III. Class.— 13, Knight Adept; 14, Elect of Truth.

This rite, at one time, had several lodges in various parts of France.
PERPENDICULAR. In a geometrical sense, that which is upright and erect, leaning neither one way nor another. In a figurative and symbolic sense, it conveys the signification of Jus- Lite, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance. Justice, that leans
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to no side but that of Truth ; Fortitude, that yields to no ad- verse attack Prudence, that ever pursues the straight path of integrity; and Temperance, that swerves not for appetite nor passion. See Plumb.
PERSECUTIONS. I enter on the history of the persecu- tions to which our order has been subjected, with a reluctance that I have not felt in the other portions of this work. The re- cord of the follies and the crimes of his race, furnish no pleasant theme to the historian. But truth summons me to the task, odious though it be, of showing that masonry, virtuous as are its principles, charitable as are its objects, and instructive as are its ceremonies, has, nevertheless, been repeatedly exposed to the blinded rage of political hostility, or of religious bigotry.
One of the first persecutions to which masonry, in its present organization, was subjected, occurred in the year 1735, in Hol- land. On the 16th of October, of that year, a crowd of igno- rant fanatics whose zeal had been enkindled by the denunciations of some of the clergy, broke into a house in Amsterdam, where a lodge was accustomed to be held, and destroyed all the furni- ture and ornaments of the lodge. The States General, yielding to the popular excitement, or rather desirous of giving no occa- sion for its action, prohibited the future meetings of the lodges. One, however, continuing, regardless of the edict, to meet at a private house, the members were arrested and brought before the Court of Justice. Here, in the presence of the whole city, the Masters and Wardens defended themselves with great dexterity • and while acknowledging their inability to prove the innocence of their institution by a public exposure of their secret doctrines, they freely offered to receive and initiate any person in the confi- dence of the magistrates, and who could then "give them infor mation upon which they might depend, relative to the true de- signs of the institution. The proposal was acceded to, and the town clerk was chosen. He was immediately initiated, and his report so pleased his superiors, that all the magistrates and pnn-
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cipal persons of the city became members and zealous patrons of the order.
In France, the fear of the authorities that the Freemasons concealed, within the recesses of their lodges, designs hostile to the government, gave occasion to an attempt, in 1737, on the part of the police, to prohibit the meeting of the lodges. But this unfavourable disposition did not long continue, and the last instance of the interference of the government with the proceed- ings of the masonic body, was in June 1745, when the members of a lodge, meeting at the Hotel de Soissons, were dispersed, their furniture and jewels seized, and the landlord amerced in a penalty of three thousand livres.
The persecutions in Grermany were owing to a singular cause. The malice of a few females had been excited by their disap- pointed curiosity. A portion of this disposition they succeeded in communicating to the Empress, Maria Theresa, who issued an order for apprehending all the Masons in Vienna, when assembled in their lodges. The measure was, however, frustrated by the good sense of the Emperor, Joseph L, who was himself a Mason, and exerted his power in protecting his brethren.
The persecutions of the church in Italy, and other Catholic countries, have been the most extensive and most permanent. On the 28th of April, 1738, Pope Clement XII. issued the famous bull against Freemasons, whose authority is still in ex- istence. In this bull, the Roman Pontiff says, " We have learned, and public rumor does not permit us to doubt the truth of the report, that a certain society has been formed, under the name of Freemasons, into which persons of all religions and all sects are indiscriminately admitted, and whose members have established certain laws which bind themselves to each other, and which, in particular, compel their members, under the severest penalties, by virtue of an oath taken on the Holy Scriptures, to preserve an inviolable secrecy in relation to every thing that passes in their meetings. " The bull goes on to declare, that these socie- ties have become suspected by the faithful, and that they are
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hurtful to the tranquillity of the state and to the safety of tlwi soul ; and after making use of the now thread-bare argument, that if the actions of Freemasons were irreproachable, they would not so carefully conceal them from the light, it proceeds to enjoin all bishops, superiors, and ordinaries, to punish the Free- masons " with the penalties which they deserve, as people greatly suspected of heresy, having recourse, if necessary, to the secular arm/'*
What this delivery to the secular arm means, we are at no loss to discover, from the interpretation given to the bull by Cardinal FLrao, in his edict of publication in the beginning of the follow- ing year; namely, u that no person shall dare to assemble at any lodge of the said society, nor be present at any of their meetings, under pain of death, and confiscation of goods, the said penalty to be without hope of pardon."*)"
The bull of Clement met in France with no congenial spirits to obey it.. On the contrary, it was the subject of universal condemnation as arbitrary and unjust, and the parliament of Paris positively refused to enrol it. But in other Catholic coun- tries it was better respected. In Tuscany the persecutions were unremitting. A man named Crudeli, was arrested at Florence, thrown into the dungeons of the inquisition, subjected to torture, and finally sentenced to a long imprisonment on the charge of having furnished an asylum to a masonic lodge. The Grand Lodge of England, upon learning the circumstances, obtained his enlargement and sent him pecuniary assistance. Francis de
* As late as 1802, in Austria, and the Ecclesiastical States, all public func- tionaries were compelled, before their installation, to declare upon oath that they were not members of the order of Freemasons.
■j- Clavel gives the original of this most merciful interpretation. I quote it, lest the severity of the penalty should throw a doubt upon the correctness of my translation, which my Italian readers may easily verify. "Che nessuno ardisca di radunarsi e congregarsi e di aggregarsi, in luogo alcuno, sotto le $udette societa, ne di trovarsi presente a tali radunanze, sotta pena della moru e eonfiscazione de beni, da incorrersi irrenaifibilmente, senza speranza di grazia.
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Lorraine, who had been initiated at the Hague, in 1731, soon after ascended the grand ducal throne, and one of the first acts of his reign was to liberate all the Masons who had been incai- cerated by the inquisition, and still further to evince his respect for the order, he personally assisted in the constitution of several lodges at Florence, and in other cities of his dominions.
The other sovereigns of Italy were, however, more obedient to the behests of the holy father, and persecutions continued to rage throughout the peninsula. Nevertheless, masonry continued to flourish, and in 1751, thirteen years after the emission of the bull of prohibition, lodges were openly in existence in Tuscany, at Naples, and even in the " eternal city" itself.
The priesthood, whose vigilance had abated under the influence of time, became once more alarmed, and an edict was issued in 1751, by Benedict XIV., who then occupied the papal chair, renewing and enforcing the bull which had been fulminated by Clement.
This, of course, renewed the spirit of persecution. In Spain, one Tournon, a Frenchman, was convicted of practising the rites of masonry, and after a tedious confinement in the dungeons of the inquisition, he was finally banished from the kingdom.
In Portugal, at Lisbon, John Coustos, a native of Switzerland, was still more severely treated. He was subjected to the torture, and suffered so much that he was unable to move his limbs for three months. Coustos, with two companions of his reputed crime, was sentenced to the galleys, but was finally released by the interposition of the English ambassador. The work of Cous- tos, in which he recounts the circumstances of his imprisonment and trial, is now before me, and the details of the tortures to which he was subjected, in the hope of extorting the secrets of masonry from him, inspire the most tender pity for his suffer- ings, and the most unqualified admiration of his fortitude and fidelity.
But the persecutions of the order were not confined to Ca- tholic countries. In 1745, the Council of Berne, in Switzerland,
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issued a decree prohibiting under the severest penalties, the ap semblages of Freemasons. In 1757, in Scotland, the Synod of Sterling adopted a resolution debarring all adhering Freemasons from the ordinances of religion. And, as if to prove that fanati- cism is everywhere the same, in 1748 the Divan at Constanti- nople caused a masonic lodge to be demolished, its jewels and furniture seized, and its members arrested. They were dis- charged upon the interposition of the English minister, but the government prohibited the introduction of the order into Turkey. Our own country has not been free from the blighting influ- ence of this demon of fanaticism. But the exciting scenes of anti-masonry are too recent to be treated by the historian with coolness or impartiality. The political party to which this spirit of persecution gave birth, was the most abject in its principles, and the most unsuccessful in its efforts, of any that our times have seen. It has passed away; the clouds of anti-masonry have been, we trust, forever dispersed, and the bright sun of masonry, once more emerging from its temporary eclipse, is beginning to bless our land with the invigorating heat and light of its meridian rays.
PERSIAN PHILOSOPHIC RITE. A rite attempted to be established in France about the year 1819. It consisted of seven degrees, as follows : — 1, Listening Apprentice ; 2, Fellow-Craft Adept, Esquire of Benevolence ; 3, Master, Knight of the Sun ;
4, Architect of all rites, Knight of the philosophy of the heart ;
5, Knight of eclecticism and of truth; 6, Master Good Shepherd; 7, Venerable Grand Elect. This rite never contained many mem- bers, and is now abolished.
PETITION. When a new lodge is about to be formed, ap- plication to the Grand Lodge, within whose jurisdiction it is situated, must be made in the form of petition. The petition must be signed by at least seven Master Masons, and the masonic and moral character of the petitioners certified by one or more well known brethren. Petitions to a Grand Chapter for the formation
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of Chapters of Royal Arcli Masons, require the signature of nine companions; and for Commanderies of Knights Templars and the appendant orders, the application to the Grand Commandery must be made by nine knights.
PHALLUS. (Greek image of the membrum virile, which beiug affixed to a pole, formed a part of most of the pagan mysteries, and was worship- ped as the emblem of the male generative principle. The phallic worship was first established in Egypt, The origin of its insti- tution was this. After the murder of Osiris, and the mutilation of the body by Typhon, Isis was enabled to recover all the parts of his body except the privities. To this part, therefore, in com- memoration of its loss, she paid particular honour. The phallus, its representation, was made of wood, and carried during the sa- cred festivals in the mysteries of Osiris, as the emblem of fecun- dity. It was held by the people in the greatest veneration, and the sight or mention of it produced in the minds of the ancients no impure or lascivious thoughts. From Egypt it was introduced into Greece, and its exhibition formed a part of the Dionysian mysteries. In the Indian mysteries, it was called the linyam, and was always found in the most holy place of the temple. It was adopted by the idolatrous Israelites, who took it from the Moabites when in the wilderness of Sin, under the name of Baal- penr.* In short, the veneration of the phallus, under different names, was common to all the nations of antiquity. We shall again have occasion to refer to it, in the article on the Point within a Circle, with which masonic emblem the phallus has been identified by Dr. Oliver in an elaborate chapter in his " Signs and Symbols. " The masonic explanation, however, it will hereafter be perceived, bears no longer any allusion to the solar orb, or great principle of fecundity, except in its form 3, a figure still
* Cumberland says Baal-petaor in the Chaldaic signifies the naked god. and is equivalent to the Reman deity Priapus.
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retained by astronomers as the representation of the sun. See Point within a Circle.
PHILALETHES, RITE OF THE. The rite of the Philale- thes or Searchers after Truth, was invented in the lodge of Amis Reunis at Paris, in 1775, by Savalette de Langes, Keeper of the Royal Treasury. It was compounded of the masonic reveries of Swedenburg and Paschalis, and was distributed into twelve classes or chambers of instruction. The names of these classes or degrees were as follows: — 1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 3, Master; 4, Elect; 5, Scotch Master; 6, Knight of the East; 7, Rose Croix; 8, Knight of the Temple; 9, Unknown Philosopher; 10, Sublime Philosopher ; 11, Initiate ; 12, Philalethes or Searcher after Truth. The first six degrees were called Petty, and the last six High Masonry. The rite existed only during the life of de Langes; at his death in 1788, it ceased to exist, and the lodge of Amis Reunis was dissolved.
PHILOSOPHICAL DEGREES. All the degrees above the Rose Croix obtain this appellation. They are so called because they are particularly directed to the philosophical explanation of the system of masonry, which, in the inferior degrees, receives a moral signification. They are not to be confounded with the philosophical orders which arose on the continent of Europe about the close of the eighteenth century, and whose tendency, in many instances, was towards natural religion or deism. Barruel and Robinson, however, have confounded them, and on this error have based many, if not all, of their false charges against Freemasonry.
PHILOSOPHIC LODGE. The degree of Knights of the Sun is sometimes thus styled.
PHILOSOPHIC SCOTCH RITE.— Rite icossais philoso- phique. In the year 1770, one Pernetti founded a rite of Free- masonry, which he called the "Hermetic rite," but which was
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rather an alchemical than a masonic society, for its object was, by symbolic lessons, to instruct its disciples in the art of transmuting metals, aDd preparing the elixir of life. One of Pernetti's most ingenious disciples was a physician of Paris, named Boileau. He modified the system of the Hermetic rite, gave it a more purely masonic character and established its practice in one of the lodges of Paris, under the name of the "Philosophic Scotch Rite." The two rites were subsequently united, and the Grand Lodge was established in 1776, at Paris. It consists of twelve degrees, as follows : 1, 2, 3, Knight of the Black Eagle, or Rose Croix, di- vided into three parts ; 4, Knight of the Phoenix j 5, Knight of the Sun j 6, Knight of Iris ; 7, Freemason ; 8, Knight of the Argonauts ; 9, Knight of the Golden Fleece; 10, Grand Inspec- tor, Perfect Initiate; 11, Grand Inspector, Grand Scotch Mason; 12, Sublime Master of the Luminous Ring. The three degrees of ancient Craft Masonry are necessary pre-requisites, though they do not form a part of the rite. It is still practised in France, but to a very limited extent.
We may form some notion of the masonic doctrine taught in this rite, from the name of the degree which is at its summit. The "Luminous Ring" is a Pythagorean degree. In 1780 an Academy of the Sublime Masters of the Luminous Ring was established in France, in which the doctrine was taught that Freemasonry was originally founded by Pythagoras, and in which the most important portion of the lectures consisted of an expla- nation of the peculiar doctrines of the sage of Samos. We may, therefore, presume that the same doctrines were taught in the rite under examination.
PICKAXE. One of the working tools of a Royal Arch Mason. For its emblematic signification see Shovel.
PILGRIM'S SHELL. The shell was an Ancient symbol of the Syrian Goddess Astarte, who was the same as the Venus Pelagia, or Venus rising from the sea, of the western mythology.
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The escalop or scollop shell (the Pecten of Linnaeus) is found in great abundance on the shores of the Mediterranean, and was worn in the time ^f the Crusades by pilgrims to the Holy Land/ as a Memorial of the pious pilgrimage they were then perform ing or had already accomplished. Thus Shakspeare makes Ophelia sing :
" And how should I thy true love know, From any other one ? 0 ! by his scollop shell and staff, And by his sandal shoon."
Hence the scollop shell, staff and sandals, form a part of the costume of a candidate in the ceremonies of the Templar's de-
PILLAR. In the earliest times it was customary to perpetu- ate remarkable events, or exhibit gratitude for providential fa- vours, by the erection of pillars, which by the idolatrous races were dedicated to their spurious gods. Thus Sanconiatho tells us that Hypsourianos and Ousous, who lived before the flood, dedi- cated two pillars to the elements, fire and air. Among the Egyptians the pillars were, in general, in the form of obelisks, from 50 to 100 feet high, and exceedingly slender in proportion. Upon their four sides, hieroglyphics were often engraved. Ac- cording to Herodotus, they were first raised in honour of the sun, and their pointed form was intended to represent his rays. Many of these monuments still remain.
In the antediluvian ages, the posterity of Seth erected pillars ; " for," says the Jewish historian, " that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction, that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence of water, they made two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone ; they in- scribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind, and also inform
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tli em that there was another pillar of brick erected by them."* Jacob erected a pillar at Bethel, to commemorate his remarkable vision of the ladder, and afterwards another one at G-aleed as a memorial of his alliance with Laban. Joshua erected one at Gilgal to perpetuate the remembrance of his miraculous crossing of the Jordan. Samuel set up a pillar between Mizpeh and Shen, on account of a defeat of the Philistines, and Absalom erected another in honour of himself.
PILLARS OF THE POUCH. The pillars most remarkable in Scripture history, were the two erected by Solomon at the porch of the Temple, and which Josephus thus describes : "Moreover, this Hiram made two hollow pillars, whose outsides were" of brass, and the thickness of the brass was four fingers breadth, and the height of the pillars was eighteen cubits, (27 feet,) and the circumference twelve cubits, (18 feet;) but there was cast with each of their chapiters, lily work, that stood upon the pillar, and it was elevated five cubits, (7 i feet,) round about which there was net work interwoven with small palms made of brass, and covered the lily work. To this also were hung two hundred pomegranates, in two rows. The one of these pillars he set at the entrance of the porch on the right hand, (or south,') and called it Jachin, and the other at the left hand, (or north,) and called it Boaz."
It has been supposed that Solomon, in erecting these pillars, had reference to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire which went before the Israelites in the wilderness, and that the right hand or south pillar represented the pillar of cloud, and the left hand or north pillar represented that of fire. Solomon did not simply erect them as ornaments to the temple, but as memorials of Grod's repeated promises of support to his people of Israel
* Joseph. Antiq. lib. 1. c. ii. Josephus says this pillar in his time was still remaining in the land of Siriad; but Winston supposes the pillar thus referred to, to have been erected by Sesostris, King of Egypt.
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For the pillar Vy (Jaehin,) derived from the words JT (Jah,) "Jehovah," and p^> (iachin) "will establish," signifies that "God will establish his house of Israel;" while the pillar iy2 (Boaz) compounded of 3 (&,) "in" and )y (oaz,) "strength," signifies, that " in strength shall it be established." And thus were the Jews, in passing through tbe porch to the temple, daily reminded of the abundant promises of God, and inspired with confidence in his protection and gratitude for his many acts of kindness to his chosen people.
The construction of these pillars. — There is no part of the ar- chitecture of the ancient temple which is so difficult to be under- stood in its details, as the Scriptural account of these memorable pillars. Freemasons, in general, intimately as their symbolical signification is connected with some of the most beautiful por- tions of their ritual, appear to have but a confused notion of their construction and of the true disposition of the various parts of which they are composed. With a view to relieve this subject from some of the difficulties which surround it, I, some time since, published an essay on these pillars in Moore's Maga- zine ; and as that essay contained all the results of a rather labo- rious investigation, I shall transfer so much of it as is appropri- ate to the present article.
The situation of these pillars, according to Lightfoot,* was within the porch, at its very entrance and on each side of the gate. They were therefore seen, one on the right, and the other on the left, as soon as the visitor stepped within the porch. f And this, it will be remembered, in confirmation, is the very spot in which Ezekiel places the pillars that he saw in his vision of the Temple. "The length of the porch was twenty cubits,
* See his treatise entitled "a Prospect of the Temple."
f If this position he the correct one, and Lightfoot supports the hypothesis by strong arguments, then Oliver, as well as most of our lecturers, is wrong in the statement that the pillars were placed before the porch of the temple, and must have been passed before entering it. See Oliver's Landmarks, voL 1., p. 451.
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and the brea 1th eleven cubits 3 and lie brought me by the stop3 whereby they went up to it, and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side."*
These pillars, we are told, were of brass, as well as the chapi- tars that surmounted them, and were cast hollow. The thickness of the brass of each pillar was "four fingers, or a hand's breadth," which is equal to three inches. According to the ac- counts in 1 Kings viii. 15, and in Jeremiah lii. 21, the circum- ference of each pillar was twelve cubits. Now, according to the Jewish computation, the cubit used in the measurement of the temple buildings was six hands' breadth, or eighteen inches. According to the tables of Bishop Cumberland, the cubit was rather more, he making it about twenty-two inches ; but I adhere to the measure laid down by the Jewish writers, as probably more correct, and certainly more simple for calculation. The circumference of each pillar, reduced by this scale to English measure, would be eighteen feet, and its diameter about six.
The reader of the Scriptural accounts of these pillars will be not a little puzzled with the apparent discrepancies that are found m the estimates of their height as given in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. In the former book, it is said that their height was eighteen cubits, and in the latter it was thirty-five. f But the discrepancy is easily reconciled by supposing, which, indeed, must have been the case, that in the Book of Kings the pillars are spoken of separately, and that, in Chronicles, their aggregate height is calculated; and the reason why, in this latter book, their united height is placed at thirty-five cubits instead of thirty-six, which would be the double of eighteen, is because they are there measured as they appeared with the chapiters upon them. Now half a cubit of each pillar was concealed in, what Lightfnot calls "the hole of the chapiter," that is, half a
* Bzekiel, xi. 49.
f "VVhiston observes that the latter height would be contrary to all the rules >f architecture.
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cubits's depth of the lower edge of the chapiter covered the top of the pillar, making each pillar, apparently, only seventeen and a half cubits high, or the two thirty-five cubits, as laid down in the Book of Chronicles.
This is a much better method of reconciling the discrepancy han that adopted by Calcott,* who supposes that the pedestals of the pillars were seventeen cubits high — a violation of every rule of architectural proportion with which we would be reluc- tant to charge the memory of so " cunning a workman" as Hiram the Builder. The account in Jeremiah agrees with that in the Book of Kings. The height, therefore, of each of these pillars was, in English measure, twenty-seven feet. The chapiter or pomel was five cubits, or seven and a half feet more ; but as half a cubit, or nine inches, was common to both pillar and chapiter, the whole height from the ground to the top of the chapiter was twenty-two cubits and a half, or thirty-three feet and nine inches.
Each of these pillars was surmounted by a chapiter, which was five cubits or seven and a half feet in height. The shape and construction of this chapiter requires some consideration. The Hebrew word which is used in this place is jinjlID, (kote- ret.) Its root is to be found in the word "IfO, (kcter,) which signified " a crown/' and is so used in Esther vi. 8., to desig- nate the royal diadem of the King of Persia. The Chaldaic ver- sion expressly calls the chapiter " a crown," but Rabbi Solomon, in his commentary, uses the word VftliD? (pomclJs) signifying "a globe or spherical body," and Rabbi Gershora describes it as " like two crowns joined together." Lightfoot says, " it was a huge, great oval, five cubits high, and did not only sit upon the head of the pillars, but also flowered or spread them, being larger about, a great deal, than the pillars themselves." The Jewish commentator 3 say that the two lower cubits of its surface
Calcott's Masonry, p. 151.
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were entirely plain, but that the three upper were richly orna- mented. To this ornamental part we now arrive.
In the first Book of Kings, ch. vii. verses 17, 20, 22, the ornaments of the chapiters are thus described :
"And nets of checker-work and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which were upon the tops of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter.
"And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one net-work, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates ; and so did he for the other chapiter.
" And the chapiters that were upon the tops of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits.
"And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly, which was by the net work ; and the pomegranates were two hundreds in rows, round about upon the other chapiter.
" And upon the top of the pillars was lily work ; so was the work of the pillars finished. "
Let us endeavour to render this description, which appears somewhat confused and unintelligible, plainer and more compre- hensible.
The "nets of checker-work," is the first ornament mentioned. The words thus translated are in the original ^llul/D DODu* rODt^; which Lightfoot prefers rendering "thickets of branch work;" and he thinks that the true meaning of the passage is, that " the chapiters were curiously wrought with branch work, seven goodly branches standing up from the belly of the oval, and their boughs and leaves curiously and lovelily intermingled and interwoven one with another." He derives his reason for this version, from the fact that the same word, UDDCS is trans- lated, " thicket" in the passage in Genesis (xxii. 13,) where the ram is described as being " caught in a thicket by his horns," and in various other passages the word is to be similarly trans- lated. But, on the other hand, we find it used in the Book of Job, where it evidently sr°nifies a net made of meshes: " Fcr
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he is cast into a net by his own feet and he walketh upon a .snare." Job xvii. 8. In 2 Kings i. 2, the same word is used, inhere our translators have rendered it a lattice; " Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber." I am, therefore, not inclined to adopt the emendation of Lightfoot, but rather coincide with the received version as well as the masonic tradi- tion that this ornament was a simple net-work or fabric consisting of reticulated lines.
The " wreaths of chain work" that are next spoken of, are less difficult to be understood. The word here translated "wreath," is CD* /*iJ> and is to be found in Deuteronomy xxii. 12, where it distinctly means fringes: "Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture." Fringes, it should also be translated here. " The fringes of chain work," I suppose, were, therefore, attached to, and hung down from, the net-work spoken of above, and were probably in this case, as when used upon the garments of the Jewish high priest, intended as a " memorial of the law."
The " lily work," is the last ornament that demands our at- tention. And here the description of Lightfoot is so clear and evidently correct, that I shall not hesitate to quote it at length. "At the head of the pillar, even at the setting on of the chapi- ter, there was a curious and a large border or circle of lily work, which stood out four cubits under the chapiter, and then turned down, every lily or long tongue of brass, with a neat bending, and so seemed as a flowered crown to the head of the pillar, and as a curious garland whereon the chapiter had its seat."
There is a very common error among Masons, which has been fostered by the plates in our " Monitors," that there were on the pillars, chapiters, and that these chapiters were again surmounted by globes. The truth, however, is that the chapiters themselves were " the pomels or globes" to which our lecture, in the Fellow Craft's degree, alludes. This is evident from what has already been said in the first part of the preceding description. The
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maps of the earth and the charts of the celestial constellations which are sometimes said to have been engraved upon these globes, must be referred to the pillars where, according to Oliver, a masonic tradition places them — an ancient custom, instances of which we find in profane history. This is, however, by nc means of any importance, as the symbolic allusion is perfectly well preserved in the shapes of the chapiters, without the neces- sity of any such geographical or astronomical engraving upon them. For being globular, or nearly so, they may be justly said to have represented the celestial and terrestrial spheres.
The true description, then, of these memorable pillars, is sim- ply this. Immediately within the porch of the temple, and on each side of the door, were placed two hollow brazen pillars. The height of each was twenty-seven feet, the diameter about six feet, and the thickness of the brass three inches. Above the pillar, and covering its upper part to the depth of nine inches, was an oval body or chapiter, seven feet and a half in height. Springing out from the pillar, at the junction of the chapiter with it, was a row of lily petals, which, first spreading around the chapiter, afterwards gently curved downwards towards the pillar, something like the Acanthus leaves on the capital of a Corinthian column. About two-fifths of the distance from the bottom of the chapiter, or just below its most bulging part, a tissue of net-work was carved, which extended over its whole upper surface. To the bottom of this net-work was suspended a series of fringes, and on these again were carved two rows of pomegranates, one hundred being in each row.
This description, it seems to me, is the only one that can be reconciled with the various passages in the Books of Kings, Chronicles and Jeremiah, which relate to these pillars, and the only one that can give the masonic student a correct conception of the architecture of these important symbols
PLATONIC ACADEMY. A society instituted at Florence, in 1480. The hall in which its meetings were held still exists,
364 PLE— PLU
and is said to be ornamented with masonic emblems. Clave! supposes it to have been a society founded by some of the hono- rary members and patrons of the fraternity of Freemasons who existed in the Middle Ages, and who, having abandoned the ma- terial design of the institution, confined themselves to its mystic character. If his suggestion be correct, this is one of the earliest instances of the separation of speculative from operative masonry.
PLENTY. The ear of corn is the masonic symbol of plenty, and was derived, as nearly all the masonic symbols have been, from the ancient system of symbolism. According to Montfau- con, ears of corn always accompanied the images of the goddess Plenty in the ancient gems and medals, of which he gives several examples. The Hebrew word Shibboleth signifies an ear of corn.
PLUMB. An instrument made use of, by operative masons, for the purpose of erecting perpendicular lines, and which, in speculative masonry, constitutes one of the working tools of the Fellow-Craft. As the building which is not erected on a perpen- dicular line, but leans either one way or the other, becomes inse- cure, and must eventually fall, by the force of gravity, to the ground, so he, whose life is not supported by an upright course of conduct, but whose principles are swayed by the uncertain dictates of interest or passion, cannot long sustain a worthy repu- tation, and must soon sink beneath the estimation of every good and virtuous citizen. But the just, the upright, the unwavering man, who bends not -beneath the attacks of adversity, nor yields to the temptations of prosperity, but still pursues the " even tenor of his way," will stand erect amid the fiercest tempests of fortune, and, like a tall column, lift his head above the frowns of envy and the slanders of malignity. To the man thus just and upright, the sacred Scriptures attribute as necessary parts of his character, kindness and liberality, temperance and moderation.
POI 365
truth and wisdom ; and the heathen poet, Horace, pays, in one of his most admired odes, an eloquent tribute to his stern immu- tability.
The man in conscious virtue bold, Who dares his secret purpose hold, Unshaken hears the crowd's tumultuous cries And the impetuous tyrant's angry brow defies. Let the loud winds that rule the seas, Their wild tempestuous horrors raise ,• Let Jove's dread arm with thunders rend the spheres; Beneath the crush of worlds undaunted he appears.*
[Francis.
The plumb is also the jewel of the Junior Warden, and it seems here symbolically to instruct us, as the authority of this officer is exercised only in time of refreshment, when the brethren having ceased to labour, are no longer within the sacred precincts of the lodge room, that then more particularly, when the eyes of a censorious ivorld are upon him, should the Mason walk up- rightly and eschew evil.y
POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP. The pentalpha, or triple tri-
* Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis tyranni
Mente quatit solido, neque Auster
Dux inquieti turbidus Adriae :
Nee fulminantis magna Jovis manus.
Si fractus illabatur oi-bis
, Impavidum ferient ruinse.
[Hor. lib. iii. od. 3.
f It is worthy of notice that, in most languages, .the word which is used in
a direct sense to indicate straightness of course or perpendicularity of position,
is also employed in a figurative sense to express uprightness of conduct.
Such are the Latin " rectum," which signifies at the same time a right line and
honesty or integrity ; the Greek 'opSog which means straight, standing upright,
and also equitable, just, true ; and the Hebrew tsedek, which in a physical
sense denotes rightness, straightness, and in a moral, what is right and just.
Our own word RIGHT, partakes f this peculiarity, right being not wrong, as
well as not crooked.
31*
366 POI
angle, was among the Pythagoreans the emblem of health, be- cause it constituted a figure of five lines and five points; among Masons, in the form of a five-pointed star, it has been adopted as the symbol of the most sacred principles of their profession. See Five Points of Fellowship, and Star.
POINTS, TWELVE GRAND. See Twelve Grand Points.
POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE. This emblem is to be found in every well regulated lodge, and is explained as representing — the point, the individual brother, and the circle, the boundary line of his duty. But that this was not always its symbolic sig- nification, we may collect from the true history of its connection with the phallus of the ancient mysteries. The phallus, as I have already shown, under the word, was among the Egyptians the symbol of fecundity, expressed by the male generative prin- ciple. It was communicated from the rites of Osiris to the reli- gious festivals of Greece. Among the Asiatics the same emblem, under the name of lingam, was, in connection with the female principle, worshipped as the symbols of the Great Father and Mother, or producing causes of the human race, after their de- struction by the deluge. On this subject, Captain Wilford re- marks " that it was believed in India, that, at the general deluge, every thing was involved in the common destruction, except the male and female principles, or organs of generation, which were destined to produce a new race, and to re-people the earth when the waters had subsided from its surface. The female principle, symbolized by the moon, assumed the form of a lunette or cres- cent ; while the male principle, symbolized by the sun, assuming the form of the lingam, placed himself erect in the centre of the lunette, like the mast of a ship. The two principles, in this united form, floated on the surface of the waters during the pe- riod of their prevalence on the earth ; and thus became the pro- genitors of a new race of men."* Here, then, was the first
* Asiat. Researches, cit. apud Oliver, Signs and Symbols, 180.
P01 367
outline of the point within a circle, representing the principle of fecundity, and doubtless the syrnbo., connected with a different history, that, namely, of Osiris, was transmitted by the Indian philosophers to Egypt, and to the other nations, who derived, as we have elsewhere shown, all their rites from the East.
As an evidence of this, we find the same symbol in the Dru- idical and Scandinavian rites. The temples of the Druids were circular, with a single stone erected in the centre. A Druidical monument in Pembrokeshire, called Y Cromlech, is described as consisting of several rude stones pitched on end in a circular order, and in the midst of the circle a vast stone placed on several pillars. Near Keswick, in Cumberland, says Oliver, is another specimen of this Druidical symbol. On a hill stands a circle of forty stones placed perpendicularly, of about five feet and a half in height, and one stone in the centre of greater altitude.*
Among the Scandinavians, the hall of Odin contained twelve seats, disposed in the form of a circle for the principal gods, with an elevated seat in the centre for Odin. Scandinavian mo- numents of this form are still to be found in Scania, Zealand, and Jutland. f
But it is useless to multiply examples of the prevalence of this symbol among the ancients. And now let us apply this knowledge to the masonic symbol.
We have seen that the phallus, and the point within a circle, come from the same source, and must have been identical in sig- nification. . But the phallus was the symbol of fecundity, or the male generative principle, which by the ancients was supposed to be the sun, (they looking to the creature and not to the Creator,) because by the sun's heat and light, the earth is made prolific, and its productions are brought to maturity. The point within the circle was then originally the symbol of the sun, and as the lingam of India stood in the centre of the lunette, so it stands within the centre of the Universe, typified by the circle impreg-
* Signs and Symbols, 174. f Mallet's Northern Antiquities.
368 POM
nating and vivifying it with its heat. And thus the astronomers have been led to adopt the same figure 0, as their symbol of that luminary.*
The present signification of the point, within the circle, among Masons, is doubtless comparatively modern, and has superseded the original meaning of this symbol.
POMEGRANATE. The pomegranate,, as an emblem, was known to and highly esteemed by the nations of antiquity. In the description of the pillars which stood at the porch of the tem- ple, (see 1 Kings vii. 15,) it is said that the artificer "made two chapiters of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars." Now the Hebrew word caphtorim, which has been translated " chapiters," and for which in Amos ix. 1, the word " lintel" has been incorrectly substituted, (though the marginal reading corrects the error,) signifies an artificial large pomegranate, or globe. -\ It was customary to place such ornaments upon the tops or heads of columns, and in other situations. The skirt of Aaron's robe was ordered to be decorated with golden bells and pome- granates, and they were among the ornaments fixed upon the golden candelabra. There seems, therefore, to have been attached to this fruit some mystic signification, to which it is indebted for the veneration thus paid to it. If so, this mystic meaning should be traced into spurious Freemasonry; for there, after all, if there be any antiquity in our order, we shall find the parallel of all its rites and ceremonies.
1. The Syrians at Damascus worshipped an idol which they
* Fellowes, giving an ancient astronomical signification to this symbol, says that the point was Deity, the circle the path of the sun, and the two parallels the solstices, beyond which the sun cannot pass.
■f* Vid. Cumberland Origines Gent. Antiq. tract. II § ii. p. 54. The original moaning is not preserved in the Septuagint, which has (npaipcorrip, nor in the Vulgate which uses "sphgerula," both meaning simuly "a round ball." Bui Josephus, in his Antiquities, has kept to the literal Hebrew.
POM 369
called Bimmon. This was the same idol that was worshipped by Naaman before his conversion, as recorded in the second book of Kings. The learned have not been able to agree as to the nature of this idol, whether he was a representation of Helios or the Sun, the god of the Phenicians, or of Venus, or according to G-rotius, in his commentary on the passage in Kings, of Saturn, or what, according to Statius, seems more probable, of Jupiter Cassius. But it is sufficient for our present purpose to know that Rimmon is the Hebrew and Syriac for pomegranate.
2. Cumberland, the learned Bishop of Peterborough, quotes Achilles Statius, a converted pagan and Bishop of Alexandria, as saying that on Mount Cassius, (which Bochart places between Canaan and Egypt,) there was a temple wherein Jupiter's image held a pomegranate in his hand, which Statius goes on to say, " had a mystical meaning."* Sanconiatho thinks this temple was built by the descendants of the Cabiri. Cumberland attempts to explain this mystery thus : " Agreeably hereunto I guess that the pomegranate in the hand of Jupiter or Juno, (because when it is opened, it discloses a great number of seeds) signified only, that those deities were, being long-lived, the parents of a great many children, and families that soon grew into nations which they planted in large possessions, when the world was newly begun to be peopled, by giving them laws and other useful inven- tions to make their lives comfortable."
3. Pausanias (Corinthiaca, p. 59) says, he saw not far from the ruins of Mycenae, an image of Juno holding in one hand a sceptre, and in the other a pomegranate; but he likewise declines assigning any explanation of the emblem, merely declaring that it was a7zoppT)TOT£po(; Xoyoq — " a forbidden mystery." That' is, one which was forbidden by the Cabiri to be divulged.
4. In the festival of the Thesmophoria, observed in honour of the goddess Ceres, it was held unlawful for the celebrants (who were women to eat the pomegranate. Clemens Alexandrinus assigns
* Cumberland Orig. Gent. Ant. p. 60.
370 POM— POU
as a reason, that it was supposed that this fruit sprang from the blood of Bacchus.
The coincidences in the pagan mysteries with respect to this emblem, might, doubtless, be extended still further, but I have neither time nor opportunity to pursue the research. I am, however, content, if by these few illustrations I have added another to the many already existing proofs of the antiquity as well as the beauty, of our beloved order.
POMEL. A round knob ; a term applied to the globes or balls on the top of the pillars which stood at the porch of Solo- mon's Temple.
PONTIFES. The Frhres Pontifes were a religious and ope- rative community established at Avignon, in Italy, in 1178. They devoted themselves to the construction of stone bridges. They existed in the Duchy of Lucca as late as 1590. Their presiding officer was styled M agister or Master. John de Medicis was Master of the order in 1560.
POT OF INCENSE. The " sweet smelling savour" of fra- grant herbs, has, among all nations and modes of worship, been considered an acceptable offering, in sacrifice to the Deity, as an evidence of the desire of the worshipper to honour and please the object of his adoration. Masonry, however, like Christianity, instructs us, that the most pleasing incense that can be offered to the great I AM, is the incense of a grateful and pious heart. Hence, the pot of incense, with a view to remind us of this truth, has been adopted as an emblem in the third degree.
POURSUIVANT. In former times, a messenger who at- tended upon the king in the army ; among Masons, an officer in some Grand Lodges, whose principal duty is to announce the names of visitors.
PRA— PRI 371
PRAYER. All the ceremonies of our order are prefaced and terminated with prayer, because masonry is a religious institution, and because we thereby show our dependence on, and our faith and trust in God.
PRECEDENCY OF LODGES. The precedency of lodges is always derived from the date of their Warrants of Constitution, the oldest lodge ranking as No. 1.
PRELATE. The fourth officer in a Commandery of Knight Templars in this country. His duties are important, and well known to all knights. He is seated on the right of the Gene- ralissimo in the East. His jewel is a triple triangle, as the em- blem of Jehovah, and his title is " Most Excellent/'
PRIEST HIGH. See High Priest.
PRIMITIVE RITE OF NARBONNE. A rite established at Narbonne, in France, in 1780. Most of its degrees were taken from the other rites. The rite was philosophical, and assumed, as its object, the reformation of intellectual man and his restora- tion to his primitive rank and privileges.
PRIMITIVE SCOTCH RITE. Rite ecossais primitif. A rite founded on the rite of Perfection, and established at Nainur, in Belgium, by a brother Marchot, an advocate at Nivelles. It never extended far beyond the walls of the city in which it was organized It is still practised in Belgium, and its principal seat is at Namur, in the lodge of " Bonne Amitie." It consists of thirty-three degrees, as follows: 1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow-Craft; 3, Master; 4, Perfect Master; 5, Irish Master; 6, Elect of Nine; 7, Elect of the Unknown; 8, Elect of Fifteen; 9, Illustrious Master; 10, Perfect Elect; 11, Minor Architect; 12,- Grand Architect; 13, Sublime Architect; 14, Master in Perfect Archi- tecture; 15, Royal Arch; 1G, Prussian knight; 17, Knight of
372 PRI
the East; 18, Prince of Jerusalem, 19, Master of All Lodges; 20, Knight of the West; 21, Knight of Palestine; 22, Sovereign Prince of Rose Croix ; 23, Sublime Scotch Mason ; 24, Knight of the Sun; 25, Grand Scotch Mason of St. Andrew; 26, Master of the Secret; 27, Knight of the Black Eagle; 28, Knight of
K H; 29, Grand Elect of Truth; 30, Novice of the Lite-
rior; 31, Knight of the Interior; 32, Prefect of the Interior; 33, Commander of the Interior.
PRINCE OF JERUSALEM. Prince de Jerusalem. The 16th degree in the Ancient Scotch rite. The legend of this degree is founded on certain incidents which took place during the re-building of the second temple, when the Jews were so much incommoded by the attacks of the Samaritans and other neighbouring nations, that an embassy was sent to King Darius to implore his favour and protection, which was accordingly obtained.
The meetings of this degree are called councils. The officers of a council of Princes of Jerusalem are, a Most Equitable, repre- senting Zerubbabel, a Senior and Junior Most Enlightened, a Grand Treasurer, and Grand Secretary.
In the Scotch rite, councils of this degree are invested with important privileges. They are styled " Chiefs in Freemasonry," and have the control of all the subordinate degrees as far as the 15th, or Knights of the East, and all charters for the consti- tution of lodges, chapters, or councils of any of these degrees, must emanate from a council of these princes. Yellow is the emblematic colour of the degree, and the jewel is a gold medal, on which are inscribed a balance, a two-edged sword, five stars, and the letters D and Z. The apron is white, lined and bordered with yellow, with a yellow flap, on which is inscribed a balance with the same letters that are on the jewel.*
* The first Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem, in the United States, was formed at Charleston, S. C, by three Inspectors, on the 20th February
1788.
PRI 373
PRINCE OF LIBANUS. See Knight of the Royal Axe,
PRINCE OF MERCY. Prince du Merci. The 26th de- gree of the Ancient Scotch rite, sometimes called " Scotch Tri- nitarian." This is a philosophical degree, whose ceremonies arc very impressive. Its meeting is styled a chapter ; the chief prince, whose title is " Most Excellent/' represents Moses. TLe Senior Warden represents Aaron, the Junior, Eleazar, and the candidate, Joshua. The jewel is a gold equilateral triangle, within which is a heart of gold, inscribed with the Hebrew letter j"|; one of the symbols of the tetragrammaton. It is suspended from a tri-eoloured ribbon of green, white and red. The apron is red, bordered with white fringe, and with a blue flap. On the flap is painted the jewel.
It is a Christian degree, and speaks, in the course of its con- struction, of the triple covenant which the Eternal made first with Abraham by circumcision • next, with the Israelites in the wilderness, by the intermediation of Moses ; and lastly, with all mankind, by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ. It is in allusion to these three acts of mercy, that the degree derives its two names of Scotch Trinitarian and Prince of Mercy, and not. as Ragon supposes, from any reference to the Fathers of Mercy. a religious society formerly engaged in the ransoming of Christian captives at Algiers.
PRINCE OF ROSE CROIX. Souverairi Prince Pose Croix. The degree of Rose Croix is one of the most important and generally diffused of the higher degrees of masonry. It is to be found in several of the principal rites, and even in those in which it does not exist by name, its place is, for the most part, supplied by some other whose symbolic allusions do not differ materially from it. Thus, although it is not known in the York rite, an excellent substitute for it is found in the Royal Arch, while it constitutes the 18th degree of the Ancient and Accepted, or Scotch rite, the 7th and last of the French rite, and the i7th
3J
374 PRI
of the rite ot Misraim. Among Euro \>ean Masons, where all these rites are practised, the degree of Rose Croix is consequently well known j and even in this country, although its possession is circumscribed to those brethren who have made some advance- ment in the Scotch rite, it is so often spoken of, that its name, at least, is familiar to almost every Mason of any intelligence, and much curiosity is often expressed in relation to its history and character.
The degree is known by various names ; sometimes its posses- sors are called " Sovereign Princes of Rose Croix f sometimes " Princes of Rose Croix de Heroden •" and sometimes " Knights of the Eagle and Pelican." In relation to its origin, masonic writers have made many conflicting statements ; some giving it a much higher antiquity than others, but all agreeing in suppos- ing it to be one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, of the higher degrees. The name has, undoubtedly, been the cause of much of this confusion in relation to its history, and the ma- sonic degree of " Rose Croix" has, perhaps, often been con- founded with the cabalistical and alchemical sect of " Rosicru- cians," or " Brothers of the Rosy Cross," among whose adepts the names of such men as Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, and Elias Ashmole, the celebrated antiquary, are to be found. Notwith- standing the invidious attempts of Baruell, and other foes of ma- sonry, to confound the two orders, there is a great distinction between them. Even their names, although somewhat similar in sound, are totally different in signification. The Rosicrucians, who were alchemists, did not derive their name, like the Rose Croix Masons, from the emblems of the rose and cross, for they had nothing to do with the rose, but from the Latin ros, signify- ing Jew, which was supposed to be of all natural bodies the most powerful solvent of gold, and crux, the cross, a chemical hiero- glyphic of light.
Baron Westerode, who wrote in 1784, in the " Acta Latomorum." gives the earliest origin of any masonic writer to the degree of Rose Croix. He supposes that it was instituted among the
PKI 375
Knights Templar in Palestine, in the year 1188, and ne adds that Prince Edward, the son of Henry III., of England, was admitted into the order by Raymond Lulle, in 1196. Westerode names Ormesius, an Egyptian priest, who had been converted to Christianity, as its founder.
Others have attributed the origin of this degree to a learned and pious monk, John Valentine Andreae, Abbot of Adelberg, who died in 1564, and among whose writings are to be found several treatises which relate to this subject.* Ragon says of Andreae, that, profoundly grieved at seeing the principles of the Christian religion forgotten in vain disputes, and science made subservient to the pride of man, instead of contributing to his happiness, he passed his days in devising what he supposed to be the most appropriate means of restoring each to its legitimate moral and benevolent tendency. It may be that with this view the eminently Christian degree of Rose Croix was invented by him. But notwithstanding the authority of Ragon, sustained as it is by that of Nicoki in his work on the " Crimes imputed to the Templars," we are inclined to suspect that the labours and the writings of the Abbot of Adelberg referred rather to the Rosi- crucian alchemists, than to the Rose Croix Masons.
Other authors have supposed that they could find the origin of the Rose Croix, or at least of its emblems, in a book published in 1601, by Jacobus Typotus, the historiographer to Rhodolph the Second. The book of Typotus, on which rests any claims which may be made to his paternity of the Rose Croix degree, is entitled " Symbola divina et humana pontijicum,imperatorum, rcgi.im," and it is in that part of it which is devoted to the " symbol of the holy cross/' that the allusions are found which seem to indicate the author's knowledge of this degree. Ragon, however, who appears to have seen the work, utterly refutes the idea of any connection between the emblems of Typotus and those of the Rose Croix.
* Two especially, one entitled " Judicorum de / itcnu'tate B. C. Chaos,'* »nd the other " Noces chemiqucs de Rozen-Crutz."
376 PRI
Clavel, with his usual boldness of assertion, which is too often independent of facts, declares that the degree was invented by the Jesuits for the purpose of countermining the insidious at- tacks of the free-thinkers upon the Roman Catholic religion, but that the philosophers parried the attempt by seizing upon the degree and giving to all its symbols an astronomical signification. Clavel's opinion is probably derived from one of those sweeping charges of Professor Robison, in which that systematic enemy of our institution declares, that about the beginning of the eigh- teenth century, the Jesuits interfered considerably with masonry, " insinuating themselves into the lodges, and contributing to in- crease that religious mysticism that is to be observed in all the ceremonies of the order."* But there is no better evidence than these mere vague assertions, of the connection of the Jesuits with the Rose Croix degree.
Oliver says that the earliest notice that he finds of this degree, h in a publication of 1613, entitled " La Reformation universelle du monde entier avec la fama fraternitatis de Y Ordre respectable de la Rose Croix. " But he adds, that "it was known much sooner, although not probably as a degree in masonry ; for it ex- isted as a cabalistic science from the earliest times in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as among the Jews and Moors in times more recent. "f
Oliver, however, undoubtedly, in the latter part cf this para- graph, confounds the masonic Rose Croix with the alchemical Rosicrucians, and the former is singularly inconsistent with the details that he gives in another part of his writings respecting an order to which we are now about to allude, and which it seems probable to us had as much as any other, to do with the institu- tion of the degree in question.
There is a tradition among the Masons of Scotland, that after the dissolution of the Templars, many c' the knights repaired to
* Proofs of a Conspiracy, p. 21.
f Oliver's Landmarks, vol. ii. p. 81, n. 35.
PRI 377
Scotland, and placed themselves under tie protection of Robert Bruce ; and that, after the battle of Bannockburn, which took place on St. John the Baptist's day, in the year 1314, this monarch instituted the Royal Order of Herodom and Knight of the Rosy Cross, and established the chief seat of the order at Kilwinning. From that order, it seems to us by no means im- probable that the present degree of Rose Croix de Heroden may have taken its origin. In two respects, at least, there seems to be a very close connection between the two systems : they both claim the kingdom of Scotland and the Abbey of Kilwinning as having been at one time their chief seat of government, and they both seem to have been instituted to give a Christian expla- nation to Ancient Craft Masonry. There is, besides, a similarity in the names of the degrees of " Rose Croix de Heroden/' and " Herodom and Rosy Cross," amounting almost to an identity, which appears to indicate a very intimate relation of one to the other.
The subject, however, is in a state of inextricable confusion; and I confess that, after all my researches, I am still unable dis- tinctly to point to the period when, and to the place where, the present degree of Rose Croix received its organization as a ma- sonic grade.
No matter, however, where precisely it received its origin, nor who has the honour of having been its inventor, it is at least certain that the degree of Rose Croix is to be placed among the most ancient of the higher * degrees of masonry; and that this antiquity, in connection with the importance of its design and the solemnity of its ritual, has given to it a universality in the masonic world, inferior only to the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. It is to be found, as I have already said, in nearly aii the rites, under some name and in- some modification, and in many of them it is placed at the summit of the ritual.
In the Ancient and Accepted Scotch rite, whence nearly ill the Rose Croix Masons of this country have derived the degree, it is placed as the eisjht^enth on the list. Some i lea of the im-
32*
378 PPJ
portance of the degree may be obtained from a brief detail of the preparatory ceremonies which are necessary to be performed by ail candidates who make application for it.
The ceremonies and history of a chapter of Hose Croix, are of such a nature as to render it impossible to give any account of them here. The presiding officer is called "Ever Most Perfect Sovereign/' and the two Wardens are styled "Most Excellent and Perfect Brothers." The annual feast of the order is on Shrove Tuesday, and must be celebrated by every member There are five other obligatory days of meeting, viz. Ascension day; St. John the Baptist's day, Pentecost; St. John the Evan- gelist's day; Tuesday after Easter; and All Saints' day.
The degree is conferred in a body called a " Chapter of the Sovereign Princes of -Rose Croix," which derives its authority immediately from the Supreme Council of the Thirty-third, and which confers with it, only one other and inferior degree, that )f " Knights of the East and West." The aspirant for the de- gree of Rose Croix, who must, of course, have received all the preparatory degrees, applies at the door of the chapter with a petition for admission ; and if his prayer be granted, the time and place of his reception are made known to him, when he re- tires to return on the appointed day.
On his second application, before admission, he is called upon to make the following engagements : 1, That he will never reveal the place where he was received, nor the names of those who were present at his reception ; 2, That he will conform to all the ordinances of the chapter, and keep himself uniformly clothed as far as he is able; 3, That he will acknowledge his master at all times and in all places, and never confer this degree without permission from proper authority, as well as answer for the pro- bity and respectability of those whom he may thereafter propose; 4, That he will be extremely cautious in granting the degree, so that it may not be unnecessarily multiplied.
There are two kinds of aprons. The first, or mourning apron, is white bordered with black ; on the flap are a skull and cross-
PRI 379
bones between three red roses; on the apron is a globe surrounded by a serpent, and above the letter J. The second apron, used on festive occasions, is red, lined and bordered with the same ; on it a triple triangle of gold, with three squares within three circles, and a J in the centre; above these the compasses extended, one point resting on the triangle, the other on the circles. This is the apron of the Scotch rite. The first apron in the French rite is black with a red cross. The second is white, bordered with red, .and inscribed with the jewel of the degree. The col- lar is red, with the eagle of the degree embroidered on it.
The jewel of the Rose Croix is a golden compass, extended on an arc to the sixteenth part of a circle or twenty-two and a half degrees. The head of the compass is surmounted by a triple crown, consisting of three series of points, arranged by three, five, and seven. Between the legs of the compass is a cross resting on the arc of the circle ; its centre is occupied by a full blown rose, whose stem twines around the lower limb of the cross ; at the foot of the cross, on the same side on which the rose is exhibited, is the figure of a pelican wounding its breast to feed its young, which are in a nest surrounding it, while on the other side of the jewel is the figure of an eagle with wings displayed. On the arc of the circle, the P.*. W.\ of the degree is engraved in the cipher of the order.
In this jewel are included the most important symbols of the degree. The cross, the rose, the pelican, and the eagle, are all important symbols, the explanation of which will go far to a comprehension of what is the true design of the Rose Croix order
Of th3se emblems the eagle is perhaps the least important, and its application the most difficult to explain. The symbol, however, is of great antiquity. In Egypt, Greece, and Persia, this bird was sacred to the sun. Among the pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, and with the Druids it was a symbol of their supreme God. In the Scriptures a distinguished reference is in many instances made to the eagle; especially do we find Moses
380 PRI
representing Jehovah as saying, in allusin to the belief that this bird assists its feeble young in their flight, by bearing them upon its own pinions, — u Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto my- self."* Hence the eagle in the Rose Croix is very appositely selected as a symbol of Christ in his divine character, bearing the children of his adoption on his wings, teaching them with unequalled love and tenderness to poise thfir unfledged wings and soar from the dull corruptions of earth to a higher and holier sphere. And for this reason the eagle in the jewel is very signi- ficantly represented as having the wings displayed as if in the very act of flight.
The same allusion to Christ, but still more significantly, is found in the pelican feeding its young, which occupies the other side of the jewel. As this bird was formerly supposed to wound its own breast that it might with its blood feed its young, so has it been adopted as an emblem of the Saviour who shed his blood for the salvation of the human race. The pelican, therefore, on the jewel of the Rose Croix, is a fitting symbol of Christ in his mediatorial character. Ragon*|" says that in the hieroglyphic monuments the eagle was the symbol of a wise man, and the pelican of a benevolent one ; and, therefore, he thinks that the eagle and pelican of the Rose Croix are intended to symbolize perfect wisdom and perfect charity. But this explanation apply- ing these attributes to Christ, is not at all inconsistent with the one we have advanced.
It is scarcely necessary to speak of the cross as a Christian emblem. Although it is an ancient symbol of eternal life, and is to be found in use even among the Egyptians with that signi- fication, long before the days of Moses, yet since the crucifixion it has been peculiarly adopted as an emblem of Him who suffered on it. In this restricted sense, then, and not in that more gene- ral one of immortality, in which it is used in other parts of ma-
* Exodus xix. 4. -j- Cours des Initiations.
PR1 381
*>onry, is the cross adopted as one of tie emblems of the Rose Oroix degree.
The rose, in ancient mythology, was consecrated to Harpo- crates, the god of silence ; and in the mysteries the hierophant wore a crown of roses. Hence this flower was considered a? the emblem of silence and secrecy \ and when any thing was intended to be kept secret, it was said to be delivered sub rosa, or " under the rose."
Ragon, in explaining the jewel of the Rose Croix, says that as the cross was in Egypt an emblem of immortality, and the rose of secrecy, the rose followed by the cross was the simplest mode of writing " the secret of immortality." But he subse- quently gives a different explanation, namely, that, as the rose was the emblem of the female principle, and the cross or triple phallus of the male, the two together, like the Indian lingam, symbolized universal generation. But Ragon, who has adopted the theory of the astronomical origin of Freemasonry, like all theorists, often carries his speculations on this subject to an ex- treme point. A simpler allusion will better suit the character of the degree, and be more in accordance with what we have already said of its other symbols.
The rose is, in many places of Scripture, applied as a figura- tive appellation of Christ. This is familiar to all readers; thus in the Book of Canticles he is called "the rose of Sharon." The cross, of course, alludes, as we have already shown, to his death j the rose on the cross, is therefore an emblem of the death of the Saviour for the sins of mankind.
From this brief review of the symbols of the Rose Croix, it will be evident that it is, in the strictest sense, a Christian de- gree.* This must, of course, mark it as one of comparatively
* The documents of this degree always commence with these words : "In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity," and end with the salutation, u In the peaceful union of the sacred numbers." The members place R.\ j nt the end of their names.
382 PRI
modern origin, because all the ancient degrees are of universal application as to religion. The Rose Croix is, indeed, an attempt to christianize Freemasonry; to apply the rites, and symbols, and traditions of Ancient Craft Masonry to the last and greatest dispensation ; to add to the first temple of Solomon and the second of Zerubbabel, a third, that to which Christ alluded when he said, " Destroy this temple, and in three days will I raise it up." The great discovery which was made in the Royal Arch, ceases to be of value in this degree ; for it, another is sub- stituted of more christian application ; the Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, which supported the ancient temple, are replaced by the Christian pillars of Faith, Hope, and Charity; the great lights, of course, remain, because they are of the very essence of masonry; but the three lesser give way to the thirty-three, which allude to the years of the Messiah's sojourning on earth Every thing, in short, about the degree, is Christian.
Viewed, then, in this light, as a modern invention, and as forming no part of Ancient Freemasonry, we cannot fail to admire it as an ingenious and beautiful adaptation of a universal system to a more contracted principle — and as a pardonable, if not indeed a praiseworthy attempt to apply the sublime princi- ples of our all-tolerant order to the illustration of that last and most perfect dispensation under which we are now living.
PRINCE OF THE ROYAL SECRET. See Sublime
Prince of the Royal Secret.
PRINCE OF THE TABERNACLE. Prince du Tabernacle. The 24th degree of the Ancient Scotch rite. This degree is in- tended to illustrate the directions given for the building of the tabernacle, the particulars of which are recorded in the twenty- fifth chapter of Exodus. The lodge is called a Hierarchy, and its officers are a Most Powerful Chief Prince, representing Moses, and three Wardens, whose style is Powerful, and who respectively
PRI 383
represent Aaron; Bezaleel, he son of Uri; and Aholiab, the son of Ahisainach.*
The jewel is the letter A, in gold, suspended from a broad crimson ribbon. The apron is white, lined with scarlet and bordered with green. The flap is sky blue. On the apron is depicted a representation of the tabernacle.
PRINCIPAL OFFICERS. The Worshipful Master and the two Wardens are styled the three principal officers of the lodge.
PRINCIPALS. The officers of a Royal Arch Chapter, known in America as the High Priest, King, and Scribe, are in English Chapters called First, Second, and Third Principals.
PRINCIPAL SOJOURNER. An officer in a Royal Arch Chapter, whose duties are similar to those of a Senior Deacon in a symbolic lodge.
The Hebrew word "0, ger, which we translate a sojourner, signifies a man living out of his own country, and is used in this sense throughout the Old Testament. The children of Israel were, therefore, during the captivity, sojourners in Babylon, and the person who is represented by this officer, performed, as the incidents of the degree relate, an important part in the restora- tion of the Israelites to Jerusalem. He was the spokesman and leader of a party of three sojourners, and is, therefore, emphati- cally called the chief, or principa. sojourner.
PRIORY. The body of Knights Templar which, in this country, is called a Commandery, in Scotland, under the re- vised statues of the order, is styled a Priory. The presiding officer of a Priory is called a Prior ; he is, therefore, equivalent to our Grand Commander. The organization of the Templars in
* Levit. xxv. 23; 1 Chron. xxix. 15; Ps. xxxix. 12.
384 PRO
Scotland, is very different from that which exists in America. For a brief account of it, see Scotland, Knights Templar of.
PROCESSIONS. Processions, in masonry, are entirely un der the charge of the Grand Lodge. No subordinate lodge has a right to appear in public, on any occasion, without the consent and approbation of the Grand Lodge, or of its representative, the Grand Master.* The object of this salutary regulation is, that the reputation of the order shall not suffer by the ill-timed or injudicious appearance of the brethren, when any small num- ber of them, inspired by a love of display or other unworthy or unwise motives, might choose to exhibit themselves, and the jewels and ornaments of the order, to the public gaze. For, on such an occasion, not the lodge alone, but the whole fraternity suffers; for the world is unable to make the distinction, and they often heedlessly and unjustly condemn the craft, in general, for the errors or transgressions of an individual brother, or of a single lodge. To avoid, therefore, any occasion of giving scandal, the Grand Lodge, which is composed of experienced Past Masters, has wisely reserved to itself the right of appointing the time when, the place where, and the manner in which, public displays of the order may take place.
When, however, this consent has been obtained, if a single lodge walks in procession, the Master occupies the place of pre- cedence, and may have the Bible, Square and Compasses, carried on a blue velvet cushion, borne before him. If two or more lodges are present, the Master of the oldest lodge presides. If a past or present Grand Master, or Deputy Grand Master, or the Grand Wardens, join the procession of a subordinate lodge, proper attention is to be paid to them. Their place in the pro- cession is immediately after the Master of the lodge. A Grand
* This rule is, however, dispensed with, in the case of masonic funerals, in places distant from the seat of the Grand Lodge, or res! tence of the Grand Master.
PRO 385
Warden must be supplied with two Deacons. When a Grand Master or Deputy Grand Master is present, the Book of Consti- tutions must be borne before him. But unless the Grand or Deputy Grand Master is present, the Book of Constitutions can never be carried in a procession of a private lodge.
The brethren in a Masonic procession always walk two and two. They should be dressed in proper masonic costume, which is a suit of black, with shoes and white stockings, white gloves, and white leather aprons. Silk or satin aprons constitute no part of a Mason's dress. The apron must be of lamb's skin.
PROFICIENCY. One of the requisite qualifications for ad- vancement to a higher degree is, suitable proficiency in the pre- ceding. Unfortunately, this qualification is not always sufficiently insisted on. Formerly there was a regulation, requiring that the candidate who desired to be passed or raised, should be examined in open lodge on his proficiency in the preceding degree. This salutary regulation is even now adhered to, by some lodges who look rather to the quality than to the quantity of their members, and who think that a lodge had better consist of a few skilful, than many ignorant members. Some Grand Lodges, viewing the necessity of due proficiency in its proper light, have strength- ened the ancient regulation by express rules.
The proficiency of officers is also an important requisite. No brother should accept office in a lodge, unless fully qualified to perform its duties. An ignorant Master, and unskilful Wardens, reflect discredit not only on their own lodge, but by their incapa- city to explain the peculiar tenets of the order, on the whole fra- ternity. In February, 1844, the Grand Lodge of Ireland adopted, on this subject, resolutions declaring, that no brother should be considered eligible for or admissible to the office of Junior or Senior Deacon, until by strict examination in open lodge, he shall have proved himself able to administer the mys- teries of initiation to a candidate in the first degree; nor for the office of Junior or Senior Warden, until, by a like examination,
33
386 PRO
he has proved that he is able to pass a candidate to the second degree ; nor for the office of Master, until he has proven his abi- lity to enter, pass and raise, a candidate through the three de- grees.
A regulation of this kind ought to be adopted by every ( i rand Lodge in the universe.
PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER. An officer under the Grand Lodge of England, the appointment of whom is invested in the Grand Master. He presides over a province as its Grand Master, and is empowered to constitute lodges within its juris- diction. He is, however, enjoined to correspond with the Grand Lodge, and to transmit, at least yearly, an account of his proceedings. The office was first established in 1726, " when the increase of the craftsmen, and their travelling into distant parts, arid concerning themselves in lodges, required an imme- diate head, to whom the)' might apply in all cases where it was not possible to wait the decision of the Grand Lodge."*
PROVOST AND JUDGE. Prevot et Juge. The 7th de- gree of the Ancient Scotch rite. The history of the degree re- lates, that it was founded by Solomon K. of I. for the purpose of strengthening his means of preserving order among the vast number of craftsmen engaged in the construction of the temple. Tito, Prince Harodim, Adoniram, and Abda his father, were first created Provosts and Judges, who were afterwards directed by Solomon to initiate his favourite and intimate secretary, Joa- bert, and to give him the keys of all the building. The Master of a Lodge of Provosts and Judges represents Tito, Prince Harodim, the first Grand Warden and Inspector of the three hundred architects. The number of lights is six, and the sym- bolic colour is red.
The jewel is a golden key, having the letter A within a tri-
* Anderson. Const, p. 340.
PRO— PUR 387
aii^le, engraved on the ward. The collar is red. The apron is white, lined with red, and is furnished with a pocket.
PROXY The representative of a lodge in the Grand Lodge. Every lodge is entitled to be represented by its Master and Wardens. But when a lodge is too far distant from the seat of the Grand Lodge for those officers conveniently to attend, it may depute one or more Past Masters, under the seal of the lodge and the signature of the Worshipful Master and Secretary, to represent it in the Grand Lodge. A proxy has all the power that the Master and Wardens would have, if present. He may vote to the best of his judgment for the interest of the lodge, and the honour of the craft, unless instructed by the lodge, in which case he is bound to obey the expressed will of the lodge which he represents. It is not necessary that a proxy should be a member of the lodge which has appointed him. On the con- trary, he generally is not.
PRUDENCE. One of the four cardinal virtues, the practice of which is inculcated upon the Entered Apprentice. Prudence, which, in all men, is a virtue highly to be commended, as teach- ing them to live agreeably to the dictates of reason, and preserv- ing to them by its cautious precepts the realities of temporal welfare, and the hopes of eternal happiness, is to the Mason ab- solutely necessary, that being governed by it, he may carefully avoid the least occasion, by sign or word, of communicating to the profane those important secrets which should be carefully locked up only in the repository of faithful breasts. Hence is this virtue, in the lecture of the first degree, intimately connected with, and pointedly referred to, a most important part of our ce remonies of initiation.
PURPLE. The colour of one of the veils in the tabernacle, and the emblematic colour of the three intermediate degrees be- tween the Master Mason and the Royal Arch. Purple, in Roy^l
388 PYT
Arch Masonry, is the emblem of union, because it is produced by the combination of blue, which is the characteristic colour of the symbolic degrees, and scarlet, which is that of the Royal Arch degree. It reminds the wearer, therefore, to cultivate between these different members of the masonic family, a spirit of union and harmony.
PYTHAGORAS. Masons, looking to the purity of the prin- ciples inculcated in the school of this Grecian sage, to the peculiar character of the ceremonies with which he clothed and concealed his doctrines, and to the great respect which he paid to the sci- ence of geometry, have delighted to hail him as an "ancient brother;" and there is no doubt that his mysteries, improved by his long experience, chastened by his own virtuous character, and enlarged by his extensive researches into the systems of other countries, "were the most perfect approximation to the original science of Freemasonry which could be accomplished by a heathen philosopher, bereft of the aid of revelation/'*
Pythagoras was born at Samos, about five hundred and sixty- eight years before the Christian era. Having at an early age distinguished himself in the Olympic games, and obtained the prize for wrestling, he began his travels in pursuit of knowledge ; retiring into the East, he visited Chaldea and Egypt, the seats of learning and philosophy, and gaining the confidence of the priests, he obtained from them a knowledge of their mysteries and their symbolic writings. He is said to have been instructed in the sacred things of the Hebrews by the prophet Ezekiel.f
Upon his return to Europe, he settled at the town of Crotona, in Magna Grecia, where he established the school which after- wards rendered him so illustrious as a teacher of philosophy.
* Oliver, In it. 123.
■f Some say by Daniel. He met the Tews at Babylon, where he visited during the captivity, and Oliver says, "was initiated into the Jewish system of Free- masonry." Landmarks, vol. ii. p. 412.
PYT 38r
His instruction, like that of all the ancient philosophers, was af two kinds, exoteric or public, and esoteric or private. To the rbrmer, all persons, indiscriminately, were admitted, but none but pupils, selected by himself for their virtue and capacity, were permitted to enjoy the benefits of the latter.
To be received as a novice in the school of Pythagoras, was no easy task. The most rigid examination was made into the cha- racter of the candidate. If he was accepted, he deposited his property in the common fund of the society, and commenced his probation, which was of an exceedingly severe description. The novitiate lasted five years, during which period the aspirant was enjoined to be abstinent in food, and to preserve an uninterrupted silence. If he succeeded in obeying these instructions, he was permitted to aspire to the degrees, which were three in number, the Acousmatici, the Mathematici, and the Pythagoreans, in the last of which he was clothed in a white garment and fully in- structed in the secret doctrine.
Pythagoras was, perhaps, the most virtuous, and taught the purest doctrines of all the heathen philosophers. The school which he established was distinguished for the piety as well as the attainments of his disciples. They were animated only by a reverence for the deity, and a love for their fellow-beings. Their respect for the Divine Being was such, that they never pronounced his name in their oaths,* and their brotherly love was such, that they were accustomed to adopt the noble sentiment amy friend is my other self."f
Silence and secrecy were the first lessons taught by Pythagoras to his disciples. The five years novitiate of the candidate was passed in total silence, during which he learned to repress his curiosity; and to employ his thoughts on God. When admitted to the fellowship of the society, an oath of secrecy was propounded to him on the sacred tetractys.
* Jambliehus, Vit, Pythag. c. 33. f Porph. Vit. Pythag. 33*
390 PYT
Implicit obedience was another lesson prescribed to the Py- thagoreans. Aoroq e sidered as the most sufficient of reasons in all questions of propriety.
The institutions of Pythagoras resembled the masonic in other respects besides its principles. His assemblies were arranged due east and west, because, he said, that motion began in the east and proceeded to the west. He had adopted a system of signs, whereby his disciples, dispersed though various countries, made themselves known to each other at first sight, and became as familiar at the first interview, as if they had been acquainted from their birth. And so closely, says Jamblichus, were their interests united, that many of them passed over seas and risked their fortune to re-establish that of one of their brethren who had fallen into distress.
Jamblichus relates the following incident, which is in evidence both of their brotherly love and of their means of mutual recog- nition. A Pythagorean travelling in a distant country, fell sick and died at a public inn. Previous, however, to his death, being unable to compensate the landlord for the kindness and attention with which he had been treated, he directed a tablet, on which he had traced some enigmatical characters, to be exposed on the public road. Some time after, another disciple of Pythagoras passed that way, perceived the tablet, enigmatical characters that a brother had been there sick and in distress, and that he had been treated with kindness, he stopped and reimbursed the inn-keeper for his trouble and expense.*
The symbols adopted by Pythagoras in his secret instruction, were principally derived from geometry. A notice of a few of them may be interesting.
The right angle was an emblem of morality and justice.
The equilateral triangle, was a symbol of God, the essence of Light and Truth The square, like the tetractys, referred to the
* Jamblichus, \tt siijyra.
QUA 391
Divine mind. The cube was the symbol of the mind of man, after it had been purified by piety and acts of devotion, and thus prepared for mingling with the celestial gods. The point within a circle, and the dodecahedron or figure of twelve sides, were symbols of the universe. The triple triangle was aru emblem of health, and the letter Y a representation of the course of human life, in which there are two diverging paths, the one of virtue, leading to happiness,- and the other of vice, conducting to misery. Among the doctrines peculiar to the school of Pythagoras, was that of the metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, which he derived during his travels from the Brahmins of India He forbade the eating of flesh, and the offering of animals in sacrifice. He taught that the universe was created out of the passive principle of matter, by the Divine Being, who was its mover and source, and out of whose substance the souls of men were formed. He believed in the universal influence of numbers, which he supposed to be the controlling principle of all things. He perceived in the human mind, not only propensities to vice and passion, but the better seeds of virtue. These he sought to cultivate and cherish by labour, study, and abstinence of life. In short, he appears to have extracted from the various sects of heathen philosophy, all that was good, and to have rejected all that was bad, forming thereby an eclectic system which ap- proached nearer to light and truth, than any that had ever, before his day, emanated from the unassisted wisdom of man.
Q.
QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES. The pre-requi- site qualification of candidates for admission into the mysteries of Freemasonry, are of three kinds — mental, moral, and physical
392 QUA
The mental qualifications are, that the cardidate shall be a man of sane mind ; that is, neither a fool, an idiot, nor a mad- man ; but one responsible for his actions, and competent to un- derstand the obligations, to comprehend the instructions, and to perform the duties of a Mason. The mental qualifications refer to the security of the order.
The moral qualifications are, that he shall be no " irreligious libertine," but an obeyer of the moral law. That is, he must be virtuous in his conduct and reputable in his character, lest the dignity and honour of the institution suffer by the admission of unworthy persons. Neither must he be an atheist, but an hum- ble believer in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, a belief which constitutes the religious creed of Freemasonry, and which is essentially necessary to a Mason as a check upon vice and a stimulus to virtue. Another important moral qualification is, that the candidate must come of his " own free will and accord." Masonry does not delight in proselytism. Though our portals are open to all who are worthy, yet we are unwilling that any should unite with us, except they be persuaded to the act by their uninfluenced convictions of the beauty and utility of our institution. The moral qualifications refer to the respectability of the order.
The physical qualifications are, that the candidate shall be twenty-one years old or more, free born and no bondsman, of able body, and "of limbs whole as a man ought to be."
This is one of the oldest regulations of our ancient craft. It arises from the originally operative nature of our institution. Whatever objections some ultra liberal brethren may make to the uncharitable nature of a law which excludes a virtuous man from our fellowship, because he has been unfortunate enough to lose a leg or an arm, we have no right to discuss the question. The regulation constitutes one of the many peculiarities tl ;it distinguish our society from all others; its existence continues to connect the present speculative with the former operative cha- racter of the institution ; it is an important part of our history j
QUA 393
and is, in short, by universal consent, one of the landmarks of the order. It can never, therefore, be changed. The physical qualifications refer to the utility of the order.
The most ancient charges in which these regulations are to be found, are those whi?h were collected from the old records, and ordered to be printed by the Grand Lodge of England, 1722, and the manuscript charges in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity, London. As they are brief, but important, I may be excused for inserting them here.
" A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral ±aw ; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine."*
"No master should take an apprentice, unless he has suffi- cient emplo}7ment for him, and unless he be a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his body, that may render him in- capable of learning the art, of serving his master's lord, and of being made a brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a term of years as the custom of the country directs : and that he should be descended of honest pa- rents; that so, when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the honour of being the Warden, and then the Master of the lodge, the Grand "Warden, and, at length, the Grand Master of all the lodges, according to his merit. ,;f
"Thirdly, that he that be made, be able in all degrees; that is, free born, of good kindred, true, and no bondsman, and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have."J
In the Constitution, published under the sanction of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, by Brother Samuel Cole, the physical disabilities are set forth still more minutely, with an assignment of what is probably the true reason for their existence. They say, " no person is capable of becoming a member, unless he is
* Old Charges, Sect. 1. — See Anderson, Constitutions.
| Ibm. Sect. 4.
% MS. in Lodge of Antiq. See Preston, 273. Noto.
304 QUE
free born, of mature and discreet age; of good report; of suffi cient natural endowments, and the senses of a man ; with an es tate, office, trade, occupation, or some visible way of acquiring an honest livelihood, and of working in his craft, as becomes the members of this most ancient and honourable fraternity, who ought not only to earn what is sufficient for themselves and fami- lies, but likewise something to spare fur works of charity, and supporting the true dignity of the royal craft. Every person desiring admission, must also be upright in body, not deformed or dismembered at the time of making ; but of hale and entire limbs, as a man ought to be."*
In an able report made by Bro. W. S. Rockwell, Deputy Grand Master, to the Grand Lodge of Georgia, he traces the ex- istence of the law prohibiting the initiation of maimed candi- dates, to that early period of Egyptian history, in which a per- sonal defect would exclude from the priesthood — a law which is again to be found in the Mosaic ritual, from which the masonic institution is more immediately derived. Looking to the sym- bolic character of speculative masonry as referring to the mate- rial temple for its architype, he explains the present existence of the law in the following language, with the sentiments of which I cordially concur.
" It was eminently proper that a temple erected for the worship of the God of Truth, the unchangeable I AM, should be con- structed of white stones, perfect stones, the universally recog- nised symbols of this, his great and constant attribute. The symbolic relation of each member of his order to its mystic temple forbids the idea that its constituent portions, its living stones, should be less perfect, or less a type of their great ori- ginal, than the inanimate material which formed the earthly dwelling place of the God of their adoration."
QUESTIONS OF HENRY VI. This is a document which
* See Cole, Freemas. Lib. p. 69. Constitutions, Ch. 1, Sect. 4.
QUE 395
has been so often printed in various masonic publications as to have become familiar to the fraternity. Its full title is, " Cer- tayne questions with answeres to the same, concernynge the mys- tery of maconrye ; wryttene by the hande of Kynge Henry the Sixthe of the name, and faythfullye copied by me, Johan Ley- lande Antiquarius, by the commaunde of His Highnesse." It first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1758, where it purports to be a reprint of the pamphlet published five years be- fore, at Frankfort.* It is there stated to have been copied by one John Collins, from a MS. in the Bodleian library, and to have been enclosed in a letter from the celebrated John Locke, the author of the Essay on Human Understandings to Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, and bearing date May 6th, 1696. Preston afterward incorporated these questions into his work, and ap- pended to them a section of remarks on the manuscript, as well as on the annotations of Mr. Locke. This work has always been received as genuine among the craft, and in the life of Leland its authenticity is positively asserted. But this has lately been denied by Mr. Halliwell, in a small work entitled, " The Early History of Freemasonry in England/' published at London, in 1840. The document purporting to come from the Bodleian li- brary, is so well known to most Masons, that I should have passed it over without notice in this work, were it not that I deemed it necessary to bring the doubts of Mr. Halliwell before my readers, many of whom may have no opportunity of seeing the original work in which the subject is discussed. The views of Mr. Halliwell will, perhaps, be best conveyed in the words of the doubter himself.
"It is singular," says Mr. Halliwell, "that the circumstances attending its publication should have led no one to suspect its
* The title of the paper, as found in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1753, page 417, is as follows : " Copy of a small pamphlet consisting of 12 pages, in Svo., printed in Germany in 1748, entitled: 'Ein Brief von dem beruchmten herrn. heron Johann Locke betreffend die Frey-Maurreren. So aufeinein Schrieb-Jiseb 3ines verstrorbnen Bruders ist gefunden worden.' "
306 QUE
authenticity. I was at the pains of making a long search in thfl Bodleian library last summer, in the hopes of finding the origi- nal, but without success. In fact, there can be but little doubt, that this celebrated and well-known document is a forgery !
" In the first place, why should such a document have been printed abroad ? Was it likely, that it should have found its way to Frankfort, nearly half a century afterwards, and been published without any explanation of the source whence it was obtained ? Again, the orthography is most grotesque, and too grass ever to have been penned either by Henry the Sixth, or Leland, or both combined. For instance, we have Peter Go were, a Grecian, explained in a note by the fabricator — for who else could have solved it? — to be Pythagoras ! As a whole, it is but a clumsy attempt at deception, and is quite a parallel to the re- cently discovered one of theirs* Englishe Mercurie."*
Such are the objections of Mr. Halliwell to the authenticity of this celebrated antiquarian document. Let each estimate their value for himself. Fortunately, the dignity of masonry is not at all connected with the dispute. The questions throw but little light upon the history of the order, and its antiquity de- pends not on them alone for proof.
QUESTIONS TO CANDIDATES. Every candidate, before being admitted to participate in our mysteries, is bound to answer certain questions, respecting the motives that have influenced his application. These questions are generally proposed in the fol- lowing form :
" Do you seriously declare upon your honour, that, unbiassed by friends against your own inclination, and uninfluenced by mercenary motives, you freely and voluntarily offer yourself as a candidate for the mysteries of Freemasonry ?
" Do you seriously declare upon your honour, that you are solely prompted to solicit the privileges of masonry, by a favour-
* Halliwell, Hist, of Freemasonry, p. 40.
RAT*— RAM 397
able opinion conceived of the institution, a desire of knowledge, and a sincere wish of being serviceable to your fellow creatures?
"Do you sincerely declare upon your honour, that you will cheerfully conform to all the ancient established usages and cus- toms of the fraternity V
These questions should be propounded to the candidate by the Senior Deacon, in the preparation room, before initiation, and in the presence of the stewards or preparers.
R
RABBONI. This word may be translated as signifying " a most excellent master or teacher/' Jahn tells us, (in his Bibli- cal Archaeology, § 106,) that the Jews, in imitation of the Greeks, had their seven wise men who were called Rabboni, *?D"1- Gamaliel, the preceptor of St. Paul, was one of these. They styled themselves the children of wisdom, which is an expression very nearly corresponding to the. Greek The word occurs once as applied to Christ, in the New Testa- ment, (John xx. 16.) " Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, master."
RAISED. This term is used to designate the reception of a candidate into the third degree of masonry. It conveys an allu- sion to a particular part of the ceremonies, as well as to the fact of his being elevated or raised to that degree, which is univer- sally acknowledged to be the suinnm of ancient craft masonry.
RAMSAY. The name of the Chevalier Ramsay is conspicuous
34
398 RAM
in the masonic history of the last century. He was born at Ayr, in Scotland, in 1686, and died at Germain-en-Laye, in France, in 1743. He was a man of extensive erudition and the friend of the great and good Fenelon. One of the most faithful followers of the Pretender, he sought to identify the progress of Freema- sonry with the house of Stuart. For this purpose ho endea- voured to obviate the objections of the French nobility to the mechanical origin of the institution, at which their pride revolted, by asserting that it arose in the Holy Land, during the Crusades, as an order of chivalry. His theory was, that the first Freema- sons were a society of knights, whose business it was to rebuild the churches which had been destroyed by the Saracens ; that the Saracens, with the view of preventing the execution of this pious design, sent emissaries among them, who, disguised as Christians, became confounded with the builders and paralyzed their efforts \ that the knights having discovered the existence of these spies, became in future more careful, and instituted signs and words for the purpose of detection ; and that as many of their workmen were newly converted Christians, they adopted symbolic ceremonies with the view of instructing their proselytes more readily in their new religion. Finally, the Saracens becom- ing more powerful, the Knights Masons were compelled to aban- don their original occupation ; but being invited by a king of England to remove into his dominions, they had accepted the in- vitation, and there devoted themselves to the cultivation and encouragement of architecture, sculpture, painting and music. Ramsay attempted to support his system by the fact of the build- ing of the College of Templars in London, which was actually constructed in the twelfth century by the fraternity of masons who had been in the holy wars.*
In 1728, Ramsay attempted to lay the foundation of a masonic reform, according to this system. He, therefore, proposed to the Grand Lodge of England to substitute, in the place of the three
* Robison, Proofs of a Conspiracy, p. 33.
REC 399
degrees of Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master, three others of his own invention, those of Scotch Mason, Novice and Knight of the Temple, which he pretended were the only true and ancient ones, and had their administrative centre, from time immemorial, in the Lodge of Saint Andrew, at Edinburgh. His views were at once rejected by the Grand Lodge of England, which has always been the guardian of the purity of Ancient Craft Masonry. But he carried them to Paris, where they met with amazing success, and gave rise to those higher degrees which have since been known by the name of the Ancient Scotch rite.* See a further account of Ramsay under the title Innovations.
RECEIVED. After the completion and dedication of the Temple, those brethren who consented to remain and keep that magnificent structure in repair, were, according to masonic tra- dition, as a reward for their attachment, received and acknow- ledged as Most Excellent Masters. Hence, the terms are used to express the reception of a candidate into the 6th or Most Excel- lent Master's degree of the Ancient York rite.
RECOMMENDATION. The letter of every applicant for ini- tiation must be recommended by at least one well-known brother, who should be, if possible, a member of the lodge, and vouched for by another. See Vouching.
RECORDER. An officer in a Commandery of Knights
* Clavel, p. 165. I find the following paragraph in the Gentleman's Maga- zine for the year 1738.
"There was lately burnt at Rome, with great solemnity, by order of the Irquisition, a piece in French, written by the Chevalier Ramsay, (author of the Travels of Cyrus,) entitled 'An Apologetical and Historical Relation of the Secrets of Freemasonry, printed at Dublin by Patric Odinoko.' This was published at Paris in answer to a pretended catechism orinted there by order of the Lieutenant de Police."
400 RED— REF
Templar, and a Council of Royal and Select Masters equivalent to a Secretary in a blue lodge.
RED CROSS KNIGHT. See Knight of the Red Cross.
RED CROSS OF ROME AND CONSTANTINE. A
decree founded on the circumstances of the vision f the cross which appeared to the Emperor Constantine. It formed origin- ally a part of the Rosaic Rite, and is now practised in England, Ireland. Scotland, and some of the English colonies, as a distinct order, the meetings being called " conclaves, '' and the presiding officer of the whole order, " Grand Sovereign."
REFLECTION, CHAMBER OF. Cabinet des Reflexions. In French lodges the preparation room in which the candidate remains, until he is introduced. It is thus called, because the gloomy furniture, and the moral inscriptions on the walls, are cal culated to produce, in his bosom, reflections of the most serious nature.
A similiar apartment is used in the ceremonies of the degree of Knight Templar.
REFORMED RITE. This rite was established in 1782, by a convention of Masons, who assembled at Wilhelmsbad, under the presidency of Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, who was elected its Grand Master. The members of this rite assumed the title of " Order of Charitable Knights of the Holy City." It was a re- formation of the rite of Strict Observance, which had been esta- blished in 1754, and differed from it, principally, in rejecting all connection with the Knights Templar, of whom, the members of the rite of Strict Observance had declared that Freemasons were the successors. The rite of Martinism was merged in this rite, whose system the lodges of Martinists universally adopted ; and thus constituted, it spread with astonishing rapidity over France, Switzerland, and Italy, but met with inconsiderable success in
REF 401
Germany, where the Templar system appears to have been, for a long time, the favourite.
The Reformed rife consisted of five degrees: 1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow-Craft; 3, Master; 4, Scotch Master; 5, Charitable Knight of the Holy City. The last degree was subdivided into three sec- tions, namely : Novice, Professed Brother, and Knight, which actually gives seven degrees in all.
It is still practised in France by one lodge, and in Switzerland by five. Its supreme body is situated at Zurich, in the latter country, under the title of the "Directory of Switzerland."
REFORMED HELVETIC RITE. The rite described in the preceding article was introduced into Poland in 1784, by brother Glayre, of Lausanne, the minister of King Stanislaus, and who was also the Provincial Grand Master of this rite in the French part of Switzerland. But, in introducing it into Po- land, he subjected it to several modifications, and called it the Reformed Helvetic rite. The system was adopted by the Grand Orient of Poland.
REFRESHMENT. When a lodge is temporarily adjourned, the adjournment is performed in a manner peculiar to Masons, and the lodge is then said to be " called from labour to refreshment." During refreshment, the column of the W.\ should also be down, and that of the S.\ be up, to indicate that the Junior Warden, not the Senior, now superintends the craft. Calling from labour to refreshment, differs from closing, in this, that in the for- mer mode the lodge is still open, nor when the labour is resumed, is there any ceremony of opening. Neither does the re-assem- bling of the brethren require any other summons or notification thau the simple command of the J.-. W.\
High twelve or noon was the hour at the temple when our an- cient brethren were regularly called from labour to refreshment. The tradition is that they worked twelve hours a day, and six days in the week.
34*
402 REI— REL
REINSTATEMENT. When a Mason, who had been expelled or suspended by a lodge, is reinstated by the lodge, which had expelled or suspended him, he is at once restored to all his ma- sonic rights and privileges, just as if no such sentence had ever been passed upon him. But no lodge has the power of reinstat- ing, except the one which inflicted the original punishment. This rule, however, does not apply to the Grand Lodge, which, as the supreme masonic tribunal, may re-instate any expelled or sus- ended Mason within its jurisdiction, whenever the circumstances of the case may seem to warrant such an exercise of prerogative.
REJECTION. Freemasonry insists on the principle of una- nimity that the harmony of the lodge may be preserved, and therefore it is a universal rule that one black ball should reject a candidate for initiation.* If a candidate be rejected, he can apply in no other lodge for admission. If admitted at all, in must be in the lodge where he first applied. But the time for a new application has never been specified, so that it is held that a rejected candidate may apply for a reconsideration of his case at any time. The unfavourable report of the committee to whom the letter was referred, or the withdrawal of the letter by the candi- date or his friends, is considered equivalent to a rejection
RELIEF. Of the philanthropic tendency of masonry, abundant evidence is afforded in every country in which a lodge exists. Its charities are extended to the poor and destitute, to the widow and the orphan, with a liberal hand ; and its numerous institutions for improving the physical and moral condition of the human race, prove that " Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth," are not the mere idle and unmeaning language of a boastful motto, but the true and guidiug principles of our association. In our own land, several of the Grand Lodges have established
* All of the Grand Lodges in the United States require unanimity in tho ballot. But the Old Constitutions permitted as many as three black balls, H the lodge desired it.
REL 403
colleges and schools for the education of the children of Masons. Some of these have been but lately organized, yet are the y all in a prosperous condition. In Europe, where the order has been longer in operation, the means of bestowing aid upon the desti- tute are still more perfect. Among these, the " Royal Freema- sons' School for Female Children/' in London, is worthy of all commendation. It was instituted in 1788, and the present building erected, at an expense of more than £3000, in the year 1793. The object of the charity is to maintain, clothe, and educate an unlimited number of female children and orphans of reduced Freemasons. It now extends its bounty to sixty-five children, who are received into the school between the ages of eight and eleven, and are wholly supported until they attain their fifteenth year.
The "Asylum for worthy aged and decayed Freemasons/' in the same city, is another institution reflecting high honour on the society which gave it birth. It was founded in 1835, and its praiseworthy objects are sufficiently designated by its title.
In Germany, we find " A Lying-in Hospital" for the wives of indigent Freemasons, established at Schleswig; an almshouse and orphan-honse at Prague ; a public school at Berlin ; an in- stitute for the blind at Amsterdam ; and a multitude of libraries, schools and hospitals, scattered throughout the German cities.
In Sweden there is an orphan-house, established in 1753, at Stockholm, by the private contributions of the Swedish lodges. Ireland has also an orphan-house. But one of the most philan- thropic institutions of our order, is the " Society for patronizing poor children, " established at Lyons, in I^ance. Its object is to diminish the primary causes of pauperism. For this purpose, it commences with the child at birth ; it selects for him a patron from its members, whose duty it is to advise with and assist the parents in the government and education of the child. He sees that the child is well fed, comfortably clothed, and properly edu cated. When ready for a trade, he directs him in its selection, and binds him as an apprentice. And when the period of ap^ prenticeship has expired, he furnishes him with his outfit in life
404 REL
Of the private relief afforded in individual cases, where jhe sole claim to sympathy or assistance was the possession of the name of brother, it is unnecessary here to speak. The annals of masonry are crowded with such instances of masonic relief. Truth, may be said to be the column of wisdom, whose rays penetrate and enlighten the inmost recesses of our lodge ; Bro- therly Love, the column of strength, which binds us as one family, in the indissoluble bond of fraternal affection ; and Re- lief, the column of beauty, whose ornaments, more precious than the lilies and pomegranates that adorned the pillars of the porch, are the widow's tear of joy, and the orphan's prayer ol gratitude.
RELIGION. Freemasonry does not profess to interfere with the religious opinions of its members. It asks only for a decla- ration of that simple and universal faith, in which men of all nations and all sects agree, — the belief in a God and in his su- perintending providence. Beyond this, it does not venture, but leaves the minds of its disciples, on other and sectarian points, perfectly untrammelled. This is the only religious qualification required of a candidate, but this is most strictly demanded. The religion, then, of Masonry, is pure theism, on which its dif- ferent members engraft their own peculiar opinions ; but they are not permitted to introduce them into the lodge, or to connect their truth or falsehood with the truth of masonry.
On this subject, the present Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England, holds the following language :
" A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral law, and if he rightly understand the art, he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine. He, of all men, should best understand that God seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh at the outward appearance, but God looketh to the heart. A Ma- son is, therefore, particularly bound, never to act against the dic- tates of his conscience. Let a man's religion, or mode of wor- ship, be what it may, he is not excluded from the order, provided
REM— REP 405
he believe in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth, and practise the sacred duties of morality. Masons unite with the virtuous of every persuasion, in the firm and pleasing bond of fraternal love; they are taught to view the errors of mankind with compassion, and to strive, by the purity of their own con- duct, to demonstrate the superior excellence of the faith they may possess. Thus masonry is the centre of union between good men and true, and the happy means of conciliating friend- ship amongst those who must otherwise have remained at a per- petual distance."
This tolerant principle is, however, unfortunately not practised in all masonic lodges. The three Grand Lodges at Berlin, in Prussia,* and the Grand Lodges of Hanover and Hamburg, re- fuse not only to initiate Jews, but even to admit as visitors their Israelitish brethren, who have been made in other countries. The Grand Lodges of this country have taken this subject into consideration, and several of them have already passed resolu- tions, condemning the proceedings of the Prussian and German Masons, which may possibly have some effect in restoring them to the purity and liberality of masonic tolerance. The Grand Lodge of Germany, at Hamburg, which works only in the three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, and derives its Constitutions from the Grand Lodge of England, is happily actuated by a more enlightened spirit.
REMOVAL. No lodge can remove from its usual place of meeting, without the consent of the Grand Lodge thereto. For- merly no proposition could be made, nor vote taken on the ques- tion of removal, unless the Worshipful Master wf.s present. But this regulation appears now to have become obsolete.
REPEAL. A lodge cannot, at an extra communication, re«
* The Grand Lodge of the Three Glohes, the Royal York Grand Lodge of Friendship, and the Grand Lodge of Prussia.
406 REP
peal, annul, or alter a resolution, that has been ad pted at a pre vious regular one.
REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM. The representative system originated in this country with the Grand Lodge of New-York. Its organization is as follows : It is proposed, that each Grand Lodge in the United States, or, if it can be sufficiently extended, in the world, shall appoint a worthy and intelligent Mason, to re- side near and represent it in every other Grand Lodge. These representatives are required to attend regularly the meetings of the Grand Lodges to which they are accredited, to communicate to their constituents an abstract of the proceedings, and such other masonic matter of interest, such as expulsions, rejections, esta- blishment of clandestine lodges, &c, as may occur in the respec- tive jurisdictions in which they reside. Their costume is that of the Grand Lodge which they represent, and they are also entitled to bear a banner with its colours.
This system has not met with universal approbation, and has, as yet, but partially succeeded Its friends argue, ir> its favour, the closer union which will thereby be cemented between the various masonic bodies thus represented, and the greater facility of communication.*
But on the other side, its opposers have offered weighty objec- tions against its adoption. Besides the heavy expense which would necessarily attend the universal adoption of the system, there is one, which certainly claims the attentive consideration of every brother. One of the most intelligent of these objectors is Brother Moore, the editor of the Freemason's Monthly Maga- zine, published at Boston, in whose words, rather than in my own, I desire to present the character of this objection to the reader.
* The arduous duty of an extensive correspondence, wh ch had formerly been confided to one officer, the Grand Secretary, being now divided between several.
RES 407
"Another objection that presents itself to our mind is, that the proceedings of the Grand Lodges would go forth in an unof- ficial form, and be liable to lead to error and confusion. It is hardly to be presumed that the representatives would all take the same view of every subject that might come under discussion, or that they would understand it alike, in all its bearings. They would undoubtedly faithfully represent the matter to their con- stituents, as they should respectively understand it. But their understanding it would probably, in many cases, clash with the annual report of the official officer. Their representations would not, therefore, furnish safe grounds of action. The Grand Lodges would still be constrained to wait for the official report. Again, there is danger that the representatives might not always be able to discriminate between what it would be proper to com- municate, and what is strictly of a local character. There is not probably a Grand Lodge in the country which has not before it, at every communication, some subject which it would prefer to keep within the limits of its own jurisdiction. And it is one of the errors of human nature, that there should be an ambitious d^ire on the part of the representatives to communicate every thing which, in their judgment, might tend to raise them in the estimation, or contribute to the interest, of their constituents. They might not always discriminate wisely.*
These objections are certainly important, and seem to have de- terred some of the Grand Lodges from appointing representatives. Whether the system will ever become universal is exceedingly problematical. The enthusiasm on the subject, which existed in some parts of the country, when it was first proposed, appears now considerably to have abated.
RESIGNATION. No brother should be allowed to resign, unless he be at the time in good standing. Some lodges, how- ever, from a mistaken feeling of kindness, have permitted a
* Moore's Magazine, vol. i. p. 196.
408 RES— RHE
member to resign, rather than resort to the penalty of suspension or expulsion. This is manifestly wrong. If a Mason be too bad to belong to a particular lodge, he is too bad to belong to the order in general. Besides, the acceptation of a letter of resigna- tion is a kind of tacit acknowledgement that the character of the resigning member is free from reproach. Hence, other lodges are thus deceived into the admission of one who should originally have been cured or cut off* by the lodge from which he had resigned.
The resignation of a member dissolves all connection between himself and his former lodge, but it does not at all affect his general relations with the order, or his obligatory duties as a Mason. See on this subject, the article Demit.
RESURRECTION". A resurrection from the grave and a future immortality were the great lessons which it was the de- sign of the ancient mysteries to inculcate. In like manner by a symbolic ceremony of great impressiveness, the same sublime truths are made to constitute the end and object of Freemasonry in the third degree, or as it has been called by Hutchinson, " the Master's Order."
RETURNS OF LODGES. Every subordinate lodge must make an annual return, at some period specified in the local re- gulations, to the Grand Lodge from which it derives its "Warrant, of the number and names of its members, and of the initiations, rejections, suspensions, and expulsions which have taken place during the year. By this means, each Grand Lodge is made acquainted with the state of its subordinates, and the progress of the order within its jurisdiction.
RHETORIC. The art of embellishing language with the
* Quae sanari poterunt, quacunque ratione sanabo ; quae resecanda enint, non patiar ad perniciem civitatis manare. — Cicero in Catalin.
RIG 409
ornaments of construction, so as to enable the speaker to persuade or affect his hearers. It supposes and requires a proper acquaint- ance with the rest of the liberal arts. For the first step towards adorning a discourse, is for the speaker to become thoroughly acquainted with its subject, and hence, the ancient rule that the orator should be acquainted with all the arts and sciences. Its importance as a branch of liberal education is recommended to the Mason in the Fellow-Craft's degree.
HIGrHT ANGLE. A right angle is the meeting of two lines in an angle of ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle. Each of its lines is perpendicular to the other, and as the perpendicu- lar line is a symbol of uprightousness of conduct, the right angle has been adopted by Masons as an emblem of virtue. Such was also its signification among the Pythagoreans. The right angle is represented in the lodges by the square, as the horizontal is by the level, and the perpendicular by the plumb.
RIGHT HAND. The right hand has in all ages been deemed an important symbol to represent the virtue of fidelity. Among the ancients, the right hand and fidelity to an obligation, were almost deemed synonymous terms. Thus, among the Romans, the expression " fallere dextrarn," to betray the right hand, also signified to violate faith, and "jungere dextras," to join right hands, meant to give a mutual pledge. Among the Hebrews pOS iamin, the right hand, was derived from 1f2 N> aman, to "be faithful.
The practice of the ancients was conformable to these pecu- liarities of idiom. Among the Jews, to give the right hand, was considered as a mark of friendship and fidelity. Thus St. Paul sa}Ts, " when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision." G-al. ii. 6.
36
410 RIG
The same expression, also, occurs in Maccabees. We meet, in- deed, continually in the Scriptures with allusions to the right hand, as an emblem of truth and fidelity. Thus iu Psalms (cxliv.) it is said, " their right hand is a right hand of falsehood/' — that is to say, they lift up their right hand to swear to what is not true. This lifting up of the right hand was, in fact, the universal mode adopted among both Jews and Pagans in taking an oath. The custom is certainly as old as the days of Abraham, who said to the King of Sodom, " I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take any thing that is thine." Sometimes among the Gentile nations, the right hand, in taking an oath, was laid upon the horns of the altar, and sometimes upon tne hand of the person administering the obligation. But in all cases it was deemed necessary to the validity and solemnity of the attestation, that the right hand should be employed.
Since the introduction of Christianity, the use of the right hand in contracting an oath, has been continued, but instead of extending it to heaven, or seizing with it a horn of the altar, it is now directed to be placed upon the Holy Scriptures, which is the universal mode at this day in all Christian countries. The antiquity of this usage may be learned from the fact, that in the code of the Emperor Theodosius, adopted about the year 438, the placing of the right hand on the Gospels is alluded to, and in the code of Justinian, whose date is the year 529, the cere- mony is distinctly laid down as a necessary part of the formality of the oath.*
This constant use of the right hand in the most sacred attesta- tions and solemn compacts, was either the cause or the conse- quence of its being deemed an emblem of fidelity. Dr. Potter)* thinks it was the cause, and he supposes that the right hand was
* The words of Justinian are, " tactis sacrosanctis Evangeliis" — the Holy Sospels being touched. — Lib. ii. tit. 53. lex. 1. f Archoeologia Graeca, p. 229.
RIG 411
naturally used instead of the left, because it was more honour- able, as being the instrument by which superiors give commands to those below them. Be this* as it may, it is well known that the custom existed universally, and that there are abundant allu- sions, in the most ancient writers, to the junction of right hands in making compacts.
The Romans had a goddess whose name was Fides, or Fidelity,* whose temple was first consecrated by Numa. "Her symbol was two right hands joined, or sometimes two female figures holding each other by the right hands, whence in all agreements among the Greeks and Romans, it was usual for the parties to take each other by the right hand, in token of their intention to adhere to the compact.
The joining of the right hands was esteemed among the Per- sians and Parthians, as conveying a most inviolable obligation of fidelity. Hence, when King Artabanus desired to hold a confer- ence with his revolted subject, Asineus, who was in arms against him, he despatched a messenger to him with the request, who said to Asineus, " the king hath sent me to give you his right hand and security," — that is, a promise of safety in going and coming. And when Asineus sent his brother Asileus to the pro- posed conference, the king met him and gave him his right hand, upon which Josephus remarks : " This is of the greatest force there with all these barbarians, and affords a firm security to those who hold intercourse with them; for none of them will deceive, when once they have given you their right hands, nor will any one doubt of their fidelity, when that is once given, even though they were before suspected of injustice."")"
It is thus apparent that the use of the right hand, as a token
* By a strange error for so learned a man, Oliver mistakes the name of this goddess, and calls her Faith. " The spurious Freemasonry," he remarks, " had a goddess called Faith." No such thing. Fides, or, as Horace calls her, "in- corrupta Fides," incorruptible Fidelity, is very differer.1 from the theologies' virtue of faith.
| Joseph. Ant. Jud. lib. xviii. cap. ix.
412 BIG— RIT
of sincerity and a pledge of fidelity, is as ancient as it is universal, a fact which will account for the important station which it occu- pies among the symbols of Freemasonry.
RIGHT SIDE AND LEFT SIDE. Among the Hebrews,
as well as the Greeks and Romans, the right side was considered superior to the left; and as the right was the side of good, so was the left of bad omen. Dexter, or right, signified also propitious, and sinister, or left, unlucky. In the Scriptures, we find fre- quent allusions to this superiority of the right. Jacob, for in- stance, called his youngest and favourite child, Ben-ja-min, the son of his right hand, and Bathsheba, as the king's mother, was placed at the right hand of Solomon.
RING, LUMINOUS. The Academy of Sublime Masters of the Luminous Ring, was a pseudo-masonic society founded in France, in 1780. Its ritual was divided into three degrees. The first two were occupied with the history of Freemasonry, and the last with the peculiar dogmas of the institution which were essentially Pythagorean.
RITE. A modification of masonry, in which the three ancient degrees and their essentials being preserved, there are varieties in the ceremonies, and number and names of the additional de- grees. A masonic rite is, therefore, in accordance with the gene- ral signification of the word, the method, order, and rules, observed in the performance and government of the masonic system.
Anciently, there was but one rite, that of the " Ancient, Free, and Accepted Masons," consisting only of the three primary de- grees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, hence called the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. But on the Continent of Europe, and especially in France and Germany, the ingenuity of some, and the vanity of others, have added to these an infinite number of high degrees, and of ceremonies unknown
RIT 413
to the original character of the institution. Some of these rites lived only with their authors, and died when their paternal en- ergy in fostering them ceased to exert himself. Others have had a more permanent existence, and still continue, nominally, to divide the masonic family. I say, only nominally, for the fact that they are all, no matter what be their unessential differ- ence, based upon the three ancient degrees, enables a brother of any rite to visit the symbolic lodges of all the other rites. A Master Mason is, in all rites and all countries, acknowledged as such, and entitled to all the privileges which that sublime degree confers.
The following are the names of the rites of Freemasonry now practised in Europe and America. The first three are the most important, oldest, and most extensive; and the first, or York rite, approaches nearest in its construction to Ancient Craft Ma- sonry. The degrees conferred by each of these rites, and the places where they exist, will be found under the respective titles in this work.
1. York rite.
2. French, or modern rite.
3. Ancient and Accepted Scotch rite.
4. American rite.
5. Philosophic Scotch rite.
6. Primitive Scotch rite.
7. Ancient Reformed rite
8. Fessler's rite.
9. Rite of the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes at Berlin.
10. Rite of Perfection.
11. Rite of Misriam.
12. Rite or order of the Temple.
13. Swedish rite.
14. Reformed rite.
15. Schroeder's rite.
16. Rite of Swedenborg
17. Rite of Zinnendorf.
35*
414 RIT— ROM
RITUAL. The ritual of Freemasonry comprises the forms of opening and closing a lodge, of initiating candidates, and of conducting the other peculiar ceremonies of the order. The ritual differs in various places, and is not always the same in the same rite. Thus the lodges of England and America practise the same rite, the York, so far as the three symbolic degrees, and yet the rituals of the two countries vary considerably. An intimate acquaintance with the ritual constitutes what is techni- cally called a " bright mason. "
ROLL. The roll, or record of members' names, is borne by Secretaries in public processions of the order. At the funeral of a brother, his name, during a portion of the funeral ceremo- nies, should be inscribed in the roll of the lodge to which he be- longed. The rolls, or insignia of office, carried by Secretaries in a funeral procession, are thrown into the grave.
ROMAN COLLEGES OF ARTIFICERS. Collegia artifi- cum. Numa collected the various arts and trades which, during his reign, existed at Rome, into separate companies or societies, having their respective halls, courts, and religious exercises. The principal of these collegia artificum, was the college of ar- chitects, whose members he brought out of Attica, for the pur- pose of organization From this time, says Clavel, is to be dated the establishment of the mysteries of Bacchus at Rome.
The eighth of the twelve tables contained laws applicable to the Roman colleges. These associations, which were called so- dalitates, or fratcmitafes, had the right of making contracts, and of enacting laws for their own government, and a few of the most distinguished, (among which were the college of architects,) were exempted from taxation.
The Roman colleges were, in their character, both civil and religious institutions. Their assemblies were held with closed doers, and the profane were carefully excluded. Their macerise, )r halls, were situated in the neighbourhood of those temples
ROM 415
whose divinities they particularly worshipped, and whose priests employed them as artificers, in making the necessary repairs. In their assemblies they deliberated on the works entrusted to their construction, and initiated candidates into their society by mysterious ceremonies, and by symbolic instruction, derived from the working tools of their art. The brothers were divided into the usual classes of Apprentices, Craftsmen, and Masters. They contracted an obligation to render each other mutual assistance when necessary, and were enabled to recognise each other by se- cret signs. Their presidents, who were elected for five years, were called Magistri, or Masters. Besides these, there were seniores or elders, treasurers, secretaries, and other necessary officers.
These colleges became, in time, the depositories of all the foreign methods of initiation, which were afterwards introduced into Rome. And it was through them that the most learned masonic writers have supposed that the Hebrew mysteries were transmitted, from the Jewish artists who visited Rome in great numbers during the reign of Augustus, to the travelling Free- masons, by whom all the religious edifices of the Middle Ages were constructed.
The colleges of artificers, and especially those which professed architecture, spread from Rome throughout the provinces and principal cities of the empire. They existed in vigorous activity until the fall of the Roman Empire, and continued to decline during the ages which succeeded the invasions of the barbarians, until they are supposed to have revived in the architectural asso- ciations known as the " Travelling Freemasons of the Middle Ages," an account of which will be found in another part of this work.*
* I have gladly availed myself of the industry of Clavel, who has collected every thing of importance that has Hen written pn the subject of these associ- ations.
410 ROS
ROSAIC RITE. A rite instituted in Germany by M. Rosa, a Lutheran clergyman, under the patronage of the Baron de Prinzen. It was at first exceedingly popular, but was superseded by the Strict Observance rite of Baron Hunde.
ROSE. For an explanation of the Rose, as a masonic symbol, see the article Prince of Rose Croix.
ROSE CROIX. See Prince of Rose Croix.
ROSE, KNIGHTS AND NYMPHS OF THE. This was in order of Adoptive or Androgynous Masonry, invented in France towards the close of the eighteenth century. M. de Chaumont, the masonic secretary of the Due de Chartres, was its author. The principal seat of the order was at Paris. The hall of meeting was called the Temple of Love. It was ornamented with garlands of flowers, and hung round with escutcheons on which were painted various devices and emblems of gallantry. There were two presiding officers, a male and female, who were styled the Hierophant and the High Priestess. The former ini- tiated men, and the latter women. In the initiations the Hiero- phant was assisted by a conductor or deacon, called Sentiment, and the High Priestess by a conductress or deaconess, called Discretion. The members received the title of Knights and Nymphs. The Knights wore a crown of myrtle, the Nymphs a crown of Roses. The Hierophant and High Priestess wore, in addition, a rose-coloured scarf, on which were embroidered two doves within a wreath of myrtle. During the time of initiation, the hall was lit with a single dull taper, but afterwards it was brilliantly illuminated by numerous wax candles.
When a candidate was to be initiated, he or she was taken in charge, according to the sex, by the conductor or conductress, divested of all weapons, jewels, or money, hoodwinked, loaded with chains, and in this condition conducted to the door of tho Temple of Love, where admission was demanded by two knocks
ROS 417
Brother Sentiment then introduced the candidate by order of the Hierophant or High Priestess, and he or she was asked his or her name, country, condition of life, and, lastly, what he or she was seeking. To this the answer was, " Happiness/'
The next question proposed was, " What is your age ?" The candidate, if a male, replied, " The age to love •/' if a female, " The age to please and to be loved."
The candidates were then interrogated concerning their private opinions and conduct in relation to matters of gallantry. The chains were then taken from them, and they were invested with garlands of flowers which were called " the chains of love." In this condition they were made to traverse the apartment from one extremity to another, and then back in a contrary direction, over a path inscribed with love-knots. The following obligation was then administered :
" I promise and swear by the Grand Master of the Universe never to reveal the secrets of the order of the Kose, and should I fail in this my vow, may the mysteries I shall receive add nothing to my pleasures, and instead of the roses of happiness may I find nothing but the thorns of repentance."
The candidates were then conducted to the mysterious groves in the neighbourhood of the Temple of Love, where the knights received a crown of myrtle, and the nymphs a simple rose. During this time a soft melodious march was played by the or- chestra. After this the candidates were conducted to the altar of mystery, placed at the foot of the Hierophant's throne, and there incense was offered up to Venus and her son. If it was a knight who had been initiated, he now exchanged his crown of myrtle for the rose of the last initiated nymph, and if a nymph, she exchanged her rose for the myrtle crown of Brother Senti- ment. The Hierophant now read a copy of verses in honour of the God of Mystery, and the bandage was at length taken from the eyes of the candidate. Delicious music and brilliant lights now added to the charms of this enchanting scene, in the midst
418 ROS
")f which the Hierophant communicated to the candidate the modes of recognition peculiar to the order.*
ROSTCRUCIANS. Of the secret society of the Rosicraciana or Brothers of the Rosy Cross, Bailey gives the following ac- count :
"Their chief was a German gentleman, educated in a monas- tery, where, having learned the languages, he travelled to the Holy Land, anno 1378, and being at Damascus and falling sick, he had heard the conversation of some Arabs, and other Oriental philosophers, by whom he is supposed to have been initiated into this mysterious art. At his return into Germany he formed a society, and communicated to them the secrets he had brought with him out of the East, and died in 1484.
" They were a sect or cabal of hermetical philosophers ; who bound themselves together by a solemn secret, which they swore inviolably to observe ; and obliged themselves, at their admission into the order, to a strict observance of certain established rules.
" They pretended to know all sciences, and especially medi- cine, of which they published themselves the restorers; they also pretended to be masters of abundance of important secrets, and among others, that of the philosopher's stone; all which they affirmed they had received by tradition from the Ancient Egyp tians, Chaldeans,, the Magi and Gymnosophists.
" They pretended to protract the period of human life by means of certain nostrums, and even to restore youth. They pretended to know all things ; they are also called the Invisible Brothers, because they have made no appearance, but have kept themselves incog, for several years. "f
The society of the Rosicrucians or Brothers of the Rosy Cross, thus engaged in the wild studies of alchemy, protracted their
* I have given the above details in compliance with a promise made in the article on " Androgynous Masonry," and for the gratification of the curious. I am indebted for them to the industry of Clavel.
•\ Bailey, Diet, in voce.
ROS 419
existence until the middle of the eighteenth century, when they at length ceased to meet, in consequence of the death of Brun, their chief. Their association was well organized, being divided like the society of Jesuits into bodies, having each its particular chief, with a general chief at the head of all. Their system of initiation was divided into nine degrees, as follows: 1, Zelator; 2, Thericus; 3, Practicus ; 4, Philosophus ; 5, Adeptus Junior; 6, Adeptus Major; 7, Adeptus Exemptus; 8, Magister; 9, Magus.
Out of this society was formed, in 1777, an association calling itself "The Brothers of the Golden Rosy Cross," whose system was divided only into three degrees. This society was very nu- merous in Germany, and even extended into other countries, es- pecially into Sweden. A second schism from the Rosicrucians was the society of the " Initiated Brothers of Asia," which was organized in 1780, and whose pursuits, like those of the parent institution, were alchemy and the natural sciences. In 1785, it attracted the attention of the police, and two years later, received a fatal blow, in the revelation of all its secrets by one Rolling, a treacherous member of the association.
The Rosicrucians, as this brief history indicates, had no con- nection whatever with the masonic fraternity. Notwithstanding this fact, Barruel,* the most malignant of our revilers, with a characteristic spirit of misrepresentation, attempted to identify the two institutions. This is an error, into which others might unwittingly fall from confounding them with the Princes of Rose Croix, a masonic degree, somewhat similar in name, but entirely different in character. To correct this error where it may have been committed, is the object of this article, which otherwise would not have been entitled to a place in a masonic lexicon."}*
* Memoirs of Jacobinism.
f The Rosicrucians do not derive their name, like Rose Croix Masons. fr:m the Rose and Cross, for they have nothing to do with the rose, but from tho Latin ros, dew, and crux, the cross, as a hieroglyphic of light, which Mosheim esp'iins as follows : " Of all natural bodii s, dew was esteemed the most pow-
420 ROY
ROYAL ARCH. More properly called the Holy Royaj Arch. It is the seventh degree in the York rite, as practised in this country, and by some styled the summit of ancient masonry. Dermot says of it, " this I firmly believe to be the root, heart and marrow of masonry." And Hutchinson, speaking of it, uses the following remarkable language: "As Moses was com- manded to pull his shoes from off his feet, on Mount Horeb, be- cause the ground whereon he trod was sanctified by the presence of the Divinity, so the Mason who would prepare himself for this exalted stage of masonry, should advance in the naked paths of truth, be divested of every degree of arrogance, and approach with steps of innocence, humility and virtue, to challenge the ensigns of an order, whose institutions arise on the most solemn and sacred principles of religion."
This degree brings to light many essentials of the craft which were for the space of 470 years buried in darkness, and at the same time impresses on the mind of the possessor the belief in a Supreme Being and the reverence due to his holy name.
This is the proper place to introduce a brief account of the Temple from its dedication by Nebuchadnezzar, and its re-erec- tion seventy years afterwards by Zerubbabel.
After the death of Solomon, ten of the twelve tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, however, continued faithful to the house of David, and were ruled by the descendants of Solomon, until, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, the city was taken after a siege of eighteen months, by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who de- stroyed the city, set fire to the Temple, and carried away most of the inhabitants as captives to Babylcn, 416 years after the Tem- ple had been dedicated to Jehovah, by King Solomon.
erful solvent of gold ; and the cross, in chemical language, is equivalent to Tight, because the figure of a cross + exhibits at the same time three letters, of which the words LVX, or light, is compounded. Hence a Rosicrucian phi- losopher is one who, by the assistance of the dew, seeks for light, or the phi- 'osoplu -'s stone.
ROY 421
The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained in captivity seventy years at Babylon, until Cyrus, in the first year of his reign, commiserating the calamity of the Jews, issued an edict, permitting them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of the Lord. This they did under the care of Zerubbabel, Prince of Judah, and Joshua, the High Priest who superintended the work, while Higgai, the Scribe, instigated his countrymen, by his eloquence, to zeal and diligence in the pious labour.
Until the year 1797, as no grand chapters were in existence, a competent number of companions, possessed of sufficient abili- ties, proceeded, under the sanction of a Master's warrant, to con- fer the degree of the Royal Arch with the preparatory degrees. But in that year, a convention of delegates from the several chapters in Pennsylvania met, and after mature deliberation, re- solved to organize a Grand Chapter, which was accordingly done. Since that period, the jurisdiction of Royal Arch Masonry has been separated from that of the symbolic degrees.
The officers in a chapter of this degree, are a Most Excellent High Priest, King, Scribe, Captain of the Host, Principal So- journer, Royal Arch Captain, three Grand Masters of the Vails, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sentinel.
The true origin of the Royal Arch is an important question, that has lately engaged the attention of masonic writers. Some have asserted that it was brought by the Templars from the Holy Land j others say that it was established as a part of Templar masonry in the sixteenth century, and others again assert that it was unknown before the year 1780. Dr. Oliver, in a work of profound research on this subject, says that " there exists suffi- cient evidence to disprove all their conjectures, and to fix the era of its introduction to a period which is coeval with the memora- ble schism amongst the English Masons about the middle of the last century."*
* Some account ot the schism which took p?aee during the last century amongst the Free and Accepted Masons in England, showing the presumed origin of the Koyal Arch degree,
36
422 ROY
It seems to me, as the result of a careful examination of the evidence adduced, that before the year 1740, the essential ele- ment of the Royal Arch constituted a part of the third degree, and that about that year it was severed from that degree and transferred to another, by the schismatic body calling itself " the Grand Lodge of England according to the old Constitutions."
The Royal Arch in England is at present practised as a fourth degree, and the possession of the Past Mastership is not, as in this country, considered as a necessary qualification for exaltation. Any worthy Master Mason is now considered as eligible for the honours of the Royal Arch. The Royal Arch, in that country, is not considered as " essentially a degree, but the perfection of the third."* The time and circumstances of the degree as con- ferred in England coincide with the ritual in this country in the most important particulars. There is, however, an anomaly in the introduction of Ezra and Nehemiah as the companions of the three principal officers.
The Royal Arch, as conferred in Ireland, differs very materi- ally from the degree in England and America. The Irish system consists of three degrees; the Excellent, Super Excellent and Royal Arch, and the Past Master's degree is indispensable as a qualification for exaltation. The Excellent and Super Excellent degrees refer to events connected with the legation of Moses. The events commemorated in the Royal Arch of Ireland refer to 2 Chronicles, chap, xxxiv., and expressly to the 14th verse of that chapter. " And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah, the priest, found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses." The date of their degree is, therefore, 624 B.C., or ninety years earlier than ours.
In Scotland the era of the legend of the Royal Arch is the same as in England and America, but the organization of the system is very different. The Mark and Past Master, which are
* Freemason s Quart. Rer. 1843, p. 464.
ROY 423
called "Chair Master degrees/' are indispensable qualifications, and candidates having had these degrees conferred receive two others, Excellent and Super Excellent, as preparatory to the Arch. Chapters in Scotland also confer on Royal Arch Masons the degrees of Royal Ark Mariner and Red Cross Knight, the latter degree receiving from them the name of " Babylonish Pass." The Scotch Masons contend that the Royal Arch, with its subsidiary degrees, constitutes a part of Templar Masonry.*
Badge of the Royal Arch. The badge of a Royal Arch Ma- son is the apron and sash. In America the apron is a white lambskin, bordered with scarlet edging. The sash is of scarlet silk or velvet, on which are inscribed the words " Holiness to the Lord." The colour is emblematic of fervency and zeal ; the words are those which were worn in front of the High Priest's mitre. In England the apron and sash are of purple radiated with crimson,*)" the former implying awe and reverence, and the latter, justice tempered with mercy. The triple tau L_J is deli- neated on the apron.
Jewel of the Royal Arch. In this country we have lost sight of the jewel, though I hope to see it yet restored. The English Royal Arch jewel is a double triangle within a circle of gold. In the centre of the two triangles, a sun with diverging rays, and un- derneath, or suspended to this, the triple tau. The intersecting triangles denote the elements of fire and water, the circle, infinity and eternity, and the sun is an emblem of Deity. So important is the triple tau considered that it is called " the emblem of all emblems, and the Grand Emblem of Royal Arch Masonry."
ROYAL ARCH, ANCIENT. See Knight of the Ninth Arch.
ROYAL ARCH CAPTAIN. The sixth officer in a chapter
* General Regulations for the government of the order of Royal Arch Ma- sons in Scotland. Edinburg, 1845.
f Finch says the colours are purple, red and blue, the blue implying truth and constancy. This agrees better with the colours of our Royal Arch.
424 ROY— RUL
of the Royal Arch degree, whose duties and station are, in some respects, similar to those of a Junior Deacon in a symbolic lodge.
ROYAL ARCH OF ENOCH. This is more usually known as the degree of Knights of the Ninth Arch, which see.
ROYAL ART. Masonry is called a Royal Art, not only be- cause it received its present form from the royal hands of Solo- mon, King of Israel, and Hiram, King of Tyre, and has since enrolled among its members the proudest and most powerful po- tentates of the earth, but more especially, because of the dignity and majesty of the principles which it inculcates and which ele- vate it above all other arts, as a king is elevated above his sub- jects.
ROYAL MASTER. A degree by no means of ancient ori- gin, intimately connected with the degree of Select Master, and with it, as explanatory of the Royal Arch degree, sometimes given in chapters preparatory to that degree,* and sometimes conferred on Royal Arch Masons by a distinct and independent body, called " A Council of Royal and Select Masters." The le- gend of the degree is brief, but interesting.
RULE. An instrument with which straight lines are drawn, and, therefore, used in the Past Master's degree as an emblem, admonishing the Master punctually to observe his duty, to press forward in the path of virtue, and neither inclining to the right nor the left, in all his actions to have eternity in view. The twenty -four inch guage is often used in giving the instruction as a substitute for this working tool. But they are entirely differ-
* Such is the case in the Chapters of R. A. Masons in Virginia; hut tho Grand Council of R. and S. Masters in Alabama have taken exception to this course and declared all R. and S. Masters, thus made, clandestine, and ineli- gible to admission into their Councils.
SAB— SAI 425
ent; the twenty-four inch gauge is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and requires to have the twenty-four inches marked upon its surface ; the rule is one of the working tools of a Past Master, and is without the twenty-four divisions. The rule is appropriated to the Past or Present Master, because, by its assistance, he is enabled to lay down on the trestle board the designs for the craft to work by.
S.
SABBATH. God having created the world in six days, rested on the seventh and proclaimed it holy. It is the type of that time of refreshment which he only should expect who has well and faithfully fulfilled the days of his labour. Hence, with the virtuous Mason, the Sabbath day has ever been esteemed as an occasion on which he might contemplate the works of creation and humbly adore the great Creator.
SAINT ANDREW, GRAND SCOTCH KNIGHT OF.
Grand Ecossais de Saint Andre. The 29th degree of the An- cient and Accepted Scotch rite, and may be considered as prepa- ratory to the Kadosh. It is founded on the legend which we have recorded in the sketch of the Chevalier Ramsay, given in this work. It is the first of the three degrees which he under- took to substitute in the place of the ancient symbolic degrees. This degree is sometimes called "Patriarch of the Crusades/' in allusion to its supposed origin during those wars, and sometimes " Grand Master of Light," on account of the masonic instruc- tions it contains.
The officers are a Master and two Wardens. The lodge is hung with red, and illuminated with eighty-one lights disposed
by nines.
36*
426 SAI
The jewel proper is the square and compasses with a poignard in the centre, within a triple triangle, the whole surrounded by a sun. There is another jewel, which is a cross of St. Andrew, having a Y within a triangle, surrounded by a circle in the centre of the cross, and one of these letters B. J. M. N. on each of its extremities.
SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM. The primitive, or mo- ther lodge, was held at Jerusalem, and dedicated to St. John, and hence was called " The lodge of the holy St. John of Jeru- salem." Of this first lodge all other lodges are but branches, and they therefore receive the same general name, accompanied by another local and distinctive one. In all masonic documents the words ran formerly as follows : " From the lodge of the holy St. John of Jerusalem, under the distinctive appellation of Solo- man's lodge, No, 1." or whatever might be the local name. In this style foreign documents still run ; and it is but a few years since it has been at all disused in this country.* Hence we say that every Mason hails from such a lodge, that is to say, from a just and legally constituted lodge. •(■
SAINT JOHN'S MASONRY. A term used like "Ancient Craft Masonry," to designate the three primitive degrees. They are so styled by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. " The Grand Lodge of Scotland practises no degrees of masonry but those of Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Mason, denominated St, John's Masonry."J
* I would certainly recommend the renewal of this masonic style, especially in diplomas.
•f" In the degree of Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges, the reason assigned is, "because in the time of the Crusades the Perfect Masons communicated a knowledge of their mysteries to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, where- upon it was determined to celebrate their festival annually on St. John's day, as they were both under the same law."
t Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, c. i, art. 4.
SAI 427
SAINT JOHN THE ALMONER. The saint to whom Com- iDanderies of Knights Templars are dedicated. He was the son of the King of Cyprus, and was born in that island in the sixth century. He was elected Patriarch of Alexandria, and has been canonized by both the Greek and Roman churches, his festival among the former occurring on the 11th of November, and among the latter on the 23d of January. Bazot, who published a Manual of Freemasonry, in 1811, at Paris, thinks that it is this saint, and not St. John the Evangelist, or St. John the Baptist, who is meant as the true patron of our order. " He quitted his country and the hope of a throne/' says this author, " to go to Jerusalem, that he might generously aid and assist the knights and pilgrims. He founded a hospital and organized a fraternity to attend upon sick and wounded Christians, and to bestow pecuniary aid upon the pilgrims who visited the Holy Sepulchre. St. John, who was worthy to become the patron of a society, whose only object is charity, exposed his life a thou- sand times in the cause of virtue. Neither war, nor pestilence, nor the fury of the infidels, could deter him from pursuits of be- nevolence. But death, at length, arrested him in the midst of his labours. Yet he left the example of his virtues to the brethren, who have made it their duty to endeavour to imitate them. Rome canonized him under the name of St. John the Almoner, or St. John of Jerusalem; and the Masons, whose temples, over- thrown by the barbarians, he had caused to be rebuilt, selected him with one accord as their patron."*
SAINTS JOHN. St. John the Baptist, whose festival foils on the 2-lth of June, and St. John the Evangelist, whose festival occurs on the 27th of December, have been selected by Christian Masons as the patrons of their order \ and to them, under the appellation of the " Holy Saints John," all Christian lodge?
t Manual du Franc- Ma^on, p. 144.
428 SAM— SAS
should be dedicated. See, for the author's theory on the subject of this dedication, the article Dedication in this work.
SAMARITAN, GOOD. The Good Samaritan is a side de- gree given to Royal Arch Masons and their wives. Of all the side degrees it is decidedly the most beautiful and in pressive. It is founded on the tenth chapter of St. Luke, 30-35 verses. A Good Samaritan is bound, when duly summoned, to nurse a companion in sickness.
SANCTUARY. That part of the temple, being two-thirds of its length, which was in front of the Holy of Holies, and be- tween it and the porch. See Temple.
SANCTUM SANCTORUM. Holy of Holies. The inner- most part of the temple, into which, after its dedication, none entered but the High Priest. It was twenty cubits square, and was separated from the sanctuary by a door of cedar and four curtains of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. It contained the ark of the covenant, with its mercy seat and overshadowing che- rubim. See Temple.
SASH. The old regulation on the subject of wearing sashes in a procession, is in the following words : " None but officers, who must always be Master Masons, are permitted to wear sashes; and this decoration is only for particular officers." In this coun- try the wearing of the sash appears, very properly, to be confined to the W.\ Master, as a distinctive badge of his office.
The sash is worn by all the companions of the Royal Arch degree, and is of a scarlet colour, with the words, " Holiness to the Lord," inscribed upon it. These were the words placed upon the mitre of the High Priest of the Jews.
The sash, or scarf, seems to have been derived from the Zennar, or sacred cord, placed upon the candidate in the initiation intc the mysteries of India, and which every Brahmin was compelled
SCA 429
to wear. This cord was woven with great solemnity, and oeing put upon the left shoulder passed over to the right side, and hung down as low as the fingers could reach.
SCANDINAVIAN MYSTERIES. The rites of initiation practised in Scandinavia, were introduced there from Scythia, by Sigge, a Cymrian warrior, who afterwards assumed the name of Odin, with whom we are all familiar as the G-othic representative of Mercury or Hermes. This origin of these rites accounts for their general resemblance in legend and ceremonies to the Eastern mysteries. In them was celebrated the death of Balder, who was killed by Loke, who fatally wounded him with a branch of mistle- toe. Balder was the sun, Loke the principle of winter, to which season the mistletoe belongs. The ceremonies of initiation re- presented the waitings of the gods for the death of Balder, the search for his body, in which the candidate was made to engage, and its final discovery, and his restoration to life and vigour. The ceremonies were accompanied by all the paraphernalia of dismal noises and hideous sights, which was calculated to inspire the aspirant with terror and confusion, and were terminated by the administration to the initiate of a solemn oath, in which he swore to pay due submission to the chief officers of state, to practise de- votion to the gods, and to protect and defend his initiated com- panions, at the hazard of his life from all their enemies, and if slain to avenge their death.
The legend of the death of Balder, which we can scarcely doubt was the subject of initiation, is thus related. Balder was invul- nerable ; for Odin and Friga, (the Gothic Venus,) had exacted, in his favour, an oath of safety from every thing in nature except the mistletoe, whose promise of immunity, in contempt of ita ignoble qualities, they had neglected to obtain. Loke, the prin- ciple of evil, had discovered this exception, and on a day when Balder, was sportively oifering himself as a mark to the skill and dexterity of the gods, Loke presented Hoder, who was blind, with a branch of mistletoe, with which he pierced the body of Balder.
430 SCA
whc instantly fell dead. His body was then placed in a boat, and set afloat on the waters, while all the gods mourned for his decease.* The reader who is familiar with the other mysteries of paganism, will readily detect in this legend, an obvious relation to the murder of Adonis by the boar, of Osiris by Typhon, and of Bacchus by the Titans.
The ceremonies of initiation were very similar to those which have already been described in this work, as appertaining to the other rites. The candidate having been previously prepared by the necessary purifications, was conducted into the sacred cavern of initiation, his feet being naked, and led by a winding descent amid the howling of dogs, and appearance of phantoms, to the tomb of the prophetess Volva. Here, having been properly instructed, he inquires of her respecting the fate of Balder. The prophetess now foretells the circumstances which have already been related in the legend above cited. The candidate presses onward, and soon hears the bewailings for the death of Balder. He is now confined in the Pastosf until a term of penance is com- pleted, when he is directed to search for the body of Balder, and to use his utmost endeavours to raise him from death to life. He now descends through nine subterranean passages, where sights and sounds of the most terrific character conspire to excite his ima- gination. He finally enters the sacellum, or holy place, and finds Balder enthroned in a distinguished seat. The aspirant was now received, as in the mysteries of Egypt, with acclamations of joy and welcome, and the Scalds, or sacred bards, like the priests of Isis, chanted hymns descriptive of the generation of the gods and the creation of the world. The initiation was then terminated by the administration of the oath of fidelity already described. J
SCARLET. The emblematic colour of the Royal Arch degree. It is significant of the zeal and ardour which should inspire the
* Oliver, Hist. Initiat. p. 256. f See tbe article Coffin.
% Oliver, Hist, of Initiat., lect. x.
SCH— SCO 431
possessors of that august summit of our ritual. It was also the colour of one the vails in the sacred tabernacle. The Hebrew words carmil, shani, and tolahht, are indifferently rendered by our translators, as crimson, or scarlet. The words appear to have been synonymous among the Jews, and to have signified a bright red colour. The colour was much worn by great men.
SCHROEDER'S RITE. This is a rite consisting of the de- grees of Ancient Craft Masonry and a few higher ones which are devoted to the study of other Masonic systems. It was invented by Frederick Lewis Schroeder who established it at Hamburg in 1801. The Hamburg Masons were induced to reject the high, degrees of Scottish Masonry and to adopt his simpler rite. Through, the representations of Clavel, who too harshly calls him the Cag- liostro of Germany, I was led, in previous editions of this work, to express an opinion of Schroeder, which subsequent investiga- tions have led me greatly to modify.
SCIENCES LIBERAL. See Arts Liberal.
SCOTCH MASON. Ecossais. The 5th degree of Ahe French rite. In this degree is related the manner in which the sacred word was preserved through the skill and wisdom of oui ancient brethren. The American degree of " Select Master" ap- pears to be little more than a modification of this interesting degree. See Ecossais.
A tradition contained in this degree may be interesting to the Master Mason. "We there learn that HAB engraved the W.\ upon a triangle of pure metal, and fearing that it might be lost, he always bore it about his person, suspended from his neck, with the engraved side next to his breast. In a time of great peril to himself, he cast it into an old dry well, which was in the south- east corner of the temple,* where it was afterwards found by three
* The Ineffable degrees of the Ancient Scotch rite .«ay in the north side of the temple, which is more consistent with probability.
432 SCO
Masters. They were passing near the well at the hour of meri- dian, and were attracted by its brilliant appearance ; whereupon, one of them descending by the assistance of his comrades, obtained it, and carried it to King Solomon. What was his disposition of it is known to the Royal Arch Mason.
SCOTCH RITE, ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED. Thir rite, which was organized in its present form in France, early in the eighteenth century, derives its title from the claim made by those who established it in that country, that it was originally instituted in Scotland, a claim whose validity is now generally disputed. It is, next to the York rite, perhaps the most extensively diffused throughout the masonic world. Supreme Councils, or lodges of this rite, exist in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Belgium, the United States, and many other countries. The administra- tive power of the rite is deposited in Supreme Councils of Sove- reign Grand Inspectors General, one of which Councils only can exist in a nation, except in the United States of America, where there are two, one at Charleston, in South-Carolina, for the South, and one at Boston, for the North.*
The Scotch rite, or as it is now more usually designated, the Ancient and Accepted rite, consists of thirty-three degrees, divi- ded as follows :
1. Entered Apprentice.
2. Fellow-Craft.
3. Master Mason.
These degrees are conferred in a symbolic lodge, and differ only in a few points from the same degrees as conferred in a lodge of the York rite.
4. Secret Master.
5. Perfect Master.
6. Intimate Secretary.
7. Provost and Judge.
* See Supreme Council.
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8. Intendanfc of the Buildings.
9. Elected Knights of Nine.
10. Illustrious Elect of Fifteen.
11. Sublime Knights Elected.
12. Grand Master Architect.
13. Knight of the Ninth Arch.
14. Grand Elect, Perfect and Sublime Mason.
These degrees are conferred in a body called a Lodge of Per- fection, the presiding officer of which must be in possession of the 16th degree.
15. Knight of the East.
16. Prince of Jerusalem.
These two degrees are conferred in a body called a Council of Princes of Jerusalem.
17. Knight of the East and West.
18. Sovereign Prince of Rose Croix.
These two degrees are conferred in a body called a Chapter of Princes of Hose Croix.
19. Grand Pontiff.
20. Grand Master of all Symbolic lodges.
21. Noachite, or Prussian Knight.
22. Knight of the Royal Axe, or Prince of Libanus.
23. Chief of the Tabernacle.
24. Prince of the Tabernacle.
25. Knight of the Brazen Serpent.
26. Prince of Mercy, or Scotch Trinitarian.
27. Sovereign Commander of the Temple.
28. Knight of the Sun.
29. Grand Scotch Knight of St. Andrew.
30. Grand Elect Knight Kadosh.
31. Grand Enquiring Commander.
32. Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret.
These degrees, from the 19th inclusive, are conferred in a body designated as a Consistory of Princes of the Royal Secret, but
434 SCO— SEA
they confer the 30th, 31st, and 3 2d, only as the proxies of the Supreme Councils.
33. Sovereign Grand Inspector Generals.
This degree is given in a body called the Supreme Council, which is the administrative head of the rite.
For further details, see the article Supreme Council.
SCOTCH TRINITARIAN. See Prince of Mercy.
SCRIBE. The Scribe is the third officer in a Royal Arch Chapter, and is the representative of Haggai. The JSophar, or Scribe, in the earlier Scriptures, was a kind of military secretary, but in the latter he was a learned man, and doctor of the laws, who expounded them to the people. Thus Artaxerxes calls Ezra the priest, "a Scribe of the law of the God of heaven." Home* says that the Scribe was the King's Secretary of State, who re- gistered all acts and decrees. It is in this sense that Haggai is called the Scribe in Royal Arch Masonry.
SCYTHE. This is one of the melancholy emblems in the Master's degree, reminding us of the rapid flight of time, and that death, with inexorable haste, will visit alike the prince's palace and the peasant's hut.
SEAL. No masonic document is valid beyond the jurisdic- tion in which the lodge from which it emanates, resides, unless it have appended to it the seal of the Grand Lodge. Foreign Grand Lodges never recognise the transactions of subordinate lodges out of their jurisdiction, unless the good standing of the said lodges is guaranteed by the seal of their Grand Lodge, and f.he signatures of the proper officers.
SEAL OF SOLOMON. This is a double triangle, and is
* Introduction to Scriptures, iii. 93.
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alco sometimes called the "- Shield of David." For its form, see the article Triangle, doable Richardson, in his Persian and Arabic Dictionary, says, that the muhr Soliman, or Seal of Solomon, was two triangles interlaced. The Orientalists attributed many virtues to this seal, and the Talmudists say that it was inscribed on the foundation stone of the Temple.
SECRECY. The objection which has been urged against Freemasonry on the ground of its secret character, is scarcely worthy of serious refutation. It has become threadbare, and always has been the objection only of envious and illiberal minds. Indeed, its force is immediately destroyed, when we reflect that to no worthy man need our mysteries be, for one moment, covered with the veil of concealment, for to all the deserving are our portals open. But the traditions and esoteric doctrines of our order are too valuable and too sacred to be permitted to become the topic of conversation for every idler who may desire to oc- cupy his moments of leisure in speculations upon subjects which require much previous study and preparation to qualify the critic for a ripe and equitable judgment. Hence are they preserved, like the rich jewel in its casket, in the secret recesses of our lodge, to be brought forth only when the ceremonies with which their exhibition is accompanied, have inspired that solemnity of feeling with which alone they should be approached.
SECRETARY. An officer who records the proceedings and conducts the correspondence of the lodge. The office of Grand Secretary, in the Grand Lodge, was created in the year 1722, under the Grand Mastership of the Duke of Wharton, the duties having been previously performed by the Grand Wardens.*
SECRET MASTER. The fourth degree of the Ancient Scotch rite, and the first of what are called the " Ineffable or
* See Anderson's Constitutions, p. 205.
436 SEC— SEE
Sublime degrees." In it is explained the mystic meaning of those things which are contained in the Sanctum Sanctorum The Master represents Solomon coming to the temple to elect seven experts to replace the loss of an illustrious character. He is styled Most Powerful. There is one Warden who represents the noble Adoniram, who had the inspection of the workmen on Mount Libanus, and who was the first Secret Master. The lodge is clothed with black, and enlightened by eighty-one lights, ar- ranged by nine times nine.
The jewel of this degree is an ivory key, on which is en- graved the letter Z, suspended from a white ribbon edged with black.
The apron is white, edged with black; the flap blue, and an All-Seeing Eye engraved thereon. The white is emblematic of candour and innocence, the black of grief.
SECRET MONITOR. A side degree very extensively known in the United States, and which is intended to strengthen the bonds of fraternal affection which should exist among all Ma- sons. During its ceremonies, which are very simple, the beauti- ful and affecting history of the friendship between David and Jonathan, which is contained in the twentieth chapter of the first book of Samuel, is recited.
SEEING. One of the five human senses, whose importance is treated of in the Fellow-Craft's degree. By sight, things at a distance are, as it were, brought near, and the obstacles of space overcome. So in Freemasonry, by a judicious use of this sense, in modes which none but Masons comprehend, men distant from each other in language, in religion and in politics, are brought near, and the impediments of birth and prejudice are overthrown. But, in the natural world, sight cannot be exercised without the necessary assistance of light, for in darkness we are unable to see. So in the Mason, the peculiar advantages of masonic sight require, for their enjoyment, the blessing of masonic j ght Illu-
SEL 437
initiated by its divine rays, the Mastn sees where others arc blind j and that which to the profane is bnt the darkness of igno- rance, is to the initiated filled with the light of knowledge and understanding.
SELECT MASTER. The same observations that have been made in relation to the degree of Royal Master, are applicable to this, as they are both intimately connected. It records the traditions connected with the concealment of important mysteries at the building of the first temple, and furnishes an important link in the great chain of history which connects the incidents of Ancient Craft Masonry with those that constitute the essence of the Royal Arch.
In the United States, the Royal Arch is considered as the seventh degree, those of Mark Past and Most Excellent Master being interposed between it and the third. In one or two of the States, however, the Royal and Select Masters have been inserted after the Past and before the Most Excellent, and within a few years an attempt has been made to make this innovation general.
This has arisen from a recent controversy on the subject of jurisdiction. The Royal and Select degrees belonged originally to the Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and were conferred under their authority, and by their deputies. This authority and jurisdiction these Councils no longer claim } and, for many years past, through their negligence, the Councils of Royal and Select Masters, in most of the States, have been placed under the control of independent jurisdictions called Grand Councils. Like all usurped authority, however, this claim of the State Grand Councils does not seem to have ever been universally admitted, or to have been very firmly established. Repeated attempts have been made to take the degrees out of the hands of the Councils, and to place them in the chapters, there to be 3onferred as preparatory to the Royal Arch. The General Grand Chapter, in the triennial session of 1847, adopted a reso- lution, granting this permission to all chapters in States where
37*
438 SEN— SER
no Grand Councils exist. But, seeing the manifest injustice and inexpediency of such a measure, at the following session of 1850, it refused to take any action on the subject of these degrees. In 1853 it disclaimed all control over them, and forbade the chap- ters under its jurisdiction to confer them.
There is no doubt in my own mind that the true jurisdiction of these degrees was vested in the Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and that they should be conferred rather as illustrations of, than as preparatory to, the Royal Arch. The Royal Arch degree itself contains the most essential parts of the legends of these degrees, and can be understood without them, although they furnish many additional particulars which it would be interesting to the masonic student to know.
SENIOR WARDEN. See Wardens.
SENSES. The five human senses are Seeing, Hearing, Feel- ing, Smelling, and Tasting ; of which the first three are, for cer- tain well known reasons, held in great estimation among Masons. Their nature and uses form a part of the instruction of the de- gree of Fellow-Craft. See them under their respective titles.
SENTINEL. An officer in a Royal Arch Chapter, in a Council of Knights of the Red Cross, and in a Commandery of Knights Templar, whose duties are similar to those of a Tiler in a symbolic lodge.
SERPENT. The serpent obtained a prominent place among the symbols of the Spurious Freemasonry of the earliest ages. Among the Egyptians, it was the symbol of Divine Wisdom, when extended at length, and the serpent with his tail in his mouth was an emblem of eternity. The winged globe and ser- pent symbolized their triune deity. In the ritual of Zoroaster, the serpent was a symbol of the universe. In China, the ring between two serpents was the symbol of the world governed by
SEV 439
the power and wisdom of the Creator. The same device with, it is presumed, the same signification, is several times repeated on the Isiac table, which shows the universality of the symbol. Tn fact, serpent worship was one of the earliest deviations from the true system, and in almost all the ancient rites we find same al- lusion to this reptile. At the orgies of Bacchus,* the serpents were carried in the hands, or crowned the heads of the Baccha- nalians, while frequent cries of u Eva, Eva/' were frantically uttered. One of the ceremonies in the rites of Jupiter Sabasius was to let a serpent slip down the back of the person to be initi- ated. According to Plutarch, the women of Mount Haemus, in Thrace, practised similar rites. According to Bryant, the wor- ship of the serpent began in Chaldea, and thence passed into Egypt, where the serpent-god was called Can-oph, Can-eph, and C'neph. The Ethiopians introduced it into Greece. And so long did the serpent worship continue, that it is mentioned by Tertullian, and other fathers, as ooe of the early heresies of the Church, and practised by a sect called Ophites. Oliver says, that in Christian masonry the serpent is an emblem of the fall and subsequent redemption of man. I do not, however, myself, deem it as a pure masonic symbol. When used, I suppose it to be with its ancient signification of Divine Wisdom and Eternity; accordingly as it is exhibited in a lengthened form, or convoluted with its tail in its mouth
SEVEN. The number seven, among all nations, has been considered as a sacred number, and in every system of antiquity we find a frequent reference to it. The Pythagoreans called it a
* The Greek name of Bacchus is Dionysus, an account of whose mysteries is to be found in this volume. Wilford (Essay on Egypt, in the Asiatic Re- searches) supposes this deity to have been identical with the Hindoo god, Deva-Nahusha, popularly called Deo-Nausb. Now Faber (Home Mosaicae) derives Dionysus from this Deo-Naush, and Naush fram the Hebrew wore' £2^rn> or Naash, a serpent, making Dionysus, or Deo-Naash, equivalent therefore, to the god Naash, or the serpent-god.
440 SEV
venerable number, because it referred to the creation, and be- cause it was made up of the two perfect figures, the triangle and the square. Among the Hebrews, the etymology of the word shows its sacred import; for, from the word p]3fc^ (shebang,) seven , is derived the verb y^\£? (shabang,) to swear, because oaths were confirmed either by seven witnesses, or by seven vic- tims offered in sacrifice, as we read in the covenant of Abraham and Abimelech.* (Gen. 21-28.) Hence, there is a frequent recurrence to this number in the Scriptural history. The Sab- bath was the seventh day; Noah received seven days' notice of the commencement of the deluge, and was commanded to select clean beasts and fowls by sevens ; seven persons accompanied him into the ark; the ark rested on Mount Ararat in the seventh month ; the intervals between despatching the dove, were, each time, seven days ; the walls of Jericho were encompassed seven days, by seven priests, bearing seven rams' horns ; Solomon was seven years building the temple, which was dedicated in the seventh month, and the festival lasted seven days ; the candle- stick in the tabernacle consisted of seven branches, and finally, the tower of Babel was said to have been elevated seven stories before the dispersion.
Among the heathens, this number was equally sacred. f A few instances of their reference to it, may be interesting. There were seven ancient planets, seven Pleiades, and seven Hyades; seven altars burnt continually before the god Mithras; the Ara- bians had seven holy temples ; the Hindoos supposed the world to be enclosed within the compass of seven peninsulas ; the Goths
* The radical meaning of XJ^W, *s sufficiency or fulness, and the number seven was thus denominated, because it was on the seventh day that God com- pleted his work of creation; and "hence," says Parkhurst, "seven was both among believers and heathens the number of sufficiency or completic n."-- Lexic. N. T. in voc. cnra.
f Cicero, in his Dream of Scipio, calls it the binding knot of all thiny* . "qui numerus rerum omnium fere nodus est." Som. Scrip. 5. And Plato. ,i. his Timaeus, taught that the soul of the world, " anima mundana," was gene- rated out of the number seven.
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Had seven deities, viz. : the Sun, the Moon, Tuisco, "Woden, Th or, Friga, and Seatur, from whose names are derived our days of the week ; in the Persian mysteries were seven spacious caverns, through which the aspirant had to pass ; in the Grothic mysteries, the candidate met with seven obstructions, which were called the " road of the seven stages ; and finally, sacrifices were always considered as most efficacious when the victims were seven in number.*
*An anonymous writer adds the following to the list above cited, of the consecrations of the number seven :
"In six days earth's creation was perfected — the seventh was consecrated to rest. If Cain be avenged sevenfold, Lamech seventy and sevenfold. Abra- ham pleaded seven times for Sodom ; he gave seven ewe lambs to Abimelech for a well of water. Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and also another seven years. Joseph mourned seven days for Jacob. Laban pursued after Jacob seven days' journey. The seven years of plenty, and the seven years of famine, were foretold in Pharaoh's dream by the seven fat and lean beasts, and the seven ears of blasted corn. The children of Israel were to eat un- leavened bread seven days. The young of animals were to remain with the dam seven days, and at the close of the seventh to be taken away. By the old law, man was commanded to forgive his offending brother seven times, but the meekness of the Saviour extended his forbearance to seventy times seven. On the seventh month a holy observance was commanded to the children of Israel, who fasted seven days, and remained seven days in tents. Every seventh year was directed to be a year of rest for all things, and at the end of seven times seven years commenced the jubilee ; they were to observe a feast seven days, after they had gathered in their corn and wine ; seven days they were to keep a solemn feast, as they had been blessed in the work of their hands. Every seventh year the land lay fallow. Every seventh vear there was a general release from all debts, and bondsmen were set free. Every seventh year the law was directed to be read to the people. If they were obedient, their enemies should flee before them seven ways; if disobedient, their enemies should chase them seven ways. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, in her thanks says, that the barren hath brought forth seven, as some Jewish writers say that his name answers to the value of the letters in the Hebrew word, which signify seven. Seven of Saul's sons were hanged to stav a famine. Jesse had seven sons, the youngest of whom ascended the throne ol Israel. The number of animals in sundry of their oblations, were limited to seven. Seven days were appointed for an atonement on the altar, and the priest's son was appointed to wear his father's garment seven days."
Were it necessary, the list might be still further enlarged.
442 . SHE— SHI
In Freemasonry, seven is an essential and important number, and throughout the whole system the septenary influence extends itself in a thousand different ways.
SHEKEL. A weight among the Hebrews, of which there were two kinds, the king's shekel, and that of the sanctuary ; the latter being double the value of the former. The common or king's shekel, which is the one alluded to, in the Mark de- gree, was worth about half a dollar. The shekel was not a coin, but a definite weight of gold or silver, which, being weighed out, passed as current money among the Hebrews. The half shekel has been adopted as the value of a mark, because it was the amount paid by each Israelite after he arrived at manhood, to- wards the support of the Temple, and was hence, palled tribute money.
SHE KIN AH. The Divine presence manifested by a visible cloud resting over the mercy seat in the holy of holies. It first appeared over the ark when Moses consecrated the Tabernacle; and was afterwards, upon the consecration of the Temple by So- lomon, translated thither, where it remained until the destruction of that building.
SHIBBOLETH. The word hSdEN in Hebrew, has two significations; 1, An ear of corn; and 2, A stream of water. This is the word which the Gileadites, by the order of Jeptha, required the Ephraimites to pronounce. As the latter were desirous of crossing the river Jordan, and as the word signifies a stream of water, it is probable that this meaning suggested it as an appro- priate test word on that occasion. The proper sound of the first letter of this word is sh, a harsh breathing which is exceedingly difficult to be pronounced by persons whose vocal organs have not been accustomed to it. Such was the case with the Ephraimites, who substituted for the aspiration the hissing sound of s. Their organs of voice were incapable of the aspiration and, therefore, as
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the record has it, thej " could not frame to pronounce it right." The learned Burder remarks that in Arabia the difference of pro- nunciation among persous of various districts is much greater than in most other places, and such as easily accounts for the circum- stance mentioned in the passage of Judges.* Hutchinson, speak- ing of this word, rather fancifully derives it from the Greek ai^w, I revere , and Xidoq, a stone, and therefore, he says u Iiftohdov, Sibbolithon, Colo Lapidem, implies that they (the Masons) re- tain and keep inviolate their obligations, as the Jur amentum per Jovem Lapidem, the most obligatory oath held among the heathen." j"
SHOE. Among the Ancient Israelites, the shoe was made use of in several significant ways. To put off the shoes, imported reverence, and was done in the presence of God, or on entering the dwelling of a superior. To unloose one's shoe and give it to another, was the way of confirming a contract. Thus we read in the book of Ruth, that Boaz having proposed to the nearest kins- men of Ruth, to exercise his legal right, by redeeming the land of Naomi which was offered for sale, and marrying her daughter- in-law, the kinsman being unable to do so, resigned his right of purchase to Boaz ; and the narrative goes on to say, " Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour : and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe." Ruth iv. 7, 8.
As to the ancient custom of taking off the shoes as a mark of reverence, the reader is referred to the article Discalceation.
SHOVEL. One of the working tools of a Royal Arch Mason
* Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. numb. 782. f Hutchinson, Spirit of Masonry, p. 113.
444 SID— SIG
The working tools of this degree are the Crow, Pickaxe and Shovel, which may be thus explained.
The crow is an implement used to raise heavy stones, the pick- axe to loosen the soil and prepare it for digging, and the shovel to remove rubbish. But the Royal Arch Mason is speculatively taught to use them for a more glorious and exalted purpose. By them he is admonished to raise his thoughts above the corrupting influence of wordly-mindedness, loosening from his heart the hold of evil habits, and removing the rubbish of passions and preju- dices that he may be fitted, when he thus escapes from the capti- vity of sin, for the search and the reception of Eternal Truth and Wisdom.
SIDE DEGREES. These are degrees, which have generally been the invention of Grand Lectures, but which have no con- nection with the ritual of masonry, and whose legality is not ac- knowledged by Grand Lodges. Some of them are very interesting, with an evident moral tendency, while others again, are trifling, and with no definite nor virtuous object in view. The worst of them, however, can only be considered, in the language of Preston, as u innocent and inoffensive amusements."
SIGNATURE. A Mason receiving from a lodge a certificate, is required to affix in the margin his signature in his usual hand- writing, as a means of identifying the true owner from a false pretender, in case the certificate should be lost, and thus come into the possession of any one not legally entitled to it. See Ne Varietur.
SIGNET. A private seal set in a ring. The ancient Ori- entalists engraved names and sentences on their seals, a custom which the modern Mohammedans continue to follow. Many of these signet rings have, within a few years past, been dug up in Egypt, having the letters of a name cut in cameo on one side, and a figure of the sacred beetle on the other A signet was often
SIT— SOL 445
given by the owner to another person, and served in such a case as a pass, investing the receiver with all the anthority possessed by the giver.
Signets were originally engraved altogether upon stone, and, according to Pliny, metal ones did not come into use until the time of Claudius Caesar. The signet of Zerubbabel was, therefore, most probably of stone. The signet of Solomon is said to have been an interlaced, double triangle within a circle, and having the name of God engraved thereon.
SITUATION OF THE LODGE. See East.
SIX PERIODS, THE GRAND ARCHITECT'S. "The Grand Architect's six periods" is an expression used by Masons to designate the six days of the Creation. Our masonic books dilate upon them as a proper means of stimulating the Mason to industrious labour during the week, that he may be enabled to rest upon the Sabbath, to contemplate the glorious works of Creation and adore their great Creator.
SMELLING. One of the five human senses, and as the recipient of the numerous fragrant odours that arise from the flowers of the field and other objects of nature and art, a source of enjoyment to man.
SOLOMON. King of Israel and First Grand Master of Freemasonry. His history is full of interest to the fraternity. He was the son of David and Bathsheba, and was born in the year of the world 2871. Of him it had been prophecied to his father, " Behold a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his day. He shall build a house for my name, he shall be my son, and I will be his father ; and I
446 SOL
will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.'* 1 Chron. xxii. 9, 10.
Solomon had scarcely commenced his reign, when he began " to prepare for the fulfilment of his father's last solemn injunc- tions to build a temple to the Most High. With this view he applied for help to the most powerful of his allies, Hiram, King of Tyre, a prince of a liberal disposition, who, far from envying Solomon's wealth and fame, cordially assisted him, and supplied him, not only with the proper materials, but also with labourers, and above all with an architect of surpassing skill in every kind of cunning workmanship. Solomon now appointed a tribute to be laid on all the people, of 30,000 labourers, whom he divided into three classes of 10,000 in each. Each of these classes worked one month in cutting timber on Mount Lebanon, and then rested two. Over these he placed Adoniram as Junior Grand Warden. There were also 80,000 masons, and 70,000 labourers or men of burden, the remains of the old Canaanites, who are not reckoned among the masons, and 3300 overseers, with 300 rulers, making in all 183,600 persons engaged upon the Temple, of whom 113,600 were masons.
The Temple was begun on Monday, the 2d day of the month Zif, corresponding to the 21st of April, in the year of the world 2992, and 1012 years before the Christian era, and was com- pleted in a little more than seven years, on the 8th day of the month Bui, or the 23d of October, in the year of the world 2999, during which period no sound of axe, hammer, or other metallic tool was heard, every thing having been cut and framed in the quarries or on Mount Lebanon and brought properly pre- pared to Jerusalem, where they were fitted up by means of wooden mauls.
" The Old Constitutions aver," (I \iere quote from Anderson,) "that some short time before the consecration of the Temple, King Hiram came from Tyre, to take a view of that mighty edi- fice, and to inspect the different parts thereof, in which he was accompanied by King Solomon and the Deputy Grand Master,
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Hiram Abif ; and after his view thereof declared the Temple to be the utmost stretch of human art. Solomon here again re- newed the league with Hiram, and made him a present of the Sacred Scriptures translated into the Syriac tongue, which, it is said, is still extant among the Maronites and other Eastern Chris- tians, under the name of the old Syraic version."
Solomon next employed the craft in the construction of other works, such as his two palaces at Jerusalem, and his house of the forest of Lebanon, besides several cities, the most magnificent of which was Tadmor or Palmyra.
But although Solomon had now become the most renowned of all the princes of his time, exceeding in riches and wisdom all who had gone before him, he, at length, forsook the law of his fathers, and began to worship the false gods of his strange wives. During his idolatry, he built temples to Chemosh, Moloch, and Ashtaroth. But repenting of his grievous sin, about three years before his death, he exclaimed, " Vanity of Vanities, all is Van- ity !" He died at the age of fifty-eight, in the year of the world 3029, and before Christ 975.
Solomon is supposed to preside, or rather the Master is his representative, in Lodges of Fellow-Crafts, Master Masons, Mark, Past and Most Excellent Masters, and in Councils of Select Masters, and also in several of the Ineffable degrees. See more on this subject under the title Temple, Organization at the.
SORROW LODGES. It is the custom among Masons on the continent of Europe to hold special lodges at stated periods, for the purpose of commemorating the virtues and deploring the loss of their departed members and other distinguished worthies of the fraternity who have died. These are called Funeral or Sorrow lodges. In Germany they are held annually; in France at longer intervals. A French lodge in New York, " L'Union Francaise," holds them decennially. Sorrow lodges have also, out not lately, been held by a French lodge in Charleston, S. C, H La Candeur." The custom has been pursued by two lodges in
448 SOU— SOY
New York, "Pythagoras, No. 86/' and " St. John's, No. 6," and they are also now frequently held by bodies of the Ancient Scottish rite. The custom is a good one, that is, eminently consistent with the principles of Freemasonry, and which I should rejoice to see universally adopted by American lodges. On these occasions the lodge is clothed in the habiliments of mourning and decorated with the emblems of death, solemn music is played, funeral dirges are chanted, and eulogies on the life, character and masonic virtues of the dead are delivered.
SOUTH. When the sun is at his meridian height, his invi- gorating rays are darted from the south. When he rises in the east, we are called to labour; when he sets in the west, our daily toil is over ; but when he reaches the south, the hour is high twelve, and we are summoned to refreshment.
SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE TEMPLE. Sou- verain Commandeur du Temple. The 27th degree of the An- cient Scotch rite. The presiding officer is styled " Most Illus- trious and Most Valiant," the Wardens are called " Most Sover- eign Commanders," and the Knights " Sovereign Commanders. " The place of meeting is called a " Court." The apron is flesh- coloured, lined and edged with black, with a Teutonic cross en- circled by a wreath of laurel and a key beneath, all inscribed in black upon the flap. The scarf is red bordered with black, hanging from the right shoulder to the left hip, and suspending a Teutonic cross in enamelled gold. The jewel is a triangle of gold, on which is engraved the ineffable name in Hebrew. It is suspended from a white collar bound with red and embroidered with four Teutonic crosses.
Vassal, Ragon, and Clavel are all wrong in connecting this de- gree with the Knights Templar, with which order its own ritual declares that it is not to be confounded. It is without a lecture. Vassal expresses the following opinion of this degree :
" The 27th degree does not deserve to be classed in the Scotch
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rite as a degree, since it contains neither symbols nor allegories that connect it with initiation. It deserves still less to be ranked among the philosophic degrees. I imagine that it has been in- tercalated only to supply an hiatus, and as a memorial of an order once justly celebrated/'*
SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL. The
33d and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scotch rite. Its members constitute a Supreme Council, which is the chief tribunal of masonry in that rite. This degree was instituted in the year 1786, under the following circumstances. By the con- stitutions of the Scotch rite, which were ratified on the 25th of October, 1762, the King of Prussia was proclaimed as its chief, with the title of Sovereign Grand Inspector General and Grand Commander. The higher councils and chapters could not be opened without his presence, or that of a substitute appointed by him. All the transactions of the Consistory of the 32d degree, then the highest, required his sanction, or that of his substitute, and various other masonic prerogatives were attached to his office. No provision had, however, been made in the constitutions for his successor; and, as it was absolutely necessary that some arrangement should be made by which the supreme power should not become extinct on his death, the king established the 33d degree, out of the possessors of which the Supreme Council is formed, a body possessing all the masonic rights and prerogatives formerly ex- ercised by the King of Prussia. See Supreme Council.
The order or badge of the degree is a white sash, four inches broad, edged with gold fringe, and suspended from the right shoulder to the left hip. At the bottom is a red and white rose, and on the part that crosses the breast must be a triangle of gold surroun led by a sun, and within the triangle the figures 33. On each side of thi;- emblem, at the distance of two inches, must be a drawn digger.
Vassal, Cours Magonique, p. 507. 38*
450 SOV— SPE
The jewel is a black-double beaded eagle of Prussia, with goL den beaks and crowned with an imperial crown of gold, holding a naked sw^rd in his claws.
There is no apron worn in this degree.
The motto of the order is Deus meumque Jus, " God and my right."
SOVEREIGN MASTER. The presiding officer in a Coun- cil of Knights of the Red Cross. He represents Darius, King of Persia.
SPECULATIVE MASONRY. Freemasonry is called spe- culative masonry, to distinguish it from operative masonry, which is engaged in the construction of edifices of stone. Speculative ma- sonry is a science, which, borrowing from the operative art its working tools and implements, sanctifies them, by symbolic in- struction, to the holiest of purposes — the veneration of God, and the purification of the soul.
The operative mason constructs his edifice of material substan- ces; the speculative mason is taught to erect a spiritual building, pure, and spotless, and fit for the residence of him who dwelleth only with the good. The operative mason works according to the designs laid down for him on the trestle board by the architect ; the speculative is guided by the great trestle board, on which is inscribed the revealed will of God, the Supreme Architect of heaven and earth; the operative mason tries each stone and part of the building by the square, level and plumb ; the speculative mason examines every action of his life by the square of morality, seeing that no presumption nor vain glory has caused him to transcend the level of his allotted destiny, and no vicious pro* pensity has led him to swerve from the plumb line of rectitude. And lastly, as it is the business of the operative mason, when his work is done, to prove every thing "true and trusty," so is it the object of the speculative mason, by a uniform tenor of virtuous con duct, to receive, when his allotted course of life has passed, the inap-
SPH— SPU 451
ptsciable reward, from his Celestial Grand Master, of ""Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
SPHINX. A fabulous monster, to which the ancients give the face of woman and the body of a lion. It is found in great abundance on Egyptian monuments, and Plutarch says that it was always placed before the temples of the Egyptians to indicate that their religion was enigmatical. As a symbol of mystery it has been adopted as a masonic emblem.
SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY. Dr. Oliver, one of the most learned and philosophic Masons of this or perhaps any other time, contends that "the science which we now denominate Speculative Masonry was coeval, at least, with the creation of our globe, and that the far-famed mysteries of idolatry were a subsequent insti- tution, founded on similiar principles, with the design of convey- ing unity and permanence to the false worship, which it otherwise could never have acquired." This schism from the pure and original source has been designated by the name of the Spurious Freemasonry of Paganism, to distinguish it from the purer system, which this theory supposes to have descended in a direct and un- interrupted line to the Freemasons of the present day.
In a later work, Dr. Oliver still further explains his idea of the spurious Freemasonry. The legends and truths which were transmitted pure through the race of Seth, were altered and cor- rupted by that of Cain, and much confusion arose in consequence of the frequent intercommunications of these two races before the Deluge, though the truth would still be understood by the faith- ful. Of these was Noah, who, out of all these deviations of the antediluvians, was enabled to distinguish truth from falsehood, and to transmit the former in a direct line, according to Rosenberg, through Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kelhoth, Amram, Moses, Joshua, the Elders, the Prophets and the wisemen to So- lomon. Hence Freemasons are sometimes called Noachidao, the descendants and disciples of Noah.
452 SQU
But Ham had been long familiar with the corruptions if the system of Cain and with the gradual deviations from truth which had crept into the system of Seth, and after the deluge he pro- pagated the worst features of both systems among his descendants, out of which he or his immediate posterity formed the institution known, by way of distinction, as the Spurious Freemasonry.*
Such is the theory advanced on this subject which is now very generally admitted by masonic writers. The doctrine is, however, imperfect, unless we advance one step further.
The spurious Freemasonry had descended through the Gymno- sophists of India to Egypt, and thence into Greece, and perhaps by a different route to Scandinavia and the northern nations of Europe. Among all these it appeared in the form of initiations and mysteries whose legends bore just sa-much of the remains of truth as to evince their divine origin, and yet so much of false- hood as to demonstrate their human corruption.
There was, in after times, a communication between one branch of this spurious Freemasonry and the true system. This took place at the Temple of Solomon, between the Jewish Masons and the Dionysian Artificers, when true Freemasonry borrowed its present organization from the greater practical wisdom of the Dionysian, without, however, surrendering any of its truth. And the bond of this union between the two bodies which had so long divided the world, was Hiram Abif, who was himself a member of both systems — of the true system by birth, as the son of Jewish parents — and of the spurious by profession and residence, as an artificer of Tyre.
SQUARE. The square is an angle of ninety degrees or the fzurth part of a circle. It is one of the working to Fellow Craft, and the distinctive jewel of the Master of a lodge. The square is an important implement to operative masons, for
* Oliver's Histor. Landmarks, i. 60.
STA 453
by it they are enabled to correct the errors of the eye, and to ad- just with precision the edges, sides, and angles of their work. The nicest joints are thus constructed, and stones are fitted with accuracy, to fill their destined positions. Not less useful is this instrument to speculative masons, as a significant emblem of mo- rality. As, by the application of the square, the stone is tried and proved, so, by the application of the principles of morality, each action of human life is judged, and approved or condemned, as it coincides with, or deviates from, those eternal and immu- table principles. And as the stone, that on inspection with the square does not prove " true and trusty," is rejected or its de- fects amended, so each action that is not consistent with the dic- tates and rules of morality is carefully avoided by him who wishes to erect a mental structure of virtue, that shall afford him honour in life and repose in death.
And hence, as it is the duty of the Master of the lodge to preserve among its members a strict attention to moral deport- ment, and to mark and instantly correct the slightest deviation from the rules of propriety and good conduct, the square is ap- propriately conferred upon him as the distinctive jewel of his office.
Masons are said to part on the square, because having met to- gether, their conduct should be such that, when they part, no unkind expression or unfriendly action shall have deranged that nice adjustment of the feelings, which alone unites them in a band of brothers ; an adjustment which can only be preserved by a constant application of the square of morality.
STANDARD BEARER. An officer in a Commandery of Knights Templar, whose duty is sufficiently explained by hi? title. A similar officer exists in a Council of Knights of the, Red Cross.
STAR. The star with five points, which is fouid among the
454 STA
emblems of the Master's degree, is an allusion to the five points of Fellowship, or summary of a Mason's duty to his brother.*
The blazing star in the centre of the Mosaic pavement, is an emblem of that Divine Being, whose beneficence has chequered the dark field of human life with brighter spots of happiness. Those brethren who delight to trace our astronomical symbols to the cradle of that science, Egypt, and to the Egyptian priests, its earliest cultivators, find in the seven stars depicted on the Master's carpet, a representation of the Pleiades, and in the blazing star an allusion to the dog-star, which the Egyptians called Anubis or the barker, because its rising warned them of the inundation of the Nile, which always quickly followed its appearance, and thus admonished them to retire from the lower grounds, just as the barking of a dog admonishes his master of approaching danger.
* It is dangerous to differ in opinion, on a masonic subject, from Brother Moore, the Editor of the Magazine published at Boston (a work, my numerous obligations to which, I may as well take this opportunity of acknowledging); but in his opinion of the five-pointed star, I cannot, unfortunately, agree witb him. In his Magazine, (vol. iv. no. 5,) he remarks, that "it has no explana- tion in the degree, and is not a masonic emblem as genuine masonry is prac- tised in this country." The star of five points, so far as my opportunities reach, has been adopted in all our lodges, and if no explanation of it is given in our lectures, its manifest allusion is well understood. It is, therefore, as much a masonic emblem, as the equilateral triangle, which has the same uni- versal acceptation among the fraternity, without receiving any notice in our lectures.
While on the subject of the star with five points, I cannot refrain from re- cording an interesting historical document, for which, by the bye, I am in- debted to the work in which this emblem is denounced as unmasonic. At a celebration of the Festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1844, at Portland, Maine, R.\ W.\ Brother Teulon, a member of the Grand Lodge of Texas, in reply to a toast complimentary to the Masons of that republic, observed, " Texas is emphatically a masonic country ; all our Presidents and Vice-Pre- sidents, and four-fifths of our State officers, were and are Masons : our national emblem, the ' Lone Slar, — was chosen from among the emblems selected by Freemasonry, to illustrate the moral virtues — it is a Jive-pointed star, and al- ludes to the Jive points oj J'elloicship." — See Moore's Freemason's Mag. vol. Hi., p. 309.
STA 455
In the English ritual, and formerly in our cwn, the star is said to be commemorative of that star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Saviour's birth.
In the Spurious Freemasonry of the Egyptians, the blazing star was the symbol of Horus the son of Isis — the sun — the pri- mordial principle of existence.
STATISTICS OF MASONRY. The universality of ma- sonry is not more honourable to the order, than it is advanta- geous to the brethren. From East to "West, and from North to South, over the whole habitable globe, are our lodges dissemi- nated. Wherever the wandering steps of civilized men have left their foot-prints, there have our temples been established. The lessons of masonic love have penetrated into the wilderness of the West, and the red man of our soil has shared with his more enlightened brother the mysteries of our science : while the arid sands of the African desert have more than once been the scene of a masonic greeting. The Mason, indigent and des- titute, may find in every clime a brother, and in every land a home.
The evidence of these assertions will be found in the following table of the countries in which Freemasonry is openly and avow- edly practised, by the permission of the public authorities. Such places as Austria, where, owing to the suspicious intolerance of the government, the lodges are obliged to be holden in private, are not mentioned. Italy and Hungary should be added.