary and colloquial signification, as\ndenoting the indication of a particular physical organization, but in that\npurely philosophical one which alone can be used in such a connection, and\nwhich simply signifies the mere manifestation of a power, it is not to be\ndenied that the Supreme Being must possess in himself, and in himself\nalone, both a generative and a prolific power. This idea, which was so\nextensively prevalent among all the nations of antiquity,[133] has also\nbeen traced in the tetragrammaton, or name of Jehovah, with singular\ningenuity, by Lanci; and, what is almost equally as interesting, he has,\nby this discovery, been enabled to demonstrate what was, in all\nprobability, the true pronunciation of the word.\n\nIn giving the details of this philological discovery, I will endeavor to\nmake it as comprehensible as it can be made to those who are not\ncritically acquainted with the construction of the Hebrew language; those\nwho are will at once appreciate its peculiar character, and will excuse\nthe explanatory details, of course unnecessary to them.\n\nThe ineffable name, the tetragrammaton, the shem hamphorash,--for it is\nknown by all these appellations,--consists of four letters, _yod, heh,\nvau_, and _heh_, forming the word \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9. This word, of course, in\naccordance with the genius of the Hebrew language, is read, as we would\nsay, backward, or from right to left, beginning with _yod_ [\u05d9], and ending\nwith _heh_ [\u05d4].\n\nOf these letters, the first, _yod_ [\u05d9], is equivalent to the English _i_\npronounced as _e_ in the word _machine_.\n\nThe second and fourth letter, _heh_ [\u05d4], is an aspirate, and has here the\nsound of the English _h_.\n\nAnd the third letter, _vau_ [\u05d5], has the sound of open _o_.\n\nNow, reading these four letters, \u05d9, or I, \u05d4, or H, \u05d5, or O, and \u05d4, or H,\nas the Hebrew requires, from right to left, we have the word \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9,\nequivalent in English to IH-OH, which is really as near to the\npronunciation as we can well come, notwithstanding it forms neither of the\nseven ways in which the word is said to have been pronounced, at different\ntimes, by the patriarchs.[134]\n\nBut, thus pronounced, the word gives us no meaning, for there is no such\nword in Hebrew as _ihoh_; and, as all the Hebrew names were significative\nof something, it is but fair to conclude that this was not the original\npronunciation, and that we must look for another which will give a\nmeaning to the word. Now, Lanci proceeds to the discovery of this true\npronunciation, as follows:--\n\nIn the Cabala, a hidden meaning is often deduced from a word by\ntransposing or reversing its letters, and it was in this way that the\nCabalists concealed many of their mysteries.\n\nNow, to reverse a word in English is to read its letters from _right to\nleft_, because our normal mode of reading is from _left to right_. But in\nHebrew the contrary rule takes place, for there the normal mode of reading\nis from _right to left_; and therefore, to reverse the reading of a word,\nis to read it from _left to right_.\n\nLanci applied this cabalistic mode to the tetragrammaton, when he found\nthat IH-OH, being read reversely, makes the word HO-HI.[135]\n\nBut in Hebrew, _ho_ is the masculine pronoun, equivalent to the English\n_he_; and _hi_ is the feminine pronoun, equivalent to _she_; and therefore\nthe word HO-HI, literally translated, is equivalent to the English\ncompound HE-SHE; that is to say, the Ineffable Name of God in Hebrew,\nbeing read cabalistically, includes within itself the male and female\nprinciple, the generative and prolific energy of creation; and here we\nhave, again, the widely-spread symbolism of the phallus and the cteis, the\nlingam and the yoni, or their equivalent, the point within a circle, and\nanother pregnant proof of the connection between Freemasonry and the\nancient Mysteries.\n\nAnd here, perhaps, we may begin to find some meaning for the hitherto\nincomprehensible passage in Genesis (i. 27): \"So God created man _in his\nown image; in the image of God_ created he him; _male and female_ created\nhe them.\" They could not have been \"in the image\" of IHOH, if they had not\nbeen \"male and female.\"\n\nThe Cabalists have exhausted their ingenuity and imagination in\nspeculations on this sacred name, and some of their fancies are really\nsufficiently interesting to repay an investigation. Sufficient, however,\nhas been here said to account for the important position that it occupies\nin the masonic system, and to enable us to appreciate the symbols by which\nit has been represented.\n\nThe great reverence, or indeed the superstitious veneration, entertained\nby the ancients for the name of the Supreme Being, led them to express it\nrather in symbols or hieroglyphics than in any word at length.\n\nWe know, for instance, from the recent researches of the archaeologists,\nthat in all the documents of the ancient Egyptians, written in the demotic\nor common character of the country, the names of the gods were invariably\ndenoted by symbols; and I have already alluded to the different modes by\nwhich the Jews expressed the tetragrammaton. A similar practice prevailed\namong the other nations of antiquity. Freemasonry has adopted the same\nexpedient, and the Grand Architect of the Universe, whom it is the usage,\neven in ordinary writing, to designate by the initials G.A.O.T.U., is\naccordingly presented to us in a variety of symbols, three of which\nparticularly require attention. These are the letter _G_, the equilateral\ntriangle, and the All-Seeing Eye.\n\nOf the letter _G_ I have already spoken. A letter of the English alphabet\ncan scarcely be considered an appropriate symbol of an institution which\ndates its organization and refers its primitive history to a period long\nanterior to the origin of that language. Such a symbol is deficient in the\ntwo elements of antiquity and universality which should characterize every\nmasonic symbol. There can, therefore, be no doubt that, in its present\nform, it is a corruption of the old Hebrew symbol, the letter _yod_, by\nwhich the sacred name was often expressed. This letter is the initial of\nthe word _Jehovah_, or _Ihoh_, as I have already stated, and is constantly\nto be met with in Hebrew writings as the symbol or abbreviature of\n_Jehovah_, which word, it will be remembered, is never written at length.\nBut because _G_ is, in like manner, the initial of _God_, the equivalent\nof _Jehovah_, this letter has been incorrectly, and, I cannot refrain from\nagain saying, most injudiciously, selected to supply, in modern lodges,\nthe place of the Hebrew symbol.\n\nHaving, then, the same meaning and force as the Hebrew _yod_, the letter\n_G_ must be considered, like its prototype, as the symbol of the\nlife-giving and life-sustaining power of God, as manifested in the meaning\nof the word Jehovah, or Ihoh, the generative and prolific energy of the\nCreator.\n\nThe _All-Seeing Eye_ is another, and a still more important, symbol of the\nsame great Being. Both the Hebrews and the Egyptians appear to have\nderived its use from that natural inclination of figurative minds to\nselect an organ as the symbol of the function which it is intended\npeculiarly to discharge. Thus the foot was often adopted as the symbol of\nswiftness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity. On the same\nprinciple, the open eye was selected as the symbol of watchfulness, and\nthe eye of God as the symbol of divine watchfulness and care of the\nuniverse. The use of the symbol in this sense is repeatedly to be found in\nthe Hebrew writers. Thus the Psalmist says (Ps. xxxiv. 15), \"The eyes of\nthe Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry,\"\nwhich explains a subsequent passage (Ps. cxxi. 4), in which it is said,\n\"Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.\" [136]\n\nOn the same principle, the Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief\ndeity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him\nin all their temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented\nby the eye accompanying a throne, to which was sometimes added an\nabbreviated figure of the god, and sometimes what has been called a\nhatchet, but which, I consider, may as correctly be supposed to be a\nrepresentation of a square.\n\nThe All-Seeing Eye may, then, be considered as a symbol of God manifested\nin his omnipresence--his guardian and preserving character--to which\nSolomon alludes in the Book of Proverbs (xv. 3), when he says, \"The eyes\nof Jehovah are in every place, beholding (or as it might be more\nfaithfully translated, watching) the evil and the good.\" It is a symbol of\nthe Omnipresent Deity.\n\nThe _triangle_ is another symbol which is entitled to our consideration.\nThere is, in fact, no other symbol which is more various in its\napplication or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of both\nthe Spurious and the Pure Freemasonry.\n\nThe equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the\nnations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity.\n\nAmong the Hebrews, it has already been stated that this figure, with a\n_yod_ in the centre, was used to represent the tetragrammaton, or\nineffable name of God.\n\nThe Egyptians considered the equilateral triangle as the most perfect of\nfigures, and a representative of the great principle of animated\nexistence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of\ncreation--the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral.\n\nThe symbol of universal nature among the Egyptians was the right-angled\ntriangle, of which the perpendicular side represented Osiris, or the male\nprinciple; the base, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypothenuse,\ntheir offspring, Horus, or the world emanating from the union of both\nprinciples.\n\nAll this, of course, is nothing more nor less than the phallus and cteis,\nor lingam and yoni, under a different form.\n\nThe symbol of the right-angled triangle was afterwards adopted by\nPythagoras when he visited the banks of the Nile; and the discovery which\nhe is said to have made in relation to the properties of this figure, but\nwhich he really learned from the Egyptian priests, is commemorated in\nMasonry by the introduction of the forty-seventh problem of Euclid's First\nBook among the symbols of the third degree. Here the same mystical\napplication is supplied as in the Egyptian figure, namely, that the union\nof the male and female, or active and passive principles of nature, has\nproduced the world. For the geometrical proposition being that the squares\nof the perpendicular and base are equal to the square of the hypothenuse,\nthey may be said to produce it in the same way as Osiris and Isis are\nequal to, or produce, the world.\n\nThus the perpendicular--Osiris, or the active, male principle--being\nrepresented by a line whose measurement is 3; and the base--Isis, or the\npassive, female principle--by a line whose measurement is 4; then their\nunion, or the addition of the squares of these numbers, will produce a\nsquare whose root will be the hypothenuse, or a line whose measurement\nmust be 5. For the square of 3 is 9, and the square of 4 is 16, and the\nsquare of 5 is 25; but 9 added to 16 is equal to 25; and thus, out of the\naddition, or coming together, of the squares of the perpendicular and\nbase, arises the square of the hypothenuse, just as, out of the coming\ntogether, in the Egyptian system, of the active and passive principles,\narises, or is generated, the world.\n\nIn the mediaeval history of the Christian church, the great ignorance of\nthe people, and their inclination to a sort of materialism, led them to\nabandon the symbolic representations of the Deity, and to depict the\nFather with the form and lineaments of an aged man, many of which\nirreverent paintings, as far back as the twelfth century, are to be found\nin the religious books and edifices of Europe.[137] But, after the period\nof the renaissance, a better spirit and a purer taste began to pervade the\nartists of the church, and thenceforth the Supreme Being was represented\nonly by his name--the tetragrammaton--inscribed within an equilateral\ntriangle, and placed within a circle of rays. Didron, in his invaluable\nwork on Christian Iconography, gives one of these symbols, which was\ncarved on wood in the seventeenth century, of which I annex a copy.\n\n[Illustration: tetragrammaton inscribed with an equilateral triangle and\nplaced within a circle of rays]\n\nBut even in the earliest ages, when the Deity was painted or sculptured as\na personage, the nimbus, or glory, which surrounded the head of the\nFather, was often made to assume a triangular form. Didron says on this\nsubject, \"A nimbus, of a triangular form, is thus seen to be the exclusive\nattribute of the Deity, and most frequently restricted to the Father\nEternal. The other persons of the trinity sometimes wear the triangle, but\nonly in representations of the trinity, and because the Father is with\nthem. Still, even then, beside the Father, who has a triangle, the Son\nand the Holy Ghost are often drawn with a circular nimbus only.\" [138]\n\nThe triangle has, in all ages and in all religions, been deemed a symbol\nof Deity.\n\nThe Egyptians, the Greeks, and the other nations of antiquity, considered\nthis figure, with its three sides, as a symbol of the creative energy\ndisplayed in the active and passive, or male and female, principles, and\ntheir product, the world; the Christians referred it to their dogma of the\ntrinity as a manifestation of the Supreme God; and the Jews and the\nprimitive masons to the three periods of existence included in the\nsignification of the tetragrammaton--the past, the present, and the\nfuture.\n\nIn the higher degrees of Masonry, the triangle is the most important of\nall symbols, and most generally assumes the name of the _Delta_, in\nallusion to the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, which is of the same\nform and bears that appellation.\n\nThe Delta, or mystical triangle, is generally surrounded by a circle of\nrays, called a \"glory.\" When this glory is distinct from the figure, and\nsurrounds it in the form of a circle (as in the example just given from\nDidron), it is then an emblem of God's eternal glory. When, as is most\nusual in the masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the centre of the\ntriangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic\nof the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the pagans referred these rays\nof light to their Sun-god and their Sabian worship.\n\nBut the true masonic idea of this glory is, that it symbolizes that\nEternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as with a\nsea of glory, and from him, as a common centre, emanates to the universe\nof his creation, and to which the prophet Ezekiel alludes in his eloquent\ndescription of Jehovah: \"And I saw as the color of amber, as the\nappearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins\neven upward, and from his loins even downward, I saw, as it were, the\nappearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.\" (Chap. 1,\nver. 27.)\n\nDante has also beautifully described this circumfused light of Deity:--\n\n    \"There is in heaven a light whose goodly shine\n    Makes the Creator visible to all\n    Created, that in seeing him, alone\n    Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,\n    That the circumference were too loose a zone\n    To girdle in the sun.\"\n\nOn a recapitulation, then, of the views that have been advanced in\nrelation to these three symbols of the Deity which are to be found in the\nmasonic system, we may say that each one expresses a different attribute.\n\nThe letter _G_ is the symbol of the self-existent Jehovah.\n\nThe _All-Seeing Eye_ is the symbol of the omnipresent God.\n\nThe _triangle_[139] is the symbol of the Supreme Architect of the\nUniverse--the Creator; and when surrounded by rays of glory, it becomes a\nsymbol of the Architect and Bestower of Light.\n\nAnd now, after all, is there not in this whole prevalence of the name of\nGod, in so many different symbols, throughout the masonic system,\nsomething more than a mere evidence of the religious proclivities of the\ninstitution? Is there not behind this a more profound symbolism, which\nconstitutes, in fact, the very essence of Freemasonry? \"The names of God,\"\nsaid a learned theologian at the beginning of this century, \"were intended\nto communicate the knowledge of God himself. By these, men were enabled to\nreceive some scanty ideas of his essential majesty, goodness, and power,\nand to know both whom we are to believe, and what we are to believe of\nhim.\"\n\nAnd this train of thought is eminently applicable to the admission of the\nname into the system of Masonry. With us, the name of God, however\nexpressed, is a symbol of DIVINE TRUTH, which it should be the incessant\nlabor of a Mason to seek.\n\n\n\n\nXXV.\n\nThe Legends of Freemasonry.\n\n\n\nThe compound character of a speculative science and an operative art,\nwhich the masonic institution assumed at the building of King Solomon's\ntemple, in consequence of the union, at that era, of the Pure Freemasonry\nof the Noachidae[140] with the Spurious Freemasonry of the Tyrian workmen,\nhas supplied it with two distinct kinds of symbols--the _mythical_, or\n_legendary_, and the _material_; but these are so thoroughly united in\nobject and design, that it is impossible to appreciate the one without an\ninvestigation of the other.\n\nThus, by way of illustration, it may be observed, that the temple itself\nhas been adopted as a material symbol of the world (as I have already\nshown in former articles), while the legendary history of the fate of its\nbuilder is a mythical symbol of man's destiny in the world. Whatever is\nvisible or tangible to the senses in our types and emblems--such as the\nimplements of operative masonry, the furniture and ornaments of a lodge,\nor the ladder of seven steps--is a _material symbol_; while whatever\nderives its existence from tradition, and presents itself in the form of\nan allegory or legend, is a _mythical symbol_. Hiram the Builder,\ntherefore, and all that refers to the legend of his connection with the\ntemple, and his fate,--such as the sprig of acacia, the hill near Mount\nMoriah, and the lost word,--are to be considered as belonging to the class\nof mythical or legendary symbols.\n\nAnd this division is not arbitrary, but depends on the nature of the types\nand the aspect in which they present themselves to our view.\n\nThus the sprig of acacia, although it is material, visible, and tangible,\nis, nevertheless, not to be treated as a material symbol; for, as it\nderives all its significance from its intimate connection with the legend\nof Hiram Abif, which is a mythical symbol, it cannot, without a violent\nand inexpedient disruption, be separated from the same class. For the same\nreason, the small hill near Mount Moriah, the search of the twelve Fellow\nCrafts, and the whole train of circumstances connected with the lost word,\nare to be viewed simply as mythical or legendary, and not as material\nsymbols.\n\nThese legends of Freemasonry constitute a considerable and a very\nimportant part of its ritual. Without them, the most valuable portions of\nthe masonic as a scientific system would cease to exist. It is, in fact,\nin the traditions and legends of Freemasonry, more, even, than in its\nmaterial symbols, that we are to find the deep religious instruction which\nthe institution is intended to inculcate. It must be remembered that\nFreemasonry has been defined to be \"a system of morality, veiled in\nallegory and illustrated by symbols.\" Symbols, then, alone, do not\nconstitute the whole of the system: allegory comes in for its share; and\nthis allegory, which veils the divine truths of masonry, is presented to\nthe neophyte in the various legends which have been traditionally\npreserved in the order.\n\nThe close connection, at least in design and method of execution, between\nthe institution of Freemasonry and the ancient Mysteries, which were\nlargely imbued with the mythical character of the ancient religions, led,\nundoubtedly, to the introduction of the same mythical character into the\nmasonic system.\n\nSo general, indeed, was the diffusion of the myth or legend among the\nphilosophical, historical, and religious systems of antiquity, that Heyne\nremarks, on this subject, that all the history and philosophy of the\nancients proceeded from myths.[141]\n\nThe word _myth_, from the Greek \u03bc\u1fe6\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2, _a story_, in its original\nacceptation, signified simply a statement or narrative of an event,\nwithout any necessary implication of truth or falsehood; but, as the word\nis now used, it conveys the idea of a personal narrative of remote date,\nwhich, although not necessarily untrue, is certified only by the internal\nevidence of the tradition itself.[142]\n\nCreuzer, in his \"Symbolik,\" says that myths and symbols were derived, on\nthe one hand, from the helpless condition and the poor and scanty\nbeginnings of religious knowledge among the ancient peoples, and on the\nother, from the benevolent designs of the priests educated in the East, or\nof Eastern origin, to form them to a purer and higher knowledge.\n\nBut the observations of that profoundly philosophical historian, Mr.\nGrote, give so correct a view of the probable origin of this universality\nof the mythical element in all the ancient religions, and are, withal, so\nappropriate to the subject of masonic legends which I am now about to\ndiscuss, that I cannot justly refrain from a liberal quotation of his\nremarks.\n\n\"The allegorical interpretation of the myths,\" he says, \"has been, by\nseveral learned investigators, especially by Creuzer, connected with the\nhypothesis of an ancient and highly-instructed body of priests, having\ntheir origin either in Egypt or the East, and communicating to the rude\nand barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and historical knowledge, under\nthe veil of symbols. At a time (we are told) when language was yet in its\ninfancy, visible symbols were the most vivid means of acting upon the\nminds of ignorant hearers. The next step was to pass to symbolical\nlanguage and expressions; for a plain and literal exposition, even if\nunderstood at all, would at least have been listened to with indifference,\nas not corresponding with any mental demand. In such allegorizing way,\nthen, the early priests set forth their doctrines respecting God, nature,\nand humanity,--a refined monotheism and theological philosophy,--and to\nthis purpose the earliest myths were turned. But another class of myths,\nmore popular and more captivating, grew up under the hands of the\npoets--myths purely epical, and descriptive of real or supposed past\nevents. The allegorical myths, being taken up by the poets, insensibly\nbecame confounded in the same category with the purely narrative myths;\nthe matter symbolized was no longer thought of, while the symbolizing\nwords came to be construed in their own literal meaning, and the basis of\nthe early allegory, thus lost among the general public, was only preserved\nas a secret among various religious fraternities, composed of members\nallied together by initiation in certain mystical ceremonies, and\nadministered by hereditary families of presiding priests.\n\n\"In the Orphic and Bacchic sects, in the Eleusinian and Samothracian\nMysteries, was thus treasured up the secret doctrine of the old\ntheological and philosophical myths, which had once constituted the\nprimitive legendary stock of Greece in the hands of the original\npriesthood and in the ages anterior to Homer. Persons who had gone through\nthe preliminary ceremonies of initiation were permitted at length to hear,\nthough under strict obligation of secrecy, this ancient religion and\ncosmogonic doctrine, revealing the destination of man and the certainty\nof posthumous rewards and punishments, all disengaged from the corruptions\nof poets, as well as from the symbols and allegories under which they\nstill remained buried in the eyes of the vulgar. The Mysteries of Greece\nwere thus traced up to the earliest ages, and represented as the only\nfaithful depositaries of that purer theology and physics which had been\noriginally communicated, though under the unavoidable inconvenience of a\nsymbolical expression, by an enlightened priesthood, coming from abroad,\nto the then rude barbarians of the country.\" [143]\n\nIn this long but interesting extract we find not only a philosophical\naccount of the origin and design of the ancient myths, but a fair synopsis\nof all that can be taught in relation to the symbolical construction of\nFreemasonry, as one of the depositaries of a mythical theology.\n\nThe myths of Masonry, at first perhaps nothing more than the simple\ntraditions of the Pure Freemasonry of the antediluvian system, having been\ncorrupted and misunderstood in the separation of the races, were again\npurified, and adapted to the inculcation of truth, at first by the\ndisciples of the Spurious Freemasonry, and then, more fully and perfectly,\nin the development of that system which we now practise. And if there be\nany leaven of error still remaining in the interpretation of our masonic\nmyths, we must seek to disengage them from the corruptions with which they\nhave been invested by ignorance and by misinterpretation. We must give to\nthem their true significance, and trace them back to those ancient\ndoctrines and faith whence the ideas which they are intended to embody\nwere derived.\n\nThe myths or legends which present themselves to our attention in the\ncourse of a complete study of the symbolic system of Freemasonry may be\nconsidered as divided into three classes:--\n\n    1. The historical myth.\n    2. The philosophical myth.\n    3. The mythical history.\n\nAnd these three classes may be defined as follows:--\n\n1. The myth may be engaged in the transmission of a narrative of early\ndeeds and events, having a foundation in truth, which truth, however, has\nbeen greatly distorted and perverted by the omission or introduction of\ncircumstances and personages, and then it constitutes the _historical\nmyth_.\n\n2. Or it may have been invented and adopted as the medium of enunciating a\nparticular thought, or of inculcating a certain doctrine, when it becomes\na _philosophical myth_.\n\n3. Or, lastly, the truthful elements of actual history may greatly\npredominate over the fictitious and invented materials of the myth, and\nthe narrative may be, in the main, made up of facts, with a slight\ncoloring of imagination, when it forms a _mythical history_.[144]\n\nThese form the three divisions of the legend or myth (for I am not\ndisposed, on the present occasion, like some of the German mythological\nwriters, to make a distinction between the two words[145]); and to one of\nthese three divisions we must appropriate every legend which belongs to\nthe mythical symbolism of Freemasonry.\n\nThese masonic myths partake, in their general character, of the nature of\nthe myths which constituted the foundation of the ancient religions, as\nthey have just been described in the language of Mr. Grote. Of these\nlatter myths, M\u00fcller[146] says that \"their source is to be found, for the\nmost part, in oral tradition,\" and that the real and the ideal--that is to\nsay, the facts of history and the inventions of imagination--concurred, by\ntheir union and reciprocal fusion, in producing the myth.\n\nThose are the very principles that govern the construction of the masonic\nmyths or legends. These, too, owe their existence entirely to oral\ntradition, and are made up, as I have just observed, of a due admixture of\nthe real and the ideal--the true and the false--the facts of history and\nthe inventions of allegory.\n\nDr. Oliver remarks that \"the first series of historical facts, after the\nfall of man, must necessarily have been traditional, and transmitted from\nfather to son by oral communication.\" [147] The same system, adopted in\nall the Mysteries, has been continued in the masonic institution; and all\nthe esoteric instructions contained in the legends of Freemasonry are\nforbidden to be written, and can be communicated only in the oral\nintercourse of Freemasons with each other.[148]\n\nDe Wette, in his Criticism on the Mosaic History, lays down the test by\nwhich a myth is to be distinguished from a strictly historical narrative,\nas follows, namely: that the myth must owe its origin to the intention of\nthe inventor not to satisfy the natural thirst for historical truth by a\nsimple narration of facts, but rather to delight or touch the feelings, or\nto illustrate some philosophical or religious truth.\n\nThis definition precisely fits the character of the myths of Masonry.\nTake, for instance, the legend of the master's degree, or the myth of\nHiram Abif. As \"a simple narration of facts,\" it is of no great\nvalue--certainly not of value commensurate with the labor that has been\nengaged in its transmission. Its invention--by which is meant, not the\ninvention or imagination of all the incidents of which it is composed, for\nthere are abundant materials of the true and real in its details, but its\ninvention or composition in the form of a myth by the addition of some\nfeatures, the suppression of others, and the general arrangement of the\nwhole--was not intended to add a single item to the great mass of history,\nbut altogether, as De Wette says, \"to illustrate a philosophical or\nreligious truth,\" which truth, it is hardly necessary for me to say, is\nthe doctrine of the immortality of the soul.\n\nIt must be evident, from all that has been said respecting the analogy in\norigin and design between the masonic and the ancient religious myths,\nthat no one acquainted with the true science of this subject can, for a\nmoment, contend that all the legends and traditions of the order are, to\nthe very letter, historical facts. All that can be claimed for them is,\nthat in some there is simply a substratum of history, the edifice\nconstructed on this foundation being purely inventive, to serve us a\nmedium for inculcating some religious truth; in others, nothing more than\nan idea to which the legend or myth is indebted for its existence, and of\nwhich it is, as a symbol, the exponent; and in others, again, a great deal\nof truthful narrative, more or less intermixed with fiction, but the\nhistorical always predominating.\n\nThus there is a legend, contained in some of our old records, which states\nthat Euclid was a distinguished Mason, and that he introduced Masonry\namong the Egyptians.[149] Now, it is not at all necessary to the orthodoxy\nof a Mason's creed that he should literally believe that Euclid, the great\ngeometrician, was really a Freemason, and that the ancient Egyptians were\nindebted to him for the establishment of the institution among them.\nIndeed, the palpable anachronism in the legend which makes Euclid the\ncontemporary of Abraham necessarily prohibits any such belief, and shows\nthat the whole story is a sheer invention. The intelligent Mason, however,\nwill not wholly reject the legend, as ridiculous or absurd; but, with a\ndue sense of the nature and design of our system of symbolism, will rather\naccept it as what, in the classification laid down on a preceding page,\nwould be called \"a philosophical myth\"--an ingenious method of conveying,\nsymbolically, a masonic truth.\n\nEuclid is here very appropriately used as a type of geometry, that science\nof which he was so eminent a teacher, and the myth or legend then\nsymbolizes the fact that there was in Egypt a close connection between\nthat science and the great moral and religious system, which was among the\nEgyptians, as well as other ancient nations, what Freemasonry is in the\npresent day--a secret institution, established for the inculcation of the\nsame principles, and inculcating them in the same symbolic manner. So\ninterpreted, this legend corresponds to all the developments of Egyptian\nhistory, which teach us how close a connection existed in that country\nbetween the religious and scientific systems. Thus Kenrick tells us, that\n\"when we read of foreigners [in Egypt] being obliged to submit to painful\nand tedious ceremonies of initiation, it was not that they might learn the\nsecret meaning of the rites of Osiris or Isis, but that they might partake\nof the knowledge of astronomy, physic, geometry, and theology.\" [150]\n\nAnother illustration will be found in the myth or legend of the _Winding\nStairs_, by which the Fellow Crafts are said to have ascended to the\nmiddle chamber to receive their wages. Now, this myth, taken in its\nliteral sense, is, in all its parts, opposed to history and probability.\nAs a myth, it finds its origin in the fact that there was a place in the\ntemple called the \"Middle Chamber,\" and that there were \"winding stairs\"\nby which it was reached; for we read, in the First Book of Kings, that\n\"they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber.\" [151] But we\nhave no historical evidence that the stairs were of the construction, or\nthat the chamber was used for the purpose, indicated in the mythical\nnarrative, as it is set forth in the ritual of the second degree. The\nwhole legend is, in fact, an historical myth, in which the mystic number\nof the steps, the process of passing to the chamber, and the wages there\nreceived, are inventions added to or ingrafted on the fundamental history\ncontained in the sixth chapter of Kings, to inculcate important symbolic\ninstruction relative to the principles of the order. These lessons might,\nit is true, have been inculcated in a dry, didactic form; but the\nallegorical and mythical method adopted tends to make a stronger and\ndeeper impression on the mind, and at the same time serves more closely\nto connect the institution of Masonry with the ancient temple.\n\nAgain: the myth which traces the origin of the institution of Freemasonry\nto the beginning of the world, making its commencement coeval with the\ncreation,--a myth which is, even at this day, ignorantly interpreted, by\nsome, as an historical fact, and the reference to which is still preserved\nin the date of \"anno lucis,\" which is affixed to all masonic\ndocuments,--is but a philosophical myth, symbolizing the idea which\nanalogically connects the creation of physical light in the universe with\nthe birth of masonic or spiritual and intellectual light in the candidate.\nThe one is the type of the other. When, therefore, Preston says that \"from\nthe commencement of the world we may trace the foundation of Masonry,\" and\nwhen he goes on to assert that \"ever since symmetry began, and harmony\ndisplayed her charms, our order has had a being,\" we are not to suppose\nthat Preston intended to teach that a masonic lodge was held in the Garden\nof Eden. Such a supposition would justly subject us to the ridicule of\nevery intelligent person. The only idea intended to be conveyed is this:\nthat the principles of Freemasonry, which, indeed, are entirely\nindependent of any special organization which it may have as a society,\nare coeval with the existence of the world; that when God said, \"Let there\nbe light,\" the material light thus produced was an antitype of that\nspiritual light that must burst upon the mind of every candidate when his\nintellectual world, theretofore \"without form and void,\" becomes adorned\nand peopled with the living thoughts and divine principles which\nconstitute the great system of Speculative Masonry, and when the spirit of\nthe institution, brooding over the vast deep of his mental chaos, shall,\nfrom intellectual darkness, bring forth intellectual light.[152]\n\nIn the legends of the Master's degree and of the Royal Arch there is a\ncommingling of the historical myth and the mythical history, so that\nprofound judgment is often required to discriminate these differing\nelements. As, for example, the legend of the third degree is, in some of\nits details, undoubtedly mythical--in others, just as undoubtedly\nhistorical. The difficulty, however, of separating the one from the other,\nand of distinguishing the fact from the fiction, has necessarily produced\na difference of opinion on the subject among masonic writers. Hutchinson,\nand, after him, Oliver, think the whole legend an allegory or\nphilosophical myth. I am inclined, with Anderson and the earlier writers,\nto suppose it a mythical history. In the Royal Arch degree, the legend of\nthe rebuilding of the temple is clearly historical; but there are so many\naccompanying circumstances, which are uncertified, except by oral\ntradition, as to give to the entire narrative the appearance of a mythical\nhistory. The particular legend of the _three weary sojourners_ is\nundoubtedly a myth, and perhaps merely a philosophical one, or the\nenunciation of an idea--namely, the reward of successful perseverance,\nthrough all dangers, in the search for divine truth.\n\n\"To form symbols and to interpret symbols,\" says the learned Creuzer,\n\"were the main occupation of the ancient priesthood.\" Upon the studious\nMason the same task of interpretation devolves. He who desires properly\nto appreciate the profound wisdom of the institution of which he is the\ndisciple, must not be content, with uninquiring credulity, to accept all\nthe traditions that are imparted to him as veritable histories; nor yet,\nwith unphilosophic incredulity, to reject them in a mass, as fabulous\ninventions. In these extremes there is equal error. \"The myth,\" says\nHermann, \"is the representation of an idea.\" It is for that idea that the\nstudent must search in the myths of Masonry. Beneath every one of them\nthere is something richer and more spiritual than the mere narrative.[153]\nThis spiritual essence he must learn to extract from the ore in which,\nlike a precious metal, it lies imbedded. It is this that constitutes the\ntrue value of Freemasonry. Without its symbols, and its myths or legends,\nand the ideas and conceptions which lie at the bottom of them, the time,\nthe labor, and the expense incurred in perpetuating the institution, would\nbe thrown away. Without them, it would be a \"vain and empty show.\" Its\ngrips and signs are worth nothing, except for social purposes, as mere\nmeans of recognition. So, too, would be its words, were it not that they\nare, for the most part, symbolic. Its social habits and its charities are\nbut incidental points in its constitution--of themselves good, it is true,\nbut capable of being attained in a simpler way. Its true value, as a\nscience, consists in its symbolism--in the great lessons of divine truth\nwhich it teaches, and in the admirable manner in which it accomplishes\nthat teaching. Every one, therefore, who desires to be a skilful Mason,\nmust not suppose that the task is accomplished by a perfect knowledge of\nthe mere phraseology of the ritual, by a readiness in opening and closing\na lodge, nor by an off-hand capacity to confer degrees. All these are good\nin their places, but without the internal meaning they are but mere\nchild's play. He must study the myths, the traditions, and the symbols of\nthe order, and learn their true interpretation; for this alone constitutes\nthe science and the philosophy--the end, aim, and design of Speculative\nMasonry.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI.\n\nThe Legend of the Winding Stairs.\n\n\n\nBefore proceeding to the examination of those more important mythical\nlegends which appropriately belong to the Master's degree, it will not, I\nthink, be unpleasing or uninstructive to consider the only one which is\nattached to the Fellow Craft's degree--that, namely, which refers to the\nallegorical ascent of the Winding Stairs to the Middle Chamber, and the\nsymbolic payment of the workmen's wages.\n\nAlthough the legend of the Winding Stairs forms an important tradition of\nAncient Craft Masonry, the only allusion to it in Scripture is to be found\nin a single verse in the sixth chapter of the First Book of Kings, and is\nin these words: \"The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of\nthe house; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber,\nand out of the middle into the third.\" Out of this slender material has\nbeen constructed an allegory, which, if properly considered in its\nsymbolical relations, will be found to be of surpassing beauty. But it is\nonly as a symbol that we can regard this whole tradition; for the\nhistorical facts and the architectural details alike forbid us for a\nmoment to suppose that the legend, as it is rehearsed in the second degree\nof Masonry, is anything more than a magnificent philosophical myth.\n\nLet us inquire into the true design of this legend, and learn the lesson\nof symbolism which it is intended to teach.\n\nIn the investigation of the true meaning of every masonic symbol and\nallegory, we must be governed by the single principle that the whole\ndesign of Freemasonry as a speculative science is the investigation of\ndivine truth. To this great object everything is subsidiary. The Mason is,\nfrom the moment of his initiation as an Entered Apprentice, to the time at\nwhich he receives the full fruition of masonic light, an investigator--a\nlaborer in the quarry and the temple--whose reward is to be Truth. All the\nceremonies and traditions of the order tend to this ultimate design. Is\nthere light to be asked for? It is the intellectual light of wisdom and\ntruth. Is there a word to be sought? That word is the symbol of truth. Is\nthere a loss of something that had been promised? That loss is typical of\nthe failure of man, in the infirmity of his nature, to discover divine\ntruth. Is there a substitute to be appointed for that loss? It is an\nallegory which teaches us that in this world man can only approximate to\nthe full conception of truth.\n\nHence there is in Speculative Masonry always a progress, symbolized by its\npeculiar ceremonies of initiation. There is an advancement from a lower to\na higher state--from darkness to light--from death to life--from error to\ntruth. The candidate is always ascending; he is never stationary; he\nnever goes back, but each step he takes brings him to some new mental\nillumination--to the knowledge of some more elevated doctrine. The\nteaching of the Divine Master is, in respect to this continual progress,\nthe teaching of Masonry--\"No man having put his hand to the plough, and\nlooking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.\" And similar to this is\nthe precept of Pythagoras: \"When travelling, turn not back, for if you do\nthe Furies will accompany you.\"\n\nNow, this principle of masonic symbolism is apparent in many places in\neach of the degrees. In that of the Entered Apprentice we find it\ndeveloped in the theological ladder, which, resting on earth, leans its\ntop upon heaven, thus inculcating the idea of an ascent from a lower to a\nhigher sphere, as the object of masonic labor. In the Master's degree we\nfind it exhibited in its most religious form, in the restoration from\ndeath to life--in the change from the obscurity of the grave to the holy\nof holies of the Divine Presence. In all the degrees we find it presented\nin the ceremony of circumambulation, in which there is a gradual\ninquisition, and a passage from an inferior to a superior officer. And\nlastly, the same symbolic idea is conveyed in the Fellow Craft's degree in\nthe legend of the Winding Stairs.\n\nIn an investigation of the symbolism of the Winding Stairs we shall be\ndirected to the true explanation by a reference to their origin, their\nnumber, the objects which they recall, and their termination, but above\nall by a consideration of the great design which an ascent upon them was\nintended to accomplish.\n\nThe steps of this Winding Staircase commenced, we are informed, at the\nporch of the temple; that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is\nmore undoubted in the science of masonic symbolism than that the temple\nwas the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or the\nDivine Presence. The world of the profane is without the temple; the world\nof the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the temple, to\npass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world\nof masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms. Here, then,\nthe symbolism of the Winding Stairs begins.\n\nThe Apprentice, having entered within the porch of the temple, has begun\nhis masonic life. But the first degree in Masonry, like the lesser\nMysteries of the ancient systems of initiation, is only a preparation and\npurification for something higher. The Entered Apprentice is the child in\nMasonry. The lessons which he receives are simply intended to cleanse the\nheart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which is to\nbe given in the succeeding degrees.\n\nAs a Fellow Craft, he has advanced another step, and as the degree is\nemblematic of youth, so it is here that the intellectual education of the\ncandidate begins. And therefore, here, at the very spot which separates\nthe Porch from the Sanctuary, where childhood ends and manhood begins, he\nfinds stretching out before him a winding stair which invites him, as it\nwere, to ascend, and which, as the symbol of discipline and instruction,\nteaches him that here must commence his masonic labor--here he must enter\nupon those glorious though difficult researches, the end of which is to be\nthe possession of divine truth. The Winding Stairs begin after the\ncandidate has passed within the Porch and between the pillars of Strength\nand Establishment, as a significant symbol to teach him that as soon as he\nhas passed beyond the years of irrational childhood, and commenced his\nentrance upon manly life, the laborious task of self-improvement is the\nfirst duty that is placed before him. He cannot stand still, if he would\nbe worthy of his vocation; his destiny as an immortal being requires him\nto ascend, step by step, until he has reached the summit, where the\ntreasures of knowledge await him.\n\nThe number of these steps in all the systems has been odd. Vitruvius\nremarks--and the coincidence is at least curious--that the ancient temples\nwere always ascended by an odd number of steps; and he assigns as the\nreason, that, commencing with the right foot at the bottom, the worshipper\nwould find the same foot foremost when he entered the temple, which was\nconsidered as a fortunate omen. But the fact is, that the symbolism of\nnumbers was borrowed by the Masons from Pythagoras, in whose system of\nphilosophy it plays an important part, and in which odd numbers were\nconsidered as more perfect than even ones. Hence, throughout the masonic\nsystem we find a predominance of odd numbers; and while three, five,\nseven, nine, fifteen, and twenty-seven, are all-important symbols, we\nseldom find a reference to two, four, six, eight, or ten. The odd number\nof the stairs was therefore intended to symbolize the idea of perfection,\nto which it was the object of the aspirant to attain.\n\nAs to the particular number of the stairs, this has varied at different\nperiods. Tracing-boards of the last century have been found, in which only\n_five_ steps are delineated, and others in which they amount to _seven_.\nThe Prestonian lectures, used in England in the beginning of this century,\ngave the whole number as thirty-eight, dividing them into series of one,\nthree, five, seven, nine, and eleven. The error of making an even number,\nwhich was a violation of the Pythagorean principle of odd numbers as the\nsymbol of perfection, was corrected in the Hemming lectures, adopted at\nthe union of the two Grand Lodges of England, by striking out the eleven,\nwhich was also objectionable as receiving a sectarian explanation. In this\ncountry the number was still further reduced to _fifteen_, divided into\nthree series of _three, five_, and _seven_. I shall adopt this American\ndivision in explaining the symbolism, although, after all, the particular\nnumber of the steps, or the peculiar method of their division into\nseries, will not in any way affect the general symbolism of the whole\nlegend.\n\nThe candidate, then, in the second degree of Masonry, represents a man\nstarting forth on the journey of life, with the great task before him of\nself-improvement. For the faithful performance of this task, a reward is\npromised, which reward consists in the development of all his intellectual\nfaculties, the moral and spiritual elevation of his character, and the\nacquisition of truth and knowledge. Now, the attainment of this moral and\nintellectual condition supposes an elevation of character, an ascent from\na lower to a higher life, and a passage of toil and difficulty, through\nrudimentary instruction, to the full fruition of wisdom. This is therefore\nbeautifully symbolized by the Winding Stairs; at whose foot the aspirant\nstands ready to climb the toilsome steep, while at its top is placed \"that\nhieroglyphic bright which none but Craftsmen ever saw,\" as the emblem of\ndivine truth. And hence a distinguished writer has said that \"these steps,\nlike all the masonic symbols, are illustrative of discipline and doctrine,\nas well as of natural, mathematical, and metaphysical science, and open to\nus an extensive range of moral and speculative inquiry.\"\n\nThe candidate, incited by the love of virtue and the desire of knowledge,\nand withal eager for the reward of truth which is set before him, begins\nat once the toilsome ascent. At each division he pauses to gather\ninstruction from the symbolism which these divisions present to his\nattention.\n\nAt the first pause which he makes he is instructed in the peculiar\norganization of the order of which he has become a disciple. But the\ninformation here given, if taken in its naked, literal sense, is barren,\nand unworthy of his labor. The rank of the officers who govern, and the\nnames of the degrees which constitute the institution, can give him no\nknowledge which he has not before possessed. We must look therefore to the\nsymbolic meaning of these allusions for any value which may be attached to\nthis part of the ceremony.\n\nThe reference to the organization of the masonic institution is intended\nto remind the aspirant of the union of men in society, and the development\nof the social state out of the state of nature. He is thus reminded, in\nthe very outset of his journey, of the blessings which arise from\ncivilization, and of the fruits of virtue and knowledge which are derived\nfrom that condition. Masonry itself is the result of civilization; while,\nin grateful return, it has been one of the most important means of\nextending that condition of mankind.\n\nAll the monuments of antiquity that the ravages of time have left, combine\nto prove that man had no sooner emerged from the savage into the social\nstate, than he commenced the organization of religious mysteries, and the\nseparation, by a sort of divine instinct, of the sacred from the profane.\nThen came the invention of architecture as a means of providing convenient\ndwellings and necessary shelter from the inclemencies and vicissitudes of\nthe seasons, with all the mechanical arts connected with it; and lastly,\ngeometry, as a necessary science to enable the cultivators of land to\nmeasure and designate the limits of their possessions. All these are\nclaimed as peculiar characteristics of Speculative Masonry, which may be\nconsidered as the type of civilization, the former bearing the same\nrelation to the profane world as the latter does to the savage state.\nHence we at once see the fitness of the symbolism which commences the\naspirant's upward progress in the cultivation of knowledge and the search\nafter truth, by recalling to his mind the condition of civilization and\nthe social union of mankind as necessary preparations for the attainment\nof these objects. In the allusions to the officers of a lodge, and the\ndegrees of Masonry as explanatory of the organization of our own society,\nwe clothe in our symbolic language the history of the organization of\nsociety.\n\nAdvancing in his progress, the candidate is invited to contemplate another\nseries of instructions. The human senses, as the appropriate channels\nthrough which we receive all our ideas of perception, and which,\ntherefore, constitute the most important sources of our knowledge, are\nhere referred to as a symbol of intellectual cultivation. Architecture, as\nthe most important of the arts which conduce to the comfort of mankind, is\nalso alluded to here, not simply because it is so closely connected with\nthe operative institution of Masonry, but also as the type of all the\nother useful arts. In his second pause, in the ascent of the Winding\nStairs, the aspirant is therefore reminded of the necessity of cultivating\npractical knowledge.\n\nSo far, then, the instructions he has received relate to his own condition\nin society as a member of the great social compact, and to his means of\nbecoming, by a knowledge of the arts of practical life, a necessary and\nuseful member of that society.\n\nBut his motto will be, \"Excelsior.\" Still must he go onward and forward.\nThe stair is still before him; its summit is not yet reached, and still\nfurther treasures of wisdom are to be sought for, or the reward will not\nbe gained, nor the _middle chamber_, the abiding place of truth, be\nreached.\n\nIn his third pause, he therefore arrives at that point in which the whole\ncircle of human science is to be explained. Symbols, we know, are in\nthemselves arbitrary and of conventional signification, and the complete\ncircle of human science might have been as well symbolized by any other\nsign or series of doctrines as by the seven liberal arts and sciences. But\nMasonry is an institution of the olden time; and this selection of the\nliberal arts and sciences as a symbol of the completion of human learning\nis one of the most pregnant evidences that we have of its antiquity.\n\nIn the seventh century, and for a long time afterwards, the circle of\ninstruction to which all the learning of the most eminent schools and most\ndistinguished philosophers was confined, was limited to what were then\ncalled the liberal arts and sciences, and consisted of two branches, the\n_trivium_ and the _quadrivium_.[154] The _trivium_ included grammar,\nrhetoric, and logic; the _quadrivium_ comprehended arithmetic, geometry,\nmusic, and astronomy.\n\n\"These seven heads,\" says Enfield, \"were supposed to include universal\nknowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a\npreceptor to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within\nthe compass of human reason, the knowledge of the _trivium_ having\nfurnished him with the key to all language, and that of the _quadrivium_\nhaving opened to him the secret laws of nature.\" [155]\n\nAt a period, says the same writer, when few were instructed in the\n_trivium_, and very few studied the _quadrivium_, to be master of both was\nsufficient to complete the character of a philosopher. The propriety,\ntherefore, of adopting the seven liberal arts and sciences as a symbol of\nthe completion of human learning is apparent. The candidate, having\nreached this point, is now supposed to have accomplished the task upon\nwhich he had entered--he has reached the last step, and is now ready to\nreceive the full fruition of human learning.\n\nSo far, then, we are able to comprehend the true symbolism of the Winding\nStairs. They represent the progress of an inquiring mind with the toils\nand labors of intellectual cultivation and study, and the preparatory\nacquisition of all human science, as a preliminary step to the attainment\nof divine truth, which it must be remembered is always symbolized in\nMasonry by the WORD.\n\nHere let me again allude to the symbolism of numbers, which is for the\nfirst time presented to the consideration of the masonic student in the\nlegend of the Winding Stairs. The theory of numbers as the symbols of\ncertain qualities was originally borrowed by the Masons from the school of\nPythagoras. It will be impossible, however, to develop this doctrine, in\nits entire extent, on the present occasion, for the numeral symbolism of\nMasonry would itself constitute materials for an ample essay. It will be\nsufficient to advert to the fact that the total number of the steps,\namounting in all to _fifteen_, in the American system, is a significant\nsymbol. For _fifteen_ was a sacred number among the Orientals, because the\nletters of the holy name JAH, \u05d4\u05d9, were, in their numerical\nvalue, equivalent to fifteen; and hence a figure in which the nine digits\nwere so disposed as to make fifteen either way when added together\nperpendicularly, horizontally, or diagonally, constituted one of their\nmost sacred talismans.[156] The fifteen steps in the Winding Stairs are\ntherefore symbolic of the name of God.\n\nBut we are not yet done. It will be remembered that a reward was promised\nfor all this toilsome ascent of the Winding Stairs. Now, what are the\nwages of a Speculative Mason? Not money, nor corn, nor wine, nor oil. All\nthese are but symbols. His wages are TRUTH, or that approximation to it\nwhich will be most appropriate to the degree into which he has been\ninitiated. It is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time most\nabstruse, doctrines of the science of masonic symbolism, that the Mason is\never to be in search of truth, but is never to find it. This divine truth,\nthe object of all his labors, is symbolized by the WORD, for which we all\nknow he can only obtain a _substitute_; and this is intended to teach the\nhumiliating but necessary lesson that the knowledge of the nature of God\nand of man's relation to him, which knowledge constitutes divine truth,\ncan never be acquired in this life. It is only when the portals of the\ngrave open to us, and give us an entrance into a more perfect life, that\nthis knowledge is to be attained. \"Happy is the man,\" says the father of\nlyric poetry, \"who descends beneath the hollow earth, having beheld these\nmysteries; he knows the end, he knows the origin of life.\"\n\nThe Middle Chamber is therefore symbolic of this life, where the symbol\nonly of the word can be given, where the truth is to be reached by\napproximation only, and yet where we are to learn that that truth will\nconsist in a perfect knowledge of the G.A.O.T.U. This is the reward of the\ninquiring Mason; in this consist the wages of a Fellow Craft; he is\ndirected to the truth, but must travel farther and ascend still higher to\nattain it.\n\nIt is, then, as a symbol, and a symbol only, that we must study this\nbeautiful legend of the Winding Stairs. If we attempt to adopt it as an\nhistorical fact, the absurdity of its details stares us in the face, and\nwise men will wonder at our credulity. Its inventors had no desire thus to\nimpose upon our folly; but offering it to us as a great philosophical\nmyth, they did not for a moment suppose that we would pass over its\nsublime moral teachings to accept the allegory as an historical narrative,\nwithout meaning, and wholly irreconcilable with the records of Scripture,\nand opposed by all the principles of probability. To suppose that eighty\nthousand craftsmen were weekly paid in the narrow precincts of the temple\nchambers, is simply to suppose an absurdity. But to believe that all this\npictorial representation of an ascent by a Winding Staircase to the place\nwhere the wages of labor were to be received, was an allegory to teach us\nthe ascent of the mind from ignorance, through all the toils of study and\nthe difficulties of obtaining knowledge, receiving here a little and there\na little, adding something to the stock of our ideas at each step, until,\nin the middle chamber of life,--in the full fruition of manhood,--the\nreward is attained, and the purified and elevated intellect is invested\nwith the reward in the direction how to seek God and God's truth,--to\nbelieve this is to believe and to know the true design of Speculative\nMasonry, the only design which makes it worthy of a good or a wise man's\nstudy.\n\nIts historical details are barren, but its symbols and allegories are\nfertile with instruction.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII.\n\nThe Legend of the Third Degree.\n\n\n\nThe most important and significant of the legendary symbols of Freemasonry\nis, undoubtedly, that which relates to the fate of Hiram Abif, commonly\ncalled, \"by way of excellence,\" the Legend of the Third Degree.\n\nThe first written record that I have been able to find of this legend is\ncontained in the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, published in\n1738, and is in these words:--\n\n\"It (the temple) was finished in the short space of seven years and six\nmonths, to the amazement of all the world; when the cape-stone was\ncelebrated by the fraternity with great joy. But their joy was soon\ninterrupted by the sudden death of their dear master, Hiram Abif, whom\nthey decently interred, in the lodge near the temple, according to ancient\ndusage.\" [157]\n\nIn the next edition of the same work, published in 1756, a few additional\ncircumstances are related, such as the participation of King Solomon in\nthe general grief, and the fact that the king of Israel \"ordered his\nobsequies to be conducted with great solemnity and decency.\" [158] With\nthese exceptions, and the citations of the same passages, made by\nsubsequent authors, the narrative has always remained unwritten, and\ndescended, from age to age, through the means of oral tradition.\n\nThe legend has been considered of so much importance that it has been\npreserved in the symbolism of every masonic rite. No matter what\nmodifications or alterations the general system may have undergone,--no\nmatter how much the ingenuity or the imagination of the founders of rites\nmay have perverted or corrupted other symbols, abolishing the old and\nsubstituting new ones,--the legend of the Temple Builder has ever been\nleft untouched, to present itself in all the integrity of its ancient\nmythical form.\n\nWhat, then, is the signification of this symbol, so important and so\nextensively diffused? What interpretation can we give to it that will\naccount for its universal adoption? How is it that it has thus become so\nintimately interwoven with Freemasonry as to make, to all appearances, a\npart of its very essence, and to have been always deemed inseparable from\nit?\n\nTo answer these questions, satisfactorily, it is necessary to trace, in a\nbrief investigation, the remote origin of the institution of Freemasonry,\nand its connection with the ancient systems of initiation.\n\nIt was, then, the great object of all the rites and mysteries which\nconstituted the \"Spurious Freemasonry\" of antiquity to teach the\nconsoling doctrine of the immortality of the soul.[159] This dogma,\nshining as an almost solitary beacon-light in the surrounding gloom of\npagan darkness, had undoubtedly been received from that ancient people or\npriesthood[160] what has been called the system of \"Pure Freemasonry,\" and\namong whom it probably existed only in the form of an abstract proposition\nor a simple and unembellished tradition. But in the more sensual minds of\nthe pagan philosophers and mystics, the idea, when presented to the\ninitiates in their Mysteries, was always conveyed in the form of a scenic\nrepresentation.[161] The influence, too, of the early Sabian worship of\nthe sun and heavenly bodies, in which the solar orb was adored, on its\nresurrection, each morning, from the apparent death of its evening\nsetting, caused this rising sun to be adopted in the more ancient\nMysteries as a symbol of the regeneration of the soul.\n\nThus in the Egyptian Mysteries we find a representation of the death and\nsubsequent regeneration of Osiris; in the Ph\u009cnician, of Adonis; in the\nSyrian, of Dionysus; in all of which the scenic apparatus of initiation\nwas intended to indoctrinate the candidate into the dogma of a future\nlife.\n\nIt will be sufficient here to refer simply to the fact, that through the\ninstrumentality of the Tyrian workmen at the temple of King Solomon, the\nspurious and pure branches of the masonic system were united at Jerusalem,\nand that the same method of scenic representation was adopted by the\nlatter from the former, and the narrative of the temple builder\nsubstituted for that of Dionysus, which was the myth peculiar to the\nmysteries practised by the Tyrian workmen.\n\nThe idea, therefore, proposed to be communicated in the myth of the\nancient Mysteries was the same as that which is now conveyed in the\nmasonic legend of the Third Degree.\n\nHence, then, Hiram Abif is, in the masonic system, the symbol of human\nnature, as developed in the life here and the life to come; and so, while\nthe temple was, as I have heretofore shown, the visible symbol of the\nworld, its builder became the mythical symbol of man, the dweller and\nworker in that world.\n\nNow, is not this symbolism evident to every reflective mind?\n\nMan, setting forth on the voyage of life, with faculties and powers\nfitting him for the due exercise of the high duties to whose performance\nhe has been called, holds, if he be \"a curious and cunning workman,\" [162]\nskilled in all moral and intellectual purposes (and it is only of such men\nthat the temple builder can be the symbol), within the grasp of his\nattainment the knowledge of all that divine truth imparted to him as the\nheirloom of his race--that race to whom it has been granted to look, with\nexalted countenance, on high;[163] which divine truth is symbolized by the\nWORD.\n\nThus provided with the word of life, he occupies his time in the\nconstruction of a spiritual temple, and travels onward in the faithful\ndischarge of all his duties, laying down his designs upon the\ntrestle-board of the future and invoking the assistance and direction of\nGod.\n\nBut is his path always over flowery meads and through pleasant groves? Is\nthere no hidden foe to obstruct his progress? Is all before him clear and\ncalm, with joyous sunshine and refreshing zephyrs? Alas! not so. \"Man is\nborn to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.\" At every \"gate of life\"--as\nthe Orientalists have beautifully called the different ages--he is beset\nby peril. Temptations allure his youth, misfortunes darken the pathway of\nhis manhood, and his old age is encumbered with infirmity and disease. But\nclothed in the armor of virtue he may resist the temptation; he may cast\nmisfortunes aside, and rise triumphantly above them; but to the last, the\ndirest, the most inexorable foe of his race, he must eventually yield;\nand stricken down by death, he sinks prostrate into the grave, _and is\nburied in the rubbish_ of his sin and human frailty.\n\nHere, then, in Masonry, is what was called the _aphanism_[164] in the\nancient Mysteries. The bitter but necessary lesson of death has been\nimparted. The living soul, with the lifeless body which encased it, has\ndisappeared, and _can nowhere be found_. All is darkness--confusion--\ndespair. Divine truth--the WORD--for a time is lost, and the Master Mason\nmay now say, in the language of Hutchinson, \"I prepare my sepulchre. I make\nmy grave in the pollution of the earth. I am under the shadow of death.\"\n\nBut if the mythic symbolism ended here, with this lesson of death, then\nwere the lesson incomplete. That teaching would be vain and idle--nay,\nmore, it would be corrupt and pernicious--which should stop short of the\nconscious and innate instinct for another existence. And hence the\nsucceeding portions of the legend are intended to convey the sublime\nsymbolism of a resurrection from the grave and a new birth into a future\nlife. The discovery of the body, which, in the initiations of the ancient\nMysteries, was called the _euresis_,[165] and its removal, from the\npolluted grave into which it had been cast, to an honored and sacred place\nwithin the precincts of the temple, are all profoundly and beautifully\nsymbolic of that great truth, the discovery of which was the object of all\nthe ancient initiations, as it is almost the whole design of Freemasonry,\nnamely, that when man shall have passed the gates of life and have yielded\nto the inexorable fiat of death, he shall then (not in the pictured ritual\nof an earthly lodge, but in the realities of that eternal one, of which\nthe former is but an antitype) be raised, at the omnific word of the Grand\nMaster of the Universe, from time to eternity; from the tomb of corruption\nto the chambers of hope; from the darkness of death to the celestial beams\nof life; and that his disembodied spirit shall be conveyed as near to the\nholy of holies of the divine presence as humanity can ever approach to\nDeity.\n\nSuch I conceive to be the true interpretation of the symbolism of the\nlegend of the Third Degree.\n\nI have said that this mythical history of the temple builder was universal\nin all nations and all rites, and that in no place and at no time had it,\nby alteration, diminution, or addition, acquired any essentially new or\ndifferent form: the myth has always remained the same.\n\nBut it is not so with its interpretation. That which I have just given,\nand which I conceive to be the correct one, has been very generally\nadopted by the Masons of this country. But elsewhere, and by various\nwriters, other interpretations have been made, very different in their\ncharacter, although always agreeing in retaining the general idea of a\nresurrection or regeneration, or a restoration of something from an\ninferior to a higher sphere or function.\n\nThus some of the earlier continental writers have supposed the myth to\nhave been a symbol of the destruction of the Order of the Templars,\nlooking upon its restoration to its original wealth and dignities as being\nprophetically symbolized.\n\nIn some of the high philosophical degrees it is taught that the whole\nlegend refers to the sufferings and death, with the subsequent\nresurrection, of Christ.[166]\n\nHutchinson, who has the honor of being the earliest philosophical writer\non Freemasonry in England, supposes it to have been intended to embody the\nidea of the decadence of the Jewish religion, and the substitution of the\nChristian in its place and on its ruins.[167]\n\nDr. Oliver--\"clarum et venerabile nomen\"--thinks that it is typical of the\nmurder of Abel by Cain, and that it symbolically refers to the universal\ndeath of our race through Adam, and its restoration to life in the\nRedeemer,[168] according to the expression of the apostle, \"As in Adam we\nall died, so in Christ we all live.\"\n\nRagon makes Hiram a symbol of the sun shorn of its vivifying rays and\nfructifying power by the three winter months, and its restoration to\ngenerative heat by the season of spring.[169]\n\nAnd, finally, Des Etangs, adopting, in part, the interpretation of Ragon,\nadds to it another, which he calls the moral symbolism of the legend, and\nsupposes that Hiram is no other than eternal reason, whose enemies are the\nvices that deprave and destroy humanity.[170]\n\nTo each of these interpretations it seems to me that there are important\nobjections, though perhaps to some less so than to others.\n\nAs to those who seek for an astronomical interpretation of the legend, in\nwhich the annual changes of the sun are symbolized, while the ingenuity\nwith which they press their argument cannot but be admired, it is evident\nthat, by such an interpretation, they yield all that Masonry has gained\nof religious development in past ages, and fall back upon that corruption\nand perversion of Sabaism from which it was the object, even of the\nSpurious Freemasonry of antiquity, to rescue its disciples.\n\nThe Templar interpretation of the myth must at once be discarded if we\nwould avoid the difficulties of anachronism, unless we deny that the\nlegend existed before the abolition of the Order of Knights Templar, and\nsuch denial would be fatal to the antiquity of Freemasonry.[171]\n\nAnd as to the adoption of the Christian reference, Hutchinson, and after\nhim Oliver, profoundly philosophical as are the masonic speculations of\nboth, have, I am constrained to believe, fallen into a great error in\ncalling the Master Mason's degree a Christian institution. It is true that\nit embraces within its scheme the great truths of Christianity upon the\nsubject of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body;\nbut this was to be presumed, because Freemasonry is truth, and\nChristianity is truth, and all truth must be identical. But the origin of\neach is different; their histories are dissimilar. The institution of\nFreemasonry preceded the advent of Christianity. Its symbols and its\nlegends are derived from the Solomonic temple, and from the people even\nanterior to that. Its religion comes from the ancient priesthood. Its\nfaith was that primitive one of Noah and his immediate descendants. If\nMasonry were simply a Christian institution, the Jew and the Moslem, the\nBrahmin and the Buddhist, could not conscientiously partake of its\nillumination; but its universality is its boast. In its language citizens\nof every nation may converse; at its altar men of all religions may kneel;\nto its creed disciples of every faith may subscribe.\n\nYet it cannot be denied, that since the advent of Christianity a Christian\nelement has been almost imperceptibly infused into the masonic system, at\nleast among Christian Masons. This has been a necessity; for it is the\ntendency of every predominant religion to pervade with its influences all\nthat surrounds it, or is about it, whether religious, political, or\nsocial. This arises from a need of the human heart. To the man deeply\nimbued with the spirit of his religion there is an almost unconscious\ndesire to accommodate and adapt all the business and the amusements of\nlife, the labors and the employments of his every-day existence, to the\nindwelling faith of his soul.\n\nThe Christian Mason, therefore, while acknowledging and justly\nappreciating the great doctrines taught in Masonry, and while grateful\nthat these doctrines were preserved in the bosom of his ancient order at a\ntime when they were unknown to the multitudes of the surrounding nations,\nis still anxious to give to them a Christian character, to invest them, in\nsome measure, with the peculiarities of his own creed, and to bring the\ninterpretation of their symbolism more nearly home to his own religious\nsentiments.\n\nThe feeling is an instinctive one, belonging to the noblest aspirations of\nour human nature; and hence we find Christian masonic writers indulging in\nit almost to an unwarrantable excess, and by the extent of their sectarian\ninterpretations materially affecting the cosmopolitan character of the\ninstitution.\n\nThis tendency to Christianization has, in some instances, been so\nuniversal, and has prevailed for so long a period, that certain symbols\nand myths have been, in this way, so deeply and thoroughly imbued with the\nChristian element as to leave those who have not penetrated into the cause\nof this peculiarity, in doubt whether they should attribute to the symbol\nan ancient or a modern and Christian origin.\n\nAs an illustration of the idea here advanced, and as a remarkable example\nof the result of a gradually Christianized interpretation of a masonic\nsymbol, I will refer to the subordinate myth (subordinate, I mean, to the\ngreat legend of the Builder), which relates the circumstances connected\nwith the grave upon \"_the brow of a small hill near Mount Moriah._\"\n\nNow, the myth or legend of a grave is a legitimate deduction from the\nsymbolism of the ancient Spurious Masonry. It is the analogue of the\n_Pastos_, _Couch_, or _Coffin_, which was to be found in the ritual of all\nthe pagan Mysteries. In all these initiations, the aspirant was placed in\na cell or upon a couch, in darkness, and for a period varying, in the\ndifferent rites, from the three days of the Grecian Mysteries to the fifty\nof the Persian. This cell or couch, technically called the \"pastos,\" was\nadopted as a symbol of the being whose death and resurrection or\napotheosis, was represented in the legend.\n\nThe learned Faber says that this ceremony was doubtless the same as the\ndescent into Hades,[172] and that, when the aspirant entered into the\nmystic cell, he was directed to lay himself down upon the bed which\nshadowed out the tomb of the Great Father, or Noah, to whom, it will be\nrecollected, that Faber refers all the ancient rites. \"While stretched\nupon the holy couch,\" he continues to remark, \"in imitation of his\nfigurative deceased prototype, he was said to be wrapped in the deep sleep\nof death. His resurrection from the bed was his restoration to life or his\nregeneration into a new world.\"\n\nNow, it is easy to see how readily such a symbolism would be seized by the\nTemple Masons, and appropriated at once to _the grave at the brow of the\nhill_. At first, the interpretation, like that from which it had been\nderived, would be cosmopolitan; it would fit exactly to the general dogmas\nof the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.\n\nBut on the advent of Christianity, the spirit of the new religion being\ninfused into the old masonic system, the whole symbolism of the grave was\naffected by it. The same interpretation of a resurrection or restoration\nto life, derived from the ancient \"pastos,\" was, it is true, preserved;\nbut the facts that Christ himself had come to promulgate to the multitudes\nthe same consoling dogma, and that Mount Calvary, \"the place of a skull,\"\nwas the spot where the Redeemer, by his own death and resurrection, had\ntestified the truth of the doctrine, at once suggested to the old\nChristian Masons the idea of Christianizing the ancient symbol.\n\nLet us now examine briefly how that idea has been at length developed.\n\nIn the first place, it is necessary to identify the spot where the\n\"newly-made grave\" was discovered with Mount Calvary, the place of the\nsepulchre of Christ. This can easily be done by a very few but striking\nanalogies, which will, I conceive, carry conviction to any thinking mind.\n\n1. Mount Calvary was a _small hill_.[173]\n\n2. It was situated in a _westward direction_ from the temple, and _near\nMount Moriah_.\n\n3. It was on the direct road from Jerusalem to Joppa, and is thus the very\nspot where a _weary brother_, travelling on that road, would find it\nconvenient to _sit down to rest and refresh himself_.[174]\n\n4. It was _outside_ the gate of the temple.\n\n5. It has at least _one cleft in the rock_, or cave, which was the place\nwhich subsequently became the sepulchre of our Lord. But this coincidence\nneed scarcely to be insisted on, since the whole neighborhood abounds in\nrocky clefts, which meet at once the conditions of the masonic legend.\n\nBut to bring this analogical reasoning before the mind in a more\nexpressive mode, it may be observed that if a party of persons were to\nstart forth from the temple at Jerusalem, and travel in a westward\ndirection towards the port of Joppa, Mount Calvary would be the first hill\nmet with; and as it may possibly have been used as a place of sepulture,\nwhich its name of Golgotha[175] seems to import, we may suppose it to have\nbeen the very spot alluded to in the Third Degree, as the place where the\ncraftsmen, on their way to Joppa, discovered the evergreen acacia.\n\nHaving thus traced the analogy, let us look a little to the symbolism.\n\nMount Calvary has always retained an important place in the legendary\nhistory of Freemasonry, and there are many traditions connected with it\nthat are highly interesting in their import.\n\nOne of these traditions is, that it was the burial-place of Adam, in\norder, says the old legend, that where he lay, who effected the ruin of\nmankind, there also might the Savior of the world suffer, die, and be\nburied. Sir R. Torkington, who published a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in\n1517, says that \"under the Mount of Calvary is another chapel of our\nBlessed Lady and St. John the Evangelist, that was called Golgotha; and\nthere, right under the mortise of the cross, was found the head of our\nforefather, Adam.\" [176] Golgotha, it will be remembered, means, in\nHebrew, \"the place of a skull;\" and there may be some connection between\nthis tradition and the name of Golgotha, by which the Evangelists inform\nus, that in the time of Christ Mount Calvary was known. Calvary, or\nCalvaria, has the same signification in Latin.\n\nAnother tradition states, that it was in the bowels of Mount Calvary that\nEnoch erected his nine-arched vault, and deposited on the foundation-stone\nof Masonry that Ineffable Name, whose investigation, as a symbol of divine\ntruth, is the great object of Speculative Masonry.\n\nA third tradition details the subsequent discovery of Enoch's deposit by\nKing Solomon, whilst making excavations in Mount Calvary, during the\nbuilding of the temple.\n\nOn this hallowed spot was Christ the Redeemer slain and buried. It was\nthere that, rising on the third day from his sepulchre, he gave, by that\nact, the demonstrative evidence of the resurrection of the body and the\nimmortality of the soul.\n\nAnd it was on this spot that the same great lesson was taught in\nMasonry--the same sublime truth--the development of which evidently forms\nthe design of the Third or Master Mason's degree.\n\nThere is in these analogies a sublime beauty as well as a wonderful\ncoincidence between the two systems of Masonry and Christianity, that\nmust, at an early period, have attracted the attention of the Christian\nMasons.\n\nMount Calvary is consecrated to the Christian as the place where his\ncrucified Lord gave the last great proof of the second life, and fully\nestablished the doctrine of the resurrection which he had come to teach.\nIt was the sepulchre of him\n\n    \"Who captive led captivity,\n    Who robbed the grave of victory,\n    And took the sting from death.\"\n\nIt is consecrated to the Mason, also, as the scene of the _euresis_, the\nplace of the discovery, where the same consoling doctrines of the\nresurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul are shadowed\nforth in profoundly symbolic forms.\n\nThese great truths constitute the very essence of Christianity, in which\nit differs from and excels all religious systems that preceded it; they\nconstitute, also, the end, aim, and object of all Freemasonry, but more\nespecially that of the Third Degree, whose peculiar legend, symbolically\nconsidered, teaches nothing more nor less than that there is an immortal\nand better part within us, which, as an emanation from that divine spirit\nwhich pervades all nature, can never die.\n\nThe identification of the spot on which this divine truth was promulgated\nin both systems--the Christian and the Masonic--affords an admirable\nillustration of the readiness with which the religious spirit of the\nformer may be infused into the symbolism of the latter. And hence\nHutchinson, thoroughly imbued with these Christian views of Masonry, has\ncalled the Master Mason's order a Christian degree, and thus Christianizes\nthe whole symbolism of its mythical history.\n\n\"The Great Father of all, commiserating the miseries of the world, sent\nhis only Son, who was _innocence_ itself, to teach the doctrine of\nsalvation--by whom man was raised from the death of sin unto the life of\nrighteousness--from the tomb of corruption unto the chamber of hope--from\nthe darkness of despair to the celestial beams of faith; and not only\nworking for us this redemption, but making with us the covenant of\nregeneration; whence we are become the children of the Divinity, and\ninheritors of the realms of heaven.\n\n\"We, _Masons_, describing the deplorable estate of religion under the\nJewish law, speak in figures: 'Her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast\nforth of the temple, and _acacia_ wove its branches over her monuments;'\n_akakia_ being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from sin;\nimplying that the sins and corruptions of the old law, and devotees of the\nJewish altar, had hid Religion from those who sought her, and she was only\nto be found where _innocence_ survived, and under the banner of the Divine\nLamb, and, as to ourselves, professing that we were to be distinguished by\nour _Acacy_, or as true _Acacians_ in our religious faiths and tenets.\n\n\"The acquisition of the doctrine of redemption is expressed in the typical\ncharacter of _Huramen_ (I have found it.--_Greek_), and by the\napplications of that name with Masons, it is implied that we have\ndiscovered the knowledge of God and his salvation, and have been redeemed\nfrom the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution and unrighteousness.\n\n\"Thus the _Master Mason_ represents a man, under the Christian doctrine,\nsaved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation.\"\n\nIt is in this way that Masonry has, by a sort of inevitable process (when\nwe look to the religious sentiment of the interpreters), been\nChristianized by some of the most illustrious and learned writers on\nmasonic science--by such able men as Hutchinson and Oliver in England, and\nby Harris, by Scott, by Salem Towne, and by several others in this\ncountry.\n\nI do not object to the system when the interpretation is not strained, but\nis plausible, consistent, and productive of the same results as in the\ninstance of Mount Calvary: all that I contend for is, that such\ninterpretations are modern, and that they do not belong to, although they\nmay often be deduced from, the ancient system.\n\nBut the true ancient interpretation of the legend,--the universal masonic\none,--for all countries and all ages, undoubtedly was, that the fate of\nthe temple builder is but figurative of the pilgrimage of man on earth,\nthrough trials and temptations, through sin and sorrow, until his eventual\nfall beneath the blow of death and his final and glorious resurrection to\nanother and an eternal life.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII.\n\nThe Sprig of Acacia.\n\n\n\nIntimately connected with the legend of the third degree is the mythical\nhistory of the Sprig of Acacia, which we are now to consider.\n\nThere is no symbol more interesting to the masonic student than the Sprig\nof Acacia, not only on account of its own peculiar import, but also\nbecause it introduces us to an extensive and delightful field of research;\nthat, namely, which embraces the symbolism of sacred plants. In all the\nancient systems of religion, and Mysteries of initiation, there was always\nsome one plant consecrated, in the minds of the worshippers and\nparticipants, by a peculiar symbolism, and therefore held in extraordinary\nveneration as a sacred emblem. Thus the ivy was used in the Mysteries of\nDionysus, the myrtle in those of Ceres, the erica in the Osirian, and the\nlettuce in the Adonisian. But to this subject I shall have occasion to\nrefer more fully in a subsequent part of the present investigation.\n\nBefore entering upon an examination of the symbolism of the _Acacia_, it\nwill be, perhaps, as well to identify the true plant which occupies so\nimportant a place in the ritual of Freemasonry.\n\nAnd here, in passing, I may be permitted to say that it is a very great\nerror to designate the symbolic plant of Masonry by the name of\n\"Cassia\"--an error which undoubtedly arose, originally, from the very\ncommon habit among illiterate people of sinking the sound of the letter\n_a_ in the pronunciation of any word of which it constitutes the initial\nsyllable. Just, for instance, as we constantly hear, in the conversation\nof the uneducated, the words _pothecary_ and _prentice_ for _apothecary_\nand _apprentice_, shall we also find _cassia_ used for _acacia_.[177]\nUnfortunately, however, this corruption of _acacia_ into _cassia_ has not\nalways been confined to the illiterate: but the long employment of the\ncorrupted form has at length introduced it, in some instances, among a few\nof our writers. Even the venerable Oliver, although well acquainted with\nthe symbolism of the acacia, and having written most learnedly upon it,\nhas, at times, allowed himself to use the objectionable corruption,\nunwittingly influenced, in all probability, by the too frequent adoption\nof the latter word in the English lodges. In America, but few Masons fall\ninto the error of speaking of the _Cassia_. The proper teaching of the\n_Acacia_ is here well understood.[178]\n\nThe _cassia_ of the ancients was, in fact, an ignoble plant having no\nmystic meaning and no sacred character, and was never elevated to a higher\nfunction than that of being united, as Virgil informs us, with other\nodorous herbs in the formation of a garland:--\n\n    \"...violets pale,\n    The poppy's flush, and dill which scents the gale,\n    Cassia, and hyacinth, and daffodil,\n    With yellow marigold the chaplet fill.\" [179]\n\nAlston says that the \"Cassia lignea of the ancients was the larger\nbranches of the cinnamon tree, cut off with their bark and sent together\nto the druggists; their Cassia fistula, or Syrinx, was the same cinnamon\nin the bark only;\" but Ru\u00e6us says that it also sometimes denoted the\nlavender, and sometimes the rosemary.\n\nIn Scripture the cassia is only three times mentioned,[180] twice as the\ntranslation of the Hebrew word _kiddak_, and once as the rendering of\n_ketzioth_, but always as referring to an aromatic plant which formed a\nconstituent portion of some perfume. There is, indeed, strong reason for\nbelieving that the cassia is only another name for a coarser preparation\nof cinnamon, and it is also to be remarked that it did not grow in\nPalestine, but was imported from the East.\n\nThe _acacia_, on the contrary, was esteemed a sacred tree. It is the\n_acacia vera_ of Tournefort, and the _mimosa nilotica_ of Linn\u00e6us. It\ngrew abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem,[181] where it is still to be\nfound, and is familiar to us all, in its modern uses at least, as the tree\nfrom which the gum arabic of commerce is obtained.\n\nThe acacia, which, in Scripture, is always called _shittah_[182] and in\nthe plural _shittim_, was esteemed a sacred wood among the Hebrews. Of it\nMoses was ordered to make the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the\ntable for the showbread, and the rest of the sacred furniture. Isaiah, in\nrecounting the promises of God's mercy to the Israelites on their return\nfrom the captivity, tells them, that, among other things, he will plant in\nthe wilderness, for their relief and refreshment, the cedar, the acacia\n(or, as it is rendered in our common version, the _shittah_), the fir, and\nother trees.\n\nThe first thing, then, that we notice in this symbol of the acacia, is,\nthat it had been always consecrated from among the other trees of the\nforest by the sacred purposes to which it was devoted. By the Jew the tree\nfrom whose wood the sanctuary of the tabernacle and the holy ark had been\nconstructed would ever be viewed as more sacred than ordinary trees. The\nearly Masons, therefore, very naturally appropriated this hallowed plant\nto the equally sacred purpose of a symbol which was to teach an important\ndivine truth in all ages to come.\n\nHaving thus briefly disposed of the natural history of this plant, we may\nnow proceed to examine it in its symbolic relations.\n\nFirst. The acacia, in the mythic system of Freemasonry, is preeminently\nthe symbol of the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL--that important doctrine which\nit is the great design of the institution to teach. As the evanescent\nnature of the flower which \"cometh forth and is cut down\" reminds us of\nthe transitory nature of human life, so the perpetual renovation of the\nevergreen plant, which uninterruptedly presents the appearance of youth\nand vigor, is aptly compared to that spiritual life in which the soul,\nfreed from the corruptible companionship of the body, shall enjoy an\neternal spring and an immortal youth. Hence, in the impressive funeral\nservice of our order, it is said, \"This evergreen is an emblem of our\nfaith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have\nan immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall\nnever, never, never die.\" And again, in the closing sentences of the\nmonitorial lecture of the Third Degree, the same sentiment is repeated,\nand we are told that by \"the ever green and ever living sprig\" the Mason\nis strengthened \"with confidence and composure to look forward to a\nblessed immortality.\" Such an interpretation of the symbol is an easy and\na natural one; it suggests itself at once to the least reflective mind,\nand consequently, in some one form or another, is to be found existing in\nall ages and nations. It was an ancient custom, which is not, even now,\naltogether disused, for mourners to carry in their hands at funerals a\nsprig of some evergreen, generally the cedar or the cypress, and to\ndeposit it in the grave of the deceased. According to Dalcho,[183] the\nHebrews always planted a sprig of the acacia at the head of the grave of a\ndeparted friend. Potter tells us that the ancient Greeks \"had a custom of\nbedecking tombs with herbs and flowers.\" [184] All sorts of purple and\nwhite flowers were acceptable to the dead, but principally the amaranth\nand the myrtle. The very name of the former of these plants, which\nsignifies \"never fading,\" would seem to indicate the true symbolic meaning\nof the usage, although archaeologists have generally supposed it to be\nsimply an exhibition of love on the part of the survivors. Ragon says,\nthat the ancients substituted the acacia for all other plants because they\nbelieved it to be incorruptible, and not liable to injury from the attacks\nof any kind of insect or other animal--thus symbolizing the incorruptible\nnature of the soul.\n\nHence we see the propriety of placing the sprig of acacia, as an emblem of\nimmortality, among the symbols of that degree, all of whose ceremonies are\nintended to teach us the great truth, that \"the life of man, regulated by\nmorality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour by the\nprospect of eternal bliss.\" [185] So, therefore, says Dr. Oliver, when the\nMaster Mason exclaims, \"My name is Acacia,\" it is equivalent to saying, \"I\nhave been in the grave,--I have triumphed over it by rising from the\ndead,--and being regenerated in the process, I have a claim to life\neverlasting.\"\n\nThe sprig of acacia, then, in its most ordinary signification, presents\nitself to the Master Mason as a symbol of the immortality of the soul,\nbeing intended to remind him, by its evergreen and unchanging nature, of\nthat better and spiritual part within us, which, as an emanation from the\nGrand Architect of the Universe, can never die. And as this is the most\nordinary, the most generally accepted signification, so also is it the\nmost important; for thus, as the peculiar symbol of immortality, it\nbecomes the most appropriate to an order all of whose teachings are\nintended to inculcate the great lesson that \"life rises out of the grave.\"\nBut incidental to this the acacia has two other interpretations, which\nare well worthy of investigation.\n\nSecondly, then, the acacia is a symbol of INNOCENCE. The symbolism here is\nof a peculiar and unusual character, depending not on any real analogy in\nthe form or use of the symbol to the idea symbolized, but simply on a\ndouble or compound meaning of the word. For \u03b1\u03d7\u03b1\u03d7\u03b9\u03b1, in the Greek\nlanguage, signifies both the plant in question and the moral quality of\ninnocence or purity of life. In this sense the symbol refers, primarily,\nto him over whose solitary grave the acacia was planted, and whose\nvirtuous conduct, whose integrity of life and fidelity to his trusts, have\never been presented as patterns to the craft, and consequently to all\nMaster Masons, who, by this interpretation of the symbol, are invited to\nemulate his example.\n\nHutchinson, indulging in his favorite theory of Christianizing Masonry,\nwhen he comes to this signification of the symbol, thus enlarges on the\ninterpretation: \"We Masons, describing the deplorable estate of religion\nunder the Jewish law, speak in figures: 'Her tomb was in the rubbish and\nfilth cast forth of the temple, and _Acacia_ wove its branches over her\nmonument;' _akakia_ being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from\nsin; implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law and devotees of\nthe Jewish altar had hid Religion from those who sought her, and she was\nonly to be found where _innocence_ survived, and under the banner of the\ndivine Lamb; and as to ourselves, professing that we were to be\ndistinguished by our _Acacy_, or as true _Acacians_ in our religious faith\nand tenets.\" [186]\n\nAmong the nations of antiquity, it was common thus by peculiar plants to\nsymbolize the virtues and other qualities of the mind. In many instances\nthe symbolism has been lost to the moderns, but in others it has been\nretained, and is well understood, even at the present day. Thus the olive\nwas adopted as the symbol of peace, because, says Lee, \"its oil is very\nuseful, in some way or other, in all arts manual which principally\nflourish in times of peace.\" [187]\n\nThe quince among the Greeks was the symbol of love and happiness;[188] and\nhence, by the laws of Solon, in Athenian marriages, the bride and\nbridegroom were required to eat a quince together.\n\nThe palm was the symbol of victory;[189] and hence, in the catacombs of\nRome, the burial-place of so many of the early Christians, the palm leaf\nis constantly found as an emblem of the Christian's triumph over sin and\ndeath.\n\nThe rosemary was a symbol of remembrance, and hence was used both at\nmarriages and at funerals, the memory of the past being equally\nappropriate in both rites.[190]\n\nThe parsley was consecrated to grief; and hence all the Greeks decked\ntheir tombs with it; and it was used to crown the conquerors in the Nemean\ngames, which were of a funereal character.[191]\n\nBut it is needless to multiply instances of this symbolism. In adopting\nthe acacia as a symbol of innocence, Masonry has but extended the\nprinciple of an ancient and universal usage, which thus consecrated\nparticular plants, by a mystical meaning, to the representation of\nparticular virtues.\n\nBut lastly, the acacia is to be considered as the symbol of INITIATION.\nThis is by far the most interesting of its interpretations, and was, we\nhave every reason to believe, the primary and original, the others being\nbut incidental. It leads us at once to the investigation of that\nsignificant fact to which I have already alluded, that in all the ancient\ninitiations and religious mysteries there was some plant, peculiar to\neach, which was consecrated by its own esoteric meaning, and which\noccupied an important position in the celebration of the rites; so that\nthe plant, whatever it might be, from its constant and prominent use in\nthe ceremonies of initiation, came at length to be adopted as the symbol\nof that initiation.\n\nA reference to some of these _sacred plants_--for such was the character\nthey assumed--and an investigation of their symbolism will not, perhaps,\nbe uninteresting or useless, in connection with the subject of the present\narticle.\n\nIn the Mysteries of Adonis, which originated in Phoenicia, and were\nafterwards transferred to Greece, the death and resurrection of Adonis was\nrepresented. A part of the legend accompanying these mysteries was, that\nwhen Adonis was slain by a wild boar, Venus laid out the body on a bed of\nlettuce. In memorial of this supposed fact, on the first day of the\ncelebration, when funeral rites were performed, lettuces were carried in\nthe procession, _newly planted_ in shells of earth. Hence the lettuce\nbecame the sacred plant of the Adonia, or Adonisian Mysteries.\n\nThe lotus was the sacred plant of the Brahminical rites of India, and was\nconsidered as the symbol of their elemental trinity,--earth, water, and\nair,--because, as an aquatic plant, it derived its nutriment from all of\nthese elements combined, its roots being planted in the earth, its stem\nrising through the water, and its leaves exposed to the air.[192] The\nEgyptians, who borrowed a large portion of their religious rites from the\nEast, adopted the lotus, which was also indigenous to their country, as a\nmystical plant, and made it the symbol of their initiation, or the birth\ninto celestial light. Hence, as Champollion observes, they often on their\nmonuments represented the god Phre, or the sun, as borne within the\nexpanded calyx of the lotus. The lotus bears a flower similar to that of\nthe poppy, while its large, tongue-shaped leaves float upon the surface of\nthe water. As the Egyptians had remarked that the plant expands when the\nsun rises, and closes when it sets, they adopted it as a symbol of the\nsun; and as that luminary was the principal object of the popular worship,\nthe lotus became in all their sacred rites a consecrated and mystical\nplant.\n\nThe Egyptians also selected the _erica_[193] or heath, as a sacred plant.\nThe origin of the consecration of this plant presents us with a singular\ncoincidence, that will be peculiarly interesting to the masonic student.\nWe are informed that there was a legend in the mysteries of Osiris, which\nrelated, that Isis, when in search of the body of her murdered husband,\ndiscovered it interred at the brow of a hill, near which an erica, or\nheath plant, grew; and hence, after the recovery of the body and the\nresurrection of the god, when she established the mysteries to\ncommemorate her loss and her recovery, she adopted the erica, as a sacred\nplant,[194] in memory of its having pointed out the spot where the\n_mangled remains_ of Osiris were concealed.[195]\n\nThe _mistletoe_ was the sacred plant of Druidism. Its consecrated\ncharacter was derived from a legend of the Scandinavian mythology, and\nwhich is thus related in the Edda, or sacred books. The god Balder, the\nson of Odin, having dreamed that he was in some great danger of life, his\nmother, Friga, exacted an oath from all the creatures of the animal, the\nvegetable, and the mineral kingdoms, that they would do no harm to her\nson. The mistletoe, contemptible from its size and weakness, was alone\nneglected, and of it no oath of immunity was demanded. Lok, the evil\ngenius, or god of Darkness, becoming acquainted with this fact, placed an\narrow made of mistletoe in the hands of Holder, the blind brother of\nBalder, on a certain day, when the gods were throwing missiles at him in\nsport, and wondering at their inability to do him injury with any arms\nwith which they could attack him. But, being shot with the mistletoe\narrow, it inflicted a fatal wound, and Balder died.\n\nEver afterwards the mistletoe was revered as a sacred plant, consecrated\nto the powers of darkness; and annually it became an important rite among\nthe Druids to proceed into the forest in search of the mistletoe, which,\nbeing found, was cut down by the Arch Druid, and its parts, after a solemn\nsacrifice, were distributed among the people. Clavel[196] very ingeniously\nremarks, that it is evident, in reference to the legend, that as Balder\nsymbolizes the Sun-god, and Lok, Darkness, this search for the mistletoe\nwas intended to deprive the god of Darkness of the power of destroying the\ngod of Light. And the distribution of the fragments of the mistletoe among\ntheir pious worshippers, was to assure them that henceforth a similar\nattempt of Lok would prove abortive, and he was thus deprived of the means\nof effecting his design.[197]\n\nThe _myrtle_ performed the same office of symbolism in the Mysteries of\nGreece as the lotus did in Egypt, or the mistletoe among the Druids. The\ncandidate, in these initiations, was crowned with myrtle, because,\naccording to the popular theology, the myrtle was sacred to Proserpine,\nthe goddess of the future life. Every classical scholar will remember the\ngolden branch with which Aeneas was supplied by the Sibyl, before\nproceeding on his journey to the infernal regions[198]--a voyage which\nis now universally admitted to be a mythical representation of the\nceremonies of initiation.\n\nIn all of these ancient Mysteries, while the sacred plant was a symbol of\ninitiation, the initiation itself was symbolic of the resurrection to a\nfuture life, and of the immortality of the soul. In this view, Freemasonry\nis to us now in the place of the ancient initiations, and the acacia is\nsubstituted for the lotus, the erica, the ivy, the mistletoe, and the\nmyrtle. The lesson of wisdom is the same; the medium of imparting it is\nall that has been changed.\n\nReturning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of three\nexplanations. It is a symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of\ninitiation. But these three significations are closely connected, and that\nconnection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation\nof the symbol. Thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the\ninitiation of life, of which the initiation in the third-degree is simply\nemblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length,\nhowever, to be called, by the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to\na blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place\nwhere the sprig of acacia was planted, and which I have heretofore shown\nto be Mount Calvary, the place of sepulture of Him who \"brought life and\nimmortality to light,\" and who, in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he\nis in Scripture, as \"the lion of the tribe of Judah,\" and remember, too,\nthat in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of\nthe acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but\nwhich is really and truly the most important and significant one in\nmasonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of\nlife and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future.\nThus read (and thus all our symbols should be read), Masonry proves\nsomething more to its disciples than a mere social society or a charitable\nassociation. It becomes a \"lamp to our feet,\" whose spiritual light shines\non the darkness of the deathbed, and dissipates the gloomy shadows of the\ngrave.\n\n\n\n\nXXIX.\n\nThe Symbolism of Labor.\n\n\n\nIt is one of the most beautiful features of the Masonic Institution, that\nit teaches not only the necessity, but the nobility, of labor. Among the\nearliest of the implements in whose emblematic use it instructs its\nneophytes is the Trestle Board, the acknowledged symbol of the Divine Law,\nin accordance with whose decree[199] labor was originally instituted as\nthe common lot of all; and therefore the important lesson that is closely\nconnected with this symbol is, that to labor well and truly, to labor\nhonestly and persistently, is the object and the chief end of all\nhumanity.\n\nTo work out well the task that is set before us is our highest duty, and\nshould constitute our greatest happiness. All men, then, must have their\ntrestle boards; for the principles that guide us in the discharge of our\nduty--the schemes that we devise--the plans that we propose--are but the\ntrestle board, whose designs we follow, for good or for evil, in our labor\nof life.\n\nEarth works with every coming spring, and within its prolific bosom\ndesigns the bursting seed, the tender plant, and the finished tree, upon\nits trestle board.\n\nOld ocean works forever--restless and murmuring--but still bravely\nworking; and storms and tempests, the purifiers of stagnant nature, are\ninscribed upon its trestle board.\n\nAnd God himself, the Grand Architect, the Master Builder of the world, has\nlabored from eternity; and working by his omnipotent will, he inscribes\nhis plans upon illimitable space, for the universe is his trestle board.\n\nThere was a saying of the monks of old which is well worth meditation.\nThey taught that \"_laborare est orare_\"--labor is worship. They did not,\nit is true, always practise the wise precept. They did not always make\nlabor a part of their religion. Like Onuphrius, who lived threescore years\nand ten in the desert, without human voice or human sympathy to cheer him,\nbecause he had not learned that man was made for man, those old ascetics\nwent into the wilderness, and built cells, and occupied themselves in\nsolitary meditation and profitless thought. They prayed much, but they did\nno work. And thus they passed their lives, giving no pity, aid, or\nconsolation to their fellow-men, adding no mite to the treasury of human\nknowledge, and leaving the world, when their selfish pilgrimage was\nfinished, without a single contribution, in labor of mind or body, to its\nwelfare.[200]\n\nAnd men, seeing the uselessness of these ascetic lives, shrink now from\ntheir example, and fall back upon that wiser teaching, that he best does\nGod's will who best does God's work. The world now knows that heaven is\nnot served by man's idleness--that the \"_dolce far niente_,\" though it\nmight suit an Italian lazzaroni, is not fit for a brave Christian man,\nand that they who would do rightly, and act well their part, must take\nthis distich for their motto:--\n\n    \"With this hand work, and with the other pray,\n    And God will bless them both from day to day.\"\n\nNow, this doctrine, that labor is worship, is the very doctrine that has\nbeen advanced and maintained, from time immemorial, as a leading dogma of\nthe Order of Freemasonry. There is no other human institution under the\nsun which has set forth this great principle in such bold relief. We hear\nconstantly of Freemasonry as an institution that inculcates morality, that\nfosters the social feeling, that teaches brotherly love; and all this is\nwell, because it is true; but we must never forget that from its\nfoundation-stone to its pinnacle, all over its vast temple, is inscribed,\nin symbols of living light, the great truth that _labor is worship_.\n\nIt has been supposed that, because we speak of Freemasonry as a\nspeculative system, it has nothing to do with the practical. But this is a\nmost grievous error. Freemasonry is, it is true, a speculative science,\nbut it is a speculative science based upon an operative art. All its\nsymbols and allegories refer to this connection. Its very language is\nborrowed from the art, and it is singularly suggestive that the initiation\nof a candidate into its mysteries is called, in its peculiar phraseology,\n_work_.\n\nI repeat that this expression is singularly suggestive. When the lodge is\nengaged in reading petitions, hearing reports, debating financial matters,\nit is said to be occupied in _business_; but when it is engaged in the\nform and ceremony of initiation into any of the degrees, it is said to be\nat _work_. Initiation is masonic labor. This phraseology at once suggests\nthe connection of our speculative system with an operative art that\npreceded it, and upon which it has been founded. This operative art must\nhave given it form and features and organization. If the speculative\nsystem had been founded solely on philosophical or ethical principles, if\nit had been derived from some ancient or modern sect of\nphilosophers,--from the Stoics, the Epicureans, or the Platonists of the\nheathen world, or from any of the many divisions of the scholastics of the\nmiddle ages,--this origin would most certainly have affected its interior\norganization as well as its external form, and we should have seen our\nmodern masonic reunions assuming the style of academies or schools. Its\ntechnical language--for, like every institution isolated from the ordinary\nand general pursuits of mankind, it would have had its own technical\ndialect--would have been borrowed from, and would be easily traced to, the\npeculiar phraseology of the philosophic sects which had given it birth.\nThere would have been the _sophists_ and the _philosophers_; the\n_grammatists_ and the _grammarians_; the _scholars_, the _masters_, and\nthe _doctors_. It would have had its _trivial_ and its _quadrivial_\nschools; its occupation would have been research, experiment, or\ninvestigation; in a word, its whole features would have been colored by a\ngrammatical, a rhetorical, or a mathematical cast, accordingly as it\nshould have been derived from a sect in which any one of these three\ncharacteristics was the predominating influence.\n\nBut in the organization of Freemasonry, as it now presents itself to us,\nwe see an entirely different appearance. Its degrees are expressive, not\nof advancement in philosophic attainments, but of progress in a purely\nmechanical pursuit. Its highest grade is that of _Master of the Work_. Its\nplaces of meeting are not schools, but _lodges_, places where the workmen\nformerly lodged, in the neighborhood of the building on whose construction\nthey were engaged. It does not form theories, but builds temples. It knows\nnothing of the rules of the dialecticians,--of the syllogism, the dilemma,\nthe enthymeme, or the sorites,--but it recurs to the homely implements of\nits operative parent for its methods of instruction, and with the\nplumb-line it inculcates rectitude of conduct, and draws lessons of\nmorality from the workman's square. It sees in the Supreme God that it\nworships, not a \"_numen divinum_,\" a divine power, nor a \"_moderator rerum\nomnium_,\" a controller of all things, as the old philosophers designated\nhim, but a _Grand Architect of the Universe_. The masonic idea of God\nrefers to Him as the Mighty Builder of this terrestrial globe, and all the\ncountless worlds that surround it. He is not the _ens entium_, or _to\ntheion_, or any other of the thousand titles with which ancient and modern\nspeculation has invested him, but simply the Architect,--as the Greeks\nhave it, the \u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u1f78\u03c2, the chief workman,--under whom we are all workmen\nalso;[201] and hence our labor is his worship.\n\nThis idea, then, of masonic labor, is closely connected with the history\nof the organization of the institution. When we say \"the lodge is at\nwork,\" we recognize that it is in the legitimate practice of that\noccupation for which it was originally intended. The Masons that are in it\nare not occupied in thinking, or speculating, or reasoning, but simply\nand emphatically in working. The duty of a Mason as such, in his lodge, is\nto work. Thereby he accomplishes the destiny of his Order. Thereby he best\nfulfils his obligation to the Grand Architect, for with the Mason\n_laborare est orare_--labor is worship.\n\nThe importance of masonic labor being thus demonstrated, the question next\narises as to the nature of that labor. What is the work that a Mason is\ncalled upon to perform?\n\nTemple building was the original occupation of our ancient brethren.\nLeaving out of view that system of ethics and of religious philosophy,\nthat search after truth, those doctrines of the unity of God and the\nimmortality of the soul, which alike distinguish the ancient Mysteries and\nthe masonic institution, and which both must have derived from a common\norigin,--most probably from some priesthood of the olden time,--let our\nattention be exclusively directed, for the present, to that period, so\nfamiliar to every Mason, when, under the supposed Grand Mastership of\nKing Solomon, Freemasonry first assumed \"a local habitation and a name\" in\nthe holy city of Jerusalem. There the labor of the Israelites and the\nskill of the Tyrians were occupied in the construction of that noble\ntemple whose splendor and magnificence of decoration made it one of the\nwonders of the world.\n\nHere, then, we see the two united nations directing their attention, with\nsurprising harmony, to the task of temple building. The Tyrian workmen,\ncoming immediately from the bosom of the mystical society of Dionysian\nartificers, whose sole employment was the erection of sacred edifices\nthroughout all Asia Minor, indoctrinated the Jews with a part of their\narchitectural skill, and bestowed upon them also a knowledge of those\nsacred Mysteries which they had practised at Tyre, and from which the\npresent interior form of Freemasonry is said to be derived.\n\nNow, if there be any so incredulous as to refuse their assent to the\nuniversally received masonic tradition on this subject, if there be any\nwho would deny all connection of King Solomon with the origin of\nFreemasonry, except it be in a mythical or symbolical sense, such\nincredulity will, not at all affect the chain of argument which I am\ndisposed to use. For it will not be denied that the corporations of\nbuilders in the middle ages, those men who were known as \"Travelling\nFreemasons,\" were substantial and corporeal, and that the cathedrals,\nabbeys, and palaces, whose ruins are still objects of admiration to all\nobservers, bear conclusive testimony that their existence was nothing like\na myth, and that their labors were not apocryphal. But these Travelling\nFreemasons, whether led into the error, if error it be, by a mistaken\nreading of history, or by a superstitious reverence for tradition, always\nesteemed King Solomon as the founder of their Order. So that the first\nabsolutely historical details that we have of the masonic institution,\nconnect it with the idea of a temple. And it is only for this idea that I\ncontend, for it proves that the first Freemasons of whom we have authentic\nrecord, whether they were at Jerusalem or in Europe, and whether they\nflourished a thousand years before or a thousand years after the birth of\nChrist, always supposed that temple building was the peculiar specialty of\ntheir craft, and that their labor was to be the erection of temples in\nancient times, and cathedrals and churches in the Christian age.\n\nSo that we come back at last to the proposition with which I had\ncommenced, namely: that temple building was the original occupation of our\nancient brethren. And to this is added the fact, that after a long lapse\nof centuries, a body of men is found in the middle ages who were\nuniversally recognized as Freemasons, and who directed their attention and\ntheir skill to the same pursuit, and were engaged in the construction of\ncathedrals, abbeys, and other sacred edifices, these being the Christian\nsubstitute for the heathen or the Jewish temple.\n\nAnd therefore, when we view the history of the Order as thus developed in\nits origin and its design, we are justified in saying that, in all times\npast, its members have been recognized as men of labor, and that their\nlabor has been temple building.\n\nBut our ancient brethren wrought in both operative and speculative\nMasonry, while we work only in speculative. They worked with the hand; we\nwork with the brain. They dealt in the material; we in the spiritual.\nThey used in their labor wood and stones; we use thoughts, and feelings,\nand affections. We both devote ourselves to labor, but the object of the\nlabor and the mode of the labor are different.\n\nThe French rituals have given us the key-note to the explanation of what\nis masonic labor when they say that \"Freemasons erect temples for virtue\nand dungeons for vice.\"\n\nThe modern Freemasons, like the Masons of old, are engaged in the\nconstruction of a temple;--but with this difference: that the temple of\nthe latter was material, that of the former spiritual. When the operative\nart was the predominant characteristic of the Order, Masons were engaged\nin the construction of material and earthly temples. But when the\noperative art ceased, and the speculative science took its place, then the\nFreemasons symbolized the labors of their predecessors by engaging in the\nconstruction of a spiritual temple in their hearts, which was to be made\nso pure that it might become the dwelling-place of Him who is all purity.\nIt was to be \"a house not made with hands,\" where the hewn stone was to be\na purified heart.\n\nThis symbolism, which represents man as a temple, a house, a sacred\nbuilding in which God is to dwell, is not new, nor peculiar to the masonic\nscience. It was known to the Jewish, and is still recognized by the\nChristian, system. The Talmudists had a saying that the threefold\nrepetition of the words \"Temple of Jehovah,\" in the seventh chapter and\nfourth verse of the book of Jeremiah, was intended to allude to the\nexistence of three temples; and hence in one of their treatises it is\nsaid, \"Two temples have been destroyed, but the third will endure\nforever,\" in which it is manifest that they referred to the temple of the\nimmortal soul in man.\n\nBy a similar allusion, which, however, the Jews chose wilfully to\nmisunderstand, Christ declared, \"Destroy this temple, and in three days I\nwill raise it up.\" And the beloved disciple, who records the conversation,\ndoes not allow us to doubt of the Saviour's meaning.\n\n\"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and\nwilt thou rear it up in three days?\n\n\"But he spake of the temple of his body.\" [202]\n\nIn more than one place the apostle Paul has fondly dwelt upon this\nmetaphor. Thus he tells the Corinthians that they are \"God's building,\"\nand he calls himself the \"wise master builder,\" who was to lay the\nfoundation in his truthful doctrine, upon which they were to erect the\nedifice.[203] And he says to them immediately afterwards, \"Know ye not\nthat ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in\nyou?\"\n\nIn consequence of these teachings of the apostles, the idea that the body\nwas a temple has pervaded, from the earliest times to the present day, the\nsystem of Christian or theological symbolism. Indeed, it has sometimes\nbeen carried to an almost too fanciful excess. Thus Samuel Lee, in that\ncurious and rare old work, \"_The Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by\nScripture Light_,\" thus dilates on this symbolism of the temple:--\n\n\"The _foundation_ of this temple may be laid in humility and contrition of\nspirit, wherein the inhabiter of eternity delighteth to dwell; we may\nrefer the _porch_ to the mouth of a saint, wherein every holy Jacob erects\nthe _pillars_ of God's praise, calling upon and blessing his name for\nreceived mercies; when songs of deliverance are uttered from the _doors_\nof his lips. The _holy place_ is the renewed mind, and the _windows_\ntherein may denote divine illumination from above, cautioning a saint lest\nthey be darkened with the smoke of anger, the mist of grief, the dust of\nvain-glory, or the filthy mire of worldly cares. The _golden\ncandlesticks_, the infused habits of divine knowledge resting within the\nsoul. The _shew-bread_, the word of grace exhibited in the promises for\nthe preservation of a Christian's life and glory. The _golden altar_ of\nodors, the breathings, sufferings, and groanings after God, ready to break\nforth into Abba, Father. The _veiles_, the righteousness of Christ. The\n_holy of holies_ may relate to the conscience purified from dead works and\nbrought into a heavenly frame.\" [204] And thus he proceeds, symbolizing\nevery part and utensil of the temple as alluding to some emotion or\naffection of man, but in language too tedious for quotation.\n\nIn a similar vein has the celebrated John Bunyan, the author of the\n\"_Pilgrim's Progress_\" proceeded in his \"_Temple of Solomon\nSpiritualized_\" to refer every part of that building to a symbolic\nmeaning, selecting, however, the church, or congregation of good men,\nrather than the individual man, as the object of the symbolism.\n\nIn the middle ages the Hermetic philosophers seem to have given the same\ninterpretation of the temple, and Swedenborg, in his mystical writings,\nadopts the idea.\n\nHitchcock, who has written an admirable little work on Swedenborg\nconsidered as a Hermetic Philosopher, thus alludes to this subject, and\nhis language, as that of a learned and shrewd investigator, is well worthy\nof quotation:--\n\n\"With, perhaps, the majority of readers, the Tabernacle of Moses and the\nTemple of Solomon were mere buildings; very magnificent indeed, but still\nmere buildings for the worship of God. But some are struck with many\nportions of the account of their erection, admitting a moral\ninterpretation; and while the buildings are allowed to stand (or to have\nstood once) visible objects, these interpreters are delighted to meet with\nindications that Moses and Solomon, in building the temples, were wise in\nthe knowledge of God and of man; from which point it is not difficult to\npass on to the moral meaning altogether, and to affirm that the building\nwhich was erected without 'the noise of a hammer or axe, or any tool of\niron,' was altogether a moral building--a building of God, not made with\nhands: in short, many see in the story of Solomon's temple a symbolical\nrepresentation of MAN as the temple of God, with its _holy of holies_\ndeep-seated in the centre of the human heart.\" [205]\n\nThe French Masons have not been inattentive to this symbolism. Their\nalready quoted expression that the \"Freemasons build temples for virtue\nand dungeons for vice,\" has very clearly a reference to it, and their most\ndistinguished writers never lose sight of it.\n\nThus Ragon, one of the most learned of the French historians of\nFreemasonry, in his lecture to the Apprentice, says that the founders of\nour Order \"called themselves Masons, and proclaimed that they were\nbuilding a temple to truth and virtue.\" [206] And subsequently he\naddresses the candidate who has received the Master's degree in the\nfollowing language:--\n\n\"Profit by all that has been revealed to you. Improve your heart and your\nmind. Direct your passions to the general good; combat your prejudices;\nwatch over your thoughts and your actions; love, enlighten, and assist\nyour brethren; and you will have perfected that _temple_ of which you are\nat once the _architect_, the _material_, and the _workman_.\" [207]\n\nRebold, another French historian of great erudition, says, \"If Freemasonry\nhas ceased to erect temples, and by the aid of its architectural designs\nto elevate all hearts to the Deity, and all eyes and hopes to heaven, it\nhas not therefore desisted from its work of moral and intellectual\nbuilding;\" and he thinks that the success of the institution has justified\nthis change of purpose and the disruption of the speculative from the\noperative character of the Order.[208]\n\nEliphas Levi, who has written abstrusely and mystically on Freemasonry and\nits collateral sciences, sees very clearly an allegorical and a real\ndesign in the institution, the former being the rebuilding of the temple\nof Solomon, and the latter the improvement of the human race by a\nreconstruction of its social and religious elements.[209]\n\nThe Masons of Germany have elaborated this idea with all the\nexhaustiveness that is peculiar to the German mind, and the masonic\nliterature of that country abounds in essays, lectures, and treatises, in\nwhich the prominent topic is this building of the Solomonic temple as\nreferring to the construction of a moral temple.\n\nThus writes Bro. Rhode, of Berlin:--\n\n\"So soon as any one has received the consecration of our Order, we say to\nhim that we are building a mystical temple;\" and he adds that \"this temple\nwhich we Masons are building is nothing else than that which will conduce\nto the greatest possible happiness of mankind.\" [210]\n\nAnd another German brother, Von Wedekind, asserts that \"we only labor in\nour temple when we make man our predominating object, when we unite\ngoodness of heart with polished manners, truth with beauty, virtue with\ngrace.\" [211]\n\nAgain we have Reinhold telling us, in true Teutonic expansiveness of\nexpression, that \"by the mystical Solomonic temple we are to understand\nthe high ideal or archetype of humanity in the best possible condition of\nsocial improvement, wherein every evil inclination is overcome, every\npassion is resolved into the spirit of love, and wherein each for all,\nand all for each, kindly strive to work.\" [212]\n\nAnd thus the German Masons call this striving for an almost millennial\nresult _labor in the temple_.\n\nThe English Masons, although they have not treated the symbolism of the\nOrder with the same abstruse investigation that has distinguished those of\nGermany and France, still have not been insensible to this idea that the\nbuilding of the Solomonic temple is intended to indicate a cultivation of\nthe human character. Thus Hutchinson, one of the earliest of the symbolic\nwriters of England, shows a very competent conception--for the age in\nwhich he lived--of the mystical meaning of the temple; and later writers\nhave improved upon his crude views. It must, however, be acknowledged that\nneither Hutchinson nor Oliver, nor any other of the distinguished masonic\nwriters of England, has dwelt on this peculiar symbolism of a moral temple\nwith that earnest appreciation of the idea that is to be found in the\nworks of the French and German Masons. But although the allusions are\nrather casual and incidental, yet the symbolic theory is evidently\nrecognized.[213]\n\nOur own country has produced many students of Masonic symbolism, who have\nthoroughly grasped this noble thought, and treated it with eloquence and\nerudition.\n\nFifty years ago Salem Towne wrote thus: \"Speculative Masonry, according to\npresent acceptation, has an ultimate reference to that spiritual building\nerected by virtue in the heart, and summarily implies the arrangement and\nperfection of those holy and sublime principles by which the soul is\nfitted for a meet temple of God in a world of immortality.\" [214]\n\nCharles Scott has devoted one of the lectures in his \"Analogy of Ancient\nCraft Masonry to Natural and Revealed Religion\" to a thorough\nconsideration of this subject. The language is too long for quotation, but\nthe symbol has been well interpreted by him.[215]\n\nStill more recently, Bro. John A. Loclor has treated the topic in an\nessay, which I regret has not had a larger circulation. A single and brief\npassage may show the spirit of the production, and how completely it\nsustains the idea of this symbolism.\n\n\"We may disguise it as we will,\" says Bro. Lodor, \"we may evade a scrutiny\nof it; but our character, as it is, with its faults and blemishes, its\nweaknesses and infirmities, its vices and its stains, together with its\nredeeming traits, its better parts, is our speculative temple.\" And he\ngoes on to extend the symbolic idea: \"Like the exemplar temple on Mount\nMoriah, it should be preserved as a hallowed shrine, and guarded with the\nsame vigilant care. It should be our pearl of price set round with walls\nand enclosures, even as was the Jewish temple, and the impure, the\nvicious, the guilty, and the profane be banished from even its outer\ncourts. A faithful sentinel should be placed at every gate, a watchman on\nevery wall, and the first approach of a cowan and eavesdropper be\npromptly met and resisted.\"\n\nTeachings like this are now so common that every American Mason who has\nstudied the symbolism of his Order believes, with Carlyle, that \"there is\nbut one temple in the world, and that is the body of man.\"\n\nThis inquiry into the meaning and object of labor, as a masonic symbol,\nbrings us to these conclusions:--\n\n1. That our ancient brethren worked as long as the operative art\npredominated in the institution at material temples, the most prominent of\nthese being the temple of King Solomon.\n\n2. That when the speculative science took the place of the operative art,\nthe modern Masons, working no longer at material temples, but holding\nstill to the sacred thought, the reverential idea, of a holy temple, a\nLord's house to be built, began to labor at living temples, and to make\nman, the true house of the Lord, the tabernacle for the indwelling of the\nHoly Spirit.\n\nAnd, 3. Therefore to every Freemason who rightly comprehends his art, this\nconstruction of a living temple is his labor.\n\n\"Labor,\" says Gadicke, the German masonic lexicographer, \"is an important\nword in Masonry; indeed, we might say the most important. For this, and\nthis alone, does a man become a Freemason. Every other object is secondary\nor incidental. Labor is the accustomed design of every lodge meeting. But\ndoes such meeting always furnish evidence of industry? The labor of an\noperative mason will be visible, and he will receive his reward for it,\neven though the building he has constructed may, in the next hour, be\noverthrown by a tempest. He knows that he has done his labor. And so must\nthe Freemason labor. His labor must be visible to himself and to his\nbrethren, or, at least, it must conduce to his own internal satisfaction.\nAs we build neither a visible Solomonic temple nor an Egyptian pyramid,\nour industry must become visible in works that are imperishable, so that\nwhen we vanish from the eyes of mortals it may be said of us that our\nlabor was well done.\"\n\nAnd remembering what the apostle has said, that we are the temple of God,\nand that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us, we know that our labor is so to\nbuild that temple that it shall become worthy of its divine Dweller.\n\nAnd thus, too, at last, we can understand the saying of the old monks that\n\"labor is worship;\" and as Masons we labor in our lodge, labor to make\nourselves a perfect building, without blemish, working hopefully for the\nconsummation, when the house of our earthly tabernacle shall be finished,\nwhen the LOST WORD of divine truth shall at last be discovered, and when\nwe shall be found by our own efforts at perfection to have done God\nservice. For so truly is the meaning of those noble words--LABOR IS\nWORSHIP.\n\n\n\n\nXXX.\n\nThe Stone of Foundation.[216]\n\n\n\nThe Stone of Foundation constitutes one of the most important and abstruse\nof all the symbols of Freemasonry. It is referred to in numerous legends\nand traditions, not only of the Freemasons, but also of the Jewish\nRabbins, the Talmudic writers, and even the Mussulman doctors. Many of\nthese, it must be confessed, are apparently puerile and absurd; but some\nof them, and especially the masonic ones, are deeply interesting in their\nallegorical signification.\n\nThe Stone of Foundation is, properly speaking, a symbol of the higher\ndegrees. It makes its first appearance in the Royal Arch, and forms,\nindeed, the most important symbol of that degree. But it is so intimately\nconnected, in its legendary history, with the construction of the\nSolomonic temple, that it must be considered as a part of Ancient Craft\nMasonry, although he who confines the range of his investigations to the\nfirst three degrees, will have no means, within that narrow limit, of\nproperly appreciating the symbolism of the Stone of Foundation.\n\nAs preliminary to the inquiry which is about to be instituted, it is\nnecessary to distinguish the Stone of Foundation, both in its symbolism\nand in its legendary history, from other stones which play an important\npart in the masonic ritual, but which are entirely distinct from it. Such\nare the _corner-stone_, which was always placed in the north-east corner\nof the building about to be erected, and to which such a beautiful\nreference is made in the ceremonies of the first degree; or the\n_keystone_, which constitutes an interesting part of the Mark Master's\ndegree; or, lastly, the _cape-stone_, upon which all the ritual of the\nMost Excellent Master's degree is founded. These are all, in their proper\nplaces, highly interesting and instructive symbols, but have no connection\nwhatever with the Stone of Foundation or its symbolism. Nor, although the\nStone of Foundation is said, for peculiar reasons, to have been of a\ncubical form, must it be confounded with that stone called by the\ncontinental Masons the _cubical stone_--the _pierre cubique_ of the\nFrench, and the _cubik stein_ of the German Masons, but which in the\nEnglish system is known as the _perfect ashlar_.\n\nThe Stone of Foundation has a legendary history and a symbolic\nsignification which are peculiar to itself, and which differ from the\nhistory and meaning which belong to these other stones.\n\nLet us first define this masonic Stone of Foundation, then collate the\nlegends which refer to it, and afterwards investigate its significance as\na symbol. To the Mason who takes a pleasure in the study of the mysteries\nof his institution, the investigation cannot fail to be interesting, if it\nis conducted with any ability.\n\nBut in the very beginning, as a necessary preliminary to any investigation\nof this kind, it must be distinctly understood that all that is said of\nthis Stone of Foundation in Masonry is to be strictly taken in a mythical\nor allegorical sense. Dr. Oliver, the most learned of our masonic writers,\nwhile undoubtedly himself knowing that it was simply a symbol, has written\nloosely of it, as though it were a substantial reality; and hence, if the\npassages in his \"Historical Landmarks,\" and in his other works which refer\nto this celebrated stone are accepted by his readers in a literal sense,\nthey will present absurdities and puerilities which would not occur if the\nStone of Foundation was received, as it really is, as a philosophical\nmyth, conveying a most profound and beautiful symbolism. Read in this\nspirit, as all the legends of Masonry should be read, the mythical story\nof the Stone of Foundation becomes one of the most important and\ninteresting of all the masonic symbols.\n\nThe Stone of Foundation is supposed, by the theory which establishes it,\nto have been a stone placed at one time within the foundations of the\ntemple of Solomon, and afterwards, during the building of the second\ntemple, transported to the Holy of Holies. It was in form a perfect cube,\nand had inscribed upon its upper face, within a delta or triangle, the\nsacred tetragrammaton, or ineffable name of God. Oliver, speaking with the\nsolemnity of an historian, says that Solomon thought that he had rendered\nthe house of God worthy, so far as human adornment could effect, for the\ndwelling of God, \"when he had placed the celebrated Stone of Foundation,\non which the sacred name was mystically engraven, with solemn ceremonies,\nin that sacred depository on Mount Moriah, along with the foundations of\nDan and Asher, the centre of the Most Holy Place, where the ark was\novershadowed by the shekinah of God.\" [217] The Hebrew Talmudists, who\nthought as much of this stone, and had as many legends concerning it as\nthe masonic Talmudists, called it _eben shatijah_[218] or \"Stone of\nFoundation,\" because, as they said, it had been laid by Jehovah as the\nfoundation of the world; and hence the apocryphal book of Enoch speaks of\nthe \"stone which supports the corners of the earth.\"\n\nThis idea of a foundation stone of the world was most probably derived\nfrom that magnificent passage of the book of Job, in which the Almighty\ndemands of the afflicted patriarch,--\n\n    \"Where wast thou, when I laid the foundation of the earth?\n    Declare, since thou hast such knowledge!\n    Who fixed its dimensions, since thou knowest?\n    Or who stretched out the line upon it?\n    Upon what were its foundations fixed?\n    And who laid its corner-stone,\n    When the morning stars sang together,\n    And all the sons of God shouted for joy?\" [219]\n\nNoyes, whose beautiful translation I have adopted as not materially\ndiffering from the common version, but which is far more poetical and more\nin the strain of the original, thus explains the allusions to the\nfoundation-stone: \"It was the custom to celebrate the laying of the\ncorner-stone of an important building with music, songs, shouting, &c.\nHence the morning stars are represented as celebrating the laying of the\ncorner-stone of the earth.\" [220]\n\nUpon this meagre statement have been accumulated more traditions than\nappertain to any other masonic symbol. The Rabbins, as has already been\nintimated, divide the glory of these apocryphal histories with the Masons;\nindeed, there is good reason for a suspicion that nearly all the masonic\nlegends owe their first existence to the imaginative genius of the writers\nof the Jewish Talmud. But there is this difference between the Hebrew and\nthe masonic traditions, that the Talmudic scholar recited them as truthful\nhistories, and swallowed, in one gulp of faith, all their impossibilities\nand anachronisms, while the masonic student has received them as\nallegories, whose value is not in the facts, but in the sentiments which\nthey convey.\n\nWith this understanding of their meaning, let us proceed to a collation of\nthese legends.\n\nIn that blasphemous work, the \"_Toldoth Jeshu_\" or _Life of Jesus_,\nwritten, it is supposed, in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, we find\nthe following account of this wonderful stone:--\n\n\"At that time [the time of Jesus] there was in the House of the Sanctuary\n[that is, the temple] a Stone of Foundation, which is the very stone that\nour father Jacob anointed with oil, as it is described in the\ntwenty-eighth chapter of the book of Genesis. On that stone the letters of\nthe tetragrammaton were inscribed, and whosoever of the Israelites should\nlearn that name would be able to master the world. To prevent, therefore,\nany one from learning these letters, two iron dogs were placed upon two\ncolumns in front of the Sanctuary. If any person, having acquired the\nknowledge of these letters, desired to depart from the Sanctuary, the\nbarking of the dogs, by magical power, inspired so much fear, that he\nsuddenly forgot what he had acquired.\"\n\nThis passage is cited by the learned Buxtorf, in his \"_Lexicon\nTalmudicum_;\" [221] but in the copy of the \"_Toldoth Jeshu_\" which I have\nthe good fortune to possess (for it is among the rarest of books), I find\nanother passage which gives some additional particulars, in the following\nwords:--\n\n\"At that time there was in the temple the ineffable name of God, inscribed\nupon the Stone of Foundation. For when King David was digging the\nfoundation for the temple, he found in the depths of the excavation a\ncertain stone, on which the name of God was inscribed. This stone he\nremoved, and deposited it in the Holy of Holies.\" [222]\n\nThe same puerile story of the barking dogs is repeated, still more at\nlength. It is not pertinent to the present inquiry, but it may be stated\nas a mere matter of curious information, that this scandalous book, which\nis throughout a blasphemous defamation of our Saviour, proceeds to say,\nthat he cunningly obtained a knowledge of the tetragrammaton from the\nStone of Foundation, and by its mystical influence was enabled to perform\nhis miracles.\n\nThe masonic legends of the Stone of Foundation, based on these and other\nrabbinical reveries, are of the most extraordinary character, if they are\nto be viewed as histories, but readily reconcilable with sound sense, if\nlooked at only in the light of allegories. They present an uninterrupted\nsuccession of events, in which the Stone of Foundation takes a prominent\npart, from Adam to Solomon, and from Solomon to Zerubbabel.\n\nThus the first of these legends, in order of time, relates that the Stone\nof Foundation was possessed by Adam while in the garden of Eden; that he\nused it as an altar, and so reverenced it, that, on his expulsion from\nParadise, he carried it with him into the world in which he and his\ndescendants were afterwards to earn their bread by the sweat of their\nbrow.\n\nAnother legend informs us that from Adam the Stone of Foundation descended\nto Seth. From Seth it passed by regular succession to Noah, who took it\nwith him into the ark, and after the subsidence of the deluge, made on it\nhis first thank-offering. Noah left it on Mount Ararat, where it was\nsubsequently found by Abraham, who removed it, and consequently used it as\nan altar of sacrifice. His grandson Jacob took it with him when he fled to\nhis uncle Laban in Mesopotamia, and used it as a pillow when, in the\nvicinity of Luz, he had his celebrated vision.\n\nHere there is a sudden interruption in the legendary history of the\nstane, and we have no means of conjecturing how it passed from the\npossession of Jacob into that of Solomon. Moses, it is true, is said to\nhave taken it with him out of Egypt at the time of the exodus, and thus it\nmay have finally reached Jerusalem. Dr. Adam Clarke[223] repeats what he\nvery properly calls \"a foolish tradition,\" that the stone on which Jacob\nrested his head was afterwards brought to Jerusalem, thence carried after\na long lapse of time to Spain, from Spain to Ireland, and from Ireland to\nScotland, where it was used as a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat\nto be crowned. Edward I., we know, brought a stone, to which this legend\nis attached, from Scotland to Westminster Abbey, where, under the name of\nJacob's Pillow, it still remains, and is always placed under the chair\nupon which the British sovereign sits to be crowned, because there is an\nold distich which declares that wherever this stone is found the Scottish\nkings shall reign.[224]\n\nBut this Scottish tradition would take the Stone of Foundation away from\nall its masonic connections, and therefore it is rejected as a masonic\nlegend.\n\nThe legends just related are in many respects contradictory and\nunsatisfactory, and another series, equally as old, are now very generally\nadopted by masonic scholars, as much better suited to the symbolism by\nwhich all these legends are explained.\n\nThis series of legends commences with the patriarch Enoch, who is supposed\nto have been the first consecrator of the Stone of Foundation. The legend\nof Enoch is so interesting and important in masonic science as to excuse\nsomething more than a brief reference to the incidents which it details.\n\nThe legend in full is as follows: Enoch, under the inspiration of the Most\nHigh, and in obedience to the instructions which he had received in a\nvision, built a temple under ground on Mount Moriah, and dedicated it to\nGod. His son, Methuselah, constructed the building, although he was not\nacquainted with his father's motives for the erection. This temple\nconsisted of nine vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other, and\ncommunicating by apertures left in each vault.\n\nEnoch then caused a triangular plate of gold to be made, each side of\nwhich was a cubit long; he enriched it with the most precious stones, and\nencrusted the plate upon a stone of agate of the same form. On the plate\nhe engraved the true name of God, or the tetragrammaton, and placing it\non a cubical stone, known thereafter as the Stone of Foundation, he\ndeposited the whole within the lowest arch.\n\nWhen this subterranean building was completed, he made a door of stone,\nand attaching to it a ring of iron, by which it might be occasionally\nraised, he placed it over the opening of the uppermost arch, and so\ncovered it that the aperture could not be discovered. Enoch himself was\nnot permitted to enter it but once a year, and after the days of Enoch,\nMethuselah, and Lamech, and the destruction of the world by the deluge,\nall knowledge of the vault or subterranean temple, and of the Stone of\nFoundation, with the sacred and ineffable name inscribed upon it, was lost\nfor ages to the world.\n\nAt the building of the first temple of Jerusalem, the Stone of Foundation\nagain makes its appearance. Reference has already been made to the Jewish\ntradition that David, when digging the foundations of the temple, found in\nthe excavation which he was making a certain stone, on which the ineffable\nname of God was inscribed, and which stone he is said to have removed and\ndeposited in the Holy of Holies. That King David laid the foundations of\nthe temple upon which the superstructure was subsequently erected by\nSolomon, is a favorite theory of the legend-mongers of the Talmud.\n\nThe masonic tradition is substantiallv the same as the Jewish, but it\nsubstitutes Solomon for David, thereby giving a greater air of probability\nto the narrative; and it supposes that the stone thus discovered by\nSolomon was the identical one that had been deposited in his secret vault\nby Enoch. This Stone of Foundation, the tradition states, was subsequently\nremoved by King Solomon, and, for wise purposes, deposited in a secret and\nsafer place.\n\nIn this the masonic tradition again agrees with the Jewish, for we find in\nthe third chapter of the \"_Treatise on the Temple_\" written by the\ncelebrated Maimonides, the following narrative--\n\n\"There was a stone in the Holy of Holies, on its west side, on which was\nplaced the ark of the covenant, and before it the pot of manna and Aaron's\nrod. But when Solomon had built the temple, and foresaw that it was, at\nsome future time, to be destroyed, he constructed a deep and winding vault\nunder ground, for the purpose of concealing the ark, wherein Josiah\nafterwards, as we learn in the Second Book of Chronicles, xxxv. 3,\ndeposited it, with the pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, and the oil of\nanointing.\"\n\nThe Talmudical book \"_Yoma_\" gives the same tradition, and says that \"the\nark of the covenant was placed in the centre of the Holy of Holies, upon a\nstone rising three fingers' breadth above the floor, to be, as it were, a\npedestal for it.\" \"This stone,\" says Prideaux,[225] \"the Rabbins call the\nStone of Foundation, and give us a great deal of trash about it.\"\n\nThere is much controversy as to the question of the existence of any ark\nin the second temple. Some of the Jewish writers assert that a new one was\nmade; others, that the old one was found where it had been concealed by\nSolomon; and others again contend that there was no ark at all in the\ntemple of Zerubbabel, but that its place was supplied by the Stone of\nFoundation on which it had originally rested.\n\nRoyal Arch Masons well know how all these traditions are sought to be\nreconciled by the masonic legend, in which the substitute ark and the\nStone of Foundation play so important a part.\n\nIn the thirteenth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, the Stone of\nFoundation is conspicuous as the resting-place of the sacred delta.\n\nIn the Royal Arch and Select Master's degrees of the Americanized York\nRite, the Stone of Foundation constitutes the most important part of the\nritual. In both of these it is the receptacle of the ark, on which the\nineffable name is inscribed.\n\nLee, in his \"_Temple of Solomon_\", has devoted a chapter to this Stone of\nFoundation, and thus recapitulates the Talmudic and Rabbinical traditions\non the subject:--\n\n\"Vain and futilous are the feverish dreams of the ancient Rabbins\nconcerning the Foundation Stone of the temple. Some assert that God placed\nthis stone in the centre of the world, for a future basis and settled\nconsistency for the earth to rest upon. Others held this stone to be the\nfirst matter, out of which all the beautiful visible beings of the world\nhave been hewn forth and produced to light. Others relate that this was\nthe very same stone laid by Jacob for a pillow under his head, in that\nnight when he dreamed of an angelic vision at Bethel, and afterwards\nanointed and consecrated it to God. Which when Solomon had found (no doubt\nby forged revelation, or some tedious search, like another Rabbi Selemoh),\nhe durst not but lay it sure, as the principal foundation stone of the\ntemple. Nay, they say further, he caused to be engraved upon it the\ntetragrammaton, or the ineffable name of Jehovah.\" [226]\n\nIt will be seen that the masonic traditions on the subject of the Stone of\nFoundation do not differ very materially from these Rabbinical ones,\nalthough they give a few additional circumstances.\n\nIn the masonic legend, the Foundation Stone first makes its appearance, as\nI have already said, in the days of Enoch, who placed it in the bowels of\nMount Moriah. There it was subsequently discovered by King Solomon, who\ndeposited it in a crypt of the first temple, where it remained concealed\nuntil the foundations of the second temple were laid, when it was\ndiscovered and removed to the Holy of Holies. But the most important point\nof the legend of the Stone of Foundation is its intimate and constant\nconnection with the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name. It is this name,\ninscribed upon it, within the sacred and symbolic delta, that gives to the\nstone all its masonic value and significance. It is upon this fact, that\nit was so inscribed, that its whole symbolism depends.\n\nLooking at these traditions in anything like the light of historical\nnarratives, we are compelled to consider them, to use the plain language\nof Lee, \"but as so many idle and absurd conceits.\" We must go behind the\nlegend, viewing it only as an allegory, and study its symbolism.\n\nThe symbolism of the Foundation Stone of Masonry is therefore the next\nsubject of investigation.\n\nIn approaching this, the most abstruse, and one of the most important,\nsymbols of the Order, we are at once impressed with its apparent\nconnection with the ancient doctrine of stone worship. Some brief\nconsideration of this species of religious culture is therefore necessary\nfor a proper understanding of the real symbolism of the Stone of\nFoundation.\n\nThe worship of stones is a kind of fetichism, which in the very infancy\nof religion prevailed, perhaps, more extensively than any other form of\nreligious culture. Lord Kames explains the fact by supposing that stones\nerected as monuments of the dead became the place where posterity paid\ntheir veneration to the memory of the deceased, and that at length the\npeople, losing sight of the emblematical signification, which was not\nreadily understood, these monumental stones became objects of worship.\n\nOthers have sought to find the origin of stone-worship in the stone that\nwas set up and anointed by Jacob at Bethel, and the tradition of which had\nextended into the heathen nations and become corrupted. It is certain that\nthe Phoenicians worshipped sacred stones under the name of _Baetylia_,\nwhich word is evidently derived from the Hebrew _Bethel_; and this\nundoubtedly gives some appearance of plausibility to the theory.\n\nBut a third theory supposes that the worship of stones was derived from\nthe unskilfulness of the primitive sculptors, who, unable to frame, by\ntheir meagre principles of plastic art, a true image of the God whom they\nadored, were content to substitute in its place a rude or scarcely\npolished stone. Hence the Greeks, according to Pausanias, originally used\nunhewn stones to represent their deities, thirty of which that historian\nsays he saw in the city of Pharas. These stones were of a cubical form,\nand as the greater number of them were dedicated to the god Hermes, or\nMercury, they received the generic name of _Hermaa_. Subsequently, with\nthe improvement of the plastic art, the head was added.[227]\n\nOne of these consecrated stones was placed before the door of almost every\nhouse in Athens. They were also placed in front of the temples, in the\ngymnasia or schools, in libraries, and at the corners of streets, and in\nthe roads. When dedicated to the god Terminus they were used as landmarks,\nand placed as such upon the concurrent lines of neighboring possessions.\n\nThe Thebans worshipped Bacchus under the form of a rude, square stone.\n\nArnobius[228] says that Cybele was represented by a small stone of a\nblack color. Eusebius cites Porphyry as saying that the ancients\nrepresented the deity by a black stone, because his nature is obscure and\ninscrutable. The reader will here be reminded of the black stone _Hadsjar\nel Aswad_, placed in the south-west corner of the Kaaba at Mecca, which\nwas worshipped by the ancient Arabians, and is still treated with\nreligious veneration by the modern Mohammedans. The Mussulman priests,\nhowever, say that it was originally white, and of such surprising splendor\nthat it could be seen at the distance of four days' journey, but that it\nhas been blackened by the tears of pilgrims.\n\nThe Druids, it is well known, had no other images of their gods but\ncubical, or sometimes columnar, stones, of which Toland gives several\ninstances.\n\nThe Chaldeans had a sacred stone, which they held in great veneration,\nunder the name of _Mnizuris_, and to which they sacrificed for the purpose\nof evoking the Good Demon.\n\nStone-worship existed among the early American races. Squier quotes\nSkinner as asserting that the Peruvians used to set up rough stones in\ntheir fields and plantations, which were worshipped as protectors of their\ncrops. And Gam a says that in Mexico the presiding god of the spring was\noften represented without a human body, and in place thereof a pilaster or\nsquare column, whose pedestal was covered with various sculptures.\n\nIndeed, so universal was this stone-worship, that Higgins, in his\n\"_Celtic Druids_,\" says that, \"throughout the world the first object of\nidolatry seems to have been a plain, unwrought stone, placed in the\nground, as an emblem of the generative or procreative powers of nature.\"\nAnd the learned Bryant, in his \"_Analysis of Ancient Mythology_,\" asserts\nthat \"there is in every oracular temple some legend about a stone.\"\n\nWithout further citations of examples from the religious usages of other\ncountries, it will, I think, be conceded that the cubical stone formed an\nimportant part of the religious worship of primitive nations. But\nCudworth, Bryant, Faber, and all other distinguished writers who have\ntreated the subject, have long since established the theory that the pagan\nreligions were eminently symbolic. Thus, to use the language of Dudley,\nthe pillar or stone \"was adopted as a symbol of strength and firmness,--a\nsymbol, also, of the divine power, and, by a ready inference, a symbol or\nidol of the Deity himself.\" [229] And this symbolism is confirmed by\nCornutus, who says that the god Hermes was represented without hands or\nfeet, being a cubical stone, because the cubical figure betokened his\nsolidity and stability.[230]\n\nThus, then, the following facts have been established, but not precisely\nin this order: First, that there was a very general prevalence among the\nearliest nations of antiquity of the worship of stones as the\nrepresentatives of Deity; secondly, that in almost every ancient temple\nthere was a legend of a sacred or mystical stone; thirdly, that this\nlegend is found in the masonic system; and lastly, that the mystical stone\nthere has received the name of the \"Stone of Foundation.\"\n\nNow, as in all the other systems the stone is admitted to be symbolic,\nand the tradition connected with it mystical, we are compelled to assume\nthe same predicates of the masonic stone. It, too, is symbolic, and its\nlegend a myth or an allegory.\n\nOf the fable, myth, or allegory, Bailly has said that, \"subordinate to\nhistory and philosophy, it only deceives that it may the better instruct\nus. Faithful in preserving the realities which are confided to it, it\ncovers with its seductive envelope the lessons of the one and the truths\nof the other.\" [231] It is from this stand-point that we are to view the\nallegory of the Stone of Foundation, as developed in one of the most\ninteresting and important symbols of Masonry.\n\nThe fact that the mystical stone in all the ancient religions was a symbol\nof the Deity, leads us necessarily to the conclusion that the Stone of\nFoundation was also a symbol of Deity. And this symbolic idea is\nstrengthened by the tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God, that was\ninscribed upon it. This ineffable name sanctifies the stone upon which it\nis engraved as the symbol of the Grand Architect. It takes from it its\nheathen signification as an idol, and consecrates it to the worship of the\ntrue God.\n\nThe predominant idea of the Deity, in the masonic system, connects him\nwith his creative and formative power. God is, to the Freemason, _Al\nGabil_, as the Arabians called him, that is, _The Builder_; or, as\nexpressed in his masonic title, the _Grand Architect of the Universe_, by\ncommon consent abbreviated in the formula G.A.O.T.U. Now, it is evident\nthat no symbol could so appropriately suit him in this character as the\nStone of Foundation, upon which he is allegorically supposed to have\nerected his world. Such a symbol closely connects the creative work of\nGod, as a pattern and exemplar, with the workman's erection of his\ntemporal building on a similar foundation stone.\n\nBut this masonic idea is still further to be extended. The great object of\nall Masonic labor is _divine truth_. The search for the _lost word_ is the\nsearch for truth. But divine truth is a term synonymous with God. The\nineffable name is a symbol of truth, because God, and God alone, is truth.\nIt is properly a scriptural idea. The Book of Psalms abounds with this\nsentiment. Thus it is said that the truth of the Lord \"reacheth unto the\nclouds,\" and that \"his truth endureth unto all generations.\" If, then, God\nis truth, and the Stone of Foundation is the masonic symbol of God, it\nfollows that it must also be the symbol of divine truth.\n\nWhen we have arrived at this point in our speculations, we are ready to\nshow how all the myths and legends of the Stone of Foundation may be\nrationally explained as parts of that beautiful \"science of morality,\nveiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols,\" which is the acknowledged\ndefinition of Freemasonry.\n\nIn the masonic system there are two temples; the first temple, in which\nthe degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry are concerned, and the second temple,\nwith which the higher degrees, and especially the Royal Arch, are related.\nThe first temple is symbolic of the present life; the second temple is\nsymbolic of the life to come. The first temple, the present life, must be\ndestroyed; on its foundations the second temple, the life eternal, must be\nbuilt.\n\nBut the mystical stone was placed by King Solomon in the foundations of\nthe first temple. That is to say, the first temple of our present life\nmust be built on the sure foundation of divine truth, \"for other\nfoundation can no man lay.\"\n\nBut although the present life is necessarily built upon the foundation of\ntruth, yet we never thoroughly attain it in this sublunary sphere. The\nFoundation Stone is concealed in the first temple, and the Master Mason\nknows it not. He has not the true word. He receives only a substitute.\n\nBut in the second temple of the future life, we have passed from the\ngrave, which had been the end of our labors in the first. We have removed\nthe rubbish, and have found that Stone of Foundation which had been\nhitherto concealed from our eyes. We now throw aside the substitute for\ntruth which had contented us in the former temple, and the brilliant\neffulgence of the tetragrammaton and the Stone of Foundation are\ndiscovered, and thenceforth we are the possessors of the true word--of\ndivine truth. And in this way, the Stone of Foundation, or divine truth,\nconcealed in the first temple, but discovered and brought to light in the\nsecond, will explain that passage of the apostle, \"For now we see through\na glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall\nI know even as also I am known.\"\n\nAnd so, the result of this inquiry is, that the masonic Stone of\nFoundation is a symbol of divine truth, upon which all Speculative Masonry\nis built, and the legends and traditions which refer to it are intended to\ndescribe, in an allegorical way, the progress of truth in the soul, the\nsearch for which is a Mason's labor, and the discovery of which is his\nreward.\n\n\n\n\n\nXXXI.\n\nThe Lost Word.\n\n\n\nThe last of the symbols, depending for its existence on its connection\nwith a myth to which I shall invite attention, is _the Lost Word, and the\nsearch for it_. Very appropriately may this symbol terminate our\ninvestigations, since it includes within its comprehensive scope all the\nothers, being itself the very essence of the science of masonic symbolism.\nThe other symbols require for their just appreciation a knowledge of the\norigin of the order, because they owe their birth to its relationship with\nkindred and anterior institutions. But the symbolism of the Lost Word has\nreference exclusively to the design and the objects of the institution.\n\nFirst, let us define the symbol, and then investigate its interpretation.\n\nThe mythical history of Freemasonry informs us that there once existed a\nWORD of surpassing value, and claiming a profound veneration; that this\nWord was known to but few; that it was at length lost; and that a\ntemporary substitute for it was adopted. But as the very philosophy of\nMasonry teaches us that there can be no death without a resurrection,--no\ndecay without a subsequent restoration,--on the same principle it follows\nthat the loss of the Word must suppose its eventual recovery.\n\nNow, this it is, precisely, that constitutes the myth of the Lost Word and\nthe search for it. No matter what was the word, no matter how it was lost,\nnor why a substitute was provided, nor when nor where it was recovered.\nThese are all points of subsidiary importance, necessary, it is true, for\nknowing the legendary history, but not necessary for understanding the\nsymbolism. The only term of the myth that is to be regarded in the study\nof its interpretation, is the abstract idea of a word lost and afterwards\nrecovered.\n\nThis, then, points us to the goal to which we must direct our steps in the\npursuit of the investigation.\n\nBut the symbolism, referring in this case, as I have already said, solely\nto the great design of Freemasonry, the nature of that design at once\nsuggests itself as a preliminary subject of inquiry in the investigation.\n\nWhat, then, is the design of Freemasonry? A very large majority of its\ndisciples, looking only to its practical results, as seen in the every-day\nbusiness of life,--to the noble charities which it dispenses, to the tears\nof widows which it has dried, to the cries of orphans which it has hushed,\nto the wants of the destitute which it has supplied,--arrive with too much\nrapidity at the conclusion that Charity, and that, too, in its least\nexalted sense of eleemosynary aid, is the great design of the institution.\n\nOthers, with a still more contracted view, remembering the pleasant\nreunions at their lodge banquets, the unreserved communications which are\nthus encouraged, and the solemn obligations of mutual trust and\nconfidence that are continually inculcated, believe that it was intended\nsolely to promote the social sentiments and cement the bonds of\nfriendship.\n\nBut, although the modern lectures inform us that Brotherly Love and Relief\nare two of \"the principal tenets of a Mason's profession,\" yet, from the\nsame authority, we learn that Truth is a third and not less important one;\nand Truth, too, not in its old Anglo-Saxon meaning of fidelity to\nengagements,[232] but in that more strictly philosophical one in which it\nis opposed to intellectual and religious error or falsehood.\n\nBut I have shown that the Primitive Freemasonry of the ancients was\ninstituted for the purpose of preserving that truth which had been\noriginally communicated to the patriarchs, in all its integrity, and that\nthe Spurious Masonry, or the Mysteries, originated in the earnest need of\nthe sages, and philosophers, and priests, to find again the same truth\nwhich had been lost by the surrounding multitudes. I have shown, also,\nthat this same truth continued to be the object of the Temple Masonry,\nwhich was formed by a union of the Primitive, or Pure, and the Spurious\nsystems. Lastly, I have endeavored to demonstrate that this truth related\nto the nature of God and the human soul.\n\nThe search, then, after this truth, I suppose to constitute the end and\ndesign of Speculative Masonry. From the very commencement of his career,\nthe aspirant is by significant symbols and expressive instructions\ndirected to the acquisition of this divine truth; and the whole lesson, if\nnot completed in its full extent, is at least well developed in the myths\nand legends of the Master's degree. _God and the soul_--the unity of the\none and the immortality of the other--are the great truths, the search for\nwhich is to constitute the constant occupation of every Mason, and which,\nwhen found, are to become the chief corner-stone, or the stone of\nfoundation, of the spiritual temple--\"the house not made with\nhands\"--which he is engaged in erecting.\n\nNow, this idea of a search after truth forms so prominent a part of the\nwhole science of Freemasonry, that I conceive no better or more\ncomprehensive answer could be given to the question, _What is\nFreemasonry?_ than to say that it is a science which is engaged in the\nsearch after divine truth.\n\nBut Freemasonry is eminently a system of symbolism, and all its\ninstructions are conveyed in symbols. It is, therefore, to be supposed\nthat so prominent and so prevailing an idea as this,--one that\nconstitutes, as I have said, the whole design of the institution, and\nwhich may appropriately be adopted as the very definition of its\nscience,--could not with any consistency be left without its particular\nsymbol.\n\nThe WORD, therefore, I conceive to be the symbol of _Divine Truth;_ and\nall its modifications--the loss, the substitution, and the recovery--are\nbut component parts of the mythical symbol which represents a search after\ntruth.\n\nHow, then, is this symbolism preserved? How is the whole history of this\nWord to be interpreted, so as to bear, in all its accidents of time, and\nplace, and circumstance, a patent reference to the substantive idea that\nhas been symbolized?\n\nThe answers to these questions embrace what is, perhaps, the most\nintricate as well as most ingenious and interesting portion of the science\nof masonic symbolism.\n\nThis symbolism may be interpreted, either in an application to a general\nor to a special sense.\n\nThe general application will embrace the whole history of Freemasonry,\nfrom its inception to its consummation. The search after the Word is an\nepitome of the intellectual and religious progress of the order, from the\nperiod when, by the dispersion at Babel, the multitudes were enshrouded in\nthe profundity of a moral darkness where truth was apparently forever\nextinguished. The true name of God was lost; his true nature was not\nunderstood; the divine lessons imparted by our father Noah were no longer\nremembered; the ancient traditions were now corrupted; the ancient symbols\nwere perverted. Truth was buried beneath the rubbish of Sabaism, and the\nidolatrous adoration of the sun and stars had taken the place of the olden\nworship of the true God. A moral darkness was now spread over the face of\nthe earth, as a dense, impenetrable cloud, which obstructed the rays of\nthe spiritual sun, and covered the people as with a gloomy pall of\nintellectual night.\n\nBut this night was not to last forever. A brighter dawn was to arise, and\namidst all this gloom and darkness there were still to be found a few\nsages in whom the religious sentiment, working in them with powerful\nthroes, sent forth manfully to seek after truth. There were, even in those\ndays of intellectual and religious darkness, craftsmen who were willing to\nsearch for the _Lost Word_. And though they were unable to find it, their\napproximation to truth was so near that the result of their search may\nwell be symbolized by the _Substitute Word_.\n\nIt was among the idolatrous multitudes that the _Word_ had been lost. It\nwas among them that the Builder had been smitten, and that the works of\nthe spiritual temple had been suspended; and so, losing at each successive\nstage of their decline, more and more of the true knowledge of God and of\nthe pure religion which had originally been imparted by Noah, they finally\narrived at gross materialism and idolatry, losing all sight of the divine\nexistence. Thus it was that the truth--the Word--was said to have been\nlost; or, to apply the language of Hutchinson, modified in its reference\nto the time, \"in this situation, it might well be said that the guide to\nheaven was lost, and the master of the works of righteousness was smitten.\nThe nations had given themselves up to the grossest idolatry, and the\nservice of the true God was effaced from the memory of those who had\nyielded themselves to the dominion of sin.\"\n\nAnd now it was among the philosophers and priests in the ancient\nMysteries, or the spurious Freemasonry, that an anxiety to discover the\ntruth led to the search for the Lost Word. These were the craftsmen who\nsaw the fatal-blow which had been given, who knew that the Word was now\nlost, but were willing to go forth, manfully and patiently, to seek its\nrestoration. And there were the craftsmen who, failing to rescue it from\nthe grave of oblivion into which it had fallen, by any efforts of their\nown incomplete knowledge, fell back upon the dim traditions which had\nbeen handed down from primeval times, and through their aid found a\nsubstitute for truth in their own philosophical religions.\n\nAnd hence Schmidtz, speaking of these Mysteries of the pagan world, calls\nthem the remains of the ancient Pelasgian religion, and says that \"the\nassociations of persons for the purpose of celebrating them must therefore\nhave been formed at the time when the overwhelming influence of the\nHellenic religion began to gain the upper hand in Greece, and when persons\nwho still entertained a reverence for the worship of former times united\ntogether, with the intention of preserving and upholding among themselves\nas much as possible of the religion of their forefathers.\"\n\nApplying, then, our interpretation in a general sense, the _Word_ itself\nbeing the symbol of _Divine Truth_, the narrative of its loss and the\nsearch for its recovery becomes a mythical symbol of the decay and loss of\nthe true religion among the ancient nations, at and after the dispersion\non the plains of Shinar, and of the attempts of the wise men, the\nphilosophers, and priests, to find and retain it in their secret Mysteries\nand initiations, which have hence been designated as the Spurious\nFreemasonry of Antiquity.\n\nBut I have said that there is a special, or individual, as well as a\ngeneral interpretation. This compound or double symbolism, if I may so\ncall it, is by no means unusual in Freemasonry. I have already exhibited\nan illustration of it in the symbolism of Solomon's temple, where, in a\ngeneral sense, the temple is viewed as a symbol of that spiritual temple\nformed by the aggregation of the whole order, and in which each mason is\nconsidered as a stone; and, in an individual or special sense, the same\ntemple is considered as a type of that spiritual temple which each mason\nis directed to erect in his heart.\n\nNow, in this special or individual interpretation, the Word, with its\naccompanying myth of a loss, a substitute, and a recovery, becomes a\nsymbol of the personal progress of a candidate from his first initiation\nto the completion of his course, when he receives a full development of\nthe Mysteries.\n\nThe aspirant enters on this search after truth, as an Entered Apprentice,\nin darkness, seeking for light--the light of wisdom, the light of truth,\nthe light symbolized by the Word. For this important task, upon which he\nstarts forth gropingly, falteringly, doubtingly, in want and in weakness,\nhe is prepared by a purification of the heart, and is invested with a\nfirst substitute for the true Word, which, like the pillar that went\nbefore the Israelites in the wilderness, is to guide him onwards in his\nweary journey. He is directed to take, as a staff and scrip for his\njourney, all those virtues which expand the heart and dignify the soul.\nSecrecy, obedience, humility, trust in God, purity of conscience, economy\nof time, are all inculcated by impressive types and symbols, which connect\nthe first degree with the period of youth.\n\nAnd then, next in the degree of Fellow Craft, he fairly enters upon his\njourney. Youth has now passed, and manhood has come on. New duties and\nincreased obligations press upon the individual. The thinking and working\nstage of life is here symbolized. Science is to be cultivated; wisdom is\nto be acquired; the lost Word--divine truth--is still to be sought for.\nBut even yet it is not to be found.\n\nAnd now the Master Mason comes, with all the symbolism around him of old\nage--trials, sufferings, death. And here, too, the aspirant, pressing\nonward, _always onward_, still cries aloud for \"light, more light.\" The\nsearch is almost over, but the lesson, humiliating to human nature, is to\nbe taught, that in this life--gloomy and dark, earthly and carnal--pure\ntruth has no abiding place; and contented with a substitute, and to that\n_second temple_ of eternal life, for that true Word, that divine Truth,\nwhich will teach us all that we shall ever learn of God and his emanation,\nthe human soul.\n\nSo, the Master Mason, receiving this substitute for the lost Word, waits\nwith patience for the time when it shall be found, and perfect wisdom\nshall be attained.\n\nBut, work as we will, this symbolic Word--this knowledge of divine\nTruth--is never thoroughly attained in this life, or in its symbol, the\nMaster Mason's lodge. The corruptions of mortality, which encumber and\ncloud the human intellect, hide it, as with a thick veil, from mortal\neyes. It is only, as I have just said, beyond the tomb, and when released\nfrom the earthly burden of life, that man is capable of fully receiving\nand appreciating the revelation. Hence, then, when we speak of the\nrecovery of the Word, in that higher degree which is a supplement to\nAncient Craft Masonry, we intimate that that sublime portion of the\nmasonic system is a symbolic representation of the state after death. For\nit is only after the decay and fall of this temple of life, which, as\nmasons, we have been building, that from its ruins, deep beneath its\nfoundations, and in the profound abyss of the grave, we find that divine\ntruth, in the search for which life was spent, if not in vain, at least\nwithout success, and the mystic key to which death only could supply.\n\nAnd now we know by this symbolism what is meant by masonic _labor_, which,\ntoo, is itself but another form of the same symbol. The search for the\nWord--to find divine Truth--this, and this only, is a mason's work, and\nthe WORD is his reward.\n\nLabor, said the old monks, is worship--_laborare est orare_; and thus in\nour lodges do we worship, working for the Word, working for the Truth,\never looking forward, casting no glance behind, but cheerily hoping for\nthe consummation and the reward of our labor in the knowledge which is\npromised to him who plays no laggard's part.\n\nGoethe, himself a mason and a poet, knew and felt all this symbolism of a\nmason's life and work, when he wrote that beautiful poem, which Carlyle\nhas thus thrown into his own rough but impulsive language.\n\n    \"The mason's ways are\n    A type of existence,--\n    And to his persistence\n    Is as the days are\n    Of men in this world.\n\n    \"The future hides in it\n    Gladness and sorrow;\n    We press still thorow,\n    Nought that abides in it\n    Daunting us--onward.\n\n    \"And solemn before us\n    Veiled the dark portal,\n    Goal of all mortal;\n    Stars silent rest o'er us\n    Graves under us silent.\n\n    \"While earnest thou gazest\n    Come boding of terror,\n    Comes phantasm and error,\n    Perplexing the bravest\n    With doubt and misgiving.\n\n    \"But heard are the voices,\n    Heard are the sages,\n    The worlds and the ages;\n    'Choose well; your choice is\n    Brief and yet endless.\n\n    \"'Here eyes do regard you,\n    In eternity's stillness;\n    Here is all fullness,\n    Ye, brave to reward you;\n    Work and despair not.'\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd now, in concluding this work, so inadequate to the importance of the\nsubjects that have been discussed, one deduction, at least, may be drawn\nfrom all that has been said.\n\nIn tracing the progress of Freemasonry, and in detailing its system of\nsymbolism, it has been found to be so intimately connected with the\nhistory of philosophy, of religion, and of art, in all ages of the world,\nthat the conviction at once forces itself upon the mind, that no mason can\nexpect thoroughly to comprehend its nature, or to appreciate its character\nas a science, unless he shall devote himself, with some labor and\nassiduity, to this study of its system. That skill which consists in\nrepeating, with fluency and precision, the ordinary lectures, in complying\nwith all the ceremonial requisitions of the ritual, or the giving, with\nsufficient accuracy, the appointed modes of recognition, pertains only to\nthe very rudiments of the masonic science.\n\nBut there is a far nobler series of doctrines with which Freemasonry is\nconnected, and which it has been my object, in this work, to present in\nsome imperfect way. It is these which constitute the science and the\nphilosophy of Freemasonry, and it is these alone which will return the\nstudent who devotes himself to the task, a sevenfold reward for his labor.\n\nFreemasonry, viewed no longer, as too long it has been, as a merely social\ninstitution, has now assumed its original and undoubted position as a\nspeculative science. While the mere ritual is still carefully preserved,\nas the casket should be which contains so bright a jewel; while its\ncharities are still dispensed as the necessary though incidental result of\nall its moral teachings; while its social tendencies are still cultivated\nas the tenacious cement which is to unite so fair a fabric in symmetry and\nstrength, the masonic mind is everywhere beginning to look and ask for\nsomething, which, like the manna in the desert, shall feed us, in our\npilgrimage, with intellectual food. The universal cry, throughout the\nmasonic world, is for light; our lodges are henceforth to be schools; our\nlabor is to be study; our wages are to be learning; the types and symbols,\nthe myths and allegories, of the institution are beginning to be\ninvestigated with reference to their ultimate meaning; our history is now\ntraced by zealous inquiries as to its connection with antiquity; and\nFreemasons now thoroughly understand that often quoted definition, that\n\"Masonry is a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by\nsymbols.\"\n\nThus to learn Masonry is to know our work and to do it well. What true\nmason would shrink from the task?\n\n\n\n\nSynoptical Index.\n\n\n\nA\n\n\nAB. The Hebrew word \u05d1\u05d0, AB, signifies \"father,\" and was among\nthe Hebrews a title of honor. From it, by the addition of the possessive\npronoun, is compounded the word _Abif_, signifying \"his father,\" and\napplied to the Temple Builder.\n\nABIF. See _Hiram Abif_.\n\nABNET. The band or apron, made of fine linen, variously wrought, and worn\nby the Jewish priesthood. It seems to have been borrowed directly from the\nEgyptians, upon the representations of all of whose gods is to be found a\nsimilar girdle. Like the zennaar, or sacred cord of the Brahmins, and the\nwhite shield of the Scandinavians, it is the analogue of the masonic\napron.\n\nACACIA, SPRIG OF. No symbol is more interesting to the masonic student\nthan the sprig of acacia.\n\nIt is the _mimosa nilotica_ of Linn\u00e6us, the _shittah_ of the Hebrew\nwriters, and grows abundantly in Palestine.\n\nIt is preeminently the symbol of the immortality of the soul.\n\nIt was for this reason planted by the Jews at the head of a grave.\n\nThis symbolism is derived from its never-fading character as an evergreen.\n\nIt is also a symbol of innocence, and this symbolism is derived from the\ndouble meaning of the word \u03b1\u03d7\u03b1\u03d7\u03b9\u03b1, which in Greek signifies the plant, and\ninnocence; in this point of view Hutchinson has Christianized the symbol.\n\nIt is, lastly, a symbol of initiation.\n\nThis symbolism is derived from the fact that it is the sacred plant of\nMasonry; and in all the ancient rites there were sacred plants, which\nbecame in each rite the respective symbol of initiation into its\nMysteries; hence the idea was borrowed by Freemasonry.\n\nADONIA. The Mysteries of Adonis, principally celebrated in Phoenicia and\nSyria. They lasted for two days, and were commemorative of the death and\nrestoration of Adonis. The ceremonies of the first day were funereal in\ntheir character, and consisted in the lamentations of the initiates for\nthe death of Adonis, whose picture or image was carried in procession. The\nsecond day was devoted to mirth and joy for the return of Adonis to life.\nIn their spirit and their mystical design, these Mysteries bore a very\ngreat resemblance to the third degree of Masonry, and they are quoted to\nshow the striking analogy between the ancient and the modern initiations.\n\nADONIS. In mythology, the son of Cinyras and Myrrha, who was greatly\nbeloved by Venus, or Aphrodite. He was slain by a wild boar, and having\ndescended into the realm of Pluto, Persephone became enamoured of him.\nThis led to a contest for him between Venus and Persephone, which was\nfinally settled by his restoration to life upon the condition that he\nshould spend six months upon earth, and six months in the inferior\nregions. In the mythology of the philosophers, Adonis was a symbol of the\nsun; but his death by violence, and his subsequent restoration to life,\nmake him the analogue of Hiram Abif in the masonic system, and identify\nthe spirit of the initiation in his Mysteries, which was to teach the\nsecond life with that of the third degree of Freemasonry.\n\nAHRIMAN, or ARIMANES. In the religious system of Zoroaster, the principle\nof evil, or darkness, which was perpetually opposing Ormuzd, the principle\nof good, or light. See _Zoroaster_.\n\nALFADER. The father of all, or the universal Father. The principal deity\nof the Scandinavian mythology.\n\nThe Edda gives twelve names of God, of which Alfader is the first and most\nancient, and is the one most generally used.\n\nALGABIL. One of the names of the Supreme Being among the Cabalists. It\nsignifies \"the Master Builder,\" and is equivalent to the masonic epithet\nof \"Grand Architect of the Universe.\"\n\nALLEGORY. A discourse or narrative, in which there is a literal and a\nfigurative sense, a patent and a concealed meaning; the literal or patent\nsense being intended by analogy or comparison to indicate the figurative\nor concealed one. Its derivation from the Greek \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 and \u1f00\u03b3\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, _to say\nsomething different_, that is, to say something where the language is one\nthing, and the true meaning different, exactly expresses the character of\nan allegory. It has been said in the text that there is no essential\ndifference between an allegory and a symbol. There is not in design, but\nthere is this in their character: An allegory may be interpreted without\nany previous conventional agreement, but a symbol cannot. Thus the legend\nof the third degree is an allegory evidently to be interpreted as teaching\na restoration to life; and this we learn from the legend itself, without\nany previous understanding. The sprig of acacia is a symbol of the\nimmortality of the soul. But this we know only because such meaning had\nbeen conventionally determined when the symbol was first established. It\nis evident, then, that an allegory which is obscure is imperfect. The\nenigmatical meaning should be easy of interpretation; and hence Lemi\u00e8re, a\nFrench poet, has said, \"L'all\u00e9gorie habite un palais diaphane\"--_Allegory\nlives in a transparent palace._ All the legends of Freemasonry are more or\nless allegorical, and whatever truth there may be in some of them in an\nhistorical point of view, it is only as allegories, or legendary symbols,\nthat they are important.\n\nALL-SEEING EYE. A symbol of the third degree, of great antiquity. See\n_Eye_.\n\nANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY. The first three degrees of Freemasonry; viz.,\nEntered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. They are so called\nbecause they alone are supposed to have been practised by the ancient\ncraft. In the agreement between the two grand lodges of England in 1813,\nthe definition was made to include the Royal Arch degree. Now if by the\n\"ancient craft\" are meant the workmen at the first temple, the definition\nwill be wrong, because the Royal Arch degree could have had no existence\nuntil the time of the building of the second temple. But if by the\n\"ancient craft\" is meant the body of workmen who introduced the rites of\nMasonry into Europe in the early ages of the history of the Order, then\nit will be correct; because the Royal Arch degree always, from its origin\nuntil the middle of the eighteenth century, formed a part of the Master's.\n\"Ancient Craft Masonry,\" however, in this country, is generally understood\nto embrace only the first three degrees.\n\nANDERSON. James Anderson, D.D., is celebrated as the compiler and editor\nof \"The Constitutions of the Freemasons,\" published by order of the Grand\nLodge of England, in 1723. A second edition was published by him in 1738.\nShortly after, Anderson died, and the subsequent editions, of which there\nare several, have been edited by other persons. The edition of 1723 has\nbecome exceedingly rare, and copies of it bring fancy prices among the\ncollectors of old masonic books. Its intrinsic value is derived only from\nthe fact that it contains the first printed copy of the \"Old Charges,\" and\nalso the \"General Regulations.\" The history of Masonry which precedes\nthese, and constitutes the body of the work, is fanciful, unreliable, and\npretentious to a degree that often leads to absurdity. The craft are\ngreatly indebted to Anderson for his labors in reorganizing the\ninstitution, but doubtless it would have been better if he had contented\nhimself with giving the records of the Grand Lodge from 1717 to 1738 which\nare contained in his second edition, and with preserving for us the\ncharges and regulations, which without his industry might have been lost.\nNo masonic writer would now venture to quote Anderson as authority for the\nhistory of the Order anterior to the eighteenth century. It must also be\nadded that in the republication of the old charges in the edition of 1738,\nhe made several important alterations and interpolations, which justly\ngave some offence to the Grand Lodge, and which render the second edition\nof no authority in this respect.\n\nANIMAL WORSHIP. The worship of animals is a species of idolatry that was\nespecially practised by the ancient Egyptians. Temples were erected by\nthis people in their honor, in which they were fed and cared for during\nlife; to kill one of them was a crime punishable with death; and after\ndeath, they were embalmed, and interred in the catacombs. This worship was\nderived first from the earlier adoration of the stars, to certain\nconstellations of which the names of animals had been given; next, from an\nEgyptian tradition that the gods, being pursued by Typhon, had concealed\nthemselves under the forms of animals; and lastly, from the doctrine of\nthe metempsychosis, according to which there was a continual circulation\nof the souls of men and animals. But behind the open and popular exercise\nof this degrading worship the priests concealed a symbolism full of\nphilosophical conceptions. How this symbolism was corrupted and\nmisinterpreted by the uninitiated people, is shown by Gliddon, and quoted\nin the text.\n\nAPHANISM (Greek \u1f00\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, _to conceal_). In each of the initiations of the\nancient Mysteries, there was a scenic representation of the death or\ndisappearance of some god or hero, whose adventures constituted the legend\nof the Mystery. That part of the ceremony of initiation which related to\nand represented the death or disappearance was called the _aphanism_.\n\nFreemasonry, which has in its ceremonial form been framed after the model\nof these ancient Mysteries, has also its aphanism in the third degree.\n\nAPORRHETA (Greek \u03b1\u03c0\u03bf\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03ad\u03c4\u03b1). The holy things in the ancient Mysteries which\nwere known only to the initiates, and were not to be disclosed to the\nprofane, were called the _aporrheta_. What are the aporrheta of\nFreemasonry? what are the arcana of which there can be no disclosure? is a\nquestion that for some years past has given rise to much discussion among\nthe disciples of the institution. If the sphere and number of these\naporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident that much valuable\ninvestigation by public discussion of the science of Masonry will be\nprohibited. On the other hand, if the aporrheta are restricted to only a\nfew points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and the efficacy of\nFreemasonry, which are dependent on its organization as a secret and\nmystical association, will be lost. We move between Scylla and Charybdis,\nand it is difficult for a masonic writer to know how to steer so as, in\navoiding too frank an exposition of the principles of the Order, not to\nfall by too much reticence into obscurity. The European Masons are far\nmore liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the English\nor the American. There are few things, indeed, which a French or German\nmasonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness. It is now\nbeginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American writers\nare acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of Freemasonry\nare the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive ceremonies\nof the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference may be\npublicly made for the purposes of scientific investigation, provided that\nthe reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane, and intelligible\nonly to the initiated.\n\nAPRON. The lambskin, or white leather apron, is the peculiar and\ndistinctive badge of a mason.\n\nIts color must be white, and its material a lambskin.\n\nIt is a symbol of purity, and it derives this symbolism from its color,\nwhite being symbolic of purity; from its material, the lamb having the\nsame symbolic character; and from its use, which is to preserve the\ngarments clean.\n\nThe apron, or abnet, worn by the Egyptian and the Hebrew priests, and\nwhich has been considered as the analogue of the masonic apron, is\nsupposed to have been a symbol of authority; but the use of the apron in\nFreemasonry originally as an implement of labor, is an evidence of the\nderivation of the speculative science from an operative art.\n\nAPULEIUS. Lucius Apuleius, a Latin writer, born at Medaura, in Africa,\nflourished in the reigns of the emperors Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius.\nHis most celebrated book, entitled \"Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass,\" was\nwritten, Bishop Warburton thinks, for the express purpose of recommending\nthe ancient Mysteries. He had been initiated into many of them, and his\ndescriptions of them, and especially of his own initiation into those of\nthe Egyptian Isis, are highly interesting and instructive, and should be\nread by every student of the science of masonic symbolism.\n\nARCHETYPE. The principal type, figure, pattern, or example, whereby and\nwhereon a thing is formed. In the science of symbolism, the archetype is\nthe thing adopted as a symbol, whence the symbolic idea is derived. Thus\nwe say the temple is the archetype of the lodge, because the former is the\nsymbol whence all the temple symbolism of the latter is derived.\n\nARCHITECTURE. The art which teaches the proper method of constructing\npublic and private edifices. It is to Freemasonry the \"ars artium,\" the\nart of arts, because to it the institution is indebted for its origin in\nits present organization. The architecture of Freemasonry is altogether\nrelated to the construction of public edifices, and principally sacred or\nreligious ones,--such as temples, cathedrals, churches,--and of these,\nmasonically, the temple of Solomon is the archetype. Much of the symbolism\nof Freemasonry is drawn from the art of architecture. While the\nimprovements of Greek and Roman architecture are recognized in\nFreemasonry, the three ancient orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian\nare alone symbolized. No symbolism attaches to the Tuscan and Composite.\n\nARK OF THE COVENANT. One of the most sacred objects among the Israelites.\nIt was a chest made of shittim wood, or acacia, richly decorated,\nforty-five inches long, and eighteen inches wide, and contained the two\ntables of stone on which the ten commandments were engraved, the golden\npot that held manna, and Aaron's rod. It was placed in the holy of holies,\nfirst of the tabernacle, and then of the temple. Such is its masonic and\nscriptural history. The idea of this ark was evidently borrowed from the\nEgyptians, in whose religious rites a similar chest or coffer is to be\nfound. Herodotus mentions several instances. Speaking of the festival of\nPapremis, he says (ii. 63) that the image of the god was kept in a small\nwooden shrine covered with plates of gold, which shrine was conveyed in a\nprocession of the priests and people from the temple into a second sacred\nbuilding. Among the sculptures are to be found bass reliefs of the ark of\nIsis. The greatest of the religious ceremonies of the Egyptians was the\nprocession of the shrines mentioned in the Rosetta stone, and which is\noften found depicted on the sculptures. These shrines were of two kinds,\none a canopy, but the other, called the great shrine, was an ark or sacred\nboat. It was borne on the shoulders of priests by means of staves passing\nthrough rings in its sides, and was taken into the temple and deposited on\na stand. Some of these arks contained, says Wilkinson (_Notes to Herod._\nII. 58, _n._ 9), the elements of life and stability, and others the sacred\nbeetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the goddess\nThmei. In all this we see the type of the Jewish ark. The introduction of\nthe ark into the ceremonies of Freemasonry evidently is in reference to\nits loss and recovery; and hence its symbolism is to be interpreted as\nconnected with the masonic idea of loss and recovery, which always alludes\nto a loss of life and a recovery of immortality. In the first temple of\nthis life the ark is lost; in the second temple of the future life it is\nrecovered. And thus the ark of the covenant is one of the many masonic\nsymbols of the resurrection.\n\nARTS AND SCIENCES, LIBERAL. In the seventh century, and for many centuries\nafterwards, all learning was limited to and comprised in what were called\nthe seven liberal arts and sciences; namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic,\narithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The epithet \"liberal\" is a\nfair translation of the Latin \"ingenuus,\" which means \"free-born;\" thus\nCicero speaks of the \"artes ingenu\u00e6,\" or the arts befitting a free-born\nman; and Ovid says in the well-known lines,--\n\n         \"Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes\n    Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros,\"--\n\n_To have studied carefully the liberal arts refines the manners, and\nprevents us from being brutish._ And Phillips, in his \"New World of Words\"\n(1706), defines the liberal arts and sciences to be \"such as are fit for\ngentlemen and scholars, as mechanic trades and handicrafts for meaner\npeople.\" As Freemasons are required by their landmarks to be _free-born_,\nwe see the propriety of incorporating the arts of free-born men among\ntheir symbols. As the system of Masonry derived its present form and\norganization from the times when the study of these arts and sciences\nconstituted the labors of the wisest men, they have very appropriately\nbeen adopted as the symbol of the completion of human learning.\n\nASHLAR. In builders' language, a stone taken from the quarries.\n\nASHLAR, PERFECT. A stone that has been hewed, squared, and polished, so as\nto be fit for use in the building. Masonically, it is a symbol of the\nstate of perfection attained by means of education. And as it is the\nobject of Speculative Masonry to produce this state of perfection, it may\nin that point of view be also considered as a symbol of the social\ncharacter of the institution of Freemasonry.\n\nASHLAR, ROUGH. A stone in its rude and natural state. Masonically, it is a\nsymbol of men's natural state of ignorance. But if the perfect ashlar be,\nin reference to its mode of preparation, considered as a symbol of the\nsocial character of Freemasonry, then the rough ashlar must be considered\nas a symbol of the profane world. In this species of symbolism, the rough\nand perfect ashlars bear the same relation to each other as ignorance does\nto knowledge, death to life, and light to darkness. The rough ashlar is\nthe profane, the perfect ashlar is the initiate.\n\nASHMOLE, ELIAS. A celebrated antiquary of England, who was born in 1617.\nHe has written an autobiography, or rather diary of his life, which\nextends to within eight years of his death. Under the date of October 16,\n1646, he has made the following entry: \"I was made a Free-Mason at\nWarrington, in Lancashire, with Col. Henry Mainwaring, of Carticham, in\nCheshire; the names of those that were then at the lodge: Mr. Richard\nPenket, warden; Mr. James Collier, Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John\nEllam and Hugh Brewer.\" Thirty-six years afterwards, under date of March\n10, 1682, he makes the following entry: \"I received a summons to appear at\na lodge to be held the next day at Masons' Hall, in London. 11.\nAccordingly I went, and about noon was admitted into the fellowship of\nFreemasons by Sir William Wilson, Knight, Captain Richard Borthwick, Mr.\nWilliam Woodman, Mr. William Grey, Mr. Samuel Taylour, and Mr. William\nWise. I was the senior fellow among them (it being thirty-five years since\nI was admitted); there was present beside myself the fellows after named:\nMr. Thomas Wise, master of the Masons' Company this year; Mr. Thomas\nShorthose, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt, ---- Waidsfford, Esq., Mr. Nicholas Young,\nMr. John Shorthose, Mr. William Hamon, Mr. John Thompson, and Mr. William\nStanton. We all dined at the Half-Moon Tavern, in Cheapside, at a noble\ndinner prepared at the charge of the new-accepted Masons.\" The titles of\nsome of the persons named in these two receptions confirm what is said in\nthe text, that the operative was at that time being superseded by the\nspeculative element. It is deeply to be regretted that Ashmole did not\ncarry out his projected design of writing a history of Freemasonry, for\nwhich it is said that he had collected abundant materials. His History of\nthe Order of the Garter shows what we might have expected from his\ntreatment of the masonic institution.\n\nASPIRANT. One who aspires to or seeks after the truth. The title given to\nthe candidate in the ancient Mysteries.\n\nATHELSTAN. King of England, who ascended the throne in 924. Anderson cites\nthe old constitutions as saying that he encouraged the Masons, and brought\nmany over from France and elsewhere. In his reign, and in the year 926,\nthe celebrated General Assembly of the Craft was held in the city of York,\nwith prince Edward, the king's brother, for Grand Master, when new\nconstitutions were framed. From this assembly the York Rite dates its\norigin.\n\nAUTOPSY (Greek \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03c8\u03af\u03b1, _a seeing with one's own eyes_). The complete\ncommunication of the secrets in the ancient Mysteries, when the aspirant\nwas admitted into the sacellum, or most sacred place, and was invested by\nthe Hierophant with all the aporrheta, or sacred things, which constituted\nthe perfect knowledge of the initiate. A similar ceremony in Freemasonry\nis called the Rite of Intrusting.\n\nAUM. The triliteral name of God in the Brahminical mysteries, and\nequivalent among the Hindoos to the tetragrammaton of the Jews. In one of\nthe Puranas, or sacred books of the Hindoos, it is said, \"All the rites\nordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all other solemn\npurifications, shall pass away; but that which shall never pass away is\nthe word AUM, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things.\"\n\n\n\nB\n\n\nBABEL. The biblical account of the dispersion of mankind in consequence of\nthe confusion of tongues at Babel, has been incorporated into the history\nof Masonry. The text has shown the probability that the pure and abstract\nprinciples of the Primitive Freemasonry had been preserved by Noah and his\nimmediate descendants; and also that, as a consequence of the dispersion,\nthese principles had been lost or greatly corrupted by the Gentiles, who\nwere removed from the influence and teachings of the great patriarch.\n\nNow there was in the old rituals a formula in the third degree, preserved\nin some places to the present day, which teaches that the candidate has\ncome _from the tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry\nlost_, and that he is travelling _to the threshing-floor of Ornan the\nJebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found_. An attentive\nperusal of the nineteen propositions set forth in the preliminary chapter\nof this work will furnish the reader with a key for the interpretation of\nthis formula. The principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of the early\npriesthood were corrupted or lost at Babel by the defection of a portion\nof mankind from Noah, the conservator of those principles. Long after, the\ndescendants of this people united with those of Noah at the temple of\nSolomon, whose site was the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, from\nwhom it had been bought by David; and here the lost principles were\nrestored by this union of the Spurious Freemasons of Tyre with the\nPrimitive Freemasons of Jerusalem. And this explains the latter clause of\nthe formula.\n\nBABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. When the city and temple of Jerusalem were destroyed\nby the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and the inhabitants conveyed as captives to\nBabylon, we have a right to suppose,--that is to say, if there be any\ntruth in masonic history, the deduction is legitimate,--that among these\ncaptives were many of the descendants of the workmen at the temple. If so,\nthen they carried with them into captivity the principles of Masonry which\nthey had acquired at home, and the city of Babylon became the great seat\nof Speculative Masonry for many years. It was during the captivity that\nthe philosopher Pythagoras, who was travelling as a seeker after\nknowledge, visited Babylon. With his ardent thirst for wisdom, he would\nnaturally hold frequent interviews with the leading Masons among the\nJewish captives. As he suffered himself to be initiated into the Mysteries\nof Egypt during his visit to that country, it is not unlikely that he may\nhave sought a similar initiation into the masonic Mysteries. This would\naccount for the many analogies and resemblances to Masonry that we find in\nthe moral teachings, the symbols, and the peculiar organization of the\nschool of Pythagoras--resemblances so extraordinary as to have justified,\nor at least excused, the rituals for calling the sage of Samos \"our\nancient brother.\"\n\nBACCHUS. One of the appellations of the \"many-named\" god Dionysus. The son\nof Jupiter and Semele was to the Greeks Dionysus, to the Romans Bacchus.\n\nBARE FEET. A symbol of reverence when both feet are uncovered. Otherwise\nthe symbolism is modern; and from the ritualistic explanation which is\ngiven in the first degree, it would seem to require that the single bare\nfoot should be interpreted as the symbol of a covenant.\n\nBLACK. Pythagoras called this color the symbol of the evil principle in\nnature. It was equivalent to darkness, which is the antagonist of light.\nBut in masonic symbolism the interpretation is different. There, black is\na symbol of grief, and always refers to the fate of the temple-builder.\n\nBRAHMA. In the mythology of the Hindoos there is a trimurti, or trinity,\nthe Supreme Being exhibiting himself in three manifestations; as, Brahma\nthe Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer,--the united\ngodhead being a symbol of the sun.\n\nBrahma was a symbol of the rising sun, Siva of the sun at meridian, and\nVishnu of the setting sun.\n\nBRUCE. The introduction of Freemasonry into Scotland has been attributed\nby some writers to King Robert Bruce, who is said to have established in\n1314 the Order of Herodom, for the reception of those Knights Templars who\nhad taken refuge in his dominions from the persecutions of the Pope and\nthe King of France. Lawrie, who is excellent authority for Scottish\nMasonry, does not appear, however, to give any credit to the narrative.\nWhatever Bruce may have done for the higher degrees, there is no doubt\nthat Ancient Craft Masonry was introduced into Scotland at an earlier\nperiod. See _Kilwinning_. Yet the text is right in making Bruce one of the\npatrons and encouragers of Scottish Freemasonry.\n\nBRYANT. Jacob Bryant, frequently quoted in this work, was a distinguished\nEnglish antiquary, born in the year 1715, and deceased in 1804. His most\ncelebrated work is \"A New System of Ancient Mythology,\" which appeared in\n1773-76. Although objectionable on account of its too conjectural\ncharacter, it contains a fund of details on the subject of symbolism, and\nmay be consulted with advantage by the masonic student.\n\nBUILDER. The chief architect of the temple of Solomon is often called \"the\nBuilder.\" But the word is also applied generally to the craft; for every\nSpeculative Mason is as much a builder as was his operative predecessor.\nAn American writer (F.S. Wood, of Arkansas) thus alludes to this symbolic\nidea. \"Masons are called moral builders. In their rituals, they declare\nthat a more noble and glorious purpose than squaring stones and hewing\ntimbers is theirs, fitting immortal nature for that spiritual building not\nmade with hands, eternal in the heavens.\" And he adds, \"The builder builds\nfor a century; masons for eternity.\" In this sense, \"the builder\" is the\nnoblest title that can be bestowed upon a mason.\n\nBUNYAN, JOHN. Familiar to every one as the author of the \"Pilgrim's\nProgress.\" He lived in the seventeenth century, and was the most\ncelebrated allegorical writer of England. His work entitled \"Solomon's\nTemple Spiritualized\" will supply the student of masonic symbolism with\nmany valuable suggestions.\n\n\n\nC\n\n\nCABALA. The mystical philosophy of the Jews. The word which is derived\nfrom a Hebrew root, signifying _to receive_, has sometimes been used in an\nenlarged sense, as comprehending all the explanations, maxims, and\nceremonies which have been traditionally handed down to the Jews; but in\nthat more limited acceptation, in which it is intimately connected with\nthe symbolic science of Freemasonry, the cabala may be defined to be a\nsystem of philosophy which embraces certain mystical interpretations of\nScripture, and metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity, man, and\nspiritual beings. In these interpretations and speculations, according to\nthe Jewish doctors, were enveloped the most profound truths of religion,\nwhich, to be comprehended by finite beings, are obliged to be revealed\nthrough the medium of symbols and allegories. Buxtorf (Lex. Talm.) defines\nthe Cabala to be a secret science, which treats in a mystical and\nenigmatical manner of things divine, angelical, theological, celestial,\nand metaphysical, the subjects being enveloped in striking symbols and\nsecret modes of teaching.\n\nCABALIST. A Jewish philosopher. One who understands and teaches the\ndoctrines of the Cabala, or the Jewish philosophy.\n\nCABIRI. Certain gods, whose worship was first established in the Island of\nSamothrace, where the Cabiric Mysteries were practised until the beginning\nof the Christian era. They were four in number, and by some are supposed\nto have referred to Noah and his three sons. In the Mysteries there was a\nlegend of the death and restoration to life of Atys, the son of Cybele.\nThe candidate represented Cadmillus, the youngest of the Cabiri, who was\nslain by his three brethren. The legend of the Cabiric Mysteries, as far\nas it can be understood from the faint allusions of ancient authors, was\nin spirit and design very analogous to that of the third degree of\nMasonry.\n\nCADMILLUS. One of the gods of the Cabiri, who was slain by his brothers,\non which circumstance the legend of the Cabiric or Samothracian Mysteries\nis founded. He is the analogue of the Builder in the Hiramic legend of\nFreemasonry. 256\n\nCAIRNS. Heaps of stones of a conical form, erected by the Druids. Some\nsuppose them to have been sepulchral monuments, others altars. They were\nundoubtedly of a religious character, since sacrificial fires were lighted\nupon them, and processions were made around them. These processions were\nanalogous to the circumambulations in Masonry, and were conducted like\nthem with reference to the apparent course of the sun.\n\nCASSIA. A gross corruption of _Acacia_. The cassia is an aromatic plant,\nbut it has no mystical or symbolic character.\n\nCELTIC MYSTERIES. The religious rites of ancient Gaul and Britain, more\nfamiliarly known as _Druidism_, which see.. 109\n\nCEREMONIES. The outer garments which cover and adorn Freemasonry as\nclothing does the human body.\n\nAlthough ceremonies give neither life nor truth to doctrines or\nprinciples, yet they have an admirable influence, since by their use\ncertain things are made to acquire a sacred character which they would not\notherwise have had; and hence Lord Coke has most wisely said that \"prudent\nantiquity did, for more solemnity and better memory and observation of\nthat which is to be done, express substances under ceremonies.\".\n\nCERES. Among the Romans the goddess of agriculture; but among the more\npoetic Greeks she became, as Demeter, the symbol of the prolific earth.\nSee _Demeter_.\n\nCHARTER OF COLOGNE. A masonic document of great celebrity, but not of\nunquestioned authenticity. It is a declaration or affirmation of the\ndesign and principles of Freemasonry, issued in the year 1535, by a\nconvention of masons who had assembled in the city of Cologne. The\noriginal is in the Latin language. The assertors of the authenticity of\nthe document claim that it was found in the chest of a lodge at Amsterdam\nin 1637, and afterwards regularly transmitted from hand to hand until the\nyear 1816, when it was presented to Prince Frederick of Nassau, through\nwhom it was at that time made known to the masonic world. Others assert\nthat it is a forgery, which was perpetrated about the year 1816. Like the\nLeland manuscript, it is one of those vexed questions of masonic literary\nhistory over which so much doubt has been thrown, that it will probably\nnever be satisfactorily solved. For a translation of the charter, and\ncopious explanatory notes, by the author of this work, the reader is\nreferred to the \"American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry,\" vol. ii. p.\n52.\n\nCHRISTIANIZATION OF FREEMASONRY. The interpretation of its symbols from a\nChristian point of view. This is an error into which Hutchinson and\nOliver in England, and Scott and one or two others of less celebrity in\nthis country, have fallen. It is impossible to derive Freemasonry from\nChristianity, because the former, in point of time, preceded the latter.\nIn fact, the symbols of Freemasonry are Solomonic, and its religion was\nderived from the ancient priesthood.\n\nThe infusion of the Christian element was, however, a natural result of\nsurrounding circumstances; yet to sustain it would be fatal to the\ncosmopolitan character of the institution.\n\nSuch interpretation is therefore modern, and does not belong to the\nancient system.\n\nCIRCULAR TEMPLES. These were used in the initiations of the religion of\nZoroaster. Like the square temples of Masonry, and the other Mysteries,\nthey were symbolic of the world, and the symbol was completed by making\nthe circumference of the circle a representation of the zodiac.\n\nCIRCUMAMBULATION. The ceremony of perambulating the lodge, or going in\nprocession around the altar, which was universally practised in the\nancient initiations and other religious ceremonies, and was always\nperformed so that the persons moving should have the altar on their right\nhand. The rite was symbolic of the apparent daily course of the sun from\nthe east to the west by the way of the south, and was undoubtedly derived\nfrom the ancient sun-worship.\n\nCIVILIZATION. Freemasonry is a result of civilization, for it exists in no\nsavage or barbarous state of society; and in return it has proved, by its\nsocial and moral principles, a means of extending and elevating the\ncivilization which gave it birth.\n\nFreemasonry is therefore a type of civilization, bearing the same relation\nto the profane world that civilization does to the savage state.\n\nCOLLEGES OF ARTIFICERS. The _Collegia Fabrorum_, or Workmen's Colleges,\nwere established in Rome by Numa, who for this purpose distributed all the\nartisans of the city into companies, or colleges, according to their arts\nand trades. They resembled the modern corporations, or _guilds_, which\nsprang up in the middle ages. The rule established by their founder, that\nnot less than three could constitute a college,--\"_tres faciunt\ncollegium_,\"--has been retained in the regulations of the third degree of\nmasonry, to a lodge of which these colleges bore other analogies.\n\nCOLOGNE, CHARTER OF. See _Charter of Cologne_.\n\nCOMMON GAVEL. See _Gavel_.\n\nCONSECRATION. The appropriating or dedicating, with certain ceremonies,\nanything to sacred purposes or offices, by separating it from common use.\nMasonic lodges, like ancient temples and modern churches, have always been\nconsecrated. Hobbes, in his _Leviathan_ (p. iv. c. 44), gives the best\ndefinition of this ceremony. \"To consecrate is in Scripture to offer,\ngive, or dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man, or any\nother thing, to God, by separating it from common use.\".\n\nCONSECRATION, ELEMENTS OF. Those things, the use of which in the ceremony\nas constituent and elementary parts of it, are necessary to the perfecting\nand legalizing of the act of consecration. In Freemasonry, these elements\nof consecration are _corn_, _wine_, and _oil_,--which see.\n\nCORN. One of the three elements of masonic consecration, and as a symbol\nof plenty it is intended, under the name of the \"corn of nourishment,\" to\nremind us of those temporal blessings of life, support, and nourishment\nwhich we receive from the Giver of all good.\n\nCORNER STONE. The most important stone in the edifice, and in its\nsymbolism referring to an impressive ceremony in the first degree of\nMasonry.\n\nThe ancients laid it with peculiar ceremonies, and among the Oriental\nnations it was the symbol of a prince, or chief.\n\nIt is one of the most impressive symbols of Masonry.\n\nIt is a symbol of the candidate on his initiation.\n\nAs a symbol it is exclusively masonic, and confined to a temple origin.\n\nCOVERING OF THE LODGE. Under the technical name of the \"clouded canopy or\nstarry-decked heavens,\" it is a symbol of the future world,--of the\ncelestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides, and which\nconstitutes the \"foreign country\" which every mason hopes to reach.\n\nCREUZER. George Frederick Creuzer, who was born in Germany in 1771, and\nwas a professor at the University of Heidelberg, devoted himself to the\nstudy of the ancient religions, and with profound learning, established a\npeculiar system on the subject. Many of his views have been adopted in the\ntext of the present work. His theory was, that the religion and mythology\nof the ancient Greeks were borrowed from a far more ancient people,--a\nbody of priests coming from the East,--who received them as a revelation.\nThe myths and traditions of this ancient people were adopted by Hesiod,\nHomer, and the later poets, although not without some misunderstanding of\nthem, and they were finally preserved in the Mysteries, and became\nsubjects of investigation for the philosophers. This theory Creuzer has\ndeveloped in his most important work, entitled \"Symbolik und Mythologie\nder alten V\u00f6lker, besonders der Greichen,\" which was published at Leipsic\nin 1819. There is no translation of this work into English, but Guigniaut\npublished at Paris, in 1824, a paraphrastic translation of it, under the\ntitle of \"Religions de l'Antiquit\u00e9 consid\u00e9r\u00e9es principalement dans leur\nFormes Symboliques et Mythologiques.\" Creuzer's views throw much light on\nthe symbolic history of Freemasonry.\n\nCROSS. No symbol was so universally diffused at an early period as the\ncross. It was, says Faber (Cabir. ii. 390), a symbol throughout the pagan\nworld long previous to its becoming an object of veneration to Christians.\nIn ancient symbology it was a symbol of eternal life. M. de Mortillet, who\nin 1866 published a work entitled \"Le Signe de la Croix avant le\nChristianisme,\" found in the very earliest epochs three principal symbols\nof universal occurrences; viz., the _circle_, the _pyramid_, and the\n_cross_. Leslie (Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 312), quoting from him in\nreference to the ancient worship of the cross, says \"It seems to have been\na worship of such a peculiar nature as to exclude the worship of idols.\"\nThis sacredness of the crucial symbol may be one reason why its form was\noften adopted, especially by the Celts in the construction of their\ntemples, though I have admitted in the text the commonly received opinion\nthat in cross-shaped temples the four limbs of the cross referred to the\nfour elements. But in a very interesting work lately published--\"The Myths\nof the New World\" (N.Y., 1863)--Mr. Brinton assigns another symbolism.\n\"The symbol,\" says this writer, \"that beyond all others has fascinated the\nhuman mind, THE CROSS, finds here its source and meaning. Scholars have\npointed out its sacredness in many natural religions, and have reverently\naccepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and often\ndebasing, interpretations. _It is but another symbol of the four cardinal\npoints, the four winds of heaven._ This will luminously appear by a study\nof its use and meaning in America.\" (p. 95.) And Mr. Brinton gives many\ninstances of the religious use of the cross by several of the aboriginal\ntribes of this continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed, seems\nevidently to be to the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four\nspirits, of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable that a similar\nreference was adopted by the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we\nwould have in the cruciform temple as much a symbolism of the world, of\nwhich the four cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as we have in\nthe square, the cubical, and the circular.\n\nCTEIS. A representation of the female generative organ. It was, as a\nsymbol, always accompanied by the phallus, and, like that symbol, was\nextensively venerated by the nations of antiquity. It was a symbol of the\nprolific powers of nature. See _Phallus_.\n\nCUBE. A geometrical figure, consisting of six equal sides and six equal\nangles. It is the square solidified, and was among the ancients a symbol\nof truth. The same symbolism is recognized in Freemasonry.\n\n\n\n\nD\n\n\nDARKNESS. It denotes falsehood and ignorance, and was a very universal\nsymbol among the nations of antiquity.\n\nIn all the ancient initiations, the aspirant was placed in darkness for a\nperiod differing in each,--among the Druids for three days, among the\nGreeks for twenty-seven, and in the Mysteries of Mithras for fifty.\n\nIn all of these, as well as in Freemasonry, darkness is the symbol of\ninitiation not complete.\n\nDEATH. Because it was believed to be the entrance to a better and eternal\nlife, which was the dogma of the Mysteries, death became the symbol of\ninitiation; and hence among the Greeks the same word signified _to die_,\nand _to be initiated_. In the British Mysteries, says Davies (Mythol. of\nthe British Druids), the novitiate passed the river of death in the boat\nof Garanhir, the Charon of the Greeks; and before he could be admitted to\nthis privilege, it was requisite that he should have been mystically\nburied, as well as mystically dead.\n\nDEFINITION OF FREEMASONRY. The definition quoted in the text, that it is a\nscience of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, is the\none which is given in the English lectures.\n\nBut a more comprehensive and exact definition is, that it is a science\nwhich is engaged in the search after divine truth.\n\nDELTA. In the higher degrees of Masonry, the triangle is so called because\nthe Greek letter of that name is of a triangular form.\n\nIt is a symbol of Deity, because it is the first perfect figure in\ngeometry; it is the first figure in which space is enclosed by lines.\n\nDEMETER. Worshipped by the Greeks as the symbol of the prolific earth. She\nwas the Ceres of the Romans. To her is attributed the institution of the\nEleusinian Mysteries in Greece, the most popular of all the ancient\ninitiations.\n\nDESIGN OF FREEMASONRY. It is not charity or alms-giving.\n\nNor the cultivation of the social sentiment; for both of these are merely\nincidental to its organization.\n\nBut it is the search after truth, and that truth is the unity of God, and\nthe immortality of the soul.\n\nDIESEAL. A term used by the Druids to designate the circumambulation\naround the sacred cairns, and is derived from two words signifying \"on the\nright of the sun,\" because the circumambulation was always in imitation of\nthe course of the sun, with the right hand next to the cairn or altar.\n\nDIONYSIAC ARTIFICERS. An association of architects who possessed the\nexclusive privilege of erecting temples and other public buildings in Asia\nMinor. The members were distinguished from the uninitiated inhabitants by\nthe possession of peculiar marks of recognition, and by the secret\ncharacter of their association. They were intimately connected with the\nDionysiac Mysteries, and are supposed to have furnished the builders for\nthe construction of the temple of Solomon.\n\nDIONYSIAC MYSTERIES. In addition to what is said in the text, I add the\nfollowing, slightly condensed, from the pen of that accomplished writer,\nAlbert Pike: \"The initiates in these Mysteries had preserved the ritual\nand ceremonies that accorded with the simplicity of the earliest ages, and\nthe manners of the first men. The rules of Pythagoras were followed there.\nLike the Egyptians, who held wool unclean, they buried no initiate in\nwoollen garments. They abstained from bloody sacrifices, and lived on\nfruits or vegetables. They imitated the life of the contemplative sects of\nthe Orient. One of the most precious advantages promised by their\ninitiation was to put man in communion with the gods by purifying his\nsoul of all the passions that interfere with that enjoyment, and dim the\nrays of divine light that are communicated to every soul capable of\nreceiving them. The sacred gates of the temple, where the ceremonies of\ninitiation were performed, were opened but once in each year, and no\nstranger was allowed to enter. Night threw her veil over these august\nMysteries. There the sufferings of Dionysus were represented, who, like\nOsiris, died, descended to hell, and rose to life again; and raw flesh was\ndistributed to the initiates, which each ate in memory of the death of the\ndeity torn in pieces by the Titans.\"\n\nDIONYSUS. Or Bacchus; mythologically said to be the son of Zeus and\nSemele. In his Mysteries he was identified with Osiris, and regarded as\nthe sun. His Mysteries prevailed in Greece, Rome, and Asia, and were\ncelebrated by the Dionysiac artificers--those builders who united with the\nJews in the construction of King Solomon's temple. Hence, of all the\nancient Mysteries, they are the most interesting to the masonic student.\n\nDISSEVERANCE. The disseverance of the operative from the speculative\nelement of Freemasonry occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth\ncentury.\n\nDISCALCEATION, RITE OF. The ceremony of uncovering the feet, or taking off\nthe shoes; from the Latin _discalceare_. It is a symbol of reverence. See\n_Bare Feet_.\n\nDRUIDICAL MYSTERIES. The Celtic Mysteries celebrated in Britain and Gaul.\nThey resembled, in all material points, the other mysteries of antiquity,\nand had the same design. The aspirant was subjected to severe trials,\nunderwent a mystical death and burial in imitation of the death of the god\nHu, and was eventually enlightened by the communication to him of the\ngreat truths of God and immortality, which it was the object of all the\nMysteries to teach.\n\nDUALISM. A mythological and philosophical doctrine, which supposes the\nworld to have been always governed by two antagonistic principles,\ndistinguished as the good and the evil principle. This doctrine pervaded\nall the Oriental religions, and its influences are to be seen in the\nsystem of Speculative Masonry, where it is developed in the symbolism of\nLight and Darkness.\n\n\n\nE\n\n\nEAST. That part of the heavens where the sun rises; and as the source of\nmaterial light to which we figuratively apply the idea of intellectual\nlight, it has been adopted as a symbol of the Order of Freemasonry. And\nthis symbolism is strengthened by the fact that the earliest learning and\nthe earliest religion came from the east, and have ever been travelling to\nthe west.\n\nIn Freemasonry, the east has always been considered the most sacred of the\ncardinal points, because it is the place where light issues; and it was\noriginally referred to the primitive religion, or sun-worship. But in\nFreemasonry it refers especially to that east whence an ancient priesthood\nfirst disseminated truth to enlighten the world; wherefore the east is\nmasonically called \"the place of light.\"\n\nEGG. The mundane egg is a well-recognized symbol of the world. \"The\nancient pagans,\" says Faber, \"in almost every part of the globe, were wont\nto symbolize the world by an egg. Hence this symbol is introduced into the\ncosmogony of nearly all nations; and there are few persons, even among\nthose who have not made mythology their study, to whom the _Mundane Egg_\nis not perfectly familiar. It was employed not only to represent the\nearth, but also the universe in its largest extent.\" _Origin of Pag.\nIdolatry_, i. 175.\n\nEGG AND LUNETTE. The egg, being a symbol not only of the resurrection,\nbut also of the world rescued from destruction by the Noachic ark, and the\nlunette, or horizontal crescent, being a symbol of the Great Father,\nrepresented by Noah, the egg and lunette combined, which was the\nhieroglyphic of the god Lunus, at Heliopolis, was a symbol of the world\nproceeding from the Great Father.\n\nEGYPT. Egypt has been considered as the cradle not only of the sciences,\nbut of the religions of the ancient world. Although a monarchy, with a\nking nominally at the head of the state, the government really was in the\nhands of the priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning, and were\nalone acquainted with the religious formularies that in Egypt controlled\nall the public and private actions of the life of every inhabitant.\n\nELEPHANTA. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for the stupendous\ncaverns artificially excavated out of the solid rock, which were\nappropriated to the initiations in the ancient Indian Mysteries.\n\nELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Of all the Mysteries of the ancients these were the\nmost popular. They were celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near Athens,\nand were dedicated to Demeter. In them the loss and the restoration of\nPersephone were scenically represented, and the doctrines of the unity of\nGod and the immortality of the soul were taught. See _Demeter_.\n\nENTERED APPRENTICE. The first degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous\nto the aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries.\n\nIt is viewed as a symbol of childhood, and is considered as a preparation\nand purification for something higher.\n\nEPOPT. (From the Greek \u1f10\u03c0\u03cc\u03c0\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, _an eye witness_.) One who, having been\ninitiated in the Greater Mysteries of paganism, has seen the aporrheta.\n\nERA OF MASONRY. The legendary statement that the origin of Masonry is\ncoeval with the beginning of the world, is only a philosophical myth to\nindicate the eternal nature of its principles.\n\nERICA. The tree heath; a sacred plant among the Egyptians, and used in the\nOsirian Mysteries as the symbol of immortality, and the analogue of the\nmasonic acacia.\n\nESSENES. A society or sect of the Jews, who combined labor with religious\nexercises, whose organization partook of a secret character, and who have\nbeen claimed to be the descendants of the builders of the temple of\nSolomon.\n\nEUCLID. The masonic legend which refers to Euclid is altogether\nhistorically untrue. It is really a philosophical myth intended to convey\na masonic truth.\n\nEURESIS. (From the Greek \u03b5\u1f54\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, _a discovery_.) That part of the\ninitiation in the ancient Mysteries which represented the finding of the\nbody of the god or hero whose death was the subject of the initiation.\n\nThe euresis has been adopted in Freemasonry, and forms an essential part\nof the ritual of the third degree.\n\nEVERGREEN. A symbol of the immortality of the soul.\n\nPlanted by the Hebrews and other ancient peoples at the heads of graves.\n\nFor this purpose the Hebrews preferred the acacia, because its wood was\nincorruptible, and because, as the material of the ark, it was already\nconsidered as a sacred plant.\n\nEYE, ALL-SEEING. A symbol of the omniscient and watchful providence of\nGod. It is a very ancient symbol, and is supposed by some to be a relic of\nthe primitive sun-worship. Volney says (_Les Ruines_, p. 186) that in most\nof the ancient languages of Asia, the _eye_ and the _sun_ are expressed by\nthe same word. Among the Egyptians the eye was the symbol of their supreme\ngod, Osiris, or the sun.\n\n\n\nF\n\n\nFABER. The works of the Rev. G.S. Faber, on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry,\nand on the Cabiri, are valuable contributions to the science of mythology.\nThey abound in matters of interest to the investigator of masonic\nsymbolism and philosophy, but should be read with a careful view of the\npreconceived theory of the learned author, who refers everything in the\nancient religions to the influences of the Noachic cataclysm, and the\narkite worship which he supposes to have resulted from it.\n\nFELLOW CRAFT. The second degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the\nmystes in the ancient Mysteries.\n\nThe symbol of a youth setting forth on the journey of life.\n\nFETICHISM. The worship of uncouth and misshapen idols, practised only by\nthe most ignorant and debased peoples, and to be found at this day among\nsome of the least civilized of the negro tribes of Africa. \"Their\nfetiches,\" says Du Chaillu, speaking of some of the African races,\n\"consisted of fingers and tails of monkeys; of human hair, skin, teeth,\nbones; of clay, old nails, copper chains; shells, feathers, claws, and\nskulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood; seeds of plants, ashes\nof various substances, and I cannot tell what more.\" _Equatorial Africa_,\np. 93.\n\nFIFTEEN. A sacred number, symbolic of the name of God, because the letters\nof the holy name \u05d4\u05d9, JAH, are equal, in the Hebrew mode of\nnumeration by the letters of the alphabet, to fifteen; for \u05d9 is\nequal to ten, and \u05d4 is equal to five. Hence, from veneration for\nthis sacred name, the Hebrews do not, in ordinary computations, when they\nwish to express the number 15, make use of these two letters, but of two\nothers, which are equivalent to 9 and 6.\n\nFORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM. The forty-seventh problem of the first book of\nEuclid is, that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described\nupon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described\nupon the sides which contain the right angle. It is said to have been\ndiscovered by Pythagoras while in Egypt, but was most probably taught to\nhim by the priests of that country, in whose rites he had been initiated;\nit is a symbol of the production of the world by the generative and\nprolific powers of the Creator; hence the Egyptians made the perpendicular\nand base the representatives of Osiris and Isis, while the hypothenuse\nrepresented their child Horus. Dr. Lardner says (_Com. on Euclid_, p. 60)\nof this problem, \"Whether we consider the forty-seventh proposition with\nreference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established by it, or to\nits innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to\nits fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be\nesteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements,\nif not in the whole range of mathematical science.\"\n\nFOURTEEN. Some symbologists have referred the fourteen pieces into which\nthe mutilated body of Osiris was divided, and the fourteen days during\nwhich the body of the builder was buried, to the fourteen days of the\ndisappearance of the moon. The Sabian worshippers of \"the hosts of heaven\"\nwere impressed with the alternate appearance and disappearance of the\nmoon, which at length became a symbol of death and resurrection. Hence\nfourteen was a sacred number. As such it was viewed in the Osirian\nMysteries, and may have been introduced into Freemasonry with other relics\nof the old worship of the sun and planets.\n\nFREEMASONRY, DEFINITION OF. See _Definition_.\n\nFREEMASONS, TRAVELLING. The travelling Freemasons were a society existing\nin the middle ages, and consisting of learned men and prelates, under whom\nwere operative masons. The operative masons performed the labors of the\ncraft, and travelling from country to country, were engaged in the\nconstruction of cathedrals, monasteries, and castles. \"There are few\npoints in the history of the middle ages,\" says Godwin, \"more pleasing to\nlook back upon than the existence of the associated masons; they are the\nbright spot in the general darkness of that period; the patch of verdure\nwhen all around is barren.\" _The Builder_, ix. 463\n\n\n\nG\n\n\nG. The use of the letter G in the Fellow Craft's degree is an anachronism.\nIt is really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the\nHebrew letter \u05d9 (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable\nname. As such, it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power\nof God.\n\nG.A.O.T.U. A masonic abbreviation used as a symbol of the name of God, and\nsignifying the _Grand Architect of the Universe_. It was adopted by the\nFreemasons in accordance with a similar practice among all the nations of\nantiquity of noting the Divine Name by a symbol.\n\nGAVEL. What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter's\nhammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a\nsymbol of the purification of the heart.\n\nGLOVES. On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the\nsame time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly\nprevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is\nabandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part\nof masonic clothing.\n\nThey are a symbol of purification of life.\n\nIn the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.\n\nGOD, UNITY OF. See _Unity of God_.\n\nGOD, NAME OF. See _Name_.\n\nGOLGOTHA. In Hebrew and Syriac it means _a skull_; a name of Mount\nCalvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public\nexecution. The Latin _Calvaria_, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.\n\nGRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the\npastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.\n\nThe symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the\ngrave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.\n\nGRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of\nrecognition.\n\n\n\nH\n\n\nHAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure\nactions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.\n\nHARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of _eyes that are\nopen_, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris. The\nHebrew word for _hare_ is _arnabet_, and this is compounded of two words\nthat signify _to behold the light_. The connection of ideas is apparent.\n\nHELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately\nsucceeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in\nconsequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than\nthe old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were more\nphilosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it\nsucceeded.\n\nHERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which\nthe Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the\nprogress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god\nHermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who\npresided over landmarks.\n\nHERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of\nsome, both ancient and modern writers, that all the pagan gods were once\nhuman beings, and that the legends and traditions of mythology are mere\nembellishments of the acts of these personages when alive. It was the\ndoctrine taught by Euhemerus among the ancients, and has been maintained\namong the moderns by such distinguished authorities as Bochart, Bryant,\nVoss, and Banier.\n\nHERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. The system of the Alchemists, the Adepts, or seekers\nof the philosopher's stone. No system has been more misunderstood than\nthis. It was secret, esoteric, and highly symbolical. No one has so well\nrevealed its true design as E.A. Hitchcock, who, in his delightful work\nentitled \"Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists,\" says, \"The genuine\nAlchemists were religious men, who passed their time in legitimate\npursuits, earning an honest subsistence, and in religious contemplation,\nstudying how to realize in themselves the union of the divine and human\nnature, expressed in man by an enlightened submission to God's will; and\nthey thought out and published, after a manner of their own, a method of\nattaining or entering upon this state, as the only rest of the soul.\"\nThere is a very great similarity between their doctrines and those of the\nFreemasons; so much so that the two associations have sometimes been\nconfounded.\n\nHIEROPHANT. (From the Greek \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2, _holy, sacred_, and \u03c6\u03b1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9 _to show_.)\nOne who instructs in sacred things; the explainer of the aporrheta, or\nsecret doctrines, to the initiates in the ancient Mysteries. He was the\npresiding officer, and his rank and duties were analogous to those of the\nmaster of a masonic lodge.\n\nHIRAM ABIF. The architect of Solomon's temple. The word \"Abif\" signifies\nin Hebrew \"his father,\" and is used by the writer of Second Chronicles\n(iv. 16) when he says, \"These things did _Hiram his father_ [in the\noriginal _Hiram Abif _] do for King Solomon.\".\n\nThe legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of vast\nimportance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great\nphilosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality of\nthe soul.\n\nHence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human\nnature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.\n\nHIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon, whom\nhe supplied with men and materials for building the temple. In the recent,\nor what I am inclined to call the grand lecturer's symbolism of Masonry (a\nsort of symbolism for which I have very little veneration), Hiram of Tyre\nis styled the symbol of strength, as Hiram Abif is of beauty. But I doubt\nthe antiquity or authenticity of any such symbolism. Hiram of Tyre can\nonly be considered, historically, as being necessary to complete the myth\nand symbolism of Hiram Abif. The king of Tyre is an historical personage,\nand there is no necessity for transforming him into a symbol, while his\nhistorical character lends credit and validity to the philosophical myth\nof the third degree of Masonry.\n\nHIRAM THE BUILDER. An epithet of Hiram Abif. For the full significance of\nthe term, see the word _Builder_.\n\nHO-HI. A cabalistic pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name\nof God; it is most probably the true one; and as it literally means\nHE-SHE, it is supposed to denote the hermaphroditic essence of Jehovah, as\ncontaining within himself the male and the female principle,--the\ngenerative and the prolific energy of creation.\n\nHO The sacred name of God among the Druids. Bryant supposes that by it\nthey intended the Great Father Noah; but it is very possible that it was a\nmodification of the Hebrew tetragrammaton, being the last syllable read\ncabalistically (see _ho-hi_); if so, it signified the great male principle\nof nature. But HU, in Hebrew \u05d0\u05d5\u05d4, is claimed by Talmudic writers\nto be one of the names of God; and the passage in Isaiah xlii. 8, in the\noriginal _ani Jehovah, Hu shemi_, which is in the common version \"I am the\nLORD; that is my name,\" they interpret, \"I am Jehovah; my name is Hu.\"\n\nHUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. A distinguished masonic writer of England, who lived\nin the eighteenth century. He is the author of \"The Spirit of Masonry,\"\npublished in 1775. This was the first English work of any importance that\nsought to give a scientific interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry;\nit is, in fact, the earliest attempt of any kind to treat Freemasonry as a\nscience of symbolism. Hutchinson, however, has to some extent impaired the\nvalue of his labors by contending that the institution is exclusively\nChristian in its character and design.\n\n\n\nI\n\n\nIH-HO. See _Ho-hi_.\n\nIMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. This is one of the two religious dogmas which\nhave always been taught in Speculative Masonry.\n\nIt was also taught in all the Rites and Mysteries of antiquity.\n\nThe doctrine was taught as an abstract proposition by the ancient\npriesthood of the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity, but was\nconveyed to the mind of the initiate, and impressed upon him by a scenic\nrepresentation in the ancient Mysteries, or the Spurious Freemasonry of\nthe ancients.\n\nINCOMMUNICABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton, so called because it was not\ncommon to, and could not be bestowed upon, nor shared by, any other being.\nIt was proper to the true God alone. Thus Drusius (Tetragrammaton, sive de\nNomine Dei proprio, p. 108) says, \"Nomen quatuor literarum proprie et\nabsolute non tribui nisi Deo vero. Unde doctores catholici dicunt\n_incommunicabile_ [not common] esse creaturae.\"\n\nINEFFABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton. So called because it is _ineffabile_,\nor unpronounceable. See _Tetragrammaton_.\n\nINTRUSTING, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which\nconsists in communicating to the aspirant or candidate the aporrheta, or\nsecrets of the mystery.\n\nINUNCTION. The act of anointing. This was a religious ceremony practised\nfrom the earliest times. By the pouring on of oil, persons and things were\nconsecrated to sacred purposes.\n\nINVESTITURE, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which\nconsists of clothing the candidate masonically. It is a symbol of purity.\n\nISH CHOTZEB. Hebrew \u05d1\u05e6\u05d4 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d0, _hewers of stones_. The Fellow\nCrafts at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).\n\nISH SABAL. Hebrew \u05dc\u05d1\u05e1 \u05e9\u05d9\u05d0, _bearers of burdens_. The Apprentices\nat the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).\n\n\n\nJ\n\n\nJAH. It is in Hebrew \u05d4\u05d9 whence Maimonides calls it \"the two-lettered\nname,\" and derives it from the tetragrammaton, of which it is an\nabbreviation. Others have denied this, and assert that _Jah_ is a name\nindependent of Jehovah, but expressing the same idea of the divine\nessenee. See Gataker, _De Nom. Tetrag._.\n\nJEHOVAH. The incommunicable, ineffable name of God, in Hebrew \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9, and\ncalled, from the four letters of which it consists, the tetragrammaton, or\nfour-lettered name.\n\n\n\nL\n\n\nLABOR. Since the article on the Symbolism of Labor was written, I have met\nwith an address delivered in 1868 by brother Trou\u00e9, before St. Peter's\nLodge in Martinico, which contains sentiments on the relation of Masonry\nto labor which are well worth a translation from the original French. See\n_Bulletin du Grand Orient de France_, December, 1868.\n\n\"Our name of Mason, and our emblems, distinctly announce that our object\nis the elevation of labor.\n\n\"We do not, as masons, consider labor as a punishment inflicted on man;\nbut on the contrary, we elevate it in our thought to the height of a\nreligious act, which is the most acceptable to God because it is the most\nuseful to man and to society.\n\n\"We decorate ourselves with the emblems of labor to affirm that our\ndoctrine is an incessant protest against the stigma branded on the law of\nlabor, and which an error of apprehension, proceeding from the ignorance\nof men in primitive times has erected into a dogma; an error that has\nresulted in the production of this anti-social phenomenon which we meet\nwith every day; namely, that the degradation of the workman is the greater\nas his labor is more severe, and the elevation of the idler is higher as\nhis idleness is more complete. But the study of the laws which maintain\norder in nature, released from the fetters of preconceived ideas, has led\nthe Freemasons to that doctrine, far more moral than the contrary belief,\nthat labor is not an expiation, but a law of harmony, from the subjection\nto which man cannot be released without impairing his own happiness, and\nderanging the order of creation. The design of Freemasons is, then, the\nrehabilitation of labor, which is indicated by the apron which we wear,\nand the gavel, the trowel, and the level, which are found among our\nsymbols.\"\n\nHence the doctrine of this work is, that Freemasonry teaches not only the\nnecessity, but the nobility, of labor.\n\nAnd that labor is the proper worship due by man to God.\n\nLADDER. A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher\nsphere, which is common to Masonry, and to many, if not all, of the\nancient Mysteries.\n\nLADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma.\nIt had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe.\n\nLADDER, MITHRAITIC. The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries of\nMithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the seven\nmetals.\n\nLADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.\nDr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the\nsymbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.\n\nLADDER, THEOLOGICAL. The symbolic ladder of the masonic Mysteries. It\nrefers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like all\nsymbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the\nthree theological virtues.\n\nLAMB. A symbol of innocence. A very ancient symbol.\n\nLAMB, PASCHAL. See _Paschal Lamb_.\n\nLAMBSKIN APRON. See _Apron_.\n\nLAW, ORAL. See _Oral Law_.\n\nLEGEND. A narrative, whether true or false, that has been traditionally\npreserved from the time of its first oral communication. Such is the\ndefinition of a masonic legend. The authors of the Conversations-Lexicon,\nreferring to the monkish Lives of the Saints which originated in the\ntwelfth and thirteenth centuries, say that the title _legend_ was given to\nall fictions which make pretensions to truth. Such a remark, however\ncorrect it may be in reference to these monkish narratives, which were\noften invented as ecclesiastical exercises, is by no means applicable to\nthe legends of Freemasonry. These are not necessarily fictitious, but are\neither based on actual and historical facts which have been but slightly\nmodificd, or they are the offspring and expansion of some symbolic idea in\nwhich latter respect they differ entirely from the monastic legends, which\noften have only the fertile imagination of some studious monk for the\nbasis of their construction.\n\nLEGEND OF THE ROYAL ARCH DEGREE. Much of this legend is a mythical\nhistory; but some portion of it is undoubtedly a philosophical myth. The\ndestruction and the re\u00ebdification of the temple, the captivity and the\nreturn of the captives, are matters of history; but many of the details\nhave been invented and introduced for the purpose of giving form to a\nsymbolic idea.\n\nLEGEND OF THE THIRD DEGREE. In all probability this legend is a mythical\nhistory, in which truth is very largely and preponderatingly mixed with\nfiction.\n\nIt is the most important and significant of the legendary symbols of\nFreemasonry.\n\nHas descended from age to age by oral tradition, and has been preserved in\nevery masonic rite.\n\nNo essential alteration of it has ever been made in any masonic system,\nbut the interpretations of it have been various; the most general one is,\nthat it is a symbol of the resurrection and the immortality of the soul.\n\nSome continental writers have supposed that it was a symbol of the\ndownfall of the Order of Templars, and its hoped-for restoration. In some\nof the high philosophical degrees it is supposed to be a symbol of the\nsufferings, death, and resurrection Christ. Hutchinson thought it a symbol\nof the decadence of the Jewish religion, and the rise of the Christian on\nits ruins. Oliver says that it symbolically refers to the murder of Abel,\nthe death of our race through Adam, and its restoration through Christ.\n\nRagon thinks that it is a symbol of the sun shorn of its vigor by the\nthree winter months, and restored to generative power by the spring. And\nlastly, Des Etangs says that it is a symbol of eternal reason, whose\nenemies are the vices that deprave and finally destroy humanity.\n\nBut none of these interpretations, except the first, can be sustained.\n\nLETTUCE. The sacred plant of the Mysteries of Adonis; a symbol of\nimmortality, and the analogue of the acacia.\n\nLEVEL. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft. It is a symbol of the\nequality of station of all men before God.\n\nLIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES. In the seventh century, all learning was\nlimited to the seven liberal arts and sciences; their introduction into\nFreemasonry, referring to this theory, is a symbol of the completion of\nhuman learning.\n\nLIGHT. It denotes truth and knowledge, and is so explained in all the\nancient systems; in initiation, it is not material but intellectual light\nthat is sought.\n\nIt is predominant as a symbol in all the ancient initiations.\n\nThere it was revered because it was an emanation trom the sun, the common\nobject of worship; but the theory advanced by some writers, that the\nveneration of light originally proceeded from its physical qualities, is\nnot correct.\n\nPythagoras called it the good principle in nature; and the Cabalists\ntaught that eternal light filled all space before the creation, and that\nafter creation it retired to a central spot, and became the instrument of\nthe Divine Mind in creating matter.\n\nIt is the symbol of the autopsy, or the full perfection and fruition of\ninitiation.\n\nIt is therefore a fundamental symbol in Freemasonry, and contains within\nitself the very essence of the speculative science.\n\nLINGAM. The phallus was so called by the Indian nations of the East. See\n_Phallus_.\n\nLODGE. The place where Freemasons meet, and also the congregation of\nmasons so met. The word is derived from the _lodges_ occupied by the\ntravelling Freemasons of the middle ages.\n\nIt is a symbol of the world, or universe.\n\nIts form, an oblong square, is symbolic of the supposed oblong form of the\nworld as known to the ancients.\n\nLOST WORD. There is a masonic myth that there was a certain word which was\nlost and afterwards recovered.\n\nIt is not material what the word was, nor how lost, nor when recovered:\nthe symbolism refers only to the abstract idea of a loss and a recovery.\n\nIt is a symbol of divine truth.\n\nThe search for it was also made by the philosophers and priests in the\nMysteries of the Spurious Freemasonry.\n\nLOTUS. The sacred plant of the Brahminical Mysteries, and the analogue of\nthe acacia.\n\nIt was also a sacred plant among the Egyptians.\n\nLUSTRATION. A purification by washing the hands or body in consecrated\nwater, practised in the ancient Mysteries. See _Purification_.\n\nLUX (_light_). One of the appellations bestowed upon Freemasonry, to\nindicate that it is that sublime doctrine of truth by which the pathway of\nhim who has attained it is to be illumined in the pilgrimage of life.\nAmong the Rosicrucians, light was the knowledge of the philosopher's\nstone; and Mosheim says that in chemical language the cross was an emblem\nof light, because it contains within its figure the forms of the three\nfigures of which LVX, or light, is composed.\n\nLUX E TENEBRIS (_light out of darkness_). A motto of the Masonic Order,\nwhich is equivalent to \"truth out of initiation;\" light being the symbol\nof truth, and darkness the symbol of initiation commenced.\n\n\n\nM\n\n\nMAN. Repeatedly referred to by Christ and the apostles as the symbol of a\ntemple.\n\nMASTER MASON. The third degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the\nepopt of the ancient Mysteries.\n\nMENATZCHIM. Hebrew \u05dd\u05d9\u05d4\u05e6\u05e0\u05de _superintendents_, or _overseers_. The\nMaster Masons at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.)\n\nMENU. In the Indian mythology, Menu is the son of Brahma, and the founder\nof the Hindoo religion. Thirteen other Menus are said to exist, seven of\nwhom have already reigned on earth. But it is the first one whose\ninstructions constitute the whole civil and religious polity of the\nHindoos. The code attributed to him by the Brahmins has been translated by\nSir William Jones, with the title of \"The Institutes of Menu.\"\n\nMIDDLE CHAMBER. A part of the Solomonic temple, which was approached by\nwinding stairs, but which was certainly not appropriated to the purpose\nindicated in the Fellow Craft's degree.\n\nThe legend of the Winding Stairs is therefore only a philosophical myth.\n\nIt is a symbol of this life and its labors.\n\nMISTLETOE. The sacred plant of Druidism; commemorated also in the\nScandinavian rites. It is the analogue of the acacia, and like all the\nother sacred plants of antiquity, is a symbol of the immortality of the\nsoul. Lest the language of the text should be misunderstood, it may be\nremarked here that the Druidical and the Scandinavian rites are not\nidentical. The former are Celtic, the latter Gothic. But the fact that in\nboth the mistletoe was a sacred plant affords a violent presumption that\nthere must have been a common point from which both religions started.\nThere was, as I have said, an identity of origin for the same ancient and\ngeneral symbolic idea.\n\nMITHRAS. He was the god worshipped by the ancient Persians, and celebrated\nin their Mysteries as the symbol of the sun. In the initiation in these\nMysteries, the candidate passed through many terrible trials, and his\ncourage and fortitude were exposed to the most rigorous tests. Among\nothers, after ascending the mystical ladder of seven steps, he passed\nthrough a scenic representation of Hades, or the infernal regions; out of\nthis and the surrounding darkness he was admitted into the full light of\nElysium, where he was obligated by an oath of secrecy, and invested by the\nArchimagus, or High Priest, with the secret instructions of the rite,\namong which was a knowledge of the Ineffable Name.\n\nMOUNT CALVARY. A small hill of Jerusalem, in a westerly direction, and not\nfar from Mount Moriah. In the legends of Freemasonry it is known as \"a\nsmall hill near Mount Moriah,\" and is referred to in the third degree.\nThis \"small hill\" having been determined as the burial-place of Jesus, the\nsymbol has been Christianized by many modern masons.\n\nThere are many masonic traditions, principally borrowed from the Talmud,\nconnected with Mount Calvary; such as, that it was the place where Adam\nwas buried, &c.\n\nMOUNT MORIAH. The hill in Jerusalem on which the temple of Solomon was\nbuilt.\n\nMYRTLE. The sacred plant in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and, as symbolic of\na resurrection and immortality, the analogue of the acacia.\n\nMYSTERIES. A secret worship paid by the ancients to several of the pagan\ngods, to which none were admitted but those who had been solemnly\ninitiated. The object of instruction in these Mysteries was, to teach the\nunity of God and the immortality of the soul. They were divided into\nLesser and Greater Mysteries. The former were merely preparatory. In the\nlatter the whole knowledge was communicated. Speaking of the doctrine that\nwas communicated to the initiates, Philo Judaeus says that \"it is an\nincorruptible treasure, not like gold or silver, but more precious than\neverything beside; for it is the knowledge of the Great Cause, and of\nnature, and of that which is born of both.\" And his subsequent language\nshows that there was a confraternity existing among the initiates like\nthat of the masonic institution; for he says, with his peculiar mysticism,\n\"If you meet an initiate, besiege him with your prayers that he conceal\nfrom you no new mysteries that he may know; and rest not until you have\nobtained them. For me, although I was initiated into the Great Mysteries\nby Moses, the friend of God, yet, having seen Jeremiah, I recognized him\nnot only as an Initiate, but as a Hierophant; and I followed his school.\"\nSo, too, the mason acknowledges every initiate as his brother, and is ever\nready and anxious to receive all the light that can be bestowed on the\nMysteries in which he has been indoctrinated.\n\nMYSTES. (From the Greek \u03bc\u03cd\u03c9, _to shut the eyes_.) One who had been\ninitiated into the Lesser Mysteries of paganism. He was now blind, but\nwhen he was initiated into the Greater Mysteries he was called an Epopt,\nor one who saw.\n\nMYTH. Grote's definition of the myth, which is cited in the text, may be\napplied without modification to the myths of Freemasonry, although\nintended by the author only for the myths of the ancient Greek religion.\n\nThe myth, then, is a narrative of remote date, not necessarily true or\nfalse, but whose truth can only be certified by internal evidence. The\nword was first applied to those fables of the pagan gods which have\ndescended from the remotest antiquity, and in all of which there prevails\na symbolic idea, not always, however, capable of a positive\ninterpretation. As applied to Freemasonry, the words _myth_ and _legend_\nare synonymous.\n\nFrom this definition it will appear that the myth is really only the\ninterpretation of an idea. But how we are to read these myths will best\nappear from these noble words of Max M\u00fcller: \"Everything is true, natural,\nsignificant, if we enter with a reverent spirit into the meaning of\nancient art and ancient language. Everything becomes false, miraculous,\nand unmeaning, if we interpret the deep and mighty words of the seers of\nold in the shallow and feeble sense of modern chroniclers.\" (Science of\nLanguage, 2d Ser. p. 578.).\n\nMYTH, HISTORICAL. An historical myth is a myth that has a known and\nrecognized foundation in historical truth, but with the admixture of a\npreponderating amount of fiction in the introduction of personages and\ncircumstances. Between the historical myth and the mythical history, the\ndistinction as laid down in the text cannot always be preserved, because\nwe are not always able to determine whether there is a preponderance of\ntruth or of fiction in the legend or narrative under examination.\n\nMYTHICAL HISTORY. A myth or legend in which the historical and truthful\ngreatly preponderate over the inventions of fiction.\n\nMYTHOLOGY. Literally, the science of myths; and this is a very appropriate\ndefinition, for mythology is the science which treats of the religion of\nthe ancient pagans, which was almost altogether founded on myths, or\npopular traditions and legendary tales; and hence Keightly (Mythol. of\nAncient Greece and Italy, p. 2) says that \"mythology may be regarded as\nthe repository of the early religion of the people.\" Its interest to a\nmasonic student arises from the constant antagonism that existed between\nits doctrines and those of the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity and the\nlight that the mythological Mysteries throw upon the ancient organization\nof Speculative Masonry.\n\nMYTH, PHILOSOPHICAL. This is a myth or legend that is almost wholly\nunhistorical, and which has been invented only for the purpose of\nenunciating and illustrating a particular thought or dogma.\n\n\n\nN\n\n\nNAME. All Hebrew names are significant, and were originally imposed with\nreference to some fact or feature in the history or character of the\npersons receiving them. Camden says that the same custom prevailed among\nall the nations of antiquity. So important has this subject been\nconsidered, that \"Onomastica,\" or treatises on the signification of names\nhave been written by Eusebius and St. Jerome, by Simonis and Hillerus, and\nby several other scholars, of whom Eusebe Salverte is the most recent and\nthe most satisfactory. Shuckford (Connect. ii. 377) says that the Jewish\nRabbins thought that the true knowledge of names was a science preferable\nto the study of the written law.\n\nNAME OF GOD. The true pronunciation, and consequently the signification,\nof the name of God can only be obtained through a cabalistical\ninterpretation.\n\nIt is a symbol of divine truth. None but those who are familiar with the\nsubject can have any notion of the importance bestowed on this symbol by\nthe Orientalists. The Arabians have a science called _Ism Allah_, or the\n_science of the name of God_; and the Talmudists and Rabbins have written\ncopiously on the same subject. The Mussulmans, says Salverte (Essai sur\nles Noms, ii. 7), have one hundred names of God, which they repeat while\ncounting the beads of a rosary.\n\nNEOPHYTE. (From the Greek \u03bd\u03ad\u03bf\u03bd and \u03c6\u03c5\u03b9\u1f78\u03bd, _a new plant_.) One who has been\nrecently initiated in the Mysteries. St. Paul uses the same word (I Tim.\niii. 6) to denote one who had been recently converted to the Christian\nfaith.\n\nNOACHIDAE. The descendants of Noah, and the transmitters of his religious\ndogmas, which were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. The\nname has from the earliest times been bestowed upon the Freemasons, who\nteach the same doctrines. Thus in the \"old charges,\" as quoted by Anderson\n(Const. edit. 1738, p. 143), it is said, \"A mason is obliged by his tenure\nto observe the moral law as a true Noachidae.\"\n\nNOACHITES. The same as _Noachidae_, which see.\n\nNORTH. That part of the earth which, being most removed from the influence\nof the sun at his meridian height, is in Freemasonry called \"a place of\ndarkness.\" Hence it is a symbol of the profane world.\n\nNORTH-EAST CORNER. An important ceremony of the first degree, which refers\nto the north-east corner of the lodge, is explained by the symbolism of\nthe corner-stone.\n\nThe corner-stone of a building is always laid in the north-east corner,\nfor symbolic reasons.\n\nThe north-east point of the heavens was especially sacred among the\nHindoos.\n\nIn the symbolism of Freemasonry, the north refers to the outer or profane\nworld, and the east to the inner world of Masonry; and hence the\nnorth-east is symbolic of the double position of the neophyte, partly in\nthe darkness of the former, partly in the light of the latter.\n\nNUMBERS. The symbolism of sacred numbers, which prevails very extensively\nin Freemasonry, was undoubtedly borrowed from the school of Pythagoras;\nbut it is just as likely that he got it from Egypt or Babylon, or from\nboth. The Pythagorean doctrine was, according to Aristotle (Met. xii. 8),\nthat all things proceed from numbers. M. Dacier, however, in his life of\nthe philosopher, denies that the doctrine of numbers was taught by\nPythagoras himself, but attributes it to his later disciples. But his\narguments are not conclusive or satisfactory.\n\n\n\nO\n\n\nOATH OF SECRECY. It was always administered to the candidate in the\nancient Mysteries.\n\nODD NUMBERS. In the system of Pythagoras, odd numbers were symbols of\nperfection. Hence the sacred numbers of Freemasonry are all odd. They are\n3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 33, and 81.\n\nOIL. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of prosperity\nand happiness, is intended, under the name of the \"oil of joy,\" to\nindicate the expected propitious results of the consecration of any thing\nor person to a sacred purpose.\n\nOLIVE. In a secondary sense, the symbol of peace and of victory; but in\nits primary meaning, like all the other Sacred plants of antiquity, a\nsymbol of immortality; and thus in the Mysteries it was the analogue of\nthe acacia of the Freemasons.\n\nOLIVER. The Rev. George Oliver, D.D., of Lincolnshire, England, who died\nin 1868, is by far the most distinguished and the most voluminous of the\nEnglish writers on Freemasonry. Looking to his vast labors and researches\nin the arcana of the science, no student of masonry can speak of his name\nor his memory without profound reverence for his learning, and deep\ngratitude for the services that he has accomplished. To the author of this\nwork the recollection will ever be most grateful that he enjoyed the\nfriendship of so good and so great a man; one of whom we may testify, as\nJohnson said of Goldsmith, that \"nihil quod tetigit non ornavit.\" In his\nwritings he has traversed the whole field of masonic literature and\nscience, and has treated, always with great ability and wonderful\nresearch, of its history, its antiquities, its rites and ceremonies, its\nethics, and its symbols. Of all his works, his \"Historical Landmarks,\" in\ntwo volumes, is the most important, the most useful, and the one which\nwill perhaps the longest perpetuate his memory. In the study of his works,\nthe student must be careful not to follow too implicitly all his\nconclusions. These were in his own mind controlled by the theory which he\nhad adopted, and which he continuously maintained, that Freemasonry was a\nChristian institution, and that the connection between it and the\nChristian religion was absolute and incontrovertible. He followed in the\nfootsteps of Hutchinson, but with a far more expanded view of the masonic\nsystem.\n\nOPERATIVE MASONRY. Masonry considered merely as a useful art, intended for\nthe protection and the convenience of man by the erection of edifices\nwhich may supply his intellectual, religious, and physical wants.\n\nIn contradistinction to Speculative Masonry, therefore, it is said to be\nengaged in the construction of a material temple.\n\nORAL LAW. The oral law among the Jews was the commentary on and the\ninterpretation of the written contained in the Pentateuch; and the\ntradition is, that it was delivered to Moses at the same time, accompanied\nby the divine command, \"Thou shalt not divulge the words which I have said\nto thee out of my mouth.\" The oral law was, therefore, never intrusted to\nbooks; but being preserved in the memories of the judges, prophets,\npriests, and wise men, was handed down from one to the other through a\nlong succession of ages. But after the destruction of Jerusalem by the\nRomans under Adrian, A.D. 135, and the final dispersion of the Jews, fears\nbeing entertained that the oral law would be lost, it was then committed\nto writing, and now constitutes the text of the Talmud.\n\nORMUZD. Worshipped by the disciples of Zoroaster as the principle of good,\nand symbolized by light. See _Ahriman_.\n\nOSIRIS. The chief god of the ancient Egyptians, and worshipped as a symbol\nof the sun, and more philosophically as the male or generative principle.\nIsis, his wife, was the female or prolific principle; and Horus, their\nchild, was matter, or the world--the product of the two principles.\n\nOSIRIS, MYSTERIES OF. The Osirian Mysteries consisted in a scenic\nrepresentation of the murder of Osiris by Typhon, the subsequent recovery\nof his mutilated body by Isis, and his deification, or restoration to\nimmortal life.\n\nOVAL TEMPLES. Temples of an oval form were representations of the mundane\negg, a symbol of the world.\n\n\n\nP\n\n\nPALM TREE. In its secondary sense the palm tree is a symbol of victory;\nbut in its primary signification it is a symbol of the victory over death,\nthat is, immortality.\n\nPARABLE. A narrative in which one thing is compared with another. It is in\nprinciple the same as a symbol or an allegory.\n\nPARALLEL LINES. The lines touching the circle in the symbol of the point\nwithin a circle. They are said to represent St. John the Baptist and St.\nJohn the Evangelist; but they really refer to the solstitial points Cancer\nand Capricorn, in the zodiac.\n\nPASTOS. (From the Greek \u03c0\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u1f78\u03c2, _a nuptial couch_.) The coffin or grave\nwhich contained the body of the god or hero whose death was scenically\nrepresented in the ancient Mysteries.\n\nIt is the analogue of the grave in the third degree of Masonry.\n\nPELASGIAN RELIGION. The Pelasgians were the oldest if not the aboriginal\ninhabitants of Greece. Their religion differed from that of the Hellenes\nwho succeeded them in being less poetical, less mythical, and more\nabstract. We know little of their religious worship, except by conjecture;\nbut we may suppose it resembled in some respects the doctrines of the\nPrimitive Freemasonry. Creuzer thinks that the Pelasgians were either a\nnation of priests or a nation ruled by priests.\n\nPHALLUS. A representation of the virile member, which was venerated as a\nreligious symbol very universally, and without the slightest\nlasciviousness, by the ancients. It was one of the modifications of sun\nworship, and was a symbol of the fecundating power of that luminary. The\nmasonic point within a circle is undoubtedly of phallic origin.\n\nPHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY. The dogmas taught in the masonic system\nconstitute its philosophy. These consist in the contemplation of God as\none and eternal, and of man as immortal. In other words, the philosophy of\nFreemasonry inculcates the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.\n\nPLUMB. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol of\nrectitude of conduct.\n\nPOINT WITHIN A CIRCLE. It is derived from the ancient sun worship, and is\nin reality of phallic origin. It is a symbol of the universe, the sun\nbeing represented by the point, while the circumference is the universe.\n\nPORCH OF THE TEMPLE. A symbol of the entrance into life.\n\nPRIMITIVE FREEMASONRY. The Primitive Freemasonry of the antediluvians is a\nterm for which we are indebted to Oliver, although the theory was broached\nby earlier writers, and among them by the Chevalier Ramsay. The theory is,\nthat the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry existed in the earliest\nages of the world, and were believed and practised by a primitive people,\nor priesthood, under the name of Pure or Primitive Freemasonry. That this\nFreemasonry, that is to say, the religious doctrine inculcated by it, was,\nafter the flood, corrupted by the pagan philosophers and priests, and,\nreceiving the title of _Spurious Freemasory_, was exhibited in the ancient\nMysteries. The Noachidae, however, preserved the principles of the\nPrimitive Freemasonry, and transmitted them to succeeding ages, when at\nlength they assumed the name of _Speculative Masonry_. The Primitive\nFreemasonry was probably without ritual or symbolism, and consisted only\nof a series of abstract propositions derived from antediluvian traditions.\nIts dogmas were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.\n\nPROFANE. One who has not been initiated as a Freemason. In the technical\nlanguage of the Order, all who are not Freemasons are profanes. The term\nis derived from the Latin words _pro fano_, which literally signify \"in\nfront of the temple,\" because those in the ancient religions who were not\ninitiated in the sacred rites or Mysteries of any deity were not permitted\nto enter the temple, but were compelled to remain outside, or in front of\nit. They were kept on the outside. The expression a _profane_ is not\nrecognized as a noun substantive in the general usage of the language; but\nit has been adopted as a technical term in the dialect of Freemasonry, in\nthe same relative sense in which the word _layman_ is used in the\nprofessions of law and divinity.\n\nPURE FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. The same as Primitive Freemasonry,--which\nsee.\n\nPURIFICATION. A religious rite practised by the ancients, and which was\nperformed before any act of devotion. It consisted in washing the hands,\nand sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water. It was\nintended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart. It was a\nceremony preparatory to initiation in all the ancient Mysteries.\n\nPYTHAGORAS. A Grecian philosopher, supposed to have been born in the\nisland of Samos, about 584 B.C. He travelled extensively for the purpose\nof acquiring knowledge. In Egypt he was initiated in the Mysteries of that\ncountry by the priests. He also repaired to Babylon, where he became\nacquainted with the mystical learning of the Chaldeans, and had, no doubt,\nmuch communication with the Israelitish captives who had been exiled from\nJerusalem, and were then dwelling in Babylon. On his return to Europe he\nestablished a school, which in its organization, as well as its doctrines,\nbore considerable resemblance to Speculative Masonry; for which reason he\nhas been claimed as \"an ancient friend and brother\" by the modern\nFreemasons.\n\n\n\nR\n\n\nRESURRECTION. This doctrine was taught in the ancient Mysteries, as it is\nin Freemasonry, by a scenic representation. The initiation was death, the\nautopsy was resurrection. Freemasonry does not interest itself with the\nprecise mode of the resurrection, or whether the body buried and the body\nraised are in all their parts identical. Satisfied with the general\nteaching of St. Paul, concerning the resurrection that \"it is sown a\nnatural body, it is raised a spiritual body,\" Freemasonry inculcates by\nits doctrine of the resurrection the simple fact of a progressive\nadvancement from a lower to a higher sphere, and the raising of the soul\nfrom the bondage of death to its inheritance of eternal life.\n\nRITUAL. The forms and ceremonies used in conferring the degrees, or in\nconducting the labors, of a lodge are called the ritual. There are many\nrites of Freemasonry, which differ from each other in the number and\ndivision of the degrees, and in their rituals, or forms and ceremonies.\nBut the great principles of Freemasonry, its philosophy and its\nsymbolism, are alike in all. It is evident, then, that in an investigation\nof the symbolism of Freemasonry, we have no concern with its ritual, which\nis but an outer covering that is intended to conceal the treasure that is\nwithin.\n\nROSICRUCIANS. A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth\ncentury, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. It was a\nsecret society much resembling the masonic in its organization, and in\nsome of the subjects of its investigation; but it was in no other way\nconnected with Freemasonry. It is, however, well worth the study of the\nmasonic student on account of the light that it throws upon many of the\nmasonic symbols.\n\nROYAL ART. Freemasonry is so called because it is supposed to have been\nfounded by two kings,--the kings of Israel and Tyre,--and because it has\nbeen subsequently encouraged and patronized by monarchs in all countries.\n\n\n\nS\n\n\nSABIANISM, or SABAISM. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, the\n\u05dd\u05d9\u05de\u05e9\u05d4 \u05d0\u05d1\u05e6 TSABA _Hashmaim_, \"the host of heaven.\" It was\npractised in Persia, Chaldea, India, and other Oriental countries, at an\nearly period of the world's history. Sun-worship has had a powerful\ninfluence on subsequent and more rational religions, and relics of it are\nto be found even in the symbolism of Freemasonry.\n\nSACELLUM. A sacred place consecrated to a god, and containing an altar.\n\nSAINTE CROIX. The work of the Baron de Sainte Croix, in two volumes,\nentitled, \"Recherches Historiques et Critiques sur les Myst\u00e8res du\nPaganisme,\" is one of the most valuable and instructive works that we have\nin any language on the ancient Mysteries,--those religious associations\nwhose history and design so closely connect them with Freemasonry. To the\nstudent of masonic philosophy and symbolism this work of Sainte Croix is\nabsolutely essential.\n\nSALSETTE. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for stupendous\ncaverns excavated artificially out of the solid rock, and which were\nappropriated to the initiations in the ancient Mysteries of India.\n\nSENSES, FIVE HUMAN. A symbol of intellectual cultivation.\n\nSETH. It is the masonic theory that the principles of the Pure or\nPrimitive Freemasonry were preserved in the race of Seth, which had always\nkept separate from that of Cain, but that after the flood they became\ncorrupted, by a secession of a portion of the Sethites, who established\nthe Spurious Freemasonry of the Gentiles.\n\nSEVEN. A sacred number among the Jews and the Gentiles, and called by\nPythagoras a \"venerable number.\"\n\nSHEM HAMPHORASH. (\u05e9\u05e8\u05d9\u05e4\u05de\u05d4 \u05dd\u05e9 _the declaratory name_.) The\ntetragrammaton is so called, because, of all the names of God, it alone\ndistinctly declares his nature and essence as self-existent and eternal.\n\nSHOE. See _Investiture, Rite of_.\n\nSIGNS. There is abundant evidence that they were used in the ancient\nMysteries. They are valuable only as modes of recognition. But while they\nare absolutely conventional, they have, undoubtedly, in Freemasonry, a\nsymbolic reference.\n\nSIVA. One of the manifestations of the supreme deity of the Hindoos, and a\nsymbol of the sun in its meridian.\n\nSONS OF LIGHT. Freemasons are so called because _Lux_, or _Light_, is one\nof the names of Speculative Masonry.\n\nSOLOMON. The king of Israel, and the founder of the temple of Jerusalem\nand of the temple organization of Freemasonry.\n\nThat his mind was eminently symbolic in its propensities, is evident from\nall the writings that are attributed to him.\n\nSPECULATIVE MASONRY. Freemasonry considered as a science which speculates\non the character of God and man, and is engaged in philosophical\ninvestigations of the soul and a future existence, for which purpose it\nuses the terms of an operative art.\n\nIt is engaged symbolically in the construction of a spiritual temple.\n\nThere is in it always a progress--an advancement from a lower to a higher\nsphere.\n\nSPIRITUAL TEMPLE. The body of man; that temple alluded to by Christ and\nSt. Paul; the temple, in the construction of which the Speculative Mason\nis engaged, in contradistinction to that material temple which occupies\nthe labors of the Operative Mason.\n\nSPURIOUS FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. A term applied to the initiations in\nthe Mysteries of the ancient pagan world, and to the doctrines taught in\nthose Mysteries. See _Mysteries_.\n\nSQUARE. A geometric figure consisting of four equal sides and equal\nangles. In Freemasonry it is a symbol of morality, or the strict\nperformance of every duty. The Greeks deemed it a figure of perfection,\nand the \"square man\" was a man of unsullied integrity.\n\nSQUARE, TRYING. One of the working-tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol\nof morality.\n\nSTONE OF FOUNDATION. A very important symbol in the masonic system. It is\nlike the _word_, the symbol of divine truth.\n\nSTONE WORSHIP. A very early form of fetichism. The Pelasgians are supposed\nto have given to their statues of the gods the general form of cubical\nstones, whence in Hellenic times came the Hermae, or images of Hermes.\n\nSUBSTITUTE WORD. A symbol of the unsuccessful search after divine truth,\nand the discovery in this life of only an approximation to it.\n\nSUN, RISING. In the Sabian worship the rising sun was adored on its\nresurrection from the apparent death of its evening setting. Hence, in the\nancient Mysteries, the rising sun was a symbol of the regeneration of the\nsoul.\n\nSUN-WORSHIP. The most ancient of all superstitions. It prevailed\nespecially in Phoenicia, Chaldea. and Egypt, and traces of it have been\ndiscovered in Peru and Mexico. Its influence was felt in the ancient\nMysteries, and abundant allusions to it are to be found in the symbolism\nof Freemasonry.\n\nSWEDENBORG. A Swedish philosopher, and the founder of a religious sect.\nClavel, Ragon, and some other writers have sought to make him the founder\nof a masonic rite also, but without authority. In 1767 Chastanier\nestablished the rite of Illuminated Theosophists, whose instructions are\nderived from the writings of Swedenborg, but the sage himself had nothing\nto do with it. Yet it cannot be denied that the mind of Swedenborg was\neminently symbolic in character, and that the masonic student may derive\nmany valuable ideas from portions of his numerous works, especially from\nhis \"Celestial Arcana\" and his \"Apocalypse Revealed.\"\n\nSYMBOL. A visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or idea is\nconnected.--_M\u00fcller_. Every natural thing which is made the sign or\nrepresentation of a moral idea is a symbol.\n\nSYMBOL, COMPOUND. A species of symbol not unusual in Freemasonry, where\nthe symbol is to be taken in a double sense, meaning in its general\napplication one thing, and then in a special application another.\n\nSYMBOLISM, SCIENCE OF. To what has been said in the text, may be added the\nfollowing apposite remarks of Squier: \"In the absence of a written\nlanguage or forms of expression capable of conveying abstract ideas, we\ncan readily comprehend the necessity, among a primitive people, of a\nsymbolic system. That symbolism in a great degree resulted from this\nnecessity, is very obvious; and that, associated with man's primitive\nreligious systems, it was afterwards continued, when in the advanced stage\nof the human mind, the previous necessity no longer existed, is equally\nundoubted. It thus came to constitute a kind of sacred language, and\nbecame invested with an esoteric significance understood only by the\nfew.\"--_The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 19.\n\n\n\nT\n\n\nTABERNACLE. Erected by Moses in the wilderness as a temporary place for\ndivine worship. It was the antitype of the temple of Jerusalem, and, like\nit, was a symbol of the universe.\n\nTALISMAN. A figure either carved in metal or stone, or delineated on\nparchment or paper, made with superstitious ceremonies under what was\nsupposed to be the special influence of the planetary bodies, and believed\nto possess occult powers of protecting the maker or possessor from danger.\nThe figure in the text is a talisman, and among the Orientals no talisman\nwas more sacred than this one where the nine digits are so disposed as to\nmake 15 each way. The Arabians called it _zahal_, which was the name of\nthe planet Saturn, because the nine digits added together make 45, and the\nletters of the word _zahal_ are, according to the numerical powers of the\nArabic alphabet, equivalent to 45. The cabalists esteem it because 15 was\nthe numerical power of the letters composing the word JAH, which is one of\nthe names of God.\n\nTALMUD. The mystical philosophy of the Jewish Rabbins is contained in the\nTalmud, which is a collection of books divided into two parts, the\n_Mishna_, which contains the record of the oral law, first committed to\nwriting in the second or third century, and the _Gemara_, or commentaries\non it. In the Talmud much will be found of great interest to the masonic\nstudent.\n\nTEMPLE. The importance of the temple in the symbolism of Freemasonry will\nauthorize the following citation from the learned Montfaucon (_Ant._\nii. 1. ii. ch. ii.): \"Concerning the origin of _temples_, there is a\nvariety of opinions. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first\nthat made altars, statues, and temples. It does not, however, appear that\nthere were any in Egypt in the time of Moses, for he never mentions them,\nalthough he had many opportunities for doing so. Lucian says that the\nEgyptians were the first people who built temples, and that the Assyrians\nderived the custom from them, all of which is, however, very uncertain.\nThe first allusion to the subject in Scripture is the Tabernacle, which\nwas, in fact, a portable temple, and contained one place within it more\nholy and secret than the others, called the _Holy of Holies_, and to which\nthe _adytum_ in the pagan temples corresponded. The first heathen temple\nmentioned in Scripture is that of Dagon, the god of the Philistines. The\nGreeks, who were indebted to the Phoenicians for many things, may be\nsupposed to have learned from them the art of building temples; and it is\ncertain that the Romans borrowed from the Greeks both the worship of the\ngods and the construction of temples.\"\n\nTEMPLE BUILDER. The title by which Hiram Abif is sometimes designated.\n\nTEMPLE OF SOLOMON. The building erected by King Solomon on Mount Moriah,\nin Jerusalem, has been often called \"the cradle of Freemasonry,\" because\nit was there that that union took place between the operative and\nspeculative masons, which continued for centuries afterwards to present\nthe true organization of the masonic system.\n\nAs to the size of the temple, the dimensions given in the text may be\nconsidered as accurate so far as they agree with the description given in\nthe First Book of Kings. Josephus gives a larger measure, and makes the\nlength 105 feet, the breadth 35 feet, and the height 210 feet; but even\nthese will not invalidate the statement in the text, that in size it was\nsurpassed by many a parish church.\n\nTEMPLE SYMBOLISM. That symbolism which is derived from the temple of\nSolomon. It is the most fertile of all kinds of symbolism in the\nproduction of materials for the masonic science.\n\nTERMINUS. One of the most ancient of the Roman deities. He was the god of\nboundaries and landmarks, and his statue consisted only of a cubical\nstone, without arms or legs, to show that he was immovable.\n\nTETRACTYS. A figure used by Pythagoras, consisting of ten points, arranged\nin a triangular form so as to represent the monad, duad, triad, and\nquarterniad. It was considered as very sacred by the Pythagoreans, and was\nto them what the tetragrammaton was to the Jews.\n\nTETRAGRAMMATON. (From the Greek \u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03c1\u1f70\u03c2, _four_, and \u03b3\u03c1\u1f70\u03bc\u03bc\u03b1, a letter). The\nfour-lettered name of God in the Hebrew language, which consisted of four\nletters, viz. \u05d4\u05d5\u05d4\u05d9 commonly, but incorrectly, pronounced _Jehovah_. As a\nsymbol it greatly pervaded the rites of antiquity, and was perhaps the\nearliest symbol corrupted by the Spurious Freemasonry of the pagan\nMysteries.\n\nIt was held by the Jews in profound veneration, and its origin supposed to\nhave been by divine revelation at the burning bush.\n\nThe word was never pronounced, but wherever met with _Adonai_ was\nsubstituted for it, which custom was derived from the perverted reading of\na, passage in the Pentateuch. The true pronunciation consequently was\nutterly lost; this is explained by the want of vowels in the Hebrew\nalphabet, so that the true vocalization of a word cannot be learned from\nthe letters of which it is composed.\n\nThe true pronunciation was intrusted to the high priest; but lest the\nknowledge of it should be lost by his sudden death, it was also\ncommunicated to his assistant; it was known also, probably, to the kings\nof Israel.\n\nThe Cabalists and Talmudists enveloped it in a host of superstitions.\n\nIt was also used by the Essenes in their sacred rites, and by the\nEgyptians as a pass-word.\n\nCabalistically read and pronounced, it means the male and female principle\nof nature, the generative and prolific energy of creation.\n\nTHAMMUZ. A Syrian god, who was worshipped by those women of the Hebrews\nwho had fallen into idolatry. The idol was the same as the Phoenician\nAdonis, and the Mysteries of the two were identical.\n\nTRAVELLING FREEMASONS. See _Freemasons, Travelling_.\n\nTRESTLE BOARD. The board or tablet on which the designs of the architect\nare inscribed. It is a symbol of the moral law as set forth in the\nrevealed will of God.\n\nEvery man must have his trestle board, because it is the duty of every man\nto work out the task which God, the chief Architect, has assigned to him.\n\nTRIANGLE. A symbol of Deity.\n\nThis symbolism is found in many of the ancient religions.\n\nAmong the Egyptians it was a symbol of universal nature, or of the\nprotection of the world by the male and female energies of creation.\n\nTRIANGLE, RADIATED. A triangle placed within a circle of rays. In\nChristian art it is a symbol of God; then the rays are called a _glory_.\nWhen they surround the triangle in the form of a circle, the triangle is a\nsymbol of the glory of God. When the rays emanate from the centre of the\ntriangle, it is a symbol of divine light. This is the true form of the\nmasonic radiated triangle.\n\nTRILITERAL NAME. This is the word AUM, which is the ineffable name of God\namong the Hindoos, and symbolizes the three manifestations of the\nBrahminical supreme god, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. It was never to be\npronounced aloud, and was analogous to the sacred tetragrammaton of the\nJews.\n\nTROWEL. One of the working tools of a Master Mason. It is a symbol of\nbrotherly love.\n\nTRUTH. It was not always taught publicly by the ancient philosophers to\nthe people.\n\nThe search for it is the object of Freemasonry. It is never found on\nearth, but a substitute for it is provided.\n\nTUAPHOLL. A term used by the Druids to designate an unhallowed\ncircumambulation around the sacred cairn, or altar, the movement being\nagainst the sun, that is, from west to east by the north, the cairn being\non the left hand of the circumambulator.\n\nTUBAL CAIN. Of the various etymologies of this name, only one is given in\nthe text; but most of the others in some way identify him with Vulcan.\nWellsford (_Mithridates Minor_ p. 4) gives a singular etymology, deriving\nthe name of the Hebrew patriarch from the definite article \u05d4 converted\ninto \u05ea, or _T_ and _Baal_, \"Lord,\" with the Arabic _kayn_, \"a blacksmith,\"\nso that the word would then signify \"the lord of the blacksmiths.\" Masonic\nwriters have, however, generally adopted the more usual derivation of\n_Cain_, from a word signifying _possession_; and Oliver descants on Tubal\nCain as a symbol of worldly possessions. As to the identity of Vulcan with\nTubal Cain, we may learn something from the definition of the offices of\nthe former, as given by Diodorus Siculus: \"Vulcan was the first founder of\nworks in iron, brass, gold, silver, and all fusible metals; and he taught\nthe uses to which fire can be applied in the arts.\" See Genesis: \"Tubal\nCain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.\"\n\nTWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE. A two-foot rule. One of the working-tools of an\nEntered Apprentice, and a symbol of time well employed.\n\nTYPHON. The brother and slayer of Osiris in the Egyptian mythology. As\nOsiris was a type or symbol of the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter,\nwhen the vigor, heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and\nof darkness as opposed to light.\n\nTYRE. A city of Phoenicia, the residence of King Hiram, the friend and\nally of Solomon, whom he supplied with men and materials for the\nconstruction of the temple.\n\nTYRIAN FREEMASONS. These were the members of the Society of Dionysiac\nArtificers, who at the time of the building of Solomon's temple flourished\nat Tyre. Many of them were sent to Jerusalem by Hiram, King of Tyre, to\nassist King Solomon in the construction of his temple. There, uniting with\nthe Jews, who had only a knowledge of the speculative principles of\nFreemasonry, which had been transmitted to them from Noah, through the\npatriarchs, the Tyrian Freemasons organized that combined system of\nOperative and Speculative Masonry which continued for many centuries,\nuntil the beginning of the eighteenth, to characterize the institution.\nSee _Dionysiac Artificers_.\n\n\n\nU\n\n\nUNION. The union of the operative with the speculative element of\nFreemasonry took place at the building of King Solomon's temple.\n\nUNITY OF GOD. This, as distinguished from the pagan doctrine of\npolytheism, or a multitude of gods, is one of the two religious truths\ntaught in Speculative Masonry, the other being the immortality of the\nsoul.\n\n\n\nW\n\n\nWEARY SOJOURNERS. The legend of the \"three weary sojourners\" in the Royal\nArch degree is undoubtedly a philosophical myth, symbolizing the search\nafter truth.\n\nWHITE. A symbol of innocence and purity.\n\nAmong the Pythagoreans it was a symbol of the good principle in nature,\nequivalent to light.\n\nWIDOW'S SON. An epithet bestowed upon the chief architect of the temple,\nbecause he was \"a widow's son of the tribe of Naphthali.\" 1 Kings vii. 14.\n\nWINDING STAIRS, LEGEND OF. A legend in the Fellow Craft's degree having no\nhistorical truth, but being simply a philosophical myth or legendary\nsymbol intended to communicate a masonic dogma.\n\nIt is the symbol of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere.\n\nIt commences at the porch of the temple, which is a symbol of the entrance\ninto life.\n\nThe number of steps are always odd, because odd numbers are a symbol of\nperfection.\n\nBut the fifteen steps in the American system are a symbol of the name of\nGod, _Jah_.\n\nWINE. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of the inward\nrefreshment of a good conscience, is intended under the name of the \"wine\nof refreshment,\" to remind us of the eternal refreshments which the good\nare to receive in the future life for the faithful performance of duty in\nthe present.\n\nWORD. In Freemasonry this is a technical and symbolic term, and signifies\ndivine truth. The search after this word constitutes the whole system of\nspeculative masonry.\n\nWORD, LOST. See _Lost Word_.\n\nWORD, SUBSTITUTE. See _Substitute Word_.\n\nWORK. In Freemasonry the initiation of a candidate is called _work_. It is\nsuggestive of the doctrine that labor is a masonic duty.\n\n\n\nY\n\n\nYGGDRASIL. The sacred ash tree in the Scandinavian Mysteries. Dr. Oliver\npropounds the theory that it is the analogue of the theological ladder in\nthe Masonic Mysteries. But it is doubtful whether this theory is tenable.\n\nYOD. A Hebrew letter, in form thus \u05d9, and about equivalent to\nthe English I or Y. It is the initial letter of the tetragrammaton, and is\noften used, especially enclosed within a triangle, as a substitute for, or\nan abridgement of, that sacred word.\n\nIt is a symbol of the life-giving and sustaining power of God.\n\nYONI. Among the nations and religions of India the yoni was the\nrepresentation of the female organ of generation, and was the symbol of\nthe prolific power of nature. It is the same as the _cteis_ among the\nOccidental nations.\n\n\n\nZ\n\n\nZENNAAR. The sacred girdle of the Hindoos. It is supposed to be the\nanalogue of the masonic apron.\n\nZOROASTER. A distinguished philosopher and reformer, whose doctrines were\nprofessed by the ancient Persians. The religion of Zoroaster was a\ndualism, in which the two antagonizing principles were Ormuzd and Abriman,\nsymbols of Light and Darkness. It was a modification and purification of\nthe old fire-worship, in which the fire became a symbol of the sun, so\nthat it was really a species of sun-worship. Mithras, representing the\nsun, becomes the mediator between Ormuzd, or the principle of Darkness,\nand the world.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n[1] \"The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, if it is a real\nadvantage, follows unavoidably from the idea of God. The _best_ Being, he\nmust _will_ the best of good things; the _wisest_, he must devise plans\nfor that effect; the _most powerful_, he must bring it about. None can\ndeny this.\"--THEO. PARKER, _Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion_,\nb. ii. ch. viii. p. 205.\n\n[2] \"This institution of religion, like society, friendship, and marriage,\ncomes out of a principle, deep and permanent in the heart: as humble, and\ntransient, and partial institutions come out of humble, transient, and\npartial wants, and are to be traced to the senses and the phenomena of\nlife, so this sublime, permanent, and useful institution came out from\nsublime, permanent, and universal wants, and must be referred to the soul,\nand the unchanging realities of life.\"--PARKER, _Discourse of Religion_,\nb. i. ch. i. p. 14.\n\n[3] \"The sages of all nations, ages, and religions had some ideas of these\nsublime doctrines, though more or less degraded, adulterated and obscured;\nand these scattered hints and vestiges of the most sacred and exalted\ntruths were originally rays and emanations of ancient and primitive\ntraditions, handed down from, generation to generation, since the\nbeginning of the world, or at least since the fall of man, to all\nmankind.\"--CHEV. RAMSAY, _Philos. Princ. of Nat. and Rev. Relig._, vol ii.\np. 8.\n\n[4] \"In this form, not only the common objects above enumerated, but gems,\nmetals, stones that fell from heaven, images, carved bits of wood, stuffed\nskins of beasts, like the medicine-bags of the North American Indians, are\nreckoned as divinities, and so become objects of adoration. But in this\ncase, the visible object, is idealized; not worshipped as the brute thing\nreally is, but as the type and symbol of God.\"--PARKER, _Disc. of Relig._\nb. i. ch. v. p. 50.\n\n[5] A recent writer thus eloquently refers to the universality, in ancient\ntimes, of sun-worship: \"Sabaism, the worship of light, prevailed amongst\nall the leading nations of the early world. By the rivers of India, on the\nmountains of Persia, in the plains of Assyria, early mankind thus adored,\nthe higher spirits in each country rising in spiritual thought from the\nsolar orb up to Him whose vicegerent it seems--to the Sun of all being,\nwhose divine light irradiates and purifies the world of soul, as the solar\nradiance does the world of sense. Egypt, too, though its faith be but\ndimly known to us, joined in this worship; Syria raised her grand temples\nto the sun; the joyous Greeks sported with the thought while feeling it,\nalmost hiding it under the mythic individuality which their lively fancy\nsuperimposed upon it. Even prosaic China makes offerings to the yellow orb\nof day; the wandering Celts and Teutons held feasts to it, amidst the\nprimeval forests of Northern Europe; and, with a savagery characteristic\nof the American aborigines, the sun temples of Mexico streamed with human\nblood in honor of the beneficent orb.\"--_The Castes and Creeds of India_,\nBlackw. Mag., vol. lxxxi. p. 317.--\"There is no people whose religion is\nknown to us,\" says the Abb\u00e9 Banier, \"neither in our own continent nor in\nthat of America, that has not paid the sun a religious worship, if we\nexcept some inhabitants of the torrid zone, who are continually cursing\nthe sun for scorching them with his beams.\"--_Mythology_, lib. iii. ch.\niii.--Macrobius, in his _Saturnalia_, undertakes to prove that all the\ngods of Paganism may be reduced to the sun.\n\n[6] \"Varro de religionibus loquens, evidenter dicit, multa esse vera, quae\nvulgo scire non sit utile; multaque, quae tametsi falsa sint, aliter\nexistimare populum expediat.\"--St. AUGUSTINE, _De Civil. Dei._--We must\nregret, with the learned Valloisin, that the sixteen books of Varro, on\nthe religious antiquities of the ancients, have been lost; and the regret\nis enhanced by the reflection that they existed until the beginning of the\nfourteenth century, and disappeared only when their preservation for less\nthan two centuries more would, by the discovery of printing, have secured\ntheir perpetuity.\n\n[7] Strabo, Geog., lib. i.\n\n[8] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 297.\n\n[9] Div. Leg., vol. i. b. ii. \u00a7 iv. p. 193, 10th Lond. edit.\n\n[10] The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality of\nthe soul were taught originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid\nand Bacchus.--WARBURTON, apud Spence's _Anecdotes_, p. 309.\n\n[11] Isoc. Paneg., p. 59.\n\n[12] Apud Arrian. Dissert., lib. iii. c. xxi.\n\n[13] Phaedo.\n\n[14] Dissert. on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, in the Pamphleteer,\nvol. viii. p. 53.\n\n[15] Symbol. und Mythol. der Alt. V\u00f6lk.\n\n[16] In these Mysteries, after the people had for a long time bewailed the\nloss of a particular person, he was at last supposed to be restored to\nlife.--BRYANT, _Anal. of Anc. Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 176.\n\n[17] Herod. Hist., lib. iii. c. clxxi.\n\n[18] The legend says it was cut into _fourteen_ pieces. Compare this with\nthe _fourteen_ days of burial in the masonic legend of the third degree.\nWhy the particular number in each? It has been thought by some, that in\nthe latter legend there was a reference to the half of the moon's age, or\nits dark period, symbolic of the darkness of death, followed by the\nfourteen days of bright moon, or restoration to life.\n\n[19] Myst\u00e8res du Paganisme, tom. i. p. 6.\n\n[20] Notes to Rawlinson's Herodotus, b. ii. ch. clxxi. Mr. Bryant\nexpresses the same opinion: \"The principal rites in Egypt were confessedly\nfor a person lost and consigned for a time to darkness, who was at last\nfound. This person I have mentioned to have been described under the\ncharacter of Osiris.\"--_Analysis of Ancient Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 177.\n\n[21] Spirit of Masonry, p. 100.\n\n[22] Varro, according to St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, vi. 5), says that\namong the ancients there were three kinds of theology--a _mythical_, which\nwas used by the poets; a _physical_, by the philosophers, and a _civil_,\nby the people.\n\n[23] \"Tous les ans,\" says Sainte Croix, \"pendant les jours consacr\u00e9s au\nsouvenir de sa mort, tout \u00e9toit plong\u00e9 dans la tristesse: on ne cessoit de\npousser des g\u00e9missemens; on alloit m\u00eame jusqu'\u00e0 se flageller et se donner\ndes coups. Le dernier jour de ce deuil, on faisoit des sacrifices fun\u00e8bres\nen l'honneur de ce dieu. Le jour suivant, on recevoit la nouvelle\nqu'Adonis venoit d'\u00eatre rappel\u00e9 \u00e0 la vie, qui mettoit fin \u00e0 leur\ndeuil.\"--_Recherches sur les Myst. du Paganisme_, tom. ii. p. 105.\n\n[24] Clement of Alexandria calls them \u03bc\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78 \u03bc\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd, \"the\nmysteries before the mysteries.\"\n\n[25] Les petits myst\u00e8res ne consistoient qu'en c\u00e9r\u00e9monies\npr\u00e9paratoires.--_Sainte Croix_, i. 297.--As to the oath of secrecy, Bryant\nsays, \"The first thing at these awful meetings was to offer an oath of\nsecrecy to all who were to be initiated, after which they proceeded to the\nceremonies.\"--_Anal. of Anc. Myth._, vol. iii. p. 174.--The Orphic\nArgonautics allude to the oath: \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b4' \u1f41\u03c1\u03d7\u03b9\u03b1 \u039c\u03cd\u03c3\u1fd6\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2, \u03d7. \u03c4. \u03bb., \"after\nthe oath was administered to the mystes,\" &c.--_Orph. Argon._, v. 11.\n\n[26] The satirical pen of Aristophanes has not spared the Dionysiac\nfestivals. But the raillery and sarcasm of a comic writer must always be\nreceived with many grains of allowance. He has, at least, been candid\nenough to confess that no one could be initiated who had been guilty of\nany crime against his country or the public security.--_Ranae_, v.\n360-365.--Euripides makes the chorus in his Bacchae proclaim that the\nMysteries were practised only for virtuous purposes. In Rome, however,\nthere can be little doubt that the initiations partook at length of a\nlicentious character. \"On ne peut douter,\" says Ste. Croix, \"que\nl'introduction des f\u00eates de Bacchus en Italie n'ait acc\u00e9ler\u00e9 les progr\u00e8s\ndu libertinage et de la d\u00e9bauche dans cette contr\u00e9e.\"--_Myst. du Pag._,\ntom. ii. p. 91.--St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. vii. c. xxi.) inveighs\nagainst the impurity of the ceremonies in Italy of the sacred rites of\nBacchus. But even he does not deny that the motive with which they were\nperformed was of a religious, or at least superstitious nature--\"Sic\nvidelicet Liber deus placandus fuerat.\" The propitiation of a deity was\ncertainly a religious act.\n\n[27] Hist. Greece, vol. ii. p. 140.\n\n[28] This language is quoted from Robison (_Proofs of a Conspiracy_, p.\n20, Lond. edit. 1797), whom none will suspect or accuse of an undue\nveneration for the antiquity or the morality of the masonic order.\n\n[29] We must not confound these Asiatic builders with the play-actors, who\nwere subsequently called by the Greeks, as we learn from Aulus Gellius\n(lib. xx. cap. 4), \"artificers of Dionysus\"--\u0394\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03b1\u03d7\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c4\u03b5\u03c7\u03bd\u03b9\u03c4\u03b1\u1f76.\n\n[30] There is abundant evidence, among ancient authors, of the existence\nof signs and passwords in the Mysteries. Thus Apuleius, in his Apology,\nsays, \"Si qui forte adest eorundem Solemnium mihi particeps, signum dato,\"\netc.; that is, \"If any one happens to be present who has been initiated\ninto the same rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then\nbe at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care.\" Plautus\nalso alludes to this usage, when, in his \"Miles Gloriosus,\" act iv. sc. 2,\nhe makes Milphidippa say to Pyrgopolonices, \"Cedo signum, si harunc\nBaccharum es;\" i.e., \"Give the sign if you are one of these Bacchae,\" or\ninitiates into the Mysteries of Bacchus. Clemens Alexandrinus calls these\nmodes of recognition \u03c3\u03c9\u03b8\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, as if _means of safety_. Apuleius elsewhere\nuses _memoracula_, I think to denote passwords, when he says, \"sanctissim\u00e8\nsacrorum signa et memoracula custodire,\" which I am inclined to translate,\n\"most scrupulously to preserve the signs and passwords of the sacred\nrites.\"\n\n[31] The Baron de Sainte Croix gives this brief view of the ceremonies:\n\"Dans ces myst\u00e8res on employoit, pour remplir l'\u00e2me des assistans d'une\nsainte horreur, les m\u00eames moyens qu'\u00e0 Eleusis. L'apparition de fant\u00f4mes et\nde divers objets propres \u00e0 effrayer, sembloit disposer les esprits \u00e0 la\ncr\u00e9dulit\u00e9. Ils en avoient sans doute besoin, pour ajouter foi \u00e0 toutes les\nexplications des mystagogues: elles rouloient sur le massacre de Bacchus\npar les Titans,\" &c.--_Recherches sur les Myst\u00e8res du Paganisme_, tom. ii.\nsect. vii. art. iii. p. 89.\n\n[32] Lawrie, Hist. of Freemasonry, p. 27.\n\n[33] Vincentius Lirinensis or Vincent of Lirens, who lived in the fifth\ncentury of the Christian era, wrote a controversial treatise entitled\n\"Commonitorium,\" remarkable for the blind veneration which it pays to the\nvoice of tradition. The rule which he there lays down, and which is cited\nin the text, may be considered, in a modified application, as an axiom by\nwhich we may test the _probability_, at least, of all sorts of traditions.\nNone out of the pale of Vincent's church will go so far as he did in\nmaking it the criterion of positive truth.\n\n[34] Prolog. zu einer wissenshaftlich. Mythologie.\n\n[35] In German _hutten_, in English _lodges_, whence the masonic term.\n\n[36] Historical Essay on Architecture, ch. xxi.\n\n[37] Bishop England, in his \"Explanation of the Mass,\" says that in every\nceremony we must look for three meanings: \"the first, the literal,\nnatural, and, it may be said, the original meaning; the second, the\nfigurative or emblematic signification; and thirdly, the pious or\nreligious meaning: frequently the two last will be found the same;\nsometimes all three will be found combined.\" Here lies the true difference\nbetween the symbolism of the church and that of Masonry. In the former,\nthe symbolic meaning was an afterthought applied to the original, literal\none; in the latter, the symbolic was always the original signification of\nevery ceremony.\n\n[38] /P \"Was not all the knowledge Of the Egyptians writ in mystic\nsymbols? Speak not the Scriptures oft in parables? Are not the choicest\nfables of the poets, That were the fountains and first springs of wisdom,\nWrapped in perplexed allegories?\"\n\nBEN JONSON, _Alchemist_, act ii. sc. i. P/\n\n[39] The distinguished German mythologist M\u00fcller defines a symbol to be\n\"an eternal, visible sign, with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or\nidea is connected.\" I am not aware of a more comprehensive, and at the\nsame time distinctive, definition.\n\n[40] And it may be added, that the word becomes a symbol of an idea; and\nhence, Harris, in his \"Hermes,\" defines language to be \"a system of\narticulate voices, the symbols of our ideas, but of those principally\nwhich are general or universal.\"--_Hermes_, book iii. ch. 3.\n\n[41] \"Symbols,\" says M\u00fcller, \"are evidently coeval with the human race;\nthey result from the union of the soul with the body in man; nature has\nimplanted the feeling for them in the human heart.\"--_Introduction to a\nScientific System of Mythology_, p. 196, Leitch's translation.--R.W.\nMackay says, \"The earliest instruments of education were symbols, the most\nuniversal symbols of the multitudinously present Deity, being earth or\nheaven, or some selected object, such as the sun or moon, a tree or a\nstone, familiarly seen in either of them.\"--_Progress of the Intellect_,\nvol. i p. 134.\n\n[42] Between the allegory, or parable, and the symbol, there is, as I have\nsaid, no essential difference. The Greek verb \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03b2\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9, whence comes the\nword _parable_, and the verb \u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03b1\u03bb\u03bb\u03c9 in the same language, which is the\nroot of the word _symbol_, both have the synonymous meaning \"to compare.\"\nA parable is only a spoken symbol. The definition of a parable given by\nAdam Clarke is equally applicable to a symbol, viz.: \"A comparison or\nsimilitude, in which one thing is compared with another, especially\nspiritual things with natural, by which means these spiritual things are\nbetter understood, and make a deeper impression on the attentive mind.\"\n\n[43] North British Review, August, 1851. Faber passes a similar encomium.\n\"Hence the language of symbolism, being so purely a language of ideas, is,\nin one respect, more perfect than any ordinary language can be: it\npossesses the variegated elegance of synonymes without any of the\nobscurity which arises from the use of ambiguous terms.\"--_On the\nProphecies_, ii. p. 63.\n\n[44] \"By speculative Masonry we learn to subdue our passions, to act upon\nthe square, to keep a tongue of good report, to maintain secrecy, and\npractise charity.\"--_Lect. of Fel. Craft._ But this is a very meagre\ndefinition, unworthy of the place it occupies in the lecture of the second\ndegree.\n\n[45] \"Animal worship among the Egyptians was the natural and unavoidable\nconsequence of the misconception, by the vulgar, of those emblematical\nfigures invented by the priests to record their own philosophical\nconception of absurd ideas. As the pictures and effigies suspended in\nearly Christian churches, to commemorate a person or an event, became in\ntime objects of worship to the vulgar, so, in Egypt, the esoteric or\nspiritual meaning of the emblems was lost in the gross materialism of the\nbeholder. This esoteric and allegorical meaning was, however, preserved by\nthe priests, and communicated in the mysteries alone to the initiated,\nwhile the uninstructed retained only the grosser conception.\"--GLIDDON,\n_Otia Aegyptiaca_, p. 94.\n\n[46] \"To perpetuate the esoteric signification of these symbols to the\ninitiated, there were established the Mysteries, of which institution we\nhave still a trace in Freemasonry.\"--GLIDDON, _Otia Aegyp._ p. 95.\n\n[47] Philo Judaeus says, that \"Moses had been initiated by the Egyptians\ninto the philosophy of symbols and hieroglyphics, as well as into the\nritual of the holy animals.\" And Hengstenberg, in his learned work on\n\"Egypt and the Books of Moses,\" conclusively shows, by numerous examples,\nhow direct were the Egyptian references of the Pentateuch; in which fact,\nindeed, he recognizes \"one of the most powerful arguments for its\ncredibility and for its composition by Moses.\"--HENGSTENBERG, p. 239,\nRobbins's trans.\n\n[48] Josephus, _Antiq._ book iii. ch. 7.\n\n[49] The ark, or sacred boat, of the Egyptians frequently occurs on the\nwalls of the temples. It was carried in great pomp by the priests on the\noccasion of the \"procession of the shrines,\" by means of staves passed\nthrough metal rings in its side. It was thus conducted into the temple,\nand deposited on a stand. The representations we have of it bear a\nstriking resemblance to the Jewish ark, of which it is now admitted to\nhave been the prototype.\n\n[50] \"The Egyptian reference in the Urim and Thummim is especially\ndistinct and incontrovertible.\"--HENGSTENBERG, p. 158.\n\n[51] According to the estimate of Bishop Cumberland, it was only one\nhundred and nine feet in length, thirty-six in breadth, and fifty-four in\nheight.\n\n[52] \"Thus did our wise Grand Master contrive a plan, by mechanical and\npractical allusions, to instruct the craftsmen in principles of the most\nsublime speculative philosophy, tending to the glory of God, and to secure\nto them temporal blessings here and eternal life hereafter, as well as to\nunite the speculative and operative Masons, thereby forming a twofold\nadvantage, from the principles of geometry and architecture on the one\npart, and the precepts of wisdom and ethics on the other.\"--CALCOTT,\n_Candid Disquisition_, p. 31, ed. 1769.\n\n[53] This proposition I ask to be conceded; the evidences of its truth\nare, however, abundant, were it necessary to produce them. The craft,\ngenerally, will, I presume, assent to it.\n\n[54]\n\n    \"The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned\n    To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,\n    And spread the roof above them--ere he framed\n    The lofty vault, to gather and roll back\n    The sound of anthems--in the darkling wood,\n    Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,\n    And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks\n    And supplication.\"--BRYANT.\n\n[55] Theologians have always given a spiritual application to the temple\nof Solomon, referring it to the mysteries of the Christian dispensation.\nFor this, consult all the biblical commentators. But I may particularly\nmention, on this subject, Bunyan's \"Solomon's Temple Spiritualized,\" and a\nrare work in folio, by Samuel Lee, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford,\npublished at London in 1659, and entitled \"Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple\nof Solomon portrayed by Scripture Light.\" A copy of this scarce work,\nwhich treats very learnedly of \"the spiritual mysteries of the gospel\nveiled under the temple,\" I have lately been, by good fortune, enabled to\nadd to my library.\n\n[56] Veluti pecora, quae natura finxit prona et obedientia\nventri.--SALLUST, _Bell. Catil._ i.\n\n[57] I Kings vi. 7.\n\n[58] In further illustration of the wisdom of these temple contrivances,\nit may be mentioned that, by marks placed upon the materials which had\nbeen thus prepared at a distance, the individual production of every\ncraftsman was easily ascertained, and the means were provided of rewarding\nmerit and punishing indolence.\n\n[59] \"Each of the pagan gods had (besides the _public_ and _open_) a\n_secret worship_ paid unto him; to which none were admitted but those who\nhad been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation. This\n_secret-worship_ was termed the Mysteries.\"--WARBURTON, _Div. Leg. I. i.\np. 189_.\n\n[60] It must be remarked, however, that many of the Fellow Crafts were\nalso stone-cutters in the mountains, _chotzeb bahor_, and, with their\nnicer implements, more accurately adjusted the stones which had been\nimperfectly prepared by the apprentices. This fact does not at all affect\nthe character of the symbolism we are describing. The due preparation of\nthe materials, the symbol of purification, was necessarily continued in\nall the degrees. The task of purification never ceases.\n\n[61] The classical reader will here be reminded of that beautiful passage\nof Horace, commencing with \"Justum et tenacem propositi virum.\"--Lib. iii.\nod. 3.\n\n[62] \"Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque\nturres.\"--HOR. lib. i. od. 4.\n\n[63] It is worth noticing that the verb _natzach_, from which the title of\nthe _menatzchim_ (the overseers or Master Masons in the ancient temple),\nis derived, signifies also in Hebrew _to be perfected, to be completed_.\nThe third degree is the perfection of the symbolism of the temple, and its\nlessons lead us to the completion of life. In like manner the Mysteries,\nsays Christie, \"were termed \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u1f76, _perfections_, because they were\nsupposed to induce a perfectness of life. Those who were purified by them\nwere styled \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9, and \u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9, that is, brought to\nperfection.\"--_Observations on Ouvaroff's Essay on the Eleusinian\nMysteries_, p. 183.\n\n[64] Dr. Oliver, in the first or preliminary lecture of his \"Historical\nLandmarks,\" very accurately describes the difference between the pure or\nprimitive Freemasonry of the Noachites, and the spurious Freemasonry of\nthe heathens.\n\n[65] The idea of the world, as symbolically representing God's temple, has\nbeen thus beautifully developed in a hymn by N.P. Willis, written for the\ndedication of a church:--\n\n    \"The perfect world by Adam trod\n    Was the first temple built by God;\n    His fiat laid the corner stone,\n    And heaved its pillars, one by one.\n\n    \"He hung its starry roof on high--\n    The broad, illimitable sky;\n    He spread its pavement, green and bright,\n    And curtained it with morning light.\n\n    \"The mountains in their places stood,\n    The sea, the sky, and 'all was good;'\n    And when its first pure praises rang,\n    The 'morning stars together sang.'\n\n    \"Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea,\n    And earth, and sky, a house for thee;\n    But in thy sight our offering stands,\n    A humbler temple, made with hands.\"\n\n[66] \"The idea,\" says Dudley, \"that the earth is a level surface, and of a\nsquare form, is so likely to have been entertained by persons of little\nexperience and limited observation, that it may be justly supposed to have\nprevailed generally in the early ages of the world.\"--_Naology_, p. 7.\n\n[67] The quadrangular form of the earth is preserved in almost all the\nscriptural allusions that are made to it. Thus Isaiah (xi. 12) says, \"The\nLord shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the _four corners_\nof the earth;\" and we find in the Apocalypse (xx. 9) the prophetic version\nof \"four angels standing on the _four corners_ of the earth.\"\n\n[68] \"The form of the lodge ought to be a double cube, as an expressive\nemblem of the powers of darkness and light in the creation.\"--OLIVER,\n_Landmarks_, i. p. 135, note 37.\n\n[69] Not that whole visible universe, in its modern signification, as\nincluding solar systems upon solar systems, rolling in illimitable space,\nbut in the more contracted view of the ancients, where the earth formed\nthe floor, and the sky the ceiling. \"To the vulgar and untaught eye,\" says\nDudley, \"the heaven or sky above the earth appears to be co-extensive with\nthe earth, and to take the same form, enclosing a cubical space, of which\nthe earth was the base, the heaven or sky the upper surface.\"--_Naology_,\n7.--And it is to this notion of the universe that the masonic symbol of\nthe lodge refers.\n\n[70] \"These rocky shrines, the formation of which Mr. Grose supposes to\nhave been a labor equal to that of erecting the Pyramids of Egypt, are of\nvarious height, extent, and depth. They are partitioned out, by the labor\nof the hammer and the chisel, into many separate chambers, and the roof,\nwhich in the pagoda of Elephanta is flat, but in that of Salsette is\narched, is supported by rows of pillars of great thickness, and arranged\nwith much regularity. The walls are crowded with gigantic figures of men\nand women, engaged in various actions, and portrayed in various whimsical\nattitudes; and they are adorned with several evident symbols of the\nreligion now prevailing in India. Above, as in a sky, once probably\nadorned with gold and azure, in the same manner as Mr. Savary lately\nobserved in the ruinous remains of some ancient Egyptian temples, are seen\nfloating the children of imagination, genii and dewtahs, in multitudes,\nand along the cornice, in high relief, are the figures of elephants,\nhorses, and lions, executed with great accuracy. Two of the principal\nfigures at Salsette are twenty-seven feet in height, and of proportionate\nmagnitude; the very bust only of the triple-headed deity in the grand\npagoda of Elephanta measures fifteen feet from the base to the top of the\ncap, while the face of another, if Mr. Grose, who measured it, may be\ncredited, is above five feet in length, and of corresponding\nbreadth.\"--MAURICE, _Ind. Ant._ vol. ii. p. 135.\n\n[71] According to Faber, the egg was a symbol of the world or megacosm,\nand also of the ark, or microcosm, as the lunette or crescent was a symbol\nof the Great Father, the egg and lunette--which was the hieroglyphic of\nthe god Lunus, at Heliopolis--was a symbol of the world proceeding from\nthe Great Father.--_Pagan Idolatry_, vol. i. b. i. ch. iv.\n\n[72] Zoroaster taught that the sun was the most perfect fire of God, the\nthrone of his glory, and the residence of his divine presence, and he\ntherefore instructed his disciples \"to direct all their worship to God\nfirst towards the sun (which they called Mithras), and next towards their\nsacred fires, as being the things in which God chiefly dwelt; and their\nordinary way of worship was to do so towards both. For when they came\nbefore these fires to worship, _they always approached them on the west\nside_, that, having their faces towards them and also towards the rising\nsun at the same time, they might direct their worship to both. And in this\nposture they always performed every act of their worship.\"--PRIDEAUX.\n_Connection._ i. 216.\n\n[73] \"The mysteries of Ceres (or Eleusis) are principally distinguished\nfrom all others as having been the depositories of certain traditions\ncoeval with the world.\"--OUVAROFF, _Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis_, p.\n6.\n\n[74] The dadouchus, or torch-bearer, carried a symbol of the sun.\n\n[75] \"Indeed, the most ancient superstition of all nations,\" says Maurice,\n\"has been the worship of the sun, as the lord of heaven and the governor\nof the world; and in particular it prevailed in Phoenicia, Chaldaea,\nEgypt, and from later information we may add, Peru and Mexico, represented\nin a variety of ways, and concealed under a multitude of fanciful names.\nThrough all the revolutions of time the great luminary of heaven hath\nexacted from the generations of men the tribute of devotion.\"--_Indian\nAntiquities_, vol. ii. p. 91.\n\n[76] Facciolatus thus defines the Phallus: \"penis ligneus, vel vitreus,\nvel coriaceus, quem in Bacchi festis plaustro impositum per rura et urbes\nmagno honore circumferebant.\"--_Lex. in voc._\n\n[77] The exhibition of these images in a colossal form, before the gates\nof ancient temples, was common. Lucian tells us of two colossal Phalli,\neach one hundred and eighty feet high, which stood in the fore court of\nthe temple at Hierapolis. Mailer, in his \"Ancient Art and its Remains,\"\nmentions, on the authority of Leake, the fact that a colossal Phallus,\nwhich once stood on the top of the tomb of the Lydian king Halyattes, is\nnow lying near the same spot; it is not an entire Phallus, but only the\nhead of one; it is twelve feet in diameter below and nine feet over the\nglands. The Phallus has even been found, so universal was this worship,\namong the savages of America. Dr. Arthaut discovered, in the year 1790, a\nmarble Phallic image in a cave of the island of St. Domingo.--CLAVEL,\n_Hist. Pittoresq. des Religions_, p. 9.\n\n[78] Sonnerat (Voyage aux Indes Orient, i. p. 118) observes, that the\nprofessors of this worship were of the purest principles and most\nunblemished conduct, and it seems never to have entered into the heads of\nthe Indian legislator and people that anything natural could be grossly\nobscene.--Sir William Jones remarks (Asiatic Researches, i. 254), that\nfrom the earliest periods the women of Asia, Greece, and Italy wore this\nsymbol as a jewel, and Clavel tells us that a similar usage prevails at\nthis day among the women in some of the villages of Brittany. Seely tells\nus that the Lingam, or Indian Phallus, is an emblem as frequently met with\nin Hindostan as the cross is in Catholic countries.--_Wonders of Elora._\np. 278.\n\n[79] Num. xxv. 1-3. See also Psalm cvi. 28: \"They joined themselves also\nunto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.\" This last expression,\naccording to Russel, has a distinct reference to the physical qualities of\nmatter, and to the time when death, by the winter absence of the solar\nheat, gets, as it were, possession of the earth. Baal-peor was, he says,\nthe sun exercising his powers of fecundity.--_Connection of Sacred and\nProfane History_\n\n[80] Is there not a seeming reference to this thought of divine\nhermaphrodism in the well-known passage of Genesis? \"So God created man in\nhis own image, in the image of God created he him: _male and female_\ncreated he them.\" And so being created \"male and female,\" they were \"in\nthe image of God.\"\n\n[81] The world being animated by man, says Creuzer, in his learned work on\nSymbolism, received from him the two sexes, represented by heaven and the\nearth. Heaven, as the fecundating principle, was male, and the source of\nfire; the earth, as the fecundated, was female, and the source of\nhumidity. All things issued from the alliance of these two principles. The\nvivifying powers of the heavens are concentrated in the sun, and the\nearth, eternally fixed in the place which it occupies, receives the\nemanations from the sun, through the medium of the moon, which sheds upon\nthe earth the germs which the sun had deposited in its fertile bosom. The\nLingam is at once the symbol and the mystery of this religious idea.\n\n[82] Such was the opinion of some of the ancient sun-worshippers, whose\nadorations were always performed in the open air, because they thought no\ntemple was spacious enough to contain the sun; and hence the saying,\n\"Mundus universus est templum solis\"--the universe is the temple of the\nsun. Like our ancient brethren, they worshipped only on _the highest\nhills_. Another analogy.\n\n[83] _Asgard_, the abode of the gods, is shaded by the ash tree,\n_Ydrasil_, where the gods assemble every day to do justice. The branches\nof this tree extend themselves over the whole world, and reach above the\nheavens. It hath three roots, extremely distant from each other: one of\nthem is among the gods; the second is among the giants, where the abyss\nformerly was; the third covers _Niflheim_, or hell, and under this root is\nthe fountain _Vergelmer_, whence flow the infernal rivers.--_Edda, Fab._\n8.\n\n[84] Exod. iii. 5.\n\n[85] Commentaries _in loco_.\n\n[86] Commentary on Exod. iii. 5.\n\n[87] Iamblichi Vita Pythag. c. 105. In another place he says, \"\u0398\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03c7\u03c1\u1f74\n\u1f00\u03bd\u03c5\u03c0\u03cc\u03b4\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd, \u03d7\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c4\u03b1 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1f70 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9,\"--We must sacrifice and enter\ntemples with the shoes off. Ibid. c. 85.\n\n[88] \"Quod etiam nunc apud plerasque Orientis nationes piaculum sit,\ncalceato pede templorum pavimenta calcasse.\"\n\n[89] Beth Habbechirah, cap. vii.\n\n[90] Histor. Landm. vol. ii. p. 481.\n\n[91] \"Non datur nobis potestas adeundi templum nisi nudibus pedibus.\"\n\n[92] Commentaries, _ut supra_.\n\n[93] See a paper \"on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus,\" by H.T.\nColebrooke, Esq. in the Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 357.\n\n[94] A Specimen of the Critical History of the Celtic Religion and\nLearning. Letter ii. \u00a7 xvii.\n\n[95] Dr. Oliver, referring to the \"twelve grand points in Masonry,\" which\nformed a part of the old English lectures, says, \"When the candidate was\n_intrusted_, he represented Asher, for he was then presented with the\nglorious fruit of masonic knowledge, as Asher was represented by fatness\nand royal dainties.\"--_Hist. Landm._, vol. i. lect. xi. p. 313.\n\n[96] From the Greek \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03c8\u03af\u03b1, signifying _a seeing with ones own eyes_. The\ncandidate, who had previously been called a _mystes_, or a _blind man_,\nfrom \u03bc\u03af\u03c9, to _shut the eyes_, began at this point to change his title to\nthat of an _epopt_, or an _eye-witness_.\n\n[97] \u05da\u05d3\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9\u05d5 \u05da\u05d3\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 _Yehi aur va yehi aur._\n\n[98] Robert William Mackay, Progress of the Intellect, vol. i. p. 93.\n\n[99] \"And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the\nThummim.\"--_Exod._ xxviii. 30.--The Egyptian judges also wore\nbreastplates, on which was represented the figure of _Ra_, the sun, and\n_Thme_, the goddess of Truth, representing, says Gliddon, \"_Ra_, or the\nsun, in a double capacity--physical and intellectual light; and _Thme_, in\na double capacity--justice and truth.\"--_Ancient Egypt_, p. 33.\n\n[100] We owe this interesting discovery to F. Portal, who has given it in\nhis elaborate work on Egyptian symbols as compared with those of the\nHebrews. To those who cannot consult the original work in French, I can\nsafely recommend the excellent translation by my esteemed friend, Bro.\nJohn W. Simons, of New York, and which will be found in the thirtieth\nvolume of the \"Universal Masonic Library.\"\n\n[101] \"The most early defection to Idolatry,\" says Bryant, \"consisted in\nthe adoration of the sun and the worship of demons, styled\nBaalim.\"--_Analysts of Anc. Mythol._ vol. iii. p. 431.\n\n[102] The remarks of Mr. Duncan on this subject are well worth perusal.\n\"Light has always formed one of the primary objects of heathen adoration.\nThe glorious spectacle of animated nature would lose all its interest if\nman were deprived of vision, and light extinguished; for that which is\nunseen and unknown becomes, for all practical purposes, as valueless as if\nit were non-existent. Light is a source of positive happiness; without it,\nman could barely exist; and since all religious opinion is based on the\nideas of pleasure and pain, and the corresponding sensations of hope and\nfear, it is not to be wondered if the heathen reverenced light. Darkness,\non the contrary, by replunging nature, as it were, into a state of\nnothingness, and depriving man of the pleasurable emotions conveyed\nthrough the organ of sight, was ever held in abhorrence, as a source of\nmisery and fear. The two opposite conditions in which man thus found\nhimself placed, occasioned by the enjoyment or the banishment of light,\ninduced him to imagine the existence of two antagonist principles in\nnature, to whose dominion he was alternately subject. Light multiplied his\nenjoyments, and darkness diminished them. The former, accordingly, became\nhis friend, and the latter his enemy. The words 'light' and 'good,' and\n'darkness' and 'evil,' conveyed similar ideas, and became, in sacred\nlanguage, synonymous terms. But as good and evil were not supposed to flow\nfrom one and the same source, no more than light and darkness were\nsupposed to have a common origin, two distinct and independent principles\nwere established, totally different in their nature, of opposite\ncharacters, pursuing a conflicting line of action, and creating\nantagonistic effects. Such was the origin of this famous dogma, recognized\nby all the heathens, and incorporated with all the sacred fables,\ncosmogonies, and mysteries of antiquity.\"--_The Religions of Profane\nAntiquity_, p. 186.\n\n[103] See the \"Bhagvat Geeta,\" one of the religious books of Brahminism. A\nwriter in Blackwood, in an article on the \"Castes and Creeds of India,\"\nvol. lxxxi. p. 316, thus accounts for the adoration of light by the early\nnations of the world: \"Can we wonder at the worship of light by those\nearly nations? Carry our thoughts back to their remote times, and our only\nwonder would be if they did not so adore it. The sun is life as well as\nlight to all that is on the earth--as we of the present day know even\nbetter than they of old. Moving in dazzling radiance or brilliant-hued\npageantry through the sky, scanning in calm royalty all that passes below,\nit seems the very god of this fair world, which lives and blooms but in\nhis smile.\"\n\n[104] The _Institutes of Menu_, which are the acknowledged code of the\nBrahmins, inform us that \"the world was all darkness, undiscernible,\nundistinguishable altogether, as in a profound sleep, till the\nself-existent, invisible God, making it manifest with five elements and\nother glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom.\"--Sir WILLIAM JONES,\n_On the Gods of Greece. Asiatic Researches_, i. 244.\n\nAmong the Rosicrucians, who have, by some, been improperly confounded with\nthe Freemasons, the word _lux_ was used to signify a knowledge of the\nphilosopher's stone, or the great desideratum of a universal elixir and a\nuniversal menstruum. This was their _truth_.\n\n[105] On Symbolic Colors, p. 23, Inman's translation.\n\n[106] Freemasonry having received the name of _lux_, or light, its\ndisciples have, very appropriately, been called \"the Sons of Light.\" Thus\nBurns, in his celebrated Farewell:--\n\n    \"Oft have I met your social band,\n      And spent the cheerful, festive night;\n    Oft, honored with supreme command,\n      Presided o'er the _sons of light_.\"\n\n[107] Thus defined: \"The stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and\nunites them; the principal stone, and especially the stone which forms the\ncorner of the foundation of an edifice.\"--Webster.\n\n[108] Among the ancients the corner-stone of important edifices was laid\nwith impressive ceremonies. These are well described by Tacitus, in his\nhistory of the rebuilding of the Capitol. After detailing the preliminary\nceremonies which consisted in a procession of vestals, who with chaplets\nof flowers encompassed the ground and consecrated it by libations of\nliving water, he adds that, after solemn prayer, Helvidius, to whom the\ncare of rebuilding the Capitol had been committed, \"laid his hand upon the\nfillets that adorned the foundation stone, and also the cords by which it\nwas to be drawn to its place. In that instant the magistrates, the\npriests, the senators, the Roman knights, and a number of citizens, all\nacting with one effort and general demonstrations of joy, laid hold of the\nropes and dragged the ponderous load to its destined spot. They then threw\nin ingots of gold and silver, and other metals, which had never been\nmelted in the furnace, but still retained, untouched by human art, their\nfirst formation in the bowels of the earth.\"--_Tac. Hist._, 1. iv. c. 53,\nMurphy's transl.\n\n[109] As, for instance, in Psalm cxviii. 22, \"The stone which the builders\nrefused is become the head-stone of the corner,\" which, Clarke says,\n\"seems to have been originally spoken of David, who was at first rejected\nby the Jewish rulers, but was afterwards chosen by the Lord to be the\ngreat ruler of his people in Israel;\" and in Isaiah xxviii. 16, \"Behold, I\nlay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious\ncorner-stone, a sure foundation,\" which clearly refers to the promised\nMessiah.\n\n[110] In the ritual \"observed at laying the foundation-stone of public\nstructures,\" it is said, \"The principal architect then presents the\nworking tools to the Grand Master, who applies the plumb, square, and\nlevel to the stone, in their proper positions, and pronounces it to be\n_well-formed, true, and trusty_.\"--WEBB'S _Monitor_, p. 120.\n\n[111] \"The square teaches us to regulate our conduct by the principles of\nmorality and virtue.\"--_Ritual of the E. A. Degree._--The old York\nlectures define the square thus: \"The square is the theory of universal\nduty, and consisteth in two right lines, forming an angle of perfect\nsincerity, or ninety degrees; the longest side is the sum of the lengths\nof the several duties which we owe to all men. And every man should be\nagreeable to this square, when perfectly finished.\"\n\n[112] Aristotle.\n\n[113] \"The cube is a symbol of truth, of wisdom, and moral perfection. The\nnew Jerusalem, promised in the Apocalypse, is equal in length, breadth,\nand height. The Mystical city ought to be considered as a new church,\nwhere divine wisdom will reign.\"--OLIVER'S _Landmarks_, ii. p. 357.--And\nhe might have added, where eternal truth will be present.\n\n[114] In the most primitive times, all the gods appear to have been\nrepresented by cubical blocks of stone; and Pausanias says that he saw\nthirty of these stones in the city of Pharae, which represented as many\ndeities. The first of the kind, it is probable, were dedicated to Hermes,\nwhence they derived their name of \"Hermae.\"\n\n[115] \"Give unto Jehovah the glory due unto His name; worship Jehovah in\nthe beauty of holiness.\"--_Psalm_ xxix. 2.\n\n[116] It is at least a singular coincidence that in the Brahminical\nreligion great respect was paid to the north-east point of the heavens.\nThus it is said in the Institutes of Menu, \"If he has any incurable\ndisease, let him advance in a straight path towards _the invincible\nnorth-east point_, feeding on water and air till his mortal frame totally\ndecay, and his soul become united with the Supreme.\"\n\n[117] This symbolism of the double position of the corner-stone has not\nescaped the attention of the religious symbologists. Etsius, an early\ncommentator, in 1682, referring to the passage in Ephesians ii. 20, says,\n\"That is called the corner-stone, or chief corner-stone, which is placed\nin the extreme angle of a foundation, conjoining and holding together two\nwalls of the pile, meeting from different quarters. And the apostle not\nonly would be understood by this metaphor that Christ is the principal\nfoundation of the whole church, but also that in him, as in a\ncorner-stone, the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, are conjoined, and so\nconjoined as to rise together into one edifice, and become one church.\"\nAnd Julius Firmicius, who wrote in the sixteenth century, says that Christ\nis called the corner-stone, because, being placed in the angle of the two\nwalls, which are the Old and the New Testament, he collects the nations\ninto one fold. \"Lapis sanctus, i.e. Christus, aut fidei fundamenta\nsustentat aut in angulo positus duorum parietum membra aequata moderatione\nconjungit, i.e., Veteris et Novi Testamenti in unum colligit gentes.\"--_De\nErrore profan. Religionum_, chap. xxi.\n\n[118] This permanence of position was also attributed to those cubical\nstones among the Romans which represented the statues of the god Terminus.\nThey could never lawfully be removed from the spot which they occupied.\nHence, when Tarquin was about to build the temple of Jupiter, on the\nCapitoline Hill, all the shrines and statues of the other gods were\nremoved from the eminence to make way for the new edifice, except that of\nTerminus, represented by a stone. This remained untouched, and was\nenclosed within the temple, to show, says Dudley, \"that the stone, having\nbeen a personification of the God Supreme, could not be reasonably\nrequired to yield to Jupiter himself in dignity and power.\"--DUDLEY'S\n_Naology_, p 145.\n\n[119] Dudley's Naology, p. 476.\n\n[120] Masonic Discourses, Dis. iv. p. 81.\n\n[121] \"The act of consecration chiefly consisted in the unction, which was\na ceremony derived from the most primitive antiquity. The sacred\ntabernacle, with all the vessels and utensils, as also the altar and the\npriests themselves, were consecrated in this manner by Moses, at the\ndivine command. It is well known that the Jewish kings and prophets were\nadmitted to their several offices by unction. The patriarch Jacob, by the\nsame right, consecrated the altars which he made use of; in doing which it\nis more probable that he followed the tradition of his forefathers, than\nthat he was the author of this custom. The same, or something like it, was\nalso continued down to the times of Christianity.\"--POTTER'S\n_Archaeologia Graeca_, b. ii. p. 176.\n\n[122] From the Greek \u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03c1\u1f70\u03c2, four, and \u03b3\u03c1\u03ac\u03bc\u03bc\u03b1, letter, because it is\ncomposed of four Hebrew letters. Brande thus defines it: \"Among several\nancient nations, the name of the mystic number _four_, which was often\nsymbolized to represent the Deity, whose name was expressed by four\nletters.\" But this definition is incorrect. The tetragrammaton is not the\nname of the number _four_, but the word which expresses the name of God in\nfour letters, and is always applied to the Hebrew word only.\n\n[123] Exod. iii. 15. In our common version of the Bible, the word \"Lord\"\nis substituted for \"Jehovah,\" whence the true import of the original is\nlost.\n\n[124] Exod. vi. 2. 3.\n\n[125] \"The Jews have many superstitious stories and opinions relative to\nthis name, which, because they were forbidden to mention _in vain_, they\nwould not mention _at all_. They substituted _Adonai_, &c., in its room,\nwhenever it occurred to them in reading or speaking, or else simply and\nemphatically styled it \u05dd\u05e9\u05d4 _the Name_. Some of them attributed\nto a certain repetition of this name the virtue of a charm, and others\nhave had the boldness to assert that our blessed Savior wrought all his\nmiracles (for they do not deny them to be such) by that mystical use of\nthis venerable name. See the _Toldoth Jeschu_, an infamously scurrilous\nlife of Jesus, written by a Jew not later than the thirteenth century. On\np. 7, edition of Wagenseilius, 1681, is a succinct detail of the manner in\nwhich our Savior is said to have entered the temple and obtained\npossession of the Holy Name. Leusden says that he had offered to give a\nsum of money to a very poor Jew at Amsterdam, if he would only once\ndeliberately pronounce the name _Jehovah_; but he refused it by saying\nthat he did not dare.\"--_Horae Solitariae_, vol. i. p. 3.--\"A Brahmin will\nnot pronounce the name of the Almighty, without drawing down his sleeve\nand placing it on his mouth with fear and trembling.\"--MURRAY, _Truth of\nRevelation_, p. 321.\n\n[126] The same scrupulous avoidance of a strict translation has been\npursued in other versions. For Jehovah, the Septuagint substitutes\n\"\u039a\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2,\" the Vulgate \"Dominus,\" and the German \"der Herr,\" all\nequivalent to \"the Lord.\" The French version uses the title \"l'Eternel.\"\nBut, with a better comprehension of the value of the word, Lowth in his\n\"Isaiah,\" the Swedenborgian version of the Psalms, and some other recent\nversions, have restored the original name.\n\n[127] In the Talmudical treatise, _Majan Hachochima_, quoted by Stephelin\n(Rabbinical Literature, i. p. 131), we are informed that rightly to\nunderstand the shem hamphorash is a key to the unlocking of all mysteries.\n\"There,\" says the treatise, \"shalt thou understand the words of men, the\nwords of cattle, the singing of birds, the language of beasts, the barking\nof dogs, the language of devils, the language of ministering angels, the\nlanguage of date-trees, the motion of the sea, the unity of hearts, and\nthe murmuring of the tongue--nay, even the thoughts of the reins.\"\n\n[128] The gamma, \u0393, or Greek letter G, is said to have been sacred among\nthe Pythagoreans as the initial of \u0393\u03b5\u03c9\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03af\u03b1 or Geometry.\n\n[129] Vide Oliver, _Hist. Init._ p. 68, note.\n\n[130] Jamblichus says that Pythagoras passed over from Miletus to Sidon,\nthinking that he could thence go more easily into Egypt, and that while\nthere he caused himself to be initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos\nand Tyre, and those which were practised in many parts of Syria, not\nbecause he was under the influence of any superstitious motives, but from\nthe fear that if he were not to avail himself of these opportunities, he\nmight neglect to acquire some knowledge in those rites which was worthy of\nobservation. But as these mysteries were originally received by the\nPhoenicians from Egypt, he passed over into that country, where he\nremained twenty-two years, occupying himself in the study of geometry,\nastronomy, and all the initiations of the gods (\u03c0\u03ac\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2 \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03ac\u03c2), until\nhe was carried a captive into Babylon by the soldiers of Cambyses, and\nthat twelve years afterwards he returned to Samos at the age of sixty\nyears.--_Vit. Pythag_, cap. iii., iv.\n\n[131] \"The sacred words were intrusted to him, of which the Ineffable\nTetractys, or name of God, was the chief.\"--OLIVER, _Hist. Init._ p. 109.\n\n[132] \"Hu, the mighty, whose history as a patriarch is precisely that of\nNoah, was promoted to the rank of the principal demon-god among the\nBritons; and, as his chariot was composed of rays of the sun, it may be\npresumed that he was worshipped in conjunction with that luminary, and to\nthe same superstition we may refer what is said of his light and swift\ncourse.\"--DAVIES, _Mythol. and Rites of the Brit. Druids_, p. 110.\n\n[133] \"All the male gods (of the ancients) may be reduced to one, the\ngenerative energy; and all the female to one, the prolific principle. In\nfact, they may all be included in the one great Hermaphrodite, the\n\u1f00\u1fe5\u1fe4\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b8\u03b7\u03bb\u03c5\u03c2 who combines in his nature all the elements of production, and\nwho continues to support the vast creation which originally proceeded from\nhis will.\"--RUSSELL'S _Connection_, i. p. 402.\n\n[134] It is a tradition that it was pronounced in the following seven\ndifferent ways by the patriarchs, from Methuselah to David, viz.: _Juha,\nJeva, Jova, Jevo, Jeveh, Johe_, and _Jehovah_. In all these words the _j_\nis to be pronounced as _y_, the _a_ as _ah_, the _e_ as a, and the _v_ as\n_w_.\n\n[135] The _i_ is to be pronounced as _e_, and the whole word as if spelled\nin English _ho-he_.\n\n[136] In the apocryphal \"Book of the Conversation of God with Moses on\nMount Sinai,\" translated by the Rev. W. Cureton from an Arabic MS. of the\nfifteenth century, and published by the Philobiblon Society of London, the\nidea of the eternal watchfulness of God is thus beautifully allegorized:--\n\n\"Then Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, dost thou sleep or not? The Lord\nsaid unto Moses, I never sleep: but take a cup and fill it with water.\nThen Moses took a cup and filled it with water, as the Lord commanded him.\nThen the Lord cast into the heart of Moses the breath of slumber; so he\nslept, and the cup fell from his hand, and the water which was therein was\nspilled. Then Moses awoke from his sleep. Then said God to Moses, I\ndeclare by my power, and by my glory, that if I were to withdraw my\nprovidence from the heavens and the earth for no longer a space of time\nthan thou hast slept, they would at once fall to ruin and confusion, like\nas the cup fell from thy hand.\"\n\n[137] I have in my possession a rare copy of the Vulgate Bible, in black\nletter, printed at Lyons, in 1522. The frontispiece is a coarsely executed\nwood cut, divided into six compartments, and representing the six days of\nthe creation. The Father is, in each compartment, pictured as an aged man\nengaged in his creative task.\n\n[138] Christian Iconography, Millington's trans., vol. i. p. 59.\n\n[139] The triangle, or delta, is the symbol of Deity for this reason. In\ngeometry a single line cannot represent a perfect figure; neither can two\nlines; three lines, however, constitute the triangle or first perfect and\ndemonstrable figure. Hence this figure symbolizes the Eternal God,\ninfinitely perfect in his nature. But the triangle properly refers to God\nonly in his quality as an Eternal Being, its three sides representing the\nPast, the Present, and the Future. Some Christian symbologists have made\nthe three sides represent the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but they\nevidently thereby destroy the divine unity, making a trinity of Gods in\nthe unity of a Godhead. The Gnostic trinity of Manes consisted of one God\nand two principles, one of good and the other of evil. The Indian trinity,\nsymbolized also by the triangle, consisted of Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu,\nthe Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, represented by Earth, Water, and\nAir. This symbolism of the Eternal God by the triangle is the reason why a\ntrinitarian scheme has been so prevalent in all religions--the three sides\nnaturally suggesting the three divisions of the Godhead. But in the Pagan\nand Oriental religions this trinity was nothing else but a tritheism.\n\n[140] Noachidae, or Noachites, the descendants of Noah. This patriarch\nhaving alone preserved the true name and worship of God amid a race of\nimpious idolaters, the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because\nthey preserve that pure religion which distinguished this second father of\nthe human race from the rest of the world. (See the author's _Lexicon of\nFreemasonry_.) The Tyrian workmen at the temple of Solomon were the\ndescendants of that other division of the race who fell off, at Shinar,\nfrom the true worship, and repudiated the principles of Noah. The Tyrians,\nhowever, like many other ancient mystics, had recovered some portion of\nthe lost light, and the complete repossession was finally achieved by\ntheir union with the Jewish masons, who were Noachidae.\n\n[141] \"A mythis omnis priscorum hominum tum historia tum philosophia\nprocedit.\"--_Ad Apollod. Athen. Biblioth. not._ f. p. 3.--And Faber says,\n\"Allegory and personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of\nantiquity; and the simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the\nshrine of poetical decoration.\"--_On the Cabiri._\n\n[142] See Grote, History of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 479, whence this\ndefinition has been substantially derived. The definitions of Creuzer,\nHermann, Buttmann, Heyne, Welcker, Voss, and M\u00fcller are none of them\nBetter, and some of them not as good.\n\n[143] Hist. of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 579. The idea of the existence\nof an enlightened people, who lived at a remote era, and came from the\nEast, was a very prevalent notion among the ancient traditions. It is\ncorroborative of this that the Hebrew word \u05dd\u05d3\u05b6\u05e7\u05b6, _kedem_,\nsignifies, in respect to place, _the east_, and, in respect to time,\n_olden time, ancient days_. The phrase in Isaiah xix. 11, which reads, \"I\nam the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings,\" might just as well have\nbeen translated \"the son of kings of the East.\" In a note to the passage\nEzek. xliii. 2, \"the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the\nEast,\" Adam Clarke says, \"All knowledge, all religion, and all arts and\nsciences, have travelled, according to the _course of the sun_, FROM EAST\nTO WEST!\" Bazot tells us (in his Manuel du Franc-ma\u00e7on, p. 154) that \"the\nveneration which masons entertain for the east confirms an opinion\npreviously announced, that the religious system of Masonry came from the\neast, and has reference to the _primitive religion_, whose first\ncorruption was the worship of the sun.\" And lastly, the masonic reader\nwill recollect the answer given in the Leland MS. to the question\nrespecting the origin of Masonry, namely, \"It did begin\" (I modernize the\northography) \"with the first men in the east, which were before the first\nmen of the west; and coming westerly, it hath brought herewith all\ncomforts to the wild and comfortless.\" Locke's commentary on this answer\nmay conclude this note: \"It should seem, by this, that masons believe\nthere were men in the east before Adam, who is called the 'first man of\nthe west,' and that arts and sciences began in the east. Some authors, of\ngreat note for learning, have been of the same opinion; and it is certain\nthat Europe and Africa (which, in respect to Asia, may be called western\ncountries) were wild and savage long after arts and politeness of manners\nwere in great perfection in China and the Indies.\" The Talmudists make the\nsame allusions to the superiority of the east. Thus, Rabbi Bechai says,\n\"Adam was created with his face towards the east that he might behold the\nlight and the rising sun, whence the east was to him the anterior part of\nthe world.\"\n\n[144] Strauss makes a division of myths into historical, philosophical,\nand poetical.--_Leben Jesu._--His poetical myth agrees with my first\ndivision, his philosophical with my second, and his historical with my\nthird. But I object to the word _poetical_, as a distinctive term, because\nall myths have their foundation in the poetic idea.\n\n[145] Ulmann, for instance, distinguishes between a myth and a legend--the\nformer containing, to a great degree, fiction combined with history, and\nthe latter having but a few faint echoes of mythical history.\n\n[146] In his \"Prolegomena zu einer wissenshaftlichen Mythologie,\" cap. iv.\nThis valuable work was translated in 1844, by Mr. John Leitch.\n\n[147] Historical Landmarks, i. 53.\n\n[148] See an article, by the author, on \"The Unwritten Landmarks of\nFreemasonry,\" in the first volume of the Masonic Miscellany, in which this\nsubject is treated at considerable length.\n\n[149] As a matter of some interest to the curious reader, I insert the\nlegend as published in the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1815, from, it is\nsaid, a parchment roll supposed to have been written early in the\nseventeenth century, and which, if so, was in all probability copied from\none of an older date:--\n\n\"Moreover, when Abraham and Sara his wife went into Egipt, there he taught\nthe Seaven Scyences to the Egiptians; and he had a worthy Scoller that\nheight Ewclyde, and he learned right well, and was a master of all the vij\nSciences liberall. And in his dayes it befell that the lord and the\nestates of the realme had soe many sonns that they had gotten some by\ntheir wifes and some by other ladyes of the realme; for that land is a\nhott land and a plentious of generacion. And they had not competent\nlivehode to find with their children; wherefor they made much care. And\nthen the King of the land made a great counsell and a parliament, to witt,\nhow they might find their children honestly as gentlemen. And they could\nfind no manner of good way. And then they did crye through all the realme,\nif there were any man that could enforme them, that he should come to\nthem, and he should be soe rewarded for his travail, that he should hold\nhim pleased.\n\n\"After that this cry was made, then came this worthy clarke Ewclyde, and\nsaid to the King and to all his great lords: 'If yee will, take me your\nchildren to governe, and to teach them one of the Seaven Scyences,\nwherewith they may live honestly as gentlemen should, under a condicion\nthat yee will grant mee and them a commission that I may have power to\nrule them after the manner that the science ought to be ruled.' And that\nthe Kinge and all his counsell granted to him anone, and sealed their\ncommission. And then this worthy tooke to him these lords' sonns, and\ntaught them the science of Geometric in practice, for to work in stones\nall manner of worthy worke that belongeth to buildinge churches, temples,\ncastells, towres, and mannors, and all other manner of buildings.\"\n\n[150] Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. I p. 393.\n\n[151] 1 Kings vi. 8.\n\n[152] An allusion to this symbolism is retained in one of the well-known\nmottoes of the order--\"_Lux e tenebris._\"\n\n[153] \"An allegory is that in which, under borrowed characters and\nallusions, is shadowed some real action or moral instruction; or, to keep\nmore strictly to its derivation (\u1f04\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, _alius_, and \u1f00\u03b3\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03cd\u03c9, _dico_), it\nis that in which one thing is related and another thing is understood.\nHence it is apparent that an allegory must have two senses--the literal\nand mystical; and for that reason it must convey its instruction under\nborrowed characters and allusions throughout.\"--_The Antiquity, Evidence,\nand Certainty of Christianity canvassed, or Dr. Middleton's Examination of\nthe Bishop of London's Discourses on Prophecy. By Anselm Bayly, LL.B.,\nMinor Canon of St. Paul's._ Lond, 1751.\n\n[154] The words themselves are purely classical, but the meanings here\ngiven to them are of a mediaeval or corrupt Latinity. Among the old\nRomans, a _trivium_ meant a place where three ways met, and a _quadrivium_\nwhere four, or what we now call a _cross-road_. When we speak of the\n_paths of learning_, we readily discover the origin of the signification\ngiven by the scholastic philosophers to these terms.\n\n[155] Hist. of Philos. vol. ii. p. 337.\n\n[156] Such a talisman was the following figure:--\n\n     -----------\n    | 8 | 1 | 6 |\n    |---|---|---|\n    | 3 | 5 | 7 |\n    |---|---|---|\n    | 4 | 9 | 2 |\n     -----------\n\n\n[157] Anderson's Constitutions, 2d ed. 1738, p. 14.\n\n[158] Anderson's Constitutions, 3d ed. 1756, p. 24.\n\n[159] \"The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality\nof the soul were originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid and\nBacchus.\"--WARBURTON, _in Spence's Anecdotes_, p. 309.\n\n[160] \"The allegorical interpretation of the myths has been, by several\nlearned investigators, especially by Creuzer, connected with the\nhypothesis of an ancient and highly instructed body of priests, having\ntheir origin either in Egypt or in the East, and communicating to the rude\nand barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and historical knowledge, under\nthe veil of symbols.\"--GROTE, _Hist. of Greece_, vol. i. ch. xvi. p.\n579.--And the Chevalier Ramsay corroborates this theory: \"Vestiges of the\nmost sublime truths are to be found in the sages of all nations, times,\nand religions, both sacred and profane, and these vestiges are emanations\nof the antediluvian and noevian tradition, more or less disguised and\nadulterated.\"--_Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion\nunfolded in a Geometrical Order_, vol. 1, p. iv.\n\n[161] Of this there is abundant evidence in all the ancient and modern\nwriters on the Mysteries. Apuleius, cautiously describing his initiation\ninto the Mysteries of Isis, says, \"I approached the confines of death, and\nhaving trod on the threshold of Proserpine, I returned therefrom, being\nborne through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its\nbrilliant light; and I approached the presence of the gods beneath, and\nthe gods of heaven, and stood near and worshipped them.\"--_Metam._ lib.\nvi. The context shows that all this was a scenic representation.\n\n[162] _Aish hakam iodea binah_, \"a cunning man, endued with\nunderstanding,\" is the description given by the king of Tyre of Hiram\nAbif. See 2 Chron. ii. 13. It is needless to say that \"cunning\" is a good\nold Saxon word meaning _skilful_.\n\n[163]\n\n    \"Pronaque cum spectent animalia c\u00e6tera terram;\n    Os homini sublime dedit: coelumque tueri\n    Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.\"\n\n    OVID, _Met._ i. 84. P/\n\n    \"Thus, while the mute creation downward bend\n    Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,\n    Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes\n    Beholds his own hereditary skies.\"\n\n    DRYDEN.\n\n[164] \"\u1f08\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u1f78\u03c2, disappearance, destruction, a perishing, death, from\n\u1f00\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, to remove from one's view, to conceal,\" &c.--_Schrevel. Lex._\n\n[165] \"\u0395\u1fe6\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, a finding, invention, discovery.\"--_Schrevel. Lex._\n\n[166] A French writer of the last century, speaking of the degree of \"Tr\u00e8s\nParfait Maitre,\" says, \"C'est ici qu'on voit r\u00e9ellement qu'Hiram n'a \u00e9t\u00e9\nque le type de J\u00e9sus Christ, que le temple et les autres symboles\nma\u00e7onniques sont des allegories relatives \u00e0 l'Eglise, \u00e0 la Foi, et aux\nbonnes moeurs.\"--_Origine et Objet de la Franchema\u00e7onnerie, par le F.B._\nParis, 1774.\n\n[167] \"This our order is a positive contradiction to the Judaic blindness\nand infidelity, and testifies our faith concerning the resurrection of the\nbody.\"--HUTCHINSON, _Spirit of Masonry_, lect. ix. p. 101.--The whole\nlecture is occupied in advancing and supporting his peculiar theory.\n\n[168] \"Thus, then, it appears that the historical reference of the legend\nof Speculative Freemasonry, in all ages of the world, was--to our death in\nAdam and life in Christ. What, then, was the origin of our tradition? Or,\nin other words, to what particular incident did the legend of initiation\nrefer before the flood? I conceive it to have been the offering and\nassassination of Abel by his brother Cain; the escape of the murderer; the\ndiscovery of the body by his disconsolate parents, and its subsequent\ninterment, under a certain belief of its final resurrection from the dead,\nand of the detection and punishment of Cain by divine vengeance.\"--OLIVER,\n_Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, vol. ii. p. 171.\n\n[169] \"Le grade de Ma\u00eetre va donc nous retracer allegoriquement la mort du\n_dieu-lumi\u00e8re_--mourant en hiver pour repara\u00eetre et ressusciter au\nprintemps.\"--RAGON, _Cours Philos. et Interp. des Init._ p. 158.\n\n[170] \"Dans l'ordre moral, Hiram n'est autre chose que la raison\n\u00e9ternelle, par qui tout est pond\u00e9r\u00e9, r\u00e9gl\u00e9, conserv\u00e9.\"--DES ETANGS,\n_\u008cuvres Ma\u00e7onniques_, p. 90.\n\n[171] With the same argument would I meet the hypothesis that Hiram was\nthe representative of Charles I. of England--an hypothesis now so\ngenerally abandoned, that I have not thought it worth noticing in the\ntext.\n\n[172] \"The initiation into the Mysteries,\" he says, \"scenically\nrepresented the mythic descent into Hades and the return from thence to\nthe light of day; by which was meant the entrance into the Ark and the\nsubsequent liberation from its dark enclosure. Such Mysteries were\nestablished in almost every part of the pagan world; and those of Ceres\nwere substantially the same as the Orgies of Adonis, Osiris, Hu, Mithras,\nand the Cabiri. They all equally related to the allegorical disappearance,\nor death, or descent of the great father at their commencement, and to his\ninvention, or revival, or return from Hades, at their conclusion.\"--_Origin\nof Pagan Idolatry_, vol. iv. b. iv. ch. v. p. 384--But this Arkite\ntheory, as it is called, has not met with the general approbation of\nsubsequent writers.\n\n[173] Mount Calvary is a small hill or eminence, situated in a westerly\ndirection from that Mount Moriah on which the temple of Solomon was built.\nIt was originally a hillock of notable eminence, but has, in modern times,\nbeen greatly reduced by the excavations made in it for the construction of\nthe Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Buckingham, in his Palestine, p. 283,\nsays, \"The present rock, called Calvary, and enclosed within the Church of\nthe Holy Sepulchre, bears marks, in every part that is naked, of its\nhaving been a round nodule of rock standing above the common level of the\nsurface.\"\n\n[174] Dr. Beard, in the art. \"Golgotha,\" in Kitto's Encyc. of Bib. Lit.,\nreasons in a similar method as to the place of the crucifixion, and\nsupposing that the soldiers, from the fear of a popular tumult, would\nhurry Jesus to the most convenient spot for execution, says, \"Then the\nroad to Joppa or Damascus would be most convenient, and no spot in the\nvicinity would probably be so suitable as the slight rounded elevation\nwhich bore the name of Calvary.\"\n\n[175] Some have supposed that it was so called because it was the place of\npublic execution. _Gulgoleth_ in Hebrew, or _gogultho_ in Syriac, means _a\nskull_.\n\n[176] Quoted in Oliver, _Landmarks_, vol. i. p. 587, note.\n\n[177] Oliver's idea (_Landmarks_, ii. 149) that _cassia_ has, since the\nyear 1730, been corrupted into _acacia_, is contrary to all etymological\nexperience. Words are corrupted, not by lengthening, but by abbreviating\nthem. The uneducated and the careless are always prone to cut off a\nsyllable, not to add a new one.\n\n[178] And yet I have been surprised by seeing, once or twice, the word\n\"Cassia\" adopted as the name of a lodge. \"Cinnamon\" or \"sandal wood\" would\nhave been as appropriate, for any masonic meaning or symbolism.\n\n[179] Eclog. ii. 49.\n\n    \"Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens,\n     Narcissum et florem jungit ben\u00e8 olentis anethi:\n     Tum casia, atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis,\n     Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia, caltha.\"\n\n[180] Exod. xxx. 24, Ezek. xxvii. 9, and Ps. xlv. 8.\n\n[181] Oliver, it is true, says, that \"there is not the smallest trace of\nany tree of the kind growing so far north as Jerusalem\" (_Landm._ ii.\n136); but this statement is refuted by the authority of Lieutenant Lynch,\nwho saw it growing in great abundance at Jericho, and still farther\nnorth.--_Exped. to the Dead Sea_, p. 262.--The Rabbi Joseph Schwarz, who\nis excellent authority, says, \"The Acacia (Shittim) Tree, Al Sunt, is\nfound in Palestine of different varieties; it looks like the Mulberry\ntree, attains a great height, and has a hard wood. The gum which is\nobtained from it is the gum Arabic.\"--_Descriptive Geography and\nHistorical Sketch of Palestine_, p. 308, Leeser's translation. Phila.,\n1850.--Schwarz was for sixteen years a resident of Palestine, and wrote\nfrom personal observation. The testimony of Lynch and Schwarz should,\ntherefore, forever settle the question of the existence of the acacia in\nPalestine.\n\n[182] Calmet, Parkhurst, Gesenius, Clarke, Shaw, and all the best\nauthorities, concur in saying that the _otzi shittim_, or shittim wood of\nExodus, was the common acacia or mimosa nilotica of Linn\u00e6us.\n\n[183] \"This custom among the Hebrews arose from this circumstance.\nAgreeably to their laws, no dead bodies were allowed to be interred within\nthe walls of the city; and as the Cohens, or priests, were prohibited from\ncrossing a grave, it was necessary to place marks thereon, that they might\navoid them. For this purpose the acacia was used.\"--DALCHO, _Oration_, p.\n27, note.--I object to the reason assigned by Dalcho; but of the existence\nof the custom there can be no question, notwithstanding the denial or\ndoubt of Dr. Oliver. Blount (_Travels in the Levant_, p. 197) says,\nspeaking of the Jewish burial customs, \"those who bestow a marble stone\nover any [grave] have a hole a yard long and a foot broad, in which _they\nplant an evergreen_, which seems to grow from the body, and is carefully\nwatched.\" Hasselquist (_Travels_, p. 28) confirms his testimony. I borrow\nthe citations from Brown (_Antiquities of the Jews_, vol. ii. p. 356), but\nhave verified the reference to Hasselquist. The work of Blount I have not\nbeen enabled to consult.\n\n[184] Antiquities of Greece, p. 569.\n\n[185] Dr. Crucefix, MS., quoted by Oliver, _Landmarks_, ii. 2.\n\n[186] Spirit of Masonry, lect. ix. p. 99.\n\n[187] The Temple of Solomon, ch. ix. p. 233.\n\n[188] It is probable that the quince derived this symbolism, like the\nacacia, from its name; for there seems to be some connection between the\nGreek word \u03d7\u03c5\u03b4\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, which means _a quince_, and the participle \u03d7\u03c5\u03b4\u03af\u03c9\u03bd,\nwhich signifies _rejoicing, exulting_. But this must have been an\nafterthought, for the name is derived from Cydon, in Crete, of which\nisland the quince is a native.\n\n[189] Desprez, speaking of the palm as an emblem of victory, says\n(_Comment. in Horat. Od._ I. i. 5), \"Palma ver\u00f2 signum victoriae passim\napud omnes statuitur, ex Plutarcho, propterea quod ea est ejus natura\nligni, ut urgentibus opprimentibusque minim\u00e8 cedat. Unde est illud Alciati\nepigramma,--\n\n    'Nititur in pondus palma, et consurgit in altum:\n    Quoque magis premitur, hoc mag\u00e8 tollit onus.'\"\n\nIt is in the eighth book of his Symposia that Plutarch states this\npeculiar property of the palm to resist the oppression of any\nsuperincumbent weight, and to rise up against it, whence it was adopted as\nthe symbol of victory. Cowley also alludes to it in his _Davideis_.\n\n    \"Well did he know how palms by oppression speed\n    Victorious, and the victor's sacred meed.\"\n\n\n[190] \"Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was\nnot only carried at funerals, but worn at weddings.\"--STEEVENS, _Notes on\nHamlet_, a. iv. s. 5.--Douce (_Illustrations of Shakspeare_, i. 345) gives\nthe following old song in reference to this subject:--\n\n    \"Rosemarie is for remembrance\n      Betweene us daie and night,\n    Wishing that I might always have\n      You present in my sight.\"\n\n[191] Ste. Croix (_Recherches sur les Myst\u00e8res_, i. 56) says that in the\nSamothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table,\nbecause, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the blood\nof Cadmillus, slain by his brothers.\n\n[192] \"The Hindoos,\" says Faber, \"represent their mundane lotus, as having\nfour large leaves and four small leaves placed alternately, while from the\ncentre of the flower rises a protuberance. Now, the circular cup formed by\nthe eight leaves they deem a symbol of the earth, floating on the surface\nof the ocean, and consisting of four large continents and four\nintermediate smaller islands; while the centrical protuberance is viewed\nby them as representing their sacred Mount Menu.\"--_Communication to Gent.\nMag._ vol. lxxxvi. p. 408.\n\n[193] The _erica arborea_ or tree heath.\n\n[194] Ragon thus alludes to this mystical event: \"Isis found the body of\nOsiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the\n_erica_. Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a\nfountain, whose waters issued from a rock. This rock is the _small hill\n_mentioned in the ritual; the erica has been replaced by the acacia, and\nthe grief of Isis has been changed for that of the fellow crafts.\"--_Cours\ndes Initiations_, p. 151.\n\n[195] It is singular, and perhaps significant, that the word _eriko_, in\nGreek, \u1f10\u03c1\u03af\u03d7\u03c9, whence _erica_ is probably derived, means _to break in\npieces, to mangle_.\n\n[196] Histoire Pittoresque des Religions, t. i. p. 217.\n\n[197] According to Toland (_Works_, i. 74), the festival of searching,\ncutting, and consecrating the mistletoe, took place on the 10th of March,\nor New Year's day. \"This,\" he says, \"is the ceremony to which Virgil\nalludes, by his _golden branch_, in the Sixth Book of the \u00c6neid.\" No doubt\nof it; for all these sacred plants had a common origin in some ancient and\ngeneral symbolic idea.\n\n[198] \"Under this branch is figured the wreath of myrtle, with which the\ninitiated were crowned at the celebration of the Mysteries.\"--WARBURTON,\n_Divine Legation_, vol. i. p. 299.\n\n[199] \"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.\" Gen. iii. 19. Bush\ninterprets the decree to mean that \"some species of toilsome occupation is\nthe appointed lot of all men.\"\n\n[200] Aristotle says, \"He that cannot contract society with others, or\nwho, through his own self-sufficiency \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03ac\u03c1\u03d7\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd, does not need it, forms\nno part of the community, but is either a wild beast or a god.\"\n\n[201] \"Der Arbeiter,\" says Lenning, \"ist der symbolische Name eines\nFreimaurers\"--the Workman is the symbolic name of a Freemason.--_Encyclop.\nder Fraumererei._\n\n[202] John iii. 19-21.\n\n[203] I Corinth, iii. 9.\n\n[204] Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture\nLight, ch. ix. p. 192. London, 1659.\n\n[205] Swedenborg a Hermetic Philosopher, &c., p. 210. The object of the\nauthor is to show that the Swedish sage was an adept, and that his\nwritings may be interpreted from the point of view of Hermetic philosophy.\n\n[206] Cours Philosophique et Interpr\u00e9tatif des Initiations Anciennes et\nModernes, p. 99.\n\n[207] Ibid., p. 176.\n\n[208] Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale de la Franc-ma\u00e7onnerie, p. 52.\n\n[209] Histoire de la Magie, liv. v. ch. vii. p. 100.\n\n[210] Vorlesung \u00fcber das Symbol des Tempels, in the \"Jarb\u00fcchern der Gross.\nLoge Roy. York zur Freundschaft,\" cited by Lenning, Encyc., voc. _Tempel_.\n\n[211] In an Essay on the Masonic Idea of Man's Destination, cited by\nLenning, _ut supra_, from the Altenburg _Zeitschift der Freimaurerei_.\n\n[212] Cited by Lenning, _ut sup._\n\n[213] Thus Dr. Oliver, while treating of the relation of the temple to the\nlodge, thus briefly alludes to this important symbol: \"As our ancient\nbrethren erected a material temple, without the use of axe, hammer, or\nmetal tool, so is our moral temple constructed.\"--_Historical Landmarks_,\nlect. xxxi.\n\n[214] System of Speculative Masonry, ch. vi. p. 63.\n\n[215] On the Speculative Temple--an essay read in 1861 before the Grand\nLodge of Alabama.\n\n[216] A portion of this essay, but in a very abridged form, was used by\nthe author in his work on \"Cryptic Masonry.\"\n\n[217] Hist. Landmarks, i. 459, note 52.\n\n[218] \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05e9 \u05da\u05d1\u05d0 See the Gemara and Buxtorf Lex. Talm., p. 2541.\n\n[219] Job xxxviii. 4-7.\n\n[220] A New Translation of the Book of Job, notes, p. 196.\n\n[221] In voc. \u05d4\u05d9\u05d9\u05ea\u05e9, where some other curious extracts from the\nTalmud and Talmudic writers on the subject of the Stone of Foundation are\ngiven.\n\n[222] Sepher Toldoth Jeshu, p. 6. The abominably scurrilous character of\nthis work aroused the indignation of the Christians, who, in the fifteenth\ncentury, were not distinguished for a spirit of tolerance, and the Jews,\nbecoming alarmed, made every effort to suppress it. But, in 1681, it was\nrepublished by Wagenselius in his \"Tela Ignea Satanae,\" with a Latin\ntranslation.\n\n[223] Comment, on Gen. xxviii. 18.\n\n[224] \"Ni fallit fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare\ntenentur ibidem.\"\n\n[225] Old and New Testament connected, vol. i. p. 148.\n\n[226] The Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture Light, ch. ix. p.\n194. Of the Mysteries laid up in the Foundation of the Temple.\n\n[227] See Pausanias, lib. iv.\n\n[228] The \"Disputationes adversus Gentes\" of Arnobius supplies us with a\nfund of information on the symbolism of the classic mythology.\n\n[229] Naology, ch. iii. p. 119.\n\n[230] Cornut. de Nat. Deor. c. 16.\n\n[231] Essais sur les Fables, t. i. lett. 2. p. 9.\n\n[232] Bosworth (_Aug. Sax. Dict._) defines _treowth_ to signify \"troth,\ntruth, treaty, league, pledge, covenant.\"","title":"The symbolism of Freemasonry : $b Illustrating and explaining its science and philosophy, its legends, myths and symbols","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":102275}