J
The tenth letter in the
English alphabet. It is frequently and interchangeably used with I, and
written in Hebrew as Yod, with the numerical value of 10, and having reference
to the Supreme.
*
JAABOROU HAMMAIM
The Hebrew words, aquae
transibunt. A word of covered significancy in the Fifteenth Degree of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It also has reference to the L. D. P. (see
Liber).
*
JABESCHEH
The Hebrew word Earth. Also
written Jebschah (see I.·. N.·.R.·.I.·.).
*
JABULUM
A corrupted word used in two
of the Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the Thirteenth and
Seventeenth. The true word and its meaning, however, are disclosed to the
initiate.
*
JACHIN
Hence called by Dudley and
some other writers, who reject the points, Ichin. It is the name of the
right-hand pillar facing eastward, that is, on the south, that stood at the
porch of King Solomon's Temple. It is derived from two Hebrew words, no, Jah,
meaning God, and lace, iachin, will establish. It signifies, therefore, God
will establish, and is often called the Pillar of Establishment.
*
JACHINAI
A Gallic corruption of
Shekinah, to be found only in the French notebooks or cahiers of the advanced
Degrees.
*
JACHIN AND BOAZ
A publication known by this
name was brought forth in 1762 and has been constantly reprinted to the
present time, probably having had a larger public sale than any other book
treating of the Masonic Fraternity. The name of the author is said to have
been Goodall (see Goodall; also Expositions) .
*
JACKSON, JOHN
Signing the name of
Philanthropos, he wrote, An Answer to a certain Pamphlet lately published
under the solemn title of "A Sermon, or Masonry the way to Hell," 1768. The
pamphlet to which he refers is in the British Museum at London and has the
title of Masonry the way to Hell; a Sermon wherein is clearly proved, both
from Reason and Scripture, that all who profess the Mysteries are in a state
of Damnation, published at London in 1768.
*
JACOBINS
A political sect that sprang
up in the beginning of the French Revolution, and which have origin to the
Jacobin clubs, so well known as having been the places where the leaders of
the Revolution concocted their plans for the abolition of the monarchy and the
aristocracy. Lieber says that it is a most surprising phenomenon that "so
large a body of men could be found uniting rare energy with execrable vice,
political madness, and outrageous cruelty, committed always in the name of
virtue." Barruel, in his History de Jacobinisme, and Robinson, in his Proofs
of a Conspiracy, both endeavor to prove that there was a coalition of the
revolutionary conspirators with the Illuminati and the Freemasons which formed
the Jacobin Clubs, those Bodies being, as they contend, only Masonic Lodges in
disguise.
The falsity of these charges
will be evident to anyone who reads the history of French Freemasonry during
the Revolution, and more especially during that part of the period known as
the Reign of Terror, when the Jacobin Clubs were in most vigor. The Grand
Orient, in 1788, declared that a politico-Masonic work, entitled Les Jesuites
chassés de la Maçonnerie et leur Poignard brisé par les Maçons, meaning The
Jesuits driven from Freemasonry and their weapon broken by the Freemasons, was
the production of a perverse mind, prepared as a poison for the destruction of
Freemasonry, and ordered it to be burned. During the Revolution, the Grand
Orient suspended its labors, and the Lodges in France were dissolved; and in
1793, the Duke of Orleans, the head of the Jacobins, who was also,
unfortunately, Grand Master of the French Freemasons, resigned the latter
position, assigning as a reason that he did not believe that there should be
any mystery nor any Secret Society in a Republic. It is evident that the
Freemasons, as an Order, held themselves aloof from the political contests of
that period.
*
JACOB'S LADDER
The introduction of Jacob's
ladder into the symbolism of Speculative Freemasonry is to be traced to the
vision of Jacob, which is thus substantially recorded in the twenty-eighth
chapter of the Book of Genesis: When Jacob, by the command of his father
Isaac, was journeying toward Padanaram, while sleeping one night with the bare
earth for his couch and a stone for his pillow, he beheld the vision of a
ladder, whose foot rested on the earth and whose top reached to heaven. Angels
were continually ascending and descending upon it, and promised him the
blessing of a numerous and happy posterity. When Jacob awoke, he was filled
with pious gratitude, and consecrated the spot as the house of God.
This ladder, so remarkable in
the history of the Jewish people, finds its analogue in all the ancient
initiations. Whether this is to be attributed simply to a coincidence—a theory
which but few scholars would be willing to accept—or to the fact that these
analogues were all derived from a common fountain of symbolism, or whether, as
suggested by Brother Oliver, the origin of the symbol was lost among the
practices of the Pagan rites, while the symbol itself was retained, it is,
perhaps, impossible authoritatively to determine. It is, however, certain that
the ladder as a symbol of moral and intellectual progress existed almost
universally in antiquity, presenting itself either as a succession of steps,
of gates, of Degrees, or in some other modified form. The number of the steps
varied; although the favorite one appears to have been seven, in reference,
apparently, to the mystical character almost everywhere given to that number.
Thus, in the Persian Mysteries
of Mithras, there was a ladder of seven rounds, the passage through them being
symbolical of the soul's approach to perfection. These rounds were called
gates, and, in allusion to them, the candidate was made to pass through seven
dark and winding caverns, which process was called the ascent of the ladder of
perfection Each of these caverns was the representative of a world, or w state
of existence through which the soul was supposed to pass in its progress from
the first world to the last, or the world of truth. Each round of the ladder
was said to be of metal of measuring purity, and was dignified also with the
name of its protecting planet. Some idea of the construction of this symbolic
ladder may be obtained from the accompanying table.
7. Gold .............. Sun
............... Truth
6. Silver ............. Moon ........... Mansion of the Blessed
5. Iron ............... Mars ............ World of Births
4. Tin ................ Jupiter ......... Middle World
3. Copper .......... Venus .......... Heaven
2. Quicksilver ... Mercury ....... World of Pre-existence
1. Lead ............. Saturn .......... First World
*
SYMBOLIC LADDER OF MITHRAS
In the Mysteries of Brahma we find the same reference to the ladder of seven
steps. The names of these were not different, and 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 Pre-existence; 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, and the
abode of Brahma.
Doctor Oliver thinks that in
the Scandinavian mysteries the tree Yggrasil was the representative of the
mystical ladder. But although the ascent of the tree, like the ascent of the
ladder, was a change from a lower to a higher sphere—from time to eternity,
and from death to life—yet the unimaginative genius of the North seems to have
shorn the symbolism of many of its more salient features.
Among the Cabalists, the
ladder was represented by the ten Sephiroths, which, commencing from the
bottom, were the Kingdom, Foundation, Splendor, Firmness, Beauty, Justice,
Mercy, Intelligence, Wisdom, and the Crown, by which we arrive at the En Soph,
or the Infinite.
In the advanced Freemasonry we
find the Ladder of Kadosh, which consists of seven steps, thus commencing from
the bottom: Justice, Equity, Kindness, Good Faith, Labor, Patience, and
Intelligence. The arrangement of these steps, for which we are indebted to
modern ritualism, does not seem to be perfect; but yet the idea of
intellectual progress to perfection is carried out by making the topmost round
represent Wisdom or Understanding.
The Masonic Ladder which is
presented in the symbolism of the First Degree ought really to consist not of
three but seven steps, which thus ascend: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence,
Justice, Faith, Hope, and Charity; but the earliest examples present it only
with three, referring to the three theological virtues, whence it is called
the theological ladder. It seems, therefore, to have been settled by general
usage that the Masonic Ladder has but three steps. As a symbol of progress,
Jacob's ladder was early recognized. Picus of Mirandola, who wrote in the
sixteenth century, in his oration, De Hominis Dignitate, says that Jacob's
ladder is a symbol of the progressive scale of intellectual communication
betwixt earth and heaven; and upon the ladder, as it were, step by step, man
is permitted with the angels to ascend and descend until the mind finds
blissful and complete b repose in the bosom of divinity. The highest step he
defines to be theology, or the study and contemplation of the Deity in His own
abstract and exalted nature.
Other interpretations have,
however, been given to it. The Jewish writers differ very much in their
expositions of it. Thus, a writer of one of the Midrashes or Commentaries,
finding that the Hebrew words for ladder and Sinai have each the same
numerical value of Setters, expounds the ladder as typifying the giving of the
law on that mount. Aben Ezra thought that it was a symbol of the human mind,
and that the angels represented the sublime meditations of man. Maimonides
supposed the ladder to symbolize nature in its operations; and, citing the
authority of a Midrash which gives to it four steps, says that they represent
the four elements; the two heavier, earth and water, descending by their
specific gravity, and the two lighter, fire and air, ascending from the same
cause. Abarbanel, assuming the Talmudic theory that Luz, where Jacob slept,
was Mount Moriah, supposes that the ladder, resting on the spot which
afterward became the holy of holies, was a prophetic symbol of the building of
the Temple.
And, lastly, Raphael
interprets the ladder, and the ascent and the descent of the angels, as the
prayers of man and the answering inspiration of God. Fludd, the Hermetic
philosopher, in his Philosophia Mosaica of 1638, calls the ladder the symbol
of the triple world, moral, physical, and intellectual; and Nicolai says that
the ladder with three steps was, among the Rosicrucian Freemasons in the
seventeenth century, a symbol of the knowledge of nature. Finally, Krause
says, in his drei altesten Kunsturkunden (ii, page 481), that a Brother Keher
of Edinburgh, whom he describes as a skillful and truthful Freemason, had in
1802 assured the members of a Lodge at Altenberg that originally only one
Scottish Degree existed, whose object was the restoration of James II to the
throne of England, and that of that restoration Jacob's ladder had been
adopted by them as a symbol. Of this fact he further said that an authentic
narrative was contained in the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Notwithstanding Lawrie's silence on the subject, Krause is inclined to believe
the story, nor is it in all its parts altogether without probability.
The old writers believed it is
more than likely that the Chevalier Ramsay, who was a warm adherent of the
Stuarts, transferred the Symbol of the mystical ladder from the Mithraic
Mysteries, with which he was very familiar, into his Scottish Degrees, and
that thus it became a part of the symbolism of the Kadosh system. But as
regards the later conception of Brother Ramsey's connection with Degrees see
the article herein about him. In some of the political lodges instituted under
the influence of the ,Stuarts to assist in the restoration of their house, the
philosophical interpretation of the symbol may have been perverted to a
political meaning, and to these Lodges it is to be supposed that Keher
alluded; but that the Grand Lodge of Scotland had made any official
recognition of the fact is not to be believed. Lawrie's silence seems to be
conclusive.
In the Ancient Craft Degrees
of the York Rite, Jacob's ladder was not an original symbol. It is said to
have been introduced by Dunckerley when he reformed the lectures. This is
confirmed by the fact that it is not mentioned in any of the early rituals of
the eighteenth century, nor by Hutchinson, who had an excellent opportunity of
doing so in his lecture on the Nature of the Lodge, where he speaks of the
Covering of the Lodge, but says nothing of the means of reaching it, which he
would have done, had he been acquainted with the ladder as a symbol. Its first
appearance is in a Tracing Board, on which the date of 1776 is inscribed,
which very well agrees with the date of Dunckerley's improvements. In this
Tracing Board, the ladder has but three rounds; a change from the old
seven-stepped ladder of the mysteries; which, however, Preston corrected when
he described it as having many rounds, but three principal ones.
As to the modern Masonic
symbolism of the ladder, it is, as Brother Mackey has already said, a symbol
of progress, such as it is in all the old initiations. Its three principal
rounds, representing Faith, Hope, and Charity, present us with the means of
advancing from earth to heaven, from death to life—from the mortal to
immortality. Hence its foot is placed on the ground floor of the Lodge, which
is typical of the world, and its top rests on the covering of the Lodge, which
is symbolic of heaven.
In the Prestonian lecture, which Brother Mackey believed was elaborated out of
Dunckerley's system, the ladder is said to rest on the Holy Bible, and to
reach to the heavens. This symbolism is thus explained:
By the doctrines contained in
the Holy Bible we are taught to believe in the Divine dispensation of
Providence, which belief strengthens our Faith, and enables us to ascend the
first step. That Fasth naturally creates in us a Hope of becoming partakers ot
some of the blessed promises therein recorded. which Hope enables us to as
send the second step. But the third and last being Charity comprehends the
whole, and he who is possessed of this virtue in its ample sense, is said to
have ample that the summit of his profession. or, more metaphorically into an
ethereal mansion sealed from the mortal eye by the starry firmament.
In the modern lectures, the
language is materially changed, but the idea and the symbolism are retained
unaltered. The delineation of the ladder with three steps only on the Tracing
Board of 1776, which is a small one, may be attributed to notions of
convenience. But the Masonic ladder should properly have seven steps, which
represent the four cardinal and the three theological virtues.
*
JACQUES DE MALAY
See Molay, James de
*
JAFUHAR
The second king in the
Scandinavian mysteries. The Synonym for Thor.
*
JAH
In Hebrew M. Maimonides calls
it the two-lettered name, and derives it from the Tetragrammaton, of which he
says 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
Essence. It is uniformly translated in the authorized version of the Bible by
the word Lord, being thus considered as Synonymous with Jehovah, except in
Psalm lxviii, 4, where the original word is preserved: "Extol Him that rideth
upon the heavens by His name Jah," upon which the Targum comment is "Extol Him
who sitteth on the throne of glory in the ninth heaven; Yah is His name." It
seems, also to have been well known to the Gentile nations as the triliteral
resume of God; for, although biliteral among the Hebrews, it assumed among the
Greeks the triliteral form, as IAO Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, says that
this was the sacred name of the Supreme Deity; and the Clarian Oracle being
asked which of the gods was Jao, replied, "The initiated are bound to conceal
the mysterious secrets. Learn thou that IAQ is the Great God Supreme who
ruleth over all" (see Jehovah) .
*
JAHEB
The Hebrew word, arc, Latin
concedens. A sacred name connected with the Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite.
*
JAINA CROSS (Haken Kruis)
Used by several Orders, and
found in the abbeys of Great Britain and on the monuments of India. Its
significations are many. This cross was adopted by the Jainas, a heterodox
sect of the Hindus, who dissent from Brahmanism and deny the Vedas, and whose
adherents are found in every province of Upper Hindustan. They are wealthy and
influential, and form an important division of the population of India.
This symbol is also known as
the Fylfot or Swastica. It is a religious symbol mentioned by Weaver in his
Funeral Monuments, by Dr. H. Schliemann as having been found in the presumed
ruins of Troy, by De Rossi and others in the Catacombs of Christian Rome, and
there termed the Crux dissimulata, or concealed cross. It has been found on
almost every enduring monument on the globe, of all ages, and in both
hemispheres.
*
JAINAS
See Jaina Cross
*
JAMAICA
Largest island in the British
West Indies, forming part of the Greater Antilles. Freemasonry began in
Jamaica in 1839 with the authorization by the "Moderns" Grand Lodge of England
of a Lodge at liingston. The Athol Grand Lodge chartered its first Lodge here
in 1763. There was no Grand Lodge of Jamaica but the Grand Lodge of England
and Scotland each established a Provincial Grand Lodge on the Island. The
former controlled in 1924 thirteen Lodges and the latter five.
*
JAMBLICHUS
It is strange that the old
Freemasons, when inventing their legend, which gave so prominent a place to
Pythagoras as "an ancient friend and brother," should have entirely forgotten
his biographer, Jamblichas, whose claims to their esteem and veneration are
much greater than those of the Samian sage. Jamblichus was a Neoplatonic
philosopher, who was born at Chalcis, in Calo, Syria, and flourished in the
fourth century. He was a pupil of Porphyry, and was deeply versed in the
philosophic systems of Plato and Pythagoras, and, like the latter, had studied
the mystical theology of the Egyptians and Chaldeans whose divine origin and
truth he attempts to vindicate.
He maintained that man,
through thermic rites and ceremonies, might commune with the Deity; and hence
he attached great importance to initiation as the means of inculcating truth.
He carried his superstitious veneration for numbers and numerical formula to a
far greater extent than did the school of Pythagoras; so that all the
principles of his philosophy can be represented by numbers. Thus, he taught
that one, or the monad; was the principle of all unity as well as diversity,
the duad, or two, was the intellect; three, the soul; four, the principle of
universal harmony; eight, the source of motion; nine, perfection; and ten, the
result of all the emanations of the to en. It will thus be seen that
Jamblichus, while adopting the general theory of numbers that distinguished
the Pythagorean school, differed very materially in his explanations. He wrote
many philosophical works on the basis of these principles, and was the author
of a Life of Pythagoras, and a Treatise of the Mysteries. Of all the ancient
philosophers, his system assimilates him most if not in its details, at least
in its spirits to the mystical and symbolic character of the Masonic
philosophy.
*
JAMES II AND III OF SCOTLAND
See Stuart Freemasonry
*
JAMINIM OR IAMINIM
The Hebrew word for water. See
I .·. N .·. R .·. I .·.
*
JANITOR
A door-keeper. The word
Sentinel which in a Royal Arch Chapter is the proper equivalent of the Tiler
in a Lodge, was in some jurisdictions replaced by the word Janitor. There is
no good authority for the usage.
*
JAPAN
A chain of islands off the
east coast of Asia. An English Lodge, No. 1092, was instituted at Yokohama in
1866 and others at Sobe, Yeddo, and Tokio were soon at work. A District Grand
Master was appointed in 1873. Lodges instituted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland
are also at work in Sobe, Yokohama, and Nagasaki.
There is a home of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite in Japan at Yokohama. A Lodge of Perfection and a
Chapter of Rose Croix were both opened here under the same name, Dai Nippon,
No. 1, on February 17, 1883. Des Payens Council of Kadosh, No. 1, and Grand
Consistory, No. 1, were also chartered at Yokohama on March 15, 1886, all
under the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction of the United States.
*
JAPANESE FAITH
See Kofiki; also Nihongi
*
JAPHET
The Hebrew spelling is no. The
eldest son of Noah. It is said that the first ark—the Ark of Safety, the
archetype of the Tabernacle—was constructed by Shem, Ham, and Japhet under the
superintendence of Noah. Hence these are significant words to the Royal Arch
Mason.
*
JASHER, BOOK OF
The Hebrew is Sepher havashar,
The Book of the Upright. One of the lost books of the ancient Hebrews, which
is quoted twice (Joshua x, 13; Second Samuel I, 18). A Hebrew minstrelsy,
recording the warlike deeds of the national heroes, and singing the praises of
eminent or celebrated men. An original is said to be in the library at
Samarkand.
*
JASPER
The Hebrew is, n . A precious
stone of a dullish green color, which was the last of the twelve inserted in
the High Priest's breast-plate, according to the authorized version; but the
Vulgate translation more correctly makes it the third stone of the second row.
It represented the Tribe of Zebulun.
*
JAVA
One of the larger islands of
the Dutch East Indies in Asia, in that portion of the Malay Archipelago known
as the Sunda Island. A Dutch Provincial, Grand Lodge, under the Grand Orient
of the Netherlands, at Waltevreden controlled in 1922 twenty Lodges of which
fourteen were in Java itself, three in Sumatra and the rest at Kedivi,
Makassar and Salatigo.
*
JEBUSITE
See Ornan
*
JEDADIAH
A special name given to King
Solomon at his birth. It signifies beloved of God.
*
JEHOSHAPHAT
East of Jerusalem, between
Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives, lies the Valley of Jehoshaphat. In the
most recent instructions this word has lost its significance. but in the older
ones it played an important part. There was in reality no such valley in
ancient Judea, nor is there any mention of it in Scripture, except once by the
Prophet Joel. The name is altogether modern. But, as the Hebrew means the
judgment of God! and as the prophecy of Joel declared that God would there
judge the heathen for their deeds against the Israelites, it came at last to
be believed by the Jews, which belief is shared by the Mohammedans, that the
Valley of Jehoshaphat is to be the place of the last judgment. Hence it was
invested with a peculiar degree of sanctity as a holy place. The idea was
borrowed by the Freemasons of the eighteenth century, who considered it as the
symbol of holy ground. Thus, in the earliest instructions we find this
language: Where does the Lodge stand? Upon holy ground, or the highest hill or
lowest vale, or in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or any other secret place. This
reference to the Valley of Jehoshaphat as the symbol of the Ground Floor of
the Lodge was in the United States retained until a very recent period; and
the expression alluding to it in the instructions of the Second Degree has
only within a comparatively few years past been abandoned. Hutchinson referred
to this symbolism, when he said that the Spiritual Lodge was placed in the
Valley of Jehoshaphat to imply that the principles of Freemasonry are derived
from the knowledge of God, and are established in the judgments of the Lord.
*
JEHOVAH
Jehovah is, of all the significant words of Freemasonry, by far the most
important. Reghellini very properly calls it "the basis of our dogma and of
our mysteries." In Eebrew it consists of four letters, item and hence is
called the Tetragrammaton, or Four-lettered Name; and because it was forbidden
to a Jew, as it is to a Freemason, to pronounce it, it is also called the
Ineffable or Unpronounceable Name. For its history we must refer to the sixth
chapter of Exodus, verses 2, 3. When Moses returned discouraged from his first
visit to Pharaoh, and complained to the Lord that the only result of his
mission had been to incense the Egyptian King, and to excite him to the
exaction of greater burdens from the oppressed Israelites, God encouraged the
Patriarch by the promise of the great wonders which He would perform in behalf
of His people, and confirmed the promise by imparting to him that sublime name
by which He had not hitherto been known: "And God," says the sacred writer, "spake
unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto
Isaac, and unto Jacob as E1 Shaddai, but by my name Jehovah was I not known
unto them."
This Ineffable Name is derived
from the substantive verb hayah, meaning to be; and combining, as it does, in
its formation the present, past, and future significations of the verb, it is
considered as designating God in His immutable and eternal existence. This
idea is carried by the Rabbis to such an extent, that Menasseh Ben Israel says
that its four letters may be so arranged by permutations as to form twelve
words, every one of which is a modification of the verb to be, and hence it is
called the Nomen substance selessentiae, the name of his substance or
existence.
The first thing that attracts
our attention in the investigation of this name is the ancient regulation,
still existing, by which it was made unlawful to pronounce it. This, perhaps,
originally arose from a wish to conceal it from the surrounding heathen
nations, so that they might not desecrate it by applying it to their idols.
Whatever may have been the reason, the rule was imperative among the Jews. The
Talmud, in one of its treatises, the Sanhedram, which treats of the question,
Who of the Israelites shall have future life and who shall not? says: "Even he
who thinks the name of God with its true letters forfeits his future life."
Abraham Ben David Halevi, when discussing the names of God, says: "But the
name mm we are not allowed to pronounce. In its original meaning it is
conferred upon no other being, and therefore we abstain from giving any
explanation of it."br> We learn from Jerome, Origen, and Eusebius that in
their time the Jews wrote the name in their copies of the Bible in Samaritan
instead of Hebrew letters, in order to veil it from the inspection of the
profane. Capellus says that the rule that the holy name was not to be
pronounced was derived from a tradition, based on a passage in Leviticus,
xxiv, 16, which says that he who blasphemeth the name of Jehovah shall be put
to death; and he translates this passage, "whosoever shall pronounce the name
Jehovah shall suffer death," because the word nokeb, here translated to
blaspheme, means also to pronounce distinctly, to cay by name. Another reason
for the rule is to be found in a rabbinical misinterpretation of a passage in
Exodus.
In the third chapter of that
book, when Moses asks of God what is His name, He replies "I am that I arn ;"
and He said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent
me unto you," and He adds, "this is my name forever." Now, the Hebrew word I
am is Ehyeh. But as Mendelssohn has correctly observed, there is no essential
difference between nnn in the sixth chapter and mm in the third, the former
being the first person singular, and the latter the third person of the same
verb, the future used in the present sense of the verb to be; and hence what
was said of the name Ehyeh was applied by the Rabbis to the name Jehovah. But
of Ehyeh God had said, "this is My name forever." Now the word forever is
represented in the original by :by9, I'olam; but the Rabbis, says Capellus, by
the change of a single letter, made l'olam, forever, read as if it had been
written l'alam, which means to be concealed, and hence the passage was
translated "this is my name to be concealed," instead of "this is my name
forever."
And thus Josephus, in writing
upon this subject, uses the following expressions: "Whereupon God declared to
Moses His Holy name, which had never been discovered to men before; concerning
which it is not lawful for me to say any more." In obedience to this law,
whenever the word Jehovah occurs to a Jew in reading, he abstains from
pronouncing it, and substitutes in its place the word bout, Adonai. Thux,
instead at saying ''holinxqs to Jehovah." as it is in the original, he would
say "holiness to Adonai." And this same reverential reticence has been
preserved by our translators in the authorized version, who, where ever
Jehovah occurs, have, with a few exceptions, translated it by the word Lord,
the very passage just quoted, being rendered "Holiness to the Lord."
Maimonides tells us that the
knowledge of this word was confined to the hachamin or wise merit who
communicated its true pronunciation and the mysteries connected with it only
on the Sabbath daft, to such of their disciples as were found worthy; but how
it was to be sounded, or with what vocal sounds its four letters were to be
uttered, was utterly unknown to the people. Once a year, namely, on the Day of
Atonement, the holy name was pronounced with the sound of its letters and with
the utmost veneration by the High Priest in the Sanctuary. The last priest who
pronounced it, says Rabbi Bechai, was Simeon the Just, and his successors used
in blessing only the twelve-lettered name. After the destruction of the city
and Temple by Vespasian, the pronunciation of it ceased, for it was not lawful
to pronounce it anywhere except in the Temple at Jerusalem, and thus the true
and genuine pronunciation of the name was entirely lost to the Jewish people.
Nor is it now known how it was originally pronounced. The Greeks called it Jao;
the Romans, Jova; the Samaritans always pronounced it Jahve.
The task is difficult to make
one unacquainted with the peculiarities of the Hebrew language comprehend how
the pronunciation of a word whose letters are preserved can be wholly lost. It
may, however, be attempted. The Hebrew alphabet consists entirely of
consonants. The vowel sounds were originally supplied by the reader while
reading, he being previously made acquainted with the correct pronunciation of
each word; and if he did not possess this knowledge, the letters before him
could not supply it, and he was, of course, unable to pronounce the word.
Every Hebren, however, knew from practice the vocal sounds with which the
consonants were pronounced in the different words, in the same manner as every
English reader knows the different sounds of A in hat, hate, far, was, and
that krtt is pronounced knight.
The words God save the
Republic, written in the Hebrew method, would appear thus: Gd so th Rpblc.
Now, this incommunicable name of God consists of four letters, Yod, He, Vau,
and He, equivalent in English to the combination J H V H. It is evident that
these four letters cannot, in our language, be pronounced, unless at least two
vowels be supplied.
Neither can they in Hebrew. In
other words, the vowels were known to the Jew, because he heard the words
continually pronounced, just as we know that Mr. stands for Mister, because we
continually hear this combination so pronounced. But the name of God, of which
these four letters are svmbols, was never pronounced, but another word, Adonai,
substituted for it; and hence, as the letters themselves have no vocal power,
the Jew, not knowing the implied vowels, was unable to supply them, and thus
the pronunciation of the word was in time entirely lost. Hence some of the
most learned of the Jewish writers even doubt whether Jehovah is the true
pronunciation, and say that the recovery of the name is one of the mysteries
that will be revealed only at the coming of the Messiah. They attribute the
loss to the fact that the Masoretic or vowel points belonging to another word
were applied to the sacred name, whereby in time a confusion occurred in its
vocalization.
In the Ineffable Degrees of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, there is a tradition that the
pronunciation varied among the patriarchs in different ages. Methuselah,
Lamech, and Noah pronounced it Juha; Shem, Arphaxad, Selah, Heber, and Peleg
pronounced it Jeva; Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, and Judah,
called it Jova; by Hezrom and Ram it was pronounced Jevo; by Aminadab and
Nasshon, Jevah; by Salmon, Boaz, and Obed, Johe; by Jesse and David, Jehovah.
And they imply that none of these was the right pronunciation, which was only
in the possession of Enoch, Jacob, and Moses, whose names are. therefore, not
mentioned in this list. In all these words it must be noticed that the J is to
be pronounced as Y. the a as in father, and the e as a in fate. Thus Je ho vah
would be pronounced Yay-ho-vah.
The Jews of old believed that
this holy name, which they held in the highest veneration, was possessed of
unbounded powers. "He who pronounces it," said they, "shakes heaven and earth,
and inspires the very angels with astonishment and terror. There is a
sovereign authority in this name: it governs the world by its power. The other
names and surnames of the Deity are ranged about it like officers and soldiers
about their sovereigns and generals: from this King-Name they receive their
orders, and obey."
It was called the Shem
hamphorash, the explanatory or declaratory name, because it alone, of all the
Divine names, distinctly explains or declares what is the true essence of the
Deity. Among the Essenes, this sacred name, which was never uttered aloud, but
always in a whisper, was one of the mysteries of their initiation, which
candidates were bound by a solemn oath never to divulge.
It is reported to have been, under a modified form, a password in the Egyptian
mysteries, and none, says Schiller, dare enter the temple of Serapis who did
not bear on his breast or forehead the name Jao or Je-ha-ho; a name almost
equivalent in sound to that of Jehovah, and probably of identical import; and
no name was uttered in Egypt with more reverence.
The Rabbis asserted that it
was engraved on the rod of Moses, and enabled him to perform all his miraeles.
Indeed, the Talmud says that it was by the utterance of this awful name, and
not by a club, that he slew the Egyptian; although it fails to tell us how he
got at that time his knowledge of it.
That scurrilous book of the
Jews of the Middle Ages, called the Toldoth Jeshu, attributes all the
wonderful works of Jesus Christ to the potency of this incommunicable name,
which He is said to have abstracted from the Temple, and worn about Him. But
it would be tedious and unprofitable to relate all the superstitious myths
that have been invented about this name. And now as to the grammatical
signification of this important word. Gesenius (Thesaurus ii, page 577),
thinks—and many modern scholars agree with him that the word is the future
form of the Hiphil conjugation of the verb to be, pronounced Yavah, and
therefore that it denotes "He who made to exist, called into existence." that
is. the Creator. The more generally accepted definition of the name is, that
it expresses the eternal and unchangeable existence of God in respect to the
past, the present, and the future.
The word mn is derived from
the substantive verb hayah, meaning to be, and in its four letters combines
those of the past, present and future of the verb. The letter ' in the
beginning, says Buxtorf (de Nomine v), is a characteristic of the future; the
1 in the middle, of the participle or present time; and the is at the end, of
the past. Thus, out of m1lr we get Urn, He was mn, He is; and mm, He wil be.
Hence, among other titles it received that of nomen essential, because it
shows the essential nature of God's eternal existence. The other names of God
define His power, wisdom, goodness, and other qualities; but this alone
defines His existence.
It has been a controverted
point whether this name was made known for the first time to Moses, or whether
the patriarchs had been previously acquainted with it. The generally
recognized opinion now is, and the records of Genesis and Exodus sustain it,
that the name was known to the patriarchs, but not in its essential meaning,
into which Moses was the first to be initiated. In the language of Aben Ezra,
"Certainly the name was already known to the patriarchs, but only as an
uncomprehended and unmeaning noun, not as a descriptive, appellative one,
indicative of the attributes and qualities of the Deity."
"It is manifest," says
Kallisch (Commentary on Exodus), "that Moses, in being initiated into the holy
and comprehensive name of the Deity, obtains a superiority over the
patriarchs, who, although perhaps from the beginning more believing than the
long-wavering Moses, lived more in the sphere of innocent, childlike obedience
than of manly, spiritual enlightenment." This, too, is the Masonic doctrine.
In Freemasonry the Holy Name is the representative of the Word, which is
itself the symbol of the nature of God. To know the Word is to know the true
nature and essence of the Grand Architect.
Cohen the pronunciation of the
name was first interdicted to the people is not with certainty known. Leusden
says it was a rabbinical prohibition, and probably made at the second Temple.
The statement of the Rabbi Bechai, already cited, that the word was pronounced
for the last time by Simeon, before the spoliation by the Roman emperor
Vespasian, would seem to indicate that it was known at the second Temple,
although its utterance was forbidden, which would coincide with the Masonic
tradition that it was discovered while the foundations of the second Temple
were being laid. But the general opinion is, that the prohibition commenced in
the time of Moses, the rabbinical writers tracing it to the law of Leviticus,
already cited. This, too, is the theory of Freemasonry, which also preserves a
tradition that the prohibition would have been removed at the first Temple,
had not a well-known occurrence prevented it. But this is not to be viewed as
a historic statement, but only as a medium of creating a symbol.
The Jews had four symbols by
which they expressed this Ineffable Name of God: the first and most common was
two Yods, with a Sheva and the point Kametz underneath, thus, '..' the second
was three points in a radiated form like a diadem, thus, his, to represent, in
all probability, the sovereignty of God; the third was a Yod within an
equilateral triangle, which the Cabalists explained as a ray of light, whose
luster was too transcendent to be contemplated by human eyes; and the fourth
was the letter if, which is the initial letter of Shaddai, meaning the
Almighty, and was the symbol usually placed upon their phylacteries, the
strips of parchment inscribed with passages of Scripture and enclosed in- a
case having thongs for binding it on the forehead or around the left arm.
Buxtorf has a fifth method of three Yods, with a Kametz underneath ' ",
enclosed in a circle.
In Freemasonry, the
equilateral triangle, called the delta, with or without a Yod in the center,
the Yod alone, and the letter G. are recognized as symbols of the sacred and
Ineffable Name. The history of the introduction of this word into the
ritualism of Freemasonry would be highly interesting, were it not so obscure.
Being in almost all respects an esoteric symbol, nearly all that we know of
its Masonic relations is derived from tradition; and as to written records on
the subject, we are compelled, in general, to depend on mere intimations or
allusions, which are not always distinct in their meaning. In Freemasonry, as
in the Hebrew mysteries, it was under the different appellations of the Word,
the True Word, or the Lost Word, the symbol of the knowledge of Divine Truth,
or the tale nature of God.
That this name, in its
mystical use, was not unknown to the medieval Freemasons there can he no
doubt. Many of their architectural emblems show that they possessed this
knowledge. Nor can there be any more doubt that through them it came to their
successors, the Freemasons of the beginning of the eighteenth century. No one
can read the Defense of Freemasonry, written in 1730, without being convinced
that the author, probably Martin Clare, which see elsewhere in this work, was
well acquainted with this name; although he is, of course, careful to make no
very distinct reference to it, except in one instance. "The occasion," he
says, "of the brethren searching so diligently for their Master was, it seems,
to receive from him the secret Word of Masonry, which should be delivered down
to their fraternity in after ages" (Constitutions, 1738, page 225).
It is now conceded, from
indisputable evidence, that the holy name was, in the earlier years, and, up
to the middle of the eighteenth century, attached to the Third Degree, and
then called the Master's Word. On some early tracing boards of the Third
Degree among the emblems displayed is a coffin, on which is inscribed, in
capital letters, the word JEHOVAH. Hutchinson, who wrote in 1774, malces no
reference whatever to the Royal Arch, although that system had, by that time,
been partially established in England; but his lectures to Master Masons and
on the Third Degree refers to "the mystic word, the Tetragrammaton" (see
Lecture X, page 180). Brother Oliver tells us distinctly that it was the
Master's word until Dunckerley took it out of the Degree and transferred it to
the Royal Arch. That it was so on the Continent, we have the unmistakable
testimony of Guillemain de Saint Victor, who says, in his Adonhiramite Masonry
(page 96), that Solomon placed a medal on the tomb of Hiram, '"on which was
engraved Jehova, the old Master's Word, and which signifies the Supreme
Being."
So far, then, these facts
appear to be established: that this Ineffable Name was known to the Operative
Freemasons of the Middle Ages; that it was derived from them by the
Speculative Freemasons, who, in 1717, revived the Order in England; that they
knew it as Master Masons; and~that it continued to be the Mastery Word until
late in that century, when it was removed by Dunckerley into the Royal Arch.
Although there is, perhaps, no
point in the esoteric system of Freemasonry more clearly established than that
the Tetragrammaton is the true somnific word, yet innovations have been
admitted, by which, in jurisdictions in the United States, that word has been
changed into three others, which simply signify Divine names in other
languages, but have none of the sublime symbolism that belongs to the true
name of God. It is true that the General Grand Chapter of the United States
adopted a regulation disapproving of the innovation of these explanatory
words, and restoring the Tetragrammaton; but this declaration of what might
almost be considered a truism in Freemasonry has been met with open opposition
or reluctant obedience in some places.
The Grand Chapter of England has fallen into the same error, and abandoned the
teachings of Dunckerley the founder of the Royal Arch in that country, as some
of the Grand Chapters in America did those of Debby who was the founder of the
system here. It is well, therefore, to inquire what was the Somnific Word when
the Royal Arch system was first invented.
We have the authority of
Brother Oliver, who had the best opportunity of any man in England of knowing
the facts, for saying that Dunckerley established the Royal Arch for the
modern Grand Lodge; that he wisely borrowed many things from Ramsay and
Dermott; and that he boldly transplanted the word Jehovah from the Master's
Degree and placed it in his new system. Brother Hawkins adds the following
comment at this point to Brother Mackey's article: "But more recent
authorities, such as Brother R. F. Gould, History of Freemasonry and Brother
H. Sadler, Life of Dunckerley, have cast great doubt on these statements (see
Dunckerley)." Now, what was The Word of the Royal Arch, as understood by
Dunckerley? We have no difficulty here, for he himself answers the question.
To the first edition of the Latvs and Regulations of the Royal Arch, published
in 1782, there is prefixed an essay on Freemasonry, which is attributed to
Dunckerley. In this he makes the following remarks:
It must be observed that the
expression The Word is not to be understood as a watchword only, after the
manner of those annexed to the several Degrees of the Craft, but also
theologically, as a term, thereby to convey to the mind some idea of that
Grand Being Who is the sole author of our existence, and to carry along with
it the most solemn veneration of His sacred Name and Word, as well as the most
clear and perfect elucidation of His power and attributes that the human mind
is capable of receiving. And this is the light in which the Name and Word hath
always been considered, from the remotest ages, amongst us Christians and the
Jews.
And then, after giving the
well-known history from Jos4ephus of the word, which, to remove all doubt of
what it is, he says is the Shem Hamphorash, or the Unutterable Name, he adds:
"Philo, the learned Jew, tells us no' only that the Word was lost, but to make
an end of these unprofitable disputes among the learned, be it remembered that
they all concur with the Royal Arch Masons in others much more essential
first, that the Name or Word is expressive of Self Existence and Eternity;
and, secondly, that it can be applicable only to that Great Being who Was and
is and Jill be. Notwithstanding this explicit and un. mistakable declaration
of the founder of the English Royal Arch, that the Tetragrammaton is the
Somnific Word, the present system in England has rejected it, and substituted
in its place three other words, the second of which is wholly unmeaning.
In the American system, as
revised by Thomas Smith Webb, there can be no doubt that the Tetrad grammaton
was recognized as the Omnific Word. In the Freemasons Monitor, prepared by him
for monitorial instruction, he has inserted, among the passages of Scripture
to be read during an Exaltation, the following from Exodus, which is the last
in order, and which anyone at all acquainted with the ritual will at once see
is appropriated to the time of the Euresis or Discovery of the Word.
And God spake unto Moses, and
said unto him, I am the Lord, and I appeared unto Abrnham and unto lsaae, and
unto Jaeob by the name of clod Almighty, but by my name Jehovah wan I not
known to them;
From this it will be evident
that Webb recognized the word Jehovah, and not the three other words that have
since been substituted for them by some Grand Chapters in America, and which
it is probable were originally used by Webb as merely explanatory or
declaratory of the Divine nature of the other and principal word. And this is
in accordance with one of the traditions of the Degree, that they were placed
on the Substitute Ark around the real word, as a key to explain its
signification. To call anything else but this four-lettered name an Omnifie
Word—an all-creating and all-performing word—either in Freemasonry or in
Hebrew symbolism, whence Freemasonry derived it, is to oppose all the
doctrines of the Talmudists, the Cabalists, and the Gnostics, and to repudiate
the teachings of every Hebrew scholar from Buxtorf to Gesenius. To fight the
battle against such odds is to secure defeat. It shows more of boldness than
of discretion. And hence the General Grand Chapter of the United States has
very wisely restored the word Jehovah to its proper place. It is only in the
York and in the American Rites that this error has ever existed. In every
other Rite the Tetragrammaton is recognized as the True Word.
*
JEKSON
This word is found in the
French handbooks of the advanced Degrees. It is undoubtedly a corruption of
Jacquesson, and this a mongrel word compounded of the French Jacques and the
English son, and means the son of James, that is, James II. It refers to
Charles Edward the Pretender, who was the son of that abdicated and exiled
monarch. It is a significant relic of the system attempted to be introduced by
the adherents of the house of Stuart, and by which they expected to enlist
Freemasonry as an instrument to effect the restoration of the Pretender to the
throne of England. For this purpose they had altered the legend of the Third
Degree, making it applicable to James II, who, being the son of Henrietta
Maria, the widow of Charles I, was designated as the Widow's Son.
*
JENA, CONGRESS OF
Jena is a city of SaxeWeimar,
in Thuringia. A Masonic Congress was b convoked there in 1763, by the Lodge of
Strict Observance, under the presidency of Johnson, a Masonic charlatan or
fraud, whose real name was Becker. In this Congress the doctrine was announced
that the Freemasons were the successors of the Knights Templar, a dogma
peculiarly characteristic of the Rite of Strict Observance. In the year 1764,
a second Congress was convoked by Johnson or Leucht with the desire of
authoritatively establishing his doctrine of the connection between Templarism
and Freemasonry. The empirical character of Johnson was here discovered by the
Baron Hund, and he was denounced, and subsequently punished at Magdeburg by
the public authorities.
*
JEPHTHAH
A Judge of Israel, and the
leader of the Gileadites in their war against the Ephraimites, which
terminated in the slaughter of so many of the latter at the passes of the
river Jordan (see Ephraimites).
*
JEPHTHAH'S DAUGHTER
The First Degree in the
American Order of the Eastern Star, or Adoptive Rite. It inculcates obedience.
Color, blue (see Eastern Star, Order of the).
*
JERICHO, HEROINE OF
See Heroine of Jericho
*
JERMYN, HENRY
Anderson says in the
Constitutions (1738, page 101) that Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, was
Grand Master and held a General Assembly on the 27th of December, 1663, at
which six Regulations, which he quotes, were made. Roberts, in his edition of
the Old Constitutions printed in 1722, the earliest printed Masonic book that
we have, refers also to this General Assembly; the date of which he, hoxvever,
makes the 8th of December. Roberts gives what he calls the Additional Orders
and Constitulions. The Harleian Manuscript, in the British Museum, numbered
1942, which Brother Hughan supposes to have the date of 1670, and which he has
published in his Old Chargers of the British Freemasons (page 52, edition of
1872), contains also six new articles. The articles in Robert's and the
Harleian Manuscript are identical, but the wording is slightly altered by
Anderson after his usual fashion. Of these new articles, one of the most
important is that which prescribes that the society of Freemasons shall
thereafter be governed by a Master and Wardens. Brother Hughan thinks that
there is no evidence of the statement that a General Assembly was held in
1663. But it would seem that the concurring testimony of Roberts in 1722 and
of Anderson in 1738, with the significant fact that the charges are found in a
manuscript written seven years after, give some plausibility to the statement
that a General Assembly was held at that time.
*
JERROLD, J. J.
Wrote a song, Grey Head, sung
bv Brother Collyer in aid of the Home for Aged and Decayed Freemasons at
London, 1838.
*
JERUSALEM
The capital of Judea, and
memorable in Masonic history as the place where was erected the Temple of
Solomon. It is early mentioned in Scripture, and is supposed to be the Salem
of which Melchizedek was King. At the time that the Israelites entered the
Promised Land, the city was in possession of the Jebusites, from whom, after
the death of Joshua, it was conquered, and afterward inhabited by the tribes
of Judah and Benjamin. The Jebusites were not, however, driven out; and we
learn that David purchased Mount Moriah from Ornan or Araunah the Jebusite as
a site for the Temple. It is only in reference to this Temple that Jerusalem
is connected with the legends of Ancient Craft Freemasonry. In the Degrees of
Chivalry it is also important, because it was the city where the holy places
were situated, and for the possession of which the Crusaders so long and so
bravely contested. It was there, too, that the Templars and the Hospitalers
were established as Orders of religious and military knighthood. Modern
Speculative Freemasonry was introduced into Jerusalem by the establishment of
a Lodge in 1872, the Warrant for which, on the application of Brother Rob
Morris and others, was granted by the Grand Lodge of Canada. More recently a
Lodge has been warranted in England to meet at Chester, but to be in due
course removed to Jerusalem, named King Solomon's Temple, No. 3464. A Lodge
was consecrated by English authority in Jerusalem in 1924. The Grand Orient of
France has also established a Lodge there.
*
JERUSALEM, KNIGHT OF
See Knight of Jerusalem
*
JERUSALEM, NEW
The symbolic name of the Christian Church (Revelations xxi, 2-21; in, 12). The
Apostle John (Revelations xxi), from the summit of a high mountain, beheld, in
a pictorial symbol or scenic representation, a city resplendent with celestial
brightness, which seemed to descend from the heavens to the earth. It was
stated to be a square of about 400 miles, or 12,000 stadia, equal to about
16,000 miles in circumference—of course, a mystical number, denoting that the
city was capable of holding almost countless myriads of inhabitants. The Netu
Jerusalem was beheld, like Jacob's ladder, extending from earth to heaven. It
plays an important part in the ceremony of the Nineteenth Degree, or Grand
Pontiff of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where the descent of the
Sew Jerusalem is a symbol of the descent of the Empire of Light and Truth upon
the earth.
*
JERUSALEM, PRINCE OF
See Prince of Jerusalem
*
JERUSALEM WORD
In the Grand Mystery of the
Freemasons Discovered of 1724 occurs the following demand and answer:
Give me the Jerusalem Word.
Giblin.
The origin of this phrase may
perhaps be thus traced: The theory that after the completion of the Temple a
portion of the workmen traveled abroad to seek employment, while another
portion remained at Jerusalem, was well known to the Fraternity at the
beginning of the eighteenth century. It is amply detailed in that old
manuscript known as the York Manuscript, which is now lost, but was translated
by Krause, and inserted in his Runsturkunden. It may be supposed that this
Jerusalem Word was the word which the Freemasons used at Jerusalem, while the
University Word, which is given in the next question and answer, was the word
common to the Craft everywhere. The Jerusalem Word, as such, is no longer in
use, but the Universal Word is still connected with the First Degree.
*
JESSE
A large candlestick, of metal,
with many sconces, hanging from the ceiling, and symbolically referring to the
Branch of Jesse.
*
JESTERS
Usually so called, but more formally named the Royal Order of Jesters, an
organization evolved out of the good fellowship of members of the Mystic
Shrine during a voyage to Honolulu, February 15 to March 7, l911. An offhand
ceremony grew into a ritual, and to local Courts and a National Body, very
much of its success due to the initiative of William S. Brown, many years the
Treasurer of the Mystic Shrine; Lou B. Winsor, Past Imperial Potentate and
Grand Secretary of Michigan, and others of their genial kind who organized and
led the Body whose local units were limited to thirteen initiates yearly.
Initiation, by invitation, and unanimous ballot, limited to members in good
standing of the Mystic Shrine. The slogan, "Mirth is lying," expounded by
Jester Brown, and the poem by Edmund Rowland Sill, "The Fool's Prayer,"
recited by Jester Winsor, have furnished inspiration. Officers, thirteen, bear
the titles: Director, Tragedian, b Property Man, Impresario, Treasurer,
Soubrette, Light Comedian, Serio Comic, Heavy Man, Leading Lady, Judge, High
Constable, Stage Manager; the national officers' titles are the same but
preceded by the word Royal.
*
JESUITS
In the eighteenth century the
Jesuits were charged with having an intimate connection with Freemasonry, and
the invention of the Degree of Kadosh was even attributed to those members of
the Society who constituted the College of Clermont. This theory of a
Jesuitical Freemasonry seems to have originated with the Illuminati, who were
probably governed in its promulgation by a desire to depreciate the character
of all other Masonic systems in comparison with their own, where no such
priestly interference was permitted. Barruel scoffs at the idea of such a
connection, and cans it (Histoire de Jacobinisme iv, page 287) "la fable de la
Franc-Maçonnerie Jésuitique" meaning an invention of false or Jesuitical
Freemasonry. For once he is right. Like oil and water the tolerance of
Freemasonry and the intolerance of the "Society of Jesus" cannot commingle.
Yet it cannot be denied that, while the Jesuits have had no part in the
construction of pure Freemasonry, there are reasons for believing that they
took an interest in the invention of some Degrees and systems which were
intended to advance their own interests. But wherever they touched the
Institution they left the trail of the serpent.
They sought to convert its
pure philanthropy and toleration into political intrigue and religious
bigotry. Hence it is believed that they had something to do with the invention
of those Degrees, which were intended to aid the exiled house of Stuart in its
efforts to regain the English throne, because they believed that would secure
the restoration in England of the Roman Catholic religion. Almost a library of
books has been written on both sides of this subject in Germany and in France.
*
JESUS CHRIST
Jesus in Latin comes from the
Greek word Iesous, pronounced ee-ay-soos, and this in turn is from the Hebrew
Joshua or Jeshua or perhaps more properly Yeshua, meaning "Jehovah is
salvation" or "He will save." These latter Hebrew words are shortened forms of
Jehoshua, pronounced as yeh-ho-shoo-ah, "Jehovah saves." Christos, the Greek
word for the anointed or consecrated is equivalent to Messiah and Messias from
the Hebrew word Mashach, meaning to anoint with oil. The word Christos
suggested in sound the somewhat similar term Chrestos, signifying benign
qualities as in First Epistle of Peter (ii, 3), "If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is (chrestos) gracious." This expression was applied by their enemies
to Christians as being followers of Chrestos. An early Latin writer on the
Church, Tertullian, 193 to 217 A.D., pointed out that this word given
ignorantly in enmity was actually expressive of benevolence.
Jesus Christ, whose life and
teachings form the foundation and structure of Christianity, was born at
Bethlehem, about five miles south of Jerusalem, the chief city of Palestine.
His birth chronologically is now generally assigned to a few years prior to
the beginning of the modern era, or about 4-5 B.C., later estimates placing
the time of the event differently to what was formerly accepted.
From the Bible we learn that
Jesus was the son of Mary, a virgin of Nazareth, in the ancient province of
Galilee. She was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter, and during a visit made by
them to Bethlehem for enrollment, Jesus was born in a stable and cradled in a
manger because of the over-crowded condition of the local inn. Here came
shepherds and the Magi, wise men from the East, and their publicly proclaimed
reverence for the babe as the King of the Jews endangered the family with the
reigning monarch and they fled to Egypt after the circumcision of the child.
King Herod died and Joseph and Mary with Jesus returned to the home at
Nazareth. From the record of the Scriptures we note that the boy listened to
instruction at the Temple and that he "advanced in wisdom and stature, and in
favor with God and men." That the trade of Joseph was adopted in due course is
suggested by the visit to Nazareth during the public ministry of Jesus when
the gossiping spectators said "Is not this the carpenter?"
From the year 4 B.C. to 30
A.D. is estimated in the Stevens-Burton Harmony of tile Gospels Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1912) as the period from birth to crucifixion with
the actual ministry between three and four years. However, the length of
ministry has also had other estimates based on the probable number of
passovers in that period and accordingly as these were three or four the
results figure out respectively as two and a half or three and a half years of
public life. Baptized by John, as Luke tells us (iii, 23), "And Jesus himself
began to be about thirty years of age." Then followed forty days in the
wilderness and later the public preaching to the people with the private
instruction of the disciples, urging repentance and faith upon all. In public
as well as religious affairs the new teaching was not acceptable to the
officials, civil and ecclesiastic.
The leaders, the priests and
the Roman Governor, prepared to put Jesus on trial. Betrayed by Judas, taken
before the high priest for examination and then to the Roman Governor,
condemnation was speedy and crucifixion promptly followed. Resurrection after
burial with appearances to the disciples and the ascension to heaven are told
by the biblical narrative. A popular Life of Christ, written by Dean F. NV.
Farrarg London, 1874, many following editions, is b admirable for study, and
there are excellent discussions upon allied topics in James Hastings'
Dictionary of the Bible (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1914), and in
similar works. Ernest Renan's Life of Jesus, an English translation from the
twenty-third edition (Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1917), less orthodox
than the work of Farrar, is scholarly and independent, while H. G. Enclow's
Jeurish View of Jesus, Macmillan, New York, 1920, presents a viewpoint of
decided interest and importance.
The existence of the Essenes,
a Jewish brotherhood of the time of Christ, not mentioned in the Bible but
recorded by other authorities and having suggestive resemblance to features of
Christianity, in fact the latter has been described as a popularized Essenism,
brings up the often debated question of Jesus being an Essene. Brother Dudley
Wright's book Was Jesus an Essene (Power-Book Company, London, 1908) submits
concisely considerable information though many authors reject claims made for
the membership of Jesus in the organization which came to an end in the second
century. Essenes were tillers of the soil, esteemed ceremonial purity—bathing
and white garments were featured, special food was prepared by priests and
eaten solemnly together, marriage was forbidden and every sensual enjoyment
deemed sinful, all property was held in common, and three years' preparation
or probation was necessary before full initiation into this monastic order
(see Essenes).
*
JETZIRAH, BOOK OF
See Jezirah
*
JEWEL, MEMBER'S
In many Lodges, especially
among the Germans, where it is called Mitglieder Zeichen, a jewel is provided
for every member and presented to him on his initiation or affiliation. It is
to be worn from the buttonhole, and generally contains the name of the Lodge
and some Masonic device.
*
JEWEL OF AN ANCIENT GRAND
MASTER
A Masonic tradition informs us
that the jewel of an ancient Grand Master at the Temple was the square and
compass with the letter G between. This was the jewel worn by Hiram Abif on
the day which deprived the Craft of his invaluable services, and which was
subsequently found upon him.
*
JEWELS, IMMOVABLE
See Jewels of a Lodge
*
JEWELS, MOVABLE
See Jewels of a Lodge
*
JEWELS OF A LODGE
Every Lodge is furnished with
six jewels, three of which are movable and three immovable. They are termed
jewels, says Brother Oliver, because they have a moral tendency which renders
them jewels of inestimable value. The movable jewels, so called because they
are not confined to any particular part of the Lodge, are the Rough .Ashlar,
the Perfect Ashlar, and the Trestle-Board. The Immovable Jewels are the
Square, the Level, and the Plumb. They are termed Immovable, because they are
appropriated to particular parts of the Lodge, where alone they should be
found, namely, the Square to the East, the Level to the West, and the Plumb to
the South. In the English system the division is the reverse of this. There,
the Square, Level, and Plumb are called Movable Jewels, because they pass from
the three officers who wear them to their successors.
*
JEWELS, OFFICIAL
Jewels are the emblems worn by
Maçonic officers as distinctive badges In Masonic Facts and Fict (page 12),
Brother Sadler is of the opinion that in the early days no jewels were worn,
even by the Grand Master himself. He points to the portrait of Antony Sayer,
the Grand Master, 1717, who is represented wearing a plain leather apron, but
no jewel of any kind. The same may be said of Montgomery, the Grand Guarder.
Brother Sadler also quotes a most important Minute of the Grand Lodge as
follows:
24th June, 1727. Resolved Nem.
Con. that in all private Lodges and Quarterly Communications and general
meetings Ma(ste)r and Wardens do wear the Jewels of Masonry hanging to a white
ribbon (viz.) that the Ma(ste)r wear the Square, the Senior Warden the Level,
the Junior Warden the Plumb Rule.
Brother W. Harry Rylands says
this points to the idea of wearing jewels instead of using them.
For the purpose of reference,
the jewels worn in Symbolic Lodges, in Chapters, Councils, and Commanderies
are here appended.
1. Symbolic Loges
W.-. Master, a square.
Senior Warden a level.
Junior Warden a plumb.
Treasurer, crossed keys.
Secretary crossed pens.
Senior Deacon, square and compass, sun in the center.
Junior Deacon, square and compass, moon in the center
Steward, a cornucopia.
Tiler, crossed swords.
The jewels are of silver in a subordinate Lodge, and of gold in a Grand Lodge.
In English Lodges, the jewel of the Deacon is a dove and olive branch.
2. Royal Arch Chapters
High Priest, a miter.
King, a level surmounted by a crown.
Scribe, a plumb-rule surmounted by a turban.
Captain of the Host, a triangular plate inscribed with a soldier.
Principal Sojourner a triangular plate inscribed with a pilgrim.
Royal Arch Captain, a sword.
Grand Master of the Veils, a sword.
The other officers as in a Symbolic Lodge. All the jewels are of gold, and
suspended within an equilateral triangle.
3. Royal and Select Councils.
T. I. Grand Master, a trowel and square.
I. Hiram of Tyre, a trowel and level.
Principal Conductor of the Works a trowel and plumb.
Treasurer, a trowel and crossed keys.
Recorder, a trowel and crossed pens.
Captain of the Guards, a trowel and sword.
Steward, a trowel and crossed swords.
Marshal, a trowel and baton.
If a Conductor of the Council
is used, he wears a trowel and baton, and then a scroll is added to the
Marshal's baton to distinguish the two officers.. All the jewels are of
silver, and are enclosed within an equilateral triangle.
4. Commanderies of Knights
Tempter.
Em't Commander, a cross surmounted by rays of light.
Generalissimo, a square surmounted by a paschal lamb
Captain-General, a bevel surmounted by a rooster.
Prelate a triple triangle.
Senior Warden, a hollow square and sword of justice.
Junior Warden, eagle and flaming sword.
Treasurer, crossed keys.
Recorder, crossed pens.
Standard-Bearer a plumb surmounted by a banner.
Warder, a square plate inscribed with a trumpet and crossed swords.
Three Guards, a square plate inscribed with a battle-ax.
The jewels are of silver.
*
JEWELS, PRECIOUS
In the lectures of the Second
and Third Degrees, allusion is made to certain moral qualities, which, as they
are intended to elucidate and impress the most important moral principles of
the Degree, are for their great value called the Precious Jewels of a Fellow
Craft and the Precious Jewels of a Master Mason. There are three in each
Degree, and they are referred to by the Alarm. Their explanation is esoteric.
*
JEWISH RITES AND CEREMONIES
A period of excitement in
favor of the rites of Judaism centered upon and pervaded the people of various
nations during the early portion of the fourteenth century. The ceremonies
grew and took fast hold upon the minds of the Romans, and, combining with
their forms, spread to Constantinople and northwest to Germany and France. The
Jewish rites, traditions, and legends thus entered the mystic schools. It was
during this period that the legend of Hiram first became known, according to
Brother George H. Fort, and Jehovah's name, and mystic forms were transmitted
from Byzantine workmen to Teutonic sodalities and German gilds.
Thus, also, when the Christian
enthusiasm pervaded the North, Paganism gave way, and the formal toasts at the
ceremonial banquets were drunk in the name of the saints in lieu of those of
the Pagan gods.
*
JEWS, DISQUALIFICATION OF
The great principles of
religious and political toleration which peculiarly characterize Freemasonry
would legitimately make no religious faith which recognized a Supreme being a
disqualification for initiation. But, unfortunately, these principles have not
always been regarded, and from an early period the German Lodges, and
especially the Prussian, were reluctant to accord admission to Jews. This
action has given great offense to the Grand Lodges of other countries which
were more liberal in their views, and were more in accord with the Masonic
spirit, and was productive of dissensions among the Freemasons of Germany,
many of whom were opposed to this intolerant policy.
But a kindlier tolerance now
prevails; and more recently the Grand Lodge of the Three Sobes at Berlin, the
leading Masonic body of Prussia, has removed the interdict, and Judaism is
there no longer a disqualification for initiation.
*
JEZEEDS
A Mohammedan sect in Turkey and Persia, which took its name from the founder,
Jezeed, a chief who slew the sons of Ali, the father-in-law of Mohammed. They
were ignorant in the extreme, having faith in both the Hebrew Bible and Moran;
their hymns were addressed, without distinction, to Moses, Christ, or
Mohammed.
*
JEZIRAH
or JETZIRAH, BOOK OF
The Hebrew spelling is tnssb
NDD, meaning, Book of the Creation. A Cabalistic work, which is claimed by the
Cabalists as their first and oldest code of doctrines although it has no real
affinity with the tenets of t he Cabala. The authorship of it is attributed to
the Patriarch Abraham; but the actual date of its first appearance is supposed
to be about the ninth century Steinschneider says that it opens the literature
of the Secret Doctrine. Its fundamental idea is, that in the ten digits and
the twenty letters of the Hebrew alphabet we are to find the origin of all
things. Landauer, a German Hebraist, thinks that the author of the Jetzirah
borrowed his doctrine of numbers from the School of Pythagoras, which is very
probable. The old Freemasons, it is probable, derived some of their mystical
ideas of sacred numbers from this work.
*
J. N. R. I.
See I. N. R. I. Formerly the
first letter J was preferred.
*
JOABERT
This, according to the legends
of the advanced Degrees, was the name of the chief favorite of Solomon, who
incurred the displeasure of Hiram of Tyre on a certain occasion, but was
subsequently pardoned, and, on account of the great attachment he had shown to
the person of his master, was appointed the Secretary of Solomon and Hiram in
their most intimate relations. He was afterward still further promoted by
Solomon, and appointed with Tito and Adoniram a Provost and Judge. He
distinguished himself in his successful efforts to bring certain traitors to
condign punishment, and although by his rashness he at first excited the anger
of the king, he was subsequently forgiven, and eventually received the highest
reward that Solomon could bestow, by being made an Elect, Perfect, and Sublime
Freemason. The name is evidently not Hebrew, or must at least have undergone
much corruption, for in its present form it cannot be traced to a Hebrew root.
Lenning says (Encydopädie) that it is Johaben, or, more properly, Ihaoben,
which he interprets the Son of God; but it would be difficult to find any such
meaning according to the recognized rules of the Hebrew etymology.
*
JOACHIM, ORDER OF
A secret association
instituted in Germany near the end of the eighteenth century. Its recipients
swore that they believed in the Trinity, and would never waltz. None but
nobles, their wives and children, were admitted. It had no connection with
Freemasonry.
*
JOB'S DAUGHTERS
The International Order of
Job's Daughters was founded in 1920 in Omaha, Neb., by Mrs. Ethel T. Wead
Mick. Job's Daughters began in an atmosphere of Masonry and the Order of the
Eastern Star. The membership is composed of Masonic related teen-aged girls—12
to 20. It is International, as it has Bethels in 29 States in the Union, four
Provinces in Canada and Australia. In 1951 there were 932 Chartered Bethels.
California has the greatest number of Bethels (210), with some 22,000 active
members and this State has Initiated over 70,000 girls; Illinois is next.
*
JOHANNITE MASONRY
A term introduced by Doctor
Oliver to designate the system of Freemasonry, of which the two Saints John
are recognized as the patrons, and to whom the Lodges are dedicated, in
contradistinction to the more recent system of Doctor Hemming, in which the
dedication is to Moses and Solomon. Brother Oliver was much opposed to the
change, and wrote an interesting work on the subject entitled A Mirror for the
Johannite Masons, which was published in 1848. According to his definition,
the system practiced in the United States is Johannite Masonry.
*
JOHANNITES
A Masonico-religious sect
established in Paris, in 1814, by Fabré-Paliprat, and attached to the Order of
the Temple, of which he vas the Grand Master (see Levitikon and Temple, Order
of the).
*
JOHN'S BROTHERS
In the Charter of Cologne, it
is said that before the year 1440 the society of Freemasons was known by no
other name than that of John's Brothers Joannaeorum fratrum; that they then
began to be called at Valenciennes, Free and Accepted Masons; and that at that
time, in some parts of Flanders, by the assistance and riches of the
brotherhood, the first hospitals were erected for the relief of such as were
afflicted with Saint Anthony's fire. In another part of the Charter it is said
that the authors of the associations were called Brothers consecrated to John,
or in Latin fratres Joanni Sacros, because "they followed the example and
imitation of John the Baptist."
*
JOHNSON
Sometimes spelled Johnstone.
An b adventurer, and Masonic charlatan, whose real name was Leucht. He assumed
Freemasonry as a disguise under which he could carry on his impositions. He
appeared first at Jena, in the beginning of the year 1763, and proclaimed that
he had been deputed by the chiefs of Templar Freemasonry in Scotland to
introduce a reform into the German Lodges. He established a Chapter of Strict
Observance, the Rite then dominating in Germany, and assumed the dignity of
Grand Prior. He made war upon Rosa, the founder of the Rosaic Rite, and upon
the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, which then sustained that enthusiast.
Many of the German Lodges succumbed to his pretensions, and, surrendering
their Warrants, gave in their adhesion to Johnson. Von Hund himself was at
first deceived by him; but in 1764, at Altenberg, having discovered that
Johnson had been formerly, under the name of Becker, the Secretary of the
Prince of Bernberg, whose confidence he had betrayed; that during the seven
years' war he had been wandering about, becoming, finally, the servant of a
Freemason, whose papers he had stolen, and that by means of these papers he
had been passing himself as that individual Brother von Hund denounced him as
an impostor. Johnson fled, but was subsequently arrested at Magdeburg, and
imprisoned in the fortress of Wartzberg, where in 1773, he died suddenly.
*
JOHN THE BAPTIST
See Saint John the Baptist
*
JOHN THE EVANGELIST
See Saint John the Evangelist
*
JOINVILLE, CHAILLOU DE
See Chaillou de Coincide
*
JOKSHAN
Hebrew,Fowler. The second son
of Abraham and Keturah, whose sons appear to be the ancestors of the Sabeans
and Dedanites, who inhabited part of Arabia Felix. Same as Jeksan.
*
JONATHAN AND DAVID, ORDER OF
A Dutch Roman Catholic Order
organized about 1770, with statutes issued in 1773 at Amsterdam. The seven
grades were: Ostearius, Lector, Exorcist, Acoluthus, Subdiaconus, Diaconus,
and Summus Superior, or S. S., and the latter grade also known as Confederati,
the head being a vicarius Summus.
