Preface

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A
LEXICON
OF
FREEMASONRY:
CONTAINING
A DEFINITION OF ALL ITS COMMUNICABLE TERMS,
NOTICES OF ITS HISTORY, TRADITIONS,
AND ANTIQUITIES,
AND AN ACCOUNT OP ALL THE RITES AND MYSTERIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.
BY
ALBERT G-. MACKEY, M.D. * *
Past General Grand High Priest, and Secretary- General of the Supreme Council
33d for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United, States.
Author of the " Text-Book of Masonic Jurisprudence," " Symbolism
of Freemasonry,1' etc., etc., etc.
$0ey£o^ai ots 0e'/uis ecrrt, Ovpas 6' ktrlOeaOe /SejSrjAoi? OP$.
"I will reveal to those to whom it is lawful, But close the door against the uninitiated."
Orphic Hymn.
FOURTEENTH EDITION, ENLARGED AND IMPROVED BY THE AUTHOR.
PHILADELPHIA:
MOSS & CO. 1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
ALBERT G. MACKEY, M.D.
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of
South Carolina.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
MOSS & BROTHER,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by
MOSS & BROTHER,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
Transfer
MAR 15 1917
OAXTON PRESS OF SHERMAN & CO., PHILADELPHIA}
TO
SOVEREIGN GRAND COMMANDER OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE 33d FOR THE SOUTHERN JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
$lg §zm %ix artb gro%r:
The second edition of this work was dedicated to a learned and venerable brother, the Hon. Thomas Douglas, of Florida, as a slight fnbute to his many virtues. In offering a third edition to the public, I gladly avail myself of the opportunity to inscribe your name upon its pages, as a memorial of our friendship and a token of my high appreciation of your character as a learned and in- defatigable student of masonic literature.
I am, a3 ever, yours fraternally,
ALBERT G. MACKEY, M. D.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE FOURTEENTH EDITION.
rPHE increasing demands of the Masonic public for the Lexicon -A. having determined the publishers to issue a fourteenth edi- tion, they have submitted the work to the revision of the author, who has carefully corrected the errors of former editions, made those alterations in the text which have been found necessary to conform to the progress of the Order since the first publication, and added many new articles. These will, it is hoped, augment its claims to that popularity which it has already received in no stinted measure from the Craft.
ALBERT G. MACKEY, M. D. Washington, D. C, October 1, 1871.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Tee title page of this work will sufficiently explain the nature of its contents. It is intended to furnish the in- quirer, by an easy mode of reference, with a definition of all the terms peculiar to our order- — an explanation of the symbols with which it abounds— a record of its numerous histories and traditions— and an illustration of the various points of difficulty which are continually embarrassing the progress of the Masonic student.
The time has passed when a Mason could expect to obtain the reputation of a skilful workman by a mere hackneyed knowledge of the ritual of our order. Something more than this, the Master who desires to perform his duties faithfully and well, must bring to the pedestal. The intel- ligent brother will expect from him who sits in the place of wisdom, not only an ability to explain the ceremonies which distinguish our institution, but a capacity to trace them to their primitive source, and a knowledge of the history and antiquities of the order.
The numerous instructive works, that have lately issued from the press on the science of Freemasonry, render it now inexcusable that the Mason should be without some portion of that knowledge which is hereafter to be demanded as the test of a skilful workman. To give to every brother an opportunity of obtaining the necessary information, by
VI PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
placing before him, in a compendious form, the matter scattered through many volumes, some of which are, in this country, rare and generally inaccessible, is the object of the Lexicon now presented to the public.
A work of this kind has, hitherto, I believe, been unknown in our language. Glossaries of all the arts and sciences abound, but Freemasonry is without its appropriate Dic- tionary. How I have supplied this defect is not for me, but for my readers, to judge.
The difficulties, however, of arranging the materials of an extensive subject in alphabetical order, for the first time, and without any preceding guide, are such, that it has been found impossible to avoid the omission, in their proper places, of a few articles. These have been added in a Sup- plement, to which the inspector is referred for any word which he shall fail to find in the body of the work.
This work, though the labour of years, is still, I know, imperfect. Yet, "with all its imperfections on its head," I present it to my brethren, because I know that I am not asking more than I shall receive, when I crave — for its excellencies, their candid consideration — for its errors, their fraternal indulgence.
A. G. Mac key.
Chaklestox, S. C, March 12, 1845.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Since the publication of the first edition of this work, my studies have continued to be directed to the History, Science and Antiquities of Freemasonry. Some of the results of a more extended reading, and more enlarged experience in this interesting field of literature, are now presented in the addition of more than an hundred new articles to this edition, and the enlargement of many of those which were contained in the first.
In many instances I have not, from the nature of the subjects, permitted myself to be as explicit as some of my readers might desire ; for, in the spirit of the motto placed upon the title page, while I sought to explain without re- serve all that is exoteric in our system, I have not removed the veil from that which in forbidden to be made public. Yet I trust that scattered hints in these instances, unintel- ligible to the profane, will be sufficient to lead the attentive Mason into that train of thought and speculation into which it was my object to direct him.
I again offer this work to my brethren, with the same con- fiding trust in their indulgence which inspired me on its first publication ; to which is now added the obligation of gratitude for the kindness with which this contribution to the literature of Freemasonry has been received.
Albert G. Mackey.
Charleston, S. C. Sept. 10, 1851.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION.
The publishers of the Lexicon intending to issue a third edition, I have carefully revised the work, and added nearly a hundred new articles, so as to make it still more worthy of the patronage that has been already so liberally extended to it. Notwithstanding the fact, that it has been prepared for the press in a city distant from the author's residence — in consequence of which he has been unable to read the proofs with that diligence he would have desired — it is be- lieved that the inspector will rarely have occasion to find fault with the typographical execution. The Lexicon has long since passed successfully through the ordeal of criti- cism ; and the author now again submits it, with increased confidence, but with unabated gratitude, to the masonic public.
A. G. Mackey, M. D.
Charleston, S C, Jan. 1, 1855.
LEXICON OF FREEMASONRY.
AARON. In Hebrew "nfli*- Tne brother of Moses, and the first high priest under the Mosaic dispensation. He is referred to in the English ritual of the second degree, and in the Royal Arch of the American Rite. He is also represented by the pre- siding officer in the 23d degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite.
ABACUS. A table used for facilitating arithmetical calcula- tions ) or, in architecture, the crowning plate of a column and its capital. The Templars, in this country, misled by a slip of Sir Walter Scott's pen, have most erroneously given this name to the Staff of the Grand Master of the Knights Templars. Macoy, in his " Cyclopedia of Freemasonry," has unfortunately sought to perpetuate the error by defining the Abacus as " the name of the Grand Master's Staff of Office." That instrument is by all com- petent authorities called a " baculus." See that word.
ABBREVIATIONS. Abbreviations are much more in use among French than among English or American Masons. An alphabetical list, however, of those principally employed, is ap- pended for the benefit of such as may be engaged in the exami- nation of masonic writings. It must be observed, that a masonic abbreviation is generally distinguished by three points in a triangular form (thus, .-.) following the letter: various attempts have been made to explain the origin of these dots, but if they have any allusion at all, we presume it to be to the three lesser lights placed in a triangular form around the altar, or, as they
11
12 ABB
were first introduced by our French brethren, they may refer to the situation of the three principal officers of the lodge in the French rite, where the Master sits in the east and the two Wardens in the west. Ragon says that the three points were first used on the 12th of August, 1774, by the Grand Orient of France in an address to its subordinates.
A.*. Dep.*. Anno Depositionis. In the year of the deposit. The date used by Royal and Select Masters.
A.*. Inv.\ Anno Invention™. In the year of the discovery. The date used in Royal Arch Masonry.
A.*. L.\ Anno Lucis. In the year of light. The date used in Ancient Craft Masonry.
A.-. L.-. Gk- D.-. G.«. A.-. D.-. L.-. U.-. A la Gloire du Grand Architecte de V Univers. To the glory of the Grand Architect of the Universe The caption of all French Masonio writings.
A.-. L'0.\ A FOrient, or at the East. The seat of the lodge. (French.')
A.-. M.\ Anno Mundi, or in the year of the world. The date used in the Ancient and Accepted or Scotch rite.
A.\0.\ Anno Ordinis, or in the year of the Order. The date used by Knights Templars.
B.\ A.*. Buisson Ardente, or Burning Bush. (French.)
B.\ B.\ Burning Bush. These two abbreviations are found in the caption of documents of the Ancient and Accepted rite.
C.\ C.\ Celestial Canopy. Another abbreviation found in the same documents.
E.\ A.'. Entered Apprentice.
F.\ Frere, or Brother. (French.)
F.-. C-. Fellow Craft.
FF.\ Freres, or Brethren. (French.)
G.-. Grand.
G.\ L.\ Grand Lodge.
G.\ M.\ Grand Master.
I.-. T.-. N.\ 0.-. T.-. G.-. A.-. 0.-. T.-. U.-. In the name of
ABD— ABI 13
the Grand Architect of the Universe. Sometimes found at the head of English diplomas.
J.-. W.\ Junior Warden.
M.\ M.*. Mois Maconnique, or masonic month. (French.) March is the first masonic month among French Masons.
M.\ M.\ Master Mason.
M.-. W.\ Most Worshipful.
R.\ A.\ Royal Arch.
R.\ -j-.\ Rose Croix. The mark attached to their signature, by those who are in possession of the degree of Prince of Rose Croix.
R.\ CZ> Respectable loge, or Worshipful lodge. (French.')
R-.\ W.\ Right Worshipful.
S.\ P.-. R.\ S.\ Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.
S.\ S.\ S.\ Trois fois salut, or thrice greeting. The caption of French masoni; writings.
8." W.\ Senior Warden.
T. . G.-. A.-. 0.-. T.\ U.-. The Grand Architect of the Uni- verse.
V.\ Venerable, or Worshipful. (French.)
V.\ L.\ Vraie luniiere, or true light. (French.)
V.: W.\ Very Worshipful.
W.\ M.\ Worshipful Master.
I l« An oblong square is the sign adopted for the word "lodge/5
r-Ep. Two squares indicate the plural, or "lodges."
ABD A. The father of Adoniram. He plays a part in some of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite.
ABIF. A Hebrew word VDN» signifying "his lather." The word ah, or father, was a title of honour " often used/' says Adam Clarke, "in Hebrew, to signify a master, inventor, or chief operator." In this sense it is used in II Chronicles, ch. iv. v. 16, where it is said, " the pots also, and the shovels, and
2
i4 ABL— ABR
the flesh hooks, and all their instruments, did Hurarn his fathei, (Huram abif,) make to King Solomon." The Greek, Latin, French, and English versions, translate the Hebrew words literally as " Hiram his father," but Luther in his German version has preserved the spirit of the original by writing " mochte Huram Abif," looking upon this latter word as a title of honour bestowed by Solomon on his chief builder. See Hiram the Builder.
ABLUTION. A purification by water, whereby, in some of the higher degrees of masonry, the candidate is supposed, as in the religious systems of antiquity, to be cleansed from the taint of an inferior and less pure condition, so as to be prepared foi initiation into a higher and purer degree. See Lustration
ABRAXAS. In the MS. found by Mr. Locke in the Bodleian library, the original of which is said to have been in the hand- writing of King Henry VI., it is asserted that Masons conceal, among other secret arts in their possession, "the facultye of Abrae." This is an evident allusion to the word Abraxas, which was the name applied by the arch-heretic Basilides to the Su- preme Deity, from whom all other deities were emanations, being seven in number, with 365 virtues, which were typified by the numerical value in Greek of the word, as is shown below. It, like the incommunicable name of God among the Jews, was supposed to be possessed of magical virtues. Abraxas was also the name of small statues, on which were inscribed figures of the Egyptian gods, combined with Hebrew and Zoroasteric symbols, and characters in a variety of languages. According to Beausobre and Lardner, these stones were mostly of Egyptian origin. The deity Abraxas is said to be identical with Mithras or the sun. The letters of both names, taken according to their numerical value in the Greek language, amount exactly to 305, thus :
ABS J5
a
= 1
M
= 40
fi
== 2
e
= 5
P
= 100
i
= 10
a
= 1
0
= 9
s
= 60
P
= 100
a
= 1
a
= 1
g
= 200-
-365
C
= 200
-365
The word Abraxas is of uncertain origin. Saumaise says that it is purely Egyptian, and should properly be pronounced Abrasax. Beausobre, in his History of Manicheism, enters into a long etymological disquisition to prove that it is derived from two Greek words Afipoq Saco, and signifies " the magnificent Saviour, he who heals and preserves." Afipos is also an epithet of the sun, and hence we again come to the conclusion that Mithras and Abraxas are identical.
It was therefore typical of the annual course of the eartb around the sun, constituting the solar year, and was a part of the sun worship of the first seceders from pure Freemasonry.
It is a singular coincidence, that Belenus, the deity of the Gauls, and who is supposed from his form and ornaments to be identical with Mithras, was also equivalent, in the numerical value of the letters of his name in Greek, to S 65, thus : —
fi
"n
X
e
V
0
c
2,
8,
30,
5,
50,
70,
200—365.
ABSENCE. It is contrary to the principles of Freemasonry, to inflict pecuniary fines for non-attendance. The obligations and duties inculcated by the order are of such a nature, as to compel the attendance of its members who are without reasonable excuse. It would, therefore, be a descent in the grade of punish- ment, and manifestly tend to weaken the solemn nature of those obligations which every member and officer contracts, were the lodge to attempt the imposition of any trifling pecuniary penalty for inexcusable absence. The regular attendance of each brother, at his lodge, is strictly insisted on in the ancient charges, which prescribed as a rule, " that no Master or Fellow could be absent from the lodge, especially when warned to appear at it, without
16 ACA
incurring a severe censure, until it appeared to the Master and Wardens that pure necessity hindered him." This regulation has been perpetuated by the modern constitutions.
ACACIA. The ancient name of a plant, most of whose species are evergreen, and six of which, at least, are natives of the East. The acacia of Freemasonry is the Mimosa Nilotica of Linnaeus, a shrub which grew in great abundance in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. According to the Jewish law, no interments were permitted within the walls of the city, and as it was unlawful for the cohens or priests to pass over a grave, it became necessary to place marks wherever a dead body had been interred, to enable them to avoid it. For this purpose, the acacia was used. Much of the masonic history of the acacia is incommunicable, but it may be permitted to say, that its ever- green nature, united to other circumstances, is intended to re- mind us of the immortality of the soul. The Greek work axaxca signifies " innocence or freedom from sin f and Hutchinson, who fancifully supposes the Master's to be a Christian degree, ex emplifying the rise of the Christian dispensation after the destruc- tion of the Mosaic, alluding to this Greek meaning of acacia, says that it implies "that the sins and corruptions of the old law, and devotees of the Jewish altar, had hid religion from those who sought her, and she was only to be found where inno- cence survived, and under the banner of the divine lamb." (Spirit of Masonry, p. 99.) Without adopting this heresy, we shall find abundant reason for admiring the propriety of the Greek meaning, as applied to him whose history is, in our order, most closely connected with the acacia. Coincident with the acacia, were the palm of the Egyptian mysteries, the myrtle of the Grecian, and the mistletoe of the Druids.
ACACIAN. A term derived from ataxia, "innocence," and signifying a Mason, who, by living in strict obedience to the obligations and precepts of the fraternity, is free from sin. First used, I believe, by Hutchinson.
ACC— ACK 17
ACCEPTED. A title which, as applied to Freemasons, is equivalent to the term " initiated." It alludes to the acceptance into their society, by operative Masons, of those who were not operatives. An Accepted Mason is one who has been adopted into the order, and received the freedom of the society, as is the case with other companies in Europe. This is evident from the regulations made on St. John's day, 1663, under the Grand Mastership of the Earl of St. Albans, where the word is re- peatedly used in this sense. Thus : " 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, untc the Master of that limit or division where such lodge is kept." And again : " No person shall be made or accepted a Freemason, unless/' etc.
ACCLAMATION. A certain form of words used in con- nexion with the battery. In the Scotch rite it is huzza; in French, vivat ; and, in the rite of Misraim, hallelujah In the York, it is so mote it be.
ACHAD. Hebrew "1HK- One of tne masonic names of G-od, signifying the one. It is derived from the passage in Deutero- nomy vi. 4 : " Hear, 0 Israel : the Lord our God is (a chad) one."
ACHISHAR. He is mentioned in 1 Kings rv. 6., under the name of Ahishar, as being "over the household." He was the steward, or, as Adam Clarke says, the chamberlain of Solomon. The masonic spelling of the name, Achishar, is more consonant with the Hebrew than that adopted by the English translators of the Bible. He is one of the persons referred to in the degree of Select Master.
ACKNOWLEDGED. Candidates who are invested with the Most Excellent Master's degree, are said to be "received and acknowledged" as such ; because, as the possession of that de- gree supposes a more intimate knowledge of the science of ma-
2*
18 ACT— ADO
sonry, the word achnoioledged is used to intimate that such a character is conceded to its possessors. The word received conveys an allusion to the original reception of the first M. E. Masters by King Solomon.
ACTING GRAND MASTER. By the constitutions of Eng- land, whenever a prince of the blood royal accepts the office of Grand Master, he is empowered to appoint a peer of the realm as Acting Grand Master.
ADMISSION. The requisites for admission into our order are somewhat peculiar. The candidate must be free born, under no bondage, vf at least twenty-one years of age, in the possession of sound senses, free from any physical defect or dismember- ment, 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.
ADONIRAM. The principal receiver of King Solomon's tri- bute, and the chief overseer of the 30,000 brethren who were sent to cut the timber for the temple in the forests of Lebanon. He is introduced in the degrees of Secret and Perfect Master, and Intendant of the Building, in the Scotch rite, and in the degree of Royal Master. He is said to have married a sister of Hiram the Builder.
ADO 19
.ADONIRAMITE MASONRY. Magonnerie AdonMramite. This rite was established in France at the close of the eighteenth century. It consists of twelve degrees, namely : 1, Entered Apprentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 3; Master Mason; 4, Perfect Mas- ter; 5, Elect of Nine; 6, Elect of Perignan; 7, Minor Architect, or Scotch Apprentice; 8, Grand Architect, or Scotch Fellow Craft; 9, Scotch Master; 10, Knight of the East; 11, Knight of Rose Croix; 12, Prussian Knight.
Of these degrees, the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th are peculiar to Adoniramite Masonry; the others do not much differ from the corresponding degrees in the ancient Scotch rite. The title of the order is derived from Adoniram who took charge of the works after the loss of the principal conductor, and to the lime of whose superintendence the legends of the most important de- grees refer.
ADONIS, MYSTERIES OF. The mysteries which, in Egypt, the cradle of all the Pagan rites, had been consecrated to Osiris, in passing over into Phenicia were dedicated to Adonis.* According to the legend, Venus, having beheld Adonis when a child, became so enamoured of him, that she seized him, and concealing him from sight, exhibited him to Proserpine alone. But she, becoming equally enamoured of his beauty, sought to obtain possession of him. The dispute between the goddesses was reconciled by Jupiter, who decided that Adonis should dwell six months of the year with Venus, and the remaining six months with Proserpine. This decree was executed; but Adonis, who was a great hunter, was afterward killed on Mount Libanus by a wild boar, who thrust his tusk into his groin. Venus, inconsolable for his death, inundated his body with her tears,
* Adonis, in the Phenician language, like Adon in the cognate Hebrew, Bignifies lord or master. The idol Tainmuz, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Ezekiel, was considered by Jerome, and after him by Parkhurst, as identical with Adams.
f By superior hemisphere, he means the Northern, and by inferior the Southern.
20 AD0
until Proserpine, in pity, restored him to life. Macrobius ex- plains the allegory thus : "Philosophers have given the name of Venus to the superior hemisphere of which we occupy a part, and that of Proserpine to the inferior.! Hence Venus, among the' Assyrians and Phenicians, is in tears, when the Sun, m his annual course through the twelve signs of the Zodiac, passes over to our antipodes. For of these twelve signs, six are said to be superior, and six inferior. When the Sun is in the inferior signs, and the days are consequently short, the goddess is supposed to weep the temporary death and privation of the Sun, detained by Proserpine, whom we regard as the divinity of the southern or antipodal regions. And Adonis is said to be restored to Venus, when the Sun, having traversed the six inferior signs, enters those of our hemisphere, bringing with it an increase of light and lengthened days. The boar which is supposed to have killed Adonis is an emblem of winter; for this animal, covered with rou-h bristles, delights in cold, wet, and miry situations, and his favourite food is the acorn, a fruit peculiar to winter. The Sun is Raid, too, to be wounded by the winter, since, at that season, we lose its light and heat; effects which death produces upon ani- mated beings. Venus is represented on Mount Libanus in an attitude of grief; her head, bent and covered with a veil, is sustained by her left hand near her breast, and her countenance is bathed with tears. This figure represents the earth in winter, when, veiled in clouds and deprived of the Sun, its powers have become torpid. The fountains, like the eyes of Venus, are over- flowing and the fields, deprived of their floral ornaments, present a joyless appearance. But when the Sun, emerging from the southern regions of the earth, passes the vernal equinox, Venus is once more rejoiced, the fields are again embellished with flowers, the grass springs up in the meadows, and the trees re- cover their foliage."
The cultivation of the mysteries of Adonis was propagated from Phenicia into Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Sicily. The celebration began in Phenicia at the period when the waters
ADO 21
of the river Adonis, which descend from Mount Libanus, are tinged with a reddish hne derived from the colour of the soil pe- culiar to the mountain. The Phenician women believed that the wound of Adonis was annually renewed, and that it was his blood which coloured the stream. The phenomenon was the signal for the commencement of the rites. Every one assumed the appearance of profound grief. At Alexandria, the queen bore the statue of Adonis,, accompanied by the noblest females of the city, carrying baskets of- cakes, bottles of perfumes, flowers, branches of trees, and pomegranates. The procession was closed by women bearing two beds splendidly embroidered in gold and silver, one for Venus and the other for Adonis. At Athens they placed in various parts of the city the figure of a dead youth. These figures were afterward taken away by women clad in the habiliments of mourning, who celebrated their funeral rites. On the second day of the mysteries, sorrow was converted into joy, and they commemorated the resurrection of Adonis. The mysteries of Adonis were, at one time, introduced into Juclea, where the Hebrew women were accustomed to hold an annual lamentation for him, under the name of Tammuz, of which Eze- kiel speaks, viii. 14 : " Behold there sat women weeping for Tammuz." According to Calmet and Faber, Adonis was also identical with Baal-peor, the idol of the Moabites, mentioned in the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers.
Our knowledge of the ceremonies which accompanied the Adonisian initiation is but scanty. " The objects represented/' says Duncan, "were the grief of Yenus and the death and re- surrection of Adonis. An entire week was consumed in these ceremonies: all the houses were covered with crape or black linen : funeral processions traversed the streets, while the devotees scourged themselves, uttering frantic cries. The orgies were then commenced, in which the mystery of the death of xVdonis was depicted. During the next twenty-four hours, all the people fasted, at the expiration of which time the priests announced the
22 ADO
resurrection of the god. Joy now prevailed, and music and dancing concluded the festivals."*
Julius Ferrnicius, a Christian writer of the fourth century, thus describes a portion of the Adonisian ceremonies :f
"•On a certain night an image is laid out upon a bed, and bewailed in mournful strains. At length, when they are satiated with their fictitious lamentation, light is introduced, and the priest, having first anointed the mouths of all those who had been weeping, whispers with a gentle murmur: Trust ye, initiates, for the god being saved, out of pains salvation shall arise to us."
Hence the ceremonies were a representation of the death and resurrection of Adonis in the person of the aspirant.
ADOPTIVE MASONRY. By the immutable laws of our institution, no woman can be made a Freemason. It follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that lodges which admit females to membership, can never legally exist in the order. Our French brethren, however, with that gallantry for which the nation is proverbial, have sought, by the establishment of societies, which have, indeed, but a faint resemblance to the peculiar organiza- tion of Freemasonry, to enable females to unite themselves in some sort with the masonic institution, and thus to enlist the sympathies and friendship of the gentler sex in behalf of the fraternity.
To the organizations thus established for the initiation of fe- males, the French have given the name of "Adoptive Masonry," magonnerie a" adoption, and the lodges are called loges d 'adoption f or "adoptive lodges," because, as will hereafter be seen, every lodge of females was finally obliged to be adopted by, and under the guardianship of some regular masonic lodge.
* Religions of Profano Antiquity; their Mythology, Fables, Hieroglyphics, and Doctrines. Founded on Astronomical Principles. By Jonathan DuncaD, 15. A. p. 330.
f In an oration inscribed to the Emperors Constans and Constantius. The classical reader may compare the original language of Fermicius, which I hero insert : Nocte quadam simulacrum in lectica supinum ponitur, et per numero*
ADO 23
In the beginning of the eighteenth century, several secret associations sprang up in France, which, in their external cha- racters and mysterious rites, attempted an imitation of Free- masonry, differing, however, from that institution, of which they were, perhaps, the rivals for public favour, by their admission of female members. The ladies very naturally extolled the gallantry of these mushroom institutions, and inveighed with increased hostility against the exclusiveness of masonry. The Royal Art w&s becoming unpopular, and the fraternity believed themselves compelled to use strategy, and to wield in their own defence the weapons of their opponents.
At length, the Grand Orient of France, finding that these mystic societies were becoming so popular and so numerous as to endanger the permanency of the masonic institution, a new rite was established in 1774, called the "Rite of Adoption," which was placed under the control of the Grand Orient. Rules and regulations were thenceforth provided for the government of these lodges of adoption, one of which was that no men should be per- mitted to attend them except regular Freemasons, and that each lodge should be placed under the charge, and held under the sanction and warrant of some regularly constituted masonic lodge, whose Master, or, in his absence, his deputy, should be the pre- siding officer, assisted by a female President or Mistress. Under these regulations a Lodge of Adoption was opened in Paris in 1775, under the patronage of the lodge of St. Anthony, and in which the Duchess of Bourbon presided, and was installed as Grand Mistress of the Adoptive rite.
The rite of Adoption consists of four degrees, as follow :
1. Apprentice.
2. Companion.
digeatis fletibus plangitur. Deinde cum se ficta lamentatione satiaverint, lumen infertur. Tunc a sacerclote omnium qui flebant, fauces unguntur quibus perunotis, sacerdos lento murmure susurrat :
Pappsire jivarai rov deov ataoxjitvov
Fjitcli yap r\piv ck -ovmv coirrjpta.
24 ADO
3. Mistress.
4. Perfect Mistress.
The first, or Apprentices' degree, is simply introductory in its character, and is intended to prepare the candidate by its initia- tory ceremony for the emblematic lessons which are contained in the remaining degrees.
In the second degree, or Companion, the scene of the temp- tation in Eden is emblematically represented, by the ceremonial of initiation, and the candidate is reminded in the course of the lecture, (for there is a lecture or catechism to each degiee,) of all the unhappy results of the first sin of woman, until they termi- nated in the universal deluge.
The building of the Tower of Babel, and the consequent dis- persion of the human race, constitute the legend of the third degree, or that of Mistress. Jacob's ladder is also introduced into the ceremonies of this degree, and the candidate is informed that it symbolically denotes the various virtues which a Mason should possess, while the Tower of Babel is an emblem of a badly regulated lodge, in which disorder and confusion are substituted for the concord and obedience which should always exist in such a place.
In the fourth degree, or that of Perfect Mistress, the officers represent Moses, Aaron, their wives, and the sons of Aaron, and the ceremonies and instructions refer to the passage of the Israel- ites through the wilderness, as a symbol of the passage of man and woman through this, to another and a better world.
It will be seen, from this brief sketch, that the rite of Adop- tion professes, in some measure, to imitate the symbolic character and design of true Freemasonry. It cannot be denied that the idea has been very ingeniously and successfully carried out.
The officers of a lodge of Adoption consist of a Grand Master and Grand Mistress, an Orator, an Inspector and an Inspectress, a Depositor and a Depositrix, a Conductor and a Conductress.*
* The Inspectress, assisted by the Inspector, acts as Senior Warden, and the Depositrix, assisted by the Depositor, as Junior Warden. The Conductress and he Conductor are the Deacons.
ADO 26
They wear a blue sash or collar, with a gold trowel suspended thereto. The Grand Master uses a mallet, with which he governs the lodge, and the same implement is placed in the hands of the Grand Mistress, the Inspector and Inspectress, and Depositor and Depositrix. Every member wears a plain white apron and white gloves.
The brethren, in addition to the insignia of their rank, wear swords and a gold ladder with five rounds, which is the proper jewel of Adoptive masonry.
The business of the lodge is conducted by the sisterhood, the brethren only acting as their assistants.
The Grand Mistress, however, has very little to say or do, she being only an honorary companion to the Grand Master, which mark of distinction is conferred on her as a token of respect for her character and virtues.
The lodge-room is elegantly and tastefully decorated with emblems, which, of course, vary in each degree. In the degree of Apprentice, for instance, the room is separated by curtains into four apartments or divisions, representing the four quarters of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The division at the entrance of the lodge represents Europe, in the middle on the right is Africa, on the left America, and at the extreme east is Asia, where are erected two splendid thrones, decorated with gold fringe, for the Grand Master and Grand Mistress. Before them is placed an altar, and on both sides, to the right and left, are eight statues, representing Wisdom, Prudence, Strength, Temperance, Honour, Charity, Justice, and Truth. The mem- bers sit on each side in straight lines, the sisters in front, and the brothers behind them, the latter having swords in their hands. There cannot, in fact, be a more beautiful and attractive sight, than a lodge of Adoptive Masons properly organized and well attended.
Looking to the mixed sexual character of these lodges, it is not surprising that every thing is followed by a banquet, and on many occasions by a ball. These, says Clavel, are inseparable
26 ADO
from a lodge of Adoption, and are, in fact, the real design of its organization, the initiatory ceremonies being but a pretext.
In the banquets of the regular lodges of the French rite, the members always use a symbolic language, by which they desig- nate the various implements and articles of food and drink upon ihe table. In imitation of this custom, the ladies, in the ban- quets of the Adoptive lodges, have also established a symbolic language, to be used only at the table. Thus the lodge-room is called "Eden;" the doors "barriers;" the minutes "a ladder;" a glass is called "a lamp;" water is styled "white oil," and wine "red oil." To fill your glass is "trim your lamp," with many other equally eccentric expressions.
Such is the organization of French Female Masonry, as it was established and recognized by the masonic authorities of that kingdom. It is still practised as a peculiar rite, although its re- semblance to true Freemasonry is only in name. Under these regulations, the lodge "La Candeur" was opened in Paris on the 11th of March, 1785, a Marquis being in the chair, and a Duchess acting as Deputy or Grand Mistress. In the same year the Duchess of Bourbon was installed with great pomp as Grand Mistress. The revolution checked their progress, but they were revived in 1805, when the Empress Josephine presided over the "Lodge Imperiale d' Adoption des Francs Chevaliers," at Stras- burg. The adoptive lodges were at first rapidly diffused through- out all the countries of Europe, except the British Empire, where they were rejected with contempt, but they soon declined, and are at present confined to the place of their origin.
Recently an "American Adoptive Rite," called the " Order of the Eastern Star," invented by Bro. Robt. Morris, has become somewhat popular in this country. It consists of five degrees, viz. : 1. Jephtha'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 Benevolent. It is entirely different from European or French Adoptive Ma- sonry.
ADV— AFR 27
ADVANCED. When a candidate is invested with the Mark Master's degree, he is said to be "advanced." The term is very appropriately used to designate that the Master Mason is now promoted one step beyond the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry on the way to the Royal Arch.
AFFILIATED. A mason who is a member of a lodge is said to be "an affiliated niason," in contra-distinction to a de- mitted or non-affiliated one, who is not a member of any lodge.
AFFILIATION. The act by which a lodge receives a Mason among its members. A profane is initiated^ but a Mason is affiliated. The general rule is, that a candidate mast be initiated in the lodge nearest to his residence, but after a Mason has been made, he may unite himself with any lodge that he chooses, and which is willing to receive him
AFRICAN ARCHITECTS. In the year 1767, one Bau- cherren instituted in Prussia, with the concurrence of Frederick IL, a society which he called " the Order of African Architects." The object of the institution was historical research, but it con- tained a ritual which partook of Masonry, Christianity, Alchemy, and Chivalry. It was divided into two temples, and was composed of eleven degrees. In the first temple were the degrees of — 1, Apprentice ; 2, Fellow Craft ; and 3, Master. In the second temple were the degrees of — 4, Apprentice of Egyptian Secrets ; 5, Initiate in the Egyptian Secrets; 6, Cosmopolitan brother; 7, Christian philosopher; 8, Master of Egyptian Secrets; 9, Esquire; 10, Soldier; and 11, Knight. The society constructed a vast building intended as a Grand Chapter of the order, and which contained an excellent library, a museum of natural history, and a chemical laboratory. For a long time the African Architects decreed annually a gold medal worth fifty ducats to the author of the best memoir on the history of masonry.
Ragon, who seldom speaks well of any other rite than his own, has, however, in his "Orthodoxie Maconnique," paid the follow- ing tribute to the African Architects : —
28 AGE— AHI
" Their intercourse was modest and dignified. They did not esteem decorations, aprons, collars, jewels, &c, but were rather fond of luxury, and delighted in sententious apothegms whose meaning was sublime but concealed. In their assemblies they read essays and communicated the results of their researches. At their simple and decorous banquets instructive and scientific discourses were delivered. While their initiations were gratui- tous, they gave liberal assistance to such zealous brethren as were in needy circumstances. They published in Germany many important documents on the subject of Freemasonry."
AGE. In the French, Scotch, and some other rites, each de- gree has an emblematic age; that of the E.\ A.-, is three years, because, in the system of mystical numbers, three is the number of generation, which comprises three terms, the agent, the re- cipient, and the product. Five is the age of the F. . C.-., five being emblematic of active life, characterized by the five senses. x\nd seven is the age of the M.\ M.\, it being the perfect num- ber, in allusion to the seven primitive planets which completed the astronomic system.
AHIMAN KEZON. This is the name of the Book of Con- stitutions, which was used by the Ancient Division of Free- masons, which separated in 1739 from the Grand Lodge of Eng- land. The "True Ahiman Bezon" was compiled in 1772 for the government of the Ancient Masons, by Laurence Dermott, at that time Deputy Grand Master of that body. The title is derived from three Hebrew words, ahim, brothers, manahy to choose or appoint,* and ratzon, the will or law, so that it literally signifies "the law of chosen brothers." The Book of Consti tutions of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, and that of
* Manah means to choose, appoint, or distribute into a peculiar Mass out of a generality, and is hence really equivalent to "accept"— Dalcho's signification, to prepare, is incorroct.
AHO— ALP 29
Pennsylvania, are also called xAhiuian Rezon. See Book of Con- stitutions.
AHOLIAB. A skilful architect, appointed with Bezaleel to construct the tabernacle. Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel, the builders of the tabernacle, are in the Royal Arch degree appro- priately placed in juxtaposition with Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who constructed the ark of safety, and with Joshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggai, who built the second temple.
ALARM. The signal of the approach of a person demanding admission to the lodge is thus called in masonic language.
ALL-SEEING EYE. An emblem of the Master's degree. It reminds us of that superintending Providence who knows the most secret thoughts of our hearts, and rewards us according t our merits.*
This emblem was also found in the ancient mysteries,"}" and was there, as in masonry, preserved as a testimony of the unity of that omniscient and omnipresent Deity, the teaching of whose existence, in contradistinction to the popular mythology, was the aim and object of all these institutions.
ALPHA AMD OMEGA. The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, equivalent therefore to the beginning and end- ing of any thing, or to the whole of it in its completeness. The Jews used the first and last letters of their alphabet, Alejrfi and Tau, to express proverbially the whole compass of things ; as when they said that "Adam transgressed the whole law, from Aleph to Tau. "| St. John substituted the Greek for the Hebrew letters, as benm* more familiar to his readers.
* Deus tutus visits, — God is nil eyes, says Pliny.
f Among the Egyptians the Eye was the symbol of Osiris, and signified Providence. Hence they consecrated, in their temples, eyes made of precicu* materials.
t A Jam Clarkej Commentary on Rev. i.8.
30
ALP— ALT
ALPHABET OF ANGELS. The Jews speak of a celestial and mystical alphabet, which they say was communicated by the angels to the patriarchs. Kircher gives a copy of it in his (Edi- pus Egyptiacus, torn. ii. p. 105. This alphabet is several times alluded to in the ritual of the Scotch rite.
ALTAR. The place where the sacred offerings were presented to God. After the erection of the Tabernacle, altars were of two kinds, altars of sacrifice and altars of incense. The altar of masonry may be considered as the representative of boih these forms. From thence the grateful incense of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth, is ever rising to the Great I AM ; while on it, the unruly passu ns and the worldly appetites of the brethren are laid, as a fitting sacrifice to the genius of our order.
The proper form of a masonic altar is that of a cube, about three feet high, with four horns, one at each corner, and having spread open upon it the Holy Bible, square, and compasses, while around it are placed in a triangular form and proper position the three lesser lights.
This diagram will ex- hibit the correct position in which the lights should be placed around the al- tar, the stars designating the places of the lights in the East, West, and South, and the black dot the va- cancy in the North where there is no light.
Placing the lights all in the east at the head of the altar is a common error, but a great one, as it does not meet the require- ments of the ritual, which not only places them in a different position, but says that they surround the altar.
AME 31
AMERICAN MYSTERIES. Among the many evidences of a former state of civilization among the aborigines of this country which seem to prove their origin from the races that inhabit the Eastern hemisphere, not the least remarkable is the existence of fraternities bound by mystic ties, and claiming, like the Free- masons, to possess an esoteric knowledge which they carefully conceal from all but the initiated. De Witt Clinton, once the General Grand High Priest of the United States, relates, on the authority of a respectable native minister, who had received the signs, the existence of such a society among the Iroquois. The number of the members was limited to fifteen, of whom six were to be ot the Seneca tribe, five of the Oneidas, two of the Cayagas, and two of the St. Regis. They claim that their institution has existed from the era of the creation. The times of their meeting they keep secret, and throw much mystery over all their proceed ings.
The mysteries of the Mexican tribes were characterized by cruelty and bloodshed. In the celebration of these shocking rites, the aspirant was previously subjected to long and painful fastings, and compelled to undergo, in even a heightened form, all the terrors and sufferings which distinguished the mysteries of the Eastern continent. He was scourged with cords, wound- ed with knives, and cauterized with red-hot cinders. So cruel were these probations, that many perished under their infliction; and yet he who recoiled from the trial, or suffered an involuntary groan to escape his lips, was dismissed with contempt, and con- sidered thenceforth as unworthy to mingle in the society of his equals. It was in the temple of Yitzliputzli that the Mexican mysteries were celebrated on the grandest scale. The candidate, being first anointed with a narcotic unguent, descended into the gloomy caverns of initiation, which were excavated beneath the temple. The ceremonies were intended to represent the wander- ings of the god, and the caverns through which the aspirant was to pass were called the path of the dead.
He is conducted through these caverns amid shrieks of anguish
32 AME
and groans of despair, which seem to rise from every side, phan- toms of death flit past his eyes, and while trembling for his safety, he reaches the body of a slain victim whose heart has been ripped from his breast, and whose limbs are still quivering with departing life; suddenly he finds himself in a spacious vault, through which an artificial sun is darting his rays, and in the roof of which is an orifice through which the body of the sacri- ficed victim had been precipitated. He is now immediately under the high altar. Finally, after encountering many other horrors, he reaches a narrow fissure which terminates the suit of subter- ranean apartments, and being protruded through it by his guide. he finds himself in open air, and in the midst of a vast multi- tude, who receive him with shouts as a person regenerated 01 born again.*
This was the first degree of the Mexican mysteries. There was a higher grade attainable only by the priests, in which the instruction was of a symbolic character, and referred to the deluge and the subsequent settlement of their ancestors on the lake of Mexico. The details of this legend bear a remarkable similarity to the scriptural account of the wanderings and final settlement of the Israelites. The tribe was led by the god Vitzliputzli, who was seated in a square ark, and held in his hand a rod formed like a serpent. The ark was called the throne of God, and its four corners were surmounted by serpents' heads. During their marches and encampments, Vitzliputzli revealed to them a mode of worship and a code of laws to govern them after they had taken possession of the promised land. In the midst of their encamp- ment, they erected a tabernacle with an altar, on which was placed the sacred ark. After a tedious expedition, they finally arrived at an island in the middle of a lake, where they built the city of Mexico, and furnished it with a pyramidal temple.
The mysteries of the Peruvians were more simple and humane,
* It may as well be remarked in this place, that this regeneration, or raising from death to a second life, constituted the great end of all the pagan rites.
AME— ANC 33
and consisted principally of a lustration, performed annually on the first day of the September moon.
AMERICAN RITE. The rite practised in the United States, and which is a modification or rather development of the York Rite. It consists of nine degrees: — 1. Entered Ap- prentice. 2. Fellow Craft. 3. Master Mason. 4. Mark Mas- ter. 5. Past Master. 6. Most Excellent Master. 7. Royal Arch. 8. Royal Master. 9. Select Master. The degrees of Chivalry, consisting of the Knight of the Red Cross, Knight Templar, and Knight of Malta, are appendages to the Rite ; and in some councils another degree, that of Super Excellent Mas- ter, is given. The system of nine degrees, however, which con- stitutes the real American Rite, I am disposed to attribute to Thomas Smith Webb, who organized it in the latter part of the last century.
AMPLE FORM. When the Grand Lodge is opened by the Grand Master in person, it is said to be opened in " ample form;" when by the Deputy Grand Master, it is in "due form;" and when by any other officer, it is said to be simply "in form."
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. See Scotch Rite.
ANCIENT CRAFT MASONRY. The degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, are thus called, Decause they were the only degrees which were anciently prac- tised by the craft-
ANCIENT MASONS. See Modern Masons.
ANCIENT REFORMED RITE. A rite differing very slightly from the French rite. It is practised in Belgium and Holland.
34 AND— ANT
ANDERSON. James Anderson, D.D., trie compiler of the English Book of Constitutions, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 5th of August, 1684, but, for many years of his life, was a resident of England and the minister of the Scotch Presbyterian church in Swallow street, Picadilly, London. Besides the Book of Constitutions, to which he is principally indebted for his rep- utation, he was also the author of an extensive and singular work entitled " Royal Genealogies." Chambers, in his " Scottish Bi- ography," describes him as " a learned but imprudent man, who lost a considerable part of his property in deep dabbling in the South Sea Scheme." He died in the year 1746, aged 62 years.
ANDROGYNOUS MASONRY. Degrees imitative of ma- sonry, which have been instituted for the initiation of males and females, so called from two Greek words signifying man and wo- man. They were first established in France in the year 1730, under the name of "lodges of adoption." In America there are several androgynous degrees, such as the Good Samaritan, the Heroine of Jericho, and the Mason's Daughter. See Adoptive Masonry.
ANGLE. See Right Angle.
ANNIVERSARY. The two anniversaries of Symbolic Ma- sonry are, the festivals of St. John the Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist, 24th of June and 27th of December. See in this work the title Dedication. The anniversary of the Princes of Rose Croix is Easter day.
ANNO LUCIS. In the Tear of Light. Used in masonic dates, and usually abbreviated A.-. L.-. See Year of Light.
ANTIQUITY OF MASONRY. Freemasonry is in its prin- ciples undoubtedly coeval with the creation, but in its organiza- tion as a peculiar institution, such as it now exists, we dare not trace it further back than to the building of King Solomon's temple. It was, however, in its origin closely connected with
ANT 35
the Ancient Mysteries, and the curious inquirer will find some gratification in tracing this connection.
When man was first created, he had, of course, a perfect know- ledge of the true name and nature of the Being who created him. But when, try his own folly, he fell ''from his high estate," he lost, with his purity, that knowledge of God which in his primeval condition formed the noblest endowment of his mind. And at length the whole human race haying increased in wicked- ness until every thought and act was evil, God determined, by a flood, to purge the earth of this excess of sin. To Xoah, how- ever, he was merciful, and to this patriarch and his posterity was to be intrusted the knowledge of the true God. But on the plains of Shinar man again rebelled, and as a punishment of his rebellion, at the lofty tower of Babel, language was confounded , and mason?'?/ lost, for masonry then, as now, consisted in a know- ledge of these great truths, that there is one God, and that the soul is immortal. The patriarchs, however, were saved from the general moral desolation, and still preserved true masonry, or the knowledge of these dogmas, in the patriarchal line. The Gentile nations, on the contrary, fell rapidly from one error into another, and, losing sight of the one great I AM, substituted in his place the names of heroes and distinguished men, whom, by a ready apotheosis, they converted into the thousand deities who occupied the calendar of their religious worship.
The philosophers and sages, however, still retained, or dis- covered by the dim light of nature , some traces of these great doctrines of masonry, the unity of God, and the immortality of the soul. But these doctrines they dared not teach in public, for history records what would have been the fa.e of such teme- rity, when it informs us that Socrates paid th,} forfeit of his life for his boldness in proclaiming these truths to the Athenian youth.
They therefore taught in secret what they were afraid to in- culcate in public, and established for this purpose the Ancient Mysteries, those truly masonic institutions, which, by a series of
30 ANT
solemn and imposing ceremonies, prepared the mind of the ini- tiate for the reception of those unpopular dogmas, while, by the caution exercised in the selection of candidates, and the obliga- tions of secrecy imposed upon them, the teachers were secured from all danger of popular bigotry and fanaticism. A full de- scription of these Mysteries will be found in this work under the appropriate title. Their members went through a secret cere- mony of initiation, by which they became entitled to a full participation in the esoteric knowledge of the order, and were in possession of certain modes of recognition known only to them- selves. In all of them, there was, in addition to the instructions in relation to the existence of a Supreme Deity, a legend in which, by the dramatic representation of the violent death and subsequent restoration to life of some distinguished personage, the doctrines of the resurrection and the soul's immortality were emblematically illustrated.
Among these religious institutions was that of the Dionysian Mysteries, which were celebrated throughout Greece and Asia Minor, and in which the peculiar legend was the murder of Bacchus, or, as the Greeks called him, Dionysus, by the Titans, and his subsequent restoration to life. The priests of Dionysus, having devoted themselves to architectural pursuits, established, about one thousand years before the Christian era, a society of builders in Asia Minor, who are styled by the ancient writeis " The Fraternity of Dionysian Architects," and to this society was exclusively confined the privilege of erecting temples and other public buildings.
The fraternity of Dionysian Architects were linked together by the secret ties of the Dionysian Mysteries, into which they had all been initiated. Thus constituted, the fraternity was dis- tinguished by many peculiarities that strikingly assimilate it to our order. In the exercise of charity, the "more opulent were sacredly bound to provide for the exigencies of the poorer breth- ren." For the facilities of labour and government, they were divided into lodges, each of which was governed by a Master and
ANT 37
"Wardens. They employed in their ceremonial observances many of the implements which are still to be found among Freemasons, and used like them, a universal language, by which one brother could distinguish another in the dark as well as in the light, and which served to unite the members scattered over India, Persia, and Syria, into one common brotherhood. The existence of this order in Tyre, at the time of the building of the Temple, is uni- versally admitted ; and Hiram, the widow's son, to whom Solo- mon intrusted the superiutendence of the workmen, as an in- habitant of Tyre, and as a skilful architect and cunning and curious workman, was doubtless one of its members. Hence we are scarcely claiming too much for our order, when we suppose that the Dionysians were sent by Hiram, King of Tyre, to assist King Solomon in the construction of the house he was about to dedicate to Jehovah, and that they communicated to their Jewish fellow-labourers a knowledge of the advantages of their fraternity, and invited them to a participation in its mysteries and privileges. In this union, however, the apocryphal legend of the Dionysians gave way to the true legend of the Masons, which was unhappily furnished by a melancholy incident that occurred at the time.
Upon the completion of the Temple, the workmen who had been engaged in its construction necessarily dispersed, to extend their knowledge and to renew their labours in other lands. But we do not lose sight of the order. WTe find it still existing in Judea, under the name of the Essenian Fraternity. This was rather a society of philosophers than of architects, and in this respect it approached still nearer to the character of modern speculative masonry. The Essenians were, however, undoubtedly connected with the Temple, as their origin is derived by the learned Scaliger, with every appearance of truth, from the Kassi- deans, a fraternity of Jewish devotees, who, in the language of Lawrie, had associated together as "Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem, to adorn the porches of that magnificent structure, and to preserve it from injury and decay." The Essenians were peculiarly strict in scrutinizing the characters of all those who
4
38 ANT
applied for admission into their fraternity. The successful candi- date, at the termination of his probationary novitiate, was pre- sented by the Elders of the society with a white garment, as an emblem of the purity of life to which he was to aspire, and which, like the unsullied apron, the first gift that we bestow upon an Entered Apprentice, was esteemed more honourable than aught that any earthly prince could give. An oath was administered to him, by which he bound himself not to divulge the secrets with which he should be intrusted, and not to make any innova- tions upon the settled usages of the society. He was then made acquainted with certain modes of recognition, and was instructed in the traditionary knowledge of the order. They admitted no women into their fraternity ; abolished all distinctions of rank ; and devoted themselves to the acquisition of knowledge and the dispensation of charity.
From the Essenians, Pythagoras derived much if not all of the knowledge and the ceremonies with which he clothed the esoteric school of his philosophy; and while this identity of doctrines and ceremonies is universally admitted by profane historians, many of the most competent of our own writers have attributed the propagation of masonry into Europe to the efforts of the Grecian sage. It is certain that such an opinion was prevalent not less than four centuries ago ; for in the ancient manuscript, now well known to Masons, which was discovered by the celebrated Locke among the papers of the Bodleian Library, and which is said to be a copy of an original in the handwriting of King Henry the Sixth, himself a Mason, it is expressly said that Pythagoras brought masonry from Egypt and Syria into Greece, from whence, in process of time, it passed into England.
I shall not vouch for the truth of this assumption; for notwith- standing the celebrity of Pythagoras even at this day among our fraternity, and the adoption into our lodges of his well-known problem, I am rather inclined to attribute the extension of ma- sonry into Europe to the frequent and continued communications with Palestine, in the earlier ages of the Christian dispensation.
ANT 39
About this period we shall find that associations of travelling architects existed in all the countries of the continent; that they journeyed from city to city, and were actively engaged in the construction of religious edifices and regal palaces.* The govern- ment of these fraternities of Freemasons — -for they had already begun to assume that distinctive appellation — was even then extremely regular. They lived in huts or lodges, (a name which our places of meeting still retain,) temporarily erected for their accommodation, near the building on which they were employed. Every tenth man received the title of Warden, and was occupied in superintending the labours of those placed under him, while the direction and supervision of the whole was intrusted to a Master chosen by the fraternity.
Freemasons continued for a long time to receive the protection and enjoy the patronage of the church and the nobility, until the former, becoming alarmed at the increase of their numbers and the extension of their privileges, began to persecute them with an unrelenting rigour, which eventually led to their suspension on the continent. Many lodges, however, had already been estab- lished in Great Britain, and these, shielded by the comparative mildness and justice of the British laws, continued to propagate the doctrines of the order throughout England and Scotland, and to preserve unimpaired its ancient landmarks. From the royal city of York in England, and the village and abbey of Kil fanning, the cradle of masonry in Scotland, our order continued to be disseminated and to flourish, throughout the two kingdoms, with undiminished lustre, long after the lodges of their less fortunate brethren had been dissolved by the persecutions on the continent. From this period, the institutions of masonry began to be extend- ed with rapidity, and to be established with permanency. The dignity of the order was elevated, as the beauty of its principles became known. Nobles sought with avidity the honour of initia- tion into our sacred rites, and the gavel of the Grand Master has been more than once wielded by the hand of a king.
* See the article Travelling Freemasons, in this work
40 APII— APP
aPHANISM. It is stated in the preceding article that in the Ancient Mysteries there always was a legend of the death and subsequent resurrection, or finding, of the body of some dis- tinguished personage. That part of the ceremonies which re- presented the concealing of the body was called the aj>hanism, from the Greek work a i£a>, to conceal.
APPEx\L. The Master is supreme in his lodge, so far as the lodge is concerned. He is amenable for his conduct in the government of the lodge, not to its members, but to the Grand Lodge alone. In deciding points of order, as well as graver matters, no appeal can be taken from that decision to the lodge. If an appeal were proposed, it would be his duty, for the pre- servation of discipline, to refuse to put the question. If a mem- ber is aggrieved with the conduct or the decision of the Master, he has his redress by an appeal to the Grand Lodge, which will, of course, see that the Master does not rule his lodge " in an un- just or arbitrary manner." But such a thing as an appeal from the Master to the lodge, is unknown in masonry. See Master of a Lodge.
The General Grand Chapter of the United States has deter- mined that there can be no appeal from the decision of a High Priest to his Chapter.
A similar decision has been made by the Hon. W. B. Hubbard, the General Grand Master of the Knights Templar, in relation to appeals from Grand Commanders to their Encampments, and his decision appears to have been sustained by the General Grand Encampment.
APPRENTICE. The Entered Apprentice is the first degree in masonry, and though it supplies no historical knowledge, it is replete with information on the internal structure of the order. It is remarkable, too, for the beauty of the morality which it inculcates. As an Entered Apprentice, a lesson of humility, and contempt of worldly riches and earthly grandeur, is impressed
APR 41
upon the mind by symbolic ceremonies, too important in their character ever to be forgotten. The beauty and holiness of charity are depicted in emblematic modes, stronger and more lasting than mere language can express; and the neophyte is directed to lay a corner-stone of virtue and purity, upon which he is charged to erect a superstructure, alike honourable to him- self, and to the fraternity of which he is hereafter to compose a part.
This degree is considered as "the weakest part of masonry," and hence, although an Entered Apprentice is allowed to sit in a lodge of his degree, he is not permitted to speak or vote on the proceedings.
When a candidate is initiated into this degree, he is techi- cally said to be "entered," that is, he has been permitted to en- ter the ground-floor of the temple, for a reason well known to Masons.
APRON. The lambskin or white leather apron, is the badge of a Mason, and the first gift bestowed by the Master upon the newly initiated Apprentice. The apron is worn by operative Masons, to preserve their garments from spot or stain. But we, as speculative Masons, use it for a more noble purpose. By the whiteness of its colour, and the innocence of the animal from which it is obtained, we are admonished to preserve that blame- less purity of life and conduct which will alone enable us here- after to present ourselves before the Grand Master of the Uni- verse, unstained with sin and unsullied with vice.
Investiture constituted an important part of the Ancient Mys- teries; and as the white apron is the investiture of masonry, we find something resembling it in all the pagan rites The Esse- nians clothed their candidate with a white robe, reaching to the ground, and bordered with a fringe of blue riband, as an emblem of holiness. In the mysteries of Greece the garment of initia- tion was also white; because, says Cicero, white is a colour most
4*
42 APR
acceptable to the gods. This robe was considered sacred, and never taken off by the possessor, until worn to rags. In Persia, in the mysteries of Mithras, the robes of investiture were the Girdle, on which were depicted the signs of the Zodiac; the Tiara; The White Apron; and the Purple Tunic. In the mys- teries of Hindostan, the aspirant was presented with a consecrated Sash, consisting of a cord of nine threads, which was worn from the left shoulder to the right side. An apron, composed of the three masonic colours, blue, purple, and scarlet, was worn by the Jewish priesthood; and the prophets, on all occasions when about to perform any solemn duty, invested themselves with a girdle or apron. Lastly, all the ancient statues of the heathen gods, which have been discovered in Greece, Asia, or America, are decorated with superb aprons. We hence deduce the antiquity and honour of this important part of a Freemason's vestments, and substan- tiate the correctness of our claim, that it is " more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and more honourable than the Star and Garter."
The masonic apron is a pure white lambskin, from fourteen to sixteen inches wide, and from twelve to fourteen deep, with a fall about three to four inches deep; square at the bottom, with- out ornament, and bound in the symbolic degrees with blue, and in the Royal Arch with scarlet. In this country the con struction of the apron is the same in each of the symbolic de- grees, which are only distinguished by the mode in which th^ apron is worn. But in England the apron varies in each of the degrees.*
The E.\ A.-, has a plain apron without ornament.
The F.\ C.\ has an addition of two sky blue rosettes at the bottom.
The M.\ M.\ has an additional rosette on the fall, and has sky- blue lining and edging, and silver tassels.
W.\ Masters and Past Masters, in lieu of rosettes, wear per-
•;; A similar system is adopted in Germany.
ARC 43
pendicular lines on horizontal ones, like a j^ reversed, forming three sets of two right angles.
The silk or satin apron is a French innovation, wholly un- niasonic, incompatible with the emblematic instruction of the investiture, and should never be tolerated in a lodge of York Masons.
ARCH, ANTIQUITY OF THE. Writers on architecture have, until within a few years, been accustomed to suppose that the invention of the Arch and Keystone was not anterior to the era of Augustus. But the researches of modern antiquaries have traced the existence of the Arch as far back as 460 years before the building of King Solomon's temple, and thus com- pletely reconciled masonic tradition with the truth of history. See Keystone.
ARCH OF ENOCH. The 13th degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. It is more commonly called "Knight of the Ninth Arch," to which the reader is referred.
ARCH OF HEAVEN. Job xxvi. 11, compares heaven to an arch supported by pillars. aThe pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof." Dr. Cutbush, on this pas- sage, remarks — " The arch in this instance is allegorical, not only of the arch of heaven, but of the higher degree of masonry, commonly called the Holy Royal Arch. The pillars which sup- port the arch are emblematical of Wisdom and Strength; the former denoting the wisdom of the Supreme Architect, and the latter the stability of the Universe." — Am. Ed. Brewster's Encyc.
ARCH OF STEEL. The Grand honours are conferred, in the French and Scotch rites, by two ranks of brethren elevating and crossing their drawn swords. They call it voute oVacier.
ARCH, ROYAL. See Royal Arch.
44 ARC— ARI
ARCHITECTURE. The art of constructing dwellings, as a shelter from the heat of summer and the cold of winter, must have been resorted to from the very first moment in which man became subjected to the power of the elements. Architecture is, therefore, not only one of the most important, but one of the most ancient of sciences. Rude and imperfect must, however, have been the first efforts of the human race, resulting in the erection of huts clumsy in their appearance, and ages must have elapsed ere wisdom of design combined strength of material with beauty of execution.
As Geometry is the science on which masonry is founded, Architecture is the art from which it borrows the language of its symbolic instruction. In the earlier ages of the order, every Mason was either an operative mechanic or a superintending architect. And something more than a superficial knowledge of the principles of architecture is absolutely essential to the Mason, who would either understand the former history of the institution or appreciate its present objects.
There are five orders of Architecture, the Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, the Tuscan, and the Composite. The first three are the original orders, and were invented in Greece; the last two are of later formation, and owe their existence to Italy Each of these orders, as well as the otner terms of Architecture, so far as they are connected with Freemasonry, will be founl under their appropriate heads throughout this work.
ARITHMETIC. That science which is engaged in consi- dering the properties and powers of numbers, and which, from its manifest necessity in all the operations of weighing, numbering, and measuring, must have had its origin in the remotest ages of the world.
In the lecture of the degree of " Grand Master Architect," the application of this science to Freemasonry is made to consist in its reminding the Mason that he is continually to add to his knowledge, never to substract any thing from the character of his
ARK 45
neighbour, to multiply his benevolence to his fellow-creatures, and to divide his means with a suffering brother.
ARK. The Ark of the Covenant or of the Testimony was a chest originally constructed by Moses at God's command, (Exod. xxv. 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 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 masonic traditions on the subject of its future history are exceedingly interesting to Royal Arch Masons.
The ark was made of shittim wood, overlaid, within and with- out, 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 haplviret, from kapJiar, to forgive sin. and hence its English name of " mercy-seat," as bei lg the place where the intercession for sin was made.
ARK AND ANCHOR. Emblems of a well-grounded hope and a well-spent life, used in the Master's degree. They are emblematical of that divine ark which safely wafts us over this tempestuous sea of troubles, and that anchor which shall securely moor us in a peaceful harbour, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary shall find rest.
There is no symbol more common than the ark to the spurious masonry of the Ancient Mysteries, and the true or speculative Freemasonry. In the due celebration of their kindred mysteries, says Faber, a certain holy ark was equally used by the Greeks, the Italians, the Celts, the Goths, the Phenicians, the Egyptians,
46 ARK— ARM
the Babylonians, the Hindoos, the Mexicans, the Northern Ameri- cans, and the Islanders of the Pacific Ocean. * Historically this ark referred to the ark of Noak, but symbolically it was used as a coffin to receive the body of the candidate, and was an emblem of regeneration or resurrection. "With this view the explanation we have given above from the masonic ritual accurately accords, and hence the ark and anchor have been appropriately adopted as symbols of the third degree, or that in which the doctrine of the resurrection is emphatically taught.
ARK AND DOVE. An illustrative degree, preparatory to the Royal Arch, and usually conferred, when conferred at all, immediately before the solemn ceremony of exaltation. The name of Noachite, sometimes given to it, is incorrect, as this be- longs to a degree in the ancient Scotch rite. It is very probable that the degree, which now, however, has lost much of its signi- ficance, was derived from a much older one called the Royal Ark Mariners, to which the reader is referred. The previous article shows that the ark and dove formed an important part of the spurious Freemasonry of the ancients.
ARK, SUBSTITUTE. The Substitute Ark, is that which is represented in the Royal Arch and Select Master's degrees, being a substitute for the original Ark of the Covenant that was lost at the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
ARMS OF FREEMASONRY. " The Masons," says Bailey, "were incorporated about the years 1419, having been called the Freemasons. Their armorial ensigns are, azure on a cheveron between three castles argent ; a pair of compasses somewhat ex- tended, of the first. Crest a castle of the second."
The arms of the Grand Lodge, according to Dermot, are the same as those now adopted by Royal Arch Masonry in this country, which may be blazoned as follows :
Party per cross vert voided or; in the first quarter, azure, a
* Origin of Pagan Idolatry, vol. iii. p. 121.
ART 47
lion rampant, 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; and supporters, two cheru- bim, all proper. Motto, u Holiness to the Lord."
The impossibility of blazoning a coat, except in the terms of heraldry, will, I trust, be my excuse for the technical nature of this description, which, I know, must be unintelligible to all who are unacquainted with the principles of heraldry. The plate of this coat of arms may, however, be seen in Cross's Chart.
These arms are derived from the " tetrarchical" (as Sir Thos. Browne calls them) or general banners of the four principal tribes : for it is said that the twelve tribes, during their passage through the wilderness, were encamped in a hollow square, three on each side, as follows : Judah, Zebulon, and Issachar, in the east, under the general banner of Judah ; Dan, Asher, and Naph- tali, in the north, under the banner of Dan; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, in the west, under the banner of Ephraim; and Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, in the south, under Reuben. See Banners.
ARTS, LIBERAL. The seven liberal arts and sciences are illustrated in the Fellow Craft's degree. They are Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. Grammar is the science which teaches us to express our ideas in appropriate words, which we may afterward beautify and adorn by means of Rhetoric, while Logic instructs us how to think and reason with propriety, and to make language subordinate to thought. Arithmetic, which is the science of computing by numbers, is absolutely essential, not only to a thorough know- ledge of all mathematical science, but also to a proper pursuit of our daily avocations. Geometry, or the application of Arith- metic to sensible quantities, is of all sciences the most important, since by it we are enabled to measure and survey the globe that we inhabit. Its principles extend to other spheres; and, occu-
48 ASH
pied in the contemplation and measurement of the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies, constitute the science of Astronomy; and lastly, when our minds are filled, and our thoughts enlarged, by the contemplation of all the wonders which these sciences open to our view, Music comes forward, to soften our hearts and culti- vate our affections by its soothing influences.
The preservation of these arts as a part of the ritual of the Fellow Craft's degree, is another evidence of the antiquity of Freemasonry. These " seven liberal arts," as they were then for the first time called, constituted in the eighth century the whole circle of the sciences. The first three were distinguished by the title of tritium, and the last four by that of quadrivium, and to their acquisition the labours and studies of scholars were di- rected, while beyond them they never attempted to soar.
Mosheim, speaking of the state of literature in the eleventh century, uses the following language : "The seven liberal arts, as they were now styled, were taught in the greatest part of the schools, that were erected in this century for the education of youth. The first stage of these sciences was grammar, which was followed successively by rhetoric and logic. When the dis- ciple, having learned these branches, which were generally known by the name of trivium, extended his ambition further, and was desirous of new improvement in the sciences, he was conducted slowly through the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy), to the very summit of literary fame."*
ASHLAR. " Free stone as it comes out of the quarry." — Bailey. In speculative masonry we adopt the Ashlar in two dif- ferent states, as symbols in the Apprentice's degree. The Rough Ashlar, or stone in its rude and unpolished condition, is emble- matic 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 bis life, he then is represented by the Perfect Ashlar, which, un-
* Hist. Ecclesiast., Cent. xi., p. iiv c. 1, \ 5
ASS— AST 49
der the skilful hands of the workmen, has been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its place in the building.
Oliver says that the Perfect Ashlar should be " a stone of a true die square, which can only be tried by the square and com- passes."* But he admits that some brethren do not consider this form as essential. In American lodges it certainly is not.
ASSEMBLY. The annual meetings of the craft, previous to the organization of Grand Lodges in their present form, were called " General Assemblies." Thus, under the G-rand Master- ship of the Earl of St. Albans, we read of the " Regulations made in G-eneral xlssembly, Dec. 27, 1663."
Anderson says,"j~ that it is written in the Old Constitutions, that " Prince Edwin purchased a free charter of King Athelstane, his brother, for the Freemasons to have among themselves a correc- tion, or a power and freedom to regulate themselves, to amend what might happen to be amiss, and to hold a yearly communica- tion in a G-eneral Assembly." This charter was granted A. D. 926, and in that year the first General Assembly in England was held at the city of York, where due regulations for the govern- ment of the craft were adopted. These regulations of the Assem- bly at York have ever since remained unaltered, and it is from our submitting to their authority that we derive the name we bear of " Ancient York Masons."
ASTRONOMY. The science which instructs us in the laws that govern the heavenly bodies. Its origin is lost in the abyss of antiquity ; for the earliest inhabitants of the earth must have been attracted by the splendour of the glorious firmament above them., and would have sought in the motions of its luminaries for the readiest and most certain method of measuring time. With Astronomy the system of Freemasonry is intimately connected. From that science many of our most significant emblems are borrowed. The lodge itself is a representation of the world \ it
* Landmarks, vol. i., p. 146. f Constitutions, p. 84.
50 ASY— ATH
is adorned with the images of the sun and moon, whose regular- ity and precision furnish a lesson of wisdom and prudence ; its pilars of strength and establishment have been compared to the two columns which the ancients placed at the equinoctial points as supporters of the arch of heaven ; the blazing star which was among the Egyptians a symbol of Anubis or the dog-star, whose rising foretold the overflowing of the Nile, shines in the east ; while the clouded canopy is decorated with the beautiful Pleiades The connection between our order and astronomy is still more manifest in the spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, where, the pure principles of our system being lost, the symbolic instruction of the heavenly bodies gave place to the corrupt Sabean worship of the sun, and moon, and stars — a worship whose influences are seen in all the mysteries of Paganism.
ASYLUM. During the session of a Commandery of Knights Templars, a part of the room is called the asylum ; the word has hence been adopted, by the figure synecdoche, to signify the place of meeting of a Commandery.
ATELIER. {French.') A lodge.
ATHEIST. One who does not believe in the existence of God. Such a creed can only arise from the ignorance of stupidity or a corruption of principle, since the whole universe is filled with the moral and physical proofs of a Creator. He who doep not look to a superior and superintending power as his maker and his judge, is without that coercive principle of salutary fear which should prompt him to do good and to eschew evil, and bis oath can, of necessity, be no stronger than bis word. Masons, looking to the dangerous tendency of such a tenet, have wisely discouraged it, by declaring that no atheist can be admitted to par- ticipate in their fraternity ; and the better to carry this law into effect, every candidate, before passing through any of the cere-
ATH— BAB 51
monies of initiation, is required, publicly and solemnly, to declare his trust in God.
ATHOL MASONS. The Masons who, in 1739, seceded from the authority of the Grand Lodge of England, and established themselves as an irregular body under the name of " Ancient Ma- sons," having succeeded in obtaining the countenance of the Duke of Athol, elected that nobleman, in 1776, their G-rand Master, an office which he uninterruptedly held until 1813, when the union of the two G-rand Lodges took place. In consequence of this long administration of thirty-seven years, the "Ancient Ma- sons" are sometimes called " Athol Masons."
ATTOUCHEMENT. (French.) A grip.
AUGUST. A title bestowed upon the Royal Arch degree, in consequence of the imposing nature of its ceremonies, and the important mysteries it contains.
AUM, AUN, or ON. The Hindoo and Egyptian chief deity See more on this subject in Jehovah.
AXE. See Knight of the Royal Axe.
, B.
BABEL. This word, which in Hebrew means confusion, was the name of that celebrated tower attempted to be built or. the plains of Shinar, A. M. 1775, about one hundred and forty years after the deluge, and which, Holy Writ informs us, was destroyed by a special interposition of the Almighty. The Noachite Masons date the commencement of their order
52 BAB— BAC
from this destruction, (see " Nbachites,") and much tradition- ary information on this subject is preserved in the ineffable degree of "Patriarch Noachite," to which title the reader is referred.
At Babel, 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 know- ledge of his existence, and of the principles of truth upon which masonry is founded. Hence it is that our traditionary ceremonies speak of the lofty tower of Babel as the place where language was confounded and masonry lost.*
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 de- struction of Solomon's Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in the year of the world 3394, the Jews of the tribes of Judah and Ben- jamin, 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 per- mitted them to rebuild their temple under the superintendence of Zerubbabel, the Governor of Judea, and with the assistance of Joshua the High Priest, and Haggai the Scribe.
BACULUS. In ecclesiology, baculus is the name given to the pastoral staff carried by a bishop or abbot, " as symbolical," says Durandus, " of his power to inflict pastoral correction." As an emblem of authority and dignity, it is to bishops what the sceptre is to kings, and hence, it was also used by the heads of confraternities. In this way the baculus, or pastoral staff, came to be a part of the insignia of the Grand Master of the Knights Templars. It is also called, by ecclesiastical writers, pedum,
* For more on this subject, sec Oman.
BAD— BAL 53
which signifies a shepherd's staff, and under the title of " pedum magistrale seu patriarehale," that is to say, "a magisterial or patriarchal staff/' it is described in the u Statuta Gommilitonum Ordinis Tempi!,'' (cap. xxviii. de Vestitu, § 358,) as a part of the vestiture of the Grand Master of the Templars. The Templar pastoral staff is properly a bacillus. Abacus is a wholly improper word, on which, unfortunately, American Masons have recently blundered while resting on the worthless authority of a line in the :; Ivanhoe " of Sir Walter Scott, who must certainly have written abacus while intending to write bacillus. See Abacus.
BADGE OF A MASON. This is the lambskin or white leather apron, which must be worn in all lodges during the hours of labour. See Apron.
BAHKDT'S RITE. This was a rite founded by a masonic charlatan of the name of Bahrdt, about the close of the eigh- teenth century. He opened a lodge at Halle, in Germany, under the name of the " German Union," and succeeded in securing the protection of the Prince of Anhaldt-Bernburg, and the co-operation of twenty-one persons of rank and cha- racter. This rite had six degrees, viz : 1, The Youth ; 2, The Man; 3, The Old Man; 4, The Mesopolyte; 5, The Dioce- san ; 6, The Superior. The Grand Lodge, however, dissolved the fraternity on the ground of their working without a charter, and Bahrdt himself was shortly after imprisoned for writing a corrupt work.
BALLOT. In the election of candidates, lodges have re- course to a ballot of white and black balls. Unanimity of choice, in this case, is always desired and demanded; one blackball only being required to reject a candidate. This is an inherent privilege not subject to dispensation or interference of the Grand Lodge, because, as the ancient constitutions say, " the members of a particular lodge are the best judges of it ;
54 BAL
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 and disperse the lodge, which ought to be avoided by all true and faithful."*
In balloting for a candidate for initiation, every member ia expected to vote No one can be excused from sharing the responsibility of admission or rejection, except by the unanimous consent of the lodge. Where a member has himself no personal 01 acquired knowledge of the qualifications of the candidate, he is bound to give implicit faith to the recommendation of his bre- thren of the reporting committee, who, he has no right to suppose, would make a favourable report on the petition of an unworthy applicant.
With these prefatory remarks, I proceed to a description of the general, and what is believed, to be the most correct usage, in bal- loting for candidates.
The committee of investigation having reported favourably, the Master of the lodge directs the Senior Deacon to prepare the bal- lot-box.f The mode in which this is accomplished is as follows : The Senior Deacon takes the ballot-box, and opening it, places all the white and black balls indiscriminately in one compartment, leaving the other entirely empty. He then proceeds with the box to the Junior and Senior Wardens, who satisfy themselves by an inspection that no ball has been left in the compartment in which the votes are to be deposited. The box in this and the other instance to be referred to hereafter, is presented to the inferioi officer first, and then to his superior, that the examination and decision of the former may be substantiated and confirmed by the higher authority of the latter. Let it, indeed, be remembered,
* See the word Unanimity.
f There ia no necessity for the Master to inquire if it is the pleasure of the lodge to proceed to the election. The by-laws of all lodges requiring that an election should follow the favourable report of the committee, the ballot-box is ordered to be prepared as a matter of course, and in accordance with the con- Btitutional rule.
BAL 55
that in all such cases the usage of masonic circumambulation is to be observed, and that, therefore, we must first pass the Junior's station before we can get to that of the Senior Warden.
These officers having thus satisfied themselves that the box is in a proper condition for the reception of the ballots, it is then placed upon the altar by the Senior Deacon, who retires to his seat. The Master then directs the Secretary to call the roll, which is done by commencing with the Worshipful Master, and proceeding through all the officers down to the youngest mem- ber. As a matter of convenience, the Secretary generally votes the last of those in the room, and then, if the Tiler is a mem- ber of the lodge, he is called in, while the Junior Deacon tiles for him, and the name of the applicant having been told him, he is directed to deposit his ballot, which he does and then retires.
As the name of each officer and member is called, he ap- proaches the altar, and having made the proper masonic salu- tation to the Chair, he deposits his ballot and retires to his seat. The roll should be called slowly, so that at no time should there be more than one person present at the box, for the great object of the ballot being secrecy, no brother should be permitted so near the member voting as to distinguish the colour of the ball he deposits.
The box is placed on the altar, and the ballot is deposited with the solemnity of a masonic salutation, that the voters may be duly impressed with the sacred and responsible nature of the duty they are called on to discharge. The system of vot- ing thus described, is, therefore, far better on this account than that sometimes adopted in lodges, of handing round the box for the members to deposit their ballots from their seats.
The master having inquired of the Wardens if all have voted, then orders the Senior Deacon to "take charge of the ballot-box." That officer accordingly repairs to the altar, and taking possession of the box, carries it, as before, to the Junior Warden, who ex- amines the ballot, and reports, if all the balls are white, that "the
56 BAL
Dox is clear in the South," or, if there is one or more black balls, that "the box is foul in the South." The Deacon then carries it to the Senior Warden, and afterward to the Master, who, of course, make the same report, according to the circumstance, with the necessary verbal variations of "West" and "East."
If the box is dear — that is, if all the ballots are white — the Master then announces that the applicant has been duly elected, and the Secretary makes a record of the fact. But if the box is foid, the subsequent proceedings will depend upon the number of balls, and upon the peculiar by-laws of the lodge in which the ballot has been taken.
The box having been declared to be foul, the Master inspects the number of black balls; if he finds only one, he so states the fact to the lodge, and orders the Senior Deacon again to prepare the' ballot-box. Here the same ceremonies are passed through that have already been described. The balls are removed into one compartment, the box is submitted to the inspection of the War- dens, it is placed upon the altar, the roll is called, the members advance and deposit their votes, the box is scrutinized, and the result declared by the Wardens and Master. If again but one black ball be found, or if on this ballot two black balls are found, or if there were two or more on the first ballot, the Master an- nounces that the petition of the applicant has been rejected, and directs the usual record to be made by the Secretary and the notification to be given to the G-raud Lodge. It is the usage in many lodges, for the Senior Deacon to carry the ballot-box around to the members, instead of placing it on the altar; but the latter is certainly better as being accompanied with more solemnity.
BALUSTRE. All documents issued by the Sovereign In- spectors or Supreme Councils of the 33d degree, Ancient Scotch rite, are called " Balustres," from the French "balustre," a little pillar, in allusion to the fact that laws and edicts were formerly engraved on pillars.
BAN 57
BANNERS. In symbolic masonry, six banners are generally borne in processions, the material of which is white satin or silk, bordered with a blue fringe, and on each of which is inscribed one of the following words : Faith, Hope, Charity, Wisdom, Strength, l>eauty.
In the Royal Arch Chapter, there are four officers who carry banners. The Royal Arch Captain carries a white banner, as ar emblem of that purity of heart and rectitude of conduct which ought to actuate all those who pass the white veil of the sanctuary. The Master of the Third Yeil carries a scarlet banner, emblema- tical of that fervency and zeal which should characterize the pos- sessors of the Royal Arch degree of which it is the appropriate colour. The Master of the Second Veil carries a purple banner, which is emblematic of union, because it is produced by a due mixture of scarlet and blue, the former the colour of Royal Arch and the lat- ter of symbolic masonry, and inculcates harmony betwen these divisions of the craft. The Master of the First Veil carries a blue banner, which is emblematic of universal friendship and benevo- lence, and is the appropriate colour of the first three degrees.
On the tracing board of the Royal Arch degree, as practised in the Chapters of England, are found the banners of the twelve tribes of Israel, which were as follow :
Judah, scarlet, a lion couchant.
Issachar, blue, an ass crouching beneath its burden.
Zebulon, purple, a ship.
Reuben, red, a man.
Simeon, yellow, a sword.
Gad, white, a troop of horsemen.
Ephraim, green, an ox.
Manasseh, flesh-coloured, a vine by the side of a wall.
Benjamin, green, a wolf.
Dan, green, an eagle.
Asher, purple, a cup.
Naphtali, blue, a hind.
We come now to what may be called the General Standard of
58 BAN
Freemasonry. This is a banner belonging peculiarly to the order, as the beauseant did to the Templars, and which may be borne in all processions of the craft, to distinguish them from any other association of men. Its device is nothing but the coat of arms of the order of speculative Freemasons as it was long since adopt- ed, and as it is described by Dermott, in his Ahiman Rezon. In this country this banner has, by some, been improperly supposed to belong exclusively to the Royal Arch, in consequence of Cross having placed the representation of its device in his chart, among the plates which are illustrative of that degree. But it is, in fact, the common property of the order, and may be carried in the proces- sions of a Master's lodge, as well as in those of a Chapter. I refer, for an exemplification of it, to the fortieth in the series of plates given in the Chart of Jeremy Cross. The escutcheon, or shield on the banner, is divided into four compartments or quarters by a green cross, over which a narrower one of the same length of limb, and of a yellow colour, is placed, forming what the heralds call "a cross vert, voided or ;" each of the compartments formed by the limbs of the cross, is occupied by a different device. In the first quarter is placed a golden lion on a field of blue, to re- present the standard of the tribe of Judah; in the second, a block ox on a field of gold, to represent Ephraim ; in the third, a man on a field of gold to represent Reuben; and, in the fourth, a golden eagle on a blue ground, to represent Dan. Over all is placed, as the crest, an ark of the convenant, and the motto is, " Holiness to the Lord."
These were the banners of the four principal tribes, for " when the Israelites marched through the wilderness," says Dr. Ashe, "we find that the twelve tribes had between them four principal banners or standards, every one of which had its particular motto; and each standard also had a distinct sign described upon it. They encamped roi nd about the tabernacle, and on the east side were three tribes under the standard of Judah j on the west, were three tribes under the standard of Ephraim ; on the south, were three tribes under the standard of Reuben ; and, on the north,
BAN— BEA 59
were three tribes under the standard of Dan ; and the standard of Judah was a lion, that of Ephraim an ox, that of Reuben, a man, and that of Dan, an eagle- — whence were framed the hiero- glyphics of cherubim and seraphim to represent the people of Israel."
As the standard or banner of Freemasonry in thus made up of and derived from these banners of the four leading tribes of Israel, it may be interesting to learn what was the symbolic meaning given by the Hebrews to these ensigns. Vatablus quotes a Jewish writer, as saying that the man in the banner of Reuben, signified religion and reason ; the lion, in that of Judah, denoted power ; the ox, in that of Ephraim, represented patience and toilsome la- bour; and the eagle, in that of Dan, betokened wisdom, agility, and sublimity. But although such may have been the emblematic meaning of these devices among the Israelites, the combination of them in the masonic banner is only intended to indicate the Jewish origin of our institution from Solomon, who was the last king of Israel under whom the twelve tribes were united.
BANQUET. The Banquets in English and American masonry do not differ from the convivial meetings of other societies, with the exception, perhaps, that the rule prohibiting the introduction of debates on religious and political subjects, is more rigidly enforced. But in the French lodges, the Banquets are regulated by a par- ticular system of rules, and the introduction of ceremonies which distinguish them from all other social assemblies. The room ia closely tiled, and no attendants, except those who are of the fra- ternity, are permitted to be present.
BAREFOOT. See Dhcalceation.
BEADLE. An officer in a council of Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, corresponding to the Junior Deacon of a symbolio lodge.
60 BEA— BEL
BEAUSEANT. The banner composed of a black and a white horizontal stripe, which was peculiar to the ancient Templars. It bore this inscription : Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed no- mini tuo, da gloriam.
BEAUTY. One of the three principal supports of masonry, the other two being Wisdom and Strength. It is represented by the Corinthian column and the J.-. W.\, because the Corin- thian is the most beautiful and highly finished of the orders, and because the situation of the J.-. W.\ in the S.\ enables him the better to observe that bright luminary which, at its meridian height, is the beauty and glory of the day. H.\ A.-, is also con- sidered as the representative of the column of Beauty which sup- ported the Temple.
BEEHIYE. An emblem of industry appropriated to the third degree. This is a virtue ever held in high esteem among the craft, for our old charges tell us that " all Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holi- days." There seems, however, to be a more recondite meaning connected with this symbol. The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the ancient mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration — of the second birth from death to life. Now in the mysteries a hive was a type of the ark. "Hence," says Faber, " both the diluvian priestesses and the re- generated souls were called bees ; hence bees were feigned to be produced from the carcase of a cow, which also symbolized the ark ; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used both in funeral rites and in the mys- teries ."*
BEL. Bel, Baal, or Bui, is the name of God as worshipped among the Chaldeans and Phenicians. See Jehovah.
• Orig. of Pag. Idol., vol ii. 133.
BEN 61
BENAC. A corrupted form of a Hebrew word signifying "the builder."
BENEFIT FUND. In 1708, a society was established in London, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Moira, and all the other acting officers of the Grand Lodge, whose object was "the relief of sick, aged, and imprisoned bre- thren, and the protection of their widows, children, and orphans." The payment of one guinea per annum entitled every member, when sick or destitute, or his widow and orphans in case of his death, to a fixed contribution.
Benefit funds of this kind have, until very lately, been unknown to the Masons of America, but within a few years several lodges have established a fund for the purpose. The lodge of Strict Observance in the city of New York, and others in Troy, Ball- ston, Schenectady, etc., have adopted Benefit Funds. In 1844, several members of the lodges in Louisville, Kentucky, organized a society under the title of the "Friendly Sons of St. John." Jt is constructed after the model of the English society already mentioned. No member is received after 45 years of age, or who is not a contributing member of a lodge; the per diem allowance to sick members is seventy-five cents ; fifty dollars is appropriated to pay the funeral expenses of a deceased member, and twenty- five for those of a member's wife; on the death of a member a gratuity is given to his family ; ten per cent, of all fees and dues is appropriated to an orphan fund; and it is contemplated, if the funds will justify, to pension the widows of deceased members, if their circumstances require it.
Further reflection and a more careful investigation of the prin- ciples of our order, since the first edition of this work, have con- vinced me that the establishment in lodges of such benefit funds as are described in the last paragraph, are in opposition to the pure system of masonic charity. They have, therefore, been very properly discouraged by several Grand Lodges.
6
62 BEZ— BLU
BEZALEEL. The artificer to whom, with Aholiab, was en- trusted the construction of the Ark of the Covenant and other things pertaining to the tabernacle in the wilderness. They worked under the supervision of Moses, and hence in portions of the American Royal Arch the names of Moses, Aholiab, and ^Bezaleel are conjoined as referring to the Ark of the Covenant.
BIBLE. Emphatically is the Bible called a greater light of masonry, for from the centre 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. See Furniture.
BLACK. TI113 colour is a symbol of grief and mourning. In the degree of Knight Templar it refers to the execution of James de Molay ; in the elu degrees of the Scotch and other rites to the death of tl e chief builder at the temple; and in the Rose Croix to the crucifixion.
BLAZING STAR. The blazing star constitutes one of the ornaments of the lodge. Formerly it was said to be " commemo- rative of the star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Saviour's nativity." But as this allusion, however beautiful, interferes with the universal character of ma- sonry, it is now generally omitted, and the blazing star is said to be an emblem of Divine Providence. In the English ritual it is emblematic of Prudence. Dr. Hemming, quoted by Oliver, says that it refers to the sun "which enlightens the earth with its re- fulgent rays, dispensing its blessings to mankind at large, and giving light and life to all things here below."
BLUE. The appropriate colour of the first three degrees or ancient craft masonry, and has been explained as emblematic of universal friendship and benevolence, instructing us, that in the
BLU— BOO 63
mind of a Mason those virtues should be as extensive as the blue arch of heaven itself.
BLUE MASONRY. The degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason, are called Blue Masonry, and lodges in which they are conferred are called Blue Lodges, be- cause the decorations of these degrees are of this colour.
BOAZ. The name of the left hand pillar that stood at the porch of King Solomon's temple. It is derived from the He- brew 3, b "in," and J J,*, oaz, "strength/' and signifies "in strength." See Pillars.
BONE. This word which is now corruptly pronounced in one syllable is the Hebrew word boneh, PO'D* "builder/' from the verb banah, POD, " to build." It was peculiarly applied, as an epithet, to Hiram Abif, who superintended the construction of the temple as its chief builder.
BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS. The Book of Constitutions is that work in which is contained the rules and regulations of the order, an exposition of the duties of officers, the rights of members, the detail of ceremonies to be used on various occasions, such as consecrations, installations, funerals, etc. ; and, in fine, a summary of all the fundamental principles of masonry. To this book, reference is to be made in all cases, where the bye-laws of the Grand Lodge are silent or not sufficiently explicit.
The earliest notice that we have of any such Constitutions is in a record, written in the reign of Edward IV., which states that Prince Edwin, having assembled the Masons at York, in 926, then framed the English constitutions of masonry from the wri- tings brought there in various languages. These Constitutions continued for a long time to govern the English craft under the name of the "Gothic Constitutions/' but as they were found. at the revival of masonry in the beginning of the eighteenth een-
64 BOO
tury, to be very erroneous and defective — probably from care- lessness or ignorance in their frequent transcription — in Sep- tember, 1721, the Duke of Montagu, who was then Grand Master, ordered Brother James Anderson to digest them "in a new and better method."
Anderson having accordingly accomplished the important task that had been assigned him, in December of the same year, a committee consisting of fourteen learned brethren, was appointed to examine the book, and they, in the March communication of the subsequent year, having reported their approbation of it, it was, after some amendments, adopted by the Grand Lodge, and published in 1723, under the title of "the Book of Constitutions of the Freemasons, containing the History, Charges, Regula- tions, etc., of the Most Ancient and Eight Worshipful Fraternity. For the use of the lodges."
In 1738, a second edition was published, under the superin- tendence of a committee of Grand officers. This was the last edition issued during the life-time of Dr. Anderson; but, in the year 1754, it was resolved "that the Book of Constitutions should be revised, and the necessary alterations and additions made, con- sistent with the laws and rules of masonry." Again, in 17G6, a similar revision took place, under the care of the Grand officers and twenty-one Masters of lodges; and the amendments having been unanimously approved by the Grand Lodge, in January, 1767, the fourth edition was published.
This book is carried in all processions before the Grand Master, on a velvet cushion, and the right of so carrying it is vested in the Master of the oldest lodge — a privilege which arose from the following circumstances. During the reign of Queen Anne, Free- masonry was in a languishing condition, in consequence of the age and infirmities of the Grand Master, Sir Christopher Wren. On his death, and the accession of George the First to the throne, the four old lodges then existing in London, determined to re- vive the Grand Lodge, which had for some years been dormant, and to renew the quarterly communications and the annua1 feast.
BOO 65
This measure they accomplished, and resolved, among other things, that no lodge thereafter should he permitted to act, (the four old lodges excepted,) unless by authority of a charter granted by the Grand Master, with the approbation and consent of the Grand Lodge. In consequence of this, the old Masons in the metropolis vested all their inherent privileges as individuals in the four old lodges, in trust, that they would never suffer the ancient landmarks to be infringed; while, on their part, these bodies consented to extend their patronage to eveiy lodge which should thereafter be regularly constituted, and to admit their Masters and Wardens to share with them all the privileges of the Grand Lodge, that of precedence only excepted. The extension of the order, however, beginning to give to the new lodges a numerical superiority in the Grand Lodge, it was feared they would at length be able, by a majority, to subvert the privileges of the original Masons of England, which had been centied in the four old lodges. On this account, a code of articles was drawn up with the consent of all the brethren, for the future govern- ment of the society. To this was annexed a regulation, binding the Grand Master and his successors, and the Master of every newly constituted lodge, to preserve these regulations inviolable; and declaring that no new regulation could be proposed, except at the third quarterly communication, and requiring it to be publicly read at the annual feast to every brother, even to tl e youngest Apprentice, when the approbation of at least two-thirds of those present should be requisite to render it obligatory. To commemorate this circumstance, it has been customary for the Master of the oldest lodge to attend every grand installation, and taking precedence of all present, the Grand Master excepted, to deliver the Book of Constitutions to the newly installed Grand Master, on his promising obedience to the ancient charges and general regulations.
This book, guarded by the Tiler's sword, constitutes an em- blem in the Master's degree, intended to admonish the Mason
6*
66
BOO— BRE
that he should be guarded in all his words and actions, preserving unsullied the masonic virtues of silence and circumspection which are inculcated in that book.
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 brethren. The passages on which it is opened differ in the different degrees. In this country these passages are as follows : in the first degree, at Psalm cxxxiii ; in the second, at Amos vii. 7, 8 ; in the third, at Ecclesiastes xii. 1-7.
BBEAST PLATE. A piece of embroidery about ten inches square, worn by the Jewish High Priest on his breast, and at- tached by its upper corners to the shoulders, and by its lower to the girdle of the Ephod. It was made of the same rich em- broidered stuff of which the Ephod was. The front of it was set with twelve precious stones, on each of which was engraved the name of one of the twelve tribes. These stones were divided from each other by golden partitions, and set in four rows accord- ing to the following order. It must be remembered that they are to be read according to the Jewish system of writing, from right to left, commencing with the Sardius in the right hand upper corner
Carbuncle, Levi.
Topaz, *
Simeon.
Sardius, Reuben.
Diamond,
* Zebtjltjn.
Sapphire, *
ISSACHAR.
Emerald,
JUDAH.
Amethyst, *
Gad.
Agate,
*
Naphtali.
LiGURE,
Dan.
Jaspkr,
*
Benjamin.
Onyx, *
Joseph.
Bkryl,
*
ASHER.
BRE
G7
The colours of these stones have been described by Biblical naturalist? as follows :
1. The Sardius, or ruby, was of a red colour, with an admix- ture of purple. 2. The Topaz, or modern chrysolite, was pale green, with an admixture of yellow. 3. The Carbuncle was a fiery red. 4. The Emerald was of a beautiful and pure green# 5. The Sapphire, or modern lapis lazuli, was a deep blue, veined with white and spotted with small golden stars. 6. The Dia- mond is perfectly white. 7. The Ligure, or hyacinth, was of dull red, much mixed with yellow. 8. The Agate was of a grey horny ground, spotted with different colours, chiefly of a dusky hue. 9. The Amethyst was of a purple colour, composed of strong blue and deep red. 10. The Beryl, or modern aqua marina, was a pellucid gem of a bluish green. 11. The Onyx was of a bluish white colour, resembling the tint of the human nail. 12. The Jasper was of a beautiful green, sometimes clouded with white, red, or vbIIow.
The following are the Hebraic characters in which the nam^s of the twelve tribes were engraved on these stones, in the same order in which they are arranged in the preceding diagram.
>v?
pj/OB>
prfth
pbs?
-otw
rmrv
-u
•brifij
P
|o^a
C]DV
nt?N
The breast-plate was never to be separated from the priestly garments, and was called the "memorial," because it was de- signed to remind the High Priest how dear the tribes whose
68 BRI-BRO
names it bore should be to his heart. This ornament forms a a part of the vestments of the High Priest in a Royal Arch Chapter.*
BRIGHT. A mason is said to be " bright" who is well ac- quainted 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 the superior knowledge of the history and science of the institution, and many bright masons are therefore not necessarily learned masons, and on the contrary some learned masons are not well versed in the exact phraseology of the ritual. The one knowledge depends on a re- tentive memory, the other is derived from deep research.
BROACHED THURNEL. In the early part of the eigh- teenth century the Broached Thurnel was one of the immovable jewels of an Apprentices' lodge, the other two being the Tar- sel Board and the Rough Ashlar. Oliver is therefore incorrect in saying in his Dictionary, that " it was subsequently called the Rough Ashlar." It is said in the rituals of 1 730 to have been used " for the Entered Apprentice to learn to work upon." When discontinued, its place was supplied by the Perfect Ashlar.
BROKEN COLUMN. Among the Hebrews, columns were used metaphorically, to signify princes or nobles, as if they were the pillars of a state. Thus, in Psalms 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 over- thrown," i. e. when the firm supporters of what is right and good have perished. So the passage in Isaiah xix. 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
* The judges in ancient Egypt wore breast-plates. For more on this sub- ject, see Urim and Thummim.
BRO— BY 69
Masons well know, the emblem of the fall of one of the chief supporters of the craft.
BROTHER. The term which Freemasons apply to each other. Freemasons are brethren, not only by common participa- tion of the human nature, but as professing the same faith, as being jointly engaged in the same labours, and as being united by a mutual covenant or tie, whence they are also emphatically called " Brethren of the Mystic Tie/'
BROTHERLY LOYE, RELIEF AND TRUTH. These words constitute the motto of our order, and the characteristics of our profession. They need no explanation, but they prove that a society which could adopt them, can be founded only on the principles of virtue. One of the ancient charges calls bro- therly love "the foundation and cape stone, the cement and glory of this ancient fraternity."
BURNING BUSH. The burning bush, out of the midst of which the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses at Mount Horeb, is referred to in the ceremonies of Royal Arch Masonry, because it was there that the Tetragrammaton was delivered to the Jewish lawgiver. This was, therefore, the great source of true masonic light, and hence Supreme Councils of the 83d de- gree date their protocols "near the B.\ B.\" or "Burning Bush,,: to intimate that they are in their own rite the exclusive source of all masonic instruction.
BY-LAWS. Every subordinate lodge is permitted to make its own by-laws, provided they do not conflict with the regula- tions of the Grand Lodge, nor with the ancient usages of the fra- ternity But of this, the Grand Lodge is the only judge, and therefore the original by-laws of every lodge, as well as all subse- quent alterations of them, must be submitted to the Grand Lodge for approval and confirmation before they can become valid.
70
CAB
C.
CoVBBALA. The Cabbala is that peculiar science or philoso- phy of the Jews which is occupied in the mystical interpretation of the Scriptures, and in metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity and the spiritual world. As much use is made of these cabbalistic speculations in the higher philosophical degrees of masonry, a brief description of the system will not perhaps be considered irrelevant to the objects of this work.
The Cabbala is of two kinds : theoretical and practical. With the practical Cabbala, which is engaged in the construction of talismans and amulets, we have nothing to do. The. theoretical is divided into the literal and dogmatic. The dogmatic Cabbala is nothing more than the summary of the metaphysical doctrines taught by the Cabbalistic doctors. It is, in other words, the system of Jewish philosophy. The literal is a mystical mode of explaining sacred things by a peculiar use of the letters of words, and is the one which is connected with philosophical and ineffable masonry.
There are three principal branches of the literal Cabbala, which are denominated Gematria, Notaricon, and Temura.
1. Grematria is a mode of contemplating words according to the value of the letters of which they are composed. The Hebrews, iike other ancient nations, having no figures in their language, made use of the letters of their alphabet instead of numbers, each letter having a particular numerical value according to the following table :
Aleph
Beth
Grimel
Daleth
He
Vau
Yod
Caph
Lamed
Mem
Nun
Samech
10
20 30 40 50 60
Koph p 100
Resh -\ 200
Shin jp 300
Tail f| 400
Final Caph *"[ 500
Final Mem Q 600
CAB 71
Zain
?
7
Ain
]f
70
Final Nun ?
700
Cheth
n
8
Pe
£
80
Final Pe f|
800
Teth
ID
9
Tsaddi
if
90
Final Tsaddi T>
900
Any two words, the letters of which have the same numerical value, are mutually convertible, and each is supposed to contain the latent signification of the other. Thus the words in Genesis xlix. 10, " Shiloh shall conie," are supposed to contain a prophecy of the Messiah, because the letters of " Shiloh shall corne," PO*^ ND* and of " Messiah," n*^D? both have the numerical value of 358, according to the above table. It was by Gematria, ap- plied to the Greek language, that we found in the article Abraxas in this work, the identity of Abraxas and Mithras. This is by far the most common mode of applying the Cabbala.
2. Notaricon is a mode of constructing one word out of the initials or finals of many, or a sentence out of the letters of a word, each letter being used as the initial of another word. Thus of the sentence in Deuteronomy xxx. 12, "Who shall go up for us to heaven?" in Hebrew niD'JDtJTT *\$l? H^P* *D tne initiaJ letters of each word are taken to form the word n^'£, "circum- cision," and the finals to form pnJ-p "Jehovah;" hence it is concluded that Jehovah hath shown circumcision to be the way to heaven. Again : th$ six letters of the first word in Genesis PVt^N"0 "m tne beginning," are made use of to foim the ini- tials of six words which constitute a sentence signifying that "In the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the law,"
mm Sans" iSnp'tr cvnbx rusn rrcrx'n
3. Tew.ura is Cabbala by permutation of letters. Sometimes the letters of a word are transposed to form another word, making what is familiarly known as an anagram, or the letters of a word are changed for others according to certain fixed rules of alpha- betical permutation, the 1st letter being placed for the 22d, the 2d for the 21st, the 3d for the 20th, and so on. It is in this way that Babel, ^33 is made out of Sheshach *!&'£', and hence
72 CAB
the Cabbalists say that when Jeremiah used the word Sheshach (xxv. 26) he referred to Babel.
The principal sources of the Cabbala are the two Hebrew books Jesira and Zoliar. Much aid in the study may, however, be derived from Allen's " Modern Judaism/' from Munck's " Melanges de Philosophic Juives et Arabes," and from Franck'a " La Kabbale."
CABIRI, MYSTERIES OF THE. The Cabiri were origi- nally Syrian or Phenician gods, and all that we know about them is to be found in a fragment of Sanconiathon, quoted by Euse- bius, which tells us that they were the children of Sydyk, (whom Faber* and some other authors suppose to be Noah,) and that they were the inventors of ship-building. In the time of Chronos (or Saturn) their descendants, while navigating the sea, ran aground on Mount Casius and there erected a temple.
The worship of the Cabiri was first established in the island of Samothrace, where it may be supposed that these navigators first landed on passing from the continent. Here they founded the mysteries of the Cabiri, which were subsequently celebrated at Thebes and Lemnos, but more especially at Samothrace, whence tlu;y were sometimes called the Samothracian rites. The name of the Cabiri was derived originally from Phenicia, and the word signifies in that language powerful.^ There were four of these gods, Axieros, Axiokersos, Axiokersa, and Cadmillus.J The last had been slain by the three others, and his murder was com- memorated in the secret rites. The aspirant presented himself
* Dissert, on the Mysteries of the Cabiri. Bishop Cumberland thinks Sydyk identical with Shera, a just man, in Hebrew, Sadek.
f Compare the cognate Hebrew, faibir, " to be greater."
$ Some authors suppose that these four gods refer to Noah and his three sons, saved in the ark, anl thus they connect the Samothracian rites with the Arkite worship. See Drummond's Origines, vol. ii. p. 130. The Scholiast on Apoll. Rhod. says their names were Ceres, Proserpine, and Bacchus.
CAB 73
crowned with an olive branch, and girded about the loins with a purple riband or apron. He was placed upon a throne, around which the priests and initiated performed sacred dances. Funeral rites were then enacted, in which the candidate represented Cad- roillus. The hierophants declared that the object of the mys- teries was, to make men just and virtuous. Candidates who had been guilty of any crime, were compelled to confess to a priest, who purified them.
Many persons annually resorted to Samothrace to be initiated into the celebrated mysteries, among whom are mentioned Cad- mus, Orpheus, Hercules, and Ulysses. Jamblichus says, in his life of Pythagoras, that from those of Lemnos that sage derived much of his wisdom. The mysteries of the Cabiri were much respected among the common people, and great care was taken in their concealment. The priests were called Corybantes, and made use of a language peculiar to the rites.*
There is much perplexity connected with this subject, but it is generally supposed that the mysteries were instituted in honour of Atys, the son of Cybele. According to Macrobius, Atys was one of the names of the sun; in confirmation of this, we know that the mysteries were celebrated at the vernal equinox. They lasted three days, during which they represented in the person of Atys, the enigmatical death of the sun in winter, and his re- generation in the spring. In all probability, in the initiation, the candidate passed through a drama, the subject of which waa the violent death of Atys. Candidates on their admission, under- went an examination respecting their previous life, and after being purified and initiated were presented with a purple girdle, which was worn like an apron around their bodies, as an amulet to preserve them against all dangers.
* Larcher says that those who had been admitted to these mysteries, were highly esteemed, as they were supposed to have nothing to apprehend from tempests ; and Plutarc-h tells us, that they who learned the names of the Cabiri, pronounced them slowly, as an auiuJ it to avert calamity.
7
74 CAB— CAG
The mysteries were in existence at Samothrace as late as the eighteenth year of the Christian era, at which time the Emperor G-ermanicus embarked for that island, to be initiated, but wan prevented from accomplishing his purpose by adverse winds.
CABLE TOW. A properly constructed tracing board of t.ie Entered Apprentice is always enclosed within a cord or cable tow, having four tassels placed at the four angles, referring to the four cardinal virtues and their illustrated points, while the cable tow is emblematic of the cord or band of affection which should unite ;he whole fraternity, as in Hosea xi. 4, "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." But there is another and not figurative use of this implement, with which Masons are well ac- quainted.
CAGLIOSTRO. Joseph Balsamo, Marquis of Pelligrini, more commonly known by the title which he assumed at Paris, of Count Cagliostro, was one of the most ingenious imposters that ever lived. He was the author of a work entitled "Maeonnerie Egyptienne," and the founder of a pseudo-masonic system, which he called the rite of Egyptian masonry. He established this rite, (the idea of whicli he had obtained from some manuscripts acci- dentally purchased at London,) at first, in Courland, in the year 1779, whence he afterward introduced it into Germany, France, and England. For the purpose more speedily of captivating the credulous and the imaginative, he united with this form of nia- nonry, the visionary schemes of Alchemy, declaring that one of the objects of initiation was the possession of the philosopher's ?tone and the elixir of immortality.
Both men and women were admitted into the lodges of the Egyptian rite, though the ceremonies for each sex were slightly lifferent, and the lodges for their reception were entirely distinct. The system was called a hierarchy, and was divided into three degrees, Egyptian Apprentice, Egyptian Fellow-craft, and Egyptian Master.
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Cagliostro, after having been banished from France by the go- vernment, and compelled to fly from England by his creditors, was finally arrested at Rome by the Inquisition, in 1789, on a charge of practising the rites of Freemasonry, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. He was never afterwards heard of, and is supposed to have died, or to have been put to death, during his incarceration.
CALENDAR, MASONIC. Freemasons, in affixing dates to their official documents, never make use of the common calendar or vulgar era, but have one peculiar to themselves, which, how- ever, varies in the different rites.
Masons of the York and French rites, that is to say, the Masons of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, and America, date from the creation of the world, calling it " Anno Lucis," which they abbreviate A.-. L.\, signifying in the year of light. Thus with them the year 1850 is A.-. L.\ 5850. This they do, not because they believe Freemasonry to be coeval with the creation, but with a symbolic reference to the light of masonry.
In the Scotch rite, the era also begins from the date of the creation, but Masons of that rite, using the Jewish chronology, would call the year 1850 A.-. M.\ or Anno Mundi (in the year of the world) 5610. They sometimes use the initials A.-. H.\, signifying Anno Hebraico, or, in the Hebrew year. They have also adopted the Hebrew months, and the year therefore ends with them on the 16th of September, the new year beginning ol the 17th of the same mouth, which is the first of Tisri.
The Masons of the rite of Mizraim, which is practised in France, adopt the chronology of Archbishop Usher, and adding four years to the usual computation of the age of the world, would make the year 1850 A.-. L.\ 5851.
Masons of the York rite begin the year on the first of January, but in the French rite it commences on the first of March, and instead of the months receiving their usual names, they are desig-
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nated numerically, as first, second, third, &c. Thus the 1st Janu- ary, 1850, would be styled in a French masonic document, the " 1st day of the 11th masonic month, Anno Lucis, 5850." The French sometimes, instead of the initials A.-. L.\, use Uan de la V.-. L.\, or, Vraie Lumiere, that is, "Year of True Light."
Koyal Arch Masons commence their era with the year in which Zerubbabel began to build the second temple, which was 530 years before Christ. Their style for the year 1850 is, therefore, A.-. Inv.\, that is, Anno Inventionis, or, in the Year of the Dis- covery, 2380.
Royal and Select Masters very often make use of the common masonic date, Anno Lucis, but properly they should date from the year in which Solomon's Temple was completed, and their Style would then be, Anno Depositionis, or in the Year of the Deposite, and they would date the year 1850 as 2850.
Knights Templars use the era of the organization of their order in 1118. Their style for the year 1850 is A.-. O.*., Anno Ordinis, or, in the Year of the Order, 732.
I subjoin, for the convenience of reference, the rules for dis- covering these different dates.
1. To find the Ancient Craft date. Add 4000 to the vulgar era. Thus 1850 and 4000 are 5850.
2. To find the date of the Scotch rite. Add 3760 to the vul- gar era. Thus 1850 and 3760 are 5610. After September add one year more.
3. To find the date of Royal Arch Masonry. Add 530 to the vulgar era. Thus 530 and 1850 are 2380.
4. To find the Royal and Select Masters' date. Add 1000 to the vulgar era. Thus 1000 and 1850 are 2850.
5. To find the Knights Templar's date. Subtract 1118 from the vulgar era. Thus 1118 from 1850 is 732.
The following will show, in one view, the date of the year 1850 in all the branches of the order:
Year of the Lord, A. D. 1850 — Vulgar era.
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Year of the Light, A.-. L.\ 5850 — Ancient Craft Masonry. Year of the World, A.-. M.\ 5610 — Scotch rite. Year of the Discovery, A.-. I.-. 2880 — Royal Arch Masonry. Year of the Deposite, A.-. Dep.\ 2850 — Royal and Select Masters.
Year of the Order, A.-. 0.-. 732— Knights Templars.
CANDIDiVTE. 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 re- ceived in his breast. From the colour of his robe or toga Can- dida, he was called cand idatus, whence our English word candi- date. The derivation will serve to remind our brethren of the purity of conduct and character which should distinguish all those who are candidates for admission into our order. For the constitutional qualification of masonic candidates, see Admission.
CAPE STONE. Properly Cope Stone, which see.
CAPTAIN GENERAL. The third officer in a Command- ery of Knights Templars. He presides over the Commandery in the absence of his superiors, and is one of its representatives in the Grand Commandery. His duties are to see that the coun- cil chamber and asylum are duly prepared for the business of the meetings, and to communicate all orders issued by the Grand Council. His station is on the left of the Eminent Commander, and his jewel is a level surmounted by a cock, the 3n blem of courage.
CAPTIVITY. Solomon having erected and dedicated a tem- ple to Jehovah, died in the year of the world 3029. His domi nions did not long retain their integrity, for during the reign of his son and successor, Rehoboam, ten of the tribes revolted against his authority; and thus the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel were established, the temple remaining in the p
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sion of the former. After a series of events unnecessary to be narrated here, the city of Jerusalem was attacked by Nebuchad- nezzar, and after a year's siege, was surrendered at midnight, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, to Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guards. Nebuzaradan, having rifled the temple of its sacred vessels and its two pillars at the entrance of the porch, set it and the city on fire, on the tenth day of the fifth month, corresponding to the latter part of July; and con- veyed those of the people who had escaped the sword, as captives to Babylon. Here they remained in servitude, until they were released by Cyrus, king of Persia, who, in the first year of his reign, published that famous decree which liberated the Hebrew captives, and permitted them to rebuild " the city and house of the Lord."* Many interesting circumstances in relation to this captivity, and its termination, are interspersed through some of the higher degrees, such as the Royal Arch, the Red Cross Knight, Knight of the East, and to parts of Jerusalem.
CARDINAL VIRTUES. These are Prudence, Fortitude, Temperance, and Justice. They are dilated on in the first de- gree ; and the practice of them urged upon the candidate, by certain striking s'.lusions Prince of the ceremonies of initiation.
CARPET. A painting or diagram, containing the emblems of a particular degree. The same as flooring or tracing board. It is called a carpet, because the larger ones used in a lodge are generally laid upon the ground for the purposes of instruction.
CASSIA. Sometimes improperly used for Acacia.
CATENARIAN ARCH. If a rope be suspended loosely by its two ends, the curve into which it falls is called a catenarian
* Lightfoot says that the seventy years of the captivity began in the third year of Jehoiakim and terminated in the first year of Cyrus, which ho dates Anno Mundi 3470. Harmony of the F
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curve, and this inverted forms the catenarian arch, which is said to be strongest of all arches. As the form of a symbolic lodge is an oblong square, that of a Royal Arch Chapter, according to the English ritual is a catenarian arch.
CAUTION. It was formerly the custom to bestow upon an Entered Apprentice, on his initiation, a new name which was "caution." The custom is now very generally discontinued, although the principle which it inculcated should never be for- gotten.
CENTRE, OPENING ON THE. In the ritual of the Eng- lish lodges, it is usual for the W.\ M.\ when he has opened a lodge in the third degree, to declare it duly " opened on the cen- tre/' This practice is thus explained: "None but Masters' Lodges are so opened. Apprentice and Craft Lodges are mixed lodges, — the first including brethren of the three degrees — some higher and some lower in masonry than others, consequently there is not a masonic equality among them. The Master Mason i» under a stronger obligation to his brother of an equal degree, than to one of an inferior degree. On the contrary, in a lodge of Masters, all are equal, all stand upon the same level, all are equally near and equally distant to each other — as the central point of the circle is equally near and equally distant to its cir- cumference. Hence, we say a Master's lodge is opened on the centre " — Moore's Mag. v iii. p 356. An attempt has been made in the "Trestle Board," published under the sanction of the late Baltimore Masonic Convention, to introduce the custom into the American lodges. It has, however, been very gener- ally rejected.
CEPHAS. A Syriac word signifying a rock or stone. In the degree of Royal Master, it is used in reference to the cubical stone of masonry.
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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 misunderstoood. 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. A stranger, however, having been tried and proved by a more unerring standard, his certificate then properly comes in as an auxiliary testimonial, and will be permitted to afford good evi- dence of his correct standing in his lodge at borne ; for no body of Masons, true to the principles of their order, would grant sucb 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's certificate be in general required as collateral evidence of worthiness to visit, or receive aid, its acci- dental absence, which may arise in various ways, as from fire, captivity, or shipwreck, should not debar a strange brother from the rights guaranteed to 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 lo Ige to hr a worthy brother."*
Since the publication of the first edition of this work, the Cer- tificate system has been warmly discussed by the Grand 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 Assem-
* Order of the Grand Lodge of New York, June 8, 1843.
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bly 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 Free-mason 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."
CHAIN, MYSTIC. To form the mystic chain is for the brethren to make a circle, holding each other by the hands, as in surrounding a grave, &c. Each brother crosses his arms in front of his body, so as to give his right hand to his left hand neigh- bour, and his left hand to his right hand neighbour. The French call it cliaine d'uninn.
CHALK, CHARCOAL AND CLAY. By these three sub- stances, are beautifully symbolized the three qualifications for the servitude of an Entered Apprentice.
CHAMBER OF REFLECTION. In the French and Scotch 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 sombre appearance, and the gloomy emblems with which it is furnished, are calculated to pro- duce. It is also used in the degree of Knight Templar for a similar purpose.
CHANCELLOR. An officer in a Council of Knights of the Red Cross, corresponding in some respects to the Senior Warden \>f a symbolic lodge.
CHAPITER. An ornamental finish to the top of a pillar.
CHAPLAIN. The office of chaplain of a lodge is one which
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is not recognized in the ritual of this country, although often conferred by courtesy.
CHAPTER. A convocation of Royal Arch Masons is called a Chapter. In England and Ireland, Royal Arch Masonry is con- nected with and under the government of the Grand Lodge j but in America and Scotland, the jurisdictions are separate.* Here, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is empowered to give the preparatory degrees of Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master; although, of course,theChapter,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 " Coun- cils of Royal and Select Masters." The presiding officers of a Chapter are the High Priest, King, and Scribe, who are, respect- ively, representatives of Joshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggai. In the English Chapters, these officers are generally styled either by the founders' names as above, or as 1st, 2d, and 3d Principals. Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in this country, 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 the order, throughout the Union. The convocations of several of the ineffable degrees are also called Chapters. See Royal Arch.
CHAPTER, GRAND. A Grand Chapter consists of the High Priests, Kings, and Scribes, for the time being, of the seve- ral Chapters under its jurisdiction, and of the Past Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes of the said Grand Chapter. Its organization differs from that of a Grand Lodge : Past High Priests not being eligible to a seat, after the
* Formerly in this country, Chapters were chartered hyand under the o^n- trol of Grand Lodges.
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expiration of their time of service, as Past Masters are in the Grand Lodge; unless they shall have served as Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings or Scribes. Grand Chapters have the sole government and superintendence, (under the Gene- ral Grand Chapter,) of the several Royal Arch Chapters, and Lodges of Most Excellent, Past and Mark Masters, within their several jurisdictions.
Until the year 1797, there was no organization of Grand Chapters in the United States. Chapters were held under the authority of a Master's warrent, although the consent of a neigh- bouring Chapter was generally deemed expedient. But in 1797, delegates from several of the Chapters in the Northern States assembled at Boston, for the purpose of deliberating on the ex- pediency of organizing a Grand Chapter, for the government and regulation of the several Chapters within the said States. This Convention prepared an address to the Chapters in New York and New England, disclaiming the power of any Grand Lodge to exercise authority over Royal Arch Masons, and declaring it ex- pedient to establish a Grand Chapter. In consequence of this address, delegates from most of the States above mentioned, met at Hartford, in January, 1798, and organized a Grand Chapter, formed and adopted a constitution, and elected and installed their officers. This example was quickly followed by other parts of the Union j and Grand Chapters now exist in nearly all the States.
CHAPTER, GENERAL GRAND. The General (hand Chapter of the United States was organized in 1806, and meets tri- ennially; it consists of the Grand and Deputy Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes, for the time being, of the several State Grand Chapters, and of the Past General Grand High Priests, Deputy General Grand High Priests, Kings, and Scribes of the said General Grand Chapter.* It exercises a general supervisory
* By an amendment to the Constitution adopted in 1S53, Fast Genera] 3 rand Officers are no longer ex officio members.
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authority over the State Grand Chapters, and immediate juris- diction in all States or Territories where a State Grand Chapter has not been established.
CHARGES. The fraternity had long been in possession of many records, containing the ancient regulations of the order; when, in 1722, the Duke of Montague being Grand Master of England, the Grand Lodge finding fault with their antiquated arrangement, it was directed that they should be collected, and after being properly digested, be annexed to the Book of Consti- tutions, then in course of publication under the superintendence of Brother James Anderson. This was accordingly done, and the document now to be found in all the Ahiman Rezons, under the title of "The old Charges of the Free and Accepted Masons," constitutes, by universal consent, a part of the fundamental law of our order. The charges are divided into six general heads of duty, as follows : 1. Concerning God and religion. 2. Of the civil magistrate, supreme and subordinate. 3." Of lodges. 4. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows, and Apprentices. 5. Of the man- agement of the Craft in working. 6. Of behaviour under differ- ent circumstances, and in various conditions. These charges contain succinct directions for the proper discharge of a Mason's duties, in whatever position he may be placed ; and from them have been abridged, or by them suggested, all those well known directions found in our Monitors, which Masters are accustomed to read to candidates, on their reception into the different de- grees, and which have, therefore, also been denominated charges. The word, however, in strictness and to avoid confusion, ought to have been confined to the Old Charges above alluded to.*
CHARITY. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and
* I have omitted the republication of these charges in the present edition, since they have now become accessible to every Mason, by their insert! >n in several modern works on Freemasonry.
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of angels, and have not charity, I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge, and have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am no- thing." (1 Corinth, xiii. 1, 2.) Such was the language of an eminent apostle of the Christian church, and such is the senti- ment that constitutes the cementing bond of Freemasonry. Charity is the chief corner-stone of our temple, and upon it is to be erected a superstructure of all the other virtues, which make the good man and the good Mason. The charity, however, of which our order boasts, is not alone that sentiment of commisera- tion, which leads us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations. Like the virtue described by the apostle, already quoted, its ap- plication is more noble and more extensive. " It suffereth long and is kind." The true Mason 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 con- fined 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 * brothei, and in every land a home.
CHARLES XII., ORDER OF. An order of knighthood instituted in 1811 by Charles XII., King of Sweden, and which was to be conferred only on the principal dignitaries of the ma- sonic institution in his dominions. In the manifesto establishing the order, the king says: — "To give to this society, (the masonic) \ proof of our gracious sentiments toward it, we will and ordain that its first dignitaries to the number which we may determine,
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shall in future be decorated with the most intimate proof of our confidence, and which shall be for them a distinctive mark of the highest dignity." The number of knights are 27, all masons, and the King of Sweden is the perpetual Grand Master.
CHERUBIM. The second order of the angelic hierarchy, the first being the seraphim. The two cherubim that overtopped the mercy-seat or covering of the ark, in the holy of holies, were placed there by Moses, in obedience to the orders of God : " And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold,^of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And the cheru- bim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy- seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be." (Exod. xxv., 17, 19.) It was between these cherubim, that the shekioah or divine presence rested, and from which issued ths Bathkol or voice of God. Of the form of these cherubim, we are ignorant; Josephus says, that they resembled no known creature, but that Moses made them in the form in which he saw them about the throne of God; others, deriving their ideas from what is said of them by Ezekiel, Isaiah, and St. John, describe them as having the face and breast of a man, the wings of an eagle, the belly of a lion, and the legs and feet of an ox, which three animals, with man, are the symbols of strength and wisdom.
CHIEF OF THE TABERNACLE. The twenty-third de- gree in the Ancient Scotch Bite. It commemorates the institu- tion of the order of the priesthood in Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar. Its officers are three, a Sovereign Sacrificer and two High Priests, and the members of the "Hierarchy," as the lodge is styled, are called Levites. The apron is white, lined with deep scarlet and bordered with red, blue and purple riband. A gold chandelier of seven branches is painted on the centre, and a violet-coloured myrtle on the flap. The jewel, which is a thu- rible, is worn from a broad yellow, purple, blue and scarlet sash, from the left shoulder to the right hip. *
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CHISEL. One of the working tools of a Mark Master, and emblematic of the effects of education on the human mind. For, as the artist, by the aid of this instrument, gives form and regu- larity 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. The chisel is specu- latively to the Mark Master what the Ashlar is to the Entered Apprentice.
In the English ritual, the chisel is one of the working tools of the Entered Apprentice, with the same emblematic signification as we give to it in the Mark Master's degree.
CHIVALRY. Although Freemasonry and the institution of Chivalry are not identical, yet we are permitted, from a variety of considerations, to infer that the latter was a branch of the former. And even if we should not come to this conclusion, the close connection which, at the present day, exists between some of the orders of chivalry and the order of Freemasonry, will au- thorize us in devoting a few words to a brief examination of this venerable institution.
The origin of chivalry is involved in very great obscurity Almost every author who has written on this subject, has adopted an hypothesis of his own. Some derive the inst tution from the equestrian order of ancient Rome, while others trace it to the tribes who, under the name of Northmen, about the ninh cen- tury, invaded the southern parts of Europe. Warburton ascribes the origin of chivalry to the Arabians; Pinkerton, Mallet and Percy, to the Scandinavians. Clavel derives it from the secret societies of the Persians, which were the remains of the mysteries of Mithras.
Chivalry, like Freemasonry, was a ceremonial institution, and its ceremonies were highly symbolical in their character. It was divided into three degrees : that of Page, which might answer to our Apprentice; of Esquire, similar to our Fellow Craft; and of Knight, which was equivalent to our Master. The education of
88 cm
the page was conducted with the greatest care. He was confided to the charge of some noble dame, who inculcated an unlimited defereuet to the female sex, and taught bim to appreciate the duties and honours of the profession in which he was about to embark. When arrived at a proper age, which was generally that of fourteen, he was presented at the altar, where the priest, having consecrated a sword, suspended it from his shoulder, by which simple ceremony, he was advanced to the second degree of chivalry, and became an Esquire. From this time, he was attached to the person of a knight, and becoming the sharer of his toils and dangers, was still further instructed in his duties. Having served a probationary term in these subordinate degrees, he was, at length, if found worthy, promoted to the honour of knighthood, which was the third degree, and the one in which the knowledge of the mysteries was conferred. The day before the ceremony of installation, was passed by the novice in fasting, and the night in a church, prostrated at the foot of the altar, and in the midst of profound darkness. The next day he knelt be- fore the knight, who was to receive him, and took, between his hands, the solemn obligation, always to fly to the assistance of the oppressed, and to sacrifice himself for the honour and defence of the mysteries of chivalry. The knight then girded the candi- date with a sword, struck him on the neck with his own, whk'h act was called the accolade, kissed his cheeks and forehead, and gave him, with the open palm of his hand, a gentle slap, the last- he was ever to receive without resentment. He then arose, and was clothed with the various pieces of his armour, the emblematic sense of which was explained to him.
The formulary of this part of the reception has been ' pre- served,* and furnishes abundant evidence of the symbolic cha- racter of the institution. The sword which he received was called " the arms of mercy," and he was told to conquer his ene- mies by mercy rather than by force of arms. Its blade was two-
* La Roque, Traiti de la Noblesse.
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edged, to remind him that he must maintain chivalry and justice, and contend only for the support of these two chief pillars of the temple of honour. The lance represented Truth, because truth, like the lance, is straight. The coat of mail was the symbol of a fortress erected against vice, for, as castles are surrounded by walls and ditches, the coat of mail is closed in all its parts, and defends the knight against treason, disloyalty, pride, and every other evil passion. The rowels of the spur were given to urge the possessor on to deeds of honour and virtue. The shield, which he places betwixt himself and his enemy, was to remind him that the knight is as a shield interposed between the prince and the people, to preserve peace and tranquility.
After the reception, the knight was exhibited with great pomp before the people. A banquet, followed by the bestowal of largesses and alms, concluded the ceremonies. The knights were in possession of signs of recognition known only to themselves,* and were also united by a system of mysteries, allusions to which will often be found in the allegories that we meet with in the romances of chivalry. The greater part of the stories of Turpin and the other old romancers is filled with astronomical allusions applied to Charlemagne, and indeed this prince and his twelve paladins ought, says Clavel, to be considered in these legend?, as the sun and the twelve genii or signs of the twelve palaces of the zodiac.
CHRIST, ORDER OF. When the Knights Templars were overthrown throughout Europe, they were protected in Portugal, and converted by the sovereign into a new order, called the Order of Christ, and the secret part of the ritual was abolished. A masonic order of the same name was at one time established in Paris by a Portuguese.
CIRCLE. See Point within a Circle.
* Clavel Hist. Pitt, de la Franc-Ma on, p. 354. 8*
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CIRCUMAMBULATION. Circumambulation, or a proces- sion around the altar, always formed a part of the ancient reli- gious ceremonies. In Greece, the priests and the people walked thrice round the altar during the sacrifice, and sung a sacred hymn. On these occasions, the procession moved according to the course of the sun, and a hymn is still preserved in the wri- tings of Callimachus, which was chanted by the priests of Apollo, at Delos, and the substance of which was, "we imitate the ex- ample of the sun and follow his benevolent course." The Druids used the same ceremonies, and always made three turns round the altar, accompanied by all the worshippers. In some parts of Britain, this practice continued to be observed for ages after the destruction of the Druidical religion, and Martin, in his De- scription of the Western Islands, written not a century ago, tells us that " in the Scottish isles the people never come to the an- cient sacrificing and fire-hallowing cairns, but they walk three times round them, from east to west, according to the course of the sun. This sanctified tour, or round by the south, is called Deiseal, from Deas or Deis, the right hand, and Soil or Sul, the sun; the right hand being ever next the heap or cairn."
Oliver says that in levelling the foot-stone of the temple, King Solomon and the twelve tribes circumambulated Mount Moriah three times in jubilee procession.
CIRCUMSPECTION. A necessary watchfulness s recom- mended to every man, but in a Mason it becomes a positive duty, and the neglect of it constitutes a heinous crime. On this sub jcct, the Old Charges 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 imi- tated ; and sometimes you shall divert a discourse and manage it prudently for the honour of the Worshipful Fraternity." — Old Charges, VI. 4.
CLANDESTINE. Not legal. A body of Masons uniting in
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a lodge without the consent of a Grand Lodge, or although origi- nally legally constituted, continuing to work after its charter has been revoked, is styled a " Clandestine Lodge," and its members are called " Clandestine Masons." With clandestine lodges or Masons, regular Masons are forbidden to associate, or converse on masonic subjects.
CLAY GROUND. In the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredatha, Hiram Abif cast all the sacred vessels of the temple, as well as the pillars of the porch. This spot was about 35 miles in a north-east direction from Jerusalem, and it is supposed that Hiram selected it for his foundry, because the clay which abound- ed there was, by its great tenacity, peculiarly fitted for making moulds. The masonic tradition on this subject is sustained by the authority of Scripture. See 1 Kings vii. 42, and 2 Chron. iv. 17.
CLEFTS OF THE ROCKS. The whole of Palestine is very mountainous, and these mountains abound in deep clefts or caves, which were anciently places of refuge to the inhabitants in time of war, and were often used as lurking places for robbers. It is, therefore, strictly in accordance with geographical truth that the statement, in relation to the concealment of certain per- sons in the clefts of the rocks, is made in the third degree.
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 every thing should be performed with order and precision, so that no brother shall go away dissatisfied. From the very nature «f our constitution, a lodge cannot properly be adjourned. It must either be closed in due form, or the brethren called off to refreshment. But an adjournment on motion, as in other so- cieties, is unknown to our order. The Master can, alone, dismiss the brethren, and that dismission must take place after a settled
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usage. In Grand Lodges, which meet for several days succes- sively, the session is generally continued from day to day, by calling to refreshment at the termination of each day's sitting.
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 dis- pensed with, except on public occasions. This costume is of ancient date, for, in an indenture of covenants made in the reign of Henry the Sixth, of England, " between the church wardens of a parish in Suffolk and a company of Freemasons, the latter stipulate that each man should be provided with a pair of white gloves and a white apron, and that a lodge, properly tyled, should be erected at the expense of the parish, in which they were to carry on their works." — See Quarterly Review, Vol.