Section 2

Tatooing the body is symbolic and similar to the
markings of heraldry but of more permanent type and
quite often associated with the idea of decoration
among some peoples and among others having some-
times a religious allusion as in the totemism or animal-
istic or animistic idealism of certain tribes.

The lion is symbolical of courage, the lamb of meek-
ness and innocence, the olive branch of peace, the
laurel wreath of victory as once worn by the returning
Roman conquerors, the sceptre of supreme sovereignty,
the eye of sight and of knowledge, the apron of service
undefiled.

Note what Thomas Carlyle says in Sartor Resartus
of the Symbolism of the Apron: "Aprons are De-
fences; against injury to cleanliness, to safety, to
modesty, sometimes to roguery. From the thin slip
of notched sill (as it were, the emblem and beautified
ghost of an apron) which some highest-bred housewife,
sitting at Nurnberg Workboxes and Toyboxes, has
gracefully fastened on; to the thicktanned hide, girt
round him with thongs, wherein the Builder builds,
and at evening sticks his trowel; or to those jingling
sheet-iron Aprons, wherein your otherwise half-naked
Vulcans hammer and smelt in their smelt-furnace, —
is there not range enough in the fashion and uses of
this Vestment? How much has been concealed, how
much has been defended in aprons? Nay, rightly con-

An Introduction to Symbolism 7

sidered, what is your whole Military and Police Estab-
lishment, charged at uncalculated millions, but a huge
scarlet-colored, iron-fastened Apron, wherein Society
works (uneasily enough) ; guarding itself from some soil
and stithy-sparks in this Devil's-smithy of a world?
But of all aprons the most puzzling to me hitherto has
been the Episcopal or Cassock. Wherein consists the
usefulness of this Apron? The Overseer of Souls, I
notice, has tucked-in the corner of it, as if his day^s
work were done: what does he shadow forth thereby?"

Very often we find combined two or more emblems
as a single symbol. Such is frequently the case where
one element is that of a human figure. The Statue of
Liberty as represented by Bartholdi in the Harbor of
New York is a stately female figure carrying a flaming
torch. St. Gaudens showed Silence and Circumspec-
tion by a figure having the forefinger resting on her
lips. In the same way the power of the sea is depicted
by Neptune bearing a trident; pride by Juno with the
peacock, and womanly beauty by Venus solaced with a
mirror or charmed by the apple of beauty which Grecian
mythology says was awarded by Zeus to Paris and by
him bestowed upon Aphrodite.

Literature is full of symbolical allusions, as to the
keys of St. Peter and the lamb of St. Agnes, or the
noose of capital punishment, or the crown of reward.
Jeremy Taylor tells us that the '^Sacrament is a repre-
sentation of Christ's death by such symbolical actions
as He Himself appointed." Wordsworth in A Fact and
an Imagination observes: "And Canute (fact more
worthy to be known) from that time forth did for his
brows disown the ostentatious symbols of a crown."

One of the most glowing and expressive of all sym-
bolic poesy is that by Joseph Rodman Drake, the

8 Symbolism of Freemasonry

tribute to the American flag. A verse of it is ap-
pended :

When freedom, from her mountain's height,
Unfurled her standard to the air,

She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there!

She mingled with its gorgeous dyes

The milky baldric of the skies.

And striped its pure celestial white

With streakings of the morning light.

Then from his mansion in the sun,

She called her eagle bearer down,

And gave into his mighty hand

The symbol of her chosen land!

Again we may turn to Thomas Carlyle in Sartor
Rfisartus for an expression of the agency of Symbols:
// "Bees will not work except in Darkness. Thought
Vill not work except in Silence; neither will Virtue
work except in Secrecy. Let not thy left hand know what
thy right hand doeth. Of Kin to the so incalculable in-
fluences of Concealment and connected with still
greater things, is the wondrous agency of Symbols.
In a Symbol there is concealment and yet revelation:
here therefore, by Silence and by Speech acting to-
gether, comes a double significance. And if both the
speech be itself high, and the silence fit and noble, how
expressive will their union be! Thus in many a painted
Device, or simple Seal-emblem, the commonest Truth
stands out to us proclaimed with quite new emphasis.

"For it is here that Fantasy with her mystic wonder-
land plays into the small prose domain of Sense, and
becomes incorporated therewith. In the Symbol
proper, what we can call a Symbol, there is ever more or
less distinctly and directly, some embodiment and
revelation of the Infinite; the Infinite is made to blend

An Introduction to Symbolism 9

itself with the Finite, to stand visible, as it were, at-
tainable there. By Symbols, accordingly, is man guided
and commanded, made happy, made wretched. He
everywhere finds himself encompassed with Symbols,
recognized as such, or not recognized: The universe is
but one vast Symbol of God, nay, if thou wilt have it,
what is man himself but a Symbol of God; is not all
that he does symbolical; a revelation to Sense of the
mystic God-given force that is in him; a 'Gospel of
Freedom' which he, the *Messias of Nature' preaches,
as he can, by act and word? Not a Hut he builds but
is the visible embodiment of a Thought; but bears
visible record of invisible things, but is, in the Tran-
scendental sense, symbolical as well as real.

''It is in and through Symbols that man, consciously
or unconsciously, lives, works, and has his being: those
ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can
the best recognize symbolical worth, and prize it the
highest. For is not a Symbol ever, to him who has
eyes for it, some dimmer or clearer revelation of the
Godlike?"

CHAPTER TWO

PRELIMINARY

Origin and Progress of Freemasonry

ANY inquiry into the symbolism and philosophy
of Freemasonry must necessarily be preceded by
a brief investigation of the origin and history of
the institution. Ancient and universal as it is, whence
did it arise? What were the accidents connected with
its birth? From what kindred or similar association
did it spring? Or was it original and autochthonic^, in-
dependent, in its inception, of any external influences,
and unconnected with any other institution? These are
questions which an intelligent investigator will be dis-
posed to propound in the very commencement of the
inquiry. They are questions which must be distinctly
answered before he can be expected to comprehend its
true character as a symbolic institution. He must
know something of its antecedents before he can appre-
ciate its character.

But he who expects to reach a satisfactory solution
of this inquiry must first — as a preliminary absolutely
necessary to success — release himself from the influence
of an error into which novices in Masonic philosophy
are too apt to fall. He must not confound the doctrine
of Freemasonry with its outward and extrinsic form.

* Meaning native, of the very soil.

10

Origin and Progress of Freemasonry 11

He must not suppose that certain usages and cere-
monies, which exist at this day, but which, even
now, are subject to extensive variations in different
countries, constitute the sum and substance of Free-
masonry.

'Trudent antiquity,'^ says Lord Coke, "did for more
solemnity and better memory and observation of that
which is to be done, express substances under cere-
monies.'' But it must be always remembered that the
ceremony is not the substance. It is but the outer
garment which covers and perhaps adorns it, as cloth-
ing does the human figure. But divest man of that
outward apparel, and you still have the microcosm^,
the wondrous creation, with all his nerves, and bones,
and muscles, and, above all, with his brain, and
thoughts, and feelings.

Take from Freemasonry these external ceremonies,
and you still have remaining its philosophy and science.
These have, of course, always continued the same,
while the ceremonies have varied in different ages, and
still vary in different countries.

The definition of Freemasonry that it is "a science of
morality, veiled in allegory, and illustrated by sym-
bols,'' has been so often quoted, that, were it not for
its beauty, it would become wearisome. But this
definition contains the exact principle that has just
been enunciated. Freemasonry is a science — a philos-
ophy— a system of doctrines which is taught, in a
manner peculiar to itself, by allegories and symbols.
This is its internal character. Its ceremonies are ex-
ternal additions which affect not its substance.

Now, when we are about to institute an inquiry into
the origin of Freemasonry, it is of this peculiar system

* From the Greek, meaning a miniature world.

12 Symbolism of Freemasonry

of philosophy that we are to inquire, and not of the
ceremonies which have been foisted on it. If we pursue
any other course we shall assuredly fall into error.

Thus, if we seek the origin and first beginning of the
Masonic philosophy, we must go away back into the
ages of remote antiquity, when we shall find this be-
ginning in the bosom of kindred associations where the
same philosophy was maintained and taught. But if
we confound the ceremonies of Freemasonry with the
philosophy of Freemasonry, and seek the origin of the
institution, moulded into outward form as it is to-day,
we can scarcely be required to look farther back than
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and, indeed,
not quite so far. For many important modifications
have been made in its rituals since that period.

Having, then, arrived at the conclusion that it is not
the Masonic ritual, but the Masonic philosophy, whose
origin we are to investigate, the next question naturally
relates to the peculiar nature of that philosophy.

We contend that the philosophy of Freemasonry is
engaged in the contemplation of the divine and human
character. Our Masonic philosophy considers God as
one eternal, self -existent Being, in contradiction to the
mythology of the ancient peoples, which was burdened
with a multitude of gods and goddesses, of demigods
and heroes; of man as an immortal being, preparing in
the present life for an eternal future, in like contradic-
tion to the ancient philosophy, which circumscribed
the existence of man to the present life.

These two doctrines, then, of the unity of God and the
immortality of the soul, constitute the philosophy of
Freemasonry. When we wish to define it succinctly,
we say that it is an ancient system of philosophy which
teaches these two dogmas. Hence, if amid the intellec-

Origin and Progress of Freemasonry 13

tual darkness and debasement of the old polytheistic
religions, we find interspersed here and there, in all
ages certain institutions or associations which taught
these truths, and that, in a particular way, allegorically
and symbolically, then we have a right to say that such
institutions or associations were the incunabula^ —
the predecessors — of the Masonic institution as it now
exists.

With these preliminary remarks the reader will be
enabled to enter upon the consideration of that theory
of the origin of Freemasonry which we advance in the
following propositions:

1. In the first place, we contend that in the very
earliest ages of the world there were existent certain
truths of vast importance to the welfare and happiness
of humanity, which had been communicated — no
matter how, but — most probably by direct inspiration
from God to man.

2. These truths principally consisted in the abstract
propositions of the unity of God and the immortality
of the soul. Of the truth of these two propositions
there cannot be a reasonable doubt. The usual belief
in these truths is but a necessary consequence of that
religious sentiment which has always been an essential
feature of human nature. Man is emphatically and in
distinction from all other creatures a religious animal.
Gross commences his interesting work on The Heathen
Religion in its Popular and Symbolical Development by
the statement that "one of the most remarkable phe-
nomena of the human race is the universal existence of
religious ideas — a belief in something supernatural and
divine, and a worship corresponding to it.'* As nature
had implanted the religious sentiment, the same nature

* Of the very cradle period.

14 Symbolism of Freemasonry

must have directed it in a proper channel. The belief
and the worship must at first have been as pure as the
fountain whence they flowed, although, in subsequent
times, and before the advent of Christian light, they
may both have been corrupted by the influence of the
priests and the poets over an ignorant and superstitious
people. The first and second propositions of our theory
refer only to that primeval period which was antecedent
to these corruptions, of which we shall hereafter speak.

3. These truths of God and immortality were most
probably handed down through the line of patriarchs
of the race of Seth, but were at all events known to
Noah, and were by him communicated to his immediate
descendants.

4. In consequence of this communication, the true
worship of God continued, for some time after the sub-
sidence of the Deluge, to be cultivated by the Noa-
chidse, the Noachites, or the descendants of Noah.

5. At a subsequent period (no matter when, but the
biblical record places it at the attempted building of
the tower of Babel), there was a secession of a large
number of the human race from the Noachites.

6. These seceders rapidly lost sight of the divine
truths which had been communicated to them from
their common ancestor, and fell into the most grievous
theological errors, corrupting the purity of the worship
and the orthodoxy of the religious faith which they
had primarily received.

7. These truths were preserved in their integrity by
but a very few in the patriarchal line, while still fewer
were enabled to retain only dim and glimmering por-
tions of the true light.

8. The first class was confined to the direct descen-
dants of Noah, and the second was to be found among

Origin and Progress of Freemasonry 15

the priests and philosophers, and, perhaps, still later,
among the poets of the heathen nations, and among
those whom they initiated into the secrets of these truths.

Of the prevalence of these religious truths among
the patriarchal descendants of Noah, we have ample
evidence in the sacred records. As to their existence
among a body of learned heathens, we have the testi-
mony of many intelligent writers who have devoted
their energies to this subject.

Thus the learned Grote, in his History of GreecCy says:
**The allegorical interpretation of the myths has been
by several learned investigators, especially by Creuzer,
connected with the hypothesis of an ancient and highly
instructed body of priests, having their origin either in
Egypt or in the East, and communicating to the rude
and barbarous Greeks religious, physical, and historical
knowledge, under the veil of symbols.^' What is here
said only of the Greeks is equally applicable to every
other intellectual nation of antiquity.

9. The system or doctrine of the former class has
been called by Masonic writers the **Pure or Primitive
Freemasonry" of antiquity, and that of the latter class
the *' Spurious Freemasonry" of the same period. These
terms were first used, if we mistake not, by Dr. Oliver,
and are intended to refer thus: the word pure to the
doctrines taught by the descendants of Noah in the
Jewish line, and the word spurious to his descendants
in the heathen or Gentile line.

10. The masses of the people, among the Gentiles
especially, were totally unacquainted with this divine
truth which was the foundation stone of both species of
Freemasonry, the pure and the spurious, and were
deeply immersed in the errors and falsities of heathen
belief and worship.

16 Symbolism op Freemasonry

11. These errors of the heathen religions were not
the voluntary inventions of the peoples who cultivated
them, but were gradual and almost unavoidable corrup-
tions of the truths which had been at first taught by
Noah; and, indeed, so palpable are these corruptions,
that they can be readily detected and traced to the
original form from which, however much they might
vary among different peoples, they had, at one time
or another, deviated. Thus in the life and achieve-
ments of Bacchus or Dionysus, we find the travestied
counterpart of the career of Moses, and in the name
of Vulcan, the blacksmith god, we evidently see an
etymological corruption of the appellation of Tubal
Cain, the first artificer in metals. For Vul-can is but
a modified form of Baal-Cain, the god Cain.

12. But those among the masses — and there were
some — who were made acquainted with the truth, re-
ceived their knowledge by means of an initiation into
certain sacred Mysteries, in the bosom of which it was
concealed from the public gaze.

13. These Mysteries existed in every country of
heathendom, in each under a different name, and to
some extent under a different form, but always and
everywhere with the same design of teaching, by alle-
gorical and symbolic teachings, the great Masonic
doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of
the soul. This is an important proposition, and the
fact which it enunciates must never be lost sight of in
any inquiry into the origin of Freemasonry; for the
pagan Mysteries were to the spurious Freemasonry of
antiquity precisely what the Masters* Lodges are to
the Freemasonry of the present day. It is needless to
offer any proof of their existence, since this is admitted
and continually referred to by all historians, ancient