Section 8

74 Symbolism of Feeemasonrt

received by a child in acquiring his alphabet is thus
conveyed by symbolism.

Even in the very formation of language, the medium
of communication between man and man, and which
must hence have been an elementary step in the progress
of human improvement, it was found necessary to have
recourse to symbols, for words are only and truly
certain arbitrary symbols by which and through which
we give an utterance to our ideas. The construction
of language was, therefore, one of the first products of
the science of symbolism.

We must constantly bear in mind this fact, of the
primary existence and predominance of symbolism in
the earliest times, ^ when we are investigating the nature
of the ancient religions, with which the history of Free-
masonry is so intimately connected. The older the
religion, the more the symbolism abounds.

Modern religions may convey their dogmas in ab-
stract propositions; ancient religions always con-
veyed them in symbols. There is more symbolism in
the Egyptian religion than in the Jewish, more in the
Jewish than in the Christian, more in the Christian
than in the Mohammedan, and, lastly, more in the
Roman than in the Protestant.

of articulate voices, the symbols of our ideas, but of those principal-
ly which are general or universal." — "Hermes," book iii. ch. 3.

* "Symbols," says Miiller, "are evidently coeval with the human
race; they result from the union of the soul with the body in man;
nature has implanted the feeling for them in the human heart." —
"Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology," p. 196, Leitch's
translation. R. W. Mackay says, "The earliest instruments of
education were symbols, the most universal symbols of the mul-
titudinously present Deity, being earth or heaven, or some selected
object, such as the sun or moon, a tree or a stone, familiarly seen in
either of them." — "Progress of the Intellect," vol. i. p. 134.

System of Symbolic Instruction 75

But symbolism is not only the most ancient and
general, it is also the most practically useful of sciences.
We have already seen how actively it operates in the
early stages of life and of society. We have seen how
the first ideas of men and of nations are impressed upon
their minds by means of symbols. It was thus that
the ancient peoples were almost wholly educated.

'*In the simpler stages of society," says one writer
on this subject, "mankind can be instructed in the
abstract knowledge of truths only by symbols and
parables. Hence we find most heathen religions be-
coming mythic, or explaining their mysteries by alle-
gories, or instructive incidents. Nay, God Himself,
knowing the nature of the creatures formed by Him,
has condescended, in the earlier revelations that He
made of Himself , to teach by symbols; and the greatest
of all teachers instructed the multitudes by parables. ^

"The great exemplar of the ancient philosophy and the
grand archetype of modern philosophy were alike dis-
tinguished by their possessing this faculty in a high
degree, and have told us that man was best instructed
by similitudes." ^

* Between the allegory or parable, and the symbol, there is as we
have said no essential difiference. The Greek verb irapa/SaXXw, whence
comes the word parable, and the verb au/x/SaXXco in the same lan-
guage, which is the root of the word symbol, both have the synony-
mous meaning "to compare." A parable is only a spoken symbol.
The definition of a parable given by Adam Clarke is equally ap-
plicable to a symbol, viz.: "A comparison or similitude, in which
one thing is compared with another, especially spiritual things with
natural, by which means these spiritual things are better understood,
and make a deeper impression on the attentive mind."

^ North British Review, August, 1851. Faber speaks in similar
praise. "Hence the language of symbohsm, being so purely a lan-
guage of ideas, is, in one respect, more perfect than any ordinary

76 Symbolism of Freemasonry

Such is the system adopted in Freemasonry for the
development and teaching of the great rehgious and
philosophical truths, of which it was, for so many years,
the sole conservator. And it is for this reason that
we have already remarked that any inquiry into the
symbolic character of Freemasonry must be preceded
by an investigation of the nature of symbolism in
general, if we would properly appreciate its particular
use in the organization of the Masonic institution.

language can be: it possesses the variegated elegance of synonymes
without any of the obscurity which arises from the use of ambiguous
terms." — "On the Prophecies," ii. p. 63.

I

,1

CHAPTER TWELVE
Speculative Science and the Operative Art

AND now, let us apply this doctrine of symbolism
to an investigation of the nature of a speculative
science, as derived from an operative art; for
the fact is familiar to every one that Freemasonry is
of two kinds.

We work, it is true, in speculative Freemasonry only,
but our ancient brethren wrought in both operative
and speculative; and it is now well understood that the
two branches are widely apart in design and in char-
acter. The one is a mere useful art intended for the
protection and convenience of man and the gratification
of his physical wants, the other a profound science
entering into abstruse investigations of the soul and a
future existence, and originating in the craving need of
humanity to know something that is above and beyond
the mere outward life that surrounds us with its gross
atmosphere here below. ^

Indeed, the only bond or link that unites speculative
and operative Freemasonry is the symbolism that
belongs altogether to the former, but which, through-
out its whole extent, is derived from the latter.

* "By speculative Freemasonry we learn to subdue our passions,
to act upon the square, to keep a tongue of good report, to maintain
secrecy, and practice charity." But this in Bro. Mackey's opinion is
a very meagre definition, unworthy of the place it occupies.

77

78 Symbolism of Freemasonry

Our first inquiry, then, will be into the nature of the
symbolism which operative gives to speculative Free-
masonry; and thoroughly to understand this subject —
to know its origin, and its necessity, and its mode of
application — we must begin with a reference to the con-
dition of a long past period of time.

Thousands of years ago this science of symbolism was
adopted by the sagacious priesthood of Egypt to convey
the lessons of worldly wisdom and religious knowledge,
which they thus communicated to their disciples.

''Animal worship among the Egyptians was the
natural and unavoidable consequence of the miscon-
ception, by the vulgar, of those emblematical figures
invented by the priests to record their own philosoph-
ical conception of absurd ideas. As the pictures and
effigies suspended in early Christian churches, to com-
memorate a person or an event, became in time objects
of worship to the vulgar, so, in Egypt, the esoteric or
spiritual meaning of the emblems was lost in the gross
materialism of the beholder. This esoteric and alle-
gorical meaning was, however, preserved by the priests,
and communicated in the mysteries alone to the ini-
tiated, while the uninstructed retained only the grosser
conception.''^

Their science, their history, and their philosophy
were thus concealed beneath an impenetrable veil from
all the profane. Only the few who passed through the
severe ordeal of initiation were put in possession of the
key which enabled them to decipher and read with ease
those mystic lessons which we still see engraved upon
the obelisks, the tombs, and the sarcophagi, which lie
scattered at this day in endless profusion along the
banks of the Nile.

* Gliddon, "Otia ^Egyptiaca," p. 94.

Speculative Science and Operative Art 79

From the Egyptians the same method of symboHc
instruction was diffused among all the pagan nations of
antiquity, and was used in all the ancient Mysteries^
as the medium of communicating to the initiated the
esoteric and secret doctrines for whose preservation and
promulgation these singular associations were formed.

Moses, who as Holy Writ informs us was skilled in
all the learning of Egypt, brought with him from that
cradle of the sciences a perfect knowledge of the science
of symbolism, as it was taught by the priests of Isis and
Osiris, and applied it to the ceremonies with which he
invested the purer religion of the people for whom he
had been appointed to legislate. ^

Hence we learn from the great Jewish historian that,
in the construction of the tabernacle which gave the
first model for the temple at Jerusalem and afterwards
for every Masonic Lodge, this principle of symbolism
was applied to every part of it. Thus it was divided
into three parts to represent the three great elementary
divisions of the universe — the land, the sea, and the air.
The first two, or exterior portions which were acces-
sible to the priests and the people were symbolic of the
land and the sea, which all men might inhabit; while
/

^ "To perpetuate the esoteric signification of these symbols to
the initiated, there were estabhshed the Mysteries, of which in-
stitution we have still a trace in Freemasonry." — GUddon, "Otia
iEgyptiaca," p. 95.

^Philo Judaeus says that "Moses had been initiated by the Egyp-
tians into the philosophy of symbols and hieroglyphics, as well as
into the ritual of the holy animals." And Hengstenberg, in his
learned work on "Egypt and the Books of Moses," conclusively
shows, by numerous examples, how direct were the Egyptian refer-
ences of the Pentateuch; in which fact, indeed, he recognizes "one
of the most powerful arguments for its credibility and for its composi-
tion by Moses." — Hengstenberg, p. 239, Robbins's translation.

80 Symbolism of Freemasonry

the third or interior division — the Holy of Holies —
whose threshold no mortal dared to cross, and which
was peculiarly consecrated to God, was emblematic of
heaven, His dwelling-place.

The veils, too, according to Josephus, were intended
for symbolic instruction in their color and their ma-
terials. Collectively, they represented the four ele-
ments of the universe. In passing it may be observed
that this notion of symbolizing the universe character-
ized all the ancient systems, both the true and the false,
and that the remains of the principle are to be found
everywhere, even at this day, pervading Freemasonry,
which is but a development of these systems.

In the four veils of the tabernacle, the white or fine
linen signified the earth, from which flax was produced;
the scarlet signified fire, appropriately represented by
its flaming color; the purple typified the sea, in allu-
sion to the shell-fish murex, from which the tint was
obtained; and the blue, the color of the firmament,
was emblematic of air.^

It is not necessary to enter into a detail of the whole
system of religious symbolism, as developed in the
Mosaic ritual. It was but an application of the same
principles of instruction, that pervaded all the sur-
rounding Gentile nations, to the inculcation of truth.
The very idea of the ark itself^ was borrowed, as the
discoveries of the modern Egyptologists have shown us,

* Josephus, "Antiquities," book iii. ch. 7.

2 The ark or sacred boat of the Egyptians frequently occurs
on the walls of the temples. It was carried in great pomp by the
priests, on the occasion of the "procession of the shrines," by means
of staves passed through metal rings in its side. It was thus con-
ducted into the temple, and deposited on a stand. The representa-
tions we have of it bear a striking resemblance to the Jewish ark,
of which it is now admitted to have been the prototype.

J

Speculative Science and Operative Art 81

from the banks of the Nile; and the breastplate of the
high priest, with its Urim and Thummim/ was indebted
for its origin to a similar ornament worn by the Egyp-
tian judge. The system was the same; in its appli-
cation, only, did it differ.

With the tabernacle of Moses the temple of King
Solomon is closely connected: the one was the arche-
type of the other. Now, it is at the building of that
temple that we must place the origin of Freemasonry
in its present organization. Not that the system did
not exist before that time, but that the union of its
operative and speculative character, and the mutual
dependence of one upon the other, were there first
established.!-

At the construction of this stupendous edifice — •
stupendous, not in magnitude, for many a parish church
has since excelled it in size,^ but stupendous in the
wealth and magnificence of its ornaments — the wise
king of Israel, with all that sagacity for which he was
so eminently distinguished, and aided and counselled
by the Gentile experience of the king of Tyre, and that
immortal architect who superintended his workmen,
saw at once the excellence and beauty of this method
of teaching moral and religious truth. He gave, there-
fore, the impulse to that symbolic reference of material
things to a spiritual sense, which has ever since dis-
tinguished the institution of which he was the founder.

* "The Egyptian reference in the Urim and Thummim is especially
distinct and incontrovertible." — Hengstenberg, p. 158, The Urim
and Thummim formed the sacred oracle by which in early times the
Hebrews sought to ascertain the will of God. See also page 149.

2 According to the estimate of Bishop Cumberland, it was only
one hundred and nine feet in length, thirty-six in breadth, and
fifty-four in height.

82 Symbolism of Freemasonry

If we deemed it necessary to substantiate the truth
of the assertion that the mind of King Solomon was
eminently symbolic in its propensities, we might easily
refer to his writings, filled as they are to profusion with
tropes and figures.

Passing over the Book of Canticles — that great lyrical
drama, whose abstruse symbolism has not yet been
fully evolved or explained, notwithstanding the vast
number of commentators who have labored at the task
— we might simply refer to that beautiful passage in the
twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, so familiar to every
Freemason as being appropriated, in the ritual, to the
ceremonies of the third degree, and in which a dilap-
idated building is metaphorically made to represent the
decays and infirmities of old age in the human body.
This brief but eloquent description is itself an embodi-
ment of much of our Masonic symbolism, both as to
the mode and the subject matter.

In attempting any investigation into the symbolism
of Freemasonry, the first thing that should engage our
attention is the general purport of the institution, and
the mode in which its symbolism is developed. Let us
first examine it as a whole before we investigate its
parts, just as we would first view, as critics, the general
effect of a building before we began to inquire into its
architectural details.

Looking in this way at the institution — coming down
to us as it has from a remote age — having passed un-
altered and unscathed through a thousand revolutions
of nations — and engaging, as disciples in its school of
mental labor, the intellectual of all times — the first
thing that must naturally arrest the attention is the
singular combination that it presents of an operative
with a speculative organization — an art with a science

Speculative Science and Operative Art 83

— the technical terms and language of a mechanical
profession with the abstruse teachings of a profound
philosophy.

Here it is before us — a venerable school, discoursing
of the deepest subjects of wisdom, in which sages might
alone find themselves appropriately employed, and yet
having its birth and deriving its first life from a society
of artisans, whose only object was, apparently, the con-
struction of material edifices of stone and mortar.

The nature, then, of this operative and speculative
combination, is the first problem to be solved, and the
symbolism which depends upon it is the first feature of
the institution which is to be developed.

Freemasonry, in its character as an operative art, is
familiar to every one. As such, it is engaged in the
application of the rules and principles of architecture
to the construction of edifices for private and public
use — houses for the dwelling-place of man, and tem-
ples for the worship of Deity. The Masonic Crafts-
manship abounds, like every other art, in the use of
technical terms, and employs, in practice, an abundance
of implements and materials which are peculiar to
itself.

Now, if the ends of Operative Freemasonry had here
ceased — if this technical dialect and these technical
implements had never been used for any other purpose,
nor appropriated to any other object, than that of
enabling its disciples to pursue their artistic labors with
greater convenience to themselves — Speculative Free-
masonry would never have existed. The same prin-
ciples might, and in all probability would, have been
developed in some other way; but the organization,
the name, the mode of instruction, would all have
most materially differed.

84 Symbolism of Freemasonry

But the operative workmen, who founded the Order,
were not content with the mere material and manual
part of their profession; they adjoined to it, under the
wise instructions of their leaders, a correlative branch
of study.

Hence, to the Freemason, this operative art has been
symbolized in that intellectual deduction from it, which
has been correctly called Speculative Freemasonry.
At one time, each was the integral part of an undivided
system. Not that the period ever existed when every
operative stonecutter was acquainted with, or initiated
into, the speculative science. Even now, there are
thousands of skillful artisans who know as little of that
as they do of the Hebrew language which was spoken
by its founder.