Sunday, December 7, 2008

Meridian Sun

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Meridian Sun - The sun in the South is represented in Freemasonry by the Junior Warden, for this reason: when the sun has arrived at the zenith, at which time he is in the South, the splendor of his beams entitles him to the appellation which he receives in the instructions as "the beauty and glory of the day." Hence, as the Pillar of Beauty which supports the Lodge is referred to the Junior Wardens that officer is said to represent "the sun in the South at High Twelve," at which hour the Craft are called by him to refreshment, and therefore is he also placed in the South that he may the better observe the time and mark the progress of the shadow over the dialplate as it crosses the meridian line.

Merit

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Merit - The Old Charges say, "all preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only; that so the Lords Man be well served, the Brethren not put to shame, nor the Royal Craft despised. Therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by seniority, but for his merit" (see Preferments)

Moon

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Moon - The adoption of the moon in the Masonic system as a symbol is analogous to, but could hardly be derived from, the employment of the same symbol in the ancient religions. In Egypt, Osiris was the sun, and Isis the moon; in Syria, Adonis was the sun, and Ashtoroth the moon; the Greeks adored her as Diana, and Hecate; in the mysteries of Ceres, while the hierophant or chief priest represented the Creator, and the torch-bearer the sun, the officer nearest the altar, represented the moon. In short, moon-worship was as widely disseminated as sun-worship. Masons retain her image in the Rites, because the Lodge is a representation of the universe, where, as the sun rules over the day, the moon presides over the night; as the one regulates the year, so does the other the months, and as the former is the king of the starry hosts of heaven, so is the latter their queen; but both deriving their heat, and light, and power from him, who, as the third and the greatest light, the master of heaven and earth, controls them both.

Mosaic Pavement

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Mosaic Pavement - Mosaic work consists properly of many little stones of different colors united together in patterns to imitate a painting. It was much practiced among the Romans, who called it museum, whence the Italians get their musaico, the French their mosaique, and we our mosaics The idea that the work is derived from the fact that Moses used a pavement of colored stones in the tabernacle has been long since exploded by etymologists. The Masonic tradition is that the floor of the Temple of Solomon was decorated with a mosaic pavement of black and white stones. There is no historical evidence to substantiate this statement. Samuel Lee, however, in his diagram of the Temple, represents not only the floors of the building, but of all the outer courts, as covered with such a pavement. The Masonic idea was perhaps first suggested by this passage in the Gospel of Saint John xix, 13, "When Pilate, therefore, heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment-seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha." The word here translated Pavement is in the original Lithostroton, the very word used by Pliny to denote a mosaic pavement.

The Greek word, as well as its Latin equivalent is used to denote a pavement formed of ornamental stones of various colors, precisely what is meant by a Mosaic Pavement. There was, therefore, a part of the Temple which was decorated with a mosaic pavement. The Talmud informs us that there was such a pavement in the Conclave where the Grand Sanhedrin held its sessions. By a little torsion of historical accuracy, the Freemasons have asserted that the ground floor of the Temple was a mosaic pavement, and hence as the Lodge is a representation of the Temple, that the floor of the Lodge should also be of the same pattern. The mosaic pavement is an old symbol of the Order. It is met with in the earliest Rituals of the eighteenth century. It is classed among the ornaments of the Lodge in combination with the indented tassel and the blazing star. Its parti-colored stones of black and white have been readily and appropriately interpreted as symbols of the evil and good of human life. (see also Mosaic Symbolism)

Mosaic Symbolism

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Mosaic Symbolism - In the religion of Moses, more than in any other which preceded or followed it, is symbolism the predominating idea. From the tabernacle, which may be considered as the central point of the whole system, down to the vestments which clothed the servants at the altar, there will be found an underlying principle of symbolism. Long before the days of Pythagoras the mystical nature of numbers had been inculcated by the Jewish lawgiver, and the very name of God was constructed in a symbolical form, to indicate His eternal nature. Much of the Jewish ritual of worship, delineated in the Pentateuch with so much precision as to its minutest details would almost seem puerile were it not for the symbolic idea that is conveyed. So the fringes of the garments are patiently described, not as decorations, but that by them the people, in looking upon the fringe, might "remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them." Well, therefore, has a modern writer remarked, that in the symbolism of the Mosaic worship it is only ignorance, that can find the details trifling or the prescriptions minute; for if we recognize the worth and beauty of symbolism, we shall in vain seek in the Mosaic symbols for one superfluous enactment or one superstitious idea.

To the Freemason the Mosaic symbolism is very significant, because from it Freemasonry has derived and transmitted for its own uses many of the most precious treasures of its own symbolical art. Indeed, except in some of the higher, and therefore more modern Degrees, the symbolism of Freemasonry is almost entirely deduced from the symbolism of Mosaism. Thus the symbol of the Temple, which persistently pervades the whole of the ancient Masonic system, comes to us directly from the symbolism of the Jewish tabernacle. If Solomon is revered by the Freemasons as their traditional Grand Master, it is because the Temple constructed by him was the symbol of the Divine life to be cultivated in every heart.

And this symbol was borrowed from the Mosaic tabernacle; and the Jewish thought, that every Hebrew was to be a tabernacle of the Lord, has been transmitted to the Masonic system, which teaches that every Freemason is to be a temple of the Grand Architect. The Papal Church, from which we get all ecclesiastical Symbolism borrowed its symbology from the ancient Romans. Hence most of the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry which partake of a Christian character are marked by Roman symbolism transmuted into Christian. But Craft Masonry, more ancient and more universal, finds its symbolic teachings almost exclusively in the Mosaic symbolism instituted in the wilderness.

If we inquire whence the Jewish lawgiver derived the symbolic system which he introduced into his religion, the history of his life will readily answer the question. Philo-Judaeus says that "Moses was instructed by the Egyptian priests in the philosophy of symbols and hieroglyphics as well as in the mysteries of the sacred animals." The sacred historian tells us that he was "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians"; and Manetho and other traditionary writers tell us that he was educated at Heliopolis as a priest, under his Egyptian name of Osarsiph, and that there he was taught the whole range of literature and science, which it was customary to impart to the priesthood of Egypt. When, then, at the head of his people, he passed away from the servitude of Egyptian taskmasters, and began in the wilderness to establish his new religion, it is not strange that he should have given a holy use to the symbols whose meaning he had learned in his ecclesiastical education on the banks of the Nile.

Thus is it that we find in the Mosaic symbolism so many identities with the Egyptian Ritual. Thus the Ark of the Covenant, the Breastplate of the High Priest, the Miter, and many other of the Jewish symbols, will find their analogies in the ritualistic ceremonies of the Egyptians. Reghellini, who has written an elaborate work on Masonry considered as the result of the Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian Religions, says on the subject: "Moses, in his mysteries, and after him Solomon, adopted a great part of the Egyptian symbols, which, after them, we Masons have preserved in our own" (see Doctor Mackey's revised Symbolism of Freemasonry).

Moses

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Moses - The Hebrew word Urn, which means drawn out; but the true derivation is from two Egyptian words, po, me, and ouxe, oushes, signifying saved from the water. The lawgiver of the Jews, and referred to in some of the higher Degrees, especially in the Twenty-fifth Degree, or Knight of the Brazen Serpent in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where he is represented as the presiding officer. He plays also an important part in the Royal Arch of the York and American Rites, all of whose Ritual is framed on the Mosaic symbolism.

Mother Lodge

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Mother Lodge - In the eighteenth century certain Lodges in France and Germany assumed an independent position, and issued Charters for the constitution of Daughter Lodges, claiming the prerogatives of Grand Lodges. Thus we find the Mother Lodge of Marseilles, in France, which constituted many Lodges. In Scotland the Lodge of Kilwinning took the title of Mother lodge, and issued Charters until it was merged in the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The system is altogether irregular, and has no sanction in the laws of the Fraternity

Perfect Sincerity Lodge, of Marseilles, France, was of English descent organized in 1767 as a Subordinate Lodge of the Grand Lodge of France and was a subordinate of the Grand Orient of France since the consolidation in 1806- Perfect Sincerity Lodge granted a Charter to Polar Star Lodge of New Orleans in 1796 and reported this action to the Grand Orient of France, which latter Body approved the course that had been taken and healed the work of Polar Star Lodge from the time they commenced working up to 1804, at which time the Grand Orient granted them a Charter. As Polar Star Lodge No. 4263, working under the Grand Orient of France, they continued to so operate until the organization of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana.

These facts were obtained through a search caused by Post Office Inspector M. G. Price and given on page 248, Thomson Masonic Fraud. This Lodge and the one usually called the Mother Lodge of Marseilles or Mother Scotch Lodge of France, are sometimes confused. They are distinctly independent Bodies (see also Thory, Acta Latomerum, page 63; Ragon, Orthodoxie Maconnique, page 120, and Outline of the Rise and Progress of Freemasonry in Louisiana, James B. Seot. The particulars are to be found in the aceount of the Craft in Louisiana, Mackey's revised History of Freemasonry, pages 1554-9).

North

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

North - The north is Masonically called a Place of Darkness. The sun in his progress through the ecliptic never reaches farther than 23 28' north of the equator. A wall being erected on any part of the earth farther north than that, will therefore, at meridian, receive the rays of the sun only on its south side, while the north will be entirely in shadow at the hour of meridian. The use of the north as a symbol of darkness is found, with the present interpretation, in the early instructions of the eighteenth century. It is a portion of the old sun worship of which we find so many relics in Gnosticism, in Hermetic philosophy, and in Freemasonry. The east was the place of the sun's daily birth, and hence highly revered; the north the place of his annual death, to which he approached only to lose his terrific heat, and to clothe the earth in darkness of long nights and dreariness of winter.

However, this point of the compass, or place of Masonic darkness, must not be construed as implying that in the Temple of Solomon no light or ventilation was had from this direction. The Talmud, and as well Josephus, allude to an extensive opening toward the North, framed with costly magnificence, and known as the great Golden Window. There were as many openings in the outer wall on the north as on the south side. There were three entrances through the "Chel" on the north and six on the south (see Temple). While once within the walls and Chel of the Temple all advances were made from east to west, yet the north side was mainly used for stabling, slaughtering, cleansing, etc., and contained the chambers of broken knives, defiled stones of the House of Burning, and of sheep. The Masonic symbolism of the entrance of an initiate from the north, or more practically from the northwest, and advancing toward the position occupied by the Corner-stone in the north-east, forcibly calls to mind the triplet of Homer:

"Two marble doors unfold on either side;
Sacred the South by which the gods descend;
But mortals enter on the Northern end."

So in the Mysteries of Dionysos, the gate of entrance for the aspirant was from the north; but when purged from his corruptions, he was termed indifferently new-born or immortal, and the sacred south door was thence accessible to his steps.

In the Middle Ages, below and to the right of the judges stood the accuser, facing north; to the left was the defendant, in the north facing south. Brother George F. Fort, in his Antiquities of Freemasonry (page 292), says:

"In the center of the court, directly before the judge stood an altar piece or shrine, upon which an open Bible was displayed. The south to the right of the justiciaries was deemed honorable and worthy for a plaintiff- but the north was typical of a frightful and diabolical sombreness."

Thus, when a solemn oath of purgation was taken in grievous criminal accusations, the accused turned toward the north.

"The judicial headsman, in executing the extreme penalty of outraged justice, turned the convict's face northward, or towards the place whence emanated the earliest dismal shades of night. When Earl Hakon bowed a tremulous knee before the deadly powers of Paganism and sacrificed his seven-year-old child, he gazed out upon the far-off, gloomy north.

In Nastrond, or shores of death, stood a revolting hall, whose portals opened toward the north—the regions of night. North, by the Jutes was denominated black or sombre; the Frisians called it fear corner. The gallows faced the north, and from these hyperborean shores everything base and terrible proceeded. In consequence of this belief, it was ordered that, in the adjudication of a crime, the accused should be on the north side of the court enclosure. And in harmony with the Scandinavian superstition, no Lodge of Masons illumines the darkened north with a symbolic light, whose brightness would be unable to dissipate the gloom of that cardinal point with which was was sinstrous and direful."

Northeast Corner

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Northeast Corner - In the Institutes of Menu, the sacred book of the Brahmans, it is said: "If any one has an incurable disease, let him advance in a straight path towards the invincible northeast point, feeding on water and air till his mortal frame totally decays, and his soul becomes united with the supreme." It is at the same northeast point that those first instructions begin in Freemasonry which enable the true Freemason to commence the erection of that spiritual temple in which, after the decay of his mortal frame, "his soul becomes united with the supreme. "

In the important ceremony which refers to the Northeast Corner of the Lodge, the Candidate becomes as one who is, to all outward appearance, a perfect and upright 7nan and Mason, the representative of a spiritual Corner-stone, on which he is to erect his future moral and Masonic edifice. This symbolic reference of the Corner-stone of a material edifice to a Freemason when, at his first initiation, he commences the moral and intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is beautifully sustained when we look at all the qualities that are required to constitute a "well-tried, true, and trusty" Corner-stone. The squareness of its surface, emblematic of morality its cubical form, emblematic of firmness and stability of character and the peculiar finish and fineness of the material, emblematic of virtue and holiness show that the ceremony of the Northeast Corner of the Lodge was undoubtedly intended to portray, in the consecrated language of symbolism, 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.

Obligated - Obligation

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Obligated - To be obligated, in Masonic language, is to be admitted into the Covenant of Freemasonry. "is obligated Freemason" is tautological, needless repetition, because there can be no Freemason who is not an obligated one.

Obligation - The solemn promise made by a Freemason on his admission into any Degree is technically called his obligation. In a legal sense, obligation is synonymous with duty. Its derivation shows its true meaning, for the Latin word obligatio literally signifies a tying or binding. The obligation is that which binds a man to do some act, the doing of which thus becomes his duty. By his obligation, a Freemason is bound or tied to his Order. Hence the Romans called the military oath which was taken by the soldier his obligation, and, too, it is said that it is the obligation that makes the Freemason.

Before that ceremony, there is no tie that binds the candidate to the Order so as to make him a part of it; after the ceremony, the tie has been completed, and the candidate becomes at once a Freemason, entitled to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the duties and responsibilities that enure in that character. The jurists have divided obligations into imperfect and perfect, or natural and civil. In Freemasonry there is no such distinction.

The Masonic obligation is that moral one which, although it cannot be enforced by the courts of lav, is binding on the party who makes it, in conscience and according to moral justice. It varies in each Degree, but in each is perfect. Its various clauses, in which different duties are prescribed, are called its points, which are either affirmative or negative, a division like that of the precepts of the Jewish law. The affirmative points are those which require certain acts to be performed; the negative points are those which forbid certain other acts to be done. The whole of them is preceded by a general point of secrecy, common to all the Degrees, and this point is called the tie.

Order of the Garter

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Order of the Garter - The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry, or knighthood, originating in medieval England, and presently bestowed on recipients in any of the Commonwealth realms; it is the pinnacle of the honours system in the United Kingdom. Membership in the order is limited to the sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than twenty-four members, or Companions; the order also comprises Supernumerary knights and ladies (e.g., members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs).

The order's emblem, depicted on insignia, is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (Old French: "shame upon him who thinks evil upon it") in gold lettering. Members of the order wear such a garter on ceremonial occasions.

Most British honours encompass the whole United Kingdom, but the top-most three each pertain to one constituent nation. The Order of the Garter, pertaining to England, is senior in age and precedence; The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle pertains to Scotland; and the now-dormant The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick pertains to Ireland. New appointments are always announced on St George's Day, 23 April, Saint George being the patron saint of England.[3]

Ornaments of a Lodge

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Ornaments of a Lodge - The lectures describe the ornaments of a Lodge as consisting of the Mosaic Pavement, the Indented Tessel, and the Blazing Star. They are called ornaments because they are really the decorations with which a properly furnished Lodge, is adorned (see these respective words).

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Operative Masonry

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Operative Masonry - Freemasonry, in its character as an Operative Art, is familiar to everyone. 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 the 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. This Operative Art has been the foundation on which has been built the Speculative Science of Freemasonry (see Speculative Masonry).


OPERATIVE MASONS - Workers in stone, who construct material edifices, in contradistinction to Speculative Masons, who build spiritual edifices.

Parallel Lines

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Parallel Lines - In every well-regulated Lodge there is found a point within a circle, which circle is imbordered by two perpendicular parallel lines. These lines are representative of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, the two great patrons of Freemasonry to whom our Lodges are dedicated, and who are said to have been "perfect parallels in Christianity as well as Freemasonry".

In those English Lodges which have adopted the Union System established by the Grand Lodge of England in 1813. and where the dedication is "to God and his service," the lines parallel represent Moses and Solomon. As a symbol, the parallel lines are not to be found in the earlier instructions of Freemasonry. Though Oliver defines the symbol on the authority of what he calls the Old Lectures, it is not to be found, any anterior to Preston, and even he only refers to the parallelism of the two Saints John.

Passed

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Passed - A candidate, on receiving the Second Degree, is said to be "passed as a Fellow Craft." It alludes to his having passed through the porch to the Middle Chamber of the Temple, the place in which Fellow-Crafts received their wages. In America, Crafted is often improperly used in its stead.

Pedestal

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Pedestal - The pedestal is the lowest part or base of a column on which the shaft is placed. In a Lodge, there are supposed to be three columns, the column of Wisdom in the East, the column of Strength in the West, and the column of Beauty in the South. These columns are not generally erected in the Lodge, but their pedestals always are, and at each pedestal sits one of the three superior officers.

Hence we often hear such expressions as these, advancing to the pedestal, or standing before the pedestal, to signify advancing to or standing before the seat of the Worshipful Master. The custom in some Lodges of placing tables or desks before the three principal officers is, of course, incorrect. They should, for the reason above assigned, be representations of the pedestals of columns, and should be painted to represent marble or stone.

Pillar

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Pillar - In the earliest times it was customary to perpetuate remarkable events, or exhibit gratitude for providential favors, by the erection of pillars, which by the idolatrous races were dedicated to their spurious gods. Thus Sanconiatho tells us that Hypsourianos and Ousous, who lived before the Flood, dedicated two pillars to the elements, fire and air. Among the Egyptians the pillars were, in general, in the form of obelisks from fifty to one hundred feet high, and exceedingly slender in proportion. Upon their four sides hieroglyphics were often engraved. According to Herodotus, they were first raised in honor of the sun, and their pointed form was intended to represent his rays. Many of these monuments still remain.

In the antediluvian or before the Flood, ages, the posterity of Seth erected pillars; "for," says the Jewish historian, "that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction, that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence of water, they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone; they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind, and would also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them." Jacob erected such a pillar at Bethel, to commemorate his remarkable vision of the ladder, and aftervard another one at Galeed as a memorial of his alliance with Laban. Joshua erected one at Gilgal to perpetuate the remembrance of his miraculous crossing of the Jordan. Samuel set up a pillar between Mizpeh and Shen, on account of a defeat of the Philistines, and Absalom erected another in honor of himself. The reader will readily see the comparison between these memorials mentioned in the Bible and the modern erection of tablets, grave stones, etc., to the honor of the dead as well as to a notable deed or event. Compare also the use of an altar.

The doctrine of gravitation was unknown to the people of the primitive ages, and they were unable to refer the support of the earth in its place to this principle. Hence they looked to some other cause, and none appeared to their simple and unphilosophic minds more plausible than that it was sustained by pillars. The Old Testament abounds with reference to this idea. Hannah, in her song of thanksgiving, exclaims: "The pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them" (First Samuel ii, 8). The Psalmist signifies the same doctrine in the following text: "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved; I bear up the pillars of it" (Psalm lxxv, 3). Job (xxvi, 7) says: "He shaketh the earth out of her places, and the pillars thereof tremble."

All the old religions taught the same doctrine; and hence pillars being regarded as the supporters of the earth, they were adopted as the symbol of strength and firmness. To this, Dudley (Naology, page 123) attributes the origin of pillar worship, which prevailed so extensively among the idolatrous nations of antiquity. "The reverence," says he, "shown to columns, as symbols of the power of the Deity, was readily converted into worship paid to them as idols of the real presence." But here he seems to have fallen into a mistake. le double pillars or columns, acting as an architectural support, were, it is true, symbols derived from a natural cause of strength and permanent firmness. But there was another more prevailing symbology. The monolith, or circular pillar, standing alone, was, to the ancient mind, a representation of the Phallus, the symbol of the creative and generative energy of Deity, and it is in these Phallic Pillars that we are to find the true origin of pillar worship, which was only one form of Phallic Worship, the most predominant of all the cults to which the ancients were addicted.

Plumb

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Plumb - An instrument used by Operative Masons to erect perpendicular lines, and adopted in Speculative Freemasonry as one of the Working tools of a Fellow Craft. It 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 Freemason, 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.

To the man thus just and upright, the Scriptures attribute, as necessary parts of his character, kindness and liberality, temperance and moderation, truth and wisdom; and the pagan poet Horace (Book III, Ode 3) pays, in one of his most admired odes, an eloquent tribute to the stern immutability of the man who is upright and tenacious of purpose.

Iustum et tenacem propositi virum
non civium ardor prava iubentium,
non voltus instantis tyranni
mente quatit solida neque Auster
dux inquieti turbidus Hadriae
nec fulminantis magna manus Iovis;
si fractus inlabatur orbis,
inpavidum Serient ruinae.

The man of firm and righteous will,
No rabble, clamorous for the wrong,
No tyrant's brow, whose frown may kill,
Can shake the strength that makes him strong:
Not winds that chafe the sea they sway,
Nor Jovews right hand with lightning red:
Should Nature's pillar'd frame give way,
That wreck would strike one fearless head.
—Professor John Conington.

It is worthy of notice that, in most languages, the word which is used in a direct sense to indicate straightness of course or perpendicularity of position, is also employed in a figurative sense to express uprightness of conduct. Such are the Latm rectum, which signifies at the same time a right line and honesty or integrity; the Greek, Ap§6s, which means straight, standing upright, and also equitable, just, true; and the Hebrew tsedek, which in a physical sense denotes rightness, straightness, and in a moral, what is right and just. Our own word Right partakes of this peculiarity, right being not wrong, as well as not crooked.

As to the name, it may be remarked that plumb is the word used in Speculative Freemasonry. Webster says that as a noun the word is seldom used except in composition. Its constant use, therefore, in Freemasonry, is a peculiarity.

Point within a Circle

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Point within a Circle - This is a symbol of great interest and importance, and brings us into close connection with the early symbolism of the solar orb and the universe, which was predominant in the ancient sun-worship. The lectures of Freemasonry give what modern Monitors have made an exoteric explanation of the symbol, in telling us 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—Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.

But that this was not always its symbolic signification, we may collect from the true history of its connection with the phallus of the Ancient Mysteries.

The phallus was among the Egyptians the symbol of fecundity, expressed by the male generative principle. It was communicated from the Rites of Osiris to the religious festivals of Greece. Among the Asiatics the same emblem, under the name of Miriam, was, in connection with the female principle, worshiped as the symbols of the Great Father and Mother, or producing causes of the human race, after their destruction by the deluge.

On this subject, Captain Wilford (Asiatic Researches) remarks;

"that it was believed in India, that, at the general deluge, everything was involved in the common destruction except the male and female principles, or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a new race, and to repeople the earth when the waters had subsided from its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed the form of a lunette or crescent; while the male principle, symbolized by the sun, assuming the form of the lingam, placed himself erect in the center of the lunette, like the mast of a ship.

The two principles, in this united form, floated on the surface of the waters during the period of their prevalence on the earth; and thus became the progenitors of a new race of men."

Here, then, was the first outline of the point within a circle, representing the principle of fecundity, and doubtless the symbol, connected with a different history, that, namely, of Osiris, was transmitted by the Indian philosophers to Egypt, and to the other nations, who derived, as is elsewhere shown, all their rites from the East.

It was in deference to this symbolism that, as Godfrey Higgins remarks (Anecalypsis ii, page 306), circular temples were in the very earliest ages universally erected in cyclar numbers to do honor to the Deity.

In India, stone circles, or rather their ruins, are everywhere found; among the oldest of which, according to Moore (Pancheon, page 242) is that of Dipaldiana, and whose execution will compete with that of the Greeks. In the oldest monuments of the Druids we find, as at Stonehenge and Avebury, the circle of stones. In fact, all the temples of the Druids were circular, with a single stone erected in the center. A Druidical monument in Pembrokeshire, called Y Cromlech, is described as consisting of several rude stones pitched on end in a circular order, and in the midst of the circle a vast stone placed on several pillars. Near Keswick, in Cumberland, says Doctor Oliver (Signs and Symbols, page 174) is another specimen of this Druidical symbol. On a hill stands a circle of forty stones placed perpendicularly, Of about five feet and a half in height, and one stone in the center of greater altitude. Among the Scandinavians, the hall of Odin contained twelve seats, disposed in the form of a circle, for the principal gods, with an elevated seat in the center for Odin. Scandinavian monuments of this form are still to be found in Scania, Zealand, and Jutland. But it is useless to multiply examples of the prevalence of this symbol among the ancients. Now let us apply this knowledge to the Masonic symbol.

We have seen that the phallus and the point within a circle come from the same source, and must have been identical in signification. But the phallus was the symbol of fecundity, or the male generative principle, which by the ancients was supposed to be the sun, they looking to the creature and not to the Creator, because by the sun's heat and light the earth is made prolific, and its productions are brought to maturity. The point within the circle was then originally the symbol of the sun; and as the lingam of India stood in the center of the lunette, so it stands within the center of the Universe, typified by the circle, impregnating and vivifying it with its heat. And thus the astronomers have been led to adopt the same figure as their symbol of the sun.

Now it is admitted that the Lodge represents the world or the universe, and the Master and Wardens within it represent the sun in three positions. Thus 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.

To the above observations by Doctor Mackey, Brother Charles T. McClenachan adds these two paragraphs:

An addition to the above may be given, by referring to one of the oldest symbols among the Egyptians, and found upon their monuments, which was a circle centered by an A U M, supported by two erect parallel serpents; the circle being expressive of the collective people of the world, protected by the parallel attributes, the Power and Wisdom of the Creator. The Alpha and Omega, or the will representing the Egyptian omnipotent God, surrounded by His creation, having for a boundary no other limit than what may come within his boundless scope, his Wisdom and Power. At times this circle is represented by the Ananta (a Sanskrit word meaning eternity), a serpent with its tail in its mouth. The parallel serpents were of the cobra species.

It has been suggestively said that the Masonic symbol refers to the circuits or circumambulation of the initiate about the sacred Altar, which supports the three Great Lights as a central point, while the Brethren stand in two parallel lines.

As knowledge of the customs of gilds, fraternities, churches, and of popular customs in the Middle Ages is increased it becomes ever more evident that the two Sts. John Days were in everybody's mind the two fixed points of the year, and that where we to measure time in our minds from New Year's Day (St. John the Evangelist's Day was equivalent to it) they measured it from two extremes, one the shortest day in winter, the other the longest day in summer.

The early prominence of these two Days in Masonic customs need not there fore mean that the days were chosen for their religious significance; it rather may mean that they were chosen for their convenience as a calendar. It is doubtful if Masons ever thought of the Sts. John as their Patron Saints until a late period; from the records of the Mason Companies (as noted on another page in this Supplement), some of them took St. Thomas as their Patron.

The Monitorial Lectures make it plain that the two Parallel Lines represent the Sts. John Evangelist and Baptist, not in their theological significance but in their sense as a calendar; the days named after those, Saints, rather than the Saints themselves, are denoted.

Since those days were the two extremes of the year, the sun is correctly represented as swinging in its circuit between them, for it cannot move south this side of the fixed point of the day named for the Evangelist nor go north beyond the fixed point of the day represented by the Baptist. The two days are the limits of its circle, therefore the circle is shone set between the lines. The Point Within the Circle represents the year, a year of work, a year out of a man's life; at least it does if the history of its use is a true guide to its symbolic meaning. To follow that guide is not to narrow the symbolism down to a mere fact in the calendar, but is to canalize it, and to hold it fast to its Masonic meaning, lest commentators wander off into regions that have no connection with Freemasonry.

Prudence

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

This is one of the four cardinal virtues, the practise of which is inculcated upon the Entered Apprentice. Preston first introduced it into the Degree as referring to what was then, and long before had been called the Four Principal Signs, but which are now known as the Perfect Points of Entrance.

Preston's eulogium on prudence differs from that used in the lectures of the United States of America, which was composed by Webb. It is in these words: "Prudence is the true guide to human understanding, and consists in judging and determining with propriety what is to be said or done upon all our occasions, what dangers we should endeavor to avoid, and how to act in all our difficulties." Webb's definition, which is much better, may be found in all the Monitors. The Masonic reference of prudence to the manual point reminds us of the classic method of representing her in statues with a rule or measure in her hand.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

School of Pythagoras

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

School of Pythagoras - The schools established by Pythagoras at Crotona and other cities, have been considered by many writers as the models after which Masonic Lodges were subsequently constructed. They undoubtedly served the Christian ascetics of the first century as a pattern for their monastic institutions, with which institutions the Freemasonry of the Middle Ages, in its operative character, was intimately connected. A brief description of the school of Crotona will not therefore be inappropriate.

The disciples of this school wore the simplest kind of clothing, and having on their entrance surrendered all their property to the common fund. they then submitted for three years to voluntary poverty, during which time they were also compelled to a rigorous silence. The doctrines of Pythagoras were always delivered as infallible propositions which admitted of no argument, and hence the Greek expression he said it, was considered as a sufficient answer to anyone who demanded a reason. Aristotle, by the way, in his accounts of Pythagorean doctrines, refers with what appears to be a studied and cautious vagueness to the Pythagoreans, not to Pythagoras. The teaching was probably, according to recent investigation, as a rule credited to the founder.

The scholars were divided into Esoterics and Exsoterics. This distinction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the Egyptian priests, who practiced a similar mode of instruction. The exoteric scholars were those who attended the public assemblies, where general ethical instructions were delivered by the sage. But only the esoterics constituted the true school, and these alone Pythagoras called, says Jamblichus, his companions and friends. Before admission to the privileges of this school, the previous life and character of the candidate were rigidly scrutinized, and in the preparatory initiation secrecy was enjoined by an oath, and he was made to submit to the severest trials of his fortitude and self-command. He who after his admission was alarmed at the obstacles he had to encounter, was permitted to return to the world, and the disciples, considering him as dead, performed his funeral obsequies, and erected a monument to his memory.

The mode of living in the school of Crotona was like that of the modern Communists. The Brethren, about six hundred in number, with their wives and children, resided in one large building. Every morning the business and duties of the day were arranged, and at night an account was rendered of the day's transactions. They arose before day to pay their devotions to the sun, and recited verses from Homer, Hesiod, or some other poet. Several hours were spent in study, after which there was an interval before dinner, which was occupied in walking and in gymnastic exercises.

The meals consisted principally of bread, honey, and water, for though the table was often covered with delicacies, no one was permitted to partake of them. It was in this secret school that Pythagoras gave his instructions on his interior doctrine, and explained the hidden meaning of his symbols. There were three Degrees: the first or Mathematic, being engaged in the study of the exact sciences; and the second, or Theoretic, in the knowledge of God and the future state of man; but the third, or highest Degree, was communicated only to a few whose intellects were capable of grasping the full fruition of the Pythagorean philosophy.

This school, after existing for thirty years, was finally dissolved through the machinations of Sylo, a wealthy inhabitant of Crotona, who, having been refused admission, in revenge excited the citizens against it, when a lawless mob attacked the scholars while assembled in the house of Milo, set fire to the building and dispersed the disciples, forty of them being burned to death. The school was never resumed, but after the death of the philosopher, summaries of his doctrines were made by some of his disciples. Still many of his symbols and his esoteric teachings have to this day remained uninterpreted and unexplained.

After this account of the Pythagorean school, the Freemason will find no difficulty in understanding that part of the so called Lowland Manuscript which is said to have so much puzzled the great metaphysician John Locke. This manuscript—the question of its authenticity is not here entered upon—has the following interesting paragraphs:

How comede ytt—Fremasonryn Engellonde? Peter Gower, a Grecian, journeyeded for kunnynge ye Egypte and in Syria, and yn everyche londe whereat the Venetians hadde plauntedde Maconrye, and wynnynge entraunce yn al Lodges of Maconnes, he lerned muche and retournedde and worked yn Grecia Magna wachsynge and becommynge a myghtye wysacre and gratelyche renowned, and here he framed a grate Lodge at Groton, and maked many Maconnes, some whereoffe dyd journeye yn Fraunce, and maked manye Maconnes wherefromme, yn process of tyme, the arte passed yn Engelonde.

Locke confesses that he was at first puzzled with those strange names, Peter Gower, Groton, and the Venetians; but a little thinking taught him that they were only corruptions of Pythagoras, Crotona, and the Phenicians. It is not singular that the old Freemasons should have called Pythagoras their "ancient friend and Brother," and should have dedicated to him one of their geometrical symbols, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid; an epithet and a custom that have, by the force of habit, been retained in all the modern instructions of the Craft.

Recent conclusions ascribe to Pythagoras and his followers equal esteem to that accorded them by the old Freemasons. In their mathematical work the leading characteristic was a combination of arithmetic and geometry. The studies containing the germ of algebra were developed in the Pythagorean School into a true scientific method in its theory of proportion and in fact Pythagoras has been not only credited with a method common in value to all branches of mathematics but to be personally comparable himself with Descartes who decisively combined geometry and algebra.

Solomon

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Solomon - In writing the life of King Solomon from a Masonic point of view, it is impossible to omit a reference to the legends which have been preserved in the Masonic system.

But the writer, who, with this preliminary notice, embodies them in his sketch of the career of the wise King of Israel, is by no means to be held responsible for a belief in their authenticity. It is the business of the Masonic biographer to relate all that has been handed down by tradition in connection with the life of Solomon; it will be the duty of the severer critic to seek to separate out of all these materials that which is historical from that which is merely mythical, and to assign to the former all that is valuable as fact, and to the latter all that is equally valuable as symbolism.

But it must constantly be kept in mind that the chronology of early Jewish history is obscure. Periods given in the books of Moses are in round numbers and seem based only on tradition. Only when the biblical dates can be checked by external means, as for example by the records of Assyria, may definite dates be accepted with any certainty. Such is the conclusion of the Dictionary of Dates (Nelson's Encyclopedic Library).

Solomon, the King of Israel, the son of David and Bathsheba, ascended the throne of his kingdom 2989 years after the creation of the world, and 1015 years before the Christian era. He was then only twenty years of age, but the youthful monarch is said to have commenced his reign with the decision of a legal question of some difficulty, in which he exhibited the first promise of that wise judgment for which he was ever afterward distinguished.

One of the great objects of Solomon's life, and the one which most intimately connects him with the history of the Masonic institution, was the erection of a temple to Jehovah. This, too, had been a favorite design of his father David. For this purpose, that monarch, long before his death, had numbered the workmen whom he found in his kingdom; had appointed the overseers of the work, the hewers of stones, and the bearers of burdens; had prepared a great quantity of brass, iron, and cedar; and had amassed an immense treasure with which to support the enterprise.

But on consulting with the Prophet Nathan, he learned from that holy man, that although the pious intention was pleasing to God, yet that he would not be permitted to carry it into execution, and the divine prohibition was proclaimed in these emphatic words: "Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars; thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight." The task was, therefore, reserved for the more peaceful Solomon.

Hence, when David was about to die, he charged Solomon to build the Temple of God as soon as he should have received the kingdom. He also gave him directions in relation to the construction of the edifice, and put into his possession the money, amounting to ten thousand talents of gold and ten times that amount of silver, which he had collected and laid aside for defraying the expense. Solomon had scarcely ascended the throne of Israel, when he prepared to carry into execution the pious designs of his predecessor. For this purpose, however, he found it necessary to seek the assistance of Hiram, King of Tyre, the ancient friend and ally of his father.

The Tyrians and Sidonians, the subjects of Hiram, had long been distinguished for their great architectural skill; and, in fact, many of them, as the members of a mystic operative society, the Fraternity of Dionysian Artificers, had long monopolized the profession of building in Asia Minor. The Jews, on the contrary, were rather more eminent for their military valor than for their knowledge of the arts of peace, and hence King Solomon at once conceived the necessity of invoking the aid of these foreign architects, if he expected to complete the edifice he was about to erect, either in a reasonable time or with the splendor and magnificence appropriate to the sacred object for which it was intended. For this purpose he addressed the following letter to King Hiram:

Know thou that my father would have built a temple to God, but was hindered by wars and continual expeditions, for he did not leave off to overthrow his enemies till he made them all subject to tribute. But I give thanks to God for the peace I, at present, enjoy, and on that account I am at leisure, and design to build a house to God. for God foretold to my father, that such a house should be built by me wherefore I desire thee to send some of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon, to cut down timber for the Sidonians are more skillful than our people in cutting of wood. as for wages to the hewers of wood, I will pay whatever price thou shalt determine. Hiram, mindful of the former amity end alliance that had existed between himself and David, was disposed to extend the friendship he had felt for the father to the son, and replied, therefore, to the letter of Solomon in the following epistle:

It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father's government to thee, who art a wise man endowed with all virtues.

As for myself, I rejoice at the condition thou art in and will be subservient to thee in all that thou sendest to me about; for when, by my subjects I have cut down many and large trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send them to sea and will order my subjects to make floats of them. and to sail to what places soever of thy country thou shalt desire and leave them there, after which thy subjects may carry them to Jerusalem. But do thou take care to procure us corn for this timber which we stand in need of, because we inhabit in an island.

Hiram lost no time in fulfilling the promise of assistance which he had thus given; and accordingly we are informed that Solomon received thirty-three thousand six hundred workmen from Tyre, besides a sufficient quantity of timber and stone to construct the edifice which he was about to erect.

Hiram sent him, also, a far more important gift than either men or materials, in the person of an able architect, "a curious and cunning workman," whose skill and experience were to be exercised in superintending the labors of the craft, and in adorning and beautifying the building. Of this personage, whose name was also Hiram, and who plays so important a part in the history of Freemasonry, an account will be found in the article Hiram Abif, to which the reader is referred.

King Solomon commenced the erection of the Temple on Monday, the second day of the Hebrew month Zif, which answers to the twenty-first of April, in the year of the world 2992, and 1012 years before the Christian era. Advised in all the details, as Masonic tradition informs us, by the wise and prudent counsels of Hiram, King of Tyre, and Hiram Abif, who, with himself, constituted at that time the three Grand Masters of the Craft, Solomon made every arrangement in the disposition and government of the workmen, in the payment of their wages, and in the maintenance of concord and harmony which should insure despatch in the execution and success in the result. To Hiram Abif was entrusted the general superintendence of the building, while subordinate stations were assigned to other eminent artists, whose names and offices have been handed down in the traditions of the Order.

In short, the utmost perfection of human wisdom was displayed by this enlightened monarch in the disposition of everything that related to the construction of the stupendous edifice. Men of the most comprehensive minds, imbued with the greatest share of zeal and fervency, and inspired with the strongest fidelity to his interests, were employed as masters to instruct and superintend the workmen; while those who labored in inferior stations were excited to enthusiasm by the promise of promotion and reward. The Temple was at length finished in the month Bul, answering to our November, in the year of the world 3000, being a little more than seven years from its commencement.

As soon as the magnificent edifice was completed, and fit for the sacred purposes for which it was intended, King Solomon determined to celebrate the consummation of his labors in the most solemn manner.

For this purpose he directed the Ark to be brought from the king's house, where it had been placed by King David, and to be deposited with impressive ceremonies in the holy of holier beneath the expanded wings of the cherubim This important event is commemorated in the beautiful ritual of the Most Excellent Master's Degree. Our traditions inform us, that when the Temple was completed, Solomon assembled all the heads of the Tribes, the Elders and Chiefs of Israel to bring the Ark up out of Zion, where King David had deposited it in a tabernacle until a more fitting place should have been built for its reception. This duty, therefore, the Levites now performed, and delivered the Ark of the Covenant into the hands of the Priests, who fixed it in its place in the center of the Holy of Holies.

Here the immediate and personal connection of King Solomon with the Craft begins to draw to a conclusion. It is true, that he subsequently employed those worthy Freemasons, whom the traditions say, at the completion and dedication of the Temple, he had received and acknowledged as Most Excellent Masters, in the erection of a magnificent palace and other edifices, but in process of time he fell into the most grievous errors; abandoned the path of truth; encouraged the idolatrous rites of Spurious Freemasonry; and, induced by the persuasions of those foreign wives and concubines whom he had espoused in his later days, he erected a fane for the celebration of these heathen mysteries, on one of the hills that overlooked the very spot where, in his youth, he had consecrated a temple to the one true God.

It is, however, believed that before his death he deeply repented of this temporary aberration from virtue, and in the emphatic expression, "Vanity of vanities! all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes I, 2), he is supposed to have acknowledged that in his own experience he had discovered that falsehood and sensuality, however they may give pleasure for a season, will, in the end, produce the bitter fruits of remorse and sorrow.

That King Solomon was the wisest monarch that swayed the scepter of Israel, has been the unanimous opinion of posterity.

So much was he beyond the age in which he flourished, in the attainments of science, that the Jewish and Arabic writers have attributed to him a thorough knowledge of the secrets of magic, by whose incantations they suppose him to have been capable of calling spirits and demons to his assistance; and the Talmudists and Mohammedan doctors record many fanciful legends of his exploits in controlling these ministers of darkness. As a naturalist, he is said to have written a work on animals of no ordinary character, which has, however, perished; while his qualifications as a poet were demonstrated by more than a thousand poems which he composed, of which his epithalamium on his marriage with an Egyptian princess and the Book of Ecclesiastes alone remain.

He has given us in his Proverbs an Opportunity of forming a favorable opinion of his pretensions to the character of a deep and right-thinking philosopher; while the long peace and prosperous condition of his empire for the greater portion of his reign, the increase of his kingdom in wealth and refinement, and the encouragement which he gave to architectures the mechanic arts, and commerce, testify his profound abilities as a sovereign and statesman- After a reign of forty years he died, and with him expired the glory and the power of the ancient Hebrew Empires

Sponsors

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Sponsors - The serious responsibility resting on his sponsors (his proposer and seconder) is shared by the Master, Officers, and Committee, who inquire into the Candidate's credentials.

The Grand Lodge of England does not lay down any minimum period for which a Candidate must be known beforehand to his sponsors; "it is the extent of the knowledge which is important, and Lodge Committees are desired to investigate every case in full light."

Square and Compasses

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Square and Compasses - These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined— to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.

So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.

If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.

It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).

In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:

Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.

In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.

Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.

The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."

Star

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Star - In the French and Scottish Rites lighted candles or torches are called stars when used in some of the ceremonies, especially in the reception of distinguished visitors, where the number of lights or stars with which the visitor is received is proportioned to his rank; but the number is always odd, being 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11.

Strength

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Strength - This is said to be one of the three principal supports of a Lodge, as the representative of the whole Institution, because it is necessary that where should be Strength to support and maintain every great and important undertaking, not less than there should be Wisdom to contrive it, and Beauty to adorn it.

Hence, Strength is symbolized in Freemasonry by the Doric Column, because, of all the orders of architecture, it is the most massive; by the Senior Warden, because it is his duty to strengthen and support the authority of the Master; and by Hiram of Tyre, because of the material assistance that he gave in men and materials for the construction of the Temple.

Sun

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.

This book is in the public domain. The text was duplicated from the book using Optical Character Recognition software and errors may be present.

Sun - Hardly any of the symbols of Freemasonry are more important in their signification or more extensive in their application than the sun. As the source of material light, it reminds the Freemason of that intellectual light of which he is in constant search. But it is especially as the ruler of the day, giving to it a beginning and end, and a regular course of hours, that the Sun is presented as a Masonic Symbol. Hence, of the three lesser lights, we are told that one represents or symbolizes the sun, one the moon, and one the Master of the Lodge, because, as the sun rules the day and the moon governs the night, so should the Worshipful Master rule and govern his Lodge with equal regularity and precision.

And this is in strict analogy with other Masonic symbolisms. For if the Lodge is a symbol of the world, which is thus governed in its changes of times and seasons by the sun, it is evident that the Master who governs the Lodge, controlling its time of opening and closing, and the work which it should do, must be symbolized by the sun. The heraldic definition of the sun as a bearing fits most appositely to the symbolism of the sovereignty of the Master. Thus Gwillim Says: "The sun is the symbol of sovereignty, the hieroglyphic of royalty; it doth signify absolute authority!'

This representation of the sun as a symbol of authority while it explains the reference to the Master, enables us to amplify its meaning, and apply it to the three Sources of authority in the Lodge, and accounts for the respective positions of the officers wielding this authority. the Master, therefore, in the East is a symbol of the rising sun; the Junior Warden in the South, of the Meridian Sun; and the Senior Warden in the West, of the Setting Sun. So in the Mysteries of India, the chief officers were placed in the East, the West, and the South, respectively, and thus represent Brahma, or the rising; Vishnu, or the setting; and Siva, or the meridian sun. And in the Druidical Rites, the Archdruid, seated in the East, was assisted by two other officers—the one in the West representing the moon, and the other in the South representing the meridian sun.

This triple division of the government of a Lodge by three officers, representatives of the sun in his three manifestations in the East, South and West, will remind us of similar ideas in the symbolism of antiquity. In the Orphic Mysteries, it was taught that the sun generated from an egg, burst forth with power to triplicate himself by his own unassisted energy. Supreme power seems always to have been associated in the ancient mind with a three-fold division. Thus the sign of authority was indicated by the three-forked lightning of Jove, the trident of Neptune, and the three-headed Cerherus of Pluto. The government of the Universe was divided between these three sons of Saturn. The chaste goddess ruled the earth as Diana, the heavens as Luna, and the infernal regions as Hecate, whence her rites were only performed in a place where three roads met. The sun is then presented to us in Freemasonry first as a symbol of light, but then more emphatically as a symbol of sovereign authority.

But, says Wemyss (Symbolic Language), speaking of Seriptural symbolism, "the sun may be considered to be an emblem of Divine Truth," because the sun or light, of which it is the source, "is not only manifest in itself, but makes other things; so one truth detects, reveals, and manifests another, as all truths are dependent on, and connected with, each other more or less." And this again is applicable to the Masonic doctrine which makes the Master the symbol of the sun; for as the sun discloses and makes manifest, by the opening of day, what had been hidden in the darkness of night, so the Master of the Lodge, as analogue of the ancient hierophant or explainer of the mysteries, makes Divine Truth manifest to the neophyte, who had been hitherto in intellectual darkness, and reveals the hidden or esoteric lessons of initiation.

Tilers Sword

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.
This book is in the public domain.

Sword, Tilers - In modern times the implement used by the Tiler is a sword of the ordinary form. This is incorrect. Formerly, and indeed up to a comparatively recent period, the Tiler's sword was wavy in shape, and so made in allusion to the "flaming sword which was placed at the east of the garden of Eden, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." It was, of course, without a scabbard, because the Tiler's sword should ever be drawn and ready for the defense of his post.

The Taunton Lodge in 1850 buried Brother Davey, their Tiler, and at the conclusion of the Church burial Service, the Provincial Grand Secretary broke his wand and the Worshipful Master broke the sword of the deceased Tiler, casting the same into the grave with the customary exclamation on such occasions, "Alas, our Brother." This is the editorial answer to a question in the Freemasons Magazine and Masonic Mirror (August 2(), 1863, page 1).

Tabernacle

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.
This book is in the public domain.

Tabernacle - Many Masonic students have greatly erred in the way in which they have referred to the Sinaitic Tabernacle, as if it were represented by the Tabernacle said in the legends to have been erected by Zerubbabel at Jerusalem at the time of the building of the second Temple. The belief that the Tabernacle of Zerubbabel was an exact representation of that erected by Moses, arose from the numerous allusions to it in the writings of Doctor Oliver, but in this country principally from the teachings of Thomas Smith Webb and Jeremy L. Cross. It is, however, true, that although the symbols of the Ark, the Golden Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and some others were taken, not from the Tabernacle, but from the Temple, the symbolism of the veils was derived from the latter, but in a form by no means similar to the original disposition. It is therefore necessary that some notice should be taken of the real Tabernacle, that we may be enabled to know how far the Masonic is connected with the Sinaitic edifice.

The word tabernacle means a tent. It is the diminutive of the Latin word taberna, and was used by the Romans to denote a soldier's tent. It was constructed of planks and covered with skins, and its outward appearance presented the precise form of the Jewish Tabernacle.

The Jews called it sometimes mishcan, which, like the Latin taberna, meant a dwelling-place, but more commonly ohel, which meant, like tabernaculum, a tent. In shape it resembled a tent, and is supposed to have derived its form from the tents used by the Patriarchs during their nomadic life. There are three Tabernacles mentioned in Scripture history—the Ante Sinaitic, the Sinaitic, and the Davidic

1. The Ante-Sinaitic Tabernacle was the tent used, perhaps from the beginning of the Exodus, for the transaction of business, and was situated at some distance from the camp. It was used only provisionally and was superseded by the Tabernacle proper.

2. The Sinaitic Tabernacle. This was constructed by Aholiab and Bezaleel under the immediate direction of Moses. The costliness and splendor of this edifice exceeded, says Kitto, in proportion to the means of the people who constructed it, the magnificence of any Cathedral of the present day. It was situated in the very center of the camp, with its door or entrance facing the East, and was placed toward the western part of an enclosure or outward court, which was one hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide, and surrounded by canvas screens seven and a half feet high, so as to prevent any one on the outside from overlooking the Court.

The Tabernacle itself was, according to Josephus, forty-five feet long by fifteen wide; its greater length being from East to West. The sides were fifteen feet high, and there was a sloping roof. There was no aperture or place of entrance except at the eastern end, which was covered by curtains. Internally, the Tabernacle was divided into two apartments by a richly decorated curtain. The one at the western end was fifteen feet long, making, therefore, a perfect cube. This was the Holy of Holies, into which no one entered, not even the High Priest, except on extraordinary occasions. In it was placed the Ark of the Covenant, against the western wall. The Holy of Holies was separated from the Sanctuary by a curtain embroidered with figures of Cherubim, and supported by four golden pillars. The Sanctuary, or eastern apartment, was in the form of a double cube, being fifteen feet high, fifteen feet wide, and thirty feet long. In it were placed the Table of Shewbread on the northern side, the Golden Candlestick on the southern, and the Altar of Incense between them. The Tabernacle thus constructed was decorated with rich curtains. These were of four colors—white or fine twined linen, blue, purple, and red. They were so suspended as to cover the sides and top of the tabernacle, not being distributed as veils separating it into apartments, as in the Masonic Tabernacle. Josephus, in describing the symbolic signification of the Tabernacle, says that it was an imitation of the system of the world; the Holy of Holies, into which not even the Priests were admitted, was axis it were a heaven peculiar to God; but the Sanctuary, where the people were allowed to assemble for worship, represented the sea and land on which men live. But the symbolism of the Tabernacle was far more complex than anything that Josephus has said upon the Subject would lead us to suppose.

Its connection would, however, lead us to an inquiry into the religious life of the ancient Hebrews, and into an investigation of the question how much Moses was, in the appointment of ceremonies, influenced by his previous Egyptian life; topics whose consideration would throw no light on the Masonic symbolism of the Tabernacle.

3. The Davidic Tabernacle in time took the place of that which had been constructed by Moses. The old or Sinaitic Tabernacle accompanied the Israelites in all their wanderings, and was their old Temple until David obtained possession of Jerusalem. From that time it remained at Gibeon, and we have no account of its removal thence. But when David removed the Ark to Jerusalem, he erected a Tabernacle for its reception Here the Priests performed their daily service, until Solomon erected the Temple, when the ark was deposited in the Holy of Holies, and the Davidie Tabernaele put away as a relic. At the subsequent destruction of the Temple it was most probably burned. From the time of Solomon we altogether lose sight of the Sinaitic Tabernacle, which perhaps became a victim to carelessness and the corroding influence of time.

The three Tabernacles just described are the only ones mentioned in Scripture or in Josephus. Masonic tradition, however, enumerates a fourth—the Tabernacle erected by Zerubbabel on his arrival at Jerusalem with his countrymen, who had been restored from captivity by Cyrus for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. Ezra tells us that on their arrival they built the Altar of Burnt-Offerings and offered sacrifice. This would not, however, necessitate the building of a house, because the Altar of Sacrifices had always been erected in the open court, both of the old Tabernacle and Temple. Yet as the Priests and Levites were there, and it is said that the religious ordinances of Moses were observed, it is not unlikely that some sort of temporary shelter was erected for the performance of divine worship. But of the form and character of such a building we have no account.

Nevertheless, a Masonic legend has, for symbolical purposes, supplied that deficiency. This legend is, however, peculiar to the American modification of the Royal Arch Degree. In the English system a Royal Arch Chapter represents the "ancient Sanhedrim," where Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Joshua administer the law. In the American system a Chapter is said to represent "the Tabernacle erected by our ancient Brethren near the ruins of King Solomon's Temple."

Of the erection of this tabernacle, we have said that there is no historical evidence. It is simply a myth, but a myth constructed, of course, for a symbolical purpose. In its legendary description, it bears no resemblance whatsoever, except in the colors of its curtains or veils, to the Sinaitic Tabernacle.

In the latter the Holy of Holies was in the western extremity, in the former it was in the eastern; in that was contained the Ark of the Covenant with the overshadowing Cherubim and the Shekinah; in this there are no such articles; in that the most holy was inaccessible to all purposes, even to the priests; in this it is the seat of the three presiding officers, and is readily accessible by proper means. In that the curtains were attached to the sides of the tent; in this they are suspended across, dividing it into four apartments.

The Masonic Tabernacle used in the American Royal Arch Degree is not, therefore, a representation of the ancient Tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness, but must be supposed to be simply a temporary construction for purposes of shelter, of consultation, and of worship. It was, in the strictest sense of the word, a Tabernacle, a tent. As a myth, with no historical foundation, it would be valueless, were it not that it is used, and was undoubtedly fabricated, for the purpose of developing a symbolism.

And this symbolism is found in its veils. There is no harm in calling it a Tabernacle any more than there is in calling it a Sanhedrim, provided we do not fall into the error of supposing that either was actually its character. As a myth, and only as a myth, must it be viewed, and there its symbolic meaning presents, as in all other Masonic myths, a fund of useful instruction (for an interpretation of that symbolism, see Veils, Symbolism of the).

In some Chapters a part of the furniture is called the Tahernacle; in other words, a piece of frame work is erected inside of the room, and is called the Tabernacle. This is incorrect. According to the ritual the whole Chapter room represents the Tabernacle, and the veils should be suspended from wall to wall. Indeed, we have reasons for believing that this interior Tabernacle is an innovation of little more than comparatively a few years standing. The oldest Chapter rooms that Doctor Mackey had seen were constructed on the correct principle.

No one who studies the construction of the Tabernacle as described in the Bible but will be somewhat perplexed by the several difficulties pertaining to the structure as well as its equipment.

There will be suggested the unexpected wealth of material and the artistic skill necessary for its construction and A. R. S. Kennedy in writing upon this subject for Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible says (page 888), "Modern students of the Pentateuch find the picture of the desert Sanctuary and its worship irreconcilable with the historical development of religion and the cultus in Israel. In Exodus 25 and following chapters we are dealing not with historical fact, but with the product of religious idealism; and surely these devout idealists of the Exile should command our admiration as they deserve our gratitude. If the Tabernacle is an ideal, it is truly an ideal worthy of Him for whose worship it seeks to provide. Nor must it be forgotten, that in reproducing in portable form, as they unquestionably do, the several parts and appointments of the Temple of Solomon, including even its brazen altar, the author or authors of the Tabernacle believed, in all good faith, that they were reproducing the essential features of the Mosaic sanctuary, of which the Temple was supposed to be the replica and the legitimate successor. "

The Jerusalem Temples

from the book Encylcopedia of Freemasonry & its Kindred Sciences
by Albert C. Mackey M. D.
This book is in the public domain.

Temples, The Jerusalem - 1. Solomon began the building of his Temple about 967 B.C., and completed it in about six and one-half years. This was in reality a collection of buildings, inside a wall, and the Temple proper was probably at or near the center, a structure 90 to 100 feet long, about 30 to 35 feet in width and at its highest about 50 feet. The entire system of buildings, taken as a unit, was the greatest single building feat ever undertaken by the Jewish people before or since. This was the First Temple.

For nearly five centuries it was the center and capital of Hebrew peoples, not only in Palestine but wherever they might live. It and the city were looted and w destroyed by the Babylonian hordes under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B-C- (It may be more than a coincidence that the only successful—though temporary— attempt ever made by the Egyptians to achieve monotheism occurred while this First Temple was still standing It is likewise interesting to note that many of the tales, traditions, legends, and historical occurrences about Solomon or his Temple need not refer to so early a date as 967 B.C. but may refer to it as of any date as between 967 B-C. and 586 B.C.)

2. When after a half century Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem they began almost at once to rebuild the Temple under their "prince," or leader, Sheshbazzar, who began work in 536 B.C. it was completed by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. after twenty years of slow, hard labor by a poverty-stricken people, and then was only half restored. After 168 B.C. this building was looted, attacked, razed, rebuilt, and finally destroyed almost completely. This was the Second Temple.

3. One of the looters was Herod. In 40 B.C. Antony and Octavius gave him the title "King of Judea." Between 20 B.C. and 19 B.C., and for political reasons of his own, he began to rebuild the Temple, and on a larger scale. It was not completed until between 62 A.D. and 64 A.D. Only two years after this latter date the Jews began their revolt against Roman rule; in about four years, or 70 A.D., the whole "Temple was burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed.?' This was the Third Temple.

(Historians long were skeptical about the descriptions of the three Temples on the ground that structures of such size and elaborateness called for a technical knowledge which did not exist in ancient times. Modern archeological discoveries have removed that objection by proving that as early as 1000 B.C. many of the technical arts were at a high stage of development. Thus, and to cite only two examples, Tutankhamen's physicians had the use of complete sets of surgical instruments, and practiced many forms of anesthesia; shorthand, a technique without which modern business could hardly function, was known to ancient Egypt; in 1934 the Egypt Exploration Society published a book Greek Shorthand Manuals compiled from papyri and waxed tablets unearthed by archeologic excavations.)