Note:  This material was scanned into text files for the sole purpose of convenient electronic research. This material is NOT intended as a reproduction of the original volumes. However close the material is to becoming a reproduced work, it should ONLY be regarded as a textual reference.  Scanned at Phoenixmasonry by Ralph W. Omholt, PM in May 2007.

 

 

MASONRY DEFINED

 

A Liberal Masonic Education

 

 

INFORMATION EVERY MASON SHOULD HAVE

 

Compiled from the Writings of

DR. ALBERT G. MACKEY 33°

And Many Other Eminent Authorities

 

 

REVISED AND ENLARGED

 

BY

E. R. JOHNSTON 32°

Originator of the Questionnaire System

of Masonic Education

 

 

A. C. MONETTE 32°

 

 

NATIONAL MASONIC PRESS, INC.,

SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA

 

QUESTIONS COPYRIGHTED

JANUARY 11, 1930

BY E. R. JOHNSTON

 

 

APPENDIX AND DICTIONARY COPYRIGHTED, 1939

BY ESTATE OF E. R. JOHNSTON

 

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

KINGSPORT PRESS, INC.           KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE

 

 

 

MASONIC RECORD

 

NAME

 

LODGE                                                          No.

 

LOCATION

 

INITIATED                  PASSED                   RAISED

 

Worshipful Master

Senior Warden

Junior Warden

Secretary

Royal Arch

Knights Templar

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite          

Ancient Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine

Other Masonic Bodies

 

We are in position to supply any book on Freemasonry to be had.

Write for prices and list of books handled.

 

National Masonic Press,

Shreveport, Louisiana.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The average Mason, after taking his degrees in Masonry, immediately asks himself what it all means.

 

Few Masons have, or will take, the time to make an exhaustive study of Masonry. It is to this class of busy Masons this work will make an especial appeal. We have culled from the writings of many eminent Masonic scholars the "meat" of the subject, and present it in such form that the busy Mason can get what he wants without the necessity of extensive reading or study.

 

If you have gone into Masonry in the belief that there is really something to it, and you have a desire to be well informed, you will find in these pages a mine of useful information, and will be well repaid for the time spent in looking up any particular subject.

 

No Mason can acquire in a few days or months, or even years, all there is in Masonry. Two of the most famous Masons America has ever produced - General Albert Pike,

33°, and Dr. Albert Gallatin Mackey, 33° - spent their entire lives in Masonic study. Their writings have been preserved, and the busy Mason of today can find the real facts of Masonry within easy reach.

 

There are thousands of Masons who can repeat the ritual, but who have no conception of what it all means. There is nothing said in the ritual that should seem mysterious. Everything in Masonry has a beautiful meaning if rightly understood, and everything done in the ritual work is meant to teach a distinct moral lesson.

 

Masonry would die out in five years if it had to depend upon about 85 per cent of the membership. It is the small minority - the really interested Masons - who have kept and are keeping the order alive today. These few men give unselfishly their time and intelligence as officers of their lodges. How long would any lodge last if all the members merely paid their dues, rarely if ever attended lodge, and considered their duty done? Does Masonry mean anything to you, or are you just a "member"? Some Masons seem to take a pride in saying, "Oh, yes, I belong to the order, but have not been in a lodge room in years." Of what benefit is Masonry to this man, and what earthly benefit is he to Masonry? Then again, you will hear a Mason say, "I have lost my interest in Masonry." He never had any real interest to lose. All he has lost is his curiosity. If he had been interested he would have learned something about it, and his interest would have

 

3

 

4          INTRODUCTION 

 

been increased instead of dying out. The Mason who pays his dues because he is ashamed not to, is simply throwing his money away. He gets no benefit whatever, and his attitude of indifference sets a bad example to the younger Masons, who look to him for inspiration and guidance.

 

Taking the secret work and learning the ritual does not make a Mason any more than learning its A B C's makes a child a scholar. It is merely the cornerstone; the building is yet to be erected.

 

How many Masons understand the beautiful lesson of the third degree? If this lesson were learned and understood and practiced, Masonry would be on a higher plane than it is today. There would be more real Masons and fewer "members." Too many Masons say, "I have not the time to read," but they had or took the time to take their degrees and learn the lectures. The same amount of time spent in intelligent study would give them the groundwork for a real knowledge of Masonry; for, if Masonry is worth going into, it is worth knowing something about.

 

                                                                                                E. R. JOHNSTON, 32°

 

PREFACE TO THE

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION

 

The literature of Freemasonry is very extensive. Many thousands of books crowd the shelves of the great Masonic libraries of the world. These are of great and absorbing interest to Masonic scholars but, to the ordinary Mason, this mass of reading matter is bewildering in its immensity. The newly‑made Mason who merely desires to satisfy his natural curiosity concerning the Craft, the Mason on the side lines who wishes to take a worthy part in the labors of his Lodge, or the busy men of affairs who give so generously of their time and talent as Lodge and Grand Lodge officers, who have neither the time nor inclination to make a profound study of the history, philosophy, religion or jurisprudence of the Craft, will find in "Masonry Defined" a practical hand book, giving them the information they desire in the simplest, quickest and easiest way that has been devised. It is designed to enable the ordinary Mason to locate just the information he needs and wants at the time he requires and desires it. Nothing has been included that is not of interest and value to every Mason. Much has been omitted which, however valuable to the Masonic scholar, is of little or no interest to the average member of the Craft.

 

Every known device has been adopted to assist the busy student in finding the correct answer to any question in the quickest and easiest manner. The information contained is not new; on the contrary its contents have been selected from the best and most reliable Masonic authorities, a list of which is given in the Appendix. The editors have not ventured to make any innovations in the body of well settled and authoritative Masonic doctrine. All that is herein contained can be found by any diligent student in the hundreds of standard works on Free‑masonry, but nowhere else can it be found in such concise and accessible form.

 

This work is especially commended to all members of the Craft who are now, who expect to, or who hope to become, active in the various Bodies of the Craft. This work is not designed to be taken as a criterion on matters of jurisprudence or law - the broad principles have been laid down - but in all such matters the student should consult the Edicts of the Grand Lodge under which he resides.

 

The study of the following lectures, by number and subject, will give the student a comprehensive understanding of Freemasonry:

 

                                    HISTORY

56, 57, 58, 59, 67, 177, 178, 265, 267, 955.

 

5

 

                                    TEMPLE

922, 924, 925, 387, 518, 626, 457.

 

                                    BIBLE

1st Kings 5, 6, 7, and 2nd Chronicles 1 to 5, inclusive.

 

                        ALTAR

50, 118, 119, 371, 436, 557, 694, 846, 886.

 

                        WORSHIPFUL MASTER

184, 591, 593, 595, 304, 903.

 

                        KEY LECTURES

4, 26, 27, 40, 78, 99, 104, 185, 186, 190, 212, 223, 227, 237, 386, 396, 399, 473, 514,

545, 568, 605, 629, 713, 738, 787, 896, 961, 965, 966, 967, 1011, 1012. Also lecture page 569.

 

                        CATHOLICISM

191, 520, 707.

 

"The study of Freemasonry teaches a man to think - if he can think - and to learn - if he can learn." Albert Pike.

 

Information of an especial interest relative to the higher degrees in Masonry, and in the Eastern Star will be found in the APPENDIX. Hundreds of Bible references with Masonic import will be found scattered through the entire volume.

 

                                                                                                THE PUBLISHERS

 

Questions Every Mason Should Be Able

to Answer

____________

 

 

ABIF

1. Why was Hiram, our ancient Grand Master, called "ABIF?"

 

ABLUTION

2. How is moral purification symbolized?

 

ABSENCE

3. What is the ancient rule regarding attendance at Lodge?

 

ACACIA

4. What is the symbolism of the sprig of Acacia?

 

ACCEPTED

5. Why are Masons said to be "Free and Accepted?"

 

ACCORD

6. What is the meaning of "Free Will and Accord?"

 

ACCUSATION

7. What is the preliminary step in every Masonic trial?

 

ACCUSER

8. Who is the prosecuting officer of a Lodge?

 

ACQUITTAL

9. Does acquittal of a Mason by a jury prevent his being tried again by a Lodge on the same charge?

 

ACTION ON PETITION

10. What action should a Lodge take on receipt of a favorable report on a petition?

 

ACTIVE

11. When is a Lodge or Brother said to be "active?"

 

ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP, Prerogative of

12. What are the prerogatives of the active members of a Lodge?

 

ADAMS, John Quincy,

13. What President of the United States was a bitter opponent of Freemasonry?

 

7

8          MASONRY DEFINED 

 

ADDRESS

14. What are the qualifications of Lodge officers?

 

ADDRESSING A LODGE

15. What rules govern a Brother while speaking in a Lodge?

 

ADHERING MASON

16. To whom does the term "adhering Mason" apply?

 

ADMISSION

17. How many candidates can be made Masons on the same day?

 

ADMISSION OF MEMBERS

18. Has the Master the right to deny a member admission to his own Lodge?

 

ADMISSION OF NEW MEMBERS

19. What right has a new Lodge with respect to the admission of members?

 

ADMISSION OF VISITORS

20. Has the Master of a Lodge the right to decline to admit, as a visitor, a Master Mason in good standing?

 

ADMITTANCE TO THE LODGE

21. What is the duty of the Tiler with reference to the admission of persons to a Lodge room?

 

ADMONITION

22. How should a Brother be admonished?

 

ADONIRAM

23. Who was Adoniram?

 

ADOPTIVE MASONRY

24. What is the relation of women to Masonry in France and in America?

 

ADVANCED

25. How is the word "advanced" technically used in Masonry?

 

ADVANCEMENT, denial of

26. What is the status of an Entered Apprentice if the Lodge denies him advancement?

 

ADVANCEMENT, right of

27. Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of advancement?

 

ADYTUM

28. What are the supports of the Adytum or Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          9 

 

AFFABILITY

29. Of what were the ancient Lodges schools?

 

AFFILIATED

30. What is the distinction between an affiliated and a non‑affiliated Mason?

 

AFFILIATION

31. What is the Masonic meaning of the term "affiliation?"

 

AFFILIATION OF NON‑RESIDENTS

32. Are there any geographical restrictions on the right of affiliation?

 

AFFILIATION, petition for

33. To what Lodge or Lodges may a Mason apply for affiliation?

 

AGAPE, Love Feast

34. What is the relation of the ancient Love Feast to Masonry?

 

AGATE

35. Of what was the stone of foundation formed?

 

AGE, LAWFUL,

36. Is the age of twenty‑one the lawful age of admission in all Masonic jurisdictions?

 

AGE, MASONIC

37. Certain numbers are assigned as the symbolic ages of Masons of various degrees. What are they, and why?

 

AGENDA

38. How is the word "agenda" used in Masonry?

 

AHIMAN REZON

39. What was the book of the Constitutions of the Ancient Masons called?

 

AID AND ASSISTANCE

40. To what extent should a Mason extend aid to a worthy distressed brother?

 

AIR

41. By what three elements is a Mason proved?

 

ALARM

42. In what sense is the word "alarm" used in Masonry?

 

ALOORAN

43. What is the sacred book of the Mohammedans called?

 

10        MASONRY DEFINED

 

ALDWORTH, the Hon. Mrs.

44. Has a woman ever been made a Mason?

 

ALLAH

45. What is the name of God in the Mohammedan religion?

 

ALLEGIANCE

46. What effect does non‑affiliation have upon the allegiance of a Mason to the fraternity?

 

ALL‑SEEING EYE

47. What is the symbolism of the All‑Seeing Eye?

 

ALLUREMENTS

48. What allurements does Masonry hold out?

 

ALMOND TREE

49. What is the symbolism of the Almond tree?

 

ALTAR

50. What is the symbolism of the Masonic altar?

 

AMALTHEA

51. What is the Steward's Jewel, and why?

 

AMEN

52. Why do Masons say "amen" at the close of prayer?

 

AMULET

53. What is an Amulet?

 

ANCHOR

54. What is the symbolism of the Anchor?

 

ANCHOR AND ARK

55. Of what are the Anchor and Ark the emblems?

 

ANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY

56. What is included in Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

ANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY, degrees of

57. How many degrees were there in Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

ANCIENT MASONS

58. Who and what were the Ancient Masons?

 

ANDERSON, JAMES, D.D.

59. Who was the author of the "Constitutions of the Freemasons?"

 

ANDREW, ST.

60. Who is the patron saint of Scottish Masons?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          11

 

ANNIVERSARIES, Masonic

61. What are the two principal anniversaries of symbolic Masonry?

 

ANNUAL MEETINGS OF GRAND LODGE

62. What is the precedent for annual meetings of Grand Lodges?

 

ANOMOLY

63. Why is Masonry mysterious?

 

ANNUITIES

64. What is the most useful form of Masonic charity?

 

ANTI‑MASONIC PARTY

65. Did the anti‑Masonic party ever nominate a candidate for President?

 

ANTI‑MASONRY

66. Who was alleged to have been murdered by Masons?

 

ANTIQUITY OF FREEMASONRY

67. In what year did Masonry become entirely speculative?

 

APORRHETA

68. What is permitted to be printed about Masonry and what is not?

 

APPEAL FROM BALLOT

69. Has a Grand Lodge the right to entertain an appeal to reverse a ballot?

 

APPEAL FROM GRAND MASTER'S DECISION

70. Does an appeal lie from a decision of the Grand Master to the Grand Lodge?

 

APPEAL OF ENTERED APPRENTICES OR FELLOWCRAFTS

71. Does an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft enjoy the right of Masonic relief?

 

APPEAL, right of

72. What rights does a Mason have to appeal from a decision against him?

 

APPEAL TO GRAND LODGE

73. How should an appeal to Grand Lodge be made?

 

APPELLANT, status of

74. What is the Masonic status of an Appellant during the pendency of an appeal?

 

12        MASONRY DEFINED

 

APPOINTMENTS, Grand Master's prerogative of

75. What is the Grand Master's prerogative with respect to appointments?

 

APPOINTMENT OF JUNIOR OFFICERS

76. Who has the prerogative of appointing the junior officers of a Lodge?

 

APPOINTMENT OF SUBSTITUTE OFFICERS

77. Who has the right to appoint substitute officers in the absence of appointive officers of a Lodge?

 

APRON

78. What is the symbolism of the Masonic Apron?

 

ARCHITECTURE

79. What is the relation of Architecture to Masonry?

 

ARCHIVES

80. For what were the pillars "BOAZ" and "JACHIN" used?

 

ARK OF THE COVENANT

81. What was the Ark of the Covenant and for what was it used?

 

ARMS OF FREEMASONRY

82. What armorial bearings have been borne by Freemasons?

 

ARRANGEMENT

83. How were the 18th Century Lodges arranged?

 

ARREST OF WARRANT

84. What is the status of a Lodge whose warrant has been arrested?

 

ARTS, liberal

85. In what degree are the seven liberal arts and sciences explained?

 

ASCENT

86. How does a Fellowcraft ascend to receive his wages?

 

ASHLAR

87. Of what is the Ashlar emblematic?

 

ASPIRANT

88. What name is applied to a seeker of Masonic light?

 

ASS

89. Of what is the Ass an emblem?

 

ATHEIST

90. Why cannot an atheist become a Freemason?

 

MASONRY DEFINED 

 

ATTENDANCE

91. What is the duty of a Mason in respect to attendance at his Lodge?

 

ATTESTED COPY OF CHARGES

92. Under what circumstances is it necessary for a Lodge to submit an attested copy of charges against a member?

 

AUGUSTAN STYLE

93. In what city are some of the best examples of Operative Masonry to be found?

 

AVOUCHMENT

94. What regulations govern Masonic avouchments?

 

AVOUCHMENT AT second hand

95. May a Master Mason lawfully vouch for a visitor on the authority of another?

 

AXE

96. Why was King Solomon's temple built without the use of iron tools?

 

AZURE

97. What is the color appropriate to symbolic Masonry?

 

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY

98. What punishment was meted out to the Jews who failed to keep the ordinances of Jehovah?

 

BACH

99. What is the symbolism of the fourth point of fellowship?

 

BADGE

100. What is the badge of a Master Mason and Why?

 

BALDACHIN

101. What is the symbolism of the canopy over the Master's chair?

 

BALLOT, method of

102. What is the proper method of conducting the ballot?

 

BALLOT, reconsideration of

103. Has a Grand Master power to order reconsideration of a ballot?

 

BALLOT, secrecy of the

104. Has a Mason the right to announce how he has cast his ballot for a candidate?

 

14        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

BALLOT UNDER DISPENSATION

105. Do the members of a Lodge under dispensation have the right of ballot on candidates?

 

BAND

106. How should lodge officers wear their jewels?

 

BANQUET

107. Should the Worshipful Master be present at Masonic banquets?

 

BARE FEET

108. What is the symbolism of pulling off the shoes?

 

BASILICA

109. What is a Basilica?

 

BATON

110. What is the badge of the Marshal of a Lodge?

 

BEAUTY

111. Why do Masons cultivate order, harmony and beauty?

 

BEEHIVE

112. Of what is the beehive emblematic?

 

BEHAVIOR

113. What is the ethical code of Freemasonry?

 

BELIEF

114. Upon what scriptural basis are the lectures of Freemasonry largely founded?

 

BENAI

115. How were the Fellowcrafts employed in the building of King Solomon's temple?

 

BENEFITS

116. Of what do the charities of the Masonic order (in part) consist?

 

BETRAYING

117. Do we betray Masonic secrets?

 

BIBLE

118. What is the relation of the Bible to Freemasonry?

 

BIBLE, requirement of

119. Is a candidate for Masonry required to believe in the divine authenticity of the Scriptures?

 

BLACK

120. What do the colors, black and white, symbolize?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          15 

 

BLACK BALLS

121. Is the rule that one black ball rejects of universal application?

 

BLAZING STAR

122. What is the symbolism of the blazing star?

 

BLUE MASONRY

123. What is the symbolism of the color blue?

 

BOAZ

124. What was the name of the left‑hand pillar on the porch of King Solomon's temple?

 

BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS

125. What is the Book of Constitutions?

 

BOOK OF THE LAW

126. What is the symbolism of the Book of the Law?

 

BORDER

127. What are the ornaments of a Lodge?

 

BRAZEN PILLARS

128. What do the two pillars on the tracing board represent?

 

BREAST

129. What is the duty of a Mason with respect to a Brother's secrets?

 

BRIGHT

130. What is a Mason called who has mastered the ritual?

 

BROACHED THURNAL

131. What was the Broached Thurnal?

 

BROKEN COLUMN

132. Of what is the broken column emblematic?

 

BROTHERHOOD

133. In what sense is Freemasonry called a brotherhood? 

 

BROTHERLY KISS

134. How does the Master of a European Lodge greet a newly made Mason?

 

BROTHERLY LOVE

135. What Masonic duties are implied by the tenets of brotherly love?

 

16        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

BULL, PAPAL

136. What were the bulls issued by the Popes against the Masonic order?

 

BURIAL

137. What right of burial has a Master Mason?

 

BURIAL, Masonic

138. May an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft take part in a Masonic funeral procession?

 

BURIAL OF ENTERED APPRENTICES

139. Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of Masonic Burial?

 

BURIAL PLACE

140. Where is the burial place of a Master Mason?

 

BURIED TREASURES

141. Where were treasures commonly concealed in ancient times?

 

BUSINESS

142. On what degree should the business of a Lodge be transacted, and why?

 

BY‑LAWS

143. What are the rules called that govern a Lodge?

 

BY‑LAWS, powers of Grand Lodge over

144. What are the powers of a Grand Lodge with respect to the by‑laws of a subordinate Lodge?

 

BY‑LAWS, right of making

145. Has a Lodge the right to prescribe its own by‑laws?

 

BY‑LAWS, uniform code of

146. Has a Grand Lodge the right to prescribe the by‑laws of constituent Lodges?

 

CABLE TOW'S LENGTH

147. What is the length of a Mason's cable tow?

 

CABUL

148. What country did King Solomon cede to Hiram, King of Tyre?

 

CALENDAR

149. What calendars have been adopted by the various branches of Freemasonry?

 

CALLING OFF

150. What term is applied to the temporary postponement of the labors of a Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          17 

 

CANDIDATE

151. What are the qualifications for admission to Freemasonry?

 

CARDINAL POINTS

152. What is the Masonic significance of the cardinal points?

 

CARDINAL VIRTUES

153. What are the four cardinal virtues?

 

CARPET

154. What is the Masonic carpet?

 

CATECHISM

155. What part of the Masonic ritual is in the form of a catechism?

 

CATHERINE

156. What great woman ruler prohibited Masonry in her country, and afterwards fostered, encouraged and protected it?

 

CAUTION

157. What new name is given to the Entered Apprentice, and why?

 

CAUTIOUS SECRECY

158. Why was secrecy observed by our ancient operative brethren?

 

CAVE

159. Where did King Solomon have a cave dug and for what purpose?

 

CEDAR

160. What are the characteristics of the cedars of Lebanon?

 

CEMENT

161. What is the cement of the Lodge?

 

CENSURE, nature and effect of

162. What is the nature and effect of Masonic censure?

 

CENTER OF UNITY

163. What is the Masonic center of unity?

 

CENTER, opening on

164. What symbolic degree is said to be opened on the center?

 

CENTRE

165. How far must the labors of a Freemason penetrate?

 

CEREMONIES

166. What should be the mental attitude of one taking the degrees of Masonry?

 

CERTIFICATE

167. What is the force and value of a Masonic certificate?

 

 18       MASONRY DEFINED 

 

CHAIN

168. What do all Masons upon earth form?

 

CHALK

169. Of what are charcoal and clay emblematic?

 

CHANGE FROM OPERATIVE TO SPECULATIVE FREEMASONRY

170. What was the effect of the change from operative to speculative Freemasonry on the status of an Entered Apprentice?

 

CHAPLAIN

171. What is the status of the Chaplain in ancient craft Masonry?

 

CHAPLAIN, Grand

172. What are the duties of a Grand Chaplain of a Grand Lodge?

 

CHAPTER PAST MASTERS

173. Has a virtual or chapter Past Master the status of a Past Master of a Lodge?

 

CHARACTER

174. What moral qualifications are demanded of an applicant for the degrees of Masonry?

 

CHARGE

175. What solemn admonitions are given at the close of each degree of Masonry?

 

CHARGES

176. What is the proper form and effect of Masonic charges?

 

CHARGES, Ancient

177. What are the so‑called Ancient charges?

 

CHARGES OF 1722

178. What charges were adopted in 1722, and by whom were they presented?

 

CHARITY

179. What is the brightest ornament of our Masonic profession?

 

CHARTER

180. What document is required to make the meetings of a Lodge regular?

 

CHASTITY

181. What is the ancient admonition of the craft with respect to chastity?

 

CHIEF POINT

182. What is the chief point in Masonry?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          19 

 

CHILDREN OF LIGHT

183. As true Masons, from what do we stand redeemed?

 

CHOICE OF OFFICERS

184. What qualifications should be required of officers of a Lodge?

 

CIRCLE

185. Of what is the circle emblematic?

 

CIRCLE AND PARALLEL LINES

186. Of what is the point within a circle emblematic?

 

CIRCUMSPECTION

187. What is a Mason's duty as to his words and carriage?

 

CLASSES

188. How did King Solomon classify the workmen on the temple?

 

CLAY GROUND

189. Where were the pillars of the Temple cast?

 

CLEAN HANDS

190. What is the symbolism of clean hands?

 

CLEMENT XII

191. Who was the Pope who issued a bull against Freemasonry?

 

CLOSING

192. Can a Masonic Lodge be adjourned?

 

CLOTHED

193. When is a Mason properly clothed?

 

CLOTHING, partial

194. Of what, in Masonry, is partial clothing a symbol?

 

COERCION

195. Should anyone be urged to become a Mason against his will?

 

COFFIN

196. Of what is the Coffin emblematic?

 

COLLECTION OF LODGE DUES

197. What are the duties of the Secretary with reference to the collection of Lodge dues?

 

COLORS

198. What are the Masonic colors and what do they represent?

 

COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS

199. What is the prerogative of the Master with reference to lodge committees?

 

20        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

200. Is it lawful for a Masonic Lodge to sit as a committee of the whole?

 

COMMITTEES, regulations governing

201. What are the regulations which govern committees of the Lodge?

 

COMMUNICATION

202. What term signifies a regular meeting of a Lodge?

 

COMMUNICATION OF CHARGES

203. How may charges of un-masonic conduct be communicated to a non‑resident brother?

 

COMO

204. What city was headquarters of the operative Masons during the dark ages?

 

COMPASSES

205. Of what is a line drawn by the compasses emblematic?

 

COMPLAINT

206. How should complaints against a brother be handled?

 

COMPOSITION OF GRAND LODGE

207. What is the definition of a Grand Lodge and of whom is it composed?

 

CONCORD

208. Upon what should the Master of a Lodge found his government?

 

CONDUCTING CANDIDATES

209. Who performs the duty of conducting a candidate during Masonic work?

 

CONFERRING DEGREES IN GRAND LODGE

210. Has the Grand Lodge the power to confer the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

CONFIDENCE

211. What is the real meaning of the so‑called "Oath"?

 

CONGRESS, MASONIC

212. What efforts have been made to establish a General Grand Lodge for the United States?

 

CONSECRATION, elements of

213. What materials are used by Masons for consecration purposes?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          21 

 

CONSECRATION OF LODGES

214. What custom should be observed on the day of consecration?

 

CONSENT, unanimous

215. What is the origin of the rule requiring unanimous consent to the admission of a candidate?

 

CONSTITUTE, legally

216. When is a Lodge legally constituted?

 

CONSTITUTION, just and legal

217. When is a Lodge said to be justly and legally constituted?

 

CONSTITUTION OF A LODGE

218. What is the effect of the ceremony of constitution?

 

CONTROVERSY

219. What subjects of discussion are barred from the Lodge room?

 

CONVENING A LODGE

220. Can a Lodge be congregated without the consent of the Master?

 

CORINTHIAN

221. What was the origin of the Corinthian columns?

 

CORN

222. What is the symbolism of Corn?

 

CORNER STONE, symbolism of the

223. What is the symbolism of the Corner stone?

 

CORNUCOPIA, or the horn of plenty

224. Of what is the Cornucopia emblematic?

 

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE LODGE

225. What is the duty of the Secretary with reference to the correspondence of the Lodge?

 

COUNSEL AT MASONIC TRIAL

226. Has a Master Mason on trial the right to employ counsel?

 

COVENANT OF MASONRY

227. What are the obligations of the Masonic covenant?

 

COWAN

228. Why are Cowans excluded from a Lodge?

 

CRAFT

229. Define the word "Craft."

 

CRAFTSMAN

230. As a Craftsman, what are you to encourage?

 

22        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

CREED, a Mason's

231. What is the creed of a Freemason?

 

CRIMES, Masonic

232. What constitutes a crime in Freemasonry?

 

CRIMES, Masonic punishment of

233. What is the definition of a Masonic crime?

 

CROSS‑LEGGED

234. Who were called "cross‑legged" Masons?

 

CROWN OF THORNS

235. Of what was the "crown of thorns" on the Savior's brow composed?

 

CUBICAL STONE

236. What is the legend of the cubical stone?

 

CUBIT

237. What is the length of a cubit?

 

CURIOSITY

238. What is one of the prevailing passions of the human heart?

 

CUSTODY OF THE BALLOT BOX

239. To whom is entrusted the custody of the ballot box?

 

CUSTODY OF WARRANT

240. Who has the custody of the warrant of constitution?

 

DARKNESS

241. Of what is darkness a symbol?

 

DAUGHTER OF A MASON

242. What are the privileges of a Mason's daughter?

 

DAY'S WORK

243. Why is the Senior Warden's station in the west?

 

DEACONS

244. What part have the Deacons in the work of the Craft?

 

DEATH

245. What is the symbolic meaning of Death?

 

DEBATE

246. What are the Masonic rules of debate?

 

DEBATES, prohibited

247. What subjects of debate are prohibited in a Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          23 

 

DECISION OF MASTER

248. Has a Master of a Lodge the right to permit an appeal by courtesy from a decision?

 

DECISIONS OF THE MASTER, appeals from

249. What rules govern appeals from a decision of a master of a Lodge?

 

DECLARATION OF CANDIDATES

250. What declaration is required from candidates for initiation into Masonry?

 

DECLARING OFF

251. What is meant by "declaring off?"

 

DEDICATION

252. To whom were Lodges formerly dedicated?

 

DEDICATION, ceremony of

253. What is the origin of the ceremony of dedication?

 

DEFAMATION

254. What is a Mason's duty as to the good name of his brethren?

 

DEFINITE SUSPENSION

255. What is the meaning and effect of the Masonic penalty of definite suspension?

 

DEFINITION OF FREEMASONRY

256. What is the definition of Freemasonry?

 

DEGREE

257. What does the word "degree" signify?

 

DEGREES

258. Why are there degrees in Masonry?

 

DEGREES, ancient

259. What was the custom of ancient craft Masonry in conferring the three degrees?

 

DEMISSION

260. Under what circumstances can a Mason exercise the right of demission?

 

DEMIT

261. What is a Masonic demit, and how does it affect his standing in the Craft?

 

DEPRIVATION OF RIGHT TO VOTE

262. Can a Mason be lawfully deprived of the right of participation in a ballot?

 

24        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

DEPUTY GRAND MASTER

263. What are the office and function of a Deputy Grand Master?

 

DEPUTY GRAND MASTER, prerogatives of

264. Has the Deputy Grand Master the prerogative of establishing Lodges and granting dispensations?

 

DESAGULIERS, JOHN THEOPHILUS

265. Who is called the father of modern speculative Freemasonry?

 

DESIGN

266. What is the design of Freemasonry?

 

DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE

267. What Masonic degree is based on the destruction of the Temple?

 

DEVELOPMENT

268. How may a brother make progress in Masonry?

 

DIDACTICAL

269. What is the fourth section of the first lecture called?

 

DIFFUSION

270. How did King Solomon diffuse Masonry throughout the world?

 

DIPLOMA

271. Why should a Mason carry a traveling certificate or diploma?

 

DISCIPLINE

272. What system of discipline should be enforced in Masonic Lodges?

 

DISCOVERY

273. What discovery was made at the building of the second Temple?

 

DISCUSSION OF BALLOT

274. Has a Mason the right to declare how he voted on a ballot?

 

DISPENSATION

275. What is a dispensation and by whom can it be granted?

 

DISPENSATION, by‑laws of Lodges under

276. Has a Lodge under dispensation power to enact its own by‑laws?

 

DISPENSATION, candidates of a Lodge under

277. By what procedure are candidates of a Lodge under dispensation elected?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          25

 

DISPENSATION, length of

278. How long does a Lodge usually run under dispensation?

 

DISPENSATION, Lodge under

279. What is the status of a Mason made in a Lodge under dispensation?

 

DISPENSATION OF UNANIMOUS CONSENT

280. Has a Grand Lodge the right to issue a dispensation to admit a Mason without unanimous consent?

 

DISPENSATION TO FILL VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF MASTER

281. Has the Grand Master the right to grant a dispensation for the election of a Master in the event of the Master's death or disability?

 

DISPENSATIONS FOR LODGES

282. What is the status of a Lodge under dispensation?

 

DISPUTES

283. How should disputes between Masons be disposed of?

 

DISSOLUTION OF A LODGE

284. On what grounds may a Masonic Lodge be lawfully dissolved?

 

DISTRESS

285. Is Freemasonry a charitable institution?

 

DISTRICT DEPUTY GRAND MASTER

286. What official in British Freemasonry corresponds to the District Deputy Grand Master?

 

DIVISION OF MASONIC OFFENSES

287. Into what three classes are Masonic offenses divided?

 

DOCTRINES

288. What do the three degrees blend?

 

DORIC

289. What is the second order of architecture?

 

DOTAGE

290. What is the meaning of the word "dotage" as used in Free‑masonry?

 

DOUBLE PUNISHMENT

291. May charges be lawfully brought by a Masonic Lodge for an offense for which the brother has already been punished by the civil authorities?

 

26        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

DOUBTS

292. What is a good rule in all doubtful matters?

 

DOVE

293. Of what is the dove emblematic?

 

DUE FORM

294. What distinguishes "due form" from "ample form"?

 

DUE GUARD

295. What does the due guard teach?

 

DUE GUARD, meaning of

296. What is the due guard?

 

DUES

297. What are the rights of a Lodge with respect to establishing dues and assessments?

 

DUES, payment of

298. What is the origin of the custom requiring the payment of dues?

 

DUES UNDER SUSPENSION

299. Ts a Mason required to pay dues while under suspension?

 

DUMBNESS

300. Can a dumb person become a Mason?

 

DUTIES OF LODGE

301. What are the duties of a Lodge with reference to the reputation of ancient craft Masonry?

 

DUTIES OF MASTER MASONS

302. What duties do Masons owe to God, their neighbors and them‑selves?

 

DUTY

303. What are the duties of a Mason?

 

EAST

304. Why does the Worshipful Master sit in the east?

 

EAVESDROPPER

305. What was the Masonic punishment for eavesdropping?

 

ECCLESIASTICAL OR POLITICAL OFFENSES

306. Can Masonic charges be based upon ecclesiastical or political offenses?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          27 

 

EDICT OF CYRUS

307. What degrees of Masonry are based on the rebuilding of the Temple?

 

EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES

308. What were the Egyptian mysteries?

 

ELECTING OFFICERS

309. What qualifications should be sought in the choice of the officers of a Lodge?

 

ELECTION OF GRAND WARDENS

310. What was formerly the custom of the Craft with regard to the choice of Grand Wardens?

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

311. How often and at what time should the officers of a Lodge be elected?

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS OF LODGE UNDER DISPENSATION

312. Has a Lodge under dispensation the right to elect its own officers?

 

ELECTIONS, regulations governing

313. What rules govern the election of a Masonic official?

 

ELECTION TO FILL VACANCY

314. What steps must be taken to fill a vacancy in an office in a Masonic Lodge?

 

ELIGIBILITY AS GRAND WARDEN

315. What is required for eligibility to the office of Grand Warden?

 

ELIGIBILITY AS MASTER OF A LODGE

316. What other office must a Master Mason have held to become eligible to be Master of a Lodge?

 

ELIGIBILITY AS TILER

317. Who are eligible for election as Tiler in a Masonic Lodge?

 

ELIGIBILITY OF PAST MASTERS

318. What are the prerogatives of a Past Master with respect to office in the Grand Lodge?

 

ELIGIBILITY OF WARDENS

319. What prerogatives do Wardens enjoy with reference to eligibility for election to office?

 

ELIGIBILITY TO ELECTION AS OFFICERS

320. What regulations govern eligibility to office in a Lodge?

 

28        MASONRY DEFINED  

 

EMBLEM

321. What is the difference between an Emblem and a Symbol?

 

EMERGENCY

322. What constitutes a case of emergency in Masonry and who is the Judge?

 

ENTERED APPRENTICE

323. As an Entered Apprentice, what was the Mason taught?

 

ENTERED APPRENTICES, relief of

324. Are Entered Apprentices entitled to Masonic relief?

 

ENTERED APPRENTICE, right of visitation

325. Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of visitation?

 

ENTERED APPRENTICE, rights of

326. What rights does a candidate obtain after receiving the Entered Apprentice degree?

 

ENTERED APPRENTICE, status of

327. What was the original status of the Entered Apprentice degree?

 

ENTRANCE

328. What penitential hymn of King Solomon is read on the entrance of the candidate in the third degree?

 

ENVY

329. What should be the attitude of a Mason toward a brother?

 

EQUALITY

330. What is a Masonic equality?

 

EQUIVOCATION

331. Why must the Masonic oath be taken without equivocation?

 

ERASURE FROM THE ROLL

332. What is the status of a Mason whose name has been stricken from the roll for non‑payment of dues?

 

ESOTERIC MASONRY

333. What distinguishes exoteric from esoteric Freemasonry?

 

ESSENTIAL SECRETS

334. What are the essential secrets of Masonry?

 

ESTABLISHED RELIGION

335. What should be the attitude of Masons toward the Church?

 

EUNUCH

336. Why cannot a Eunuch become a Mason?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          29  

 

EUNUCHS, status of

337. Were Eunuchs ever eligible for initiation into Masonry?

 

EVERGREEN

338. Why do Masons wear evergreens at funerals?

 

EVIDENCE

339. Is it lawful to admit on appeal new evidence not presented at the original trial?

 

EXAMINATION

340. How should we treat a stranger who claims to be a Mason?

 

EXAMINATION OF OFFICERS OF A NEW LODGE

341. By whom should the officers of a newly organized Lodge be examined?

 

EXAMINATION OF VISITORS

342. Under what circumstances may a visitor be admitted to a Lodge without examination?

 

EXCLUSION

343. Has a Lodge a right to exclude a member on cause shown temporarily or permanently, from a Lodge?

 

EXCLUSION, meaning of

344. What is the Masonic definition of the word "exclusion"?

 

EXECUTIVE POWERS OF GRAND LODGE

345. How are the executive powers of a Grand Lodge exercised?

 

EXEMPTION

346. What privileges were given the Masons selected to build the Temple?

 

EXEMPTION OF MASTER FROM TRIAL BY LODGE

347. Has a Masonic Lodge the right to try its Master on charges?

 

EX POST FACTO LAWS

348. Has the Grand Lodge the right to pass Ex Post Facto laws?

 

EXPULSION

349. What is the effect of the expulsion of a Mason from his Lodge?

 

EXPULSION BY GRAND LODGE

350. Is it lawful for a Grand Lodge to expel a member of a subordinate Lodge?

 

EXPULSION, prerogative of

351. In what body is the prerogative of expulsion from Freemasonry vested?

 

30        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

EXTENT

352. What is the extent of a Masonic Lodge?

 

EXTERNAL

353. Where does the external preparation of a candidate take place?

 

EYE

354. Of what is the Eye of God symbolic?

 

EYESIGHT

355. Why does the candidate wear a hoodwink?

 

FABRIC

356. Upon what is the Masonic system founded?

 

FANATICISM

357. Why should Masons avoid fanaticism?

 

FEELING

358. By which of the five senses does a Mason distinguish a friendly or brotherly grip?

 

FELLOWCRAFT, right of

359. What are the present rights of Fellowcra f ts?

 

FEMALES

360. Why cannot a woman be present in an open lodge of Free‑masons?

 

FIDES

361. Under what name did our ancient brethren worship Deity?

 

FINANCE

362. Who is responsible for the finances of a Masonic Lodge?

 

FIRST DEGREE

363. What are the moral teachings of the first degree?

 

FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP

364. What are the teachings of the five points of fellowship?

 

FIVE SENSES

365. In what degree are the lessons of the five senses explained?

 

FIXED LIGHTS

366. What are the fixed lights of a Lodge?

 

FLOOR

367. Of what is the Mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

FOOT TO FOOT

368. What is the symbolism of the foot in Masonry?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          31 

 

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE

369. What is the function of the Grand Lodge committee on foreign correspondence?

 

FOREIGN COUNTRY

370. What do Masons mean by "traveling in foreign countries"?

 

FORM OF THE LODGE

371. What is the form of a Masonic Lodge?

 

FORTITUDE

372. What is the Masonic virtue of fortitude?

 

FOUL

373. When is the ballot box said to be "foul"?

 

FOUNDATION

374. On what day should corner stones be laid?

 

FOUR DEGREES

375. How many degrees had Ancient Freemasonry?

 

FREE

376. In what sense is the word "free" applied to Masons?

 

FREE AND ACCEPTED

377. How did the title "Free and Accepted Masons" originate?

 

FREE‑BORN

378. What must be the status of a candidate for Masonry?

 

FREEMASONRY

379. What is the difference between Masonry and Freemasonry?

 

FREEMASONRY, definitions of

380. What are the best known definitions of Freemasonry?

 

FREE WILL AND ACCORD

381. Why are Masons forbidden to solicit members?

 

FRIENDSHIP

382. On what is the universality of Masonry based?

 

FUNERAL PROCESSIONS

383. Has a Lodge the right to conduct a funeral procession with‑out a dispensation from the Grand Lodge?

 

FUNERAL SERVICES

384. Under what conditions can Masonic burial be granted?

 

FURNITURE OF THE LODGE

385. What is the furniture of the Lodge?

 

32        MASONRY DEFINED

 

G

386. What is the symbolism of the letter "G"?

 

GATES OF THE TEMPLE

387. Is the Temple merely a symbol in Masonry, or an historical building?

 

GAVEL

388. What is the symbolism of the gavel?

 

GENERAL REGULATIONS

389. What is the origin of the General Regulations of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

GENTLEMAN MASON

390. How was the term "Gentleman Mason" employed?

 

GENUFLEXION

391. Of what is the act of kneeling a token?

 

GEOGRAPHICAL JURISDICTION

392. What is the geographical jurisdiction of a Lodge?

 

GEOMETRY

393. What is the relation of Geometry to Freemasonry?

 

GHIBLIM

394. Who were the Ghiblimites?

 

GOAT, riding the

395. How did the expression "riding the goat" originate?

 

GOD

396. Why cannot an atheist become a Mason?

 

GODFATHER

397. What is the member who introduces a candidate in France called?

 

G. O. D.

 

398. What three pillars of Masonry are named by the letters "G", “O”, “D”?

 

GOLDEN FLEECE

399. Why is the Masonic apron compared with the Golden Fleece?

 

GOLDEN RULE

400. Why do Masons observe the golden rule?

 

GOOD SHEPHERD

401. Who was called the Good Shepherd?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          33 

 

GOOSE AND GRIDIRON

402. Where did the Grand Lodge of England hold its first meeting?

 

GRADES OF RANK

403. How are the grades of Masonic rank defined?

 

GRAND ARCHITECT

404. What is the usual Masonic name for the Deity?

 

GRAND CHAPLAIN

405. What is the office and function of Grand Chaplain?

 

GRAND DEACON

406. What is the history and function of the office of Grand Deacon?

 

GRAND EAST

407. Why is the seat of a Grand Lodge known as the Grand East?

 

GRAND LECTURER

408. What is the office and function of Grand Lecturer?

 

GRAND LECTURER, qualifications of

409. What qualifications are necessary for a candidate for the office of Grand Lecturer?

 

GRAND LODGE

410. What are the powers of a Grand Lodge?

 

GRAND LODGE ATTENDANCE

411. May an Entered Apprentice attend Grand Lodge?

 

GRAND LODGE CERTIFICATES

412. Is the possession of a Grand Lodge certificate conclusive evidence of the good standing of its possessor?

 

GRAND LODGES, jurisdictions of

413. What is the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge?

 

GRAND LODGES, organization of

414. How is a Grand Lodge organized?

 

GRAND LODGE TRIALS

415. What is the usual procedure of a Grand Lodge in conducting a Masonic trial?

 

GRAND MARSHAL

416. What is the office and function of Grand Marshal?

 

GRAND MASTER

417. What are the powers and privileges of a Grand Master?

 

34        MASONRY DEFINED

 

GRAND MASTER, office of

418. What is the origin and history of the office of Grand Master?

 

GRAND MASTER'S POWER OF CONGREGATING MASONS

419. What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to assembling Masons into Lodges?

 

GRAND MASTER'S POWER OF CONVENING GRAND LODGE

420. What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to his power of convening Grand Lodge?

 

GRAND MASTER'S PREROGATIVE OF ARREST OF CHARTER

421. What is the Grand Master's prerogative with regard to the arrest of the charter of a Lodge?

 

GRAND MASTER'S PREROGATIVE OF DISPENSATION

422. What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to dispensations?

 

GRAND MASTER'S PREROGATIVE OF PRESIDING

423. What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to presiding over the Craft?

 

GRAND MASTER'S PREROGATIVE OF VOTING

424. What is the Grand Master's prerogative with respect to voting in Grand Lodge?

 

GRAND OFFERINGS

425. What three important events in Scripture are designated as the Three Grand Offerings of Masonry?

 

GRAND OFFICERS

426. How may Grand officers be removed from office?

 

GRAND PURSUIVANT

427. What are the office and function of Grand Pursuivant?

 

GRAND SECRETARY

428. What is the nature and function of the office of Grand Secretary?

 

GRAND STEWARDS

429. What are the history and functions of the office of Grand Steward?

 

GRAND SWORD BEARER

430. What is the history and function of the office of Grand Sword Bearer?

 

GRAND TILER

431. What are the office and functions of the Grand Tiler?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          35 

 

GRAND TREASURER

432. What are the functions of a Grand Treasurer?

 

GRAND WARDENS

433. What are the office and functions of Grand Wardens?

 

GRAVE

434. Of what is the grave emblematic?

 

GRAVITY

435. Should members be permitted to leave the Lodge during initiating ceremonies?

 

GREAT LIGHTS

436. What is the symbolism of the great lights?

 

GRIP AND SIGN

437. Why were grips and signs used by operative Masons?

 

GROUND FLOOR OF THE LODGE

438. Why is the ground floor of a Lodge known as Mount Moriah?

 

GROUNDS FOR AVOUCHMENT

439. On what grounds may a Mason lawfully vouch for a visitor?

 

GROUNDS FOR EXPULSION

440. What are regarded as sufficient grounds for expulsion of a Mason?

 

GUIDE

441. Under what promise do we begin our Masonic career?

 

HAMMER

442. What is the symbol of the power of the Master?

 

HAND

443. What is the symbolism of the Hand in Masonry?

 

HANDWRITING

444. Why is a candidate required to make out his petition in his own handwriting?

 

HARODIM

445. At the building of King Solomon's temple, what were the overseers called?

 

HAT

446. Why does the presiding officer of a Lodge wear a hat?

 

HEAL

447. How can a clandestine Mason be made a lawful Mason?

 

36        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

HEARING

448. Why cannot a deaf mute be made a Mason?

 

HEARING

449. By which of the five senses do we receive the Master's word?

 

HEART

450. Why must an applicant for Masonry be first prepared in his heart?

 

HECATOMB

451. What is a hecatomb?

 

HELPLESSNESS

452. What does the candidate's condition when first submitted signify?

 

HERMANDAD

453. What ancient Spanish society was based on Masonic principles?

 

HIGHEST OF HILLS

454. Why did the ancient lodges meet on high hills and in low valleys?

 

HIGH TWELVE

455. What is the hour of noon called among Masons?

 

HIRAM

456. In English Lodges what is the gavel called?

 

HIRAM ABIF

457. What is known of the life of our Ancient Grand Master?

 

HIRAM, King of Tyre

458. What co‑operation did Hiram, King of Tyre, give King Solomon?

 

HOLY GROUND

459. How was the first Lodge consecrated?

 

HOLY OF HOLIES

460. What was the most sacred part of the Temple?

 

HOLY NAME

461. Why do Masons revere the Holy name?

 

HOLY SAINTS JOHN

462. To whom should a Masonic Lodge be dedicated?

 

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP

463. What are the regulations governing honorary membership in a Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          37 

 

HONORS, Grand

464. What are Grand Honors? Why and how are they given?

 

HOODWINK

465. Of what is the hoodwink a symbol?

 

HOPE

466. Of what is Hope emblematic?

 

HOURGLASS

467. Of what is the hourglass emblematic?

 

HOURS, MASONIC

468. What were the hours of labor of our operative brethren?

 

HOURS OF WORK

469. Why should officers of Lodges be punctual in their attendance?

 

I.A.M.

 

470. What do the initials I. A. M. signify?

 

IDEAS

471. What method of teaching morality was in vogue in the early period of the world?

 

IDIOT

472. In what sense is the word "idiot" used among Masons?

 

IGNORANCE

473. What is the fate of the ignorant Mason?

 

ILLEGAL SUSPENSIONS

474. How can a suspended Lodge be re‑instated?

 

ILLITERACY

475. Are illiterate persons eligible for Masonry?

 

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

476. What is the teaching of the sublime degree?

 

IMMOVABLE

477. What are the immovable jewels?

 

IMPEACHMENT

478. Can a Lodge remove its Master?

 

IMPERFECTIONS

479. Are there any imperfections in the Masonic system?

 

IMPLEMENTS

480. What are the symbolic teachings of the implements of Craft Masonry?

 

38        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

IMPOSTERS

481. How may a Lodge guard itself against imposters?

 

IMPOSTS

482. What race performed the more humble labors in the erection of the Temple?

 

IMPUTATIONS

483. Can Masonry be held accountable for the conduct of all its members?

 

INCHOATE LODGE

484. What steps must a Lodge take after it has received its war‑rant, to become lawfully constituted?

 

INCHOATE MEMBERSHIP

485. Under what circumstances is membership in the Masonic fraternity said to be inchoate?

 

INCORPORATION

486. Can Masonic Lodges be incorporated?

 

INDEFINITE SUSPENSION

487. What is the Masonic definition of the phrase, "indefinite sus‑pension"?

 

INDEPENDENCE IN BALLOTING

488. To whom is a Mason answerable for his motives when casting a ballot?

 

INDUCTION, rite of

489. What does the rite of induction signify?

 

INDUSTRY

490. Of what is the beehive emblematic?

 

INFLUENCE

491. How can the influence of Masonry be supported?

 

INFORMATION, lawful

492. Under what circumstances can one Mason vouch for another?

 

INITIATED

493. Are the Masonic ceremonies the true secrets of the order?

 

INNOVATIONS

494. Is the Masonic system subject to change?

 

INSANITY

495. Is a person formerly insane, but restored to health, admissible as a candidate?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          39

 

INSIGNIA

496. Of what are the Masonic insignias emblematic?

 

INSPECTION OF WARRANT

497. Has a visitor the right to inspect the warrant of a Lodge?

 

INSTALLATION

498. What is the origin of the ceremony of installation?

 

INSTALLATION, ancient charges

499. What were the ancient installation charges?

 

INSTALLATION BY PROXY

500. Is it lawful to install the officers of a Lodge by proxy?

 

INSTALLATION IN LODGE UNDER DISPENSATION

501. Has a Lodge under dispensation the right to install its officers?

 

INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS

502. What regulations govern the installation of officers of a Lodge?

 

INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS OF A WARRANTED LODGE

503. Who is eligible to install the officers of a warranted Lodge?

 

INSTRUCTED

504. Who is responsible for the proper instruction of a candidate?

 

INSTRUMENTAL MASONRY

505. What is instrumental Masonry?

 

INTENTION

506. What affirmation of intention accompanies the Mason's oath?

 

INTERNAL QUALIFICATIONS

507. How is the external preparation of a candidate made known?

 

INTERRUPTION

508. Why should Masons take care not to interrupt a brother who is speaking in a Lodge?

 

INTOLERANCE

509. What is the arch enemy of Freemasonry?

 

INVESTIGATION

510. To whom should the investigation of a petition for Masonry be entrusted?

 

INVOCATION

511. What form of invocation is customary in American Lodges?

 

IRON TOOLS

512. What does the absence of iron tools at the building of King Solomon's temple symbolize?

 

40        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

JACHIN

513. What is the name of the right hand pillar facing east on the porch of King Solomon's temple?

 

JACOB'S LADDER

514. What is the Masonic symbolism of Jacob's ladder?

 

JEHOSHAPHAT

515. In the earliest lectures where was the Lodge supposed to stand?

 

JEHOVAH

516. Why is Jehovah said to be the ineffable name in Masonry?

 

JEPTHA

517. What is the Masonic tradition with regard to Jeptha?

 

JERUSALEM

518. Why was Jerusalem chosen as the site of King Solomon's temple?

 

JERUSALEM, heavenly

519. What is the place of the heavenly Jerusalem in Masonry?

 

JESUITS

520. What branch of the Roman Catholic Church has sought to pervert Masonry to political intrigue and religious bigotry?

 

JEWELS

521. What are the ornaments of a Freemason?

 

JEWISH SYMBOLS

522. Did the Jewish law prohibit the use of symbols?

 

JOHANNITE MASONRY

523. To whom were Lodges formerly dedicated?

 

JOHN'S BROTHERS

524. By what name was the Masonic society formerly known?

 

JOINING

525. Is a member excluded from one Lodge eligible to join another?

 

JOPPA

526. Why was the timber for the Temple delivered at the port of Joppa?

 

JOURNEY

527. What aid does a Mason receive on the journey of life?

 

II1III ,11 MASONRY DEFINED         41

 

JOURNEYMAN

528. What is the difference between a journeyman and a fellow‑craft?

 

JUDAH

529. What Masonic symbol is derived from the banner of the tribe of Judah?

 

JUDICIAL POWERS OF GRAND LODGE

530. By what process does a Grand Lodge exercise its judicial functions?

 

JUNIOR DEACON

531. What are the duties of the Junior Deacon?

 

JUNIOR WARDEN, duties of

532. What is the duty of the Junior Warden in the absence of the Master and Senior Warden?

 

JURISDICTION OF A LODGE

533. What is the jurisdiction of a Masonic Lodge?

 

JURISDICTION OF GRAND LODGE

534. What is the extent of the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge?

 

JUST AND PERFECT

535. What is required to make a Lodge just and perfect?

 

JUSTICE

536. Why should justice be the study of every Mason?

 

JUSTIFICATION

537. On what grounds do Masons justify their moral system?

 

KEY

538. Of what is the Key emblematic?

 

KINDS OF LODGES

539. What two distinct kinds of Lodges are recognized in Free‑masonry?

 

KNEE TO KNEE

540. What is the symbolism of bending the knee?

 

KNEELING

541. What posture do Masons assume in many of the degrees?

 

KNOCK

542. What is the symbolism of the alarm at the inner door?

 

LABOR

543. What is regarded as the most important word in Freemasonry?

 

42        MASONRY DEFINED

 

LAMB

544. What does the lamb symbolize?

 

LANDMARKS

545. What are the ancient landmarks of Masonry?

 

LATE HOURS

546. Why should a Masonic Lodge be closed at a reasonable hour?

 

LAVER, brazen

547. Of what is the brazen laver emblematic?

 

LAWS OF THE LAND

548. Why should a Mason respect the law?

 

LAW‑SUITS

549. Why should Masons avoid law‑suits with one another?

 

LAW, unwritten

550. What is the unwritten law of Freemasonry?

 

LEBANON

551. Why did King Solomon seek the aid of Hiram, King of Tyre?

 

LECTURE

552. What is a Masonic lecture?

 

LECTURER

553. What are the duties of a Masonic lecturer?

 

LEFT HAND

554. Of what is the left hand a symbol?

 

LEFT SIDE

555. What is the symbol of the left side?

 

LEGEND

556. What part do legends play in the Masonic system?

 

LESSER LIGHTS

557. What do the lesser lights symbolize?

 

LEVEL

558. What is the symbolism of the Level?

 

LEWIS, or Louveteau

559. What are the privileges of a Lewis or Louveteau?

 

LIBERTINE

560. What does the word "libertine" signify in Masonry?

 

LIBERTINISM

561. Why cannot a libertine become a Mason?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          43 

 

LIGHT

562. What is the symbolism of light?

 

LILY

563. Of what is the lily emblematic?

 

LIMITATION OF MASONIC RELIEF

564. What limit is placed on the obligation of a Mason to extend relief to a distressed worthy brother?

 

LODGE

565. What is the definition of a Lodge?

 

LODGE OF ST. JOHN

566. Why are Masons said to come from the Lodge of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem?

 

LODGES OF TYRE

567. How many Lodges were in the quarries of Tyre?

 

LOST WORD

568. What is the symbolism of the lost word?

 

LOVE

569. What is the measure of Masonic charity?

 

LOW TWELVE

570. What is midnight called among Masons?

 

LOYALTY

571. What must the attitude of a Mason be toward his country?

 

MAGNA CHARTA

572. What famous document is the basis of English liberty?

 

MAKE

573. What term used by Masons is equivalent to initiated?

 

MAKING

574. What does it mean to be "made a Mason"?

 

MAKING, ancient charges at

575. What were the ancient charges at the making of a Freemason?

 

MAKING MASONS AT SIGHT

576. What is the significance of the expression "Making Masons at Sight"?

 

MALLET

577. Of what is the mallet emblematic?

 

MANUEL MASONS

578. Who are said to be manuel Masons?

 

44        MASONRY DEFINED

 

MANUMISSION

579. Is a manumitted slave admissible as a candidate for Free‑masonry?

 

MANUSCRIPTS

580. Under what circumstances were certain old Masonic manuscripts burned by some scrupulous brother?

 

MARKS OF THE CRAFT

581. What are Masonic marks and why are they employed?

 

MASON

582. What are the characteristics of a true Mason?

 

MASON, derivation of

583. What is the derivation of the word Mason?

 

MASONIC COLORS

584. What are the Masonic colors and what do they symbolize?

 

MASONIC HALL

585. How should a Masonic hall be built and located?

 

MASONIC RELIEF FOR ORPHANS

586. Under what circumstances do the orphans of a Mason forfeit their claim to Masonic relief?

 

MASONIC YEAR

587. On what date does the Masonic year begin?

 

MASONRY

588. When is it useless to profess a knowledge of Freemasonry?

 

MASON'S DAUGHTER

589. What is the degree of a Mason's daughter?

 

MASON'S WIND

590. In what direction does a Mason's wind blow?

 

MASTER, intellectual qualifications of

591. What should be the intellectual qualifications of the Master of a Lodge?

 

MASTER MASON

592. What does the Master Mason represent?

 

MASTER OF A LODGE

593. Why is the choice of Master so important to a Lodge?

 

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

594. What are the duties of a master of ceremonies?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          45

 

MASTER, qualifications of

595. What are the qualifications of a Master?

 

MATURE AGE

596. At what age can one become a Mason?

 

MAUSOLEUM

597. What is a mausoleum?

 

MEDALS, Masonic

598. Of what importance are Masonic medals?

 

MEET ON THE LEVEL

599. What is the symbolism of meeting on the level?

 

MEETINGS

600. By what attitude should Masonic meetings be characterized?

 

MEMBER OF FOREIGN JURISDICTION

601. How may an unworthy brother of a foreign jurisdiction be dealt with?

 

MEMBERSHIP

602. What is the status of a Mason who has withdrawn from his Lodge?

 

MEMBERSHIP, postponement of

603. How may an elected Master Mason postpone signing the by‑laws?

 

MENTAL QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES

604. Is a candidate for Masonry required to possess a liberal education?

 

MERCENARY MOTIVES

605. What motives in appealing for membership do Masons regard as mercenary?

 

MERIDIAN SUN

606. Why is the Junior Warden's station in the south?

 

MERIT

607. What alone entitled one to preferment at the building of King Solomon's Temple?

 

METAL

608. Why does a candidate find himself divested of all metals?

 

MILITARY LODGES

609. What part have military Lodges had in Freemasonry?

 

46        MASONRY DEFINED

 

MINERVA

610. How is wisdom commonly personified?

 

MINUTE BOOK

611. What records must be kept by a Masonic Lodge?

 

MISCONDUCT

612. What is the penalty for misconduct in a Lodge?

 

MISCONDUCT OF ENTERED APPRENTICES

613. How may an Entered Apprentice forfeit his rights?

 

MODERATION

614. Why should moderation prevail in the government of a Lodge?

 

MONITOR

615. What is contained in a Masonic Monitor?

 

MORAL ARCHITECTS

616. As moral Architects, what are Masons taught?

 

MORAL DUTIES

617. What are the moral duties of a Mason?

 

MORALITY

618. What are the moral privileges of Masonry?

 

MORAL LAW

619. What are the characteristics of the moral law?

 

MORAL PHILOSOPHY

620. What is the moral philosophy of Masonry?

 

MORAL QUALIFICATIONS

621. What moral qualifications are required in a candidate for membership in Masonry?

 

MORAL QUALIFICATIONS OF A MASTER

622. What should be the moral qualifications of the Master of a Lodge?

 

MORIAH

623. Why was the Temple built on Mount Moriah?

 

MOSAIC PAVEMENT

624. Of what is the mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

MOSES

625. Whence did Moses derive his wisdom?

 

MOSQUE OF OMAR, or the noble sanctuary

626. What building now occupies the site of King Solomon's temple?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          47 

 

MOST WORSHIPFUL

627. What is the proper title of a Grand Master of a Grand Lodge?

 

MOTIONS

628. What is the effect of frequent divisions in a Lodge?

 

MOTIVES OF APPLICANT

629. What should be one's motive for seeking admission to a Lodge?

 

MOUTH TO EAR

630. What is the symbolism of mouth to ear?

 

MOVABLE JEWELS

631. What are the movable jewels of a Lodge?

 

MYSTERIES

632. Is there any secret religion in Freemasonry?

 

MYSTIC TIE

633. What is the mystic tie?

 

NAME FOR A LODGE

634. What right has a Masonic Lodge with respect to its official title?

 

NATURE OF GRAND LODGE

635. What is the nature of a Grand Lodge?

 

NEGATIVE

636. What penalties safeguard the secrecy of the ballot?

 

NEGRO LODGES

637. Where did the Negroes get their work?

 

NEIGHBOR

638. What is the Mason's duty toward his neighbor?

 

NEUTRAL

639. Are all Lodge members true Masons?

 

NE VARIETUR

640. Why are Masons required to affix their signatures to traveling certificates?

 

NEW LAW

641. What limitations are fixed upon new Masonic legislation?

 

NIGHT

642. Why do Lodges commonly meet at night?

 

NOMINATION

643. Are nominations of Masonic officers lawful?

 

48        MASONRY DEFINED

 

NON‑AFFILIATION

644. What is the effect of non‑affiliation upon the status of a Mason?

 

NON‑AFFILIATION IN RELATION TO LODGE

645. What is the effect of non‑affiliation on the relation of a Mason to his Lodge?

 

NON‑RESIDENTS

646. Does a Lodge have power to make Masons of residents of other jurisdictions?

 

NORTH‑EAST CORNER

647. Why are candidates placed in the north‑east corner?

 

NOTICE

648. How much time must elapse between the return of a petition and final action thereon?

 

OBEDIENCE

649. What is the Masonic duty of obedience and how is it safe‑guarded?

 

OBELISK

650. What is an obelisk?

 

OBJECTION TO THE ADMISSION OF A VISITOR

651. Has a member of a Lodge the right to object to the admission of a visitor?

 

OBJECTS

652. What are some of the principal objects of Freemasonry?

 

OBJECTIONS

653. What objections have been made to Masonry?

 

OBLATIONS

654. What oblations were made toward the building of the Tabernacle?

 

OBLIGATION

655. Can a Masonic obligation be enforced by the courts of law?

 

OBLONG

656. Of what was the Tabernacle a type?

 

OFFERINGS, the three Grand

657. Where were the three grand offerings of Freemasonry offered up?

 

OFFICE

658. Why should the officers of a Lodge be chosen for merit?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          49

 

OFFICE OF DEACON

659. What is the origin of the office of Deacon?

 

OFFICE OF GRAND MASTER

660. Can the office of Grand Master of Masons be abolished by a Grand Lodge?

 

OFFICERS

661. What are the powers of a Lodge with reference to election of its officers?

 

OFFICERS OF A GRAND LODGE

662. What are the usual officials of a Grand Lodge?

 

OFFICERS OF A LODGE

663. What are the usual officials of a Lodge?

 

OIL

664. Of what is oil emblematic?

 

OPENING AND CLOSING THE LODGE

665. Who has the prerogative of opening and closing a Masonic Lodge?

 

OPENING OF THE LODGE

666. Why should a Lodge always be opened in due form?

 

OPERATIVE MASONRY

667. What is the difference between operative and speculative Masonry?

 

OPINIONS

668. Are opinions adverse to Masonry justifiable?

 

ORATOR

669. What are the duties of a Masonic Orator?

 

ORDER

670. In what sense is Freemasonry called an Order?

 

ORDER OF BUSINESS

671. What is the customary order of business in the Lodge?

 

ORGANIZATION OF GRAND LODGE

672. How many Lodges are required to open a new Grand Lodge?

 

ORIENT

673. What Latin word is sometimes used in place of the word "East"?

 

ORIENTAL CHAIR OF SOLOMON

674. What is the Oriental chair?

 

50        MASONRY DEFINED

 

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION

675. In what classes of cases does a Grand Lodge exercise original jurisdiction?

 

ORIGINAL POINTS

676. What are the original points of Masonry?

 

ORNAMENTS OF A LODGE

677. What are the ornaments of a Lodge?

 

ORNAN

678. From whom did King David purchase the site of the Temple?

 

OUT OF THE LODGE

679. How should a Mason distinguish himself when out of the Lodge?

 

PALESTINE

680. What relation has Masonry to Palestine?

 

PARROT MASONS

681. Who are called "parrot Masons"?

 

PARTS

682. What was the old name for degrees?

 

PASSED

683. What word is applied to the advancement of an Entered Apprentice to the Fellowcra f t degree?

 

PASSWORDS

684. In what language are the passwords of Masonry?

 

PAST MASTER

685. What is the status of a Past Master?

 

PAST MASTERS, actual and virtual

686. What is the distinction between an actual and a virtual Past Master?

 

PAST MASTER'S DEGREE

687. What investure is necessary to the installation of a Master of a Lodge?

 

PAST MASTER'S DEGREE NOT ESSENTIAL TO WARDENS

688. Has a Warden the right to receive the secrets of the Chair?

 

PAST MASTER'S RIGHT OF PRESIDING

689. Under what circumstances does a Past Master have the right of presiding over a Lodge?

 

PAST MASTER'S, rights of

690. What are the privileges and prerogatives of a Past Master?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          51 

 

PATIENCE

691. What will enable us to accomplish all things?

 

PAVEMENT

692. Of what is the Mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

PEACE

693. Why are Freemasons devoted to the cause of peace?

 

PEDESTAL

694. What is the form of the Altar?

 

PENAL

695. What does the penal sign symbolize?

 

PENAL JURISDICTION OF A LODGE

696. What is the penal jurisdiction of a symbolic Lodge over its members?

 

PENAL JURISDICTION OVER AFFILIATED MASONS

697. What Lodge has penal jurisdiction over affiliated Masons?

 

PENAL JURISDICTION OVER UNAFFILIATED MASONS

698. What Lodge may lawfully exercise penal jurisdiction over an unaffiliated Mason?

 

PENALTIES OF HIGHER BODIES

699. How does suspension or expulsion from a Royal Arch Chapter, or other so‑called higher bodies, affect the status of a Master Mason in a symbolic Lodge?

 

PENALTY

700. How can the penalties of the Masonic obligation be justified?

 

PENITENTIAL

701. What is the penitential sign?

 

PENNY

702. What was the value of the penny in former times?

 

PERFECT ASHLAR

703. Of what is the perfect ashlar emblematic?

 

PERMANENT EXCLUSION

704. What is the nature and effect of permanent exclusion from a Lodge?

 

PERPENDICULAR

705. How should a Mason carry himself before the world?

 

PERSECUTION

706. What accusations have been made against Masons.

 

2          MASONRY DEFINED 

 

PERSECUTION

707. What great religious body has persecuted Masonry?

 

PERSONAL JURISDICTION OF A LODGE

708. What is the Masonic meaning of the phrase, "Personal jurisdiction"?

 

PERSONAL MERIT

709. On what grounds should Masters and Wardens be chosen?

 

PETITION

710. In what form must a petition be presented?

 

PETITION FOR AFFILIATION

711. To what Lodges may a Master Mason present a petition for affiliation?

 

PETITION FOR A NEW LODGE

712. What seven steps must be taken to form a lawful petition for a dispensation for a new Lodge?

 

PHILOSOPHY OF MASONRY

713. What does the philosophy of Masonry involve?

 

PHRASES OF ADMISSION

714. What are the several phrases of admission into Masonic degrees?

 

PHYSICAL

715. What are the physical qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

PILLARS OF THE PORCH

716. What do the pillars, Boaz and Jachin, represent?

 

PLACE OF MEETING

717. What authority has a Lodge with respect to its place of meeting?

 

PLANS

718. Of what is the Tracing board emblematic?

 

PLENTY

719. What are the Masonic emblems of plenty?

 

PLOTS

720. What should be the Master Mason's attitude toward the State?

 

PLUMB RULE

721. Of what is the plumb rule emblematic?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          53

 

PLURAL MEMBERSHIP

722. May a Mason lawfully belong to more than one Lodge at the same time?

 

POLITICAL QUALIFICATIONS

723. Why is a candidate for Masonry required to be freeborn?

 

POLITICS

724. Why is a political discussion prohibited in a Masonic Lodge?

 

POMEGRANATE, grained apple

725. Of what is the pomegranate emblematic?

 

POSTPONEMENT OF INSTALLATION

726. If installation of officers is postponed, what steps must be taken, and who presides in the interval?

 

POT OF INCENSE

727. Of what is the pot of incense emblematic?

 

POWERS OF A LODGE

728. What are the powers and prerogatives of a Masonic Lodge, and whence are they derived?

 

POWERS OF GRAND LODGE

729. Into what three categories may the powers of a Grand Lodge be divided?

 

POWER TO OPEN THE LODGE

730. Who has the power to open the Lodge in the absence of the Master?

 

PRAYER

731. As Masons, what is the first lesson we are taught?

 

PREJUDICE

732. From what do most of the objections to Masonry arise?

 

PREPARATION OF THE CANDIDATE

733. Why is a candidate specially prepared for admission to the Lodge room?

 

PREPARING BROTHER

734. Upon whom devolves the duty of questioning the candidate as to his motives in petitioning for membership?

 

PREROGATIVES OF GRAND MASTER

735. From what source does a Grand Master derive his prerogatives?

 

PRESIDING OFFICERS

736. What are the powers of the presiding officer of a Lodge?

 

54        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

PRINCIPAL OFFICERS

737. Who are the principal officers of a Lodge?

 

PRINTED WORKS ON MASONRY

738. Is it forbidden to publish books about Masonry?

 

PRISONS

739. Is it permissible to conduct a Masonic Lodge within precincts of a prison?

 

PRIVATE DUTIES

740. What private duties should Masons practice?

 

PRIVILEGES

741. What are the privileges of a Masonic Lodge?

 

PROBATION

742. What is the probationary period for a candidate?

 

PROCEDURE OF GRAND LODGE ON APPEALS

743. What proceedings are taken by Grand Lodge on Masonic appeals?

 

PROFANE

744. How do Masons employ the word "profane"?

 

PROFANE, charges preferred by

745. Has a non‑Mason the right of preferring charges against a Mason?

 

PROFICIENCY OF ENTERED APPRENTICES

746. How soon after receiving the first degree can an Entered Apprentice apply for advancement to the second?

 

PROMISE

747. Of what force and validity is the Masonic covenant?

 

PROPOSING

748. What precaution should be taken before proposing a candidate?

 

PROTECTION

749. Why were emblems and symbols originally employed?

 

PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER

750. What are the office and functions of a Provincial Grand Master?

 

PROXY

751. What rules should govern the choice of Masonic proxies?

 

PRUDENCE

752. Why should a Mason cultivate prudence?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          55 

 

PUBLICITY

753. Is there anything in Masonry contrary to public policy?

 

PUNISHMENT

754. What is the nature and theory of Masonic punishments?

 

PURITY

755. What color has always been considered an emblem of purity?

 

PURPLE

756. What color do Grand Lodge officers wear?

 

PYTHAGORAS

757. What has Freemasonry derived from the teachings of Pythagoras?

 

PYTHAGORAS, symbols of

758. What symbols has Masonry borrowed from Pythagoras?

 

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES

759. What are the qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES, bodily

760. What are the physical qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

QUARRELING

761. Why should Masons avoid quarreling?

 

QUEEN ELIZABETH

762. What action did Queen Elizabeth take with regard to Masonry?

 

QUESTIONING CANDIDATES

763. What is the duty of the Secretary in the preparation room?

 

QUESTION OF PUNISHMENT

764. In the event of a verdict of guilty on charges, how are the nature and extent of punishment determined?

 

RAISED

765. What does the Masonic term "raised" signify?

 

READING CHARGES

766. Is it lawful to read charges against a Master at a special communication of Lodge?

 

READING PETITION

767. May a petition for membership be read at a special communication?

 

RECOGNITION, sign or signs, word or grip

768. How may Masons recognize each other?

 

56        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

RECOMMENDATION

769. How many Master Masons are required to sign a petition for membership?

 

EIE‑CONSIDERATION OF BALLOT

770. Who may order a reconsideration of ballot?

 

RECORDS OF THE LODGE

771. What is the duty of the Secretary with reference to the Lodge records?

 

RE‑ELECTION OF MASTER

772. Is a Past Master eligible for re‑election as Master of the Lodge?

 

REFRESHMENT

773. What is the Masonic meaning of "refreshment"?

 

REFRESHMENT, charge of

774. Who has charge of the Lodge during the period of refreshment?

 

REFUSAL OF ADMISSION

775. Has the Master the right to refuse an affiliated Mason admission to his Lodge?

 

REFUSAL TO SERVE

776. Can a member duly elected to an office in a Lodge lawfully refuse to serve?

 

REGULARITY

777. How can a Mason prove his regularity?

 

RE‑INSTALLATION

778. Should a Master who succeeds himself be re‑installed?

 

REINSTATED

779. How can an expelled Mason be reinstated?

 

REJECTED CANDIDATE

780. Has a rejected candidate the right to repeat his application? If so, after what length of time?

 

REJECTION

781. Can a rejected candidate renew his petition?

 

REJECTION OF A PETITION FOR AFFILIATION

782. What is the effect of the rejection of a petition for affiliation on the Masonic status of the applicant?

 

RELIEF

783. What Master Mason's profession is the most important tenet?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          5?

 

 RELIEF, limitations of

784. What limitations are placed on Masonic relief?

 

RELIEF OF APPRENTICES

785. Are Entered Apprentices entitled to Masonic relief?

 

RELIEF, right of

786. Upon what ground is based the Masonic right of relief?

 

RELIGION OF MASONRY

787. In what sense, if any, is Masonry a religion?

 

REMOVAL OF DEACONS

788. Has the Master the right to remove a Deacon from his office?

 

RENEWAL OF APPLICATION

789. Has a rejected candidate the right to petition another Lodge for membership?

 

RENEWAL OF APPLICATION FOR ADVANCEMENT

790. Under what conditions may an applicant for advancement renew his petition?

 

RENOUNCING MASONS

791. To whom was the term "renouncing Masons" applied?

 

RENUNCIATION

792. What ceremony did the Jews observe when renouncing a bargain?

 

REPEAL

793. Can a resolution adopted by a Lodge be repealed?

 

REPEAL OR SUSPENSION OF GRAND LODGE BY‑LAWS

794. In what manner may the by‑laws of a Grand Lodge be repealed or suspended?

 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PETITIONS

795. What is the effect of an unfavorable report by a committee on a petition for membership?

 

REPRESENTATION AT GRAND LODGE

796. What right has a Lodge with reference to representation at Grand Lodge?

 

REPRESENTATION AT GRAND LODGE BY LODGE UNDER DISPENSATION

797. May a Lodge under dispensation be represented in Grand Lodge?

 

58        MASONRY DEFINED

 

REPRESENTATION OF MASTER AT GRAND LODGE

798. Does the Master possess the exclusive right to represent his Lodge at the Grand Lodge?

 

REPRESENTATION OF WARDENS AT GRAND LODGE

799. Are the Wardens members of the Grand Lodge?

 

REPRESENTATIVES, Grand Lodge

800. What is the system of representation of Grand Lodges?

 

REPRIMAND

801. What is the nature and effect of Masonic reprimand?

 

RESIDENCE

802. To what particular Lodge is a candidate required to present his petition?

 

RESIDENCE, temporary

803. May a candidate residing temporarily in another than his home state appeal to a local Lodge for membership?

 

RESPECTABILITY

804. Why should Masons take care to observe the dictates of respectability?

 

RESPONSE

805. What is the proper response to all Masonic prayers?

 

RESPONSIBILITY OF GRAND MASTER

806. To whom is the Grand Master responsible?

 

RESTORATION

807. What is the Masonic definition of the term "restoration"?

 

RESTORATION AFTER INDEFINITE SUSPENSION

808. How may a brother, indefinitely suspended, be restored to membership in his Lodge?

 

RESTORATION BY APPEAL

809. Does the restoration of a brother by a Grand Lodge on appeal restore him to membership in his Lodge?

 

RESTORATION FROM DEFINITE SUSPENSION

810. When does restoration from definite suspension take place?

 

RESTORATION FROM DEFINITE SUSPENSION, vote on

811. How is restoration of a brother from definite suspension brought about?

 

RESTORATION FROM EXPULSION

812. Does the restoration by Grand Lodge of an expelled Mason reinstate him as a member of his former Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          59

 

RESTORATION ON APPEAL

813. What procedure should be observed in seeking restoration from definite or indefinite suspension by appeal?

 

RESURRECTION

814. Of what is the tracing board emblematic?

 

RETURNS

815. How often must a Lodge make returns to the Grand Lodge?

 

REVELS

816. What is the character of Masonic communication?

 

REVERENTIAL

817. Why should Masons be reverent?

 

REVOCATION OF WARRANT

818. In whom is the power of revoking warrants of constitution vested?

 

RIGHT ANGLE

819. Of what is the right angle emblematic?

 

RIGHT HAND

820. What is the symbolism of the right hand?

 

RIGHT OF APPEAL

821. What is the basis of the right of appeal?

 

RIGHT OF BURIAL

822. To whom is the right of Masonic burial confined?

 

RIGHT OF VISITATION

823. What regulations govern the right of visitation in a Masonic Lodge?

 

RIGHTS AND POWERS OF A MASONIC LODGE

824. What are the rights and powers of a Masonic Lodge?

 

RIGHT SIDE AND LEFT SIDE

825. What is the symbolism of the right and left sides?

 

RIGHTS OF MASTER MASONS

826. What are the principal rights of a Master Mason in good standing in a Masonic Lodge?

 

RISING SUN

827. What does the Worshipful Master represent?

 

RITUAL

828. Whence do we derive our ritual?

 

ROYAL ARCH

829. What is the final degree of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

60        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

ROYAL ARCH PAST MASTER

830. What is the function of the past Master's degree of the Royal Arch?

 

ROYAL ART

831. Why is Masonry called the Royal Art?

 

RUFFIANS

832. Whence were the names of the three ruffians derived?

 

RULE

833. Of what is the rule emblematic?

 

RULES OF ORDER

834. What is the status of parliamentary law in Masonic Lodges?

 

SACRED

835. How does the word "sacred" apply to Masonry?

 

SACRED LODGE

836. What is the legendary sacred Lodge?

 

ST. JOHN'S MASONRY

837. When did the first three degrees receive the name of St. John's Masonry?

 

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST

838. Who was St. John the Baptist?

 

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST

839. Who was St. John the Evangelist?

 

SAINTS JOHN, festivals of

840. On what days occur the feasts of the two Saints John?

 

SAINTS JOHN LODGES

841. What was the Lodge of Saints John?

 

SALT

842. Of what is salt the emblem?

 

SANCTUARY

843. What part of the Temple was called the sanctuary?

 

SCARLET

844. Of what is the color scarlet emblematic?

 

SCIENCE

845. As a science, what does Freemasonry embrace?

 

SCRIPTURES, reading of the

846. What passages of scripture are most appropriate for reading in Lodge?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          61

 

SCYTHE

847. Of what is the scythe emblematic?

 

SEAL OF SOLOMON

848. What was the legendary virtue of the Seal of Solomon?

 

SEAT IN THE EAST

849. To what seat of honor is a past Master entitled?

 

SECOND DEGREE

850. What are the teachings of the second degree?

 

SECRECY

851. Why do Freemasons enjoin and practice secrecy?

 

SECRECY AND SILENCE

852. What did the Ancients teach regarding secrecy and silence?

 

SECRECY OF BALLOT

853. Why are candidates for Masonry not elected viva voce?

 

SECRETARY

854. What are the qualifications of a Secretary of a Lodge?

 

SECRETARY, compensation of

855. Is it lawful to reimburse the Secretary for the performance of his duties?

 

SECRETARY, duties of

856. What are the duties of the Secretary?

 

SECRETS OF THE CHAIR

857. Can a Master lawfully preside over a Lodge without having received the secrets of the chair?

 

SECRET SOCIETIES

858. Is Masonry a secret society?

 

SEEK

859. Why should a Mason seek religion?

 

SELF INTEREST

860. Why should a Mason practice brotherly love?

 

SELF KNOWLEDGE

861. Why should a Mason strive for self knowledge?

 

SENIOR DEACON

862. Whose duty is it to carry messages and orders for the Master of a Lodge?

 

SENIOR WARDEN

863. What are the duties of the Senior Warden?

 

62        MASONRY DEFINED

 

SENSES

864. In what degree are the five senses explained?

 

SERVITUDE

865. What was the usual period of apprenticeship among operative Masons?

 

SETTING MAUL

866. Of what is the Setting Maul an emblem?

 

SETTING SUN

867. What was the duty of the Senior Warden at the close of day?

 

SEX

868. Why does Masonry deny admission to women?

 

SHARP INSTRUMENT

869. How did our ancient brethren make use of the sword?

 

SHEEP

870. Of what are sheep emblematic?

 

SHIBBOLETH

871. What does the word "shibboleth" signify?

 

SHOE

872. What is the symbolism of the shoe in Masonry?

 

SHOVEL

873. Of what is the shovel an emblem?

 

SIGN OF DISTRESS

874. Is the Grand Hailing Sign the same in all jurisdictions?

 

SILENCE

875. Why should a Mason cultivate silence?

 

SILVER CORD

876. Of what is the silver cord an emblem?

 

SINCERITY

877. Why should Masons be sincere?

 

SITUATION

878. How is a Masonic Lodge situated?

 

SLANDER

879. What is the Masonic definition of slander?

 

SLINKING

880. How can a Lodge protect itself against imposters?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          63 

 

SOCIAL DUTIES OF A MASTER

881. What are the social duties of the Master of a Lodge?

 

SOCIETY

882. What are the advantages of being a Mason?

 

SORROW LODGE

883. What is a lodge of sorrow?

 

SOUTH

884. Why is the Junior Warden stationed in the South?

 

SPECULATIVE

885. On what is the Masonic system founded?

 

SQUARE AND COMPASSES

886. What is the symbolism of the square and compasses?

 

STAND TO AND ABIDE BY

887. What is the duty of a Mason with respect to the laws of Masonry?

 

STATUTES OR DUTIES

888. What should the by‑laws of a Lodge contain?

 

STEP

889. In each step in Masonry, with what is the candidate presented?

 

STEWARDS, duties of

890. What are the duties of the Stewards?

 

STONE SQUARERS

891. Who were the Masters and Wardens of the Lodges of Masons during the building of King Solomon's Temple?

 

STRENGTH

892. What is one of the three principal supports of a Lodge?

 

STRICT TRIAL

893. What is the Masonic meaning of the expression "strict trial"?

 

SUBLIME

894. Why is the third called the sublime degree of Masonry?

 

SUBMISSION

895. What are the tests of Masonic obedience?

 

SUBSTITUTE WORD

896. Of what is the substitute word a symbol?

 

SUCCESSION IN OFFICE OF GRAND MASTER

897. What is the order of succession in event of the death or disability of the Grand Master?

 

64        MASONRY DEFINED

 

SUCCESSION OF GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

898. Who takes the place of the Grand Master or Grand Warden in the event of his absence from a session of the Grand Lodge?

 

SUCCESSION TO THE CHAIR

899. Who succeeds to the chair in the absence or disability of the Master?

 

SUCCESSOR, installation of

900. What is the prerogative of a Past Master with reference to his successor?

 

SUCCESSOR TO GRAND MASTER

901. What are the prerogatives of a Deputy Grand Master or a Grand Warden, when acting pro tempore as Grand Master?

 

SUMMONS

902. What should a summons contain?

 

SUN

903. Why does the Worshipful Master sit in the East?

 

SURRENDER OF WARRANT

904. Has the Lodge power to surrender its warrant without the consent of the Master?

 

SURRENDER OF WARRENT

905. By what process does a newly organized Grand Lodge issue authority over its constituent Lodges?

 

SUSPENSION

906. What is the Masonic meaning of the word "suspension"?

 

SUSPENSION OF BY‑LAWS

907. May a Lodge lawfully suspend its by‑laws?

 

SUSPENSION OF MASTER

908. In whom does the power of suspending a Master of a Lodge reside?

 

SWEDENBORG, rite of

909. Who was Emanuel Swedenborg? What was the rite of Swedenborg?

 

SWORD POINTING TO THE NAKED HEART

910. Of what are the sword and naked heart emblematic?

 

SWORDS

911. Of what is the sword emblematic?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          65 

 

SWORD, Tiler's

912. What should be the shape of the Tiler's sword?

 

SYMBOL

913. What is the nature of symbolism?

 

TABERNACLE

914. What is the symbolism of the Jewish tabernacle?

 

TACITURNITY

915. Why should Masons set a guard upon their lips?

 

TALMUD

916. What is the Talmud and what is its relation to Freemasonry?

 

TASSELS

917. Of what do the four tassels pendant to the corners of the Lodge remind us?

 

TAXATION OF UNAFFILIATED MASONS

918. Is an unaffiliated Mason liable to Masonic taxation?

 

TAXING POWER OF GRAND LODGE

919. What is the prerogative of the Grand Lodge with respect to levying taxes upon the Fraternity?

 

TEACHINGS, symbolic of the degrees

920. What are the symbolic teachings of Freemasonry?

 

TEMPERANCE

921. Why should Masons be temperate?

 

TEMPLE

922. What is the origin and history of the custom of building temples?

 

TEMPLE OF HEROD THE GREAT

923. What relation had the temple of Herod to Freemasonry?

 

TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

924. What was the design of Solomon's temple?

 

TEMPLE, symbolism of the

925. To the Master Mason, of what is King Solomon's temple a symbol?

 

TEMPORARY EXCLUSION

926. What is the Masonic meaning of temporary exclusion from a Lodge?

 

TENURE OF GRAND LECTURER

927. What should be the tenure of office of a Grand Lecturer?

 

66        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

TESSELATED PAVEMENT

928. Of what is the tesselated pavement emblematic?

 

TESTIMONY

929. Is it lawful for a Profane to testify in a Masonic trial?

 

TETRAGRAMMATON

930. What powers do the Jews attribute to the lost word?

 

THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

931. Why should Masons practice the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity?

 

THEORY

932. What does the theory and practice of Masonry include?

 

THEOSOPHISTS

933. Who are called Theosophists?

 

THIRD DEGREE

934. What are the teachings of the third degree of Masonry?

 

THIRD DEGREE, rights conferred by

935. What right does a Master Mason acquire on the reception of the third degree?

 

THREE

936. Why is the figure three (3) considered a sacred word in Masonry?

 

THREE GRAND OFFERINGS

937. What were the three grand o f, f erings of Masonry?

 

THREE SENSES

938. What three senses are essential to becoming a Mason?

 

THREE STEPS

939. Of what are the three steps emblematic?

 

THRESHING FLOOR

940. What is the symbolism of the threshing floor?

 

TILE

941. What is the meaning of the word "tile"?

 

TILER

942. What are the qualifications of the Tiler?

 

TILER, duties of

943. What are the duties of the Tiler?

 

TILER, privileges of

944. What rights of membership may a Tiler exercise?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          67

 

TILER'S OATH

945. What is the Tiler's oath or obligation?

 

TIME OF MEETING

946. What power has a Lodge with respect to fixing and changing its time of meeting?

 

TIME OF OPENING AND CLOSING THE LODGE

947. Who has the prerogative of determining the time of opening and closing a communication of a Lodge?

 

TOKENS

948. What part do words, signs and tokens play in Masonry?

 

TONGUE OF GOOD REPORT

949. What does it mean to be under the "tongue of good report"?

 

TRAITOR

950. Can a word or grip betray the secrets of Freemasonry?

 

TRAMPING MASONS

951. Who are called tramping Masons?

 

TRANSFERRING

952. If a Lodge be dissolved, what becomes of its charter?

 

TRANSIENT BRETHREN

953. Who are called transient brethren?

 

TRAVEL

954. In what sense is the word "travel" used in the symbolic language of Masonry?

 

TRAVELING FREEMASONS

955. Who were the traveling Freemasons of the middle ages?

 

TREASON AND REBELLION

956. Can Masonic charges be founded on acts of treason and rebellion?

 

TREASURER, duties of

957. What are the duties of the Treasurer?

 

TRESTLE‑BOARD

958. What is the Masonic trestle‑board?

 

TRIAD

959. Of what is the Triad emblematic?

 

TRIALS, Masonic

960. How are Masonic trials conducted?

 

68        MASONRY DEFINED

 

TRIBE OF JUDAH, lion of the

961. What is the symbolism of the lion of Judah?

 

TROWEL

962. Of what is the trowel emblematic?

 

TROWEL AND SWORD

963. What is the symbolism of the trowel and sword?

 

TRUE

964. Why should a Mason be truthful?

 

TRUST IN GOD

965. In whom do Masons put their trust?

 

TRUTH

966. What is the real end and aim of all Masonic labors and ceremonies?

 

TUBAL CAIN

967. What four children founded the beginning of all the sciences in the world?

 

TUSCAN

968. What is the first and simplest form of architecture?

 

TWENTY‑FOUR INCH RULE

969. Of what is the twenty‑four inch rule emblematic?

 

UNAFFILIATED MASONS

970. What are the status and rights of unaffiliated Masons?

 

UNAFFILIATED MASONS, status of

971. What are the status and rights of unaffiliated Masons?

 

UNAFFILIATES

972. Does an unaffiliated Mason enjoy the privilege of Masonic visitation?

 

UNANIMITY OF BALLOT

973. Why is the ballot required to be unanimous?

 

UNANIMOUS

974. When is the ballot unanimous?

 

UNANIMOUS CONSENT

975. What is called the bulwark of Masonry?

 

UNFAVORABLE REPORT

976. Should a ballot be taken on an unfavorable report?

 

UNIFORMITY

977. Why should Masons observe the same usages and customs?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          69

 

UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY

978. How may the Masonic system be extended to unoccupied territory?

 

UNWORTHY MEMBERS

979. What should be the attitude of the craft toward unworthy brethren?

 

UPPER CHAMBER

980. Why are Lodges held in upper chambers?

 

UPRIGHT POSTURE

981. What is the symbolism of the upright posture?

 

USAGES

982. To what do the usages and customs of Masons correspond?

 

VACANCY IN THE OFFICE OF MASTER

983. Can the office of Master be filled by an election in the event of his death or disability?

 

VACATION OF LODGE OFFICERS

984. May an officer of a Lodge, duly elected and installed, law‑fully resign his office?

 

VACATION OF OFFICE OF TILER

985. How may a Tiler be removed from office?

 

VERDICT, announcement of

986. When and where must the verdict in a Lodge trial be rendered?

 

VERDICT, how arrived at

987. How is the verdict at a Masonic trial arrived at?

 

VERDICT OF A GRAND LODGE ON APPEAL

988. What forms may the verdict of a Grand Lodge on appeal take in the settlement of an appeal?

 

VIOLATION OF MASONIC LANDMARKS AND REGULATIONS

989. What violations of Masonic landmarks and regulations may subject a Mason to Masonic discipline?

 

VIRTUES

990. What virtues does Masonry inculcate?

 

VISITATION

991. What rights has a Grand Master or his representative in a subordinate Lodge?

 

VISITATION, Grand Master's prerogative of

992. What is the prerogative of a Grand Master with respect to a Masonic visitation?

 

70        MASONRY DEFINED

 

VISIT, right of

993. Has a Mason the right to visit any Lodge where he may happen to be?

 

VOTE OF MASTER

994. Does the Master of a Lodge have the right to cast more than one vote?

 

VOTING ON A BALLOT

995. Why is every member present required to vote when the ballot is taken?

 

VOUCH

996. Under what circumstances is a voucher demanded?

 

VOUCHING FOR STRANGERS

997. Has an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcra f t the right of vouching for a visitor?

 

WAGES OF A MASON

998. What are the wages of a Mason?

 

WARDENS

999. What is the origin of the office of Wardens?

 

WARRANT

1000. What was the origin of Masonic warrants?

 

WARRANT OF CONSTITUTION, granting of

1001. What is the difference between a dispensation and a warrant?

 

WARRANT OF CONSTITUTION, nature of

1002. What right has a Lodge with respect to its warrant of constitution?

 

WARRANT OF CONSTITUTION, right to

1003. What is the prerogative of Grand Lodges with respect to issuing warrants of constitution?

 

WEEPING VIRGIN

1004. Of what is the Weeping Virgin emblematic?

 

WELL FORMED, TRUE AND TRUSTY

1005. What formula is used by the Grand Master at the laying of a corner stone?

 

WEST

1006. What is the symbolism of the west?

 

WHITE

1007. Of what is the color white emblematic?

 

MASONRY DEFINED          71

 

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS

1008. What rules apply to the relief of Masonic widows and orphans?

 

WIDOWS OF MASONS

1009. Under what circumstances does the widow of a Mason forfeit her claim to Masonic relief?

 

WIDOW'S SON

1010. Who was called the "Widow's son" and why?

 

WINDING STAIRCASE

1011. Of what is the winding staircase emblematic?

 

WINDING STAIRS, legend of the

1012. What is the legend of the winding stairs?

 

WISDOM

1013. How can a Mason acquire wisdom?

 

WITHDRAWAL FROM MEMBERSHIP

1014. Is it lawful for a member to demit without making application for membership in another Lodge?

 

WITHDRAWAL OF MEMBERS TO FORM A NEW LODGE

1015. Under what circumstances is it lawful for a number of members to withdraw at the same time from a Lodge?

 

WITHDRAWAL OF PETITION

1016. Is it permissible to withdraw a petition after it has been read?

 

WORK OF ANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY

1017. What regulations govern the right of a Lodge to do the work of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

WORLDLY WEALTH

1018. Who may knock at the doors of Masonry?

 

WORSHIP OF GOD

1019. What is the supreme duty of a Mason?

 

WORSHIPFUL MASTER

1020. What is the proper title of a Master of a Lodge, and why?

 

WORTHY

1021. What is the Masonic meaning of the word "worthy"?

 

WRITTEN AVOUCHMENT

1022. Is it lawful to accept a letter of introduction as an avouchment?

 

72        MASONRY DEFINED

 

YEAR OF MASONRY

1023. What is the basis of Masonic chronology?

 

YORK CONSTITUTION OF 926

1024. Upon what legend is based the old York Constitution of

926?

 

ZERUBBABEL

1025. Who was the builder of the second temple?

 

MASONRY DEFINED

 

1 - Why was Hiram, our ancient Grand Master, called "ABIF?"

 

            Abif. A Hebrew word, signifying "his father." It is often used in the Scriptures as a title of honor. It was given to Hiram, the Tyrian builder, probably on account of his distinguished skill.

 

2 - How is moral purification symbolized?

 

            Ablution. Washing, or literally, a washing off, i. e., making one clean from all pollution. In the ancient mysteries it constituted a part of the preparation for initiation, and was a symbolical representation of moral purification. The ceremony is practiced in some of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted rite.

 

3 - What is the ancient rule regarding attendance at Lodge?

 

            Absence. This term is usually applied to being absent by permission, for a specified time, during the regular meetings of the Lodge, and in such a manner as not to interfere with the harmony or working of the body. Long or continued absence from the Lodge meetings is contrary to the duties inculcated by the ancient charges of the Order, which prescribe, as a rule, "that no Master or Fellow could be absent from the Lodge, especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe censure, unless it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him."

 

4 - What is the symbolism of the sprig of Acacia?

 

            Acacia. An interesting and important symbol in Freemasonry. Botanically, it is the acacia vera of Tournefort, and the mimosa nilotlea of Linnaeus. It grew abundantly in the vicinity of Jerusalem, where it is still to be found, and is familiar in its modern use as the tree from which the gum arabic of commerce is derived.

 

The acacia, which in Scripture, is always called Shittah, and in the plural Shittim, was esteemed a sacred wood among the Hebrews. Of it Moses was ordered to make the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, the table for the shewbread, and the rest of the sacred furniture. Isaiah, in recounting the promises of God's mercy to the Israelites on their return from the captivity, tells them that, among other things, he will plant in the wilderness, for their relief and refreshment, the cedar, the acacia, the fir and other trees.

 

73

74        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

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

 

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

 

First. The acacia, in the mythic system of Freemasonry, is pre‑eminently the symbol of the immortality of the soul - that important doctrine which it is the great design of the institution to teach. As the evanescent nature of the flower, which "cometh forth and is cut down," reminds us of the transitory nature of human life, so the perpetual renovation of the evergreen plant, which uninterruptedly presents the appearance of youth and vigor, is aptly compared to that spiritual life in which the soul, freed from the corruptible body, shall enjoy an eternal spring and an immortal youth. Hence, in the impressive funeral service of our Order, it is said that "this ever‑green is an emblem of our faith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave, and which shall never, never, never die." And again, in the closing sentences of the monitorial lecture of the third degree, the same sentiment is repeated, and we are told that by "the evergreen and the ever‑living sprig" the Mason is strengthened "with confidence and composure to look forward to a blessed immortality." Such an interpretation of the symbol is an easy and a natural one; it suggests itself at once to the least reflective mind; and consequently, in some one form or another, is to be found existing in all ages and nations. It was an ancient custom, - which is not, even now, altogether disused, - for mourners to carry in their hands at funerals a sprig of some evergreen, generally the cedar or the cypress, and to deposit it in the grave of the deceased.

 

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

 

MASONRY DEFINED          75 

 

ceremonies of initiation, came at length to be adopted as the symbol of that initiation.

 

Thus, the lettuce was the sacred plant which assumed the place of the acacia in the mysteries of Adonis. The lotus was that of the Brahmanical rites of India, and from them adopted by the Egyptians. The Egyptians also revered the erica or heath; and the mistletoe was a mystical plant among the Druids. And lastly, the myrtle performed the same office of symbolism in the mysteries of Greece that the lotus did in Egypt or the mistletoe among the Druids.

 

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

 

Returning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of two explanations. It is a symbol of immortality, and of initiation; but these two significations are closely connected, and that connection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation of the symbol. Thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the initiation of life, of which the initiation in the third degree is simply emblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length, how‑ever, to be called, by the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to a blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place where the sprig of acacia was planted, - Mount Calvary, - the place of sepulture of him who "brought life and immortality to light," and who, in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he is in Scripture, as "the lion of the tribe of Judah;" and remember, too, that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of the acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, which is really the most important and significant one in Masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future.

 

5 - Why are Masons said to be "Free and Accepted?"

 

            Accepted. A term in Freemasonry which is synonymous with "initiated" or "received into the society." Thus, we find in the Regulations of 1663, such expressions as these: "No person who shall hereafter be accepted a Freemason shall be admitted into a lodge or assembly until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such Lodge is kept." The word seems to have been first used in 1663 and, in the Regulations of that Year: is constantly employed in the place of the olden term "made,"

 

76        MASONRY DEFINED 

 

as equivalent to "initiated." This is especially evident in the 6th Regulation, which says, "that no person shall be accepted unless he be twenty‑one years old or more;" where accepted clearly means initiated. As the word was introduced in 1663, its use seems also to have soon ceased, for it is not found in any subsequent documents until 1738; neither in the Regulations of 1721; nor in the Charges approved in 1722; except once in the latter, where "laborers and unaccepted Masons" are spoken of as distinguished from and inferior to "Freemasons." In the Regulations of 1721, the words "made," "entered," or "admitted," are constantly employed in its stead. But in 1738, Anderson, who, in publishing the 2d edition of the Book of Constitutions, made many verbal alterations which seem subsequently to have been disapproved of by the Grand Lodge, again introduced the word accepted. Thus, in the 5th of the Regulations of 1721, which in the edition of 1723 read as follows, "But no man can be made or admitted a member of a particular Lodge," etc., he changed the phraseology so as to make the article read: "No man can be accepted a member of a particular Lodge," etc. And so attached does he appear to have become to this word that he changed the very name of the Order, by altering the title of the work, which, in the edition of 1723, was "The Constitutions of Freemasons," to that of "The Constitutions of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons." Although many of the innovations of the edition of

1738 of the Book of Constitutions were subsequently repudiated by the Grand Lodge, and omitted in succeeding editions, the title of "Free and Accepted Masons" was retained, and is now more generally used than the older and simpler one of "Freemasons," to distinguish the society. The word accepted, however, as a synonym of initiated, has now become obsolete. The modern idea of an accepted Mason is that he is one distinguished from a purely operative or stone‑mason, who has not been admitted to the freedom of the company; an idea evidently intended to be conveyed by the use of the word in the Charges of 1722, already quoted.

 

6 - What is the meaning of "Free Will and Accord?"

 

            Accord. We get this word from two Latin ones ad cor, to the heart, and hence it means hearty consent. Thus in Wiclif's translation we find the phrase in Philippians, which in the Authorized Version is "with one accord," rendered "with one will, with one heart." Such is its significance in the Masonic formula, "free will and accord," that is "free will and hearty consent."

 

7 - What is the preliminary step in every Masonic trial?

 

            Accusation. The preliminary step in every trial is the accusation. This, in Masonic language, is called the charge. The charge

 

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should always be made in writing, signed by the accuser, delivered to the Secretary and read by that officer at the next regular communication of the Lodge. The accused should then be furnished with an attested copy of the charge, and be at the same time informed of the time and place appointed by the Lodge for the trial.

 

8 - Who is the prosecuting officer of a Lodge?

 

            Accuser. In every trial in a Lodge for an offense against the 'laws and regulations or the principles of Masonry any Master Mason may be the accuser of another, but a profane cannot be permitted to prefer charges against a Mason. Yet, if circumstances are known to a profane upon which charges ought to be predicated, a Master Mason may avail himself of that information, and out of it frame an accusation to be presented to the Lodge. And such accusation will be received and investigated, although remotely derived from one who is not a member of the Order.

 

It is not necessary that the accuser should be a member of the same Lodge. It is sufficient if he is an affiliated Mason; but it is generally held that an unaffiliated Mason is no more competent to prefer charges than a profane.

 

In consequence of the Junior Warden being placed over the Craft during the hours of refreshment, and of his being charged at the time of his installation to see "that none of the Craft be suffered to convert the purposes of refreshment into those of intemperance and excess," it has been very generally supposed that it is his duty, as the prosecuting officer of the Lodge, to prefer charges against any member who, by his conduct, has made himself amenable to the penal jurisdiction of the Lodge. I know of no ancient regulation which imposes this unpleasant duty upon the Junior Warden; but it does seem to be a very natural deduction, from his peculiar prerogative as the guardian of the conduct of the Craft, that in all cases of violation of the law he should, after due efforts towards producing a reform, be the proper officer to bring the conduct of the offending brother to the notice of the Lodge.

 

9 - Does acquittal of a Mason by a fury prevent his being tried again by a Lodge on the same charge?

 

            Acquittal. Under this head it may be proper to discuss two questions of Masonic law. 1. Can a Mason, having been acquitted by the courts of the country of an offense with which he has been charged, be tried by his Lodge for the same offense. And,

2. Can a Mason, having been acquitted by his Lodge on insufficient evidence, be subjected, on the discovery and production of new and more complete evidence, to a second trial for the same offense? To both of these questions the correct answer would seem to be in the affirmative.

 

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1. An acquittal of a crime by a temporal court does not relieve a Mason from an inquisition into the same offense by his Lodge; for acquittals may be the result of some technicality of law, or other cause, where, although the party is relieved from legal punishment, his guilt is still manifest in the eyes of the community; and if the Order were to be controlled by the action of the courts, the character of the Institution might be injuriously affected by its permitting a man, who had escaped without honor from the punishment of the law, to remain a member of the Fraternity. In the language of the Grand Lodge of Texas, "an acquittal by a jury, while it may, and should, in some circumstances, have its influence in deciding on the course to be pursued, yet has no binding force in Masonry. We decide on our own rules, and our own view of the facts."

 

2. To come to a correct apprehension of the second question, we must remember that it is a long‑settled principle of Masonic law, that every offense which a Mason commits is an injury to the whole Fraternity, for the bad conduct of a single member reflects discredit on the whole Institution. This is a very old and well‑established principle of the Institution; and hence we find the old Gothic Constitutions declaring that "a Mason shall harbor no thief or thief's retainer," and assigning as a reason, "lest the Craft should come to shame." The safety of the Institution requires that no evil‑disposed member should be permitted with impunity to bring disgrace on the Craft. And, therefore, although it is a well‑known maxim of the common law that no one should be twice placed in peril of punishment for the same crime; yet we must also remember that ,ither and fundamental maxim - salus populi suprema lax - which may, in its application to Masonry, be well translated: "the well‑being of the Order is the first great law." To this everything else must yield; and therefore if a member, having been accused of a heinous offense and tried, shall on his trial for want of sufficient evidence be acquitted, or being convicted shall for the same reason be punished by an inadequate penalty - and if he shall thus be permitted to remain in the Institution with the stigma of the crime upon him, "whereby the Craft comes to shame;" then, if new and more sufficient evidence shall be subsequently discovered, it is just and right that 'a new trial shall be had, so that he may on this newer evidence receive that punishment which will vindicate the reputation of the Order. No technicalities of law, no plea of autre f ois acquit, nor mere verbal exception, should be allowed for the escape of a guilty member; for so long as he lives in the Order, every man is subject to its discipline. A hundred wrongful acquittals of a bad member, who still bears with him the reproach of his evil life, can never discharge the Order from its paramount duty of protecting its own good fame and removing the delinquent member from its fold. To

 

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this great duty all private and individual rights and privileges must succumb.

 

10 - What action should a Lodge take on receipt of a favorable report on a petition?

 

            Action on Petition. The petition of the candidate having been referred to a committee, and that committee having reported favor. ably, the next step in the process is to submit the petition to the members of the Lodge for their acceptance or rejection. The law upon which this usage is founded is contained in the sixth article of the General Regulations of 1721, which declares that "no man can be entered a Brother in any particular Lodge, or admitted a member thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of the Lodge then present when the candidate is proposed, and their consent is formally asked by the Master." No peculiar mode of expressing this opinion is laid down in any of the ancient Constitutions; on the contrary, the same sixth article goes on to say that the members "are to signify their consent or dissent in their own prudent way, either virtually or in form, but with unanimity." Universal and uninterrupted usage, however, in this country, has required the votes on the application of candidates to be taken by ballot, which has been very wisely done, because thereby the secrecy and consequent independence of election is secured.

 

11 - When is a Lodge or brother said to be "active?" Active.. A Lodge is called active when it assembles regularly; and a brother when he is a working member of such a lodge. Many brethren visit a lodge who never or very seldom take part in lodge work, either because they live too far distant from the lodge, or because they are not sufficiently interested. Every lodge and every officer ought to strive diligently to make the work interesting to avoid the last imputation, but if they find their endeavors in vain, or that there is any brother who will not pay due attention to the work, they ought to endeavor to reclaim him, first by fraternal remonstrances; or if those do not avail, by punishment. By the death or removal of the members, a lodge may become inactive for a time, and it is better that it should be so than that the continuing of the work should be. entrusted to inexperienced officers.

 

12 - What are the prerogatives of the active members of a Lodge?

 

            Active Membership, Prerogatives of. Every Master Mason, who is a member of a Lodge, has a right to speak and, vote on all questions that come before the Lodge for discussion, except on trials in which he is himself interested. Rules of order may be established

 

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restricting the length and number of speeches, but these are of a local nature, and will vary with the by‑laws of each Lodge.

 

A Mason may also be restricted from voting on ordinary questions where his dues for a certain period - generally twelve months - have not been paid; and such a Regulation exists in almost every Lodge. But no local by‑law can deprive a member who has not been suspended, from voting on the ballot for the admission of candidates, because the Sixth Regulation of 1721 distinctly requires that each member present on such occasion shall give his consent before the candidate can be admitted. And if a member were deprived, by any by‑law of the Lodge, in consequence of non‑payment of his dues, of the right of expressing his consent or dissent, the ancient Regulation would be violated, and a candidate might be admitted without the unanimous consent of all the members present.

 

 

13 - What President of the United States was a bitter opponent of Free‑masonry?

 

            Adams, John Quincy, the sixth President of the United States, who served from 1825 to 1829. Mr. Adams, who has been very properly described as "a man of strong points and weak ones, of vast reading and wonderful memory, of great credulity and strong prejudices," became notorious in the latter years of his life for his virulent opposition to Freemasonry. The writer already quoted, and who had an excellent opportunity of seeing intimately the workings of the spirit of anti‑Masonry, says of Mr. Adams: "He hated Free‑masonry, as he did many other things, not from any harm that he had received from it or personally knew respecting it, but because his credulity had been wrought upon and his prejudices excited against it by dishonest and selfish politicians, who were anxious, at any sacrifice to him, to avail themselves of the influence of his commanding talents and position in public life to sustain them in the disreputable work in which they were enlisted. In his weakness, he lent himself to them. He united his energies to theirs in an impracticable and unworthy cause." The result was a series of letters abusive of Freemasonry, directed to leading politicians, and published in the public journals from 1831 to 1833. A year before his death they were collected and published under the title of "Letters on the Masonic Institution, by John Quincy Adams." Some ex‑planation of the cause of the virulence with which Mr. Adams attacked the Masonic Institution in these letters may be found in the following paragraph contained in an anti‑Masonic work written by one Henry Gassett, and affixed to his Catalogue of Books on the Masonic Institution. "It had been asserted in a newspaper in Boston, edited by a Masonic dignitary, that John Q. Adams was a Mason. In answer to an inquiry from a person in New York State, whether he was so,

 

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Mr. Adams replied that `he was not, and never should be.' " These few words, undoubtedly, prevented his election a second term as president of the United States. His competitor, Andrew Jackson, a Freemason, was elected. Whether the statement contained in the italicized words be true or not, is not the question. It is sufficient that Mr. Adams was led to believe it, and hence his ill‑will to an association which had, as he supposed, inflicted this political evil on him, and baffled his ambitious views.

 

14 - What are the qualifications of Lodge officers?

 

            Address. Those who accept office and exercise authority in the lodge, ought to be men of prudence and address, enjoying the ad‑vantages of a well‑cultivated mind and retentive memory. All men are not blessed with the same powers and talents; all men, therefore, are not equally qualified to govern. He who wishes to teach must submit to learn; and no one can be qualified to occupy the higher offices of the lodge who has not previously discharged the duties of those which are subordinate. Experience is the best preceptor. Every man may rise by graduation, but merit and industry are the first steps to preferment.

 

15 - What rules govern a brother while speaking in Lodge?

 

            Addressing a Lodge. No brother shall speak twice to the same question, unless in explanation, or the mover in reply. Every one who speaks shall rise, and remain standing, addressing himself to the Master, nor shall any brother presume to interrupt him, unless he shall be wandering from the point, or the Master shall think fit to call him to order; but, after he has been set right, he may proceed, if he observe due order and decorum.

 

16 - To whom does the term "Adhering Mason" apply?

 

            Adhering Mason. Those Masons who, during the anti‑Masonic excitement in this country, on account of the supposed abduction of Morgan, refused to leave their Lodges and renounce Masonry were so called. Among their number were some of the wisest, best and Most influential men of the country.

 

17‑How many candidates can be made Masons on the same day?

 

            Admission. Not more than five new brothers shall be made in tiny one lodge on the same day, nor any man under the age of twenty‑one years, unless by dispensation from the Grand Master. Every candidate for admission must be a freeman, and his own master and, at the time of initiation, be known to be in reputable circumstances. He should be a lover of the liberal arts and sciences, and have made some progress in one or another of them.

 

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18 - Has a Master the right to deny a member admission to his own Lodge?

 

            Admission of Members. Coincident with the power of admitting or excluding a visitor from another Lodge, is that of refusing or consenting to the admission of a member. The ritual of opening expressly says that none shall "pass or repass but such as are duly qualified and have the Worshipful Master's permission;" and if the prerogative of refusing admission to a brother hailing from another Lodge is vested solely in the Master, that he may be enabled, by this discretionary power, to maintain the by‑laws and regulations of the Order, and preserve the harmony of the Lodge, it seems evident that he should be possessed of equal power in respect to his own members, because it may happen that the admission even of a member might sometimes create discord, and if the Master is aware that such would be the result, it must be acknowledged that he would be but exercising his duty in refusing the admission of such a member. But as this prerogative affects, in no slight degree, the rights of membership, which inure to every Mason who has signed the by‑laws, it should be exercised with great caution; and where a member has been unjustly, or without sufficient cause, deprived of the right of visiting his own Lodge, there can be no question that he has the right of preferring charges against the Master in the Grand Lodge, whose duty it is to punish every arbitrary or oppressive exercise of prerogative.

 

19 - What right has a new Lodge with respect to the admission of members?

 

            Admission of New Members. The warrant of constitution having been granted permanently and for the general objects of Masonry, and not for a specific purpose and a prescribed period, as is the case with Lodges under dispensation, the quality of perpetuity is granted with it as one of the necessary conditions. But this perpetuity can only be secured by the admission of new members to supply the places of those who die or demit. This admission may take place either by the initiation of profanes, who acquire by that initiation the right of membership, or by the election of unaffiliated Masons.

 

20 - Has a Master of a Lodge the right to decline to admit, as a visitor, a Master Mason in good standing?

 

            Admission of Visitors. A prerogative of the Master of a Lodge is that of controlling the admission of visitors. He is required by his installation charge to see that no visitors be received without passing a due examination and producing proper vouchers; and this duty he cannot perform unless the right of judging of the nature of that examination and of those vouchers be solely vested in him‑self, and the discretionary power of admission or rejection be placed in his hands. The Lodge cannot, therefore, interfere with this

 

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prerogative, nor can the question be put to it whether a particular visitor shall be admitted. The Master is, in all such cases, the sole judge, without appeal from his decision.

 

21 - What is the duty of the Tiler with reference to the admission of per‑ sons to a Lodge room?

 

            Admittance to the Lodge. The first and most important duty of the Tiler is to guard the door of the Lodge, and to permit no one to pass in who is not duly qualified, and who has not the permission of the Master. Of these qualifications, in doubtful cases, he is not himself to judge; but on the approach of any one who is unknown to him, he should apprize the Lodge by the usual formal method. As the door is peculiarly under his charge, he should never, for an instant, be absent from his post. He should neither open the door himself from without, nor permit it to be opened by the Junior Deacon from within, without the preliminary alarm.

 

22 - How should a brother be admonished?

 

            Admonition. If a brother grossly misconduct himself, let him be admonished privately by the Worshipful Master; try every gentle means to convince him of his errors; probe the wound with a delicate hand; and use very mild expedient to work his reform. Perhaps he may save his brother, and give to society a renewed and valuable member.

 

23 - Who was Adoniram?

 

            Adoniram. This prince was appointed by King Solomon to super‑intend the contribution towards building the temple, as well as the levy of 30,000 Israelites to work by monthly courses in the forest of Lebanon. For this purpose, and to insure the utmost regularity, an old masonic tradition informs us that he divided them into lodges, placing three hundred in each, under a Master and Wardens, himself being Grand Master over all. He was also constituted by the king one of the seven Grand Superintendents, and Chief of the Provosts and Judges.

 

24 - What is the relation of women to Masonry in France and in America:,

 

            Adoptive Masonry. A name given to certain degrees resembling Masonry, and Masonic in spirit, which have been invented for ladies who have claims upon. the Order of Freemasonry, through relatives who are members of it. Adoptive Masonry first made its appearance in France, in the early part of the 18th century, and is still a legal and regular branch of the Institution in that country. The French rite has four degrees:

 

1. Apprentice;

2. Companion;

3. Mistress;

4. Perfect Mistress. The officers of a Lodge of Adoption are a Grand Master and a Grand Mistress; an Orator; an Inspector, and

 

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Inspectress; a Depositor and Depositrex; a Conductor and Conductress. They wear blue collars, with a gold trowel pendant therefrom, white aprons, and gloves. The members also wear the jewel of the Order, which is a golden ladder with five rounds, on the left breast. Many of the most distinguished ladies of Europe have been, and are now, members of this Order. Among them were the Duchess of Bourbon, the Empress Josephine, Lady Montague, Duchess Elizabeth Chesterfield, and the Empress Eugenie. The Adoptive Lodges were at first rapidly diffused throughout all the countries of Europe except the British empire. But the American Adoptive rite is better adapted to the United States, and has excited considerable interest, and found many powerful advocates in this country. It consists of five degrees, as follows:

 

1. Jephthah's daughter, or the Daughter's degree, illustrating respect to the binding force of a vow;

2. Ruth, or the Widow's degree, illustrating devotion to religious principles;

3. Esther, or the Wife's degree, illustrating fidelity to kindred and friends;

4. Martha, or the Sister's degree, illustrating undeviating faith in the hour of trial;

5. Electa, or the Benevolent degree, illustrating charity and courage, with patience and submission under wrongs.

 

All the degrees together are called the "Rite of the Eastern Star," and are very beautiful and impressive. Ladies who have received these degrees have a ready and efficient means of commanding the services of Freemasons whenever and wherever they may need them. The moral teachings of the Eastern Star degrees are excellent, and cannot fail to make a good impression. Notwithstanding that there is among some Masons a strong feeling against any form of Adoptive Masonry, it cannot be questioned that the spirit of the age demands something of the kind. Masons cannot find a surer safeguard and protection for their wives, sisters, and daughters than is furnished by the American Adoptive rite or Order of the Eastern Star. To the objection that the degrees are not Masonic, it may be replied that they are as much so as any degree outside of the Symbolical Lodge. No degrees above the first three are Masonic, except by adoption.

 

25 - How is the word "advanced" technically used in Masonry?

 

            Advanced. This word has two technical meanings in Masonry.

 

1. We speak of a candidate as being advanced when he has passed from a lower to a higher degree; as we say that a candidate is qualified for advancement from the Entered Apprentice's degree to that of a Fellow Craft when he has made that "suitable proficiency in the former which, by the regulations of the Order, entitle him to receive the initiation into and the instructions of the latter." And when the Apprentice has thus been promoted to the second degree he is said to have advanced in Masonry.

 

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2. The word is peculiarly applied to the initiation of a candidate in the Mark degree, which is the fourth in the American modification of the York Rite. The Master Mason is thus said to be "advanced to the honorary degree of a Mark Master," to indicate either that he has now been promoted one step beyond the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry on his way to the Royal Arch, or to express the fact that he has been elevated from the common class of Fellow Crafts to that higher and more select one which, according to the traditions of Masonry, constituted, at the first Temple, the class of Mark Masters.

 

26 - What is the status of an Entered Apprentice if the Lodge denies him advancement?

 

            Advancement, Denial of. An Apprentice has the right to apply for advancement; but the Lodge in which he was initiated has the correlative right to reject his application. And thereby no positive right of any person is affected; for, by this rejection of the candidate for advancement, no other injury is done to him than the disappointment of his expectations. His character as an Entered Apprentice is not impaired. He still possesses all the rights and prerogatives that he did before, and continues, notwithstanding the rejection of his application, to be an Apprentice "in good standing," and entitled, as before, to all the rights and privileges of a possessor of that degree.

 

27 - Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of advancement?

 

            Advancement, Right of. Apprentices have the right to apply for advancement to a higher degree. Out of the class of Apprentices the Fellow Crafts are made; and as this eligibility to promotion really constitutes the most important right of this inferior class of our Brethren, it is well worthy of careful consideration. I say, then, that the Entered Apprentice possesses the right of application to be passed to the degree of a Fellow Craft. He is eligible as a candidate; but here this right ceases. It goes no farther than the mere prerogative of applying. It is only the right of petition. The Apprentice has, in fact, no more claim to the second degree than the profane has to the first. It is a most mistaken opinion to suppose that when a profane is elected as a candidate, he is elected to receive all the degrees that can be conferred in a Symbolic Lodge. Freemasonry is a rigid system of probation. A second step never can be attained hntil sufficient proof has been given in the preceding that the candidate is "worthy and well qualified." A candidate who has received the first degree is no more assured by this reception that he will reach the third, than that he will attain the Royal Arch. In the very ceremony of his reception he may have furnished convincing evidence of his unfitness to proceed further; and it would become the duty of

 

 

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the Lodge, in that case, to debar his future progress. A bad Apprentice will make a worse Master Mason; for he who cannot comply with the comparatively simple requisitions of the first degree, will certainly be incapable of responding to the more important duties and obligations of the third. Hence, on the petition of an Apprentice to be passed as a Fellow Craft, a ballot should always be taken. This is but in accordance with the meaning of the word; for a petition is a prayer for something which may or may not be refused, and hence, if the petition is granted, it is ex gratin, or by the voluntary favor of the Lodge, which, if it chooses, may withhold its assent. Any other view of the case would exclude that inherent right which is declared by the Regulations of 1721 to exist in every Lodge, of being the best judges of the qualifications of its own members.

 

28 - What are the supports of the adytum or Lodge?

 

            Adytum. In the British and other Mysteries the three pillars of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty represented the great emblematical Triad of Deity, whereas with us they refer to the three principal officers of the lodge. We shall find, however, that the symbolical meaning is the same. In Britain the Adytum or lodge was actually supported by three stones or pillars, which were supposed to convey a regenerating purity to the aspirant, after having endured the ceremony of initiation in all its accustomed formalities. The delivery from between them was termed a new birth. The corresponding pillars of the Hindu Mythology were also known by the names of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, and were placed in the east, west, and south, crowned with three human heads. They jointly referred to the Creator, who was said to have planned the Great Work by his infinite Wisdom; executed it by his Strength; and adorned it with all its Beauty and use‑fulness for the benefit of man.

 

29 - Of what were the ancient Lodges schools?

 

            Affability. The ancient lodges were so many schools or academies for teaching and improving the arts of designing, especially architecture; and the present lodges are often employed in that way in lodge hours, or else in agreeable conversation, though without politics or party feeling. None of them are ill employed; they have no transaction unworthy of an honest man or a gentleman; no personal piques, no quarrels, no cursing and swearing, no cruel mockings, no obscene talk, or ill manners, for the noble and eminent brethren are affable to the meanest; and these are duly respectful to their betters in harmony and proportion; and though on the level, yet always within compass, and according to the square and plumb.

 

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30 - What is the distinction between an affiliated and a non‑affiliated Mason?

 

            Affiliated. A word that designates a Mason as a member of some Lodge. A Mason who does not belong to any Lodge is styled "Non‑Affiliated."

 

31 - What is the Masonic meaning of the term "affiliation?"

 

            Affiliation. Initiation indicates the first reception of a person into a Masonic Lodge; affiliation denotes the reception of one already a Mason into some other Lodge than the one in which he received the Light.

 

All the rights and duties that accrue to a Master Mason, by virtue of membership in the Lodge in which he was initiated, likewise accrue to him who has been admitted to membership by affiliation. There is no difference in the relative standing of either class of members: their prerogatives, the privileges, and their obligations are the same.

 

There is, however, a difference in the methods of admission. Those who acquire membership in a Lodge, by virtue of having received therein the third degree, obtain that membership as a matter of right, without petition and without ballot. But a Master Mason, who is desirous of affiliating with a Lodge in which he was not initiated, or in which, after initiation, he had at the legal time declined or neglected to assert his right of membership, must apply by petition. This petition must be read at a regular communication of the Lodge, and be referred to a committee of investigation, which committee, at the next regular communication (a month having intervened), will report on the character and qualifications of the candidate; and if the report be favorable, the Lodge will proceed to ballot. As in the case of initiation, the ballot is required to be unanimously in favor of the applicant to secure his election. One black ball is sufficient to reject him.

 

All of these Regulations, which are of ancient date and of general usage, are founded on the fifth and sixth of the Regulations of 1721, and are, it will be seen, the same as those which govern the petition and ballot for initiation. The Regulations of 1721 make no difference in the cases of profanes who seek to be made Masons, and Masons who desire affiliation or membership in a Lodge. In both cases "previous notice, one month before," must be given to the Lodge, "due inquiry into the reputation and capacity of the candidate" must be made, and the "unanimous consent of all the members then present" must be obtained. Nor can this unanimity be dispensed with in one ease any more than it can in the other. It is the inherent privilege of every Lodge to judge of the qualifications of its o`vn members, "nor is this inherent privilege subject to a dispensation."

 

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32 - Are there any geographical restrictions on the right of affiliation?

 

            Affiliation of Non‑Residents. Some Grand Lodges have adopted a Regulation requiring a Mason, living in their respective jurisdictions, to unite himself in membership with some Lodge in the said jurisdiction, and refusing to accord the rights of affiliation to one who belongs to a Lodge outside of the jurisdiction. But I have no doubt that this is a violation of the spirit of the ancient law. A Mason living in California may retain his membership in a Lodge in the State of New York, and by so doing, is as much an affiliated Mason, in every sense of the word, as though he had acquired membership in a California Lodge. I do not advocate the practice of holding membership in distant Lodges; for I believe that it is highly expedient, and that a Mason will much more efficiently discharge his duties to the Order by acquiring membership in the Lodge which is nearest to his residence, than in one which is at a great distance; but I simply contend for the principle, as one of Masonic jurisprudence, that a Master Mason has a right to apply for membership in any Lodge on the face of the globe, and that membership in a Lodge carries with it the rights of affiliation wherever the member may go.

 

33 - To what Lodge or Lodges may a Mason apply for affiliation?

 

            Affiliation, Petition for. There is one difference between the condition of a profane petitioning for admission, and that of a Master Mason applying for membership, which claims our notice.

 

A profane can apply for initiation only to the Lodge nearest his place of residence; but no such Regulation exists in reference to a Master Mason applying for membership. He is not confined in the exercise of this privilege within any geographical limits. No matter how distant the Lodge of his choice may be from his residence, to that Lodge he has as much right to apply as to the Lodge which is situated at the very threshold of his home. A Mason is expected to affiliate with some Lodge. The ancient Constitutions specify nothing further on the subject. They simply prescribe that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, without any reference to its peculiar locality, and a Brother therefore complies with the obligation of affiliation when he unites himself with any Lodge, no matter how distant; and by thus contributing to the support of the institution, he discharges his duty as a Mason, and becomes entitled to all the privileges of the Order.

 

This usage - for, in the absence of a positive law on the subject, it has become a Regulation, from the force of custom only - is undoubtedly derived from the doctrine of the universality of Masonry. The whole body of the craft, wheresoever dispersed, being considered. by the fraternal character of the institution, as simply component

 

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parts of one great family, no peculiar rights of what might be called Masonic citizenship are supposed to be acquired by a domiciliation in one particular place. The Mason who is at home and the Mason who comes from abroad are considered on an equal footing as to all Masonic rights; and hence the Brother made in Europe is as much a Mason when he comes to America, and is as fully qualified to discharge in America all Masonic functions, without any form of naturalization, as though he had been made in this country. The converse is equally true. Hence no distinctions are made, and no peculiar rights acquired by membership in a local Lodge. Affiliation with the Order, of which every Lodge is equally a part, confers the privileges of active Masonry. Therefore no law has ever prescribed that a Mason must belong to the Lodge nearest to his residence, but generally that he must belong to a Lodge; and consequently the doctrine is, as it has been enunciated above, that a Master Mason may apply for affiliation, and unite himself with any Lodge which is legal and regular, no matter how near to, or how far from his place of residence.

 

34 - What is the relation of the ancient love‑feast to Masonry?

 

            Agape. Love‑feast. A banquet of charity, among the early Christians. St. Chrysostom thus describes its origin and purposes: "At first Christians had all things in common; but when that equality of possession ceased, as it did even in the Apostle's time, the Agape, or love‑feast, was instituted instead of it. Upon certain days, after the religious services were closed, they met at a common feast, the rich bringing provisions, and the poor, who had nothing, being invited. These meetings were held in secret." The Agape cannot but call to mind the Table‑lodges of Freemasonry, and, in truth, these owe their origin to the love‑feasts of the primitive Christians. A distinguished German scholar, A. Kestner, professor of Theology at Jena, published a work in 1819, entitled, "The Agape, or the Secret World‑Society - Weltbund, of the primitive Christians" - i.e., a society apart from their spiritual organization - "founded by Clemens, at Rome, in the reign of Domitian, having a hierarchical constitution, and a ground system of Masonic symbolism, and mysteries." In this Work he argues that there was a direct connection between the Agape and the Table‑lodge of Freemasons.

 

35 - Of what was the stone of foundation formed?

 

            Agate. Among the Masonic traditions is one which asserts that the stone of foundation was formed of agate. This, like everything connected with the legend of the stone, is to be mystically interpreted. In this view, agate is a symbol of strength and beauty, a symbolism derived from the peculiar character of the agate which

 

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is distinguished for its compact formation, and the ornamental character of its surface.

 

36 - Is the age of twenty‑one the lawful age of admission in all Masonic jurisdictions?

 

            Age, Lawful. The ancient Regulations do not express any determinate number of years at the expiration of which a candidate becomes legally entitled to apply for admission. The language used is, that he must be of "mature and discreet age." But the usage of the Craft has differed in various countries as to the construction of the time when this period of maturity and discretion is supposed to have arrived. The sixth of the Regulations, adopted in 1663, prescribes that "no person shall be accepted unless he be twenty‑one years old, or more;" but the subsequent Regulations are less explicit. At Frankfort‑on‑the‑Main, the age required is twenty; in the Lodges of Switzerland, it has been fixed at twenty‑one. The Grand Lodge of Hanover prescribes the age of twenty‑five, but permits the son of a Mason to be admitted at eighteen. The Grand Lodge of Hamburg decrees that the lawful age for initiation shall be that which in any country has been determined by the laws of the land to be the age of majority. The Grand Orient of France requires the candidate to be twenty‑one unless he be the son of a Mason, who hasp performed some important service to the Order, or unless he be a young man who has served six months in the army, when the initiation may take place at the age of eighteen. In Prussia the required age is twenty‑five. In England it is twenty‑one, except in cases where a dispensation has been granted for an earlier age by the Grand or Provincial Grand Master. In Ireland the age must be twenty‑one, except in cases of dispensation granted by the Grand Master or Grand Lodge. In the United States, the usage is general that the candidate shall not be less than twenty‑one years of age at the time of his initiation, and no dispensation can issue for conferring the degrees at an earlier period.

 

This variety in the laws relating to this subject conclusively proves that the precise age has never been determined by any Landmark of the Order. The design and nature of the institution must in this case be our only guide. The speculative character of the society requires that none shall be admitted to its mysteries except those who have reached maturity and discretion; but it is competent for any Grand Lodge to determine for itself what shall be considered to be that age of maturity. Perhaps the best regulation is that adopted by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg. Hence the Masons of this country have very wisely conformed to the provisions of the law on this subject, which prevail in all the States, and have made the age of twenty‑one the legal one for candidates applying for admission.

 

 

 

ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY

 

Born at Charleston, South Carolina, March 12th, 1807. Passed on at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, June 20th, 1881, at the age of 74 years. Buried at Washington, D.C., June 26th, 1881, with all the solemnity of the Masonic Rites wherein he had long been an active leader. Graduated with honors at the Charleston Medical College, iii 18:31 gave his attention to the practice of medicine until 1851, but from that time on devoted his time to literary and Masonic efforts. He was Initiated, Passed and Raised in Saint Andrews Lodge No. 10, Charleston, South Carolina, in 1841. Shortly thereafter he affiliated with Soloman's Lodge No. 1, Charleston, and was elected Worshipful Master in 1842. From 1842 to 1867 he held the office of Grand Secretary of South Carolina. In 1812 he was advanced and exalted in Capitular Masonry, and served 1855 to 1867 as Grand High Priest of South Carolina. From 1850 to 1868 served as General Grand High Priest. Created a Knight Templar in 1842, elected Eminent Commander 1844. Crowned a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Thirty Third and last Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in 1844, and for many years Secretary‑General of the Supreme Council. Ilis most popular and outstanding Masonic literature were "A Lexicon of Freemasoliry," "Mackey's History of Freemasonry," "Jurisprudence," "Symbolism," and "Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry." These works are recognized and published then ‑ out the English speaking world, as works of authority on Freemasonry.

 

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37 ‑ Certain numbers are assigned as the symbolic ages of Masons of various degrees. What are they, and why?

 

            Age, Masonic. In all of the Masonic Rites except the York, or American system, a mystical age is appropriated to each degree, and the initiate who has received the degree is said to be of such or such an age. Thus, the age of an Entered Apprentice is said to be three years; that of a Fellow Craft, five; and that of a Master Mason, seven. These ages are not arbitrarily selected, but have reference to the mystical value of members and their relation to the different degrees. Thus, three is the symbol of peace and concord, and has been called in the Pythagorean system the number of perfect harmony, and is appropriated to that degree, which is the initiation into an Order whose fundamental principles are harmony and brotherly love. Five is the symbol of active life, the union of the female principle two and the male principle three, and refers in this way to the active duties of man as a denizen of the world, which constitutes the symbolism of the Fellow Craft's degree; and seven, as a venerable and perfect number, is symbolic of that perfection which is supposed to be attained in the Master's degree. In a way similar to this, all the ages of the other degrees are symbolically and mystically explained. It has already been said that this system does not prevail in the York Rite. It is uncertain whether it ever did and has been lost, or whether it is a modern innovation on the symbolism of Masonry invented for the later Rites. Something like it, however, is to be found in the battery, which still exists in the York Rite, and which, like the Masonic age, is varied in the different degrees.

 

The Masonic ages are - and it will thus be seen that they are all mystic numbers ‑ 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 63, 81.

 

38 How is the word "agenda" used in Masonry?

 

            Agenda. A Latin participle, signifying "things to be done." In Masonry it means small books in which certain virtues or precepts are written, and which it is the duty of all Masons to inculcate and practice. It also applied to the items constituting a program or order of business.

 

39 - What was the book of the Constitutions of the Ancient Masons called?

 

            Ahiman Rezon. Dr. Mackey says these words are derived from the Hebrew ahim, brothers, manah, to prepare, and ratzon, the will or law; and signifies, therefore literally, "the law of prepared brothers." Others contend that the derivation is from achi man razor., "the opinions of a true and faithful brother." It was the title adopted for their Book of Constitutions by the section which split off from our Grand Lodge about the year

1740, and denominated themselves, by way of distinction, "Ancient Masons."

 

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40 - To what extent should a Mason extend aid to a worthy distressed brother?

 

            Aid and Assistance. The duty of aiding and assisting, not only all worthy distressed Master Masons, but their widows and orphans also, "wheresoever dispersed over the face of the globe," is one of the most important obligations that is imposed upon every brother of the "mystic tie" by the whole scope and tenor of the Masonic Institution. The regulations for the exercise of this duty are few, but rational. In the first place, a Master Mason who is in distress has a greater claim, under equal circumstances, to the aid and assistance of his brother, than one who, being in the Order, has not attained that degree, or who is altogether a profane. This is strictly in accordance with the natural instincts of the human heart, which will always prefer a friend to a stranger, or, as it is rather energetically expressed in the language of Long Tom Coffin, "a messmate before a shipmate, a shipmate before a stranger, and a stranger before a dog;" and it is also strictly in accordance with the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, who has said: "As we have opportunity, therefore, let us do good to all men, especially unto them who are of the household." But this exclusiveness is only to be practiced under circumstances which make a selection imperatively necessary. Where the grant of relief to the profane would incapacitate us from granting similar relief to our brother, then must the preference be given to him who is "of the household." But the earliest symbolic lessons of the ritual teach the Mason not to restrict his benevolence within the narrow limits of the Fraternity, but to acknowledge the claims of all men, who need it, to assistance. Inwood has beautifully said, "The humble condition both of property and dress, of penury and want, in which you were received into the Lodge, should make you at all times sensible of the distress of poverty and all you can spare from the call of nature and the due care of your families, should only remain in your possession as a ready sacrifice to the necessities of an unfortunate, distressed brother. Let the distressed cottage feel the warmth of your Masonic zeal and, if possible, exceed even the unabating ardor of Christian charity. At your approach let the orphan cease to weep, and in the sound of your voice let the widow forget her sorrow." Another restriction laid upon this duty of aid and assistance by the obligations of Masonry is that the giver shall not be lavish beyond his means in the disposition of his benevolence. What he bestows must be such as he can give "without material injury to himself or family." No man should wrong his wife or children that he may do a benefit to a stranger or ever a brother. The obligations laid on a Mason to grant aid and assistance to the needy and distressed

 

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seem to be in the following graduations: first, to his family; next, to his brethren; and, lastly, to the world at large.

 

So far this subject has been viewed in a general reference to that spirit of kindness which should actuate all men, and which it is the object of Masonic teaching to impress on the mind of every Mason as a common duty of humanity, and whose disposition Masonry only seeks to direct and guide. But there is another aspect in which this subject may be considered, namely, in that peculiar and technical one of Masonic aid and assistance due from one Mason to another. Here there is a duty declared, and a correlative right inferred; for if it is the duty of one Mason to assist another, it follows that every Mason has the right to claim that assistance from his brother. It is this duty that the obligations of Masonry are especially intended to enforce; it is this right that they are intended to sustain. The symbolic ritual of Masonry which refers, as, for instance, in the first degree, to the virtue of benevolence refers to it in the general sense of a virtue which all men should practice. But when the Mason reaches the third degree, he discovers new obligations which restrict and define the exercise of this duty of aid and assistance. So far as his obligations control him, the Mason as a Mason, is not legally bound to extend his aid beyond the just claimants in his own Fraternity. To do good to all men is of course inculcated and recommended; to dv good to the household is enforced and made compulsory by legal enactment and sanction.

 

Now, as there is here, on one side, a duty, and on the other side a right, it is proper to inquire what are the regulations or laws by which this duty is controlled and this right maintained.

 

The duty to grant and the right to claim relief Masonically is recognized in the following passage of the Old Charges of 1722: "But if you discover him to be a true and genuine brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved. You must employ him some days, or else recommend him to be employed. But you are not charged to do beyond your ability; only to prefer a poor brother, who is a good man and true, before any other people in the same circumstances." This written law agrees in its conditions and directions, so far as it goes, with the unwritten law of the Order, and from the two we may deduce the following principles:

 

1. The applicant must be a Master Mason. In 1722, the charitable benefits of Masonry were extended, it is true, to Entered Apprentices, and an Apprentice was recognized, in the language of the law, as "a true and genuine brother." But this was because at that time only the first degree was conferred in subordinate Lodges. Fellow

 

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Crafts and Master Masons being made in the Grand Lodge. Hence the great mass of the Fraternity consisted of Apprentices, and many Masons never proceeded any further. But the second and third degrees are now always conferred in the subordinate Lodges, and very few initiates voluntarily stop short of the Master's degree. Hence, the mass of the Fraternity now consists of Master Masons, and the law which formerly applied to Apprentices is, under our present organization, made applicable only to those who have become Master Masons.

 

2. The applicant must be worthy. We are to presume that every Mason is "a good man and true" until the Lodge which has jurisdiction over him has pronounced to the contrary. Every Mason who is "in good standing," that is, who is a regularly contributing member of a Lodge, is to be considered as "worthy," in the technical sense of the term. An expelled, a suspended, or a non‑affiliated Mason, does not meet the required condition of "a regularly contributing member." Such a Mason is therefore not "worthy," and is not entitled to Masonic assistance.

 

3. The giver is not expected to exceed his ability in the amount of relief. The written law says, "you are not charged to do beyond your ability," the ritual says, that your relief must be "without material injury to yourself or family." The principle is the same in both.

 

4. The widow and orphans of a Master Mason have the claims of the husband and father extended to them. The written law says nothing explicitly on this point, but the unwritten or ritualistic law expressly declares that it is our duty "to contribute to the relief of a worthy, distressed brother, his widow and orphans."

 

5. And lastly, in granting relief or assistance, the Mason is to be preferred to the profane. He must be placed "before any other people in the same circumstances." These are the laws which regulate the doctrine of Masonic aid and assistance. They are often charged by the enemies of Masonry with a spirit of exclusiveness. But it has been shown that they are in accordance with the exhortation of the Apostle, who would do good "especially to those who are of the household," and they have the warrant of the law of nature; for every one will be ready to say. with that kindest‑hearted of men, Charles Lamb, "I can feel for all indifferently, but I cannot feel for all alike. I can be a friend to a worthy man, who, upon another account, cannot be my mate or fellow. I cannot like all people alike." And so as Masons, while we should be charitable to all persons in need or distress, there are only certain ones who can claim the aid and assistance of the Order, or of its disciples, under the positive sanction of the Masonic law.

 

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41 - By what three elements is a Mason proved?

 

            Air. Every human being at his birth becomes subject to the action of three elements. He comes out of water, passes through the air, and when he arrives at maturity, he is under the influence of fire. It is only at his death that he can participate of the fourth element (the earth). When he is initiated into the mysteries of Masonry, he is proved by the three elements of water, air, and fire.

 

42 - In what sense is the word "alarm" used in Masonry?

 

            Alarm. The verb, "to alarm," signifies, in Freemasonry, "to give notice of the approach of some one desiring admission." Thus, "to alarm the Lodge," is to inform the Lodge that there is some one without who is seeking entrance. As a noun, the word "alarm" has two significations. 1. An alarm is a warning given by the Tiler, or other appropriate officer, by which he seeks to communicate with the interior of the Lodge or Chapter. In this sense the expression so often used, "an alarm at the door," simply signifies that the officer outside has given notice of his desire to communicate with the Lodge.

2. An alarm is also the peculiar mode in which this notice is to be given. As to the derivation of the word, a writer in Notes and Queries ingeniously conjectures that it comes from the old French a l'arme, which in modern times is aux armes, "to arms." The legal meaning of to alarm is not to frighten, but to make one aware of the necessity of defense or protection. And this is precisely the Masonic signification of the word.

 

43 - What is the sacred book of the Mohammedans called?

 

            Alcoran. The sacred book of the Mohammedans, or rather a sacred book, for they recognize the old Hebrew Scriptures as of greater authority. The Alcoran, commonly called the Koran, contains the revelations made to Mohammed, his doctrines and precepts. In a Masonic Lodge of Mohammedans it should lay on the altar as the Bible does in a Lodge of Christians.

 

44 - Has a woman ever been made a Mason?

 

            Aldworth, the Hon. Mrs. This lady received, about the year 1735. the first and second degrees of Freemasonry in Lodge No. 44, at Doneraile, in Ireland. The circumstances connected with this singular initiation were first published in 1807, at Cork, and subsequently republished by Spencer, the celebrated Masonic bibliophile, in London. It may be observed, before proceeding to glean from this work the narrative of her initiation, that the authenticity of all the circumstances was confirmed on their first publication by an eye‑witness to the transaction.

 

The Hon. Elizabeth St. Leger was born about the year 1713, and was the youngest child and only daughter of the Right Hon. Arthur

 

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St. Leger, first Viscount Doneraile, of Ireland, who died in 1727, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the brother of our heroine. Subsequently to her initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry she married Richard Aldsworth, Esq., of Newmarket, in the county of Cork

 

 

 

Lodge No. 44, in which she was initiated, was, in some sort, an aristocratic Lodge, consisting principally of the gentry and most respectable and wealthy inhabitants of the country around Doneraile. The communications were usually held in the town, but during the Mastership of Lord Doneraile, under whom his sister was initiated, the meetings were often held at his Lordship's residence.

 

 

 

It was during one of these meetings at Doneraile House that this female initiation took place, the story of which Spencer, in the memoir to which we have referred, relates in the following words:

 

 

 

"It happened on this particular occasion that the Lodge was held in a room separated from another, as is often the case, by stud and brickwork. The young lady, being giddy and thoughtless and determined to gratify her curiosity, made her arrangements accordingly, and, with a pair of scissors (as she herself related to the mother of our informant), removed a portion of a brick from the wall, and placed herself so as to command a full view of everything which occurred in the next room; so placed, she witnessed the two first degrees in Masonry, which was the extent of the proceedings of the Lodge on that night. Becoming aware, from what she heard, that the brethren were about to separate, for the first time she felt tremblingly alive to the awkwardness and danger of her situation, and began to consider how she could retire without observation. She became nervous and agitated, and nearly fainted, but so far recovered herself as to be fully aware of the necessity of withdrawing as quickly as possible; in the act of doing so, being in the dark, she stumbled against and overthrew something, said to be a chair or some ornamental piece of furniture. The crash was loud; and the Tiler, who was on the lobby or landing on which opened the doors both of the Lodge room and that where the honorable Miss St. Leger was, gave the alarm, burst open the door, and with a light in one hand and a drawn sword in the other, appeared to the now terrified and fainting lady. He was soon joined by the members of the Lodge present, and luckily; for it is asserted that but for the prompt appearance of her brother, Lord Doneraile, and other steady members, her life would have fallen a sacrifice to what was then esteemed her crime. The first care of his Lordship was to resuscitate the unfortunate lady without alarming the house, and endeavor to learn from her an explanation of what had occurred; having done so, many of the members being furious at the transaction, she was placed under guard of the Tiler and a member, in the room where she was found. The members reassembled and

 

 

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deliberated as to what, under the circumstances, was to be done, and over two long hours she could hear the angry discussion and her death deliberately proposed and seconded. At length the good sense of the majority succeeded in calming, in some measure, the angry and irritated feelings of the rest of the members, when, after much had been said and many things proposed, it was resolved to give her the option of submitting to the Masonic ordeal to the extent she had witnessed (Fellow Craft), and if she refused, the brethren were again to consult. Being waited on to decide, Miss St. Leger, exhausted and terrified by the storminess of the debate, which she could not avoid partially hearing, and yet, notwithstanding all, with a secret pleasure, gladly and unhesitatingly accepted the offer. She was accordingly initiated." Mrs., or, as she was appropriately called, Sister Aldsworth, lived many years after, but does not seem ever to have forgotten the lessons of charity and fraternal love which she received on her unexpected initiation into the esoteric doctrines of the Order. "Placed as she was," says the memoir we have quoted, "by her marriage with Mr. Aldsworth, at the head of a very large fortune, the poor, in general, had good reason to record her numerous and bountiful acts of kindness; nor were these accompanied with ostentation - far from it. It has been remarked of her, that her custom was to seek out bashful misery and retiring poverty, and with a well‑directed liberality, soothe many a bleeding heart."

 

45 - What is the name of God in the Mohammedan religion?

 

            Allah. The Arabic name of God. The Alcoran describes his character and attributes thus: "He alone is self‑existent; has no rival; is from everlasting to everlasting; fills the universe with his presence; is the center in which all things unite, as well the visible as the invisible; is infinite; Almighty, all‑wise, all‑merciful, tender‑hearted; and his decrees are unchangeable."

 

46 - What effect does non‑affiliation have upon the allegiance of a Mason to the fraternity?

 

            Allegiance. The relation which a Mason bears to his Lodge is of a different nature from that which connects him with the Order. It is in some degree similar to that political relation which jurists have called "local allegiance," or the allegiance which a man gives to the country or the sovereign in whose territories and under whose protection he resides. This allegiance is founded on the doctrine that where there is protection there should be subjection, and that subjection should in turn receive protection. It may be permanent or temporary. A removal from the territory cancels the allegiance, Which will again be contracted towards the sovereign of the new domicile to which the individual may have removed. Now this is

 

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precisely the relation which exists between a Mason and his Lodge. The Lodge grants him its protection; that is, from his membership in it he derives his rights of visit, of relief, of burial, and all the other prerogatives which inure, by custom or law, to the active members of Lodges, and which are actually the results of member‑ship. In return for this, he gives it his allegiance; he acknowledges obedience to its By‑Laws, and he contributes to its revenues by his annual or quarterly dues. But he may at any time dissolve this allegiance to any particular Lodge, and contract it with another. As the denizen of a country cancels his allegiance by abandoning its protection and removing to another territory, the Mason may with‑draw his relations to one Lodge and unite with another. But he still continues an affiliated Mason, only his affiliation is with another body.

 

But the denizen who removes from one country may not, by subsequent residence, give his allegiance to another. He may become a cosmopolite, bearing local allegiance to no particular sovereign. All that follows from this is, that he acquires no right of protection; for, if he gives no subjection, he can ask for no protection.

 

Now this is precisely the case with an unaffiliated Mason. Having taken his demit from one Lodge, he has of course lost its protection; and, having united with no other, he can claim protection from none. He has forfeited all those rights which are derived from membership. He has dissevered all connections between himself and the Lodge organization of the Order, and by this act has divested himself of all the prerogatives which belonged to him as a member of that organization. Among these are the right of visit, of pecuniary aid, and of Masonic burial. When he seeks to enter the door of a Lodge it must be closed upon him, for the right to visit belongs only to affiliated Masons. Whenever he seeks for Lodge assistance, he is to be refused, because the funds of the Lodge are not to be distributed among those who refuse to aid, by their individual contributions, in the formation of similar funds in other Lodges. Nor can he expect to be accompanied to his last resting‑place by his brethren; for it is a settled law, that no Mason can be buried with the ceremonies of the Order, except upon his express request, previously made to the Master of the Lodge of which he is a member.

 

47 - What is the symbolism of the All‑Seeing Eye?

 

            All‑Seeing Eye. An important symbol of the Supreme Being, borrowed by the Freemasons from the nations of antiquity. Both the Hebrews and the Egyptians appear to have derived its use from that natural inclination of figurative minds to select an organ as the symbol of the function which it is intended peculiarly to discharge. Thus, the foot was often adopted as the symbol of swiftness, the arm of strength, and the hand of fidelity. On the game principle, the

 

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open eye was selected as the symbol of watchfulness, and the eye of God as the symbol of divine watchfulness and care of the universe. The use of the symbol in this sense is repeatedly to be found in the Hebrew writers. Thus, the Psalmist says (Ps. xxxiv. 15): "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry," which explains a subsequent passage (Ps. cxxi. 4) in which it is said: "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." On the same principle, the Egyptians represented Osiris, their chief deity, by the symbol of an open eye, and placed this hieroglyphic of him in all their temples. His symbolic name, on the monuments, was represented by the eye accompanying a throne, to which was sometimes added an abbreviated figure of the god, and sometimes what has been called a hatchet, but which, I consider, may as correctly be supposed to be a representation of a square.

 

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

 

48 - What allurements does Masonry hold out?

 

            Allurements. Masonry is one of the most sublime and perfect institutions that ever was formed for the advancement of the happiness and general good of mankind, creating, in all its varieties, universal benevolence and brotherly love. It holds out allurements so captivating as to inspire the brotherhood with emulation to deeds of glory, such as must command, throughout the world, veneration and applause, and such as must entitle those who perform them to dignity and respect. It teaches us those useful, wise, and instructive doctrines upon which alone true happiness is founded; and at the same time affords those easy paths by which we attain the rewards of virtue; it teaches us the duties which we owe to our neighbor, never to injure him in any one situation, but to conduct ourselves With justice and impartiality; it bids us not to divulge the mystery to the public; and it orders us to be true to our trust, and above all meanness and dissimulation, and in all our vocations to perform religiously that which we ought to do.

 

49 ‑ What is the symbolism of the almond tree?

 

            Almond Tree. The tree of which Aaron's rod, that budded, was a branch. Its flowers were pure white. When it is said in the passage of Scripture from the twelfth chapter of Eccles. read during the ceremonies of the third degree, "the almond tree shall flourish," ref‑

 

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erence is made to the white flowers of that tree, and the allegoric signification is to old age, when the hairs of the head shall become gray.

 

50 - What is the symbolism of the Masonic altar?

 

            Altar. The most important article of furniture in a Lodge room is undoubtedly the altar. It is worth while, then, to investigate its character and its relation to the altars of other religious institutions. The definition of an altar is very simple. It is a structure elevated above the ground, and appropriated to some service connected with worship, such as the offering of oblations, sacrifices, or prayers.

 

Altars, among the ancients, were generally made of turf or stone. When permanently erected and not on any sudden emergency, they were generally built in regular courses of masonry, aid usually in a cubical form. Altars were erected long before temples. Thus, Noah is said to have erected one as soon as he came forth from the ark. Ileroditus gives the Egyptians the credit of being the first among the heathen nations who invented altars.

 

Among the ancients, both Jews and Gentiles, altars were of two kinds - for incense and for sacrifice. The latter were always erected in the open air, outside and in front of the Temple. Only altars of incense were permitted within the Temple walls. Animals were slain, and offered on the altars of burnt offerings. On the altars of incense, bloodless sacrifices were presented and incense was burnt to the Deity.

 

The Masonic altar, which, like everything else in Masonry, is symbolic, appears to combine the character and uses of both of these altars. It is an altar of sacrifice, for on it the candidate is directed to lay his passions and vices as an oblation to the Deity, while he offers up the thoughts of a pure heart as a fitting incense to the Grand Architect of the Universe. The altar is, therefore, the most holy place in a Lodge.

 

Among the ancients the altar was always invested with peculiar sanctity. Altars were places of refuge and the supplicants who fled to them were considered as having placed themselves under the protection of the deity to whom the altar was consecrated, and to do violence even to slaves and criminals at the altar, or to drag them from it, was regarded as an act of violence to the deity himself, and was hence a sacrilegious crime.

 

The marriage covenant among the ancients was always solemnized at the altar, and men were accustomed to make all their solemn con‑tracts and treaties by taking oaths at altars. An oath taken or a vow made at the altar was considered as more solemn and binding than one assumed under other circumstances. Hence, Hannibal's father brought him to the Carthaginian altar when he was about to make him swear eternal enmity to the Roman power.

 

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In all the religions of antiquity, it was the usage of the priests and the people to pass around the altar in the course of the sun, that is to say, from the east, by the way of the south, to the west, singing hymns of praise as a part of their worship.

 

From all this we see that the altar in Masonry is not merely a convenient article of furniture, intended, like a table, to hold a Bible. It is a sacred utensil of religion, intended, like the altars of the ancient temples, for religious uses, and thus identifying Masonry, by its necessary existence in our Lodges, as a religious institution. Its presence should also lead the contemplative Mason to view the ceremonies in which it is employed with solemn reverence, as being part of a really religious worship.

 

The situation of the altar in the French and Scottish Rites is in front of the Worshipful Master, and, therefore, in the East. In the York Rite, the altar is placed in the centre of the room, or more prop. erly a little to the East of the centre.

 

The form of a Masonic altar should be a cube, about three feel high, and of corresponding proportions as to length and width, having: in imitation of the Jewish altar, four horns, one at each corner. The Holy Bible with the Square and Compass should be spread open upon it, while around it are to be placed three lights. These lights are to be in the East, West and South. North of the altar there is no light, because in Masonry the North is the place of darkness.

 

51 - What is the steward's jewel, and why?

 

            Amalthea. The name of the horn of the Cretan goat. This is the mythological horn of plenty - "Cornu Copia" - which signifies an abundance of things necessary to life. It is the jewel of the stewards of a Lodge of Master Masons.

 

52 ‑ Why do Masons say amen at the close of prayer?

 

Amen. The response to every Masonic prayer is, "So mote it be: Amen." The word Amen signifies in Hebrew verily, truly, certainly. "Its proper place," says Gensenius, "is where one person confirms the Words of another, and adds his wish for success to the other's vows." It is evident, then, that it is the brethren of the Lodge, and not the Master or Chaplain, who should pronounce the word. It is a response to the prayer. The Talmudists have many superstitious notions in respect to this word. Thus, in one treatise, it is said that whosoever pronounces it with fixed attention and devotion, to him the gates of Paradise will be opened; and, again, whoever enunciates the word rapidly, his days shall pass rapidly away, and whosoever dwells upon it, pronouncing it distinctly and slowly, his life shall be prolonged 

 

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53 - What is an amulet?

 

            Amulet. A piece of stone or metal, or other substance, marked with certain figures, to be worn about the person as a protection against danger. The name, as well as the thing, comes from the East. It is from the Arabic, hamail, a locket - anything hung around the neck. Among the Turks and some other nations every person thinks an amulet necessary to safety. Amulets were in vogue among the Greeks, the Egyptians, and Romans. They were introduced into Christendom by the Basilideans. The amulets of this sect were stones with the mystic word Abraxas engraved upon them. They were highly valued by the Jews; and in past times Christians have worn them, having the mark of a fish or a symbol of the Savior. In many quasi‑Masonic societies they have been largely used, and they are not wholly ,unknown in Masonry itself - e. g., the Tyrian Signet, H. T. W. S. S. T. K. S.

 

54 - What is the symbolism of the Anchor?

 

            Anchor. The hope of glory, or of the fulfilment of all God's promises to our souls, is the golden or precious anchor, by which we must be kept steadfast in the faith, and encouraged to abide in our proper station, amidst the storms of temptation, affliction, and persecution.

 

55 - Of what are the anchor and ark the emblems?

 

            Anchor and Ark. The ark and anchor are emblems of a well‑grounded hope and a well‑spent life. They are emblematical of that divine ark which triumphantly bears us over this tempestuous sea of troubles; and that anchor which shall safely moor us in a peaceful harbor, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest.

 

56 - What is included in Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Ancient Craft Masonry. This is the name given to the three symbolic degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason. The degree of Royal Arch is not generally included under this appellation; although, when considered (as it really is) a complement of the third degree, it must of course constitute a part of Ancient Craft Masonry. In the articles of union between the two Grand Lodges of England, adopted in 1813, it is declared that "pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more; viz.: those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch."

 

57 - How many degrees were there in Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Ancient Craft Masonry, Degrees of. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and at still more remote periods, the operative element constituted an important ingredient in the organization of the

 

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institution. The divisions of the members into grades at that time were necessarily assimilated to the wants of such an operative institution. There were Masters to superintend the work, Fellow Crafts, or as they were almost always called, Fellows, to perform the labor, and Apprentices, to be instructed in the principles of the art. Hence, in all the oldest records, we find constant allusions to the Fellows, as constituting the main body of the fraternity; and the word "Fellow," at that time, appears to have been strictly synonymous with "Freemason." Thus, Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, says in his "Diary," that on the sixteenth day of October, 1646, he "was made a Freemason at Warrington, Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring, of Kerthingham, in Cheshire, by Mr. Richard Penket, the Warden, and the Fellow Crafts." And again, under the date of March 10, 1682, when speaking of another reception which took place on that day at Masons' Hall, in London, he says: "I was the Senior Fellow among them - it being thirty‑five years since I was admitted. There were present, besides myself, the Fellows after named," and he proceeds to give the names of these Fellows, which it is unnecessary to quote.

 

Throughout the whole of the Ancient Charges and Regulations, until we get to those emendations of them which were adopted in 1721 and 1722, we find no reference to the Apprentices, except as a subordinate and probationary class, while the Fellow Crafts assume the position of the main body of the fraternity, that position which, in the present day, is occupied by the Master Masons.

 

During all this time, the Apprentices are seldom alluded to, and then only as if in a subordinate position, and without the possession of any important prerogatives. Thus, they are thrice spoken of only in the York Constitutions of 926, where the Master is directed to take no Apprentice "for less than seven years;" to take care, in the ad‑mission of an Apprentice, "that he do his lord no prejudice;" and to "instruct his Apprentice faithfully, and make him a perfect workman." And in the "Ancient Charges at Makings," it is implied that either a Master or Fellow may take an Apprentice.

 

These citations from the Ancient Regulations need not be'extended. From them we may collect the facts, or at least the very probable sup‑positions, that in the very earliest history of the Order, the operative character predominating, the Fellow Crafts, under the designation of "Fellows," constituted the main body of the fraternity, while the Masters were the superintendents of the work; that at a later period, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, the speculative character predominating, the Apprentices arose in dignity and became the body of the fraternity, while the Fellow Crafts and Master Masons were intrusted with the offices; and that still later, at some time in the course of the eighteenth century, which certainly was not very long after the year 1725, the Apprentices and Fellow Crafts descended into a

 

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subordinate position, just such a one of the former class had originally occupied, and the Master Masons alone composed the body of the craft.

 

58 - Who and what were the Ancient Masons?

 

            Ancient Masons. Ancients was the name assumed by a body of Masons which, in

1738, arose independently beside the regular Grand Lodge of England, and who at the same time insultingly bestowed upon the adherents of that body the title of Moderns. Thus Dermott, in his Ahiman Rezon, divides the Masons of England into two classes, as follows: "The Ancients, under the name of Free and Accepted Masons. The Moderns, under the name of Freemasons of England. And though a similarity of names, yet they differ exceedingly in makings, ceremonies, knowledge, Masonical language, and installations; so much so, that they always have been, and still continue to be, two distinct societies, directly independent of each other." To understand, therefore, anything of the meaning of these two terms, we must be acquainted with the history of what was formerly regarded as the schism of the self‑styled Ancients from the legal Grand Lodge of England. No Masonic student should be ignorant of this history, and I propose, therefore, to give a brief sketch of it in the present article.

 

In the year 1738, a number of brethren in London, having become dissatisfied with certain transactions in the Grand Lodge of England, separated themselves from the regular Lodges, and began to hold meetings and initiate candidates without the sanction and authority of the Grand Lodge. Preston, who has given a good account of the Ancients, does not, however, state the causes which led to the dissatisfaction of the recusant brethren. But Thorp attributes it to the fact that the Grand Lodge had introduced some innovation, altering the rituals and suppressing many of the ceremonies which had long been in use. This is also the charge made by Dermott. It is certain that changes were made, especially in some of the modes of recognition, and these changes, it is believed, were induced by the publication of a spurious revelation by the notorious Samuel Prichard. Preston himself acknowledges that innovations took place, although he attributes them to a time subsequent to the first secession.

 

Just about this time some dissensions had occurred between the Grand Lodge at London and that at York, and the irregular brethren, taking advantage of this condition of affairs, assumed, but without authority from the Grand Lodge of York, the name of Ancient York Masons. Matters were, however, subsequently accommodated; but in the next year the difficulties were renewed, and the Grand Lodge persisting in its innovations and ritualistic changes, the irregular brethren declared themselves independent, and assumed the appellation of An‑

 

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cient Masons, to indicate their adhesion to the ancient forms, while, for a similar purpose, they denominated the members of the regular Lodges, Modern Masons, because, as was contended, they had adopted new forms and usages. The irregulars established a new Grand Lodge in London, and, under the claim that they were governed by the Ancient York Constitutions, which had been adopted at that city in the year 926, they gained over many influential persons in England, and were even recognized by the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland. The Ancient York Lodges, as they were called, greatly increased in England, and became so popular in America that a majority of the Lodges and provincial Grand Lodges established in this country during the eighteenth century derived their warrants from the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons. In the year 1756, Laurence Dermott, then Grand Secretary, and subsequently the Deputy Grand Master of the new Grand Lodge, published a Book of Constitutions, for the use of the Ancient Masons, under the title of Ahiman Rezon, which work went through several editions, and became the code of Masonic law for all who adhered, either in England or America, to the Ancient York Grand Lodge, while the Grand Lodge of Moderns, or the regular Grand Lodge of England, and its adherents, were governed by the regulations contained in Anderson's Constitutions, the first edition of which had been published in 1723.

 

Henry Sadler maintains that the first ancient lodges in London were formed by Irish Masons in humble circumstances who had been denied admission into the English lodges and that these brethren, not having been parties to the "revival" of 1717, were not seceders, but that their lodges were regularly organized by right of immemorial usage, and this view now generally prevails.

 

The dissensions between the two Grand Lodges of England lasted until the year 1813, when, as will be hereafter seen, the two bodies be‑came consolidated under the name and title of the United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of England. Four years afterwards a similar and final reconciliation took place in America, by the union of the two Brand Lodges in South Carolina. At this day all distinctidn between the Ancients and Moderns has ceased, and it lives only in the memory of the Masonic student.

 

What were the precise differences in the rituals of the Ancients and the Moderns, it is now perhaps impossible to discover, as from their esoteric nature they were only orally communicated; but some shrewd and near approximations to their real nature may be drawn by inference from the casual expressions which have fallen from the advocates of each in the course of their long and generally bitter controversies.

 

I have already said that the regular Grand Lodge is stated to have made certain changes in the modes of recognition, in consequence of the Publication of Samuel Prichard's spurious revelation. These changes

 

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were, as we traditionally learn, a simple transposition of certain words, by which that which had originally been the first became the second, and that which had been the second became the first. Hence Dr. Dalcho, the compiler of the original Ahiman Rezon of South Carolina, who was himself made in an Ancient Lodge, but was acquainted with both systems, says "The real difference in point of importance was no greater than it would be to dispute whether the glove should be placed first upon the right or on the left." A similar testimony as to the character of these changes is furnished by an address to the Duke of Athol, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancients, in which it is said: "I would beg leave to ask, whether two persons standing in the Guild‑hall of London, the one facing the statues of Gog and Magog, and the other with his back turned on them, could with any degree of propriety, quarrel about their stations; as Gog must be on the right of one, and Magog on the right of the other. Such then, and far more Insignificant, is the disputatious temper of the seceding brethren, that on no better grounds than the above they choose to usurp a power and to aid in open and direct violation of the regulations they had solemnly engaged to maintain, and by every artifice possible to be devised endeavored to in‑crease their numbers." It was undoubtedly to the relative situation of the pillars of the porch, and the appropriation of their names in the ritual, that these allusions referred. As we have them now, they were made by the change effected by the Grand Lodge of Moderns, which transposed the original order in which they existed before the change, and in which order they are still preserved by the continental Lodges of Europe.

 

It is then admitted that the Moderns did make innovations in the ritual; and although Preston asserts that the changes were made by the regular Grand Lodge to distinguish its members from those made by the Ancient Lodges, it is evident, from the language of the address just quoted, that the innovations were the cause and not the effect of the break, and the inferential evidence is that the changes were made in consequence of, and as a safeguard against, spurious publications, and were intended, as I have already stated, to distinguish imposters from true Masons, and not irregular brethren from those who were orthodox.

 

But outside of and beyond this transposition of words, there was another difference existing between the Ancients and the Moderns. Dalcho, who was acquainted with both systems, says that the Ancient Masons were in possession of marks of recognition known only to themselves. His language on this subject is positive. "The Ancient York Masons," he says, "were certainly in possession of the original, universal marks, as they were known and given in the Lodges they had left, and which had descended through the Lodge of York, and that of England, down to their day. Besides these, we find they had peculiar marks of their own, which were unknown to the body from

 

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which they had separated, and were unknown to the rest of the Masonic world. We have, then, the evidence that they had two sets of marks; viz.: those which they had brought with them from the original body, and those which they had, we suppose, themselves devised." Dermott, in his Ahiman Rezon, confirms this statement of Dalcho, if indeed, it needs confirmation. He says that "a Modern Mason may with safety communicate all his secrets to an Ancient Mason, but that an Ancient Mason cannot, with like safety, communicate all his secrets to a Modern Mason without further ceremony." And he assigns as a reason for this, that "as a science comprehends an art (though an art cannot comprehend a science), even so Ancient Masonry contains everything valuable among the Moderns, as well as many other things that cannot be revealed without additional ceremonies." Now, what were these "other things" known by the Ancients, and not known by the Moderns? What were these distinctive marks, which precluded the latter from visiting the Lodges of the former? Written history is of course silent as to these esoteric matters. But tradition, confirmed by, and at the same time explaining, the hints and casual intimations of contemporary writers, leads us to the almost irresistible inference that they were to be found in the different constructions of the third, or Master's degree, and the introduction into it of the Royal Arch element; for, as Dr. Oliver says, "the division of the third degree and the fabrication of the English Royal Arch appear, on their own showing, to have been the work of the Ancients." And hence the (trand Secretary of the regular Grand Lodge, or that of the Moderns, replying to the application of an Ancient Mason from Ireland for relief, says: "Our society (i. e. the Moderns) is neither Arch, Royal Arch, nor Ancient, so that you have no right to partake of our charity." This, then is the solution of the difficulty. The Ancients, besides preserving the regular order of the words in the first and second degrees, which the Moderns had transposed (a transposition which has been retained in the Lodges of Britain and America, but which has never been observed by the continental Lodges of Europe, who continue the Wage of the Ancients), also finished the otherwise imperfect third degree with its natural complement, the Royal Arch, a complement with which the Moderns were unacquainted, or which they, if they knew it ogee, had lost.

 

For some years the Ancient Lodges appear to have worked on an Independent system, claiming the original right which every body of MMus had to assemble and work without a warrant. Here, however, y were evidently in error, for it was well known that on the revival of Masonry, in the year 1717, this right had been relinquished by the tour London Lodges that were then in operation, and which constituted

 

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the Grand Lodge. This objection the Ancients pretended to meet by declaring that the Grand Lodge organized in 1717 was not legally constituted, only four Lodges having been engaged in the organization, while, as they said, five were required. Here again they were in error, as there is no evidence of any such regulation having ever existed. And, therefore, to place themselves in a less irregular position, they organized, in 1757, a Grand Lodge of their own, which was subsequently known by the title of "The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England, according to the old Constitutions," while the regular body was known as "The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons under the Constitution of England." The following is a list of the Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of Ancients from its organization to its dissolution:

 

1753, Robert Turner;

1755, Edward Vaughan;

1757, Earl of Blessington;

1761, Earl of Kelly;

1767, Thomas Matthew;

1771, 3d Duke of Athol;

1775, 4th Duke of Athol;

1782, Earl of Antrim;

1791, 4th Duke of Athol;

1813, Duke of Kent, under whom the reconciliation of the two Grand Lodges was accomplished.

 

The Grand Lodge of Ancient Masons was, shortly after its organization, recognized by the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland, and, through the ability and energy of its officers, but especially Laurence Dermott, at one time its Grand Secretary, and afterwards its Deputy Grand Master, and the author of its Ahiman Rezon, or Book of Constitutions, it extended its influence and authority into foreign countries and into the British Colonies of America. Here it became exceedingly popular, and organized several Provincial Grand Lodges, as, for in‑stance, in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina, where the Lodges working under this authority were generally known as "Ancient York Lodges." In consequence of this, dissensions existed, not only in the mother country but also in America, for many years, between the Lodges which derived their warrants from the Grand Lodge of Ancients and those which derived theirs from the regular or so‑called Grand Lodge of Mod‑ems. But the Duke of Kent having been elected, in 1813, the Grand Master of the Ancients, while his brother, the Duke of Sussex, was Grand Master of the Moderns, a permanent reconciliation was effected between the rival bodies, and by mutual compromises the present "United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of England" was established.

 

Similar unions were consummated in America, the last being that of the two Grand Lodges of South Carolina, in 1817, and the distinction between the Ancients and the Moderns was forever abolished, or remains only as a melancholy page in the history of Masonic controversies.

 

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59 - Who was the author of the "Constitutions of the Freemasons?"

 

            Anderson, James, D. D., was born at Edinburg, Scotland, August 5, 1662. The time of his death is uncertain; but, from the most reliable sources at our command, it is believed that he died in 1738. He was a man of a high order of literary talent. Ilis first work was an "Essay showing that the Crown of Scotland is Imperial and Independent," for which the Parliament of Scotland gave him a vote of thanks. At what time, or in what Lodge, Bro. Anderson became a Mason is not known. At the meeting of the Grand Lodge at London, September 29, 1721, he was ordered to arrange and more fully digest the old Gothic Constitutions into a new and better method than had before existed. This duty he performed and the work was issued in 1723, under the title, "The Constitutions of the Freemasons; containing the History, Charges, Regulations, etc., of that most Ancient and Right Worshipful Fraternity. For the use of the Lodges." In 1738, a second edition, enlarged and revised, was published under his supervision. These are regarded as the basis of Masonic Constitutions for the government of the Fraternity to the present time. He was, for many years, Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge. His most elaborate work was a folio volume entitled, "Royal Genealogies; or, the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam to these times. London, 1732."

 

60 - Who is the patron saint of Scottish Masons?

 

            Andrew, St. Brother of St. Peter, one of the Twelve Apostles. The Russians hold him in the highest reverence, as also do the people of Scotland, and the Freemasons of the latter country honor him as one of their patrons. Tradition says that he was crucified. In both countries there is an order of knighthood named in his honor.

 

61 - What are the two principal anniversaries of symbolic Masonry?

 

            Anniversaries, Masonic. For Ancient Craft or Symbolic Masonry the festivals of St. John the Baptist, 24th of June, and St. John the Evangelist, 27th of December.

 

62 - What is the precedent for annual sessions of Grand Lodge`s?

 

            Annual Meetings of Grand Lodge. Originally the meetings of the fraternity in their General Assembly or Grand Lodge, were always annual. The old York Constitutions, it is true, say that the assembly might be held triennially; but wherever spoken of, in subsequent records, it is always as an Annual Meeting. It is not until 1717 that we find anything said of quarterly communications; and the first allusion to these subordinate meetings in any printed work, to which we now have access, is in 1738, in the edition of the Constitutions published in that year. The expression there used is that the quarterly communica‑ tions were "forthwith revived." This of course implies that they had Previously existed but as no mention is made of them in the Regula‑

 

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tions of 1663, which, on the contrary, speak expressly only of an "Annual General Assembly," I feel authorized to infer that quarterly communications must have been first introduced into the Masonic system after the middle of the seventeenth century. They have not the authority of antiquity, and have been very wisely discarded by nearly all the Grand Lodges in this country.

 

63 - Why is Masonry mysterious?

 

            Anomaly. Freemasonry is mysterious because it is an admitted anomaly in the history of the earth. Without territorial possessions - without any other coercing power than that of morality and virtue - it has survived the wreck of mighty empires, and resisted the destroying hand of Time. Contrast the history of Freemasonry with the history of the nations of the world, and what is the result? The Jews, God's favored people, where are they now? A race of wanderers, scattered over the face of the globe. And the stupendous and magnificent structure - the Temple - at once their glory and the wonder of the world, where is it now? Not one stone is left upon another ! Babylon, in her day the queen of nations, has fallen, never to rise again. Egypt, with her kings and philosophers, classic Greece, and Imperial Rome, we now find but occupying their page in the history of the world. But Masonry shines throughout the 'world with as bright and .undiminished a lustre as when first revealed by God to man.

 

64 - What is the most useful form of Masonic charity?

 

            Annuities. Annuities are granted by many lodges to aged and distressed Freemasons, and also to the poor widows of deceased brethren, and this form of charity is certainly the most useful which any lodge can exercise. The silent gratitude of the recipient is a sufficient reward to the Order, but it also reaps this benefit, that the widow will encourage her sons, if she has any, to assist in giving similar assistance to other suffering brethren and widows.

 

65 - Did the anti‑Masonic party ever nominate a candidate for President?

 

            Anti‑Masonic Party. The Roman Catholic religion has always been anti‑Masonic, and hence edicts have constantly been promulgated by popes and sovereigns in Roman Catholic countries against the Order. The most important of these edicts is the bull of Pope Clement XII, which was issued on the 28th of April, 1738, the authority of which bull is still in existence, and forbids any pious Catholic from uniting with a Masonic Lodge under the severest penalties of ecclesiastical excommunication.

 

In the United States, where there are neither popes to issue bulls nor kings to promulgate edicts, the opposition to Freemasonry had to take the form of a political party. Such a party was organized in this country in the year 1826.

 

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The object of this party was professedly to put down the Masonic Institution as subversive of good government, but really for the political aggrandizement of its leaders, who used the opposition to Freemasonry merely as a stepping‑stone to their own advancement to office. But the public virtue of the masses of the American people repudiated a party which was based on such corrupt and mercenary views. The party held several conventions; endeavored, sometimes successfully, but oftener unsuccessfully, to enlist prominent statesmen in its ranks, and finally, in 1831, nominated William Wirt and Amos Ellmaker as its candidates for the Presidency and the Vice‑Presidency of the United States. Each of these gentlemen received but seven votes, being the whole electoral vote of Vermont, which was the only State that voted for them. So signal a defeat was the death‑blow of the party, and from the year 1833 it quietly withdrew from public notice, and now is happily no longer in existence. William L. Stone, the historian of anti‑Masonry, has with commendable impartiality expressed his opinion of the character of this party, when he says that "the fact is not to be disguised - contradicted it cannot be - that anti‑Masonry had become thoroughly political, and its spirit was vindictive towards the Freemasons without distinction as to guilt or innocence." Notwithstanding the opposition that from time to time has been exhibited to Freemasonry in every country, America is the only one where it assumed the form of a political party. This, however, may very justly be attributed to the peculiar nature of our popular institutions. With us, the ballot‑box is considered the most potent engine for the government of rulers as well as people, and is, therefore, resorted to in cases in which, in more despotic governments, the powers of the Church and State would be exercised. Hence, the anti‑Masonic convention held at Philadelphia in 1830 did not hesitate to make the following declarations as the cardinal principle of the party. "The object of anti‑Masonry, in nominating and electing candidates for the Presidency and Vice‑Presidency, is to deprive Masonry of the support which it derives from the power and patronage of the executive branch of the United States Government. To effect this object, will require that candidates, besides possessing the talents and virtues, requisite for such exalted stations, be known as men decidedly opposed to secret societies." This issue having been thus boldly made was accepted by the people; and as principles like these were fundamentally opposed to all the ideas of liberty, personal and political, into which the citizens of the country had been indoctrinated, the battle was made, and the anti‑Masonic party was not only defeated for the time, but forever annihilated.

 

66 - Who was alleged to have been murdered by Masons?

 

            Anti‑Masonry. Anti‑masonry was converted into a watch‑word about the year 1830, for political purposes and, to render the cry more

 

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imposing and more successful, it was alleged that the Fraternity had murdered a man of the name of Morgan for disclosing its secrets. The excitement was kept up with unceasing pertinacity until it influenced nearly 100,000 electors of the State of New York; almost divided the vote of Pennsylvania; planted itself deeply in the soil of Massachusetts; spread itself in others of the New England states, in Ohio and else‑where; and in Vermont, like the rod of Aaron, so far swallowed up both of the former parties, as to obtain the control of the state government. Nor was it of factitious partisans or disappointed men that this party was composed. It comprised among its members as great a portion of wealth and character - of talents and respectability - as any party that was ever formed of equal numbers in this or any other country. And where is this great anti‑masonic party now? The excitement continued but a few years, until the hollowness of its principles became apparent; then it suddenly disappeared like a passing cloud, leaving behind it nothing but public shame and contempt for those who promoted and led it.

 

67 - In what year did Masonry become entirely speculative?

 

            Antiquity of Freemasonry. Much that is claimed as true in Ma‑sonic history, by enthusiastic brothers is legendary and must fall before the stern tests of sound philosophical criticism, yet the high antiquity of the institution is incontestably established. According to legend a part of the ritual of Freemasonry originated in Egypt, and was en‑grafted on the system of the Sidonian builders known as the Dionysian Artificers. This society also adopted a portion of the rituals of Eleusis and Adonis, and through this Order of Freemasonry was introduced into Judea, and constructed Solomon's Temple. In the time of Numa Pornpilius, King of Rome, a branch of the Order of Hiram is said to have appeared in Italy, and formed the Collegia Fabrorum and Artificum. This society of builders continued in uninterrupted succession till the downfall of the Roman empire, when its members spread over all Europe, a portion of whom settled in Britain. Here the society flourished till 1717, when the Brotherhood laid aside its operative character, and became entirely speculative.

 

68 - What is permitted to be printed about Masonry, and what is not?

 

            Aporrheta. The holy things in the Ancient Mysteries which were known only to the initiates, and were not to be disclosed to the profane, were called the aporrheta. What are the aporrheta of Freemasonry? what are the arcana of which there can be no disclosure? are questions that for some years past have given rise to much discussion among the disciples of the Institution. If the sphere and number of these aporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident that much valuable investigation by public discussion of the science of Masonry will be

 

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prohibited. On the other hand, if the aporrheta are restricted to only a few points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and the efficacy of Freemasonry which are dependent on its organization as a secret and mystical association will be lost. We move between Scylla and Charybdis, and it is difficult for a Masonic writer to know how to steer so as, in avoiding too frank an exposition of the principles of the Order, not to fall by too much reticence into obscurity. The European Masons are far more liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the English or the American. There are few things, indeed, which a French or German Masonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness. It is now beginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American writers are acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of Freemasonry are the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive ceremonies of the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference may be publicly made for the purpose of scientific investigation, provided that the reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane, and intelligible only to the initiated.

 

69 - Has a Grand Lodge the right to entertain an appeal to reverse a ballot?

 

            Appeal from Ballot. So anxious is the law to preserve the independence of the ballot, as the great safeguard of its purity, that the Grand Lodge, supreme on almost all other subjects, has no power to interfere in reference to the ballot for a candidate, and notwithstanding that injustice may have been done to an upright and excellent man by his rejection (and such cases of clear injustice must sometimes occur), neither the Grand Lodge nor the Grand Master can afford any redress, nor can any dispensation be granted for either reversing the decision of the Lodge, or for allowing less than a unanimous ballot to be required. Hence we perceive that the dispensation mentioned in the edition of the Book of Constitutions for 1738, permitting a candidate to be admitted with three black balls, was entirely unconstitutional.

 

70 - Does an appeal lie from the decision of a Grand Master is the Grand Lodge?

 

            Appeal from Grand Master's Decision. An appeal cannot be taken from the decision of the Grand blaster to the Grand Lodge. The Committee of Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of New York, in 1852, expressed views on this subject with which I so heartily con‑cur, that I readily borrow their language: "We think," they say, "that no appeal lies from his decision, because he is, in his official position, required, like the Master in his Lodge, to see that the Constitutions and laws of Masonry are faithfully observed. He cannot do this if his opinion or decision may be instantly set aside by an appeal to that majority, which is about to violate them. In such case also he may close the Lodge to prevent the violation; so that calm reason teaches us that

 

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there is no other just rule in the matter than that of the supremacy and inviolability of presiding officers." I know that a few Grand Lodges, or rather their Committees of Correspondence, have censured views like these, and declare them to be investing a Grand Master with what they call "the one man power." It may be so; and in like manner the undisputed power of the Worshipful Master over his Lodge may receive a similar designation. And yet it is, in a great measure, to this power beyond appeal, to the responsibility which it entails, and to the great caution which it necessarily be‑gets, that we must attribute much of the harmony and stability which have always characterized the Order.

 

Should the Grand Master ever abuse this great power, and by unjust or incorrect decisions endanger the prosperity of the institution, the conservative principle of an annual election will afford a competent check, and the evil of an oppressive or an ignorant presiding officer can readily be cured by his displacement at the constitutional period, and in the constitutional way.

 

71 - Does an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft enjoy the right of Masonic relief?

 

            Appeal of Entered Apprentices or Fellowcrafts. The right of appeal differs from other rights in this, that it is` not confined to Master Masons, but is equally enjoyed by Fellowcrafts, and even Entered Apprentices. The humblest member of the fraternity, when he supposes himself to be injured or unjustly treated by his superiors, is entitled to his redress, in an appeal to the Grand Lodge; for, as has been already observed, it is the wisdom of the law that where there is a wrong, there must be a remedy.

 

72 - What rights does a Mason have to appeal from a decision against him?

 

            Appeal, Right of. The right of appeal is an inherent right belonging to every Mason, and the Grand Lodge is the appellate body to whom the appeal is to be made.

 

Appeals are of two kinds:

1st, from the decision of the Master;

2nd, from the decision of the Lodge.

 

Each of these will require a distinct consideration.

 

1. Appeals from the Decision of the Master. It is now a settled doctrine in Masonic law that there can be no appeal from the decision of a Master of a Lodge to the Lodge itself. But an appeal always lies from such decision to the Grand Lodge, which is bound to entertain the appeal and to inquire into the correctness of the decision. Some writers have endeavored to restrain the despotic authority of the Master to decisions in matters strictly relating to the work of the Lodge, while they contend that on all questions of business an appeal may be taken from his decision in the Lodge. But it would be unsafe, and often

 

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impracticable, to draw this distinction, and accordingly the highest Masonic authorities have rejected the theory, and denied the power in a Lodge to entertain an appeal from any decision of the presiding officer.

 

The wisdom of this law must be apparent to any one who examines the nature of the organization of the Masonic institution. The Master is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the good conduct of his Lodge, To him and to him alone the supreme Masonic authority looks for the preservation of order, and the observance of the Constitutions and the Landmarks of the Order in the body over which he presides. It is manifest, then, that it would be highly unjust to throw around a pre‑siding officer so heavy a responsibility, if it were in the power of the Lodge to overrule his decisions or to control his authority.

 

 

2. Appeals from the Decisions of the Lodge. Appeals may be made to the Grand Lodge from the decisions of a Lodge, on any subject except the admission of members, or the election of candidates; but these appeals are more frequently made in reference to conviction and punishment after trial.

 

When a Mason, in consequence of charges preferred against him, has been tried, convicted, and sentenced by his Lodge, he has an in‑alienable right to appeal to the Grand Lodge from such conviction and sentence.

 

His appeal may be either general or specified. That is, he may appeal on the ground, generally, that the whole of the proceedings have been irregular or illegal; or he may appeal specifically against some particular portion of the trial; or lastly, admitting the correctness of the verdict, and acknowledging the truth of the charges, he may appeal from the sentence, as being too severe or disproportionate to the offense.

 

73 - How should an appeal to Grand Lodge be made?

 

            Appeal to Grand Lodge. An appeal must be made in writing, specifying the particular grievance complained of, and be transmitted to the Grand Secretary. A notice and copy of the appeal must also be sent by the appellant to the party against whose decision the appeal is made. All appeals must be made in proper and decent language; no others will be received.

 

74 - What is the Masonic status of an appellant during the pendency of an appeal?

 

            Appellant, Status of. The determination of the position of the appellant, during the pendency of the appeal, is a question of law that is involved in much difficulty. Formerly, I entertained the opinion that the appellant in this case remains in the position of a Mason "under charges. " But a more mature reflection on this subject, induced by a very general opposition of the fraternity, has led me to review my decision.

 

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It is admitted as Masonic law, that until the opinion of the higher body is known, that of the lower must continue in force. Thus, if the Master decides a point of order erroneously, the Lodge must obey it until it is reversed, on appeal, by the Grand Lodge. This doctrine is founded on the principle of obedience to authority, which lies at the very foundation of the Masonic organization. Hence, judging by analogy in the cases under consideration, I am compelled honestly to abandon my former views, and believe that the sentence of the Lodge goes into operation at once, and is to be enforced until the Grand Lodge shall think proper to reverse it. Still, the position of an expelled Mason who has appealed is not precisely the same as that of one who has submitted to the sentence of expulsion.

 

The Grand Lodge of New York has very properly defined expulsion as implying "a termination not only of Masonic intercourse and connection with the body inflicting it, but from the Masonic fraternity, unless an appeal be made." Now the last words qualify the definition, and show that expulsion, when an appeal has been made, does not precisely imply the same thing as expulsion when no appeal has been entered. Again: expulsion has been metaphorically described as Masonic death. Continuing the metaphor, we may say that expulsion under appeal is rather a state of Masonic trance than of death. The expelled person is, it is true, deprived of all exercise of his Masonic functions, and is incapable of any communion with his brethren, but the termination of the case is rendered uncertain by the existence of the appeal. It may end in a confirmation of the expulsion, or in his recovery and restoration to Masonic rights. So that if a specific term is required to designate the condition of one who has been suspended or expelled, during the pendency of his appeal from the sentence, it may be called a quasi suspension, or quasi expulsion. The individual is not really a suspended or expelled Mason until his appeal is dismissed and the sentence confirmed; but in the meantime he is divested of all his Masonic rights, except that of appeal.

 

75 - What is the Grand Master's prerogative with respect to appointments?

 

            Appointments, Grand Master's Prerogative of. The right of appointment is a prerogative of the Grand Master. By the old usages - for I find no written law upon the subject - the Grand Master appointed the Deputy Grand Master, who is hence always styled "his Deputy." The Regulations of 1721 also gave him the nomination of the Grand Wardens, who were then to be installed, if the nomination was unanimously approved by the Grand Lodge, but if not, an election was to be held. The Grand Secretary, at the first establishment of the office in 1723, was elected by the Grand Lodge, but all subsequent appointments were made by the Grand Master. The Grand Treasurer was, however, always an elective office.

 

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In England, under its present Constitution, the Grand Master appoints all the officers of the Grand Lodge, except the Grand Treasurer. In America, the prerogative of appointment, which was vested by ancient usage in the Grand Master, has been greatly abridged, and is now restricted to the nomination of some of the subordinate officers of the Grand Lodge. The Deputy, the Wardens, the Treasurer and Secretary are now elected by the Grand Lodge. In view of the fact that none of the officers of the Grand Lodge, except the Grand Master, owe their existence to a Landmark, but are all the creatures of regulations, adopted from time to time, and in view, too, of the other important fact that regulations on the subject were continually changing, so that we find an officer at one time appointed, and at another time elected, I am constrained to believe that the right of appointment is one of the few prerogatives of the Grand Master, which is not inherent in his office, but which is subject to the regulation of the Grand Lodge.

 

76 - Who has the prerogative of appointing the junior officers of a Lodge?

 

            Appointment of Junior Officers. The appointing power constitutes an important prerogative of the Master of a Lodge. In England, he appoints all the officers, except the Treasurer and Tiler; but in this country the power of appointment is restricted to that of the Senior Deacon, and in some Lodges, of the Tiler. As the Senior Deacon is the proxy of the Master in the discharge of his duties, there seems to be a peculiar propriety in placing the selection of that officer in his hands, and for a similar reason, it is advisable that he should also have the appointment of the Tiler.

 

77 - Who has the right to appoint substitute officers in the absence of appointive officers of a Lodge?

 

            Appointment of Substitute Officers. The Master of the Lodge has the right, during the temporary absence of any officer, to appoint a substitute for the meeting. It has been supposed by some that this power of appointment is restricted to the elective officers, and that during the absence of the Junior Deacon, the Junior pro tern pore must be appointed by the Senior Warden; and in like manner, during the absence of any one of the Stewards, the substitute must be appointed by the Junior Warden. And this opinion is founded on the doctrine that as the permanent Junior Deacon and Stewards are respectively appointed by the Senior and Junior Wardens, their temporary substitutes must be appointed by the same officers; but if this argument were good, then, as the Wardens themselves are elected by the Lodge, it would follow, by a parity of reasoning, that in the absence of either of these officers, the substitute could not be appointed by the Master, but must be elected by the Lodge. In case of the death of a Junior Deacon where a dis‑Pensation for the appointment of a new one has been granted, it is VVVIim~.,,,~,1.

 

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evident that that appointment would vest in the Senior Warden; but all temporary appointments are exclusively made by the Worshipful Master, for the appointing power is one of his prerogatives.

 

78 - What is the symbolism of the Masonic Apron?

 

            Apron. There is no one of the symbols of Speculative Masonry more important in its teachings, or more interesting in its history, than the lambskin, or white leather apron. Its lessons commence at an early period in the Mason's progress, and it is impressed upon his memory as the first gift which he receives, the first symbol which is explained to him, and the first tangible evidence which he possesses of his ad‑mission into the Fraternity. Whatever may be his future advancement in the "royal art," into whatsoever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic Institution or his thirst for knowledge may subsequently lead him, with the lambskin apron - his first investiture - he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its decorations, and conveying, at each step, some new but still beautiful allusion, its substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honored title by which it was first made known to him, on the night of his initiation, as "the badge of a Mason." In the Masonic apron two things are essential to the due preservation of its symbolic character - its color and its material.

 

1. As to its color. The color of a Mason's apron should be pure unspotted white. This color has, in all ages and countries, been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity. It was with this reference that a portion of the vestments of the Jewish priesthood was directed to be white. In the Ancient Mysteries the candidate was always clothed in white. "The priests of the Romans," says Festus, "were accustomed to wear white garments when they sacrificed." In the Scandinavian rites it has been seen that the shield presented to the candidate was white. The Druids changed the color of the garment presented to their initiates with each degree; white, however, was the color appropriated to the last, or degree of perfection. And it was, according to their ritual, intended to teach the aspirant that none were admitted to that honor but such as were cleansed from all impurities both of body and mind. In the early ages of the Christian church a white garment was always placed upon the catechumen who had been newly baptized, to denote that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thenceforth to lead a life of purity. Hence it was presented to him with this solemn charge: "Receive the white and undefiled garment and produce it unspotted before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may obtain eternal life." From all these instances we learn that white apparel was anciently used as an emblem of purity, and for this reason the color has been preserved in the apron of the Freemason.

 

2. As to its material. A Mason's apron must be made of lambskin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be substituted

 

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without entirely destroying the emblematic character of the apron, for the material of the Mason's apron constitutes one of the most important symbols of his profession. The lamb has always been considered as an appropriate emblem of innocence. And hence we are taught, in the ritual of the first degree, that, "by the lambskin, the Mason is reminded of that purity of life and rectitude of conduct which is so essentially necessary to his gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe forever presides."

 

79 - What is the relation of architecture to Masonry?

 

            Architecture. Architecture is one of the first occupations in which man employed himself. How astonishingly has the science of architecture improved and how honored now and respected is an experienced architect! The science commenced with miserable huts; the next step was to erect altars on which to offer sacrifices to the gods; regular dwellings followed next in rotation, after which, in rapid succession, came palaces for princes, bridges over the most rapid streams to facilitate communication; pyramids and towers, proudly pointing to the heavens; catacombs of nearly immeasurable dimensions for the interment of their dead; and the most gorgeous temples in honor of the Great Architect of heaven and earth. Thus we have adopted the title of Masons from one of the most ancient and most honorable occupations of mankind, in allusion to the antiquity of our Order. The working tools of an operative Mason have become our symbols, because we can find no better or more expressive ones. No occupation is so widely extended; and so closely connected with others, as that of a Mason; and the various paths by which mankind strive to gain an entrance into the imperishable temple are innumerable.

 

80 - For what were the pillars "BOAZ" and "JACHIN" used?

 

            Archives. Our traditions state that the hollow of the cylinder of these pillars, Jachin and Boaz, was used as archives of Masonry, and contained the sacred rolls which comprised the history of the Hebrew nation, their civil and religious polity, the works of the prophetical and inspired writers, and the complete system of universal science.

 

81 - What was the Ark of the Covenant and for what was it used?

 

            Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of Covenant or of the Testimony was a chest originally constructed by Moses at God's command (Exod. aay. 16), in which were kept the two tables of stone, on which were engraved the ten commandments. It contained, likewise, a golden pot filled with manna, Aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant. It Was at first deposited in the most sacred place in the tabernacle, and afterwards placed by Solomon in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, but was lost upon the destruction of that building by the Chaldeans.

 

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The later history of this ark is buried in obscurity. It is supposed that, upon the destruction of the first Temple by the Chaldeans, it was carried to Babylon among the other sacred utensils which became the spoil of the conquerors. But of its subsequent fate all traces have been lost. It is, however, certain that it was not brought back to Jerusalem by Zerubbabel. The Talmudists say that there were five things which were the glory of the first Temple that were wanting in the second; namely, the Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah, or Divine Presence, the Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and the spirit of prophecy.

 

The ark was made of shittim wood, overlaid, within and without, with pure gold. It was about three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, and of the same extent in depth. It had on the side two rings of gold, through which were placed staves of shittim wood, by which, when necessary, it was borne by the Levites. Its covering was of pure gold, over which were placed two figures called cherubim, with expanded wings. The covering of the ark was called kaphiret, from kaphar, "to forgive sin," and hence its English name of "mercy‑seat," as being the place where the intercession for sin was made.

 

The researches of archeologists in the last few years have thrown much light on the Egyptian mysteries. Among the ceremonies of that ancient people was one called the Procession of Shrines, which is mentioned in the Rosetta stone, and depicted on the Temple walls. One of these shrines was an ark, which was carried in procession by the priests, who supported it on their shoulders by staves passing through metal rings. It was thus brought into the Temple and deposited on a stand or altar, that the ceremonies prescribed in the ritual might be performed before it. The contents of these arks were various, but always of a mystical character. Sometimes the ark would contain symbols of Life and Stability; sometimes the sacred beetle, the symbol of the Sun; and there was always a representation of two figures of the goddess Theme, or Truth and Justice, which overshadowed the ark with their wings. These coincidences of the Egyptian and Hebrew arks must have been more than accidental.

 

82 - What armorial bearings have been borne by Freemasons?

 

            Arms of Freemasonry. The armorial bearings of the order have undergone some changes in the lapse of ages. They are described in several works on heraldry as follows. The Company of Masons, being otherwise termed Freemasons of ancient standing, and good reckoning by means of affable and kind meetings, at divers times did frequent this mutual assembly in the time of King Henry IV., viz.: the 12th of his reign. Their arms, azure on a chevron, between three castles, argent, a pair of compasses somewhat extended of the first, were granted by William Hawkslow, Clarencieux King of Arms. - Guilliam. The Arms

 

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of the Operative or Stone Masons. Azure on a chevron between three castles argent, a pair of compasses somewhat extended of the first. Crest, an arm extended, grasping a trowel, proper. Supporters, two beavers, proper: - Dermott. The arms of the Grand Lodge of England are used by several of the Grand Lodges of this country, and are similar to those adopted by Royal Arch Masons, which are described as follows: Party per cross vert, voided or; in the first quarter azure, a lion ram‑pant or, for the tribe of Judah, in the second or, an ox passant sable, for Ephraim; in the third or, a man erect proper, for Reuben; in the fourth azure, a spread eagle or, for Dan. Crest, an ark of the covenant; supporters, two cherubim, all proper; motto, Holiness to the Lord. The banners which adorn the Royal Arch Chapters of England, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, are as follows: Scarlet, a lion couchant, for Judah; blue, an ass crouching beneath its burden, for Issachar; purple, a ship, for Zebulon; yellow, a sword, for Simeon; white, a troop of horsemen, for Gad; green, an ox, for Ephraim; flesh‑color, a vine, by the side of a wall, for Manasseh; green, a wolf, for Benjamin; purple, a cup, for Asher; blue, a hind, for Naphtali; green, an eagle, for Dan.

 

83 - How were the 18th Century Lodges arranged?

 

            Arrangement. The appointment and arrangement of a Masonic Lodge‑room in the eighteenth century were very different to our present practice. A long table was extended from one end of the room to the other, covered with a green cloth, on which were placed duplicates of the ornaments, furniture and jewels, intermixed with Masonic glasses for refreshment. At one end of this table was placed the Master's pedestal, and at the other that of the Senior Warden, while about the middle of the table, in the south, the Junior Warden was placed. The brethren sat round as at a common ordinary. When there was a candidate to be initiated, he was paraded outside the whole; and, on such occasions, after he had been safely deposited at the north‑east angle of the Lodge, he was given a very short explanation of the design of Free‑masonry, or a brief portion of the lecture, before the Lodge wasòcalled from labor to refreshment. The song, the toast, the sentiment, went merrily round, and it was not until the brethren were tolerably satiated that the Lodge was resumed, and the routine business transacted before closing.

 

 

84 ‑ What is the status of a Lodge whose warrant has been arrested?

 

            Arrest of Warrant. When a Grand Master suspends the labors of a Lodge, he is usually said "to arrest the warrant." There is no objection to the phrase, if its signification is properly understood. "To arrest the warrant of a Lodge" is simply to forbid its communications, and to prevent its members from congregating for the purposes of Masonic labor or business, under the authority of the warrant. But

 

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otherwise the condition of the Lodge remains unchanged. It does not forfeit its funds or property, and its members continue in good standing in the Order; and should the decree of arrest by the Grand Master be reversed by the Grand Lodge, it resumes its functions just as if no such suspension or arrest had occurred. I have no doubt that the Grand Master cannot demand the delivery of the warrant into his custody; for having been intrusted to the Master, Wardens, and their successors, by the Grand Lodge, the Master, who is the proper custodian of it, has no right to surrender it to any one except to that body from whom it emanated. The "arrest of the warrant" is only a decree of the Grand Master in the character of an injunction, by which he forbids the Lodge to meet until the complaints preferred against it can be investigated and adjudicated by the Grand Lodge.

 

85 - In what degree are the seven liberal arts and sciences explained?

 

            Arts, Liberal. The seven liberal arts and sciences are Grammar, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Logic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. They are beautifully explained in the second, or Felloweraft's, degree.

 

86 - How does a Fellowcraft ascend to receive his wages?

 

            Ascent. The ascent of a Fellowcraft, when he goes to receive his wages, is by a staircase of five divisions, referring to the five orders of architecture, and the five senses. These are the several links of that powerful chain which binds us to the works of the creation, where‑with we can have no connection without those feelings which result from the delicate mechanism of the ear, the eye, the smell, the palate, and the touch.

 

87 - Of what is the Ashlar emblematic?

 

            Ashlar. "Freestone as it comes out of the quarry." In Speculative Masonry we adopt the ashlar in two different states, as symbols in the Apprentice's degree. The Rough Ashlar, or stone in its rude and unpolished condition, is emblematic of man in his natural state - ignorant, uncultivated and vicious. But when education has exerted its wholesome influence in expanding his intellect, restraining his passions, and purifying his life, he then is represented by the Perfect Ashlar, which, under the skilful hands of the workmen, has been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its place in the building. In the older lectures of the eighteenth century the Perfect Ashlar is not mentioned, but its place was supplied by the Broached Thurnal.

 

88 - What name is applied to a seeker of Masonic light?

 

            Aspirant. A seeker of Masonic light, who has applied for admission to the mysteries of the Order, and, having been accepted, is pre‑paring himself for the induction.

 

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89 - Of what is the ass an emblem?

 

            Ass. An emblem of stupidity and ignorance. In the Egyptian system it represented the unitiated, ignorant, and profane.

 

90 - Why cannot an atheist become a Freemason?

 

Atheist. One who denies the existence of a God, or of a supreme intelligent being. The old charges declare that a Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law and, if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist. A belief in God is one of the unwritten landmarks of the Order.

 

91 - What is the duty of a Mason in respect to attendance at his Lodge?

 

            Attendance. Every brother ought to belong to some regular lodge, and should always appear therein properly clothed, truly subjecting himself to all its by‑laws and the general regulations. He must attend all meetings, when duly summoned, unless he can offer to the Master and Wardens such plea of necessity for his absence as the said laws and regulations may admit. By the ancient rules and usages of Masonry, which are generally adopted among the by‑laws of every lodge, no plea was judged sufficient to excuse any absentee, unless he could satisfy the lodge that he was detained by some extraordinary and unforeseen necessity.

 

92 - Under what circumstances is it necessary for a Lodge to submit an attested copy of charges against a member?

 

            Attested Copy of Charges. In event of a Masonic trial, in order that the Grand Lodge may be enabled to come to a just conclusion on the merits of the question, it is necessary that the Lodge should furnish an attested copy of the charge or charges, and of the proceedings on the trial, and this it is bound to do.

 

93 - In what city are some of the best examples of operative Masonry to be found?

 

            Augustan Style. It was during the reign of Augustus that the learned Vitruvius became by his admirable writings the father of true architecture. This imperial patron first employed his Fellowcrafts in repairing or rebuilding all public edifices, much neglected, if not injured, during the civil wars. In the golden days of Augustus, the patricians, following his example, built above a hundred marble palaces at Rome, fit for princes; and every substantial citizen rebuilt his house in marble. All united in the same disposition of adorning Rome, so that Augustus, when dying, justly said, "I found Rome built of brick, but I leave it built of marble!" Hence it is, that in the remains of ancient Rome are the best patterns of true Masonry extant, an epitome of old Grecian architecture, now commonly expressed by the Augustan style, in which are united wisdom, strength, and beauty.

 

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94 - What regulations govern Masonic avouchments?

 

            Avouchment. The regulations by which avouchments are to be governed appear to be three:

 

1. A Mason may vouch for another, if he has sat in a Lodge with him.

 

2. He may vouch for him if he has subjected him to a skillful private examination.

 

3. He may also vouch for him if he has received positive information of his Masonic character from a competent and reliable Brother.

 

Of these three, the first is the safest, and the last the most dangerous. And in all of them it is essential that the voucher should be a skillful Mason, for it is better to subject the visitor to a formal examination, than to take the avouchment of an ignorant Brother, though he may declare that he has sat in the Lodge with the person desirous of being admitted. In fact, the third kind of avouchment by an eminently skillful Mason is safer than the first kind by an ignorant one.

 

95 - May a Master Mason lawfully vouch for a visitor on the authority of another?

 

            Avouchment at Second Hand. There may be sometimes an avouchment at second hand. Thus A may be enabled to vouch for C, on the information derived from B. But in this case it is essential to its validity that the avouchment should have been made when the whole three were present. Thus it is not admissible that B should inform A that a certain person named C, who is then absent, is a Master Mason. A cannot, upon this information, subsequently vouch for C. There may be some mistake or misunderstanding in the identity of the person spoken of. A may have been referring to one individual and B to another. And the person afterwards vouched for by A may prove to be entirely different from the one intended by B. But if B, in the presence of C, shall say to A, "I know this person C to be a Master Mason," or words to that effect, then it is competent for A to repeat this avouchment as his own, because he will thus have de‑rived "lawful information" of the fact.

 

But here again the same principle of competency must be observed, and B must not only be known to A to be a skillful and experienced Mason, incapable of being imposed upon, but A must him‑self be a fitting judge of that skill and experience.

 

This second‑hand avouchment is, however, always dangerous, and should be practised with great caution, and only by eminently skillful Masons. It is to be viewed rather as an exception to the general rule, and as such is generally to be avoided, although between Masons of great learning and experience, it may sometimes be a perfectly safe dependence.

 

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96 - Why was King Solomon's temple built without the use of iron tools?

 

            Axe. In the construction of King Solomon's Temple, every piece of timber, stone, or metal, was brought ready cut, framed, and polished, to Jerusalem; so that no other tools were wanted or heard than were necessary to join the several parts together. All the noise of axe, hammer, and saw was confined to Lebanon, the quarries and the plains of Zeredatha, that nothing might be heard among the Masons of Zion save harmony and peace.

 

97 - What is the color appropriate to symbolic Masonry?

 

            Azure. Sky‑blue. The appropriate color of the symbolic Lodge. A favorite color in heraldry; employed in blazonry. The Grand Lodge of England has adopted Garter Blue, the color of the Order of the Garter.

 

98 - What punishment was meted out to the Jews who failed to keep the ordinances of Jehovah?

 

            Babylonish Captivity. The Jews had fallen into great errors and corruptions, and were guilty of the most abominable sins; wherefore Jehovah, in his wrath, denounced heavy judgments against them by Jeremiah and other prophets, declaring that their fruitful land should be spoiled, their city become desolate and an abomination, and them‑selves and their descendants feel the effects of his displeasure for the space of seventy years, which commenced in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiachim, A. L. 3398.

 

99 - What is the symbolism of the fourth point of fellowship?

 

            Back. Freemasonry, borrowing its symbols from every source, has not neglected to make a selection of certain parts of the human body. From the back an important lesson is derived, which is fittingly developed in the third degree. Hence, in reference to this symbolism, Oliver says: "It is a duty incumbent on every Mason to support a brother's character in his absence equally as though he were present; not to revile him behind his back, nor suffer it to be done by others without using every necessary attempt to prevent it." And Hutchinson, referring to the same symbolic ceremony, says: "The most material part of that brotherly love which should subsist among Masons is that of speaking well of each other to the world; more especially it is expected of every member of this Fraternity that he should not traduce a brother. Calumny and slander are detestable crimes against society. Nothing can be viler than to traduce a man behind his back; it is like the villany of an assassin who has not virtue enough to give his adversary the means of self‑defense, but, lurking in darkness, stabs him whilst he is unarmed and unsuspicious bf an enemy."

 

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100 - What is the badge of a Master Mason and why?

 

            Badge. Johnson defines a badge as "a mark of cognizance worn to show the relation of the wearer to any person or thing." The badge of a Mason is his apron‑‑an emblem of innocence and purity. It was originally a skin of plain white leather. In 1730 it was regulated in Grand Lodge that the Grand Officers should "wear white leather aprons with blue silk; and that the Masters and Wardens of particular lodges may line their white leather aprons with white silk, and may hang their jewels at white ribbons about their necks." At present in England a Master Mason wears a lambskin apron with sky‑blue lining and edging, one inch and a half deep, with a rosette on the fall or flap. No other color or ornament is allowed, except to officers or past officers of lodges.

 

101 - What is the symbolism of the canopy over the Master's chair?

 

            Baldachin. The canopy over the oriental chair in the Master's Lodge also denotes the covering of the Lodge itself. Both are symbols of the star‑decked heavens, and signs of the universality of Free‑masonry. In Pritchard's catechism we meet with the following: "What has the Lodge for a covering`?" Answer: "The vaulted skies of various colors, or the clouds." It is remarked by Krause that the "sense of this beautiful system of symbols is not'well understood. Some think that the primitive Lodge was not covered above, and that the skies were literally its covering; hence the ceiling of a Lodge room is generally made to represent the celestial planisphere." The Baldachin, in this sense, is also a symbol of the extent of Free‑masonry; for as the skies, with their troops of stars, spread over all regions of the earth, so Freemasonry holds in its embrace all the world, and reaches through all time.

 

102 - What is the proper method of conducting the ballot?

 

            Ballot, Method of. Before proceeding to any further inquiry into the laws concerning the ballot, it will be proper to explain the mode in which the ballot is to be taken.

 

In some jurisdictions, it is the custom for the Senior Deacon to carry the box containing the ballots around the Lodge room, when each officer and member having taken out of it a white and black ball, it is again carried around empty, and each Brother then de‑posits the ball of that color which he prefers - white being always a token of consent, and black of dissent. The box is then inspected by the Master, or by the Master and Wardens, and the result declared, after which the Deacon again goes around and collects the remaining balls.

 

I have always objected to this method, not because the opinion of the Lodge was not thus as effectually declared as in any other, but

 

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because there seemed to be a want of solemnity in this mode of per‑forming an important duty. I therefore prefer the more formal ceremony practiced in some other jurisdictions, and which may be thus described: The ballot box, containing two compartments, one holding a number of black and white balls, and the other empty, is first exhibited to the Junior Warden, then to the Senior, and afterwards to the Master, that these officers may be satisfied that the compartment which should be empty is really so. This compartment is then closed. A hole, however, in the top of the box communicates with it, which is for the purpose of permitting the balls deposited by the voters to be dropped in. The compartment containing the white and black balls indiscriminately is left open, and the Senior Deacon, having placed the box upon the altar, retires to his seat.

 

The roll of members is then called by the Secretary, beginning with the Master, and as each Brother's name is called, he advances to the altar, masonically salutes the East, deposits his ball taken from the compartment lying open before him through the hole in the top of the closed compartment, and then retires to his seat.

 

When all the officers and members have voted, the Senior Deacon takes the box from the altar, and submits it to the inspection of the Junior and Senior Wardens and the Master, when, if all the ballots prove to be white, the box is pronounced "clear," and the candidate is declared elected. If, however, there is one black ball only, the box is pronounced "foul," and the Master orders a new ballot, which is done in the same form, because it may be possible that the negative vote was deposited by mistake or inadvertence. If, however, on the second ballot, the one black ball again appears, the candidate is declared by the Master to be rejected. If, on the first ballot, two or more black balls appear, the candidate is announced as having been rejected, without the formality of a second ballot.

 

103 - Has a Grand Master power to order reconsideration of a ballot?

 

            Ballot, Reconsideration of. Neither the Grand Master nor the Grand Lodge has the power, under any circumstances whatever, to order a reconsideration of a ballot. Everything concerning the ad‑mission or rejection of candidates is placed exclusively in the Lodge. The Regulations of 1721 declare this to be "an inherent privilege not subject to dispensation."

 

104 - Has a Mason the right to announce how he has cast his ballot for a candidate?

 

            Ballot, Secrecy of the. The secrecy of the ballot is as essential to its perfection as its unanimity or its independence. If the vote were to be given viva voce, it is impossible that the improper influbnces of fear or interest should not sometimes be exerted, and timid

 

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members be induced to vote contrary to the dictates of their reason and conscience. Hence, to secure secrecy and protect the purity of choice, it has been wisely established as a usage, not only that the vote shall be taken by ballot, but that there shall be no subsequent discussion on the subject. Not only has no member a right to inquire how his fellows have voted, but he may not explain his own vote. The reason of this is evident. If one member has a right to rise in his place and announce that he deposited a white ball, then every other member has the same right; and in a Lodge of twenty members, where an application has been rejected by one black ball, if nineteen members state that they did not deposit it, the inference is clear that the twentieth Brother has done so, and thus the secrecy of the ballot is at once destroyed. The rejection having been announced from the Chair, the Lodge should at once proceed to other business, and it is the sacred duty of the presiding officer.peremptorily and promptly to check any discussion on the subject. Nothing must be done to impair the inviolable secrecy of the ballot.

 

105 - Do the members of a lodge under dispensation have the right of ballot on candidates?

 

            Ballot Under Dispensation. I am perfectly aware that it is the general rule for all the brethren present to ballot for candidates in Lodges under dispensation; but the question is not, what is the usage, but what is the law which should govern the usage? The balloting may take place in such a Lodge, but it must be remembered,. if we are to be governed by the principles and inferences of law, that each Brother, when he deposits his ball, does so, not by any legal right that he possesses, but simply by the courtesy of the Master and Wardens, who have adopted this convenient method of consulting the opinions and obtaining the counsel of their brethren, for their own satisfaction. All ballots held in a Lodge under dispensation are, except as regards the votes of the Master and Wardens, informal.

 

106 - How should Lodge officers wear their jewels?

 

            Band. A ribbon worn around the neck of the officers of Grand Lodges, and also of individual Lodges, to which are attached the official jewels. The color of the band differs in different Lodges, but blue is most common.

 

107 - Should the Worshipful Master be present at Masonic banquets?

 

            Banquet. After the closing of some lodges for initiations or festivals, and also upon special occasions, a banquet is held, that is to say, the brethren assemble for recreation and refreshment at a supper. But if the brethren merely meet to eat and drink, then the appellation Masonic banquet is not appropriate. Eating and earnest Masonic discourses or appeals for charitable purposes to the brethren should

 

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be so blended together as to produce a beautiful and harmonious evening's entertainment; for this reason the officers of the Lodge, at least the Worshipful Master, Wardens, and Master of the Ceremonies, or his substitute, should be present.

 

108 - What is the symbolism of pulling off the shoes?

 

            Bare Feet. Nakedness of feet was a sign of mourning. God says to Ezekiel, "Make no mourning for the dead, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet." It was likewise a mark of respect. Moses put off his shoes to approach the burning bush; the priests served in the Tabernacle with their feet naked, as they did afterwards in the Temple. The Talmudists teach that if they had but stepped with their feet upon a cloth, a skin, or even upon the foot of one of their companions, their service would have been unlawful.

 

Putting off the shoes has a threefold signification in Scripture. First, it was usual to put them off in token of mourning and grief, as David is said to have gone from Jerusalem barefoot, when he fled from Absalom. Second, it signified the yielding of one's right to an‑other, and is so prescribed in Deuteronomy, and matured by Boaz. Third, it was a token of respect and reverence, as appears by the com. mand of God to Moses, and the reason assigned for it was that the ground whereon he stood was holy, or sanctified by God's immediate presence.

 

109 - What is a Basilica?

 

            Basilica. By this name market‑houses and halls of justice, erected after the fashion of religious edifices and Christian churches, were called in the middle ages. These buildings were of an oblong rectangular form, with a semicircular niche at one end. Anderson, in his Book of Constitutions, remarks that "Our modern temple has arisen from the Basilica, having the same interior arch."

 

110 - What is the badge of a Marshal of a Lodge?

 

            Baton. A staff or truncheon, about two feet long, generally ornamented or gilt at each end, and the middle enveloped in a scroll. It is usually carried in the right hand, and is the distinguishing mark or emblem of authority of Marshals in Masonic and other processions. The badge of a Marshal in a subordinate Lodge is two crossed batons, and that of the Marshal in the Grand Lodge two crossed batons en‑circled in a wreath.

 

111 - Why do Masons cultivate order, harmony and beauty?

 

            Beauty. The Freemason is a true admirer of all the liberal arts and sciences, but he much more admires a beauty of his own, which stands as fast as the pillars of the earth - is immovable and immortal. All our working tools are given to us to find out symmetry, propor‑

 

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tion, and applicability. We are conducted by every step in our Order to order and harmony, the very being of beauty. We do not crawl in loathsome caverns, but our places of meeting are beautiful halls. The outward tokens and clothing of our Order are composed of the most beautiful colors. We refuse neither silk nor metal in our jewels; we rejoice in the purity of the clothing of our Order; but more especially we endeavor to make the spirit of true beauty shine in our assemblies, and not to allow it to degenerate into a lifeless appearance.

 

112 - Of what is the beehive emblematic?

 

            Beehive. The beehive is an emblem of industry, and recommends the practice of that virtue to all created beings, from the highest seraph in heaven to the lowest reptile in the dust. It teaches us that as we came into the world rational and intelligent beings, so we should ever be industrious ones; never sitting down, contented while our fellow‑creatures around us are in want, if it is in our power to relieve them without inconvenience to ourselves.

 

113 - What is the ethical code of Freemasonry?

 

            Behavior. The subject of a Mason's behavior is one that occupies much attention in both the ritualistic and the monitorial instructions of the Order. In "the Charges of a Freemason," extracted from the ancient records, and first published in the Constitutions of

1723, the sixth article is exclusively appropriated to the subject of "Behavior." It is divided into six sections, as follows:

 

1. Behavior in the Lodge while constituted.

2. Behavior after the Lodge is over and the Brethren not gone.

3. Behavior when Brethren meet without strangers, but not in a Lodge formed.

4. Behavior in presence of strangers not Masons.

5. Behavior at home and in your neighborhood.

6. Behavior towards a strange brother.

 

The whole article constitutes a code of ethical conduct remarkable for the purity of the principles it inculcates, and is well worthy of the close attention of every Mason. It is a complete refutation of the slanders of anti‑Masonic revilers. These charges are to be found in all the editions of the Book of Constitutions, and in many recent Masonic works which are readily accessible to everyone who desires to read them.

 

114 - Upon what scriptural basis are the lectures of Freemasonry largely founded?

 

            Belief. The most prominent scriptural teachings upon which Free‑masonry bases its lectures are these: that there is a God; that he created man, and placed him in a state of perfect happiness in Paradise; that he forfeited this supreme felicity by disobedience to the divine commands at the suggestion of a serpent tempter; that, to alleviate his repentent contrition, a divine revelation was communicated MASONRY DEFINED       131  to him, that in process of time a Saviour should appear in the world to atone for their sin, and place their posterity in a condition of restoration to his favor; that for the increasing wickedness of man, God sent a deluge to purge the earth of its corruptions; and when it was again repeopled, he renewed his gracious covenant with several of the patriarchs; delivered his people from Egypt; led them in the wilderness; and in the Mosaic dispensation gave more clear indications of the Messiah by a succession of prophets, extending throughout the entire theocracy and monarchy; that he instituted a tabernacle and temple worship which contained the most indisputable types of the religion which the Messiah should reveal and promulgate; and that when the appointed time arrived, God sent his only begotten Son to instruct them, who was born at Bethlehem, as the prophets had fore‑told, in the reign of Herod (who was not of the Jewish royal line, nor even a Jew), of a pure virgin of the family of David.

 

115 - How were the Fellowcrafts employed in the building of King Solo‑ mon's temple?

 

            Benai. The Benai, who were setters, layers, or builders at the erection of King Solomon's Temple, were able and ingenious Fellow‑crafts, who were distributed by Solomon into separate lodges, with a Master and Warden in each, that they might receive commands in a regular manner, take care of their tools and jewels, be paid every week, and be duly fed and clothed, that the work might proceed with harmony and order.

 

116 - Of what do the charities of the Masonic order (in part) consist?

 

            Benefits. The Society expends thousands of dollars every year in the relief of the virtuous distressed. Nor can the existence of these benefits be denied, for they are open and undisguised. The relief of widows and orphans, and of aged Masons in want, youth of both sexes educated and trained to a life of usefulness and virtue, the stream of charity disseminated through every class of wretchedness and misery - all these are so evident, that none can doubt the benefits of the institution. Those who decry it are fighting against truth, and condemn by their writings what their conscience secretly approves.

 

117 - Do we betray Masonic secrets?

 

            Betraying. By a full and fair exposition of our great leading principles, we betray no masonic secrets; these are safely locked up in the heart of every Mason, and are never to be imparted except in a constitutional manner. But our leading tenets are no secrets. It is no secret that Masonry is of divine origin; it is no secret that the system embraces and inculcates evangelical truth; it is no secret that there is no duty enjoined nor virtue required in the volume of inspiration, but what is found in, and taught by, Speculative Free‑

 

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masonry; it is no secret that the appropriate name of God has been preserved in this institution in every country where Masonry existed, while the rest of the world was literally sunk in heathenism; and above all, it is not, neither can it be, a secret, that a good Mason is, of necessity, truly and emphatically a good man and citizen.

 

118 - What is the relation of the Bible to Freemasonry?

 

            Bible. The Bible is properly called a great light of Masonry, for from the center of the Lodge it pours forth upon the East, the West, and the South its refulgent rays of Divine truth. The Bible is used among Masons as the symbol of the will of God however it may be expressed. And, therefore, whatever book expresses to any people God's will may be used in a Masonic Lodge as a substitute for the Bible. Thus, in a Lodge consisting entirely of Jews, the Old Testament alone may be placed upon the altar. And Turkish Masons make use of the Koran. Whether it be the Gospels of the Christian, the Pentateuch to the Israelite, the Koran to the Mussulman, or the Vedas to the Brahman, the Book of the Law everywhere conveys the same Masonic idea - that of the symbolism of the Divine Will revealed to man.

 

The history of the Masonic symbolism of the Bible is interesting. Although referred to in the manuscripts before the revival as the book upon which the covenant was taken, it was never referred to as a great light. In the oldest ritual that we have, that of 1724, - a copy of which from the Royal Library of Berlin is given by Krause, - there is no mention of the Bible as one of the lights. Preston made it a part of the furniture of the Lodge; but in rituals of about 1760 it is de‑scribed as one of the three great lights. In the American system, the Bible is both a piece of furniture and a great light.

 

119 - Is a candidate for Masonry required to believe in the divine authen‑ ticity of the Scriptures?

 

            Bible, Requirement of. Within a few years an attempt has been made by some Grand Lodges to add to the simple, moral, and religious qualifications, another, which requires a belief in the divine authenticity of the Scriptures. It is much to be regretted that Masons will sometimes forget the fundamental law of their institution, and endeavor to add to or to detract from the perfect integrity of the building, as it was left to them by their predecessors. Whenever this is done, the beauty of our temple must suffer. The Landmarks of Masonry are so perfect that they neither need nor will permit of the slightest amendment. Thus in the very instance here referred to, the fundamental law of Masonry requires only a belief in the Supreme Architect of the universe, and in a future life, while it says, with peculiar toleration, that in all other matters of religious belief, Masons are only expected to be of that religion in which all men

 

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agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves. Under the shelter of this wise provision, the Christian and the Jew, the Mohammedan and the Brahman, are permitted to unite around our common altar, and Masonry becomes, in practice as well as in theory, universal. The truth is, that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious institution - its religion being of that universal kind in which all men agree, and which, handed down through a long succession of ages, from that ancient priesthood who first taught it, embraces the great tenets of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul - tenets which, by its peculiar symbolic language, it has preserved from its foundation, and still continues, in the same beautiful way, to teach. Beyond this, for its religious faith, we must not and cannot go.

 

It may, then, I think, be laid down as good Masonic law, with respect to the moral and religious qualifications of candidates, that they are required to be men of good moral character, believing in the existence of God and in a future state. These are all the moral qualifications that can be demanded, but each of them is essential.

 

120 - What do the colors, black and white, symbolize?

 

            Black. Among the Athenians, black was the color of affliction, and white of innocence, joy, and purity. The Arabs give to black a signification evidently derived from traditions of initiation. It designates among the Moors grief, despair, obscurity, and constancy. Black, in blazon named sable, signifies prudence, wisdom, and constancy in adversity and woe. Hence the mosaic work of a Mason's lodge.

 

121 - Is the rule that one black ball rejects of universal application?

 

            Black Balls. What number of black balls is necessary to constitute a rejection? Here we are entirely without the guidance of any express law, as all the Ancient Constitutions are completely silent upon the subject. It seems to me, however, that in the advancement of an Apprentice, as well as in the election of a profane, the ballot should be unanimous. This is strictly in accordance with the principles of Masonry, which require unanimity in admission, lest improper persons be intruded, and harmony impaired. Greater qualifications are certainly not required of a profane applying for initiation than of an Apprentice seeking advancement; nor can I see any reason why the test of those qualifications should not be as rigid in the one case as in the other. I am constrained therefore to believe, notwithstanding the adverse decision of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin in 1849 that on the application of an Entered Apprentice for advancement to the second degree, the ballot must be unanimously in his favor to secure the adoption of his petition. It may be stated,

 

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once for all, that in all cases of balloting for admission in any of the degrees of Masonry, a single black ball will reject.

 

122 - What is the symbolism of the blazing star?

 

            Blazing Star. The blazing star is the expressive symbol of that Great Being himself, who is described by the magnificent appellations of the Day Spring, or Rising Sun; the Day Star; the Morning Star; and the Bright, or Blazing Star. This, then, is the supernal reference of the Blazing Star of Masonry, attached to a science which, like the religion it embodies, is universal, and applicable to all times and sea‑sons, and to every people that ever did or ever will exist on our ephemeral globe.

 

123 - What is the symbolism of the color blue?

 

            Blue Masonry. The three degrees of symbolical Masonry are clothed in or ornamented with blue, whence they are commonly known as Blue Lodge Masonry. Blue is the color of truth or fidelity; and it is a remarkable fact that the brethren have ever remained true to the blue degrees, while the authenticity of the other degrees have often been disputed, and in many places altogether denied. Under the reign of William III. of England blue was adopted as the favorite color of the Craft.

 

This durable and beautiful color was adopted and worn by our ancient brethren as the peculiar characteristic of an institution which has stood the test of ages, and which is as much distinguished by the durability of its materials or principles, as by the beauty of its super‑structure. It is an emblem of universal friendship and benevolence; and instructs us that, in the mind of a Mason, those virtues should be as expansive as the blue arch of heaven itself.

 

124 - What was the name of the left‑hand pillar on the porch of King Solomon's temple?

 

            Boaz. The name of the left‑hand pillar that stood at the porch of King Solomon's temple. It is derived from the Hebrew and signifies "in strength."

 

125 - What is the Book of Constitutions?

 

            Book of Constitutions. This book contains the written landmarks, rules, regulations, ancient charges, and fundamental principles of the Order, a detailed exposition of the duties of officers of Grand and Subordinate Lodges, and the rights and privileges of members. In all processions when the Grand Master appears the Book of Constitutions is carried before him guarded by the Tiler's sword.

 

126 - What is the symbolism of the Book of the Law?

 

            Book of the Law. The Holy Bible, which is always open in a Lodge as a symbol that its light should be diffused among the breth‑

 

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ren. The passages on which it is opened differ in the different degrees.

 

Masonically, the Book of the Law is that sacred book which is believed by the Mason of any particular religion to contain the revealed will of God. Thus, to the Christian Mason the Book of the Law is the Old and New Testament; to the Jew, the Old Testament; to the Mussulman, the Koran; to the Brahman, the Vedas; and to the Parsee, the Zendavesta.

 

The Book of the Law is an important symbol in the Royal Arch degree, concerning which there was a tradition among the Jews that the Book of the Law was lost during the captivity, and that it was among the treasures discovered during the building of the second Temple. The same opinion was entertained by the early Christian fathers, such, for instance, as Irenacus, Tertullian, and Clemens Alexandrinus; "for," says Prideaux, "they (the Christian fathers) hold that all the Scriptures were lost and destroyed in the Babylonish captivity, and that Erza restored them all again by Divine revelation." The truth of the tradition is very generally denied by biblical scholars, who attribute its origin to the fact that Erza collected together the copies of the law, expurgated them of the errors which had crept into them during the captivity, and arranged a new and correct edition. But the truth or falsity of the legend does not affect the Masonic symbolism. The Book of the Law is the will of God, which, lost to us in our darkness, must be recovered as precedent to our learning what is TRUTH. As captives to error, truth is lost to us; when freedom is restored, the first reward will be its discovery.

 

127 - What are the ornaments of a Lodge?

 

            Border. The ornaments of a Lodge are said to be the Mosaic pavement, the indented tessel, and blazing star. The indented tessel represents the beautiful border that embellished the outer edges of the Mosaic pavement. This border consisted of small stones of various colors, artistically arranged, so as to produce the most pleasing effect.

 

128 - What do the two pillars on the Tracing Board represent?

 

            Brazen Pillars. The two pillars on the Tracing Board are the representations of those which stood at the entrance of the porch of King Solomon's Temple, emblems of strength and stability. They are particularly described in Scripture. They were composed of cast brass or, more properly, bronze, and were manufactured in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredatha, along with the holy vessels lilih,äfor the temple worship.

 

129 - What is the duty of a Mason with respect to a brother's secrets?

 

            Breast. A Mason's breast should be a safe and sacred repository for all just and lawful secrets. A brother's secrets, delivered to me

 

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as such, I would keep as my own, as to betray that trust might be doing him the greatest injury he could sustain in this mortal life; nay, it would be like the villany of an assassin who lurks in darkness to stab his adversary when unarmed and least prepared to meet an enemy.

 

130 - What is a Mason called who has mastered the ritual?

 

            Bright. A Mason is said to be "bright" who is well acquainted with the ritual, the forms of opening and closing, and the ceremonies of initiation. This expression does not, however, in its technical sense, appear to include knowledge of the history and science of the Institution, and many bright Masons, are therefore, not necessarily learned Masons. On the contrary, some learned Masons are not well versed in the exact phraseology of the ritual. The one knowledge depends on a retentive memory, the other is derived‑from deep research. It is scarcely necessary to say which of the two kinds of knowledge is more valuable. The Mason whose acquaintance with the Institution is confined to what he learns from its esoteric ritual will have but a limited idea of its science and philosophy. And yet a knowledge of the ritual as the foundation of higher knowledge is essential.

 

131 - What was the broached thurnal?

 

            Broached Thurnal. This was the name of one of the original immovable jewels, and was used for the Entered Apprentice to learn to work upon. It was subsequently called the Brute Stone, or rough Ashlar.

 

132 - Of what is the broken column emblematic?

 

            Broken Column. Among the Hebrews, columns, or pillars, were used metaphorically, to signify princes or nobles, as if they were the pillars of a state. Thus, in Psalm xi. 3, the passage, reading in our translation, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" is, in the original, "when the columns are overthrown," i. e., when the firm supporters of what is right and good have perished. So the passage in Isaiah six. 10, should read: "her (Egypt's) columns are broken down," that is, the nobles of her state. In Freemasonry, the broken column is, as Master Masons well know, the emblem of the fall of one of the chief supporters of the Craft. The use of the column or pillar as a monument erected over a tomb was a very ancient custom, and was a very significant symbol of the character and spirit of the person interred.

 

133 - In what sense is Freemasonry called a brotherhood?

 

            Brotherhood. When our Saviour designated his disciples as his brethren, he implied that there was a close bond of union existing between them, which idea was subsequently carried out by St. Peter

 

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in his direction to "love the brotherhood." Hence the early Christiana designated themselves as a brotherhood, a relationship unknown to the Gentile religions; and the ecclesiastical and other confraternities of the Middle Ages assumed the same title to designate any association of men engaged in the same common object, governed by the same rules, and united by an identical interest. The association or fraternity of Freemasons is, in this sense, called a brotherhood.

 

134 - How does the master of a European Lodge greet a newly made Mason?

 

            Brotherly Kiss. At the close of their meetings the first Christians were accustomed to kiss each other; this took place also at the holy evening banquet - agape - of the community of brothers and sisters. To this practice the Apostles Paul and Peter refer in their epistles: "Greet each other with the holy kiss." This holy kiss, as a sign or token of brotherly love, is found likewise as a venerable custom in many Lodges, particularly in Europe, where the Master greets with a kiss each newly initiated member.

 

135 - What Masonic duties are implied by the tenets of brotherly love?

 

            Brotherly Love. At a very early period in the course of his initiation, a candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry is informed that the great tenets of the Order are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. These virtues are illustrated, and their practice recommended to the aspirant, at every step of his progress; and the instruction, though continually varied in its mode, is so constantly repeated, as infallibly to impress upon his mind their absolute necessity in the constitution of a good Mason.

 

Brotherly Love might very well be supposed to be an ingredient in the organization of a society so peculiarly constituted as that of Freemasonry. But the brotherly love which we inculcate is not a mere abstraction, nor is its character left to any general and careless understanding of the candidate, who might be disposed to give much or little of it to his brethren, according to the peculiar constitution of his own mind, or the extent of his own generous or selfish feelings. It is, on the contrary, closely defined; its object plainly denoted; and the very mode and manner of its practice detailed in words, and illustrated by symbols, so as to give neither cause for error nor apology for indifference.

 

'Every Mason is acquainted with the Five Points of Fellowship - he knows their symbolic meaning - he can never forget the interesting incidents that accompanied their explanation; and while he has this knowledge, and retains this remembrance, he can be at no loss to understand what are his duties, and what must be his conduct, in relation to the principle of Brotherly Love.

 

Brotherly Love can be manifested in innumerable opportunities not

 

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only in the Lodge but also out of it. It is acknowledged by the nearly imperceptible pressure of the hand as much as by the vindication of an innocently accused absent brother. It is an essential element to bind the brethren unto each other; we have pledged our‑selves to exercise it, and it is one of the greatest duties of a Free and Accepted Mason to deny it unto no man, more especially to a brother Mason. To exercise brotherly love, or to feel deeply interested in the welfare of others is a source of the greatest happiness in every situation in life.

 

136 - What were the bulls issued by the Popes against the Masonic order?

 

            Bull, Papal. An edict or proclamation issued from the Apostolic Chancery, with the seal and signature of the pope, written in Gothic letters and upon coarse parchment. It derives its name from the leaden seal which is attached to it by a cord of hemp or silk, and which in mediaeval Latin is called Bulla. Several of these bulls have from time to time been fulminated against Freemasonry and other secret societies, subjecting them to the heaviest ecclesiastical punishments, even to the greater excommunication. According to these bulls, a Freemason is ipso facto excommunicated by continuing his member‑ship in the society, and is thus deprived of all spiritual privileges while living, and the rites of burial when dead.

 

Of these bulls, the first was promulgated by Clement XII., on the 27th of April,

1738; this was repeated and made perpetual by Benedict XIV., on the 18th of May,

1775. On the 13th of August, 1814, an edict continuing these bulls was issued by the Cardinal Gonsalvi, Secretary of State of Pius VII., and lastly, similar denunciatory edicts have within recent years been uttered by Pius IX. Notwithstanding these reiterated denunciations and attempts at Papal suppression, the Mason may say of his Order as Galileo said of the earth, e pur si muove.

 

137 - What right of burial has a Master Mason?

 

            Burial. The right to be conducted to the last resting‑place on earth, by his brethren, and to be committed to the grave with the ceremonies of the society, belongs alone to Master Masons. Among the old regulations is the following: "No Mason can be interred with the formalities of the Order, unless it be at his own special request, communicated to the Master of the Lodge of which he died a member  - foreigners and sojourners excepted; nor unless he has been advanced to the third degree of Masonry, from which there can be no exception."

 

138 - May an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft take part in a Masonic Funeral procession?

 

            Burial, Masonic. As Master Masons alone possess the right of Masonic burial, and as the Lodge, preparatory to that occasion, is

 

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required to be opened in the third degree, it follows that Fellowcrafts and Entered Apprentices are not permitted to join in a funeral pro‑cession, and accordingly we find that in the form of procession laid down by Preston no place is allotted to these inferior classes of the fraternity, in which he has been followed by all subsequent monitorial writers.

 

139 - Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of Masonic burial?

 

            Burial of Entered Apprentices. Apprentices are not entitled to the honors of Masonic burial, nor can they join in paying those honors to a deceased Master Mason. In this respect they are placed precisely in the position of profanes; this is a practical proof that they are not Masons in the strict sense and significance of the word. They are really nothing more than Masonic disciples, permitted only to enter the porch of the temple, but with no right to penetrate within its sanctuary.

 

140 - Where is the burial place of a Master Mason?

 

            Burial Place. The burial place of a Master Mason is under the Holy of Holies, with the following legend delineated on the monument: A virgin weeping over a broken column, with a book open before her; in her right hand a sprig of cassia, in her left an urn; Time standing behind her, with his hands enfolded in the ringlets of her hair. The weeping virgin denotes the unfinished state of the temple; the broken column that one of the principal supporters of Masonry (our Ancient operative Grand Master) had fallen; the open book implies that his memory is recorded in every Mason's heart; the sprig of cassia refers to the discovery of his remains; the urn shows that his ashes have been carefully collected; and Time standing behind her implies that time, patience, and perseverance will accomplish all things.

 

141 - Where were treasures commonly concealed in ancient times?

 

            Buried Treasures. We have a tradition that King Solomon concealed certain treasures beneath the foundation of the temple, which were found when they were opened to build the second temple. It was common in ancient times to secrete treasures in such vaults and caverns.

 

142 - On what degree should the business of a Lodge be transacted? Why?

 

            Business. A Lodge has the right to transact all business that can be legally transacted by regularly congregated Masons. This is one of the objects for which the warrant was granted, but it is to be exercised under the regulation of certain restrictions.

 

It seems now to be almost universally conceded that all mere business (by which word I wish to make a distinction from what is tech‑

 

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nically called "Masonic work") must be transacted in the third degree. This is a very natural consequence of the change which has taken place in the organization of the craft. Originally, the Fellow‑crafts constituted the great body of the fraternity - the Master's degree being confined to that select few who presided over the Lodges. At that time the business of the Order was transacted in the second degree, because the possessors of that degree composed the body of the craft. Afterwards, in the beginning, and up almost to the middle f the last century, this main body was made up of Entered Apprentices, and then the business of Lodges was necessarily transacted in the first degree. Now, and ever since the middle of the eighteenth century, for more than one hundred years, the body of the craft has consisted only of Master Masons. Does it not then follow, by a parity of reasoning, that all business should be now transacted in the third degree? The ancient Charges and Constitutions give us no explicit law on the subject, but the whole spirit and tenor of Masonic usage has been that the business of Lodges should be conducted in that degree, the members of which constitute the main body of the craft at the time. Whence it seems but a just deduction that at the present time, and in the present condition of the fraternity, all business, except the mere ritual work of the inferior degrees, should be conducted in the third degree. Another exception must be made as to the examination of witnesses in the trial of an Entered Apprentice or a Fellowcraft, which, for purposes of justice, should be conducted in the degree to which the defendant has attained; but even here the final decision should always be made in the third degree.

 

143 - What are the rules called that govern a Lodge?

 

            By‑Laws. Every lodge has the power of framing by‑laws for its own government, provided they are not contrary to or inconsistent with the general regulations of the Grand Lodge. The Old Constitutions provide that the by‑laws of the Lodge shall be delivered to the master on the day of his installation, when he shall solemnly pledge himself to observe and enforce them during his mastership. Every brother shall also sign them when he becomes a member of the Lodge, as a declaration of his submission to them.

 

144 - What are the powers of a Grand Lodge with respect to the by‑laws of a subordinate Lodge?

 

            By‑Laws, Powers of Grand Lodge Over. A Grand Lodge has the power of making by‑laws for its subordinates; for the by‑laws of every Lodge are a part of the Regulations of Masonry, and it is the prerogative of a Grand Lodge alone to make new regulations. Yet, for the sake of convenience, a Grand Lodge will, and most Grand Lodges do, delegate to their subordinates the duty of proposing by‑laws for their own government; but these by‑laws must be approved and confirmed

 

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by the Grand Lodge before they become permanent regulations. And a Grand Lodge may at any time abrogate the by‑laws, or any part of them, or of any one or all of its subordinates; for, as the power of pro‑posing by‑laws is not an inherent prerogative in the Lodges, but one delegated by the Grand Lodge, it may at any time be withdrawn or revoked, and a Grand Lodge may establish a uniform code of by‑laws for the government of its subordinates.

 

It is from the fact that a Lodge only proposes its by‑laws, which the Grand Lodge enacts, that the principle arises that the Lodge can‑not suspend any one of its by‑laws, even with unanimous consent, for here the maxim of law already cited applies, and the same method must be adopted in abolishing as in creating an obligation. That is to say, the by‑law having been enacted by the Grand Lodge, that body alone can suspend its operation.

 

145 - Has a Lodge the right to prescribe its own by‑laws?

 

            By‑Laws, Right of Making. A Lodge has the right to make by‑laws for its local government. This right must be considered as a concession or regrant by the Grand Lodge to the subordinates of that which had been previously conveyed to it. Undoubtedly every congregation of Masons must originally have possessed an inherent right to make rules for their government; but on the organization of Grand Lodges, the supreme legislative jurisdiction of the Order was vested in these bodies. Hence the law‑making power is now admitted to reside primarily in Grand Lodges; but a portion of this power - just so much as is necessary for making local regulations - has been reconveyed by the Grand Lodges to their subordinate Lodges, with the qualifying restrictions that all by‑laws made by a Lodge must be in accordance with the Landmarks of the Order and the Regulations of the Grand Lodge, and must also be submitted for approval to the Grand Lodge. This right then, of making by‑laws is not an inherent and independent right, but one which is derived from the concession tf the Grand Lodge, and may at any time be still further abridged or altogether revoked.

 

146 - Has the Grand Lodge the right to prescribe the by‑laws of constituent Lodges?

 

            By‑Laws, Uniform Code of. It has been suggested in some jurisdictions that the Grand Lodge should prepare a uniform code of by‑laws for the government of its subordinates, thus depriving them of the power of enacting their own local regulations. I cannot deny the right of a Grand Lodge to assume such a power, which seems to be clearly within its prerogative. And indeed, while some liberty should be al‑lowed a Lodge to make laws for its government in certain particulars, which can in no way affect the general condition of the Order, such, for instance, as relate to the contributions of members, the time of meeting, etc., I am clearly convinced that it would be most expedient for

 

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every Grand Lodge, like that of New York, to leave as little as possible in the way of law‑making to its subordinates, but to incorporate in its own constitution the most important articles for the government of Lodges.

 

147 - What is the length of a Mason's cable tow?

 

            Cable Tow's Length. Gaedieke says that, "according to the ancient laws of Freemasonry, every brother must attend his Lodge if he is within the length of his cable tow." The old writers define the length of a cable tow, which they sometimes called "a cable's length," to be three miles for an Entered Apprentice. But the expression is really symbolic and, as it was defined by the Baltimore Convention in 1842, means the scope of a man's reasonable ability.

 

148 - What country did King Solomon cede to Hiram, King of Tyre?

 

            Cabul. A country in Galilee ceded to Hiram, King of Tyre, by Solomon, as a reward for his assistance in building the temple. The history of this event is given in the degree of Intimate Secretary of the Ancient and Accepted rite.

 

149 - What calendars have been adopted by the various branches of Free‑ masonry?

 

            Calendar. An almanac - a method of marking" exactly the division of the years, starting from some great epoch. Thus Christian nations reckon their time from the birth of Christ, while those of the Mohammedan faith reckon theirs from the hegira, or flight of Mohammed from Mecca. The Masonic era commences with the creation of the world (Anno Mundi), or, Masonically expressed Anno Lucis, year of light, or year of the Lodge. Between the creation of the world, according to sacred chronology, and the advent of Christ 4000 years intervene; thus A. D. 1866 added to 4000 gives the Masonic year,

5866. The Rite of Misraim adopts the chronology of Archbishop Usher, which adds

4 years to the common era, and makes 5870 the Masonic year. The Scotch rite employs the Jewish chronology; thus the Hebrew year 5826 is the A. L. of Scotch Masonry. This rite also adopts the Hebrew manner of dividing the year into months, and closes the year Sept. 17, and begins the new on the 17th (Tisri, 1st). The York rite commences the year with Jan. 1; the French with March 1. The Royal Arch degrees begin their computation with the year in which Zerubbabel began to build the second temple, which was

530 years before Christ. So that 530+1866=2396, the Masonic year of the Royal Arch. The Royal and Select Master's degree reckons time from the year in which Solomon's Temple was completed, viz.: 1000 years before Christ. Thus, 1000+1866=2866, the year of the Royal and Select Master. The Knights Templar compute time from the founding of the Order, A. D. 1118; so that A. D. 1866 - 1118=748 the

 

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year of the Order of the Temple. Others (Strict Observance) commence their reckoning from the destruction of the Templars, in 1314; therefore, A. D. 1866‑1314=552. The following will place these Masonic years directly before the eye: A. D. 1866=A. L. 5866, the common Masonic year; A. D. 1866=A. L. 5870 of the Rite of Misraim; A. D. 1866=A. M. 5826 of the Scottish rite; A. D. 1866=A. I. 2396 of the Royal Arch; A. D. 1866=A. D.

2866 of the Royal and Select Master; A. D. 1866=A. O. 748 of the Templars; A. D. 1866=A. 0‑552 of the Strict Observance.

 

150 - What term is applied to a temporary postponement of the labors of a Lodge?

 

            Calling Off. A technical term in Masonry, which signifies the temporary suspension of labor in a Lodge without passing through the formal ceremony of closing. The full form of the expression is to call from labor to refreshment, and it took its rise from the former custom of dividing the time spent in the Lodge between the work of Masonry and the moderate enjoyment of the banquet. The banquet formed in the last century an indispensable part of the arrangements of a Lodge meeting. "At a certain hour of the evening," says Brother Oliver, "with certain ceremonies, the Lodge was called from labor to refreshment, when the brethren enjoyed themselves with decent merriment." That custom no longer exists; and although in England almost always, and in this country occasionally, the labors of the Lodge are concluded with a banquet; yet the Lodge is formally closed before the brethren proceed to the table of refreshment. Calling off in American Lodges is now only used, except in a certain ceremony of the third degree, when it is desired to have another meeting at a short interval, and the Master desires to avoid the tediousness of closing and opening the Lodge. Thus, if the business of the Lodge at its regular meeting has so accumulated that it cannot be trans‑acted in one evening, it has become the custom to call off until a subsequent evening, when the Lodge, instead of being opened with the usual ceremony, is simply "called on," and the latter meeting is considered as only a continuation of the former. This custom is very generally adopted in Grand Lodges at their Annual Communications, which are opened at the beginning of the session, called off from day to day, and finally closed at its end. I do not know that any objection has ever, been advanced against this usage in Grand Lodges, because it seems necessary as a substitute for the adjournment, which is resorted to in other legislative bodies, but which is not admitted in Masonry. But much discussion has taken place in reference to the practice of calling off in Lodges, some authorities sustaining and others condemning it. Thus, twenty years ago, the Committee of Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi pro‑

 

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posed this question: "In case of excess of business, cannot the unfinished be laid over until the next or another day, and must the Lodge be closed in form, and opened the next, or the day designated for the transaction of that business?" To this question some authorities, and among others Brother C. W. Moore, reply in the negative, while other equally good jurists differ from them in opinion.

 

The difficulty seems to be in this that if the regular meeting of the Lodge is closed in form, the subsequent meeting becomes a special one, and many things which could be done at a regular communication cease to be admissible. The recommendation, therefore, of Brother Moore, that the Lodge should be closed, and, if the business be unfinished, that the Master shall call a special meeting to complete it, does not meet the difficulty, because it is a well‑settled principle of Masonic law that a special meeting cannot interfere with the business of a preceding regular one.

 

As, then, the mode of briefly closing by adjournment is contrary to Masonic law and usage, and cannot, therefore, be resorted to, as there is no other way except by calling off to continue the character of a regular meeting, and as, during the period that the lodge is called off, it is under the government of the Junior Warden, and Masonic discipline is thus continued, I am clearly of opinion that calling off from day to day for the purpose of continuing work of business is, as a matter of convenience, admissible. The practice may indeed be abused. But there is a well‑known legal maxim which says, "No argument can be drawn from the abuse of a thing against its use." Thus, a Lodge cannot be called off except for continuance of work and business, nor to an indefinite day, for there must be a good reason for the exercise of the practice, and the brethren present must be notified before dispersing of the time of re‑assembling. Nor can a Lodge at one regular meeting be called off until the next, for no regular meeting of a Lodge is permitted to run into another, but each must be closed before its successor can be opened.

 

151 - What are the qualifications for admission to Freemasonry?

 

            Candidate. An applicant for admission into Masonry is called a candidate. The Latin candidatus means clothed in white, candidis vestibus indutus. In ancient Rome, he who sought office from the people wore a white shining robe of a peculiar construction, flowing open in front, so as to exhibit the wounds he had received in his breast. From the color of his robe or toga candida, he was called candidatus, whence the word candidate. The derivation will serve to remind the Mason of the purity of conduct and character which should distinguish all those who are candidates for admission into the order. The qualifications of a candidate in Masonry are some‑what peculiar. He must be freeborn, under no bondage, of at least ,c.

 

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twenty‑one years of age, in the possession of sound senses, free from any physical defect or dismemberment, and of irreproachable manners, or, as it is technically termed, "under the tongue of good report." No atheist, eunuch, or woman can be admitted. The requisites as to age, sex, and soundness of body have reference to the operative character of the Institution. We can only expect able workmen in able‑bodied men. The mental and religious qualifications refer to the duties and obligations which a Freemason contracts. An idiot could not understand them, and an atheist would not respect them. Even those who possess all these necessary qualifications can be admitted only under certain regulations. Not more than five candidates can be received at one time, except in urgent cases, when a dispensation may be granted by the Grand Master, and no applicant can receive more than two degrees on the same day. To the last rule there can be no exception.

 

152 - What is the Masonic significance of the cardinal points?

 

            Cardinal Points. The cardinal points of the compass have a peculiar signification amongst us, and particularly the east, west, and south. The east is a place of light, and there stands the Worshipful Master, a pillar of Wisdom, as a representation of the rising sun; and as that luminary opens the glorious day to light mankind to their labors, so the Worshipful Master occupies this station to open Lodge, and to employ and instruct the brethren in Masonry. The south is a station of another important officer, the pillar of Beauty, who is placed in that quarter that he may be prepared to mark the sun at its meridian, to call the workmen from labor, and to recruit their strength by necessary refreshment and rest, that their toils may be resumed with renewed vigor and alacrity, without which neither pleasure nor profit can mutually result. In the west stands the pillar of Strength, to mark the setting sun, and close the labors of the day by command of the presiding officer; because the declining luminary warns mankind of the necessity of repose, else our nature would sink under the effects of incessant toil, unrelieved by rest and recreation.

 

153 - What are the four cardinal virtues?

 

            Cardinal Virtues. They are Fortitude, by which we are taught to resist temptation; Prudence,‑by which we are instructed to regulate our conduct by the dictates of reason; Temperance, by which we learn to govern the passions; Justice, which constitutes the cement of civil society.

 

154 ‑ What is the Masonic carpet?

 

            Carpet. A kind of map, on which are pictured the emblems illustrative of the several degrees of Freemasonry. and by reference to

 

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which neophytes are instructed. They were formerly traced upon the floor, hence the term carpet.

 

155 - What part of the Masonic ritual is in the form of a catechism?

 

            Catechism. This is the most important document in Freemasonry. The catechism was formerly only communicated by conference from one lodge to another, or from one brother to another; and this is the reason why we have so many different forms of the catechism, al‑though in spirit there is no material difference in any of them. As a religious catechism contains a summary of all that is taught by that religion, so our catechism contains the essentials of Freemasonry; but it is not to be understood without the teacher taking great pains in instructing the student, nor without his having previously been instructed in a Lodge, and being able to reflect upon and remember the instructions there given. Every degree has its own catechisms; and in many Lodges it is customary to explain part of it at every meeting, in order that the members may become intimately acquainted with it.

 

156 - What great woman ruler prohibited Masonry in her country and after‑ wards fostered, encouraged and protected it?

 

            Catharine II. Catharine the Great, Empress of Russia, in 1762, prohibited by an edict all Masonic meetings in her dominions. But subsequently better sentiments prevailed, and having learned the true character of the Institution, she not only revoked her order of prohibition, but invited the Masons to re‑establish their Lodges and to constitute new ones, and went so far as to proclaim herself the Protectress of the Lodge of Clio, at Moscow. During the remainder of her reign Freemasonry was in a flourishing condition in Russia, and many of the nobles organized Lodges in their palaces. She died November

6, 1796, and the persecutions against the Order were renewed by her successor.

 

157 - What new name is given to the entered apprentice and why?

 

            Caution. The Entered Apprentice, at his initiation in the United States, is presented with a new name, which is Caution, to teach him that, as he is then imperfectly instructed in the mysteries of Masonry, he ought to be cautious over all his words and actions, that nothing may escape him which may tend to afford information to the opponents of Masonry. This is one of the triad of duties recommended in the first degree.

 

158 - What new name is given to the Entered Apprentice and why?

 

            Cautious Secrecy. The cautious secrecy of the Craft in early ages was used to prevent the great principles of science, by which their reputation was secured and maintained, from being publicly known.

 

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Even the inferior workmen were unacquainted with the secret and refined mechanism which cemented and imparted the treasure of wisdom. They were profoundly ignorant of the wisdom which planned, the beauty which designed, and knew only the strength and labor which executed the work. The doctrine of the pressure and counter‑pressure of complicated arches was a mystery which they never attempted to penetrate. They were blind instruments in the hands of intelligent Master Masons, and completed the most sublime undertakings by the effect of mere mechanical skill and physical power, without being able to comprehend the secret which produced them; without understanding the nice adjustment of the members of a building to each other, so necessary to accomplish a striking and permanent effect; or without being able to enter into the science exhibited in the complicated details which were necessary to form a harmonious and proportionate whole.

 

159 - Where did King Solomon have a cave dug and for what purpose?

 

            Cave. Solomon, according to Masonic tradition, had a deep cave dug underneath the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, with many intricacies, over which he fixed a stone, wherein he put the ark and cherubim. According to Manasseh Ben Israel, the rabbis say he did this because he foresaw that that house would be destroyed and therefore made a secret place where the ark might be kept, so that its sanctity might not be profaned by heathen hands; and they are of opinion that subsequently Josiah secreted therein the ark. They prove it firstly from 1 Kings vi. 9: - "And the oracle within the house he prepared to place there the ark," where by prepare they under‑stand a preparation for the future; they quote the passage, "And they were there until this day," a term in the Holy Scriptures to signify "to all eternity," as, "And no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day," that is, never.      

 

160 - What are the characteristics of the cedars of Lebanon?

 

            Cedar. The cedar grows on the most elevated part of Lebanon, is taller than the pine, and so thick that five men together could scarcely embrace one. It shoots out its branches at ten or twelve feet from the ground; they are large and distant from each other, and are perpetually green. The wood is of a brown color, very solid, and incorruptible if preserved from wet. It bears a small apple like that of the pine.

 

161 - What is the cement of the Lodge?

 

            Cement. The Lodge is strongly cemented with love and friendship, and every brother is duly taught secrecy and prudence, morality and good fellowship.

 

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162 - What is the nature and effect of Masonic censure?

 

            Censure, Nature and Effect of. In the canon law, ecclesiastical censure was a penalty which carried with it a deprivation of communion, or, in the case of clergymen, a prohibition to exercise the sacerdotal office.

 

But in Masonic law, it is the mildest form of punishment that can be inflicted, and may be defined to be a formal expression of disapprobation, without other result than the effect produced upon the feelings of him who is censured.

 

The censure of a member for any violation of duty is to be adopted in the form of a resolution, which simply expresses the fact that the Lodge disapproves of his conduct in the particular act. It may be adopted by a bare majority, and effects no deprivation of Masonic rights or Masonic standing. Inasmuch, however, as it is a penalty inflicted for an offence, although a very slight one, it is due to comity and the principles of justice, that the party towards whom the censure is to be directed should be notified of the fact, that he may have an opportunity to defend himself. A member, therefore, wishing to propose a vote of censure, should always give notice of the same; or, what amounts to the same thing, the resolution of censure should never be proposed and acted on at the same meeting.

 

It is competent for any member, in the same way, and on notice given, to move the revocation of a vote of censure; and the Lodge may, at any regular communication, reverse such a vote. It is always in the power of a Lodge to retrace its steps when an act of injustice is to be redressed.

 

163 - What is the Masonic center of unity?

 

            Center of Unity. The central force or authority which keeps a society or order of men together. In most organizations, the center of unity is a visible material power. In the Papal Church, it is the hierarchy of Rome. But the Masonic center of unity is not material nor visible. It is an internal principle or sentiment, which dwells in all its parts, and binds them all altogether in one harmonious whole. By virtue of the omnipotence of this principle the Masonic Order has resisted all attacks from without, and all treachery within, and is more powerful than ever before.

 

164 - What symbolic degree is said to be opened on the center?

 

            Center, Opening On. The explanation usually given of this phrase is not satisfactory. It is too far‑fetched and fanciful. A better exposition may be found by a reference to kindred societies, and especially ancient orders that are now represented either wholly or in part by Freemasonry. Let it be observed that a Lodge of Entered Apprentices or of Fellow Crafts is never said to be "opened on the

 

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center," but only a Master Mason's Lodge. The reason for this is obvious. The Apprentice Lodge is the exterior circle; the Fellow Craft, the inner circle; the Master Mason's Lodge, the center. While in the first two the truth is but partially revealed, and is seen through a shadowy veil, in the third circle - the Master Mason's Lodge, the great center of Masonic Light - it shines with cloudless luster. "Opening on the center" simply means opening in the interior or central circle of Freemasonry. The intelligent Mason is referred to the histories of the Order of Essenes, of the Pythagoreans, and the "Apostolical Constitutions," and "Arcana Disciplina," of the primitive church.

 

165 - How far must the labors of a Freemason penetrate?

 

            Centre. The labors of a Freemason must penetrate to the centre of the earth, and his spirit inquire into all the operations of nature, and either be able satisfactorily to explain or humbly to admire them.

 

166 - What should be the mental attitude of one taking the degrees of Masonry?

 

            Ceremonies. If a person wishes to become a candidate for Masonry, he should make up his mind to watch the progress of all the ceremonies through which he may pass, with attention, and search into their propriety, their origin, and their symbolical reference. He may be quite sure that men of sense and standing in the world - men whose reputation for wisdom and common prudence is of some value  - would not subject him to any test which might cast an imputation upon themselves.

 

167 - What is the force and value of a Masonic certificate?

 

            Certificate. A diploma issued by a Grand Lodge, or by a subordinate Lodge under its authority, testifying that the holder thereof is a true and trusty brother and recommending him to the hospitality of the Fraternity abroad. The character of this instrument has sometimes been much misunderstood. It is by no means intended to act as a voucher for the bearer, nor can it be allowed to supersede the necessity of a strict examination. But after a stranger has been tried and proved by a more unerring standard, his certificate may properly come in as an auxiliary testimonial, and will be permitted to afford evidence of his correct standing in his Lodge at home; for no body of Masons, true 'to the principles of their Order would grant such an instrument to an unworthy brother, or to one who, they feared, might make an improper use of it. But though the presence of a Grand Lodge certificate be in general required as collateral L evidence of worthiness to visit, or receive aid, its accidental absence, which may arise in various ways, as from fire, captivity or shipwreck, should not debar a strange brother from the right guaranteed to

 

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him by our Institution, provided he can offer other evidence of his good character. The Grand Lodge of New York has, upon this subject, taken the proper stand in the following regulation: "That no Mason be admitted to any subordinate Lodge under the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge, or receive the charities of any Lodge, unless he shall, on such application, exhibit a Grand Lodge certificate, duly attested by the proper authorities, except he is known to the Lodge to be a worthy brother." The certificate system has been warmly discussed by the Gran(' Lodges of the United States, and considerable opposition to it has been made by some of them on the ground that it is an innovation. If it is an innovation, it certainly is not one of the present day, as we may learn from the Regulations made in General Assembly of the Masons of England, on St. John the Evangelist's day, 1663, during the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans, one of which reads as follows: "That no person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason shall be admitted into any Lodge or Assembly, until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptance from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such Lodge is kept."

 

168 - What do all Masons upon earth form?

 

            Chain. All the Freemasons upon the surface of the earth form one chain, every member is a link of it, and should ever strive with the true hand of a brother to strengthen it. No wavering doubt should break it. None should be shut out from it, as is taught in every Lodge. What an encouraging thought it is for the newly initiated brother to find himself at once surrounded with the light arising from this great chain. This chain can be no fetter to him, for the hands of brethren prove the contrary.

 

169 - Of what are charcoal and clay emblematic?

 

            Chalk. Chalk, charcoal and clay have ever been esteemed the emblems of freedom, fervency, and zeal, because nothing is more free for the use of man than chalk, which seldom touches but leaves its trace behind; nothing more fervent than charcoal, for when well lighted no metal is able to resist its force; nothing is more zealous than clay, our mother earth, who will open her arms to receive us when forsaken by all our friends.

 

170 - What was the effect of the change from operative to speculative Freemasonry on the status of the Entered Apprentice?

 

            Change from Operative to Speculative Freemasonry. At the Ancient Annual Assembly, every member of the craft was permitted to be present, and to take a part in the deliberations. But by members

 

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of the craft, in the beginning, were meant Masters and Fellows only, Apprentices were excluded, because they were not entitled to any of the privileges of craftsmen. They were not free, but bound to their Masters, and in the same position that Apprentices now are in any of our trades or mechanical employments. The institution was then strictly operative in its character; and although many distinguished noblemen and prelates who were not operative Masons, were, even at that early period, members of the Order and exalted to its highest offices, still the great mass of the fraternity were operative, the workmen were engaged in operative employments, and the institution was governed by the laws and customs of an operative association.

 

In this respect, however, an important change was made, apparently about the beginning of the eighteenth century, which had a remarkable effect on the character of the Grand Lodge organization. Preston tells us that at that time a proposition was agreed to "that the privileges of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative Masons, but extend to men of various professions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the Order." Nov, as it is known that long before that period "men of various professions" had been admitted to the Order, and as we find a king presiding as Grand Master in

1502, and many noblemen, prelates, and distinguished statesmen occupying the same post, before and after that period, it is evident that this Regulation must be construed as meaning that the institution should throw off from that time its mixed operative and speculative character, and become entirely speculative. And we are warranted in making this conclusion by the facts of history.

 

In 1717, and very soon after, we find such men as Anderson and Desaguliers, who were clergymen and philosophers, holding high positions and taking an active part in the Order, and the Society from that time devoted itself to the pursuit of,speculative science, leaving the construction of cathedrals and palaces to the operative workmen, who, as such, were unconnected with the Order.

 

Now, the first effect of this change was on the character of the class of Apprentices. They were no longer, as in the olden time, youths placed under the control of Masters, to acquire the mysteries of a trade, but they were men who had been initiated into the first degree of a Mystic Association. The great object of the Apprentices in the operative art was ‑to acquire a knowledge of that art, and being made free by the expiration of their time of service, which the oldest Constitutions prescribed should be seven years, to be promoted to the rank of Craftsmen, when they would be entitled to receive wages, and to have a voice in the deliberations of the Society.

 

The Apprentices in the speculative science but seldom proceeded further. The mass of the old Society consisted of Fellows, or Fellow‑

 

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crafts; that of the new organization was composed of Apprentices. The primitive Lodges were made up of Fellowcrafts principally; the modern ones of Apprentices. Anderson, Preston, and all the old Charges and Constitutions will afford abundant proofs of this fact.

 

The Apprentices having thus become the main body of the fraternity, the necessary result was, that occupying, in this respect, the place formerly filled by the Fellowcrafts, they assumed all the privileges which belonged to that class. And thus we arrive at the fact, and the reason of the fact, that in 1717, at the reorganization of the Grand Lodge, Entered Apprentices were admitted to attend the Annual Assembly; and we can satisfactorily appreciate that clause in the thirty‑ninth of the Regulations, adopted in

1721, which says that no new regulation should be adopted until, at the Annual Assembly or Grand Feast, it was offered in writing to the perusal of all the brethren, "even of the youngest Entered Apprentice."

 

171 - What is the status of the chaplain in ancient craft Masonry?

 

            Chaplain. I can find neither example in the old usages, nor authority in any of the Ancient Regulations, for the appointment or such an officer in a subordinate Lodge as a Chaplain. I think it is only within a few years that some Lodges have been led, by an improper imitation of the customs of other societies, to inscribe him in the list of their officers.

 

The Master of a Lodge, by the ritualistic usages of the Order, possesses all the sacerdotal rights necessary to be exercised in the ceremonies of our institution. There is, therefore, no necessity for a Chaplain, while I have no doubt that as the ritual prescribes that certain duties shall be performed by the Master, he is violating the Landmarks when he transfers the performance of those duties to another person, who holds no office recognized by any of our regulations.

 

This section is therefore inserted, not to prescribe the duties of the Chaplain of a Lodge - for I know not where to find the authority for them - but to enable me to express my opinion that the appointment of Chaplains in subordinate Lodges is an innovation on ancient usage which should be discouraged.

 

Of course, on public occasions, such as the celebration of the festivals of the patron Saints of Masonry, when there are public prayers and addresses, there can be no objection, and indeed it is advisable to invite a clergyman, who is a Mason, to conduct the religious portion of the exercises.

 

172 - What are the duties of a Grand Chaplain of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Chaplain, Grand. The Grand Chaplain is appointed by the Grand Master on the day of his installation. He should attend all the quar‑

 

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terly communications and other meetings of the Grand Lodge, and there offer up solemn prayer suitable to the occasion, as established by the usages of the fraternity.

 

 

173 - Has a virtual or chapter Past Master the status of a past master of a Lodge?

 

            Chapter Past Masters. A singular anomaly, now exists in modern Masonry, of two degrees bearing the same name and identical in character, but which are conferred by two different bodies, under distinct jurisdictions and for totally different purposes. The Past Master's degree is conferred in a symbolic Lodge as an honorarium upon newly‑elected Master, and as a part of the installation ceremony. In a Chapter, it is conferred as a preparatory qualification to the reception of the Royal Arch degree. All this was well under‑stood at the beginning, and is not now denied by any who have made researches into the subject. Still, as the details of this history be‑came, by the lapse of time, less generally known, disputes began to arise between the two parties as to the vexatious questions of legitimacy and jurisdiction. In these controversies, the virtual or Chapter Past Masters denied the right of the symbolic Lodges to confer, and the actual or installed Past Masters rightly contended that the conferring of the degree in Chapters is an innovation.

 

It must be evident, then, from what has been said, that the Chap‑ter degree has nothing, and can have nothing, to do with the same degree as conferred in a Lodge; and that Chapter Past Masters neither have the right to install the Masters elect of symbolic Lodges, nor to be present when, in the course of installation, the degree is conferred.

 

174 - What moral qualifications are demanded of an applicant for the degrees of Masonry?

 

            Character. The character of a man that would become a Mason must undergo the strictest scrutiny. He must be a man of strict morality; he must be humane, benevolent, and charitable to his fellow‑creatures; he must be no gambler, tippler, or profane swearer; he must be no railer against religion; he must be a lover of decency and order; and he must be strictly honest, industrious, and upright in all his conduct; for such as delight in the practice of vice are a disgrace to civil society, and are seldom reformed by the most excellent institutions. They retain their vices unchangeable as the skin of the Ethiopian or the spots of the leopard. Such indeed would never apply for admission into our benign institution, were they acquainted with her solemn principles, as were not lovers of decency and order.

 

175 - What solemn admonitions are given at the close of each degree of Masonry?

 

            Charge. So called from the "Old Charges," because, like them, it contains an epitome of duty. It is the admonition which is given

 

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by the presiding officer, at the close of the ceremony of initiation, to the candidate, and which the latter receives standing, as a token of respect. There is a charge for each degree, which is to be found in all the monitors and manuals from Preston onwards.

 

176 - What is the proper form and effect of Masonic charges?

 

            Charges. The charge should set forth the offence with clearness and certainty, and hence it must distinctly specify the nature of the offence; and if confined to a single transaction, the time and place of its commission should be named. A general charge, for instance, of "unmasonic conduct" should also specify the particular nature of the conduct which is said to be unmasonic; for no one can be expected to answer to so general an accusation, nor to be prepared with evidence to rebut that of which he is ignorant. No man, in a legal investigation, should be taken by surprise; but there is no more certain mode of doing so than to call upon him to answer to an indefinite charge, the particulars of which are only to be made known at the moment of trial.

 

The charge should be delivered to the Secretary, and by him read to the Lodge, because it thus becomes the property of the Lodge, and is not subjected, as it would be, if retained in the possession of the accuser, to alterations or amendments, which would alter its character, either in word or spirit. A charge having been once made should retain its original form, and cannot be amended, except with the consent of the Lodge and the knowledge of the accused. For a similar reason the charge should always be made in writing. An oral charge must never be received.

 

 

177 - What are the so‑called Ancient Charges?

 

            Charges, Ancient. The Charges of a Freemason as they were collected from the old records of the Fraternity, under the superintendence of Brother James Anderson, and the learned committee who acted with him, and given to the Craft, in 1723, by order of the Grand Lodge of England, have been, wherever promulgated, accepted, and acknowledged as containing the essence of the fundamental principles, and law of Freemasonry. In them are to be found those undisputed, time‑honored principles which constitute the written Landmarks of our Order. They are divided into six general heads, viz.:

 

1. Of God and Religion;

2. Of the Civil Magistrates, supreme and subordinate;

3. Of Lodges;

4. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices;

5. Of the management of the Craft in working;

6. Of behavior, which last is subdivided into six parts, detailing the several duties of Masons under all the different relations of life, as a subject of civil government, and as a man.

 

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178 - What charges were adopted in 1722, and by whom were they presented?

 

            Charges of 1722. The Charges now to be inserted were presented to the Grand Lodge by Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers, in 1721, and being approved by the Grand Lodge on the 25th of March, 1722, were subsequently published in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, with the following title: "The Charges of a Freemason, extracted from the Ancient Records of Lodges beyond sea, and of those in England, Scotland and Ireland, for the use of the Lodges in London: to be read at the making of new Brethren, or when the Master shall order it." These Charges have always been held in the highest veneration by the Fraternity, as embodying the most important points of the ancient Written as well as Unwritten Law of Masonry.

 

I. Concerning God and Religion A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist, nor an irreligious libertine. But though in ancient times Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men and true, or men of honor and honesty, by whatever denominations or persuasions they may be distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the centre of union, and the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance.

 

II. Of the Civil Magistrate, Supreme and Subordinate A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior magistrates; for as Masonry hath been always injured by war, bloodshed and confusion, so ancient kings and princes have been much disposed to encourage the craftsmen, because of their peaceableness and loyalty, whereby they practically answered the cavils of their adversaries, and promoted the honor of the Fraternity, who ever flourished in times of peace. So that if a Brother should be a rebel against the state, he is not to be countenanced in his rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy man; and, if convicted of no other crime, though the loyal brotherhood must and ought to disown his rebellion, and give no umbrage or ground of political jealousy to the government for the time being; they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains indefeasible.

 

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III. Of Lodges A Lodge is a place where Masons assemble and work, hence that assembly, or duly organized society of Masons, is called a Lodge, and every Brother ought to belong to one and to be subject to its by‑laws and the General Regulations. It is either particular or general, and will be best understood by attending it, and by the regulations of the General or Grand Lodge hereunto annexed. In ancient times, no Master or Fellow could be absent from it, especially when warned to appear at it, without incurring a severe censure, until it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him.

 

The persons admitted members of a Lodge must be good and true men, free born, and of mature and discreet age, no bondmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men, but of good report.

 

IV. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows and Apprentices All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only; that so the lords may 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. It is impossible to describe these things in writing, and every Brother must attend in his place, and learn them in a way peculiar to this Fraternity: only candidates may know that no Master should take an Apprentice unless he has sufficient employment for him, and unless he be a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his body, that may render him incapable of learning the art, of serving his Master's lord, and of being made a Brother, and then a Fellow Craft in due time, even after he has served such a term of years as the custom of the country directs; and that he should be descended of honest parents; that so, when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the honor of being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to his merit.

 

No Brother can be a Warden until he has passed the part of a Fellow Craft; nor a Master, until he has acted as a Warden, nor Grand Warden until he has been Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master, unless he has been a Fellow Craft before his election, who is also to be nobly born, or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some eminent scholar, or some curious architect or other artist, descended of honest parents, and who is of singular great merit in the opinion of the Lodges. And for the better and easier, and mere honorable discharge of his office, the Grand Master has a power to choose his own Deputy Grand Master, who must be then, or must have been formerly, the Master of a particular Lodge, and has the privilege

 

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of acting whatever the Grand Master, his principal, should act, unless the said principal be present, or interpose his authority by a letter.

 

These rulers and governors, supreme and subordinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective stations by all the brethren, according to the Old Charges and Regulations, with all humility, reverence, love, and alacrity.

 

V. Of the Management of the Craft in Working All Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holy days; and the time appointed by the law of the land, or confirmed by custom, shall be observed.

 

The most expert of the Fellow Craftsmen shall be chosen or appointed the Master or overseer of the lord's work: who is to be called Master by those that work under him. The craftsmen are to avoid all ill language, and to call each other by no disobliging name, but Brother or Fellow; and to behave themselves courteously within and without the Lodge.

 

The Master, knowing himself to be able of cunning, shall under‑take the lord's work as reasonably as possible, and truly dispend his goods as if they were his own; nor to give more wages to any Brother or Apprentice than he really may deserve.

 

Both the Master and the Mason receiving their wages justly, shall be faithful to the lord, and honestly finish their work, whether task or journey; nor put the work to task that hath been accustomed to journey.

 

None shall discover envy at the prosperity of a Brother, nor supplant him, or put him out of his work, if he be capable to finish the same; for no man can finish another's work so much to the lord's profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted with the designs and draughts of him that began it.

 

When a Fellow Craftsman is chosen Warden of the work under the Master, he shall be true both to Master and Fellows; shall care‑fully oversee the work in the Master's absence to the lord's profit; and his brethren shall obey him.

 

All Masons employed shall meekly receive their wages without murmuring or mutiny, and not desert the Master till the work is finished.

 

A younger Brother' shall be instructed in working, to prevent spoiling the materials for want of judgment, and for increasing and continuing of brotherly love.

 

All the tools used in working shall be approved by the Grand Lodge.

 

No laborer shall be employed in the proper work of Masonry; nor shall Free Masons work with those that are not free, without

 

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an urgent necessity; nor shall they teach laborers and unaccepted Masons, as they should teach a Brother or Fellow.

 

 VI. Of Behavior, Viz.:

 

1. In the Lodge While Constituted You are not to hold private committees, or separate conversation, without leave from the Master, nor to talk of anything impertinent or unseemly, nor interrupt the Master or Wardens, or any Brother speaking to the Master; nor behave yourself ludicrously or jestingly while the Lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn; nor use any unbecoming language upon any pretense whatever; but to pay due reverence to your Master, Wardens and Fellows, and put them to worship.

 

If any complaint be brought, the Brother found guilty shall stand to the award and determination of the Lodge, who are the proper and competent judges of all such controversies (unless you carry it by appeal to the Grand Lodge), and to whom they ought to be referred, unless a lord's work be hindered the meanwhile, in which case a particular reference may be made; but you must never go to law about what concerneth Masonry, without an absolute necessity apparent to the Lodge.

 

 

2. Behavior After the Lodge Is Over and the Brethren Not Gone You may enjoy yourself with innocent mirth, treating one another according to ability, but avoiding all excess, or forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination, or hindering him from going when his occasions call him, or doing or saying anything offensive, or that may forbid an easy and free conversation; for that would blast our harmony and defeat our laudable purposes. Therefore no private piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of the Lodge, far less any quarrels about religion, or nations, or state policy, we being only, as Masons, of the Catholic religion above‑mentioned; we are also of all nations, tongues, kindreds, and languages, and are resolved against all politics, as what never yet conduced to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoined and observed; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain, or the dissent and secession of these nations from the communion of Rome.

 

 

3. Behavior When Brethren Meet Without Strangers, But Not in a Lodge Formed You are to salute one another in a courteous manner, as you will be instructed, calling each other Brother, freely giving mutual in‑

 

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struction as shall be thought expedient, without being overseen or overheard, and without encroaching upon each other, or derogating from that respect which is due to any Brother, were he not a Mason; for though all Masons are as brethren upon the same level, yet Masonry takes no honor from a man that he had before; nay, rather it adds to his honor, especially if he has deserved well of the Brother‑hood, who must give honor to whom it is due, and avoid ill manners.

 

 

4. Behavior in Presence of Strangers Not Masons You shall be cautious in your words and carriage, that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated; and sometimes you shall divert a discourse and manage it prudently for the honor of the worshipful Fraternity.

 

 

5. Behavior at Home, and in Your Neighborhood You are to act as becomes a moral and wise man; particularly not to let your family, friends and neighbors know the concerns of the Lodge, etc., but wisely to consult your own honor and that of the ancient Brotherhood, for reasons not to be mentioned here. You must also consult your health, by not continuing together too late, or too long from home, after Lodge hours are past; and by avoiding of gluttony or drunkenness, that your families be not neglected or injured, nor you disabled from working.

 

 

6. Behavior Towards a Strange Brother You are cautiously to examine him, in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant false pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge.

 

But if you discover him to be a true and genuine Brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved. You must employ him some days, or else recommend him to be employed. But you are not charged to do beyond your ability, only to prefer a poor Brother that is a good man and true, before any other poor people in the same circumstances.

 

Finally, all these Charges you are to observe, and also those that shall be communicated to you in another way; cultivating brotherly love, the foundation and capstone, the cement and glory of this ancient Fraternity; avoiding all wrangling and quarreling, all slander and backbiting, nor permitting others to slander any honest Brother, but defending his character, and doing him all good offices, as far

 

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as is consistent with your honor and safety, and no farther. And if any of them do you injury, you must apply to your own or his Lodge, and from thence you may appeal to the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication, and from thence to the Annual Grand Lodge, as has been the ancient laudable conduct of our forefathers in every nation; never taking a legal course but when the case can‑not be otherwise decided, and patiently listening to the honest and friendly advice of Master and Fellows, when they would prevent you going to law with strangers, or would excite you to put a speedy period to all lawsuits, that so you may mind the affair of Masonry with the more alacrity and success; but with respect to Brothers or Fellows at law, the Master and Brethren should kindly offer their meditation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the con‑tending brethren; and if that submission is impracticable, they must, however, carry on their process or lawsuit without wrath and rancor (not in the common way), saying or doing nothing which may hinder brotherly love, and good offices to be renewed and continued; that all may see the benign influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of time.

 

179 - What is the brightest ornament of our Masonic profession?

 

            Charity. This is the brightest ornament of our Masonic profession. Happy is the brother who hath sown in his heart the seeds of benevolence, the produce of which will be charity and love. He envieth not his neighbor, he believeth not a tale when reported by a slanderer, he forgiveth the injuries of men, and blotteth them out from his recollection. Whoever would emulate the character of a good and worthy Mason ought ever to be ready to assist the needy as far as lies in his power; and if, in the most pressing time of necessity, he does not withhold a liberal hand, the most heartfelt pleasure will reward his labors, and the produce of love and charity will most assuredly follow.

 

180 - What document is required to make the meetings of a Lodge regular?

 

            Charter. In Freemasonry, a document issued by a Grand Lodge, or Chapter, or other grand body, to a certain number of members, empowering them to organize a Lodge or Chapter, etc., and confer degrees. A Lodge can never be opened for labor unless the Charter is present; and it is the right of every visiting brother to see it before he enters the Lodge.

 

181 - What is the ancient admonition of the Craft with respect to chastity?

 

            Chastity. In the Halliwell MS. of the Constitution of Masonry, written not later than the latter part of the fourteenth century, and purporting to be a copy of the Regulations adopted at York in 926, the seventh point is in these words:

 

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"Thou schal not by thy maystres wyf ly, Ny by thy felows yn no manner wyse, Lest the Craft wolde thee despyse; Ny by thy felows concubyne, No more thou woldest be dede by thyne."  Again in the Constitution known as the Matthew Cooke MS., the date of which is about the latter part of the fifteenth century, the same regulations is enforced in these words: "The 7th Point. That he covet not the wyfe ne the daughter of his masters, neither of his fellows but if (unless) it be in marriage." So all through the old Constitutions and Charges, we find this admonition to respect the chastity of our brethren's wives and daughters; an admonition which, it is scarcely necessary to say, is continued to this day.

 

182 - What is the chief point in Masonry?

 

            Chief Point. The chief point in Masonry is to endeavor to be happy ourselves, and communicate that happiness to others.

 

183 - As true Masons, from what do we stand redeemed?

 

            Children of Light. Remembering the wonder in the beginning, we, claiming the auspicious countenance of heaven on our virtuous deeds, assume the figure of the sun and moon as emblematical of the great light of truth discovered to the first men, and thereby implying that as true Masons we stand redeemed from darkness, and are be‑come the sons of light, acknowledging in our profession our adoration of him who gave light unto his works. Let us then by our practice and conduct in life, show that we carry our emblems worthily, and as the children of light, that we have turned our backs on works of darkness, obscurity and drunkenness, hatred and malice, Satan and his dominions; preferring charity, benevolence, justice, temperance, chastity and brotherly love, as the acceptable service on which the Great Master of all, from his beautitude looks down with approbation.

 

184 - What qualifications should be required of officers of a Lodge?

 

            Choice of Officers. This is a matter of great concern, for the officers of a Lodge are not only bound to advance the welfare of their own particular Lodge, but whatever may tend to the good of the Fraternity in general. Therefore no man ought to be put in such election, but such as by his own skill and merit is deemed worthy of performance. He must be well acquainted with all the private and public rules and orders of the Craft; he ought to be strictly honest, naturally humane, patient in injuries, discreet in conversation, grave in counsel, constant in amity, and above all, faithful in secrecy.

 

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185 - Of what is the circle emblematic?

 

            Circle. The circle has ever been considered symbolical of the Deity; for as a circle appears to have neither beginning nor end, it may be justly considered a type of God, without either beginning of days or ending of years. It also reminds us of a future state, where we hope to enjoy everlasting happiness and joy.

 

186 - Of what is the point within a circle emblematic?

 

            Circle and Parallel Lines. In all regular and well‑formed Lodges there is a certain point within a circle, round which it is said the genuine professors of our science cannot err. This circle is bounded north and south by two perpendicular parallel lines. On the upper or eastern part of the periphery rests the Holy Bible, supporting Jacob's ladder extending to the heavens. The point is emblematic of the Omniscient and Omnipresent Deity, the circle represents his eternity, and the two perpendicular parallel lines his equal justice and mercy. It necessarily follows therefore that in traversing a Masonic Lodge, we must touch upon these two great parallels, as well as upon the volume of the sacred law; and whilst a Mason keeps himself thus circumscribed, remembers his Creator, does justice and loves mercy, he may hope finally to arrive at that immortal centre whence all goodness emanates.

 

187 - What is a Mason's duty as to his words and carriage?

 

            Circumspection. A necessary watchfulness is recommended to every man but in a Mason it becomes a positive duty, and the neglect of it constitutes a heinous crime. On this subject, the Old Charges of 1722 are explicit. "You shall be cautious in your words and carriage, that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated; and sometimes you shall divert a discourse and manage it prudently for the honor of the Worshipful Fraternity."  188 - How did King Solomon classify the workmen on the Temple?

 

            Classes. Ancient Masonic tradition informs us that the speculative and operative Masons who were assembled at the building of the temple were arranged in nine classes, under their respective Grand Masters; viz.:

30,000 Entered Apprentices, under their Grand Master Adoniram;

80,000 Fellowcrafts, under Hiram Abif;

2,000 Mark Men, under Stolkyn;

1,000 Master Masons, under Mohabin;

600 Mark Masters, under Ghiblim;

24 Architects, under Joabert;

12 Grand Architects, under Adoniram;

45 Excellent Masons, under Hiram Abif;

9 Super‑excellent Masons, under Tito Zadok; besides the Ish Sabbal or laborers.

 

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189 - Where were the pillars of the Temple cast?

 

            Clay Ground. A piece of land remarkable for the character of its clay; situated between Succoth and Zeredatha, about 35 miles from Jerusalem. The pillars and sacred vessels of the Temple were cast there by Hiram Abif.

 

190 - What is the symbolism of clean hands?

 

            Clean Hands. Clean hands are a symbol of purity. The psalmists says, "that he only shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or shall stand in his holy place, who hath clean hands and a pure heart." Hence, the washing of the hands is an outward sign of an internal purification; and the psalmist says in another place, "I will wash my hands in innocence, and I will encompass thine altar, Jehovah." In the Ancient Mysteries the washing of the hands was always an introductory ceremony to the initiation; and, of course, it was used symbolically to indicate the necessity of purity from crime as a qualification of those who sought admission into the sacred rites; and hence, on a temple in the Island of Crete, this inscription was placed: "Cleanse your feet, wash your hands, and then enter." Indeed, the washing of hands, as symbolic of purity, was among the ancients a peculiarly religious rite. No one dared to pray to the gods until he had cleansed his hands.

 

The white gloves worn by Masons as a part of their clothing, allude to this symbolizing of clean hands; and what in some of the high degrees has been called "Masonic Baptism" is nothing else but the symbolizing, by a ceremony, this doctrine of clean hands as the sign of a pure heart.

 

191 - Who was the Pope who issued a bull against Freemasonry?

 

            Clement XII. A pope who assumed the pontificate on the 12th of August, 1730, and died on the 6th of February, 1740. On the 28th of April, 1738, he published his celebrated bull of excommunication, entitled in Eminenti Apostolatus Specuka, in which we find these words, "For which reason the temporal and spiritual communities are en‑joined, in the name of holy obedience, neither to enter the society of Freemasons, to disseminate its principles, to defend it, nor to admit nor conceal it within their houses or palace, or elsewhere, under pain of excommunication ipso facto, for all acting in contradiction to this, and from which the pope only can absolve the dying." Clement was a bitter persecutor of the Masonic Order, and hence he caused his Secretary of State, the Cardinal Firrao, to issue on the 10th of January, 1739, a still more stringent edict for the Papal States, in which death and confiscation of property, without hope of mercy, was the penalty.

 

Clement XII was succeeded by Benedict XIV as Pope in 1740. He Was born in 1675 and died in 1758. He was distinguished for his

 

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learning and was a great encourager of the Arts of Sciences. He was, however, an implacable enemy of secret societies, and issued on the 18th of May, 1751, his celebrated bull, renewing and perpetuating that of his predecessor which excommunicated Freemasons.

 

On the 13th of August, 1814, Pope Pius VII issued an edict for‑bidding the meeting of all secret societies, and especially the Free‑masons, under heavy corporal penalties, to which were to be added, according to the malignity of the cases, partial or entire confiscation of goods or a pecuniary fine. The edict also renewed the bull of Clement XII., by which punishment of death was incurred in attending the meetings of Freemasons.

 

192 - Can a Masonic Lodge be adjourned?

 

            Closing. The duty of closing the Lodge is as imperative, and the ceremony as solemn, as that of opening, nor should it ever be omitted, through negligence, nor hurried over with haste, but everything should be performed with order and precision, so that no brother shall go away dissatisfied. From the very nature of our constitution, a Lodge cannot properly be adjourned. It must be closed either in due form, or the brethren called off to refreshment. But an adjourn. ment on motion, as in other societies, is unknown to the Order. The Master can alone dismiss the brethren, and that dismission must take place after a settled usage. In Grand Lodges which meet for several days successively, the session is generally continued from day to day, by calling to refreshment at the termination of each day's sitting. When it is proper time to close the Lodge it is always high midnight, and the brethren then go peaceably home, remembering that the high midnight of life may overtake them without a moment's warning.

 

193 - When is a Mason properly clothed?

 

            Clothed. A Mason is said to be properly clothed when he wears white leather gloves, a white apron, and the jewel of his Masonic rank. The gloves are now often, but improperly, dispensed with, except on public occasions. "No Mason is permitted to enter a Lodge or join in its labors unless he is properly clothed." Lenning, speaking of Continental Masonry, under the article Kleidung in his Lexicon, says, that the clothing of a Freemason consists of apron, gloves, sword, and hat. In the York and American Rites, the sword and hat are used only in the degrees of chivalry. In the earliest code of lectures arranged by Anderson and Desaguilers, at the revival in 1717, the symbolical clothing of a Master Mason was said to be "skull cap and jacket yellow, and nether garments blue," in allusion to the brass top and steel legs of a pair of compasses. After the middle of the century, he was said to be "clothed in the old colors, viz., purple, crimson, and blue;" and the reason assigned for it was, "because they are royal, and such as the

 

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ancient kings and princes used to wear." The actual dress of a Master Mason was, however, a full suit of black with white neckcloth, apron, gloves, and stockings; the buckles being of silver, and the jewels being suspended from a white ribbon by way of collar.

 

194 - Of what, in Masonry, is partial clothing a symbol?

 

            Clothing, Partial. In Masonry, partial clothing is a symbol teaching the aspirant that Masonry regards no man on account of his worldly wealth or honors; and that it looks not to his outward clothing, but to his internal qualifications.

 

195 - Should anyone be urged to become a Mason against his will?

 

            Coercion. The rules of the Fraternity imperatively declare that no person can be admitted a Mason except by his own free‑will and accord; that the candidate is unbiased by the improper solicitation of friends, and uninfluenced by mercenary motives; that he is prompted to solicit the privileges of Freemasonry by a favorable opinion of the institution, and a desire of knowledge; and that he will cheerfully conform to all the ancient usages and customs of the Fraternity. Coercion is, therefore, not tolerated, but is an offense against Masonry.

 

196 - Of what is the coffin emblematic?

 

            Coffin. In all the ancient mysteries, before an aspirant could claim to participate in the higher secrets of the institution, he was placed within the pastos, or coffin, or in other words was subjected to a solitary confinement for a prescribed period of time, that he might reflect seriously, in seclusion and darkness, on what he was about to undertake, and be reduced to a proper state of mind for the reception of great and important truths, by a course of fasting and mortification. This was the symbolical death of the mysteries, and his deliverance from confinement was the act of regeneration, or being born again; or as it was also termed, being raised from the dead.

 

197 - What are the duties of the Secretary with reference to the collection of Lodge dues?

 

            Collection of Lodge Dues. As the collecting agent of the Lodge, the Secretary keeps the accounts between itself and its members, receives all dues for quarterage, and all fees for initiation, passing and raising; and after making an entry of the sums and the occasions on which they were paid, he transfers the money forthwith to the Treasurer, and takes his receipt. In this way each of these officers is a check upon the other, and a comparison of their books will enable the Lodge at any time to detect the errors of either.

 

The books and accounts of the Secretary, like those of the Treasurer, should be examined at least once a year by a committee

 

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appointed by the Lodge, and they should be at all times ready for the inspection of the Master.

 

198 - What are the Masonic colors and what do they represent?

 

            Colors. The Masonic colors, like those used in the Jewish tabernacle, are intended to represent the four elements. The white typifies the earth, the sea is represented by the purple, the sky‑blue is an emblem of the air, and the crimson of fire.

 

199 - What is the prerogative of the Master with reference to Lodge committees?

 

            Committee Appointments. The Master has the prerogative of appointing all special committees, and is entitled to be present at their meetings, and when present, to act as chairman. This usage seems to be derived from the principle that wherever Masons congregate together on Masonic business, the Master is entitled to govern them and to direct their labors.

 

200 - Is it lawful for a Masonic Lodge to sit as a committee of the whole?

 

            Committee of the Whole. From the principle that the Master, when present, must always preside over his Lodge, arises the rule that a Masonic Lodge can never, under any circumstances, be resolved into a committee of the whole. "Committees of the whole," says Brother B. B. French, who is able authority on the Parliamentary law of Masonry, "are utterly out of place in a Masonic body. Lodges can only do business with the Master in the chair; for, let who will preside, he is, while occupying the chair, Master - invested with supreme command, and emphatically `governs the Lodge.' Any committee presupposes a `chairman,' and no Freemason would feel at home were he presided over by a `chairman.' This single fact is conclusive; and yet," adds Brother French, "I have seen, in my day, a Masonic body pretending to be in committee of the whole. I raised my voice against it, and believe I convinced my brethren that they were wrong."

 

201 - What are the regulations which govern committees of the Lodge?

 

            Committees, Regulations Governing. All committees must be appointed by the chair, unless otherwise specially provided for, and the first one named on the committee will act as chairman; but no one should be appointed on a committee who is opposed to the matter that is referred.

 

A committee may meet when and where it pleases, if the Lodge has not specified a time and place. But a committee can only act when together, and not by separate consultation and consent.

 

The report of a committee may be read by the chairman, or other member in his place, or by the Secretary of the Lodge.

 

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A majority of a committee constitutes a quorum for business.

 

When a report has been read, if no objections are made, it is considered as accepted; but if objections are made, the question must be put on its acceptance.

 

If the report contains nothing which requires action, but ends; with resolutions, the question must be on agreeing to the resolutions.

 

If the report embodies matters of legislation, the question must be on adopting the report, and on agreeing to the resolutions, if resolutions are appended; but if there is no action recommended by the report, and no resolutions are appended to it, the acceptance of the report, either tacitly or by vote, disposes of it.

 

Reports may be recommitted at any time before final action has been taken on them.

 

202 - What term signifies a regular meeting of a Lodge?

 

            Communication. The meeting of a Lodge is so called. There is a peculiar significance in this term. "To communicate," which, in the Old English form, was "to common," originally meant to share in common with others. The great sacrament of the Christian church, which denotes a participation in the mysteries of the religion and a fellowship in the church, is called a "communion," which is fundamentally the same as a "communication," for he who partakes of the communion is said "to communicate." Hence, the meetings of Masonic Lodges are called communications, to signify that it is not simply the ordinary meeting of a society for the transaction of business, but that such meeting is the fellowship of men engaged in a common pursuit, and governed by a common principle, and that there is therein a communication or participation of those feelings and elements that constitute a true brotherhood.

 

The communications of Lodges are regular or stated and special or emergent. Regular communications axe held under the provision of the by‑laws, but special communications are called by order of the Master. It is a regulation that no special communication can alter, amend, or rescind the proceedings of a regular communication.

 

203 How may charges of unmasonic conduct be communicated to a non‑ resident brother?

 

            Communication of Charges. If the accused is living beyond the geographical jurisdiction of the Lodge, charges should be communicated to him by means of a letter through the post‑office, and a reasonable time should be allowed for his answer, before the Lodge proceeds to trial. But if his residence be unknown, or if it be impossible to hold communication with him, the Lodge may then proceed to trial - Care being had that no undue advantage be taken of his absence, and that the investigation be as full and impartial as the nature of the circumstances will permit.

 

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204 - What city was headquarters of the operative Masons during the Dark Ages?

 

            Como. A city of Lombardy, which was the principal seat of that body of architects who, under the name of Traveling Freemasons, wandered over Europe during the Middle Ages, and constructed cathedrals, monasteries, and other religious edifices. A school of architecture was established at Como which obtained so much renown that, according to Muratori, the Masons and bricklayers of that place, in consequence of their superiority in their art, received the appellation of Magistri Comacini, or Masters of Como, a title which became generic to all those of the profession. To the school of Como, architects of all nations flocked for instruction. Rebold intimates that it was the successor of the Roman College of Builders, and that, like them, it had its secret teachings and mysteries.

 

205 - Of what is a line drawn by the compasses emblematic?

 

            Compasses. The compasses ought to keep us within the bonds of union with all mankind, but more especially with our brother Masons; and may everyone whose hands have lifted this great light continue to be guided by it in all his actions ! By the compasses the skilful architect is enabled accurately to determine the relative proportions of all parts of the building when he is laying it down upon the tracing board for the use of the workmen. Without accurate measurement, and thereby acquired symmetry and beautiful and skilful proportioning of all its parts unto the whole, the architectural beauty is not attainable. Without cultivated and amiable conduct - without benevolent feelings and charitable actions towards each other - no endearing bond amongst mankind is conceivable; for so long as mankind confine themselves to acts of justice alone to each other, so long must they be kept asunder by cold civility. It is only the calm affection of pure philanthropy which can unite them in the closer bonds of fraternal affection. A circle or line drawn by the compasses is also an emblem of eternity, and commonly represented by a serpent in the form of a circle.

 

206 - How should complaints against a brother be handled?

 

            Complaint. If any complaint be brought, the brother found guilty shall stand to the award and determination of the Lodge, who are the proper and competent judges of all such controversies (unless you carry them by appeal to the Grand Lodge), and to whom they ought to be referred, unless a lord's work be hindered the meanwhile, in which case a particular reference may be made; but you must never go to law about what concerneth Masonry, without an absolute necessity apparent to the Lodge.

 

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207 - What is the definition of a Grand Lodge and of whom is it composed?

 

            Composition of Grand Lodge. A Grand Lodge may be defined to be a congregation of the representatives of the subordinate Lodges in a jurisdiction, with the Grand Master and Grand Officers at their head. It properly consists of the Grand and Deputy Grand Master, the Grand Wardens, the Grand Chaplain, Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary, for the time being, with the Masters and Wardens of the subordinate Lodges.

 

Every Grand Lodge is competent to make regulations admitting other members; and accordingly Past Grand Officers and sometimes Past Masters are allowed to sit as members, but these possess no such inherent right, and must be indebted for the privilege altogether to a local regulation.

 

208 - Upon what should the Master of a Lodge found his government?

 

            Concord. The Master of each Lodge should found his government in concord and universal love; for as the Great Architect moves the system with his finger, and touches the spheres with harmony, so that the morning stars together sing the songs of gratitude, and the floods clap their hands, amidst the invariable beauties of order; so should we, rejoicing, be of one accord and of one law, in unanimity, in charity, and in affection, moving by one unchanging system, and actuated by one principle, rectitude of manners.

 

209 - Who performs the duty of conducting a candidate during Masonic work?

 

            Conducting Candidates. The Senior Deacon takes an important part in the ceremonies of initiation. He receives the candidate at the door, and conducts him throughout all the requisitions of the ritual. He is, from the reason of his intimate connection with the candidate, the proper guardian of the inner door of the Lodge.

 

210 ‑ Has the Grand Lodge the power to confer the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Conferring Degrees in Grand Lodge. The conferring of degrees is an interesting and important exercise of the executive functions of a Grand Lodge, which is entitled to careful consideration. The question to be discussed is this: Has a Grand Lodge the power to confer the degrees of Masonry on a candidate? In the years 1851 and .1852, this question was the chief subject of controversy between the Grand Lodges of Wisconsin, Florida and Iowa - the two former claiming, and the latter denying the right. Let us endeavor to come to a right conclusion on this subject by a careful examination of the ancient laws and usages.

 

The earliest written Constitutions that we have - these of York in 926 - show, without doubt, that Apprentices were at that time

 

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made by their own Masters. The law is not so clear as to where Fellow Crafts were made, and we are obliged to resign all hope of finding any reference to the making of Master Masons, as all the old Constitutions previous to 1721 are silent on this subject. Either the degree did not then exist, as we now have it, or this was clearly a casus omissus.

 

The Constitutions of Edward III., in the fourteenth century, are equally uncertain; but in the third article is a phrase which seems to admit that Fellow Crafts might be made in a subordinate Lodge, for it is said that when a Lodge meets, the Sheriff, the Mayor, or the Alderman "should be made Fellow, or sociate to the Master." If the expression "made Fellow" is here to be interpreted in its Masonic meaning then there can be no doubt that a Lodge might at that time confer the second degree; and I suppose, by analogy, the third. But of the correctness of this interpretation there may be a reasonable doubt, and if so, these Constitutions give us no light on the subject.

 

By the middle of the seventeenth century, we begin to find some definite authority, both in private records and in Constitutions. Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, tells us in his diary that he was made a Freemason on the 16th of October, 1646, at Warrington, in Lancashire, "by Mr. Richard Penket, the Warden and the Fellow Crafts." This, then, was evidently in a subordinate Lodge. And in the Regulations adopted by the General Assembly in 1663, it is expressly stated that "no person, of what degree soever, be made or accepted a Freemason, unless in a regular Lodge, whereof one to be a Master or a Warden in that limit or division where such Lodge is kept, and another to be a craftsman in the trade of Freemasonry." Still later, about the year 1683, we find it stated in "The Ancient Charges at Makings" "that no Master nor Fellow take no allowance to be made Mason without the assistance of his Fellows, at least six or seven." Preston also furnishes us with authority on this subject, and tells us that previous to the beginning of the eighteenth century, a sufficient number of brethren might meet together without warrant, make Masons, and practice the rites of Masonry.

 

But in 1722, a Regulation was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, which declared that Entered Apprentices must be admitted Fellow Crafts and Masters only in the Grand Lodge, unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master.

 

This Regulation continued in force, however, only for three years; for, in November,

1725, it was enacted that "the Master of a Lodge, with his wardens and a competent number of the Lodge, assembled in due form, can make Masters and Fellows at discretion." And ever since, the subordinate Lodges have continued to confer all the degrees,

 

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while the records do not give a single instance of their being conferred, subsequent to that date, in the Grand Lodge.

 

The facts, then, in relation to this subject appear to be briefly as follows: that as far back as we can trace by written records, the subordinate Lodges were authorized to confer all the degrees; that in 1722, or perhaps a year or two sooner, this power, so far as the second and third degrees were concerned, was taken from the Lodges and deposited in the Grand Lodge; that in 1725, this change being found to be productive of inconvenience, the old system was restored, and the Lodges were again permitted to confer all the degrees.

 

I cannot doubt, from this statement of facts, that the attempt on the part of the Grand Lodge in 1722 to deprive the Lodges of their right to confer all the degrees, was a violation of an ancient Landmark, and I am inclined to attribute its speedy repeal as much to a conviction of this fact as to the acknowledged reason of its inconvenience.

 

But while I contend that all regular Lodges have an inherent right to enter, pass and raise Freemasons, of which no Grand Lodge can deprive them, except by forfeiture of warrant, I cannot deny the same prerogative to a Grand Lodge; for I cannot see how an assemblage of Masons, congregated in their supreme capacity, can have less authority to transact all the business of Masonry than an inferior and subordinate body.

 

But I am equally convinced that the exercise of this prerogative by a Grand Lodge is, under almost all circumstances that I can conceive, most inexpedient, and that the custom of conferring degrees should be, as a matter of policy, confined to the subordinate Lodges.

 

211 - What is the real meaning of the so called "Oath"?

 

            Confidence. What the ignorant call the "oath," is simply an obligation, covenant, and promise enacted previously to the divulging of the specialties of the Order, and our means of recognizing each other; and that they shall be kept from the knowledge of the world, lest their original intent should be thwarted, and their benevolent purport prevented. Now pray what harm is there in this? Do you not all, when you have anything of a private nature which you are willing to confide in a particular friend, before you tell him what it is, demand a solemn promise of secrecy? And is there not the Utmost propriety in knowing whether your friend is determined to keep your secret before you presume to reveal it?

 

212 - What efforts have been made to establish a General Grand Lodge for the United States?

 

            Congress, Masonic. A modern name for assemblies like those described in the following paragraphs: Congress of Washington, convoked in the year 1882, at the call of several Grand Lodges, for the purpose of recommending the establish‑

 

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ment of a General Grand Lodge of the United States. The effort was an unsuccessful one.

 

Congress of Baltimore, convoked in the year 1843, with the object of establishing a uniform system of work. Perhaps there was not, in any of the preceding Congresses, a greater instance of failure than in this, since not a year elapsed before the most prominent members of the Congress disagreed as to the nature and extent of the reforms which were instituted; and the Baltimore system of work has already become a myth.

 

Second Congress of Baltimore, convoked in the year 1847, the object being again to attempt the establishment of a General Grand Lodge. This Congress went so far as to adopt a "Supreme Grand Lodge Constitution," but its action was not supported by a sufficient number of Grand Lodges to carry it into effect.

 

Congress of Lexington, convoked in 1853, at Lexington, Ky., for the purpose of again making the attempt to form a General Grand Lodge. A plan of constitution was proposed, but a sufficient number of Grand Lodges did not accede to the proposition to give it efficacy.

 

North American Masonic Congress, convened in the city of Chicago, September

13, 1859, at the call of a large number of prominent members of the Fraternity, for the purpose of organizing a General Grand Dodge of the United States. The Convention held two sessions, adopted articles of confederation, which proposed that the Congress should meet triennially; take cognizance of all cases of difference which may have arisen between two or more Lodges; consult and advise on questions of Masonic law and jurisprudence, without power of enforcement of its decrees. No subsequent session was held; the project, therefore, failed of establishing any definite results.

 

In recent times Grand Masters and such members of Grand Lodges as they may appoint have assembled annually at meetings of the Masonic Service Association of the United States and of the George Washington National Masonic Memorial Association, but these associations have disavowed any intention to legislate for the Craft or interfere with the sovereignty of the Grand Lodges.

 

213 - What materials are used by Masons for consecration purposes?

 

            Consecration, Elements of. Corn, wine, and oil are the materials used by Masons for consecrating purposes. Corn is the symbol of nourishment; wine is the symbol of refreshment, and oil is the symbol of joy. They are also emblematic of peace, health, and plenty.

 

214 - What custom should be observed on the day of consecration?

 

            Consecration of Lodges. The ceremony of consecrating religious edifices to the sacred purposes for which they are intended, by mystic rites, has been transmitted to us from the remotest antiquity. "History," says Dudley, "both ancient and modern, tells us that extraor‑

 

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dinary rites, called rites of consecration or dedication, have been performed by people of all ages and nations, on the occasion of the first application of altars or temples, or places, to religious uses." Thus, Moses consecrated the tabernacle, Solomon the first temple, and the returned exiles from Babylon the second. Among the Pagans, ceremonies of the most magnificent nature were often used in setting apart their gorgeous temples to the purposes of worship. A Masonic Lodge is, in imitation of these ancient examples, consecrated with mystic ceremonies to the sacred purposes for which it had been constructed. By this act it is set apart for a holy object, the cultivation of the great tenets of a Mason's profession, and becomes, or should become, in the mind of the conscientious Mason, invested with a peculiar reverence as a place where, as he passes over its threshold, he should feel the application of the command given to Moses: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." On this occasion a box is to be used as the symbol of the Lodge. It is placed in the centre of the room, and is a representation of the ark of covenant, which was deposited in the Holy of Holies of the ancient temple.

 

In the course of the ceremonies, this Lodge is sprinkled with corn, wine and oil, which are the Masonic elements of Consecration. These elements are technically called "the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment, and the oil of joy," and are to the Mason symbolic of the many gifts and blessings for which we are indebted to the bounty of the G. A. 0. T. U.; for the first is emblematic, in Masonic symbolism, of health, the second of plenty, and the third of peace.

 

The ancient altars were thus consecrated by the offering of barley cakes and libations of wine and oil, and the Jewish ritual gives ample directions for a similar ceremony. The rite of Masonic consecration is accompanied by a prayer, in which the Lodge is solemnly consecrated "to the honor of God's glory."

 

215 - What is the origin of the rule requiring unanimous consent to the admission of a candidate?

 

            Consent, Unanimous. The unanimity of the ballot has the sanction of the express words of the Regulation of 1721. No one can be admitted into a Lodge upon his application either for membership as a Mason, or for initiation as a profane, "without the unanimous consent of all the members of that Lodge then present." This is the true ancient usage. Payne, when he compiled that Regulation, and presented it in 1721 to the Grand Lodge of England, for its adoption, would hardly have ventured to propose so stringent a law for the first time. The Society, under its new organization, was then in its infancy, and a legislator would have been more likely, if it were left

 

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to his option, to have made a Regulation of so liberal a character as rather to have given facility than difficulty in the increase of members. But Payne was a conscientious man. He was directed not to make new Regulations, but to compile a code from the old Regulations, then extant. He had no power of enactment or of change, but simply of compilation. And, therefore, although this subject of the election of candidates is not referred to in words in any of the ancient Constitutions, we have every reason to suppose that unanimity in the choice was one of the "immemorial usages" referred to in the title of the Regulations of 1721, as the basis on which those Regulations were compiled.

 

It is true that a short time afterwards, it was found that this Regulation was too stringent for those Lodges which probably were more anxious to increase their numbers than to improve their Masonic character - an infirmity which is still found in some of our con‑temporary Lodges - and then to accommodate such brethren, a new Regulation was adopted, allowing any Lodges that desired the privilege to admit a member, if there are not more than three ballots against him. It might be argued that the words of the new Regulation, which are, "to admit a member," while the old Regulation speaks of entering a Brother or admitting a member, might seem to indicate that the new privilege referred only to the application of Masons for affiliation, and not to the petition of candidates for initiation. But it is altogether unnecessary to discuss this argument, since the new Regulation, first published in the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, in the year

1738, has never been deemed of any authority as one of the foundations of Masonic law. It is to be viewed simply, like all the other Regulations which were adopted after the year

1721, as merely a local law of the Grand Lodge of England; and even as such, it was no doubt an infringement of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the Ancient Constitutions.

 

216 - When is a Lodge legally constituted?

 

            Constituted Legally. The phrase, a legally constituted Lodge, is often used Masonically to designate any Lodge working under proper authority, which necessarily includes Lodges working under a dispensation; although, strictly, a Lodge cannot be legally constituted until it has received its warrant or charter from the Grand Lodge. But so far as respects the regularity of their work, Lodges under dispensation and warranted Lodges have the same standing.

 

217 - When is a Lodge said to be justly and legally constituted?

 

            Constitution, Just and Legal. The ritual constantly speaks of Lodges as being "just and legally constituted." These two terms refer to two entirely distinct elements in the organization of a Lodge.

 

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It is "just" when it consists of the requisite number of members to transact the business or perform the labors of the degree in which it is opened, and is supplied with the necessary furniture of a Bible, square and compasses. It is "legally constituted" when it is opened under constitutional authority. Each of these ingredients is necesò sary in the organization of a Lodge. Its justness is a subject, however, that is entirely regulated by the ritual. Its legality alone is to be considered in the present work.

 

Every Lodge, at the present day, requires for its proper organization as a "legally constituted" body, that it should have been congregated by the permission of some superior authority, which authority may emanate either from a Grand Master or a Grand Lodge. When organized by the former, it is said to be a Lodge under Dispensation; when by the latter, it is called a Warranted Lodge. These two distinctions in the nature of Lodge organization will there‑fore give rise to separate inquiries: first, into the character of Lodges working under a Dispensation; and secondly, into that of Lodges working under a Warrant of Constitution.

 

218 - What is the effect of the ceremony of constitution?

 

            Constitution of a Lodge. The consecration and dedication may be considered as the religious formularies which give a sacred character to the Lodge, and by which it is to be distinguished from a profane association, intended only for the cultivation of good fellow‑ship. The ceremony of constitution which immediately follows is of a legal character. It is intended to give legality to the Lodge, and constitutional authority to all its acts. It is of course dependent on the preceding ceremonies; for no Lodge can be rightfully constituted until it has been consecrated and dedicated. The two preliminary ceremonies refer to the place, the last to the persons assembled. The Lodge is consecrated and dedicated as a place wherein the science of Freemasonry is to be cultivated. The members then present and their successors are authorized to cultivate that science in the legal and acknowledged mode. The ceremony of constitution is a simple one, and consists merely in the enunciation of the fact by the Grand Master, or his special proxy under his authority, and as the organ of the Grand Lodge, which body alone can give this legal character to an assembly of Masons. In England, Grand Masters have the power of granting warrants of constitution; and hence in Preston's formula the Lodge is constituted by that officer in his own name and character, but in America the power of constituting Lodges is taken from him, and vested solely in Grand Lodges, and hence the formula adopted by Webb expresses that fact, and the Grand Master constitutes the Lodge "in the name of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge." By this ceremony the Lodge is taken out of its inchoate and temporary

 

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condition as a Lodge under dispensation, and is placed among the permanent and registered Lodges of the jurisdiction.

 

219 - What subjects of discussion are barred from the Lodge room?

 

            Controversy. Masonry is a universal system, and teaches the relative and social duties of man on the broad and extensive basis of general philanthropy. A Jew, a Mohammedan, or a Pagan, may attend our Lodges without fear of hearing his peculiar doctrines or mode of faith called in question by a comparison with others which are repugnant to his creed, because a permanent and unalterable land‑mark of Masonry is the total absence and exclusion of religious or political controversy. Each of these professors practices a system of morality suited to the sanctions of his religion, which, as it emanated from the primitive system of divine worship, bears some resemblance to it, and consequently he can hear moral precepts inculcated without imputing a designed reference to any peculiar mode of faith.

 

220 - Can a Lodge be congregated without the consent of the Master?

 

            Convening a Lodge. The Master has the right to convene his Lodge at any time, and is the judge of any emergency that may require a special meeting. Without his consent, except on the nights of the stated or regular communications, the Lodge cannot be congregated, and therefore any business transacted at a called or special communication, without his sanction or consent, would be illegal and void.

 

221 - What was the origin of the Corinthian columns?

 

            Corinthian. The Corinthian is the noblest, richest, and most delicate of all the orders of architecture. Villipandus supposes the Corinthian capitol to have taken its origin from an ornament in King Solomon's Temple, the leaves whereof were those of the palm tree.

 

222 - What is the symbolism of corn?

 

            Corn. Corn was a symbol of the resurrection, which is significantly referred to in the third degree of Masonry. Jesus Christ compares himself to a corn of wheat falling into the ground, as a symbol of resurrection. St. Paul says, the sower sows a simple grain of corn, no matter of what kind, which at its proper season rises to light, clothed in verdure. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The apostle might, says Calmet, have instanced the power of God in the progress of vivification; and might have inferred that the same power which could confer life originally, would certainly restore it to those particles which once had possessed it. It is possible he has done this covertly, having chosen to mention vegetable seed, that being most obvious to common notice; and yet not intending to terminate his reference in any quality of vegetation.

 

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223 - What is the symbolism of the corner stone?

 

            Corner Stone, Symbolism of the. The corner stone is the stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and forms the corner of the foundation of an edifice. In Masonic buildings it is now always placed in the northeast; but this rule was not always formerly observed. As the foundation on which the entire structure is supposed to rest, it is considered by Operative Masons as the most important stone in the edifice. It is laid with impressive ceremonies; the assistance of Speculative Masons is often, and ought always to be, invited to give dignity to the occasion; and for this purpose Free‑masonry has provided an especial ritual which is to govern the proper performance of that duty.

 

The symbolism of the corner stone when duly laid with Masonic rites is full of significance, which refers to its form, to its situation, to its permanence, and to its consecration.

 

As to its form, it must be perfectly square on its surface, and in its solid contents a cube. Now the square is a symbol of morality, and the cube of truth. In its situation it lies between the north, the place of darkness, and the east, the place of light; and hence this position symbolizes the Masonic progress from darkness to light, and from ignorance to knowledge. The permanence and durability of the corner stone, which lasts long after the building in whose foundation it was placed has fallen into decay, is intended to remind the Mason that, when this earthly house of his tabernacle shall have passed away, he has within him a sure foundation of eternal life - a corner stone of immortality - an emanation from that Divine Spirit which pervades all nature, and which, therefore, must survive the tomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the decaying dust of death and the grave.

 

The stone, when deposited in its appropriate place, is carefully examined with the necessary implements of Operative Masonry, - the square, the level, and the plumb, themselves all symbolic in meaning,  - and is then declared to be "well formed, true, and trusty." Thus the Mason is taught that his virtues are to be tested by temptation and trial, by suffering and adversity, before they can be pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to be materials worthy of the spiritual building of eternal life, fitted, "as living stones, for that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And lastly, in the ceremony of depositing the corner stone, the elements of Masonic consecration are produced, and the stone is solemnly set apart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its surface, emblematic of the Nourishment, Refreshment, and Joy which are to be the rewards of a faithful performance of duty.

 

The corner stone does not appear to have been adopted by any of the heathen nations, but to have been peculiar to the Jews, from whom

 

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it descended to the Christians. In the Old Testament, it seems always to have denoted a prince or high personage, and hence the Evangelists constantly use it in reference to Christ, who is called the "chief corner stone." In Masonic symbolism, it signifies a true Mason, and there‑fore it is the first character which the Apprentice is made to represent after his initiation has been completed.

 

224 - Of what is the cornucopia emblematic?

 

            Cornucopia, or the Horn of Plenty. A source whence, according to the ancient poets, every production of the earth was lavished. In the Masonic system it is the symbol of joy, peace and plenty. It is the official jewel of the Stewards of the Lodge.

 

225 - What is the duty of the Secretary with reference to the correspondence of the Lodge?

 

            Correspondence of the Lodge. As the corresponding agent of the Lodge, the Secretary receives and reads all communications which have been addressed to the Lodge, and replies to them, under the directions of the Lodge or the Master, whenever any action has been taken upon them. He also issues all summonses for special or stated communications. This duty, particularly in reference to the stated communications, is sometimes improperly neglected. Every Mason is entitled to a summons, either verbal or written,. to every meeting of his Lodge. The Secretary is also the proper officer to make out the returns to the Grand Lodge, and to communicate to it, through the Grand Secretary, notices of rejections, suspensions and expulsions. He is, in fact, the organ of communication between his Lodge and the Grand Lodge, as well as all other Masonic bodies. He affixes his signature and the seal of the Lodge to all demits, diplomas, and other documents which the Lodge may direct. For this purpose he is the keeper of the seal of the Lodge, and is also the proper custodian of its archives.

 

226 - Has a Master Mason on trial the right to employ counsel?

 

            Counsel at Masonic Trial. The Lodge, in event of a Masonic trial, must be opened in the highest degree to which the accuser has attained, and the examinations of all witnesses must take place in the presence of the accused and the accuser, if they desire it. It is competent for the accused to employ counsel for the better protection of his interests, provided such counsel is a Master Mason. But if the counsel be a member of the Lodge, he forfeits, by his professional advocacy of the accused, the right to vote at the final decision of the question.

 

227 - What are the obligations of the Masonic covenant?

 

            Covenant of Masonry. As a covenant is defined to be a contract or agreement between two or more parties on certain terms, there can

 

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be no doubt that when a man is made a Mason he enters into a covenant with the Institution. On his part he promises to fulfill certain promises and to discharge certain duties, for which, on the other part, the Fraternity bind themselves by an equivalent covenant of friend‑ship, protection, and support. This covenant must, of course, be repeated and modified with every extension of the terms of agreement on both sides. The covenant of an Entered Apprentice is different from that of a Fellow Craft, and the covenant of the latter from that of a Master Mason. As we advance in Masonry our obligations increase, but the covenant of each degree is not the less permanent or binding because that of a succeeding one has been superadded. The second covenant does not impair the sanctity of the first.

 

This covenant of Masonry is symbolized and sanctioned by the most important and essential of all the ceremonies of the Institution. It is the very foundation stone which supports the whole edifice, and, unless it be properly laid, no superstructure can with any safety be erected. It is indeed the covenant that makes the Mason.

 

A matter so important as this, in establishing the relationship of a Mason with the Craft, this baptism, so to speak, by which a member is inaugurated into the Institution,must of course be attended with the most solemn and binding ceremonies. Such has been the case in all countries. Covenants have always been solemnized with certain solemn forms and religious observances which gave them a sacred sanction in the minds of the contracting parties. The Hebrews, especially, invested their covenants with the most imposing ceremonies.

 

The first mention of a covenant in form that is met with in Scripture is that recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, where, to confirm it, Abraham, in obedience to `the Divine command, took a heifer, a she‑goat, and a ram, "and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another." This dividing a victim into two parts, that the covenanting parties might pass between them, was a custom not confined to the Hebrews, but borrowed from them by all the heathen nations.

 

In the book of Jeremiah it is again alluded to and the penalty for the violation of the covenant is also expressed.

 

"And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of my covenant which they have made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, "The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs. and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; "I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the

 

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hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth." Jeremiah xxxiv. 18, 19, 20.

 

These ceremonies, thus briefly alluded to in the passages which have been quoted, were performed in full, as follows: The attentive Masonic student will not fail to observe the analogies to those of his own Order.

 

The parties entering into a covenant first selected a proper animal, such as a calf or a kid among the Jews, a sheep among the Greeks, or a pig among the Romans. The throat was then cut across, with a single blow, so as to completely divide the windpipe and arteries, without touching the bone. This was the first ceremony of the covenant. The second was to tear open the breast, to take from thence the heart and vitals, and if on inspection the least imperfection was discovered, the body was considered unclean, and thrown aside for another. The third ceremony was to divide the body in twain, and to place the two parts to the north and south, so that the parties to the covenant might pass between them, coming from the east and going to the west. The carcass was then left as a prey to the wild beasts of the field and the vultures of the air, and thus the covenant was ratified.

 

228 - Why are cowans excluded from a Lodge?

 

            Cowan. This is a purely Masonic term, and signifies in its technical meaning an 'intruder, whence it is always coupled with the word eavesdropper. It is not found in any of the old manuscripts of the English Masons anterior to the eighteenth century, unless we suppose that lowers, met with in many of them, is a clerical error of the copyists. It occurs in the Schaw manuscript, a Scotch record which bears the date of 1598, in the following passage: "That no Master nor Fellow of Craft receive any cowans to work in his society or company, or send none of his servants to work with cowans." In the second edition of Anderson's Constitutions, published in 1738, we find the word in use among the English Masons, thus: "But Free and Accepted Ma‑sons shall not allow cowans to work with them, nor shall they be employed by cowans without an urgent necessity; and even in that case they shall not teach cowans, but must have a separate communication." There can, I think, be but little doubt that the word, as a Masonic term, comes to us from Scotland, and it is therefore in the Scotch language that we must look for its signification.

 

Now, Jamieson, in his Scottish Dictionary, gives us the following meanings of the word: "Cowan, s. 1. A term of contempt; applied to one who does the work of a Mason, but has not been regularly bred. "2. Also used to denote one who builds dry walls, otherwise denominated a dry‑diker.

 

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"3. One unacquainted with the secrets of Freemasonry." And he gives the following examples as his authorities: " `A boat‑carpenter, joiner, cowan (or builder of stone without mortar) gets 1s. at the minimum and good maintenance.' " `Cowans. Masons who build dry‑stone dykes or walls.' " In the Rob Roy of Scott, the word is used by Allan Inverach, who says: "She does not value sawmill mair as a cowan." The word has therefore, I think, come to the English Fraternity directly from the Operative Masons of Scotland, among whom it was used to denote a pretender, in the exact sense of the first meaning of Jamieson.

 

229 - Define the word Craft.

 

            Craft. The term applied to persons collectively in a trade, or mechanical occupation. In free or speculative Masonry it signifies the whole Masonic family, wherever dispersed.

 

230 - As a Craftsman, what are you to encourage?

 

            Craftsman. As a Craftsman you are to encourage industry and re‑ward merit; supply the wants and relieve the necessities of brethren and fellows to the utmost of your power and ability; and on no ac‑count to wrong them or see them wronged, but timely to apprise them.

 

231 - What is the creed of a Freemason?

 

            Creed, a Mason's. Although Freemasonry is not a dogmatic theology, and is tolerant in the admission of men of every religious faith, it would be wrong to suppose that it is without a creed. On the contrary, it has a creed, the assent to which it rigidly enforces, and the denial of which is absolutely incompatible with membership in the order. This creed consists of two articles: First, a belief in God, the Creator of all things, who is therefore recognized as the Grand Architect of the Universe; and secondly, a belief in the eternal life, to which this present life is but a preparatory and probationary state. To the first of these articles assent is explicitly required as soon as the threshold of the Lodge is crossed. The second is expressively taught by legends and symbols, and must be implicitly assented to by every Mason, especially by those who have received the third degree, which is altogether founded on the doctrine of the resurrection to a second life.

 

At the revival of Masonry in 1717, the Grand Lodge of England set forth the law, as to the religious creed to be required of a Mason, in the following words, to be founded in the charges approved by that body.

 

"In ancient times, Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was; yet it is now

 

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thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves." This is now considered universally as the recognized law on the subject.

 

232 - What constitutes a crime in Freemasonry?

 

            Crimes, Masonic. In Masonry, every offense is a crime, because, in every violation of a Masonic law, there is not only sometimes an infringement of the rights of an individual, but always, superinduced upon this, a breach and violation of public rights and duties, which affect the whole community of the Order considered as a community.

 

The first class of crimes which are laid down in the Constitutions, as rendering their perpetrators liable to Masonic jurisdiction, are offenses against the moral law. "Every Mason," says the old Charges of 1732, "is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law." The same charge continues the precept by asserting, that if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist, nor an irreligious libertine. Atheism, therefore, which is a rejection of a supreme, superintending Creator, and irreligious libertinism, which, in the language of that day, signified a denial of all moral responsibility, are offenses against the moral law, because they deny its validity and condemn its sanctions; and hence they are to be classed as Masonic crimes.

 

Again: the moral law inculcates love of God, love of our neighbor, and duty to ourselves. Each of these embraces other incidental duties which are obligatory on every Mason, and the violation of any one of which constitutes a Masonic crime.

 

The love of God implies that we should abstain from all profanity and irreverent use of his name. Universal benevolence is the necessary result of love of our neighbor. Cruelty to one's inferiors and dependents, uncharitableness to the poor and needy, and a general misanthropical neglect of our duty as men to our fellow‑beings, exhibiting itself in extreme selfishness and indifference to the comfort or happiness of all others, are offenses against the moral law, and there‑fore Masonic crimes. Next to violations of the moral law, in the category of Masonic crimes, are to be considered the transgressions of the municipal law, or the law of the land. Obedience to constituted authority is one of the first duties which is impressed upon the mind of the candidate; and hence he who transgresses the laws of the government under which he lives violates the teachings of the Order, and is guilty of a Masonic crime. But the Order will take no cognizance of ecclesiastical or political offenses. And this arises from the very nature of the society, which eschews all controversies about national religion or state policy. Hence apostasy, heresy, and schisms, although considered in some governments as heinous offenses, and

 

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subject to severe punishment, are not viewed as Masonic crimes. Lastly, violations of the Landmarks and Regulations of the Order are Masonic crimes. Thus, disclosure of any of the secrets which a Mason has promised to conceal; disobedience and want of respect to Masonic superiors; the bringing of "private piques or quarrels" into the lodge; want of courtesy and kindness to the brethren; speaking calumniously of a Mason behind his back, or in any other way at‑tempting to injure him, as by striking him except in self‑defense, or violating his domestic honor, is each a crime in Masonry. Indeed, whatever is a violation of fidelity to solemn engagements, a neglect of prescribed duties, or a transgression of the cardinal principles of friendship, morality, and brotherly love, is a Masonic crime.

 

233 - What is the definition of a Masonic crime?

           

            Crimes, Masonic Punishment of. The division of wrongs made by writers on municipal law, into private wrongs, or civil injuries, and public wrongs, or crimes and misdemeanors, is not admissible in, or applicable to, the system of Masonic jurisprudence. In Masonry, every offence is a crime, because, in every violation of a Masonic law, there is not only sometimes an infringement of the rights of an individual, but always, superinduced upon this, "a breach and violation of public rights and duties, which affect the whole community (of the Order), considered as a community," and this is the very definition of a crime, as given by Sir William Blackstone.

 

When a Mason transgresses one of the laws of his country, he commits a wrong which, according to its enormity and the effect which it has on private or public rights, will, in the language of the municipal law, be denominated an injury, a misdemeanor, or a crime, and he will, in a well ordered state, receive the punishment which is due to the character of the offence that he has committed. If the injury be simply one committed against an individual, the court will look only to the amount of injury done to the individual, and will require no compensation for wrong done to the state.

 

But although the tribunals of the country may have inflicted adequate punishment, so far as the offended law of the state is concerned, a Mason is still liable to further punishment from the Order, of which he is a member. And this punishment will be determined, not simply by the amount of injury done to the individual, but also on the principle that some wrong has likewise been done to the Order; for it is a settled axiom of Masonic law, that every offence which a Mason commits is an injury to the whole fraternity, if in nothing else, at least in this, that the bad conduct of a single member reflects discredit on the whole institution. And this idea appears to have been early entertained, for we find one of the articles of the old Gothic Constitutions declaring that a Mason shall harbor no thief's retainer,

 

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lest the craft should come to shame. And again, in the same document, the Master is directed to guard his Apprentice against the commission of perjury, and all other offences, by which the craft may be brought to shame. The shame, therefore, that is brought upon the institution by the misdeeds of its members, is an important element to be considered in the consideration of every Masonic offence. And hence too, in view of the public injury that every Mason inflicts upon the Masonic community, when he transgresses the municipal law, we arrive at the principle that all penal offences are crimes in Masonry: That is to say, that all private wrongs to an individual are public wrongs to the Order.

 

234 - Who were called cross‑legged Masons?

 

            Cross‑Legged. The effigies on the tombs of the ancient Knights Templar are always represented with the legs crossed, in allusion to their character as Knights of the Cross. Consequently, in the sixteenth century, when some Knights Templar in Scotland joined the Masonic Lodge, at Stirling, they were called cross‑legged Masons.

 

235 - Of what was the "crown of thorns" on the Saviour's brow composed?

 

            Crown of Thorns. The genuine Acacia also is the thorny tam‑ arisk, the same tree which grew up around the body of Osiris. It was a sacred tree among the Arabs who made of it the idol Al‑Uzza, which Mohammed destroyed. It is abundant as a bush in the desert of Thur; and of it the "crown of thorns" was composed which was set on the forehead of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a fit type of immortality on ac‑ count of its tenacity of life; for it has been known, when planted as a door‑post to take root and shoot out budding boughs over the threshold.

 

236 - What is the legend of the cubical stone?

 

            Cubical Stone. At the building of the Temple of Jerusalem, ac‑cording to Masonic tradition, an unexpected and afflicting event occurred, which threw the Masons engaged in the work into the greatest confusion. Our Ancient Operative Grand Master had sent to certain Fellowcrafts thirteen stones, and directed that with these they should complete a small square near the capstone, being the only portion of the fabric which remained unfinished. Every stone of the temple was formed into a square, containing five equilateral triangles, each equilateral triangle being equal to a cube, and each side and base of the triangles being equal to a plumb line. The space, therefore, which remained to be completed was the last triangle of the last stone, and equal to the eighth part of the plumb‑line, or one‑eighth of the circle, and one‑fifteenth of the triangle, which number is in Hebrew . . . . .the great name of the Almighty. The thirteen stones consisted of all the fragments which remained from the building, and comprised two cubes in

 

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two divisions. In the first was contained one cube in an entire piece, and in the second a cube in twelve parts: viz., 4 1/2 parts in 1 piece,  2 parts in 4 pieces, 1 part in 1 piece, and

1/2 part in 6 pieces; total 12 pieces. The Fellow‑crafts carried the broken cube to King Solomon, wiio in conjunction with Hiram, King of Tyre, directed that they should be placed along with the jewels of the Craft, on a cubic stone encrusted with gold, in the centre of a deep cavern within the foundations of the temple, and further ordered, that the door of this mysterious court should be built up with large stones, in order that no one in future should be able to gain admission into this mysterious apartment. At the rebuilding of the temple, however, three Fellowcrafts lately returned from Babylon, in the course of their labors inadvertently stumbled upon this mysterious recess. They discovered the fractured cube, and carried the pieces to Z. J. H., who recognized in the four pieces the XXXX., and accordingly advanced the Fellowerafts to a new order in Masonry for having accomplished this discovery.

 

237 - What is the length of a cubit?

 

            Cubit. A measure of length employed by the ancients equal to the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Among different nations the length of the cubit differed. Indeed it was customary for the Master of the work to use the length of his own arm as standard. The cubit of the Romans was about 17 2/5  inches; that of the Hebrews

22 inches, but its length is now generally stated as 18 English inches.

 

238 - What is one of the prevailing passions of the human heart?

 

            Curiosity. Freemasonry has in all ages excited the curiosity of mankind; and curiosity is one of the most prevailing passions in the human breast. The mind of man is kept in a perpetual thirst after knowledge, nor can he bear to be ignorant of what he thinks others know.

 

239 ‑ To whom is entrusted the custody of the ballot box?

 

            Custody of Ballot Box. The Senior Deacon takes charge of the ballot box in all ballots, places it on the altar in the customary form, and after all the members have voted, exhibits it for inspection to the Junior and Senior Wardens and Master, in rotation.

 

240 - Who has the custody' of Warrant of Constitution of a Lodge?

 

            Custody of Warrant. It is the prerogative of the Master to take charge of the warrant of constitution. This instrument, it has already been observed, is the evidence of the legality of the Lodge, and should always be placed upon the Master's pedestal while the Lodge is open. During the recess of the Lodge, it is constructively supposed to be in the Master's

personal possession, although, for the sake of convenience

 

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and safety, it is most generally deposited in the Lodge room. The Master is, however, always responsible for it, and if demanded by the Grand Lodge, it is of him that the demand must be made, and he alone is responsible for its production. In like manner, when going out of office, he must deliver it to his successor, who is to retain charge of it under the same regulations; for the Master of the Lodge is always the proper custodian of the Warrant of constitution.

 

241 - 0f what is darkness a symbol?

 

            Darkness. In the ancient mysteries the aspirant was always kept for a certain period in a condition of darkness. Hence darkness be‑came the symbol of initiation. Applied to Masonic symbolism, it is in‑tended to remind the candidate of his ignorance which Masonry is to enlighten; of his evil nature, which Masonry is to purify; of the world, in whose obscurity he has been wandering and from which Masonry is to rescue him.

 

242 - What are the privileges of a Mason's daughter?

 

            Daughter of a Mason. The daughter of a Mason is entitled to certain peculiar privileges and claims upon the Fraternity arising from her relationship to a member of the Craft. There has been some difference of opinion as to the time and manner in which the privileges cease. Masonic jurists, however, very generally incline to the opinion that they are terminated by marriage. If a Mason's daughter marries a profane, she absolves her connection with the Fraternity. If she marries a Mason, she exchanges her relation of a Mason's daughter for that of a Mason's wife.

 

243 - Why is the Senior Warden's station in the west?

 

            Day's Work. The day's work closed when the sun set in the west. All the expressions used in Scripture about hired servants imply that they were hired by the day. This is still the case in the East, where not only laborers, but mechanics, whether they work for a householder or for a master in their own craft, are paid by the day, and regularly expect their day's wages when the sun goes down. It has never come to our knowledge that they work at any trade after sunset, even in winter.

 

244 - What part have the Deacons in the work of the Craft?

 

            Deacons. In the constitutional list are two officers known as Senior Deacon and Junior Deacon. Their duties are a general superintendence over the security of the Lodge; the introduction of distinguished visitors and strangers. They assist in the ceremonies of the Order; carry messages about the Lodge, and see that proper accommodations are afforded to every member. The Senior Deacon should be appointed by the Master, and the Junior Deacon by the Senior Warden, as they are the special messengers of those two officers. There is no

 

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knowledge of these officers in Masonry prior to 1777 in this country, and still more recently in England.

 

245 - What is the symbolic meaning of death?

 

            Death. That event in the life of man which marks the transition from the material and visible to the invisible and spiritual world. In point of fact, there is no such thing as death - it is simply a progress, or a change in the manner of existence. The ancients were more earnest believers in immortality than the moderns. With them immortality was a fact which admitted of no doubt; consequently all the literature of the old Pagans deals largely with the awful mysteries of eternity. It in‑variably represents the future life as a continuation of this.

 

In the mysteries, and also in Freemasonry, death has a symbolical meaning. It signifies the end of a profane and vicious life - a life of stupidity and ignorance - and the introduction to a life of virtue, and to the enjoyments of knowledge; in other words, to that higher sphere of intellectual and moral perfection which is the result of those labors and trials which are symbolically represented in the initiation.

 

246 - What are the Masonic rules of debate?

 

                        Debate. No Brother can speak more than once on any subject without the permission of the chair.

 

Every Brother must address the chair standing; he must confine himself to the question under debate, and avoid personality.

 

Any Brother who transgresses this rule may be called to order, in which case the presiding officer shall immediately decide the point of order, from which decision there can be no appeal to the Lodge.

 

When two or more brethren rise at once in a debate, the Master shall name the brother who is first to speak.

 

No motion can be put unless it be seconded, and if required, it must be reduced to writing.

 

Before the question is put on any motion, it should be distinctly stated by the chair.

 

When a question is under debate, no motion can be received but to lie on the table; to postpone to a certain time; to commit; to amend, or to postpone indefinitely, which several motions, by Parlimentary usage, have precedence in the order in which they are arranged; and no motion to postpone to a certain time, to commit, or to postpone indefinitely, being decided, is. again allowed at the same communication.

 

When motions are made to refer a subject to different committees, the question must be taken in the order in which the motions were made.

 

When a motion has been once made and carried in the affirmative or negative, it is in order for any member who voted in the majority to move for a reconsideration thereof at the same communication.

 

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When an amendment is proposed, a member who has already spoken to the main question may again speak to the amendment.

 

Amendments may be made so as totally to alter the nature of the proposition, and a new resolution may be ingrafted, by way of amendment, on the word "resolved." When a blank is to be filled, and various propositions have been made, the question must be taken first on the highest sum or the latest time proposed.

 

Any member may call for a division of a question, which division will take place if a majority of the members consent.

 

A motion to lie on the table is not debateable, nor is one in the Grand Lodge to close the session on a given day.

 

A motion for adjournment is unmasonic, and cannot be entertained. No motion for the "previous question" can be admitted.

 

247 - What subjects of debate are prohibited in a Lodge?

 

            Debates, Prohibited. An exchange of opinions or a war of words. Freemasonry forbids all improper debates in the Lodge, i. e., the discussion of those ideas which divide men into religious and political sects. Seeking the harmony and concord of society, it tolerates no practice which would destroy its object. Fraternal debates on literary, scientific, and philosophical subjects are always in order in a Masonic Lodge, provided they tend to the improvement of the brethren.

 

248 - Has a Master of a Lodge the right to permit an appeal by courtesy from a decision?

 

            Decision of Master. As it is admitted to be the settled law of Masonry that no appeal can be taken from the decision of the chair to the Lodge, and as it is the duty of the Master to see that the laws of Masonry are strictly enforced in the body over which he presides, it follows, that any permission of an appeal "by courtesy," as it is called, would be highly wrong. The Master may, it is true, at all times, consult the members of his Lodge on any subject relating to their common interest, and may also, if he thinks proper, be guided by their advice. But when he has once made a decision on any subject and officially pro‑claimed it, he should under no promptings of delicacy or forbearance, permit it to be submitted to the Lodge for consideration, under an appeal. That decision must be the law to the Lodge, until overruled by the paramount decision of the Grand Lodge. The Committee of Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee took, there‑fore, the proper view of this subject, when they said that the admission of appeals by courtesy, that is with the concurrence of the Master, might ultimately become a precedent from which would be claimed the absolute right to take appeals.

 

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249 - What rules govern appeals from the decision of a Master of a Lodge?

 

            Decision of the Master, Appeals from. It is now a settled doctrine in Masonic law that there can be no appeal from the decision of a Master of a Lodge to the Lodge itself. But an appeal always lies from such decision to the Grand Lodge, which is bound to entertain the appeal and to inquire into the correctness of the decision. Some writers have endeavored to restrain the despotic authority of the Master to decisions in matters strictly relating to the work of the Lodge, while they con‑tend that on all questions of business an appeal may be taken from his decision to the Lodge. But it would be unsafe, and often impracticable, to draw this distinction, and accordingly the highest Masonic authorities have rejected the theory and denied the power in a Lodge to entertain an appeal from any decision of the presiding officer.

 

It must be admitted that, with the present understanding of the law on this subject, the power of the Master is to a great extent rendered despotic in his Lodge. But on the other hand, by the wise pro‑visions of the same law, this despotism is restrained by the most salutary checks. The Master himself is bound by the most solemn obligations to the faithful discharge of his duties and the impartial administration of justice and equity. And as a still further safeguard, the Grand Lodge, as the appellate court of the jurisdiction, is ever ready to listen to appeals, to redress grievances, to correct the errors of an ignorant Master, and to punish the unjust decisions of an iniquitous one.

 

The wisdom of this law must be apparent to any one who examines the nature of the organization of the Masonic institution. The Master is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the good conduct of his Lodge. To him and to him alone the supreme Masonic authority looks for the preservation of order and the observance of the modern laws, the ancient Constitutions, and the Landmarks of the Order in that branch of the institution over which he has been appointed to preside. It is manifest, then, that it would be highly unjust to throw around a presiding officer so heavy a responsibility, if it were in the power of the Lodge to overrule his decisions or ‑to control his authority. As the law will make no distinction between the acts of a Lodge and its Master, and will not permit the latter to cast the odium of any error upon the body over which he presides and which he is supposed to control, it is but right that he should be invested with an unlimited power corresponding with his unlimited responsibilities.

 

250 - What declaration is required of candidates for initiation into Masonry?

 

            Declaration of Candidates. Every candidate for initiation is re‑ quired to make "upon honor" the following declaration before an ap‑ propriate officer or committee: That, unbiased by the improper solicita‑ tion of friends and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, he freely and voluntarily offers himself as a candidate for the mysteries of Masonry;

 

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that he is prompted to solicit the privileges of Masonry by a favorable opinion conceived of the Institution and a desire of knowledge; and that he will cheerfully conform to all the ancient usages and established customs of the Fraternity. This form is very old. It is to be found in precisely the same words in the earliest edition of Preston. It is required by the English Constitution, that the candidate should sub‑scribe his name to the declaration which is made before the Stewards. But in this country the declaration is made orally, and usually before the Senior Deacon.

 

251 - What is meant by declaring off?

 

            Declaring Off. When a brother ceases to visit a Lodge, and to pay his monthly subscriptions, he thereby declares himself off the lodge. When a brother requires to leave the lodge for a few minutes, either at labor or at the banquet, he must request leave to do so. Many brethren whose bad conduct is brought before the lodge, and who are afraid that they will be excluded or expelled, take this means of declaring off. We also make use of this expression when any lodge has ceased to assemble for a length of time.

 

252 - To whom were Lodges formerly dedicated?

 

            Dedication. From the building of the first temple at Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity, the lodges of Freemasons, according to Masonic tradition, were dedicated to King Solomon; from thence to the advent of Christ to Zerubbabel, who built the second temple; and from that time till the final destruction of the temple by Titus, to St. John the Baptist. But owing to the losses which were sustained by that memorable occurrence, Freemasonry declined; many lodges were broken up, and the brethren were afraid to meet without an acknowledged head. At a secret meeting of the Craft, held in the city of Benjamin, this circumstance was much regretted, and they deputed seven brethren to solicit St. John the Evangelist, who was at that time Bishop of Ephesus, to accept the office of Grand Master. He replied to the deputation, that though well stricken in years, having been in his youth initiated into Masonry, he would acquiesce in their request, thus completing by his learning what the other St. John had begun by his zeal; and thus drew what Freemasons call a line - parallel; ever since which, the lodges in all Christian countries have been dedicated to the two St. Johns. Needless to say all this is allegorical and has no historical basis.

 

253 - What is the origin of the ceremony of dedication?

 

            Dedication, Ceremony of. The ceremony of dedicating the Lodge immediately follows that of its consecration. This, too, is a very ancient ceremony, and finds its prototype in the religious services of antiquity. Every temple among the Pagans was dedicated to some particular deity, oftentimes to the conjoint worship of several, while

 

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the Jews dedicated their religious edifices to the one supreme Jehovah. Thus David dedicated with solemn ceremonies the altar which he erected on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, after the cessation of the plague which had afflicted his people; and Calmet conjectured that he composed the thirtieth psalm on this occasion. The Jews extended this ceremony of dedication even to their private houses, and Clarke tell us, in reference to a passage on this subject in the book of Deuteronomy, that "it was a custom in Israel to dedicate a new house to God with prayer, praise and thanksgiving; and this was done in order to secure the divine presence and blessing; for no pious or sensible man could imagine he could dwell safely in a house that was not under the immediate protection of God." According to the learned Selden, there was a distinction among the Jews between consecretion and dedication, for sacred things were both consecrated and dedicated, while profane things, such as private dwelling houses, were only dedicated. Dedication was, therefore, a less sacred ceremony than consecration. This distinction has also been preserved among Christians; many of whom, and in the early ages all, consecrated their churches to the worship of God, but dedicated them to, or placed them under the especial patronage of some particular Saint. A similar practice prevails in the Masonic institution, and therefore, while we consecrate our Lodges, as has just been seen, "to the honor of God's glory," we dedicate them to the patrons of our Order.

 

254 - What is a Mason's duty as to the good name of his Brethren?

 

            Defamation. To defame our brother, or suffer him to be defamed, without interesting ourselves for the preservation of his name and character, there is scarce the shadow of an excuse to be found. Defamation is always wicked. Slander and evil speaking are the pests of civil society. They are the disgrace of every degree of religious profession, and the poisonous bane of all brotherly love. Defamation is never absolutely, or indeed at all, necessary; for suppose your brother has faults, are you obliged, because you speak of him, to discover them? Has he no good qualities? All have some gaod ones; make them then, though ever so few, the subject of your conversation; and if he has no good qualities, speak not of him at all.

 

255 - What is the meaning and effect of the Masonic penalty of definite suspension?

 

            Definite Suspension. By definite suspension, is meant a deprivation of the rights and privileges of Masonry for a fixed period of time, which period is always named in the sentence. By the operation of this penalty, a Mason is for the time prohibited from the exercise of all his Masonic privileges. His rights are placed in abeyance, and he can neither visit Lodges, hold Masonic communication, nor receive fraternal relief, during the period for which he has been suspended.

 

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But he is still a Mason. By suspension, as by the "relegation" or the Roman law, Masonic citizenship is not lost, although the exercise of its rights and duties is temporarily interdicted. And therefore, as soon as the period limited by the sentence has expired, the Mason at once 'resumes his former position in the Order, and is reinvested with all his Masonic rights, whether those rights be of a private or of an official nature.

 

Thus, if an officer of a Lodge has been suspended for three months from all the rights and privileges of Masonry, a suspension of his official functions also takes place. But a suspension from the discharge of the functions of an office is not a deprivation of the office; and therefore, as soon as the three months to which the suspension has been limited have expired, the brother resumes all his rights in the Order and the Lodge, and with them, of course, the office which he had held at the time that the sentence of suspension had been inflicted.

 

No sentence of suspension can be imposed upon any Mason, except after the most solemn forms of trial, and then only by the concurring vote of two‑thirds of the members present.

 

It is impossible to define, in a work of general principles, what are the nature and degree of the offences for which suspension would be considered as an appropriate punishment. The Grand Lodge of New York has declared that it is only to be inflicted "where the offence is against some policy or temporary regulation of the fraternity." If any rule is to be prescribed on the subject, this is perhaps the best; but in fact, the apportionment of the punishment to the crime, in all violations of the Masonic law, is to be left to the sound discretion of the Lodge which has tried the case; and in every trial there will, of necessity, appear many qualifying circumstances peculiar to each trans‑action, which must control and direct the court in its infliction of punishment.

 

256 - What is the definition of Freemasonry?

 

            Definition of Freemasonry. "The definitions of Freemasonry," says Oliver in his Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry "have been numerous, but they all unite in declaring it to be a system of morality, by the practice of which its members may advance their spiritual interests, and mount by the theological ladder from the Lodge on earth to the Lodge in heaven. It is a mistake, however, to suppose that Freemasonry is a system of religion. It is but the handmaiden to religion, although it largely and effectually illustrates one great branch of it, which is practice. The definition in the English lecture is most often quoted, which says that "Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." But a more comprehensive and exact definition is that it is "a

 

 

 

 

 

 

science which is engaged in the search after Divine Truth, and which employs symbolism as its method of instruction."

 

257 - What does the word degree signify?

 

            Degree. A degree, as the word implies, is merely a grade or step, or preparation, as one grade is but preparatory to another higher, and so on in progression to the "ne plus ultra." A degree sometimes, but not in Freemasonry, means a class or order.

 

258 - Why are there degrees in Masonry?

 

            Degrees. Why are there degrees in Freemasonry? This question is asked by some men of the world, who say they are men and not schoolboys and that the whole of the Order could be communicated to them at one time. But still there are degrees, or steps, and truly for this simple reason as there is no art or science which can be communicated at one time, so neither can Freemasonry; and although they are men of mature age who are initiated, yet they require to be proved step by step. Freemasonry is a science which requires both time and experience, and more time than many Masons can devote to it; the only time they in fact can appropriate to this purpose being their hours of recreation. It is, therefore, good that it is communicated by degrees. Those degrees are communicated in the lodge at the end of certain determinate periods, or immediately after each other, according to the regulations of the lodge, or the candidate's power of comprehension.

 

259 - What was the custom of ancient Craft Masonry in conferring the three degrees?

 

            Degrees, Ancient. There was a time, and that at no very remote period, when the great body of the fraternity was composed entirely of Entered Apprentices. The first degree was the only one that was conferred in subordinate Lodges, and the Grand Lodge reserved to itself the right of passing Fellow Crafts and raising Master Masons. Of course, all the business of subordinate Lodges was then necessarily transacted in the Entered Apprentice's degree. 'The Wardens, it is true, were required to be Fellow Crafts, and the most expert of these was chosen as the Master; but all the other offices were filled, and the business and duties of Masonry were performed, by the Apprentices. But we learn from Anderson that on the 22d of November, 1725, a regulation was adopted which permitted the Lodges to assume the prerogative formerly vested in the Grand Lodge, of conferring the second and third degrees, and as soon as this became generally the custom, Apprentices ceased to constitute the body of the craft, a position which then began to be occupied by Master Masons; and the Apprentices lost by this change nearly all the rights and prerogatives which they had originally possessed.

 

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This fact must be constantly borne in mind whenever we under‑take to discuss the rights of Entered Apprentices, and to deduce our opinions on the subject from what is said concerning them in the ancient Regulations. All that is written of them in these fundamental laws is (so written because they then constituted the great body of the craft. They were almost the only Masons; for the Fellow Crafts and Masters were but the exceptions, and hence these Regulations refer to them, not so much as Apprentices, or men of the lowest degree, in contradistinction to those who had been advanced to higher grades, but simply as the large constituency of the Masonic fraternity. Hence the Regulations which on this principle and in this view then applied to Entered Apprentices, must now be referred to Master Masons, who have taken their place in the distribution of the labors, as well as the honors and prerogatives of the institution.

 

260 - Under what circumstances can a Mason exercise the right of demission?

 

            Demission. The word "demit" is peculiarly and technically Masonic, and has no relation to the obsolete verb "to demit," which signifies "to let fall, to depress, to submit." A Mason is said "to demit from a Lodge" when he withdraws from all connection with it. It is, in fact, the act which in any other society would be called a resignation.

 

The right of demission is, then, an important, right in its reference not only to the Mason who applies for it, but also to the Lodge which grants it, since its operation is to dissolve all Masonic connection between the two parties. It is not, therefore, surprising that it has been made the topic of earnest discussion, and elicited various opinions among Masonic jurists.

 

Does the right exist, and if so, under what restrictions and with what effects? These are the questions that naturally suggest them‑selves, and must be thoroughly discussed before we can expect to obtain a clear comprehension of the subject.

 

There never has been any doubt that a Mason, being in good standing, has a right to demit from one Lodge for the purpose of immediately joining another. To exercise this undoubted right, how‑ever, he must at the time be in good standing; that is, free from all charges and their results. It is also admitted that all action on the application of any member for a demit will be suspended, if at the time of the application a charge shall be preferred against the applicant. In such a case he must submit to a trial, and, if acquitted, his demit may then be granted. These are points of law about which there is no dispute.

 

The holding of membership in a Lodge is an absolute duty, but one which cannot be enforced. If a Mason violates it, all that can be done is to visit him with the penalties which fall upon unaffiliated

 

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Masons. But he cannot be compelled to continue his membership contrary to his own inclinations. The penalties of non‑affiliation are to begin, not when a Brother asks for a demit, for this may be done for a good purpose, but when, after having received this demit, he neglects or refuses, within a reasonable time, to unite with another Lodge. The demit must be granted, if the Mason applying is in good standing at the time, and the penalties of non‑affiliation must be subsequently enforced, if he renders himself obnoxious to them.

 

261 - What is a Masonic demit, and how does it affect his standing in the craft?

 

            Demit. A Mason is said to demit from his Lodge when he with‑draws his membership; and a demit is a document granted by the Lodge which certifies that the demission has been accepted by the Lodge, and that the demitting brother is clear of the books and in good standing as a Mason. To demit, which is the act of the member, is then to resign; and to grant a demit, which is the act of the Lodge, is to grant a certificate that the resignation has been accepted. It is derived from the French reflective verb se demettre, which, according to the dictionary of the Academy, means "to withdraw from an office, to resign an employment." Thus it gives an example.

 

The application for a demit is a matter of form, and there is no power in the Lodge to refuse it, if the applicant has paid all his dues and is free of all charges. It is true that a regulation of 1722 says that no number of brethren shall withdraw or separate themselves from the Lodge in which they were made, without a dispensation; yet I do not see how the law can be enforced, for Masonry being a voluntary association, there is no power in any Lodge to insist on any brother continuing a connection with it which he desires to sever.

 

The usual object in applying for a demit is to enable the brother to join some other Lodge, into which he cannot be admitted without some evidence that he was in good standing in his former Lodge. This is in accordance with an old law found in the Regulations of

1663 in the following words: "No person hereafter who shall be accepted a Freemason shall be admitted into any Lodge or Assembly until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such Lodge is kept."

 

262 - Can a Mason be lawfully deprived of the right of participation in a ballot?

 

            Deprivation of Right to Vote. No Lodge can enact a by‑law which, for non‑payment of dues or other cause, would prohibit a member from voting on the petition of a candidate. A member may forfeit his right to vote at the election of officers, or other occasions; but not only cannot be deprived of his right to ballot on petitions, but

 

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is, as we have seen, compelled to exercise this right, whenever he is present and a candidate is proposed.

 

263 - What are the office and function of a Deputy Grand Master?

 

            Deputy Grand Master. The office of Deputy Grand Master is neither so important nor so ancient as that of Grand Master, and seems originally to have been established for the purpose of relieving the latter officer of much of the labor which the proper discharge of his duties would demand. Hence, in the first four years of the history of the Order, after the reorganization of the Grand Lodge, in the beginning of the last century, while the chair was occupied by Commoners, there was no Deputy; and it was not until the election of the Duke of Montagu, as Grand Master, in 1721, that the appointment was made. The Sixteenth of the Regulations, adopted in that year, very distinctly shows that the object of the creation of the office of Deputy was, that that officer should relieve the Grand Master from the inconvenience of attending to the details of business. Nor does that officer appear, from anything that we find in the old Constitutions, to have exercised or possessed any other prerogatives than those which he claimed in the Grand Master's right, whose assistant he was. The usage in this country generally still continues to assign to him that subordinate position; and, except in a few jurisdictions, where additional powers have been specially granted by constitutional enactment, he exercises the prerogative of presiding over the craft only in the absence of the Grand Master from the jurisdiction, while during his presence he simply assists him with his counsel and advice.

 

264 - Has the Deputy Grand Master the prerogative of establishing Lodges and granting dispensations?

 

            Deputy Grand Master, Prerogatives of. The Deputy Grand Master is in some States invested with the prerogative of establishing Lodges and of granting dispensations. Such powers are not derived from either the ancient usages or Constitutions, and the Regulations conferring them must be considered as wholly of a local nature; and in so far as they interfere with the exclusive inherent prerogatives of the Grand Master, I cannot but believe them to be inexpedient and unconstitutional. By the ancient Landmarks of Masonry, the dispensing power could be exercised only by the Grand Master, and to confer it on others is to divest him of his prerogative, which it is clearly not in the power of any Grand Lodge to do.

 

265 - Who is called the father of modern speculative Freemasonry?

 

            Desaguliers, John Theophilus. Of those who were engaged in the revival of Freemasonry in the beginning of the eighteenth century, none performed a more important part than he to whom may be well

 

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applied the epithet of the Father of Modern Speculative Masonry, and to whom, perhaps, more than any other person, is the present Grand Lodge of England indebted for its existence. A sketch of his life, drawn from the scanty materials to be found in Masonic records, and in the brief notices of a few of his contemporaries, cannot fail to be interesting to the student of Masonic history.

 

To few Masons of the present day, except to those who have made Freemasonry a subject of especial study, is the name of Desaguliers very familiar. But it is well they should know that to him, perhaps, more than to any other man, are we indebted for the present existence of Freemasonry as a living institution; for when in the beginning of the eighteenth century, Masonry had fallen into a state of decadence which threatened its extinction, it was Desaguliers who, by his energy and enthusiasm, infused a spirit of zeal into his contemporaries, which culminated in the revival of the year

1717; and it was his learning and social position that gave a standing to the Institution; which brought to its support noblemen and men of influence, so that the insignificant assemblage of four London Lodges at the Apple‑Tree Tavern has expanded into an association which now overshadows the entire civilized world. And the moving spirit of all this was John Theophilus Desaguliers.

 

266 - What is the design of Freemasonry?

 

            Design. The initiation into the first or Entered Apprentice's degree was made to partake, in a slighter proportion, of those trials of physical and moral courage for which the admission into the ancient and chiefly Egyptian mysteries were famous. The second or Fellowcraft's was rendered interesting by those scientific instructions and philosophical lectures which characterized later parts of the mysteries; though both degrees were made to tend to the glory of that God who had given such wonderful faculties to them and to the welfare of their fellow‑creatures. Thus instructed in morals and science, the third or Master Mason's degree led them to that great truth which the sublimest part of even the heathen mysteries, though it too seldom succeeded, was intended to teach, and the faithful believer was assured of a future life and immortality beyond the grave. Such is a brief outline, intelligible, I trust, to the members of the Order, of the design of that beautiful system which, then established, has long been the admiration of the world, and has stood the test of ages amid every persecution.

 

267 - What Masonic degree is based on the destruction of the Temple?

 

            Destruction of the Temple. The Temple of King Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Chaldees, during the reign of Zedekiah, A. M.

3416, B. C. 588, and just four hundred and sixteen

 

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years after its dedication. Although the city was destroyed and the Temple burned, the Masonic legends state that the deep foundations of the latter were not affected. Nebuchadnezzar caused the city of Jerusalem to be levelled to the ground, the royal palace to be burned, the Temple to be pillaged as well as destroyed, and the inhabitants to be carried captive to Babyon. These events are symbolically detailed in the Royal Arch, and, in allusion to them, the passage of the Book of Chronicles which records them is appropriately read during the ceremonies of this part of the degree.

 

 

268 - How may a brother make progress in Masonry?

 

            Development. The ancients often wrote their books on parchment, which were made up into a roll, hence called a volume, from volere, "to roll up." Thus he who read the book commenced by unrolling it, a custom still practiced by the Jews in reading their Sacred Law, and it was not until the whole volume was unrolled and read that he became the master of its contents. Now, in the Latin language, to unfold or to unroll was devolvere, whence we get our English word to develop. The figurative signification thus elicited from etymology may be well applied to the idea of the development of Masonry. The system of Speculative Masonry is a volume closely folded from unlawful eyes, and he who would understand its true intent and meaning must follow the old proverb, and "commence at the beginning." There is no royal road of arriving at this knowledge. It can be attained only by laborious research. The student must begin as an Apprentice, by studying the rudiments that are unfolded on its first page. Then as a Fellowcraft still more of the precious writing is unrolled, and he ac‑quires new ideas. As a Master he continues the operation, and possesses himself of additional material for thought. But it is not until the entire volume lies unrolled before him, in the highest degree, and the whole speculative system of its philosophy is lying outspread before him, that he can pretend to claim a thorough comprehension of its plan. It is then only that he has solved the problem, and can exclaim, "the end has crowned the work." The Mason who looks only on the ornamental covering of the roll knows nothing of its contents. Masonry is a scheme of development; and he who has learned nothing of its design, and who is daily adding nothing to his stock of Masonic ideas, is simply one who is not unrolling the parchment. It is a custom of the Jews on their Sabbath, in the synagogue, that a member should pay for the privilege of unrolling the Sacred Law. So, too, the Mason who would uphold the law of his Institution, must pay for the privilege, not in base coin, but in labor and research, studying its principles, searching out its design, and imbibing all of its symbolism; and the payment thus made will purchase a rich jewel.

 

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269 - What is the fourth section of the first lecture called?

 

            Didactical. The fourth section of the first lecture is called didactical or perceptive. The assertion is fully made, that morality is the great subject with which Freemasonry is conversant. Hence it follows, that the virtuous Mason, after he has enlightened his own mind by those sage and moral precepts, is the more ready to enlighten and enlarge the understanding of others.

 

270 - How did King Solomon diffuse Masonry throughout the world?

 

            Diffusion. An ancient Masonic tradition relates that our Grand Master King Solomon, struck with the universal harmony produced by the admirable arrangements which had been adopted amongst the workmen, conceived an idea of forming a universal bond of brotherly love, which should unite all nations in the pursuit of virtue and science. For this purpose, he admitted into his system those illustrious sages who visited Jerusalem from every part of the globe, and allowed them to participate in his mysteries. And hence, when they returned home they diffused Freemasonry over the whole face of the earth.

 

271 - Why should a Mason carry a traveling certificate or diploma?

 

            Diploma. From the Greek diptoo, I fold up; literally a letter folded but once. It signifies a document signed and sealed, conferring certain rights and privileges on the holder. In Freemasonry this would designate a certificate of membership and of good standing, issued by a Lodge to its members, to be used by them when traveling among strangers. These documents have been in vogue since 1663 and in some jurisdictions traveling brothers who are strangers are not permitted to visit Lodges, if they are not provided with one. The great body of Masons, however, seem reluctant to make the presentation of a diploma a necessary condition of admission to the Lodge as a visitor.

 

272 - What system of discipline should be enforced in Masonic Lodges?

 

            Discipline. At the building of the temple the hours of labor and rest and refreshment were distinctly regulated, and enforced with such strictness that every brother who absented himself from his work, even for the shortest period, was punished by a heavy fine deducted from his wages, because he violated the unity of labor, by which a correct result could be alone accomplished. The precise hours of commencing 'work and calling off to refreshment were stipulated in their general contracts, and conducted by known signals and reports, and they were not allowed to exceed them by a single minute. This perfect system of discipline is worthy of imitation amongst the Masons of the present day, if they wish to attain the same excellence in the moral edifice which the Craft is intended to raise.

 

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273 - What discovery was made at the building of the second Temple?

 

            Discovery. At the building of the Second Temple, the foundations were first opened and cleared from the accumulation of rubbish, that a level site might be procured for the commencement of the building. While engaged in excavations for this purpose, three fortunate sojourners are said to have discovered an avenue supported by seven pair of pillars, perfect and entire, which from their situation had escaped the fury of the flames that had consumed the temple, and the desolation of war which had destroyed the city. This secret vault, which had been built by Solomon as a secure depository for certain valuable secrets that would have inevitably been lost without some such expedient for their preservation, communicated by a subterranean passage with the king's palace; but at the destruction of Jerusalem, the entrance having been closed by the rubbish of falling buildings, it was discovered by the appearance of a key‑stone amongst the foundations of the Sanctum Sanctorum. A careful inspection was then made, and the invaluable secrets were placed in safe custody.

 

274 - Has a Mason the right to declare how he voted on a ballot?

 

            Discussion of Ballot. Not only has no member a right to inquire how his fellows have voted, but it is wholly out of order for him to explain his own vote. And the reason of this is evident. If one member has a right to rise in his place and announce that he deposited a white ball, then every other member has the same right; and in a Lodge of twenty members, where an application has been rejected by one black ball, if nineteen members state that they did not deposit it, the inference is clear that the twentieth Brother has done so, and thus the secrecy of the ballot is at once destroyed. The rejection having been announced from the chair, the Lodge should at once proceed. to other business, and it is the sacred duty of the presiding officer peremptorily and at once to check any rising discussion on the subject. Nothing must be done to impair the inviolable secrecy of the ballot.

 

275 - What is a dispensation and by whom can it be granted?

 

            Dispensation. It is an instrument which legalizes an act or ceremony, such as opening a lodge without a warrant, forming a masonic procession, or the like, which would be illegal without it. The power of granting dispensations is very properly vested in the Grand Master, or his deputy, who are the best judges on what occasions it ought to be exercised.

 

276 - Has a Lodge under dispensation power to enact its own by‑laws?

 

            Dispensation, By‑Laws of Lodge Under. A Lodge under dispensation cannot make by‑laws. This is a power vested only in those Lodges which, being of a permanent nature, constitute a part of the

 

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Masonic authority of the jurisdiction. Lodges under dispensation being of a temporary nature, liable at any moment to be arrested in their progress, and to have their very existence annulled at the man‑date of a single man, are incapable of exercising the high prerogative of making by‑laws or a constitution, the very enactment of which implies a permanency of organization. But, it may be asked, are such bodies then to be without any code or system of regulations for their government? I answer, by no means. Like all other assemblies of Masons, congregated for a temporary period, and for the performance of a special Masonic duty, they are to be governed by the Ancient Landmarks, the General Regulations of the Order, and the specific constitutions of the Grand Lodge under whose jurisdiction they are placed. I have noticed, it is true, in the proceedings of some Grand Lodges, that the by‑laws of Lodges under dispensation have been submitted for approval, but such is not the general usage of the fraternity; nor can I understand how a body, admitted not to be a Lodge, but only a quasi, or inchoate Lodge, can, during its tem_ porary and indefinite existence, enact a code of by‑laws which, if of any value, must necessarily be intended for a permanent constitution. I have never yet happened to examine the by‑laws of a lodge under dispensation, but it is evident that unless such a body has transcended the powers delegated to it by the Grand Master, and assumed for itself a permanent organization, these by‑laws must be entirely confined to the mode of making Masons, for this is the only prerogative which the dispensation vests in such a body.

 

277 - By what procedure are candidates of a Lodge under dispensation elected?

 

            Dispensation, Candidates of a Lodge Under. The power of electing candidates to take the degrees in a Lodge under dispensation is confined to the Master and Wardens. These officers only are named in the dispensation - they only are the proxies or representatives of the Grand Master - they only are responsible to him for the faithful execution of the power temporarily vested in them. All Masons who aid and assist them in conferring the degrees are extraneous to the dispensation, and act, in thus assisting, precisely as the visitors to a constituted Lodge might do, who should be called upon to aid the regular officers and members in the discharge of their duties. The corollary from all this is, that in a Lodge under dispensation, none but the Master and Wardens have a right to elect candidates.

 

I say a right, because I believe that such is the law, as a necessary and unavoidable inference from the peculiar organization of Lodges under dispensation. But it is not always proper or courteous for us to put ourselves on our reserved rights, and to push the law with rigor to its utmost limit. When a certain number of brethren have  

 

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united themselves together under a Master and Wardens acting by dispensation, with the ulterior design of applying for a warrant of constitution and forming themselves into a regular Lodge, although they have no legal right to ballot for candidates, the selection of whom has been intrusted by the Grand Master to the three officers named in the dispensation for that especial purpose; yet as the choice of those who are hereafter to be their associates in the future Lodge must be a matter of interest to them, ordinary courtesy, to say nothing of Masonic kindness, should prompt the Master and Wardens to consult the feelings of their brethren, and to ask their opinions of the eligibility of the candidates who apply to be made Masons. Perhaps the most expeditious and convenient mode of obtaining this expression of their opinions is to have recourse to a ballot, and to do so, as an act of courtesy, is of course unobjectionable.

 

278 - How long does a Lodge usually run under dispensation?

 

            Dispensation, Length of. A Dispensation gives power to the officers named in a petition to hold a Lodge, open and close it, and to "enter, pass, and raise Freemasons." The length of time of this dispensation is generally understood, and expressed on its face to be, "until it shall be revoked by the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, or until a Warrant of Constitution is granted by the Grand Lodge." Preston observes, that the brethren named in it are vested with power "to assemble as Masons for forty days, and until such time as a Warrant of Constitution can be obtained by command of the Grand Lodge, or that authority be re‑called." Usage, however, as a general thing, allows the dispensation to continue until the next meeting of the Grand Lodge, when it is either annulled or a warrant of constitution granted.

 

Either the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge has the power to revoke the dispensation; and in such a case, the Lodge of course at once ceases to exist. As in the case of all extinct Lodges, whatever funds or property it has accumulated will pass to the Grand Lodge, which may be called the natural heir of its subordinates; but all the work done in the Lodge, under the dispensation, is regular and legal, and all the Masons made by it are, in every sense of the term, "true and lawful brethren."

 

279 - What is the status of a Mason made in a Lodge under dispensation?

 

            Dispensation, Lodge Under. A Lodge under dispensation cannot elect members. Candidates may be elected to receive the degrees, but the conferring of the third degree in a Lodge under dispensation does not at the same time confer membership, or a right to member‑ship, as occurs, under similar circumstances, in a Lodge working under a warrant of constitution. This arises from the inchoate and

 

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imperfect nature of such a Lodge. It is simply a temporary organization of Masons for a specific purpose. A Lodge under dispensation is, in every sense of the word, what the old records of England call an "occasional Lodge," convened by the Grand Master for one purpose, and no other. There is no authority in the instrument that convened them to do anything else except to make Masons. They are brought together under the mandate of the Grand Master for this purpose only, so expressed, definitely and positively, in the plainest and most unequivocal language. They are not congregated to make by‑laws, to elect members, to frame laws - in short, to do any‑thing except "to enter, pass, and raise Freemasons." If they proceed to the transaction of any other business than this, or what is strictly incidental to it, they transcend the authority that has been delegated to them. Hence, as a Lodge under dispensation derives all its prerogatives from the dispensation only, and as that instrument confers no other power than that of making Masons, it follows that the prerogative of electing members is not conferred upon it. The candidates who have received the degrees in such a Lodge partake of its imperfect and preliminary character. If the Lodge at the proper time receives its warrant of constitution, they then become members of the completed Lodge. If the dispensation, on the contrary, is revoked, and the Lodge dissolved, they are Masons in good standing, but unaffiliated, and are not only permitted, but it becomes their duty, to apply to some regular Lodge for affiliation.

 

280 - Has a Grand Lodge the right to issue a dispensation to admit a Mason without unanimous consent?

 

            Dispensation of Unanimous Consent. The right of a Lodge, ex‑pressed by the unanimous consent of all the brethren present, to judge of whom it shall admit to its membership, is called "an inherent privilege," and it is expressly said that it is "not subject to a dispensation." The reason assigned for this is one that will suggest itself at once to any reflective mind, namely, because the members are themselves the best judges of the particular reasons for admission or rejection; and if an objectionable person is thrust upon them, contrary to their wishes, the harmony of the Lodge may be impaired, or even its continuance hazarded.

 

281 - Has the Grand Master the right to grant a dispensation for the elec‑ tion of Master in the event of the Master's death or disability?

 

            Dispensation to Fill Vacancy in the Office of Master. The right to succeed the Master is a personal right, vested in the Wardens, hence no dispensation can issue to set it aside and to order an election; for it is an undoubted principle of justice that the Grand Master has no prerogative to interfere, by his dispensing power, with the rights of individuals.

 

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282 - What is the status of a Lodge under dispensation?

 

            Dispensations for Lodges. Lodges under dispensation are merely temporary in their nature, subject to the will of the Grand Master for their continuance, and acting during their existence simply as his proxies, for the purpose of exercising a right which is inherent in him by the ancient Landmarks, that, namely, of congregating Masons to confer degrees. The ancient records do not throw any light on this subject of Lodges under dispensation. It appears from the Old Regulations that the power of constituting a Lodge at once, without any probationary dispensation, was originally vested in the Grand Master; and the brief ceremony of constituting a new Lodge, to be found in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, as well as that more enlarged one contained in the second edition of the same work, was drawn up in accordance with the principle that the power of original constitution was vested in the Grand Master. But in this country the law has been differently interpreted, and the power of constituting Lodges having been taken from, or rather tacitly surrendered by Grand Masters, it has been assumed by Grand Lodges alone. Hence Grand Masters, in exercising the power of granting dispensations to open and hold Lodges, have fallen back for their authority to do so on that ancient Landmark which makes it the prerogative of the Grand Master to summon any legal number of brethren together, and with them to make Masons. A Lodge under dispensation is there‑fore simply the creature or proxy of the Grand Master - congregated for a temporary and special purpose (for it is admitted that the dispensation may be revoked the next day), or if intended to continue until a warrant is granted, then only an inchoate Lodge - an' assemblage of Masons in the state or condition preparatory to the formation of a regular Lodge. But as the Landmarks give the Grand Master the right or prerogative of congregating his brethren for the purpose of making Masons only, and as it confers on him no power of making laws, or performing any other acts which exclusively reside in a perfect and complete Lodge, it is evident that his creature, the Lodge which derives its existence from his dispensation, can possess no prerogatives which did not originally vest in its creation. The Grand Master cannot give to others that which he does not himself possess. The prerogatives of a Lodge under dispensation are there‑fore very limited in their nature.

 

283 - How should disputes between Masons be disposed of?

 

            Disputes. The spirit of all the Ancient Charges and Constitutions is that disputes among Masons should be settled by an appeal to the brethren, to whose award the disputants were required to submit. Thus, in an old Record of the fifteenth century, it is provided, among other charges, that "yf any discorde schall be bitwene hym

 

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and his fellows, he schall abey hym mekely and be stylle at the bydding of hi's Master or of the Wardeyne of his Master, in his Master's absens, to the holy day folowyng, and that he accorde then at the dispocition of his fellows." A similar regulation is to be found in all the other old Charges and Constitutions, and is continued in operation at this day by the Charges approved in 1722, which express the same idea in more modern language.

 

284 - On what grounds may a Masonic Lodge be lawfully dissolved?

 

            Dissolution of a Lodge. The laws of Masonry provide only two ways in which the warrant of constitution of a Lodge can be forfeited, and the Lodge dissolved. The first of these is by an act of the Grand Lodge, after due trial. The offences which render a Lodge liable to this severe penalty are enumerated in the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New York, as being:

 

1. Contumacy to the authority of the Grand Master or Grand Lodge.

2. Departure from the original plan of Masonry and Ancient Landmarks.

3. Disobedience to the constitutions. And,

4. Ceasing to meet for one year or more. To these I am disposed to add: The indiscriminate making of immoral candidates, whereby the reputation of the institution in the vicinity of the Lodge is impaired.

 

285 - Is Freemasonry a charitable institution?

 

            Distress. Freemasonry is, strictly speaking, a charitable association; that is to say, it does not, in any way, partake of the nature of a joint stock, or mutual insurance company, which distinguishes so many of the friendly societies of the present day in England and this country. In the Masonic organization, charity is given - as charity should only be given - to the needy, and according to the means of the givers. That principle of mutual insurance by which a society or association pledges itself in articles of its constitution, in consideration of the regular payment of a certain annual amount, to contribute, in return, a fixed sum, usually called "a benefit," to the member who has so paid his dues, whenever he is sick, whether he needs it or not, making no distinction between rich and poor, but only between punctual payers and defaulters, is a mere matter of commercial bargain and pecuniary calculation. There is not one particle of charity in it. It is the legal and expected result of a previous contract, to be en‑forced by law if necessary, and as such, can enlist none of the finer emotions of the heart.

 

This, therefore, I need scarcely say, is entirely different from the system of charity which is practised in the Masonic institution. Here there is no question of arrears; the stranger from the most distant land, if he be true and worthy, is as equally entitled to the charities of his brethren, as the most punctual paying member of the Lodge. The,

 

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only claim that Masonic charity listens to is that of poverty; the only requisite to insure relief is destitution. The first claim, therefore, that is necessary to substantiate the Masonic right of relief is that the Brother applying for assistance is really in distressed or needy circumstances. The demand for pecuniary aid can only be made by the poor and destitute.

 

286 - What official in British Freemasonry corresponds to the District Deputy Grand Master?

 

            District Deputy Grand Master. In this country the office of District Deputy Grand Master appears to have taken the place, in many jurisdictions, of the English Provincial Grand Masters; but as the office has been created by a special enactment in every case, the Regulations which refer to it must be considered as strictly local in their character, Hence the duties and prerogatives of these officers widely differ in different jurisdictions, and a consideration of them can find no place in a treatise on the general principles of Masonic law. Individually, I confess that I am opposed to the creation of the office, as infringing on the simplicity of the Masonic system of government, although it cannot be denied that a Grand Lodge has the right to create such an office, so long as the powers conferred on the officer do not affect the inherent prerogatives of the Grand Master; with which, of course, no modern Constitutions can interfere.

 

287 - Into what three classes are Masonic offenses divided?

 

            Division of Masonic Offenses. There is a division of Masonic offenses which is well worthy of notice; for, as the civil law made a distinction between the juris praecepta, or precepts of the law, which were without any temporal punishment, and the juris regulae, or rules of law which were accompanied with a penalty, so the laws of Masonry may be divided into directive precepts and penal regulations, the former being accompanied with no specified punishment, and the latter always containing a penal sanction. Of the latter, no example need be at present adduced; but of the former, we will find a well known instance in the old Charges approved in 1722, where it is said that every Mason ought to belong to a Lodge, while no penalty is affixed for a violation of the precept.

 

The directive precepts of the Order are to be found partly in the old Constitutions and partly in the ritual, where they are constantly occurring as indications of what should be done or omitted to form the character of a true and trusty Mason. They constitute rather the ethics than the law of Masonry.

 

288 - What do the three degrees blend?

 

            Doctrines. The three degrees blend doctrine, morality, and science, tradition and history, into a grand and beautiful system, which, if

 

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studied with attention and practised with sincerity, will inspire a holy confidence that the Lord of Life will enable us to trample the king of terrors beneath our feet, and lift our eyes to the bright Morning Star, whose rising brings peace and salvation to the faithful and obedient to the holy Word of God. There is, indeed, scarcely a point of duty or morality which man has been presumed to owe to God, his neighbor, or himself, under the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, or the Christian dispensations, which, in the construction of our symbolical system, has been untouched. The forms and ceremonies, secrets and landmarks, the types and allegories of Freemasonry pre‑sent copious subjects of investigation, which cannot be easily exhausted. The nature of the lodge, its form, dimensions, and support; its ground, situation, and covering; its ornaments, furniture, and jewels, all unite their aid to form a perfect code of moral and theological philosophy, which, while it fascinates the understanding, improves the mind, until it becomes polished like the perfect Ashlar, and can only be tried by the square of God's word, and the unerring compass of conscience.

 

289 - What is the second order of architecture?

 

            Doric. The Doric is the second of the five orders of architecture, and is that between the Tuscan and the Ionic. It is the most natural and best proportioned of all the orders; all its parts being founded on the natural position of solid bodies.

 

 

290 - What is the meaning of the word "dotage" as used in Freemasonry?

 

            Dotage. "An old man in his dotage," is, like "a young man under age," equally incapable of initiation. The reason in both cases is the same. There is an absence of that maturity of intellect which is required for the comprehension of our mysteries. In one instance the fruit is still green; in the other, it has ripened and rotted, and is ready to fall from the tree. Dotage may be technically defined to be an impotence of body as well as of mind, from excessive old age. It is marked by childish desires and pursuits, a loss of judgment and memory, and a senseless and unconnected garrulity of speech. No precise age can be fixed to which these intellectual deficiences belong. They appear earlier in some mental constitutions than they do in others. The Lodge must. determine for itself as to whether the candidate comes within the limits of the objection based upon his dotage. Fortunately, it is rarely that a Lodge or its committee will be called upon to decide such questions. Old men in their dotage are not usually candidates for Masonic initiation. And however old an applicant may be, if he is in the possession of his healthy mental faculties, his age alone will constitute no disqualification. It is not the number

 

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of his years, but their effect on his mind, that is to be the subject of investigation.

 

291 - May charges be lawfully brought by a Masonic Lodge for an offense for which the brother has already been punished by the civil authorities?

 

            Double Punishment. It may appear at first sight to be a violation of the great principles of justice to punish a man a second time for the same offense, and it may therefore be supposed that when a Mason has once undergone the penalty of the laws of his country, he should not be again tried and punished in his Lodge for the same crime. But this is not the theory upon which Masonic punishment is inflicted in such cases. When a Mason violates the laws of his country, he also commits a Masonic crime; for, by his wrong doing, he not only trangresses the Masonic law of obedience, but he also "brings shame upon the craft." Of this crime the laws of the country take no cognizance, and it is for this alone that he is to be tried and punished by a Masonic tribunal.

 

292 - What is a good rule in all doubtful matters?

 

            Doubts. It is a good rule in all doubtful matters to suspend our opinion at least till positive proof is obtained on which to found it. Until we have fully ascertained the real state of the case, let us al‑ways be willing to put the fairest construction it will admit; and even to hope the best of a thing when appearances are against it. Where doubt hesitates, let candor prompt; and where justice balances, let mercy prevail. Even where we find ourselves obliged to blame the principles of a certain sect or party, let us not be so uncharitable as to con‑found all its adherents and followers under one general and indiscriminate censure. Especially let us not charge them with such con‑sequences of their tenets as they disavow.

 

293 - Of what is the dove emblematic?

 

            Dove. This bird was the diluvian messenger of peace, and hovered over the retreating waters like a celestial harbinger of safety. Thus a lunette floating on the surface of the ocean, attended by a dove with an olive branch in its mouth, and encircled by a rainbow, form a striking and expressive symbol which needs no explanation. If Freemasonry has allowed this bird to occupy a high situation amongst its hallowed symbols, the reasons for such an appropriation are fully competent to justify the proceeding. The dove was an agent at the creation, at the deluge, and at the baptism of Christ.

 

294 - What distinguishes "due form" from "ample form?"

 

            Due Form. When a Lodge is constituted, and its officers installed, or any Masonic service is performed, such as laying corner stones,

 

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consecrating halls, by the Grand Master and his officers, it is said to be done in ample form; if by deputies of the Grand Master, it is said to be done in due form.

 

295 - What does the due guard teach?

 

            Due Guard. A mode of recognition which derives its name from its object, which is to duly guard the person using it as regards his obligations, and the penalty for their violation. The due guard is an Americanism, and of comparatively recent origin, being unknown to the English and Continental systems. In some of the old rituals of the date of

1757, the expression is used, but only as referring to what is now called the sign.

 

296 - What is the due guard?

 

            Due Guard, Meaning of. The "due guard" of Masonry teaches every brother to set a watch over his words, his acts, and his thoughts, and constantly warns him to remember his solemn obligations, and never to forget the penalty of broken vows and violated faith.

 

297 - What are the rights of a Lodge with respect to establishing dues and assessments?

 

            Dues. A Lodge has the right to levy a tax upon its members. This is paid under the name of "dues" or "quarterage." The subject of dues is a local matter, with which Grand Lodges should not interfere; yet it must be admitted, under the theory advanced else‑where on the subject of by‑laws, that a Grand Lodge has, if it chooses, an unquestionable right to adopt any regulation controlling the action of its subordinates, in respect to this tax. The expediency of enacting such a regulation, and the right to do so, are two very different things.

 

298 - What is the origin of the custom requiring the payment of dues?

 

            Dues, Payment of. The payment of dues is a duty incumbent on all the members of a Lodge, which, although of comparatively recent date, is now of almost universal usage. Formerly, that is to say, before the revival of Masonry in 1717, Lodges received no warrants; but a sufficient number of Brethren, meeting together, were competent to make Masons, and practice the rites of Masonry. After the temporary business which had called them together had been performed, the Lodge was dissolved until some similar occasion should summon the Brethren again together. There was then no permanent organization - no necessity for a Lodge - and consequently no Regulation requiring the payment of annual dues. When Lodges, however, became permanently established by warrants of Constitution, permanent membership followed, and, of course, the payment of some contribution was required from each member as a fund towards defraying the exnenses of the Lodge. It is not a

 

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general Masonic duty, in which the Mason is affected towards the whole body of the craft, as in the duty of moral deportment, but is to be regarded simply in the light of a pecuniary contract, the parties to which are the Lodge and its members. Hence it is not prescribed or regulated by any of the Ancient Constitutions, nor is it a matter with which Grand Lodges should ever interfere.

 

299 - Is a Mason required to pay dues while under suspension?

 

            Dues Under Suspension. Do the annual dues of a member under suspension continue to accrue during his suspension? I should say clearly not. Dues are paid by members to their Lodges for the enjoyment and exercise of certain rights which pertain to membership. If the exercise of these rights is prohibited, it seems but an equitable conclusion that payment for the exercise of the rights should be suspended with the suspension of the rights themselves. No man should be made to pay for that which he does not receive.

 

This view is practically adopted everywhere in the case of indefinite suspension; for the Secretary invariably abstains from continuing his account with an indefinitely suspended member, and I see no reason why a different rule should be adopted in reference to members under definite suspension. The two penalties differ only in respect to the extent of time for which they are inflicted, and in the forms to be pursued in acquiring restoration. In all other respects they are precisely alike, and are to be governed by the same principles.

 

300 - Can a dumb person become a Mason?

 

            Dumbness. Although the faculty of speech is not one of the five human senses, it is important as the medium of communicating instruction, admonition, or reproof, and the person who does not possess it is unfitted to perform the most important duties of life. Hence dumbness disqualifies a candidate for Masonic initiation.

 

301 - What are the duties of a Lodge with reference to the reputation of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Duties of Lodge. The powers and prerogatives of a Lodge are great nor is it to be supposed that prerogatives so numerous and so important would be conferred on any association without the implied existence of extensive duties. It must, therefore, be remembered that as the Grand Lodge is the general conservator of the Masonic character and interest in the whole territory over which it presides, so each sub‑ordinate Lodge is equally the conservator of the same character and interests in its own local jurisdiction. If, therefore, a Lodge is wise in its selection of laws, and strict in the exercise of discipline - if it watches with assiduity over the Landmarks of the Order, and with prudent foresight prevents the slightest attempt at an innovation on them - if its members use the black ball, as the great bulwark of Ma‑

 

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sonry, with impartial justice, and give, in their own conduct, the best refutation of the slanders of our enemies - then, and then only - to use the language of our ritual - will "the honor, glory and reputation of the institution be firmly established, and the world at large convinced of its good effects." And to effect these objects is the great duty of every subordinate Lodge.

 

302 - What duties do Masons owe to God, their neighbors and themselves?

 

            Duties of Master Masons. The moral law inculcates love of God, love of our neighbor, and duty to ourselves. Each of these embraces other incidental duties which are obligatory on every Mason. Thus, the love of God implies that we should abstain from all profanity and irreverent use of his name. The being whom we truly love, we cannot treat with disrespect. I know indeed of no offence more directly op‑posed to the whole spirit of the institution than a profane use of that holy name, which is the most important feature of the system of Masonry, as the all‑pervading symbol of that Divine truth which it is the professed object of every Mason to discover. Profanity in a Mason, therefore, while it is an insult to the majesty of our Maker, is also an irreverence for the religious design of the Masonic science, and as such is a Masonic crime.

 

Universal benevolence, which Bishop Cumberland calls "the prime law of nature," is the necessary result of love of our neighbor. Cruelty to one's inferiors and dependents, uncharitableness to the poor and needy, and a general misanthropical neglect of our duty as men to our fellow beings, exhibiting itself in extreme selfishness and indifference to the comfort or happiness of all others, are offences against the moral law, and therefore Masonic crimes. Job, in one of his affecting remonstrances, has beautifully enumerated the vices which flow from a want of sympathy with our fellow beings, any one of which would, if committed by a Mason, be a fitting cause for the exercise of Masonic discipline. "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless have not eaten thereof; if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without a covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, then let evil overtake me." Justice, which the civil law defines to be "a constant and prevailing desire *to give every one his just due," is another necessary result of love of our neighbor. As one of the cardinal virtues, the candidate is instructed in the ritual of the first degree "never to deviate from its minutest principles." Injustice, therefore, in every form in which one man can do wrong to another, is a violation of the moral law, and a Masonic crime.

 

Lastly, from our duty to ourselves result all those virtues, the prac‑

 

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tice of which enables us to discharge the obligations we owe to society, our family, and our friends. In neglecting this duty, by abusing the bounties of Providence, by impairing our faculties, by irregularity, and debasing our profession by intemperance, we violate the moral law, and are guilty of Masonic crime.

 

303 - What are the duties of a Mason?

 

            Duty. The duty of a Mason as an honest man is plain and easy. It requires of him honesty in contracts, sincerity in affirming, simplicity in bargaining and faithfulness in performing. To sleep little, and to study much; to say little and to think and hear much; to learn, that he may be able to do; and then to do earnestly and vigorously whatever the good of his fellows, his country and mankind requires, are the duties of every Mason.

 

304 - Why does the Worshipful Master sit in the East?

 

            East. The pedestal, with the volume of the Sacred Law, is placed in the eastern part of the lodge, to signify that as the sun rises in the east to open and enliven the day, so is the Worshipful Master placed in the east to open the lodge, and to employ and instruct the brethren in Masonry.

 

The East has always been considered peculiarly sacred. This was, without exception, the case in all the Ancient Mysteries. In the Egyptian rites, especially, and those of Adonis, which were among the earliest, and from which the others derived their existence, the sun was the object of adoration, and his revolutions through the various seasons were fictitiously represented. The spot, therefore, where this luminary made his appearance at the commencement of day, and where his worshippers were wont anxiously to look for the first darting of his prolific rays, was esteemed as the figurative birthplace of their god, and honored with an appropriate degree of reverence. And even among those nations where the sun‑worship gave place to more enlightened doctrines, the respect for the place of sun‑rising continued to exist. The camp of Judah was placed by Moses in the East as a mark of distinction; the tabernacle in the wilderness was placed due East and West; and the practice was continued in the erection of Christian churches. Hence, too, the primitive Christian always turned towards the East in their public prayers, which custom St. Augustine accounts for "because the East is the most honorable part of the world, being the region of light whence the glorious sun arises." And hence all Masonic Lodges, like their great prototype the Temple of Jerusalem, are built or supposed to be built, due East and West; and as the North is esteemed a place of darkness, the East, on the contrary, is considered a place of light.

 

In the primitive Christian church, according to St. Ambrose, in the ceremonies accompanying the baptism of a catechumen, "he turned to‑

 

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ward the West, the image of darkness, to abjure the world, and toward the East, the emblem of light, to denote his alliance with Jesus Christ." And so, too, in the oldest lectures of the last century, the Mason is said to travel from the West to the East, that is, from darkness to light. In the Prestonian system, the question is asked, "What induces you to leave the West to travel to the East?" And the answer is: "In search of a Master, and from him to gain instruction." The same idea, if not precisely the same language, is preserved in the modern and existing rituals.

 

The East, being the place where the Master sits, is considered the most honorable part of the Lodge, and is distinguished from the rest of the room by a dais, or raised platform, which is occupied only by those who have passed the Chair.

 

305 - What was the Masonic punishment for eavesdropping?

 

            Eavesdropper. In the lectures used at the revival of Masonry in 1717, the following punishment was inflicted on a cowan. "To be placed under the eaves of the house in rainy weather, till the water runs in at his shoulders and out at his shoes." The French rather extend this punishment. "On le met sour une gouttiere, une pompe, ou une fontaine, jusqu'a ce qu'il soit mouille depuis la tete jusqu'aux pieds." Hence a listener is called an eavesdropper.

 

306 - Can Masonic charges be based upon ecclesiastical or political offenses?

 

            Ecclesiastical or Political Offenses. The Order of Freemasonry will take no cognizance of ecclesiastical or political offenses. And this arises from the very nature of our society, which eschews all controversies about national religion or state policy. Hence apostasy, heresy and schisms, although considered in some governments as heinous offenses, and subject to severe punishment, cannot become the foundation of a charge in a Masonic Lodge.

 

307 - What degrees of Masonry are based on the rebuilding of the Temple?

 

            Edict of Cyrus. Five hundred and thirty‑six years before the Christian era, Cyrus issued his edict permitting the Jews to return from the captivity at Babylon to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the House of the Lord. At the same time he restored to them all the sacred vessels and precious ornaments of the first Temple, which had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and which were still in existence. This is commemorated in the Royal Arch degree of the York and American Rites. It is also referred to in the fifteenth degree, or Knight of the East, of the Scottish Rite.

 

308 - What were the Egyptian mysteries?

 

            Egyptian Mysteries. According to Herodotus, the secret institution of Isis, with its wonderful mysteries and imposing ceremonies, made its appearance simultaneously with the organization of Egyptian

 

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society and the birth of Egyptian civilization. At first the initiation into these mysteries was, probably, simply a mystic drama, representing the progress of man, from a barbarous to a civilized state, and his advancement and struggles through gloom and toil, toward the supreme perfection, whether in time or eternity. This is seen in the hieroglyphical representation of the judgment of Amenti. It is a picture of an ordeal or scrutiny to which the candidate was subjected preparatory to initiation. The ceremony of initiation itself was a progress through gloom and terror, and all possible mortal horrors, to scenes of indescribable beauty and glory.

 

309 - What qualificatons should be sought in the choice of the officers of a Lodge?

 

            Electing Officers. In most lodges the election of officers takes place upon, or near to, St. John's Day, when either new officers are chosen, or the old ones are re‑elected. He who aspires to fill any of the chief offices of the Lodge must not only possess the necessary Masonic knowledge to enable him to assist in carrying on the Lodge work with order and harmony, but he must be a man whose general knowledge, skill, and experience has gained him the esteem and confidence of his brethren; rank, titles or riches should never be taken into account unless the possessor is also endowed with the former qualifications; nor, on the other hand, should any brother be elected whose situation in life would not allow him to devote the necessary time to the duties of the Lodge without injury to himself, his family, or connections. Should the election have fallen upon any brother who feels himself unable to per‑form the important duties which would devolve upon him, it is his duty immediately to decline the proffered honor. The welfare of the Lodge should be his sole object, and if he feels that he is not able to promote that object so well as he ought to do as an officer, it is much more credit‑able to him to continue to do his utmost as a private member.

 

310 - What was formerly the custom of the Craft with regard to the choice of Grand Wardens?

 

            Election of Grand Wardens. By the Regulations of 1721, the Grand Master possessed the power of nominating the Grand Wardens; but if his nomination was not unanimously approved, the Grand Lodge proceeded to an election, so that really the choice of these officers was vested in the Grand Lodge. By the universal usage of the present day, the power of nomination is not exercised by Grand Masters, and the Grand Wardens are always elected.

 

311 - How often and at what time should the officers of a Lodge be elected?

 

            Election of Officers. It is a law of Masonry that lodge officers should be elected annually. All offices in Masonry are held by annual tenure, which is perhaps derived from the fact that the General Assem‑

 

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bly of the craft was anciently held annually. This election must also be held in subordinate Lodges on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, or at some meeting immediately previous to it. The time of the election of the officers of a Grand Lodge varies in different jurisdictions; but I do not know of any country in which the election of the officers of a subordinate Lodge is made at any other time of the year than the one just indicated. The Masonic year always and everywhere begins on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, or the 27th of December, and the officers commence the discharge of their functions on that day. The election must therefore take place at that time, or immediately before it, and if by any cause it has been neglected, it becomes necessary to obtain a dispensation from the Grand Master for holding one on a subsequent day. The authority vested in the Lodge by the warrant of constitution is to hold the election on the legal and specified day, and if it is held afterwards, as no power to order it exists in the Lodge, the authority must be supplied by the dispensing prerogative of the Grand Master.

 

312 - Has a Lodge under dispensation the right to elect its own officers?

 

            Election of Officers of Lodge under Dispensation. A Lodge under dispensation cannot elect officers. The very instrument of dispensation to which it is indebted for its existence has nominated the officers who are to govern it as the agents of the Grand Master. From him alone they derive their authority, and by him alone can they be displaced, or others substituted in their stead. The Grand Master has delegated certain powers to the persons named in the dispensation, but they cannot in turn delegate these powers of acting as Master and Wardens to any other persons; for it is an established principle of law that a delegated authority cannot be re‑delegated. But for the Master and Wardens to resign their offices to others who had been elected by the Lodge would be just such a re‑delegation as is forbidden by the law, and hence a Lodge, under dispensation, cannot elect its officers. They are the appointees of the Grand Master.

 

313 - What rules govern the election of a Masonic official?

 

            Elections, Regulations Governing. The election of candidates for initiation, or of Masons for affiliation, must be conducted with white and black balls, and the result will be declared by the Junior and Senior Wardens and Master, in rotation, after inspection.

 

When the report of a committee on a petition for initiation or affiliation is unfavorable, it is unnecessary to proceed to a ballot; for, as the vote must be unanimous, the unfavorable opinion already expressed of at least two members of the committee is in itself a rejection. It is not to be presumed that the committee would report against and vote for the candidate. Of course, it is to be understood in these cases that an un‑

 

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favorable report by a committee is equivalent to a rejection. But some Grand Lodges have said that a ballot must be taken in all cases, and this, though not the general usage, is no violation of a landmark.

 

In an election for officers, two tellers are to be appointed to receive and count the votes, and the result must be declared by the Master.

 

Where the by‑laws of a Lodge do not provide otherwise, the election of an officer may be taken by a show of hands, if there be no opposing candidate.

 

In conclusion, to borrow the language of Bro. French, "let me say that no general rules can be laid down that will meet all special cases; and proper consideration and good judgment will almost always lead a properly qualified Master to decide right."

 

314 - What steps must be taken to fill a vacancy in an office in a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Election to Fill Vacancy. In the case of any of the offices, except those of the Master or Wardens, death or expulsion, which, it will be remembered, is a Masonic death, completely vacates the office and an election may be held, provided a dispensation has been obtained from the Grand Master for that purpose. But this rule does not refer to the Master or Wardens; for it is now held that on the death of any one of these, the inferior officer assumes the duties of the office; and no election can be held, even by dispensation, to supply the vacancy until the regular period.

 

315 - What is required for eligibility to the office of Grand Warden?

 

            Eligibility as Grand Warden. The old Charges of 1722 required that no one could be a Grand Warden until he had been the Master of a Lodge. The rule still continues in force, either by the specific regulation of modern Grand Lodges, or by the force of usage, which is the best interpreter of law.

 

316 - What other office must a Master Mason have held to become eligible to be the Master of a Lodge?

 

            Eligibility as Master of a Lodge. No one is eligible to election as the Master of a Lodge, unless he has previously served in the office of Warden. The authority for this doctrine is to be found in the Charges approved in 1722, which say that no one can be a Master "until he has acted as a Warden." It does not seem to be necessary that the Master elect should have served in the capacity of a Warden, in the Lodge over which he is called to preside. The fact of having once filled a Warden's chair in any other Lodge will meet all the requisitions of the law; for it is a settled principle that when a brother affiliates in a new Lodge, he carries with him all the official rights which he bad previously possessed in the Lodge to which he formerly belonged. If he was a Past Master or a Past Warden in the one. he retains in the

 

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other all the prerogatives which were acquired by such a position.

 

There are two exceptions to the rule requiring preparatory service in a Wardenship, in which a Mason may be elected to the office of Master, without having previously passed through that of a Warden. The first of these is in the case of a new Lodge, which has just received a warrant of constitution from the Grand Lodge, and in which the officers are, for the first time, to be installed. Here it is not considered necessary that the new Master should have previously served as a War‑den. The second case is where, even in an old Lodge, neither of the Wardens, nor any one who has previously filled the office of Master or Warden, will consent to serve as presiding officer. As this is strictly a case of emergency, in which the usage must be neglected, or the Lodge cease to act for want of a Master, it has been thought advisable to permit the Lodge, under such circumstances, to elect a Master from the floor. But as this is an infringement of the regulations, it is necessary that the Grand Master should legalize the act by issuing his dispensation to authorize the irregularity.

 

317 - Who are eligible for election as Tiler in a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Eligibility as Tiler. A necessary qualification of a Tiler is that he should be a Master Mason. Although the Lodge may be opened in an inferior degree, no one who has not advanced to the third degree can legally discharge the functions of Tiler.

 

The Tiler need not be a member of the Lodge which he tiles; and in fact, in large cities, one brother very often performs the duties of Tiler of several Lodges.

 

318 - What are the prerogatives of a Past Master with respect to office in the Grand Lodge?

 

            Eligibility of Past Masters. By a Regulation contained in the Charges approved in

1722, it appears that none but Past Masters were eligible to the offices of Deputy Grand Master, or Grand Warden. The office of Grand Master, however, required no such previous qualification. The highest officer of the Order might be selected from the ranks of the fraternity. The reason of this singular distinction is not at first apparent, but, on reflection, will be easily understood. The Deputy and Wardens were the working officers of the Grand Lodge, and expected to bring to the discharge of the duties of their stations some experience de‑rived from previous service in the Order. Hence they were selected from the elders of the craft. But the Grand Master was always, when possible, selected, not on account of his Masonic knowledge or experience  - for these, it was supposed, would be supplied for him by his Deputy  - but on account of the lustre that his high position and influence in the state would reflect upon the Order. Thus, the Old Charges say that the Grand Master must be "nobly born, or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some eminent scholar, or some curious architect or other artist,

 

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descended of honest parents, and who is of singular great merit, in the opinion of the Lodges." But it was seldom possible to find a nobleman, or other distinguished person who had passed through the inferior offices of the Order, or bestowed any very practical attention on Masonry. It was, therefore, thought better that the craft should enjoy the advantages of a Grand Master in high social position, however unskilled in the art he might be, than of one, no matter how much Masonic experience he possessed, if he was without worldly influence. Therefore no other qualification was required for the office of Grand Master than that of being a Fellow Craft. The regulation is not now necessary, for Masonry, in the elevated condition that it has now attained, needs no extraneous influence to support it, and Grand Masters are often selected for their experience and Masonic zeal; but, in the eighteenth century, the Order undoubtedly derived much advantage, as it does even now in Europe, from the long array of royal and noble Grand Masters.

 

319 - What prerogatives do Wardens enjoy with reference to eligibility for election to office?

 

            Eligibility of Wardens. A prerogative of Wardens is their eligibility to election as Master. It has already been seen that no Mason can be chosen Master unless he has previously served in the office of Warden, except in the case of new Lodges, or of emergencies, where no Warden, Past Warden, or Past Master will consent to serve., This eligibility to the chair is not confined to the Wardens then in office, for any brother who has ever filled that station retains for ever his eligibility. It is a right that is affected by no lapse of time.

 

320 - What regulations govern eligibility to office in a Lodge?

 

            Eligibility to Election as Officers. Every member of a Lodge is eligible to any office in the Lodge, except that of Worshipful Master. Eligibility for this latter office is only to be acquired by having previously held the office of a Warden. But in the instance of new Lodges, the Grand Master may, by his dispensation, authorize any competent Master Mason to discharge the duties of Master. In cases of emergency also, in old Lodges, where none of the Past officers are willing to serve, the Grand Master may issue his dispensation authorizing the Lodge to select a presiding officer from the floor. But this can only be done with the consent of all the Wardens and Past Masters; for, if any one of them is willing to serve, the Lodge shall not be permitted to elect a Brother who has not previously performed the duties of a Warden.

 

321 - What is the difference between an emblem and a symbol?

 

            Emblem. The emblem is an occult representation of something unknown or concealed by a sign or thing that is known. Thus, a square is in Freemasonry an emblem of morality; a plumb line, of rectitude of conduct; and a leN el, of equality of human conditions. Emblem is very

 

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generally used as synonymous with symbol, although the two words do not express exactly the same meaning. An emblem is properly a representation of an idea by a visible object, as in the examples quoted above; but a symbol is more extensive in its application, including every representation of an idea by an image, whether that image is presented immediately to the senses as a visible and tangible substance, or only brought before the mind by words. Hence an action or event, as de‑scribed, a myth or legend, may be a symbol; and hence, too, it follows that while all emblems are symbols, all symbols are not emblems.

 

322 - What constitutes a case of emergency in Masonry and who is the judge?

 

            Emergency. The general law of Masonry requires a month to elapse between the time of receiving a petition for initiation and that of balloting for the candidate, and also that there shall be an interval of one month between the reception of each of the degrees of Craft Masonry. Cases sometimes occur when a Lodge desires this probationary period to be dispensed with, so that the candidate's petition may be received and balloted for at the same communication, or so that the degrees may be conferred at much shorter intervals. As some reason must be assigned for the application to the Grand Master for the dispensation, such reason is generally stated to be that the candidate is about to go on a long journey, or some other equally valid. Cases of this kind are called, in the technical language of Masonry, cases of emergency. It is evident that the emergency is made for the sake of the candidate, and not for that of the Lodge or of Masonry. The too frequent occurrence of applications for dispensations in cases of emergency have been a fruitful source of evil, as thereby unworthy persons, escaping the ordeal of an investigation into character, have been introduced into the Order; and even where the candidates have been worthy, the rapid passing through the degrees prevents a due impression from being made on the mind, and the candidate fails to justly appreciate the beauties and merits of the Masonic system. Hence, these cases of emergency have been very unpopular with the most distinguished members of the Fraternity. In the olden times the Master and Wardens of the Lodge were vested with the prerogative of deciding what was a case of emergency; but modern law and usage (in this country, at least), make the Grand Master the sole judge of what constitutes a case of emergency.

 

323 - As an Entered Apprentice,' what was the Mason taught?

 

            Entered Apprentice. As an Entered Apprentice, the Mason was taught those elementary instructions which were to fit him for further advancement in his profession, just as the youth is supplied with that rudimentary education which is to prepare him for entering on the active duties of life; as a Fellow Craft, he is directed to continue his in‑

 

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vestigations in the science of the Institution, and to labor diligently in the tasks it prescribes, just as the man is required to enlarge his mind by the acquisition of new ideas, and to extend his usefulness to his fellow‑creatures; but, as a Master Mason, he is taught the last, the most important, and the most necessary of truths, that having been faithful to all his trusts, he is at last to die, and to receive the reward of his fidelity.

 

324 - Are Entered Apprentices entitled to Masonic relief?

 

            Entered Apprentices, Relief of. Entered Apprentices are not en‑titled to Masonic charities or relief. And so far as regards the pecuniary benefits of the Order, we have a still better reason for this exclusion; for surely they who have contributed nothing to the support of the institution, in the form of contributions or arrears, cannot expect, as a right, to receive any eleemosynary aid from its funds. The lesson of charity is, it is true, given in the first degree; but this is a ritualistic usage, which was established at the time when Entered Apprentices were, as I have already observed, the great body of the craft; and were really, by this fact, entitled to the name of Masons. The lessons taught on this subject, except in so far as they are of a general character, and refer to the virtue of charity simply as a part of a system of ethics, must he viewed only as an introductory instruction upon matters that are afterwards to be practically enforced in the third degree.

 

325 - Does an Entered Apprentice have the right of visitation?

 

            Entered Apprentice, Right of Visitation. Entered Apprentices, have several rights, in the due exercise of which they are entitled to as much protection as the most important members of the craft. These rights may be briefly enumerated as follows: They have a right to sit in the Lodge in which they were initiated, when it is opened in the first degree, and to receive all the instructions which appertain to that degree. This is not a right of visitation such as is exercised by Master Masons, because it cannot be extended beyond the Lodge in which the Apprentice has been initiated. Into that Lodge, however, whenever opened and working in his degree he can claim admittance, as a right accruing to him from his initiation; but if admitted into any other Lodge (the policy of which is doubtful), it can only be by the courtesy of the presiding officer. Formerly, of course, when Apprentices constituted the body of the fraternity, they possessed this general right of visitation, but lost it as soon as Lodges began to confer the higher degrees; and now it is confined to Master Masons, who alone, under modern usage, possess the right of visit.

 

326 - What rights does a candidate obtain after receiving the Entered Ap‑ prentice degree?

 

            Entered Apprentices, Rights of. In the modern system - the one, that is to say, which is now practised everywhere - Entered Apprentices

 

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are possessed of very few rights, and are called upon to perform but very few duties. They are not, strictly speaking, members of a Lodge, are not required to pay dues, and are not permitted to speak or vote, or hold any office. Secrecy and obedience are the only obligations imposed upon them, while the Masonic axiom, "audi, vide, tare" - hear, see, and be silent - is peculiarly appropriate to them in their present condition in the fraternity.

 

Our ritual, less changed in this respect than our Regulations, still speaks of initiating Apprentices and making Masons, as synonymous terms. They were so at one time, but they certainly no longer express the same meaning. An Entered Apprentice is now no more a Mason than a student of medicine is a physician, or a disciple is a philosopher. The Master Masons now constitute the body of the craft; and to be, at this day, a Mason, properly so called, one must have taken the third degree.

 

327 - What was the original status of the Entered Apprentice degree?

 

            Entered Apprentice, Status of. Our brethren of the eighteenth century seldom advanced beyond the first degree; few were passed, and fewer still were raised to the third. The Master's degree appears to have been much less comprehensive than at present; and for some years after the revival of Masonry, the third degree was unapproachable to those who lived at a distance from London; for by the laws of the Grand Lodge it was ordered, that "Apprentices must be admitted Fellowcrafts and Masters only here (in Grand Lodge), unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master."

 

328 - What penitential hymn of King Solomon is read on the entrance of the candidate in the third degree?

 

            Entrance. In America, "after the Lodge has been regularly opened in the third degree, the work is introduced on the entrance of the candidate by the reading of that beautiful and exquisitely touching portion of the penitential hymn of King Solomon, called the Ecclesiastes (xii. 1 - 7) beginning: Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. In the course of the ceremony there is a prayer of deep devotion and pathos composed from some of the most sublime and affecting passages of that splendid sacred drama of Araby, the Book of Job. This prayer includes a portion of the funeral service of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is full of tenderness and beauty."

 

329 - What should be the attitude of a Mason toward a brother?

 

            Envy. None shall discover envy at the prosperity of a brother, nor supplant him, or put him out of his work, if he be capable to finish the same, for no man can finish another's work so much to the lord's profit, unless he be thoroughly acquainted with the designs and draughts of him that began it.

 

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330 - What is a Masonic equality?

 

            Equality. In no society is this more practised than in the Order of Freemasons, for we are all brethren, and it is said that amongst brethren there must be the most perfect equality. But this word may be misunderstood: we are not all equal in the lodge, inasmuch as some are appointed to rule and govern, so it is the duty of others cheerfully and promptly to obey, and all are equally eligible to be elected to those offices, having first duly performed our duties as private members, and thus enabled to fill them with credit to ourselves and satisfaction to the Craft. We are not all equal by creation with respect to our mental faculties, and more especially we are not all equal in the labor which we have, or ought to have, bestowed upon cultivating those mental faculties to the utmost possible extent. But we ought all of us to be equally zealous in the discharge of our duties as men and Masons, and should all prove ourselves to be perfectly equal to each other in brotherly love. This is the principal thing which ought to be understood in our equality. We dare not for one moment lose sight of the rank or station which each individual brother fills in society, yet there may be at the same time a perfect equality amongst men of the most opposite social ranks in the desire to promote every useful work; and this equality will produce the most beneficial effect upon the human heart. Any Mason who would dare to attempt, among the brethren, to claim the precedence which his conventional position in society may give him, would disgrace the philosophy of the Order, and by so doing lay a sacrilegious hand upon that sacred bond by which we are indissolubly united to each other.

 

331 - Why must the Masonic oath be taken without equivocation?

 

            Equivocation. The words of the covenant of Masonry require that it should be made without evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation. This is exactly in accordance with the law of ethics in relation to promises made. And it properly applies in this case, because the covenant, as it is called, is simply a promise, or series of promises, made by the candidate to the Fraternity - to the brotherhood into whose association he is about to be admitted. In making a promise, an evasion is the eluding or avoiding the terms of the promise; and this is done, or attempted to be done, by equivocation, which is by giving to the words used a secret signification different from that which they were intended to convey by him who imposed the promise, so as to mislead, or by a mental reservation, which is a concealment or with‑holding in the mind of the promiser of certain conditions under which he makes it, which conditions are not known to the one to whom the promise is made. All of this is in direct violation of the law of veracity. The doctrine of the Jesuits is very different. Suarez, one of their most distinguished casuists, lays it down as good law, that if

 

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any one makes a promise or contract, he may secretly understand that he does not sincerely promise, or that he promises without any intention of fulfilling the promise. This is not the rule of Masonry, which requires that the words of the covenant be taken in the patent sense which they were intended by the ordinary use of language to convey. It adheres to the true rule of ethics, which is, as Paley says, that a promise is binding in the sense in which the promiser supposed the promisee to receive it.

 

332 - What is the status of a Mason whose name has been stricken from the roll for non‑payment of dues?

 

            Erasure From the Roll. In the case of permanent exclusion, or erasure from the roll of the Lodge, the party is placed in a peculiar position. He is no longer a member of the Lodge, and unless, on an appeal, he can prove that he has been unjustly or unconstitutionally stricken from the roll, he can be restored only upon petition, and a unanimous acceptance, as in the case of any other Mason applying for membership. Membership having been justly forfeited, can only be recovered under the Regulation of

1721, which require one month's notice and unanimous consent.

 

Hence, when a member's name is stricken from the roll, for non. payment of arrears, he cannot, by the mere payment of the indebted. ness, recover his membership. He acquires, by this payment, a right to a clearance and demit, but not to restored membership; for the exclusion was not a conditional one, dependent on such payment for its termination, but peremptory and unconditional. He was stricken from the roll, and by that act ceased at once and for ever to be a member of the lodge, as much so as if he had demitted.

 

333 - What distinguishes exoteric from esoteric Freemasonry?

 

            Esoteric Masonry. That secret portion of Masonry which is known only to the initiates as distinguished from exoteric Masonry, or Monitorial, which is accessible to all who choose to read the manuals and published works of the Order. The words are from the Greek, and were first used by Pythagoras, whose philosophy was divided into the exoteric, or that taught to all, and the esoteric, or that taught to a select few; and thus his disciples were divided into two classes, according to the degree of 'initiation to which they had attained, as being either fully admitted into the society, and invested with all the knowledge that the Master could communicate, or as merely postulants, enjoying only the public instructions of the school, and awaiting the gradual reception of further knowledge. This double mode of instruction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the Egyptian priests, whose theology was of two kinds - the one exoteric, and addressed to the people in general; the other esoteric, and confined to a select number of the priests and to those who possessed, or were to possess, the regal

 

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power. And the mystical nature of this concealed doctrine was ex‑pressed in their symbolic language by the images of sphinxes placed at the entrance of their temples. Two centuries later, Aristotle adopted the system of Pythagoras, and, in the Lyceum at Athens, delivered in the morning to his select disciples his subtle and concealed doctrines concerning God, Nature, and Life, and in the evening lectured on more elementary subjects to a promiscuous audience. These different lectures he called His Morning and His Evening Walk.

 

334 - What are the essential secrets of Masonry?

 

            Essential Secrets. The essential secrets of Masonry consist of nothing more than the signs, grips, passwords, and tokens, essential to the preservation of the society from the inroads of imposters; together with certain symbolical emblems, the technical terms appertaining to which served as a sort of universal language, by which the members of the Fraternity could distinguish each other, in all places and countries where lodges were instituted.

 

335 - What should be the attitude of Masons toward the Church?

 

            Established Religion. A cheerful compliance with the established religion of the country in which they live is earnestly recommended in the assemblies of Masons; and this universal conformity, notwithstanding private sentiment and opinion, is the art practised by them, which effects the laudable purpose of conciliating true friendship among men of every persuasion, while it proves the cement of general union.

 

336 - Why cannot a eunuch become a Mason?

 

            Eunuch. The physical and moral deterioration which emasculation produces in men of a most marked character. The whole nature is degraded. The affections are blunted, generous dispositions are destroyed, the intellect is impaired, and the man is entirely incapacitated for performing any deeds which require a high and magnanimous disposition. For this reason they were excluded by the Jewish law from "the congregation of the Lord," and for this reason cannot be received into the Masonic brotherhood.

 

337 - Were eunuchs ever eligible for initiation into Masonry?

 

Eunuchs, Status of. It is usual, in the most correct rituals of the third degree, especially to name eunuchs, as being incapable of initiation. In none of the old Constitutions and Charges is this class of persons alluded to by name, although of course they are comprehended in the general prohibition against making persons who have any blemish or maim. However, in the Charges which were published by Dr. Anderson, in his second edition, they are included in the list of prohibited candidates. It is probable from this that at that time it was usual to name them in the point of the OB. referrerl to; and this

 

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presumption derives strength from the fact that Dermott, in copying his Charges from those of Anderson's second edition, added a note complaining of the "moderns" for having disregarded this ancient law, in at least one instance. The question is, however, not worth discussion, except as a matter of ritual history, since the legal principle is already determined that eunuchs cannot be initiated because they are not perfect men, "having no maim or defect in their bodies."

 

338 - Why do Masons wear evergreens at funerals?

 

            Evergreen. An evergreen plant is a symbol of the immortality of the soul. The ancients, therefore, as well as the moderns, planted evergreens at the heads of graves. Freemasons wear evergreens at the funerals of their brethren, and cast them into the grave. The acacia is the plant which should be used on these occasions, but where it cannot be obtained, some other evergreen plant, especially the cedar, is used, as a substitute.

 

339 - Is it lawful to admit on appeal new evidence not presented at the original trial?

 

            Evidence. The question here suggests itself, whether on an appeal any new evidence which had not come before the Lodge can be introduced by either party. It is contrary to the spirit of the municipal law, in the trial of an appeal by a superior court, to permit the introduction of evidence that was not originally given to the court below, because, as the question is whether they did right or not upon the evidence that appeared to them, "the law judged it the highest absurdity to produce any subsequent proof upon such trial, and to condemn the prior jurisdiction for not believing evidence which they never knew." But in Masonic appeals the principle is different. Here, as I have already observed, the Grand Lodge does not act, simply, as a court of appeals, but as the supreme Masonic authority, and may at any time assume original jurisdiction in the case. The Grand Lodge, at all times, when any of the great principles of Masonic polity are at issue - whether the humblest of its children may have received an injury, or one of its Lodges have abused its chartered privileges and inflicted an act of injustice - is not to be governed by the technicalities of law, but by the great principles of justice. Like the Roman consuls in the hour of public danger, it is invested with dictatorial power "to see that the republic receive no harm." Hence it is competent for the Grand Lodge to receive any new evidence, or to inquire into any new matter, which will throw light upon the question at issue between the Lodge and the appellant. But unless the case be one of aggravated wrong or very palpable error, which the new evidence brings to light, a due sense of courtesy, which is a Masonic virtue, will prevent the Grand Lodge from at once re‑

 

 

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versing the decision of the subordinate Lodge, but it will remand the case, with the new evidence, to the Lodge, for a new trial.

 

340 - How should we treat a stranger who claims to be a Mason?

 

            Examination. If a stranger apply to you in the character of a Mason, you are cautiously to examine him in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant and false pretender whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge. But if you discover him to be a true and genuine brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved.

 

341 - By whom should the officers of a newly organized Lodge be examined?

 

            Examination of Officers of a New Lodge. Since, unfortunately, the recommending Lodges are not always particular in inquiring into the qualifications of the officers of a new Lodge who have been nominated to the Grand Master, and hence Lodges have been created in advantageous situations which yet, from the ignorance of those who presided over them, have been of serious detriment to the craft, the Grand Lodges are beginning now to look for something more than a mere formal recommendation which only certifies to the moral character of the applicants. As a Lodge may be considered as a Masonic academy, it is certainly desirable that its teachers should be competent to discharge the duties of instruction which they have undertaken. Hence, in 1858, the Grand Lodge of Florida adopted a resolution which declared "that no Dispensation or Charter shall be granted to any set of Masons, unless the Master and Wardens named in the application be first examined as to their proficiency in three degrees by the Master and Wardens, or Lodge recommending them, and that said examination shall not be considered sufficient unless the entire ceremony of opening and closing the Lodge, with all the Lectures of each degree, are fully and completely exhibited in open Lodge, and such satisfactory examination be endorsed on the application." The correctness - the indispensable necessity of such a regulation  - commends itself to every one whose experience has made him acquainted with the fact that Lodges are too often organized with officers altogether unacquainted with the most rudimentary instructions of Masonry; and a caricature of the institution is thus often presented, alike derogatory to its dignity and usefulness, and humiliating to its better informed friends. No dispensation, in my opinion, should ever be granted, until the Lodge asking for it had given convincing proofs that the institution of Masonry would in its hands be elevated, and justice would be fairly done to all the candidates whom it should admit. I do not ask that all Lodges should be equally learned, but

 

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I do require that none should be deplorably ignorant. Still, excepting in jurisdictions which may have wisely adopted this regulation, the old law remains in force, which only requires a simple recommendation as to moral character and Masonic standing.

 

342 - Under what circumstances may a visitor be admitted to a Lodge with‑ out examination?

 

            Examination of Visitors. A restriction on the right of visit is to be found in the necessity of an examination. No Brother can be permitted to visit any strange Lodge, unless he has first submitted to an examination. This examination, it is true, may be rendered unnecessary by an avouchment; but, as the principle is the same, and as the subject of the right of avouchment is discussed elsewhere it is unnecessary to consider here anything more than the effect of an examination on the right of visit.

 

The rule, then, is imperative that every Master Mason who applies as a visitor to a Lodge, and for whose Masonic standing and character as a Mason no Brother present can vouch, must submit to an examination before he can be admitted.

 

343 - Has a Lodge a right to exclude a member on cause shown temporarily, or permanently, from a Lodge?

 

            Exclusion, under the American law of Masonry, may be briefly defined to be a deprivation of the rights and benefits of Masonry, so far as they relate to any particular Lodge, but not to the whole fraternity. It is of two kinds, temporary and permanent.

 

No lodge shall exclude any member without giving him due notice of the charge preferred against him, and of the time appointed for its consideration.

 

A Lodge has the right to exclude a member, on cause shown, temporarily or permanently, from the Lodge. This right may be exercised either by suspension or expulsion, or by simply striking from the roll.

 

344 - What is the Masonic definition of the word "exclusion?"

 

            Exclusion, Meaning of. In the Grand Lodge of England, the word exclusion is technically used to express the act of removing a Mason from a private Lodge, by the act of the Lodge itself, or of a Provincial Grand Lodge, while expulsion is employed to signify the same act when performed by the Grand Lodge. But in this country, this use of the word is not known.

 

345 - How are the executive powers of a Grand Lodge exercised?

 

            Executive Powers of Grand Lodge. In the exercise of its executive functions, a Grand Lodge carries its laws into effect, ò and sees that they are duly enforced. But as a Grand Lodge is in session only during a few days of the year, it is necessary that these functions should be exercised for it by some one acting as its agent; and

 

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hence, to use the language of the Grand Lodge of New York, "all the executive powers of a Grand Lodge, when not in session, are reposed in its Grand Master." The Grand Master is therefore, in this discharge of executive powers, the representative of the Grand Lodge. That body having first, in its legislative capacity, made the law, and then, in its judicial capacity, having applied it to a particular case, finally, in its executive capacity, enforces its decision through the agency of its presiding officer. The Grand Master cannot make laws nor administer them, for these are the prerogatives of the Grand Lodge; but he may enforce them, because this is a power that has been delegated to him.

 

346 - What privileges were given the Masons selected to build the Temple?

 

            Exemption. The Masons who were selected to build the temple of Solomon were declared free, and were exempted, together with their descendants, from imposts, duties and taxes. They had also the privilege to bear arms. At the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, the posterity of these Masons were carried into the captivity with the ancient Jews. But the good will of Cyrus gave them permission to erect a second temple, having set them at liberty for that purpose.

 

347 - Has a Masonic Lodge the right to try its Master on charges?

 

            Exemption of Master From Trial by Lodge. The last prerogative of a Master of a Lodge' to which I shall allude is that of exemption from trial by his Lodge, on charges preferred against him. The Grand Lodge alone has any penal jurisdiction over him. There is now, I believe, no doubt of the correctness of this decision, although the reason assigned for it is not, in my opinion, the correct one. The incompetency of a Lodge to try its Master, and his right to trial by the Grand Lodge only, is generally based on the legal axiom that every man is entitled to a trial by his peers. But how are we to apply this axiom to the case of the Master of a Lodge? Is he entitled to trial by the Grand Lodge because he is a member of that body? He derives this membership from his representative position only, and that representative position he shares with the two Wardens, who are equally members of the Grand Lodge, and who, if the principle were legitimately carried out, would be equally entitled to trial by the Grand Lodge, as their peers. We must look, therefore, somewhere else for the cause of this peculiar privilege enjoyed by Masters, and Masters alone, for Wardens are amenable to trial in their Lodges. We shall find it then in the peculiar relation existing between the Master and his Lodge - a relation which no other officer or member occupies. Under no circumstances whatever can he be deprived of his right, when present, to preside over his Lodge; and whenever the Lodge is exercising judicial functions, and is engaged in the trial of an accused member, the Master, virtute officii,

 

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becomes the presiding Judge. No one can deprive him of this position; he has, in fact, no right to yield it to any other, for he alone is responsible to the Grand Lodge that the Lodge shall, in the transaction of such grave business, confine itself within the limits of law and equity. Now, if he were himself on trial his presence would be necessary. Being present, he would have to assume the chair, and thus the anomalous spectacle would be presented of a Judge presiding in his own trial. Such a spectacle would be shocking to our sense of justice, and could not for a moment be permitted. And yet, if the Master is to be tried by his own Lodge, there is no possible way of avoiding it. On this account alone, therefore, it was necessary to find some other tribunal which should act as a court in the trial of a Master, and the Grand Lodge seems in all respects to be the most appropriate. This body has therefore been selected as the proper court for the trial of Masters, not because it is composed of the peers of these officers - for this it is not, as many of its members are only Wardens - but because it is not practicable to try them anywhere else.

 

348 - Has the Grand Lodge the right to pass Ex Post Facto laws?

 

            Ex Post Facto Laws. The legislation of every Grand Lodge must be prospective, and not retrospective in its action. To make an ex post facto law would be to violate the principles of justice which lie at the very foundation of the system. It was a maxim of the Roman law that "no one could change his mind to the injury of another," which maxim, says Mr. Broom, "has by the civilians been specifically applied as a restriction upon the law‑giver, who was thus forbidden to change his mind to the prejudice of a vested right."

 

349 - What is the effect of the expulsion of a Mason from his Lodge?

 

            Expulsion. Expulsion is, of all Masonic penalties, the highest that can be inflicted on a member of the Order, and hence it has been often called a Masonic death. It deprives the expelled of all the rights and privileges that he ever enjoyed, not only as a member of the particular lodge from which he has been ejected, but also of those which were inherent in him as a member of the Fraternity at large. He is at once as completely divested of his Masonic character as though he had never been admitted, so far as regards his rights, while his duties and obligations remain as firm as ever, it being impossible for any human power to cancel them. He can no longer demand the aid of his brethren, nor require from them the performance of any of the duties to which he was formerly entitled, nor visit any lodge, nor unite in any of the public or private ceremonies of the Order. He is considered as being without the pale, and it would be criminal in any brother, aware of his expulsion, to hold communication with him on Masonic subjects.

 

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The only proper tribunal to impose this heavy punishment is a Grand Lodge. A subordinate lodge tries its delinquent member, and if guilty declares him expelled. But the sentence is of no force until the Grand Lodge, under whose jurisdiction it is working, has confirmed it. And it is optional with the Grand Lodge to do so, or, as is frequently done, to reverse the decision and reinstate the brother. Some of the lodges in this country claim the right to expel independently of the action of the Grand Lodge, but the claim is not valid. The very fact that an expulsion is a penalty, effecting the general relations of the punished brother with the whole Fraternity, proves that its exercise never could with propriety be intrusted to a body so circumscribed in its authority as a subordinate lodge. Besides, the general practice of the Fraternity is against it. The English Constitutions vest the power to expel exclusively in the Grand Lodge. "The subordinate lodge may suspend and report the case to the Grand Lodge. If the offense and evidence be sufficient, expulsion is decreed." All Masons, whether members of lodges or not, are subject to the infliction of this punishment when found to merit. Resignation or withdrawal from the Order does not cancel a Mason's obligations, nor exempt him from that wholesome control which the Order exercises over the moral conduct of its members. The fact that a Mason, not a member of any particular lodge, but who has been guilty of immoral or unmasonic conduct, can be tried and punished by any lodge within whose jurisdiction he may be residing, is a point on which there is no doubt.

 

Immoral conduct, such as would subject a candidate for admission to rejection, should be the only offense visited with expulsion. As the punishment is general, affecting the relation of the one expelled with the whole Fraternity, it should not be lightly imposed for the violation of any Masonic act not general in its character. The commission of a grossly immoral act is a violation of the contract entered into between each Mason and his Order. If sanctioned by silence or impunity, it would bring discredit on the Institution, and tend to impair its usefulness. A Mason who is a bad man is to the Fraternity what a mortified limb is to the body, and should be treated with the same mode of cure - he should be cut off, lest his example spread, and disease be propagated through the constitution.

 

Expulsion from one of what is called higher degrees of Masonry, such as a Chapter or an Encampment, does not affect the relations of the expelled party to Blue Masonry. A Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is not and cannot be recognized as a Masonic body by a Lodge of Master Masons by any of the modes of recognition known to Masonry. The acts, therefore, of a Chapter cannot be recognized by a Master Mason's lodge any more than the acts of a literary or charitable society wholly unconnected with the Order. Besides, by the present organi‑

 

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zation of Freemasonry, Grand Lodges are the supreme Masonic tribunals. If, therefore, expulsion from a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons involved expulsion from a Blue Lodge, the right of the Grand Lodge to hear and determine causes, and to regulate the internal concerns of the Institution would be interfered with by another body beyond its control. But the converse of this proposition does not hold good. Expulsion from a Blue Lodge involves expulsion from all the higher degrees; because, as they are composed of Blue Masons, the members could not of right sit and hold communications on Masonic subjects with one who was an expelled Mason.

 

350 - Is it lawful for a Grand Lodge to expel a member of a subordinate Lodge?

 

            Expulsion by Grand Lodge. In England, at this day, all cases of expulsion must be tried under the original jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, for there no private Lodge can inflict this penalty upon any one of its members; but in this country constant usage, which, according to Sir Edward Coke, is the best interpreter of the laws, has conferred the power of expulsion upon the subordinate Lodges, and hence such cases seldom come before the Grand Lodge, except in the way of appeal, when, of course, it exercises its appellate jurisdiction, and may amend or wholly set aside the sentence of its subordinate. Still, this must be viewed as only a tacit or implied concession, unless, as sometimes is the case, a Grand Lodge in express terms divests itself of original jurisdiction, which, of course, under the authority to make new regulations, it may.

 

But the general spirit of the ancient law is that the Grand Lodge may at all times exercise original jurisdiction. And hence, where a Grand Lodge has not, by special enactment, divested itself of the prerogative of original jurisdiction, it may, by its own process, proceed to the trial and punishment of any Mason living within its jurisdiction. This course, however, although strictly in accordance with the Ancient Constitutions, is not usual, nor would it be generally expedient, and hence some Grand Lodges have specially confined their judicial prerogatives to an appellate jurisdiction, and require the inception of every trial to take place in a subordinate Lodge.

 

But I know of no matter in which a Grand Lodge may not, ac‑cording to the ancient law and custom, exercise an original jurisdiction; for, although a Grand Lodge in this country will, by tacit con‑sent, and sometimes by explicit enactment, permit a subordinate Lodge to exercise judicial powers, and will allow its judgment to stand, unless there be an appeal from it, yet, if the original jurisdiction was assumed by the subordinate, only by this tacit consent, and not, as in the case of Ohio, by express grant, then the original jurisdiction continues to be vested in the Grand Lodge, and may at any time be resumed. For

 

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there is no fact in the history of Masonic jurisprudence more certain than that the General Assembly or Grand Lodge always in ancient times exercised an original jurisdiction and supervision over the whole craft. Hence offences were formerly always tried in that body; and it is only since the re‑organization in 1717, that the Grand Lodge has neglected to exercise its prerogative of original jurisdiction, and for the purposes of convenience, perhaps, permitted the subordinate Lodges to try offences, restricting itself in general to an appellate revision of the case. But although, under ordinary circumstances, it is a maxim of law that rights are forfeited by non‑user, yet such maxim cannot apply to the Grand Lodge, which, as a sovereign body, can have none of its rights barred by lapse of time, and may therefore at any time resume its original jurisdiction.

 

 

351 - In what body is the prerogative of expulsion from Freemasonry vested?

 

            Expulsion, Prerogative of. As this is a penalty which affects the general relations of the offender to the whole body of the craft, and cancels his connection with the Order, it would seem reasonable that it should be inflicted only by the supreme authority, and not by a sub‑ordinate Lodge. Hence, the modern Constitutions of English Masonry declare, that "in the Grand Lodge alone resides the power of erasing Lodges, and expelling brethren from the craft; a power which it ought not to delegate to any subordinate authority in England." In this country the same theory has always existed and, hence, the Grand Lodges have constantly exercised the prerogative of re‑storing expelled Masons to the privileges of the Order, but practically, the power of expelling has been vested in the subordinate Lodges. And yet, as I have just observed, the English theory is still retained. The subordinate Lodge tries the accused, and if he is found guilty, pronounces the sentence of expulsion; but this action of the Lodge must be submitted to the Grand Lodge, whose tacit confirmation is given, if there be no appeal; but if there be one, the Grand Lodge will then exercise its prerogative, and review the case, confirming or reversing the sentence of expulsion as it may deem most proper.

 

In America, where nearly all the Grand Lodges meet only annually, and where the jurisdiction is often extended over a vast surface of territory, it does seem expedient that the power of conditional expulsion should be vested in subordinate Lodges, but this power can only be a delegated one, for the prerogative of expulsion from the craft was always an inherent one, vested, by the very nature of the institution, the rights of the members, and the nature of the punishment, in the General Assembly. The very fact that expulsion is a penalty, affecting the general relations of the punished party with the whole fraternity, proves that its unconditional and final exercise never could, with pro‑

 

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priety or justice, be entrusted to a body so circumscribed in its authority as a subordinate Lodge.

 

The principle of the law on this subject, appears then to be, in this country, that a subordinate Lodge may try a delinquent and pronounce the sentence of expulsion, but that that sentence must be confirmed by the Grand Lodge to make it final. This confirmation is generally given by a silent reception of the report of the Lodge; but it is always competent for a Grand Lodge, with, or without an appeal from the punished party, to review the transaction, and wholly or in part to reverse the sentence. But, by the usages of the Order, the sentence of the Lodge will stand until the Grand Lodge has given its decision.

 

352 - What is the extent of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Extent. A Mason's Lodge is said to extend from East to West, in breadth between North and South, in depth from the surface to the center of the earth, and even as high as the heavens, to show the universality of the science, and that a Mason's charity should know no bounds save those of prudence.

 

353 - Where does the external preparation of a candidate take place?

 

            External. The external preparation of a candidate, which takes place in a convenient room adjoining the lodge, is too well known to need explanation; and besides, it is a landmark which cannot be inserted here.

 

354 - Of what is the eye of God symbolic?

 

            Eye. The Eye of God is in every place, for the purpose of taking a strict and impartial cognizance of all human actions. This expressive emblem will remind you that the Deity is watching over all mankind, and will weigh in the balance of truth, every action, thought, and word.

 

It is also a symbol of the Worshipful Master. As the eye of the Great Architect of heaven and earth is incessantly upon all his works, so should the eye of the Worshipful Master be upon everything which passes in his lodge.

 

355 - Why does the candidate wear a hoodwink?

 

            Eyesight. He who has been temporarily deprived of his sight is reduced to the condition of a new born babe, or of one of those unfortunate individuals whose natural infirmity renders the presence of a conductor indispensably necessary; but when there are no outward objects to distract his attention, it is then that with the eye of reflection he probes into the deepest and darkest recesses of his own heart, and discovers his natural imperfections and impurities much more readily than he could possibly have done had he not been deprived of his sight. This short deprivation of sight has kindled in his heart a spark of the

 

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brightest and the purest flame. "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light." (Mat. iv. 16). We must further admit that those who have been deprived of their sight, and who have hopes of being restored to it, strive most industriously and diligently to obtain it; that they have no greater desire, and that they will most readily pledge themselves to do all that can be required of them, in order to obtain that inestimable blessing.

 

356 - Upon what is the Masonic system founded?

 

            Fabric. The Masonic system exhibits a stupendous and beautiful fabric founded on universal piety. To rule and direct our passions, to have faith and hope in God, and charity towards man, I consider as the objects of what is termed speculative Masonry.

 

357 - Why should Masons avoid fanaticism?

           

            Fanaticism. Fanaticism, or a fanatic, dare not be permitted among Freemasons. We should unanimously strive to obtain that object for which the rules of the Order so powerfully work, and thus there can be no disputes or persecutions among us for diversity of opinion. Every Freemason prays to God in the way his religion teaches him, and he is encouraged so to do in the lodge. If we did not allow the wild dreams of imagination, or the still wilder ones of superstition, to have any effect upon our ideas of God and of godly things, all persecution for difference of religious opinions would fall of themselves. Of fanaticism of whole lodges against each other for a difference in their rituals and systems, there were formerly too many traces; but they have happily for many years entirely ceased. Religious fanaticism cannot have any place in a Freemason's lodge, for the members of every sect of the Christian Church have an equal right in the Order. If a Roman Catholic is at the head of the lodge today, and a Lutheran or a member of the Reformed Church tomorrow, it is scarcely remarked by the brethren.

 

158 - By which of the five senses does a Mason distinguish a friendly or brotherly grip?

 

            Feeling. Feeling is that sense by which we are enabled to distinguish the different qualities of bodies, such as hardness and softness, heat and cold, roughness and smoothness, figure, solidity, motion, and extension, all of which, by means of corresponding sensations of touch, are presented to the mind as real external qualities, and the conception or belief of them invariably connected with these corresponding sensations by an original principle of nature, which far transcends our inquiry.

 

359 - What are the present rights of Fellowcrafts?

 

            Fellowcraft, Right of. At the present day, Fellowcrafts possess no more rights and prerogatives than do Entered Apprentices. Preston,

 

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indeed, in his charge to a candidate who has been passed to that degree, says that he is entitled in the meetings to express his "sentiments and opinions on such subjects as are regularly introduced in the lecture, under the superintendence of an experienced Master, who will guard the landmark against encroachment." If this only means that in the course of instruction he may respectfully make suggestions for the purpose of eliciting further information, no one will, I presume, be willing to deny such a privilege. But the traditional theory that Apprentices were not permitted to speak or vote, but that Fellowcrafts might exercise the former right, but not the latter, has no foundation in any positive law that I have been enabled to discover. I have never seen this prerogative of speaking assumed by a Fellowcraft in this country, and doubt whether it would be permitted in any well regulated Lodge.

 

It was certainly the usage to permit both Apprentices and Fellow‑crafts to vote, as well as to speak, but there never was such a distinction as that alluded to in the text. The Old Regulations of the Grand Lodge of England provided that "the Grand Master shall allow any Brother, a Fellowcraft, or Entered Prentice, to speak, directing his discourse to his worship in the chair; or to make any motion for the good of the fraternity, which shall be either immediately considered, or else referred to the consideration of the Grand Lodge, at their next communication, stated or occasional." But this regulation has long since been abrogated.

 

Fellowcrafts formerly possessed the right of being elected Wardens of their Lodge, and even of being promoted to the elevated post of Grand Master, although, of course - and the language of the Regulation implies the fact - a Fellowcraft who had been elected Grand Master, must, after his election, be invested with the Master's degree.

 

At the present day, Fellowcrafts possess no other rights than those of sitting in a Lodge of their degree, of applying for advancement, and of being tried by their peers for Masonic offences, with the necessary privilege of an appeal to the Grand Lodge.

 

360 - Why cannot a woman be present in an open Lodge of Freemasons?

 

            Females. The only reason why women cannot be present in an open lodge of Freemasons is that their mysteries, being symbolical of labor as performed by man, could not be shared by women; no honest‑hearted man could for a moment believe that in mind woman is inferior; if a man existed who thought so, let him ask from whom he first imbibed lessons of piety, virtue and honor. But if women cannot share our labor of work, there is no reason why they should not enjoy our labor of love.

 

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361 - Under what name did our ancient brethren worship Deity?

 

            Fides. In the lecture of the first degree, it is said that "our ancient brethren worshipped deity under the names of Fides or Fidelity, which was sometimes represented by two right hands joined, and some‑times by two human figures holding each other by the right hands." The deity here referred to was the goddess Fides, to whom Numa first erected temples, and whose priests were covered by a white veil as a symbol of the purity which should characterize Fidelity. No victims were slain on her altars, and no offerings made to her except flowers, wine, and incense. Her statues were represented clothed in a white mantle, with a key in her hand and a dog at her feet. The virtue of Fidelity is, however, frequently symbolized in ancient medals by a heart in the open hand, but more usually by two right hands clasped. Ilorace calls her "incorrupta fides," and makes her the sister of Justice; while Cicero says that that which is religion towards God and Piety towards our parents is fidelity towards our fellow‑men. There was among the Romans another deity called Fidius, who presided over oaths and contracts, a very usual form of imprecation being "Me Dills Fidius adjuvet," that is, so help me the god Fidius. Noel says that there was an ancient marble at Rome consecrated to the god Fidius, on which was depicted two figures clasping each other's hands as the representatives of Honor and Truth, without which there can be no fidelity nor truth among men. Masonry, borrowing its ideas from the ancient poets, also makes the right hand the symbol of Fidelity.

 

362 - Who is responsible for the finances of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Finance. The funds of a Lodge are deposited with the Treasurer, who pays them out on the order of the Master, and with the consent of the brethren. According to an ancient practice the funds are first received by the Secretary, who transfers them to the Treasurer, taking his receipt for the same. His yearly accounts are examined by an auditing committee.

 

363 - What are the moral teachings of the first degree?

 

            First Degree. In this lecture virtue is painted in the most beautiful colors, and the beauties of morality are strictly enforced. Here we are taught such wise and useful lessons as prepare the mind for a regular advancement in the principles of knowledge and philosophy; and these are imprinted on the memory by lively and sensible images, well calculated to influence our conduct in the proper discharge of the duties of life. The whole is a regular system of morality, conceived in a strain of interesting allegory, which readily unfolds its beauties to the candid and industrious inquirer.

 

364 - What are the teachings of the five points of fellowship?

           

            Five Points of Fellowship. The five points of fellowship were thus illustrated in the lectures used by the Athol Masons of the last

 

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century: - 1. "When the necessities of a brother call for my support, I will be ever ready to lend him a helping hand to save him from sinking if I find him worthy thereof.

2. Indolence shall not cause my footsteps to halt, nor wrath to turn them aside, but forgetting every selfish consideration, I will be ever swift of foot to save, help, and execute benevolence to a fellow‑creature in distress, but more particularly to a brother Mason.

3. When I offer up my ejaculations to Almighty God, I will remember my brother's welfare, even as my own; for as the voice of babes and sucklings ascend to the throne of grace, so most assuredly will the breathings of a fervent heart ascend to the mansions of bliss.

4. A brother's secret, delivered to me as such, I will keep as I would my own, because, if I betray the trust which has been reposed in me, I might do him an irreparable injury; it would be like the villainy of an assassin, who lurks in the darkness to stab his adversary when unarmed and least prepared to meet an enemy.

5. A brother's character I will support in his absence, as I would in his presence. I will not revile him myself, nor suffer it to be done by others, if it is in my power to prevent it. Thus by the five points of fellowship, we are linked together in one indivisible chain of sincere affection, brotherly love, relief, and truth."

 

365 - In what degree are the lessons of the five senses explained?

 

            Five Senses. The brain is wonderfully adapted by its perfect system of nervous sympathy to give the intellectual powers their force, and enable the mind to receive perceptions of every object in the wide creation, that comes within the sphere of hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting, and seeing; these being the five human senses explained in the lecture of the Fellow Craft's degree.

 

366 - What are the fixed lights of a Lodge?

 

            Fixed Lights. The fixed lights of a lodge were formerly represented by "three windows, supposed to be in every room where a lodge is held; referring to the cardinal points of the compass, according to the antique rules of Masonry." There was one in the east, another in the west, and another in the south, to light the men to, at, and from labor; but there was none in the north, because the sun darts no rays from thence. These constitute the symbolical situations of the three chief' officers.

 

367 - Of what is the Mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

            Floor. In a symbolical lodge, the first object which deserves attention is the mosaic floor on which we tread; it is intended to convey to our minds the vicissitudes of human affairs, chequered with a strange contrariety of events. Today elated with the smiles of prosperity, tomorrow depressed by the frowns of misfortune. The precariousness of our situation in this world should teach us punctuality, to walk

 

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uprightly and firmly upon the broad basis of virtue and religion, and to give assistance to our unfortunate fellow‑creatures who are in distress; let, on some capricious turn of fortune's wheel, we may become dependent on those who before looked up to us as their benefactors.

 

368 - What is the symbolism of the foot in Masonry?

 

            Foot to Foot. The old lectures of the last century descanted on the symbolism of foot to foot as teaching us "that indolence should not permit the foot to halt or wrath to turn our steps out of the way; but forgetting injuries and selfish feelings, and remembering that man was born for the aid of his fellow‑creatures, not for his own enjoyments only, but to do that which is good, we should be swift to extend our mercy and benevolence to all, but more particularly to a brother Mason." The present lecture on the same subject gives the same lesson, more briefly and more emphatically, when it says, "we should never halt nor grow weary in the service of a brother Mason."

 

369 - What is the function of the Grand Lodge Committee on Foreign Correspondence?

 

            Foreign Correspondence. Committees of Foreign Correspondence are bodies known only to American Masonry; and until within a few years, as far as the efficient discharge of any duty was concerned, they appear to have been of but little value. But at the present time they occupy an important position in the working of every Grand Lodge.

 

The Committees on Correspondence are the links which bind the Grand Lodges into one united whole in the pursuit of knowledge; they are the guardians appointed by their respective bodies to inform their constituents what has been the progress of the institution for the past year - to warn them of the errors in discipline or in Masonic science which they may suppose to have been committed - and to suggest the best method by which these errors may be avoided or amended.

 

370 - What do Masons mean by traveling in a foreign country?

 

            Foreign Country. The lecture of the third degree begins by declaring that the recipient was induced to seek that sublime degree "that he might perfect himself in Masonry, so as to travel into foreign countries, and work and receive wages as a Master Mason." Thousands have often heard this ritualistic expression at the opening and closing of a Master's Lodge, without dreaming for a moment of its hidden and spiritual meaning, or, if they think of any meaning at all, they content themselves by interpreting it as referring to the actual travels of the Masons, after the completion of the Temple, into the surrounding countries in search of employment, whose wages were to be the gold and silver which they could earn by the exercise of their skill in the operative art.

 

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But the true symbolic meaning of the foreign country into which the Master Mason travels in search of wages is far different.

 

The symbolism of this life terminates with the Master's degree. The completion of that degree is the lesson of death and the resurrection to a future life, where the true word, or Divine Truth, not given in this, is to be received as the reward of a life worthily spent in its search. Heaven, the future life, the higher state of existence after death, is the foreign country in which the Master Mason is to enter, and there he is to receive his wages in the reception of that truth which can be imparted only in that better land.

 

 

371 - What is the form of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Form of the Lodge. The form of a Masonic lodge is said to be a parallelogram or oblong square - its greatest length being from East to West - its breadth from North to South. A square, a circle, a triangle, or any other form but that of an oblong square would be eminently incorrect and unmasonic, because such a figure would not be an expression of the symbolic idea which is intended to be conveyed. At the Solomonic era - the era of the building of the Temple at Jerusalem - the world, it must be remembered, was supposed to have that very oblong form, which has been here symbolized. If, for instance, on a map of the world, we should inscribe an oblong figure whose boundary lines would circumscribe and include just that portion which was known and inhabited in the days of Solomon, these lines running a short distance North and South of the Mediterranean sea, and ex‑tending from Spain in the West to Asia Minor in the East, would form an oblong square, including the southern shore of Europe, the northern shore of Africa, and the western district of Asia, the length of the parallelogram being about sixty degrees from East to West, and its breadth being about twenty degrees from North to South. This oblong square, thus inclosing the whole of what was then supposed to be the habitable globe, would precisely represent what is symbolically said to be the form of the lodge, while the Pillars of Hercules in the West, on each side of the straits of Gades or Gibraltar, might appropriately be referred to the two pillars that stood at the porch of the Temple.

 

A Masonic Lodge is, therefore, a symbol of the world. This symbol is sometimes, by a very usual figure of speech, extended, in its application, and the world and the universe are made synonymous, when the lodge becomes, of course, a symbol of the universe. But in this case the definition of the symbol is extended, and to the ideas of length and breadth are added those of height and depth, and the lodge is said to assume the form of a double cube. The solid contents of the earth below and the expanse of the heavens above will then give the outlines

 

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of the cube, and the whole created universe be included within the symbolic limits of a Mason's Lodge.

 

The form of a Lodge should always be an oblong square, in length, between the East and West; in breadth, between the North and the South; in height, from earth to heaven; and in depth, from the surface to the center. This disposition serves to indicate the prevalence of Freemasonry over the whole face of the globe, guarded by its laws, and ornamented by its beautiful tenets. Every civilized region is illuminated by its presence. Its charity relieves the wretched; its brotherly love unites the Fraternity in a chain of indissoluble affection, and extends its example beyond the limits of the Lodge room, to embrace, in its ample scope, the whole human race, infolding them in its arms of universal love. The square form was esteemed by our ancient operative brethren as one of the Greater Lights, and a component part of the furniture of the Lodge. The double cube is an expressive emblem of the united powers of darkness and light in the creation.

 

372 - What is the Masonic virtue of fortitude?

 

            Fortitude. By fortitude we are taught to resist temptation, and encounter danger with spirit and resolution. This virtue is equally distant from rashness and cowardice; and he who possesses it is seldom shaken, and never overthrown, by the storms that surround him.

 

373 - When is the ballot box said to be foul?

 

            Foul. The ballot box is said to be "foul" when, in the ballot for initiation or advancement of a candidate, one or more black balls are found.

 

374 - On what days should corner stones be laid?

 

            Foundation. The Masonic days proper for laying the foundation‑stone of a Masons' lodge are from the 15th of April to the 15th of May; and the 18th of April has been pronounced peculiarly auspicious, because nothing can be more consonant with reason and propriety, than to commence a building in the early spring, that the workmen may have the whole summer before them to complete the undertaking advantageously, in order that they may celebrate the cap‑stone with confidence and joy.

 

375 - How many degrees had Ancient Freemasonry?

 

            Four Degrees. Ancient Masonry consists of four degrees; the first of which are the Apprentice, the Fellowcraft, and the sublime degree of Master; and the fourth, the Holy Royal Arch.

 

376 - In what sense is the word "free" applied to Masons?

 

            Free. The word "free," in connection with "Mason," originally

 

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signified that the persons so called were free of the company of gild or incorporated Masons. For those operative Masons who were not thus made free of the gild, were not permitted to work with those who were. A similar regulation still exists in many parts of Europe al‑though it is not known to this country.

 

In reference to the other sense of free as meaning not bound, not in captivity, it is a rule of Masonry that no one can be initiated who is at the time restrained of his liberty.

 

The old lectures formerly used in England give the following ac‑count of the origin of the term: "The Masons who were selected to build the Temple of Solomon were declared Free, and were exempted, together with their descend, ants, from imposts, duties and taxes. They had also the privilege to bear arms. At the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, the posterity of these Masons were carried into captivity with the ancient Jews. But the good‑will of Cyrus gave them permission to erect a second Temple, having set them at liberty for that purpose. It is from this epoch that we bear the name of Free and Accepted Masons."

 

377 - How did the title, "Free and Accepted Masons," originate?

 

            Free and Accepted. The title of "Free and Accepted Masons" was first used by Dr. Anderson in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, published in

1738, the title of which is "The History and Constitutions of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons." In the first edition of

1723, the title was "The Constitutions of the Freemasons." The newer title continued to be used by the Grand Lodge of England, in which it was followed by those of Scotland and Ireland; and a majority of the Grand Lodges in this country have adopted the same style, and call themselves Grand Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons.

 

378 - What must be the status of a candidate for Masonry?

 

            Freeborn. No candidate can be admitted into Freemasonry, or share in its occult mysteries, unless he be a free man, of mature age, sound judgment, and strict morality. Nor can any one, although he have been initiated, continue to act as a Mason, or practise the rites of the Order, if he be temporarily deprived of his liberty, or freedom of will, so essential is it to Freemasonry, that its members should be perfectly free in all their actions, thoughts and designs.

 

 

379 - What is the distinction between Masonry and Freemasonry?

 

            Freemasonry. Masonry, according to the general acceptation of the term, is an art founded on the principles of geometry, and directed to the service and convenience of mankind. But Freemasonry, em‑

 

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bracing a wider range and having a nobler object in view, namely, the cultivation and improvement of the human mind, may with propriety be called a science, inasmuch as availing itself of the terms of the former, it inculcates the principles of the purest morality, though its lessons are for the most part veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols.

 

380 - What are the best‑known definitions of Freemasonry?

 

            Freemasonry, Definitions of. The definitions of Freemasonry have been numerous, and they all unite in declaring it to be a system of morality, by the practice of which its members may advance their spiritual interest, and mount by the theological ladder, from the lodge on earth to the Lodge in heaven. Subjoined are a few of the most important definitions: "Freemasonry is a beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by symbols. " - Hemming.

 

"The grand object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human race. " - Washington.

 

"Masonry is an art, useful and extensive, which comprehends within its circle every branch of useful knowledge and learning, and stamps an indelible mark of pre‑eminence on its genuine professors, which neither chance, power, nor fortune can bestow." - Preston.

 

"Freemasonry is an establishment founded on the benevolent intention of extending and conferring mutual happiness upon the best and truest principles of moral life and social virtue. " - Calcott.

 

"Freemasonry is an institution calculated to benefit mankind." - Andrew Jackson.

 

"Freemasonry is a moral order, instituted by virtuous men, with the praiseworthy design of recalling to our remembrance the most sublime truths, in the midst of the most innocent and social pleasures, founded on liberality, brotherly love and charity." - Arnold.

 

"I have ever felt it my duty to support and encourage the principles of Freemasonry, because it powerfully develops all social and benevolent affections. " - Lord Durham.

 

"From its origin to the present hour, in all its vicissitudes, Masonry has been the steady, unvarying friend of man." - Rev. Erastus Burr.

 

"Masonry is one of the most sublime and perfect institutions that ever was formed for the advancement of happiness, and the general good of mankind, creating, in all its varieties, universal benevolence and brotherly love." - Duke of Sussex.

 

"For centuries had Freemasonry existed ere modern political controversies were ever heard of, and when the topics which now agitate society were not known, but all were united in brotherhood and affection. I know the institution to be founded on the great principles of charity, philanthropy, and brotherly love. " - Bulwer.

 

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"Everything which tends to combine men by stronger ties is useful to humanity; in this point of view, Masonry is entitled to respect" - La Lande.

 

"I think we are warranted in contending that a society thus constituted, and which may be rendered so admirable an engine of improvement, far from meriting reproach, deserves highly of the community. " - Rev. Dr. Milne.

 

"Charity, or brotherly kindness, is as much a Masonic as it is a Christian virtue." - Rev. Dr. Slade.

 

"A Mason's Lodge is a school of piety. The principal emblems are the teachers." - Rev. Dr. Norval.

 

"The aims of Freemasonry are not limited to one form of operation, or one mode of benevolence. Its object is at once moral and social. It proposes both to cultivate the mind and enlarge and purify the heart." - Rev. J. O. Skinner.

 

"The Masonic system exhibits a stupendous and beautiful fabric founded on universal piety: To rule and direct our passions; to have faith and love in God, and charity toward man." - Stephen Jones.

 

"There are Great Truths at the foundation of Freemasonry - truths which it is its mission to teach, and which constitute the very essence of that sublime system which gives to the venerable institution its peculiar identity as a science of morality, and it behooves every disciple diligently to ponder and inwardly digest." - Albert . Pike.

 

"Its laws are reason and equity, its principles benevolence and love; and its religion purity and truth; its intention is peace on earth; and its disposition good‑will toward man." - Rev. T. M. Harris.

 

381 - Why are Masons forbidden to solicit members?

 

            Free‑Will and Accord. There is one peculiar feature in the Masonic Institution that must command it to the respect of every generous mind. In other associations it is considered meritorious in a member to exert his influence in obtaining applications for admission; but it is wholly uncongenial with the spirit of our Order to persuade any one to become a Mason. Whosoever seeks a knowledge of our mystic rites must first be prepared for the ordeal in his heart; he must not only be endowed with the necessary moral qualifications which would fit him for admission into our ranks, but he must come, too, uninfluenced by friends and unbiased by unworthy motives. This is a settled landmark of the Order; and, therefore, nothing can be more painful to a true Mason than to see this landmark violated by young and heedless brethren..

 

382 - On what is the universality of Masonry based?

 

            Friendship. Friendship is traced through the circle of private connections to the grand system of universal benevolence, which no

 

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limits can circumscribe, as its influence extends to every branch of the human race. On this general plan the universality of the system of Masonry is established. Were friendship confined to the spot of our nativity, its operation would be partial, and imply a kind of enmity to other nations. Where the interests of one country interfere with those of another, nature dictates an adherence to the welfare of our own immediate connections; but such interference apart, the true Mason is a citizen of the world, and his philanthropy extends to all the human race. Uninfluenced by local prejudices, he knows no preference in virtue but according to its degree, from whatever country or clime it may spring.

 

383 - Has the Lodge the right to conduct a funeral procession without a dispensation from the Grand Lodge?

 

            Funeral Processions. As to the dispensation spoken of in the Regulations of

1754, as being required from the Grand Master or his Deputy, for a funeral procession, as that regulation was adopted at so late a period, it cannot be considered as universal Masonic law. To make it obligatory in any jurisdiction, it is necessary that it should be adopted as a local law by specific enactment of the Grand Lodge of that jurisdiction. And although it may be admitted that, for large cities especially, it is a very wholesome regulation, many Grand Lodges have neglected or declined to adopt it. In the United States, dispensations for this purpose have very seldom, if at all, been required. In‑deed, Preston, in explaining the object of the regulation, says: "It was planned to put a stop to mixed and irregular conventions of Masons, and to prevent them from exposing to derision the insignia of the Order, by parading through the streets on unimportant occasions; it was not, however, intended to restrict the privileges of any regular Lodge, or to encroach on the legal prerogative of any installed Master." Accordingly, in America, Masons have generally been permitted to bury their dead without the necessity of a dispensation, and the Master of the Lodge engaged in this melancholy task, while supposed to be possessed of competent discretion to regulate the ceremony, is of course held amenable to the Grand Lodge for any impropriety that may occur.

 

384 - Under what conditions can Masonic burial be granted?

 

            Funeral Services. No Mason can be interred with the ceremonies of the Order, unless it be by his own request, made while living, to the Master of the Lodge of which he died a member; nor unless he has been raised to the third degree of Masonry; sojourners and officers high in the Order excepted. A dispensation has first to be obtained from the Grand Master before any public procession can be allowed to take place.

 

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385 - What is the furniture of the Lodge?

 

            Furniture of the Lodge. Every well‑regulated Lodge is furnished with the Holy Bible, the Square, and the Compasses. These constitute the furniture of the Lodge, being the three Great Lights of Masonry. The first is designed to be the guide of our faith; the second to regulate our actions; and the third to keep us within proper bounds with all mankind.

 

386 - What is the symbolism of the letter "G"?

 

            G. This letter is deservedly regarded as one of the most sacred of the Masonic emblems. Where it is used, however, as a symbol of Deity, it must be remembered that it is the Saxon representative of the Hebrew Yod and the Greek Tau - the initial letters of the name of the Eternal in those languages. This symbol proves that Freemasonry always prosecuted its labors with reference to the grand ideas of Infinity and Eternity. By the letter G - which conveyed to the minds of the brethren, at the same time, the idea of God and that of Geometry  - it bound heaven to earth, the divine to the human, and the infinite to the finite. Masons are taught to regard the Universe as the grandest of all symbols, revealing to men, in all ages, the ideas which are eternally revolving in the mind of the Deity, and which it is their duty to reproduce in their own lives and in the world of art and industry. Thus God and Geometry, the material worlds and the spiritual spheres, were constantly united in the speculations of the ancient Masons. They, consequently, labored earnestly and unweariedly, not only to construct cities, and embellish them with magnificent edifices, but also to build up a temple of great and divine thoughts and of ever‑growing virtues for the soul to dwell in. The symbolical letter G * * * "That hieroglyphic bright, Which none but craftsmen ever saw," and before which every true Mason reverently uncovers, and bows his head - is a perpetual condemnation of profanity, impiety and vice. No brother who has bowed before that emblem can be profane. He will never speak the name of the Grand Master of the Universe but with reverence, respect and love. He will learn, by studying the mystic meaning of the letter G, to model his life after the divine plan; and, thus instructed, he will strive to be like God in the activity and earnestness of his benevolence, and the broadness and efficiency of his charity. "The letter G occupies a prominent position in several of the degrees in the American system; is found in many of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish rite; in Adonhiramite Masonry; and, in fact, in every one of the many systems in which the people of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were so prolific in manufacturing. Wherever we find this recondite symbol in any of the

 

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Masonic rites, it has the same significance - a substitute for the Hebraic jod, the initial letter of the Divine name, and a monogram that ex‑pressed the Unereated Being, principle of all things; and, inclosed in a triangle, the unity of God. We recognize the same letter G in the Syriac Gad, the Swedish Gud, the German Gott, and the English God  - all names of the Deity and all derived from the Persian Goda, itself derived from the absolute pronoun signifying himself. The young Fellowcraft is the representative of a student of the sciences, and to him the letter G represents the science of Geometry."

 

387 - Is the Temple merely a symbol in Masonry, or an historical building?

 

            Gates of the Temple. In the system of Freemasonry, the Temple of Solomon is represented as having a gate on the east, west, and south sides but none on the north. In reference to the historical Temple of Jerusalem, such a representation is wholly incorrect. In the walls of the building itself there were no places of entrance except the door of the porch, which gave admission to the house. But in the surrounding courts there were gates at every point of the compass. The Masonic idea of the Temple is, however, entirely symbolic. The Temple is to the Speculative Mason only a symbol, not an historical building, and the gates are imaginary and symbolic also. They are, in the first place, symbols of the progress of the sun in his daily course, rising in the east, culminating to the meridian in the south, and setting in the west. They are also, in the allegory of life, which it is the object of the third degree to illustrate, symbols of the three stages of youth, manhood, and old age, or, more properly of birth, life, and death.

 

388 - What is the symbolism of the gavel?

 

            Gavel. An emblem in the degree of Entered Apprentice. It is a hammer with an edge such as is used by stone‑masons to break off the corners of stones, in preparing them for the builder's use. In the Masonic system it is employed as a symbol by which the Mason is constantly admonished to divest his mind and conscience of all the vices and errors of life, thereby fitting his body as a living stone for that building "that house not made with hands - eternal in the heavens." It is also an emblem of authority, and is used by the Master in governing the Lodge. It is sometimes erroneously confounded with the setting‑maul, which is quite a different instrument. It borrows its name from its shape, being that of the gable or gavel end of a house; and this word again comes from the German gip f el, a summit, top or peak - the idea of a pointed extremity being common to all. The form of the gavel used by the presiding officer of a Masonic Lodge varies in different sections of the country. Among our French and Spanish brethren, it is familiarly known as the president's hammer. The stone‑mason's hammer is the appropriate emblem of authority in the hand of the Master of the Lodge. The gavel is also called a Hiram.

 

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389 - What is the origin of the General Regulations of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            General Regulations. The General Regulations are those that have been enacted by such bodies as had at the time universal jurisdiction over the craft. By the concurring consent of all Masonic jurists, it is agreed that the regulations adopted previous to the year 1721 shall be considered as general in their nature; because all the Masonic authorities established since that period have derived their existence, either directly or indirectly, from the Grand Lodge of England, which was organized in 1717, and hence the regulations adopted by that body, at the period of its organization, and immediately afterwards, or by its predecessors, the annual General Assemblies of the craft, were of universal authority at the time of their adoption. But soon after 1721, other Grand Lodges were established with equal powers to make regulations for their own jurisdictions, and hence the subsequent enactments of the Grand Lodge of England ceased to be of force in those new and independent jurisdictions, and they therefore lost their character of universality.

 

390 - How was the term "Gentleman Mason" employed?

 

            Gentleman Mason. In some of the old lectures of the last century this title is used as equivalent to Speculative Freemason. Thus they had the following catechism: "Q. What do you learn by being a Gentleman Mason?

 

"A. Secrecy, Morality, and Good‑Fellowship.

 

"Q. What do you learn by being an Operative Mason?

 

"A. Hew, Square, Mould stone, lay a Level, and raise a Perpendicular." Hence we see that Gentleman Mason was in contrast with Operative Mason.

 

391 - Of what is the act of kneeling a token?

 

            Genuflexion. A bending of the knee, or kneeling. The act of kneeling has, among all people, and in all ages, been a token of reverence, a sign of dependence, supplication, and humility.

 

392 - What is the geographical jurisdiction of a Lodge?

 

            Geographical Jurisdiction. The geographical jurisdiction of a Lodge is that penal jurisdiction which it exercises over the territory within which it is situated, and extends to all the Masons, affiliated and unaffiliated, who live within that territory.

 

As to the local extent of this jurisdiction, it is universally supposed to extend to a point equally distant from the adjacent Lodge. Thus, if two Lodges are situated within twenty miles of each other, the geographical jurisdiction of each will extend ten miles from its seat in the direction of the other Lodge. But in this case both Lodges must

 

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be situated in the same State, and hold their warrants from the same Grand Lodge; for it is a settled point of Masonic law that no Lodge can extend its geographical jurisdiction beyond the territorial limits of its own Grand Lodge.

 

Thus, if of two Lodges, twenty miles distant from each other, one is situated in Georgia, five miles from the boundary line between that State and Alabama, and the other in Alabama, fifteen miles from the line, then the jurisdiction of the Georgia Lodge will not cross over the boundary, but will be restricted to the five miles which are between it and the line, while the fifteen miles which are between that line and the Alabama Lodge will be within the penal jurisdiction of the latter body.

 

393 - What is the relation of Geometry to Freemasonry?

 

            Geometry. Among the mathematical sciences, geometry is the one which has the most especial reference to architecture, and we can, there‑fore, under the name of geometry, understand the whole art of Free‑masonry. In Anderson's Book of Constitutions, Freemasonry is frequently called geometry, and of the latter he said that the whole being of the Order is comprehended in it. Freemasons therefore ought to make themselves intimately acquainted with . geometry. It is not absolutely necessary to be able to delineate geometrical figures, but it is necessary to be able to deduce all our actions, works, or resolutions from geometrical principles.

 

394 - Who were the Ghiblimites?

 

            Ghiblim. The Ghiblimites were expert operative Masons, who understood the science of geometrical proportion in its practical applications and were cemented in their lodges by the morality of its de tached and component parts.

 

395 - How did the expression "riding the goat" originate?

 

            Goat, Riding the. The vulgar idea that "riding the goat" constitutes a part of the ceremonies of initiation in a Masonic lodge has its real origin in the superstition of antiquity. The old Greeks and Romans portrayed their mystical god Pan in horns and hoofs and shaggy hide, and called him "goat footed." When the demonology of the classics was adopted and modified by the early Christians, Pan gave way to Satan, who naturally inherited his attributes; so that to the common mind the Devil was represented by a he‑goat and his best known marks were the horns, the beard, and the cloven hoofs. Then came the witch stories of the Middle Ages, and the belief in the witch orgies, where, it was said, the Devil appeared riding on a goat. These orgies of the witches, where amid fearfully blasphemous ceremonies, they practiced initiation into their Satanic rites, became, to the vulgar and illiterate, the type of the Masonic mysteries: for, as Dr. Oliver says, it was in

 

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England a common belief that the Freemasons were accustomed in their lodges "to raise the Devil." So the "riding of the Goat" which was believed to be practiced by the witches, was transferred to the Free‑masons; and the saying remains to this day, although the belief hap very long since died out.

 

396 - Why cannot an atheist become a Mason?

 

            God. A belief in the existence of God is an essential point of Speculative Masonry - so essential, indeed, that it is a landmark of the. Order that no Atheist can be made a Mason. Nor is this left to an inference; for a specific declaration to that effect is demanded as an indispensable preparation for initiation. And hence Hutchinson says that the worship of God "was the first and corner stone on which our originals thought it expedient to place the foundation of Masonry." The religion of Masonry is cosmopolitan, universal; but the required belief in God is not incompatible with this universality; for it is the belief of all peoples. "Be assured," says Godfrey Higgins, "that God is equally present with the pious Hindoo in the temple, the Jew in the synagogue, the Mohammedan in the mosque, and the Christian in the church." There never has been a time since the revival of Freemasonry, when this belief in God as superintending power did not form a part of the system. The very earliest rituals that are extant, going back almost to the beginning of the eighteenth century, contain precisely the same question as to the trust in God which is found in those of the present day; and the oldest manuscript, Constitutions, dating as far back as the fifteenth century at least, all commence with, or contain, an invocation to the "Mighty Father of Heaven." There never was a time when the dogma did not form an essential part of the Masonic system.

 

God is the highest and most perfect intelligence: in Him all things exist, and from Him all things depend. The belief in God is not the result of teaching, not the result of the exercise of reason, not a deduction from the order and regularity of the universe; for faith in a Supreme Being was universal among men in the infancy of the race, and before the human mind was capable of that power of analysis, or had attained to that degree of science which this study of the universe and of the laws of nature supposes. As the notion of an Infinite Being transcends the circle of sensible and material objects, and is clearly beyond the power of a finite being to create, therefore that notion must have been communicated directly to man by God himself. Man believes in a God, therefore God exists; because, were there no God the notion of such a being could not exist. The crowning attribute of man, and what distinguishes him from the brute, is not the faculty of reason; for that, the brute has in common with man; but the power of seeing and aspiring to the ideal. Thus man had no sooner looked upon the

 

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grandeur, and glory, and beauty of the world, than he saw enthroned far above the world that which was vaster, more beautiful, more glorious than the world, the Ideal, that is to say, God. Therefore, Freemasonry accepts the idea of God, as a supreme fact, and bars its gates with inflexible sternness against those who deny his existence. No atheist can become a Mason.

 

397 - What is the member who introduces a candidate in France called?

 

            Godfather. In French Lodges the member who introduces a candidate for initiation is called his "parrain," or "godfather."

 

398 - What three pillars of Masonry are named by the letters "G. O. D.?"

 

            G. 0. D. The initials of Gomer, Oz, Dabar. It is a singular coincidence, and worthy of thought, that the letters composing the English name of Deity should be the initials of the Hebrew words wisdom, strength, and beauty; the three great pillars, or metaphorical supports, of Masonry. They seem to present almost the only reason that can reconcile a Mason to the use of the initial "G" in its conspicuous suspension in the East of the Lodge in place of the Delta. The incident seems to be more than an accident.

 

Dabar, Wisdom, D.

 

Oz, Strength, 0.

 

Gomer, Beauty, G.

 

399 - Why is the Masonic apron compared with the Golden Fleece?

 

            Golden Fleece. In the lecture of the first degree, it is said of the Mason's apron, that it is "more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honorable than the Star and Garter." The reference is here evidently not to the Argonautic expedition in search of the golden fleece, nor to the deluge, of which that event is supposed to have been a figure, as Dr. Oliver incorrectly supposes, but to certain decorations of honor with which the apron is compared. The eagle was to the Romans the ensign of imperial power; the Order of the Golden Fleece was of high repute as an Order of Knighthood. It was established in Flanders, in 129, by the Duke of Burgundy, who selected the fleece for its badge because wool was the staple production of the country. It has ever been considered, says Clark, one of the most illustrious Orders in Europe. The Order of the Garter was, and is still, considered the highest decoration that can be bestowed upon a subject by a sovereign of Great Britain. Thus, the apron is proudly compared with the noblest decorations of ancient Rome and of modern Europe. But the Masons may have been also influenced in their selection, of a reference to the Golden Fleece, by the fact that in the Middle Ages it was one of the most important symbols of the Hermetic philosophers.

 

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400 - Why do Masons observe the Golden Rule?

 

            Golden Rule. Freemasonry recommends the practice of the Golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do to you, not so much to preserve the peace and order of civil society (which notwithstanding it cannot fail to do) as to inspire in our own bosoms, a love of virtue and good will to man.

 

401 - Who was called the Good Shepherd?

 

            Good Shepherd. Our Saviour called himself the Good Shepherd. Thus, in St. John's Gospel (x. 14, 15, 16), he says: "I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd." Hence, in Masonic as well as in Christian symbolism, Christ is naturally called the Good Shepherd.

 

402 - Where did the Grand Lodge of England hold its first meeting?

 

            Goose and Gridiron. An alehouse with this sign, in London House‑Yard at the north end of St. Paul's. In 1717 the Lodge of Antiquity met at the Goose and Gridiron, and it was there that the first quarterly communication of the Grand Lodge of England, after the revival of 1717, was held on the 24th of June, 1717.

 

403 - How are the grades of Masonic rank defined?

 

            Grades of Rank. Many persons have endeavored to substantiate their objections to the institution of Freemasonry from the admitted dogma that its members meet on a level; whence they conclude that the system abolishes all human distinctions and promises to disorganize society, and reduce it to its primitive elements. But it does no such thing. There is, in fact, no other institution where the grades of rank are better defined and preserved. The Worshipful Master sits in the east. For what purpose is he placed there? Why, to rule and govern his lodge. And he is invested with power even to despotism, should he consider it safe to use it, and the Wardens are his assistants, not his equals. Each has a particular duty assigned to him, and beyond that, he has no right to interfere. The next grade are the Deacons. And what is their duty? Not, surely, to rank in equality with the Master and Wardens, but to perform the part of inferiors in office, to carry messages and commands. It is their province to attend on the Master, and to assist the Wardens in the active duties of the lodge, such as the reception of candidates into the different degrees of Masonry, and the immediate practice of our rites. This is the business of the Deacons; and by its punctual discharge, the office becomes a stepping‑stone to further preferment, for as it is incumbent on a brother to serve the office of a Warden, before he is eligible for the chair of a

 

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lodge, so it would be well if the office of a Deacon were preparatory to that of a Warden. The Treasurer, the Secretary, the Stewards, and the Tiler all have their respective duties to perform, and rank to support; while the brethren are bound to obey the will and pleasure of the Master.

 

404 - What is the usual Masonic name for the Deity?

 

            Grand Architect. This Most High Being ought to be duly revered by every brother as the Great Architect of heaven and earth, and his name ought never to be spoken but with the greatest humility and reverence. It is not improper, when we are always speaking of Masonry, to call God the Great Architect of heaven and earth, as we also call him the Lord of lords and King of kings. Every one, even those who are not Freemasons, call him the Creator of heaven and of earth. He has created everything that we can see; and it is certain that he has created many things which we have not power to see; and when the brethren strive to adorn his greatest work - when they assist in carrying on the spiritual temple in the manner he has ordained - they most assuredly fulfill his holy law.

 

405 - What is the office and function of Grand Chaplain?

 

            Grand Chaplain. This is an office of very modern date. No allusion to such an officer is to be found in any of the old Constitutions, and Preston informs us that it was instituted on the 1st of May, 1775, on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the Freemasons' Hall in London. A sense of propriety has, however, notwithstanding its want of antiquity, since caused this office to be universally recognized by the Grand Lodges of this country, some of whom have in‑creased the number of Grand Chaplains from one to several.

 

The duties of the Grand Chaplain are confined to offering up prayer at the communications of the Grand Lodge, and conducting its devotional exercises on public occasions.

 

He is, by virtue of his office, a member of the Grand Lodge, and entitled to a seat and a vote. The only qualifications generally required appear to be that he should be a Master Mason, in good standing in his Lodge, and a recognized clergyman of some religious denomination.

 

406 - What is the history and function of the office of Grand Deacon?

 

            Grand Deacon. The office of Grand Deacon is of more modern origin than that of any other officer in the Grand Lodge. I can find no reference to it in any of the old Regulations, in Anderson, or any subsequent edition of the Book of Constitutions, in Preston's Illustrations, or in Lawrie's History. By the Regulations of 1721, the duties of the Grand Deacons seem to have been divided between the Grand Wardens and the Stewards; nor is a place appropriated in any of the processions described in the various works already cited. They

 

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are first found in a procession which took place in 1831, recorded by Oliver, in his Continuation of Preston's History. But they have since been placed among the officers of the Grand Lodge in the Constitutions of England, Scotland and Ireland.

 

In America, the office has an older date; for Grand Deacons are recorded as being present in a procession of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in 1783, the account of which is to be found in Smith's "Ahiman Rezon." They are also mentioned among the officers of the Grand Lodge in the Constitution adopted in 1797 by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina. I know not whence the anomaly arose of these officers existing in Grand Lodges of America in the eighteenth century, while they are not to be found in those of Great Britain until late in the nineteenth. They could scarcely have been derived from the Athol Grand Lodge, since the York Masons of South Carolina had no such officers in 1807, when Dalcho published the first edition of his "Ahiman Rezon." Be this as it may, the office is now recognized in all the Grand Lodges of this country.

 

The Grand Deacons are generally two in number, a Senior, who is usually appointed by the Grand Master, and a Junior, who receives his appointment from the Senior Grand Warden. It is their province to attend upon the Grand Master and Wardens, and to act as their proxies in the active duties of the Grand Lodge. Their duties differ but little from those of the corresponding officers in a subordinate Lodge.

 

407 - Why is the seat of a Grand Lodge known as the Grand East?

 

            Grand East. The city in which the Grand Lodge, or other governing Masonic body is situated, and whence its official documents emanate, is called the Grand East. Thus a document issued by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts would be dated from the "Grand East of Boston," or if from the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, it would be the "Grand East of New Orleans." The place where a Grand Lodge meets is therefore called a Grand East. The word is in constant use on the continent of Europe and in America, but seldom employed in England, Scotland, or Ireland.

 

The East with Masons has a peculiar meaning. It is well known that the sciences first rose in the East, and that the resplendent orb of light from that quarter proclaims the glory of the day. "And behold the Glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East, and his voice was like the noise of many waters; the earth shined with his glory. The East Gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened; and no,man shall enter by it, because the Glory of the God of Israel hath entered by it. It is for the Prince." If

 

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408 - What is the office and function of Grand Lecturer?

 

            Grand Lecturer. The office of Grand Lecturer is one of great importance; perhaps there is none so important in the whole series of offices which constitute the controlling element of a Grand Lodge. He is the recognized teacher of the Masonic system, and it is by his faithful instructions alone that unity can be maintained in the methods of communicating our ritual.

 

"This unity," says a distinguished Mason, Bro. Sandford, of Iowa, "makes the world a Mason's home, and raising him high above geographical divisions and the obstacles of language and religion, secures him protection and repose wherever fate or fortune may direct his steps. Without it, our grand fabric of universal benevolence, which has withstood the storms of numerous centuries, would be shattered to atoms in a single age." I presume that it will be admitted by every intelligent Mason, that Bro. Sandford has not placed too high an estimate on the importance of a uniformity of work. If Masonry contain within itself anything worthy of the study of intellectual men - if our theories of its antiquity be not fallacious - if our legends and ceremonies and symbols are not, as one class of our opponents have declared them to be, the puerile amusements of a past age of dreamers - then surely it is the bounden duty of the supreme head of the Order, in every jurisdiction, to preserve those legends and ceremonies and symbols as pure and unsullied by error and innovation as they were when received. It is a part of the covenant into which we have all entered, and to which we are all bound by the most solemn obligations, to preserve the ancient Landmarks which have been intrusted to our care, and never to suffer them to be infringed, or to countenance a deviation from the established usages and customs of the fraternity.

 

This, it appears to me, is the most prominent and especial duty of a Grand Lodge. It is the conservator of the Order in its own jurisdiction, and is expected by all the sanctions of justice and reason to hand down to its successors the rites and ceremonies of the institution, as it received them from its predecessors. Unless it does this, it is recreant to its trust. It may dispense charity - it may endow colleges - it may decide disputes - it may invent financial systems, or legislate for general purposes - but unless it shall take constant and careful precautions for preserving the ancient Landmarks, and disseminating among the craft a uniformity of work and lectures, according to the true system, it will be neglecting the principal design of its organization, and will become a "cruel" instead of a "gentle mother" to its children. Under an administration which shall totally abandon all supervision of the ritual, and devise no means of teaching it, the very identity of Masonry would soon altogether be extinguished, and Lodges would speedily de‑generate into social clubs.

 

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409 - What qualifications are necessary for a candidate for the office of Grand Lecturer?

 

            Grand Lecturer, Qualifications of. Not only should the authority of the Grand Lecturer as a Masonic teacher be sovereign and undivided in his jurisdiction, and the tenure of his office permanent, so that the craft may not be annually subjected to changes in the form and sub‑stance of the instruction that they receive, but, above all, he should be fully competent, by previous study, to discharge the duties of his high calling.

 

No man can be qualified as a Grand Lecturer unless he has devoted his time, his talent, and his labor to the arduous, though pleasant, task of Masonic study. The old Romans had a proverb that a Mercury could not be made out of any kind of wood, and neither can a Grand Lecturer be manufactured out of any kind of Mason. A Masonic teacher requires qualifications of the highest character. A profound knowledge of the ritual is, of course, essential; and this alone is to be acquired only after the most laborious study, aided by the adventitious assistance of an excellent and retentive memory. But to this must be added, if we would give dignity to the office, or confer a benefit on the pupils whom he is to teach, an education above the common standard, a cultivated intellect, an acquaintance with that ancient language from whose records our system is derived, a familiarity with history and antiquities, and an extent of reading and power of mind which will enable him to trace the symbolism of our Order through all its progress, from the ancient priesthood of Egypt, the mysteries of Greece and Asia and the kabbala of Palestine.

 

It may be said that the standard is here placed too high, and that few will be found to reach it. Better, then, would it be to do without a Lecturer than to have an incompetent one; and I know of no less amount of learning that would make a Masonic teacher, such as a Masonic teacher should be. But moreover, by placing the standard of qualifications high, intellectual men would be found to work up to it; while, by placing it lower, ignorant men would readily avail themselves of the privileges that so low a standard would present. The "consummation devoutly to be wished" in Masonry is, that none but learned men should become Masonic teachers.

 

The old Constitutions do not recognize the office of Grand Lecturer òunder that name; but it has always existed, and its duties were per‑formed in the eighteenth century by some of the most learned men of the order. Anderson, Desaguliers, Martin Clare, Hutchinson and Preston were all, in the strict sense of the word, Grand Lecturers, and discharged the duties of the office with great benefit to the craft.

 

410 - What are the powers of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Grand Lodge. This governing body consists of a Grand Master with a full staff of officers, and the Masters and Wardens, of every

 

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warranted lodge. In the Grand Lodge, besides the power of enacting laws and regulations for the government of the Craft, and of altering, repealing, and abrogating them (provided that they continue to pre‑serve the ancient landmarks of the Order) the Grand Lodge has also the inherent power of investigating, regulating, and deciding all matters relative to the Craft or to particular lodges, or to individual brothers, which it may exercise either by itself or by such delegated authority as, in its wisdom and discretion, it may appoint; but in the Grand Lodge alone resides the power of erasing lodges, and passing upon appeals from decisions of Masters and constituent lodges.

 

411 - May an Entered Apprentice attend Grand Lodge?

 

            Grand Lodge Attendance. Entered Apprentices formerly had the right of being present at the communications of the Grand Lodge, or General Assembly, and taking part in its deliberations. In fact, it is expressly prescribed, in the last of the Regulations of

1721, that none of these important laws can be altered, or any new General Regulations made, until the alteration or the new regulation is submitted to all the Brethren, "even the youngest Entered Apprentice." But this rule is now obsolete, because, being founded on the fact that Apprentices were then the body of the craft, and they being no longer so, the reason of the law having ceased, the law also ceases.

 

412 - Is the possession of a Grand Lodge Certificate conclusive evidence of the good standing of its possessor?

 

            Grand Lodge Certificates. Intimately connected with the subject of the right of visit is that of Grand Lodge certificates. The propriety of any Regulation requiring such a document as a necessary preliminary to a visit, has, within the last few years, been warmly agitated by several of the Grand Lodges of this country; and some of them, denying its antiquity, have abolished the Regulation in their own jurisdictions. It is, however, surprising that any writer professing to be acquainted with the history of the institution, should for a moment deny the great antiquity and universality of the law which has required every strange Brother to furnish the Lodge which he intends to visit with a certificate of his good standing in the Lodge and the jurisdiction from which he hails.

 

The Regulation was certainly in force two centuries ago; for we have he evidence of that fact in the Regulation adopted in the General Assembly in 1663, under the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans, in the following explicit language: "No person hereafter, who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be admitted into any Lodge or assembly, until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation from the Lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such a Lodge is kept."

 

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From that time, at least, the Regulation has been strictly observed in the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and many of the older Grand Lodges of this country. Several other Grand Lodges, however, whose Constitutions are of a later date, have, as I have al‑ready observed, abolished it, and decline to furnish their members with such certificates. There may be a doubt whether a Masonic certificate, not renewable, but given to its possessor for his life, is of any real value in establishing his Masonic standing, except at the time that he received it; but there can be no doubt that the Regulation requiring one to be given is one of the most ancient written laws of the Order. Under any circumstances, it must, however, be recollected that a Grand Lodge certificate is to be considered only as a collateral evidence of the good standing of its possessor, preparatory to an examination in the legal way; and hence the Regulation adopted by the Grand Lodge of South Carolina in 1848 seems to be a reasonable one, namely, that where the visitor, being without a certificate, can furnish other sufficient evidence of his Masonic standing, and assign a satisfactory reason for his being without a certificate, the Lodge which he proposes to visit may proceed to his examination.

 

413 - What is the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Grand Lodges, Jurisdiction of. At first there were no clear nor well defined notions in regard to the territorial jurisdiction of Grand Lodges. Until within a few years each Grand Lodge claimed the right to constitute lodges in any part of the world. At the time of the breaking out of our Revolutionary War the Grand Lodges of England, Ire‑land, and Scotland had lodges in Massachusetts and other colonies. The principle, however, is now well settled that the Grand Lodge of a Province or State has exclusive jurisdiction within such territory, and that no other Grand Lodge can legally charter lodges therein. A Grand Lodge is supreme over its own affairs. There is no Masonic authority or power above it: it is subject only to the unchangeable laws of the Order, the acknowledged constitutions, and the Ancient Landmarks.

 

414 - How is a Grand Lodge organized?

 

            Grand Lodges, Organization of. A Grand Lodge consists of the Master and Wardens of all the lodges under its jurisdiction and such Past Masters as may be elected members. The officers are a Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, Senior Grand Warden, Junior Grand Warden, Grand Treasurer, Grand Secretary, Grand Chaplain, Senior Grand Deacon, Junior Grand Deacon, Grand Stewards, Grand Marshal, Grand Standard Bearer, Grand Pursuivant, Grand Sword Bearer and Grand Tiler. In a country or state where there is no Grand Lodge three or more legal lodges may meet in convention and organize a Grand Lodge. Then these lodges surrender their charters to the Grand Lodges

 

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from which they received them, and take others from the new Grand Lodge.

 

415 - What is the usual procedure of a Grand Lodge in conducting a Masonic trial?

 

            Grand Lodge Trials. Trials in a Grand Lodge are to be con‑ducted on the same general principles as in private Lodges; but here, in consequence of the largeness of the body, and the inconvenience which would result from holding the examinations in open Lodge, and in the presence of all the members, it is more usual to appoint a committee, be‑fore whom the case is tried, and upon whose full report of the testimony the Grand Lodge bases its action. And the forms of trial in such committees must conform, in all respects, to the general usage already de‑tailed.

 

416 - What is the office and function of Grand Marshal?

 

            Grand Marshal. The first allusion that I find to this office is in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, where, under the date of 1730, a procession is described, which was closed by "Marshal Pyne, with his truncheon blew, tipt with gold." But as throughout the remainder of the book, and all the subsequent editions, the allusion is not repeated, I am led to suppose that this was simply a temporary appointment of an officer to keep order, without any reference to Masonic rank. There is no such officer in the present Grand Lodge of England, and the office is unknown in several of the American jurisdictions.

 

The duty of the Grand Marshal in those Grand Lodges which recognize the office is simply to arrange the processions of the Grand Lodge, and to preserve order, according to the forms prescribed.

 

417 - What are the powers and privileges of a Grand Master?

 

            Grand Master. The presiding officer of the symbolic degrees in a jurisdiction. He presides, of course, over the Grand Lodge, and has the right not only to be present, but also to preside in every Lodge, with the Master of the Lodge on his left hand, and to order his Grand War‑dens to attend him, and act as Wardens in that particular Lodge. He has the right of visiting the lodges and inspecting their books and mode of work as often as he pleases, or, if unable to do so, he may depute his Grand officers to act for him. He has the power of granting dispensation for the formation of new lodges; which dispensations are of force until revoked by himself or the Grand Lodge. He may also grant dispensations for several other purposes. Formerly, the Grand Master appointed his Grand officers, but this regulation has been repealed, and the Grand officers are now all elected by the Grand Lodges.

 

When the Grand Master visits a lodge, he must be received with the greatest respect, and the Master of the Lodge should always offer

 

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him the chair, which the Grand Master may or may not accept at his pleasure.

 

Should the Grand Master die, or be absent from the jurisdiction during his term of office, the Deputy Grand Master assumes his powers, or, if there be no Deputy, then the Grand Wardens according to seniority.

 

418 - What is the origin and history of the office of Grand Master?

 

            Grand Master, Office of. The office of Grand Master is one of such antiquity as to be coeval with the very origin of the institution, whether we look at that origin in a traditional or in an historical point of view. There never has been a time in which the Order has not been governed by a chief presiding officer under this name.

 

From this fact we derive the important principle that the office of Grand Master is independent of the Grand Lodge, and that all his prerogatives and duties, so far as they are connected generally with the craft, are inherent in the office, and not derived from, nor amenable to, any modern Constitutions.

 

The whole records of our written and traditional history show that Grand Masters have repeatedly existed without a Grand Lodge, but never a Grand Lodge without a Grand Master. And this is because the connection of the Grand Master is essentially with the craft at large, and only incidentally with the Grand Lodge. He is neither elected, in‑stalled, nor saluted as the "Grand Master of the Grand Lodge," but as the "Grand Master of Masons"; and if the institution, so far as relates to its present organization, was again to be resolved into the condition which it occupied previous to the year 1717, and the Grand Lodge were to be abolished, in consequence of the resumption by the subordinate Lodges of their original prerogatives, the office of Grand Master would be unaffected by such revolution, and that officer would still remain in possession of all his powers, because his office is inseparable from the existence of the fraternity, and he would be annually elected as formerly, by the craft in their "General Assembly." In accordance with these views, we find Anderson recording that in the year 926, at the city of York, Prince Edwin, as Grand Master, summoned the craft, who then "composed a Grand Lodge, of which he was the Grand Master." The Grand Lodge did not constitute him as their Grand Master, for the appointment of Grand Master, according to the record, preceded the organization of the Grand Lodge.

 

Again: both Anderson and Preston show us a long list of Grand Masters who were not even elected by the Grand Lodge, but held their appointment from the King. In

1663, a Regulation was adopted, declaring "that, for the future, the fraternity of Freemasons shall be regulated and governed by one Grand Master, and as many Wardens as the said society shall think fit to appoint at every annual General

 

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Assembly," which Assembly, it must be recollected, was not, as now, a Grand Lodge, consisting of the representatives of Lodges, but a mass meeting of all the members of the craft. Again: an attentive perusal of the history of the present organization of Grand Lodges on St. John the Baptist's day, 1717, will show that the craft first, in General Assembly, elected their Grand Master, who then appointed his Wardens, and established a Grand Lodge, by summoning the Masters and Wardens of the Lodges to meet him in quarterly communication. In short, everything of an authentic nature in the history of Masonry shows that the Grand Master is the officer and the organ of the craft in general, and not of the Grand Lodge, and that although for purposes of convenience, the fraternity have, for the last one hundred and thirty‑five years, conceded to their Masters and Wardens in Grand Lodge convened the privilege of electing him for them, such concession does not impair his, rights, nor destroy the intimate and immediate connection which exists between him and the craft at large, to whom alone he can be said to have any rightful responsibility.

 

419 - What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to assem‑ bling Masons into Lodges?

 

            Grand Master's Power of Congregating Masons. Analogous to the dispensing power is the prerogative which the Grand Master possesses of authorizing Masons to congregate together and form a Lodge. According to the Regulations of 1721, and the modern Constitutions of England, the Grand Master has the power to grant warrants for the permanent establishment of Lodges, by warrant of constitution. But in this country this prerogative has not, for many years, been exercised by Grand Masters, who only grant their authority for the holding of Lodges temporarily, until the next communication of the Grand Lodge. Hence, as no Lodge can be legally held, except under a warrant of constitution, granted by a Grand Lodge, when the Grand Master permits such an assemblage, he suspends for a time the operation of the law; and for this reason the document issued by him for this purpose is very appropriately called a dispensation, for it is simply a permission or license granted to certain brethren to dispense with the law requiring a warrant, and to meet and work masonically without such an instrument.

 

420 - What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to his power of convening Grand Lodge?

 

            Grand Master's Power of Convening Grand Lodge. The Grand Master has the right to convene the Grand Lodge on any special occasion, at such time and place as he may deem expedient. The Constitution of the Grand Lodge necessarily must designate a time and place for the annual communication, which it is not in the power of the Grand Master

to change. But on the occurrence of any emergency, which

 

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may, in his opinion, render a special communication necessary, the Grand Master possesses the prerogative of convoking Grand Lodge, and may select such time and place for the convocation as he deems most convenient or appropriate. This prerogative has been so repeatedly exercised by Grand Masters, from the earliest times to the present day, that it seems to be unnecessary to furnish any specific precedents out of the multitude that the most cursory reading of the old records would supply.

 

421 - What is the Grand Master's prerogative with regards to the arrest of the charter of a Lodge?

 

            Grand Master's Prerogative of Arrest of Charter. An important prerogative of the Grand Master is that of arresting the charter of a subordinate Lodge. To arrest the charter, is a technical phrase, by which is meant to suspend the work of a Lodge - to prevent it from holding its usual communications, and to forbid it to transact any business, of to do any work. A Grand Master cannot revoke the warrant of a Lodge; for this, as I have already shown, is the peculiar prerogative of the Grand Lodge. But if, in his opinion the good of Masonry, or any other sufficient cause requires it, he may suspend the operation of the warrant until the next communication of the Grand Lodge, which body is alone competent to revise or approve of his action. But this prerogative of the Grand Master, as it deprives a Lodge of its activity and usefulness for a period of some duration, and inflicts some portion of disgrace upon the body which has subjected itself to such discipline, should be exercised with the utmost caution and reluctance.

 

422 - What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to dispensations?

 

            Grand Master's Prerogative of Dispensation. One of the most important prerogatives of a Grand Master is that of granting dispensations. A dispensation may be defined to be "the granting of a license, or the license itself, to do what is forbidden by laws or regulation, or to omit something which is commanded; that is, the dispensing with a law or regulation, or the exemption of a particular person from the obligation to comply with its injunctions." This power to dispense with the provisions of law in particular cases appears to be inherent in the Grand Master, because, although frequently referred to in the Old Regulations, it always is as if it were a power already in existence, and never by way of a new grant. There is no record of any Masonic statute or constitutional provision conferring this prerogative in distinct words. The instances, however, in which this prerogative may be exercised are clearly enumerated in various places of the Old Constitutions, so that there can be no difficulty in understanding to what extent the prerogative extends.

 

Thus, one of the Regulations of 1721 prescribes that "no Lodge

 

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shall make more than five new brethren at one time"; but the Grand Master may grant his dispensation to authorize any Lodge on a particular occasion to go beyond this number.

 

Again, in another Regulation it is enacted that "no man can be made or admitted a member of a particular Lodge without previous notice one month before"; but here the Grand Master may interfere with his dispensing power, and permit a candidate to be made without such previous notice.

 

Another Regulation prescribes that "no set or number of brethren shall withdraw or separate themselves from the Lodge in which they were made brethren, or were afterwards admitted members, unless the Lodge becomes too numerous, nor even then, without a dispensation." But this Regulation has long since become obsolete, and Masons now demit from their Lodges without the necessity of asking a dispensation. In fact, as the law is no longer in force, no authority is needed to dispense with its injunctions.

 

The Twelfth Regulation of 1721 prescribes that none but members of the Grand Lodge shall be permitted to be present at its quarterly communications, except by dispensation. The Grand Master is thus authorized to set aside the provisions of the law for the benefit of a particular individual, and this right of the Grand Master to admit strangers as visitors in the Grand Lodge is still recognized as one of his prerogatives.

 

Besides these particular instances of the exercise of the dispensing power which are referred to in the Old Regulations, there are many others which arise from the nature of the prerogative, and which have been sanctioned by immemorial usage.

 

Thus, when a Lodge has neglected to elect its officers at the constitutional time of election, or having elected them, has failed to proceed to installation, the Grand Master may, on application, issue his dispensation, authorizing the election or installation to take place at some time subsequent to the constitutional period. And without such dispensation, no election or installation could take place; but the old officers would have to continue in office until the next regular time of election, for no Lodge can perform any act at any other time, or in any other mode, except that which is provided by its by‑laws, or the Regulations of the Grand Lodge, unless in a particular case a dispensation is granted to set aside for the time the provisions of the law.

 

Again: although no one can serve as Master of a Lodge, unless he has previously acted as a Warden, yet in particular cases, as in the organization of a new Lodge, or when, in an old Lodge, no one who has been a Warden is willing to serve as Master, the Grand Master may grant his dispensation, empowering the members to elect a Master from the floor.

 

But as it is a principle of the law that the benignity of the Grand

 

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Master must not affect the rights of third parties, no dispensation can issue for the election from the floor, if there be a Warden or Past War‑den who is willing to serve; for eligibility to the chair is one of the prerogatives which arises from having served in the office of Warden, and a dispensation cannot set aside a prerogative.

 

By the operation of the same equitable principle, the Grand Master is prohibited from issuing a dispensation to authorize the initiation of a person who has been rejected by a Lodge; for it is the inherent right of a Lodge to judge of the fitness of its own members, and the Grand Master cannot, by the exercise of his dispensing power, interfere with this inherent right.

 

423 - What is the prerogative of the Grand Master with respect to presiding over the Craft?

 

            Grand Master's Prerogative of Presiding. The Grand Master has the right to preside over every assembly of the craft, wheresoever and whensoever held. This is a Landmark of the Order, and consequently the right of the Grand Master to preside at all meetings of the Grand Lodge, which is derived from it, is an inherent right, of which no constitutional provision can deprive him. From this prerogative is also derived the principle that the Grand Master may assume the chair of any private Lodge in which he may be present, and govern the Lodge as its Master. He is also, by virtue of the same prerogative, the chair‑man of every committee of the Grand Lodge which he may choose to attend. He is, in brief, the head of the craft in his own jurisdiction, and cannot, at any meeting of the fraternity for Masonic purposes, be placed, without his consent, in a subordinate position.

 

424 - What is the Grand Master's prerogative with respect to voting in Grand Lodge?

 

            Grand Master's Prerogative of Voting. The Twelfth Regulation of 1721 gave the Grand Master the prerogative of casting two votes in all questions before the Grand Lodge. The words of the Regulation are, it is true, very explicit, and would seem to leave no doubt upon its face; and yet I am scarcely inclined to believe that under all circumstances that officer was permitted to vote twice, while every other member voted but once. Contemporaneous exposition, however, supplies no aid in the interpretation of the law; for I have looked in vain through the earlier editions of the Book of Constitutions for any further reference to the subject. The modern Grand Lodge of England retains the very words of the Old Regulations; but in this country, where it has principally been preserved by usage, it is so interpreted as that the Grand Master gives his second vote only in the case of a tie, and this, I suspect, was the object of the original law.

 

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425 - What three important events in Scripture are designated as the three grand offerings of Masonry?

 

            Grand Offerings. According to the English system of lectures, three important events recorded in Scripture are designated as the three grand offerings of Masonry, because they are said to have occurred on Mount Moriah, which symbolically represents the ground‑floor of the Lodge. These three grand offerings are as follows: The first grand offering was when Abraham prepared to offer up his son Isaac; the second was when David built an altar to stay the pestilence with which his people were afflicted; and the third was when Solomon dedicated to Jehovah the Temple which he had completed.

 

426 - How may Grand Officers be removed from office?

 

            Grand Officers. None of the grand officers can be removed, unless for reasons which appear sufficient to the Grand Lodge; but, should the Grand Master be dissatisfied with the conduct of any of his grand officers he may submit the case to the Grand Lodge; and should it appear to the majority of the brethren present that the complaint be well founded, he may displace such grand officer, and nominate another.

 

427 - What are the office and function of Grand Pursuivant?

 

            Grand Pursuivant. In the science of heraldry, a Pursuivant is the lowest order of officers at arms, and is, as the title implies, an attendant on the heralds. The office is unknown to the English Constitutions of Masonry, either ancient or modern, and appears to be peculiar to this country, where it is to be found in a large number of Grand Lodges, whose Regulations are, however, generally silent as to the nature of the functions to be discharged.

 

The "Ahiman Rezon" of South Carolina says that his station is near the door, whence he receives all reports from the Grand Tiler, and announces the name and Masonic rank of all who desire admission, seeing that none enter without their appropriate decorations. He combines therefcre, in part, the duties of the Junior Deacon with those of a gentleman usher.

 

I have already said that the office is modern, as no allusion to it is to be found in any of the old Regulations. The appointment is generally vested in the Grand Master.

 

428 - What is the nature and function of the office of Grand Secretary?

 

Grand Secretary. The Regulations of 1721 had described the duties to be performed by the Grand Secretary; but from the organization of the Grand Lodge in 1717, to the year 1723, no such officer had been appointed. In the last mentioned year, however, Bro. William Cowper was chosen by the Grand Lodge. The office was therefore first an elective one, but Anderson, in his edition of 1738, says that "ever since, the new Grand Master, upon his commencement, appoints the

 

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Secretary, or continues him by returning him the books." This usage is still pursued by the modern Grand Lodge of England, but in every jurisdiction of this country, the office of Grand Secretary is an elective one.

 

The functions, the discharge of which is intrusted to the Grand Secretary, are of the most important nature, and require no ordinary amount of talent. It is his duty to record all the proceedings of the Grand Lodge with the utmost fidelity and exactness. He is also the official organ of the Grand Lodge, and in that capacity conducts its correspondence. He is, besides, the recipient of the returns and dues of Lodges, which amounts he pays over to the Grand Treasurer, so that each of these officers acts as a check upon the other.

 

The Grand Secretary is also in this country the keeper of the seal of the Grand Lodge, which he affixes to all documents that require it. His signature is considered as essential to the validity of any document which emanates from the Grand Lodge.

 

Like the Grand Treasurer, he was permitted by the old Regulations to appoint an assistant, who did not, however, by such appointment, be‑come a member of the Grand Lodge. The Regulation is still in force in several of the American jurisdictions.

 

429 - What are the history and functions of the office of Grand Steward?

           

            Grand Stewards. The duty of the Grand Stewards is to attend upon the tables during the hours of refreshment, and to assist the Junior Grand Warden in managing the Grand Feast, in jurisdictions where this ancient usage is observed.

 

430 - What is the history and function of the office of Grand Sword Bearer?

 

            Grand Sword Bearer. In 1731, the Duke of Norfolk, being then Grand Master, presented to the Grand Lodge of England "the old trusty sword of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, that was worn next by his successor in war, the brave Bernard, Duke of Saxe‑Weimar. with both their names on the blade, which the Grand Master had ordered Brother George Moody (the King's sword cutler) to adorn richly with the arms of Norfolk in silver on the scabbard, in order to be the Grand Master's sword of state in future." At the following feast, Bro. Moody was appointed Sword Bearer, and the office has ever since existed, and is to be found in almost all the Grand Lodges of this country.

 

The Grand Sword Bearer should be appointed by the Grand Master, and it is his duty to carry the sword of state immediately in front of that officer in all processions of the Grand Lodge.

 

431 - What are the office and functions of the Grand Tiler?

 

            Grand Tiler. This is an office which derives its existence from the Landmarks of the Order, and must therefore have existed from

 

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the earliest times, as it is impossible that any Grand Lodge or Assembly of Masons could ever have met for purposes of Masonic business unless the room in which they were assembled had been duly tiled.

 

The duties of the office are so evident to every Mason as to need no explanation.

 

The Grand Tiler cannot, during his term of office be a member of the Grand Lodge, for his official position places it out of his power to assist in its deliberations.

 

He is generally appointed by the Grand Master and no other qualification is required for the office than that of being a worthy Master Mason.

 

432 - What are the functions of a Grand Treasurer?

 

            Grand Treasurer. The functions of the Grand Treasurer do not differ from those of the corresponding officer in a subordinate Lodge. It is his duty to act as the depositary of all the funds and property of the Grand Lodge, to keep a fair account of the same, and render a statement of the condition of all the property in his possession, when‑ever called upon by either the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge. He also pays all bills and orders which have been approved by the Grand Lodge. He is, in one word, under such regulations as that body shall prescribe, the banker of that body.

 

The old Regulations permitted him to appoint an assistant, whose only qualification was, that he must be a Master Mason. But such assistant did not, by his appointment, become a member of the Grand Lodge, although permitted to be present at its communications. The usage has been continued in many of the Grand Lodges of this country.

 

433 - What are the office and functions of Grand Wardens?

 

            Grand Wardens. Next in dignity to the Deputy Grand Master come the Senior and Junior Grand Wardens. These two officers are, however, although subordinate in rank, of much more importance than the Deputy, in the working of the Order, and are possessed of some prerogatives which do not belong to him. Their duties do not very materially differ from those of the corresponding officers in a subordinate Lodge, although, of course, from their more exalted position, their powers are more extensive.

 

In this country, by universal consent, the Wardens succeed to the government of the craft in order of rank, upon the death or absence from the jurisdicton of the Grand and Deputy Grand Masters.

 

434 - Of what is the grave emblematic?

 

            Grave. The grave is, in the Master's degree, the analogue of the pastos, couch or coffin, in the Ancient Mysteries, and is intended scenically to serve the same purpose. The grave is, therefore, in that

 

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degree, intended, in connection with the sprig of acacia, to teach symbolically the great Masonic doctrine of a future life.

 

435 - Should members be permitted to leave the Lodge during initiation ceremonies?

 

            Gravity. In a good lodge silence and gravity are recommendations during the hours appropriated to labor. The ordinary business is of too serious a nature to admit of any disturbances; and hence the ancient charges direct that no brother shall behave himself ludicrously or jestingly while the lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn; nor use any unbecoming language upon any pretence whatever; but pay due reverence to the Masters, Wardens, and Fellows, and put them to worship. Even the noise of moving the seats or the feet is to be avoided as much as possible; nor are the brethren permitted to leave the lodge during the solemn ceremonies, lest the noise thus made should disturb the proceedings. The effect of an initiation would be entirely destroyed by any interruption of this kind, and it is easy to understand that the same kind of disturbance would be calculated to distract the attention of the brethren during the delivery of lectures.

 

436 - What is the symbolism of the Great Lights?

 

            Great Lights. The Freemasons are enlightened by great and small lights. The Bible, the square, and the compasses, belong to the first; and the sun, the moon, and the Master to the second. The great lights are immortal, and neither limited by time nor space; the small ones are limited by both. The Bible rules and governs our faith; the square our actions; and the compasses keep us in a bond of union with all man‑kind, especially with a brother Mason. Or with other words, the Bible directs us to elevate our spirits to a reasonable and rational faith; the square teaches so to discipline our minds as to make them correspond with a pure and prompt obedience to the laws of our native land; and the compasses teach us so to cultivate our understandings as to enable us to live in the bonds of social and fraternal union with all man‑kind, whatever may be their peculiar views on religious or political subjects.

 

437 - Why were grips and signs used by operative Masons?

 

            Grip and Sign. In rude times, when men, ignorant of chirography, impressed a seal on parchment in lieu of a signature, it was usual for Master Masons to give their apprentice a grip or sign, by which to make himself known; another when he had completed his apprenticeship, and passed on to the rank of a journeyman, or Fellow‑craft; and a third when,, by assiduity and skill, he had become himself a master of the work, took buildings to rear, hired Fellowcrafts or journeymen, and received apprentices. The word, the sign, and the grip, in those days, were the certificate of the Craft to its regularly taught members.

 

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438 - Why is the ground floor of a Lodge known as Mount Moriah?

 

            Ground‑Floor of the Lodge. Mount Moriah, on which the Temple of Solomon was built, is symbolically called the ground‑floor of the lodge, and hence it is said that "the lodge rests on holy ground." This ground‑floor of the lodge is remarkable for three great events recorded in Scripture, and which are called "the three grand offerings of Masonry." It was here that Abraham prepared, as a token of his faith, to offer up his beloved son Isaac - this was the first grand offering; it was held that David, when his people were afflicted with a pestilence, built an altar, and offered thereon peace‑offerings and burnt‑offerings to appease the wrath of God - this was the second grand offering; and lastly, it was here, that when the Temple was completed, King Solomon dedicated that magnificent structure to the service of Jehovah, with the offering of pious prayers and many costly presents - and this was the third grand offering.

 

This sacred spot was once the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and from him David purchased it for fifty shekels of silver. The Kabbalists delight to invest it with still more solemn associations, and declare that it was the spot on which Adam was born and Abel slain.

 

439 - On what grounds may a Mason lawfully avouch ,for a visitor?

 

            Grounds for Avouchment. Under ordinary circumstances, it would undoubtedly be the safest plan to require that avouchment should be founded on the fact of the voucher's having sat in a Lodge with the visitor. But it cannot be denied that there are occasions in which an intelligent and experienced Mason will be as competent, from his own private examination, to decide the Masonic qualifications of a candidate for admission, as if he had sat with him in the communication of a Lodge. This subject of vouching does not, indeed, appear to have been always understood. Many Masons suppose that the prerogative of vouching is inherent in every Brother, and that if A shall say that he vouches for B, and that he has sat in a Lodge with him, the assertion should be received with all respect, and B admitted. But in how many cases may not A, from ignorance or inexperience, be liable to be deceived? How are we to know that A himself was not in a clandestine Lodge, which had been imposed upon his ignorance, when he sat with B? How are we to be sure that his memory has not been treacherous, and that the Lodge in which he saw B was not a Fellowcrafts' or Entered Apprentices', instead of being a Masters' l Why, only by knowing that the Masonic skill and experience, and the general good sense and judgment of A are such as not render him liable to the commission of such errors. And if we are confident of his Masonic knowledge and honesty, we are ready, or ought to be, to take his vouching, without further inquiry as to its foundation; but if we are not, then it is safer to depend on an examination by a committee than on the

 

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avouchment of one in whose ability we have no confidence. A Masonic avouchment is, in fact, in the nature of a mercantile or legal security. Its whole value depends on the character and attainments of the one who offers it; and it would be better, I imagine, if a positive rule is to be laid down, to say that no visitor shall be admitted into a Lodge except with the avouchment of a well known and skillful Mason, or upon examination by a committee.

 

Still, it must be confessed, however humiliating the confession may be, that a very large number of Masons are too little skilled in the mysteries which have been communicated to them, to be enabled to pass a stranger through that ordeal of strict examination, which alone can prove a friend, or detect a foe, and an ingenious imposter would often find it a task of but little difficulty to deceive such an unskillful examiner. Thus imposed upon himself, the deceived brother unwittingly might extend his error, by vouching for one who has no claims upon the fraternity. The vouching of such brethren, derived from their private examination, should, of course, be considered as of no value. But, on the other hand, there are many Masons so well skilled in the principles of the craft, that no danger of imposition need be feared when we depend on the information which they have derived from an examination, conducted as they would of course do it, with all the necessary forms, and guarded by all the usual precautions. The avouchments of such brethren should be considered as perfectly satisfactory.

 

I am inclined, therefore, to believe that the spirit of the law simply requires that a Master shall permit no visitor to be admitted without previous examination, unless he can be vouched for by a Brother who has sat with him in open Lodge, or, if the avouchment be made in con‑sequence of a private examination, unless the Brother so vouching be known to the presiding officer as a skillful and experienced Mason.

 

But, if we admit this to be the true interpretation of the law of avouchment, then it becomes necessary that we should inquire more closely into what are to be the governing principles of that private examination from which the authority of the avouchment is to be de‑rived, and into the nature of the competency of the Brother who ventures to give it.

 

In the first place, the avouchment thus given is, it is understood, to be founded on some previous private examination. Therefore it follows, that the Brother who undertakes to vouch for a visitor on these grounds, must have been thoroughly competent to conduct such an examination. There must be no danger of his having been imposed upon by an ignorant pretender. And consequently the Master of a Lodge would be culpable in receiving the avouchment of a young and inexperienced, or of an old and ignorant Mason.

 

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440 - What are regarded as sufficient grounds for expulsion of a Mason?

 

            Grounds for Expulsion. As this penalty is of so severe a nature. rupturing all the ties which bind a Mason to the fraternity, it is evident that it should only be inflicted for the most heinous offences - offences which, in their nature, affect the character, the well‑being and the safety of the whole society, and hence the Grand Lodge of New York has very wisely ordered that it shall only follow "a gross violation of the moral law, or the fundamental principles of Masonry, or attempts against any part of the frame‑work of its government." The penalty is not inflicted so much as a punishment of the guilty person, as it is as a safe‑guard or security of the Order. The object is not to reform an evil, but to prevent its influence on the fraternity. A Mason who habitually transgresses the moral code, or lives in constant violation of the fundamental teachings of the Order, is to the society, what a gangrenous limb is to the body. The incurable wound, says the Roman poet, must be cut off with the knife, lest the healthy part of the body be involved in the disease. And so the unworthy Mason is to be expelled from the Order, lest his example spread, and disease be propagated through the whole constitution of Masonry. But, in accordance with this principle, expulsion should be inflicted only for offences which affect the security and honor of the whole Order. The remedy should never be applied to transgressions of a subordinate nature which neither deserve nor require its application.

 

 

441 - Under what promise do we begin our Masonic career?

 

            Guide. At our introduction into Masonry, we seek for an able guide to conduct us from this dark state of human life into light, and when arrived at that desired point, we are struck with the symbolic representations before us; and under promise of fidelity we begin our career in this secret society of Free and Accepted Masons. We emerge gradually from the lowest vale, and by study arrive at the highest degree of the occult science, or to the greatest mental perfection.

 

 

442 - What is the symbol of the powers of the Master?

 

            Hammer. With this small working tool the Master of a lodge governs the most numerous meetings. The blow of the Master's hammer commands industry, silence, or the close of labor, and every brother respects and honors its sound. Insofar the hammer is a symbol of the power of the Master. The hammer must never be lost sight of at the meeting of the lodge; and should the Master be unavoidably compelled to leave the lodge‑room, he must deliver it to a Past Master, or some other skillful brother. The Wardens do not govern the lodge with their hammers, they only direct attention by them to the commands of the Worshipful Master.

 

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443 - What is the symbolism of the hand in Masonry?

 

            Hand. In Freemasonry, the hand as a symbol holds a high place, because it is the principal seat of the sense of feeling so necessary to and so highly revered by Masons. The same symbol is found in the most ancient religions, and some of their analogies to Masonic symbolism are peculiar. Thus, Horapollo says that among the Egyptians the hand was the symbol of a builder, or one fond of building, because all labor proceeds from the hand. In many of the Ancient Mysteries the hand, especially the left, was deemed the symbol of equity. In Christian art a hand is the indication of a holy person or thing. In early Medieval art, the Supreme Being was always represented by a hand extended from a cloud, and generally in the act of benediction. The form of this act of benediction, as adopted by the Roman Church, which seems to have been borrowed from the symbols of Phrygian and Eleusinian priests or hierophants, who used it in their mystical processions, presents a singular analogy, which will be interesting to Mark Master Masons, who will recognize in it a symbol of their own ritual. In the benediction referred to, as given in the Latin church, the thumb, index, and middle fingers are extended, and the two others bent against the palm. The church explains this position of the extended thumb and two fingers as representing the Trinity; but the older symbol of the Pagan priests, which was precisely of the same form, must have had a different meaning. A writer in the British Magazine thinks that the hand, which was used in the Mithraic mysteries in this position, was symbolic of the Light emanating not from the sun, but from the Creator, directly as a special manifestation; and he remarks that chiromancy, or the divination by the hand, is an art founded upon the notion that the human hand has some reference to the decrees of the supreme power peculiar to it above all other parts of the microcosmus - man. Certainly, to the Mason, the hand is most important as the symbol of that mystical intelligence by which one Mason knows another "in the dark as well as in the light."

 

444 - Why is a candidate required to make out his petition in his own handwriting?

 

            Handwriting. The petition must be signed in the handwriting of the petitioner. This appears to be the general usage, and has the sanction of all ritual writers. The Grand Lodge of England expressly requires it to be done, and assigns, in its Constitutions, as a necessary deduction from the requisition, that those who cannot write are ineligible for initiation. Much carelessness, however, exists in relation to this usage, and it is by no means an uncommon practice for a member to sign a petition on behalf and at the request of the petitioner. This practice is, nevertheless, to be condemned. The signature should always be made by the applicant himself. In this way, if there were no other JI

 

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good reason, we should at least avoid the intrusion of wholly uneducated persons into the fraternity.

 

445 - At the building of King Solomon's Temple what were the overseers called?

 

            Harodim. In 2d Chronicles, ii. 18, it is recorded that Solomon "set three score and ten thousand people to be bearers of burdens, and four score thousand to be hewers in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work." The overseers were called Harodim, or Princes.

 

446 - Why does the presiding officer of a Lodge wear a hat?

 

            Hat. To uncover the head in the presence of superiors has been, among all Christian nations, held as a mark of respect and reverence. The Eastern nations uncover the feet when they enter a place of worship; the Western uncover the head. The converse of this is also true; and to keep the head covered while all around are uncovered is a token of superiority of rank or office. The king remains covered, the courtiers standing around him take off their hats.

 

Among the Romans the hat was a sign of freedom. Formerly all Masons wore hats in the Lodge, as a symbol of freedom and brotherly equality. But in English and American Lodges this custom is now exclusively confined to the Master.

 

447 - How can a clandestine Mason be made a lawful Mason?

 

            Heal. An act of a legally constituted body of Masons by which a person who has been irregularly admitted to the mysteries of Free‑masonry is made a lawful Mason. When the person to be "healed" has been initiated into a self‑constituted or false lodge he can be healed only by reinitiation. Members, however, of schismatic Lodges may be recognized as legitimate by the action of a Grand Lodge. There is a difference between a clandestine (or sham) Lodge and one that is simply schismatic. The founders and members of the first are imposters; the latter are regular Lodges, which from some cause or other, are not recognized by legitimate Masonic authorities.

 

448 - Why cannot a deaf mute be made a Mason?

 

            Hearing. Hearing is that sense by which we are enabled to distinguish sounds, and are made capable of all the perceptions of harmony and melody, with all the agreeable charms of music; by it we are enabled to enjoy the pleasures of society; and reciprocally to communicate to each other our thoughts and intentions, our purposes and desires, and by means of this sense our reason is capable of exerting its utmost power and energy.

 

449 - By which of the five senses do we receive the Master's word?

 

            Hearing. One of the five senses, and an important symbol in Masonry, because it is through it that we receive instruction when

 

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ignorant, admonition when in danger, reproof when in error, and the claim of a brother who is in distress. Without this sense, the Mason would be crippled in the performance of all his duties; and hence deafness is deemed a disqualification for initiation.

 

450 - Why must an applicant for Masonry be first prepared in his heart?

 

            Heart. The heart is the seat of the affections, passions and de‑sires; and by the precept given by Solomon, to keep our hearts, is meant, that we should diligently preserve our good dispositions, and correct our bad ones. All the actions of a man's life issue and proceed from the heart; which is the fountain not only of our natural life, but of our mortal too; so that as a man's heart is, so will his life be; if his heart be kept clean and pure, his life cannot be wicked and vicious; but if his heart be wicked and vicious, his life cannot be kept clean and pure.

 

451 - What is a hecatomb?

 

            Hecatomb. Hecatomb means literally a hundred oxen. Strictly the offering of a hundred bullocks in sacrifice to the Gods. Sometimes the whole hecatomb, but more often the thighs, legs and hides were burned as a part of the ceremony, the flesh of the beasts being eaten by the worshipers.

 

452 - What does the candidate's condition when first admitted signify?

 

            Helplessness. As a Mason, your first admission in a state of helplessness was an emblematic representation of the entrance of all men into this their state of mortal existence; it inculcated the cherishing lessons of natural equality, of mutual dependence. It instructed you in the active principles of universal benevolence and charity, to make them the solace of your own distresses, and to extend relief and consolation to your fellow‑creatures in the hour of their affliction. It required you to free the soul from the dominion of pride and prejudice, to look beyond the limits of particular institutions, and to view in every son of Adam a brother of the dust. Above all it taught you to bend with reverence and resignation to the will of the Grand Architect of the Universe, and to dedicate your heart thus purified from every malignant passion, and prepared for the reception of truth and justice.

 

453 - What ancient Spanish society was based on Masonic principles?

 

            Hermandad Brotherhood. This Spanish society was founded A.D. 1295, in the cities of Castile and Leon. It was based on the Masonic principle of secrecy, having ceremonies of admission, secret signs of recognition, and secret places of meeting, where causes were tried and offenders against justice were judged and punished. It invested itself in a garment of mystery, and the blow of justice fell from its hand surely and swiftly, like the bolt of lightning. It sought

 

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not only to punish crime, but to prevent it. It warned every nobleman who showed a disposition to wrong a citizen of the certain destruction that awaited him if he persisted. Should he rob or injure a member of the Order, or a citizen, and refuse to make restitution, or give security for better conduct in future, his cattle, his vineyards and gardens were destroyed. The mysterious power of this terrible but righteous brother‑hood penetrated every place - through barred and bolted gates and armed sentinels - and often dealt its retributions in the royal presence itself. Of the utility of this Spanish Fraternity there cannot be a doubt, and its beneficial effects in those stormy times were immeasurable. Its ideas were justice, absolute justice, in the administration of the laws and equality in society and before God.

 

454 - Why did the ancient Lodges meet on high hills and in low valleys?

 

            Highest of Hills. In the Old York Lectures was the following passage: "Before we had the convenience of such well‑formed Lodges, the Brethren used to meet on the highest of hills and in the lowest of valleys. And if they were asked why they met so high, so low, and so very secret, they replied - the better to see and observe all that might ascend or descend; and in case a cowan should appear, the Tiler might give timely notice to the Worshipful Master, by which means the Lodge might be closed, the jewels put by, thereby preventing any unlawful intrusion." Commenting on this, Dr. Oliver says: "Among other observances we find the practice of performing commemorative rites on the highest of hills and in the lowest of valleys. This practice was in high esteem amongst all the inhabitants of the ancient world, from a fixed persuasion that the summit of mountains made a nearer approach to the celestial deities, and the valleys or holy caverns to the infernal and submarine gods than the level country; and that, therefore, the prayers of mortals were more likely to be heard in such situations." Hutchinson also says: "The highest hills and the lowest valleys were from the earliest times esteemed sacred, and it was supposed that the Spirit of God was peculiarly diffusive in those places." The sentiment was expressed in the language of the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century, and is still retained, without change of words, in the lectures of the present day. But introduced, at first, undoubtedly with special reference to the ancient worship on "high places," and the celebration of the mysteries in the caverns of initiation, it is now retained for the purpose of giving warning and instruction as to the necessity of security and secrecy in the performance of our mystical rites, and this is the reason assigned in the modern lectures. And, indeed, the notion of thus expressing the necessity of secrecy seems to have been early adopted, while that of the sacredness of these places was beginning to be lost sight of; for in a lecture of the middle of the last century, or perhaps earlier, it was said that "the lodge

 

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stands upon holy ground, or the highest hill or lowest vale, or in the Vale of Jehosophat, or any other secret place." The sacredness of the spot is, it is true, here adverted to, but there is an emphasis given to its secrecy.

 

455 - What is the hour of noon called among Masons?

 

            High Twelve. The hour of noon or twelve o'clock in the day, when the sun is high in the heavens, in contradistinction to low twelve, or midnight, when the sun is low down beneath the earth. The expression is always used, in Masonic language, to indicate the hour of noon, at which time, as the tradition tells us, the Craft in the Temple were called from labor to refreshment. The phrase was used in the earliest rituals of the last century. The answer in the old catechisms to the question, "What's a clock?" was always "High Twelve."

 

456 - In English Lodges what is the gavel called?

 

            Hiram. The gavel of the Worshipful Master is so called in England, and on the continent of Europe, in allusion to the perfect order observed by the craftsmen at the building of Solomon's Temple, through the admirable skill and supervision of the operative Grand Master Hiram Abif.

 

457 - What is known of the life of our Ancient Operative Grand Master?

           

            Hiram Abif. There is no character in the annals of Freemasonry whose life is so dependent on tradition as the celebrated architect of King Solomon's Temple. Profane history is entirely silent in respect to his career, and the sacred records supply us with only very unimportant items. To fill up the space between his life and his death, we are necessarily compelled to resort to those oral legends which have been handed down from the ancient Masons to their successors. Yet, looking to their character, I should be unwilling to vouch for the authenticity of all; most of them were probably at first symbolical in their character; the symbol in the lapse of time having been converted into a myth, and the myth, by constant repetition, having assumed the formal appearance of a truthful narrative. Such has been the case in the history of all nations. But whatever may have been their true character, to the Masons, at least, they are interesting, and cannot be altogether void of instruction.

 

When King Solomon was about to build a temple of Jehovah, the difficulty of obtaining skilful workmen to superintend and to execute the architectural part of the undertaking was such, that he found it necessary to request of his friend and ally, Hiram, King of Tyre, the use of some of his most able builders; for the Tyrians and Sidonians were celebrated artists, and at that time were admitted to be the best mechanics in the world. Hiram willingly complied with his request, and despatched to his assistance an abundance of men and materials,

 

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to be employed in the construction of the Temple, and among the former, a distinguished artist, to whom was given the superintendence of all the workmen, both Jews and Tyrians, and who was in possession of all the skill and learning that were required to carry out, in the most efficient manner, all the plans of the king of Israel.

 

Of this artist, whom Freemasons recognize sometimes as Hiram the Builder, sometimes as the Widow's Son, but more commonly as Hiram Abif, the earliest account is found in the first Book of Kings (vii. 13, 14), where the passage reads as follows: "And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass, and he was filled with wisdom and under‑standing, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon and wrought all his work." He is next mentioned in the second Book of Chronicles, (ch. ii. 13, 14), in the following letter from Hiram of Tyre to King Solomon: "And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's. The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine linen and crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David, thy father." In reading these two descriptions, everyone will be at once struck with an apparent contradiction in them in relation to the parentage of their subject. There is no doubt - for in this both passages agree - that his father was a man of Tyre; but the discrepancy is in reference to the birthplace of his mother, who in one passage is said to have been "of the tribe of Naphtali," and in the other, "of the daughters of Dan." Commentators have, however, met with no difficulty in reconciling the contradiction, and the suggestion of Bishop Patrick is now generally adopted on this subject. He supposes that she herself was of the tribe of Dan, but that her first husband was of the tribe of Naphtali, by whom she had his son; and that when she was a widow, she married a man of Tyre, who is called Hiram's father because he bred him up and was the husband of his mother.

 

Hiram Abif undoubtedly derived much of his knowledge in mechanical arts from that man of Tyre who had married his mother, and we may justly conclude that he increased that knowledge by assiduous study and constant intercourse with the artisans of Tyre, who were greatly distinguished for their attainments in architecture. Tyre was one of the principal seats of the Dionysiac fraternity of artificers, a society engaged exclusively in the construction of edifices, and living under a secret organization. Of this association it is not unreasonable to suppose that Hiram Abif was a member, and that on arriving at

 

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Jerusalem he introduced among the Jewish workmen the same exact system of discipline which he had found of so much advantage in the Dionysiac associations at home, and thus gave, under the sanction of King Solomon, a peculiar organization to the Masons who were engaged in building the Temple.

 

Upon the arrival of this celebrated artist at Jerusalem, which was in the year B.C.

1012, he was at once received into the intimate confidence of Solomon, and intrusted with the superintendence of all the workmen, both Tyrians and Jews, who were engaged in the construction of the building. IIe received the title of "Principal Conductor of the Works," an office which, previous to his arrival, had been filled by Adoniram, and, according to Masonic tradition, formed with Solomon and King Hiram of Tyre, his ancient patron, the Supreme Council of Grand Masters, in which every thing was determined in relation to the construction of the edifice and the government of the workmen.

 

The Book of Constitutions, as it was edited by Entick, speaks of him in the following language: "This inspired master was, without question, the most cunning, skilful, and curious workman that ever lived; whose abilities were not confined to building only, but extended to all kinds of work, whether in gold, silver, brass or iron; whether in linen, tapestry or embroidery; whether considered as architect, statuary, founder or designer, separately or together, he equally ex‑celled. From his designs and under his direction, all the rich and splendid furniture of the Temple and its several appendages were begun, carried on, and finished. Solomon appointed him, in his absence, to fill the Chair as Deputy Grand Master, and in his presence, Senior Grand Warden, Master of Work, and general overseer of all artists, as well those whom David had formerly procured from Tyre and Sidon, as those Hiram should now send." This statement requires some correction. According to the most consistent systems and the general course of the traditions, there were three Grand Masters at the building of the Temple, of whom Hiram Abif was one, and hence in our Lodges he always receives the title of a Grand Master. We may, however, reconcile the assertion of Anderson, that he was sometimes a Deputy Grand Master, and some‑times a Senior Grand Warden, by supposing that the three Grand Masters were among the Craft, possessed of equal authority, and held in equal reverence, while among themselves there was an acknowledged subordination of station and power. But in no way can the assertion be explained that he was at any time a Senior Grand Warden, which would be wholly irreconcilable with the symbolism of the Temple. In the mythical Master's lodge, supposed to have been held in the Temple, and the only one ever held before its completion, at which the three Grand Masters alone were present, the office of Junior Warden is assigned to Hiram Abif.

 

 

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According to Masonic tradition, which is in part supported by scriptural authority, Hiram was charged with all the architectural decorations and interior embellishments of the building. He cast the various vessels and implements that were to be used in the religious service of the Temple, as well as the pillars that adorned the porch, selecting as the most convenient and appropriate place for the scene of his operations, the clay grounds which extend between Succoth and Zaredatha; and the old lectures state that the whole interior of the house, its posts and doors, its very floors and ceilings, which were made of the most expensive timber, and overlaid with plates of burnished gold, were, by his exquisite taste, enchased with magnificent designs and adorned with the most precious gems. Even the abundance of these precious jewels, in the decorations of the Temple, is attributed to the foresight and prudence of Hiram Abif; since a Masonic tradition, quoted by Dr. Oliver, informs us, that about four years before the Temple was begun he, as the agent of the Tyrian king, purchased some curious stones from an Arabian merchant, who told him, upon inquiry, that they had been found by accident on an island in the Red Sea. By the permission of King Hiram, he investigated the truth of this report, and had the good fortune to discover many precious gems, and among the rest an abundance of the topaz. They were subsequently imported by the ships of Tyre for the service of King Solomon.

 

In allusion to these labors of taste and skill displayed by the widow's son, our lectures say, that while the wisdom of Solomon contrived the fabric, and the strength of King Hiram's wealth and power supported the undertaking, it was adorned by the beauty of Hiram Abif's curious and cunning workmanship.

 

In the character of the chief architect of the Temple, one of the peculiarities which most strongly attract attention, was the systematic manner in which he conducted all the extensive operations which were placed under his charge. In the classification of the workmen, such arrangements were made, by his advice, as to avoid any discord or confusion; and although about two hundred thousand craftsmen and laborers were employed, so complete were his arrangements, that the general harmony was never once disturbed. In the payment of wages, such means were, at his suggestion, adopted, that every one's labor was readily distinguished, and his defects ascertained, every attempt at imposition detected, and the particular amount of money due to each workman accurately determined and easily paid, so that, as Webb remarks, "the disorder and confusion that might otherwise have at‑tended so immense an undertaking was completely prevented." It was his custom never to put off until tomorrow the work that might have been accomplished to‑day, for he was as remarkable for his punctuality in the discharge of the most trifling duties, as he was for his skill in performing the most important. It was his constant habit to

 

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furnish the craftsmen every morning with a copy of the plans which he had, on the previous afternoon, designed for their labor in the course of the ensuing day. As new designs were thus furnished by him from day to day, any neglect to provide the workmen with them on each successive morning would necessarily have stopped the labors of the whole body of the workmen for that day; a circumstance that in so large a number must have produced the greatest disorder and confusion. Hence the practice of punctuality was in him a duty of the highest obligation, and one which could never for a moment have been neglected without leading to immediate observation. Such is the character of this distinguished personage, whether mythical or not, that has been transmitted by the uninterrupted stream of Masonic tradition.

 

The trestle‑board used by him in drawing his designs is said to have been made, as the ancient tablets were, of wood, and covered with a coating of wax. On this coating he inscribed his plans with a pen or stylus of steel, which an old tradition, preserved by Oliver, says was found upon him when he was raised, and ordered by King Solomon to be deposited in the centre of his monument. The same tradition informs us that the first time he used this stylus for any of the purposes of the Temple was on the morning that the foundation‑stone of the building was laid, when he drew the celebrated diagram known as the forty‑seventh problem of Euclid, and which gained a prize that Solomon had offered on that occasion. But this is so evidently a mere myth, in‑vented by some myth‑maker of the last century, without even the excuse of a symbolic meaning, that it has been rejected, or at least, forgotten by the Craft.

 

Another and more interesting legend has been preserved by Oliver, which may be received as a mythical symbol of the faithful performance of duty. It runs thus: "It was the duty of Hiram Abif to superintend the workmen, and the reports of his officers were always examined with the most scrupulous exactness. At the opening of the day, when the sun was rising in the east, it was his constant custom, before the commencement of labor, to go into the Temple, and offer up his prayers to Jehovah for a blessing on the work; and in like manner when the sun was setting in the west, and after the labors of the day were closed, and the workmen had left the Temple, he returned his thanks to the Great Architect of the Universe for the harmonious protection of the day. Not content with this devout expression of his feelings, he always went into the Temple at the hour of high twelve, when the men were called off from labor to refreshment, to inspect the work, to draw fresh designs upon the trestle‑board, if such were necessary, and to perform other scientific labors - never forgetting to consecrate the duties by solemn prayer. These religious customs were faithfully performed for the first six years in the secret

 

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recesses of his lodge, and for the last year in the precincts of the most holy place." While assiduously engaged in the discharge of these arduous duties, seven years passed rapidly away, and the magnificent Temple at Jerusalem was nearly completed. The Fraternity were about to celebrate the copestone with the greatest demonstrations of joy; but, in the language of the venerable Book of Constitutions, "their joy was soon interrupted by the sudden death of their dear and worthy master, Hiram Abif." On the very day appointed for celebrating the copestone of the building, says one tradition, he repaired to his usual place of retirement at the meridian hour, and did not return alive. On this subject we can say no more. This is neither the time nor the place to detail the particulars of his death. It is enough to say that the circumstance filled the Craft with the most profound grief, which was deeply shared by his friend and patron, King Solomon, who, according to the Book of Constitutions, "after some time allowed to the craft to vent their sorrow, ordered his obsequies to be performed with great solemnity and decency, and buried him in the lodge near the Temple - according to the ancient usages among Masons - and long mourned his loss."

 

458 - What co‑operation did Hiram, King of Tyre, give King Solomon?

 

            Hiram, King of Tyre. When Solomon had determined to build a temple at Jerusalem, he sent an embassy to Tyre, requesting Hiram, the king of the Tyrians, would furnish him with workmen to cut down timber at Lebanon; and quarry stone in the quarries of Tyre, for the construction of that holy edifice. He returned an answer to Solomon's communication, which contained the language of amity and esteem. He agreed to furnish cedars and other timber from the forest of Lebanon for the erection of a temple to the living God, and to provide the most expert architects in his dominions for its construction, on the simple condition of receiving certain supplies of provisions in exchange; and he performed his contract with princely munificence and candor. But even this would have been insufficient without the presence of a master‑mind to animate and direct the proceedings; and the king of Tyre furnished this Master in the person of his chief architect, Hiram Abif, by whom the re‑union of speculative and operative masons was to be consummated.

 

459 - How was the first Lodge consecrated?

 

            Holy Ground. The lodge is situated on holy ground. The first lodge was consecrated on account of three grand offerings thereon made, which met divine approbation. First, the ready compliance of Abraham to the will of God, in not refusing to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt‑offering, when it pleased the Almighty to substitute another victiu, in his stead; second, the many pious prayers and ejaculations of King its

 

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David, which appeased the wrath of God, and stayed a pestilence which then raged among the people, owing to his having had them numbered; and thirdly, the many thanksgivings, oblations, burnt sacrifices and costly offerings which Solomon, King of Israel, made at the completion, dedication, and consecration of the Temple of Jerusalem, to God's service. These three did then, have since, and I trust ever will, render the ground‑work of a Masons' lodge holy.

 

460 - What was the most sacred part of the Temple?

 

            Holy of Holies. The innermost and most sacred part of the temple was called the Holy of Holies, and sometimes the Most Holy Place, and was ordained and made on purpose for the reception of the Ark of the Covenant. The whole end and reason of that most sacred place was to be a receptacle for it. This place or room was of an exact cubic form, as being thirty feet square and thirty feet high. In the centre the ark was placed, upon a stone rising there three fingers breadth above the floor, as a pedestal for it. On the two sides of it stood two cherubims fifteen feet high, at equal distances from the centre of the ark and each side wall; where, having their wings expanded, with two of them they touched the side walls, and with the other two they did meet, and touch each other exactly over the middle of the ark; so that the ark stood exactly in the middle between these two cherubims.

 

461 - Why do Masons revere the Holy Name?

 

            Holy Name. Freemasonry teaches, in all its symbols and rituals, a reverence for the name of God, which is emphatically called the "Holy Name." In the prayer "Ahabath Olam," first introduced by Dermott, it is said, "because we trusted in thy holy, great, mighty, and terrible Name;" and in the introductory prayer of the Royal Arch, according to the American system, similar phraseology is employed: "Teach us, we pray thee, the true reverence of thy great, mighty, and terrible Name." The expression, if not the sentiment, borrowed from the Hebrew mysteries.

 

462 - To whom should a Masonic Lodge be dedicated?

 

            Holy Saints John. Tradition informs us that Masonic Lodges were originally dedicated to King Solomon, because he was our first Most Excellent Grand Master. In the sixteenth century, if we may judge from expressions used in the celebrated Charter of Cologne, St. John the Baptist seems to have been considered as the peculiar patron of Freemasonry; but subsequently this honor was divided between the two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evangelist, and modern Lodges, in this country at least, are universally erected or consecrated to God, and dedicated to the Holy Saints John. I am therefore surprised to find the formula in Webb, which dedicates the Lodge "to the memory of the Holy Saint John." I cannot but deem it an inadvertence on the

 

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part of this Masonic lecturer, since in all his oral teachings he adhered to the more general system, and described a Masonic Lodge in his esoteric work as being "dedicated to the Holy Saints John." This, at all events, is now the universal practice, and the language used by Webb becomes contradictory and absurd when compared with the fact that the festivals of both saints are equally celebrated by the Order, and that the

27th of December is not less a day of observance in the Order than the

24th of June.

 

The ceremony of dedication is merely the enunciation of a form of words, and this having been done, the Lodge is thus, by the consecration and dedication, set apart as something sacred to the cultivation of the principles of Masonry, under that peculiar system which acknowledges the two Saints John as its patrons.

 

 

463 - What are the regulations governing honorary membership in a Lodge?

 

            Honorary Membership. Honorary membership is quite a recent invention, and is now conferred only as a mark of distinction on Brethren of great talents or merits, who have been of service, by their labors or their writings, to the fraternity. It confers no powers on the recipient like those which are the results of active or full membership, and amounts to no more than a testimonial of the esteem and respect entertained by the Lodge which confers it for the individual upon whom it is conferred.

 

 

464 - What are Grand Honors? Why and how are they given?

 

            Honors, Grand. A peculiar ceremony among Masons by which they applaud, or express their agreement, satisfaction or sorrow. They are divided into private and public. The first can only be given in a Master's Lodge, and cannot be described here. The public grand honors, as their name imports, do not partake of this secret character. They consist of clapping the hands three times three in rapid succession, and are given on all public occasions in which the ministrations of the Fraternity are required, in the presence of the profane as well as the initiated. The funeral grand honors are given in the following manner: Both arms are crossed on the breast, the left uppermost, and the open palms of the hands touching the shoulders; the hands are then raised above the head, the palms striking each other, and then made to fall sharply on the thighs, with the head bowed. This is repeated three times. While the honors are being given the third time, the brethren audibly pronounce the following words - when the arms are crossed on the breast: - "We cherish his memory here;" when the hands are ex‑tended above the head - "We commend his spirit to God who gave it;" and when the hands are extended toward the ground - "And consign his body to the earth."

 

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465 - Of what is the hoodwink a symbol?

 

            Hoodwink. A symbol of the secrecy, silence and darkness in which the mysteries of our art should be preserved from the unhallowed gaze of the profane. It has been supposed to have a symbolic reference to the passage in St. John's Gospel, "and the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." But it is more certain that there is in the hoodwink a representation of the mystical darkness which always preceded the rights of the ancient initiations.

 

466 - Of what is hope emblematic?

 

            Hope. The second round in the theological and Masonic ladder, and symbolic of a hope in immortality. It is appropriately placed there, for, having attained the first, or faith in God, we are led by a belief in his wisdom and goodness to the hope of immortality. This is but a reason‑able expectation; without it, virtue would lose its necessary stimulus and vice its salutary fear; life would be devoid of joy, and the grave but a scene of desolation. The ancients represented Hope by a nymph holding in her hand a bouquet of opening flowers, indicative of the coming fruit, but in modern and Masonic iconology it is represented by a virgin leaning on an anchor, the anchor itself being a symbol of hope.

 

Hope is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast: then let a firm reliance of the Almighty's goodness animate our endeavours, and enable us to fix our hope within the limits of his most gracious promises, so shall success attend us; if we believe a thing impossible our despondency may render it so, but if we persevere to the end, we shall finally overcome all difficulties.

 

467 - Of what is the hour‑glass emblematic?

 

            Hour‑Glass. An emblem used in the third degree, according to the Webb lectures, to remind us by the quick passage of its sands of the transitory nature of human life. As a Masonic symbol it is of comparatively modern date, but the use of the hour‑glass as an emblem of the passage of time is older than our oldest rituals. Thus, in a speed before Parliament, in 1627, it is said: "We may handle and play with the hour‑glass: that is in our power, but the hour will not stay for us; and an opportunity once lost cannot be regained." We are told that in the early part of the last century it was a custom to inter an hour‑glass with the dead, as an emblem of the sand of life being run out.

 

468 - What were the hours of labor of our operative brethren?

 

            Hours, Masonic.  The language of Masonry, in reference to the hours of labor and refreshment, is altogether symbolical. The old lectures contained a tradition that our ancient brethren wrought six days in the week and twelve hours in the day, being called off regularly at the hour of high twelve from labor to refreshment. In the French and

 

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German systems, the Craft were said to be called from labor at low twelve, or midnight, which is therefore the supposed or fictitious time at which a French or German Lodge is closed. But in the English and American systems the Craft are supposed to be called off at high twelve, and when called on again the time for recommencing labor is said to be "one hour past high twelve;" all this refers to Ancient Craft Masonry. In some of the high degrees the hours designated for labor or rest are different. So, too, in the different Rites; thus, in the system of Zinnendorf, it is said that there are in a Mason's Lodge five hours, namely, twelve struck, noon, high noon, midnight, and high midnight; which are thus explained. Twelve struck, is before the Lodge is opened and after it is closed; noon is when the Master is about to open the Lodge; high noon, when it is duly open; midnight, when the Master is about to close it; and high midnight, when it is closed and the uninitiated are permitted to draw near.

 

469 - Why should officers of Lodges be punctual in their attendance?

 

            Hours of Work. The masters and officers should always be punctual in their attendance, and observe the hour of meeting with scrupulous exactness; for correct conduct in officers will invariably produce a corresponding accuracy in the brethren. I know nothing which tends more to disgust and sour the mind than the unprofitable employment of waiting impatiently for the attendance of the superior officers, with a probable expectation of being disappointed at last.

 

470 - What do the initials I. A. M. signify?

 

            I. A. M. According to the cabalistical theologians, Moses, asking the Lord if he would tell him the name of his Divine Essence, received for answer, "say I AM THAT I AM, sent me to you," (the children of Israel), equivalent to saying: What use is it to ask what is inexplicable? "I AM THAT I AM," as the ancient sages say, meant, that as He was with them in that captivity, so would he be in others; and there‑fore He then revealed to Moses the Tetragrammaton; and this He repeated, as He would manifest Himself by its representation of the ten sovereign lights: and by that means would become known, although veiled in them; because His existence will be ever hidden from all, and cannot be explained by any character.

 

471 - What method of teaching morality was in vogue in the early period of the World?

 

            Ideas. The Jewish system was made up chiefly of ceremonies, types, and figures, denoting intellectual things and moral duties. This mode of teaching morality was at that early period of the world necessary. And why? Because then not one person in ten thousand beside the priesthood could read. The people were not then able to exhibit thoughts to the eye by means of writing, hence the necessity arose of

 

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teaching by signs and symbols, that when these struck the eye they should raise corresponding ideas in the mind, and thus convey moral truths and duties by the sight and by the operation of tools and mechanical instruments. This is the fulcrum on which rests and turns the first and most fascinating part of Masonic instruction.

 

It may be said in reply, that in the early days of Freemasonry, the arts of reading and writing were not generally disseminated among the masses of the people, and that in all probability the great majority of the Craft were not in possession of those literary qualifications. But this latter statement is a gratuitous assumption, of the correctness of which we have no proof. On the contrary, we find throughout all our ancient Regulations, that a distinction was made by our rulers between Freemasons and those who were not free, indicating that the former were of a superior class; and may we not suppose that a rudimentary education formed a part at least of that claim to superiority? Thus, in the conclusion of the fifth chapter of the Charges, approved in 1722, it is said: "No laborer shall be employed in the common work of Masonry, nor shall Freemasons work with those who are not free, without urgent necessity." But, exclusive of the written law upon the subject, which perhaps was silent, because it deemed so evident and uniformly observed a regulation unnecessary to be written, we are abundantly taught by the nature of the institution, as exemplified in its ritual, that persons who cannot read and write are ineligible for initiation. In the first degree, a test is administered, the offering of which would be manifestly absurd, if the person to whom it was offered could neither read nor write; and in the presentation of the letter G, and all the instructions on that important symbol, it must be taken for granted that the candidate who is invested with them must be acquainted with the nature and power of letters.

 

472 - In what sense is the word "idiot" used among Masons?

 

            Idiot. This word did not always have the meaning which is now attached to it. It is derived from the Greek, idiotes, which signified a private citizen. In Sparta it denoted one who felt no interest, and took no part, in public affairs, and hence came to mean an ignorant person. It was used in this sense in the middle ages, and this is its Masonic meaning. The modern meaning - fool - would be out of place; for it would be as absurd to establish a rule that no fool should be made a Mason as it would be to enact a law that no horse, or infant, or dead man, should be admitted to the mysteries of Freemasonry. The word means, masonically, not a fool, but a listless, indifferent, ignorant fellow, who could only be a disgrace to the Craft.

 

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473 - What is the fate of the ignorant Mason?

 

            Ignorance. The ignorant Freemason is a drone and an ineumbrance in the Order. He who does not study the nature, the design, the history, and character of the Institution, but from the hour of his initiation neither gives nor receives any ideas that could not be shared by a profane, is of no more advantage to Masonry than Masonry is to him. The true Mason seeks light that darkness may be dispelled, and knowledge that ignorance may be removed. The ignorant aspirant, no matter how loudly he may have asked for light, is still a blind groper in the dark.

 

474 - How can a suspended Mason or Lodge be reinstated?

 

            Illegal Suspensions. If the Grand Master should be satisfied that any brother has been illegally or without sufficient cause, suspended, removed, or excluded from any of his masonic functions or privileges, by any private lodge or any subordinate authority, he may order him to be reinstated or restored, and may also suspend, until the next ensuing quarterly communication, any lodge or brother who shall refuse to comply with such order.

 

475 - Are illiterate persons eligible for Masonry?

 

            Illiteracy. Any individual who cannot write, is ineligible to be admitted into the Order. This rule is observed, yet I have known a few instances in which men incapable of writing have been initiated. And it was in reference to a fact of this kind that the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, in 1848, declared that though "there is no injunction in the ancient Constitutions prohibiting the initiation of persons who are unable to read or write; yet, as speculative Masonry is a scientific institution, the Grand Lodge would discourage the initiation of such candidates as highly inexpedient."

 

476 - What is the teaching of the sublime degree?

 

            Immortality of the Soul. The third or Master's degree leads to that great truth which the sublimest part of the heathen mysteries was intended to teach; and the faithful believer was assured of a future life and immortality beyond the grave.

 

477 - What are the immovable jewels?

 

            Immovable. The immovable jewels are the tracing‑board, for the Worshipful Master to draw his designs on; the rough ashlar, for the Entered Apprentice to mark and indent on; and the perfect ashlar, for the experienced Fellowcraft to try and adjust his jewels on. They are termed immovable, because they are distributed in places assigned them in the lodge, for the brethren to moralize upon. They were formerly called the trasel‑board, the rough ashlar, and the broached thurnel.

 

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478 - Can a Lodge remove its Master?

 

            Impeachment. In 1842 a singular case occurred at New York, in which the rights and privileges of a Master of a lodge were placed in jeopardy, by the action of his lodge. After the lodge was opened, the Master had occasion to be absent for a short time, leaving the Senior Warden in the chair. On his return, he found that charges had been preferred against him, and a committee appointed to try him; and the Senior Warden refused to return into his hands the warrant and mallet of the lodge. Complaint being made to the Grand Master by the Master, he directed the Grand Secretary to inform the Senior Warden that it was his direction that he should forthwith return the warrant to the hands of the Master, and that the action of the lodge on that case must be suspended, and the members hold themselves in readiness to maintain their charges before the Grand Lodge, which was all promptly complied with by the parties. The ground of his decision was, that the Master of a lodge is only subject to impeachment and trial before his peers, who are acquainted with his duties, which the members of a lodge cannot know until they are themselves seated in the oriental chair.

 

479 - Are there any imperfections in the Masonic System?

 

            Imperfections. The system as taught in the regular lodges, may have some redundancies or imperfections, occasioned by the indolence or ignorance of the old members. And, indeed, considering through what obscurity and darkness the mystery has been delivered down; the many centuries, and languages, and sects, and parties, it has run through, we are rather to wonder it ever arrived to the present age without more imperfections.

 

480 - What are the symbolic teachings of the implements of Craft Masonry?

 

            Implements. A general collection of masonic implements may remind the Master of his power and jurisdiction, while they warn him to avoid the abuse of that power, limiting his jurisdiction and prescribing his conduct. They likewise afford him copious topics of advice to such as assist him in the government of the Fraternity, as well as to all the brethren over whom he is called to preside. He may descant on the excellence of the holy writings as a rule of life; for those writings teach us that, being born upon a level we should act upon the square, circumscribing our desires within the compass of Nature's gifts, poured from the horn of plenty. Here, also, he may exhort them to walk uprightly, suffering neither the pressure of poverty, nor the avarice of riches to tempt the heart for a moment to swerve from the line of rectitude which is suspended before them from the centre of heaven. The division of time into equal and regular portions, he may also urge as the surest method of securing the greatest good from the opportunities that are afforded us. The subjection of our passions and desires is here like‑

 

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wise taught by the gavel, which is used by the operative builder to re‑move the excrescences and to smooth the surfaces of the rough materials for a building, while the by‑laws of the lodge regulate the deportment of the craftsmen, while assembled for the purposes of social improvement and mental recreation, and while separated from the rest of mankind, and placed among none but brethren.

 

481 - How may a Lodge guard itself against impostors?

 

            Impostors. Impostors in Masonry may be either profanes who, never having been initiated, yet endeavor to pass themselves for regular Freemasons, or Masons who, having been expelled or suspended from the Order, seek to conceal the fact and still claim the privileges of members in good standing. The false pretensions of the former class are easily detected, because their real ignorance must after a proper trial become apparent. The latter class, having once been invested with the proper instructions, can stand the test of an examination; and their true position must be discovered only by information derived from the Lodges which have suspended or expelled them. The Tiler's oath is intended to meet each of these cases, because it requires every strange visitor to declare that he has been lawfully initiated, and that he is in good standing. But perjury added to imposture will gasily escape this test. Hence the necessity for the utmost caution, and therefore the Charges of 1722 say, "You are cautiously to examine a strange brother in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed on by an ignorant, false pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge." The Masonic rule is, that it is better that ninety and nine true brethren be rejected than that one impostor be admitted.

 

482 - What race performed the more humble labors in the erection of the Temple?

 

            Imposts. According to Masonic tradition the members of the secret society of Tyrian artists, who were hired by King Solomon to erect that sacred structure, in order to distinguish them from the Jews, who performed the more humble labors, were honored with the epithet of Free annexed to the name of builder or mason; and being talented foreigners, were freed from the usual imposts paid to the state by the subjects of Solomon.

 

483 - Can Masonry be held accountable for the conduct of all its members?

 

            Imputations. Individual errors or crimes ought only to reflect discredit on the offending parties, for a gigantic society like ours, whose members are spread over the face of the earth, and are found in every civilized country on the globe, cannot be responsible for the mis‑ conduct of every single member of its body. It is very common to hear those who are not Masons urge this argument with all the force and

 

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confidence of conviction. A Mason has misconducted himself most grossly, they will say, and therefore Masonry must be a bad institution. But this way of reasoning is absurd. Take the argument in another point of view, and what does it end in? Why, a general condemnation of all institutions, human and divine. How would it shock our ears were it applied to Christianity. A Christian has been guilty of acts of violence; he has robbed one neighbor, slandered another, and murdered a third; and therefore - mark the consequence - Christianity must be a bad institution. Is not this preposterous? Does it follow because a wicked Christian commits murder, that the Christian religion must necessarily recommend the commission of murder? So Masonry. If some brethren so far forget their solemn obligations as to overstep the boundaries of decency; if they set the censure of the world at defiance, and disgrace themselves in the eyes of God and man, it cannot be urged that the institution recommends this conduct.

 

484 - What steps must a Lodge take after it has received its warrant, to become lawfully constituted?

 

            Inchoate Lodge. The Lodge to which a warrant has been granted is still, however, only an inchoate Lodge. To perfect its character and to entitle it to all the prerogatives of a warranted Lodge, certain forms and ceremonies have to be observed. These ceremonies are, acò cording to the ritual, as follows, and in the following order:

 

1. Consecration.

 

2. Dedication.

 

3. Constitution.

 

4. Installation.

 

They should all be performed by the Grand Master in person, or, if he is unable to attend, by some Past Master, who acts for him by a special warrant of proxy.

 

485 - Under what circumstances is membership in the Masonic Fraternity said to be inchoate?

 

            Inchoate Membership. Membership in the Masonic Fraternity is inchoate until perfected by the initiate by affixing his signature to the by‑laws. He does not by his mere reception into the third degree, become a member of the Lodge. He may not choose to perfect that inchoation; he may desire to affiliate with some other Lodge; and in such a case, by declining to affix his signature to the by‑laws, he remains in the. condition of unaffiliation. By having been raised to the third degree, he acquires a claim to membership, but no actual membership. It is left to his own option whether he will assert or forfeit that claim. If he declines to sign the by‑laws, he forfeits his claim; if he signs them, he asserts it, and becomes ipso facto a member.

 

486 - Can Masonic Lodges be incorporated?

 

            Incorporation. By an act of incorporation, the supreme legislature of a country creates a corporation or body politic, which is de‑

 

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fined by Mr. Kyd to be "a collection of many individuals united in one body, under a special denomination, having perpetual succession under an artificial form, and vested by the policy of the law with a capacity of acting in several respects as an individual, particularly of taking and granting property, connecting obligations, and of suing and being sued; of enjoying privileges and immunities in common, and of exercising a variety of political rights." Some Grand Lodges in this country are incorporated by act of the General Assembly of their respective States; others are not, and these generally hold their property through Trustees. In 1768, an effort was made in the Grand Lodge of England to petition Parliament for incorporation, and after many discussions the question was submitted to the lodges; a large majority of whom having agreed to the measure, a bill was introduced in Parliament by the Deputy Grand Master, but, after having been approved on its second reading, at the request of several of the Fraternity, who had petitioned the House against it, it was withdrawn by the mover, and thus the design of an incorporation, fell to the ground. Perhaps the best system of Masonic incorporation in existence is that of the Grand Lodge of Scuth Carolina. There the act by which the Grand Lodge was incorporated, in 1817, delegates to that body the power of incorporating its subordinates; so that a lodge, whenever it receives from the Grand Lodge a Warrant of constitution, acquires thereby at once all the rights of a corporate body, which it ceases to exercise whenever the said Warrant is revoked by the Grand Lodge.

 

Objections have been made to the incorporation of lodges in consequence of some of the legal results which would follow. An incorporated lodge becomes subject to the surveillance of the courts of law, from which an unincorporated lodge is exempt. Thus, a Mason expelled by an unincorporated lodge must look for his redress to the Grand Lodge alone. But if the lodge be incorporated, he may apply to the courts for a restoration of his franchise as a member. Masonic discipline would thus be seriously affected. The objection to incorporation is, I think, founded on good reasons.

 

487 - What is the Masonic definition of the phrase "indefinite suspension"?

 

            Indefinite Suspension. Indefinite suspension, as the qualifying word imports, is a suspension for a period not determined and fixed by the sentence, but to continue during the pleasure of the Lodge. In this respect only does it differ from definite suspension. The position of a Mason, under definite or indefinite suspension, is precisely the same as to exercise of all his rights and privileges, which in both cases remain in abeyance, and restoration in each brings with it a resumption of all the rights and functions, the exercise of which had been interrupted by the sentence of suspension.

 

There is, however, a shade of difference between the two punish‑

 

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ments - indefinite suspension being inflicted for offences of a more aggravated nature than those for which the penalty of definite suspension is prescribed. It must, of course, be the result of conviction, after due charges and trial, and can only be inflicted by a vote of two‑thirds of the members present.

 

488 - To whom is a Mason answerable for his motives when casting a ballot?

 

            Independence in Balloting. Independence of all responsibility is an essential ingredient in the exercise of the ballot. A Mason is responsible to no human power for the vote that he casts on the petition of a candidate. To his own conscience alone is he to answer for the motives that have led to the act, and for the act itself. It is, of course, wrong, in the exercise of this invaluable right, to be influenced by pique or prejudice, or by an adverse vote, to indulge an ungenerous feeling. But whether a member is or is not influenced by such motives, or is indulging such feelings, no one has a right to inquire. No Mason can be called to an account for the vote that he has deposited. A Lodge is not entitled indeed to know how any one of its members has voted. No inquiry on this subject can be entertained; no information can be received.

 

489 - What does the rite of induction signify?

 

            Induction, Rite of. Those acts and ceremonies by which the novice is first introduced into the Lodge are called by this name. They are highly instructive when properly explained, and have an important symbolical meaning.

 

The Rite of Induction signifies the end of a profane and vicious life  - the palingenesia (new birth) of corrupted human nature - the death of vice and all bad passions, and the introduction to a new life of purity and virtue. It also prepares the candidate, by prayer and meditation, for that mystic pilgrimage, where he must wander through night and darkness, before he can behold the golden splendors of the Orient, and stand in unfettered freedom among the Sons of Light. The rite further represents man in his primitive condition of helplessness, ignorance, and moral blindness, seeking after that mental and moral enlightenment which alone can deliver his mind from all thralldoms, and make him master of the material world. The Neophyte, in darkness and with tremblings, knocks at the portals of the Lodge, and demands admission, instruction, and light. So man, born ignorant, and helpless, and blind, yet feeling stirring within him unappeasable longings for knowledge, knocks at the doors of the temple of science. He interrogates Nature, demands her secrets, and at length becomes the proud possessor of her mysteries.

 

490 - Of what is the beehive emblematic?

 

            Industry. A virtue inculcated amongst Masons, because by it they are enabled not only to support themselves and families, but to con‑

 

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tribute to the relief of all worthy distressed brethren. "All Masons," say the Charges of

1722, "shall work honestly on working days that they may lived creditably on holy days." The Masonic symbol of industry is the beehive, which is used in the third degree.

 

Masonry is a progressive science, and not to be attained in any degree of perfection but by time, patience, and a considerable degree of application and industry; for no one is admitted to the profoundest secrets, or the highest honours of this Fraternity, till by time we are assured he has learned secrecy and morality.

 

491 - How can the influence of Masonry be supported?

 

            Influence. The influence of Freemasonry can only be supported by an unanimous determination amongst the brethren to preserve in their private lodges the utmost regularity and decorum, a uniformity of rites and ceremonies, and, above all, a resolution to practice, in their several stations, those moral duties which are so strongly recommended, and so beautifully displayed in the private lectures of the lodge.

 

492 - Under what circumstances can one Mason vouch for another?

 

            Information, Lawful. One of the modes of recognizing a stranger as a true brother, is by the "lawful information" of a third party. No Mason can lawfully give information of another's qualifications unless he has actually tested him by the strictest trial and examination, or knows that it has been done by another. But it is not every Mason who is competent to give "lawful information." Ignorant and unskilful brethren cannot do so, because they are incapable of discovering truth or of detecting error. A "rusty Mason" should never attempt to examine a stranger and certainly, if he does, his opinion as to the result is worth nothing. If the information given is on the ground that the party who is vouched for has been seen sitting in a Lodge, care must be taken to inquire if it was a "just and legally constituted Lodge of Master Masons." A person may forget from the lapse of time, and vouch for a stranger as a Master Mason, when the Lodge in which he saw him was only opened in the first or second degree. Information given by letter, or through a third party, is irregular. The person giving the information, the one receiving it, and the one of whom it is given, should all be present at the same time, for otherwise there would be no certainty of identity. The information must be positive, not founded on belief or opinion, but derived from a legitimate source. And lastly, it must not have been received casually, but for the very purpose of being used for Masonic purposes. For one to say to another in the course of a desultory conversation, "A. B. is a Mason," is not sufficient. He may not be speaking with due caution, under the expectation that his words will be considered of weight. He must say some‑thing to this effect: "I know this man to be a Master Mason, for such

 

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or such reasons, and you may safely recognize him as such." This alone will ensure the necessary care and proper observance of prudence.

 

493 - Are the Masonic ceremonies the true secrets of the order?

 

            Initiated. The initiated, while in the lodge, labor to perfect their own mental faculties, as well as those of the whole human race. Here let us seek the secrets of Masonry, in themselves unpronounceable, neither are they to be communicated by the laying on of hands, in a few fleeting hours. Thoughts, the indulgence in which a few short years ago would have been punished by the sword, the stake, or banishment, are, in our days, loved as philanthropic; and princes now do things for which but a few years back misunderstood philosophers were condemned as mad impostors. But there are thoughts, even in the present day, which the great mass of mankind may mock or curse, but which will in some future period be usefully and beneficially introduced into private life. This has been nearly all, and yet continues to be the chief employment of a genuine Freemason; although in the lodge those subjects are very seldom openly introduced; it is for this reason that the great mass consider the ceremonies to be the true secret, whereas they are in. reality but the shell in which they are enclosed.

 

494 - Is the Masonic system subject to change?

 

            Innovations. These can never be permitted in Freemasonry. As it was in the beginning, so it is now, and so it must forever remain. This is particularly true of symbolic Masonry. It has resisted all at‑tempts of reformers, as these innovators style themselves, to add to, or take from, or introduce changes. The high degrees are developments of the first three, and complete the fabric in all its beauty. Among the innovators who, in the last age, attempted to change the character of the Masonic rites, Cagliostro and the Chevalier Ramsay were the chief. But their efforts were unavailing, and their inventions soon forgotten.

 

495 - Is a person formerly insane, but restored to health, admissible as a candidate?

 

            Insanity. Idiots and madmen, although again the written law is silent upon the subject, are excluded by the ritual law from initiation, and this from the evident reason that the powers of understanding are in 'the one instance absent, and in the other perverted, so that they are both incapable of comprehending the principles of the institution, and are without any moral responsibility for a violation or neglect of its duties.

 

It has sometimes been mooted as a question, whether a person, having once been insane, and then restored to health, is admissible as. a candidate. The reply to the question depends on the fact whether the patient has been fully restored or not. If he has, he is no longer

 

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insane, and does not come within the provisions of the law, which looks only to the present condition, mental, physical or moral, of the candidate. If he has not, and if his apparent recovery is only what medical men call a lucid interval, then the disease of insanity, although not actually evident, is still there, but dormant, and the individual cannot be initiated. This is a matter the determination of which is so simple, that I should not have even alluded to it, were it not that it was once proposed to me as a question of Masonic law, which the Lodge proposing it had not been able satisfactorily to solve.

 

496 - Of what are the Masonic insignias emblematic?

 

            Insignia. The presiding officers of a lodge are distinguished by certain geometrical figures, being combinations of those which are called perfect, viz., the square, the equilateral triangle, and the circle; the latter being a general characteristic of grand officers. The compasses are parts of the triangle; the square, either triangle or square; the level and the plumb are both parts of a square. Now the square, level and plumb have their separate and specific uses, and are assigned to the three chief officers, as emblems of their respective duties. But the Past Master having already executed them all, and being no longer an operative, is relieved from the burden of bearing a working tool, and invested with a problem of the greatest utility in geometrical demonstrations, he having attained the rank of a ruler in Israel; and therefore the Master's square is relieved by a square silver plate, on which is delineated the forty‑seventh problem of Euclid. The compasses are instruments of design, and are thus appointed to the Grand Master. He designs; the Past Master demonstrates; the Worshipful Master governs his particular lodge; the Senior Warden preserves equality and harmony amongst the brethren; and the Junior Warden takes care that the proper hours of labor are maintained. Thus a system of arrangement is preserved, which produces order and regularity, and constitutes the Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty of Freemasonry.

 

497 - Has a visitor a right to inspect the warrant of a Lodge?

 

            Inspection of Warrant. As the warrant is the evidence of the legality of a Lodge, every Mason who desires to visit a Lodge for the first time is entitled to an inspection of this instrument, nor should any Mason ever consent to visit a strange Lodge until he has had an opportunity of examining it. The refusal to submit it to his inspection is in itself a suspicious circumstance, which should place him on his guard, and render him at once averse to holding communion of a Masonic nature with persons who are thus unwilling, and, it may be, unable to produce the evidence of their legal standing.

 

498 - What is the origin of the ceremony of installation?

 

            Installation. A Lodge having been consecrated to the uses of Masonry, and dedicated to the patrons of the Order, and its members

 

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constituted into a legal Masonic organization, it becomes necessary that the officers chosen should be duly invested with the power to exercise the functions which have been confided to them. The ceremony by which this investiture is made is called the installation.

 

The custom of inducting an officer into the station to which he has been elected by some ceremony, however simple, has been observed in every association. The introduction of the presiding officer of a profane society into the chair which he is to occupy, by one or more of the members, is, in every essential point, an installation. In the church, the ceremony (differing, as it must, in every denomination), by which a clergyman is inducted into his pastoral office, or a bishop placed in his see, is in like manner a species of installation, all of which forms find their type in the inauguration of the Augurs in ancient Rome into their sacred office. A similar usage prevails in Masonry, where it has always been held that an officer cannot legally perform the duties of his office until he has been installed into office. As in the Roman inauguration the rite could only be performed by an Augur, (whence the derivation of the word), so in Masonry the ceremony of installation can only be performed by a Past Master, and in the installation of the officers of a new Lodge, by the Grand Master or some Past Master, who has been especially deputed by him for that purpose.

 

Preston says that the Deputy Grand Master usually invests the Master, the Grand Wardens invest the Wardens, the Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary the Treasurer and Secretary, and the Grand Stewards the Stewards. But this usage is not observed in America, where all the officers are installed and invested by the same installing officer, whether he be the Grand Master or a Past Master.

 

499 - What were the ancient installation charges?

 

            Installation, Ancient Charges. These Charges appear from their style to be very old, although their date is uncertain. They were contained in a MS. written in the reign of James II., which extended from 1685 to 1688, which MS., according to Preston, was in possession of the Lodge of Antiquity in London. They are said to have been used at the installation of the Master of a Lodge. Probably they are older than the year

1686; but that date is often used as a means of reference, The Charges are as follows:

 

1. That ye shall be true men to God and the holy church, and to use no error or heresy by your understanding, and by wise men's teaching.

 

2. That we shall be true liegemen to the King of England, without treason or any falsehood, and that ye know no treason but ye shall give knowledge thereof to the king, or to his counsel; also, ye shall be true one to another, that is to say, every Mason of the craft that is Mason allowed, ye shall do to him as ye would be done unto yourself.

 

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3. And ye shall keep truly all the counsel that ought to be kept in the way of Masonhood, and all the counsel of the Lodge or of the chamber. Also, that ye shall be no thief nor thieves to your knowledge free; that ye shall be true to the king, lord or master that ye serve, and truly to see and work for his advantage.

 

4. Ye shall call all Masons your Fellows, or your brethren, and no other names.

 

5. Ye shall not take your Fellow's wife in villainy, nor deflower his daughter or servant, nor put him to disworship.

 

6. Ye shall truly pay for your meat or drink, wheresoever ye go to table or board. Also, ye shall do no villainy there, whereby the craft or science may be slandered.

 

500 - Is it lawful to install the officers of a Lodge by proxy?

 

            Installation by Proxy. It is usual in the case of the absence of any one of the officers who is to be installed, for some other brother to assume his place, and, acting as his proxy, to make the usual promises for him, and in his behalf to receive the charge and investiture. Long and uninterrupted usage would seem alone sufficient to sanction this practice, (however objectionable it may, in some respects, be deemed), but it has also the authority of ancient law; for the thirty‑sixth of the Regulations of 1721 prescribes that when the Grand Master elect is absent from the grand feast, that is to say, on the day of installation, the old Grand Master may act as his proxy, perform his duties, and in his name receive the usual homage.

 

501 - Has a Lodge under dispensation the right to install its officers?

 

            Installation in Lodge Under Dispensation. It follows, from the nature of the organization of a Lodge under dispensation, that it cannot install its officers. This is indeed a ritualistic law, for the installation of officers is an inherent and indivisible part of the ceremony of constitution, and it is self‑evident that a Lodge under dispensation cannot, while in this inchoate condition, be constituted; for a constituted Lodge under dispensation would be a contradiction in terms; besides, no officer can be installed unless he has been elected or appointed for a definite period. But the Master and Wardens of a Lodge under dispensation are appointed for an indefinite period, that is, during the pleasure of the Grand Master, and are not, therefore, qualified for installation.

 

502 - What regulations govern the installation of officers of a Lodge?

 

            Installation of Officers. A Lodge has the right to install its officers after being elected. This is a right incidental to the grant of perpetual succession, which is contained in the warrant; for, as by ancient Masonic law and universal usage, no officer can legally discharge the functions of the office to which he has been elected, until he has been regularly

 

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inducted into it by the ceremony of installation, it follows that when a grant of perpetual succession of officers is made, the grant carries with it the power of investing all succeeding officers with the powers and functions of their predecessors, which investiture is accomplished in Masonry by the ceremony of installation. But this power of installation, like all the other powers of subordinate Lodges, is controlled and directed by certain Grand Lodge regulations, which it is not in the power of the Lodge to set aside.

 

The installation, for instance, must take place at the communication, immediately before or on the festival of St. John the Evangelist. This is considered as the commencement of the Masonic year, and on that day the old officers vacate their seats, which are assumed by the new ones. But if by any circumstance the installation has been omitted until after this festival, the law having been violated, and there being no other law which provides for an installation after that day, the installation can then only take place by the authority and under the dispensation of the Grand Master.

 

In a new Lodge installation can only be conducted by the Grand Master, or some Past Master, acting for and representing him. This is because on that occasion the installation makes a part of the ceremony of constitution, which, by the Old Regulations, can only be per‑formed by the Grand Master. But all subsequent installations may be conducted by any Past Master of the Lodge, or other Past Master representing him; because the warrant grants the Master of the Lodge and his successors the perpetual power of installing their successors. It is only when the exercise of this right has been temporarily forfeited by an omission to install at the regular time, that it becomes necessary to go outside of the warrant, and apply to the Grand Master for his dispensing power to legalize the installation at an irregular period.

 

503 - Who is eligible to install the officers of a warranted Lodge?

 

            Installation of Officers of a Warranted Lodge. A Lodge when consecrated, dedicated and constituted, with its officers installed, assumes at once the rank and prerogatives of a warranted Lodge. The consecration, dedication and constitution are never repeated, but at every, subsequent annual election, the installation of officers is renewed. But on these occasions it is no longer necessary that the Grand Master or his proxy should act as the installing officer. This duty is to be per‑formed by the last Master, or by any other Past Master acting in his behalf; for, by the warrant of constitution, the power of installing their successors is given to the officers therein named, and to their successors, so that the prerogative of installation is perpetually vested in the last officers.

 

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504 - Who is responsible for the proper instruction of candidates?

 

            Instructed. The candidate is instructed by the Worshipful Master in his duties as a Mason; the first and most impressive part of which, is to study the Holy Bible, and to practice the three great moral duties to God, your neighbour, and yourself. To God, by holding his name in awe and veneration; viewing him as the chief good, imploring his aid in laudable pursuits, and supplicating his protection on well‑meant endeavors. To your neighbor, by always acting upon the square, and considering him equally entitled with yourself to share the blessings of providence, rendering unto him those favors and friendly offices, which, in a similar situation, you would expect from him. And to yourself, by not abusing the bounties of providence, impairing your faculties by irregularity, or debasing your profession by intemperance.

 

505 - What is instrumental Masonry?

 

            Instrumental Masonry. The instrumental consists in the use and application of various tools and implements, such as the common gauge, the square, the plumb‑line, the level, and others that may be called mathematical, invented to find the size or magnitude of the several parts or materials whereof our buildings are composed, to prove when they are wrought into due form and proportion, and when so wrought, to fix them in their proper places and positions, and likewise to take the dimensions of all bodies, whether plain or solid, and to adjust and settle the proportions of space and extent. To this part also belongs the use of various other instruments or machines, such as the lever, the wheel and axle, the wedge, the screw, the pulley, etc., which may be called mechanic, being used to forward and expedite our business, to alleviate our toils, and enable us to perform with a single hand what could not be done without many, and in some cases not at all; and those more properly belonging to our brethren of the second degree, styled Fellowcrafts.

 

506 - What affirmation of intention accompanies the Mason's oath?

 

            Intention. The obligations of Masonry are required to be taken with an honest determination to observe them; and hence the Mason solemnly affirms that in assuming those responsibilities he does so with‑out equivocation, secret evasion, or mental reservation.

 

507 - How is the internal preparation of a candidate made known?

 

            Internal Qualifications. Those qualifications of a candidate which refer to a condition known only to himself, and which are not patent to the world, are called internal qualifications. They are:

 

1st. That he comes forward of his own free‑will and accord, and unbiased by the solicitations of others.

2d. That he is not influenced by mercenary motives; and,

3d. That he has a disposition to conform to the usages of the Order. The knowledge of these can only be obtained from his own

 

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statements, and hence they are included in the preliminary questions which are proposed before initiation.

 

The internal preparation of a candidate for Masonry is exemplified by the declaration he is called on to make with respect to the motives which have induced him to seek its privileges.

 

508 - Why should Masons take care not to interrupt a brother who is speak‑ ing in a Lodge?

 

            Interruption. There cannot be a greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse; for if it be not impertinence and folly to answer a man before we know what he has to say, yet it is a plain declaration that we are weary of his discourse, that we disregard what he says as unfit to entertain the society with, and is, in fact, little less than a downright desiring that ourselves may have audience, who have something to produce better worth the attention of the company. As this is no ordinary degree of disrespect, it cannot but always give a very great offense.

 

509 - What is the arch enemy of Freemasonry?

 

            Intolerance. The arch enemy of Freemasonry. Toleration is one of the chief foundation‑stones of the Fraternity, and Universality and Brotherly Love are ever taught. Notwithstanding, intolerance has, and ever has had, its grip upon the brotherhood, and insidiously does its silent and undermining work. Human powers are limited or circumscribed. Man by nature is weak, and is largely the creature of early education; yet no institution has such resisting power and is of such avail as Freemasonry against that great enemy of man, which has destroyed more of the human race than any other evil power.

 

510 - To whom should the investigation of a petition for Masonry be entrusted?

 

            Investigation. A petition must be referred to a committee, for an investigation into the character and the qualifications of the candidate. The law, derived from the ancient Regulations of 1721, is explicit, that there shall be an inquiry into the character of the candidate; but it is silent as to the mode in which that inquiry shall be made. It might, it is true, be made by the whole Lodge, every member considering him‑self as a member of the committee of investigation; but as this would be a. cumbersome method, and one which would hardly be successful, from the very number of the inquisitors, and the probability that each member would depend upon his associates for the performance of an unpleasant duty, it has been invariably the custom to refer the subject to a special committee, consisting generally of three, who are always chosen by a skillful Master from among those members who, from peculiar circumstances, are most likely to make the inquiry with promptness, certainty and impartiality.

 

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511 - What form of invocation is customary in American Lodges?

 

            Invocation. An invocation sometimes used in the United States at the dedication of Masonic lodges, is as follows: "Supreme Architect of all worlds ! vouchsafe to accept the solemn dedication of this hall to the glory of thy holy name ! Make its walls salvation, and its arch praise. May the brethren who shall here assemble, meet in unity, work in love, and part in harmony. May Fidelity keep the door, Faith prompt the duties, Hope animate the labors, and Charity diffuse the blessings of the lodge ! May wisdom and virtue distinguish the fraternity, and Masonry become glorious in all the earth ! So mote it be! Amen."

 

512 - What does the absence of iron tools at the building of King Solomon's Temple symbolize?

 

            Iron Tools. The lectures teach us that at the building of King Solomon's Temple there was not heard the sound of axe, hammer, or other metallic tool. But all the stones were hewn, squared, and numbered in the quarries; and the timbers felled and prepared in the forest of Lebanon, whence they were brought on floats by sea to Joppa, and thence carried by land to Jerusalem, where, on being put up, each part was found to fit with such exact nicety that the whole, when completed, seemed rather the handiwork of the Grand Architect of the Universe than of mere human hands. This can hardly be called a legend, because the same facts are substantiated in the first Book of Kings; but the circumstance has been appropriated in Masonry to symbolize the entire peace and harmony which should prevail among Masons when laboring on that spiritual temple of which the Solomonic Temple was the archetype.

 

513 - What is the name of the right‑hand pillar facing east on the porch of King Solomon's Temple?

 

            Jachin. Hence called by Dudley and some other writers, who reject the points, ichin. It is the name of the right‑hand pillar that stood at the porch of King Solomon's Temple. It is derived from two Hebrew words, jah, "God," and iachin, "will establish." It signifies "he that strengthens," or "will establish." The other pillar was called Boaz, "in strength" - the two words signifying "in strength shall this my house be established."

 

514 - What is the Masonic symbolism of Jacob's Ladder?

 

            Jacob's Ladder. The introduction of Jacob's ladder into the symbolism of Speculative Masonry 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 Padan‑aram, while sleeping one night with 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.

 

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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 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 modified form. The number of steps varied; al‑though 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 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 increasing 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 following 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.

 

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  

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abode of Brahma. Dr. 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 Kabbalists, 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 higher Masonry 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 arrangements 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 of seven steps, which thus ascend: Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope, and Charity; but the earliest examples of it 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 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.

 

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 last century, nor even 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, how‑

 

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ever, Preston corrected when he described it as having many rounds, but three principal ones. Dunekerley, I think, was indebted for this symbol to Ramsay, from whom he liberally borrowed on several other occasions, taking from him his Royal Arch, and learning from him to eliminate the Master's Word from the third degree, where it had been placed by his predecessors.

 

As to the modern Masonic symbolism of the ladder, it is, as I have 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 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 strength‑ens our Faith, and enables us to ascend the first step.

 

"That Faith naturally creates in us a Hope of becoming partakers of some of the blessed promises therein recorded, which Hope enables us to ascend 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 arrived to the summit of his profession, or more metaphorically, into an ethereal mansion veiled 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 fact that Dunckerley derived his symbol from Ramsay; that Ramsay's ladder had seven steps, being the same as the Kadosh symbol; that in all the old initiations the number seven was preserved; and lastly, that Preston describes it as having "many rounds or staves, which .point out as many moral virtues, but three principal ones, namely, Faith, Hope, and Charity," irresistibly lead us to the conclusion that the Masonic ladder should properly have seven steps which represent the four cardinal and the three theological virtues.

 

515 - In the earliest lectures where was the Lodge supposed to stand?

 

            Jehoshaphat. Our ancient brethren who reduced the scattered elements of Freemasonry into order at the beginning of the last century, considered the lodge to be situated in the valley of Jehoshaphat; and that in whatever part of the world it might be opened, it was still es‑

 

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teemed, in a figure, to occupy that celebrated locality. Thus it was pronounced, in the earliest known lectures, that the lodge stands upon holy ground, or the highest hill or lowest dale, or in the Vale of Jehoshaphat. This celebrated valley derives its name from Jehovah and Shaphat, which means Christ, and to judge; and as the prophet Joel had predicted that the Lord would gather together all nations, and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, it was believed by the Jews, (and the Christians subsequently adopted the same opinion), that in this place the transactions of the great day of judgment would be enacted.

 

516 - Why is Jehovah said to be the ineffable name in Masonry?

 

            Jehovah. JEHOVAH is of all the significant words of Masonry, by far the most important. Regellini very properly calls it "the basis of our dogma and of our mysteries." In Hebrew it consists of four letters, and hence is called the Tetragrammaton, or four‑lettered name; and because it was forbidden to a Jew, as it is to a Mason, 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 encourages 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, "spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as El Shad‑dal, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known unto them." This Ineffable name is derived from the substantive verb, hayah, to be; and combining, as it does, in its formation the present, past, and future siagnifications of the verb, it is considered as designating God in his immutable and external existence. This idea is carried by the Rab, bins 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 substantioe vel essentioe, 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 "Sanhedrin," which treats of the question, Who of the Israelites shall have future life and who shall not ? says: "Even he who

 

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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 we are not allowed to pronounce. In its original meaning it is conferred upon no other being, therefore we abstain from giving any explanation of it." 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 pas‑sage, "whosoever shall pronounce the name Jehovah shall suffer death," because the word nokeb, here translated "to blaspheme," means also "to pronounce distinctly, to call by name." Maimonides tells us that the knowledge of this word was confined to the hachamin or wise men, who communicated its true pronunciation and the mysteries connected with it only on the Sabbath day, 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 JAMIE.

 

The Jews 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

 

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Egyptian mysteries, and none, says Schiller, dare enter the temple of Serapis who did not bear on his breast or forehead the name of 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 Rabbins asserted that it was engraved on the rod of Moses, and enabled him to perform all his miracles. 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.

 

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 Masonry, 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 true nature of God.

 

That this name, in its mystical use, was not unknown to the Medieval Freemasons there can be 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 Free‑masons of the beginning of the eighteenth century. No one can read Dr. Anderson's Defense of Masonry, written in 1730, without being convinced that this prominent actor in the revival 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 posterity in after ages." It is now conceded, from indisputable evidence, that the holy name was, in the earlier years, and, indeed, up to the middle of the last century, attached to the third degree, and then called the Master's Word. I have now lying before me two tracing boards of that degree, one an Irish one of the date of 1769, the other a continental one of 1778; but

 

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both, apparently, copies of some earlier one. Among the emblems displayed is a coffin, on which is inscribed, in capital letters, the word JEHOVAH. Hutchinson, who wrote in

1774, makes no reference what‑ever to the Royal Arch, although that system had, by that time, been partially established in England; but in his lectures to Master Masons and on the third degree refers to "the mystic word, the Tetragrammaton." 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 St. Victor, who says, in his Adonhiramite Masonry, 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 Masons, who, in

1717, revived the Order in England; that they knew it as Master Masons; and that it continued to be the Master's 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 Masonry more clearly established than that the Tetragrammaton is the true omnific word, yet innovations have been admitted, by which, in some jurisdictions in this country, 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 Masonry 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 Webb, who was the founder of the system here. It is well, therefore, to inquire what was the omnific word when the Royal Arch system was first invented.

 

We have the authority of 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.

 

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 Laws and Regulations of the Royal

 

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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 for 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 Josephus of the word, which, to remove all doubt of what it is, he says is the "Shem Ilamphorash, or the Unutterable Name," he adds: "Philo, the learned Jew, tells us not only that the word was lost, but also the time when, and the reason why. 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 will be." Notwithstanding this explicit and unmistakable declaration of the founder of the English Royal Arch, that the Tetragrammaton is the omnific 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 Tetragammaton was recognized as the omnific word. In the Freemason's 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 any one 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 Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was 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 this country, 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

 

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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 omnific word - an all‑creating and all‑performing word - either in Masonry or in Hebrew symbolism, whence Masonry derived it, is to oppose all the doctrines of the Talmudists, the Kabbalists, 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.

 

517 - What is the Masonic tradition with respect to Jeptha?

 

            Jeptha. There is an old Masonic tradition respecting Jeptha to the following effect. When the Ephraimites had assembled together to molest Jeptha, their leader encamped round a certain pillar, which being placed in an elevated situation, commanded a view of the ancient country, where Jeptha was prepared to receive him. After the battle, when the Ephraimites were retreating, Jeptha called a council of war to decide upon the necessary means of intercepting them, where it was agreed that they should be made to pronounce a password on the shores of Gilgal, by which they might be distinguished in the dark as in the light. And as they were unable to pronounce this word, they were immediately slain, this test word having been used to distinguish friend from foe.

 

518 - Why was Jerusalem chosen as the site of King Solomon's Temple?

 

            Jerusalem. The most famous and important city of Palestine. The old traditions and natural prepossessions both of Jews and Christians connect it with that Salem of which Melchizedek was king. It is situated on elevated ground south of the center of the country, about 37 miles from the Mediterranean, and about 24 from the Jordan. About a century after its foundation, it was captured by the Jebusites, who extended the walls, and constructed a castle, or citadel, on Mount Zion. By them it was called Jebus. In the conquest of Canaan, Joshua put to death its king, Adonizedek, and obtained possession of the town, which was jointly inhabited by Jews and Jebusites until the reign of David, who expelled the latter, and made it the capital of his kingdom, under the name of Jebus‑Salem, or Jerusalem. Its highest historical importance dates from the time of David, who transported to it the ark of the covenant, and built in it an altar to the Lord. The building of the temple by King Solomon was the consummation of the dignity and holiness of Jerusalem, which was further enlarged, strengthened and

 

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beautified by this king and by his successors. After the death of Solomon (B.C.

975), it suffered a diminution of political importance through the revolt and secession of the ten tribes. It was pillaged (B.C. 972), by Shishak, king of Egypt, and by Athaliah (B.C.

884), and finally (B.C. 588), it was taken, after a siege of three years, by Nebuchadnezzar, who razed its walls, and destroyed the temple and palaces, and carried all the holy vessels of the temple, together with thousands of captives, to Babylon. Having been rebuilt after the Captivity (B.C. 536), it was again taken and pillaged under Ptolemy Lagos (B.C. 320), and under Antiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 161), Pompey took the city (B.C.

63), put 12,000 of the inhabitants to the sword, and razed the walls to the ground, sparing, at the same time, the treasures of the sanctuary. A few years later (B.C.

51) it was pillaged by Crassus; and from these beginnings date the continued series of Roman aggressions, which terminated in the complete destruction of the city and dispersion of the Jewish race, under Vespasian and Titus, A.D. 70.

 

519 - What is the place of the Heavenly Jerusalem in Masonry?

 

            Jerusalem, Heavenly. The City of God. In several of the higher degrees the Heavenly Jerusalem is frequently alluded to, and occupies a prominent place. In the fifth section of the 2d degree of the Rite of Herodim the Thersata says: "Brothers may we all, whether present or absent, so labor that we shall come at last to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God; the Heavenly Jerusalem * * * *, where the sun shall set no more, nor the moon deprive us of her light, and where the days of our affliction, and the fatigues of our pilgrimage shall find an end."

 

520 - What branch of the Roman Catholic Church has sought to pervert Masonry to political intrigue and religious bigotry?

 

            Jesuits. In the last 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 Masonry 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. Barrel scoffs at the idea of such a connection, and calls it "lo fable de la Franc‑Maconneries Jesuiteque." 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

 

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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 France.

 

521 - What are the ornaments of a Freemason?

 

            Jewels. The Freemasons' ornaments are three jewels, the square, the level, and the plumb‑rule. Those who are intrusted with them must possess great talents, and whether they can be cautious and worthy guardians of them must be ascertained from their previous conduct.

 

522 - Did the Jewish law prohibit the use of symbols?

 

            Jewish Symbols. The Jews had many symbols represented on the Tabernacle and the Temple. Moses placed in the former two cherubims, or sphinxes, as well as ornaments and decorations of flower‑work; and figures of cherubims were embroidered on the veil of the Holy of Holies, on the hangings of the sanctuary, and probably on the curtain also. It is evident, therefore, that Moses never intended to prohibit the use of symbols; nor was such a thing understood by the Jews in any age. Solomon did not so understand him, for in his temple the cherubims were represented in the Sanctum Sanctorum, and he decorated the walls with palm‑trees, cherubims, flowers, and other figures. The brazen sea rested upon twelve oxen. In Ezekiel's description of the temple are many figures, which, like the Egyptian deities, had heads of animals. The pillars, Jachin and Boaz, were decorated with lily‑work, net‑work, and pomegranates, as symbols of the peace, unity, and plenty which distinguished the building. Even after the Babylonish captivity the same symbolical system was used. The golLlen lamp in the second temple, of which a representation is still extant on the triumphal arch of Vespasian at Rome, was placed on sphinxes. In the roof, and at the gate of Zerubabbel's temple, there were golden vines, thickly charged with rich clusters of grapes.

 

523 - To whom were Lodges formerly dedicated?

 

            Johannite Masonry. The lodges of symbolical Masonry which were formerly dedicated to King Solomon are now dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. Hence the first three degrees are called Johannite Masonry.

 

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524 - By what name was the Masonic society formerly known?

 

            John's Brothers. Before the year 1440 the Masonic society was known by the name of John Brothers, but they then began to be called Free and Accepted Masons.

 

525 - Is a member excluded from one Lodge eligible to join another?

 

            Joining. If any member shall be excluded from his lodge, or shall withdraw himself from it, without having complied with its by‑laws, or with the general regulations of the Craft, he shall not be eligible to any other lodge, until that lodge has been made acquainted with his former neglect, so that the brethren may be enabled to exercise their discretion as to his admission. Whenever a member of any lodge shall resign, or shall be excluded, or whenever at a future time he may require it, he shall be furnished with a certificate stating the circumstances under which he left the lodge; and such certificate is to be produced to any other lodge of which he is proposed to be admitted a member, previous to the ballot being taken.

 

526 - Why was the timber for the Temple delivered at the Port of Joppa?

 

            Joppa. One of the most ancient seaports in the world, on the Mediterranean Sea, about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Here the materials for building the first and second temples, sent from Lebanon, Tyre and other places, were landed, and conveyed to Jerusalem. Its harbor is shoal and unprotected from the winds; but on account of its convenience to Jerusalem, it became the principal port of Judea, and is still the great landing‑place of pilgrims and travelers to the Holy Land. The place is now called Jaffa. The peculiarly hilly and even precipitous character of Joppa is preserved in the traditions of the degree of Mark Master and a benevolent moral deduced, in accordance with the entire instructions of the grade.

 

527 - What aid does a Mason receive on the journey of life?

 

            Journey. Every Freemason, when he is initiated into the Craft, is taught to consider human life as a journey. Ile would faint with fatigue, lose himself in unknown roads, or fall over high precipices if he was not supported, faithfully conducted, and fraternally warned. By these means he arrives in safety at the end of his journey, and is permitted to receive light himself, that he may be able to support, lead, and warn others when traveling the same road.

 

528 - What is the difference between a journeyman and a Fellowcraft?

 

            Journeyman. When the Lodges were altogether operative in their character, a Mason, having served his apprenticeship, began to work for himself, and he was then called a journeyman; but he was required, within a reasonable period (in Scotland it was two years), to obtain admission into a Lodge, when he was said to have passed a

 

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Fellow Craft. Hence the distinction between Fellow Crafts and jour, neymen was that the former were and the latter were not members of Lodges. Thus, in the minutes of St. Mary's Chapel Lodge of Edinburgh, on the 27th of December, 1689, it was declared that "No Master shall employ a person who has not been passed a Fellow Craft in two years after the expiring of his apprenticeship;" and the names of several journeymen are given who had not complied with the law. A similar regulation was repeated by the same Lodge in 1705, complaint having been made "that there are several Masteris of this house that tolerate jurnimen to work up and down this citie contrary to their oath of admission;" and such journeymen were forbidden to seek employment. The patronage of the Craft of Freemasons was bestowed only on those who had become "free of the gild."

529 - What Masonic symbol is derived from the banner of the tribe of Judah?

 

            Judah. The fourth son of the patriarch Jacob, whose descendants became the most distinguished of the twelve tribes. On account of this the whole of Palestine is sometimes called Judea, or the land of Judah. The device on the banner of this tribe was a lion. It appears in the symbolism of Freemasonry.

 

530 - By what process does a Grand Lodge exercise its judicial functions?

 

            Judicial Powers of Grand Lodge. In the exercise of its judicial functions, a Grand Lodge becomes the interpretor and administrator of the laws which it had enacted in its legislative capacity. The judicial powers of a Grand Lodge, according to the Old Constitutions, are both original and appellate, although it more frequently exercises the prerogative and duties of an appellate than of an original jurisdiction.

 

In the exercise of its judicial functions, a Grand Lodge may proceed either in its General Assembly or by committee, whose report will be acted on by the Grand Lodge.

 

The Grand Lodge may, in the case of an appeal, amend the sentence of its subordinate, by either a diminution or increase of the punishment, or it may wholly reverse it, or it may send the case back for trial. And in any one of these events, its decision is final; for there is no higher body in Masonry who can entertain an appeal from the decision of a Grand Lodge.

 

531 - What are the duties of the Junior Deacon?

 

            Junior Deacon. This officer is the especial attendant of the Senior Warden; and being seated at his right hand, is prepared to carry mes‑ sages from him to the Junior Warden, and elsewhere about the Lodge.

 

He takes very little part in the ceremonies of conferring the de‑ grees, but as he is placed near the outer door, he attends to all alarms

 

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of the Tiler, reports them to the Master, and at his command, inquires into the cause. The outer door being thus under his charge, he should never permit it to be opened by the Tiler, except in the usual form, and when preceded by the usual notice. He should allow no one to enter or depart without having first obtained the consent of the presiding officer.

 

An important duty of the Junior Deacon is to see that the Lodge is duly tiled. Upon this security and secrecy of the institution depends; and therefore the Junior Deacon has been delegated as an especial officer to place the Tiler at his post, and to give him the necessary instructions.

 

In the inspection of the brethren, which takes place at the opening of the Lodge, the south side of the room is intrusted to the care of the Junior Deacon.

 

In the absence of the Senior Deacon, the Junior does not succeed to his place; but a temporary appointment of a Senior Deacon is made by the Master.

 

If the Junior Deacon is absent, it is the usage for the Master, and not the Senior Warden, to make a temporary appointment. The right of nominating the Junior Deacon is vested in the Senior Warden only on the night of his installation. After that, on the occurrence of a temporary vacancy, this right is lost, and the Master makes the appointment by the constitutional right of appointment which vests in him.

 

532 - What is the duty of a Junior Warden in the absence of the Master and Senior Warden?

 

            Junior Warden, Duties of. All the duties that devolve upon the Senior Warden, in the absence of the Master, devolve in like manner, and precisely to the same extent, upon the Junior Warden, in the absence of both the Master and the Senior.

 

But if the Master be present, and the Senior Warden absent, the Junior Warden does not assume the functions of the latter officer, but retains his own station, and a Senior Warden pro tempore must be appointed by the Master. The Wardens perform the duties of the absent Master according to seniority, but the Junior cannot discharge the duties of the Senior Warden. It must be remembered that a Warden acting as Master is still a Warden, and is so acting simply in the discharge of one of the duties of his office. The Senior Warden is bound to the performance of his duties, which are, in the presence of the Master, to superintend the west, and in his absence to preside. The Junior Warden, in like manner, is bound to the performance of his duties, which are, in the presence of the Master, to superintend the south, and in the absence of both Master and Senior Warden, to pre‑side. The absence of the Senior Warden has, therefore, no effect upon

 

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the duties of the Junior Warden, unless the Master is also absent, when he takes the east. He is to supply the place, not of the absent Senior Warden, but of the absent Master.

 

533 - What is the jurisdiction of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Jurisdiction of a Lodge. The jurisdiction of a Lodge is geographical or personal. The geographical jurisdiction of a Lodge is that which it exercises over the territory within which it is situated, and extends to all the Masons, affiliated and unaffiliated, who live within that territory. This jurisdiction extends to a point equally distant from the adjacent Lodge. Thus, if two Lodges are situated within twenty miles of each other, the geographical jurisdiction of each will extend ten miles from its seat in the direction of the other Lodge. But in this case both Lodges must be situated in the same State, and hold their Warrants from the same Grand Lodge; for it is a settled point of Masonic law that no Lodge can extend its geographical jurisdiction beyond the territorial limits of its own Grand Lodge.

 

The personal jurisdiction of a Lodge is that penal jurisdiction which it exercises over its own members wherever they may be situated. No matter how far a Mason may remove from the Lodge of which he is a member, his allegiance to that Lodge is indefeasible so long as he continues a member, and it may exercise penal jurisdiction over him.

 

534 - What is the extent of the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Jurisdiction of Grand Lodge. A Grand Lodge when formed, by the union of not less than three Lodges in convention, at once assumes all the prerogatives of a Grand Lodge, and acquires exclusive Masonic jurisdiction over the territory within whose geographical limits it has been constituted. No Lodge can continue to exist, or be subsequently established in the territory, except under its authority; and all other Grand Lodges are precluded from exercising any Masonic authority within the said territory.

 

These principles of Masonic law seem to be admitted by universal consent, and sanctioned by constant usage in such organizations.

 

535 - What is required to make a Lodge just and perfect?

 

            Just and Perfect. This appellation, which is given to St. John's lodges in general, is of a more important nature than is generally under‑stood by it, for it is not sufficient for a lodge only to be so far just and perfect as to belong to a certain Grand Lodge, to work according to an acknowledged ritual, and to have all its officers and members in their proper places, but it must be just unto all the brethren, and perfect in the exercise of every Masonic duty. It is not just when the brethren are deprived of their rights, even of superintending the economy of the lodge, for such a lodge has no independence, and he who is not independent cannot exercise his Masonic duties as a perfect Master.

 

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536 - Why should justice be the study of every Mason?

 

            Justice. Justice, the boundary of right, constitutes the cement of civil society. This virtue in a great measure constitutes real goodness, and is therefore represented as the perpetual study of the accomplished Mason. Without the exercise of justice, universal confusion would ensue, lawless force might overcome the principles of equity, and social intercourse no longer exist.

 

537 - On what grounds do Masons justify their moral system?

 

            Justification. We do not hesitate to appeal to the world in justification of the purity of our moral system. Our Constitutions are all well known; we have submitted them freely to general investigation. We solemnly avouch them as the principles by which we are governed, the foundation on which we build, and the rules by which we work. We challenge the most severe critic, the most practised moralist, the most perfect Christian, to point out anything in them inconsistent with good manners, fair morals, or pure religion.

 

538 - Of what is the key emblematic?

 

            Key. This symbol may be improved to impress upon the mind of every brother the importance of those secrets which have been transmitted through thirty centuries, amidst bitter persecutions, for the benefit of the sons of light. As we have thus received them, untarnished by the touch of profane curiosity, and unimpaired by the revolution of time and empires, let us deliver them, in all their purity and perfection, to succeeding brethren, confident that they will never be divulged to such as are unworthy.

 

539 - What two distinct kinds of Lodges are recognized in Freemasonry?

 

            Kinds of Lodges. There are in the Masonic system two kinds of Lodges, each organized in a different way, and each possessing different rights and prerogatives, namely, the Lodge working under a dispensation, and the Lodge working under a warrant of constitution.

 

540 - What is the symbolism of bending the knee?

 

            Knee to Knee. When, in his devotions to the G. A. O. T. IL, he seeks forgiveness for the past and strength for the future, the Mason is taught that he should, in these offices of devotion, join his brother's name with his own. The prerogative that Job, in his blindness, thought was denied to him, when he exclaimed, "Oh that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!" is here not only taught as a right, but inculcated as a duty; and the knee is directed to be bent in intercession, not for ourselves alone, but for the whole household of our brethren.

 

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541 - What posture do Masons assume in many of the degrees?

 

            Kneeling. Bending the knees has, in all ages of the world, been considered as an act of reverence and humility, and hence Pliny, the Roman naturalist, observes, that "a certain degree of religious reverence is attributed to the knees of man." Solomon placed himself in this position when he prayed at the consecration of the Temple; and Masons use the same posture in some portions of their ceremonies, as a token of solemn reverence. In the act of prayer, Masons in the lower degrees adopt the standing posture, which was the usage of the primitive Church, where it was symbolic of the resurrection; but Masons in the higher degrees generally kneel on one knee.

 

542 - What is the symbolism of the alarm at the inner door?

 

            Knock. A candidate for Masonry is said to have complied with the terms of a certain text of Scripture, by having first sought in his mind whether he were really desirous of investigating the mysteries of Masonry; then asked counsel of his friend, and lastly having knocked, the door of Masonry became open to him; and it will be remembered that the door of a Freemasons' lodge does not stand open for every one to enter, neither do we call laborers to the work, but those who wish to work with us must voluntarily offer their services. If he desires to be admitted, he must knock earnestly and manfully. "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." He who cannot knock in the full confidence of an honorable feeling, and is not convinced in his own mind that he deserves to be admitted, ought not to have the door of the lodge opened to him.

 

543 - What is regarded as the most important word in Freemasonry?

 

            Labor. An important word in Freemasonry - we may say the most important. It is for this sole reason alone, that a person must be made a Freemason; all other reasons are incidental and unimportant, or unconnected with it. Labor is commonly the reason why meetings of the lodge are held, but do we every time receive a proof of activity and industry? The work of an operative mason is visible, if even it be very often badly executed; and he receives his reward if his building is thrown down by a storm in the next moment. He is convinced that he has been active; so must also the brother Freemason labor. His labor must be visible to himself and unto his brethren, or, at the very least, it must be conducive to his own inward satisfaction.

 

544 - What does the lamb symbolize?

 

            Lamb. In ancient Craft Masonry the lamb is the symbol of innocence; thus in the ritual of the first degree: "In all ages the lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence." Hence it is required that a Mason's apron should be made of lambskin. In the high degrees, and in the degrees of chivalry, as in Christian iconography, the lamb it

 

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is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The introduction of this Christian symbol‑ism of the lamb comes from the expression of St. John the Baptist, who exclaimed, on seeing Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God;" which was undoubtedly derived from the prophetic writers, who compare the Messiah suffering on the cross to a lamb under the knife of a butcher. In the vision of St. John, in the Apocalypse, Christ is seen, under the form of a lamb wounded in the throat, and opening the book with the seven seals. Hence, in one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite, the seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West, the lamb lying on the book with the seven seals is a part of the jewel.

 

 

545 - What are the ancient landmarks of Masonry?

 

            Landmarks. In ancient times, it was the custom to mark the boundaries of lands by means of stone pillars, the removal of which, by malicious persons, would be the occasion of much confusion, men having no other guide than these pillars by which to distinguish the limits of their property. To remove them, therefore, was considered a heinous crime. "Thou shalt not," says the Jewish law, "remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance." Hence those peculiar marks of distinction by which we are separated from the profane world, and by which we are enabled to designate our inheritance as the "sons of light," are called the land‑marks of the Order. The universal language and the universal laws of Masonry are landmarks, but not so are the local ceremonies, laws, and usages, which vary in different countries. To attempt to alter or remove these sacred landmarks, by which we examine and prove a brother's claims to share in our privileges, is one of the most heinous offenses that a Mason can commit.

 

In the decision of the question what are and what are not the land‑marks of Masonry, there has been much diversity of opinion among writers. Dr. Oliver says that "some restrict them to the 0. B. signs, tokens and words. Others include the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising; and the form, dimensions and support; the ground, situation, and covering; the ornaments, furniture and jewels of a Lodge, or their characteristic symbols. Some think that the Order has no landmarks beyond its peculiar secrets." But all of these are loose and unsatisfactory definitions, excluding things that are essential, and admitting others that are unessential.

 

Perhaps the safest method is to restrict them to those ancient, and therefore universal, customs of the Order, which either gradually grew into operation as rules of action, or, if once enacted by any competent authority, were enacted at a period so remote, that no account of their origin is to be found in the records of history. Both the enactors and the time of the enactment have passed away from the record, and the

 

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landmarks are therefore, "of higher antiquity than memory or history can reach." The first requisite, therefore, of a custom or rule of action to constitute it a landmark is, that it must have existed from "time, whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary." Its antiquity is its essential element. Were it possible for all the Masonic authorities at the present day to unite in a universal congress, and with the most perfect unanimity to adopt any new regulation, although such regulation would, so long as it remained unrepealed, be obligatory on the whole Craft, yet it would not be a landmark. It would have the character of universality, it is true, but it would be wanting in that of antiquity.

 

Another peculiarity of these landmarks of Masonry is, that they are unrepealable. As the congress to which I have just alluded would not have the power to enact a landmark, so neither would it have the prerogative of abolishing one. The landmarks of the Order, like the laws of the Medes and the Persians, can suffer no change. What they were centuries ago, they still remain, and must so continue in force until Masonry itself shall cease to exist.

 

Until the year 1858, no attempt had been made by any Masonic writer to distinctly enumerate the landmarks of Freemasonry, and to give to them a comprehensible form. In October of that year, the author of this work published in the American Quarterly Review of Free‑masonry, an article on The Foundations of Masonic Laws, which contained a distinct enumeration of the landmarks, which was the first time that such a list had been presented to the Fraternity. It has since been very generally adopted by the Fraternity, and republished by many writers on Masonic law, sometimes without any acknowledgment of the source whence they derived their information. According to this recapitulation, the result of much labor and research, the land‑marks are twenty‑five in number, and are as follows:

 

1. The modes of recognition are, of all the landmarks, the most legitimate and unquestioned. They admit of no variation; and if ever they have suffered alteration or addition, the evil of such a violation of the ancient law has always made itself subsequently manifest.

 

2. The division of symbolic Masonry into three degrees is a land‑mark that has been better preserved .than almost any other; although even here the mischievous spirit of innovation has left its traces, and, by the disruption of its concluding portion from the third degree, a want of uniformity has been created in respect to the final teaching of the Master's Order; and the Royal Arch of England, Scotland, Ireland, and America, and the "high degrees" of France and Germany, are all made to differ in the mode in which they lead the neophyte to the great consummation of all symbolic Masonry. In 1813, the Grand Lodge of England vindicated the ancient landmark, by solemnly enacting that ancient Craft Masonry consisted of the three degrees of Entered

 

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Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, including the Holy Royal Arch. But the disruption has never been healed, and the landmark, although acknowledged in its integrity by all, still continues to be violated.

 

3. The legend of the third degree is an important landmark, the integrity of which has been well preserved. There is no rite of Masonry, practiced in any country or language, in which the essential elements of this legend are not taught. The lectures may vary, and indeed are constantly changing, but the legend has ever remained substantially the same. And it is necessary that it should be so, for the legend of the Temple Builder constitutes the very essence and identity of Masonry. Any rite which should exclude it, or materially alter it, would at once, by that exclusion or alteration, cease to be a Masonic rite.

 

4. The government of the Fraternity by a presiding officer called a Grand Master, who is elected from the body of the Craft, is a fourth landmark of the Order. Many persons suppose that the election of the Grand Master is held in consequence of a law or regulation of the Grand Lodge. Such, however, is not the case. The office is indebted for its existence to a landmark of the Order. Grand Masters, or persons performing the functions under a different but equivalent title, are to be found in the records of the Institution long before Grand Lodges were established; and if the present system of legislative government by Grand Lodges were to be abolished, a Grand Master would still be necessary.

 

5. The prerogative of the Grand Master to preside over every assembly of the Craft, wheresoever and whensoever held, is a fifth land‑mark. It is in consequence of this law, derived from ancient usage, and not from any special enactment, that the Grand Master assumes the chair, or as it is called in England, "the throne," at every communication of the Grand Lodge; and that he is also entitled to preside at the communication of every subordinate Lodge, where he may hap‑pen to be present.

 

6. The prerogative of the Grand Master to give dispensation for conferring degrees at irregular times, is another and a very important landmark. The statutory law of Masonry requires a month, or other determinate period, to elapse between the presentation of a petition and the election of a candidate. But the Grand Master has the power to set aside or dispense with this probation, and to allow a candidate to be initiated at once. This prerogative he possessed before the enactment of the law requiring a probation, and as no statute can impair his prerogative, he still retains the power.

 

7. The prerogative of the Grand Master to give dispensation for the opening and holding of Lodges is another landmark. He may grant, in virtue of this, to a sufficient number of Masons, the privilege of

 

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meeting together and conferring degrees. The lodges thus established are called "lodges under dispensation."

 

8. The prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight is a landmark which is closely connected with the preceding one. There has been much misapprehension in relation to this landmark, which misapprehension has sometimes led to a denial of its existence in jurisdictions where the Grand Master was, perhaps, at the very time substantially exercising the prerogative without the slightest remark or opposition.

 

9. The necessity for Masons to congregate in lodges is another land‑mark. It is not to be understood by this that any ancient landmark has directed that permanent organization of subordinate lodges which constitutes one of the features of the Masonic system as it now prevails. But the landmarks of the Order always prescribed that Masons should, from time to time, congregate together for the purpose of either Operative or Speculative labor, and that these congregations should be called lodges. Formerly, these were extemporary meetings called together for special purposes, and then dissolved, the brethren departing to meet again at other times and other places, according to the necessity of circumstances. But Warrants of constitution, by‑laws, permanent officers, and annual arrears are modern innovations wholly outside the landmarks, and dependent entirely on the special enactments of a comparatively recent period.

 

10. The government of the Craft, when so congregated in a lodge, by a Master and two Wardens, is also a landmark. A congregation of Masons meeting together under any other government as that, for in‑stance, of a president and vice‑president, or a chairman. and sub‑chairman, would not be recognized as a lodge. The presence of a Master and two Wardens is an essential to the valid organization of a lodge as a Warrant of constitution is at the present day. The names, of course, vary in different languages; but the officers, their number, prerogatives, and duties are everywhere identical.

 

11. The necessity that every lodge, when congregated, should be duly tiled, is an important landmark of the Institution which is never neglected. The necessity of this law arises from the esoteric character of Masonry. The duty of guarding the door and keeping off cowans and eavesdroppers, is an ancient‑one, which therefore constitutes a landmark.

 

12. The right of every Mason to be represented in all general meetings of the Craft, and to instruct his representatives, is a twelfth land‑mark. Formerly, these general meetings, which were usually held once a year, were called "General Assemblies," and all the Fraternity, even to the youngest Entered Apprentice, were permitted to be present. Now they are called "Grand Lodges," and only the Master and Wardens of the subordinate lodges are summoned. But this is simply

 

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as the representatives of their members. Originally, each Mason represented himself; now he is represented by his officers.

 

13. The right of every Mason to appeal from the decision of his brethren, in lodge convened, to the Grand Lodge or General Assembly of Masons, is a landmark highly essential to the preservation of justice, and the prevention of oppression. A few modern Grand Lodges, in adopting a regulation that the decision of subordinate lodges, in cases of expulsion, cannot be wholly set aside upon an appeal, have violated this unquestioned landmark, as well as the principles of just government.

 

14. The right of every Mason to visit and sit in every regular lodge is an unquestionable landmark of the Order. This is called "the right of visitation." This right of visitation has always been recognized as an inherent right which inures to every Mason as he travels through the world. And this is because lodges are justly considered as only divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic family. This right may, of course, be impaired or forfeited on special occasions by various circumstances; but when admission is refused to a Mason in good standing, who knocks at the door of a lodge as a visitor, it is to be expected that some good and sufficient reason shall be furnished for this violation of what is, in general Masonic right, founded on the landmarks of the Order.

 

15. It is a landmark of the Order, that no visitor unknown to the brethren present, or to some one of them as a Mason, can enter a Lodge without first passing an examination according to ancient usage. Of course, if the visitor is known to any brother present to be a Mason in good standing, and if that brother will vouch for his qualifications, the examination may be dispensed with, as the landmark refers only to the cases of strangers, who are not to be recognized unless after strict trial, due examination, or lawful information.

 

16. No lodge can interfere in the business of another lodge, nor give degrees to brethren who are members of other lodges. This is undoubtedly an ancient landmark, founded on the great principles of courtesy and fraternal kindness, which are at the very foundation of our Institution. It has been repeatedly recognized by subsequent statutory enactments of all Grand Lodges.

 

17. It is a landmark that every Freemason is amenable to the laws and regulations of the Masonic jurisdiction in which he resides, and this although he may not be a member of any lodge. Non‑affiliation, which is, in fact, in itself a Masonic offense, does not exempt a Mason from Masonic jurisdiction.

 

18. Certain qualifications of candidates for initiation are derived from a landmark of the Order. These qualifications are that he shall be a man - unmutilated, free born, and of mature age. That is to say, a woman, a cripple, or a slave, or one born in slavery, is disqualified for initiation into the rites of Masonry. Statutes, it is true, have from  

 

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time to time been enacted, enforcing or explaining these principles; but the qualifications really arise from the very nature of the Masonic institution, and from its symbolic teachings, and have always existed as landmarks.

 

19. A belief in the existence of God as the Grand Architect of the Universe, is one of the most important landmarks of the Order. It has been always admitted that denial of the existence of a Supreme and Superintending Power is an absolute disqualification for initiation. The annals of the Order never yet have furnished or could furnish an in‑stance in which an avowed Atheist was ever made a Mason. The very initiatory ceremonies of the first degree forbid and prevent the possibility of such an occurrence.

 

20. Subsidiary to this belief in God, as a landmark of the Order, is the belief in a resurrection to a future life. This landmark is not so positively impressed on the candidate by exact words as the preceding; but the doctrine is taught by very plain implication, and runs through the whole symbolism of the Order. To believe in Masonry, and not to believe in resurrection, would be an absurd anomaly, which could only be excused by the reflection, that he who thus confounded his belief and his skepticism was so ignorant of the meaning of both theories as to have no rational foundation for his knowledge of either.

 

21. It is a landmark that a "Book of the Law" shall constitute an indispensable part of the furniture of every lodge. I say, advisedly, Book of the Law, because it is not absolutely required that everywhere the Old and New Testaments shall be used. The "Book of Law" is that volume which, by the religion of the country, is believed to contain the revealed will of the Grand Architect of the Universe. Hence, in all lodges in Christian countries, the "Book of Law" is composed of the Old and New Testaments; in a country where Judaism was the prevailing faith, the Old Testament would be sufficient; and in Mohammedan countries, and among Mohammedan Masons, the Koran might be substituted. Masonry does not attempt to interfere with the peculiar religious faith of its disciples, except so far as relates to the belief in the existence of God, and what necessarily results from that belief. The "Book of Law" is to the Speculative Mason his spiritual trestle‑board; without this he cannot labor; whatever he believes to be the revealed will of the Grand Architect constitutes for him his spiritual trestle‑board, and must ever be before him in his hours of speculative labor, to be the rule and guide of his conduct. The landmark, therefore, requires that a "Book of the Law," a religious code of some kind, purporting to be an exemplar of the revealed will of God, shall form an essential part of the furniture of every lodge.

 

22. The equality of all Masons is another landmark of the Order. This equality has no reference to any subversion of those gradations of rank which have been instituted by the usages of society. The monarch,

 

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the nobleman, or the gentleman is entitled to all the influence and receives all the respect, which rightly belong to his position. But the doctrine of Masonic equality implies that, as children of one great Father, we meet in the lodge upon the level - that on that level we are all traveling to one predestined goal - that in the lodge genuine merit shall receive more respect than boundless wealth, and that virtue and knowledge alone should be the basis of all Masonic honors, and be rewarded with preferment. When the labors of the lodge are over, and the brethren have retired from their peaceful retreat, to mingle once more with the world, each will then again resume that social position, and exercise the privilege of that rank, to which the customs of society entitle him.

 

23. The secrecy of the Institution is another and most important landmark. The form of secrecy is a form inherent in it, existing with it from its very foundation, and secured to it by its ancient landmarks. If divested of its secret character, it would lose its identity, and would cease to be Freemasonry. Whatever objections may, therefore, be made to the Institution on account of its secrecy, and however much some unskillful brethren have been unwilling in times of trial, for the sake of expediency, to divest it of its secret character, it will be ever impossible to do so, even were the landmark not standing before us as an insurmountable obstacle; because such change of its character would be social suicide, and the death of the Order would follow its legalized exposure. Freemasonry, as a secret association, has lived unchanged for centuries; as an open society, it would not last for as many years.

 

24. The foundation of a speculative science upon an operative art, and the symbolic use and explanation of the terms of that art, for the purpose of religious or moral teaching, constitute another landmark of the Order. The Temple of Solomon was the symbolic cradle of the Institution, and therefore, the reference to the Operative Masonry which constructed that magnificent edifice, to the materials and implements which were employed in its construction, and to the artists who were engaged in the building, are all competent and essential parts of the body of Freemasonry, which could not be subtracted from it without an entire destruction of the whole identity of the Order. Hence, all the comparatively modern rites of Masonry, however they may differ in other respects, religiously preserve this Temple history and these operative elements, as the substratum of all their modifications of the Masonic system.

 

25. The last and crowning landmark of all is, that these landmarks can never be changed. Nothing can be subtracted from them - nothing can be added to them - not the slightest modification can be made in them. As they were received from our predecessors, we are bound by the most solemn obligations of duty to transmit them to our successors.

 

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546 - Why should a Masonic Lodge be closed at a reasonable hour?

 

            Late Hours. It is a fact, confirmed by experience, that an indulgence in late hours cannot fail to injure the credit and respectability of a lodge, because it introduces other habits which are not consistent with the gravity and decorum which ought always to characterize the proceedings of Masonry. And hence it is an important part of the Worshipful Master's duty, to discountenance such baleful practice. If the brethren meet for the purpose of business, or to cultivate a knowledge of the science by joining in the lectures, let them pursue their labors with assiduity and zeal during the period prescribed in the by‑laws; and should it be necessary for the Junior Warden to perform his office, let the brethren enjoy themselves with decent moderation; but by all means let the Senior Warden discharge his duty honestly and conscientiously, and let the lodge be closed and the brethren depart to their own homes at such an hour as shall excite no unpleasant feelings, nor call forth reproachful observations from the females of their families, whom it is their duty and interest, as well in the character of husbands and fathers, as of Masons, to love, to cherish, and to oblige.

 

547 - Of what is the brazen laver emblematic?

 

            Laver, Brazen. Moses was directed to make, among other articles of furniture for the services of the tabernacle, a laver of brass. It was held as a vessel of great sacredness, in which water was kept for the ablutions of the priests before entering upon the actual discharge of their sacred duties of offering sacrifices before the Lord. In the ancient mysteries the laver with its pure water was used to cleanse the neophyte of the impurities of the outer world, and to free him from the imperfections of his past or sinful life. It is a necessary article in many of the higher degrees, for the ablution of the candidate in his progress to a higher and purer system of knowledge.

 

548 - Why should a Mason respect the law?

 

            Laws of the Land. The Freemason has the greatest respect for the laws of the land in which he lives, and he obeys them with the zeal of a faithful subject. If he is intrusted with the putting of those laws in force, his Masonic duties remind him to be faithful and diligent in applying them. Should the state command the lodge to be closed of which he is a member, he immediately obeys, and visits no assembly which is not allowed, or at least tolerated by the state. In the event of a brother wilfully violating the laws of his country, the Order itself directs the attention of the magistrates unto him, and he who is punished as a criminal by the laws, is excluded from the Order without exception.

 

549 - Why should Masons avoid law‑suits with one another?

 

            Law‑Suits. If any brother do you an injury, you must apply to your own or his lodge, and from thence you may appeal to the Grand

 

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Lodge at the quarterly communication, as has been the ancient laudable conduct of our forefathers in every nation; never take a legal course but when the case cannot be otherwise decided, and patiently listen to the honest and friendly advice of Master and fellows, when they would prevent your going to law with strangers, or would excite you to put a speedy period to all law‑suits, that so you may find the affair of Masonry with the more alacrity and success. With respect to brothers or fellows at law, the Master and brethren should kindly offer their mediation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the contending brethren; and if that submission is impracticable, they must however carry on their process or law‑suit without wrath or rancor, (not in the common way) saying or doing nothing which may hinder brotherly love and good offices to be renewed and continued, that all may see the benign influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the beginning of the world, and will do to the end of time.

 

550 - What is the unwritten law of Freemasonry?

 

            Law, Unwritten. The Constitutions, Charges and Regulations which were adopted at various periods, from 926 to 1722, constitute the Written Law of Masonry, and they were at one time co‑extensive in authority with the Landmarks of the Order. From these, however, they differ in this respect, that the Landmarks being unrepealable, must aver continue in force; but the Written Law, having been adopted by the supreme legislative authority of the Order at the time, may be altered, amended, or altogether repealed by the same supreme authority  - a doctrine which is explicitly set forth in the Thirty‑ninth General Regulation. Accordingly, portions of this Written Law have, from time to time, been materially modified by different Grand Lodges, as will be evident upon inspection of these laws with the modern Constitutions of any jurisdiction.

 

It may, however, be considered as an axiom of Masonic law, that in every Masonic jurisdiction, where any one of these Regulations has not been formally or implicitly repealed by a subsequent enactment of a new law, the old Regulation will continue in force, and the Craft must be governed by its provisions.

 

So in all doubtful questions of Masonic law, recourse must be had, in forming an opinion, first to the Landmarks, and then to this code of Written Laws; and out of these two authorities, the legal dictum is to be established, because all the principles of law are embraced in these two authorities, the Ancient Landmarks and the Ancient Written Law; and hence they have been necessarily incorporated into this volume, as a fitting introduction, under the appropriate title of the Foundations of Masonic Law.

 

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551 - Why did King Solomon seek the aid of Hiram, King of Tyre?

 

            Lebanon. The forests of the Lebanon mountains only could supply the timber for the Temple. Such of these forests as lay nearest the sea were in the possession of the Phoenicians, among whom timber was in such constant demand, that they had acquired great and acknowledged skill in the felling and transportation thereof. Hence it was that Hiram consented to employ large bodies of men in Lebanon to hew timber, as well as others to perform the service of bringing it down to the sea‑side, whence it was to be taken along the coasts in floats to the port of Joppa, from which place it could be easily taken across the country to Jerusalem.

 

552 - What is a Masonic lecture?

 

            Lecture. Literally, a formal or methodical discourse intended for instruction. Lectures have been adopted from the earliest ages as a convenient mode of teaching the elements of every branch of human knowledge. The course of instruction in Freemasonry is divided in parts or sections, which are called lectures. Each degree is so arranged that the candidate will enjoy the advantage of the theory, the practice and then the explanation or lecture. Those who are desirous of learn, ing the lectures, with the greatest advantage, must regularly attend the lodges, and be diligently attentive to the instruction they receive there.

 

553 - What are the duties of a Masonic lecturer?

 

            Lecturer. In the symbolical lodges of the Continent and else, where, a lecturer is annually appointed and after the Worshipful Master and Past Master, the lecturer has the most important office in the lodge. He, as well as the two first officers, must be perfectly acquainted with Freemasonry, and not only a man who has received a liberal education, but who also possesses the true spirit of oratory. His orations or lectures must produce an impression on the minds of his hearers. At the election of a lecturer the electors should bear this in mind, and reflect that he has something more to do than merely read the ritual. If the lecturer has sufficient knowledge to be enabled to teach the brethren Freemasonry, or the bearing of moral truths upon the science in an agreeable and instructive manner, and not in mere mystical forms, he will be willingly listened to by the brethren. Some discourses are appropriated to certain seasons, but even these the lecturer must be able to make interesting, in order that they may not appear as mere repetitions. He who confines himself to these discourses, and the mere reading of the ritual, does not fulfill the duties of his office as he ought.

 

554 - Of what is the left hand a symbol?

 

            Left Hand. Among the ancients the left hand was a symbol of equity and justice. Thus, Apuleius, when describing the procession in honor of Isis, says one of the ministers of the sacred rites "bore the

 

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symbol of equity in a left hand, fashioned with the palm extended;" which seems to be more adapted to administering equity than the right from its natural inertness, and its being endowed with no craft and no subtlety.

 

555 - What is the symbolism of the left side?

 

            Left Side. In the symbolism of Masonry, the first degree is represented by the left side, which is to indicate that as the left is the weaker part of the body, so is the Entered Apprentice's degree the weakest part of Masonry. This doctrine, that the left is the weaker side of the body, is very ancient.

 

556 - What part do legends play in the Masonic system?

 

            Legend. Strictly speaking, a legend, from the Latin, legendus, "to be read," should be restricted to a story that has been committed to writing; but by good usage the word has been applied more extensively, and now properly means a narrative, whether true or false, that has been traditionally preserved from the time of its first oral communication. Such is the definition of a Masonic legend.

 

557 - What do the lesser lights symbolize?

 

            Lesser Lights. In the lecture of the first degree we are told that a lodge has three symbolic lesser lights; one of these is in the East, one in the West, and one in the South. There is no light in the North, because King Solomon's Temple, of which every lodge is a representation, was placed so far north of the ecliptic that the sun and moon, at their meridian height, could dart no rays into the northern part thereof. The north we therefore Masonically call a place of darkness.

 

This symbolic use of the three lesser lights is very old, being found in the earliest lectures of the last century.

 

The three lights, like the three principal officers and the three principal supports, refer, undoubtedly, to the three stations of the sun - its rising in the east, its meridian in the south, and its setting in the west; and thus the symbolism of the lodge, as typical of the world, continues to be preserved.

 

The use of lights in all religious ceremonies is an ancient custom. There was a seven‑branched candle‑stick in the tabernacle, and in the Temple "were the golden candle‑sticks, five on the right hand and five on the left." They were always typical of moral, spiritual, or intellectual light.

 

558 - What is the symbolism of the Level?

 

            Level. In Freemasonry, the level is a symbol of equality; not of that social equality which would destroy all distinctions of ranks and position, and beget confusion, insubordination, and anarchy; but of that fraternal equality which, recognizing the fatherhood of God, admits

 

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as a necessary corollary the brotherhood of man. It, therefore, teaches us that, in the sight of the Grand Architect of the Universe, his creatures, who are at an immeasurable distance from him, move upon the same plane; as the far‑moving stars, which though millions of miles apart, yet seem to shine upon the same canopy of the sky. In this view, the level teaches us that all men are equal, subject to the same infirmities, hastening to the same goal, and preparing to be judged by the same immutable law.

 

The level is deemed, like the square and the plumb, of so much importance as a symbol, that it is repeated in many different relations. First, it is one of the jewels of the lodge; in the English system a movable, in the American an immovable one. This leads to its being adopted as the proper official ensign of the Senior Warden, because the Craft when at labor, at which time he presides over them, are on a common level of subordination. And then it is one of the working‑tools of a Felloweraft, still retaining its symbolism of equality.

 

559 - What are the privileges of a lewis or louveteau?

 

            Lewis, or Louveteau. The words lewis and louveteau, which, in their original meanings, import two very different things, have in Masonry an equivalent signification - the former being used in English, and the latter in French, to designate the son of a Mason. The English word lewis is a term belonging to operative Masonry, and signifies an iron cramp, which is inserted in a cavity prepared for the purpose in any large stone, so as to give attachment to a pulley and hook, whereby the stone may be conveniently raised to any height, and deposited in its proper position. In this country the lewis has not been adopted as a symbol of Freemasonry, but in the English ritual it is found among the emblems placed upon the tracing‑board of the Entered Apprentice, and is used in that degree as a symbol of strength, because by its assistance the operative Mason is enabled to lift the heaviest stones with a comparatively trifling exertion of physical power. Extending the symbolic allusion still further, the son of a Mason is in England called a lewis, because it is his duty to support the sinking powers and aid the failing strength of his father, or, as Oliver has expressed it, "to bear the burden and heat of the day, that his parents may rest in their old age, thus rendering the evening of their lives peaceful and happy." By the constitutions of England, a lewis may be initiated at the age of eighteen, while it is required of all other candidates that they shall have arrived at the maturer age of twenty‑one. The Book of Constitutions had prescribed that no lodge make "any man under the age of twenty‑one years, unless by a dispensation from the Grand Master or his Deputy." The Grand Lodge of England, in its modern regulations, has availed itself of the license allowed by this dispensing power, to confer the right of an earlier initiation on the

 

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sons of Masons. The word louveteau signifies in French a young wolf. The application of the term to the son of a Mason is derived from a peculiarity in some of the initiations into the ancient mysteries. In the mysteries of Isis, which were practiced in Egypt, the candidate was made to wear the mask of a wolf's head. Hence, a wolf and a candidate in these mysteries were often used as synonymous terms. Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, says, in reference to this custom, that the ancients perceived a relationship between the sun, the great symbol in these mysteries, and a wolf, which the candidate represented at his initiation. For, he remarks, as the flocks of sheep and cattle fly and disperse at the sight of the wolf, so the flocks of stars disappear at the approach of the sun's light. The learned reader will also recollect that in the Greek language lukos signifies both the sun and a wolf. Hence, as the candidate in the Isiac mysteries was called a wolf, the son of a Free‑mason in the French lodges is called a young wolf or a louveteau. The louveteau in France, like the lewis in England, is invested with peculiar privileges. He also is permitted to unite himself with the order at the early age of eighteen years. The baptism of a louveteau is sometimes performed with impressive ceremonies by the lodge of which his father is a member. The infant, soon after birth, is taken to the lodge‑room, where he receives a Masonic name, differing from that which he bears in the world; he is formally adopted by the lodge as one of its children, and should he become an orphan, requiring assistance, he is supported and educated by the Fraternity, and finally established in life. In this country, these rights of a lewis or a louveteau are not recognized, and the very names were, until lately, scarcely known, except to a few Masonic scholars.

 

560 - What does the word "libertine" signify in Masonry?

 

            Libertine. The Charges of 1722 commence by saying that "a Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious libertine." The word "libertine" there used conveyed a meaning different from that which it now bears. In the present usage of language it signifies a profligate and licentious person, but originally it meant a freethinker, or Deist. Derived from the Latin "libertinus," a man that was once a bondsman but who has been made free, it was metaphorically used to designate one who had been released, or who had released himself from the bonds of religious belief, and become in matters of faith, a doubter or denier. Hence "a stupid Atheist" denoted, to use the language of the Psalmist, "the fool who has said in his heart there is no God," while an "irreligious libertine" designated the man who, with a degree less of unbelief, denies the distinctive doctrines of revealed religion. And this meaning of the expression connects itself very appropriately with the succeeding paragraph of the Charge. "But

 

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though in ancient times, Masons were charged in every country to be of the religion of that country or nation, whatever it was, yet it is now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves." The expression "irreligious libertine," alluding, as it does, to a scoffer at religious truths, is eminently suggestive of the religious character of our Institution, which, founded as it is on the great doctrines of religion, cannot be properly appreciated by any one who doubts or denies their truth.

 

561 - Why cannot a libertine become a Mason?

 

            Libertinism. The word "libertine," which is used in the old Charges, conveyed, at the time when those Charges were composed, a meaning somewhat different from that which is now given to it. Bailey defines libertinism to be "a false liberty of belief and manners, which will have no other dependence but on particular fancy and passion; a living at large, or according to a person's inclination, without regard to the divine laws." A "religious libertine" is, therefore, a rejector of all moral responsibility to a superior power, and may be well supposed to be a denier of the existence of a Supreme Being and of a future life. Such a skeptic is, therefore, by the innate constitution of speculative Masonry, unfit for initiation, because the object of all Masonic initiation is to teach these two great truths.

 

562 - What is the symbolism of light?

 

            Light. Light is a symbol of knowledge. May every Mason strive incessantly for light, and especially for the light eternal ! When a society is assembled anywhere to do good, they require an influential person to communicate the light of experience, instruct them, and point out the way they should go, or bring light to them. This may be done symbolically, by suddenly lighting up a dark room with torches. He who thus introduces the light into the lodge, must be a worthy man, and experienced in the Craft.

 

563 - Of what is the lily emblematic?

 

            Lily. The plant so frequently mentioned in the Old Testament under the name of lily, as an emblem of purity and peace, was the lotus lily of Egypt and India. It occupied a conspicuous place among the ornaments of the Temple furniture. The brim of the molten sea was wrought with flowers of the lotus; the chapiters on the tops of the pillars at the porch, and the tops of the pillars themselves, were adorned with the same plant. Sir Robert Ker Porter, describing a piece of sculpture which he found at Persepolis, says, "Almost every one in this pro‑cession holds in his hand a figure like the lotus. This flower was full of meaning among the ancients, and occurs all over the East. Egypt. Persia, Palestine, and India present it everywhere over their architec‑

 

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ture, in the hands and on the heads of their sculptured figures, whether in statue or in bas‑relief. We also find it in the sacred vestments and architecture of the tabernacle and Temple of the Israelites.

 

564 - What limit is placed upon the obligation of a Mason to extend relief to a distressed worthy brother?

 

            Limitation of Masonic Relief. The giver is not expected to exceed his ability in the amount of relief that he grants - that is to say, a Brother is expected to grant only such relief as will not materially injure himself or family. This is the unwritten law, and conformable to it is the written one, which says, "You are not charged to do beyond your ability." This provision is not inconsistent with the true principles of charity, which do not require that we should sacrifice our own welfare, or that of our family to the support of the poor; but that with prudent liberality, and a due regard to the comforts of those who are more nearly dependent on us, we should make some sacrifice of luxury out of our abundance, if we have been blessed with it, for the relief of our distressed brethren.

 

565 - What is the definition of a Lodge?

 

            Lodge. As men call the house of God a church, and when religious services are performed in it, say it is church hours, so also we call the locality in which a lodge assembles, a lodge, and when the brethren are assembled in it, it is lodge hours. The form of a lodge is an oblong square. Three well‑informed brethren form a legal lodge, five improve it, and seven make it perfect. We may also call a room in which a lodge is held, a hall.

 

The earliest description of a lodge that I have met with, explains it as being "just and perfect by the numbers three, five and seven." This was subsequently exemplified in the following prescribed form: "A lodge of Masons is an assemblage of brothers and fellows met together for the purpose of expatiating on the mysteries of the Craft, with the Bible, square and compasses, the Book of Constitutions, and the warrant empowering them to act." In the formula used at the present day, a further amplification has been adopted. It is here de‑nominated an assembly of Masons, just, perfect, and regular, who are met together to expatiate on the mysteries of the Order; just, because it contains the volume of the Sacred Law unfolded; perfect, from its numbers, every order of Masonry being virtually present by its representatives, to ratify and confirm its proceedings; and regular, from its warrant of constitution, which implies the sanction of the Grand Master, for the country where the lodge is held.

 

566 - Why are Masons said to come from the Lodge of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem?

 

            Lodge of St. John. The Masonic tradition is that the primitive or mother lodge was held at Jerusalem, and dedicated to St. John, first

 

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the Baptist, then the Evangelist, and finally to both. Hence this lodge was called "The Lodge of the Holy St. John of Jerusalem." From this lodge all other lodges are supposed figuratively to descend, and they therefore receive the same general name, accompanied by another local and distinctive one. In all Masonic documents the words ran formerly as follows: "From the lodge of the holy St. John of Jerusalem, under the distinctive appellation of Solomon's Lodge, No. 1," or what‑ever might be the local name. In this style foreign documents still run; and it is but a few years since it has been at all disused in this country. Hence we say that every Mason hails from such a lodge, that is to say, from a just and legally constituted lodge. In the earliest catechisms of the eighteenth century we find this formula. "Q. What lodge are you of ? A. The Lodge of St. John." And another question is, "How many angles in St. John's Lodge?" In one of the high degrees it is stated that lodges receive this title "because, in the time of the Crusades, the Perfect Masons communicated a knowledge of their Mysteries to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem," and as both were thus under the same law, the lodges were called St. John's lodges. But this was only one of the attempts to connect Freemasonry with the Templar system.

 

567 - How many Lodges were in the quarries of Tyre?

 

            Lodges of Tyre. In the quarries of Tyre, according to Masonic tradition, were two lodges of Super‑excellent Masters, as supervisors of the work, over which Tito Zadok, the high priest, presided: these were the Harodim. There were also six lodges of Excellent Masters, eight Grand Architects, and sixteen Architects - men of superior talent, who had been selected for their proficiency in the sciences, and placed as superintendents over the workmen. This was a necessary provision; for thus they were enabled to regulate the proceedings of, and to pre‑serve order and arrangement in the several departments which were assigned to them. There were three classes of Masters in thirty‑six lodges, called Menatzchim, and seven hundred lodges of Ghiblim, or operative Fellowcrafts, under Hiram Abif, their Grand Master.

 

568 - What is the symbolism of the lost word?

 

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

 

Now, this it is, precisely, that constitutes the myth of the Lost Word

 

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

 

The WORD, therefore, I conceive to be the symbol of Divine Truth; and all its modifications - the loss, the substitution, and the recovery  - are but component parts of the mythical symbol which represents a search after truth. In a general sense, the Word itself being then the symbol of Divine Truth, the narrative of its loss and the search for its recovery becomes a mythical symbol of the decay and loss of the true religion among the ancient nations, at and after the dispersion on the plains of Shinar, and of the attempts of the wise men, the philosophers, and the priests, to find and retain it in their secret mysteries and initiations, which have hence been designated as the Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity.

 

But there is a special or individual, as well as a general interpretation, and in this special or individual interpretation the Word, with its accompanying myth of a loss, a substitute, and a recovery, becomes a symbol of the personal progress of a candidate from his first initiation to the completion of his course, when he receives a full development of the mysteries.

 

569 - What is the measure of Masonic charity?

 

            Love. The universal charity of a Mason is like the charity of the Mason's God, and his God is the God of love. Consider the extent of the love of God, and that only, according to his degree, is the extent of Masonic charity. In the broad circle of his affections, he encloses all mankind; he, like the God of love, looks through station, clime, and color, and with one wish of universal good‑will, he wishes well to all mankind. With the compass of his mind, he measures and draws the square of his conduct, and within that square, having honestly provided for his own household, he forms his little angles of benevolence and charity, to the distressed of all communities.

 

570 - What is midnight called among Masons?

 

            Low Twelve. In Masonic language midnight is so called. The reference is to the sun, which is then below the earth. Low twelve in Masonic symbolism is an unpropitious hour.

 

571 - What must the attitude of a Mason be toward his country?

 

            Loyalty. Notwithstanding the calumnies of Barruel, Robison, and a host of other anti‑Masonic writers who assert that Masonry is ever engaged in efforts to uproot the governments within which it may exist,

 

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there is nothing more evident than that Freemasonry is a loyal institution, and that it inculcates, in all its public instructions, obedience to government. Thus, in the Prestonian charge given in the last century to the Entered Apprentice, and continued to this day in the same words in English Lodges, we find the following words: "In the State, you are to be a quiet and peaceable subject, true to your sovereign, and just to your country; you are not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion, but patiently submit to legal authority, and conform with cheerfulness to the government under which you live, yielding obedience to the laws which afford you protection, but never forgetting the attachment you owe to the place of your nativity or the allegiance due to the sovereign or protectors of that spot." The charge given in American Lodges is of the same import, and varies but slightly in its language.

 

"In the State, you are to be a quiet and peaceful subject, true to your government, and just to your country; you are not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion, but patiently submit to legal authority and conform with cheerfulness to the government of the country in which you live." The charge given in French Lodges, though somewhat differing in form from both of these, is couched in the same spirit and teaches the same lesson. It is to this effect: "Obedience to the laws and submission to the authorities are among the most imperious duties of the Mason, and he is forbidden at all times from engaging in plots and conspiracies." Hence it is evident that the true Mason must be a true patriot.

 

 

572 - What famous document is the basis of English liberty?

 

            Magna Charta. The great charter, so called, obtained by the English barons from King John, June 5, 1215, and confirmed by his successor, Henry III. It has been viewed by after ages as the basis of English liberties. Its most important articles are those which provide that no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or proceeded against, "except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land," and that no scutage or aid should be imposed in the kingdom (except certain feudal dues from tenants of the crown), unless by the authority of the common council of the kingdom. The remaining and greater part of it is directed against abuses of the king's power as feudal superior.

 

 

573 - What term used by Masons is equivalent to initiated?

 

            Make. When a candidate is initiated into the mysteries of the Order, he is said to be made a Mason, an expression in use among the operative Masons in the ancient times. It is a term synonymous with the word "initiate."

 

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574 - What does it mean to be "made a Mason?"

 

            Making. The solemn ceremony should never in any lodge be considered as the most important part of a Freemason's work (although it is always a thing of importance to initiate a new member into the Order). Instruction and charity are the chief works of a Freemason. Initiations are only secondary to these. The day of his initiation must ever be an important epoch to a Freemason, and lead to a serious self‑examination. The reflection that in one evening he has become closely united with many thousands of unknown men, is of itself important, even if the initiated should not be able to appreciate the real spirit of the Order. On his initiation the candidate must place himself unreservedly in the hands of the proper officer appointed to conduct him and submit himself to every proof that is demanded from him, and make no objection to any of the ceremonies he has to go through, but answer every question truly and manfully. When he arrives in the assembly of the brethren he is asked again, and for the last time, if it is his wish to be initiated. In the moment when he is about to receive the first degree, every freedom is permitted to him either to go forward in the ceremony, or return from whence he came; for we must admit that to enter upon an unknown undertaking is a dangerous thing. ,He who is in earnest will here prove that he holds it to be unworthy of a man not to complete any undertaking which he has commenced after mature deliberation. If he does so, the assembled brethren cheerfully and unanimously pronounce him "worthy," and he is made a partaker of the LIGHT. The solemn obligation taken by the candidate, and the sacred and mysterious manner in which the sacred numbers are communicated, have always been respected by every faithful brother.

 

575 - What were the ancient charges at the making of a Freemason?

 

            Making, Ancient Charges at. The MS. in the archives of the Lodge of Antiquity from which I have quoted the preceding charges, adds to them fifteen more, which are said to be "Charges single for Masons allowed or accepted," that is to say, as is added at the end, "Charges and covenants to be read . . . at the making of a Freemason or Freemasons." They are as follows:

 

1. That no Mason take on him no lord's work, nor any other man's unless he know himself well able to perform the work, so that the craft have no slander.

 

2. Also, that no Master take work but that he take reasonable pay for it; so that the lord may be truly served, and the Master to live honestly, and to pay his Fellows truly. And that no Master or Fellow supplant others of their work; that is to say, that if he hath taken a work, or else stand Master of any work, that he shall not put him out, unless he be unable of cunning to make an end of his work. And no Master nor Fellow shall take on Apprentice for less than seven years.

 

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And that the Apprentice be free born, and of limbs whole as a man ought to be, and no bastard. And that no Master nor Fellow take no allowance to be made Mason without the assent of his Fellows, at the least six or seven.

 

3. That he that be made be able in all degrees; that is, free born, of a good kindred, true, and no bondsman, and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have.

 

4. That a Master take no Apprentice without he have occupation to occupy two or three Fellows at the least.

 

5. That no Master or Fellow put away any lord's work to task that ought to be journeywork.

 

6. That every Master give pay to his Fellows and servants as they may deserve, so that he be not defamed with false working. And that none slander another behind his back to make him lose his good name.

 

7. That no Fellow in the house or abroad answer another ungodly or reproveably without a cause.

 

8. That every Master Mason do reverence to his elder; and that a Mason be no common player at the cards, dice or hazard; or at any other unlawful plays, through the which the science and craft may be dishonored and slandered.

 

9. That no Fellow go into the town by night, except he have a Fellow with him, who may bear him record that he was in an honest place.

 

10. That every Master and Fellow shall come to the assembly, if it be within fifty miles of him, if he have any warning. And if he have trespassed against the craft, to abide the reward of Masters and Fellows.

 

11. That every Master Mason and Fellow that hath trespassed against the craft shall stand to the correction of other Masters and Fellows to make him accord; and if they cannot accord, to go to the common law.

 

12. That a Master or Fellow make not a mould stone, square nor rule, to no lowen, nor let no lowen work within their Lodge nor without, to mould stone.

 

13. That every Mason receive and cherish strange Fellows when they come over the country, and set them on work, if they will work, as the manner is; that is to say, if the Mason have any mould stone in his place, he shall give him a mould stone, and set him on work; and if he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next Lodge.

 

14. That every Mason shall truly serve his Master for his pay.

 

15. That every Master shall truly make an end of his work, task or journey, whitherso it be.

 

576 - What is the significance of the expression "making Masons at sight?"

 

            Making Masons at Sight. Consequent upon and intimately con‑ nected with the dispensing power is that much contested prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight. I know of no principle

 

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of Masonic law which has given rise to a greater diversity of opinions, or more elaborate argument on both sides, than this. While the Grand Lodges or the Committees of Foreign Correspondence of Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York and South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin clearly admit the prerogative, those of California, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri and Tennessee as positively deny it, while Florida and Texas recognize its existence only under limited modifications. The weight of authority is certainly on the side of the prerogative. I think that it can readily be proved that ancient usage, as well as the natural deductions from the law, equally support it.

 

It has always appeared to me that much of the controversy was, after all, rather a dispute about words than about things. The words "making Masons at sight" are not to be found in any of the Constitutions or records of the legitimate Grand Lodge of England. They were first used by the body known in history as the Athol Grand Lodge, and are to be found in its authorized Book of Constitutions, the "Ahiman Ream" of Laurence Dermott. The "moderns," as they were called, or the regular body, always spoke of "making Masons in an occasional Lodge," and these words continually occur in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, published by Dr. Anderson, and in all the subsequent editions compiled by other editors. Thus we find that in 1731, "Grand Master Lovel formed an occasional Lodge at Sir Robert Walpole's house of Houghton Hall, in Norfolk, and made Brother Lorrain and Brother Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, Master Masons." Again, "on the 16th day of February, 1766, an occasional Lodge was held at the Horn Tavern in New Palace Yard, by the Right Hon. Lord Blaney, Grand Master. His Royal Highness William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was in the usual manner introduced and made an Entered Apprentice, passed a Fellow Craft, and raised to the degree of a Master Mason." And again, "on February 9, 1767, an occasional Lodge was held at the Thatched House Tavern, in St. James Street, by Col. John Salter, Deputy Grand Master, and his Royal Highness Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, was, in the usual manner, introduced and made an Entered Apprentice, passed a Fellow Craft, and raised to the degree of a Master Mason." Now, in all of these cases, the candidates were made by the Grand Master, without previous notice, and not in a regular Lodge; and this is what I suppose to be really meant by making Masons at sight. Dermott adopted this phraseology, but Anderson and his successors called it "making Masons in an occasional Lodge." The two expressions mean exactly the same thing.

 

Now, by way of illustrating this theory, let it be supposed that the Grand Master of a certain jurisdiction is desirous of making a Mason

 

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at sight, or in an occasional Lodge. How is he to exercise this prerogative l Why, he summons not less than six Master Masons to his assistance, himself making the seventh, which number is necessary to form a perfect Lodge. They meet together, and he grants his dispensation (which is virtually done by his presence), permitting a Lodge to be opened and held. The candidate upon whom the Grand Master intend~' to exercise his prerogative, applies for initiation, and the Grand Master having dispensed with the Regulation which requires the petition to lie over for one month, the Lodge proceeds to confer the first and second degrees, the Grand Master being in the chair. On the following evening, the same brethren again meet, and the candidate receives the third degree, the Grand Master occupying the chair as before.

 

The Lodge having accomplished all that was required of it, the Grand Master ceases to exercise his dispensing power - which he is of course at liberty to do, for his dispensation, like the king's writ, is granted durance bene placito, during his good pleasure - and the Lodge is dissolved. But the making of the candidate is good; nor do I see how it can be denied, for certainly if the Grand Master can authorize A, B and C to make Masons by dispensation - and this no one doubts then surely he can exercise the same functions which he has the power of delegating to others.

 

And this I suppose to be all that is meant by the prerogative of the Grand Master to make Masons at sight. It is the necessary result of, and indeed is the same thing in a modified form, as his prerogative to open Lodges by dispensations granted to others.

 

But in exercising this important prerogative, the Grand Master must be governed by all those principles which would apply to the initiation of candidates in an ordinary Lodge under dispensation, for although he may dispense with the provisions of a Regulation, he can‑not dispense with the Landmarks. The candidate must be possessed of all the requisite qualifications, nor can the Grand Master interfere with any Lodge by making a candidate who has been rejected; for he cannot exercise any of his prerogatives to the injury of other parties.

 

577 - Of what is the mallet emblematic?

 

            Mallet. This is an important instrument of labor, and no work of manual skill can be completed without it. From it we learn that labor is the lot of man, and that skill without exertion is of no avail; for the heart may conceive, and the head devise in vain, if the hand be not prompt to execute the design.

 

578 - Who are said to be manual Masons?

 

            Manual Masons. The manual consists of such parts of business as are performed by hand labor alone, or by the help of some simple instruments, the uses whereof are not to be learnt by any problems or

 

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rules of art, but by labor and practice only; and this is more peculiarly applicable to our brethren of the first degree, called Entered Apprentices.

 

579 - Is a manumitted slave admissable as a candidate in Freemasonry?

 

            Manumission. A few years ago, the Grand Lodge of England undertook to change the language of the old Charges, and to interpolate the word "free" for "free born," by which means manumitted slaves, the children of bondwomen, were rendered eligible for initiation. This unwarranted innovation, which was undoubtedly a sacrifice to expediency, has met with the general condemnation of the Grand Lodges of this country.

 

580 - Under what circumstances were certain old Masonic manuscripts burned by some scrupulous brothers?

 

            Manuscripts. At the revival in 1717, Grand Master Payne had de‑sired that all old Masonic record might be brought into the Grand Lodge in order to discover the usages of ancient times; and in the year 1721, Dr. Anderson was employed to prepare a Book of Constitutions. Between these two periods, several very valuable manuscripts concerning the fraternity, their lodges, regulations, charges, secrets, and usages, which had been deposited in private lodges, particularly one written by Nicholas Stone, the Warden under Inigo Jones, were hastily burnt by some scrupulous brothers, under a jealous supposition that committing to print anything relating to Masonry, would be injurious to the interests of the Craft; but surely such an act of felo de se could not proceed from zeal according to knowledge.

 

581 - What are Masonic marks and why are they employed?

 

            Marks of the Craft. According to the traditions of the Mark Master's degree, each Mason employed in building the Temple of Solomon was required to place a peculiar mark upon his work, to distinguish it from that of others. It is probable that this has always been the practice with the various corporations of builders from the earliest periods down to quite modern times. Most of the edifices constructed in the middle ages, particularly those of Strasburg, Worms, Rheims, bear these marks, which appear to have been of two classes, viz: monograms, which belonged to overseers; and emblems, as the trowel, mallet, square, etc., that belonged to the workmen. A writer, describing the walls of the fortress of Allahabad, in the East Indies, erected A. D. 1542, says: "The walls are composed of large oblong blocks of red granite, and are almost everywhere covered with Masonic emblems, which evince some‑thing more than mere ornament. They are not confined to any particular spot, but are scattered over the walls of the fortress in many places as high as thirty or forty feet from the ground. It is quite certain that thousands of stones on the walls, bearing these Masonic sym‑

 

MASONRY DEFINED          341 

 

bole, were carved, marked, and numbered in the quarry before the erection of the building." Those brethren who have been initiated into the degrees of Mark‑Man and Mark‑Master perfectly well understand that the mark which was conferred upon the ancient craftsman was not arbitrary, but selected from a defined and well‑understood series - that the craftsman was not entitled to use any mark until his fitness had been tried, and he had proved himself well skilled in the use of the plumb, the level, and the square; that the distinction of the mark was conferred with peculiar solemnities; and that the subsequent obligation to use the particular mark so conferred, and to affix it to every "perfect ashlar," was not discretionary, but imperative. A knowledge of these facts, combined with a careful examination of the ancient marks, will no doubt, throw much additional light upon the history of ecclesiastical architecture, as well as prove the firmer connection, and show the union existing in past ages, between practical architecture and symbolical or spiritual Masonry.

 

582 - What are the characteristics of a true Mason?

 

            Mason. A Mason is a man whose conduct should be squared by strict rectitude and justice towards his fellow‑creatures; his demeanor should be marked by the level of courtesy and kindness; while uprightness of heart and integrity of action, symbolized by the plumb, should be his distinguishing characteristic; and thus guided by the movable jewels of Masonry, he may descend the vale of life and joy, in the hope of being accepted by the Most High, as a successful candidate for ad‑mission into the Grand Lodge above.

 

583 - What is the derivation of the word Mason?

 

            Mason, Derivation of the Word. The search for the etymology of the word Mason has given rise to numerous theories, some of them ingenious, but many of them very absurd. Thus, a writer in the European Magazine, for February, 1792, who signs his name as "George Drake," lieutenant of marines, attempts to trace the Masons to the Druids, and derives Mason from May's on, May's being in reference to May‑day, the great festival of the Druids, and on meaning men, as in the French on dit, for homme dit. According to this, May's on therefore means the Men of May. But this idea is not original with Drake, since the same derivation was urged in 1766 by Cleland, in his essays on The Way to Things in Words, and on The Real Secret of Freemasons.

 

Hutchison, in his search for a derivation, seems to have been perplexed with the variety of roots that presented themselves, and being inclined to believe that the name of Mason "has its derivation from a language in which it implies some strong indication or distinction of the nature of the society, and that it has no relation to architects," looks for the root in the Greek tongue. Thus he thinks that Mason may come

 

342     MASONRY DEFINED  

 

from Mao Soon, "I seek salvation," or from Mystes, "an initiate"; and that Masonry is only a corruption of Mesouraneo, "I am in the midst of heaven"; or from Mazourouth, a constellation mentioned by Job, or from Mysterion, "a mystery." Lessing says, in his Ernst and Falk, that Masa in the Anglo‑Saxon signifies a table, and that Masonry, consequently, is a society of the table.

 

Nicolai thinks he finds the root in the Low Latin word of the Middle Ages Masonya, or Masonia, which signifies an exclusive society or club, such as that of the round‑table.

 

Coming down to later times, we find Bro. C. W. Moore, in his Boston Magazine, of May, 1844, deriving Mason from Lithotomos, a "Stone‑Cutter." But although fully aware of the elasticity of etymological rules, it surpasses our ingenuity to get Mason etymologically out of Lithotomos.

 

Bro. Giles F. Yates sought for the derivation of Mason in the Greek word Mazones, a festival of Dionysus, and he thought that this was an‑other proof of the lineal descent of the Masonic order from the Dionysiac Artificers.

 

The late William S. Rockwell, who was accustomed to find all his Masonry in the Egyptian mysteries, and who was a thorough, student of the Egyptian hieroglyphic system, derives the word Mason from a combination of two phonetic signs, the one being MAI, and signifying "to love," and the other being SON, which means "a brother." Hence, he says, "this combination, Maison, expresses exactly in sound our word MASON, and signifies literally loving brother, that is philadelphus, brother of an association, and thus corresponds also in sense." But all of these fanciful etymologies, which would have terrified Bopp, Grimm or Muller, or any other student of linguistic relations, forcibly remind us' of the French epigrammatist, who admitted that alphina came from equus, but that, in so coming, it had very consider‑ably changed its route.

 

What, then, is the true derivation of the word Mason? Let us see what the orthoepists, who had no Masonic theories, have said upon the subject.

 

Webster, seeing that in Spanish masa means mortar, is inclined to derive Mason, as denoting one that works in mortar, from the root of mass, which of course gave birth to the Spanish word.

 

In Low or Mediaeval Latin, Mason was machio or macia, and this Du Cange derives from the Latin maceria, "a long wall." Others find a derivation in machinoe, because the builders stood upon machines to raise their walls. But Richardson takes a common sense view of the subject. He says, "It appears to be obviously the same word as maison, a house or mansion, applied to the person who builds, instead of the thing built. The French Maissoner is to build houses; Masonner, to

 

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build of stone. The ward Mason is applied by usage to a builder of stone, and Masonry to work in stone." Carpenter gives Massom, used in 1225, for a building stone, and Massonus, used 1304, for a Mason; and the Benedictine editors of Du Cange define Massonerai "a building, the French Maconnerie, and Massonerius," as Latomus or a Mason, both words in manuscripts of 1385.

 

As a practical question, we are compelled to reject all those fanciful derivations which connect the Masons etymologically and historically with the Greeks, the Egyptians, or the Druids, and to take the word Mason in its ordinary signification of a worker in stone, and thus indicate the origin of the Order from a society or association of practical and operative builders. We need no better root than the Mediaeval Latin Maconner, to build, Maconetus, a builder.

 

584 - What are the Masonic colors and what do they symbolize?

 

            Masonic Colors. Every grade of Masonry is furnished with its peculiar and emblematic color. An important and mystic meaning has always been applied to colors, and they are used as the distinguishing mark of different nations. The colors best known, and almost universally adapted to Masonry, are seven, viz:

 

1. BLUE. This is the great color of Masonry. It is the appropriate tincture of the Ancient Craft degrees. It is to the Mason an emblem of universal friendship and benevolence, teaching us that in the mind of a brother those virtues should be as extensive as the blue arch of heaven itself. It is, therefore, the only color, except white, which should be used in a Master Mason's lodge. Besides the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, this color is also to be found in several other degrees, especially of the Ancient and Accepted rite, where it bears various symbolic significations; all, however, more or less related to its original character, as an emblem of universal friendship and benevolence. This tincture was held in high veneration among all the nations of antiquity. It symbolically expressed heaven, the firmament, truth, constancy, and fidelity.

 

2. PURPLE, being formed by a due admixture of blue and scarlet, is intended to remind us of the intimate connection and harmony that exists between symbolic Masonry and the Royal Arch degree. In the religious services of the Jews purple is employed on several occasions. It is one of the colors of the curtains of the tabernacle, and is symbolical of the element of water. It is also used in the construction of the ephod and girdle of the High Priest, and the cloths for divine service. Among the Gentile nations of antiquity purple was considered rather as a color of dignity than of veneration, and was deemed an emblem of exalted office. Pliny says it was the color of the vestments worn by the early

 

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kings of Rome, and it has ever since, even to the present time, been considered as the becoming insignia of regal or supreme authority.

 

3. SCARLET, RED or CRIMSON, for it is indifferently called by each of these names, is the appropriate color of the Royal Arch degree, and symbolically represents the ardor and zeal which should actuate all who are in possession of that sublime portion of Masonry. Scarlet was used as one of the veils of the tabernacle, and was an emblem of the elements of fire. Scarlet was, among the Jews, a color of dignity, appropriated to the most opulent or honorable. In the middle ages, those Knights who engaged in the wars of the crusades, and especially the Templars, wore a red cross as a symbol of their willingness to undergo martyrdom for the sake of religion. Scarlet is in the higher degrees of Masonry as predominating a color as blue is in the lower. These three colors - BLUE, PURPLE and SCARLET - were called, in the early English lectures, the "old colors of Masonry," and were said to have been selected "because they are royal, and such as the ancient kings and princes use to wear; and sacred history informs us that the veil of the temple was composed of these colors."

 

4. WHITE is one of the most ancient as well as most extensively diffused of the symbolic colors. It is to be found in all the ancient mysteries, where it constituted, as it does in Masonry, the investure of the candidate. It always, however, and everywhere has borne the same significance, as the symbol of purity and innocence. White was the color of one of the curtains of the tabernacle, where it was a symbol of the element of earth. Among the ancients the highest reverence was paid to this color. It was, in general, the garment of the Gentile as well as of the Hebrew priests in the performance of their sacred rites. It is regarded as the emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, joy, and life. In the judge, it indicates integrity; in the sick man, humility; in the woman, chastity. We see, therefore, the propriety of adopting this color in the Masonic system, as a symbol of purity. This symbolism commences in the York rite, where the lambskin or white apron is presented to the Entered Apprentice as an emblem of purity of life and rectitude of conduct, and terminates in the Ancient and Accepted rite, where the Sovereign Inspectors of the thirty‑third degree are invested with a white scarf as an emblem of that virtuous deportment, above the tongue of all reproach, which should distinguish the possessors of that exalted grade.

 

5. BLACK. As white is universally the emblem of purity, so black, in the Masonic ritual, is constantly the symbol of grief. This is perfectly consistent with its use in the world, where black has, from remote antiquity, been adopted as a garment of mourning. In Masonry this color is confined to but a few degrees, but everywhere has the same single meaning of sorrow. Black is in the world the symbol of the earth, darkness, mourning, wickedness, negation, death, and was appropriate to the

 

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Prince of Darkness. White and black together signify purity of life, and mourning or humiliation.

 

6. GREEN, as a Masonic color, is confined to a few of the degrees. It is employed as a symbol of the immutable nature of truth and victory. In the evergreen the Master Mason finds the emblem of hope and immortality. In all the ancient mysteries, this idea was carried out, and green symbolized the birth of the world, and the moral creation of resurrection of the initiate.

 

7. YELLOW. Of all the Masonic colors, yellow appears to be the least important, and the least used. It is a predominating color in a few of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted rite. It was a significant symbol of the sun, of the goodness of God, of initiation or marriage, faith, or faithfulness. In an improper sense, yellow signifies inconstancy, jealousy, and deceit.

 

585 - How should a Masonic Hall be built and located?

 

            Masonic Hall. A Masonic hall should be so isolated, and, if possible, surrounded with lofty walls, so as to be included in a court, and apart from any other buildings, as to preclude the possibility of being overlooked by cowans or eavesdroppers; for Freemasonry being a secret society, the curiosity of mankind is ever on the alert to pry into its mysteries, and to obtain by illicit means, that knowledge which is freely communicated to all worthy applicants. As, however, such a situation in large towns, where Masonry is usually practiced, can seldom be obtained with convenience to the brethren, the lodge should be formed in an upper story; and if there be any contiguous buildings, the windows should be either in the roof, or very high from the floor.

 

586 - Under what circumstances do the orphans of a Mason forfeit their claim to Masonic relief?

 

            Masonic Relief for Orphans. The orphans of a brother Mason are of course entitled to the protection of the Order, so long as their unprotected situation needs that protection. Boys, on arriving at adult age, and girls when they marry, place themselves, I think, in that situation which exonerates the Order from their further protection. A hale and hearty man of twenty‑five could scarcely venture to claim relief from the Order, on the ground that he was the son of a Mason; nor could the wife of a man, in a similar worldly condition, make the same request, from the fact that she was a Mason's daughter. The widows and orphans of Masons are, I suppose, entitled to the charities of the institution only while they remain widows and orphans. A second marriage necessarily dissolves widowhood, and by the custom of language, the idea of orphanage is connected with that of childhood and youth. The condition is lost on arrival at adult age.

 

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587 - On what date does the Masonic year begin?

 

            Masonic Year. Freemasons date their year according to Mosaic chronology, or from the creation of the world, thus four thousand years more than the common calendar shows. The Masonic year does not commence on the first of January, but on the twenty‑fourth of June. But this way of reckoning is only usual in the writings of the Order.

 

588 - When is it useless to profess a knowledge of Freemasonry?

 

            Masonry. It is useless to profess a knowledge of Freemasonry, if we do not frame our lives according to it. It is not enough to be acquainted with its doctrines and precepts, if we fail to reduce them to practice. In such a case, our knowledge will rather tend to our dishonor in this world, and will certainly be an additional article of accusation against us in the next. It would be very unreasonable to doubt the beneficial effects of our Masonic precepts; but to admit them to be true, and yet act as if they were false, would be unwise in the highest degree. I will not, however, do my brethren the injustice to believe that many of them are capable cf such a perversion of reason. And it is my firm persuasion that they who practice the duties which Freemasonry teaches, in conjunction with the faith propounded in their religion, will inherit that eternal city of God, where they will be associated with a holy and happy fraternity of brotherly love for ever and ever.

 

589 - What is the degree of a Mason's daughter?

 

            Mason's Daughter. This degree, conferred on Master Masons, their wives, sisters, and daughters, in some things resembles the degree of Martha of the American Adoptive rite. The Scripture lesson of the degree is selected from the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the Gospel of St. John.

 

590 - In what direction does a "Mason's Wind" blow?

 

            Mason's Wind. At the building of King Solomon's Temple, a Mason's wind was said to blow favorably when it was due east and west, because it was calculated to cool and refresh the men at labor.

 

591 - What should be the intellectual qualifications of the Master of a Lodge?

 

            Master, Intellectual Qualifications of. Intellectually, he must be "of great skill." Much stress is thus laid upon the mental qualifications. Ile who desires to be the Master of a Masonic Lodge must not be satisfied with a moderate share of skill. His knowledge and attainments must be great. If he proposes to be a teacher, he must thoroughly comprehend the subject which he intends to teach, and by the fluency and readiness which education gives, be capable of communicating his instructions in a pleasing and impressive manner. "A man of education and talents," says Dalcho, "will eludicate with admirable beauty,

 

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perspicuity and interest, the origin and progress of the arts in different ages, the development of genius in the organization of our Order, and the adaptation of the system to the wants and happiness of man... . He will, in short, speak upon literary and scientific subjects as a Master; he will understand what he professes to teach, and consequently he will make himself understood by others. All will listen to him with delight, and all will be benefited by his instructions." This passage was written nearly half a century ago, and since then the developments of the Ma‑sonic system in this country have required a still greater amount of intellectual qualification than has been described by Dalcho. An educated man, however well skilled in general literature and science, will make an incompetent Master of a Lodge, if he does not devote his attention to the peculiar science of our Order. If Masonry be as it is defined, "a science of morality, clothed in allegory and illustrated by symbols," it is evident that a successful teacher (and the Master is, in an emphatic sense, a teacher) must qualify himself by a diligent investigation of these symbols and allegories - the myths and legends of Masonry - their mystical application, and the whole design of the institution in this, its most important feature, must constitute his study.

 

592 - What does the Master Mason represent?

 

            Master Mason. The Master Mason represents man, when youth, manhood, old age, and life itself, have passed away as fleeting shadows, yet raised from the grave of iniquity, and quickened into another and a better existence. By its legend and all its ritual, it is implied that we have been redeemed from the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution. "The ceremonies and the lecture," says Dr. Crucefix, "beautifully illustrates this all‑engrossing subject; and the conclusion we arrive at is, that youth, properly directed, leads us to honorable and virtuous maturity, and that the life of man, regulated by morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour, by the prospect of eternal bliss."

 

593 - Why is the choice of Master so important to a Lodge?

 

            Master of a Lodge. The presiding officer of a Lodge of Free‑masons, whose style is "Worshipful." In the whole series of offices recognized by the Masonic institution, there is not one more important than that of the Master. Upon the skill, integrity and prudence of the presiding officer, depend the usefulness and welfare of the lodge. To be‑come the Master of a Lodge, with the title "worthy and well qualified," is a legitimate object of ambition for every young brother who takes an interest in the prosperity of the society. The powers of the Master are very great; far more varied and positive than those of any organization now in existence. From his decisions there can be no appeal to the Lodge; he is amenable for his conduct to the Grand Master or the

 

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Grand Lodge. Equally important with the proper qualifications for the discharge of the duties of the Master, are experience, a thorough knowledge of the ritual and the parliamentary rules of the Craft, the service of a full term as Warden, except in the case of a newly‑constituted lodge, when there is no Warden or Past Master to serve; a legal election; a compliance with the covenants of the installation service and induction into the oriental chair. The prerogatives of the Master of a lodge are:

 

1. To congregate or assemble his lodge;

2. To preside therein;

3. To fill temporary vacancies in office;

4. To regulate the admission of visitors;

5. To control and terminate discussions;

6. To determine all questions of order and the order of business, without appeal, except to the Grand Lodge or Grand Master;

7. To appoint all committees;

8. To open and close the Lodge;

9. To be the custodian of the warrant;

10. To order the issuing of summonses, and compel the attendance of members;

11. To give the casting vote in case of a tie, in addition to his own vote;

12. To sign all drafts upon the Treasurer for the payment of Lodge expenses, with the consent of the lodge;

13. To refuse to initiate a candidate, if, in his judgment, such initiation would be improper;

14. In company with the Senior and Junior Wardens to represent the lodge at all communications of the Grand Lodge;

15. To appoint the Senior Deacon, and such other officers as may be prescribed in the by‑laws of the lodge;

16. To install his successor and assist in conferring the official Past Master's degree.

 

His duties are - to attend all communications of the lodge; to open the lodge at the time designated in the by‑laws, and close it at a reason‑able hour; to preserve order in the lodge; to obey, enforce and defend the landmarks, the laws and edicts of the Grand Lodge, the orders of the Grand Master, and the by‑laws of the lodge; to preserve the charter of the lodge, and transmit it to his successor; to perform the ritualistic work of Masonry, and instruct the brethren; to cause an investigation into all Masonic offienses committed by the initiated candidates, by members of the lodge, or by Masons residing within the jurisdiction of the lodge; to visit the sick, and perform the Masonic burial service over the remains of a deceased member of the lodge; to perfect himself in the ritual, laws and usages of the order; to use his best endeavors to preserve and promote peace and harmony in the lodge, and, by his Masonic deportment in and out of the lodge, be a good example to the brethren. He is exempt from discipline for his official acts, except to the Grand Lodge. He cannot dimit or resign during his term of office, for if a vacancy should occur in the office of Master, by death or removal from the jurisdiction, the Senior Warden assumes, by virtue of immemorial practice, all the prerogatives and responsibilities of that officer. His jewel is the square, because, as that instrument is dedicated to the Master, and is the proper Masonic emblem of office, it symbolically teaches him official and individual responsibilities, to regulate his ac‑

 

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tions by rule and line, and to harmonize his conduct by the principles of morality and virtue, so that no ill‑feeling or angry discussions may arise to impair the harmony and good fellowship that should ever distinguish a Masonic Lodge, for he "Who wears the Square upon his breast, Does in the sight of God attest, And in the face of man, That all his actions will compare With the Divine, th' unerring square, That squares great virtue's plan." - Morris.

 

The jewels, furniture and other property of the lodge are in his charge and he has a general control over all its affairs.

 

594 - What are the duties of a Master of Ceremonies?

 

            Master of Ceremonies. An officer first instituted at the court of England, in

1603, for the more honorable reception of Ambassadors and persons of distinction. This officer is found in most of the lodges in England and on the continent, and has lately found a place in the lodges of the United States. He precedes the Senior Deacon when con‑ducting the candidate.

 

595 - What are the qualifications of a Master?

 

            Master, Qualifications of. Invested with such important prerogaatives, it is to be expected that the qualifications required of such an officer must be in a corresponding degree. The Master of a Lodge is, in fact, he who, as his Latin name Magister imports, should have, more than others, magis quam coeteris, the care and control of those over whom he has been placed, and who, with more of power, should also be distinguished by more of virtue and more of wisdom than his brethren. "Those," says Festus, "are called Masters upon whom the chief care of things devolves, and who, more than the others, should exercise diligence and solicitude in the matters over which they preside." The proper qualifications of the Master of a Lodge are laid down in the installation service as follows: He is required to be "of good morals, of great skill, true and trusty, and a lover of the whole fraternity." There is much significance in this language: it portrays the qualifications of a Master under the three‑fold heads of moral, intellectual, and social.

 

596 - At what age can one become a Mason?

 

            Mature Age. The Order of Free and Accepted Masons should consist solely of men of mature age, and it is in accordance with this rule that young men and boys are denied admittance. In the ancient charges of the English Constitution Book, under date

29th December, 1729, it is

 

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laid down as a rule that no person shall be initiated under twenty‑five years of age. At present most lodges initiate at an earlier period, usually twenty‑one. The son of a Freemason, called Lewis, is allowed to be initiated sometimes even earlier.

 

597 - What is a mausoleum?

 

            Mausoleum. A general designation of any superb and stately sepulchral monument. The name is derived from the tomb erected at Halicarnassus by Artemisia, to the memory of her husband Mausolus, king of Caria, B. C. 353. It was one of the most magnificent monuments of the kind, and was esteemec one of the seven wonders of the world. When the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, in 1404, took possession of the site of Halicarnassus, then occupied by a small village, called Clessy, they discovered while excavating among the ruins for building materials, a large chamber with marble pilasters, and with richly inlaid panes. The sarcophagus of the founder was also discovered; fragments of lions, dogs, etc., and a beautiful sculpture of a horse, were also found. Mausoleums of rare beauty and strength, bearing Masonic symbols and sentiments of fraternal affection, have been erected in several parts of Europe and America.

 

598 - Of what importance are Masonic medals?

 

            Medals, Masonic. This term is applied to pieces of metal, of various forms, but generally similar to coins, not intended for circulation as money, or means of exchange, struck and distributed in commemoration of some important event. The study and a thorough knowledge of medals recognized by the Craft, especially those bearing emblems and perpetuating valuable Masonic historical eras or events, are indispensable to prevent our ancient legends, traditions and history from falling into decay or passing into oblivion. So far as our investigations have extended in Masonic medals or numismatics, there is nothing extant in this department earlier than the eighteenth century. This may be explained from the fact that before that period the ancient or operative form of the institution existed; then Masons made their medals of mighty blocks of stone; their symbols were wrought in the ground‑plans of extensive and beautiful edifices; their marks were deeply cut upon the living rocks "with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever." The first Masonic medal of which we have any account was struck about A. D. 1733. Its history is substantially as follows: In 1733 a Lodge was established at Florence, by Lord Charles Sackville, son of Lionel Granville Sackville, great grandson of Thomas Sackville, who, in 1561, was Grand Master of the Masons acknowledging the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge at York. This Lodge was not founded by regular authority; certainly there was no order for it by the Grand Lodge of England, then governed by James Lyon, Earl of Strathmore. The for‑

 

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mation of the Lodge, however, was the origin of this medal, a copy of which exists in the valuable collection of Masonic medals in possession of the Lodge Minerva of the Three Palms, at Leipsic. The obverse has a bust of Lord Sackville, with the inscription, "Carolvs Sackville, Magister. FL" The reverse exhibits Harpocrates, the god of science, who as the son of Isis and Osiris, stood at the entrance of most Egyptian and Roman temples, in his well‑known attitude, leaning upon a broken column, with the fore‑finger of his right hand, the emblem of silence, upon his lips, and holding in his left arm the cornucopia, filled with the rich fruits of the earth. A cubic block, around which are grouped the stone‑hammer, the compasses, the square, the level, the chisel, the plumb and mallet, is at his feet. The thyrsus, staff and the serpent rest behind him. The motto is Ab Orgine, "from the beginning." An immensely large number of Masonic medals have been struck for as many memorable occasions during the past century; even a brief notice of which would be very far beyond our limits to give. Medals are frequently given to brothers as a reward for efficient official services and distinguished Masonic virtues.

 

599 - What is the symbolism of meeting of the level?

 

            Meet on the Level. In the Prestonian lectures as practiced in the beginning of this century, it was said that Masons met on the square and hoped to part on the level. In the American system of Webb a change was made, and we were instructed that they meet on the level and part on the square. And in 1842 the Baltimore Convention made a still further change, by adding that they act by the plumb; and this formula, although quite modern, is now generally adopted by the lodges in this country.

 

The level is an emblem of equality, because with God there is no respect of persons, and in his sight all men are equal, liable to the same infirmities, redeemed by the same Savior, subject to the same death and judgment. This is the sense in which Masons understand the quality of members in tiled lodges.

 

The level distinguishes the Senior Warden to remind him that while he presides over the labors of the lodge by command of the Worshipful Master, as the Junior Warden does over its refreshments, it is his duty to see that every brother meets upon the level, and that the principle of equality is preserved during the work, without which harmony, the chief support of our institution, could not be maintained in its purity and usefulness.

 

600 - By what attitude should Masonic meetings be characterized?

 

            Meetings. Our meetings, when conducted according to the true spirit of the Order, are characterized by an emulation to excel in wisdom and the knowledge of practical virtue. The instruction incessantly If,

 

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poured from the Master's chair should be derived from an ample and exhaustless mine, stored with the richest gems of morality and religion, to reform the manners, and cultivate genial propensities in the mind.

 

601 - How may an unworthy brother of a foreign jurisdiction be dealt with?

 

            Member of Foreign Jurisdiction. How is the evil to be remedied when an unworthy person, temporarily removing from his own home for that very purpose, shall have applied to a distant Lodge in another jurisdiction, and which, in ignorance of his true character, shall have admitted him? The answer is plain. On his return to his usual residence, as a Mason, he comes at once under the jurisdiction of the nearest Lodge; and if his unworthiness and immorality continues, he may be tried and expelled. The remedy, it is true, entails the additional trouble of a trial on the Lodge, but this is a better course than by declaring his making illegal, to violate the principles of Masonic jurisprudence, and to act discourteously to a neighboring jurisdiction.

 

602 - What is the status of a Mason who has withdrawn from his Lodge?

 

            Membership. A Mason may withdraw from his lodge, but the membership remains inviolable. The true Mason considers, as one of his most sacred duties, the exact fulfilment of the engagements which bind him to his rite, the lodge from whence he first received the light and the Masonic body from which he received his powers. He cannot be relieved from his obligations, except by the Masonic power with which he made his engagements and according to the Masonic laws which he has sworn to observe and respect. Every attempt which may have for its object to compel a Mason, either by persecution or violence, to quit a rite to which he belongs, is contrary to the spirit and laws of Masonry.

 

603 - How long may an elected Master Mason postpone signing the by‑laws?

 

            Membership, Postponement of. How long after his election does the right of signing the by‑laws inure to the candidate; in other words, how long is it after his reception that the recipient may still come for‑ward, and by affixing his signature to the by‑laws, avail himself of his right of membership, and without further application or ballot, be constituted a member of the Lodge in which he has been initiated?

 

Although the landmarks and ancient Constitutions leave us without any specific reply to this question, analogy and the just conclusions to be derived from the reason of the law are amply sufficient to supply us with an answer.

 

The newly made candidate, it has already been intimated, possesses the right to claim his membership without further ballot, on the reason‑able ground that, as he was deemed worthy of reception into the third degree, it would be idle to suppose that he was not equally worthy of admission into full membership; and we have seen that this was the  

 

MASONRY DEFINED          353 

 

reason assigned by the Grand Lodge of England for the incorporation of this provision into its constitution.

 

Now, this is undoubtedly an excellent and unanswerable reason for his admission to membership, immediately upon his reception. But the reason loses its force if any time is permitted to elapse between the reception of the degree and the admission to membership. No man knows what a day may bring forth. IIe that was worthy on Monday, may on Tuesday have committed some act by which his worthiness will be forfeited. It may be true, as the Roman satirist expresses it, that no man becomes suddenly wicked; and it may be reasonable to suppose that, for some time after his initiation, the habits and character of the initiate will remain unchanged, and therefore that for a certain period the members of the Lodge will be justified in believing the candidate whom they have received to continue in possession of the same qualifications of character and conduct which had recommended and obtained his reception. But how are we to determine the extent of that period, and the time when it will be unsafe to predicate of the recipient a continuance of good character? It is admitted that after three months, it would be wrong to draw any conclusions as to the candidate's qualifications, from what was known of him on the day of his reception; and accordingly many Lodges have prescribed as a regulation, that if he does not within that period claim his right of membership, and sign the by‑laws, that right shall be forfeited, and he can then only be admitted upon application, and after ballot. But why specify three months, and not two, or four, or six? Upon what principle of ethics is the number three to be especially selected? The fact is, that the moment that we permit the initiate to extend the privilege of exercising his right beyond the time which is concurrent with his reception, the reason of the law is lost. The candidate having been deemed worthy of receiving the third degree, must, at the time of his reception of that degree, also be presumed to be worthy of membership. This is in the reason of things. But if a month, a week, or a single day is allowed to elapse, there is no longer a certainty of the continuance of that worthiness; the known mutability and infirmity of human character are against the presumption, and the question of its existence should then be tested by a ballot.

 

Again, one of the reasons why a unanimous ballot is required is, that a "fractious member" shall not be imposed on the Lodge, or one who would "spoil its harmony." Now, if A is admitted to receive the third degree on a certain evening, with the unanimous consent of all the Lodge, which must, of necessity, include the affirmative vote of B, then on the same evening he must be qualified for admission to membership, because it is not to be presumed that B would be willing that A should receive the third degree, and yet be unwilling to sit with‑ him in the Lodge as a fellow‑member; and therefore A may be admitted at once to membership, without a needless repetition of the ballot, which, of

 

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course, had been taken on his application for the degree. But if any length of time is permitted to elapse, and if after a month, for instance, A comes forward to avail himself of his right of admission, then he shall not be admitted without a ballot; because, between the time of his reception at the preceding meeting, and the time of his application at the subsequent one, something may have occurred between himself and B, a member of the Lodge, which would render him objectionable to the latter, and his admission would then "spoil the harmony" of the Lodge, and "hinder its freedom." The Regulation, therefore, adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, which prescribes that the candidate, to avoid a ballot, must express his wish to be received a member on the day of his initiation, that is, of his reception into the third degree, seems to be the only proper one. Any Regulation that extends the period, and permits the candidate to sign the by‑laws and become a member without a ballot, provided he does so within two or three months, or any other determined period extending beyond the day of his reception, is contrary to the spirit and tenor of the law, and is calculated to be sometimes of a mischievous tendency. If the candidate does not assert his right on the day of his reception into the third degree, he loses it altogether; and must, to acquire member‑ship, submit to a petition and ballot, as in the case of any other affiliation.

 

604 - Is a candidate for Masonry required to possess a liberal education?

 

            Mental Qualifications of Candidates. The ancient Constitutions are silent, except perhaps by implication, on the subject of the mental qualifications of candidates; and we are led to our conclusions simply by a consideration of the character of the institution and by the dictates of common sense, as to who are capable of appreciating the nature of our system, for they alone, it is to be suppose, are competent to become its disciples. The question which is first to be answered is what amount of talent and of mental cultivation are necessary to qualify a person for initiation l Dr. Oliver tells us that Masonry is an order "in which the pleasing pursuits of science are blended with morality and virtue on the one hand, and benevolence and charity on the other." And Lawrie declares that its object is "to inform the minds of its members by instructing them in the sciences and useful arts." Smith, Hutchinson, Preston, and other more recent writers, all concur in giving a scientific and literary character to the institution.

 

It does not, however, follow from this that none but scientific and literary men are qualified to be made Masons. To become a master of Masonic science - to acquire the station of a "teacher in Israel" - it is certainly necessary that there should be first laid a foundation of profane learning, on which the superstructure of Masonic wisdom is to be erected. But all Masons cannot expect to reach this elevated point; very MASONRY DEFINED          355  few aspire to it; and there must still remain a great mass of the Fraternity who will be content with the mere rudiments of our science. But even to these, some preparatory education appears to be necessary. A totally ignorant man cannot be even a "bearer of burdens" in the temple of Masonry.

 

The modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England are explicit on this subject; for, in describing the qualifications of a candidate, they say that "he should be a lover of the liberal arts and sciences, and must have made some progress in one or other of them." This rule, however, it is well known, is constantly disregarded; and men without any pretensions to liberal education are constantly initiated in England.

 

605 - What motives in appealing for membership do Masons regard as mercenary?

 

            Mercenary Motives. A candidate, in making his application, must be uninfluenced by mercenary motives. If the introduction of candidates under the influence of undue solicitation is attended with an injurious effect upon the institution, how much more fatal must be the results when the influence exerted is of a mean and ignoble kind, and when the applicant is urged onwards only by the degrading hopes of pecuniary interest or personal aggrandizement. The whole spirit of the Order revolts at the very idea of such a prostitution of its noble purposes, and turns with loathing from the aspirant who seeks its mysteries, impelled, not by the love of truth and the desire of knowledge, but by the paltry inducements of sordid gain.

 

"There was a time," says an eloquent and discerning Brother, "when few except the good and true either sought for or gained ad‑mission into Masonic Lodges, for it was thought that such alone could find their affinities there. Masons were then comparatively few, and were generally known and distinguished for those qualifications which the teachings of the Order require on the part of all who apply for ad‑mission. They were not of those who would make merchandise of its benefits, by prostituting them to the purposes of individual emolument. They were not of those who would seek through Masonic appliances to re‑invigorate a decaying reputation, and gain a prominency within the Lodge that was unattainable without it; or worse still, to use its influences to gain prominency elsewhere." But that which was unknown in the times when Masonry was struggling for its existence, and when prejudice and bigotry barely tolerated its presence, has now become a "crying evil" - when Masonry, having outlived its slanderers, and wrought out its own reputation, is to be classed among the most popular institutions of the day. And hence it becomes incumbent on every Mason closely to inquire whether any applicant for initiation is invited to his pursuit by a love of truth, a favor‑able opinion which he has conceived of the institution, and a desire.

 

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through its instrumentality, of benefiting his fellow creatures, or whether he comes to our doors under the degrading influences of mercenary motives.

 

606 - Why is the junior Warden's station in the south?

 

            Meridian Sun. The sun in the south is represented in Masonry 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 entitle him to the appellation which he receives in the ritual as "the beauty and glory of the day." Hence, as the Pillar of Beauty which supports the Lodge is referred to the Junior Warden, 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 dial‑plate as it crosses the meridian line.

 

607 - What alone entitled one to preferment at the building of King Solomon's Temple?

 

            Merit. At the building of King Solomon's temple, merit alone en‑titled to preferment; an indisputable instance of which we have in the Deputy Grand Master of that great undertaking, who, without either wealth or power - without any other distinction than that of being the widow's son - was appointed by the Grand Master, and approved by the people, for this single reason, because he was a skillful artificer.

 

608 - Why does a candidate find himself divested of all metals?

 

            Metal. Many men dote on the metals silver and gold with their whole souls, and know no other standard whereby to estimate their own worth, or the worth of their fellow‑beings, but by the quantity of these metals they possess, thereby debasing and degrading those qualities of the mind or spirit by which alone mankind ought to be estimated. He who wishes to be initiated into Freemasonry must be willing to relinquish all descriptions of metal, and all the adventitious circumstances of rank and fortune, for it is the man that is received into Freemasonry, not his rank or riches.

 

609 - What part have military Lodges had in Freemasonry?

 

            Military Lodges. Lodges established in an army. They are of an early date, having long existed in the British army. In America, the first lodge of this kind of which we have any record was one the War‑rant for which was granted by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in 1738, to Abraham Savage, to be used in the expedition against Canada. A similar one was granted by the same authority in 1756, to Richard Gridley, for the expedition against Crown Point. In both of these in‑stances the Warrants were of a general character, and might rather be considered as deputations, as they authorized Savage and Gridley to

 

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congregate Masons into one or more lodges. In 1779, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania granted a Warrant to Col. Proctor, of the artillery, to open a Military lodge, which in the Warrant is called a "Movable Lodge." In the Civil War in the United States between 1861 and 1865, many military lodges were established on both sides; but it is question‑able whether they had a good effect. They met, certainly, with much opposition in many jurisdictions. In England, the system of military lodges is regulated by special provisions of the Grand Lodge Constitution. They are strictly limited to the purposes, for which the War‑rants were granted, and no new lodge can be established in a regiment without the concurrence of the commanding officer. They cannot make Masons of any but military men who have attained some rank in the army above that of a private soldier, although the latter may by dispensation be admitted as Serving Brethren; and they are strictly enjoined not to interfere with the Masonic jurisdiction of any country in which they may be stationed. Military lodges also exist on the continent of Europe. We find one at Berlin, in Prussia, as far back as 1775, under the name of the "Military Lodge of the Blazing Star," of which Wadzek, the Masonic writer, was the orator.

 

610 - How is wisdom commonly personified?

 

            Minerva. Freemasons use the statue of Minerva, or open temples with her statue therein, as symbols of wisdom. Mythology teaches us that Jupiter opened his skull to bear Minerva, for this reason - she is the symbol of all thoughts that are formed in the head, and the protectress of the arts and sciences. She is generally represented as a young female in Grecian costume, and has an owl by her side, as a symbol of useful study and watchfulness.

 

611 - What records must be kept by a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Minute Book. Every lodge shall have its by‑laws fairly written, and shall also keep a book or books in which the Master, or some brother appointed by him as secretary, shall enter the names of its members, and of all persons initiated or admitted therein, with the dates of their proposal, admission, or initiation, passing, and raising; and also their ages, as nearly as possible, at that time, and their titles, professions or trades, together with such transactions of the lodge as are proper to be written.

 

612 - What is the penalty for misconduct in a Lodge?

 

            Misconduct. If any brother behave in such a way as to disturb the harmony of the lodge, he shall be thrice formally admonished by the Master, and if he persist in his irregular conduct, he shall be punished according to the by‑laws of that particular lodge, or the case may be reported to higher Masonic authority.

 

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613 - How may an Entered Apprentice forfeit his rights?

 

            Misconduct of Entered Apprentices. Whatever may be the rights of an Entered Apprentice, they are liable to forfeiture for misconduct, and he may be suspended, expelled, or otherwise Masonically punished, upon adequate cause and sufficient proof. An Apprentice may there‑fore be tried, but the trial must be conducted in the first degree; for every man is entitled to a trial by his peers. But as none but Master Masons can inflict punishment, since they alone now constitute the body of the craft, the final decision must be made in the third degree. He is also entitled to an appeal to the Grand Lodge, from the sentence of his Lodge, because the benign spirit of our institution will allow no man to be unjustly condemned; and it is made the duty of the Grand Lodge to see that the rights of even the humblest member of the Order shall not be unjustly invaded, but that impartial justice is administered to all.

 

 

614 - Why should moderation prevail in the government of a Lodge?

 

            Moderation. Towards the well‑governing of a lodge of Masons, I would recommend moderation in the superior officers and subordination in the brethren; for without mutual good will, equanimity of temper, and reciprocal forbearance, the superstructure will crumble to decay, and the lodge, sooner or later, be inevitably dissolved.

 

615 - What is contained in a Masonic Monitor?

 

            Monitor. A name given to books which contain the charges, regulations, emblems, and exoteric ceremonies of Freemasonry. Numerous works of this character have been published, some of them very valuable; works arranged on the principle that "the initiated know what is meant," which, by ingenious methods of suggestion, place before the mind of the intelligent Mason the whole ritual of the order, with its profound and varied meanings, while they reveal nothing to the profane.

 

616 - As moral architects, what are Masons taught?

 

            Moral Architects. As moral architects we build temples for every virtue; prisons and dungeons for vice, indecency, and immorality. We are disposed to every humane and friendly office; ever ready to pour oil and wine into the wounds of our distressed brethren, and gently bind them up (it is one of the principal ends of our institution), so that when those who speak evil or lightly of us shall behold our conduct, and see by our means the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the sick sustained and cherished - shall see our light so usefully shine - their evil‑speaking may be silenced, their foolish prejudices removed, and they may be convinced that Masonry is an useful and a venerable structure, supported by the great and everlasting pillars of Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.

 

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617 - What are the moral duties of a Mason?

 

            Moral Duties. The science of Freemasonry embraces every branch of moral duty, whether it be applied to God, our neighbor, or ourselves. This peculiarity in the system is expressly inculcated on every member of the Order at his first admission into a lodge, so anxiously has Free‑masonry provided against any mistake as to its peculiar tenets. No brother can be ignorant of the great points of Masonic duty, although he may be unacquainted with the minuter details. The traditions and peculiar doctrines which are included in the more abstruse portions of the lectures may have remained unexplored; but of its moral and religious tendency he cannot be uninformed.

 

618 - What are the moral privileges of Masonry?

 

            Morality. The morality of Masonry requires us to deal justly with others; not to defraud, cheat, or wrong them of their just dues or rights. But it goes farther; regarding all as the children of one great Father, it considers man as bound by piety, Masonic morality, and fraternal bonds, to minister to the wants of the destitute and afflicted; and that we may be enabled to fulfill this behest of humanity, it strictly enjoins industry and frugality, that so our hands may ever be filled with the means of exercising that charity to which our hearts should ever dispose us.

 

619 - What are the characteristics of the moral law?

 

            Moral Law. Writers on this subject have given to the moral law of nature three characters, which make it still more appropriate as a system for the government of a universal, ancient and unchangeable institution; for it is said in the first place to be eternal, having always existed - an "aeternum quiddam," as Cicero calls it - an eternal some‑thing, coeval with God. Next, it is universal; all mankind, of every country and religion, being subject to it, whence the Roman historian appropriately calls it "jus hominum," or the law of men. And lastly, it is immutable, which immutability necessarily arises from the immutability of God, the author of the law.

 

This moral law of nature being the code adopted for the government of the` Masonic fraternity, it is proper that some inquiry should be made into the nature of the duties which it enjoins, and the acts which it prohibits.

 

And, in the first place, the very existence of the law implies the existence of a Supreme Power, who must have enacted it, and of a responsibility to him for obedience to it. And hence the same charge which commences by declaring that a Mason is bound to obey the moral law, continues the precept by asserting, that if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist, nor an irreligious libertine. Atheism, therefore, which is a rejection of a Supreme, superintending Crea‑

 

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tor, and irreligious libertinism, which, in the language of that day, signified a denial of all moral responsibility, are offences against the moral law, because they deny its validity and contemn its sanctions; and hence they are to be classed as Masonic crimes. This is the only point of speculative theology with which Masonry interferes. But here it is stern and uncompromising. A man must believe in God, and recognize a moral responsibility to him, or he cannot be made a Mason; or if being made, he subsequently adopts these views, he cannot remain in the Order.

 

The first class of crimes which are laid down in the Constitutions, as rendering their perpetrators liable to Masonic jurisdiction, are offences against the moral law. "Every Mason," say the old Charges of 1722, "is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law." Now, this moral law is not to be considered as confined to the decalogue of Moses, within which narrow limits the ecclesiastical writers technically restrain it, but rather as alluding to what is called the lex naturae, or the law of nature. This law of nature has been defined by an able, but not recent writer on this subject, to be "the will of God, relating to human actions, grounded on the moral differences of things; and because discoverable by natural light, obligatory upon all mankind." This is the "moral law," to which the old Charge already cited refers, and which it declares to'be the law of Masonry. And this was wisely done, for it is evident that no law less universal could have been appropriately selected for the government of an institution whose prominent characteristic is its universality. The precepts of Jesus could not have been made obligatory on a Jew; a Christian would have denied the sanctions of the Koran; a Mohammedan must have rejected the law of Moses; and a disciple of Zoroaster would have turned from all to the teachings of his Zend Avesta. The universal law of nature, which the authors of the old Charges have properly called the moral law, because it is, as Conybeare remarks, "a perfect collection of all those moral doctrines and precepts which have a foundation in the nature and reason of things," is therefore the only law suited, in every respect to be adopted as the Masonic code.

 

620 - What is the moral philosophy of Masonry?

 

            Moral Philosophy. The moral philosophy of the Order refers to Ilim whose injunctions to his creatures are peculiarly applicable to the performance of Christian duty. It teaches that we owe a duty to God, which includes reverence for his name and attributes, veneration for his sacred character, and obedience to his just commands. It speaks of a duty to our neighbor; with whom we are directed to act on the square in all the transactions of life. It inculcates a duty to ourselves. We are expected to cultivate self‑knowledge and self‑respect. For this purpose, an attention to the four cardinal virtues is recommended, as well as the practice of every moral and social duty. Prudence should direct

 

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us; Temperance should chasten us; Fortitude support us, and Justice be the guide of all our actions. And in the course prescribed for the regulation of our conduct, we are directed to maintain in their fullest splendor those truly Masonic ornaments - Benevolence and Charity; and to imprint indelibly on our minds the sacred dictates of Truth, Honor, and Virtue.

 

621 - What moral qualifications are required in a candidate for membership in Freemasonry?

 

            Moral Qualifications. All the old Constitutions, from those of York in 926, to the Charges approved in 1722, refer, in pointed terms, to the moral qualifications which should distinguish a Mason, and, of consequence, a candidate who desires to be admitted into the Fraternity. The Charges of 1722 commence with the emphatic declaration that "a Mason is obliged by his tenure to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine." Obedience, therefore, to a particular practical law of morality and belief in certain religious dogmas, seem to constitute the moral qualifications of every candidate for admission into the Fraternity. The proper inquiry will then be into the nature of this law of conduct and these dogmas of belief.

 

The term "moral law," in a strictly theological sense, signifies the Ten Commandments which were given to the Jewish nation; but al‑though it is admitted that an habitual violator of the spirit of these laws would disqualify a man from being made a Mason, I am disposed to give a wider latitude to the definition, and to suppose that the moral law "denotes the rule of good and evil, or of right and wrong, revealed by the Creator and inscribed on man's conscience even at his creation, and consequently binding upon him by divine authority." Dr. Anderson, the compiler of the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, seems, in the latter part of his life, to have inclined to this opinion; for, in the second edition of the same work, published in 1738, he modified the language of the Charge above cited, in these words: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida," thus extending the limits of the law to those Precepts of Noah which are sup‑posed to be of universal obligation among all nations. It is true that on the publication of the third edition of the Constitution, in 1755, the Grand Lodge of England restored the original reading of the Charge; but the fact that the alteration had once been made by Anderson is strong presumptive evidence that he was unwilling to restrict the moral code of Masonry to the commandments set forth by the Jewish lawgiver. Apart from the fact that many learned and pious Christian divines have doubted how far the Jewish law is to be considered binding, except as it is confirmed by the express sanctions of the New Testament, the consideration that Masonry, being a cosmopolitan institution, cannot be

 

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prescribed within the limits of any particular religion, must lead us to give more extended application to the words "moral law," contained in the old Charge. Hence, then, we may say, that he who desires to be‑come a Mason, must first be qualified for initiation by a faithful observance of all those principles of morality and virtue which practically exhibit themselves in doing unto others as he would that they, in like circumstances, should do unto him. This constitutes the golden rule - the true basis of all moral law. The man who thus conducts himself will necessarily receive not only the reward of his own conscience, but the approbation and respect of the world; to which latter consequence, as an evidence of a well‑spent life, the ritual refers when it requires, as one of the qualifications of a candidate, that he should be "under the tongue of good report." The man who submits to this rule will of necessity observe the decalogue; not always because it is the decalogue, but because its dictates are the dictates of right and justice; and he will thus come strictly within the provisions of the old Charge, even in its most limited acceptation, and will of course "obey the moral law."

 

622 - What should be the moral qualifications of the Master of a Lodge?

 

            Moral Qualifications of a Master. He is required, in the first place, to be "of good morals." The teacher of the principles of virtue and morality, which it is the design of Freemasonry to inculcate, should himself be, if not an admirable pattern, at least not a notorious transgressor of those principles; for, as a distinguished member of the craft (Dr. Townsend, the Deputy Grand Master of Ireland) has remarked: "The most elegant homily against those vices for which the preacher is distinguished, falls dead upon the ear; the most graceful eulogy of virtue is but disgusting in the lips of a man whose conduct gives the lie direct to his words; but he who teaches good example, will ever be listened to with respect." But the Master is not only a teacher of his brethren, but he is their representative to the world, and it becomes peculiarly his duty, by his own exemplary conduct, to impress the world at large with a favorable opinion of the institution in which he holds so high a position, and of which his own exemplary or unworthy conduct will be considered by the uninitiated as a fair exponent. Mankind will very naturally presume that the members of a moral institution would hardly confer so important a trust upon an immoral or licentious brother, and they will judge of the nature and character of the Lodge by the behavior of its presiding officer.

 

623 - Why was the Temple built on Mount Moriah?

 

            Moriah. The name of the whole mountain, on the several hills and hollows of which the city of Jerusalem stood, was called Moriah, or Vision; because it was high land, and could be seen afar off, especially

 

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from the south, but afterwards that name was appropriated to the most elevated part of which the Temple was erected, and where Jehovah appeared to David. This mountain is a rocky limestone hill, steep of ascent on every side, except the north, and is surrounded on the other sides by a group of hills, in the form of an amphitheatre, which situation rendered it secure from the earthquakes that appear to have been frequent in the Holy Land, and have furnished the prophets with many elegant allusions.

 

624 - Of what is the mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

            Mosaic Pavement. The Mosaic pavement, so frequently alluded to in the rituals of the order as the ornaments of a Lodge, are the productions of artistic designs, by setting small and variously shaped stones, glass or wood of different colors, so as to give the effect of painting. The floor of the tabernacle and the pavement of Solomon's temple were thus ornamented. Mosaic or tesselated pavements were common among the ancients; the Egyptians, the Greeks and especially the Romans most ingeniously decorated the floors and walls of their temples in this manner. In commemoration of the flooring of the temple and tabernacle, the Mosaic pavement is always preserved as an ornament of the Masonic lodge, with the blazing star in the center, and the beautiful tesselated border surrounding the whole, as a symbol of the manifold blessings and comforts which constantly surround us. The Mosaic pavement of a Lodge is placed there as an emblem of the vicissitudes of human life; that however prosperity may favor us with smiles to‑day, it is uncertain how long it will continue to bless us. Adversity may come when we least expect it, and penury and distress may follow joy and pleasure. The latter period of life may be subjected to want and misery, when we are most unfit to encounter it; and instead of resting in peace after a long and troublesome journey, we may be compelled again to encounter the burden and heat of the day.

 

625 - Whence did Moses derive his wisdom?

 

            Moses. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; he was initiated in all the knowledge of the wise men of that nation by whom learning of antiquity had been retained and held sacred; wrapped up from the eye of the wicked and vulgar in symbols and hieroglyphics, and communicated to men of their own order only, with care, secrecy, and circumspection. This secrecy is not in any wise to be wondered at, when we consider the persecution which would have followed a faith unacceptable to the ignorance of the nations who were enveloped in superstition and bigotry. Moses purged divine worship of its mysteries and images, and taught the Jews the knowledge of the God of the Universe, unpolluted with the errors of the nations of the earth, and uncorrupted with the devices and ludicrous ceremonies in.

 

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stituted by the people of the east, from whom he derived his first knowledge of the Divinity.

 

626 - What building now occupies the site of King Solomon's Temple?

 

            Mosque of Omar, or the Noble Sanctuary. This splendid edifice on Mount Moriah covers a portion of the space once occupied by the more brilliant Temple of Solomon. It is believed to have been commenced by the Caliph Omar the first of that name, and father‑in‑law of Mohammed, between the years 638 and 644, and very much enlarged, beautified and enriched, in fact, quite rebuilt by the Caliph Abd‑el Melek, in

686. It was seven years in building: the Moslems believe it to stand over the rock on which Jacob was sleeping when he saw the vision of the heavenly ladder, but it is still more sacred to them, as to us, from having been the sacred rock beneath the altar of Solomon's Temple, whereon the daily sacrifice was offered. During the time of the Latin kingdom in Jerusalem this mosque became a Christian cathedral, where the service was daily sung and an altar erected on the summit of the rock. The building was called by the Crusaders the "Temple of the Lord." The fanciful and intricate patterns of the porcelain walls of the mosque, the graceful letters of the inscription round it, and the tracery of the windows are still more beautiful on a closer inspection - nothing can be more perfect of their kind, or more peculiarly charming than the harmony of the colors; the windows are filled with stained glass of the very richest and most brilliant colors, that even the palmiest days of the medieval ages could produce in Europe. Two rows of columns encircle the center, forming a double corridor, and support the clerestory and the dome: these colums have evidently belonged to some other building - their capitals are mostly of acanthus leaves. The rock itself is enclosed in a metal screen of lattice work about six feet high, and to it, we are told by the Bordeaux Pilgrim, in 333, the Jews came every year, anointing the stone with oil, wailing and rending their garments, thus proving its authenticity in their minds; it had been for many years polluted by an equestrian statue of the Emperor Adrian elevated on the very rock itself. The Bordeaux Pilgrim specially mentions that this rock adored by the Jews was pierced: below it is the "noble cave" spoken of in the Mishna, into which the blood, etc., from the altar drained, and descended thence by a conduit into the valley of Siloam, the gardens of which were enriched by this drainage.

 

627 - What is the proper title of a Grand Master of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Most Worshipful. The title of the presiding officer of a Grand Lodge, and sometimes applied to the body.

 

628 - What is the effect of frequent divisions in a Lodge?

 

            Motions. Let the Master of a lodge discourage, on all occasions, that itching propensity which incites a brother to make motions on in‑

 

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different or trifling subjects. Any motion, on which the lodge is divided, must be to a certain extent injurious, amongst so many various habits, views, and propensities, as usually constitute a lodge of Masons.

 

629 - What should be one's motive for seeking admission to a Lodge?

 

            Motives of Applicant. He who wishes to enter into the Order of Freemasonry should first be able to render unto himself a good and satisfactory account why he wishes to take that step. This is not easy. A man who is not a Freemason can only know the Order by hearsay, or by reading Masonic books, and it is rather a dangerous undertaking to join a society, with which a person is totally unacquainted. It is quite different to joining any other select society, who publish their rules and regulations, and the names of all their members, and by those means invite others to join their society. Freemasons, on the contrary, try to persuade no one to join their society, do not publish their rules or regulations, and the names of the members are very rarely known, and what is more, the candidate must submit himself to rules and regulations, the purport of which are entirely unknown unto him; it is true, that there is nothing in those rules contrary to the laws of God, or his duty to his king and country, as a good citizen of the state; but he who is not a Freemason cannot have any clear idea of what those duties are. What then are the motives sufficiently strong for admission into a comparatively unknown society? Those parties act the most prudently, who admit that they wish to join the Order, because as a useful and innocent society, it has enjoyed the protection of the state for such a number of years, because so many prudent men are members of the Order, and because, in general, the members distinguish themselves by the propriety of their manners, the uprightness of their business transactions, and the correctness of their moral conduct.

 

The presence of the internal qualifications of an applicant is to be discovered from the statements of the candidate himself; and hence by an ancient usage of the Order, which should never be omitted, a declaration to the necessary effect is required to be made by the candidate in the presence of the Stewards of the Lodge, or a committee appointed for that purpose, in an adjoining apartment, previous to his initiation. The oldest form of this declaration used in this country is that contained in Webb's Monitor, and is in these words: "Do you seriously declarC, upon your honor, before these gentle‑men, that, unbiased by friends and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself a candidate for the mysteries of Masonry?

 

"Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, before these gentlemen, that you are prompted to solicit the privileges of Masonry by a favorable opinion conceived of the institution, a desire of knowledge, and a sincere wish of being serviceable to your fellow creatures?

 

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"Do you seriously declare, upon your honor, before these gentlemen, that you will cheerfully conform to all the ancient established usages and customs of the Fraternity?" Some Grand Lodges have slightly added to the number of these questions, but the three above cited appear to be all that ancient usage warrants or the necessities of the case require.

 

630 - What is the symbolism of mouth to ear?

 

            Mouth to Ear. The Mason is taught by an expressive symbol to whisper good counsel in his brother's ear, and to warn him of approaching danger. "It is a rare thing," says Bacon, "except it be from a perfect and entire friend, to have counsel given that is not bowed and crooked to some ends which he hath that giveth it." And hence it is an admirable lesson, which Masonry here teaches us, to use the lips and the tongue only in the service of a brother.

 

631 - What are the movable jewels of a Lodge?

 

            Movable Jewels. The compasses, square, level and plumb are called the movable jewels, because they distinguish the officers of a lodge, and are transferable to their successors.

 

632 - Is there any secret religion in Freemasonry?

 

            Mysteries. The usages and customs of the ancients in their secret societies are called mysteries. If by mysteries we merely understand a secret religion, then, in the civilized part of the globe, there can be no mysteries, for God may be openly worshiped everywhere; but if by mysteries we understand secret ceremonies and doctrines, then we may say that there are still mysteries among Freemasons. But we do not call our secrets mysteries, and we thereby prove that with us there can be no secret religion. No one among us is a mystagogue, and our outward appearance has nothing mysterious about it.

 

The word mystery has given occasion to many improper impressions against our Masonic societies. Treason, infidelity, a charge of taking rash and unnecessary obligations have been laid to their responsibility, yet none of these charges have ever been substantiated by their persecutors. The word mystery has brought down anathemas from over‑zealous divines upon the heads of Masons, and has induced merciless governors to use their weapons against the Craft, when, upon a slight inquiry, the church as well as the state might be informed, that devotion to God, obedience to the state and to all superiors, brotherly love and universal charity are the principles which separate our Fraternity from all other secret societies which have of late years risen, to the degradation of religion, and to the danger of good order in society and the state.

 

633 - What is the mystic tie?

 

            Mystic Tie. That sacred and inviolable bond which unites men of the most discordant opinions into one band of brothers, which gives

 

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but one language to men of all nations and one altar to men of all religions, is properly, from the mysterious influence it exerts, denominated the mystic tie; and Freemasons, because they alone are under its influence, or enjoy its benefits, are called "Brethren of the mystic tie."

 

634 - What right has a Masonic Lodge with respect to its official title?

 

            Name for a Lodge. A Lodge has the right to select a name for itself. This is apparently a very unimportant prerogative; still, as it exists, it is necessary that it should be mentioned. The Grand Lodge selects the number, because it is by this that the Lodge is to be recognized in the registry of the jurisdiction. But the choice of a name is left to the members. This right is, however, subject to one restriction, that it shall be approved by the Grand Lodge, that the credit of the fraternity in every jurisdiction may be guarded from the assumption of absurd or inappropriate designations by ignorant brethren. Unless, however, there is something very palpably objectionable in the name, the Grand Lodge will hardly ever interfere with its selection. For the same reason no name can be changed after having been once adopted, unless with the consent and approbation of the Grand Lodge.

 

635 - What is the nature of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Nature of Grand Lodge. Lenning defines a Grand Lodge to be "the dogmatic and administrative authority of several particular Lodges of a country or province, which is usually composed of these particular Lodges, or of their deputies, and which deliberates for their general good." The Old Charges of 1722 gave a more precise definition, and say that "the Grand Lodge consists of, and is formed by, the Masters and Wardens of all the regular particular Lodges upon record, with the Grand Master at their head, and his Deputy on his left hand, and the Grand Wardens in their proper place." Both these definitions refer to an organization which is comparatively modern, and which dates its existence at a period not anterior to the beginning of the last century. Perfectly to understand the nature of a Grand Lodge, and to comprehend the process by which such a body has changed its character, from an aggregation of all the Masons living in a particular jurisdiction, to a representative body, in which all, except a select few, have been excluded from its deliberations, we must go back to the earlier published records that we possess of the history of the institution.

 

The duty, as well as the right of the craft, to hold an Annual Meeting, in which they might deliberate on the state of the Order, and make necessary general laws for its government, may be considered, in con‑sequence of its antiquity and its universality, to possess all the requisites of a Landmark.

 

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636 - What penalties safeguard the secrecy of the ballot?

 

            Negative. When any one is proposed to become a member, or any person to be made a Mason, if it appear upon casting up the ballot that he is rejected, no member or visiting brother shall discover, by any means whatsoever, who those members were that opposed his election, under the penalty of such brother being forever expelled from the lodge (if a member), and, if a visiting brother, of his being never more admitted as a visitor, or becoming a member; and immediately after a negative passes on any person being proposed, the Master shall cause the law to be read, that no brother present may plead ignorance.

 

637 - Where did the negroes get their work?

 

            Negro Lodges. The subject of lodges of colored persons, commonly called "Negro Lodges," was for many years a source of agitation in the United States, not on account, generally, of the color of the members of these lodges, but on account of the supposed illegality of their charters. The history of their organization was thoroughly investigated, many years ago, by Bros. Philip S. Tucker, of Vermont, and Charles W. Moore, of Massachusetts, and the result is here given, with the addition of certain facts derived from a statement made by the officers of the Lodge in 1827.

 

On the 20th of Sept., 1784, a Charter for a Master's Lodge was granted, although not received until 1787, to Prince Hall and others, all colored men, under the authority of the Grand Lodge of England. The lodge bore the name of "African Lodge, No. 429," and was situated in the city of Boston. This Lodge ceased its connection with the Grand Lodge of England for many years, and about the beginning of the present century its registration was stricken from the rolls of that Grand Lodge, its legal existence, in the meantime, never having been recognized by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, to which body it had always refused to acknowledge allegiance.

 

After the death of Hall and his colleagues, to whom the Charter had been granted, the lodge, for want of some one to conduct its affairs, fell into abeyance, or, to use the technical phrase, became dormant. After some years it was revived, but by whom, or under what process of Masonic law, is not stated, and information of the revival given to the Grand Lodge of England, but no reply or recognition was received from that body. After some hesitation as to what would be a proper course to pursue, they came to the conclusion, as they have themselves stated, "that, with what knowledge they possessed of Masonry, and as people of color by themselves, they were, and ought by rights to be, free and independent of other lodges." Accordingly, on the 18th of June, 1827, they issued a protocol, in which they said: "We publicly declare ourselves free and independent of any lodge from this day, and we will not be tributary or governed by any lodge but that of our own."

 

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They soon after assumed the name of the "Prince Hall Grand Lodge," and issued charters for the constitution of subordinates, and from it have proceeded all the lodges of colored persons now existing in the United States.

 

Admitting even the legality of the English charter of 1784, - which, however, is questionable, as there was already a Masonic authority in Massachusetts upon whose prerogative of jurisdiction such charter was an invasion it cannot be denied that the unrecognized self‑revival of 1827, and the subsequent assumption of Grand Lodge powers, were illegal, and rendered both the Prince Hall Grand Lodge and all the lodges emanated from it clandestine. And this has been the unanimous opinion of all Masonic jurists in this country.

 

638 - What is the Mason's duty toward his neighbor?

 

            Neighbor. Freemasonry instructs us in our duty to our neighbor, teaches us to injure him in none of his connections and in all our dealings with him, to act with justice and impartiality. It discourages defamation, it bids us not to circulate any whisper of infamy, improve any hint of suspicion, or publish any failure of conduct. It orders us to be faithful to our trusts, to deceive not him who relieth upon us, to be above the meanness of dissimulation, to let the words of our mouths be the thoughts of our hearts, and whatsoever we promise, religiously to perform.

 

639 - Are all Lodge members true Masons?

 

            Neutral. As all were not of Christ who called themselves Christians in the time of the apostles, so all are not Masons who have been initiated into the Order. A knowledge of signs, words and tokens, without an ability to apply them according to their proper design, can no more constitute a Mason, than the possession of working tools can make a man a carpenter, unless he knows how to use them. There are many erroneous opinions abroad on this point. A person procures initiation, and fancies that is all he wants. There never was a more fatal mistake. Initiation is but the hornbook of Masonry, and is only of the same use towards a knowledge of its principles, as the alpha‑bet is to those who desire to excel in literary attainments. If this consideration were duly enforced upon every candidate for Masonry, the Order would assume a different aspect, and its genuine lustre would be more universally displayed.

 

640 - Why are Masons required to affix their signatures to traveling certificates?

 

            Ne Varietur. That it may not be changed. When a brother receives a certificate from his Lodge he is required to write his name on the margin, so as to guard against imposture. Should a person claim to be a Mason, and present a certificate to a lodge he desired to visit,

 

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he would be asked to write his name in a book kept for the purpose. If the writing corresponded with the name - that is, was a fac simile of it - it would be a proof of the brother's identity; but if the hand writing were different it would be a proof that the person was an impostor, and had either stolen or found the certificate. These words, "ne varietur," refer to this practice.

 

641 - What limitations are fixed upon new Masonic legislation?

 

            New Law. No motion for a new law or regulation or for the alteration or repeal of an old one shall be made until it shall have been proposed in, or communicated to the appropriate Grand Lodge committee, nor until it shall have been handed up in writing to the Grand Master. After having been perused and found by him not to contain anything contrary to the ancient landmarks of the Order, the motion may be publicly proposed. If seconded, the question shall be put thereon for the opinion of the Grand Lodge. If approved and con‑firmed, at the next ensuing meeting of the Grand Lodge, it becomes a law of the society.

 

642 - Why do Lodges commonly meet at night?

 

            Night. Lodges, all over the world, meet, except on special occasions, at night. In this selection of the hours of night and darkness for initiation, the usual coincidence will be found between the ceremonies of Freemasonry and those of the Ancient Mysteries, showing their evident derivation from a common origin. Justin says that at Eleusis, Triptolemus invented the art of sowing corn, and that, in honor of this invention, the nights were consecrated to initiation. The application is, however, rather abstruse.

 

In the Bacchoe of Euripides, that author introduces the god Bacchus, the supposed inventor of the Dionysian mysteries, as replying to the question of King Pentheus in the following words: "Pentheus. - By night or day, these sacred rites perform'st thou? "Bacchus. - Mostly by night, for venerable is darkness"; and in all other mysteries the same reason was assigned for nocturnal celebrations, since night and darkness have something solemn and august in there which is disposed to fill the mind with sacred awe. And hence black, as an emblem of darkness and night, was considered as the color appropriate to the mysteries.

 

In the mysteries of Ilindustan, the candidate for initiation, having been duly prepared by previous purifications, was led at the dead of night to the gloomy cavern, in which the mystic rites were performed.

 

The same period of darkness was adopted for the celebration of the mysteries of Mithras, in Persia. Among the Druids of Britain and Gaul, the principal annual initiation commenced at "low twelve," or

 

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mid‑night of the eve of May‑day. In short, it is indisputable that the initiations in all the Ancient Mysteries were nocturnal in their character.

 

The reason given by the ancients for this selection of night as the time for initiation is equally applicable to the system of Freemasonry. "Darkness," says Oliver, "was an emblem of death, and death was a prelude to resurrection. It will be at once seen, therefore, in what manner the doctrine of the resurrection was inculcated and exemplified in the remarkable institutions." Death and the resurrection were the doctrines taught in the Ancient Mysteries; and night and darkness were necessary to add to the sacred awe and reverence which these doctrines ought always to inspire in the rational and contemplative mind. The same doctrines form the very groundwork of Freemasonry; and as the Master Mason, to use the language of Hutchinson, "represents a man saved from the grave in iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation," darkness and night are appropriate accompaniments to the solemn ceremonies which demonstrate this profession.

 

643 - Are nominations of Masonic officers lawful?

 

            Nomination. Literally the act of designating a person as a candidate for any particular office. Nominations for office are, by the usages of Masonry, unlawful, and should be so declared by the presiding officer whenever attempted. The election of officers in a Lodge to be strictly within the rules of Masonic consistency must be conducted upon the principles of secrecy. Fitness for a proper discharge of the duties of the office should be the only qualification to entitle the candidate, for Masonic preferment, to the suffrages of his brethren; and the brother so elected will be more honored in the silent yet appreciative action of his brethren than by an open showy acclamation.

 

644 - What is the effect of non‑affiliation upon the status of a Mason?

 

            Non‑Affiliation. The relation of a Mason to the Order is like that of a child to its parent - a relation which, having once been established, never can be obliterated. As no change of time, place, or circumstance can authorize the child to divest himself of that tie which exists between himself and the author of his existence - a tie which only death can sever - so nothing can cancel the relationship between every Mason and his Order, except expulsion, which is recognized as equivalent to Masonic death. Hence results the well‑known maxim of, "Once a Mason always a Mason." It follows, therefore, that an unaffiliated Mason is not divested, and cannot divest himself, of all his Masonic responsibilities to the fraternity in general, nor does he forfeit by such non‑affiliation the correlative duties of the craft to him which arise out of his general relation to the order. He is still bound by certain oblintions. which cannot be cancelled by any human authority; and by

 

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similar obligations every Mason is bound to him. These obligations refer to the duties of secrecy and of aid in the hour of imminent peril. No one denies the perpetual existence of the first; and the very language  - giving no room for any exceptions in its phraseology - in which the latter is couched leaves no opportunity for reservations as to affiliated Masons only.

 

Bro. Albert Pike, in his report to the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, while discussing this subject, says: "If a person appeals to us as a Mason in imminent peril, or such pressing need that we have not time to inquire into his worthiness, then, lest we might refuse to relieve and aid a worthy Brother, we must not stop to inquire as to anything." But I confess that I am not satisfied with this argument, which does not take the highest view of the principle. We are to give aid in imminent peril when Masonically called upon, not lest injustice may be done if we pause to inquire into the question of affiliation, but because the obligation to give this aid, which is reciprocal among all Masons, never has been, and never can be, cancelled.

 

It may be said that in this way an expelled Mason may also receive aid. I reply, that if I do not know his position, of course I am not to stop and inquire. Here the reasoning of Bro. Pike holds good. In imminent peril we have no time to inquire into the question of worthiness. But if I know him to be an expelled Mason, I am not bound to heed his call, for an expelled Mason is legally a dead Mason, or no Mason at all. But an unaffiliated Mason is not in that position, and this makes all the difference. The only way to cut the Gordian knot of these difficulties is for Grand Lodges to expel all unaffiliated Masons who can give no sufficient excuse for their non‑affiliation. There is no legal objection to this course, provided a due course of trial, in each case, is pursued. Then, and then only, will unaffiliated Masons become in the legal sense unworthy; and then, and then only, will they lose all the Masonic rights which they had originally possessed by their relations to the Order.

 

645 - What is the effect of non‑affiliation on the relation of a Mason to his Lodge?

 

            Non‑affiliation in Relation to Lodge. There is a wide difference in the result of non‑affiliation, on the relations which exist between a Mason and the Order generally, and those which exist between him and the Lodges of the Order. With the latter all connection is severed, but nothing can cancel his relations with the former except Masonic death,; that is to say, expulsion. When the question between two Masons is in reference to any mutual duties which result from membership in a Lodge - as, for instance, when it is a question of the right of visit - then it is proper to inquire into the matter of affiliation, because that affects these duties; but when it is in reference to any duties or obliga‑

 

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tions which might be claimed even if Lodge organization did not exist - such, for instance, as assistance in imminent peril - then there can be no inquiry made into the subject of affiliation; for affiliation or non‑affiliation has no relation to these duties.

 

But it has been said that non‑affiliation is a Masonic offence, and that he who is guilty of it is an unworthy Mason, and as such divested of all his rights. It is admitted, most freely, that non‑affiliation is a violation of positive Masonic law; but it does not follow that, in the technical sense in which alone the word has any Masonic legal meaning, an unaffiliated Mason is an unworthy Mason. He can only be made so by the declaration, in his particular case, of a legally constituted Lodge, after due trial and conviction. But this question is so well argued by the Committee on Jurisprudence of the Grand Lodge of Virginia that I do not hesitate to cite their language.

 

"All who have spoken or written upon the subject, proclaim him (the unaffiliated Mason) an unworthy Mason; but they, and ten times their number, do not make him so, in their individual relation, for the obvious reason that he cannot, individually, absolve himself from such duties as he owes to the institution; so the fraternity, acting in their individual capacity, cannot absolve themselves from their duties to him; and as it is only by a just and legal Lodge, acting in its chartered capacity, and under the injunctions of the Constitutions of Masonry and By‑Laws of Grand Lodges, that he can be invested with the rights and benefits of Masonry, and pronounced worthy; so it is only by the same power, acting in the same character, and under the same restrictions, that he can be disfranchised of these rights and benefits, and pronounced unworthy."

 

646 - Does a Lodge have power to make Masons of residents of other jurisdictions?

 

            Non‑residents. A few Grand Lodges have extended their regulations on this subject to what I cannot but conceive to be an indefensible limit, and declared that residents of their own jurisdiction, who have thus been initiated in foreign states, shall be deemed to be illegally or clandestinely made, and shall not, on their return home, be admitted to the rights of Masonry, or be recognized as Masons.

 

This regulation, I have said, is indefensible, because it is exercising jurisdiction, not simply over Lodges and Masons, but also over the profane, for which exercise of jurisdiction there is and can be no authority. The Grand Lodge of Missouri, for instance, may declare whom its Lodges may, and whom they may not initiate, because every Grand Lodge has supreme jurisdiction over its subordinates; but it cannot prescribe to a profane that he shall not be initiated in the State of New York, if the Grand Lodge of that state permits one of its sub‑ordinates to receive him, because this would be exercising jurisdiction,

 

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not only over a Lodge in another state, but over persons who are not members of the Craft. If the Grand Lodge of New York should permit the initiation of non‑residents, there is no authority to be found in the Landmarks or Constitutions of the Order under which the Grand Lodge of Missouri could claim to interfere with that regulation, or forbid an uninitiated citizen of St. Louis from repairing to New York and applying for initiation. Missouri may declare that it will not initiate the residents of New York, but it cannot compel New York to adopt a similar rule.

 

Well, then, if New York has the power of enacting a law permitting the initiation of non‑residents, or if, which is the same thing, she has enacted no law forbidding it, then clearly such initiation is legal and regular, and the non‑residents so made must everywhere be considered as regular Masons, entitled to all the rights and privileges of the fraternity. The Grand Lodge of Missouri, then (to follow up the special reference with which this argument was commenced), cannot, under any color of law or reason, deny the validity of such making, or refuse the rights of Masonry to a candidate so made.

 

647 - Why are candidates placed in the northeast corner?

 

            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 Masonry which enable the true Mason 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 man and Mason, the representative of a spiritual cornerstone, on which he is to erect his future moral and Masonic edifice.

 

This symbolic reference of the cornerstone of a material edifice to a Mason 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" cornerstone. The squareness of its surfaces, emblematic of morality, 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

 

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of purity and holiness of life, which, just at that time and in that place, the candidate is most impressively charged to maintain.

 

 

648 - How much time must elapse between the return of a petition and final action thereon?

 

            Notice. A petition, after being submitted to a committee, cannot be acted on until the next regular meeting, at which time the committee make their report. I say "at the next regular meeting," meaning thereby that one month must elapse between the reception of the petition and the final action of the Lodge. Some Lodges meet semi‑monthly. In this case the petition cannot be read and referred at one regular meeting, and final action taken at the next. The Regulation of 1721 is explicit on this subject, that previous notice must be given "one month before." The object of this probationary period is, as it is ex‑pressed in the Regulation, that there may be "due inquiry into the reputation and capacity of the candidate."

 

649 - What is the Masonic duty of obedience and how is it safeguarded?

 

            Obedience. The doctrine of obedience to constituted authority is strongly inculcated in all the Old Constitutions as necessary to the preservation of the association. In them it is directed that "every Mason shall prefer his elder and put him to worship." Thus the Mason obeys the order of his lodge, the lodge obeys the mandates of the Grand Lodge, and the Grand Lodge submits to the landmarks and old regulations. The doctrine of passive obedience and non‑resistance in politics, however much it may be supposed to be inimical to the progress of free institutions, constitutes undoubtedly the great principle of Masonic government. Such a principle would undoubtedly lead to an unbearable despotism were it not admirably modified and controlled by the compensating principle of appeal. The first duty of every Mason is to obey the mandate of the Master. But if that mandate should have been unlawful or oppressive, he will find his redress in the Grand Lodge, which will review the case and render justice. This spirit of instant obedience and submission to authority constitutes the great safeguard of the institution. Freemasonry more resembles a military than a political organization. The order must at once be obeyed; its character and its consequences may be matter of subsequent inquiry. The Masonic rule of obedience is like the nautical, imperative: "Obey orders, even if you break owners."

 

650 - What is an obelisk?

 

            Obelisk. A high, square‑sided and sharp‑pointed pillar, which is commonly erected in commemoration of some celebrated person or remarkable event. They are to be found among the Masonic emblems.

 

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651 - Has a member of a Lodge the right to object to the admission of a visitor?

 

            Objection to the Admission of a Visitor. The great object in all Masonry being the preservation of harmony among the Brethren, which our ritual properly declares to be "the support of all well regulated institutions," it has been deemed, by many excellent Masonic authorities, to be the prerogative of any member of a Lodge to object to the admission of a visitor when his relations to that visitor are of such a nature as to render it unpleasant for the member to sit in Lodge with the visitor. It is certainly much to be regretted that any such unkind feelings should exist among Masons. But human nature is infirm, and Masonry does not always accomplish its mission of creating and perpetuating brotherly love. Hence, when two Masons are in such an unmasonic condition of antagonism, the only question to be solved is  - the one being a contributing member and the other a visitor - whether shall the former or latter retire? Justice seems to require that the visitor shall yield his claims to those of the member. If the presence of both would disturb the harmony of the Lodge - and I know not how that harmony can be more effectually disturbed than by the presence of two Masons who are inimical to each other - then I cannot deny not only the right, but the duty of the Master, to forbid the entrance of one who, as a stranger and a visitor, has the slightest claims to admission, and whose rights will be the least affected by the refusal. If a visitor is refused admission, it is only his right of visit that is affected; but if a member be compelled to withdraw, in consequence of the admission of a visitor, whose presence is unpleasant to him, then all his rights of membership are involved, which of course include his right of voting at that communication on any petitions for initiation or membership, and on motions before the Lodge, as well as his right of advocating or op‑posing any particular measures which may become the subject of de‑liberation during the meeting. Hence, under the ordinary legal maxim, argumentum ab inconvenienci plurimum valet in lege, that is, "an argument drawn from inconvenience is of great force in law," it seems clear that the earnest protest of a member is sufficient to exclude a visitor. And to this we may add, that if by the old Regulation of 1721, every member present was to be allowed the expression of his opinion in reference to the admittance of a permanent member, because if one be admitted without unanimous consent, "it might spoil the harmony" of the'Lodge, then by analogy we are to infer that, for a similar reason, the same unanimity is expected in the admission of a visitor.

 

 

652 - What are some of the principal objects of Freemasonry?

 

            Objects. To communicate the blessings of which we are partakers; to contribute to the successful propagation of knowledge, virtue and peace, of the sciences and arts, and of whatever adorns social life; and to

 

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assert the advancement of human happiness, have ever been the great objects of Freemasonry.

 

653 - What objections have been made to Masonry?

 

            Objections. Objections have been urged against Freemasonry in all ages of its existence by those who were jealous of its secret influence, or envied the privileges of the favored individuals who had been initiated into its mysteries. But although refuted over and over again, the same objections recur at stated periods; being reproduced, as it should appear, for the purpose of fanning our zeal and keeping alive our interest in the institution. It is amusing, in studying the history of the Craft, to find the hackneyed arguments which were refuted by Hutchison, Calcott and others, in the last century, brought forward again and again by new candidates for the honor of an anonymous blow at the immortal giantess. Scarcely any novelty in the form of an objection is to be found. The censures have been chiefly confined to its secrecy, the exclusion of females and the obligations.

 

654 - What oblations were made toward the building of the Tabernacle?

 

            Oblations. The oblations which were made by the people towards the erection of the Tabernacle were so many types of the several graces of Christianity; the gold of Faith, the silver of Hope, the precious stones of Charity; the blue color of the hangings, denoting the lifting up our hearts to heaven, a privilege conveyed to mankind by the meritorious atonement of Jesus Christ; the purple, our warfare and tribulation for the sake of religion; and the crimson, or as the original words (tolag hath shani) signify, the double scarlet, the joint love of God and man.

 

655 - Can a Masonic obligation be enforced by the courts of law?

 

            Obligation. The solemn promise made by a Mason of 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 obligato 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 Mason is bound or tied to his Order. Hence the Romans called the military oath which was taken by the soldier his obligation, and hence, too, it is said that it is the obligation that makes the Mason. 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 Mason, 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 Masonry there is no such distinction. The Masonic obligation is that moral one which, although it cannot be enforced by the courts of law, is binding on the party who makes it, in

 

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conscience and according to moral justice. It varies in each degree, but in each is perfect. Its different 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.

 

656 - Of what was the tabernacle a type?

 

            Oblong. The Tabernacle, with its holy emblems, was a type of a Mason's lodge. It was an oblong square, and, with its courts and appendages, it represented the whole habitable globe. Such is also the extent of our lodges. The former was supported by pillars, and the latter is also sustained by those of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. They were equally situated due east and west. The sacred roll of God's revealed will and law was deposited in the Ark of the Covenant; the Name holy record is placed in a conspicuous part of our lodges. The altar of incense was a double cube; and so is our pedestal and stone of foundation. The covering of the Tabernacle was composed of three colors, as a representation of the celestial hemisphere; such also is the covering of a Masons' lodge. The floor of the Tabernacle was so holy that the priests were forbitten to tread upon it without taking off their shoes; the floor of the lodge is holy ground.

 

657 - Where were the three Grand Offerings of Masonry offered up?

 

            Offerings, The Three Grand. Offerings are gifts which man brings to the Deity, thus symbolically giving himself up to him. This was the first mode of openly recognizing the divinity, and a principal part of the service of God in all the religions of antiquity; and even to this day the inhabitants make offerings to the Supreme Being, as they make presents to their temporal lords. The idea that God has physical wants, and finds pleasure in food, drink, and perfumes, was the origin of such offerings, which took their character from the mode of life of those who presented them. The three grand offerings referred to in Masonry were those of Abraham, David and Solomon, which were presented on Mount Moriah. There Abraham offered up his son Isaac; there David built an altar, and offered thereon peace and burnt offerings to regain the favor of the Almighty, and move him to stay the plague which was destroying the people; and there Solomon, at the consecration of the temple, presented costly offerings to the Lord. These are the three grand offerings of Freemasonry.

 

658 - Why should the officers of a Lodge be chosen for merit?

 

            Office. If the superior officers of a lodge be unacquainted with the principles of the institution, it can scarcely be expected to prosper.

 

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Should the Master be ignorant of his work, the brethren will soon learn to despise his authority. To speak in the technical language of Masonry, if he be unpossessed of the art of drawing designs, how are the Fellow‑crafts to execute or the Apprentices to be instructed?

 

659 - What is the origin of the office of Deacon?

 

            Office of Deacon. In every Masonic Lodge there are two officers who are called Deacons; the one who sits in the east, on the right of the Master, is called the Senior Deacon, and the other, who sits in the west, on the right of the Senior Warden, is called the Junior Deacon. They are not elected to their respective offices, but are appointed - the Senior by the Master, and the Junior by the Senior Warden.

 

The title is one of great antiquity, and is derived from the Greek language, where it signifies an attendant or servant, and was used in this sense in the primitive church, where the Deacons waited upon the men, and stood at the men's door, and the Deaconesses at the women's door, to see that none came in or went out during the time of the oblation.

 

In the Lodges of France and Germany, except in those which work in the Scotch and York Rites, the office of the Deacons is not known; but their functions are discharged by other officers. In France they have an "expert" and a "Master of Ceremonies," and in Germany a "Master of Ceremonies" and a "preparer." While the two Deacons have one duty in common, that, namely, of waiting upon the Master and Wardens, and serving as their proxies in the active duties of the Lodge, the Senior Deacon being the especial minister of the Master, and the Junior of the Senior Warden, they have peculiar and separate duties distinctly appropriated to each.

 

660 - Can the office of Grand Master of Masons be abolished by a Grand Lodge?

 

            Office of Grand Master. In the first place, a Grand Lodge can make no regulation which is in violation of or contradictory to any one of the well settled Landmarks of the Order. Thus, were a Grand Lodge, by a new regulation, to abolish the office of Grand Master, such legislation would be null and void, and no Mason would be bound to obey it; for nothing in the whole Masonic system is more undoubted than the Landmark which requires ‑the institution to be presided over by such an officer. And hence this doctrine of the supremacy of the Land‑marks has been clearly admitted in the very article which asserts far Grand Lodges the power of making new regulations.

 

661 - What are the powers of a Lodge with reference to the election of its officers?

 

            Officers. A Lodge has the right to elect its officers. It is a Land‑mark of the Order that every Lodge should be governed by a Master

 

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and two Wardens, and that the secrecy of its labors should be secured by a tiler. These officers it is the inherent right of every Lodge to select for itself, and that right has never been surrendered to the Grand Lodge, and therefore is still vested in the Lodges, under such regulations as may from time to time be adopted. The other officers have been the creation of Grand Lodge regulations, and they vary in name and functions in different countries. But whatever may be the nature of the offices, the power of selecting the office‑bearers is always vested in the Lodges. There is no law in existence, nor ever was, which gives the Grand Lodge the power of selecting the officers of one of its subordinates.

 

But the mode and time, and many other circumstances incidental to the election, are regulated by the Grand Lodge; and this apparent interference with the rights of the Lodges has been wisely conceded, that strict uniformity in Lodge organization may exist in each jurisdiction, so far as its own limits extend.

 

662 - What are the usual officials of a Grand Lodge?

 

            Officers of a Grand Lodge. The officers of a Grand Lodge, if we look to their ritual importance, are either Essential or Accidental. The Essential Officers are the Grand Masters, the Grand Wardens, the Grand Treasurer, the Grand Secretary, and the Grand Tiler. All other officers are accidental, and most of them the result of comparatively recent Regulations.

 

But they are more usually divided into Grand and Subordinate Officers.

 

The Grand Officers are the Grand and Deputy Grand Masters, the Grand Wardens, Grand Treasurer, Grand Secretary and Grand Chap‑lain. To these, in many jurisdictions, has been added the office of Grand Lecturer.

 

The Subordinate Officers are the Grand Deacons, Grand Marshal, Grand Pursuivant, Grand Sword Bearer, Grand Stewards and Grand Tiler.

 

Committees of Foreign Correspondence, from their importance, seem also to be entitled to a place in the consideration of the officers of a Grand Lodge.

 

663 - What are the usual officials of a Lodge?

 

            Officers of a Lodge. Hutchinson very properly says that, in our institution, some must of necessity rule and teach, and others learn to submit and obey. Indeed, in all well‑regulated associations, there exists this necessity of a government, which must consist of authority on the one part, and obedience on the other. Hence it is not to be supposed that a Lodge of Masons, which its disciples claim to be one of the most perfect of human institutions, would present an organization less calcu‑

 

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lated than that of any other society to insure the peace and harmony on which its welfare and perpetuity must depend. Accordingly a Masonic Lodge, which consists of a certain number of members, sufficient to carry out the design of the institution, and yet not so many as to create confusion, is governed by officers, to each of whom a particular duty is assigned.

 

The number and the names of the officers differ, not only in the different rites, but also in different jurisdictions of the same rite. Thus the Grand Lodge of England requires, in addition to the officers usually recognized in this country, another, who is called the "Inner Guard," and permits the appointment of a Chaplain and Master of Ceremonies, officers who are known in only some of the jurisdictions of America. The Grand Lodge of Scotland recognizes, among other officers, a "Depute Master" and a "Substitute Master," and there are a variety of titles to be found in the French and German Lodges which are not used in the York rite.

 

The officers most usually to be found in an American Lodge are as Follows:

 

1. Worshipful Master.

 

2. Senior Warden.

 

3. Junior Warden.

 

4. Treasurer.

 

5. Secretary.

 

6. Senior Deacon.

 

7. Junior Deacon.

 

8. Two Stewards.

 

9. Tiler.

 

Of these officers, the Worshipful Master, the two Wardens and the Tiler are essential to any Lodge organization, and are consequently provided for by the Landmarks. The other officers are of more recent invention; but we have no knowledge of any period at which Lodges were not governed by a Master and two Wardens, and their portals se‑cured from intrusion by the vigilance of a Tiler. Accordingly, however, much the various rites and jurisdictions may differ in respect to the names and`number of the subordinate officers, they all agree in requiring the four just named.

 

664 - Of what is oil emblematic?

 

            Oil. One of the elements of consecration. Oil was anciently considered the symbol of prosperity and happiness. The oil of gladness mentioned in the Jewish writings was a perfumed oil with which people anointed themselves on days of public rejoicing and festivity. Every‑thing that was appropriated to the purposes of religion in the Tabernacle and Temple was consecrated with oil. Kings and priests were

 

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anointed in the same manner. And our Lodges, as temples consecrated to morality and virtue, are also hallowed by the application of corn, wine, and oil.

 

665 - Who has the prerogative of opening and closing a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Opening and Closing the Lodge. The prerogative of opening and closing his Lodge is necessarily vested in the Master, because, by the nature of our institution, he is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the good conduct of the body over which he presides. He is charged, in those questions to which he is required to give his assent at his installation, to hold the Landmarks in veneration, and to conform to every edict of the Grand Lodge; and for any violation of the one or disobedience of the other by the Lodge in his presence, he would be answerable to the supreme Masonic authority. Hence the necessity that an arbitrary power should be conferred upon him, by the exercise of which he may at any time be enabled to prevent the adoption of resolutions, or the commission of any act which would be subversive of, or contrary to, those ancient laws and usages which he has sworn to maintain and preserve.

 

666 - Why should a Lodge always be opened in due form?

 

            Opening of the Lodge. All rites and ceremonies should have for their aim the instruction and improvement of those concerned. They should be simple in character, adapted to the purposes designed, and easy of performance; they should be performed with earnestness, precision, correctness, and in proper time. The ceremony of opening a lodge is important, instructive and impressive. To conduct this ceremony with propriety ought to be the peculiar study of all Masons, especially of those who have the honor to preside in our assemblies. To those who are thus dignified, every eye is directed for regularity of conduct and behavior; and from them other brethren, less informed, may naturally expect to derive instruction. From a share in this ceremony no Mason is exempted; it is a general concern, in which all must assist. This is the first request of the Master, and the prelude to business. Precisely at the appointed time, the presiding officer should take the chair, and give the proper signal, then every officer should repair to his proper station, and the brethren appropriately clothe themselves and take their seats. Punctuality in this matter is of the highest importance.

 

Our first care is directed to the external avenues of the lodge; and the officers, whose province it is to discharge that duty, are required to execute the trust with fidelity. "In the ancient mysteries (those sacred rites which have furnished so many models for Masonic symbolism), the opening ceremonies were of the most solemn and impressive character. The sacred herald commenced the initiatory ceremonies by the solemn formula: `Depart hence, ye profane!' to which was added a

 

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proclamation which forbade the use of any language that might be deemed of an unfavorable character to the approaching rites." At the opening of the lodge two purposes are effected; the Master is reminded of the dignity of his character and position, and the brethren of the respect and veneration due to him in their sundry stations. These are not, however, the only advantages resulting from a due observance of the ceremony; a reverential awe for the Deity is inculcated, and the eye is fixed on that object from whose radiant beam alone light can be derived. Hence, in this ceremony, we are taught to adore the Great Architect of the universe, and to supplicate that the labors then begun may be continued in peace and closed in harmony.

 

A lodge must always be opened on the third degree, and in due form, for the transaction of any business, except for initiating and passing a candidate into the mysteries of the first and second degrees. The first business after opening, if it be a regular communication', is the reading the minutes of the previous communication, for the information of the brethren. The transactions of the evening should always be read before the lodge is closed, that the brethren may know that they have been properly recorded, and then duly approved.

 

667 - What is the difference between operative and speculative Masonry?

 

            Operative Masonry. Freemasonry, in its character as an operative art, is familiar to every one. As such, it is engaged in the application of the rules and principles of architecture to the construction of edifices for private and public use, houses for the dwelling place of man, and temples for the worship of 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. Speculative Masonry, now known as Freemasonry, is, therefore, the scientific application and the religious consecration of the rules and principles, the technical language and the implements and materials, of operative Masonry to the worship of God as the Grand Architect of the universe, and to the purification of the heart and the inculcation of the dogmas of a religious philosophy.

 

668 - Are opinions adverse to Masonry justifiable?

 

            Opinions. Individuals have passed various opinions respecting the purity and usefulness of Freemasonry. One says it is a modern institution, and therefore of little value; another terms it frivolous, and consequently contemptible. A third calls it anti‑christian, and warns the public to avoid it as a snare. Others affirm that it is behind the advancing spirit of the times, and therefore obsolete; but let any one candidly judge it by its fruits, which is the great Christian criterion by which all things ought to be tried, according to the divine fiat of its

 

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founder (Luke vi. 44). We feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the sick, relieve the distressed, and provide for the fatherless and the widow. Is any one hungry - we give him meat. Is any one thirsty - we give him drink; naked - we clothe him; sick - we visit him; in prison  - we come unto him with the messenger of mercy. Whatever may be the opinions of our opponents of such deeds as these, we have the satisfaction of knowing that an approving sentence will be pronounced upon them at the last day.

 

669 - What are the duties of a Masonic orator?

 

            Orator, An officer in most of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted and French rites. His duties are to explain the history and lectures of the degrees to the candidate during the ceremony of initiation.

 

670 - In what sense is Freemasonry called an Order?

 

            Order. In every order the spirit of regularity should reign, and more especially in the Order of Freemasonry. The Master's call to order reminds the brethren of this in every lodge, and each one acknowledges by the sign, that he is mindful of his duty. Originally the society of Freemasons was not an Order, but a fraternity, and the name Order has been introduced into England in modern times.

 

671 - What is the customary order of business in the Lodge?

 

            Order of Business. After a Lodge has been opened according to the formalities of the Order, the first thing to be done is the reading of the minutes of the preceding communication. These are then to be corrected and confirmed by a vote of the Lodge.

 

But to this rule there is this qualification, that the minutes of a regular or stated communication cannot be altered or amended at a special one.

 

The Lodge being opened and the minutes read, it may then proceed to business, which will generally commence with the consideration of the unfinished business left over from the last meeting. But the order of business is strictly under the direction of the Master, who may exercise his own discretion in the selection of the matters which are to come before the Lodge, subject, of course, for an arbitrary or oppressive control of the business to an appeal to the Grand Lodge.

 

No alarms should be attended to at the door, nor members or visitors admitted during the time of opening or closing the Lodge, or reading the minutes, or conferring a degree.

 

All votes, except in the election of candidates, members or officers, must be taken by a show of hands, and the Senior Deacon will count and report to the Master, who declares the result.

 

No Lodge can be resolved into a "committee of the whole," which is a. parliamentary proceeding, utterly unknown to Masonry.

 

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The minutes of a meeting should be read at its close, that errors may at once be corrected and omissions supplied by the suggestion of those who were present during the transactions; but these minutes are not to be finally confirmed until the next regular communication.

 

Masonic decorum requires that during the transaction of business, the brethren shall not entertain any private discourse, nor in any other way disturb the harmony of the Lodge.

 

672 - How many Lodges are required to organize a new Grand Lodge?

 

            Organization of Grand Lodge. In the first place, it is essential that not less than three Lodges shall unite in forming a Grand Lodge. Dermott, without any other authority that I can discover than his own ipse dixit, says that not less than five Lodges must concur in the forma. tion of a Grand Lodge, and Dr. Dalcho, who was originally an "ancient York Mason," repeats the doctrine, but if this be the true state of the law, then the Grand Lodge of England, which was organized in 1717, with the concurrence of only four Lodges, must have been irregular. The fact is that there is no ancient regulation on the subject; but the necessity of three Lodges concurring is derived from the well known principle of the civil law that a college or corporate body must consist of three persons at least. Two Lodges could not unite in a Masonic college or convention, nor form that corporate body known as a Grand Lodge. But not more than three are necessary, and accordingly the Grand Lodge of Texas, which was established in 1837, by three Lodges, was at once recognized as regular and legal by all the Grand Lodges of the United States and other countries.

 

673 - What Latin word is sometimes used in place of the word "East?"

 

            Orient. From the Latin principle "Oriens," rising, i. e., the rising of the sun - the East. The Lodge, being a source of light, is called the Orient or East. A Grand body is called the Grand East; thus the Grand Lodge of France is called "Grand Orient." This title is applied to most of the Grand bodies in Europe.

 

674 - What is the Oriental Chair?

 

            Oriental Chair of Solomon. In the East, the seat of the Master in a symbolical lodge. When the Master of the lodge is installed he is said to be inducted into‑the oriental chair of King Solomon.

 

675 - In what classes of cases does a Grand Lodge exercise original jurisdiction?

 

            Original Jurisdiction. In matters of dispute between two Lodges, and in the case of charges against the Master of aLodge, the Grand Lodge is obliged to exercise original jurisdiction; for there is no other tribunal which is competent to try such cases.

 

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676 - What are the original points of Masonry?

 

            Original Points. Ancient Masonry admitted twelve original points, which constitute the basis of the entire system, and without which no person ever did or can be legally received into the Order. Every candidate is obliged to pass through all these essential forms and ceremonies, otherwise his initiation would not be legal. They are - opening, preparing, reporting, entering, prayer, circumambulation, advancing obligated, intrusted, invested, placed, closing.

 

677 - What are the Ornaments of a Lodge?

 

            Ornaments of a Lodge. The Mosaic pavement, the indented tessel, and the blazing star are called the ornaments of a lodge.

 

678 - From whom did King David purchase the site of the Temple?

 

            Ornan. A Jebusite, from whom David purchased the threshing‑floor on Mount Moriah, on which to erect an altar to God - 2d Chron. xxi. 18‑25. The site of the threshing‑floor afterward became the location of the temple.

 

679 - How should a Mason distinguish himself when out of the Lodge?

 

            Out of the Lodge. A Freemason ought to distinguish himself from other men out of the lodge, as well as in it, by uprightness. and friend‑ship to the brethren, by a free and unconstrained manner of thinking, and by unimpeachable purity of living. A brother Freemason shall not only conduct himself in the lodge, but also out of the lodge, as a brother towards his brethren; and happy are they who are convinced that they have in this respect ever obeyed the laws of the Order. A free and unconstrained manner of thinking distinguishes not only an en‑lightened man, but a man who nobly protects that which is just.

 

680 - What relation has Masonry to Palestine?

 

            Palestine. 1. The Land of Canaan - Judea. There are two periods in the history of the country which are peculiarly interesting to Free‑masons, viz: that which included the reign of Solomon, during which the temple was built, and the one when that country was the theater of the exploits of the crusades, from which time many knightly orders date their existence. The Christian kingdom of Jerusalem was founded in

1099, by the Crusaders. Its constitution was European: a patriarchate, four archbishoprics, several earldoms and baronies, and three orders of knighthood, were instituted; an army of from 12,000 to 20,000 men was kept on foot; and the mosque built by the caliph Omar, in 638 upon the site of Solomon's Temple, was changed into a magnificent cathedral. During this period the order of Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem arose, and  also that of the Knights Templar. 2. Palestine has been styled the Father‑land of the Masonic orders; and a large number of degrees derive their names from its cities and other noted localities, and events that have transpired in its history.

 

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681 - Who are called "parrot Masons?"

 

            Parrot Masons. One who commits to memory the questions and answers of the catechetical lectures, and the formulas of the ritual, but pays no attention to the history and philosophy of the Institution, is commonly called a Parrot Mason, because he is supposed to repeat what he has learned without any conception of its true meaning. In former times, such superficial Masons were held by many in high repute, be‑cause of the facility with which they passed through the ceremonies of a reception, and they were generally designated as "Bright Masons."

 

682 - What was the old name for degrees?

 

            Parts. An old word for degrees or lectures. In this sense, Free‑masonry is said to be consistent in all its parts, which point to one and the same object, prominently kept in view throughout all the consecutive degrees; and that every ceremony, every landmark, and every symbolical reference, constitutes a plain type of some great event, which appears to be connected with our best and dearest interests.

 

683 - What word is applied to the advancement of an Entered Apprentice to the Fellowcraft degree?

 

            Passed. A word used to describe the advancement of an Entered Apprentice to the degree of Fellowcraft. It alludes to his passage between the symbolical columns and through the porch to the middle chamber of the temple.

 

684 - In what language are the passwords of Masonry?

 

            Passwords. Much irregularity has unfortunately crept into the blue degrees, in consequence of the want of Masonic knowledge in many of those who preside over their meetings; and it is particularly so with those who are unacquainted with the Hebrew language, in which all the words and passwords are given. So essentially necessary is it for a man of science to preside over a lodge, that much injury may arise from the smallest deviation in the ceremony of initiation, or in the lectures of instruction. We read in the Book of Judges, that the trans‑position of a single point over the Schin, in consequence of a national defect among the Ephraimites, designated the cowans, led to the slaughter of

42,00b men.

 

685 - What is the status of a Past Master?

 

            Past Master. The name of a degree conferred on Masters of Lodges before they can assume the duties of the chair. The same degree is also the second of the series known as the Royal Arch degrees. This some‑what anomalous arrangement has led to a confusion of ideas, and considerable controversy in regard to the rights of these two classes of Past Masters. Is a brother who has received the degree of Past Master in a Royal Arch Chapter, but who has never been elected to nor in‑

 

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stalled into the office of Master of the blue lodge, eligible to the elective offices in the Grand Lodge? The constitutions of most Grand Lodges confine the honors of official station to Past Masters. The point to be determined is what construction must be put on this term Past Master, as used in the constitutions. Does it refer solely to those who have actually passed the oriental chair, or does it include others who are not actual Past Masters, but who are entitled to the name, from the fact that they have received the degree in the Royal Arch Chapter? It would seem to be a plain conclusion that, as neither the Grand Lodges nor their subordinates know anything of such a body as the Chapter, the authors of those constitutions could have had no reference to the Chapter whatever, nor to any of its degrees. When designating those who should be eligible to office in the Grand Lodge, they must have had in their minds those, and only those, who had actually served a term as Master of a blue lodge. In point of fact, the degree of Past Master is out of place in the Chapter, and has no right there. It belongs to the blue lodge, and should be conferred only upon actual Masters of lodges when installed into office. As a degree of the lodge, used as above, it is fit and proper. In the Chapter it has no significance nor pertinence whatever - it is simply an act without meaning, and mars greatly the beauty of Royal Arch Masonry. The degree, itself, furnishes strong internal evidence that it never was intended for any persons but Masters of lodges. It deals solely with the duties of Masters and with Masonic labors which belong exclusively to blue lodges, and is nothing more nor less than the beginning of the installation service.

 

686 - What is the distinction between an actual and a virtual Past Master?

 

            Past Masters, Actual and Virtual. The rights of Past Masters belong exclusively to actual Past Masters only; that is to say, to Past Masters who have been regularly installed to preside over a Lodge of Ancient Craft Masons, under the jurisdiction of a Grand Lodge. Virtual Past Masters, or those who have received the degree in a Chapter, as preparatory to exaltation to the Royal Arch, possess none of these rights.

 

A few years ago, this distinction of actual and virtual Past Masters gave rise to much discussion in the Order; and although the question of their respective rights is now very generally settled, it is proper that a few words should be devoted to its consideration.

 

The question to be investigated is, whether a virtual or Chapter Past Master can install the Master‑elect of a symbolic Lodge, or be present when he receives the Past Master's degree during the ceremony of installation.

 

The Committee of Foreign Correspondence of New York held, in 185L that a Chapter Past Master cannot legally install the Master of ALBERT PIKE  Born at Boston, Mass., December 29th, 1809, passed on at Washington, D.C., April 2nd, 1591, at the age of

82 years. He attended Harvard University hut did not graduate there. After a sojourn in early life in Mexico, he returned to the United States and settled in Little Rock, Arkansas, as an editor and lawyer. He served the Confederacy as a General in the Civil \Var. Ile later settled in Washington, D.C., where he practiced law, making his home in Alexandria, Virginia. His library, in extent and selections, was a marvel, especially in all that pertains to the wonders in ancient literature. He was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. He was also an honorary member of almost every Supreme Council in the world. His standing as a Masonic author and historian, and withal as a poet, was most distinguished, and his untiring zeal was without a parallel. Ile rewrote and rearranged several of the Scottish Rite degrees. One of his most notable literary efforts iii the cause of Freemasonry was his "Morals and Dogma" a most profound work on the philosophy of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

 

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a symbolic Lodge, but that there is no rule forbidding his being present at the ceremony.

 

In South Carolina, virtual Past Masters are not permitted to install, or be present when the degree is conferred at the installation of a Master of a Lodge. They are not recognized by the Grand Lodge.

 

Bro. Gedge, of Louisiana, asserted, in 1852, that "it is the bounden duty of all Grand Lodges to prevent the possessors of the Chapter degree from the exercise of any function appertaining to the Office and attributes of an installed Master of a Lodge of symbolic Masonry, and refuse to recognize them as belonging to the Order of Past Masters." Bro. Albert Pike, one of the most distinguished Masonic jurists of the present day, says that he does not consider "that the Past Master's degree, conferred in a Chapter, invests the recipient with any rank or authority, except within the Chapter itself; that it in no way qualifies or authorizes him to preside in the chair of a Lodge; that a Lodge has no legal means of knowing that he has received the degree in a Chap‑ter; for it is not to know anything that takes place there any more than it knows what takes place in a Lodge of Perfection, or a Chapter of Rose Croix," whence it follows, that if the actual Past Masters of a lodge have no legal means of recognition of the virtual Past Masters of a Chapter, the former cannot permit the latter to install or be present at an installation.

 

 

687 - What investure is necessary to the installation of a Master of a Lodge?

 

            Past Master's Degree. The ceremony of installing the subordinate officers consists simply in the administration of an obligation for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, with the investment of the appropriate jewel, and the delivery of a short charge. But in the installation of the Master, other ceremonies are added. He is required to signify.his assent to certain propositions which contain, as it were, the Masonic confession of faith; and he is also invested with the Past Master's degree. All the writers on the subject of installation concur in the theory that the conferring of the Past Master's degree constitutes an integral part of the installation ceremony. The language of the oldest ritual that has been preserved, that of the Duke of Wharton, hints at the fact that there was some secret ceremony attached to his exoteric formula of installation, and the hint thus given has been fully developed by Preston, who expressly states that the new Master is "conducted to an adjacent room, where he is regularly installed and bound to his trust in ancient form, in the presence of at least three installed Masters." I cannot, therefore, hesitate to believe, from the uniform concurrence of all authorities, that the investiture with the Past Master's degree constitutes an essential part of the ceremony of installation, and is actually necessary to its legality as a completed act.

 

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688 - Has a Warden the right to receive the secrets of the chair?

 

            Past Master's Degree Not Essential to Wardens. Within a few years, the very singular objection has been urged by some Masons that a Warden cannot preside and confer degrees unless he has received the Past Master's degree. Now, I know of no modern theory on Masonic law which has so little foundation in fact as this. The degree of Past Master is a necessary qualification of the Master of a Lodge, and with‑out it, it is admitted that he cannot legally preside, not, however, because of any peculiar virtue or superior knowledge that the possession of the Past Master's degree confers, but because by the Landmarks, or certainly by very ancient regulations, the conferring of that degree constitutes an essential part of the ceremony of installing the Master of a Lodge. He is not legally installed until he has received the degree; and not being installed, he cannot exercise the functions of his office. But there is no regulation making the reception of the Past Master's degree a necessary part of the installation of a Warden, and when, therefore, a Warden has been duly installed, he is entitled to preside and confer degrees in the absence of the Master.

 

689 - Under what circumstances does a Past Master have the right of pre‑ siding over a Lodge?

 

            Past Master's Right of Presiding. A right possessed by Past Masters is that of presiding over their Lodges, in the absence of the Master, and with the consent of the Senior Warden, or of the Junior, if the Senior is not present. The authority of the absent Master descends to the Wardens in succession, and one of the Wardens must, in such case, congregate the Lodge. After this he may, by courtesy, invite a Past Master of the Lodge to preside. But as this congregation of the Lodge by a Warden is essential to the legality of the communication, it follows that, in the absence of the Master and both Wardens, the Lodge cannot be opened; and consequently, under such circumstances, a Past Master cannot preside. But no member, unless he be a Warden or a Past Master, with the consent of the Warden, can preside over a Lodge; and, therefore, the eligibility of a Past Master to be so selected by the Warden, and, after the congregation of the Lodge by the latter officer, to preside over its deliberations and conduct its work, may be considered as one of the rights of Past Masters.

 

690 - What are the privileges and prerogatives of a Past Master?

 

            Past Masters, Rights of. Past Masters possess but very few positive rights, distinct from those which accrue to all Master Masons.

 

The first and most important of these is eligibility to membership in the Grand Lodge. A few years ago, in consequence of a schism which took place in the jurisdiction of New York, an attempt was made to assert for Past Masters an inherent right to this membership; but the long and able discussions which were conducted in almost all of .r.

 

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the Grand Lodges of the Union have apparently settled the question forever, and irresistibly led to the conclusion that Past Masters possess no such inherent right, and that membership in a Grand Lodge can only be secured to them as an act of courtesy by a special enactment of the body.

 

In the earlier history of Masonry, when the General Assembly, which met annually, was composed of the whole body of the craft, Past Masters, of course, were admitted to membership in that assemblage. And so also were all Master Masons and Fellowcrafts. But at the organization of the Grand Lodge on a representative basis, in 1717, Past Masters were not originally admitted as members. The old Constitutions do not anywhere recognize them. There is no mention made of them in any of the editions of Anderson or his editors, Entick and Northouck. Even the schismatic body of "Ancients," in England, in the last century, did not at first recognize them as a distinct class, entitled to any peculiar privileges. Dermott, in the edition of his "Ahiman Rezon," published in 1778, prefixed a note to his copy of the Old and New Regulation, taken from Anderson's edition of

1738, in which note he says, "Past Masters of warranted Lodges on record are allowed this privilege (membership in the Grand Lodge), whilst they continue to be members of any regular Lodge." But in the previous edition of the same work, published in 1764, this note is not to be found, nor is there the slightest reference to Past Masters, as members of the Grand Lodge. Preston states that, at the laying of the foundation stone of Covent Garden Theatre in 1808, by the Prince of Wales, as Grand Master, "the Grand Lodge was opened by Charles March, Esq., attended by the Masters and Wardens of all the regular Lodges;" and in no part of the description which he gives of the ceremonies is any notice taken of Past Masters as constituting a part of the Grand Lodge.

 

The first notice which we obtain of Past Masters as a component part of the Grand Lodge of England is in the "Articles of Union between the two Grand Lodges of England," which were adopted in 1813, and in which it is declared that the Grand Lodge shall consist of the Grand and Past Grand Officers, of the actual Masters and Wardens of all the warranted Lodges, and of the "Past Masters of Lodges who have regularly served and passed the chair before the day of union, and who continued, without secession, regular contributing members of a warranted Lodge." But it is also provided, that, after the decease of all these ancient Past Masters the representation of every Lodge shall consist of its Master and Wardens, and one Past Master only. This was, however, evidently, a compromise made for the sake of the Athol Past Masters, who from 1778, and perhaps a little earlier, had enjoyed the privileges of membership, just as in 1858, a similar compromise was made by the Grand Lodge of New York, at its union with the schismatic body, when all Past Masters, who were

 

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members of the Grand Lodge in 1849, were permitted to continue their membership. But the regular Grand Lodge of England never recognized the inherent right of Past Masters to membership in the Grand Lodge, as will appear from the following language used in a report adopted by that body in 1851: "We think it clear that the right of Past Masters to vote in Grand Lodge, wherever and so long as that right subsists, is due to, and depends entirely upon, the Constitutions which grant such a privilege, and therefore is not inherent." It seems, therefore, now to be admitted by very general consent of all authorities, that Past Masters possess no inherent right to membership in a Grand Lodge; but as every Grand Lodge is invested with the prerogative of making regulations for its own government, provided the landmarks are preserved, it may or may not admit Past Masters to membership and the right of voting, according to its own notions of expediency. This will, however, of course, be, in each jurisdiction, simply a local law which the Grand Lodge may, at any time, amend or abrogate.

 

Still, the fact that Past Masters, by virtue of their rank, are capable of receiving such a courtesy when the Master Masons are not, in itself constitutes a prerogative, and the eligibility to election as members of the Grand Lodge, with the consent of that body, may be considered as one of the rights of Past Masters.

 

691 - What will enable us to accomplish all things?

 

            Patience. In the ritual of the third degree, according to the American Rite, it is said that "time, patience, and perseverance will enable us to accomplish all things, and perhaps at last to find the true Master's Word." The idea is similar to one expressed by the Hermetic philosophers. Thus Pernetty tells us that the alchemists said: "the work of the philosopher's stone is a work of patience, on account of the length of time and of labor that is required to conduct it to perfection; and Geber says that many adepts have abandoned it in weariness, and others, wishing to precipitate it, have never succeeded." With the alchemists, in their esoteric teaching, the philosopher's stone had the same symbolism as the Word has in Freemasonry.

 

692 - Of what is the Mosaic pavement emblematic?

 

            Pavement. The voluptuous Egyptians, who exhausted their ingenuity in the invention of new luxuries, used in common with painted walls and ceilings, the mosaic pavement, richly tesselated. In the palace of Cleopatra, these pavements were inlaid with precious stones; and in India, the floors of the most sacred temples, or at least of the adyta, were enriched with polished stones disposed in small squares or tessera, which reflected the beams of the sun in a variety of splendid colors.

 

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On a similar principle, the floor of a Mason's lodge has been constructed, which is thus in proper keeping with the rest of the decorations; for the design would be imperfect, if a strict regard to uniformity and propriety had not been observed throughout the whole arrangement. This is a striking evidence of the unity of design with which the great plan of Freemasonry was originally constructed. How minutely soever the parts or elements may appear to be disposed they each and all con‑duce to the same end, the glory of God, and the welfare of man.

 

693 - Why are the Freemasons devoted to the cause of peace?

           

            Peace. A Masons' lodge is the temple of peace, harmony, and brotherly love. Nothing is allowed to enter which has the remotest tendency to disturb the quietude of its pursuits. A calm inquiry into the beauty of wisdom and virtue, and the study of moral geometry may be prosecuted without excitement; and they constitute the chief employment in the tiled recesses of the lodge. The lessons of virtue which proceed from the East, like rays of brilliant light streaming from the rising sun, illuminate the West and South; and as the work proceeds, are carefully imbibed by the workmen. Thus while Wisdom contrives the plan and instructs the workmen, Strength lends its able support to the moral fabric, and Beauty adorns it with curious and cunning workmanship. All this is accomplished without the use of either axe, hammer, or any other tool of brass or iron, within the precinct of the temple, to disturb the peaceful sanctity of that holy place.

 

The spirit of Freemasonry is antagonistic to war. Its tendency is to unite all men in one brotherhood, whose ties must necessarily be weakened by all dissension. Hence, as Brother Albert Pike says, "Masonry is the great peace society of the world. Wherever it exists, it struggles to prevent international difficulties and disputes, and to bind republics, kingdoms and empires together in one great band of peace and amity."

 

694 - What is the form of the Altar?

 

            Pedestal. The altar of the lodge is a pedestal in the form of a double cube, on which is displayed the Holy Bible, to confer upon it the attribute of justice. And why is the open Bible said to be the emblem of justice? I answer in the expressive words of an eloquent writer: Because there is no other virtue of such absolute importance and essential necessity to the welfare of society. Let all the debts of justice be universally discharged; let every man be just to himself, and to all others; let him endeavor, by the exercise of industry and economy, to provide for his own wants, and prevent himself from becoming a burden upon society, and abstain, in the pursuit of his own subsistence, from everything injurious to the interests of others; let every one

 

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render unto all their due - that property which is obliged by the laws of the land, or by those of honorable equity, to pay them; that candor and open dealing to which they have a right, in all his commercial dealings with them; that portion of good report to which their merit entitles them, with that decent respect and quiet submission which their rightful civil authority demands. If justice were thus universally done, there would be little left for mercy to do.

 

695 - What does the penal sign symbolize?

 

            Penal. The penal sign marks our obligation, and reminds us also of the fall of Adam and the dreadful penalty entailed thereby on his sinful posterity, being no less than death. It intimates that the stiff neck of the disobedient shall be cut off from the land of the living by the judgment of God, even as the head is severed from the body by the sword of human justice.

 

696 - What is the penal jurisdiction of a symbolic Lodge over its members?

 

            Penal Jurisdiction of a Lodge. A Lodge exercises penal jurisdiction over all its members. The old Charges require every Mason to "stand to the award and determination of the Lodge;" that is to say, the Lodge of which he is a member, and the rights and privileges, as well as the Masonic protection secured by such membership, carry with them a corresponding duty of allegiance and obedience. This doctrine is not left to mere deduction, but is supported by the ritual law, which imposes on every Mason, in the most solemn manner, an obligation to abide by and obey the by‑laws, rules and regulations of the Lodge, of which he is a member. Membership in a Lodge can only be voided by death, demission, or expulsion, and hence neither it nor the jurisdiction which it communicates is lost by a change of residence.

 

The Master of a Lodge is the only one of its members who is not amenable to the jurisdiction of the Lodge. There is no principle of Masonic law more completely settled by the almost universal consent of the fraternity, than that which declares that a Master cannot be tried by his Lodge. It may become his accuser, but to the Grand Lodge alone is he amenable for any offence that he may commit while in office.

 

In like manner, the Grand Master, while holding that office, is not within the penal jurisdiction of the Lodge, of which he is a member.

 

597 - What Lodge has penal jurisdiction over affiliated Masons?

 

            Penal Jurisdiction Over Affiliated Masons. A Lodge exercises penal jurisdiction over all affiliated Masons, although not its members, who live within its territorial limits. A, for instance, being a member of a Lodge in New York, but living in the vicinity of a Lodge in Florida., is amenable to the jurisdiction of both bodies; to the former by personal jurisdiction, to the latter by geographical. And this is a wise provision of the law; for A, living at a great distance from his

 

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Lodge, might conduct himself in so disorderly a manner, violating the proprieties of life, and transgressing habitually the moral law, as to bring great reproach upon the institution of which he is a member. Now, his distance from his own Lodge, would, in all probability, pre‑vent that body from acquiring any knowledge of the evil course he is pursuing, or if cognizant of it by report, it might find great difficulty in proving any charge based upon such report.

 

The Order, therefore, under the great laws of self preservation, commits to the Lodge in Florida, in whose vicinity he is living, and whose good fame is most affected by his conduct, the prerogative of trying and punishing him; so that the world shall not say that a bad Mason can lead a disorderly life, and violate the law, under the very eyes of his congregated brethren, and yet receive no reproof for his criminality. And if expulsion is the result of such trial, that expulsion, by the Lodge in Florida, carries with it expulsion from his own Lodge in New York; for, if the premises are not denied that the Lodge in Florida can rightfully exercise penal jurisdiction, then the conclusion follows, that that expulsion must be legal. But expulsion annuls all Masonic status and obliterates Masonic existence, and the Mason, who‑ever he may be, that has been legally expelled by one Lodge, can never receive admission into another.

 

The appeal in such a case will be, not to the Grand Lodge of New York, but to that of Florida, for that body alone can investigate matters or redress grievances arising within its own territory, and in one of its own subordinates.

 

698 - What Lodge may lawfully exercise penal jurisdiction over an unaffiliated Mason?

 

            Penal Jurisdiction Over Unaffiliated Masons. A Lodge may exercise' penal jurisdiction over all unaffiliated Masons living within its territorial limits. This provision of Masonic law is founded on the principle of self‑preservation. An unaffiliated Mason must not be permitted, for want of jurisdiction over him, to claim his connection with the Order, and yet, by an irregular course of life, to bring discredit on it. The jurisdiction must exist somewhere, which will remove such an evil, and vindicate the institution; and nowhere can it be more safely or appropriately deposited than in the Lodge which is nearest to his residence, and which must‑ consequently have the best opportunity of observing and judging of his conduct.

 

699 - How does suspension or expulsion from a Royal Arch Chapter or other so‑called higher body affect the status of a Master Mason in a symbolic Lodge?

 

             Penalties of Higher Bodies. Does suspension or expulsion from a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, a Council of Royal and Select Masters, or an Encampment of Knights Templar, carry with it, as a necessary

 

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consequence, suspension or expulsion from symbolic Masonry? To this question, reason and the general usages of the Order lead me, unhesitatingly to reply, that it does not. The converse of the proposition is, however, true, and suspension or expulsion from a symbolic Lodge is necessarily suspension or expulsion from all the higher bodies.

 

The principle upon which this doctrine is based is a very plain one. If the axe be applied to the trunk of the tree, the branches which spring out of it, and derive their subsistence through it, must die. If the foundation be removed, the edifice must fall. But a branch may be lopped off and the trunk will still live; the cope‑stone may be taken away, but the foundation will remain intact. So Symbolic Masonry - the Masonry of the Lodge - is the trunk of the tree - the foundation of the whole Masonic edifice. The Masonry of the Chapter or the Council is but the branch which springs forth from the tree, and receives all its nourishment from it. It is the cope‑stone which finishes and ornaments the building that rests upon Symbolic Masonry. Hence there is an evident dependence of the higher on the lower degrees, while the latter are wholly independent of, and may exist without the former.

 

Again, from the very organization of the two institutions, ,a Chapter is not recognizable as a Masonic body, by a symbolic Lodge. A Master Mason knows, technically, nothing of a Royal Arch Mason. In the language of the Order, "he may hear him so to be, but he does not know him so to be," by any of the modes of recognition used in Masonry. "We cannot conceive," say the Committee of Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Texas, "by what sort of legerdemain a Lodge can take cognizance of the transactions of a Chapter, an entirely independent body." But Chapters, on the other hand, are necessarily cognizant of the existence and the proceedings of Lodges, for it is out of the Lodges that the Chapters are constructed. And, if a Master Mason were expelled from the rights and privileges of Masonry, and if this expulsion were not to be followed by a similar expulsion from the Chapter, then all Master Masons who should meet the expelled Mason in the latter body, would be violating the law by holding Masonic communication with him.

 

Lastly, under the present organization of Masonry, Grand Lodges are the supreme Masonic tribunals over all Master Masons, but exercise no jurisdiction over Chapters, Councils or Encampments. If, there‑fore, expulsion from either of these bodies involved expulsion from the Lodge, then the right of the Grand Lodge to hear and determine causes, and to regulate the internal concerns of the institution would be interfered with, by an authority outside of its organization, and beyond its control.

 

The law may, therefore, be explicitly stated in these terms: suspension or expulsion from a Chapter, Council, or Encampment, does not

 

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involve a similar sentence from a symbolic Lodge. But suspension or expulsion from a Lodge, carries with it, ex necessitate, suspension or expulsion from every higher degree.

 

700 - How can the penalties of the Masonic obligation be justified?

 

            Penalty. The adversaries of Freemasonry have found, or rather invented, abundant reasons for denouncing the Institution; but on nothing have 'they more strenuously and fondly lingered than on the accusation that it makes, by horrid and impious ceremonies, all its members the willing or unwilling executioners of those who prove recreant to their vows and violate the laws which they are stringently bound to observe. Even a few timid and uninstructed Masons have been found who were disposed to believe that there was some weight in this objection. The fate of Morgan, apocryphal as it undoubtedly was, has been quoted as an instance of Masonic punishment inflicted by the regulations of the Order; and, notwithstanding the solemn asservations of the most intelligent Masons to the contrary, men have been found, and still are to be found, who seriously entertain the opinion that every member of the Fraternity becomes, by the ceremonies of his initiation, and by the nature of the vows which he has taken, an active Nemesis of the Order, bound by some unholy promise to avenge the Institution upon any treacherous or unfaithful brother. All of this arises from a total misapprehension, in the minds of those who are thus led astray, of the true character and design of vows or oaths which are accompanied by an imprecation. It is well, therefore, for the in‑formation both of our adversaries - who may thus be deprived of any further excuse for slander - and of our friends - who will be relieved of any continued burden on their consciences - that we should show that, however solemn may be the promises of secrecy, of obedience and of charity which are required from our initiates, and however they may be guarded by the sanctions of punishment upon their offenders, they never were intended to impose upon any brother the painful and  - so far as the laws of the country are concerned - the illegal task of vindicating the outrage committed by the violator. The only Masonic penalty inflicted by the Order upon a traitor, is the scorn and detestation of the Craft whom he has sought to betray.

 

In modern times, perjury is made a penal offense against human laws, and its punishment is inflicted by human tribunals. But here the punishment of the crime is entirely different from that inferred by the obsecration which terminates the oath. The words "So help me God," refer exclusively to the withdrawal of divine aid and assistance from the jurator in the case of his proving false, and not to the human punishment which society would inflict.

 

In like manner, we may say of what are called Masonic penalties, that they refer in no case to any kind of human punishment; that is to

 

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say, to any kind of punishment which is to be inflicted by human hand or instrumentality. The true punishments of Masonry affect neither life nor limb. They are expulsion and suspension only. But those persons are wrong, be they mistaken friends or malignant enemies, who suppose or assert that there is any other sort of penalty which a Mason recreant to his vows is subjected to by the laws of the Order, or that it is either the right or duty of any Mason to inflict such penalty on an offending brother. The obsecration of a Mason simply means that if he violates his vows or betrays his trust he is worthy of such penalty, and that if such penalty were inflicted on him it would be but just and proper. "May I die," said the ancient, "if this be not true, or if I keep not this vow." Not may any man put me to death, nor is any man required to put me to death, but only, if I so act, then would I be worthy of death. The ritual penalties of Masonry, supposing such to be, are in the hands not of man, but of God, and are to be inflicted by God, and not by man.

 

701 - What is the penitential sign?

 

            Penitential. The reverential sign may be considered as the parent of the penitential or supplicating sign, since it justly denotes that frame of heart and mind without which our prayers and oblation of praises will not obtain acceptance at the throne of grace, before which how should a frail and erring creature of the dust present himself unless with bended knees and uplifted hands, betokening at once his humility and dependence? In this posture did Adam first kneel before God and bless the author of his being; and there too did he bend with contrite awe before the face of his offended Judge, to avert his wrath, and implore his mercy; and transmitted this sacred form to his posterity for ever.

 

702 - What was the value of the penny in former times?

 

            Penny. The Greek drachma, or Roman denarius, was the name of the coin mentioned in the parable of the "vineyard," with which the laborers were paid for their day's work. "Every man received a penny." The value of this coin was twelve to fourteen cents United States currency.

 

An erroneous impression prevails respecting the real value of money in olden times, on account of our associations with its present value. A penny, equivalent to twelve or fourteen cents, seems to us to be a mean compensation for ten or twelve hours toil in the vineyard, and the two pence (Luke x. 35) affords a very equivocal evidence to our minds of generosity in the good Samaritan; but when it is considered how much of the comforts and necessaries of life these apparently trifling sums could obtain, the case appears differently. As lately as the year 1351 the price of labor was regulated in England by act of Parliament, and

 

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"haymakers, corn‑weeders, without meat, drink, or other courtesy" (in modern phrase, finding themselves), were to have a penny a day. In many places these were the highest wages paid for any kind of agricultural labor, some kinds being still less. The pay of a chaplain in England, in 1314, was three half pence, or about three cents a day. At the same time wheat was sixteen cents a bushel, and a fat sheep only twelve cents. A penny a day under such circumstances would not be inconsiderable wages. In the time of Christ a penny or Roman denarius would have bought, it is estimated, at least ten times more than it would have done in England in the year 1780 - and prices then were very much lower than at the present day.

 

703 - Of what is the perfect ashlar emblematic?

 

            Perfect Ashlar. The perfect ashlar is a stone of a true square, which can only be tried by the square and compasses. This represents the mind of a man at the close of life, after a well‑regulated career of piety and virtue, which can only be tried by the square of God's Word, and the compasses of an approving conscience.

 

704 - What is the nature and effect of permanent exclusion from a Lodge?

 

            Permanent Exclusion. This penalty is, in this country, only inflicted for non‑payment of arrears, and is more usually known as the act of striking from the roll. There are a few Grand Lodges which still permit the punishment of suspension to be inflicted for non‑payment of arrears; but the good sense of the fraternity is rapidly leading to the conclusion, that the infliction of such a penalty in these cases - a penalty severing the connection of the delinquent with the whole Order, for an offence committed against a particular Lodge - an offence, too, involving no violation of the moral law, and which is, in many in‑stances, the result rather of misfortune than of a criminal disposition - is oppressive, and altogether opposed to the equitable and benign principles of the Masonic institution. Hence erasure from the roll, or, in other words, permanent exclusion, is now beginning to be considered as the only adequate punishment for an omission to pay the annual tax imposed by every Lodge on its members.

 

I say that suspension is an oppressive and inadequate penalty for the offence of non‑payment of dues, and it is perhaps proper that this position, as it is contrary to the practical views of a few Grand Lodges, should be maturely examined.

 

This striking of names from a Lodge roll is altogether a modern practice, taking its rise since the modern organization of permanent Lodges. In ancient times, Lodges were temporary associations of Masons for special and limited purposes. Originally, as Preston in‑forms us, "a sufficient number of Masons, met together, within a certain district, with the consent of the sheriff or chief magistrate of the place,

 

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were empowered to make Masons, and practice the rights of Masonry without warrant of constitution." Then, of course, there being no permanency of organization, there were no permanent members, and consequently no payment of arrears, and no striking from the roll. It was only after 1717, that all these things were introduced; and as Lodges pay some contribution to the Grand Lodge for each of their members, it is evident, as well as from other palpable reasons, that a member who refuses or neglects to support the general Lodge fund, will become pecuniarily onerous to the Lodge. Still, the non‑payment of arrears is only a violation of a special voluntary obligation to a particular Lodge, and not of any general duty to the fraternity at large. The punishment therefore inflicted (if it is to be considered at all as a punishment), should be exclusion or erasure from the roll, which only affects the relations of the offender with his own Lodge, and not sus‑pension, which would affect his relations with the whole Order, whose moral code he has not violated.

 

Does striking from the roll, then, impair the general rights of a Mason? Are its effects, even in a modified form, similar to those of suspension or expulsion, and is his standing in the Order affected by the erasure of his name? Bro. W. M. Perkins, the late able Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, writing on this subject in his annual address in 1858, said, that "striking his name from the roll of the members of the Lodge, under a by‑law, does not affect a brother's standing in the fraternity, nor debar him from any of the privileges of Masonry, except that of membership in the particular Lodge." I cordially concur with Bro. Perkins in this view. I cannot for a moment suppose that a transgression of the by‑laws of a particular Lodge, involving no moral turpitude, and violating no general law of the Order, can have any effect on the relations of the transgressor with the Order. He who is excluded from membership in his Lodge, for not complying with the rule which levies a tax upon him, loses, of course, his membership in that Lodge; but his membership in the great body of the craft, against whom he has committed no offence, still re‑mains unimpaired.

 

But he loses something. He is, to a certain extent, shorn of his Masonic priveleges; for he forfeits the right of membership in his own Lodge, and with it all the other rights which are consequent on such membership. And hence the question naturally arises, can he be deprived of this right of membership - can his name be stricken from the roll - by the mere operation of a by‑law, without any form of trial, and without any opportunity for defence or explanation?

 

Now, to say nothing of the injustice which is in many instances perpetrated when a Mason is stricken from the roll of his Lodge for non‑payment of dues - since the omission to pay may often arise from poverty, misfortune, excusable neglect, or other causes beyond the con‑

 

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trol of the delinquent - to say nothing of all this - because the question here is not as to the nature of the offence, but as to the mode in which punishment is to be inflicted - it follows, from all the recognized principles of justice, law and common sense, that the crime should be first proved, and the accused be heard in his defence, before judgment be pronounced against him.

 

The erasure of a member's name, by the mere operation of a by‑law of his Lodge, without any opportunity being given to him to explain or defend his conduct - to offer reasons why the law should not be en‑forced in his case, or to prove that he has not violated its provisions, would, under any other circumstances, and in relation to any other offence, be at once admitted everywhere to be a most manifest violation of all Masonic law and equity. If the by‑laws of a Lodge, for instance prescribed erasure for habitual intemperance, and required the Secretary to keep a record of the number of times that each member exceeded the strict limits of sobriety, who will dare to say that at any time, on the mere report of the Secretary that a member had violated this by‑law, and was habitually intemperate, he should at once, without further action, and by the mere operation of the by‑law in question, be stricken from the roll of his Lodge? There is no one who does not see the obvious necessity, in such a case, of a charge, a summons, and a trial. To exclude the worst member of a Lodge under such a by‑law, without these preliminary measures, would be so fatal a violation of the principles of Masonry, as justly to subject the Lodge to the severest reprehension of the Grand Lodge.

 

And yet the fact that the offence is not intemperance, but non‑payment of arrears, does not in the slightest degree involve a difference of principle. Admit, for the sake of argument, that the failure to pay Lodge dues is in itself a Masonic offence, and that a Lodge is right' to declare exclusion an appropriate punishment for its commission, still there exists here, as in the more undoubted crime of habitual drunkenness, as necessary elements to the justice of the punishment, that there should be a charge, a summons and a trial - that the de‑faulting brother should have an opportunity to defend himself, and that the Secretary who accuses him should be made to prove the truth of his charge, by the correctness of his accounts. It is the Magna Charta of Masonic liberty "that no Mason can be punished or deprived of any of the privileges of‑Masonry, except upon conviction after trial;" and to this, in every other case, except non‑payment of arrears, there will not, I suppose, be a single dissenting voice in the whole body of the craft. It is time that, guided by the dictates of sound justice and good common sense, this execution should no longer be permitted to say, as a reproach to the consistency of our legal code, "I may lie, I may steal, nay, I may commit murder, and my Lodge will not and dare not deprive me of my Masonic privileges, except after a conviction

 

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derived from an impartial trial; but if I omit to pay the Secretary a few dollars, then, upon his mere report, without any opportunity given me to show that the omission was the result of ignorance, of poverty, of sickness, or of misfortune, I may, without trial and with no chance of defence, be visited with the severe penalty of Masonic exclusion." If, then, it be admitted, as I presume it will, that expulsion or suspension cannot be inflicted without trial, and that, simply because it is a punishment, and because punishment should always follow, and not precede conviction, then to strike the name of a member from the roll of his Lodge, would be equally as illegal, unless he were called upon to show cause why it should not be done. The one principle is strictly analogous with the other. If you cannot suspend without trial, neither can you strike from the roll without trial. It is unnecessary, therefore, to extend the argument; but I suppose that the postulate will be granted under the general axiom, that no punishment whatsoever can be inflicted without preliminary trial and opportunity for defence.

 

And therefore it may be laid down as Masonic law, that no member should be stricken from the roll of his Lodge, except after due notice given to him, and opportunity afforded for defence; after which it is generally held, that a vote of the majority will be sufficient to put the by‑law in force, and declare the penalty of exclusion.

 

705 - How should a Mason carry himself before the world?

 

            Perpendicular. Geometrically, that which is perfectly upright and erect, inclining neither one way or the other. Symbolically, inclining neither to avarice nor injustice, to malice nor revenge, to envy nor con‑tempt, in our intercourse with mankind; but as the builder raises his column by the plane or perpendicular, so should the Mason carry himself toward the world; thus will he stand approved before heaven and be‑fore men, purchasing honor and felicity to himself as a professor of Masonry.

 

706 - What accusations have been made against Masons?

 

            Persecution. No society or order of men has been the object of greater abuse or more malicious misrepresentation and unreasonble persecution than that of Freemasonry. Even among the Jews, not many years after the building of the temple, Freemasons were accused of idolatry, the temples where they practiced their mysteries were destroyed, and many of them were put to death. This arose in a great degree from the ignorance of the Jews of that age. They misapprehended the lofty ideas of their greatest king and wisest sage, Solomon, and were made to believe, after his death, that the symbolical decorations of the temple were of a profane and idolatrous character. They

 

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were also taught to distrust the liberal views entertained in regard to other nations, and saw in his friendly and fraternal intercourse with Hiram of Tyre, and other distinguished Gentiles, a departure from the strictness of the Hebrew faith. During the life of Solomon the company of Hiram continued to practice their rites unmolested; but after his death a strong and bitter opposition sprang up against them. Their mysteries, not being understood, were called "abominations," and a general movement for the extermination of the Sidonian architects was organized.

 

This ancient persecution of the Sidonian Masons finds its parallel in the persecutions of modern Masons by the Roman Church and other religious bodies.

 

707 - What great religious body has persecuted Freemasonry?

 

            Persecution. In 1738, Pope Clement XII. fulminated his celebrated bull against the Order, in which he shows himself as fanatical and ill‑informed in regard to the nature of Freemasonry as those who headed the persecutions of the Sidonians among the ancient Jews. He says: "We have learned that a society has been formed under the name of Freemasons, into which persons of all religions and all sects are indiscriminately admitted, and whose members have established certain laws which bind themselves to each other, and which, in particular, compel their members, under the severest penalties, by virtue of an oath taken on the Holy Scriptures, to preserve an inviolable secrecy in relation to everything that transpires in their meetings." The bull concludes with a command to all bishops to inflict on Masons "the penalties which they deserve, as people greatly suspected of heresy, having recourse, if necessary, to the secular power." The "penalty" here alluded to is plainly enough explained by the following transcript from an edict published in the following year: "No person shall dare to assemble at any lodge of the said society, nor be present at any of their meetings, under pain of death and confiscation of goods, the said penalty to be without pardon." This bull, however, failed to stay the progress of the institution, and when Benedict XIV., 1751, renewed it, and ordered its enforcement, his proclamation was treated with derision and contempt. In Germany, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, France and Switzerland the order has, at times, been persecuted, but it has outlived all opposition, and is now master of those who once trampled it under foot.

 

The anti‑Masonic movement in the United States is familiar to all. It was a real benefit to Masonry, and has overwhelmed its authors with infamy and scorn.

 

But the last (and we hope it will be the last) and probably the most ridiculous attempt at persecuting the Masonic institution emanated from the Secret Consistory of the Vatican, by Pope Pius IX., Septem‑

 

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ber 25, 1865, in the form of a Papal Allocution to his "Venerable Brethren." This dreadful anathema pronounces, ex‑cathedra, that Freemasonry is "monstrous, impious and criminal, full of snares and frauds - a dark society; the enemy of the Church and of God, and dangerous to the security of kingdoms; inflamed with a burning hatred against religious and legitimate authority; desirous of overthrowing all rights human and divine," etc. It may not be necessary to waste much time or space to the refutation of the charges displayed in this silly and odious papal address. Such accusations against a public body of men spread over the whole surface of the civilized world and in all classes of society, among whom may be numbered monarchs, princes, senators, prelates, and the great and good of all countries, accompanied by the awful sentence of eternal perdition, are detestable, and not worthy of any serious notice.

 

The Pope and his venerable brethren do not like Freemasonry. Very well; nobody blames them for that; and least of all, the members of the Masonic Order; for it is not a proselytizing institution. He objects to it because it is a secret society. Very well ! Has Romanism no secrets? Then it has no confessional, and it never had an inquisition. Why this Allocution, in which secret societies are subjected to such severe invective, was actually delivered in his own Secret Consistory. But as the Roman Church is hostile to freedom of conscience, its doctrines are therefore incompatible with the tolerant and liberal principles of Freemasonry. We shall patiently await another (although another may never occur) "Thunder from the Vatican," but in the meantime the Order of Freemasonry must move on.

 

708 - What is the Masonic meaning of the phrase "personal jurisdiction"?

 

            Personal Jurisdiction of a Lodge. The personal jurisdiction of a Lodge is that penal jurisdiction which it exercises over its own members, wherever they may be situated. No matter how far a Mason may remove from the Lodge of which he is a member, his allegiance to that Lodge is indefeasible, so long as he continues a member, and it may exercise penal jurisdiction over him.

 

709 - On what grounds should Masters and Wardens be chosen?

 

            Personal Merit. All preferment amongst Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal merit only, so that the lords may 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. It is impossible to describe these things in writing, and therefore every brother must attend in his place, and learn them in a way peculiar to this Fraternity.

 

710 - In what form must a petition be presented?

 

            Petition. Application for membership in the Masonic Fraternity must be by written petition. No verbal nomination of a candidate will

 

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be sufficient. The petition must be written, because it is to be preserved by the Secretary in the archives of the Lodge, as an evidence of the fact of application, which, in the event of a rejection of the applicant, or, as he is more usually called, the petitioner, may become of some importance. The form of the petition is also to be attended to. I am not of the opinion that a petition, drawn up in a form different from that usually adopted, would be liable to rejection for a want of formality; and yet, as experience has caused a particular form to be adopted, it is better and more convenient that that form should be adhered to. The important and essential points of the petition are, that it shall declare the place of residence, the age, and the occupation of the petitioner. These declarations are made that the committee to whom the petition is to be referred for inquiry, may be materially assisted in their investigations by this identification of the petitioner.

 

 

711 - To what Lodges may a Master Mason present a petition for affiliation?

 

            Petition for Affiliation. It is sometimes held, that a petition for affiliation should be recommended by one or more members of the Lodge. Such is a very general usage, but not a universal one; and I can find no authority for it in any of the ancient Constitutions, nor is anything said upon the subject by Preston, or any other written authorities that I have consulted. On the contrary, it appears to me that such a recommendation is not essentially necessary. The demit from the Lodge of which the candidate was last a member, is itself in the nature of a recommendation; and if this accompanies the petition for admission, no other avouchment should be required. The information in respect to present character and other qualifications is to be obtained by the committee of investigation, who of course are expected to communicate the result of what they have learned on the subject to the ' Lodge.

 

Some of our modern Grand Lodges, however, governed perhaps by the general analogy of applications for initiation, have required, by a specific Regulation, that a petition for membership must be recommended by one or more members of the Lodge; and such a Regulation would of course be Masonic Law for the jurisdiction in which it was in force; but I confess that I prefer the ancient usage, which seems to have made the presentation of a demit from some other Lodge the only necessary recommendation of a Master Mason applying for affiliation.

 

712 - What seven steps must be taken to form a lawful petition for a dis‑ pensation for a new Lodge?

 

            Petition for a New Lodge. When seven Master Masons, at least, are desirous of organizing a Lodge, they apply by petition to the Grand Master of the jurisdiction for the necessary authority. This petition

 

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must set forth that they now are, or have been, members of a legally constituted Lodge, and must assign a satisfactory reason for their application. It must also be recommended by the nearest Lodge, and must designate the place where the Lodge is intended to be held, and the names of the persons whom the petitioners desire to be appointed as Master and Wardens.

 

Seven things must therefore concur to give regularity to the form of a petition for a Dispensation.

 

1. There must be seven signers at least.

2. They must all be Master Masons.

3. They must be in good standing.

4. There must be a good reason for the organization of a Lodge at that time and place.

5. The place of meeting must be designated.

6. The names of the three officers must be stated.

7. It must be recommended by the nearest Lodge.

 

Dalcho, contrary to all the other authorities except the Grand Lodge of Ireland, says that not less than three Master Masons should sign the petition. The rule, however, requiring seven signers, which, with these exceptions, is, I think, universal, seems to be founded in reason; for, as not less than seven Masons can, by the ritualistic Landmark, open and hold a Lodge of Entered Apprentices, the preliminary degree in which all Lodges have to work, it would necessarily be absurd to authorize a smaller number to organize a Lodge, which, after its organization, could not hold meetings nor initiate candidates in that degree.

 

The Old Constitutions are necessarily silent upon this subject, since, at the time of their adoption, permanent Lodge organizations were unknown. But it is singular that no rule should have been incorporated into the Regulations of 1721, which were of course adopted after the establishment of permanent Lodges. It is therefore to Preston that we are indebted for the explicit announcement of the law, that the petition must be signed by not less than seven Masons.

 

Preston says that the petition must be recommended "by the Masters of three regular Lodges adjacent to the place where the new Lodge is to be held." This is also the precise language of the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Grand Lodge of Scotland requires the recommendation to be signed "by the Masters and Officers of two of the nearest Lodges." The modern Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England requires a recommendation "by the officers of some regular Lodge," without saying anything of its vicinity to the new Lodge. The rule now universally adopted is, that it must be recommended by the nearest Lodge; and it is an excellent one, too, for it certifies to the superior authority, on the very best evidence that can be obtained - that, namely, of a constituted Masonic body, which has the opportunity of knowing the fact that the new Lodge will be productive, neither in its officers nor its locality, of an injury to the Order.

 

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713 - What does the philosophy of Masonry involve?

 

            Philosophy of Masonry. This expression opens an immense field for the intelligent Mason to explore, and one so rich in materials that it can never be exhausted. The Philosophy of Freemasonry involves the history of its origin, an inquiry into the ideas that lie at its base, an investigation of its peculiar form, an analytical study of its several degrees, and a development of the ideas which are illustrated by its ritualistic emblems, myths and allegories, and which speak through its sublime system of symbols.

 

Freemasonry has now arrived at a period in its history when the prosperity of the Order imperatively demands a deeper insight into its character and teachings. In this country, for nearly half a century, Masons have occupied themselves merely with the outward and material forms of the institution. Not knowing in what ideas the system had its birth, what truths were symbolized by the rites, what notions were intended to be illustrated by its symbols, they have not been able to rise to a true appreciation of its sublime spirit and profound significance.

 

The superior intelligence and culture of the present age require more than this. The questioning spirit of the times demands a reason for this and for that; it cannot rest in a dead form, an outward sign. Masons should acquaint themselves with the philosophy of Masonry, seek and find the sense of its rites, study its symbols until they see them all aglow with infinite and eternal truths. "Symbols are the speech of God," and through them Eternity looks into Time, and the Infinite holds communion with the finite, the divine with the human - through them the mysterious currents of life from the over‑world stream into our human world of prosaic reality, and light it up with a living glory.

 

There is that latent in Freemasonry which makes it exactly the institution most needed in this age. But to be an effective agent in elevating and advancing man to a more perfect condition, the sense of its mysteries must be better understood by Masons, its philosophy must be studied, and its grand and ancient emblems and symbols must be made to speak their immortal meanings as of old. In other words, Free‑masonry must be idealized.

 

714 - What are the several phrases of admission into Masonic degrees?

 

            Phrases of Admission. When a candidate receives the first degree, he is said to be initiated, at the second step he is passed, at the third raised; when he takes the mark degree, he is congratulated; having passed the chair, he is said to have presided; when he becomes a Most Excellent Master, he is acknowledged and received; and when a Royal Arch Mason, he is exalted.

 

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715 - What are the physical qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

            Physical. The physical qualifications of a candidate are, that he shall be a free man, born of a free woman, of mature age, and able bodied.

 

716 - What do the pillars, Boaz and Jachin, represent?

 

            Pillars of the Porch. It is generally thought that these pillars were made and erected only for ornament, because they supported no building. But Abarbinel's conjecture is not improbable, that Solomon had respect to the pillar of the cloud, and the pillar of fire, that went before them and conducted them in the wilderness, and was a token of the divine Providence over them. These he set at the porch, or entrance of the Temple (Jachin representing the pillar of the cloud, and Boaz the pillar of fire), praying and hoping that the Divine Light, and the cloud of His glory would vouchsafe to enter in there; and by them God and His providence would dwell among them in this house.

 

717 - What authority has a Lodge with respect to its place of meeting?

 

            Place of Meeting. A Lodge has the right to designate its place of meeting, which, being confirmed by the Grand Lodge, is inserted in the warrant, and cannot again be changed, except with the consent of the Grand Lodge. This refers, of course, to the town or village in which the Lodge is situated. But unless there be a local regulation in the constitution of any particular Grand Lodge to that effect, I know of no principle of Masonic law, set forth in the Ancient Landmarks or Regulations, which forbids a Lodge, upon the mere vote of the majority, from removing from one house to another in the same town or city. A regulation was adopted in 1724 by the Grand Lodge of England, which required notice of such removal to be given to the Grand Secretary, and the antiquity of this law, bordering, as it does, on the date of the Regulations of 1721, which are considered to be of general authority, as well as the ordinary principles of courtesy, would make it obligatory on any Lodge to observe it. But the Regulations adopted in 1738, on the subject of removal, which particularly define the mode in which such removal is to be affected, are of no authority at present; and unless the Grand Lodge of any particular jurisdiction has adopted a regulation forbidding the removal of a Lodge from one house to another, without its consent, I know of no law in, Masonry of universal force which would prohibit such a removal, at the mere option of the Lodge.

 

718 - Of what is the tracing‑board emblematic?

 

            Plans. The tracing‑board is for the Master to draw his plans and designs on, that the building may be carried on with order and regularity. It refers to the Sacred Volume which is denominated the Tracing‑Board of the Grand Architect of the Universe, because in that

 

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holy book he had laid down suen grand plans and holy designs, that were we conversant therein, and adherent thereto, it would bring us to a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

719 - What are the Masonic emblems of plenty?

 

            Plenty. Literally denoting a full or adequate supply; an abundance. As an emblem of Masonry it is symbolized by a sheaf of wheat (commonly called corn), suspended near a waterfall. The Hebrew word Shibboleth, which occupies an important part in the ceremonies of the Fellowcraft's degree, signifies an ear of corn, also a rapid stream or flow of water. In the Eleusinian Mysteries the goddess Ceres was represented with a flaming torch in her right hand and an ear of corn in her left hand, and a wreath about her head, as emblems of peace and plenty. This goddess is nearly always represented thus; several gems and medals are now extant, where the ears of corn appear with her image.

 

720 - What should be a Masons attitude toward the state?

 

            Plots. A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil powers wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior magistrates. He is cheerfully to conform to every lawful authority; to uphold, on every occasion, the interests of the community, and zealously to promote the interests of his own country.

 

721 - Of what is the plumb‑rule emblematic?

 

            Plumb‑Rule. Without this instrument the operative mason cannot prove that his work is perfectly upright; and the overseer or superintendent of any building must have this tool ever in his hands, that he may prove that his men are working correctly. To proceed straight forward in the paths of virtue and honor, and faithfully to perform those duties the Craft requires of us, demands constant attention on the part of every Free and Accepted Mason.

 

722 - May a Mason lawfully belong to more than one Lodge at the same time?

 

            Plural Membership. The Ancient Constitutions make no allusions to plural membership, either by way of commendation or prohibition; but it must be admitted that in all those old documents the phraseology is such as to imply that no Mason belonged to more than one Lodge at a time. On the other hand, however, a Regulation was adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, in February, 1724, prescribing that "no Brother shall belong to more than one Lodge within the bills of mortality," that is, in the city of London. Now, two deductions are to be made from the adoption of such a Regulation at so early a period as

 

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only two years after the approval of the "Old Charges," which are considered by many as almost equivalent to Landmarks. These deductions are, first, that at that time Masons were in the habit of joining more than one Lodge at a time, and secondly, that although the Grand Lodge forbade this custom in the Lodges of the city, it had no objection to its being continued in the country. But the Regulation does not seem ever to have been enforced; for, in 1738, Dr. Anderson found occasion to write, "But this Regulation is neglected, for several reasons, and is now obsolete " - a remark that is repeated in

1756, in the third edition of the Book of Constitutions.

 

I doubt the expediency of any Mason being an active member of more than one Lodge, and I am sure of its inconveniency to himself. Yet, if any one is disposed to submit to this inconvenience, I know of no Landmark or ancient Regulation that forbids him. The Old Charge, which says that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, does not imply that he may not belong to two; but in that case, suspension or expulsion by one Lodge would act as suspension or expulsion by both. As, however, this matter constitutes no part of Ancient Masonic Law, it is competent for any Grand Lodge to make a local Regulation on the subject, which will of course be of force in its own jurisdiction. Where there is no such local Regulation, a Mason may be' a member of as many Lodges as he pleases, and which will admit him.

 

723 - Why is a candidate for Masonry required to be freeborn?

 

            Political Qualifications. The political qualifications of candidates are those which refer to their position in society. To only one of these do any of the ancient Constitutions allude. We learn from them that the candidate for the mysteries of Masonry must be "free born." As far back as the year 926, this Regulation was in force; for the Old York or Gothic Constitutions, which were adopted in that year, contain the following as the fourth article: "The son of a bondman shall not be admitted as an Apprentice, lest, when he is introduced into the Lodge, any of the brethren should be offended." Subsequently, in the Charges approved in 1722, it is declared that "the persons admitted members of a Lodge must be free born." And there never has been any doubt that this was the ancient law and usage of the Order.

 

In the ancient Mysteries, which are generally supposed to be the prototype of the Masonic institution, a similar law prevailed; and no slave, or man born in slavery, although afterwards manumitted, could be initiated.

 

The reason assigned in the old York Constitution for this Regulation, does not appear to be the correct one.

 

Slaves and persons born in servitude are not initiated, because, in

 

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the first place, as respects the former class, their servile condition renders them legally incapable of making a contract; in the second place, because the admission of slaves among freemen would be a violation of that social equality in the Lodge which constitutes one of the Landmarks of Masonry; and in the third place, as respects both classes - the present slave and the freedman who was born in slavery  - because the servile condition is believed to be necessarily accompanied by a degradation of mind and an abasement of spirit which unfit them to be recipients of the sublime doctrines of Freemasonry. It is in view of this theory that Dr. Oliver has remarked, that "children cannot inherit a free and noble spirit except they be born of a free woman." And the ancient Greeks, who had much experience with this class of beings, were of the same opinion; for they coined a word,      , or slave manners, to designate any great impropriety of manners, because such conduct was supposed to characterize the helots, or slaves.

 

But Masonic writers have also given a less practical reason, derived from the symbolism of the Order, for the restriction of the right of initiation to the free born. It is in this way supposed that the Regulation alludes to the two sons of Abraham - Isaac, by his wife Sarah, and Ishmael, by his bondwoman, Hagar. This is the explanation that was given in the old Prestonian Lectures; but I am inclined to believe that the practical reason is the best one. The explanation in the Leetures was derived from the usage, for the latter certainly long pre‑ceded the former.

 

724 - Why is political discussion prohibited in a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Politics. Politics are entirely prohibited from a Freemasons' lodge, and no brother dare attempt to propagate his views upon politics by means of the Order, this being in direct opposition to the ancient statutes. The political opinions of mankind never agree, and they are thus directly opposed to brotherly union. If a peculiar set of political opinions gain the upper hand in a state, or if a revolution take place, or if a country be invaded by a foreign army, the lodges close them‑selves. Charity to a suffering warrior, let him be a friend or a foe, must not he considered as a political act, for it is the general duty of mankind, and more especially it is a Masonic duty.

 

725 - Of what is the pomegranate emblematic?

 

            Pomegranate. Grained Apple. The fruit is about the size of an orange, of a tawny brown, containing an abundance of seeds. When ripe it opens lengthwise, and is full of juice like wine, which is, when cultivated, sweet and highly agreeable. As an emblem for ornamentation it was highly esteemed by most of the nations of antiquity. Moses was directed to put embroidered pomegranates, with golden bells between them, at the bottom of the high‑priest's robe. The two pillars

 

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set up at the porch of the temple were ornamented with rows of artificial pomegranates. This fruit, because of the exuberance of its seed, has been selected by Masons as an emblem of plenty.

 

726 - If installation of officers is postponed, what steps must be taken, and who presides in the interval?

 

            Postponement of Installation. The installation of officers should follow as soon as possible after the election. The installation is the commission under which the officer elected is entitled to assume his office; and by ancient usage it is held that the old officer retains the office until his successor is installed. Hence, as the term of office begins on the festival of St. John the Evangelist, it is evident that the installation, which always follows the election, should take place on the same day, or immediately before it. If it has been unavoidably postponed until after that day, a dispensation must be obtained from the Grand Officer for performing it at any subsequent period.

 

727 - Of what is the pot of incense emblematic?

 

            Pot of Incense. The pot of incense presents itself to our notice as an emblem of a pure heart, which is always an acceptable sacrifice to the Deity; and as this glows with fervent heat, so should our hearts continually glow with gratitude to the great and beneficent author of our existence, for the manifold blessings and comforts we enjoy.

 

728 - What are the powers and prerogatives of a Masonic Lodge and whence are they derived?

 

            Powers of a Lodge. The ritual defines a Lodge to be "an assemblage of Masons, duly congregated, having the Holy Bible, square and compasses, and a charter or warrant of constitution authorizing them to work." Now, the latter part of this definition is a modern addition, for anciently no such instrument as a warrant of constitution was required; and hence the Old Charges describe a Lodge simply as "a duly organized society of Masons." Anciently, therefore, Masons met and performed the work of Masonry, organizing temporary Lodges, which were dissolved as soon as the work for which they had been congregated was completed, without the necessity of a warrant to legalize their proceedings. But in 1717, an organization of the Grand Lodge of England took place, at which time there were four Lodges existing in London, who thus met by inherent right as Masons. As soon as the organization of the Grand Lodge had been satisfactorily completed, the four Lodges adopted a code of thirty‑nine Regulations, which, like the Magna Charta of the English barons, was intended, in all times thereafter, to secure the rights and privileges of the fraternity from any undue assumptions of power on the part of the Grand Lodge. Having accomplished this preliminary measure, they then, as the legal representatives of the craft, surrendered, for themselves and their suc‑

 

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cessors, this inherent right of meeting into the hands of the Grand Lodge; and the eighth Regulation then went into operation, which requires any number of Masons who wish to form a Lodge, to obtain, as a preparatory step, the Grand Master's warrant or authority. At the same time other prerogatives, which had always vested in the craft, were, by the same regulations, surrendered to the Grand Lodge, so that the relative position of the Grand Lodge to its subordinates, and of the subordinate Lodges to the Grand Lodge, has, ever since the year 1717, been very different from that which was previously held by the General Assembly or Annual Grand Lodge to the craft.

 

The first and the most important deduction that we make from this statement is, that whatever powers and prerogatives a Lodge may now possess, are those which have always been inherent in it by the Ancient Landmarks of the Order. No new powers have been created in it by the Grand Lodge. The Regulations of 1721 were a concession as well as a reservation on the part of the subordinate Lodges. The Grand Lodge was established by the fraternity for purposes of convenience in government. Whatever powers it possesses were yielded to it freely and by way of concession by the fraternity, not as the representatives of the Lodges, but as the Lodges themselves, in general assembly convened. The rights, therefore, which were conceded by the Lodges they have not, but whatever they did not concede, they have reserved to themselves, and they claim and exercise such rights, not by grant from the Grand Lodge, but as derived from the ancient Landmarks and the old Constitutions of the Order. This axiom must be constantly borne in mind, as it is for the elucidation of many points of Masonic law, concerning the rights and powers of subordinate Lodges.

 

729 - Into what three categories may the powers of a Grand Lodge be divided?

 

            Powers of Grand Lodge. A Grand Lodge is the supreme Masonic authority of the jurisdiction in which it is situated, and faithful allegiance and implicit obedience is due to it from all the Lodges and Masons residing therein. Its functions and prerogatives are therefore of the most extensive and important nature, and should be carefully investigated by every Mason who desires to become acquainted, not only with his duties to the Order, but with his own rights and privileges in it. The functions of a Grand Lodge are usually divided into three classes. They are -

 

1. Legislative;

2. Judicial;

3. Executive.

 

In its legislative capacity, a Grand Lodge makes the laws; in its

 

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judicial, it explains and applies them; and in its executive, it enforces them.

 

730 - Who has the power to open the Lodge in the absence of the Master?

 

            Power to Open the Lodge. If the Master and both Wardens be absent, the Lodge cannot be opened, because the warrant of constitution is granted to the Master and Wardens, and their successors, and to none else. In 1857, during the absence of the Master and Wardens of a Lodge in Kentucky, a Past Master of the Lodge assumed the chair, appointed proxies for the Wardens, and proceeded to transact business. Upon an appeal from the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Master declared the acts of the Lodge to be illegal and of no effect. There can be no doubt that this decision was correct, according to the Regulations of 1721; for, although a Past Master may preside, by the courtesy of a Warden, he holds his authority, according to these Regulations, under the Warden, and cannot act until that officer has congregated the Lodge. At the opening of the Lodge at least, therefore, the Master or a Warden must be present, and if Master and Wardens are all absent, the Lodge cannot be opened.

 

If, however, the Lodge is congregated by the Warden, and he places a Past Master in the chair, and then retires, I am inclined to think that the labors or business of the Lodge may be legally continued, notwithstanding the absence of the Warden, for he has complied with the requisitions of the law, and congregated the Lodge. It is a right belonging to the Warden to invite a Past Master to preside for him, and if, after exercising that right, he then retires, the Past Master will continue to act as his representative. But the Warden will be responsible for the acts of the Past Master; for, if anything is done irregularly, it may be well said that the Warden should have been there to correct the irregularity when it occurred. I confess, however, that this is a res non judicatac - a question that has not been even discussed, so far as I am aware, by any Masonic authority.

 

731 - As Masons, what is the first lesson we are taught?

 

            Prayer. As Masons we are taught never to commence any great or important undertaking without first invoking the blessing and protection of Deity, and this is because Masonry is a religious institution, and we thereby show our dependence on and our trust in God. The legitimate prayers of Freemasonry are short addresses to the Great Architect of the Universe for a blessing on our labors.

 

732 - From what do most of the objections to Masonry arise?

 

            Prejudice. From prejudice, as well as from ignorance, arise most of the objections against Freemasonry, and all the misrepresentations of its principles and practices. As the origin of such dislike to our institution is so well known, it might be deemed paying too great respect

 

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to its evils, to take any notice of them all. In general, it is best to despise the invectives of calumny, and smile at the impotence of malice; to disdain taking any notice of groundless surmises, and not to give ourselves the trouble of listening to the queries of the ignorant, or of confuting the opinions of the prejudiced and captious.

 

733 - Why is a candidate specially prepared for admission to the Lodge Room?

 

            Preparation of the Candidate. Great care was taken of the personal condition of every Israelite who entered the Temple for divine worship. The Talmudic treatise entitled Baracoth, which contains instructions as to the ritual worship among the Jews, lays down the following rules for the preparation of all who visit the Temple: "No man shall go into the Temple with his staff, nor with shoes on his feet, nor with his outer garment, nor with money tied up in his purse." There are certain ceremonial usages in Freemasonry which furnish what may be called at least very remarkable coincidences with this old Jewish custom.

 

The preparation of the candidate for initiation in Masonry, is entirely symbolic. It varies in the different degrees, and therefore the symbolism varies with it. Not being arbitrary and unmeaning, but on the contrary, conventional and full of signification, it cannot be altered, abridged, or added to in any of its details, without affecting its esoteric design. To it, in its fullest extent, every candidate must, without exception, submit.

 

734 - Upon whom devolves the duty of questioning the candidate as to his motives in petitioning for membership?

 

            Preparing Brother. It is the duty of the preparing brother, shortly before the candidate for initiation is introduced into the lodge, to prove if he still continues earnest in his desire to be initiated, what are the reasons which induce him to do so, and if he is willing to submit himself unconditionally to the rules of an unknown society. From this we may perceive that the preparing brother must possess a fine knowledge of mankind. The situation in which he is placed with regard to the candidate, gives him an opportunity of putting a number of questions which could nut be put in any other place, or which the candidate could not answer so fully and so unhesitatingly as in the preparing‑room. The preparing brother must not terrify the candidate from seeking admission; his duty is merely to remove any erroneous ideas the candidate may have formed of the Craft, as far as may be found necessary.

 

735 - From what source does a Grand Master derive his prerogatives?

 

            Prerogatives of Grand Master. With the exception of a few unimportant powers, conferred for local purposes, by various Grand Lodges, and which necessarily differ in different jurisdictions, every

 

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prerogative exercised by a Grand Master is an inherent one - that is to say, not created by any special statute of the Grand Lodge, but the result and the concomitant of his high office, whose duties and prerogatives existed long before the organization of Grand Lodges.

 

736 - What are the powers of the presiding officers of a Lodge?

 

            Presiding Officers. The first and most important prerogative of the Master is to preside over his Lodge. With this prerogative are connected many correlative duties.

 

As a presiding officer, the Master is possessed of extraordinary powers, which belong to the presiding officer of no other association. He presides over the business, as well as the work or Masonic labors of the Lodge; and in all cases his decisions on points of order are final, for it is a settled principle of Masonic law that no appeal can be taken to the Lodge from the decision of the Master. The Grand Lodge alone can overrule his declared opinion on any point of order.

 

737 - Who are the principal officers of a Lodge?

 

            Principal Officers. A term applied to the Worshipful Master and the Senior and Junior Wardens. They are called the three principal officers of the lodge.

 

738 - Is it forbidden to publish books about Masonry?

 

            Printed Works on Freemasonry. The Mason promises at his initiation, that he will not betray the secrets of the Order by writing, and notwithstanding the great number of the so‑called printed works upon Freemasonry which we have, there is not an author of one of those works who has been a traitor to the real secrets of the Craft. When it is maintained by the world that books which are said to have been written by oppressed Freemasons, contain the secrets of Freemasonry, it is a very great error. To publish an account of the ceremonies of the lodge, however wrong that may be, does not communicate the secrets of Freemasonry. The printed rituals are not correct, as they are printed from memory, and not from a lodge copy. Inquiries into the history of the Order, and the true meaning of its hieroglyphics and ceremonies by learned brethren cannot be considered treason, for the Order itself recommends the study of its history, and that every brother should instruct his fellows as much as possible. It is the same with the printed explanation of the moral principles and the symbols of the Order; we are recommended to study them incessantly, until we have made ourselves masters of the valuable information they contain; and when our learned and cautious brethren publish the result of their inquiries, they ought to be most welcome to the Craft.

 

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739 - Is it permissable to conduct a Masonic Lodge within precincts of a prison?

 

            Prisons. The regulations of the Grand Lodge of England carry the idea of freedom of action of a Lodge to its fullest extent, and declare that "it is inconsistent with the principles of Masonry for any Freemason's Lodge to be held for the purposes of making, passing, or raising Masons in any prison or place of confinement." This resolution was adopted in consequence of a Lodge having been held in 1782, in the King's Bench prison. No such Regulation has ever been adopted in this country, perhaps because there has been no occasion for it. The ancient Constitutions are also silent upon the subject; but there seems little reason for doubting the correctness of the sentiment that Lodges should only be held in places where the utmost freedom of ingress and egress prevails.

 

740 - What private duties should Masons practice?

 

            Private Duties. Whoever would be a Mason should know how to practice all the private virtues. He should avoid all manner of intemperance or excess, which might prevent his performance of the laudable duties of his Craft, or lead him into enormities, which would reflect dishonor upon the ancient fraternity. He is to be industrious in his profession, and true to the Lord and Master he serves. He is to labor justly, and not to eat any man's bread for nought; but to pay truly for his meat and drink. What leisure his labor allows, he is to employ in studying the arts and sciences with a diligent mind, that he may the better perform all his duties to his Creator, his country, his neighbor and himself.

 

741 - What are the privileges of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Privileges. The majority of every particular lodge, when duly congregated, have the privilege of instructing their Master and War‑dens for their conduct in the Grand Lodge and Quarterly Communications; and all particular lodges in the same Communications, shall as much as possible observe the same rules and usages and appoint some of their members to visit each other in the different lodges, as often as it may be convenient.

 

742 - What is the probationary period for a candidate?

 

            Probation. The interval between the reception of one degree and the succeeding one is called the probation of the candidate, because it is during this period that he is to prove his qualification for advancement. In England and in this country the time of probation between the reception of degrees is four weeks, to which is generally added the further safeguard of an open examination in the preceeding degree. In France and Germany the probation is extended to one year. The time is greatly extended in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

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An extraordinary rule prevailed in the Constitutions of 1762, by which the Rite of Perfection was governed. According to this rule, a candidate was required to pass a probation, from the time of his application as an Entered Apprentice until his reception of the twenty‑fifth or ultimate degree of the Rite, of no less than six years and nine months. But as all the separate times of probation depended on symbolic numbers, it is not to be presumed that this regulation was ever practically enforced.

 

743 - What proceedings are taken by Grand Lodges on Masonic appeals?

 

            Procedure of Grand Lodge on Appeals. There is no specific rule to govern the Grand Lodge in the forms which it may adopt for con‑ducting the review of the case. But the most usual method is to refer the appeal, with the testimony and other papers, to a committee, upon whose report, after a full investigation, the Grand Lodge will act, and either confirm or reverse the decision of the Lodge.

 

If the Grand Lodge confirms the verdict of the subordinate, the appeal is dismissed, and the sentence of the Lodge goes into operation, without further action on the part of the Lodge.

 

If, on the contrary, the Grand Lodge reverses the decision of its subordinate, the appellant is placed thereby in the same position that he occupied before the trial.

 

But the Grand Lodge, instead of a complete confirmation or reversal, may find it necessary only to modify the decision of the Lodge.

 

It may, for instance, approve the finding of the verdict, but disapprove of the sentence, as being too severe; in which case a milder one may be substituted. As, for instance, expulsion may be reduced to suspension. On the other hand, the Grand Lodge may consider the punishment inflicted not commensurate with the magnitude of the offence, and may substitute a higher grade, as expulsion instead of suspension. It must be understood that, although in these cases the Grand Lodge is acting in some respects as an appellate court, it is not to be controlled by all the rules that govern such bodies in the municipal law. It cannot divest itself of its high position as the supreme Masonic authority of the State, and may at any time, or at any part of the proceedings, abandon the appellate character and assume an original jurisdiction.

 

Lastly, the Grand Lodge, being dissatisfied either with the sufficiency of the testimony, the formality and legality of the proceedings, or the adequacy of the punishment, may simply refer the case back to its subordinate for a new trial. If the reference back has been made on the ground that the testimony was not sufficient, or the proceedings irregular, then the trial in the Lodge must be commenced de n,ovo, and if the Brother is again convicted, he may again appeal; for no number of convictions can abrogate the right of appeal, which is inalienably

 

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invested in every Mason. But if the case is referred back on account of the inadequacy of the punishment, as being too severe or too lenient, it will not be necessary to institute a new trial, but simply to review that part of the proceedings which relate to the sentence.

 

744 - How do Masons employ the word profane?

 

            Profane. The word signifies uninitiated. All those who do not belong to the Order are frequently so called. Before a lodge is held, care must be taken that none but the initiated are present, and that the lodge is carefully tiled. In the lodge lists, which are frequently open to the public, there are given the addresses to which all letters for the lodge must be sent, and these are sometimes called profane ad‑dresses. It would be much more proper to call them "town addresses," for many of the uninitiated translate the word profane as unmannerly or impious.

 

745 - Has a non‑Mason the right of preferring charges against a Mason?

 

            Profane, Charges Preferred by. Any Master Mason may be the accuser of another, but a profane cannot be permitted to prefer charges against a Mason. Yet, if circumstances are known to a profane upon which charges ought to be predicated, a Master Mason may avail him‑self of that information, and out of it frame an accusation, to be presented to the Lodge. And such accusation will be received and investigated, although remotely derived from one who is not a member of the Order.

 

It is not necessary that the accuser should be a member of the same Lodge. It is sufficient if he is an affiliated Mason. I say an affiliated Mason; for it is generally held, and I believe correctly, that an unaffiliated Mason is no more competent to prefer charges than a profane.

 

746 - How soon after receiving the first degree can an Entered Apprentice apply for advancement to the second?

 

            Proficiency of Entered Apprentices. How soon, after receiving the first degree, can an Apprentice apply for advancement to the second? The necessity of a full comprehension of the mysteries of one degree, before any attempt is made to acquire those of a second, seems to have been thoroughly appreciated from the earliest times; and hence the Old York Constitutions of 926 prescribe that "the Master shall instruct his Apprentice faithfully, and make him a perfect workman." But if there be an obligation on the part of the Master to instruct his Apprentice, there must be, of course, a correlative obligation on the part of the latter to receive and profit by those instructions. Accordingly, unless this obligation is discharged, and the Apprentice makes himself acquainted with the mysteries of the degree that he has already received, it is, by general consent, admitted that he has no right to be intrusted with further and more important information. The modern ritual sus

 

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tains this doctrine, by requiring that the candidate, as a qualification in passing onward, shall have made "suitable proficiency in the pre‑ceding degree." This is all that the general law prescribes. Suitable proficiency must have been attained, and the period in which that condition will be acquired, must necessarily depend on the mental capacity of the candidate. Some men will become proficient in a shorter time than others, and of this fact the Master and the Lodge are to be the judges. An examination should therefore take place in open Lodge, and a ballot immediately following will express the opinion of the Lodge on the result of that examination, and the qualification of the candidates.

 

From the difficulty with which the second and third degrees were formerly obtained - a difficulty dependent on the fact that they were only conferred in the Grand Lodge - it is evident that Apprentices must have undergone a long probation before they had an opportunity of advancement, though the precise term of the probation was decided by no legal enactment. Several modern Grand Lodges, however, looking with disapprobation on the rapidity with which the degrees are sometimes conferred upon candidates wholly incompetent, have adopted special regulations, prescribing a determinate period of probation for each degree. This, however, is a local law, to be obeyed only in those jurisdictions in which it is of force. The general law of Masonry makes no such determinate provision of time, and demands only that the candidate shall give evidence of "suitable proficiency."

 

747 - Of what force and validity is the Masonic covenant?

 

            Promise. In entering into the covenant of Masonry, the candidate makes a promise to the Order; for this covenant is simply a promise where he voluntarily places himself under a moral obligation to act within certain conditions in a particular way. The law of promise is, therefore, strictly applicable to this covenant, and by that law the validity and obligation of the promises of every candidate must be deter‑mined. In every promise there are two things to be considered: the intention and the obligation. As to the intention: of all casuists, the Jesuits alone have contended that the intention may be concealed within the bosom of the promiser. Every Christian and Pagan writer agree on the principle that words expressed must convey their ordinary meaning to the promisee. If I promise to do a certain thing tomorrow, I cannot, when the morrow comes, refuse to do it on the ground that I only promised to do it if it suited me when the time of performance had arrived. The obligation of every promiser is, then, to fulfil the promise that he has made, not in any way that he may have secretly intended, but in the way in which he supposes that the one to whom he made it under‑stood it at the time that it was made. Hence all Masonic promises are accompanied by the declaration that they are given without equivocation or mental reservation of any kind whatsoever.

 

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All voluntary promises are binding, unless there be some paramount consideration which will release the obligation of performance. It is worth while, then, to inquire if there be any such considerations which can impair the validity of Masonic promises. Dr. Wayland lays down five conditions in which promises are not binding.

 

1. Where the performance is impossible;

2. Where the promise is unlawful;

3. Where no expectation is voluntarily excited by the promiser;

4. Where they proceed upon a condition which the promiser subsequently finds does not exist; and,

5. Where either of the parties is not a moral agent.

 

It is evident that no one of these conditions will apply to Masonic promises, for,

 

1. Every promise made at the altar of Masonry is possible to be performed;

2. No promise is exacted that is unlawful in its nature; for the candidate is expressly told that no promise exacted from him will interfere with the duty which he owes to God and to his country;

3. An expectation is voluntarily excited by the promiser, and that expectation is that he will faithfully fulfil his part of the covenant;

4. No false condition of things is placed before the candidate, either as to the character of the Institution or the nature of the duties which would be required him;

5. Both parties to the promise, the candidate who makes it and the Craft to whom it is made, are moral agents, fully capable of entering into a contract or covenant.

 

This, then, is the proper answer to those adversaries of Freemasonry who contend for the invalidity of Masonic promises on the very grounds of Wayland and other moralists. Their conclusions would be correct, were it not that every one of their premises is false.

 

748 - What precaution should be taken before proposing a candidate?

 

            Proposing. Proposing a candidate is a thing which requires the greatest care and attention. Through an improper subject, a whole lodge - nay, even the whole Society - may receive a deep wound. No one dare propose a person with whom lie is not intimately acquainted, and whose conduct he has not had an opportunity of observing under different circumstances. The person who is about to make a proposition, must have carefully inquired whether the candidate is influenced by the desire of gain or self‑interest; for he must not look to the Order as a means of making money, but rather as a means of expending it in charitable objects.

 

749 - Why were emblems and symbols originally employed?

 

            Protection. The true believers, according to Masonic tradition, in order to withdraw and distinguish themselves from the rest of mankind, especially the idolaters by whom they were surrounded, adopted emblems, and mystic devices, together with certain distinguishing principles, whereby they should be known to each other; and also certify that they were servants of that God, in whose hands all creation existed.

 

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By these means they also protected themselves from persecution, and their faith from the ridicule of the incredulous vulgar.

 

 

750 - What are the office and function of a Provincial Grand Master?

 

            Provincial Grand Master. The Provincial Grand Master is an officer known only to the English Constitutions. The first appointment of one recorded in the Book of Constitutions is that of Bro. Winter, as Provincial Grand Master of East India, which was made in 1730, by the Duke of Norfolk. The modern Constitutions of England invest him with powers in his own province very similar to those of the Grand Master, to whom, however, or to the Grand Lodge, an appeal always lies from his decisions.

 

 

751 - What rules should govern the choice of Masonic proxies?

 

            Proxy (contracted from Procuracy). The agency of one person who acts as a substitute for another, or as his principal; authority to act for another, or for a body, especially in a legislative body. Every lodge is entitled to be represented in the Grand Lodge, by its Master and Wardens. Should these, or either of them, be unable to attend the Grand Lodge at any communication, a brother or brothers may be appointed. Such substituted representatives, in the absence of their principal, succeed to all his powers and privileges, but in his presence they cannot act. Persons appointed proxies must be Master Masons, and members of some subordinate lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, and must be furnished with a written certificate of their appointment, under the seal of the lodge or party appointing them. A proxy cannot appoint a proxy. An officer of the Grand Lodge cannot, as such officer, appoint a proxy, unless the constitution specifically give him such power. The Grand Master is the only officer who has the power or right of appointing his proxy, for any purpose, unless such power be granted by the particular constitution. In the selection of an agent for the proper discharge of a Masonic duty, preference should always be given to able and experienced Masons; it is, therefore, suggested that as a general rule a Master or Past Master should have the preference.

 

 

752 - Why should a Mason cultivate prudence?

 

            Prudence. The emblem of prudence is the first and most exalted object that demands our attention in the lodge. It is placed in the center, ever to be present to the eye of the Mason, that his heart may be attentive to her dictates, and steadfast in her laws; for prudence is the rule of all virtues; prudence is the path which leads to every degree of propriety; prudence is the channel whence self‑approbation flows for‑ever. She leads us forth to worthy actions, and, as a blazing star, en‑lightens us throughout the dreary and darksome paths of life.

 

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753 - Is there anything in Masonry contrary to public policy?

 

            Publicity. What is there in Freemasonry, except the Landmarks and peculiar secrets, that we ought to be anxious to conceal? Are our doctrines unfavorable to the interests of morality, that we are desirous of hiding them from public observation? Are our ceremonies repulsive to virtue, or our practices subversive to the rules and decencies of society? Nothing like it. We boast of our benevolent institutions; we extol our brotherly love; we celebrate our regard for the four cardinal, and the three theological virtues. Why place our light under a bushel? Why refuse to let it shine before men, that they may see that our good works have a tendency to the glory of our Father which is in heaven?

 

754 - What is the nature and theory of Masonic punishment?

 

            Punishment. The object of all punishment, according to the jurists, is twofold: to vindicate the offended majesty of the law, and to prevent its future violation by others, through the impressive force of example. In reference to this latter view, it is reported of Lord Mansfield that on a certain occasion he said, "A man is not hung because he has committed a larceny, but he is hung that larcenies may not be committed." This is perhaps the most humane and philosophical principle on which the system of punishments can be founded. To punish merely as a satisfaction to the law, partakes too much of the nature of private retaliation or revenge, to be worthy of statesmanlike policy.

 

But in the theory of Masonic punishments, another element is to be added. Punishment in Masonry is inflicted that the character of the institution may remain unsullied, and that the unpunished crimes of its members may not injuriously reflect upon the reputation of the whole society.

 

The right, on the part of the Masonic Order, to inflict punishment on its members, is derived from the very nature of all societies. "Inasmuch," says President Wayland, "as the formation of a society involves the idea of a moral obligation, each party is under moral obligation to fulfil its part of the contract. The society is bound to do what it has promised to every individual, and every individual is bound to do what he has promised to the society." It is this mutual obligation which makes a violation of a purely Masonic law a penal offence, and which gives to the Lodge the right of imposing the penalty. Protection of the good and punishment of the bad, are a part of the contract entered into by the Order, and each of its members.

 

But the nature of the punishment to be inflicted is restricted within certain limits by the peculiar character of the institution, which is averse to some forms of penalty, and by the laws of the land which do not give to private corporations the right to impose certain species of punishment.

 

The infliction of fines or pecuniary penalties has, in modern times ,it

 

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least, been considered as contrary to the genius of Masonry, because the sanctions of Masonic law are of a higher nature than any that could be furnished by a pecuniary penalty. The imposition of a fine for transgression of duty, would be a tacit acknowledgment of the inadequacy of those sanctions, and would hence detract from their solemnity and binding nature.

 

Imprisonment and corporal punishment are equally adverse to the spirit of the institution, and are also prohibited by the laws of the land, which reserve the infliction of such penalties for their own tribunals.

 

Masonic punishments are therefore restricted to the expression of disapprobation, or the deprivation of Masonic rights, and may be considered under the following heads:

 

1. Censure;

2. Reprimand;

3. Exclusion;

4. Suspension, Definite or Indefinite;

5. Expulsion.

 

755 - What color has always been considered an emblem of purity?

 

            Purity. White was always considered an emblem of purity. Porphyry says, "They esteem him not fit to offer sacrifice worthily, whose body is not clothed in a white and clean garment; but they do not think it any great matter, if some go to sacrifice, having their bodies clean, and also their garments, though their minds be not void of evil, as if God were not the most delighted with internal purity, which bears the nearest resemblance to him. It was even written in the temple of Epidauras - let all who come to offer at this shrine be pure. But true purity consists in holy thoughts."

 

756 - What color do Grand Lodge officers wear?

 

            Purple. The color by which the grand officers are distinguished. It is an emblem of union, being produced by the combination of blue and scarlet, and reminds the wearer to cultivate amongst the brethren over whom he is placed, such a spirit of union as may cement them into one complete and harmonious society.

 

757 - What has Freemasonry derived from the teachings of Pythagoras?

 

            Pythagoras, the celebrated philosopher, was born at Samos, about 540 B. C. His father, Mnesarchus, was a person of distinction, and therefore the son received that education which was best calculated to enlighten his mind and invigorate his body. Like his contemporaries, he was made acquainted with poetry and music; eloquence and astronomy became his private studies, and in gymnastic exercises he often bore the palm for strength and dexterity. At an early age he left his native country and began his travels in pursuit of knowledge; he visited Egypt, Chalde a and India, where he gained the confidence of the priests, and

 

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availed himself of an understanding of the mysteries and symbolic writings by which they governed the princes as well as the people of those countries; and after he had spent many years in gathering all the in‑formation which could be collected from antique traditions concerning the nature of the religious and the immortality of the soul, he revisited his native island. The tyranny of Polycrates, at Samos, disgusted the philosopher, who was a great advocate of national independence; and, though he was a great favorite of the tyrant, he retired from the island and settled in the town of Crotona, in Southern Italy, where he founded a sect which received the name of The Italian, or Pythagorean Fraternity; and he soon saw himself surrounded by a great number of pupils, which the recommendations of his mental, as well as his personal accomplishments, had procured. Pythagoras was, perhaps, the most virtuous, and taught the purest doctrines of all the heathen philosophers. He distinguished himself particularly by his discoveries in geometry, astronomy and mathematics; and it is to him that the world is indebted for the demonstrations of the 47th proposition of the first book of Euclid's elements, about the square of the hypothenuse. The time and the place of the death of this great philosopher are unknown; yet many suppose that he died at Metapontum, about 487 B. C.; and so great was the veneration of the people of Magna Grmcia for him that he received the same honors as were paid to the immortal gods, and his house became a sacred temple.

 

758 - What symbols has Masonry borrowed from Pythagoras?

 

            Pythagoras, Symbols of. The esoteric or secret instructions of Pythagoras were explained with the aid of symbols, as the readiest and most efficient method of impressing upon the mind of the candidate for the mysteries the sublime truths and moral lessons for which the school of that justly celebrated philosopher was distinguished. A few of the most important symbols are here explained.

 

The Equilateral Triangle, a perfect figure, was adopted among the ancient nations as a symbol of Deity, the principle and author of all sublunary things; the essence of Light and Truth, who was, and is, and shall be. The Square comprehends the union of the celestial and terrestrial elements of power; and was the emblem of Morality and Justice. The Tetractys was a sacred emblem, which was expressed by ten jods disposed in the form of ‑a triangle, each side containing four. This was the most expressive symbol of Pythagoras. On it the obligation to the aspirant was propounded; and it was the conservator of many awful and important truths, which are explained as follows: The one point represented the Monad, or active principle; the two points the Duad, or passive principle; the three points the Triad, or the world proceeding from their union; the four, the Quarternary, or the liberal sciences. The Cube was the symbol of the mind of man, after a well‑spent life in acts

 

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of piety and devotion, and thus prepared by virtue for translation into the society of the celestial gods. The Point within a Circle was the symbol of the universe. The use of this emblem is coeval with the first created man - the creation was the circle and himself the center. The Dodecccdron, or figure of twelve sides, was also a symbol of the universe. The Triple Triangle - a unity of perfectness - was a symbol of health, and was called Hygeia. The Forty‑seventh proposition of Euclid was invented and explained by Pythagoras, and is so extensively useful that it has been adopted in all lodges as a significant symbol of Freemasonry.

 

The letter Y was a symbolical representation of the course of human life. Youth, arriving at manhood, sees two roads before him, and deliberates which he shall pursue. If he meet with a guide that directs him to pursue philosophy, and he procures initiation, his life shall be honor‑able and his death happy. But if he omits to do this, and takes the left hand path, which appears broader and better, it will lead to sloth and luxury; will waste his estate, impair his health, and bring on an old age of infamy and misery.

 

759 - What are the qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

            Qualifications of Candidates. The Masonic institution, like other societies, is composed of individual members, which, in the aggregate, make up a body or Lodge. As the source of power is, primarily, vested in the members, it is important to consider who should compose the body or be admitted into the Order. The qualifications which are indispensable in a candidate for initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry are four‑fold in their character - Moral, Physical, Intellectual and Political.

 

The Moral character is intended to secure the respectability of the Order, because, by the worthiness of its candidates, their virtuous deportment and good reputation, will the character of the institution be judged, while the admission of irreligious libertines and contemners of the moral law would necessarily impair its dignity and honor.

 

The Physical qualifications contribute to the utility of the Fraternity, because he who is deficient in any of his limbs or members, and who is not in the possession of all his natural senses and endowments, is linable to perform, with pleasure to himself or credit to the Fraternity, those peculiar labors in which all should take an equal part. He thus becomes a drone in the hive, and so far impairs the usefulness of the lodge, as "a place where Freemasons assemble to work, and to instruct and improve themselves in the mysteries of their ancient science." The Intellectual qualifications refer to the security of the Fraternity; because they require that its mysteries shall be confided only to those whose mental developments are such as to enable them properly to appreciate, and faithfully to preserve from imposition, the secrets thus en‑trusted to them. It is evident, for instance, that an idiot could neither

 

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understand the hidden doctrines that might be communicated to him, nor could he so secure such portions as he might remember, in the "depository of his heart," as to prevent the designing knave from worming them out of him; for, as the wise Solomon has said, "a fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul." The Political qualifications are intended to maintain the independence of the Fraternity; because its obligations and privileges are thus confided only to those who, from their position in society, are capable of obeying the one, and of exercising the other without the danger of let or hindrance from superior authority.

 

Of the Moral, Physical and Political qualifications of a candidate there can be no doubt, as they are distinctly laid down in the Ancient Charges and Constitutions. The Intellectual are not so readily decided. These essential qualifications may be briefly summed up in the following axioms: Morally, the candidate must be a man of irreproachable conduct, a believer in the existence of God, and living "under the tongue of good report." Physically, he must be a man of at least twenty‑one years of age, upright in body, with the senses of a man, not deformed or dismembered, but with hale and entire limbs as a man ought to be.

 

Intellectually, he must be a man in the full possession of his intellects, not so young that his mind shall not have been formed, nor so old that it shall have fallen into dotage; neither a fool, an idiot, nor a mad‑man; and with so much education as to enable him to avail himself of the teachings of Masonry, and to cultivate at his leisure a knowledge of the principles and doctrines of our royal art.

 

Politically, he must be in the unrestrained enjoyment of his civil and personal liberty, and this, too, by the birthright of inheritance, and not by its subsequent acquisition, in consequence of his release from hereditary bondage.

 

The lodge which strictly demands these qualifications of its candidates may have fewer members than one less strict, but it will undoubtedly have better ones.

 

But the importance of the subject demands for each class of the qualifications a separate section, and a more extended consideration. Dr. Oliver, in his "Institutes of Masonic Jurisprudence," enumerates the following as the qualifications of candidates, according to the English Book of Constitutions, and we here show how easily our transatlantic brethren can change a provision which has, from time immemorial, been regarded as an unchangeable landmark: "1. Every candidate for the honors of Masonry ought to lead an uncorrupt life, and do the thing which is right, always speaking the truth from his heart; to use no deceit in his tongue, nor to do evil, or slander his neighbor. He must be lowly in his own eyes, and give due

 

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honors to good and pious men. If he swears unto his neighbor he must not disappoint him, even though it should subject himself to temporary inconvenience, neither must he lend money to his brother on exorbitant usury, or take reward against the innocent. In conformity with this primitive recommendation, our constitutions pronounce that `every candidate must be a free man, and his own master, and at the time of his initiation, be known to be in reputable circumstances. He should be a lover of the liberal arts and sciences, and have made some progress in one or other of them.' "In 1763, the worthy candidate was described to be one `who to a well‑informed and accomplished mind added elegance of manners and a conduct guided by principle; one who would not have injured the rights of the meanest individual; who contracted no debts that he could not pay, and thought every breach of morality unbecoming the character of a gentleman, and who studied to be useful to others so far as his opportunity or abilities enabled him.' This standard of qualification may be considered rather high, and, indeed, it is, and ought to be, so in an institution which plumes itself on its moral tendencies and maintains a leading position amongst the existing societies which are professedly de‑voted to works of benevolence and charity. It would be well if the Masters of lodges were to give themselves the trouble of examining, more particularly than they generally do, whether their candidates are able to substantiate a valid claim to these preliminary qualifications.

 

"2. According to the customs and regulations of our ancient brethren, every candidate was formerly required to be `a free man, born of a free woman.' This formula was originally considered to be an unchangeable landmark; but on the extinction of negro slavery by the British parliament, the following arguments were used at a Grand Lodge, holden Sept. 1, 1847, in favor of its alteration. The Grand Master (Earl of Zetland) requested the brethren to consider the propriety of remodeling the form by which a candidate for initiation declares him‑self to be free born. `There are,' he said, `at the present moment, many men in Jamaica and other places who are free by the law of emancipation, and yet, their mothers having been slaves, they cannot conscientiously sign such a declaration, knowing it to be untrue; and in the absence of that preliminary act, we cannot initiate them. I should be glad to see it altered, and, therefore, move that in future we substitute the words free agent for free born, and that the declaration be thus revised.' The amendment was unanimously adopted.

 

760 - What are the physical qualifications of a candidate for Masonry?

 

            Qualifications of Candidates, Bodily. There is no part of Masonic jurisprudence which has given greater occasion to discussion in recent years than that which refers to the bodily conformation which is required of the candidate. While some give a strict interpretation to the Ian‑

 

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guage of the ancient Constitutions, rigorously demand the utmost perfection of limbs and members, there are others, more lax in their construction, who reject only such as are from natural deformity or subsequent injury, unable to perform the work of speculative Masonry. In a controversy of this kind, the only way to settle the question is, to make a careful and impartial examination of the authorities on which the law which relates to physical conformation is founded.

 

The first written law that we find on this subject is contained in the fifth article of the Gothic Constitutions, adopted at York, in the year 926, and is in these words: "A candidate must be without blemish, and have the full and proper use of his limbs; for a maimed man can do the Craft no good." The next enactment is to be found in the Regulations of 1663 under the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans, and is in these words: "No person hereafter shall be accepted a Freemason but such as are of able body." The next Regulation, in order of time, is that contained in "The Ancient Charges at Makings," adopted about the year 1686, the manuscript of which was in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity at London. It is still more explicit than those which preceded it, and is in the following language: "That he that be made be able in all degrees; that is, free born, of a good kindred, true, and no bondsman; and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have." And lastly, similar declarations, with respect to physical ability are made in the Charges approved in 1722, which are as follows: "No Master should take an Apprentice unless he has sufficient employment for him, and unless he be a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his body that may render him uncapable of learning the art of serving his Master's lord, and of being made a Brother," etc.

 

So far, then, the ancient Written Law of Masonry seems undoubtedly to have contemplated the necessity of perfection in the physical con‑formation of candidates, and the inadmissibility of all who had any defect of limb or member. In the early part of the last century, this opinion‑ must have generally prevailed among the Craft; for, in the ,second edition of the Book of Constitutions, which was edited by Dr. Anderson, and, after perusal, approved officially by such Masons as Desaguliers, Cowper and Payne, the language of the first edition was so altered as to leave no doubt of the construction that the brethren at that time put upon the clause relating to physical qualifications. The Charge in this second edition is in the following unmistakable words: "The men made Masons must be free born, (or no bondmen), of mature age and of good report, hale and sound, not deformed or dismembered at the time of their making." When the schism took place in the Grand Lodge of England, in

 

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1739, the Athol, or Ancient Masons, as they called themselves, adopted this construction of the law, as is evident from the fact that, in their Book of Constitutions, which they published under the title of the "Ahiman Rezon," they incorporated this Charge, word for word, from Anderson's edition of 1738.

 

With this thorough view of the historical and symbolic reasons upon which the ancient usage is founded, it is astonishing that any Grand Lodge should have declared that when the maim or defect is not such as to prevent the candidate from complying with the ritual ceremonies of Masonry, he may be initiated. No such qualifying clause is to be found in any of the old Constitutions. Such a liberal interpretation would give entrance in many Lodges to candidates who, though perhaps in possession of their legs and arms, would still be marked with some other of those blemishes and deformities which are expressly enumerated by Moses as causes of exclusion from the priesthood, and would thus utterly subvert the whole symbolism of the law. It cannot be obeyed in a half way manner. If observed at all, (and the ommission to observe it would be an innovation), it must be complied with to the letter. In the language of Dr. Clarke, a portion of whose remarks have been quoted by Bro. Rockwell, the law excluding a man having any blemishes or deformities, is "founded on reason, propriety, common sense, and absolute necessity." Moreover, in Masonry, it is founded on the Landmarks, and is illustrative of the symbolism of the Order, and will, therefore, admit of no qualifications. The candidate for initiation "must," to use the language of the Gothic Constitutions of 926, "be without blemish, and have the full and proper use of his limbs."

 

761 - Why should Masons avoid quarreling?

 

            Quarreling. As a Mason you are to cultivate brotherly love, the foundation and copestone, the cement and glory of this ancient fraternity, avoiding all wrangling and quarreling, all slander and back‑biting, nor permitting others to slander any honest brother, but defending his character and doing him all good offices, as far as is consistent with your honor and safety, and no farther.

 

762 - What action did Queen Elizabeth take with regard to Masonry?

 

            Queen Elizabeth. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the government of the country attempted to interfere with Freemasonry, but without success. The queen was jealous of all secrets in which she was unable to participate, and she deputed an armed force, on St. John's day, in December, 1561, to break up the annual Grand Lodge. The Grand Master, Sir Thomas Sackville, received the queen's officers with great civility, telling them nothing could give him greater pleasure than to admit them into the Grand Lodge, and communicate to them the secrets of the Order. He persuaded them to be initiated, and this con‑

 

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vinced them that the system was founded on the sublime ordinances of morality and religion. On their return, they assured the queen that the business of Freemasonry was the cultivation of morality and science, harmony and peace; and that politics and religion were alike forbidden to be discussed in their assemblies. The queen was perfectly satisfied, and never attempted to disturb the lodges again.

 

763 - What is the duty of the Secretary in the preparation room?

 

            Questioning Candidates. The Secretary is the proper officer to propose to every candidate, in an adjoining apartment, and in the presence of the Stewards, those questions which are to elicit his declaration of the purity of the motives which have induced him to apply for initiation. For this purpose he leaves the Lodge room, previous to the preparation of the candidate, and having proposed the questions and received the appropriate replies, he returns and reports the fact to the Master.

 

764 - In the event of a verdict of guilty on charges, how are the nature and extent of punishment determined?

 

            Question of Punishment. If the verdict of a Lodge upon a Masonic trial is guilty, the Master must then put the question as to the nature and extent of the punishment to be inflicted, beginning with expulsion and proceeding, if necessary, to indefinite suspension and public and private reprimand. To inflict expulsion or suspension, a vote of two‑thirds of those present is required, but for a mere reprimand, a majority will be sufficient. The votes on the nature of the punishment should be viva voce, or rather, according to Masonic usage, by a show of hands.

 

765 - What does the Masonic term "raised" signify?

 

            Raised. The expressive term used to designate the reception of the candidate into the third or sublime degree of Master Mason, and alludes both to a part of the ceremony and to our faith in the glorious morn of the resurrection, when our bodies will rise, and become as incorruptible as our souls.

 

766 - Is it lawful to read charges against a member at a special communica‑ tion of Lodge?

 

            Reading Charges. Charges against a member must be read at a regular communication, because it is to be presumed that at such communications all the members, and among them the accused, will be present, whereas the Lodge might be taken by surprise if a charge were preferred at a special communication, which is often thinly attended, and at which no new business of importance is expected to be transacted.

 

767 - May a petition for membership be read at a special communication?

 

            Reading Petition. A petition must be read on a regular night of meeting. This is done that no member may be taken by surprise, and

 

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an unworthy or unacceptable candidate be thus admitted without his knowledge or consent. The rule is derived by implication from the fifth of the Regulations of

1721, which prescribes that the petition shall lie over for one month. Now, as it is admitted that a ballot cannot take place, except at a regular communication of the Lodge, this will carry back the time of presentation to the previous regular meeting.

 

768 - How may Masons recognize each other?

 

            Recognition, Sign or Signs, Word, and Grip. Wherever brethren meet, in whatever part of the world it may be, whether they can under‑stand each other's language or not, if it be by day or by night, if one be deaf and the other dumb, they can nevertheless recognize each other as brethren. In this respect the recognition signs are a universal language, and they are communicated to every Mason at his initiation. Signs and grips can be given so cautiously that it is not possible to perceive them, if they are surrounded by thousands who have not been initiated. To give the word is somewhat more difficult. By the grip we make ourselves known to the blind, by the sign unto the deaf, and by the word and grip by day or by night.

 

769 - How many Master Masons are required to sign a petition for membership?

 

            Recommendation. A petition must be recommended by at least two members of the Lodge. Preston requires the signature to be witnessed by one person (he does not say whether he must be a member of the Lodge or not), and that the candidate must be proposed in open Lodge by a member. Webb says that "the candidate must be proposed in form, by a member of the Lodge, and the proposition seconded by another member." Cross, whose "Masonic Chart" gradually superseded that of Webb in this country, (principally on account of its numerous illustrations, for otherwise it is an inferior work), says that a recommendation, the form of which he gives, "is to be signed by two members of the Lodge," and he dispenses with the formal proposition. These gradual changes, none of them, however, substantially affecting the principle, have at last resulted in the present simpler usage, which is, for two members of the Lodge to affix their names to the petition, as recommenders of the applicant.

 

770 - Who may order a re‑consideration of ballot?

 

            Re‑Consideration of Ballot. It almost always happens, when a ballot is unfavorable, that the friends of the applicant are not satisfied, and desire a re‑consideration, and it sometimes occurs that a motion for that re‑consideration is made.

 

A motion to re‑consider an unfavorable ballot is entirely out of order. In the first place, the elements necessary to bring such a motion within the provisions of Parliamentary rules of order are wanting. A motion

 

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for re‑consideration must always be made by one who has voted in the majority. This is a wise provision, to prevent time being wasted in repeated agitations of the same questions, so that it shall never be known when a question is done with. But the vote on the petition of a candidate being by secret ballot, in which no member is permitted to make his vote known, it is, of course, impossible to know, when the motion for re‑consideration is made, whether the mover was one of the majority or the minority, and whether therefore he is or is not entitled, under the Parliamentary rule, to make such a motion. The motion would have to be ruled out for want of certainty.

 

But in the particular case of a re‑consideration of the ballot, there is another and more strictly Masonic rule, which would make such a motion out of order. To understand the operation of this second rule, it is necessary to make a preliminary explanation. The proceedings of a Lodge are of two kinds - that relating to business, and that relating to Masonic labor. Now, in all matters purely of a business character, in which the Lodge assumes the nature of a mere voluntary association of men, such, for instance, as the appropriation of the funds, every member is entitled to a voice in the deliberations, and may make any motion relative to the business in hand, which would not be a violation of the Parliamentary rules of order which prevail in all deliberative societies, and of those few other rules of order which particularly distinguish the Masonic from any other association or society. But all matters relating to Masonic labor are under the exclusive control of the Master. He alone is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the justice and excellence of his work, and he alone should therefore be permitted to direct it. If the time when and the manner how labor is to be con‑ducted, be left to the decision of a majority of the Lodge, then the Master can no longer be held responsible for results, in producing which he had, in common with the other members, only one voice. It is wisely therefore provided that the labor of the Lodge shall be wholly and solely controlled and directed by the Master.

 

Now, the ballot is, on a petition for initiation, a part of the labor of a Lodge. The candidate may be said symbolically to be the material brought up for the building of the temple. The laws and usages of Masonry have declared that the whole Lodge shall unanimously decide whether this material is‑"good and true," and fit for the tools of the workmen. But as soon as the Lodge has begun to exercise its judgment on the material thus brought before it - that is, as soon as it has proceeded to a ballot on the petition - it has gone into Masonic labor, and the authority of the Master as the Chief Builder becomes paramount. He may stay the election - he may refuse to sanction it - he may set it aside - and against his decision there can be no appeal, except to the Grand Lodge, to which body, of course, he is responsible.

 

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and before which he must show good reasons for the act that he has done.

 

From all this, then, it follows that the Master of the Lodge alone has the power to order a re‑consideration of the ballot. If, on the annunciation of the result, he is satisfied that an error of inadvertence has occurred, by which, for instance, a black ball has been deposited, where the depositor intended a white one, or if he supposes it probable or possible that such an error may have been committed, or if he has any other equally good reason, he may order a re‑consideration of the ballot. But even this must be done under restriction, that the re‑consideration is to be ordered at once. If any member has left the room after the first ballot has been taken, it would be clearly wrong in the Master to order a re‑consideration, because it might be that the party so leaving had been the very one who had voted for a rejection. Of course, it follows, on the same principle, that the Master would not be justified in ordering a re‑consideration on any subsequent meeting. The Lodge having been closed, there is no power in Masonry which can order a re‑consideration. The result cannot be affected except by a new petition.

 

 

771 - What is the duty of the Secretary with reference to the Lodge records?

 

            Records of the Lodge. As the recording agent of the Lodge, it is the Secretary's duty to keep a minute of all the proceedings, except such as are of an esoteric character, and which the peculiar constitution of our society forbids him to commit to paper. After these minutes have been approved and confirmed, it is his duty to transfer them to a permanent record book. It is also his duty, whenever called upon, to furnish the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge with a fair transcript of any portion of his records that may be required. As the recording agent, he is also expected to furnish, at every communication of the Lodge, a statement of the unfinished business which is to be called up for action.

 

 

772 - Is a Past Master eligible for re‑election as Master of the Lodge?

 

            Re‑Election of Master. A Past Master is eligible to election to the chair, without again passing through the office of Warden. The Old Charges prescribe that no one can be a Master until he has served as a Warden. Past Masters having once served in the office of War‑den, always afterwards retain this prerogative conferred by such service.

 

The Master is eligible to re‑election as often as the Lodge may choose to confer that honor on him. This is the invariable usage of this country, and I refer to it only because in England a different rule prevails. There the Master, after having served for two years, is ineligible to office until after the expiration of a year, except by dispensation; but

 

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no such regulation has ever existed, at least within my recollection, in America.

 

773 - What is the Masonic meaning of "refreshments?"

 

            Refreshment. In Masonic languages, refreshment is opposed in a peculiar sense of labor. While a Lodge is in activity it must be either at labor or at refreshment. If a Lodge is permanently closed until its next communication, the intervening period is one of abeyance, its activity for Masonic duty having for the time been suspended; although its powers and privileges as a Lodge still exist, and may be at any time resumed. But where it is only temporarily closed, with the intention of soon again resuming labor, the intermediate period is called a time of refreshment, and the Lodge is said not to be closed, but to be called from labor to refreshment. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the last century. Calling from labor to refreshment differs from closing in this, that the ceremony is a very brief one, and that the Junior Warden then assumes the control of the Craft, in token of which he erects his column on his stand or pedestal, while the Senior Warden lays his down. This is reversed in calling on, in which the ceremony is equally brief.

 

The word refreshment no longer bears the meaning among Masons that it formerly did. It signifies not necessarily eating and drinking, but simply cessation from labor. A Lodge at refreshment may thus be compared to any other society when in a recess. During the whole of the last century, and a part of the present, a different meaning was given to the word, arising from a now obsolete usage.

 

774 - Who is in charge of the Lodge during the period of refreshment?

 

            Refreshment, Charge of. It is one of the Landmarks that the Junior Warden presides over the craft during the hours of refreshment; and in reference to this fact, it is the usage for the column of the Senior Warden to be standing, and that of the Junior to be lying down, while the Lodge is at work, and these positions to be reversed when the Lodge is called off.

 

In consequence of the Junior Warden being placed over the craft during the hours of refreshment, and of his being charged at the time of his installation to see "that none of the craft be suffered to convert the purposes of refreshment into those of intemperance and excess," it has been very generally supposed that it is his duty, as the prosecuting officer of the Lodge, to prefer charges against any member who, by his conduct, has made himself amenable to the penal jurisdiction of the Lodge. I know of no ancient regulation which imposes this unpleasant duty upon the Junior Warden; but it does seem to be a very natural deduction from his peculiar prerogative as the custos morum or guardian of the conduct of the craft, that in all cases of violation of the law he should, after due efforts towards producing a reform, be the proper

 

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officer to bring the conduct of the offending brother to the notice of the Lodge.

 

775 - Has the Master the right to refuse an affiliated Mason admission to his Lodge?

 

            Refusal of Admission. A visiting Brother, although an affiliated Mason, may, by bad conduct, forfeit his right of visit. The power to reject the application of a visitor for admission, is not a discretionary, but a constitutional one, vested in the Master of the Lodge, and for the wholesome exercise of which he is responsible to the Grand Lodge. If, in his opinion, the applicant for admission as a visitor, is not in a condition, or of fitting moral character, to entitle him to the hospitalities of the Lodge, he may refuse him admission; but the visitor so rejected will have his right of appeal to the Grand Lodge, in whose jurisdiction he has been refused, and the onus then lies on the Master of proving that such refusal was founded on and supported by sufficient reasons.

 

 

776 - Can a member duly elected to an office in a Lodge lawfully refuse to serve?

 

            Refusal to Serve. It has been supposed by some that when a member has been elected to occupy an office, he cannot refuse to obey the call of his brethren; and Dr. Dalcho expressly lays down the rule that "no Freemason, chosen into any office, can refuse to serve, (unless he has before filled the same office,) without incurring the penalties established by the by‑laws." There is a great deal of looseness in this enunciation of an important regulation; for we are of course unable to say to what particular by‑laws he refers. No such regulation is to be found in any of the Ancient Constitutions, and if contained in the by‑laws of a particular Lodge, it is certainly contrary to the voluntary spirit of the institution. Indeed, the whole tenor of the lessons we are taught in Masonry is, that no one should accept an office unless he feels that he is fully competent to discharge its duties; and hence, if an ignorant and unskillful brother were chosen to fill the office of a Warden, it should rather be the duty of the Lodge, in furtherance of the principles of the institution, to discourage his acceptance of the trust, than to compel him, by the threatened infliction of a penalty, to assume a position whose duties he was convinced that he could not discharge.

 

 

777 - How can a Mason prove his regularity?

 

            Regularity. He only is acknowledged as a Free and Accepted Mason who has been initiated into our mysteries in a certain manner, with the assistance of, and under the superintendence of at least seven brethren, and who is able to prove that he has been regularly initiated, by the ready use of those signs and words which are used by the other brethren.

 

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778 - Should a Master who succeeds himself be reinstalled?

 

            Re‑Installation. It has been supposed by many that when an officer who has once been installed, is re‑elected to the same office, a re‑petition of the installation is not necessary; but this neglect of forms, in an institution which depends so much on them, is, I think, of dangerous tendency, and it is therefore better that the installation should al‑ways be repeated. In fact the omission of it changes, if not practically, at least theoretically, the tenure by which the re‑elected officer holds his office for the second year. At his first election he was, of course, installed; now by the law of Masonry, an old officer holds on until his successor is installed. But in this case he is his own suscessor, and if, on his second election, he does again pass through the ceremony of installation, it is evident that he holds the office to which he has been elected, not by the tenure of that election, but by the tenure by which an old officer retains his office until his successor is installed. He is not, therefore, the regularly installed officer for the year, but the former one, retaining the office in trust for his successor. The theory of his official position is entirely changed; and as the obligation for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office for the year on which he has entered has never been administered to him, it is a question how far a man, not strictly conscientious, might feel himself controlled by the promises he had made for the preceding year, and which he might, with sophistry, I admit, suppose to have been fulfilled at the close of his term of office. And although this practical result might never occur, still, as I have already said, it is dangerous, in a ceremonial institution like ours to neglect the observance of any prescribed form.

 

779 - How can an expelled Mason be reinstated?

 

            Reinstated. This term is applied to a Mason who has been expelled or suspended from the lodge of which he was a member. On his restoration he is restored to all the rights and privileges of the Fraternity. No other lodge than the one which inflicted the punishment has the power to restore to membership in a lodge. The Grand Lodge, which is the supreme authority within the territorial jurisdiction, has the power to restore an expelled Mason to the privileges of the order, on proper application being made to that body.

 

780 - Has a rejected candidate the right to repeat his application? If so, after what length of time?

 

            Rejected Candidate. A candidate who has been rejected may, however, again apply to the Lodge which has rejected him. The ancient laws of the Order are entirely silent as to the time when this new application is to be made. Some of the Grand Lodges of this country have enacted local Regulations on this subject, and decreed that such new application shall not be made until after the expiration of a definite period. The Grand Lodge of New York requires a probation of six

 

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months, and some other states have extended it to a year. In all such cases, the local Regulation will be of force in the jurisdiction for which it was enacted. But where there is no such Regulation, it is competent for the candidate to reapply at any subsequent regular communication. In such a case, however, he must apply by an entirely new petition, which must again be vouched for and recommended as in the original application, by the same or other brethren, must be again referred to a committee of inquiry on character, must lie over for one month, and then be balloted for precisely as it was before. The treatment of this new petition must be, in all respects, as if no former petition existed. The necessary notice will in this way be given to all the brethren, and if there are the same objections to receiving the candidate as existed in the former trial, there will be ample opportunity for expressing them in the usual way by the black ball. It may be objected that in this way a Lodge may be harassed by the repeated petitions of an importunate candidate. This, it is true, may sometimes be the case; but this "argumentum ab inconvenienti" can be of no weight, since it may be met by another of equal or greater force, that if it were not for this provision of a second petition, many good men who had perhaps been unjustly refused admission, and for which act the Lodge might naturally feel regret, would be without redress. Circumstances may occur in which a rejected candidate may, on a renewal of his petition, be found worthy of admission. He may have since reformed and abandoned the vices which had originally caused his rejection, or it may be that the Lodge has since found that it was in error, and in his rejection had committed an act of injustice. It is wisely provided, therefore, that to meet such, not infrequent cases, the candidate is permitted to present a renewed petition, and to pass through a second or even a third and fourth or‑deal. If it prove favorable in its results, the injustice to him is compensated for; but if it again prove unfavorable, no evil has been done to the Lodge, and the candidate is just where he was, before his renewed application.

 

781 - Can a rejected candidate renew his petition?

 

            Rejection. In the United States an applicant for initiation can be received only by unanimous vote. One black ball insures rejection, and the rejected candidate can apply to no other lodge for admission, with‑out the consent of the one which first received his proposition. In the absence of any local regulations to the contrary a candidate who has been rejected may renew his application at any time when he may have reason to expect a more favorable consideration of his petition.

 

782 - What is the effect of the rejection of a petition for affiliation on the Masonic status of the applicant?

 

            Rejection of a Petition for Affiliation. The effect of the rejection of the application of a Master Mason for affiliation is different from

 

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that of a profane for initiation. When a profane petitions for initiation and his petition is rejected, he can renew his petition only in the same Lodge. The door of every Lodge is closed against him. But it is not so with the Master Mason, the rejection of whose application for affiliation or membership by one Lodge does not deprive him of the right to apply to another. The reason of this rule will be evident upon a little reflection. A Master Mason is in what is technically called "good standing;" that is to say, he is a Mason in possession of all Masoniz rights and privileges, so long as he is not deprived of that character by the legal action of some regularly constituted Masonic tribunal. Now, that action must be either by suspension or expulsion, after trial and conviction. A Mason who is neither suspended nor expelled is a Mason in "good standing." Rejection, therefore, is not one of the methods by which the good standing of a Mason is affected, because rejection is neither preceded by charges nor accompanied by trial; and consequently a Mason whose application for affiliation has been rejected by a Lodge, remains in precisely the same position, so far as his Masonic standing is affected, as he was before his rejection. He possesses all the rights and privileges that he did previously, unimpaired and undiminished. But one of these rights is the right of applying for membership to any Lodge that he may desire to be affiliated with; and therefore, as this right remains intact, notwithstanding his rejection, he may at any time renew his petition to the Lodge that rejected him, or make a new one to some other Lodge, and that petition may be repeated as often as he deems it proper to do so.

 

783 - What Mason's profession is the most important tenet?

 

            Relief. One of the three principal tenets of a Mason's profession, and .thus defined in the lecture of the first degree.

 

To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Masons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the great aim we have in view. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.

 

Of the three tenets of a Mason's profession, which are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth,‑ it may be said that Truth is the column of wisdom, whose rays penetrate and enlighten the inmost recesses of our Lodge; Brotherly Love, the column of strength, which binds us as one family in the indissoluble bond of fraternal affection; and Relief, the column of beauty, whose ornaments, more precious than the lilies and pomegranates that adorned the pillars of the porch, are the widow's tear of joy and the orphan's prayer of gratitude.

 

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784 - What limitations are placed on Masonic relief?

 

            Relief, Limitations of. A Mason is to be preferred to any other applicant in the same circumstances. The duty of relieving a distressed Brother, in preference to any other persons under similar circumstances, although one of the objections which has often been urged against the Masonic institution by its opponents, as a mark of its exclusiveness, is nevertheless the identical principle which was inculcated eighteen centuries ago by the great Apostle of the Gentiles: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." The principle thus taught by the Apostle seems to have been, by the very necessities of our nature, the principle which has governed the charities and kindnesses of every religious community, of every benevolent association, and every political society that has existed before or since his day. Its foundations are laid in the human heart, and the sentiment to which this doctrine gives birth is well expressed by Charles Lamb, when he says: "I can feel for all indifferently, but not for all alike. . . . I can be a friend to a worthy man, who, upon another ac‑count, cannot be my mate or fellow. I cannot like all people alike." The practice, then, of Freemasonry, to borrow language which I have already used on a former occasion, is precisely in accordance with the doctrine of the apostle already quoted. It strives to do good to all; to relieve the necessitous and the deserving, whether they be of Jerusalem or Samaria; to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, and to comfort the distressed, always, however, giving a preference to those of its own household - those who, in the day of their prosperity, supported and upheld that institution on which, in the time of their distress, they have called for aid - those who have contributed out of their abundance to its funds, that those funds might be prepared to relieve them in their hour of want - those who have borne their share of the burden in the heat of the day, that when their sun is setting, they may be entitled to their reward. And in so acting, Freemasonry has the warrant of universal custom, of the law of nature, and of the teachings of Scripture.

 

785 - Are Entered Apprentices entitled to Masonic relief?

 

            Relief of Apprentices. The right of claiming relief is confined to Master Masons. Undoubtedly, in the very early periods of the institution, Fellow Crafts were permitted to make this claim; and the older Constitutions refer to them as being entitled to relief. Subsequently, Apprentices were invested with the right; but in each of these cases the right was conferred on these respective classes, because, at the time, they constituted the main body of the craft. When in 1717, Apprentices were permitted to vote, to visit, and to enjoy all the rights of membership in Masonic Lodges - when they were in fact the chief constituents of the fraternity - they, of course. were entitled to claim relief. But the priv‑

 

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ileges then extended to Apprentices have now been transferred to Master Masons. Apprentices no longer compose the principal part of the fraternity. They in fact constitute but a very small part of the craft. To remain an Apprentice now, for any time beyond the constitutional period permitted for advancement, is considered as something derogatory to the Masonic character of the individual who thus remains in an imperfect condition. It denotes, on his part, either a want of Masonic zeal, or of Masonic ability. Apprentices no longer vote - they no longer visit - they are but inchoate Masons - Masons incomplete, unfinished - and as such are not entitled to Masonic relief.

 

The same remarks are equally applicable to Fellowcrafts.

 

786 - Upon what ground is based the Masonic right of relief?

 

            Relief, Right of. The ritual of the first degree informs us that the three principal tenets of a Mason's profession are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Relief, the second of these tenets, seems necessary to flow from the first, or brotherly love; for the love of our brother will naturally lead us to the sentiment of wishing "to alleviate his misfor, tunes, to compassionate his misery, and to restore peace to his troubled mind." As the duty of assisting indigent and distressed brethren is one of the most important duties inculcated by the landmarks and laws of the institution, so the privilege of claiming this assistance is one of the most important rights of a Master Mason. It is what we technically call, in Masonic law, the Right of Relief, and will constitute the subject matter of the present section.

 

The right to claim relief is distinctly recognized in the Old Charges which were approved in

1722, which, under the head of "Behavior to a Strange Brother," contain the following language: "But if you discover him to be a true and genuine Brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved. You must employ him some days, or else recommend him to be employed. But you are not charged to do beyond your ability, only to prefer a poor Brother, who is a good man and true, before any other people in the same circumstances." The law thus explicitly laid down, has always been the one on which Masonic relief is claimed and granted; and, on inspection, it will be found that it includes the following four principles:

 

1. The applicant must be in distress.

 

2. He must be worthy.

 

3. The giver is not expected to exceed his ability in the amount of relief that he grants.

 

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4. A Mason is to be preferred to any other applicant in the same circumstances.

 

787 - In what sense, if any, is Masonry a religion?

 

            Religion of Masonry. There has been a needless expenditure of ingenuity and talent, by a large number of Masonic orators and essayists, in the endeavor to prove that Masonry is not a religion. This has undoubtedly arisen from a well‑intended but erroneous view that has been taken of the connection between religion and Masonry, and from a fear that if the complete disseverance of the two was not made manifest, the opponents of Masonry would be enabled successfully to establish a theory which they have been fond of advancing, that the Masons were disposed to substitute the teachings of their Order for the truths of Christianity. Now I have never for a moment believed that any such unwarrantable assumption as that Masonry is intended to be a substitute for Christianity, could ever obtain admission into any well‑regulated mind, and, therefore, I am not disposed to yield, on the subject of the religious character of Masonry, quite so much as has been yielded by more timid brethren. On the contrary, I contend, without any sort of hesitation, that Masonry is, in every sense of the word, except one, and that its least philosophical, an eminently religious institution - that it is indebted solely to the religious element which it contains for its origin and for its continued existence, and that without this religious element it would scarcely be worthy of cultivation by the wise and good. But, that I may be truly understood, it will be well first to agree upon the true definition of religion. There is nothing more illogical than to reason upon undefined terms. Webster has given four distinct definitions of religion:

 

1. Religion, in a comprehensive sense, includes, he says, a belief in the being and perfections of God - in the revelation of his will to man  - in man's obligation to obey his commands - in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practice of all moral duties.

 

2. His second definition is, that religion, as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practice, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellowmen, in obedience to divine command, or from love to God and his law.

 

3. Again, he says that religion, as distinct from virtue or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to his will.

 

4. And lastly, he defines religion to be any system of faith or worship; and in this sense, he says, religion comprehends the belief and worship of Pagans and Mohammedans as well as of Christians - any religion consisting in the belief of a superior power, or powers, governing the world, and in the worship of such power or powers. And it is in

 

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this sense that we speak of the Turkish religion, or the Jewish religion, as well as of the Christian.

 

Now, it is plain that, in either of the first three senses in which we may take the word religion (and they do not very materially differ from each other) Masonry may rightfully claim to be called a religious institution. Closely and accurately examined, it will be found to answer to any one of the requirements of either of these three definitions. So much does it "include a belief in the being and perfections of God," that the public profession of such a faith is essentially necessary to gain admission into the Order. No disbeliever in the existence of a God can be made a Mason. The "revelation of his will to man" is technically called the "spiritual, moral, and Masonic trestle‑board" of every Mason, according to the rules and designs of which he is to erect the spiritual edifice of his eternal life. A "state of reward and punishment" is necessarily included in the very idea of an obligation, which, without the belief in such a state, could be of no binding force or efficacy. And "true godliness or piety of life" is inculcated as the invariable duty of every Mason, from the inception of the first to the end of the very' last degree that he takes. So, again, in reference to the second and third definitions, all this practical piety and performance of the duties we owe to God and to our fellow‑men arise from and are founded on a principle of obedience to the divine will. Whence else, or from what other will, could they have arisen? It is the voice of the G. A. O. T. U. symbolized to us in every ceremony of our ritual and from every portion of the furniture of our lodge, that speaks to the true Mason, commanding him to fear God and to love the brethren. It is idle to say that the Mason does good simply in obedience to the statutes of the Order. These very statutes owe their sanction to the Masonic idea of the nature and perfections of God, which idea has come down to us from the earliest history of the Institution, and the promulgation of which idea was the very object and design of its origin.

 

But it must be confessed that the fourth definition does not appear to be strictly applicable to Masonry. It has no pretension to assume a place among the religions of the world as a sectarian "system of faith and worship," in the sense in which we distinguish Christianity from Judaism,‑ or Judaism from Mohammedanism. In this meaning of the word we do not and cannot speak of the Masonic religion, nor say of a man that he is not a Christian, but a Mason. Here it is that the opponents of Freemasonry have assumed mistaken ground, in confounding the idea of a religious institution with that of the Christian religion as a peculiar form of worship, and in supposing, because Masonry teaches religious truth, that it is offered as a substitute for Christian truth and Christain obligation. Its warmest and most enlightened friends have never advanced nor supported such a claim. Freemasonry is not Christianity, nor a substitute for it. It is not intended to supersede it nor any

 

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other form of worship or system of faith. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental religious truth - not enough to do away with the necessity of a Christain scheme of salvation, but more than enough to show, to demonstrate, that it is, in every philosophical sense of the word, a religious institution, and one, too, in which the true Christian Mason will find, if he earnestly seeks for them, abundant types and shadows of his own exalted and divinely inspired faith.

 

The tendency of all true Masonry is towards religion. If it makes any progress, its progress is to that holy end. Look at its ancient land‑marks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols and allegories, - all inculcating religious doctrine, commanding religious observance and teaching religious truth, and who can deny that it is eminently a religious institution?

 

But, besides, Masonry is, in all its forms, thoroughly tinctured with a true devotional spirit. We open and close our lodges with prayer; we invoke the blessings of the Most High upon all our labors; we demand of our neophytes a profession of trusting belief in the existence and the superintending care of God; and we teach them to bow with humility and reverence at his awful name, while his holy law is widely opened upon our altars. Freemasonry is thus identified with religion; and although a man may be eminently religious without being a Mason, it is impossible that a Mason can be "true and trusty" to his Order unless he is a respecter of religion and an observer of religious principle.

 

But the religion of Masonry is not sectarian. It admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom, rejecting none and approving none for his peculiar faith. It is not Judaism, though there is nothing in it to offend a Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelation - handed down to us from some ancient and patriarchal priesthood - in which all men may agree and in which no men can differ. It inculcates the practice of virtue, but it supplies no scheme of redemption for sin. It points its disciples to the path of righteousness, but it does not claim to be "the way, the truth, and the life." In so far, therefore, it cannot become a substitute for Christianity, but its tendency is thitherward; and, as the handmaid of religion, it may, and often does, act as the porch that introduces its votaries into the temple of divine truth.

 

Masonry, then, is, indeed, a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not alone, should the religious Mason defend it.

 

788 - Has the Master the right to remove a Deacon from his office?

 

            Removal of Deacons. It has been supposed by some writers that, as the Deacons are not elected, but appointed by the Master and Senior Warden, they are removable at the pleasure of these officers. This, how‑

 

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ever, is not in accordance with the principles which govern the tenure of all Masonic offices. Although they are indebted for their positions to a preliminary appointment, they are subsequently installed like the other officers, take a similar obligation, and are bound to the performance of their duties for a similar period. Neither Preston nor Webb say any‑thing, in the installation charge, of a power of removal by those who appointed them. In fact it is the installation, and not the appointment, that makes them Deacons; and deriving, therefore, their right to office from this ceremony, they are to be governed by the same rules which affect other installed officers. In England, the Wardens are appointed by the Master, but he cannot remove them from office, the power of doing which is vested solely in the Lodge. In this country, the only mode known to the law of removing an officer is by his expulsion, and this can only be done by the Lodge, as in England, after trial. I hold, then, that the analogy of the English law is to be extended to the appointed, as well as to the elected officers - to the Deacons who are appointed there; and that therefore a Deacon, having been once installed, derives his tenure of office from that installation, and cannot be removed by the Master or Senior Warden. The office can only be vacated by death or expulsion.

 

 

789 - Has a rejected candidate the right to petition another Lodge for membership?

 

            Renewal of Application. A rejected applicant can apply to no other Lodge for initiation. Having been once rejected by a certain Lodge, he is forever debarred the privilege of applying to any other for admission. This law is implicitly derived from the Regulations which forbid Lodges to interfere with each other's work. The candidate, as I have already observed, is to be viewed in our speculative system as "material brought up for the building of the temple." The act of investigating the fitness or unfitness of that material, constitutes a part of Masonic labor, and when a Lodge has commenced that labor, it is considered discourteous for any other to interfere with it. This sentiment of courtesy, which is in the true spirit of Masonry, is frequently inculcated in the ancient Masonic codes. Thus, in the Gothic Constitutions, it is laid down that "a Brother shall not supplant his Fellow in the work;" the "ancient Charges at makings," adopted in the time of James II., also direct that "no Master or Fellow supplant others of their work," and the Charges approved in 1722 are still more explicit in directing that none shall attempt to finish the work begun by his Brother.

 

There is another and more practical reason why petitions shall not, after rejection, be transferred to another Lodge. If such a course were admissible, it is evident that nothing would be easier than for a candidate to apply from Lodge to Lodge, until at last he might find one, less

 

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careful than others of the purity of the household, through whose too willing doors he could find admission into that Order, from which the justly scrupulous care of more stringent Lodges had previously rejected him. It is unnecessary to advert more elaborately to the manifold evils which would arise from this rivalry among Lodges, nor to do more than suggest that it would be a fertile source of admitting unworthy material into the temple. The laws of Masonry have therefore wisely declared that a candidate, having been once rejected, can apply to no other Lodge for admission, except the one which had rejected him.

 

790 - Under what conditions may an applicant for advancement renew his petition?

 

            Renewal of Application for Advancement. The Ancient Constitutions are silent on this point and we are left to deduce our opinions from the general principles and analogies of Masonic law. As the application for advancement to a higher degree is founded on a right inuring to the Apprentice, by virtue of his reception into the first degree - that is to say, as the Apprentice, so soon as he has been initiated, becomes invested with the right of applying for advancement to the second - it seems evident that, as long as he remains an Apprentice "in good standing," he continues to be invested with that right. Now, the rejection of his petition for advancement by the Lodge does not impair his right to apply again, because it does not, as I have already shown, affect his rights and standing as an Apprentice; it is simply the expression of the opinion that the Lodge does not at present deem him qualified for further progress in Masonry. We must never forget the difference between the right of applying for advancement and the right of advancement. Every Apprentice possesses the former, but no one can claim the latter until it is given to him by the unanimous vote of the Lodge. And as, therefore, this right of application or petition is not impaired by its rejection at a particular time, and as the Apprentice remains precisely in the same position in his own degree, after the rejection, as he did before, it seems to follow as an irresistible deduction, that he may again apply at the next regular communication; and if a second time rejected, repeat his applications at all future meetings. I hold that the Entered Apprentices of a Lodge are competent, at all regular communications of their Lodge, to petition for advancement. Whether that petition shall be granted or rejected is quite another thing, and depends altogether on the favor of the Lodge.

 

This opinion has not, it is true, been universally adopted, though no force of authority, short of an opposing landmark, could make one doubt its correctness. For instance, the Grand Lodge of California decided that "the application of Apprentices or Fellow Crafts for advancement, should, after they have been once rejected by ballot, be governed by the same principles which regulate the ballot on petitions for initiation, and which require a probation of one year."

 

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This appears to be a singular decision of Masonic law. If the reasons which prevent the advancement of an Apprentice or Fellow Craft to a higher degree, are of such a nature as to warrant the delay of one year, it is far better to prefer charges against the petitioner, and to give him the opportunity of a fair and impartial trial. In many cases, a candidate for advancement is retarded in his progress from an opinion on the part of the Lodge that he is not yet sufficiently prepared for pro‑motion by a knowledge of the preceding degree - an objection which may sometimes be removed before the recurrence of the next monthly meeting. In such a case, a decision like that of the Grand Lodge of California would be productive of manifest injustice. I hold it, therefore, to be a more consistent rule, that the candidate for advancement has a right to apply at every regular meeting, and that whenever any moral objections exist to his taking a higher degree, these objections should be made in the form of charges, and their truth tested by an impartial trial. To this, too, the candidate is undoubtedly entitled, on all the principles of justice and equity.

 

791 - To whom was the term "renouncing Masons" applied?

 

            Renouncing Masons. During the anti‑Masonic excitement in the United States, which began in 1828, and lasted for a few years, many Masons left the Order, actuated by various motives (seldom good ones), and attached themselves to the anti‑Masonic party. It is not singular that these deserters, who called themselves "Renouncing Masons," were the bitterest in their hatred and loudest in their vituperations of the Order. But a renunciation of the name cannot absolve any one from the obligations of a Mason.

 

792 - What ceremony did the Jews observe when renouncing a bargain?

 

            Renunciation. Amongst the Jews, when a person renounced any bargain or contract, he took off his shoe and gave it to his fellow; which was considered a sufficient evidence that he transferred all his right unto that person to whom he delivered his shoe. It is not easy to give an account of the origin of this custom; but the reason is plain enough, it being a natural signification that he resigned his interest in the land by giving him his shoe, wherewith he used to walk in it, to the end that he might enter into it, and take possession of it himself. The Targum, instead of a shoe, hath the right‑hand glove; it being the custom in his time, perhaps, to give that instead of the shoe. For it is less troublesome to pull off a glove than a shoe, and deliver it to another, though it hath the same signification; as now the Jews deliver a handkerchief to the same purpose. So R. Solomon Jarchi affirms - " We acquire, or buy, now by a handkerchief, or veil, instead of a shoe."

 

793 - Can a resolution adopted by a Lodge be repealed?

 

            Repeal. A resolution adopted at a regular meeting of a lodge, cannot be repealed or reconsidered at any special or extra session,.

 

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794 - In what manner may the by‑laws of a Grand Lodge be repealed or suspended?

 

            Repeal or Suspension of Grand Lodge By‑Laws. A Grand Lodge cannot permanently alter or repeal any one of its by‑laws or regulations, except in the mode which it has itself provided; for it is a maxim of the law that "the same means are necessary to dissolve as to create an obligation." Thus, if it is a part of the by‑laws of a Grand Lodge that no amendment to them can be adopted unless it be read on two separate days, and then passed by a vote of two‑thirds, it is not competent for such a Grand Lodge to make an amendment to its by‑laws at one reading, and by merely a majority of votes.

 

But it has been held that a Grand Lodge may temporarily suspend the action of any one of its by‑laws by an unanimous vote, without being compelled to pass it through a second reading. Thus, if the by‑laws of a Grand Lodge require that a certain officer shall be elected by ballot, it may, by unanimous consent, resolve to elect, in a particular instance, by a show of hands. But after such election, the original by‑law will be restored, and the next election must be gone through by ballot, unless by unanimous consent it is again suspended.

 

795 - What is the effect of an unfavorable report by a Committee on a petition for membership?

 

            Report of Committee on Petitions. If the report of the committee is unfavorable, the candidate is at once rejected without ballot. This usage is founded on the principles of common sense, for, as by the Ancient Constitutions, one black ball is sufficient to reject an application the unfavorable report of a committee must necessarily and by consequence include two unfavorable votes at least. It is therefore unnecessary to go into a ballot after such a report, as it is to be taken for granted that the brethren who reported unfavorably would, on a resort to the ballot, cast their negative votes. Their report is indeed virtually considered as the casting of such votes, and the applicant is therefore at once rejected without a further and unnecessary ballot.

 

But if the report of the committee be favorable, the next step in the process is to proceed to a ballot.

 

796 - What right has a Lodge with reference to representation at a Grand Lodge?

 

            Representation at Grand Lodge. A Lodge has the right to be represented at all communications of the Grand Lodge. It is a Land‑mark of the Order that every Mason has a right to be represented in all general meetings of the craft. The origin of this right is very intimately connected with an interesting portion of the history of the institution. In former times, every Mason, even "the youngest Entered Apprentice," had a right to be present at the General Assembly of the craft, which was annually held. And even as late as

1717, on the re‑

 

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organization of the Grand Lodge of England, we are informed by Preston that the Grand plaster summoned all the brethren to meet him and his Wardens in the quarterly communications. But soon after, it being found, I presume, that a continuance of such attendance would render the Grand Lodge an unwieldly body; and the rights of the fraternity having been securely guarded by the adoption of the thirty‑nine Regulations, it was determined to limit the appearance of the brethren of each Lodge, at the quarterly communications, to its Master and Wardens, so that the Grand Lodge became thenceforth a strictly representative body, composed of the first three officers of the subordinate Lodges. The inherent right and the positive duty of every Mason to be present at the General Assembly or Grand Lodge, was relinquished, and a representation by Masters and Wardens was substituted in its place. A few modern Grand Lodges have disfranchised the Wardens also, and confined the representation to the Masters only. But this is evidently an innovation, having no color of authority in the Old Regulations.

 

The right of instruction follows, as a legitimate corollary, from that of representation, for it is evident that a Lodge whose instructions to its officers for their conduct in the Grand Lodge should not be obeyed, would not, in fact, be represented in that body. Accordingly the right of instruction is, for that reason, explicitly recognized in the General Regulations of 1721.

 

797 - May a Lodge under dispensation be represented in Grand Lodge?

 

            Representation at Grand Lodge by Lodge Under Dispensation. A lodge under dispensation cannot be represented in the Grand Lodge. The twelfth of the Regulations of

1721 defines the Grand Lodge as consisting of the "Masters and Wardens of all the particular Lodges upon record," and the seventh of the same Regulations intimates that no Lodge was to be registered or recorded until a warrant for it had been issued by the Grand Master. But it has already been shown that the old power of granting warrants by the Grand Master is now vested solely in the Grand Lodge; and hence all that is said in these or any other ancient Regulations, concerning Lodges under warrant by the Grand Master, must now be applied to Lodges warranted by the Grand Lodge, and therefore the twelfth Regulation is to be interpreted, under our modern law, as defining the Grand Lodge to consist only of the Masters and Wardens of Lodges which have received warrants from the Grand Lodge. Lodges working under the dispensation of the Grand Master constitute, therefore, no part of the Grand Lodge, and are consequently not entitled to a representation in it.

 

798 - Does the Master possess the exclusive right to represent his Lodge at the Grand Lodge?

 

            Representation of Master at Grand Lodge. It is the prerogative of the Master, with his Wardens, to represent his Lodge in the communi‑

 

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cations of the Grand Lodge. Originally the whole craft were not only permitted but required to be present at the General Assembly, which was annually held; and every member of a Lodge was in this way a member of that body, and was able, by his personal presence, to protect his rights and those of his brethren. But soon after the beginning of the last century, it being found inconvenient to continue such large assemblages of the fraternity, the Lodges placed their rights in the protecting care of their Masters and Wardens, and the Grand Lodge has ever since been a strictly representative body, consisting of the Masters and Wardens of the several Lodges in the jurisdiction.

 

As the Grand Lodge is the supreme tribunal of the jurisdiction - as all its decisions on points of Masonic law are final - and as there can be no appeal from its judgments - it is evident that it is highly important that every Lodge should be represented in its deliberations. The Master and Wardens become, like the old Roman Consuls, invested with the care of seeing that their constituents receive no detriment. It is essential, therefore, that one of them at least, and the Master more particularly, should be present at every communication of the Grand Lodge; and accordingly the observance of this duty is explicitly inculcated upon the Master at his installation into office.

 

799 - Are the Wardens members of the Grand Lodge?

 

            Representation of Wardens at Grand Lodge. One of the most important prerogatives of the Wardens is that of representing the Lodge with the Master at all communications of the Grand Lodge. This is a prerogative the exercise of which they should never omit, except under urgent circumstances. A few Grand Lodges in the United States have disfranchised the Wardens of this right, and confined the representation to the Master, but I cannot hesitate to say that this is not only a violation of ancient regulations, but an infraction of the inherent rights of the Wardens and the Lodges. After the comparatively modern organization of Grand Lodges, in 1717, the craft as a body surrendered the prerogatives which belonged to every Mason of being present at the General Assembly, in the assurance that their rights and privileges would be sufficiently secured by the presence of their Masters and Wardens. Hence, in the Regulations of 1721, which must be considered, according to the history given of them by Preston, in the light of a bill of rights, or fundamental constitution, the Grand Lodge is expressly defined as consisting of "the Masters and Wardens of all the regular particular Lodges upon record." The disfranchisement of the Wardens is, in fact, a disfranchisement of the Lodges and the establishment of a new form of Grand Lodge, unknown to the Ancient Constitutions.

 

800 - What is the system of representation of Grand Lodges?

 

            Representatives, Grand Lodge. The system of Representatives in Grand Lodges originated in the United States, with the Grand Lodge

 

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of New York. The system has now become almost universal throughout the world, and much good is being accomplished from its influence, as producing a closer union between the various Masonic bodies thus represented. The Masonic costume is that of the Grand Lodge they represent, and they are also entitled to bear a banner with the name and colors peculiar to the body represented.

 

801 - What is the nature and effect of Masonic reprimand?

 

            Reprimand. Reprimand is the next grade of Masonic punishment, and may be defined as a severe reproof for some fault formally communicated to the offender.

 

It differs from censure in this, that censure is simply the expression of an opinion in relation to certain conduct, while reprimand is an actual punishment inflicted on the offender by some officer appointed for that purpose.

 

Censure may be expressed on a mere motion, and does not demand the forms of trial, although the party against whom it is proposed tc direct the censure should always have an opportunity of defending his conduct, and of opposing the motion for censure.

 

But reprimand cannot be predicated on a mere motion. It must be preceded by charges and a trial. I suppose, however, that a mere majority will be competent to adopt a sentence of reprimand.

 

Reprimand is of two kinds, private and public - the latter of which is a higher grade of punishment than the former. Private reprimand is generally communicated to the offender in the form of a letter. Public reprimand is given orally in the Lodge, and in the presence of all the brethren. The mode and terms in which the reprimand is to be communicated are of course left to the discretion of the executive officer; but it may be remarked that no additional ignominy should be found in the language in which the sentence of the Lodge is communicated. The punishment consists in the fact that a reprimand has been ordered, and not in the uncourteous terms with which the language of that reprimand may be clothed. But under particular circumstances the Master may find it expedient to dilate upon the nature of the offence which has incurred the reprimand.

 

The Master of the Lodge is the proper person to whom the execution of the reprimand should be intrusted.

 

Lastly, a reprimand does not affect the Masonic standing of the person reprimanded.

 

802 - To what particular Lodge is a candidate required to present his petition?

 

            Residence. A petition must be made to the Lodge nearest the candidate's place of residence. This is now the general usage in this country, and may be considered as Masonic custom by almost universal consent. It must, however, be acknowledged, that no express law . upon

 

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this subject is to be found either in the Ancient Landmarks or the Old Constitutions, and its positive sanction as a law in any jurisdiction, must be found in the local enactments of the Grand Lodge of that jurisdiction. Still there can be no doubt that expediency and justice to the Order make such a regulation necessary, because it is only in the neighborhood of his own residence that the character of a candidate can be thoroughly investigated; and hence, if permitted to apply for initiation in remote places, there is danger that unworthy persons might sometimes be introduced into the Lodges. Accordingly, many of the Grand Lodges of America have incorporated such a regulation into their Constitutions, and of course, wherever this has been done, it becomes a positive law in that jurisdiction.

 

 

803 - May a candidate residing temporarily in another than his home state appeal to a local Lodge for membership?

 

            Residence, Temporary. A non‑resident of a state is not entitled, on a temporary visit to that state, to apply for initiation. But on this point I speak with much hesitation, for I candidly confess that I find no Landmark nor written law in the Ancient Constitutions which for‑bids the initiation of non‑residents. Still, as there can be no question that the conferring of the degrees of Masonry on a stranger is always inexpedient, and frequently productive of injury and injustice, by foisting on the Lodges near the candidate's residence an unworthy and unacceptable person, whose only opportunity of securing admission into the Order was by offering himself in a place where the unworthiness of his character was unknown, there has consequently been, within the last few years, a very general disposition among the Grand Lodges of this country to discountenance the initiation of non‑residents. Many of them have adopted a specific regulation to this effect, and in all jurisdictions where this has been done, the law becomes imperative; for, as the Land‑marks are entirely silent on the subject, the local regulation is left to the discretion of each jurisdiction.

 

 

804 - Why should Masons take care to observe the dictates of respectability?

 

            Respectability. In referring to the prosperous condition of the Craft, and the accession which is daily being made to its numbers, I would observe that the character of a lodge does not depend upon the number but the respectability of its members. It is too often the case that a lodge manifests too great anxiety to swell its numbers, under the erroneous idea that number constitutes might. It should, however, be remembered, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. So it is in Masonry; a lodge of a dozen men, of respectable standing in society, will exert more influence upon the community than five times the number of doubtful reputation. The latter will be greater in numerical strength, but the former in actual power.

 

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805 - What is the proper response to all Masonic prayers?

 

            Response. In the liturgical services of the church an answer made by the people speaking alternately with the clergyman. In the ceremonial observances of Freemasonry there are many responses, the Master and the brethren taking alternate parts, especially in the funeral service as laid down first by Preston, and now very generally adopted. In all Masonic prayers the proper response, never to be omitted, is, "So mote it be."

 

806 - To whom is the Grand Master responsible?

 

            Responsibility of Grand Master. The responsibility of the Grand Master is a most important question. Invested with high and inalienable functions, to whom is he responsible for their faithful discharge, and by whom and how is he to be punished for his official misdemeanors? These are important and difficult questions, which have occupied the attention and divided the opinions of the most eminent Masonic jurists.

 

It is not to be doubted that the Grand Master is not an irresponsible officer. To deny this broad principle would be to destroy the very foundations on which the whole system of Masonic legislation is built. Democratic as it is in its tendencies, and giving to every member a voice in the government of the institution, it has always sustained the great doctrine of responsibility as the conservative element in its system of polity. The individual Mason is governed by his Lodge; the Master is controlled by the Grand Lodge; the Grand Lodge is restrained by the ancient Landmarks; and if the Grand Master were not also responsible to some superior power, he alone would be the exception to that perfect adjustment of balances which pervades and directs the whole machinery of Masonic government.

 

The theory on this subject appears to me to be that the Grand Master is responsible to the craft for the faithful performance of the duties of his office. I can entertain no doubt that originally it was competent for any General Assembly to entertain jurisdiction over the Grand Master, because, until the year 1717, the General Assembly was the whole body of the craft, and as such, was the only body possessing general judicial powers in the Order; and if he was not responsible to it, then he, must of necessity have been altogether without responsibility; and this would have made the government of the institution despotic, which is directly contrary to the true features of its policy.

 

How this jurisdiction of the craft in their General Assembly was to be exercised over the Grand Master, we have no means of determining, since the records of the Order furnish us with no precedent. But we may suppose that in the beginning, when Grand Masters were appointed by the reigning monarch, that jurisdiction, if necessary, would have been exercised by way of petition or remonstrance to the King, and this view is supported by the phraseology of the Constitutions of 926.

 

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which say, that "in all ages to come, the existing General Assembly shall petition the king to confer his sanction on their proceedings." As the power of deposition or other punishment was vested, in those early days, in the reigning monarch, because he was the appointer of the Grand Master, it follows, by a parity of reasoning, that when the appointment was bestowed upon the General Assembly, the power of punishment was vested in that body also.

 

But in the course of time, the General Assembly of the craft gave way to the Grand Lodge, which is not a congregation of the craft in their primary capacity, but a congregation of certain officers in their representative capacity. And we find that in the year 1717, the Masons delegated the powers which they originally possessed to the Grand Lodge, to be exercised by their Masters and Wardens, in trust for themselves. Among these powers which were thus delegated, was that of exercising penal jurisdiction over the Grand Master. The fact that this power was delegated, is not left to conjecture; for, among the Regulations adopted in 1721, we find one which recognizes the prerogative in these emphatic words: "If the Grand Master should abuse his power, and render himself unworthy of the obedience and subjection of the Lodges, he shall be treated in a way and manner to be agreed upon in a new Regulation, because hitherto the ancient fraternity have had no occasion for it - their former Grand Masters having all behaved themselves worthy of that honorable office." This article comprises three distinct statements: first, that the Grand Master is responsible for any abuse of his power; secondly, that a Regulation may at any time be made to provide the mode of exercising jurisdiction over him; and lastly, that such Regulation never has been made, simply because there was no necessity for it, and not because there was no power to enact it.

 

Now, the method of making new Regulations is laid down in precise terms in the last of these very Regulations of 1721. The provisions are, that the Landmarks shall be preserved and agreed to at the third quarterly communication preceding the annual Grand Feast, and that it be also offered to the perusal of all the brethren before dinner, in writing, even of the youngest Apprentice - the approbation and consent of the majority of all the brethren being absolutely necessary to make it binding and obligatory.

 

It is evident that a literal compliance with all the requisitions of this Regulation has now become altogether impracticable. Entered Apprentices have no longer, by general consent, any voice in the government of the Order, and quarterly communications, as well as the annual Grand Feast, almost everywhere have been discontinued. Hence we must apply to the interpretation of this statute the benign principles of a liberal construction. We can only endeavor substantially, and as much

 

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as possible in the spirit of the law, to carry out the intentions of those who framed the Regulation.

 

It seems to me, then, that these intentions will be obeyed for all necessary purposes, if a new Regulation be adopted at an annual meeting of the Grand Lodge, and by the same majority which is required to amend or alter any clause of the Constitution. The power to make new Regulations, which was claimed by the Grand Lodge of England in

1721, and afterwards reasserted in 1723, in still more explicit terms, is equally vested in every other regularly organized Grand Lodge which has been since established, and which is, by virtue of its organization, the representative, in the limits of its own jurisdiction, of the original Grand Lodge which met at the Apple‑tree tavern in

1717.

 

807 - What is the Masonic definition of the term "restoration?"

 

            Restoration. As the reinstatement of an excluded, suspended or expelled Mason to his rank in the Order, is technically called, may be the result of either one of two entirely different processes. It may be by an act of clemency on the part of the Lodge, or the Grand Lodge, consequent upon, and induced by the repentance and reformation of the guilty individual. Or it may be by reversal of the sentence of the Lodge, by the Grand Lodge, on account of illegality in the trial or injustice in the verdict.

 

Restoration by the first method, which is ex gratia, or, as a favor, is to be granted on petition, while restoration by the second method, which is e debito justiae, or as a debt of justice, is to be granted on appeal. The two methods may, therefore, be briefly distinguished as restoration on petition and restoration on appeal.

 

808 - How may a brother, indefinitely suspended, be restored to member‑ ship in his Lodge?

 

            Restoration After Indefinite Suspension. Restoration of an indefinitely suspended member is always by a resolution of the Lodge, and by a vote of two‑thirds. This seems to be an unquestionable principle of law; for when a member has been indefinitely suspended, the very word "indefinitely" implies that he may, at any time thereafter whether it be one month or one year, be restored. No time for his restoration is spegified in the terms of the sentence. He is indefinitely suspended - suspended for an uncertain period - that is, during the pleasure of the Lodge. And therefore‑I hold, that at any regular communication, it is competent for a member to move for a restoration, which motion may be adopted by a concurring vote of two‑thirds of the members present.

 

In this case no previous notice of the intention to move for a restoration is necessary, because no member has a right to plead, that by such motion he is taken by surprise. The very terms of the sentence of in‑definite suspension include the fact that the sentence may, at any time, be terminated by the action of the Lodge. Due notice of a regular coin‑

 

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munication is supposed to be given to every member; and the fact that it is a regular communication is in itself a notice by the by‑laws. The restoration of a Mason, suspended for a definite period, before the expiration of his term of sentence, is something that no member has a right to expect; and therefore, as I have already said, a motion for such restoration might act as a surprise. But a member indefinitely suspended is suspended during the pleasure of the Lodge, and it is competent for the Lodge, at any time, to declare that such suspension shall terminate. While, however, such is the legal principle, it is not to be denied that Masonic comity should induce any member about to propose a motion for restoration, to give timely notice of his intention to his brethren, and the restoration itself will be of a much more honorable character when thus made, after due notice, mature consideration, and in a full Lodge, than when suddenly granted, upon a moment's notice, and perhaps at a thinly attended meeting.

 

 

809 - Does the restoration of a brother by a Grand Lodge on appeal restore him to membership in his Lodge?

 

            Restoration by Appeal. In the case of a restoration by appeal, there is no petition for pardon of an offense committed - no admission of the legality of trial - no acknowledgment of the justice of the sentence inflicted. But, on the contrary, all of these are in the very terms of the appeal denied. The claim is not for clemency, but for justice - not for a remission of deserved punishment, but for a reversal of an iniquitous sentence and the demand is, that this reversal shall not be decreed ex gratia, as a favor, but debito justice, by virtue of a claim justly established. Now, in this case it is evident that the rules governing the restoration must entirely differ from those which controlled the former class of cases.

 

The principle which I lay down on this subject is, that when a Lodge has wrongfully deprived a Mason of his membership, by expulsion from the Order, the Grand Lodge, on his appeal, if it shall find that the party is innocent, that wrong has been inflicted, that by the sentence the laws of the institution, as well as the rights of the individual, have been violated, may, on his appeal, interpose and redress the wrong, not only by restoring him to his rights and privileges as a Mason, but also to membership in the Lodge. This, it seems to me, is the true principle, not only of Masonic law, but also of equity. If a brother be innocent, he must be restored to everything of which an unjust sentence had deprived him - to membership in his Lodge, as well as to the general rights of Masonry. I think that I was the first to contend for this principle as a doctrine of Masonic law, although it had always been recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, and in this country by that of South Carolina. At first there was a very general opposition to the doctrine, and the grounds of objection were singularly based on a total misap‑

 

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prehension of that article in the Regulations of 1721, which declares that "no one can be admitted a member of any particular Lodge without the unanimous consent of all the members of that Lodge then present"  - a provision which the same article asserts to be "an inherent privilege, not subject to dispensation." I have said that the application of this regulation to the doctrine of restoration from expulsion, by appeal, is a total misapprehension of its meaning, because the question is not, in these cases, as to the admission of a new member, with which it is not denied that the Grand Lodge cannot interfere, but whether one who is already a member shall be divested of his franchised rights of membership without cause.

 

It is admitted on all sides that where the restoration is made on petition, simply as an act of clemency, in which case the forfeiture of membership is acknowledged to have been justly and legally incurred, the Grand Lodge cannot restore to membership, because by its act of clemency it admits that the brother is not a member of the Lodge, and it cannot intrude him on the Lodge without its consent. I say that it admits this by its act of clemency, because if he were not justly deprived of his membership, there would have been no room for clemency. Pardon is for the guilty, not for the innocent.

 

But when it is proved that the trial was illegally conducted - that the testimony was insufficient - that the offence was not proved - that the brother was innocent, and therefore unjustly condemned - who will dare to say that a Lodge may thus, by an arbitrary exercise of power, inflict this grievous wrong on a brother, and that the Grand Lodge has not the prerogative, as the supreme protector of the rights of the whole fraternity, to interpose its superior power, and give back to injured innocence all that iniquity or injustice would have deprived it of ? Who will dare to say, in the face of the great principles of justice and equity, that though innocent, a Mason shall receive but a portion of the redress to which he is entitled ? - and that he shall be sent from the interposing shield of the supreme authority and highest court of justice of the Order, not protected by his innocence and restored to his rights, but as an innocent man, sharing in the punishment which should only be awarded to the guilty? I, for one, never have subscribed, and never will subscribe, to a doctrine so full of arbitrary oppression and injustice, and which, if it constituted Masonic law, would be to every honest man the crying reproach of the institution.

 

I have said that when I first advanced this doctrine of the competency of the Grand Lodge to grant an unconditional restoration to membership, it met with very general condemnation. Here and there a solitary voice was heard in its defence, but officially it was almost universally condemned as an infringement on the rights of the Lodges. The rights of members do not seem, on those occasions, to have been at all considered.

 

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But the doctrine is now gaining ground. In 1857, the Grand Lodge of Missouri carried it into practical operation, and ordered that one of its Lodges should restore an expelled brother to membership, under penalty of arrest of charter.

 

In the same year, the doctrine was virtually indorsed by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, in its approbation of the course of its Grand Master, in deciding that a brother who appealed from expulsion, and after a new trial, had been acquitted, should be restored to membership, not‑withstanding the opposition of the Lodge to his re‑admission.

 

And lastly, in 1858, the Grand Lodge of Mississippi has entered into the earnest consideration of the question; and an able report has been made to that body by Bro. G. M. Hillyer, one of the most enlightened Masons in America, who has eloquently and manfully supported the hitherto unpopular doctrine for which I have been so long contending. From this eloquent, as well as logical report, I shall cite a single paragraph, with which to conclude the subject.

 

Speaking of the appeal made by a brother expelled from the rights and privileges of Masonry, and concomitantly from membership in his Lodge, Bro. Hillyer says: "The Grand Lodge perhaps acquits him, and then it is, under the present system, that his punishment commences. Whatever the final verdict and decision, the accused 'brother has to undergo a penalty. If innocent, the smiting is not to be with as many stripes, it is true; but why with any? What punishment has an innocent man deserved? If he is in the right, and his accusers have been in the wrong, what justice is there in saying that he shall only be deprived of half of his privileges? Why deprive him of any in that case? Why punish the innocent? Why above all, have a law that makes the very tribunal that vindicates the innocence of the accused, accompany that vindication with punishment? There is no justice, there can be no expediency in such a course." The time will yet come, I am sure, and the expectation is made more certain by such aid, when the universal suffrage of the fraternity will confess the law to be as I have announced it, that in case of unjust expulsion, the Grand Lodge may restore an innocent brother, not only to the rights and privileges of Masonry, but also to membership in his Lodge.

 

810 - When does restoration from a definite suspension take place?

 

            Restoration from Definite Suspension. Restoration from definite suspension results from the natural expiration of the period fixed in the sentence. Thus, if on the first day of January, a member be suspended for three months, that is to say, until the

1st day of April, then on the 1st day of April, he at once, and by the mere operation of the law, becomes a restored Mason. No vote of the Lodge is necessary; for its previous action, which had declared him to be suspended until the

 

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1st of April, included the fact that he was not to be suspended any longer; and therefore, on the 2nd of April, he is, by the expiration of his sentence, in good standing. No vote of the Lodge is therefore necessary to restore one who has been definitely suspended, at the expiration of his sentence; but he at once, by the very terms of that sentence, takes his place as a Mason restored to all his rights.

 

811 - How is restoration of a brother from definite suspension brought about?

 

            Restoration from Definite Suspension, Vote on. Restoration from definite suspension may take place in two ways. First, by a vote of the Lodge, abridging the period of suspension and restoring the party be‑fore the term of suspension has expired. This may be considered in the light of a pardon; and this clemency it is the prerogative of the Lodge to exercise, under the necessary restrictions that the restoration is made at a regular communication of the Lodge, and by a vote of two‑thirds of those present; for, as it required that number to impose the sentence, it will not be competent for a less number to reverse it. But due notice, at least one month previously, should be given of the intention to move for a restoration, because the reversal of a sentence is an unusual action, and the members will, by such notice, be enabled to be present and to express their views, while a sudden motion, without due notice, would take the Lodge by surprise, and surprises are as contrary to the spirit of Masonic as they are of Municipal law.

 

812 - Does the restoration by Grand Lodge of an expelled Mason reinstate him as a member of his former Lodge?

 

            Restoration from Expulsion. Restoration from expulsion differs from restoration in the other cases, in several important particulars, which, as the subject is now exciting much discussion among the Grand Lodges of this country, require a careful consideration.

 

In the first place it must be borne in mind, that expulsion completely severs the connection of the expelled individual with the fraternity. In the language of Dr. Oliver, "his Masonic status vanishes, and he disappears from the scene of Masonry, as completely as the ripple of the sea subsides,after the stately ship has passed over it." This condition must be constantly remembered, because it has an important influence on the effects of restoration.

 

On an application for restoration by petition, as a favor, on the showing that the party has repented and reformed, that he has abandoned the criminal course of conduct for which he was expelled, and is now leading an irreproachable life, the Grand Lodge may ex gratia, in the exercise of its clemency, extend a pardon and remit the penalty, so far as it refers to expulsion from the Order. But in this case, as there is no question of the original justice of the sentence nor of the legality of the trial, the pardon of the Grand Lodge will not and cannot restore

 

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the brother to membership in the Lodge. And the reason of this is plain. The act of the Lodge is admitted to have been legal. Now, while this act dissevered his connection with the Order, it also cancelled his membership in the Lodge. He is no longer a member either of the Order or of the Lodge. The Grand Lodge may restore him to the former, it may restore him to his rights as a Mason, but it must be as an unaffiliated one, because, having by this very act of clemency, admitted that he legally and constitutionally lost his membership, it cannot compel the Lodge to admit him again, contrary to its wishes, into membership, for no man can be admitted a member of a Lodge, without the unanimous consent of all present. Nor can the Grand Lodge interfere with this inherent right of every Lodge to select its own members. Let it be thoroughly understood that the incompetence of the Grand Lodge, in this case, to restore to membership, is founded on the admission that the original sentence was a just one, the trial legally conducted, the testimony sufficient and the punishment not oppressive. The Grand Lodge says, in an instance like this, to the petitioner, "We are induced by your present reform to pardon your past conduct and to restore you once more to the Order; but, as you were justly expelled from your Lodge, and are no longer a member, we have no power to force you upon it. We give you, however, by a restoration to your Masonic status, the privilege that all other unaffiliated Masons possess, of applying to it by petition for admission, with the understanding that you must, as in all such cases, submit to the ordeal of a ballot, but with the result of that ballot we cannot interfere."

 

813 - What procedure should be observed in seeking restoration from defi‑ nite or indefinite suspension by appeal?

 

            Restoration on Appeal. Restoration, from definite suspension, may be made by the Grand Lodge, on appeal, where the act of the subordinate Lodge is reversed on account of illegality, or wrongful judgment; and such restoration, of course, annuls the suspension, and restores the party to his former position in the Lodge.

 

Restoration, from indefinite suspension, may also take place in the same way, either on petition or appeal. But, in this case, due notice is not absolutely required of an intention to move for a restoration, al‑though courtesy should induce the mover to give notice. Of course, no restoration, either from definite or indefinite suspension, upon petition or appeal, can take place, except at a regular meeting; for, as the sentence must have been decreed at such meeting, the Masonic rule for‑bids a special meeting to reverse the proceedings of a regular one.

 

814 - Of what is the tracing‑board emblematic?

 

            Resurrection. A belief in God and a belief in a resurrection to a future life are requested of every Master Mason. This doctrine of a resurrection is one of the great Landmarks of the Order, and its impor‑

 

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tance and necessity may be estimated from the fact, that almost the whole design of speculative Masonry, from its earliest origin, seems to have been to teach this great doctrine of the resurrection.

 

As to any other religious doctrines, Masonry leaves its candidates to the enjoyment of their own opinions, whatever they may be.

 

815 - How often must a Lodge make returns to the Grand Lodge?

 

            Returns. Every lodge shall, at least once in the year, transmit, by direct communication, to the Grand Secretary a regular list of its members, and of the brethren initiated or admitted therein since their last return, with the dates of initiating, passing, and raising every brother; also their ages as nearly as possible at that time, and their titles, professions, additions, or trades; together with all monies due or payable to the Grand Lodge; which list is to be signed by the Master and Secretary.

 

816 - What is the character of Masonic communications?

 

            Revels. No dark revels or midnight orgies are practiced in a lodge. No words of wrath or condemnation are heard, and no inquisitorial questions are asked. The candidate hears of peace, brotherly love, relief, and truth. He is taught to reverence God's holy name, and never to mention it but with that reverential awe which is due from the creature to the Creator; to implore His aid in all laudable undertakings, and esteem Him as the chief good.

 

817 - Why should a Mason be reverent?

 

            Reverential. We are taught by the reverential sign to bend with submission and resignation beneath the chastening hand of the Almighty, and at the same time to engraft his law in our hearts. This expressive form, in which the Father of the human race first presented himself before the face of the Most High, to receive the denunciation and terrible judgment, was adopted by our Grand Master Moses, who, when the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush on Mount Horeb, covered his face from the brightness of the divine presence.

 

818 - In whom is the power of revoking warrants of constitution vested?

 

            Revocation of Warrant. Among the important prerogatives exercised by a Grand Lodge in its judicial capacity, is that of revoking warrants of constitution. Although there is a discrepancy between the present American practice, which vests the granting of warrants in Grand Lodges, and the old Constitutions, which gave the power to Grand Masters, there is no doubt that the Grand Lodge has constantly exercised the prerogative of revoking warrants from the year 1742, when the first mention is made of such action, until the present day. But all the precedents go to show that no such revocation has ever been made except upon cause shown, and after due summons and inquiry. The arbitrary revocation of a warrant would be an act of oppression and in‑justice, contrary to the whole spirit of the Masonic institution.

 

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819 - Of what is the right angle emblematic?

 

            Right Angle. A right angle is the meeting of two lines in an angle of ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle. Each of its lines is perpendicular to the other; and as the perpendicular line is a symbol of uprightness of conduct, the right angle has been adopted by Masons as an emblem of virtue. Such was also its signification among the Pythagoreans. The right angle is represented in the lodges by the square, as the horizontal is by the level, and the perpendicular by the plumb.

 

820 - What is the symbolism of the right hand?

 

            Right Hand. The right hand has in all ages been deemed an important symbol to represent the virtue of fidelity. Among the ancients, the right hand and fidelity to an obligation were almost deemed synonymous terms. Thus, among the Romans, the expression, "fallere dextram," to betray the right hand, also signified to violate faith; and "jungere dextras," to join right hands, meant to give a mutual pledge. Among the Hebrews, the right hand was derived from aman, to be faithful.

 

The practice of the ancients was conformable to these peculiarities of idiom. Among the Jews, to give the right hand was considered as a mark of friendship and fidelity. Thus St. Paul says, "When James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellow‑ship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." (Gal. ii.

6.) The same expression, also, occurs in Maccabees. We meet, indeed, continually in the Scriptures with allusions to the right hand as an emblem of truth and fidelity. Thus in Psalm exliv. it is said, "their right hand is a right hand of falsehood," that is to say, they lift up their right hand to swear to what is not true. This lifting up of the right hand was, in fact, the universal mode adopted among both Jews and Pagans in taking an oath. The custom is certainly as old as the days of Abraham, who said to the King of Salem, "I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take anything that is thine." Some‑times among the Gentile nations, the right hand, in taking an oath, was laid upon the horns of the altar, and sometimes upon the hand of the person administering the obligation. But in all cases it was deemed necessary, to the validity and solemnity of the attestation, that the right hand should be employed.

 

Since the introduction of Christianity, the use of the right hand in contracting an oath has been continued, but instead of extending it to heaven, or seizing with it a horn of the altar, it is now directed to be placed upon the Holy Scriptures, which is the universal mode at this day in all Christian countries. The antiquity of this usage may be

 

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learned from the fact, that in the code of the Emperor Theodosius, adopted about the year 438, the placing of the right hand on the Gospels is alluded to; and in the code of Justinian whose date is the year 529, the ceremony is distinctly laid down as a necessary part of the formality of the oath, in the words "tactis sacrosanctis Evangeliis" - the Holy Gospel being touched.

 

This constant use of the right hand in the most sacred attestations and solemn compacts, was either the cause or the consequence of its being deemed an emblem of fidelity. Dr. Potter thinks it was the cause, and he supposes that the right hand was naturally used instead of the left, because it was more honorable, as being the instrument by which superiors give commands to those below them. Be this as it may, it is well known that the custom existed universally, and that there are abundant allusions in the most ancient writers to the junction of right hands in making compacts.

 

It is thus apparent that the use of the right hand as a token of sincerity and a pledge of fidelity, is as ancient as it is universal; a fact which will account for the important station which it occupies among the symbols of Freemasonry.

 

821 - What is the basis of the right of appeal?

 

            Right of Appeal. The Right of appeal is an inherent right be‑longing to every Mason, and the Grand Lodge is the appellate body, to whom appeal is to be made. The principles of equality and justice, upon which the institution is founded, render it necessary that there should be a remedy for every injury done to or injustice inflicted upon the humblest of its members; for, in Masonry as in the municipal law, it is held as a maxim that there is no wrong without a remedy - ubi jus ibi remedium.

 

' The doctrine of appeals is founded on this principle. It furnishes the remedy for any invasion of Masonic rights, and hence it may be considered as one of the most important prerogatives that the Mason possesses.

 

822 - To whom is the right of Masonic burial confined?

 

            Right of Burial. The right to be conducted to his last home by his brethren, and to be committed to his mother earth with the ceremonies of the Order, is one that, under certain restrictions, belongs to every Master Mason.

 

 I have sought, in vain, in all the ancient Constitutions, to find any law upon this subject; nor can the exact time be now determined when funeral processions and a burial service were first admitted as Regulations of the Order.

 

The celebrated caricature of a mock procession of the "Scald Misò erable Masons," as it was called, was published in 1741, and represented u funeral procession. This would seem to imply that Masonic funeral

 

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processions must have been familiar at that time to the people; for a caricature, however distorted, must have an original for its foundation.

 

The first official notice, however, that we have of funeral processions is in November of the year 1754, when we learn that "several new regulations concerning the removal of Lodges, funeral processions, and Tilers, which had been recommended by the last Committee of Charity for Laws of the Grand Lodge, were taken into consideration and unanimously agreed to." The regulation then adopted prohibited any Mason, under the severest penalties, from attending a funeral or other procession, clothed in any of the jewels or badges of the craft, except by dispensation of the Grand Master or his Deputy.

 

I can find no further regulations on this subject, either in the previous or subsequent editions of the Book of Constitutions, until we arrive at the modern code which is now in force in the Grand Lodge of England.

 

Preston, however, to whom we are indebted for the funeral service, which has been the basis of all modern improvements or attempts at improvement, has supplied us with the rules on this subject, which have now been adopted, by general consent, as the law of the order.

 

The regulations as to funerals are laid down by Preston in the following words: "No Mason can be interred with the formalities of the Order, unless it be at his own special request, communicated to the Master of the Lodge of which he died a member - foreigners and sojourners excepted; nor unless he has been advanced to the third degree of Masonry, from which restriction there can be no exception. Fellow Crafts or Apprentices are not entitled to the funeral obsequies." The only restrictions prescribed by Preston are, it will be perceived, that the deceased must have been a Master Mason, and that he had himself made the request. But the great increase of unaffiliated Masons, a class that did not exist in such numbers in former times, has led many Grand Lodges to introduce as a new restriction the regulation that unaffiliated Masons shall not be entitled to Masonic burial. I have called this a new restriction; but although not made in as many words in the rule of Preston, it seems to be evidently implied in the fact that the Mason was expected, previous to his death, to make the request for funeral obsequies of the Master of the Lodge of which he died a 'member. As unaffiliated Masons could not comply with this provision, it follows that they could not receive Masonic burial. At all events, it has now become an almost universal regulation.

 

823 - What regulations govern the right of visitation in a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Right of Visitation. The Right of Visit, may be defined to be that prerogative which every affiliated Master Mason in good standing pos‑

 

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sesses of visiting any Lodge into which he may desire to enter. It is one of the most important of all Masonic privileges, because it is based on the principle of the identity of the Masonic institution as one universal family, and is the exponent of that well known maxim that "in every clime a Mason may find a home, and in every land a Brother." Fortunately for its importance, this right is not left to be deduced from analogy, or to be supported only by questionable usage, but is proclaimed in distinct terms in some of the earliest Constitutions. The Ancient Charges at Makings, that were in force in

1688, but whose real date is supposed to be much anterior to that time, instruct us that it is the duty of every Mason to receive strange Brethren "when they come over the country," which Regulation, however the latter part of it may have referred, in an operative sense, to the encouragement of traveling workmen in want and search of employment, must now, in the speculative character which our institution has assumed, be interpreted as signifying that it is the duty of every Lodge to receive strange Brethren as visitors, and permit them to participate in the labors and instructions in which the Lodge may, at the time of the visit, be engaged.

 

The true doctrine is, that the right of visit is one of the positive rights of every Mason; because Lodges are justly considered as only divisions for convenience of the universal Masonic family. The right may, of course, be lost or forfeited on special occasions, by various circumstances; but any Master who shall refuse admission to a Mason, in good standing, who knocks at the door of his Lodge, is expected to furnish some good and satisfactory reason for his thus violating a Ma‑sonic right. If the admission of the applicant, whether a member or visitor, would in his opinion, be attended with injurious consequences, such, for instance, as impairing the harmony of the Lodge, a Master would then, I presume, be justified in refusing admission. But without the existence of some such good reason, Masonic jurists have always decided that the right of visitation is absolute and positive, and inures to every Mason in his travels throughout the world. Wherever he may be, however distant from his residence and in the land of the stranger, every Lodge is, to a Mason in good standing, his home, where he should be ever sure of the warmest and truest welcome.

 

In concluding this section, it may be remarked, by way of recapitulation, that the right of visit is a positive right, which inures to every unaffiliated Master Mason once, and to every affiliated Master Mason always; but that it is a right which can never be exercised without a previous examination or legal avouchment, and may be forfeited for good and sufficient cause; while for the Master of any Lodge to deny it, without such cause, is to do a Masonic wrong to the Brother claiming it, for which he will have his redress upon complaint to the Grand Lodge, within whose jurisdiction the injury is inflicted. This, it appears to me, is now the settled law upon this subject of the Masonic right of visit.

 

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824 - What are the rights and powers of a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Rights and Powers of a Masonic Lodge. In an inquiry into the rights and powers of a Lodge, it will be found that they may be succinctly considered under fourteen different heads. A lodge has a right

 

1. To retain possession of its warrant of constitution.

 

2. To do all the work of ancient craft Masonry.

 

3. To transact all business that can be legally transacted by regularly congregated Masons.

 

4. To be represented at all communications of the Grand Lodge.

 

5. To increase its numbers by the admission of new members.

 

6. To elect its officers.

 

7. To install its officers after being elected.

 

8. To exclude a member, on cause shown temporarily or permanently, from the Lodge.

 

9. To make by‑laws for its local government.

 

10. To levy a tax upon its members.

 

11. To appeal to the Grand Lodge from the decision of its Master.

 

12. To exercise penal jurisdiction over its own members, and on unaffiliated Masons living within the limits of its jurisdiction.

 

13. To select a name for itself.

 

14. To designate and change its time and place of meeting. Each of these prerogatives is connected with correlative duties, and is restricted, modified and controlled by certain specific obligations, each of which requires a distinct and careful consideration.

 

825 - What is the symbolism of the right and left sides?

 

            Right Side and Left Side. The ancients held that the right side possessed some peculiar excellence above the left, and hence the Latin words "dexter," right, and "sinister," left, also convey the sense of lucky, or good; and unlucky, or evil. The right side has always been considered the place of honor, and the Scriptures abound in passages illustrative of this idea - as in Matt. xxv. 33‑4: "And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say to those on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father," etc.

 

826 - What are the principal rights of a Master Mason in good standing in a Masonic Lodge?

 

            Rights of Master Masons. When an initiate has been raised to "the sublime degree of a Master Mason," he becomes, strictly speaking, under the present regulations of our institution, an active member of the fraternity, invested with certain rights, and obligated to the performance of certain duties, which are of so extensive and complicated a nature as to demand a special consideration for each.

 

Of the rights of Master Masons, the most important are the following:

 

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1. The Right of Membership;

2. The Right of Affiliation;

3. The Right of Visit;

4. The Right of Avouchment;

5. The Right of Relief;

6. The Right of Demission;

7. The Right of Appeal;

8. The Right of Burial;

9. The Right of Trial.

 

827 - What does the Worshipful Master represent?

 

            Rising Sun. The rising sun is represented by the Master, because the sun by his rising opens and governs the day, so the Master is taught to open and govern his Lodge with equal regularity and precision.

 

828 - Whence do we derive our ritual?

 

            Ritual. This word imports how a lodge ought to be opened and closed, and how an initiation, passing, or raising ought to be conducted; this may also be called the liturgy of the lodge. The ritual is not the same in all lodges, nay, there are nearly as many different rituals as there are Grand Lodges. Many of those rituals are of quite modern origin, especially that of the Grand Lodge Royal York, Berlin, and that of the Grand Lodge of Hamburgh. The English ritual is the most ancient, and extended itself into every part of the earth, but was afterwards superseded in many places by the French, Swedish, and others. These outward forms and ceremonies, although they differ, yet they do not divide the brethren amongst themselves, but each lodge and its members is tolerant with the members of other lodges; and all lodges are allowed to endeavor and strive to obtain their object by what way they think best. Neither is there any real difference whether some ceremonies are to be performed in this manner, or in that, according to the different rituals, or whether the officers are called this or that. Time and various circumstances have made those alterations in the rituals principally to produce a more lasting impression upon the mind of the candidate at his initiation, and to advance with the improved spirit of the times. Fragments from some of the rituals have been published, especially from the old ones; but there must be more than a dozen rituals published before an uninitiated person could learn how an initiation was conducted, or how a lodge was held. The end to which the ritual leads us is the principal object, or the real secret of Free‑masonry, and it would require an adept to discover this from any ritual.

 

829 - What is the final degree of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Royal Arch. This degree is more august, sublime, and important than those which precede it, and is the summit of ancient Masonry. It impresses on our minds a more firm belief of the existence of a Su‑

 

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preme Deity without beginning of days or end of years, and justly reminds us of the respect and veneration due to that holy name. Until within these few years, this degree was not conferred on any but those who had been enrolled a considerable time in the fraternity, and could besides give the most unequivocal proofs of their skill and proficiency in the Craft.

 

830 - What is the function of the Past Master's degree of the Royal Arch?

 

            Royal Arch Past Master. The degree of Past Master, which was exceedingly simple in its primitive construction, was originally conferred by symbolic Lodges, as an honorarium or reward upon those brethren who had been called to preside in the Oriental chair. Thus it was simply an official degree, and could only be obtained in the Lodge which had conferred the office. But as it always has been a regulation of the Royal Arch degree that it can be conferred only on one who has "passed the chair," or received the Past Master's degree, which originally meant that none but the Masters of Lodges could be exalted to the Royal Arch, as the degree was considered too important to be be‑stowed on all Master Masons indiscriminately, it was found necessary when Chapters were organized independently of symbolic Lodges to introduce the degree, as a preparatory step to the exaltation of their candidates to the Royal Arch.

 

831 - Why is Masonry called the Royal Art?

 

            Royal Art. It is a royal art to be able to preserve a secret and we are, therefore, accustomed to call Freemasonry a royal art. To be able to plan large buildings, especially palaces, is also certainly a great and royal art, but it is still a more royal art to induce men to do that which is good, and to abstain from evil, without having recourse to the power of the law. Others derive the appellation, royal art, from that part of the members of the English Builders' Huts, who, after the beheading of Charles I., 30th January, 1649, joined the persecuted Stuart, inasmuch as that they labored to restore the royal throne, which had been destroyed by Cromwell. Anderson, on the contrary, in his English Constitution Book, affirms that the appellation royal art is derived from the fact, that royal persons have stood, and still stand, at the head of the Craft.

 

832 - Whence were the names of the three ruffians derived?

 

            Ruffians. The traitors of the third degree are called Assassins in continental Masonry and in the high degrees. The English and American Masons have adopted in their ritual the more homely appellation of Ruffians. The fabricators of the high degrees adopted a variety of names for these Assassins, but the original names are preserved in the rituals of the York and American Rites. There is no question that has so much perplexed Masonic antiquaries as the true derivation and mean‑

 

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ing of these three names. In their present form, they are confessedly uncouth and without signification. Yet it is certain that we can trace them in that form to the earliest appearance of the legend of the third degree, and it is equally certain that at the time of their adoption some meaning must have been attached to them. I am convinced that this must have been a very simple one, and one that would have been easily comprehended by the whole Craft, who were in the constant use of them. Attempts, it is true, have been made to find the root of these three names in some recondite reference to the Hebrew names of God. But there is, I think, no valid authority for any such derivation. In the first place, the character and conduct of the supposed possessors of these names preclude the idea of any congruity and appropriateness between them and any of the divine names. And again, the literary condition of the Craft at the time of the invention of the names equally preclude the probability that any name would have been fabricated of a recondite signification, and which could not have been readily understood and appreciated by the ordinary class of Masons who were to use them. The names must naturally have been of a construction that would convey a familiar idea, would be suitable to the incidents in which they were to be employed, and would be congruous with the character of the individuals upon whom they were to be bestowed. Now all these requisites meet in a word which was entirely familiar to the Craft at the time when these names were probably invented. The Ghiblim are spoken of by Anderson, meaning, Giblim, as stone‑cutters or Masons; and the early rituals show us very clearly that the Fraternity in that day considered Giblim as the name of a Mason; not only a Mason generally, but especially of that class of Masons who, as Drummond says, "put the finishing hand to King Solomon's Temple" - that is to say, the Fellowcrafts. Anderson also places the Ghiblim among the Fellowcrafts; and so, very naturally the early Freemasons, not imbued with any amount of Hebrew learning, and not making a distinction between the singular and plural forms of that language, soon got to calling a Fellowcraft a Giblim. The steps of corruption between Giblim and Jubelum were not very gradual; nor can any one doubt that such corruptions of spelling and pronunciation were common among these illiterate Masons, when he reads the Old Manuscripts, and finds such verbal distortions as Nembroch for Nimrod, Euglet for Euclid, and Aymon for Hiram. Thus, the first corruption was from Giblim to Gibalim, which brought the word to three syllables, making it thus nearer to its eventual change. Then we find in the early rituals another trans‑formation into Chibbelum. The French Masons also took the work of corruption in hand, and from Giblim they manufactured Jib lime and Jibulum and Jabulum. Some of these French corruptions came back to English Masonry about the time of the fabrication of the high degrees. and even the French words were distorted. Thus in the Leland Manu‑

 

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script, the English Masons made out of Pytagore the French for Pythagoras, the unknown name, Peter Gower, which is said so much to have puzzled Mr. Locke. And so we may through these mingled English and French corruptions trace the genealogy of the word Jubelum; thus, Ghiblim, Giblim, Gibalim, Chibbelum, Jiblime, Jibrelum, Jabelum, and, finally, Jubelum. It meant simply a Fellowcraft, and was appropriately given as a common name to a particular Fellowcraft who was distinguished for his treachery. In other words, he was designated, not by a special and distinctive name, but by the title of his condition and rank at the Temple. He was the Fellowcraft, who was at the head of a conspiracy. As for the names of the other two Ruffians, they were readily constructed out of that of the greatest one by a simple change of the termination of the word from um to a in one, and from um to o in the other, thus preserving by a similarity of names, the idea of their relationship, for the old rituals said that they were brothers who had come together out of Tyre. This derivation seems to me to be easy, natural, and comprehensible. The change from Giblim, or rather from Gibalim to Jubelum, is one that is far less extraordinary than that which one‑half of the Masonic words have undergone in their transformation from their original to their present form.

 

833 - Of what is the rule emblematic?

 

            Rule. A well‑known instrument by which measurements are made or straight lines are drawn. It is employed as an important emblem in the degree of Past Master, admonishing the newly‑elected Master punctually to observe his duty, press forward in the path of virtue, and, neither inclining to the right or to the left, in all his actions to have eternity in view.

 

834 - What is the status of parliamentary law in Masonic Lodges?

 

            Rules of Order. In all well regulated societies, it is absolutely necessary that there should be certain rules, not only for the government of the presiding officer, but for that of the members over whom he presides. It is not so. material what these rules are, as that they should be well known and strictly observed. The Parliamentary law, or that system of regulations which have been adopted for the government of legislative bodies in England and America, and which constitutes the basis of the rules for conducting business in all organized societies, whether public or private, in these countries, is, in many of its details, inapplicable to a Masonic Lodge, whose Rules of Order are of a nature peculiar to itself. Still the Masonic rule is, as it has been judiciously expressed by Bro. French, "that where well settled Parliamentary principles can be properly applied to the action of Masonic bodies, they should always govern; but they should never be introduced where they in any way interfere with the established customs or Land‑marks of Masonry, or with the high prerogatives of the Master."

 

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835 - How does the word sacred apply to Masonry?

 

            Sacred. We call that sacred which is separated from common things, and dedicated either entirely or partially to the Most High. The ideas of truth and virtue, the feeling of a pure love and friend‑ship are sacred for they elevate us above common things and lead to God. The tenor of sacred thought and feelings is towards religion, and therefore all things are sacred which are peculiarly dedicated to religious services, and carefully guarded from being applied to profane uses, or which, by means of their religious importance and value, are especially honored and considered indispensable to our spiritual and moral welfare. According to these ideas of what is sacred, the Free‑mason can call his work sacred, and every brother must acknowledge it to be so. Our labors being separated from the outward world, and founded upon truth and virtue, require brotherly love and philanthropy, and always elevate the spirit to the Great Architect of the Universe. But true inward sanctity every brother must have in his own breast, and not have it to seek in the degrees of the Order.

 

836 - What is the legendary Sacred Lodge?

 

            Sacred Lodge. Over the sacred lodge presided Solomon, the greatest of kings, and the wisest of men: Hiram, the great and learned king of Tyre; and Hiram Abif, the widow's son, of the tribe of Nap thali. It was held in the bowels of the sacred Mount Moriah, under the part whereon was erected the sanctum sanctorum or Holy of Holies. On this mount it was where Abraham confirmed his faith by his readiness to offer up his only son Isaac. Here it was where David offered that acceptable sacrifice on the threshing‑floor of Aman, by which the anger of the Lord was appeased. Here it was where the Lord delivered to David in a dream, the plan of the glorious temple, afterwards erected by our noble Grand Master, King Solomon. And lastly, here it was where he declared he would establish his sacred name and word, which should never pass away; and for these reasons, this was justly styled the Sacred Lodge.

 

837 - When did the first three degrees receive the name of St. John's Masonry?

 

            St. John's Masonry. Originally there was only one kind of Free‑masonry. But when the. Scottish and other higher degrees were introduced, the three first degrees received the name of the St. John's Masonry.

 

838 - Who was St. John the Baptist?

 

            St. John the Baptist. He was the forerunner of Jesus, a son of the Jewish priest Zacharias and of Elizabeth, who, as a zealous judge of morality and undaunted preacher of repentance, obtained great celebrity, first in his native country, then in the mountains of Judea.

 

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and afterwards among the whole nation. His simple and abstemious manner of living contributed much to his fame, and especially the peculiar purification or consecration by baptism in a river bath, which he introduced as a symbol of that moral purity which he so zealously inculcated. Jesus allowed himself to be baptized by him, and from that time forward John said unto his disciples, that he was certainly the Messiah. The frank earnestness and the great fame with which he preached even in Galilee, soon brought upon him the suspicion and hatred of the court of Tetrarch Antipas, or King Herod, who imprisoned him, and on the 29th August, in the thirty‑second or thirty‑third year of his life, caused him to be beheaded. The 24th June, his birthday, is dedicated to his memory through all Christendom. The patron saint of the Freemasons' brotherhood was formerly not St. John the Baptist, but St. John the Evangelist, whose festival they celebrated the

27th December, upon which day they hold their general assembly, probably induced thereto because at this season of the year the members could be better spared from their business or profession. For this reason also they chose for their quarterly festivals, the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, Michaelmas, and the festival of St. John the Baptist, which last festival, on account of the better weather and other circumstances having been found to be more convenient for the yearly assembly, was often appointed for the time on which it should be held, so that it has now become nearly general. Many British lodges still celebrate the 27th December, and call it the minor St. John's day.

 

839 - Who was St. John the Evangelist?

 

            St. John the Evangelist. St. John the Evangelist and Apostle of Jesus, was born in Bethsaida, in Galilee, a son of Zebedee, and a disciple of Jesus, who loved him because he distinguished himself by his gentleness and humility. After the ascension of Jesus, he preached the gospel principally in Asia Minor and at Ephesus, where it is probable that he died in a good old age. He was a man of great energy and poetic fire and life; in his early years somewhat haughty and intolerant, but afterwards an example of love. We have a gospel or biography of Jesus by him, and three of the epistles also bear his name. The Gospel of St. John is especially important to the Freemason, for he preached love, and his book certainly contains all the fundamental doctrines of Freemasonry. As a Freemason ought never to forget that he has laid his hand upon the gospel of St. John, so should he never cease to love his brethren according to the doctrine of love contained in that sacred book. Many lodges celebrate his anniversary, the

27th December.

 

840 - On what days occur the feasts of the two Saints John?

 

            Saints John, Festivals of. The 24th of June is consecrated to Saint John the Baptist, and the 27th of December to Saint John the Evangelist. It is the duty of Masons to assemble on these days, and by a

 

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solemn invocation of the past, renew the ties and strengthen the fraternal bonds that bind the present to the brotherhood of the olden time.

 

841 - What was the Lodge of Saints John?

 

            Saints John Lodges. Masonic tradition has it that the primitive or Mother Lodge was held at Jerusalem, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and then to St. John the Evangelist, and finally to both. This Lodge therefore was called the "Lodge of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem." From this Lodge all other Lodges are figuratively sup‑posed to descend.

 

842 - Of what is salt the emblem?

 

            Salt. In the Helvetian ceremonies of Masonry, salt is added to the corn, wine and oil, because it was a symbol of the wisdom and learning which characterize Masons' lodges. Pierius makes it an emblem of hospitality and friendship, and also of fidelity. In the Scriptures, salt is considered as a symbol of perpetuity and incorruption, and used as a covenant. The formula used by our ancient brethren, when salt was sprinkled on the foundation‑stone of a new lodge was, "May this under‑taking, contrived by wisdom, be executed in strength and adorned with beauty, so that it may be a house where peace, harmony, and brotherly love shall perpetually reign."

 

843 - What part of the Temple was called the Sanctuary?

 

            Sanctuary. That part of the Temple at Jerusalem which was the most secret and most retired; in which was the ark of the covenant, and wherein none but the High‑Priest might enter, and he only once a year, on the day of holy expiation. The same name was also given to the most sacred part of the Tabernacle, set up in the Wilderness, which remained until some time after the building of the Temple.

 

844 - Of what is the color scarlet emblematic?

 

            Scarlet. This rich and beautiful color is emblematical of fervency and zeal. It is the appropriate color of the Royal Arch degree; and admonishes us, that we should be fervent in the exercise of our devotions to God, and zealous in our endeavors to promote the happiness of man.

 

845 - As a science what does Freemasonry embrace?

 

            Science. Freemasonry is a science not to be confined to a few Israelitic traditions learned by heart, as a school‑boy learns his lessons; it is a science which embraces everything useful to man; it corrects the heart and prepares it to receive the mild impressions of the divine code; its moral injunctions, if duly weighed and properly applied, never fail to form its disciples into good members of society. It opens a progressive field for inquiry, and ought never to be driven into narrow bounds

 

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by the enactment of a law, saying, thus far will we allow you to go, and no farther, under the penalty of exclusion from its universality.

 

846 - What passages of scripture are most appropriate for reading in Lodge?

 

            Scriptures, Reading of the. By an ancient usage of the Craft, the Book of the Law is always spread open in the lodges. There is in this, as in everything else that is Masonic, an appropriate symbolism. The Book of the Law is the Great Light of Masonry. To close it would be to intercept the rays of divine light which emanate from it, and hence it is spread open, to indicate that the lodge is not in darkness, but under the influence of its illuminating power. Masons in this respect obey the suggestion of the Divine Founder of the Christian religion, "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are of the house." A closed book, a sealed book, indicates that its contents are secret; and a book or roll folded up was the symbol, says Wemyss, of a law abrogated, or of a thing of no further use. Hence, as the reverse of all this, the Book of Law is opened in our lodges, to teach us that its contents are to be studied, that the law which it inculcates is still in force, and is to be "the rule and guide of our conduct." But the Book of the Law is not opened at random. . In each degree there are appropriate passages, whose allusion to the design of the degree, or to some part of its ritual, makes it expedient that the book should be opened upon those passages.

 

Masonic usage has not always been constant, nor is it now universal in relation to what particular passage shall be unfolded in each degree. The custom in this country, at least since the publication of Webb's Monitor, has been very uniform, and is as follows: In the first degree, the Bible is opened at Psalm cxxxiii., an eloquent description of the beauty of brotherly love, and hence most appropriate as the illustration of a society whose existence is dependent on that noble principle. In the second degree the passage adopted is Amos vii. 7, 8, in which the allusion is evidently to the plumb‑line, an important emblem of that degree. In the third degree the Bible is opened at Ecclesiastes xii.

1‑7, in which the description of old age and death is appropriately applied to the sacred object of this degree.

 

But, as has been said, the choice of these passages has not always been the same. At different periods various passages have been selected, but always with great appropriateness, as may be seen from the following sketch.

 

Formerly, the Book of the Law was opened in the first degree at the

22d chapter of Genesis, which gives an account of Abraham's in‑tended sacrifice of Isaac. As this event constituted the first grand offering, commemorated by our ancient brethren, by which the ground‑floor of the Apprentice's Lodge was consecrated, it seems to have been

 

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very appropriately selected as the passage for this degree. That part of the

28th chapter of Genesis which records the visions of Jacob's ladder was also, with equal appositeness, selected as the passage for the first degree.

 

The following passage from 1 Kings vi. 8, was, during one part of the last century, used in the second degree: "The door of the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third." The appositeness of this passage to the Fellowcraft's degree will hardly be disputed.

 

At another time the following passage from 2 Chronicles iii. 17, was selected for the second degree; its appropriateness will be equally evident: "And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz." The words of Amos v. 25, 26, were sometimes adopted as the passage for the third degree: "Have ye offered unto me sacrifice and offerings in the wilderness forty years, 0 house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves." The allusions in this paragraph are not so evident as the others. They refer to historical matters, which were once embodied in the ancient lectures of Freemasonry. In them the sacrifices of the Israelites to Moloch were fully described, and a tradition, belonging to the third degree, informs us that Hiram Abif did much to extirpate this idolatrous worship from the religious system of Tyre.

 

The 6th chapter of 2 Chronicles, which oontains the prayer of King Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, was also used at one time for the third degree. Perhaps, however, this was with less fitness than any other of the passages quoted, since the events commemorated in the third degree took place at a somewhat earlier period than the dedication. Such a passage might more appropriately be annexed to the ceremonies of the Most Excellent Master as practiced in this country.

 

At present the usage in England differs in respect to the choice of passages from that adopted in this country.

 

There the Bible is opened, in the first degree, at Ruth iv. 7: "Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel." In the second degree the passage is opened at Judges xii. 6: "Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sib‑

 

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boleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand." In the third degree the passage is opened at 1 Kings vii. 13, 14: "And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Napthali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and under‑standing, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work." While from the force of habit, as well as from the extrinsic excellence of the passages themselves, the American Mason will, perhaps, prefer the selections made in our own Lodges, especially for the first and third degrees, he at the same time will not fail to admire the taste and ingenuity of our English brethren in the selections that they have made. In the second degree the passage from Judges is undoubtedly preferable to our own.

 

In conclusion it may be observed, that to give these passages their due Masonic importance it is essential that they should be covered by the square and compasses. The Bible, square and compasses are significant symbols of Freemasonry. They are said to allude to the peculiar characteristics of our ancient Grand Masters. The Bible is emblematic of the wisdom of King Solomon; the square of the power of Hiram; and the compasses, of the skill of the Chief Builder. Some Masonic writers have still further spiritualized these symbols by sup‑posing them to symbolize the wisdom, truth, and justice of the Grand Architect of the Universe. In any view they become instructive and inseparably connected portions of the true Masonic ritual, which, to be understood, must be studied together.

 

847 - Of what is the scythe emblematic?

 

            Scythe. The scythe is an emblem of time, which cuts the brittle thread of life, and launches us into eternity. What havoc does the scythe of time make among the human race ! If by chance we escape the numerous evils incident to childhood and youth, and arrive in perfect health and strength at the years of vigorous manhood; yet decrepit old age will soon follow, and we must be cut down by the all‑devouring scythe of time and be gathered into the land where our fathers have gone before us.

 

848 - What was the legendary virtue of the seal of Solomon?

 

            Seal of Solomon. The double or endless triangle, in one or other of its different forms, constituted the famous seal of Solomon, our ancient Grand Master, which was said to bind the evil genii so fast, that they were unable to release themselves. By virtue of this seal, as the Moslems believed, Solomon compelled the genii to assist him in building the Temple of Jerusalem, and many other magnificent works.

 

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849 - To what seat of honor is a Past Master entitled?

 

            Seat in East. Past Masters are entitled to a seat in the East, on the right and left of the Worshipful Master, that he may, on all necessary occasions, avail himself of their counsel and experience in the government of the Lodge; but this is a matter left entirely to his own discretion, for in the deliberations of the Lodge the Master is supreme, and Past Masters possess no other privileges of speaking and voting than belong to all other Master Masons. As a mark of respect, and as a distinction of rank, Past Masters are to be invested with a jewel peculiar to their dignity.

 

850 - What are the teachings of the second degree?

 

            Second Degree. As the darkness of heathenism, or natural religion, preceded the divine revelation vouchsafed to the people of God, so by our initiation into the second degree, we advance still farther into the dawn figured out by the Mosaic dispensation, which preceded the more perfect Christian day. Here the novice is brought to light, to behold and handle tools of a more artificial and ingenious construction, and emblematic of sublimer moral truths. By these he learns to reduce rude matter into due form, and rude manners into the more polished shape of moral and religious rectitude; becoming thereby a more harmonious cornerstone of symmetry in the structure of human society, until he is made a glorious cornerstone in the temple of God.

 

851 - Why do Freemasons enjoin and practice secrecy?

 

            Secrecy. Secrecy is one of the first duties of a Freemason, but those Masons err much who think they do their duty by only exercising it in things concerning the Order of the lodge. It is not for this reason only that secrecy is so often inculcated in the lodge as a Masonic duty, it is that he ought to use secrecy and caution in all his transactions out of the lodge, and especially where his talkativeness might be the means of causing injury or damage to his fellow‑men.

 

Freemasonry, in laying its foundations in secrecy, follows the Divine order of Nature, where all that is grand and beautiful and useful is born of night ,and,mystery. The mighty labors which clothe the earth with fruits and foliage and flowers are "wrought in darkness." The bosom of Nature is a vast laboratory, where the mysterious work of transmutation of substances is perpetually going forward. There is not a point in the universe, the edges of which do not touch the realms of night and silence. God himself is environed with shadows, and "clouds and darkness are around about his throne;" yet his beneficence is felt, and his loving Spirit makes itself visible through all worlds. So Free‑masonry works in secrecy, but its benignant fruits are visible in all lands. Besides, this principle of secrecy furnishes a mysterious bond of unity and strength, which can be found nowhere else. The objection

 

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often urged against the Order on account of this peculiar feature is too puerile to be considered.

 

852 - What did the ancients teach regarding secrecy and silence?

 

            Secrecy and Silence. These virtues constitute the very essence of all Masonic character; they are the safeguard of the Institution, giving admonitions in all degrees, from the lowest to the highest. The Entered Apprentice begins his Masonic career by learning the duty of secrecy and silence. Hence it is appropriate that in that degree which is the consummation of initiation, in which the whole cycle of Masonic science is completed, the abstruse machinery of symbolism should be employed to impress the same important virtues on the mind of the neophyte.

 

The same principles of secrecy and silence existed in all the ancient mysteries and systems of worship. When Aristotle was asked what thing appeared to him to be most difficult of performance, he replied, "To be secret and silent." "If we turn our eyes back to antiquity," says Calcott, "we shall find that the old Egyptians had so great a regard for silence and secrecy in the mysteries of their religion, that they set up the god Harpocrates, to whom they paid peculiar honor and veneration, who was represented with the right hand placed near the heart, and the left down by his side, covered with a skin before, full of eyes." Apuleius, who was an initiate in the mysteries of Isis, says: "By no peril will I ever be compelled to disclose to the uninitiated the things that I have had intrusted to me on condition of silence." Lobeck, in his Alaophamus, has collected several examples of the reluctance with which the ancients approached a mystical subject, and the manner in which they shrank from divulging any explanation or fable which had been related to them at the mysteries, under the seal of secrecy and silence.

 

And, lastly, in the school of Pythagoras, these lessons were taught by the sage to his disciples. A novitiate of five years was imposed upon each pupil, which period was to be passed in total silence, and in religious and philosophical contemplation. And at length, when he was admitted to full fellowship in the society, an oath of secrecy was administered to him on the sacred tetractys, which was equivalent to the Jewish Tetragrammaton.

 

Silence and secrecy are called "the cardinal virtues of a Select Master," in the ninth or Select Master's degree of the American Rite.

 

Among the Egyptians the sign of silence was made by pressing the index finger of the right hand on the lips. It was thus that they rep‑resented Harpocrates, the god of silence, whose statue was placed at the entrance of all temples of Isis and Serapis, to indicate that silence and secrecy were to be preserved as to all that occurred within.

 

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853 - Why are candidates for Masonry not elected VIVA VOCE?

           

            Secrecy of Ballot. The secrecy of the ballot is as essential to its perfection as its unanimity or its independence. If the vote were to be given viva voce, it is impossible that the improper influences of fear or interest should not sometimes be exerted, and timid members be thus induced to vote contrary to the dictates of their reason and conscience. Hence, to secure this secrecy and protect the purity of choice, it has been wisely established as a usage, that the vote shall in these cases be taken by a ballot.

 

854 - What are the qualifications of a Secretary of a Lodge?

 

            Secretary. An important office in a lodge, for it is necessary that it should be filled by a man who can not only make out the common transactions of the lodge, but who is also capable of comprehending the spirit of a lecture, and introducing it into the transactions, briefly and at the same time correctly. To write a protocol correctly, so that in the event of any dispute it may serve as written evidence, is, as is well‑known, a most difficult task, and requires great experience. The Secretary must be a Master Mason, and, when necessary, the brethren must assist him as copyists.

 

855 - Is it lawful to reimburse the Secretary for the performance of his duties?

 

            Secretary, Compensation of. It is customary in many Lodges, on account of the numerous and often severe duties of the Secretary, to exempt him from the payment of annual dues, and sometimes even to give him a stated salary. I see no objection to this, for he does not thereby cease to be a contributor to the support of the institution. His contribution, though not in the form of money, is in that of valuable services.

 

856 - What are the duties of a Secretary?

 

            Secretary, Duties of. The Secretary, like the Treasurer, is only a business officer of the Lodge, having nothing to do in the ritualistic labors. The charge which he receives at his installation into office, as it is given by Preston, Webb, and Cross, notwithstanding they all differ, does not contain a full summary of his duties, which are very extensive. I am inclined to think that the usage of the craft is at fault in making the Treasurer the senior officer, for I think it will be found that the duties and labors of the Secretary are not only more onerous, but far more important to the interests of the institution: The Secretary acts, in his relation to the Lodge, in a threefold capacity. He is its recording, corresponding, and collecting agent.

 

857 - Can a Master lawfully preside over a Lodge without having received the secrets of the chair?

 

            Secrets of the Chair. It is the prerogative of the Master of a Lodge to receive from his predecessor the Past Master's degree at the

 

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time of his installation. It is a very important question whether it is essential that the Master elect should be invested with the degree of Past Master before he can exercise the functions of his office.

 

In the discussion of this question, it must be borne in mind that the degree of Past Master constitutes a specified part of the ceremony of installation of the elected Master of a Lodge. No Master is deemed to be regularly installed until he has received the degree. This is the ceremony which in England, and sometimes in this country, is called "passing the chair." The earliest written authorities always refer to it. Anderson alludes to it, in all probability, in his description of the Duke of Wharton's method of constituting a Lodge; Preston says distinctly that the new Master is "to be conducted into an adjacent room, here he is regularly installed;" and Oliver, commenting on this passage, adds, that "this part of the ceremony can only be orally communicated, nor can any but installed Masters be present." This portion of the installing ceremony constitutes the conferring of the Past Master's degree. It is, in fact, the most important and essential part of the installation service; but the law of Masonry prescribes that no one shall exercise the prerogatives of the office to which he has been elected, until he has been regularly installed. Now, if the conferring of the Past Master's degree composes a necessary part of the ceremony of installation - and of this it seems to me that there can be no doubt - then it follows, as a natural deduction, that until the Master elect has received that degree, he has no right to preside over his Lodge. This decision, however, of course does not apply to the Master of a Lodge under dispensation, who, as the special proxy of the Grand Master, and deriving all his powers immediately from that high officer, as well as exercising them only for a specific purpose, is exonerated from the operation of the rule. Nor is it requisite that the degree should be a second time conferred on a Master who has been re‑elected, and who at his previous installation had received it, although a number of years may have elapsed. When once conferred, its effects are for life.

 

Now, as it is the duty of every Mason to oppose the exercise by any person of the functions and prerogatives of an office until he has been legally installed, the question here suggests itself, how shall a Master Mason, not being himself in possession of the degree, know when it has not been conferred upon a Master elect? To this the reply is, that if the elected Master attempts to assume the chair, without having under‑gone any semblance of an installation, the greater part of which, it will be recollected, is performed before the members of the Lodge, it must follow, that he cannot have received the Past Master's degree, which constitutes a part of the ceremony of installation. But if he has been installed, no matter how carelessly or incorrectly, it is to be presumed that the degree has been conferred and the installation completed, un less positive evidence be furnished that it has not, because in Masonry

 

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as in law, the maxim holds good that "all things shall be presumed to, have been done legally and according to form until the contrary be proved."

 

858 - Is Masonry a secret society?

 

            Secret Societies. Secret societies may be divided into two classes: First, those whose secrecy consists in nothing more than methods by which the members are enabled to recognize each other; and in certain doctrines, symbols, or instructions which can be obtained only after a process of initiation, and under the promise that they shall be made known to none who have not submitted to the same initiation; ò but which, with the exception of these particulars, have no reservations from the public. And secondly, of those societies which, in addition to their secret modes of recognition and secret doctrine, add an entire secrecy as to the object of their association, the time and places of their meeting, and even the very names of their members. To the first of these classes belong all those moral or religious secret associations which have existed from the earliest times. Such were the Ancient Mysteries, whose object was, by their initiations, to cultivate a purer worship than the popular one; such, too, the schools of the old philosophers, like Pythagoras and Plato, who in their esoteric instructions taught a higher doctrine than that which they communicated to their exoteric scholars. Such, too, are the modern secret societies which have adopted an exclusive form only that they may restrict the social enjoyment which it is their object to cultivate, or the system of benevolence for which they are organized, to the persons who are united with them by the tie of a common covenant, and the possession of a common knowledge. Such, lastly, is Freemasonry, which is a secret society only as respects its signs, a few of its legends and traditions, and its method of inculcating its mystical philosophy, but which, a's to everything else - its design, its object, its moral and religious tenets, and the great doctrine which it teaches - is as open a society as if it met on the highways beneath the sun of day, and not within the well guarded portals of a lodge. To the second class of secret societies belong those which sprang up first in the Middle Ages, like the Vehm Gericht of Westphalia, formed for the secret but certain punishment of criminals; and in the eighteenth century those political societies like the Carbonari, which have been organized at revolutionary periods to resist oppression or overthrow the despotism of tyrannical governments. It is evident that these two classes of secret societies are entirely different in character; but it has been the great error of writers like Barruel and Robison, who have attacked Free‑masonry on the ground of its being a secret association, that they utterly confounded the two classes.

 

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859 - Why should a Mason seek religion?

 

            Seek. He who is desirous of finding wisdom, must diligently seek for it; and if he would know the real design of Masonry, he must study, and observe, and meditate, on what he hears in the lodge, otherwise the bondage of ignorance will never be removed.

 

860 - Why should a Mason practice brotherly love?

 

            Self‑Interest. Let me travel from east to west, or between north and south, when I meet a true brother, I shall find a friend, who will do all in his power to serve me, without having the least view of self‑interest; and if I am poor and in distress, he will relieve me, to the utmost of his power, interest or capacity. This is the second grand principle; for relief will follow when there is brotherly love.

 

861 - Why should a Mason strive for self‑knowledge?

 

            Self‑Knowledge. Every Freemason is earnestly exhorted to study himself. He who does not know himself, his moral weaknesses, his de‑sires, his powers of toleration, and his real, not his imaginary, spiritual strength, cannot live as the Order requires that he ought to live, in the bonds of the closest fraternal love with the whole brotherhood; and if an office is intrusted to him in the lodge, he cannot know whether he is capable of filling it with credit to himself and profit to the Craft. It is quite as necessary that a Freemason should be as well acquainted with his moral strength as he is with his moral weakness; for many Masons are inactive in the lodge and in the Craft, merely because they do not know the power which is within themselves. He who has thoroughly studied himself, and is susceptible of all good impressions, will be subject to much less evil than others.

 

862 - Whose duty is it to carry messages and orders for the Master of a Lodge?

 

            Senior Deacon. The Senior Deacon, as I have already remarked, is the especial attendant of the Master. Seated at his right hand, he is ready at all times to carry messages to and convey orders from him to the Senior Warden, and elsewhere about the lodge.

 

863 - What are the duties of the Senior Warden?

 

            Senior Warden. The duties of the Senior Warden are very briefly described in the Installation service. They are, in the absence of the Master, to preside, and govern the Lodge; in his presence, to assist him in the government of it.

 

In assisting the Master in the government of the Lodge, it is the duty of both officers to see that due silence is observed around their respective stations, and that the orders issued from the east are strictly obeyed. But most of their duties in their peculiar positions are of a ritualistic nature, and are either unnecessary or improper to be discussed in the present work.

 

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In the absence of the Master, the Senior Warden governs the Lodge. This is his inherent right, and has already been fully considered in the preceding section. He may, and often does, as a matter of courtesy, resign the chair to some Past Master present, but such Past Master al‑ways acts under the authority of the Warden, who has first to congregate the Lodge, that is, to call the brethren to labor, before he resigns the gavel of his authority into the hands of the Past Master.

 

864 - In what degree are the five senses explained?

 

            Senses. Man is brought into communication with the external world by means of five senses, or organs of perception. Seeing, Hearing and Feeling are often referred to in Masonic instructions. They are explained in the degree of Fellowcraft.

 

865 - What was the usual period of apprenticeship among operative Masons?

 

            Servitude. The stipulated period of an apprentice's servitude in former times was seven years, but less time will suffice, if found worthy of promotion by possessing the qualities of freedom, fervency, and zeal.

 

866 - Of what is the setting‑maul an emblem?

 

            Setting‑Maul. A wooden hammer used by Operative Masons to "set" the stones in their proper positions. It is in Speculative Masonry a symbol, in the Third Degree, reminding us of the death of the builder of the Temple, which is said to have been effected by this instrument. In some lodges it is very improperly used by the Master as his gavel from which it totally differs in form and in symbolic signification. The gavel is a symbol of order and decorum; the setting‑maul, of death by violence.

 

867 - What was the duty of the Senior Warden at the close of day?

 

            Setting Sun. It was the duty of the Senior Warden to pay and dismiss the Craft at the close of day, when the sun sinks in the west; so now the Senior Warden is said in the Lodge to represent the setting sun.

 

868 - Why does Masonry deny admission to women?

 

            Sex. It is an unquestionable Landmark of the Order, and the very first prerequisite to initiation, that the candidate shall be "a man." This of course prohibits the initiation of a woman. This Land‑mark arises from the peculiar nature of our speculative science as connected with an operative art. Speculative Masonry is but the application of operative Masonry to moral and intellectual purposes. Our predecessors wrought, according to the traditions of the Order, at the construction of a material temple, while we are engaged in the erection of a spiritual edifice - the temple of the mind. They employed their implements for merely mechanical purposes; we use them symbolically, with a more exalted design. Thus it is that in all our emblems, our lan‑

 

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guage, and our rites, there is a beautiful exemplification and application of the rules of operative Masonry to a spiritual purpose. And as it is evident that King Solomon employed in the construction of his temple only hale and hearty men and cunning workmen, so our Lodges, in imitation of that great exemplar, demand as an indispensable requisite to initiation into our mysteries, that the candidate shall be a man, capable of performing such work as the Master shall assign him. This is, there‑fore, the origin of the Landmark which prohibits the initiation of females.

 

869 - How did our ancient brethren make use of the sword?

 

            Sharp Instrument. The emblematic use of a "sharp instrument," as indicated in the ritual of the first degree, is intended to be represented by a warlike weapon (the old rituals call it " a warlike instrument") such as a dagger or sword. The use of the point of a pair of compasses, as is sometimes improperly done, is an erroneous application of the symbol, which should not be tolerated in a properly con‑ducted lodge. The compasses are, besides, a symbol peculiar to the third degree.

 

870 - Of what are sheep emblematic?

 

            Sheep. The people of God are often typified in the Scriptures under the name of sheep, because of their mild, patient, and inoffensive nature. The lambskin, then, is an appropriate emblem of the innocence. The lamb, too, is of a social nature, and is emblematical of brotherly love. It is easily led.

 

871 - What does the word "shibboleth" signify?

 

            Shibboleth. The word signifies an ear of corn and a stream or flood of water. The name given to a test or criterion by which the ancient Jews sought to distinguish true persons or things from false. The term originated thus: After the battle gained by Jephthah over the Ephraimites (Judges xii.), the Gileadites, commanded by the former, secured all the passes of the river; and, on an Ephraimite attempting to cross, they asked him if he was of Ephraim. If he said no, they bade him pronounce the word Shibboleth, which Ephraimites, from in‑ability to give the aspirate, gave Sibboleth. By this means he was detected as an enemy, and immediately slain. In modern times this word has been adopted into political and other organizations as a pass or watchword.

 

872 - What is the symbolism of the shoe in Masonry?

 

            Shoe. Among the ancient Israelites, the shoe was made use of in several significant ways. To put off the shoes imported reverence, and was done in the presence of God, or on entering the dwelling of a superior. To unloose one's shoe and give it to another was the way of

 

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confirming a contract. Thus we read in the book of Ruth, that Boaz having proposed to the nearest kinsman of Ruth to exercise his legal right by redeeming the land of Naomi, which was offered for sale, and marrying her daughter‑in‑law, the kinsman, being unable to do so, resigned his right of purchase to Boaz; and the narrative goes on to say (Ruth iv.

7, 8), "Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe." The reference to the shoe in the first degree is therefore really as a symbol of a covenant to be entered into. In the third degree the symbolism is altogether different.

 

873 - Of what is the shovel an emblem?

 

            Shovel. The use of the shovel is to clear away rubbish and loose earth; and it morally depicts the mortal state in which the body is laid in the grave; that when the remains of this body shall have been properly disposed of, we, with humble but holy confidence, hope that the spirit may arise to everlasting life.

 

874 - Is the Grand Hailing Sign the same in all jurisdictions?

 

            Sign of Distress. This is probably one of the original modes of recognition adopted at the revival period, if not before. It is to be found in the earliest rituals extant of the last century, and its connection with the legend of the third degree makes it evident that it probably belongs to that degree. The Craft in the last century called it some‑times "the Master's Clap," and sometimes "the Grand Sign," which latter name has been adopted by the Masons of the present century, who call it the "Grand Hailing Sign," to indicate its use in hailing or calling a brother whose assistance may be needed. The true form of the sign has unfortunately been changed by carelessness or ignorance from the ancient one, which is still preserved in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe. It is impossible to be explicit; but it may be remarked, that looking to its traditional origin, the sign is a defensive one, first made in an hour of attack, to give protection to the person. This is perfectly represented by the European and English form, but utterly misrepresented by the American. The German Rite of Schroeder attempted some years ago to induce the Craft to transfer this sign from the third to the first degree. As this would have been an evident innovation, and would have contradicted the ritual history of its origin and meaning, the attempt was not successful.

 

875 - Why should a Mason cultivate silence?

 

            Silence. The first thing that Pythagoras taught his scholars was to be silent; for a certain time he kept them without speaking, to the end they might the better learn to preserve the valuable secrets he had

 

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to communicate, and never to speak but when required, expressing thereby that secrecy was the rarest virtue. Aristotle was asked what thing appeared to him most difficult; he answered to be secret and silent. To this purpose St. Ambrose, in his offices, placed among the principal foundations of virtue the patient gift silence.

 

876 - Of what is the silver cord an emblem?

 

            Silver Cord. In the beautiful and affecting description of the body of man suffering under the infirmities of old age given in the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, we find the expression "or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern: then shall the dust return to earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." Dr. Clarke thus explains these beautiful metaphors. The silver cord is the spinal marrow; its loosening is the cessation of all nervous sensibility; the golden bowl is the brain, which is rendered unfit to perform its functions by the approach of death; the pitcher means the great vein which carries the blood to the right ventricle of the heart, here called the fountain; by the wheel is meant the great artery which receives the blood from the left ventricle of the heart, here designated as the cistern. This collection of metaphors is a part of the Scripture reading in the third degree, and forms an appropriate introduction to those sublime ceremonies whose object is to teach symbolically the resurrection and life eternal.

 

877 - Why should Masons be sincere?

 

            Sincerity. A search after truth is the peculiar employment of Masons at their periodical meetings, and therefore they describe it as a divine attribute, and the foundation of every virtue. To be good men and true is the first lesson we are taught in Masonry. On this theme we contemplate, and by its dictates endeavor to regulate our conduct; influenced by this principle, hypocrisy and deceit are unknown in the lodge; sincerity and plain dealing distinguish us; while the heart and tongue join in promoting the general welfare, and rejoicing in each other's prosperity.

 

878 - How is the Masonic Lodge situated?

 

            Situation. The lodge is situated due east and west, for various reasons; but the principal inducement of our ancient brethren to adopt this disposition was that it might serve to commemorate the great deliverance of the Israelites from bondage, by imitating the arrangement of the Tabernacle which was erected by Moses in the wilderness, as a place of public worship until the Lord should reveal the situation which he had chosen for his Holy Name amongst the tribes in the promised land.

 

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879 - What is the Masonic definition of slander?

 

            Slander. Inwood, in his sermon on "Union Amongst Masons," says: "To defame our brother, or suffer him to be defamed, without interesting ourselves for the preservation of his name and character, there is scarcely the shadow of an excuse to be formed. Defamation is always wicked. Slander and evil speaking are the pests of civil society, are the disgrace of every degree of religious profession, the poisonous bane of all brotherly love."

 

880 - How can a Lodge protect itself against impostors?

 

            Slinking. It is not only possible, but it has often happened, that men have stole into the lodge who were never worthy of being admitted members of the Order, but who have managed to get initiated by hypocrisy, and because the members have not had sufficient opportunities to prove them, and to watch their previous conduct. But it is quite impossible for any one who has not been initiated to find his way into a lodge to indulge his curiosity. Every cultivated and moral man knows that initiation will not be denied him if he applies in a proper manner for it, and we are assured that they will never attempt, either by force or fraud, to gain admittance into a society where they have no right to be. Should any one, destitute of moral feeling, attempt to do so thinking that from printed works he has made himself acquainted with our customs, and can pass himself off for a Mason, he never can get beyond the ante‑chamber for he has no certificate, or if he has, it is not his, and this is soon proved; his name is not upon any list, nor does he know anything of how he should answer the questions which will be put to him. An uneducated man has still less chance of stealing into a lodge, for his answer to the first question put to him would discover him at once. If we were as well secured from the first manner of improperly gaining admittance into a lodge as we are from the last, the Order would be in a more flourishing condition than it now is.

 

881 - What are the social duties of a Master of a Lodge?

 

            Social Duties of a Master. Socially, that is, as a member and officer of.a peculiar society, exclusive in its character, he must be "true and trusty, and a lover of the whole fraternity." Each of these indicates a particular quality; his truth and fidelity will secure his obedience to all the regulations of the Order - his observance of its Land‑marks and ancient usages - his opposition to all unwarrantable innovations. They will not only induce him to declare at his installation, but to support his declaration during his whole term of office, that "it is not in the power of any man or body of men to make innovations in the body of Masonry." They are his guarantee that he will not violate the promises he has made of fidelity and obedience to the constituted authorities of the Order.

 

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His love of the fraternity will be an evidence of his zeal and fervency in the cause - of his disposition to cultivate all the benign principles of the institution, and to extend its blessings in every unobjectionable way. Where there is love, there must be reasonable service, and affection for the brethren will show its results in devotion to the association of which these brethren form a component part.

 

882 - What are the advantages of being a Mason?

 

            Society. Freemasonry forms a happy center of reunion for worthy men, who are desirous of a select society of friends and brothers, who have bound themselves in a voluntary obligation to love each other; to afford aid and assistance in time of need; to animate one another to acts of virtue and benevolence; and to keep inviolably the secrets which form the great characteristic of the Order.

 

883 - What is a Lodge of Sorrow?

 

            Sorrow Lodge. It is the custom among Masons on the continent of Europe to hold special lodges at stated periods, for the purpose of commemorating the virtues and deploring the loss of their departed members, and other distinguished worthies of the Fraternity who have died. These are called Funeral or Sorrow Lodges. In Germany they are held annually; in France at longer intervals. In this country the custom has been introduced by the Ancient and Accepted Rite, whose Sorrow Lodge ritual is peculiarly beautiful and impressive, and the usage has been adopted by many lodges of the American Rite. On these occasions the lodge is clothed in the habiliments of mourning, and decorated with the emblems of death, solemn music is played, funeral dirges are chanted, eulogies on the life, character and Masonic virtues of the dead are delivered.

 

884 - Why is the Junior Warden stationed in the South?

 

            South. The due course of the sun is from east to south and west; and after the Master are placed the Wardens, to extend his commands and instructions to the west and the north. From the east the sun's rays cannot penetrate into the north and the west at the same time.

 

885 - On what is the Masonic system founded?

 

            Speculative. The Masonic system exhibits a stupendous and beautiful fabric, founded on universal piety. To rule and direct our passions, to have faith and hope in God, and charity towards man, I consider as the objects of what is termed Speculative Masonry.

 

886 - What is the symbolism of the square and compass?

 

            Square and Compasses. These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined - to teach us, as says an early ritual, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom

 

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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 a flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the square and compasses as a trademark, the Commissioner of Patents refused permission on the ground that the mark was a Masonic symbol.

 

"If this emblem," said Mr. J. M. Thacher, the Commissioner, "were something other than precisely what is 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 displayed, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise. It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trademark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the power of law, 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."

 

887 - What is the duty of a Mason with respect to the laws of Masonry?

 

            Stand to and Abide by. The covenant of Masonry requires every Mason "to stand to and abide by" the laws and regulations of the Order, whether expressed in the edicts of the Grand Lodge, the by‑laws of his lodge, or the, Landmarks of the Institution. The terms are not precisely synonymous, although generally considered to be so. To stand to has a somewhat active meaning, and signifies to maintain and defend the laws; while to abide by is more passive in meaning, and signifies to submit to the award made by such laws.

 

888 - What should the By‑Laws of a Lodge contain?

 

            Statutes or Duties. Every Lodge has its statutes, with which every brother should be well acquainted, and which ought, frequently to be read in open Lodge. They treat upon the duties of a Freemason both in and out of the Lodge, upon the duties of the officers, on the manage‑

 

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ment of the Lodge, the duties and privileges of the brethren towards each other, and of the locality in which the Lodge is placed.

 

889 - In each step in Masonry with what is the candidate presented?

 

            Step. In the system of Masonry, the candidate is presented at each step with three precious jewels. As an Entered Apprentice, he receives "a listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful heart." As a Fellow Craft, it is "faith, hope, and charity." And as a Master Mason, he receives "humanity, friendship, and brotherly love."

 

890 - What are the duties of the Stewards?

 

            Stewards, Duties of. The Stewards are two in number, and are appointed by the Junior Warden. They sit on the right and left of that officer, each one having a white rod, as the insignia of his office, and wearing the cornucopia as a jewel.

 

Preston says that their duties are "to introduce visitors, and see that they are properly accommodated; to collect subscriptions and other fees, and to keep an exact account of the Lodge expenses." Webb adds to these the further duties of seeing "that the tables are properly furnished at refreshment, and that every brother is suitably provided for," and he makes them the assistants generally of the Deacons and other officers in performing their respective duties.

 

There can be no doubt, from the nature of the office in other institutions, that the duty of the Stewards was originally to arrange and direct the refreshments of the Lodge, and to provide accommodations for the brethren on such occasions. When the office was first established, refreshments constituted an important and necessary part of the proceedings of every Lodge. Although not yet abolished, the Lodge banquets are now fewer, and occur at greater intervals, and the services of the Stewards are therefore now less necessary, so far as respects their original duties as servitors at the table. Hence new duties are beginning to be imposed upon them, and they are, in many jurisdictions, considered as the proper officers to examine visitors and to prepare candidates.

 

The examination of visitors, and the preparation of candidates for reception into the different degrees, requires an amount of skill and experience which can be obtained only by careful study. It seems, there‑fore, highly expedient that instead of intrusting these services to committees appointed as occasion may require, they should be made the especial duty of officers designated at their installation for that purpose, and who will therefore, it is to be supposed, diligently prepare them‑selves for the correct discharge of the functions of their office.

 

Preston says that at their installation the Master and Wardens are the representatives of the Master Masons who are absent, the Deacons of the Fellow Crafts, and the Stewards of the Entered Apprentices.

 

The Stewards, like the Deacons, although not elected, but appointed, cannot, after installation, be removed by the officer who appointed them.

 

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I may remark, in conclusion, that the office is one of great antiquity. since we find it alluded to and the duties enumerated in the Old York Constitutions of 926, where the Steward is directed "to provide good cheer against the hour of refreshment," and to render a true and correct account of the expenses.

 

891 - Who were the Masters and Wardens of the lodges of Masons during the building of King Solomon's temple?

 

            Stone Squarers. These were the Dionysiacs, a society of architects who built the Temple of Hercules at Tyre, and many magnificent edifices in Asia Minor, before the Temple of Solomon was projected. They were the Masters and Wardens of the lodges of Mason during the erection of this famous edifice.

 

892 - What is one of the three principal supports of a Lodge?

 

            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 there 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 Masonry 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.

 

893 - What is the Masonic meaning of the expression "strict trial?"

 

            Strict Trial. The ritualistic Landmark requires that these forms must be conducted in such a manner as to constitute what is technically called a "strict trial." No question must be omitted that should have been asked, and no answer received unless strictly and categorically correct. The rigor and severity of the rules and forms of a Masonic examination must never be weakened by undue partiality or unjustifiable delicacy. The honor and safety of the institution are to be paramount to every other consideration; and the Masonic maxim is never to be forgotten, that "it is better that ninety and nine true men should, by over 'strictness, be turned away from the door of a Lodge, than that one cowan should, through the carelessness of an examining committee, be admitted." ‑

 

894 - Why is the third called the sublime degree of Masonry?

 

            Sublime. The third degree is called "the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason," in reference to the exalted lessons that it teaches of God and of a future life. The epithet is, however, comparatively modern. It is not to be found in any of the rituals of the last century. Neither Hutchinson, nor Smith, nor Preston use it; and it was not, therefore, I presume, in the original Prestonian lecture. Hutchinson

 

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speaks of "the most sacred and solemn Order of the most exalted," but not of the "sublime" degree. Webb, who based his lectures on the Prestonian system, applies no epithet to the Master's degree. In an addition of the Constitutions, published at Dublin in

1769, the Master's degree is spoken of as "the most respectable;" and forty years ago the epithet "high and honorable" was used in some of the rituals of this country. The first book in which we meet with the adjective "sublime" applied to the third degree, is the Masonic Discourses of Dr. T. M. Harris, published at Boston in 1801. Cole also used it in 1817, in his Freemasons' Library; and about the same time Jeremy Cross, the well‑known lecturer, introduced it into his teachings, and used it in his Hieroglyphic Chart, which was, for many years, a text‑book of American lodges. The word is now, however, to be found in the modern English lectures, and is of universal use in the rituals of the United States, where the third degree is always called "the sublime degree of a Master Mason."

 

895 - What are the tests of Masonic obedience?

 

            Submission. Your obedience must be proved by a close conformity to our laws and regulations; by prompt attention to all signs and summonses; by modest and correct demeanor whilst in the lodge; by abstaining from every topic of religious or political discussion; by a ready acquiescence in all votes and resolutions duly passed by the brethren; and by perfect submission to the Master and his Wardens, whilst acting in the discharge of their respective offices.

 

896 - Of what is the substitute word a symbol?

 

            Substitute Word. This is an expression of very significant suggestion to the thoughtful Master Mason. If the Word, is, in Masonry, a symbol of Divine Truth; if the search for the Word is a symbol of the search for that Truth; if the Lost Word symbolizes the idea that Divine Truth has not been found, then the Substitute Word is a symbol of the unsuccessful search after Divine Truth and the attainment in this life, of which the first Temple is a type, of what is only an approximation to it. The idea of a substitute word and its history is to be found in the oldest rituals of the last century; but the phrase itself is of more recent date, being the result of the fuller development of Masonic science and philosophy.

 

The history of the substitute word has been an unfortunate one. Subjected from a very early period to a mutilation of form, it under‑went an entire change in some Rites, after the introduction of the high degrees, most probably through the influence of the Stuart Masons, who sought by an entirely new word to give a reference to the unfortunate representative of that house as the similitude of the stricken builder. And so it has come to pass that there are now two substitutes

 

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in use, of entirely different form and meaning; one used on the continent of Europe, and one in England and this country.

 

It is difficult in this case, where almost all the knowledge that we can have of the subject is so scanty, to determine the exact time when or the way in which the new word was introduced. But there is, I think abundant internal evidence in the words themselves as to their appropriateness and the languages whence they came (the one being pure Hebrew, and the other, I think, Gaelic), as well as from the testimony of old rituals, to show that the word in use in the United States is the true word, and was the one in use before the revival.

 

Both of these words have, however, unfortunately been translated by persons ignorant of the languages whence they are derived so that the most incorrect and even absurd interpretations of their significations have been given. The word in universal use in this country has been translated as "rottenness in the bone," or "the builder is dead," or by several other phrases equally as far from the true meaning.

 

The correct word has been mutilated. Properly, it consists of four syllables, for the last syllable, as it is now pronounced, should properly be divided into two. These four syllables compose three Hebrew words, which constitute a perfect and grammatical phrase, appropriate to the occasion of their utterance. But to understand them, the scholar must seek the meaning in each syllable, and combine the whole. In the language of Apuleius, I must forbear to enlarge upon these holy mysteries.

 

 

897 - What is the order of succession in event of the death or disability of the Grand Master?

 

            Succession in Office of Grand Master. There never has been any doubt that in case of the death or absence from the jurisdiction of the Grand Master, the Deputy succeeds to the office, for this seems to have 'been the only object of his appointment. The only mooted point is as to the successor, in the absence of both.

 

The Fourteenth Regulation of 1721 had prescribed, that if the Grand Master and his Deputy should both be absent from the Grand Lodge, the functions of Grand Master shall be vested in "the present Master of a Lodge that has been the longest a Freemason," unless there be a Past Grand Master or Past Deputy present. But this was found to be an infringement on the prerogatives of the Grand Wardens, and accordingly a new Regulation appeared in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions, which prescribed that the order of succession should be as follows: the Deputy, a Past Grand Master, a Past Deputy Grand Master, the Senior, and then the Junior Grand Warden, the oldest former Grand Warden present, and lastly, the oldest Freemason who is the Master of a Lodge.

 

But this order of succession does not appear to be strictly in accordance with the representative character of the Grand Lodge, since

 

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Past Grand officers, who are not by inherent right members of the Grand Lodge, should not be permitted to take precedence of the actual members and representatives. Accordingly, in this country, the Regulation has in general been modified, and here the Deputy succeeds the Grand Master, and after him the Wardens, in order of their rank, and then the Master of the oldest Lodge present, Grand officers being entirely excluded.

 

898 - Who takes the place of the Grand Master or Grand Warden in the event of his absence from a session of the Grand Lodge?

 

            Succession of Grand Lodge Officers. As in a subordinate Lodge, so in the Grand Lodge, the Junior Grand Warden does not occupy the west in the absence of the Senior Grand Warden. The two offices are entirely distinct; and the Junior Grand Warden having been elected and installed to preside in the south, can leave that station only for the east, in the absence of all his superiors. A vacancy in the west must be supplied by temporary appointment.

 

On the same principle, the Senior Grand Warden cannot supply the place of the absent Deputy Grand Master. In fact, in the absence from the Grand Lodge of the Deputy, it is scarcely necessary that his office should be filled by the temporary appointment .of any person; for, in the presence of the Grand Master, the Deputy has no duties to perform.

 

899 - Who succeeds to the chair in the absence or disability of the Master?

 

            Succession to the Chair. Two principles seem now to be very generally admitted by the authorities on Masonic law, in connection with this subject.

 

1. That in the temporary or permanent absence of the Master, the Senior Warden, or, in his absence, the Junior, succeeds to the chair.

 

2. That on the permanent removal of the Master by death or expulsion, there can be no election for a successor until the constitutional night of election.

 

Let us inquire into the foundation of each of these principles.

 

1. The second of the Regulations of 1721 is in these words: "In case of death or sickness, or necessary absence of the Master, the Senior Warden shall act as Master pro tern pore, if no brother is present who has been Master of that Lodge before. For the absent Master's authority reverts to the last Master present, though he cannot act till the Senior Warden has congregated the Lodge." The lines which I have placed in italics indicate that even at that time the power of calling the brethren together and "setting them to work," which is technically called "congregating the Lodge," was sup‑posed to be vested in the Senior Warden alone during the absence of the Master, although perhaps, from a supposition that he had greater experience, the difficult duty of presiding over the communication was

 

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entrusted to a Past Master. The regulation is, however, contradictory in its provisions; for, if the "last Master present" could not act, that is, could not exercise the authority of the Master, until the Senior Warden had congregated the Lodge, then it is evident that the authority of the Master did not revert to him in an unqualified sense, for that officer required no such concert nor consent on the part of the Warden, but could congregate the Lodge himself.

 

This evident contradiction in the language of the regulation probably caused, in a brief period, a further examination of the ancient usage, and accordingly, on the

25th of November, 1723, a very little more than three years after, the following regulation was adopted: "If a Master of a particular Lodge is deposed or demits, the Senior Warden shall forthwith fill the Master's chair till the next time of choosing; and ever since, in the Master's absence, he fills the chair, even though a former Master be present." The present Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England appears to have been formed rather in reference to the Regulation of 1721 than to that of 1723. It prescribes that on the death, removal, or in‑capacity of the Master, the Senior Warden, or in his absence, the Junior Warden, or in his absence, the immediate Past Master, or in his absence, the Senior Past Master, "shall act as Master in summoning the Lodge, until the next election of officers." But the English Constitution goes on to direct that "in the Master's absence, the immediate Past Master, or if he be absent, the Senior Past Master of the Lodge present shall take the chair. And if no Past Master of the Lodge be present, then the Senior Warden, or in his absence, the Junior Warden shall rule the Lodge." Here again we find ourselves involved in the intricacies of a divided authority. The Senior Warden congregates the Lodge, but a Past Master rules it; and if the Warden refuses to perform his part of the duty, then the Past Master will have no Lodge to rule. So that after all, it appears that of the two, the authority of the Senior Warden is the greater.

 

But in this country the usage has always conformed to the Regulation of 1723, as is apparent from a glance at our rituals and monitorial works.

 

Webb, in his "Freemason's Monitor" (edition of 1808), lays down the rule that "in the absence of the Master, the Senior Warden is to govern the Lodge;" and that officer receives annually, in every Lodge in the United States, on the night of his installation, a charge to that effect. It must be remembered, too, that we are not indebted to Webb himself for this charge, but that he borrowed it, word for word, from Preston, who wrote long before, and who, in his turn, extracted it from the rituals which were in force at the time of his writing.

 

In the United States, accordingly, it has been held, that on the death

 

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or removal of the Master, his authority descends to the Senior Warden, who may, however, by courtesy, offer the chair to some Past Master who is present, after the Lodge has been congregated.

 

 

900 - What is the prerogative of a Past Master with reference to his successor?

 

            Successor, Installation of. Past Masters are invested with the right of installing their successors. There is, it is true, no Ancient Regulation which expressly confers upon them this prerogative, but it seems always to have been the usage of the fraternity to restrict the installing power to one who had himself been installed, so that there might be an uninterrupted succession in the chair. Thus, in the "Ancient Installation Charges," which date at least as far back as the seventeenth century, in describing the way in which the charges at an installation were given, it is said, "then one of the elders holds the book (of the law), and they place their hand upon it;" where senioribus may be very well interpreted as meaning the elder Master, those who have presided over a Lodge: seniores being originally a term descriptive of age which was applied to those in authority.

 

In 1717, the first Grand Master, under the new organization, was installed, as we learn from the book of Constitutions, by the oldest Master of a Lodge. Preston also informs us, in his ritual of installation, that when the Grand Master does not act, any Master of a Lodge may perform the ceremony. Accordingly, Past Masters have been universally considered as alone possessing the right of installation. In this and all similar expressions, it must be understood that Past Masters and installed Masters, although not having been twelve months in the chair, are in Masonic law identical. A Master of a Lodge becomes a Past Master, for all legal purposes, as soon as he is installed.

 

 

901 - What are the prerogatives of a Deputy Grand Master or a Grand Warden when acting pro tern pore as Grand Master?

 

            Successor to Grand Master. The duties and prerogatives to which a Deputy Grand Master or Grand Warden succeeds, in case of the absence of the Grand Master from any communication, are simply those of a presiding officer, although of course they are for the time invested with all the rights which are exercised by the Grand Master in that capacity. But if the Grand Master be within the limits of the jurisdiction, although absent from the Grand Lodge, all their temporary functions cease as soon as the Grand Lodge is closed.

 

If, however, the Grand Master is absent from the jurisdiction, or has demised, then these officers, in the order already stated, succeed to the Grand Mastership, and exercise all the prerogatives of the office until his return, or, in the case of his death, until the next communication of the Grand Lodge.

 

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902 - What should a summons contain?

 

            Summons. The brethren must be invited by summons from the Secretary on every lodge night; which summons must contain the place where, and the time when, the lodge is to be held, as well as what degrees will be wrought.

 

903 - Why does the Worshipful Master sit in the East?

 

            Sun. The sun rises in the east, and in the east is the place for the Worshipful Master. As the sun is the source of all life and warmth, so should the Worshipful Master enliven and warm the brethren to their work. Among the ancient Egyptians, the sun was the symbol of divine providence. Schiller says, "the sun darts his beams equally into every part of infinity."

 

904 - Has the Lodge power to surrender its warrant without the consent of the Master?

 

            Surrender of Warrant. A Lodge may be dissolved by a voluntary surrender of its warrant. This must be by the act of a majority of the members, and at a communication especially called for that purpose. But it has been held that the Master must concur in this surrender; for, if he does not, being the custodian of the instrument, it cannot be taken from him, except upon trial and conviction of a competent offence before the Grand Lodge.

 

As the warrant of constitution is so important an instrument, being the evidence of the legality of the Lodge, it is essentially necessary that it should be present and open to the inspection of all the members and visitors at each communication of the Lodge. The ritual requires that the three great lights of Masonry should always be present in the Lodge, as necessary to its organization as a just Lodge. Equally necessary is the warrant of constitution to its organization as a legal Lodge; and therefore if the warrant is mislaid or out of the room at the time of opening, it is held by Masonic jurists that the Lodge cannot be opened until that instrument is brought in and deposited in a conspicuous place, the most usual; and perhaps the most proper, being the pedestal of the Master.

 

905 - By what process does a newly organized Grand Lodge issue authority over its constituent Lodges?

 

            Surrender of Warrant. As soon as a new Grand Lodge is organized, it will grant warrants to the Lodges which formed it, to take effect upon their surrendering the warrants under which they originally acted to the Grand Lodges, from which they had derived them. There is no regulation prescribing the precise time at which these warrants are to be surrendered; but it seems reasonable to suppose that they could not surrender them before the new Grand Lodge is organized, because the surrender of a warrant is the extinction of a Lodge, and

 

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the Lodges must preserve their vitality to give them power to organize the new authority.

 

906 - What is the Masonic meaning of the word "suspension?"

 

            Suspension. Suspension may be defined to be a temporary privation of the rights and privileges of Masonry. This privation may be for a fixed or indeterminate period, whence results the division of this class of punishments into two kinds - definite and indefinite. The effect of the penalty is, for the time that it lasts, the same in both kinds, but there are some differences in the mode in which restoration to rights is to be effected in each.

 

907 - May a Lodge lawfully suspend its by‑laws?

 

            Suspension of By‑Laws. From the fact that the by‑laws of a Lodge must be submitted to the Grand Lodge for its approval and confirmation arises the doctrine that a subordinate Lodge cannot, even by unanimous consent, suspend a by‑law. As there is no error more commonly committed than this by unthinking Masons, who suppose that in a Lodge, as in any other society, a by‑law may be suspended by unanimous consent, it will not be amiss to consider the question with some degree of care and attention.

 

An ordinary society makes its own rules and regulations, independent of any other body, subject to no revision, and requiring no approbation outside of itself. Its own members are the sole and supreme judges of what it may or may not enact for its own government. Consequently, as the members themselves have enacted the rule, the members them‑selves may unanimously agree to suspend, to amend, or to abolish it.

 

But a Masonic Lodge presents a different organization. It is not self‑created or independent. It derives its power, and indeed its very existence, from a higher body, called a Grand Lodge which constitutes the supreme tribunal to adjudicate for it. A Masonic Lodge has no power to make by‑laws without the consent of the Grand Lodge, in whose jurisdiction it is situated. The by‑laws of a subordinate Lodge may be said only to be proposed by the Lodge, as they are not operative until they have been submitted to the Grand Lodge, and approved by that body. Nor can any subsequent alteration of any of them take place unless it passes through the same ordeal of revision and approbation by the Grand Lodge.

 

Hence it is evident that the control of the by‑laws, rules and regulations of the Lodge is taken entirely out of its hands. A certain law has been agreed on, we will say, by the members. It is submitted to the Grand Lodge and approved. From that moment it becomes a law for the government of that Lodge, and cannot be repealed without the consent of the Grand Lodge. So far, these statements will be admitted to be correct. But if a Lodge cannot alter, annul or repeal such law,

 

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without the consent of the Grand Lodge, it must necessarily follow that it cannot suspend it, which is, for all practical purposes, a repeal for a temporary period.

 

I will suppose, by way of example, that it is proposed to suspend the by‑law which requires that at the annual election all the officers shall be elected by ballot, so as to enable the Lodge, on a particular occasion, to vote viva voce. Now, this law must, of course, have been originally submitted to the Grand Lodge, and approved by that body. Such approbation made it the enactment of the Grand Lodge. It had thus declared that in that particular Lodge all elections for officers should be determined by ballot. The regulation became imperative on the Lodge. If it determined, even by unanimous consent, to suspend the rule, and on a certain occasion to proceed to the election of a particular officer by acclamation or viva voce, then the Lodge was abrogating for the time a law that the Grand Lodge had declared was binding on it, and establishing in its place a new one, which had not received the approbation of the supreme tribunal. Such a rule would therefore, for want of this confirmation, be inoperative. It would, in fact, be no rule at all, or worse, it would be a rule enacted in opposition to the will of the Grand Lodge. This principle applies, of course, to every other by‑law, whether trivial or important, local or general in its character. The Lodge can touch no regulation after the decree of the Grand Lodge for its confirmation has been passed. The regulation has gone out of the control of the Lodge, and its only duty then is implicit obedience. Hence it follows that it is not competent for a subordinate Lodge, even by unanimous consent, to suspend any of its by‑laws.

 

908 - In whom does the power of suspending a Master of a Lodge reside?

 

            Suspension of Master. It will sometimes happen that the offences of‑the Master are of such a nature as to require immediate action, to protect the character of the institution and to preserve the harmony of the Lodge. The Grand Lodge may not be in session, and will not be for some months, and in the meantime the Order is to be protected from the evil effects that would arise from the continuance of a bad Master in office. The remedy provided by the usages of the institution for such an 'evil are of a summary nature. The Grand Master is, in an extraordinary case like this, invested with extraordinary powers, and may suspend the blaster from office until the next communication of the Grand Lodge, when he will be subjected to a trial. In the mean‑time the Senior Warden will assume the office and discharge the functions of the Master. In New York, the Grand Master immediately appoints in such a case a commission of seven, who must be not lower in rank than Wardens, and who try the question and make up their decision, which is final, unless an appeal is taken from it, within six months, to the Grand Lodge. This, however, is a local regulation, and

 

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where it, or some other satisfactory mode of action is not prescribed by the Constitution of a Grand Lodge, the Grand Master may exert his prerogative of suspension under the general usage or common law of Masonry.

 

909 - Who was Emanuel Swedenborg? What was the rite of Swedenborg?

 

            Swedenborg, Rite of. This rite was established by Emanuel Swedenborg, the eminent philosopher, who was born at Stockholm, January 29, 1688, died at London, March 29, 1772. His rite was composed of eight degrees, divided into two Temples. The first Temple contained the degrees of Apprentice, Fellowcraft, Master and Elect. The doctrines of these degrees related to the creation of man, his obedience and punishment, and the penalties inflicted on the body and soul; all of which is represented in the initiation. The second Temple comprises the degrees of Companion Cohen, Master Cohen, Grand Architect and Knight Commander, and Kadosh. The enlightened Mason will find much of the elements of Freemasonry in the writings of Swedenborg, who, for forty‑eight years of his life, devoted himself to the cultivation of science, and produced a great number of works, in which he broached many novel and ingenious theories in theology, which obtained for him a remarkable celebrity in several parts of the world. ò The Marquis de Thome, in 1783, taking up the system that had been adopted in the Lodge of Avignon, in 1760, modified it to suit his own views, and instituted what afterward became known as the Rite of Swedenborg.

 

Swedenborg was well versed in the ancient languages; philosophy, metaphysics, mineralogy and astronomy were equally familiar to him. He devoted himself to profound researches in regard to the mysteries of Freemasonry, wherein he had been initiated; and in what he wrote respecting it, he established that the doctrines of the institution came from those of the Egyptians, Persians, Jews and Greeks. He endeavored to reform the Roman Catholic religion, and his doctrines were adopted by a great number of persons in Sweden, England, Holland, Russia, Germany, and lastly, in the United States. His religious system is expounded in the book entitled The Celestial Jerusalem, or the Spiritual World. If we are to believe him, he wrote it from the dictation of angels, who, for that purpose, appeared to him at fixed periods. Swedenborg divided the Spiritual World, or the Heavenly Jerusalem, into three Heavens; the upper, or third Heaven; the Spiritual, or second, which is in the middle, and the lower or first, relatively to our world. The dwellers in the third Heaven are the most perfect among the angels; they receive the chief portion of the divine influences immediately from God, whom they see face to face. God is the sun of the invisible world. From him flow Love and Truth, of which heat and light are but emblems. The angels of the second Heaven enjoy, through the upper Heaven, the divine influence. They see God distinctly, but

 

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not in all his splendor; he is to them a star without rays, such as the moon appears to us, which gives more light than heat. The dwellers in the lower Heaven receive the divine influence mediately through the other two Heavens. The attributes of the two latter classes are Love and Intelligence. Each of these celestial kingdoms is inhabited by innumerable societies; the angels which compose them are male and female. They contract marriages that are eternal, because it is similarity of inclinations and sympathy that attract them to each other. Each pair dwell in a splendid palace, surrounded by delicious gardens. Below the celestial regions is the realm of spirits. Thither all man‑kind go immediately upon their death. The divine influence, which their material envelope had prevented them from feeling, is revealed to them by degrees, and effects their transformation into angels, if they are predestined to that. The remembrance of the world which they have left is insensibly effaced from their memory; their proper instincts are unrestrainedly developed, and prepare them for heaven or hell. So full as heaven is of splendor, love and delight, so full is hell of darkness and misery, despair and hate. Such were the reveries on which Pernetti and Gabrianca founded their Illuminism.

 

910 - Of what are the sword and naked heart emblematic?

 

            Sword Pointing to the Naked Heart. Webb says that "the sword pointing to the naked heart demonstrates that justice will, sooner or later, overtake us." The symbol is I think, a modern one; but its adoption was probably suggested by the old ceremony, both in English and in continental Lodges, and which is still preserved in some places, in which the candidate found himself surrounded by swords pointing at his heart, to indicate that punishment would duly follow his violation of his obligations.

 

911 - Of what is the sword emblematic?

 

            Swords. In ancient times, every brother was obliged to be armed in the lodge to protect himself, in case the lodge was assaulted, and as a symbol of manly strength. At present, swords are not necessary in many lodges, and in others, they are only used as symbols of obedience, in case that one should be necessary, and to be regarded as the sword of justice. For the protection of his fatherland, every faithful brother ought to draw the sword of defence cheerfully, but he ought never to stain it with a brothel's blood, even though that brother is a foe.

 

912 - What should be the shape of the Tiler's sword?

 

            Sword, Tiler's. 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

 

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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.

 

913 - What is the nature of symbolism?

 

            Symbol. Latin, Symbolum. A word derived from the Greek sumbolon from sumballein, to suspect, divine, compare; a word of various meaning, even with the ancients, who used it to denote a sign, a mark, watchword, signal, token, sealring, etc. Its meaning is still more various in modern times.

 

Symbol is generally used as synonymous with emblem. It is not confined, however, to visible figures, but embraces every representation of an idea by an image, whether the latter is presented immediately to the senses, or merely brought before the mind by words. Men, in the infancy of society, were incapable of abstract thought, and could convey truths only by means of sensible images. In fact, man, at all times, has a strong propensity to clothe thoughts and feelings in images, to make them more striking and living; and in the early periods of our race, when man lived in intimate communion with nature, he readily found, in natural objects, forms and images for the expression of moral truths; and even his conceptions of the Deity were derived directly from natural objects.

 

Freemasonry is a complete system of symbolic teaching, and can be known, understood or appreciated only by those who study its symbolism, and make themselves thoroughly acquainted with its occult meaning. To such, Freemasonry has a grand and sublime significance. Its symbols are moral, philosophical and religious, and all these are pregnant with great thoughts, and reveal to the intelligent Mason the awful mystery of life, and the still more awful mystery of death.

 

914 - What is the symbolism of the Jewish tabernacle?

 

            Tabernacle. The Hebrew word properly signifies handsome tent. There were three public tabernacles among the Jews previous to the building of Solomon's Temple. The first, which Moses erected, was called "the Tabernacle of the Congregation." In this he gave audience, heard causes, and inquired of God. The second was that which Moses built for God, by his express command. The third public tabernacle was that which David erected in Jerusalem for the reception of the ark when he received it from the house of Obed‑edom.

 

It is the second of these, called the Tabernacle, by way of distinction, that we have more particularly to notice. This tabernacle was of an oblong, rectangular form, 30 cubits long, 10 broad, and 16 in height, which is equivalent to 55 feet long, 18 broad, and 18 high. The two sides and the western end were formed of boards of shittim wood, overlaid with thin plates of gold, and fixed in solid sockets or vases

 

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of silver. It was so contrived as to be taken to pieces and put together again at pleasure.

 

The Tabernacle was covered with four different kinds of curtains. The first and inner curtain was composed of fine linen, magnificently embroidered with figures of cherubim, in shades of blue, purple and scarlet; this formed the beautiful ceiling. The next covering was made of goat's hair; the third of rams' skins dyed red; and the fourth, and outward covering, was made of other animals' skins, colored red.

 

The east end of the Tabernacle was ornamented with five pillars, from which richly‑embroidered curtains were suspended. The inside was divided, by a richly‑embroidered veil of linen, into two parts, the holy place and the holy of holies; in the first of which were placed the altar of incense, the table with the shew‑bread, and the seven‑branched candlestick; in the latter place were the ark, the mercy‑seat, and the cherubim. Besides this veil of fine linen which separated the most holy place, the tabernacle was furnished with other veils of divers colors, viz: of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine‑twined linen (white), from which are derived the emblematic colors of the several degrees of Masonry. Within the chamber of a Royal Arch chapter, a temporary structure, after the plan of the one built by Moses, may be erected, as a representation of the tabernacle constructed by Zerubbabel, near the ruins of the first temple, after the return of the captives from Babylon, while the people were building the second temple.

 

915 - Why should Masons set a guard upon their lips?

 

            Taciturnity. Taciturnity is a proof of wisdom, and an art of in‑estimable value, which is proved to be an attribute of the Deity, by the glorious example which he gives in concealing from mankind the secret mysteries of his providence. The wisest of men cannot penetrate into the arcana of heaven, nor can they divine to‑day what to‑morrow may bring forth.

 

916 - What is the Talmud and what is its relation to Freemasonry?

 

            Talmud. A word derived from the Hebrew verb lamad, he has learned. It means doctrine. Among the modern Jews, it signifies an immense collection of traditions, illustrative of their laws and usages, forming twelve folio volumes. It consists of two parts - the Mishua and the Gemara. The Mishua is a collection of Rabbinical rules and precepts, made in the second century of the Christian era.

 

917 - Of what do the four tassels pendant to the corners of the Lodge remind us?

 

            Tassels. Pendant to the corners of the lodge are four tassels, meant to remind us of the four cardinal virtues; namely, temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice; the whole of which, tradition informs us, were constantly practised by a great majority of our ancient breth

 

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ren. The distinguishing characters of a good Freemason are virtue, honor, and mercy; and should those be banished from all other societies, may they ever be found in a Mason's breast.

 

 

918 - Is an unaffiliated Mason liable to Masonic taxation?

 

            Taxation of Unaffiliated Masons. The levying of a tax upon unaffiliated Masons is contrary to the spirit of the institution, the principles of justice, and the dictates of expediency. It is contrary to the spirit of our institution: Masonry is a voluntary association, and no man should be compelled to remain in it a moment longer than he feels the wish to do so. It is contrary to the principles of Justice, for taxation should always be contingent upon representation; but an unaffiliated is not represented in the body which imposes the tax. And lastly, it is contrary to the dictates of expediency, for a tax upon such Masons would be a tacit permission and almost an encouragement of the practice of non‑affiliation. It may be said that it is a penalty inflicted for an offence; but in reality it would be considered, like the taxes of the Roman chancery, simply as the cost of a license for the perpetration of a crime. If a Mason refuses, by affiliation and the payment of dues to a Lodge, to support the institution; let him, after due trial, be punished, by deprivation of all his Masonic privileges, by suspension or expulsion; but no Grand Lodge should, by the imposition of a tax, remove from non‑affiliation its character of a Masonic offence. The notion would not for a moment be entertained of imposing a tax on all Masons who lived in violation of their obligations; and I can see no difference between the collection of a tax for non‑affiliation and that for habitual intemperance, except in the difference of grade between the two offences. The principle is precisely the same.

 

 

919 - What is the prerogative of the Grand Lodge with respect to levying taxes upon the Fraternity?

 

            Taxing Power of Grand Lodge. The taxing power is a prerogative of a Grand Lodge. Every Grand Lodge has the right to impose a tax on its subordinate Lodges, or on all the affiliated Masons living within its jurisdiction. The tax upon individual Masons is, however, generally indirect. Thus, the Grand Lodge requires a certain contribution or subsidy from each of its subordinates, the amount of which is always in proportion to the number of its members and the extent of its work, and the Lodges make up this contribution by imposing a tax upon their members. It is very rarely that a Grand Lodge resorts to a direct tax upon the Masons of its jurisdiction. At present I recollect but two instances in which such a right has been exercised, namely, by the Grand Lodges of Louisiana and Arkansas. In the former instance, as there appeared to be some opposition to the doctrine, the Grand Lodge in 1855 adopted a resolution, in which it declared that it did not

 

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"assert its power to tax unconditionally, or for extraordinary purposes, the constituent Lodges." I am at some loss to understand the distinct meaning of this proposition; but if it is intended to deny the prerogative of the Grand Lodge to levy any kind or amount of tax that it deems expedient on either the subordinate Lodges or their individual members, I am compelled to refuse my assent to such a proposition. That the power to impose taxes is a prerogative of every sovereignty is a doctrine which it would be an act of supererogation to defend, for no political economist has ever doubted it. The only qualification which it admits is, that the persons taxed should be entitled to a voice, directly or indirectly, in the imposition; for taxation without representation is universally admitted to be one of the most odious forms of tyranny. But as a Grand Lodge, as the supreme Masonic authority in every jurisdiction, is in‑vested with all the attributes of sovereignty, and is besides a representative body, it follows that the unconditional power of taxation must reside in it as one of the prerogatives of its sovereignty. And if the particular species or amount of taxation is deemed oppressive or even inexpedient, it is easy for the subordinate Lodges, by the exercise of the power of instruction which they possess, to amend or altogether to remove the objectionable imposition.

 

 

920 - What are the symbolic teachings of Freemasonry?

 

            Teachings, Symbolic, of the Degrees. Freemasonry teaches by symbols and symbolical ceremonies, and hence each degree, through these agencies, illustrates and inculcates some particular virtue, or commemorates some important event. The following is an analytical summary of the ideas, which the several degrees of the Order seek to enfoi‑ce; thus in Ancient Craft Masonry:

 

1. Dependence; the weak and helpless condition of the human. family on their entrance into the world; the ignorance and darkness that surround man until the moral and intellectual light of reason and revelation breaks in upon his mind; obedience, secrecy and humility, and the practice of charity.

 

2. The struggle for knowledge after the release of the mind from the bondage of darkness and ignorance; its attainment, and the reward due to industry and perseverance.

 

3. Progress in the great duties of aiding humanity from the thraldom of vice and error; man's regeneration; higher sphere of happiness; integrity; morality of the body, and the immortality of the soul.

 

4. Order, regularity, and a proper system of discrimination between the worthy and the unworthy; the just reward to the industrious and faithful.

 

5. Virtue and talent the only proper distinctions of position. All

 

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associations of men must, for the sake of harmony and order, be governed by well regulated laws.

 

6. The completion and dedication of the temple; the spiritual edifice which man must erect in his soul - that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;" and acknowledgment that the labors of man's earthly toil are over, and he is received into the abode of the just and perfect.

 

7. The revelation of the divine law; an exhibition of the toils and vicissitudes of man's pilgrimage through life; a realization of the sublime truths promised, when the veils which obscure the mental vision are drawn aside, and man, raised and regenerated, shall enjoy the blessings of peace and joy in the heavenly temple.

 

8. The mysteries revealed; man rewarded according to his work; the Alpha and Omega - the first and the last.

 

9. Skill and ingenuity appreciated; justice and mercy accorded to the faithful and worthy.

 

921 - Why should Masons be temperate?

 

Temperance. By temperance, we are instructed to govern the passions, and check unruly desires. The health of the body and the dignity of the species are equally concerned in a' faithful observance of it.

 

922 - What is the origin and history of the custom of building Temples?

 

            Temple. An edifice erected for religious purposes. As the grand symbols of Freemasonry are a temple and its ornaments, and to construct temples was the business of the original Masons, some remarks upon these structures cannot but be instructive. The word temple is derived from the Latin Templum, and this word templum seems to have been derived from the old Latin verb, Templari, to contemplate. The ancient augurs undoubtedly applied the name templa to those parts of the heavens which were marked out for observance of the flight of birds. Temples, originally, were all open; and hence most likely came their name. These structures are among the most ancient monuments. They were the first built, and the most noticeable of public edifices. As soon as a nation had acquired any degree of civilization the people consecrated particular spots to the worship of their deities. In the earliest instances they contented themselves with erecting altars of earth or ashes in the open air, and sometimes resorted, for the purposes of worship, to the depths of solitary woods. At length they acquired the practice of building cells or chapels within the enclosure of which they placed the image of their divinities, and assembled to offer up their supplications, thanksgiving, and sacrifices. These were chiefly formed like their own dwellings. The Troglodytes adorned their gods in grottoes; the people who lived in cabins erected temples like cabins

 

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in shape. Clemens, Alexandrinus, and Eusebius refer the origin of temples to sepulchers; and this notion has been illustrated and con‑firmed from a variety of testimonies. At the time when the Greeks surpassed all other people in the arts introduced among them from Phoenicia, Syria, and Egypt, they devoted much time, care and expense to the building of temples. No country has surpassed, or perhaps equaled, them in this respect; the Romans alone successfully rivaled them, and they took the Greek structures for models. According to Vitruvius, the situations of the temples were regulated chiefly by the nature and characteristics of the various divinities. Thus the temples of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, who were considered by the inhabitants of many cities as their protecting deities, were erected on spots sufficiently elevated to enable them to overlook the whole town, or, at least the principal part of it. Minerva, the tutelary deity of Athens, had her seat on the Acropolis. In like manner the temple of Solomon was built on Mount Moriah.

 

923 - What relation had the Temple of Herod to Freemasonry?

 

            Temple of Herod the Great. This temple far exceeded both of its predecessors in magnificence and perfection. It was surrounded with four courts, rising above each other like terraces. The lower court was 500 cubits square, on three sides surrounded by a double, and on the fourth by a triple row of columns, and was called the "Court of the Gentiles," because individuals of all nations were admitted into it indiscriminately. A high wall separated the court of the women, 135 cubits square, in which the Jewish females assembled to perform their devotions, from the court of the Gentiles. From the court of the women fifteen steps led to the court of the temple, which was enclosed by a colonnade, and divided by trellis‑work, into the court of Jewish men and the court of the priests. In the middle of this enclosure stood the temple, of white marble, richly gilt,

100 cubits long and wide, and 60 cubits high, with a porch 100 cubits wide, and three galleries, like the first temple, which it resembled in the interior, except that the most holy place was empty, and the height of Herod's Temple was double the height of Solomon's. The fame of this magnificent temple, which was destroyed by the Romans, and its religious significance with Jews and Christians, render it more interesting to us than any other building of antiquity. Each of these temples holds an important place in the symbolism and instructions of Freemasonry, and furnishes the traditions for a large number of degrees.

 

924 - What was the design of Solomon's Temple?

           

            Temple of Solomon. When Solomon had matured his design of a. temple to be consecrated to the Most High, he found it impossible to carry that design into execution without foreign assistance. The

 

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Hebrew nation, constantly struggling for its material existence, and just rising to the condition of a civilized people, had made little proficiency in science and architecture, and especially the ornamental arts. There were few artificers and no architects in Judea. Solomon, consequently, applied to Hiram, King of Tyre, for assistance, and that monarch sent him a company of Tyrian architects, under the superintendence of Hiram Abif, by whom the temple was erected. It was an oblong stone building, 150 feet in length, and

105 in width. On three sides were corridors, rising above each other to the height of three stories, and containing rooms, in which were preserved the holy utensils and treasures. The fourth, or front side was open, and was ornamented with a portico ten cubits in width, supported by two brazen pillars - Jachin and Boaz.

 

The interior was divided into the most holy place, or oracle, 20 cubits long, which contained the ark of the covenant, and was separated by a curtain, or veil, from the sanctuary or holy place, in which were the golden candlestick, the table of the shew bread, and the altar of incense. The walls of both apartments, and the roof and ceiling of the most holy place, were overlaid with woodwork, skillfully carved. None but the High‑Priest was permitted to enter the latter, and only the priests, devoted to the temple service, the former.

 

The temple was surrounded by an inner court, which contained the altar of burnt offering, the brazen sea and lavers, and such instruments and utensils as were used in the sacrifices which, as well as the prayers, were offered here. Colonnades, with brazen gates, separated this court of the priests from the outer court, which was likewise surrounded by a wall.

 

This celebrated temple certainly reflected honor on the builders of that age. It was begun on the 2d day of the month Zif, corresponding with the 21st of April, in the year of the world 2992, or 1012 years before the Christian era, and was completed in little more than seven years, on the 8th day of the month Sul, or the 23rd of October, in the year

2999, during which period no sound of axe, hammer or other metallic tool was heard, everything having been cut and prepared in the quarries or on Mount Lebanon, and brought, properly carved, marked and numbered, to Jerusalem, where they were fitted in by means of wooden mauls. So of Freemasonry, it has always been the boast that its members perfect the work of edification by quiet and orderly methods, "without the hammer of contention, the axe of division, or any tool of mischief." The excellency of the Craft in the days of our Grand Master Solomon was so great, that, although the materials were prepared so far off, when they were put together at Jerusalem, each piece fitted with such exactness that it appeared more like the work of the Great Architect of the Universe than of human hands. The temple retained

 

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its pristine splendor but thirty‑three years, when it was plundered by Shishak, King of Egypt. After this period it underwent sundry profanations and pillages, and was at length utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, A. M. 3416, B. C. 588, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem carried as captives to Babylon.

 

925 - To the Master Mason of what is King Solomon's Temple a symbol?

 

            Temple, Symbolism of the. To the Master Mason, the Temple of Solomon is truly the symbol of human life; for, like life, it was to have its end. For four centuries it glittered on the hills of Jerusalem in all its gorgeous magnificence; now, under some pious descendant of the wise king of Israel, a spot from whose altars arose the burnt‑offerings to a living God, and now polluted by some recreant monarch of Judah to the service of Baal; until at length it received the divine punishment through the mighty king of Babylon, and, having been despoiled of all its treasures, was burnt to the ground, so that nothing was left of all its splendor but a smouldering heap of ashes. Variable in its purposes, evanescent in its existence, now a gorgeous pile of architectural beauty, and anon a ruin over which the resistless power of fire has passed, it becomes a fit symbol of human life occupied in the search after divine truth, which is nowhere to be found; now sinning and now repentant; now vigorous with health and strength, and anon a senseless and decaying corpse.

 

Such is the symbolism of the first Temple, that of Solomon, as familiar to the class of Master Masons. But there is a second and higher class of the Fraternity, the Masons of the Royal Arch, by whom this temple symbolism is still further developed.

 

The second class, leaving their early symbolism and looking beyond this Temple of Solomon, find in scriptural history another Temple, which, years after the destruction of the first one, was erected upon its ruins; and they have selected the second Temple, the Temple of Zerubbabel, as their prominent symbol. And as the first class of Masons find in their Temple the symbol of mortal life, limited and perishable, they, on the contrary, see in this second Temple, built upon the foundations of the first, a symbol of life eternal, where the lost truth shall be found, where new incense shall arise from a new altar, and whose perpetuity their great Master had promised when, in the very spirit of symbolism, he exclaimed, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

 

926 - What is the Masonic meaning of temporary exclusion from a Lodge?

 

            Temporary Exclusion. A violation of the rules of order and decorum, either in‑ a member or visitor, subjects such offender to the penalty of exclusion for that communication from the Lodge. It may be inflicted either by a vote of a majority of the Lodge, or, as is more

 

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usually done, by the exercise, on the part of the Master, of his prerogative; for the Master of every Lodge has the inherent privilege to exclude any person from visiting the Lodge, or remaining during the communication, if his presence would be productive of injury to the Order, by impairing its harmony or affecting its peaceful pursuit of Masonic labor. If a Mason, whether he be a member or a visitor, apply for admission, the Master, if he knows or believes that the admission of the applicant would result in the production of discord, may exclude him from entrance; and this prerogative he exercises in virtue of being the superintendent of the work.

 

If a member or visitor shall behave in an unbecoming and disorderly manner, he may be excluded for that communication, either by the Master or the Lodge. The Master possesses the power of exclusion on such an occasion, under the prerogative to which reference has just been made; and the Lodge possesses the same right, by the especial sanction of the ritual, which, at the very opening of the Lodge, forbids all "immoral or unmasonic conduct whereby the peace and harmony of the Lodge may be impaired, under no less a penalty than the by‑laws may impose, or a majority of the brethren present see fit to inflict." The command of the Master, therefore, or the vote of a majority of the Lodge, is sufficient to inflict the penalty of temporary exclusion. The forms of trial are unnecessary, because the infliction of the penalty does not affect the Masonic standing of the person upon whom it is inflicted. An appeal, however, always lies in such cases to the Grand Lodge, which will, after due investigation, either approve or disapprove of the action of the Lodge or the Master, and the vote of censure or disapprobation will be, of course, from the temporary nature of the penalty, the only redress which a Mason, injured by its wrongful infliction, can obtain.

 

927 - What should be the tenure of office of a Grand Lecturer?

 

            Tenure of Grand Lecturer. The only method by which the ritual can be efficiently supervised and taught, so that a uniformity of work may be preserved, and every Mason in the jurisdiction be made acquainted with the true nature of the science of Masonry, is by the appointment of a competent and permanent Grand Lecturer.

 

The appointment of this officer should be a permanent one. In this advanced age of Masonic improvement, any attempt to appoint a Grand Lecturer by the year, as we hire domestics or employ laborers, is an insult to the intelligence of the Order. When an able teacher is found, he should hold his office, not for a year, or during the pleasure of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, but like the judicial tenure of our Supreme Court, or the English Judges - dum se bene gesserit - during good behavior. Let him continue for life, if he is "worthy and well qualified"; for, the longer a good teacher labors in his vocation, the

 

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better will he discharge its duties. But any attempt to intrust the duty of instructing Lodges to a temporary Lecturer, changed, like the War‑dens or the Deacons, every year, must inevitably result in the utter destruction of all that remains to us of the ancient symmetry of our beautiful temple.

 

928 - Of what is the tesselated pavement emblematic?

 

            Tesselated Pavement. The word tesselated is derived from the word tessela, diminutive of tessera. The pavement which is thus designated is of rich Mosaic work, made of curious square marbles, bricks or tiles, in shape and disposition resembling dice. Various ancient specimens of these have been, from time to time, exhumed in Italy, and other countries of Europe. The tesselated pavement, in the symbolism of Freemasonry, is significant of the varied experiences and vicissitudes of human life.

 

929 - Is it lawful for a profane to testify in a Masonic trial?

 

            Testimony. The testimony of Master Masons is usually taken on their honor, as such. That of others should be by affidavit, or in such other manner as both the accuser and accused may agree upon.

 

The testimony of profanes, or of those who are of a lower degree than the accused, is to be taken by a committee and reported to the Lodge, or, if convenient, by the whole Lodge, when closed and sitting as a committee. But both the accused and the accuser have a right to be present on such occasions.

 

There can be no doubt that profanes are competent witnesses in Masonic trials. If their testimony was rejected, the ends of justice would, in many instances, be defeated; for it frequently happens that the most important evidence of a fact is only to be obtained from such persons. The great object of the trial is to investigate the truth and to administer justice, and no method should be rejected by which those objects can be obtained. Again: there may be cases in which the accused is able to prove his innocence only by the testimony of profanes; and surely no one would be willing to deprive him of that means of defence. But if the evidence of profanes for the accused is to be admitted, on account, of its importance and necessity, by a parity of reasoning, it should be admitted when and in behalf of the accuser. The testimony which is good in one case must be good in the other.

 

930 - What powers do the Jews attribute to the lost word?

 

            Tetragrammaton. The Jews are quite aware that the true pronunciation of the Word is lost, and regard it as one of the mysteries to be revealed in the days of the Messiah. They hold, however, that the knowledge of the Name of God does exist on earth, and that he by whom the secret is acquired, has, by virtue of it, the powers of the world at his command. Hence they account for the miracles of Jesus by telling

 

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us that he had got possession of the Ineffable Name. Rightly under‑stood, they seem to mean that he who calls upon God rightly, by this His true name, cannot fail to be heard by him. In short, this word forms the famous tetragrammaton or quadrilateral name, of which every one has heard.

 

 

931 - Why should Masons practice the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity?

 

            Theological Virtues. Faith, Hope and Charity are thus named, and are said to constitute the chief rounds of the Masonic ladder, by the aid of which the good Mason expects at last to ascend to the perfect Lodge above. These virtues are enforced in various parts of the rituals, and enlarged upon in the first lecture of Craft Masonry. The great duties of man to God, his neighbor and himself, are the precepts most strongly enforced; hence the points to direct the steps of the aspirant to higher honors are Faith, Hope and Charity.

 

 

932 - What does the theory and practice of Masonry include?

 

            Theory. The theory of Masonry contains something of the whole of science; the operative part of Masonry is the practice of all the virtues, of all the sciences. Therefore, to be initiated only into the theory of Masonry, is at least to be in the way of learning well and if we follow on to exercise the practice of Masonry it will as assuredly lead us into the way of doing well, and both to learn and to do well is the whole of our religion, whether as men, as Christians, or as Masons.

 

933 - Who are called Theosophists?

 

            Theosophists. Those who inquire into the science of divine things. Many eminent Freemasons belonged to this class during the last century. The speculations of the Theosophists, however, were generally of a mystical character. Several Masonic systems were theosophical, as, for example, the rites of Swedenborg, St. Martin, Zinnendorff, etc.

 

934 - What are the teachings of the third degree of Masonry?

 

            Third Degree. In the ceremonial of the Third Degree, the last grand mystery is attempted to be illustrated in a forcible and peculiar manner, showing by striking analogy, that the Master Mason cannot be deemed perfect in the glorious science, till by the cultivation of his intellectual powers, he has gained such moral government of his passions, such serenity of mind, that in synonymous apposition with Mastership in operative art, his thoughts, like his actions, have become as useful as human intelligence will permit; and that having passed through the trials of life with fortitude and faith, he is fitted for that grand, solemn, and mysterious consummation, by which alone he can become acquainted with the great secret of eternity.

 

 

 

  

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935 - What rights does a Master Mason acquire on the reception of the third degree?

 

            Third Degree, Rights Conferred by. The first right which a Mason acquires, after the reception of the third degree, is that of claiming membership in the Lodge in which he has been initiated. The very fact of his having received that degree makes him at once an inchoate member of the Lodge - that is to say, no further application is necessary, and no new ballot is required; but the candidate, having now become a Master Mason, upon signifying his submission to the regulations of the Society, by affixing his signature to the book of by‑laws, is constituted, by virtue of that act, a full member of the Lodge, and entitled to all the rights and prerogatives accruing to that position.

 

The ancient Constitutions do not, it is true, express this doctrine in so many words; but it is distinctly implied by their whole tenor and spirit, as well as sustained by the uniform usage of the craft, in all countries. There is one passage in the Regulations of

1721 which clearly seems to intimate that there were two methods of obtaining membership in a Lodge, either by initiation, when the candidate is said to be "entered a Brother," or by what is now called "affiliation," when the applicant is said to be "admitted to be a member." But the whole phraseology of the Regulation shows that the rights acquired by each method were the same, and that membership by initiation and membership by affiliation effected the same results. The modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England are explicit on the subject, and declare that "every Lodge must receive as a member, without further proposition or ballot, any Brother initiated therein, provided such Brother express his wish to that effect on the day of his initiation." The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of New York announces a similar, doctrine; and, in fact, I have not met with the by‑laws of any particular Lodge in which it is not laid down as a principle, that every initiate is entitled, by his reception in the third degree, to claim the privilege of membership in the Lodge in which he has been initiated.

 

The reason of this universal Regulation (so universal that were it not for that fact that membership itself, as a permanent characteristic, is of modern origin, it might almost claim to be a Landmark) is at once evident. He who has been deemed worthy, after three ordeals, to receive all the mysteries that it is in the power of a Lodge to communicate, cannot, with any show of reason or consistency, be withheld from admission into that household, whose most important privileges he has just been permitted to share. If properly qualified for the reception of the third degree, he must be equally qualified for the rights of membership, which, in fact, it is the object of the third degree to bestow; and it would be needless to subject that candidate to a fourth ballot, whom the Lodge has already, by the most solemn ceremonies, three times declared worthy "to be taken by the hand as

 

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a Brother." And hence the Grand Lodge of England has wisely assigned this as a reason for the law already quoted, namely, that "no Lodge should introduce into Masonry a person whom the Brethren might consider unfit to be a member of their own Lodge."

 

936 - Why is the figure 3 considered a sacred number in Freemasonry?

 

            Three. A sacred number in Freemasonry, with which all labor is commenced and finished. This number reminds us of the three great lights, the three kingdoms of nature, the Holy Trinity, or of the words of Christ: "Where two or three are assembled in my name, there will I be in the midst of you." We may also consider ourselves as the third party in unity and love, whose duty it is to exercise those two cardinal virtues. The Christian can also take the number three as the grand distinguishing doctrine of his faith. There are three principal parts in a man: body, soul, and spirit. Faith, love, and hope support and adorn life.

 

937 - What were the three grand offerings of Masonry?

 

            Three Grand Offerings. These were all performed on the sacred mountain of Moriah. First, the offering of Isaac, when it pleased the Lord to substitute a more agreeable victim in his stead. The second consisted of the many pious prayers and ejaculations of King David, which appeased the wrath of God, and put a stop to the pestilence which raged among his people, owing to his inadvertently having had them numbered. And the third, of the many thanksgivings, oblations, burnt sacrifices, and costly offerings, which King Solomon made at the dedication and consecration of the Temple.

 

938 - What three senses are essential to becoming a Mason?

 

            Three Senses. The three senses, hearing, seeing and feeling, are deemed peculiarly essential amongst Masons, and held in great estimation. Their nature and uses form a part of the instruction in the Fellowcraft's degree.

 

939 - Of what are the three steps emblematic?

 

            Three Steps. The three steps delineated upon a Master's carpet are emblematical of the three principal stages of human life, youth, manhood, and old age.

 

940 - What is the symbolism of the threshing floor?

 

Threshing Floor. Among the Hebrews, circular spots of hard ground were used, as now, for the purpose of threshing corn. After they were properly prepared for the purpose, they became permanent possessions. One of these, the property of Ornan the Jebusite, was on Mount Moriah. It was purchased by David, for a place of sacrifice, for six hundred shekels of gold, and on it the Temple was afterwards

 

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built. Hence it is sometimes used as a symbolic name for the Temple of Solomon or for a Master's Lodge. Thus it is said in the ritual that the Mason comes "from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost," and that he is traveling "to the threshing floor of Orman the Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found." The interpretation of this rather abstruse symbolic expression is that on his initiation the Mason comes out of the profane world, where there is ignorance and darkness and con‑fusion as there was at Babel, and that he is approaching the Masonic world, where, as at the Temple built on Oman's threshing floor, there is knowledge and light and order.

 

941 - What is the meaning of the word "tile?"

 

            Tile. A lodge is said to be tiled when the necessary precautions have been taken to prevent the approach of unauthorized persons; and it is said to be the first duty of every Mason to see that this is done before the Lodge is opened. The word to tile is sometimes used in the same sense as to examine, as when it is said that a visitor has been tiled, that is, has been examined. But the expression is not in general use, nor do I think it is a correct employment of the term.

 

942 - What are the qualifications of the Tiler?

 

            Tiler. An officer of a symbolic lodge, whose duty is to guard the door of the lodge, and to permit no one to pass in who is not duly qualified, and who has not the permission of the Master.

 

A necessary qualification of a Tiler is, therefore, that he should be a Master Mason. Although the lodge may be opened in an inferior degree, no one who has not advanced to the third degree can legally discharge the functions of Tiler.

 

The Tiler need not be a member of the lodge which he tiles; and in fact, in large cities, one brother very often performs the duties of Tiler of several lodges.

 

This is a very important office, and, like that of the Master and Wardens, owes its existence, not to any conventional regulations, but to the very landmarks of the Order; for, from the peculiar nature of our Institution, it is evident that there never could have been a meeting of Masons for Masonic purposes, unless a Tiler had been present to guard the lodge from intrusion.

 

The title is derived from the operative art; for as in Operative Masonry the Tiler, when the edifice is erected, finishes and covers it with the roof (of tiles), so in Speculative Masonry, when the lodge is duly organized, the Tiler closes the door, and covers the sacred precincts from all intrusion.

 

943 - What are the duties of a Tiler?

 

            Tiler, Duties of. As the Tiler is always compensated for his services, he is considered, in some sense, as the servant of the Lodge. It

 

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is therefore his duty to prepare the Lodge for its meetings, to arrange the furniture in its proper place, and during the communication to keep a supply of aprons, so as to furnish each brother with one preparatory to his entrance. He is also the messenger of the Lodge, and it is his duty to deliver to the members the summonses which have been written by the Secretary.

 

944 - What rights of membership may a Tiler exercise?

 

            Tiler, Privileges of. The office of Tiler, in a subordinate Lodge, does not, like that of Grand Tiler, disqualify him for membership; and if the Tiler is a member, he is entitled to all the rights of membership, except that of sitting in the communications, which right he has voluntarily relinquished by his acceptance of office.

 

It is usual, in balloting for candidates, to call the Tiler (if he be a member) in, and request him to vote. On such occasions the Junior Deacon takes his place on the outside, while he is depositing his ballot.

 

945 - What is the Tiler's oath or obligation?

 

            Tiler's Oath. The examination of visitors is accompanied by several forms, which, as they are used in the presence of a person not known to be a Mason, and who, after having participated in them, is often rejected, because he cannot give sufficient proof of his Masonic character, necessarily form no part of the secret portions of our ritual, and can therefore be as safely committed to paper and openly published, as any of the other ordinary business of a Lodge. To assert to the contrary - to say, for instance, that the "Tiler's obligation," so called because it is administered to the visitor in the Tiler's room, and usually in the presence of that officer, is a Masonic secret - is to assert, that that which is secret, and a portion of our mysteries, may be openly presented to a person whom we do not know to be a Mason, and who therefore receives this instruction before he has proved his right to it by "strict trial and due examination." The very fact that the "Tiler's obligation" is to be administered to such an unknown person, is the very best argument that can be adduced that it no more constitutes a part of our secret instructions than do the public ceremonies of laying corner stones, or burying our dead. I do not consequently hesitate to present it to the reader in the form which I have seen usually adopted.

 

The visitor, therefore, who desires admission into a Lodge, and who presents himself for preparatory examination, is required to take the following oath in the presence of the examining committee, each of whom he may likewise require to take the same oath with him: "I, A. B., do hereby and hereon solemnly and sincerely swear, that I have been regularly initiated, passed and raised, to the sublime

 

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degree of a Master Mason, in a just and legally constituted Lodge of such; that I do not now stand suspended or expelled; and know of no reason why I should not hold Masonic communication with my brethren." This declaration having been confirmed in the most solemn manner, the examination is then commenced with the necessary forms.

 

946 - What power has a Lodge with respect to fixing and changing its time of meeting?

 

            Time of Meeting. A Lodge has the right to designate and change its time and place of meeting. As the regulation designating the time of meeting is always inserted in the by‑laws, it is evident that no change can be made with respect to it, except with the approbation of the Grand Lodge. But there is also another restriction on this subject which is derived from the constant usage of the Order, that a Lodge shall statedly meet once a month at least. There is no specific regulation on this subject; but the general custom of the fraternity, from the beginning of the last century, has made it obligatory on the Lodges not to extend the interval of their regular communications beyond that period. Besides, the regulations in respect to the applications of candidates for initiation or membership, which require "a previous notice of one month," seem to infer that that was the length of time which intervened between two stated meetings of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions it is frequently the case that some of the Lodges meet semi‑monthly; and indeed instances are on record where Lodges meet weekly. This is permissible, but in such cases the regulation in relation to the petitions of candidates must be strictly interpreted as meaning that they are required to lie over for one month, and not from one regular meeting to the other, which in such Lodges would only amount to one or two weeks.

 

947 - Who has the prerogative of determining the time of opening and closing a communication of a Lodge?

 

            Time of Opening and Closing the Lodge. Even at the regular communications of the Lodge if the Master be present, the time of opening is left to his discretion, for no one can take from the Master his prerogative of opening the Lodge. But if he be absent when the hour of opening which is specified in the by‑laws has arrived, the Senior Warden, if present, and if not, then the Junior may open the Lodge, and the business transacted will be regular and legal, even without the Master's sanction; for it was his duty to be present, and he cannot take advantage of his own remissness of duty to interfere with the business of the Lodge.

 

The selection of the time of closing is also vested in the Master. He is the sole judge of the proper period at which the labors of the Lodge should be terminated, and may suspend business, even in the

 

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middle of a debate, if he supposes that it is expedient to close the Lodge. Hence, no motion for adjournment, or to close, or to call off from labor to refreshment, can ever be admitted in a Masonic Lodge. Such a motion would be an interference with the prerogative of the Master, and could not therefore be entertained.

 

948 - What part do words, signs and tokens play in Masonry?

 

            Tokens. Signs, tokens, and words do not constitute Freemasonry, but are local marks whereby Masons know each other, and may be altered, or entirely done away, without the least injury to scientific Freemasonry. It is with many Freemasons too absurd a belief, and a still more absurd practice, to build our science upon so shallow a foundation as signs, tokens, and words, which I fear constitute with some the only attainment they look for in Freemasonry. That certain signals may be necessary, I do readily allow; but deny that such a mechanism shall constitute a principal part of our institution.

 

949 - What does it mean to be "under the tongue of good report?"

 

            Tongue of Good Report. Being "under the tongue of good report" is equivalent, in Masonic technical language, to being of, good character or reputation. It is required that the candidate for initiation should be one out of whom no tongue speaks evil. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the last century.

 

950 - Can a word or grip betray the secrets of Freemasonry?

 

            Traitor. Ancient Freemasonry inflicted very severe punishment for the least treason to the order; nevertheless, we have accounts of men who have proved traitors, even as we find accounts of such traitors to the mysteries of the ancients. With the increase of enlightenment and rational reflection, it is admitted that a brother may both speak and write much upon the Order without becoming a traitor to its secrets. Ilow an initiation is conducted, how a word or grip is given, gives no key to the true secret of the Order; but we nevertheless disapprove of such disclosures, for this reason, that the uninitiated could only form a useless chimera from them.

 

951 - Who are called tramping Masons?

 

            Tramping Masons. Unworthy members of the Order, who, using their privileges for interested purposes, traveling from city to city, and from lodge to lodge, that they may seek relief by tales of fictitious distress, have been called "tramping Masons." The true brother should ever obtain assistance; the tramper should be driven from the door of every lodge or the house of every Mason where he seeks to intrude his imposture.

 

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952 - If a Lodge be dissolved what becomes of its charter?

           

            Transferring. If a lodge be dissolved, the constitution shall be delivered up to the Grand Master, and shall not, on any account, be transferred without his consent.

 

953 - Who are called transient brethren?

 

            Transient Brethren. Masons who do not reside in a particular place, but only temporarily visit it, are called "transient brethren" or sojourners. They are, if worthy, to be cordially welcomed, but are never to be admitted into a Lodge until, after the proper pre‑cautions, they have been proved to be "true and trusty." This usage of hospitality has the authority of all the Old Constitutions, which are careful to inculcate it. Thus the Lansdowne MS. charges, "that every Mason receive or cherish Strange Fellows when they come over the country, and set them on worke if they will worke, as the manner is (that is to say), if the Mason have any moulde stone in his place, on worke; and if he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next Lodge." Although Speculative Masons no longer visit lodges for the sake of work or wages, the usage of our Operative predecessors has been spiritualized in our symbolic system. Hence visitors are often invited to take part in the labors of the lodge and receive their portion of the light and truth which constitute the symbolic pay of a Speculative Mason.

 

No stranger should be admitted to the Lodge until he has proved himself a Freemason. When he has done this he should be received with cordiality and fraternal courtesy. A traveling brother, away from his home and friends, naturally longs for companionship, and expects to find it around the altars of Freemasonry. Hospitality to strangers is, always and everywhere, a sacred duty, but it is doubly so to Freemasons. The brother from abroad should be greeted with such warmth and brotherly kindness and interest as will make him feel at home, and that he is surrounded with friends, upon whose sympathy he can rely. Lodges are sometimes too remiss in regard to this duty, and many a warm‑hearted brother, when visiting a strange lodge, has been chilled and grieved by the iciness of his reception.

 

954 - In what sense is the word "travel" used in the symbolical language of Masonry?

 

            Travel. In the symbolic language of Masonry, a Mason always travels from west to east in search of light - he travels from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost, to the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found. The Master Mason also travels into foreign countries in search of wages. All this is pure symbolism, unintelligible in any other sense.

 

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Our ancient brethren are masonically said to have traveled from west to east, in search of instruction; and it is an undeniable fact that all knowledge, all religion, all arts and sciences, have traveled, according to the course of the sun, from east to west. From that quarter the Divine glory first came, and thence the rays of divine light continue to diffuse themselves over the face of the earth. From thence came the Bible, and through that the new covenant. From thence came the prophets, the apostles, and the first missionaries that brought the knowledge of God to Europe, to the isles of the sea, and to the west.

 

955 - Who were the traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages?

 

            Traveling Freemasons. There is no portion of the history of the Order so interesting to the Masonic scholar as that which is embraced by the Middle Ages of Christendom, beginning with about the tenth century, when the whole of civilized Europe was perambulated by those associations of workmen, who passed from country to country and from city to city under the name of "Traveling Freemasons," for the purpose of erecting religious edifices. There is not a country of Europe which does not at this day contain honorable evidences of the skill and industry of our Masonic ancestors. I therefore pro‑pose, in the present article, to give a brief sketch of the origin, the progress and the character of these traveling architects.

 

Mr. George Godwin, in a lecture published in the Builder, says: "There are few points in the Middle Ages more pleasing to look back upon than the existence of the Associated Masons; they are the bright spot in the general darkness of that period, the patch of verdure when all around is barren." Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc‑Maconnerie, has traced the organization of these associations to the "collegia artificum," or colleges of artisans, which were instituted at Rome, by Numa, in the year

B. C. 714, and whose members were originally Greeks, imported by this lawgiver for the purpose of embellishing the city over which he reigned. They continued to exist as well‑established corporations throughout all the succeeding years of the kingdom, the republic and the empire.

 

These "sodalities," or fraternities, began, upon the invasion of the barbarians, to decline in numbers, in respectability, and in power. But on the conversion of the whole empire, they, or others of a similar character, began again to flourish. The priests of the Christian church became their patrons, and under their guidance they devoted them‑selves to the building of churches and monasteries. In the tenth century, they were established as a free gild or corporation in Lombardy. For when, after the decline and fall of the empire, the city of Rome was abandoned by its sovereigns for other secondary cities of Italy, such as Milan and Ravenna, and new courts and new capitals

 

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were formed, the kingdom of Lombardy sprang into existence as the great centre of all energy in trade and industry, and of refinement in art and literature. It was there, and as a consequence of the great centre of life from Rome, and the development not only of commercial business, but of all sorts of trades and handicrafts, that the corporations known as gilds were first organized.

 

Among the arts practiced by the Lombards, that of building held a pre‑eminent rank. And Muratori tells us that the inhabitants of Como, a principal city of Lombardy, Italy, had become so superior as masons, that the appellation of Magistri Comacini, or Masters from Como, had become generic to all of the profession.

 

Mr. Hope, in his Historical Essay on Architecture, has treated this subject almost exhaustively. He says: "We cannot then wonder that, at a period when artificers and artists of every class, from those of the most mechanical, to those of the most intellectual nature, formed themselves into exclusive corporations, architects - whose art may be said to offer the most exact medium between those of the most urgent necessity, and those of mere ornament, or indeed, in its wide span to embrace both - should above all others, have associated themselves into similar bodies, which, in conformity to the general style of such corporations, assumed that of Free and Accepted Masons, and was composed of those members who, after a regular passage through the different fixed stages of apprenticeship, were received as masters, and entitled to exercise the profession on their own account.

 

"In an age, however, in which lay individuals, from the lowest subject to the sovereign himself, seldom built except for mere shelter and safety - seldom sought, nay, rather avoided, in their dwellings an elegance which might lessen their security; in which even the community collectively, in its public and general capacity, divided into component parts less numerous and less varied, required not those numerous public edifices which we possess either for business or pleasure; thus, when neither domestic nor civic architecture of any sort demanded great ability or afforded great employment, churches and monasteries were the only buildings required to combine extent and elegance, and sacred architecture alone could furnish an extensive field for the exercise of great skill, Lombardy itself, opulent and thriving as it was, compared to other countries, soon became nearly saturated with the requisite edifices, and unable to give these companies of Free and Accepted Masons a longer continuance of sufficient custom, or to render the further maintenance of their exclusive privileges of great benefit to them at home. But if, to the south of the Alps, an earlier civilization had at last caused the number of architects to exceed that of new buildings wanted, it fared otherwise in the north of Europe, where a gradually spreading Christianity

 

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began on every side to produce a want of sacred edifices, of church and monasteries, to design which architects existed not on the spot.

 

"Those Italian corporations of builders, therefore, whose services ceased to be necessary in the countries where they had arisen, now began to look abroad towards those northern climes for that employment which they no longer found at home; and a certain number united and formed themselves into a single greater association, or fraternity, which proposed to seek for occupation beyond its native land; and in any ruder foreign region, however remote, where new religious edifices and skillful artists to erect them were wanted to offer their services, and bend their steps to undertake the work." From Lombardy they passed beyond the Alps into all the countries where Christianity, but recently established, required the erection of churches. The popes encouraged their designs, and more than one bull was dispatched, conferring on them privileges of the most extensive character. A monopoly was granted to them for the erection of all religious edifices; they were declared independent of the sovereigns in whose dominions they might be temporarily residing, and subject only to their own private laws; they were permitted to regulate the amount of their wages; were exempted from all kinds of taxation; and no Mason, not belonging to their association, was permitted to compete with or oppose them in the pursuit of employment. And in one of the papal decrees on the subject of these artisans, the supreme pontiff declares that these regulations have been made "after the example of Hiram, king of Tyre, when he sent artisans to King Solomon, for the purpose of building the Temple of Jerusalem." After filling the continent with cathedrals, parochial churches, and monasteries, and increasing their own numbers by accessions of new members from all the countries in which they had been laboring, they passed over into England, and there introduced their peculiar style of building. Then they traveled to Scotland, and there have rendered their existence ever memorable by establishing, in the parish of Kilwinning, where they were erecting an abbey, the germ of Scottish Freemasonry, which has regularly descended through the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the present day.

 

Mr. Hope accounts for the introduction of non‑working or unprofessional members into these associations by a theory which is con‑firmed by contemporary history. He says: "Often obliged, from religions the most distant, singly to seek the common place of rendezvous and departure of the troop, or singly to follow its earlier detachments to places of employment equally distant; and that, at an era when travelers met on the road every obstruction, and no convenience, when no inns existed at which to purchase hospitality, but lords dwelt everywhere, who only prohibited

 

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their tenants from waylaying the traveler because they considered this, like killing game, one of their own exclusive privileges; the members of these communities contrived to render their journeys more easy and safe, by engaging with each other, and perhaps even, in many places, with individuals not directly participating in their profession, in compacts of mutual assistance, hospitality and good services, most valuable to men so circumstanced. They endeavored to compensate for the perils which attended their expeditions, by institutions for their needy or disabled brothers; but lest such as belonged not to their communities should benefit surreptitiously by these arrangements for its advantage, they framed signs of mutual recognition, as carefully concealed from the knowledge of the uninitiated, as the mysteries of their art themselves. Thus supplied with whatever could facilitate such distant journeys and labors as they contemplated, the members of these corporations were ready to obey any summons with the utmost alacrity, and they soon received the encouragement they anticipated. The militia of the church of Rome, which diffused itself all over Europe in the shape of missionaries, to instruct nations, and to establish their allegiance to the Pope, took care not only to make them feel the want of churches and monasteries, but likewise to learn the manner in which the want might be sup‑plied. Indeed, they themselves generally undertook the supply; and it may be asserted, that a new apostle of the Gospel no sooner arrived in the remotest corner of Europe, either to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, or to introduce among them a new religious order, than speedily followed a tribe of itinerant Freemasons to back him, and to provide the inhabitants with the necessary places of worship or reception.

 

"Thus ushered in, by their interior arrangements assured of assistance and of safety on the road, and, by the bulls of the Pope and the support of his ministers abroad, of every species of immunity and preference at the place of their destination, bodies of Freemasons dispersed themselves in every direction, every day began to advance further, and to proceed from country to country, to the utmost verge of the faithful, in order to answer the increasing demand for them, or to seek more distant custom." The government of these fraternities, wherever they might be for the time located, was very regular and uniform. When about to commence the erection of a religious edifice, they first built huts, or, as they were termed, lodges, in the vicinity, in which they resided for the sake of economy as well as convenience. It is from these that the present name of our places of meeting is derived. Over every ten men was placed a warden, who paid them wages, and took care that there should be no needless expenditure of materials and no careless loss of implements. Over the whole, a surveyor or master, called in

 

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their old documents "magister," presided and directed the general labor.

 

The Abbie Grandidier, in a letter at the end of the Marquis Luchet's Essai sur les Illumines, has quoted from the ancient register of the Masons at Strasburg the regulations of the association which built the splendid cathedral of that city. Its great rarity renders it difficult to obtain a sight of the original work, but the Histoiree Pittoresque of Clavel supplies the most prominent details of all that Grandidier has preserved. The cathedral of Strasburg was commenced in the year 1277, under the direction of Erwin of Steinbach. The Masons who, under his directions, were engaged in the construction of this noblest specimen of the Gothic style of architecture, were divided into the separate ranks of Masters, Craftsmen and Apprentices. The place where they assembled was called a "hutte," a German word equivalent to our English term lodge. They employed the implements of masonry as emblems, and received their new members with peculiar and secret ceremonies, admitting, as has already been said, many eminent persons, and especially ecclesiastics, who were not Operative Masons, but who gave to them their patronage and protection.

 

The fraternity of Strasburg became celebrated throughout Germany, their superiority was acknowledged by the kindred associations, and they in time received the appellation of the "haupt hutte," or Grand Lodge, and exercised supremacy over the hutten of Suabia, Hesse, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, and the countries bordering on the river Moselle. The Masters of these several lodges assembled at Ratisbon in 1459, and on the 25th of April contracted an act of union, declaring the chief of the Strasburg Cathedral the only and perpetual Grand Master of the General Fraternity of Freemasons of Germany. This act of union was definitely adopted and promulgated at a meeting held soon afterwards at Strasburg.

 

Similar institutions existed in France and in Switzerland, for wherever Christianity had penetrated, there churches and cathedrals were to be built, and the Traveling Freemasons hastened to undertake the labor.

 

They entered England and Scotland at an early period. Whatever may be thought of the authenticity of the York and Kilwinning legends, there is ample evidence of the existence of organized associations, gilds, or corporations of Operative Masons at an epoch not long after their departure from Lombardy. From that period, the fraternity, with various intermissions, continued to pursue their labors, and constructed many edifices which still remain as monuments of their skill as workmen and their taste as architects. Kings, in many instances, became their patrons, and their labors were superintended by powerful noblemen and eminent prelates, who, for this purpose, were admitted as members of the fraternity. Many of the old Charges

 

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for the better government of their Lodges have been preserved, and are still to be found in our Books of Constitutions, every line of which indicates that there were originally drawn up for associations strictly and exclusively operative in their character.

 

In glancing over the history of this singular body of architects, we are struck with several important peculiarities.

 

In the first place, they were strictly ecclesiastical in their constitution. The Pope, the supreme pontiff of the church, was their patron and protector. They were supported and encouraged by bishops and abbots, and hence their chief employment appears to have been in the construction of religious edifices. Like their ancestors, who were en‑gaged in the erection of the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem, they devoted themselves to labor for the "House of the Lord." Masonry was then, as it had been before, and has ever been since, intimately connected with religion.

 

They were originally all operatives. But the artisans of that period were not educated men, and they were compelled to seek among the clergy, the only men of learning, for those whose wisdom might contrive, and whose cultivated taste might adorn, the plans which they, by their practical skill, were to carry into effect. Hence the germ of that Speculative Masonry which, once dividing the character of the fraternity with the Operative, now completely occupies it to the entire exclusion of the latter.

 

But lastly,‑from the circumstances of their union and concert arose a uniformity of design in all the public buildings of that period - a uniformity so remarkable as to find its explanation only in the fact that their construction was committed throughout the whole of Europe, if not always to the same individuals, at least to members of the same association; The remarks of Mr. Hope on this subject are well worthy of perusal. "The architects of all the sacred edifices of the Latin church, wherever such arose - north, south, east or west - thus derived their science from the same central school; obeyed in their designs the same hierarchy; were directed in their constructions by the same principles of propriety and taste; kept up with each other, in the most distant parts to which they might be sent, the most constant correspondence; and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body, and a new conquest of the art. The result of this unanimity Was, that at each successive period of the monastic dynasty, on whatever point a new church or new monastery might be erected, it resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place, however distant from it, as if both had been built in the same place by the same artist. For instance, we find, at particular epochs, churches as far distant from each other as the north of Scotland and the south of Italy, to be minutely similar in all the essential characteristics."

 

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In conclusion, we may remark, that the world is indebted to this association for the introduction of Gothic, or, as it has lately been denominated, the pointed style of architecture. This style - so different from the Greek or Roman orders - whose pointed arches and minute tracery distinguishes the solemn temples of the olden time, and whose ruins arrest the attention and claim the admiration of the spectator, has been universally acknowledged to be the invention of the Traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages.

 

And it is to this association of Operative artists that, by gradual changes into a speculative system, we are to trace the Freemasons of the present day.

 

956 - Can Masonic charges be founded on acts of treason and rebellion?

 

            Treason and Rebellion. Treason and rebellion also, because they are altogether political offences, cannot be inquired into by a Lodge; and although a Mason may be convicted of either of these acts in the courts of his country he cannot be masonically punished; and not‑withstanding his treason or rebellion, his relation to the Lodge, to use the language of the old Charges, remains indefeasible.

 

957 - What are the duties of the Treasurer?

 

            Treasurer, Duties of. Although this officer takes no part in the ritual or ceremonial labors of the Lodge, yet the due administration of his duties is closely connected with its welfare. He is the financial officer or banker of the Lodge; and to prevent the possibility of any collusion between himself and the presiding officer, the Constitutions of England, while they give the appointment of all the other officers to the Master, have prudently provided that the Treasurer shall be elected by the Lodge.

 

The duties of the Treasurer, as detailed in the Installation service, and sanctioned by universal usage, are threefold:

 

1. He is to receive all moneys due the Lodge from the Secretary.

 

2. He is to make due entries of the same.

 

3. He is to pay them out at the order of the Master, and with the consent of the Lodge.

 

As the banker simply of the Lodge, he has nothing to do with the collections which should be made by the Secretary, and handed over to him. These funds he retains in his hands, and disburses them by the order of the Lodge, which must be certified to him by the Master. Ilis accounts, so far as the receipts of money are concerned, are only with the Secretary. Of his disbursements, of course, he keeps a special account. His accounts should be neatly and accurately kept, and be always ready for the inspection of the Lodge or of the Master.

 

As his office, as custodian of the funds of the Lodge, is a responsible one, it has been usual to require of him a bond for the faithful discharge

 

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of his duties; so that, in case of failure or defalcation, the Lodge may not become the loser of its property.

 

For all the funds he receives from the Secretary he should give a receipt to that officer, and should take receipts from all persons to whom he pays money. These last receipts become his vouchers, and his books should be examined, and the entries compared with the vouchers, at least once a year, by a committee of the Lodge.

 

The Treasurer, like every other officer in a Masonic Lodge, cannot resign, nor can his office be vacated by a removal, or any other cause, except death or expulsion. But whenever either of these events occurs, and the office becomes vacant, it is competent for the Lodge, of course, under the authority of a dispensation from the Grand Master, to hold a new election. The objections to such a course, in the case of the Master or Wardens, do not apply to the Treasurer.

 

958 - What is the Masonic trestle‑board?

 

            Trestle‑Board. The trestle‑board is defined to be the board upon which the Master inscribes the designs by which the Craft are to be directed in their labors. The French and German Masons have con‑founded the trestle‑board with the tracing‑board; and Dr. Oliver has not avoided the error. The two things are entirely different. The trestle is a framework for a stable - in Scotch, trest; the trestle‑board is the board placed for convenience of drawing on that frame. It contains nothing but a few diagrams, usually geometrical figures. The tracing‑board is a picture formerly drawn on the floor of the Lodge, whence it was called a floor‑cloth or carpet. It contains a delineation of the symbols of the degree to which it belongs. The trestle‑board is to be found only in the Entered Apprentice's degree. There is a tracing‑board in every degree, from the first to the highest. And, lastly, the trestle‑board is a symbol; the tracing‑board is a piece of furniture or picture containing the representation of many symbols.

 

It is probable that the trestle‑board, from its necessary use in Operative Masonry, was one of the earliest symbols introduced into the Speculative system. It is not, however, mentioned in the Grand Mystery, published in 1724. But Pritchard, who wrote only six years afterwards, describes it, under the corrupted name of trasel‑board, as one of the immovable jewels of an Apprentice's Lodge. Browne, in 1800, following Preston, fell into the error of calling it a tracing‑board, and gives from the Prestonian lecture what he terms "a beautiful degree of comparison," in which the Bible is compared to a tracing‑board. But the Bible is not a collection of symbols, which a tracing‑board is, but a trestle‑board that contains the plan for the construction of a spiritual temple. Webb, however, when he arranged his system of lectures, took the proper view, and restored the true word, trestle‑board.

 

Notwithstanding these changes in the name, trestle‑board, trasel‑

 

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board, tracing‑board, and trestle‑board again, the definition has continued from the earliest part of the last century to the present day the same. It has always been enumerated among the jewels of the Lodge, although the English system says that it is immovable and the American movable; and it has always been defined as "a board for the master workman to draw his designs upon." In Operative Masonry, the trestle‑board is of vast importance. It was on such an implement that the genius of the ancient masters worked out those problems of architecture that have reflected an unfading lustre on their skill. The trestle‑board was the cradle that nursed the infancy of such mighty monuments as the cathedrals of Strasbourg and Cologne; and as they advanced in stature, the trestle‑board became the guardian spirit that directed their growth. Often have those old builders pondered by the midnight lamp upon their trestle‑board, working out its designs with consummate taste and knowledge - here springing an arch, and turning an angle there, until the embryo edifice stood forth in all the wisdom, strength, and beauty of the Master's art.

 

What, then, is its true symbolism in Speculative Masonry?

 

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

 

In the Masonic ritual, the Speculative Mason is reminded that, as the Operative artist erects his temporal building in accordance with the rules and designs laid down on the trestle‑board of the master workman, so should he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type, in obedience to the rules and desires, the precepts and commands, laid down by the Grand Architect of the Universe in those great books of nature and revelation which constitute the spiritual trestle‑board of every Freemason.

 

The trestle‑board is then the symbol of the natural and moral law. Like every other symbol of the Order, it is universal and tolerant in its application; and while, as Christian Masons, we cling with unfaltering integrity to the explanation which makes the Scriptures of both dispensations our trestle‑board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament or Koran. Masonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of any one's religious faith. All that it asks is that the interpretation of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the revealed will of his Creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the symbol shall be preserved and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the atheist from its communion, because, be‑

 

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lieving in no Supreme Being - no Divine Architects - he must necessarily be without a spiritual trestle‑board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for his direction.

 

959 - Of what is the triad emblematic?

 

            Triad. Three in one. An important symbol in Freemasonry. The number three was thought holy in the earliest antiquity. Numbers, xix. 12, furnishes an instance. This must have its reason in the nature of the number. It represents to us unity and opposition, the principle and its development or opposition, and the connecting unity - synthesis. It is the first uneven number in which the first even one is found: herein lie its peculiar signification and perfection. Even in antiquity it could not escape attention, that this number is to be found wherever variety is developed. Hence we have beginning, middle, end, represented in the heavenly rise, point of culmination and setting; morning, noon, evening, and evening, midnight, morning; and in general, in the great divisions of time, the past, the present, and the future. In space, also, this number three occurs, as in above, midst and below; right midst, and left; and in general, in the dimensions of space, as length, breadth, and thickness, or depth. To the eye, the number is represented in the regular figure of the triangle, which has been applied to numberless symbolical representations; the ear perceives it most perfectly in the harmonic triad. As the triple is also the basis of symmetry, that three‑figured form is "found in architecture, and in simple utensils, without any particular reference to symbolical or other significations. Of this kind are the triglyphs in architecture, the tripod, trident, the three thunderbolts of Jupiter, the ancient three‑stringed‑lyre, though the number has in these objects, as well as in the three‑headed Cerberus, other more symbolical relations. The Triad, represented by the delta, is a significant emblem in a large number of Masonic degrees.

 

960 - How are Masonic trials conducted?

 

            Trials, Masonic. As the only object of a trial should be to seek the truth and fairly to administer justice, in a Masonic trial, especially, no recourse should ever be had to legal technicalities, whose use in ordinary courts appears simply to be to afford a means of escape for the guilty.

 

Masonic trials are, therefore, to be conducted in the simplest and least technical method, that will preserve at once the rights of the Order and of the accused, and which will enable the lodge to obtain a thorough knowledge of all the facts in the case. The rules to be observed in con‑ducting such trials have been already laid down and I shall refer to them in the present article. They are as follows:

 

1. The preliminary step in every trial is the accusation or charge. The charge should always be made in writing, signed by the accuser,

 

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delivered to the Secretary, and read by that officer at the next regular communication of the Lodge. The accused should then be furnished with an attested copy of the charge, and be at the same time informed of the time and place appointed by the lodge for the trial.

 

Any Master Mason may be the accuser of another, but a profane cannot be permitted to prefer charges against a Mason. Yet, if circumstances are known to a profane upon which charges ought to be predicated, a Master Mason may avail himself of that information, and out of it frame an accusation, to be presented to the lodge. And such accusation will be received and investigated, although remotely derived from one who is not a member of the Order.

 

It is not necessary that the accuser should be a member of the same lodge. It is sufficient if he is an affiliated Mason. I say an affiliated Mason; for it is generally held, and I believe correctly, that an unaffiliated Mason is no more competent to prefer charges than a profane.

 

2. If the accused is living beyond the geographical jurisdiction of the lodge, the charges should be communicated to him by means of a letter through the post‑office, and a reasonable time should be allowed for his answer, before the lodge proceeds to trial. But if his residence be unknown, or if it be impossible to hold communication with him, the lodge may then proceed to trial - care being had that no undue advantage be taken of his absence, and that the investigation be as full and impartial as the nature of the circumstances will permit.

 

3. The trial must commence at a regular communication, for reasons which have already been stated; but having commenced, it may be continued at special communications, called for that purpose; for, if it was allowed only to be continued at regular meetings, which take place but once a month, the long duration of time occupied would materially tend to defeat the ends of justice.

 

4. The lodge must be opened in the highest degree to which the accuser has attained, and the examinations of all witnesses must take place in the presence of the accused and the accuser, if they desire it. It is competent for the accused to employ counsel for the better protection of his interests, provided such counsel is a Master Mason. But if the counsel be a member of the lodge, he forfeits, by his professional advocacy of the accused, the right to vote at the final decision of the question.

 

The final decision of the charge, and the rendering of the verdict, whatever be the rank of the accused, must always be made in a lodge opened on the third degree; and at the time of such decision, both the accuser and the accused, as well as his counsel, if he have any, should withdraw from the lodge.

 

6. It is a general and an excellent rule, that no visitors shall be permitted to be present during a trial.

 

7. The testimony of Master Masons is usually taken on their honor,

 

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as such. That of others should be by affidavit, or in such other manner as both the accuser and accused may agree upon.

 

8. The testimony of profanes, or of those who are of a lower degree than the accused, is to be taken by a committee and reported to the lodge, or, if convenient, by the whole lodge, when closed and sitting as a committee. But both the accused and the accuser have a right to be present on such occasions.

 

9. When the trial is concluded, the accuser and the accused must retire, and the Master will then put the question of guilty, or not guilty, to the lodge.

 

Not less than two‑thirds of the votes should be required to declare the accused guilty. A bare majority is hardly sufficient to divest a brother of his good character, and render him subject to what may perhaps be an ignominious punishment. But on this subject the authorities differ.

 

10. If the verdict is guilty, the Master must then put the question as to the nature and extent of the punishment to be inflicted, beginning with expulsion and proceeding, if necessary, to indefinite suspension and public and private reprimand. To inflict expulsion or suspension, a vote of two‑thirds of those present is required, but for a mere reprimand, a majority will be sufficient. The votes on the nature of the punishment should be viva voce, or, rather, according to Masonic usage, by a show of hands.

 

Trials in a Grand Lodge are to be conducted on the same general principles; but here, in consequence of the largeness of the body, and the inconvenience which would result from holding the examinations in open lodge, and in the presence of all the members, it is more usual to appoint a committee, before whom the case is tried, and upon whose full report of the testimony the Grand Lodge bases its action. And the forms of trial in such committees must conform, in all respects, to the general usage already detailed.

 

961 - What is the symbolism of the Lion of Judah?

 

            Tribe of Judah, Lion of the. The connection of Solomon, as the chief of the tribe of Judah, with the lion, which was the achievement of the tribe, has caused this expression to be referred, in the third degree, to him who brought light and immortality to light. The old Christian interpretation of the Masonic symbols here prevails; and in Ancient Craft Masonry all allusions to the lion, as the lion's paw, the lion's grip, etc., refer to the doctrine of the resurrection taught by him who is known as "the lion of the tribe of Judah." The expression is borrowed from the Apocalypse, "Behold, the lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." The lion was also a mediaeval symbol of the resurrection, the idea being founded on a .legend. The poets of

 

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that age were fond of referring to this legendary symbol in connection with scriptural idea of the "tribe of Judah." Thus Adam de St. Victor says:  Thus the strong lion of Judah, The gates of cruel death being broken, Arose on the third day At the loud‑sounding voice of the Father.

 

 The lion was the symbol of strength and sovereignty, in the human‑headed figures of the Nimrod gateway, and in other Babylonish remains. In Egypt, it was worshiped at the city of Leontoplis as typical of Dom, the Egyptian Hercules. Plutarch says that the Egyptians ornamented their temples with gaping lions' mouths, because the Nile began to rise when the sun was in the constellation Leo. Among the Talmudists there was a tradition of the lion, which has been introduced into the higher degrees of Masonry.

 

But in the symbolism of Ancient Craft Masonry, where the lion is introduced, as in the third degree, in connection with the "lion of the tribe of Judah," he becomes simply a symbol of the resurrection; thus restoring the symbology of the mediaeval ages, which was founded on a legend that the lion's whelp was born dead, and only brought to life by the roaring of its sire. Philip de Thaun, in his Bestiary, written in the twelfth century, gives the legend, which has thus been translated by Mr. Wright from the original old Norman French: "Know that the lioness, if she bring forth a dead cub, she holds her cub and the lion arrives; he goes about and cries, till it revives on the third day. . . . Know that the lioness signifies St. Mary, and the lion Christ, who gave himself to death for the people; three days he lay in the earth to gain our souls. . . . By the cry of the lion they understand the power of God, by which Christ was restored to life and robbed helL" The phrase, "Lion of the tribe of Judah," therefore, when used in the Masonic ritual, referred in its original interpretation to Christ, him who "brought life and immortality to light."

 

962 - Of what is the trowel emblematic?

 

            Trowel. The trowel is appropriated to the Master's degree, be‑cause, as the lectures say, it is as Master Masons only we are recognized as members of the Masonic family. Again this implement is considered as the appropriate working tool of the Master Mason, because, in operative Masonry, while the Entered Apprentice prepares the materials, and the Felloweraft places them in their proper situation, the Master Mason spreads the cement with a trowel, which binds them together. In speculative Masonry the Master of the lodge is the cement

 

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which unites the brethren, and binds them together in peace, harmony, and brotherly love.

 

963 - What is the symbolism of the trowel and sword?

 

            Trowel and Sword. Emblems in the degree of Knights of the East. They are borrowed evidently from a religious and mechanical society, called the Brethren of the Bridge, which was founded at an early period in France, when a state of anarchy existed, and there was little security for travelers, particularly in passing rivers, on which they were subject to the rapacity of banditti. The object of this society was to put a stop to these outrages by forming fraternities for the purpose of building bridges and establishing ferries and caravansaries on their banks. Always prepared for an attack from the marauders, they carried a sword in one hand and a trowel or hammer in the other. Ramsay says that they adopted this custom in imitation of the Jews at the building of the second temple; and he endeavors to establish some connection between them and the Knights of the Temple, and of St. John of Jerusalem.

 

964 - Why should a Mason be truthful?

 

            True. The Mason should not only be true to the brotherhood and the Order, but to all mankind. Every Mason ought to act in such a manner as to render it unnecessary to doubt his truth. Flattering words, which are only calculated to entrap the weak and the unwary, do not strengthen that truth which is expected amongst brethren. We must be able to depend with as much confidence upon the word of a Mason as if he had given us a written undertaking.

 

965 - In whom do Masons put their trust?

 

            Trust in God. Every candidate on his initiation is required to declare that his trust is in God. And so he who denies the existence of a Supreme Being is debarred the privilege of initiation, for atheism is a disqualification for Masonry. This pious principle has distinguished the Fraternity from the earliest period; and it is a happy coincidence that the company of Operative Freemasons instituted in 1477 should have adopted as their motto, the truly Masonic sentiment, "The Lord is all our Trust."

 

966 - What is the real end and aim of all Masonic labors and ceremonies?

 

            Truth. The real object of Freemasonry, in a philosophical and religious sense, is the search for truth. This truth is, therefore, symbol‑ ized by the Word. From the first entrance of the Apprentice into the lodge, until his reception of the highest degree, this search is continued.

 

It is not always found, and a substitute must sometimes be provided.

 

Yet whatever be the labors he may perform, whatever the ceremonies through which he may pass, whatever the symbols in which he may be

 

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instructed, whatever the reward he may obtain, the true end of all is the attainment of truth. This idea of truth is not the same as that expressed in the lecture of the first degree, where Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth are there said to be the "three great tenets of a Mason's profession." In that connection, truth, which is called a "divine attribute, the foundation of every virtue," is synonymous with sincerity, honesty of expression, and plain dealing. The higher idea of truth which pervades the whole Masonic system, and which is symbolized by the Word, is that which is properly expressed as a knowledge of God.

 

Truth is one of the great tenets of a Freemason's profession. It is the foundation of all Masonic virtues; it is one of our grand principles; for to be good men and true is a part of the first lesson we are taught; and at the commencement of our freedom we are exhorted to be fervent and zealous in the pursuit of truth and goodness. It is not sufficient that we walk in the light, unless we do so in the truth also. All hypocrisy and deceit must be banished from among us. Sincerity and plain dealing complete the harmony of a lodge, and render us acceptable in the sight of him unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. There is a charm in truth, which draws and attracts the mind continually toward it. The more we discover, the more we desire; and the great reward is wisdom, virtue, and happiness. This is an edifice founded on a rock, which malice cannot shake or time destroy. In the ancient mythology of Rome, Truth was called the mother of Virtue, and was depicted with white and flowing garments. Her looks were cheerful and pleasant, though modest and serene. She was the protectress of honor and honesty, and the light and joy of human society.

 

967 - What four children founded the beginning of all the sciences in the world?

 

            Tubal Cain. Of Tubal Cain, the sacred writings, as well as the Masonic legends, give us but scanty information. All that we hear of him in the book of Genesis is that he was the son of Lamech and Zillah, and was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. The Hebrew original does not justify the common version, for lotesh does not mean "an instructor," but "a sharpener," - one who whets or sharp‑ens instruments. Hence Dr. Raphall translates the passage as one "who sharpened various tools in copper and iron." The authorized version has, however, almost indelibly impressed the character of Tubal Cain as the father of artificers; and it is in this sense that he has been introduced from a very early period into the legendary history of Masonry.

 

The first Masonic reference to Tubal Cain is found in the "Legend of the Craft," where he is called "the founder of smitheraft." I cite this part of the legend from the Dowland MS. simply because of its more modern orthography; but the story is substantially the same in all the

 

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old manuscript Constitutions. In that Manuscript we find the following account of Tubal Cain: "Before Noah's flood, there was a man called Lamech, as it is written in the Bible, in the fourth chapter of Genesis; and this Lamech had two wives, the one named Ada and the other named Zillah; by his first wife, Ada, he got two sons, the one Jabel, and the other Jubal; and by the other wife he got a son and a daughter. And these four children founded the beginning of all the sciences in the world. The elder son, Jabel, founded the science of geometry, and he carried flocks of sheep and lambs into the fields, and first built houses of stone and wood, as it is noted in the chapter above named. And his brother Jubal founded the science of music and songs of the tongue, the harp and organ. And the third brother, Tubal Cain, founded smithcraft, of gold, silver, cop‑per, iron, and steel, and the daughter founded the art of weaving. And these children knew well that God would take vengeance for sin, either by fire or water, wherefore they wrote the sciences that they had found, on two pillars that they might be found after Noah's flood. The one pillar was marble, for that would not burn with fire; and the other was of brass, for that would not drown in water." Similar to this is an old Rabbinical tradition, which asserts that Jubal, who was the inventor of writing as well as of music, having heard Adam say that the universe would be twice destroyed, once by fire and once by water, inquired which catastrophe would first occur; but Adam refusing to inform him, he inscribed the system of music which he had invented upon two pillars of stone and brick. A more modern Masonic tradition ascribes the construction of these pillars to Enoch.

 

To this account of Tubal Cain must be added the additional particulars, recorded by Josephus, that he exceeded all men in strength, and was renowned for his warlike achievements.

 

The only other account of the protometallurgist that we meet with in any ancient author is that which is contained in the celebrated fragment of Sanconiatho, who refers to him under the name Chrysor, which is evidently, as Bochart affirms, a corruption of the Hebrew chores ur, a worker in fire, that is, a smith. Sanconiatho was a Phoenician author, who is supposed to have flourished before the Trojan war, probably, as Sir William Drummond suggests, about the time when Gideon was Judge of Israel, and who collected the different accounts and traditions of the origin of the world which were extant at the period in which he lived. A fragment only of this work has been preserved, which, translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, was inserted by Eusebius in his Proeparatio Evangelica, and has thus been handed down to the present day. That portion of the history by Sanconiatho, which refers to Tubal Cain, is contained in the following words: "A long time after the generation of Hypsoaranois, the inventors of hunting and fishing, Agreas and Alieas, were born; after whom the

 

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people were called hunters and fishers, and from whom sprang two brothers, who discovered iron, and the manner of working it. One of these two, called Chrysor, was skilled in eloquence, and composed verses and prophecies. Ile was the same with Hephaistos, and invented fishing‑hooks, bait for taking fish, cordage and rafts, and was the first of all mankind who had navigated. He was therefore worshipped as a god after his death, and was called Diamichios. It is said that these brothers were the first who contrived partition walls of brick." Hephaistos, it will be observed, is the Greek of the god who was called by the Romans Vulcan. Hence the remark of Sanconiatho, and the apparent similarity of names as well as occupations, have led some writers of the last, and even of the present century, to derive Vulcan from Tubal Cain by a process not very devious, and therefore familiar to etymologists. By the omission in Tubal Cain of the initial T, which is the Phoenician article, and its valueless vowel, we get Balcan, which, by the interchangeable nature of B and V, is easily transformed to Vulcan.

 

"That Tubal Cain," says Bishop Stilling‑fleet, "gave first occasion to the name and worship of Vulcan, hath been very probably conceived, both from the very great affinity of the names, and that Tubal Cain is expressly mentioned to be an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, and as near relation as Apollo had to Vulcan, Jubal had to Tubal Cain, who was the inventor of music, or the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, which the Greeks attribute to Apollo." Vossius, in his treatise de Idolatria, makes this derivation of Vulcan from Tubal Cain. But Bryant, in his Analysis of Ancient Mythology, denies the etymology, and says that among the Egyptians and Babylonians, Vulcan was equivalent to Arus or Osiris, symbols of the sun. He traces the name to the words Ball Cahen, Holy Bel, or sacred Lord. Bryant's etymology may be adopted, however, without any interference with the identity of Vulcan and Tubal Cain. He who discovered the uses of fire may well, in the corruptions of idolatry, have typified the solar orb, the source of all heat. It might seem that Tubal is an at‑tribute compounded of the definite particle T and the word Baal, signifying Lord. Tubal Cain would then signify "the Lord Cain." Again, dhu or du, in Arabic, signifies Lord; and we trace the same signification of this affix, in its various interchangeable forms of Du, Tu, and Di, in many Semitic words. But the question of the identical origin of Tubal Cain and Vulcan has at length been settled by the researches of comparative philologists. Tubal Cain is Semitic in origin and Vulcan is Aryan. The latter may be traced to the Sanscrit ullca, a firebrand, from which we get also the Latin fulgur and fulmen, names of the lightning.

 

From the mention made of Tubal Cain in the "Legend of the Craft,"

 

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the word was long ago adopted as significant in the primary degrees, and various attempts have been made to give it an interpretation.

 

Hutchinson, in an article in his Spirit of Masonry devoted to the consideration of the third degree, has the following reference to the word: "The Mason advancing to this state of Masonry, pronounces his own sentence, as confessional of the imperfection of the second stage of his profession, and as probationary of the exalted degree to which he aspires, in the Greek distich, Struo tumulum: `I prepare my sepulchre; I make my grave in the pollutions of the earth; I am under the shadow of death.' This distich has been vulgarly corrupted among us, and an expression takes place scarcely similar in sound, and entirely inconsistent with Masonry, and unmeaning in itself." But however ingenious this interpretation of Hutchinson may be, it is generally admitted that it is incorrect.

 

The modern English Masons, and through them the French, have de‑rived Tubal Cain from the Hebrew tebel, earth, and hanah, to acquire possession, and, with little respect for the grammatical rules of the Hebrew language, interpret it as meaning worldly possessions.

 

In the Hemming lectures, now the authorized English system, we find the answer to the question, "What does Tubal Cain denote?" is "Worldly possessions." And Delaunay, in his Thuilleur, denies the reference to the proto‑smith, and says: "If we reflect on the meaning of the two Hebrew words we will easily recognize in their connection the secret wish of the hierophant of the Templar, of the Freemason, and of every mystical sect to govern the world in accordance with its own principles and its own laws." It is fortunate I think, that the true meaning of the words will authorize no such interpretation. The fact is that even if Tubal Cain were derived from tebel and kanah, the precise. rules of Hebrew construction would forbid affixing to their union any such meaning as "worldly possessions." Such an interpretation of it in the French and English system, is therefore, a very forced and inaccurate one.

 

The use of Tubal Cain as a significant word in the Masonic ritual is derived from the "Legend of the Craft," by which the name was made familiar to the Operative and then to the Speculative Masons; and it refers not symbolically, but historically to his scriptural and traditional reputation as an artificer. If he symbolized anything, it would be labor; and a Mason's labor is to acquire truth, and not worldly possessions. The English and French interpretations have fortunately never been introduced into this country.

 

968 - What is the first and simplest form of architecture?

 

            Tuscan. The Tuscan, being the first, is the most simple and solid of the five orders. It was invented in Tuscany, whence it derives its

 

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name. The simplicity of the construction of this column renders it eligible where solidity is the chief object, and where ornament would be superfluous.

 

969 - Of what is the twenty‑four inch rule emblematic?

 

            Twenty‑Four Inch Rule. An instrument made use of by operative Masons to measure and lay out their work; but we, as Free and Accepted Masons, are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing our time. It being divided into twenty‑four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty‑four hours of the day, which we are taught to divide into three parts, whereby we find a portion for the service of God, and the relief of a worthy distressed brother; a portion for our usual avocations; and a portion for refreshment and sleep.

 

970 - What are the status and rights of unaffiliated Masons?

 

            Unaffiliated Masons. To entitle him to the right of visit, a Master Mason must be affiliated with some Lodge. Of this doctrine there is no question. All Masonic authorities concur in confirming it. But as a Mason may take his demit from a particular Lodge, with the design of uniting again with some other, it is proper that he should be allowed the opportunity of visiting various Lodges, for the purpose‑where there are more than one in the same place - of making his selection. But that no encouragement may be given to him to protract the period of his withdrawal of Lodge membership, this privilege of visiting must be restricted within the narrowest limits. Accordingly, the Grand Lodge of England has laid down the doctrine in its Constitutions in the following words: "A Brother, who is not a subscribing member to some Lodge, shall not be permitted to visit any one Lodge in the town or place in which he resides, more than once during his secession from the craft." A similar usage appears very generally, indeed universally, to prevail; so that it may be laid down as a law, fixed by custom and con‑firmed in most jurisdictions by statutory enactment, that an unaffiliated Mason cannot visit any Lodge more than once. By ceasing to be affiliated, he loses his general right of visit.

 

971 ‑ What, in brief, is the status of an unaffiliated Mason?

 

            Unaffiliated Masons, Status of. The following principles are sup‑ported by the law on the subject of unaffiliated Masons:

 

1. An unaffiliated Mason is still bound by all those Masonic duties and obligations which refer to the Order in general, but not by those which relate to Lodge organization.

 

2. He possesses, reciprocally, all those rights which are derived from membership in the Order, but none of those which result from member‑ship in a Lodge.

 

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3. He has a right to assistance when in imminent peril, if he asks for that assistance in the conventional way.

 

4. He has no right to pecuniary aid from a Lodge.

 

5. He has no right to visit Lodges, or to walk in Masonic processions.

 

6. He has no right to Masonic burial.

 

7. He still remains subject to the government of the Order, and may be tried and punished for any offence, by the Lodge within whose geographical jurisdiction he resides.

 

8. And, lastly, as non‑affiliation is a violation of Masonic law, he may, if he refuses to abandon that condition, be tried and punished for it, even by expulsion if deemed necessary or expedient, by any Grand Lodge within whose jurisdiction he lives.

 

 

972 - Does an unaffiliated Mason enjoy the privilege of Masonic visitation?

 

            Unafliliates. There is no precept more explicitly expressed in the ancient Constitutions than that every Mason should belong to a Lodge. The foundation of the law which imposes this duty is to be traced as far back as the Gothic Constitutions of

926, which tell us that "the workman shall labor diligently on work‑days, that he may deserve his holidays." The obligation that every Mason should thus labor is implied in‑ all the subsequent Constitutions, which always speak of Ma‑sons as working members of the fraternity, until we come to the Charges approved in 1722, which explicitly state that "every Brother ought to belong to a Lodge, and to be subject to its By‑Laws and the General Regulations." Explicitly, however, as the law has been announced, it has not, in modern times, been observed with that fidelity which should have been expected, perhaps, because no precise penalty was annexed to its violation. The word "ought" has given to the regulation a simply declaratory form; and although we are still compelled to conclude that its violation is a neglect of Masonic duty, and therefore punishable by a Masonic tribunal, Masonic jurists have been at a loss to agree upon the nature and extent of the punishment that should be inflicted.

 

In short, while the penalty inflicted for non‑affiliation has varied in different jurisdictions, I know of no Grand Lodge that has not concurred in the view that it is a Masonic offence, to be visited by some penalty, or the deprivation of some rights.

 

And certainly, as it is an undoubted precept of our Order, that every Mason should belong to a Lodge, and contribute, as far as his means will allow, to the support of the institution; and as, by his continuance in a state of non‑affiliation, he violates this precept, and disobeys the law which he had promised to support, it necessarily follows that an unaffiliated Mason is placed in a very different position, morally and legally, from that occupied by an affiliated one.

 

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973 - Why is the ballot required to be unanimous?

 

            Unanimity of Ballot. Unanimity in the ballot is necessary to secure the harmony of the Lodge, which may be as seriously impaired by the admission of a candidate contrary to the wishes of one member as of three or more; for every man has his friends and his influence. Besides, it is unjust to any member, however humble he may be, to introduce among his associates one whose presence might be unpleasant to him, and whose admission would probably compel him to withdraw from the meetings, or even altogether from the Lodge. Neither would any advantage really accrue to a Lodge by such a forced admission; for while receiving a new and untried member into its fold, it would be losing an old one. For these reasons, in this country, except in a few jurisdictions, the unanimity of the ballot has always been insisted on; and it is evident, from what has been here said, that any less stringent Regulation is a violation of the ancient law and usage.

 

974 - Why must a ballot be unanimous?

 

            Unanimous. A ballot is unanimous when there are no black balls. This unanimity must be founded upon the proper exercise of the rules and regulations laid down for our guidance in this important part of our duty, and a perfect unanimity in the opinions of the brethren on the moral character of the candidate.

 

In order to secure and perpetuate the peace and harmony of the Craft, it has long been the settled policy of the Masonic Fraternity to receive no person to membership, only by the consent of all the brethren who may be present at the time the ballot is taken. Among the regulations of the Grand Lodge of England we find the following in regard to this subject: "No man can be entered a brother in any particular lodge, or admitted a member thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of the lodge then present, when the candidate is proposed, and when their consent is formally asked by the Master. They are to give their consent in their own prudent way, either virtually or in form, but with unanimity. Nor is this inherent privilege subject to a dispensation; because the members of a particular lodge are the best judges of it; and because, if a turbulent member should be imposed upon them, it might spoil their harmony, or hinder the freedom of their communications, or even break up and disperse the lodges, which ought to be avoided by all true and faithful brothers."

 

975 - What is called the bulwark of Masonry?

 

            Unanimous Consent. In the beginning of the last century, when Masonry was reviving from the condition of decay into which it had fallen, and when the experiment was tried of transforming it from a partly operative to a purely speculative system, the great object was to maintain a membership which, by the virtuous character of those who

 

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composed it, should secure the harmony and prosperity of the infant Institution. A safeguard was therefore to be sought in the care with which Masons should be selected from those who were likely to apply for admission. It was the quality, and not the quantity, that was de‑sired. This safeguard could only be found in the unanimity of the ballot. Hence, in the sixth of the General Regulations, adopted in 1721, it is declared that "no man can be entered a Brother in any particular Lodge, or admitted to be a member thereof, without the unanimous consent of all the members of that Lodge then present when the candidate is proposed, and their consent is formally asked by the Master." And to prevent the exercise of any undue influence of a higher power in forcing an unworthy person upon the Order, it is further said in the same article: "Nor is this inherent privilege subject to a dispensation; be‑cause the members of a particular Lodge are the best judges of it; and if a fractious member should be imposed on them, it might spoil their harmony, or hinder their freedom; or even break and disperse the Lodge." But a few years after, the Order being now on a firm footing, this prudent fear of "spoiling harmony," or "dispersing the Lodge," seems to have been lost sight of, and the brethren began in many Lodges to desire a release from the restrictions laid upon them by the necessity for unanimous consent. Hence Anderson says in his second edition: "But it was found inconvenient to insist upon unanimity in several cases. And, therefore, the Grand Masters have allowed the Lodges to admit a member if not above three ballots are against him; though some Lodges desire no such allowance." This rule still prevails in England; and its modern Constitution still permits the admission of a Mason where there are not more than three ballots against him, though many of the Lodges still demand unanimity.

 

In the United States, where Masonry is more popular than in any other cquntry, it was soon seen that the danger of the Institution lay not in the paucity, but in the multitude of its members, and that the only provision for guarding its portals was the most stringent regulation of the ballot. Hence, in every jurisdiction of the United States, I think, without an exception, unanimous consent is required. And this rule has been found to work with such advantage to the Order, that the phrase, "the black ball is the bulwark of Masonry," has become a proverb.

 

976 - Should a ballot be taken bn an unfavorable report?

 

            Unfavorable Report. Should the committee of investigation on the character of a petitioner for initiation make an unfavorable report, the general usage is (although some Grand Lodges have decided other‑wise) to consider the candidate rejected by such report, without proceeding to the formality of a ballot, which is therefore dispensed with. This usage is founded on the principles of common. sense; for, as by the

 

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ancient Constitutions one black ball is sufficient to reject an application, the unfavorable report of a committee must necessarily, and by con‑sequence, include two unfavorable votes at least. It is therefore unnecessary to go into a ballot after such a report, as it is to be taken for granted that the brethren who reported unfavorably would, on a resort to the ballot, cast their negative votes. Their report is indeed virtually considered as the casting of such votes, and the applicant is therefore at once rejected without a further and unnecessary ballot.

 

977 - Why should Masons observe the same usages and customs?

 

            Uniformity. All lodges are particularly bound to observe the same usages and customs; every deviation, therefore, from the established mode of working is highly improper, and cannot be justified or countenanced. In order to preserve this uniformity, and to cultivate a good understanding among Freemasons, some members of every lodge should be deputed to visit other lodges as often as may be convenient. If any lodge shall give its sanction for a lodge of instruction being held under its warrant, such lodge shall be responsible that the proceedings in the lodge of instruction are correct and regular, and that the mode of working there adopted has received the sanction of the Grand Lodge.

 

978 - How may the Masonic system be extended to unoccupied territory?

 

            Unoccupied Territory. It only remains to consider the proper mode of organizing a Grand Lodge in a territory where no such body has previously existed. Perfectly to understand this subject, it will be necessary to commence with the first development of Masonry in any country.

 

Let us suppose, then, that there is a territory of country within whose political bounds Freemasonry has never yet been introduced in an organized form. There may be, and indeed for the execution of the law which is about to be explained, there must be an adequate number of Master Masons, but there is no Lodge. Now, the first principle of Masonic law to which attention is to be directed, in this condition of things, is, that any territory into which Masonry has not been introduced in the organized form of Lodges, is ground common to all the Masonic authorities of the world; and therefore that it is competent for any Grand Lodge to grant a warrant of constitution, and establish a Lodge in such unoccupied territory, on the petition, of course, of a requisite number of Masons. And this right of granting warrants insures to every Grand Lodge in the world, and may be exercised by as many as choose to do so, as long as no Grand Lodge is organized in the territory. So that there may be ten or a dozen Lodges working at the same time in the same territory, and each one of them deriving its legal existence from a different Grand Lodge.

 

In such a case, neither of the Grand Lodges who have granted war‑rants acquires, by any such act, exclusive jurisdiction over the territory, MASONRY DEFINED         543  which is still open for the admission of any other Grand Lodge, with a similar power of granting warrants. The jurisdiction exercised in this condition of Masonry by the different Grand Lodges is not over the territory, but over the Lodge or Lodges which each of them has established.

 

But afterwards these subordinate Lodges may desire to organize a Grand Lodge, and they are competent to do so, under certain restrictions.

 

979 - What should be the attitude of the Craft toward unworthy brethren?

 

            Unworthy Members. That there are men in our Order whose lives and characters reflect no credit on the Institution, whose ears turn coldly from its beautiful lessons of morality, whose hearts are untouched by its soothing influences of brotherly kindness, whose hands are not opened to aid in its deeds of charity, is a fact which we cannot deny, although we may be permitted to express our grief while we acknowledge its truth. But these men, though in the Temple, are not of the Temple; they are among us, but are not with us; they belong to our household, but they are not of our faith; they are of Israel, but they are not Israel. We have sought to teach them, but they would not be instructed; seeing, they have not perceived; and hearing, they have not understood the symbolic language in which our lessons of wisdom are communicated. The fault is not with us, that we have not given, but with them that they have not received. And, indeed, hard and unjust would it be to censure the Masonic institution, because, partaking of the infirmity and weakness of human wisdom and human means it has been unable to give strength and perfection to all who come within its pale. The denial of a Peter, the doubtings of a Thomas, or even the betrayal of a Judas, could cast no reproach on that holy band of Apostles of which each formed a constituent part.

 

"Is Freemasonry answerable," says Dr. Oliver, "for the misdeeds of an individual Brother l By no means. He has had the advantage of Masonic instruction, and has failed to profit by it. He has enjoyed Masonic privileges, but has not possessed Masonic virtue." Such a man it is our duty to reform, or to dismiss; but the world should not condemn us, if we fail in our attempt at reformation. God alone can change the heart. Masonry furnishes precepts and obligations of duty which, if obeyed, must make its members wiser, better, happier men; but it claims no power of regeneration. Condemn when our instruction is evil, but not when our pupils are dull, and deaf to our lessons; for, in so doing, you condemn the holy religion which you profess. Masonry pre‑scribes no principles that are opposed to the sacred teachings of the Divine Lawgiver, and sanctions no acts that are not consistent with the sternest morality and the most faithful obedience, to government and the laws; and while this continues to be its character, it cannot, without

 

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the most atrocious injustice, be made responsible for the acts of its unworthy members.

 

Of all human societies, Freemasonry is undoubtedly, under all circumstances, the fittest to form the truly good man. But however well conceived may be its laws, they cannot completely change the natural disposition of those who ought to observe them. In truth, they serve as lights and guides; but as they can only direct men by restraining the impetuosity of their passions, these last too often become dominant, and the Institution is forgotten.

 

980 - Why are Lodges held in upper chambers?

 

            Upper Chamber. Our lodges are formed in upper chambers, and carefully guarded by tiled doors and drawn swords. The highest of hills and the lowest of valleys are situations least exposed to unauthorized intrusion. Thus Masons are said to meet in these situations, to commemorate a remarkable custom of the ancient Jews in the building of their temples, schools, and synagogues; and as by the Jewish law, whenever ten of them assembled together for that purpose, they proceeded to work, so it was with our ancient brethren, who formed themselves into a lodge, whenever ten operative Masons were assembled, consisting of the Master, two Wardens, and seven Fellowcrafts:

 

981 - What is the symbolism of the upright posture?

 

            Upright Posture. The upright posture of the Apprentice in the northeast corner, as a symbol of upright conduct, was introduced into the ritual by Preston, who taught in his lectures that the candidate then represented "a just and upright man and Mason." The same symbolism is referred to by Hutchinson, who says that "as the builder raises his column by the plane and perpendicular, so should the Mason carry himself towards the world." Indeed, the application of the cornerstone, or the square stone, as a symbol of uprightness of conduct, which is precisely the Masonic symbolism of the candidate in the northeast, was familiar to the ancients; for Plato says that he who valiantly sustains the shocks of adverse fortune, demeaning himself uprightly, is truly good and of a square posture.

 

Every Freemason remembers the instructions given him in the lodge at the time of his reception, in regard to the "upright posture." "God created man to be upright," i. e., to stand erect. This is the peculiar prerogative of man. All the outward forms and features of the sentient world, whether human or brutal, are created by the nature, disposition or spirit of each race and each individual. The nature of beasts and reptiles is earthly. Prone to the earth, they move horizontally, with downward gaze, or crawl in the dust. To them the ideal world is closed. The glory of the heavens, the grandeur of nature, the beauty of flowers, the wonderful harmonies of sight and sound, which so inspire and ele‑

 

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vate man, are unknown to them. Their gaze is downward, and their life is extinguished in the dust. Man, on the contrary, stands erect, and his eyes sweep through the immense regions of space which stretch above his head. His mind, endowed with a divine energy, reaches to the most distant star, and measures it, in weight and size, as accurately as one measures the apple that is held in the palm of the hand. The "upright posture" also has an important moral significance for the intelligent Mason. As it reminds him of his relationship to the celestial powers, and that he is endowed with some of the attributes of the Divinity, and with a life which will endure forever, he is admonished thereby that he should live in a manner worthy of so illustrious an origin, and so glorious a destiny.

 

 

982 - To what do the usages and customs of Masons correspond?

 

            Usages. The usages and customs of Masons have ever corresponded with those of the ancient Egyptians, to which they bear a near affinity. Their philosophers, unwilling to expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, concealed their particular tenets, and principles of polity and philosophy, under hieroglyphical figures, and expressed their notions of government by signs and symbols, which they communicated to their priests alone, who were bound by oath not to reveal them.

 

983 - Can the office of Master be filled by an election in the event of his death or disability?

 

            Vacancy in the Office of Master. Whether the Senior Warden or a Past Master is to succeed, the Regulations of 1721 makes no provision for an election, but implies that the vacancy shall be temporarily sup‑plied during the official term, while that of 1723 expressly states that such temporary succession shall continue "till the next time of choosing," or, in the words of the present English Constitution, "until the next election of officers." But, in addition to the authority of the Ancient Regulation and general and uniform usage, reason and justice seem to require that the vacancy shall not be supplied permanently until the regular time of election. By holding the election at an earlier period, the Senior Warden is deprived of his right as a member, to become a candidate for the vacant office, for the Senior Warden having been regularly installed, has of course been duly obligated to serve in the office to which he had been elected during the full term.' If, then, an election takes place before the expiration of that term, he must be excluded from the list of candidates, because if elected, he could not vacate his present office without a violation of his obligation. The same disability would affect the Junior Warden, who, by a similar obligation, is bound to the faithful discharge of his duties in the south. So that by anticipating the election, the two most prominent officers of the Lodge, and the two most

 

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 likely to succeed the Master in due course of rotation, would be excluded from the chance of promotion. A grievous wrong would thus be done to these officers, which it could never have been the intention of the law to inflict.

 

But even if the Wardens were not ambitious of office, or were not likely, under any circumstances, to be elected to the vacant office, an‑other objection arises to the anticipation of an election for Master, which is worthy of consideration.

 

The Wardens, having been installed under the solemnity of an obligation to discharge the duties of their respective offices to the best of their ability, and the Senior Warden having been expressly charged that "in the absence of the Master he is to rule the Lodge," a conscientious Senior Warden might very naturally feel that he was neglecting these duties and violating this obligation, by permitting the office which he has sworn to temporarily occupy in the absence of his Master, to be permanently filled by any other person.

 

On the whole, then, the Old Regulations, as well as ancient, uninterrupted and uniform usage, and the principles of reason and justice, seem imperatively to require that on the death or removal of the Master, there shall be no election to supply the vacancy; but that the authority of the absent Master shall be vested in the Senior Warden, and in his absence, in the Junior.

 

984 - May an officer of a Lodge, duly elected and installed, lawfully resign his office?

 

            Vacation of Lodge Officers. An office terminates in Masonry only in three ways - by the expiration of the term, by death, or by expulsion. Suspension does not vacate an office, but simply suspends the office bearer from the privilege of discharging the duties of the office, and restoration immediately restores him to the enjoyment of all the prerogatives of his office.

 

It is now held by a large majority of authorities that an officer, after having once accepted of installation, cannot resign the office to which he has been elected. And this seems to be in accordance with reason; for, by the installation, the officer promises to discharge the functions of the office for the constitutional period, and a resignation would be a violation of his oath of office, which no Lodge should be willing to sanction. So, too, when an officer has removed from the jurisdiction, al‑though it may be at the time with an intention never to return, it is impossible, in the uncertainty of human events, to say how far that intention will be fulfilled, and the office must remain vacant until the next regular period of election. In the meantime the duties are to be discharged by the temporary appointment, by the Master, of a substitute; for, should the regularly elected and installed officer change his intention and return, it would at once become not only his privilege but his duty to resume the discharge of the functions of his office.

 

11 MASONRY DEFINED     547

 

985 - How may a Tiler be removed from office?

 

            Vacation of Office of Tiler. The Tiler is sometimes appointed by the Master, but is more usually elected by the Lodge. After installation, he holds his office, by the same tenure as the other officers, and can only be removed by death or expulsion. Of course the Tiler, like every other officer, may, on charges preferred and trial had, be suspended from discharging the functions of his office, during which suspension a temporary Tiler shall be appointed by the Master. But as I have al‑ready said, such suspension does not vacate the office, nor authorize a new election.

 

986 - When and where must the verdict in a Lodge trial be rendered?

 

            Verdict, Announcement of. The final decision upon charges, and the rendering of the verdict, whatever be the rank of the accused, must always be made in a Lodge opened on the third degree; and at the time of such decision, both the accuser and the accused, as well as his counsel, if he have any, should withdraw from the Lodge.

 

987 - How is the verdict at a Masonic trial arrived at?

 

            Verdict, How Arrived at. When the trial is concluded, the accuser and the accused must retire, and the Master will then put the question of guilty, or not guilty, to the Lodge. Masonic authorities differ as to the mode in which the vote is taken. In England, it is done by a show of hands. The Grand Lodges of Ohio and South Carolina require it to be by ballot, and that of California by each brother, as his name is called, rising and giving his answer "in a distinct and audible manner." I confess, that in this diversity of authorities, I am inclined to be in favor of the vote by ballot, as the independence of opinion is thus better secured; for many a man who conscientiously believed in the guilt of the accused, might be too timid to express that opinion openly. Not less, I think, than two‑thirds of the votes should be required to declare the accused guilty. A bare majority is hardly sufficient to divest a brother of his good character, and render him subject to what may perhaps be an ignominous punishment. But on this subject the authorities differ.

 

 

988 - What forms may the verdict of a Grand Lodge on appeal take in the settlement of an appeal?

 

            Verdict of a Grand Lodge on Appeal. A Grand Lodge may restore in part, and not in whole. It may mitigate the amount of punishment, as being too severe or disproportioned to the offence. It may reduce expulsion to suspension, and indefinite to definite suspension, or it may abridge the period of the last. But all these are matters of justice and expediency, to be judged of by the Grand Lodge, according to the particular circumstances of each case.

 

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989 - What violation of Masonic Landmarks and Regulations may subject a Mason to Masonic discipline?

 

            Violations of Masonic Landmarks and Regulations. A class of crimes which are cognizable by a Masonic tribunal are violations of the Landmarks and Regulations of the Order. These are so numerous that space cannot be afforded for even a bare catalogue. Reference must be made only to a few of the most important character.

 

A disclosure of any of the secrets which a Mason "has promised to conceal and never reveal" is a heinous crime, and one which the monitorial lecture of the first degree expressly says, "would subject him to the contempt and detestation of all good Masons." Disobedience and want of respect to Masonic superiors is an offence for which the transgressor subjects himself to punishment.

 

The bringing of "private piques or quarrels" into the Lodge is strictly forbidden by the old Charges, and the violation of this precept is justly considered as a Masonic offence.

 

A want of courtesy and kindness to the brethren, speaking calumniously of one behind his back, or in any other way attempting to injure him, is each a violation of the precepts of Masonry, and should be made the subject of investigation.

 

Striking a Mason, except in self‑defence, is a heinous transgression of the law of brotherly love, which is the foundation of Masonry. It is not, therefore, surprising that the more serious offence of duelling among Masons has been specifically condemned, under the severest penalties, by several Grand Lodges.

 

The ancient Installation Charges in the time of James II. expressly prohibit a Mason from doing any dishonor to the wife or daughter of his brother; but it is scarcely necessary to remark that still higher authority for this prohibition may be found in the ritualistic Landmarks of the Order.

 

Gambling is also declared to be a Masonic offence in the old Charges.

 

As I have already said, it would be possible, but hardly necessary, to extend this list of Masonic offences against the Constitutions and Regulations of the Order. They must be learned from a diligent perusal of these documents, and the study of the Landmarks and ritualistic ob‑ servances. It is sufficient to say that whatever is a violation of fidelity to solemn engagements, a neglect of prescribed duties, or a transgression of the cardinal principles of friendship, morality and brotherly love, is a Masonic crime, and renders the offender liable to Masonic punishment.

 

 

990 - What virtues does Masonry inculcate?

 

            Virtues. In all ages it has been the object of Freemasonry, not only to inform the minds of its members, by instructing them in the sciences and useful arts, but to better their hearts, by enforcing the precepts of religion and morality. In the course of the ceremonies of

 

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initiation, brotherly love, loyalty, and other virtues are inculcated in hieroglyphic symbols, and the candidate is often reminded that there is an eye above, which observeth the workings of his heart, and is ever fixed upon the thoughts and actions of men.

 

991 - What rights has a Grand Master or his representative in a subordinate Lodge?

 

            Visitation. Masonic usage requires that the Grand Master and other officers of the Grand Lodge should periodically visit the sub‑ordinate lodges, to examine their books and work, and make a general inspection of their affairs. This formal visit is called a visitation. When such an event occurs, the Grand Officers, after being received with the usual honors, take charge of the lodge. According to the English Constitutions, "the Grand Master has full authority to preside in any lodge, and to order his Grand Officers to attend him; his Deputy is to be placed on his right hand, and the Master of the lodge on his left hand. His Wardens are also to act as Wardens of that particular lodge during his presence. The Deputy Grand Master has full authority, unless the Grand Master or Pro‑Grand Master be present, to preside, with the Master of the lodge on his right hand. The Grand Wardens, if present, are to act as Wardens."

 

992 - What is the prerogative of a Grand Master with respect to a Masonic visitation?

 

            Visitation, Grand Master's Prerogative of. Concomitant with the Grand Master's prerogative of presiding in any Lodge, is that of visitation. This is not simply the right of visit, which every Master Mason in good standing possesses, but it is a prerogative of a more important nature, and which has received the distinctive appellation of the right of visitation. It is the right to enter any Lodge, to inspect its proceedings, to take a part in its business transactions, and to correct its errors. The right is specifically recognized in the Regulations of 1721, but it is also an inherent prerogative; for the Grand Master is, virtute officii, the head of the whole fraternity, and is not only entitled, but bound, in the faithful discharge of his duty, to superintend the transactions of the craft, and to interfere in all congregations of Masons to prevent the commission of wrong, and to see that the Landmarks and usages of antiquity, and the Constitutions and laws of the Grand Lodge, and of every Lodge in the jurisdiction, are preserved and obeyed. The Regulations of

1721 prescribe that when the Grand Master makes such a visitation, the Grand Wardens are to attend him, and act as Wardens of the Lodge while he presides. This Regulation, however, rather refers to the rights of the Grand Wardens than to the prerogative of the Grand Master, whose right to make an official visitation to any Lodge is an inherent one, not to be limited or directed by any comparatively modern Regulation.

 

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993 - Has a Mason the right to visit any Lodge where he may happen to be?

 

            Visit, Right of. While the right of a Mason to visit any lodge, where he may happen to be, is generally conceded, various regulations, limiting this right, have been made at different times, and in divers jurisdictions, concerning the propriety and necessity of which intelligent Masons entertain quite different opinions. By the most ancient charges it is ordered, "That every Mason receive and cherish strange fellowes when they come over the countrie, and sett them on worke if they will worke, as the manner is; that is to say, if the Mason have any mould‑stone in his place, he shall give him a mould‑stone, and sett him on worke; and if he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next lodge." This regulation recognizes the right of a traveling brother as absolute. But, as early as 1663, it was ordered by a General Assembly held on the 27th of December of that year, " That no person hereafter, who shall be accepted a Freemason, shall be admitted into any lodge or assembly, until he has brought a certificate of the time and place of his acceptation, from the lodge that accepted him, unto the Master of that limit or division where such a lodge is kept." In 1772, the Grand Lodge of England renewed this statute, and some Grand Lodges in this country have adopted it. Of course, no stranger can be admitted to a lodge without "due trial and examination," or. unless he is vouched for by a known brother present. The Grand Lodge of England also has the following regulation, which has been adopted in many other jurisdictions: "A brother who is not a subscribing member to some lodge shall not be permitted to visit any one lodge in the town or place where he resides, more than once during his secession from the Craft." The object of the above rule is to exclude all drones from the hive of Masonry. Whoever partakes of the advantages of Free‑masonry should contribute something to its support.

 

 

994 - Does the Master of a Lodge have the right to cast more than one vote?

 

            Vote of Master. The Master has one vote in all questions, as every other member, and, in addition, a casting vote, if there be a tie. This usage, which is very general, owes its existence, in all probability, to the fact that a similar privilege is, by the Regulations of

1721, enjoyed by the Grand Master in the Grand Lodge. I cannot, however, find a written sanction for the usage in any of the Ancient Constitutions, and am not prepared to say that the Master possesses it by inherent right. The local regulations of some jurisdictions explicitly recognize the prerogative, while others are silent on the subject. I know of none that denies it in express words. I am disposed to believe that it has the authority of ancient usage, and confess that I am partial to it, on mere grounds of expediency, while the analogy of the Grand Master's similar prerogative gives it a show of authority.

 

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995 - Why is every member present required to vote when the ballot is taken?

 

            Voting on a Ballot. From the fact that the vote which is given on the ballot for a candidate must be one in which the unanimous con‑sent of all present is to be given, it follows that all the members then present are under an obligation to vote. From the discharge of this duty no one can be permitted to shrink. And, therefore, in balloting on a petition, every member, as his name is called, is bound to come forward and deposit either a white or a black ball. No one can be exempted from the performance of this responsible act, except by the unanimous consent of the Lodge; for, if a single member were allowed to decline voting, it is evident that the candidate, being then admitted by the affirmative votes of the others, such admission would, nevertheless, not be in compliance with the words and spirit of the law. The "unanimous consent of all the members of the Lodge then present" would not have been given - one, at least, having withheld that consent by the non‑user of his prerogative.

 

996 - Under what circumstances is a voucher demanded?

 

            Vouch. The term vouch means to bear witness, or give testimony, and a voucher accordingly is a witness. When a person applies for ad‑mission to the Masonic society, his application should bear the signatures of two brethren, one of whom is called the voucher, because he thus testifies that the petitioner possesses the required qualifications. So a stranger can visit a lodge without trial or examination, if a brother present knows him to be a Mason and vouches for him.

 

997 - Has an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft the right of vouching for a visitor?

 

            Vouching for Strangers. An examination may sometimes be dispensed with, when a Brother who is present, and acquainted with the visitor, is able and willing to vouch for him as a Master Mason in good standing. This prerogative, of vouching for a stranger, is strictly one of the rights of a Master Mason, because neither Entered Apprentices nor Fellowcrafts are permitted to exercise it, in reference to those who have attained to their respective degrees. But the right is one of so important a nature - its imprudent exercise would be attended with such evil consequences to the institution - that Grand Lodges have found it necessary to restrict it by the most rigid rules. The Grand Lodges of Iowa and Mississippi, for instance, have declared that no visitor can be permitted to take his seat in a Lodge, on the strength of being vouched for by a Brother, unless that Brother has sat in a Lodge with him.

 

998 - What are the wages of a Mason?

 

            Wages of a Mason. The operative Mason, in ancient times, received, as compensation for his labor, corn, wine and oil - the products

 

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of the earth - or whatever would contribute to his physical comfort and support. His labor being material, his wages were outward and material. The Free and Accepted Mason, on the other hand, performs a moral work, and hence his reward is interior and spiritual. The en‑lightened brother finds his reward in the grand and gratifying results of his studies, and in the joyful fruits of his Masonic deeds. He sees the glory of the Divinity permeating all worlds, and all parts of the universe reveal to his soul celestial meanings. All nature overflows with beauty, love, melody and song, and unspeakably rich are the delights he derives from communion with her spirit. If he be a child of fortune, and raised above the necessity of labor, he finds the purest pleasure in practice of charity and the exercise of benevolence; for charity, like mercy, brings its own recompense.

 

"It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes." If, like our ancient brethren, he is a laborer, his wages are still ample and enduring. Thus, while the ignorant man toils on, drearily cheered by no bright and living thoughts, his mind destitute of all ideas, and his heart moved by no glad inspiration, the Masonic laborer welcomes his toil with joy, because Freemasonry has taught him that labor is a divine vocation, "Labourare est orare." He goes forth in the morning, and the world on which he looks, swimming in sunbeams, and glittering with dewy diamonds, is less bright and fair than the world that lays in his heart, and which science has illuminated with her everlasting light. The mountains, barren, rocky and storm‑blackened, or crowned with sylvan splendors; the valleys, flower‑robed and ribboned with meandering streams; the rivers, hastening to the sea, and making music as they go; the trees, and rocks, and flowers; all the activities of nature, and the great enterprises of man, speak with eloquence to his soul, and reveal to his enlightened spirit the glad secrets of Nature and of Nature's God. These noble, ample and enduring enjoyments are the wages of the true Mason.

 

999 - What is the origin of the office of Wardens?

 

            Wardens. Every Lodge has two officers, who are distinguished as the Senior and Junior Wardens. The word is derived from the Saxon weardian, "to guard or watch," and signifies therefore a guardian or watchman. The French and German titles for the same officers, which are surveillant in the former language, and aufseher in the latter, are equally significant, as they denote an overseer. The title is derived from the fact that in the old rituals these officers were supposed to sit at the two columns of the porch, and oversee or watch the Fellow Crafts and Apprentices - the Senior Warden overlooking the former, and the Junior

 

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Warden the latter. This ritual is still observed in the Lodges of the French rite, where the two Wardens sit in the west, at what is supposed to be the pedestals of the two columns of the porch of the temple; and in the York rite, although the allusion is somewhat impaired by the removal of the Junior Warden to the south, they still retain on their pedestals miniature columns, the representatives of the temple pillars, and which in all processions they carry as the insignia of their office.

 

1000 - What was the origin of Masonic warrants?

 

            Warrant. In former times a lodge formed itself without any ceremony, wherever a sufficient number of brethren dwelt to form a lodge, or one of the neighboring lodges formed it for them. But in 1722 the Grand Lodge in London determined that every new lodge in England should have a patent, and since that time all those brethren who wish to form a new lodge, strive to obtain a warrant from the Grand Lodge. The new lodge then joins the Grand Lodge as a daughter lodge, binds itself to work according to its system, and to keep within the ancient landmarks. Then is such a lodge called just, perfect, and regular.

 

1001 - What is the distinction between a dispensation and a warrant?

 

            Warrant of Constitution, Granting of. The most important prerogative that a Grand Lodge can exercise in its legislative capacity is that .of granting warrants of constitution for the establishment of sub‑ordinate Lodges. Important, however, as is this prerogative, it is not an inherent one, possessed by the Grand Lodge from time immemorial, but is the result of a concession granted by the Lodges in the year 1717; for formerly, as I have already shown, all Masons enjoyed the right of meeting in Lodges without the necessity of a warrant, and it was not until the re‑organization of the Grand Lodge, in the beginning of the last century, that this right was surrendered. Preston gives the important Regulations which was adopted in 1717, in which it is declared that warrants must be granted by the Grand Master, "with the consent and approbation of the Grand Lodge in communication." Anderson does not give this Regulation, nor will anything be found in the Regulations which were approved in 1721, respecting the necessity of the con‑sent and approbation of the Grand Lodge. On the contrary, the whole tenor of those Regulations appears to vest the right of granting war‑rants in the Grand Lodge exclusively, and the modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England are to the same effect. But in this country it has been the universal usage to restrict the power of the Grand Master to the granting of temporary dispensations, while the prerogative of granting permanent warrants is exclusively vested in the Grand Lodge.

 

1002 - What rights has a Lodge with respect to its warrant of constitution?

 

            Warrant of Constitution, Nature of. A Lodge under dispensation can be cancelled by the revocation of the dispensation by either the

 

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Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, in which event the Lodge would cease to exist; but a Lodge under dispensation may terminate its existence in a more favorable way, by being changed into a Lodge working under a warrant of constitution.

 

At the communication of the Grand Lodge, which takes place next after the granting of the dispensation by the Grand Master, that officer states the fact to the Grand Lodge, of his having granted such an authority, when a vote being taken on the question whether the dispensation shall or shall not be confirmed, if a majority are in favor of the confirmation, the Grand Secretary is directed to issue a warrant of constitution.

 

This instrument differs from a dispensation in many important particulars. A dispensation emanates from a Grand Master; a warrant from a Grand Lodge. The one is temporary and definite in its duration; the other permanent and indefinite. The one is revocable at pleasure by the Grand Master; the other, only upon cause shown by the Grand Lodge. The one confers only a name; the other, a number upon the Lodge. The one restricts the authority it bestows to the making of Masons; the other extends that authority to the installation of officers and the succession in office. The one contains within itself no power of self‑perpetuation; the other does. From these differences'in the two documents arise important peculiarities in the prerogatives of the two bodies which are respectively organized under their authority.

 

 

1003 - What is the prerogative of Grand Lodges with respect to issuing warrants of constitution?

 

            Warrant of Constitution, Right to. A Lodge has the right to retain possession of its warrant of constitution. In this respect we see at once a manifest difference between a warranted Lodge and one working under dispensation. The latter derives its authority from the Grand Master, and the dispensation, which is the instrument by which that authority is delegated, may at any time be revoked by the officer from whom it emanated. In such an event there is no mode of redress provided by law. The dispensation is the voluntary act of the Grand Master, is granted ex gratin, and may be withdrawn by the same act of will which first prompted the grant. There can be no appeal from such an act of revocation, nor can any Masonic tribunal require that the Grand Master should show cause for this exertion of his prerogative.

 

But the warrant having been granted by the Grand Lodge, the body of Masons thus constituted form at once a constituent part of the Grand Lodge. They acquire permanent rights which cannot be violated by any assumption of authority, nor abrogated except in due course of Masonic law. The Grand Master may, in the conscientious discharge of his duty, suspend the work of a chartered Lodge, when he believes that that sus‑pension is necessary for the good of the Order; but he cannot recall MASONRY DEFINED       555  cr revoke the warrant. From that suspension of work there is of course an appeal to the Grand Lodge, and that body alone can, on cause shown, and after due and legal investigation, withdraw or revoke the warrant.

 

1004 - Of what is the weeping virgin emblematic?

 

            Weeping Virgin. The weeping virgin with dishevelled hair, in the monument of the third degree, used in the American Rite, is interpreted as a symbol of grief for the unfinished state of the Temple. Jeremy Cross, who is said to have fabricated the monumental symbol, was not, we are satisfied, acquainted with hermetic science. Yet a woman thus portrayed, standing near a tomb, was a very appropriate symbol for the third degree, whose dogma is the resurrection. In hermetic science, according to Nicholas Flammel, a woman having her hair dishevelled and standing near a tomb is a symbol of the soul.

 

1005 - What formula is used by the Grand Master at the laying of a corner‑ stone?

 

            Well Formed, True and Trusty. A formula used by the Grand Master at the laying of a cornerstone. Having applied the square, level and plumb to its different surfaces and angles, he declares it to be "well formed, true and trusty." Borrowing from the technical language of Operative Masonry, it is symbolically applied in reference to the character which the Entered Apprentice should sustain when, in the course of his initiation, he assumes the place of a typical cornerstone in the Lodge.

 

1006 - What is the symbolism of the West?

 

            West. Where the sun closes its daily race, there the thanks of the inhabitants of the world follow it, and with the ensuing morning it again commences its benevolent course. Every brother draws near to the evening of his days; and well will it be with him if at the close of his labors he can look forward with hope for a good reward for his work.

 

1007 - Of what is the color white emblematic?

 

            White. This color has even been regarded as emblematic of purity and innocence. In the York rite the apron is always of this color, though the trimming varies in the symbolic and chapitral degrees. "Let thy garments be always WHITE," etc.

 

1008 - What rules apply to the relief of Masonic widows and orphans?

           

            Widows and Orphans. The wives and children of Masons, while claiming relief through the right of their husbands and fathers, are subject to the same principles and restrictions as those which govern the application of Masons themselves. The destitute widow or orphans of a deceased Mason have a claim for relief upon the whole fraternity, which is to be measured by the same standard that would be applied if the Brother himself were alive, and asking for assistance.

 

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1009 - Under what circumstances does the widow of a Mason forfeit her claim to Masonic relief?

 

            Widows of Masons. The Committee on Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of New York, in 1851, announced the doctrine that the widow of a Mason does not forfeit her right to claim relief, although she may have married a second time. I regret that I cannot concur in this too liberal view. It appears to me that the widow of a Mason de‑rives her claim to Masonic relief from the fact of her widowhood only, and therefore, that when she abandons that widowhood, she forfeits her claim. On her second marriage, her relations to the Order are obliterated as completely as are her relations to him whose name she has abandoned for that of another. If her new husband is not a Mason, I cannot see upon what ground she could rest her claim to Masonic protection; not as the wife of her second husband, for that would give no foundation for such a claim - not certainly as the widow of the first, for she is no longer a widow.

 

1010 - Who was called the widow's son, and why?

 

            Widow's Son. Hiram, the architect, is described in two places of Scripture; in the first he is called a widow's son, of the tribe of Naphtali, and in the other is called the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; but in both that his father was a man of Tyre; that is, she was of the daughters of the city of Dan, in the tribe of Naphtali, and is called a widow of Naphtali, as her husband was a Naphtalite; for he is not called a Tyrian by descent, but a man of Tyre by habitation.

 

1011 - Of what is the winding staircase emblematic?

 

            Winding Staircase. When the Fellowcrafts went to receive their wages, they ascended a winding staircase, the steps of which, like all the Masonic symbols, are illustrative of discipline and doctrine, as well as of natural, mathematical, and metaphysical science, and open to us an extensive range of moral and speculative inquiry. In their delineation, the steps, which count odd numbers, should be more particularly marked as one, three, five, seven, eleven; and in ascending them the Fellowcraft should pause on each alternate step, and consider the several stages of his progress, as well as the important lessons which are there inculcated.

 

1012 - What is the legend of the winding stairs?

 

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

 

The steps of this winding staircase commenced, we are informed, at the porch of the Temple; that is to say, at its very entrance. But nothing is more undoubted in the science of Masonic symbolism than that

 

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the Temple was the representative of the world purified by the Shekinah, or Divine Presence. The world of the profane is without the Temple, the world of the initiated is within its sacred walls. Hence to enter the Temple, to pass within the porch, to be made a Mason, and to be born into the world of Masonic light, are all synonymous and convertible terms. Here, then, the symbolism of the winding stairs, begins.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The candidate, then, in the second degree of Masonry, represents a man starting forth on the journey of life, with the great task before him of self‑improvement. For the faithful performance of this task, a reward is promised, which reward consists in the development of all his intellectual faculties, the moral and spiritual elevation of his character, and the acquisition of truth and knowledge. Now, the attainment of this moral and intellectual condition supposes an elevation of character, an ascent from a lower to a higher life, and a passage of toil and difficulty, through rudimentary instruction, to the full fruition of wisdom. This is therefore beautifully symbolized by the winding stairs, at whose foot the aspirant stands ready to climb the toilsome steep, while at its top is placed "that hieroglyphic bright which none but Craftsmen ever saw," as the emblem of divine truth. And hence a distinguished writer has said that "these steps, like all the Masonic symbols, are illustrative of discipline and doctrine, as well as of natural, mathematical and meta‑physical science, and open to us an extensive range of moral and speculative inquiry." The candidate, incited by the love of virtue and the desire of knowledge, and withal eager for the reward of truth which is set before him, begins at once the toilsome ascent. At each division he pauses to gather instruction from the symbolism which these divisions present to his attention.

 

At the first pause which he makes he is instructed in the peculiar organization of the order of which he has become a disciple. But the information here given, if taken in its naked, literal sense, is barren, and unworthy of his labor. The rank of the officers who govern, and the names of the degrees which constitute the Institution, can give him no knowledge which he has not before possessed. We must look there‑

 

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fore to the symbolic meaning of these allusions for any value which may be attached to this part of the ceremony.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

"These seven heads," says Enfield, "were supposed to include universal knowledge. He who was master of these was thought to have no need of a preceptor to explain any books or to solve any questions which lay within the compass of human reason, the knowledge of trivium having furnished him with the key to all language, and that of the quadrivium having opened to him the secret laws of nature." At a period, says the same writer, when few were instructed in the trivium, and very few studied the quadrivium, to be master of both was sufficient to complete the character of a philosopher. The propriety, therefore, of adopting the seven liberal arts and sciences as a symbol of the completion of human learning is apparent. The candidate, having reached this point, is now supposed to have accomplished the task upon which he had entered - he has reached the last step, and is now ready to receive the full fruition of human learning.

 

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

 

Here let me again allude to the symbolism of numbers, which is for the first time presented to the consideration of the Masonic student in the legend of the winding stairs. The theory of numbers as the symbols of certain qualities was originally borrowed by the Masons from the

 

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school of Pythagoras. It will be impossible, however, to develop this doctrine, in its entire extent, in the present article, for the numeral symbolism of Masonry would itself constitute materials for an ample essay. It will be sufficient to advert to the fact that the total number of the steps, amounting in all to fifteen in the American system, is a significant symbol. For fifteen was a sacred number among the Orientals, because the letters of the holy name JAII, were, in their numerical value, equivalent to fifteen; and hence a figure in which the nine digits were so disposed as to make fifteen either way when added together perpendicularly, horizontally, or diagonally, constituted one of their most sacred talismans. The fifteen steps in the winding stairs are therefore symbolic of the name of God.

 

But we are not yet done. It will be remembered that a reward was promised for all this toilsome ascent of the winding stairs. Now, what are the wages of a Speculative Mason? Not money, nor corn, nor wine, nor oil. All these are but symbols. His wages are Truth, or that approximation to it which will be most appropriate to the degree into which he has been initiated. It is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time abstruse, doctrines of the science of Masonic symbolism that the Mason is ever to be in search of truth, but is never to find it. This divine truth, the object of all his labors, is symbolized by the Word, for which we all know he can only obtain a substitute; and this is intended to teach the humiliating but necessary lesson that the knowledge of the nature of God and of man's relation to him, which knowledge constitutes divine truth, can never be acquired in this life. It is only when the portals of the grave open to us, and give us an entrance into a more perfect life, that this knowledge is to be attained. "Happy is the man," says the father of lyric poetry, "who descends beneath the hollow earth, having beheld these mysteries; he knows the end, he knows the origin of life." The middle chamber is therefore symbolic of this life, where the symbol only of the Word can be given, where the truth is to be reached by approximation only, and yet where we are to learn that that truth will consist in a perfect knowledge of the G. A. O. T. U. This is the reward of the inquiring Mason; in this consist the wages of a Felloweraft; he is directed to the truth, but must travel farther and ascend still higher to attain it.

 

It is, then, as a symbol, and a symbol only, that we must study this beautiful legend of the winding stairs. If we attempt to adopt it as a historical fact, the absurdity of its details stares us in the face, and wise men wonder at our credulity. Its inventors had no desire thus to impose upon our folly; but offering it to us as a great philosophical myth, they did not for a moment suppose that we would pass over its sublime moral teachings to accept the allegory as a historical narrative without meaning, and wholly irreconciliable with the records of Scripture, and

 

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opposed by all the principles of probability. To suppose that eighty thousand craftsmen were weekly paid in the narrow precincts of the Temple chambers, is simply to suppose an absurdity. But to believe that all this pictorial representation of an ascent by a winding staircase to the place where the wages of labor were to be received was an alle, gory to teach us the ascent of the mind from ignorance, through all the toils of study and the difficulties of obtaining knowledge, receiving here a little and there a little, adding something to the stock of our ideas at each step, until in the middle chamber of life - in the full fruition of manhood - the reward is attained, and the purified and elevated intellect is invested with the reward in the direction how to seek God and God's truth; to believe this, is to believe and to know the true design of Speculative Masonry, the only design which makes it worthy of a good or a wise man's study.

 

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

 

1013 - How can a Mason acquire wisdom?

 

            Wisdom. Those alone are wise who exercise the powers of the mind in secrecy, and who, without any selfish object, endeavor to pro‑mote the universal happiness of mankind, neither fortune nor misfortune are able to drive from a calm and steady progress through life. To possess Masonic wisdom it is not necessary to be very learned, or to have a most penetrating genius; the man of good plain common sense may be more Masonically wise than the most learned man in existence. It is not the act of a wise man to make a great profession of wisdom; and the secrets of our lodges ought to teach us how to exercise our Ma‑sonic wisdom.

 

1014 - Is it lawful for a member to demit without making application for membership in another Lodge?

 

            Withdrawal from Membership. The only question of Masonic jurisprudence on this subject which has given rise to any discussion is, whether a member can demit from a Lodge for the distinct purpose of severing all active connection with the Order, and becoming an unaffiliated Mason. And it may be observed, that it is only within a few years that the right to do even this has been denied.

 

The Grand Lodge of Connecticut, in 1853, decided "that no Lodge should grant a demit to any of its members, except for the purpose of joining some other Lodge; and that no member shall be considered as having withdrawn from one Lodge until he has actually become a member of another." The Grand Lodge of Texas, governed by a similar view of the subject, has declared that it does not recognize the right of a Mason to demit or separate himself from the Lodge in which he was made or may after‑wards be admitted, except for the purpose of joining another Lodge, or MASONRY DEFINED       563  when he may be about to remove without the jurisdiction of the Lodge of which he is a member.

 

I regret that I cannot concur in the correctness, in point of law, of these decisions and others of a similar import that have been made by some other Grand Lodges. Of course it is admitted that there is no Ma‑sonic duty more explicitly taught in the ancient Constitutions than that which requires every Mason to be a member of some Lodge. But I can‑not deny to any man the right of withdrawing, whenever he pleases, from a voluntary association. The laws of the land would not sustain the Masonic authorities in the enforcement of such a regulation, and our own self‑respect, if there were no other motive, should prevent us from attempting it.

 

Freemasonry is, in all respects, a voluntary association, and as no one is expected or permitted to enter within its folds unless it be of his "own free will and accord," so should his continuance in it be through an exercise of the same voluntary disposition. These are the views which were entertained by a committee whose report was adopted in 1854 by the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and which they have expressed in the following language: "We recognize fully the doctrine laid down in the ancient Constitutions, `that it is the duty of every Mason to belong to some regular Lodge.' But as his entrance into the fraternity is of his own free will and accord, so should be the performance of this and every other Masonic duty. When, from whatever cause, he desires to withdraw his membership from the Lodge, it is his undoubted right to ask, and the duty of the Lodge, if there be no objection to his moral standing, to grant him an honorable discharge." This, then, appears to me to be the state of the law on this subject; a Mason, being in good standing, has a right to claim a demit from his Lodge, and the Lodge cannot withhold it. But a demit from a Lodge, as it severs the relation of the demitting member to his Lodge, and re‑leases him. from the obligation to pay dues, deprives him also of certain privileges with which his membership had invested him. These, how‑ever, will become the subject of consideration when we treat of unaffiliated Masons, in which class a demit necessarily places the individual who receives it.

 

Although, as I have already said, there is no law in any of the ancient Constitutions which fortids the granting of demits to individual Masons, yet the whole spirit of the institution is opposed to such a system. To ask for a demit, without the intention to unite with another Lodge, is an act which no Mason can commit without violating the obligations which he owes to the Order. It is an abandonment of his colors, and although we have no power to prevent his desertion, yet we can visit his unfaithfulness with moral condemnation.

 

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1015 - Under what circumstances is it lawful for a number of members to withdraw at the same time from a Lodge?

 

            Withdrawal of Members to Form a New Lodge. When several brethren at one time apply for demits, the regulation prescribes that these demits shall be granted only where the Lodge is already too mimerous, and the intention of the demitting brethren is to form a new Lodge, they have a dispensation for that purpose from the Grand Master, or at once to unite themselves with another Lodge. The withdrawal of many members at one time from a small Lodge would manifestly tend to its injury, and perhaps cause its dissolution; and when this is done without the intention of those who have withdrawn to unite with any other Lodge, it is to be presumed that the act has been the result of pique or anger, and should not, therefore, be encouraged by the law.

 

Still, however, we are again met with the difficulty which opposes us in the consideration of an application for a single demit. How is the law to be enforced? The Regulation of

1721 simply declares that "no set or number of brethren shall withdraw or separate themselves from the Lodge," but it affixes no penalty for the violation of the regulation, and if a number of brethren should desire to withdraw I know of no power in the Masonic institution which can prevent them from exercising that right. It is true, that if an unmasonic feeling of anger or pique is plainly exhibited, so that a charge can be predicated on it, the demits may be withheld until the charge is disproved. But unless such charge is made, the demits must be granted.

 

1016 - Is it permissable to withdraw a petition after it has been read?

 

            Withdrawal of Petition. A petition having been once read cannot be withdrawn. It must go through the ordeal of investigation and ballot. This, too, is a regulation derived from constant and universal usage, rather than from an expressed statutory provision. The Ancient Constitutions say nothing on the subject; but so general has been the custom that it may now be considered as having the force of an unwritten law. Many Grand Lodges have, in fact, adopted it as a specific regulation, and in others, the practice is pursued, as it were, by tacit consent. Besides, the analogy of our speculative institution to an operative art gives sanction to the usage. The candidate for Masonry has al‑ways been considered, symbolically, as material brought up for the building of the temple. This material must be rejected or accepted. It cannot be carried elsewhere for further inspection. The Lodge to which it is first brought must decide upon its fitness. To withdraw the petition would be to prevent the Lodge from making that decision, and therefore no petition for initiation, having been once read, can be with‑drawn; it must go through the necessary forms.

 

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1017 - What regulations govern the right of a Lodge to do the work of Ancient Craft Masonry?

 

            Work of Ancient Craft Masonry. A Lodge has the right to do all the work of ancient craft Masonry. This is the principal object for which the Lodge was constituted. Formerly, Lodges were empowered to exalt their candidates to the Royal Arch degree, but since the beginning of this century this power has been transferred in this country to Chapters, and a Lodge is now only authorized to confer the three degrees of symbolic Masonry, and also, at the time of installation, to invest its Master with the degree or order of Past Master. But this power to do the work of Masonry is restricted and controlled by certain very important regulations.

 

The candidate upon whom the Lodge is about to confer any of the degrees of ancient craft Masonry must apply by petition, duly recommended; for no Lodge has the right to intrude the secrets of the institution upon any person who has expressed no anxiety to receive them.

 

The candidate must be possessed of the proper qualifications.

 

His application must undergo a ballot, and he must be unanimously elected.

 

The‑Regulations of 1721 prescribe that a Lodge cannot confer the degrees on more than five candidates at one time, which last words have been interpreted to mean at the same communication. In the second and all subsequent editions of the Constitution, this law was modified by the qualification "without an urgent necessity;" and this seems to be the view now taken of it by the authorities of the Order, for it is held that it may be set aside by the dispensation of the Grand Master.

 

It seems also to be a very general regulation that no Lodge shall confer more than one degree on the same candidate at one communication, unless it be on urgent necessity, by the dispensation of the Grand Master. We find no such rule in the General Regulations of 1721, be‑cause there was no necessity at that time for it, as subordinate Lodges conferred only one degree, that of Entered Apprentice. But subsequently, when the usage was adopted of conferring all the degrees in the subordinate Lodges, it was found necessary, in this way, to restrain the too rapid advancement of candidates; and accordingly, in 1753, it was ordered that no Lodge shall "be permitted to make and raise the same brother at one and the same meeting, without a dispensation from the Grand Master." But as no such regulation is to be found in any of the written or unwritten laws previous to 1717, it can only have such authority as is derived from the local enactment of a Grand Lodge, or the usage in a particular jurisdiction. But the usage in this country always has been opposed to conferring more than one degree at the same communication, without a dispensation.

 

566     MASONRY DEFINED

 

1018 - Who may knock at the doors of Masonry?

 

            Worldly Wealth. Masonry regards no man on account of his worldly wealth and honor. The poor as well as the rich may knock at the door of our temple, and gain admission. All are welcome if found worthy to receive light. This is strictly spiritual: "Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and the door shall be opened unto you."

 

1019 - What is the supreme duty of a Mason?

 

            Worship of God. The highest duty of a Freemason is expressed by these words. The expression of veneration for the Supreme Being, of submission to his will, and of thankfulness for his goodness, though it may be offered in the secret stillness of the heart, will often be conveyed by external visible signs, through which the feelings of awe and love endeavor to manifest themselves in the most favorable and lively manner. These acts of homage to a superior power will be characterized by more or less of rudeness or elevation, as the conceptions of the object of worship are more or less gross or spiritual. Prayer or sacrifice, accompanied with various ceremonies, are the most general external acts by which the feelings of religious veneration are expressed; and while some nations and sects are eager to surround these acts with all the splendor of earthly pomp, others think to render them more worthy of the Being to whom they are addressed by reducing them to the simplest form. Freemasonry, through all its degrees, and in every part of its ritual, earnestly inculcates this duty of worship.

 

1020 - What is the proper title of a Master of a Lodge, and why?

 

            Worshipful Master. He who has attained the third degree in Free‑masonry is a Master; and where they do not work in the so‑called high degrees, has attained the summit of his profession. None but Fellow‑crafts who have been found worthy can obtain this degree. As a Master Mason he has a voice in all the consultations of the officers of the lodge, and he may, if possessed of sufficient Masonic skill, be appointed to any office in the lodge, even that of Worshipful Master. This is the highest preferment a Mason can obtain in St. John's Masonry, through the three degrees of which every candidate for the Past Master's degree must have passed. If there are members in the lodge who have the higher degrees, they are generally elected Worshipful Master, but al‑though it is by no means necessary to possess those degrees to enable a brother to be elected to the chair, it is absolutely necessary that he should be a man of good moral character, and extensive Masonic information; he is then elected by his brother Master Masons for one year. The greatest care and caution ought to be used by the brethren at this election to prevent the lodge being injured by the election of an improper person. He must also be well acquainted with the Order, its doctrines,

 

MASONRY DEFINED          567 

 

its secrets, its history, and constitution, and must possess the power of communicating his own reflection upon all these subjects, in a clear, comprehensive form, to the brethren.

 

1021 - What is the Masonic meaning of the word "worthy?"

 

            Worthy. The applicant must be worthy. In the language of the Charge already quoted, he must be "a true and genuine Brother." The word true is here significant. It is the pure old Saxon treawe, which means faithful, and implies that he must be one who have been faithful to his duties, faithful to his trusts, faithful to his obligations. The bad man, and especially the bad Mason, is unfaithful to all these, and is not true. There is no obligation either in the written law, or the ritualistic observances of the Order, that requires a Mason to relieve such an unworthy applicant. By his infidelity to his promises, he brings discredit on the institution, and forfeits all his rights to relief. A suspended or expelled Mason, or one who, though neither, is yet of bad character and immoral conduct, cannot rightfully claim the assistance of a Mason, or a Lodge of Masons.

 

1022 - Is it lawful to accept a letter of introduction as an avouchment?

 

            Written Avouchment. No written avouchment, however distinguished may be the Mason who sends it, or however apparently respect‑able may be the person who brings it, is of any value in Masonry. Letters of introduction, in which light only such an avouchment can be considered, are liable to be forged or stolen; and it is not permitted to trust the valuable secrets of Masonry to contingencies of so probable a nature. Hence, whatever confidence we may be disposed to place in the statements of an epistle from a friend, so far as they respect the social position of the bearer, we are never to go further; but any declarations of Masonic character or standing are to be considered as valueless, unless confirmed by an examination.

 

1023 - What is the basis of Masonic chronology?

 

            Year of Masonry. The birth of Christ is commonly given to the autumn of the year

5 before Christ, which is an apparent anomaly, which may require a few words of explanation. The era of the birth of Christ was not in use until about

532 A.D., in the time of Justinian, when it was introduced by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian by birth, and a Roman abbot; and it only began to prevail in the West about the time of Charles Martel and Pope Gregory II., A.D. 730. It has long been agreed by all chronologers that Dionysius made a mistake in placing the birth of Christ some years too late; but the amount of the difference has been variously estimated at two, three, four, five, and even eight years. The general conclusion is that which is adopted in our Bibles, and which places the birth of Christ four years before the common era, or more

 

568     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

probably a few months more. In Masonry we add 4000 up to the birth of Christ, and that sum constitutes the reputed year of Masonry.

 

1024 - Upon what legend is based the old York Constitution of 926?

 

            York Constitution of 926. The "Old York Constitutions" were so called from the city of York, where they were enacted, and sometimes the "Gothic Constitutions," from the fact that they were written in the old Gothic character. Of these constitutions, which are the oldest now extant, the history is given in a record written in the reign of Edward IV., the substance of which is copied by Anderson. According to this record, we learn that Prince Edwin, having been taught Masonry, obtained from his brother, King Athelstan, a free charter, "for the Masons having a correction among themselves (as it was anciently expressed), or a freedom and power to regulate themselves, to amend what might happen amiss, and to hold a yearly communication and general assembly.

 

"Accordingly, Prince Edwin summoned all the Masons in the realm to meet him in a congregation at York, who came and composed a General Lodge, of which he was Grand Master; and having brought with them all the writings and records extant, some in Greek, some in Latin, some in French and other languages, from the contents thereof that assembly did frame the Constitution and Charges of an English Lodge, made a law to preserve and observe the same in all time coming, and ordained good pay for the working Masons," &c.

 

The Constitutions thus framed at the city of York, in the year 926, were seen, approved and confirmed, as we are informed by Anderson, in the reign of Henry I., and were then recognized as the fundamental law of Masonry. The document containing them was lost for a long time, although, according to Oliver, copies are known to have been taken during the reign of Richard II.; at the revival of Masonry, however, in

1717, not a transcript was to be found. A copy was, however, discovered in 1838, by Mr. James Orchard Halliwell, in the British Museum, and published.

 

1025 - Who was the builder of the second Temple?

 

            Zerubbabel. The son of Salathiel, of the royal race of David. Cyrus committed to his care the sacred vessels of the temple, with which he returned to Jerusalem. He is always named first, as being the chief of the Jews that returned to their own country, where he laid the foundations of the second temple. When the Samaritans offered to assist in rebuilding the temple, Zerubbabel and the principal men of Judah refused them this honor, since Cyrus had granted his commission to the Jews only.

 

 

 

Form of Petition Used by Operative Masons, with Charges

and Obligations

 

It will be of great interest to the craft to learn the ceremonies of conferring the degrees in the Operative Lodges, and to note their similarity to the ceremonies of the Speculative Lodges.

 

This information has been gathered from many sources but we are indebted to Bro. Geo. Thornburgh, Past Grand Master of Arkansas, for the complete forms of petitions, charges, etc.

 

The form of the petition to an Operative Lodge for apprenticeship was as follows:

 

"I, . . . . . . . . . . . , being the son of a Free Man and . . . . . . years of age, humbly crave to be made an apprentice to the Ancient and Honorable Craft. I am prompted by a favorable opinion preconceived of the fraternity, and I desire full knowledge to enable me to work at the trade. I promise that I will conform to all the ancient usages and established customs of the Order."

 

The candidate had to be proposed by one Mason, seconded by another and supported by five more. The application for apprentice‑ship was posted at the entrance of the quarry or workshop for fourteen days. On three occasions he must stand by his application, when the men are going to and from work, so that all may see him; and if any‑one knows anything against him, it must be reported at the head office, and the' matter investigated. If accepted, he had to appear on the appointed day - the sixth of the week - at high twelve, at the quarry or workshop. He applies at the door, and is admitted on giving the proper password, which had been given him. He is admitted within the entrance of the Lodge, usually a porch with double doors, and takes an oath not to reveal any part of the proceedings. This is sealed by his kissing the book. The candidate puts his fee on the lower ledge of a foot stone.

 

It may be interesting just ,at this point to describe briefly the Lodge room of the Operatives, as they are about to confer the first degree. There are three Masters. They sit in the west so that they face and can see the rising sun. The Junior Warden sits in the north so that he can see the sun at its meridian height, and the Senior Warden sits in the east so that he can see the setting sun. The altar is in the center of the Lodge; over it is suspended the letter G, and the Rough Ashlar stone

 

569

 

570     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

is on its east side. There are three Deacons present, one for the Masters and one for each Warden.

 

Inside the porch the candidate is divested of all money and hood‑winked. Then three men come out of the Lodge, divest him of all his clothes, and dirty him with mud. The doctor then arrives and removes the hoodwink. He is told to "Wash and be clean." The bath is ready and the candidate bathes. Seven times does he dip. The doctor then examines him to see that he is sound in wind and limb and reports him "perfect in all his parts." Then he is elected by the "cleanhand" sign. He is clothed in a white cloak, whence the original symbol of white, signifying a candidate, is obtained, the word candidate meaning liter‑ally "I am white." The candidate is again hoodwinked, still clothed in the white cloak. He has also a blue cord looped around his neck, held by a man in front and a man behind, and a second blue cord around his center, held by a man on each side. The neck cord being longer than the center cord, the four men make a diamond, with the candidate in the center. This diamond had a reference to Operative Masonry, and the candidate and his four attendants make "five points," which has another reference to Operative methods.

 

The candidate now makes application at the inner door. The sword is held to his n.

l. b. so as to draw blood. He is then admitted and led to the N. E. corner. Here he is questioned. What age are you? What is your character? What is your knowledge? Where have you been working? Have you been a member of any Guild or Company before? Do you swear you have never been expelled, discharged or "run away" from any work? In all cases of D. and D. I. W. D. you put y. t.? In El Shaddai is all my t. Right. Rise. The brothers in E., S., W., and N. will take notice that  -  is about to pass before them. He is asked if he sees anything. He replies No, and the hoodwink is slightly raised, so that by bending his head a little forward he is able to see his own feet and two or three feet in front of them. He is then cautioned to keep strictly to the rack or tesselated border, and is led once around it. He has put one foot in front of the other, toe to heel, and so on; it is called "end on work," or "work in line." The candidate has to make this perambulation once correctly without failure. From the N. E. corner he goes to the S. E., then to S. W., then to N. W. Then he comes to the Junior Warden, who bars his progress. On due report the bar is raised and the candidate proceeds. Then back to the N. E. corner and to Senior Warden, who bars progress again. On due report the bar is removed and then a strip of scarlet is laid down leading to the Rough Ashlar stone on the east side of the altar, so that the candidate shall not step on the squares of the Mosaic Pavement as he is led to the Ashlar stone. Here he kneels with both knees bare on the rough Ashlar stone, with the left hand S. T. H. B. T. R. R. T.

 

It is interesting to note that this is still preserved as a sign in the

 

MASONRY DEFINED          571 

 

Lodges under the Scotch Grand Lodge, as well as among the Operative Freemasons.

 

He then takes the following obligation:  "I, . . . . . . . do in the presence of El Shaddai and of this worshipful assembly of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plasterers and Bricklayers, promise and declare that I will not at any time hereafter, by any act or circumstance whatsoever, directly or indirectly, write, print, cut, mark, publish, discover, reveal or make known any part or parts of the trade secrets, privileges or councils of the Worshipful Fraternity or Fellowship of Freemasonry, which I may have known at any time, or at any time hereafter shall be made known unto me.

 

"The penalty for breaking this great oath shall be the loss of my life.

 

"That I shall be branded with the mark of the traitor and slain according to ancient customs by being throatalled. * * * SO THAT MY SOUL HAVE NO REST BY NIGHT OR DAY. "Given under my hand and sealed with my lips.

 

"So help me El Shaddai and the holy contents of this book.

 

The form of these oaths explains the archaic form of the obligation in the Speculative Ritual. People of the Middle Ages believed the soul could not rest unless the body was properly buried, hence the craving was for Christian burial. It is really the remnant of a Pagan idea transmitted to Christian times. The ancient Romans believed that the soul of an unburied body could not pass the Styx for at least a hundred years.

 

There is no doubt that in ancient times it was contemplated that these penalties should be actually inflicted; indeed, at a time when physical mutilation such as amputation of a hand, and hanging, drawing and quartering were still in our statute books, there was nothing incongruous in such an oath. Papworth and Gould record that in

1099 a Bishop of Utrecht was slain for extracting the grand secret from the son of a Master, Mason.

 

After taking the obligation the candidate is requested to seal it with his lips. As his lips are brought to the book, a large seal of soft wax is placed underneath them; his heed is forcibly pushed downward so that an actual impression of his lips is taken by the wax, and his obligation is "sealed with his lips" actually and literally. When the obligation is finished the Master says to the Deacons, "Give light that he may place his hand to the bond." A pen is put in his hand, and he signs the bond, "Given under my hand and sealed with my lips." The candidate is then assisted to rise with the words, "Rise, apprentice to the Craft of Freemasons."

 

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He is then given the grip, which is the same as that of the Speculatives, only it must be "covered;" and the word is "Jabal." Then the charge is given as follows:

 

 

CHARGE TO THE APPRENTICE TO THE CRAFT OF FREEMASONS

 

1. You shall truly honor El Shaddai, and his holy church, the King, your Master, and Warden; you shall not absent yourself, but with the license of one or both of them from their service, by day or by night.

 

2. You shall not purloin or steal, or be privy or accessory to the purloining or stealing of the value of six pence from them or either of them.

 

3. You shall not commit adultery or fornication in the house of your Master, with his wife, daughter or maid.

 

4. You shall not disclose your Master's or Wardens' secrets or councils, which they have reported unto you, or what is to be concealed, spoken or done within the privities of their house, by them or either of them, or by any Freemason.

 

5. You shall not maintain any disobedient argument with your Master, Warden, or any Freemason.

 

6. You shall reverently behave yourself toward all Freemasons, using neither cards, dice or any other unlawful games, Christmas time excepted.

 

7. You shall not haunt or frequent any taverns or alehouses, or so much as to go inside any of them, except it be your Master's or your Wardens', with their or the one of their consents.

 

8. You shall not commit adultery or fornication in any man's house where you shall be at table or work.

 

9. You shall not marry, or contract yourself to any woman during your apprenticeship.

 

10. You shall not steal any man's goods, but especially your Master's or any of his fellow‑Masons, nor suffer any to steal their goods, but shall hinder the felon if you can; and if you cannot, then you shall acquaint the Master and his fellows presently.

 

11. All these articles and charges, which I have now recited unto you, you shall well and truly observe, perform and keep to the best of your power and knowledge.

 

So help you El Shaddai and the true and holy contents of this book.

 

From this charge you will see that the Operative Freemasons require their apprentices to respect chastity of the womenkind of Freemasons. It is also noteworthy that the dame of the house where they hold a Lodge is protected, and she is also sworn not to lead any member of the Craft into sin.

 

MASONRY DEFINED          573 

 

The candidate is then actually presented with his working tools, which are the chisel, the small maul and the straight edge, and is invested with the apprentice's apron.

 

He is next taken to the N. E. cornerstone. Here he is asked by the foreman how he is going to live until he draws his first week's money. If he says he is poor, then his foreman takes him before the Masters in the chair and reports that he has no means of living. The Masters crave charity for him and a collection is taken on his behalf. (This is, doubt‑less, the origin of the deposit Speculative Freemasons ask of their candidate.) If, however, he says he has money or will live with his father, no collection is made. For seven years he remains an apprentice, being taught his trade. During this time he wears his blue neck cord as a sign that he is still bound as an apprentice.

 

This wearing a collar as a sign of bondage is a very old custom. In Anglo‑Saxon and Norman days, serfs and bondsmen were accustomed to wear collars of metal securely riveted around their necks. (In many jurisdictions the blue collar is now worn and in some Lodges in Arkansas they are found. They are worn by the officers and the jewels are suspended from the lower end of them.) At the end of the seven years the apprentice applies to be made free of his bond. The following application has to be posted up at the entrance of the stoneyard quarry or works.

 

"Application to the Superintendent of the Works of the Worshipful Society of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wailers, Slaters, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.

 

"I, . . . . . having well and truly served an entered apprentice to the Craft of Freemasons for seven years, and being to the full age of twenty‑one years, humbly crave to be made free of that bond, to enable me to be passed to the honorable degree of Fellow of the Craft of Freemason. I further promise and swear that if once admitted to the fellowship I will forever conform to the ancient charges, usages, and established customs of the Fraternity, as Fellows have done in all ages." The applicant has to go and kneel on the same Ashlar he was bound seven years before. The bond is torn up, the blue cord is removed from his neck.

 

"Rise, free brother; you are now superior to an apprentice, but inferior to a Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons." He is then given the pass grip and pass word leading from the first to the second degree. Both are the same as the Speculatives.

 

There again the grip must be "covered." He then takes a formal farewell of the apprentices, and for the future he must associate with the Fellows.

 

Before the candidate can be accepted as suitable to be passed to the second degree he has to prepare a rough dressed Ashlar stone as a

 

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specimen of his work. A rough dressed Ashlar stone is the Ashlar as it is prepared in the first degree or apprentice yard for the more expert workman. It is dressed one‑sixteenth of an inch too large all over; and this stone has to be prepared by the candidate and passed by the Inspector of Material before the free brother can be passed as a Fellow of the Craft.

 

When the candidate goes into the second degree Lodge to be made a Fellow of the Craft, he must have this specimen of his work with him. He must swear it is all his own work. "No man hath used a tool upon it." (Here is a hint at the Mark degree.) At the appointed time, again at 12 noon on a Friday, he goes to the door of the second degree yard and knocks. On giving the pass grip and pass word he is admitted. The Master gives notice, "The Fellows in the E., S., W., and N., will take notice that Brother . . . . .  is about to pass in view before them to show that he is a candidate properly prepared to be made a Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons." He is then led around the candidate's track twice. This time his right foot is put transversely across the axis of the Lodge and then his left foot parallel to the axis of the Lodge. This is "header and stretcher" work, or "one and one," the Operatives call it. He is then led to the altar, where, kneeling on a rough dressed Ashlar stone, on both knees bare, he takes the obligation, as follows:

 

"I, . . . . do in the presence of El Shaddai and of this worshipful assembly of Fellows of the Craft of Free Masons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers here present, promise and declare that I will not at any time hereafter, by any act or circumstance, whatsoever, directly or indirectly, publish, discover, reveal or make known any of the secrets, privities or councils of the Fellows of the Craft of Freemasons which at this time, or any time hereafter, shall be made known unto me. That I will not permit or suffer any laborer to be employed in the proper work of Freemasonry; that I will not work with those that are not free, and that I will not teach laborers and unaccepted Masons, as I would teach apprentices or Fellows of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

"I further promise and declare that I will strictly preserve the honor of all Freemasons of whatever degree; that I will not commit adultry or fornication with the wife, daughter or maid of any Free‑mason.

 

"The penalty for breaking this great oath shall be the loss of my Life. That I shall be branded with the mark of the traitor and slain according to the ancient custom.

 

"Given under my hand and sealed with my lips twice. So help me El Shaddai and the holy contents of this book." After the obligation it is said to him, "Rise, accepted Fellow of

 

MASONRY DEFINED          575 

 

the Craft of Freemasons." Then the signs of a Fellow are given. They are the same as the Speculative, the word is "Bonai." This word proves he is a Fellow of the Craft, and means builder. The traditional history is now recited to him by the first Master Mason.

 

 

THE TRADITIONAL HISTORY

 

"Good Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons, you have been passed as a Fellow of this ancient and worshipful Fraternity. It is our purpose to tell you how and in what manner this worthy Craft of Masonry was begun, and afterward how it was kept by worthy Kings and Princes and by many other worshipful men.

 

"Before Noah's flood there was a man that was called Lamech, and this Lamech had two wives, the one called Adah, and the other Zillah. By his first wife, Adah, he gat two sons, the one called Jabal and the other Jubal. And by the other wife, Zillah, he gat a son, Tubal Cain, and a daughter, Nazmah, and these four children founded the beginning of all the crafts in the world. The eldest son, Jabal, founded the craft of geometry; he had sheep and lambs in the field, and was the first Mason who wrought houses and walls of stone. And his brother, Jubal, founded the craft of music, song of mouth, harp, organ and trumpet. And the third son, Tubal Cain, found out the smith's craft of working in gold, silver, copper, iron and steel and all manner of forging. And the daughter, Nazmah, founded the craft of weaving. These four chil, dren knew well that God would do vengeance for sin, either by fire or water, wherefore they wrote the sciences that they had founded on two pillars of stone that they might be found after either fire or flood. The one pillar was made of marble, for that it cannot burn with fire, and the other pillar was made of stone called laternes, for that it cannot drown in any water. Our intent is to tell you truly in what manner these stones were found, on which were written these sciences.

 

"After the destruction of the world by Noah's flood, the great Hermarives, that was Cubies' son, afterwards called Hermes, the father of wisdom, found one of the seven sciences written thereon, and he taught it to other men. The first of the seven sciences is Grammar, and that teacheth a man to speak truly and write truly. The second is Rhetoric, and that teacheth a man to speak fair and in subtle terms. The third is Logic, and teacheth a man to discern or know the truth from falsehood. The fourth is Arithmetic, and teacheth a man to reckon and to count all manner of numbers. The fifth is Geometry, and that teacheth a man to mete and measure the earth, and all other things on which science is founded, Masonry and architecture. The sixth is called Music, and that teacheth a man of the craft of song, and voice of tongue, organ, harp and trumpet. And the seventh science is called Astronomy, and that teaeheth a man to know the course of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars of heaven.

 

 

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"These be the seven liberal sciences of the which all be founded by one; that is geometry, for geometry teacheth a man measure, ponderation and weight of all things on earth; for there is no man that worketh in any craft, but he worketh by some measure; and every man that buyeth or selleth, buy or sell by some measure or weight, and all this is geometry. And the merchants, craftsmen and all other sciences, and especially the plowmen, and tillers of all manner of grain and seeds, vines and plants, and the setters of all manner of fruit, cannot find mete and measure without geometry; wherefore the said science of geometry is the most worthy, as all the others are founded upon it.

 

"At the making of the Tower of Babylon was Masons first made much of, and the great king of Babylon called Nimrod was himself a Master Mason. He loved well the Craft and made the Masons free men and Freemasons in his kingdom. And when the city of Nineveh and other cities of the East were built, Nimrod, the King of Babylon, sent thither sixty Lodges of his Freemasons to Ashur, the King of Nineveh, his cousin, and when he sent them forth he gave them a charter and a charge after his manner." (The second Master gives "The Charge.")

 

 

CHARGES OF NIMROD - SECOND DEGREE

 

"That the Freemasons shall be true to El Shaddai, their King, their Lord and their Masters.

 

"That they shall truly serve their Masters for their pay, so that their Masters have worship, and all that belongeth to them.

 

"That they shall ordain the most wise and cunning men to be Masters of the work, and neither for love, riches nor favor set another that hath little cunning to be master of any work whereby the Lords should be ill served and the science shamed.

 

"That they shall be true one to another, and that they shall live truly together.

 

"That they shall assemble together once every year, to see how they might best serve the King and the Master for their profit and their own worship.

 

"That they shall correct within themselves, those that have trespassed against the Craft, so the worthy science be not dishonored.

 

"To all these charges he made them swear a great oath that men used at that time, and he ordained for them reasonable pay whereby they might live honestly.

 

"Long after, when the children of Israel were come into the land of Beerhest, that is now called mongst us the country of Jerusalem, King David began to prepare the ground and the stone for the Temple of Jerusalem. And the same King David loved well the Freemasons, and cherished them much and gave them good pay - and the charges right nigh as they be now.

 

MASONRY DEFINED          577 

 

"And after the decease of King David, Solomon, that was King David's son, performed out the temple that his father had begun, and he sent for Freemasons into diverse countries and lands and gathered them together so that he had four score thousand workmen that were workers of stone, and were all Freemasons, and he chose of them three thousand, three hundred that were ordained to be Masters and Governors of his works.

 

"And this same Solomon confirmed both the charges and manners that his father had given to the Masons, and thus was that worthy Craft confirmed in the country of Jerusalem and in many other kingdoms."

 

 

ANCIENT CHARGE TO THE FELLOW OF THE CRAFT OF FREEMASONS.

 

"1. I am to admonish you to honor El Shaddai in his holy church; that you use no heresy, schism, and error in your undertakings, or discredit man's teachings.

 

"2. To be true to our Sovereign Lord, the King, his heirs and lawful successors; committing no treason, misprison or felony; and if any man shall commit treason that you know of, you shall forthwith give notice thereof to his Majesty, his privy councilors, or some other person that hath commission to inquire thereof.

 

"3. You shall be true to your Fellows and brethren of the science of Masonry, and do unto them as you would be done unto.

 

"4. You shall keep secret the obscure and intricate parts of the science, not disclosing them to any but such as study and use the same.

 

"5. You shall do your work truly and faithfully, endeavoring the profit and advantage of him that is owner of the said work.

 

"6. You shall call Masons your Fellows and Brethren without addition of knaves and other bad language.

 

"7. You shall not take your neighbor's wife villainously, nor his daughter, nor his maid or his servant, to use ungodly.

 

"8. You shall not carnally lie with any woman that is belonging to the house where you are at table.

 

"9. You shall truly pay for your meat and drink where you are at table.

 

"10. You shall not undertake any man's work, knowing yourself unable or unexpert to perform and effect the science, or the Lord or owner of the said work be any way prejudiced.

 

"11. You shall not take any work to do at excessive or unreason‑able rates, to deceive the owner thereof, but so as he may be truly and faithfully served with his own goods.

 

"12. You shall so take your work that thereby you may live honestly and pay your Fellow the wages as the science doth require.

 

"13. You shall not supplant any of your Fellows of their work,

 

578     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

if he or any of them hath or have taken any work upon him or them, or he or they stand Master or Masters of any Lord of owner's work, that you shall not put him or them out from the said work, although you perceive him or them unable to finish the same.

 

"14. You shall not take any apprentice to serve you in the said science of Masonry, under the terms of seven years, nor any but such as are descended of good and honest parentage; that no scandal may be imputed to the said science of Masonry.

 

"15. You shall not take upon you to make any Mason, without the privity or consent of six, or five at least, of your Fellows, and not but such as is free born, and whose parents live in good fame and name, and that hath his right and perfect limbs, and able body to attend the said science.

 

"16. You shall not pay any of your Fellows more money than he or they have deserved, that you be not deceived by slight or false working and the owner thereof much wronged.

 

"17. You shall not slander any of your Fellows behind their backs to impair their temporal estate or good name.

 

"18. You shall not, without any urgent cause, answer your Fellow doggedly or ungodly, but as becomes a loving brother in the said science.

 

"19. You shall duly reverence your Fellows, that the bond of charity and mutual love may continue steadfast and stable among you.

 

"20. You shall not (except in Christmas time) use any lawless games as dice, cards or such like.

 

"21. You shall not frequent any houses of bawdery or be a pander to any of your Fellows or others, which will be a great scandal to the science.

 

"22. You shall not go out to drink by night, or if occasion happen that you must go, you shall not stay past eight of the clock, having some of your Fellows, or one at the least, to bear you witness of the honest places you were in, and your good behavior to avoid scandal.

 

"23. You shall come to the yearly assembly, if you know where it is kept, being within ten miles of the place of your abode, submitting yourself to the censure of your Fellows, wherein you have to make satisfaction or else to defend by order of the King's laws.

 

"24. You shall not make any mould, square or rule to mould stones withal, but such as are allowed by the Fraternity.

 

"25. You shall set strangers at work, having employment for them, at least a fortnight, and pay them their wages truly; and if you want work for them, then you shall relieve them with money to defray their reasonable charges to the next Lodge.

 

"26. You shall truly attend your work, and truly end the same, whether it be task or journey work, if you have the payment and wages according to your agreement made with the Master or owner thereof. "All these articles and charges, which I have now recited unto you,

 

MASONRY DEFINED          579 

 

you shall well and truly observe, perform and keep to the best of your power and knowledge. So help you El Shaddai and the true and holy contents of this book." Then the third Master, addressing the candidate, says: "The traditional history and the charges which have just been so ably delivered to you are the foundation stone, the commencement of the Worshipful Society of Freemasons, in all parts of the world, and in all ages." The new "Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons" is now invested with the Fellow's apron and is presented with his actual working tools, which are the plumb, the level and the square, another straight edge, and the perfect Ashlar square, which is a wooden frame with the ends over‑lapping like an Oxford frame, being the exact size of a royal cubit, or 21 7/8 inches inside. He is now a free man and a Freemason, and in olden days became a free man of the city or town in which he had been apprenticed.

 

When he begins to work in the Fellow's or second degree yard, he is told to commence in the N. E. corner with the new Fellows and there he is taught to make his rough dressed Ashlar stone true and polished. Then his perfect work has to be submitted for inspection and to be tried. If the work is satisfactory, he is given the word "Giblim," which means perfect stone squarer or expert Mason.

 

With this additional or superior word, Giblim, he also has an additional sign given to him of which there is no trace in the Speculative Ritual.

 

The sign is given by placing his left arm and hand, with thumb extended, in a perpendicular position, pointing upward, and his right arm and hand, with thumb extended, in a horizontal position. Thus he represents all three of his new tools, the "square" by the angle of 90 degrees formed by his two arms, the upright of "plumb rule" by his left arm, and the "level" by his right arm.

 

Having made his test piece which has been passed by the Inspector of Material, and having served for a year as a Fellow, he is now eligible to apply to be advanced to the third degree, that of a Super Fellow. The following form has to be filled up and posted at the yard or quarry entrance:  "Application to the Superintendent of the Works of the Worshipful Society of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.

 

 I, . . . . . having well and truly served as a Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons for one year, and being of the age of twenty‑two years, humbly crave to be advanced to the honorable degree of Super Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

580     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

"I further promise and swear that if once advanced to the third degree of the fellowship, I will forever conform to all the ancient charges, usages and established customs of the Fraternity, as Super Fellows have done in all ages." 

 

 

THE SUPER FELLOW'S THIRD AND FOURTH DEGREES

 

The word "Giblim" and the sign described in the last chapter, left arm perpendicular and right arm horizontal, are the pass word and pass sign leading from the second to the third degree; and the perfect Ashlar stone the candidate has himself made is the proof for advancement to the Super Fellows or third degree.

 

The Operative third degree and the first part of the modern Mark degree corresponding to the old Mark Mason of the Speculatives are so very similar that a Speculative Mark Mason would find himself quite at home in the Operative work. The word and sign of the Operative and Super Fellow or third degree is the same as the Speculative Mark degree.

 

It is obvious that this precludes a Speculative Mark Mason from describing the ceremony fully in print. The Super Fellow is alloted his Mark, and as a Super Fellow he is charged to produce "fare work and square." In this degree the candidate is led around the Lodge three times and he takes his obligation on the polished Ashlar stone with both knees bare.

 

"Application to the Superintendent of the Works of the Worshipful Society of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.

 

"I, . . . . . having well and truly served as a Super Fellow of the Craft of Freemasons for one year, and being of the age of twenty‑three, humbly crave to be further advanced to the honorable degree of Super Fellow Erector of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

"I further promise and swear that if once advanced to the fourth degree of fellowship, I will forever conform to all the ancient charges, usages, and established customs of the Fraternity, as Super Fellow Erectors have done in all ages." The next degree for the Operative Free Mason is that of an Erector, still Super Fellow, but one who is qualified and entitled to erect and put in position on the site the stones prepared in the first, second and third yards and marked in the third stone yard. This is the Operative's fourth degree. The Super Fellow Erector ascertains from the marks the exact position in which each stone is intended to be placed.

 

This is very similar to the second part of the modern Speculative

 

MASONRY DEFINED          581 

 

Mark Mason's degree, corresponding to the old Speculative Mark Master's degree; which again precludes a Mark Mason from describing the ceremony fully in print.

 

In the square division it is the chief N. E. corner headstone that is missing, and in the arch division it is the keystone of the arch that has been lost. The moral is the same in both cases. "The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner." The Arch Masons reject the corner stone, and the Square Masons reject the keystone.

 

In the Operative account it is the negligent mark man who neglected to mark well who are "hove over" with a thirty‑cubit drop, and form the completion sacrifice; which is certainly in accordance with the spirit of the times of the building of King Solomon's temple.

 

In this fourth degree the candidate takes his obligation on a perfect polished Ashlar stone, both knees bare as before, and he is led around the Lodge four times. The work and sign are the same as in the Speculative Mark degree.

 

All Operative Freemasons have these two Mark degrees, although the Mark was struck out by those who formulated Modern Speculative Freemasonry in

1717.

 

'The majority of Operative Freemasons do not proceed beyond this, the fourth degree; as to take the fifth degree, that of Superintendent, requires considerable technical knowledge.

 

"Application to the Superintendent of the Works of the Worshipful Society of Freemasons, Rough Masons, Wallers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.

 

"I, . . . . having well and truly served as a Super Fellow Erector of the Craft of Freemasons for one year, and being of the age of twenty‑four years, humbly crave to be raised to the honorable degree of Intendant of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

"I further promise and swear that if once raised to the fifth degree of fellowship, I will forever conform to all the ancient charges, usages, and established customs of the Fraternity, as Intendants have done in all ages." 

 

 

THE OVERSEER - FIFTH AND SIXTH DEGREES

 

There is no degree in Speculative Freemasonry exactly corresponding to the fifth degree of Superintendent in Operative Freemasonry, although Overseers are used in the Speculative Mark Master.

 

The ceremony is, however, somewhat similar to the appointment and investiture of officers at a Speculative installation meeting. Every officer is examined as to his knowledge - actual technical knowledge  - and has to take the officer's oath and be installed in his chair.

 

 

582     MASONRY DEFINED

 

"Application to the Masters of the Worshipful Society of Free‑masons, Rough Masons, Wailers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers, and Bricklayers.

 

"I, . . . . having well and truly served as Intendant and Superintendent of the Craft of Freemasons for one year, and being of the age of twenty‑five years, humbly crave to be exalted to the honorable degree of Passed Master of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

"I further promise and swear that if once exalted to the sixth degree of the fellowship, I will forever conform to all the ancient charges, usages, and established customs of the Fraternity, as Harodim have done in all ages." The next Operative degree, that of a Passed Master, sixth degree, requires still more knowledge than the fifth degree. A man who takes it - and the number in a Lodge is limited to fifteen - must be able to conduct building operations and generally understand his profession thoroughly, consequently requiring much more technical knowledge than does a craftsman. He has to be able to lay schemes, draw plans and take complete charge of a department. The Senior Passed Master is really the Deputy Master. His Masonic title is Adoniram. He is practically general manager and works manager and is responsible to the three Masters. The word of this degree is "Harod," plural "Harodim." The fifth degree Mason is led around the Lodge five times and the sixth degree Mason six times.

 

 

THE THREE MASTERS SEVENTH DEGREE

 

The last and final, or seventh, degree is that of a Grand Master, of which there are three. These correspond in some measure to the Speculative Grand Master, Pro Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master in England, and to the Grand Master and Grand Wardens in this country. They represent Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram, King of 'Pyre, and Hiram Abif. On being admitted to this degree each Master is led around the Lodge seven times.

 

The first and second Grand Masters hold office for life, or until superannuated. The third Grand Master is ritually slain on the 2nd of October, and a fresh one is appointed every year.

 

"Application to the Masters of the Worshipful Society of Free‑masons, Rough Masons, Wailers, Slaters, Paviors, Plaisterers and Bricklayers.

 

"I,         having well and truly served as Passed Master and Deputy Master Mason for five years, and being at the age of thirty‑five years, humbly crave to be enthroned in the honorable and exalted degree of Master Mason of the Craft of Freemasons.

 

"I further promise and swear that if once enthroned in the seventh

 

MASONRY DEFINED          583

 

degree of the fellowship, I will forever conform to all the ancient charges, usages and established customs of the Fraternity, as En‑throned Master Masons have done in all ages." In filling the "Certificates of Character and Skill" for the fore‑going, the only acceptable character is that found in II Chronicles, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14.

 

"A cunning man, endued with understanding." "Skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him." Attention is called to the plan of the sixth and seventh degree lodges. The Masters' chairs are in the west, on a raised dais with seven steps, each step representing one of the Masonic sciences - Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. Adoniram, the Deputy‑ Master, is just within the sixth degree Lodge room, and there are three pillars, hexagonal in shape, in the Lodge room, one in front of King Solomon in the west, another in the north‑east, and the third in the southeast. The one in the west represents Mount Moriah, the one in the northeast represents Mount Tabor, and the one in the southeast represents Mount Sinai.

 

On ordinary occasions the seventh degree of Grand Master's Lodge is opened by the three in private, and the sixth degree or Passed Master's Lodge is opened by them in the same manner; then the door or screen or curtain between these two Lodge rooms is opened and work goes on. But when the annual assembly or one of the three great commemorations is to be celebrated, then the Sanhedrim must be opened by these two degrees together and conjointly.

 

At the Sanhedrim there is no Warden present as such; King Solomon occupies the central seat of the Master's chairs, with Hiram, King of Tyre, on his right, and Hiram Abif on his left hand. The first Master asks the second and third Masters if they agree that the Sanhedrim be opened; on their acquiescence all members of the sixth degree must prove themselves members by forming in three and make the word 'Sanhedrim by each giving a syllable in turn.

 

It is in this Sanhedrim that at the foundation commemoration in April the first Master says, quoting I Kings, chapter 5, verses 3, 4 and 5, "Thou knowest how that David, my father, could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord

 

584     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

spake unto David, my father, saying, Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name." He then commands a levy of men, verse

13, "A levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men." And according to I Kings 6:7, that "neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron shall be `heard in the house while building.' This necessitates the marking of the different parts." Next the sixth degree Masons have to get out plans and specifications and make all arrangements.

 

Then follows the ceremony of the founding and construction of the temple.

 

At the dedication commemoration the same process of opening the Sanhedrim has to be gone through. In this ceremony the occupant of the chair in the southeast acts as chaplain, and represents Jachin, and is regarded as being placed on Mount Sinai. The occupant of the chair in the northeast represents Boaz, and is regarded as being placed on Mount Tabor. The hexagonal pillars in front of them as they face the west bear the same names as the occupants of the chairs, and the Operatives point out that the Scriptural narrative in I Kings 7 - 21 confirms their arrangement as King Solomon stands in the west and faces east, "And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar and called the name thereof Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz." The Grand Deputy Master, whose chair is at the feet of the three Grand Masters, hands a blue cord up to King Solomon, who fixes it to the pillar in front of him by passing it around it, and commands that it be carried to Boaz, who fixes it to the pillar in front of him, then it is carried from Boaz to Jachin, who fixes it to the pillar in front of him and sends it back to King Solomon. Three separate persons take the three angles, and these, when handed to the first Master, acting as King Solomon, must add up to 180; if they do not, the ceremony must be repeated. This blue cord is regarded as the great line of communication between the three great mountains or high places, Moriah, Tabor and Sinai.

 

The Operatives further explain that the first Master represents the King, and that as Jachin was High Priest at the time of the dedication, so he represents the Church, and Boaz, the founder of the Royal House of David, represents the State, so that King and Church and State are all represented and are all united by the symbolical blue cord.

 

At the end of the ceremony of dedication the first Master goes in state to the pillars at the east end; as he stands facing them he points with his right hand and says, "This on my right hand I name Jachin," and pointing with his left hand, "This on my left hand I name Boaz." The Goldsmith's Guild, which is represented, then fixes a gold plate

 

MASONRY DEFINED          585 

 

on each pillar bearing its name, and the first Master, representing King Solomon himself, fixes the last gold bolt. These plates are fixed on the bases of the pillars and on their east side, so that all entering see the name as they approach. The first Master then raises his hands and his eyes to heaven, and addressing El Shaddai, says, "I have completed the work that my Father commanded me to perform." The grand sevenfold salute of the Grand Masters is then given to El Shaddai twenty‑one times, thus: Seven times, then a pause and seven times again, and then a pause, and seven times again. Then first Master blesses the congregation, who all stand up according to I Kings 8:14, "And the King turned his face about and blessed all the congregation of Israel; (and all the congregation of Israel stood)." Then the special sign of the triangle is given. This is done by putting the tips of the thumbs together, the thumbs being held in the same horizontal line, then join the tips of the forefingers together and you get as nearly as possible an equilateral triangle; bring the hands in front of the face so that the two eyes look through the triangle thus formed. The word J. A. H. is uttered and the sign of dispersal, You can go, is given.

 

"The work is finished." Then the Sanhedrim is closed, and after that the seventh degree and sixth degree Lodges. This ends the ceremony.

 

The fifteen articles in the old charges for the Master are as follows:

 

1. He must be steadfast, trusty and true; pay his fellows truly, take no bribe; and as a judge stand upright.

 

2. Every Master (that is a Mason) must be at the general congregation, provided he be told where the assembly shall be held; except to have reasonable excuse; is disobedient to the Craft; is with false‑hood overtaken; or sickness disable him from attendance.

 

3. ò The Master must take no apprentice, without good assurance he will dwell seven years with him in order to learn his Craft, as with less period his services might be unprofitable.

 

4. The Master must be careful not to make a bondman his apprentice, or take him out of covetousness, as the Lord he is bound to may fetch him wheresoever he goes, and if captured in the Lodge much inconvenience might result, since all Masons that were there would stand together as companions. For more ease, then, the apprentice should be taken of higher ,degree, and it was in older time written that he should be of gentle birth.

 

5. The apprentice must be of lawful blood, and the Master shall for no advantage make one that is not perfect, which means that he must have his limbs whole.

 

6. The Master shall do the Lord no prejudice, to take for his apprentice, as much as for the Fellows, who in their Craft are quite

 

586     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

perfect, which he is not. But the apprentice shall be informed that his pay shall soon increase.

 

7. No Master, out of fear or favor, shall either clothe or feed a thief, neither shall he harbor thieves, nor him that hath killed a man.

 

8. The Master may change any man of Craft, who is not so per. feet as he ought to be, and take in his place a more perfect, that is skilled man, as the former, through recklessness, might do the Craft little honor.

 

9. The Master ought to be wise and discreet, and should under‑take no work that he cannot both perform and complete. Also, it should be equally to the profit of the Lord and Craft, while the ground ought to be well taken, so that it may neither "Fle" nor crack.

 

10. No Master shall supplant another, or any man that hath taken a work upon him, under penalty of not less than ten pounds (on being found guilty) to him who first took the work in hand. For no man in Masonry shall supplant another, except the execution be such that it turn the work to naught; for the man who begins a work, if "he be Mason good and sound," had the right to bring it to an end.

 

11. The Master shall be both fair and liberal, and must prohibit any Mason from working at night, unless in the pursuit of knowledge, which shall be sufficient excuse.

 

12. No Mason shall deprave his Fellow's work, but recommend it with honest words and assist him in improving it.

 

13. If the Master have an apprentice, he must instruct him fully in the points, so that he may have fully learned his Craft, withersoever he may go.

 

14. A Master shall take no apprentice, without making proper provision that he shall learn of him within his terms of servitude "diverse points."

15. The Master shall take upon himself no false maintenance, nor for any reward maintain his Fellows in their sin. Neither must he suffer them to swear any false oaths.

 

The fifteen points for the Craftsman accompanying the Master's articles are as follows:

 

1. The worthy Craftsman must love well God and the holy church, the Master he is with and his Fellows also.

 

2. The Mason must work truly on the work day, so as to deserve his pay for holy day.

 

3. The apprentice must keep his Master's counsel, and also that of his Fellows, closely. The privities of the chamber he must not lay bare, nor tell to any man whatsoever he hears or sees done in the Lodge. The counsel of hall and likewise of bower he must also keep inviolable.

 

MASONRY DEFINED          587

 

4. No man shall be false to his Craft, or maintain an error against it, neither shall he do any act to the prejudice of his Master or Fellows. The same injunctions apply to the apprentice, though "under awe."

 

5. The Mason must take the pay ordered him weekly, but the Master, before the ninth hour, i. e., 3 p. m., must warn those for whom he hath no further employment, and to this direction they must submit without strife.

 

6. Love day shall only be celebrated on a holiday, or when the work has come to an end.

 

7. No man shall lie with his Master's wife, or with the wife or concubine of his Fellows.

 

8. The Mason must be faithful to his Master; a true mediator between his Master and his Fellows; and to act fairly by both parties.

 

9. The Stewards of the hall are lovingly to serve one another, to see that every man is charged alike; to pay for all victuals consumed, and to keep full and good accounts.

 

10. If a Mason lead a bad life, and slander his Fellows without cause, he shall be cited to appear at the next assembly, and unless he attend must forswear the Craft, and shall be punished according to the law established in the old days.

 

11. A Mason who is well skilled in the Craft, and sees his Fellow hewing a stone, which he is in a fair way to spoil, should help him without loss of time, if able to do so, and also instruct him how to do better, so that the whole work may not be ruined.

 

12. At the assembly there shall be, besides the Masters and Fellows, many great Lords, the Sheriff of the county, the Mayor of the city, Knights, Squires and Aldermen. The ordinances then made shall be put into effect by them against any man belonging to the Craft, who if he, dispute the laws so enacted, will be taken into their keeping.

 

13. Each Mason shall swear not to be a thief, nor to succor any‑one in his false Craft.

 

14. Each Mason must swear a good true oath to his Master and Fellows present at the assembly. He must also be steadfast and true to all the ordinances; to his liege Lord and King; and to all the points heretofore cited all shall swear the same oath of the Masons, be they willing or unwilling, to these points that have been ordained by good authority; and if any man be found guilty in either one of them he is to be sought for and brought before the assembly.

 

15. Should those that shall be sworn to observe the ordinances made at the assembly, before the great Lords and Masters, before named, be obedient to the resolutions there passed, and the same be proven openly at the assembly - except they be willing to make amends for their faults - then they must forsake the Craft, refuse to

 

588     MASONRY DEFINED 

 

work in it, and swear never more to use it. Not unless they subsequently make amends will they be allowed to resume their Craft; and if they will not do so, the Sheriffs shall arrest them and put their bodies into prison, and take their goods and chattels, holding them‑selves and property at the King's will.

 

 

 

APPENDIX

 

Aaron. Hebrew Aharon, a word of doubtful etymology, but generally supposed to signify a mountaineer. He was the brother of Moses, and the first high priest under the Mosaic dispensation, whence the priest‑hood established by that lawgiver is known as the "Aaronic." He is alluded to in the English lectures of the second degree, in reference to a certain sign which is said to have taken its origin from the fact that Aaron and Hur were present on the hill from which Moses surveyed the battle which Joshua was waging with the Amalekites, when these two supported the weary arms of Moses in an upright posture, because upon his uplifted hands the fate of the battle depended. See Exodus xvii. 10‑42. Aaron is also referred to in the latter section of the Royal Arch degree in connection with the memorials that were deposited in the ark of the covenant. In the degree of "Chief of the Tabernacle," which is the 23d of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, the presiding officer represents Aaron, and is styled "Most Excellent High Priest."

 

Aaron's Rod. The method by which Moses caused a miraculous judgment as to which tribe should be invested with the priesthood, is detailed in the Book of Numbers (ch. xvii.). He directed that twelve rods should be laid up in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle, one for each tribe; that of Aaron, of course, represented tli a tribe of Levi. On the next day these rods were brought out and exhibited to the people, and while all the rest remained dry and withered, that of Aaron alone budded and blossomed and yielded fruit. There is no mention in the Pentateuch of this rod having been placed in the ark, but only that it was put before it. But as St. Paul, or the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews ix.

4), asserts that the rod and the pot of manna were both within the ark, Royal Arch Masons have followed this later authority. Hence the rod of Aaron is found in the ark; but its import is only historical, as if to identify the substitute ark as a true copy of the original, which had been lost. No symbolical instruction accompanies its discovery.

 

Ablution. A ceremonial purification by washing, much used in the Ancient Mysteries and under the Mosaic dispensation. It is also employed in some of the high degrees of Masonry. The better technical term for this ceremony is lustration, which see.

 

Adam. The Entered Apprentice degree symbolizes the creation of man and his first perception of light. In the Elohist form of the Creation we read, "Elohim said, `Let us make man in our image, according

 

589

590     APPENDIX 

 

to our likeness, and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the fowls of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every reptile that creeps upon the earth!' And Elohim created man in his image; in the image of Elohim he created him; male and female he created them. ... And Yahveh Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed in his nostrils the breath of life, and man was made a living being." Without giving more than a passing reference to the speculative origin and production of man and to his spontaneous generation as set forth by the Egyptians, when we are told that "the fertilizing mud left by the Nile, and exposed to the vivifying action of heat induced by the sun's rays, brought forth germs which spring up as the bodies of men," accepted cosmogonies only will be hereinafter mentioned; thus in that of Peru, the first man, created by the Divine Omnipotence, is called Alpa Camasca, "Animated earth." The Mandans, one of the North American tribes, relate that the Great Spirit molded two figures of clay, which he dried and animated with the breath of his mouth, one receiving the name of First Man, and the other that of Companion. Taeroa, the god of Tahiti, formed man of the red earth, say the inhabitants; and so we might continue. But as Francois Lenormant remarks in the Beginnings of History, let us confine ourselves to the cosmogony offered by the sacred traditions of the great civilized nations of antiquity. "The Chaldeans call Adam the man whom the earth produced. And he lay without movement, without life, and without breath, just like an image of the heavenly Adam, until his soul had been given him by the latter." The cosmogonic account peculiar to Babylon, as given by Berossus, says: "Belos, seeing that the earth was uninhabited, though fertile, cut off his own head, and the other gods, after kneading with earth the blood that flowed from it, formed men, who therefore are endowed with intelligence, and share in the divine thought," etc. The term employed to designate "man," in his connection with his Creator, is admu, the Assyrian counterpart of the Hebrew Adam.

 

Admiration, Sign of. A mode of recognition alluded to in the Most Excellent Master's Degree, or the Sixth of the American Rite. Its introduction in that place is referred to a Masonic legend in connection with the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, which states that, moved by the wide‑spread reputation of the Israelitish monarch, she had re‑paired to Jerusalem to inspect the magnificent works of which she had heard so many encomiums. Upon arriving there, and beholding for the first time the Temple, which glittered with gold, and which was so accurately adjusted in all its parts as to seem to be composed of but a single piece of marble, she raised her hands and eyes to heaven in an attitude of admiration, and at the same time exclaimed, "Rabboni!" equivalent to saying, "A most excellent master hath done this!" This action has since been perpetuated in the ceremonies of the degree of Most Excellent Master. The legend is, however, no doubt apocryphal, and is really to APPENDIX      591  be considered only as allegorical, like so many other of the legends of Masonry.

 

Admonition. According to the ethics of Freemasonry, it is made a duty obligatory upon every member of the Order to conceal he faults of a brother, that is, not to blazon forth his errors and infirmities, to let them be learned by the world from some other tongue than his, and to admonish him of them in private. So there is another but a like duty or obligation, which instructs him to whisper good counsel in his brother's ear and to warn him of approaching danger. And this refers not more to the danger that is without and around him than to that which is within him; not more to the peril that springs from the concealed foe who would waylay him and covertly injure him, than to that deeper peril of those faults and infirmities which lie within his own heart, and which, if not timely crushed by good and earnest resolution of amendment, will, like the ungrateful serpent in the fable, become warm with life only to sting the bosom that has nourished them.

 

Admonition of a brother's fault is, then, the duty of every Mason, and no true one will, for either fear or favor, neglect its performance. But as the duty is Masonic, so is there a Masonic way in which that duty should be discharged. We must admonish not with self‑sufficient pride in,our own reputed goodness - not in imperious tones, as though we looked down in scorn upon the degraded offender - not in language that, by its harshness, will wound rather than win, will irritate more than it will reform; but with that persuasive gentleness that gains the heart - with the all‑subduing influences of "mercy unrestrained" - with the magic might of love - with the language and the accents of affection, which mingle grave displeasure for the offense with grief and pity for the offender.

 

This, and this alone, is Masonic admonition. I am not to rebuke my brother in anger, for I, too, have my faults, and I dare not draw around me the folds of my garment lest they should be polluted by my neighbor's touch; but I am to admonish in private, not before the world, for that would degrade him; and I am to warn him, perhaps from my own example, how vice ever should be followed by sorrow, for that goodly sorrow leads to repentance, and repentance to amendment, and amendment to joy.

 

Adonai. In Hebrew, being the plural of excellence for Adon, and signifying the Lord. The Jews, who reverently avoided the pronunciation of the sacred name JEIIOVAH, were accustomed, whenever that name occurred, to substitute for it the word Adonai in reading. As to the use of the plural form instead of the singular, the Rabbis say, "Every word indicative of dominion, though singular in meaning, is made plural in form." This is called the "pluralis excellentin." The Talmudists also say (Buxtroff, Lex. Talm.) that the tetragrammaton is called Shenz

 

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hamphorash, the name that is explained, because it is explained, uttered, and set forth by the word Adonai. Adonai is used as a significant word in several of the high degrees of Masonry, and may almost always be considered as allusive to or symbolic of the True Word.

 

Adonhiram. This has been adopted by the disciples of Adonhiramite Masonry as the spelling of the name of the person known in Scripture and in other Masonic systems as Adoniram (which see). They correctly derive the word from the Hebrew Adon and hiram, signifying the master who is exalted, which is the true meaning of Adoniram, the iT or h being omitted in the Hebrew by the coalescence of the two words. Hiram Abif has also sometimes been called Adonhiram, the Adon having been be‑stowed on him by Solomon, it is said, as a title of honor.

 

Adonhiramite Masonry. Of the numerous controversies which arose from the middle to near the end of the eighteenth century on the Continent of Europe, and especially in France, among the students of Masonic philosophy, and which so frequently resulted in the invention of new degrees and the establishment of new rites, not the least prominent was that which related to the person and character of the Temple Builder. The question, Who was the architect of King Solomon's Temple? was answered differently by different theorists, and each answer gave rise to a new system, a fact by no means surprising in those times, so fertile in the production of new Masonic systems. The general theory was then, as it is now, that this architect was Hiram Abif, the widow's son, who had been sent to King Solomon by Hiram, King of Tyre, as a precious gift, and "a curious and cunning workman." This theory was sustained by the statements of the Jewish Scriptures, so far as they threw any light on the Masonic legend. It was the theory of the English Masons from the earliest times; was enunciated as historically correct in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, published in 1723 (p. 11); has continued ever since to be the opinion of all English and American Masons; and is, at this day, the only theory entertained by any Mason in the two countries who has a theory at all on the subject. This, therefore, is the orthodox faith of Masonry.

 

But such was not the case in the last century on the Continent of Europe. At first the controversy arose not as to the man himself, but as to his proper appellation. All parties agreed that the architect of the Temple was that Hiram, the widow's son, who is described in the 1st Book of Kings, chapter vii., verses 13 and 14, and in the 2d Book of Chronicles, chapter ii., verses 13 and 14, as having come out of Tyre with the other workmen of the Temple who had been sent by King Hiram to Solomon. But one party called him Hiram Abif, and the other, admitting that his original name was Hiram, supposed that, in consequence of the skill he had displayed in the construction of the Temple, he had received the honorable affix of Adon, signifying Lord or Master, whence his name became Adonhiram.

 

APPENDIX    593

 

There was, however, at the Temple another Adoniram, of whom it will be necessary in passing to say a few words, for the better understanding of the present subject.

 

The first notice that we have of this Adoniram in Scripture is in the 2d Book of Samuel, chapter xx., verse 24, where, in the abbreviated form of his name, Adoram, he is said to have been "over the tribute" in the house of David; or, as Gesenius translates it, "prefect over the tribute service," or, as we might say in modern phrase, principal collector of the taxes. Seven years afterward, we find him exercising the same office in the household of Solomon; for it is said in 1 Kings iv. 6 that Adoniram, "the son of Abda, was over the tribute." And lastly, we hear of him still occupying the same station in the household of King Rehoboam, the successor of Solomon. Forty‑seven years after he is first mentioned in the Book of Samuel, he is stated under the name of Adoram (1 Kings xii. 18), or Hadoram (2 Chron. x. 18), to have been stoned to death, while in the discharge of his duty, by the people, who were justly indignant at the oppressions of his master.

 

The legends and traditions of Masonry which connect this Adoniram with the Temple at Jerusalem derive their support from a single passage in the 1st Book of Kings (v. 14), where it is said that Solomon made a levy of thirty thousand workmen from among the Israelites; that he sent these in courses of ten thousand a month to labor on Mount Lebanon, and that he placed Adoniram over these as their superintendent.

 

The ritual‑makers of France, who were not all Hebrew scholars, nor well versed in Biblical history, seem, at times, to have confounded two important personages, and to have lost all distinction between Hiram the Builder, who had been sent from the court of the King of Tyre, and Adoniram, who had always been an officer in the court of King Solomon. And this error was extended and facilitated when they had prefixed the title Adon, that is to say, lord or master, to the name of the former, making him Adon Hiram, or the Lord Hiram.

 

Adoptive Masonry. An organization which bears a very imperfect resemblance to Freemasonry in its forms and ceremonies, which was established in France for the initiation of women, called by the French Adoptive Masonry, meeting places called Adoptive Lodges.

 

As to the exact date of its introduction, there are several theories, some of which are wholly untenable, being founded on an unwarrantable mixture of facts and fictions of positive statements and problematic conjectures.

 

These Lodges of Adoption seem to owe their existence to those secret associations of men and women which sprang up in France before the middle of the 18th century. About that time they spread from France into Germany, Poland and even Russia. England, being snore conservative, refused to recognize them.

 

594     APPENDIX 

 

Adoptive Masonry never gained recognition in America and is unknown here.

 

Adoptive Masonry, American. The Rite of Adoption as practised on the continent of Europe, and especially in France, has never been introduced into America. The system does not accord with the manners or habits of the people, and undoubtedly never would become popular. But Rob. Morris attempted, in 1855, to introduce an imitation of it, which he had invented, under the name of the "American Adoptive Rite." It consisted of a ceremony of initiation, which was intended as a preliminary trial of the candidate, and of five degrees, named as follows:

 

1. Jephthah's Daughter, or the daughter's degree.

2. Ruth, or the widow's degree.

3. Esther, or the wife's degree.

4. Martha, or the sister's degree.

5. Electa, or the Christian Martyr's degree. The whole assemblage of the five degrees was called the Eastern Star.

 

The objects of this Rite, as expressed by the framer, were "to associate in one common bond the worthy wives, widows, daughters, and sisters of Freemasons, so as to make their adoptive privileges available for all the purposes contemplated in Masonry; to secure to them the ad‑vantages of their claim in a moral, social, and charitable point of view, and from them the performance of corresponding duties." Hence, no females but those holding the above recited relations to Freemasons were eligible for admission. The male members were called "Protectors"; the female, "Stella"; the reunions of these members were styled "Constellations"; and the Rite was presided over and governed by a "Supreme Constellation." There is some ingenuity and even beauty in many of the ceremonies, although it is by no means equal in this respect to the French Adoptive system. Much dissatisfaction was, however, expressed by the leading Masons of the country at the time of its attempted organization; and therefore, notwithstanding very strenuous efforts were made by its founder and his friends to establish it in some of the Western States, it was slow in winning popularity. It has, however, within a few years past, gained much growth under the name of "The Eastern Star." Bro. Albert Pike has also recently printed, for the use of Scottish Rite Masons, The Masonry of Adoption. It is in seven degrees, and is a translation from the French system, but greatly enlarged, and is far superior to the original.

 

The last phase of this female Masonry to which our attention is directed is the system of androgynous degrees which are practised to some extent in the United States. This term "androgynous" is derived from two Greek words,

6:v4 (avBpoS), a man, and Yuvrj, a woman, and it is equivalent to the English compound, masculo‑feminine. It is applied to those "side degrees" which are conferred on both males and females. The essential regulation prevailing in these degrees, is that they can be conferred only on Master Masons (and in some instances only on Royal

 

APPENDIX    595

 

Arch Masons) and on their female relatives, the peculiar relationship differing in the different degrees.

 

Thus there is a degree generally called the "Mason's Wife," which can be conferred only on Master Masons, their wives, unmarried daughters and sisters, and their widowed mothers. Another degree, called the "Heroine of Jericho," is conferred only on the wives and daughters of Royal Arch Masons; and the third, the only one that has much pretension of ceremony or ritual, is the "Good Samaritan," whose privileges are confined to Royal Arch Masons and their wives.

 

In some parts of the United States these degrees are very popular, while in other places they are never practised, and are strongly condemned as modern innovations. The fact is, that by their friends as well as their enemies these so‑called degrees have been greatly misrepresented. When females are told that in receiving these degrees they are admitted into the Masonic Order, and are obtaining Masonic information, under the name of "Ladies' Masonry," they are simply deceived. When a woman is informed that, by passing through the brief and unimpressive ceremony of any one of these degrees, she has become a Mason, the deception is still more gross and inexcusable. But it is true that every woman who is related by ties of consanguinity to a Master Mason is at all times and. under all circumstances peculiarly entitled to Masonic protection and assistance. Now, if the recipient of an androgynous degree is candidly instructed that, by the use of these degrees, the female relatives of Masons are put in possession of the means of making their claims known by what may be called a sort of oral testimony, which, unlike a written certificate, can be neither lost nor destroyed; but that, by her initiation as a "Mason's Wife" or as a "Heroine of Jericho," she is brought no nearer to the inner portal of Masonry than she was before - if she is honestly told all this, then there can hardly be any harm, and there may be some good in these forms if prudently bestowed. But all attempts to make Masonry of them, and especially that anomalous thing called "Female Masonry," are reprehensible, and are well calculated to produce opposition among the well‑informed and cautious members of the Fraternity.

 

Adoration. The act of paying divine worship. The Latin word adorare is derived from ad, "to," and os, oris, "the mouth," and we thus etymologically learn that the primitive and most general method of ado‑ration was by the application of the fingers to the mouth. Hence we read in Job (xxxi. 26): "If I' beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God that is above." Here the mouth kissing the hand is an equipollent expression to adoration, as if he had said, "If I have adored the sun or the moon." This mode of adoration is said to have originated among the Persians, who, as worship‑

 

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ers of the sun, always turned their faces to the east and kissed their hands to that luminary. The gesture was first used as a token of respect to their monarchs, and was easily transferred to objects of worship. Other additional forms of adoration were used in various countries, but in almost all of them this reference to kissing was in some degree pre‑served. It is yet a practice of quite common usage for Orientals to kiss what they deem sacred or that which they wish to adore - example, Wailing Place of the Jews at Jerusalem. The marble toes of the statue of St. Peter in the Cathedral of St. Peter's at Rome have been worn away by the kissings of Catholics and have been replaced by bronze. Among the ancient Romans the act of adoration was thus performed: The worshiper, having his head covered, applied his right hand to his lips, thumb erect, and the forefinger resting on it, and then, bowing his head, he turned round from right to left. And hence Apuleius (Apolog.) uses the expression "to apply the hand to the lips," manum labris admovere, to ex‑press the act of adoration. The Grecian mode of adoration differed from the Roman in having the head uncovered, which practise was adopted by the Christians. The Oriental nations cover the head, but uncover the feet. They also express the act of adoration by prostrating themselves on their faces and applying their foreheads to the ground. The ancient Jews adored by kneeling, sometimes by prostration of the whole body, and by kissing the hand. This act, therefore, of kissing the hand was an early and a very general symbol of adoration. But we must not be led into the error of supposing that a somewhat similar gesture used in some of the high degrees of Freemasonry has any allusion to an act of worship. It refers to that symbol of silence and secrecy which is figured in the statues of Harpocrates, the god of silence. The Masonic idea of adoration has been well depicted by the medieval Christian painters, who represented the act by angels prostrated before a luminous triangle.

 

Advancement Hurried. Nothing can be more certain than that the proper qualifications of a candidate for admission into the mysteries of Freemasonry, and the necessary proficiency of a Mason who seeks advancement to a higher degree, are the two great bulwarks which are to protect the purity and integrity of our Institution. Indeed, we know not which is the more hurtful - to admit an applicant who is unworthy, or to promote a candidate who is ignorant of his first lessons. The one affects the external, the other the internal character of the Institution. The one brings discredit upon the Order among the profane, who already regard us, too often, with suspicion and dislike; the other introduces ignorance and incapacity into our ranks, and dishonors the science of Masonry in our own eyes. The one covers our walls with imperfect and worthless stones, which mar the outward beauty and impair the strength of our temple; the other fills our interior apartments with confusion and disorder, and leaves the edifice, though externally strong, both inefficient and inappropriate for its destined uses.

 

APPENDIX    597

 

But, to the candidate himself, a too hurried advancement is often attended with the most disastrous effects. As in geometry, so in Masonry, there is no "royal road" to perfection. A knowledge of its principles and its science, and consequently an acquaintance with its beauties, can only be acquired by long and diligent study. To the careless observer it seldom offers, at a hasty glance, much to attract his attention or secure his interest. The gold must be deprived, by careful manipulation, of the dark and worthless ore which surrounds and envelops it, before its metallic luster and value can be seen and appreciated.

 

Hence, the candidate who hurriedly passes through his degrees with‑out a due examination of the moral and intellectual purposes of each, arrives at the summit of our edifice without a due and necessary appreciation of the general symmetry and connection that pervade the whole system. The candidate, thus hurried through the elements of our science, and unprepared, by a knowledge of its fundamental principles, for the reception and comprehension of the corollaries which are to be deduced from them, is apt to view the whole system as "a rude and indigested mass" of frivolous ceremonies and puerile conceits, whose intrinsic value will not adequately pay him for the time, the trouble, and expense that he has incurred in his forced initiation. To him, Masonry is as incomprehensible as was the veiled statue of Isis to its blind worshipers, and he becomes, in consequence, either a useless drone in our hive, or speedily retires in disgust from all participation in our labors.

 

But the candidate who by slow and painful steps has proceeded through each apartment of our mystic Temple, from its porch to its sanctuary, pausing in his progress to admire the beauties and to study the uses of each, learning, as he advances, "line upon line, and precept upon precept," is gradually and almost imperceptibly imbued with so much admiration of the Institution, so much love for its principles, so much just appreciation of its design as a conservator of divine truth, and an agent of human civilization, that he is inclined, on beholding, at last, the whole beauty of the finished building, to exclaim, as did the wondering Queen of Sheba: "A Most Excellent Master must have done all this ! " The usage in many jurisdictions of the United States, when the question is asked in the ritual whether the candidate has made suitable proficiency in his preceding degree, is to reply, "Such as time and circumstances would permit." We have no doubt that this was an innovation originally invented to evade the law, which has always required a due proficiency. To such a question no other answer ought to be given than the positive and unequivocal one that "he has." Neither "time nor circumstances" should be permitted to interfere with his attainment of the necessary knowledge, nor excuse its absence. This, with the whole‑some rule, very generally existing, which requires an interval between the conferring of the degrees, would go far to remedy the evil of too

 

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hurried and unqualified advancement, of which all intelligent Masons are now complaining.

 

After these views of the necessity of a careful examination of the claims of a candidate for advancement in Masonry, and the necessity, for his own good as well as that of the Order, that each one should fully prepare himself for this promotion.

 

American Rite. It has been proposed, and I think with propriety, to give this name to the series of degrees conferred in the United States. The York Rite, which is the name by which they are usually designated, is certainly a misnomer, for the York Rite properly .consists of only the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow‑Craft, and Master Mason, including in the last degree the Holy Royal Arch. This was the Masonry that existed in England at the time of the revival of the Grand Lodge in 1717. The abstraction of the Royal Arch from the Master's Degree, and its lo‑cation as a separate degree, produced that modification of the York Rite which now exists in England, and which should properly be called the Modern York Rite, to distinguish it from the Ancient York Rite, which consisted of only three degrees. But in the United States still greater additions have been made to the Rite, through the labors of Webb and other lecturers, and the influence insensibly exerted on the Order by the introduction of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite into this country. The American modification of the York Rite, or the American Rite, consists of nine degrees, viz.:

 

 

 

 

A tenth degree, called Super‑Excellent Master, is conferred in some Councils as an honorary rather than as a regular degree; but even as such it is repudiated by many Grand Councils. To these, perhaps, should be added three more degrees, namely, Knight of the Red Cross, Knight Templar, and Knight of Malta, which are given in Commanderies, and are under the control of Grand Commanderies, or, as they are some‑times called, Grand Encampments. But the degrees of the Commandery, which are also known as the degrees of Chivalry, can hardly be called a part of the American Rite. The possession of the Eighth and Ninth Degrees is not considered a necessary qualification for receiving them

 

 

APPENDIX    599

 

The true American Rite consists only of the nine degrees above enumerated.

 

There is, or may be, a Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, Grand Council, and Grand Commandery in each State, whose jurisdiction is distinct and sovereign within its own territory. There is no General Grand Lodge, or Grand Lodge of the United States, though several efforts have been made to form one (see General Grand Lodge); there is a General Grand Chapter, but all Grand Chapters are not subject to it, and a Grand Encampment to which all Grand Commanderies of the States are subject.

 

Androgynous Degrees. (From &vide, a man, and yuvrj, a woman.) Those degrees of Masonry which are conferred on both men and women. Besides the degrees of the Adoptive Rite, which are practised in France, there are several of these degrees which are, as "side degrees," conferred in America. Such are the "Mason's Wife," conferred on the wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of Master Masons, and the "Knight and Heroine of Jericho," conferred on the wives and daughters of Royal Arch Masons. A few years ago, Rob. Morris invented, and very generally promulgated through the Western States of this country, a series of androgynous degrees, which he called "The Star of the East." There is another androgynous degree, sometimes conferred on the wives of Royal Arch Masons, known as the "Good Samaritan." In some parts of the United States these degrees are very popular, while in other places they are never practised, and are strongly condemned as improper innovations. The fact is, that by their friends as well as by their enemies, these so‑called degrees have been greatly misrepresented. When females are told that in receiving these degrees they are admitted into the Masonic Order, and are obtaining Masonic information under the name of "Ladies' Masonry," they are simply deceived. Every woman connected by ties of consanguinity to a Master Mason is peculiarly entitled to Masonic assistance and protection. If she is told this, and also told that by these androgynous degrees she is to be put in possession of the means of making her claims known by a sort of what may be called oral testimony, but that she is by their possession no nearer to the portals of Masonry than she was before, if she is honestly told this, then there is no harm, but the possibility of some good, in these forms if carefully bestowed and prudently preserved. But all attempts to make Masonry of them, and especially that anomalous thing called Co‑Masonry, are wrong, imprudent, and calculated to produce opposition among the well‑informed and cautious members of the Fraternity.

 

Ark. In the ritual of the American Royal Arch Degree three arks are referred to:

 

1. The Ark of Safety, or of Noah;

2. The Ark of the Covenant, or of Moses;

3. The Substitute Ark, or the Ark of Zerubbabel.

 

In what is technically called "the passing of the veils," each of these arks has its commemorative illustration, and in the order in which they

 

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have been named. The first was constructed by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; the second by Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel; and the third was discovered by Joshua, Haggai, and Zerubbabel.

 

Ark, Noah's, or the Ark of Safety, constructed by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, under the superintendence of Noah, and in it, as a chosen tabernacle of refuge, the patriarch's family took refuge. It has been called by many commentators a tabernacle of Jehovah; and Dr. Jarvis, speaking of the word ZoHaR, which has been translated window, says that, in all other passages of Scripture where this word occurs, it signifies the meridian light, the brightest effulgence of day, and therefore it could not have been an aperture, but a source of light itself. He sup‑poses it therefore to have been the Divine Shekinah, or Glory of Jehovah, which afterward dwelt between the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle and the Temple. (Church of the Redeemed, i.,

20.)

 

Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant or of the Testimony was a chest originally constructed by Moses at God's command (Exod. xxv. 10), in which were kept the two tables of stone, on which were engraved the Ten Commandments. It contained, likewise, a golden pot filled with manna, Aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant. It was at first deposited in the most sacred place of the tabernacle and afterward placed by Solomon in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, and was lost upon the destruction of that building by the Chaldeans. The later.history of this ark is buried in obscurity. It is supposed that, upon the destruction of the first Temple by the Chaldeans, it was carried to Babylon among the other sacred utensils which became the spoil of the conquerors. But of its subsequent fate all traces have been lost. It is, however, certain that it was not brought back to Jerusalem by Zerubbabel. The Talmudists say that there were five things which were the glory of the first Temple that were wanting in the second; namely, the Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah or Divine Presence, the Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and the spirit of prophecy. The Rev. Salem Towne, it is true, has endeavored to prove, by a very ingenious argument, that the original Ark of the Covenant was concealed by Josiah, or by others, at some time previous to the destruction of Jerusalem, and that it was afterward, at the building of the second Temple, discovered and brought to light. But such a theory is entirely at variance with all the legends of the degree of Select Master and of Royal Arch Masonry. To admit it would lead to endless confusion and contradictions in the traditions of the Order. It is, besides, in conflict with the opinions of the Rabbinical writers and every Hebrew scholar. Josephus and the Rabbis allege that in the second Temple the Holy of Holies was empty, or contained only the Stone of Foundation which marked the place which the ark should have occupied.

 

The ark was made of shittim wood, overlaid, within and without.

 

Aik APPENDIX         601

 

with pure gold. It was about three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, and of the same extent in depth. It had on the side two rings of gold, through which were placed staves of shittim wood, by which, when necessary, it was borne by the Levites. Its covering was of pure gold, over which was placed two figures called cherubim, with expanded wings. The covering of the ark was called kaphiret, from kaphar, "to forgive sin," and hence its English name of "mercy‑seat," as being the place where the intercession for sin was made.

 

The researches of archeologists in the last few years have thrown much light on the Egyptian mysteries. Among the ceremonies of that ancient people was one called the Procession of Shrines, which is mentioned in the Rosetta stone, and depicted on the Temple walls. One of these shrines was an ark, which was carried in procession by the priests, who supported it on their shoulders by staves passing through metal rings. It was thus brought into the Temple and deposited on a stand or altar, that the ceremonies prescribed in the ritual might be performed before it. The contents of these arks were various, but always of a mystical character. Sometimes the ark would contain symbols of Life and Stability; sometimes the sacred beetle, the symbol of the Sun; and there was always a representation of two figures of the goddess Theme or Tfuth and Justice, which overshadowed the ark with their wings. These coincidences of the Egyptian and Hebrew arks must have been more than accidental.

 

Ark, Substitute. The chest or coffer which constitutes a part of the furniture, and is used in the ceremonies of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and in a Council of Select Masters according to the American system, is called by Masons the Substitute Ark, to distinguish it from the other ark, that which was constructed in the wilderness under the direction of Moses, and which is known as the Ark of the Covenant. This the. Substitute Ark was made to represent under circumstances that are recorded in the Masonic traditions, and especially in those of the Select Degree.

 

The ark used in Royal Arch and Cryptic Masonry in this country is generally of this form: Prideaux, on the authority of Lightfoot, contends that, as an ark was indispensable to the Israelitish worship, there was in the second Temple an ark which had been expressly made for the purpose of sup‑plying the place of the first or original ark, and which, without possessing any of its prerogatives or honors, was of precisely the same shape and dimensions, and was deposited in the same place. The Masonic legend, whether authentic or not, is simple and connected. It teaches that there was an ark in the second Temple, but that it was neither the Ark of the Covenant, which had been in the Holy of Holies of the first Temple, nor one that had been constructed as a substitute for it after the building of the second Temple. It was that ark which was presented to us in the

 

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Select Master's Degree, and which being an exact copy of the Mosaical ark, and intended to replace it in case of its loss, which is best known to Freemasons as the Substitute Ark.

 

Lightfoot gives these Talmudic legends, in his Prospect of the Temple, in the following language: "It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon, when he built the Temple, foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed, caused very obscure and intricate vaults under ground to be made, wherein to hide the ark when any such danger came; that howsoever it went with the Temple, yet the ark, which was the very life of the Temple, might be saved. And they understand that passage in 2 Chron. xxxv. 3, `Josiah said unto the Levites, Put the holy ark into the house which Solomon, the son of David, did build,' etc., as if Josiah, having heard by the reading of Moses' manuscript, and by Huldah's prophecy of the danger that hung over Jerusalem, commanded to convey the ark into this vault, that it might be secured; and with it, say they, they laid up Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, and the anointing oil. For while the ark stood in its place upon the stone mentioned - they hold that Aaron's rod and the pot of manna stood before it; but, now, were all conveyed into obscurity - and the stone upon which the ark stood lay over the mouth of the vault. But Rabbi Solomon, which useth not, ordinarily, to forsake such traditions, hath given a more serious gloss upon the place; namely, that whereas Manasseh and Amon had removed the ark out of its habitation, and set up images and abominations there of their own - Joshua speaketh to the priests to restore it to its place again. What became of the ark, at the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, we read not; it is most likely it went to the fire also. However it sped, it was not in the second Temple; and is one of the five choice things that the Jews reckon wanting there. Yet they had an ark there also of their own making, as they had a breastplate of judgment; which, though they both wanted the glory of the former, which was giving of oracles, yet did they stand current as to the other matters of their worship, as the former breastplate and ark had done." The idea of the concealment of an ark and its accompanying treasures always prevailed in the Jewish church. The account given by the Talmudists is undoubtedly mythical; but there must, as certainly; have been some foundation for the myth, for every myth has a substratum of truth. The Masonic tradition differs from the Rabbinical, but is in every way more reconcilable with truth, or at least with probability. The ark constructed by Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel was burned at the destruction of the first Temple; but there was an exact representation of it in the second.

 

Assassins of the Third Degree. There is in Freemasonry a legend of certain unworthy Craftsmen who entered into a conspiracy to extort from a distinguished brother a secret of which he was the possessor. The legend is altogether symbolic, and when its symbolism is truly compre

 

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hended, becomes surpassingly beautiful. By those who look at it as having the pretension of an historical fact, it is sometimes treated with indifference, and sometimes considered an absurdity. But it is not thus that the legends and symbols of Masonry must be read, if we would learn their true spirit. To behold the goddess in all her glorious beauty, the veil that conceals her statue must be withdrawn. Masonic writers who have sought to interpret the symbolism of the legend of the conspiracy of the three assassins, have not agreed always in the interpretation, although they have finally arrived at the same result, namely, that it has a spiritual signification. Those who trace Speculative Masonry to the ancient solar worship, of whom Ragon may be considered as the exponent, find in this legend a symbol of the conspiracy of the three winter months to destroy the life‑giving heat of the sun. Those who, like the disciples of the Rite of Strict Observance, trace Masonry to a Templar origin, explain the legend as referring to the conspiracy of the three renegade knights who falsely accused the Order, and thus aided King Philip and Pope Clement to abolish Templarism, and to slay its Grand Master. Hutchinson and Oliver, who labored to give a Christian interpretation to all the symbols of Masonry, referred the legend to the crucifixion of the Messiah, the type of which is, of course, the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain. Others, of whom the Chevalier Ramsay was the leader, sought to give it a political significance; and, making Charles I. the type of the Builder, symbolized Cromwell and his adherents as the conspirators. The Masonic scholars whose aim has been to identify the modern system of Freemasonry with the Ancient Mysteries, and especially with the Egyptian, which they supposed to be the germ of all the others, interpret the conspirators as the symbol of the Evil Principle, or Typhon, slaying the Good Principle, or Osiris; or, when they refer to the Zoroastic Mysteries of Persia, as Ahriman con‑tending against Ormuzd. And lastly, in the Philosophic degrees, the myth is interpreted as signifying the war of Falsehood, Ignorance, and Superstition against Truth. Of the supposed names of the three Assassins, there is hardly any end of variations, for they materially differ in all the principal rites. Thus, we have Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum in in the York and American Rites. In the Adonhiramite system we have Romvel, Gravelot, and Abiram. In the Scottish Rite we find the names given in the old rituals as Jubelum Akirop, sometimes Abiram, Jubelo Romvel, and Jubela Gravelot. Schterke and Oterfiit are in some of the German rituals, while other Scottish rituals have Abiram, Romvel, and Hobhen. In all these names there is manifest corruption, and the patience of many Masonic scholars has been well‑nigh exhausted in seeking for some plausible and satisfactory derivation.

 

Aum. A mystic syllable among the Hindus, signifying the Supreme God of Gods, which the Brahmans, from its awful and sacred meaning, hesitate to pronounce aloud, and in doing so place one of their

 

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hands before the mouth so as to deaden the sound. This triliteral name of God, which is as sacred among the Hindus as the Tetragrammatam is among the Jews, is composed of three Sanskrit letters, sounding AUM. The first letter, A, stands for the Creator; the second, U, for the Pre‑server; and the third, M, for the Destroyer, or Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. Benfey, in his Sanskrit‑English Dictionary, defines the word as "a particle of reminiscence"; and this may explain the Brahmanical saying, that a Brahman beginning or ending the reading of a part of the Veda or Sacred Books, must always pronounce, to himself, the syllable AUM; for unless that syllable precede, his learning will slip away from him, and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained. An old passage in the Parana. says, "All the rites ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all sacred purifications, shall pass away, but the word AUM shall never pass away, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things." The word has been indifferently spelled, O'M, AOM, and AUM; but the last is evidently the most proper, as the second letter is 00 = U in the Sanskrit alphabet.

 

Babylon. The ancient capital of Chaldea, situated on both sides of the Euphrates, and once the most magnificent city of the ancient world. It was here that, upon the destruction of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in the year of the world 3394, the Jews of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were the inhabitants of Jerusalem, were conveyed and detained in captivity for seventy‑two years, until Cyrus, King of Persia, issued a decree for restoring them, and permitting them to rebuild their temple, under the superintendence of Zerubbabel, the Prince of the Captivity, and with the assistance of Joshua the High Priest and Haggai the Scribe.

 

Babylon the Great, as the prophet Daniel calls it, was situated four hundred and seventy‑five miles in a nearly due east direction from Jerusalem. It stood in the midst of a large and fertile plain on each side of the river Euphrates, which ran through it from north to south. It was surrounded with walls which were eighty‑seven feet thick, three hundred and fifty in height, and sixty miles in compass. These were all built of large bricks cemented together with bitumen. Exterior to the walls was a wide and deep trench lined with the same material. Twenty‑five gates on each side, made of solid brass, gave admission to the city. From each of these gates proceeded a wide street fifteen miles in length, and the whole was separated by means of other smaller di‑visions, and contained six hundred and seventy‑six squares, each of which was two miles and a quarter in circumference. Two hundred and fifty towers placed upon the walls afforded the means of additional strength and protection. Within this immense circuit were to be found palaces and temples and other edifices of the utmost magnificence, which have caused the wealth, the luxury, and splendor of Babylon to become the favorite theme of the historians of antiquity, and which compelled APPENDIX           605 the prophet Isaiah, even while denouncing its downfall, to speak of it as "the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency." Babylon, which, at the time of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, constituted a part of the Chaldean empire, was subsequently taken, B.C.

538, after a siege of two years, by Cyrus, King of Persia.

 

Banners, Royal Arch. Much difficulty has been experienced by ritualists in reference to the true colors and proper arrangements of the banners used in an American Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. It is admitted that they are four in number, and that their colors are blue, purple, scarlet, and white; and it is known too, that the devices on these banners are a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle; but the doubt is constantly arising as to the relation between these devices and these colors, and as to which of the former is to be appropriated to each of the latter. The question, it is true, is one of mere ritualism, but it is important that the ritual should be always uniform, and hence the object of the present article is to attempt the solution of this question.

 

The banners used in a Royal Arch Chapter are derived from those which are supposed to have been borne by the twelve tribes of Israel during their encampment in the wilderness, to which reference is made in the second chapter of the Book of Numbers, and the second verse: "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard." But as to what were the devices on the banners, or what were their various' colors, the Bible is absolutely silent. To the inventive genius of the Talmudists are we indebted for all that we know or profess to know on this subject. These mystical philosophers have given to us with wonderful precision the various devices which they have borrowed from the death‑bed prophecy of Jacob, and have sought, probably in their own fertile imaginations, for the appropriate colors.

 

The English Royal Arch Masons, whose system differs very much from that of their American Companions, display in their Chapters the twelve banners of the tribes in accordance with the Talmudic devices and colors. These have been very elaborately described by Dr. Oliver in his Historical Landmarks (ii., 583‑97), and beautifully exemplified by Companion Harris in his Royal Arch Tracing Boards.

 

But our American Royal Arch Masons, as we have seen, use only four banners, being those attributed by the Talmudists to the four principal tribes - Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan. The devices on these banners are respectively a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. As to this there is no question, all authorities, such as they are, agreeing on this point. But, as has been before said, there is some diversity of opinion as to the colors of each, and necessarily as to the officers by whom they should be borne.

 

Some of the Targumists, or Jewish biblical commentators, say that the color of the banner of each tribe was analogous to that of the stone which represented that tribe in the breastplate of the High Priest. If

 

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this were correct, then the colors of the banners of the four leading tribes would be red and green, namely, red for Judah, Ephraim, and Reuben, and green for Dan; these being the colors of the precious stones sardonyx, ligure, carbuncle, and chrysolite, by which these tribes were represented in the High Priest's breastplate. Such an arrangement would not, of course, at all suit the symbolism of the American Royal Arch banners.

 

Equally unsatisfactory is the disposition of the colors derived from the arms of Speculative Masonry, as first displayed by Dermott in his Ahiman Rezon, which is familiar to all American Masons, from the copy published by Cross, in his Hieroglyphic Chart. In this piece of blazonry, the two fields occupied by Judah and Dan are azure, or blue, and those of Ephraim and Reuben are or, or golden yellow; an appropriation of colors altogether uncongenial with Royal Arch symbolism.

 

We must, then, depend on the Talmudic writers solely for the disposition and arrangement of the colors and devices of these banners. From their works we learn that the color of the banner of Judah was white; that of Ephraim, scarlet; that of Reuben, purple; and that of Dan, blue; and that the devices of the same tribes were respectively the lion, the ox, the man, and the eagle.

 

Hence, under this arrangement - and it is the only one upon which we can depend - the four banners in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, workingä in the American Rite, must be distributed as follows among the banner‑bearing officers:

 

1st. An eagle, on a blue banner. This represents the tribe of Dan, and is borne by the Grand Master of the first veil.

 

2d. A man, on a purple banner. This represents the tribe of Reuben, and is borne by the Grand Master of the second veil.

 

3d. An ox, on a scarlet banner. This represents the tribe of Ephraim, and is borne by the Grand Master of the third veil.

 

4th. A lion, on a white banner. This represents the tribe of Judah, and is borne by the Royal Arch Captain.

 

Battery. A given number of blows by the gavels of the officers, or by the hands of the Brethren, as a mark of approbation, admiration, or reverence, and at times accompanied by the acclamation.

 

Beauceant, Social Order of the. The S.O.O.B., known as the Social Order of the Beauceant, is an organization of women whose membership is limited to the wives and widows of Knights Templar. It was founded in the city of Denver, Colorado, February

20th, 1890. The first suggestion for uniting the wives and widows of Knights Templar, into a society or order was given by several Sir Knights in 1889, after the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar decided to hold its twenty‑fifth Triennial Conclave in Denver August, 1892. On February 20th, 1890, the first meeting was held at the home of Mrs. William H. H.

 

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Cranmer, 925 Seventeenth Avenue, Denver. There were twenty three charter members present; - Mesdames Richard W. Moseley, Charles P. Wickes, Frank E. Edbrook, Nelson Franklin, James H. Crandell, William H. Cranmer, Silas W. Chaney, William R. Harp, John G. Hoffer, Jessie E. Kinport, Lawrence N. Greenleaf, William G. Parkhurst, Thomas Nicholl, Alonzo G. Rhoads, Leonard K. Watkins, Smith M. Shattuc, Thomas J. Morrison, William Toovey, Ben J. Bowen, Herbert S. DeSollar, William D. Peirce, Frank J. Hard, Harry L. Wadsworth. By July 1938 the membership was 6210, with 85 chartered Assemblies.

 

The governing body is called an Assembly. The principal officers are; - President, First, Second and Third Vice Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. The appointive officers are; - Chaplin, Guard and Marshall.

 

The S.O.O.B. Society was the name adopted. Its slogan; - " Some Of Our Business to make this Society an attractive center from which shall radiate bright, joyous and happy influences. . . . It is Some Of Our Business to be helpful, hopeful and inspiring, . . . to make life purer, better and sweeter."

 

Its purposes are social and benevolent, helping its own members and others in need or distress.

 

Its Supreme Assembly meets annually. It has a very beautiful Ritual, which is secret.

 

Beauseant. The vexillum belli, or war‑banner of the ancient Templars, which is also used by the modern Masonic Order. The upper half of the banner was black, and the lower half white: black, to typify terror to foes, and white, fairness to friends. It bore the pious inscription, Non nob is, Domine non nobis, sed nomini. With regard to the double signification of the white and black banner, the Orientalists have a legend of Alexander the Great, which may be appropriately quoted on the present occasion, Alexander was the lord of light and darkness: when he went out with his army the light was before him, and behind him was the darkness, so that he was secure against all ambuscades; and by means of a miraculous white and black standard he had also the power to transform the clearest day into midnight and darkness, or black night into noon‑day, just as he unfurled the one or the other. Thus he was unconquerable, since he rendered his troops invisible at his pleasure, and came down suddenly upon his foes. Might there not have been some connection between the mythical: white and black standard of Alexander and the Beauseant of the Templars'? We know that the latter were familiar with Oriental symbolism.

 

Beauseant was also the war‑cry of the Ancient Templars.

 

Beauty. Said to be symbolically one of the three supports of a Lodge. It is represented by the Corinthian column, because the Corinthian is the most beautiful of the ancient orders of Architecture;

 

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and by the Junior Warden, because he symbolizes the meridian sun - the most beautiful object in the heavens. Hiram Abif is also said to be represented by the Column of Beauty, because the Temple was indebted to his skill for its splendid decorations. The idea of Beauty as one of the supports of the Lodge is found in the earliest rituals of the eighteenth century, as well as the symbolism which refers it to the Corinthian column and the Junior Warden. Preston first introduced the reference to the Corinthian column and to Hiram Abif.

 

Bone. This word, which is now corruptly pronounced in one syllable, is the Hebrew word boneh, "builder," from the verb banah,  "to build." It was peculiarly applied, as an epithet, to Hiram Abif, who superintended the construction of the Temple as its chief builder. Master Masons will recognize it as the terminal portion of a significant word. Its true pronunciation would be, in English letters, bonay; but the corruption into one syllable as bone has become too universal ever to be corrected.

 

Burning Bush. In the third chapter of Exodus it is recorded that, while Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro on Mount Horeb, "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush," and there communicated to him for the first time his Ineffable Name. This occurrence is commemorated in the "Burning Bush" of the Royal Arch Degree. In all the systems of antiquity, fire is adopted as a symbol of Deity; and the "Burning Bush," or the bush filled with fire which did not consume, whence came forth the Tetragrammaton, the symbol of Divine Light and Truth, is considered, in the higher degrees of Masonry, like the "Orient" in the lower, as the great source of true Masonic light; wherefore Supreme Councils of the Thirty‑third Degree date their balustres, or official documents, "near the B.'. B.'.," or "Burning Bush," to intimate that they are, in their own rite, the exclusive source of all Masonic instruction.

 

It is recorded in the third chapter of Exodus, that when Moses was tending the flocks of Jethro, the priest of Midian, who was the father‑in‑law of Moses, he came to the mountain of God - even to Horeb. And an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said "I will turn aside and see this great sight - why the bush is not consumed." And God called to him commanding that he should make the necessary preparation to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt - the land of materiality - where they had been for years in bondage to Pharaoh.

 

Now while this lonely sheep herder was quietly tending his flocks, undisturbed by the sights and sounds of civilization, he had much time for observation, and realized what an enormous task had been placed upon him by the Lord God Jehovah. When, therefore, the phenomenon of the burning bush appeared, naturally he desired to see and study it.

 

 

 

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In this experience there dawned upon him the great part he should play in leading his fellow men out of the bondage of materiality into the promised land of spirituality. It is narrated that God commanded him to "take off thine shoes, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Now, as then, in Egypt and in the Holy Land, the burning bush is a natural sight - not a phenomenon - and Moses was so spiritually minded that he realized he was in God's presence always, that "the angels of the Lord" were God's good thoughts coming to him, as they come to you and to me today. Only as we are spiritually minded do we recognize them.

 

The experience of the burning bush let Moses to recognize more clearly his own true sonship and to help the children of Israel to discover theirs. As a noted poet has so beautifully written; - " The earth is crammed with Heaven - God in every burning bush - but only those who see - take off their shoes."

 

As we come more fully to realize the truth of what a noted meta. .physician has so wonderfully written; - "Heaven is a state of bliss where no inharmony prevails - a present possibility here and now." - may the scales fall from our eyes and may we come seeing, with bared heads and feet - in token of our sincerity - realizing that we, too, are on holy ground, letting no inharmony prevail, cleansing our thoughts and minds of the vices and superfluities of material life, thereby fitting ourselves as living stones in that "house eternal - that house not made with hands."

 

Canada. Upon the advent of Confederation, July 1, 1867, local control in each Province for the government of the Masonic Fraternity of the Dominion took a strong hold as a predominant idea, and prevailed. Each Province has now a Grand Lodge, and in order of their organization are as follows: Canada, having jurisdiction only in Ontario, 1855; Nova Scotia, 1866; New Brunswick, 1867; Quebec, 1869; British Columbia, 1871; Manitoba, 1875; Prince Edward Island, 1875; Alberta, 1905; Saskatchewan, 1906. The first marks of the Ancient Craftsman have been found in Nova Scotia. A mineralogical survey in 1827 found on the shore of Goat Island in the Annapolis Basin, partly covered with sand, a slab of rock 2 ½  X 2 feet, bearing on it those well‑known Masonic emblems, "the Square and Compasses," and the date 1606. Who were the Craftsmen and how the stone came there, must be left to conjecture. [Will H. Whyte, P. G. M.:: K. T. of Canada.]

 

Candlestick, Golden. The golden candlestick of seven branches, which is a part of the furniture of a Royal Arch Chapter, is derived from "the holy candlestick" which Moses was instructed to construct of beaten gold for the use of the tabernacle. Smith (Diet. of the Bible) thus abbreviates Lightfoot's explanation of the description given in Exodus: "The foot of it was gold, from which went up a shaft straight, which was the middle light. Near the foot was a golden dish wrought

 

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almondwise; and a little above that a golden knop, and above that a golden flower. Then two branches one on each side bowed, - and coming up as high as the middle shaft. On each of them were three golden cups placed almondwise, in sharp, scallop‑shell fashion; above which was a golden knop, a golden flower, and the socket. Above the branches on the middle shaft was a golden boss, above which rose two shafts more; above the coming out of these was another boss and two more shafts, and then on the shaft upwards were three golden scallop‑cups, a knop, and a flower; so that the heads of the branches stood an equal height." In the tabernacle, the candlestick was placed opposite the table of shewbread, which it was intended to illumine, in an oblique position, so that the lamps looked to the east and south. What became of the candlestick between the time of Moses and that of Solomon is unknown; but it does not appear to have been present in the first Temple, which was lighted by ten golden candlesticks similarly embossed, which were connected by golden chains and formed a sort of railing before the veil.

 

These ten candlesticks became the spoil of the Chaldean conqueror at the time of the destruction of the Temple, and could not have been among the articles afterward restored by Cyrus; for in the second Temple, built by Zerubbabel, we find only a single candlestick of seven branches, like that of the tabernacle. Its form has been perpetuated on the Arch of Titus, on which it was sculptured with other articles taken by that monarch, and carried to Rome as spolia opima, after he had destroyed the Herodian Temple. This is the candlestick which is represented as a decoration in a Royal Arch Chapter.

 

In Jewish symbolism, the seven branches were supposed by some to refer to the seven planets, and by others to the seventh day or Sabbath. The primitive Christians made it allusive to Christ as the "light of the world," and in this sense it is a favorite symbol in early Christian art. In Masonry it seems to have no symbolic meaning, unless it be the general one of light; but is used in a Royal. Arch Chapter simply to indicate that the room is a representation of the tabernacle erected near the ruins of the first Temple, for the purpose of temporary worship during the building of the second, and in which tabernacle this candlestick is sup‑posed to have been present.

 

Capitular Degrees. The degrees conferred under the charter of an American Royal Arch Chapter, which are Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason. The capitular degrees are almost altogether founded on and composed of a series of events in Masonic history. Each of them has attached to it some tradition or legend which it is the design of the degree to illustrate, and the memory of which is preserved in its ceremonies and instructions. Most of these legends are of symbolic signification. But this is their interior sense. In their outward and ostensible meaning, they appear before us simply as legends. To retain these legends in the memory of Masons appears

 

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to have been the primary design in the establishment of the higher degrees; and as the information intended to be communicated in these degrees is of an historical character, there can of course be but little room for symbols or for symbolic instruction; the profuse use of which would rather tend to an injury than to a benefit, by complicating the purposes of the ritual and confusing the mind of the aspirant. These remarks refer exclusively to the Mark and Most Excellent Master's Degree of the American Rite, but are not so applicable to the Royal Arch, which is eminently symbolic. The legends of the second Temple, and the lost word, the peculiar legends of that degree, are among the most prominent symbols of the Masonic system.

 

Capitular Masonry. The Masonry conferred in a Royal Arch Chap‑ter of the York and American Rites. There are Chapters in the Ancient and Accepted, Scottish, and in the French and other Rites; but the Masonry therein conferred is not called capitular.

 

Captivity. The Jews reckoned their national captivities as four: - the Babylonian, Medean, Grecian, and Roman. The present article will refer only to the first, when there was a forcible deportation of the in‑habitants of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the general of King Nebuchadnezzar, and their detention at Babylon until the reign of Cyrus, which alone is connected with the history of Masonry, and is commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Between that portion of the ritual of the Royal Arch which refers to the destruction of the first Temple, and that subsequent part which symbolizes the building of the second, there is an interregnum (if we may be allowed the term) in the ceremonial of the degree, which must be considered as a long interval in history, the filling up of which, like the interval between the acts of a play, must be left to the imagination of the spectator. This interval represents the time passed in the captivity of the Jews at Babylon. That captivity lasted for seventy years - from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar until that of Cyrus - although but fifty‑two of these years are commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree. This event took place in the year 588 B.c. It was not, however, the beginning of the "seventy years' captivity," which had been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, which, commenced eighteen years before. The captives were conducted to Babylon. What was the exact number removed we have no means of ascertaining. We are led to believe, from certain passages of Scripture, that the deportation was not complete. Calmet says that Nebuchadnezzar carried away only the principal inhabitants, the warriors and artisans of every kind, and that he left the husbandmen, the laborers, and, in general, the poorer classes, that constituted the great body of the people. Among the prisoners of distinction, Josephus mentions the high priest, Seraiah, and Zephaniah, the priest that was next to him, with the three rulers that guarded the Temple, the eunuch who was over the armed men, seven friends of Zedekiah, his scribe, and sixty other rulers.

 

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Zedekiah, the king, had attempted to escape previous to the termination of the siege, but being pursued, was captured and carried to Riblah, the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar, where, having first been compelled to behold the slaughter of his children, his eyes were then put out, and he was conducted in chains to Babylon.

 

A Masonic tradition informs us that the captive Jews were bound by their conquerors with triangular chains, and that this was done by the Chaldeans as an additional insult, because the Jewish Masons were known to esteem the triangle as an emblem of the sacred name of God, and must have considered its appropriation to the form of their fetters as a desecration of the Tetragrammaton.

 

Notwithstanding the ignominious mode of their conveyance from Jerusalem and the vindictiveness displayed by their conqueror in the destruction of their city and Temple, they do not appear, on their arrival at Babylon, to have been subjected to any of the extreme rigors of slavery. They were distributed into various parts of the empire, some remaining in he city, while others were sent into the provinces. The latter probably devoted themselves to agricultural pursuits, while the former were engaged in commerce or in the labors of architecture. Smith says that the captives were treated not as slaves but as colonists. They were permitted to retain their personal property, and even to purchase lands and erect houses. Their civil and religious government was not utterly destroyed, for they kept up a regular succession of kings and high priests, one of each of whom returned with them, as will be seen hereafter, on their restoration. Some of the principal captives were advanced to offices of dignity and power in the royal palace, and were permitted to share in the councils of state. Their prophets, Daniel and Ezekiel, with their associates, preserved among their countrymen the pure doctrines of their religion. Although they had neither place nor time of national gathering, nor temple, and therefore offered no sacrifices, yet they observed the Mosaic laws with respect to the rite of circumcision. They preserved their tables of genealogy and the true succession to the throne of David. The rightful heir being called the Head of the Captivity, Jehoiachin, who was the first king of Judea carried captive to Babylon, was succeeded by his son Shealtiel, and he by his son Zerubbabel, who was the Head of the Captivity, or nominal prince of Judea at the close of the captivity. The due succession of the high‑priesthood was also preserved, for Jehosadek, who was the high priest carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, where he died during the captivity, was succeeded by his eldest son, Joshua. The Jewish captivity terminated in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, B.C.

536. Cyrus, from his conversations with Daniel and the other Jewish captives of learning and piety, as well as from his perusal of their sacred books, more especially the prophecies of Isaiah, had become imbued with a knowledge of true religion, and hence had even publicly announced to his subjects his belief in the God

 

APPENDIX    513

 

"which the nation of the Israelites worshipped." He was consequently impressed with an earnest desire to fulfil the prophetic declarations of which he was the subject, and to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Cyrus therefore issued a decree by which the Jews were permitted to return to their country. According to Milman, 42,360 besides servants availed themselves of this permission, and returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel their prince and Joshua their high priest, and thus ended the first or Babylonian captivity, the only one which has any connection with the legends of Freemasonry as commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Chamber of Reflection. In the French and Scottish Rites, a small room adjoining the Lodge, in which, preparatory to initiation, the candidate is enclosed for the purpose of indulging in those serious meditations which its somber appearance and the gloomy emblems with which it is furnished are calculated to produce. It is also used in some of the high degrees for a similar purpose. Its employment is very appropriate, for, "It is only in solitude that we can deeply reflect upon our present or future undertakings, and blackness, darkness, or solitariness, is ever a symbol of death. A man who has undertaken a thing after mature reflection seldom turns back." Charleston. A city in the United States of America, and the metropolis .of the State of South Carolina. It was there that the first Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established in 1801, whence all other Supreme Councils have emanated, directly or indirectly. Hence, it has assumed the title of "Mother Council of the world." Its seat was removed in 1870 to the city of Washington.

 

Commander. 1. The presiding officer in a Commandery of Knights Templar. His style is "Eminent," and the jewel of his office is a cross, from which issue rays of light. In England and Canada he is now styled "Preceptor." 2. The Superintendent of a Commandery, as a house or residence of, the Ancient Knights of Malta, was so called.

 

Commandery. 1. In the United States all regular assemblies of Knights Templar are called Commanderies, and must consist of the following officers: Eminent Commander, Generalissimo, Captain‑General, Prelate, Senior Warden, Junior Warden, Treasurer, Recorder, Warder, Standard‑Bearer, Sword‑Bearer, and Sentinel. These Commanderies de‑rive their warrants of Constitution from a Grand Commandery, or, if there is no such body in the State in which they are organized, from the Grand Encampment of the United States. They confer the degrees of Companion of the Red Cross, Knight Templar, and Knight of Malta.

 

In a Commandery of Knights Templars, the throne is situated in the East. Above it are suspended three banners: the center one bearing a cross, surmounted by a glory; the left one having inscribed on it the emblems of the Order, and the right one, a paschal lamb. The Eminent Commander is seated on the throne; the Generalissimo, Prelate, and Past Commanders on his right; the Captain‑General on his left; the Treasurer

 

614     APPENDIX 

 

and Recorder, as in a Symbolic Lodge; the Senior Warden at the south‑west angle of the triangle, and upon the right of the first division; the Junior Warden at the northwest angle of the triangle, and on the left of the third division; the Standard‑Bearer in the West, between the Sword‑Bearer on his right, and the Warder on his left; and in front of him is a stall for the initiate. The Knights are arranged in equal numbers on each side, and in front of the throne. In England and Canada a body of Knights Templars is called a "Preceptory." 2. The houses or residences of the Knights of Malta were called Commanderies, and the aggregation of them in a nation was called a Priory or Grand Priory.

 

Commandery, Grand. When three or more Commanderies are instituted in a State, they may unite and form a Grand Commandery under the regulations prescribed by the Grand Encampment of the United States. They have the superintendence of all Commanderies of Knights Templars that are holden in their respective jurisdictions.

 

A Grand Commandery meets at least annually, and its officers consist of a Grand Commander, Deputy Grand Commander, Grand Generalissimo, Grand Captain‑General, Grand Prelate, Grand Senior and Junior Warden, Grand Treasurer, Grand Recorder, Grand Warder, Grand Standard‑Bearer, and Grand Sword‑Bearer.

 

Conclave. Commanderies of Knights Templars in England and Canada were called Conclaves, and the Grand Encampment, the Grand Conclave, but the terms now in use are "Preceptory" and "Great Priory" respectively. The word is also applied to the meetings in some other of the high degrees. The word is derived from the Latin con, "with," and clavis, "a key," to denote the idea of being locked up in seclusion, and in this sense was first applied to the apartment in which the cardinals are literally locked up when met to elect a Pope.

 

Consistory. The meetings of members of the Thirty‑second Degree, or Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, are called Consistories. The elective officers are, according to the ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, a Commander‑in‑Chief, Seneschal, Preceptor, Chancellor, Minister of State, Almoner, Registrar, and Treasurer. In the Northern Jurisdiction it is slightly different, the second and third officers being called Lieutenant‑Commanders. A Consistory confers the Thirty‑first and Thirty‑second degrees of the Rite.

 

Contumacy. In civil law, it is the refusal or neglect of a party accused to appear and answer to a charge preferred against him in a court of justice. In Masonic jurisprudence, it is disobedience of or rebellion against superior authority, as when a Mason refuses to obey the edict of his Lodge, or a Lodge refuses to obey that of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge. The punishment, in the former case, is

 

APPENDIX    615

 

generally suspension or expulsion; in the latter, arrest of charter or forfeiture of warrant.

 

Corn, Wine, and Oil. Corn, wine, and oil are the Masonic elements of consecration. The adoption of these symbols is supported by the highest antiquity. Corn, wine, and oil were the most important productions of Eastern countries; they constituted the wealth of the people, and were esteemed as the supports of life and the means of refreshment. David enumerates them among the greatest blessings that we enjoy, and speaks of them as "wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart." (Ps. civ. 15.) In devoting anything to religious purposes, the anointing with oil was considered as a necessary part of the ceremony, a rite which has descended to Christian nations. The tabernacle in the wilderness, and all its holy vessels, were, by God's express command, anointed with oil; Aaron and his two sons were set apart for the priesthood with the same ceremony; and the prophets and kings of Israel were consecrated to their offices by the same rite. Hence, Freemasons' Lodges, which are but temples to the Most High, are consecrated to the sacred purposes for which they were built by strewing corn, wine, and oil upon the "Lodge," the emblem of the Holy Ark. Thus does this mystic ceremony instruct us to bb nourished with the hidden manna of righteousness, to be refreshed with the Word of the Lord, and to rejoice with joy unspeakable in the riches of divine grace. "Wherefore, my brethren," says the venerable Harris (Disc., iv., 81), "wherefore do you carry corn, wine, and oil in your processions, but to remind you that in the pilgrimage of human life you are to impart a portion of your bread to feed the hungry, to send a cup of your wine to cheer the sorrowful, and to pour the healing oil of your consolation into the wounds which sickness hath made in the bodies, or affliction rent in the hearts, of your fellow‑travellers?" In processions, the corn alone is carried in a golden pitcher, the wine and oil are placed in silver vessels, and this is to remind us that the first, as a necessity and the "staff of life," is of more importance and more worthy of honor than the others, which are but comforts.

 

Cresset. An open lamp formerly having a cross‑piece filled with combustible material, such as naphtha, and recognized as the symbol of Light and Truth.

 

Christianization of Freemasonry. The interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry from a Christian point of view is a theory adopted by some of the most distinguished Masonic writers of England and this country, but one which I think does not belong to the ancient system. Hutchinson, and after him Oliver - profoundly philosophical as are the Masonic speculations of both - have, I am constrained to believe, fallen into a great error in calling the Master Mason's Degree a Christian institution. It is true that it embraces within its scheme the great truths of Christianity upon the subject of the immortality of the soul and the

 

616     APPENDIX

 

resurrection of the body; but this was to be presumed, because Free‑masonry is truth, and all truth must be identical. But the origin of each is different; their histories are dissimilar. The principles of Freemasonry preceded the advent of Christianity. Its symbols and its legends are derived from the Solomonic Temple and from the people even anterior to that. Its religion comes from the ancient priesthood; its faith was that primitive one of Noah and his immediate descendants. If Masonry were simply a Christian institution, the Jew and the Moslem, the Brahman and the Buddhist, could not conscientiously partake of its illumination. But its universality is its boast. In its language citizens of every nation may converse; at its altar men of all religions may kneel; to its creed disciples of every faith may subscribe.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Cross. We can find no symbolism of the cross in the primitive degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. It does not appear among the symbols of the Apprentice, the Fellow‑Craft, the Master, or the Royal Arch. This is undoubtedly to be attributed to the fact that the cross was considered,

 

APPENDIX    617

 

by those who invented those degrees, only in reference to its character as a Christian sign. The subsequent archeological investigations that have given to the cross a more universal place in iconography were unknown to the rituals. It is true, that it is referred to, under the name of the rode or rood, in the manuscript. of the fourteenth century, published by Halliwell; this was, however, one of the Constitutions of the Operative Freemasons, who were fond of the symbol, and were indebted for it to their ecclesiastical origin, and to their connection with the Gnostics, among whom the cross was a much used symbol. But on the revival in 1717, when the ritual was remodified, and differed very greatly from that meager one in practise among the medieval Masons, all allusion to the cross was left out, because the revivalists laid down the principle that the religion of Speculative Masonry was not sectarian but universal. And although this principle was in some points, as in the "lines parallel," neglected, the reticence as to the Christian sign of salvation has continued to the present day; so that the cross cannot be considered as a symbol in the primary and original degrees of Masonry.

 

But in the high degrees the cross has been introduced as an important symbol. In some of them - those which are to be traced to the Temple system of Ramsay - it is to be viewed with reference to its Christian origin and meaning. Thus, in the original Rose Croix and Kadosh - no matter what may be the modern interpretation given to it - it was simply a representation of the cross of Christ. In others of a philosophical character, such as the Ineffable degrees, the symbolism of the cross was in all probability borrowed from the usages of antiquity, for from the earliest times and in almost all countries the cross has been a sacred symbol. It is depicted on the oldest monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and Hindustan. It was, says Faber (Cabir., ii., 390), a symbol through‑out the Pagan world long previous to its becoming an object of veneration to Christians. In ancient symbology it was a symbol of eternal life. M. de Mortillet, who, in 1866, published a work entitled Le Signe de la Croix avant le Christianisme, found in the very earliest epochs three principal symbols of universal occurrence: viz., the circle, the pyramid, and the cross. Leslie (Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 312), quoting from him in reference. to the ancient worship of the cross, says: "It seems to have been a worship of such a peculiar nature as to exclude the worship of idols." This sacredness of the crucial symbol may be one reason why its form was often adopted, especially by the Celts, in the construction of their temples.

 

"The symbol that beyond all others has fascinated the human mind, THE CROSS, finds here its source and meaning. Scholars have pointed out its sacredness in many natural religions, and have reverently accepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and often debasing, interpretations. It is but another symbol of the four cardinal points, the four winds of heaven. This will luminously appear by a study of its

 

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vise and meaning in America." (P. 95.) And Mr. Brinton gives many instances of the religious use of the cross by several of the aboriginal tribes of this continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed, seems evidently to be to the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four spirits of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable that a similar reference was adopted by the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we would have in the cruciform temple as much a symbolism of the world, of which the four cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as we have in the square, the cubical, and the circular.

 

Crucifix. A cross with the image of the Savior suspended on it. A part of the furniture of a Commandery of Knights Templar and of a Chapter of Princes of Rose Croix.

 

Crusades. There was between Freemasonry and the Crusades a much more intimate relation than has generally been supposed. In the first place, the communications frequently established by the Crusaders, and especially the Knights Templar, with the Saracens, led to the acquisition, by the former, of many of the dogmas of the secret societies of the East, such as the Essenes, the Assassins, and the Druses. These were brought by the knights to Europe, and subsequently, on the establishment by Ramsay and his contemporaries and immediate successors of Templar Masonry, were incorporated into the high degrees, and still exhibit their influence. Indeed, it is scarcely to be doubted that 'many of these degrees were invented with a special reference to the events which occurred in Syria and Palestine. Thus, for instance, the Scottish degree of Knights of the East and West must have originally alluded, as its name imports, to the legend which teaches a division of the Masons after the Temple was finished, when the Craft dispersed - a part remaining in Palestine, as the Assideans, whom Lawrie, citing Scaliger, calls the "Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem," and another part passing over into Europe, whence they returned on the breaking out of the Crusades. This, of course, is but a legend, yet the influence is felt in the invention of the higher rituals.

 

But the influence of the Crusades on the Freemasons and the architecture of the Middle Ages is of a more historical character. In 1836, Mr. Westmacott, in a course of lectures on art before the Royal Academy, remarked that the two principal causes which materially tended to assist the restoration of literature and the arts in Europe were Freemasonry and the Crusades. The adventurers, he said, who returned from the Holy Land brought back some ideas of various improvements, particularly in architecture, and, along with these, a strong desire to erect castellated, ecclesiastical, and palatial edifices, to display the taste they had acquired; and in less than a century from the first Crusade above six hundred buildings of the above description had been erected in Southern and Western Europe. This taste was spread into almost all countries by the establishment of the Fraternity of Freemasons, who, it appears, had, under some

 

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peculiar form of brotherhood, existed for an immemorial period in Syria and other parts of the East, from whence some bands of them migrated to Europe, and after a time a great efflux of these ingenious men - Italian, German, French, Spanish, etc. - had spread themselves in communities through all civilized Europe; and in all countries where they settled we find the same style of architecture from that period, but differing in some points of treatment, as suited the climate.

 

Cubit. A measure of length, originally denoting the distance from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger, or the fourth part of a well‑proportioned man's stature. The Hebrew cubit, according to Bishop Cumberland, was twenty‑one inches; but only eighteen according to other authorities. There were two kinds of cubits, the sacred and profane - the former equal to thirty‑six, and the latter to eighteen inches. It is by the common cubit that the dimensions of the various parts of the Temple are to be computed.

 

Declaration of the Master. Every Master of a Lodge, after his election and before his installation, is required to give, in the presence of the brethren, his assent to the following fifteen charges and regulations:

1. Do you promise to be a good man and true, and strictly to obey the moral law?

2. Do you promise to be a peaceable citizen, and cheer‑fully to .conform to the laws of the country in which you reside?

3. Do you promise not to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the government of the country in which you live, but patiently to submit to the decisions of the law and the constituted authorities?

4. Do you promise to pay proper respect to the civil magistrates, to work diligently, live creditably, and act honorably by all men?

5. Do you promise to hold in veneration the original rulers and patrons of the Order of Free‑masonry, and their regular successors, supreme and subordinate, ac‑cording to their stations; and to submit to the awards and resolutions of your brethren in Lodge convened, in every case consistent with the constitutions of the Order?

6. Do you promise, as much as in you lies, to avoid private piques and quarrels, and to guard against intemperance and excess ?

7. Do you promise to be cautious in your behavior, courteous to your brethren, and faithful to your Lodge?

8. Do you promise to respect genuine and true brethren, and to discountenance impostors and all dissenters from the Ancient Landmarks and Constitutions of Masonry?

9. Do you promise, according to the best of your abilities, to promote the general good of society, to cultivate the social virtues, and to propagate the knowledge of the mystic art, according to our statutes?

10. Do you promise to pay homage to the Grand Master for the time being, and to his officers when duly installed; and strictly to conform to every edict of the Grand Lodge or General Assembly of Masons that is not subversive of the principles and groundwork of Masonry?

11. Do you admit that it is not in the power of any man, or body of men, to make innovations in the body of Masonry?

12. Do you promise a regular at‑

 

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tendance on the committees and communications of the Grand Lodge, on receiving proper notice, and to pay attention to all the duties of Masonry, on convenient occasions?

13. Do you admit that no new Lodge can be formed without permission of the Grand Lodge; and that no countenance ought to be given to any irregular Lodge, or to any person clandestinely initiated therein, as being contrary to the ancient charges of the Order?

14. Do you admit that no person can be regularly made a Freemason in, or admitted a member of, any regular Lodge, without previous notice, and due inquiry into his character?

15. Do you agree that no visitors shall be received into your Lodge without due examination, and producing proper vouchers of their having been initiated in a regular Lodge?

 

Dedication of the Temple. There are five dedications of the Temple of Jerusalem which are recorded in Jewish history:

 

1. The dedication of the Solomonic Temple, B.C. 1004.

2. The dedication in the time of Ilezekiah, when it was purified from the abominations of Ahaz, B.C. 726.

3. The dedication of Zerubbabel's Temple, B.C. 513.

4. The dedication of the Temple when it was purified after Judas Maccabmeus had driven out the Syrians, c.c. 164.

5. The dedication of Herod's Temple, B.C.

22. The fourth of these is still celebrated by the Jews in their "Feast of the Dedication." The first only is connected with the Masonic ritual, and is commemorated in the Most Excellent Master's Degree of the American Rite as the "Celebration of the Cape‑Stone." This dedication was made by King Solomon in the year of the world 3000, and lasted eight days, commencing in the month of Tisri, 15th day, during the Feast of Tabernacles. The dedication of the Temple is called, in the English system of Lectures, "the third grand offering which consecrates the floor of a Mason's Lodge." The same Lectures contain a tradition that on that occasion King Solomon assembled the nine Deputy Grand Masters in the holy place, from which all natural light had been carefully excluded, and which only received the artificial light which emanated from the east, west, and south, and there made the necessary arrangements. The legend must be considered as a myth; but the inimitable prayer and invocation which were offered up by King Solomon on the occasion are recorded in the eighth chapter of the 1st Book of Kings, which contains the Scriptural account of the dedication.

 

Degrees of Chivalry. The religious and military orders of knight‑hood which existed in the Middle Ages, such as the Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, which were incorporated into the Masonic system and conferred as Masonic degrees, have been called Degrees of Chivalry. They are Christian in character, and seek to perpetuate in a symbolic form the idea on which the original Orders were founded. The Companion of the Red Cross, although conferred, in this country, in a Commandery of Knights Templar, and as preliminary to that degree, is not properly a degree of chivalry.

 

APPENDIX    621

 

Deus Meumque Jus. God and my right. The motto of the Thirty‑third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and hence adopted as that also of the Supreme Council of the Rite. It is a Latin translation of the motto of the royal arms of England, which is "Dieu et mon droit," and concerning which we have the following tradition. Richard Coeur de Leon, besieging Gisors, in Normandy, in 1198, gave, as a parole, "Dieu et mon droit," because Philip Augustus, King of France, had, without right, taken that city, which then belonged to England. Richard, having been victorious with that righteous parole, hence adopted it as his motto; and it was afterward marshaled in the arms of England.

 

Eagle, Double‑Headed. The eagle displayed, that is, with extended wings, as if in the act of flying, has always, from the majestic character of the bird, been deemed an emblem of imperial power. Marius, the consul, first consecrated the eagle, about eight years B.C., to be the sole Roman standard at the head of every legion, and hence it became the standard of the Roman Empire ever afterward. As the single‑headed eagle was thus adopted as the symbol of imperial power, the double‑headed eagle naturally became the representative of a double empire; and on the division of the Roman dominions into the eastern and western empire, which were afterward consolidated by the Carlovingian race into what was ever after called the Holy Roman Empire, the double‑headed eagle was assumed as the emblem of this double empire; one head looking, as it were, to the West, or Rome, and the other to the East, or Byzantium. Hence the escutcheons of many persons now living, the descendants of the princes and counts of the Holy Roman Empire, are placed upon the breast of a double‑headed eagle. Upon the dissolution of that empire, the emperors of Germany, who claimed their empire to be the representative of ancient Rome, assumed the double‑headed eagle as their symbol, and placed it in their arms, which were blazoned thus: Or, an eagle displayed sable, having two heads, each enclosed within an amulet, or beaked and' armed gales, holding in his right claw a sword and scepter or, and in his left the imperial mound. Russia also bears the double‑headed eagle, having added, says Brewer, that of Poland to her own, and thus denoting a double empire. It is, however, probable that the double‑headed eagle of Russia is to be traced to some assumed representation of the Holy Roman Empire based upon the claim of Russia to Byzantium; for Constantine, the Byzantine emperor, is said to have been the first who assumed this device to intimate the division of the empire into East and West.

 

The statement of Millington (Heraldry in History, Poetry, and Romance, p.

290) is doubtful that "the double‑headed eagle of the Austrian and Russian empires was first assumed during the Second Crusade and typified the great alliance formed by the Christian sovereigns of Greece and Germany against the enemy of their common faith, and it is retained by Russia and Austria as representations of those empires."   

 

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The theory is more probable as well as more generally accepted which connects the symbol with the eastern and western empires of Rome. It is, however, agreed by all that while the single‑headed eagle denotes imperial dignity, the extension and multiplication of that dignity is symbolized by the two heads.

 

The double‑headed eagle was probably first introduced as a symbol into Masonry in the year 1758. In that year the body calling itself the Council of Emperors of the East and West was established in Paris. The double‑headed eagle was likely to have been assumed by this Council in reference to the double jurisdiction which it claimed, and which is represented so distinctly in its title. Its ritual, which consisted of twenty‑five degrees, all of which are now contained in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, was subsequently established in the city of Berlin, and adopted by the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes.

 

The jewel of the Thirty‑third Degree, or Sovereign Grand Inspector‑General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, is a double‑headed eagle (which was originally black, but is now generally of silver), a golden crown resting on both heads, wings displayed, beak and claws of gold, his talons grasping a wavy sword, the emblem of cherubic fire, the hilt held by one talon, the blade by the other. The banner of the Order is also a double‑headed eagle crowned.

 

Eastern Star, Order of the. Degrees for women, under the title of the "Masonry of Adoption," were as long ago as 1765 in vogue on the continent of Europe. These were administered under the patronage of the ruling Masonic body and especially flourished in the palmy days of the Empire in France, the Empress Josephine being at the head of the Order and many women of the highest standing were active members.

 

The term "Adoption," so it is said, was given to the organization because the Freemasons formally adopted the ladies to whom the mysteries of the several degrees were imparted.

 

Albert Pike, who took great interest in this "Masonry of Adoption" and made a translation of the ritual into English with some elaboration dictated by his profound knowledge of symbolism and philosophy, points out the reason that in his judgment existed for the conferring of degrees upon the women of a Mason's family. He says in the preface to his ritual of the Masonry of Adoption, "Our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters cannot, it is true, be admitted to share with us the grand mysteries of Freemasonry, but there is no reason why there should not be also a Masonry for them, which may not merely enable them to make themselves known to Masons, and so to obtain assistance and protection; but by means of which, acting in concert through the tie of association and mutual obligation, they may cooperate in the great labors of Masonry by assisting in and, in some respects, directing their charities, and toiling in the cause of human progress. The object of `la Maconnerie des Dames'

 

APPENDIX    623

 

is, therefore, very inadequately expressed, when it is said to be the improvement and purification of the sentiments." The Order of the Eastern Star has become just such an organization, strong enough to take an active and powerful cooperative concern in the beneficent labors of Masons for the care of the indigent and the afflicted. While entirely different and distinct from the Masonry of Adoption, being indeed of American and not French development, all the expectations so ably expressed by Brother Pike have in no other fraternal association been so admirably fulfilled as in the Order of the Eastern Star.

 

Some mystery involves the origin of the Order. In this respect the Order of the Eastern Star is closely akin to the various branches of the Masonic brotherhood. To unravel the truth from the entanglement of myth is, with many of these knotty problems, a troublesome and perhaps a never wholly satisfactory task. Evidence having few and incomplete records, dependent rather upon memory than in documents of authority is the usual subject‑matter of discussion when laboring at the historic past of human institutions.

 

First of all let us take the testimony of Brother Rob Morris, than whom no one person has, it is conceded, given more freely of his service in the early development of the Order. None ought to know of the Eastern Star's inception story more than he, the acknowledged pioneer propagandist during its tender infancy and struggling youth.

 

During the latter part of 1884 Brother Rob Morris gave an account of the origination of the Eastern Star, which is in part as follows: "In the winter of 1850 I was a resident of Jackson, Mississippi. For some time previous I had contemplated, as hinted above, the preparation of a Ritual of Adoptive Masonry, the degrees then in vogue appearing to me poorly conceived, weakly wrought out, unimpressive and particularly defective in point of motive. I allude especially to those degrees styled the Mason's Daughter, and the Heroines of Jericho. But I do expressly except from this criticism, the Good Samaritan, which in my judgment possesses dramatic elements and machinery equal to those that are in the Templar's Orders, the High Priesthood, the Cryptic Rite, and other organizations of Thomas Smith Webb. I have always recommended the Good Samaritan, and a thousand times conferred it in various parts of the world.

 

"About the first of February, 1850, I was laid up for two weeks with a sharp attack of rheumatism, and it was this period which I gave to the work in hand. By the aid of my papers and the memory of Mrs. Morris, I recall even the trivial occurrences connected with the work, how I hesitated for a theme, how I dallied over a name, how I wrought face to face with the clock that I might keep my drama within due limits of time, etc. The name was first settled upon - The Eastern Star. Next the number of points, five, to correspond with the emblem on the Master's

 

624     APPENDIX

 

carpet. This is the pentagon, `The signet of King Solomon,' and eminently proper to Adoptive Masonry.

 

"From the Holy Writings I culled four biographical sketches to correspond with my first four points, viz., Jephthah's Daughter (named `Adak' for want of a better), Ruth, Esther, and Martha. These were illustrations of four great congeries of womanly virtues, and their selection has proved highly popular. The fifth point introduced me to the early history of the Christian Church, where, amidst a noble army of martyrs, I found many whose lives and death overflowed the cup of martyrdom with a glory not surpassed by any of those named in Holy Writ. This gave me Electa, the `Elect Lady,' friend of St. John the Christian woman whose venerable years were crowned with the utmost splendor of the crucifixion.

 

"The colors, the emblems, the floral wreaths, the esotery proper to these five heroines, were easy of invention. They seemed to fall ready‑made into my hands. The only piece of mechanism difficult to fit into the construction was the cabalistic motto, but this occurred to me in ample time for use.

 

"The compositions of the lectures was but a recreation. Familiar from childhood as I had been with the Holy Scriptures, I scarcely needed to look up my proof texts, so tamely did they come to my call. A number of odes were also composed at that time, but the greater part of the three‑score odes and poems of the Eastern Star that I have written were the work of subsequent years. The first Ode of the series of 1850 was one commencing `Light from the East, 'tis gilded with hope.' "The theory of the whole subject is succinctly stated in my `Rosary of the Eastern Star,' published in 1865: To take from the ancient writings five prominent female characters, illustrating as many Masonic virtues, and to adopt them into the fold of Masonry. The selections were: I. Jephthah's Daughter, as illustrating respect to the binding force of a vow; II. Ruth, as illustrating devotion to religious principles; III. Esther, as illustrating fidelity to kindred and friends; IV. Martha, as illustrating undeviating faith in the hour of trial; and V. Electa, as illustrating patience and submission under wrong. These are all Masonic virtues, and they have nowhere in history more brilliant exemplars than in the five characters presented in the lectures of the Eastern Star. It is a fitting comment upon these statements that in all the changes that the Eastern Star has experienced at so many hands for thirty‑four years, no change in the names, histories or essential lessons has been proposed.

 

"So my Ritual was complete, and after touching and retouching the manuscript, as professional authors love to do, I invited a neighboring Mason and his wife to join with my own, and to them, in my own parlor, communicated the Degrees. They were the first recipients - the first of twice fifty thousand who have seen the signs, heard the words, exchanged the touch, and joined in the music of the Eastern Star. When I take a

 

APPENDIX    625

 

retrospect of that evening - but thirty‑four years ago - and consider the abounding four hundred Eastern Star Chapters at work today, my heart swells with gratitude to God, who guided my hand during that period of convalescence to prepare a work, of all the work of my life the most successful.

 

"Being at that time, and until a very recent period, an active traveler, visiting all countries where lodges exist - a nervous, wiry, elastic man, unwearying in work - caring little for refreshments or sleep, I spread abroad the knowledge of the Eastern Star wherever I went. Equally in border communities, where ladies came in homespun, as in cities, where ladies came in satins, the new degree was received with ardor, and eulogized in strongest terms, so that every induction led to the call for more. Ladies and gentlemen are yet living who met that immense assemblage at Newark, New Jersey, in 1853 and the still greater one in Spring Street Hall, New York City, a little earlier, where I stood up for two hours or three, before a breathless and gratified audience, and brought to bear all that I could draw from the Holy Scriptures, the Talmud, and the writings of Josephus, concerning the five `Heroines of the Eastern Star.' "Not that my work met no opposition. Quite the reverse. It was not long until editors, report writers, newspaper critics and my own private correspondents, began to see the evil of it. The cry of 'Innovation' went up to heaven. Ridicule lent its aid to a grand assault upon my poor little figment. Ingenious changes were rung upon the idea of `petticoat Masonry.' More than one writer in Masonic journals (men of an evil class - we had them; men who knew the secrets, but have never applied the principles of Masonry), more than one such expressed in language indecent and shocking, his opposition to the Eastern Star and to me. Letters were written me, some signed, some anonymous, warning me that I was periling my own Masonic connections in the advocacy of this scheme. In New York City the opponents of the Eastern Star even started a rival project to break it down. They employed a literary person, a poet of eminence, a gentleman of social merit, to prepare rituals under an ingenious form, and much time and money were spent in the effort to popularize it, but it survived only a short year and is already forgotten.

 

"But the Eastern Star glittered steadily in the ascendant. In 1855 I arranged the system of `Constellations of the Eastern Star,' of which the `Mosaic Book' was the index, and established more than one hundred of these bodies. Looking over that book, one of the most original and brilliant works to which I ever put my hand, I have wondered that the system did not succeed. It must be because the times were not, ripe for it. The opposition to `Ladies' Masonry' was too bitter. The advocates of the plan were not sufficiently influential. At any rate it fell through.

 

"Four years later I prepared an easier plan, styled `Families of the

 

626     APPENDIX

 

Eastern Star,' intended, in its simplicity and the readiness by which it could be worked, to avoid the complexity of the `Constellations.' This ran well enough until the war broke out, when all Masonic systems fell together with a crash.

 

"This ended my work in systematizing the Eastern Star, and I should never have done more with it, save confer it in an informal manner as at first, but for Brother Robert Macoy of New York, who in 1868, when I had publicly announced my intentions of confining my labors during the remainder of my life to Holy Land investigations, proposed the plan of Eastern Star Chapters now in vogue. He had my full consent and endorsement, and thus became the instigator of a third and more successful system. The history of this organization, which is now disseminated in more than four hundred chapters, extending to thirty‑three states and territories, I need not detail. The annual proceedings of Grand Chapters, the indefatigable labors of the Rev. Willis D. Engle, Grand Secretary of the General Grand Chapter, the liberal manner in which the Masonic journals have opened their columns to the proceedings of the Adoptive Order, the annual festivals, the sociables, concerts, picnics, etc., which keep the name of the Society before the public, make a history of their own better than I can write." In another statement under date of 1884, Brother Morris further in‑forms us: "Some writers have fallen into the error of placing the introduction of the Eastern Star as far back as 1775, and this they gather from my. work, `Lights and Shadows of Freemasonry,' published in 1852. What I intended to say in that book was that the French officers introduced Adoptive Masonry into the Colonies in 1775, but nothing like the degree called the Eastern Star, which is strictly my own origination." The statements of Brother Morris are deserving of the utmost consideration and confidence. His devotion to Masonic service was long and honorable, freely acknowledged by his brethren with promotions to places of the highest prominence within their gift. We can thus approach his assertions confident of their accuracy so far as the intent of Brother Morris is concerned. Candor, nevertheless, compels the conclusion that our excellent brother did not in his various and valuable contributions to the history of the Eastern Star, and the related bodies, always clearly define his positions, and the studious reader is therefore somewhat in doubt whether on all occasions the meaning is unmistakable. For example, the foregoing references are in themselves very clear that Brother Morris was the originator of the Eastern Star. It is substantially shown in detail how the several items of consequence were actually put into practice by him.

 

Let us now briefly mention what may be set forth on the other side. The "Mosaic Book," by Brother Rob Morris, and published in 1857, says in Chapter II, Section 2: "In selecting some Androgynous Degree, extensively known, ancient in date, and ample in scope, for the basis of this

 

APPENDIX    627

 

Rite, the choice falls, without controversy, upon the `Eastern Star.'        For this is a degree familiar to thousands of the most enlightened York Masons and their female relations - established in this country at least before 1778 - and one which popularly bears the palm in point of doctrine and elegance over all others. In scope, by the addition of a ceremonial and a few links in the chain of recognition, was broad enough to constitute a graceful and consistent system, worthy, it is believed, of the best intellect of either sex." Brother Willis D. Engle, the first R. W. Grand Secretary of the General Grand Chapter of the Order, says on page 12 of his History that "The fact is that Brother Morris received the Eastern Star degree at the hands of Giles M. Hillyer, of Vicksburg, Mississippi, about 1849." Puzzling as is this mixture of statements, there is the one possible explanation that in speaking of the Order, Brother Morris had two quite different things in mind and that he may have inadvertently caused some to understand him to be speaking of the one when he referred to the other, or to both, as the case might be. We know that he had received Adoptive degrees and we are well aware that he had prepared more than one arrangement of Eastern Star degrees or of allied ceremonies. What more likely that in speaking of the one his thoughts should dwell upon the other;the one, Adoptive Masonry, being as we might say the subject in general; the other, the Eastern Star, being the particular topic. He could very properly think of the degree as an old idea, the Masonry of Adoption, and he could also consider it as being of novelty in the form of the Eastern Star; in the one case thinking of it as given him, and in the second instance thinking of it as it left his hands.

 

In any event, the well‑known sincerity and high repute of Brother Morris absolve him from any stigma of wilful misrepresentation.

 

Certainly it is due his memory that the various conflicting assertions be given a sympathetic study and as friendly and harmonious a construction as is made at all possible by their terms.

 

Another curious angle of the situation develops in "The Thesauros of the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Eastern Star as collected and arranged by the committee, and adopted by the Supreme Council in convocation, assembled May, 1793." A copy of this eighteen‑page pamphlet is in' possession of Brother Alonzo J. Burton, Past Grand Lecturer, New York. This book of monitorial instruction has been reprinted and does afford a most interesting claim for the existence of an Eastern Star organization as early as the eighteenth century.

 

A Supreme Constellation was organized by Brother Rob Morris in 1855 with the following principal officers: Most Enlightened Grand Luminary, Rob Morris; Right Enlightened Deputy Grand Luminary and Grand Lecturer, Joel M. Spiller, Delphi, Ind.; Very Enlightened Grand Treasurer, Jonathan R. Neill, New York, and Very Enlightened Grand Secretary, John W. Leonard. New York. Deputies were appointed for

 

628     APPENDIX

 

several States and by the end of 1855 seventy‑five charters for subordinate Constellations had been granted. These Constellations were made up of five or more persons of each sex, with a limit of no more than twenty‑five of the one sex, and several Constellations might be associated with a single lodge.

 

There subsequently arose a second governing body of which James B. Taylor of New York became Grand Secretary. This organization was known as the "Supreme Council of the Ancient Rite of Adoptive Masonry for North America." How much of a real existence was lived by this body is now difficult of determination because of the secrecy with which its operations were conducted. Early in the seventies it expired after a discouraging struggle for life.

 

Brother Morris was not a partner in the above enterprise and had in 1860 begun the organizing of "Families" of the Eastern Star. To use his own expression, "The two systems of `Constellations' and `Families' are identical in spirit, the latter having taken the place of the former." A further statement by Brother Morris was to the effect that the ladies who were introduced to the advantages of Adoptive Masonry under the former system retained their privileges under the latter. During the next eight years more than a hundred "Families" were organized.

 

Brother Robert Macoy of New York had in 1866 prepared. a manual of the Eastern Star. In this work he mentions himself as "National Grand Secretary." He also maintained the semblance of a Supreme Grand Chapter of the Adoptive Rite. Brother Morris decided in 1868 to devote his life to Masonic exploration in Palestine. His Eastern Star powers were transferred to Brother Macoy, as has been claimed. The latter in later years described himself as " Supreme Grand Patron." Still another attempt at the formal organization of a governing body occurred in 1873 at New York, when the following provisional officers of a "Supreme Grand Council of the World, Adoptive Rite," were selected: Supreme Grand Patron, Robert Macoy, of New York; Supreme Grand Matron, Frances E. Johnson, of New York; Associate Supreme Grand Patron, Andres Cassard, of New York; Deputy Supreme Grand Patron, John L. Power, of Mississippi; Deputy Supreme Grand Matron, Laura L. Burton, of Mississippi; Supreme Treasurer, W. A. Prall, of Missouri; Supreme Recorder, Rob Morris, of Kentucky; Supreme Inspector, P. M. Savery, of Mississippi. But nothing further came of this organization except that when later on measures were taken to make a really effective controlling body, the old organization had claimants in the field urging its prior rights, though to all intents and purposes its never more than feeble breath of life had then utterly failed.

 

The various bodies of the Order under this fugitive guidance became ill‑assorted of method. Laws were curiously conflicting. A constitution governing a State Grand Chapter had in one section the requirement that "Every member present must vote" on petitions; which another

APPENDIX    629

 

section of the same constitution forbade Master Masons "when admitted to membership" from balloting for candidates or on membership. There was equal or even greater inconsistency between the laws of one State and another. Serious defects had been discovered in the ritual. Some resentment had been aroused over the methods employed in the propaganda of the Order. The time was ripe for a radical change.

 

Rev. Willis D. Engle, in 1874, publicly proposed a Supreme Grand Chapter of Representatives from the several Grand Chapters and "a revision and general boiling down and finishing up of the ritual which is now defective both in style and language." Not content with saying this was a proper thing to do, Brother Engle vigorously started to work to bring about the conditions he believed to be most desirable. Delegates from the Grand Chapters of California, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and New Jersey, met in Indianapolis, November 15‑16, 1876, on the invitation of the Grand Chapter of Indiana.

 

Grand Patron, James S. Nutt, of Indiana, welcomed the visitors and opened the meeting. Brother John M. Mayhew, of New Jersey, was elected President, and Brother John R. Parson, of Missouri, Secretary. A Constitution was adopted, a committee appointed on revision of the ritual, and a General Grand Chapter duly organized.

 

The second session of the General Grand Chapter was held in Chicago, May

8‑10, 1878, and the name of the organization became officially "the General Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star." The Most Worthy Grand Patron was then the executive head, though in later years this was decided to be the proper province of the Most Worthy Grand Matron. In 1880 Mrs. Lorraine J. Pitkin, of Chicago, became the Most Worthy Grand Matron, and afterwards the Grand Secretary, being elected in 1883. She joined the Order in 1866.

 

The Grand Chapters with their dates of organization are as follows: 

 

Alabama        March 6, 1901

Alberta            July 20, 1912

Arizona           November 15, 1900

Arkansas        October

2, 1876

British Columbia       July

21,

1912 California         May

8, 1873 Colorado      June

6, 1892 Connecticut             August

11, 1874 District of Columbia         April

30, 1896 Florida       June

7,

1904 Georgia            February

21,

1901 Idaho     April

17,

1902 Illinois    November

6, 1875 Indiana         May

6, 1874 Iowa July

30, 1878

 

630     APPENDIX   

 

Kansas           October 18,    1878

Kentucky        June

10,       1903

Louisiana       October          4,         1900

Maine             August

24,       1892

Maryland        December

23,       1898

Massachusetts          December

11,       1876

Michigan        October

31,       1867

Minnesota      October 18,    1878

Mississippi    May

29,       1906

Montana         September

25,       1890

Missouri         October

13,       1875

Nebraska       June

22,       1875

Nevada           September

19,       1905

New Hampshire        May

12,       1891

New Jersey    July 18,           1870

New York        November

31,       1870

New Mexico   April

11,       1902

North Carolina           May

20,       1905

North Dakota             June

14,       1894

Ohio    July

28,       1889

Oklahoma      February

14,       1902

Ontario           April

27,       1915

Oregon           October          3,         1889

Pennsylvania             November

21,       1894

Porto Rico      February

17,       1914

Rhode Island August

22,       1895

Saskatchewan           May

16,       1916

Scotland         August

20,       1904

South Carolina          June    1,         1907

South Dakota            July

10,       1889

Tennessee     October 18,    1900

Texas May     5,         1884

Utah    September

20,       1905

Vermont         November

12,       1873

Virginia           June

22,       1904

Washington    June

12,       1889 West

Virginia           June

28,       1904

 

Wisconsin      February 19,  1891

Wyoming        September 14,          1908

 

Of the above Grand Chapters there are three not constituent members of the General Grand Chapter. These independent bodies are New Jersey, New York, and Scotland.

 

Chapters of the Eastern Star are also to be found in Alaska, the Canal Zone at Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippine Islands, APPENDIX           631 Manitoba, New Brunswick, Quebec, Cuba, Delaware, India, Mexico, and in the Yukon.

 

A Concordat or treaty agreement adopted by the General Chapter on September

20,

1904, and by a convention of Scottish Chapters of the Eastern Star held at Glasgow on August

20,

1904, was to the following effect: "The Grand Chapter of Scotland shall have supreme and exclusive jurisdiction over Great Britain, Ireland, and the whole British dominions (excepting only those upon the Continent of America), and that a Supreme or General Grand Chapter of the British Empire shall be formed as soon as Chapters are instituted therein and it seems expedient to do so.

 

According to the terms of this agreement the territory in the East Indies wherein Chapters were already instituted, as at Benares and Calcutta, was ceded to the Grand Chapter of Scotland, which retains control. The other Chapters not so released are still under the jurisdiction of the General Grand Chapter.

 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

 

Fraternalism is not confined to men only, but has been taken up by the mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and widows of Master Masons, and bids fair to be an important factor in developing and promoting the Masonic ideal.

 

The Eastern Star is preeminent along this line of endeavor. It stands for good work, square work, and true work, and only those who are worthy are permitted to enter its sacred portals. It is the exemplification of charity, the promulgation of the doctrine of the lowly Nazarene. It brings hope to the despondent and ministers to the widows and orphans. It stands for individual righteousness, elevating society by elevating its units. It is educational, for in its confines, its members are taught to be better men and women, and that purity of mind and purpose, thru the individual saveth the Nation.

 

The objective of all effort is toward perfection, hence all its efforts are directed toward that goal. It has become an important factor among Masons and deserves the very best we can give it. Surely it has a right to be proud of its past achievements, and Masonry should glory in its future. Its sweet ministrations fall as the gentle rain from the heavens, upon the just and the unjust, soothing the fevered brow and comforting the widows and orphans. It is the charity that suffers long, is kind and envieth not, casting its bread upon the waters, not that it may return again, but with a spirit of love, and not from a sense of duty. It is a living, vitalizing force today, and its influence and activities are greater now than ever before. Its past record is only an earnest of its future, and so long as grief, sorrow, sin, and want exist among us, just so long will there be absolute necessity for this glorious Order.

 

632     APPENDIX

 

International Eastern Star Temple. In the year 1926 a movement was begun for the ultimate erection of an International Eastern Star Temple, to be located in the City of Washington, District of Columbia, by the General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. This hope was realized in 1927. The historic Belmont Mansion, Washington City, was purchased for the Temple, which was dedicated in 1936.

 

Edict of Cyrus. Five hundred and thirty‑six years before the Christian era, Cyrus issued his edict permitting the Jews to return from the captivity at Babylon to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the House of the Lord. At the same time he restored to them all the sacred vessels and precious ornaments of the first, Temple, which had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and which were still in existence. This is commemorated in the Royal Arch Degree of the York and American Rites. It is also referred to in the Fifteenth Degree, or Knight of the East of the Scottish Rite.

 

Edicts. The decrees of a Grand Master or of a Grand Lodge are called Edicts, and obedience to them is obligatory on all the Craft.

 

Eheyeh asher Eheyeh. The pronunciation which means, I am that I am, and is one of the pentateuchal names of God. It is related in the third chapter of Exodus, that when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and directed him to go to Pharaoh and to the children of Israel in Egypt, Moses required that, as preliminary to his mission, he should be instructed in the name of God, so that, when he was asked by the Israelites, .he might be able to prove his mission by announcing what that name was; and God said to him, (Eheyeh), I am that I am; and he directed him to say, "I am hath sent you." Eheyeh asher eheyeh is, therefore, the name of God, in which Moses was instructed at the burning bush.

 

Maimonides thinks that when the Lord ordered Moses to tell the people that (Eheyeh) sent him, he did not mean that he should only mention his name; for if they were already acquainted with it, he told them nothing new, and if they were not, it was not likely that they would be satisfied by saying such a name sent me, for the proof would still be wanting that this was really the name of God; therefore, he not only told them the name, but also taught them its signification. In those times, Sabaism being the predominant religion, almost all men were idolaters, and occupied themselves in the contemplation of the heavens and the sun and the stars, without any idea of a personal God in the world. Now, the Lord, to deliver his people from such an error, said to Moses, "Go and tell them I AM THAT I AM hath sent me unto you," which name (Eheyeh), signifying Being, is derived from (heyeh), the verb of existence, and which, being repeated so that the second is the predicate of the first, contains the mystery. This is as if he had said, "Explain to them that I am what I am: that is, that my Being is within myself, independent of every other, different from all other beings, who are so alone by virtue of my distributing it to them, and might not have been, nor could actually be

 

APPENDIX    633

 

such without it." So that denotes the Divine Being Himself, by which he taught Moses not only the name, but the infallible demonstration of the Fountain of Existence, as the name itself denotes. The Kabbalists say that Eheyeh is the crown or highest of the Sephiroth, and that it is the name that was hidden in the most secret place of the tabernacle.

 

Essenes. Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, in replying to the objection, that if the Fraternity of Freemasons had flourished during the reign of Solomon, it would have existed in Judea in after ages, at‑tempts to meet the argument by showing that there did exist, after the building of the Temple, an association of men resembling Freemasons in the nature, ceremonies, and object of their institution. The association to which he here alludes is that of the Essenes, whom he subsequently describes as an ancient Fraternity originating from an association of architects who were connected with the building of Solomon's Temple.

 

Lawrie evidently seeks to connect historically the Essenes with the Freemasons, and to impress his readers with the identity of the two Institutions. I am not prepared to go so far; but there is such a similarity between the two, and such remarkable coincidences in many of their usages, as to render this Jewish sect an interesting study to every Free‑mason, to whom therefore some account of the usages and doctrines of this holy brotherhood will not, perhaps, be unacceptable.

 

At the time of the advent of Jesus Christ, there were three religious sects in Judea - the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes; and to one of these sects every Jew was compelled to unite himself. The Savior has been supposed by many writers to have been an Essene, because, while repeatedly denouncing the errors of the two other sects, he has no‑where uttered a word of censure against the Essenes; and because, also, many of the precepts of the New Testament are to be found among the laws of this sect.

 

In ancient authors, such as Josephus, Philo, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Pliny, who have had occasion to refer to the subject, the notices of this singular sect have been so brief and unsatisfactory, that modern writers have found great difficulty in properly understanding the true character of Essenism.

 

Flaming Sword. A sword whose blade is of a spiral or twisted form is called by the' heralds a flaming sword, from its resemblance to the ascending curvature of a flame of fire. Until very recently, this was the form of the Tiler's sword. Carelessness or ignorance has now in many Lodges substituted for it a common sword of any form. The flaming sword of the Tiler refers to the flaming sword which guarded the entrance to Paradise, as described in Genesis (iii., 24): "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life"; or, as Raphall has translated it, "the flaming sword which revolveth, to guard the way to the tree of life." In former times,

 

634     APPENDIX

 

when symbols and ceremonies were more respected than they are now; when collars were worn, and not ribbons in the buttonhole; and when the standing column of the Senior Warden, and the recumbent one of the Junior during labor, to be reversed during refreshment, were deemed necessary for the complete furniture of the Lodge, the cavalry sword was unknown as a Masonic implement, and the Tiler always bore a flaming sword. It were better if we could get back to the old customs.

 

Forty. The multiple of two perfect numbers - four and ten. This was deemed a sacred number, as commemorating many events of religious signification, some of which are as follows: The alleged period of probation of our first parents in Eden: the continuous deluge of forty days and nights, and the same number of days in which the waters remained upon the face of the earth; the Lenten season of forty days' fast observed by Christians with reference to the fast of Jesus in the Wilderness, and by the Hebrews to the earlier desert fast for a similar period; of the forty years spent in the Desert by Moses and Elijah and the Israelites, which succeeded the concealment of Moses the same number of years in the land of Midian. Moses was forty days and nights on the Mount. The days for embalming the dead were forty. The forty years of the reign of Saul, of David, and of Solomon; the forty days of grace allotted to Nineveh for repentance; the forty days' fast before Christmas in the Greek Church; as well as its being the number of days of mourning in Assyria, Phenicia, and Egypt, to commemorate the death and burial of their Sun God; and as well the period in the festivals of the resurrection of Adonis and Osiris; the period of forty days thus being a bond by which the whole world, ancient and modern, Pagan, Jewish, and Christian, is united in religious sympathy. Hence, it was determined as the period of mourning by the Supreme Council of the A. A. Scottish Rite of the Northern Jurisdiction U. S.

 

Furniture of a Lodge. The Bible, square, and compasses are technically said to constitute the furniture of a Lodge. They are respectfully dedicated to God, the Master of the Lodge, and the Craft. Our English brethren differ from us in their explanation of the furniture. Oliver gives their illustration, from the English lectures, as follows: "The Bible is said to derive from God to man in general; because the Almighty has been pleased to reveal more of His divine will by that holy book than by any other means. The Compasses being the chief implement used in the construction of all architectural plans and designs, are assigned to the Grand Master in particular as emblems of his dignity, he being the chief head and ruler of the Craft. The square is given to the whole Masonic body, because we are all obligated within it, and are consequently bound to act thereon." (Landmarks, i., 169.) But the lecture of the early part of the last century made the furniture consist of the Mosaic Pavement, Blazing Star, and the Indented Tarsel, while the Bible, square, and compass were considered as additional furniture.

 

APPENDIX    635

 

General Grand Lodge. Ever since the Grand Lodges of this country began, at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, to abandon their dependence on the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland - that is to say, as soon as they emerged from the subordinate position of Provincial Grand Lodges, and were compelled to assume a sovereign and in‑dependent character - attempts have, from time to time, been made by members of the Craft to destroy this sovereignty of the State Grand Lodges, and to institute in its place a superintending power, to be constituted either as a Grand Master of North America or as a General Grand Lodge of the United States. Led, perhaps, by the analogy of the united Colonies under one federal head, or, in the very commencement of the Revolutionary struggle, controlled by long habits of dependence on the mother Grand Lodges of Europe, the contest had no sooner begun, and a disseverance of political relations between England and America taken place, than the attempt was made to institute the office of Grand Master of the United States, the object being - of which there can hardly be a doubt - to invest Washington with the distinguished dignity.

 

The effort emanated, it appears, with the military Lodges in the army.

 

The proposition was again made in 1803, by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, and with a like want of success.

 

In 1806, the subject of a General Grand Lodge was again presented to the consideration of the Grand Lodges of the Union, and propositions were made for conventions to be held in Philadelphia in 1807, and in Washington city in 1808, neither of which was convened.

 

An unsuccessful attempt was again made to hold a convention at Washington in January, 1811, "for the purpose of forming a Super‑intending Grand Lodge of America."

 

But the friends of a General Grand Lodge did not abandon the hope of effecting their object, and in 1857 the Grand Lodge of Maine issued a circular, urging the formation of a General Grand Lodge at a convention to be held at Chicago in September, 1859, during the session of the General Grand Chapter and General Grand Encampment at that city. This call was generally and courteously responded to; the convention was held, but it resulted in a failure. Other attempts have been made by its friends to carry this measure, but with no results.

 

Grand Orient. Most of the Grand Lodges established by the Latin races, such as those of France, Spain, Italy, and the South American States, are called Grand Orients, The word is thus, in one sense, synonymous with Grand Lodge; but these Grand Orients have often a more extensive obedience than Grand Lodges, frequently exercising jurisdiction over the highest degrees, from which English and American Grand Lodges refrain. The Grand Orient of France exercises jurisdiction over the seven degrees of its own Rite, over the thirty‑three of the Ancient and Accepted, and over all the other Rites which are practised in France.

 

636     APPENDIX

 

Grand Orient is also used in English, and especially in American, Masonry to indicate the seat of the Grand Lodge of highest Masonic power, and is thus equivalent to Grand East.

 

Grotto. The complete name of this organization is Mystic Order Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm. The origin and development of the Order is explained at length in Mackey's revised History of Free‑masonry.

 

The Grotto was born of an effort for stronger sociability among the members of Hamilton Lodge No. 120, Free and Accepted Masons, Hamilton, New York, in 1889. It was at first intended only as a local affair. The requirements for membership are that a man must be a Master Mason, in good standing.

 

The Supreme Council was organized and set in operation June 13th, 1890. The principal officers are; Grand Monarch, Deputy Grand Mon‑arch, Grand Chief Justice, Grand Master Meremonies, Grand Treasurer, Grand Secretary, Grand Keeper of Archives, Grand Orator, and three trustees.

 

Hah. The Hebrew definite article "the."

 

In Hoc Signo Vinces. On the Grand Standard of a Commandery of Knights Templar these words are inscribed over "a blood‑red Passion Cross," and they constitute in part the motto of the American branch of the Order. Their meaning, "by this sign thou shalt conquer," is a substantial, but not literal, translation of the original Greek, iv ' outi o vixa. For the. origin of the motto, we must go back to a well‑known legend of the Church, which has, however, found more doubters than believers among the learned. Eusebius, who wrote a life of Constantine, says that while the emperor was in Gaul, in the year 312, preparing for war with his rival, Maxentius, about the middle hours of the day, as the sun began to verge toward its setting, he saw in the heavens, with his own eyes, the sun surmounted with the trophy of the cross, which was composed of light, and a legend annexed, which said "by this conquer." This account Eusebius affirms to be in the words of Constantine. Lactantius, who places the occurrence at a later date and on the eve of a battle with Maxentius, in which the latter was defeated, relates it not as an actual occurrence, but as a dream or vision; and this is now the generally received opinion of those who do not deem the whole legend a fabrication. On the next day Constantine had an image of this cross made into a banner, called the labaruin, which he ever afterward used as the imperial standard. Eusebius describes it very fully. It was not a Passion Cross, such as is now used on the modern Templar standard, but the monogram of Christ. The shaft was a very long spear. On the top was a crown composed of gold and precious stones, and containing the sacred symbol, namely, the Greek letter rho or r, intersected by the chi or x, which two letters are the first and second of the name CHRIST. If, then, the Templars retain the motto on their banner, they should, for the sake

 

APPENDIX    637

 

of historical accuracy, discard the Passion Cross, and replace it with the Constantinian Chronogram, or Cross of the Labarum. But the truth is, that the ancient Templars used neither the Passion Cross, nor that of Constantine, nor yet the motto in hoc signo vines on their standard. Their only banner was the black and white Beauseant, and at the bottom of it was inscribed their motto, "Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam" - not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thee give the glory. This was the song or shout of victory sung by the Templars when triumphant in battle.

 

I\N\R\I\The initials of the Latin sentence which was placed upon the cross: Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judceorum. The Rosicrucians used them as the initials of one of their Hermetic secrets: Igne Natura Renovatur Integra, "By fire, nature is perfectly renewed." They also adopted them to express the names of their three elementary principles  - salt, sulphur, and mercury by making them the initials of the sentence, Igne Nitrum Roris Invenitur. Ragon finds in the equivalent Hebrew letters, the initials of the Hebrew names of the ancient elements: laminim, water; Nour, fire; Ruach, air; and Iebschah, earth.

 

Jewels, Official. Jewels are the names applied to the emblems worn by the officers of Masonic bodies as distinctive badges of their offices. For the purpose of reference, the jewels worn in Symbolic Lodges, in Chapters, Councils, and Encampments are here appended.

 

1. In Symbolic Lodges.

 

W\ Master wears a square.

Senior Warden wears a level.

Junior Warden wears a plumb.

Treasurer wears cross keys.

Secretary wears cross pens.

Senior Deacon wears square and compass, sun in the center.

Junior Deacon wears square and compass, moon in the center.

Steward wears a cornucopia.

Tiler wears cross 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. In Royal Arch Chapters.

 

High Priest wears a miter.

King wears a level surmounted by a crown.

Scribe wears a plumb‑rule surmounted by a turban.

Captain of the Host wears a triangular plate inscribed with a soldier.

Principal Sojourner wears a triangular plate inscribed with a pilgrim.

Royal Arch Captain wears a sword.

 

638                 APPENDIX

 

Grand Master of the Veils wears a sword.

The other officers as in a Symbolic Lodge. All the jewels are of gold, and suspended within an equilateral triangle.

 

3. In Royal and Select Councils.

 

T. I. Grand Master wears a trowel and square.

I. Hiram of Tyre wears a trowel and level.

Principal Conductor of the Works wears a trowel and plumb.

Teasurer wears a trowel and cross keys.

Recorder wears a trowel and cross pens.

Captain of the Guards wears a trowel and sword.

Steward wears a trowel and cross swords.

Marshal wears 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 jewels are of silver, and are enclosed within an equilateral triangle.

 

 

4. In Commanderies of Knights Templars.

 

Eminent Commander wears a cross surmounted by rays of light.

Generalissimo wears a square surmounted by a paschal lamb.

Captain‑General wears a level surmounted by a cock.

Prelate wears a triple triangle.

Senior Warden wears a hollow square and sword of justice.

Junior Warden wears eagle and flaming sword.

Treasurer wears cross keys.

Recorder wears cross pens.

Standard‑Bearer wears a plumb surmounted by a banner.

Warder wears a square plate inscribed with a trumpet and cross swords.

Three Guards wears a square plate inscribed with a battle‑ax. The jewels are of silver.

 

Kadosh. The name of a very important degree in many of the Masonic Rites. The word is Hebrew, and signifies holy or consecrated, and is thus intended to denote the elevated character of the degree and the sublimity of the truths which distinguish it and its possessors from the other degrees. Pluche says that in the East, a person preferred to honors bore a scepter, and sometimes a plate of gold on the forehead, called a Kadosh, to apprise the people that the bearer of this mark or rod was a public person, who possessed the privilege of entering into hostile camps without the fear of losing his personal liberty.

 

The degree of Kadosh, though found in many of the Rites and in various countries, seems, in all of them, to have been more or less con‑ APPENDIX  639  nected with the Knights Templar. In some of the Rites it was placed at the head of the list, and was then dignified as the ne plus ultra of Masonry.

 

It was sometimes given as a separate order or Rite within itself, and then it was divided into the three degrees of Illustrious Knight of the Temple, Knight of the Black Eagle, and Grand Elect.

 

Oliver enumerates five degrees of Kadosh: the Knight Kadosh; Kadosh of the Chapter of Clermont; Philosophical Kadosh; Kadosh Prince of Death; and Kadosh of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

The French rituals speak of seven: Kadosh of the Hebrews; Kadosh of the first Christians; Kadosh of the Crusades; Kadosh of the Templars; Kadosh of Cromwell or the Puritans; Kadosh of the Jesuits; and the True Kadosh. But the correctness of this enumeration is doubtful, for it cannot be sustained by documentary evidence. In all of these Kadoshes the doctrine and the modes of recognition are substantially the same, though in most of them the ceremonies of initiation differ.

 

Ragon mentions a Kadosh which is said to have been established at Jerusalem in

1118; but here he undoubtedly refers to the Order of Knights Templar. He gives also in his Tuileur General the nomenclature of no less than fourteen Kadosh degrees.

 

The'doctrine of the Kadosh system is that the persecutions of the Knights Templar by Philip the Fair of France, and Pope Clement V., however cruel and sanguinary in its results, did not extinguish the Order, but it continued to exist under the forms of Freemasonry. That the ancient Templars are the modern Kadoshes, and that the builder at the Temple of Solomon is now replaced by James de Molay, the martyred Grand Master of the Templars, the assassins being represented by the King of France, the Pope, and Naffodei the informer against the Order; or, it is sometimes said, by the three informers, Squin de Florian, Naffodei, and the Prior of Montfaucon.

 

As to the history of the Kadosh degree, it is said to have been first invented at Lyons, in France, in 1743, where it appeared under the name of the Petit Elu. This degree, which is said to have been based upon the Templar doctrine heretofore referred to, was afterward developed into the Kadosh, which we find in 1758 incorporated as the Grand Elect Kadosh into the system of the Council of Emperors of the East and West, which was that year formed at Paris, whence it descended to the Scottish Rite Masons.

 

Of all the Kadoshes, two only are now important, viz.: the Philosophic Kadosh, which has been adopted by the Grand Orient of France, and the Knight Kadosh, which constitutes the Thirtieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, this latter being the most generally diffused of the Kadoshes.

 

Knight of the Red Cross. This degree, whose legend dates it far anterior to the Christian era, and in the reign of Darius, has no analogy

 

640     APPENDIX

 

with the chivalric orders of knighthood. It is purely Masonic, and intimately connected with the Royal Arch Degree, of which, in fact, it ought rightly to be considered as an appendage. It is, however, now always conferred in a Commandery of Knights Templar in this country, and is given as a preliminary to reception in that degree. Formerly, the degree was sometimes conferred in an independent council, which Webb (edit. 1812, p.

123) defines to be "a council that derives its authority immediately from the Grand Encampment unconnected with an Encampment of Knights Templars." The embassy of Zerubbabel and four other Jewish chiefs to the court of Darius to obtain the protection of that monarch from the encroachments of the Samaritans, who interrupted the labors in the reconstruction of the Temple, constitutes the legend of the Red Cross Degree. The history of this embassy is found in the eleventh book of the Antiquities of Josephus, whence the Masonic ritualists have undoubtedly taken it. The only authority of Josephus is the apocryphal record of Esdras, and the authenticity of the whole transaction is doubted or denied by modern historians. The legend is as follows: After the death of Cyrus, the Jews, who had been released by him from their captivity, and permitted to return to Jerusalem, for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple, found themselves obstructed in the undertaking by the neigh‑boring nations, and especially by the Samaritans. Hereupon they sent an embassy, at the head of which was their prince, Zerubbabel, to Darius, the successor of Cyrus, to crave his interposition and protection. Zerubbabel, awaiting a favorable opportunity, succeeded not only in obtaining his request, but also in renewing the friendship which formerly existed between the king and himself. In commemoration of these events, Darius is said to have instituted a new order, and called it the Knights of the East. They afterward assumed their present name from the red cross borne in their banners. Webb, or whoever else introduced it into the American Templar system, undoubtedly took it from the Sixteenth Degree, or Prince of Jerusalem of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. It has, within a few years, been carried into England, under the title of the "Red Cross of Babylon." In New Brunswick, it has been connected with Cryptic Masonry. It is there as much out of place as it is in a Cornmandery of Knights Templar. Its only true connection is with the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Knights Templar. The piety or the superstition of the age had induced multitudes of pilgrims in the eleventh and twelfth centuries to visit Jerusalem for the purpose of offering their devotions at the sepulcher of the Lord and the other holy place in that city. Many of these religious wanderers were weak or aged, almost all of them unarmed, and thousands of them were subjected to insult, to pillage, and often to death, inflicted by the hordes of Arabs who, even after the capture of Jerusalem by the Christians, continued to infest the sea coast of Palestine and the roads to the capital.

 

APPENDIX    641

 

To protect the pious pilgrims thus exposed to plunder and bodily outrage, nine French knights, the followers of Baldwyn, united, in the year 1118, in a military confraternity or brotherhood in arms, and entered into a solemn compact to aid each other in clearing the roads, and in defending the pilgrims in their passage to the holy city.

 

The Templars soon became preeminently distinguished as warriors of the cross. St. Bernard, who visited them in their Temple retreat, speaks in the warmest terms of their self‑denial, their frugality, their modesty, their piety, and their bravery. "Their arms," he says, "are their only finery, and they use them with courage, without dreading either the number or the strength of the barbarians. All their confidence is in the Lord of Hosts, and in fighting for his cause they seek a sure victory or a Christian and honorable death." Their banner was the Beauseant, of divided white and black, indicative of peace to their friends, but destruction to their foes. At their reception each Templar swore never to turn his back on three enemies, but should he be alone, to fight them if they were infidels. It was their wont to say that a Templar ought either to vanquish or die, since he had nothing to give for his ransom but his girdle and his knife.

 

The Order of the Temple, at first exceedingly simple in its organization, became in a short time very complicated. In the twelfth century it was divided into three classes, which were Knights, Chaplains, and Serving Brethren.

 

Commanderies are under the control of Grand Commanderies in States in which those bodies exist. Where they do not, the Warrants are derived directly from the Grand Encampment.

 

The supreme authority of the Order is exercised by the Grand Encampment of the United States, which meets triennially. The presiding officer is a Grand Master.

 

Light. Light is an important word in the Masonic system. It conveys a far more recondite meaning than it is believed to possess by the generality of readers. It is in fact the first of all the symbols presented to the neophyte, and continues to be presented to him in various modifications throughout all his future progress in his Masonic career. It does not simply mean, as might be supposed, truth or wisdom, but it contains within itself a far more abstruse allusion to the very essence of Speculative Masonry, and embraces within its capacious signification all the other symbols of the Order. Freemasons are emphatically called the "sons of light," because they are, or at least are entitled to be, in possession of the true meaning of the symbol; while the profane or uninitiated who have not received this knowledge are, by a parity of expression, said to be in darkness.

 

The connection of material light with this emblematic and mental illumination, was prominently exhibited in all the ancient systems of religion and esoteric mysteries.

 

642     APPENDIX

 

Among the Egyptians, the hare was the hieroglyphic of eyes that are open, because that animal was supposed to have his eyes always open. The priests afterward adopted the hare as the symbol of the moral illumination revealed to the neophytes in the contemplation of the Divine truth, and hence, according to Champollion, it was also the symbol of Osiris, their principal divinity, and the chief object of their mystic rites  - thus showing the intimate connection that they maintained in their symbolic language between the process of initiation and the contemplation of divinity. On this subject a remarkable coincidence has been pointed out by M. Portal, in the Hebrew language. There the word for "hare" is arnebet, which seems to be compounded of aur, "light," and nabat, "to see"; so that the word which among the Egyptians was used to designate an initiation, among the Hebrews meant to see the light.

 

If we proceed to an examination of the other systems of religion which were practised by the nations of antiquity, we shall find that light always constituted a principal object of adoration, as the primordial source of knowledge and goodness, and that darkness was with them synonymous with ignorance and evil. Dr. Beard attributes this view of the Divine origin of light among the Eastern nations, to the fact that "light in the East has a clearness and brilliancy, is accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed in its influence by a largeness of good, of which the inhabitants of less genial climates have no conception. Light easily and naturally became, in consequence, with Orientals, a representative of the highest human good. All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were described under imagery derived from light. The transition was natural - from earthly to heavenly, from corporeal to spiritual things; and so light came to typify true religion and the felicity which it imparts. But as light not only came from God, but also makes man's way clear before him, so it was employed to signify moral truth, and preeminently that divine system of truth which is set forth in the Bible, from its earliest gleamings onward to the perfect day of the Great Sun of Righteousness." As light was thus adored as the source of goodness, darkness, which is the negation of light, was abhorred as the cause of evil, and hence arose that doctrine which prevailed among the ancients, that there were two antagonistic principles continually contending for the government of the world.

 

"Light is a source of positive happiness: without it man could barely exist. And since all religious opinion is based on the ideas of pleasure and pain, and the corresponding sensations of hope and fear, it is not to be wondered if the heathen reverenced light. Darkness, on the contrary, by replunging nature, as it were, into a state of nothingness, and depriving man of the pleasurable emotions conveyed through the organ

 

APPENDIX    643

 

of sight, was ever held in abhorrence, as a source of misery and fear. The two opposite conditions in which man thus found himself placed, occasioned by the enjoyment or the banishment of light, induced him to imagine the existence of two antagonistic principles in nature, to whose dominion he was alternately subjected." Such was the dogma of Zoroaster, the great Persian philosopher, who, under the names of Ormuzd and Ahriman, symbolized these two principles of light and darkness.

 

Such was also the doctrine, though somewhat modified, of Manes, the founder of the sect of Manichees, who describes God the Father as ruling over the kingdom of light and contending with the powers of darkness.

 

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

 

The Jewish Kabbalists believed that, before the creation of the world, all space was filled with the Infinite Intellectual Light, which afterward withdrew itself to an equal distance from a central point in space, and afterward by its emanation produced future worlds. The first emanation of this surrounding light into the abyss of darkness produced what they called the "Adam Kadmon," the first man, or the first production of the Divine energy.

 

In the Bhagvat Geeta (one of the religious books of the Brahmans), it is said: "Light and darkness are esteemed the world's eternal ways; he who walketh in the former path returneth not - that is, he goeth immediately to bliss; whilst he who walketh in the latter cometh back again upon the earth." In fact, in all the ancient systems, this reverence for light, as an emblematic representation of the Eternal Principle of Good, is predominant. In the mysteries, the candidate passed, during his initiation, through scenes of utter darkness, and at length terminated his trials by an admission to the splendidly illuminated sacellum, where he was said to have attained pure and perfect light, and where he received the necessary instructions which were to invest him with that knowledge of the Divine truth which had been the object of all his labors.

 

Mah. The Hebrew interrogative pronoun signifying what? It is a component part of a significant word in Masonry. The combination mahhah, literally "what! the," is equivalent, according to the Hebrew method of ellipsis, to the question, "What! is this the ____?"

 

Mark Master. The Fourth Degree of the American Rite. The traditions of the degree make it of great historical importance, since by them we are informed that by its influence each Operative Mason at the building of the Temple was known and distinguished, and the disorder

 

644     APPENDIX 

 

and confusion which might otherwise have attended so immense an under‑taking was completely prevented. Not less useful is it in its symbolic signification. As illustrative of the Fellow‑Craft, the Fourth Degree is particularly directed to the inculcation of order, regularity, and discipline. It teaches us that we should discharge all the duties of our several stations with precision and punctuality; that the work of our hands and the thoughts of our hearts should be good and true - not unfinished and imperfect, not sinful and defective - but such as the Great Overseer and Judge of heaven and earth will see fit to approve as a worthy oblation from his creatures. If the Fellow‑Craft's Degree is devoted to the inculcation of learning, that of the Mark Master is intended to instruct us how that learning can most usefully and judiciously be employed for our own honor and the profit of others. And it holds forth to the desponding the encouraging thought that although our motives may sometimes be misinterpreted by our erring fellow mortals, our attainments be underrated, and our reputations be traduced by the envious and malicious, there is one, at least, who sees not with the eyes of man, but may yet make that stone which the builders rejected, the head of the corner. The intimate connection then, between the Second and Fourth degrees of Masonry, is this, that while one inculcates the necessary exercise of all the duties of life, the other teaches the importance of performing them with systematic regularity. The true Mark Master is a type of that man mentioned in the sacred parable, who received from his master this approving language - "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joys of thy Lord." Mason's Wife and Daughter. A degree frequently conferred in the United States on the wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers of Masons, to secure to them, by investing them with a peculiar mode of recognition, the aid and assistance of the Fraternity. It may be conferred by any Master Mason, and the requirement is that the recipient shall be the wife, unmarried daughter, unmarried sister, or widowed mother of a Master Mason. It is sometimes called the Holy Virgin, and has been by some deemed of so much importance that a Manual of it, with the title of The Ladies' Masonry, or Hieroglyphic Monitor, was published at Louisville, Kentucky, in 1851, by Past Grand Master William Leigh, of Alabama.

 

Mexico. Masonry was introduced into Mexico, in the Scottish Rite, some time prior to 1810, by the civil and military officers of Spain, but the exact period of its introduction is unknown. The first Work Charters were granted for a Lodge at Vera Cruz in 1816, and one at Campeche in 1817, by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, followed by a Charter for a Lodge at Vera Cruz in 1823 by the "City" Grand Lodge of New York, and one in the same city in 1824 from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. February 10, 1826, five Charters were granted for Lodges in the City of Mexico by the "Country" Grand Lodge of New York, on the recom‑

 

APPENDIX    645 

 

mendation of Joel R. Poinsett, Past Deputy Grand Master of South Carolina, at that time United States Minister to Mexico, who constituted the Lodges and organized them into a Grand Lodge with Jose Ignacio Esteva as Grand Master.

 

The Masonic bodies, both York and Scottish Rite, however, soon degenerated into rival political clubs, and the bitter fractionalism became so strong that in 1833 the authorities issued an edict suppressing all secret societies. The bodies met, however, secretly, and about 1834 the National Mexican Rite was organized with nine degrees copied after the Scottish Rite. In 1843 a Lodge was chartered at Vera Cruz, and in 1845 at Mexico by the Grand Orient of France. In 1859 a Supreme Council 33°, with jurisdiction over the Symbolic degrees, was organized by authority of Albert Pike, and for a time the Supreme Council dominated all the bodies. In 1865 the Grand Lodge Valle de Mexico was organized as a York Rite Grand Lodge, and worked as such until 1911, when a number of the Lodges, under the leadership of Past Grand Masters Levi and Pro, left the Grand Lodge and organized a rival body, under the obedience of the Supreme Council.

 

Molay, James de. The twenty‑second and last Grand Master of the Templars at the destruction of the Order in the fourteenth century. He was born about the year

1240, at Besancon, in Burgundy, being descended from a noble family. He was received into the Order of Knights Templar in 1265, by Imbert de Peraudo, Preceptor of France, in the Chapel of the Temple at Beaune. He immediately proceeded to Palestine, and greatly distinguished himself in the wars against the infidels, under the Grand Mastership of William de Beaujeu. In 1298, while absent from the Holy Land, he was unanimously elected Grand Master upon the death of Theobald Gaudinius. In 1305, he was summoned to France by Pope Clement V., upon the pretense of a desire, on the part of the Pontiff, to effect a coalition between the Templars and the Hospitalers. He was received by Philip the Fair, the treacherous King of France, with the most distinguished honors, and even selected by him as the godfather of one of his children. In April,

1307, he repaired, accompanied by three of his knights, to Poitiers, where the Pope was then residing, and as he supposed satisfactorily exculpated the Order from the charges which had been preferred against it. But both Pope and King were guilty of the most infamous deceit.

 

On the 12th of September, 1307, the order was issued for the arrest of the Templars, and De Molay endured an imprisonment for five years and a half, during which period he was subjected to the utmost indignities and sufferings for the purpose of extorting from him a confession of the guilt of his Order. But he was firm and loyal, and on the 11th of March,

1314, he was publicly burnt in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris. When about to die, he solemnly affirmed the innocence of the Order, and, it is said, summoned Pope Clement to appear before

 

646     APPENDIX

 

the judgment‑seat of God in forty days and the King of France within a year, and both, it is well known, died within the periods specified.

 

Order of Business. In every Masonic body, the by‑laws should pre‑scribe an "Order of Business," and in proportion as that order is rigorously observed will be the harmony and celerity with which the business of the Lodge will be despatched.

 

In Lodges whose by‑laws have prescribed no settled order, the arrangement of business is left to the discretion of the presiding officer, who, however, must be governed, to some extent, by certain general rules founded on the principles of parliamentary law, or on the suggestions of common sense.

 

The order of business may, for convenience of reference, be placed in the following tabular form:

 

1. Opening of the Lodge.

 

2. Reading and confirmation of the minutes.

 

3. Reports on petitions.

 

4. Balloting for candidates.

 

5. Reports of special committees.

 

6. Reports of standing committees.

 

7. Consideration of motions made at a former meeting, if called up by a member.

 

8. New business.

 

9. Initiations.

 

10. Reading of the minutes for information and correction.

 

11. Closing of the Lodge.

 

Order, Rules of. Every permanent deliberative body adopts a code of rules of order to suit itself; but there are certain rules derived from what may be called the common law of Parliament, the wisdom of which having been proven by long experience, that have been deemed of force at all times and places, and are, with a few necessary exceptions, as applicable to Lodges as to other societies.

 

The rules of order, sanctioned by uninterrupted usage and approved by all authorities, may be enumerated under the following distinct heads, as applied to a Masonic body:

1. Two independent original propositions cannot be presented at the same time to the meeting.

 

2. A subsidiary motion cannot be offered out of its rank of precedence.

 

3. When a brother intends to speak, he is required to stand up in his place, and to address himself always to the presiding officer.

 

4. When two or more brethren rise nearly at the same time, the pre‑siding officer will indicate, by mentioning his name, the one who, in his opinion, is entitled to the floor.

 

5. A brother is not to be interrupted by any other member, except for the purpose of calling him to order.

 

APPENDIX    647

 

6. No brother can speak oftener than the rules permit; but this rule may be dispensed with by the Master.

 

7. No one is to disturb the speaker by hissing, unnecessary coughing, loud whispering, or other unseemly noise, nor should he pass between the speaker and the presiding officer.

 

8. No personality, abusive remarks, or other improper language should be used by any brother in debate.

 

9. If the presiding officer rises to speak while a brother is on the floor, that brother should immediately sit down, that the presiding officer may be heard.

 

10. Everyone who speaks should speak to the question.

 

11. As a sequence to this, it follows chat there can be no speaking unless there be a question before the Lodge. There must always be a motion of some kind to authorize a debate.

 

Origin of Freemasonry. The origin and source whence first sprang the institution of Freemasonry, such as we now have it, has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among Masonic scholars than any other topic in the literature of the Institution. Writers on the history of Freemasonry have, at different times, attributed its origin to the following sources.

:

 

1. To the Patriarchal religion.

2. To the Ancient Pagan Mysteries.

3. To the Temple of King Solomon.

4. To the Crusaders.

5. To the Knights Templar.

6. To the Roman Colleges of Artificers.

7. To the Operative Masons of the Middle Ages.

8. To the Rosicrucians of the sixteenth century.

9. To Oliver Cromwell, for the advancement of his political schemes.

10. To the Pretender, for the restoration of the House of Stuart to the British throne.

11. To Sir Christopher Wren at the building of St. Paul's Cathedral.

12. To Dr. Desaguliers and his associates in the year 1717.

 

Each of these twelve theories has been from time to time, and the twelfth within a recent period, sustained with much zeal, if not always with much judgment, by their advocates. A few of them, however, have long since been abandoned, but the others still attract attention and find defenders. Dr. Mackey has his own views of the subject in his book History of Free‑masonry, to which the reader is referred.

 

Perfection, Lodge of. The Lodge in which the Fourteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is conferred. In England and America this degree is called Grand Elect Perfect and Sublime Mason, but the French designate it Grand Scottish Mason of the Sacred Vault of James VI., or Grand ecossais de la Voute Sacra du Jacques VI. This is one of the evidences - and a very pregnant one - of the influence exercised by the exiled Stuarts and their adherents on the Masonry of that time in making it an instrument for the restoration of James II., and then of his son, to the throne of England.

 

This degree, as concluding all reference to the first Temple, has been called the ultimate degree of ancient Masonry. It is the last of what is

 

648     APPENDIX

 

technically styled the Ineffable degrees, because their instructions relate to the Ineffable word.

 

Its place of meeting is called the Sacred Vault. Its principal officers are a Thrice Puissant Grand Master, two Grand Wardens, a Grand Treasurer, and Grand Secretary. In the first organization of the Rite in this country, the Lodges of Perfection were called "Sublime Grand Lodges," and, hence, the word "Grand" is still affixed to the title of the officers.

 

The following mythical history is connected with and related in this degree.

 

When the Temple was finished, the Masons who had been employed in constructing it acquired immortal honor. Their Order became more uniformly established and regulated than it had been before. Their caution and reserve in admitting new members produced respect, and merit alone was required of the candidate. With these principles instilled into their minds, many of the Grand Elect left the Temple after its dedication, and, dispersing themselves among the neighboring nations, instructed all who applied and were found worthy in the sublime degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry.

 

The Temple was completed in the year of the world 3000. Thus far, the wise King of Israel had behaved worthy of himself, and gained universal admiration; but in process of time, when he had advanced in years, his understanding became impaired; he grew deaf to the voice of the Lord, and was strangely irregular in his conduct. Proud of having erected an edifice to his Maker, and intoxicated with his great power, he plunged into all manner of licentiousness and debauchery, and profaned the Temple, by offering to the idol Moloch that incense which should have been offered only to the living God.

 

The Grand Elect and Perfect Masons saw this, and were sorely grieved, afraid that his apostasy would end in some dreadful consequences, and bring upon them those enemies whom Solomon had vain‑gloriously and wantonly defied. The people, copying the vices and follies of their King, became proud and idolatrous, and neglected the worship of the true God for that of idols.

 

As an adequate punishment for this defection, God inspired the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, to take vengeance on the kingdom of Israel. This prince sent an army with Nebuzaradan, Captain of the Guards, who entered Judah with fire and sword, took and sacked the city of Jerusalem, razed its walls, and destroyed the Temple. The people were carried captive to Babylon, and the conquerors took with them all the vessels of silver and gold. This happened four hundred and seventy years, six months, and ten days after its dedication.

 

When, in after times, the princes of Christendom entered into a league to free the Holy Land from the oppression of the infidels, the good and virtuous Masons, anxious for the success of so pious an undertaking, voluntarily offered their services to the confederates, on condition that

 

APPENDIX    649

 

they should be permitted a chief of their own election, which was granted; they accordingly rallied under their standard and departed.

 

The valor and fortitude of these elected knights was such that they were admired by, and took the lead of, all the princes of Jerusalem, who, believing that their mysteries inspired them with courage and fidelity in the cause of virtue and religion, became desirous of being initiated. Upon being found worthy, their desires were complied with; and thus the royal art, meeting the approbation of great and good men, became popular and honorable, was diffused through their various dominions, and has continued to spread through a succession of ages to the present day.

 

The symbolic color of this degree is red - emblematic of fervor, constancy, and assiduity. Hence, the Masonry of this degree was formerly called Red Masonry on the Continent of Europe.

 

The jewel of the degree is a pair of compasses extended on an arc of ninety degrees, surmounted by a crown, and with a sun in the center. In the Southern Jurisdiction the sun is on one side and a five‑pointed star on the other.

 

The apron is white with red flames, bordered with blue, and having the jewel painted on the center and the stone of foundation on the flap.

 

Prentice Pillar. In the southeast part of the Chapel of Roslyn Castle, in Scotland, is the celebrated column which goes by this name, and with which a Masonic legend is connected. The pillar is a plain fluted shaft, having a floral garland twined around it, all carved out of the solid stone. The legend is, that when the plans of the chapel were sent from Rome, the master builder did not clearly understand about this pillar, or, as another account states, had lost this particular portion of his plans, and, in consequence, had to go to Rome for further instructions or to procure a fresh copy. During his absence, a clever apprentice, the only son of a widow, either from memory or from his own invention, carved and completed the beautiful pillar. When the master returned and found the work completed, furious with jealous rage, he killed the apprentice, by striking him a frightful blow on the forehead with a heavy setting maul. In testimony of the truth of the legend, the visitor is shown three heads in the west part of the chapel - the master's, the apprentice's, with the gash on his forehead, and the widow's. There can be but little doubt that this legend referred to that of the Third Degree, which is thus shown to have existed, at least substantially, at that early period.

 

Rainbow for Girls, Order of. An organization planned to sow the seeds of love, law, religion, patriotism, and service in the hearts and minds of the girlhood of America for harvest in the coming years. The organization was prompted and founded by Rev. William Mark Sexson, McAllister Oklahoma, then Grand Chaplain for Oklahoma. The Order was formed in 1922, under the name of the Order of the Rainbow for

 

650     APPENDIX

 

Girls. The following four years the Order wca extended to thirty one states of the Union and quickly grew to a membership of forty thousand. The Order of the Rainbow is not Freemasonry, nor is it Eastern Star, but it is very dear to each of these organizations. Local Lodges or Bodies are called Assemblies. Before an Assembly can be instituted it must be sponsored by a Masonic or an Eastern Star organization, that will promise to look after its welfare. Its membership is made up of girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, must be children of Masonic or East‑ern Star families, or the friends and chums of such children. This is the only relationship to Freemasonry, tho it has no secrets from Free‑masons nor members of the Eastern Star, who are eligible to attend any Assembly. The Order is designed to teach the girls to serve. It offers a channel thru which it will be of real service to the City, County, State and Nation. The three virtues taught are; Faith, Hope and Charity. They are taught that the Bible contains the rule of right living for all and that its heroines are those who have in the past stood for the Trinity of Home, Church and Nation.

 

The seven lessons represented by the seven colors of the rainbow are the lessons of Love, Religion, Nature, Immortality, Fidelity, Patriotism and Service.

 

Red Cross of Constantine. A degree founded on the circumstance of the vision of a cross, with the inscription EN TOTTW NIKA, which appeared in the heavens to the Emperor Constantine. It formed originally a part of the Rosaic Rite, and is now practised in England, Ireland, Scotland, and some of the English colonies, as a distinct Order; the meetings being called "Conclaves," and the presiding officer of the Grand Imperial Council of the whole Order, "Grand Sovereign." Its existence in England as a Masonic degree has been traced, according to Bro. R. W. Little (Freemas. Mag.), to the year

1780, when it was given by Bro. Charles Shirreff. It was reorganized in 1804 by Walter Rodwell Wright, who supplied its present ritual. The ritual of the Order contains the following legend: "After the memorable battle fought at Saxa Rubra, on the

28th October, A.D. 312, the emperor sent for the chiefs of the Christian legion, and - we now quote the words of an old ritual - 'in presence of his other officers constituted them into an Order of Knighthood, and appointed them to wear the form of the Cross he had seen in the heavens upon their shields, with the motto In hoc sign vinces round it, surrounded with clouds; and peace being soon after made, he became the Sovereign Patron of the Christian Order of the Red Cross.' It is also said that this Cross, together with a device called the Labarum, was ordered to be embroidered upon all the imperial standards. The Christian warriors were selected to compose the body‑guard of Constantine, and the command of these privileged soldiers was confided to Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, who was thus considered the second officer of the Order."

 

APPENDIX    651 

 

Revelation. The following is an extract from Mackenzie's Royal Masonic Cyclopcedia upon this subject: "With infinite learning and patience the author of The Book of God, who preserves strict anonymity, has endeavoured to show that the work (Apocalypse) was originally revealed to a primaeval John, otherwise Oannes, and identical with the first messenger of God to man. This theory is sufficiently remarkable to be mentioned here. The messengers, twelve in number, are supposed by the author to appear at intervals of

600 years. Thus:

 

1, Adam, A.M. 3000;

2, Enoch, A.M. 3600;

3, Fohi, A.M. 4200;

4, Brigoo, A.M. 4800;

5, Zaratusht, A.M. 5400;

6, Thoth, A.M. 6000;

7, Amosis or Moses, A.M. 6600;

8, Laotseu, A.M. 7200;

9, Jesus, A.M. 7800;

10, Mohammed, A.M. 8400;

11, Chengiz‑Khan, A. M. 9000; and,

12, the twelfth messenger yet to be revealed, A.M. 9600.

 

With the aid of this theory, the whole history of the world, down to our own days, is shown to be foretold in the Apocalypse, and although it is difficult to agree with the accomplished writer's conclusions, supported by him with an array of learning and a sincere belief in what is stated, no one with any taste for these studies should be without this wonderful series of books. The same author has published, in two volumes, a revised edition of the Book of Enoch, with a commentary, and he promises to continue, and, if possible, complete his design."

 

Rose Croix, Prince of. French, Souverain Rosenkruz. This important degree is, of all the high grades, the most widely diffused, being found in numerous Rites. It is the Eighteenth of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It was also given, formerly, in some Encampments of Knights Templars, and was the Sixth of the degrees conferred by the Encampment of Baldwyn at Bristol, in England. It must not, however, be confounded with the Rosicrucians, who, however, similar in name. were only a Hermetic and mystical Order.

 

The degree is known by various names: sometimes its possessors are called "Sovereign Princes of Rose Croix," sometimes "Princes of Rose Croix de Heroden," and sometimes "Knights of the Eagle and Pelican." In relation to its origin, Masonic writers have made many conflicting statements, some giving it a much higher antiquity than others; but all agreeing in supposing it to be one of the earliest of the higher degrees. The name has, undoubtedly, been the cause of much of this confusion in relation to its history; and the Masonic Degree of Rose Croix has, perhaps, often been confounded with the Kabbalistical and alchemical sect of "Rosicrucians," or "Brother of the Rosy Cross," among whose adepts the names of such men as Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, and Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, are to be found. Notwithstanding the invidious attempts of Barruel and other foes of Masonry to confound the two Orders, there is a great distinction between them. Even their names, although somewhat similar in sound, are totally different in signification. The Rosicrucians, who were alchemists, did not derive their name, like the Rose Croix Masons, from the emblems of the rose, and

 

652     APPENDIX

 

cross - for they had nothing to do with the rose - but from the Latin ros. signifying dew, which was supposed to be of all natural bodies the most powerful solvent of gold, and crux, the cross, a chemical hieroglyphic of light.

 

Baron de Westerode, who wrote in 1784, in the Acta Latomorum (i., 336), gives the earliest origin of any Masonic writer to the degree of Rose Croix. He supposes that it was instituted among the Knights Ternplars in Palestine, in the year 1188, and he adds that Prince Edward, the son of Henry III. of England, was admitted into the Order by Raymond Lully in

1196. De Westerode names Ormesius, an Egyptian priest, who had been converted to Christianity, as its founder.

 

Some have sought to find its origin in the labors of Valentine Andrea, the reputed founder of the Rosicrucian fraternity. But the Rose Croix of Masonry and the Hermetic Rosicrucianism of Andrea were two entirely different things; and it would be difficult to trace any connection between them, at least any such connection as would make one the legitimate successor of the other.

 

The Baron de Gleichen, who was, in 1785, the German secretary of the Philalethan Congress at Paris, says that the Rose Croix and the Masons were united in England under King Arthur. (Acta Lat.', i., 336.) But he has, undoubtedly, mixed up Rosicrucianism with the Masonic legends of the Knights of the Round Table, and his assertions must go for nothing.

 

Clavel, with his usual boldness of assertion, which is too often in‑dependent of facts, declares that the degree was invented by the Jesuits for the purpose of countermining the insidious attacks of the free‑thinkers upon the Roman Catholic religion, but that the philosophers parried the attempt by seizing upon the degree and giving to all its symbols an astronomical signification. Clavel's opinion is probably derived from one of those sweeping charges of Professor Robison, in which that systematic enemy of our Institution declares that, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Jesuits interfered considerably with Masonry, "insinuating themselves into the Lodges, and contributing to in‑crease that religious mysticism that is to be observed in all the ceremonies of the Order." But there is no better evidence than these mere vague assertions of the connection of the Jesuits with the Rose Croix Degree.

 

Oliver (Landm., ii., 81) says that the earliest notice that he finds of this degree is in a publication of 1613. But he adds, that "it was known much sooner, although not probably as a degree in Masonry; for it existed as a cabalistic science from the earliest times in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as amongst the Jews and Moors in times more recent." Oliver, however, undoubtedly, in the latter part of this paragraph, confounds the Masonic Rose Croix with the alchemical Rosicrucians; and

 

APPENDIX    653

 

the former is singularly inconsistent with the details that he gives in reference to the Rosy Cross of the Royal Order of Scotland.

 

The subject, however, is in a state of inextricable confusion, and I confess that, after all my researches, I am still unable distinctly to point to the period when, and to the place where, the present degree of Rose Croix received its organization as a Masonic grade.

 

It was, indeed, on its first inception, an attempt to Christianize Freemasonry; to apply the rites, and symbols, and traditions of Ancient Craft Masonry to the last and greatest dispensation; to add to the first Temple of Solomon and the second of Zerubbabel a third, that to which Christ alluded when he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days will I raise it up." The great discovery which was made in the Royal Arch ceases to be of value in this degree; for it another is substituted of more Christian application; the Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty which sup‑ported the ancient Temple are replaced by the Christian pillars of Faith, Hope and Charity; the great lights, of course, remain, because they are of the very essence of Masonry; but the three lesser give way to the thirty‑three, which allude to the years of the Messiah's sojourning on earth. Everything, in short, about the degree, is Christian; but, as I have already said, the Christian teachings of the degree have been applied to the sublime principles of a universal system, and an interpretation and illustration of the doctrines of the "Master of Nazareth," so adapted to the Masonic dogma of tolerance, that men of every faith may embrace and respect them. It thus performs a noble mission. It obliterates, alike, the intolerance of those Christians who sought to erect an impassable barrier around the sheepfold, and the equal intolerance of those of other religions who would be ready to exclaim, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, whence the Rose Croix Masons of the United States have received the degree, it is placed as the eighteenth on the list. It is conferred in a body called a "Chapter," which derives its authority immediately from the Supreme Council of the Thirty‑third, and which confers with it only one other and inferior degree, that of "Knights of the East and West." Its principal officers are a Most Wise, Master and two Wardens. Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday are two obligatory days of meeting.

 

The aspirant for the degree makes the usual application duly recommended; and if accepted, is required, before initiation, to make certain declarations which shall show his competency for the honor which he seeks, and at the same time prove the high estimation entertained of the degree by those who already possess it.

 

The jewel of the Rose Croix is a golden compass, extended on an arc to the sixteenth part of a circle, or twenty‑two and a half degrees. The head of the compass is surmounted by a triple crown, consisting of three series of points arranged by three, five, and seven. Between the

 

654     APPENDIX

 

legs of the compass is a cross resting on the arc; its center is occupied by a full‑blown rose, whose stem twines around the lower limb of the cross; at the foot of the cross, on the same side on which the rose is exhibited, is the figure of a pelican wounding its breast to feed its young which are it a nest surrounding it, while on the other side of the jewel is the figure of an eagle with wings displayed. On the arc of the circle, the P\W\ of the degree is engraved in the cipher of the Order.

 

In this jewel are included the most important symbols of the degree. The Cross, the Rose, the Pelican, and the Eagle are all important symbols, the explanations of which will go far to a comprehension of what is the true design of the Rose Croix Order. They may be seen in this work under their respective titles.

 

Rosicrucianism. Many writers have sought to discover a close connection between the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, and some, indeed, have advanced the theory that the latter are only the successors of the former. Whether this opinion be correct or not, there are sufficient co‑incidences of character between the two to render the history of Rosicrucianism highly interesting to the Masonic student.

 

The Rosicrucians had a large number of symbols, some of which were in common with those of the Freemasons, and some peculiar to themselves. The principal of these were the globe, the circle, the coin‑passes, the square (both the working‑tool and the geometrical figure), the triangle, the level, and the plummet. These are, however, interpreted, not like the Masonic, as symbols of the moral virtues, but of the proper‑ties of the philosopher's stone.

 

Royal Arch Badge. The triple tau, consisting of three tau crosses conjoined at their feet, constitutes the Royal Arch badge. The English Masons call it the "emblem of all emblems," and the "grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry." The English Royal Arch lecture thus defines it: "The triple tau forms two right angles on each of the exterior lines, and another at the centre, by their union; for the three angles of each triangle are equal to two right angles. This, being triplified, illustrates the jewel worn by the companions of the Royal Arch, which, by its intersection, forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five several combinations." It is used in the Royal Arch Masonry of Scotland, and has, for the last ten or fifteen years, been adopted officially in the United States.

 

Royal Arch Robes. In the working of a Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, great attention is paid to the robes of the several officers. The High Priest wears, in imitation of the high priest of the Jews, a robe of blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen, and is decorated with the breast‑plate and miter. The King wears a scarlet robe, and has a crown and scepter. The Scribe wears a purple robe and turban. The Captain of the Host wears a white robe and cap, and is armed with a sword. The

 

APPENDIX    655

 

Principal Sojourner wears a dark robe, with tessellated border, a slouched hat, and pilgrim's staff. The Royal Arch Captain wears a white robe and cap, and is armed with a sword. The three Grand Masters of the Veils wear, respectively, the Grand Master of the third veil a scarlet robe and cap, of the second veil a purple robe and cap, of the first veil a blue robe and cap. Each is armed with a sword. The Treasurer, Secretary, and Sentinel wear no robes nor peculiar dress. All of these robes have either an historical or symbolical allusion.

 

Schools. None of the charities of Freemasonry have been more important or more worthy of approbation than those which have been directed to the establishment of schools for the education of the orphan children of Masons; and it is a very proud feature of the Order, that institutions of this kind are to be found in every country where Free‑masonry has made a lodgment as an organized society. In England, the Royal Freemasons' Girls' School was established in 1788. In 1798, a similar one for boys was founded. At a very early period charity schools were erected by the Lodges in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The Masons of Holland instituted a school for the blind in 1808. In the United States much attention has been paid to this subject. In 1842, the Grand Lodge of Missouri instituted a Masonic college, and the example was followed by several other Grand Lodges. But colleges have been found too unwieldly and complicated in their management for a successful experiment, and the scheme has generally been abandoned. But there are numerous schools in the United States which are supported in whole or in part by Masonic Lodges.

 

Scottish Rite. French writers call this the "Ancient and Accepted Rite," but as the Latin Constitutions of the Order designate it as the "Antiquus Scoticus Ritus Acceptus," or the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite," that title has now been very generally adopted as the correct name of the Rite. Although one of the youngest of the Masonic Rites, having been established not earlier than the year 1801, it is at this day the most popular and the most extensively diffused. Supreme Councils or governing bodies of the Rite are to be found in almost every civilized country of the world, and in many of them it is the only Masonic obedience. The,history of its organization is briefly this: In 1758, a body was organized at Paris called the "Council of Emperors of the East and West." This Council organized a Rite called the "Rite of Perfection," which consisted of twenty‑five degrees, the highest of which was "Sub‑lime Prince of the Royal Secret." In 1761, this Council granted a Patent or Deputation to Stephen Morin, authorizing him to propagate the Rite in the Western continent, whither he was about to repair. In the same year, Morin arrived at the city of St. Domingo, where he commenced the dissemination of the Rite, and appointed many Inspectors, both for the West Indies and for the United States. Among others, he conferred the degrees on M. Hayes, with a power of appointing others when necessary.

 

656     APPENDIX

 

Hayes accordingly appointed Isaac Da Costa Deputy Inspector‑General for South Carolina, who in 1783 introduced the Rite into that State by the establishment of a Grand Lodge of Perfection in Charleston. Other inspectors were subsequently appointed, and in 1801 a Supreme Council was opened in Charleston by John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho. There is abundant evidence in the Archives of the Supreme Council that up to that time the twenty‑five degrees of the Rite of Perfection were alone recognized. But suddenly, with the organization of the Supreme Council, there arose a new Rite, fabricated by the adoption of eight more of the continental high degrees, so as to make the Thirty‑third and not the Twenty‑fifth Degree the summit of the Rite.

 

The Rite consists of thirty‑three degrees, which are divided into seven sections, each section being under an appropriate jurisdiction.

 

Seven. In every system of antiquity there is a frequent reference to this number, showing that the veneration for it proceeded from some common cause. It is equally a sacred number in the Gentile as in the Christian religion. Oliver says that this can scarcely be ascribed to any event, except it be the institution of the Sabbath. Higgins thinks that the peculiar circumstance, perhaps accidental, of the number of the days of the week coinciding exactly with the number of the planetary bodies probably procured for it its character of sanctity. The Pythagoreans called it a perfect number, because it was made up of 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, which are the two perfect figures. They called it also a virgin number, and without mother, comparing it to Minerva, who was a motherless virgin, because it cannot by multiplication produce any number within ten, as twice two does four, and three times three does nine; nor can any two numbers, by their multiplication, produce it.

 

Seven is a sacred number in Masonic symbolism. It has always been so. In the earliest rituals of the last century it was said that a Lodge required seven to make it perfect; but the only explanation to be found in any of those rituals of the sacredness of the number is the seven liberal arts and sciences, which, according to the old "Legend of the Craft," were the foundation of Masonry. In modern ritualism the symbolism of seven has been transferred from the First to the Second Degree, and there it is made to refer only to the seven steps of the Winding Stairs; but the symbolic seven is to be found diffused in a hundred ways over the whole Masonic system.

 

Shrine. The Shrine, the familiar name applied to the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, has an origin about which the various writers upon the subject have not agreed. The point on which there is general agreement is that the real work of preparing a Ritual and organizing a Temple in the City of New York and four years later organized what was first known as the "Imperial Grand Council of the Ancient Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for the United States of America," was done by Dr. Walter M. Fleming, Charles T. McClena‑

 

APPENDIX    657

 

chan, and others. The Ritual is presented in an alluring Oriental style. So much of this is in evidence that even those active in the Shrine from the earlier years found difficulty in saying with precision how much or how little confidence should be placed in any claims made for an exclusively foreign origin of the institution.

 

In 1870 the first Temple in America was instituted at New York City and was called "Gotham," which was changed to the name "Mecca" when it was decided that all Temples should have an Arabic or an Egyptian title. Noble Dr. Walter M. Fleming was the first Grand Imperial Potentate and Noble William S. Patterson was first Recorder. The word "Grand" in the titles was discarded by the Imperial Council in 1887.

 

The Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in America does not advocate Mohammedanism as a sect, but inculcates the same respect to Deity here as elsewhere, and hence the secret of its profound grasp on the intellect and heart of all cultured people.

 

The Imperial Council of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine for the United States of America was organized June 6th, 1876. At the meeting of the Imperial Council at Indianapolis in 1919 it was proposed to establish a home for friendless, orphaned and crippled children, to be supported by the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North America. The matter was laid over until the meeting at Portland, Oregon in

1920. At this time a resolution was adopted authorizing the establishment of a hospital to be supported on an annual per capita basis and to be known as the Shrine Hospital for Crippled Children. An assessment of Two Dollars per capita was levied upon the entire member‑ship. A Committee of Seven was appointed to select a site and secure plans and specifications. Provision made for an annual levy to support the institution. Since that time a number of hospitals have been built also mobile units supported in other hospitals to carry on the work of rehabilitating crippled children thru the channel of orthopedic surgery. The first child admitted for surgical treatment by a Shriner's surgeon was a patient at Shreveport, Louisiana in September 1922.

 

The Shriners' hospitals and mobile units are open to every crippled child, without restriction as to race or religion, subject to the following requirements; The'parents or guardians must be financially unable to pay for its treatment. The child must not be over fourteen years of age, of normal mentality, and there must be reasonable hope of materially improving the child's condition thru orthopedic surgery.

 

The other activities of the Shrine are largely social and fraternal.

 

To be eligible to membership a man must be a Knight Templar or a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Thirty Second Degree.

 

The governing body is called a Divan. The officers are; Potentate, Chief Rabban, Assistant Rabban, High Priest and Prophet, Oriental Guide, Recorder and Treasurer. The elective officers are; First Cere‑

 

658     APPENDIX

 

monial Master, Second Ceremonial Master, Marshall, Captain of Guard, Lieutenant of Guard, Outer Guard, Class Director, Director of Work, Physician, Orator, Band Manager. A Band and a Patrol complete the active workers.

 

Side Degrees. There are certain Masonic degrees, which, not being placed in the regular routine of the acknowledged degrees, are not recognized as a part of Ancient Masonry, but receive the name of "Honorary or Side Degrees." They constitute no part of the regular ritual, and are not under the control of either Grand Lodges, Grand Chapters, or any other of the legal, administrative bodies of the Institution. Al‑though a few of them are very old, the greater number are of a comparatively modern origin, and are generally supposed to have been indebted for their invention to the ingenuity of either Grand Lecturers, or other distinguished Masons. Their history and ceremonies are often interesting, and so far as we have been made acquainted with them, their tendency, when they are properly conferred, is always moral. They are not given in Lodges or Chapters, but at private meetings of the brethren or companions possessing them, informally and temporarily called for the sole purpose of conferring them. These temporary assemblies owe no allegiance to any supreme, controlling body, except so far as they are composed of Master or Royal Arch Masons, and when the business of conferring the degrees is accomplished, they are dissolved at once, not to meet again, except under similar circumstances and for a similar purpose.

 

Some of them are conferred on Master Masons, some on Royal Arch Masons, and some only on Knights Templar. There is another class which females, connected by certain ties of relationship with the Fraternity, are permitted to receive; and this fact, in some measure, assimilates these degrees to the Masonry of Adoption, or Female Masonry, which is practised in France and some other European countries, al‑though there are important points of difference between them. These female side degrees have received the name of "androgynous degrees," from two Greek words signifying man and woman, and are thus called to indicate the participation in them by both sexes.

 

The principal side degrees practised in America are as follows:

 

1. Secret Monitor.

2. Knight of the Three Kings.

3. Knight of Constantinople.

4. Mason's Wife and Daughter.

5. Ark and Dove.

6. Mediterranean Pass.

7. Knight and Heroine of Jericho.

8. Good Samaritan.

9. Knight of the Mediterranean Pass.

 

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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.

 

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 de‑sign 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, his son and successor.

 

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 pre‑pared 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 distin‑

 

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guished 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 oft 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 skilful 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 and 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 my‑self, 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

 

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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 holies, 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 Masons, whom the traditions say, at the com-

 

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pletion 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 Masonry; and, induced by the persuasions of those foreign wives and concubines whom he had espoused in his later days, he erected a fame 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," 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 pre‑tensions 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 architecture, 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 forever the glory and the power of the Hebrew empire.

 

Sovereign Grand Inspector‑General. The Thirty‑third and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The Latin Constitutions of 1786 call it "Tertius et trigesimus et sublimissimus gradus," i. e., "the Thirty‑third and Most Sublime Degree"; and it is styled "the Protector and Conservator of the Order." The same Constitutions, in Articles I. and II., say: "The thirty‑third degree confers on those Masons who are legitimately invested with it, the quality, title, privilege, and authority of Sovereign [Supremorum] Grand Inspectors‑General of the Order.

 

APPENDIX    663 

 

"The peculiar duty of their mission is to teach and enlighten the brethren; to preserve charity, union, and fraternal love among them; to maintain regularity in the works of each degree, and to take care that it is preserved by others; to cause the dogmas, doctrines, institutes, constitutions, statutes, and regulations of the Order to be reverently regarded, and to preserve and defend them on every occasion; and, finally, everywhere to occupy themselves in works of peace and mercy." The body in which the members of this degree assemble is called a Supreme Council.

 

The symbolic color of the degree is white, denoting purity.

 

The distinctive insignia are a sash, collar, jewel, Teutonic cross, decoration, and ring.

 

The sash is a broad, white watered ribbon, bordered with gold, bearing on the front a triangle of gold glittering with rays of gold, which has in the center the numerals

33, with a sword of silver, directed from above, on each side of the triangle, pointing to its center. The sash, worn from the right shoulder to the left hip, ends in a point, and is fringed with gold, having at the junction a circular band of scarlet and green containing the jewel of the Order.

 

The collar is of white watered ribbon fringed with gold, having the rayed triangle at its point and the swords at the sides. By a regulation of the Southern Supreme Council of the United States, the collar is worn by the active, and the sash by the honorary, members of the Council.

 

The jewel is a black double‑headed eagle, with golden beaks and talons, holding in the latter a sword of gold, and crowned with the golden crown of Prussia.

 

The red Teutonic cross is affixed to the left side of the breast.

 

The decoration rests upon a Teutonic cross. It is a nine‑pointed star, namely, one formed by three triangles of gold one upon the other, and interlaced from the lower part of the left side to the upper part of the right a sword extends, and in the opposite direction is a hand of (as it is called) Justice. In the center is the shield of THE ORDER, azure charged with an eagle like that on the banner, having on the dexter side a Balance or, and on the sinister side a Compass of the second, united with a Square of the second. Around the whole shield runs a band of the first, with the Latin inscription, of the second, ORDO AB CHAO, which band is enclosed by two circles, formed by two Serpents of the second, each biting his own tail. Of the smaller triangles that are formed by the intersection of the greater ones, those nine that are nearest the band are of crimson color, and each of them has one of the letters that compose the word S. A. P. I. E. N. T. I. A.

 

The ring is a triple one, like three small rings, each one‑eighth of an inch wide, side by side, and having on the inside a delta surrounding the figures

33, and inscribed with the wearer's name, the letters

 

664     APPENDIX

 

S\G\I\G\, and the motto of the Order, "Deus meumque Jus." It is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand in the Southern Jurisdiction and on the third in the Northern Jurisdiction of America.

 

Until the year 1801, the Thirty‑third Degree was unknown. Until then the highest degree of the Rite, introduced into America by Stephen Morin, was the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret, or the Twenty‑fifth of the Rite established by the Emperors of the East and West. The administrative heads of the Order were styled Grand Inspectors‑General and Deputy Inspectors‑General; but these were titles of official rank and not of degree. Even as late as May 24, 1801, John Mitchell signs himself as "Kadosh, Prince of the Royal Secret and Deputy Inspector‑General." The document thus signed is a Patent which certifies that Frederick Dalcho is a Kadosh, and Prince of the Royal Secret, and which creates him a Deputy Inspector‑General. But on May 31, 1801, the Supreme Council was created at Charleston, and from that time we hear of a Rite of thirty‑three degrees, eight having been added to the twenty‑five introduced by Morin, and the last being called Sovereign Grand Inspector‑General. The degree being thus legitimately established by a body which, in creating a Rite, possessed the prerogative of establishing its classes, its degrees and its nomenclature were accepted unhesitatingly by all subsequently created Supreme Councils; and it continues to be recognized as the administrative head of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

Square. This is one of the most important and significant symbols in Freemasonry. As such, it is proper that its true form should be pre‑served. The French Masons have almost universally given it with one leg longer than the other, thus making it a carpenter's square. The American Masons, following the incorrect delineations of Jeremy L. Cross, have, while generally preserving the equality of length in the legs, unnecessarily marked its surface with inches; thus making it an instrument for measuring length and breadth, which it is not. It is simply the trying square of a stone‑mason, and has a plain surface; the sides or legs embracing an angle of ninety degrees, and is intended only to test the accuracy of the sides of a stone, and to see that its edges sub‑tend the same angle.

 

In Freemasonry, it is a symbol of morality. This is its general signification, and is applied in various ways:

 

1. It presents itself to the neophyte as one of the three great lights;

2. To the Fellow‑Craft as one of his working‑tools;

3. To the Master Mason as the official emblem of the Master of the Lodge.

 

Everywhere, however, it inculcates the same lesson of morality, of truthfulness, of honesty. So universally accepted is this symbolism, that it has gone outside of the Order, and has been found in colloquial language communicating the same idea. Square, says Ilalliwell (Diet. Archaisms), means honest, equitable, as in "square

 

APPENDIX    665

 

dealing." To play upon the square is proverbial for to play honestly. In this sense the word is found in the old writers.

 

As a Masonic symbol, it is of very ancient date, and was familiar to the Operative Masons. In the year 1830, the architect, in rebuilding a very ancient bridge called Baal Bridge, near Limerick, in Ireland, found under the foundation‑stone an old brass square, much eaten away, containing on its two surfaces the following inscription: I. WILL. STRIUE. TO. LIUE. - WITH. LOUE. & CARE. - UPON. THE. LEUL. - BY. THE. SQUARE., and the date

1517. The modern Speculative Mason will recognize the idea of living on the level and by the square. This discovery proves, if proof were necessary, that the familiar idea was borrowed from our Operative brethren of former days.

 

The square, as a symbol in Speculative Masonry, has therefore presented itself from the very beginning of the revival period. In the very earliest catechism of the last century, of the date of 1725, we find the answer to the question, "How many make a Lodge?" is "God and the Square, with five or seven right or perfect Masons." God and the Square, religion and morality, must be present in every Lodge as governing principles. Signs at that early period were to be made by squares, and the furpiture of the Lodge was declared to be the Bible, Compasses, and Square.

 

In all rites and in all languages where Masonry has penetrated, the square has preserved its primitive signification as a symbol of morality.

 

Square and Compasses. These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined - to teach us, as says an early ritual, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom Been 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 Knights 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 refused‑the permission on the ground that the mark was a Masonic symbol.

 

"If this emblem," said Mr. J. M. Thacher, the Commissioner, "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,

 

666     APPENDIX

 

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 displayed, 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 power of law, 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."

 

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 Mason'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 high degrees (Les plus secrets Mysteres des Hauts 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, al‑though their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of symbolic Masonry. 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 degrees, 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."

 

Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. This is the Thirty‑second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. There is abundant internal evidence, derived from the ritual and from some historical facts, that the degree of Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret was instituted by the founders of the Council of Emperors of the East and West, which body was established in the year 1758. It is certain that before that period we hear nothing of such a degree in any of the Rites. The Rite of

 

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Heredom or of Perfection, which was that instituted by the Council of Emperors, consisted of twenty‑five degrees. Of these the Twenty‑fifth, and highest, was the Prince of the Royal Secret. It was brought to America by Morin, as the summit of the High Masonry which he introduced, and for the propagation of which he had received his Patent. In the subsequent extension of the Scottish Rite about the beginning of the present century, by the addition of eight new degrees to the original twenty‑five, the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret became the Thirty‑second.

 

Bodies of the Thirty‑second Degree are called Consistories, and where there is a superintending body erected by the Supreme Council for the government of the inferior degrees in a State or Province, it is called a Grand Consistory.

 

Syllable. To pronounce the syllables, or only one of the syllables, of a Sacred Word, such as a name of God, was among the Orientalists considered far more reverent than to give to it in all its syllables a full and continuous utterance. Thus the Hebrews reduced the holy name JEHOVAH to the syllable JAn; and the Brahmans, taking the initial letters of the three words which expressed the three attributes of the Supreme Brahma, as Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, made of it the syllable AUM, which, on account of its awful and sacred meaning, they hesitated to pronounce aloud. To divide a word into syllables, and thus to interrupt the sound, either by pausing or by the alternate pronunciation by two persons, was deemed a mark of reverence.

 

Temple, Order of. The Order of the Temple was instituted by the Crusaders during their attempts to wrest control over the Holy Land from the infidels, having as its chief objects to provide for the helpless and destitute, and the care of the sick and wounded.

 

The first Grand Master of the Order was Hugh de Payens, who was the Head of' the Order from A.D. 1118 to 1138. The organization remained active until A.D. 1314, the last Grand Master of the Order being Jacques de Molay (1298 - 1314) who gave up his life in defense of the Christian principles of the Order.

 

The American Order of the Temple came into existence in 1816, with DeWitt Clinton as its first Grand Master. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States has Jurisdiction over all Grand Commanderies in the United States and Dependencies thereof. In turn, each Commandery of Knights Templar is obedient to the Grand Commandery of the State in which it is located, and is designated "constituent." Some Commanderies are obedient directly to the Grand Encampment, and are designated as "subordinate."

 

Veils, Symbolism of the. Neither the construction nor .the symbolism of the veils in the Royal Arch tabernacle is derived from that of the Sinaitic. In the Sinaitic tabernacle there were no veils of separation between the different parts, except the one white one that hung before

 

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the most holy place. The decorations of the tabernacle were curtains, like modern tapestry, interwoven with many colors; no curtain being wholly of one color, and not running across the apartment, but covering its sides and roof. The exterior form of the Royal Arch tabernacle was taken from that of Moses, but the interior decoration from a passage of Josephus not properly understood.

 

Josephus has been greatly used by the fabricators of high degrees of Masonry, not only for their ideas of symbolism, but for the suggestion of their legends. In the Second Book of Chronicles (iii. 14) it is said that Solomon "made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon." This description evidently alludes to the single veil, which, like that of the Sinaitic tabernacle, was placed before the entrance of the holy of holies. It by no means resembles the four separate and equidistant veils of the Masonic tabernacle.

 

But Josephus had said (Antiq., 1. viii., c. iii., 1 3) that the king "also had veils of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and the brightest and softest linen, with the most curious flowers wrought upon them, which were to be drawn before these doors." To this description - which is a very inaccurate one, which refers, too, to the interior of the first Temple, and not to the supposed tabernacle subsequently erected near its ruins, and which, besides, has no Biblical authority for its support‑‑we must trace the ideas, even as to the order of the veils, which the inventors of the Masonic tabernacle adopted in their construction of it. That tabernacle cannot be recognized as historically correct, but must be considered, like the three doors of the Temple in the Symbolic degrees, simply as a symbol. But this does not at all diminish its value.

 

The symbolism of the veils must be considered in two aspects: first, in reference to the symbolism of the veils as a whole, and next, as to the symbolism of each veil separately.

 

As a whole, the four veils, constituting four divisions of the tabernacle, present obstacles to the neophyte in his advance to the most holy place where the Grand Council sits. Now he is seeking to advance to that sacred spot that he may there receive his spiritual illumination, and be invested with a knowledge of the true Divine name. But Masonically, this Divine name is itself but a symbol of Truth, the object, as has been often said, of all a Mason's search and labor. The passage through the veils is, therefore, a symbol of the trials and difficulties that are encountered and must be overcome in the search for and the acquisition of Truth.

 

This is the general symbolism; but we lose sight of it, in a great degree, when we come to the interpretation of the symbolism of each veil independently of the others, for this principally symbolizes the various virtues and affections that should characterize the Mason. Yet the two symbolisms are really connected, for the virtues symbolized are those which should distinguish everyone engaged in the Divine search.

 

The symbolism, according to the system adopted in the American APPENDIX          669 Rite, refers to the colors of the veils and to the miraculous signs of Moses, which are described in Exodus as having been shown by him to prove his mission as the messenger of Jehovah.

 

Blue is a symbol of universal friendship and benevolence. It is the appropriate color of the Symbolic degrees, the possession of which is the first step in the progress of the search for truth to be now instituted. The Mosaic sign of the serpent was the symbol among the ancients of resurrection to life, because the serpent, by casting his skin, is supposed continually to renew his youth. It is the symbol here of the loss and the recovery of the Word.

 

Purple is a symbol here of union, and refers to the intimate connection of Ancient Craft and Royal Arch Masonry. Hence it is the appropriate color of the intermediate degrees, which must be passed through in the prosecution of the search. The Mosaic sign refers to the restoration of the leprous hand to health. Here again, in this representation of a disea:,ed limb restored to health, we have a repetition of the allusion to the loss and the recovery of the Word; the Word itself being but a symbol of Divine truth, the search for which constitutes the whole science of Freemasonry, and the symbolism of which pervades the whole system of initiation from the first to the last degree.

 

Scarlet is a symbol of fervency and zeal, and is appropriated to the Royal Arch Degree because it is by these qualities that the neophyte, now so far advanced in his progress, must expect to be successful in his search. The Mosaic sign of changing water into blood bears the same symbolic reference to a change for the better - from a lower to a higher state - from the elemental water in which there is no life to the blood which is the life itself - from darkness to light. The progress is still onward to the recovery of that which had been lost, but which is yet to be found.

 

White is a symbol of purity, and is peculiarly appropriate to remind the neophyte; who is now almost at the close of his search, that it is only by purity of life that he can expect to be found worthy of the reception of Divine truth. "Blessed," says the Great Teacher, "are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The Mosaic signs now cease, for they have taught their lesson; and the aspirant is invested with the Signet of Truth, to assure him that, having endured all trials and overcome all obstacles, he is at length entitled to receive the reward for which he has been seeking; for the Signet of Zerubbabel is a royal signet, which confers power and authority on him who possesses it.

 

And so we now see that the Symbolism of the Veils, however viewed, whether collectively or separately, represents the laborious, but at last successful, search for Divine truth.

 

Wages of the Workmen at the Temple. Neither the Scriptures, no) Josephus, give us any definite statement of the amount of wages paid, nor the manner in which they were paid, to the workmen who were en‑gaged in the erection of King Solomon's Temple. The cost of its con

 

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struction, however, must have been immense, since it has been estimated that the edifice alone consumed more gold and silver than at present exists upon the whole earth; so that Josephus very justly says that "Solomon made all these things for the honor of God, with great variety and magnificence, sparing no cost, but using all possible liberality in adorning the Temple." We learn, as one instance of this liberality, from the 2d Book of Chronicles, that Solomon paid annually to the Tyrian Masons, the servants of Hiram, "twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil." The bath was a measure equal to seven and a half gallons wine measure; and the cor or chomer, which we translate by the indefinite word measure, contained ten baths; so that the corn, wine, and oil furnished by King Solomon, as wages to the servants of Hiram of Tyre, amounted to one hundred and ninety thousand bushels of the first, and one hundred and fifty thousand gallons each of the second and third. The sacred records do not inform us what further wages they received, but we elsewhere learn that King Solomon gave them as a free gift a sum equal to more than thirty‑two millions of dollars. The whole amount of wages paid to the craft is stated to have been about six hundred and seventy‑two millions of dollars; but we have no means of knowing how that amount was distributed; though it is natural to suppose that those of the most skill and experience received the highest wages. The Harodim, or chiefs of the workmen, must have been better paid than the Ish Sabal, or mere laborers.

 

The legend‑makers of Masonry have not been idle in their invention of facts and circumstances in relation to this subject, the whole of which have little more for a foundation than the imaginations of the inventors. They form, however, a part of the legendary history of Masonry, and are interesting for their ingenuity, and sometimes even for their absurdity.

 

Weary Sojourners. Spoken of in the American legend of the Royal Arch as three of the captives who had been restored to liberty by Cyrus, and, after sojourning or remaining longer in Babylon than the main body of their brethren, had at length repaired to Jerusalem to assist in rebuilding the Temple.

 

It was while the workmen were engaged in making the necessary excavations for laying the foundation, and while numbers continued to arrive at Jerusalem from Babylon, that these three worn and weary sojourners, after plodding on foot over the rough and devious roads between the two cities, offered themselves to the Grand Council as willing participants in the labor of erection. Who these sojourners were, we have no historical means of discovering; but there is a Masonic tradition (entitled, perhaps, to but little weight) that they were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, three holy men, who are better known to genera: readers by their Chaldaic names of Shadrach, Meshech, and Abed‑nego,

 

APPENDIX    671

 

as having been miraculously preserved from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Their services were accepted, and from their diligent labors resulted that important discovery, the perpetuation and preservation of which constitutes the great end and design of the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Such is the legend of the American Royal Arch. It has no known foundation in history, and is therefore altogether mythical. But it presents, as a myth, the symbolic idea of arduous and unfaltering search after truth, and the final reward that such devotion receives.

 

White Shrine of Jerusalem, Order of. Founded by Charles D. Magee, at Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., in 1894. The Order comprises both men and women, who must be members in good standing of the Order of the Eastern Star. The White Shrine was not recognized, however, as a branch of the Order of the Eastern Star. During the term of office as Most Worthy Grand Matron of the Order of the Eastern Star, 1892 to 1895, Mrs. Mary G. Snedden refused her approval and this position was concurred in by the General Grand Chapter in 1895. It was ruled by the General Grand Chapter that there were no degrees connected in any way or manner with the Order of the Eastern Star, other than those provided for and taught in their Ritual. Any member wilfully representing to any one that there are side degrees, or higher degrees, or any degrees other than those taught and provided for by their Ritual, shall be guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the Order, and upon conviction thereof, shall be suspended or expelled from the Order. There‑fore be it thoroughly understood that the White Shrine of Jerusalem is no part of the Order of the Eastern Star.

 

During the first years of its existence, its growth was slow, but in recent years the growth has been more marked. It now has 445 chartered Shrines with a membership of

85,635 operating in 35 states. Several Canadian Provinces and in Scotland. The requirements for membership are; - membership in the Order of the Eastern Star, in good standing and thoroughly loyal to that organization; and a believer in the Christian religion. Male members must be Master Masons in good standing and Christians. The Ritual of the White Shrine of Jerusalem is based upon the story of the travels of the Three Wise Men to the birthplace of the Christian Savior, dealing in a beautiful and impressive manner with the various incidents as described in the Gospelsin connection with the birth of Jesus the Christ. The story of the life of Jesus the Christ is the most inspiring one known to the Christian world, and the Ritual of the White Shrine being illustrative of His life and teachings, affords a wonderful opportunity for beautiful work, and to make a lasting impression upon its members.

 

The work is usually rendered by officers clothed in regalia representative of the time in which Jesus lived.

 

The governing body is called The Supreme White Shrine of Jeru‑

 

672     APPENDIX

 

salem. Its officials are: - Supreme Worthy High Priestess, Supreme Watchman of Shepherds, Supreme Noble Prophetess, Supreme Associate Watchman of Shepherds, Supreme Worthy Scribe, Supreme Worthy Treasurer, Supreme Chaplain, Supreme Shepherdess, Supreme Guide, Supreme Worthy Herold, Supreme First, Second and Third Wise Men, Supreme King, Supreme Queen, Supreme First, Second and Third Hand Maids, Supreme Organist, Supreme Worthy Guardian, Supreme Worthy Guard.

 

Wisdom. In Ancient Craft Masonry, wisdom is symbolized by the East, the place of light, being represented by the pillar that there sup‑ports the Lodge and by the Worshipful Master. It is also referred to King Solomon, the symbolical founder of the Order. In Masonic architecture the Ionic column, distinguished for the skill in its construction, as it combines the beauty of the Corinthian and the strength of the Doric, is adopted as the representative of wisdom.

 

King Solomon has been adopted in Speculative Masonry as the type or representative of wisdom, in accordance with the character which has been given to him in the

1st Book of Kings (iv. 30 - 32): "Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heenan and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of òMahol; and his fame was in all the nations round about." This idea, so universally diffused throughout the East, is said to have been adopted into the secret doctrine of the Templars, who are supposed to have borrowed much from the Basilideans, the Manichean, and the Gnostics. From them it easily passed over to the high degrees of Masonry, which were founded on the Templar theory. Hence, in the great decoration of the Thirty‑third Degree of the Scottish Rite, the points of the triple triangle are inscribed with the letters S.A.P.I.E.N. T.I.A., or Wisdom.

 

It is not difficult now to see how this word Wisdom came to take so prominent a part in the symbolism of Ancient Masonry, and how it was expressly appropriated to King Solomon. As wisdom, in the philosophy of the East, was the creative energy - the architect, so to speak, of the world, as the emanation of the Supreme Architect - so Solomon was the architect of the Temple, the symbol of the world. He was to the typical world or temple what wisdom was to the great world of the creation. Hence wisdom is appropriately referred to him and to the Master of the Lodge, who is the representative of Solomon. Wisdom is always placed in the east of the Lodge, because thence emanate all light, and knowledge, and truth.

 

Word, Mason. In the minutes and documents of the Lodges of Scotland during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the expression "Mason word" is constantly used. This continuous use would indicate that but one word was then known. Nicolai, in his Essay on the

 

APPENDIX    673

 

Accusations against the Templars, quotes a "small dictionary published at the beginning of the eighteenth century," in which the "Mason's word" is defined.

 

Word, Sacred. A term applied to the chief or most prominent word of a degree, to indicate its peculiarly sacred character, in contradistinction to a password, which is simply intended as a mode of recognition. It is sometimes ignorantly corrupted into "secret word." All significant words in Masonry are secret. Only certain ones are sacred.

 

Word, True. Used in contradistinction to the Lost Word and the Substitute Word. To find it is the object of all Masonic search and labor. For as the Lost Word is the symbol of death, the True Word is the symbol of life eternal. It indicates the change that is always occurring - truth after error, light after darkness, life after death. Of all the symbolism of Speculative Masonry, that of the True Word is the most philosophic and sublime.

 

Work. See Labor.

 

Working‑Tools. In each of the degrees of Masonry, certain implements of the Operative art are consecrated to the Speculative science, and adopted to teach as symbols lessons of morality. With these the Speculative Mason is taught to erect his spiritual temple, as his Operative predecessors with the same implements constructed their material temples. Hence they are called the working‑tools of the degree. They vary but very slightly in the different Rites, but the same symbolism is preserved. The principal working‑tools of the Operative art that have been adopted as symbols in the Speculative science, confined, however, to Ancient Craft Masonry, and not used in the higher degrees, are, the twenty‑four‑inch gage, common gavel, square, level, plumb, skirrit, compasses, pencil, trowel, mallet, pickax, crow, and shovel.

 

York Rite. This is the oldest of all the Rites, and consisted originally of only three degrees:

 

1. Entered Apprentice;

2. Fellow‑Craft;

3. Master Mason.

 

The last included a part which contained the True Word, but which was disrupted from it by Dunekerley in the latter part of the last century, and has never been restored. The Rite in its purity does not now exist anywhere. The nearest approach to it is the St. John's Masonry of Scotland, but the Master's Degree of the Grand Lodge of Scotland is not the Master's Degree of the York Rite. When Dunckerley dismembered the Third Degree, he destroyed the identity of the Rite. In 1813, it was apparently recognized by the United Grand Lodge of England, when it defined "pure Ancient Masonry to consist of three degrees, and no more: viz., those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch." Had the Grand Lodge abolished the Royal Arch Degree, which was then practised as an independent Order in England, and reincorporated its secrets in the degree of Master Mason, the York Rite would have been revived. But by recognizing the Royal Arch as a separate

 

674     APPENDIX 

 

degree, and retaining the Master's Degree in its mutilated form, they repudiated the Rite. In the United States it has been the almost universal usage to call the Masonry there practised the York Rite. But it has no better claim to this designation than it has to be called the Ancient and Accepted Rite, or the French Rite, or the Rite of Schroder. It has no pretensions to the York Rite. Of its first three degrees, the Master's is the mutilated one which took the Masonry of England out of the York Rite, and it has added to these three degrees six others which were never known to the Ancient York Rite, or that which was practised in England, in the earlier half of the eighteenth century, by the legitimate Grand Lodge. In all my writings for years past, I have ventured to distinguish the Masonry practised in the United States, consisting of nine degrees, as the "American Rite," a title to which it is clearly and justly entitled, as the system is peculiar to America, and is practised in no other country.

 

Bro. Hughan, speaking of the York Rite says "there is no such Rite, and what it was no one now knows." I think that this declaration is too sweeping in its language. He is correct in saying that there is at this time no such Rite. I have just described its decadence; but he is wrong in asserting that we are now ignorant of its character. In using the title, there is no reference to the Grand Lodge of all England, which met for some years during the last century, but rather to the York legend, and to the hypothesis that York was the cradle of English Masonry. The York Rite was that Rite which was most probably organized or modified at the revival in 1717, and practised for fifty years by the Constitutional Grand Lodge of England. It consisted of only the three Symbolic degrees, the last one, or the Master's, containing within itself the secrets now transferred to the Royal Arch. This Rite was carried in its purity to France in 1725, and into America at a later period. About the middle of the eighteenth century the continental Masons, and about the end of it the Americans, began to superimpose upon it those high degrees which, with the necessary mutilation of the third, have given rise to numerous other Rites. But the Ancient York Rite, though no longer cultivated, must remain on the records of history as the oldest and purest of all the Rites.

 

Zeredathah. The name of the place between which and Succoth are the clay grounds where Hiram Abif is said to have cast the brazen utensils for the use of the Temple.

 

Zerubbabel. In writing the life of Zerubbabel from a Masonic point of view, it is incumbent that reference should be made to the legends as well as to the more strictly historical details of his eventful career. With the traditions of the Royal Arch, and some other of the high degrees, Zerubbabel is not less intimately connected than is Solomon with those of Symbolic or Ancient Craft Masonry. To understand those traditions properly, they must be placed in their appropriate place in the life of him who plays so important a part in them. Some of these legends have APPENDIX 675  the concurrent support of Scripture, some are related by Josephus, and some appear to have no historical foundation. Without, therefore, vouching for their authenticity, they must be recounted, to make the Masonic life of the builder of the second Temple complete.

 

Zerubbabel, who, in the Book of Ezra, is called "Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah," was the grandson of that King Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, who had been deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and carried as a captive to Babylon. In him, therefore, was vested the regal authority, and on him, as such, the command of the returning captives was bestowed by Cyrus, who on that occasion, according to a Masonic tradition, presented to him the sword which Nebuchadnezzar had received from his grandfather, Jehoiachin.

 

As soon as the decree of the Persian monarch had been promulgated to his Jewish subjects, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the priests and Levites, assembled at Babylon, and prepared to return to Jerusalem, for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. Some few from the other tribes, whose love of their country and its ancient worship had not been obliterated by the luxuries of the Babylonian court, united with the followers of Zerubbabel, and accompanied him to Jerusalem. The greater number, however, remained; and even of the priests, who were divided into twenty‑four courses, only four courses returned, who, however, divided themselves, each class into six, so as again to make up the old number. Cyrus also restored to the Jews the greater part of the sacred vessels of the Temple which had been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and five thousand and four hundred were received by Zerubbabel, the remainder being brought back, many years after, by Ezra. Only forty‑two thousand three hundred and sixty Israelites, exclusive of servants and slaves, accompanied Zerubbabel, out of whom he selected seven thousand of the most valiant, whom he placed as an advanced guard at the head of the people. Their progress homeward was not altogether unattended with danger; for tradition informs us that at the river Euphrates they were opposed by the Assyrians, who, incited by the temptation of the vast amount of golden vessels which they were carrying, drew up in hostile array, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Jews, and the edict of Cyrus, disputed their passage. Zerubbabel, however, repulsed the enemy with such ardor as to insure a signal victory, most of the Assyrians having been slain in the battle, or drowned in their attempt to cross the river in their retreat.. The rest of the journey was uninterrupted, and, after a march of four months, Zerubbabel arrived at Jerusalem, with his weary followers, at seven o'clock in the morning of the

22d of June, five hundred and thirty‑five years before Christ.

 

During their captivity, the Jews had continued, without intermission, to practise the rights of Freemasonry, and had established at various places regular Lodges in Chaldea. Especially, according to the Rabbinical traditions, had they instituted their mystic fraternity at Naharda,

676     APPENDIX

 

on the Euphrates; and, according to the same authority, we are informed that Zerubbabel carried with him to Jerusalem all the secret knowledge which was the property of that Institution, and established a similar fraternity in Judea. This coincides with, and gives additional strength to, the traditions of the Royal Arch Degree.

 

As soon as the pious pilgrims had arrived at Jerusalem, and taken a needful rest of seven days, a tabernacle for the temporary purposes of Divine worship was erected near the ruins of the ancient Temple, and a Council was called, in which Zerubbabel presided as King, Jeshua as High Priest, and Haggai as Scribe, or principal officer of State. It was there determined to commence the building of the second Temple upon the same holy spot which had been occupied by the first, and the people liberally contributed sixty‑one thousand drachms of gold, and five thou‑sand rninas of silver, or nearly a quarter of a million of dollars, toward defraying the expenses; a sum which sinks into utter insignificance, when compared with the immense amount appropriated by David and Solomon to the construction of their Temple.

 

The site having been thus determined upon, it was found necessary to begin by removing the rubbish of the old Temple, which still encumbered the earth, and prevented the workmen from making the necessary arrangements for laying the foundation. It was during this operation that an important discovery was made by three sojourners, who had not originally accompanied Zerubbabel, but who, sojourning some time longer at Babylon, followed their countrymen at a later period, and had arrived at Jerusalem just in time to assist in the removal of the rubbish. These three sojourners, whose fortune it was to discover that stone of foundation, so intimately connected with the history of Freemasonry, and to which we have before had repeated occasion to allude, are supposed by a Masonic tradition to have been Esdras, Zachariah, and Nehemiah, the three holy men, who, for refusing to worship the golden image, had been thrown by Nebuchadnezzar into a fiery furnace, from which they emerged uninjured. In the Chaldee language, they were known by the names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed‑nego. It was in penetrating into some of the subterranean vaults, that the Masonic stone of foundation, with other important mysteries connected with it, were discovered by the three fortunate sojourners, and presented by them to Zerubbabel and his companions Jeshua and Haggai, whose traditionary knowledge of Masonry, which they had received in a direct line from the builders of the first Temple, enabled them at once to appreciate the great importance of these treasures.

 

As soon as that wonderful discovery was made, on which depends not only the existence of the Royal Arch Degree, but the most important mystery of Freemasonry, the Jews proceeded on a certain day, before the rising of the sun, to lay the foundation‑stone of the second Temple; and for that purpose, we are told, Zerubbabel selected that stone of foun‑

 

APPENDIX    677

 

dation which had been discovered by the three sojourners. On this occasion, we learn that the young rejoiced with shouts and acclamations, but that the ancient people disturbed them with their groans and lamentations, when they reflected on the superb magnificence of the first Temple, and compared it with the expected inferiority of the present structure. As in the building of the first Temple, so in this, the Tyrians and Sidonians were engaged to furnish the timber from the forests of Lebanon, and to conduct it in the same manner on floats by sea to Joppa.

 

Scarcely had the workmen well commenced their labors, when they were interrupted by the Samaritans, who made application to be permitted to unite with them in the construction of the Temple. But the Jews, who looked upon them as idolaters, refused to accept of their services. The Samaritans in consequence became their bitter enemies, and so prevailed, by misrepresentations, with the ministers of Cyrus, as to cause them to put such obstructions in the way of the construction of the edifice as seriously to impede its progress for several years. With such difficulty and danger were the works conducted during this period, that the workmen were compelled to labor with the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other. To commemorate these worthy craftsmen, who were thus ready, either to fight or to labor in the cause of God, as circumstances might require, the sword and trowel crosswise, or, as the heralds would say, en saltire, have been placed upon the Royal Arch Tracing‑Board or Carpet of our English brethren. In the American ritual this expressive symbol of valor and piety has been unfortunately omitted.

 

In the seventh year after the restoration of the Jews, Cyrus, their friend and benefactor, died, and his son Cambyses, in Scripture called Ahasuerus, ascended the throne. The Samaritans and the other enemies of the Jews, now becoming bolder in their designs, succeeded in obtaining from Chmbyses a peremptory order for the stoppage of all the works at Jerusalem, and the Temple consequently remained in an unfinished state until the second year of the reign of Darius, the successor of Cambyses.

 

Darius appears to have had, like Cyrus, a great friendship for the Israelites, and especially for Zerubbabel, with whom he was well acquainted in his youth. We are informed, as an evidence of this, that, when a private man, he made a vow, that if he should ever ascend the throne, he would restore all the vessels of the Temple that had been retained by Cyrus. Zerubbabel, being well aware of the friendly disposition of the king, determined, immediately after his accession to power, to make a personal application to him for his assistance and protection in rebuilding the Temple. Accordingly he departed from Jerusalem, and after a journey full of peril, in which he was continually attacked by parties of his enemies, he was arrested as a spy by the Persian guards in the vicinity of Babylon, and carried in chains before Darius, who, how‑

 

678     APPENDIX

 

ever immediately recognized him as the friend and companion of his youth, and ordering him instantly to be released from his bonds, invited him to be present at a magnificent feast which he was about to give to the Court. It is said that on this occasion, Zerubbabel, having explained to Darius the occasion of his visit, implored the interposition of his authority for the protection of the Israelites engaged in the restoration of the Temple. The king promised to grant all his requests, provided he would reveal to him the secrets of Freemasonry. But this the faithful prince at once refused to do. He declined the favor of the monarch at the price of his infamy, and expressed his willingness rather to meet death or exile, than to violate his sacred obligations as a Mason. This firmness and fidelity only raised his character still higher in the estimation of Darius, who seems, indeed, to have been endowed with many noble qualities both of heart and mind.

 

It was on this occasion, at the feast given by King Darius, that, agreeably to the custom of Eastern monarchs, he proposed to his courtiers the question whether the power of wine, women, or the king, was the strongest. Answers were made by different persons, assigning to each of these the precedency in power; but when Zerubbabel was called on to assert his opinion, he declared that though the power of wine and of the king might be great, that of women was still greater, but that above all things truth bore the victory. Josephus says that the sentiments of Zerubbabel having been deemed to contain the most wisdom, the king commanded him to ask something over and above what he had promised as the prize of the victor in the philosophic discussion. Zerubbabel then called upon the monarch to fulfil the vow that he had made in his youth, to rebuild the Temple, and restore the vessels that had been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. The king forthwith granted his request, promised him the most ample protection in the future prosecution of the works, and sent him home to Jerusalem laden with honors, and under the con‑duct of an escort.

 

Henceforth, although from time to time annoyed by their adversaries, the builders met with no serious obstruction, and finally, twenty years after its commencement, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, and on the third day of the month Adar,

515 years B.C., the Temple was completed, the cope‑stone celebrated, and the house solemnly dedicated to Jehovah with the greatest joy.

 

After this we hear nothing further of Zerubbabel, nor is the time or manner of his death either recorded in Scripture or preserved by Ma‑sonic tradition. We have, however, reason for believing that he lived to a good old age, since we find no successor of him mentioned until Artaxerxes appointed Ezra as the Governor of Judea, fifty‑seven years after the completion of the Temple.

 

A WORD TO YOU

 

In presenting "MASONRY DEFINED" to the Craft, we had but one thought in mind, and that was to furnish the Masonic student, and more especially the newly made Mason, with the information he should have at a price he could afford to pay.

 

We also felt that if we could be instrumental in getting the newly made Mason started right, and enable him to learn the real purpose of Masonry, that a better and more intelligent body of Masons would be developed and our Lodges be the meeting ground of thoughtful, earnest members.

 

A man's interest in Masonry is in exact ratio to what he knows about it. If he has learned something of its history, traditions, legends and symbolism his interest never wanes, but grows stronger with the passing years. If a Mason has merely taken his degrees and considers himself a Mason in all that the term implies, and makes no effort to inform himself, he cannot be' other than an indifferent Mason, of no benefit whatever to the great Fraternity, and to such a man the Fraternity can be of little benefit.

 

What a wonderful organization we would be if every Mason would catch the vision of Masonry; the vision of service and usefulness. What a wonderful thing it would be if we could all carry into our Lodges and homes a higher conception of a just and upright Mason.

 

Reference has been made that a man is expected to be a good man when he enters into Masonry, but he should realize that he must and can be better. We have in effect declared that we have found something bet‑ter than the average man. We have come into a state calculated to lift us above the average man, and so we have a great profession to live up to, and we have a great claim to make good before the world. Upon every Mason, in the eyes of a critical world, depend the honor, the truth and the efficacy of Masonry. The only real way to build an institution of men firm and strong is 'in the character of the men who compose it.

 

One of the lamentable weaknesses of Masonry today lies in the fact that the newly made Mason is not instructed in the things he should know concerning Masonry.

 

The fundamentals of Masonry may be impressed upon the mind of the candidate with each obligation he takes, but real study and research are necessary to acquire the real philosophy of Masonry.

 

We do not claim anything new in "MASONRY DEFINED." Everything in it can be found in any well equipped Masonic Library if you know where to look for and have time to dig it out.

 

679

 

680     A WORD TO YOU

 

A prominent man once remarked that "There is nothing new in anything except the manner in which it is presented." We do claim that our system of pertinent questions is something of an innovation, and from the great number of opinions given us by prominent Masons, we believe that we have accomplished something that the Craft has long wished for.

 

The reception given "MASONRY DEFINED" has far exceeded our expectations. Men prominent in Masonic affairs who have their finger on the pulse of Masonic thought, have been quick to realize that "MASONRY DEFINED" brought to the newly made Mason the in‑formation he should have in such shape that he could easily get at it.

 

The young Mason, after taking his degrees, has been left to shift for himself, to find out as he could, the meaning of the ritual and the real purpose of the institution. It was too much to ask him to start in and devote a lot of time to reading ponderous volumes in the hope that he could find what he wanted to know. "MASONRY DEFINED" has done for him what he could not do for himself, and has laid before him in concrete form priceless information that it would take him years to secure through the ordinary channels.

 

The price of the average histories has been beyond him and too much to ask him to pay.

 

It has been said of "MASONRY DEFINED" that "it gives the Mason the information he should have at a price he could afford to pay." 

 

                                                                                                THE PUBLISHERS.

 

 

 

APPENDIX    681

 

Abiram. One of the traitorous craftsmen, whose act of perfidy forms so important a part of the Third Degree, receives in some of the high degrees the name of Abiram Akirop. These words certainly have a Hebrew look; but the significant words of Masonry have, in the lapse of time and in their transmission through ignorant teachers, become so corrupted in form that it is almost impossible to trace them to any intelligent root. They may be Hebrew or they may be anagrammatized (see Anagram); but it is only chance that can give us the true meaning which they undoubtedly have. The word "Abiram" means "father of loftiness," and may have been chosen as the name of the traitorous crafts‑man with allusion to the Biblical story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram who conspired against Moses and Aaron. (Numbers xvi.) In the French ritual of the Second Elu it is said to mean murderer or assassin, but this would not seem to be correct etymologically.

 

Agnus Dei. The Agnus Dei, Lamb of God, also called the Paschal Lamb, or the Lamb offered in the paschal sacrifice, is one of the jewels of a Commandery of Knights Templar in America, and is worn by the Generalissimo.

 

The lamb is one of the earliest symbols of Christ in the iconography of the Church, and as such was a representation of the Savior, derived from that epression of St. John the Baptist (John i. 29), who, on be‑holding Christ, exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God." "Christ," says Didron (Christ. Iconog., i., 318), "shedding his blood for our redemption, is the Lamb slain by the children of Israel, and with the blood of which the houses to be preserved from the wrath of God were marked with the celestial tau. The Paschal Lamb eaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure from Egypt is the type of that other divine Lamb of whom Christians are to partake at Easter, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they are held by vice." The earliest representation that is found in Didron of the Agnus Dei is of the sixth century, and consists of a lamb supporting in his right foot a cross. In the eleventh century we find a banneret attached to this cross, and the lamb is then said to support "the banner of the resurrection." This is the modern form in which the Agnus Dei is represented.

 

Aholiab. A skilful artificer of the tribe of Dan, who was appointed, together with Bezaleel, to construct the tabernacle in the wilderness and the ark of the covenant. (Exodus xxxi.

6.) He is referred to in the Royal Arch degree of the English and American systems.

 

Alexandria, School of. When Alexander built the city of Alexandria in Egypt, with the intention of making it the seat of his empire, he invited thither learned men from all nations, who brought with them their peculiar notions. The Alexandria School of Philosophy which was thus established, by the commingling of Orientalists, Jews, Egyptians, and Greeks, became eclectic in character, and exhibited a heterogeneous mixture of the opinions of the Egyptian priests, of the Jewish Rabbis, of

 

682     APPENDIX

 

Arabic teachers, and of the disciples of Plato and Pythagoras. From this school we derive Gnosticism and the Kabbala, and, above all, the system of symbolism and allegory which lay at the foundation of the Masonic philosophy. To no ancient sect, indeed, except perhaps the Pythagoreans, have the Masonic teachers been so much indebted for the substance of their doctrines, as well as the esoteric method of communicating them, as to that of the School of Alexandria. Both Aristobulus and Philo, the two most celebrated chiefs of this school, taught, although a century intervened between their births, the same theory, that the sacred writings of the Hebrews were, by their system of allegories, the true source of all religious and philosophic doctrine, the literal meaning of which alone was for the common people, the esoteric or hidden meaning being kept for the initiated. Freemasonry still carries into practise the same theory.

 

Allegiance. Every Mason owes allegiance to the Lodge, Chapter, or other body of which he is a member, and also to the Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter or other supreme authority from which that body has received its charter. But this is not a divided allegiance. If, for instance, the edicts of a Grand and a Subordinate Lodge conflict, there is no question which is to be obeyed. Supreme or governing bodies in Masonry claim and must receive a paramount allegiance.

 

Allegory. A discourse or narrative in which there is a literal and a figurative sense, a patent and a concealed meaning; the literal or patent sense being intended, by analogy or comparison, to indicate the figurative or concealed one. Its derivation from the Greek, (5)3 o; and ayopeuecv, to say something different, that is, to say something where the language is one thing and the true meaning another, exactly expresses the character of an allegory. It has been said that there is no essential difference between an allegory and a symbol. There is not in design, but there is in their character. An allegory may be interpreted without any previous conventional agreement, but a symbol cannot. Thus, the legend of the Third Degree is an allegory, evidently to be interpreted as teaching a restoration to life; and this we learn from the legend itself, without any previous understanding. The sprig of acacia is a symbol of the immortality of the soul. But this we know only because such meaning had been conventionally determined when the symbol was first established. It is evident, then, that an allegory whose meaning is obscure is imperfect. The enigmatical meaning should be easy of interpretation.

 

Allocution. The address of the presiding officer of a Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is sometimes so called. It was first used by the Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, and is derived from the usage of the Roman Church, where certain addresses of the Pope to the Cardinals are called allocutions, and this is to be traced to the customs of Pagan Rome, where the harangues of the Generals to their soldiers were called allocutions.

 

APPENDIX    683

 

Almoner. An officer elected or appointed in the continental Lodges of Europe to take charge of the contents of the alms‑box, to carry into effect the charitable resolutions of the Lodge, and to visit sick and needy brethren. A physician is usually selected in preference to any other member for this office. An almoner may also be appointed among the officers of an English Lodge. In the United States the officer does not exist, his duties being performed by a committee of charity. It is an important office in all bodies of the Scottish Rite.

 

Almsgiving. Although almsgiving, or the pecuniary relief of the destitute, was not one of the original objects for which the Institution of Freemasonry was established, yet, as in every society of men bound together by a common tie, it becomes incidentally, yet necessarily, a duty to be practised by all its members in their individual as well as in their corporate capacity. In fact, this virtue is intimately interwoven with the whole superstructure of the Institution, and its practise is a necessary corollary from all its principles. At an early period in his initiation the candidate is instructed in the beauty of charity by the most impressive ceremonies, which are not easily to be forgotten, and which, with the same benevolent design, are repeated from time to time during his advancement to higher degrees, in various forms and under different circumstances. "The true Mason," says Bro. Pike, "must be, and must have a right to be, content with himself; and he can be so only when he lives not for himself alone, but for others who need his assistance and have a claim upon his sympathy." And the same eloquent writer lays down this rule for a Mason's almsgiving: " Give, looking for nothing again, without consideration of future advantages; give to children, to old men, to the unthankful, and the dying, and to those you shall never see again; for else your alms or courtesy is not charity, but traffic and merchandise. And omit not to relieve the needs of your enemy and him who does you in‑jury." (See Exclusiveness of Masonry.)

 

Alms‑Box. A box which, toward the close of the Lodge, is handed around by an appropriate officer for the reception of such donations for general objects of charity as the brethren may feel disposed to bestow. This laudable custom is very generally practised in the Lodges of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and universally in those of the Continent. The newly initiated candidate is expected to contribute more liberally than the other members. Bro. Hyde Clarke says (Lon. Freem. Mag., 1859, p. 1166) that "some brethren are in the habit, on an occasion of thanksgiving with them, to contribute to the box of the Lodge more than on other occasions." This custom has not been adopted in the Lodges of America, except in those of French origin and in those of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

Amar‑jas. From Hebrew “God spake;” a significant word in the high degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

684     APPENDIX

 

Anno Inventionis. In the Year of the Discovery; abbreviated A\I\or A\Inv\.The date used by Royal Arch Masons. Found by adding 530 to the Vulgar Era; thus, 1911 +

530 = 2441.

 

Anno Lucis. In the Year of Light; abbreviated A\ L\ The date used in ancient Craft Masonry; found by adding 4000 to the Vulgar Era; thus, 1911 + 4000 = 5911.

 

Anno Mundi. In the Year of the World. The date used in the Ancient and Accepted Rite; found by adding 3760 to the Vulgar Era until September. After September, add one year more; this is because the year used is the Hebrew one, which begins in September. Thus, July, 1911 + 3760 = 5671, and October, 1911 + 3760 + 1 = 5672.

 

Anno Ordinis. In the Year of the Order; abbreviated A.'.0.'. The date used by Knights Templars; found by subtracting 1118 from the Vulgar Era; thus, 1911  -  1118 = 793.

 

Annual Communication. All the Grand Lodges of the United States, except those of Massachusetts, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania, hold only one annual meeting; thus reviving the ancient custom of a yearly Grand Assembly. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, like that of England, holds Quarterly Communications. At these annual communications it is usual to pay the representatives of the subordinate Lodges a per diem allowance, which varies in different Grand Lodges from one to three dollars, and also their mileage or traveling expenses.

 

Annual Proceedings. Every Grand Lodge in the United States publishes a full account of its proceedings at its Annual Communication, to which is also almost always added a list of the subordinate Lodges and their members. Some of these Annual Proceedings extend to a consider‑able size, and they are all valuable as giving an accurate and official account of the condition of Masonry in each State for the past year. They also frequently contain valuable reports of committees on questions of Masonic law. The reports of the Committees of Foreign Correspondence are especially valuable in these pamphlets. (See Committee on Foreign Correspondence.)

 

Ancient of Days. A title applied, in the visions of Daniel, to Jehovah, to signify that his days are beyond reckoning. Used by Webb in the Most Excellent Master's song.

 

"Fulfilled is the promise

            By the ANCIENT OF DAYS,

To bring forth the cape‑stone

            With shouting and praise."

 

Ask, Seek, Knock. In referring to the passage of Matthew vii. 7, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," Dr. Clarke says: "These three words - ask, seek,

 

APPENDIX    685

 

knock - include the ideas of want, loss, and earnestness." The application made to the passage theologically is equally appropriate to it in a Masonic Lodge. You ask for acceptance, you seek for light, you knock for initiation, which includes the other two.

 

Antiquity Manuscript. This celebrated MS. is now, and has long been, in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity, at London. It is stated in the subscription to have been written, in 1686, by "Robert Padgett, Clearke to the Worshipful Society of the Freemasons of the city of Lon‑don." The whole manuscript was first published by W. J. Hughan in his Old Charges of British Freemasons (p. 64), but a part had been previously inserted by Preston in his Illustrations (b. ii., sect. vi.). And here we have evidence of a criminal inaccuracy of the Masonic writers of the last century, who never hesitated to alter or interpolate passages in old documents whenever it was required to confirm a preconceived theory. Thus, Preston had intimated that there was before

1717 an Installation ceremony for newly elected Masters of Lodges (which is not true), and inserts what he calls "the ancient Charges that were used on this occasion," taken from the MS. of the Lodge of Antiquity. To confirm the statement, that they were used for this purpose, he cites the conclusion of the MS. in the following words: "These be all the charges and covenants that ought to be read at the installment of Master, or making of a Free‑mason or Freemasons." The words in italics are not to be found in the original MS., but were inserted by Preston. Bro. E. Jackson Barron had an exact transcript made of this MS., which he carefully collated, and which was published by Bro. Hughan. Bro. Barron gives the following description of the document: "The MS. copy of the Charges of Freemasons is on a roll of parchment nine feet long by eleven inches wide, the roll being formed of four pieces of parchment glued together; and some few years ago it was partially mounted (but not very skilfully) on a backing of parchment for its better preservation.

 

"The Rolls are headed by an engraving of the Royal Arms, after the fashion usual in deeds of the period; the date of the engraving in this case being fixed by the initials at the top, I. 2. R.

 

"Under this engraving are emblazoned in separate shields the Arms of the city of London, which are too well known to require description, and the Arms of the Masons Company of London, Sable on a chevron between three castles argent, a pair of compasses of the first surrounded by appropriate mantling.

 

"The writing is a good specimen of the ordinary law writing of the times, interspersed with words in text. There is a margin of about an inch on the left side, which is marked by a continuous double red ink line throughout, and there are similar double lines down both edges of the parchment. The letter U is used throughout the MS. for V, with but two or three exceptions." (Ilughan's Old Charges, 1872, p. 14.)

 

686     APPENDIX

 

Apron Lectures. The following monitorial presentation lectures Is used by various Grand Jurisdictions.

 

The coming years may bring you success,

The victory laurel wreath may deck your brow,

And you may feel Love's hallowed caress,

And have withal domestic tenderness,

And fortune's god may smile on you as now,

And jewels fit for Eastern potentate

Hang over your ambitious heart, and Fate 

May call thee "Prince of Men" or "King of Hearts,"

While Cupid strives to pierce you with his darts.

Nay, even more than these, with coming light

Your feet may press fame's loftiest dazzling height,

And looking down upon the world below

You may exclaim, "I cannot greater grow !"

But, nevermore, 0 worthy Brother mine,

Can innocence and purity combine

With all that's sweet and tender here below

As in this emblem which I now bestow.

'Tis yours to wear thruout a life of Love,

And when your spirit wings to realms above

'Twill with your cold clay rest beneath the sod,

While breeze kissed flowers whisper of your God.

0, may its stainless, spotless surface be

An emblem of that perfect purity

Distinguished far above all else on earth

And sacred as the virtue of the hearth,

And when at last your naked soul shall stand

Before the throne in yon great Temple grand,

0, may it be your portion there to hear

"Well done," and find a host of Brothers near

 To join the angel choir in glad refrain

Till Northeast corner echoes come again.

Then while the hosts in silent grandeur stand

The Supreme Builder smiling in command

Shall say to you to whom this emblem's given,

"Welcome art thou to all the joys of heaven."

And then shall dawn within your 'lightened soul

The purpose divine that held control –

The full fruition of the Builder's plan

The Fatherhood of God – The Brotherhood of man.

 

APPENDIX    687

 

" -  Lambskin or white leathern apron. It is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason: more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and when worthily worn, more honorable than the Star and Garter, or any other Order that can be conferred upon you at this or any future period by king, prince, potentate, or any other person, except he be a Mason and within the Body of a just and legally constituted Lodge of such.

 

"It may be that, in the years to come, upon your head shall rest the laurel wreaths of victory; pendant from your breast may hang jewels fit to grace the diadem of an Eastern potentate; yea, more than these; for with the coming Light your ambitious feet may tread round after round the ladder that leads to fame in our mystic circle, and even the purple of our Fraternity may rest upon your honored shoulders; but never again by mortal hands, never again until your enfranchised spirit shall have passed upward and inward thru the gates of pearl, shall any honor so distinguished, so emblematic of purity and all perfection, be bestowed upon you as this, which I now confer. It is yours; yours to wear thru an honorable life, and at your death to be placed upon the coffin which contains your earthly remains, and with them hid beneath the silent clods of the valley.

 

"Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever‑present reminder of `purity of life and rectitude of conduct, `a never‑ending argument for higher thoughts, for nobler deeds, for greater achievements; and when at last your weary feet shall have reached the end of their toilsome journey, and from your nerveless grasp forever drop the working tools of a busy life, may the record of your life and conduct be as pure and spotless as this fair emblem which I place within your hands tonight; and when your trembling soul shall stand naked and alone before the great white throne, there to receive judgment for the deeds done while here in the body, may it.be your portion to hear from Him who sitteth as Judge Supreme these welcome words; `Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' "I charge you - take it, wear it with pleasure to yourself and an honor to the Fraternity."

*      *      *

"This emblem is now yours; to wear, we hope, with equal pleasure to yourself, and honor to the Fraternity. If you disgrace it, the disgrace will be augmented by the consciousness that you have been taught in this Lodge, the principles of a correct and manly life. It is yours to wear as a Mason so long as the vital spark shall animate your mortal frame, and at last, whether in youth, manhood or age, your spirit having winged its flight to that `House not made with hands' when amid the tears and sorrows of surviving relatives and friends, and by the hands of sympathizing Brother Masons, your body shall be lowered to the confines of that narrow house appointed for all living it will still be yours, yours to be

 

688     APPENDIX

 

placed with the evergreen upon the coffin that shall enclose your remains, and to be buried with them.

 

"My Brother, may you so wear this emblem of spotless white that no act of yours shall ever stain its purity, or cast a reflection upon this ancient and honorable institution that has outlived the fortunes of Kings and the mutations of Empires. May you so wear it and:

 

 "So live, that when thy summons comes to join

The innumerable caravan that moves

To pale realms of shade, where each shall take

His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry slaves at night,

Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed

By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch

About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

 

 

Aspirant. One who eagerly seeks to know or to attain something. Thus, Warburton speaks of "the aspirant to the Mysteries." It is ap plied also to one about to be initiated into Masonry. There seems, however, to be a shade of difference in meaning between the words candidate and aspirant. The candidate is one who asks for admission;' so called from the Lat. candidates "clothed in white," because candidates for office at Rome wore a white dress. The aspirant is one already elected and in process of initiation, and coming from aspiro, to seek eagerly, refers to the earnestness with which he prosecutes his search for light and truth.

 

Babel. In Hebrew, a compounded word which the writer of Genesis connects with

balal, "to confound," in reference to the confusion of tongues; but the true derivation is probably from BAB‑EL, the "gate of El" or the "gate of God," because perhaps a temple was the first building raised by the primitive nomads. It is the name of that celebrated tower attempted to be built on the plains of Shinar, A.M. 1775, about one hundred and forty years after the deluge, which tower, Scripture informs us, was destroyed by a special interposition of the Almighty. The Noachite Masons date the commencement of their Order from this destruction, and much tra‑ ditionary information on this subject is preserved in the degree of "Patriarch Noachite." At Babel, Oliver says that what has been called Spurious Freemasonry took its origin. That is to say, the people there abandoned the worship of the true God, and by their dispersion lost all knowledge of his existence, and of the principles of truth upon which Masonry is founded. Hence it is that the rituals speak of the lofty tower of Babel as the place where language was confounded and Masonry lost.

 

This is the theory first advanced by Anderson in his Constitutions, and subsequently developed more extensively by Dr. Oliver in all his works, but especially in his Landmarks. As history, the doctrine is of

 

APPENDIX    689

 

no value, for it wants the element of authenticity. But in a symbolic point of view it is highly suggestive. If the tower of Babel represents the profane world of ignorance and darkness, and the threshing‑floor of Ornan the Jebusite is the symbol of Freemasonry, because the Solomonic Temple, of which it was the site, is the prototype of the spiritual temple which Masons are erecting, then we can readily understand how Masonry and the true use of language is lost in one and recovered in the other, and how the progress of the candidate in his initiation may properly be compared to the progress of truth from the confusion and ignorance of the Babel builders to the perfection and illumination of the temple builders, which temple builders all Freemasons are. And so, when in the ritual the neophyte, being asked "whence he comes and whither is he traveling," replies, "from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost, to the threshing‑floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found," the questions and answers become intelligible from this symbolic point of view.

 

Baldrick. A portion of military dress, being a scarf passing from the shoulder over the breast to the hip. In the dress regulations of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, adopted in 1862, it is called a "scarf," and is thus described: "Five inches wide in the whole, of white bordered with black, one inch on either side, a strip of navy lace one‑fourth of an inch wide at the inner edge of the black. On the front centre of the scarf, a metal star of nine points, in allusion to the nine founders of the Temple Order, inclosing the Passion Cross, surrounded by the Latin motto, In hoc signo vinces; the star to be three and three‑quarter inches in diameter. The scarf to be worn from the right shoulder to the left hip, with the ends extending six inches below the point of intersection."

 

Baphomet. The imaginary idol, or, rather, symbol, which the Knights Templars were accused of employing in their mystic rights. The forty‑second of the charges preferred against them by Pope Clement is in these words: Item quod ipsi per singulas provincias habeant idola: videlicet captita quorum aliqua habebant tres facies, et aria unum: et aliqua cranium humanum habebant. Also, that in all of the provinces they have idols, namely, heads, of which some had three faces, some one, and some had a human skull. Von Hammer, a bitter enemy of the Templars, in his book entitled The Mystery of Baphomet Revealed, revived this old accusation, and attached to the Baphomet an impious signification. IIe derived the name from the Greek words for baptism, and wisdom, and thence supposed that it represented the admission of the initiated into the secret mysteries of the Order. From this gratuitous assumption he deduces his theory, set forth even in the very title of his work, that the Templars were convicted, by their own monuments, of being guilty as Gnostics and Ophites, of apostasy, idolatry, and impurity. Of this statement he offers no other historical testimony than the Articles

 

690     APPENDIX

 

of Accusation, themselves devoid of proof, but through which the Templars were made the victims of the jealousy of the Pope and the avarice of the King of France.

 

Others again have thought that they could find in Baphomet a corruption of Mahomet, and hence they have asserted that the Templars had been perverted from their religious faith by the Saracens, with whom they had so much intercourse, sometimes as foes and sometimes as friends. Nicolai, who wrote an Essay on the Accusations brought against the Templars, published at Berlin, in 1782, supposes, but doubtingly, that the figure of the Baphomet, figura Baffometi, which was depicted on a bust representing the Creator, was nothing else but the Pythagorean pentagon, the symbol of health and prosperity, borrowed by the Templars from the Gnostics, who in turn had obtained it from the School of Pythagoras.

 

King, in his learned work on the Gnostics, thinks that the Baphomet may have been a symbol of the Manicheans, with whose widespreading heresy in the Middle Ages he does not doubt that a large portion of the inquiring spirits of the Temple had been intoxicated.

 

Amid these conflicting views, all merely speculative, it will not be uncharitable or unreasonable to suggest that the Baphomet, or skull of the ancient Templars, was, like the relic of their modern Masonic representatives, simply an impressive symbol teaching the lesson of mortality, and that the latter has really been derived from the former.

 

Baptism, Masonic. The term "Masonic Baptism" has been recently applied in this country by some authorities to that ceremony which is used in certain of the high degrees, and which, more properly, should be called "Lustration." It has been objected that the use of the term is calculated to give needless offense to scrupulous persons who might suppose it to be an imitation of a Christian sacrament. But, in fact, the Masonic baptism has no allusion whatsoever, either in form or design, to the sacrament of the Church. It is simply a lustration or purification by water, a ceremony which was common to all the ancient initiations. (See Lustration. ) Bastard. The question of the ineligibility of bastards to be made Freemasons was first brought to the attention of the Craft by Brother Chalmers I. Paton, who, in several articles in The London Freemason, in 1869, contended that they were excluded from initiation by the Ancient Regulations. Subsequently, in his compilation entitled Freemasonry and its Jurisprudence, published in 1872, he cites several of the Old Constitutions as explicitly declaring that the men made Masons shall be "no bastards." This is a most unwarrantable interpolation not to be justified in any writer on jurisprudence; for on a careful examination of all the old manuscript copies which have been published, no such words are to be found in any one of them. As an instance of this literary disingenuousness (to use no harsher term), I quote the following from his work (p. 60): "The charge in this second edition [of Anderson's Constitu‑

 

APPENDIX    691

 

ions] is in the following unmistakable words: `The men made Masons must be freeborn, no bastard, (or no bondmen,) of mature age and of good report, hale and sound, not deformed or dismembered at the time of their making.' " Now, with a copy of this second edition lying open before me, I find the passage thus printed: "The men made Masons must be freeborn, (or no bondmen,) of mature age and of good report, hale and sound, not de‑formed or dismembered at the time of their making." The words "no bastard" are Paton's interpolation.

 

Again, Paton quotes from Preston the Ancient Charges at makings, in these words: "That he that be made be able in all degrees; that is, freeborn, of a good kindred, true, and no bondsman or bastard, and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have." But on referring to Preston (edition of 1775, and all subsequent editions) we find the passage to be correctly thus: "That he that be made be able in all degrees; that is, freeborn, of a good kindred, true, and no bondsman, and that he have his limbs as a man ought to have." Positive law authorities should not be thus cited, not merely carelessly, but with designed inaccuracy to support a theory.

 

But although there is no regulation in the Old Constitutions which explicitly prohibits the initiation of bastards, it may be implied from their language that such prohibition did exist. Thus, in all the old manuscripts, we find such expressions as these: he that shall be made a Mason "must be freeborn and of good kindred" (Sloane MS., No. 3323), or "come of good kindred" (Edinburgh Kilwinning MS.), or, as the Roberts Print more definitely has it, "of honest parentage." It is not, I therefore think, to be doubted.

 

Bay‑Tree. An evergreen plant, and a symbol in Freemasonry of the immortal nature of Truth. By the bay‑tree thus referred to in the ritual of the Companion of the Red Cross, is meant the laurel, which, as an evergreen, was among the ancients a symbol of immortality. It is, therefore, properly compared with truth, which Josephus makes Zerubbabel say is "immortal and eternal."

 

Benakar. The name of a cavern to which certain assassins fled for concealment.

 

Bendekar. A significant word in the high degrees. One of the Princes or Intendants of Solomon, in whose quarry some of the traitors spoken of in the Third Degree were found. He is mentioned in the catalogue of Solomon's princes, given in 1 Kings iv. 9. The Hebrew word is the son of him who divides or pierces. In some old rituals we find a corrupt form, Bendaca.

 

Benedict XIV. A Roman pontiff whose family name was.Prosper Lambertini. He was born at Bologna in 1675, succeeded Clement XII. as Pope in 1740, and died in 1758. He was distinguished for his learning and was a great encourager of the Arts and Sciences. He was, however,

 

692     APPENDIX

 

an implacable enemy of secret societies, and issued on the 18th of May, 1751, his celebrated bull, renewing and perpetuating that of his predecessor which excommunicated the Freemasons. (See Bull.) Benediction. The solemn invocation of a blessing in the ceremony of closing a Lodge is called the benediction. The usual formula is as follows: "May the blessing of Heaven rest upon us, and all regular Masons; may brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue cement us." The response is, "So mote it be. Amen"; which should always be audibly pronounced by all the Brethren.

 

Beneficiary. One who receives the support or charitable donations of a Lodge. Those who are entitled to these benefits are affiliated Masons, their wives or widows, their widowed mothers, and their minor sons and unmarried daughters. Unaffiliated Masons cannot become the beneficiaries of a Lodge, but affiliated Masons cannot be deprived of its benefits on account of non‑payment of dues. Indeed, as this non‑payment often arises from poverty, it thus furnishes a stronger claim for fraternal charity.

 

Behold Your Master. When, in the installation services, the formula is used, "Brethren, behold your master," the expression is not simply exclamatory, but is intended, as the original use of the word behold implies, to invite the members of the Lodge to fix their attention upon the new relations which have sprung up between them and him who has just been elevated to,the Oriental Chair, and to impress upon their minds the duties which they owe to him and which he owes to them. In like manner, when the formula is continued, "Master, behold your brethren," the Master's attention is impressively directed to the same change of relations and duties. These are not mere idle words, but convey an important lesson, and should never be omitted in the ceremony of installation.

 

Bel. In, Bel, is the contracted form of by:, Baal, and was worshiped by the Babylonians as their chief deity. The Greeks and Romans so considered and translated the word by Zeus and Jupiter. It has, with Jah and On, been introduced into the Royal Arch system as a representative of the Tetragrammaton, which it and the accompanying words have sometimes ignorantly been made to displace. At the session of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, in 1871, this error was corrected; and while the Tetragrammaton was declared to be the true omnific word, the other three were permitted to be retained as merely explanatory.

 

Blazing Star. The Blazing Star, which is not, however, to be confounded with the Five‑Pointed Star, is one of the most important symbols of Freemasonry, and makes its appearance in several of the degrees. "It is," says Hutchinson, "the first and most exalted object that demands our attention in the Lodge." It undoubtedly derives this importance, first, from the repeated use that is made of it as a Masonic emblem; and sec‑

 

APPENDIX    693

 

ondly, from its great antiquity as a symbol derived from other and older systems.

 

Extensive as has been the application of this symbol in the Masonic ritual, it is not surprising that there has been a great difference of opinion in relation to its true signification. But this difference of opinion ha3 been almost entirely confined to its use in the First Degree. In the higher degrees, where there has been less opportunity of innovation, the uniformity of meaning attached to the star has been carefully preserved.

 

In the Twenty‑eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the explanation given of the Blazing Star, is, that it is symbolic of a true Mason, who, by perfecting himself in the way of truth, that is to say, by advancing in knowledge, becomes like a blazing star, shining with brilliancy in the midst of darkness. The star is, therefore, in this degree, a symbol of truth.

 

In the Fourth Degree of the same Rite, the star is again said to be a symbol of the light of Divine Providence pointing out the way of truth.

 

In the Ninth Degree, this symbol is called "the star of direction"; and while it primitively alludes to an especial guidance given for a particular purpose expressed in the degree, it still retains, in a remoter sense, its usual signification as an emblem of Divine Providence guiding and directing the pilgrim in his journey through life.

 

When, however, we descend to Ancient Craft Masonry, we shall find a considerable diversity in the application of this symbol.

 

In the earliest rituals, immediately after the revival of 1717, the Blazing Star is not mentioned, but it was not long before it was introduced. In the ritual of

1735 it is detailed as a part of the furniture of a Lodge, with the explanation that the "Mosaic Pavement is the Ground Floor of the Lodge, the Blazing Star, the Centre, and the Indented Tarsel, the Border round about it!" In a primitive Tracing Board of the Entered Apprentice, copied by Oliver, in his Historical Landmarks (i., 133), without other date than that it was "published early in the last century," the Blazing Star occupies a prominent position in the center of the Tracing Board. Oliver says that it represented BEAUTY, and was called "the glory in the centre." In the lectures subsequently prepared by Dunekerley, and adopted by the Grand Lodge, the Blazing Star was said to represent "the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem, proclaiming to mankind the nativity of the Son of God, and here conducting our spiritual progress to the Author of our redemption." In the Prestonian lecture, the Blazing Star, with the Mosaic Pavement and the Tesselated Border, are called the Ornaments of the Lodge, and the Blazing Star is thus explained: "The Blazing Star, or glory in the centre, reminds us of that awful period when the Almighty delivered the two tables of stone, containing the ten commandments, to His faithful servant Moses on Mount Sinai,

 

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when the rays of His divine glory shone so bright that none could behold it without fear and trembling. It also reminds us of the omnipresence of the Almighty, overshadowing us with His divine love, and dispensing His blessings amongst us; and by its being placed in the centre, it further reminds us, that wherever we may be assembled together, God is in the midst of us, seeing our actions, and observing the secret intents and movements of our hearts." In the lectures taught by Webb, and very generally adopted in this country, the Blazing Star is said to be "commemorative of the star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Saviour's nativity," and it is subsequently explained as hieroglyphically representing Divine Providence. But the commemorative allusion to the Star of Bethlehem seeming to some to be objectionable, from its peculiar application to the Christian religion, at the revision of the lectures made in 1843 by the Baltimore Convention, this explanation was omitted, and the allusion to Divine Providence alone retained.

 

Blow. The three blows given to the Builder, according to the legend of the Third Degree, have been differently interpreted as symbols in the different systems of Masonry, but always with some reference to adverse or malignant influences exercised on humanity, of whom Hiram is considered as the type. Thus, in the symbolic degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, the three blows are said to be typical of the trials and temptations to which man is subjected in youth and manhood, and to death, whose victim he becomes in old age. Hence the three Assassins are the three stages of human life. In the high degrees, such as the Kadoshes, which are founded on the Templar system of Ramsay, the reference is naturally made to the destruction of the Order, which was effected by the combined influences of Tyranny, Superstition, and Ignorance, which are therefore symbolized by the three blows; while the three Assassins are also said sometimes to be represented by Squire de Floreau, Naffodei, and the Prior of Montfaucon, the three perjurers who swore away the lives of De Molay and his Knights. In the astronomical theory of Freemasonry, which makes it a modern modification of the ancient sun‑worship, a theory advanced by Ragon, the three blows are symbolic of the destructive influences of the three winter months, by which Hiram, or the Sun, is shorn of his vivifying power. Des Etangs has generalized the Templar theory, and, supposing Hiram to be the symbol of eternal reason, interprets the blows as the attacks of those vices which deprave and finally destroy humanity. However interpreted for a special theory, Hiram the Builder always represents, in the science of Masonic symbolism, the principle of good; and then the three blows are the contending principles of evil.

 

Blue. This is emphatically the color of Masonry. It is the appropriate tincture of the Ancient Craft degrees. It is to the Mason a symbol of universal friendship and benevolence, because, as it is the color of the vault of heaven, which embraces and covers the whole globe, we are thus

 

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reminded that in the breast of every brother these virtues should be equally as extensive. It is therefore the only color, except white, which should be used in a Master's Lodge. Decorations of any other color would be highly inappropriate.

 

Among the religious institutions of the Jews, blue was an important color. The robe of the high priest's ephod, the ribbon for his breastplate, and for the plate of the miter, were to be blue. The people were directed to wear a ribbon of this color above the fringe of their garments; and it was the color of one of the veils of the tabernacle, where, Josephus says, it represented the element of air. The Hebrew word used on these occasions to designate the color blue is `tekelet; and this word seems to have a singular reference to the symbolic character of the color, for it is derived from a root signifying perfection; now it is well known that, among the ancients, initiation into the mysteries and perfection were synonymous terms; and hence the appropriate color of the greatest of all the systems of initiation may well be designated by a word which also signifies perfection.

 

This color also held a prominent position in the symbolism of the Gentile nations of antiquity. Among the Druids, blue was the symbol of truth, and the candidate, in the initiation into the sacred rites of Druidism, was invested with a robe composed of the three colors, white, blue, and green.

 

The Egyptians esteemed blue as a sacred color, and the body of Amun, the principal god of their theogony, was painted light blue, to imitate, as Wilkinson remarks, "his peculiarly exalted and heavenly nature." The ancient Babylonians clothed their idols in blue, as we learn from the prophet Jeremiah. The Chinese, in their mystical philosophy, represented blue as the symbol of the Deity, because, being, as they say, compounded of black and red, this color is a fit representation of the obscure and brilliant, the male and female, or active and passive principles.

 

The Hindus assert that their god, Vishnu, was represented of a celestial blue, thus indicating that wisdom emanating from God was to be symbolized by this color.

 

Among the medieval Christians blue was sometimes considered as an emblem of immortality, as red was of the Divine love. Portal says that blue was the symbol of perfection, hope, and constancy. "The color of the celebrated dome, azure," says Weale, in his treatise on Symbolic Colors, "was in divine language the symbol of eternal truth; in consecrated language, of immortality; and in profane language, of fidelity." Besides the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, of which blue is the appropriate color, this tincture is also to be found in several other degrees, especially of the Scottish Rite, where it bears various symbolic significations; all, however, more or less related to its original character as representing universal friendship and benevolence.

 

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In the degree of Grand Pontiff, the Nineteenth of the Scottish Rite, it is the predominating color, and is there said to be symbolic of the mildness, fidelity, and gentleness which ought to be the characteristics of every true and faithful brother.

 

In the degree of Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges, the blue and yellow, which are its appropriate colors, are said to refer to the appearance of Jehovah to Moses on Mount Sinai in clouds of azure and gold, and hence in this degree the color is rather an historical than a moral symbol.

 

The blue color of the tunic and apron, which constitutes a part of the investiture of a Prince of the Tabernacle, or Twenty‑fourth Degree in the Scottish Rite, alludes to the whole symbolic character of the degree, whose teachings refer to our removal from this tabernacle of clay to "that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." The blue in this degree is, therefore, a symbol of heaven, the seat of our celestial tabernacle.

 

Blue Degrees. The first three degrees of Freemasonry are so called from the blue color which is peculiar to them.

 

Blue Lodge. A Symbolic Lodge, in which the first three degrees of Masonry are conferred, is so called from the color of its decorations.

 

Box of Fraternal Assistance. A book of convenient shape and size under the charge of the Hospitaler or Almoner, in the Modern French and A. A. Scottish Rites, wherein is collected the obligatory contributions of the duly assembled Brethren at every convocation, which collections can only be used for secret charitable purposes, first among the members, but if not there required, among worthy profane; the Master and the Hospitaler being the only ones cognizant of the name of the beneficiary, together with the brother who suggests an individual in need of the assistance.

 

Bread, Consecrated. Consecrated bread and wine, that is to say, bread and wine used not simply for food, but made sacred by the purpose of symbolizing a bond of brotherhood, and the eating and drinking of which are sometimes called the "Communion of the Brethren," is found in some of the higher degrees, such as the Order of High Priesthood in the American Rite, and the Rose Croix of the French and Scottish Rites.

 

It was in ancient times a custom religiously observed, that those who sacrificed to the gods should unite in partaking of a part of the food that had been offered. And in the Jewish church it was strictly commanded that the sacrificers should "eat before the Lord," and unite in a feast of joy on the occasion of their offerings. By this common partaking of that which had been consecrated to a sacred purpose, those who partook of the feast seemed to give an evidence and attestation of the sincerity with which they made the offering; while the feast itself was, as it were, the renewal of the covenant of friendship between the parties.

 

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Breast, The Faithful. One of the three precious jewels of a Fellow. Craft. It symbolically teaches the initiate that the lessons which he has received from the instructive tongue of the Master are not to be listened to and lost, but carefully treasured in his heart, and that the precepts of the Order constitute a covenant which he is faithfully to observe.

 

Breast to Breast. See Points of Fellowship.

 

Brethren. This word, being the plural of Brother in the solemn style, is more generally used in Masonic language, instead of the common plural, Brothers. Thus Masons always speak of "The Brethren of the Lodge," and not of "The Brothers of the Lodge." Chalice. A cup used in religious rites. It forms a part of the furniture of a Commandery of Knights Templar, and of some of the higher degrees of the French and Scottish Rites. It should be made either of silver or of gilt metal. The stem of the chalice should be about four inches high and the d.ameter from three to six.

 

Chalk, Charcoal, and Clay. By these three substances are beautifully symbolized the three qualifications for the servitude of an Entered Apprentice - freedom, fervency, and zeal. Chalk is the freest of all sub‑stances, because the slightest touch leaves a trace behind. Charcoal, the most fervent, because to it, when ignited, the most obdurate metals yield; and clay, the most zealous, because it is constantly employed in man's service, and is as constantly reminding us that from it we all came, and to it we must all return. In the earlier lectures of the last century, the symbols, with the same interpretation, were given as "Chalk, Charcoal, and Earthen Pan."

 

Charity. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." (1 Corinth. xiii.

1, 2.) Such was the language of an eminent apostle of the Christian church, and such is the sentiment that constitutes the cementing bond of Freemasonry. The apostle, in comparing it with faith and hope, calls it the greatest of the three, and hence in Masonry it is made the topmost round of its mystic ladder. We must not fall into the too common error that charity is only that sentiment of commiseration which leads us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations. Its Masonic, as well as its Christian application is more noble and more extensive. The word used by the apostle is, in the original, aYa rl, or love, a word‑denoting that kindly state of mind which renders a person full of good‑will and affectionate regard toward others. John Wesley expressed his regret that the Greek had not been correctly translated as love instead of charity, so that the apostolic triad of virtues would have been, not "faith, hope, and charity," but ''faith, hope, and love." Then would we have understood the comparison made by St. Paul, when he said, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the

 

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poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing." Guided by this sentiment, the true Mason will "suffer long and be kind." He will be slow to anger and easy to forgive. He will stay his falling brother by gentle admonition, and warn him with kindness of approaching danger. He will not open his ear to his slanderers, and will close his lips against all reproach. His faults and his follies will be locked in his breast, and the prayer for mercy will ascend to Jehovah for his brother's sins. Nor will these sentiments of benevolence be confined to those who are bound to him by ties of kindred or worldly friendship alone; but, extending them throughout the globe, he will love and cherish all who sit beneath the broad canopy of our universal Lodge. For it is the boast of our Institution, that a Mason, destitute and worthy, may find in every clime a brother, and in every land a home.

 

Chaos. A confused and shapeless mass, such as is supposed to have existed before God reduced creation into order. It is a Masonic symbol of the ignorance and intellectual darkness from which man is rescued by the light and truth of Masonry. Hence, ordo ab ciao, or, "order out of chaos," is one of the mottoes of the Institution.

 

Chapter, Royal Arch. A convocation of Royal Arch Masons is called a Chapter. In Great Britain, Royal Arch Masonry is connected with and practically under the same government as the Grand Lodge; but in America the jurisdictions are separate. In America a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is empowered to give the preparatory degrees of Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master; although, of course, the Chapter, when meeting in either of these degrees, is called a Lodge. In some Chapters the degrees of Royal and Select Master are also given as preparatory degrees; but in most of the States, the control of these is conferred upon separate bodies, called "Councils of Royal and Select Masters." The presiding officers of a Chapter are the High Priest, King, and Scribe, who are, respectively, representatives of Joshua, Zerubbabel, Haggai, and son of Josedech. In the English Chapters, these officers are generally styled either by the founders' names, as above, or as First, Second, and Third Principals. In the Chapters of Ireland the order of the officers is King, High Priest, and Chief Scribe. Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in America are primarily under the jurisdiction of State Grand Chapters, as Lodges are under Grand Lodges; and secondly, under the General Grand Chapter of the United States, whose meetings are held triennially, and which exercises a general supervision over this branch of the Order throughout the Union.

 

Chisel. In the American Rite the chisel is one of the working tools of a Mark Master, and symbolizes the effects of education on the human mind. For as the artist, by the aid of this instrument, gives form and regularity to the shapeless mass of stone, so education, by cultivating the ideas and by polishing the rude thoughts, transforms the ignorant savage into the civilized being.

 

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In the English ritual, the chisel is one of the working tools of the Entered Apprentice. With the same reference to the advantages of education. Preston (B. II., Sect. vi.) thus elaborates its symbolism as one of the implements of Masonry: "The chisel demonstrates the advantages of discipline and education. The mind, like the diamond in its original state, is unpolished; but as the effects of the chisel on the external coat soon present to view the latent beauties of the diamond, so education discovers the latent virtues of the mind and draws them forth to range the large field of matter and space, in order to display the summit of human knowledge, our duty to God and to man." (Illustrations, ed. 1812, p.

86, footnote.) But the idea is not original with Preston. It is found in Hutchinson, who, however, does not claim it as his own. It formed, most probably, a portion of the lectures of the period. In the French system, the chisel is placed on the tracing board of the Fellow‑Craft as an implement with which to work upon and polish the Rough Ashlar. It has, therefore, there the same symbolic signification.

 

Civilization and Freemasonry. Those who investigate in the proper spirit the history of Speculative Masonry will be strongly impressed with the peculiar relations that exist between the history of Masonry and that of civilization. They will find these facts to be patent: that Freemasonry has ever been the result of civilization; that in the most ancient times the spirit of Masonry and the spirit of civilization have always gone together; that the progress of both has been with equal strides; that where there has been no appearance of civilization there has been no trace of Masonry; and, finally, that wherever Masonry has existed in any of its forms, there it has been surrounded and sustained by civilization, which social condition it in turn elevated and purified.

 

Speculative Masonry, therefore, seems to have been a necessary result of civilization. It is, even in its primitive and most simple forms, to be found among no barbarous or savage people. Such a state of society has never been capable of introducing or maintaining its abstract principles of Divine truth.

 

But while Speculative Masonry is the result of civilization, existing only in its bosom and never found among barbarous or savage races, it has, by a reactionary law of sociology, proved the means of extending and elevating the civilization to which it originally owed its birth. Civilization has always been progressive. That of Pelasgic Greece was far behind that which distinguished the Hellenic period of the same country. The civilization of the ancient world was inferior to that of the modern, and every century shows an advancement in the moral, intellectual, and social condition of mankind. But in this progress from imperfection to perfection the influence of those speculative systems that are identical with Freemasonry has always been seen and felt. Let us, for an example, look at the ancient heathen world and its impure religions. While the people of Paganism bowed, in their ignorance, to a many‑headed god, or,

 

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rather, worshiped at the shrines of many gods, whose mythological history and character must have exercised a pernicious effect on the moral purity of their worshipers, Speculative Philosophy, in the form of the "Ancient Mysteries," was exercising its influence upon a large class of neophytes and disciples, by giving this true symbolic interpretation of the old religious myths. In the adyta of their temples in Greece and Rome and Egypt, in the sacred caves of India, and in the consecrated groves of Scandinavia and Gaul and Britain, these ancient sages were secretly divesting the Pagan faith of its polytheism and of its anthropomorphic deities, and were establishing a pure monotheism in its place, and illustrating, by a peculiar symbolism, the great dogmas - since taught in Freemasonry - of the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. And in modern times, when the religious thought of mankind, under a better dispensation, has not required this purification, Masonry still, in other ways, exerts its influence in elevating the tone of civilization; for through its working the social feelings have been strengthened, the amenities and charities of life been refined and extended, and, as we have had recent reason to know and see, the very bitterness of strife and the blood‑guiltiness of war have been softened and oftentimes obliterated.

 

We then arrive at these conclusions, namely, that Speculative Masonry is a result of civilization, for it exists in no savage oròbarbarous state of society, but has always appeared with the advent in any country of a condition of civilization, "grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength"; and, in return, has proved, by a reactionary influence, a potent instrument in extending, elevating, and refining the civilization which gave it birth, by advancing its moral, intellectual, and religious character.

 

Clandestine. The ordinary meaning of this word is secret, hidden. The French word clandestin, from which it is derived, is defined by Boiste to be something "fait en cachette et contre les lois," done in a hiding‑place and against the laws, which better suits the Masonic signification, which is illegal, not authorized. Irregular is often used for small departures from custom.

 

Clandestine Lodge. A body of Masons uniting in a Lodge without the consent of a Grand Lodge, or, although originally legally constituted, continuing to work after its charter has been revoked, is styled a "Clan‑destine Lodge." Neither Anderson nor Entick employ the word. It was first used in the Book of Constitutions in a note by Noorthouck, on page

239 of his edition. (Constitutions, 1784.) Irregular Lodge would be the better term.

 

Clandestine Mason. One made in or affiliated with a clandestine Lodge. With clandestine Lodges or Masons, regular Masons are forbid‑den to associate or converse on Masonic subjects.

 

Communication. The meeting of a Lodge is so called. There is a peculiar significance in this term. "To communicate," which, in the Old

 

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English form, was "to common," originally meant to share in common with others. The great sacrament of the Christian church, which denotes a participation in the mysteries of the religion and a fellowship in the church, is called a "communion," which is fundamentally the same as a "communication," for he who partakes of the communion is said "to communicate." Hence, the meetings of Masonic Lodges are called communications, to signify that it is not simply the ordinary meeting of a society for the transaction of business, but that such meeting is the fellow‑ship of men engaged in a common pursuit, and governed by a common principle, and that there is therein a communication or participation of those feelings and sentiments that constitute a true brotherhood.

 

The communications of Lodges are regular or stated and special or emergent. Regular .communications are held under the provision of the by‑laws, but special communications are called by order of the Master. It is a regulation that no special communication can alter, amend, or rescind the proceedings of a regular communication.

 

Communication, Grand. The meeting of a Grand Lodge.

 

Communication of Degrees. When the peculiar mysteries of a degree are bestowed upon a candidate by mere verbal description of the bestower, without his being made to pass through the constituted ceremonies, the degree is technically said to be communicated. This mode is, however, entirely confined in America to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The degrees may in that Rite be thus conferred in any place where secrecy is secured; but the prerogative of communicating is restricted to the presiding officers of bodies of the Rite, who may communicate certain of the degrees upon candidates who have been previously duly elected, and to Inspectors and Deputy Inspectors‑General of the Thirty‑third Degree, who may communicate all the degrees of the Rite, except the last, to any persons whom they may deem qualified to receive them.

 

Compasses. As in Operative Masonry, the compasses are used for the admeasurement of the architect's plans, and to enable him to give those just proportions which will ensure beauty as well as stability to his work; so, in Speculative Masonry, is this important implement symbolic of that even tenor of deportment, that true standard of rectitude which alone can bestow happiness here and felicity hereafter. Hence are the compasses the most prominent emblem of virtue, the true and only measure of a Mason's life and conduct. As the Bible gives us light on our du‑ties to God, and the square illustrates our duties to our neighborhood and brother, so the compasses give that additional light which is to instruct us in the duty we owe to ourselves - the great, imperative duty of circumscribing our passions, and keeping our desires within due bounds. "It is ordained," says the philosophic Burke, "in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate passions cannot be free; their passions forge their fetters." Those brethren who delight to trace our emblems to an astronomical origin, find in the compasses a symbol of the sun, the

 

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circular pivot representing the body of the luminary, and the diverging legs his rays.

 

In the earliest rituals of the last century, the compasses are described as a part of the furniture of the Lodge, and are said to belong to the Master. Some change will be found in this respect in the ritual of the present day.

 

Conversation. Conversation among the brethren during Lodge hours is forbidden by the Charges of 1722 in these words: "You are not to hold private committees or separate conversation without leave from the Master." (Constitutions, 1723, p. 53.) Convocation. The meetings of Chapters of Royal Arch Masons are so called from the Latin convocatio, a calling together. It seems very properly to refer to the convoking of the dispersed Masons at Jerusalem to rebuild the second Temple, of which every Chapter is a representation.

 

Convocation, Grand. The meeting of a Grand Chapter is so styled.

 

Courtesy. Politeness of manners, as the result of kindness of disposition, was one of the peculiar characteristics of the knights of old. "No other human laws enforced," says M. de St. Palaye, "as chivalry did, sweetness and modesty of temper, and that politeness which the word courtesy was meant perfectly to express." We find, therefore, in the ritual of Templarism, the phrase "a true and courteous knight"; and Knights Templars are in the habit of closing their letters to each other with the expression, Yours in all knightly courtesy. Courtesy is also a Masonic virtue, because it is the product of a feeling of kindness; but it is not so specifically spoken of in the symbolic degrees, where brotherly love assumes its place, as it is in the orders of knighthood.

 

Coustos, John. The sufferings inflicted, in 1743, by the Inquisition at Lisbon, on John Coustos, a Freemason, and the Master of a Lodge in that city; and the fortitude with which he endured the severest tortures, rather than betray his trusts and reveal the secrets that had been confided to him, constitute an interesting episode in the history of Freemasonry. Coustos, after returning to England, published, in 1746, a book, detailing his sufferings, from which the reader is presented with the following abridged narrative.

 

John Coustos was born at Berne, in Switzerland, but emigrated, in 1716, with his father to England, where he became a naturalized subject.

 

In 1743 he removed to Lisbon, in Portugal, and began the practise of his profession, which was that of a lapidary, or dealer in precious stones.

 

In consequence of the bull or edict of Pope Clement XII. denouncing the Masonic institution, the Lodges at Lisbon were not held at public houses, as was the custom in England and other Protestant countries, but privately, at the residences of the members. Of one of these Lodges, Coustos, who was a zealous Mason, was elected the Master. A female, who was cognizant of the existence of the Lodge over which Coustos pre‑ sided, revealed the circumstance to her confessor, declaring that, in her

 

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opinion, the members were "monsters in nature, who perpetrated the most shocking crimes." In consequence of this information, it was re‑solved, by the Inquisition, that Coustos should be arrested and subjected to the tender mercies of the "Holy Office." He was accordingly seized, a few nights afterward, in a coffee‑house‑‑the public pretense of the arrest being that he was privy to the stealing of a diamond, of which they had falsely accused another jeweler, the friend and Warden of Coustos, whom also they had a short time previously arrested.

 

Coustos was then carried to the prison of the Inquisition, and after having been searched and deprived of all his money, papers, and other things that he had about him, he was led to a lonely dungeon, in which he was immured, being expressly forbidden to speak aloud or knock against the walls, but if he required anything, to beat with a padlock that hung on the outward door, and which he could reach by thrusting his arm through the iron grate. "It was there," says he, "that, struck with the horrors of a place of which I had heard and read such baleful descriptions, I plunged at once into the blackest melancholy; especially when I reflected on the dire consequences with which my confinement might very possibly be attended." On the next day he was led, bareheaded, before the President and four Inquisitors, who, after having made him reply on oath to several questions respecting his name, his parentage, his place of birth, his religion, and the time he had resided in Lisbon, exhorted him to make a full confession of all the crimes he had ever committed in the whole course of his life; but, as he refused to make any such confession, declaring that, from his infancy, he had been taught to confess not to man but to God, he was again remanded to his dungeon.

 

Three days after, he was again brought before the Inquisitors, and the examination was renewed. This was the first occasion on which the subject of Freemasonry was introduced, and there Coustos for the first time learned that he had been arrested and imprisoned solely on account of his connection with the forbidden Institution.

 

The result of this conference was that Coustos was conveyed to a deeper dungeon, and kept there in close confinement for several weeks, during which period he was taken three times before the Inquisitors. In the first of these examinations they again introduced the subject of Free‑masonry, and declared that if the Institution was as virtuous as their prisoner contended that it was, there was no occasion for concealing so industriously the secrets of it. Coustos did not reply to this objection to the Inquisitorial satisfaction, and he was remanded back to his dungeon, where a few days after he fell sick.

 

After his recovery, he was again taken before the Inquisitors, who asked him several new questions with regard to the tenets of Freemasonry  - among others, whether he, since his abode in Lisbon, had received any Portuguese into the society? He replied that he had not.

 

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When he was next brought before them, "they insisted," he says, "upon my letting them into the secrets of Freemasonry; threatening me, in case I did not comply." But Coustos firmly and fearlessly refused to violate his obligations.

 

After several other interviews, in which the effort was unavailingly made to extort from him a renunciation of Masonry, he was subjected to the torture, of which he gives the following account: "I was instantly conveyed to the torture‑room, built in form of a square tower, where no light appeared but what two candles gave; and to prevent the dreadful cries and shocking groans of the unhappy victims from reaching the ears of the other prisoners, the doors are lined with a sort of quilt.

 

"The reader will naturally suppose that I must be seized with horror, when, at my entering this infernal place, I saw myself, on a sudden, surrounded by six wretches, who, after preparing the tortures, stripped me naked, (all to linen drawers,) when, laying me on my back, they began to lay hold of every part of my body. First, they put round my neck an iron collar, which was fastened to the scaffold; they then fixed a ring to each foot; and this being done, they stretched my limbs with all their might. They next wound two ropes round each arm, and two, round each thigh, which ropes passed under the scaffold, through holes made for that purpose, and were all drawn tight at the same time, by four men, upon a signal made for this purpose.

 

"The reader will believe that my pains must be intolerable, when I solemnly declare that these ropes, which were of the size of one's little finger, pierced through my flesh quite to the bone, making the blood gush out at eight different places that were thus bound. As I persisted in re‑fusing to discover any more than what has been seen in the interrogatories above, the ropes were thus drawn together four different times. At my side stood a physician and a surgeon, who often felt my temples, to judge of the danger I might be in - by which means my tortures were suspended, at intervals, that I might have an opportunity of recovering myself a little.

 

"Whilst I was thus suffering, they were so barbarously unjust as to declare, that, were I to die under the torture, I should be guilty, by my obstinacy, of self‑murder. In fine, the last time the ropes were drawn tight, I grew so exceedingly weak, occasioned by the blood's circulation being stopped, and the pains I endured, that I fainted quite away; insomuch that I was carried back to my dungeon, without perceiving it.

 

"These barbarians, finding that the tortures above described could not extort any further discovery from me; but that, the more they made me suffer, the more fervently I addressed my supplications, for patience, to heaven; they were so inhuman, six weeks after, as to expose me to an‑other kind of torture, more grievous, if possible, than the former. They made me stretch my arms in such a manner that the palms of my hands

 

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were turned outward; when, by the help of a rope that fastened them together at the wrist, and which they turned by an engine, they drew them gently nearer to one another behind, in such a manner that the back of each hand touched, and stood exactly parallel one to another; whereby both my shoulders were dislocated, and a considerable quantity of blood issued from my mouth. This torture was repeated thrice; after which I was again taken to my dungeon, and put into the hands of physicians and surgeons, who, in setting my bones, put me to exquisite pain.

 

"Two months after, being a little recovered, I was again conveyed to the torture‑room, and there made to undergo another kind of punishment twice. The reader may judge of its horror, from the following description thereof.

 

"The torturers turned twice around my body a thick iron chain, which, crossing upon my stomach, terminated afterwards at my wrists. They next set my back against a thick board, at each extremity whereof was a pulley, through which there ran a rope, that catched the ends of the chains at my wrists. The tormentors then stretched these ropes, by means of a roller, pressed or bruised my stomach, in proportion as the means were drawn tighter. They tortured me on this occasion to such a degree, that my wrists and shoulders were put out of joint.

 

"The surgeons, however, set them presently after; but the barbarians not yet having satiated their cruelty, made me undergo this torture a second time, which I did with fresh pains, though with equal constancy and resolution. I was then remanded back to my dungeon, attended by the surgeons, who dressed my bruises; and here I continued until their auto‑da fé, or gaol delivery."

 

On that occasion, he was sentenced to work at the galleys for four years. Soon, however, after he had commenced the degrading occupation of a galley slave, the injuries which he had received during his inquisitorial tortures having so much impaired his health, that he was unable to undergo the toils to which he had been condemned, he was sent to the infirmary, where he remained until October, 1744, when he was released upon the demand of the British minister, as a subject to the King of England. He was, however, ordered to leave the country. This, it may be supposed, he gladly did, and repaired to London, where he published the account of his sufferings in a book entitled The Sufferings of John Coustos for Freemasonry, and for refusing to turn Roman Catholic, in the Inquisition at Lisbon, etc., etc. London, 1746; 8vo, 400 pages. (Re‑printed at Birmingham, 1790.) Such a narrative is well worthy of being read. John Coustos has not, by his literary researches, added anything to the learning or science of our Order; yet, by his fortitude and fidelity under the severest sufferings, inflicted to extort from him a knowledge he was bound to conceal, he has shown that Freemasonry makes no idle boast in declaring that its secrets "are locked up in the depository of faithful breasts."

 

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Council. In several of the high degrees of Masonry the meetings are styled Councils; as, a Council of Royal and Select Masters, or Princes of Jerusalem, or Companions of the Red Cross.

 

Council Chamber. A part of the room in which the ceremonies of the Companions of the Red Cross are performed.

 

Council of Companions of the Red Cross. A body in which the First Degree of the Templar system in this country is conferred. It is held under the Charter of a Commandery of Knights Templar, which, when meeting as a council, is composed of the following officers: A Sovereign Master, Chancellor, Master of the Palace, Prelate, Master of Despatches, Master of Cavalry, Master of Infantry, Standard‑Bearer, Sword‑Bearer, Warder, and Sentinel.

 

Council of Royal and Select Masters. The united body in which the Royal and Select degrees are conferred. In some jurisdictions this Council confers also the degree of Super‑Excellent Master.

 

Council of Royal Masters. The body in which the degree of Royal Master, the eighth in the American Rite, is conferred. It receives its Charter from a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters, and has the following officers: Thrice Illustrious Grand Master, Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Principal Conductor of the Works, Master of the Exchequer, Master of Finances, Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council, and Steward.

 

Council of Select Masters. The body in which the degree of Select Masters, the ninth in the American Rite, is conferred. It receives its Charter from a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters. Its officers are: Thrice Illustrious Grand Master, Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Principal Conductor of the Works, Treasurer, Recorder, Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council, and Steward.

 

Crux Ansata. This signifies, in Latin, the cross with a handle. It is formed by a Tau cross surmounted by a circle or, more properly, an oval. It was one of the most significant of the symbols of the ancient Egyptians, and is depicted repeatedly on their monuments borne in the hands of their deities, and especially Phtha. Among them it was the symbol of life, and with that meaning it has been introduced into some of the higher degrees of Masonry. The Crux Ansata, surrounded by a serpent in a circle, is the symbol of immortality, because the cross was the symbol of life, and the serpent of eternity.

 

Crypt. From Greek (to hide). A concealed place, or subterranean vault. The caves, or cells underground, in which the primitive Christians celebrated their secret worship, were called crypte; and the vaults beneath our modern churches receive the names of crypts. The existence of crypts or vaults under the Temple of Solomon is testified to by the earliest as well as by the most recent topographers of Jerusalem. Their connection with the legendary history of Masonry is more fully noticed under the head of Vault Secret.

 

APPENDIX    707

 

Cryptic Degrees. The degrees of Royal and Select Masters. Some modern ritualists have added to the list the degree of Super‑excellent Master; but this, although now often conferred in a Cryptic Council, is not really a Cryptic degree, since its legend has no connection with the crypt or secret vault.

 

Cryptic Masonry. That division of the Masonic system which is directed to the investigation and cultivation of the Cryptic degrees. It is, literally, the Masonry of the secret vault.

 

Cubical Stone. This symbol is called by the French Masons, pierre cubique, and by the German, cubik stein. It is the Perfect Ashlar of the English and American systems. (See Ashlar.) Discovery, Year of the. "Anno Inventionis," or "in the Year of the Discovery," is the style assumed by the Royal Arch Masons, in commemoration of an event which took place soon after the commencement of the rebuilding of the Temple by Zerubbabel.

 

Dispersion of Mankind. The dispersion of mankind at the tower of Babel and on the plain of Shinar, which is recorded in the Book of Genesis, has given rise to a Masonic tradition of the following purport. The knowledge of the great truths of God and immortality were known to Noah, and by him communicated to his immediate descendants, the Noachid or Noachites, by whom the true worship continued to be cultivated for some time after the subsidence of the deluge; but when the human race were dispersed, a portion lost sight of the Divine truths which had been communicated to them from their common ancestor, and fell into the most grievous theological errors, corrupting the purity of the worship and the orthodoxy of the religious faith which they had primarily received.

 

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

 

The first class was confined to the direct descendants of Noah, and the second was to be found among the priests and philosophers, and, perhaps, still later, among the poets of the heathen nations, and among those whom they initiated into the secrets of these truths.

 

The system of doctrine of the former class has been called by Ma‑sonic writers the "Pure or Primitive Freemasonry" of antiquity, and that of the latter class the "Spurious Freemasonry" of the same period. These terms were first used by Dr. Oliver, and are intended to refer - the word pure to the doctrines taught by the descendants of Noah in the Jewish line, and the word spurious to those taught by his descendants in the heathen or Gentile line.

 

DeMolay, Order of. Founded March 24th, 1919, at Kansas City Missouri, where the International DeMolay Headquarters are maintained. Its founder was Frank S. Land, whose purpose was to promote and maintain a social and fraternal club for boys between the ages of ____ and

 

708     APPENDIX

 

twenty‑one years. Upon attaining the age of twenty‑one, a DeMolay automatically ceases to be an active member. The order became popular from its beginning, and in a few years became International in scope.

 

To become a member of DeMolay, the applicant must be endowed with those finer qualifications of character. He need not be the son of a Freemason. Membership in The Order of DeMolay is by no means a stepping stone into Freemasonry.

 

The basic principles of the DeMolay ritual, in its initiatory degree, are built on the Seven Cardinal Virtues. These virtues represent the basis of every DeMolay's life.

 

The DeMolay Degree is historical and spectacular, being presented in dramatic form. Its portrayal of the trials, the tortures and the final martyrdom of Jacques DeMolay, who was Grand Master of the powerful Order of Knights Templar, during the latter part of the Thirteenth Century, in France. This order had been formed during the Twelfth Century, to protect the Christian church, and the Christians on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem. The original need for such an order having passed, but it continued in effect to protect the church, and for the charitable distribution of alms, made it a powerful and influential factor in Europe. DeMolay, on account of his position and activities, was imprisoned by Phillip The Fair, King of France, and with the aid of Clement

12th, Pope of Rome, underwent various, tortures and finally put to death by being burned at the stage, on The Isle de Cite, in the River Seine, in Paris, March 18th,

1314. Any Master Mason in good standing is privileged to attend all DeMolay meetings and witness the degrees.

 

The entire international organization of the Order of DeMolay is unified and governed by a group of outstanding Masons known as the Grand Council of the Order of DeMolay. The purpose of this body is not only to establish regulations which are for the protection, advancement and benefit of the organization, but to see that the rulings are carried out and the Order benefited and expanded. A Member or a duly appointed Deputy of The Grand Council has direct supervision in each state, province or division thereof established by the Grand Council. To obtain a Charter, the proposed Chapter must be sponsored by representative Masons, locally, who must become responsible for the Chapter activities generally. One representative from each Blue Lodge in town in which the Chapter is located, or other body sponsoring the Chapter, must be appointed. The Chapter is directly under the control of the Chapter "Dad." The Chapter officers are: Master, Senior and Junior Councilor; Treasurer; Senior and Junior Deacon; Senior and Junior Steward; Chaplain; Almoner; Marshal; Standard Bearer; Orator; First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Preceptors; Sentinel.

 

Dormant Lodge. A Lodge whose Charter has not been revoked, but which has ceased to meet and work for a long time, is said to be dormant.

 

APPENDIX    709

 

It can be restored to activity only by the authority of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge on the petition of some of its members, one of whom, at least, ought to be a Past Master.

 

Dotage. The regulations of Masonry forbid the initiation of an old man in his dotage; and very properly, because the imbecility of his mind would prevent his comprehension of the truths presented to him.

 

Double Cube. A cubical figure, whose length is equal to twice its breadth and height. Solomon's Temple is said to have been of this figure, and hence it has sometimes been adopted as the symbol of a Masonic Lodge.

 

Exalted. A candidate is said to be exalted, when he receives the Degree of Holy Royal Arch, the seventh in American Masonry. Exalted means elevated or lifted up, and is applicable both to a peculiar ceremony of the degree, and to the fact that this degree, in the Rite in which it is practised, constitutes the summit of ancient Masonry.

 

The rising of the sun of spring from his wintry sleep into the glory of the vernal equinox was called by the old sun‑worshipers his "exaltation"; and the Fathers of the Church afterward applied the same term to the resurrection of Christ. St. Athanasius says that by the expression, "God hath exalted him," St. Paul meant the resurrection. Exaltation, therefore, technically means a rising from a lower to a higher sphere, and in Royal Arch Masonry may be supposed to refer to the being lifted up out of the first temple of this life into the second temple of the future life. The candidate is raised in the Master's Degree, he is exalted in the Royal Arch. In both the symbolic idea is the same.

 

Elus. The French word elu means elected; and the degrees, whose object is to detail the detection and punishment of the actors in the crime traditionally related in the Third Degree, are called Elus, or the degrees of the Elected, because they referred to those of the Craft who were chosen or elected to make the discovery, and to inflict the punishment. They form a particular system of Masonry, and are to be found in every Rite, if not in all in name, at least in principle. In the York and American Rites, the Elu is incorporated in the Master's Degree; in the French Rite it constitutes an independent degree; and in the Scottish Rite it consists of three degrees, the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh. Ragon counts the five preceding degrees among the Elus, but they more properly belong to the Order of Masters. The symbolism of these Elu degrees has been greatly mistaken and perverted by anti‑Masonic writers, who have thus attributed to Masonry a spirit of vengeance which is not its characteristic. They must be looked upon as conveying only a symbolic meaning. Those higher degrees, in which the object of the election is changed and connected with Templarism, are more properly called Kadoshes. Thory says that all the Elus are derived from the degree of Kadosh, which preceded them. The reverse, we think, is the truth. The Elu system sprang natu‑

 

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rally from the Master's Degree, and was only applied to Templarism when De Molay was substituted for Hiram the Builder.

 

Emanation. Literally, "a flowing forth." The doctrine of emanations was a theory predominant in many of the Oriental religions, such, especially, as Brahmanism and Parseeism, and subsequently adopted by the Kabbalists and the Gnostics, and taught by Philo and Plato. It assumed that all things emanated, flowed forth (which is the literal meaning of the word), or were developed and descended by degrees from the Supreme Being. Thus, ia the ancient religion of India, the anima mundi, or soul of the word, the mysterious source of all life, was identified with Brahma, the Supreme God. The doctrine of Gnosticism was that all beings emanated from the Deity; that there was a progressive degeneration of these beings from the highest to the lowest emanation, and a final redemption and return of all to the purity of the Creator. Philo taught that the Supreme Being was the Primitive Light or the Archetype of Light, whose rays illuminate, as from a common source, all souls. The theory of emanations is interesting to the Mason, because of the reference in many of the higher degrees to the doctrines of Philo, the Gnostics, and the Kabbalists.

 

Emanuel. A sacred word in some of the high degrees, being one of the names applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is'a Greek form from the Hebrew, Immanual,

signifying, "God is with us."

 

Emeritus. Latin; plural, emeriti. The Romans applied this word  - which comes from the verb emerere, to gain by service - to a soldier who had served out his time; hence, in the Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of this country, an active member, who resigns his seat by reason of age, infirmity, or for other cause deemed good by the Council, may be elected an Emeritus member, and will possess the privilege of proposing measures and being heard in debate, but not of voting.

 

Emeth. Hebrew. One of the words in the high degrees. It signifies integrity, fidelity, firmness, and constancy in keeping a promise, and especially TRUTZi, as opposed to falsehood. In the Scottish Rite, the Sublime Knights Elect of Twelve of the Eleventh Degree are called "Princes Emeth," which mean simply men of exalted character who are devoted to truth.

 

Eminent. The title given to the Commander or presiding officer of a Commandery of Knights Templar, and to all officers below the Grand Commander in a Grand Commandery. The Grand Commander is styled "Right Eminent," and the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States, "Most Eminent." The word is from the Latin eminens, "standing above," and literally signifies "exalted in rank." Hence, it is a title given to the cardinals in the Roman Church.

 

APPENDIX    711

 

Emounah. (Fidelity, Truth.) The name of the Fourth Step of the mystic ladder of the Kadosh of the A. A. Scottish Rite.

 

Emunah. From Hebrew; sometimes spelled Amunah, but not in accordance with the Masoretic points. A significant word in the high degrees signifying fidelity, especially in fulfilling one's promises.

 

Encampment. All regular assemblies of Knights Templar were formerly called Encampments. They are now styled Commanderies in America, and Grand Encampments of the States are called Grand Commanderies. In England they are now called "Preceptories." (See Colnmandery and Commandery, Grand.) Encampment, General Grand. The title, before the adoption of the Constitution of 1856, of the Grand Encampment of the United States.

 

Encampment, Grand. The Grand Encampment of the United States was instituted on the 22d of June, 1816, in the city of New York. It consists of a Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and other Grand Officers who are similar to those of a Grand Commandery, with Past Grand Officers and the representatives of the various Grand Commanderies, and of the subordinate Commanderies deriving their warrants immediately from it. It exercises jurisdiction over all the Templars of the United States, and meets triennially. The term Encampment is borrowed from military usage, and is very properly applied to the temporary congregation at stated periods of the army of Templars, who may be said to be, for the time being, in camp.

 

Encyclical. Circular; sent to many places or persons. Encyclical letters, containing information, advice, or admonition, are sometimes is‑sued by Grand Lodges or Grand Masters to the Lodges and Masons of a jurisdiction. The word is not in very common use; but in 1848 the Grand Lodge of South Carolina issued "an encyclical letter of advice, of ad‑monition, and of direction," to the subordinate Lodges under her jurisdiction; and a similar letter was issued in 1865 by the Grand Master of Iowa.

 

Extended Wings of the Cherubim. An expression used in the ceremonies of Royal Master, the Tenth Degree of the American Rite, and intended to teach symbolically that he who comes to ask and to seek Divine Truth symbolized by the True Word, should begin by placing himself under the protection of that Divine Power who alone is Truth, and from whom alone Truth can be obtained. Of him the cherubim with extended wings in the Holy of Holies were a type.

 

The candidate in the degree of Royal Master of the American Rite is said to be received "beneath the extended wings of the cherubim." The expression is derived from the passage in the 1st Book of Kings (vi. 27), which describes the setting of "the cherubim within the inner house." Practically, there is an anachronism. in the reference to the cherubim in this degree. In the older and purer ritual, the ceremonies are supposed to take place in the council‑chamber or private apartment

 

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of King Solomon, where, of course, there were no cherubim. And even in some more modern rituals, where a part of the ceremony referred to in the tradition is said to have occurred in the Holy of Holies, that part of the Temple was at that time unfinished, and the cherubim had not yet been placed there. But symbolically the reference to the cherubim in this degree, which represents a searcher for truth, is not objectionable. For although there is a great diversity of opinion as to their exact signification, yet there is a very general agreement that, under some one manifestation or another, they allude to and symbolize the protecting and over‑shadowing power of the Deity. When, therefore, the initiate is received beneath the extended wings of the cherubim, we are taught by this symbolism how appropriate it is, that he who comes to ask and to seek Truth, symbolized by the True Word, should begin by placing himself under the protection of that Divine Power who alone is Truth, and from whom alone truth can be obtained.

 

Faith. In the theological ladder, the explanation of which forms a part of the ritual of the First Degree of Masonry, faith, is said to typify the lowest round. Faith, here, is synonymous with confidence or trust, and hence we find merely a repetition of the lesson which had been previously taught that the first, the essential qualification of a candidate for initiation, is that he should trust in God.

 

In the lecture of the same degree, it is said that "Faith may be lost in sight; Hope ends in fruition; but Charity extends beyond the grave, through the boundless realms of eternity." And this is said, because as faith is "the evidence of things not seen," when we see we no longer believe by faith but through demonstration; and as hope lives only in the expectation of possession, it ceases to exist when the object once hoped for is at length enjoyed, but charity, exercised on earth in acts of mutual kindness and forbearance, is still found in the world to come.

 

Field Lodge, or Army Lodge. A lodge duly instituted under proper authority from a grand body of competent jurisdiction, and authorized to exercise during its peripatetic existence all the powers and privileges that it might possess if permanently located. Charters of this nature, as the name implies, are intended for the tented field, and have been of the greatest service to humanity in its trying hours, when the worst of passions are appealed to.

 

Fifteen. A sacred number symbolic of the name of God, because the letters of the holy name, JAn, are equal, in the Hebrew mode of numeration by the letters of the alphabet, to fifteen; for ' is equal to ten, and 71 is equal to five. Hence, from veneration for this sacred name, the He‑brews do not, in ordinary computations, when they wish to express the number fifteen, make use of these two letters, but of two others, which are equivalent to nine and six.

 

Five. Among the Pythagoreans five was a mystical number, because it was formed by the union of the first even number and the first odd,

 

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rejecting unity; and hence it symbolized the mixed conditions of order and disorder, happiness and misfortune, life and death. The same union of the odd and even, or male and female, numbers made it the symbol of marriage. Among the Greeks it was a symbol of the world, because, says Diodorus, it represented ether and the four elements. It was a sacred round number among the Hebrews. In Egypt, India, and other Oriental nations, says Gesenius, the five minor planets and the five elements and elementary powers were accounted sacred. It was the pentas of the Gnostics and the Hermetic Philosophers; it was the symbol of their quintessence, the fifth or highest essence of power in a natural body. In Masonry, five is a sacred number, inferior only in importance to three and seven. It is especially significant in the Fellow‑Craft's Degree, where five are required to hold a Lodge, and where, in the winding stairs, the five steps are referred to the orders of architecture and the human senses. In the Third Degree, we find the reference to the five points of fellowship and their symbol, the five‑pointed star. Geometry, too, which is deemed synonymous with Masonry, is called the fifth science; and, in fact, throughout nearly all the degrees of Masonry, we find abundant allusions to five as a sacred and mystical number.

 

Five‑Pointed Star. The five‑pointed star, which is not to be confounded with the blazing star, is not found among the old symbols of Masonry; indeed, some writers have denied that it is a Masonic emblem at all. It is undoubtedly of recent origin, and was probably introduced by Jeremy Cross, who placed it among the plates in the emblems of the Third Degree prefixed to his Hieroglyphic Chart. It is not mentioned in the ritual or the lecture of the Third Degree, but the Masons of this country have, by tacit consent, referred to it as a symbol of the Five Points of Fellowship. The outlines of the five‑pointed star are the same as those of the pentalpha of Pythagoras, which was the symbol of health. M. Jomard, in his Description de l'Egypte (tom. viii., p. 423), says that the star engraved on the Egyptian monuments, where it is a very common hieroglyphic, has constantly five points, never more nor less.

 

Formula. A prescribed mode or form of doing or saying anything. The word is derived from the technical language of the Roman law, where, after the old legal actions had been abolished, suits were practised according to certain prescribed forms called formulæ.

 

Formulas in Freemasonry are very frequent. They are either oral or monitorial. Oral formulas are those that are employed in various parts of the ritual, such as the opening and closing of a Lodge, the investiture of a candidate, etc. From the fact of their oral transmission they are frequently corrupted or altered, which is one of the most prolific sources of non‑conformity so often complained of by Masonic teachers. Monitorial formulas are those that are committed to writing, and are to be found in the various monitors and manuals. They are such as relate to public installations, to laying foundation‑stones, to dedications

 

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of halls, to funerals, etc. Their monitorial character ought to preserve them from change; but uniformity is not even here always attained, owing to the whims of the compilers of manuals or of monitors, who have often unnecessarily changed the form of words from the original standard.

 

Forty‑Seventh Problem. The forty‑seventh problem of Euclid's first book, which has been adopted as a symbol in the Master's Degree, is thus enunciated: "In any right‑angled triangle, the square which is de‑scribed upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described upon the sides which contain the right angle." Thus, in a triangle whose perpendicular is 3 feet, the square of which is 9, and whose base is 4 feet, the square of which is 16, the hypothenuse, or subtending side, will be

5 feet, the square of which will be 25, which is the sum of 9 and 16. This interesting problem, on account of its great utility in making calculations and drawing plans for buildings, is sometimes called the "Carpenter's Theorem." For the demonstration of this problem the world is indebted to Pythagoras, who, it is said, was so elated after making the discovery, that he made an offering of a hecatomb, or a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, to the gods. The devotion to learning which this religious act indicated in the mind of the ancient philosopher has induced Masons to adopt the problem as a memento, instructing them to be lovers of the arts and sciences.

 

The triangle, whose base is 4 parts, whose perpendicular is 3, and whose hypothenuse is

5, and which would exactly serve for a demonstration of this problem, was, according to Plutarch, a symbol frequently employed by the Egyptian priests, and hence it is called by M. Jomard, in his Exposition du Systenze Metrique des Anciens Egyptians, the Egyptian triangle. It was, with the Egyptians, the symbol of universal nature, the base representing Osiris, or the male principle; the perpendicular, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypothenuse, Horus, their son, or the product of the two principles. They added that 3 was the first perfect odd number, that 4 was the square of 2, the first even number, and that 5 was the result of 3 and 2.

 

But the Egyptians made a still more important use of this triangle. It was the standard of all their measures of extent, and was applied by them to the building of the pyramids. The researches of M. Jomard, on the Egyptian system of measures, published in the magnificent work of the French savants on Egypt, has placed us completely in possession of the uses made by the Egyptians of this forty‑seventh problem of Euclid, and of the triangle which formed the diagram by which it was demonstrated.

 

If we inscribe within a circle a triangle, whose perpendicular shall be 300 parts, whose base shall be 400 parts, and whose hypothenuse shall be 500 parts, which, of course, bear the same proportion to each other as 3, 4, and 5; then if we let a perpendicular fall from the angle of the per‑

 

APPENDIX    715

 

pendicular and base to the hypothenuse, and extend it through the hypothenuse to the circumference of the circle, this cord or line will be equal to 480 parts, and the two segments of the hypothenuse, on each side of it, will be found equal, respectively, to 180 and 320. From the point where this chord intersects the hypothenuse let another line fall perpendicularly to the shortest side of the triangle, and this line will be equal to

144 parts, while the shorter segment, formed by its junction with the perpendicular side of the triangle, will be equal to 108 parts. Hence, we may derive the following measures from the diagram: 500, 480, 400, 320, 180, 144, and 108, and all these without the slightest fraction. Supposing, then, the 500 to be cubits, we have the measure of the base of the great pyramid of Memphis. In the 400 cubits of the base of the triangle we have the exact length of the Egyptian stadium. The 320 gives us the exact number of Egyptian cubits contained in the Hebrew and Babylonian stadium. The stadium of Ptolemy is represented by the 480 cubits, or length of the line falling from the right angle to the circumference of the circle, through the hypothenuse. The number 180, which expresses the smaller segment of the hypothenuse being doubled, will give 360 cubits, which will be the stadium of Cleomedes. By doubling the 144, the result will be 288 cubits, or the length of the stadium of Archimedes; and by doubling the 108, we produce 216 cubits, or the precise value of the lesser Egyptian stadium. In this manner, we obtain from this triangle all the measures of length that were in use among the Egyptians; and since this triangle, whose sides are equal to 3, 4, and 5, was the very one that most naturally would be used in demonstrating the forty‑seventh problem of Euclid; and since by these three sides the Egyptians symbolized Osiris, Isis, and Horns, or the two producers and the product, the very principle, expressed in symbolic language, which constitutes the terms of the problem as enunciated by Pythagoras, that the sum of the squares of the.two sides will produce the square of the third, we have no reason to doubt that the forty‑seventh problem was well known to the Egyptian priests, and by them communicated to Pythagoras.

 

Dr. Lardner, in his edition of Euclid, says: "Whether we consider the forty‑seventh proposition with reference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established in it, or to its innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to its fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be esteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements, if not in the whole range, of mathematical science. It is by the influence of this proposition, and that which establishes the similitude of equiangular triangles (in the sixth book), that geometry has been brought under the dominion of algebra; and it is upon the same principles that the whole science of trigonometry is founded.

 

"The XXXIId and XLVIlth propositions are said to have been discovered by Pythagoras, and extraordinary accounts are given of his

 

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exultation upon his first perception of their truth. It is, however, sup‑posed by some that Pythagoras acquired a knowledge of them in Egypt, and was the first to make them known in Greece."

 

Fourfold Cord. In the ritual of the Past Master's Degree in America we find the following expression: "A twofold cord is strong, a threefold cord is stronger, but a fourfold cord is not easily broken." The expression is taken from a Hebrew proverb which is to be found in the Book of Ecclesiastes (iv. 12): "And if one prevail against him, two shall with‑stand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." The form of the Hebrew proverb has been necessarily changed to suit the symbolism of the degree.

 

Gabaon. A significant word in the high degrees. Oliver says (Landm., i., 335), "in philosophical Masonry, heaven, or, more correctly speaking, the third heaven, is denominated Mount Gabaon, which is feigned to be accessible only by the seven degrees that compose the winding staircase. These are the degrees terminating in the Royal Arch." Gabaon is defined to signify "a high place." It is the Septuagint and Vulgate form of )1y]a, Gibeon, which was the city in which the tabernacle was stationed during the reigns of David and Solomon. The word means a city built on a hill, and is referred to in

2 Chron. i. 3. "So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was of Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God." In a ritual of the middle of the last century, it is said that Gabanon is the name of a Master Mason. This word is a striking evidence of the changes which Hebrew words have undergone in their transmission to Masonic rituals, and of the almost impossibility of tracing them to their proper root. It would seem difficult to find a connection between Gabanon and any known Hebrew word. But if we refer to Guillemain's Ritual of Adonhiramite Masonry, we will find the following passage:

 

"Q. How is a Master called?

 

"A. Gabaon, which is the name of the place where the Israelites deposited the ark in the time of trouble.

 

"Q. What does this signify?

 

"A. That the heart of a Mason ought to be pure enough to be a temple suitable for God." (P. 95.)

 

There is abundant internal evidence that these two rituals came from a common source, and that Gabaon is a French distortion, as Gab anon is an English one, of some unknown word - connected, however, with the Ark of the Covenant as the place where that article was deposited.

 

Now, we learn from the Jewish records that the Philistines, who had captured the ark, deposited it "in the house of Abinadad that was in Gibeah"; and that David, subsequently recapturing it, carried it to Jerusalem, but left the tabernacle at Gibeon. The ritualist did not remember that the tabernacle at Gibeon was without the ark, but supposed that

 

APPENDIX    717

 

it was still in that sacred shrine. Hence, Gabaon or Gabanon must have been corrupted from either Gibeah or Gibeon, because the ark was considered to be at some time in both places. But Gibeon had already been corrupted by the Septuagint and the Vulgate versions into Gab aon; and this undoubtedly is the word from which Gabanon is derived, through either the Septuagint or the Vulgate, or perhaps from Josephus, who calls it Gabao.

 

Gabaonne. In French Masonic language, the widow of a Master Mason. Derived from Gab aon.

 

Gabor. Hebrew - strong. A significant word in the high degrees.

 

Gabriel. Hebrew - a man of God. The name of one of the arch‑angels, referred to in some of the high degrees. He interpreted to Daniel the vision of the ram and the he‑goat, and made the prophecy of the "seventy weeks" (Dan. viii. and ix.); he announced the future appearance of the Messiah (Dan. ix. 21, 27). In the New Testament he foretold to Zacharias the birth of John the Baptist (Luke i. 19), and to Mary the birth of Christ (Luke i.

26). Among the Rabbis Gabriel is entrusted with the care of the souls of the dead, and is represented as having taught Joseph the seventy languages spoken at Babel. In addition, he was the only angel who could speak Chaldee and Syriac. The Talmud speaks of him as the Prince of Fire, the Spirit presiding over thunder. The Mohammedans term him the Spirit of Truth, and believe that he dictated the Koran to Mohammed.

 

The Garden of Eden. There was a tradition of the Garden of Eden long before the time of Jesus, and they used to try to find an actual location that would fit the allegorical description of one fruitful river flowing into the Garden, and four rivers flowing out. A philosopher and scholar named Philo (the Jew), who lived in Jesus' time (20 B.C. to

40 A.D.) was perhaps the first to consider the tradition to be an allegory. He maintained,

1700 years before the founding of the administrative structure of modern Masonry, that Eden was a soul, delighting in virtue, and the four rivers were the four specific virtues of prudence, temperance, courage and justice. Any Mason will instantly recognize these allegorical references.

 

Genesis ii. 15. And the Lord God (Jehovah) took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. The name Eden, means pleasure, delight.

 

G. O. D. The initials of Gomer, Oz, Dabar. It is a singular coincidence, and worthy of thought, that the letters composing the English name of Deity should be the initials of the Hebrew words wisdom, strength, and beauty; the three great pillars, or metaphorical supports, of Masonry. They seem to present almost the only reason that can reconcile a Mason to the use of the initial "G" in its conspicuous suspension in the East of the Lodge in place of the Delta. The incident seems to be more than an accident.

 

718                                   APPENDIX         

 

 

Thus the initials conceal the true meaning.

 

Golden Candlestick. The golden candlestick which was made by Moses for the service of the tabernacle, and was afterward deposited in the holy place of the temple to throw light upon the altar of incense, and the table of shewbread, was made wholly of pure gold, and had seven branches; that is, three on each side, and one in the center. These branches were at equal distances, and each one was adorned with flowers like lilies, gold knobs after the form of an apple, and similar ones resembling an almond. Upon the extremities of the branches were seven golden lamps, which were fed with pure olive‑oil, and lighted every evening by the priests on duty. Its seven branches are explained in the Ineffable degrees as symbolizing the seven planets. It is also used as a decoration in Chapters of the Royal Arch, but apparently without any positive symbolic signification.

 

Giblim. Hebrew, being a significant word in Masonry. It is the plural of the Gentile noun Gibli (the g pronounced hard), and means, according to the idiom of the Hebrew, Giblites, or inhabitants of the city of Gebal. The Giblim, or Giblites, are mentioned in Scripture as assisting Solomon's and Hiram's builders to prepare the trees and the stones for building the Temple; and from this passage it is evident that they were clever artificers. The passage is in 1 Kings v. 18, and, in our common version, is as follows: "And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stone‑squarers; so they prepared timber and stones to build the house," where the word translated in the authorized version by stonesquarers is, in the original, Giblim. It is so also in that translation known as the Bishop's Bible. The Geneva version has masons. The French version of Martin has tailleurs de pierres, following the English; but Luther, in his German version, retains the original word Giblim.

 

It is probable that the English translation followed the Jewish Tar‑gum, which has a word of similar import in this passage. The error has, however, assumed importance in the Masonic ritual, where Giblim is sup‑posed to be synonymous with a Mason. And Sir Wm. Drummond con‑firms this by saying in his Origines (vol. iii., b. v., ch. iv., p. 129) that "the Gibalim were Master Masons who put the finishing hand to King Solomon's Temple."

 

Green. Green, as a Masonic color, is almost confined to the four degrees of Perfect Master, Knight of the East, Knight of the Red Cross, and Prince of Mercy. In the degree of Perfect Master it is a symbol of the moral resurrection of the candidate, teaching him that being dead to vice he should hope to revive in virtue.

 

APPENDIX    719

 

In the degree of Knight of the Red Cross, this color is employed as a symbol of the immutable nature of truth, which, like the bay tree, will ever flourish in immortal green.

 

This idea of the unchanging immortality of that which is divine and true, was always connected by the ancients with the color of green. Among the Egyptians, the god Phtha, the active spirit, the creator and regenerator of the world, the goddess Pascht, the Divine preserver, and Thoth, the instructor of men in the sacred doctrines of truth, were all painted in the hieroglyphic system with green flesh.

 

Portal says, in his essay on Symbolic Colors, that "green was the symbol of victory"; and this reminds us of the motto of the Red Cross Knights, "magna est veritas et proevalebit " - great is truth and mighty above all things; and hence green is the symbolic color of that degree.

 

In the degree of Prince of Mercy, or the Twenty‑sixth Degree of the Scottish Rite, green is also symbolic of truth, and is the appropriate color of the degree, because truth is there said to be the palladium of the Order.

 

In the degree of Knight of the East, in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, green is also the symbolic color. We may very readily sup‑pose, from the close connection of this degree in its ritual with that of the Companion of the Red Cross, that the same symbolic explanation of the color would apply to both, and I think that such an explanation might very properly be made; but it is generally supposed by its possessors that the green of the Knights of the East alludes to the waters of the river Euphrates, and hence its symbolism is not moral but historical.

 

The evergreen of the Third Degree is to the Master Mason an emblem of immortality. Green was with the Druids a symbol of hope, and the virtue of hope with a Mason illustrates the hope of immortality. In all the Ancient Mysteries, this idea was carried out, and green symbolized the birth of. the world, and the moral creation or resurrection of the initiate. If we apply this to the evergreen of the Master Mason we shall again find a resemblance, for the acacia is emblematic of a new creation of the body, and a moral and physical resurrection.

 

Greeting. This word means salutation, and, under the form of "Thrice Greeting," it is very common at the head of Masonic documents. In the beginning of the last century it was usual at the meeting of Masons to say, "God's good greeting be to this our happy meeting." Browne gives the formula as practised in 1800: "The recommendation I bring is from the right worthy and worshipful brothers and fellows of the Holy Lodge of St. John, who greet your worship well." This formula is obsolete, but the word greeting is still in use among Freemasons. In Masonic documents it is sometimes found in the form of S.'. S.'. S.'., which three letters are the initials of the Latin word salutem or health, three times repeated, and therefore equivalent to "Thrice Greeting."

 

720     APPENDIX

 

High Priest. The presiding officer of a Chapter of Royal Arch Ma‑sons according to the American system. His title is "Most Excellent," and he represents Joshua, or Jeshua, who was the son of Josedech, and the High Priest of the Jews when they returned from the Babylonian exile. He is seated in the east, and clothed in the apparel of the ancient High Priest of the Jews. He wears a robe of blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen, and is decorated with a breastplate and miter. On the front of the miter is inscribed the words, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD." His jewel is a miter.

 

High Priesthood, Order of. This order is an honorarium, to be be‑stowed upon the High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, and consequently no one is legally entitled to receive it until he has been duly elected to preside as High Priest in a regular Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. It should not be conferred when a less number than three duly qualified High Priests are present. Whenever the ceremony is performed in ample form, the assistance of at least nine High Priests, who have received it, is requisite. The General Grand Chapter of the United States has the Hebrew letters n and p inserted upon them. Each side of each triangle should be one inch in length, and may be ornamented at the fancy of the wearer. The breastplate may be plainly engraved or set with stones. It was adopted in 1856, on the suggestion of the author of this work, at a very general but informal meeting of Grand and Past Grand High Priests during the session of the General Grand Chapter held at Hartford, Conn. It is now in general use.

 

It is impossible, from the want of authentic documents, to throw much light upon the historical origin of this degree. No allusion to it can be found in any ritual works out of America, nor even here anterior to about the end of the last and beginning of this century.

 

Honorary Degrees. The Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction, U. S. A., has three specific honors that it confers upon meritorious brethren of its Jurisdiction. The first is that of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour, which is officially known as the rank and decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour. When a brother, for meritorious service, has been elected to receive this rank and decoration, immediately he has that title. There is a ceremony of investiture which is optional, but it is usually performed upon those who have been elected to the honor. Let it be distinctly understood that this is not a degree or a part of a degree, nor is the investiture ceremony the conferring of a degree. Two years must elapse after a Mason receives the Thirty Second Degree before he is eligible to be nominated for the rank and decoration of Knight Commander of the Court of Honour, but it is rare that anyone does receive this honor in that short a time.

 

The next honor is a degree and is designated as the rank and dignity of the Thirty Third Degree Inspector General Honorary. Four years is the minimum that must elapse before a Knight Commander of the

 

APPENDIX    721

 

Court of Honour may be nominated to receive the Thirty Third Degree. This degree is conferred as the last feature of the biennial session of the Supreme Council. Those who are unable to come to Washington to receive this degree have it conferred upon them at a later date in their respective jurisdictions. There are more than twice the number of Knights Commander of the Court of Honour elected at each session of the Supreme Council than there are Thirty Third Degree elections, so it is evident that not half of the Knights Commander of the Court of Honour will ever receive the Thirty Third Degree; nevertheless it is a distinctive honor. Not every man who becomes a Master Mason becomes Master of his Lodge, so not every Knight Commander of the Court of Honour receives the Thirty Third Degree. The third honor is that of Grand Cross of the Court of Honour and one must be a Thirty Third Degree Honorary Member of the Supreme Council before he can be nominated for this honor. No more than three can be elected at one session and it is very rare that this is done. This honor is given for extraordinary meritorious service. These honors are given by the Supreme Council for meritorious service and labor. They should not be applied for and, if they are applied or asked for, they must be denied.

 

All the Active Members of the Supreme Council possess all three honors.

 

Honorary Degrees.

1. The Mark Master's Degree in the American system is called the "Honorary Degree of Mark Master," because it is traditionally supposed to have been conferred in the Temple upon a portion of the Fellow‑Crafts as a mark of honor and of trust. The degrees of Past Master and of High Priesthood are also styled honorary, because each is conferred as an honorarium or reward attendant upon certain offices; that of Past Master upon the elected Master of a Symbolic Lodge, and that of High Priesthood upon the elected High Priest of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons.

 

2. Those degrees which are outside of the regular series, and which are more commonly known by the epithet "side degrees," are also some‑times called honorary degrees, because no fee is usually exacted for them.

 

Honorary Thirty‑Thirds. The Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in this country have, within a few years past, adopted the custom of electing honorary members, who are sometimes called "Honorary Thirty‑Thirds." They possess none of the rights of Inspectors‑General or Active Members, except that of being present at the meetings of the Council, taking part to a limited extent in its de‑liberations, except when it holds an executive session.

 

Horn of Plenty. The jewel of the Steward of a Lodge. (See Cornucopia.) Horns of the Altar. In the Jewish Temple, the altars of burnt‑offering and of incense had each at the four corners four horns of shittim wood. Among the Jews, as well as all other ancient peoples, the altar was

 

722     APPENDIX

 

considered peculiarly holy and privileged; and hence, when a criminal, fleeing, took hold of these horns, he found an asylum and safety. As the Masonic altar is a representation of the altar of the Solomonic member, it should be constructed with these horns; and Cross has very properly so represented it in his Hieroglyphic Chart.

 

Humility. The Divine Master has said, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke xiv. 2), and the lesson is emphatically taught by a portion of the ritual of the Royal Arch Degree. Indeed, the first step toward the acquisition of truth is a humility of mind which teaches us our own ignorance and our necessity for knowledge, so that thus we may be prepared for its reception. Dr. Oliver has greatly erred in saying (Landmarks, ii.,

471) that bare feet are a Masonic symbol of humility. They are properly a symbol of reverence. The true Masonic symbol of humility is bodily prostration, and it is so exemplified in the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Immanuel. A Hebrew word signifying "God with us," from immanu, "with us," and el, "God." It was the symbolical name given by the prophet Isaiah to the child who was announced to Ahaz and the people of Judah as the sign which God would give of their deliverance from their enemies, and afterward applied by the Apostle Matthew to the Messiah born of the Virgin. As one of the appellations of Christ, it has been adopted as a significant word in modern Templarism, where, however, the form of Emanuel is most usually employed.

 

Internal Qualifications. Those qualifications of a candidate which refer to a condition known only to himself, and which are not patent to the world, are called internal qualifications. They are:

1st. That he comes forward of his own free‑will and accord, and unbiased by the solicitations of others.

2d. That he is not influenced by mercenary motives; and,

3rd, That he has a disposition to conform to the usages of the Order. The knowledge of these can only be obtained from his own statements, and hence they are included in the preliminary questions which are proposed before initiation.

 

Jah. From Hebrew, 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 name of God; for, although biliteral among the Hebrews, it assumed among the Greeks the triliteral form, as IASZ. Macrobius, in his Saturnalia, says that this was the sacred

 

APPENDIX    723

 

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 IAO is the Great God Supreme whc ruleth over all." (See Jehovah.)

 

Jesus, Description of the Person of. The following was taken from a manuscript in the possession of Lord Kelly - and in his library - and was from an original letter of Publius Lentullus at Rome. It being the custom of Roman governors to advise the Senate and people of such ma, terial things as happened in their province in the days of Liberius Ceasar. Publius Lentullus, president of Judea, wrote the following epistle to the Senate concerning our Savior; "There appeared in these days a man of great virtue, named Jusus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is accepted for a prophet of truth, but his own disciples call him the Son of God.

 

"He raiseth the dead and cures all manner of diseases. A man of stature somewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance such as the beholders may love and fear.

 

"His hair, the color of chestnuts full ripe, plain to the ears whence downward it was more orient, and curling and wavering about his shoulders. In the midst of his head is a seam or partition after the manner of the Nazerites. His forehead, plain and very delicate. His face with‑out a spot or wrinkle - beautiful with a lovely red. Ilis nose and mouth so formed as nothing can be reprehended. His beard thickish - in color like his hair - not very long, but forked.

 

"His look innocent and mature. His eyes grey - clear and quick.

 

"In reproving he is terrible - in admonishing courteous. Plain spoken - pleasant in conversation - modest with gravity. It can not be remembered that any have seen him laugh, but many have seen him weep.

 

"In proportion of body most excellent. His hands and arms most delicate to behold.

 

"In speaking, very temperate, modest and wise. A man for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of men."

 

Jerusalem, New. The symbolic name of the Christian church (Rev. xxi. 2 - 21; iii. 12). The Apostle John (Rev. 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 New Jerusalem was beheld, like Jacob's ladder, extending from earth to heaven. It plays an important part in the ritual of the Nineteenth Degree, or Grand Pontiff of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where the descent of the New Jerusalem is a symbol of the descent of the empire of Light and Truth upon the earth.

 

724     APPENDIX

 

Jesuits. In the last 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 Masonry 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 calls it (Hist. de Ja., iv.,

287) "la fable de la Franc‑Maconnerie Jesuitique." 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.

 

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 Masons of Germany, many of whom were opposed to this intolerant policy. But a better spirit now prevails; and very recently the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes at Berlin, the leading Masonic body of Prussia, has removed the interdict, and Judaism is there no longer a disqualification for initiation.

 

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;

 

APPENDIX    725

 

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 Masonry. 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 Masonry was introduced into Jerusalem by the establishment of a Lodge in 1872, the warrant for which, on the application of Robert Morris and others, was granted by the Grand Lodge of Canada. 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.

 

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 (Bro. G. 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.

 

Josephus, Flavius. A Jewish author who lived in the first century, and wrote in Greek, among other works, a History of the Jews, to which recourse has been had in some of the high degrees, such as the Prince of Jerusalem, and Knight of the Red Cross, or Red Cross of Babylon, for details in framing their rituals.

 

Joshua. The high priest who, with Zerubbabel the Prince of Judah, superintended the rebuilding of the Temple after the Babylonian captivity. He was the high priest by lineal descent from the pontifical family, for he was the son of Josadek, who was the son of Seraiah, who was the high priest when the Temple was destroyed by the Chaldeans. He was distinguished for the zeal with which he prosecuted the work of re‑building, and opposed the interference of the Samaritans. He is represented by the High Priest in the Royal Arch Degree according to the York and American Rites.

 

Knight Commander of the Court of Honor. The Court of Honor is an honorary body between the Thirty Second and the Thirty Third Degrees of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It was established to confer honor

 

726     APPENDIX

 

on certain Brethren whose zeal and work for the Scottish Rite Free‑masonry entitled them to recognition. This Court of Honor is composed of all Thirty Third Degree Masons, whether active or honorary, and also such Thirty Second Degree Masons as the Supreme Council may select. In the Court of Honor there are two ranks, that of Knight Commander and that of Grand Cross. Only three Grand Crosses can be selected at each regular session of the Supreme Council. Each active Thirty Third Degree member may nominate one Thirty Second Degree member for the honor and decoration of Knight Commander. In addition, he is en‑titled to nominate for this honor one Thirty Second Degree member for every forty Fourteenth Degree Masons made in his Jurisdiction since the preceding regular session of the Supreme Council. The rank of Knight Commander or Grand Cross cannot be applied for, and if applied for, must be refused. The Court of Honor assembles as a body when called together by the Grand Commander, and is presided over by the Grand Cross named by the Grand Commander.

 

Knight of the Brazen Serpent. The Twenty Fifth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The history of this Degree is founded upon the circumstances related in Numbers xxl 6‑9, which see.

 

Knight of the East and West. The Seventeenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The oldest instructions.of the Degree were very imperfect, and did not connect it with Freemasonry. Its legend would most probably indicate that the Degree originated with the Templar system of Ramsay.

 

Knight Kadosh, formerly called Grand Elect Knight Kadosh. (Grand Elu du Chevalier Kadosch.) The Knight Kadosh is the Thirtieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Knight of the White and Black Eagle. While retaining the general Templar doctrine of the Kadosh system, it symbolizes and humanizes the old lesson of vengeance. It is the most popular of all the Kadoshes.

 

In the Knight Kadosh of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the meetings are called Councils. The principal officers are, according to the recent rituals, a Commander, two Lieutenant Commanders, called also Prior and Preceptor; a Chancellor, Orator, Almoner, Recorder, and Treasurer. The jewel, as described in the ritual of the Southern Supreme Council, is a double‑headed eagle, displayed resting on a teutonic cross, the eagle silver, the cross gold enameled red. The Northern Council uses instead of the eagle the letters J. B. M. The Kadoshes, as representatives of the Templars, adopt the Beauseant as their standard. In this degree, as in all the other Kadoshes, we find the mystical ladder of seven steps.

 

Knight of Malta, Masonic. The degree of Knight of Malta is con‑ ferred in the United States as "an appendant Order" in a Commandery of Knights Templar. There is a ritual attached to the degree, but very few are in possession of it, and it is generally communicated after the candidate has been created a Knights Templar; the ceremony consisting

 

APPENDIX    727

 

generally only in the reading of the passage of Scripture prescribed in the Monitors, and the communication of the modes of recognition.

 

How anything so anomalous in history as the commingling in one body of Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, and making the same person a representative of both Orders, first arose, it is now difficult to determine. It was, most probably, a device of Thomas S. Webb, and was, it may be supposed, one of the results of a too great fondness for the accumulation of degrees. Mitchell, in his History of Freemasonry (ii.,

83), says: "The degree, so called, of Malta, or St. John of Jerusalem, crept in, we suppose, by means of a bungler, who, not knowing enough of the ritual to confer it properly, satisfied himself by simply adding a few words in the ceremony of dubbing; and thus, by the addition of a few signs and words but imperfectly understood, constituted a Knights Templar also a Knight of Malta, and so the matter stands to this day." I am not generally inclined to place much confidence in Mitchell as an historian; yet I cannot help thinking that in this instance his guess is not very far from the truth, although, as usual with him, there is a tinge of exaggeration in his statement.

 

There is evidence that the degree was introduced at a very early period into the Masonry of this country. In the Constitution of the "United States Grand Encampment," adopted in 1805, one section enumerates "Encampments of Knights of Malta, Knights Templars, and Councils of Knights of the Red Cross," now Companions of the Red Cross. It will be observed that the Knight of Malta precedes the Knights Templar; whereas, in the present system, the former is made the ultimate degree of the series. Yet, in this Constitution, no further notice is taken of the degree; for while the fees for the Red Cross and the Templar degrees are prescribed, there is no reference to any to be paid for that of Malta. In the revised Constitution of 1816, the order of the series was changed to Red Cross, Templar, and Malta, which arrangement has ever since been maintained. The Knights of Malta are designated as one of the "Appendant Orders," a title and a subordinate position which the pride of the old Knights of Malta would hardly have permitted them to accept.

 

In 1856, the Knights Templar of the United States had become convinced that the incorporation of the Order of Malta with the Knights Templar, and making the same person the possessor of both Orders, was so absurd a violation of all historic truth, that at the session of the General Grand Encampment in that year, at Hartford, Connecticut, on the suggestion of the author, the degree was unanimously stricken from the Constitution; but at the session of 1862, in Columbus, Ohio, it was, I think, without due consideration, restored, and is now communicated in the Commanderies of Knights Templar.

 

There is no fact in history better known than that there existed from their very birth a rivalry between the two Orders of the Temple and of

 

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St. John of Jerusalem, which sometimes burst forth into open hostility. Porter says (Hist. K. of Malta, i., 107), speaking of the dissensions of the two Orders, "instead of confining their rivalry to a friendly emulation, whilst combating against their common foe, they appeared more intent upon thwarting and frustrating each other, than in opposing the Saracens." To such an extent had the quarrels of the two Orders proceeded, that Pope Alexander III. found it necessary to interfere; and in 1179 a hollow truce was signed by the rival houses of the Temple and the Hospital; the terms of which were, however, never strictly observed by either side. On the dissolution of the Templars so much of their possessions as were not confiscated to public use were given by the sovereigns of Europe to the Knights of Malta, who accepted the gift without compunction. And there is a tradition that the surviving Templars, indignant at the spoliation and at the mercenary act of their old rivals in willingly becoming a party to the robbery, solemnly registered a vow never thereafter to recognize them as friends.

 

The attempt at this day to make a modern Knights Templar accept initiation into a hated and antagonistic Order is to display a lamentable ignorance of the facts of history.

 

Another reason why the degree of Knight of Malta should be rejected from the Masonic system is that the ancient Order never was a secret association. Its rites of reception were open and public, wholly unlike anything in Masonry. In fact, historians have believed that the favor shown to the Hospitalers, and the persecutions waged against the Templars, are to be attributed to the fact that the latter Order had a secret system of initiation which did not exist in the former. The ritual of reception, the signs and words as modes of recognition now practised in the modern Masonic ceremonial, are all a mere invention of a very recent date. The old Knights knew nothing of such a system.

 

A third, and perhaps the best, reason for rejecting the Knights of Malta as a Masonic degree is to be found in the fact that the Order still exists, although in a somewhat decayed condition; and that its members, claiming an uninterrupted descent from the Knights who, with Hornpesch, left the island of Malta in 1797, and threw themselves under the protection of Paul of Russia, utterly disclaim any connection with the Freemasons, and almost contemptuously repudiate the so‑called Masonic branch of the Order. In 1858, a manifesto was issued by the supreme authority of the Order, dated from "the Magisterial Palace of the Sacred Order" at Rome, which, after stating that the Order, as it then existed, consisted only of the Grand Priories in the Langues of Italy and Germany, the knights in Prussia, who trace descent from the Grand Bailiwick of Brandenburg, and a few other knights who had been legally received by the Mastership and Council, declares that:

 

APPENDIX    729

 

"Beyond and out of the above‑mentioned Langues and Priories, and excepting the knights created and constituted as aforesaid, all those who may so call or entitle themselves are legally ignored by our Sacred Order." There is no room there provided for the so‑called Masonic Knights of Malta. But a writer in Notes and Queries (3d Ser., iii.,

413), who professes to be in possession of the degree, says, in reply to an inquiry, that the Masonic degree "has nothing whatever to do with the Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem." This is most undoubtedly true in reference to the American degree. Neither in its form, its ritual, the objects it professes, its tradition, nor its historical relations, is it in the slightest degree assimilated to the ancient Order of Ilospitalers, after‑ward called Knights of Rhodes, and, finally, Knights of Malta. To claim, therefore, to be the modern representatives of that Order, to wear its dress, to adopt its insignia, to flaunt its banners, and to leave the world to believe that the one is but the uninterrupted continuation of the other, are acts which must be regarded as a very ridiculous assumption, if not actually entitled to a less courteous appellation.

 

For all these reasons, I think that it is much to be regretted that the action of the Grand Encampment in repudiating the degree in 1856 was reversed in 1862. The degree has no historical or traditional connection with Masonry; holds no proper place in a Commandery of Templars, and ought to be wiped out of the catalogue of Masonic degrees.*

 

Knight of St. Andrew, Grand Scottish. (Grand Ecossais de Saint Andre.) Sometimes called "Patriarch of the Crusades." The Twenty‑ninth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Its ritual is founded on a legend, first promulgated by the Chevalier Ramsay, to this effect: that the Freemasons were originally a society of knights founded in Palestine for the purpose of building Christian churches; that the Saracens, to prevent the execution of this design, sent emissaries among them, who disguised themselves as Christians, and were continually throwing obstacles in their way; that on discovering the existence of these spies, the knights instituted certain modes of recognition to serve as the means of detection; that they also adopted symbolic ceremonies for the purpose of instructing the proselytes who had entered the society in the forms and principles of their new religion; and finally, that the Saracens, having become too powerful for the knights any longer to con‑

 

* A different view is now generally held by Templars regarding the Knights of Malta, and a modified ritual has been adopted from the Canadian work where the Malta is the principal degree of their Priories. The adoption of this ritual among the Commanderies of America is optional, but when once adopted must be conformed to in their work. This change was brought about by the visiting influence from Canada and also the reasons for the Malta being a degree of chivalry. For a similar reason the Knights of the Red Cross has been justly changed to Companion of the Red Cross, and properly never deserved a place in the degrees of chivalry, as the ritual plainly shows.                                              [E. E. C.]

 

730     APPENDIX

 

tend with them, they had accepted the invitation of a king of England, and had removed into his dominions, where they thenceforth devoted themselves to the cultivation of architecture and the fine arts. On this mythical legend, which in reality was only an application of Ramsay's theory of the origin of Freemasonry, the Baron de Tschoudy is said, about the middle of the last century, to have formed this degree, which Ragon says (Orthod. Macon., p. 138) at his death, in 1769, he bequeathed in manuscript to the Council of Emperors of the East and West. On the subsequent extension of the twenty‑five degrees of the Rite of Perfection, instituted by that body, to the thirty‑three degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, this degree was adopted as the twenty‑ninth, and as an appropriate introduction to the Knights of Kadosh, which it immediately precedes. Hence the jewel, a St. Andrew's cross, is said, by Ragon, to be only a concealed form of the Templar Cross. In allusion to the time of its supposed invention, it has been called "Patriarch of the Crusades." On account of the Masonic instruction which it contains, it also sometimes receives the title of "Grand Master of Light."

 

The Lodge is decorated with red hangings supported by white columns. There are eighty‑one lights, arranged as follows: four in each corner before a St. Andrew's cross, two before the altar, and sixty‑three arranged by nines in seven different parts of the room. There‑ are three officers, a Venerable Grand Master and two Wardens. The jewel is a St. Andrew's cross, appropriately decorated, and suspended from a green collar bordered with red.

 

In the ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction, the leading idea of a communication between the Christian knights and the Saracens has been preserved; but the ceremonies and the legend have been altered. The lesson intended to be taught is toleration of religion.

 

This degree also constitutes the sixty‑third of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France; the fifth of the Rite of Clerks of Strict Observance; and the twenty‑first of the Rite of Mizraim. It is also to be found in many other systems.

 

Knight of the Brazen Serpent. (Chevalier du Serpent d'Airain.) The Twenty‑fifth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The history of this degree is founded upon the circumstances related in Numbers ch. xxi. ver. 6 - 9: "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. There‑fore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned; for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee: pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." In the old rituals the

 

APPENDIX    731

 

Lodge was called the Court of Sinai; the presiding officer was styled Most Puissant Grand Master, and represented Moses; while the two Wardens, or Ministers, represented Aaron and Joshua. The Orator was called Pontiff; the Secretary, Grand Graver; and the candidate, a Traveler. In the modern ritual adopted in this country, the Council represents the camp of the Israelites. The first three officers represent Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and are respectively styled Most Puissant Leader, Valiant Captain of the Host, and Illustrious Chief of the Ten Tribes. The Orator represents Eleazar; the Secretary, Ithamar; the Treasurer, Phinehas; and the candidate an intercessor for the people. The jewel is a crux ansata, with a serpent entwined around it. On the upright of the cross is engraved in Hewbew with khalati, I have suffered, and on the arms, nakhushtan, a serpent. The French ritualists would have done better to have substituted for the first word, khatati, I have sinned; the original in Numbers being, Kathanu, we have sinned. The apron is white, lined with black, and symbolically decorated.

 

There is an old legend which says that this degree was founded it the time of the Crusades, by John Ralph, who established the Order in the Holy Land as a military and monastic society, and gave it the name of the Brazen Serpent, because it was a part of their obligation to receive and gratuitously nurse sick travelers, to protect them against the attacks of the Saracens, and escort them safely to Palestine; thus alluding to the healing and saving virtues of the Brazen Serpent among the Israelites in the wilderness.

 

Knight of the East. (Chevalier d'Orient.) This is a degree which has been extensively diffused through the most important Rites, and it owes its popularity to the fact that it commemorates in its legend and ite ceremonies the labors of the Masons in the construction of the second Temple.

 

1. It is the Fifteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the description of which will apply with slight modifications to the same degree in all the other Rites. It is founded upon the history of the assistance rendered by Cyrus to the Jews, who permitted them to return to Jerusalem, and to commence the rebuilding of the house of the Lord. Zerubbabel, therefore, as the Prince of the Jews, and Cyrus the King of Persia, as his patron, are important personages in the drama of reception; which is conducted with great impressiveness even in the old and somewhat imperfect ritual of the last century, but which has been greatly improved in the modern rituals adopted by the Supreme Councils of the United States.

 

The cordon of a Knight of the East is a broad green watered ribbon, worn as a baldric from left to right. The sash or girdle is of white watered silk, edged above, and fringed below with gold. On it is embroidered a bridge, with the letters L. D. P. on the arch, and also on other parts of the girdle human heads, and mutilated limbs, and crowns, and 

 

732     APPENDIX

 

swords. The apron is crimson, edged with green, a bleeding head and two swords crossed on the flap, and on the apron three triangles interlaced formed of triangular links of chains. The jewel is three triangles interlaced enclosing two naked swords.

 

Knight of the East and West.  (Chevalier d'Orient et d'Occident.)

 

1. The Seventeenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The oldest rituals of the degree were very imperfect, and did not connect it with Freemasonry. They contained a legend that upon the return of the knights from the Holy Land, in the time of the Crusaders, they organized the Order, and that in the year 1118 the first knights, to the number of eleven, took their vows between the hands of Garinus, patriarch. The allusion, here, is evidently to the Knights Templar; and this legend would most probably indicate that the degree originated with the Templar system of Ramsay. This theory is further strengthened by the other legend, that the Knights of the East represented the Masons who remained in the East after the building of the first Temple, while the Knights of the East and West represented those who traveled West and disseminated the Order over Europe, but who returned during the Crusades and reunited with their ancient brethren, whence we get the name.

 

The modern ritual as used in the United States has been greatly enlarged. It still retains the apocalyptic character of the degree which always attached to it, as is evident from the old tracing‑board, which is the figure described in the first chapter of the Revelation of St. John. The jewel is a heptagon inscribed with symbols derived from the Apocalypse, among which are the lamb and the book with seven seals. The apron is yellow, lined and edged with crimson. In the old ritual its device was a two‑edged sword. In the new one it is a tetractys of ten dots. This is the first of the philosophical degrees of the Scottish Rite.

 

2. The Seventeenth Degree of the Chapter of Emperors of the East and West.

 

Knights Templar, Masonic. The connection of the Knights Templar with the Freemasons may much more plausibly be traced than that of the Knights of Malta. Yet, unfortunately, the sources from which information is to be derived are for the most part traditionary; authentic dates and documents are wanting. Tradition has always been inclined to trace the connection to an early period, and to give to the Templar system of secret reception a Masonic character, derived from their association during the Crusades with the mystical Society of the Assassins in Syria. Lawrie (Hist., p. 87), or Sir David Brewster, the real author of the work which bears Lawrie's name, embodies the tradition in this form: "Almost all the secret associations of the ancients either flourished or originated in Syria and the adjacent countries. It was here that the Dionysian artists, the Essenes and the Kasideans arose. From this country also came several members of that trading association of Masons which appeared in Europe during the dark ages; and we are assured, that, notwithstanding the unfavorable condition of that province, there

 

APPENDIX    733

 

exists at this day, on Mount Libanus, one of these Syriac fraternities. As the Order of the Templars, therefore, was originally formed in Syria, and existed there for a considerable time, it would be no improbable supposition that they received their Masonic knowledge from the Lodges in that quarter. But we are fortunately, in this case, not left to conjecture, for we are expressly informed by a foreign author [Adler, de Drusis], who was well acquainted with the history and customs of Syria, that the Knights Templar were actually members of the Syriac fraternities." Even if this hypothesis were true, although it might probably suggest the origin of the secret reception of the Templars, it would not ex‑plain the connection of the modern Templars with the Freemasons, be‑cause there is no evidence that these Syriac fraternities were Masonic.

 

There are four sources from which the Masonic Templars are said to have derived their existence; making, therefore, as many different divisions of the Order.

 

1. The Templars who claim John Mark Larmenius as the successor of James de Molay.

 

2. Those who recognize Peter d'Aumont as the successor of De Molay.

 

3. Those who derive their Templarism from the Count Beaujeu, the nephew of Molay.

 

4. Those who claim an independent origin, and repudiate alike the authority of Larmenius, of Aumont, and of Beaujeu.

 

From the first class spring the Templars of France, who professed to have continued the Order by authority of a charter given by De Molay to Larmenius. This body of Templars designate themselves as the "Order of the Temple." Its seat is in Paris. The Duke of Sussex received from it the degree and the authority to establish a Grand Conclave in England. He did so; and convened that body once, but only once. During the remaining years of his life, Templarism had no activity in England; as he discountenanced all Christian and chivalric Masonry. (See Temple, Order of the.) The second division of Templars is that which is founded on the theory that Peter d'Aumont fled with several knights into Scotland, and there united with the Freemasons. This legend is intimately connected with Ramsay',s tradition - that Freemasonry sprang from Templarism, and that all Freemasons are Knights Templar. The Chapter of Clermont adopted this theory; and in establishing their high degrees asserted that they were derived from these ,Templars of Scotland. The Baron Hund carried the theory into Germany, and on it established his Rite of Strict Observance, which was a Templar system. Hence the Templars of Germany must be classed under the head of the followers of Aumont. (See Strict Observance.) The third division is that which asserts that the Count Beaujeu, a nephew of the last Grand Master, De Molay, and a member of the Order

 

734     APPENDIX

 

of Knights of Christ - the name assumed by the Templars of Portugal - had received authority from that Order to disseminate the degree. He is said to have carried the degree and its ritual into Sweden, where he incorporated it with Freemasonry. The story is, too, that Beaujeu collected his uncle's ashes and interred them in Stockholm, where a monument was erected to his memory. Hence the Swedish Templar Masons claim their descent from Beaujeu, and the Swedish Rite is through this source a Templar system.

 

Of the last class, or the Templars who recognized the authority of neither of the leaders who have been mentioned, there were two subdivisions, the Scotch and the English; for it is only in Scotland and England that this independent Templarism found a foothold.

 

It was only in Scotland that the Templars endured no persecution. Long after the dissolution of the Order in every other country of Europe, the Scottish Preceptories continued to exist, and the knights lived undisturbed. One portion of the Scottish Templars entered the army of Robert Bruce, and, after the battle of Bannockburn, were merged in the "Royal Order of Scotland," then established by him. (See Royal Order of Scotland.) Another portion of the Scottish Templars united with the Knights Hospitalers of St. John. They lived amicably in the same houses, and continued to do so until the Reformation. At this time many of them embraced Protestantism. Some of them united with the Freemasons, and established "the Ancient Lodge" at Stirling, where they conferred the degrees of Knight of the Sepulcher, Knight of Malta, and Knights Templar. It is to this division that we are to trace the Masonic Templars of Scotland.

 

Knight of the Royal Ax.  (Chevalier de la royale Hache.) The Twenty‑second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Prince of Libanus, or Lebanon. It was instituted to record the memorable services rendered to Masonry by the "mighty cedars of Lebanon." The legend of the degree informs us that the Sidonians were employed in cutting cedars on Mount Libanus or Lebanon for the construction of Noah's ark. Their descendants subsequently cut cedars from the same place for the ark of the covenant; and the descendants of these were again employed in the same offices, and in the same place, in obtaining materials for building Solomon's Temple. Lastly, Zerubbabel employed them in cutting the cedars of Lebanon for the use of the second Temple. This celebrated nation formed colleges on Mount Lebanon, and in their labors always adored the Great Architect of the Universe. No doubt this last sentence refers to the Druses, that secret sect of Theists who still reside upon Mount Lebanon and in the adjacent parts of Syria and Palestine, and whose mysterious ceremonies have attracted so much of the curiosity of Eastern travelers.

 

APPENDIX    735

 

The apron of the Knights of the Royal Ax is white, lined and bordered with purple.

 

Knight of the Sun. (Chevalier du Soleil.) The Twenty‑eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Prince of the Sun, Prince Adept, and Key of Masonry, or Chaos Disentangled. It is a Kabbalistic and Hermetic degree, and its instructions and symbols are full of the Kabbala and Alchemy. Thus, one of its favorite words is Stibium, which, with the Hermetic Philosophers, meant the primal matter of all things. The principal officers are Father Adam and Brother Truth, allegorizing in the old rituals the search of Man after Truth. The other officers are named after the seven chief angels, and the brethren are called Sylphs, or, in the American ritual, Aralim or Heroes. The jewel is a golden sun, having on its reverse a hemisphere with the six northern signs of the zodiac. There is but one light in the Lodge, which shines through a globe of glass.

 

This degree is not confined to the Scottish Rite, but is found some‑times with a different name, but with the same Hermetic design, more or less developed in other Rites. Ragon, with whom Delaunay and Chemin‑Dupontes concur, says that it is not, like many of the high degrees, a mere modern invention, but that it is of the highest antiquity; and was, in fact, the last degree of the ancient initiations teaching, under an Hermetic appearance, the doctrines of natural religion, which formed an essential part of the Mysteries. But Ragon must here evidently refer to the general, philosophic design rather than to the particular organization of the degree. Thory (Acta Lat., i., 339), with more plausibility, ascribes its invention as a Masonic degree to Pernetty, the founder of the Hermetic Rite. Of all the high degrees, it is, perhaps, the most important and the most interesting to the scholar who desires to investigate the true secret of the Order. Its old catechisms, now unfortunately too much neglected, are full of suggestive thoughts, and in its modern ritual, for which we are indebted to the inventive genius of Bro. Albert Pike, it is by far the most learned and philosophical of the Scottish degrees.

 

Koran. The sacred book of the Mohammedans, and believed by them to contain a record of the revelations made by God to Mohammed, and afterward dictated. by him to an amanuensis, since the prophet could neither read nor write. In a Lodge consisting wholly of Mohammedans, the Koran would be esteemed as the Book of the Law, and take the place on the altar which is occupied in Christian Lodges by the Bible. It would thus become the symbol to them of the Tracing‑Board of the Divine Architect. But, unlike the Old and New Testaments, the Koran has no connection with, and gives no support to, any of the Masonic legends or symbols, except in those parts which were plagiarized by the prophet from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Finch, however, in one of his apocryphal works, produced a system of Mohammedan Masonry, consisting of twelve degrees, founded on the teachings of the Koran, and the

 

736     APPENDIX

 

Hadeeses or traditions of the prophet. This system was a pure invention of Finch.

 

Krishna or Christna. One of the Trimurti in the Hindu religious system. The myth proceeds to state that Devanaguy, upon the appearance of Vishnu, fell in a profound ecstasy, and having been overshadowed (Sanskrit), the spirit was incarnated, and upon the birth of a child, the Virgin and Son were conducted to a sheepfold belonging to Nanda, on the confines of the territory of Madura. The newly born was named Krishna (in Sanskrit, sacred). The Rajah of Madura had been informed in a dream that this son of Devanaguy should dethrone and chastise him for all his crimes; he therefore sought the certain destruction of the child, and ordained the massacre, in all his states, of all the children of the male sex born during the night of the birth of Krishna. A troop of soldiers reached the sheepfold of Nanda, the lord of a small village on the banks of the Ganges, and celebrated for his virtues. The servants were about to arm in defense, when the child, who was at his mother's breast, suddenly grew to the appearance and size of a child ten years of age, and running, amused himself amidst the flock of sheep. The exploits of this wonder child, his preaching the new or reformed doctrine of India, his disciples and loved companion Ardjouna, the parables, philosophic teaching, the myth of his transfiguration, his ablutions in the Ganges before his death, and tragic end, together with the story of his revival after three days, and ascension, are graphically told by many authors, perhaps more brilliantly in La Bible dins l'Inde, as translated into English by Louis Jacolliot.

 

Lamb, Paschal. The paschal lamb, sometimes called the holy Lamb, was the lamb offered up by the Jews at the paschal feast. This has been transferred to Christian symbolism, and naturally to chivalric Masonry; and hence we find it among the symbols of modern Templarism. The paschal lamb, as a Christian and Masonic symbol, called also the Agnes Dei, or the Lamb of God, first appeared in Christian art after the sixth century. It is depicted as a lamb standing on the ground, holding by the left forefoot a banner, on which a cross is inscribed. This paschal lamb, or Lamb of God, has been adopted as a symbol by the Knights Templar, being borne in one of the banners of the Order, and constituting, with the square which it surmounts, the jewel of the Generalissimo of a Cornmandery. The lamb is a symbol of Christ; the cross, of his passion; and the banner, of his victory over death and hell. Mr. Barrington states (Archceologia, ix., 134) that in a deed of the English Knights Templar, granting lands in Cambridgeshire, the seal is a Holy Land, and the arms of the Master of the Temple at London were argent, a cross gules, and on the nombril point thereof a Holy Lamb, that is, a paschal or Holy Lamb on the center of a red cross in a white field.

 

Legend of the Royal Arch Degree. Much of this legend is a myth, having very little foundation, and some of it none, in historical accuracy.

 

APPENDIX    737

 

But underneath it all there lies a profound stratum of philosophical symbolism. The destruction and the rebuilding of the Temple by the efforts of Zerubbabel and his compatriots, the captivity and the return of the captives, are matters of sacred history; but many of the details have been invented and introduced for the purpose of giving form to a symbolic idea. And this idea, expressed in the symbolism of the Royal Arch, is the very highest form of that which the ancient Mystagogues called the euresis, or the discovery. There are some portions of the legend which do not bear directly on the symbolism of the second Temple as a type of the second life, but which still have an indirect bearing on the general idea. Thus the particular legend of the three weary sojourners is undoubtedly a mere myth, there being no known historical testimony for its support; but it is evidently the enunciation symbolically of the religious and philosophical idea that Divine truth may be sought and won only by successful perseverance through all the dangers, trials, and tribulations of life, and that it is not in this, but in the next life, that it is fully attained.

 

The legend of the English and the American systems is identical; that of the Irish is very different as to the time and events; and the legend of the Royal Arch of the Scottish Rite is more usually called the legend of Enoch.

 

Libation. Among the Greeks and Romans the libation was a religious ceremony, consisting of the pouring of wine or other liquid upon the ground, or, in a sacrifice, upon the head of the victim after it had been first tasted by the priest and by those who stood next to him. The libations were usually of unmixed wine, but were sometimes of mingled wine and water. Libations are used in some of the chivalric and the high degrees of Masonry.

 

Lustration. A religious rite practised by the ancients, and performed before any act of devotion. It consisted in washing the hands, and sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water. It was intended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart. It was a ceremony preparatory to initiation in all the Ancient Mysteries. The ceremony is practised with the same symbolic import in some of the high degrees of Masonry. So strong was the idea of a connection between lustration and initiation, that in the low Latin of the Middle Ages lustrare meant to initiate. Thus Du Cange (Glossarium) cites the expression "lustrare religione Christianorum" as signifying "to initiate into the Christian religion."

 

Magi. The ancient Greek historians so term the hereditary priests among the Persians and Medians. The word is derived from mog or mag, signifying priest in the Pehlevi language. The Illuminati first introduced the word into Masonry, and employed it in the nomenclature of their degrees to signify men of superior wisdom.

 

Magi, The Three. The "Wise Men of the East" who came to Jerusalem, bringing gifts to the infant Jesus. The traditional names of the

 

738     APPENDIX

 

three are Melchior, an old man, with a long beard, offering gold; Jasper, a beardless youth, who offers frankincense; Balthazar, a black or Moor, with a large spreading beard, who tenders myrrh. The patron saints of travelers. "Tradition fixed their number at three, probably in allusion to the three races springing from the sons of Noah. The Empress Helena caused their corpses to be transported to Milan from Constantinople. Frederick Barbarossa carried them to Cologne, the place of their special glory as the Three Kings of Cologne. " - Yonge. The three principal officers ruling the society of the Rosicrucians are styled Magi.

 

Master Mason. In all the Rites of Masonry, no matter how variant may be their organization in the high degrees, the Master Mason constitutes the Third Degree. In form this degree is also everywhere substantially the same, because its legend is an essential part of it; and, as on that legend the degree must be founded, there can nowhere be any important variation, bcause the tradition has at all times been the same.

 

The Master Mason's Degree was originally called the summit of Ancient Craft Masonry; and so it must have been before the disseverance from it of the Royal Arch, by which is meant not the ritual, but the symbolism of Arch Masonry. But under its present organization the degree is actually incomplete, because it needs a complement that is only to be supplied in a higher one. Hence its symbolism is necessarily restricted, in its mutilated form, to the first Temple and the present life, although it gives the assurance of a future one.

 

As the,. whole system of Craft Masonry is intended to present the symbolic idea of man passing through the pilgrimage of life, each degree is appropriated to a certain portion of that pilgrimage. If, then, the First Degree is a representation of youth, the time to learn, and the Second of manhood or the time to work, the Third is symbolic of old age, with its trials, its sufferings, and its final termination in death. The time for toiling is now over - the opportunity to learn has passed away - the spiritual temple that we all have been striving to erect in our hearts, is now nearly completed, and the wearied workman awaits only the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to call him from the labors of earth to the eternal refreshments of heaven. Hence, this is, by far, the most solemn and sacred of the degrees of Masonry; and it has, in consequence of the profound truths which it inculcates, been distinguished by the Craft as the sublime degree. As an Entered Apprentice, the Mason was taught those elementary instructions which were to fit him for further advancement in his profession, just as the youth is supplied with that rudimentary education which is to prepare him for entering on the active duties of life; as a Fellow‑Craft, he is directed to continue his investigations in the science of the Institution, and to labor diligently in the tasks it prescribes, just as the man is required to enlarge his mind by the acquisition of new ideas, and to extend his usefulness to his fellow‑creatures; but, as a Master Mason, he is taught the last, the most important, and the

 

APPENDIX    739

 

most necessary of truths, that having been faithful to all his trusts, he is at last to die, and to receive the reward of his fidelity.

 

It was the single object of all the ancient rites and mysteries practised in the very bosom of Pagan darkness, shining as a solitary beacon in all that surrounding gloom, and cheering the philosopher in his weary pilgrimage of life, to teach the immortality of the soul. This is still the great design of the Third Degree of Masonry. This is the scope and aim of its ritual. The Master Mason represents man, when youth, manhood, old age, and life itself, have passed away as fleeting shadows, yet raised from the grave of iniquity, and quickened into another and a better existence. By its legend and all its ritual, it is implied that we have been redeemed from the death of sin and the sepulcher of pollution. "The ceremonies and the lecture," says Dr. Crucefix, "beautifully illustrate this all‑engrossing subject; and the conclusion we arrive at is, that youth, properly directed, leads us to honorable and virtuous maturity, and that the life of man, regulated by morality, faith, and justice, will be rewarded at its closing hour, by the prospect of eternal bliss." Masonic historians have found much difficulty in settling the question as to the time of the invention and composition of the degree. The theory that at the building of the Temple of Jerusalem the Craft were divided into three or even more degrees, being only a symbolic myth, must be discarded in any historical discussion of the subject. The real question at issue is whether the Master Mason's Degree, as a degree, was in existence among the Operative Freemasons before the eighteenth century, or whether we owe it to the Revivalists of 1717. Bro. Wm. J. Hughan, in a very able article on this subject, published in 1873, in the Voice of Masonry, says that "so far the evidence respecting its history goes no farther back than the early part of the last century." The evidence, however, is all of a negative character. There is none that the degree existed in the seventeenth century or earlier, and there is none that it did not. All the old manuscripts speak of Masters and Fellows, but these might have been and probably were only titles of rank. The Sloane MS., No. 3329, speaks, it is true, of modes of recognition peculiar to Masters and Fellows, and also of a Lodge consisting of Masters, Fellows, and Apprentices. But even if we give to this MS. its earliest date, that which is assigned to it by Findel, near the end of the seventeenth century, it will not necessarily follow that these Masters, Fellows, and Apprentices had each a separate and distinct degree. Indeed, it refers only to one Lodge, which was, however, constituted by three different ranks; and it records but one oath, so that it is possible that there was only one common form of initiation.

 

The first positive historical evidence that we have of the existence of a Master's Degree is to be found in the General Regulations compiled by Payne in

1720. It is there declared that Apprentices must be admitted Masters and Fellow‑Crafts only in the Grand Lodge. The degree was

 

740     APPENDIX

 

then in existence. But this record would not militate against the theory advanced by some that Desaguliers was its author in 1717.

 

Documentary evidence is yet wanting to settle the precise time of the composition of the Third Degree as we now have it. But it would not be prudent to oppose too positively the theory that it must be traced to the second decade of the eighteenth century. The proofs, as they arise day by day, from the resurrection of old manuscripts, seem to incline that way.

 

But the legend, perhaps, is of much older date. It may have made a part of the general initiation; but there is no doubt that, like the similar one of the Compagnons de la Tour in France, it existed among the Operative Gilds of the Middle Ages as an esoteric narrative. Such a legend all the histories of the Ancient Mysteries prove to us belongs to the spirit of initiation. There would have been no initiation worth preservation without it.

 

Mark. The appropriate jewel of a Mark Master. It is made of gold or silver, usually of the former metal, and must be in the form of a key‑stone. On the obverse or front surface, the device or "mark" selected by the owner must be engraved within a circle composed of the following letters: H. T. W. S. S. T. K. S. On the reverse or posterior surface, the name of the owner, the name of his Chapter, and the date of his ‑advancement, may be inscribed, although this is not absolutely necessary. The "mark" consists of the device and surrounding inscription on the obverse. The Mark jewel, as prescribed by the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, is of mother‑of‑pearl. The circle on one side is inscribed with  Hebrew letters, and the circle on the other side with letters containing the same meaning in the vernacular tongue of the country in which the Chapter is situated, and the wearer's mark in the center. The Hebrew letters are the initials of a Hebrew sentence equivalent to the English one familiar to Mark Masons. It is but a translation into Hebrew of the English mystical sentence.

 

It is not requisite that the device or mark should be of a strictly Ma‑sonic character, although Masonic emblems are frequently selected in preference to other subjects. As soon as adopted it should be drawn or described in a book kept by the Chapter for that purpose, and it is then said to be "recorded in the Book of Marks," after which time it can never be changed by the possessor for any other, or altered in the slightest degree, but remains as his "mark" to the day of his death.

 

This mark is not a mere ornamental appendage of the degree, but is a sacred token of the rites of friendship and brotherly love, and its presentation at any time by the owner to another Mark Master, would claim, from the latter, certain acts of friendship which are of solemn obligation among the Fraternity. A mark thus presented, for the purpose of obtaining a favor, is said to be pledged; though remaining in the possession of the owner, it ceases, for any actual purposes of advantage, to be his prop-

 

 APPENDIX   741

 

erty; nor can it be again used by him until, either by the return of the favor, or with the consent of the benefactor, it has been redeemed; for it is a positive law of the Order, that no Mark Master shall "pledge his mark a second time until he has redeemed it from its previous pledge." By this wise provision, the unworthy are prevented from making an improper use of this valuable token, or from levying contributions on their hospitable brethren. Marks or pledges of this kind were of frequent use among the ancients, under the name of tessera hospitalis and "arrhabo." The nature of the tessera hospitalis, as the Greeks called it. It cannot be better described than in the words of the Scholiast on the Medea of Euripides, v. 613, where Jason promises Medea, on her parting from him, to send her the symbols of hospitality which should procure her a kind reception in foreign countries. It was the custom, says the Scholiast, when a guest had been entertained, to break a die in two parts, one of which parts was retained by the guest, so that if, at any future period he required assistance, on exhibiting the broken pieces of the die to each other, the friendship was renewed. Plautus, in one of his comedies gives us an exemplification of the manner in which these tesseræ or pledges of friendship were used at Rome, whence it appears that the privileges of this friendship were extended to the descendants of the contracting parties. Peenulus is introduced, inquiring for Agorastocles, with whose family he had formerly exchanged the tessera.

 

These tessera, thus used, like the Mark Master's mark, for the purposes of perpetuating friendship and rendering its union more sacred, were constructed in the following manner: they took a small piece of bone, ivory, or stone, generally of a square or cubical form, and dividing it into equal parts, each wrote his own name, or some other inscription, upon one of the pieces; they then made a mutual exchange, and, lest falling into other hands it should give occasion to imposture, the pledge was preserved with the greatest secrecy, and no one knew the name in‑scribed upon it except the possessor.

 

The primitive Christians seem to have adopted a similar practise, and the tessera was carried by them in their travels, as a means of introduction to their fellow Christians. A favorite inscription with them were the Greek and Hebrew initials of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The use of these tessera in the place of written certificates, continued, says Dr. Harris (Diss. on the Tess. Hosp.), until the eleventh century, at which time they are mentioned by Burchardus, Archbishop of Worms, in a visitation charge.

 

The "arrhabo" was a similar keepsake, formed by breaking a piece of money in two. The etymology of this word shows distinctly that the Romans borrowed the custom of these pledges from the ancient Israelites, for it is derived from the Hebrew arabon, a pledge.

 

With this detail of the customs of the ancients before us, we can easily explain the well‑known passage in Revelation ii. 17: "To him that

 

742     APPENDIX

 

overcometh will I give a white stone, and in it a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." That is, to borrow the interpretation of Harris, "To him that overcometh will I give a pledge of my affection, which shall constitute him my friend, and entitle him to privileges and honors of which none else can know the value or the ex‑tent."

 

Materials of the Temple. Masonic tradition tells us that the trees out of which the timbers were made for the Temple were felled and pre‑pared in the forest of Lebanon, and that the stones were hewn, cut, and squared in the quarries of Tyre. But both the Book of Kings and Josephus concur in the statement that Hiram of Tyre furnished only cedar and fir trees for the Temple. The stones were most probably (and the explorations of modern travelers confirm the opinion) taken from the quarries which abound in and around Jerusalem. The tradition, there‑fore, which derives these stones from the quarries of Tyre, is incorrect.

 

Melchizedek. King of Salem, and a priest of the Most High God, of whom all that we know is to be found in the passages of Scripture read at the conferring of the degree of High Priesthood. Some theologians have supposed him to have been Shem, the son of Noah. The sacrifice of offering bread and wine is first attributed to Melchizedek; and hence, looking to the similar Mithraic sacrifice, Higgins is inclined to believe that he professed the religion of Mithras. He abandoned the sacrifice of slaughtered animals, and, to quote the words of St. Jerome, "offered bread and wine as a type of Christ." Hence, in the New Testament, Christ is represented as a priest after the order of Melchizedek. In Masonry, Melchizedek is connected with the order or degree of High Priesthood, and some of the high degrees.

 

Morgan, William. Born in Culpeper County, in Virginia, in 1775. He published in 1826 a pretended Exposition of Masonry, which attracted at the time more attention than it deserved. Morgan soon after disappeared, and the Masons were charged by some enemies of the Order with having removed him by foul means. What was the real fate of Morgan has never been ascertained. There are various myths of his disappearance, and subsequent residence in other countries. They may or may not be true, but it is certain that there is no evidence of his death that would be admitted in a Court of Probate. He was a man of questionable character and dissolute habits, and his enmity to Masonry is said to have originated from the refusal of the Masons of Le Roy to admit him to membership in their Lodge and Chapter.

 

Moriah, Mount. An eminence situated in the southeastern part of Jerusalem. In the time of David it must have been cultivated, for it is called "the threshing‑floor of Ornan the Jebusite," from whom that monarch purchased it for the purpose of placing there an altar. Solomon subsequently erected there his magnificent Temple. Mount Moriah was always profoundly venerated by the Jews, among whom there is an early

 

APPENDIX    743

 

tradition that on it Abraham was directed to offer up his son. The truth of this tradition has, it is true, been recently denied by some Biblical writers, but it has been as strenuously maintained by others. The Masons, however, have always accepted it, and to them, as the site of the Temple, it is especially sacred, and, combining with this the Abrahamic legend, they have given to Mount Moriah the appellation of the ground floor of the Lodge, and assign it as the place where what are called "the three grand offerings were made."

 

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 rituals of the last century. It is a portion of the old sun worship, of which we find so many relics in Gnosticism, in Hermetic philosophy, and in Free‑masonry. 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 vivific heat, and to clothe the earth in the darkness of long nights and the 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 northeast, 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.

 

744     APPENDIX

 

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. Bro. George F. Fort, in his Antiquities of Freemasonry, says: "In the centre 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 heads‑man, 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 associated all that was sinstrous and direful." (P. 292.)

 

Nine. If the number three was celebrated among the ancient sages, that of three times three had no less celebrity; because, according to them, each of the three elements which constitute our bodies is ternary: the water containing earth and fire; the earth containing igneous and aqueous particles; and the fire being tempered by globules of water and terrestrial corpuscles which serve to feed it. No one of the three elements being entirely separated from the others, all material beings composed of these three elements, whereof each is triple, may be designated by the figurative number of three times three, which has become the symbol of all formations of bodies. Hence the name of ninth envelop given to matter. Every material extension, every circular line, has for its representative sign the number nine among the Pythagoreans, who had observed the property which this number possesses of reproducing itself incessantly and entire in every multiplication; thus offering to the mind a very striking emblem of matter, which is incessantly composed before our eyes, after having undergone a thousand decompositions.

 

The number nine was consecrated to the Spheres and the Muses. It is the sign of every circumference; because a circle of 360 degrees is equal to 9, that is to say, 3 + 6 + 0 = 9. Nevertheless, the ancients regarded this number with a sort of terror; they considered it a bad presage; as

 

APPENDIX    745

 

the symbol of versatility, of change, and the emblem of the frailty of human affairs. Wherefore they avoided all numbers where nine appears, and chiefly 81, the product of

9 multiplied by itself, and the addition whereof, 8 + 1, again presents the number 9.

 

As the figure of the number 6 was the symbol of the terrestrial globe, animated by a Divine spirit, the figure of the number 9 symbolized the earth, under the influence of the Evil Principle; and thence the terror it inspired. Nevertheless, according to the Kabbalists, the cipher 9 symbolizes the generative egg, or the image of a little globular being, from whose lower side seems to flow its spirit of life.

 

The Ennead, signifying an aggregate of nine things or persons, is the first square of unequal numbers.

 

Everyone is aware of the singular properties of the number 9, which, multiplied by itself or any other number whatever, gives a result whose final sum is always

9, or always divisible by 9.

 

9, multiplied by each of the ordinary numbers, produces an arithmetical progression, each member whereof, composed of two figures, presents a remarkable fact; for example:

 

1  .  2  .  3  .  4  .  5  .  6  .  7  .  8  .  9  . 10

9 . 18 .  27 . 36 . 45 . 54 . 63 . 72 . 81 . 90

 

The first line of figures gives the regular series, from 1 to 10.

 

The second reproduces this line doubly; first ascending from the first figure of 18, and then returning from the second figure of 81.

 

In Freemasonry, 9 derives its value from its being the product of 3 multiplied into itself, and consequently in Masonic language the number 9 is always denoted by the  xpression

3 times 3. For a similar reason, 27, which is 3 times 9, and 81, which is 9 times 9, are esteemed as sacred numbers in the higher degrees.

 

Nineveh. The capital of the ancient kingdom of Assyria, and built by Nimrod. The traditions of its greatness and the magnificence of its buildings were familiar to the Arabs, the Greeks, and the Romans. The modern discoveries of Rich, of Botta, and other explorers, have thrown much light upon its ancient condition, and have shown that it was the seat of much architectural splendor and of a profoundly symbolical religion, which had something of the characteristics of the Mithraic worship. In the mythical relations of the Old Constitutions, which make up the legend of the Craft, it is spoken of as the ancient birthplace of Masonry, where Nimrod, who was its builder, and "was a Mason and loved well the Craft," employed 60,000 Masons to build it, and gave them a charge "that they should be true," and this, says the llarleian MS., No. 1942, was the first time that any Mason had any charge of Craft.

 

Nisan. The seventh month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding to the months of March and April, commencing with the new moon of the former.

 

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Noachidæ. The descendants of Noah. A term applied to Free‑masons on the theory, derived from the "legend of the Craft," that Noah was the Father and founder of the Masonic system of theology. And hence the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because in times past they preserved the pure principles of his religion amid the corruptions of surrounding faiths.

 

Dr. Anderson first used the word in this sense in the second edition of the Book of Constitutions: "A Mason is obliged by his tenure to observe the moral law as a true Noachida." But he was not the inventor of the term, for it occurs in a letter sent by the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of Calcutta in1735, which letter is preserved among the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (See Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, xi., 35.) Noachite, or Prussian Knight. (Noachite ou Chevalier Prussien.)

1. The Twenty‑first Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The history as well as the character of this degree is a very singular one. It is totally unconnected with the series of Masonic degrees which are founded upon the Temple of Solomon, and is traced to the tower of Babel. Hence the Prussian Knights call themselves Noachites, or Disciples of Noah, while they designate all other Masons as Hiramites, or Disciples of Hiram. The early French rituals state that the degree was translated in 1757 from the German by M. de Beraye, Knight of Eloquence in the Lodge of the Count St. Gelaire, Inspector‑General of Prussian Lodges in France. kenning gives no credit to this statement, but admits that the origin of the degree must be attributed to the year above named. The destruction of the tower of Babel constitutes the legend of the degree, whose mythical founder is said to have been Peleg, the chief builder of that edifice. A singular regulation is that there shall be no artificial light in the Lodge room, and that the meetings shall be held on the night of the full moon of each month.

 

The degree was adopted by the Council of Emperors of the East and West, and in that way became subsequently a part of the system of the Scottish Rite. But it is misplaced in any series of degrees supposed to emanate from the Solomonic Temple. It is, as an unfitting link, an unsightly interruption of the chain of legendary symbolism substituting Noah for Solomon, and Peleg for Hiram Abif. The Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction has abandoned the original ritual and made the degree a representation of the Vehmgericht or Westphalian Franc Judges. But this by no means relieves the degree of the objection of Masonic incompatibility. That it was ever adopted into the Masonic system is only to be attributed to the passion for high degrees which prevailed in France in the middle of the last century.

 

In the modern ritual the meetings are called Grand Chapters. The officers are a Lieutenant Commander, two Wardens, an Orator, Treasurer, Secretary, Master of Ceremonies, Warder, and Standard‑Bearer. The

 

APPENDIX    747

 

apron is yellow, inscribed with an arm holding a sword and the Egyptian figure of silence. The order is black, and the jewel a full moon or a triangle traversed by an arrow. In the original ritual there is a coat of arms belonging to the degree, which is thus emblazoned: Party per fess; in chief, azure, seme of stars, or a full moon, argent; in base, sable, an equilateral triangle, having an arrow suspended from its upper point, barb downward, or.

 

The legend of the degree describes the travels of Peleg from Babel to the north of Europe, and ends with the following narrative: "In trenching the rubbish of the salt‑mines of Prussia was found in A.D. 553, at a depth of fifteen cubits, the appearance of a triangular building in which was a column of white marble, on which was written in Hebrew the whole history of the Noachites. At the side of this column was a tomb of freestone on which was a piece of agate inscribed with the following epitaph: Here rest the ashes of Peleg, our Grand Architect of the tower of Babel. The Almighty had pity on him because he became humble." This legend, although wholly untenable on historic grounds, is not absolutely puerile. The dispersion of the human race in the time of Peleg had always been a topic of discussion among the learned. Long dissertations had been written to show that all the nations of the world, even America, had been peopled by the three sons of Noah and their descend‑ants. The object of the legend seems, then, to have been to impress the idea of the thorough dispersion. The fundamental idea of the degree is, under the symbol of Peleg, to teach the crime of assumption and the virtue of humility.

 

2. The degree was also adopted into the Rite of Mizraim, where it is the Thirty‑fifth.

 

Omnific Word. The Tetragrammaton is so called because of the omnific powers attributed by the Kabbalists to its possession and true pronunciation. (See Tetragrammaton,) The term is also applied to the most significant word in the Royal Arch system.

 

On. This is a significant word in Royal Arch Masonry, and has been generally explained as being the name by which Jehovah was worshiped among the Egyptians. As this has been recently denied, and the word asserted to be only the name of a city in Egypt, it is proper that some inquiry should be made into the authorities on the subject. The first mention of On in the Bible is in the history of Joseph, to whom Pharaoh gave "to wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti‑pherah, priest of On." The city of On was in Lower Egypt, between the Nile and the Red Sea, and "adorned," says Philippson, "by a gorgeous temple of the sun, in which a numerous priesthood officiated." The investigations of modern Egyptologists have shown that this is an error. On was the name of a city where the sun‑god was worshiped, but On was not the name of that god.

 

748     APPENDIX

 

Champollioin, in his Dictionnaire Egyptien, gives the phonetic characters, with the figurative symbols of a serpent and disk, and a seated figure, as the name of the sun‑god. Now, of these two characters, the upper one has the power of R, and the lower of A, and hence the name of the god is Ra. And this is the concurrent testimony of Bunsen, Lepsius, Gliddon, and all recent authorities.

 

But although On was really the name of a city, the founders of the Royal Arch had, with the lights then before them, assumed that it was the name of a god, and had so incorporated it with their system. With better light than theirs, we can no longer accept their definition; yet the word may still be retained as a symbol of the Egyptian god. I know not who has power to reject it; and if scholars preserve, outside of the symbolism, the true interpretation, no harm will be done. It is not the only significant word in Masonry whose old and received meaning has been shown to be incorrect, and sometimes even absurd. Higgins (Celt. Druids, 171) quotes an Irish commentator as showing that the name AIN or ON was the name of a triad of gods in the Irish language. "All etymologists," Higgins continues, "have supposed the word On to mean the sun; but how the name arose has not before been explained." In another work (Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 109), Higgins makes the following important remarks: "Various definitions are given of the word ON; but they are all unsatisfactory. It is written in the Old Testament in two ways,

aun, and, an. It is usually rendered in English by the word On. This word is supposed to mean the sun, and the Greeks translated it by the word Sol. But I think it only stood for the sun, as the emblem of the procreative power of nature." Bryan says (Ant. Mythol., i.,

19), when speaking of this word: "On, Eon or Aon, was another title of the sun among the Amonians. The Seventy, where the word occurs in the Scriptures, interpret it the sun, and call the city of On, Heliopolis; and the Coptic Pentateuch renders the city On by the city of the sun." Plato, in his Timcrus, says: "Tell me of the god ON, which is, and never knew beginning." And although Plato may have been here thinking of the Greek word WN, which means Being, it is not improbable that he may have referred to the god worshiped at On, or Heliopolis, as it was thence that the Greeks derived so much of their learning. It would be vain to attempt to make an analogy between the Hindu sacred word AUM and the Egyptian ON. The fact that the M in the former word is the initial of some secret word, renders the conversion of it into N impossible, because it would thereby lose its signification.

 

The old Masons, misled by the authority of St. Cyril, and by the translation of the name of the city into "City of the Sun" by the Hebrews and the Greeks, very naturally supposed that On was the Egyptian sun‑god, their supreme deity, as the sun always was, wherever lie was worshiped. Hence, they appropriated that name as a sacred word explanatory of the Jewish Tetragrammaton.

 

APPENDIX    749

 

Perfect Master. (Maitre Parfait.) The Fifth Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The ceremonies of this degree were originally established as a grateful tribute of respect to a worthy de‑parted brother. The officers of the Lodge are a Master, who represents Adoniram, the Inspector of the Works at Mount Lebanon, and one Warden. The symbolic color of the degree is green, to remind the Perfect Master that, being dead in vice, he must hope to revive in virtue. His jewel is a compass extended sixty degrees, to teach him that he should act within measure, and ever pay due regard to justice and equity.

 

The apron is white, with a green flap; and in the middle of the apron must be embroidered or painted, within three circles, a cubical stone, in the center of which the letter J is inscribed, according to the old rituals; but the Samaritan yod and he, according to the ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction.

 

Delaunay, in his Thu.ileur de l'Ecossisme, gives the Tetragrammaton in this degree, and says the degree should more properly be called Past Master, Ancien Maitre, because the Tetragrammaton makes it in some sort the complement of the Master's Degree. But the Tetragrammaton is not found in any of the approved rituals, and Delaunay's theory falls therefore to the ground. But besides, to complete the Master's with this degree would be to confuse all the symbolism of the Ineffable degrees, which really conclude with the Fourteenth.

 

Perfect Stone. A name frequently given to the cubic stone discovered in the Thirteenth Degree of Perfection, the tenth of the Ineffable Series. It denotes justice and firmness, with all the moral lessons and duties in which the mystic cube is calculated to instruct us.

 

Points of Entrance, Perfect. In the earliest lectures of the last century these were called "Principal Points." The designation of them as "Perfect Points of Entrance" was of a later date. They are described both in the English and the American systems. Their specific names, and their allusion to the four cardinal virtues, are the same in both; but the verbal explanations differ, although not substantially. They are so called because they refer to four important points of the initiation. The Guttural refers to the entrance upon the penal responsibilities; the Pectoral, to the entrance into the Lodge; the Manual, to the entrance on the covenant; and the Pedal, to the entrance on the instructions in the northeast.

 

Pillars of Cloud and Fire. The pillar of cloud that went before the Israelites by day, and the pillar of fire that preceded them by night, in their journey through the wildernes1, are supposed to be alluded to by the pillars of Jachin and Boaz at the porch of Solomon's Temple. We find this symbolism at a very early period in the last century, having been incorporated into the lecture of the Second Degree, where it still remains. "The pillar on the right hand," says Calcott (Cand. Disq., 66), "represented the pillar of the cloud, and that on the left the pillar of fire." If this symbolism be correct, the pillars of the porch, like those of the wilder‑

 

750     APPENDIX

 

ness, would refer to the superintending and protecting power of Deity.

 

Pillars of Enoch. Two pillars which were erected by Enoch, for the preservation of the antediluvian inventions, and which are repeatedly referred to in the "Legend of the Craft," contained in the Old Constitutions, and in the high degrees of modern times. (See Enoch.) Pillars of the Porch. The pillars most remarkable in Scripture history were the two erected by Solomon at the porch of the Temple, and which Josephus (Antiq., lib. i., cap. ii.) thus describes: "Moreover, this Hiram made two hollow pillars, whose outsides were of brass, and the thickness of the brass was four fingers' breadth, and the height of the pillars was eighteen cubits, (27 feet,) and the circumference twelve cubits, (18 feet;) but there was cast with each of their chapiters lily‑work, that stood upon the pillar, and it was elevated five cubits, (71/2 feet, ) round about which there was net‑work interwoven with small palms made of brass, and covered the lily‑work. To this also were hung two hundred pomegranates, in two rows. The one of these pillars he set at the entrance of the porch on the right hand, (or south,) and called it Jachin, and the other at the left hand, (or north,) and called it Boaz." It has been supposed that Solomon, in erecting these pillars, had reference to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire which went before the Israelites in the wilderness, and that the right hand or south pillar represented the pillar of cloud, and the left hand or north pillar represented that of fire. Solomon did not simply erect them as ornaments to the Temple, but as memorials of God's repeated promises of support to his people of Israel. For the pillar Jachin, the name is derived from the words Jah, "Jehovah," and achin, "to establish," signifies that "God will establish his house of Israel"; while the pillar Boaz, is compounded of "in" and oaz, "strength," signifying that "in strength shall it be established." And thus were the Jews, in passing through the porch to the Temple, daily reminded of the abundant promises of God, and inspired with confidence in his protection and gratitude for his many acts of kindness to his chosen people.

 

The construction of these pillars. - There is no part of the architecture of the ancient Temple which is so difficult to be understood in its details as the Scriptural account of these memorable pillars. Free‑masons, in general, intimately as their symbolical signification is connected with some of the most beautiful portions of their ritual, appear to have but a confused notion of their construction and of the true disposition of the various parts of which they are composed. Mr. Ferguson says (Smith, Diet. Bib.) that there are no features connected with the Temple which have given rise to so much controversy, or been so difficult to ex‑plain, as the form of these two pillars.

 

The true description, then, of these memorable pillars, is simply this. Immediately within the porch of the Temple, and on each side of the door, were placed two hollow brazen pillars. The height of each was

 

APPENDIX    751

 

twenty‑seven feet, the diameter about six feet, and the thickness of the brass three inches. Above the pillar, and the covering its upper part to the depth of nine inches, was an oval body or chapiter seven feet and a half in height. Springing out from the pillar, at the junction of the chapiter with it, was a row of lotus petals, which, first spreading around the chapiter, afterward gently curved downward toward the pillar, some‑thing like the Acanthus leaves on the capital of a Corinthian column. About two‑fifths of the distance from the bottom of the chapiter, or just below its most bulging part, a tissue of network was carved, which ex‑tended over its whole upper surface. To the bottom of this network was suspended a series of fringes, and on these again were carved two rows of pomegranates, one hundred being in each row.

 

This description, it seems to me, is the only one that can be reconciled with the various passages in the Books of Kings, Chronicles, and Josephus, which relate to these pillars, and the only one that can give the Masonic student a correct conception of the architecture of these important symbols.

 

What was the original or Scriptural symbolism of the pillars has been very well explained by Dudley in his Naology. He says (p. 121) that "the pillars represented the sustaining power of the great God."

 

Philosophic Degrees. All the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite above the Eighteenth and below the Thirty‑third are called philosophic degrees, because, abandoning the symbolism based on the Temple, they seek to develop a system of pure theosophy. Some writers have contended that the Seventeenth and Eighteenth degrees should be classed with the philosophic degrees. But this is not correct, since both of those degrees have preserved the idea of the Temple system. They ought rather to be called apocalyptic degrees, the Seventeenth especially, because they do not teach the ancient philosophies, but are connected in their symbolism with the spiritual temple of the New Jerusalem.

 

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 - St. John the Baptist and St. 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, as I have already shown under the word, 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,

 

752     APPENDIX

 

under the name of lingam, 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 (Asiat. Ides.) 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 I have elsewhere shown, all their rites from the East.

 

It was in deference to this symbolism that, as Higgins remarks (Anacal., ii.,

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 (Panth., 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 Abury, 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 Oliver (Signs and Symbols,

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, lisposed in the form of a circle, for the principal gods, with an elevated neat 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 sym‑Eiol among the ancients. And 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

 

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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.

 

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 cf the world, protected by the parallel attributes, the Power and Wisdom of the Creator. The Alpha and Omega, or the W.11 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 (Sanskrit,) 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.

 

Presidents of the United States of America, Masonic. George Washington, first president, born February 22nd, 1732. Passed on December 14th, 1799. Initiated November 4th, 1752, passed March 3rd, 1753, raised August 4th, 1753, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fredericks‑burg Lodge No. 4.

 

Andrew Jackson, seventh president, born March 15th, 1767. Passed on June

8th, 1845. It is not clear where he received his degrees. He was Grand Master of Tennessee 1822‑23.

 

James Knox Polk, eleventh president, born November 2nd, 1795. Passed on June

15th, 1849. Initiated June 5th, 1820, passed August 7th, 1820, raised October 2nd, 1820, in Columbia Lodge No. 31, Columbia, Tennessee.

 

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James Buchanan, fifteenth president, born April 23rd, 1791. Passed on June 1st, 1868. Received his Masonic Degrees in Lodge No. 43, in Pennsylvania (name not given), January 24th, 1817.

 

Andrew Johnson, seventeenth president, born December 29th, 1808. Passed on July

31st, 1875. Received his Masonic Degrees in Greeneville Lodge No. 119, now No.

3, Greeneville, Tennessee, in May, 1851.

 

James Abram Garfield, twentieth president, born November 19th, 1831. Passed on September 19th, 1881. Initiated November 22nd, 1861, passed December 3rd, 1861, in Magnolia Lodge No. 20, Columbus, Ohio, raised November 22nd, 1864, in Columbus Lodge No. 30, request Magnolia Lodge, Columbus, Ohio.

 

William McKinley, twenty‑fifth president, born January 29th, 1843. Passed on September

14th, 1901. Initiated May 1st, 1865, passed May 2nd and raised May 3rd, in Winchester Hiram Lodge No. 21, Winchester, Virginia.

 

Theodore Roosevelt, twenty‑sixth president, born October 27th, 1858. Passed on January 6th, 1919. Initiated January 2nd, 1901, passed March 27th, 1901, raised April

24th, 1901, in Matinecock Lodge No. 806, Oyster Bay, New York.

 

William Howard Taft, twenty‑seventh president, born September 15th, 1857. He was made a Mason at sight, on February 18th, .1909, by Kilwinning Lodge No. 356, Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

Warren Gamaliel Harding, twenty‑ninth president, born November 2nd, 1865. Passed on August 2nd, 1923. Initiated June 28th, 1901, passed August 13th, 1920, raised August

27th, 1920, in Marion Lodge No. 70, Marion, Ohio.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, thirty‑second president, born January 30th, 1882. Initiated October 10th, 1911, passed November 14th, 1911, raised November  28th, 1911, in Holland Lodge No. 8, New York, N. Y.

 

Prior.

1. The superiors of the different nations or provinces into which the Order of the Templar was divided, were at first called Priors or Grand Priors, and afterward Preceptors or Grand Preceptors.

 

2. Each of the languages of the Order of Malta was divided into Grand Priories, of which there were twenty‑six, over which a Grand Prior presided. Under him were several Commanderies.

 

3. The second officer in a Council of Kadosh, under the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States.

 

4. The Grand Prior is the third officer in the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States.

 

Principal Sojourner. The Hebrew word ger, which we translate "a sojourner," signifies a man living out of his own country, and is used in this sense throughout the Old Testament. The children of Israel were, therefore, during the captivity, sojourners in Babylon, and the person who is represented by this officer, performed, as the incidents of the de‑

 

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gree relate, an important part in the restoration of the Israelites to Jerusalem. He was the spokesman and leader of a party of three sojourners, and is, therefore, emphatically called the chief, or principal sojourner.

 

In the English Royal Arch system there are three officers called Sojourners. But in the American system the three Historical Sojourners are represented by the candidates, while only the supposed chief of them is represented by an officer called the Principal Sojourner. His duties are those of a conductor, and resemble, in some respects, those of a Senior Deacon in a Symbolic Lodge; which office, indeed, he occupies when the Chapter is open on any of the preliminary degrees.

 

Prince Mason. A term applied in the old Scottish Rite Constitutions to the possessors of the high degrees above the Fourteenth. It was first assumed by the Council of the Emperors of the East and West. Rose Croix Masons in Ireland are still known by this name.

 

Prince of Jerusalem.  (Prince de Jerusalem.) This was the Sixteenth Degree of the Rite of Perfection, whence it was transferred to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where it occupies the same numerical position. Its legend is founded on certain incidents which took place during the rebuilding of the second Temple, when the Jews were so much incommoded by the attacks of the Samaritans and other neighboring nations, that an embassy was sent to King Darius to implore his favor and protection, which was accordingly obtained. This legend, as developed in the degree, is contained neither in Ezra nor in the apocryphal books of Esdras. It is found only in the Antiquities of Josephus (lib. xi., cap. iv., sec. 9), and thence there is the strongest internal evidence to show that it was derived by the inventor of the degree. Who that inventor was we can only conjecture. But as we have the statements of both Ragon and Kloss that the Baron de Tschoudy composed the degree of Knight of the East, and as that degree is the first section of the system of which the Prince of Jerusalem is the second, we may reasonably suppose that the latter was also composed by him. The degree being one of those adopted by the Emperors of the East and West in their system, which Stephen Morin was authorized to propagate in America, it was introduced into America long before the establishment of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. A Council was established by Henry A. Francken, about 1767, at Albany, in the State of New York, and a Grand Council organized by Myers, in 1788, in Charleston, South Carolina. This body exercised sovereign powers even after the establishment of the Supreme Council, May 31, 1801, for, in 1802, it granted a Warrant for the establishment of a Mark Lodge in Charleston, and another in the same year, for a Lodge of Perfection, in Savannah, Georgia. But under the present regulations of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, this prerogative has been abolished, and Grand Councils of Princes of Jerusalem no longer exist. The old regulation, that the Master of a Lodge of Perfection must be at least a Prince of Jerusalem, which was contained in the Con‑

 

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stitution of the Grand Council, has also been repealed, together with most of the privileges which formerly appertained to the degree. A decision of the Supreme Council, in 1870, has even obliterated Councils of the Princes of Jerusalem as a separate organization, authorized to confer the preliminary degree of Knights of the East, and placed such Councils within the bosom of Rose Croix Chapters, a provision of which, as a manifest innovation on the ancient system, the expediency, or at least the propriety, may be greatly doubted.

 

Bodies of this degree are called Councils. According to the old rituals, the officers were a Most Equitable, a Senior and Junior Most Enlightened, a Grand Treasurer, and Grand Secretary. The more recent ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States has substituted for these a Most Illustrious Tarshatha, a Most Venerable High Priest, a Most Excellent Scribe, two Most Enlightened Wardens, and other officers. Yellow is the symbolic color of the degree, and the apron is crimson (formerly white), lined and bordered with yellow. The jewel is a medal of gold, on one side of which is inscribed a hand holding an equally poised balance, and on the other a double‑edged, cross‑hilted sword erect, between three stars around the point, and the letters D and Z on each side.

 

The Prince of Jerusalem is also the Fifty‑third Degree of the Metropolitan Chapter of France, and the Forty‑fifth of the Rite of‑ Mizraim.

 

Prince of Jerusalem, Jewel of. Should be a gold incrustation on a lozenge‑shaped piece of mother‑of‑pearl. Equipoise scales held by hand, sword, five stars, one larger than the other four, and the letters D and Z in Hebrew, one on either side of the scales. The five‑pointed crown, within a triangle of gold, has also been used as a jewel of this Sixteenth Degree.

 

Prince of Mercy.  (Prince du Merci.) The Twenty‑sixth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Scottish Trinitarian or Ecossais Trinitaire. It is one of the eight degrees which were added on the organization of the Scottish Rite to the original twenty‑five of the Rite of Perfection.

 

It is a Christian degree in its construction, and treats of the triple covenant of mercy which God made with man; first with Abraham by circumcision; next, with the Israelites in the wilderness, by the intermediation of Moses; and lastly, with all mankind, by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ. It is in allusion to these three acts of mercy, that the degree derives its two names of Scottish Trinitarian and Prince of Mercy, and not, as Ragon supposes, from any reference to the Fathers of Mercy, a religious society formerly engaged in the ransoming of Christian captives at Algiers. Chemin Dupontes (Mem. Sur l'Ecoss, p. 373) says that the Scottish rituals of the degree are too full of the Hermetic philosophy, an error from which the French Cahiers are exempt; and he condemns much of its doctrines as "hyperbolique plaisanterie." But the modern rituals as now practised are obnoxious to no such objection. The sym‑ APPENDIX        757 bolic development of the number three of course constitutes a large part of its lecture; but the real dogma of the degree is the importance of Truth, and to this all its ceremonies are directed.

 

Bodies of the degree are called Chapters. The presiding officer is called Most Excellent Chief Prince, the Wardens are styled Excellent. In the old rituals these officers represented Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar; but the abandonment of these personations in the modern rituals is, I think, an improvement. The apron is red bordered with white, and the jewel is an equilateral triangle, within which is a heart. This was formerly inscribed with the Hebrew letter tau, now with the letters I. H. S.; and, to add to the Christianization which these letters give to the degree, the American Councils have adopted a tessera in the form of a small fish of ivory or mother‑of‑pearl, in allusion to the well‑known usage of the primitive Christians.

 

Prince of the Tabernacle.  (Prince du Tabernacle.) The Twenty, fourth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. In the old rituals the degree was intended to illustrate the directions given for the building of the tabernacle, the particulars of which are recorded in the twenty‑fifth chapter of Exodus. The Lodge is called a Hierarchy, and its officers are a Most Powerful Chief Prince, representing Moses, and three Wardens, whose style is Powerful, and who respectively represent Aaron, Bezaleel, and Aholiab. In the modern rituals of the United States, the three principal officers are called the Leader, the High Priest, and the Priest, and respectively represent Moses, Aaron, and Ithamar, his son. The ritual is greatly enlarged; and while the main idea of the degree is retained, the ceremonies represent the initiation into the mysteries of the Mosaic tabernacle.

 

The jewel is the letter A, in gold, suspended from a broad crimson ribbon. The apron is white, lined with scarlet and bordered with green. The flap is sky‑blue. On the apron is depicted a representation of the tabernacle.

 

This degree appears to be peculiar to the Scottish Rite and its modifications. I have not met with it in any of the other Rites.

 

Proclamation. At the installation of the officers of a Lodge, or any other Masonic body, and especially a Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter, proclamation is made in a Lodge or Chapter by the installing officer, and in a Grand Lodge or Grand Chapter by the Grand Marshal. Proclamation is also made on some other occasions, and on such occasions the Grand Marshal performs the duty.

 

Proclamation of Cyrus. A ceremony in the American Royal Arch. We learn from Scripture that in the first year of Cyrus, the King of Persia, the captivity of the Jews was terminated. Cyrus, from his conversations with Daniel and the other Jewish captives of learning and piety, as well as from his perusal of their sacred books, more especially the prophecies of Isaiah, had become imbued with a knowledge of true

 

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religion, and hence had even publicly announced to his subjects his be‑lief in the God "which the nation of the Israelites worshipped." He was consequently impressed with an earnest desire to fulfil the prophetic declarations of which he was the subject, and to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Accordingly, he issued a proclamation, which we find in Ezra, as follows: "Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who is there among you of all his people

7 his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judea, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem."

 

With the publication of this proclamation of Cyrus commences what may be called the second part of the Royal Arch Degree.

 

Progressive Masonry. Freemasonry is undoubtedly a progressive science, and yet the fundamental principles of Freemasonry are the same now as they were at the very beginning of the Institution. Its landmarks are unchangeable. In these there can be no alteration, no diminution, no addition. When, therefore, we say that Freemasonry is progressive in its character, we of course do not mean to allude to this unalterable part of its constitution. But there is a progress which every science must undergo, and which many of them have already undergone, to which the science of Freemasonry is subject. Thus we say of chemistry that it is a progressive science. Two hundred years ago, all its principles, so far as they were known, were directed to such futile inquiries as the philosopher's stone and the elixir of immortality. Now these principles have become more thoroughly understood, and more definitely established, and the object of their application is more noble and philosophic. The writings of the chemists of the former and the present period sufficiently indicate this progress of the science. And yet the elementary principles of chemistry are unchangeable. Its truths were the same then as they are now. Some of them were at that time unknown, because no mind of sufficient research had discovered them; but they existed as truths, from the very creation of matter; and now they have only been developed, not invented.

 

So it is with Freemasonry. It too has had its progress. Masons are now expected to be more learned than formerly in all that relates to the science of the Order. Its origin, its history, its objects, are now considered worthy of the attentive consideration of its disciples. The rational explanation of its ceremonies and symbols, and their connection with ancient systems of religion and philosophy, are now considered as necessary topics of inquiry for all who desire to distinguish themselves as proficients in Masonic science.

 

In all these things we see a great difference between the Masons of the present and of former days. In Europe, a century ago, such inquiries

 

APPENDIX    759 

 

were considered as legitimate subjects of Masonic study. Hutchinson published in

1760, in England, his admirable work entitled The Spirit of Freemasonry, in which the deep philosophy of the Institution was fairly developed with much learning and ingenuity. Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, printed at a not much later period, also exhibits the system treated, in many places, in a philosophical manner. Lawrie's History of Freemasonry, published in Scotland in 1804, is a work containing much profound historical and antiquarian research. And in the present century, the works of Oliver alone would be sufficient to demonstrate to the most cursory observer that Freemasonry has a claim to be ranked among the learned institutions of the day. In Germany and France, the press has been borne down with the weight of abstruse works on our Order, written by men of the highest literary pretensions.

 

In America, notwithstanding the really excellent work of Salem Town on Speculative Masonry, published in 1818, and the learned Discourses of Dr. T. M. Harris, published in 1801, it is only within a few years that Masonry has begun to assume the exalted position of a literary institution.

 

Proficiency. The necessity that anyone who devotes himself to the acquisition of a science should become a proficient in its elementary instructions before he can expect to grasp and comprehend its higher branches, is so almost self‑evident as to need no argument. But as Speculative Masonry is a science, it is equally necessary that a requisite qualification for admission to a higher degree should be a suitable proficiency in the preceding one. It is true, that we do not find in express words in the Old Constitutions any regulations requiring proficiency as preliminary to advancement, but their whole spirit is evidently to that effect; and hence we find it prescribed in the Old Constitutions, that no Master shall take an apprentice for less than seven years, because it was expected that he should acquire a competent knowledge of the mystery before he could be admitted as a Fellow. The modern Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England provides that no Lodge shall confer a higher degree on any brother until he has passed an examination in open Lodge on the pre‑ceding degrees (Rule 195), and many, perhaps most, of the Grand Lodges of this country have adopted a similar regulation. The ritual of all the Symbolic degrees, and, indeed, of the higher degrees, and that too in all rites, makes the imperative demand of every candidate whether he has made suitable proficiency in the preceding degree, an affirmative answer to which is required before the rites of initiation can be proceeded with. This answer is, according to the ritual, that he has"; but some Masons have sought to evade the consequence of an acknowledgment of ignorance and want of proficiency by a change of the language of the ritual into "such as time and circumstances would permit." But this is an innovation, unsanctioned by any authority, and should be repudiated. If the

 

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candidate has not made proper proficiency, the ritual, outside of all statutory regulations, refuses him advancement.

 

Anderson, in the second edition of his Constitutions (p. 71), cites what he calls "an old record," which says that in the reign of Edward III. of England it was ordained "that Master Masons, or Masters of work, shall be examined whether they be able of cunning to serve their respective Lords, as well the Highest as the Lowest, to the Honour and Worship of the aforesaid Art, and to the Profit of their Lords." Here, then, we may see the origin of that usage, which is still practised in every well‑governed Lodge, not only of demanding a proper degree of proficiency in the candidate, but also of testing that proficiency by an examination.

 

This cautious and honest fear of the Fraternity lest any brother should assume the duties of a position which he could not faithfully discharge, and which is, in our time, tantamount to a candidate's advancing to a degree for which he is not prepared, is again exhibited in all the Old Constitutions. Thus in the Lansdowne Manuscript, whose date is referred to the middle of the sixteenth century, it is charged "that no Mason take on him no Lord's work, nor other man's but if [unless] he know himself well able to perform the work, so that the Craft .have no slander." The same regulation, and almost in the same language, is to be found in all the subsequent manuscripts.

 

In the Charges of 1722, it is directed that "a younger brother shall be instructed in working, to prevent spoiling the materials for want of judgment, and for enereasing and continuing of brotherly love." (Constitutions, 1723, p. 53.) It was, with the same view, that all of the Old Constitutions made it imperative that no Master should take an apprentice for less than seven years, because it was expected that he should acquire a competent knowledge of the mystery of the Craft before he could be admitted as a Fellow.

 

Notwithstanding these charges had a more particular reference to the operative part of the art, they clearly show the great stress that was placed by our ancient brethren upon the necessity of skill and proficiency; and they have furnished the precedents upon which are based all the similar regulations that have been subsequently applied to Speculative Masonry.

 

Provincial Grand Officers. The officers of a Provincial Grand Lodge correspond in title to those of the Grand Lodge. The Provincial Grand Treasurer is elected, but the other officers are nominated by the Provincial Grand Master. They are not by such appointment members of the Grand Lodge, nor do they take any rank out of their province. They must all be residents of the province and subscribing members to some Lodge therein. Provincial Grand Wardens must be Masters or Past Masters of a Lodge, and Provincial Grand Deacons, Wardens, or Past Wardens.

 

APPENDIX    761

 

Provincial Master of the Red Cross. The Sixth Degree of the Rite of Clerks of Strict Observance.

 

Provost and Judge.  (Prevot et Juge.) The Seventh Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The history of the degree relates that it was founded by Solomon, King of Israel, for the purpose of strengthening his means of preserving order among the vast number of craftsmen engaged in the construction of the Temple. Tito, Prince Harodim, Adoniram, and Abda his father, were first created Provosts and Judges, who were afterward directed by Solomon to initiate his favorite and intimate secretary, Joabert, and to give him the keys of all the building. In the old rituals, the Master of a Lodge of Provosts and Judges represents Tito, Prince Harodim, the first Grand Warden and Inspector of the three hundred architects. The number of lights is six, and the symbolic color is red. In the more recent ritual of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States there has been a slight change. The legend is substantially preserved, but the presiding officer represents Azarias, the son of Nathan.

 

The jewel is a golden key, having the letter A within a triangle engraved on the ward. The collar is red. The apron is white, lined with red, and is furnished with a pocket.

 

This was one of Ramsay's degrees, and was originally called Maitre Irlandais, or Irish Master.

 

Proxy Installation. The Regulations of 1721 provide that, if the new Grand Master be absent from the Grand Feast, he may be proclaimed if proper assurance be given that he will serve, in which case the old Grand Master shall act as his proxy and receive the usual homage. This has led to a custom, once very common in America, but now getting into disuse, of installing an absent officer by proxy. Such installations are called proxy installations. Their propriety is very questionable.

 

Proxy Master. In the Grand Lodge of Scotland, a Lodge is permitted to elect any Master Mason who holds a diploma of the Grand Lodge, although he may not be a member of the Lodge, as its Proxy Master. He nominates two Proxy Wardens, and the three then become members of the Grand Lodge and representatives of the Lodge. Great opposition has recently been made to remind us of the classic method of representing her statutes with a rule or measure in her hand.

 

Prussia. Frederick William I. of Prussia was so great an enemy of the Masonic Institution, that until his death it was scarcely known in his dominions, and the initiation, in

1738, of his son, the Crown Prince, was necessarily kept a secret from his father. But in

1740 Frederick IT. ascended the throne, and Masonry soon felt ‑the advantages of a royal patron. The Baron de Bielefeld says (Lettres, i., 157) that in that year the king himself opened a Lodge at Charlottenburg, and initiated his brother, Prince William, the Margrave of Brandenburg, and the Duke of Holstein‑Beck. Bielefeld and the Counselor Jordan, in 1740, established

 

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the Lodge of the Three Globes at Berlin, which soon afterward assumed the rank of a Grand Lodge. There are now in Prussia three Grand Lodges, the seats of all of them being at Berlin. These are the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes, established in

1740, the Grand Lodge Royal York of Friendship, established in 1760, and the National Grand Lodge of Germany, established in 1770. There is no country in the world where Freemasonry is more profoundly studied as a science than in Prussia, and much of the abstruse learning of the Order, for which Germany has been distinguished, is to be found among the members of the Prussian Lodges. Unfortunately, they have, for a long time, been marked with an intolerant spirit toward the Jews, whose initiation was strictly forbidden until very recently, when that stain was removed, and the tolerant principles of the Order were recognized by the abrogation of the offensive laws.

 

Prussian Knight. See Noachite.

 

Publications, Masonic. The fact that, within the past few years, Freemasonry has taken its place - and an imposing one, too - in the literature of the times; that men of genius and learning have devoted them‑selves to its investigation; that its principles and its system have become matters of study and research; and that the results of this labor of inquiry have been given, and still continue to be given, to the world at large, in the form of treatises on Masonic science, have at length introduced the new question among the Fraternity, whether Masonic books are of good or of evil, tendency to the Institution. Many well‑meaning but timid members of the Fraternity object to the freedom with which Masonic topics are discussed in printed works. They think that the veil is too much withdrawn by modern Masonic writers, and that all doctrine and instruction should be confined to oral teaching, within the limits of the Lodge room. Hence, to them, the art of printing becomes useless for the diffusion of Masonic knowledge; and thus, whatever may be the attainments of a Masonic scholar, the fruits of his study and experience would be confined to the narrow limits of his personal presence. Such objectors draw no distinction between the ritual and the philosophy of Masonry. Like the old priests of Egypt, they would have everything concealed under hieroglyphics, and would as soon think of opening a Lodge in public as they would of discussing, in a printed book, the principles and design of the Institution.

 

The Grand Lodge of England, some years ago, adopted a regulation which declared it penal to print or publish any part of the proceedings of a Lodge, or the names of the persons present as such a Lodge, without the permission of the Grand Master. The rule, however, evidently referred to local proceedings only, and had no relation whatever to the publication of Masonic authors and editors; for the English Masonic press, since the days of Hutchinson, in the Middle of the last century, has

 

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been distinguished for the freedom, as well as learning, with which the most abstruse principles of our Order have been discussed.

 

Fourteen years ago the Committee of Foreign Correspondence of a prominent Grand Lodge affirmed that Masonic literature was doing more "harm than good to the Institution." About the same time the commit‑tee of another equally prominent Grand Lodge were not ashamed to ex‑press their regret that so much prominence of notice is, "in several Grand Lodge proceedings, given to Masonic publications. Masonry existed and flourished, was harmonious and happy, in their absence." When one reads such diatribes against Masonic literature and Masonic progress - such blind efforts to hide under the bushel the light that should be on the hill‑top - he is incontinently reminded of a similar iconoclast, who, more than four centuries ago, made a like onslaught on the pernicious effects of learning.

 

The immortal Jack Cade, in condemning Lord Say to death as a patron of learning, gave vent to words of which the language of these enemies of Masonic literature seems to be but the echo: "Thou hast most traitoriously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar‑school; and whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou hast caused printing to be used; and contrary to the king, his crown, and dignity, thou hast built a paper‑mill. It will be proved to thy face that thou bast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb, and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear." I belong to no such school. On the contrary, I believe that too much cannot be written and printed and read about the philosophy and history, the science and symbolism of Freemasonry; provided always the writing is confided to those who rightly understand their art. In Masonry, as in astronomy, in geology, or in any other of the arts and sciences, a new book by an expert must always be esteemed a valuable contribution. The production of silly and untutored minds will fall of themselves into oblivion without the aid of official persecution; but that which is really valuable - which presents new facts, or furnishes suggestive thoughts - will, in spite of the denunciations of the Jack Cades of Masonry, live to instruct the brethren, and to elevate the tone and standing of the Institution.

 

Dr. Oliver, who has written more on Masonry than any other author, says on this subject: "I conceive it to be an error in judgment to discountenance the publication of philosophical disquisitions on the subject of Freemasonry, because such a proceeding would not only induce the world to think that our pretensions are incapable of enduring the test of inquiry, but would also have a tendency to restore the dark ages of, superstition, when even the sacred writings were prohibited, under an apprehension that their contents might be misunderstood or perverted to the

 

764     APPENDIX

 

propagation of unsound doctrines and pernicious practices; and thus would ignorance be transmitted, as a legacy, from one generation to an‑other." Still further pursuing this theme, and passing from the unfavorable influence which must be exerted upon the world by our silence, to the injury that must accrue to the Craft, the same learned writer goes on to say, that "no hypotheses can be more untenable than that which fore‑bodes evil to the Masonic Institution from the publication of Masonic treatises illustrative of its philosophical and moral tendency." And in view of the meager and unsatisfactory nature of the lectures, in the form in which they are delivered in the Lodges, he wisely suggests that "if strictures on the science and philosophy of the Order were placed within every brother's reach, a system of examination and research would soon be substituted for the dull and uninteresting routine which, in so many instances, characterizes our private meetings. The brethren would be‑come excited by the inquiry, and a rich series of new beauties and excellences would be their reward." Of such a result I have no doubt. In consequence of the increase of Masonic publications in this country within a few years, Masonry has already been elevated to a high position. If there be any who still deem it a merely social institution, without a philosophy or literature; if there be any who speak of it with less admiration than it justly deserves, we may be assured that such men have read as little as they have thought on the subject of its science and its history. A few moments of conversation with a Mason will show whether he is one of those contracted craftsmen who suppose that Masonic "brightness" consists merely in a knowledge of the correct mode of working one's way into a Lodge, or whether he is one who has read and properly appreciated the various treatises on the "royal art," in which men of genius and learning have developed the true spirit and design of the Order.

 

Such is the effect of Masonic publications upon the Fraternity; and the result of all my experience is, that enough has not been published. Cheap books on all Masonic subjects, easily accessible to the masses of the Order, are necessaries essential to the elevation and extension of the Institution. Too many of them confine their acquirements to a knowledge of the signs and the ceremonies of initiation. There they cease their re‑searches. They make no study of the philosophy and the antiquities of the Order. They do not seem to know that the modes of recognition are simply intended as means of security against imposition, and that the ceremonial rites are worth nothing without the symbolism of which they are only the external exponents. Masonry for them is nerveless - senseless - lifeless; it is an empty voice without meaning - a tree of splendid foliage, but without a single fruit.

 

The monitorial instructions of the Order, as they are technically called, contain many things which probably, at one time, it would have

 

APPENDIX    765

 

been deemed improper to print; and there are some Masons, even at this day, who think that Webb and Cross were too free in their publications. And yet we have never heard of any evil effects arising from the reading of our Monitors, even upon those who have not been initiated. On the contrary, meager as are the explanations given in those works, and unsatisfactory as they must be to one seeking for the full light of Masonry, they have been the means, in many instances, of inducing the profane, who have read them, to admire our Institution, and to knock at the "door of Masonry" for admission - while we regret to say that they sometimes comprise the whole instruction that a candidate gets from an ignorant Master. Without these published Monitors, even that little beam of light would be wanting to illuminate his path.

 

But if the publication and general diffusion of our elementary text‑books have been of acknowledged advantage to the character of the Institution, and have, by the information, little as it is, which they communicate, been of essential benefit to the Fraternity, we cannot see why a more extensive system of instruction on the legends, traditions, and symbols of the Order should not be productive of still greater good.

 

Years ago, we uttered on this subject sentiments which we now take occasion to repeat.

 

Without an adequate course of reading, no Mason can now take a position of any distinction in the ranks of the Fraternity. Without ex‑tending his studies beyond what is taught in the brief lectures of the Lodge, he can never properly appreciate the end and nature of Free‑masonry as a speculative science. The lectures constitute but the skeleton of Masonic science. The muscles and nerves and blood‑vessels, which are to give vitality, and beauty, and health, and vigor to that lifeless skeleton, must be found in the commentaries on them which the learning and re‑search of Masonic writers have given to the Masonic student.

 

The objections to treatises and disquistions on Masonic subjects, that there is danger, through them, of giving too much light to the world without, has not the slightest support from experience. In England, in France, and in Germany, scarcely any restriction has been observed by Masonic writers, except as to what is emphatically esoteric; and yet we do not believe that the profane world is wiser in those countries than in our own in respect to the secrets of Freemasonry. In the face of these publications, the world without has remained as ignorant of the aporrheta of our art, as if no work had ever been written on the subject; while the world within - the Craft themselves - have been enlightened and instructed, and their views of Masonry (not as a social or charitable society, but as a philosophy, a science, a religion) have been elevated and enlarged.

 

The truth is, that men who are not Masons never read authentic Ma‑sonic works. They have no interest in the topics discussed, and could not understand them, from a want of the preparatory education which the

 

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Lodge alone can supply. Therefore, were a writer even to trench a little on what may be considered as being really the arcana of Masonry, there is no danger of his thus making an improper revelation to improper per‑sons.

 

Public Ceremonies. Most of the ceremonies of Masonry are strictly private, and can be conducted only in the presence of the initiated. But some of them, from their nature, are necessarily performed in public. Such are the burials of deceased brethren, the laying of corner‑stones of public edifices, and the dedications of Masonic halls. The installation of the officers of a Lodge, or Grand Lodge, are also sometimes conducted in public in America. But the ceremonies in this case differ slightly from those of a private installation in the Lodge room, portions of the ceremony having to be omitted. The reputation of the Order requires that these ceremonies should be conducted with the utmost propriety, and the Manuals and Monitors furnish the fullest details of the order of exercises. Preston, in his illustrations, was the first writer who gave a printed ac‑count of the mode of conducting these public ceremonies, and to him we are most probably indebted for their ritual. Anderson, however, gave in the first edition of the Constitutions the prescribed form for constituting new Lodges, and installing their officers, which is the model upon which Preston, and other writers, have subsequently framed their more enlarged formule.

 

Puerility of Freemasonry. "The absurdities and puerilitics of Freemasonry are fit only for children, and are unworthy of the time or attention of wise men." Such is the language of its adversaries, and the apothegm is delivered with all that self‑sufficiency which shows that the speaker is well satisfied with his own wisdom, and is very ready to place himself in the category of those wise men whose opinion he invokes. This charge of a puerility of design and object of Freemasonry is worth examination.

 

Is it then possible, that those scholars of unquestioned strength of intellect and depth of science, who have devoted themselves to the study of Masonry, and who have in thousands of volumes given the result of their researches, have been altogether mistaken in the direction of their labors, and have been seeking to develop, not the principles of a philosophy, but the mechanism of a toy, Or is the assertion that such is the fact a mere sophism, such as ignorance is every day uttering, and a conclusion to which men are most likely to arrive when they talk of that of which they know nothing, like the critic who reviews a book that he has never read, or the skeptic who attacks a creed that he does not comprehend? Such claims to an inspired infallibility are not uncommon among men of unsound judgment. Thus, when Gall and Spurzheim first gave to the world their wonderful discoveries in reference to the organization and the functions of the brain - discoveries which have since wrought a marked revolution in the sciences of anatomy, physiology,

APPENDIX    767

 

and ethics - the Edinburgh reviewers attempted to demolish these philosophers and their new system, but succeeded only in exposing their own ignorance of the science they were discussing. Time, which is continually evolving truth out of every intellectual conflict, has long since shown that the German philosophers were right and that their Scottish critics were wrong. How common is it, even at this day, to hear men de‑riding Alchemy as a system of folly and imposture, cultivated only by madmen and knaves, when the researches of those who have investigated the subject without prejudice, but with patient learning, have shown, without any possibility of doubt, that these old alchemists, so long the objects of derision to the ignorant, were religious philosophers, and that their science had really nothing to do with the discovery of an elixir of life or the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, but that they, like the Freemasons, with whom they have a strong affinity, concealed under profound symbols, intelligible only to themselves, the search after Divine Truth and the doctrine of immortal life. Truth was the gold which they eliminated from all mundane things, and the immortality of the soul was the elixir of everlasting life which perpetually renewed youth, and took away the power of death.

 

So it is with Freemasonry. Those who abuse it know nothing of its inner spirit, of its profound philosophy, of the pure religious life that it inculcates.

 

To one who is at all acquainted with its organization, Freemasonry presents itself under two different aspects:

 

First, as a secret society distinguished by a peculiar ritual;

 

And secondly, as a society having a philosophy on which it is founded, and which it proposes to teach to its disciples.

 

These by way of distinction may be called the ritualistic and the philosophical elements of Freemasonry.

 

The ritualistic element of Freemasonry is that which relates to the due performance of the rites and ceremonies of the Order. Like the rubrics of the church, which indicate when the priest and congregation shall kneel and when they shall stand, it refers to questions such as these: What words shall be used in such a place, and what ceremony shall be observed on such an occasion? It belongs entirely to the inner organization of the Institution, or to the manner in which its services shall be conducted, and is interesting or important only to its own members. The language of its ritual or the form of its ceremonies has nothing more to do with the philosophic designs of Freemasonry than the rubrics of a church have to do with the religious creed professed by that church. It might at any time be changed in its most material points, without in the slightest degree affecting the essential character of the Institution.

 

Of course, this ritualistic element is in one sense important to the members of the society, because, by a due observance of the ritual, a general uniformity is preserved. But beyond this, the Masonic ritual

 

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makes no claim to the consideration of scholars, and never has been made, and, indeed, from the very nature of its secret character, never can be made, a topic of discussion with those who are outside of the Fraternity.

 

But the other, the philosophical element of Freemasonry, is one of much importance. For it, and through it, I do make the plea that the Institution is entitled to the respect, and even veneration, of all good men, and is well worth the careful consideration of scholars.

 

A great many theories have been advanced by Masonic writers as to the real origin of the Institution, as to the time when and the place where it first had its birth. It has been traced to the mysteries of the ancient Pagan world, to the Temple of King Solomon, to the Roman Colleges of Artificers, to the Crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land, to the Gilds of the Middle Ages, to the Stone‑Masons of Strasburg and Cologne and even to the revolutionary struggle in England in the time of the commonwealth, and to the secret efforts of the adherents of the house of Stuart to recover the throne. But whatever theory may be selected, and wheresoever and whensoever it may be supposed to have received its birth, one thing is certain, namely, that for generations past, and yet within the records of history, it has, unlike other mundane things, presented to the world an unchanged organization. Take, for instance, the theory which traces it back to one of the most recent periods, that, namely, which places the organization of the Order of Freemasons at the building of the Cathedral of Strasburg, in the year 1275. During all the time that has since elapsed, full six hundred years, how has Freemasonry presented itself ? Why, as a brotherhood organized and controlled by a secret discipline, engaged in important architectural labors, and combining with its operative tasks speculations of great religious import. If we see any change, it is simply this, that when the necessity no longer existed, the operative element was laid aside, and the speculative only was retained, but with a scrupulous preservation (as if it were for purposes of identification) of the technical language, the rules and regulations, the working‑tools, and the discipline of the operative art. The material only on which they wrought was changed. The disciples and followers of Erwin of Steinbach, the Master Builder of Strasburg, were engaged, under the influence of a profoundly religious sentiment, in the construction of a material edifice to the glory of God. The more modern workers in Freemasonry are under the same religious influence, engaged in the construction of a spiritual temple. Does not this long continuance of a brotherhood employed in the same pursuit, or changing it only from a material to a spiritual character, but retaining its identity of organization, demand for itself some respect, and, if for nothing else, at least for its antiquity, some share of veneration?

 

But this is not all. This society or brotherhood, or confraternity as it might more appropriately be called, is distinguished from all other associations by the possession of certain symbols, myths, and, above all else,

 

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a Golden Legend, all of which are directed to the purification of the heart, to the elevation of the mind, to the development of the great doctrine of immortality.

 

Now the question where and when these symbols, myths, and legends arose is one that is well worth the investigation of scholars, because it is intimately connected with the history of the human intellect. Did the Stone‑Masons and building corporations of the Middle Ages invent them? Certainly not, for they are found in organizations that existed ages previously. The Greeks at Eleusis taught the same dogma of immortal life in the same symbolic mode, and their legend, if it differed from the Masonic in its accidents, was precisely identical in its substance. For Hiram there was Dionysus, for the acacia the myrtle, but there were the same mourning, the same discovery, the same rejoicing, because what had been lost was found, and then the same ineffable light, and the same sacred teaching of the name of God and the soul's immortality. And so an ancient orator, who had passed through one of these old Greek Lodges - for such, without much violence of language, they may well be called - declared that those who have endured the initiation into the mysteries entertain better hopes both of the end of life and of the eternal future. Is not this the very object and design of the legend of the Master's Degree? And this same peculiar form of symbolic initiation is to be found among the old Egyptians and in the island of Samothracia, thousands of years before the light of Christianity dawned upon the world to give the seal of its Master and Founder to the Divine truth of the resurrection.

 

This will not, it is true, prove the descent of Freemasonry, as now organized, from the religious mysteries of antiquity; although this is one of the theories of its origin entertained and defended by scholars of no mean pretension. But it will prove an identity of design in the moral and intellectual organization of all these institutions, and it will give the Masonic student subjects for profound study when he asks the interesting questions - Whence came these symbols, myths, and legends? Who in‑vented them? How and why have they been preserved? Looking back into the remotest days of recorded history, we find a priesthood in an is‑land of Greece and another on the banks of the Nile, teaching the existence of a future life by symbols and legends, which convey the lesson in a peculiar mode. And now, after thousands of years have elapsed, we find the same symbolic and legendary method of instruction, for the same purpose, preserved in the depository of what is comparatively a modern institution. And between these two extremes of the long past and the present now, we find the intervening period occupied by similar associations, succeeding each other from time to time, and spreading over different countries, but all engaged in the same symbolic instruction, with substantially the same symbols and the same mythical history.

 

Does not all this present a problem in moral and intellectual philosophy, and in the archeology of ethics, which is well worthy of an attempted

 

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solution? How unutterably puerile seem the objections and the objurgations of a few contracted minds, guided only by prejudice, when we consider the vast questions of deep interest that are connected with Free‑masonry as a part of those great brotherhoods that have filled the world for so many ages, so far back, indeed, that some philosophic historians have supposed that they must have derived their knowledge of the doctrines which they taught in their mystic assemblies from direct revelation through an ancient priesthood that gives no other evidence of its former existence but the results which it produced.

 

Man needs something more than the gratification of his animal wants. The mind requires food as well as the body, and nothing can better give that mental nutriment than the investigation of subjects which relate to the progress of the intellect and the growth of the religious sentiment.

 

Again, man was not made for himself alone. The old Stoic lived only for and within himself. But modern philosophy and modern religion teach no such selfish doctrine. Man is but part of the great brotherhood of man, and each one must be ready to exclaim with the old poet, "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto," I am a man, and I deem nothing relating to mankind to be foreign to my feelings. Men study ancient history simply that they may learn what their brother men have done in former times, and they read the philosophers and poets of Greece and Rome that they may know what were the speculations of those old thinkers, and they strive to measure the intellect of man as it was then and as it is now, because the study of the growth of intellectual philosophy and the investigation of the mental and moral powers come home to us all as subjects of common interest.

 

Looking, then, upon Freemasonry as one of those associations which furnish the evidence and the example of the progress of man in intellectual, moral, and religious development, it may be well claimed for it that its design, its history, and its philosophy, so far from being puerile, are well entitled to the respect of the world, and are worth the careful re‑search of scholars.

 

Purity. In the Ancient Mysteries purity of heart and life was an essential prerequisite to initiation, because by initiation the aspirant was brought to a knowledge of God, to know whom was not permitted to the impure. For, says Origen (Cont. Cel., vi.), "a defiled heart cannot see God, but he must be pure who desires to obtain a proper view of a pure Being." And in the same spirit the Divine Master says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." But "to see God" is a Hebraism, signifying to possess him, to be spiritually in communion with him, to know his true character. Now to acquire this knowledge of God, symbolized by the knowledge of his Name, is the great object of Masonic, as it was of all ancient initiation; and hence the candidate in Masonry is required to be pure, for "he only can stand in the holy place who hath clean hands and a pure heart."

 

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Quatuor Coronati Lodge. This Lodge, No. 2076 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of England, was established in 1886, for the purpose of studying the History, Symbols, and Legends of Freemasonry, and it is in fact a Masonic Literary and Archeological Society, meeting as a tiled Lodge. Attached to the Lodge proper, which is limited to 40 full members, is a Correspondence Circle established in 1887, and now numbering over 3,000 members drawn from all parts of the world. The transactions of the Lodge are published under the title of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. The Lodge is named after the "Four Crowned Martyrs" (q.v.). All Master Masons in good standing are eligible to membership in the Correspondence Circle. The dues are $2.50 a year, for which the valuable Transactions of the Lodge are sent to each member.

 

Rabboni. Literally, my Master, equivalent to the pure Hebrew, Adoni. As a significant word in the higher degrees, it has been translated "a most excellent Master," and its usage by the later Jews will justify that interpretation. Buxtorf (Lex. Talmud.) tells us that about the time of Christ this title arose in the school of Hillel, and was given to only seven of their wise men who were preeminent for their learning. Jahn (Arch. Bib., § 106) says that Gamaliel, the preceptor of St. Paul, was one of these. They styled themselves the children of wisdom, which is an expression very nearly corresponding to the Greek cpc),osotpoc. The word occurs once, as applied to Christ, in the New Testament (John xx. 16), "Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." The Masonic myth in the "Most Excellent Master's Degree," that it was the title addressed by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon on beholding the magnificence and splendor of the Temple, wants the element of plausibility, inasmuch as the word was not in use in the time of Solomon.

 

Recusant. A term applied in English history to one who refused to acknowledge the supremacy of the king as head of the church. In Masonic law, the word is sometimes used to designate a Lodge or a Mason that refuses to obey an edict of the Grand Lodge. The arrest of the Charter, or the suspension or expulsion of the offender, would be the necessary punishment of such an offense.

 

Red. Red, scarlet, or crimson, for it is indifferently called by each of these names, is the appropriate color of the Royal Arch Degree, and is said symbolically to represent the ardor and zeal which should actuate all who are in possession of that sublime portion of Masonry. Portal (Couleurs Symb., p. 116) refers the color red to fire, which was the symbol of the regeneration and purification of souls. Hence there seems to be a congruity in adopting it as the color of the Royal Arch, which refers historically to the regeneration or rebuilding of the Temple, and symbolically to the regeneration of life.

 

In the religious services of the Hebrews, red, or scarlet, was used as one of the colors of the veils of the tabernacle, in which, according to

 

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Josephus, it was an emblem of the element of fire; it was also used in the ephod of the high priest, in the girdle, and in the breastplate. Red was, among the Jews, a color of dignity, appropriated to the most opulent or honorable, and hence the prophet Jeremiah, in describing the rich men of his country, speaks of them as those who "were brought up in scarlet." In the Middle Ages, those knights who engaged in the wars of the Crusades, and especially the Templars, wore a red cross, as a symbol of their willingness to undergo martyrdom for the sake of religion; and the priests of the Roman Church still wear red vestments when they officiate on the festivals of those saints who were martyred.

 

Red is in the higher degrees of Masonry as predominating a color as blue is in the lower. Its symbolic significations differ, but they may generally be considered as alluding either to the virtue of fervency when the symbolism is moral, or to the shedding of blood when it is historical. Thus in the degree of Provost and Judge, it is historically emblematic of the violent death of one of the founders of the Institution; while in the degree of Perfection it is said to be a moral symbol of zeal for the glory of God, and for our own advancement toward perfection in Masonry and virtue.

 

In the degree of Rose Croix, red is the predominating color, and symbolizes the ardent zeal which should inspire all who are in search of that which is lost.

 

Where red is not used historically, and adopted as a memento of certain tragical circumstances in the history of Masonry, it is always, under some modification, a symbol of zeal and fervency.

 

These three colors, blue, purple, and red, were called in the former English lectures "the old colors of Masonry," and were said to have been selected "because they are royal, and such as the ancient kings and princes used to wear; and sacred history informs us that the veil of the Temple was composed of these colors."

 

Refreshment. In Masonic language, refreshment is opposed in a peculiar sense to labor. While a Lodge is in activity it must be either at labor or at refreshment. If a Lodge is permanently closed until its next communication, the intervening period is one of abeyance, its activity for

 

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Masonic duty having for the time been suspended; although its powers and privileges as a Lodge still exist, and may be at any time resumed. But where it is only temporarily closed, with the intention of soon again resuming labor, the intermediate period is called a time of refreshment, and the Lodge is said not to be closed, but to be called from labor to refreshment. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the last century. Calling from labor to refreshment differs from closing in this, that the ceremony is a very brief one, and that the Junior Warden then assumes the control of the Craft, in token of which he erects his column on his stand or pedestal, while the Senior Warden lays his down. This is reversed in calling on, in which the ceremony is equally brief.

 

The word refreshment no longer bears the meaning among Masons that it formerly did. It signifies not necessarily eating and drinking, but simply cessation from labor. A Lodge at refreshment may thus be compared to any other society when in a recess.

 

At the present day, the banquets of Lodges, when they take place, are always held after the Lodge is closed; although they are still sup‑posed to be under the charge of the Junior Warden. When modern Lodges are called to refreshment, it is either as a part of the ceremony of the Third Degree, or for a brief period; sometimes extending to more than a day, when labor, which had not been finished, is to be resumed and concluded.

 

The mythical history of Masonry tells us that high twelve or noon was the hour at Solomon's Temple when the Craft were permitted to suspend their labor, which was resumed an hour after. In reference to this myth, a Lodge is at all times supposed to be called from labor to refreshment at "high twelve," and to be called on again "one hour after high twelve."

 

Regeneration. In the Ancient Mysteries the doctrine of regenera‑ tion was taught by symbols: not the theological dogma of regeneration peculiar to the Christian church, but the philosophical dogma as a change from death to life - a new birth to immortal existence. Hence the last day of the Eleusinian mysteries, when the initiation was completed, was called, says Court de Gebelin (D1. P., iv., 322), the day of regeneration.

 

This is the doctrine in the Masonic mysteries, and more especially in the symbolism of the Third Degree. We must not say that the Mason is re‑ generated when he is initiated, but that he has been indoctrinated into the philosophy of the regeneration, or the new birth of all things - of light out of darkness, or life out of death, of eternal life out of temporal death.

 

Regalia. Strictly speaking, the word regalia, from the Latin, regalia, royal things, signifies the ornaments of a king or queen, and is applied to the apparatus used at a coronation, such as the crown, scepter, cross, mound, etc. But it has in modern times been loosely employed to signify almost any kind of ornaments. Hence the collar and jewel, and sometimes even the,apron, are called by many Masons the regalia. The word has the early authority of Preston. In the second edition of his Illustrations (1773), when on the subject of funerals, he uses the expression, "the body, with the regalia placed thereon, and two swords crossed." And at the end of the service he directs that "the regalia and ornaments of the deceased, if an officer of a Lodge, are returned to the Master in due form, and with the usual ceremonies." Regalia cannot here mean the Bible and Book of Constitutions, for there is a place in another part of the procession appropriated to them. It might have been supposed that. by regalia, Preston referred to some particular decorations of the Lodge, had not his subsequent editors, Jones and Oliver, both. interpolated the

 

774     APPENDIX

 

word "other" before ornaments, so as to make the sentence read "regalia and other ornaments," thus clearly indicating that they deemed the regalia a part of the ornaments of the deceased. The word is thus used in one of the headings of the modern Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of England. But in the text the more correct words "clothing and insignia" (Rule 282) are employed. There is, however, so great an error in the use of the word regalia to denote Masonic clothing, that it would be better to avoid it.

 

Rising Sun. The rising sun is represented by the Master, because as the sun by his rising opens and governs the day, so the Master is taught to open and govern his Lodge with equal regularity and precision.

 

Rite. The Latin word rites, whence we get the English rite, signifies an approved usage or custom, or an external observance. Vossius derives it by metathesis from the Greek usage, whence literally it signifies a trodden path, and, metaphorically, a long‑followed custom. As a Masonic term its application is therefore apparent. It signifies a method of conferring Masonic light by a collection and distribution of degrees. It is, in other words, the method and order observed in the government of a Masonic system.

 

The original system of Speculative Masonry consisted of only the three Symbolic degrees, called, therefore, Ancient Craft Masonry. Such was the condition of Freemasonry at the time of what is called the revival in 1717. Hence, this was the original Rite or approved usage, and so it continued in England until the year 1813, when at the union of the two Grand Lodges the "Holy Royal Arch" was declared to be a part of the system; and thus the English Rite was made legitimately to consist of four degrees.

 

But on the Continent of Europe, the organization of new systems began at a much earlier period, and by the invention of what are known as the high degrees a multitude of Rites was established. All of these agreed in one important essential. They were built upon the three Symbolic degrees, which, in every instance, constituted the fundamental basis upon which they were erected. They were intended as an expansion and development of the Masonic ideas contained in these degrees. The Apprentice, Fellow‑Craft, and Master's degrees were the porch through which every initiate was required to pass before he could gain entrance into the inner temple which had been erected by the founders of the Rite. They were the text, and the high degrees the commentary.

 

Hence arises the law, that whatever may be the constitution and teachings of any Rite as to the higher degrees peculiar to it, the three Symbolic degrees being common to all the Rites, a Master Mason, in any one of the Rites, may visit and labor in a Master's Lodge of every other Rite. It is only after that degree is passed that the exclusiveness of each Rite begins to operate.

 

APPENDIX    775

 

There has been a multitude of these Rites. Some of them have lived only with their authors, and died when their parental energy in fostering them ceased to exert itself. Others have had a more permanent existence, and still continue to divide the Masonic family, furnishing, however, only diverse methods of attaining to the same great end, the acquisition of Divine Truth by Masonic light.

 

Royal Arch Apron. At the triennial meeting of the General Grand Chapter of the United States at Chicago, in 1859, a Royal Arch apron was prescribed, consisting of a lambskin (silk or satin being strictly prohibited), to be lined and bound with scarlet, on the flap of which should be placed a triple tau cross within a triangle, and all within a circle.

 

Royal Arch Badge. The triple tau, consisting of three tau crosses conjoined at their feet, constitutes the Royal Arch badge. The English Masons call it the "emblem of all emblems," and the "grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry." The English Royal Arch lecture thus defines it: "The triple tau forms two right angles on each of the exterior lines, and another at the centre, by their union; for the three angles of each triangle are equal to two right angles. This, being triplified, illustrates the jewel worn by the companions of the Royal Arch, which, by its intersection, forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five several combinations." It is used in the Royal Arch Masonry of Scotland, and has, for the last ten or fifteen years, been adopted officially in the United States.

 

Royal Arch Captain. The sixth officer in a Royal Arch Chapter ac‑cording to the American system. He represents the sar hatabahim, or Captain of the King's Guards. He sits in front of the Council and at the entrance to the fourth veil, to guard the approaches to which is his duty. He wears a white robe and cap, is armed with a sword, and bears a white banner on which is inscribed a lion, the emblem of the tribe of Judah. His jewel is a triangular plate of gold inscribed with a sword. In the preliminary Lodges of the Chapter he acts as Junior Deacon.

 

Royal Arch Clothing. The clothing or regalia of a Royal Arch Mason in the American system consists of an apron (already described), a scarf of scarlet velvet or silk, on which is embroidered or painted, on a blue ground, the words, "Holiness to the Lord"; and if an officer, a scarlet collar, to which is attached the jewel of his office. The scarf, once universally used, has, within a few years past, been very much abandoned. Every Royal Arch Mason should also wear at his buttonhole, attached 'by a scarlet ribbon, the jewel of the Order.

 

Royal Arch Colors. The peculiar color of the Royal Arch Degree is red or scarlet, which is symbolic of fervency and zeal, the characteristics of the degree. The colors also used symbolically in the decorations of a Chapter are blue, purple, scarlet, and white, each of which has a symbolic meaning. (See Veils, Symbolism of the.) Royal Arch Degree. The early history of this degree is involved in obscurity, but in the opinion of the late Bro. W. J. Hughan its origin may

 

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be ascribed to the fourth decade of the eighteenth century. The earliest known mention of it occurs in a contemporary account of the meeting of a Lodge (No. 21) at Youghal, in Ireland, in 1743, when the members walked in procession and the Master was preceded by "the Royal Arch carried by two Excellent Masons." This passage makes it plain that the Royal Arch Degree was conferred in London before 1744 (say about 1740), and would suggest that York was considered to be its place of origin. Also as Laurence Dermott be‑came a Royal Arch Mason in 1746 it is clear that he could not have been, as is sometimes asserted, the inventor of the Rite.

 

The next mention of the degree occurs in the minutes of the "Ancients" Grand Lodge for March 4, 1752, when "A formal complaint was made by several brethren against Thos. Phealon and John Macky, better known as `leg of mutton Masons' for clandestinely making Masons for the mean consideration of a leg of mutton for dinner of supper. Upon examining some brothers whom they pretended to have made Royal Arch men, the parties had not the least idea of that secret. The Grand Secretary had examined Macky, and stated that he had not the least idea or knowledge of Royal Arch Masonry, but instead thereof he had told the people he had deceived, a long story about twelve white marble stones, &c., &c., and that the rainbow was the Royal Arch, with many other absurdities equally foreign and ridiculous." The earliest known record of the degree being actually conferred is a minute of the Fredericksburg Lodge, Virginia, U. S. A., stating that on December 22, 1753, three brethren were raised to the degree of Royal Arch Mason (for a facsimile of this entry see Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, iv., p. 222); while the earliest records traced in England are of the year 1758, during which year several brethren were "raised to the degree of Royal Arch" in a Lodge meeting at The Crown at Bristol.

 

This Lodge was a "Modern" one and its records therefore make it abundantly clear that the Royal Arch Degree was not by any means con‑fined to the "Ancients," though it was not officially recognized by the Grand Lodge of the "Moderns," whose Secretary wrote in

1759, "Our Society is neither Arch, Royal Arch or Ancient." However, at the Union of "Ancients" and "Moderns," in 1813, it was declared that "pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees, and no more, viz., those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch." And this lends color to the idea that at some time or other the Royal Arch had formed part of the Master Mason's Degree, though when and by whom it was separated from it no one has yet discovered, for we may dismiss as utterly uncorroborated by any proof the assertion that Ramsay was the fabricator of the Royal Arch Degree, and equally unsupported is the often made assertion that Dunckerley invented it, though he undoubtedly played a very active part in extending it.

 

APPENDIX    777

 

The late Bro. W. J. Hughan, in his Origin of the English Rite of Free Masonry (ed.

1909, p. 90), favors "the theory that a word was placed in the Royal Arch prominently which was previously given in the sections of the Third Degree and known `as the ancient word of a Master Mason,' " and considers that "according to this idea, that which was once lost, and then found, in the Third Degree (in one of the sections), was subsequently under the new regime discovered in the `Royal Arch,' only much extended, and under most exalted and dignified surroundings." In England, Scotland, and the United States, the legend of the degree is the same, though varying in some of the details, but the ceremony in Ireland differs much, for it has nothing to do with the rebuilding of the Temple as narrated by Ezra, but with the repairing of the Temple by Josiah, the three chief Officers, or Principals, being the King (Josiah), the Priest (Hilkiah), and the Scribe (Shaphan), not as in England Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Jeshua, or as in America, High Priest, King, and Scribe.

 

At one time in England only Past Masters were eligible for the degree, and this led to a system called "passing the chair," by which a sort of degree of Past Master was conferred upon brethren who had never really served in the chair of a Lodge: now a Master Mason who has been so for four weeks is eligible for exaltation.

 

Royal Arch Jewel. The jewel which every Royal Arch Mason is permitted to wear as a token of his connection with the Order. In America it is usually suspended by a scarlet ribbon to the button. In England it is to be worn pendant from a narrow ribbon on the left breast, the color of the ribbon varying with the rank of the wearer. It is of gold, and consists of a triple tau cross within a triangle, the whole circumscribed by a circle. This jewel is eminently symbolic, the tau being the mark mentioned by Ezekiel (ix.

4), by which those were distinguished who were to be saved from the wicked who were to be slain; the triple tau is symbolic of the peculiar and more eminent separation of Royal Arch Masons from the profane; the triangle or delta, is a symbol of the sacred name of God, known only to those who are thus separated; and the circle is a symbol of the eternal life, which is the great dogma taught by Royal Arch Masonry. Hence, by this jewel, the Royal Arch Mason makes the profession of his separation from the unholy and profane, his reverence for God, and his belief in the future and eternal life.

 

In America, the emblem worn by Royal Arch Masons without the Chapter is a Keystone, on which are the letters H. T. W. S. S. T. K. S. arranged in a circle and within the circle may or should be his mark.

 

Royal Arch Masonry. That division of Speculative Masonry which is engaged in the investigation of the mysteries connected with the Royal Arch, no matter under what name or in what Rite. Thus the mysteries of the Knight of the Ninth Arch constitute the Royal Arch Masonry of so for four weeks is eligible for exaltation.

 

778     APPENDIX

 

the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite just as much as those of the Royal Arch of Zerubbabel do the Royal Arch of the American Rite.

 

Royal Master. The Eighth Degree of the American Rite, and the first of the degrees conferred in a Council of Royal and Select Masters. Its officers are a Thrice Illustrious Grand Master, representing King Solomon; Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Principal Conductor of the Works, representing Hiram Abif; Master of the Exchequer, Master of Finances, Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council and Steward. The place of meeting is called the "Council Chamber," and represents the private apartment of King Solomon, in which he is said to have met for consultation with his two colleagues during the construction of the Temple. Candidates who receive this degree are said to be "honored with the degree of Royal Master." Its symbolic colors are black and red - the former significant of grief, and the latter of martyrdom, and both referring to the chief builder of the Temple.

 

The events recorded in this degree, looking at them in a legendary point of view, must have occurred at the building of the first Temple, and during that brief period of time after the death of the builder which is embraced between the discovery of his body and its "Masonic interment." In all the initiations into the mysteries of the ancient world, there was, as it is well known to scholars, a legend of the violent death of some distinguished personage, to whose memory the particular mystery was consecrated, of the concealment of the body, and of its subsequent discovery. That part of the initiation which referred to the concealment of the body was called the Aphanism, from a Greek verb which signifies "to conceal," and that part which referred to the subsequent finding was called the euresis, from another Greek verb which signifies "to discover." It is impossible to avoid seeing the coincidences between the system of initiation and that practised in the Masonry of the Third Degree. But the ancient initiation was not terminated by the euresis or discovery. Up to that point, the ceremonies had been funereal and lugubrious in their character. But now they were changed from wailing to rejoicing. Other ceremonies were performed by which the restoration of the personage to life, or his apotheosis or change to immortality, was represented, and then came the autopsy or illumination of the neophyte, when he was invested with a full knowledge of all the religious doctrines which it was the object of the ancient mysteries to teach - when, in a word, he was instructed in Divine truth.

 

Now, a similar course is pursued in Masonry. Here also there is an illumination, a symbolic teaching, or, as we call it, an investiture with that which is the representative of Divine truth. The communication to the candidate, in the Master's Degree, of that which is admitted to be merely a representation of or a substitution for that symbol of Divine truth (the search for which, under the name of the true word, makes so important a part of the degree), how imperfect it may be in comparison APPENDIX          779 with that more thorough knowledge which only future researches can enable the Master Mason to attain, constitutes the autopsy of the Third Degree. Now, the principal event recorded in the legend of the Royal Master, the interview between Adoniram and his two Royal Masters, is to be placed precisely at that juncture of time which is between the euresis or discovery in the Master Mason's Degree and the autopsy, or investiture with the great secret. It occurred between the discovery by means of the sprig of acacia and the final interment. It was at the time when Solomon and his colleague, Hiram of Tyre, were in profound consultation as to the mode of repairing the loss which they then supposed had befallen them.

 

We must come to this conclusion, because there is abundant reference, both in the organized form of the Council and in the ritual of the degree, to the death as an event that had already occurred; and, on the other hand, while it is evident that Solomon had been made acquainted with the failure to recover, on the person of the builder, that which had been lost, there is no reference whatever to the well‑known substitution which was made at the time of the interment.

 

If, therefore, as is admitted by all Masonic ritualists, the substitution was precedent and preliminary to the establishment of the Master Mason's Degree, it is evident that at the time that the degree of Royal Master is said to have been founded in the ancient Temple, by our "first Most Excellent Grand Master," all persons present, except the first and second officers, must have been merely Fellow‑Craft Masons. In compliance with this tradition, therefore, a Royal Master is, at this day, supposed to represent a Fellow‑Craft in the search, and making his demand for that reward which was to elevate him to the rank of a Master Mason.

 

If from the legendary history we proceed to the symbolism of the degree, we shall find that, brief and simple as are the ceremonies, they present the great Masonic idea of the laborer seeking for his reward. Throughout all the symbolism of Masonry, from the first to the last degree, the search for the WORD has been considered but as a symbolic expression for the search after TRUTH. The attainment of this truth has always been acknowledged to be the great object and design of all Masonic labor. Divine truth - the knowledge of God - concealed in the old Kabbalistic doctrine, under the symbol of his ineffable name - and typified in the Masonic system under the mystical expression of the True Word, is the reward proposed to every Mason who has faithfully wrought his task. It is, in short, the "Master's wages." Now, all this is beautifully symbolized in the degree of Royal Master. The reward has been promised, and the time had now come, as Adoniram thought, when the promise was to be redeemed, and the true word - Divine truth - was to be imparted. Hence, in the person of Adoniram, or the Royal Master, we see symbolized the Speculative Mason, who, having labored to complete his spiritual temple, comes to the Divine Master

 

780     APPENDIX

 

that he may receive his reward, and that his labor may be consummated by the acquisition of truth. But the temple that he had been building is the temple of this life; that first temple which must be destroyed by death that the second temple of the future life may be built on its foundations. And in this first temple the truth cannot be found. We must be contented with its substitute.

 

Rubric. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, edicts, summonses or other documents, written or printed in red letters, are supposed to be of more binding obligation, and to require more implicit obedience, than any others. Hence, in the same Rite, to publish the name of one who has been expelled in red letters is considered an especial mark of disgrace. It is derived from the custom of the Middle Ages, when, as Muratori shows (Antiq. Ital. Med.), red letters were used to give greater weight to documents; and he quotes an old Charter of 1020, which is said to be confirmed "per literas rubeas," or by red letters.

 

Salaam. The name of the Arabic form of salutation, which is by bowing the head and bringing the extended arms from the sides until the thumbs touch, the palms being down.

 

Scales, Pair of. "Let me be weighed in an even balance," said Job, "that God may know mine integrity"; and Solomon says that "a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight." So we find that among the ancients a balance, or pair of scales, was a well‑known recognized symbol of a strict observation of justice and fair dealing. This symbolism is also recognized in Masonry, and hence in the degree of Princes of Jerusalem, the duty of which is to administer justice in the inferior degrees, a pair of scales is the most important symbol.

 

Scallop‑Shell. The scallop‑shell, the staff, and sandals form a part of the costume of a Masonic Knights Templar in his character as a Pilgrim Penitent. Shakespeare makes Ophelia sing 

 

"And how shall I my true love know

            From any other one?

O, by his scallop‑shell and staff,

            And by his sandal shoon!" 

 

The scallop‑shell was in the Middle Ages the recognized badge of a pilgrim; so much so, that Dr. Clarke (Travels, ii., 538) has been led to say: "It is not easy to account for the origin of the shell as a badge worn by the pilgrims, but it decidedly refers to much earlier Oriental customs than the journeys of Christians to the Holy Land, and its history will probably be found in the mythology of eastern nations." He is right as to the question of antiquity, for the shell was an ancient symbol of the Syrian goddess Astarte, Venus Pelagia, or Venus rising from the sea. But it is doubtful whether its use by pilgrims is to be traced to so old or so Pagan an authority. Strictly, the scallop‑shell was the badge of pil‑

 

APPENDIX    781

 

grims visiting the shrine of St. James of Compostella, and hence it is called by naturalists the pecten Jacobceus - the comb shell of St. James. Fuller (Ch. Hist., ii., 228) says: "All pilgrims that visit St. James of Compostella in Spain returned thence obsiti conchis, `all beshelled about' on their clothes, as a religious donative there bestowed upon them." Pilgrims were, in fact, in Medieval times distinguished by the peculiar badge which they wore, as designating the shrine which they had visited. Thus pilgrims from Rome wore the keys, those from St. James the scallop‑shell, and those from the Holy Land palm branches, whence such a pilgrim was sometimes called a palmer. But this distinction was not always rigidly adhered to, and pilgrims from Palestine frequently wore the shell. At first the shell was sewn on the cloak, but afterward transferred to the hat; and while, in the beginning, the badge was not assumed until the pilgrimage was accomplished, eventually pilgrims began to wear it as soon as they had taken their vow of pilgrimage, and before they had cornò menced their journey.

 

Both of these changes have been adopted in the Templar ritual. The pilgrim, although symbolically making his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulcher in Palestine, adopts the shell more properly belonging to the pilgrimage to Compostella; and adopts it, too, not after his visit to the shrine, but as soon as he has assumed the character of a pilgrim, which, it will be seen from what has been said, is historically correct, and in accordance with the later practise of Medieval pilgrims.

 

Scenic Representations. In the Ancient Mysteries scenic representations were employed to illustrate the doctrines of the resurrection, which it was their object to inculcate. Thus the allegory of the initiation was more deeply impressed, by being brought vividly to the sight as well as to the mind of the aspirant. Thus, too, in the religious mysteries of the Middle Ages, the moral lessons of Scripture were dramatized for the benefit of the people who beheld them. The Christian virtues and graces often assumed the form of personages in these religious plays, and fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice appeared before the spectators as living and acting beings, inculcating by their actions and by the plot of the drama those lessons which would not have been so well received or so thoroughly understood, if given merely in a didactic form. The ad‑vantage of these scenic representations, consecrated by antiquity and tested by long experience, is well exemplified in the ritual of the Third Degree of Masonry, where the dramatization of the great legend gives to the initiation a singular force and beauty. It is surprising, therefore, that the English system never adopted, or, if adopted, speedily discarded, the drama of the Third Degree, but gives only in the form of a narrative what the American system more wisely and more usefully presents by living action. Throughout America, in every State excepting Pennsylvania, the initiation into the Third Degree constitutes a scenic representation. The latter State alone preserves the less impressive didactic method

 

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of the English system. The rituals of the Continent of Europe pursue the same scenic form of initiation, and it is therefore most probable that this was the ancient usage, and that the present English ritual is of comparatively recent date.

 

Scepter. An ensign of sovereign authority, and hence carried in several of the high degrees by officers who represent kings.

 

Secret Master. The Fourth Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and the first of what are called the "Ineffable Degrees." It refers to those circumstances which occurred at the Temple when Solomon repaired to the building for the purpose of supplying the loss of its illustrious builder by the appointment of seven experts, among whom were to be divided the labors which heretofore had been entrusted to one gigantic mind. The lecture elaborately explains the mystic meaning of the sacred things which were contained in the Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies.

 

The Lodge is hung with black curtains strewed with tears, symbolic of grief. There should be eighty‑one lights, distributed by nine times nine; but this number is often dispensed with, and three times three substituted. Later rituals reduce them to eight.

 

There are but two presiding officers - a Master, styled "Puissant," and representing King Solomon, and an Inspector, representing Adoniram, the son of Abda, who had the inspection of the workmen on Mount Lebanon, and who is said to have been the first Secret Master.

 

Solomon is seated in the east, clothed in mourning robes lined with ermine, holding a scepter in his hand, and decorated with a blue sash from the right shoulder to the left hip, from which is suspended a triangle of gold. Before him is placed a triangular altar, on which is de‑posited a wreath of laurel and olive leaves.

 

Adoniram, called "Venerable Inspector," is seated in the west, but without any implement of office, in commemoration of the fact that the works were suspended at the time of the institution of this degree. He is decorated with a triangular white collar, bordered with black, from which is suspended an ivory key, with the letter Z engraved thereon, which constitute the collar, and jewel of the degree. These decorations are worn by all the brethren.

 

The apron is white edged with black and with black strings; the flap blue, with an open eye thereon embroidered in gold. The modern ritual prescribes that two branches of olive and laurel crossing each other shall be on the middle of the apron.

 

Selamu Aleikum, Es. The Arabic salutation of "Peace be with you"; which meets with the response "Aleikum es Selaam." These expressions are prominently in use by ancient Arabic associations.

 

Select Master. The Ninth Degree in the American Rite, and the last of the two conferred in a Council of Royal and Select Masters. Its officers are a Thrice Illustrious Grand Master, Illustrious Hiram of Tyre, Prin‑

 

APPENDIX    783

 

cipal Conductor of the Works, Treasurer, Recorder, Captain of the Guards, Conductor of the Council, and Steward. The first three represent the three Grand Masters at the building of Solomon's Temple. The symbolic colors are black and red, the former significant of secrecy, silence, and darkness; the latter of fervency and zeal. A Council is sup‑posed to consist of neither more nor less than twenty‑seven; but a smaller number, if not less than nine, is competent to proceed to work or business. The candidate, when initiated, is said to be "chosen as a Select Master." The historical object of the degree is to commemorate the deposit of an important secret or treasure which, after the preliminary preparations, is said to have been made by IIiram Abif. The place of meeting represents a secret vault beneath the Temple.

 

A controversy has sometimes arisen among ritualists as to whether the degree of Select Master should precede or follow that of Royal Master in the order of conferring. But the arrangement now existing, by which the Royal Master is made the First and the Select Master the Second Degree of Cryptic Masonry, has been very generally accepted, and this for the best of reasons. It is true that the circumstances referred to in the degree of Royal Master occurred during a period of time which lies between the death of the Chief Builder of the Temple and the completion of the edifice, while those referred to in the degree of Select Master occurred anterior to the builder's death. Hence, in the order of time, the events commemorated in the Select Master's Degree took place anterior to those which are related in the degree of Royal Master; although in Masonic sequence the latter degree is conferred before the former. This apparent anachronism is, however, reconciled by the explanation that the secrets of the Select Master's Degree were not brought to light until long after the existence of the Royal Master's Degree had been known and recognized.

 

In other words, to speak only from the traditional point of view, Select Masters had been designated, had performed the task for which they had been selected, and had closed their labors, without ever being openly recognized as a class in the Temple of Solomon. The business in which they were engaged was a secret one. Their occupation and their very existence, according to the legend, were unknown to the great body of the Craft in the first Temple. The Royal Master's Degree, on the contrary, as there was no reason for concealment, was publicly conferred and acknowledged during the latter part of the construction of the Temple of Solomon; whereas the degree of Select Master, and the important incidents on which it was founded, are not supposed to have been revealed to the Craft until the building of the temple of Zerubbabel. Hence the Royal Master's Degree should always be conferred anterior to that of the Select Master.

 

The proper jurisdiction under which these degree& should be placed, whether under Chapters and to be conferred preparatory to the Royal

 

784     APPENDIX

 

Arch Degree or under Councils and to be conferred after it, has excited discussion. The former usage prevails in Maryland and Virginia, but the latter in all the other States. There is no doubt that these degrees belonged originally to the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and were conferred as honorary degrees by the Inspectors of that Rite. This authority and jurisdiction the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the Rite continued to claim until the year 1870; although, through negligence, the Councils of Royal and Select Masters in some of the States had been placed under the control of independent jurisdictions called Grand Councils. Like all usurped authority, however, this claim of the State Grand Councils does not seem to have ever been universally admitted or to have been very firmly established. Repeated attempts have been made to take the degrees out of the hands of the Councils and to place them in the Chapters, there to be conferred as preparatory to the Royal Arch. The General Grand Chapter, in the triennial session of 1847, adopted a resolution granting this permission to all. Chapters in States where no Grand Councils exist. But, seeing the manifest injustice and inexpediency of such a measure, at the following session of 1850 it refused to take any action on the subject of these degrees. In 1853 it disclaimed all control over them, and forbade the Chapters under its jurisdiction to confer them. As far as regards the interference of the Ancient'and Accepted Scottish Rite, that question was set at rest in 1870 by the Mother Council, which, at its session at Baltimore, formally relinquished all further control over them.

 

Senatorial Chamber. When the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite meets in the Thirty Third Degree, it is said to meet in its senatorial chember.

 

Sentinel. An officer in a Royal Arch Chapter, in a council of Knights of the Red Cross, and in a Commandery of Knights Templar, whose duties are similar to those of a Tiler in a Symbolic Lodge. In some bodies the word Janitor has been substituted for Sentinel, but the change is hardly a good one. Janitor has been more generally appropriated to the porter of a collegiate institution, and has no old Masonic authority for its use.

 

Sepulcher. The spirit of gratitude has from the earliest period led men to venerate the tombs in which have been deposited the remains of their benefactors. In all of the ancient religions there were sacred tombs to which worship was paid. The tombs of the prophets, preserved by the Israelites, gave testimony to their reverence for the memory of these holy personages. After the advent of Christianity, the same sentiment of devotion led the pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, that they might kneel at what was believed to be the sepulcher of their Lord. In many of the churches of the Middle Ages there was a particular place near the altar called the sepulcher, which was used at Easter for the performance of solemn rites commemorative of the Savior's resurrection. This custom

 

APPENDIX    785

 

still prevails in some of the churches on the Continent. In Templar Masonry, which is professedly a Christian system, the sepulcher forms a part of the arrangements of a Commandery. In England, the sepulcher is within the Asylum, and in front of the Eminent Commander. In America it is placed without; and the scenic representation observed in every well‑regulated and properly arranged Commandery furnishes a most impressive and pathetic ceremony.

 

Seven. In every system of antiquity there is a frequent reference to this number, showing that the veneration for it proceeded from some common cause. It is equally a sacred number in the Gentile as in the Christian religion. Oliver says that this can scarcely be ascribed to any event, except it be the institution of the Sabbath. Higgins thinks that the peculiar circumstance, perhaps accidental, of the number of the days of the week coinciding exactly with the number of the planetary bodies probably procured for it its character of sanctity. The Pythagoreans called it a perfect number, because it was made up of 3 and 4, the triangle and the square, which are the two perfect figures. They called it also a virgin number, and without mother, comparing it to Minerva, who was a motherless virgin, because it cannot by multiplication produce any number within ten, as twice two does four, and three times three does nine; nor can any two numbers, by their multiplication, produce it.

 

It is singular to observe the important part occupied by the number seven in all the ancient systems. There were, for instance, seven ancient planets, seven Pleiades, and seven Hyades; seven altars burned continually before the god Mithras; the Arabians had seven holy temples; the Hindus supposed the world to be enclosed within the compass of seven peninsulas; the Goths had seven deities, viz., the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, Woden, Thor, Friga, and Seatur, from whose names are derived our days of the week; in the Persian mysteries were seven spacious caverns, through which the aspirant had to pass; in the Gothic mysteries, the candidate met with seven obstructions, which were called the "road of the seven stages"; and, finally, sacrifices were always considered as most efficacious when the victims were seven in number.

 

Much of the Jewish ritual was governed by this number, and the etymology of the word shows its sacred import, for the radical meaning of shabang, is, says Parkhurst, sufficiency or fulness. The Hebrew idea, therefore, like the Pythagorean, is that of perfection. To both the seven was a perfect number. Again: shabang,  means to swear, because oaths were confirmed either by seven witnesses, or by seven victims offered in sacrifice, as we read in the covenant of Abraham and Abimelech. (Gen. xxi.

28.) Hence, there is a ‑frequent recurrence to this number in the Scriptural history. The Sabbath was the seventh day; Noah received seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and was commanded to select clean beasts and fowls by sevens; seven per‑sons accompanied him into the ark; the ark rested on Mount Ararat in

 

786     APPENDIX

 

the seventh month; the intervals between despatching the dove were, each time, seven days; the walls of Jericho were encompassed seven days by seven priests, bearing seven rams' horns; Solomon was seven years building the Temple, which was dedicated in the seventh month, and the festival lasted seven days; the candlestick in the tabernacle consisted of seven branches; and, finally, the tower of Babel was said to have been elevated seven stories before the dispersion.

 

Seven is a sacred number in Masonic symbolism. It has always been so. In the earliest rituals of the last century it was said that a Lodge required seven to make it perfect; but the only explanation.to be found in any of those rituals of the sacredness of the number is the seven liberal arts and sciences, which, according to the old "Legend of the Craft," were the foundation of Masonry. In modern ritualism the symbolism of seven has been transferred from the First to the Second Degree, and there it is made to refer only to the seven steps of the Winding Stairs; but the symbolic seven is to be found diffused in a hundred ways over the whole Masonic system.

 

*The sun was naturally the great central planet of the ancient seven, and is ever represented as the central light of the seven in the branched candlestick. Of the days of the week one was known as Sol's day, or Sunday, and as the Sun was the son of Saturn, he was ushered in by his father Saturn or Saturday), whom he superseded. The Jews got their Sabbath from the Babylonians about 700 B.C. (Anc. Faiths, p. 863; also see Philo Judceus, Josephus, and Clement of Alexandria), while Sol's day dates from time immemorial, and was always a sacred one. In a phallic sense, when the sun has been in conjunction with the moon, he only leaves Luna after impregnation, and as Forlong, in his Rivers of Life, expresses it, "the young sun is that faint globe we so often see in the arms of the new moon," which is in gestation with the sun. The occult meaning of the word Mi‑mi perhaps is here revealed, as mentioned in 2 Kings xviii. 27, being defined Firewater. Mi is the name of the sun, and as well signifies gold. It is designated in the musical scale, and is also the name of fire in Burmese, Siamese, and cognate tongues, as mentioned by Forlong in treating of the Early Faiths of Western Asia (vol. ii. p. 65).

 

Next to the sun in beauty and splendor the moon leads all the hosts of heaven. And the Occidental, as well as the Oriental, nations were strongly moved in their imaginations by the awful majesty, the solemn silence, and the grandeur of that brilliant body progressing nightly through the starry vault: from the distant plains of India to ancient Egypt, and even those far‑off lands where the Incas ruled, altars were erected to the worship of the Moon. On every seventh day the moon assumed a new phase, which gave rise to festivals to Luna being correspondingly celebrated; the day so set apart was known as Moon‑day, or the second day of the week, that following Sun: day. "The Moon, whose

 

APPENDIX    787

 

phases marked and appointed their holy days." (Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, Book I., ch. 28.) In the Hebrew, Syrian, Persian, Phoenician, Chaldean, and Saxon, the word Seven signifies full or complete, and every seventh day after the first quarter the moon is complete in its change. In all countries the moon is best known under the beautiful figure of the unveiling. Queen of Heaven.

 

The relative values of Seven in the musical scale and in the ancient planetary formula are as follows: 

 

Si        Moon              Silver.

 

Ut        Mercury         Quicksilver.

 

Re       Venus             Copper.

 

Mi        Sun                 Gold.

 

Fa       Mars               Iron.

 

Sol       Jupiter           Tin.

 

La        Saturn            Lead.

 

 The eminent professor of music, Carl Bergstein, in connection here‑with, furnishes the information that Guido Aretinus, Monk, in the eleventh century, the great reformer of music, invented the staff, several keys, and the names ut, re, mi, fa, sot, la, si; they being taken from a prayer to St. John to protect the voice, running thus: 

 

Ut queant taxis Resonare fibris

Mira gestorum Famuli tuorum

Solve polluti Labii reatum, Sancte Johannes.

 

 The literal translation of which would be rendered:

 

"For that (or to enable) with expanded breast

Thy servants are able to sing the praise of Thy

Deeds, forgive the polluted lips the sins uttered." 

 

The syllable ut has since been changed for the more satisfactory do.

 

In the year 1562 there was printed at Leipzig a work entitled Heptalogium Virgilii Salsburgensis, in honor of the number Seven. It consists of seven parts, each embracing seven divisions. In 1624 appeared in London a curious work on the subject of numbers, bearing the followò ing title: "The Secret of Numbers according to Theological, Arithmetical, Geometrical, and Harmonical Computation; drawn, for the better part, out of those Ancients, as well as Neoteriques. Pleasing to read, profitable to understand, opening themselves to the capacities of both learned and unlearned; being no other than a key to lead men to any doctrinal knowledge whatsoever." In the ninth chapter the author has given many notable opinions from learned men, to prove the excellency of the number

 

788     APPENDIX

 

Seven. "First, it neither begets nor is begotten, according to the saying of Philo. Some numbers, indeed, within the compass of ten, beget, but are not begotten; and that is the unarie. Others are begotten, but beget not, as the octonarie. Only the septenaries have a prerogative above them all, they neither beget nor are begotten. This is its first divinity or perfection. Secondly, this is a harmonical number, and the well and fountain of that fair and lovely Sigamma, because it includeth within itself all manner of harmony. Thirdly, it is a theological number, consisting of perfection. Fourthly, because of its compositure; for it is compounded of the first two perfect numbers equal and unequal, three and four; for the number two, consisting of repeated unity, which is no number, is not perfect. Now every one of these being excellent of them‑selves (as hath been demonstrated), how can this number be but far more excellent, consisting of them all, and participating, as it were, of all their excellent virtues?" Hippocrates says that the septenary number, by its occult virtue, tends to the accomplishment of all things, is the dispenser of life and fountain of all its changes; and, like Shakespeare, he divides the life of man into seven ages. In seven months a child may be born and live, and not before. Anciently a child was not named before seven days, not being accounted fully to have life before that periodical day. The teeth spring out in the seventh month, and are renewed in the seventh year, when infancy is changed into childhood. At thrice seven years the faculties are developed, manhood commences, and we become legally competent to all civil acts; at four times seven man is in full possession of his strength; at five times seven he is fit for the business of the world; at six times seven he becomes grave and wise, or never; at seven times seven he is in his apogee, and from that time he decays; at eight times seven he is in his first climacteric; at nine times seven, or sixty‑three, he is in his grand climacteric, or years of danger; and ten times seven, or threescore years and ten, has, by the Royal Prophet, been pronounced the natural period of human life.

 

Seven Synonyms for God: - Spirit; Soul; Mind; Principle; Life; Truth; Love.

 

Seven Synonyms for Man: - Idea; image; likeness; witness; representative; expression; manifestation.

 

Seven years in building Solomon's Temple; Seven days of Creation; Seven days of the week, Seven ages in the life of man; Seven openings in the head of a man; Jesus was on the cross Seven hours; Jesus spoke Seven times while on the cross; Jesus appeared Seven times after the crucifixion; Seven heavens; Seven notes of music; Seven primary colors; Seven wonders of the world; Seven seas, and many other sevens.

 

Seven Stars. In the Tracing‑Board of the Seventeenth Degree, or Knight of the East and West, is the representation of a. man clothed in a white robe, with a golden girdle round his waist, his right hand extended.

 

APPENDIX    789

 

and surrounded with seven stars. The Seventeenth is an apocalyptic degree, and this symbol is taken from the passage in Revelation i. 16, "and he had in his right hand seven stars." It is a symbol of the seven churches of Asia.

 

Serpent. As a symbol, the serpent obtained a prominent place in all the ancient with the password, is given to the Tiler on entering the Temple.

 

Signet of Truth. The signet of Zerubbabel, used in the ritual of the Royal Arch Degree, is also there called the Signet of Truth, to indicate that the neophyte who brings it to the Grand Council is in search of Divine Truth, and to give to him the promise that he will by its power speedily obtain his reward in the possession of that for which he is seeking. The Signet of Truth is presented to the aspirant to assure him that he is advancing in his progress to the attainment of truth, and that he is thus invested with the power to pursue the search.

 

Signet of Zerubbabel. This is used in the American ritual of the Royal Arch Degree. It refers to a passage of Haggai (ii. 23), where God has promised that he will make Zerubbabel his signet. It has the same symbolic meaning as is given to its synonym the "Signet of Truth," because Zerubbabel, as the head of the second Temple, was the symbol of the searcher after truth. But something may be said of the incorrect form in which it is found in many Chapters. At least from the time when Cross presented an engraving of this signet in his Hieroglyphic Chart, and perhaps from a much earlier period, for he may possibly have only perpetuated the blunder, it has been represented in most Chapters by a triangular plate of metal. Now, an unattached plate of metal, in any shape whatsoever, is about as correct a representation of a signet as a walking‑cane is of a piece of money. The signet is and always has been a finger‑ring, and so it should be represented in the ceremonies of the Chapter. What the peculiar device of this signet was - for every signet must have a device - we are unable to show, but we may suppose that it was the Tetragrammaton, perhaps in its well‑known abbreviated form of a yod within a triangle. Whether this was so or not, such a device would be most appropriate to the symbolism of the Royal Arch ritual.

 

Silver Cord. In the beautiful and affecting description of the body of man suffering under the infirmities of old age given in the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, we find the expression "or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern: then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it." Dr. Clarke thus explains these beautiful metaphors. The silver cord is the spinal marrow; its loosening is the cessation of all nervous sensibility; the golden bowl is the brain, which is rendered unfit to perform its functions by the approach of death; the pitcher means the great vein which carries the blood to the right ventricle of the heart, here called the foun‑

 

790     APPENDIX

 

tain; by the wheel is meant the great artery which receives the blood from the left ventricle of the heart, here designated as the cistern. This collection of metaphors is a part of the Scripture reading in the Third Degree, and forms an appropriate introduction to those sublime ceremonies whose object is to teach symbolically the resurrection and life eternal.

 

Shekel. In the Fourth or Mark Master's Degree, it is said that the value of a mark is "a Jewish half‑shekel of silver, or twenty‑five cents in the currency of this country." The shekel of silver was a weight of great antiquity among the Jews, its value being about a half‑dollar. In the time of Solomon, as well as long before and long after, until the Babylonish exile, the Hebrews had no regularly stamped money, but generally used in traffic a currency which consisted of uncoined shekels, which they weighed out to one another. The earliest specimens of the coined shekel which we know are of the coinage of Simon Maccabeus, issued about the year 144 B.C. Of these, we generally find on the obverse the sacred pot of manna, with the inscription, "Shekel Israel," in the old Samaritan character; on the reverse, the rod of Aaron, having three buds, with the inscription, "Ierushalem Kadoshah," or Jerusalem the Holy, in a similar character.

 

Shekinah. Hebrew word, derived from SHAKAN, to dwell. A term applied by the Jews, especially in the Targums, to the Divine glory which dwelt in the tabernacle and the Temple, and which was manifested by a visible cloud resting over the mercy‑seat in the Holy of Holies. It first appeared over the ark when Moses consecrated the tabernacle; and was afterward, upon the consecration of the Temple by Solomon, translated thither, whereòit remained until the destruction of that building.

 

The Shekinah disappeared after the destruction of the first Temple, and was not present in the second. Mr. Christie, in his learned treatise on the Worship of the Elements, says that "the loss of the Shekinah, that visible sign of the presenceò of the Deity, induced an early respect for solar light as its substitute." Now there is much that is significative of Masonic history in this brief sentence. The sun,still remains as a prominent symbol in the Masonic system. It has been derived by the Masons from those old sun‑worshipers. But the idea of Masonic light is very different from their idea of solar light. The Shekinah was the symbol of the Divine glory; but the true glory of divinity is Truth, and Divine Truth is therefore the Shekinah of Masonry. This is symbolized by light, which is no longer used by us as a "substitute" for the Shekinah, or the Divine glory, but as its symbol - the physical expression of its essence.

 

Shock of Enlightenment. A ceremony used in all the degrees of Symbolic Masonry. By it we seek to symbolize the idea of the birth of material light, by the representation of the circumstances that accompanied it, and their reference to the birth of intellectual or Masonic light. The one is the type of the other; and hence the illumination of the can‑

 

APPENDIX    791

 

didate is attended with a ceremony that may be supposed to imitate the primal illumination of the universe - most feebly, it is true, and yet not altogether without impressiveness.

 

The Shock of Enlightenment is, then, a symbol of the change which is now taking place in the intellectual condition of the candidate. It is the symbol of the birth of the candidate.

 

Shem, Ham, Japheth. The three sons of Noah, who assisted him in the construction of the ark of safety, and hence they became significant words in the Royal Arch Degree according to the American system. The interpolation of Adoniram in the place of one of these names, which is sometimes met with, is a blunder of some modern, ignorant ritual maker.

 

Shewbread. The twelve loaves which were placed upon a table in the sanctuary of the Temple, and which were called the shewbread or bread of the presence, are represented among the paraphernalia of a Lodge of Perfection in the Ancient and Accepted Rite. Bahr (Symbolik) says that the shewbread was a symbol of the bread of life - of the eternal life by which we are brought into the presence of God and know him; an interpretation that is equally applicable to the Masonic symbolism.

 

Skull. The skull as a symbol is not used in Masonry except in Masonic Templarism, where it is a symbol of mortality. Among the articles of accusation sent by the Pope to the bishops and papal commissaries upon which to examine the Knights Templar, those from the forty‑second to the fifty‑seventh refer to the human skull, "cranium humanum," which the Templars were accused of using in their reception, and worshiping as an idol. It is possible that the Old Templars made use of the skull in their ceremony of reception; but Modern Templars will readily acquit their predecessors of the crime of idolatry, and find in their use of a skull a symbolic design. (See Baphomet.)

 

Slander. Inwood, in his sermon on "Union Amongst Masons," says: "To defame our brother, or suffer him to be defamed, without interesting ourselves for the preservation of his name and character, there is scarcely the shadow of an excuse to be formed. Defamation is always wicked. Slander and evil speaking are the pests of civil society, are the disgrace of every degree of religious profession, are the poisonous bane of all brotherly love."

 

Spes mea in Deo est. (My hope is in God.) The motto of the Thirty‑second Degree, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.

 

Spiritual Temple. The French Masons say: "We erect temples for virtue and dungeons for vice"; thus referring to the great Masonic doctrine of a spiritual temple. There is no symbolism of the Order more sublime than that in which the Speculative Mason is supposed to. be en‑gaged in the construction of a spiritual temple, in allusion to that material one which was erected by his operative predecessors at Jerusalem. Indeed, the difference, in this point of view, between Operative and

 

792     APPENDIX

 

Speculative Masonry is simply this: that while the former was engaged in the construction, on Mount Moriah, of a material temple of stones and cedar, and gold and precious stones, the latter is occupied, from his first to his last initiation, in the construction, the adornment, and the completion of the spiritual temple of his body. The idea of making the temple a symbol of the body is not, it is true, exclusively Masonic. It had occurred to the first teachers of Christianity. Christ himself alluded to it when he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"; and St. Paul extends the idea, in the first of his Epistles to the Corinthians, in the following language: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (iii. 16.) And again, in a subsequent passage of the same Epistle, he reiterates the idea in a more positive form: "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (vi. 19.) But the mode of treating this symbolism by a reference to the particular Temple of Solomon, and to the operative art engaged in its construction, is an application of the idea peculiar to Freemasonry. Hitch‑cock, in his Essay on Swedenborg, thinks that the same idea was also shared by the Hermetic philosophers. He says: "With perhaps the majority of readers, the Temple of Solomon, and also the tabernacle, were mere buildings - very magnificent, indeed, but still mere buildings - for the worship of God. But some are struck with many portions of the account of'their erection admitting a moral interpretation; and while the buildings are allowed to stand (or to have stood, once,) visible objects, these interpreters are delighted to meet with indications that Moses and Solomon, in building the Temples, were wise in the knowledge of God and of man; from which point it is not difficult to pass on to the moral meaning altogether, and affirm that the building, which was erected without the noise of a `hammer, nor ax, nor any tool of iron' (1 Kings vi. 7,) was altogether a moral building - a building of God, not made with hands. In short, many see in the story of Solomon's Temple, a symbolical representation of MAN as the temple of God, with its HOLY OF HOLIES deep seated in the centre of the human heart."

 

Step. The step can hardly be called a mode of recognition, although Apuleius informs us that there was a peculiar step in the Osiriac initiation which was deemed a sign. It is in Freemasonry rather an esoteric usage of the ritual. The steps can be traced back as far as to at least the middle of the last century, in the rituals of which they are fully described. The custom of advancing in a peculiar manner and form, to some sacred place or elevated personage, has been preserved in the customs of all countries, especially among the Orientalists, who resort even to prostrations of the body when approaching the throne of the sovereign or the holy part of a religious edifice. The steps of Masonry are symbolic of respect and veneration for the altar, whence Masonic light is to emanate.

 

APPENDIX    793

 

It must be evident to every Master Mason, without further explanation, that the three steps are taken from the place of darkness to the place of light, either figuratively or really over a coffin, the symbol of death, to teach symbolically that the passage from the darkness and ignorance of this life is through death to the light and knowledge of the eternal life. And this, from the earliest times, was the true symbolism of the step.

 

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

 

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

 

As preliminary to the inquiry, it is necessary to distinguish the Stone of Foundation, both in its symbolism and its legendary history, from other stones which play an important part in the Masonic ritual, but which are entirely distinct from it. Such are the cornerstone, which was always placed in the northeast corner of the building about to be erected, and to which such a beautiful reference is made in the ceremonies of the Frst Degree; or the keystone, which constitutes an interesting part of the Mark Master's Degree; or, lastly, the cape‑stone, upon which all the ritual of the Most Excellent Master's Degree is founded. There are all, in their proper places, highly interesting and instructive symbols, but have no connection whatever with the Stone of Foundation, whose symbolism it is our present object to discuss. Nor, although the Stone of Foundation is said, for peculiar' reasons, to have been of a cubical form, must it be confounded with that stone called by the continental Masons the cubical stone - the pierre cubique of the French and the cubik stein of the German Masons but which in the English system is known as the perfect ashlar.

 

The Stone of Foundation has a legendary history and a symbolic signification which are peculiar to itself, and which differ from the history and meaning which belong to these other stones. I propose first to define this Masonic Stone of Foundation, then to collate the legends which refer to it, and afterward to investigate its significance as a symbol. To the Mason who takes a pleasure in the study of the mysteries of his Institu‑

 

794     APPENDIX

 

tion, the investigation cannot fail to be interesting, if it is conducted with any ability.

 

But in the very beginning, as a necessary preliminary to any investigation of this kind, it must be distinctly understood that all that is said of this Stone of Foundation in Masonry is to be strictly taken in a mythical or allegorical sense. Dr. Oliver, while undoubtedly himself knowing that it was simply a symbol, has written loosely of it as though it were a substantial reality; and hence, if the passages in his Historical Landmarks, and in his other works which refer to this celebrated stone, are accepted by his readers in a literal sense, they will present absurdities and puerilities which would not occur if the Stone of Foundation was received, as it really is, as a myth conveying a most profound and beautiful symbol‑ism. It is as such that it is to be treated here; and, therefore, if a legend is recited or a tradition related, the reader is requested on every occasion to suppose that such legend or tradition is not intended as the recital or relation of what is deemed a fact in Masonic history, but to wait with patience for the development of the symbolism which it conveys. Read in this spirit, as all the legends of Masonry should be read, the legend of the Stone of Foundation becomes one of the most important and interesting of all the Masonic symbols.

 

The Stone of Foundation is supposed, by the theory which establishes it, to have been a stone placed at one time within the foundations of the Temple of Solomon, and afterward, during the building of the second Temple, transported to the Holy of Holies. It was in form a perfect cube, and had inscribed upon its upper face, within a delta or triangle, the sacred Tetragrammaton, or ineffable name of God. Oliver, speaking with the solemnity of an historian, says that Solomon thought that he had rendered the house of God worthy, so far as human adornment could effect, for the dwelling of God, "when he had placed the celebrated Stone of Foundation, on which the sacred name was mystically engraven, with solemn ceremonies, in that sacred depository on Mount Moriah, along with the foundations of Dan and Asher, the centre of the Most Holy Place, where the ark was overshadowed by the shekinah of God." The Hebrew Talmudists, who thought as much of this stone, and had as many legends concerning it, as the Masonic Talmudists, called it eben shatijah, or "Stone of Foundation," because, as they said, it had been laid by Jehovah as the foundation of the world, and hence the apocryphal Book of Enoch speaks of the "stone which supports the corners of the earth." This idea of a foundation‑stone of the world was most probably deò rived from that magnificent passage of the Book of Job (ch. xxxviii. v. 4 - 7) in which the Almighty demands of Job, 

 

"Where wast thou, when I laid the foundation

of the earth?

 

APPENDIX    795

 

Declare, since thou hast such knowledge!

Who fixed its dimensions, since thou knowest!

Or who stretched out the line upon it?

Upon what were its foundations fixed?

And who laid its corner‑stone,

When the morning stars sang together,

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" 

 

Noyes, whose translation I have adopted as not materially differing from the common version, but far more poetical and more in the strain of the original, thus explains the allusions to the foundation‑stone: "It was the custom to celebrate the laying of the corner‑stone of an important building with music, songs, shouting, etc. Hence the morning stars are represented as celebrating the laying of the corner‑stone of the earth." Upon this meager statement has been accumulated more traditions than appertain to any other Masonic symbol. The Rabbis, as has already been intimated, divide the glory of these apocryphal histories with the Masons; indeed, there is good reason for a suspicion that nearly all the Masonic legends owe their first existence to the imaginative genius of the writers of the Jewish Talmud. But there is this difference between the Hebrew and the Masonic traditions: that the Talmudic scholar recited them as truthful histories, and swallowed, in one gulp of faith, all their impossibilities and anachronisms; while the Masonic scholar has received them as allegories, whose value is not in the facts, but in the sentiments which they convey.

 

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

 

In that blasphemous work, the Toldoth Jeshu, or Life of Jesus, writ‑ten, it is supposed, in the thirteenth or fourteenth century, we find the following account of this wonderful stone: "At that time [the time of Jesus] there was in the House of the Sanctuary [that is, the Temple] a stone of foundation, which is the very stone that our father Jacob anointed with oil, as it is described in the twenty‑eighth chapter of the Book of Genesis. On that stone the letters of the Tetragrammaton were inscribed, and whosoever of the Israelites should learn that name would be able to master the world. To prevent, therefore, any one from learning these letters, two iron dogs were placed upon two columns in front of the Sanctuary. If any person, having acquired the knowledge of these letters, desired to depart from the Sanctuary, the barking of the dogs, by magical power, inspired so much fear that he suddenly forgot what he had acquired." This passage is cited by the learned Buxtorf in his lexicon Talmudicum; but in my copy of Toldoth Jeshu, I find another passage, which gives some additional particulars, in the following words:

 

796     APPENDIX

 

"At that time there was in the Temple the ineffable name of God, in‑scribed upon the Stone of Foundation. For when King David was digging the foundation for the Temple, he found in the depths of the excavation a certain stone on which the name of God was inscribed. This stone he removed and deposited it in the Holy of Holies." The same puerile story of the barking dogs is repeated still more at length. It is not pertinent to the present inquiry, but it may be stated, as a mere matter of curious information, that this scandalous book, which is throughout a blasphemous defamation of our Savior, proceeds to say, that he cunningly obtained a knowledge of the Tetragrammaton from the Stone of Foundation, and by its mystical influence was enabled to perform his miracles.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

APPENDIX    797

 

distich which declares that wherever this stone is found the Scottish kings shall reign.

 

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

 

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

 

This series of legends commences with the patriarch Enoch, who is supposed to have been the first consecrator of the Stone of Foundation. The legend of Enoch is so interesting and important in this connection as to excuse its repetition in the present work.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

798     APPENDIX 

 

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

 

In this the Masonic tradition again agrees with the Jewish, for we find in the third chapter of the Treatise on the Temple, the following narrative: "There was a stone in the Holy of Holies, on its west side, on which was placed the ark of the covenant, and before the pot of manna and Aaron's rod. But when Solomon had built the Temple, and foresaw that it was at some future time to be destroyed, he constructed a deep and winding vault under ground, for the purpose of concealing the ark, wherein Josiah afterwards, as we learn in the Second Book of Chronicles, xxxv. 3, deposited it with the pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, and the oil of anointing." The Talmudical book Yoma gives the same tradition, and says that "the ark of the covenant was placed in the centre of the Holy of Holies, upon a stone rising three fingers' breadth above the floor, to be' as it were a pedestal for it." This stone, says Prideaux, in his Old and New Testament Connected (vol. i., p.

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

 

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

 

In the Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, the Stone of Foundation is conspicuous as the resting‑place of the sacred delta.

 

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

 

Lee, in his Temple of Solomon, has devoted a chapter to this Stone of Foundation, and thus recapitulates the Talmudic and Rabbinical traditions on the subject: "Vain and futilous are the feverish dreams of the ancient Rabbins concerning the Foundation‑Stone of the Temple. Some assert that God

 

APPENDIX    799

 

placed this stone in the centre of the world, for a future basis and settled consistency for the earth to rest upon. Others held this stone to be the first matter out of which all the beautiful visible beings of the world have been hewn forth and produced to light. Others relate that this was the very same stone laid by Jacob for a pillow under his head, in that night when he dreamed of an angelic vision at Bethel, and afterwards anointed and consecrated it to God. Which when Solomon had found (no doubt by forged revelation or some tedious search like another Rabbi Selemoh) he durst not but lay it sure, as the principal Foundation‑Stone of the Temple. Nay, they say further, he caused to be engraved upon it the Tetragrammaton, or the ineffable name of Jehovah." It will be seen that the Masonic traditions on the subject of the Stone of Foundation do not differ very materially from these Rabbinical ones, although they add a few additional circumstances.

 

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

 

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

 

The following facts can, I think, be readily established from history. First, that there was a very general prevalence among the earliest nations of antiquity of the worship of stones as the representatives of Deity; secondly, that in almost every ancient temple there was a legend of a sacred or mystical stone; thirdly, that this legend is found in the Ma‑sonic system; and'lastly, that the mystical stone there has received the name of the "Stone of Foundation." Now, as in all the other systems the stone is admitted to be symbolic, and the traditions connected with it mystical, we are compelled to assume the same predicates of the Masonic stone. It, too, is symbolic, and its legend a myth or an allegory.

 

Of the fable, myth, or allegory, Bailly has said that, "subordinate to history and philosophy, it only deceives that it may the better instruct us. Faithful in preserving the realities which are confided to it, it covers with its seductive envelop the lessons of the one and the truths of the

 

800     APPENDIX

 

other." It is from this standpoint that we are to view the allegory of the Stone of Foundation, as developed in one of the most interesting and important symbols of Masonry.

 

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

 

The predominant idea of the Deity, in the Masonic system, connects him with his creative and formative power. God is to the Freemason Al Gabil, as the Arabians called him, that is, The Builder; or, as ex‑pressed in his Masonic title, the Grand Architect of the Universe, by common consent abbreviated in the formula G A 0 T U. Now, it is evident that no symbol could so appropriately suit him in this character as the Stone of Foundation, upon which he is allegorically supposed to have erected his world. Such a symbol closely connects the creative work of God, as a pattern and exemplar, with the workman's erection of his temporal building on a similar foundation‑stone.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

But the mystical stone was placed by King Solomon in the foundations of the first Temple. That is to say, the first temple of our present

 

APPENDIX    801

 

life must be built on the sure foundation of Divine truth, "for other foundation can no man lay." But although the present life is necessarily built upon the foundation of truth, yet we never thoroughly attain it in this sublunary sphere. The Foundation‑Stone is concealed in the first temple, and the Master Mason knows it not. He has not the true word. He receives only a substitute.

 

But in the second temple of the future life, we have passed from the grave which had been the end of our labors in the first. We have removed the rubbish, and have found that Stone of Foundation which had been hitherto concealed from our eyes. We now throw aside the substitute for truth which had contented us in the former temple, and the brilliant effulgence of the Tetragrammaton and the Stone of Foundation are discovered, and thenceforth we are the possessors of the true word - of Di‑vine truth. And in this way, the Stone of Foundation, or Divine truth, concealed in the first temple, but discovered and brought to light in the second, will explain that passage of the Apostle: "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know face to face." And so the result of this inquiry is, that the Masonic Stone of Foundation is a symbol of Divine truth, upon which all speculative Masonry is built, and the legends and traditions which refer to it are intended to describe, in an allegorical way, the progress of truth in the soul, the search for which is a Mason's labor, and the discovery of which in his reward.

 

Stone‑Masons of the Middle Ages. The history of the origin and progress of the Brotherhood of Stone‑Masons in Europe, during the Middle Ages, is of great importance, as a study, to the Masonic scholar, be‑cause of the intimate connection that existed between that Brotherhood and the Fraternity of Freemasons. Indeed, the history of the one is but the introduction to the history of the other. In an historical excursus, we are compelled to take up the speculative science where we find it left by the operative art. Hence, whoever shall undertake to write a history of Freemasonry, must give, for the completion of his labor, a very full consideration to the Brotherhood of Stone‑Masons.

 

In the year 1820, there issued from the press of Leipsic, in Germany, a work, by Dr. Christian Ludwig Steiglitz, under the title of Von Altdeutscher Baukunst, that is, "An Essay on the Old German Architecture," published in 1820. In this work the author traces, with great exactness, the rise and the progress of the fraternities of Stone‑Masons from the earliest times, through the Middle Ages, until their final absorption into the associations of Freemasons. From the labors of Dr. Steiglitz, collated with some other authorities in respect to matters upon which he is either silent or erroneous, I have compiled the following sketch.

 

It is universally admitted that, in the early ages of Christianity, the clergy were the most important patrons of the arts and sciences. This

 

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was because all learning was then almost exclusively confined to ecclesiastics. Very few of the laity could read or write, and even kings affixed the sign of the cross, in the place of their signatures, to the charters and other documents which they issued, because, as they frankly confessed, of their inability to write their names; and hence comes the modern expression of signing a paper, as equivalent to subscribing the name.

 

From the time of Charlemagne, in the eighth century, to the middle of the twelfth, all knowledge and practise of architecture, painting, and sculpture were exclusively confined to the monks; and bishops personally superintended the erection of the churches and cathedrals in their dioceses, because not only the principles, but the practise of the art of building were secrets scrupulously maintained within the walls of cloisters, and utterly unknown to laymen.*

 

Many of the founders of the Monastic Orders, and especially among these St. Benedict, made it a peculiar duty for the brethren to devote themselves to architecture and church building. The English monk Winfrid, better known in ecclesiastical history as St. Boniface, and who, for his labors in Christianizing that country, has been styled the Apostle of Germany, followed the example of his predecessors in the erection of German monasteries. In the eighth century he organized an especial class of monks for the practise of building, under the name of Operarii, or Craftsmen, and Magistri Operum, or Masters of the Works. The labors and duties of these monks were divided. Some of them designed the plan of the building; others were painters and sculptors; others were occupied in working in gold and silver and embroidery; and others again, who were called Ccrmentarii, or Stone‑Masons, undertook the practical labors of construction. Sometimes, especially in extensive buildings, where many workmen were required, laymen were also employed, under the direction of the monks. So extensive did these labors become, that bishops and abbots often derived a large portion of their revenues from the earnings of the workmen in the monasteries.

 

Among the laymen who were employed in the monasteries as assist‑ants and laborers, many were of course possessed of superior intelligence. The constant and intimate association of these with the monks in the prosecution of the same design led to this result, that in process of time, gradually and almost unconsciously, the monks imparted to them their art secrets and the esoteric principles of architecture. Then, by degrees, the knowledge of the arts and sciences went from these monkish builders out into the world, and the laymen architects, withdrawing from the ecclesiastical fraternities, organized brotherhoods of their own. Such was the beginning of the Stone‑Masons in Germany, and the same thing occurred in other countries. These brotherhoods of Masons now began to be called upon, as the monks formerly had been, when an important

 

* This view was long held, but is by no means correct, for we now know that there were many scholarly architects during this period of supposed darkness.

                                                                                                [E. E. C.]

 

APPENDIX    803

 

building, and especially a church or a cathedral, was to be erected. Eventually they entirely superseded their monkish teachers in the prosecution of the art of building about the beginning of the twelfth century. To their knowledge of architecture they added that of the other sciences, which they had learned from the monks. Like these, too, they devoted themselves to the higher principles of the art, and employed other laymen to assist their labors as stone‑masons. And thus the union of these architects and stone‑masons presented, in the midst of an uneducated people, a more elevated and intelligent class, engaged as an exclusive association in building important and especially religious edifices.

 

But now a new classification took place. As formerly, the monks, who were the sole depositaries of the secrets of high art, separated them‑selves from the laymen, who were entrusted with only the manual labor of building; so now the more intelligent of the laymen, who had received these secrets from the monks, were distinguished as architects from the ordinary laborers, or common masons. The latter knew only the use of the trowel and mortar, while the former were occupied ih devising plans for building and the construction of ornaments by sculpture and skilful stone‑cutting.

 

These brotherhoods of high artists soon won great esteem, and many privileges and franchises were conceded to them by the municipal authorities among whom they practised their profession. Their places of assembly were called llutten, Logen, or Lodges, and the members took the name of Steinmetzen. Their patron saint was St. John the Baptist, who was honored by them as the mediator between the Old and the New Covenants, and the first martyr of the Christian religion. To what condition of art these Freemasons of the Middle Ages had attained, we may judge from what Hallam says of the edifices they erected - that they "united sublimity in general composition with the beauties of variety and form, skilful or at least fortunate effects of shadow and light, and in some instances extraordinary mechanical science." (Mid. Ages, iv., 280.) And he subsequently adds, as an involuntary confirmation of the truth of the sketch of their origin just given, that the mechanical execution of the buildings was "so far beyond the apparent intellectual powers of those times, that some have ascribed the principal ecclesiastical structures to the Fraternity of Freemasons, depositaries of a concealed and traditionary science. There is probably some ground for this opinion, and the earlier archives of that mysterious association, if they existed, might illustrate the progress of Gothic architecture, and perhaps reveal its origin." (lb., 284.) These archives do exist, or many of them; and although unknown to Mr. Hallam, because they were out of the course of his usual reading, they have been thoroughly sifted by. recent Masonic scholars, especially by our German and English brethren; and that which the historian of the Middle Ages had only assumed as a plausible conjecture has, by their researches, been proved to be a fact.

 

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The prevalence of Gnostic symbols - such as lions, serpents, and the like - in the decorations of churches of the Middle Ages, have led some writers to conclude that the Knights Templar exercised an influence over the architects, and that by them the Gnostic and Ophite symbols were introduced into Europe. But Dr. Steiglitz denies the correctness of this conclusion. He ascribes the existence of Gnostic symbols in the church architecture to the fact that, at an early period in ecclesiastical history, many of the Gnostic dogmas passed over into Christendom with the Oriental and Platonic philosophy, and he attributes their adoption in architecture to the natural compliance of the architects or Masons with the predominant taste in the earlier periods of the Middle Ages for mysticism, and the favor given to grotesque decorations, which were admired without any knowledge of their actual import.

 

Steiglitz also denies any deduction of the Builders' Fraternities, or Masonic Lodges, of the Middle Ages from the Mysteries of the old Indians, Egyptians, and Greeks; although he acknowledges that there is a resemblance between the organizations. This, however, he attributes to the fact that the Indians and Egyptians preserved all the sciences, as well as the principles of architecture, among their secrets, and because, among the Greeks, the artists were initiated into their mysteries, so that, in the old as well as in the new brother‑hoods, there was a purer knowledge of religious truth, which elevated them as distinct associations above the people. In like manner, he denies the descent of the Masonic fraternities from the sect of Pythagoreans, which they resembled only in this: that the Samian sage established schools which were secret, and were based upon the principles of geometry.

 

But he thinks that those are not mistaken who trace the associations of Masons of the Middle Ages to the Roman Colleges, the Collegia Ccementariorum, because these colleges appear in every country that was conquered and established as a province or a colony by the Romans, where they erected temples and other public buildings, and promoted the civilization of the inhabitants. They continued until a late period. But when Rome began to be convulsed by the wars of its decline, and by the incursions of hordes of barbarians, they found a welcome reception at Byzantium, or Constantinople, whence they subsequently spread into the west of Europe, and were everywhere held in great estimation for their skill in the construction of buildings.

 

In Italy the associations of architects never entirely ceased, as we may conclude from the many buildings erected there during the domination of the Ostrogoths and the Longobards. Subsequently, when civil order was restored, the Masons of Italy were encouraged and supported by popes, princes, and nobles. And Muratori tells us, in his Historia d'Italia, that under the Lombard kings the inhabitants of Como were so superior as masons and bricklayers, that the appellation of Magistri

 

APPENDIX    805

 

Comacini, or Masters from Como, became generic to all those of the profession. (See Comacine Masters.) In England, when the Romans took possession of it, the corporations, or colleges of builders, also appeared, who were subsequently continued in the Fraternity of Freemasons, probably established, as Steiglitz thinks, about the middle of the fifth century, after the Romans had left the island. The English Masons were subjected to many adverse difficulties, from the repeated incursions of Scots, Picts, Danes, and Saxons, which impeded their active labors; yet were they enabled to maintain their existence, until, in the year 926, they held that General Assembly at the city of York which framed the Constitutions that governed the English Craft for eight hundred years, and which is claimed to be the oldest Masonic record now extant. It is but fair to say that the recent researches of Bro. Ilughan and other English writers have thrown a doubt upon the authenticity of these Constitutions, ‑ and that the very existence of this York assembly has been denied and practically confirmed.

 

In France, as in Germany, the Fraternities of Architects originally sprang out of the connection of lay builders with the monks in the era of Charlemagne. The French Masons continued their fraternities throughout the Middle Ages, and erected many cathedrals and public buildings.

 

We have now arrived at the middle of the eleventh century, tracing the progress of the fraternities of Stone‑Masons from the time of Charlemagne to that period. At that time all the architecture of Europe was in their hands. Under the distinctive name of Traveling Freemasons they passed from nation to nation, constructing churches and cathedrals wherever they were needed. Of their organization and customs, Sir Christopher Wren, in his Parentalia, gives the following account: "Their government was regular, and where they fixed near the building in hand, they made a camp of huts. A surveyor governed in chief; every tenth man was called a warden, and overlooked each nine." Mr. Hope, who, from his peculiar course of studies, was better acquainted than Mr. Hallam with the history of these Traveling Free‑masons, thus speaks, in his Essay on Architecture, of their organization at this time, by which they effected an identity of architectural science throughout all Europe: "The architects of all the sacred edifices of the Latin Church, wherever such arose, - north, south, east, or west - thus derived their science from the same central school; obeyed in their designs the dictates of the same hierarchy; were directed in their constructions by the same principles of propriety and taste; kept up with each other, in the most distant parts to which they might be sent, the most constant correspondence; and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body, and a new conquest of the art."

 

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Working in this way, the Stone‑Masons, as corporations of builders, daily increased in numbers and in power. In the thirteenth century they assumed a new organization, which allied them more closely than ever with that Brotherhood of Speculative Freemasons into which they were finally merged in the eighteenth century, in England, but not in Germany, France, or Italy.

 

These fraternities or associations became at once very popular. Many of the potentates of Europe, and among them the Emperor Rudolph I., conceded to them considerable powers of jurisdiction, such as would enable them to preserve the most rigid system in matters pertaining to building, and would facilitate them in bringing master builders and stone‑masons together at any required point. Pope Nicholas III. granted the Brotherhood, in 1278, letters of indulgence, which were renewed by his successors, and finally, in the next century, by Pope Benedict XII.

 

The Steinmetzen, as a fraternity of Operative Masons, distinguished from the ordinary masons and laborers of the craft, acquired at this time great prominence, and were firmly established as an association. In 1452 a general assembly was convened at Strasburg, and a new constitution framed, which embraced many improvements and modifications of the former one. But seven years afterward, in 1459,* Jost Dotzinger, then holding the position of architect of the Cathedral of Strasburg, and, by virtue of his office, presiding over the Craft of Germany, convened a general assembly of the Masters of all the Lodges at the city of Ratisbon. There the code of laws which had been adopted at Strasburg in

1452, under the title of "Statutes and Regulations of the Fraternity of Stone‑Masons of Strasburg," was fully discussed and sanctioned. It was then also resolved that there should be established four Grand Lodges - at Strasburg, at Vienna, at Cologne, and at Zurich; and they also deter‑mined that the master workman, for the time being, of the Cathedral of Strasburg should be the Grand Master of the Masons of Germany. These constitutions or statutes are still extant, and are older than any other existing Masonic record of undoubted authenticity, except the manuscript of Halliwell. They were "kindly and affably agreed upon," ac‑cording to their preamble, "for the benefit and requirements of the Masters and Fellows of the whole Craft of Masonry and Masons in Germany." General assemblies, at which important business was transacted, were held in

1464 at Ratisbon, and in 1469 at Spire, while provincial assemblies in each of the Grand Lodge jurisdictions were annually convened.

 

In consequence of a deficiency of employment, from political disturbances and other causes, the Fraternity now for a brief period de‑

 

* Besides the Strasburg Constitution of 1459 there are two other very important documents of the Steinmetzen of Germany: The Torgau Ordinances of 1462 and the Brothers' Book of 1563.          

                                                                                                            [E. E. C.]

 

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dined in its activity. But it was speedily revived when, in October, 1498, the Emperor Maximilian I. confirmed its statutes, as they had been adopted at Strasburg, and recognized its former rights and privileges. This act of confirmation was renewed by the succeeding emperors, Charles V. and Ferdinand I. In 1563 a general assembly of the Masons of Germany and Switzerland was convened at the city of Basle by the Grand Lodge of Strasburg. The Strasburg constitutions were again renewed with amendments, and what was called the Stone‑Masons' Law (das Steinwerkrecht) was established. The Grand Lodge of Strasburg continued to be recognized as possessing supreme appellate jurisdiction in all matters relating to the Craft. Even the Senate of that city had acknowledged its prerogatives, and had conceded to it the privilege of settling all controversies in relation to matters connected with building; a concession which was, however, revoked in 1620, on the charge that the privilege had been misused.

 

Thus the Operative Freemasons of Germany continued to work and to cultivate the high principles of a religious architectural art. But on March 16, 1707, up to which time the Fraternity had uninterruptedly existed, a decree of the Imperial Diet at Ratisbon dissolved the connection of the Lodges of Germany with the Grand Lodge of Strasburg, because that city had passed into the power of the French. The head being now lost, the subordinate bodies began rapidly to decline. In several of the German cities the Lodges undertook to assume the name and exercise the functions of Grand Lodges; but these were all abolished by an imperial edict in 1731, which at the same time forbade the administration of any oath of secrecy, and transferred to the government alone the adjudication of all disputes among the Craft. From this time we lose sight of any national organization of the Freemasons in Germany until the restoration of the Order, in the eighteenth century, through the English Fraternity.* But in many cities - as in Basle, Zurich, Hamburg, Dantzic, and Strasburg - they preserved an independent existence under the statutes of 1559, although they lost much of the profound symbolical knowledge of architecture which had been possessed by their predecessors.

 

Before leaving these German Stone‑Masons, it is worth while to say something of the symbolism which they preserved in their secret teachings. They made much use, in their architectural plans, of mystical numbers, and among these five, seven, and nine were especially prominent. Among colors, gold and blue and white possessed symbolic meanings. The foot rule, the compasses, the square, and the gavel, with some other implements of their art, were consecrated with a spiritual signification. The east was considered as a sacred point; and many allusions were made to Solomon's Temple, especially to the pillars of the porch, representations of which are to be found in several of the cathedrals.

 

* Thus we see that the great order of the Steinmetzen of Germany took no part in the formation of the Speculative Freemasons.    [E. E. C.]

 

808     APPENDIX

 

In France the history of the Free Stone‑Masons was similar to that of their German brethren. Originating, like them, from the cloisters, and from the employment of laymen by the monkish architects, they associated themselves together as a brotherhood superior to the ordinary stone‑masons. The connection between the Masons of France and the Roman Colleges of Builders was more intimate and direct than that of the Germans, because of the early and very general occupation of Gaul by the Roman legions: but the French organization did not materially differ from the German. Protected by popes and princes, the Masons were engaged, under ecclesiastical patronage, in the construction of religious edifices. In France there was also a peculiar association, the Penti fices, or Bridge Builders, closely connected in design and character with the Masonic Fraternity, and the memory of which is still preserved in the name of one of the degrees of the Scottish Rite, that of "Grand Pontiff." The principal seat of the French Stone‑Masonry was in Lombardy, whence the Lodges were disseminated over the kingdom, a fact which is thus accounted for by Mr. Hope: "Among the arts exercised and improved in Lombardy," he says, "that of building held a pre‑eminent rank, and was the more important because the want of those ancient edifices to which they might recur for materials already wrought, and which Rome afforded in such abundance, made the architects of these more remote regions dependent on their own skill and free to follow their own conceptions." But in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the necessity for their employment in the further construction of religious edifices having ceased, the Fraternity began to decline, and the Masonic corporations were all finally dissolved, with those of other workmen, by Francis I., in 1539. Then originated that system which the French call Compagnonage, a system of independent gilds or brotherhoods, retaining a principle of community as to the art which they practised, and with, to some extent, a secret bond, but without elevated notions or general systematic organizations. The societies of Compagnons were, indeed, but the debris of the Building Masons. Masonry ceased to exist in France as a recognized system until its revival in the eighteenth century.

 

We see, then, in conclusion, that the Stone‑Masons - coming partly from the Roman Colleges of Architects, as in England, in Italy, and in France, but principally, as in Germany, from the cloistered brotherhoods of monks - devoted themselves to the construction of religious edifices. They consisted mainly of architects and skilful operatives; but - as they were controlled by the highest principles of their art, were in possession of important professional secrets, were actuated by deep sentiments of religious devotion, and had united with themselves in their labors men of learning, wealth, and influence - to serve as a proud distinction between themselves and the ordinary laborers and uneducated workmen, many of whom were of servile condition.

 

APPENDIX    809

 

Subsequently, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, they threw off the operative element of their institution, and, adopting an entirely speculative character, they became the Freemasons of the present day, and established on an imperishable foundation that sublime Institution which presents over all the habitable earth the most wonderful system of religious and moral symbolism that the world ever saw.

 

Stone, Rejected. St. Matthew records (xxi. 42) that our Lord said to the chief priests and elders, "Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" Commenting on this, Dr. Adam Clarke says: "It is an expression borrowed from masons, who, finding a stone which, being tried in a particular place, and appearing improper for it, is thrown aside and another taken; however, at last, it may happen that the very stone which had been before rejected may be found the most suitable as the head stone of the corner." This is precisely the symbolism of the Mark Master or Fourth Degree of the American Rite, where the rejected stone is suggested to the neophyte "as a consolation under all the frowns of fortune, and as an encouragement to hope for better prospects." Bro. G. F. Yates says that the symbolism of the rejected stone in the present Mark Degree is not in the original Master Mark Mason's Degree, out of which Webb manufactured his ritual, but was introduced by him from some other unknown source.

 

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 there 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 Masonry 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.

 

Supreme Authority. The supreme authority in Masonry is that dogmatic power from whose decisions there is no appeal. At the head of every Rite there is a supreme authority which controls and directs the acts of all subordinate bodies of the Rite. In the United States, and in the American Rite which is there practised, it would, at the first glance, appear that the supreme authority is divided. That of symbolic Lodges is vested in Grand Lodges, of Royal Arch Chapters in Grand Chapters, of Royal and Select Councils in Grand Councils, and of Commanderies of Knights Templar in the Grand Encampment. And so far as ritualistic questions and matters of internal arrangement are concerned, the supreme authority is so divided. But the supreme authority of Masonry in each State is actually vested in the Grand Lodge of that State. It is universally recognized as Masonic law that a Mason expelled or suspended

 

810     APPENDIX 

 

by the Grand Lodge, or by a subordinate Lodge with the approval and confirmation of the Grand Lodge, thereby stands expelled or suspended from Royal Arch, from Cryptic, and from Templar Masonry. The same rules apply to the A. and A. S. Rite. Nor can he be permitted to visit any of the bodies in either of these divisions of the Rite so long as he re‑mains under the ban of expulsion of the Grand Lodge. So the status or condition of every Mason in the jurisdiction is controlled by the Grand Lodge, from whose action on that subject there is no appeal. The Masonic life and death of every member of the Craft, in every class of the Order, is in its hands, and thus the Grand Lodge becomes the real supreme authority of the jurisdiction.

 

Supreme Council. The Supreme Masonic authority of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is called a Supreme Council. A Supreme Council claims to derive the authority for its existence from the Constitutions of 1786.* I have no intention here of entering into the question of the authenticity of that document. The question is open to the historian, and has been amply discussed, with the natural result of contradictory conclusions. But he who accepts the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite as genuine Freemasonry, and owes his obedience as a Mason to its constituted authorities, is compelled to recognize those Constitutions wherever or whenever they may have been enacted as the fundamental law - the constitutional rule of his Rite. To their authority all the Supreme Councils owe their legitimate existence.

 

Dr. Frederick Dalcho, who, I think, may very properly be considered as the founder in the United States, and therefore in the world, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in its present form as the legitimate successor of the Rite of Perfection or of Herodem, has given in the Circular written by him, and published December 4, 1802, by the Supreme Council at Charleston, the following account of the establishment of Supreme Councils: "On the 1st of May, 1786, the Grand Constitution of the thirty‑third degree, called the Supreme Council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, was finally ratified by his Majesty the King of Prussia, who, as Grand Commander of the Order of Prince of the Royal Secret, possessed the Sovereign Masonic power over all the Craft. In the new Constitution, this high power was conferred on a Supreme Council of nine brethren in each nation, who possess all the Masonic prerogatives, in their own district, that his Majesty individually possessed, and are Sovereigns of Masonry." The law for the establishment of a Supreme Council is found in the following words in the Latin Constitutions of

1786: "The first degree will be subordinated to the second, that to the third, and so in order to the sublime, Thirty‑third, and last, which will watch over all the others, will correct their errors and will govern them, and whose congregation

 

* See Constitutions of 1786.

 

APPENDIX    811

 

or convention will be a dogmatic Supreme Grand Council, the Defender and Conservator of the Order, which it will govern and administer according to the present Constitutions and those which may hereafter be enacted."

 

But the Supreme Council at Charleston derived its authority and its information from what are called the French Constitutions; and it is in them that we find the statement that Frederick invested the Supreme Council with the same prerogatives that he himself possessed, a pro‑vision not contained in the Latin Constitutions. The twelfth article says: "The Supreme Council will exercise all the Masonic sovereign powers of which his Majesty Frederick II., King of Prussia, was possessed."*

 

These Constitutions further declare (Art. 5) that "every Supreme Council is composed of nine Inspectors‑General, five of whom should profess the Christian religion." In the same article it is provided that "there shall be only one Council of this degree in each nation or kingdom in Europe, two in the United States of America as far removed as possible the one from the other, one in the English islands of America, and one likewise in the French islands."

 

It was in compliance with these Constitutions that the Supreme Council at Charleston, South Carolina, was instituted. In the Circular, already cited, Dalcho gives this account of its establishment:

 

"On the 31st of May, 1801, the Supreme Council of the thirty‑third degree for the United States of America was opened, with the high honors of Masonry, by Brothers John Mitchell and Frederick Dalcho, Sovereign Grand Inspectors‑General; and in the course of the present year, [1802,] the whole number of Grand Inspectors‑General was completed, agreeably to the Grand Constitutions."

 

This was the first Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ever formed; from it has emanated either directly or in‑directly all the other Councils which have been since established in America or Europe; and although it now exercises jurisdiction only over a part of the United States under the title of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States, it claims to be and is recognized as "the Mother Council of the World."

 

Under its authority a Supreme Council, the second in date, was established by Count de Grasse in the French West Indies, in 1802; a third in France, by the same authority, in 1804; and a fourth in Italy in 1805. In 1813 the Masonic jurisdiction of the United States was divided; the Mother Council establishing at the city of New York a Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction, and over the States north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, reserving to itself all the remainder of the territory of the United States. The seat of the Northern Council is now at

 

* This shows the difference in the sources of authority between the A. and A. S. Rite and Symbolic Masonry. The former is monarchical, while the latter is sup‑posed to be democratic.      [E. E. C.]

 

812     APPENDIX

 

Boston; and although the offices of the Grand Commander and Secretary‑General of the Southern Council are now in the city of Washington, whence its documents emanate, its seat is still constructively at Charleston.

 

On their first organization, the Supreme Councils were limited to nine members in each. That rule continued to be enforced hi the Mother Council until the year 1859, when the number was increased to thirty‑three. Similar enlargements have been made in all the other Supreme Councils except that of Scotland, which still retains the original number.

 

The officers of the original Supreme Council at Charleston were: a Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander, Most Illustrious Lieutenant Grand Commander, Illustrious Treasurer‑General of the Holy Empire, I1‑lustrious Secretary‑General of the Holy Empire, Illustrious Grand Master of Ceremonies, and Illustrious Captain of the Guards.

 

In 1859, with the change of numbers in the membership, there was also made a change in the number and titles of the officers. These now in the Mother Council, according to its present Constitution, are:

 

1. Sovereign Grand Commander;

2. Lieutenant Grand Commander;

3. Secretary‑General of the Holy Empire;

4. Grand Prior;

5. Grand Chancellor;

6. Grand Minister of State;

7. Treasurer‑General of:the Holy Empire;

8. Grand Auditor;

9. Grand Almoner;

10. Grand Constable;

11. Grand Chamberlain;

12. First Grand Equerry;

13. Second Grand Equerry; ‑14. Grand Standard‑Bearer;

15. Grand Sword‑Bearer;

16. Grand Herald.

 

The Secretary‑General is properly the seventh officer, but by a decree of the Supreme Council he is made the third officer in rank "while the office continues to be filled by Bro. Albert G. Mackey, the present incumbent, who is the Dean of the Supreme Council." Dr. Mackey held this position until his death.

 

The officers somewhat vary in other Supreme Councils, but the pre‑siding and recording officers are everywhere a Sovereign Grand Commander and a Secretary‑General of the Holy Empire.

 

Supreme Councils, A. A. Scottish Rite. These Councils are organized in almost every country of the world, a number being under royal patronage, and in many nations are the governing power over all existing Masonry. A synoptical history of all the Supreme Councils that have ever existed, with the manner of their formation in chronological order, is published in the Proceedings of the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction for 1908. From this article is taken the following list (on p. 742), giving the Supreme Councils which have received general recognition.

 

The following Supreme Councils have been formed, but have not received formal recognition and the courtesy of an exchange of representation: Florence, Hungary, Luxembourg, Naples, Palerno, Rome, and Turkey. The number of these Supreme Bodies accomplishes 33.

 

APPENDIX    813

 

On the 22d of September, 1875, a congress of the various Supreme Councils was convened at Lausanne, Switzerland, to consider such matters as might then and there be submitted for consideration and united action, and be deemed for the general benefit of the Rite. Much speculation and lack of confidence was the result among many of the invited participants lest they might be committed by uniting in the conference. The Congress, however, was held, and a declaration of principles set forth. There was also stipulated and agreed upon a treaty, involving highly important measures, embraced within twenty‑three articles, which was concluded September 22, 1875. "The intimate alliance and confederation of the contracting Masonic powers extended and extends under their auspices to all the subordinates and to all true and faithful Masons of their respective jurisdictions." "Whoever may have illegitimately and irregularly received any Degree of the A. A. Scottish Rite can nowhere enjoy the prerogatives of a Freemason until he has been lawfully healed by the regular Supreme Council of his own country." The confederated powers again recognized and proclaimed as Grand Constitutions of the A. A. Scottish Rite, the constitutions and statutes adopted May 1, 1876, with the modifications and "Tiler" adopted by the Congress of Lausanne, the 22d of September, 1875.

 

The declaration and articles were signed by representatives of eighteen Supreme Councils, who recognized the territorial jurisdictions of the following Supreme Councils, to wit:

 

Northern Jur., U. S.                            Southern Jur., U. S.

 

Central America,                                           England,

Belgium,                                                         Canada,

Chili,                                                               Colon,

Scotland,                                                        U. S. of Colombia,

France,                                                           Greece,

Hungary,                                                         Ireland,

Italy,                                                                 Mexico,

Peru,                                                               Portugal,

Argentine Republic,                                      Switzerland,

Uruguay.                                                         Venezuela.

 

The same delegates, by virtue of the plenary powers they held, and by which they were justified, promised, for their principals, to maintain and defend with all their power, to preserve, and cause to be observed and respected, not only the territorial jurisdiction of the Confederated Supreme Councils represented in the said Congress at Lausanne, and the parties therein contracting, but also the territorial jurisdiction of the other Supreme Councils named in the foregoing table.

 

It is not possible to give statistics as to the number of the A. A. Scottish Rite Masons in the world, but calculating those, of whatever degree.

 

814     APPENDIX

 

who are governed by Supreme Councils in the different nations, it is but reasonable to presume one‑half of the entire Fraternity is of that Rite, and as a matter of extensiveness, it is par excellence the Universal Rite. In many nations there is no other Rite known, and therein it confers all the degrees of its system, including the first three. Among the English‑speaking Masons, it builds its structure upon the York or the American system of three degrees.

 

In the United States the number of this Rite, enrolled and unenrolled, will approximate one hundred and fifty thousand in the two Jurisdictions. Its organizations are to be found in every prominent city and many towns, and in numerous instances possessing and occupying temples built specially to accommodate its own peculiar forms, elegant of structure and in appointments, and of great financial value.

 

The progress of this Rite in the last half century has been most remarkable, and its future appears without a cloud.

 

The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the United States have adopted the custom of electing honorary members, who are sometimes called Honorary Thirty Thirds. They possess none of the rights of the Inspectors General, or Active Members, except that of being present at the meetings of the Council, taking part to a limited extent in its deliberations, except when it holds an Executive Session.

 

The original number of Honorary Members in the United States of America was nine Sovereign Grand Inspectors General comprising a Supreme Council. The additional Thirty Third Degree Members were made only by vacancies occasioned by the death of one of the original nine.

 

As time passed, the organization of Supreme Councils proceeded, the number of Thirty Thirds grew. Thirty‑three active members was the number set for a Supreme Council.

 

The Supreme Council, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction has its See in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, but its active domicil is in the City of Washington, U. S. A. The Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction, U. S. A., is in the city of Boston, U. S. A.

 

The place where business meetings are held is called the Senatorial Chamber.

 

Sun. Hardly any of the symbols of Masonry are more important in their signification or more extensive in their application than the sun. As the source of material light, it reminds the Mason 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

 

APPENDIX    815

 

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.

 

Superexcellent Master. A degree which was originally an honorary or side degree conferred by the Inspectors‑General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite at Charleston. It has since been introduced into some of the Royal and Select Councils of the United States, and there conferred as an additional degree. This innovation on the regular series of Cryptic degrees, with which it actually has no historical connection, met with great opposition; so that the convention of Royal and Select Masters, which met at New York in June, 1873, resolved to place it in the category of an honorary degree, which might or might not be conferred at the option of a Council, but not as an integral part of the Rite. Al‑though this body had no dogmatic authority, its decision will doubtless have some influence in settling the question. The degree is simply an enlargement of that part of the ceremonies of the Royal Arch which refer to the Temple destruction. To that place it belongs, if it belongs any‑where, but has no more to do with the ideas inculcated in Cryptic Masonry, than have any of the degrees lately invented for modern secret societies.

 

Whence the degree originally sprang, it is impossible to tell. It could hardly have had its birth on the Continent of Europe; at least, it does not appear to have been known to European writers. Neither Gadieke nor Lenning mention it in their Encyclopedias; nor is it found in the catalogue of more than seven hundred degrees given by Thory in his Acta Latomorum; nor does Ragon allude to it in his Tuileur General, although he has there given a list of one hundred and fifty‑three degrees or modifications of the Master. Oliver, it is true, speaks of it, but he evidently derived his knowledge from an American source. It may have been manufactured in America, and possibly by some of those engaged in founding the Scottish Rite. The only Cahier that I ever saw of the

 

816     APPENDIX

 

original ritual, which is still in my possession, is in the handwriting of Alexander McDonald, a very intelligent and enthusiastic Mason, who was at one time the Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for the South‑ern Jurisdiction.

 

The Masonic legend of the degree of Superexcellent Master refers to circumstances which occurred on the last day of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the Chaldean army, who had been sent by Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city and Temple, as a just punishment of the Jewish king Zedekiah for his perfidy and rebellion. It occupies, therefore, precisely that point of time which is embraced in that part of the Royal Arch Degree which represents the destruction of the Temple, and the carrying of the Jews in captivity to Babylon. It is, in fact, an exemplification and extension of that part of the Royal Arch Degree.

 

As to the symbolic design of the degree, it is very evident that its legend and ceremonies are intended to inculcate that important Masonic virtue - fidelity to vows. Zedekiah, the wicked King of Judah, is, by the modern ritualists who have symbolized the degree, adopted very appropriately as the symbol of perfidy; and the severe but well‑deserved punishment which was inflicted on him by the King of Babylon is set forth in the lecture as a great moral lesson, whose object is to warn the recipient of the fatal effects that will ensue from a violation of his sacred obligations.

 

Super‑Excellent Master. This as originally an honorary Degree conferred by the Inspectors‑General of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite at Charleston. It has since been introduced into some of the Royal and Select Councils of the United States, and there conferred as an additional Cryptic Degree. The legend of the Degree refers to circumstances which occurred on the last day of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuzaradan, the Captain of the Chaldean army, who had been sent by Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city and Temple, as a just punishment for the Jewish King Zedekiah for his perfidy and rebellion. It refers to that part of the Royal Arch Degree which represents the destruction of the Temple, and the carrying of the Jews into captivity to Babylon. As to the symbolic design of the Degree, it is evident that its legend and ceremonies inculcate that important Masonic virtue - fidelity to vows. The severe but well deserved punishment inflicted on King Zedekiah, by the King of Babylon is set forth in the lecture as a great moral lesson, the idea being to warn the recipient of the fatal effects that will ensue from a violation of his obligations.

 

Sword. The sword is in chivalry the ensign or symbol of knight‑hood.

 

So important an ensign of knighthood as the sword must have been accompanied with some symbolic meaning, for in the Middle Ages symbolism was referred to on all occasions.

 

But there is a still better definition of the symbolism of the sword of

 

APPENDIX    817

 

knighthood in an old MS. in the library of the London College of Arms to the following effect: "Unto a knight, which is the most honorable office above all other, is given a sword, which is made like unto a crosse for the redemption of mankynde in signifying that like as our Lord God died uppon the crosse for the redemption of mankynde, even so a knight ought to defend the crosse and to overcome and destroie the enemies of the same; and it hath two edges in tokening that with the sword he ought to mayntayne knight‑hood and justice." Hence in Masonic Templarism we find that this symbolism has been preserved, and that the sword with which the modern knight is created is said to be endowed with the qualities of justice, fortitude, and mercy.

 

The charge to a hnights Templar, that he should never draw his sword unless convinced of the justice of the cause in which he is engaged, nor to sheathe it until his enemies were subdued, finds also its origin in the custom of the Middle Ages. Swords were generally manufactured with a legend on the blade. Among the most common of these legends was that used on swords made in Spain, many examples of which are still to be found in modern collections. That legend is: "No me saques sin rason. No me embaines sin honor"; i. e., Do not draw me without justice. Do not sheathe me without honor.

 

In Masonry, the use of the sword as a part of the Masonic clothing is confined to the high degrees and the degrees of chivalry, when, of course, it is worn as a part of the insignia of knighthood. In the symbolic degrees its appearance in the Lodge, except as a symbol, is strictly prohibited. The Masonic prints engraved in the last century, when the sword, at least as late as 1780, constituted a part of the dress of every gentleman, show that it was discarded by the members when they entered the Lodge. The official swords of the Tiler and the Pursuivant or Sword‑Bearer are the only exceptions. This rule is carried so far, that military men, when visiting a Lodge, are required to divest themselves of their swords, which are to be left in the Tiler's room.

 

Symbolic Degrees. The first three degrees of Freemasonry, namely, those of Entered Apprentice, Fellow‑Craft, and Master Mason, are known, by way of distinction, as the "symbolic degrees." This term is never applied to the degrees of Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master, and the Royal Arch, which, as being conferred in a body called a Chapter, are generally designated as "capitular degrees"; nor to those of Royal and Select Master, which, conferred in a Council, are, by an excellent modern usage, styled "cryptic degrees," from the crypt or vault which plays so important a part in their ritual. But the term "symbolic" is exclusively confined to the degrees conferred in a Lodge of the three primitive degrees, which Lodge, therefore, whether opened on the First, the Second or the Third Degree, is always referred to as a "symbolic Lodge." As this distinctive term is of constant and universal use, it

 

818     APPENDIX

 

may be considered not altogether useless to inquire into its origin and signification.

 

The germ and nucleus of all Freemasonry is to be found in the three primitive degrees - the Apprentice, the Fellow‑Craft, and the Master Mason. They were at one time (under a modification, however, which included the Royal Arch) the only degrees known to or practised by the Craft, and hence they are often called "Ancient Craft Masonry," to distinguish them from those comparatively modern additions which constitute what are designated as the "high degrees," or, by the French, "les hautes grades." The striking peculiarity of these primitive degrees is that their prominent mode of instruction is by symbols. Not that they are without legends. On the contrary, they have each an abundance of legends; such, for instance, as the details of the building of the Temple; of the payment of wages in the middle chamber, or of the construction of the pillars of the porch. But these legends do not perform any very important part in the constitution of the degree. The lessons which are communicated to the candidate in these primitive degrees are conveyed, principally, through the medium of symbols, while there is (at least in the working of the degrees) but little tradition or legendary teaching, with the exception of the great legend of Masonry, the "GOLDEN LEGEND" of the Order, to be found in the Master's Degree, and which is, itself, a symbol of the most abstruse and solemn signification. But even in this in‑stance, interesting as are the details of the legend, they are only subordinate to the symbol. Hiram the Builder is the profound symbol of man‑hood laboring for immortality, and all the different points of the legend are simply clustered around it, only to throw out the symbol in bolder relief. The legend is of itself inert - it is the symbol of the Master Work‑man that gives it life and true meaning.

 

Symbolism is, therefore, the prevailing characteristic of these primitive degrees; and it is because all the science and philosophy and religion of Ancient Craft Masonry is thus concealed from the profane but unfolded to the initiates in symbols, that the first three degrees which comprise it are said to be symbolic.

 

Now, nothing of this kind is to be found in the degrees above and beyond the third, if we except the Royal Arch, which, however, as I have already intimated, was originally a part of Ancient Craft Masonry, and was unnaturally torn from the Master's Degree, of which it, as every Ma‑sonic student knows, constituted the complement and consummation. Take, for example, the intermediate degrees of the American Chapter, such, for instance, as the Mark and Most Excellent Master. Here we find the symbolic feature ceasing to predominate, and the traditional or legendary taking its place. It is true that in these capitular degrees the use of symbols is not altogether abandoned. This could not well be, for the symbol constitutes the very essence of Freemasonry. The symbolic element is still to be discovered in these degrees, but only in a position

 

APPENDIX    819

 

subordinate to legendary instruction. As an illustration, let us consider the keystone in the Mark Master's Degree. Now, no one will deny that this is, strictly speaking, a symbol, and a very important and beautiful one, too. It is a symbol of a fraternal convenant between those who are engaged in the common search after Divine truth. But, in the role which it plays in the ritual of this degree, the symbol, however beautiful and appropriate it may be, is in a manner lost sight of, and the keystone de‑rives almost all its importance and interest from the traditional history of its construction, its architectural design, and its fate. It is as the subject of a legend, and not as a symbol, that it attracts attention. Now, in the Third or Master's Degree we find the trowel, which is a symbol of almost precisely the same import as the keystone. They both refer to a Masonic covenant. But no legend, no tradition, no history, is connected with the trowel. It presents itself simply and exclusively as a symbol. Hence we learn that symbols do not in the capitular, as in the primitive, degrees of Masonry strike the eye, and inform the mind, and teach the heart, in every part of the Lodge, and in every part of the ceremonial initiation. On the contrary, the capitular degrees are almost al‑together founded on and composed of a series of events in Masonic history. Each of them has attached to it some tradition or legend which it is the design of the degree to illustrate, and the memory of which is pre‑served in its ceremonies and instructions. That most of these legends are themselves of symbolic signification is not denied. But this is their interior sense. In their outward and ostensible meaning, they appear be‑fore us simply as legends. To retain these legends in the memory of Ma‑sons appears to have been the primary design of the establishment of the higher degrees, and as the information intended to be communicated in these degrees is of an historical character, there can of course be but little room for symbols or for symbolic instruction, the profuse use of which would rather tend to an injury than to a benefit, by complicating the purposes of the ritual and confusing_the mind of the aspirant.

 

The celebrated French writer, Ragon, objects to this exclusive application of the term "symbolic" to the first three degrees as a sort of unfavorable criticism on the higher degrees, and as if implying that the latter are entirely devoid of the element of symbolism. But he has mistaken the true import and meaning of the application. It is not because the higher or capitular and cryptic degrees are altogether without symbols - for such is not the case - that the term symbolic is withheld from them, but because symbolic instruction does not constitute their pre‑dominating characteristic, as it does of the first three degrees.

 

And hence the Masonry taught in these three primitive degrees is very properly called Symbolic Masonry, and the Lodge in which this Masonry is taught is known as a Symbolic Lodge.

 

Symbolic Lectures. The lectures appropriated to the First, Second, and Third degrees are sometimes called Symbolic lectures; but the term

 

820     APPENDIX

 

is more properly applied to any lecture which treats of the meaning of Masonic symbols, in contradistinction to one which discusses only the history of the Order, and which would, therefore, be called an Historical Lecture. But the English Masons have a lecture called "the symbolical lecture," in which is explained the forms, symbols, and ornaments of Royal Arch Masonry, as well as its rites and ceremonies.*

 

Symbolic Lodge. A Lodge of Master Masons, with the Fellow‑Craft and Apprentice Lodge worked under its Constitution, is called a Symbolic Lodge, because in it the Symbolic degrees are conferred. (See Symbolic Degrees.)

 

Symbolic Masonry. The Masonry that is concerned with the first three degrees in all the Rites. This is the technical meaning. But in a more general sense, Symbolic Masonry is that Masonry, wherever it may be found, whether in the primary or in the high degrees, in which the lessons are communicated by symbols. (See Symbolic Degrees.)

 

Symbolism, The Science of. The science which is engaged in the investigation of the meaning of symbols, and the application of their interpretation to moral, religious, and philosophical instruction. In this sense, Freemasonry is essentially a science of symbolism. The English lectures define Freemasonry to be "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." The definition would' be more correct were it in these words: Freemasonry is a system of morality developed and inculcated by the science of symbolism. It is this peculiar character as a symbolic institution, this entire adoption of the method of instruction by symbolism, which gives its whole identity to Freemasonry and has caused it to differ from every other association that the ingenuity of man has devised. It is this that has bestowed upon it that attractive form which has always secured the attachment of its disciples and its own perpetuity.

 

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

 

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

 

There is no science so ancient as that of symbolism, and no mode of

 

* It is unfortunate that the IIistorical Lecture usually given in the Master's Degree is often absurd from any known historical or Masonic basis. This is misleading to those who have every reason to expect a different treatment at our hands, and efforts should be made to correct this error.     [E. E. C.]

 

APPENDIX    827

 

instruction has ever been so general as was the symbolic in former ages. "The first learning in the world," says the great antiquary, Dr. Stukely, "consisted chiefly of symbols. The wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Jews, of Zoroaster, Sanchoniathon, Pherecydes, Syrus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, of all the ancients that is come to our hand, is symbolic." And the learned Faber remarks, that "allegory and personification were peculiary agreeable to the genius of antiquity, and the simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the shrine of poetical decoration." In fact, man's earliest instruction was by symbols. The objective character of a symbol is best calculated to be grasped by the infant mind, whether the infancy of that mind be considered nationally or individually. And hence, in the first ages of the world in its infancy, all propositions, theological, political, or scientific, were expressed in the form of symbols. Thus the first religions were eminently symbolical, because, as that great philosophical historian, Grote, has remarked, "At a time when language was yet in its infancy, visible symbols were the most vivid means of acting upon the minds of ignorant hearers." Even in the very formation of language, the medium of communication between man and man, and which must hence have been an elementary step in the progress of human improvement, it was found necessary to have recourse to symbols, for words are only and truly certain arbitrary symbols by which and through which we give an utterance to our ideas. The construction of language was, therefore, one of the first products of the science of symbolism.

 

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

 

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

 

"In the simpler stages of society," says one writer on this subject, "mankind can be instructed in the abstract knowledge of truths only by symbols and parables. Hence we find most heathen religions becoming mythic, or explaining their mysteries by allegories, or instructive inci‑

 

822     APPENDIX

 

dents. Nay, God himself, knowing the nature of the creatures formed by him, has condescended, in the earlier revelations that he made of himself, to teach by symbols; and the greatest of all teachers instructed the multitudes by parables. The great exemplar of the ancient philosophy and the grand archetype of modern philosophy were alike distinguished by their possessing this faculty in a high degree, and have told us that man was best instructed by similitudes." Such is the system adopted in Freemasonry for the development and inculcation of the great religious and philosophical truths, of which it was, for so many years, the sole conservator. And it is for this reason that I have already remarked, that any inquiry into the symbolic character of Freemasonry, must be preceded by an investigation of the nature of symbolism in general, if we would properly appreciate its particular use in the organization of the Masonic Institution.

 

Symbol of Glory. In the old lectures of the last century, the Blazing Star was called "the glory in the centre"; because it was placed in the centre of the floor‑cloth or tracing‑board, and represented hieroglyphically the glorious name of God. Hence Dr. Oliver has given to one of his most interesting works, which treats of the symbolism of the Blazing Star, the title of The Symbol of Glory.

 

Tau Cross. A cross of three limbs, so called because it presents the figure of the Greek letter T. (See Tau.) Team. Royal Arch Masons in America apply this word rather in‑elegantly to designate the three candidates upon whom the degree is conferred at the same time.

 

Tears. In the Master's Degree in some of the continental Rites, and in all the high degrees where the legend of the degree and the ceremony of reception are intended to express grief, the hangings of the Lodge are black strewn with tears. The figures representing tears are in the form depicted in the annexed cut. The symbolism is borrowed from the science of heraldry, where these figures are called guttes, and are defined to be "drops of anything that is by nature liquid or liquefied by art." The heralds have six of these charges, viz., yellow, or drops of liquid gold; white, or drops of liquid silver; red, or drops of blood; blue, or drops of tears; black, or drops of pitch; and green, or drops of oil. In funeral hatchments, a black velvet cloth, sprinkled with these "drops of tears," is placed in front of the house of a deceased nobleman and thrown over his bier; but there, as in Masonry, the guttes de larmes, or drops of tears, are not painted blue, but white.

 

Tebeth.  The fourth month of the Hebrew civil year, corresponding to the months December and January, beginning with the new moon of the former.

 

Telamones. See Caryatides.

 

Tempelorden or Tempelherrenorden. The title in German of the Order of Knights Templar.

 

APPENDIX    823

 

Temperance. One of the four cardinal virtues, the practise of which is inculcated in the First Degree. The Mason who properly appreciates the secrets which he has solemnly promised never to reveal, will not, by yielding to the unrestrained call of appetite, permit reason and judgment to lose their seats, and subject himself, by the indulgence in habits of excess, to discover that which should be concealed, and thus merit and receive the scorn and detestation of his brethren. And lest any brother should forget the danger to which he is exposed in the unguarded hours of dissipation, the virtue of temperance is wisely impressed upon his memory, by its reference to one of the most solemn portions of the ceremony of initiation. Some Masons, very properly condemning the vice of intemperance and abhorring its effects, have been unwisely led to con‑found temperance with total abstinence in a Masonic application, and resolutions have sometimes been proposed in Grand Lodges which declare the use of stimulating liquors in any quantity a Masonic offense. But the law of Masonry authorizes no such regulation. It leaves to every man the indulgence of his own tastes within due limits, and demands not abstinence, but only moderation and temperance, in anything not actually wrong.

 

Templar. See Knights Templar.

 

Templarius. The Latin title of a Knights Templar. Constantly used in the Middle Ages.

 

Templar Land. The Order of Knights Templar was dissolved in England, by an act of Parliament, in the seventeenth year of the reign of Edward II., and their possessions transferred to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, or Knights Ilospitalers. Subsequently, in the thirty‑second year of the reign of Henry VIII., their possessions were transferred to the king. One of the privileges possessed by the English Templars was that their lands should be free of tithes; and these privileges still adhere to these lands, so that a farm being what is termed "Templar land," is still exempt from the imposition of tithes, if it is occupied by the owner; an exemption which ceases when the farm is worked under a lease.

 

Templar Origin of Masonry. The theory that Masonry originated in the Holy Land during the Crusades, and was instituted by the Knights Templar, was first advanced by the Chevalier Ramsay, for the purpose, it is supposed, of giving an aristocratic character to the association. It was subsequently adopted by the College of Clermont, and was accepted by the Baron von Hund as the basis upon which he erected his Rite of Strict Observance. The legend of the Clermont College is thus detailed by M. Berage in his work entitled Les Plus Secrets Mysteres des Hauts Grades (iii., 194). "The Order of Masonry was instituted by Godfrey de Bouillon, in Palestine in 1330, after the defeat of the Christian armies, and was communicated only to a few of the French Masons, sometime afterwards, as a reward for the services which they had rendered to the English and Scottish Knights. From these latter true Masonry is de‑

 

824     APPENDIX

 

rived. Their Mother Lodge is situated on the mountain of Heredom, where the first Lodge in Europe was held, which still exists in all its splendor. The Council General is always held there, and it is the seat of the Sovereign Grand Master for the time being. This mountain is situated between the west and the north of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinburgh.

 

"There are other secrets in Masonry which were never known among the French, and which have no relation to the Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master - degrees which were constructed for the general class of Masons. The high degrees, which developed the true design of Masonry and its true secrets, have never been known to them.

 

"The Saracens having obtained possession of the holy places in Palestine, where all the mysteries of the Order were practised, made use of them for the most profane purposes. The Christians then leagued together to conquer this beautiful country, and to drive these barbarians from the land. They succeeded in obtaining a footing on these shores under the protection of the numerous armies of Crusaders which had been sent there by the Christian princes. The losses which they subsequently experienced put an end to the Christian power, and the Crusaders who remained were subjected to the persecutions of the Saracens, who massacred all who publicly proclaimed the Christian faith. This induced Godfrey de Bouillon, towards the end of the third century, to conceal the mysteries of religion under the veil of figures, emblems, and allegories.

 

"Hence the Christians selected the Temple of Solomon because it has so close a relation to the Christian Church, of which its holiness and its magnificence make it the true symbol. So the Christians concealed the mystery of the building up of the Church under that of the construction of the Temple, and gave themselves the title of Masons, Architects, or Builders, because they were occupied in building the faith. They assembled under the pretext of making plans of architecture to practise the rites of their religion, with all the emblems and allegories that Masonry could furnish, and thus protect themselves from the cruelty of the Saracens.

 

"As the mysteries of Masonry were in their principles, and still are only those of the Christian religion, they were extremely scrupulous to confide this important secret only to those whose discretion had been tried, and who had been found worthy. For this purpose they fabricated degrees as a test of those to whom they wished to confide it, and they gave them at first only the symbolic secret of Hiram, on which all the mystery of Blue Masonry is founded, and which is, in fact, the only secret of that Order which has no relation to true Masonry. They explained nothing else to them as they were afraid of being betrayed, and they conferred these degrees as a proper means of recognizing each other, surrounded as they were by barbarians. To succeed more effectually in this, they made use of different signs and words for each degree, so as not only to distin‑

 

APPENDIX    825

 

guish themselves from the profane Saracens, but to designate the different degrees. These they fixed at the number of seven, in imitation of the Grand Architect, who built the Universe in six days and rested on the seventh; and also because Solomon was seven years in constructing the Temple, which they had selected as the figurative basis of Masonry. Under the name of Hiram they gave a false application to the Masters, and developed the true secret of Masonry only to the higher degrees." Such is the theory of the Templar origin of Masonry, which, mythical as it is, and wholly unsupported by the authority of history, has exercised a vast influence in the fabrication of high degrees and the invention of continental Rites. Indeed, of all the systems propounded during the eighteenth century, so fertile in the construction of extravagant systems, none has played so important a part as this in the history of Masonry. Although the theory is no longer maintained, its effects are everywhere seen and felt.

 

Templars of England. An important change in the organization of Templarism in England and Ireland took place in 1873. By it a union took place of the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templar of England and the Grand Conclave of High Knights Templar of Ireland into one body, under the title of the "Convent General of the United Religious and Military Orders of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta." The following is a summary of the statutes by which the new Order is to be governed, as given by Sir Knight W. J. B. McLeod Moore, Grand Prior, in his circular to the Preceptors of Canada:

 

"1. The existing Grand Masters in the Empire are to be termed Great Priors, and Grand Conclaves or Encampments, Great Priories, under and subordinate to one Grand Master, as in the early days of the Order, and one Supreme Governing Body, the Convent General.

 

"2. The term Great is adopted instead of Grand, the latter being a French word; and grand in English is not grand in French. Great is the proper translation of `Magnus' and `Magnus Supremus.'

 

"3. The Great Priories of each nationality - England, Scotland, and Ireland, with their dependencies in the Colonies - retain their internal government and legislation, and appoint their Provincial Priors, doing nothing inconsistent with the supreme statutes of the Convent General.

 

"4. The title Masonic is not continued; the Order being purely Christian, none but Christians can be admitted; consequently it cannot be considered strictly as a Masonic body: Masonry, while inculcating the highest reverence for the Supreme Being, and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, does not teach a belief in one particular creed; or unbelief in any. The connection with Masonry is, however, strengthened still more, as a candidate must now be two years a Master Mason, in addition to his qualification as a Royal Arch Mason.

 

826     APPENDIX

 

"5. The titles Eminent `Commander' and `Encampment' have been discontinued, and the original name `Preceptor' and `Preceptory' substituted, as also the titles `Constable' and `Marshal' for `First' and `Second Captains.' `Encampment' is a modern term, adopted probably when, as our traditions inform us, `at the suppression of the ancient Military Order of the Temple, some of their number sought refuge and held conclaves in the Masonic Society, being independent small bodies, without any governing head.' `Prior' is the correct and original title for the head of a langue or nationality, and `Preceptor' for the subordinate bodies. The Preceptories were the ancient `Houses' of the Templar Or‑der; `Commander' and `Commanderies' was the title used by the Order of St. John, commonly known as Knights of Malta.

 

"6. The title by which the Order is now known is that of `The United Religious and Military Orders of the Temple and of St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta.' The Order of the Temple originally had no connection with that of Malta or Order of St. John; but the combined title appears to have been adopted in commemoration of the union which took place in Scotland with `The Temple and Hospital of St. John,' when their lands were in common, at the time of the Reformation. But our Order of `St. John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta,' has no connection with the present Knights of Malta in the Papal States, or of the Protestant branches of the Order, the lineal successors of the ancient Knights of St. John, the sixth or English langue of which is still in existence, and presided over, in London, by His Grace the Duke of Manchester. The Order, when it occupied the Island of Malta as a sovereign body, was totally unconnected with Freemasonry.

 

"7. Honorary past rank is abolished, substituting the chivalric dignities of `Grand Crosses' and `Commanders,' limited in number, and confined to Preceptors. These honors to be conferred by His Royal Highness the Grand Master, the Fountain of Grace and Dignity; and it is contemplated to create an Order of Merit, to be conferred in like manner, as a reward to Knights who have served the Order.

 

"8. A Preceptor holds a degree as well as rank, and will always retain his rank and privileges as long as he belongs to a Preceptory.

 

"9. The abolition of honorary past rank is not retrospective, as their rank and privileges are reserved to all those who now enjoy them.

 

"10. The number of officers entitled to precedence has been reduced to seven; but others may be appointed at discretion, who do not, however, enjoy any precedence.

 

"11. Equerries, or serving brethren, are not to receive the accolade, or use any but a brown habit, and shall not wear any insignia or jewel: they are to be addressed as `Frater,' not Sir Knight. In the early days of the Order they were not entitled to the accolade, and, with the esquires and men‑at‑arms, wore a dark habit, to distinguish them from the Knights,

 

APPENDIX    827

 

who wore white, to signify that they were bound by their vows to cast away the works of darkness and lead a new life.

 

"12. The apron is altogether discontinued, and a few immaterial alterations in the insignia will be duly regulated and promulgated: they do not, however, affect the present, but only apply to future, members of the Order. The apron was of recent introduction, to accord with Ma‑sonic usage: but reflection will at once show that, as an emblem of care and toil, it is entirely inappropriate to a Military Order, whose badge is the sword. A proposition to confine the wearing of the star to the Preceptors was negatived; the star and ribbon being in fact as much a part of the ritual as of the insignia of the Order.

 

"13. From the number of instances of persons totally unfitted having' obtained admission into the Order, the qualification of candidates has been increased. A declaration is now required, to be signed by every candidate, that he is of the full age of twenty‑one years, and in addition to being a Royal Arch Mason, that he is a Master Mason of two years' standing, professing the doctrines of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, and willing to submit to the statutes and ordinances, present and future, of the Order."

 

Templars of Scotland. The Statutes of the Grand Priory of the Temple of Scotland prescribe for the Order of Knights Templar in that kingdom an organization very different from that which prevails in other countries.

 

"The Religious and Military Order of the Temple" in Scotland consists of two classes:

 

1. Novice and Esquire;

2. Knight Templar. The Knights are again divided into four classes:

1. Knights created by Priories;

2. Knights elected from the companions on memorial to the Grand Master and Council, supported by the recommendation of the Priories to which they belong;

3. Knights Commanders;

4. Knights Grand Crosses, to be nominated by the Grand Master.

 

The supreme legislative authority of the Order is the Chapter General, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Knights Grand Crosses, and the Knights Commanders. One Chapter is held annually, at which the Grand Master, if present, acts as President. The anniversary of the death of James de Molay, March 11th, is selected as the time of this meeting, at which the Grand Officers are elected.

 

During the intervals of the meetings of the Chapter General, the affairs of the Order, with the exception of altering the Statutes, is en‑trusted to the Grand Master's Council, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Grand Priors of Foreign Langues, and the Knights Grand Crosses.

 

The Grand Officers, with the exception of the Past Grand Masters, who remain so for life, the Grand Master, who is elected triennially, and the Grand Aides‑de‑Camp, who are appointed by him and removed at his pleasure, are elected annually. They are as follows:

 

828     APPENDIX

 

Grand Master,

Past Grand Masters,

Grand Seneschal,

Preceptor and Grand Prior of Scotland,

Grand Constable and Mareschal,

Grand Admiral,

Grand Almoner or Hospitaler,

Grand Chancellor,

Grand Treasurer,

Grand Registrar,

Primate or Grand Prelate,

Grand Provost or Governor‑General,

Grand Standard‑Bearer or Beaucennifer,

Grand Bearer of the Vexillum Belli,

Grand Chamberlain,

Grand Steward,

Two Grand Aides‑de‑Camp.

 

A Grand Priory may be instituted by the Chapter General in any nation, colony, or langue, to be placed under the authority of a Grand Prior, who is elected for life, unless superseded by the Chapter General.

 

A Priory, which is equivalent to our Commanderies, consists of the following officers:

 

Prior,

Subprior,

Mareschal or Master of Ceremonies,

Hospitaler or Almoner, Chancellor,

Treasurer, Secretary,

Chaplain and Instructor,

Beaucennifer, or Bearer of the Beauseant,

Bearer of the Red Cross Banner, or Vexillum Belli,

Chamberlain,

Two Aides‑de‑Camp.

 

The Chapter General or Grand Priory may unite two or more Priories into a Commandery, to be governed by a Provincial Commander, who is elected by the Chapter General.

 

The costume of the Knights, with the exception of a few slight varia‑ tions to designate difference of rank, is the same as the ancient costume.

 

Templar Statistics. See Statistics of the Order of the Temple.

 

Temple. The symbolism of Speculative Masonry is so intimately connected with temple building and temple worship, that some notice of these edifices seems necessary. The Hebrews called a temple beth, which

 

APPENDIX    829

 

literally signifies a house or dwelling, and finds its root in a word which signifies "to remain or pass the night," or hecal, which means a palace, and comes from an obsolete word signifying "magnificent." So that they seem to have had two ideas in reference to a temple. When they called it beth Jehovah, or the "house of Jehovah" they referred to the continued presence of God in it; and when they called it hecal Jevohah, or the "palace of Jehovah," they referred to the splendor of the edifice which was selected as his residence. The Hebrew idea was undoubtedly borrowed from the Egyptian, where the same hieroglyphic [rectangle] signified both a house and a temple. Thus, from an inscription at Phihe, Champollion (Diet. Egyptienne) cites the sentence, "He has made his devotions in the house of his mother Isis." The classical idea was more abstract and philosophical. The Latin word templum comes from a root which signifies "to cut off," thus referring to any space, whether open or occupied by a building, which was cut off, or separated for a sacred purpose, from the surrounding profane ground. The word properly denoted a sacred enclosure where the omens were observed by the augurs. Hence Varro (De Ling. Lat., vi., 81) defines a temple to be "a place for auguries and auspices." As the same practise of worshiping under the sky in open places prevailed among the northern nations, we might deduce from these facts that the temple of the sky was the Aryan idea, and the temple of the house the Semitic. It is true, that afterward, the augurs having for their own convenience erected a tent within the enclosure where they made their observations, or, literally, their contemplations, this in time gave rise among the Greeks and the Romans to permanent edifices like those of the Egyptians and the Hebrews.

 

Masonry has derived its temple symbolism, as it has almost all its symbolic ideas, from the Hebrew type, and thus makes the temple the symbol of a Lodge. But of the Roman temple worship it has not been neglectful, and has borrowed from it one of the most significant and important words in its vocabulary. The Latin word speculor means to observe, to look around. When the augur, standing within the sacred precincts of his open temple on the Capitoline hill, watched the flight of birds, that from it he might deduce his auspices of good or bad fortune, he was said, speculari, to speculate. Hence the word came at length to denote, like contemplate from templum, an investigation of sacred things, and thus we got into our technical language the title of "Speculative Masonry," as distinguished by its religious design from Operative or Practical Masonry, which is devoted to more material objects. The EGYPTIAN TEMPLE was the real archetype of the Mosaic tabernacle, as that was of the temple of Jerusalem. The direction of an Egyptian temple was usually from east to west, the entrance being at the east. It was a quadrangular building, much longer than its width, and was situated in the western part of a sacred enclosure. The approach through this

 

830     APPENDIX 

 

enclosure to the temple proper was frequently by a double row of sphinxes. In front of the entrance were a pair of tall obelisks, which will remind the reader of the two pillars at the porch of Solomon's Temple. The temple was divided into a spacious hall, the sanctuary where the great body of the worshipers assembled. Beyond it, in the western extremity, was the cell or sekos, equivalent to the Jewish Holy of Holies, into which the priests only entered; and in the remotest part, behind a curtain, appeared the image of the god seated on his shrine, or the sacred animal which represented him.

 

GRECIAN TEMPLES, like the Egyptian and the Hebrew, were placed within an enclosure, which was separated from the profane land around it, in early times, by ropes, but afterward by a wall. The temple was usually quadrangular, although some were circular in form. It was divided into two parts, the xpovaos, porch or vestibule, and the vaos, or cell. In this latter part the statue of the god was placed, surrounded by a balustrade. In temples connected with the mysteries, the cell was called the &Sutiov (Lat. adytum), and to it only the priests and the initiates had access; and we learn from Pausanias that various stories were related of calamities that had befallen persons who had unlawfully ventured to cross the threshold. Vitruvius says that the entrance of Greek temples was always toward the west; but this statement is contradicted by the appearance of the temples still partly existing in Attica, Ionia, and Sicily.

 

ROMAN TEMPLES, after they emerged from their primitive simplicity, were constructed much upon the model of the Grecian. There were the same vestibule and cells, or adytum, borrowed, as with the Greeks, from the holy and the most holy place of the Egyptians. Vitruvius says that the entrance of a Roman temple was, if possible, to the west, so that the worshipers, when they offered prayers or sacrifices, might look toward the east; but this rule was not always observed.

 

It thus appears, notwithstanding what Montfaucon (Antiq., ii., 1. ii., ch. 2) says to the contrary, that the Egyptian form of a temple was the type from which other nations borrowed their idea.

 

This Egyptian form of a temple was borrowed by the Jews, and with some modifications adopted by the Greeks and Romans, whence it passed over into modern Europe. The idea of a separation into a holy and a most holy place has everywhere been preserved. The same idea is maintained in the construction of Masonic Lodges, which are but imitations, in spirit, of the ancient temples. But there has been a transposition of parts, the most holy place, which with the Egyptians and the Jews was in the west, being placed in Lodges in the east.

 

Temple, Grand Commander of the.  (Grand Commandeitr du Temple.) The Fifty‑eighth Degree of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France. It is the name of the Knight Commander of the Temple of the Scottish Rite.

 

APPENDIX    831

 

Temple of Ezekiel. An ideal temple seen by the prophet Ezekiel, in the twenty‑fifth year of the captivity, while residing in Babylon. It is supposed by Calmet, that the description given by the prophet was that of the Temple of Solomon, which he must have seen before its destruction. But an examination of its admeasurements will show that this could not have been the fact, and that the whole area of Jerusalem would not have been sufficient to contain a building of its magnitude. Yet, as Mr. Ferguson observes (Smith Diet.), the description, notwithstanding its ideal character, is curious, as showing what were the aspirations of the Jews in that direction, and how different they were from those of other nations; and also because it influenced Herod to some extent in his restoration of the temple of Zerubbabel. Between the visionary temple of Ezekiel and the symbolic city of the New Jerusalem, as described by the Evangelist, there is a striking resemblance, and hence it finds a place among the symbols in the Apocalyptic degrees. But with Symbolic or with Royal Arch Masonry it has no connection.

 

Temple of Herod. This was not the construction of a third temple, but only a restoration and extensive enlargement of the second, which had been built by Zerubbabel. To the Christian Mason it is interesting, even more than that of Solomon, because it was the scene of our Lord's ministrations, and was the temple from which the Knights Templar derived their name. It was begun by Herod 7 B.c., finished A.D. 4, and destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, having subsisted only seventy‑seven years.

 

Temple of Solomon. The first Temple of the Jews was called hecal Jehovah or beth Jehovah, the palace or the house of Jehovah, to indicate its splendor and magnificence, and that it was intended to be the perpetual dwelling‑place of the Lord. It was King David who first pro‑posed to substitute for the nomadic tabernacle a permanent place of worship for his people; but although he had made the necessary arrangements, and even collected many of the materials, he was not permitted to commence the undertaking, and the execution of the task was left to his son and successor, Solomon.

 

Accordingly, that monarch laid the foundations of the edifice in the fourth year of his reign,

1012 n.c., and, with the assistance of his friend and ally, Hiram, King‑of Tyre, completed it in about seven years and a half, dedicating it to the service of the Most High in

1004 n.c. This was the year of the world 3000, according to the Hebrew chronology; and al‑though there has been much difference among chronologists in relation to the precise date, this is the one that has been generally accepted, and it is therefore adopted by Masons in their calculations of different epochs.

 

The Temple stood on Mount Moriah, one "of the eminences of the ridge which was known as Mount Zion, and which was originally the property of Ornan the Jebusite, who used it as a threshing‑floor, and from whom it was purchased by David for the purpose of erecting an altar on it.

 

832     APPENDIX

 

The Temple retained its original splendor for only thirty‑three years. In the year of the world 3033, Shishak, King of Egypt, having made war upon Rehoboam, King of Judah, took Jerusalem, and carried away the choicest treasures. From that time to the period of its final destruction, the history of the Temple is but a history of alternate spoliations and re‑pairs, of profanations to idolatry and subsequent restorations to the purity of worship. One hundred and thirteen years after the conquest of Shishak, Joash, King of Judah, collected silver for the repairs of the Temple, and restored it to its former condition in the year of the world 3148. In the year 3264, Ahaz, King of Judah, robbed the Temple of its riches, and gave them to Tiglath‑Pileser, King of Assyria, who had united with him in a war against the Kings of Israel and Damascus. Ahaz also profaned the Temple by the worship of idols. In 3276, Hezekiah, the son and successor of Ahaz, repaired the portions of the Temple which his father had destroyed, and restored the pure worship. But fifteen years after he was compelled to give the treasures of the Temple as a ransom to Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who had invaded the land of Judah. But Hezekiah is supposed, after his enemy had retired, to have restored the Temple.

 

Manasseh, the son and successor of Iezekiah, fell away to the worship of Sabianism, and desecrated the Temple in 3306 by setting up altars to the host of heaven. Manasseh was then conquered by the King of Babylon, who in 3328 carried him beyond the Euphrates. But subsequently repenting of his sins he was released from captivity, and having returned to Jerusalem he destroyed the idols, and restored the altar of burnt‑offerings. In

3380, Josiah, who was then King of Judah, devoted his efforts to the repairs of the Temple, portions of which had been demolished or neglected by his predecessors, and replaced the ark in the sanctuary. In 3398, in the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Chaldea, carried a part of the sacred vessels to Babylon. Seven years afterward, in the reign of Jechoniah, he took away another portion; and finally, in 3416, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, he took the city of Jerusalem, and entirely destroyed the Temple, and carried many of the inhabitants captives to Babylon.

 

The Temple was originally built on a very hard rock, encompassed with frightful precipices. The foundations were laid very deep, with immense labor and expense. It was surrounded with a wall of great height, exceeding in the lowest part four hundred and fifty feet, constructed entirely of white marble.

 

The body of the Temple was in size much less than many a modern parish church, for its length was but ninety feet, or, including the porch, one hundred and five, and its width but thirty. It was its outer court, its numerous terraces, and the magnificence of its external and internal decorations, together with its elevated position above the surrounding dwellings which produced that splendor of appearance that attracted APPENDIX  833 the admiration of all who beheld it, and gives a color of probability to the legend that tells us how the Queen of Sheba, when it first broke upon her view, exclaimed in admiration, "A most excellent master must have done this!" The Temple itself, which consisted of the porch, the sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies, was but a small part of the edifice on Mount Moriah. It was surrounded with spacious courts, and the whole structure occupied at least half a mile in circumference. Upon passing through the outer wall, you came to the first court, called the court of the Gentiles, because the Gentiles were admitted into it, but were prohibited from passing farther. It was surrounded by a range of porticoes or cloisters, above which were galleries or apartments, supported by pillars of white marble.

 

Passing through the court of the Gentiles, you entered the court of the children of Israel, which was separated by a low stone wall, and an ascent of fifteen steps, into two divisions, the outer one being occupied by the women, and the inner by the men. Here the Jews were in the habit of resorting daily for the purposes of prayer.

 

Within the court of the Israelites, and separated from it by a wall one cubit in height, was the court of the priests. In the center of this court was the altar of burnt‑offerings, to which the people brought their oblations and sacrifices, but none but the priests were permitted to enter it.

 

From this court, twelve steps ascended to the Temple, strictly so called, which, as I have already said, was divided into three parts, the porch, the sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies.

 

The porch of the Temple was twenty cubits in length, and the same in breadth. At its entrance was a gate made entirely of Corinthian brass, the most precious metal known to the ancients. Beside this gate there were the two pillars Jachin and Boaz, which had been constructed by Hiram Abif, the architect whom the King of Tyre had sent to Solomon.

 

From the porch you entered the SANCTUARY by a portal, which, instead of folding doors, was furnished with a magnificent veil of many colors, which mystically represented the universe. The breadth of the sanctuary was twenty cubits, and its length forty, or just twice that of the porch and Holy of Holies. It occupied, therefore, one‑half of the body of the Temple. In the sanctuary were placed the various utensils necessary for the daily worship of the Temple, such as the altar of incense, on which incense was daily burnt by the officiating priest; the ten golden candlesticks; and the ten tables on which the offerings were laid previous to the sacrifice.  

 

THE HOLY OF HOLIES, or innermost chamber, was separated from the sanctuary by doors of olive, richly sculptured and inlaid with gold, and covered with veils of blue, purple, scarlet, and the finest linen. The size of the Holy of Holies was the same as that of the porch, namely, twenty

 

834     APPENDIX

 

cubits square. It contained the Ark of the covenant, which had been transferred into it from the tabernacle, with its overshadowing Cherubim and its mercy‑seat. Into the most sacred place, the high priest alone could enter, and that only once a year, on the day of atonement.

 

The Temple, thus constructed, must have been one of the most magnificent structures of the ancient world. For its erection, David had collected more than four thousand millions of dollars, and one hundred and eighty‑four thousand six hundred men were engaged in building it for more than seven years; and after its completion it was dedicated by Solomon with solemn prayer and seven days of feasting; during which a peace‑offering of twenty thousand oxen and six times that number of sheep was made, to consume which the holy fire came down from heaven.

 

In Masonry, the Temple of Solomon has played a most important part. Time was when every Masonic writer subscribed with unhesitating faith to the theory that Masonry was there first organized; that there Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abif presided as Grand Masters over the Lodges which they had established; that there the Symbolic degrees were instituted and systems of initiation were invented; and that from that period to the present Masonry had passed down the stream of Time in unbroken succession and unaltered form. But the modern method of reading Masonic history has swept away this edifice of imagination with as unsparing a hand, and as effectual a power, as those with which the Babylonian king demolished the structure upon which they are founded. No writer who values his reputation as a critical historian would now attempt to defend this theory. Yet it has done its work. During the long period in which the hypothesis was accepted as a fact, its influence was being exerted in molding the Masonic organizations into a form closely connected with all the events and characteristics of the Solomonic Temple. So that now almost all the Symbolism of Freemasonry rests upon or is derived from the "House of the Lord" at Jerusalem. So closely are the two connected, that to attempt to separate the one from the other would be fatal to the further existence of Masonry. Each Lodge is and must be a symbol of the Jewish Temple; each Master in the chair a representative of the Jewish king; and every Mason a personation of the Jewish workman.

 

Thus must it ever be while Masonry endures. We must receive the myths and legends that connect it with the Temple, not indeed as historic facts, but as allegories; not as events that have really transpired, but as symbols; and must accept these allegories and these symbols for what their inventors really meant that they should be - the foundations of a science of morality.

 

Temple of Zerubbabel. For the fifty‑two years that succeeded the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar that city saw nothing but the ruins of its ancient Temple. But in the year of the world 3468 and 536 B.C., Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to return to Jerusalem,

 

APPENDIX    835

 

and there to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. Forty‑two thousand three hundred and sixty of the liberated captives returned under the guidance of Joshua, the High Priest, Zerubbabel, the Prince or Governor, and Haggai, the Scribe, and one year after they laid the foundations of the second Temple. They were, however, much disturbed in their labors by the Samaritans, whose offer to unite with them in the building they had rejected. Artaxerxes, known in profane history as Cambyses, having succeeded Cyrus on the throne of Persia, forbade the Jews to proceed with the work, and the Temple remained in an unfinished state until the death of Artaxerxes and the succession of Darius to the throne. As in early life there had been a great intimacy between this sovereign and Zerubbabel, the latter proceeded to Babylon, and obtained permission from the monarch to resume the labor. Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem, and notwithstanding some further delays, consequent upon the enmity of the neighboring nations, the second Temple, or, as it may be called by way of distinction from the first, the Temple of Zerubbabel, was completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, 515 B.C., and just twenty years after its commencement. It was then dedicated with all the solemnities that accompanied the dedication of the first.

 

The general plan of this second Temple was similar to that of the first. But it exceeded it in almost every dimension by one‑third. The decorations of gold and other ornaments in the first Temple must have far surpassed those bestowed upon the second, for we are told by Josephus (Antiq., xi., 4) that "the Priests and Levites and Elders of families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuous the old Temple was than the one which, on account of their poverty, they had just been able to erect." The Jews also say that there were five things wanting in the second Temple which had been in the first, namely, the Ark, the Urim and Thum‑min, the fire from heaven, the Divine presence or cloud of glory, and the spirit of prophecy and power of miracles.

 

Such are the most important events that relate to the construction of this second Temple. But there is a Masonic legend connected with it which, though it may have no historical foundation, is yet so closely inter‑woven with the Temple system of Masonry, that it is necessary it should be recounted. It was, says the legend, while the workmen were engaged in making the necessary excavations for laying the foundation, and while numbers continued to arrive at Jerusalem from Babylon, that three worn and weary sojourners, after plodding on foot over the rough and devious roads between the two cities, offered themselves to the Grand Council as willing participants in the labor of erection. Who these sojourners were, we have no historical means of discovering; but there is a Masonic tradition (entitled, perhaps, to but little weight) that they were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, three holy men, who are better known to general readers by their Chaldaic names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed‑nego,

 

836     APPENDIX

 

as having been miraculously preserved from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar.

 

Their services were accepted, and from their diligent labors resulted that important discovery, the perpetuation and preservation of which constitute the great end and design of the Royal Arch Degree.

 

As the symbolism of the first or Solomonic Temple is connected with and refers entirely to the Symbolic degrees, so that of the second, or Temple of Zerubbabel, forms the basis of the Royal Arch in the York and American Rites, and of several high degrees in other Rites.

 

Temple, Order of the. When the Knights Templar had, on account of their power and wealth, excited the fears and the cupidity of Pope Clement V., and King Philip the Fair, of France, the Order was soon compelled to succumb to the combined animosity of a spiritual and a temporal sovereign, neither of whom was capable of being controlled by a spirit of honor or a dictate of conscience. The melancholy story of the sufferings of the Knights, and of the dissolution of their Order, forms a disgraceful record, with which the history of the fourteenth century begins.

 

On the 13th of March, in the year 1314, and in the refined city of Paris, James de Molay, the last of a long and illustrious line of Grand Masters of the Order of Knights Templar, testified at the stake his fidelity to his vows; and eleven years of service in the cause of religion were terminated, not by the sword of a Saracen, but by the iniquitous sentence of a Catholic pope and a Christian king.

 

The manufacturers of Masonic legends have found in the death of de Molay and the dissolution of the Order of Templars a fertile source from which to draw materials for their fanciful theories and surreptitious documents. Among these legends there was, for instance, one which maintained that during his captivity in the Bastile the Grand Master of the Templars established four Chiefs of the Order in the north, the south, the east, and the west of Europe, whose seats of government were respectively at Stockholm, Naples, Paris, and Edinburgh. Another invention of these Masonic speculators was the forgery of that document so well known as the Charter of Larmenius, of which I shall presently take notice. Previously, however, to any consideration of this document, I must advert to the condition of the Templar Order in Portugal, because there is an intimate connection between the society there organized and the ORDER OF THE TEMPLE in France, which is more particularly the subject of the present article.

 

Surprising as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that the Templars did not receive that check in Portugal to which they were subjected in France, in England, and some other countries of Europe. On the contrary, they were there maintained by King Denis in all their rights and privileges; and although compelled, by a bull of Clement V., to change their names to that of the Knights of Christ, they continued to be gov‑

 

APPENDIX    837

 

erned by the same rules and to wear the same costume as their predecessors, excepting the slight addition of placing a white Latin cross in the center of the usual red one of the ancient Order; and in the decree of establishment it was expressly declared that the king, in creating this new Order, intended only to effect a reform in that of the Templars. In

1420, John I., of Portugal, gave the Knights of Christ the control of the possessions of Portugal in the Indies, and succeeding monarchs granted them the proprietorship of all countries which they might discover, reserving, of course, the royal prerogative of sovereignty. In process of time the wealth and the power of the Order became so great, that the kings of Portugal found it expedient to reduce their rights to a considerable extent; but the Order itself was permitted to continue in existence, the Grand Mastership, however, being for the future vested in the sovereign.

 

We are now prepared to investigate understandingly the history of the Charter of Larmenius, and of the Order of the Temple at Paris, which was founded on the assumed authenticity of that document. The writings of Thory, of Ragon, and of Clavel, with the passing remarks of a few other Masonic writers, will furnish us with abundant materials for this narrative, interesting to all Freemasons, but more especially so to Masonic Knights Templar.

 

In the year 1682, and in the reign of Louis XIV., a licentious society was established by several young noblemen, which took the name of "La Petite Resurrection des Templiers," or "The Little Resurrection of the Templars." The members wore concealed upon their shirts a decoration in the form of a cross, on which was embossed the figure of a man trampling on a woman, who lay prostrate at his feet. The emblematic signification of this symbol was, it is apparent, as unworthy of the character of man as it was derogatory to the condition and claims of woman; and the king, having been informed of the infamous proceedings which took place at the meetings, dissolved the society (which it was said was on the eve of initiating the dauphin); caused its leader, a prince of the blood, to be ignominiously punished, and banished the members from the court; the heaviest penalty that, in those days of servile submission to the throne, could be inflicted on a courtier.

 

In 1705, Philip of Orleans, who was subsequently the regent of France during the minority of Louis XV., collected together the remnants of this society, which still secretly existed, but had changed its object from a licentious to one of a political character. He caused new statutes to be constructed; and an Italian Jesuit, by name Father Bonani, who was a learned antiquary and an excellent designer, fabricated the document now known as the Charter of Larmenius, and thus pretended to attach the new society to the ancient Order of the Templars.

 

As this charter is not the least interesting of those forged documents with which the history of Freemasonry unfortunately abounds, a full description of it here will not be out of place.

 

838     APPENDIX

 

The theory of the Duke of Orleans and his accomplice Bonani was (and the theory is still maintained by the Order of the Temple at Paris) that when James de Molay was about to suffer at the stake, he sent for Larmenius, and in prison, with the consent and approbation of such of his knights as were present, appointed him his successor, with the right of making a similar appointment before his death. On the demise of de Molay, Larmenius accordingly assumed the office of Grand Master, and ten years after issued this charter, transmitting his authority to Theobaldus Alexandrinus, by whom it was in like manner transmitted through a long line of Grand Masters, until in

1705 it reached Philip, Duke of Orleans. It will be seen hereafter that the list was subsequently continued to a later period.

 

The signatures of all these Grand Masters are affixed to the charter, which is beautifully executed on parchment, illuminated in the choicest style of Medieval chirography, and composed in the Latin language, but written in the Templar cipher. From the copy of the document given by Thory in his Acta Latomorur (ii., 145), I make the following translation: "I, Brother John Mark Larmenius, of Jerusalem, by the grace of God and the secret decree of the most venerable and holy martyr, the Grand Master of the Soldiery of the Temple, (to whom be honor and glory,) confirmed by the common council of the brethren, being endowed with the Supreme Grand Mastership of the whole Order of the Temple, to every one who shall see these letters decretal thrice greeting: "Be it known to all, both present and to come, that the failure of my strength, on account of extreme age, my poverty, and the weight of government being well considered, I, the aforesaid humble Master of the Soldiery of the Temple, have determined, for the greater glory of God and the protection and safety of the Order, the brethren, and the statutes, to resign the Grand Mastership into stronger hands.

 

"On which account, God helping, and with the consent of a Supreme Convention of Knights, I have conferred, and by this present decree do confer, for life, the authority and prerogatives of Grand Master of the Order of the Temple upon the Eminent Commander and very dear brother, Francis Thomas Theobald Alexandrinus, with the power, ac‑ cording to time and circumstances, of conferring the Grand Mastership of the Order of the Temple and the supreme authority upon another brother, most eminent for the nobility of his education and talent and decorum of his manners: which is done for the purpose of maintaining a perpetual succession of Grand Masters, an uninterrupted series of suc‑ cessors, and the integrity of the statutes. Nevertheless, I command that the Grand Mastership shall not be transmitted without the consent of a general convention of the fellow‑soldiers of the Temple, as often as that Supreme Convention desires to be convened; and, matters being thus conducted, the successor shall be elected at the pleasure of the knights.

 

"But, lest the powers of the supreme office should fall into decay,

 

APPENDIX    839

 

now and for ever let there be four Vicars of the Grand Master, possessing supreme power, eminence, and authority over the whole Order, with the reservation of the rights of the Grand Master; which Vicars of the Grand Masters shall be chosen from among the elders, according to the order of their profession. Which is decreed in accordance with the above‑mentioned wish, commended to me and to the brethren by our most venerable and most blessed Master, the martyr, to whom be honor and glory. Amen.

 

"Finally, in consequence of a decree of a Supreme Convention of the brethren, and by the supreme authority to me committed, I will, declare, and command that the Scottish Templars, as deserters from the Order, are to be accursed, and that they and the brethren of St. John of Jerusalem, (upon whom may God have mercy,) as spoliators of the do‑mains of our soldiery, are now and hereafter to be considered as beyond the pale of the Temple.

 

"I have therefore established signs, unknown to our false brethren, and not to be known by them, to be orally communicated to our fellow‑soldiers, and in which way I have already been pleased to communicate them in the Supreme Convention.

 

"But these signs are only to be made known after due profession and knightly consecration, according to the statutes, rites, and usages of the fellow‑soldiery of the Temple, transmitted by me to the above‑named Eminent Commander as they were delivered into my hands by the venerable and most holy martyr, our Grand Master, to whom be honor and glory. Let it be done as I have said. So mote it be. Amen.

 

"I, John Mark Larmenius, have done this on the thirteenth day of February,

1324.

 

"I, Francis Thomas Theobaldus Alexandrinus, God helping, have accepted the Grand Mastership, 1324."

 

And then follow the acceptances and signatures of twenty‑two succeeding Grand Masters - the last, Bernard Raymund Fabré, under the date of 1804.*

 

The society, thus organized by the Duke of Orleans in 1705, under this Charter, which purported to contain the signatures manic propria of eighteen Grand Masters in regular succession, commencing with Larmenius and ending with himself, attempted to obtain a recognition by the Order of Christ, which we have already said was established in Portugal as the legitimate successor of the old Templars, and of which King John V. was at that time the Grand Master. For this purpose the Duke of Orleans ordered two of his members to proceed to Lisbon, and there to

 

* After having disappeared for many years, the original of this Charter was rediscovered and purchased by Bro. F. J. W. Crowe, of Chichester, England, who thought it too important and valuable to remain in private hands, and it is now in the possession of the Great Priory of England. A transcript of the document, differing slightly from that given above, has been published by Bro. Crowe in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 24.                                           [E. L. H.]

 

840     APPENDIX

 

open negotiations with the Order of Christ. The king caused inquiries to be made of Don Luis de Cunha, his ambassador at Paris, upon whose report he gave orders for the arrest of the two French Templars. One of them escaped to Gibraltar; but the other, less fortunate, after an imprisonment of two years, was banished to Angola, in Africa, where he died.

 

The society, however, continued secretly to exist for many years in France, and is supposed by some to have been the same which, in 1789, was known by the name of the Societe d'Aloyau, a title which might be translated into English as the "Society of the Sirloin" - a name much more appropriate to a club of bons vivants than to an association of knights. The members of this society were dispersed at the time of the French Revolution, the Duke of Casse Brissac, who was massacred at Versailles in 1792, being its Grand Master at the period of its dispersion. Thory says that the members of this association claimed to be the successors of the Templars, and to be in possession of their charters.

 

A certain Bro. Ledru, one of the sons of the learned Nicholas Philip Ledru, was the physician of Casse Brissac. On the death of that noble‑man and the sale of his property, Ledru purchased a piece of furniture, probably an escritoire, in which was concealed the celebrated Charter of Larmenius, the manuscript statutes of 1705, and the journal of proceedings of the Order of the Temple. Clavel says that about the year 1804, Ledru showed these articles to two of his friends - de Saintot and Fabre Palaprat; the latter of whom had formerly been an ecclesiastic. The sight of these documents suggested to them the idea of reviving the Order of the Temple. They proposed to constitute Ledru the Grand Master, but he refused the offer, and nominated Claudius Matheus Radix de Chevillon for the office, who would accept it only under the title of Vicar; and he is inscribed as such on the list attached to the Charter of Larmenius, his name immediately following that of Casse Brissac, who is recorded as the last Grand Master.

 

These four restorers of the Order were of opinion that it would be most expedient to place it under the patronage of some distinguished personage; and while making the effort to carry this design into execution, Chevillon, excusing himself from further official labor on account of his advanced age, proposed that Fabre Palaprat should be elected Grand Master, but for one year only, and with the understanding that he would resign the dignity as soon as some notable person could be found who would be willing to accept it. But Fabre, having once been invested with the Grand Mastership, ever afterward refused to surrender the dignity.

 

Among the persons who were soon after admitted into the Order were Decourchant, a notary's clerk; Leblond, an official of the imperial library; and Arnal, an ironmonger, all of whom were entrusted with the secret of the fraud, and at once engaged in the construction of what have since been designated the "Relics of the Order." Of these relics, which are preserved in the treasury of the Order of the Temple at Paris, an

 

APPENDIX    841

 

inventory was made on the 18th day of May, 1810, being, it is probable, soon after their construction. Dr. Burnes, who was a firm believer in the legitimacy of the Parisian Order and in the authenticity of its archives, has given in his Sketch of the History of the Knights Templars (App., p. xii.) a copy of this inventory in the original French. Thory gives it also in his Acta Latomorum (ii., 143). A brief synopsis of it may not be uninteresting. The relics consist of twelve pieces - "a round dozen" - and are as follows:

 

1. The Charter of Larmenius, already described. But to the eighteen signatures of Grand Masters in the Charter, which was in 1705 in possession of Philip, Duke of Orleans, are added six more, carrying the succession on from the last‑named to Fabré Palaprat, who attests as Grand Master in 1804.

 

2. A volume of twenty‑seven paper sheets, in folio, bound in crimson velvet, satin, and gold, containing the statutes of the Order in manuscript, and signed "Philip."

 

3. A small copper reliquary, in the shape of a Gothic church, containing four fragments of burnt bones, wrapped in a piece of linen. These are said to have been taken from the funeral pile of the martyred Templars.

 

4. A sword, said to be one which belonged to James de Molay.

 

5. A helmet, supposed to have been that of Guy, Dauphin of Auvergne.

 

6. An old gilt spur.

 

7. A bronze patina, in the interior of which is engraved an extended hand, having the ring and little fingers bent in upon the palm, which is the form of the episcopal benediction in the Roman Church.

 

8. A pax in gilt bronze, containing a representation of St. John, under a Gothic arch. The pax is a small plate of gold, silver, or other rich material, carried round by the priest to communicate the "kiss of peace."

 

9. Three Gothic seals.

 

10. A tall ivory cross and three miters, richly ornamented.

 

11. The beauseant, in white linen, with the cross of the Order.

 

12. The war standard in white linen, with four black rays.

 

Of these "relics," Clavel, who, as being on the spot, may be sup‑posed to know something of the truth, tells us that the copper reliquary, the sword, the ivory cross, and the three miters were bought by Leblond from an old iron shop in the market of St. Jean, and from a maker of church vestments in the suburbs of Paris, while the helmet was taken by Arnal from one of the government armories.

 

Francisco Alvaro da Sylva Freyre de Porto, a knight of the Order of Christ, and a secret agent of John VI., King of Portugal, was admitted into the Order in 1805, and continued a member until 1815. He was one of the few, Clavel says, whom Fabre and the other founders admitted into their full confidence, and in 1812 he held the office of Grand Master's

 

842     APPENDIX

 

Secretary. Fabre having signified to him his desire to be recognized as the successor of James de Molay by the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, Da Sylva sent a copy of the Charter of Larmenius to John VI., who was then in Brazil; but the request for recognition was refused.

 

The Order of the Temple, which had thus been ingeniously organized by Fabre Palaprat and his colleagues, began now to assume high prerogatives as the only representative of Ancient Templarism. The Grand Master was distinguished by the sounding titles of "Most Eminent Highness, Very Great, Powerful, and Excellent Prince, and Most Serene Lord." The whole world was divided into different jurisdictions, under the names of provinces, bailiwicks, priories, and commanderies, all of which were distributed among the members; and proofs of nobility were demanded of all candidates; but if they were not able to give these proofs, they were furnished by the Grand Master with the necessary patents.

 

The ceremonies of initiation were divided into three houses, again subdivided into eight degrees, and were as follows:

 

I. HOUSE OF INITIATION.

 

1. Initiate. This is the Entered Apprentice's Degree of Free‑masonry.

 

2. Initiate of the Interior. This is the Fellow‑Craft.

 

3. Adept. This is the Master Mason.

 

4. Adept of the East. The Elu of Fifteen of the Scottish Rite.

 

5. Grand Adept of the Black Eagle of St. John. The Elu of Nine of the Scottish Rite.

 

II. HOUSE OF POSTULANCE.

 

6. Postulant of the Order. The Rose Croix Degree.

 

III. COUNCIL.

 

7. Esquire. Merely a preparation for the Eighth Degree.

 

8. Knight, or Levite of the Interior Guard. The Philosophical Kadosh.

 

At first the members of the Order professed the Roman Catholic religion, and hence, on various occasions, Protestants and Jews were denied admission. But about the year 1814, the Grand Master having obtained possession of a manuscript copy of a spurious Gospel of St. John, which is supposed to have been forged in the fifteenth century, and which contradicted in many particulars the canonical Gospel, he caused it to be adopted as the doctrine of the Order; and thus, as Clavel says, at once transformed an Order which had always been perfectly orthodox into a schismatic sect. Out of this spurious Gospel and an introduction and commentary called the "Levitikon," said to have been written by Nicephorus, a Greek monk of Athens, Fabre and his colleagues composed

 

APPENDIX    843

 

a liturgy, and established a religious sect to which they gave the name of "Johannism." The consequence of this change of religious views was a schism in the Order. The orthodox party, however, appears to have been the stronger; and after the others had for a short time exhibited themselves as soi‑disant priests in a Johannite church which they erected, and in which they publicly chanted the liturgy which they had composed, the church and the liturgy were given up, and they retired once more into the secrecy of the Order.

 

Such is the brief history of the rise and progress of the celebrated Order of the Temple, which still exists at Paris, with, however, a much abridged exercise, if not with less assumption of prerogative. It still claims to be the only true depository of the powers and privileges of the ancient Order of Knights Templar, denouncing all other Templars as spurious, and its Grand Master proclaims himself the legal successor of James de Molay; with how much truth the narrative already given will enable every reader to decide.

 

The question of the legality of the "Order of the Temple," as the only true body of Knights Templar in modern days, is to be settled only after three other points have been determined: First, was the Charter of Larmenius, which was brought for the first time to light in 1705 by the Duke of Orleans, an authentic or a forged document? Next, even if authentic, was the story that Larmenius was invested with the Grand Mastership and the power of transmission by de Molay a fact or a fable? And, lastly, was the power exercised by Ledru, in reorganizing the Order in 1804, assumed by himself or actually derived from Casse Brissac, the previous Grand Master? There are many other questions of subordinate but necessary importance to be examined and settled before we can con‑sent to give the Order of the Temple the high and, as regards Templarism, the exclusive position that it claims.

 

Temple, Second. The Temple built by Zerubbabel is so called. See Temple of Zerubbabel.

 

Temple, Symbolism of the. Of all the objects which constitute the Masonic science of symbolism, the most important, the most cherished by Masons, and by far the most significant, is the Temple of Jerusalem. The spiritualizing of the Temple is the first, the most prominent, and the most pervading of all symbols of Freemasonry. It is that which most emphatically gives it its religious character. Take from Freemasonry its dependence on the Temple; leave out of its ritual all reference to that sacred edifice, and to the legends and traditions connected with it, and the system itself would at once decay and die, or at best remain only as some fossilized bone, serving merely to show the nature of the once living body to which it had belonged.

 

Temple worship is in itself an ancient type of the religious sentiment in its progress toward spiritual elevation. As soon as a nation emerged

 

844     APPENDIX

 

out of Fetishism, or the worship of visible objects, which is the most degraded form of idolatry, its people began to establish a priesthood, and to erect temples. The Goths, the Celts, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, however much they may have differed in the ritual, and in the objects of their polytheistic worship, were all in the possession of priests and of temples. The Jews, complying with this law of our religious nature, first constructed their tabernacle, or portable temple, and then, when time and opportunity permitted, transferred their monotheistic worship to that more permanent edifice which towered in all its magnificence above the pinnacle of Mount Moriah. The mosque of the Mohammedan and the church or chapel of the Christian is but an embodiment of the same idea of temple worship in a simpler form.

 

The adaptation, therefore, of the Temple of Jerusalem to a science of symbolism, would be an easy task to the mind of those Jews and Tyrians who were engaged in its construction. Doubtless, at its original conception, the idea of this temple symbolism was rude and unembellished. It was to be perfected and polished only by future aggregations of succeeding intellects. And yet no Biblical nor Masonic scholar will venture to deny that there was, in the mode of building and in all the circumstances connected with the construction of King Solomon's Temple, an apparent design to establish a foundation for symbolism.

 

The Freemasons have, at all events, seized with avidity the idea of representing in their symbolic language the interior and spiritual man by a material temple. They have the doctrine of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, who has said, "Know ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you." The great body of the Masonic Craft, looking only to this first Temple erected by the wisdom of King Solomon, make it the symbol of life; and as the great object of Masonry is the search after truth, they are directed to build up this temple as a fitting receptacle for truth when found, a place where it may dwell, just as the ancient Jews built up their great Temple as a dwelling‑place for Him who is the author of all truth.

 

To the Master Mason, this Temple of Solomon is truly the symbol of human life; for, like life, it was to have its end. For four centuries it glittered on the hills of Jerusalem in all its gorgeous magnificence; now, under some pious descendant of the wise King of Israel, the spot from whose altars arose the burnt‑offerings to a living God, and now polluted by some recreant monarch of Judah to the service of Baal; until at length it received the Divine punishment through the mighty King of Babylon, and, having been despoiled of all its treasures, was burnt to the ground, so that nothing was left of all its splendor but a smoldering heap of ashes. Variable in its purposes, evanescent in its existence, now a gorgeous pile of architectural beauty, and anon a ruin over which the resistless power of fire has passed, it becomes a fit symbol of human life occupied in the search after Divine truth, which is nowhere to be found;

 

APPENDIX    845

 

now sinning and now repentant; now vigorous with health and strength, and anon a senseless and decaying corpse.

 

Such is the symbolism of the first Temple, that of Solomon, as familiar to the class of Master Masons. But there is a second and higher class of the Fraternity, the Masons of the Royal Arch, by whom this temple symbolism is still further developed.

 

This second class, leaving their early symbolism and looking beyond this Temple of Solomon, find in Scriptural history another Temple, which, years after the destruction of the first one, was erected upon its ruins; and they have selected the second Temple, the Temple of Zerubbabel, as their prominent symbol. And as the first class of Masons find in their Temple the symbol of mortal life, limited and perishable, they, on the contrary, see in this second Temple, built upon the foundations of the first, a symbol of life eternal, where the lost truth shall be found, where new incense shall arise from a new altar, and whose perpetuity their great Master had promised when, in the very spirit of symbolism, he exclaimed, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And so to these two classes or Orders of Masons the symbolism of the Temple presents itself in a connected and continuous form. To the Master Mason, the Temple of Solomon is the symbol of this life; to the Royal Arch Mason, the Temple of Zerubbabel is the symbol of the future life. To the former, his Temple is the symbol of the search for truth; to the latter, his is the symbol of the discovery of truth; and thus the circle is completed and the system made perfect.

 

Three. Everywhere among the ancients the number three was deemed the most sacred of numbers. A reverence for its mystical virtues is to be found even among the Chinese, who say that numbers begin at one and are made perfect at three, and hence they denote the multiplicity of any object by repeating the character which stands for it three times. In the philosophy of Plato, it was the image of the Supreme Being, be‑cause it includes in itself the properties of the two first numbers, and because, as Aristotle says, it contains within itself a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Pythagoreans called it perfect harmony. So sacred was this number deemed by the ancients, that we find it designating some of the attributes of almost all the gods. The thunderbolt of Jove was three‑forked; the scepter of Neptune was a trident; Cerberus, the dog of Pluto, was three‑headed; there were three Fates and three Furies; the sun had three names, Apollo, Sol, and Liber; and the moon three also, Diana, Luna, and Hecate. In all incantations, three was a favorite number, for, as Virgil says, "numero Deus impari gaudet," God delights in an odd number. A triple cord was used, each cord of three different colors, white, red, and black; and a small image of the subject of the charm was carried thrice around the altar.

 

In Freemasonry, the ternary is the most sacred of all the mystical numbers. Beginning with the old axiom of the Roman Artificers, that

 

846     APPENDIX

 

tres faciunt collegiunc, or it requires three to make a college, they have established the rule that not less than three shall congregate to form a Lodge. Then in all the Rites, whatever may be the number of superimposed grades, there lie at the basis the three Symbolic degrees. There are in all the degrees three principal officers, three supports, three greater and three lesser lights, three movable and three immovable jewels, three principal tenets, three working‑tools of a Fellow‑Craft, three principal orders of architecture, three chief human senses, three Ancient Grand Masters. In fact, everywhere in the system the number three is presented as a prominent symbol. So much is this the case, that all the other mystical numbers depend upon it, for each is a multiple of three, its square or its cube, or derived from them. Thus, 9, 27, 81, are formed by the  multiplication of three, as 3 X 3 = 9, and 3² X 3 = 27, and 3² x 3² = 81.

 

But in nothing is the Masonic signification of the ternary made more interesting than in its connection with the sacred delta, the symbol of Deity.

 

Three Points. Three points in a triangular form (\) are placed after letters in a Masonic document to indicate that such letters are the initials of a Masonic title or of a technical word in Masonry, as G\ M\ for Grand Master, or G\ L\ for Grand Lodge. It is not a symbol, but simply a mark of abbreviation. The attempt, therefore, to trace it to the Hebrew three yods, a Kabbalistic sign of the Tetragrammaton, or any other ancient symbol, is futile. It is an abbreviation, and nothing more; although it is probable that the idea was suggested by the sacred character of the number three as a Masonic number, and these three dots might refer to the position of the three officers in a French Lodge. Ragon says (Orthod. Macon., p. 71) that the mark was first used by the Grand Orient of France in a circular issued August 12, 1774, in which we read "G\ O\, de France." The abbreviation is now constantly used in French documents, and, although not accepted by the English Masons, has been very generally adopted in other countries. In the United States, the use of this abbreviation is gradually extending.

 

Three Sacred Utensils. These were the vessels of the Tabernacle as to which the Rev. Joseph Barclay, LL.D., makes the following quotation: "Rabbi Jose, son of Rabbi Judah, said a fiery ark, and a fiery table, and a fiery candlestick descended from heaven. And Moses saw them, and made according to their similtude"; and thus comments: "They also think that the Ark of the Covenant is concealed in a chamber under the Temple Enclosure, and that it and all the holy vessels will be found at the coming of the Messiah." The Apocrypha, however, informs us that Jeremiah laid the Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Altar of Incense in a "hollow cave, in the mountain, where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God. And the place shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them into Mercy." (2 Mac.

 

APPENDIX    847

 

ii. 4‑7.) The sacred vessels, which were taken to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and are now seen sculptured on the Arch of Titus, were carried off to Africa by the Vandals under Genseric. Belisarius took them to Constantinople in A.D. 520. They were afterward sent back to Jerusalem, and thence they are supposed to have been carried to Persia, when Chosroes plundered the Holy City, in June, 614.

 

Three Senses. Of the five human senses, the three which are the most important in Masonic symbolism are Seeing, Hearing, and Feeling, because of their respective reference to certain modes of recognition, and because, by their use, Masons are enabled to practise that universal language the possession of which is the boast of the Order.

 

Token. The word token is derived from the Anglo‑Saxon tacn, which means a sign, presage, type, or representation, that which points out something; and this is traced to trecan, to teach, show, or instruct, because by a token we show or instruct others as to what we are. Bailey, whose Dictionary was published soon after the revival, defines it as "a sign or mark"; but it is singular that the word is not found in either of the dictionaries of Phillips or Blount, which were the most popular glossaries in the beginning of the last century. The word was, however, well known to the Fraternity, and was in use at the time of the revival with precisely the same meaning that is now given to it as a mode of recognition.

 

The Hebrew word, oth, is frequently used in Scripture to signify a sign or memorial of something past, some covenant made or promise given. Thus God says to Noah, of the rainbow, "it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth"; and to Abraham he says of circumcision, "it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." In Masonry, the grip of recognition is called a token, because it is an outward sign of the covenant of friendship and fellowship entered into between the members of the Fraternity, and is to be considered as a memorial of that covenant which was made, when it was first received by the candidate, between him and the Order into which he was then initiated.

 

Triangle. There is no symbol more important in its signification, more various in its' application, or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of Freemasonry, than the triangle. An examination of it, therefore, cannot fail to be interesting to the Masonic student.

 

The equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the nations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity, in some of his forms or emanations, and hence, probably, the prevailing influence of this symbol was carried into the Jewish system, where the yod within the triangle was made to represent the. Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God.

 

The equilateral triangle, "viewed in the light of the doctrines of those who gave it currency as a divine symbol, represents the Great First Cause, the creator and container of all things, as one and indivisible,

 

848     APPENDIX

 

manifesting himself in an infinity of forms and attributes in this visible universe." Among the Egyptians, the darkness through which the candidate for initiation was made to pass was symbolized by the trowel, an important Masonic implement, which in their system of hieroglyphics has the form of a triangle. The equilateral triangle they considered as the most perfect of figures, and a representative of the great principle of animated existence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of creation, the animal, vegetable, and mineral.

 

The equilateral triangle is to be found scattered throughout the Masonic system. It forms in the Royal Arch the figure within which the jewels of the officers are suspended. It is in the ineffable degrees the sacred delta, everywhere presenting itself as the symbol of the Grand Architect of the Universe. In Ancient Craft Masonry, it is constantly exhibited as the element of important ceremonies. The seats of the principal officers are arranged in a triangular form, the three lesser lights have the same situation, and the square and compass form, by their union on the greater light, two triangles meeting at their bases. In short, the equilateral triangle may be considered as one of the most constant forms of Masonic symbolism.

 

The right‑angled triangle is another form of this figure which is deserving of attention. Among the Egyptians, it was the symbol of universal nature; the base representing Osiris, or the male principle; the perpendicular, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypotenuse, Horus, their son, or the product of the male and female principle.

 

This symbol was received by Pythagoras from the Egyptians during his long sojourn in that country, and with it he also learned the peculiar property it possessed, namely, that the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the longest side - symbolically ex‑pressed by the formula, that the product of Osiris and Isis is Horus. This figure has been adopted in the Third Degree of Masonry, and will be there recognized as the forty‑seventh problem of Euclid.

 

Triangle and Square. As the Delta was the initial letter of Deity with the ancients, so its synonym is among modern nations. It is a type of the Eternal, the All‑Powerful, the Self‑Existent.

 

The material world is typified by the "square" as passive matter, in opposition to force symbolized by the triangle.

 

The Square is also an emblem of humanity, as the Delta or Triangle typifies Deity.

 

The Delta, Triangle, and Compasses are essentially the same. The raising one point, and then another, signifies that the Divine or higher portion of our nature should increase in power, and control the baser tendencies. This is the real, the practical "journey toward the East." The interlacing triangles or deltas symbolize the union of the two

 

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principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe.

 

The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of the two apparent powers in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life.

 

The triangle and square together form the pyramid, as seen in the Entered Apprentice's apron. In this combination the pyramid is the metaphor for unity of matter and force, as well as the oneness of man and God. The numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, have their places in the parts and points of the square and triangle when in pyramidal form, and imply Perfection.

 

Triangle, Radiated. A triangle placed within and surrounded by a circle of rays. This circle is called, in Christian art, "a glory." When this glory is distinct from the triangle, and surrounds it in the form of a circle, it is then an emblem of God's eternal glory. This is the usual form in religious uses. But when, as is most usual in the Masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the center of the triangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic of the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the Pagans referred these rays of light to their sun‑god and their Sabian worship.

 

But the true Masonic idea of this glory is, that it symbolizes that Eternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as a sea of glory, and from Him as a common center emanates to the universe of His creation.

 

Triangle, Triple. The pentalpha, or triangle of Pythagoras, is usually called also the triple triangle, because three triangles are formed by the intersection of its sides. But there is another variety of the triple triangle which is more properly entitled to the appellation, and which is made in the annexed form.

 

It will be familiar to the Knights Templar as the form of the jewel worn by the Prelate of his Order. Like every modification of the triangle, it is a symbol of the Deity; but as the degree of Knights Templar appertains exclusively to Christian Masonry, the triple triangle there alludes to the mystery of the Trinity. In the Scottish Rite Degree of Knight of the East the symbol is also said to refer to the triple essence of Deity; but the symbolism is made still more mystical by supposing that it represents the sacred number 81, each side of the three triangles being equivalent to 9, which again is the square of 3, the most sacred number in Free‑masonry. In the Twentieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or that of "Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges," it is said that the number

81 refers to the triple covenant of God, symbolized by a triple triangle said to have been seen by Solomon when he consecrated the Temple. Indeed, throughout the ineffable and the. philosophic degrees.

 

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the allusions to the triple triangle are much more frequent than they are in Ancient Craft Masonry.

 

Toleration. The grand characteristic of Masonry is its toleration in religion and politics. In respect to the latter, its toleration has no limit. The question of a man's political opinions is not permitted to be broached in the Lodge; in reference to the former, it requires only that, to use the language of the Old Charge, Masons shall be of "that religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves." (Constitutions, 1723, p. 50.) The same Old Charges say, "No private piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of the Lodge, far less any quarrels about religion, or nations, or state policy, we being only, as Masons, of the Universal religion above‑mentioned; we are also of all nations, tongues, kindreds, and languages, and are resolved against all politics, as what never yet conduced to the welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will." Triple Alliance. An expression in the high degrees, which, having been translated from the French rituals, should have more properly been the triple covenant. It is represented by the triple triangle, and refers to the covenant of God with his people, that of King Solomon with Hiram of Tyre, and that which binds the fraternity of Masons.

 

Triple Tau. The tau cross, or cross of St. Anthony, is a cross in the form of a Greek T. The triple tau is a figure formed by three. of these crosses meeting in a point, and therefore resembling a letter T resting on the traverse bar of an H. This emblem, placed in the center of a triangle and circle - both emblems of the Deity - constitutes the jewel of the Royal Arch as practised in England, where it is so highly esteemed as to be called the "emblem of all emblems," and "the grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry." It was adopted in the same form as the Royal Arch badge, by the General Grand Chapter of the United States in 1859; al‑though it had previously been very generally recognized by American Masons. It is also found in the capitular Masonry of Scotland. (See Royal Arch Badge.)

 

The original signification of this emblem has been variously explained. Some suppose it to include the initials of the Temple of Jerusalem, T. H., Templum Hierosolymce; others, that it is a symbol of the mystical union of the Father and Son, H signifying Jehovah, and T, or the cross, the Son. A writer in Moore's Magazine ingeniously sup‑poses it to be a representation of three T squares, and that it alludes to the three jewels of the three ancient Grand Masters. It has also been said that it is the monogram of Hiram of Tyre; and others assert that it is only a modification of the Hebrew letter shin, tU, which was one of the Jewish abbreviations of the sacred name. Oliver thinks, from its connection with the circle and triangle in the Royal Arch jewel, that it was intended to typify the sacred name as the author of eternal life. The English Royal Arch lectures say that "by its intersection it forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five several combinations; and,

 

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reduced, their amount in right angles will be found equal to the five Platonic bodies which represent the four elements and the sphere of the Universe." Amid so many speculations, I need not hesitate to offer one of my own. The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of the tau or tau cross as the mark distinguishing those who were to be saved, on account of their sorrow for their sins, from those who, as idolaters, were to be slain. It was a mark or sign of favorable distinction; and with this allusion we may, therefore, suppose the triple tau to be used in the Royal Arch Degree as a mark designating and separating those who know and worship the true name of God from those who are ignorant of that august mystery.

 

Twelve. Twelve being composed of the mystical numbers 7 + 5 or of 3 X 4, the triad multiplied by the quaternion, was a number of considerable value in ancient systems. Thus there were twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve months in the year, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve stones in the pectoral, and twelve oxen supporting the molten sea in the Temple. There were twelve apostles in the new law, and the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve foundations, is twelve thousand furlongs square, and the number of the sealed is twelve times twelve thousand. Even the Pagans respected this number, for there were in their mythology twelve superior and twelve inferior gods. There were also twelve Fellow‑Crafts.

 

United Grand Lodge of England. The present Grand Lodge of England assumed that title in the year 1813, because it was then formed by the union of the Grand Lodge of the Ancients, called the "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England according to the Old Institutions," and the Grand Lodge of Moderns, called the "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons under the Constitution of England." The body thus formed, by which an end was put to the dissensions of the Craft which had existed in England for more than half a century, adopted the title, by which it has ever since been known, of the "United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of England." United States of America. The history of the introduction of Free‑masonry into the United States of America is discussed in this work under the titles of the different States into which the Union is divided, and to which therefore the reader is referred.

 

It may, however, be necessary to say, in a general view of the subject, that the first notice we have of Freemasonry in the United States is in 1729, in which year, during the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Norfolk, Mr. Daniel Coxe was appointed Provincial Grand Master for New Jersey. I have not, however, been able to obtain any evidence that he exercised his prerogative by the establishment of Lodges in that province, although it is probable that he did. In the year 1733, the "St. John's Grand Lodge" was opened in Boston, in consequence of a Charter granted, on the application of several brethren residing in that city, by Lord Viscount Montague, Grand Master of England. From that time Masonry was rapidly disseminated throughout the country by the establishment of 

 

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Provincial Grand Lodges, all of which after the Revolutionary War, which separated the colonies from the mother country, assumed the rank and prerogatives of independent Grand Lodges. The history of these bodies being treated under their respective titles, the remainder of this article may more properly be devoted to the character of the Masonic organization in the United States.

 

The Rite practised in this country is most correctly called the American Rite. This title, however, has been adopted within only a comparatively recent period. It is still very usual with Masonic writers to call the Rite practised in this country the York Rite. The expression, however, is wholly incorrect. The Masonry of the United States, though founded, like that practised in every other country, upon the three Symbolic degrees which alone constitute the true York Rite, has, by its modifications and its adoption of high degrees, so changed the Rite as to give it an entirely different form from that which properly constitutes the pure York Rite. (See American Rite.)

 

In each State of the Union, and in most of the Territories, there is a Grand Lodge which exercises jurisdiction over the Symbolic degrees. The jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, however, is exercised to a certain extent over what are called the higher bodies, namely, the Chapters, Councils, and Commanderies. For by the American construction of Masonic law, a Mason expelled by the Grand Lodge forfeits his member‑ship in all of these bodies to which he may be attached. Hence a Knights Templar, or a Royal Arch Mason, becomes ipso facto suspended or expelled by his suspension or expulsion by a Symbolic Lodge, the appeal from which action lies only to the Grand Lodge. Thus the Masonic standing and existence of even the Grand Commander of a Grand Commandery is actually in the hands of the Grand Lodge, by whose decree of expulsion his relation with the body over which he presides may be dissevered.

 

Royal Arch Masonry is controlled in each State by a Grand Chapter. Besides these Grand Chapters, there is a General Grand Chapter of the United States, which, however, exercises only a moral influence over the State Grand Chapters, since it possesses "no power of discipline, admonition, censure, or instruction over the Grand Chapters." In Territories where there are no Grand Chapters, the General Grand Chapter constitutes subordinate Chapters, and over these it exercises plenary jurisdiction.

 

The next highest branch of the Order is Cryptic Masonry, which, although rapidly growing, is not yet as extensive as Royal Arch Masonry. It consists of two degrees, Royal and Select Master, to which is sometimes added the Superexcellent, which, however, is considered only as an honorary degree. These degrees are conferred in Councils which owe their obedience to Grand Councils. Only one Grand Council can exist in a State or Territory, as is the case with a Grand Lodge, a Grand Chapter. or a Grand Commandery. Grand Councils exist in many of the States,

 

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and in any State where no such body exists, the Councils are established by Charters emanating from any one of them. There is no General Grand Council. Efforts have been repeatedly made to establish one, but the proposition has not met with a favorable response from the majority of Grand Councils.

 

Templarism is governed by a Supreme body, whose style is the Grand Encampment of the United States, and this body, which meets triennially, possesses sovereign power over the whole Templar system in the United States. Its presiding officer is called Grand Master, and this is the highest office known to American Templarism. In most of the States there are Grand Commanderies, which exercise immediate jurisdiction over the Commanderies in the State, subject, however, to the superintending control of the Grand Encampment. Where there are no Grand Commanderies, Charters are issued directly to subordinate Commanderies by the Grand Encampment.

 

The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is very popular in the United States. There are two Supreme Councils - one for the Southern Jurisdiction, which is the Mother Council of the world. Its nominal Grand East is at Charleston, South Carolina; but its Secretariat has been removed to Washington City since the year 1870. The other Council is for the Northern Jurisdiction. Its Grand East is at Boston, Massachusetts; but its Secretariat is at New York City. The Northern Council has jurisdiction over the States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The Southern Supreme Council exercises jurisdiction over all the other States and Territories of the United States.

 

Unity of God. In the popular mythology of the ancients there were many gods. It was to correct this false opinion, and to teach a purer theogony, that the initiations were invented. And so, as Warburton says, "the famous secret of the mysteries was the unity of the Godhead." This, too, is the doctrine of Masonic initiation, which is equally distant from the blindness of atheism and the folly of polytheism.

 

Uniformity of Work. An identity of forms in opening and closing, and in conferring the degrees, constitutes what is technically called uniformity of work. The expression has no reference, in its restricted sense, to the working of the same degrees in different Rites and different countries, but only to a similarity in the ceremonies practised by Lodges in the same Rite, and more especially in the same jurisdiction. This is greatly to be desired, because nothing is more unpleasant to a Mason, accustomed to certain forms and ceremonies in his own Lodge, than on a visit to another to find those forms and ceremonies so varied as to be sometimes scarcely recognizable as parts of the same Institution. So anxious are the dogmatic authorities in Masonry to preserve this uniformity, that in the charge to an Entered Apprentice he is instructed

 

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never to "suffer an infringement of our rites, or a deviation from established usages and customs." In the act of union in 1813, of the two Grand Lodges of England, in whose systems of working there were many differences, it was provided that a committee should be appointed to visit the several Lodges, and promulgate and enjoin one system, "that perfect reconciliation, unity of obligation, law, working, language, and dress, might be happily restored to the English Craft." (Article XV.) A few years ago, a writer in C. W. Moore's Magazine, proposed the appointment of delegates to visit the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, and Ireland, that a system of work and lectures might be adopted, which should there‑after be rigidly enforced in both hemispheres. The proposition was not popular, and no delegation was ever appointed. It is well that it was so, for no such attempt could have met with a successful result.

 

It is a fact, that uniformity of work in Masonry, however much it may be desired, can never be attained. This must be the case in all institutions where the ceremonies, the legends, and the instructions are oral. The treachery of memory, the weakness of judgment, and the fertility of imagination, will lead men to forget, to diminish, or to augment, the parts of any system which are not prescribed within certain limits by a written rule. The Rabbis discovered this when the Oral Law was be‑coming perverted, and losing its authority as well as its identity by the interpretations that were given to it in the schools of the Scribes and Prophets. And hence, to restore it to its integrity, it was found necessary to divest it of its oral character and give to it a written form. To this are we to attribute the origin of the two Talmuds which now contain the essence of Jewish theology. So, while in Masonry we find the esoteric ritual continually subjected to errors arising mainly from the ignorance or the fancy of Masonic teachers, the monitorial instructions - few in Preston, but greatly enlarged by Webb and Cross - have suffered no change.

 

It would seem from this that the evil of non‑conformity could be re‑moved only by making all the ceremonies monitorial; and so much has this been deemed expedient, that a few years since the subject of a written ritual was seriously discussed in England. But the remedy would be worse than the disease. It is to the oral character of its ritual that Masonry is indebted for its permanence and success as an organization. A written, which would soon become a printed, ritual would divest Symbolic Masonry of its attractions as a secret association, and would cease to offer a reward to the laborious student who sought to master its mystical science. Its philosophy and its symbolism would be the same, but the books containing them would be consigned to the shelves of a Masonic library, their pages to be discussed by the profane as the common property of the antiquary, while the Lodges, having no mystery within their portals, would find but few visitors, and certainly no workers.

 

APPENDIX    855

 

It is, therefore, a matter of congratulation that uniformity of work, however desirable and however unattainable, is not so important and essential as many have deemed it. Oliver, for instance, seems to confound in some of his writings the ceremonies of a degree with the landmarks of the Order. But they are very different. The landmarks, because they affect the identity of the Institution, have long since been embodied in its written laws, and unless by a wilful perversion, as in France, where the Grand Mastership has been abolished, can never be changed. But variations in the phraseology of the lectures, or in the forms and ceremonies of initiation, so long as they do not trench upon the foundations of symbolism on which the science and philosophy of Masonry are built, can produce no other effect than a temporary inconvenience. The errors of an ignorant Master will be corrected by his better instructed successor. The variation in the ritual can never be such as to destroy the true identity of the Institution. Its profound dogmas of the unity of God, and the eternal life, and of the universal brotherhood of man, taught in its symbolic method, will forever shine out preeminent above all temporary changes of phraseology. Uniformity of work may not be attained, but uniformity of design and uniformity of character will forever pre‑serve Freemasonry from disintegration.

 

Universality of Masonry. The boast of the Emperor Charles V., that the sun never set on his vast empire, may be applied with equal truth to the Order of Freemasonry. From east to west, and from north to south, over the whole habitable globe, are our Lodges disseminated. Wherever the wandering steps of civilized man have left their footprints, there have our temples been established. The lessons of Masonic love have penetrated into the wilderness of the West, and the red man of our soil has shared with his more enlightened brother the mysteries of our science; while the arid sands of the African desert have more than once been the scene of a Masonic greeting. Masonry is not a fountain, giving health and beauty to some single hamlet, and slaking the thirst of those only who dwell upon its humble banks; but it is a mighty stream, penetrating through every hill and mountain, and gliding through every field and valley of the earth, bearing in its beneficent bosom the abundant waters of love and charity for the poor, the widow, and the orphan of every land.

 

Untempered Mortar. In the lecture used in the United States in the early part of the present century, and in some parts of the country almost as recently as the middle of the century, the apprentices at the Temple were said to wear their aprons in the peculiar manner characteristic of that class that they might preserve their garments from being defiled by "untempered mortar." This is mortar which has not been properly mixed for use, and it thus became a symbol of passions and appetites not duly restrained. Hence the Speculative Apprentice was

 

856     APPENDIX

 

made to wear his apron in that peculiar manner to teach him that he should not allow his soul to be defiled by the "untempered mortar of unruly passions."

 

Vault, Secret. As a symbol, the Secret Vault does not present itself in the primary degrees of Masonry. It is found only in the high degrees, such as the Royal Arch of all the Rites, where it plays an important part. Dr. Oliver, in his Historical Landmarks (vol. ii., p. 434), gives, while referring to the building of the second Temple, the following general detail of the Masonic legend of this vault:

 

"The foundations of the Temple were opened, and cleared from the accumulation of rubbish, that a level might be procured for the commencement of the building. While engaged in excavations for this purpose, three fortunate sojourners are said to have discovered our ancient stone of foundation, which had been deposited in the secret crypt by Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, to prevent the communication of ineffable secrets to profane or unworthy persons. The discovery having been communicated to the prince, prophet, and priest of the Jews, the stone was adopted as the chief corner‑stone of the re‑edified building, and thus became, in a new and more expressive sense, the type of a more excellent dispensation. An avenue was also accidentally discovered, supported by seven pairs of pillars, perfect and entire, which, from their situation, had escaped the fury of the flames that had consumed the Temple, and the desolation of war that had destroyed the city. The secret vault, which had been built by Solomon as a secure depository for certain secrets that would inevitably have been lost without some such expedient for their preservation, communicated by a subterranean avenue with the king's palace; but at the destruction of Jerusalem the entrance having been closed by the rubbish of falling buildings, it had been discovered by the appearance of a key‑stone amongst the foundations of the sanctum sanctorum. A careful inspection was then made, and the invaluable secrets were placed in safe custody."

 

To support this legend, there is no historical evidence and no authority except that of the Talmudic writers. It is clearly a mythical symbol, and as such we must accept it. We cannot altogether reject it, because it is so intimately and so extensively connected with the symbol‑ism of the Lost and the Recovered Word, that if we reject the theory of the Secret Vault, we must abandon all of that symbolism, and with it the whole of the science of Masonic symbolism. Fortunately, there is ample evidence in the present appearance of Jerusalem and its subterranean topography, to remove from any tacit and, as it were, conventional assent to the theory, features of absurdity or impossibility.

 

Considered simply as an historical question, there can be no doubt of the existence of immense vaults beneath the superstructure of the original Temple of Solomon. Prime, Robison, and other writers who in recent times have described the topography of Jerusalem, speak of the

 

APPENDIX    857

 

existence of these structures, which they visited and, in some instances, carefully examined.

 

After the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman Emperor Hadrian erected on the site of the "House of the Lord" a temple of Venus, which in its turn was destroyed, and the place subsequently be‑came a depository of all manner of filth. But the Calif Omar, after his conquest of Jerusalem, sought out the ancient site, and, having caused it to be cleansed of its impurities, he directed a mosque to be erected on the rock which rises in the center of the mountain. Fifty years afterward the Sultan Abd‑el‑Meluk displaced the edifice of Omar, and erected that splendid building which remains to this day, and is still incorrectly called by Christians the mosque of Omar, but known to Mussulmans as Elkubbet‑es‑Sukrah, or the Dome of the Rock. This is supposed to occupy the exact site of the original Solomonic Temple, and is viewed with equal reverence by Jews and Mohammedans, the former of whom, says Mr. Prime (Tent Life in the Holy Land, p. 183), "have a faith that the ark is within its bosom now."

 

Bartlett (Walks about Jerusalem, p. 170), in describing a vault beneath this mosque of Omar, says: "Beneath the dome, at the southeast angle of the Temple wall, conspicuous from all points, is a small subterraneous place of prayer, forming the entrance to the extensive vaults which support the level platform of the mosque above." Dr. Barclay (City of the Great King) describes, in many places of his interesting topography of Jerusalem, the vaults and subterranean chambers which are to be found beneath the site of the old Temple.

 

Conformable with this historical account is the Talmudical legend, in which the Jewish Rabbis state that, in preparing the foundations of the Temple, the workmen discovered a subterranean vault sustained by seven arches, rising from as many pairs of pillars. This vault escaped notice at the destruction of Jerusalem, in consequence of its being filled with rubbish. The legend adds that Josiah, foreseeing the destruction of the Temple, commanded the Levites to deposit the Ark of the Covenant in this vault, where it was found by some of the workmen of Zerubbabel at the building of the second Temple.

 

In the earliest 'ages, the cave or vault was deemed sacred. The first worship was in cave temples, which were either natural or formed by art to resemble the excavations of nature. Of such great extent was this practise of subterranean worship by the nations of antiquity, that many of the forms of heathen temples, as well as the naves, aisles, and chancels of churches subsequently built for Christian worship, are said to owe their origin to the religious use of caves.

 

From this, too, arose the fact, that the initiation into the ancient mysteries was almost always performed in subterranean edifices; and when the place of initiation, as in some of the Egyptian temples, was really above ground, it was so constructed as to give to the neophyte the

 

858     APPENDIX 

 

appearance, in its approaches and its internal structure, of a vault. As the great doctrine taught in the mysteries was the resurrection from the dead - as to die and to be initiated were synonymous terms - it was deemed proper that there should be some formal resemblance between a descent into the grave and a descent into the place of initiation. "Happy is the man," says the Greek poet Pindar, "who descends beneath the hollow earth having beheld these mysteries, for he knows the end as well as the divine origin of life"; and in a like spirit Sophocles exclaims, "Thrice happy are they who descend to the shades below after having beheld the sacred rites, for they alone have life in Hades, while all others suffer there every kind of evil."

 

The vault was, therefore, in the ancient mysteries, symbolic of the grave; for initiation was symbolic of death, where alone Divine Truth is to be found. The Masons have adopted the same idea. They teach that death is but the beginning of life; that if the first or evanescent temple of our transitory life be on the surface, we must descend into the secret vault of death before we can find that sacred deposit of truth which is to adorn our second temple of eternal life. It is in this sense of an entrance through the grave into eternal life that we are to view the symbolism of the secret vault. Like every other myth and allegory of Masonry, the historical relation may be true or it may be false; it may be founded on fact or be the invention of imagination; the lesson is still there, and the symbolism teaches it exclusive of the history.

 

Vacancies in Office. Every Masonic officer is elected and installed to hold his office for the time for which he has been elected, and until his successor shall be installed. This is in the nature of a contract between the officer and the Lodge, Chapter, or other body which has elected him, and to its terms he signifies his assent in the most solemn manner at the time of his installation. It follows from this that to resign the office would be on his part to violate his contract. Vacancies in office, therefore, can only occur by death. Even a removal from the jurisdiction, with the intention of permanent absence, will not vacate a Masonic office, because the person removing might change his intention, and return. For the reasons why neither resignation nor removal can vacate an office, see Succession to the Chair.

 

Vagao or Bagaos. Found in the Fourth Degree of the French Rite of Adoption.

 

Vale or Valley. The vale or valley was introduced at an early period into the symbolism of Masonry. A catechism of the beginning of the last century says that "the Lodge stands upon holy ground, or the highest hill or lowest vale, or in the vale of Jehoshaphat, or any other secret place." And Browne, who in the beginning of the present century gave a correct version of the Prestonian lectures, says that "our ancient brethren met on the highest hills, the lowest dales, even in the valley of Jehoshaphat, or some such secret place."

 

APPENDIX    859

 

Hutchinson (Sp. of Meas., p. 94) has dilated on this subject, but with a mistaken view of the true import of the symbol. He says: "We place the spiritual Lodge in the vale of Jehoshaphat."

 

War, Masonry in. The question how Masons should conduct them‑selves in time of war, when their own country is one of the belligerents, is an important one. Of the political course of a Mason in his individual and private capacity there is no doubt. The Charges declare that he must be "a peaceable subject to the civil powers, and never be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation." (Constitutions, 1723, p. 50.) But so anxious is the Order to be unembarrassed by all political influences, that treason, however discountenanced by the Craft, is not held as a crime which is amenable to Masonic punishment. For the same charge affirms that "if a brother should be a rebel against the State, he is not to be countenanced in his rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy man; and if convicted of no other crime, though the loyal brotherhood must and ought to disown his rebellion and give no umbrage or ground of political jealousy to the government for the time being, they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his relation to it remains indefeasible."

 

The Mason, then, like every other citizen, should be a patriot. He should love his country with all his heart; should serve it faithfully and cheerfully; obey its laws in peace; and in war should be ever ready to support its honor and defend it from the attacks of its enemies. But even then the benign principles of the Institution extend their influence, and divest the contest of many of its horrors. The Mason fights, of course, like every other man, for victory; but when the victory is won, he will remember that the conquered foe is still his brother.

 

On the occasion, many years ago, of a Masonic banquet given immediately after the close of the Mexican War to General Quitman by the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, that distinguished soldier and Mason remarked that, although he had devoted much of his attention to the nature and character of the Masonic institution, and had repeatedly held the highest offices in the gift of his brethren, he had never really known what Masonry was until he had seen its workings on the field of battle.

 

But as a collective and organized body - in its Lodges and its Grand Lodges - it must have nothing to do with war. It must be silent and neutral. The din of the battle, the cry for vengeance, the shout of victory, must never penetrate its portals. Its dogmas and doctrines all teach love and fraternity; its symbols are symbols of peace; and it has no place in any of its rituals consecrated to the inculcation of human contention.

 

Bro. C. W. Moore, in his Biography of Thomas Smith Webb, the great American ritualist, mentions a circumstance which occurred during the period in which Webb presided over the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, and to which Moore, I think, inconsiderately, has given his hearty commendation.

 

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The United States was at that time engaged in a war with England. The people of Providence having commenced the erection of fortifications, the Grand Lodge volunteered its services; and the members, marching in procession as a Grand Lodge to the southern part of the town, erected a breastwork, to which was given the name of Fort Hiram. (See Fort Masonic.) I doubt the propriety of the act. While (to repeat what has been just said) every individual member of the Grand Lodge, as a Mason, was bound by his obligation to be "true to his government," and to de‑fend it from the attacks of its enemies, it was, I think, unseemly, and contrary to the peaceful spirit of the Institution, for any organized body of Masons, organized as such, to engage in a warlike enterprise. But the patriotism, if not the prudence of the Grand Lodge, cannot be denied.

 

Since writing this paragraph, I have met in Bro. Murray Lyon's History of the Lodge of Edinburgh (p. 83) with a record of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, a century ago, which sustains the view that I have taken. In 1777, recruits were being enlisted in Scotland for the British army, which was to fight the Americans in the war of the Revolution, which had just begun. Many of the Scotch Lodges offered, through the newspapers, bounties to all who should enlist. But on February 2, 1778, the Grand Lodge passed a resolution, which was published on the 12th, through the Grand Secretary, in the following circular:

 

"At a quarterly meeting of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, held here the second instant, I received a charge to acquaint all the Lodges of Scot‑land holding of the Grand Lodge that the Grand Lodge has seen with concern advertisements in the public newspapers, from different Lodges in Scotland, not only offering a bounty to recruits who may enlist in the new levies, but with the addition that all such recruits shall be admitted to the freedom of Masonry. The first of these they consider as an improper alienation of the funds of the Lodge from the support of their poor and distressed brethren; and the second they regard as a prostitution of our Order, which demands the reprehension of the Grand Lodge. What‑ever share the brethren may take as individuals in aiding these levies, out of zeal to serve their private friends or to promote the public service, the Grand Lodge considered it to be repugnant to the spirit of our Craft that any Lodge should take a part in such a business as a collective body. For Masonry is an Order of Peace, and it looks on all mankind to be brethren as Masons, whether they be at peace or at war with each other as subjects of contending countries. The Grand Lodge therefore strongly enjoins that the practice may be forthwith discontinued. By order of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. W. Mason, Gr. Sec."

 

Of all human institutions, Freemasonry is the greatest and purest Peace Society. And this is because its doctrine of universal peace is founded on the doctrine of a universal brotherhood.

 

West. Although the west, as one of the four cardinal points, holds an honorable position as the station of the Senior Warden, and of the

 

APPENDIX    861

 

pillar of Strength that supports the Lodge, yet, being the place of the sun's setting and opposed to the east, the recognized place of light, it, in Masonic symbolism, represents the place of darkness and ignorance. The old tradition, that in primeval times all human wisdom was confined to the eastern part of the world, and that those who had wandered toward the west were obliged to return to the east in search of the knowledge of their ancestors, is not confined to Masonry. Creuzer (Symbolik) speaks of an ancient and highly instructed body of priests in the East, from whom all knowledge, under the veil of symbols, was communicated to the Greeks and other unenlightened nations of the West. And in the "Legend of the Craft," contained in the old Masonic Constitutions, there is always a reference to the emigration of the Masons from Egypt east‑ward to the "land of behest," or Jerusalem. Hence, in the modern symbolism of Speculative Masonry, it is said that the Mason during his advancement is traveling from the West to the East in search of light.

 

White. White is one of the most ancient as well as most extensively diffused of the symbolic colors. It is to be found in all the ancient mysteries, where it constituted, as it does in Masonry, the investiture of the candidate. It always, however, and everywhere has borne the same signification as the symbol of purity and innocence.

 

In the religious observances of the Hebrews, white was the color of one of the curtains of the tabernacle, where, according to Josephus, it was a symbol of the element of earth; and it was employed in the construction of the ephod of the high priest, of his girdle, and of the breast‑plate. The word laban, which in the Hebrew language signifies "to make white," also denotes "to purify"; and there are to be found throughout the Scriptures many allusions to the color as an emblem of purity. "Though thy sins be as scarlet," says Isaiah, "they shall be as white as snow." Jeremiah, describing the once innocent condition of Zion, says, "her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk." "Many," says Daniel, "shall be purified and made white." In Revelation, a white stone was the reward promised by the Spirit to those who overcame; and again, "he that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white garments"; and in another part of the same book the Apostle is instructed to say that fine linen, clean and white, is the righteousness of the saints. The ancient prophets always imagined the Deity clothed in white, because, says Portal (Des Couleurs Symboliques, p. 35), "white is the color of absolute truth, of Him who is; it alone reflects all the luminous rays; it is the unity whence all the primitive colors emanate." Thus Daniel, in one of his prophetic visions, saw the Ancient of days, "whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool." Here, the whiteness of the garment "noted the splendor and purity of God in all the administrations of his justice."

 

Among the Gentile nations, the same reverence was paid to this color. The Egyptians decorated the head of their deity, Osiris, with a

 

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white tiara. In the school of Pythagoras, the sacred hymns were chanted in white robes. The Druids clothed their initiates who had arrived at the ultimate degree, or that of perfection, in white vestments. In all the mysteries of other nations of antiquity, the same custom was observed. White was, in general, the garment of the Gentile as well as of the Hebrew priests in the performance of their sacred rites. As the Divine power was supposed to be represented on earth by the priest‑hood, in all nations the sovereign pontiff was clad in white. Aaron was directed to enter the sanctuary only in white garments; in Persia, the Magi wore white robes, because, as they said, they alone were pleasing to the Deity; and the white tunic of Ormuzd is still the characteristic garment of the modern Parsees.

 

White, among the ancients, was consecrated to the dead, because it was the symbol of the regeneration of the soul. On the monuments of Thebes the manes or ghosts are represented as clothed in white; the Egyptians wrapped their dead in white linen; Homer (Iliad, xviii., 353) refers to the same custom when he makes the attendants cover the dead body of Patroclus, papit Xeiaali, with a white pall; and Pausanias tells us that the Messenians practised the same customs, clothing their dead in white, and placing crowns upon their heads, indicating by this double symbolism the triumph of the soul over the empire of death.

 

The Hebrews had the same usage. St. Matthew (xxvii. 59) tells us that Joseph of Arimathea wrapped the dead body of our Lord "in a clean linen cloth." Adopting this as a suggestion, Christian artists have, in their paintings of the Savior after his resurrection depicted him in a white robe. And it is with this idea that in the Apocalypse white vestments are said to be the symbols of the regeneration of souls, and the reward of the elect. It is this consecration of white to the dead that caused it to be adopted as the color of mourning among the nations of antiquity. As the victor in the games was clothed in white, so the same color became the symbol of the victory achieved by the departed in the last combat of the soul with death. "The friends of the deceased wore," says Plutarch, "his livery, in commemoration of his triumph." The modern mourning in black is less philosophic and less symbolic than this ancient one in white.

 

In Speculative Masonry, white is the symbol of purity. This symbolism commences at the earliest point of initiation, when the white apron is presented to the candidate as a symbol of purity of life and rectitude of conduct. Wherever in any of the subsequent initiations this color appears, it is always to be interpreted as symbolizing the same idea. In the Thirty‑third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the Sovereign Inspector is invested with a white scarf as inculcating that virtuous deportment above the tongue of all reproach which should distinguish the possessors of that degree, the highest in the Rite.

 

This symbolism of purity was most probably derived by the Masons

 

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from that of the primitive church, where a white garment was placed on the catechumen who was about to be baptized, as a token that he had put off the lusts of the flesh, and, being cleansed from his former sins, had obliged himself to maintain an unspotted life. The ancient symbolism of regeneration which appertained to the ancient idea of the color white has not been adopted in Masonry; and yet it would be highly appropriate in an Institution one of whose chief dogmas is the resurrection.

 

White Stone. A symbol in the Mark Degree referring to the passage in the Apocalypse (ii.

17): "To him that overeometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." In this passage it is supposed that the Evangelist alluded to the stones or tessera; which, among the ancients and the early Christians, were used as tokens of alliance and friendship. Hence in the Mark Degree, the white stone and the new name inscribed upon it is a symbol of the covenant made between the possessors of the degree, which will in all future time, and under every circumstance of danger or distress, secure the kind and fraternal assistance of all upon whom the same token has been be‑stowed. In the symbolism of the degree the candidate represents that white stone upon whom the new name as a Mark Master is to be inscribed.

 

Word. When emphatically used, the expression, "the Word," is in Masonry always referred to the Third Degree, although there must be a word in each degree. In this latter and general sense, the Word is called by French Masons "la parole," and by the Germans "ein Worterzeichen." The use of a word is of great antiquity. We find it in the ancient mysteries. In those of Egypt it is said to have been the Tetragrammaton. The German Stone‑Masons of the Middle Ages had one, which, however, was probably only a password by which the traveling Companion might make himself known in his professional wanderings. Lyon (Mist. of the L. of Edinb., p. 22) shows that it existed, in the sixteenth and subsequent centuries, in the Scotch Lodges, and he says that "the Word is the only secret that is ever alluded to in the minutes of Mary's Chapel, or in those of Kilwinning, Atcheson's Haven, or Dunblane, or any other that we have examined of a date prior to the erection of the Grand Lodge." Indeed, he thinks that' the communication of this Word constituted the only ceremony of initiation practised in the Operative Lodges. At that time there was evidently but one Word for all the ranks of Apprentices, Craftsmen, and Masters. He thinks that this communication of the Mason Word to the Apprentices under oath constituted the germ whence has sprung the Symbolical Masonry. But it must be remembered that the learned and laborious investigations of Bro. Lyon refer only to the Lodges of Scotland. There‑is no sufficient evidence that a more extensive system of initiation did not prevail at the same time, or even earlier, in England and Germany. Indeed, Findel has shown that it did in the latter country; and it is difficult to believe that the system, which we

 

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know was in existence in 1717, was a sudden development out of a single Word, for which we are indebted to the inventive genius of those who were engaged in the revival of that period. Be this as it may, the evidence is conclusive that everywhere, and from the earliest times, there was a Word. This at least is no modern usage.

 

But it must be admitted that this Word, whatever it was, was at first a mere mark of recognition. Yet it may have had, and probably did have, a mythical signification, and had not been altogether arbitrarily adopted. The word given in the Sloane MS., No.

3329 which Bro. Hughan places at a date not posterior to 1700, is undoubtedly a corrupted form of that now in use, and with the signification of which we are well acquainted. Hence we may conclude that the legend and the symbolism connected with it, also existed at the same time, but only in a nascent and incomplete form.

 

The modern development of Speculative Masonry into a philosophy has given a perfected form to the symbolism of the Word no longer con‑fined to use as a means of recognition, but elevated, in its connection with the legend of the Third Degree, to the rank of a symbol.

 

So viewed, and by the scientific Mason it is now only so viewed, the Word becomes the symbol of Divine Truth, the loss of which and the search for it constitute the whole system of Speculative Masonry. So important is this Word, that it lies at the very foundation of the Masonic edifice. The Word might be changed, as might a grip or a sign, if it were possible to obtain the universal consent of the Craft, and Masonry would still remain unimpaired. But were the Word abolished, or re‑leased from its intimate connection with the Hiramic legend, and with that of the Royal Arch, the whole symbolism of Speculative Masonry would be obliterated. The Institution might withstand such an innovation, but its history, its character, its design, would belong to a newer and a totally different society. The Word is what Dermott called the Royal Arch, "the marrow of Masonry."

 

Word, Lost. See Lost Word.

 

Working Tools - Royal Arch Mason. The Working Tools of The Royal Arch Mason are the Pick Ax and the Shovel.

 

The Pick Ax is an instrument to loosen the soil and prepare it for digging. It symbolically teaches the Mason to loosen from his heart the hold of evil habits. The Shovel is an instrument to remove rubbish and symbolically teaches the Mason to remove the rubbish of passions and prejudices, that he may be fitted, when he thus escapes from the captivity of sin, for the search and the reception of Eternal Truth and Wisdom.

 

Workmen at the Temple. We have no historical book, except the meager details in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, of the number or classification of the workmen at the Temple of Solomon. The subject has, however, afforded a fertile theme for the exercise of the inventive genius of the ritualists. Although devoid of interest as an historical

 

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study, an acquaintance with these traditions, especially the English and American ones, and a comparison of them with the Scriptural account and with that given by Josephus, are necessary as a part of the education of a Masonic student. I furnish the legends, therefore, simply as a matter of curiosity, without the slightest intention to vouch for their authenticity, at the same time trusting that the good sense and common fairness of the reader will prevent him from including such unauthenticated matter in lectures usually given in the Third Degree and often with much pretense to learning.

 

In the 2d Book of Chronicles, chap. ii., verses 17 and 18, we read as follows:

 

"And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them; and they were found an hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and six hundred.

 

"And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens, and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people a‑work."

 

The same numerical details are given in the second verse of the same chapter. Again, in the 1st Book of Kings, chap. v., verses 13 and 14, it is said:

 

"And King Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

 

"And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy."

 

The succeeding verses make the same enumeration of workmen as that contained in the Book of Chronicles quoted above, with the exception that, by omitting the three hundred Harodim, or rulers over all, the number of overseers is stated in the Book of Kings to be only three thou‑sand three hundred.

 

With these authorities, and the assistance of Masonic traditions, Anderson, in the Book of Constitutions (2d ed., p. 11), constructs the following table of the Craftsmen at the Temple:

 

 

Besides the Ish Sabal, or men of burden, the remains of the old Canaanites, amounting to 70,000, who are not numbered among the Masons.

 

866     APPENDIX

 

In relation to the classification of these workmen, Anderson says: "Solomon partitioned the Fellow Crafts into certain Lodges, with a Master and Wardens in each, that they might receive commands in a regular manner, might take care of their tools and jewels, might be paid regularly every week, and be duly fed and clothed; and the Fellow Crafts took care of their succession by educating Entered Apprentices." Josephus makes a different estimate. He includes the 3,300 Over‑seers in the 80,000 Fellow‑Crafts, and makes the number of Masons, exclusive of the 70,000 bearers of burden, amount to only

110,000.

 

A work published in 1764, entitled The Masonic Pocket‑Book, gives a still different classification. The number, according to this authority, was as follows:

 

Harodim                                                                300

Menatzchirn                                                       3,300

Ghiblim                                                             83,000

Adoniram's men                                              30,000

 Total                                                               116,600

 

which, together with the 70,000 Ish Sabal, or laborers, will make a grand total of 186,600 workmen.

 

According to the statement of Webb, which has been generally adopted by the Fraternity in the United States, there were:

 

Grand Masters                                                       3

Overseers ,                                                      3,300

Fellow‑Crafts                                                 80,000

Entered Apprentices                                    70,000

 

This account makes no allusion to the 300 Harodim, nor to the levy of 30,000; it is, therefore, manifestly incorrect. Indeed, no certain authority can be found for the complete classification of the workmen, since neither the Bible nor Josephus gives any account of the number of Tyrians employed. Oliver, however, in his Historical Landmarks, has collected from the Masonic traditions an account of the classifications of the workmen, which I shall insert, with a few additional facts taken from other authorities.

 

According to these traditions, the following was the classification of the Masons who wrought in the quarries of Tyre:

 

Superexcellent Masons                                         6

Excellent Masons                                                 48

Grand Architects                                                    8

Architects                                                              16

Master Masons                                               2,376

Mark Masters                                                     700

Markmen                                                          1,400

Fellow‑Crafts                                                 53,900

Total                                                                58,454

 

APPENDIX    867

 

These were arranged as follows: The six Superexcellent Masons were divided into two Grand Lodges, with three brethren in each to superintend the work. The Excellent Masons were divided into six Lodges of nine each, including one of the Superexcellent Masons, who presided as Master. The eight Grand Architects constituted one Lodge, and the sixteen Architects another. The Grand Architects were the Masters, and the Architects the Wardens, of the Lodges of Master Masons, which were eight in number, and consisted, with their officers, of three hundred in each. The Mark Masters were divided into fourteen Lodges of fifty in each, and the Markmen into fourteen Lodges also, of one hundred in each. The Mark Masters were the Masters, and the Markmen the Ward‑ens, of the Lodges of Fellow‑Crafts, which were seven hundred in number, and with their officers consisted of eighty in each.

 

The classification of the workmen in the forest of Lebanon was as follows:

 

Superexcellent Masons                             3

Excellent Masons                                     24

Grand Architects                                        4

Architects                                                    8

Master Masons                                   1,188

Mark Masters                                         300

Markmen                                                 600

Fellow‑Crafts                                     23,100

Entered Apprentices                        10,000

Total                                                    35,227 

 

These were arranged as follows: The three Superexcellent Masons formed one Lodge. The Excellent Masons were divided into three Lodges of nine each, including one of the Superexcellent Masons as Master. The four Grand Architects constituted one Lodge, and the eight Architects another, the former acting as Masters and the latter as Wardens of the Lodges of Master Masons, which were four in number, and consisted, with their officers, of three hundred in each. The Mark Masters were divided into six Lodges of fifty in each, and the Markmen into six Lodges also, of one hundred in each. These two classes presided, the former as Masters and the latter as Wardens, over the Lodges of Fellow‑Crafts, which were three hundred in number, and were composed of eighty in each, including their officers.

 

After three years had been occupied in "hewing, squaring, and numbering" the stones, and in "felling and preparing" the timbers, these two bodies of Masons, from the quarries and the forest, united for the purpose of properly arranging and fitting the materials, so that no metallic tool might be required in putting them up, and they were then carried up to Jerusalem. Here the whole body was' congregated under the

868     APPENDIX

 

superintending care of Hiram Abif, and to them were added four hundred and twenty Lodges of Tyrian and Sidonian Fellow‑Crafts, having eighty in each, and the twenty thousand Entered Apprentices of the levy from Israel, who had heretofore been at rest, and who were added to the Lodges of their degree, making them now consist of three hundred in each, so that the whole number then engaged at Jerusalem amounted to two hundred and seventeen thousand two hundred and eighty‑one, who were arranged as follows:

 

9 Lodges of Excellent Masons, 9 in each, were                                     81

12 Lodges of Master Masons, 300 in each, were                             3,600

1,000 Lodges of Fellow‑Crafts, 80 in each, were                           80,000

420 Lodges of Tyrian Fellow‑Crafts, 80 in each, were                   33,600

100 Lodges of Entered Apprentices, 300 in each, were               30,000

70,000 Ish Sabal, or laborers                                                            70,000

Total                                                                                                    217,281

 

Such is the system adopted by our English brethren. The American ritual has greatly simplified the arrangement. According to the system now generally adopted in this country, the workmen engaged in building King Solomon's Temple are supposed to have been classified as follows:

 

            3 Grand Masters.

            300 Harodim, or Chief Superintendents, who were Past Masters.

            3,300 Overseers, or Master Masons, divided into Lodges of three in each.

            80,000 Fellow‑Crafts, divided into Lodges of five in each.

            70,000 Entered Apprentices, divided into Lodges of seven in each.

 

According to this account, there must have been eleven hundred Lodges of Master Masons; sixteen thousand of Fellow‑Crafts; and ten thousand of Entered Apprentices. No account is here taken of the levy of thirty thousand who are supposed not to have been Masons, nor of the builders sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, whom the English ritual places at thirty‑three thousand six hundred, and most of whom we may suppose to have been members of the Dionysiac Fraternity of Artificers, the in, stitution from which Freemasonry, according to legendary authority, took its origin.

 

On the whole, the American system seems too defective to meet all the demands of the inquirer into this subject - an objection to which the English is not so obnoxious. But, as I have already observed, the whole account is mythical, and is to be viewed rather as a curiosity than as having any historical value.

 

Year of the Discovery. An era adopted by Royal Arch Masons, and refers to the time when certain secrets were made known to the Craft at the building of the second Temple. (See Anno Inventions.)

 

APPENDIX    869 

 

Year of the Order. The date used in documents connected with Masonic Templarism. It refers to the establishment of the Order of Knights Templar in the year 1118. (See Anno Ordinis.)

 

Year of the World. This is the era adopted by the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite and is borrowed from the Jewish computation. The Jews formerly used the era of contracts, dated from the first conquests of Seleucus Nicator in Syria. But since the fifteenth century they have counted from the creation, which they suppose to have taken place in September, 3760 before Christ. (See Anno Mundi.)

 

Year of Light. Anno Lucis, in the year of light, is the epoch used in Masonic documents of the Symbolic degrees. This era is calculated from the creation of the world, and is obtained by adding four thousand to the current year, on the supposition that Christ was born four thousand years after the creation of the world. But the chronology of Archbishop Usher, whirl has been adopted as the Bible chronology in the authorized version, places the birth of Christ in the year 4004 after the creation. According to this calculation, the Masonic date for the "year of light" is four years short of the true date, and the year of the Lord 1874, which in Masonic documents is 5874, should correctly be 5878. The Ancient and Accepted Masons in the beginning of this century used this correct or Usherian era, and the Supreme Council at Charleston dated their first circular, issued in 1802, as

5806. Dalcho (Ahim. Rez., 2d ed., p. 37) says: "If Masons are determined to fix the origin of their Order at the time of the creation, they should agree among themselves at what time before Christ to place that epoch." At that agreement they have

 

Yellow. Of all the colors, yellow seems to be the least important and the least general in Masonic symbolism. In other institutions it would have the same insignificance, were it not that it has been adopted as the representative of the sun, and of the noble metal gold. Thus, in colored blazonry, the small dots, by which the gold in an engraved coat of arms is designated, are replaced by the yellow color. La Colombiere, a French heraldic writer, says (Science Heroique, p. 30), in remarking on the connection between gold and yellow, that as yellow, which is derived from the sun, is the most exalted of colors, so gold is the most noble of metals. Portal (Des Couleurs Symboliques, p. 64) says that the sun, gold, and yellow are not synonymous, but mark different degrees which it is difficult to define. The natural sun was the symbol of the spiritual sun, gold rep‑resented the natural sun, and yellow was the emblem of gold. But it is evident that yellow derives all its significance as a symbolic color from its connection with the hue of the rays of the sun and the metal gold.

 

Among the ancients, the Divine light or wisdom was represented by yellow, as the Divine heat or power was by red. And this appears to be about the whole of the ancient symbolism of this color.

 

In the old ritual of the Scottish and Hermetic degree of Knight of the Sun, yellow was the symbol of wisdom darting its rays like the yellow

870     APPENDIX

 

beams of the morning, to enlighten a waking world. In the Prince of Jerusalem, it was also formerly the characteristic color, perhaps with the same meaning, in reference to the elevated position that that degree occupied in the Rite of Perfection, and afterward in the Ancient and Accepted Rite.

 

Thirty or forty years ago, yellow was the characteristic color of the Mark Master's Degree, derived, perhaps, from the color of the Princes of Jerusalem, who originally issued charters for Mark Lodges; for it does not seem to have possessed any symbolic meaning.

 

In fact, as has been already intimated, all the symbolism of yellow must be referred to and explained by the symbolism of gold and of the sun, of which it is simply the representative.

 

Yod. The Hebrew letter ,equivalent in sound to I or Y. It is the initial letter of the word

 , or Jehovah, the Tetragrammaton, and hence was peculiarly sacred among the Talmudists. Basnage (lib. iii., c. 13), while treating of the mysteries of the name Jehovah among the Jews, says of this letter: "The yod in Jehovah is one of those things which eye hath not seen, but which has been concealed from all mankind. Its essence and matter are incomprehensible; it is not lawful so much as to meditate upon it. Man may lawfully revolve his thoughts from one end of the heavens to the other, but he cannot approach that inaccessible light, that primitive existence, contained in the letter yod; and indeed the masters call the letter thought or idea, and prescribe no bounds to its efficacy. It was this letter which, flowing from the primitive light, gave being to emanations. It wearied itself by the way, but assumed a new vigor by the sense of the letter , which makes the second letter of the Ineffable Name." In Symbolic Masonry, the yod has been replaced by the letter G. But in the high degrees it is retained, and within a triangle, thus, constitutes the symbol of the Deity.

 

York Rite of Freemasonry, The. The oldest and perhaps the purest form of Ancient‑Craft Masonry takes its name from the City of York, in the north of England.

 

It was there in the year A.D. 926 that we find Masonry adopting its first recorded Constitution. It is recorded in many very ancient manuscripts that during the reign of the good King Athelstan he granted a patent to (his nephew) Prince Edwin, under authority of which an assembly of divers lords, dukes, barons, knights, squires, great burgesses of cities and many more, all Masons, convened in the City of York and adopted a Constitution of fifteen Articles for the future government of the Craft.

 

An account of this historical incident is fully recorded in the Halliwell Manuscript which dates from the year A.D. 1390. In the Cook Manuscript whose date is placed at A.D.

1490, three hundred and twenty‑seven

 

APPENDIX    871

 

years before the organization of the Grand Lodge of England, the York meeting was again described.

 

That Masonry existed in England before the reign of good King Athelstan, we find in historical Lansdowne MS. written in 1560 A.D. from which is quoted the following:

 

"Soon after the decease of St. Albans, there came divers warrs into England out of divers nations, so that the good rule of Masons was disturbed and put down until the tyme of King Athelstan. In his tyme he brought this land into good rest and he builded many great works and buildings, therefore he loved Masons well for he had a (nephew) called Edwin, the which loved Masons much, * * and he was soe practized in Geometry that he delighted so much to come and talke with Masons and to learn of them the Craft, and after, for the love he had to Masons and to the Craft, he was made a Mason at Windsor and got from the King, * * * a charter and commission once every year to have assembly within the Realm and to correct within themselves faults and trespasses that were done as touching the craft and he held them an Assembly, and there he made Masons and gave them charges, and taught them the Manners and comande the same to be kept ever afterwards."

 

Prince Edwin called upon all members old and young to bring in any writings to be found concerning "Masonrie." There were some found in Greek, some in Hebrew and some in English and some in other languages, some of them hundreds of years old, and when they were read "and overseen well, the intent of them was understood to be all one," and then he caused a book to be made thereof how this worthy craft of Masonrie was first founded. "* * * And from that, until this day manners of Masons have been kept in this manner and forme." Based upon the older manuscripts named, Dr. Anderson, in A.D.

1723, published the first edition of the Book of Constitutions, in which the history of the fraternity of Free Masons is, he says, "collected from their general records and their faithful traditions of many ages." The history, as narrated herein, is repeated by Dr. Anderson and subsequently by Preston, author of the first Masonic Monitor.

 

The degrees 'recognized by the Grand Lodge of England at the revival in

1717 A.D. were as follows:

 

"Pure ancient Masonry consists of three degrees, no more; viz: those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch."

 

It is therefore seen that the Royal Arch Degree was once a part of the Master's Degree. It was the crowning feature and glorious completion of Ancient‑Craft Masonry. The Grand Lodge of England to this day exercises jurisdiction over the "Holy Royal Arch."

 

There was a schism in the Grand Lodge of England in 1738 A.D., at which time a rival Grand Lodge was organized by the schismatics. This

 

872     APPENDIX

 

situation continued for a period of seventy‑five years. In 1813 the breach was healed by the reconciliation and union of the two Grand Lodges.

 

During the rivalry of the two Grand Lodges both granted charters to form Lodges in the American Colonies. The jurisdiction over the Degrees underwent some changes in this country, resulting finally in organizing separate Grand Bodies which took over what are now called the Chapter Degrees. The organization of the General Grand Royal Arch Chapter was begun shortly after the Revolutionary War and in the year 1806 A.D. was finally completely organized.

 

While under the system in vogue in the United States, the Capitular degrees are severed from the Blue Lodge, yet, they should be regarded as an integral part, and necessary to the completion of Ancient‑Craft Masonry. They are essential to a full understanding of the system as a whole.

 

Thus, you have a brief but authentic historical sketch of Ancient‑Craft Masonry extending backward a thousand years. The traditional history extends back much further. Well informed Masons are familiar with the traditions concerning its origin. I will offer some additional evidence hereinafter in support of the sound basis on which rests securely, the verity of these traditions.

 

 

The York Rite System in the United States

 

The York Rite System of Freemasonry in the United States is composed of four Grand Divisions as follows: The Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow‑Craft and Master Mason constitute what is termed the "Blue Lodge degrees." They are conferred in Lodges holding a warrant or charter from the Grand Lodge.

 

There is a separate Grand Lodge in each state of the Union, and in the District of Columbia. Each exercises exclusive sovereign jurisdiction over the Blue Lodges in its own territory. The Blue Lodge degrees are called "Symbolic Degrees" and the Lodge, while conferring a degree, is termed the "Symbolic Lodge." The reason therefor will be hereafter explained.

 

 

Capitular Masonry

 

The second Grand Division of the York Rite System is called "The Capitular Degrees," composed of four degrees, namely: Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and the Royal Arch. These degrees are conferred in what is commonly called the "Royal Arch Chapter." The subordinate Chapters receive their charters from the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of their state which is the exclusive and highest authority over the Capitular degrees as hereinbefore pointed out. The Capitular degrees, when taken in connection with the Blue Lodge, or Symbolic degrees, completes what is termed "Ancient‑Craft Masonry."

 

APPENDIX    873

 

The word "Capitular" is derived from the Latin word "Capitulum," which means "of, or pertaining to a Chapter." 

 

"Cryptic Degrees"

 

The third Grand Division of the York Rite System is called the "Cryptic or Council Degrees." The word "Cryptic" is derived from the Latin word "Crypta," and means, literally, "to hide, hidden, secret." The Cryptic Rite is composed of the Degrees of "Royal Master" and "Select Master," with a third degree, conferred on special occasions, called the "Super‑Excellent Master." These degrees are conferred in subordinate Councils which hold charters from the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the state.

 

While the Cryptic, or Council, Degrees were not, originally, an integral part of Ancient‑Craft Masonry, the historical and ethical truths taught therein are deemed complementary and necessary to a full exposition of them, for the light they throw on certain historical sections of Ancient Craft Masonry. They are deemed of such beauty and importance, that each petitioner for the Capitular degrees should also, petition for the Council degrees.

 

Knights Templar

 

The fourth and final division of the York Rite System is composed of the Illustrious Order of the Red Cross, Knights of Malta, and Knights Templar. These orders are conferred in a constituent body called the "Commandery." Commanderies are chartered by the Grand Commandery of the State, which in turn is chartered by the Supreme authority over Templar Masonry called "The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America." The Grand Encampment is the only nation‑wide Masonic Grand body which exercises any am thority or jurisdiction within the state.

 

Differing from all the previous degrees in the York Rite System, the, Order of Knights Templar is an Order composed of Masons professing the Christian faith. It makes no claim to being a part of "Ancient‑Craft Masonry," as that term is commonly understood by Masons, although some of the symbolism of the Ancient rite is carried into and impressively exemplified in their beautiful rites.

 

The probable reason why the Valiant and Magnanimous Order of the Temple has been included in the system of York Rite Masonry, is, perhaps, due to the fact that it requires, as a prerequisite to membership, that each petitioner must be a Mason in good standing in the Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter. In this respect, the Knights Templar require an applicant to possess the full qualifications of "an Ancient‑Craft Ma‑son" as well as to be of the Christian faith, in order to be eligible to petition for the Orders of Christian Knighthood,

874     APPENDIX

 

The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar was organized in this country on June

22, 1816. While, like the Grand Priory of England and Canada, it is comparatively a modern Order, yet, it has for its model and foundation those heroic and valiant Orders of Knighthood founded in the year 1118 A.D., and which, for 200 years, led the Crusades in an effort to expel the Saracens from the Holy Land.

 

The old Order of Christian Knighthood was suppressed in the year A.D. 1313 by the Edicts of a French King, aided and abetted by a Pope of the Roman Church. The suppression was accomplished by the arbitrary use of dictatorial power similar to that exercised by the Dictators of Germany, Russia and Italy in recent times.

 

There is much historical authority to show that the old Orders of Knighthood perpetuated themselves under other names, in Scotland and other countries, for 400 years until the Revival of Masonry in England in A.D. 1717. The limits of this brochure will not permit us entering further into that field. Suffice it to say that for those Masons of the Christian faith, the beautiful and impressive rites of the Order of the Temple, is, in every respect, worthy to be accorded a place in the Grand system of York Rite Masonry.

 

Rite

 

The word "Rite" as employed in connection with a system of Masonry, is derived from the Latin word "rites," signifying "an approved usage or custom. It is also traceable to a Greek verb, whence literally it signifies "a trodden path." As a Masonic term, its application is there‑fore apparent. It signifies a method of conferring Masonic light by a collection of degrees of a long‑followed custom.

 

 

Internal Evidence of the Antiquity of Ancient‑Craft Masonry

 

The highest internal evidence we have of the ancient origin and antiquity of Ancient‑Craft Masonry, aside from its historical records, is found in the form of its structure, and the method it employs in imparting to its Initiates the truths embodied in its sublime rites and beautiful ceremonies.

 

Prior to the Christian era, there were no schools or churches as we know them. The children of the nobility and the rich received instruction from private tutors, while the children of the poor and lower classes were allowed to grow up in ignorance, without schooling or learning in the arts or sciences. They could neither read nor write and were a prey to all the superstitious fears and idolatry which can be imposed upon the illiterate and ignorant masses.

 

In every ancient country were to be found splendid temples erected to the God of their faith. Worship of their Deities was carried on by certain established rites and ceremonies. Admission into these ceremonies was obtained only through "initiation." Only men of known probity

 

APPENDIX    875

 

and good moral character were initiated into the mysteries of their religion. Moreover, the rites of the ancient temples were organized into three grades or degrees. The Neophyte, after his initiation into the first degree, had to apply himself for several years in mastering the knowledge imparted to him, and in improving his intellectual, moral and spiritual character before he could be advanced. If he proved in every respect trustworthy, and made satisfactory progress, he was advanced. Eventually, after strict trials to test his fidelity, zeal, moral and intellectual attainments, he might be, finally, initiated into the Inner Sanctuary, where full explanations and interpretations of their sacred writings, symbols and allegories were made known to him. These would include all the knowledge possessed concerning moral and spiritual truths; the laws of nature; the phenomena of the celestial world; the true form of the earth; the revolutions and orbits of the planets, the apparent movement of the sun between the tropics; the constellations of the Zodiac; and the known secrets of the liberal arts and sciences, particularly of Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy, as well as other vital knowledge.

 

All these things were carefully guarded from the profane, or uninitiated. A penalty of death was inflicted for unlawfully revealing the secrets of the sanctuary. To be deemed worthy of the privilege of initiation was the most valued and highly prized honor to which one could aspire.

 

They taught their truths through the use of signs, symbols and allegories, each of which was carefully chosen by their wisest sages and seers, and had the virtue of being capable of more than one interpretation. For example, the compasses might be used to teach the beginner a moral lesson, illustrated by drawing a circle and instructing him that he should, likewise, circumscribe his appetites and desires, and keep all the passions engendered by the five senses within due bounds, thus obtaining mastery over himself, and thereby to improve his moral nature. The moral interpretation would probably be the extent of the explanation given the beginner. So, if he became remiss in his duty and fealty, or fell by the wayside, or was not deemed worthy of advancement, he would possess no knowledge, which if disclosed to the profane, would betray the pro‑founder secrets of the temple. To the advanced Initiate, other significations of the compasses would be unfolded. It would, perhaps, be exhibited in its relation to the sciences of Geometry and Astronomy. The candidate would be enlightened on all the secrets of science known to the Priests and Sages of their time.

 

The Supreme light, finally diffused, taught him that the universe was created by the Grand Architect of the Universe; that it is sustained and preserved by Divine laws enacted by Him for its government; that man is more than a mere animal; that he is an immortal soul that will live beyond the change we call death; that his body is a true temple

 

876     APPENDIX

 

created for the indwelling of the spirit of God which dwelleth in man. St. John revealed one of the great secrets of the Sanctuary when he pro‑claimed, "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you." In all the ancient temples, much stress was placed upon obedience to the "Moral Law," because they believed that without it, no man could develop those virtues, whose excellence will befit him to receive the loftier truths of science and of the spirit, which they reserved for those who proved themselves by long service and devotion, to be worthy and well qualified to receive, safeguard, and cherish them.

 

The Sages and Seers of the ancient mysteries were careful to show their highest initiates that every thing in the universe is governed by divine laws. They unfolded the method by which the laws of attraction and repulsion enabled the sun to fix the planets in orbits, and compel them to revolve in such orbits about it. They demonstrated how these movements brought about changes in seasons, producing our spring, summer, fall and winter. plow these seasons affected the vegetable and animal kingdoms. In fact, how all nature, of necessity, must adapt itself to these constant changes, and taught them the natural laws, by which all these changes are accomplished. These carefully guarded secrets of the Sanctuary of the Temples extended into the realm of moral and spiritual laws, which, likewise, govern the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual growth and development of man himself.

 

Initiation

 

It will therefore be seen and understood that the word "initiation" had a different significance in ancient times than is commonly accorded it in modern times. "Initiation" in modern times is commonly under‑stood to mean, when applied to receiving degrees, "as the ceremonial progress through the work of the Rite." When that is completed, the charge given, and the candidate is invited to "find a seat among the brethren"; he is presumed to be through; a graduate of the system; and believes himself in possession of all the light and knowledge necessary to be obtained.

 

Laboring under such a delusion, the proud candidate usually blossoms forth the next day with the emblem of the Master upon the lapel of his coat, justly and pardonably happy in the feeling that he had reached the summit of his ambition.

 

It might be helpful if we put ourselves in mind, ever so often, of the real meaning of the word "initiation" as it was understood, when applied to the ceremony of reception into the mysteries of the ancient temples. With them it was understood to merely be a beginning and not a completion; the taking of the first step, and not the last one; the starting of something, and not the finish; the first move in a great enterprise, and not

 

APPENDIX    877

 

its final consummation. It required a lifetime of work, study, meditation, reflection and application to attain the true title of "a Master." Initiation into the mysteries was held in loftiest esteem by the wisest men of olden times. Plato said that the "object of initiation into the mysteries of the Temple was to re‑establish the soul in its primitive purity, and in that state of perfection which it had lost." Epictetus said, "whatever is met with therein has been instituted by our Masters, for the instruction of Man, and the correction of Morals." St. Clemens of Alexandria, one of the early Bishops of the Christian Church in Egypt, and himself, perhaps, an Initiate, says, "that that was taught in the great Mysteries concerned the universe, and was the completion of all instruction; wherein things were seen as they were, and nature and her works were made known."

 

"It seems to me," says the great Orator, philosopher and moralist, Cicero, "that Athens, among many excellent inventions, divine and very useful to the human family, has produced none comparable to the mysteries, which for a wild and ferocious life have substituted humanity and urbanity of manners. It is with good reason the use of the term initiation; for it is through them that we in reality have learned the first principles of life; and they not only teach us to live in a manner more consoling and agreeable, but they soften the pains of death by the hope of a better life hereafter."

 

Masonry, the successor of the ancient temple‑mysteries, still follows the ancient manner of teaching. The deeper and more important truths of nature, of science, of philosophy, and wisdom, are "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." The esoteric lectures and monitorial instruction, beautiful and impressive as they are, are designed to be merely the beginning; the first steps; the starting; the first movement toward "more light" and the "further light" it has so deftly veiled in its beautiful and impressive symbols.

 

A great Masonic scholar and savant has truly said: "He, who would become an accomplished Mason, must not be content merely to hear, or even to understand, the lectures; he must, aided by them, and they having, as it were, marked out the way for him, study, interpret, and develop these symbols for himself." Ancient‑Craft Masonry does not expound the inner meanings of its symbols and allegories. It merely displays them, with a brief allusion to their moral signification, and leaves their other meanings to be discovered by the industry, meditation and contemplation of the initiate.

 

One often hears the questions asked, "How then are we to discover the truth?" "By what method are we to understand the symbolic meaning of our ancient symbols?" "Where do we begin in order to unravel this Mystic Science and Royal Art?" These are legitimate questions and are deserving of an answer that will point a direction, through which others have found a pathway, that inevitably leads toward the light.

 

878     APPENDIX

 

Ancient‑Craft Masonry has been described as a "beautiful system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." This definition is the most restricted one which can describe it. A more comprehensive definition would be as follows: "Masonry is a beautiful system of Moral Philosophy; Divine Science and Royal Art; heavily veiled in Allegories; illuminated and illustrated by significant symbols."

 

By this expression we learn that "Ancient‑Craft Masonry" is a system of some sort. It will, perhaps, aid us, if we understand more clearly just what is meant by the word "system." The word "system" may be defined as "an assemblage of degrees arranged in regular subordination, after some distinct method, usually logical or scientific. A complete exhibition of essential principles or facts, arranged in rational dependence or connection. A regular union of principles or parts forming one entire thing. A natural combination, or organization of part to part, conceived as formed by a process of growth, or due to the nature of the objects connected; an organic whole; as a railway system; a system of philosophy; of government; a solar system; a system of morality; a system of natural laws."

 

Since Ancient‑Craft Masonry, as a system, embraces the Blue Lodge and Capitular degrees a knowledge of all these degrees is believed to be essential for a thorough understanding of the system as a whole. A knowledge of only a part of the system will not reveal the Divine plan, as a whole, as, it is claimed, to be embodied in the completed structure. A visitation to the ground floor and middle chamber of King Solomon's Temple never revealed what was deposited in the Sanctum Sanctorum or Holy of Holies.

 

If, therefore, Ancient‑Craft Masonry is truly a system of some kind, which is "veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," the next logical step will be to consider the nature and functions of symbols and allegories, and the manner in which they may be employed to conceal, as well as to reveal, divine truth. We must ever bear in mind that symbols were primarily designed to conceal rather than to reveal.

 

 

Symbols

 

A symbol differs materially from an allegory. The word "symbol" is derived from a Greek word which signifies "to compare one thing with another"; and hence a symbol is the expression of an idea which is de‑rived from the comparison or contrast of some object with a moral conception or attribute. A symbol is an emblem selected, arbitrarily and by agreement, because by its nature or qualities, it is capable of reflecting some higher truth or idea.

 

Since every virtue springs out of the moral law, the symbolic degrees of the Blue Lodges in their first aspects, are chiefly concerned in expounding the moral laws and virtues. They are a necessary prelude

 

APPENDIX    879

 

and preparation for the unfolding, through symbols and allegories, of its more profound and important scientific and spiritual laws.

 

In illustrating a virtue some specific emblem or symbol is selected, arbitrarily, which bears in its own nature, some inherent quality or characteristic that is comparable to the nature of the virtue to be illustrated. For illustration: To inculcate the moral quality of "Rectitude," the figure of a Plumb may be exhibited, because it is upright and cannot be employed otherwise. Likewise, "Equality" is illustrated by the level. As an appropriate symbol of "Industry" and orderly government, a Beehive may be used; "immortality" is well illustrated by a sprig of evergreen, etc., etc.

 

The Plumb thus becomes to the Mason after he has once been taught its symbolic meaning, forever afterwards, the visible representation or expression of the idea of rectitude or uprightness of conduct.

 

To study and compare these visible emblems - to elicit from them the moral and other ideas which they are intended to express - is to make one's self acquainted with the symbolism of Masonry.

 

This action will put the feet of the searcher after "more light," upon the path that leads to profounder knowledge and wisdom.

 

In addition to being a beautiful system of moral laws, Masonry also lays claim to a "Divine Science and a Royal Art." We would, therefore, expect to find among our symbols some that embody the truths of Divine Science. For example: A point within a circle is generally accepted as a fitting symbol of circumscribed desires and habits, necessary to upright and moral conduct. In a deeper sense it is an appropriate symbol of the sun in the center of our solar system, extending its power and influence through the immensity of space, controlling the movements of the planets and of comets, and holding them steadfast in their stupendous orbits.

 

The scientific fact that the sun, and not the earth, is the center of our solar system was not known to the profane world until proclaimed by Copernicus and Galileo in comparatively modern times.

 

The point within a circle may also be employed to reflect a still deeper symbolism. It is a fitting symbol of the Great Architect of the Universe in the center of the Cosmos, animating, sustaining and permeating it to the outermost reaches of illimitable space. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."

 

 

Allegories

 

Since the truths of the Ancient Temples are also said to be "veiled in allegories," it might aid to a clearer understanding of the system to set forth, briefly, an explanation of that term.

 

An allegory is a discourse, narrative or legend, in which there are two or more meanings, one literal and the other figurative. The discourse may have as its subject an historical event, such as the building of the

 

880     APPENDIX 

 

Temple. The narrative may describe, in detail, all the operations, from the laying of the foundation to the final completion of the structure. On its surface the narration may have the appearance, only, of detailing an ordinary historical event connected with the erection of a building. If the historical event is employed as an allegory, it will be detailed in such a manner, and in such language, that a second narrative can be read between the lines. The truths veiled in this manner carry the more important information. The unreflecting mind will see only the historical fact detailed, but the more thoughtful and discerning mind may, upon meditation and reflection, discern the veiled truths intended to be veiled and preserved, against revelation to idle curiosity, impostors or the profane.

 

A French poet has given us a very good definition of the word, he says: "Allegory lives in a transparent palace." All the legends of ancient mythologies are generally viewed as allegories. In the twelve labors of Hercules, may be read inner truths not at once apparent in the stories as told.

 

Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," Spenser's "Fairie Queen," and Dante's "Divine Comedy" are notable examples of allegorical writings.

 

The story of Sampson and Delilah may well serve to illustrate the point: When Sampson was shorn of his long hair by Delilah, he is said to have lost his strength and languished in weakness and impotence until his hair grebe long again, when he was restored to his former invincible strength.

 

If the story is viewed as an allegory the legend will be seen to veil a great law of nature. When the sun sinks far to the south at the feast day of St. John the Evangelist, December

27th, its rays lose their strength and power in the northern hemisphere. The cold winds, snows and ice appear. Vegetation is destroyed, trees shed their leaves and all the vegetable kingdom seems to die or become dormant. When the sun begins its return journey northward, its rays, represented by the hair of Sampson, begin to grow in length. The days become longer and longer, the rays gain in strength and power, and by the feast day of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, they have reached their fullest length, strength and power. The cold and icy winds have been driven into the Arctic, nature is fully revived and the flowers, fruits and harvest glorify the vegetable kingdom. Thus it may be seen how a historical or Biblical narrative may be utilized to veil a scientific law. In the allegory, Sampson is made to personify the Sun in its apparent movements between two of the great cardinal points.

 

Every degree of Ancient‑Craft Masonry contains important allegories, a knowledge and understanding of which will bring "more light" and "further light" as they are unveiled in their transcendent beauty and glory. The building of the Temple; the Holy place; the most Holy Place; Jacob's Ladder; and the sublime legend of the Second Section of the Master's Degree may also be considered as allegories, which veil

 

APPENDIX    881

 

the most profound truths of divine science and of moral and spiritual laws, found in the symbolic Lodge.

 

The same is true of the Capitular and Cryptic Degrees. A full comprehension of the system of Ancient‑Craft Masonry and its supernal light, can only be attained with a knowledge and understanding of the Capitular and Cryptic degrees. They illustrate the Temple completed in all its parts. The placing of the keystone is necessary to bind the final arch.

 

Teaching truths by parables or allegories was the favorite method employed by Jesus. The parables of the sower; the talents; the wise and foolish virgins and the Good Samaritan; are each a splendid example of concealing, as well as teaching, great fundamental truths by allegory.

 

The foregoing hints should suffice to point the way whereby more light may be attained, and our minds illuminated, by a richer knowledge of the divine wisdom concealed in the symbols and allegories of the system of Ancient Craft‑Masonry.

 

One must study each symbol displayed for all of its possible meanings, and search each allegory for its inner truths, if one is to really advance toward a brighter and more abundant knowledge of the sublime system of this wonderful Institution. When this is accomplished there will be so much light upon the pathway that there will be little or no need for other suggestions to point the way. The question may be asked: "In this day of enlightenment and freedom, where there is such a wide diffusion of knowledge of the laws of nature and of science, of moral, spiritual and intellectual sciences, why is it necessary to delve into the hidden meanings of ancient symbols of vanished temples?" In answer, one needs only to point to the fact that seven great civilizations have risen, flourished and disappeared since the beginning of written history. Following each of these catastrophes the world, invariably, lapsed into extended eras of darkness, ignorance and brutal savagery. The influence of the ancient wisdom, preserved in faithful breasts by the loyal few, has always been instrumental in leading mankind out of the darkness into the light of a new civilization. The blessings of the enlightened civilization which we enjoy today may be traced to such a system.

 

In our own day and generation we have witnessed the recurrence of the experiences of history. The rise of dictatorial power in many quarters of the world is being employed to overthrow freedom; is engaged in the destruction of the temples of faith; the grinding of human beings into economic, social, moral and religious serfdom. If the present trend is not checked and its course reversed, another of the world's great civili. zations may be destined to crumble into ruins.

 

If we are conscious of any duty or obligation to the past, a past which safeguarded and transmitted to us the fundamentals of our precious civilization, then, do we not owe a similar debt to posterity to nreserve

 

882     APPENDIX

 

and transmit to it, unimpaired, the glorious heritage which we received from the strong minds and devoted hearts of the fathers of ancient days?

 

When one has received the degrees of the "symbolic" or "Blue Lodge," he has taken the first step over the threshold of Ancient‑Craft Masonry. The first step toward the inner sanctuary and heart of the Temple. lie is on the path that leads up the slope of the Mountain of Faith. It depends upon his interest, zeal and industry, whether he will advance or be content to remain stationary.

 

The system of Ancient‑Craft Masonry was not designed in a manner so that the full scope of its Divine Science and Royal Art should be ex‑pounded, and fully inculcated, in the three symbolic degrees as now constituted. Ancient‑Craft Masonry is completed only in the Capitular and Cryptic degrees of the Chapter and Council. It was designed to be that way. Something was left lacking in the symbolic degrees. Some‑thing was lost and never recovered therein. Mackey, one of our most eminent Masonic scholars, wrote: "Whosoever carefully studies the Master's degree in its symbolic signification, will be convinced that it is imperfect and unfinished in its history, and that, terminating abruptly in its symbolism, it leaves the mind ,till waiting for something that is necessary to its completeness. This deficiency is supplied by the Royal Arch Degree."

 

Capitular Masonry

 

The degrees of the Royal Arch Chapter, as before stated, are designated as "Capitular Degrees" and its four degrees are named, Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master and Royal Arch.

 

The system of ceremonies established in the Symbolic Lodges extends into the Royal Arch Chapter, expanding their scope and unfolding their truths into ever increasing Masonic light and knowledge.

 

This fact illustrates the intimate connection which has always existed between the Blue Lodges and Chapters from time immemorial.

 

The fourth Degree in Masonry (the first in the Chapter) is designated the "Mark Master's Degree." "The tradition of the degree made it of great historical importance, since by them we are informed that by its influence, each Operative Mason at the building of the Temple was known and distinguished, and the disorder and confusion which might otherwise have attended so immense an undertaking was completely pre‑vented. Not less useful is its symbolic signification." A highly important and significant part of the Mark Masters Degree was once a part of the Fellow‑Craft Degree. "If the Fellow‑Craft's Degree is devoted to the inculcation of learning, that of the Mark Master is intended to instruct us how this learning can most usefully and judiciously be employed for our honor and the profit of others. * The true Mark Master is a type of that man mentioned in the sacred parable who received from his master this approving language: `Well done, good and faithful servant;

 

APPENDIX    883

 

thou has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joys of thy Lord.' "

 

The fifth and sixth degrees of York Rite Masonry are designated "Past Master," and "Most Excellent Master." In these degrees many important truths are illustrated and inculcated.

 

The seventh degree is the "Royal Arch." It is known as the Chapter, while the Mark Master, Past Master and Most Excellent Masters' degrees are conferred in Lodges of those names within the Chapter.

 

Of the Royal Arch Degree it may be said, "If we except the Master's, there is no other degree in Masonry that has been so extensively diffused, or is as important in its historical and symbolic import, as the Royal Arch, or, as it has been called, on account of its sublime significance, the `Holy Royal Arch.' "

 

Dermott calls it "the root, heart and marrow of Masonry." Oliver says that it is indescribably more august, sublime, and important than any which precede it, and is, in fact, the summit and perfection of ancient Masonry."

 

It is unnecessary that anything be added to the opinions expressed by these eminent Masonic authorities, further than to observe that it requires these additional degrees to amplify and complete the beautiful system of Ancient‑Craft Masonry and bring the searcher for truth into a situation rendering it possible to obtain the full glory of Masonic light and knowledge.

 

These degrees, supplemented by the Cryptic dgrees of the Council, together with a knowledge of their wonderful system of historical, philosophical, scientific, moral and spiritual truths, complete the grand plan devised by the Grand Masters of the Ancient Temple, through which the light will ever continue to shine in effulgent and refulgent splendor, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."

 

Albert Pike, one of Masonry's greatest savants, has written: "He who desires to understand the harmonious and beautiful proportions of Free‑masonry must read, study, reflect, digest and discriminate. The true Mason is an ardent seeker after knowledge; and he knows that both books and the antique symbols of Masonry are vessels which come down to us full‑freighted with'the intellectual riches of the past; and that in the lading of these argosies, is much that sheds light on the history of Masonry, and proves its claim to be acknowledged the benefactor of man‑kind, born in the very cradle of the race."

 

In conclusion, permit me to observe that the object of Masonry, primarily, is to teach men a better way of life. To instruct him of the most orderly way to develop character, mentality and spirituality, in order that he may prepare himself as a living stone in that mighty spiritual temple which is slowly rising in the earth and shall stand at last eternal in the Heavens. In this respect the grand design is to make men wiser, freer, better and consequently happier men.

 

884     APPENDIX 

 

But the beautiful system does not end there. It has much more to teach than mere human behavior. The divine laws of nature were not at first written in books. They were displayed in the wonderful symbols created by wisdom of God, and displayed by Him in the Heavens; the earth; and beneath the waters of the sea.

 

Mankind had to discover them by observation, meditation and revelation.

 

If in the beautiful and significant degrees of Ancient‑Craft Masonry we have seen only a series of unmeaning rites; if the spirit of Truth has not impressed upon our hearts the moral laws embodied in them; if they have failed to stir within us a desire to search further for its inexhaustible riches; then indeed have we labored in vain and you have spent your strength for naught.

 

 "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. * * * Even so, faith without works, is dead, being alone * * * For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."  

                                                                                                            - James 2:8, 17, 26.

 

 Zabud. An historical personage at the court of King Solomon, whose name appears in several of the high degrees. In that of Select Master in the American Rite, it has been corrupted into Izabud. He is mentioned in 1 Kings iv. 5, where he is described in the authorized version as being "principal officer and the king's friend." The original is Zabud ben Nathan cohere regneh hahmelek, which is literally "Zabud, son of Nathan, a priest, the friend of the king." Adam Clarke says he was "the king's chief favorite, his confidant." Smith (Diet. Bib.) says: "This position, if it were an official one, was evidently distinct from that of counsellor, occupied by Ahithophel under David, and had more of the character of private friendship about it." Kitto (Cyclopced. Bib. Lit.) says of Zabud and of his brother Azariah, that their advancement in the household of King Solomon "may doubtless be ascribed not only to the young king's respect for the venerable prophet (their father), who had been his instructor, but to the friendship he had contracted with his sons during the course of education. The office, or rather honor, of `friend of the king,' we find in all the despotic governments of the East. It gives high power, without the public responsibility which the holding of a regular office in the state necessarily imposes. It implies the possession of the utmost confidence of, and familiar intercourse with, the monarch, to whose person `the friend' at all times has access, and whose influence is therefore often far greater, even in matters of state, than that of the recognized ministers of government."

 

This has been fully carried out in the legend of the Select Master's Degree.

 

APPENDIX    885 

 

Zadok. A personage in some of the Ineffable degrees of the Scottish Rite. In Scripture he is recorded as having been one of the two chief priests in the time of David, Abiathar being the other. He subsequently, by order of David, anointed Solomon to be king, by whom he was re‑warded with the post of high priest. Josephus (Ant., x., 8, § 6) says that "Sadoc, the high priest, was the first high priest of the Temple which Solomon built." Yet it has been supposed by some authors, in consequence of his name not being mentioned in the detailed account of the dedication, that he had died before the completion of the Temple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PARTIAL LIST OF

AUTHORITIES QUOTED

 

 

 

 

Abarbanel

Abbe Barruel

Abbie Grandidier

Abeille Maconnique

Aben Azra

Abraham Ben David Halevi

Abuse and Use of Freemasonry

Adams, John Quincy, Letters to

Adhering Mason

Ahiman Rezon

Alaophamus Lobeck

Albanus

Albert Pike

Anderson

Anderson's Constitutions

Annales Archeologiques

Anti-Masonic books, catalogue of

Architecture, Essay of Old German

Aristotle

Ashmole, Elias, Life of

Bailey

Barruel

Bazot

Bechai, Rabbi

Beracoth

Berage

Bestiary

Beweiss class die Freimaurer-Gesellschaft in allen Staaten, u. s. w.

Biblical Cyclopedia Bibliography of Freemasonry

Biographic Universalle

Birkhead, Matthew Bishop of Utrecht

Blaney, Lord

Blount

Bochart

Book of the Conversation of God with Moses on Mount Sinai

Boston Magazine

British Archoeologia

British Magazine

Brown's Master key

Burns, Robert

Buxtorf

Calcott

Callimachus

Calmet

Capellus

Carausius

Cardinal Firrao

Carey, Henry

9

LIST OF ES QUOTED

Carlile, Richard

Catalogue of Anti-Masonic books

Catalogue of Books on Masonic Institution

Cawthorn

Chambers

Chambers, in Scottish Biography

Chart, Cross's Hieroglyphic

Cicero

Clark

Clarke, G. C.

Clarke, Dr.

Clavel

Clavis Symbolica

Clemens Alexandrinus

Cole

Conversation-Lexicaon

Cooke

Count de Gebelin

Creuzer

Cross, Hieroglyphic Chart

Cross, Jeremy

Cureton, Rev. W.

Dalcho

Davies, John

Defense of Masonry, A

De Hominis Dignitate

De Idolatria

Dermott, Laurence

Desaguliers, John Theophilus

Detection of Dr. Plots' Account of the Freemason

de Thaun, Philip

Dibdin

Dictionary of Masonry

Didron, M.

Diodorus

Dotzinger, Jost

Dowland, M.

Drake, George

Drummond, Sir William

Du Cange

Dudley

Dunckerley

DuPauw

Ellmaker, Amos

Enfield

Enoch Brother

Entick

Ernst and Falk

Erwin of Steinbach

 

943

 

 

944     AUTHORITIES QUOTED

Essai sur les Illumines

Essay on Architecture

Essay on Old German Architecture

Essay on Swedenborg

Euripides

European Magazine

Eusebius Faber

Feller, Dr.

Festus Findel

Firrao, Cardinal

Flammel, Nicolas

Fludd

Freemason's Library

Freemason's Monitor

Freemasonry, Abuse and Use of

Gassett, Henry

Gebelin, Count de

Geber

Gesenius Gibson

Godwin, George

Golden Remains of the Early Masonic Writers, Oliver's

Gould

Greinemann, Ludwig

Gridley, Richard

Guillemain, de St. Victor

Gwillim Hallam

Hardynge

Harris, Dr. T. M.

Hemming, Dr.

Herodotus

Hieroglyphic Chart, Cross's

Higgins, Godfrey

Hiram, or the Grand Master Key

Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc-Maconnerie

Historia

Historical Essay on Architecture

Hitchcock

Homer Hope, Mr.

Horace

Horapollo

Hughan, Bro. Wm. J.

Hure

Hutchinson

Illustrations of Masonry, Preston

Inwood

Irenaeus Jameson, Mrs.

Jamieson; Scottish Dictionary

Jerome

Josephus

Justin

 

Kaempfer

Kallisch

Kip

Kitto

Kloss

Koran

Krause

Kyd

Lalande

Lambertus, Ardensis

Lawrie

Lee, Samuel

Leslie

Lessing

Lettres Maconniques

Letters on Masonic Institution

Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry

Letters to Hon. John Quincy Adams Leusden

Le Vrai Franc-Macon

Literary Anecdotes

Lobeck Alaophamus

Locke, Mr.

London Freemasons Quarterly

Louff ton

Lynch, Lieutenant

Mackay, Charles

Macrobius

Maimonides

Marquis Luchets

Masonry, A Defense of

Masonry Dissected, Samuel Prichard

Masonry the Turnpike-Road to Happiness

Masonry the Way to Hell

Matthew, Thomas

Memoires pour servir a l'Histore du Jacobinisme

Menasseh Ben Israel

Mendelssohn

Metrical Chronicle of England

Midrashes

Mirandola, Picus of

Mirror of the Johannite Masons, A

Monitor, Freemasons Moore, C. W.

Morris

Mosaics Philosophia

Natural History of Staffordshire, The,

Dr. Robert Plot

Naturales, Quoestiones

Nichols

Nicolai

Notes and Queries

Odiorne, James C.

Oliver, Dr.

Origen

Ovid

 

 

AUTHORITIES QUOTED     945

 

 

Paley

Papworth

Parentalia

Parsee, the Zendavesta

Patrick, Bishop

Payne, George

Phillips

Philo Byblius

Philosphia Mosaica

Picus of Mirandola

Pike, Albert

Pernetty

Plato

Pliny

Plot, Dr. Robert

Plutarch

Porter, Robert Ker

Potter, Dr.

Preston

Prichard, Samuel, Masonry Dissected

Prideaux

Proeparatio Evangelica

Proofs of a Conspiracy, John Robison

Properitus

Rabbi Bechai

Ragon

 

Ramsay, Chevalier

Raphael

Raphall, Dr.

Rebold

Recueil Precieux

Reghellini

Richardson

Robison

Rockwell, William S.

 

 

 

 

 

Sanconiatho

Savage, Abraham

Schiller

Schwarz, Rabbi Joseph

Scottish Biography, Chambers

Selden

Seneca

Simpson, James

Smith, Capt. George

Sophocles

Spence

Spencer

Steiglitz, Christian Ludwig

Steinbach, Erwin of Stephens

Stillingfleet, Bishop

Stone, William L.

Suarez

Suetonius

Summa Totalis

Tacitus

Talmud

Taylor, Robert

Tertullian

Thacher, J. M.

Thornburgh, Geo.

Three Distinct Knocks, The

Tournon

Towne, Rev. Salem

Tschoudy, Baron

Tucker, Philip S.

Turner, Robert

Use and Abuse of Freemasonry

Van Paun, Cornelius