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Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the work.

This book contains words and phrases in both Greek and Hebrew. Greek
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The Symbolism of Freemasonry:

Illustrating and Explaining
Its Science and Philosophy, its Legends,
Myths and Symbols.


By

Albert G. Mackey, M.D.,


  "_Ea enim quae scribuntur tria habere decent, utilitatem praesentem,
  certum finem, inexpugnabile fundamentum._"

  Cardanus.


1882.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by ALBERT G.
MACKEY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
South Carolina.




To General John C. Fremont.



My Dear Sir:

While any American might be proud of associating his name with that of
one who has done so much to increase the renown of his country, and to
enlarge the sum of human knowledge, this book is dedicated to you as a
slight testimonial of regard for your personal character, and in grateful
recollection of acts of friendship.

Yours very truly,

A. G. Mackey.




Preface.



Of the various modes of communicating instruction to the uninformed, the
masonic student is particularly interested in two; namely, the instruction
by legends and that by symbols. It is to these two, almost exclusively,
that he is indebted for all that he knows, and for all that he can know,
of the philosophic system which is taught in the institution. All its
mysteries and its dogmas, which constitute its philosophy, are intrusted
for communication to the neophyte, sometimes to one, sometimes to the
other of these two methods of instruction, and sometimes to both of them
combined. The Freemason has no way of reaching any of the esoteric
teachings of the Order except through the medium of a legend or a symbol.

A legend differs from an historical narrative only in this--that it is
without documentary evidence of authenticity. It is the offspring solely
of tradition. Its details may be true in part or in whole. There may be no
internal evidence to the contrary, or there may be internal evidence that
they are altogether false. But neither the possibility of truth in the one
case, nor the certainty of falsehood in the other, can remove the
traditional narrative from the class of legends. It is a legend simply
because it rests on no written foundation. It is oral, and therefore
legendary.

In grave problems of history, such as the establishment of empires, the
discovery and settlement of countries, or the rise and fall of dynasties,
the knowledge of the truth or falsity of the legendary narrative will be
of importance, because the value of history is impaired by the imputation
of doubt. But it is not so in Freemasonry. Here there need be no absolute
question of the truth or falsity of the legend. The object of the masonic
legends is not to establish historical facts, but to convey philosophical
doctrines. They are a method by which esoteric instruction is
communicated, and the student accepts them with reference to nothing else
except their positive use and meaning as developing masonic dogmas. Take,
for instance, the Hiramic legend of the third degree. Of what importance
is it to the disciple of Masonry whether it be true or false? All that he
wants to know is its internal signification; and when he learns that it is
intended to illustrate the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, he is
content with that interpretation, and he does not deem it necessary,
except as a matter of curious or antiquarian inquiry, to investigate its
historical accuracy, or to reconcile any of its apparent contradictions.
So of the lost keystone; so of the second temple; so of the hidden ark:
these are to him legendary narratives, which, like the casket, would be of
no value were it not for the precious jewel contained within. Each of
these legends is the expression of a philosophical idea.

But there is another method of masonic instruction, and that is by
symbols. No science is more ancient than that of symbolism. At one time,
nearly all the learning of the world was conveyed in symbols. And although
modern philosophy now deals only in abstract propositions, Freemasonry
still cleaves to the ancient method, and has preserved it in its
primitive importance as a means of communicating knowledge.

According to the derivation of the word from the Greek, "to symbolize"
signifies "to compare one thing with another." Hence a symbol is the
expression of an idea that has been derived from the comparison or
contrast of some object with a moral conception or attribute. Thus we say
that the plumb is a symbol of rectitude of conduct. The physical qualities
of the plumb are here compared or contrasted with the moral conception of
virtue, or rectitude. Then to the Speculative Mason it becomes, after he
has been taught its symbolic meaning, the visible expression of the idea
of moral uprightness.

But although there are these two modes of instruction in Freemasonry,--by
legends and by symbols,--there really is no radical difference between the
two methods. The symbol is a visible, and the legend an audible
representation of some contrasted idea--of some moral conception produced
from a comparison. Both the legend and the symbol relate to dogmas of a
deep religious character; both of them convey moral sentiments in the same
peculiar method, and both of them are designed by this method to
illustrate the philosophy of Speculative Masonry.

To investigate the recondite meaning of these legends and symbols, and to
elicit from them the moral and philosophical lessons which they were
intended to teach, is to withdraw the veil with which ignorance and
indifference seek to conceal the true philosophy of Freemasonry.

To study the symbolism of Masonry is the only way to investigate its
philosophy. This is the portal of its temple, through which alone we can
gain access to the sacellum where its aporrheta are concealed.

Its philosophy is engaged in the consideration of propositions relating to
God and man, to the present and the future life. Its science is the
symbolism by which these propositions are presented to the mind.

The work now offered to the public is an effort to develop and explain
this philosophy and science. It will show that there are in Freemasonry
the germs of profound speculation. If it does not interest the learned, it
may instruct the ignorant. If so, I shall not regret the labor and
research that have been bestowed upon its composition.

ALBERT G. MACKEY, M.D.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Feb. 22, 1869.




Contents.



     I. Preliminary.
    II. The Noachidae.
   III. The Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity.
    IV. The Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.
     V. The Ancient Mysteries.
    VI. The Dionysiac Artificers.
   VII. The Union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at the Temple of
        Solomon.
  VIII. The Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.
    IX. Disseverance of the Operative Element.
     X. The System of Symbolic Instruction.
    XI. The Speculative Science and the Operative Art.
   XII. The Symbolism of Solomon's Temple.
  XIII. The Form of the Lodge.
   XIV. The Officers of a Lodge.
    XV. The Point within a Circle.
   XVI. The Covering of the Lodge.
  XVII. Ritualistic Symbolism.
 XVIII. The Rite of Discalceation.
   XIX. The Rite of Investiture.
    XX. The Symbolism of the Gloves.
   XXI. The Rite of Circumambulation.
  XXII. The Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light.
 XXIII. Symbolism of the Corner-stone.
  XXIV. The Ineffable Name.
   XXV. The Legends of Freemasonry.
  XXVI. The Legend of the Winding Stairs.
 XXVII. The Legend of the Third Degree.
XXVIII. The Sprig of Acacia.
  XXIX. The Symbolism of Labor.
   XXX. The Stone of Foundation.
  XXXI. The Lost Word.

Synoptical Index.




I.

Preliminary.



The Origin and Progress of Freemasonry.


Any inquiry into the symbolism and philosophy of Freemasonry must
necessarily be preceded by a brief investigation of the origin and history
of the institution. Ancient and universal as it is, whence did it arise?
What were the accidents connected with its birth? From what kindred or
similar association did it spring? Or was it original and autochthonic,
independent, in its inception, of any external influences, and unconnected
with any other institution? These are questions which an intelligent
investigator will be disposed to propound in the very commencement of the
inquiry; and they are questions which must be distinctly answered before
he can be expected to comprehend its true character as a symbolic
institution. He must know something of its antecedents, before he can
appreciate its character.

But he who expects to arrive at a satisfactory solution of this inquiry
must first--as a preliminary absolutely necessary to success--release
himself from the influence of an error into which novices in Masonic
philosophy are too apt to fall. He must not confound the doctrine of
Freemasonry with its outward and extrinsic form. He must not suppose that
certain usages and ceremonies, which exist at this day, but which, even
now, are subject to extensive variations in different countries,
constitute the sum and substance of Freemasonry. "Prudent antiquity," says
Lord Coke, "did for more solemnity and better memory and observation of
that which is to be done, express substances under ceremonies." But it
must be always remembered that the ceremony is not the substance. It is
but the outer garment which covers and perhaps adorns it, as clothing does
the human figure. But divest man of that outward apparel, and you still
have the microcosm, the wondrous creation, with all his nerves, and bones,
and muscles, and, above all, with his brain, and thoughts, and feelings.
And so take from Masonry these external ceremonies, and you still have
remaining its philosophy and science. These have, of course, always
continued the same, while the ceremonies have varied in different ages,
and still vary in different countries.

The definition of Freemasonry that it is "a science of morality, veiled in
allegory, and illustrated by symbols," has been so often quoted, that,
were it not for its beauty, it would become wearisome. But this definition
contains the exact principle that has just been enunciated. Freemasonry
is a science--a philosophy--a system of doctrines which is taught, in a
manner peculiar to itself, by allegories and symbols. This is its internal
character. Its ceremonies are external additions, which affect not its
substance.

Now, when we are about to institute an inquiry into the origin of
Freemasonry, it is of this peculiar system of philosophy that we are to
inquire, and not of the ceremonies which have been foisted on it. If we
pursue any other course we shall assuredly fall into error.

Thus, if we seek the origin and first beginning of the Masonic philosophy,
we must go away back into the ages of remote antiquity, when we shall find
this beginning in the bosom of kindred associations, where the same
philosophy was maintained and taught. But if we confound the ceremonies of
Masonry with the philosophy of Masonry, and seek the origin of the
institution, moulded into outward form as it is to-day, we can scarcely be
required to look farther back than the beginning of the eighteenth
century, and, indeed, not quite so far. For many important modifications
have been made in its rituals since that period.

Having, then, arrived at the conclusion that it is not the Masonic ritual,
but the Masonic philosophy, whose origin we are to investigate, the next
question naturally relates to the peculiar nature of that philosophy.

Now, then, I contend that the philosophy of Freemasonry is engaged in the
contemplation of the divine and human character; of GOD as one eternal,
self-existent being, in contradiction to the mythology of the ancient
peoples, which was burdened with a multitude of gods and goddesses, of
demigods and heroes; of MAN as an immortal being, preparing in the present
life for an eternal future, in like contradiction to the ancient
philosophy, which circumscribed the existence of man to the present life.

These two doctrines, then, of the unity of God and the immortality of the
soul, constitute the philosophy of Freemasonry. When we wish to define it
succinctly, we say that it is an ancient system of philosophy which
teaches these two dogmas. And hence, if, amid the intellectual darkness
and debasement of the old polytheistic religions, we find interspersed
here and there, in all ages, certain institutions or associations which
taught these truths, and that, in a particular way, allegorically and
symbolically, then we have a right to say that such institutions or
associations were the incunabula--the predecessors--of the Masonic
institution as it now exists.

With these preliminary remarks the reader will be enabled to enter upon
the consideration of that theory of the origin of Freemasonry which I
advance in the following propositions:--

1. In the first place, I contend that in the very earliest ages of the
world there were existent certain truths of vast importance to the welfare
and happiness of humanity, which had been communicated,--no matter how,
but,--most probably, by direct inspiration from God to man.

2. These truths principally consisted in the abstract propositions of the
unity of God and the immortality of the soul. Of the truth of these two
propositions there cannot be a reasonable doubt. The belief in these
truths is a necessary consequence of that religious sentiment which has
always formed an essential feature of human nature. Man is, emphatically,
and in distinction from all other creatures, a religious animal. Gross
commences his interesting work on "The Heathen Religion in its Popular and
Symbolical Development" by the statement that "one of the most remarkable
phenomena of the human race is the universal existence of religious
ideas--a belief in something supernatural and divine, and a worship
corresponding to it." As nature had implanted the religious sentiment, the
same nature must have directed it in a proper channel. The belief and the
worship must at first have been as pure as the fountain whence they
flowed, although, in subsequent times, and before the advent of Christian
light, they may both have been corrupted by the influence of the priests
and the poets over an ignorant and superstitious people. The first and
second propositions of my theory refer only to that primeval period which
was antecedent to these corruptions, of which I shall hereafter speak.

3. These truths of God and immortality were most probably handed down
through the line of patriarchs of the race of Seth, but were, at all
events, known to Noah, and were by him communicated to his immediate
descendants.

4. In consequence of this communication, the true worship of God
continued, for some time after the subsidence of the deluge, to be
cultivated by the Noachidae, the Noachites, or the descendants of Noah.

5. At a subsequent period (no matter when, but the biblical record places
it at the attempted building of the tower of Babel), there was a secession
of a large number of the human race from the Noachites.

6. These seceders rapidly lost sight of the divine truths which had been
communicated to them from their common ancestor, and fell into the most
grievous theological errors, corrupting the purity of the worship and the
orthodoxy of the religious faith which they had primarily received.

7. These truths were preserved in their integrity by but a very few in the
patriarchal line, while still fewer were enabled to retain only dim and
glimmering portions of the true light.

8. The first class was confined to the direct descendants of Noah, and the
second was to be found among the priests and philosophers, and, perhaps,
still later, among the poets of the heathen nations, and among those whom
they initiated into the secrets of these truths. Of the prevalence of
these religious truths among the patriarchal descendants of Noah, we have
ample evidence in the sacred records. As to their existence among a body
of learned heathens, we have the testimony of many intelligent writers who
have devoted their energies to this subject. Thus the learned Grote, in
his "History of Greece," says, "The allegorical interpretation of the
myths has been, by several learned investigators, especially by Creuzer,
connected with the hypothesis of _an ancient and highly instructed body of
priests_, having their origin either in Egypt or in the East, and
communicating to the rude and barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and
historical knowledge, _under the veil of symbols_." What is here said only
of the Greeks is equally applicable to every other intellectual nation of
antiquity.

9. The system or doctrine of the former class has been called by Masonic
writers the "Pure or Primitive Freemasonry" of antiquity, and that of the
latter class the "Spurious Freemasonry" of the same period. These terms
were first used, if I mistake not, by Dr. Oliver, and are intended to
refer--the word _pure_ to the doctrines taught by the descendants of Noah
in the Jewish line and the word _spurious_ to his descendants in the
heathen or Gentile line.

10. The masses of the people, among the Gentiles especially, were totally
unacquainted with this divine truth, which was the foundation stone of
both species of Freemasonry, the pure and the spurious, and were deeply
immersed in the errors and falsities of heathen belief and worship.

11. These errors of the heathen religions were not the voluntary
inventions of the peoples who cultivated them, but were gradual and almost
unavoidable corruptions of the truths which had been at first taught by
Noah; and, indeed, so palpable are these corruptions, that they can be
readily detected and traced to the original form from which, however much
they might vary among different peoples, they had, at one time or another,
deviated. Thus, in the life and achievements of Bacchus or Dionysus, we
find the travestied counterpart of the career of Moses, and in the name of
Vulcan, the blacksmith god, we evidently see an etymological corruption of
the appellation of Tubal Cain, the first artificer in metals. For
_Vul-can_ is but a modified form of _Baal-Cain_, the god Cain.

12. But those among the masses--and there were some--who were made
acquainted with the truth, received their knowledge by means of an
initiation into certain sacred Mysteries, in the bosom of which it was
concealed from the public gaze.

13. These Mysteries existed in every country of heathendom, in each under
a different name, and to some extent under a different form, but always
and everywhere with the same design of inculcating, by allegorical and
symbolic teachings, the great Masonic doctrines of the unity of God and
the immortality of the soul. This is an important proposition, and the
fact which it enunciates must never be lost sight of in any inquiry into
the origin of Freemasonry; for the pagan Mysteries were to the spurious
Freemasonry of antiquity precisely what the Masters' lodges are to the
Freemasonry of the present day. It is needless to offer any proof of their
existence, since this is admitted and continually referred to by all
historians, ancient and modern; and to discuss minutely their character
and organization would occupy a distinct treatise. The Baron de Sainte
Croix has written two large volumes on the subject, and yet left it
unexhausted.

14. These two divisions of the Masonic Institution which were defined in
the 9th proposition, namely, the pure or primitive Freemasonry among the
Jewish descendants of the patriarchs, who are called, by way of
distinction, the Noachites, or descendants of Noah, because they had not
forgotten nor abandoned the teachings of their great ancestor, and the
spurious Freemasonry practised among the pagan nations, flowed down the
stream of time in parallel currents, often near together, but never
commingling.

15. But these two currents were not always to be kept apart, for,
springing, in the long anterior ages, from one common fountain,--that
ancient priesthood of whom I have already spoken in the 8th
proposition,--and then dividing into the pure and spurious Freemasonry of
antiquity, and remaining separated for centuries upon centuries, they at
length met at the building of the great temple of Jerusalem, and were
united, in the instance of the Israelites under King Solomon, and the
Tyrians under Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif. The spurious
Freemasonry, it is true, did not then and there cease to exist. On the
contrary, it lasted for centuries subsequent to this period; for it was
not until long after, and in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius, that
the pagan Mysteries were finally and totally abolished. But by the union
of the Jewish or pure Freemasons and the Tyrian or spurious Freemasons at
Jerusalem, there was a mutual infusion of their respective doctrines and
ceremonies, which eventually terminated in the abolition of the two
distinctive systems and the establishment of a new one, that may be
considered as the immediate prototype of the present institution. Hence
many Masonic students, going no farther back in their investigations than
the facts announced in this 15th proposition, are content to find the
origin of Freemasonry at the temple of Solomon. But if my theory be
correct, the truth is, that it there received, not its birth, but only a
new modification of its character. The legend of the third degree--the
golden legend, the _legenda aurea_--of Masonry was there adopted by pure
Freemasonry, which before had no such legend, from spurious Freemasonry.
But the legend had existed under other names and forms, in all the
Mysteries, for ages before. The doctrine of immortality, which had
hitherto been taught by the Noachites simply as an abstract proposition,
was thenceforth to be inculcated by a symbolic lesson--the symbol of Hiram
the Builder was to become forever after the distinctive feature of
Freemasonry.

16. But another important modification was effected in the Masonic system
at the building of the temple. Previous to the union which then took
place, the pure Freemasonry of the Noachites had always been speculative,
but resembled the present organization in no other way than in the
cultivation of the same abstract principles of divine truth.

17. The Tyrians, on the contrary, were architects by profession, and, as
their leaders were disciples of the school of the spurious Freemasonry,
they, for the first time, at the temple of Solomon, when they united with
their Jewish contemporaries, infused into the speculative science, which
was practised by the latter, the elements of an operative art.

18. Therefore the system continued thenceforward, for ages, to present the
commingled elements of operative and speculative Masonry. We see this in
the _Collegia Fabrorum_, or Colleges of Artificers, first established at
Rome by Numa, and which were certainly of a Masonic form in their
organization; in the Jewish sect of the Essenes, who wrought as well as
prayed, and who are claimed to have been the descendants of the temple
builders, and also, and still more prominently, in the Travelling
Freemasons of the middle ages, who identify themselves by their very name
with their modern successors, and whose societies were composed of learned
men who thought and wrote, and of workmen who labored and built. And so
for a long time Freemasonry continued to be both operative and
speculative.

19. But another change was to be effected in the institution to make it
precisely what it now is, and, therefore, at a very recent period
(comparatively speaking), the operative feature was abandoned, and
Freemasonry became wholly speculative. The exact time of this change is
not left to conjecture. It took place in the reign of Queen Anne, of
England, in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Preston gives us the
very words of the decree which established this change, for he says that
at that time it was agreed to "that the privileges of Masonry should no
longer be restricted to operative Masons, but extend to men of various
professions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the
order."

The nineteen propositions here announced contain a brief but succinct view
of the progress of Freemasonry from its origin in the early ages of the
world, simply as a system of religious philosophy, through all the
modifications to which it was submitted in the Jewish and Gentile races,
until at length it was developed in its present perfected form. During all
this time it preserved unchangeably certain features that may hence be
considered as its specific characteristics, by which it has always been
distinguished from every other contemporaneous association, however such
association may have simulated it in outward form. These characteristics
are, first, the doctrines which it has constantly taught, namely, that of
the unity of God and that of the immortality of the soul; and, secondly,
the manner in which these doctrines have been taught, namely, by symbols
and allegories.

Taking these characteristics as the exponents of what Freemasonry is, we
cannot help arriving at the conclusion that the speculative Masonry of the
present day exhibits abundant evidence of the identity of its origin with
the spurious Freemasonry of the ante-Solomonic period, both systems coming
from the same pure source, but the one always preserving, and the other
continually corrupting, the purity of the common fountain. This is also
the necessary conclusion as a corollary from the propositions advanced in
this essay.

There is also abundant evidence in the history, of which these
propositions are but a meagre outline, that a manifest influence was
exerted on the pure or primitive Freemasonry of the Noachites by the
Tyrian branch of the spurious system, in the symbols, myths, and legends
which the former received from the latter, but which it so modified and
interpreted as to make them consistent with its own religious system. One
thing, at least, is incapable of refutation; and that is, that we are
indebted to the Tyrian Masons for the introduction of the symbol of Hiram
Abif. The idea of the symbol, although modified by the Jewish Masons, is
not Jewish in its inception. It was evidently borrowed from the pagan
mysteries, where Bacchus, Adonis, Proserpine, and a host of other
apotheosized beings play the same rôle that Hiram does in the Masonic
mysteries.

And lastly, we find in the technical terms of Masonry, in its working
tools, in the names of its grades, and in a large majority of its symbols,
ample testimony of the strong infusion into its religious philosophy of
the elements of an operative art. And history again explains this fact by
referring to the connection of the institution with the Dionysiac
Fraternity of Artificers, who were engaged in building the temple of
Solomon, with the Workmen's Colleges of Numa, and with the Travelling
Freemasons of the middle ages, who constructed all the great buildings of
that period.

These nineteen propositions, which have been submitted in the present
essay, constitute a brief summary or outline of a theory of the true
origin of Freemasonry, which long and patient investigation has led me to
adopt. To attempt to prove the truth of each of these propositions in its
order by logical demonstration, or by historical evidence, would involve
the writing of an elaborate treatise. They are now offered simply as
suggestions on which the Masonic student may ponder. They are but intended
as guide-posts, which may direct him in his journey should he undertake
the pleasant although difficult task of instituting an inquiry into the
origin and progress of Freemasonry from its birth to its present state of
full-grown manhood.

But even in this abridged form they are absolutely necessary as
preliminary to any true understanding of the symbolism of Freemasonry.




II.

The Noachidæ.



I proceed, then, to inquire into the historical origin of Freemasonry, as
a necessary introduction to any inquiry into the character of its
symbolism. To do this, with any expectation of rendering justice to the
subject, it is evident that I shall have to take my point of departure at
a very remote era. I shall, however, review the early and antecedent
history of the institution with as much brevity as a distinct
understanding of the subject will admit.

Passing over all that is within the antediluvian history of the world, as
something that exerted, so far as our subject is concerned, no influence
on the new world which sprang forth from the ruins of the old, we find,
soon after the cataclysm, the immediate descendants of Noah in the
possession of at least two religious truths, which they received from
their common father, and which he must have derived from the line of
patriarchs who preceded him. These truths were the doctrine of the
existence of a Supreme Intelligence, the Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of
the Universe, and, as a necessary corollary, the belief in the immortality
of the soul[1], which, as an emanation from that primal cause, was to be
distinguished, by a future and eternal life, from the vile and perishable
dust which forms its earthly tabernacle.

The assertion that these doctrines were known to and recognized by Noah
will not appear as an assumption to the believer in divine revelation. But
any philosophic mind must, I conceive, come to the same conclusion,
independently of any other authority than that of reason.

The religious sentiment, so far, at least, as it relates to the belief in
the existence of God, appears to be in some sense innate, or instinctive,
and consequently universal in the human mind[2]. There is no record of
any nation, however intellectually and morally debased, that has not given
some evidence of a tendency to such belief. The sentiment may be
perverted, the idea may be grossly corrupted, but it is nevertheless
there, and shows the source whence it sprang[3].

Even in the most debased forms of fetichism, where the negro kneels in
reverential awe before the shrine of some uncouth and misshapen idol,
which his own hands, perhaps, have made, the act of adoration, degrading
as the object may be, is nevertheless an acknowledgment of the longing
need of the worshipper to throw himself upon the support of some unknown
power higher than his own sphere. And this unknown power, be it what it
may, is to him a God.[4]

But just as universal has been the belief in the immortality of the soul.
This arises from the same longing in man for the infinite; and although,
like the former doctrine, it has been perverted and corrupted, there
exists among all nations a tendency to its acknowledgment. Every people,
from the remotest times, have wandered involuntarily into the ideal of
another world, and sought to find a place for their departed spirits. The
deification of the dead, man-worship, or hero-worship, the next
development of the religious idea after fetichism, was simply an
acknowledgment of the belief in a future life; for the dead could not have
been deified unless after death they had continued to live. The adoration
of a putrid carcass would have been a form of fetichism lower and more
degrading than any that has been discovered.

But man-worship came after fetichism. It was a higher development of the
religious sentiment, and included a possible hope for, if not a positive
belief in, a future life.

Reason, then, as well as revelation, leads us irresistibly to the
conclusion that these two doctrines prevailed among the descendants of
Noah, immediately after the deluge. They were believed, too, in all their
purity and integrity, because they were derived from the highest and
purest source.

These are the doctrines which still constitute the creed of Freemasonry;
and hence one of the names bestowed upon the Freemasons from the earliest
times was that of the "_Noachidae_" or "_Noachites_" that is to say, the
descendants of Noah, and the transmitters of his religious dogmas.




III.

The Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity.



The next important historical epoch which demands our attention is that
connected with what, in sacred history, is known as the dispersion at
Babel. The brightness of truth, as it had been communicated by Noah,
became covered, as it were, with a cloud. The dogmas of the unity of God
and the immortality of the soul were lost sight of, and the first
deviation from the true worship occurred in the establishment of
Sabianism, or the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, among some peoples,
and the deification of men among others. Of these two deviations,
Sabianism, or sun-worship, was both the earlier and the more generally
diffused.[5] "It seems," says the learned Owen, "to have had its rise
from some broken traditions conveyed by the patriarchs touching the
dominion of the sun by day and of the moon by night." The mode in which
this old system has been modified and spiritually symbolized by
Freemasonry will be the subject of future consideration.

But Sabianism, while it was the most ancient of the religious corruptions,
was, I have said, also the most generally diffused; and hence, even among
nations which afterwards adopted the polytheistic creed of deified men and
factitious gods, this ancient sun-worship is seen to be continually
exerting its influences. Thus, among the Greeks, the most refined people
that cultivated hero-worship, Hercules was the sun, and the mythologic
fable of his destroying with his arrows the many-headed hydra of the
Lernaean marshes was but an allegory to denote the dissipation of paludal
malaria by the purifying rays of the orb of day. Among the Egyptians, too,
the chief deity, Osiris, was but another name for the sun, while his
arch-enemy and destroyer, Typhon, was the typification of night, or
darkness. And lastly, among the Hindus, the three manifestations of their
supreme deity, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu, were symbols of the rising,
meridian, and setting sun.

This early and very general prevalence of the sentiment of sun-worship is
worthy of especial attention on account of the influence that it exercised
over the spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, of which I am soon to speak,
and which is still felt, although modified and Christianized in our modern
system. Many, indeed nearly all, of the masonic symbols of the present day
can only be thoroughly comprehended and properly appreciated by this
reference to sun-worship.

This divine truth, then, of the existence of one Supreme God, the Grand
Architect of the Universe, symbolized in Freemasonry as the TRUE WORD, was
lost to the Sabians and to the polytheists who arose after the dispersion
at Babel, and with it also disappeared the doctrine of a future life; and
hence, in one portion of the masonic ritual, in allusion to this historic
fact, we speak of "the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded
and Masonry lost."

There were, however, some of the builders on the plain of Shinar who
preserved these great religious and masonic doctrines of the unity of God
and the immortality of the soul in their pristine purity. These were the
patriarchs, in whose venerable line they continued to be taught. Hence,
years after the dispersion of the nations at Babel, the world presented
two great religious sects, passing onward down the stream of time, side by
side, yet as diverse from each other as light from darkness, and truth
from falsehood.

One of these lines of religious thought and sentiment was the idolatrous
and pagan world. With it all masonic doctrine, at least in its purity, was
extinct, although there mingled with it, and at times to some extent
influenced it, an offshoot from the other line, to which attention will be
soon directed.

The second of these lines consisted, as has already been said, of the
patriarchs and priests, who preserved in all their purity the two great
masonic doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.

This line embraced, then, what, in the language of recent masonic writers,
has been designated as the _Primitive Freemasonry of Antiquity_.

Now, it is by no means intended to advance any such gratuitous and
untenable theory as that proposed by some imaginative writers, that the
Freemasonry of the patriarchs was in its organization, its ritual, or its
symbolism, like the system which now exists. We know not indeed, that it
had a ritual, or even a symbolism. I am inclined to think that it was made
up of abstract propositions, derived from antediluvian traditions. Dr.
Oliver thinks it probable that there were a few symbols among these
Primitive and Pure Freemasons, and he enumerates among them the serpent,
the triangle, and the point within a circle; but I can find no authority
for the supposition, nor do I think it fair to claim for the order more
than it is fairly entitled to, nor more than it can be fairly proved to
possess. When Anderson calls Moses a Grand Master, Joshua his Deputy, and
Aholiab and Bezaleel Grand Wardens, the expression is to be looked upon
simply as a _façon de parler_, a mode of speech entirely figurative in its
character, and by no means intended to convey the idea which is
entertained in respect to officers of that character in the present
system. It would, undoubtedly, however, have been better that such
language should not have been used.

All that can be claimed for the system of Primitive Freemasonry, as
practised by the patriarchs, is, that it embraced and taught the two great
dogmas of Freemasonry, namely, the unity of God, and the immortality of
the soul. It may be, and indeed it is highly probable, that there was a
secret doctrine, and that this doctrine was not indiscriminately
communicated. We know that Moses, who was necessarily the recipient of the
knowledge of his predecessors, did not publicly teach the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul. But there was among the Jews an oral or secret
law which was never committed to writing until after the captivity; and
this law, I suppose, may have contained the recognition of those dogmas of
the Primitive Freemasonry.

Briefly, then, this system of Primitive Freemasonry,--without ritual or
symbolism, that has come down to us, at least,--consisting solely of
traditionary legends, teaching only the two great truths already alluded
to, and being wholly speculative in its character, without the slightest
infusion of an operative element, was regularly transmitted through the
Jewish line of patriarchs, priests, and kings, without alteration,
increase, or diminution, to the time of Solomon, and the building of the
temple at Jerusalem.

Leaving it, then, to pursue this even course of descent, let us refer once
more to that other line of religious history, the one passing through the
idolatrous and polytheistic nations of antiquity, and trace from it the
regular rise and progress of another division of the masonic institution,
which, by way of distinction, has been called the _Spurious Freemasonry of
Antiquity_.





IV.

The Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.



In the vast but barren desert of polytheism--dark and dreary as were its
gloomy domains--there were still, however, to be found some few oases of
truth. The philosophers and sages of antiquity had, in the course of their
learned researches, aided by the light of nature, discovered something of
those inestimable truths in relation to God and a future state which their
patriarchal contemporaries had received as a revelation made to their
common ancestry before the flood, and which had been retained and
promulgated after that event by Noah.

They were, with these dim but still purifying perceptions, unwilling to
degrade the majesty of the First Great Cause by sharing his attributes
with a Zeus and a Hera in Greece, a Jupiter and a Juno in Rome, an Osiris
and an Isis in Egypt; and they did not believe that the thinking, feeling,
reasoning soul, the guest and companion of the body, would, at the hour of
that body's dissolution, be consigned, with it, to total annihilation.

Hence, in the earliest ages after the era of the dispersion, there were
some among the heathen who believed in the unity of God and the
immortality of the soul. But these doctrines they durst not publicly
teach. The minds of the people, grovelling in superstition, and devoted,
as St. Paul testifies of the Athenians, to the worship of unknown gods,
were not prepared for the philosophic teachings of a pure theology. It
was, indeed, an axiom unhesitatingly enunciated and frequently repeated by
their writers, that "there are many truths with which it is useless for
the people to be made acquainted, and many fables which it is not
expedient that they should know to be false." [6] Such is the language of
Varro, as preserved by St. Augustine; and Strabo, another of their
writers, exclaims, "It is not possible for a philosopher to conduct a
multitude of women and ignorant people by a method of reasoning, and thus
to invite them to piety, holiness, and faith; but the philosopher must
also make use of superstition, and not omit the invention of fables and
the performance of wonders." [7]

While, therefore, in those early ages of the world, we find the masses
grovelling in the intellectual debasement of a polytheistic and idolatrous
religion, with no support for the present, no hope for the future,--living
without the knowledge of a supreme and superintending Providence, and
dying without the expectation of a blissful immortality,--we shall at the
same time find ample testimony that these consoling doctrines were
secretly believed by the philosophers and their disciples.

But though believed, they were not publicly taught. They were heresies
which it would have been impolitic and dangerous to have broached to the
public ear; they were truths which might have led to a contempt of the
established system and to the overthrow of the popular superstition.
Socrates, the Athenian sage, is an illustrious instance of the punishment
that was meted out to the bold innovator who attempted to insult the gods
and to poison the minds of youth with the heresies of a philosophic
religion. "They permitted, therefore," says a learned writer on this
subject[8], "the multitude to remain plunged as they were in the depth of
a gross and complicated idolatry; but for those philosophic few who could
bear the light of truth without being confounded by the blaze, they
removed the mysterious veil, and displayed to them the Deity in the
radiant glory of his unity. From the vulgar eye, however, these doctrines
were kept inviolably sacred, and wrapped in the veil of impenetrable
mystery."

The consequence of all this was, that no one was permitted to be invested
with the knowledge of these sublime truths, until by a course of severe
and arduous trials, by a long and painful initiation, and by a formal
series of gradual preparations, he had proved himself worthy and capable
of receiving the full light of wisdom. For this purpose, therefore, those
peculiar religious institutions were organized which the ancients
designated as the MYSTERIES, and which, from the resemblance of their
organization, their objects, and their doctrines, have by masonic writers
been called the "Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity."

Warburton,[9] in giving a definition of what these Mysteries were, says,
"Each of the pagan gods had (besides the public and open) a secret worship
paid unto him, to which none were admitted but those who had been selected
by preparatory ceremonies, called initiation. This secret worship was
termed the Mysteries." I shall now endeavor briefly to trace the
connection between these Mysteries and the institution of Freemasonry; and
to do so, it will be necessary to enter upon some details of the
constitution of those mystic assemblies.

Almost every country of the ancient world had its peculiar Mysteries,
dedicated to the occult worship of some especial and favorite god, and to
the inculcation of a secret doctrine, very different from that which was
taught in the public ceremonial of devotion. Thus in Persia the Mysteries
were dedicated to Mithras, or the Sun; in Egypt, to Isis and Osiris; in
Greece, to Demeter; in Samothracia, to the gods Cabiri, the Mighty Ones;
in Syria, to Dionysus; while in the more northern nations of Europe, such
as Gaul and Britain, the initiations were dedicated to their peculiar
deities, and were celebrated under the general name of the Druidical
rites. But no matter where or how instituted, whether ostensibly in honor
of the effeminate Adonis, the favorite of Venus, or of the implacable
Odin, the Scandinavian god of war and carnage; whether dedicated to
Demeter, the type of the earth, or to Mithras, the symbol of all that
fructifies that earth,--the great object and design of the secret
instruction were identical in all places, and the Mysteries constituted a
school of religion in which the errors and absurdities of polytheism were
revealed to the initiated. The candidate was taught that the multitudinous
deities of the popular theology were but hidden symbols of the various
attributes of the supreme god,--a spirit invisible and indivisible,--and
that the soul, as an emanation from his essence, could "never see
corruption," but must, after the death of the body, be raised to an
eternal life.[10]

That this was the doctrine and the object of the Mysteries is evident from
the concurrent testimony both of those ancient writers who flourished
contemporaneously with the practice of them, and of those modern scholars
who have devoted themselves to their investigation.

Thus Isocrates, speaking of them in his Panegyric, says, "Those who have
been initiated in the Mysteries of Ceres entertain better hopes both as to
the end of life and the whole of futurity." [11]

Epictetus[12] declares that everything in these Mysteries was instituted
by the ancients for the instruction and amendment of life.

And Plato[13] says that the design of initiation was to restore the soul
to that state of perfection from which it had originally fallen.

Thomas Taylor, the celebrated Platonist, who possessed an unusual
acquaintance with the character of these ancient rites, asserts that they
"obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions, the felicity of the
soul, both here and hereafter, when purified from the defilements of a
material nature, and constantly elevated to the realities of intellectual
vision." [14]

Creuzer,[15] a distinguished German writer, who has examined the subject
of the ancient Mysteries with great judgment and elaboration, gives a
theory on their nature and design which is well worth consideration.

This theory is, that when there had been placed under the eyes of the
initiated symbolical representations of the creation of the universe, and
the origin of things, the migrations and purifications of the soul, the
beginning and progress of civilization and agriculture, there was drawn
from these symbols and these scenes in the Mysteries an instruction
destined only for the more perfect, or the epopts, to whom were
communicated the doctrines of the existence of a single and eternal God,
and the destination of the universe and of man.

Creuzer here, however, refers rather to the general object of the
instructions, than to the character of the rites and ceremonies by which
they were impressed upon the mind; for in the Mysteries, as in
Freemasonry, the Hierophant, whom we would now call the Master of the
Lodge, often, as Lobeck observes, delivered a mystical lecture, or
discourse, on some moral subject.

Faber, who, notwithstanding the predominance in his mind of a theory which
referred every rite and symbol of the ancient world to the traditions of
Noah, the ark, and the deluge, has given a generally correct view of the
systems of ancient religion, describes the initiation into the Mysteries
as a scenic representation of the mythic descent into Hades, or the grave,
and the return from thence to the light of day.

In a few words, then, the object of instruction in all these Mysteries was
the unity of God, and the intention of the ceremonies of initiation into
them was, by a scenic representation of death, and subsequent restoration
to life,[16] to impress the great truths of the resurrection of the dead
and the immortality of the soul.

I need scarcely here advert to the great similarity in design and
conformation which existed between these ancient rites and the third or
Master's degree of Masonry. Like it they were all funereal in their
character: they began in sorrow and lamentation, they ended in joy; there
was an aphanism, or burial; a pastos, or grave; an euresis, or discovery
of what had been lost; and a legend, or mythical relation,--all of which
were entirely and profoundly symbolical in their character.

And hence, looking to this strange identity of design and form, between
the initiations of the ancients and those of the modern Masons, writers
have been disposed to designate these mysteries as the SPURIOUS
FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY.





V.

The Ancient Mysteries.



I now propose, for the purpose of illustrating these views, and of
familiarizing the reader with the coincidences between Freemasonry and the
ancient Mysteries, so that he may be better enabled to appreciate the
mutual influences of each on the other as they are hereafter to be
developed, to present a more detailed relation of one or more of these
ancient systems of initiation.

As the first illustration, let us select the Mysteries of Osiris, as they
were practised in Egypt, the birthplace of all that is wonderful in the
arts or sciences, or mysterious in the religion, of the ancient world.

It was on the Lake of Sais that the solemn ceremonies of the Osirian
initiation were performed. "On this lake," says Herodotus, "it is that the
Egyptians represent by night his sufferings whose name I refrain from
mentioning; and this representation they call their Mysteries." [17]

Osiris, the husband of Isis, was an ancient king of the Egyptians. Having
been slain by Typhon, his body was cut into pieces[18] by his murderer,
and the mangled remains cast upon the waters of the Nile, to be dispersed
to the four winds of heaven. His wife, Isis, mourning for the death and
the mutilation of her husband, for many days searched diligently with her
companions for the portions of the body, and having at length found them,
united them together, and bestowed upon them decent interment,--while
Osiris, thus restored, became the chief deity of his subjects, and his
worship was united with that of Isis, as the fecundating and fertilizing
powers of nature. The candidate in these initiations was made to pass
through a mimic repetition of the conflict and destruction of Osiris, and
his eventual recovery; and the explanations made to him, after he had
received the full share of light to which the painful and solemn
ceremonies through which he had passed had entitled him, constituted the
secret doctrine of which I have already spoken, as the object of all the
Mysteries. Osiris,--a real and personal god to the people,--to be
worshipped with fear and with trembling, and to be propitiated with
sacrifices and burnt offerings, became to the initiate but a symbol of the

    "Great first cause, least understood,"

while his death, and the wailing of Isis, with the recovery of the body,
his translation to the rank of a celestial being, and the consequent
rejoicing of his spouse, were but a tropical mode of teaching that after
death comes life eternal, and that though the body be destroyed, the soul
shall still live.

"Can we doubt," says the Baron Sainte Croix, "that such ceremonies as
those practised in the Mysteries of Osiris had been originally instituted
to impress more profoundly on the mind the dogma of future rewards and
punishments?" [19]

"The sufferings and death of Osiris," says Mr. Wilkinson,[20] "were the
great Mystery of the Egyptian religion; and some traces of it are
perceptible among other people of antiquity. His being the divine goodness
and the abstract idea of 'good,' his manifestation upon earth (like an
Indian god), his death and resurrection, and his office as judge of the
dead in a future state, look like the early revelation of a future
manifestation of the deity converted into a mythological fable."

A similar legend and similar ceremonies, varied only as to time, and
place, and unimportant details, were to be found in all the initiations of
the ancient Mysteries. The dogma was the same,--future life,--and the
method of inculcating it was the same. The coincidences between the design
of these rites and that of Freemasonry, which must already begin to
appear, will enable us to give its full value to the expression of
Hutchinson, when he says that "the Master Mason represents a man under the
Christian doctrine saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the
faith of salvation." [21]

In Phoenicia similar Mysteries were celebrated in honor of Adonis, the
favorite lover of Venus, who, having, while hunting, been slain by a wild
boar on Mount Lebanon, was restored to life by Proserpine. The
mythological story is familiar to every classical scholar. In the popular
theology, Adonis was the son of Cinyras, king of Cyrus, whose untimely
death was wept by Venus and her attendant nymphs: in the physical theology
of the philosophers,[22] he was a symbol of the sun, alternately present
to and absent from the earth; but in the initiation into the Mysteries of
his worship, his resurrection and return from Hades were adopted as a type
of the immortality of the soul. The ceremonies of initiation in the Adonia
began with lamentation for his loss,--or, as the prophet Ezekiel expresses
it, "Behold, there sat women weeping for Thammuz,"--for such was the name
under which his worship was introduced among the Jews; and they ended with
the most extravagant demonstrations of joy at the representation of his
return to life,[23] while the hierophant exclaimed, in a congratulatory
strain,--

    "Trust, ye initiates; the god is safe,
    And from our grief salvation shall arise."

Before proceeding to an examination of those Mysteries which are the most
closely connected with the masonic institution, it will be as well to take
a brief view of their general organization.

The secret worship, or Mysteries, of the ancients were always divided into
the lesser and the greater; the former being intended only to awaken
curiosity, to test the capacity and disposition of the candidate, and by
symbolical purifications to prepare him for his introduction into the
greater Mysteries.

The candidate was at first called an aspirant, or seeker of the truth,
and the initial ceremony which he underwent was a lustration or
purification by water. In this condition he may be compared to the Entered
Apprentice of the masonic rites, and it is here worth adverting to the
fact (which will be hereafter more fully developed) that all the
ceremonies in the first degree of masonry are symbolic of an internal
purification.

In the lesser Mysteries[24] the candidate took an oath of secrecy, which
was administered to him by the mystagogue, and then received a preparatory
instruction,[25] which enabled him afterwards to understand the
developments of the higher and subsequent division. He was now called a
_Mystes_, or initiate, and may be compared to the Fellow Craft of
Freemasonry.

In the greater Mysteries the whole knowledge of the divine truths, which
was the object of initiation, was communicated. Here we find, among the
various ceremonies which assimilated these rites to Freemasonry, the
_aphanism_, which was the disappearance or death; the _pastos_, the couch,
coffin, or grave; the _euresis_, or the discovery of the body; and the
_autopsy_, or full sight of everything, that is, the complete
communication of the secrets. The candidate was here called an _epopt_, or
eye-witness, because nothing was now hidden from him; and hence he may be
compared to the Master Mason, of whom Hutchinson says that "he has
discovered the knowledge of God and his salvation, and been redeemed from
the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution and unrighteousness."




VI.

The Dionysiac Artificers.



After this general view of the religious Mysteries of the ancient world,
let us now proceed to a closer examination of those which are more
intimately connected with the history of Freemasonry, and whose influence
is, to this day, most evidently felt in its organization.

Of all the pagan Mysteries instituted by the ancients none were more
extensively diffused than those of the Grecian god Dionysus. They were
established in Greece, Rome, Syria, and all Asia Minor. Among the Greeks,
and still more among the Romans, the rites celebrated on the Dionysiac
festival were, it must be confessed, of a dissolute and licentious
character.[26] But in Asia they assumed a different form. There, as
elsewhere, the legend (for it has already been said that each Mystery had
its legend) recounted, and the ceremonies represented, the murder of
Dionysus by the Titans. The secret doctrine, too, among the Asiatics, was
not different from that among the western nations, but there was something
peculiar in the organization of the system. The Mysteries of Dionysus in
Syria, more especially, were not simply of a theological character. There
the disciples joined to the indulgence in their speculative and secret
opinions as to the unity of God and the immortality of the soul, which
were common to all the Mysteries, the practice of an operative and
architectural art, and occupied themselves as well in the construction of
temples and public buildings as in the pursuit of divine truth.

I can account for the greater purity of these Syrian rites only by
adopting the ingenious theory of Thirwall,[27] that all the Mysteries
"were the remains of a worship which preceded the rise of the Hellenic
mythology, and its attendant rites, grounded on a view of nature less
fanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken both philosophical
thought and religious feeling," and by supposing that the Asiatics, not
being, from their geographical position, so early imbued with the errors
of Hellenism, had been better able to preserve the purity and philosophy
of the old Pelasgic faith, which, itself, was undoubtedly a direct
emanation from the patriarchal religion, or, as it has been called, the
Pure Freemasonry of the antediluvian world.

Be this, however, as it may, we know that "the Dionysiacs of Asia Minor
were undoubtedly an association of architects and engineers, who had the
exclusive privilege of building temples, stadia, and theatres, under the
mysterious tutelage of Bacchus, and were distinguished from the
uninitiated or profane inhabitants by the science which they possessed,
and by many private signs and tokens by which they recognized each
other." [28]

This speculative and operative society[29]--speculative in the esoteric,
theologic lessons which were taught in its initiations, and operative in
the labors of its members as architects--was distinguished by many
peculiarities that closely assimilate it to the institution of
Freemasonry. In the practice of charity, the more opulent were bound to
relieve the wants and contribute to the support of the poorer brethren.
They were divided, for the conveniences of labor and the advantages of
government, into smaller bodies, which, like our lodges, were directed by
superintending officers. They employed, in their ceremonial observances,
many of the implements of operative Masonry, and used, like the Masons, a
universal language; and conventional modes of recognition, by which _one
brother might know another in the dark as well as the light_, and which
served to unite the whole body, wheresoever they might be dispersed, in
one common brotherhood.[30]

I have said that in the mysteries of Dionysus the legend recounted the
death of that hero-god, and the subsequent discovery of his body. Some
further details of the nature of the Dionysiac ritual are, therefore,
necessary for a thorough appreciation of the points to which I propose
directly to invite attention.

In these mystic rites, the aspirant was made to represent, symbolically
and in a dramatic form, the events connected with the slaying of the god
from whom the Mysteries derived their name. After a variety of preparatory
ceremonies, intended to call forth all his courage and fortitude, the
aphanism or mystical death of Dionysus was figured out in the ceremonies,
and the shrieks and lamentations of the initiates, with the confinement or
burial of the candidate on the pastos, couch, or coffin, constituted the
first part of the ceremony of initiation. Then began the search of Rhea
for the remains of Dionysus, which was continued amid scenes of the
greatest confusion and tumult, until, at last, the search having been
successful, the mourning was turned into joy, light succeeded to darkness,
and the candidate was invested with the knowledge of the secret doctrine
of the Mysteries--the belief in the existence of one God, and a future
state of rewards and punishments.[31]

Such were the mysteries that were practised by the architect,--the
Freemasons, so to speak--of Asia Minor. At Tyre, the richest and most
important city of that region, a city memorable for the splendor and
magnificence of the buildings with which it was decorated, there were
colonies or lodges of these mystic architects; and this fact I request
that you will bear in mind, as it forms an important link in the chain
that connects the Dionysiacs with the Freemasons.

But to make every link in this chain of connection complete, it is
necessary that the mystic artists of Tyre should be proved to be at least
contemporaneous with the building of King Solomon's temple; and the
evidence of that fact I shall now attempt to produce.

Lawrie, whose elaborate researches into this subject leave us nothing
further to discover, places the arrival of the Dionysiacs in Asia Minor at
the time of the Ionic migration, when "the inhabitants of Attica,
complaining of the narrowness of their territory and the unfruitfulness of
its soil, went in quest of more extensive and fertile settlements. Being
joined by a number of the inhabitants of surrounding provinces, they
sailed to Asia Minor, drove out the original inhabitants, and seized upon
the most eligible situations, and united them under the name of Ionia,
because the greatest number of the refugees were natives of that Grecian
province." [32] With their knowledge of the arts of sculpture and
architecture, in which the Greeks had already made some progress, the
emigrants brought over to their new settlements their religious customs
also, and introduced into Asia the mysteries of Athene and Dionysus long
before they had been corrupted by the licentiousness of the mother
country.

Now, Playfair places the Ionic migration in the year 1044 B.C., Gillies in
1055, and the Abbé Barthelemy in 1076. But the latest of these periods
will extend as far back as forty-four years before the commencement of
the temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, and will give ample time for the
establishment of the Dionysiac fraternity at the city of Tyre, and the
initiation of "Hiram the Builder" into its mysteries.

Let us now pursue the chain of historical events which finally united
this purest branch of the Spurious Freemasonry of the pagan nations with
the Primitive Freemasonry of the Jews at Jerusalem.

When Solomon, king of Israel, was about to build, in accordance with the
purposes of his father, David, "a house unto the name of Jehovah, his
God," he made his intention known to Hiram, king of Tyre, his friend and
ally; and because he was well aware of the architectural skill of the
Tyrian Dionysiacs, he besought that monarch's assistance to enable him to
carry his pious design into execution. Scripture informs us that Hiram
complied with the request of Solomon, and sent him the necessary workmen
to assist him in the glorious undertaking. Among others, he sent an
architect, who is briefly described, in the First Book of Kings, as "a
widow's son, of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father a man of Tyre, a
worker in brass, a man filled with wisdom and understanding and cunning to
work all works in brass;" and more fully, in the Second Book of
Chronicles, as "a cunning man, endued with understanding of Hiram my
father's, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father, a
man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in
stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen and in
crimson, also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out any device
which shall be put to him."

To this man--this widow's son (as Scripture history, as well as masonic
tradition informs us)--was intrusted by King Solomon an important position
among the workmen at the sacred edifice, which was constructed on Mount
Moriah. His knowledge and experience as an artificer, and his eminent
skill in every kind of "curious and cunning workmanship," readily placed
him at the head of both the Jewish and Tyrian craftsmen, as the chief
builder and principal conductor of the works; and it is to him, by means
of the large authority which this position gave him, that we attribute the
union of two people, so antagonistical in race, so dissimilar in manners,
and so opposed in religion, as the Jews and Tyrians, in one common
brotherhood, which resulted in the organization of the institution of
Freemasonry. This Hiram, as a Tyrian and an artificer, must have been
connected with the Dionysiac fraternity; nor could he have been a very
humble or inconspicuous member, if we may judge of his rank in the
society, from the amount of talent which he is said to have possessed, and
from the elevated position that he held in the affections, and at the
court, of the king of Tyre. He must, therefore, have been well acquainted
with all the ceremonial usages of the Dionysiac artificers, and must have
enjoyed a long experience of the advantages of the government and
discipline which they practised in the erection of the many sacred
edifices in which they were engaged. A portion of these ceremonial usages
and of this discipline he would naturally be inclined to introduce among
the workmen at Jerusalem. He therefore united them in a society, similar
in many respects to that of the Dionysiac artificers. He inculcated
lessons of charity and brotherly love; he established a ceremony of
initiation, to test experimentally the fortitude and worth of the
candidate; adopted modes of recognition; and impressed the obligations of
duty and principles of morality by means of symbols and allegories.

To the laborers and men of burden, the Ish Sabal, and to the craftsmen,
corresponding with the first and second degrees of more modern Masonry,
but little secret knowledge was confided. Like the aspirants in the lesser
Mysteries of paganism, their instructions were simply to purify and
prepare them for a more solemn ordeal, and for the knowledge of the
sublimest truths. These were to be found only in the Master's degree,
which it was intended should be in imitation of the greater Mysteries; and
in it were to be unfolded, explained, and enforced the great doctrines of
the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. But here there must have
at once arisen an apparently insurmountable obstacle to the further
continuation of the resemblance of Masonry to the Mysteries of Dionysus.
In the pagan Mysteries, I have already said that these lessons were
allegorically taught by means of a legend. Now, in the Mysteries of
Dionysus, the legend was that of the death and subsequent resuscitation of
the god Dionysus. But it would have been utterly impossible to introduce
such a legend as the basis of any instructions to be communicated to
Jewish candidates. Any allusion to the mythological fables of their
Gentile neighbors, any celebration of the myths of pagan theology, would
have been equally offensive to the taste and repugnant to the religious
prejudices of a nation educated, from generation to generation, in the
worship of a divine being jealous of his prerogatives, and who had made
himself known to his people as the JEHOVAH, the God of time present, past,
and future. How this obstacle would have been surmounted by the
Israelitish founder of the order I am unable to say: a substitute would,
no doubt, have been invented, which would have met all the symbolic
requirements of the legend of the Mysteries, or Spurious Freemasonry,
without violating the religious principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of
the Jews; but the necessity for such invention never existed, and before
the completion of the temple a melancholy event is said to have occurred,
which served to cut the Gordian knot, and the death of its chief architect
has supplied Freemasonry with its appropriate legend--a legend which, like
the legends of all the Mysteries, is used to testify our faith in the
resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.

Before concluding this part of the subject, it is proper that something
should be said of the authenticity of the legend of the third degree. Some
distinguished Masons are disposed to give it full credence as an
historical fact, while others look upon it only as a beautiful allegory.
So far as the question has any bearing upon the symbolism of Freemasonry
it is not of importance; but those who contend for its historical
character assert that they do so on the following grounds:--

First. Because the character of the legend is such as to meet all the
requirements of the well-known axiom of Vincentius Lirinensis, as to what
we are to believe in traditionary matters.[33]

    "_Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum
    est._"

That is, we are to believe whatever tradition has been at all times, in
all places, and by all persons handed down.

With this rule the legend of Hiram Abif, they say, agrees in every
respect. It has been universally received, and almost universally
credited, among Freemasons from the earliest times. We have no record of
any Masonry having ever existed since the time of the temple without it;
and, indeed, it is so closely interwoven into the whole system, forming
the most essential part of it, and giving it its most determinative
character, that it is evident that the institution could no more exist
without the legend, than the legend could have been retained without the
institution. This, therefore, the advocates of the historical character of
the legend think, gives probability at least to its truth.

Secondly. It is not contradicted by the scriptural history of the
transactions at the temple, and therefore, in the absence of the only
existing written authority on the subject, we are at liberty to depend on
traditional information, provided the tradition be, as it is contended
that in this instance it is, reasonable, probable, and supported by
uninterrupted succession.

Thirdly. It is contended that the very silence of Scripture in relation to
the death of Hiram, the Builder, is an argument in favor of the mysterious
nature of that death. A man so important in his position as to have been
called the favorite of two kings,--sent by one and received by the other
as a gift of surpassing value, and the donation thought worthy of a
special record, would hardly have passed into oblivion, when his labor was
finished, without the memento of a single line, unless his death had taken
place in such a way as to render a public account of it improper. And
this is supposed to have been the fact. It had become the legend of the
new Mysteries, and, like those of the old ones, was only to be divulged
when accompanied with the symbolic instructions which it was intended to
impress upon the minds of the aspirants.

But if, on the other hand, it be admitted that the legend of the third
degree is a fiction,--that the whole masonic and extra-scriptural account
of Hiram Abif is simply a myth,--it could not, in the slightest degree,
affect the theory which it is my object to establish. For since, in a
mythic relation, as the learned Müller[34] has observed, fact and
imagination, the real and the ideal, are very closely united, and since
the myth itself always arises, according to the same author, out of a
necessity and unconsciousness on the part of its framers, and by impulses
which act alike on all, we must go back to the Spurious Freemasonry of the
Dionysiacs for the principle which led to the involuntary formation of
this Hiramic myth; and then we arrive at the same result, which has been
already indicated, namely, that the necessity of the religious sentiment
in the Jewish mind, to which the introduction of the legend of Dionysus
would have been abhorrent, led to the substitution for it of that of
Hiram, in which the ideal parts of the narrative have been intimately
blended with real transactions. Thus, that there was such a man as Hiram
Abif; that he was the chief builder at the temple of Jerusalem; that he
was the confidential friend of the kings of Israel and Tyre, which is
indicated by his title of _Ab_, or father; and that he is not heard of
after the completion of the temple,--are all historical facts. That he
died by violence, and in the way described in the masonic legend, may be
also true, or may be merely mythical elements incorporated into the
historical narrative.

But whether this be so or not,--whether the legend be a fact or a fiction,
a history or a myth,--this, at least, is certain: that it was adopted by
the Solomonic Masons of the temple as a substitute for the idolatrous
legend of the death of Dionysus which belonged to the Dionysiac Mysteries
of the Tyrian workmen.




VII.

The Union of Speculative and Operative Masonry at the Temple of Solomon.



Thus, then, we arrive at another important epoch in the history of the
origin of Freemasonry.

I have shown how the Primitive Freemasonry, originating in this new world;
with Noah, was handed down to his descendants as a purely speculative
institution, embracing certain traditions of the nature of God and of the
soul.

I have shown how, soon after the deluge, the descendants of Noah
separated, one portion, losing their traditions, and substituting in their
place idolatrous and polytheistic religions, while the other and smaller
portion retained and communicated those original traditions under the name
of the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity.

I have shown how, among the polytheistic nations, there were a few persons
who still had a dim and clouded understanding of these traditions, and
that they taught them in certain secret institutions, known as the
"Mysteries," thus establishing another branch of the speculative science
which is known under the name of the Spurious Freemasonry of antiquity.

Again, I have shown how one sect or division of these Spurious Freemasons
existed at Tyre about the time of the building of King Solomon's temple,
and added to their speculative science, which was much purer than that of
their contemporary Gentile mystics, the practice of the arts of
architecture and sculpture, under the name of the Dionysiac Fraternity of
Artificers.

And, lastly, I have shown how, at the building of the Solomonic temple, on
the invitation of the king of Israel, a large body of these architects
repaired from Tyre to Jerusalem, organized a new institution, or, rather,
a modification of the two old ones, the Primitive Freemasons among the
Israelites yielding something, and the Spurious Freemasons among the
Tyrians yielding more; the former purifying the speculative science, and
the latter introducing the operative art, together with the mystical
ceremonies with which they accompanied its administration.

It is at this epoch, then, that I place the first union of speculative and
operative Masonry,--a union which continued uninterruptedly to exist until
a comparatively recent period, to which I shall have occasion hereafter
briefly to advert.

The other branches of the Spurious Freemasonry were not, however,
altogether and at once abolished by this union, but continued also to
exist and teach their half-truthful dogmas, for ages after, with
interrupted success and diminished influence, until, in the fifth century
of the Christian era, the whole of them were proscribed by the Emperor
Theodosius. From time to time, however, other partial unions took place,
as in the instance of Pythagoras, who, originally a member of the school
of Spurious Freemasonry, was, during his visit to Babylon, about four
hundred and fifty years after the union at the temple of Jerusalem,
initiated by the captive Israelites into the rites of Temple Masonry,
whence the instructions of that sage approximate much more nearly to the
principles of Freemasonry, both in spirit and in letter, than those of any
other of the philosophers of antiquity; for which reason he is familiarly
called, in the modern masonic lectures, "an ancient friend and brother,"
and an important symbol of the order, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid,
has been consecrated to his memory.

I do not now propose to enter upon so extensive a task as to trace the
history of the institution from the completion of the first temple to its
destruction by Nebuchadnezzar; through the seventy-two years of Babylonish
captivity to the rebuilding of the second temple by Zerubbabel; thence to
the devastation of Jerusalem by Titus, when it was first introduced into
Europe; through all its struggles in the middle ages, sometimes protected
and sometimes persecuted by the church, sometimes forbidden by the law and
oftener encouraged by the monarch; until, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, it assumed its present organization. The details would
require more time for their recapitulation than the limits of the present
work will permit.

But my object is not so much to give a connected history of the progress
of Freemasonry as to present a rational view of its origin and an
examination of those important modifications which, from time to time,
were impressed upon it by external influences, so as to enable us the more
readily to appreciate the true character and design of its symbolism.

Two salient points, at least, in its subsequent history, especially invite
attention, because they have an important bearing on its organization, as
a combined speculative and operative institution.




VIII.

The Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.



The first of these points to which I refer is the establishment of a body
of architects, widely disseminated throughout Europe during the middle
ages under the avowed name of _Travelling Freemasons_. This association of
workmen, said to have been the descendants of the Temple Masons, may be
traced by the massive monuments of their skill at as early a period as the
ninth or tenth century; although, according to the authority of Mr. Hope,
who has written elaborately on the subject, some historians have found the
evidence of their existence in the seventh century, and have traced a
peculiar masonic language in the reigns of Charlemagne of France and
Alfred of England.

It is to these men, to their preeminent skill in architecture, and to
their well-organized system as a class of workmen, that the world is
indebted for those magnificent edifices which sprang up in such
undeviating principles of architectural form during the middle ages.

"Wherever they came," says Mr. Hope, "in the suite of missionaries, or
were called by the natives, or arrived of their own accord, to seek
employment, they appeared headed by a chief surveyor, who governed the
whole troop, and named one man out of every ten, under the name of warden,
to overlook the nine others, set themselves to building temporary huts[35]
for their habitation around the spot where the work was to be carried on,
regularly organized their different departments, fell to work, sent for
fresh supplies of their brethren as the object demanded, and, when all was
finished, again raised their encampment, and went elsewhere to undertake
other jobs." [36]

This society continued to preserve the commingled features of operative
and speculative masonry, as they had been practised at the temple of
Solomon. Admission to the community was not restricted to professional
artisans, but men of eminence, and particularly ecclesiastics, were
numbered among its members. "These latter," says Mr. Hope, "were
especially anxious, themselves, to direct the improvement and erection of
their churches and monasteries, and to manage the expenses of their
buildings, and became members of an establishment which had so high and
sacred a destination, was so entirely exempt from all local, civil
jurisdiction, acknowledged the pope alone as its direct chief, and only
worked under his immediate authority; and thence we read of so many
ecclesiastics of the highest rank--abbots, prelates, bishops--conferring
additional weight and respectability on the order of Freemasonry by
becoming its members--themselves giving the designs and superintending
the construction of their churches, and employing the manual labor of
their own monks in the edification of them."

Thus in England, in the tenth century, the Masons are said to have
received the special protection of King Athelstan; in the eleventh
century, Edward the Confessor declared himself their patron; and in the
twelfth, Henry I. gave them his protection.

Into Scotland the Freemasons penetrated as early as the beginning of the
twelfth century, and erected the Abbey of Kilwinning, which afterwards
became the cradle of Scottish Masonry under the government of King Robert
Bruce.

Of the magnificent edifices which they erected, and of their exalted
condition under both ecclesiastical and lay patronage in other countries,
it is not necessary to give a minute detail. It is sufficient to say that
in every part of Europe evidences are to be found of the existence of
Freemasonry, practised by an organized body of workmen, and with whom men
of learning were united; or, in other words, of a combined operative and
speculative institution.

What the nature of this speculative science continued to be, we may learn
from that very curious, if authentic, document, dated at Cologne, in the
year 1535, and hence designated as the "Charter of Cologne." In that
instrument, which purports to have been issued by the heads of the order
in nineteen different and important cities of Europe, and is addressed to
their brethren as a defence against the calumnies of their enemies, it is
announced that the order took its origin at a time "when a few adepts,
distinguished by their life, their moral doctrine, and their sacred
interpretation of the arcanic truths, withdrew themselves from the
multitude in order more effectually to preserve uncontaminated the moral
precepts of that religion which is implanted in the mind of man."

We thus, then, have before us an aspect of Freemasonry as it existed in
the middle ages, when it presents itself to our view as both operative and
speculative in its character. The operative element that had been infused
into it by the Dionysiac artificers of Tyre, at the building of the
Solomonic temple, was not yet dissevered from the pure speculative element
which had prevailed in it anterior to that period.




IX.

Disseverance of the Operative Element.



The next point to which our attention is to be directed is when, a few
centuries later, the operative character of the institution began to be
less prominent, and the speculative to assume a pre-eminence which
eventually ended in the total separation of the two.

At what precise period the speculative began to predominate over the
operative element of the society, it is impossible to say. The change was
undoubtedly gradual, and is to be attributed, in all probability, to the
increased number of literary and scientific men who were admitted into the
ranks of the fraternity.

The Charter of Cologne, to which I have just alluded, speaks of "learned
and enlightened men" as constituting the society long before the date of
that document, which was 1535; but the authenticity of this work has, it
must be confessed, been impugned, and I will not, therefore, press the
argument on its doubtful authority. But the diary of that celebrated
antiquary, Elias Ashmole, which is admitted to be authentic, describes his
admission in the year 1646 into the order, when there is no doubt that the
operative character was fast giving way to the speculative. Preston tells
us that about thirty years before, when the Earl of Pembroke assumed the
Grand Mastership of England, "many eminent, wealthy, and learned men were
admitted."

In the year 1663 an assembly of the Freemasons of England was held at
London, and the Earl of St. Albans was elected Grand Master. At this
assembly certain regulations were adopted, in which the qualifications
prescribed for candidates clearly allude to the speculative character of
the institution.

And, finally, at the commencement of the eighteenth century, and during
the reign of Queen Anne, who died, it will be remembered, in 1714, a
proposition was agreed to by the society "that the privileges of Masonry
should no longer be restricted to operative masons, but extend to men of
various professions, provided that they were regularly approved and
initiated into the order."

Accordingly the records of the society show that from the year 1717, at
least, the era commonly, but improperly, distinguished as the restoration
of Masonry, the operative element of the institution has been completely
discarded, except so far as its influence is exhibited in the choice and
arrangement of symbols, and the typical use of its technical language.

       *       *       *       *       *

The history of the origin of the order is here concluded; and in briefly
recapitulating, I may say that in its first inception, from the time of
Noah to the building of the temple of Solomon, it was entirely speculative
in its character; that at the construction of that edifice, an operative
element was infused into it by the Tyrian builders; that it continued to
retain this compound operative and speculative organization until about
the middle of the seventeenth century, when the latter element began to
predominate; and finally, that at the commencement of the eighteenth
century, the operative element wholly disappeared, and the society has
ever since presented itself in the character of a simply speculative
association.

The history that I have thus briefly sketched, will elicit from every
reflecting mind at least two deductions of some importance to the
intelligent Mason.

In the first place, we may observe, that ascending, as the institution
does, away up the stream of time, almost to the very fountains of history,
for its source, it comes down to us, at this day, with so venerable an
appearance of antiquity, that for that cause and on that claim alone it
demands the respect of the world. It is no recent invention of human
genius, whose vitality has yet to be tested by the wear and tear of time
and opposition, and no sudden growth of short-lived enthusiasm, whose
existence may be as ephemeral as its birth was recent. One of the oldest
of these modern institutions, the Carbonarism of Italy, boasts an age that
scarcely amounts to the half of a century, and has not been able to extend
its progress beyond the countries of Southern Europe, immediately adjacent
to the place of its birth; while it and every other society of our own
times that have sought to simulate the outward appearance of Freemasonry,
seem to him who has examined the history of this ancient institution to
have sprung around it, like mushrooms bursting from between the roots and
vegetating under the shade of some mighty and venerable oak, the
patriarch of the forest, whose huge trunk and wide-extended branches have
protected them from the sun and the gale, and whose fruit, thrown off in
autumn, has enriched and fattened the soil that gives these humbler plants
their power of life and growth.

But there is a more important deduction to be drawn from this narrative.
In tracing the progress of Freemasonry, we shall find it so intimately
connected with the history of philosophy, of religion, and of art in all
ages of the world, that it is evident that no Mason can expect thoroughly
to understand the nature of the institution, or to appreciate its
character, unless he shall carefully study its annals, and make himself
conversant with the facts of history, to which and from which it gives and
receives a mutual influence. The brother who unfortunately supposes that
the only requisites of a skilful Mason consist in repeating with fluency
the ordinary lectures, or in correctly opening and closing the lodge, or
in giving with sufficient accuracy the modes of recognition, will hardly
credit the assertion, that he whose knowledge of the "royal art" extends
no farther than these preliminaries has scarcely advanced beyond the
rudiments of our science. There is a far nobler series of doctrines with
which Freemasonry is connected, and which no student ever began to
investigate who did not find himself insensibly led on, from step to step
in his researches, his love and admiration of the order increasing with
the augmentation of his acquaintance with its character. It is this which
constitutes the science and the philosophy of Freemasonry, and it is this
alone which will return the scholar who devotes himself to the task a
sevenfold reward for his labor.

With this view I propose, in the next place, to enter upon an examination
of that science and philosophy as they are developed in the system of
symbolism, which owes its existence to this peculiar origin and
organization of the order, and without a knowledge of which, such as I
have attempted to portray it in this preliminary inquiry, the science
itself could never be understood.





X.

The System of Symbolic Instuction.



The lectures of the English lodges, which are far more philosophical than
our own,--although I do not believe that the system itself is in general
as philosophically studied by our English brethren as by ourselves,--have
beautifully defined Freemasonry to be "a science of morality veiled in
allegory and illustrated by symbols." But allegory itself is nothing else
but verbal symbolism; it is the symbol of an idea, or of a series of
ideas, not presented to the mind in an objective and visible form, but
clothed in language, and exhibited in the form of a narrative. And
therefore the English definition amounts, in fact, to this: that
_Freemasonry is a science of morality, developed and inculcated by the
ancient method of symbolism_. It is this peculiar character as a symbolic
institution, this entire adoption of the method of instruction by
symbolism, which gives its whole identity to Freemasonry, and has caused
it to differ from every other association that the ingenuity of man has
devised. It is this that has bestowed upon it that attractive form which
has always secured the attachment of its disciples and its own perpetuity.

The Roman Catholic church[37] is, perhaps, the only contemporaneous
institution which continues to cultivate, in any degree, the beautiful
system of symbolism. But that which, in the Catholic church, is, in a
great measure, incidental, and the fruit of development, is, in
Freemasonry, the very life-blood and soul of the institution, born with it
at its birth, or, rather, the germ from which the tree has sprung, and
still giving it support, nourishment, and even existence. Withdraw from
Freemasonry its symbolism, and you take from the body its soul, leaving
behind nothing but a lifeless mass of effete matter, fitted only for a
rapid decay.

Since, then, the science of symbolism forms so important a part of the
system of Freemasonry, it will be well to commence any discussion of that
subject by an investigation of the nature of symbols in general.

There is no science so ancient as that of symbolism,[38] and no mode of
instruction has ever been so general as was the symbolic in former ages.
"The first learning in the world," says the great antiquary, Dr. Stukely,
"consisted chiefly of symbols. The wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians,
Egyptians, Jews, of Zoroaster, Sanchoniathon, Pherecydes, Syrus,
Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, of all the ancients that is come to our hand,
is symbolic." And the learned Faber remarks, that "allegory and
personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of antiquity, and
the simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the shrine of
poetical decoration."

In fact, man's earliest instruction was by symbols.[39] The objective
character of a symbol is best calculated to be grasped by the infant mind,
whether the infancy of that mind be considered _nationally_ or
_individually_. And hence, in the first ages of the world, in its infancy,
all propositions, theological, political, or scientific, were expressed in
the form of symbols. Thus the first religions were eminently symbolical,
because, as that great philosophical historian, Grote, has remarked, "At a
time when language was yet in its infancy, visible symbols were the most
vivid means of acting upon the minds of ignorant hearers."

Again: children receive their elementary teaching in symbols. "A was an
Archer;" what is this but symbolism? The archer becomes to the infant mind
the symbol of the letter A, just as, in after life, the letter becomes, to
the more advanced mind, the symbol of a certain sound of the human
voice.[40] The first lesson received by a child in acquiring his alphabet
is thus conveyed by symbolism. Even in the very formation of language, the
medium of communication between man and man, and which must hence have
been an elementary step in the progress of human improvement, it was found
necessary to have recourse to symbols, for words are only and truly
certain arbitrary symbols by which and through which we give an utterance
to our ideas. The construction of language was, therefore, one of the
first products of the science of symbolism.

We must constantly bear in mind this fact, of the primary existence and
predominance of symbolism in the earliest times.[41] when we are
investigating the nature of the ancient religions, with which the history
of Freemasonry is so intimately connected. The older the religion, the
more the symbolism abounds. Modern religions may convey their dogmas in
abstract propositions; ancient religions always conveyed them in symbols.
Thus there is more symbolism in the Egyptian religion than in the Jewish,
more in the Jewish than in the Christian, more in the Christian than in
the Mohammedan, and, lastly, more in the Roman than in the Protestant.

But symbolism is not only the most ancient and general, but it is also the
most practically useful, of sciences. We have already seen how actively it
operates in the early stages of life and of society. We have seen how the
first ideas of men and of nations are impressed upon their minds by means
of symbols. It was thus that the ancient peoples were almost wholly
educated.

"In the simpler stages of society," says one writer on this subject,
"mankind can be instructed in the abstract knowledge of truths only by
symbols and parables. Hence we find most heathen religions becoming
mythic, or explaining their mysteries by allegories, or instructive
incidents. Nay, God himself, knowing the nature of the creatures formed by
him, has condescended, in the earlier revelations that he made of himself,
to teach by symbols; and the greatest of all teachers instructed the
multitudes by parables.[42] The great exemplar of the ancient philosophy
and the grand archetype of modern philosophy were alike distinguished by
their possessing this faculty in a high degree, and have told us that man
was best instructed by similitudes." [43]

Such is the system adopted in Freemasonry for the development and
inculcation of the great religious and philosophical truths, of which it
was, for so many years, the sole conservator. And it is for this reason
that I have already remarked, that any inquiry into the symbolic character
of Freemasonry, must be preceded by an investigation of the nature of
symbolism in general, if we would properly appreciate its particular use
in the organization of the masonic institution.




XI.

The Speculative Science and the Operative Art.



And now, let us apply this doctrine of symbolism to an investigation of
the nature of a speculative science, as derived from an operative art; for
the fact is familiar to every one that Freemasonry is of two kinds. We
work, it is true, in speculative Masonry only, but our ancient brethren
wrought in both operative and speculative; and it is now well understood
that the two branches are widely apart in design and in character--the one
a mere useful art, intended for the protection and convenience of man and
the gratification of his physical wants, the other a profound science,
entering into abstruse investigations of the soul and a future existence,
and originating in the craving need of humanity to know something that is
above and beyond the mere outward life that surrounds us with its gross
atmosphere here below.[44] Indeed, the only bond or link that unites
speculative and operative Masonry is the symbolism that belongs
altogether to the former, but which, throughout its whole extent, is
derived from the latter.

Our first inquiry, then, will be into the nature of the symbolism which
operative gives to speculative Masonry; and thoroughly to understand
this--to know its origin, and its necessity, and its mode of
application--we must begin with a reference to the condition of a long
past period of time.

Thousands of years ago, this science of symbolism was adopted by the
sagacious priesthood of Egypt to convey the lessons of worldly wisdom and
religious knowledge, which they thus communicated to their disciples.[45]
Their science, their history, and their philosophy were thus concealed
beneath an impenetrable veil from all the profane, and only the few who
had passed through the severe ordeal of initiation were put in possession
of the key which enabled them to decipher and read with ease those mystic
lessons which we still see engraved upon the obelisks, the tombs, and the
sarcophagi, which lie scattered, at this day, in endless profusion along
the banks of the Nile.

From the Egyptians the same method of symbolic instruction was diffused
among all the pagan nations of antiquity, and was used in all the ancient
Mysteries[46] as the medium of communicating to the initiated the esoteric
and secret doctrines for whose preservation and promulgation these
singular associations were formed.

Moses, who, as Holy Writ informs us, was skilled in all the learning of
Egypt, brought with him, from that cradle of the sciences, a perfect
knowledge of the science of symbolism, as it was taught by the priests of
Isis and Osiris, and applied it to the ceremonies with which he invested
the purer religion of the people for whom he had been appointed to
legislate.[47]

Hence we learn, from the great Jewish historian, that, in the construction
of the tabernacle, which gave the first model for the temple at Jerusalem,
and afterwards for every masonic lodge, this principle of symbolism was
applied to every part of it. Thus it was divided into three parts, to
represent the three great elementary divisions of the universe--the land,
the sea, and the air. The first two, or exterior portions, which were
accessible to the priests and the people, were symbolic of the land and
the sea, which all men might inhabit; while the third, or interior
division,--the holy of holies,--whose threshold no mortal dared to cross,
and which was peculiarly consecrated to GOD, was emblematic of heaven, his
dwelling-place. The veils, too, according to Josephus, were intended for
symbolic instruction in their color and their materials. Collectively,
they represented the four elements of the universe; and, in passing, it
may be observed that this notion of symbolizing the universe characterized
all the ancient systems, both the true and the false, and that the remains
of the principle are to be found everywhere, even at this day, pervading
Masonry, which is but a development of these systems. In the four veils of
the tabernacle, the white or fine linen signified the earth, from which
flax was produced; the scarlet signified fire, appropriately represented
by its flaming color; the purple typified the sea, in allusion to the
shell-fish murex, from which the tint was obtained; and the blue, the
color of the firmament, was emblematic of air.[48]

It is not necessary to enter into a detail of the whole system of
religious symbolism, as developed in the Mosaic ritual. It was but an
application of the same principles of instruction, that pervaded all the
surrounding Gentile nations, to the inculcation of truth. The very idea of
the ark itself[49] was borrowed, as the discoveries of the modern
Egyptologists have shown us, from the banks of the Nile; and the
breastplate of the high priest, with its Urim and Thummim,[50] was
indebted for its origin to a similar ornament worn by the Egyptian judge.
The system was the same; in its application, only, did it differ.

With the tabernacle of Moses the temple of King Solomon is closely
connected: the one was the archetype of the other. Now, it is at the
building of that temple that we must place the origin of Freemasonry in
its present organization: not that the system did not exist before, but
that the union of its operative and speculative character, and the mutual
dependence of one upon the other, were there first established.

At the construction of this stupendous edifice--stupendous, not in
magnitude, for many a parish church has since excelled it in size,[51] but
stupendous in the wealth and magnificence of its ornaments--the wise king
of Israel, with all that sagacity for which he was so eminently
distinguished, and aided and counselled by the Gentile experience of the
king of Tyre, and that immortal architect who superintended his workmen,
saw at once the excellence and beauty of this method of inculcating moral
and religious truth, and gave, therefore, the impulse to that symbolic
reference of material things to a spiritual sense, which has ever since
distinguished the institution of which he was the founder.

If I deemed it necessary to substantiate the truth of the assertion that
the mind of King Solomon was eminently symbolic in its propensities, I
might easily refer to his writings, filled as they are to profusion with
tropes and figures. Passing over the Book of Canticles,--that great
lyrical drama, whose abstruse symbolism has not yet been fully evolved or
explained, notwithstanding the vast number of commentators who have
labored at the task,--I might simply refer to that beautiful passage in
the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, so familiar to every Mason as being
appropriated, in the ritual, to the ceremonies of the third degree, and in
which a dilapidated building is metaphorically made to represent the
decays and infirmities of old age in the human body. This brief but
eloquent description is itself an embodiment of much of our masonic
symbolism, both as to the mode and the subject matter.

In attempting any investigation into the symbolism of Freemasonry, the
first thing that should engage our attention is the general purport of the
institution, and the mode in which its symbolism is developed. Let us
first examine it as a whole, before we investigate its parts, just as we
would first view, as critics, the general effect of a building, before we
began to inquire into its architectural details.

Looking, then, in this way, at the institution--coming down to us, as it
has, from a remote age--having passed unaltered and unscathed through a
thousand revolutions of nations--and engaging, as disciples in its school
of mental labor, the intellectual of all times--the first thing that must
naturally arrest the attention is the singular combination that it
presents of an operative with a speculative organization--an art with a
science--the technical terms and language of a mechanical profession with
the abstruse teachings of a profound philosophy.

Here it is before us--a venerable school, discoursing of the deepest
subjects of wisdom, in which sages might alone find themselves
appropriately employed, and yet having its birth and deriving its first
life from a society of artisans, whose only object was, apparently, the
construction of material edifices of stone and mortar.

The nature, then, of this operative and speculative combination, is the
first problem to be solved, and the symbolism which depends upon it is the
first feature of the institution which is to be developed.

Freemasonry, in its character as an operative art, is familiar to every
one. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles
of architecture to the construction of edifices for private and public
use--houses for the dwelling-place of man, and temples for the worship of
Deity. It abounds, like every other art, in the use of technical terms,
and employs, in practice, an abundance of implements and materials which
are peculiar to itself.

Now, if the ends of operative Masonry had here ceased,--if this technical
dialect and these technical implements had never been used for any other
purpose, nor appropriated to any other object, than that of enabling its
disciples to pursue their artistic labors with greater convenience to
themselves,--Freemasonry would never have existed. The same principles
might, and in all probability would, have been developed in some other
way; but the organization, the name, the mode of instruction, would all
have most materially differed.

But the operative Masons, who founded the order, were not content with
the mere material and manual part of their profession: they adjoined to
it, under the wise instructions of their leaders, a correlative branch of
study.

And hence, to the Freemason, this operative art has been symbolized in
that intellectual deduction from it, which has been correctly called
Speculative Masonry. At one time, each was an integrant part of one
undivided system. Not that the period ever existed when every operative
mason was acquainted with, or initiated into, the speculative science.
Even now, there are thousands of skilful artisans who know as little of
that as they do of the Hebrew language which was spoken by its founder.
But operative Masonry was, in the inception of our history, and is, in
some measure, even now, the skeleton upon which was strung the living
muscles, and tendons, and nerves of the speculative system. It was the
block of marble--rude and unpolished it may have been--from which was
sculptured the life-breathing statue.[52]

Speculative Masonry (which is but another name for Freemasonary in its
modern acceptation) may be briefly defined as the scientific application
and the religious consecration of the rules and principles, the language,
the implements and materials of operative Masonry to the veneration of
God, the purification of the heart, and the inculcation of the dogmas of a
religious philosophy.




XII.

He Symbolism of Solomon'S Temple.



I have said that the operative art is symbolized--that is to say, used as
a symbol--in the speculative science. Let us now inquire, as the subject
of the present essay, how this is done in reference to a system of
symbolism dependent for its construction on types and figures derived from
the temple of Solomon, and which we hence call the "Temple Symbolism of
Freemasonry."

Bearing in mind that speculative Masonry dates its origin from the
building of King Solomon's temple by Jewish and Tyrian artisans,[53] the
first important fact that attracts the attention is, that the operative
masons at Jerusalem were engaged in the construction of an earthly and
material temple, to be dedicated to the service and worship of God--a
house in which Jehovah was to dwell visibly by his Shekinah, and whence he
was, by the Urim and Thummim, to send forth his oracles for the
government and direction of his chosen people.

Now, the operative art having, _for us_, ceased, we, as speculative
Masons, symbolize the labors of our predecessors by engaging in the
construction of a spiritual temple in our hearts, pure and spotless, fit
for the dwelling-place of Him who is the author of purity--where God is to
be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and whence every evil thought and
unruly passion is to be banished, as the sinner and the Gentile were
excluded from the sanctuary of the Jewish temple.

This spiritualizing of the temple of Solomon is the first, the most
prominent and most pervading of all the symbolic instructions of
Freemasonry. It is the link that binds the operative and speculative
divisions of the order. It is this which gives it its religious character.
Take from Freemasonry its dependence on the temple, leave out of its
ritual all reference to that sacred edifice, and to the legends connected
with it, and the system itself must at once decay and die, or at best
remain only as some fossilized bone, imperfectly to show the nature of the
living body to which it once belonged.

Temple worship is in itself an ancient type of the religious sentiment in
its progress towards spiritual elevation. As soon as a nation emerged, in
the world's progress, out of Fetichism, or the worship of visible
objects,--the most degraded form of idolatry,--its people began to
establish a priesthood and to erect temples.[54] The Scandinavians, the
Celts, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, however much they may have differed
in the ritual and the objects of their polytheistic worship, all were
possessed of priests and temples. The Jews first constructed their
tabernacle, or portable temple, and then, when time and opportunity
permitted, transferred their monotheistic worship to that more permanent
edifice which is now the subject of our contemplation. The mosque of the
Mohammedan and the church or the chapel of the Christian are but
embodiments of the same idea of temple worship in a simpler form.

The adaptation, therefore, of the material temple to a science of
symbolism would be an easy, and by no means a novel task, to both the
Jewish and the Tyrian mind. Doubtless, at its original conception, the
idea was rude and unembellished, to be perfected and polished only by
future aggregations of succeeding intellects. And yet no biblical scholar
will venture to deny that there was, in the mode of building, and in all
the circumstances connected with the construction of King Solomon's
temple, an apparent design to establish a foundation for symbolism.[55]

I propose now to illustrate, by a few examples, the method in which the
speculative Masons have appropriated this design of King Solomon to their
own use.

To construct his earthly temple, the operative mason followed the
architectural designs laid down on the _trestle-board_, or tracing-board,
or book of plans of the architect. By these he hewed and squared his
materials; by these he raised his walls; by these he constructed his
arches; and by these strength and durability, combined with grace and
beauty, were bestowed upon the edifice which he was constructing.

The trestle-board becomes, therefore, one of our elementary symbols. For
in the masonic ritual the speculative Mason is reminded that, as the
operative artist erects his temporal building, in accordance with the
rules and designs laid down on the trestle-board of the master-workman, so
should he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type,
in obedience to the rules and designs, the precepts and commands, laid
down by the grand Architect of the universe, in those great books of
nature and revelation, which constitute the spiritual trestle-board of
every Freemason.

The trestle-board is, then, the symbol of the natural and moral law. Like
every other symbol of the order, it is universal and tolerant in its
application; and while, as Christian Masons, we cling with unfaltering
integrity to that explanation which makes the Scriptures of both
dispensations our trestle-board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan
brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament, or the
Koran. Masonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of
any one's religious faith. All that it asks is, that the interpretation
of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the
revealed will of his Creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the
symbol shall be preserved, and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it
peremptorily excludes the Atheist from its communion, because, believing
in no Supreme Being, no divine Architect, he must necessarily be without a
spiritual trestle-board on which the designs of that Being may be
inscribed for his direction.

But the operative mason required materials wherewith to construct his
temple. There was, for instance, the _rough ashlar_--the stone in its rude
and natural state--unformed and unpolished, as it had been lying in the
quarries of Tyre from the foundation of the earth. This stone was to be
hewed and squared, to be fitted and adjusted, by simple, but appropriate
implements, until it became a _perfect ashlar_, or well-finished stone,
ready to take its destined place in the building.

Here, then, again, in these materials do we find other elementary symbols.
The rough and unpolished stone is a symbol of man's natural
state--ignorant, uncultivated, and, as the Roman historian expresses it,
"grovelling to the earth, like the beasts of the field, and obedient to
every sordid appetite;" [56] but when education has exerted its salutary
influences in expanding his intellect, in restraining his hitherto unruly
passions, and purifying his life, he is then represented by the perfect
ashlar, or finished stone, which, under the skilful hands of the workman,
has been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its appropriate place in
the building.

Here an interesting circumstance in the history of the preparation of
these materials has been seized and beautifully appropriated by our
symbolic science. We learn from the account of the temple, contained in
the First Book of Kings, that "The house, when it was in building, was
built of stone, made ready before it was brought thither, so that there
was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron, heard in the house while
it was in building." [57]

Now, this mode of construction, undoubtedly adopted to avoid confusion and
discord among so many thousand workmen,[58] has been selected as an
elementary symbol of concord and harmony--virtues which are not more
essential to the preservation and perpetuity of our own society than they
are to that of every human association.

The perfect ashlar, therefore,--the stone thus fitted for its appropriate
position in the temple,--becomes not only a symbol of human perfection (in
itself, of course, only a comparative term), but also, when we refer to
the mode in which it was prepared, of that species of perfection which
results from the concord and union of men in society. It is, in fact, a
symbol of the social character of the institution.

There are other elementary symbols, to which I may hereafter have occasion
to revert; the three, however, already described,--the rough ashlar, the
perfect ashlar, and the trestle-board,--and which, from their importance,
have received the name of "jewels," will be sufficient to give some idea
of the nature of what may be called the "symbolic alphabet" of Masonry.
Let us now proceed to a brief consideration of the method in which this
alphabet of the science is applied to the more elevated and abstruser
portions of the system, and which, as the temple constitutes its most
important type, I have chosen to call the "Temple Symbolism of Masonry."

Both Scripture and tradition inform us that, at the building of King
Solomon's temple, the masons were divided into different classes, each
engaged in different tasks. We learn, from the Second Book of Chronicles,
that these classes were the bearers of burdens, the hewers of stones, and
the overseers, called by the old masonic writers the _Ish sabal_, the _Ish
chotzeb_, and the _Menatzchim_. Now, without pretending to say that the
modern institution has preserved precisely the same system of regulations
as that which was observed at the temple, we shall certainly find a
similarity in these divisions to the Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master
Masons of our own day. At all events, the three divisions made by King
Solomon, in the workmen at Jerusalem, have been adopted as the types of
the three degrees now practised in speculative Masonry; and as such we
are, therefore, to consider them. The mode in which these three divisions
of workmen labored in constructing the temple, has been beautifully
symbolized in speculative Masonry, and constitutes an important and
interesting part of temple symbolism.

Thus we know, from our own experience among modern workmen, who still
pursue the same method, as well as from the traditions of the order, that
the implements used in the quarries were few and simple, the work there
requiring necessarily, indeed, but two tools, namely, the _twenty-four
inch gauge_, or two foot rule, and the _common gavel_, or stone-cutter's
hammer. With the former implement, the operative mason took the necessary
dimensions of the stone he was about to prepare, and with the latter, by
repeated blows, skilfully applied, he broke off every unnecessary
protuberance, and rendered it smooth and square, and fit to take its place
in the building.

And thus, in the first degree of speculative Masonry, the Entered
Apprentice receives these simple implements, as the emblematic working
tools of his profession, with their appropriate symbolical instruction. To
the operative mason their mechanical and practical use alone is signified,
and nothing more of value does their presence convey to his mind. To the
speculative Mason the sight of them is suggestive of far nobler and
sublimer thoughts; they teach him to measure, not stones, but time; not to
smooth and polish the marble for the builder's use, but to purify and
cleanse his heart from every vice and imperfection that would render it
unfit for a place in the spiritual temple of his body.

In the symbolic alphabet of Freemasonry, therefore, the twenty-four inch
gauge is a symbol of time well employed; the common gavel, of the
purification of the heart.

Here we may pause for a moment to refer to one of the coincidences between
Freemasonry and those _Mysteries_[59] which formed so important a part of
the ancient religions, and which coincidences have led the writers on this
subject to the formation of a well-supported theory that there was a
common connection between them. The coincidence to which I at present
allude is this: in all these Mysteries--the incipient ceremony of
initiation--the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or
purification. The aspirant was not permitted to enter the sacred
vestibule, or take any part in the secret formula of initiation, until, by
water or by fire, he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of
the world which he was about to leave behind. I need not, after this, do
more than suggest the similarity of this formula, in principle, to a
corresponding one in Freemasonry, where the first symbols presented to the
apprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart, of which
the purification of the body in the ancient Mysteries was symbolic.

We no longer use the bath or the fountain, because in our philosophical
system the symbolization is more abstract, if I may use the term; but we
present the aspirant with the _lamb-skin apron_, the _gauge_, and the
_gavel_, as symbols of a spiritual purification. The design is the same,
but the mode in which it is accomplished is different.

Let us now resume the connected series of temple symbolism.

At the building of the temple, the stones having been thus prepared by the
workmen of the lowest degree (the Apprentices, as we now call them, the
aspirants of the ancient Mysteries), we are informed that they were
transported to the site of the edifice on Mount Moriah, and were there
placed in the hands of another class of workmen, who are now technically
called the Fellow Crafts, and who correspond to the Mystes, or those who
had received the second degree of the ancient Mysteries. At this stage of
the operative work more extensive and important labors were to be
performed, and accordingly a greater amount of skill and knowledge was
required of those to whom these labors were intrusted. The stones, having
been prepared by the Apprentices[60] (for hereafter, in speaking of the
workmen of the temple, I shall use the equivalent appellations of the more
modern Masons), were now to be deposited in their destined places in the
building, and the massive walls were to be erected. For these purposes
implements of a higher and more complicated character than the gauge and
gavel were necessary. The _square_ was required to fit the joints with
sufficient accuracy, the _level_ to run the courses in a horizontal line,
and the _plumb_ to erect the whole with due regard to perfect
perpendicularity. This portion of the labor finds its symbolism in the
second degree of the speculative science, and in applying this symbolism
we still continue to refer to the idea of erecting a spiritual temple in
the heart.

The necessary preparations, then, having been made in the first degree,
the lessons having been received by which the aspirant is taught to
commence the labor of life with the purification of the heart, as a Fellow
Craft he continues the task by cultivating those virtues which give form
and impression to the character, as well adapted stones give shape and
stability to the building. And hence the "working tools" of the Fellow
Craft are referred, in their symbolic application, to those virtues. In
the alphabet of symbolism, we find the square, the level, and the plumb
appropriated to this second degree. The square is a symbol denoting
morality. It teaches us to apply the unerring principles of moral science
to every action of our lives, to see that all the motives and results of
our conduct shall coincide with the dictates of divine justice, and that
all our thoughts, words, and deeds shall harmoniously conspire, like the
well-adjusted and rightly-squared joints of an edifice, to produce a
smooth, unbroken life of virtue.

The plumb is a symbol of rectitude of conduct, and inculcates that
integrity of life and undeviating course of moral uprightness which can
alone distinguish the good and just man. As the operative workman erects
his temporal building with strict observance of that plumb-line, which
will not permit him to deviate a hair's breadth to the right or to the
left, so the speculative Mason, guided by the unerring principles of right
and truth inculcated in the symbolic teachings of the same implement, is
steadfast in the pursuit of truth, neither bending beneath the frowns of
adversity nor yielding to the seductions of prosperity.[61]

The level, the last of the three working tools of the operative craftsman,
is a symbol of equality of station. Not that equality of civil or social
position which is to be found only in the vain dreams of the anarchist or
the Utopian, but that great moral and physical equality which affects the
whole human race as the children of one common Father, who causes his sun
to shine and his rain to fall on all alike, and who has so appointed the
universal lot of humanity, that death, the leveller of all human
greatness, is made to visit with equal pace the prince's palace and the
peasant's hut.[62]

Here, then, we have three more signs or hieroglyphics added to our
alphabet of symbolism. Others there are in this degree, but they belong
to a higher grade of interpretation, and cannot be appropriately discussed
in an essay on temple symbolism only.

We now reach the third degree, the Master Masons of the modern science,
and the Epopts, or beholders of the sacred things in the ancient
Mysteries.

In the third degree the symbolic allusions to the temple of Solomon, and
the implements of Masonry employed in its construction, are extended and
fully completed. At the building of that edifice, we have already seen
that one class of the workmen was employed in the preparation of the
materials, while another was engaged in placing those materials in their
proper position. But there was a third and higher class,--the master
workmen,--whose duty it was to superintend the two other classes, and to
see that the stones were not only duly prepared, but that the most exact
accuracy had been observed in giving to them their true juxtaposition in
the edifice. It was then only that the last and finishing labor[63] was
performed, and the cement was applied by these skilful workmen, to secure
the materials in their appropriate places, and to unite the building in
one enduring and connected mass. Hence the _trowel_, we are informed, was
the most important, though of course not the only, implement in use among
the master builders. They did not permit this last, indelible operation to
be performed by any hands less skilful than their own. They required that
the craftsmen should prove the correctness of their work by the square,
level, and plumb, and test, by these unerring instruments, the accuracy of
their joints; and, when satisfied of the just arrangement of every part,
the cement, which was to give an unchangeable union to the whole, was then
applied by themselves.

Hence, in speculative Masonry, the trowel has been assigned to the third
degree as its proper implement, and the symbolic meaning which accompanies
it has a strict and beautiful reference to the purposes for which it was
used in the ancient temple; for as it was there employed "to spread the
cement which united the building in one common mass," so is it selected as
the symbol of brotherly love--that cement whose object is to unite our
mystic association in one sacred and harmonious band of brethren.

Here, then, we perceive the first, or, as I have already called it, the
elementary form of our symbolism--the adaptation of the terms, and
implements, and processes of an operative art to a speculative science.
The temple is now completed. The stones having been hewed, squared, and
numbered in the quarries by the apprentices,--having been properly
adjusted by the craftsmen, and finally secured in their appropriate
places, with the strongest and purest cement, by the master builders,--the
temple of King Solomon presented, in its finished condition, so noble an
appearance of sublimity and grandeur as to well deserve to be selected, as
it has been, for the type or symbol of that immortal temple of the body,
to which Christ significantly and symbolically alluded when he said,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

This idea of representing the interior and spiritual man by a material
temple is so apposite in all its parts as to have occurred on more than
one occasion to the first teachers of Christianity. Christ himself
repeatedly alludes to it in other passages, and the eloquent and
figurative St. Paul beautifully extends the idea in one of his Epistles to
the Corinthians, in the following language: "Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" And again, in
a subsequent passage of the same Epistle, he reiterates the idea in a more
positive form: "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" And
Dr. Adam Clarke, while commenting on this latter passage, makes the very
allusions which have been the topic of discussion in the present essay.
"As truly," says he, "as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle and
in the temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls
of genuine Christians; and as the temple and all its _utensils_ were holy,
separated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the
service of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy, and should
be employed in the service of God alone."

The idea, therefore, of making the temple a symbol of the body, is not
exclusively masonic; but the mode of treating the symbolism by a reference
to the particular temple of Solomon, and to the operative art engaged in
its construction, is peculiar to Freemasonry. It is this which isolates it
from all other similar associations. Having many things in common with the
secret societies and religious Mysteries of antiquity, in this "temple
symbolism" it differs from them all.




XIII.

The Form of the Lodge.




In the last essay, I treated of that symbolism of the masonic system which
makes the temple of Jerusalem the archetype of a lodge, and in which, in
consequence, all the symbols are referred to the connection of a
speculative science with an operative art. I propose in the present to
discourse of a higher and abstruser mode of symbolism; and it may be
observed that, in coming to this topic, we arrive, for the first time, at
that chain of resemblances which unites Freemasonry with the ancient
systems of religion, and which has given rise, among masonic writers, to
the names of Pure and Spurious Freemasonry--the pure Freemasonry being
that system of philosophical religion which, coming through the line of
the patriarchs, was eventually modified by influences exerted at the
building of King Solomon's temple, and the spurious being the same system
as it was altered and corrupted by the polytheism of the nations of
heathendom.[64]

As this abstruser mode of symbolism, if less peculiar to the masonic
system, is, however, far more interesting than the one which was treated
in the previous essay,--because it is more philosophical,--I propose to
give an extended investigation of its character. And, in the first place,
there is what may be called an elementary view of this abstruser
symbolism, which seems almost to be a corollary from what has already been
described in the preceding article.

As each individual mason has been supposed to be the symbol of a spiritual
temple,--"a temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,"--the
lodge or collected assemblage of these masons, is adopted as a symbol of
the world.[65]

It is in the first degree of Masonry, more particularly, that this
species of symbolism is developed. In its detail it derives the
characteristics of resemblance upon which it is founded, from the form,
the supports, the ornaments, and general construction and internal
organization of a lodge, in all of which the symbolic reference to the
world is beautifully and consistently sustained.

The form of a masonic lodge is said to be a parallelogram, or oblong
square; its greatest length being from east to west, its breadth from
north to south. A square, a circle, a triangle, or any other form but that
of an _oblong square_, would be eminently incorrect and unmasonic, because
such a figure would not be an expression of the symbolic idea which is
intended to be conveyed.

Now, as the world is a globe, or, to speak more accurately, an oblate
spheroid, the attempt to make an oblong square its symbol would seem, at
first view, to present insuperable difficulties. But the system of masonic
symbolism has stood the test of too long an experience to be easily found
at fault; and therefore this very symbol furnishes a striking evidence of
the antiquity of the order. At the Solomonic era--the era of the building
of the temple at Jerusalem--the world, it must be remembered, was supposed
to have that very oblong form,[66] which has been here symbolized. If, for
instance, on a map of the world we should inscribe an oblong figure whose
boundary lines would circumscribe and include just that portion which was
known to be inhabited in the clays of Solomon, these lines, running a
short distance north and south of the Mediterranean Sea, and extending
from Spain in the west to Asia Minor in the east, would form an oblong
square, including the southern shore of Europe, the northern shore of
Africa, and the western district of Asia, the length of the parallelogram
being about sixty degrees from east to west, and its breadth being about
twenty degrees from north to south. This oblong square, thus enclosing the
whole of what was then supposed to be the habitable globe,[67] would
precisely represent what is symbolically said to be _the form of the
lodge_, while the Pillars of Hercules in the west, on each side of the
straits of Gades or Gibraltar, might appropriately be referred to the two
pillars that stood at the porch of the temple.

[Illustration: Map of Mediterranean Sea and surrounding area.]

A masonic lodge is, therefore, a symbol of the world.

This symbol is sometimes, by a very usual figure of speech, extended, in
its application, and the world and the universe are made synonymous, when
the lodge becomes, of course, a symbol of the universe. But in this case
the definition of the symbol is extended, and to the ideas of length and
breadth are added those of height and depth, and the lodge is said to
assume the form of a double cube.[68] The solid contents of the earth
below and the expanse of the heavens above will then give the outlines of
the cube, and the whole created universe[69] will be included within the
symbolic limits of a mason's lodge.

By always remembering that the lodge is the symbol, in its form and
extent, of the world, we are enabled, readily and rationally, to explain
many other symbols, attached principally to the first degree; and we are
enabled to collate and compare them with similar symbols of other kindred
institutions of antiquity, for it should be observed that this symbolism
of the world, represented by a place of initiation, widely pervaded all
the ancient rites and mysteries.

It will, no doubt, be interesting to extend our investigations on this
subject, with a particular view to the method in which this symbolism of
the world or the universe was developed, in some of its most prominent
details; and for this purpose I shall select the mystical explanation of
the _officers_ of a lodge, its _covering_, and a portion of its
_ornaments_.




XIV.

The Officers of a Lodge.



The Three Principal Officers of a lodge are, it is needless to say,
situated in the east, the west, and the south. Now, bearing in mind that
the lodge is a symbol of the world, or the universe, the reference of
these three officers to the sun at its rising, its setting, and its
meridian height, must at once suggest itself.

This is the first development of the symbol, and a very brief inquiry will
furnish ample evidence of its antiquity and its universality.

In the Brahminical initiations of Hindostan, which are among the earliest
that have been transmitted to us, and may almost be considered as the
cradle of all the others of subsequent ages and various countries, the
ceremonies were performed in vast caverns, the remains of some of which,
at Salsette, Elephanta, and a few other places, will give the spectator
but a very inadequate idea of the extent and splendor of these ancient
Indian lodges.[70] More imperfect remains than these are still to be found
in great numbers throughout Hindostan and Cashmere. Their form was
sometimes that of a cross, emblematic of the four elements of which the
earth is composed,--fire, water, air, and earth,--but more generally an
oval, as a representation of the mundane egg, which, in the ancient
systems, was a symbol of the world.[71]

The interior of the cavern of initiation was lighted by innumerable lamps,
and there sat in the east, the west, and the south the principal
Hierophants, or explainers of the Mysteries, as the representatives of
Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Now, Brahma was the supreme deity of the
Hindoos, borrowed or derived from the Sun-god of their Sabean ancestors,
and Vishnu and Siva were but manifestations of his attributes. We learn
from the Indian Pantheon that "when the sun rises in the east, he is
Brahma; when he gains his meridian in the south, he is Siva; and when he
sets in the west, he is Vishnu."

Again, in the Zoroasteric mysteries of Persia, the temple of initiation
was circular, being made so to represent the universe; and the sun in the
east, with the surrounding zodiac, formed an indispensable part of the
ceremony of reception.[72]

In the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris, the same reference to the sun is
contained, and Herodotus, who was himself an initiate, intimates that the
ceremonies consisted in the representation of a Sun-god, who had been
incarnate, that is, had appeared upon earth, or rose, and who was at
length put to death by Typhon, the symbol of darkness, typical of the
sun's setting.

In the great mysteries of Eleusis,[73] which were celebrated at Athens, we
learn from St. Chrysostom, as well as other authorities, that the temple
of initiation was symbolic of the universe, and we know that one of the
officers represented the sun.[74]

In the Celtic mysteries of the Druids, the temple of initiation was either
oval, to represent the mundane egg--a symbol, as has already been said, of
the world; or circular, because the circle was a symbol of the universe;
or cruciform, in allusion to the four elements, or constituents of the
universe. In the Island of Lewis, in Scotland, there is one combining the
cruciform and circular form. There is a circle, consisting of twelve
stones, while three more are placed in the east, and as many in the west
and south, and thirty-eight, in two parallel lines, in the north, forming
an avenue to the circular temple. In the centre of the circle is the image
of the god. In the initiations into these rites, the solar deity performed
an important part, and the celebrations commenced at daybreak, when the
sun was hailed on his appearance above the horizon as "the god of victory,
the king who rises in light and ascends the sky."

But I need not multiply these instances of sun-worship. Every country and
religion of the ancient world would afford one.[75] Sufficient has been
cited to show the complete coincidence, in reference to the sun, between
the symbolism of Freemasonry and that of the ancient rites and Mysteries,
and to suggest for them a common origin, the sun being always in the
former system, from the earliest times of the primitive or patriarchal
Masonry, considered simply as a manifestation of the Wisdom, Strength, and
Beauty of the Divine Architect, visibly represented by the position of the
three principal officers of a lodge, while by the latter, in their
degeneration from, and corruption of the true Noachic faith, it was
adopted as the special object of adoration.




XV.

The Point Within a Circle.



The point within a Circle is another symbol of great importance in
Freemasonry, and commands peculiar attention in this connection with the
ancient symbolism of the universe and the solar orb. Everybody who has
read a masonic "Monitor" is well acquainted with the usual explanation of
this symbol. We are told that the point represents an individual brother,
the circle the boundary line of his duty to God and man, and the two
perpendicular parallel lines the patron saints of the order--St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

Now, this explanation, trite and meagre as it is, may do very well for the
exoteric teaching of the order; but the question at this time is, not how
it has been explained by modern lecturers and masonic system-makers, but
what was the ancient interpretation of the symbol, and how should it be
read as a sacred hieroglyphic in reference to the true philosophic system
which constitutes the real essence and character of Freemasonry?

Perfectly to understand this symbol, I must refer, as a preliminary
matter, to the worship of the _Phallus_, a peculiar modification of
sun-worship, which prevailed to a great extent among the nations of
antiquity.

The Phallus was a sculptured representation of the _membrum virile_, or
male organ of generation,[76] and the worship of it is said to have
originated in Egypt, where, after the murder of Osiris by Typhon, which is
symbolically to be explained as the destruction or deprivation of the
sun's light by night, Isis, his wife, or the symbol of nature, in the
search for his mutilated body, is said to have found all the parts except
the organs of generation, which myth is simply symbolic of the fact, that
the sun having set, its fecundating and invigorating power had ceased. The
Phallus, therefore, as the symbol of the male generative principle, was
very universally venerated among the ancients,[77] and that too as a
religious rite, without the slightest reference to any impure or
lascivious application.[78] He is supposed, by some commentators, to be
the god mentioned under the name of Baal-peor, in the Book of Numbers,[79]
as having been worshipped by the idolatrous Moabites. Among the eastern
nations of India the same symbol was prevalent, under the name of
"Lingam." But the Phallus or Lingam was a representation of the male
principle only. To perfect the circle of generation it is necessary to
advance one step farther. Accordingly we find in the _Cteis_ of the
Greeks, and the _Yoni_ of the Indians, a symbol of the female generative
principle, of co-extensive prevalence with the Phallus. The _Cteis_ was a
circular and concave pedestal, or receptacle, on which the Phallus or
column rested, and from the centre of which it sprang.

The union of the Phallus and Cteis, or the Lingam and Yoni, in one
compound figure, as an object of adoration, was the most usual mode of
representation. This was in strict accordance with the whole system of
ancient mythology, which was founded upon a worship of the prolific powers
of nature. All the deities of pagan antiquity, however numerous they may
be, can always be reduced to the two different forms of the generative
principle--the active, or male, and the passive, or female. Hence the gods
were always arranged in pairs, as Jupiter and Juno, Bacchus and Venus,
Osiris and Isis. But the ancients went farther. Believing that the
procreative and productive powers of nature might be conceived to exist in
the same individual, they made the older of their deities hermaphrodite,
and used the term [Greek: a)r)r(enothe/lys], or _man-virgin,_ to denote
the union of the two sexes in the same divine person.[80]

Thus, in one of the Orphic Hymns, we find this line:--

    [Greek: Zey\s a)/rsên ge/neto, Zey\s a)/mbrotos e)/Pleto ny/mphê]
    Jove was created a male and an unspotted virgin.

And Plutarch, in his tract "On Isis and Osiris," says, "God, who is a male
and female intelligence, being both life and light, brought forth another
intelligence, the Creator of the World."

Now, this hermaphrodism of the Supreme Divinity was again supposed to be
represented by the sun, which was the male generative energy, and by
nature, or the universe, which was the female prolific principle.[81] And
this union was symbolized in different ways, but principally by _the
point within the circle_, the point indicating the sun, and the circle the
universe, invigorated and fertilized by his generative rays. And in some
of the Indian cave-temples, this allusion was made more manifest by the
inscription of the signs of the zodiac on the circle.

So far, then, we arrive at the true interpretation of the masonic
symbolism of the point within the circle. It is the same thing, but under
a different form, as the Master and Wardens of a lodge. The Master and
Wardens are symbols of the sun, the lodge of the universe, or world, just
as the point is the symbol of the same sun, and the surrounding circle of
the universe.

But the two perpendicular parallel lines remain to be explained. Every one
is familiar with the very recent interpretation, that they represent the
two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist. But this modern
exposition must be abandoned, if we desire to obtain the true ancient
signification.

In the first place, we must call to mind the fact that, at two particular
points of his course, the sun is found in the zodiacal signs of Cancer and
Capricorn. These points are astronomically distinguished as the summer and
winter solstice. When the sun is in these points, he has reached his
greatest northern and southern declination, and produces the most evident
effects on the temperature of the seasons, and on the length of the days
and nights. These points, if we suppose the circle to represent the sun's
apparent course, will be indicated by the points where the parallel lines
touch the circle, or, in other words, the parallels will indicate the
limits of the sun's extreme northern and southern declination, when he
arrives at the solstitial points of Cancer and Capricorn.

But the days when the sun reaches these points are, respectively, the 21st
of June and the 22d of December, and this will account for their
subsequent application to the two Saints John, whose anniversaries have
been placed by the church near those days.




XVI.

The Covering of the Lodge.



The Covering of the lodge is another, and must be our last reference to
this symbolism of the world or the universe. The mere mention of the fact
that this covering is figuratively supposed to be "a clouded canopy," or
the firmament, on which the host of stars is represented, will be enough
to indicate the continued allusion to the symbolism of the world. The
lodge, as a representative of the world, is of course supposed to have no
other roof than the heavens;[82] and it would scarcely be necessary to
enter into any discussion on the subject, were it not that another
symbol--the theological ladder--is so intimately connected with it, that
the one naturally suggests the other. Now, this mystic ladder, which
connects the ground floor of the lodge with its roof or covering, is
another important and interesting link, which binds, with one common
chain, the symbolism and ceremonies of Freemasonry, and the symbolism and
rites of the ancient initiations.

This mystical ladder, which in Masonry is referred to "the theological
ladder, which Jacob in his vision saw, reaching from earth to heaven," was
widely dispersed among the religions of antiquity, where it was always
supposed to consist of seven rounds or steps.

For instance, in the Mysteries of Mithras, in Persia, where there were
seven stages or degrees of initiation, there was erected in the temples,
or rather caves,--for it was in them that the initiation was
conducted,--a high ladder, of seven steps or gates, each of which was
dedicated to one of the planets, which was typified by one of the metals,
the topmost step representing the sun, so that, beginning at the bottom,
we have Saturn represented by lead, Venus by tin, Jupiter by brass,
Mercury by iron, Mars by a mixed metal, the Moon by silver, and the Sun by
gold, the whole being a symbol of the sidereal progress of the solar orb
through the universe.

In the Mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to the ladder of
seven steps; but here the names were different, although there was the
same allusion to the symbol of the universe. The seven steps were
emblematical of the seven worlds which constituted the Indian universe.
The lowest was the Earth; the second, the World of Reexistence; the third,
Heaven; the fourth, the Middle World, or intermediate region between the
lower and upper worlds; the fifth, the World of Births, in which souls are
again born; the sixth, the Mansion of the Blessed; and the seventh, or
topmost round, the Sphere of Truth, the abode of Brahma, he himself being
but a symbol of the sun, and hence we arrive once more at the masonic
symbolism of the universe and the solar orb.

Dr. Oliver thinks that in the Scandinavian Mysteries he has found the
mystic ladder in the sacred tree _Ydrasil;_[83] but here the reference to
the septenary division is so imperfect, or at least abstruse, that I am
unwilling to press it into our catalogue of coincidences, although there
is no doubt that we shall find in this sacred tree the same allusion as in
the ladder of Jacob, to an ascent from earth, where its roots were
planted, to heaven, where its branches expanded, which ascent being but a
change from mortality to immortality, from time to eternity, was the
doctrine taught in all the initiations. The ascent of the ladder or of the
tree was the ascent from life here to life hereafter--from earth to
heaven.

It is unnecessary to carry these parallelisms any farther. Any one can,
however, see in them an undoubted reference to that septenary division
which so universally prevailed throughout the ancient world, and the
influence of which is still felt even in the common day life and
observances of our time. Seven was, among the Hebrews, their perfect
number; and hence we see it continually recurring in all their sacred
rites. The creation was perfected in seven days; seven priests, with
seven trumpets, encompassed the walls of Jericho for seven days; Noah
received seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and seven
persons accompanied him into the ark, which rested on Mount Ararat on the
seventh month; Solomon was seven years in building the temple: and there
are hundreds of other instances of the prominence of this talismanic
number, if there were either time or necessity to cite them.

Among the Gentiles the same number was equally sacred. Pythagoras called
it a "venerable number." The septenary division of time into weeks of
seven days, although not universal, as has been generally supposed, was
sufficiently so to indicate the influence of the number. And it is
remarkable, as perhaps in some way referring to the seven-stepped ladder
which we have been considering, that in the ancient Mysteries, as Apuleius
informs us, the candidate was seven times washed in the consecrated waters
of ablution.

There is, then, an anomaly in giving to the mystical ladder of Masonry
only _three_ rounds. It is an anomaly, however, with which Masonry has had
nothing to do. The error arose from the ignorance of those inventors who
first engraved the masonic symbols for our monitors. The ladder of
Masonry, like the equipollent ladders of its kindred institutions, always
had seven steps, although in modern times the three principal or upper
ones are alone alluded to. These rounds, beginning at the lowest, are
_Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope,_ and _Charity_.
Charity, therefore, takes the same place in the ladder of masonic virtues
as the sun does in the ladder of planets. In the ladder of metals we find
gold, and in that of colors yellow, occupying the same elevated position.
Now, St. Paul explains Charity as signifying, not alms-giving, which is
the modern popular meaning, but love--that love which "suffereth long and
is kind;" and when, in our lectures on this subject, we speak of it as the
greatest of virtues, because, when Faith is lost and Hope has ceased, it
extends "beyond the grave to realms of endless bliss," we there refer it
to the Divine Love of our Creator. But Portal, in his Essay on Symbolic
Colors, informs us that the sun represents Divine Love, and gold indicates
the goodness of God.

So that if Charity is equivalent to Divine Love, and Divine Love is
represented by the sun, and lastly, if Charity be the topmost round of the
masonic ladder, then again we arrive, as the result of our researches, at
the symbol so often already repeated of the solar orb. The natural sun or
the spiritual sun--the sun, either as the vivifying principle of animated
nature, and therefore the special object of adoration, or as the most
prominent instrument of the Creator's benevolence--was ever a leading idea
in the symbolism of antiquity.

Its prevalence, therefore, in the masonic institution, is a pregnant
evidence of the close analogy existing between it and all these systems.
How that analogy was first introduced, and how it is to be explained,
without detriment to the purity and truthfulness of our own religious
character, would involve a long inquiry into the origin of Freemasonry,
and the history of its connection with the ancient systems.

These researches might have been extended still farther; enough, however,
has been said to establish the following leading principles:--

1. That Freemasonry is, strictly speaking, a science of symbolism.

2. That in this symbolism it bears a striking analogy to the same science,
as seen in the mystic rites of the ancient religions.

3. That as in these ancient religions the universe was symbolized to the
candidate, and the sun, as its vivifying principle, made the object of his
adoration, or at least of his veneration, so, in Masonry, the lodge is
made the representative of the world or the universe, and the sun is
presented as its most prominent symbol.

4. That this identity of symbolism proves an identity of origin, which
identity of origin can be shown to be strictly compatible with the true
religious sentiment of Masonry.

5. And fifthly and lastly, that the whole symbolism of Freemasonry has an
exclusive reference to what the Kabalists have called the ALGABIL--the
_Master Builder_--him whom Freemasons have designated as the Grand
Architect of the Universe.




XVII.

Ritualistic Symbolism.



We have hitherto been engaged in the consideration of these simple
symbols, which appear to express one single and independent idea. They
have sometimes been called the "alphabet of Freemasonry," but improperly,
I think, since the letters of the alphabet have, in themselves, unlike
these masonic symbols, no significance, but are simply the component parts
of words, themselves the representatives of ideas.

These masonic symbols rather may be compared to the elementary characters
of the Chinese language, each of which denotes an idea; or, still better,
to the hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians, in which one object was
represented in full by another which bore some subjective relation to it,
as the wind was represented by the wings of a bird, or courage by the head
and shoulders of a lion.

It is in the same way that in Masonry the plumb represents rectitude, the
level, human equality, and the trowel, concord or harmony. Each is, in
itself, independent, each expresses a single elementary idea.

But we now arrive at a higher division of masonic symbolism, which,
passing beyond these tangible symbols, brings us to those which are of a
more abstruse nature, and which, as being developed in a ceremonial form,
controlled and directed by the ritual of the order, may be designated as
the _ritualistic symbolism_ of Freemasonry.

It is to this higher division that I now invite attention; and for the
purpose of exemplifying the definition that I have given, I shall select a
few of the most prominent and interesting ceremonies of the ritual.

Our first researches were into the symbolism of objects; our next will be
into the symbolism of ceremonies.

In the explanations which I shall venture to give of this ritualistic
symbolism, or the symbolism of ceremonies, a reference will constantly be
made to what has so often already been alluded to, namely, to the analogy
existing between the system of Freemasonry and the ancient rites and
Mysteries, and hence we will again develop the identity of their origin.

Each of the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry contains some of these
ritualistic symbols: the lessons of the whole order are, indeed, veiled in
their allegoric clothing; but it is only to the most important that I can
find opportunity to refer. Such, among others, are the rites of
discalceation, of investiture, of circumambulation, and of intrusting.
Each of these will furnish an appropriate subject for consideration.




XVIII.

The Rite of Discalceation.



The _rite of discalceation_, or uncovering the feet on approaching holy
ground, is derived from the Latin word _discalceare_, to pluck off one's
shoes. The usage has the prestige of antiquity and universality in its
favor.

That it not only very generally prevailed, but that its symbolic
signification was well understood in the days of Moses, we learn from that
passage of Exodus where the angel of the Lord, at the burning bush,
exclaims to the patriarch, "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from
off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." [84]
Clarke[85] thinks it is from this command that the Eastern nations have
derived the custom of performing all their acts of religious worship with
bare feet. But it is much more probable that the ceremony was in use long
anterior to the circumstance of the burning bush, and that the Jewish
lawgiver at once recognized it as a well-known sign of reverence.

Bishop Patrick[86] entertains this opinion, and thinks that the custom
was derived from the ancient patriarchs, and was transmitted by a general
tradition to succeeding times.

Abundant evidence might be furnished from ancient authors of the existence
of the custom among all nations, both Jewish and Gentile. A few of them,
principally collected by Dr. Mede, must be curious and interesting.

The direction of Pythagoras to his disciples was in these words:
"[Greek: Anypo/dêtos thy/e kai pro/skynei];" that is, Offer sacrifice and
worship with thy shoes off.[87]

Justin Martyr says that those who came to worship in the sanctuaries and
temples of the Gentiles were commanded by their priests to put off their
shoes.

Drusius, in his Notes on the Book of Joshua, says that among most of the
Eastern nations it was a pious duty to tread the pavement of the temple
with unshod feet.[88]

Maimonides, the great expounder of the Jewish law, asserts that "it was
not lawful for a man to come into the mountain of God's house with his
shoes on his feet, or with his staff, or in his working garments, or with
dust on his feet." [89]

Rabbi Solomon, commenting on the command in Leviticus xix. 30, "Ye shall
reverence my sanctuary," makes the same remark in relation to this custom.
On this subject Dr. Oliver observes, "Now, the act of going with naked
feet was always considered a token of humility and reverence; and the
priests, in the temple worship, always officiated with feet uncovered,
although it was frequently injurious to their health." [90]

Mede quotes Zago Zaba, an Ethiopian bishop, who was ambassador from David,
King of Abyssinia, to John III., of Portugal, as saying, "We are not
permitted to enter the church, except barefooted." [91]

The Mohammedans, when about to perform their devotions, always leave their
slippers at the door of the mosque. The Druids practised the same custom
whenever they celebrated their sacred rites; and the ancient Peruvians are
said always to have left their shoes at the porch when they entered the
magnificent temple consecrated to the worship of the sun.

Adam Clarke thinks that the custom of worshipping the Deity barefooted was
so general among all nations of antiquity, that he assigns it as one of
his thirteen proofs that the whole human race have been derived from one
family.[92]

A theory might be advanced as follows: The shoes, or sandals, were worn on
ordinary occasions as a protection from the defilement of the ground. To
continue to wear them, then, in a consecrated place, would be a tacit
insinuation that the ground there was equally polluted and capable of
producing defilement. But, as the very character of a holy and consecrated
spot precludes the idea of any sort of defilement or impurity, the
acknowledgment that such was the case was conveyed, symbolically, by
divesting the feet of all that protection from pollution and uncleanness
which would be necessary in unconsecrated places.

So, in modern times, we uncover the head to express the sentiment of
esteem and respect. Now, in former days, when there was more violence to
be apprehended than now, the casque, or helmet, afforded an ample
protection from any sudden blow of an unexpected adversary. But we can
fear no violence from one whom we esteem and respect; and, therefore, to
deprive the head of its accustomed protection, is to give an evidence of
our unlimited confidence in the person to whom the gesture is made.

The rite of discalceation is, therefore, a symbol of reverence. It
signifies, in the language of symbolism, that the spot which is about to
be approached in this humble and reverential manner is consecrated to some
holy purpose.

Now, as to all that has been said, the intelligent mason will at once see
its application to the third degree. Of all the degrees of Masonry, this
is by far the most important and sublime. The solemn lessons which it
teaches, the sacred scene which it represents, and the impressive
ceremonies with which it is conducted, are all calculated to inspire the
mind with feelings of awe and reverence. Into the holy of holies of the
temple, when the ark of the covenant had been deposited in its appropriate
place, and the Shekinah was hovering over it, the high priest alone, and
on one day only in the whole year, was permitted, after the most careful
purification, to enter with bare feet, and to pronounce, with fearful
veneration, the tetragrammaton or omnific word.

And into the Master Mason's lodge--this holy of holies of the masonic
temple, where the solemn truths of death and immortality are
inculcated--the aspirant, on entering, should purify his heart from every
contamination, and remember, with a due sense of their symbolic
application, those words that once broke upon the astonished ears of the
old patriarch, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground."




XIX.

The Rite of Investiture.



Another ritualistic symbolism, of still more importance and interest, is
the _rite of investiture_.

The rite of investiture, called, in the colloquially technical language of
the order, the _ceremony of clothing_, brings us at once to the
consideration of that well-known symbol of Freemasonry, the LAMB-SKIN
APRON.

This rite of investiture, or the placing upon the aspirant some garment,
as an indication of his appropriate preparation for the ceremonies in
which he was about to engage, prevailed in all the ancient initiations. A
few of them only it will be requisite to consider.

Thus in the Levitical economy of the Israelites the priests always wore
the abnet, or linen apron, or girdle, as a part of the investiture of the
priesthood. This, with the other garments, was to be worn, as the text
expresses it, "for glory and for beauty," or, as it has been explained by
a learned commentator, "as emblematical of that holiness and purity which
ever characterize the divine nature, and the worship which is worthy of
him."

In the Persian Mysteries of Mithras, the candidate, having first received
light, was invested with a girdle, a crown or mitre, a purple tunic, and,
lastly, a white apron.

In the initiations practised in Hindostan, in the ceremony of investiture
was substituted the sash, or sacred zennaar, consisting of a cord,
composed of nine threads twisted into a knot at the end, and hanging from
the left shoulder to the right hip. This was, perhaps, the type of the
masonic scarf, which is, or ought to be, always worn in the same position.

The Jewish sect of the Essenes, who approached nearer than any other
secret institution of antiquity to Freemasonry in their organization,
always invested their novices with a white robe.

And, lastly, in the Scandinavian rites, where the military genius of the
people had introduced a warlike species of initiation, instead of the
apron we find the candidate receiving a white shield, which was, however,
always presented with the accompaniment of some symbolic instruction, not
very dissimilar to that which is connected with the masonic apron.

In all these modes of investiture, no matter what was the material or the
form, the symbolic signification intended to be conveyed was that of
purity.

And hence, in Freemasonry, the same symbolism is communicated by the
apron, which, because it is the first gift which the aspirant
receives,--the first symbol in which he is instructed,--has been called
the "badge of a mason." And most appropriately has it been so called; for,
whatever may be the future advancement of the candidate in the "Royal
Art," into whatever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic institution
or his thirst for knowledge may carry him, with the apron--his first
investiture--he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its
decorations, and conveying at each step some new and beautiful allusion,
its substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honorable
title by which it was first made known to him on the night of his
initiation.

The apron derives its significance, as the symbol of purity, from two
sources--from its color and from its material. In each of these points of
view it is, then, to be considered, before its symbolism can be properly
appreciated.

And, first, the color of the apron must be an unspotted white. This color
has, in all ages, been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity. It was
with reference to this symbolism that a portion of the vestments of the
Jewish priesthood was directed to be made white. And hence Aaron was
commanded, when he entered into the holy of holies to make an expiation
for the sins of the people, to appear clothed in white linen, with his
linen apron, or girdle, about his loins. It is worthy of remark that the
Hebrew word LABAN, which signifies _to make white_, denotes also _to
purify_; and hence we find, throughout the Scriptures, many allusions to
that color as an emblem of purity. "Though thy sins be as scarlet," says
Isaiah, "they shall be _white_ as snow;" and Jeremiah, in describing the
once innocent condition of Zion, says, "Her Nazarites were purer than
snow; they were _whiter_ than milk."

In the Apocalypse a _white stone_ was the reward promised by the Spirit to
those who overcame; and in the same mystical book the apostle is
instructed to say, that fine linen, clean and _white_, is the
righteousness of the saints.

In the early ages of the Christian church a _white garment_ was always
placed upon the catechumen who had been recently baptized, to denote that
he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a
life of innocence and purity. Hence it was presented to him with this
appropriate charge: "Receive the white and undefiled garment, and produce
it unspotted before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may
obtain immortal life."

The _white alb_ still constitutes a part of the vestments of the Roman
church, and its color is said by Bishop England "to excite to piety by
teaching us the purity of heart and body which we should possess in being
present at the holy mysteries."

The heathens paid the same attention to the symbolic signification of this
color. The Egyptians, for instance, decorated the head of their principal
deity, Osiris, with a white tiara, and the priests wore robes of the
whitest linen.

In the school of Pythagoras, the sacred hymns were chanted by the
disciples clothed in garments of white. The Druids gave white vestments to
those of their initiates who had arrived at the ultimate degree, or that
of perfection. And this was intended, according to their ritual, to teach
the aspirant that none were admitted to that honor but such as were
cleansed from all impurities, both of body and mind.

In all the Mysteries and religions rites of the other nations of
antiquity the same use of white garments was observed.

Portal, in his "Treatise on Symbolic Colors," says that "white, the symbol
of the divinity and of the priesthood, represents divine wisdom; applied
to a young girl, it denotes virginity; to an accused person, innocence; to
a judge, justice;" and he adds--what in reference to its use in Masonry
will be peculiarly appropriate--that, "as a characteristic sign of purity,
it exhibits a promise of hope after death." We see, therefore, the
propriety of adopting this color in the masonic system as a symbol of
purity. This symbolism pervades the whole of the ritual, from the lowest
to the highest degree, wherever white vestments or white decorations are
used.

As to the material of the apron, this is imperatively required to be of
lamb-skin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be
substituted without entirely destroying the symbolism of the vestment.
Now, the lamb has, as the ritual expresses it, "been, in all ages, deemed
an emblem of innocence;" but more particularly in the Jewish and Christian
churches has this symbolism been observed. Instances of this need hardly
be cited. They abound throughout the Old Testament, where we learn that a
lamb was selected by the Israelites for their sin and burnt offerings, and
in the New, where the word _lamb_ is almost constantly employed as
synonymous with innocence. "The paschal lamb," says Didron, "which was
eaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure, is the
type of that other divine Lamb, of whom Christians are to partake at
Easter, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they
are held by vice." The paschal lamb, a lamb bearing a cross, was,
therefore, from an early period, depicted by the Christians as referring
to Christ crucified, "that spotless Lamb of God, who was slain from the
foundation of the world."

The material, then, of the apron, unites with its color to give to the
investiture of a mason the symbolic signification of purity. This, then,
together with the fact which I have already shown, that the ceremony of
investiture was common to all the ancient religious rites, will form
another proof of the identity of origin between these and the masonic
institution.

This symbolism also indicates the sacred and religious character which its
founders sought to impose upon Freemasonry, and to which both the moral
and physical qualifications of our candidates undoubtedly have a
reference, since it is with the masonic lodge as it was with the Jewish
church, where it was declared that "no man that had a blemish should come
nigh unto the altar;" and with the heathen priesthood, among whom we are
told that it was thought to be a dishonor to the gods to be served by any
one that was maimed, lame, or in any other way imperfect; and with both,
also, in requiring that no one should approach the sacred things who was
not pure and uncorrupt.

The pure, unspotted lamb-skin apron is, then, in Masonry, symbolic of that
perfection of body and purity of mind which are essential qualifications
in all who would participate in its sacred mysteries.




XX.

The Symbolism of the Gloves.



The investiture with the gloves is very closely connected with the
investiture with the apron, and the consideration of the symbolism of the
one naturally follows the consideration of the symbolism of the other.

In the continental rites of Masonry, as practised in France, in Germany,
and in other countries of Europe, it is an invariable custom to present
the newly-initiated candidate not only, as we do, with a white leather
apron, but also with two pairs of white kid gloves, one a man's pair for
himself, and the other a woman's, to be presented by him in turn to his
wife or his betrothed, according to the custom of the German masons, or,
according to the French, to the female whom he most esteems, which,
indeed, amounts, or should amount, to the same thing.

There is in this, of course, as there is in everything else which pertains
to Freemasonry, a symbolism. The gloves given to the candidate for himself
are intended to teach him that the acts of a mason should be as pure and
spotless as the gloves now given to him. In the German lodges, the word
used for _acts_ is of course _handlungen_, or _handlings_, "the works of
his hands," which makes the symbolic idea more impressive.

Dr. Robert Plott--no friend of Masonry, but still an historian of much
research--says, in his "Natural History of Staffordshire," that the
Society of Freemasons, in his time (and he wrote in 1660), presented their
candidates with gloves for themselves and their wives. This shows that the
custom still preserved on the continent of Europe was formerly practised
in England, although there as well as in America, it is discontinued,
which is, perhaps, to be regretted.

But although the presentation of the gloves to the candidate is no longer
practised as a ceremony in England or America, yet the use of them as a
part of the proper professional clothing of a mason in the duties of the
lodge, or in processions, is still retained, and in many well-regulated
lodges the members are almost as regularly clothed in their white gloves
as in their white aprons.

The symbolism of the gloves, it will be admitted, is, in fact, but a
modification of that of the apron. They both signify the same thing; both
are allusive to a purification of life. "Who shall ascend," says the
Psalmist, "into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart." The apron may be said
to refer to the "pure heart," the gloves to the "clean hands." Both are
significant of purification--of that purification which was always
symbolized by the ablution which preceded the ancient initiations into the
sacred Mysteries. But while our American and English masons have adhered
only to the apron, and rejected the gloves as a Masonic symbol, the
latter appear to be far more important in symbolic science, because the
allusions to pure or clean hands are abundant in all the ancient writers.

"Hands," says Wemyss, in his "Clavis Symbolica," "are the symbols of human
actions; pure hands are pure actions; unjust hands are deeds of
injustice." There are numerous references in sacred and profane writers to
this symbolism. The washing of the hands has the outward sign of an
internal purification. Hence the Psalmist says, "I will wash my hands in
innocence, and I will encompass thine altar, Jehovah."

In the ancient Mysteries the washing of the hands was always an
introductory ceremony to the initiation, and, of course, it was used
symbolically to indicate the necessity of purity from crime as a
qualification of those who sought admission into the sacred rites; and
hence on a temple in the Island of Crete this inscription was placed:
"Cleanse your feet, wash your hands, and then enter."

Indeed, the washing of hands, as symbolic of purity, was among the
ancients a peculiarly religious rite. No one dared to pray to the gods
until he had cleansed his hands. Thus Homer makes Hector say,--

    [Greek: "Chersi\ d' a)ni/Ptoisin Dii\+lei/bein A(\zomai."]--_Iliad_, vi. 266.

    "I dread with unwashed hands to bring
    My incensed wine to Jove an offering."

In a similar spirit of religion, Æneas, when leaving burning Troy, refuses
to enter the temple of Ceres until his hands, polluted by recent strife,
had been washed in the living stream.

    "Me bello e tanto digressum et cæde recenti,
    Attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo
    Abluero."--_Æn._ ii. 718.

    "In me, now fresh from war and recent strife,
    'Tis impious the sacred things to touch
    Till in the living stream myself I bathe."

The same practice prevailed among the Jews, and a striking instance of the
symbolism is exhibited in that well-known action of Pilate, who, when the
Jews clamored for Jesus, that they might crucify him, appeared before the
people, and, having taken water, washed his hands, saying at the same
time, "I am innocent of the blood of this just man. See ye to it." In the
Christian church of the middle ages, gloves were always worn by bishops or
priests when in the performance of ecclesiastical functions. They were
made of linen, and were white; and Durandus, a celebrated ritualist, says
that "by the white gloves were denoted chastity and purity, because the
hands were thus kept clean and free from all impurity."

There is no necessity to extend examples any further. There is no doubt
that the use of the gloves in Masonry is a symbolic idea borrowed from the
ancient and universal language of symbolism, and was intended, like the
apron, to denote the necessity of purity of life.

We have thus traced the gloves and the apron to the same symbolic source.
Let us see if we cannot also derive them from the same historic origin.

The apron evidently owes its adoption in Freemasonry to the use of that
necessary garment by the operative masons of the middle ages. It is one of
the most positive evidences--indeed we may say, absolutely, the most
tangible evidence--of the derivation of our speculative science from an
operative art. The builders, who associated in companies, who traversed
Europe, and were engaged in the construction of palaces and cathedrals,
have left to us, as their descendants, their name, their technical
language, and that distinctive piece of clothing by which they protected
their garments from the pollutions of their laborious employment. Did they
also bequeath to us their gloves? This is a question which some modern
discoveries will at last enable us to solve.

M. Didron, in his "Annales Archeologiques," presents us with an engraving,
copied from the painted glass of a window in the cathedral of Chartres, in
France. The painting was executed in the thirteenth century, and
represents a number of operative masons at work. _Three_ of them are
adorned with laurel crowns. May not these be intended to represent the
three officers of a lodge? All of the Masons wear gloves. M. Didron
remarks that in the old documents which he has examined, mention is often
made of gloves which are intended to be presented to masons and
stone-cutters. In a subsequent number of the "Annales," he gives the
following three examples of this fact:--

In the year 1331, the Chatelan of Villaines, in Duemois, bought a
considerable quantity of gloves, to be given to the workmen, in order, as
it is said, "to shield their hands from the stone and lime."

In October, 1383, as he learns from a document of that period, three dozen
pairs of gloves were bought and distributed to the masons when they
commenced the buildings at the Chartreuse of Dijon.

And, lastly, in 1486 or 1487, twenty-two pair of gloves were given to the
masons and stone-cutters who were engaged in work at the city of Amiens.

It is thus evident that the builders--the operative masons--of the middle
ages wore gloves to protect their hands from the effects of their work.
It is equally evident that the speculative masons have received from their
operative predecessors the gloves as well as the apron, both of which,
being used by the latter for practical uses, have been, in the spirit of
symbolism, appropriated by the former to "a more noble and glorious
purpose."




XXI.

The Rite of Circumambulation.



The _rite of circumambulation_ will supply us with another ritualistic
symbol, in which we may again trace the identity of the origin of
Freemasonry with that of the religious and mystical ceremonies of the
ancients.

"Circumambulation" is the name given by sacred archaeologists to that
religious rite in the ancient initiations which consisted in a formal
procession around the altar, or other holy and consecrated object.

The prevalence of this rite among the ancients appears to have been
universal, and it originally (as I shall have occasion to show) alluded to
the apparent course of the sun in the firmament, which is from east to
west by the way of the south.

In ancient Greece, when the priests were engaged in the rites of
sacrifice, they and the people always walked three times around the altar
while chanting a sacred hymn or ode. Sometimes, while the people stood
around the altar, the rite of circumambulation was performed by the
priest alone, who, turning towards the right hand, went around it, and
sprinkled it with meal and holy water. In making this circumambulation, it
was considered absolutely necessary that the right side should always be
next to the altar, and consequently, that the procession should move from
the east to the south, then to the west, next to the north, and afterwards
to the east again. It was in this way that the apparent revolution was
represented.

This ceremony the Greeks called moving [Greek: ek dexia en dexia], _from
the right to the right_, which was the direction of the motion, and the
Romans applied to it the term _dextrovorsum,_ or _dextrorsum_, which
signifies the same thing. Thus Plautus makes Palinurus, a character in his
comedy of "Curculio," say, "If you would do reverence to the gods, you
must turn to the right hand." Gronovius, in commenting on this passage of
Plautus, says, "In worshipping and praying to the gods they were
accustomed to _turn to the right hand_."

A hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is said to have been
chanted by the priests of Apollo at Delos, while performing this ceremony
of circumambulation, the substance of which is, "We imitate the example of
the sun, and follow his benevolent course."

It will be observed that this circumambulation around the altar was
accompanied by the singing or chanting of a sacred ode. Of the three parts
of the ode, the _strophe_, the _antistrophe_, and the _epode_, each was to
be sung at a particular part of the procession. The analogy between this
chanting of an ode by the ancients and the recitation of a passage of
Scripture in the masonic circumambulation, will be at once apparent.

Among the Romans, the ceremony of circumambulation was always used in the
rites of sacrifice, of expiation or purification. Thus Virgil describes
Corynasus as purifying his companions, at the funeral of Misenus, by
passing three times around them while aspersing them with the lustral
waters; and to do so conveniently, it was necessary that he should have
moved with his right hand towards them.

    "Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda,
    Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivæ."
    _Æn._ vi. 229.

    "Thrice with pure water compassed he the crew,
    Sprinkling, with olive branch, the gentle dew."

In fact, so common was it to unite the ceremony of circumambulation with
that of expiation or purification, or, in other words, to make a
circuitous procession, in performing the latter rite, that the term
_lustrare_, whose primitive meaning is "to purify," came at last to be
synonymous with _circuire_, to walk round anything; and hence a
purification and a circumambulation were often expressed by the same word.

Among the Hindoos, the same rite of circumambulation has always been
practised. As an instance, we may cite the ceremonies which are to be
performed by a Brahmin upon first rising from bed in the morning, an
accurate account of which has been given by Mr. Colebrooke in the "Asiatic
Researches." The priest, having first adored the sun while directing his
face to the east, then walks towards the west by the way of the south,
saying, at the same time, "I follow the course of the sun," which he thus
explains: "As the sun in his course moves round the world by the way of
the south, so do I follow that luminary, to obtain the benefit arising
from a journey round the earth by the way of the south." [93]

Lastly, I may refer to the preservation of this rite among the Druids,
whose "mystical dance" around the _cairn_, or sacred stones, was nothing
more nor less than the rite of circumambulation. On these occasions the
priest always made three circuits, from east to west, by the right hand,
around the altar or cairn, accompanied by all the worshippers. And so
sacred was the rite once considered, that we learn from Toland[94] that in
the Scottish Isles, once a principal seat of the Druidical religion, the
people "never come to the ancient sacrificing and fire-hallowing _cairns_,
but they walk three times around them, from east to west, according to the
course of the sun." This sanctified tour, or round by the south, he
observes, is called _Deiseal_, as the contrary, or unhallowed one by the
north, is called _Tuapholl_. And he further remarks, that this word
_Deiseal_ was derived "from _Deas_, the _right_ (understanding _hand_) and
_soil_, one of the ancient names of the sun, the right hand in this round
being ever next the heap."

I might pursue these researches still further, and trace this rite of
circumambulation to other nations of antiquity; but I conceive that enough
has been said to show its universality, as well as the tenacity with which
the essential ceremony of performing the motion a mystical number of
times, and always by the right hand, from the east, through the south, to
the west, was preserved. And I think that this singular analogy to the
same rite in Freemasonry must lead us to the legitimate conclusion, that
the common source of all these rites is to be found in the identical
origin of the Spurious Freemasonry or pagan mysteries, and the pure,
Primitive Freemasonry, from which the former seceded only to be
deteriorated.

In reviewing what has been said on this subject, it will at once be
perceived that the essence of the ancient rite consisted in making the
circumambulation around the altar, from the east to the south, from the
south to the west, thence to the north, and to the east again.

Now, in this the masonic rite of circumambulation strictly agrees with the
ancient one.

But this circuit by the right hand, it is admitted, was done as a
representation of the sun's motion. It was a symbol of the sun's apparent
course around the earth.

And so, then, here again we have in Masonry that old and often-repeated
allusion to sun-worship, which has already been seen in the officers of a
lodge, and in the point within a circle. And as the circumambulation is
made around the lodge, just as the sun was supposed to move around the
earth, we are brought back to the original symbolism with which we
commenced--that the lodge is a symbol of the world.




XXII.

The Rite of Intrusting, and the Symbolism of Light.



The _rite of intrusting_, to which we are now to direct our attention,
will supply us with many important and interesting symbols.

There is an important period in the ceremony of masonic initiation, when
the candidate is about to receive a full communication of the mysteries
through which he has passed, and to which the trials and labors which he
has undergone can only entitle him. This ceremony is technically called
the "_rite of intrusting_," because it is then that the aspirant begins to
be intrusted with that for the possession of which he was seeking.[95]
It is equivalent to what, in the ancient Mysteries, was called the
"autopsy," [96] or the seeing of what only the initiated were permitted to
behold.

This _rite of intrusting_ is, of course, divided into several parts or
periods; for the _aporreta_, or secret things of Masonry, are not to be
given at once, but in gradual progression. It begins, however, with the
communication of LIGHT, which, although but a preparation for the
development of the mysteries which are to follow, must be considered as
one of the most important symbols in the whole science of masonic
symbolism. So important, indeed, is it, and so much does it pervade with
its influence and its relations the whole masonic system, that Freemasonry
itself anciently received, among other appellations, that of Lux, or
Light, to signify that it is to be regarded as that sublime doctrine of
Divine Truth by which the path of him who has attained it is to be
illuminated in his pilgrimage of life.

The Hebrew cosmogonist commences his description of the creation by the
declaration that "God said, Let there be light, and there was light"--a
phrase which, in the more emphatic form that it has received in the
original language of "Be light, and light was," [97] is said to have won
the praise, for its sublimity, of the greatest of Grecian critics. "The
singularly emphatic summons," says a profound modern writer,[98] "by which
light is called into existence, is probably owing to the preëminent
utility and glory of that element, together with its mysterious nature,
which made it seem as

    'The God of this new world,'

and won for it the earliest adoration of mankind."

Light was, in accordance with this old religious sentiment, the great
object of attainment in all the ancient religious Mysteries. It was there,
as it is now, in Masonry, made the symbol of _truth_ and _knowledge_. This
was always its ancient symbolism, and we must never lose sight of this
emblematic meaning, when we are considering the nature and signification
of masonic light. When the candidate makes a demand for light, it is not
merely for that material light which is to remove a physical darkness;
that is only the outward form, which conceals the inward symbolism. He
craves an intellectual illumination which will dispel the darkness of
mental and moral ignorance, and bring to his view, as an eye-witness, the
sublime truths of religion, philosophy, and science, which it is the great
design of Freemasonry to teach.

In all the ancient systems this reverence for light, as the symbol of
truth, was predominant. In the Mysteries of every nation, the candidate
was made to pass, during his initiation, through scenes of utter darkness,
and at length terminated his trials by an admission to the
splendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary, where he was said to have
attained pure and perfect light, and where he received the necessary
instructions which were to invest him with that knowledge of the divine
truth which it had been the object of all his labors to gain, and the
design of the institution, into which he had been initiated, to bestow.

_Light_, therefore, became synonymous with truth and knowledge, and
_darkness_ with falsehood and ignorance. We shall find this symbolism
pervading not only the institutions, but the very languages, of antiquity.

Thus, among the Hebrews, the word AUR, in the singular, signified
_light_, but in the plural, AURIM, it denoted the revelation of the divine
will; and the _aurim _ and _thummim_, literally the _lights_ and _truths_,
constituted a part of the breastplate whence the high priest obtained
oracular responses to the questions which he proposed.[99]

There is a peculiarity about the word "light," in the old Egyptian
language, which is well worth consideration in this connection. Among the
Egyptians, the _hare_ was the hieroglyphic of _eyes that are open_; and it
was adopted because that timid animal was supposed never to close his
organs of vision, being always on the watch for his enemies. The hare was
afterwards adopted by the priests as a symbol of the mental illumination
or mystic light which was revealed to the neophytes, in the contemplation
of divine truth, during the progress of their initiation; and hence,
according to Champollion, the hare was also the symbol of Osiris, their
chief god; thus showing the intimate connection which they believed to
exist between the process of initiation into their sacred rites and the
contemplation of the divine nature. But the Hebrew word for hare is
ARNaBeT. Now, this is compounded of the two words AUR, _light_, and NaBaT,
_to behold_, and therefore the word which in the Egyptian denoted
_initiation_, in the Hebrew signified _to behold the light_. In two
nations so intimately connected in history as the Hebrew and the Egyptian,
such a coincidence could not have been accidental. It shows the prevalence
of the sentiment, at that period, that the communication of light was the
prominent design of the Mysteries--so prominent that the one was made the
synonyme of the other.[100]

The worship of light, either in its pure essence or in the forms of
sun-worship and fire-worship, because the sun and the fire were causes of
light, was among the earliest and most universal superstitions of the
world. Light was considered as the primordial source of all that was holy
and intelligent; and darkness, as its opposite, was viewed as but another
name for evil and ignorance. Dr. Beard, in an article on this subject, in
Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, attributes this view of the
divine nature of light, which was entertained by the nations of the East,
to the fact that, in that part of the world, light "has a clearness and
brilliancy, is accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed in its
influence by a largeness of good, of which the inhabitants of less genial
climates have no conception. Light easily and naturally became, in
consequence, with Orientals, a representative of the highest human good.
All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of
the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were described
under imagery derived from light. The transition was natural--from earthly
to heavenly, from corporeal to spiritual things; and so light came to
typify true religion and the felicity which it imparts. But as light not
only came from God, but also makes man's way clear before him, so it was
employed to signify moral truth, and preëminently that divine system of
truth which is set forth in the Bible, from its earliest gleamings onward
to the perfect day of the Great Sun of Righteousness."

I am inclined to believe that in this passage the learned author has
erred, not in the definition of the symbol, but in his deduction of its
origin. Light became the object of religious veneration, not because of
the brilliancy and clearness of a particular sky, nor the warmth and
genial influence of a particular climate,--for the worship was universal,
in Scandinavia as in India,--but because it was the natural and inevitable
result of the worship of the sun, the chief deity of Sabianism--a faith
which pervaded to an extraordinary extent the whole religious sentiment of
antiquity.[101]

Light was venerated because it was an emanation from the sun, and, in the
materialism of the ancient faith, _light_ and _darkness_ were both
personified as positive existences, the one being the enemy of the other.
Two principles were thus supposed to reign over the world, antagonistic to
each other, and each alternately presiding over the destinies of
mankind.[102]

The contests between the good and evil principle, symbolized by light and
darkness, composed a very large part of the ancient mythology in all
countries.

Among the Egyptians, Osiris was light, or the sun; and his arch-enemy,
Typhon, who ultimately destroyed him, was the representative of darkness.

Zoroaster, the father of the ancient Persian religion, taught the same
doctrine, and called the principle of light, or good, Ormuzd, and the
principle of darkness, or evil, Ahriman. The former, born of the purest
light, and the latter, sprung from utter darkness, are, in this mythology,
continually making war on each other.

Manes, or Manichaeus, the founder of the sect of Manichees, in the third
century, taught that there are two principles from which all things
proceed; the one is a pure and subtile matter, called Light, and the other
a gross and corrupt substance, called Darkness. Each of these is subject
to the dominion of a superintending being, whose existence is from all
eternity. The being who presides over the light is called _God_; he that
rules over the darkness is called _Hyle_, or _Demon_. The ruler of the
light is supremely happy, good, and benevolent, while the ruler over
darkness is unhappy, evil, and malignant.

Pythagoras also maintained this doctrine of two antagonistic principles.
He called the one, unity, _light_, the right hand, equality, stability,
and a straight line; the other he named binary, _darkness_, the left hand,
inequality, instability, and a curved line. Of the colors, he attributed
white to the good principle, and black to the evil one.

The Cabalists gave a prominent place to light in their system of
cosmogony. They taught that, before the creation of the world, all space
was filled with what they called _Aur en soph_, or the _Eternal Light,_
and that when the Divine Mind determined or willed the production of
Nature, the Eternal Light withdrew to a central point, leaving around it
an empty space, in which the process of creation went on by means of
emanations from the central mass of light. It is unnecessary to enter into
the Cabalistic account of creation; it is sufficient here to remark that
all was done through the mediate influence of the _Aur en soph_, or
eternal light, which produces coarse matter, but one degree above
nonentity, only when it becomes so attenuated as to be lost in darkness.

The Brahminical doctrine was, that "light and darkness are esteemed the
world's eternal ways; he who walketh in the former returneth not; that is
to say, he goeth to eternal bliss; whilst he who walketh in the latter
cometh back again upon earth," and is thus destined to pass through
further transmigrations, until his soul is perfectly purified by
light.[103]

In all the ancient systems of initiation the candidate was shrouded in
darkness, as a preparation for the reception of light. The duration varied
in the different rites. In the Celtic Mysteries of Druidism, the period in
which the aspirant was immersed in darkness was nine days and nights;
among the Greeks, at Eleusis, it was three times as long; and in the still
severer rites of Mithras, in Persia, fifty days of darkness, solitude, and
fasting were imposed upon the adventurous neophyte, who, by these
excessive trials, was at length entitled to the full communication of the
light of knowledge.

Thus it will be perceived that the religious sentiment of a good and an
evil principle gave to darkness, in the ancient symbolism, a place equally
as prominent as that of light.

The same religious sentiment of the ancients, modified, however, in its
details, by our better knowledge of divine things, has supplied
Freemasonry with a double symbolism--that of _Light_ and _Darkness_.

Darkness is the symbol of initiation. It is intended to remind the
candidate of his ignorance, which Masonry is to enlighten; of his evil
nature, which Masonry is to purify; of the world, in whose obscurity he
has been wandering, and from which Masonry is to rescue him.

Light, on the other hand, is the symbol of the autopsy, the sight of the
mysteries, the intrusting, the full fruition of masonic truth and
knowledge.

Initiation precedes the communication of knowledge in Masonry, as darkness
preceded light in the old cosmogonies. Thus, in Genesis, we see that in
the beginning "the world was without form, and void, and darkness was on
the face of the deep." The Chaldean cosmogony taught that in the beginning
"all was darkness and water." The Phoenicians supposed that "the beginning
of all things was a wind of black air, and a chaos dark as Erebus." [104]

But out of all this darkness sprang forth light, at the divine command,
and the sublime phrase, "Let there be light," is repeated, in some
substantially identical form, in all the ancient histories of creation.

So, too, out of the mysterious darkness of Masonry comes the full blaze of
masonic light. One must precede the other, as the evening preceded the
morning. "So the evening and the morning were the first day."

This thought is preserved in the great motto of the Order, "_Lux e
tenebris_"--Light out of darkness. It is equivalent to this other
sentence: Truth out of initiation. _Lux_, or light, is truth; _tenebrae_,
or darkness, is initiation.

It is a beautiful and instructive portion of our symbolism, this
connection of darkness and light, and well deserves a further
investigation.

"Genesis and the cosmogonies," says Portal, "mention the antagonism of
light and darkness. The form of this fable varies according to each
nation, but the foundation is everywhere the same. Under the symbol of the
creation of the world it presents the picture of regeneration and
initiation." [105]

Plutarch says that to die is to be initiated into the greater Mysteries;
and the Greek word [Greek: teleuta~|n], which signifies _to die_, means
also _to be initiated_. But black, which is the symbolic color of
darkness, is also the symbol of death. And hence, again, darkness, like
death, is the symbol of initiation. It was for this reason that all the
ancient initiations were performed at night. The celebration of the
Mysteries was always nocturnal. The same custom prevails in Freemasonry,
and the explanation is the same. Death and the resurrection were taught
in the Mysteries, as they are in Freemasonry. The initiation was the
lesson of death. The full fruition or autopsy, the reception of light, was
the lesson of regeneration or resurrection.

Light is, therefore, a fundamental symbol in Freemasonry. It is, in fact,
the first important symbol that is presented to the neophyte in his
instructions, and contains within itself the very essence of Speculative
Masonry, which is nothing more than the contemplation of intellectual
light or truth.[106]




XXIII.

Symbolism of the Corner-Stone.



We come next, in a due order of precedence, to the consideration of the
symbolism connected with an important ceremony in the ritual of the first
degree of Masonry, which refers to the north-east corner of the lodge. In
this ceremony the candidate becomes the representative of a spiritual
corner-stone. And hence, to thoroughly comprehend the true meaning of the
emblematic ceremony, it is essential that we should investigate the
symbolism of the _corner-stone_.

The corner-stone,[107] as the foundation on which the entire building is
supposed to rest, is, of course, the most important stone in the whole
edifice. It is, at least, so considered by operative masons. It is laid
with impressive ceremonies; the assistance of speculative masons is often,
and always ought to be, invited, to give dignity to the occasion; and the
event is viewed by the workmen as an important era in the construction of
the edifice.[108]

In the rich imagery of Orientalism, the corner-stone is frequently
referred to as the appropriate symbol of a chief or prince who is the
defence and bulwark of his people, and more particularly in Scripture, as
denoting that promised Messiah who was to be the sure prop and support of
all who should put their trust in his divine mission.[109]

To the various properties that are necessary to constitute a true
corner-stone,--its firmness and durability, its perfect form, and its
peculiar position as the connecting link between the walls,--we must
attribute the important character that it has assumed in the language of
symbolism. Freemasonry, which alone, of all existing institutions, has
preserved this ancient and universal language, could not, as it may well
be supposed, have neglected to adopt the corner-stone among its most
cherished and impressive symbols; and hence it has referred to it many of
its most significant lessons of morality and truth.

I have already alluded to that peculiar mode of masonic symbolism by which
the speculative mason is supposed to be engaged in the construction of a
spiritual temple, in imitation of, or, rather, in reference to, that
material one which was erected by his operative predecessors at Jerusalem.
Let us again, for a few moments, direct our attention to this important
fact, and revert to the connection which originally existed between the
operative and speculative divisions of Freemasonry. This is an essential
introduction to any inquiry into the symbolism of the corner-stone.

The difference between operative and speculative Masonry is simply
this--that while the former was engaged in the construction of a material
temple, formed, it is true, of the most magnificent materials which the
quarries of Palestine, the mountains of Lebanon, and the golden shores of
Ophir could contribute, the latter occupies itself in the erection of a
spiritual house,--a house not made with hands,--in which, for stones and
cedar, and gold and precious stones, are substituted the virtues of the
heart, the pure emotions of the soul, the warm affections gushing forth
from the hidden fountains of the spirit, so that the very presence of
Jehovah, our Father and our God, shall be enshrined within us as his
Shekinah was in the holy of holies of the material temple at Jerusalem.

The Speculative Mason, then, if he rightly comprehends the scope and
design of his profession, is occupied, from his very first admission into
the order until the close of his labors and his life,--and the true
mason's labor ends only with his life,--in the construction, the
adornment, and the completion of this spiritual temple of his body. He
lays its foundation in a firm belief and an unshaken confidence in the
wisdom, power, and goodness of God. This is his first step. Unless his
trust is in God, and in him only, he can advance no further than the
threshold of initiation. And then he prepares his materials with the gauge
and gavel of Truth, raises the walls by the plumb-line of Rectitude,
squares his work with the square of Virtue, connects the whole with the
cement of Brotherly Love, and thus skilfullv erects the living edifice of
thoughts, and words, and deeds, in accordance with the designs laid down
by the Master Architect of the universe in the great Book of Revelation.

The aspirant for masonic light--the Neophyte--on his first entrance within
our sacred porch, prepares himself for this consecrated labor of erecting
within his own bosom a fit dwelling-place for the Divine Spirit, and thus
commences the noble work by becoming himself the corner-stone on which
this spiritual edifice is to be erected.

Here, then, is the beginning of the symbolism of the corner-stone; and it
is singularly curious to observe how every portion of the archetype has
been made to perform its appropriate duty in thoroughly carrying out the
emblematic allusions.

As, for example, this symbolic reference of the corner-stone of a material
edifice to a mason, when, at his first initiation, he commences the
intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is
beautifully sustained in the allusions to all the various parts and
qualities which are to be found in a "well-formed, true and trusty"
corner-stone.[110] Its form and substance are both seized by the
comprehensive grasp of the symbolic science.

Let us trace this symbolism in its minute details. And, first, as to the
form of the corner-stone.

The corner-stone of an edifice must be perfectly square on its surfaces,
lest, by a violation of this true geometric figure, the walls to be
erected upon it should deviate from the required line of perpendicularity
which can alone give strength and proportion to the building.

Perfectly square on its surfaces, it is, in its form and solid contents, a
cube. Now, the square and the cube are both important and significant
symbols.

The square is an emblem of morality, or the strict performance of every
duty.[111] Among the Greeks, who were a highly poetical and imaginative
people, the square was deemed a figure of perfection, and the
[Greek: a)nê\r tetra/gônos]--"the square or cubical man," as the words may
be translated--was a term used to designate a man of unsullied integrity.
Hence one of their most eminent metaphysicians[112] has said that "he who
valiantly sustains the shocks of adverse fortune, demeaning himself
uprightly, is truly good and of a square posture, without reproof; and he
who would assume such a square posture should often subject himself to
the perfectly square test of justice and integrity."

The cube, in the language of symbolism, denotes truth.[113] Among the
pagan mythologists, Mercury, or Hermes, was always represented by a
cubical stone, because he was the type of truth,[114] and the same form
was adopted by the Israelites in the construction of the tabernacle, which
was to be the dwelling-place of divine truth.

And, then, as to its material: This, too, is an essential element of all
symbolism. Constructed of a material finer and more polished than that
which constitutes the remainder of the edifice, often carved with
appropriate devices and fitted for its distinguished purpose by the utmost
skill of the sculptor's art, it becomes the symbol of that beauty of
holiness with which the Hebrew Psalmist has said that we are to worship
Jehovah.[115]

The ceremony, then, of the north-east corner of the lodge, since it
derives all its typical value from this symbolism of the corner-stone, was
undoubtedly intended to portray, in this consecrated language, the
necessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truthfulness and
uprightness of character, and of purity and holiness of life, which, just
at that time and in that place, the candidate is most impressively charged
to maintain.

But there is also a symbolism about the position of the corner-stone,
which is well worthy of attention. It is familiar to every one,--even to
those who are without the pale of initiation,--that the custom of laying
the corner-stones of public buildings has always been performed by the
masonic order with peculiar and impressive ceremonies, and that this stone
is invariably deposited in the north-east corner of the foundation of the
intended structure. Now, the question naturally suggests itself, Whence
does this ancient and invariable usage derive its origin? Why may not the
stone be deposited in any other corner or portion of the edifice, as
convenience or necessity may dictate? The custom of placing the
foundation-stone in the north-east corner must have been originally
adopted for some good and sufficient reason; for we have a right to
suppose that it was not an arbitrary selection.[116] Was it in reference
to the ceremony which takes place in the lodge? Or is that in reference
to the position of the material stone? No matter which has the precedence
in point of time, the principle is the same. The position of the stone in
the north-east corner of the building is altogether symbolic, and the
symbolism exclusively alludes to certain doctrines which are taught in the
speculative science of Masonry.

The interpretation, I conceive, is briefly this: Every Speculative Mason
is familiar with the fact that the east, as the source of material light,
is a symbol of his own order, which professes to contain within its bosom
the pure light of truth. As, in the physical world, the morning of each
day is ushered into existence by the reddening dawn of the eastern sky,
whence the rising sun dispenses his illuminating and prolific rays to
every portion of the visible horizon, warming the whole earth with his
embrace of light, and giving new-born life and energy to flower and tree,
and beast and man, who, at the magic touch, awake from the sleep of
darkness, so in the moral world, when intellectual night was, in the
earliest days, brooding over the world, it was from the ancient priesthood
living in the east that those lessons of God, of nature, and of humanity
first emanated, which, travelling westward, revealed to man his future
destiny, and his dependence on a superior power. Thus every new and true
doctrine, coming from these "wise men of the east," was, as it were, a new
day arising, and dissipating the clouds of intellectual darkness and
error. It was a universal opinion among the ancients that the first
learning came from the east; and the often-quoted line of Bishop
Berkeley, that--

    "Westward the course of empire takes its way"--

is but the modern utterance of an ancient thought, for it was always
believed that the empire of truth and knowledge was advancing from the
east to the west.

Again: the north, as the point in the horizon which is most remote from
the vivifying rays of the sun when at his meridian height, has, with equal
metaphorical propriety, been called the place of darkness, and is,
therefore, symbolic of the profane world, which has not yet been
penetrated and illumined by the intellectual rays of masonic light. All
history concurs in recording the fact that, in the early ages of the
world, its northern portion was enveloped in the most profound moral and
mental darkness. It was from the remotest regions of Northern Europe that
those barbarian hordes "came down like the wolf on the fold," and
devastated the fair plains of the south, bringing with them a dark curtain
of ignorance, beneath whose heavy folds the nations of the world lay for
centuries overwhelmed. The extreme north has ever been, physically and
intellectually, cold, and dark, and dreary. Hence, in Masonry, the north
has ever been esteemed the place of darkness; and, in obedience to this
principle, no symbolic light is allowed to illumine the northern part of
the lodge.

The east, then, is, in Masonry, the symbol of the order, and the north the
symbol of the profane world.

Now, the spiritual corner-stone is deposited in the north-east corner of
the lodge, because it is symbolic of the position of the neophyte, or
candidate, who represents it in his relation to the order and to the
world. From the profane world he has just emerged. Some of its
imperfections are still upon him; some of its darkness is still about him;
he as yet belongs in part to the north. But he is striving for light and
truth; the pathway upon which he has entered is directed towards the east.
His allegiance, if I may use the word, is divided. He is not altogether a
profane, nor altogether a mason. If he were wholly in the world, the north
would be the place to find him--the north, which is the reign of darkness.
If he were wholly in the order,--a Master Mason,--the east would have
received him--the east, which is the place of light. But he is neither; he
is an Apprentice, with some of the ignorance of the world cleaving to him,
and some of the light of the order beaming upon him. And hence this
divided allegiance--this double character--this mingling of the departing
darkness of the north with the approaching brightness of the east--is well
expressed, in our symbolism, by the appropriate position of the spiritual
corner-stone in the north-east corner of the lodge. One surface of the
stone faces the north, and the other surface faces the east. It is neither
wholly in the one part nor wholly in the other, and in so far it is a
symbol of initiation not fully developed--that which is incomplete and
imperfect, and is, therefore, fitly represented by the recipient of the
first degree, at the very moment of his initiation.[117]

But the strength and durability of the corner-stone are also eminently
suggestive of symbolic ideas. To fulfil its design as the foundation and
support of the massive building whose erection it precedes, it should be
constructed of a material which may outlast all other parts of the
edifice, so that when that "eternal ocean whose waves are years" shall
have ingulfed all who were present at the construction of the building in
the vast vortex of its ever-flowing current; and when generation after
generation shall have passed away, and the crumbling stones of the ruined
edifice shall begin to attest the power of time and the evanescent nature
of all human undertakings, the corner-stone will still remain to tell, by
its inscriptions, and its form, and its beauty, to every passer-by, that
there once existed in that, perhaps then desolate, spot, a building
consecrated to some noble or some sacred purpose by the zeal and
liberality of men who now no longer live.

So, too, do this permanence and durability of the corner-stone, in
contrast with the decay and ruin of the building in whose foundations it
was placed, remind the mason that when this earthly house of his
tabernacle shall have passed away, he has within him a sure foundation of
eternal life--a corner-stone of immortality--an emanation from that Divine
Spirit which pervades all nature, and which, therefore, must survive the
tomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the decaying dust of death
and the grave.[118]

It is in this way that the student of masonic symbolism is reminded by the
corner-stone--by its form, its position, and its permanence--of
significant doctrines of duty, and virtue, and religious truth, which it
is the great object of Masonry to teach.

But I have said that the material corner-stone is deposited in its
appropriate place with solemn rites and ceremonies, for which the order
has established a peculiar ritual. These, too, have a beautiful and
significant symbolism, the investigation of which will next attract our
attention.

And here it may be observed, in passing, that the accompaniment of such an
act of consecration to a particular purpose, with solemn rites and
ceremonies, claims our respect, from the prestige that it has of all
antiquity. A learned writer on symbolism makes, on this subject, the
following judicious remarks, which may be quoted as a sufficient defence
of our masonic ceremonies:--

"It has been an opinion, entertained in all past ages, that by the
performance of certain acts, things, places, and persons acquire a
character which they would not have had without such performances. The
reason is plain: certain acts signify firmness of purpose, which, by
consigning the object to the intended use, gives it, in the public
opinion, an accordant character. This is most especially true of things,
places, and persons connected with religion and religious worship. After
the performance of certain acts or rites, they are held to be altogether
different from what they were before; they acquire a sacred character, and
in some instances a character absolutely divine. Such are the effects
imagined to be produced by religious dedication." [119]

The stone, therefore, thus properly constructed, is, when it is to be
deposited by the constituted authorities of our order, carefully examined
with the necessary implements of operative masonry,--the square, the
level, and the plumb,--and declared to be "well-formed, true, and trusty."
This is not a vain nor unmeaning ceremony. It teaches the mason that his
virtues are to be tested by temptation and trial, by suffering and
adversity, before they can be pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to
be materials worthy of the spiritual building of eternal life, fitted "as
living stones, for that house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens." But if he be faithful, and withstand these trials,--if he shall
come forth from these temptations and sufferings like pure gold from the
refiner's fire,--then, indeed, shall he be deemed "well-formed, true, and
trusty," and worthy to offer "unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."

In the ceremony of depositing the corner-stone, the sacred elements of
masonic consecration are then produced, and the stone is solemnly set
apart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its surface. Each of these
elements has a beautiful significance in our symbolism.

Collectively, they allude to the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of
Refreshment, and the Oil of Joy, which are the promised rewards of a
faithful and diligent performance of duty, and often specifically refer to
the anticipated success of the undertaking whose incipiency they have
consecrated. They are, in fact, types and symbols of all those abundant
gifts of Divine Providence for which we are daily called upon to make an
offering of our thanks, and which are enumerated by King David, in his
catalogue of blessings, as "wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and
oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."

"Wherefore, my brethren," says Harris, "do you carry _corn, wine, and oil_
in your processions, but to remind you that in the pilgrimage of human
life you are to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry, to send
a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and to pour the healing oil of
your consolation into the wounds which sickness hath made in the bodies,
or affliction rent in the hearts, of your fellow-travellers?" [120]

But, individually, each of these elements of consecration has also an
appropriate significance, which is well worth investigation.

Corn, in the language of Scripture, is an emblem of the resurrection, and
St. Paul, in that eloquent discourse which is so familiar to all, as a
beautiful argument for the great Christian doctrine of a future life,
adduces the seed of grain, which, being sown, first dieth, and then
quickeneth, as the appropriate type of that corruptible which must put on
incorruption, and of that mortal which must assume immortality. But, in
Masonry, the sprig of acacia, for reasons purely masonic, has been always
adopted as the symbol of immortality, and the ear of corn is appropriated
as the symbol of plenty. This is in accordance with the Hebrew derivation
of the word, as well as with the usage of all ancient nations. The word
_dagan_, which signifies _corn_, is derived from the verb _dagah_, _to
increase, to multiply_, and in all the ancient religions the horn or vase,
filled with fruits and with grain, was the recognized symbol of plenty.
Hence, as an element of consecration, corn is intended to remind us of
those temporal blessings of life and health, and comfortable support,
which we derive from the Giver of all good, and to merit which we should
strive, with "clean hands and a pure heart," to erect on the corner-stone
of our initiation a spiritual temple, which shall be adorned with the
"beauty of holiness."

Wine is a symbol of that inward and abiding comfort with which the heart
of the man who faithfully performs his part on the great stage of life is
to be refreshed; and as, in the figurative language of the East, Jacob
prophetically promises to Judah, as his reward, that he shall wash his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grape, it seems
intended, morally, to remind us of those immortal refreshments which, when
the labors of this earthly lodge are forever closed, we shall receive in
the celestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides.

Oil is a symbol of prosperity, and happiness, and joy. The custom of
anointing every thing or person destined for a sacred purpose is of
venerable antiquity.[121] The statues of the heathen deities, as well as
the altars on which the sacrifices were offered to them, and the priests
who presided over the sacred rites, were always anointed with perfumed
ointment, as a consecration of them to the objects of religious worship.

When Jacob set up the stone on which he had slept in his journey to
Padan-aram, and where he was blessed with the vision of ascending and
descending angels, he anointed it with oil, and thus consecrated it as an
altar to God. Such an inunction was, in ancient times, as it still
continues to be in many modern countries and contemporary religions, a
symbol of the setting apart of the thing or person so anointed and
consecrated to a holy purpose.

Hence, then, we are reminded by this last impressive ceremony, that the
cultivation of virtue, the practice of duty, the resistance of temptation,
the submission to suffering, the devotion to truth, the maintenance of
integrity, and all those other graces by which we strive to fit our
bodies, as living stones, for the spiritual building of eternal life,
must, after all, to make the object effectual and the labor successful, be
consecrated by a holy obedience to God's will and a firm reliance on God's
providence, which alone constitute the chief corner-stone and sure
foundation, on which any man can build with the reasonable hope of a
prosperous issue to his work.

It may be noticed, in concluding this topic, that the corner-stone seems
to be peculiarly a Jewish symbol. I can find no reference to it in any of
the ancient pagan rites, and the EBEN PINAH, the _corner-stone,_ which is
so frequently mentioned in Scripture as the emblem of an important
personage, and most usually, in the Old Testament, of the expected
Messiah, appears, in its use in Masonry, to have had, unlike almost every
other symbol of the order, an exclusively temple origin.




XXIV.

The Ineffable Name.



Another important symbol is the Ineffable Name, with which the series of
ritualistic symbols will be concluded.

The Tetragrammaton,[122] or Ineffable Word,--the Incommunicable Name,--is
a symbol--for rightly-considered it is nothing more than a symbol--that
has more than any other (except, perhaps, the symbols connected with
sun-worship), pervaded the rites of antiquity. I know, indeed, of no
system of ancient initiation in which it has not some prominent form and
place.

But as it was, perhaps, the earliest symbol which was corrupted by the
spurious Freemasonry of the pagans, in their secession from the primitive
system of the patriarchs and ancient priesthood, it will be most expedient
for the thorough discussion of the subject which is proposed in the
present paper, that we should begin the investigation with an inquiry into
the nature of the symbol among the Israelites.

That name of God, which we, at a venture, pronounce Jehovah,--although
whether this is, or is not, the true pronunciation can now never be
authoritatively settled,--was ever held by the Jews in the most profound
veneration. They derived its origin from the immediate inspiration of the
Almighty, who communicated it to Moses as his especial appellation, to be
used only by his chosen people; and this communication was made at the
Burning Bush, when he said to him, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this [Jehovah] is
my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." [123] And
at a subsequent period he still more emphatically declared this to be his
peculiar name: "I am _Jehovah_; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob, by the name of _El Shaddai_; but by my name _Jehovah_ was
I not known unto them." [124]

It will be perceived that I have not here followed precisely the somewhat
unsatisfactory version of King James's Bible, which, by translating or
anglicizing one name, and not the other, leaves the whole passage less
intelligible and impressive than it should be. I have retained the
original Hebrew for both names. El Shaddai, "the Almighty One," was the
name by which he had been heretofore known to the preceding patriarchs; in
its meaning it was analogous to Elohim, who is described in the first
chapter of Genesis as creating the world. But his name of Jehovah was now
for the first time to be communicated to his people.

Ushered to their notice with all the solemnity and religious consecration
of these scenes and events, this name of God became invested among the
Israelites with the profoundest veneration and awe. To add to this
mysticism, the Cabalists, by the change of a single letter, read the
passage, "This is my name forever," or, as it is in the original, _Zeh
shemi l'olam_, as if written _Zeh shemi l'alam_, that is to say, "This is
my name to be concealed."

This interpretation, although founded on a blunder, and in all probability
an intentional one, soon became a precept, and has been strictly obeyed to
this day.[125] The word _Jehovah_ is never pronounced by a pious Jew,
who, whenever he meets with it in Scripture, substitutes for it the word
_Adonai_ or _Lord_--a practice which has been followed by the translators
of the common English version of the Bible with almost Jewish
scrupulosity, the word "Jehovah" in the original being invariably
translated by the word "Lord." [126] The pronunciation of the word, being
thus abandoned, became ultimately lost, as, by the peculiar construction
of the Hebrew language, which is entirely without vowels, the letters,
being all consonants, can give no possible indication, to one who has not
heard it before, of the true pronunciation of any given word.

To make this subject plainer to the reader who is unacquainted with the
Hebrew, I will venture to furnish an explanation which will, perhaps, be
intelligible.

The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of consonants, the vowel sounds
having always been inserted orally, and never marked in writing until the
"vowel points," as they are called, were invented by the Masorites, some
six centuries after the Christian era. As the vowel sounds were originally
supplied by the reader, while reading, from a knowledge which he had
previously received, by means of oral instruction, of the proper
pronunciation of the word, he was necessarily unable to pronounce any word
which had never before been uttered in his presence. As we know that _Dr._
is to be pronounced _Doctor_, and _Mr. Mister_, because we have always
heard those peculiar combinations of letters thus enunciated, and not
because the letters themselves give any such sound; so the Jew knew from
instruction and constant practice, and not from the power of the letters,
how the consonants in the different words in daily use were to be
vocalized. But as the four letters which compose the word _Jehovah_, as we
now call it, were never pronounced in his presence, but were made to
represent another word, _Adonai_, which was substituted for it, and as the
combination of these four consonants would give no more indication for any
sort of enunciation than the combinations _Dr._ or _Mr._ give in our
language, the Jew, being ignorant of what vocal sounds were to be
supplied, was unable to pronounce the word, so that its true pronunciation
was in time lost to the masses of the people.

There was one person, however, who, it is said, was in possession of the
proper sound of the letters and the true pronunciation of the word. This
was the high priest, who, receiving it from his predecessor, preserved the
recollection of the sound by pronouncing it three times, once a year, on
the day of the atonement, when he entered the holy of holies of the
tabernacle or the temple.

If the traditions of Masonry on this subject are correct, the kings, after
the establishment of the monarchy, must have participated in this
privilege; for Solomon is said to have been in possession of the word, and
to have communicated it to his two colleagues at the building of the
temple.

This is the word which, from the number of its letters, was called the
"tetragrammaton," or four-lettered name, and, from its sacred
inviolability, the "ineffable" or unutterable name.

The Cabalists and Talmudists have enveloped it in a host of mystical
superstitions, most of which are as absurd as they are incredible, but all
of them tending to show the great veneration that has always been paid to
it.[127] Thus they say that it is possessed of unlimited powers, and that
he who pronounces it shakes heaven and earth, and inspires the very angels
with terror and astonishment.

The Rabbins called it "shem hamphorash," that is to say, "the name that is
declaratory," and they say that David found it engraved on a stone while
digging into the earth.

      / \
     /   \
    /[Yod]\
   /       \
   ---------

the triangle itself being a symbol of Deity.

This symbol of the name of God is peculiarly worthy of our attention,
since not only is the triangle to be found in many of the ancient
religions occupying the same position, but the whole symbol itself is
undoubtedly the origin of that hieroglyphic exhibited in the second degree
of Masonry, where, the explanation of the symbolism being the same, the
form of it, as far as it respects the letter, has only been anglicized by
modern innovators. In my own opinion, the letter _G_, which is used in the
Fellow Craft's degree, should never have been permitted to intrude into
Masonry; it presents an instance of absurd anachronism, which would never
have occurred if the original Hebrew symbol had been retained. But being
there now, without the possibility of removal, we have only to remember
that it is in fact but the symbol of a symbol.[128]

Widely spread, as I have already said, was this reverence for the name of
God; and, consequently, its symbolism, in some peculiar form, is to be
found in all the ancient rites.

Thus the Ineffable Name itself, of which we have been discoursing, is said
to have been preserved in its true pronunciation by the Essenes, who, in
their secret rites, communicated it to each other only in a whisper, and
in such form, that while its component parts were known, they were so
separated as to make the whole word a mystery.

Among the Egyptians, whose connection with the Hebrews was more immediate
than that of any other people, and where, consequently, there was a
greater similarity of rites, the same sacred name is said to have been
used as a password, for the purpose of gaining admission to their
Mysteries.

In the Brahminic Mysteries of Hindostan the ceremony of initiation was
terminated by intrusting the aspirant with the sacred, triliteral name,
which was AUM, the three letters of which were symbolic of the creative,
preservative, and destructive principles of the Supreme Deity, personified
in the three manifestations of Bramah, Siva, and Vishnu. This word was
forbidden to be pronounced aloud. It was to be the subject of silent
meditation to the pious Hindoo.

In the rites of Persia an ineffable name was also communicated to the
candidate after his initiation.[129] Mithras, the principal divinity in
these rites, who took the place of the Hebrew Jehovah, and represented the
sun, had this peculiarity in his name--that the numeral value of the
letters of which it was composed amounted to precisely 365, the number of
days which constitute a revolution of the earth around the sun, or, as
they then supposed, of the sun around the earth.

In the Mysteries introduced by Pythagoras into Greece we again find the
ineffable name of the Hebrews, obtained doubtless by the Samian Sage
during his visit to Babylon.[130] The symbol adopted by him to express it
was, however, somewhat different, being ten points distributed in the
form of a triangle, each side containing four points, as in the annexed
figure.

      .
     . .
    . . .
   . . . .

The apex of the triangle was consequently a single point then followed
below two others, then three; and lastly, the base consisted of four.
These points were, by the number in each rank, intended, according to the
Pythagorean system, to denote respectively the _monad_, or active
principle of nature; the _duad_, or passive principle; the _triad_, or
world emanating from their union; and the _quaterniad_, or intellectual
science; the whole number of points amounting to ten, the symbol of
perfection and consummation. This figure was called by Pythagoras the
_tetractys_--a word equivalent in signification to the _tetragrammaton_;
and it was deemed so sacred that on it the oath of secrecy and fidelity
was administered to the aspirants in the Pythagorean rites.[131]

Among the Scandinavians, as among the Jewish Cabalists, the Supreme God
who was made known in their mysteries had twelve names, of which the
principal and most sacred one was _Alfader_, the Universal Father.

Among the Druids, the sacred name of God was _Hu_[132]--a name which,
although it is supposed, by Bryant, to have been intended by them for
Noah, will be recognized as one of the modifications of the Hebrew
tetragrammaton. It is, in fact, the masculine pronoun in Hebrew, and may
be considered as the symbolization of the male or generative principle in
nature--a sort of modification of the system of Phallic worship.

This sacred name among the Druids reminds me of what is the latest, and
undoubtedly the most philosophical, speculation on the true meaning, as
well as pronunciation, of the ineffable tetragrammaton. It is from the
ingenious mind of the celebrated Lanci; and I have already, in another
work, given it to the public as I received it from his pupil, and my
friend, Mr. Gliddon, the distinguished archaeologist. But the results are
too curious to be omitted whenever the tetragrammaton is discussed.

Elsewhere I have very fully alluded to the prevailing sentiment among the
ancients, that the Supreme Deity was bisexual, or hermaphrodite, including
in the essence of his being the male and female principles, the generative
and prolific powers of nature. This was the universal doctrine in all the
ancient religions, and was very naturally developed in the symbol of the
_phallus_ and _cteis_ among the Greeks, and in the corresponding one of
the _lingam_ and _yoni_ among the Orientalists; from which symbols the
masonic _point within a circle_ is a legitimate derivation. They all
taught that God, the Creator, was both male and female.

Now, this theory is undoubtedly unobjectionable on the score of orthodoxy,
if we view it in the spiritual sense, in which its first propounders must
necessarily have intended it to be presented to the mind, and not in the
gross, sensual meaning in which it was subsequently received. For, taking
the word _sex_, not in its ordinary and colloquial signification, as
denoting the indication of a particular physical organization, but in that
purely philosophical one which alone can be used in such a connection, and
which simply signifies the mere manifestation of a power, it is not to be
denied that the Supreme Being must possess in himself, and in himself
alone, both a generative and a prolific power. This idea, which was so
extensively prevalent among all the nations of antiquity,[133] has also
been traced in the tetragrammaton, or name of Jehovah, with singular
ingenuity, by Lanci; and, what is almost equally as interesting, he has,
by this discovery, been enabled to demonstrate what was, in all
probability, the true pronunciation of the word.

In giving the details of this philological discovery, I will endeavor to
make it as comprehensible as it can be made to those who are not
critically acquainted with the construction of the Hebrew language; those
who are will at once appreciate its peculiar character, and will excuse
the explanatory details, of course unnecessary to them.

The ineffable name, the tetragrammaton, the shem hamphorash,--for it is
known by all these appellations,--consists of four letters, _yod, heh,
vau_, and _heh_, forming the word [Hebrew: yod-heh-vau-heh]. This word, of
course, in accordance with the genius of the Hebrew language, is read, as
we would say, backward, or from right to left, beginning with _yod_, and
ending with _heh_.

Of these letters, the first, _yod_, is equivalent to the English _i_
pronounced as _e_ in the word _machine_.

The second and fourth letter, _heh_, is an aspirate, and has here the
sound of the English _h_.

And the third letter, _vau_, has the sound of open _o_.

Now, reading these four letters, [Hebrew: yod], or I, [Hebrew: heh], or H,
[Hebrew: vau], or O, and [Hebrew: heh], or H, as the Hebrew requires, from
right to left, we have the word [Hebrew: yod-heh-vau-heh], equivalent in
English to IH-OH, which is really as near to the pronunciation as we can
well come, notwithstanding it forms neither of the seven ways in which the
word is said to have been pronounced, at different times, by the
patriarchs.[134]

But, thus pronounced, the word gives us no meaning, for there is no such
word in Hebrew as _ihoh_; and, as all the Hebrew names were significative
of something, it is but fair to conclude that this was not the original
pronunciation, and that we must look for another which will give a
meaning to the word. Now, Lanci proceeds to the discovery of this true
pronunciation, as follows:--

In the Cabala, a hidden meaning is often deduced from a word by
transposing or reversing its letters, and it was in this way that the
Cabalists concealed many of their mysteries.

Now, to reverse a word in English is to read its letters from _right to
left_, because our normal mode of reading is from _left to right_. But in
Hebrew the contrary rule takes place, for there the normal mode of reading
is from _right to left_; and therefore, to reverse the reading of a word,
is to read it from _left to right_.

Lanci applied this cabalistic mode to the tetragrammaton, when he found
that IH-OH, being read reversely, makes the word HO-HI.[135]

But in Hebrew, _ho_ is the masculine pronoun, equivalent to the English
_he_; and _hi_ is the feminine pronoun, equivalent to _she_; and therefore
the word HO-HI, literally translated, is equivalent to the English
compound HE-SHE; that is to say, the Ineffable Name of God in Hebrew,
being read cabalistically, includes within itself the male and female
principle, the generative and prolific energy of creation; and here we
have, again, the widely-spread symbolism of the phallus and the cteis, the
lingam and the yoni, or their equivalent, the point within a circle, and
another pregnant proof of the connection between Freemasonry and the
ancient Mysteries.

And here, perhaps, we may begin to find some meaning for the hitherto
incomprehensible passage in Genesis (i. 27): "So God created man _in his
own image; in the image of God_ created he him; _male and female_ created
he them." They could not have been "in the image" of IHOH, if they had not
been "male and female."

The Cabalists have exhausted their ingenuity and imagination in
speculations on this sacred name, and some of their fancies are really
sufficiently interesting to repay an investigation. Sufficient, however,
has been here said to account for the important position that it occupies
in the masonic system, and to enable us to appreciate the symbols by which
it has been represented.

The great reverence, or indeed the superstitious veneration, entertained
by the ancients for the name of the Supreme Being, led them to express it
rather in symbols or hieroglyphics than in any word at length.

We know, for instance, from the recent researches of the archaeologists,
that in all the documents of the ancient Egyptians, written in the demotic
or common character of the country, the names of the gods were invariably
denoted by symbols; and I have already alluded to the different modes by
which the Jews expressed the tetragrammaton. A similar practice prevailed
among the other nations of antiquity. Freemasonry has adopted the same
expedient, and the Grand Architect of the Universe, whom it is the usage,
even in ordinary writing, to designate by the initials G.A.O.T.U., is
accordingly presented to us in a variety of symbols, three of which
particularly require attention. These are the letter _G_, the equilateral
triangle, and the All-Seeing Eye.

Of the letter _G_ I have already spoken. A letter of the English alphabet
can scarcely be considered an appropriate symbol of an institution which
dates its organization and refers its primitive history to a period long
anterior to the origin of that language. Such a symbol is deficient in the
two elements of antiquity and universality which should characterize every
masonic symbol. There can, therefore, be no doubt that, in its present
form, it is a corruption of the old Hebrew symbol, the letter _yod_, by
which the sacred name was often expressed. This letter is the initial of
the word _Jehovah_, or _Ihoh_, as I have already stated, and is constantly
to be met with in Hebrew writings as the symbol or abbreviature of
_Jehovah_, which word, it will be remembered, is never written at length.
But because _G_ is, in like manner, the initial of _God_, the equivalent
of _Jehovah_, this letter has been incorrectly, and, I cannot refrain from
again saying, most injudiciously, selected to supply, in modern lodges,
the place of the Hebrew symbol.

Having, then, the same meaning and force as the Hebrew _yod_, the letter
_G_ must be considered, like its prototype, as the symbol of the
life-giving and life-sustaining power of God, as manifested in the meaning
of the word Jehovah, or Ihoh, the generative and prolific energy of the
Creator.

The _All-Seeing Eye_ is another, and a still more important, symbol of the
same great Being. Both the Hebrews and the Egyptians appear to have
derived its use from that natural inclination of figurative minds to
select an organ as the symbol of the function which it is intended
peculiarly to discharge. Thus the foot was often adopted as the symbol of
swiftness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity. On the same
principle, the open eye was selected as the symbol of watchfulness, and
the eye of God as the symbol of divine watchfulness and care of the
universe. The use of the symbol in this sense is repeatedly to be found in
the Hebrew writers. Thus the Psalmist says (Ps. xxxiv. 15), "The eyes of
the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry,"
which explains a subsequent passage (Ps. cxxi. 4), in which it is said,
"Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." [136]

On the same principle, the Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief
deity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him
in all their temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented
by the eye accompanying a throne, to which was sometimes added an
abbreviated figure of the god, and sometimes what has been called a
hatchet, but which, I consider, may as correctly be supposed to be a
representation of a square.

The All-Seeing Eye may, then, be considered as a symbol of God manifested
in his omnipresence--his guardian and preserving character--to which
Solomon alludes in the Book of Proverbs (xv. 3), when he says, "The eyes
of Jehovah are in every place, beholding (or as it might be more
faithfully translated, watching) the evil and the good." It is a symbol of
the Omnipresent Deity.

The _triangle_ is another symbol which is entitled to our consideration.
There is, in fact, no other symbol which is more various in its
application or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of both
the Spurious and the Pure Freemasonry.

The equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the
nations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity.

Among the Hebrews, it has already been stated that this figure, with a
_yod_ in the centre, was used to represent the tetragrammaton, or
ineffable name of God.

The Egyptians considered the equilateral triangle as the most perfect of
figures, and a representative of the great principle of animated
existence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of
creation--the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral.

The symbol of universal nature among the Egyptians was the right-angled
triangle, of which the perpendicular side represented Osiris, or the male
principle; the base, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypothenuse,
their offspring, Horus, or the world emanating from the union of both
principles.

All this, of course, is nothing more nor less than the phallus and cteis,
or lingam and yoni, under a different form.

The symbol of the right-angled triangle was afterwards adopted by
Pythagoras when he visited the banks of the Nile; and the discovery which
he is said to have made in relation to the properties of this figure, but
which he really learned from the Egyptian priests, is commemorated in
Masonry by the introduction of the forty-seventh problem of Euclid's First
Book among the symbols of the third degree. Here the same mystical
application is supplied as in the Egyptian figure, namely, that the union
of the male and female, or active and passive principles of nature, has
produced the world. For the geometrical proposition being that the squares
of the perpendicular and base are equal to the square of the hypothenuse,
they may be said to produce it in the same way as Osiris and Isis are
equal to, or produce, the world.

Thus the perpendicular--Osiris, or the active, male principle--being
represented by a line whose measurement is 3; and the base--Isis, or the
passive, female principle--by a line whose measurement is 4; then their
union, or the addition of the squares of these numbers, will produce a
square whose root will be the hypothenuse, or a line whose measurement
must be 5. For the square of 3 is 9, and the square of 4 is 16, and the
square of 5 is 25; but 9 added to 16 is equal to 25; and thus, out of the
addition, or coming together, of the squares of the perpendicular and
base, arises the square of the hypothenuse, just as, out of the coming
together, in the Egyptian system, of the active and passive principles,
arises, or is generated, the world.

In the mediaeval history of the Christian church, the great ignorance of
the people, and their inclination to a sort of materialism, led them to
abandon the symbolic representations of the Deity, and to depict the
Father with the form and lineaments of an aged man, many of which
irreverent paintings, as far back as the twelfth century, are to be found
in the religious books and edifices of Europe.[137] But, after the period
of the renaissance, a better spirit and a purer taste began to pervade the
artists of the church, and thenceforth the Supreme Being was represented
only by his name--the tetragrammaton--inscribed within an equilateral
triangle, and placed within a circle of rays. Didron, in his invaluable
work on Christian Iconography, gives one of these symbols, which was
carved on wood in the seventeenth century, of which I annex a copy.

[Illustration: tetragrammaton inscribed with an equilateral triangle and
placed within a circle of rays]

But even in the earliest ages, when the Deity was painted or sculptured as
a personage, the nimbus, or glory, which surrounded the head of the
Father, was often made to assume a triangular form. Didron says on this
subject, "A nimbus, of a triangular form, is thus seen to be the exclusive
attribute of the Deity, and most frequently restricted to the Father
Eternal. The other persons of the trinity sometimes wear the triangle, but
only in representations of the trinity, and because the Father is with
them. Still, even then, beside the Father, who has a triangle, the Son
and the Holy Ghost are often drawn with a circular nimbus only." [138]

The triangle has, in all ages and in all religions, been deemed a symbol
of Deity.

The Egyptians, the Greeks, and the other nations of antiquity, considered
this figure, with its three sides, as a symbol of the creative energy
displayed in the active and passive, or male and female, principles, and
their product, the world; the Christians referred it to their dogma of the
trinity as a manifestation of the Supreme God; and the Jews and the
primitive masons to the three periods of existence included in the
signification of the tetragrammaton--the past, the present, and the
future.

In the higher degrees of Masonry, the triangle is the most important of
all symbols, and most generally assumes the name of the _Delta_, in
allusion to the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, which is of the same
form and bears that appellation.

The Delta, or mystical triangle, is generally surrounded by a circle of
rays, called a "glory." When this glory is distinct from the figure, and
surrounds it in the form of a circle (as in the example just given from
Didron), it is then an emblem of God's eternal glory. When, as is most
usual in the masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the centre of the
triangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic
of the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the pagans referred these rays
of light to their Sun-god and their Sabian worship.

But the true masonic idea of this glory is, that it symbolizes that
Eternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as with a
sea of glory, and from him, as a common centre, emanates to the universe
of his creation, and to which the prophet Ezekiel alludes in his eloquent
description of Jehovah: "And I saw as the color of amber, as the
appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins
even upward, and from his loins even downward, I saw, as it were, the
appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about." (Chap. 1,
ver. 27.)

Dante has also beautifully described this circumfused light of Deity:--

    "There is in heaven a light whose goodly shine
    Makes the Creator visible to all
    Created, that in seeing him, alone
    Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,
    That the circumference were too loose a zone
    To girdle in the sun."

On a recapitulation, then, of the views that have been advanced in
relation to these three symbols of the Deity which are to be found in the
masonic system, we may say that each one expresses a different attribute.

The letter _G_ is the symbol of the self-existent Jehovah.

The _All-Seeing Eye_ is the symbol of the omnipresent God.

The _triangle_[139] is the symbol of the Supreme Architect of the
Universe--the Creator; and when surrounded by rays of glory, it becomes a
symbol of the Architect and Bestower of Light.

And now, after all, is there not in this whole prevalence of the name of
God, in so many different symbols, throughout the masonic system,
something more than a mere evidence of the religious proclivities of the
institution? Is there not behind this a more profound symbolism, which
constitutes, in fact, the very essence of Freemasonry? "The names of God,"
said a learned theologian at the beginning of this century, "were intended
to communicate the knowledge of God himself. By these, men were enabled to
receive some scanty ideas of his essential majesty, goodness, and power,
and to know both whom we are to believe, and what we are to believe of
him."

And this train of thought is eminently applicable to the admission of the
name into the system of Masonry. With us, the name of God, however
expressed, is a symbol of DIVINE TRUTH, which it should be the incessant
labor of a Mason to seek.




XXV.

The Legends of Freemasonry.



The compound character of a speculative science and an operative art,
which the masonic institution assumed at the building of King Solomon's
temple, in consequence of the union, at that era, of the Pure Freemasonry
of the Noachidae[140] with the Spurious Freemasonry of the Tyrian workmen,
has supplied it with two distinct kinds of symbols--the _mythical_, or
_legendary_, and the _material_; but these are so thoroughly united in
object and design, that it is impossible to appreciate the one without an
investigation of the other.

Thus, by way of illustration, it may be observed, that the temple itself
has been adopted as a material symbol of the world (as I have already
shown in former articles), while the legendary history of the fate of its
builder is a mythical symbol of man's destiny in the world. Whatever is
visible or tangible to the senses in our types and emblems--such as the
implements of operative masonry, the furniture and ornaments of a lodge,
or the ladder of seven steps--is a _material symbol_; while whatever
derives its existence from tradition, and presents itself in the form of
an allegory or legend, is a _mythical symbol_. Hiram the Builder,
therefore, and all that refers to the legend of his connection with the
temple, and his fate,--such as the sprig of acacia, the hill near Mount
Moriah, and the lost word,--are to be considered as belonging to the class
of mythical or legendary symbols.

And this division is not arbitrary, but depends on the nature of the types
and the aspect in which they present themselves to our view.

Thus the sprig of acacia, although it is material, visible, and tangible,
is, nevertheless, not to be treated as a material symbol; for, as it
derives all its significance from its intimate connection with the legend
of Hiram Abif, which is a mythical symbol, it cannot, without a violent
and inexpedient disruption, be separated from the same class. For the same
reason, the small hill near Mount Moriah, the search of the twelve Fellow
Crafts, and the whole train of circumstances connected with the lost word,
are to be viewed simply as mythical or legendary, and not as material
symbols.

These legends of Freemasonry constitute a considerable and a very
important part of its ritual. Without them, the most valuable portions of
the masonic as a scientific system would cease to exist. It is, in fact,
in the traditions and legends of Freemasonry, more, even, than in its
material symbols, that we are to find the deep religious instruction which
the institution is intended to inculcate. It must be remembered that
Freemasonry has been defined to be "a system of morality, veiled in
allegory and illustrated by symbols." Symbols, then, alone, do not
constitute the whole of the system: allegory comes in for its share; and
this allegory, which veils the divine truths of masonry, is presented to
the neophyte in the various legends which have been traditionally
preserved in the order.

The close connection, at least in design and method of execution, between
the institution of Freemasonry and the ancient Mysteries, which were
largely imbued with the mythical character of the ancient religions, led,
undoubtedly, to the introduction of the same mythical character into the
masonic system.

So general, indeed, was the diffusion of the myth or legend among the
philosophical, historical, and religious systems of antiquity, that Heyne
remarks, on this subject, that all the history and philosophy of the
ancients proceeded from myths.[141]

The word _myth_, from the Greek [Greek: my~thos], _a story_, in its
original acceptation, signified simply a statement or narrative of an
event, without any necessary implication of truth or falsehood; but, as
the word is now used, it conveys the idea of a personal narrative of
remote date, which, although not necessarily untrue, is certified only by
the internal evidence of the tradition itself.[142]

Creuzer, in his "Symbolik," says that myths and symbols were derived, on
the one hand, from the helpless condition and the poor and scanty
beginnings of religious knowledge among the ancient peoples, and on the
other, from the benevolent designs of the priests educated in the East, or
of Eastern origin, to form them to a purer and higher knowledge.

But the observations of that profoundly philosophical historian, Mr.
Grote, give so correct a view of the probable origin of this universality
of the mythical element in all the ancient religions, and are, withal, so
appropriate to the subject of masonic legends which I am now about to
discuss, that I cannot justly refrain from a liberal quotation of his
remarks.

"The allegorical interpretation of the myths," he says, "has been, by
several learned investigators, especially by Creuzer, connected with the
hypothesis of an ancient and highly-instructed body of priests, having
their origin either in Egypt or the East, and communicating to the rude
and barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and historical knowledge, under
the veil of symbols. At a time (we are told) when language was yet in its
infancy, visible symbols were the most vivid means of acting upon the
minds of ignorant hearers. The next step was to pass to symbolical
language and expressions; for a plain and literal exposition, even if
understood at all, would at least have been listened to with indifference,
as not corresponding with any mental demand. In such allegorizing way,
then, the early priests set forth their doctrines respecting God, nature,
and humanity,--a refined monotheism and theological philosophy,--and to
this purpose the earliest myths were turned. But another class of myths,
more popular and more captivating, grew up under the hands of the
poets--myths purely epical, and descriptive of real or supposed past
events. The allegorical myths, being taken up by the poets, insensibly
became confounded in the same category with the purely narrative myths;
the matter symbolized was no longer thought of, while the symbolizing
words came to be construed in their own literal meaning, and the basis of
the early allegory, thus lost among the general public, was only preserved
as a secret among various religious fraternities, composed of members
allied together by initiation in certain mystical ceremonies, and
administered by hereditary families of presiding priests.

"In the Orphic and Bacchic sects, in the Eleusinian and Samothracian
Mysteries, was thus treasured up the secret doctrine of the old
theological and philosophical myths, which had once constituted the
primitive legendary stock of Greece in the hands of the original
priesthood and in the ages anterior to Homer. Persons who had gone through
the preliminary ceremonies of initiation were permitted at length to hear,
though under strict obligation of secrecy, this ancient religion and
cosmogonic doctrine, revealing the destination of man and the certainty
of posthumous rewards and punishments, all disengaged from the corruptions
of poets, as well as from the symbols and allegories under which they
still remained buried in the eyes of the vulgar. The Mysteries of Greece
were thus traced up to the earliest ages, and represented as the only
faithful depositaries of that purer theology and physics which had been
originally communicated, though under the unavoidable inconvenience of a
symbolical expression, by an enlightened priesthood, coming from abroad,
to the then rude barbarians of the country." [143]

In this long but interesting extract we find not only a philosophical
account of the origin and design of the ancient myths, but a fair synopsis
of all that can be taught in relation to the symbolical construction of
Freemasonry, as one of the depositaries of a mythical theology.

The myths of Masonry, at first perhaps nothing more than the simple
traditions of the Pure Freemasonry of the antediluvian system, having been
corrupted and misunderstood in the separation of the races, were again
purified, and adapted to the inculcation of truth, at first by the
disciples of the Spurious Freemasonry, and then, more fully and perfectly,
in the development of that system which we now practise. And if there be
any leaven of error still remaining in the interpretation of our masonic
myths, we must seek to disengage them from the corruptions with which they
have been invested by ignorance and by misinterpretation. We must give to
them their true significance, and trace them back to those ancient
doctrines and faith whence the ideas which they are intended to embody
were derived.

The myths or legends which present themselves to our attention in the
course of a complete study of the symbolic system of Freemasonry may be
considered as divided into three classes:--

    1. The historical myth.
    2. The philosophical myth.
    3. The mythical history.

And these three classes may be defined as follows:--

1. The myth may be engaged in the transmission of a narrative of early
deeds and events, having a foundation in truth, which truth, however, has
been greatly distorted and perverted by the omission or introduction of
circumstances and personages, and then it constitutes the _historical
myth_.

2. Or it may have been invented and adopted as the medium of enunciating a
particular thought, or of inculcating a certain doctrine, when it becomes
a _philosophical myth_.

3. Or, lastly, the truthful elements of actual history may greatly
predominate over the fictitious and invented materials of the myth, and
the narrative may be, in the main, made up of facts, with a slight
coloring of imagination, when it forms a _mythical history_.[144]

These form the three divisions of the legend or myth (for I am not
disposed, on the present occasion, like some of the German mythological
writers, to make a distinction between the two words[145]); and to one of
these three divisions we must appropriate every legend which belongs to
the mythical symbolism of Freemasonry.

These masonic myths partake, in their general character, of the nature of
the myths which constituted the foundation of the ancient religions, as
they have just been described in the language of Mr. Grote. Of these
latter myths, Müller[146] says that "their source is to be found, for the
most part, in oral tradition," and that the real and the ideal--that is to
say, the facts of history and the inventions of imagination--concurred, by
their union and reciprocal fusion, in producing the myth.

Those are the very principles that govern the construction of the masonic
myths or legends. These, too, owe their existence entirely to oral
tradition, and are made up, as I have just observed, of a due admixture of
the real and the ideal--the true and the false--the facts of history and
the inventions of allegory.

Dr. Oliver remarks that "the first series of historical facts, after the
fall of man, must necessarily have been traditional, and transmitted from
father to son by oral communication." [147] The same system, adopted in
all the Mysteries, has been continued in the masonic institution; and all
the esoteric instructions contained in the legends of Freemasonry are
forbidden to be written, and can be communicated only in the oral
intercourse of Freemasons with each other.[148]

De Wette, in his Criticism on the Mosaic History, lays down the test by
which a myth is to be distinguished from a strictly historical narrative,
as follows, namely: that the myth must owe its origin to the intention of
the inventor not to satisfy the natural thirst for historical truth by a
simple narration of facts, but rather to delight or touch the feelings, or
to illustrate some philosophical or religious truth.

This definition precisely fits the character of the myths of Masonry.
Take, for instance, the legend of the master's degree, or the myth of
Hiram Abif. As "a simple narration of facts," it is of no great
value--certainly not of value commensurate with the labor that has been
engaged in its transmission. Its invention--by which is meant, not the
invention or imagination of all the incidents of which it is composed, for
there are abundant materials of the true and real in its details, but its
invention or composition in the form of a myth by the addition of some
features, the suppression of others, and the general arrangement of the
whole--was not intended to add a single item to the great mass of history,
but altogether, as De Wette says, "to illustrate a philosophical or
religious truth," which truth, it is hardly necessary for me to say, is
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.

It must be evident, from all that has been said respecting the analogy in
origin and design between the masonic and the ancient religious myths,
that no one acquainted with the true science of this subject can, for a
moment, contend that all the legends and traditions of the order are, to
the very letter, historical facts. All that can be claimed for them is,
that in some there is simply a substratum of history, the edifice
constructed on this foundation being purely inventive, to serve us a
medium for inculcating some religious truth; in others, nothing more than
an idea to which the legend or myth is indebted for its existence, and of
which it is, as a symbol, the exponent; and in others, again, a great deal
of truthful narrative, more or less intermixed with fiction, but the
historical always predominating.

Thus there is a legend, contained in some of our old records, which states
that Euclid was a distinguished Mason, and that he introduced Masonry
among the Egyptians.[149] Now, it is not at all necessary to the orthodoxy
of a Mason's creed that he should literally believe that Euclid, the great
geometrician, was really a Freemason, and that the ancient Egyptians were
indebted to him for the establishment of the institution among them.
Indeed, the palpable anachronism in the legend which makes Euclid the
contemporary of Abraham necessarily prohibits any such belief, and shows
that the whole story is a sheer invention. The intelligent Mason, however,
will not wholly reject the legend, as ridiculous or absurd; but, with a
due sense of the nature and design of our system of symbolism, will rather
accept it as what, in the classification laid down on a preceding page,
would be called "a philosophical myth"--an ingenious method of conveying,
symbolically, a masonic truth.

Euclid is here very appropriately used as a type of geometry, that science
of which he was so eminent a teacher, and the myth or legend then
symbolizes the fact that there was in Egypt a close connection between
that science and the great moral and religious system, which was among the
Egyptians, as well as other ancient nations, what Freemasonry is in the
present day--a secret institution, established for the inculcation of the
same principles, and inculcating them in the same symbolic manner. So
interpreted, this legend corresponds to all the developments of Egyptian
history, which teach us how close a connection existed in that country
between the religious and scientific systems. Thus Kenrick tells us, that
"when we read of foreigners [in Egypt] being obliged to submit to painful
and tedious ceremonies of initiation, it was not that they might learn the
secret meaning of the rites of Osiris or Isis, but that they might partake
of the knowledge of astronomy, physic, geometry, and theology." [150]

Another illustration will be found in the myth or legend of the _Winding
Stairs_, by which the Fellow Crafts are said to have ascended to the
middle chamber to receive their wages. Now, this myth, taken in its
literal sense, is, in all its parts, opposed to history and probability.
As a myth, it finds its origin in the fact that there was a place in the
temple called the "Middle Chamber," and that there were "winding stairs"
by which it was reached; for we read, in the First Book of Kings, that
"they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber." [151] But we
have no historical evidence that the stairs were of the construction, or
that the chamber was used for the purpose, indicated in the mythical
narrative, as it is set forth in the ritual of the second degree. The
whole legend is, in fact, an historical myth, in which the mystic number
of the steps, the process of passing to the chamber, and the wages there
received, are inventions added to or ingrafted on the fundamental history
contained in the sixth chapter of Kings, to inculcate important symbolic
instruction relative to the principles of the order. These lessons might,
it is true, have been inculcated in a dry, didactic form; but the
allegorical and mythical method adopted tends to make a stronger and
deeper impression on the mind, and at the same time serves more closely
to connect the institution of Masonry with the ancient temple.

Again: the myth which traces the origin of the institution of Freemasonry
to the beginning of the world, making its commencement coeval with the
creation,--a myth which is, even at this day, ignorantly interpreted, by
some, as an historical fact, and the reference to which is still preserved
in the date of "anno lucis," which is affixed to all masonic
documents,--is but a philosophical myth, symbolizing the idea which
analogically connects the creation of physical light in the universe with
the birth of masonic or spiritual and intellectual light in the candidate.
The one is the type of the other. When, therefore, Preston says that "from
the commencement of the world we may trace the foundation of Masonry," and
when he goes on to assert that "ever since symmetry began, and harmony
displayed her charms, our order has had a being," we are not to suppose
that Preston intended to teach that a masonic lodge was held in the Garden
of Eden. Such a supposition would justly subject us to the ridicule of
every intelligent person. The only idea intended to be conveyed is this:
that the principles of Freemasonry, which, indeed, are entirely
independent of any special organization which it may have as a society,
are coeval with the existence of the world; that when God said, "Let there
be light," the material light thus produced was an antitype of that
spiritual light that must burst upon the mind of every candidate when his
intellectual world, theretofore "without form and void," becomes adorned
and peopled with the living thoughts and divine principles which
constitute the great system of Speculative Masonry, and when the spirit of
the institution, brooding over the vast deep of his mental chaos, shall,
from intellectual darkness, bring forth intellectual light.[152]

In the legends of the Master's degree and of the Royal Arch there is a
commingling of the historical myth and the mythical history, so that
profound judgment is often required to discriminate these differing
elements. As, for example, the legend of the third degree is, in some of
its details, undoubtedly mythical--in others, just as undoubtedly
historical. The difficulty, however, of separating the one from the other,
and of distinguishing the fact from the fiction, has necessarily produced
a difference of opinion on the subject among masonic writers. Hutchinson,
and, after him, Oliver, think the whole legend an allegory or
philosophical myth. I am inclined, with Anderson and the earlier writers,
to suppose it a mythical history. In the Royal Arch degree, the legend of
the rebuilding of the temple is clearly historical; but there are so many
accompanying circumstances, which are uncertified, except by oral
tradition, as to give to the entire narrative the appearance of a mythical
history. The particular legend of the _three weary sojourners_ is
undoubtedly a myth, and perhaps merely a philosophical one, or the
enunciation of an idea--namely, the reward of successful perseverance,
through all dangers, in the search for divine truth.

"To form symbols and to interpret symbols," says the learned Creuzer,
"were the main occupation of the ancient priesthood." Upon the studious
Mason the same task of interpretation devolves. He who desires properly
to appreciate the profound wisdom of the institution of which he is the
disciple, must not be content, with uninquiring credulity, to accept all
the traditions that are imparted to him as veritable histories; nor yet,
with unphilosophic incredulity, to reject them in a mass, as fabulous
inventions. In these extremes there is equal error. "The myth," says
Hermann, "is the representation of an idea." It is for that idea that the
student must search in the myths of Masonry. Beneath every one of them
there is something richer and more spiritual than the mere narrative.[153]
This spiritual essence he must learn to extract from the ore in which,
like a precious metal, it lies imbedded. It is this that constitutes the
true value of Freemasonry. Without its symbols, and its myths or legends,
and the ideas and conceptions which lie at the bottom of them, the time,
the labor, and the expense incurred in perpetuating the institution, would
be thrown away. Without them, it would be a "vain and empty show." Its
grips and signs are worth nothing, except for social purposes, as mere
means of recognition. So, too, would be its words, were it not that they
are, for the most part, symbolic. Its social habits and its charities are
but incidental points in its constitution--of themselves good, it is true,
but capable of being attained in a simpler way. Its true value, as a
science, consists in its symbolism--in the great lessons of divine truth
which it teaches, and in the admirable manner in which it accomplishes
that teaching. Every one, therefore, who desires to be a skilful Mason,
must not suppose that the task is accomplished by a perfect knowledge of
the mere phraseology of the ritual, by a readiness in opening and closing
a lodge, nor by an off-hand capacity to confer degrees. All these are good
in their places, but without the internal meaning they are but mere
child's play. He must study the myths, the traditions, and the symbols of
the order, and learn their true interpretation; for this alone constitutes
the science and the philosophy--the end, aim, and design of Speculative
Masonry.




XXVI.

The Legend of the Winding Stairs.



Before proceeding to the examination of those more important mythical
legends which appropriately belong to the Master's degree, it will not, I
think, be unpleasing or uninstructive to consider the only one which is
attached to the Fellow Craft's degree--that, namely, which refers to the
allegorical ascent of the Winding Stairs to the Middle Chamber, and the
symbolic payment of the workmen's wages.

Although the legend of the Winding Stairs forms an important tradition of
Ancient Craft Masonry, the only allusion to it in Scripture is to be found
in a single verse in the sixth chapter of the First Book of Kings, and is
in these words: "The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of
the house; and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber,
and out of the middle into the third." Out of this slender material has
been constructed an allegory, which, if properly considered in its
symbolical relations, will be found to be of surpassing beauty. But it is
only as a symbol that we can regard this whole tradition; for the
historical facts and the architectural details alike forbid us for a
moment to suppose that the legend, as it is rehearsed in the second degree
of Masonry, is anything more than a magnificent philosophical myth.

Let us inquire into the true design of this legend, and learn the lesson
of symbolism which it is intended to teach.

In the investigation of the true meaning of every masonic symbol and
allegory, we must be governed by the single principle that the whole
design of Freemasonry as a speculative science is the investigation of
divine truth. To this great object everything is subsidiary. The Mason is,
from the moment of his initiation as an Entered Apprentice, to the time at
which he receives the full fruition of masonic light, an investigator--a
laborer in the quarry and the temple--whose reward is to be Truth. All the
ceremonies and traditions of the order tend to this ultimate design. Is
there light to be asked for? It is the intellectual light of wisdom and
truth. Is there a word to be sought? That word is the symbol of truth. Is
there a loss of something that had been promised? That loss is typical of
the failure of man, in the infirmity of his nature, to discover divine
truth. Is there a substitute to be appointed for that loss? It is an
allegory which teaches us that in this world man can only approximate to
the full conception of truth.

Hence there is in Speculative Masonry always a progress, symbolized by its
peculiar ceremonies of initiation. There is an advancement from a lower to
a higher state--from darkness to light--from death to life--from error to
truth. The candidate is always ascending; he is never stationary; he
never goes back, but each step he takes brings him to some new mental
illumination--to the knowledge of some more elevated doctrine. The
teaching of the Divine Master is, in respect to this continual progress,
the teaching of Masonry--"No man having put his hand to the plough, and
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven." And similar to this is
the precept of Pythagoras: "When travelling, turn not back, for if you do
the Furies will accompany you."

Now, this principle of masonic symbolism is apparent in many places in
each of the degrees. In that of the Entered Apprentice we find it
developed in the theological ladder, which, resting on earth, leans its
top upon heaven, thus inculcating the idea of an ascent from a lower to a
higher sphere, as the object of masonic labor. In the Master's degree we
find it exhibited in its most religious form, in the restoration from
death to life--in the change from the obscurity of the grave to the holy
of holies of the Divine Presence. In all the degrees we find it presented
in the ceremony of circumambulation, in which there is a gradual
inquisition, and a passage from an inferior to a superior officer. And
lastly, the same symbolic idea is conveyed in the Fellow Craft's degree in
the legend of the Winding Stairs.

In an investigation of the symbolism of the Winding Stairs we shall be
directed to the true explanation by a reference to their origin, their
number, the objects which they recall, and their termination, but above
all by a consideration of the great design which an ascent upon them was
intended to accomplish.

The steps of this Winding Staircase commenced, we are informed, at the
porch of the temple; that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is
more undoubted in the science of masonic symbolism than that the temple
was the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or the
Divine Presence. The world of the profane is without the temple; the world
of the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the temple, to
pass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world
of masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms. Here, then,
the symbolism of the Winding Stairs begins.

The Apprentice, having entered within the porch of the temple, has begun
his masonic life. But the first degree in Masonry, like the lesser
Mysteries of the ancient systems of initiation, is only a preparation and
purification for something higher. The Entered Apprentice is the child in
Masonry. The lessons which he receives are simply intended to cleanse the
heart and prepare the recipient for that mental illumination which is to
be given in the succeeding degrees.

As a Fellow Craft, he has advanced another step, and as the degree is
emblematic of youth, so it is here that the intellectual education of the
candidate begins. And therefore, here, at the very spot which separates
the Porch from the Sanctuary, where childhood ends and manhood begins, he
finds stretching out before him a winding stair which invites him, as it
were, to ascend, and which, as the symbol of discipline and instruction,
teaches him that here must commence his masonic labor--here he must enter
upon those glorious though difficult researches, the end of which is to be
the possession of divine truth. The Winding Stairs begin after the
candidate has passed within the Porch and between the pillars of Strength
and Establishment, as a significant symbol to teach him that as soon as he
has passed beyond the years of irrational childhood, and commenced his
entrance upon manly life, the laborious task of self-improvement is the
first duty that is placed before him. He cannot stand still, if he would
be worthy of his vocation; his destiny as an immortal being requires him
to ascend, step by step, until he has reached the summit, where the
treasures of knowledge await him.

The number of these steps in all the systems has been odd. Vitruvius
remarks--and the coincidence is at least curious--that the ancient temples
were always ascended by an odd number of steps; and he assigns as the
reason, that, commencing with the right foot at the bottom, the worshipper
would find the same foot foremost when he entered the temple, which was
considered as a fortunate omen. But the fact is, that the symbolism of
numbers was borrowed by the Masons from Pythagoras, in whose system of
philosophy it plays an important part, and in which odd numbers were
considered as more perfect than even ones. Hence, throughout the masonic
system we find a predominance of odd numbers; and while three, five,
seven, nine, fifteen, and twenty-seven, are all-important symbols, we
seldom find a reference to two, four, six, eight, or ten. The odd number
of the stairs was therefore intended to symbolize the idea of perfection,
to which it was the object of the aspirant to attain.

As to the particular number of the stairs, this has varied at different
periods. Tracing-boards of the last century have been found, in which only
_five_ steps are delineated, and others in which they amount to _seven_.
The Prestonian lectures, used in England in the beginning of this century,
gave the whole number as thirty-eight, dividing them into series of one,
three, five, seven, nine, and eleven. The error of making an even number,
which was a violation of the Pythagorean principle of odd numbers as the
symbol of perfection, was corrected in the Hemming lectures, adopted at
the union of the two Grand Lodges of England, by striking out the eleven,
which was also objectionable as receiving a sectarian explanation. In this
country the number was still further reduced to _fifteen_, divided into
three series of _three, five_, and _seven_. I shall adopt this American
division in explaining the symbolism, although, after all, the particular
number of the steps, or the peculiar method of their division into
series, will not in any way affect the general symbolism of the whole
legend.

The candidate, then, in the second degree of Masonry, represents a man
starting forth on the journey of life, with the great task before him of
self-improvement. For the faithful performance of this task, a reward is
promised, which reward consists in the development of all his intellectual
faculties, the moral and spiritual elevation of his character, and the
acquisition of truth and knowledge. Now, the attainment of this moral and
intellectual condition supposes an elevation of character, an ascent from
a lower to a higher life, and a passage of toil and difficulty, through
rudimentary instruction, to the full fruition of wisdom. This is therefore
beautifully symbolized by the Winding Stairs; at whose foot the aspirant
stands ready to climb the toilsome steep, while at its top is placed "that
hieroglyphic bright which none but Craftsmen ever saw," as the emblem of
divine truth. And hence a distinguished writer has said that "these steps,
like all the masonic symbols, are illustrative of discipline and doctrine,
as well as of natural, mathematical, and metaphysical science, and open to
us an extensive range of moral and speculative inquiry."

The candidate, incited by the love of virtue and the desire of knowledge,
and withal eager for the reward of truth which is set before him, begins
at once the toilsome ascent. At each division he pauses to gather
instruction from the symbolism which these divisions present to his
attention.

At the first pause which he makes he is instructed in the peculiar
organization of the order of which he has become a disciple. But the
information here given, if taken in its naked, literal sense, is barren,
and unworthy of his labor. The rank of the officers who govern, and the
names of the degrees which constitute the institution, can give him no
knowledge which he has not before possessed. We must look therefore to the
symbolic meaning of these allusions for any value which may be attached to
this part of the ceremony.

The reference to the organization of the masonic institution is intended
to remind the aspirant of the union of men in society, and the development
of the social state out of the state of nature. He is thus reminded, in
the very outset of his journey, of the blessings which arise from
civilization, and of the fruits of virtue and knowledge which are derived
from that condition. Masonry itself is the result of civilization; while,
in grateful return, it has been one of the most important means of
extending that condition of mankind.

All the monuments of antiquity that the ravages of time have left, combine
to prove that man had no sooner emerged from the savage into the social
state, than he commenced the organization of religious mysteries, and the
separation, by a sort of divine instinct, of the sacred from the profane.
Then came the invention of architecture as a means of providing convenient
dwellings and necessary shelter from the inclemencies and vicissitudes of
the seasons, with all the mechanical arts connected with it; and lastly,
geometry, as a necessary science to enable the cultivators of land to
measure and designate the limits of their possessions. All these are
claimed as peculiar characteristics of Speculative Masonry, which may be
considered as the type of civilization, the former bearing the same
relation to the profane world as the latter does to the savage state.
Hence we at once see the fitness of the symbolism which commences the
aspirant's upward progress in the cultivation of knowledge and the search
after truth, by recalling to his mind the condition of civilization and
the social union of mankind as necessary preparations for the attainment
of these objects. In the allusions to the officers of a lodge, and the
degrees of Masonry as explanatory of the organization of our own society,
we clothe in our symbolic language the history of the organization of
society.

Advancing in his progress, the candidate is invited to contemplate another
series of instructions. The human senses, as the appropriate channels
through which we receive all our ideas of perception, and which,
therefore, constitute the most important sources of our knowledge, are
here referred to as a symbol of intellectual cultivation. Architecture, as
the most important of the arts which conduce to the comfort of mankind, is
also alluded to here, not simply because it is so closely connected with
the operative institution of Masonry, but also as the type of all the
other useful arts. In his second pause, in the ascent of the Winding
Stairs, the aspirant is therefore reminded of the necessity of cultivating
practical knowledge.

So far, then, the instructions he has received relate to his own condition
in society as a member of the great social compact, and to his means of
becoming, by a knowledge of the arts of practical life, a necessary and
useful member of that society.

But his motto will be, "Excelsior." Still must he go onward and forward.
The stair is still before him; its summit is not yet reached, and still
further treasures of wisdom are to be sought for, or the reward will not
be gained, nor the _middle chamber_, the abiding place of truth, be
reached.

In his third pause, he therefore arrives at that point in which the whole
circle of human science is to be explained. Symbols, we know, are in
themselves arbitrary and of conventional signification, and the complete
circle of human science might have been as well symbolized by any other
sign or series of doctrines as by the seven liberal arts and sciences. But
Masonry is an institution of the olden time; and this selection of the
liberal arts and sciences as a symbol of the completion of human learning
is one of the most pregnant evidences that we have of its antiquity.

In the seventh century, and for a long time afterwards, the circle of
instruction to which all the learning of the most eminent schools and most
distinguished philosophers was confined, was limited to what were then
called the liberal arts and sciences, and consisted of two branches, the
_trivium_ and the _quadrivium_.[154] The _trivium_ included grammar,
rhetoric, and logic; the _quadrivium_ comprehended arithmetic, geometry,
music, and astronomy.

"These seven heads," says Enfield, "were supposed to include universal
knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a
preceptor to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within
the compass of human reason, the knowledge of the _trivium_ having
furnished him with the key to all language, and that of the _quadrivium_
having opened to him the secret laws of nature." [155]

At a period, says the same writer, when few were instructed in the
_trivium_, and very few studied the _quadrivium_, to be master of both was
sufficient to complete the character of a philosopher. The propriety,
therefore, of adopting the seven liberal arts and sciences as a symbol of
the completion of human learning is apparent. The candidate, having
reached this point, is now supposed to have accomplished the task upon
which he had entered--he has reached the last step, and is now ready to
receive the full fruition of human learning.

So far, then, we are able to comprehend the true symbolism of the Winding
Stairs. They represent the progress of an inquiring mind with the toils
and labors of intellectual cultivation and study, and the preparatory
acquisition of all human science, as a preliminary step to the attainment
of divine truth, which it must be remembered is always symbolized in
Masonry by the WORD.

Here let me again allude to the symbolism of numbers, which is for the
first time presented to the consideration of the masonic student in the
legend of the Winding Stairs. The theory of numbers as the symbols of
certain qualities was originally borrowed by the Masons from the school of
Pythagoras. It will be impossible, however, to develop this doctrine, in
its entire extent, on the present occasion, for the numeral symbolism of
Masonry would itself constitute materials for an ample essay. It will be
sufficient to advert to the fact that the total number of the steps,
amounting in all to _fifteen_, in the American system, is a significant
symbol. For _fifteen_ was a sacred number among the Orientals, because the
letters of the holy name JAH, were, in their numerical value, equivalent
to fifteen; and hence a figure in which the nine digits were so disposed
as to make fifteen either way when added together perpendicularly,
horizontally, or diagonally, constituted one of their most sacred
talismans.[156] The fifteen steps in the Winding Stairs are therefore
symbolic of the name of God.

But we are not yet done. It will be remembered that a reward was promised
for all this toilsome ascent of the Winding Stairs. Now, what are the
wages of a Speculative Mason? Not money, nor corn, nor wine, nor oil. All
these are but symbols. His wages are TRUTH, or that approximation to it
which will be most appropriate to the degree into which he has been
initiated. It is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time most
abstruse, doctrines of the science of masonic symbolism, that the Mason is
ever to be in search of truth, but is never to find it. This divine truth,
the object of all his labors, is symbolized by the WORD, for which we all
know he can only obtain a _substitute_; and this is intended to teach the
humiliating but necessary lesson that the knowledge of the nature of God
and of man's relation to him, which knowledge constitutes divine truth,
can never be acquired in this life. It is only when the portals of the
grave open to us, and give us an entrance into a more perfect life, that
this knowledge is to be attained. "Happy is the man," says the father of
lyric poetry, "who descends beneath the hollow earth, having beheld these
mysteries; he knows the end, he knows the origin of life."

The Middle Chamber is therefore symbolic of this life, where the symbol
only of the word can be given, where the truth is to be reached by
approximation only, and yet where we are to learn that that truth will
consist in a perfect knowledge of the G.A.O.T.U. This is the reward of the
inquiring Mason; in this consist the wages of a Fellow Craft; he is
directed to the truth, but must travel farther and ascend still higher to
attain it.

It is, then, as a symbol, and a symbol only, that we must study this
beautiful legend of the Winding Stairs. If we attempt to adopt it as an
historical fact, the absurdity of its details stares us in the face, and
wise men will wonder at our credulity. Its inventors had no desire thus to
impose upon our folly; but offering it to us as a great philosophical
myth, they did not for a moment suppose that we would pass over its
sublime moral teachings to accept the allegory as an historical narrative,
without meaning, and wholly irreconcilable with the records of Scripture,
and opposed by all the principles of probability. To suppose that eighty
thousand craftsmen were weekly paid in the narrow precincts of the temple
chambers, is simply to suppose an absurdity. But to believe that all this
pictorial representation of an ascent by a Winding Staircase to the place
where the wages of labor were to be received, was an allegory to teach us
the ascent of the mind from ignorance, through all the toils of study and
the difficulties of obtaining knowledge, receiving here a little and there
a little, adding something to the stock of our ideas at each step, until,
in the middle chamber of life,--in the full fruition of manhood,--the
reward is attained, and the purified and elevated intellect is invested
with the reward in the direction how to seek God and God's truth,--to
believe this is to believe and to know the true design of Speculative
Masonry, the only design which makes it worthy of a good or a wise man's
study.

Its historical details are barren, but its symbols and allegories are
fertile with instruction.




XXVII.

The Legend of the Third Degree.



The most important and significant of the legendary symbols of Freemasonry
is, undoubtedly, that which relates to the fate of Hiram Abif, commonly
called, "by way of excellence," the Legend of the Third Degree.

The first written record that I have been able to find of this legend is
contained in the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, published in
1738, and is in these words:--

"It (the temple) was finished in the short space of seven years and six
months, to the amazement of all the world; when the cape-stone was
celebrated by the fraternity with great joy. But their joy was soon
interrupted by the sudden death of their dear master, Hiram Abif, whom
they decently interred, in the lodge near the temple, according to ancient
dusage." [157]

In the next edition of the same work, published in 1756, a few additional
circumstances are related, such as the participation of King Solomon in
the general grief, and the fact that the king of Israel "ordered his
obsequies to be conducted with great solemnity and decency." [158] With
these exceptions, and the citations of the same passages, made by
subsequent authors, the narrative has always remained unwritten, and
descended, from age to age, through the means of oral tradition.

The legend has been considered of so much importance that it has been
preserved in the symbolism of every masonic rite. No matter what
modifications or alterations the general system may have undergone,--no
matter how much the ingenuity or the imagination of the founders of rites
may have perverted or corrupted other symbols, abolishing the old and
substituting new ones,--the legend of the Temple Builder has ever been
left untouched, to present itself in all the integrity of its ancient
mythical form.

What, then, is the signification of this symbol, so important and so
extensively diffused? What interpretation can we give to it that will
account for its universal adoption? How is it that it has thus become so
intimately interwoven with Freemasonry as to make, to all appearances, a
part of its very essence, and to have been always deemed inseparable from
it?

To answer these questions, satisfactorily, it is necessary to trace, in a
brief investigation, the remote origin of the institution of Freemasonry,
and its connection with the ancient systems of initiation.

It was, then, the great object of all the rites and mysteries which
constituted the "Spurious Freemasonry" of antiquity to teach the
consoling doctrine of the immortality of the soul.[159] This dogma,
shining as an almost solitary beacon-light in the surrounding gloom of
pagan darkness, had undoubtedly been received from that ancient people or
priesthood[160] what has been called the system of "Pure Freemasonry," and
among whom it probably existed only in the form of an abstract proposition
or a simple and unembellished tradition. But in the more sensual minds of
the pagan philosophers and mystics, the idea, when presented to the
initiates in their Mysteries, was always conveyed in the form of a scenic
representation.[161] The influence, too, of the early Sabian worship of
the sun and heavenly bodies, in which the solar orb was adored, on its
resurrection, each morning, from the apparent death of its evening
setting, caused this rising sun to be adopted in the more ancient
Mysteries as a symbol of the regeneration of the soul.

Thus in the Egyptian Mysteries we find a representation of the death and
subsequent regeneration of Osiris; in the Phoenician, of Adonis; in the
Syrian, of Dionysus; in all of which the scenic apparatus of initiation
was intended to indoctrinate the candidate into the dogma of a future
life.

It will be sufficient here to refer simply to the fact, that through the
instrumentality of the Tyrian workmen at the temple of King Solomon, the
spurious and pure branches of the masonic system were united at Jerusalem,
and that the same method of scenic representation was adopted by the
latter from the former, and the narrative of the temple builder
substituted for that of Dionysus, which was the myth peculiar to the
mysteries practised by the Tyrian workmen.

The idea, therefore, proposed to be communicated in the myth of the
ancient Mysteries was the same as that which is now conveyed in the
masonic legend of the Third Degree.

Hence, then, Hiram Abif is, in the masonic system, the symbol of human
nature, as developed in the life here and the life to come; and so, while
the temple was, as I have heretofore shown, the visible symbol of the
world, its builder became the mythical symbol of man, the dweller and
worker in that world.

Now, is not this symbolism evident to every reflective mind?

Man, setting forth on the voyage of life, with faculties and powers
fitting him for the due exercise of the high duties to whose performance
he has been called, holds, if he be "a curious and cunning workman," [162]
skilled in all moral and intellectual purposes (and it is only of such men
that the temple builder can be the symbol), within the grasp of his
attainment the knowledge of all that divine truth imparted to him as the
heirloom of his race--that race to whom it has been granted to look, with
exalted countenance, on high;[163] which divine truth is symbolized by the
WORD.

Thus provided with the word of life, he occupies his time in the
construction of a spiritual temple, and travels onward in the faithful
discharge of all his duties, laying down his designs upon the
trestle-board of the future and invoking the assistance and direction of
God.

But is his path always over flowery meads and through pleasant groves? Is
there no hidden foe to obstruct his progress? Is all before him clear and
calm, with joyous sunshine and refreshing zephyrs? Alas! not so. "Man is
born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." At every "gate of life"--as
the Orientalists have beautifully called the different ages--he is beset
by peril. Temptations allure his youth, misfortunes darken the pathway of
his manhood, and his old age is encumbered with infirmity and disease. But
clothed in the armor of virtue he may resist the temptation; he may cast
misfortunes aside, and rise triumphantly above them; but to the last, the
direst, the most inexorable foe of his race, he must eventually yield;
and stricken down by death, he sinks prostrate into the grave, _and is
buried in the rubbish_ of his sin and human frailty.

Here, then, in Masonry, is what was called the _aphanism_[164] in
the ancient Mysteries. The bitter but necessary lesson of death has
been imparted. The living soul, with the lifeless body which encased
it, has disappeared, and _can nowhere be found_. All is
darkness--confusion--despair. Divine truth--the WORD--for a time is
lost, and the Master Mason may now say, in the language of Hutchinson,
"I prepare my sepulchre. I make my grave in the pollution of the earth.
I am under the shadow of death."

But if the mythic symbolism ended here, with this lesson of death, then
were the lesson incomplete. That teaching would be vain and idle--nay,
more, it would be corrupt and pernicious--which should stop short of the
conscious and innate instinct for another existence. And hence the
succeeding portions of the legend are intended to convey the sublime
symbolism of a resurrection from the grave and a new birth into a future
life. The discovery of the body, which, in the initiations of the ancient
Mysteries, was called the _euresis_,[165] and its removal, from the
polluted grave into which it had been cast, to an honored and sacred place
within the precincts of the temple, are all profoundly and beautifully
symbolic of that great truth, the discovery of which was the object of all
the ancient initiations, as it is almost the whole design of Freemasonry,
namely, that when man shall have passed the gates of life and have yielded
to the inexorable fiat of death, he shall then (not in the pictured ritual
of an earthly lodge, but in the realities of that eternal one, of which
the former is but an antitype) be raised, at the omnific word of the Grand
Master of the Universe, from time to eternity; from the tomb of corruption
to the chambers of hope; from the darkness of death to the celestial beams
of life; and that his disembodied spirit shall be conveyed as near to the
holy of holies of the divine presence as humanity can ever approach to
Deity.

Such I conceive to be the true interpretation of the symbolism of the
legend of the Third Degree.

I have said that this mythical history of the temple builder was universal
in all nations and all rites, and that in no place and at no time had it,
by alteration, diminution, or addition, acquired any essentially new or
different form: the myth has always remained the same.

But it is not so with its interpretation. That which I have just given,
and which I conceive to be the correct one, has been very generally
adopted by the Masons of this country. But elsewhere, and by various
writers, other interpretations have been made, very different in their
character, although always agreeing in retaining the general idea of a
resurrection or regeneration, or a restoration of something from an
inferior to a higher sphere or function.

Thus some of the earlier continental writers have supposed the myth to
have been a symbol of the destruction of the Order of the Templars,
looking upon its restoration to its original wealth and dignities as being
prophetically symbolized.

In some of the high philosophical degrees it is taught that the whole
legend refers to the sufferings and death, with the subsequent
resurrection, of Christ.[166]

Hutchinson, who has the honor of being the earliest philosophical writer
on Freemasonry in England, supposes it to have been intended to embody the
idea of the decadence of the Jewish religion, and the substitution of the
Christian in its place and on its ruins.[167]

Dr. Oliver--"clarum et venerabile nomen"--thinks that it is typical of the
murder of Abel by Cain, and that it symbolically refers to the universal
death of our race through Adam, and its restoration to life in the
Redeemer,[168] according to the expression of the apostle, "As in Adam we
all died, so in Christ we all live."

Ragon makes Hiram a symbol of the sun shorn of its vivifying rays and
fructifying power by the three winter months, and its restoration to
generative heat by the season of spring.[169]

And, finally, Des Etangs, adopting, in part, the interpretation of Ragon,
adds to it another, which he calls the moral symbolism of the legend, and
supposes that Hiram is no other than eternal reason, whose enemies are the
vices that deprave and destroy humanity.[170]

To each of these interpretations it seems to me that there are important
objections, though perhaps to some less so than to others.

As to those who seek for an astronomical interpretation of the legend, in
which the annual changes of the sun are symbolized, while the ingenuity
with which they press their argument cannot but be admired, it is evident
that, by such an interpretation, they yield all that Masonry has gained
of religious development in past ages, and fall back upon that corruption
and perversion of Sabaism from which it was the object, even of the
Spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, to rescue its disciples.

The Templar interpretation of the myth must at once be discarded if we
would avoid the difficulties of anachronism, unless we deny that the
legend existed before the abolition of the Order of Knights Templar, and
such denial would be fatal to the antiquity of Freemasonry.[171]

And as to the adoption of the Christian reference, Hutchinson, and after
him Oliver, profoundly philosophical as are the masonic speculations of
both, have, I am constrained to believe, fallen into a great error in
calling the Master Mason's degree a Christian institution. It is true that
it embraces within its scheme the great truths of Christianity upon the
subject of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body;
but this was to be presumed, because Freemasonry is truth, and
Christianity is truth, and all truth must be identical. But the origin of
each is different; their histories are dissimilar. The institution of
Freemasonry preceded the advent of Christianity. Its symbols and its
legends are derived from the Solomonic temple, and from the people even
anterior to that. Its religion comes from the ancient priesthood. Its
faith was that primitive one of Noah and his immediate descendants. If
Masonry were simply a Christian institution, the Jew and the Moslem, the
Brahmin and the Buddhist, could not conscientiously partake of its
illumination; but its universality is its boast. In its language citizens
of every nation may converse; at its altar men of all religions may kneel;
to its creed disciples of every faith may subscribe.

Yet it cannot be denied, that since the advent of Christianity a Christian
element has been almost imperceptibly infused into the masonic system, at
least among Christian Masons. This has been a necessity; for it is the
tendency of every predominant religion to pervade with its influences all
that surrounds it, or is about it, whether religious, political, or
social. This arises from a need of the human heart. To the man deeply
imbued with the spirit of his religion there is an almost unconscious
desire to accommodate and adapt all the business and the amusements of
life, the labors and the employments of his every-day existence, to the
indwelling faith of his soul.

The Christian Mason, therefore, while acknowledging and justly
appreciating the great doctrines taught in Masonry, and while grateful
that these doctrines were preserved in the bosom of his ancient order at a
time when they were unknown to the multitudes of the surrounding nations,
is still anxious to give to them a Christian character, to invest them, in
some measure, with the peculiarities of his own creed, and to bring the
interpretation of their symbolism more nearly home to his own religious
sentiments.

The feeling is an instinctive one, belonging to the noblest aspirations of
our human nature; and hence we find Christian masonic writers indulging in
it almost to an unwarrantable excess, and by the extent of their sectarian
interpretations materially affecting the cosmopolitan character of the
institution.

This tendency to Christianization has, in some instances, been so
universal, and has prevailed for so long a period, that certain symbols
and myths have been, in this way, so deeply and thoroughly imbued with the
Christian element as to leave those who have not penetrated into the cause
of this peculiarity, in doubt whether they should attribute to the symbol
an ancient or a modern and Christian origin.

As an illustration of the idea here advanced, and as a remarkable example
of the result of a gradually Christianized interpretation of a masonic
symbol, I will refer to the subordinate myth (subordinate, I mean, to the
great legend of the Builder), which relates the circumstances connected
with the grave upon "_the brow of a small hill near Mount Moriah._"

Now, the myth or legend of a grave is a legitimate deduction from the
symbolism of the ancient Spurious Masonry. It is the analogue of the
_Pastos_, _Couch,_ or _Coffin_, which was to be found in the ritual of all
the pagan Mysteries. In all these initiations, the aspirant was placed in
a cell or upon a couch, in darkness, and for a period varying, in the
different rites, from the three days of the Grecian Mysteries to the fifty
of the Persian. This cell or couch, technically called the "pastos," was
adopted as a symbol of the being whose death and resurrection or
apotheosis, was represented in the legend.

The learned Faber says that this ceremony was doubtless the same as the
descent into Hades,[172] and that, when the aspirant entered into the
mystic cell, he was directed to lay himself down upon the bed which
shadowed out the tomb of the Great Father, or Noah, to whom, it will be
recollected, that Faber refers all the ancient rites. "While stretched
upon the holy couch," he continues to remark, "in imitation of his
figurative deceased prototype, he was said to be wrapped in the deep sleep
of death. His resurrection from the bed was his restoration to life or his
regeneration into a new world."

Now, it is easy to see how readily such a symbolism would be seized by the
Temple Masons, and appropriated at once to _the grave at the brow of the
hill_. At first, the interpretation, like that from which it had been
derived, would be cosmopolitan; it would fit exactly to the general dogmas
of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.

But on the advent of Christianity, the spirit of the new religion being
infused into the old masonic system, the whole symbolism of the grave was
affected by it. The same interpretation of a resurrection or restoration
to life, derived from the ancient "pastos," was, it is true, preserved;
but the facts that Christ himself had come to promulgate to the multitudes
the same consoling dogma, and that Mount Calvary, "the place of a skull,"
was the spot where the Redeemer, by his own death and resurrection, had
testified the truth of the doctrine, at once suggested to the old
Christian Masons the idea of Christianizing the ancient symbol.

Let us now examine briefly how that idea has been at length developed.

In the first place, it is necessary to identify the spot where the
"newly-made grave" was discovered with Mount Calvary, the place of the
sepulchre of Christ. This can easily be done by a very few but striking
analogies, which will, I conceive, carry conviction to any thinking mind.

1. Mount Calvary was a _small hill_.[173]

2. It was situated in a _westward direction_ from the temple, and _near
Mount Moriah_.

3. It was on the direct road from Jerusalem to Joppa, and is thus the very
spot where a _weary brother_, travelling on that road, would find it
convenient to _sit down to rest and refresh himself_.[174]

4. It was _outside_ the gate of the temple.

5. It has at least _one cleft in the rock_, or cave, which was the place
which subsequently became the sepulchre of our Lord. But this coincidence
need scarcely to be insisted on, since the whole neighborhood abounds in
rocky clefts, which meet at once the conditions of the masonic legend.

But to bring this analogical reasoning before the mind in a more
expressive mode, it may be observed that if a party of persons were to
start forth from the temple at Jerusalem, and travel in a westward
direction towards the port of Joppa, Mount Calvary would be the first hill
met with; and as it may possibly have been used as a place of sepulture,
which its name of Golgotha[175] seems to import, we may suppose it to have
been the very spot alluded to in the Third Degree, as the place where the
craftsmen, on their way to Joppa, discovered the evergreen acacia.

Having thus traced the analogy, let us look a little to the symbolism.

Mount Calvary has always retained an important place in the legendary
history of Freemasonry, and there are many traditions connected with it
that are highly interesting in their import.

One of these traditions is, that it was the burial-place of Adam, in
order, says the old legend, that where he lay, who effected the ruin of
mankind, there also might the Savior of the world suffer, die, and be
buried. Sir R. Torkington, who published a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in
1517, says that "under the Mount of Calvary is another chapel of our
Blessed Lady and St. John the Evangelist, that was called Golgotha; and
there, right under the mortise of the cross, was found the head of our
forefather, Adam." [176] Golgotha, it will be remembered, means, in
Hebrew, "the place of a skull;" and there may be some connection between
this tradition and the name of Golgotha, by which the Evangelists inform
us, that in the time of Christ Mount Calvary was known. Calvary, or
Calvaria, has the same signification in Latin.

Another tradition states, that it was in the bowels of Mount Calvary that
Enoch erected his nine-arched vault, and deposited on the foundation-stone
of Masonry that Ineffable Name, whose investigation, as a symbol of divine
truth, is the great object of Speculative Masonry.

A third tradition details the subsequent discovery of Enoch's deposit by
King Solomon, whilst making excavations in Mount Calvary, during the
building of the temple.

On this hallowed spot was Christ the Redeemer slain and buried. It was
there that, rising on the third day from his sepulchre, he gave, by that
act, the demonstrative evidence of the resurrection of the body and the
immortality of the soul.

And it was on this spot that the same great lesson was taught in
Masonry--the same sublime truth--the development of which evidently forms
the design of the Third or Master Mason's degree.

There is in these analogies a sublime beauty as well as a wonderful
coincidence between the two systems of Masonry and Christianity, that
must, at an early period, have attracted the attention of the Christian
Masons.

Mount Calvary is consecrated to the Christian as the place where his
crucified Lord gave the last great proof of the second life, and fully
established the doctrine of the resurrection which he had come to teach.
It was the sepulchre of him

    "Who captive led captivity,
    Who robbed the grave of victory,
    And took the sting from death."

It is consecrated to the Mason, also, as the scene of the _euresis_, the
place of the discovery, where the same consoling doctrines of the
resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul are shadowed
forth in profoundly symbolic forms.

These great truths constitute the very essence of Christianity, in which
it differs from and excels all religious systems that preceded it; they
constitute, also, the end, aim, and object of all Freemasonry, but more
especially that of the Third Degree, whose peculiar legend, symbolically
considered, teaches nothing more nor less than that there is an immortal
and better part within us, which, as an emanation from that divine spirit
which pervades all nature, can never die.

The identification of the spot on which this divine truth was promulgated
in both systems--the Christian and the Masonic--affords an admirable
illustration of the readiness with which the religious spirit of the
former may be infused into the symbolism of the latter. And hence
Hutchinson, thoroughly imbued with these Christian views of Masonry, has
called the Master Mason's order a Christian degree, and thus Christianizes
the whole symbolism of its mythical history.

"The Great Father of all, commiserating the miseries of the world, sent
his only Son, who was _innocence_ itself, to teach the doctrine of
salvation--by whom man was raised from the death of sin unto the life of
righteousness--from the tomb of corruption unto the chamber of hope--from
the darkness of despair to the celestial beams of faith; and not only
working for us this redemption, but making with us the covenant of
regeneration; whence we are become the children of the Divinity, and
inheritors of the realms of heaven.

"We, _Masons_, describing the deplorable estate of religion under the
Jewish law, speak in figures: 'Her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast
forth of the temple, and _acacia_ wove its branches over her monuments;'
_akakia_ being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from sin;
implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law, and devotees of the
Jewish altar, had hid Religion from those who sought her, and she was only
to be found where _innocence_ survived, and under the banner of the Divine
Lamb, and, as to ourselves, professing that we were to be distinguished by
our _Acacy_, or as true _Acacians_ in our religious faiths and tenets.

"The acquisition of the doctrine of redemption is expressed in the typical
character of _Huramen_ (I have found it.--_Greek_), and by the
applications of that name with Masons, it is implied that we have
discovered the knowledge of God and his salvation, and have been redeemed
from the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution and unrighteousness.

"Thus the _Master Mason_ represents a man, under the Christian doctrine,
saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation."

It is in this way that Masonry has, by a sort of inevitable process (when
we look to the religious sentiment of the interpreters), been
Christianized by some of the most illustrious and learned writers on
masonic science--by such able men as Hutchinson and Oliver in England, and
by Harris, by Scott, by Salem Towne, and by several others in this
country.

I do not object to the system when the interpretation is not strained, but
is plausible, consistent, and productive of the same results as in the
instance of Mount Calvary: all that I contend for is, that such
interpretations are modern, and that they do not belong to, although they
may often be deduced from, the ancient system.

But the true ancient interpretation of the legend,--the universal masonic
one,--for all countries and all ages, undoubtedly was, that the fate of
the temple builder is but figurative of the pilgrimage of man on earth,
through trials and temptations, through sin and sorrow, until his eventual
fall beneath the blow of death and his final and glorious resurrection to
another and an eternal life.




XXVIII.

The Sprig of Acacia.



Intimately connected with the legend of the third degree is the mythical
history of the Sprig of Acacia, which we are now to consider.

There is no symbol more interesting to the masonic student than the Sprig
of Acacia, not only on account of its own peculiar import, but also
because it introduces us to an extensive and delightful field of research;
that, namely, which embraces the symbolism of sacred plants. In all the
ancient systems of religion, and Mysteries of initiation, there was always
some one plant consecrated, in the minds of the worshippers and
participants, by a peculiar symbolism, and therefore held in extraordinary
veneration as a sacred emblem. Thus the ivy was used in the Mysteries of
Dionysus, the myrtle in those of Ceres, the erica in the Osirian, and the
lettuce in the Adonisian. But to this subject I shall have occasion to
refer more fully in a subsequent part of the present investigation.

Before entering upon an examination of the symbolism of the _Acacia_, it
will be, perhaps, as well to identify the true plant which occupies so
important a place in the ritual of Freemasonry.

And here, in passing, I may be permitted to say that it is a very great
error to designate the symbolic plant of Masonry by the name of
"Cassia"--an error which undoubtedly arose, originally, from the very
common habit among illiterate people of sinking the sound of the letter
_a_ in the pronunciation of any word of which it constitutes the initial
syllable. Just, for instance, as we constantly hear, in the conversation
of the uneducated, the words _pothecary_ and _prentice_ for _apothecary_
and _apprentice_, shall we also find _cassia_ used for _acacia_.[177]
Unfortunately, however, this corruption of _acacia_ into _cassia_ has not
always been confined to the illiterate: but the long employment of the
corrupted form has at length introduced it, in some instances, among a few
of our writers. Even the venerable Oliver, although well acquainted with
the symbolism of the acacia, and having written most learnedly upon it,
has, at times, allowed himself to use the objectionable corruption,
unwittingly influenced, in all probability, by the too frequent adoption
of the latter word in the English lodges. In America, but few Masons fall
into the error of speaking of the _Cassia_. The proper teaching of the
_Acacia_ is here well understood.[178]

The _cassia_ of the ancients was, in fact, an ignoble plant having no
mystic meaning and no sacred character, and was never elevated to a higher
function than that of being united, as Virgil informs us, with other
odorous herbs in the formation of a garland:--

    "...violets pale,
    The poppy's flush, and dill which scents the gale,
    Cassia, and hyacinth, and daffodil,
    With yellow marigold the chaplet fill." [179]

Alston says that the "Cassia lignea of the ancients was the larger
branches of the cinnamon tree, cut off with their bark and sent together
to the druggists; their Cassia fistula, or Syrinx, was the same cinnamon
in the bark only;" but Ruæus says that it also sometimes denoted the
lavender, and sometimes the rosemary.

In Scripture the cassia is only three times mentioned,[180] twice as the
translation of the Hebrew word _kiddak_, and once as the rendering of
_ketzioth_, but always as referring to an aromatic plant which formed a
constituent portion of some perfume. There is, indeed, strong reason for
believing that the cassia is only another name for a coarser preparation
of cinnamon, and it is also to be remarked that it did not grow in
Palestine, but was imported from the East.

The _acacia_, on the contrary, was esteemed a sacred tree. It is the
_acacia vera_ of Tournefort, and the _mimosa nilotica_ of Linnæus. It
grew abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem,[181] where it is still to be
found, and is familiar to us all, in its modern uses at least, as the tree
from which the gum arabic of commerce is obtained.

The acacia, which, in Scripture, is always called _shittah_[182] and in
the plural _shittim_, was esteemed a sacred wood among the Hebrews. Of it
Moses was ordered to make the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the
table for the showbread, and the rest of the sacred furniture. Isaiah, in
recounting the promises of God's mercy to the Israelites on their return
from the captivity, tells them, that, among other things, he will plant in
the wilderness, for their relief and refreshment, the cedar, the acacia
(or, as it is rendered in our common version, the _shittah_), the fir, and
other trees.

The first thing, then, that we notice in this symbol of the acacia, is,
that it had been always consecrated from among the other trees of the
forest by the sacred purposes to which it was devoted. By the Jew the tree
from whose wood the sanctuary of the tabernacle and the holy ark had been
constructed would ever be viewed as more sacred than ordinary trees. The
early Masons, therefore, very naturally appropriated this hallowed plant
to the equally sacred purpose of a symbol which was to teach an important
divine truth in all ages to come.

Having thus briefly disposed of the natural history of this plant, we may
now proceed to examine it in its symbolic relations.

First. The acacia, in the mythic system of Freemasonry, is preeminently
the symbol of the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL--that important doctrine which
it is the great design of the institution to teach. As the evanescent
nature of the flower which "cometh forth and is cut down" reminds us of
the transitory nature of human life, so the perpetual renovation of the
evergreen plant, which uninterruptedly presents the appearance of youth
and vigor, is aptly compared to that spiritual life in which the soul,
freed from the corruptible companionship of the body, shall enjoy an
eternal spring and an immortal youth. Hence, in the impressive funeral
service of our order, it is said, "This evergreen is an emblem of our
faith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have
an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall
never, never, never die." And again, in the closing sentences of the
monitorial lecture of the Third Degree, the same sentiment is repeated,
and we are told that by "the ever green and ever living sprig" the Mason
is strengthened "with confidence and composure to look forward to a
blessed immortality." Such an interpretation of the symbol is an easy and
a natural one; it suggests itself at once to the least reflective mind,
and consequently, in some one form or another, is to be found existing in
all ages and nations. It was an ancient custom, which is not, even now,
altogether disused, for mourners to carry in their hands at funerals a
sprig of some evergreen, generally the cedar or the cypress, and to
deposit it in the grave of the deceased. According to Dalcho,[183] the
Hebrews always planted a sprig of the acacia at the head of the grave of a
departed friend. Potter tells us that the ancient Greeks "had a custom of
bedecking tombs with herbs and flowers." [184] All sorts of purple and
white flowers were acceptable to the dead, but principally the amaranth
and the myrtle. The very name of the former of these plants, which
signifies "never fading," would seem to indicate the true symbolic meaning
of the usage, although archaeologists have generally supposed it to be
simply an exhibition of love on the part of the survivors. Ragon says,
that the ancients substituted the acacia for all other plants because they
believed it to be incorruptible, and not liable to injury from the attacks
of any kind of insect or other animal--thus symbolizing the incorruptible
nature of the soul.

Hence we see the propriety of placing the sprig of acacia, as an emblem of
immortality, among the symbols of that degree, all of whose ceremonies are
intended to teach us the great truth, that "the life of man, regulated by
morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour by the
prospect of eternal bliss." [185] So, therefore, says Dr. Oliver, when the
Master Mason exclaims, "My name is Acacia," it is equivalent to saying, "I
have been in the grave,--I have triumphed over it by rising from the
dead,--and being regenerated in the process, I have a claim to life
everlasting."

The sprig of acacia, then, in its most ordinary signification, presents
itself to the Master Mason as a symbol of the immortality of the soul,
being intended to remind him, by its evergreen and unchanging nature, of
that better and spiritual part within us, which, as an emanation from the
Grand Architect of the Universe, can never die. And as this is the most
ordinary, the most generally accepted signification, so also is it the
most important; for thus, as the peculiar symbol of immortality, it
becomes the most appropriate to an order all of whose teachings are
intended to inculcate the great lesson that "life rises out of the grave."
But incidental to this the acacia has two other interpretations, which
are well worthy of investigation.

Secondly, then, the acacia is a symbol of INNOCENCE. The symbolism here is
of a peculiar and unusual character, depending not on any real analogy in
the form or use of the symbol to the idea symbolized, but simply on a
double or compound meaning of the word. For [Greek: akakia], in the Greek
language, signifies both the plant in question and the moral quality of
innocence or purity of life. In this sense the symbol refers, primarily,
to him over whose solitary grave the acacia was planted, and whose
virtuous conduct, whose integrity of life and fidelity to his trusts, have
ever been presented as patterns to the craft, and consequently to all
Master Masons, who, by this interpretation of the symbol, are invited to
emulate his example.

Hutchinson, indulging in his favorite theory of Christianizing Masonry,
when he comes to this signification of the symbol, thus enlarges on the
interpretation: "We Masons, describing the deplorable estate of religion
under the Jewish law, speak in figures: 'Her tomb was in the rubbish and
filth cast forth of the temple, and _Acacia_ wove its branches over her
monument;' _akakia_ being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from
sin; implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law and devotees of
the Jewish altar had hid Religion from those who sought her, and she was
only to be found where _innocence_ survived, and under the banner of the
divine Lamb; and as to ourselves, professing that we were to be
distinguished by our _Acacy_, or as true _Acacians_ in our religious faith
and tenets." [186]

Among the nations of antiquity, it was common thus by peculiar plants to
symbolize the virtues and other qualities of the mind. In many instances
the symbolism has been lost to the moderns, but in others it has been
retained, and is well understood, even at the present day. Thus the olive
was adopted as the symbol of peace, because, says Lee, "its oil is very
useful, in some way or other, in all arts manual which principally
flourish in times of peace." [187]

The quince among the Greeks was the symbol of love and happiness;[188] and
hence, by the laws of Solon, in Athenian marriages, the bride and
bridegroom were required to eat a quince together.

The palm was the symbol of victory;[189] and hence, in the catacombs of
Rome, the burial-place of so many of the early Christians, the palm leaf
is constantly found as an emblem of the Christian's triumph over sin and
death.

The rosemary was a symbol of remembrance, and hence was used both at
marriages and at funerals, the memory of the past being equally
appropriate in both rites.[190]

The parsley was consecrated to grief; and hence all the Greeks decked
their tombs with it; and it was used to crown the conquerors in the Nemean
games, which were of a funereal character.[191]

But it is needless to multiply instances of this symbolism. In adopting
the acacia as a symbol of innocence, Masonry has but extended the
principle of an ancient and universal usage, which thus consecrated
particular plants, by a mystical meaning, to the representation of
particular virtues.

But lastly, the acacia is to be considered as the symbol of INITIATION.
This is by far the most interesting of its interpretations, and was, we
have every reason to believe, the primary and original, the others being
but incidental. It leads us at once to the investigation of that
significant fact to which I have already alluded, that in all the ancient
initiations and religious mysteries there was some plant, peculiar to
each, which was consecrated by its own esoteric meaning, and which
occupied an important position in the celebration of the rites; so that
the plant, whatever it might be, from its constant and prominent use in
the ceremonies of initiation, came at length to be adopted as the symbol
of that initiation.

A reference to some of these _sacred plants_--for such was the character
they assumed--and an investigation of their symbolism will not, perhaps,
be uninteresting or useless, in connection with the subject of the present
article.

In the Mysteries of Adonis, which originated in Phoenicia, and were
afterwards transferred to Greece, the death and resurrection of Adonis was
represented. A part of the legend accompanying these mysteries was, that
when Adonis was slain by a wild boar, Venus laid out the body on a bed of
lettuce. In memorial of this supposed fact, on the first day of the
celebration, when funeral rites were performed, lettuces were carried in
the procession, _newly planted_ in shells of earth. Hence the lettuce
became the sacred plant of the Adonia, or Adonisian Mysteries.

The lotus was the sacred plant of the Brahminical rites of India, and was
considered as the symbol of their elemental trinity,--earth, water, and
air,--because, as an aquatic plant, it derived its nutriment from all of
these elements combined, its roots being planted in the earth, its stem
rising through the water, and its leaves exposed to the air.[192] The
Egyptians, who borrowed a large portion of their religious rites from the
East, adopted the lotus, which was also indigenous to their country, as a
mystical plant, and made it the symbol of their initiation, or the birth
into celestial light. Hence, as Champollion observes, they often on their
monuments represented the god Phre, or the sun, as borne within the
expanded calyx of the lotus. The lotus bears a flower similar to that of
the poppy, while its large, tongue-shaped leaves float upon the surface of
the water. As the Egyptians had remarked that the plant expands when the
sun rises, and closes when it sets, they adopted it as a symbol of the
sun; and as that luminary was the principal object of the popular worship,
the lotus became in all their sacred rites a consecrated and mystical
plant.

The Egyptians also selected the _erica_[193] or heath, as a sacred plant.
The origin of the consecration of this plant presents us with a singular
coincidence, that will be peculiarly interesting to the masonic student.
We are informed that there was a legend in the mysteries of Osiris, which
related, that Isis, when in search of the body of her murdered husband,
discovered it interred at the brow of a hill, near which an erica, or
heath plant, grew; and hence, after the recovery of the body and the
resurrection of the god, when she established the mysteries to
commemorate her loss and her recovery, she adopted the erica, as a sacred
plant,[194] in memory of its having pointed out the spot where the
_mangled remains_ of Osiris were concealed.[195]

The _mistletoe_ was the sacred plant of Druidism. Its consecrated
character was derived from a legend of the Scandinavian mythology, and
which is thus related in the Edda, or sacred books. The god Balder, the
son of Odin, having dreamed that he was in some great danger of life, his
mother, Friga, exacted an oath from all the creatures of the animal, the
vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms, that they would do no harm to her
son. The mistletoe, contemptible from its size and weakness, was alone
neglected, and of it no oath of immunity was demanded. Lok, the evil
genius, or god of Darkness, becoming acquainted with this fact, placed an
arrow made of mistletoe in the hands of Holder, the blind brother of
Balder, on a certain day, when the gods were throwing missiles at him in
sport, and wondering at their inability to do him injury with any arms
with which they could attack him. But, being shot with the mistletoe
arrow, it inflicted a fatal wound, and Balder died.

Ever afterwards the mistletoe was revered as a sacred plant, consecrated
to the powers of darkness; and annually it became an important rite among
the Druids to proceed into the forest in search of the mistletoe, which,
being found, was cut down by the Arch Druid, and its parts, after a solemn
sacrifice, were distributed among the people. Clavel[196] very ingeniously
remarks, that it is evident, in reference to the legend, that as Balder
symbolizes the Sun-god, and Lok, Darkness, this search for the mistletoe
was intended to deprive the god of Darkness of the power of destroying the
god of Light. And the distribution of the fragments of the mistletoe among
their pious worshippers, was to assure them that henceforth a similar
attempt of Lok would prove abortive, and he was thus deprived of the means
of effecting his design.[197]

The _myrtle_ performed the same office of symbolism in the Mysteries of
Greece as the lotus did in Egypt, or the mistletoe among the Druids. The
candidate, in these initiations, was crowned with myrtle, because,
according to the popular theology, the myrtle was sacred to Proserpine,
the goddess of the future life. Every classical scholar will remember the
golden branch with which Aeneas was supplied by the Sibyl, before
proceeding on his journey to the infernal regions[198]--a voyage which
is now universally admitted to be a mythical representation of the
ceremonies of initiation.

In all of these ancient Mysteries, while the sacred plant was a symbol of
initiation, the initiation itself was symbolic of the resurrection to a
future life, and of the immortality of the soul. In this view, Freemasonry
is to us now in the place of the ancient initiations, and the acacia is
substituted for the lotus, the erica, the ivy, the mistletoe, and the
myrtle. The lesson of wisdom is the same; the medium of imparting it is
all that has been changed.

Returning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of three
explanations. It is a symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of
initiation. But these three significations are closely connected, and that
connection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation
of the symbol. Thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the
initiation of life, of which the initiation in the third-degree is simply
emblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length,
however, to be called, by the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to
a blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place
where the sprig of acacia was planted, and which I have heretofore shown
to be Mount Calvary, the place of sepulture of Him who "brought life and
immortality to light," and who, in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he
is in Scripture, as "the lion of the tribe of Judah," and remember, too,
that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of
the acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but
which is really and truly the most important and significant one in
masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of
life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future.
Thus read (and thus all our symbols should be read), Masonry proves
something more to its disciples than a mere social society or a charitable
association. It becomes a "lamp to our feet," whose spiritual light shines
on the darkness of the deathbed, and dissipates the gloomy shadows of the
grave.




XXIX.

The Symbolism of Labor.



It is one of the most beautiful features of the Masonic Institution, that
it teaches not only the necessity, but the nobility, of labor. Among the
earliest of the implements in whose emblematic use it instructs its
neophytes is the Trestle Board, the acknowledged symbol of the Divine Law,
in accordance with whose decree[199] labor was originally instituted as
the common lot of all; and therefore the important lesson that is closely
connected with this symbol is, that to labor well and truly, to labor
honestly and persistently, is the object and the chief end of all
humanity.

To work out well the task that is set before us is our highest duty, and
should constitute our greatest happiness. All men, then, must have their
trestle boards; for the principles that guide us in the discharge of our
duty--the schemes that we devise--the plans that we propose--are but the
trestle board, whose designs we follow, for good or for evil, in our labor
of life.

Earth works with every coming spring, and within its prolific bosom
designs the bursting seed, the tender plant, and the finished tree, upon
its trestle board.

Old ocean works forever--restless and murmuring--but still bravely
working; and storms and tempests, the purifiers of stagnant nature, are
inscribed upon its trestle board.

And God himself, the Grand Architect, the Master Builder of the world, has
labored from eternity; and working by his omnipotent will, he inscribes
his plans upon illimitable space, for the universe is his trestle board.

There was a saying of the monks of old which is well worth meditation.
They taught that "_laborare est orare_"--labor is worship. They did not,
it is true, always practise the wise precept. They did not always make
labor a part of their religion. Like Onuphrius, who lived threescore years
and ten in the desert, without human voice or human sympathy to cheer him,
because he had not learned that man was made for man, those old ascetics
went into the wilderness, and built cells, and occupied themselves in
solitary meditation and profitless thought. They prayed much, but they did
no work. And thus they passed their lives, giving no pity, aid, or
consolation to their fellow-men, adding no mite to the treasury of human
knowledge, and leaving the world, when their selfish pilgrimage was
finished, without a single contribution, in labor of mind or body, to its
welfare.[200]

And men, seeing the uselessness of these ascetic lives, shrink now from
their example, and fall back upon that wiser teaching, that he best does
God's will who best does God's work. The world now knows that heaven is
not served by man's idleness--that the "_dolce far niente_," though it
might suit an Italian lazzaroni, is not fit for a brave Christian man,
and that they who would do rightly, and act well their part, must take
this distich for their motto:--

    "With this hand work, and with the other pray,
    And God will bless them both from day to day."

Now, this doctrine, that labor is worship, is the very doctrine that has
been advanced and maintained, from time immemorial, as a leading dogma of
the Order of Freemasonry. There is no other human institution under the
sun which has set forth this great principle in such bold relief. We hear
constantly of Freemasonry as an institution that inculcates morality, that
fosters the social feeling, that teaches brotherly love; and all this is
well, because it is true; but we must never forget that from its
foundation-stone to its pinnacle, all over its vast temple, is inscribed,
in symbols of living light, the great truth that _labor is worship_.

It has been supposed that, because we speak of Freemasonry as a
speculative system, it has nothing to do with the practical. But this is a
most grievous error. Freemasonry is, it is true, a speculative science,
but it is a speculative science based upon an operative art. All its
symbols and allegories refer to this connection. Its very language is
borrowed from the art, and it is singularly suggestive that the initiation
of a candidate into its mysteries is called, in its peculiar phraseology,
_work_.

I repeat that this expression is singularly suggestive. When the lodge is
engaged in reading petitions, hearing reports, debating financial matters,
it is said to be occupied in _business_; but when it is engaged in the
form and ceremony of initiation into any of the degrees, it is said to be
at _work_. Initiation is masonic labor. This phraseology at once suggests
the connection of our speculative system with an operative art that
preceded it, and upon which it has been founded. This operative art must
have given it form and features and organization. If the speculative
system had been founded solely on philosophical or ethical principles, if
it had been derived from some ancient or modern sect of
philosophers,--from the Stoics, the Epicureans, or the Platonists of the
heathen world, or from any of the many divisions of the scholastics of the
middle ages,--this origin would most certainly have affected its interior
organization as well as its external form, and we should have seen our
modern masonic reunions assuming the style of academies or schools. Its
technical language--for, like every institution isolated from the ordinary
and general pursuits of mankind, it would have had its own technical
dialect--would have been borrowed from, and would be easily traced to, the
peculiar phraseology of the philosophic sects which had given it birth.
There would have been the _sophists_ and the _philosophers_; the
_grammatists_ and the _grammarians_; the _scholars_, the _masters_, and
the _doctors_. It would have had its _trivial_ and its _quadrivial_
schools; its occupation would have been research, experiment, or
investigation; in a word, its whole features would have been colored by a
grammatical, a rhetorical, or a mathematical cast, accordingly as it
should have been derived from a sect in which any one of these three
characteristics was the predominating influence.

But in the organization of Freemasonry, as it now presents itself to us,
we see an entirely different appearance. Its degrees are expressive, not
of advancement in philosophic attainments, but of progress in a purely
mechanical pursuit. Its highest grade is that of _Master of the Work_. Its
places of meeting are not schools, but _lodges_, places where the workmen
formerly lodged, in the neighborhood of the building on whose construction
they were engaged. It does not form theories, but builds temples. It knows
nothing of the rules of the dialecticians,--of the syllogism, the dilemma,
the enthymeme, or the sorites,--but it recurs to the homely implements of
its operative parent for its methods of instruction, and with the
plumb-line it inculcates rectitude of conduct, and draws lessons of
morality from the workman's square. It sees in the Supreme God that it
worships, not a "_numen divinum_," a divine power, nor a "_moderator rerum
omnium_," a controller of all things, as the old philosophers designated
him, but a _Grand Architect of the Universe_. The masonic idea of God
refers to Him as the Mighty Builder of this terrestrial globe, and all the
countless worlds that surround it. He is not the _ens entium_, or _to
theion_, or any other of the thousand titles with which ancient and modern
speculation has invested him, but simply the Architect,--as the Greeks
have it, the [Greek: a)rcho\s], the chief workman,--under whom we are all
workmen also;[201] and hence our labor is his worship.

This idea, then, of masonic labor, is closely connected with the history
of the organization of the institution. When we say "the lodge is at
work," we recognize that it is in the legitimate practice of that
occupation for which it was originally intended. The Masons that are in it
are not occupied in thinking, or speculating, or reasoning, but simply
and emphatically in working. The duty of a Mason as such, in his lodge, is
to work. Thereby he accomplishes the destiny of his Order. Thereby he best
fulfils his obligation to the Grand Architect, for with the Mason
_laborare est orare_--labor is worship.

The importance of masonic labor being thus demonstrated, the question next
arises as to the nature of that labor. What is the work that a Mason is
called upon to perform?

Temple building was the original occupation of our ancient brethren.
Leaving out of view that system of ethics and of religious philosophy,
that search after truth, those doctrines of the unity of God and the
immortality of the soul, which alike distinguish the ancient Mysteries and
the masonic institution, and which both must have derived from a common
origin,--most probably from some priesthood of the olden time,--let our
attention be exclusively directed, for the present, to that period, so
familiar to every Mason, when, under the supposed Grand Mastership of
King Solomon, Freemasonry first assumed "a local habitation and a name" in
the holy city of Jerusalem. There the labor of the Israelites and the
skill of the Tyrians were occupied in the construction of that noble
temple whose splendor and magnificence of decoration made it one of the
wonders of the world.

Here, then, we see the two united nations directing their attention, with
surprising harmony, to the task of temple building. The Tyrian workmen,
coming immediately from the bosom of the mystical society of Dionysian
artificers, whose sole employment was the erection of sacred edifices
throughout all Asia Minor, indoctrinated the Jews with a part of their
architectural skill, and bestowed upon them also a knowledge of those
sacred Mysteries which they had practised at Tyre, and from which the
present interior form of Freemasonry is said to be derived.

Now, if there be any so incredulous as to refuse their assent to the
universally received masonic tradition on this subject, if there be any
who would deny all connection of King Solomon with the origin of
Freemasonry, except it be in a mythical or symbolical sense, such
incredulity will, not at all affect the chain of argument which I am
disposed to use. For it will not be denied that the corporations of
builders in the middle ages, those men who were known as "Travelling
Freemasons," were substantial and corporeal, and that the cathedrals,
abbeys, and palaces, whose ruins are still objects of admiration to all
observers, bear conclusive testimony that their existence was nothing like
a myth, and that their labors were not apocryphal. But these Travelling
Freemasons, whether led into the error, if error it be, by a mistaken
reading of history, or by a superstitious reverence for tradition, always
esteemed King Solomon as the founder of their Order. So that the first
absolutely historical details that we have of the masonic institution,
connect it with the idea of a temple. And it is only for this idea that I
contend, for it proves that the first Freemasons of whom we have authentic
record, whether they were at Jerusalem or in Europe, and whether they
flourished a thousand years before or a thousand years after the birth of
Christ, always supposed that temple building was the peculiar specialty of
their craft, and that their labor was to be the erection of temples in
ancient times, and cathedrals and churches in the Christian age.

So that we come back at last to the proposition with which I had
commenced, namely: that temple building was the original occupation of our
ancient brethren. And to this is added the fact, that after a long lapse
of centuries, a body of men is found in the middle ages who were
universally recognized as Freemasons, and who directed their attention and
their skill to the same pursuit, and were engaged in the construction of
cathedrals, abbeys, and other sacred edifices, these being the Christian
substitute for the heathen or the Jewish temple.

And therefore, when we view the history of the Order as thus developed in
its origin and its design, we are justified in saying that, in all times
past, its members have been recognized as men of labor, and that their
labor has been temple building.

But our ancient brethren wrought in both operative and speculative
Masonry, while we work only in speculative. They worked with the hand; we
work with the brain. They dealt in the material; we in the spiritual.
They used in their labor wood and stones; we use thoughts, and feelings,
and affections. We both devote ourselves to labor, but the object of the
labor and the mode of the labor are different.

The French rituals have given us the key-note to the explanation of what
is masonic labor when they say that "Freemasons erect temples for virtue
and dungeons for vice."

The modern Freemasons, like the Masons of old, are engaged in the
construction of a temple;--but with this difference: that the temple of
the latter was material, that of the former spiritual. When the operative
art was the predominant characteristic of the Order, Masons were engaged
in the construction of material and earthly temples. But when the
operative art ceased, and the speculative science took its place, then the
Freemasons symbolized the labors of their predecessors by engaging in the
construction of a spiritual temple in their hearts, which was to be made
so pure that it might become the dwelling-place of Him who is all purity.
It was to be "a house not made with hands," where the hewn stone was to be
a purified heart.

This symbolism, which represents man as a temple, a house, a sacred
building in which God is to dwell, is not new, nor peculiar to the masonic
science. It was known to the Jewish, and is still recognized by the
Christian, system. The Talmudists had a saying that the threefold
repetition of the words "Temple of Jehovah," in the seventh chapter and
fourth verse of the book of Jeremiah, was intended to allude to the
existence of three temples; and hence in one of their treatises it is
said, "Two temples have been destroyed, but the third will endure
forever," in which it is manifest that they referred to the temple of the
immortal soul in man.

By a similar allusion, which, however, the Jews chose wilfully to
misunderstand, Christ declared, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up." And the beloved disciple, who records the conversation,
does not allow us to doubt of the Saviour's meaning.

"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and
wilt thou rear it up in three days?

"But he spake of the temple of his body." [202]

In more than one place the apostle Paul has fondly dwelt upon this
metaphor. Thus he tells the Corinthians that they are "God's building,"
and he calls himself the "wise master builder," who was to lay the
foundation in his truthful doctrine, upon which they were to erect the
edifice.[203] And he says to them immediately afterwards, "Know ye not
that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you?"

In consequence of these teachings of the apostles, the idea that the body
was a temple has pervaded, from the earliest times to the present day, the
system of Christian or theological symbolism. Indeed, it has sometimes
been carried to an almost too fanciful excess. Thus Samuel Lee, in that
curious and rare old work, "_The Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by
Scripture Light,_" thus dilates on this symbolism of the temple:--

"The _foundation_ of this temple may be laid in humility and contrition of
spirit, wherein the inhabiter of eternity delighteth to dwell; we may
refer the _porch_ to the mouth of a saint, wherein every holy Jacob erects
the _pillars_ of God's praise, calling upon and blessing his name for
received mercies; when songs of deliverance are uttered from the _doors_
of his lips. The _holy place_ is the renewed mind, and the _windows_
therein may denote divine illumination from above, cautioning a saint lest
they be darkened with the smoke of anger, the mist of grief, the dust of
vain-glory, or the filthy mire of worldly cares. The _golden
candlesticks,_ the infused habits of divine knowledge resting within the
soul. The _shew-bread,_ the word of grace exhibited in the promises for
the preservation of a Christian's life and glory. The _golden altar_ of
odors, the breathings, sufferings, and groanings after God, ready to break
forth into Abba, Father. The _veiles_, the righteousness of Christ. The
_holy of holies_ may relate to the conscience purified from dead works and
brought into a heavenly frame." [204] And thus he proceeds, symbolizing
every part and utensil of the temple as alluding to some emotion or
affection of man, but in language too tedious for quotation.

In a similar vein has the celebrated John Bunyan, the author of the
"_Pilgrim's Progress_" proceeded in his "_Temple of Solomon
Spiritualized_" to refer every part of that building to a symbolic
meaning, selecting, however, the church, or congregation of good men,
rather than the individual man, as the object of the symbolism.

In the middle ages the Hermetic philosophers seem to have given the same
interpretation of the temple, and Swedenborg, in his mystical writings,
adopts the idea.

Hitchcock, who has written an admirable little work on Swedenborg
considered as a Hermetic Philosopher, thus alludes to this subject, and
his language, as that of a learned and shrewd investigator, is well worthy
of quotation:--

"With, perhaps, the majority of readers, the Tabernacle of Moses and the
Temple of Solomon were mere buildings; very magnificent indeed, but still
mere buildings for the worship of God. But some are struck with many
portions of the account of their erection, admitting a moral
interpretation; and while the buildings are allowed to stand (or to have
stood once) visible objects, these interpreters are delighted to meet with
indications that Moses and Solomon, in building the temples, were wise in
the knowledge of God and of man; from which point it is not difficult to
pass on to the moral meaning altogether, and to affirm that the building
which was erected without 'the noise of a hammer or axe, or any tool of
iron,' was altogether a moral building--a building of God, not made with
hands: in short, many see in the story of Solomon's temple a symbolical
representation of MAN as the temple of God, with its _holy of holies_
deep-seated in the centre of the human heart." [205]

The French Masons have not been inattentive to this symbolism. Their
already quoted expression that the "Freemasons build temples for virtue
and dungeons for vice," has very clearly a reference to it, and their most
distinguished writers never lose sight of it.

Thus Ragon, one of the most learned of the French historians of
Freemasonry, in his lecture to the Apprentice, says that the founders of
our Order "called themselves Masons, and proclaimed that they were
building a temple to truth and virtue." [206] And subsequently he
addresses the candidate who has received the Master's degree in the
following language:--

"Profit by all that has been revealed to you. Improve your heart and your
mind. Direct your passions to the general good; combat your prejudices;
watch over your thoughts and your actions; love, enlighten, and assist
your brethren; and you will have perfected that _temple_ of which you are
at once the _architect_, the _material_, and the _workman_." [207]

Rebold, another French historian of great erudition, says, "If Freemasonry
has ceased to erect temples, and by the aid of its architectural designs
to elevate all hearts to the Deity, and all eyes and hopes to heaven, it
has not therefore desisted from its work of moral and intellectual
building;" and he thinks that the success of the institution has justified
this change of purpose and the disruption of the speculative from the
operative character of the Order.[208]

Eliphas Levi, who has written abstrusely and mystically on Freemasonry and
its collateral sciences, sees very clearly an allegorical and a real
design in the institution, the former being the rebuilding of the temple
of Solomon, and the latter the improvement of the human race by a
reconstruction of its social and religious elements.[209]

The Masons of Germany have elaborated this idea with all the
exhaustiveness that is peculiar to the German mind, and the masonic
literature of that country abounds in essays, lectures, and treatises, in
which the prominent topic is this building of the Solomonic temple as
referring to the construction of a moral temple.

Thus writes Bro. Rhode, of Berlin:--

"So soon as any one has received the consecration of our Order, we say to
him that we are building a mystical temple;" and he adds that "this temple
which we Masons are building is nothing else than that which will conduce
to the greatest possible happiness of mankind." [210]

And another German brother, Von Wedekind, asserts that "we only labor in
our temple when we make man our predominating object, when we unite
goodness of heart with polished manners, truth with beauty, virtue with
grace." [211]

Again we have Reinhold telling us, in true Teutonic expansiveness of
expression, that "by the mystical Solomonic temple we are to understand
the high ideal or archetype of humanity in the best possible condition of
social improvement, wherein every evil inclination is overcome, every
passion is resolved into the spirit of love, and wherein each for all,
and all for each, kindly strive to work." [212]

And thus the German Masons call this striving for an almost millennial
result _labor in the temple_.

The English Masons, although they have not treated the symbolism of the
Order with the same abstruse investigation that has distinguished those of
Germany and France, still have not been insensible to this idea that the
building of the Solomonic temple is intended to indicate a cultivation of
the human character. Thus Hutchinson, one of the earliest of the symbolic
writers of England, shows a very competent conception--for the age in
which he lived--of the mystical meaning of the temple; and later writers
have improved upon his crude views. It must, however, be acknowledged that
neither Hutchinson nor Oliver, nor any other of the distinguished masonic
writers of England, has dwelt on this peculiar symbolism of a moral temple
with that earnest appreciation of the idea that is to be found in the
works of the French and German Masons. But although the allusions are
rather casual and incidental, yet the symbolic theory is evidently
recognized.[213]

Our own country has produced many students of Masonic symbolism, who have
thoroughly grasped this noble thought, and treated it with eloquence and
erudition.

Fifty years ago Salem Towne wrote thus: "Speculative Masonry, according to
present acceptation, has an ultimate reference to that spiritual building
erected by virtue in the heart, and summarily implies the arrangement and
perfection of those holy and sublime principles by which the soul is
fitted for a meet temple of God in a world of immortality." [214]

Charles Scott has devoted one of the lectures in his "Analogy of Ancient
Craft Masonry to Natural and Revealed Religion" to a thorough
consideration of this subject. The language is too long for quotation, but
the symbol has been well interpreted by him.[215]

Still more recently, Bro. John A. Loclor has treated the topic in an
essay, which I regret has not had a larger circulation. A single and brief
passage may show the spirit of the production, and how completely it
sustains the idea of this symbolism.

"We may disguise it as we will," says Bro. Lodor, "we may evade a scrutiny
of it; but our character, as it is, with its faults and blemishes, its
weaknesses and infirmities, its vices and its stains, together with its
redeeming traits, its better parts, is our speculative temple." And he
goes on to extend the symbolic idea: "Like the exemplar temple on Mount
Moriah, it should be preserved as a hallowed shrine, and guarded with the
same vigilant care. It should be our pearl of price set round with walls
and enclosures, even as was the Jewish temple, and the impure, the
vicious, the guilty, and the profane be banished from even its outer
courts. A faithful sentinel should be placed at every gate, a watchman on
every wall, and the first approach of a cowan and eavesdropper be
promptly met and resisted."

Teachings like this are now so common that every American Mason who has
studied the symbolism of his Order believes, with Carlyle, that "there is
but one temple in the world, and that is the body of man."

This inquiry into the meaning and object of labor, as a masonic symbol,
brings us to these conclusions:--

1. That our ancient brethren worked as long as the operative art
predominated in the institution at material temples, the most prominent of
these being the temple of King Solomon.

2. That when the speculative science took the place of the operative art,
the modern Masons, working no longer at material temples, but holding
still to the sacred thought, the reverential idea, of a holy temple, a
Lord's house to be built, began to labor at living temples, and to make
man, the true house of the Lord, the tabernacle for the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit.

And, 3. Therefore to every Freemason who rightly comprehends his art, this
construction of a living temple is his labor.

"Labor," says Gadicke, the German masonic lexicographer, "is an important
word in Masonry; indeed, we might say the most important. For this, and
this alone, does a man become a Freemason. Every other object is secondary
or incidental. Labor is the accustomed design of every lodge meeting. But
does such meeting always furnish evidence of industry? The labor of an
operative mason will be visible, and he will receive his reward for it,
even though the building he has constructed may, in the next hour, be
overthrown by a tempest. He knows that he has done his labor. And so must
the Freemason labor. His labor must be visible to himself and to his
brethren, or, at least, it must conduce to his own internal satisfaction.
As we build neither a visible Solomonic temple nor an Egyptian pyramid,
our industry must become visible in works that are imperishable, so that
when we vanish from the eyes of mortals it may be said of us that our
labor was well done."

And remembering what the apostle has said, that we are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us, we know that our labor is so to
build that temple that it shall become worthy of its divine Dweller.

And thus, too, at last, we can understand the saying of the old monks that
"labor is worship;" and as Masons we labor in our lodge, labor to make
ourselves a perfect building, without blemish, working hopefully for the
consummation, when the house of our earthly tabernacle shall be finished,
when the LOST WORD of divine truth shall at last be discovered, and when
we shall be found by our own efforts at perfection to have done God
service. For so truly is the meaning of those noble words--LABOR IS
WORSHIP.




XXX.

The Stone of Foundation.[216]



The Stone of Foundation constitutes one of the most important and abstruse
of all the symbols of Freemasonry. It is referred to in numerous legends
and traditions, not only of the Freemasons, but also of the Jewish
Rabbins, the Talmudic writers, and even the Mussulman doctors. Many of
these, it must be confessed, are apparently puerile and absurd; but some
of them, and especially the masonic ones, are deeply interesting in their
allegorical signification.

The Stone of Foundation is, properly speaking, a symbol of the higher
degrees. It makes its first appearance in the Royal Arch, and forms,
indeed, the most important symbol of that degree. But it is so intimately
connected, in its legendary history, with the construction of the
Solomonic temple, that it must be considered as a part of Ancient Craft
Masonry, although he who confines the range of his investigations to the
first three degrees, will have no means, within that narrow limit, of
properly appreciating the symbolism of the Stone of Foundation.

As preliminary to the inquiry which is about to be instituted, it is
necessary to distinguish the Stone of Foundation, both in its symbolism
and in its legendary history, from other stones which play an important
part in the masonic ritual, but which are entirely distinct from it. Such
are the _corner-stone_, which was always placed in the north-east corner
of the building about to be erected, and to which such a beautiful
reference is made in the ceremonies of the first degree; or the
_keystone_, which constitutes an interesting part of the Mark Master's
degree; or, lastly, the _cape-stone_, upon which all the ritual of the
Most Excellent Master's degree is founded. These are all, in their proper
places, highly interesting and instructive symbols, but have no connection
whatever with the Stone of Foundation or its symbolism. Nor, although the
Stone of Foundation is said, for peculiar reasons, to have been of a
cubical form, must it be confounded with that stone called by the
continental Masons the _cubical stone_--the _pierre cubique_ of the
French, and the _cubik stein_ of the German Masons, but which in the
English system is known as the _perfect ashlar_.

The Stone of Foundation has a legendary history and a symbolic
signification which are peculiar to itself, and which differ from the
history and meaning which belong to these other stones.

Let us first define this masonic Stone of Foundation, then collate the
legends which refer to it, and afterwards investigate its significance as
a symbol. To the Mason who takes a pleasure in the study of the mysteries
of his institution, the investigation cannot fail to be interesting, if it
is conducted with any ability.

But in the very beginning, as a necessary preliminary to any investigation
of this kind, it must be distinctly understood that all that is said of
this Stone of Foundation in Masonry is to be strictly taken in a mythical
or allegorical sense. Dr. Oliver, the most learned of our masonic writers,
while undoubtedly himself knowing that it was simply a symbol, has written
loosely of it, as though it were a substantial reality; and hence, if the
passages in his "Historical Landmarks," and in his other works which refer
to this celebrated stone are accepted by his readers in a literal sense,
they will present absurdities and puerilities which would not occur if the
Stone of Foundation was received, as it really is, as a philosophical
myth, conveying a most profound and beautiful symbolism. Read in this
spirit, as all the legends of Masonry should be read, the mythical story
of the Stone of Foundation becomes one of the most important and
interesting of all the masonic symbols.

The Stone of Foundation is supposed, by the theory which establishes it,
to have been a stone placed at one time within the foundations of the
temple of Solomon, and afterwards, during the building of the second
temple, transported to the Holy of Holies. It was in form a perfect cube,
and had inscribed upon its upper face, within a delta or triangle, the
sacred tetragrammaton, or ineffable name of God. Oliver, speaking with the
solemnity of an historian, says that Solomon thought that he had rendered
the house of God worthy, so far as human adornment could effect, for the
dwelling of God, "when he had placed the celebrated Stone of Foundation,
on which the sacred name was mystically engraven, with solemn ceremonies,
in that sacred depository on Mount Moriah, along with the foundations of
Dan and Asher, the centre of the Most Holy Place, where the ark was
overshadowed by the shekinah of God." [217] The Hebrew Talmudists, who
thought as much of this stone, and had as many legends concerning it as
the masonic Talmudists, called it _eben shatijah_[218] or "Stone of
Foundation," because, as they said, it had been laid by Jehovah as the
foundation of the world; and hence the apocryphal book of Enoch speaks of
the "stone which supports the corners of the earth."

This idea of a foundation stone of the world was most probably derived
from that magnificent passage of the book of Job, in which the Almighty
demands of the afflicted patriarch,--

    "Where wast thou, when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Declare, since thou hast such knowledge!
    Who fixed its dimensions, since thou knowest?
    Or who stretched out the line upon it?
    Upon what were its foundations fixed?
    And who laid its corner-stone,
    When the morning stars sang together,
    And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" [219]

Noyes, whose beautiful translation I have adopted as not materially
differing from the common version, but which is far more poetical and more
in the strain of the original, thus explains the allusions to the
foundation-stone: "It was the custom to celebrate the laying of the
corner-stone of an important building with music, songs, shouting, &c.
Hence the morning stars are represented as celebrating the laying of the
corner-stone of the earth." [220]

Upon this meagre statement have been accumulated more traditions than
appertain to any other masonic symbol. The Rabbins, as has already been
intimated, divide the glory of these apocryphal histories with the Masons;
indeed, there is good reason for a suspicion that nearly all the masonic
legends owe their first existence to the imaginative genius of the writers
of the Jewish Talmud. But there is this difference between the Hebrew and
the masonic traditions, that the Talmudic scholar recited them as truthful
histories, and swallowed, in one gulp of faith, all their impossibilities
and anachronisms, while the masonic student has received them as
allegories, whose value is not in the facts, but in the sentiments which
they convey.

With this understanding of their meaning, let us proceed to a collation of
these legends.

In that blasphemous work, the "_Toldoth Jeshu_" or _Life of Jesus_,
written, it is supposed, in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, we find
the following account of this wonderful stone:--

"At that time [the time of Jesus] there was in the House of the Sanctuary
[that is, the temple] a Stone of Foundation, which is the very stone that
our father Jacob anointed with oil, as it is described in the
twenty-eighth chapter of the book of Genesis. On that stone the letters of
the tetragrammaton were inscribed, and whosoever of the Israelites should
learn that name would be able to master the world. To prevent, therefore,
any one from learning these letters, two iron dogs were placed upon two
columns in front of the Sanctuary. If any person, having acquired the
knowledge of these letters, desired to depart from the Sanctuary, the
barking of the dogs, by magical power, inspired so much fear, that he
suddenly forgot what he had acquired."

This passage is cited by the learned Buxtorf, in his "_Lexicon
Talmudicum_;" [221] but in the copy of the "_Toldoth Jeshu_" which I have
the good fortune to possess (for it is among the rarest of books), I find
another passage which gives some additional particulars, in the following
words:--

"At that time there was in the temple the ineffable name of God, inscribed
upon the Stone of Foundation. For when King David was digging the
foundation for the temple, he found in the depths of the excavation a
certain stone, on which the name of God was inscribed. This stone he
removed, and deposited it in the Holy of Holies." [222]

The same puerile story of the barking dogs is repeated, still more at
length. It is not pertinent to the present inquiry, but it may be stated
as a mere matter of curious information, that this scandalous book, which
is throughout a blasphemous defamation of our Saviour, proceeds to say,
that he cunningly obtained a knowledge of the tetragrammaton from the
Stone of Foundation, and by its mystical influence was enabled to perform
his miracles.

The masonic legends of the Stone of Foundation, based on these and other
rabbinical reveries, are of the most extraordinary character, if they are
to be viewed as histories, but readily reconcilable with sound sense, if
looked at only in the light of allegories. They present an uninterrupted
succession of events, in which the Stone of Foundation takes a prominent
part, from Adam to Solomon, and from Solomon to Zerubbabel.

Thus the first of these legends, in order of time, relates that the Stone
of Foundation was possessed by Adam while in the garden of Eden; that he
used it as an altar, and so reverenced it, that, on his expulsion from
Paradise, he carried it with him into the world in which he and his
descendants were afterwards to earn their bread by the sweat of their
brow.

Another legend informs us that from Adam the Stone of Foundation descended
to Seth. From Seth it passed by regular succession to Noah, who took it
with him into the ark, and after the subsidence of the deluge, made on it
his first thank-offering. Noah left it on Mount Ararat, where it was
subsequently found by Abraham, who removed it, and consequently used it as
an altar of sacrifice. His grandson Jacob took it with him when he fled to
his uncle Laban in Mesopotamia, and used it as a pillow when, in the
vicinity of Luz, he had his celebrated vision.

Here there is a sudden interruption in the legendary history of the
stane, and we have no means of conjecturing how it passed from the
possession of Jacob into that of Solomon. Moses, it is true, is said to
have taken it with him out of Egypt at the time of the exodus, and thus it
may have finally reached Jerusalem. Dr. Adam Clarke[223] repeats what he
very properly calls "a foolish tradition," that the stone on which Jacob
rested his head was afterwards brought to Jerusalem, thence carried after
a long lapse of time to Spain, from Spain to Ireland, and from Ireland to
Scotland, where it was used as a seat on which the kings of Scotland sat
to be crowned. Edward I., we know, brought a stone, to which this legend
is attached, from Scotland to Westminster Abbey, where, under the name of
Jacob's Pillow, it still remains, and is always placed under the chair
upon which the British sovereign sits to be crowned, because there is an
old distich which declares that wherever this stone is found the Scottish
kings shall reign.[224]

But this Scottish tradition would take the Stone of Foundation away from
all its masonic connections, and therefore it is rejected as a masonic
legend.

The legends just related are in many respects contradictory and
unsatisfactory, and another series, equally as old, are now very generally
adopted by masonic scholars, as much better suited to the symbolism by
which all these legends are explained.

This series of legends commences with the patriarch Enoch, who is supposed
to have been the first consecrator of the Stone of Foundation. The legend
of Enoch is so interesting and important in masonic science as to excuse
something more than a brief reference to the incidents which it details.

The legend in full is as follows: Enoch, under the inspiration of the Most
High, and in obedience to the instructions which he had received in a
vision, built a temple under ground on Mount Moriah, and dedicated it to
God. His son, Methuselah, constructed the building, although he was not
acquainted with his father's motives for the erection. This temple
consisted of nine vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other, and
communicating by apertures left in each vault.

Enoch then caused a triangular plate of gold to be made, each side of
which was a cubit long; he enriched it with the most precious stones, and
encrusted the plate upon a stone of agate of the same form. On the plate
he engraved the true name of God, or the tetragrammaton, and placing it
on a cubical stone, known thereafter as the Stone of Foundation, he
deposited the whole within the lowest arch.

When this subterranean building was completed, he made a door of stone,
and attaching to it a ring of iron, by which it might be occasionally
raised, he placed it over the opening of the uppermost arch, and so
covered it that the aperture could not be discovered. Enoch himself was
not permitted to enter it but once a year, and after the days of Enoch,
Methuselah, and Lamech, and the destruction of the world by the deluge,
all knowledge of the vault or subterranean temple, and of the Stone of
Foundation, with the sacred and ineffable name inscribed upon it, was lost
for ages to the world.

At the building of the first temple of Jerusalem, the Stone of Foundation
again makes its appearance. Reference has already been made to the Jewish
tradition that David, when digging the foundations of the temple, found in
the excavation which he was making a certain stone, on which the ineffable
name of God was inscribed, and which stone he is said to have removed and
deposited in the Holy of Holies. That King David laid the foundations of
the temple upon which the superstructure was subsequently erected by
Solomon, is a favorite theory of the legend-mongers of the Talmud.

The masonic tradition is substantiallv the same as the Jewish, but it
substitutes Solomon for David, thereby giving a greater air of probability
to the narrative; and it supposes that the stone thus discovered by
Solomon was the identical one that had been deposited in his secret vault
by Enoch. This Stone of Foundation, the tradition states, was subsequently
removed by King Solomon, and, for wise purposes, deposited in a secret and
safer place.

In this the masonic tradition again agrees with the Jewish, for we find in
the third chapter of the "_Treatise on the Temple_" written by the
celebrated Maimonides, the following narrative--

"There was a stone in the Holy of Holies, on its west side, on which was
placed the ark of the covenant, and before it the pot of manna and Aaron's
rod. But when Solomon had built the temple, and foresaw that it was, at
some future time, to be destroyed, he constructed a deep and winding vault
under ground, for the purpose of concealing the ark, wherein Josiah
afterwards, as we learn in the Second Book of Chronicles, xxxv. 3,
deposited it, with the pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, and the oil of
anointing."

The Talmudical book "_Yoma_" gives the same tradition, and says that "the
ark of the covenant was placed in the centre of the Holy of Holies, upon a
stone rising three fingers' breadth above the floor, to be, as it were, a
pedestal for it." "This stone," says Prideaux,[225] "the Rabbins call the
Stone of Foundation, and give us a great deal of trash about it."

There is much controversy as to the question of the existence of any ark
in the second temple. Some of the Jewish writers assert that a new one was
made; others, that the old one was found where it had been concealed by
Solomon; and others again contend that there was no ark at all in the
temple of Zerubbabel, but that its place was supplied by the Stone of
Foundation on which it had originally rested.

Royal Arch Masons well know how all these traditions are sought to be
reconciled by the masonic legend, in which the substitute ark and the
Stone of Foundation play so important a part.

In the thirteenth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, the Stone of
Foundation is conspicuous as the resting-place of the sacred delta.

In the Royal Arch and Select Master's degrees of the Americanized York
Rite, the Stone of Foundation constitutes the most important part of the
ritual. In both of these it is the receptacle of the ark, on which the
ineffable name is inscribed.

Lee, in his "_Temple of Solomon_", has devoted a chapter to this Stone of
Foundation, and thus recapitulates the Talmudic and Rabbinical traditions
on the subject:--

"Vain and futilous are the feverish dreams of the ancient Rabbins
concerning the Foundation Stone of the temple. Some assert that God placed
this stone in the centre of the world, for a future basis and settled
consistency for the earth to rest upon. Others held this stone to be the
first matter, out of which all the beautiful visible beings of the world
have been hewn forth and produced to light. Others relate that this was
the very same stone laid by Jacob for a pillow under his head, in that
night when he dreamed of an angelic vision at Bethel, and afterwards
anointed and consecrated it to God. Which when Solomon had found (no doubt
by forged revelation, or some tedious search, like another Rabbi Selemoh),
he durst not but lay it sure, as the principal foundation stone of the
temple. Nay, they say further, he caused to be engraved upon it the
tetragrammaton, or the ineffable name of Jehovah." [226]

It will be seen that the masonic traditions on the subject of the Stone of
Foundation do not differ very materially from these Rabbinical ones,
although they give a few additional circumstances.

In the masonic legend, the Foundation Stone first makes its appearance, as
I have already said, in the days of Enoch, who placed it in the bowels of
Mount Moriah. There it was subsequently discovered by King Solomon, who
deposited it in a crypt of the first temple, where it remained concealed
until the foundations of the second temple were laid, when it was
discovered and removed to the Holy of Holies. But the most important point
of the legend of the Stone of Foundation is its intimate and constant
connection with the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name. It is this name,
inscribed upon it, within the sacred and symbolic delta, that gives to the
stone all its masonic value and significance. It is upon this fact, that
it was so inscribed, that its whole symbolism depends.

Looking at these traditions in anything like the light of historical
narratives, we are compelled to consider them, to use the plain language
of Lee, "but as so many idle and absurd conceits." We must go behind the
legend, viewing it only as an allegory, and study its symbolism.

The symbolism of the Foundation Stone of Masonry is therefore the next
subject of investigation.

In approaching this, the most abstruse, and one of the most important,
symbols of the Order, we are at once impressed with its apparent
connection with the ancient doctrine of stone worship. Some brief
consideration of this species of religious culture is therefore necessary
for a proper understanding of the real symbolism of the Stone of
Foundation.

The worship of stones is a kind of fetichism, which in the very infancy
of religion prevailed, perhaps, more extensively than any other form of
religious culture. Lord Kames explains the fact by supposing that stones
erected as monuments of the dead became the place where posterity paid
their veneration to the memory of the deceased, and that at length the
people, losing sight of the emblematical signification, which was not
readily understood, these monumental stones became objects of worship.

Others have sought to find the origin of stone-worship in the stone that
was set up and anointed by Jacob at Bethel, and the tradition of which had
extended into the heathen nations and become corrupted. It is certain that
the Phoenicians worshipped sacred stones under the name of _Baetylia_,
which word is evidently derived from the Hebrew _Bethel_; and this
undoubtedly gives some appearance of plausibility to the theory.

But a third theory supposes that the worship of stones was derived from
the unskilfulness of the primitive sculptors, who, unable to frame, by
their meagre principles of plastic art, a true image of the God whom they
adored, were content to substitute in its place a rude or scarcely
polished stone. Hence the Greeks, according to Pausanias, originally used
unhewn stones to represent their deities, thirty of which that historian
says he saw in the city of Pharas. These stones were of a cubical form,
and as the greater number of them were dedicated to the god Hermes, or
Mercury, they received the generic name of _Hermaa_. Subsequently, with
the improvement of the plastic art, the head was added.[227]

One of these consecrated stones was placed before the door of almost every
house in Athens. They were also placed in front of the temples, in the
gymnasia or schools, in libraries, and at the corners of streets, and in
the roads. When dedicated to the god Terminus they were used as landmarks,
and placed as such upon the concurrent lines of neighboring possessions.

The Thebans worshipped Bacchus under the form of a rude, square stone.

Arnobius[228] says that Cybele was represented by a small stone of a
black color. Eusebius cites Porphyry as saying that the ancients
represented the deity by a black stone, because his nature is obscure and
inscrutable. The reader will here be reminded of the black stone _Hadsjar
el Aswad_, placed in the south-west corner of the Kaaba at Mecca, which
was worshipped by the ancient Arabians, and is still treated with
religious veneration by the modern Mohammedans. The Mussulman priests,
however, say that it was originally white, and of such surprising splendor
that it could be seen at the distance of four days' journey, but that it
has been blackened by the tears of pilgrims.

The Druids, it is well known, had no other images of their gods but
cubical, or sometimes columnar, stones, of which Toland gives several
instances.

The Chaldeans had a sacred stone, which they held in great veneration,
under the name of _Mnizuris_, and to which they sacrificed for the purpose
of evoking the Good Demon.

Stone-worship existed among the early American races. Squier quotes
Skinner as asserting that the Peruvians used to set up rough stones in
their fields and plantations, which were worshipped as protectors of their
crops. And Gam a says that in Mexico the presiding god of the spring was
often represented without a human body, and in place thereof a pilaster or
square column, whose pedestal was covered with various sculptures.

Indeed, so universal was this stone-worship, that Higgins, in his
"_Celtic Druids_," says that, "throughout the world the first object of
idolatry seems to have been a plain, unwrought stone, placed in the
ground, as an emblem of the generative or procreative powers of nature."
And the learned Bryant, in his "_Analysis of Ancient Mythology_," asserts
that "there is in every oracular temple some legend about a stone."

Without further citations of examples from the religious usages of other
countries, it will, I think, be conceded that the cubical stone formed an
important part of the religious worship of primitive nations. But
Cudworth, Bryant, Faber, and all other distinguished writers who have
treated the subject, have long since established the theory that the pagan
religions were eminently symbolic. Thus, to use the language of Dudley,
the pillar or stone "was adopted as a symbol of strength and firmness,--a
symbol, also, of the divine power, and, by a ready inference, a symbol or
idol of the Deity himself." [229] And this symbolism is confirmed by
Cornutus, who says that the god Hermes was represented without hands or
feet, being a cubical stone, because the cubical figure betokened his
solidity and stability.[230]

Thus, then, the following facts have been established, but not precisely
in this order: First, that there was a very general prevalence among the
earliest nations of antiquity of the worship of stones as the
representatives of Deity; secondly, that in almost every ancient temple
there was a legend of a sacred or mystical stone; thirdly, that this
legend is found in the masonic system; and lastly, that the mystical stone
there has received the name of the "Stone of Foundation."

Now, as in all the other systems the stone is admitted to be symbolic,
and the tradition connected with it mystical, we are compelled to assume
the same predicates of the masonic stone. It, too, is symbolic, and its
legend a myth or an allegory.

Of the fable, myth, or allegory, Bailly has said that, "subordinate to
history and philosophy, it only deceives that it may the better instruct
us. Faithful in preserving the realities which are confided to it, it
covers with its seductive envelope the lessons of the one and the truths
of the other." [231] It is from this stand-point that we are to view the
allegory of the Stone of Foundation, as developed in one of the most
interesting and important symbols of Masonry.

The fact that the mystical stone in all the ancient religions was a symbol
of the Deity, leads us necessarily to the conclusion that the Stone of
Foundation was also a symbol of Deity. And this symbolic idea is
strengthened by the tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God, that was
inscribed upon it. This ineffable name sanctifies the stone upon which it
is engraved as the symbol of the Grand Architect. It takes from it its
heathen signification as an idol, and consecrates it to the worship of the
true God.

The predominant idea of the Deity, in the masonic system, connects him
with his creative and formative power. God is, to the Freemason, _Al
Gabil,_ as the Arabians called him, that is, _The Builder_; or, as
expressed in his masonic title, the _Grand Architect of the Universe_, by
common consent abbreviated in the formula G.A.O.T.U. Now, it is evident
that no symbol could so appropriately suit him in this character as the
Stone of Foundation, upon which he is allegorically supposed to have
erected his world. Such a symbol closely connects the creative work of
God, as a pattern and exemplar, with the workman's erection of his
temporal building on a similar foundation stone.

But this masonic idea is still further to be extended. The great object of
all Masonic labor is _divine truth_. The search for the _lost word_ is the
search for truth. But divine truth is a term synonymous with God. The
ineffable name is a symbol of truth, because God, and God alone, is truth.
It is properly a scriptural idea. The Book of Psalms abounds with this
sentiment. Thus it is said that the truth of the Lord "reacheth unto the
clouds," and that "his truth endureth unto all generations." If, then, God
is truth, and the Stone of Foundation is the masonic symbol of God, it
follows that it must also be the symbol of divine truth.

When we have arrived at this point in our speculations, we are ready to
show how all the myths and legends of the Stone of Foundation may be
rationally explained as parts of that beautiful "science of morality,
veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," which is the acknowledged
definition of Freemasonry.

In the masonic system there are two temples; the first temple, in which
the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry are concerned, and the second temple,
with which the higher degrees, and especially the Royal Arch, are related.
The first temple is symbolic of the present life; the second temple is
symbolic of the life to come. The first temple, the present life, must be
destroyed; on its foundations the second temple, the life eternal, must be
built.

But the mystical stone was placed by King Solomon in the foundations of
the first temple. That is to say, the first temple of our present life
must be built on the sure foundation of divine truth, "for other
foundation can no man lay."

But although the present life is necessarily built upon the foundation of
truth, yet we never thoroughly attain it in this sublunary sphere. The
Foundation Stone is concealed in the first temple, and the Master Mason
knows it not. He has not the true word. He receives only a substitute.

But in the second temple of the future life, we have passed from the
grave, which had been the end of our labors in the first. We have removed
the rubbish, and have found that Stone of Foundation which had been
hitherto concealed from our eyes. We now throw aside the substitute for
truth which had contented us in the former temple, and the brilliant
effulgence of the tetragrammaton and the Stone of Foundation are
discovered, and thenceforth we are the possessors of the true word--of
divine truth. And in this way, the Stone of Foundation, or divine truth,
concealed in the first temple, but discovered and brought to light in the
second, will explain that passage of the apostle, "For now we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall
I know even as also I am known."

And so, the result of this inquiry is, that the masonic Stone of
Foundation is a symbol of divine truth, upon which all Speculative Masonry
is built, and the legends and traditions which refer to it are intended to
describe, in an allegorical way, the progress of truth in the soul, the
search for which is a Mason's labor, and the discovery of which is his
reward.





XXXI.

The Lost Word.



The last of the symbols, depending for its existence on its connection
with a myth to which I shall invite attention, is _the Lost Word, and the
search for it_. Very appropriately may this symbol terminate our
investigations, since it includes within its comprehensive scope all the
others, being itself the very essence of the science of masonic symbolism.
The other symbols require for their just appreciation a knowledge of the
origin of the order, because they owe their birth to its relationship with
kindred and anterior institutions. But the symbolism of the Lost Word has
reference exclusively to the design and the objects of the institution.

First, let us define the symbol, and then investigate its interpretation.

The mythical history of Freemasonry informs us that there once existed a
WORD of surpassing value, and claiming a profound veneration; that this
Word was known to but few; that it was at length lost; and that a
temporary substitute for it was adopted. But as the very philosophy of
Masonry teaches us that there can be no death without a resurrection,--no
decay without a subsequent restoration,--on the same principle it follows
that the loss of the Word must suppose its eventual recovery.

Now, this it is, precisely, that constitutes the myth of the Lost Word and
the search for it. No matter what was the word, no matter how it was lost,
nor why a substitute was provided, nor when nor where it was recovered.
These are all points of subsidiary importance, necessary, it is true, for
knowing the legendary history, but not necessary for understanding the
symbolism. The only term of the myth that is to be regarded in the study
of its interpretation, is the abstract idea of a word lost and afterwards
recovered.

This, then, points us to the goal to which we must direct our steps in the
pursuit of the investigation.

But the symbolism, referring in this case, as I have already said, solely
to the great design of Freemasonry, the nature of that design at once
suggests itself as a preliminary subject of inquiry in the investigation.

What, then, is the design of Freemasonry? A very large majority of its
disciples, looking only to its practical results, as seen in the every-day
business of life,--to the noble charities which it dispenses, to the tears
of widows which it has dried, to the cries of orphans which it has hushed,
to the wants of the destitute which it has supplied,--arrive with too much
rapidity at the conclusion that Charity, and that, too, in its least
exalted sense of eleemosynary aid, is the great design of the institution.

Others, with a still more contracted view, remembering the pleasant
reunions at their lodge banquets, the unreserved communications which are
thus encouraged, and the solemn obligations of mutual trust and
confidence that are continually inculcated, believe that it was intended
solely to promote the social sentiments and cement the bonds of
friendship.

But, although the modern lectures inform us that Brotherly Love and Relief
are two of "the principal tenets of a Mason's profession," yet, from the
same authority, we learn that Truth is a third and not less important one;
and Truth, too, not in its old Anglo-Saxon meaning of fidelity to
engagements,[232] but in that more strictly philosophical one in which it
is opposed to intellectual and religious error or falsehood.

But I have shown that the Primitive Freemasonry of the ancients was
instituted for the purpose of preserving that truth which had been
originally communicated to the patriarchs, in all its integrity, and that
the Spurious Masonry, or the Mysteries, originated in the earnest need of
the sages, and philosophers, and priests, to find again the same truth
which had been lost by the surrounding multitudes. I have shown, also,
that this same truth continued to be the object of the Temple Masonry,
which was formed by a union of the Primitive, or Pure, and the Spurious
systems. Lastly, I have endeavored to demonstrate that this truth related
to the nature of God and the human soul.

The search, then, after this truth, I suppose to constitute the end and
design of Speculative Masonry. From the very commencement of his career,
the aspirant is by significant symbols and expressive instructions
directed to the acquisition of this divine truth; and the whole lesson, if
not completed in its full extent, is at least well developed in the myths
and legends of the Master's degree. _God and the soul_--the unity of the
one and the immortality of the other--are the great truths, the search for
which is to constitute the constant occupation of every Mason, and which,
when found, are to become the chief corner-stone, or the stone of
foundation, of the spiritual temple--"the house not made with
hands"--which he is engaged in erecting.

Now, this idea of a search after truth forms so prominent a part of the
whole science of Freemasonry, that I conceive no better or more
comprehensive answer could be given to the question, _What is
Freemasonry?_ than to say that it is a science which is engaged in the
search after divine truth.

But Freemasonry is eminently a system of symbolism, and all its
instructions are conveyed in symbols. It is, therefore, to be supposed
that so prominent and so prevailing an idea as this,--one that
constitutes, as I have said, the whole design of the institution, and
which may appropriately be adopted as the very definition of its
science,--could not with any consistency be left without its particular
symbol.

The WORD, therefore, I conceive to be the symbol of _Divine Truth;_ and
all its modifications--the loss, the substitution, and the recovery--are
but component parts of the mythical symbol which represents a search after
truth.

How, then, is this symbolism preserved? How is the whole history of this
Word to be interpreted, so as to bear, in all its accidents of time, and
place, and circumstance, a patent reference to the substantive idea that
has been symbolized?

The answers to these questions embrace what is, perhaps, the most
intricate as well as most ingenious and interesting portion of the science
of masonic symbolism.

This symbolism may be interpreted, either in an application to a general
or to a special sense.

The general application will embrace the whole history of Freemasonry,
from its inception to its consummation. The search after the Word is an
epitome of the intellectual and religious progress of the order, from the
period when, by the dispersion at Babel, the multitudes were enshrouded in
the profundity of a moral darkness where truth was apparently forever
extinguished. The true name of God was lost; his true nature was not
understood; the divine lessons imparted by our father Noah were no longer
remembered; the ancient traditions were now corrupted; the ancient symbols
were perverted. Truth was buried beneath the rubbish of Sabaism, and the
idolatrous adoration of the sun and stars had taken the place of the olden
worship of the true God. A moral darkness was now spread over the face of
the earth, as a dense, impenetrable cloud, which obstructed the rays of
the spiritual sun, and covered the people as with a gloomy pall of
intellectual night.

But this night was not to last forever. A brighter dawn was to arise, and
amidst all this gloom and darkness there were still to be found a few
sages in whom the religious sentiment, working in them with powerful
throes, sent forth manfully to seek after truth. There were, even in those
days of intellectual and religious darkness, craftsmen who were willing to
search for the _Lost Word_. And though they were unable to find it, their
approximation to truth was so near that the result of their search may
well be symbolized by the _Substitute Word_.

It was among the idolatrous multitudes that the _Word_ had been lost. It
was among them that the Builder had been smitten, and that the works of
the spiritual temple had been suspended; and so, losing at each successive
stage of their decline, more and more of the true knowledge of God and of
the pure religion which had originally been imparted by Noah, they finally
arrived at gross materialism and idolatry, losing all sight of the divine
existence. Thus it was that the truth--the Word--was said to have been
lost; or, to apply the language of Hutchinson, modified in its reference
to the time, "in this situation, it might well be said that the guide to
heaven was lost, and the master of the works of righteousness was smitten.
The nations had given themselves up to the grossest idolatry, and the
service of the true God was effaced from the memory of those who had
yielded themselves to the dominion of sin."

And now it was among the philosophers and priests in the ancient
Mysteries, or the spurious Freemasonry, that an anxiety to discover the
truth led to the search for the Lost Word. These were the craftsmen who
saw the fatal-blow which had been given, who knew that the Word was now
lost, but were willing to go forth, manfully and patiently, to seek its
restoration. And there were the craftsmen who, failing to rescue it from
the grave of oblivion into which it had fallen, by any efforts of their
own incomplete knowledge, fell back upon the dim traditions which had
been handed down from primeval times, and through their aid found a
substitute for truth in their own philosophical religions.

And hence Schmidtz, speaking of these Mysteries of the pagan world, calls
them the remains of the ancient Pelasgian religion, and says that "the
associations of persons for the purpose of celebrating them must therefore
have been formed at the time when the overwhelming influence of the
Hellenic religion began to gain the upper hand in Greece, and when persons
who still entertained a reverence for the worship of former times united
together, with the intention of preserving and upholding among themselves
as much as possible of the religion of their forefathers."

Applying, then, our interpretation in a general sense, the _Word_ itself
being the symbol of _Divine Truth_, the narrative of its loss and the
search for its recovery becomes a mythical symbol of the decay and loss of
the true religion among the ancient nations, at and after the dispersion
on the plains of Shinar, and of the attempts of the wise men, the
philosophers, and priests, to find and retain it in their secret Mysteries
and initiations, which have hence been designated as the Spurious
Freemasonry of Antiquity.

But I have said that there is a special, or individual, as well as a
general interpretation. This compound or double symbolism, if I may so
call it, is by no means unusual in Freemasonry. I have already exhibited
an illustration of it in the symbolism of Solomon's temple, where, in a
general sense, the temple is viewed as a symbol of that spiritual temple
formed by the aggregation of the whole order, and in which each mason is
considered as a stone; and, in an individual or special sense, the same
temple is considered as a type of that spiritual temple which each mason
is directed to erect in his heart.

Now, in this special or individual interpretation, the Word, with its
accompanying myth of a loss, a substitute, and a recovery, becomes a
symbol of the personal progress of a candidate from his first initiation
to the completion of his course, when he receives a full development of
the Mysteries.

The aspirant enters on this search after truth, as an Entered Apprentice,
in darkness, seeking for light--the light of wisdom, the light of truth,
the light symbolized by the Word. For this important task, upon which he
starts forth gropingly, falteringly, doubtingly, in want and in weakness,
he is prepared by a purification of the heart, and is invested with a
first substitute for the true Word, which, like the pillar that went
before the Israelites in the wilderness, is to guide him onwards in his
weary journey. He is directed to take, as a staff and scrip for his
journey, all those virtues which expand the heart and dignify the soul.
Secrecy, obedience, humility, trust in God, purity of conscience, economy
of time, are all inculcated by impressive types and symbols, which connect
the first degree with the period of youth.

And then, next in the degree of Fellow Craft, he fairly enters upon his
journey. Youth has now passed, and manhood has come on. New duties and
increased obligations press upon the individual. The thinking and working
stage of life is here symbolized. Science is to be cultivated; wisdom is
to be acquired; the lost Word--divine truth--is still to be sought for.
But even yet it is not to be found.

And now the Master Mason comes, with all the symbolism around him of old
age--trials, sufferings, death. And here, too, the aspirant, pressing
onward, _always onward_, still cries aloud for "light, more light." The
search is almost over, but the lesson, humiliating to human nature, is to
be taught, that in this life--gloomy and dark, earthly and carnal--pure
truth has no abiding place; and contented with a substitute, and to that
_second temple_ of eternal life, for that true Word, that divine Truth,
which will teach us all that we shall ever learn of God and his emanation,
the human soul.

So, the Master Mason, receiving this substitute for the lost Word, waits
with patience for the time when it shall be found, and perfect wisdom
shall be attained.

But, work as we will, this symbolic Word--this knowledge of divine
Truth--is never thoroughly attained in this life, or in its symbol, the
Master Mason's lodge. The corruptions of mortality, which encumber and
cloud the human intellect, hide it, as with a thick veil, from mortal
eyes. It is only, as I have just said, beyond the tomb, and when released
from the earthly burden of life, that man is capable of fully receiving
and appreciating the revelation. Hence, then, when we speak of the
recovery of the Word, in that higher degree which is a supplement to
Ancient Craft Masonry, we intimate that that sublime portion of the
masonic system is a symbolic representation of the state after death. For
it is only after the decay and fall of this temple of life, which, as
masons, we have been building, that from its ruins, deep beneath its
foundations, and in the profound abyss of the grave, we find that divine
truth, in the search for which life was spent, if not in vain, at least
without success, and the mystic key to which death only could supply.

And now we know by this symbolism what is meant by masonic _labor_, which,
too, is itself but another form of the same symbol. The search for the
Word--to find divine Truth--this, and this only, is a mason's work, and
the WORD is his reward.

Labor, said the old monks, is worship--_laborare est orare_; and thus in
our lodges do we worship, working for the Word, working for the Truth,
ever looking forward, casting no glance behind, but cheerily hoping for
the consummation and the reward of our labor in the knowledge which is
promised to him who plays no laggard's part.

Goethe, himself a mason and a poet, knew and felt all this symbolism of a
mason's life and work, when he wrote that beautiful poem, which Carlyle
has thus thrown into his own rough but impulsive language.

    "The mason's ways are
    A type of existence,--
    And to his persistence
    Is as the days are
    Of men in this world.

    "The future hides in it
    Gladness and sorrow;
    We press still thorow,
    Nought that abides in it
    Daunting us--onward.

    "And solemn before us
    Veiled the dark portal,
    Goal of all mortal;
    Stars silent rest o'er us
    Graves under us silent.

    "While earnest thou gazest
    Come boding of terror,
    Comes phantasm and error,
    Perplexing the bravest
    With doubt and misgiving.

    "But heard are the voices,
    Heard are the sages,
    The worlds and the ages;
    'Choose well; your choice is
    Brief and yet endless.

    "'Here eyes do regard you,
    In eternity's stillness;
    Here is all fullness,
    Ye, brave to reward you;
    Work and despair not.'"

       *       *       *       *       *

And now, in concluding this work, so inadequate to the importance of the
subjects that have been discussed, one deduction, at least, may be drawn
from all that has been said.

In tracing the progress of Freemasonry, and in detailing its system of
symbolism, it has been found to be so intimately connected with the
history of philosophy, of religion, and of art, in all ages of the world,
that the conviction at once forces itself upon the mind, that no mason can
expect thoroughly to comprehend its nature, or to appreciate its character
as a science, unless he shall devote himself, with some labor and
assiduity, to this study of its system. That skill which consists in
repeating, with fluency and precision, the ordinary lectures, in complying
with all the ceremonial requisitions of the ritual, or the giving, with
sufficient accuracy, the appointed modes of recognition, pertains only to
the very rudiments of the masonic science.

But there is a far nobler series of doctrines with which Freemasonry is
connected, and which it has been my object, in this work, to present in
some imperfect way. It is these which constitute the science and the
philosophy of Freemasonry, and it is these alone which will return the
student who devotes himself to the task, a sevenfold reward for his labor.

Freemasonry, viewed no longer, as too long it has been, as a merely social
institution, has now assumed its original and undoubted position as a
speculative science. While the mere ritual is still carefully preserved,
as the casket should be which contains so bright a jewel; while its
charities are still dispensed as the necessary though incidental result of
all its moral teachings; while its social tendencies are still cultivated
as the tenacious cement which is to unite so fair a fabric in symmetry and
strength, the masonic mind is everywhere beginning to look and ask for
something, which, like the manna in the desert, shall feed us, in our
pilgrimage, with intellectual food. The universal cry, throughout the
masonic world, is for light; our lodges are henceforth to be schools; our
labor is to be study; our wages are to be learning; the types and symbols,
the myths and allegories, of the institution are beginning to be
investigated with reference to their ultimate meaning; our history is now
traced by zealous inquiries as to its connection with antiquity; and
Freemasons now thoroughly understand that often quoted definition, that
"Masonry is a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by
symbols."

Thus to learn Masonry is to know our work and to do it well. What true
mason would shrink from the task?




Synoptical Index.



A


AB. The Hebrew word AB signifies "father," and was among the Hebrews a
title of honor. From it, by the addition of the possessive pronoun, is
compounded the word _Abif_, signifying "his father," and applied to the
Temple Builder.

ABIF. See _Hiram Abif_.

ABNET. The band or apron, made of fine linen, variously wrought, and worn
by the Jewish priesthood. It seems to have been borrowed directly from the
Egyptians, upon the representations of all of whose gods is to be found a
similar girdle. Like the zennaar, or sacred cord of the Brahmins, and the
white shield of the Scandinavians, it is the analogue of the masonic
apron.

ACACIA, SPRIG OF. No symbol is more interesting to the masonic student
than the sprig of acacia.

It is the _mimosa nilotica_ of Linnæus, the _shittah_ of the Hebrew
writers, and grows abundantly in Palestine.

It is preeminently the symbol of the immortality of the soul.

It was for this reason planted by the Jews at the head of a grave.

This symbolism is derived from its never-fading character as an evergreen.

It is also a symbol of innocence, and this symbolism is derived from the
double meaning of the word [Greek: akakia], which in Greek signifies the
plant, and innocence; in this point of view Hutchinson has Christianized
the symbol.

It is, lastly, a symbol of initiation.

This symbolism is derived from the fact that it is the sacred plant of
Masonry; and in all the ancient rites there were sacred plants, which
became in each rite the respective symbol of initiation into its
Mysteries; hence the idea was borrowed by Freemasonry.

ADONIA. The Mysteries of Adonis, principally celebrated in Phoenicia and
Syria. They lasted for two days, and were commemorative of the death and
restoration of Adonis. The ceremonies of the first day were funereal in
their character, and consisted in the lamentations of the initiates for
the death of Adonis, whose picture or image was carried in procession. The
second day was devoted to mirth and joy for the return of Adonis to life.
In their spirit and their mystical design, these Mysteries bore a very
great resemblance to the third degree of Masonry, and they are quoted to
show the striking analogy between the ancient and the modern initiations.

ADONIS. In mythology, the son of Cinyras and Myrrha, who was greatly
beloved by Venus, or Aphrodite. He was slain by a wild boar, and having
descended into the realm of Pluto, Persephone became enamoured of him.
This led to a contest for him between Venus and Persephone, which was
finally settled by his restoration to life upon the condition that he
should spend six months upon earth, and six months in the inferior
regions. In the mythology of the philosophers, Adonis was a symbol of the
sun; but his death by violence, and his subsequent restoration to life,
make him the analogue of Hiram Abif in the masonic system, and identify
the spirit of the initiation in his Mysteries, which was to teach the
second life with that of the third degree of Freemasonry.

AHRIMAN, or ARIMANES. In the religious system of Zoroaster, the principle
of evil, or darkness, which was perpetually opposing Ormuzd, the principle
of good, or light. See _Zoroaster_.

ALFADER. The father of all, or the universal Father. The principal deity
of the Scandinavian mythology.

The Edda gives twelve names of God, of which Alfader is the first and most
ancient, and is the one most generally used.

ALGABIL. One of the names of the Supreme Being among the Cabalists. It
signifies "the Master Builder," and is equivalent to the masonic epithet
of "Grand Architect of the Universe."

ALLEGORY. A discourse or narrative, in which there is a literal and a
figurative sense, a patent and a concealed meaning; the literal or patent
sense being intended by analogy or comparison to indicate the figurative
or concealed one. Its derivation from the Greek [Greek: a)llos] and
[Greek: a)gorein], _to say something different,_ that is, to say something
where the language is one thing, and the true meaning different, exactly
expresses the character of an allegory. It has been said in the text that
there is no essential difference between an allegory and a symbol. There
is not in design, but there is this in their character: An allegory may be
interpreted without any previous conventional agreement, but a symbol
cannot. Thus the legend of the third degree is an allegory evidently to be
interpreted as teaching a restoration to life; and this we learn from the
legend itself, without any previous understanding. The sprig of acacia is
a symbol of the immortality of the soul. But this we know only because
such meaning had been conventionally determined when the symbol was first
established. It is evident, then, that an allegory which is obscure is
imperfect. The enigmatical meaning should be easy of interpretation; and
hence Lemière, a French poet, has said, "L'allégorie habite un palais
diaphane"--_Allegory lives in a transparent palace._ All the legends of
Freemasonry are more or less allegorical, and whatever truth there may be
in some of them in an historical point of view, it is only as allegories,
or legendary symbols, that they are important.

ALL-SEEING EYE. A symbol of the third degree, of great antiquity. See
_Eye_.

ANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY. The first three degrees of Freemasonry; viz.,
Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. They are so called
because they alone are supposed to have been practised by the ancient
craft. In the agreement between the two grand lodges of England in 1813,
the definition was made to include the Royal Arch degree. Now if by the
"ancient craft" are meant the workmen at the first temple, the definition
will be wrong, because the Royal Arch degree could have had no existence
until the time of the building of the second temple. But if by the
"ancient craft" is meant the body of workmen who introduced the rites of
Masonry into Europe in the early ages of the history of the Order, then
it will be correct; because the Royal Arch degree always, from its origin
until the middle of the eighteenth century, formed a part of the Master's.
"Ancient Craft Masonry," however, in this country, is generally understood
to embrace only the first three degrees.

ANDERSON. James Anderson, D.D., is celebrated as the compiler and editor
of "The Constitutions of the Freemasons," published by order of the Grand
Lodge of England, in 1723. A second edition was published by him in 1738.
Shortly after, Anderson died, and the subsequent editions, of which there
are several, have been edited by other persons. The edition of 1723 has
become exceedingly rare, and copies of it bring fancy prices among the
collectors of old masonic books. Its intrinsic value is derived only from
the fact that it contains the first printed copy of the "Old Charges," and
also the "General Regulations." The history of Masonry which precedes
these, and constitutes the body of the work, is fanciful, unreliable, and
pretentious to a degree that often leads to absurdity. The craft are
greatly indebted to Anderson for his labors in reorganizing the
institution, but doubtless it would have been better if he had contented
himself with giving the records of the Grand Lodge from 1717 to 1738 which
are contained in his second edition, and with preserving for us the
charges and regulations, which without his industry might have been lost.
No masonic writer would now venture to quote Anderson as authority for the
history of the Order anterior to the eighteenth century. It must also be
added that in the republication of the old charges in the edition of 1738,
he made several important alterations and interpolations, which justly
gave some offence to the Grand Lodge, and which render the second edition
of no authority in this respect.

ANIMAL WORSHIP. The worship of animals is a species of idolatry that was
especially practised by the ancient Egyptians. Temples were erected by
this people in their honor, in which they were fed and cared for during
life; to kill one of them was a crime punishable with death; and after
death, they were embalmed, and interred in the catacombs. This worship was
derived first from the earlier adoration of the stars, to certain
constellations of which the names of animals had been given; next, from an
Egyptian tradition that the gods, being pursued by Typhon, had concealed
themselves under the forms of animals; and lastly, from the doctrine of
the metempsychosis, according to which there was a continual circulation
of the souls of men and animals. But behind the open and popular exercise
of this degrading worship the priests concealed a symbolism full of
philosophical conceptions. How this symbolism was corrupted and
misinterpreted by the uninitiated people, is shown by Gliddon, and quoted
in the text.

APHANISM (Greek [Greek: a)phani/zô], _to conceal_). In each of the
initiations of the ancient Mysteries, there was a scenic representation of
the death or disappearance of some god or hero, whose adventures
constituted the legend of the Mystery. That part of the ceremony of
initiation which related to and represented the death or disappearance was
called the _aphanism_.

Freemasonry, which has in its ceremonial form been framed after the model
of these ancient Mysteries, has also its aphanism in the third degree.

APORRHETA (Greek [Greek: apor)r(e/ta]). The holy things in the ancient
Mysteries which were known only to the initiates, and were not to be
disclosed to the profane, were called the _aporrheta_. What are the
aporrheta of Freemasonry? what are the arcana of which there can be no
disclosure? is a question that for some years past has given rise to much
discussion among the disciples of the institution. If the sphere and
number of these aporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident
that much valuable investigation by public discussion of the science of
Masonry will be prohibited. On the other hand, if the aporrheta are
restricted to only a few points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and
the efficacy of Freemasonry, which are dependent on its organization as a
secret and mystical association, will be lost. We move between Scylla and
Charybdis, and it is difficult for a masonic writer to know how to steer
so as, in avoiding too frank an exposition of the principles of the Order,
not to fall by too much reticence into obscurity. The European Masons are
far more liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the
English or the American. There are few things, indeed, which a French or
German masonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness. It
is now beginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American
writers are acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of
Freemasonry are the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive
ceremonies of the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference
may be publicly made for the purposes of scientific investigation,
provided that the reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane,
and intelligible only to the initiated.

APRON. The lambskin, or white leather apron, is the peculiar and
distinctive badge of a mason.

Its color must be white, and its material a lambskin.

It is a symbol of purity, and it derives this symbolism from its color,
white being symbolic of purity; from its material, the lamb having the
same symbolic character; and from its use, which is to preserve the
garments clean.

The apron, or abnet, worn by the Egyptian and the Hebrew priests, and
which has been considered as the analogue of the masonic apron, is
supposed to have been a symbol of authority; but the use of the apron in
Freemasonry originally as an implement of labor, is an evidence of the
derivation of the speculative science from an operative art.

APULEIUS. Lucius Apuleius, a Latin writer, born at Medaura, in Africa,
flourished in the reigns of the emperors Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius.
His most celebrated book, entitled "Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass," was
written, Bishop Warburton thinks, for the express purpose of recommending
the ancient Mysteries. He had been initiated into many of them, and his
descriptions of them, and especially of his own initiation into those of
the Egyptian Isis, are highly interesting and instructive, and should be
read by every student of the science of masonic symbolism.

ARCHETYPE. The principal type, figure, pattern, or example, whereby and
whereon a thing is formed. In the science of symbolism, the archetype is
the thing adopted as a symbol, whence the symbolic idea is derived. Thus
we say the temple is the archetype of the lodge, because the former is the
symbol whence all the temple symbolism of the latter is derived.

ARCHITECTURE. The art which teaches the proper method of constructing
public and private edifices. It is to Freemasonry the "ars artium," the
art of arts, because to it the institution is indebted for its origin in
its present organization. The architecture of Freemasonry is altogether
related to the construction of public edifices, and principally sacred or
religious ones,--such as temples, cathedrals, churches,--and of these,
masonically, the temple of Solomon is the archetype. Much of the symbolism
of Freemasonry is drawn from the art of architecture. While the
improvements of Greek and Roman architecture are recognized in
Freemasonry, the three ancient orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian
are alone symbolized. No symbolism attaches to the Tuscan and Composite.

ARK OF THE COVENANT. One of the most sacred objects among the Israelites.
It was a chest made of shittim wood, or acacia, richly decorated,
forty-five inches long, and eighteen inches wide, and contained the two
tables of stone on which the ten commandments were engraved, the golden
pot that held manna, and Aaron's rod. It was placed in the holy of holies,
first of the tabernacle, and then of the temple. Such is its masonic and
scriptural history. The idea of this ark was evidently borrowed from the
Egyptians, in whose religious rites a similar chest or coffer is to be
found. Herodotus mentions several instances. Speaking of the festival of
Papremis, he says (ii. 63) that the image of the god was kept in a small
wooden shrine covered with plates of gold, which shrine was conveyed in a
procession of the priests and people from the temple into a second sacred
building. Among the sculptures are to be found bass reliefs of the ark of
Isis. The greatest of the religious ceremonies of the Egyptians was the
procession of the shrines mentioned in the Rosetta stone, and which is
often found depicted on the sculptures. These shrines were of two kinds,
one a canopy, but the other, called the great shrine, was an ark or sacred
boat. It was borne on the shoulders of priests by means of staves passing
through rings in its sides, and was taken into the temple and deposited on
a stand. Some of these arks contained, says Wilkinson (_Notes to Herod._
II. 58, _n._ 9), the elements of life and stability, and others the sacred
beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the goddess
Thmei. In all this we see the type of the Jewish ark. The introduction of
the ark into the ceremonies of Freemasonry evidently is in reference to
its loss and recovery; and hence its symbolism is to be interpreted as
connected with the masonic idea of loss and recovery, which always alludes
to a loss of life and a recovery of immortality. In the first temple of
this life the ark is lost; in the second temple of the future life it is
recovered. And thus the ark of the covenant is one of the many masonic
symbols of the resurrection.

ARTS AND SCIENCES, LIBERAL. In the seventh century, and for many centuries
afterwards, all learning was limited to and comprised in what were called
the seven liberal arts and sciences; namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The epithet "liberal" is a
fair translation of the Latin "ingenuus," which means "free-born;" thus
Cicero speaks of the "artes ingenuæ," or the arts befitting a free-born
man; and Ovid says in the well-known lines,--

         "Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
    Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros,"--

_To have studied carefully the liberal arts refines the manners, and
prevents us from being brutish._ And Phillips, in his "New World of Words"
(1706), defines the liberal arts and sciences to be "such as are fit for
gentlemen and scholars, as mechanic trades and handicrafts for meaner
people." As Freemasons are required by their landmarks to be _free-born_,
we see the propriety of incorporating the arts of free-born men among
their symbols. As the system of Masonry derived its present form and
organization from the times when the study of these arts and sciences
constituted the labors of the wisest men, they have very appropriately
been adopted as the symbol of the completion of human learning.

ASHLAR. In builders' language, a stone taken from the quarries.

ASHLAR, PERFECT. A stone that has been hewed, squared, and polished, so as
to be fit for use in the building. Masonically, it is a symbol of the
state of perfection attained by means of education. And as it is the
object of Speculative Masonry to produce this state of perfection, it may
in that point of view be also considered as a symbol of the social
character of the institution of Freemasonry.

ASHLAR, ROUGH. A stone in its rude and natural state. Masonically, it is a
symbol of men's natural state of ignorance. But if the perfect ashlar be,
in reference to its mode of preparation, considered as a symbol of the
social character of Freemasonry, then the rough ashlar must be considered
as a symbol of the profane world. In this species of symbolism, the rough
and perfect ashlars bear the same relation to each other as ignorance does
to knowledge, death to life, and light to darkness. The rough ashlar is
the profane, the perfect ashlar is the initiate.

ASHMOLE, ELIAS. A celebrated antiquary of England, who was born in 1617.
He has written an autobiography, or rather diary of his life, which
extends to within eight years of his death. Under the date of October 16,
1646, he has made the following entry: "I was made a Free-Mason at
Warrington, in Lancashire, with Col. Henry Mainwaring, of Carticham, in
Cheshire; the names of those that were then at the lodge: Mr. Richard
Penket, warden; Mr. James Collier, Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John
Ellam and Hugh Brewer." Thirty-six years afterwards, under date of March
10, 1682, he makes the following entry: "I received a summons to appear at
a lodge to be held the next day at Masons' Hall, in London. 11.
Accordingly I went, and about noon was admitted into the fellowship of
Freemasons by Sir William Wilson, Knight, Captain Richard Borthwick, Mr.
William Woodman, Mr. William Grey, Mr. Samuel Taylour, and Mr. William
Wise. I was the senior fellow among them (it being thirty-five years since
I was admitted); there was present beside myself the fellows after named:
Mr. Thomas Wise, master of the Masons' Company this year; Mr. Thomas
Shorthose, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt, ---- Waidsfford, Esq., Mr. Nicholas Young,
Mr. John Shorthose, Mr. William Hamon, Mr. John Thompson, and Mr. William
Stanton. We all dined at the Half-Moon Tavern, in Cheapside, at a noble
dinner prepared at the charge of the new-accepted Masons." The titles of
some of the persons named in these two receptions confirm what is said in
the text, that the operative was at that time being superseded by the
speculative element. It is deeply to be regretted that Ashmole did not
carry out his projected design of writing a history of Freemasonry, for
which it is said that he had collected abundant materials. His History of
the Order of the Garter shows what we might have expected from his
treatment of the masonic institution.

ASPIRANT. One who aspires to or seeks after the truth. The title given to
the candidate in the ancient Mysteries.

ATHELSTAN. King of England, who ascended the throne in 924. Anderson cites
the old constitutions as saying that he encouraged the Masons, and brought
many over from France and elsewhere. In his reign, and in the year 926,
the celebrated General Assembly of the Craft was held in the city of York,
with prince Edward, the king's brother, for Grand Master, when new
constitutions were framed. From this assembly the York Rite dates its
origin.

AUTOPSY (Greek [Greek: ay)topsi/a], _a seeing with one's own eyes_). The
complete communication of the secrets in the ancient Mysteries, when the
aspirant was admitted into the sacellum, or most sacred place, and was
invested by the Hierophant with all the aporrheta, or sacred things, which
constituted the perfect knowledge of the initiate. A similar ceremony in
Freemasonry is called the Rite of Intrusting.

AUM. The triliteral name of God in the Brahminical mysteries, and
equivalent among the Hindoos to the tetragrammaton of the Jews. In one of
the Puranas, or sacred books of the Hindoos, it is said, "All the rites
ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all other solemn
purifications, shall pass away; but that which shall never pass away is
the word AUM, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things."



B


BABEL. The biblical account of the dispersion of mankind in consequence of
the confusion of tongues at Babel, has been incorporated into the history
of Masonry. The text has shown the probability that the pure and abstract
principles of the Primitive Freemasonry had been preserved by Noah and his
immediate descendants; and also that, as a consequence of the dispersion,
these principles had been lost or greatly corrupted by the Gentiles, who
were removed from the influence and teachings of the great patriarch.

Now there was in the old rituals a formula in the third degree, preserved
in some places to the present day, which teaches that the candidate has
come _from the tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry
lost_, and that he is travelling _to the threshing-floor of Ornan the
Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found_. An attentive
perusal of the nineteen propositions set forth in the preliminary chapter
of this work will furnish the reader with a key for the interpretation of
this formula. The principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of the early
priesthood were corrupted or lost at Babel by the defection of a portion
of mankind from Noah, the conservator of those principles. Long after, the
descendants of this people united with those of Noah at the temple of
Solomon, whose site was the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, from
whom it had been bought by David; and here the lost principles were
restored by this union of the Spurious Freemasons of Tyre with the
Primitive Freemasons of Jerusalem. And this explains the latter clause of
the formula.

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. When the city and temple of Jerusalem were destroyed
by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and the inhabitants conveyed as captives to
Babylon, we have a right to suppose,--that is to say, if there be any
truth in masonic history, the deduction is legitimate,--that among these
captives were many of the descendants of the workmen at the temple. If so,
then they carried with them into captivity the principles of Masonry which
they had acquired at home, and the city of Babylon became the great seat
of Speculative Masonry for many years. It was during the captivity that
the philosopher Pythagoras, who was travelling as a seeker after
knowledge, visited Babylon. With his ardent thirst for wisdom, he would
naturally hold frequent interviews with the leading Masons among the
Jewish captives. As he suffered himself to be initiated into the Mysteries
of Egypt during his visit to that country, it is not unlikely that he may
have sought a similar initiation into the masonic Mysteries. This would
account for the many analogies and resemblances to Masonry that we find in
the moral teachings, the symbols, and the peculiar organization of the
school of Pythagoras--resemblances so extraordinary as to have justified,
or at least excused, the rituals for calling the sage of Samos "our
ancient brother."

BACCHUS. One of the appellations of the "many-named" god Dionysus. The son
of Jupiter and Semele was to the Greeks Dionysus, to the Romans Bacchus.

BARE FEET. A symbol of reverence when both feet are uncovered. Otherwise
the symbolism is modern; and from the ritualistic explanation which is
given in the first degree, it would seem to require that the single bare
foot should be interpreted as the symbol of a covenant.

BLACK. Pythagoras called this color the symbol of the evil principle in
nature. It was equivalent to darkness, which is the antagonist of light.
But in masonic symbolism the interpretation is different. There, black is
a symbol of grief, and always refers to the fate of the temple-builder.

BRAHMA. In the mythology of the Hindoos there is a trimurti, or trinity,
the Supreme Being exhibiting himself in three manifestations; as, Brahma
the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer,--the united
godhead being a symbol of the sun.

Brahma was a symbol of the rising sun, Siva of the sun at meridian, and
Vishnu of the setting sun.

BRUCE. The introduction of Freemasonry into Scotland has been attributed
by some writers to King Robert Bruce, who is said to have established in
1314 the Order of Herodom, for the reception of those Knights Templars who
had taken refuge in his dominions from the persecutions of the Pope and
the King of France. Lawrie, who is excellent authority for Scottish
Masonry, does not appear, however, to give any credit to the narrative.
Whatever Bruce may have done for the higher degrees, there is no doubt
that Ancient Craft Masonry was introduced into Scotland at an earlier
period. See _Kilwinning_. Yet the text is right in making Bruce one of the
patrons and encouragers of Scottish Freemasonry.

BRYANT. Jacob Bryant, frequently quoted in this work, was a distinguished
English antiquary, born in the year 1715, and deceased in 1804. His most
celebrated work is "A New System of Ancient Mythology," which appeared in
1773-76. Although objectionable on account of its too conjectural
character, it contains a fund of details on the subject of symbolism, and
may be consulted with advantage by the masonic student.

BUILDER. The chief architect of the temple of Solomon is often called "the
Builder." But the word is also applied generally to the craft; for every
Speculative Mason is as much a builder as was his operative predecessor.
An American writer (F.S. Wood, of Arkansas) thus alludes to this symbolic
idea. "Masons are called moral builders. In their rituals, they declare
that a more noble and glorious purpose than squaring stones and hewing
timbers is theirs, fitting immortal nature for that spiritual building not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And he adds, "The builder builds
for a century; masons for eternity." In this sense, "the builder" is the
noblest title that can be bestowed upon a mason.

BUNYAN, JOHN. Familiar to every one as the author of the "Pilgrim's
Progress." He lived in the seventeenth century, and was the most
celebrated allegorical writer of England. His work entitled "Solomon's
Temple Spiritualized" will supply the student of masonic symbolism with
many valuable suggestions.



C


CABALA. The mystical philosophy of the Jews. The word which is derived
from a Hebrew root, signifying _to receive_, has sometimes been used in an
enlarged sense, as comprehending all the explanations, maxims, and
ceremonies which have been traditionally handed down to the Jews; but in
that more limited acceptation, in which it is intimately connected with
the symbolic science of Freemasonry, the cabala may be defined to be a
system of philosophy which embraces certain mystical interpretations of
Scripture, and metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity, man, and
spiritual beings. In these interpretations and speculations, according to
the Jewish doctors, were enveloped the most profound truths of religion,
which, to be comprehended by finite beings, are obliged to be revealed
through the medium of symbols and allegories. Buxtorf (Lex. Talm.) defines
the Cabala to be a secret science, which treats in a mystical and
enigmatical manner of things divine, angelical, theological, celestial,
and metaphysical, the subjects being enveloped in striking symbols and
secret modes of teaching.

CABALIST. A Jewish philosopher. One who understands and teaches the
doctrines of the Cabala, or the Jewish philosophy.

CABIRI. Certain gods, whose worship was first established in the Island of
Samothrace, where the Cabiric Mysteries were practised until the beginning
of the Christian era. They were four in number, and by some are supposed
to have referred to Noah and his three sons. In the Mysteries there was a
legend of the death and restoration to life of Atys, the son of Cybele.
The candidate represented Cadmillus, the youngest of the Cabiri, who was
slain by his three brethren. The legend of the Cabiric Mysteries, as far
as it can be understood from the faint allusions of ancient authors, was
in spirit and design very analogous to that of the third degree of
Masonry.

CADMILLUS. One of the gods of the Cabiri, who was slain by his brothers,
on which circumstance the legend of the Cabiric or Samothracian Mysteries
is founded. He is the analogue of the Builder in the Hiramic legend of
Freemasonry. 256

CAIRNS. Heaps of stones of a conical form, erected by the Druids. Some
suppose them to have been sepulchral monuments, others altars. They were
undoubtedly of a religious character, since sacrificial fires were lighted
upon them, and processions were made around them. These processions were
analogous to the circumambulations in Masonry, and were conducted like
them with reference to the apparent course of the sun.

CASSIA. A gross corruption of _Acacia_. The cassia is an aromatic plant,
but it has no mystical or symbolic character.

CELTIC MYSTERIES. The religious rites of ancient Gaul and Britain, more
familiarly known as _Druidism_, which see.. 109

CEREMONIES. The outer garments which cover and adorn Freemasonry as
clothing does the human body.

Although ceremonies give neither life nor truth to doctrines or
principles, yet they have an admirable influence, since by their use
certain things are made to acquire a sacred character which they would not
otherwise have had; and hence Lord Coke has most wisely said that "prudent
antiquity did, for more solemnity and better memory and observation of
that which is to be done, express substances under ceremonies.".

CERES. Among the Romans the goddess of agriculture; but among the more
poetic Greeks she became, as Demeter, the symbol of the prolific earth.
See _Demeter_.

CHARTER OF COLOGNE. A masonic document of great celebrity, but not of
unquestioned authenticity. It is a declaration or affirmation of the
design and principles of Freemasonry, issued in the year 1535, by a
convention of masons who had assembled in the city of Cologne. The
original is in the Latin language. The assertors of the authenticity of
the document claim that it was found in the chest of a lodge at Amsterdam
in 1637, and afterwards regularly transmitted from hand to hand until the
year 1816, when it was presented to Prince Frederick of Nassau, through
whom it was at that time made known to the masonic world. Others assert
that it is a forgery, which was perpetrated about the year 1816. Like the
Leland manuscript, it is one of those vexed questions of masonic literary
history over which so much doubt has been thrown, that it will probably
never be satisfactorily solved. For a translation of the charter, and
copious explanatory notes, by the author of this work, the reader is
referred to the "American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry," vol. ii. p.
52.

CHRISTIANIZATION OF FREEMASONRY. The interpretation of its symbols from a
Christian point of view. This is an error into which Hutchinson and
Oliver in England, and Scott and one or two others of less celebrity in
this country, have fallen. It is impossible to derive Freemasonry from
Christianity, because the former, in point of time, preceded the latter.
In fact, the symbols of Freemasonry are Solomonic, and its religion was
derived from the ancient priesthood.

The infusion of the Christian element was, however, a natural result of
surrounding circumstances; yet to sustain it would be fatal to the
cosmopolitan character of the institution.

Such interpretation is therefore modern, and does not belong to the
ancient system.

CIRCULAR TEMPLES. These were used in the initiations of the religion of
Zoroaster. Like the square temples of Masonry, and the other Mysteries,
they were symbolic of the world, and the symbol was completed by making
the circumference of the circle a representation of the zodiac.

CIRCUMAMBULATION. The ceremony of perambulating the lodge, or going in
procession around the altar, which was universally practised in the
ancient initiations and other religious ceremonies, and was always
performed so that the persons moving should have the altar on their right
hand. The rite was symbolic of the apparent daily course of the sun from
the east to the west by the way of the south, and was undoubtedly derived
from the ancient sun-worship.

CIVILIZATION. Freemasonry is a result of civilization, for it exists in no
savage or barbarous state of society; and in return it has proved, by its
social and moral principles, a means of extending and elevating the
civilization which gave it birth.

Freemasonry is therefore a type of civilization, bearing the same relation
to the profane world that civilization does to the savage state.

COLLEGES OF ARTIFICERS. The _Collegia Fabrorum_, or Workmen's Colleges,
were established in Rome by Numa, who for this purpose distributed all the
artisans of the city into companies, or colleges, according to their arts
and trades. They resembled the modern corporations, or _guilds_, which
sprang up in the middle ages. The rule established by their founder, that
not less than three could constitute a college,--"_tres faciunt
collegium_,"--has been retained in the regulations of the third degree of
masonry, to a lodge of which these colleges bore other analogies.

COLOGNE, CHARTER OF. See _Charter of Cologne_.

COMMON GAVEL. See _Gavel_.

CONSECRATION. The appropriating or dedicating, with certain ceremonies,
anything to sacred purposes or offices, by separating it from common use.
Masonic lodges, like ancient temples and modern churches, have always been
consecrated. Hobbes, in his _Leviathan_ (p. iv. c. 44), gives the best
definition of this ceremony. "To consecrate is in Scripture to offer,
give, or dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man, or any
other thing, to God, by separating it from common use.".

CONSECRATION, ELEMENTS OF. Those things, the use of which in the ceremony
as constituent and elementary parts of it, are necessary to the perfecting
and legalizing of the act of consecration. In Freemasonry, these elements
of consecration are _corn_, _wine_, and _oil_,--which see.

CORN. One of the three elements of masonic consecration, and as a symbol
of plenty it is intended, under the name of the "corn of nourishment," to
remind us of those temporal blessings of life, support, and nourishment
which we receive from the Giver of all good.

CORNER STONE. The most important stone in the edifice, and in its
symbolism referring to an impressive ceremony in the first degree of
Masonry.

The ancients laid it with peculiar ceremonies, and among the Oriental
nations it was the symbol of a prince, or chief.

It is one of the most impressive symbols of Masonry.

It is a symbol of the candidate on his initiation.

As a symbol it is exclusively masonic, and confined to a temple origin.

COVERING OF THE LODGE. Under the technical name of the "clouded canopy or
starry-decked heavens," it is a symbol of the future world,--of the
celestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides, and which
constitutes the "foreign country" which every mason hopes to reach.

CREUZER. George Frederick Creuzer, who was born in Germany in 1771, and
was a professor at the University of Heidelberg, devoted himself to the
study of the ancient religions, and with profound learning, established a
peculiar system on the subject. Many of his views have been adopted in the
text of the present work. His theory was, that the religion and mythology
of the ancient Greeks were borrowed from a far more ancient people,--a
body of priests coming from the East,--who received them as a revelation.
The myths and traditions of this ancient people were adopted by Hesiod,
Homer, and the later poets, although not without some misunderstanding of
them, and they were finally preserved in the Mysteries, and became
subjects of investigation for the philosophers. This theory Creuzer has
developed in his most important work, entitled "Symbolik und Mythologie
der alten Völker, besonders der Greichen," which was published at Leipsic
in 1819. There is no translation of this work into English, but Guigniaut
published at Paris, in 1824, a paraphrastic translation of it, under the
title of "Religions de l'Antiquité considérées principalement dans leur
Formes Symboliques et Mythologiques." Creuzer's views throw much light on
the symbolic history of Freemasonry.

CROSS. No symbol was so universally diffused at an early period as the
cross. It was, says Faber (Cabir. ii. 390), a symbol throughout the pagan
world long previous to its becoming an object of veneration to Christians.
In ancient symbology it was a symbol of eternal life. M. de Mortillet, who
in 1866 published a work entitled "Le Signe de la Croix avant le
Christianisme," found in the very earliest epochs three principal symbols
of universal occurrences; viz., the _circle_, the _pyramid_, and the
_cross_. Leslie (Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 312), quoting from him in
reference to the ancient worship of the cross, says "It seems to have been
a worship of such a peculiar nature as to exclude the worship of idols."
This sacredness of the crucial symbol may be one reason why its form was
often adopted, especially by the Celts in the construction of their
temples, though I have admitted in the text the commonly received opinion
that in cross-shaped temples the four limbs of the cross referred to the
four elements. But in a very interesting work lately published--"The Myths
of the New World" (N.Y., 1863)--Mr. Brinton assigns another symbolism.
"The symbol," says this writer, "that beyond all others has fascinated the
human mind, THE CROSS, finds here its source and meaning. Scholars have
pointed out its sacredness in many natural religions, and have reverently
accepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and often
debasing, interpretations. _It is but another symbol of the four cardinal
points, the four winds of heaven._ This will luminously appear by a study
of its use and meaning in America." (p. 95.) And Mr. Brinton gives many
instances of the religious use of the cross by several of the aboriginal
tribes of this continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed, seems
evidently to be to the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four
spirits, of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable that a similar
reference was adopted by the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we
would have in the cruciform temple as much a symbolism of the world, of
which the four cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as we have in
the square, the cubical, and the circular.

CTEIS. A representation of the female generative organ. It was, as a
symbol, always accompanied by the phallus, and, like that symbol, was
extensively venerated by the nations of antiquity. It was a symbol of the
prolific powers of nature. See _Phallus_.

CUBE. A geometrical figure, consisting of six equal sides and six equal
angles. It is the square solidified, and was among the ancients a symbol
of truth. The same symbolism is recognized in Freemasonry.




D


DARKNESS. It denotes falsehood and ignorance, and was a very universal
symbol among the nations of antiquity.

In all the ancient initiations, the aspirant was placed in darkness for a
period differing in each,--among the Druids for three days, among the
Greeks for twenty-seven, and in the Mysteries of Mithras for fifty.

In all of these, as well as in Freemasonry, darkness is the symbol of
initiation not complete.

DEATH. Because it was believed to be the entrance to a better and eternal
life, which was the dogma of the Mysteries, death became the symbol of
initiation; and hence among the Greeks the same word signified _to die_,
and _to be initiated_. In the British Mysteries, says Davies (Mythol. of
the British Druids), the novitiate passed the river of death in the boat
of Garanhir, the Charon of the Greeks; and before he could be admitted to
this privilege, it was requisite that he should have been mystically
buried, as well as mystically dead.

DEFINITION OF FREEMASONRY. The definition quoted in the text, that it is a
science of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, is the
one which is given in the English lectures.

But a more comprehensive and exact definition is, that it is a science
which is engaged in the search after divine truth.

DELTA. In the higher degrees of Masonry, the triangle is so called because
the Greek letter of that name is of a triangular form.

It is a symbol of Deity, because it is the first perfect figure in
geometry; it is the first figure in which space is enclosed by lines.

DEMETER. Worshipped by the Greeks as the symbol of the prolific earth. She
was the Ceres of the Romans. To her is attributed the institution of the
Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece, the most popular of all the ancient
initiations.

DESIGN OF FREEMASONRY. It is not charity or alms-giving.

Nor the cultivation of the social sentiment; for both of these are merely
incidental to its organization.

But it is the search after truth, and that truth is the unity of God, and
the immortality of the soul.

DIESEAL. A term used by the Druids to designate the circumambulation
around the sacred cairns, and is derived from two words signifying "on the
right of the sun," because the circumambulation was always in imitation of
the course of the sun, with the right hand next to the cairn or altar.

DIONYSIAC ARTIFICERS. An association of architects who possessed the
exclusive privilege of erecting temples and other public buildings in Asia
Minor. The members were distinguished from the uninitiated inhabitants by
the possession of peculiar marks of recognition, and by the secret
character of their association. They were intimately connected with the
Dionysiac Mysteries, and are supposed to have furnished the builders for
the construction of the temple of Solomon.

DIONYSIAC MYSTERIES. In addition to what is said in the text, I add the
following, slightly condensed, from the pen of that accomplished writer,
Albert Pike: "The initiates in these Mysteries had preserved the ritual
and ceremonies that accorded with the simplicity of the earliest ages, and
the manners of the first men. The rules of Pythagoras were followed there.
Like the Egyptians, who held wool unclean, they buried no initiate in
woollen garments. They abstained from bloody sacrifices, and lived on
fruits or vegetables. They imitated the life of the contemplative sects of
the Orient. One of the most precious advantages promised by their
initiation was to put man in communion with the gods by purifying his
soul of all the passions that interfere with that enjoyment, and dim the
rays of divine light that are communicated to every soul capable of
receiving them. The sacred gates of the temple, where the ceremonies of
initiation were performed, were opened but once in each year, and no
stranger was allowed to enter. Night threw her veil over these august
Mysteries. There the sufferings of Dionysus were represented, who, like
Osiris, died, descended to hell, and rose to life again; and raw flesh was
distributed to the initiates, which each ate in memory of the death of the
deity torn in pieces by the Titans."

DIONYSUS. Or Bacchus; mythologically said to be the son of Zeus and
Semele. In his Mysteries he was identified with Osiris, and regarded as
the sun. His Mysteries prevailed in Greece, Rome, and Asia, and were
celebrated by the Dionysiac artificers--those builders who united with the
Jews in the construction of King Solomon's temple. Hence, of all the
ancient Mysteries, they are the most interesting to the masonic student.

DISSEVERANCE. The disseverance of the operative from the speculative
element of Freemasonry occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth
century.

DISCALCEATION, RITE OF. The ceremony of uncovering the feet, or taking off
the shoes; from the Latin _discalceare_. It is a symbol of reverence. See
_Bare Feet_.

DRUIDICAL MYSTERIES. The Celtic Mysteries celebrated in Britain and Gaul.
They resembled, in all material points, the other mysteries of antiquity,
and had the same design. The aspirant was subjected to severe trials,
underwent a mystical death and burial in imitation of the death of the god
Hu, and was eventually enlightened by the communication to him of the
great truths of God and immortality, which it was the object of all the
Mysteries to teach.

DUALISM. A mythological and philosophical doctrine, which supposes the
world to have been always governed by two antagonistic principles,
distinguished as the good and the evil principle. This doctrine pervaded
all the Oriental religions, and its influences are to be seen in the
system of Speculative Masonry, where it is developed in the symbolism of
Light and Darkness.



E


EAST. That part of the heavens where the sun rises; and as the source of
material light to which we figuratively apply the idea of intellectual
light, it has been adopted as a symbol of the Order of Freemasonry. And
this symbolism is strengthened by the fact that the earliest learning and
the earliest religion came from the east, and have ever been travelling to
the west.

In Freemasonry, the east has always been considered the most sacred of the
cardinal points, because it is the place where light issues; and it was
originally referred to the primitive religion, or sun-worship. But in
Freemasonry it refers especially to that east whence an ancient priesthood
first disseminated truth to enlighten the world; wherefore the east is
masonically called "the place of light."

EGG. The mundane egg is a well-recognized symbol of the world. "The
ancient pagans," says Faber, "in almost every part of the globe, were wont
to symbolize the world by an egg. Hence this symbol is introduced into the
cosmogony of nearly all nations; and there are few persons, even among
those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the _Mundane Egg_
is not perfectly familiar. It was employed not only to represent the
earth, but also the universe in its largest extent." _Origin of Pag.
Idolatry_, i. 175.

EGG AND LUNETTE. The egg, being a symbol not only of the resurrection,
but also of the world rescued from destruction by the Noachic ark, and the
lunette, or horizontal crescent, being a symbol of the Great Father,
represented by Noah, the egg and lunette combined, which was the
hieroglyphic of the god Lunus, at Heliopolis, was a symbol of the world
proceeding from the Great Father.

EGYPT. Egypt has been considered as the cradle not only of the sciences,
but of the religions of the ancient world. Although a monarchy, with a
king nominally at the head of the state, the government really was in the
hands of the priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning, and were
alone acquainted with the religious formularies that in Egypt controlled
all the public and private actions of the life of every inhabitant.

ELEPHANTA. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for the stupendous
caverns artificially excavated out of the solid rock, which were
appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Indian Mysteries.

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Of all the Mysteries of the ancients these were the
most popular. They were celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near Athens,
and were dedicated to Demeter. In them the loss and the restoration of
Persephone were scenically represented, and the doctrines of the unity of
God and the immortality of the soul were taught. See _Demeter_.

ENTERED APPRENTICE. The first degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous
to the aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries.

It is viewed as a symbol of childhood, and is considered as a preparation
and purification for something higher.

EPOPT. (From the Greek [Greek: e)po/Ptês], _an eye witness_.) One who,
having been initiated in the Greater Mysteries of paganism, has seen the
aporrheta.

ERA OF MASONRY. The legendary statement that the origin of Masonry is
coeval with the beginning of the world, is only a philosophical myth to
indicate the eternal nature of its principles.

ERICA. The tree heath; a sacred plant among the Egyptians, and used in the
Osirian Mysteries as the symbol of immortality, and the analogue of the
masonic acacia.

ESSENES. A society or sect of the Jews, who combined labor with religious
exercises, whose organization partook of a secret character, and who have
been claimed to be the descendants of the builders of the temple of
Solomon.

EUCLID. The masonic legend which refers to Euclid is altogether
historically untrue. It is really a philosophical myth intended to convey
a masonic truth.

EURESIS. (From the Greek [Greek: ey)/resis], _a discovery_.) That part of
the initiation in the ancient Mysteries which represented the finding of
the body of the god or hero whose death was the subject of the initiation.

The euresis has been adopted in Freemasonry, and forms an essential part
of the ritual of the third degree.

EVERGREEN. A symbol of the immortality of the soul.

Planted by the Hebrews and other ancient peoples at the heads of graves.

For this purpose the Hebrews preferred the acacia, because its wood was
incorruptible, and because, as the material of the ark, it was already
considered as a sacred plant.

EYE, ALL-SEEING. A symbol of the omniscient and watchful providence of
God. It is a very ancient symbol, and is supposed by some to be a relic of
the primitive sun-worship. Volney says (_Les Ruines_, p. 186) that in most
of the ancient languages of Asia, the _eye_ and the _sun_ are expressed by
the same word. Among the Egyptians the eye was the symbol of their supreme
god, Osiris, or the sun.



F


FABER. The works of the Rev. G.S. Faber, on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry,
and on the Cabiri, are valuable contributions to the science of mythology.
They abound in matters of interest to the investigator of masonic
symbolism and philosophy, but should be read with a careful view of the
preconceived theory of the learned author, who refers everything in the
ancient religions to the influences of the Noachic cataclysm, and the
arkite worship which he supposes to have resulted from it.

FELLOW CRAFT. The second degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the
mystes in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbol of a youth setting forth on the journey of life.

FETICHISM. The worship of uncouth and misshapen idols, practised only by
the most ignorant and debased peoples, and to be found at this day among
some of the least civilized of the negro tribes of Africa. "Their
fetiches," says Du Chaillu, speaking of some of the African races,
"consisted of fingers and tails of monkeys; of human hair, skin, teeth,
bones; of clay, old nails, copper chains; shells, feathers, claws, and
skulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood; seeds of plants, ashes
of various substances, and I cannot tell what more." _Equatorial Africa_,
p. 93.

FIFTEEN. A sacred number, symbolic of the name of God, because the letters
of the holy name JAH are equal, in the Hebrew mode of numeration by the
letters of the alphabet, to fifteen; for [Hebrew: yod] is equal to ten,
and [Hebrew: heh] is equal to five. Hence, from veneration for this sacred
name, the Hebrews do not, in ordinary computations, when they wish to
express the number 15, make use of these two letters, but of two others,
which are equivalent to 9 and 6.

FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM. The forty-seventh problem of the first book of
Euclid is, that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described
upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described
upon the sides which contain the right angle. It is said to have been
discovered by Pythagoras while in Egypt, but was most probably taught to
him by the priests of that country, in whose rites he had been initiated;
it is a symbol of the production of the world by the generative and
prolific powers of the Creator; hence the Egyptians made the perpendicular
and base the representatives of Osiris and Isis, while the hypothenuse
represented their child Horus. Dr. Lardner says (_Com. on Euclid_, p. 60)
of this problem, "Whether we consider the forty-seventh proposition with
reference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established by it, or to
its innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to
its fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be
esteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements,
if not in the whole range of mathematical science."

FOURTEEN. Some symbologists have referred the fourteen pieces into which
the mutilated body of Osiris was divided, and the fourteen days during
which the body of the builder was buried, to the fourteen days of the
disappearance of the moon. The Sabian worshippers of "the hosts of heaven"
were impressed with the alternate appearance and disappearance of the
moon, which at length became a symbol of death and resurrection. Hence
fourteen was a sacred number. As such it was viewed in the Osirian
Mysteries, and may have been introduced into Freemasonry with other relics
of the old worship of the sun and planets.

FREEMASONRY, DEFINITION OF. See _Definition_.

FREEMASONS, TRAVELLING. The travelling Freemasons were a society existing
in the middle ages, and consisting of learned men and prelates, under whom
were operative masons. The operative masons performed the labors of the
craft, and travelling from country to country, were engaged in the
construction of cathedrals, monasteries, and castles. "There are few
points in the history of the middle ages," says Godwin, "more pleasing to
look back upon than the existence of the associated masons; they are the
bright spot in the general darkness of that period; the patch of verdure
when all around is barren." _The Builder_, ix. 463



G


G. The use of the letter G in the Fellow Craft's degree is an anachronism.
It is really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the
Hebrew letter (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable name. As such,
it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power of God.

G.A.O.T.U. A masonic abbreviation used as a symbol of the name of God, and
signifying the _Grand Architect of the Universe_. It was adopted by the
Freemasons in accordance with a similar practice among all the nations of
antiquity of noting the Divine Name by a symbol.

GAVEL. What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter's
hammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a
symbol of the purification of the heart.

GLOVES. On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the
same time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly
prevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is
abandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part
of masonic clothing.

They are a symbol of purification of life.

In the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.

GOD, UNITY OF. See _Unity of God_.

GOD, NAME OF. See _Name_.

GOLGOTHA. In Hebrew and Syriac it means _a skull_; a name of Mount
Calvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public
execution. The Latin _Calvaria_, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.

GRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the
pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the
grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.

GRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of
recognition.



H


HAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure
actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.

HARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of _eyes that are
open_, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris. The
Hebrew word for _hare_ is _arnabet_, and this is compounded of two words
that signify _to behold the light_. The connection of ideas is apparent.

HELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately
succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in
consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than
the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were more
philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it
succeeded.

HERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which
the Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the
progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god
Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who
presided over landmarks.

HERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of
some, both ancient and modern writers, that all the pagan gods were once
human beings, and that the legends and traditions of mythology are mere
embellishments of the acts of these personages when alive. It was the
doctrine taught by Euhemerus among the ancients, and has been maintained
among the moderns by such distinguished authorities as Bochart, Bryant,
Voss, and Banier.

HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. The system of the Alchemists, the Adepts, or seekers
of the philosopher's stone. No system has been more misunderstood than
this. It was secret, esoteric, and highly symbolical. No one has so well
revealed its true design as E.A. Hitchcock, who, in his delightful work
entitled "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists," says, "The genuine
Alchemists were religious men, who passed their time in legitimate
pursuits, earning an honest subsistence, and in religious contemplation,
studying how to realize in themselves the union of the divine and human
nature, expressed in man by an enlightened submission to God's will; and
they thought out and published, after a manner of their own, a method of
attaining or entering upon this state, as the only rest of the soul."
There is a very great similarity between their doctrines and those of the
Freemasons; so much so that the two associations have sometimes been
confounded.

HIEROPHANT. (From the Greek [Greek: i(ero\s], _holy, sacred_, and
[Greek: phai/nô] _to show_.) One who instructs in sacred things; the
explainer of the aporrheta, or secret doctrines, to the initiates in the
ancient Mysteries. He was the presiding officer, and his rank and duties
were analogous to those of the master of a masonic lodge.

HIRAM ABIF. The architect of Solomon's temple. The word "Abif" signifies
in Hebrew "his father," and is used by the writer of Second Chronicles
(iv. 16) when he says, "These things did _Hiram his father_ [in the
original _Hiram Abif _] do for King Solomon.".

The legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of vast
importance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great
philosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality of
the soul.

Hence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human
nature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.

HIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon, whom
he supplied with men and materials for building the temple. In the recent,
or what I am inclined to call the grand lecturer's symbolism of Masonry (a
sort of symbolism for which I have very little veneration), Hiram of Tyre
is styled the symbol of strength, as Hiram Abif is of beauty. But I doubt
the antiquity or authenticity of any such symbolism. Hiram of Tyre can
only be considered, historically, as being necessary to complete the myth
and symbolism of Hiram Abif. The king of Tyre is an historical personage,
and there is no necessity for transforming him into a symbol, while his
historical character lends credit and validity to the philosophical myth
of the third degree of Masonry.

HIRAM THE BUILDER. An epithet of Hiram Abif. For the full significance of
the term, see the word _Builder_.

HO-HI. A cabalistic pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name
of God; it is most probably the true one; and as it literally means
HE-SHE, it is supposed to denote the hermaphroditic essence of Jehovah, as
containing within himself the male and the female principle,--the
generative and the prolific energy of creation.

HO. The sacred name of God among the Druids. Bryant supposes that by it
they intended the Great Father Noah; but it is very possible that it was a
modification of the Hebrew tetragrammaton, being the last syllable read
cabalistically (see _ho-hi_); if so, it signified the great male principle
of nature. But HU is claimed by Talmudic writers to be one of the names of
God; and the passage in Isaiah xlii. 8, in the original _ani Jehovah, Hu
shemi_, which is in the common version "I am the LORD; that is my name,"
they interpret, "I am Jehovah; my name is Hu."

HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. A distinguished masonic writer of England, who lived
in the eighteenth century. He is the author of "The Spirit of Masonry,"
published in 1775. This was the first English work of any importance that
sought to give a scientific interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry;
it is, in fact, the earliest attempt of any kind to treat Freemasonry as a
science of symbolism. Hutchinson, however, has to some extent impaired the
value of his labors by contending that the institution is exclusively
Christian in its character and design.



I


IH-HO. See _Ho-hi_.

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. This is one of the two religious dogmas which
have always been taught in Speculative Masonry.

It was also taught in all the Rites and Mysteries of antiquity.

The doctrine was taught as an abstract proposition by the ancient
priesthood of the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity, but was
conveyed to the mind of the initiate, and impressed upon him by a scenic
representation in the ancient Mysteries, or the Spurious Freemasonry of
the ancients.

INCOMMUNICABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton, so called because it was not
common to, and could not be bestowed upon, nor shared by, any other being.
It was proper to the true God alone. Thus Drusius (Tetragrammaton, sive de
Nomine Dei proprio, p. 108) says, "Nomen quatuor literarum proprie et
absolute non tribui nisi Deo vero. Unde doctores catholici dicunt
_incommunicabile_ [not common] esse creaturae."

INEFFABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton. So called because it is _ineffabile_,
or unpronounceable. See _Tetragrammaton_.

INTRUSTING, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which
consists in communicating to the aspirant or candidate the aporrheta, or
secrets of the mystery.

INUNCTION. The act of anointing. This was a religious ceremony practised
from the earliest times. By the pouring on of oil, persons and things were
consecrated to sacred purposes.

INVESTITURE, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which
consists of clothing the candidate masonically. It is a symbol of purity.

ISH CHOTZEB. Hebrew, _hewers of stones_. The Fellow Crafts at the temple of
Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).

ISH SABAL. Hebrew, _bearers of burdens_. The Apprentices
at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).



J


JAH. It is in Hebrew [Hebrew: yod-heh] whence Maimonides calls it "the
two-lettered name," and derives it from the tetragrammaton, of which it is
an abbreviation. Others have denied this, and assert that _Jah_ is a name
independent of Jehovah, but expressing the same idea of the divine
essenee. See Gataker, _De Nom. Tetrag._.

JEHOVAH. The incommunicable, ineffable name of God, in Hebrew
[Hebrew: yod-heh-vau-heh], and called, from the four letters of which it
consists, the tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name.



L


LABOR. Since the article on the Symbolism of Labor was written, I have met
with an address delivered in 1868 by brother Troué, before St. Peter's
Lodge in Martinico, which contains sentiments on the relation of Masonry
to labor which are well worth a translation from the original French. See
_Bulletin du Grand Orient de France_, December, 1868.

"Our name of Mason, and our emblems, distinctly announce that our object
is the elevation of labor.

"We do not, as masons, consider labor as a punishment inflicted on man;
but on the contrary, we elevate it in our thought to the height of a
religious act, which is the most acceptable to God because it is the most
useful to man and to society.

"We decorate ourselves with the emblems of labor to affirm that our
doctrine is an incessant protest against the stigma branded on the law of
labor, and which an error of apprehension, proceeding from the ignorance
of men in primitive times has erected into a dogma; an error that has
resulted in the production of this anti-social phenomenon which we meet
with every day; namely, that the degradation of the workman is the greater
as his labor is more severe, and the elevation of the idler is higher as
his idleness is more complete. But the study of the laws which maintain
order in nature, released from the fetters of preconceived ideas, has led
the Freemasons to that doctrine, far more moral than the contrary belief,
that labor is not an expiation, but a law of harmony, from the subjection
to which man cannot be released without impairing his own happiness, and
deranging the order of creation. The design of Freemasons is, then, the
rehabilitation of labor, which is indicated by the apron which we wear,
and the gavel, the trowel, and the level, which are found among our
symbols."

Hence the doctrine of this work is, that Freemasonry teaches not only the
necessity, but the nobility, of labor.

And that labor is the proper worship due by man to God.

LADDER. A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere, which is common to Masonry, and to many, if not all, of the
ancient Mysteries.

LADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma.
It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe.

LADDER, MITHRAITIC. The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries of
Mithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the seven
metals.

LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.
Dr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the
symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.

LADDER, THEOLOGICAL. The symbolic ladder of the masonic Mysteries. It
refers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like all
symbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the
three theological virtues.

LAMB. A symbol of innocence. A very ancient symbol.

LAMB, PASCHAL. See _Paschal Lamb_.

LAMBSKIN APRON. See _Apron_.

LAW, ORAL. See _Oral Law_.

LEGEND. A narrative, whether true or false, that has been traditionally
preserved from the time of its first oral communication. Such is the
definition of a masonic legend. The authors of the Conversations-Lexicon,
referring to the monkish Lives of the Saints which originated in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, say that the title _legend_ was given to
all fictions which make pretensions to truth. Such a remark, however
correct it may be in reference to these monkish narratives, which were
often invented as ecclesiastical exercises, is by no means applicable to
the legends of Freemasonry. These are not necessarily fictitious, but are
either based on actual and historical facts which have been but slightly
modificd, or they are the offspring and expansion of some symbolic idea in
which latter respect they differ entirely from the monastic legends, which
often have only the fertile imagination of some studious monk for the
basis of their construction.

LEGEND OF THE ROYAL ARCH DEGREE. Much of this legend is a mythical
history; but some portion of it is undoubtedly a philosophical myth. The
destruction and the reëdification of the temple, the captivity and the
return of the captives, are matters of history; but many of the details
have been invented and introduced for the purpose of giving form to a
symbolic idea.

LEGEND OF THE THIRD DEGREE. In all probability this legend is a mythical
history, in which truth is very largely and preponderatingly mixed with
fiction.

It is the most important and significant of the legendary symbols of
Freemasonry.

Has descended from age to age by oral tradition, and has been preserved in
every masonic rite.

No essential alteration of it has ever been made in any masonic system,
but the interpretations of it have been various; the most general one is,
that it is a symbol of the resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

Some continental writers have supposed that it was a symbol of the
downfall of the Order of Templars, and its hoped-for restoration. In some
of the high philosophical degrees it is supposed to be a symbol of the
sufferings, death, and resurrection Christ. Hutchinson thought it a symbol
of the decadence of the Jewish religion, and the rise of the Christian on
its ruins. Oliver says that it symbolically refers to the murder of Abel,
the death of our race through Adam, and its restoration through Christ.

Ragon thinks that it is a symbol of the sun shorn of its vigor by the
three winter months, and restored to generative power by the spring. And
lastly, Des Etangs says that it is a symbol of eternal reason, whose
enemies are the vices that deprave and finally destroy humanity.

But none of these interpretations, except the first, can be sustained.

LETTUCE. The sacred plant of the Mysteries of Adonis; a symbol of
immortality, and the analogue of the acacia.

LEVEL. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft. It is a symbol of the
equality of station of all men before God.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES. In the seventh century, all learning was
limited to the seven liberal arts and sciences; their introduction into
Freemasonry, referring to this theory, is a symbol of the completion of
human learning.

LIGHT. It denotes truth and knowledge, and is so explained in all the
ancient systems; in initiation, it is not material but intellectual light
that is sought.

It is predominant as a symbol in all the ancient initiations.

There it was revered because it was an emanation trom the sun, the common
object of worship; but the theory advanced by some writers, that the
veneration of light originally proceeded from its physical qualities, is
not correct.

Pythagoras called it the good principle in nature; and the Cabalists
taught that eternal light filled all space before the creation, and that
after creation it retired to a central spot, and became the instrument of
the Divine Mind in creating matter.

It is the symbol of the autopsy, or the full perfection and fruition of
initiation.

It is therefore a fundamental symbol in Freemasonry, and contains within
itself the very essence of the speculative science.

LINGAM. The phallus was so called by the Indian nations of the East. See
_Phallus_.

LODGE. The place where Freemasons meet, and also the congregation of
masons so met. The word is derived from the _lodges_ occupied by the
travelling Freemasons of the middle ages.

It is a symbol of the world, or universe.

Its form, an oblong square, is symbolic of the supposed oblong form of the
world as known to the ancients.

LOST WORD. There is a masonic myth that there was a certain word which was
lost and afterwards recovered.

It is not material what the word was, nor how lost, nor when recovered:
the symbolism refers only to the abstract idea of a loss and a recovery.

It is a symbol of divine truth.

The search for it was also made by the philosophers and priests in the
Mysteries of the Spurious Freemasonry.

LOTUS. The sacred plant of the Brahminical Mysteries, and the analogue of
the acacia.

It was also a sacred plant among the Egyptians.

LUSTRATION. A purification by washing the hands or body in consecrated
water, practised in the ancient Mysteries. See _Purification_.

LUX (_light_). One of the appellations bestowed upon Freemasonry, to
indicate that it is that sublime doctrine of truth by which the pathway of
him who has attained it is to be illumined in the pilgrimage of life.
Among the Rosicrucians, light was the knowledge of the philosopher's
stone; and Mosheim says that in chemical language the cross was an emblem
of light, because it contains within its figure the forms of the three
figures of which LVX, or light, is composed.

LUX E TENEBRIS (_light out of darkness_). A motto of the Masonic Order,
which is equivalent to "truth out of initiation;" light being the symbol
of truth, and darkness the symbol of initiation commenced.



M


MAN. Repeatedly referred to by Christ and the apostles as the symbol of a
temple.

MASTER MASON. The third degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the
epopt of the ancient Mysteries.

MENATZCHIM. Hebrew _superintendents_, or _overseers_. The Master
Masons at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.)

MENU. In the Indian mythology, Menu is the son of Brahma, and the founder
of the Hindoo religion. Thirteen other Menus are said to exist, seven of
whom have already reigned on earth. But it is the first one whose
instructions constitute the whole civil and religious polity of the
Hindoos. The code attributed to him by the Brahmins has been translated by
Sir William Jones, with the title of "The Institutes of Menu."

MIDDLE CHAMBER. A part of the Solomonic temple, which was approached by
winding stairs, but which was certainly not appropriated to the purpose
indicated in the Fellow Craft's degree.

The legend of the Winding Stairs is therefore only a philosophical myth.

It is a symbol of this life and its labors.

MISTLETOE. The sacred plant of Druidism; commemorated also in the
Scandinavian rites. It is the analogue of the acacia, and like all the
other sacred plants of antiquity, is a symbol of the immortality of the
soul. Lest the language of the text should be misunderstood, it may be
remarked here that the Druidical and the Scandinavian rites are not
identical. The former are Celtic, the latter Gothic. But the fact that in
both the mistletoe was a sacred plant affords a violent presumption that
there must have been a common point from which both religions started.
There was, as I have said, an identity of origin for the same ancient and
general symbolic idea.

MITHRAS. He was the god worshipped by the ancient Persians, and celebrated
in their Mysteries as the symbol of the sun. In the initiation in these
Mysteries, the candidate passed through many terrible trials, and his
courage and fortitude were exposed to the most rigorous tests. Among
others, after ascending the mystical ladder of seven steps, he passed
through a scenic representation of Hades, or the infernal regions; out of
this and the surrounding darkness he was admitted into the full light of
Elysium, where he was obligated by an oath of secrecy, and invested by the
Archimagus, or High Priest, with the secret instructions of the rite,
among which was a knowledge of the Ineffable Name.

MOUNT CALVARY. A small hill of Jerusalem, in a westerly direction, and not
far from Mount Moriah. In the legends of Freemasonry it is known as "a
small hill near Mount Moriah," and is referred to in the third degree.
This "small hill" having been determined as the burial-place of Jesus, the
symbol has been Christianized by many modern masons.

There are many masonic traditions, principally borrowed from the Talmud,
connected with Mount Calvary; such as, that it was the place where Adam
was buried, &c.

MOUNT MORIAH. The hill in Jerusalem on which the temple of Solomon was
built.

MYRTLE. The sacred plant in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and, as symbolic of
a resurrection and immortality, the analogue of the acacia.

MYSTERIES. A secret worship paid by the ancients to several of the pagan
gods, to which none were admitted but those who had been solemnly
initiated. The object of instruction in these Mysteries was, to teach the
unity of God and the immortality of the soul. They were divided into
Lesser and Greater Mysteries. The former were merely preparatory. In the
latter the whole knowledge was communicated. Speaking of the doctrine that
was communicated to the initiates, Philo Judaeus says that "it is an
incorruptible treasure, not like gold or silver, but more precious than
everything beside; for it is the knowledge of the Great Cause, and of
nature, and of that which is born of both." And his subsequent language
shows that there was a confraternity existing among the initiates like
that of the masonic institution; for he says, with his peculiar mysticism,
"If you meet an initiate, besiege him with your prayers that he conceal
from you no new mysteries that he may know; and rest not until you have
obtained them. For me, although I was initiated into the Great Mysteries
by Moses, the friend of God, yet, having seen Jeremiah, I recognized him
not only as an Initiate, but as a Hierophant; and I followed his school."
So, too, the mason acknowledges every initiate as his brother, and is ever
ready and anxious to receive all the light that can be bestowed on the
Mysteries in which he has been indoctrinated.

MYSTES. (From the Greek [Greek: my/ô], _to shut the eyes_.) One who had
been initiated into the Lesser Mysteries of paganism. He was now blind,
but when he was initiated into the Greater Mysteries he was called an
Epopt, or one who saw.

MYTH. Grote's definition of the myth, which is cited in the text, may be
applied without modification to the myths of Freemasonry, although
intended by the author only for the myths of the ancient Greek religion.

The myth, then, is a narrative of remote date, not necessarily true or
false, but whose truth can only be certified by internal evidence. The
word was first applied to those fables of the pagan gods which have
descended from the remotest antiquity, and in all of which there prevails
a symbolic idea, not always, however, capable of a positive
interpretation. As applied to Freemasonry, the words _myth_ and _legend_
are synonymous.

From this definition it will appear that the myth is really only the
interpretation of an idea. But how we are to read these myths will best
appear from these noble words of Max Müller: "Everything is true, natural,
significant, if we enter with a reverent spirit into the meaning of
ancient art and ancient language. Everything becomes false, miraculous,
and unmeaning, if we interpret the deep and mighty words of the seers of
old in the shallow and feeble sense of modern chroniclers." (Science of
Language, 2d Ser. p. 578.).

MYTH, HISTORICAL. An historical myth is a myth that has a known and
recognized foundation in historical truth, but with the admixture of a
preponderating amount of fiction in the introduction of personages and
circumstances. Between the historical myth and the mythical history, the
distinction as laid down in the text cannot always be preserved, because
we are not always able to determine whether there is a preponderance of
truth or of fiction in the legend or narrative under examination.

MYTHICAL HISTORY. A myth or legend in which the historical and truthful
greatly preponderate over the inventions of fiction.

MYTHOLOGY. Literally, the science of myths; and this is a very appropriate
definition, for mythology is the science which treats of the religion of
the ancient pagans, which was almost altogether founded on myths, or
popular traditions and legendary tales; and hence Keightly (Mythol. of
Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 2) says that "mythology may be regarded as
the repository of the early religion of the people." Its interest to a
masonic student arises from the constant antagonism that existed between
its doctrines and those of the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity and the
light that the mythological Mysteries throw upon the ancient organization
of Speculative Masonry.

MYTH, PHILOSOPHICAL. This is a myth or legend that is almost wholly
unhistorical, and which has been invented only for the purpose of
enunciating and illustrating a particular thought or dogma.



N


NAME. All Hebrew names are significant, and were originally imposed with
reference to some fact or feature in the history or character of the
persons receiving them. Camden says that the same custom prevailed among
all the nations of antiquity. So important has this subject been
considered, that "Onomastica," or treatises on the signification of names
have been written by Eusebius and St. Jerome, by Simonis and Hillerus, and
by several other scholars, of whom Eusebe Salverte is the most recent and
the most satisfactory. Shuckford (Connect. ii. 377) says that the Jewish
Rabbins thought that the true knowledge of names was a science preferable
to the study of the written law.

NAME OF GOD. The true pronunciation, and consequently the signification,
of the name of God can only be obtained through a cabalistical
interpretation.

It is a symbol of divine truth. None but those who are familiar with the
subject can have any notion of the importance bestowed on this symbol by
the Orientalists. The Arabians have a science called _Ism Allah_, or the
_science of the name of God_; and the Talmudists and Rabbins have written
copiously on the same subject. The Mussulmans, says Salverte (Essai sur
les Noms, ii. 7), have one hundred names of God, which they repeat while
counting the beads of a rosary.

NEOPHYTE. (From the Greek [Greek: ne/on] and [Greek: phyio\n], _a new
plant_.) One who has been recently initiated in the Mysteries. St. Paul
uses the same word (I Tim. iii. 6) to denote one who had been recently
converted to the Christian faith.

NOACHIDAE. The descendants of Noah, and the transmitters of his religious
dogmas, which were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. The
name has from the earliest times been bestowed upon the Freemasons, who
teach the same doctrines. Thus in the "old charges," as quoted by Anderson
(Const. edit. 1738, p. 143), it is said, "A mason is obliged by his tenure
to observe the moral law as a true Noachidae."

NOACHITES. The same as _Noachidae_, which see.

NORTH. That part of the earth which, being most removed from the influence
of the sun at his meridian height, is in Freemasonry called "a place of
darkness." Hence it is a symbol of the profane world.

NORTH-EAST CORNER. An important ceremony of the first degree, which refers
to the north-east corner of the lodge, is explained by the symbolism of
the corner-stone.

The corner-stone of a building is always laid in the north-east corner,
for symbolic reasons.

The north-east point of the heavens was especially sacred among the
Hindoos.

In the symbolism of Freemasonry, the north refers to the outer or profane
world, and the east to the inner world of Masonry; and hence the
north-east is symbolic of the double position of the neophyte, partly in
the darkness of the former, partly in the light of the latter.

NUMBERS. The symbolism of sacred numbers, which prevails very extensively
in Freemasonry, was undoubtedly borrowed from the school of Pythagoras;
but it is just as likely that he got it from Egypt or Babylon, or from
both. The Pythagorean doctrine was, according to Aristotle (Met. xii. 8),
that all things proceed from numbers. M. Dacier, however, in his life of
the philosopher, denies that the doctrine of numbers was taught by
Pythagoras himself, but attributes it to his later disciples. But his
arguments are not conclusive or satisfactory.



O


OATH OF SECRECY. It was always administered to the candidate in the
ancient Mysteries.

ODD NUMBERS. In the system of Pythagoras, odd numbers were symbols of
perfection. Hence the sacred numbers of Freemasonry are all odd. They are
3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 33, and 81.

OIL. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of prosperity
and happiness, is intended, under the name of the "oil of joy," to
indicate the expected propitious results of the consecration of any thing
or person to a sacred purpose.

OLIVE. In a secondary sense, the symbol of peace and of victory; but in
its primary meaning, like all the other Sacred plants of antiquity, a
symbol of immortality; and thus in the Mysteries it was the analogue of
the acacia of the Freemasons.

OLIVER. The Rev. George Oliver, D.D., of Lincolnshire, England, who died
in 1868, is by far the most distinguished and the most voluminous of the
English writers on Freemasonry. Looking to his vast labors and researches
in the arcana of the science, no student of masonry can speak of his name
or his memory without profound reverence for his learning, and deep
gratitude for the services that he has accomplished. To the author of this
work the recollection will ever be most grateful that he enjoyed the
friendship of so good and so great a man; one of whom we may testify, as
Johnson said of Goldsmith, that "nihil quod tetigit non ornavit." In his
writings he has traversed the whole field of masonic literature and
science, and has treated, always with great ability and wonderful
research, of its history, its antiquities, its rites and ceremonies, its
ethics, and its symbols. Of all his works, his "Historical Landmarks," in
two volumes, is the most important, the most useful, and the one which
will perhaps the longest perpetuate his memory. In the study of his works,
the student must be careful not to follow too implicitly all his
conclusions. These were in his own mind controlled by the theory which he
had adopted, and which he continuously maintained, that Freemasonry was a
Christian institution, and that the connection between it and the
Christian religion was absolute and incontrovertible. He followed in the
footsteps of Hutchinson, but with a far more expanded view of the masonic
system.

OPERATIVE MASONRY. Masonry considered merely as a useful art, intended for
the protection and the convenience of man by the erection of edifices
which may supply his intellectual, religious, and physical wants.

In contradistinction to Speculative Masonry, therefore, it is said to be
engaged in the construction of a material temple.

ORAL LAW. The oral law among the Jews was the commentary on and the
interpretation of the written contained in the Pentateuch; and the
tradition is, that it was delivered to Moses at the same time, accompanied
by the divine command, "Thou shalt not divulge the words which I have said
to thee out of my mouth." The oral law was, therefore, never intrusted to
books; but being preserved in the memories of the judges, prophets,
priests, and wise men, was handed down from one to the other through a
long succession of ages. But after the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans under Adrian, A.D. 135, and the final dispersion of the Jews, fears
being entertained that the oral law would be lost, it was then committed
to writing, and now constitutes the text of the Talmud.

ORMUZD. Worshipped by the disciples of Zoroaster as the principle of good,
and symbolized by light. See _Ahriman_.

OSIRIS. The chief god of the ancient Egyptians, and worshipped as a symbol
of the sun, and more philosophically as the male or generative principle.
Isis, his wife, was the female or prolific principle; and Horus, their
child, was matter, or the world--the product of the two principles.

OSIRIS, MYSTERIES OF. The Osirian Mysteries consisted in a scenic
representation of the murder of Osiris by Typhon, the subsequent recovery
of his mutilated body by Isis, and his deification, or restoration to
immortal life.

OVAL TEMPLES. Temples of an oval form were representations of the mundane
egg, a symbol of the world.



P


PALM TREE. In its secondary sense the palm tree is a symbol of victory;
but in its primary signification it is a symbol of the victory over death,
that is, immortality.

PARABLE. A narrative in which one thing is compared with another. It is in
principle the same as a symbol or an allegory.

PARALLEL LINES. The lines touching the circle in the symbol of the point
within a circle. They are said to represent St. John the Baptist and St.
John the Evangelist; but they really refer to the solstitial points Cancer
and Capricorn, in the zodiac.

PASTOS. (From the Greek [Greek: pasto\s], _a nuptial couch_.) The coffin
or grave which contained the body of the god or hero whose death was
scenically represented in the ancient Mysteries.

It is the analogue of the grave in the third degree of Masonry.

PELASGIAN RELIGION. The Pelasgians were the oldest if not the aboriginal
inhabitants of Greece. Their religion differed from that of the Hellenes
who succeeded them in being less poetical, less mythical, and more
abstract. We know little of their religious worship, except by conjecture;
but we may suppose it resembled in some respects the doctrines of the
Primitive Freemasonry. Creuzer thinks that the Pelasgians were either a
nation of priests or a nation ruled by priests.

PHALLUS. A representation of the virile member, which was venerated as a
religious symbol very universally, and without the slightest
lasciviousness, by the ancients. It was one of the modifications of sun
worship, and was a symbol of the fecundating power of that luminary. The
masonic point within a circle is undoubtedly of phallic origin.

PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY. The dogmas taught in the masonic system
constitute its philosophy. These consist in the contemplation of God as
one and eternal, and of man as immortal. In other words, the philosophy of
Freemasonry inculcates the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.

PLUMB. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol of
rectitude of conduct.

POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE. It is derived from the ancient sun worship, and is
in reality of phallic origin. It is a symbol of the universe, the sun
being represented by the point, while the circumference is the universe.

PORCH OF THE TEMPLE. A symbol of the entrance into life.

PRIMITIVE FREEMASONRY. The Primitive Freemasonry of the antediluvians is a
term for which we are indebted to Oliver, although the theory was broached
by earlier writers, and among them by the Chevalier Ramsay. The theory is,
that the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry existed in the earliest
ages of the world, and were believed and practised by a primitive people,
or priesthood, under the name of Pure or Primitive Freemasonry. That this
Freemasonry, that is to say, the religious doctrine inculcated by it, was,
after the flood, corrupted by the pagan philosophers and priests, and,
receiving the title of _Spurious Freemasory_, was exhibited in the ancient
Mysteries. The Noachidae, however, preserved the principles of the
Primitive Freemasonry, and transmitted them to succeeding ages, when at
length they assumed the name of _Speculative Masonry_. The Primitive
Freemasonry was probably without ritual or symbolism, and consisted only
of a series of abstract propositions derived from antediluvian traditions.
Its dogmas were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.

PROFANE. One who has not been initiated as a Freemason. In the technical
language of the Order, all who are not Freemasons are profanes. The term
is derived from the Latin words _pro fano_, which literally signify "in
front of the temple," because those in the ancient religions who were not
initiated in the sacred rites or Mysteries of any deity were not permitted
to enter the temple, but were compelled to remain outside, or in front of
it. They were kept on the outside. The expression a _profane_ is not
recognized as a noun substantive in the general usage of the language; but
it has been adopted as a technical term in the dialect of Freemasonry, in
the same relative sense in which the word _layman_ is used in the
professions of law and divinity.

PURE FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. The same as Primitive Freemasonry,--which
see.

PURIFICATION. A religious rite practised by the ancients, and which was
performed before any act of devotion. It consisted in washing the hands,
and sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water. It was
intended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart. It was a
ceremony preparatory to initiation in all the ancient Mysteries.

PYTHAGORAS. A Grecian philosopher, supposed to have been born in the
island of Samos, about 584 B.C. He travelled extensively for the purpose
of acquiring knowledge. In Egypt he was initiated in the Mysteries of that
country by the priests. He also repaired to Babylon, where he became
acquainted with the mystical learning of the Chaldeans, and had, no doubt,
much communication with the Israelitish captives who had been exiled from
Jerusalem, and were then dwelling in Babylon. On his return to Europe he
established a school, which in its organization, as well as its doctrines,
bore considerable resemblance to Speculative Masonry; for which reason he
has been claimed as "an ancient friend and brother" by the modern
Freemasons.



R


RESURRECTION. This doctrine was taught in the ancient Mysteries, as it is
in Freemasonry, by a scenic representation. The initiation was death, the
autopsy was resurrection. Freemasonry does not interest itself with the
precise mode of the resurrection, or whether the body buried and the body
raised are in all their parts identical. Satisfied with the general
teaching of St. Paul, concerning the resurrection that "it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body," Freemasonry inculcates by
its doctrine of the resurrection the simple fact of a progressive
advancement from a lower to a higher sphere, and the raising of the soul
from the bondage of death to its inheritance of eternal life.

RITUAL. The forms and ceremonies used in conferring the degrees, or in
conducting the labors, of a lodge are called the ritual. There are many
rites of Freemasonry, which differ from each other in the number and
division of the degrees, and in their rituals, or forms and ceremonies.
But the great principles of Freemasonry, its philosophy and its
symbolism, are alike in all. It is evident, then, that in an investigation
of the symbolism of Freemasonry, we have no concern with its ritual, which
is but an outer covering that is intended to conceal the treasure that is
within.

ROSICRUCIANS. A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth
century, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. It was a
secret society much resembling the masonic in its organization, and in
some of the subjects of its investigation; but it was in no other way
connected with Freemasonry. It is, however, well worth the study of the
masonic student on account of the light that it throws upon many of the
masonic symbols.

ROYAL ART. Freemasonry is so called because it is supposed to have been
founded by two kings,--the kings of Israel and Tyre,--and because it has
been subsequently encouraged and patronized by monarchs in all countries.



S


SABIANISM, or SABAISM. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, the TSABA
_Hashmaim_, "the host of heaven." It was practised in Persia, Chaldea,
India, and other Oriental countries, at an early period of the world's
history. Sun-worship has had a powerful influence on subsequent and more
rational religions, and relics of it are to be found even in the symbolism
of Freemasonry.

SACELLUM. A sacred place consecrated to a god, and containing an altar.

SAINTE CROIX. The work of the Baron de Sainte Croix, in two volumes,
entitled, "Recherches Historiques et Critiques sur les Mystères du
Paganisme," is one of the most valuable and instructive works that we have
in any language on the ancient Mysteries,--those religious associations
whose history and design so closely connect them with Freemasonry. To the
student of masonic philosophy and symbolism this work of Sainte Croix is
absolutely essential.

SALSETTE. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for stupendous
caverns excavated artificially out of the solid rock, and which were
appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Mysteries of India.

SENSES, FIVE HUMAN. A symbol of intellectual cultivation.

SETH. It is the masonic theory that the principles of the Pure or
Primitive Freemasonry were preserved in the race of Seth, which had always
kept separate from that of Cain, but that after the flood they became
corrupted, by a secession of a portion of the Sethites, who established
the Spurious Freemasonry of the Gentiles.

SEVEN. A sacred number among the Jews and the Gentiles, and called by
Pythagoras a "venerable number."

SHEM HAMPHORASH. (_the declaratory name_.) The tetragrammaton is so
called, because, of all the names of God, it alone distinctly declares his
nature and essence as self-existent and eternal.

SHOE. See _Investiture, Rite of_.

SIGNS. There is abundant evidence that they were used in the ancient
Mysteries. They are valuable only as modes of recognition. But while they
are absolutely conventional, they have, undoubtedly, in Freemasonry, a
symbolic reference.

SIVA. One of the manifestations of the supreme deity of the Hindoos, and a
symbol of the sun in its meridian.

SONS OF LIGHT. Freemasons are so called because _Lux_, or _Light_, is one
of the names of Speculative Masonry.

SOLOMON. The king of Israel, and the founder of the temple of Jerusalem
and of the temple organization of Freemasonry.

That his mind was eminently symbolic in its propensities, is evident from
all the writings that are attributed to him.

SPECULATIVE MASONRY. Freemasonry considered as a science which speculates
on the character of God and man, and is engaged in philosophical
investigations of the soul and a future existence, for which purpose it
uses the terms of an operative art.

It is engaged symbolically in the construction of a spiritual temple.

There is in it always a progress--an advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere.

SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. The body of man; that temple alluded to by Christ and
St. Paul; the temple, in the construction of which the Speculative Mason
is engaged, in contradistinction to that material temple which occupies
the labors of the Operative Mason.

SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. A term applied to the initiations in
the Mysteries of the ancient pagan world, and to the doctrines taught in
those Mysteries. See _Mysteries_.

SQUARE. A geometric figure consisting of four equal sides and equal
angles. In Freemasonry it is a symbol of morality, or the strict
performance of every duty. The Greeks deemed it a figure of perfection,
and the "square man" was a man of unsullied integrity.

SQUARE, TRYING. One of the working-tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol
of morality.

STONE OF FOUNDATION. A very important symbol in the masonic system. It is
like the _word_, the symbol of divine truth.

STONE WORSHIP. A very early form of fetichism. The Pelasgians are supposed
to have given to their statues of the gods the general form of cubical
stones, whence in Hellenic times came the Hermae, or images of Hermes.

SUBSTITUTE WORD. A symbol of the unsuccessful search after divine truth,
and the discovery in this life of only an approximation to it.

SUN, RISING. In the Sabian worship the rising sun was adored on its
resurrection from the apparent death of its evening setting. Hence, in the
ancient Mysteries, the rising sun was a symbol of the regeneration of the
soul.

SUN-WORSHIP. The most ancient of all superstitions. It prevailed
especially in Phoenicia, Chaldea. and Egypt, and traces of it have been
discovered in Peru and Mexico. Its influence was felt in the ancient
Mysteries, and abundant allusions to it are to be found in the symbolism
of Freemasonry.

SWEDENBORG. A Swedish philosopher, and the founder of a religious sect.
Clavel, Ragon, and some other writers have sought to make him the founder
of a masonic rite also, but without authority. In 1767 Chastanier
established the rite of Illuminated Theosophists, whose instructions are
derived from the writings of Swedenborg, but the sage himself had nothing
to do with it. Yet it cannot be denied that the mind of Swedenborg was
eminently symbolic in character, and that the masonic student may derive
many valuable ideas from portions of his numerous works, especially from
his "Celestial Arcana" and his "Apocalypse Revealed."

SYMBOL. A visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or idea is
connected.--_Müller_. Every natural thing which is made the sign or
representation of a moral idea is a symbol.

SYMBOL, COMPOUND. A species of symbol not unusual in Freemasonry, where
the symbol is to be taken in a double sense, meaning in its general
application one thing, and then in a special application another.

SYMBOLISM, SCIENCE OF. To what has been said in the text, may be added the
following apposite remarks of Squier: "In the absence of a written
language or forms of expression capable of conveying abstract ideas, we
can readily comprehend the necessity, among a primitive people, of a
symbolic system. That symbolism in a great degree resulted from this
necessity, is very obvious; and that, associated with man's primitive
religious systems, it was afterwards continued, when in the advanced stage
of the human mind, the previous necessity no longer existed, is equally
undoubted. It thus came to constitute a kind of sacred language, and
became invested with an esoteric significance understood only by the
few."--_The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 19.



T


TABERNACLE. Erected by Moses in the wilderness as a temporary place for
divine worship. It was the antitype of the temple of Jerusalem, and, like
it, was a symbol of the universe.

TALISMAN. A figure either carved in metal or stone, or delineated on
parchment or paper, made with superstitious ceremonies under what was
supposed to be the special influence of the planetary bodies, and believed
to possess occult powers of protecting the maker or possessor from danger.
The figure in the text is a talisman, and among the Orientals no talisman
was more sacred than this one where the nine digits are so disposed as to
make 15 each way. The Arabians called it _zahal_, which was the name of
the planet Saturn, because the nine digits added together make 45, and the
letters of the word _zahal_ are, according to the numerical powers of the
Arabic alphabet, equivalent to 45. The cabalists esteem it because 15 was
the numerical power of the letters composing the word JAH, which is one of
the names of God.

TALMUD. The mystical philosophy of the Jewish Rabbins is contained in the
Talmud, which is a collection of books divided into two parts, the
_Mishna_, which contains the record of the oral law, first committed to
writing in the second or third century, and the _Gemara_, or commentaries
on it. In the Talmud much will be found of great interest to the masonic
student.

TEMPLE. The importance of the temple in the symbolism of Freemasonry will
authorize the following citation from the learned Montfaucon (_Ant._ ii.
1. ii. ch. ii.): "Concerning the origin of _temples_, there is a variety
of opinions. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first that
made altars, statues, and temples. It does not, however, appear that there
were any in Egypt in the time of Moses, for he never mentions them,
although he had many opportunities for doing so. Lucian says that the
Egyptians were the first people who built temples, and that the Assyrians
derived the custom from them, all of which is, however, very uncertain.
The first allusion to the subject in Scripture is the Tabernacle, which
was, in fact, a portable temple, and contained one place within it more
holy and secret than the others, called the _Holy of Holies_, and to which
the _adytum_ in the pagan temples corresponded. The first heathen temple
mentioned in Scripture is that of Dagon, the god of the Philistines. The
Greeks, who were indebted to the Phoenicians for many things, may be
supposed to have learned from them the art of building temples; and it is
certain that the Romans borrowed from the Greeks both the worship of the
gods and the construction of temples."

TEMPLE BUILDER. The title by which Hiram Abif is sometimes designated.

TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. The building erected by King Solomon on Mount Moriah,
in Jerusalem, has been often called "the cradle of Freemasonry," because
it was there that that union took place between the operative and
speculative masons, which continued for centuries afterwards to present
the true organization of the masonic system.

As to the size of the temple, the dimensions given in the text may be
considered as accurate so far as they agree with the description given in
the First Book of Kings. Josephus gives a larger measure, and makes the
length 105 feet, the breadth 35 feet, and the height 210 feet; but even
these will not invalidate the statement in the text, that in size it was
surpassed by many a parish church.

TEMPLE SYMBOLISM. That symbolism which is derived from the temple of
Solomon. It is the most fertile of all kinds of symbolism in the
production of materials for the masonic science.

TERMINUS. One of the most ancient of the Roman deities. He was the god of
boundaries and landmarks, and his statue consisted only of a cubical
stone, without arms or legs, to show that he was immovable.

TETRACTYS. A figure used by Pythagoras, consisting of ten points, arranged
in a triangular form so as to represent the monad, duad, triad, and
quarterniad. It was considered as very sacred by the Pythagoreans, and was
to them what the tetragrammaton was to the Jews.

TETRAGRAMMATON. (From the Greek [Greek: tetra\s], _four_,
and [Greek: gra\mma], a letter. The four-lettered name of God in the Hebrew
language, which consisted of four letters, viz. [Hebrew: yod-heh-vau-heh]
commonly, but incorrectly, pronounced _Jehovah_. As a symbol it greatly
pervaded the rites of antiquity, and was perhaps the earliest symbol
corrupted by the Spurious Freemasonry of the pagan Mysteries.

It was held by the Jews in profound veneration, and its origin supposed to
have been by divine revelation at the burning bush.

The word was never pronounced, but wherever met with _Adonai_ was
substituted for it, which custom was derived from the perverted reading of
a, passage in the Pentateuch. The true pronunciation consequently was
utterly lost; this is explained by the want of vowels in the Hebrew
alphabet, so that the true vocalization of a word cannot be learned from
the letters of which it is composed.

The true pronunciation was intrusted to the high priest; but lest the
knowledge of it should be lost by his sudden death, it was also
communicated to his assistant; it was known also, probably, to the kings
of Israel.

The Cabalists and Talmudists enveloped it in a host of superstitions.

It was also used by the Essenes in their sacred rites, and by the
Egyptians as a pass-word.

Cabalistically read and pronounced, it means the male and female principle
of nature, the generative and prolific energy of creation.

THAMMUZ. A Syrian god, who was worshipped by those women of the Hebrews
who had fallen into idolatry. The idol was the same as the Phoenician
Adonis, and the Mysteries of the two were identical.

TRAVELLING FREEMASONS. See _Freemasons, Travelling_.

TRESTLE BOARD. The board or tablet on which the designs of the architect
are inscribed. It is a symbol of the moral law as set forth in the
revealed will of God.

Every man must have his trestle board, because it is the duty of every man
to work out the task which God, the chief Architect, has assigned to him.

TRIANGLE. A symbol of Deity.

This symbolism is found in many of the ancient religions.

Among the Egyptians it was a symbol of universal nature, or of the
protection of the world by the male and female energies of creation.

TRIANGLE, RADIATED. A triangle placed within a circle of rays. In
Christian art it is a symbol of God; then the rays are called a _glory_.
When they surround the triangle in the form of a circle, the triangle is a
symbol of the glory of God. When the rays emanate from the centre of the
triangle, it is a symbol of divine light. This is the true form of the
masonic radiated triangle.

TRILITERAL NAME. This is the word AUM, which is the ineffable name of God
among the Hindoos, and symbolizes the three manifestations of the
Brahminical supreme god, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. It was never to be
pronounced aloud, and was analogous to the sacred tetragrammaton of the
Jews.

TROWEL. One of the working tools of a Master Mason. It is a symbol of
brotherly love.

TRUTH. It was not always taught publicly by the ancient philosophers to
the people.

The search for it is the object of Freemasonry. It is never found on
earth, but a substitute for it is provided.

TUAPHOLL. A term used by the Druids to designate an unhallowed
circumambulation around the sacred cairn, or altar, the movement being
against the sun, that is, from west to east by the north, the cairn being
on the left hand of the circumambulator.

TUBAL CAIN. Of the various etymologies of this name, only one is given in
the text; but most of the others in some way identify him with Vulcan.
Wellsford (_Mithridates Minor_ p. 4) gives a singular etymology, deriving
the name of the Hebrew patriarch from the definite article [Hebrew: heh]
converted into _T_ and _Baal_, "Lord," with the Arabic _kayn_, "a
blacksmith," so that the word would then signify "the lord of the
blacksmiths." Masonic writers have, however, generally adopted the more
usual derivation of _Cain_, from a word signifying _possession_; and
Oliver descants on Tubal Cain as a symbol of worldly possessions. As to
the identity of Vulcan with Tubal Cain, we may learn something from the
definition of the offices of the former, as given by Diodorus Siculus:
"Vulcan was the first founder of works in iron, brass, gold, silver, and
all fusible metals; and he taught the uses to which fire can be applied in
the arts." See Genesis: "Tubal Cain, an instructor of every artificer in
brass and iron."

TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE. A two-foot rule. One of the working-tools of an
Entered Apprentice, and a symbol of time well employed.

TYPHON. The brother and slayer of Osiris in the Egyptian mythology. As
Osiris was a type or symbol of the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter,
when the vigor, heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and
of darkness as opposed to light.

TYRE. A city of Phoenicia, the residence of King Hiram, the friend and
ally of Solomon, whom he supplied with men and materials for the
construction of the temple.

TYRIAN FREEMASONS. These were the members of the Society of Dionysiac
Artificers, who at the time of the building of Solomon's temple flourished
at Tyre. Many of them were sent to Jerusalem by Hiram, King of Tyre, to
assist King Solomon in the construction of his temple. There, uniting with
the Jews, who had only a knowledge of the speculative principles of
Freemasonry, which had been transmitted to them from Noah, through the
patriarchs, the Tyrian Freemasons organized that combined system of
Operative and Speculative Masonry which continued for many centuries,
until the beginning of the eighteenth, to characterize the institution.
See _Dionysiac Artificers_.



U


UNION. The union of the operative with the speculative element of
Freemasonry took place at the building of King Solomon's temple.

UNITY OF GOD. This, as distinguished from the pagan doctrine of
polytheism, or a multitude of gods, is one of the two religious truths
taught in Speculative Masonry, the other being the immortality of the
soul.



W


WEARY SOJOURNERS. The legend of the "three weary sojourners" in the Royal
Arch degree is undoubtedly a philosophical myth, symbolizing the search
after truth.

WHITE. A symbol of innocence and purity.

Among the Pythagoreans it was a symbol of the good principle in nature,
equivalent to light.

WIDOW'S SON. An epithet bestowed upon the chief architect of the temple,
because he was "a widow's son of the tribe of Naphthali." 1 Kings vii. 14.

WINDING STAIRS, LEGEND OF. A legend in the Fellow Craft's degree having no
historical truth, but being simply a philosophical myth or legendary
symbol intended to communicate a masonic dogma.

It is the symbol of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere.

It commences at the porch of the temple, which is a symbol of the entrance
into life.

The number of steps are always odd, because odd numbers are a symbol of
perfection.

But the fifteen steps in the American system are a symbol of the name of
God, _Jah_.

WINE. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of the inward
refreshment of a good conscience, is intended under the name of the "wine
of refreshment," to remind us of the eternal refreshments which the good
are to receive in the future life for the faithful performance of duty in
the present.

WORD. In Freemasonry this is a technical and symbolic term, and signifies
divine truth. The search after this word constitutes the whole system of
speculative masonry.

WORD, LOST. See _Lost Word_.

WORD, SUBSTITUTE. See _Substitute Word_.

WORK. In Freemasonry the initiation of a candidate is called _work_. It is
suggestive of the doctrine that labor is a masonic duty.



Y


YGGDRASIL. The sacred ash tree in the Scandinavian Mysteries. Dr. Oliver
propounds the theory that it is the analogue of the theological ladder in
the Masonic Mysteries. But it is doubtful whether this theory is tenable.

YOD. A Hebrew letter and about equivalent to the English I or Y. It is the
initial letter of the tetragrammaton, and is often used, especially
enclosed within a triangle, as a substitute for, or an abridgement of,
that sacred word.

It is a symbol of the life-giving and sustaining power of God.

YONI. Among the nations and religions of India the yoni was the
representation of the female organ of generation, and was the symbol of
the prolific power of nature. It is the same as the _cteis_ among the
Occidental nations.



Z


ZENNAAR. The sacred girdle of the Hindoos. It is supposed to be the
analogue of the masonic apron.

ZOROASTER. A distinguished philosopher and reformer, whose doctrines were
professed by the ancient Persians. The religion of Zoroaster was a
dualism, in which the two antagonizing principles were Ormuzd and Abriman,
symbols of Light and Darkness. It was a modification and purification of
the old fire-worship, in which the fire became a symbol of the sun, so
that it was really a species of sun-worship. Mithras, representing the
sun, becomes the mediator between Ormuzd, or the principle of Darkness,
and the world.




Footnotes



[1] "The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, if it is a real
advantage, follows unavoidably from the idea of God. The _best_ Being, he
must _will_ the best of good things; the _wisest_, he must devise plans
for that effect; the _most powerful_, he must bring it about. None can
deny this."--THEO. PARKER, _Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion_,
b. ii. ch. viii. p. 205.

[2] "This institution of religion, like society, friendship, and marriage,
comes out of a principle, deep and permanent in the heart: as humble, and
transient, and partial institutions come out of humble, transient, and
partial wants, and are to be traced to the senses and the phenomena of
life, so this sublime, permanent, and useful institution came out from
sublime, permanent, and universal wants, and must be referred to the soul,
and the unchanging realities of life."--PARKER, _Discourse of Religion_,
b. i. ch. i. p. 14.

[3] "The sages of all nations, ages, and religions had some ideas of these
sublime doctrines, though more or less degraded, adulterated and obscured;
and these scattered hints and vestiges of the most sacred and exalted
truths were originally rays and emanations of ancient and primitive
traditions, handed down from, generation to generation, since the
beginning of the world, or at least since the fall of man, to all
mankind."--CHEV. RAMSAY, _Philos. Princ. of Nat. and Rev. Relig.,_ vol ii.
p. 8.

[4] "In this form, not only the common objects above enumerated, but gems,
metals, stones that fell from heaven, images, carved bits of wood, stuffed
skins of beasts, like the medicine-bags of the North American Indians, are
reckoned as divinities, and so become objects of adoration. But in this
case, the visible object, is idealized; not worshipped as the brute thing
really is, but as the type and symbol of God."--PARKER, _Disc. of Relig._
b. i. ch. v. p. 50.

[5] A recent writer thus eloquently refers to the universality, in ancient
times, of sun-worship: "Sabaism, the worship of light, prevailed amongst
all the leading nations of the early world. By the rivers of India, on the
mountains of Persia, in the plains of Assyria, early mankind thus adored,
the higher spirits in each country rising in spiritual thought from the
solar orb up to Him whose vicegerent it seems--to the Sun of all being,
whose divine light irradiates and purifies the world of soul, as the solar
radiance does the world of sense. Egypt, too, though its faith be but
dimly known to us, joined in this worship; Syria raised her grand temples
to the sun; the joyous Greeks sported with the thought while feeling it,
almost hiding it under the mythic individuality which their lively fancy
superimposed upon it. Even prosaic China makes offerings to the yellow orb
of day; the wandering Celts and Teutons held feasts to it, amidst the
primeval forests of Northern Europe; and, with a savagery characteristic
of the American aborigines, the sun temples of Mexico streamed with human
blood in honor of the beneficent orb."--_The Castes and Creeds of India,_
Blackw. Mag., vol. lxxxi. p. 317.--"There is no people whose religion is
known to us," says the Abbé Banier, "neither in our own continent nor in
that of America, that has not paid the sun a religious worship, if we
except some inhabitants of the torrid zone, who are continually cursing
the sun for scorching them with his beams."--_Mythology_, lib. iii. ch.
iii.--Macrobius, in his _Saturnalia,_ undertakes to prove that all the
gods of Paganism may be reduced to the sun.

[6] "Varro de religionibus loquens, evidenter dicit, multa esse vera, quae
vulgo scire non sit utile; multaque, quae tametsi falsa sint, aliter
existimare populum expediat."--St. AUGUSTINE, _De Civil. Dei._--We must
regret, with the learned Valloisin, that the sixteen books of Varro, on
the religious antiquities of the ancients, have been lost; and the regret
is enhanced by the reflection that they existed until the beginning of the
fourteenth century, and disappeared only when their preservation for less
than two centuries more would, by the discovery of printing, have secured
their perpetuity.

[7] Strabo, Geog., lib. i.

[8] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 297.

[9] Div. Leg., vol. i. b. ii. § iv. p. 193, 10th Lond. edit.

[10] The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality of
the soul were taught originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid
and Bacchus.--WARBURTON, apud Spence's _Anecdotes_, p. 309.

[11] Isoc. Paneg., p. 59.

[12] Apud Arrian. Dissert., lib. iii. c. xxi.

[13] Phaedo.

[14] Dissert. on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, in the Pamphleteer,
vol. viii. p. 53.

[15] Symbol. und Mythol. der Alt. Völk.

[16] In these Mysteries, after the people had for a long time bewailed the
loss of a particular person, he was at last supposed to be restored to
life.--BRYANT, _Anal. of Anc. Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 176.

[17] Herod. Hist., lib. iii. c. clxxi.

[18] The legend says it was cut into _fourteen_ pieces. Compare this with
the _fourteen_ days of burial in the masonic legend of the third degree.
Why the particular number in each? It has been thought by some, that in
the latter legend there was a reference to the half of the moon's age, or
its dark period, symbolic of the darkness of death, followed by the
fourteen days of bright moon, or restoration to life.

[19] Mystères du Paganisme, tom. i. p. 6.

[20] Notes to Rawlinson's Herodotus, b. ii. ch. clxxi. Mr. Bryant
expresses the same opinion: "The principal rites in Egypt were confessedly
for a person lost and consigned for a time to darkness, who was at last
found. This person I have mentioned to have been described under the
character of Osiris."--_Analysis of Ancient Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 177.

[21] Spirit of Masonry, p. 100.

[22] Varro, according to St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, vi. 5), says that
among the ancients there were three kinds of theology--a _mythical_, which
was used by the poets; a _physical_, by the philosophers, and a _civil_,
by the people.

[23] "Tous les ans," says Sainte Croix, "pendant les jours consacrés au
souvenir de sa mort, tout étoit plongé dans la tristesse: on ne cessoit de
pousser des gémissemens; on alloit même jusqu'à se flageller et se donner
des coups. Le dernier jour de ce deuil, on faisoit des sacrifices funèbres
en l'honneur de ce dieu. Le jour suivant, on recevoit la nouvelle
qu'Adonis venoit d'être rappelé à la vie, qui mettoit fin à leur
deuil."--_Recherches sur les Myst. du Paganisme_, tom. ii. p. 105.

[24] Clement of Alexandria calls them [Greek: mystê/ria ta\ pro\
mystêri/ôn], "the mysteries before the mysteries."

[25] Les petits mystères ne consistoient qu'en cérémonies
préparatoires.--_Sainte Croix_, i. 297.--As to the oath of secrecy, Bryant
says, "The first thing at these awful meetings was to offer an oath of
secrecy to all who were to be initiated, after which they proceeded to the
ceremonies."--_Anal. of Anc. Myth._, vol. iii. p. 174.--The Orphic
Argonautics allude to the oath: [Greek: meta\ d' o(rkia My/si~ais,
k. t. l.], "after the oath was administered to the mystes," &c.--_Orph.
Argon._, v. 11.

[26] The satirical pen of Aristophanes has not spared the Dionysiac
festivals. But the raillery and sarcasm of a comic writer must always be
received with many grains of allowance. He has, at least, been candid
enough to confess that no one could be initiated who had been guilty of
any crime against his country or the public security.--_Ranae_, v.
360-365.--Euripides makes the chorus in his Bacchae proclaim that the
Mysteries were practised only for virtuous purposes. In Rome, however,
there can be little doubt that the initiations partook at length of a
licentious character. "On ne peut douter," says Ste. Croix, "que
l'introduction des fêtes de Bacchus en Italie n'ait accéleré les progrès
du libertinage et de la débauche dans cette contrée."--_Myst. du Pag._,
tom. ii. p. 91.--St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. vii. c. xxi.) inveighs
against the impurity of the ceremonies in Italy of the sacred rites of
Bacchus. But even he does not deny that the motive with which they were
performed was of a religious, or at least superstitious nature--"Sic
videlicet Liber deus placandus fuerat." The propitiation of a deity was
certainly a religious act.

[27] Hist. Greece, vol. ii. p. 140.

[28] This language is quoted from Robison (_Proofs of a Conspiracy_, p.
20, Lond. edit. 1797), whom none will suspect or accuse of an undue
veneration for the antiquity or the morality of the masonic order.

[29] We must not confound these Asiatic builders with the play-actors, who
were subsequently called by the Greeks, as we learn from Aulus Gellius
(lib. xx. cap. 4), "artificers of Dionysus"--[Greek: Dionysiakoi
technitai\].

[30] There is abundant evidence, among ancient authors, of the existence
of signs and passwords in the Mysteries. Thus Apuleius, in his Apology,
says, "Si qui forte adest eorundem Solemnium mihi particeps, signum dato,"
etc.; that is, "If any one happens to be present who has been initiated
into the same rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then
be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care." Plautus
also alludes to this usage, when, in his "Miles Gloriosus," act iv. sc. 2,
he makes Milphidippa say to Pyrgopolonices, "Cedo signum, si harunc
Baccharum es;" i.e., "Give the sign if you are one of these Bacchae," or
initiates into the Mysteries of Bacchus. Clemens Alexandrinus calls these
modes of recognition [Greek: sôthêmata], as if _means of safety_. Apuleius
elsewhere uses _memoracula_, I think to denote passwords, when he says,
"sanctissimè sacrorum signa et memoracula custodire," which I am inclined
to translate, "most scrupulously to preserve the signs and passwords of
the sacred rites."

[31] The Baron de Sainte Croix gives this brief view of the ceremonies:
"Dans ces mystères on employoit, pour remplir l'âme des assistans d'une
sainte horreur, les mêmes moyens qu'à Eleusis. L'apparition de fantômes et
de divers objets propres à effrayer, sembloit disposer les esprits à la
crédulité. Ils en avoient sans doute besoin, pour ajouter foi à toutes les
explications des mystagogues: elles rouloient sur le massacre de Bacchus
par les Titans," &c.--_Recherches sur les Mystères du Paganisme_, tom. ii.
sect. vii. art. iii. p. 89.

[32] Lawrie, Hist. of Freemasonry, p. 27.

[33] Vincentius Lirinensis or Vincent of Lirens, who lived in the fifth
century of the Christian era, wrote a controversial treatise entitled
"Commonitorium," remarkable for the blind veneration which it pays to the
voice of tradition. The rule which he there lays down, and which is cited
in the text, may be considered, in a modified application, as an axiom by
which we may test the _probability_, at least, of all sorts of traditions.
None out of the pale of Vincent's church will go so far as he did in
making it the criterion of positive truth.

[34] Prolog. zu einer wissenshaftlich. Mythologie.

[35] In German _hutten_, in English _lodges_, whence the masonic term.

[36] Historical Essay on Architecture, ch. xxi.

[37] Bishop England, in his "Explanation of the Mass," says that in every
ceremony we must look for three meanings: "the first, the literal,
natural, and, it may be said, the original meaning; the second, the
figurative or emblematic signification; and thirdly, the pious or
religious meaning: frequently the two last will be found the same;
sometimes all three will be found combined." Here lies the true difference
between the symbolism of the church and that of Masonry. In the former,
the symbolic meaning was an afterthought applied to the original, literal
one; in the latter, the symbolic was always the original signification of
every ceremony.

[38] /P "Was not all the knowledge Of the Egyptians writ in mystic
symbols? Speak not the Scriptures oft in parables? Are not the choicest
fables of the poets, That were the fountains and first springs of wisdom,
Wrapped in perplexed allegories?"

BEN JONSON, _Alchemist_, act ii. sc. i. P/

[39] The distinguished German mythologist Müller defines a symbol to be
"an eternal, visible sign, with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or
idea is connected." I am not aware of a more comprehensive, and at the
same time distinctive, definition.

[40] And it may be added, that the word becomes a symbol of an idea; and
hence, Harris, in his "Hermes," defines language to be "a system of
articulate voices, the symbols of our ideas, but of those principally
which are general or universal."--_Hermes_, book iii. ch. 3.

[41] "Symbols," says Müller, "are evidently coeval with the human race;
they result from the union of the soul with the body in man; nature has
implanted the feeling for them in the human heart."--_Introduction to a
Scientific System of Mythology_, p. 196, Leitch's translation.--R.W.
Mackay says, "The earliest instruments of education were symbols, the most
universal symbols of the multitudinously present Deity, being earth or
heaven, or some selected object, such as the sun or moon, a tree or a
stone, familiarly seen in either of them."--_Progress of the Intellect_,
vol. i p. 134.

[42] Between the allegory, or parable, and the symbol, there is, as I have
said, no essential difference. The Greek verb [Greek: paraballô], whence
comes the word _parable_, and the verb [Greek: symballô] in the same
language, which is the root of the word _symbol_, both have the synonymous
meaning "to compare." A parable is only a spoken symbol. The definition of
a parable given by Adam Clarke is equally applicable to a symbol, viz.: "A
comparison or similitude, in which one thing is compared with another,
especially spiritual things with natural, by which means these spiritual
things are better understood, and make a deeper impression on the
attentive mind."

[43] North British Review, August, 1851. Faber passes a similar encomium.
"Hence the language of symbolism, being so purely a language of ideas, is,
in one respect, more perfect than any ordinary language can be: it
possesses the variegated elegance of synonymes without any of the
obscurity which arises from the use of ambiguous terms."--_On the
Prophecies_, ii. p. 63.

[44] "By speculative Masonry we learn to subdue our passions, to act upon
the square, to keep a tongue of good report, to maintain secrecy, and
practise charity."--_Lect. of Fel. Craft._ But this is a very meagre
definition, unworthy of the place it occupies in the lecture of the second
degree.

[45] "Animal worship among the Egyptians was the natural and unavoidable
consequence of the misconception, by the vulgar, of those emblematical
figures invented by the priests to record their own philosophical
conception of absurd ideas. As the pictures and effigies suspended in
early Christian churches, to commemorate a person or an event, became in
time objects of worship to the vulgar, so, in Egypt, the esoteric or
spiritual meaning of the emblems was lost in the gross materialism of the
beholder. This esoteric and allegorical meaning was, however, preserved by
the priests, and communicated in the mysteries alone to the initiated,
while the uninstructed retained only the grosser conception."--GLIDDON,
_Otia Aegyptiaca_, p. 94.

[46] "To perpetuate the esoteric signification of these symbols to the
initiated, there were established the Mysteries, of which institution we
have still a trace in Freemasonry."--GLIDDON, _Otia Aegyp._ p. 95.

[47] Philo Judaeus says, that "Moses had been initiated by the Egyptians
into the philosophy of symbols and hieroglyphics, as well as into the
ritual of the holy animals." And Hengstenberg, in his learned work on
"Egypt and the Books of Moses," conclusively shows, by numerous examples,
how direct were the Egyptian references of the Pentateuch; in which fact,
indeed, he recognizes "one of the most powerful arguments for its
credibility and for its composition by Moses."--HENGSTENBERG, p. 239,
Robbins's trans.

[48] Josephus, _Antiq._ book iii. ch. 7.

[49] The ark, or sacred boat, of the Egyptians frequently occurs on the
walls of the temples. It was carried in great pomp by the priests on the
occasion of the "procession of the shrines," by means of staves passed
through metal rings in its side. It was thus conducted into the temple,
and deposited on a stand. The representations we have of it bear a
striking resemblance to the Jewish ark, of which it is now admitted to
have been the prototype.

[50] "The Egyptian reference in the Urim and Thummim is especially
distinct and incontrovertible."--HENGSTENBERG, p. 158.

[51] According to the estimate of Bishop Cumberland, it was only one
hundred and nine feet in length, thirty-six in breadth, and fifty-four in
height.

[52] "Thus did our wise Grand Master contrive a plan, by mechanical and
practical allusions, to instruct the craftsmen in principles of the most
sublime speculative philosophy, tending to the glory of God, and to secure
to them temporal blessings here and eternal life hereafter, as well as to
unite the speculative and operative Masons, thereby forming a twofold
advantage, from the principles of geometry and architecture on the one
part, and the precepts of wisdom and ethics on the other."--CALCOTT,
_Candid Disquisition_, p. 31, ed. 1769.

[53] This proposition I ask to be conceded; the evidences of its truth
are, however, abundant, were it necessary to produce them. The craft,
generally, will, I presume, assent to it.

[54]

    "The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
    To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
    And spread the roof above them--ere he framed
    The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
    The sound of anthems--in the darkling wood,
    Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
    And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
    And supplication."--BRYANT.

[55] Theologians have always given a spiritual application to the temple
of Solomon, referring it to the mysteries of the Christian dispensation.
For this, consult all the biblical commentators. But I may particularly
mention, on this subject, Bunyan's "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized," and a
rare work in folio, by Samuel Lee, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford,
published at London in 1659, and entitled "Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple
of Solomon portrayed by Scripture Light." A copy of this scarce work,
which treats very learnedly of "the spiritual mysteries of the gospel
veiled under the temple," I have lately been, by good fortune, enabled to
add to my library.

[56] Veluti pecora, quae natura finxit prona et obedientia
ventri.--SALLUST, _Bell. Catil._ i.

[57] I Kings vi. 7.

[58] In further illustration of the wisdom of these temple contrivances,
it may be mentioned that, by marks placed upon the materials which had
been thus prepared at a distance, the individual production of every
craftsman was easily ascertained, and the means were provided of rewarding
merit and punishing indolence.

[59] "Each of the pagan gods had (besides the _public_ and _open_) a
_secret worship_ paid unto him; to which none were admitted but those who
had been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation. This
_secret-worship_ was termed the Mysteries."--WARBURTON, _Div. Leg. I. i.
p. 189_.

[60] It must be remarked, however, that many of the Fellow Crafts were
also stone-cutters in the mountains, _chotzeb bahor_, and, with their
nicer implements, more accurately adjusted the stones which had been
imperfectly prepared by the apprentices. This fact does not at all affect
the character of the symbolism we are describing. The due preparation of
the materials, the symbol of purification, was necessarily continued in
all the degrees. The task of purification never ceases.

[61] The classical reader will here be reminded of that beautiful passage
of Horace, commencing with "Justum et tenacem propositi virum."--Lib. iii.
od. 3.

[62] "Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque
turres."--HOR. lib. i. od. 4.

[63] It is worth noticing that the verb _natzach_, from which the title
of the _menatzchim_ (the overseers or Master Masons in the ancient
temple), is derived, signifies also in Hebrew _to be perfected, to be
completed_. The third degree is the perfection of the symbolism of the
temple, and its lessons lead us to the completion of life. In like
manner the Mysteries, says Christie, "were termed [Greek: teletai\],
_perfections_, because they were supposed to induce a perfectness of
life. Those who were purified by them were styled [Greek: teloume/noi],
and [Greek: tetelesme/noi], that is, brought to
perfection."--_Observations on Ouvaroff's Essay on the Eleusinian
Mysteries_, p. 183.

[64] Dr. Oliver, in the first or preliminary lecture of his "Historical
Landmarks," very accurately describes the difference between the pure or
primitive Freemasonry of the Noachites, and the spurious Freemasonry of
the heathens.

[65] The idea of the world, as symbolically representing God's temple, has
been thus beautifully developed in a hymn by N.P. Willis, written for the
dedication of a church:--

    "The perfect world by Adam trod
    Was the first temple built by God;
    His fiat laid the corner stone,
    And heaved its pillars, one by one.

    "He hung its starry roof on high--
    The broad, illimitable sky;
    He spread its pavement, green and bright,
    And curtained it with morning light.

    "The mountains in their places stood,
    The sea, the sky, and 'all was good;'
    And when its first pure praises rang,
    The 'morning stars together sang.'

    "Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea,
    And earth, and sky, a house for thee;
    But in thy sight our offering stands,
    A humbler temple, made with hands."

[66] "The idea," says Dudley, "that the earth is a level surface, and of a
square form, is so likely to have been entertained by persons of little
experience and limited observation, that it may be justly supposed to have
prevailed generally in the early ages of the world."--_Naology_, p. 7.

[67] The quadrangular form of the earth is preserved in almost all the
scriptural allusions that are made to it. Thus Isaiah (xi. 12) says, "The
Lord shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the _four corners_
of the earth;" and we find in the Apocalypse (xx. 9) the prophetic version
of "four angels standing on the _four corners_ of the earth."

[68] "The form of the lodge ought to be a double cube, as an expressive
emblem of the powers of darkness and light in the creation."--OLIVER,
_Landmarks_, i. p. 135, note 37.

[69] Not that whole visible universe, in its modern signification, as
including solar systems upon solar systems, rolling in illimitable space,
but in the more contracted view of the ancients, where the earth formed
the floor, and the sky the ceiling. "To the vulgar and untaught eye," says
Dudley, "the heaven or sky above the earth appears to be co-extensive with
the earth, and to take the same form, enclosing a cubical space, of which
the earth was the base, the heaven or sky the upper surface."--_Naology_,
7.--And it is to this notion of the universe that the masonic symbol of
the lodge refers.

[70] "These rocky shrines, the formation of which Mr. Grose supposes to
have been a labor equal to that of erecting the Pyramids of Egypt, are of
various height, extent, and depth. They are partitioned out, by the labor
of the hammer and the chisel, into many separate chambers, and the roof,
which in the pagoda of Elephanta is flat, but in that of Salsette is
arched, is supported by rows of pillars of great thickness, and arranged
with much regularity. The walls are crowded with gigantic figures of men
and women, engaged in various actions, and portrayed in various whimsical
attitudes; and they are adorned with several evident symbols of the
religion now prevailing in India. Above, as in a sky, once probably
adorned with gold and azure, in the same manner as Mr. Savary lately
observed in the ruinous remains of some ancient Egyptian temples, are seen
floating the children of imagination, genii and dewtahs, in multitudes,
and along the cornice, in high relief, are the figures of elephants,
horses, and lions, executed with great accuracy. Two of the principal
figures at Salsette are twenty-seven feet in height, and of proportionate
magnitude; the very bust only of the triple-headed deity in the grand
pagoda of Elephanta measures fifteen feet from the base to the top of the
cap, while the face of another, if Mr. Grose, who measured it, may be
credited, is above five feet in length, and of corresponding
breadth."--MAURICE, _Ind. Ant._ vol. ii. p. 135.

[71] According to Faber, the egg was a symbol of the world or megacosm,
and also of the ark, or microcosm, as the lunette or crescent was a symbol
of the Great Father, the egg and lunette--which was the hieroglyphic of
the god Lunus, at Heliopolis--was a symbol of the world proceeding from
the Great Father.--_Pagan Idolatry_, vol. i. b. i. ch. iv.

[72] Zoroaster taught that the sun was the most perfect fire of God, the
throne of his glory, and the residence of his divine presence, and he
therefore instructed his disciples "to direct all their worship to God
first towards the sun (which they called Mithras), and next towards their
sacred fires, as being the things in which God chiefly dwelt; and their
ordinary way of worship was to do so towards both. For when they came
before these fires to worship, _they always approached them on the west
side_, that, having their faces towards them and also towards the rising
sun at the same time, they might direct their worship to both. And in this
posture they always performed every act of their worship."--PRIDEAUX.
_Connection._ i. 216.

[73] "The mysteries of Ceres (or Eleusis) are principally distinguished
from all others as having been the depositories of certain traditions
coeval with the world."--OUVAROFF, _Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis_, p.
6.

[74] The dadouchus, or torch-bearer, carried a symbol of the sun.

[75] "Indeed, the most ancient superstition of all nations," says Maurice,
"has been the worship of the sun, as the lord of heaven and the governor
of the world; and in particular it prevailed in Phoenicia, Chaldaea,
Egypt, and from later information we may add, Peru and Mexico, represented
in a variety of ways, and concealed under a multitude of fanciful names.
Through all the revolutions of time the great luminary of heaven hath
exacted from the generations of men the tribute of devotion."--_Indian
Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 91.

[76] Facciolatus thus defines the Phallus: "penis ligneus, vel vitreus,
vel coriaceus, quem in Bacchi festis plaustro impositum per rura et urbes
magno honore circumferebant."--_Lex. in voc._

[77] The exhibition of these images in a colossal form, before the gates
of ancient temples, was common. Lucian tells us of two colossal Phalli,
each one hundred and eighty feet high, which stood in the fore court of
the temple at Hierapolis. Mailer, in his "Ancient Art and its Remains,"
mentions, on the authority of Leake, the fact that a colossal Phallus,
which once stood on the top of the tomb of the Lydian king Halyattes, is
now lying near the same spot; it is not an entire Phallus, but only the
head of one; it is twelve feet in diameter below and nine feet over the
glands. The Phallus has even been found, so universal was this worship,
among the savages of America. Dr. Arthaut discovered, in the year 1790, a
marble Phallic image in a cave of the island of St. Domingo.--CLAVEL,
_Hist. Pittoresq. des Religions_, p. 9.

[78] Sonnerat (Voyage aux Indes Orient, i. p. 118) observes, that the
professors of this worship were of the purest principles and most
unblemished conduct, and it seems never to have entered into the heads of
the Indian legislator and people that anything natural could be grossly
obscene.--Sir William Jones remarks (Asiatic Researches, i. 254), that
from the earliest periods the women of Asia, Greece, and Italy wore this
symbol as a jewel, and Clavel tells us that a similar usage prevails at
this day among the women in some of the villages of Brittany. Seely tells
us that the Lingam, or Indian Phallus, is an emblem as frequently met with
in Hindostan as the cross is in Catholic countries.--_Wonders of Elora._
p. 278.

[79] Num. xxv. 1-3. See also Psalm cvi. 28: "They joined themselves also
unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." This last expression,
according to Russel, has a distinct reference to the physical qualities of
matter, and to the time when death, by the winter absence of the solar
heat, gets, as it were, possession of the earth. Baal-peor was, he says,
the sun exercising his powers of fecundity.--_Connection of Sacred and
Profane History_

[80] Is there not a seeming reference to this thought of divine
hermaphrodism in the well-known passage of Genesis? "So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him: _male and female_
created he them." And so being created "male and female," they were "in
the image of God."

[81] The world being animated by man, says Creuzer, in his learned work on
Symbolism, received from him the two sexes, represented by heaven and the
earth. Heaven, as the fecundating principle, was male, and the source of
fire; the earth, as the fecundated, was female, and the source of
humidity. All things issued from the alliance of these two principles. The
vivifying powers of the heavens are concentrated in the sun, and the
earth, eternally fixed in the place which it occupies, receives the
emanations from the sun, through the medium of the moon, which sheds upon
the earth the germs which the sun had deposited in its fertile bosom. The
Lingam is at once the symbol and the mystery of this religious idea.

[82] Such was the opinion of some of the ancient sun-worshippers, whose
adorations were always performed in the open air, because they thought no
temple was spacious enough to contain the sun; and hence the saying,
"Mundus universus est templum solis"--the universe is the temple of the
sun. Like our ancient brethren, they worshipped only on _the highest
hills_. Another analogy.

[83] _Asgard_, the abode of the gods, is shaded by the ash tree,
_Ydrasil_, where the gods assemble every day to do justice. The branches
of this tree extend themselves over the whole world, and reach above the
heavens. It hath three roots, extremely distant from each other: one of
them is among the gods; the second is among the giants, where the abyss
formerly was; the third covers _Niflheim_, or hell, and under this root is
the fountain _Vergelmer_, whence flow the infernal rivers.--_Edda, Fab._
8.

[84] Exod. iii. 5.

[85] Commentaries _in loco_.

[86] Commentary on Exod. iii. 5.

[87] Iamblichi Vita Pythag. c. 105. In another place he says, "[Greek:
Thy/ein chrê\ a)nypo/deton, kai pro\s ta i(era\ prostie/nai],"--We must
sacrifice and enter temples with the shoes off. Ibid. c. 85.

[88] "Quod etiam nunc apud plerasque Orientis nationes piaculum sit,
calceato pede templorum pavimenta calcasse."

[89] Beth Habbechirah, cap. vii.

[90] Histor. Landm. vol. ii. p. 481.

[91] "Non datur nobis potestas adeundi templum nisi nudibus pedibus."

[92] Commentaries, _ut supra_.

[93] See a paper "on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus," by H.T.
Colebrooke, Esq. in the Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 357.

[94] A Specimen of the Critical History of the Celtic Religion and
Learning. Letter ii. § xvii.

[95] Dr. Oliver, referring to the "twelve grand points in Masonry," which
formed a part of the old English lectures, says, "When the candidate was
_intrusted_, he represented Asher, for he was then presented with the
glorious fruit of masonic knowledge, as Asher was represented by fatness
and royal dainties."--_Hist. Landm._, vol. i. lect. xi. p. 313.

[96] From the Greek [Greek: ay)topsi/a], signifying _a seeing with ones
own eyes_. The candidate, who had previously been called a _mystes_, or a
_blind man_, from [Greek: mi/ô], to _shut the eyes_, began at this point
to change his title to that of an _epopt_, or an _eye-witness_.

[97] _Yehi aur va yehi aur._

[98] Robert William Mackay, Progress of the Intellect, vol. i. p. 93.

[99] "And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the
Thummim."--_Exod._ xxviii. 30.--The Egyptian judges also wore
breastplates, on which was represented the figure of _Ra_, the sun, and
_Thme_, the goddess of Truth, representing, says Gliddon, "_Ra_, or the
sun, in a double capacity--physical and intellectual light; and _Thme_, in
a double capacity--justice and truth."--_Ancient Egypt_, p. 33.

[100] We owe this interesting discovery to F. Portal, who has given it in
his elaborate work on Egyptian symbols as compared with those of the
Hebrews. To those who cannot consult the original work in French, I can
safely recommend the excellent translation by my esteemed friend, Bro.
John W. Simons, of New York, and which will be found in the thirtieth
volume of the "Universal Masonic Library."

[101] "The most early defection to Idolatry," says Bryant, "consisted in
the adoration of the sun and the worship of demons, styled
Baalim."--_Analysts of Anc. Mythol._ vol. iii. p. 431.

[102] The remarks of Mr. Duncan on this subject are well worth perusal.
"Light has always formed one of the primary objects of heathen adoration.
The glorious spectacle of animated nature would lose all its interest if
man were deprived of vision, and light extinguished; for that which is
unseen and unknown becomes, for all practical purposes, as valueless as if
it were non-existent. Light is a source of positive happiness; without it,
man could barely exist; and since all religious opinion is based on the
ideas of pleasure and pain, and the corresponding sensations of hope and
fear, it is not to be wondered if the heathen reverenced light. Darkness,
on the contrary, by replunging nature, as it were, into a state of
nothingness, and depriving man of the pleasurable emotions conveyed
through the organ of sight, was ever held in abhorrence, as a source of
misery and fear. The two opposite conditions in which man thus found
himself placed, occasioned by the enjoyment or the banishment of light,
induced him to imagine the existence of two antagonist principles in
nature, to whose dominion he was alternately subject. Light multiplied his
enjoyments, and darkness diminished them. The former, accordingly, became
his friend, and the latter his enemy. The words 'light' and 'good,' and
'darkness' and 'evil,' conveyed similar ideas, and became, in sacred
language, synonymous terms. But as good and evil were not supposed to flow
from one and the same source, no more than light and darkness were
supposed to have a common origin, two distinct and independent principles
were established, totally different in their nature, of opposite
characters, pursuing a conflicting line of action, and creating
antagonistic effects. Such was the origin of this famous dogma, recognized
by all the heathens, and incorporated with all the sacred fables,
cosmogonies, and mysteries of antiquity."--_The Religions of Profane
Antiquity_, p. 186.

[103] See the "Bhagvat Geeta," one of the religious books of Brahminism. A
writer in Blackwood, in an article on the "Castes and Creeds of India,"
vol. lxxxi. p. 316, thus accounts for the adoration of light by the early
nations of the world: "Can we wonder at the worship of light by those
early nations? Carry our thoughts back to their remote times, and our only
wonder would be if they did not so adore it. The sun is life as well as
light to all that is on the earth--as we of the present day know even
better than they of old. Moving in dazzling radiance or brilliant-hued
pageantry through the sky, scanning in calm royalty all that passes below,
it seems the very god of this fair world, which lives and blooms but in
his smile."

[104] The _Institutes of Menu_, which are the acknowledged code of the
Brahmins, inform us that "the world was all darkness, undiscernible,
undistinguishable altogether, as in a profound sleep, till the
self-existent, invisible God, making it manifest with five elements and
other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom."--Sir WILLIAM JONES,
_On the Gods of Greece. Asiatic Researches_, i. 244.

Among the Rosicrucians, who have, by some, been improperly confounded with
the Freemasons, the word _lux_ was used to signify a knowledge of the
philosopher's stone, or the great desideratum of a universal elixir and a
universal menstruum. This was their _truth_.

[105] On Symbolic Colors, p. 23, Inman's translation.

[106] Freemasonry having received the name of _lux_, or light, its
disciples have, very appropriately, been called "the Sons of Light." Thus
Burns, in his celebrated Farewell:--

    "Oft have I met your social band,
      And spent the cheerful, festive night;
    Oft, honored with supreme command,
      Presided o'er the _sons of light_."

[107] Thus defined: "The stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and
unites them; the principal stone, and especially the stone which forms the
corner of the foundation of an edifice."--Webster.

[108] Among the ancients the corner-stone of important edifices was laid
with impressive ceremonies. These are well described by Tacitus, in his
history of the rebuilding of the Capitol. After detailing the preliminary
ceremonies which consisted in a procession of vestals, who with chaplets
of flowers encompassed the ground and consecrated it by libations of
living water, he adds that, after solemn prayer, Helvidius, to whom the
care of rebuilding the Capitol had been committed, "laid his hand upon the
fillets that adorned the foundation stone, and also the cords by which it
was to be drawn to its place. In that instant the magistrates, the
priests, the senators, the Roman knights, and a number of citizens, all
acting with one effort and general demonstrations of joy, laid hold of the
ropes and dragged the ponderous load to its destined spot. They then threw
in ingots of gold and silver, and other metals, which had never been
melted in the furnace, but still retained, untouched by human art, their
first formation in the bowels of the earth."--_Tac. Hist._, 1. iv. c. 53,
Murphy's transl.

[109] As, for instance, in Psalm cxviii. 22, "The stone which the builders
refused is become the head-stone of the corner," which, Clarke says,
"seems to have been originally spoken of David, who was at first rejected
by the Jewish rulers, but was afterwards chosen by the Lord to be the
great ruler of his people in Israel;" and in Isaiah xxviii. 16, "Behold, I
lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
corner-stone, a sure foundation," which clearly refers to the promised
Messiah.

[110] In the ritual "observed at laying the foundation-stone of public
structures," it is said, "The principal architect then presents the
working tools to the Grand Master, who applies the plumb, square, and
level to the stone, in their proper positions, and pronounces it to be
_well-formed, true, and trusty_."--WEBB'S _Monitor_, p. 120.

[111] "The square teaches us to regulate our conduct by the principles of
morality and virtue."--_Ritual of the E. A. Degree._--The old York
lectures define the square thus: "The square is the theory of universal
duty, and consisteth in two right lines, forming an angle of perfect
sincerity, or ninety degrees; the longest side is the sum of the lengths
of the several duties which we owe to all men. And every man should be
agreeable to this square, when perfectly finished."

[112] Aristotle.

[113] "The cube is a symbol of truth, of wisdom, and moral perfection. The
new Jerusalem, promised in the Apocalypse, is equal in length, breadth,
and height. The Mystical city ought to be considered as a new church,
where divine wisdom will reign."--OLIVER'S _Landmarks_, ii. p. 357.--And
he might have added, where eternal truth will be present.

[114] In the most primitive times, all the gods appear to have been
represented by cubical blocks of stone; and Pausanias says that he saw
thirty of these stones in the city of Pharae, which represented as many
deities. The first of the kind, it is probable, were dedicated to Hermes,
whence they derived their name of "Hermae."

[115] "Give unto Jehovah the glory due unto His name; worship Jehovah in
the beauty of holiness."--_Psalm_ xxix. 2.

[116] It is at least a singular coincidence that in the Brahminical
religion great respect was paid to the north-east point of the heavens.
Thus it is said in the Institutes of Menu, "If he has any incurable
disease, let him advance in a straight path towards _the invincible
north-east point_, feeding on water and air till his mortal frame totally
decay, and his soul become united with the Supreme."

[117] This symbolism of the double position of the corner-stone has not
escaped the attention of the religious symbologists. Etsius, an early
commentator, in 1682, referring to the passage in Ephesians ii. 20, says,
"That is called the corner-stone, or chief corner-stone, which is placed
in the extreme angle of a foundation, conjoining and holding together two
walls of the pile, meeting from different quarters. And the apostle not
only would be understood by this metaphor that Christ is the principal
foundation of the whole church, but also that in him, as in a
corner-stone, the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, are conjoined, and so
conjoined as to rise together into one edifice, and become one church."
And Julius Firmicius, who wrote in the sixteenth century, says that Christ
is called the corner-stone, because, being placed in the angle of the two
walls, which are the Old and the New Testament, he collects the nations
into one fold. "Lapis sanctus, i.e. Christus, aut fidei fundamenta
sustentat aut in angulo positus duorum parietum membra aequata moderatione
conjungit, i.e., Veteris et Novi Testamenti in unum colligit gentes."--_De
Errore profan. Religionum_, chap. xxi.

[118] This permanence of position was also attributed to those cubical
stones among the Romans which represented the statues of the god Terminus.
They could never lawfully be removed from the spot which they occupied.
Hence, when Tarquin was about to build the temple of Jupiter, on the
Capitoline Hill, all the shrines and statues of the other gods were
removed from the eminence to make way for the new edifice, except that of
Terminus, represented by a stone. This remained untouched, and was
enclosed within the temple, to show, says Dudley, "that the stone, having
been a personification of the God Supreme, could not be reasonably
required to yield to Jupiter himself in dignity and power."--DUDLEY'S
_Naology_, p 145.

[119] Dudley's Naology, p. 476.

[120] Masonic Discourses, Dis. iv. p. 81.

[121] "The act of consecration chiefly consisted in the unction, which was
a ceremony derived from the most primitive antiquity. The sacred
tabernacle, with all the vessels and utensils, as also the altar and the
priests themselves, were consecrated in this manner by Moses, at the
divine command. It is well known that the Jewish kings and prophets were
admitted to their several offices by unction. The patriarch Jacob, by the
same right, consecrated the altars which he made use of; in doing which it
is more probable that he followed the tradition of his forefathers, than
that he was the author of this custom. The same, or something like it, was
also continued down to the times of Christianity."--POTTER'S
_Archaeologia Graeca_, b. ii. p. 176.

[122] From the Greek [Greek: tetra\s], four, and [Greek: gra/mma], letter,
because it is composed of four Hebrew letters. Brande thus defines it:
"Among several ancient nations, the name of the mystic number _four_,
which was often symbolized to represent the Deity, whose name was
expressed by four letters." But this definition is incorrect. The
tetragrammaton is not the name of the number _four_, but the word which
expresses the name of God in four letters, and is always applied to the
Hebrew word only.

[123] Exod. iii. 15. In our common version of the Bible, the word "Lord"
is substituted for "Jehovah," whence the true import of the original is
lost.

[124] Exod. vi. 2. 3.

[125] "The Jews have many superstitious stories and opinions relative to
this name, which, because they were forbidden to mention _in vain_, they
would not mention _at all_. They substituted _Adonai_, &c., in its room,
whenever it occurred to them in reading or speaking, or else simply and
emphatically styled it _the Name_. Some of them attributed to a certain
repetition of this name the virtue of a charm, and others have had the
boldness to assert that our blessed Savior wrought all his miracles (for
they do not deny them to be such) by that mystical use of this venerable
name. See the _Toldoth Jeschu_, an infamously scurrilous life of Jesus,
written by a Jew not later than the thirteenth century. On p. 7, edition
of Wagenseilius, 1681, is a succinct detail of the manner in which our
Savior is said to have entered the temple and obtained possession of the
Holy Name. Leusden says that he had offered to give a sum of money to a
very poor Jew at Amsterdam, if he would only once deliberately pronounce
the name _Jehovah_; but he refused it by saying that he did not
dare."--_Horae Solitariae_, vol. i. p. 3.--"A Brahmin will not pronounce
the name of the Almighty, without drawing down his sleeve and placing it
on his mouth with fear and trembling."--MURRAY, _Truth of Revelation_, p.
321.

[126] The same scrupulous avoidance of a strict translation has been
pursued in other versions. For Jehovah, the Septuagint substitutes
"[Greek: Ky/rios]," the Vulgate "Dominus," and the German "der Herr," all
equivalent to "the Lord." The French version uses the title "l'Eternel."
But, with a better comprehension of the value of the word, Lowth in his
"Isaiah," the Swedenborgian version of the Psalms, and some other recent
versions, have restored the original name.

[127] In the Talmudical treatise, _Majan Hachochima_, quoted by Stephelin
(Rabbinical Literature, i. p. 131), we are informed that rightly to
understand the shem hamphorash is a key to the unlocking of all mysteries.
"There," says the treatise, "shalt thou understand the words of men, the
words of cattle, the singing of birds, the language of beasts, the barking
of dogs, the language of devils, the language of ministering angels, the
language of date-trees, the motion of the sea, the unity of hearts, and
the murmuring of the tongue--nay, even the thoughts of the reins."

[128] The gamma, [Greek: G], or Greek letter G, is said to have been
sacred among the Pythagoreans as the initial of [Greek: Geômeiri/a] or
Geometry.

[129] Vide Oliver, _Hist. Init._ p. 68, note.

[130] Jamblichus says that Pythagoras passed over from Miletus to Sidon,
thinking that he could thence go more easily into Egypt, and that while
there he caused himself to be initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos
and Tyre, and those which were practised in many parts of Syria, not
because he was under the influence of any superstitious motives, but from
the fear that if he were not to avail himself of these opportunities, he
might neglect to acquire some knowledge in those rites which was worthy of
observation. But as these mysteries were originally received by the
Phoenicians from Egypt, he passed over into that country, where he
remained twenty-two years, occupying himself in the study of geometry,
astronomy, and all the initiations of the gods ([Greek: pa/sas theô~n
teleta/s]), until he was carried a captive into Babylon by the soldiers of
Cambyses, and that twelve years afterwards he returned to Samos at the age
of sixty years.--_Vit. Pythag_, cap. iii., iv.

[131] "The sacred words were intrusted to him, of which the Ineffable
Tetractys, or name of God, was the chief."--OLIVER, _Hist. Init._ p. 109.

[132] "Hu, the mighty, whose history as a patriarch is precisely that of
Noah, was promoted to the rank of the principal demon-god among the
Britons; and, as his chariot was composed of rays of the sun, it may be
presumed that he was worshipped in conjunction with that luminary, and to
the same superstition we may refer what is said of his light and swift
course."--DAVIES, _Mythol. and Rites of the Brit. Druids_, p. 110.

[133] "All the male gods (of the ancients) may be reduced to one, the
generative energy; and all the female to one, the prolific principle. In
fact, they may all be included in the one great Hermaphrodite, the
[Greek: a)r(r)enothêlys] who combines in his nature all the elements of
production, and who continues to support the vast creation which
originally proceeded from his will."--RUSSELL'S _Connection_, i. p. 402.

[134] It is a tradition that it was pronounced in the following seven
different ways by the patriarchs, from Methuselah to David, viz.: _Juha,
Jeva, Jova, Jevo, Jeveh, Johe_, and _Jehovah_. In all these words the _j_
is to be pronounced as _y_, the _a_ as _ah_, the _e_ as a, and the _v_ as
_w_.

[135] The _i_ is to be pronounced as _e_, and the whole word as if spelled
in English _ho-he_.

[136] In the apocryphal "Book of the Conversation of God with Moses on
Mount Sinai," translated by the Rev. W. Cureton from an Arabic MS. of the
fifteenth century, and published by the Philobiblon Society of London, the
idea of the eternal watchfulness of God is thus beautifully allegorized:--

"Then Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, dost thou sleep or not? The Lord
said unto Moses, I never sleep: but take a cup and fill it with water.
Then Moses took a cup and filled it with water, as the Lord commanded him.
Then the Lord cast into the heart of Moses the breath of slumber; so he
slept, and the cup fell from his hand, and the water which was therein was
spilled. Then Moses awoke from his sleep. Then said God to Moses, I
declare by my power, and by my glory, that if I were to withdraw my
providence from the heavens and the earth for no longer a space of time
than thou hast slept, they would at once fall to ruin and confusion, like
as the cup fell from thy hand."

[137] I have in my possession a rare copy of the Vulgate Bible, in black
letter, printed at Lyons, in 1522. The frontispiece is a coarsely executed
wood cut, divided into six compartments, and representing the six days of
the creation. The Father is, in each compartment, pictured as an aged man
engaged in his creative task.

[138] Christian Iconography, Millington's trans., vol. i. p. 59.

[139] The triangle, or delta, is the symbol of Deity for this reason. In
geometry a single line cannot represent a perfect figure; neither can two
lines; three lines, however, constitute the triangle or first perfect and
demonstrable figure. Hence this figure symbolizes the Eternal God,
infinitely perfect in his nature. But the triangle properly refers to God
only in his quality as an Eternal Being, its three sides representing the
Past, the Present, and the Future. Some Christian symbologists have made
the three sides represent the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but they
evidently thereby destroy the divine unity, making a trinity of Gods in
the unity of a Godhead. The Gnostic trinity of Manes consisted of one God
and two principles, one of good and the other of evil. The Indian trinity,
symbolized also by the triangle, consisted of Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu,
the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, represented by Earth, Water, and
Air. This symbolism of the Eternal God by the triangle is the reason why a
trinitarian scheme has been so prevalent in all religions--the three sides
naturally suggesting the three divisions of the Godhead. But in the Pagan
and Oriental religions this trinity was nothing else but a tritheism.

[140] Noachidae, or Noachites, the descendants of Noah. This patriarch
having alone preserved the true name and worship of God amid a race of
impious idolaters, the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because
they preserve that pure religion which distinguished this second father of
the human race from the rest of the world. (See the author's _Lexicon of
Freemasonry_.) The Tyrian workmen at the temple of Solomon were the
descendants of that other division of the race who fell off, at Shinar,
from the true worship, and repudiated the principles of Noah. The Tyrians,
however, like many other ancient mystics, had recovered some portion of
the lost light, and the complete repossession was finally achieved by
their union with the Jewish masons, who were Noachidae.

[141] "A mythis omnis priscorum hominum tum historia tum philosophia
procedit."--_Ad Apollod. Athen. Biblioth. not._ f. p. 3.--And Faber says,
"Allegory and personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of
antiquity; and the simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the
shrine of poetical decoration."--_On the Cabiri._

[142] See Grote, History of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 479, whence this
definition has been substantially derived. The definitions of Creuzer,
Hermann, Buttmann, Heyne, Welcker, Voss, and Müller are none of them
Better, and some of them not as good.

[143] Hist. of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 579. The idea of the existence
of an enlightened people, who lived at a remote era, and came from the
East, was a very prevalent notion among the ancient traditions. It is
corroborative of this that the Hebrew word _kedem_,
signifies, in respect to place, _the east_, and, in respect to time,
_olden time, ancient days_. The phrase in Isaiah xix. 11, which reads, "I
am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings," might just as well have
been translated "the son of kings of the East." In a note to the passage
Ezek. xliii. 2, "the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the
East," Adam Clarke says, "All knowledge, all religion, and all arts and
sciences, have travelled, according to the _course of the sun_, FROM EAST
TO WEST!" Bazot tells us (in his Manuel du Franc-maçon, p. 154) that "the
veneration which masons entertain for the east confirms an opinion
previously announced, that the religious system of Masonry came from the
east, and has reference to the _primitive religion_, whose first
corruption was the worship of the sun." And lastly, the masonic reader
will recollect the answer given in the Leland MS. to the question
respecting the origin of Masonry, namely, "It did begin" (I modernize the
orthography) "with the first men in the east, which were before the first
men of the west; and coming westerly, it hath brought herewith all
comforts to the wild and comfortless." Locke's commentary on this answer
may conclude this note: "It should seem, by this, that masons believe
there were men in the east before Adam, who is called the 'first man of
the west,' and that arts and sciences began in the east. Some authors, of
great note for learning, have been of the same opinion; and it is certain
that Europe and Africa (which, in respect to Asia, may be called western
countries) were wild and savage long after arts and politeness of manners
were in great perfection in China and the Indies." The Talmudists make the
same allusions to the superiority of the east. Thus, Rabbi Bechai says,
"Adam was created with his face towards the east that he might behold the
light and the rising sun, whence the east was to him the anterior part of
the world."

[144] Strauss makes a division of myths into historical, philosophical,
and poetical.--_Leben Jesu._--His poetical myth agrees with my first
division, his philosophical with my second, and his historical with my
third. But I object to the word _poetical_, as a distinctive term, because
all myths have their foundation in the poetic idea.

[145] Ulmann, for instance, distinguishes between a myth and a legend--the
former containing, to a great degree, fiction combined with history, and
the latter having but a few faint echoes of mythical history.

[146] In his "Prolegomena zu einer wissenshaftlichen Mythologie," cap. iv.
This valuable work was translated in 1844, by Mr. John Leitch.

[147] Historical Landmarks, i. 53.

[148] See an article, by the author, on "The Unwritten Landmarks of
Freemasonry," in the first volume of the Masonic Miscellany, in which this
subject is treated at considerable length.

[149] As a matter of some interest to the curious reader, I insert the
legend as published in the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1815, from, it is
said, a parchment roll supposed to have been written early in the
seventeenth century, and which, if so, was in all probability copied from
one of an older date:--

"Moreover, when Abraham and Sara his wife went into Egipt, there he taught
the Seaven Scyences to the Egiptians; and he had a worthy Scoller that
height Ewclyde, and he learned right well, and was a master of all the vij
Sciences liberall. And in his dayes it befell that the lord and the
estates of the realme had soe many sonns that they had gotten some by
their wifes and some by other ladyes of the realme; for that land is a
hott land and a plentious of generacion. And they had not competent
livehode to find with their children; wherefor they made much care. And
then the King of the land made a great counsell and a parliament, to witt,
how they might find their children honestly as gentlemen. And they could
find no manner of good way. And then they did crye through all the realme,
if there were any man that could enforme them, that he should come to
them, and he should be soe rewarded for his travail, that he should hold
him pleased.

"After that this cry was made, then came this worthy clarke Ewclyde, and
said to the King and to all his great lords: 'If yee will, take me your
children to governe, and to teach them one of the Seaven Scyences,
wherewith they may live honestly as gentlemen should, under a condicion
that yee will grant mee and them a commission that I may have power to
rule them after the manner that the science ought to be ruled.' And that
the Kinge and all his counsell granted to him anone, and sealed their
commission. And then this worthy tooke to him these lords' sonns, and
taught them the science of Geometric in practice, for to work in stones
all manner of worthy worke that belongeth to buildinge churches, temples,
castells, towres, and mannors, and all other manner of buildings."

[150] Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. I p. 393.

[151] 1 Kings vi. 8.

[152] An allusion to this symbolism is retained in one of the well-known
mottoes of the order--"_Lux e tenebris._"

[153] "An allegory is that in which, under borrowed characters and
allusions, is shadowed some real action or moral instruction; or, to keep
more strictly to its derivation ([Greek: a)/llos], _alius_, and [Greek:
a)gorey/ô], _dico_), it is that in which one thing is related and another
thing is understood. Hence it is apparent that an allegory must have two
senses--the literal and mystical; and for that reason it must convey its
instruction under borrowed characters and allusions throughout."--_The
Antiquity, Evidence, and Certainty of Christianity canvassed, or Dr.
Middleton's Examination of the Bishop of London's Discourses on Prophecy.
By Anselm Bayly, LL.B., Minor Canon of St. Paul's._ Lond, 1751.

[154] The words themselves are purely classical, but the meanings here
given to them are of a mediaeval or corrupt Latinity. Among the old
Romans, a _trivium_ meant a place where three ways met, and a _quadrivium_
where four, or what we now call a _cross-road_. When we speak of the
_paths of learning_, we readily discover the origin of the signification
given by the scholastic philosophers to these terms.

[155] Hist. of Philos. vol. ii. p. 337.

[156] Such a talisman was the following figure:--

     -----------
    | 8 | 1 | 6 |
    |---|---|---|
    | 3 | 5 | 7 |
    |---|---|---|
    | 4 | 9 | 2 |
     -----------


[157] Anderson's Constitutions, 2d ed. 1738, p. 14.

[158] Anderson's Constitutions, 3d ed. 1756, p. 24.

[159] "The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality
of the soul were originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid and
Bacchus."--WARBURTON, _in Spence's Anecdotes,_ p. 309.

[160] "The allegorical interpretation of the myths has been, by several
learned investigators, especially by Creuzer, connected with the
hypothesis of an ancient and highly instructed body of priests, having
their origin either in Egypt or in the East, and communicating to the rude
and barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and historical knowledge, under
the veil of symbols."--GROTE, _Hist. of Greece,_ vol. i. ch. xvi. p.
579.--And the Chevalier Ramsay corroborates this theory: "Vestiges of the
most sublime truths are to be found in the sages of all nations, times,
and religions, both sacred and profane, and these vestiges are emanations
of the antediluvian and noevian tradition, more or less disguised and
adulterated."--_Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion
unfolded in a Geometrical Order,_ vol. 1, p. iv.

[161] Of this there is abundant evidence in all the ancient and modern
writers on the Mysteries. Apuleius, cautiously describing his initiation
into the Mysteries of Isis, says, "I approached the confines of death, and
having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, I returned therefrom, being
borne through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its
brilliant light; and I approached the presence of the gods beneath, and
the gods of heaven, and stood near and worshipped them."--_Metam._ lib.
vi. The context shows that all this was a scenic representation.

[162] _Aish hakam iodea binah,_ "a cunning man, endued with
understanding," is the description given by the king of Tyre of Hiram
Abif. See 2 Chron. ii. 13. It is needless to say that "cunning" is a good
old Saxon word meaning _skilful_.

[163]

    "Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram;
    Os homini sublime dedit: coelumque tueri
    Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."

    OVID, _Met._ i. 84.

    "Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
    Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
    Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
    Beholds his own hereditary skies."

    DRYDEN.

[164] "[Greek: A)phanismo\s], disappearance, destruction, a perishing,
death, from [Greek: a)phani/zô], to remove from one's view, to conceal,"
&c.--_Schrevel. Lex._

[165] "[Greek: Ey~resis], a finding, invention, discovery."--_Schrevel.
Lex._

[166] A French writer of the last century, speaking of the degree of "Très
Parfait Maitre," says, "C'est ici qu'on voit réellement qu'Hiram n'a été
que le type de Jésus Christ, que le temple et les autres symboles
maçonniques sont des allegories relatives à l'Eglise, à la Foi, et aux
bonnes moeurs."--_Origine et Objet de la Franchemaçonnerie, par le F.B._
Paris, 1774.

[167] "This our order is a positive contradiction to the Judaic blindness
and infidelity, and testifies our faith concerning the resurrection of the
body."--HUTCHINSON, _Spirit of Masonry,_ lect. ix. p. 101.--The whole
lecture is occupied in advancing and supporting his peculiar theory.

[168] "Thus, then, it appears that the historical reference of the legend
of Speculative Freemasonry, in all ages of the world, was--to our death in
Adam and life in Christ. What, then, was the origin of our tradition? Or,
in other words, to what particular incident did the legend of initiation
refer before the flood? I conceive it to have been the offering and
assassination of Abel by his brother Cain; the escape of the murderer; the
discovery of the body by his disconsolate parents, and its subsequent
interment, under a certain belief of its final resurrection from the dead,
and of the detection and punishment of Cain by divine vengeance."--OLIVER,
_Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, vol. ii. p. 171.

[169] "Le grade de Maître va donc nous retracer allegoriquement la mort du
_dieu-lumière_--mourant en hiver pour reparaître et ressusciter au
printemps."--RAGON, _Cours Philos. et Interp. des Init._ p. 158.

[170] "Dans l'ordre moral, Hiram n'est autre chose que la raison
éternelle, par qui tout est pondéré, réglé, conservé."--DES ETANGS,
_Oeuvres Maçonniques_, p. 90.

[171] With the same argument would I meet the hypothesis that Hiram was
the representative of Charles I. of England--an hypothesis now so
generally abandoned, that I have not thought it worth noticing in the
text.

[172] "The initiation into the Mysteries," he says, "scenically
represented the mythic descent into Hades and the return from thence to
the light of day; by which was meant the entrance into the Ark and the
subsequent liberation from its dark enclosure. Such Mysteries were
established in almost every part of the pagan world; and those of Ceres
were substantially the same as the Orgies of Adonis, Osiris, Hu, Mithras,
and the Cabiri. They all equally related to the allegorical disappearance,
or death, or descent of the great father at their commencement, and to his
invention, or revival, or return from Hades, at their conclusion."--_Origin
of Pagan Idolatry,_ vol. iv. b. iv. ch. v. p. 384--But this Arkite
theory, as it is called, has not met with the general approbation of
subsequent writers.

[173] Mount Calvary is a small hill or eminence, situated in a westerly
direction from that Mount Moriah on which the temple of Solomon was built.
It was originally a hillock of notable eminence, but has, in modern times,
been greatly reduced by the excavations made in it for the construction of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Buckingham, in his Palestine, p. 283,
says, "The present rock, called Calvary, and enclosed within the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, bears marks, in every part that is naked, of its
having been a round nodule of rock standing above the common level of the
surface."

[174] Dr. Beard, in the art. "Golgotha," in Kitto's Encyc. of Bib. Lit.,
reasons in a similar method as to the place of the crucifixion, and
supposing that the soldiers, from the fear of a popular tumult, would
hurry Jesus to the most convenient spot for execution, says, "Then the
road to Joppa or Damascus would be most convenient, and no spot in the
vicinity would probably be so suitable as the slight rounded elevation
which bore the name of Calvary."

[175] Some have supposed that it was so called because it was the place of
public execution. _Gulgoleth_ in Hebrew, or _gogultho_ in Syriac, means _a
skull_.

[176] Quoted in Oliver, _Landmarks_, vol. i. p. 587, note.

[177] Oliver's idea (_Landmarks_, ii. 149) that _cassia_ has, since the
year 1730, been corrupted into _acacia_, is contrary to all etymological
experience. Words are corrupted, not by lengthening, but by abbreviating
them. The uneducated and the careless are always prone to cut off a
syllable, not to add a new one.

[178] And yet I have been surprised by seeing, once or twice, the word
"Cassia" adopted as the name of a lodge. "Cinnamon" or "sandal wood" would
have been as appropriate, for any masonic meaning or symbolism.

[179] Eclog. ii. 49.

    "Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens,
     Narcissum et florem jungit benè olentis anethi:
     Tum casia, atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis,
     Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia, caltha."

[180] Exod. xxx. 24, Ezek. xxvii. 9, and Ps. xlv. 8.

[181] Oliver, it is true, says, that "there is not the smallest trace of
any tree of the kind growing so far north as Jerusalem" (_Landm._ ii.
136); but this statement is refuted by the authority of Lieutenant Lynch,
who saw it growing in great abundance at Jericho, and still farther
north.--_Exped. to the Dead Sea_, p. 262.--The Rabbi Joseph Schwarz, who
is excellent authority, says, "The Acacia (Shittim) Tree, Al Sunt, is
found in Palestine of different varieties; it looks like the Mulberry
tree, attains a great height, and has a hard wood. The gum which is
obtained from it is the gum Arabic."--_Descriptive Geography and
Historical Sketch of Palestine_, p. 308, Leeser's translation. Phila.,
1850.--Schwarz was for sixteen years a resident of Palestine, and wrote
from personal observation. The testimony of Lynch and Schwarz should,
therefore, forever settle the question of the existence of the acacia in
Palestine.

[182] Calmet, Parkhurst, Gesenius, Clarke, Shaw, and all the best
authorities, concur in saying that the _otzi shittim_, or shittim wood of
Exodus, was the common acacia or mimosa nilotica of Linnæus.

[183] "This custom among the Hebrews arose from this circumstance.
Agreeably to their laws, no dead bodies were allowed to be interred within
the walls of the city; and as the Cohens, or priests, were prohibited from
crossing a grave, it was necessary to place marks thereon, that they might
avoid them. For this purpose the acacia was used."--DALCHO, _Oration_, p.
27, note.--I object to the reason assigned by Dalcho; but of the existence
of the custom there can be no question, notwithstanding the denial or
doubt of Dr. Oliver. Blount (_Travels in the Levant_, p. 197) says,
speaking of the Jewish burial customs, "those who bestow a marble stone
over any [grave] have a hole a yard long and a foot broad, in which _they
plant an evergreen_, which seems to grow from the body, and is carefully
watched." Hasselquist (_Travels_, p. 28) confirms his testimony. I borrow
the citations from Brown (_Antiquities of the Jews_, vol. ii. p. 356), but
have verified the reference to Hasselquist. The work of Blount I have not
been enabled to consult.

[184] Antiquities of Greece, p. 569.

[185] Dr. Crucefix, MS., quoted by Oliver, _Landmarks_, ii. 2.

[186] Spirit of Masonry, lect. ix. p. 99.

[187] The Temple of Solomon, ch. ix. p. 233.

[188] It is probable that the quince derived this symbolism, like the
acacia, from its name; for there seems to be some connection between the
Greek word [Greek: kydô/nios], which means _a quince_, and the participle
[Greek: kydi/ôn], which signifies _rejoicing, exulting_. But this must
have been an afterthought, for the name is derived from Cydon, in Crete,
of which island the quince is a native.

[189] Desprez, speaking of the palm as an emblem of victory, says
(_Comment. in Horat. Od._ I. i. 5), "Palma verò signum victoriae passim
apud omnes statuitur, ex Plutarcho, propterea quod ea est ejus natura
ligni, ut urgentibus opprimentibusque minimè cedat. Unde est illud Alciati
epigramma,--

    'Nititur in pondus palma, et consurgit in altum:
    Quoque magis premitur, hoc magè tollit onus.'"

It is in the eighth book of his Symposia that Plutarch states this
peculiar property of the palm to resist the oppression of any
superincumbent weight, and to rise up against it, whence it was adopted as
the symbol of victory. Cowley also alludes to it in his _Davideis_.

    "Well did he know how palms by oppression speed
    Victorious, and the victor's sacred meed."


[190] "Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was
not only carried at funerals, but worn at weddings."--STEEVENS, _Notes on
Hamlet_, a. iv. s. 5.--Douce (_Illustrations of Shakspeare_, i. 345) gives
the following old song in reference to this subject:--

    "Rosemarie is for remembrance
      Betweene us daie and night,
    Wishing that I might always have
      You present in my sight."

[191] Ste. Croix (_Recherches sur les Mystères_, i. 56) says that in the
Samothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table,
because, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the blood
of Cadmillus, slain by his brothers.

[192] "The Hindoos," says Faber, "represent their mundane lotus, as having
four large leaves and four small leaves placed alternately, while from the
centre of the flower rises a protuberance. Now, the circular cup formed by
the eight leaves they deem a symbol of the earth, floating on the surface
of the ocean, and consisting of four large continents and four
intermediate smaller islands; while the centrical protuberance is viewed
by them as representing their sacred Mount Menu."--_Communication to Gent.
Mag._ vol. lxxxvi. p. 408.

[193] The _erica arborea_ or tree heath.

[194] Ragon thus alludes to this mystical event: "Isis found the body of
Osiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the
_erica_. Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a
fountain, whose waters issued from a rock. This rock is the _small hill
_mentioned in the ritual; the erica has been replaced by the acacia, and
the grief of Isis has been changed for that of the fellow crafts."--_Cours
des Initiations,_ p. 151.

[195] It is singular, and perhaps significant, that the word _eriko_, in
Greek, [Greek: e)ri/kô], whence _erica_ is probably derived, means _to
break in pieces, to mangle_.

[196] Histoire Pittoresque des Religions, t. i. p. 217.

[197] According to Toland (_Works_, i. 74), the festival of searching,
cutting, and consecrating the mistletoe, took place on the 10th of March,
or New Year's day. "This," he says, "is the ceremony to which Virgil
alludes, by his _golden branch,_ in the Sixth Book of the Æneid." No doubt
of it; for all these sacred plants had a common origin in some ancient and
general symbolic idea.

[198] "Under this branch is figured the wreath of myrtle, with which the
initiated were crowned at the celebration of the Mysteries."--WARBURTON,
_Divine Legation,_ vol. i. p. 299.

[199] "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Gen. iii. 19. Bush
interprets the decree to mean that "some species of toilsome occupation is
the appointed lot of all men."

[200] Aristotle says, "He that cannot contract society with others, or
who, through his own self-sufficiency [Greek: ay)ta/rkeian], does not need
it, forms no part of the community, but is either a wild beast or a god."

[201] "Der Arbeiter," says Lenning, "ist der symbolische Name eines
Freimaurers"--the Workman is the symbolic name of a Freemason.--_Encyclop.
der Fraumererei._

[202] John iii. 19-21.

[203] I Corinth, iii. 9.

[204] Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture
Light, ch. ix. p. 192. London, 1659.

[205] Swedenborg a Hermetic Philosopher, &c., p. 210. The object of the
author is to show that the Swedish sage was an adept, and that his
writings may be interpreted from the point of view of Hermetic philosophy.

[206] Cours Philosophique et Interprétatif des Initiations Anciennes et
Modernes, p. 99.

[207] Ibid., p. 176.

[208] Histoire Générale de la Franc-maçonnerie, p. 52.

[209] Histoire de la Magie, liv. v. ch. vii. p. 100.

[210] Vorlesung über das Symbol des Tempels, in the "Jarbüchern der Gross.
Loge Roy. York zur Freundschaft," cited by Lenning, Encyc., voc. _Tempel_.

[211] In an Essay on the Masonic Idea of Man's Destination, cited by
Lenning, _ut supra_, from the Altenburg _Zeitschift der Freimaurerei_.

[212] Cited by Lenning, _ut sup._

[213] Thus Dr. Oliver, while treating of the relation of the temple to the
lodge, thus briefly alludes to this important symbol: "As our ancient
brethren erected a material temple, without the use of axe, hammer, or
metal tool, so is our moral temple constructed."--_Historical Landmarks_,
lect. xxxi.

[214] System of Speculative Masonry, ch. vi. p. 63.

[215] On the Speculative Temple--an essay read in 1861 before the Grand
Lodge of Alabama.

[216] A portion of this essay, but in a very abridged form, was used by
the author in his work on "Cryptic Masonry."

[217] Hist. Landmarks, i. 459, note 52.

[218] See the Gemara and Buxtorf Lex. Talm., p. 2541.

[219] Job xxxviii. 4-7.

[220] A New Translation of the Book of Job, notes, p. 196.

[221] In voc. [Hebrew: shint-tav-yod-yod-heh], where some other curious
extracts from the Talmud and Talmudic writers on the subject of the Stone
of Foundation are given.

[222] Sepher Toldoth Jeshu, p. 6. The abominably scurrilous character of
this work aroused the indignation of the Christians, who, in the fifteenth
century, were not distinguished for a spirit of tolerance, and the Jews,
becoming alarmed, made every effort to suppress it. But, in 1681, it was
republished by Wagenselius in his "Tela Ignea Satanae," with a Latin
translation.

[223] Comment, on Gen. xxviii. 18.

[224] "Ni fallit fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare
tenentur ibidem."

[225] Old and New Testament connected, vol. i. p. 148.

[226] The Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture Light, ch. ix. p.
194. Of the Mysteries laid up in the Foundation of the Temple.

[227] See Pausanias, lib. iv.

[228] The "Disputationes adversus Gentes" of Arnobius supplies us with a
fund of information on the symbolism of the classic mythology.

[229] Naology, ch. iii. p. 119.

[230] Cornut. de Nat. Deor. c. 16.

[231] Essais sur les Fables, t. i. lett. 2. p. 9.

[232] Bosworth (_Aug. Sax. Dict._) defines _treowth_ to signify "troth,
truth, treaty, league, pledge, covenant."





End of Project Gutenberg's The Symbolism of Freemasonry, by Albert G. Mackey