IV. Af., was placed in the East their sanctum, sanctorum ; S. IV. was

placed in the West, at the great entrance to represent the sun at evening, and the J. W., was placed in the South to represent the sun at High Twelve.
" The arms of the Grand Lodge are still Masonically of unknown origin. They are purely Hebraic, and seem connected with the idea of the Ark of the Covenant. They were found among the papers of the learned Rabbi, Leon Judah, who lectured b}^ Roj-al Patent in 1680 on a model of the temple of Solomon. Leon Judah, who was proficient in the Jewish Cabala, ma}' also have been a member of the Hermetic Society."
I have quoted ver}' extensivel}- from various writers upon the Druses in order that you, my dear Brothers and readers, may get a general idea of the opinions of the various authors, as well as my own, upon these people. If we carefully examine what has been written about them, we shall find many things which will prove of great interest to us. For instance, if 3'ou will notice what Brother Kingsbury sa3'S in relation to Brother Rawson's account of his travels, 3'ou will realize that the Arab Mason in the Bedouin Lodges could not have been obligated on either the Bible or the Koran, because in the Bedouin Lodges neither Christ nor Mohammed are mentioned. I shall speak of this subject later on in another chapter.
They also tell us that the esoteric teachings of the Arab Mason was the preparation for a better life, and that of the Eg^'ptian Brother was a preparation for death. So we find the teachings of both were the same, if properlj' understood, for the man who prepares to lead a purer, truer life, prepares for his future death, which is inevitable, and the}' both must realize that if they desire to die the death of the righteous they must live the life of the righteous. The act of death or dying does not make a man good or bad. He is what he has made himself through his thoughts and acts during life. I shall also speak of this later on. I simply call your attention to these points in the teachings of our ancient
1^:^ EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
Brothers, and compare them with our own to find simply a distinction without a difference. Brother Kingsbury states that " Masonry comes down to us from the Gentiles, and not through the Hebrew."
Now every Masonic student will realize that IMasonry has passed through every epoch of the world's history. At the same time he will find that many things have been preserved to the fraternity by the Hebrew, whose forefathers were princes in Israel, when ours were digging clams with stone hatchets out of the lagoons of Europe. I myself make the assertion that we owe a great deal to the Hebrew people for the preservation of some of our symbology, of which I shall speak later on.
In the quarterly statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund there is some very valuable information relating to the Druses and their religions, meetings, beliefs, etc., furnished by a Mr. Joseph Jebrail, wherein he states that " reliable information regarding the Druses is not to be found ever3?where, but the extracts here given are confirmed by Major Condor. The Druse places of worship are called chapels. They believe that there are many Druses in China, and that the religion of the English people is the Druse religion, though its votaries are not known by that name in England."
During my stay in the city of Los Angeles, Southern California, in the year 1S97, I had the pleasure of meeting the Reverend Hasket Smith, M. A., who at that time was delivering a series of lectures on Egypt, Syria and the Hol}^ Land, illustrated by sterioptic views. I had quite a long and enjoyable chat with him iipon these people and countries, which I have already mentioned. We also spoke of ancient Masonry, when I told him that I had met quite a large number of Arabs in different parts of those countries who had certainly proved to my entire satisfaction that they had obtained the right Light of Truth from some source.
During the time that this gentleman lived among the Druses he had the good fortune to save the life of one of the prominent young men who had been bitten by a venomous snake. Mr. Smith sacked the wound, and in this way drew the deadly poison from the body of the young man. In performing this act he made a host of friends, and was welcomed by the entire people. Their homes were thrown open to him and he became popular among them. He was also initiated into
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 143
different rites or degrees among them that were unknown to the gen- eral traveller in that country, and he, like Brother Rawson, was very much astonished at their knowledge of the various signs, grips and tokens of Ancient Masonry. He thoroughly believed the Druses to be tbe true and lineal descendants of the Hittites, a branch of those ancient Phoenicians who wrought in the mountains of Lebanon, near Joppa, and supplied Solomon with the cedar for the building of the temple on Mount Moriah.
Let me close this chapter by quoting you some passages from the Druse books : " When men were created, they knew not the origin of their existence, nor did they seek God by tbeir works. Wherefore He impressed upon their souls conviction of truths, and the knowledge of truth, so that they knew and acknowledged Him. He manifested Himself unto them, by His works; and by His revelations of Himself in Nature taught them His greatness, and made them to know His unity, so that they said, ' God is great, There is no God but God.' Thus He calls them unto Him, saying, ' Am I not your God,' and they believed in the unity of the Most High.
" It was the Most Wise Intellect which was standing with God in the place of a priesthood, inviting the people to know their Creator, the Most High, and His unity. And this Intellect taught the people the arts and sciences, aided by the Creator, who gave him wisdom and spiritual sovereignty and potencies, and made bim Priest, Prophet, Aider, Director, and Advisor.
" And this Intellect gave to men the faculty to distinguish between what is right and good, and wise, and what is wrong and bad, and foolish, enabling them to avoid excesses and follies, and evil deeds. And the benediction of the Lord God Almighty was over all the earth. May God make us and all our Brethren disciples of the true Faith, and deliver us from doubts after having attained to the truths ! Amen.
" There are seven laws which every Akel or Ockal (Druse) will observe while the ray of the Divine light within him is not withdrawn from him, leaving him only his animal nature. The first is that of the Truth of the Tongue. It is the belief in the presence of the Word in Humanity ; the belief in all those in different ages have taught men the truth ; the belief in that wisdom which is the Religion in which alone is
144 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
safety ; the belief in the goodness of God, and in another life after this, and the reward or punishment that will there be decreed. The second is that of the preservation of Friendship among Brethren ; to remember them in their needs and sorrows, and to love them whether they be near unto or far from us ; to respect with manly self respect our superiors ; to be gracious and kind to all those who are below us, and sustain them both secretly and publicly, giving them their due rights, whether temporal or spiritual, and proving ourselves to be their true Friends. Tlie thiid is that of the abandonment of the worship of idols, formed in the mind by false and distorted conceptions of God, and seen with slavish superstition in the symbols which have usurped the places of the things symbolized and become the objects of an ignorant reverence, and the fruitful source of false and impure religions. It is also that of the abandonment of the doctrine of those who believe in legends and fables, and of those who say that God is not present everywhere, in symphathy with His creatures, but somewhere remote from them, where He looks unconcernedl}' on and sees the action of the Universe, and its forces, both of matter and intellect, proceeding under the operation of 'laws' enacted by Him, which make his personal intervention and concern and interest unnecessary. It is also that of the abandonment of the doctrine of those who believe in traditions and babble nonsense, and say that God is not one. The Jourth is that of the disbelief in Evil Spirits in rebellion and antagonism against the one God. The Fifth is that of implicit truth and confidence in God, as infinitely merciful and loving, and of that worship of Him which has rested in every age and genera- tion on the belief that He has personality bj^ Unit}- of Will and Wisdom, but without body, form or shape, or confinement within limits ; b}^ imagining which men make a God after their own image, conceiving of themselves as infinitely magnified, and fancying this conception to be God. The sixth is that of being satisfied with the acts of God, whatever they may be, not endeavoring to avoid the operation of His laws, or condemning as wrong or criminal anything whatsoever that is done in obedience to them, as the}- appear and act in Nature and Humanity. And the seventh is that of resignation, cheerful and implicit, to His will, even when He afflicts ns with sorrows, and what seem to us cruel and unnecessary desolations and deprivations. For in adversity we cannot
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 145
know what evils and miseries, prosperity might have brought upon us, what enmities and slanders, what moral and mental and physical diseases ; nor from what extremities of shame and agony, and sufferings, and sorrow He may have rescued by death the loved ones whom He has taken from us. The conclusion is, that whosoever knows and believes as the Seven Laws require, and is sound of mind and bod3^ and of full age, and free from servitude, maj' be of those who are destined to the ranks, and entitled to be present at the private assemblies, at which whosoever is present must revere God and be true, and generous to his Brother and whosoever is absent with right to be present will repent it."
We can learn from these laws of the ancient Druses some very beautiful and forcible truths, as sublimely grand as those taught b}^ Jesus Himself when He associated with the lowly fishermen of Galilee and preached the beatitudes throughout the Holy Land. They embody many of those eternal verities that have descended to us from the Wis- dom Religion of the '' Land of the Vedas," taught to the aspirants in the Indian, Mazdean and ancient Egyptian mysteries during the ceremonies of Initiation. They are exemplified to-day in the profound symbolog}' of our glorious Scottish Rite throughout the world universal. Brothers of our obedience should give especial attention to The Conclusion. The}^ in themselves should remind us of our duties to our Lodges, Chapters, Councils and Consistories. Therefore adorn your Lodge with your presence.
10
^(i:iwiilturc-iIrri9atwn-1lotus-i3aj>|)ius,
147
■Cbc waters flow o'er the burning soil,
Of old €gypt*9 harvest bearing land, Hnd the fellaheen's tash and daily toil Is to direet it from the flowing JVile Co the parched and thirsty sand
SIbere cotton, com and the bean flowers grow
In luxuriant abundance around, "Che dikes and ditches that continually flow, Slherc the sturdy fellaheen plies his hoc,
Co direct it over the ground.
148
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 149