Section 16

As, for example, this symbolic reference of the corner- stone of a material edifice to a Freemason, when, at his first initiation, he commences the intellectual task of erecting a spiritual temple in his heart, is beautifully sustained in the allusions to all the various parts and qualities which are to be found in a "well-formed, true and trusty" corner-stone.^ Its form and substance are both seized by the comprehensive grasp of the symbolic science.
Let us trace this symbolism in its minute details. And, first, as to the form of the corner-stone.
The corner-stone of an edifice must be perfectly square on its surfaces, lest, by a violation of this true geometric figure, the walls to be erected upon it should deviate from the required line of perpendicularity which can alone give strength and proportion to the building.
Perfectly square on its surfaces, it is, in its form and solid contents, a cube. Now, the square and the cube are both important and significant symbols.
The square is an emblem of morality, or the strict performance of every duty.^ Among the Greeks, who
* In the ritual "observed at laying the foundation-stone of public structures," it is said, "The principal architect then presents the working tools to the Grand Master, who applies the plumb, square, and level to the stone, in their proper positions, and pronounces it to be well-formed, true, and trusty.'* — Webb's "Monitor," p. 120.
' "The square teaches us to regulate our conduct by the princi- ples of morality and virtue." — Ritual of the E. A. Degree. The old York lectures define the square thus: "The square is the theory of universal duty, and consisteth in two right lines, forming an angle of perfect sincerity, or ninety degrees; the longest side is the sum of the lengths of the several duties which we owe to all men. And every man should be agreeable to this square, when perfectly fin- ished."
Symbolism of the Corner-stone 163
were a highly poetical and imaginative people, the square was deemed a figure of perfection, and the aviip Terpayoivos — "the square or cubical man," as the words may be translated — was a term used to designate a man of unsullied integrity. Hence one of their most eminent metaphysicians^ has said that ''he who valiantly sus- tains the shocks of adverse fortune, demeaning himself uprightly, is truly good and of a square posture, without reproof; and he who would assume such a square posture should often subject himself to the per- fectly square test of justice and integrity."
The cube, in the language of symbolism, denotes truth. 2 Among the pagan mythologists. Mercury or Hermes was always represented by a cubical stone, be- cause he was the type of truth, ^ and the same form was adopted by the Israelites in the construction of the tabernacle, which was to be the dwelling-place of divine truth.
And, then, as to the material of the corner-stone. This, too, is an essential element of all symbolism. Constructed of a material finer and more polished than that which constitutes the remainder of the edifice, often carved with appropriate devices and fitted for its
^ Aristotle.
* "The cube is a symbol of truth, of wisdom, and morarperfec- tion. The new Jerusalem, promised in the Apocalypse, is equal in length, breadth, and height. The mystical city ought to be considered as a new church, where divine wisdom will reign." — Oliver's "Landmarks," ii. p. 357. And he might have added, where eternal truth will be present.
' In the most primitive times, all the gods appear to have been represented by cubical blocks of stone; and Pausanias says that he saw thirty of these stones in the city of Pharae, which represented as many deities. The first of the kind, it is probable, were dedicated to Hermes, whence they derived their name of "Hermae."
164 Symbolism op Freemasonry
distinguished purpose by the utmost skill of the sculp- tor's art, it becomes the symbol of that beauty of holi- ness with which the Hebrew Psalmist has said that we are to worship Jehovah.^
The ceremony, then, of the north-east corner of the Lodge, since it derives all its typical value from this symbolism of the corner-stone, was undoubtedly in- tended to portray, in this consecrated language, the necessity of integrity and stability of conduct, of truth- fulness and uprightness of character, and of purity and holiness of life, which, just at that time and in that place, the candidate is most impressively charged to maintain.
But there is also a symbolism about the position of the corner-stone, which is well worthy of attention. It is familiar to every one — even to those who are without the pale of initiation — that the custom of laying the corner-stones of public buildings has always been per- formed by the Masonic Order with peculiar and impres- sive ceremonies, and that this stone is invariably de- posited in the north-east corner of the foundation of the intended structure. Now, the question naturally suggests itself. Whence does this ancient and invariable usage derive its origin? Why may not the stone be deposited in any other corner or portion of the edifice, as convenience or necessity may dictate?
The custom of placing the foundation-stone in the north-east corner must have been originally adopted for some good and sufficient reason; for we have a right to suppose that it was not an arbitrary selection. ^ Was
* "Give unto Jehovah the glory due unto His name; worship Jehovah in the beauty of holiness." — Psalm xxix. 2.
* It is at least a singular coincidence that in the Brahminical religion great respect was paid to the north-east point of the heavens.
Symbolism of the Corner-stone 165
it in reference to the ceremony which takes place in the Lodge? Or is that in reference to the position of the material stone? No matter which has the precedence in point of time, the principle is the same. The position of the stone in the north-east corner of the building is altogether symbolic, and the symbolism exclusively alludes to certain doctrines which are taught in the speculative science of Freemasonry.
The interpretation, we conceive, is briefly this: Every Speculative Freemason is familiar with the fact that the east, as the source of material light, is a symbol of his own order, which professes to contain within its bosom the pure light of truth. In the physical world, the morning of each day is ushered into existence by the reddening dawn of the eastern sky, whence the rising sun dispenses his illuminating and prolific rays to every portion of the visible horizon, warming the whole earth with his embrace of light, and giving new-born life and energy to flower and tree, and beast and man, who, at the magic touch, awake from the sleep of darkness. So in the moral world, when intellectual night was, in the earliest days, brooding over the world, it was from the ancient priesthood living in the east that those lessons of God, of nature, and of humanity first ema- nated, which, travelling westward, revealed to man his future destiny, and his dependence on a superior power.
Thus every new and true doctrine, coming from these ''wise men of the east," was, as it were, a new day aris- ing, and dissipating the clouds of intellectual darkness and error. It was a universal opinion among the
Thus it is said in the "Institutes of Menu," "If he has any incur- able disease, let him advance in a straight path towards the invincible north-east point, feeding on water and air till his mortal frame totally decay, and his soul become united with the Supreme."
166 Symbolism of Freemasonry
ancients that the first learning came from the east; and the often-quoted Hne of Bishop Berkeley, that —
Westward the course of empire takes its way,
is but the modern utterance of an ancient thought, for it was always believed that the empire of truth and knowledge was advancing from the east to the west.
Again: the north, as the point in the horizon which is most remote from the vivifying rays of the sun when at his meridian height, has, with equal metaphorical pro- priety, been called the place of darkness, and is, there- fore, symbolic of the profane world, which has not yet been penetrated and illuminated by the intellectual rays of Masonic light. All history concurs in recording the fact that, in the early ages of the world, its northern portion was enveloped in the most profound moral and mental darkness.
From the remotest regions of Northern Europe bar- barian hordes ''came down like the wolf on the fold," and devastated the fair plains of the south, bringing with them a dark curtain of ignorance, beneath whose heavy folds the nations of the world lay for centuries over- whelmed.
The extreme north has ever been, physically and intel- lectually, cold, and dark, and dreary. Hence, in Free- masonry, the north has ever been esteemed the place of darkness; and in obedience to this principle no symbolic light is allowed to illumine the northern part of the Lodge.
The east, then, is in Freemasonry the symbol of the Order, and the north the symbol of the profane world.
Now, the spiritual corner-stone is deposited in the north-east corner of the Lodge, because it is symbolic of the position of the neophyte, or candidate, who
Symbolism of the Corner-stone 167
represents it in his relation to the order and to the world. From the profane world he has just emerged. Some of its imperfections are still upon him; some of its dark- ness is still about him; he as yet belongs in part to the north.
But he is striving for light and truth; the pathway upon which he has entered is directed towards the east. His allegiance, if we may use the word, is divided. He is not altogether a profane, nor altogether a Free- mason. If he were wholly in the world, the north would be the place to find him — the north, where is the reign of darkness. If he were wholly in the Order — a Master Mason — ^the east would have received him — the east, which is the place of light.
But he is neither. He is an Apprentice, with some of the ignorance of the world cleaving to him, and some of the light of the Order beaming upon him.
Hence this divided allegiance — this double character — this mingling of the departing darkness of the north with the approaching brightness of the east — is well expressed, in our symbolism, by the appropriate posi- tion of the spiritual corner-stone in the north-east corner of the Lodge. One surface of the stone faces the north, and the other surface faces the east. It is neither wholly in the one part nor wholly in the other, and in so far it is a symbol of initiation not fully de- veloped— ^that which is incomplete and imperfect, and is, therefore, fitly represented by the recipient of the first degree, at the very moment of his initiation.
This symbolism of the double position of the corner- stone has not escaped the attention of the religious sym- bologists. Etsius, an early commentator, in 1682, re- ferring to the passage in Ephesians ii. 20, says, ^'That is called the corner-stone, or chief corner-stone, which
168 Symbolism of Freemasonry
is placed in the extreme angle of a foundation, con- joining and holding together two walls of the pile, meeting from different quarters. And the apostle not only would be understood by this metaphor that Christ is the principal foundation of the whole church, but also that in Him, as in a corner-stone, the two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, are conjoined, and so conjoined as to rise together into one edifice, and become one church." And Julius Firmicius, who wrote in the sixteenth cen- tury, says that Christ is called the corner-stone, because, being placed in the angle of the two walls, which are the Old and the New Testament, He collects the nations into one fold. ^' Lapis sanctus, i. e. Christus, aut fidei fundamenta sustentat aut in angulo positus duorum parietum membra sequata moderatione conjungit, i. e., Veteris et Novi Testamenti in unum colligit gentes."*
But the strength and durability of the corner-stone are also eminently suggestive of symbolic ideas. To fulfil its design as the foundation and support of the massive building whose erection it precedes, it should be constructed of a material which may outlast all other parts of the edifice. So that when that * 'eternal ocean whose waves are years" shall have ingulfed all who were present at the construction of the building in the vast vortex of its ever-flowing current; and when genera- tion after generation shall have passed away, and the crumbling stones of the ruined edifice shall begin to attest the power of time and the evanescent nature of all human undertakings, the corner-stone will still re- main. It will continue to tell, by its inscriptions, and its form, and its beauty, to every passer-by, that there once existed in that, perhaps then desolate, spot, a building consecrated to some noble or some sacred pur-
* "De Errore profan. Religionum," chap. xxi.
Symbolism of the Corner-stone 169
pose by the zeal and liberality of men who then no longer live.
So, too, do this permanence and durability of the corner-stone, in contrast with the decay and ruin of the building in whose foundations it was placed, remind the Freemason that when this earthly house of his taber- nacle shall have passed away, he has within him a sure foundation of eternal life — a corner-stone of immortality — an emanation from that Divine Spirit which per- vades all nature, and which, therefore, must survive the tomb, and rise, triumphant and eternal, above the decaying dust of death and the grave.
This permanence of position was also attributed to those cubical stones among the Romans which repre- sented the statues of the god Terminus. They could never lawfully be removed from the spot which they occupied. When Tarquin was about to build the temple of Jupiter, on the Capitoline Hill, all the shrines and statues of the other gods were removed from the eminence to make way for the new edifice, except that of Terminus, represented by a stone. This remained untouched, and was enclosed within the temple, to show ''that the stone, having been a personification of the God Supreme, could not be reasonably required to yield to Jupiter himself in dignity and power. "^
It is in this way that the student of Masonic symbol- ism is reminded by the corner-stone — by its form, its position, and its permanence — of significant doctrines of duty, and virtue, and religious truth, which it is the great object of Freemasonry to teach.
But we have said that the material corner-stone is deposited in its appropriate place with solemn rites and ceremonies, for which the Order has established a
1 Dudley's "Naology," p. 145.
170 Symbolism of Freemasonry
peculiar ritual. These, too, have a beautiful and sig- nificant symbolism, the investigation of which will next attract our attention.
Here it may be observed in passing that the accom- paniment of such an act of consecration to a particular purpose, with solemn rites and ceremonies, claims our respect from the prestige that it has of all antiquity. A learned writer on symbolism makes, on this subject, the following judicious remarks, which may be quoted as a sufiicient defence of our Masonic ceremonies:
^'It has been an opinion, entertained in all past ages, that by the performance of certain acts, things, places, and persons acquire a character which they would not have had without such performances. The reason is plain: certain acts signify firmness of purpose, which by consigning the object to the intended use, gives it, in the public opinion, an accordant character.
"This is most especially true of things, places, and persons connected with religion and religious worship. After the performance of certain acts or rites, they are held to be altogether different from what they were before; they acquire a sacred character, and in some instances a character absolutely divine. Such are the effects imagined to be produced by religious dedi- cation."^
The stone, therefore, thus properly constructed, is, when it is to be deposited by the constituted authorities of our Order, carefully examined with the necessary implements of operative labor — the square, the level, and the plumb — and declared to be "well-formed, true, and trusty."
This is not a vain nor unmeaning ceremony. It teaches the Freemason that his virtues are to be tested
1 Dudley's "Naology," p. 476.
Symbolism of the Corner-stone 171
by temptation and trial, by suffering and adversity, before they can be pronounced by the Master Builder of souls to be materials worthy of the spiritual building of eternal life, fitted "as living stones, for that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." But if he be faithful, and withstand these trials, — if he shall come forth from these temptations and sufferings like pure gold from the refiner's fire, — then, indeed, shall he be deemed ''well-formed, true, and trusty," and worthy to offer "unto the Lord an offering in righteousness."
In the ceremony of depositing the corner-stone, the sacred elements of Masonic consecration are then pro- duced, and the stone is solemnly set apart by pouring corn, wine, and oil upon its surface. Each of these elements has a beautiful significance in our symbolism.
Collectively, they allude to the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of Refreshment, and the Oil of Joy, which arc the promised rewards of a faithful and diligent per- formance of duty, and often specifically refer to the anticipated success of the undertaking whose incipiency they have consecrated. They are, in fact, types and symbols of all those abundant gifts of Divine Provi- dence for which we are daily called upon to make an offering of our thanks, and which are enumerated by King David, in his catalogue of blessings, as "wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."