II. 58, _n._ 9), the elements of life and stability, and others the sacred

beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the goddess
Thmei. In all this we see the type of the Jewish ark. The introduction of
the ark into the ceremonies of Freemasonry evidently is in reference to
its loss and recovery; and hence its symbolism is to be interpreted as
connected with the masonic idea of loss and recovery, which always alludes
to a loss of life and a recovery of immortality. In the first temple of
this life the ark is lost; in the second temple of the future life it is
recovered. And thus the ark of the covenant is one of the many masonic
symbols of the resurrection.

ARTS AND SCIENCES, LIBERAL. In the seventh century, and for many centuries
afterwards, all learning was limited to and comprised in what were called
the seven liberal arts and sciences; namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic,
arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The epithet "liberal" is a
fair translation of the Latin "ingenuus," which means "free-born;" thus
Cicero speaks of the "artes ingenuæ," or the arts befitting a free-born
man; and Ovid says in the well-known lines,--

"Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros,"--

_To have studied carefully the liberal arts refines the manners, and
prevents us from being brutish._ And Phillips, in his "New World of Words"
(1706), defines the liberal arts and sciences to be "such as are fit for
gentlemen and scholars, as mechanic trades and handicrafts for meaner
people." As Freemasons are required by their landmarks to be _free-born_,
we see the propriety of incorporating the arts of free-born men among
their symbols. As the system of Masonry derived its present form and
organization from the times when the study of these arts and sciences
constituted the labors of the wisest men, they have very appropriately
been adopted as the symbol of the completion of human learning.

ASHLAR. In builders' language, a stone taken from the quarries.

ASHLAR, PERFECT. A stone that has been hewed, squared, and polished, so as
to be fit for use in the building. Masonically, it is a symbol of the
state of perfection attained by means of education. And as it is the
object of Speculative Masonry to produce this state of perfection, it may
in that point of view be also considered as a symbol of the social
character of the institution of Freemasonry.

ASHLAR, ROUGH. A stone in its rude and natural state. Masonically, it is a
symbol of men's natural state of ignorance. But if the perfect ashlar be,
in reference to its mode of preparation, considered as a symbol of the
social character of Freemasonry, then the rough ashlar must be considered
as a symbol of the profane world. In this species of symbolism, the rough
and perfect ashlars bear the same relation to each other as ignorance does
to knowledge, death to life, and light to darkness. The rough ashlar is
the profane, the perfect ashlar is the initiate.

ASHMOLE, ELIAS. A celebrated antiquary of England, who was born in 1617.
He has written an autobiography, or rather diary of his life, which
extends to within eight years of his death. Under the date of October 16,
1646, he has made the following entry: "I was made a Free-Mason at
Warrington, in Lancashire, with Col. Henry Mainwaring, of Carticham, in
Cheshire; the names of those that were then at the lodge: Mr. Richard
Penket, warden; Mr. James Collier, Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John
Ellam and Hugh Brewer." Thirty-six years afterwards, under date of March
10, 1682, he makes the following entry: "I received a summons to appear at
a lodge to be held the next day at Masons' Hall, in London. 11.
Accordingly I went, and about noon was admitted into the fellowship of
Freemasons by Sir William Wilson, Knight, Captain Richard Borthwick, Mr.
William Woodman, Mr. William Grey, Mr. Samuel Taylour, and Mr. William
Wise. I was the senior fellow among them (it being thirty-five years since
I was admitted); there was present beside myself the fellows after named:
Mr. Thomas Wise, master of the Masons' Company this year; Mr. Thomas
Shorthose, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt, ---- Waidsfford, Esq., Mr. Nicholas Young,
Mr. John Shorthose, Mr. William Hamon, Mr. John Thompson, and Mr. William
Stanton. We all dined at the Half-Moon Tavern, in Cheapside, at a noble
dinner prepared at the charge of the new-accepted Masons." The titles of
some of the persons named in these two receptions confirm what is said in
the text, that the operative was at that time being superseded by the
speculative element. It is deeply to be regretted that Ashmole did not
carry out his projected design of writing a history of Freemasonry, for
which it is said that he had collected abundant materials. His History of
the Order of the Garter shows what we might have expected from his
treatment of the masonic institution.

ASPIRANT. One who aspires to or seeks after the truth. The title given to
the candidate in the ancient Mysteries.

ATHELSTAN. King of England, who ascended the throne in 924. Anderson cites
the old constitutions as saying that he encouraged the Masons, and brought
many over from France and elsewhere. In his reign, and in the year 926,
the celebrated General Assembly of the Craft was held in the city of York,
with prince Edward, the king's brother, for Grand Master, when new
constitutions were framed. From this assembly the York Rite dates its
origin.

AUTOPSY (Greek αὐτοψία, _a seeing with one's own eyes_). The complete
communication of the secrets in the ancient Mysteries, when the aspirant
was admitted into the sacellum, or most sacred place, and was invested by
the Hierophant with all the aporrheta, or sacred things, which constituted
the perfect knowledge of the initiate. A similar ceremony in Freemasonry
is called the Rite of Intrusting.

AUM. The triliteral name of God in the Brahminical mysteries, and
equivalent among the Hindoos to the tetragrammaton of the Jews. In one of
the Puranas, or sacred books of the Hindoos, it is said, "All the rites
ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all other solemn
purifications, shall pass away; but that which shall never pass away is
the word AUM, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things."



B


BABEL. The biblical account of the dispersion of mankind in consequence of
the confusion of tongues at Babel, has been incorporated into the history
of Masonry. The text has shown the probability that the pure and abstract
principles of the Primitive Freemasonry had been preserved by Noah and his
immediate descendants; and also that, as a consequence of the dispersion,
these principles had been lost or greatly corrupted by the Gentiles, who
were removed from the influence and teachings of the great patriarch.

Now there was in the old rituals a formula in the third degree, preserved
in some places to the present day, which teaches that the candidate has
come _from the tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry
lost_, and that he is travelling _to the threshing-floor of Ornan the
Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found_. An attentive
perusal of the nineteen propositions set forth in the preliminary chapter
of this work will furnish the reader with a key for the interpretation of
this formula. The principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of the early
priesthood were corrupted or lost at Babel by the defection of a portion
of mankind from Noah, the conservator of those principles. Long after, the
descendants of this people united with those of Noah at the temple of
Solomon, whose site was the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, from
whom it had been bought by David; and here the lost principles were
restored by this union of the Spurious Freemasons of Tyre with the
Primitive Freemasons of Jerusalem. And this explains the latter clause of
the formula.

BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY. When the city and temple of Jerusalem were destroyed
by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, and the inhabitants conveyed as captives to
Babylon, we have a right to suppose,--that is to say, if there be any
truth in masonic history, the deduction is legitimate,--that among these
captives were many of the descendants of the workmen at the temple. If so,
then they carried with them into captivity the principles of Masonry which
they had acquired at home, and the city of Babylon became the great seat
of Speculative Masonry for many years. It was during the captivity that
the philosopher Pythagoras, who was travelling as a seeker after
knowledge, visited Babylon. With his ardent thirst for wisdom, he would
naturally hold frequent interviews with the leading Masons among the
Jewish captives. As he suffered himself to be initiated into the Mysteries
of Egypt during his visit to that country, it is not unlikely that he may
have sought a similar initiation into the masonic Mysteries. This would
account for the many analogies and resemblances to Masonry that we find in
the moral teachings, the symbols, and the peculiar organization of the
school of Pythagoras--resemblances so extraordinary as to have justified,
or at least excused, the rituals for calling the sage of Samos "our
ancient brother."

BACCHUS. One of the appellations of the "many-named" god Dionysus. The son
of Jupiter and Semele was to the Greeks Dionysus, to the Romans Bacchus.

BARE FEET. A symbol of reverence when both feet are uncovered. Otherwise
the symbolism is modern; and from the ritualistic explanation which is
given in the first degree, it would seem to require that the single bare
foot should be interpreted as the symbol of a covenant.

BLACK. Pythagoras called this color the symbol of the evil principle in
nature. It was equivalent to darkness, which is the antagonist of light.
But in masonic symbolism the interpretation is different. There, black is
a symbol of grief, and always refers to the fate of the temple-builder.

BRAHMA. In the mythology of the Hindoos there is a trimurti, or trinity,
the Supreme Being exhibiting himself in three manifestations; as, Brahma
the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer,--the united
godhead being a symbol of the sun.

Brahma was a symbol of the rising sun, Siva of the sun at meridian, and
Vishnu of the setting sun.

BRUCE. The introduction of Freemasonry into Scotland has been attributed
by some writers to King Robert Bruce, who is said to have established in
1314 the Order of Herodom, for the reception of those Knights Templars who
had taken refuge in his dominions from the persecutions of the Pope and
the King of France. Lawrie, who is excellent authority for Scottish
Masonry, does not appear, however, to give any credit to the narrative.
Whatever Bruce may have done for the higher degrees, there is no doubt
that Ancient Craft Masonry was introduced into Scotland at an earlier
period. See _Kilwinning_. Yet the text is right in making Bruce one of the
patrons and encouragers of Scottish Freemasonry.

BRYANT. Jacob Bryant, frequently quoted in this work, was a distinguished
English antiquary, born in the year 1715, and deceased in 1804. His most
celebrated work is "A New System of Ancient Mythology," which appeared in
1773-76. Although objectionable on account of its too conjectural
character, it contains a fund of details on the subject of symbolism, and
may be consulted with advantage by the masonic student.

BUILDER. The chief architect of the temple of Solomon is often called "the
Builder." But the word is also applied generally to the craft; for every
Speculative Mason is as much a builder as was his operative predecessor.
An American writer (F.S. Wood, of Arkansas) thus alludes to this symbolic
idea. "Masons are called moral builders. In their rituals, they declare
that a more noble and glorious purpose than squaring stones and hewing
timbers is theirs, fitting immortal nature for that spiritual building not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And he adds, "The builder builds
for a century; masons for eternity." In this sense, "the builder" is the
noblest title that can be bestowed upon a mason.

BUNYAN, JOHN. Familiar to every one as the author of the "Pilgrim's
Progress." He lived in the seventeenth century, and was the most
celebrated allegorical writer of England. His work entitled "Solomon's
Temple Spiritualized" will supply the student of masonic symbolism with
many valuable suggestions.



C


CABALA. The mystical philosophy of the Jews. The word which is derived
from a Hebrew root, signifying _to receive_, has sometimes been used in an
enlarged sense, as comprehending all the explanations, maxims, and
ceremonies which have been traditionally handed down to the Jews; but in
that more limited acceptation, in which it is intimately connected with
the symbolic science of Freemasonry, the cabala may be defined to be a
system of philosophy which embraces certain mystical interpretations of
Scripture, and metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity, man, and
spiritual beings. In these interpretations and speculations, according to
the Jewish doctors, were enveloped the most profound truths of religion,
which, to be comprehended by finite beings, are obliged to be revealed
through the medium of symbols and allegories. Buxtorf (Lex. Talm.) defines
the Cabala to be a secret science, which treats in a mystical and
enigmatical manner of things divine, angelical, theological, celestial,
and metaphysical, the subjects being enveloped in striking symbols and
secret modes of teaching.

CABALIST. A Jewish philosopher. One who understands and teaches the
doctrines of the Cabala, or the Jewish philosophy.

CABIRI. Certain gods, whose worship was first established in the Island of
Samothrace, where the Cabiric Mysteries were practised until the beginning
of the Christian era. They were four in number, and by some are supposed
to have referred to Noah and his three sons. In the Mysteries there was a
legend of the death and restoration to life of Atys, the son of Cybele.
The candidate represented Cadmillus, the youngest of the Cabiri, who was
slain by his three brethren. The legend of the Cabiric Mysteries, as far
as it can be understood from the faint allusions of ancient authors, was
in spirit and design very analogous to that of the third degree of
Masonry.

CADMILLUS. One of the gods of the Cabiri, who was slain by his brothers,
on which circumstance the legend of the Cabiric or Samothracian Mysteries
is founded. He is the analogue of the Builder in the Hiramic legend of
Freemasonry. 256

CAIRNS. Heaps of stones of a conical form, erected by the Druids. Some
suppose them to have been sepulchral monuments, others altars. They were
undoubtedly of a religious character, since sacrificial fires were lighted
upon them, and processions were made around them. These processions were
analogous to the circumambulations in Masonry, and were conducted like
them with reference to the apparent course of the sun.

CASSIA. A gross corruption of _Acacia_. The cassia is an aromatic plant,
but it has no mystical or symbolic character.

CELTIC MYSTERIES. The religious rites of ancient Gaul and Britain, more
familiarly known as _Druidism_, which see.. 109

CEREMONIES. The outer garments which cover and adorn Freemasonry as
clothing does the human body.

Although ceremonies give neither life nor truth to doctrines or
principles, yet they have an admirable influence, since by their use
certain things are made to acquire a sacred character which they would not
otherwise have had; and hence Lord Coke has most wisely said that "prudent
antiquity did, for more solemnity and better memory and observation of
that which is to be done, express substances under ceremonies.".

CERES. Among the Romans the goddess of agriculture; but among the more
poetic Greeks she became, as Demeter, the symbol of the prolific earth.
See _Demeter_.

CHARTER OF COLOGNE. A masonic document of great celebrity, but not of
unquestioned authenticity. It is a declaration or affirmation of the
design and principles of Freemasonry, issued in the year 1535, by a
convention of masons who had assembled in the city of Cologne. The
original is in the Latin language. The assertors of the authenticity of
the document claim that it was found in the chest of a lodge at Amsterdam
in 1637, and afterwards regularly transmitted from hand to hand until the
year 1816, when it was presented to Prince Frederick of Nassau, through
whom it was at that time made known to the masonic world. Others assert
that it is a forgery, which was perpetrated about the year 1816. Like the
Leland manuscript, it is one of those vexed questions of masonic literary
history over which so much doubt has been thrown, that it will probably
never be satisfactorily solved. For a translation of the charter, and
copious explanatory notes, by the author of this work, the reader is
referred to the "American Quarterly Review of Freemasonry," vol. ii. p.
52.

CHRISTIANIZATION OF FREEMASONRY. The interpretation of its symbols from a
Christian point of view. This is an error into which Hutchinson and
Oliver in England, and Scott and one or two others of less celebrity in
this country, have fallen. It is impossible to derive Freemasonry from
Christianity, because the former, in point of time, preceded the latter.
In fact, the symbols of Freemasonry are Solomonic, and its religion was
derived from the ancient priesthood.

The infusion of the Christian element was, however, a natural result of
surrounding circumstances; yet to sustain it would be fatal to the
cosmopolitan character of the institution.

Such interpretation is therefore modern, and does not belong to the
ancient system.

CIRCULAR TEMPLES. These were used in the initiations of the religion of
Zoroaster. Like the square temples of Masonry, and the other Mysteries,
they were symbolic of the world, and the symbol was completed by making
the circumference of the circle a representation of the zodiac.

CIRCUMAMBULATION. The ceremony of perambulating the lodge, or going in
procession around the altar, which was universally practised in the
ancient initiations and other religious ceremonies, and was always
performed so that the persons moving should have the altar on their right
hand. The rite was symbolic of the apparent daily course of the sun from
the east to the west by the way of the south, and was undoubtedly derived
from the ancient sun-worship.

CIVILIZATION. Freemasonry is a result of civilization, for it exists in no
savage or barbarous state of society; and in return it has proved, by its
social and moral principles, a means of extending and elevating the
civilization which gave it birth.

Freemasonry is therefore a type of civilization, bearing the same relation
to the profane world that civilization does to the savage state.

COLLEGES OF ARTIFICERS. The _Collegia Fabrorum_, or Workmen's Colleges,
were established in Rome by Numa, who for this purpose distributed all the
artisans of the city into companies, or colleges, according to their arts
and trades. They resembled the modern corporations, or _guilds_, which
sprang up in the middle ages. The rule established by their founder, that
not less than three could constitute a college,--"_tres faciunt
collegium_,"--has been retained in the regulations of the third degree of
masonry, to a lodge of which these colleges bore other analogies.

COLOGNE, CHARTER OF. See _Charter of Cologne_.

COMMON GAVEL. See _Gavel_.

CONSECRATION. The appropriating or dedicating, with certain ceremonies,
anything to sacred purposes or offices, by separating it from common use.
Masonic lodges, like ancient temples and modern churches, have always been
consecrated. Hobbes, in his _Leviathan_ (p. iv. c. 44), gives the best
definition of this ceremony. "To consecrate is in Scripture to offer,
give, or dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man, or any
other thing, to God, by separating it from common use.".

CONSECRATION, ELEMENTS OF. Those things, the use of which in the ceremony
as constituent and elementary parts of it, are necessary to the perfecting
and legalizing of the act of consecration. In Freemasonry, these elements
of consecration are _corn_, _wine_, and _oil_,--which see.

CORN. One of the three elements of masonic consecration, and as a symbol
of plenty it is intended, under the name of the "corn of nourishment," to
remind us of those temporal blessings of life, support, and nourishment
which we receive from the Giver of all good.

CORNER STONE. The most important stone in the edifice, and in its
symbolism referring to an impressive ceremony in the first degree of
Masonry.

The ancients laid it with peculiar ceremonies, and among the Oriental
nations it was the symbol of a prince, or chief.

It is one of the most impressive symbols of Masonry.

It is a symbol of the candidate on his initiation.

As a symbol it is exclusively masonic, and confined to a temple origin.

COVERING OF THE LODGE. Under the technical name of the "clouded canopy or
starry-decked heavens," it is a symbol of the future world,--of the
celestial lodge above, where the G.A.O.T.U. forever presides, and which
constitutes the "foreign country" which every mason hopes to reach.

CREUZER. George Frederick Creuzer, who was born in Germany in 1771, and
was a professor at the University of Heidelberg, devoted himself to the
study of the ancient religions, and with profound learning, established a
peculiar system on the subject. Many of his views have been adopted in the
text of the present work. His theory was, that the religion and mythology
of the ancient Greeks were borrowed from a far more ancient people,--a
body of priests coming from the East,--who received them as a revelation.
The myths and traditions of this ancient people were adopted by Hesiod,
Homer, and the later poets, although not without some misunderstanding of
them, and they were finally preserved in the Mysteries, and became
subjects of investigation for the philosophers. This theory Creuzer has
developed in his most important work, entitled "Symbolik und Mythologie
der alten Völker, besonders der Greichen," which was published at Leipsic
in 1819. There is no translation of this work into English, but Guigniaut
published at Paris, in 1824, a paraphrastic translation of it, under the
title of "Religions de l'Antiquité considérées principalement dans leur
Formes Symboliques et Mythologiques." Creuzer's views throw much light on
the symbolic history of Freemasonry.

CROSS. No symbol was so universally diffused at an early period as the
cross. It was, says Faber (Cabir. ii. 390), a symbol throughout the pagan
world long previous to its becoming an object of veneration to Christians.
In ancient symbology it was a symbol of eternal life. M. de Mortillet, who
in 1866 published a work entitled "Le Signe de la Croix avant le
Christianisme," found in the very earliest epochs three principal symbols
of universal occurrences; viz., the _circle_, the _pyramid_, and the
_cross_. Leslie (Man's Origin and Destiny, p. 312), quoting from him in
reference to the ancient worship of the cross, says "It seems to have been
a worship of such a peculiar nature as to exclude the worship of idols."
This sacredness of the crucial symbol may be one reason why its form was
often adopted, especially by the Celts in the construction of their
temples, though I have admitted in the text the commonly received opinion
that in cross-shaped temples the four limbs of the cross referred to the
four elements. But in a very interesting work lately published--"The Myths
of the New World" (N.Y., 1863)--Mr. Brinton assigns another symbolism.
"The symbol," says this writer, "that beyond all others has fascinated the
human mind, THE CROSS, finds here its source and meaning. Scholars have
pointed out its sacredness in many natural religions, and have reverently
accepted it as a mystery, or offered scores of conflicting, and often
debasing, interpretations. _It is but another symbol of the four cardinal
points, the four winds of heaven._ This will luminously appear by a study
of its use and meaning in America." (p. 95.) And Mr. Brinton gives many
instances of the religious use of the cross by several of the aboriginal
tribes of this continent, where the allusion, it must be confessed, seems
evidently to be to the four cardinal points, or the four winds, or four
spirits, of the earth. If this be so, and if it is probable that a similar
reference was adopted by the Celtic and other ancient peoples, then we
would have in the cruciform temple as much a symbolism of the world, of
which the four cardinal points constitute the boundaries, as we have in
the square, the cubical, and the circular.

CTEIS. A representation of the female generative organ. It was, as a
symbol, always accompanied by the phallus, and, like that symbol, was
extensively venerated by the nations of antiquity. It was a symbol of the
prolific powers of nature. See _Phallus_.

CUBE. A geometrical figure, consisting of six equal sides and six equal
angles. It is the square solidified, and was among the ancients a symbol
of truth. The same symbolism is recognized in Freemasonry.




D


DARKNESS. It denotes falsehood and ignorance, and was a very universal
symbol among the nations of antiquity.

In all the ancient initiations, the aspirant was placed in darkness for a
period differing in each,--among the Druids for three days, among the
Greeks for twenty-seven, and in the Mysteries of Mithras for fifty.

In all of these, as well as in Freemasonry, darkness is the symbol of
initiation not complete.

DEATH. Because it was believed to be the entrance to a better and eternal
life, which was the dogma of the Mysteries, death became the symbol of
initiation; and hence among the Greeks the same word signified _to die_,
and _to be initiated_. In the British Mysteries, says Davies (Mythol. of
the British Druids), the novitiate passed the river of death in the boat
of Garanhir, the Charon of the Greeks; and before he could be admitted to
this privilege, it was requisite that he should have been mystically
buried, as well as mystically dead.

DEFINITION OF FREEMASONRY. The definition quoted in the text, that it is a
science of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, is the
one which is given in the English lectures.

But a more comprehensive and exact definition is, that it is a science
which is engaged in the search after divine truth.

DELTA. In the higher degrees of Masonry, the triangle is so called because
the Greek letter of that name is of a triangular form.

It is a symbol of Deity, because it is the first perfect figure in
geometry; it is the first figure in which space is enclosed by lines.

DEMETER. Worshipped by the Greeks as the symbol of the prolific earth. She
was the Ceres of the Romans. To her is attributed the institution of the
Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece, the most popular of all the ancient
initiations.

DESIGN OF FREEMASONRY. It is not charity or alms-giving.

Nor the cultivation of the social sentiment; for both of these are merely
incidental to its organization.

But it is the search after truth, and that truth is the unity of God, and
the immortality of the soul.

DIESEAL. A term used by the Druids to designate the circumambulation
around the sacred cairns, and is derived from two words signifying "on the
right of the sun," because the circumambulation was always in imitation of
the course of the sun, with the right hand next to the cairn or altar.

DIONYSIAC ARTIFICERS. An association of architects who possessed the
exclusive privilege of erecting temples and other public buildings in Asia
Minor. The members were distinguished from the uninitiated inhabitants by
the possession of peculiar marks of recognition, and by the secret
character of their association. They were intimately connected with the
Dionysiac Mysteries, and are supposed to have furnished the builders for
the construction of the temple of Solomon.

DIONYSIAC MYSTERIES. In addition to what is said in the text, I add the
following, slightly condensed, from the pen of that accomplished writer,
Albert Pike: "The initiates in these Mysteries had preserved the ritual
and ceremonies that accorded with the simplicity of the earliest ages, and
the manners of the first men. The rules of Pythagoras were followed there.
Like the Egyptians, who held wool unclean, they buried no initiate in
woollen garments. They abstained from bloody sacrifices, and lived on
fruits or vegetables. They imitated the life of the contemplative sects of
the Orient. One of the most precious advantages promised by their
initiation was to put man in communion with the gods by purifying his
soul of all the passions that interfere with that enjoyment, and dim the
rays of divine light that are communicated to every soul capable of
receiving them. The sacred gates of the temple, where the ceremonies of
initiation were performed, were opened but once in each year, and no
stranger was allowed to enter. Night threw her veil over these august
Mysteries. There the sufferings of Dionysus were represented, who, like
Osiris, died, descended to hell, and rose to life again; and raw flesh was
distributed to the initiates, which each ate in memory of the death of the
deity torn in pieces by the Titans."

DIONYSUS. Or Bacchus; mythologically said to be the son of Zeus and
Semele. In his Mysteries he was identified with Osiris, and regarded as
the sun. His Mysteries prevailed in Greece, Rome, and Asia, and were
celebrated by the Dionysiac artificers--those builders who united with the
Jews in the construction of King Solomon's temple. Hence, of all the
ancient Mysteries, they are the most interesting to the masonic student.

DISSEVERANCE. The disseverance of the operative from the speculative
element of Freemasonry occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth
century.

DISCALCEATION, RITE OF. The ceremony of uncovering the feet, or taking off
the shoes; from the Latin _discalceare_. It is a symbol of reverence. See
_Bare Feet_.

DRUIDICAL MYSTERIES. The Celtic Mysteries celebrated in Britain and Gaul.
They resembled, in all material points, the other mysteries of antiquity,
and had the same design. The aspirant was subjected to severe trials,
underwent a mystical death and burial in imitation of the death of the god
Hu, and was eventually enlightened by the communication to him of the
great truths of God and immortality, which it was the object of all the
Mysteries to teach.

DUALISM. A mythological and philosophical doctrine, which supposes the
world to have been always governed by two antagonistic principles,
distinguished as the good and the evil principle. This doctrine pervaded
all the Oriental religions, and its influences are to be seen in the
system of Speculative Masonry, where it is developed in the symbolism of
Light and Darkness.



E


EAST. That part of the heavens where the sun rises; and as the source of
material light to which we figuratively apply the idea of intellectual
light, it has been adopted as a symbol of the Order of Freemasonry. And
this symbolism is strengthened by the fact that the earliest learning and
the earliest religion came from the east, and have ever been travelling to
the west.

In Freemasonry, the east has always been considered the most sacred of the
cardinal points, because it is the place where light issues; and it was
originally referred to the primitive religion, or sun-worship. But in
Freemasonry it refers especially to that east whence an ancient priesthood
first disseminated truth to enlighten the world; wherefore the east is
masonically called "the place of light."

EGG. The mundane egg is a well-recognized symbol of the world. "The
ancient pagans," says Faber, "in almost every part of the globe, were wont
to symbolize the world by an egg. Hence this symbol is introduced into the
cosmogony of nearly all nations; and there are few persons, even among
those who have not made mythology their study, to whom the _Mundane Egg_
is not perfectly familiar. It was employed not only to represent the
earth, but also the universe in its largest extent." _Origin of Pag.
Idolatry_, i. 175.

EGG AND LUNETTE. The egg, being a symbol not only of the resurrection,
but also of the world rescued from destruction by the Noachic ark, and the
lunette, or horizontal crescent, being a symbol of the Great Father,
represented by Noah, the egg and lunette combined, which was the
hieroglyphic of the god Lunus, at Heliopolis, was a symbol of the world
proceeding from the Great Father.

EGYPT. Egypt has been considered as the cradle not only of the sciences,
but of the religions of the ancient world. Although a monarchy, with a
king nominally at the head of the state, the government really was in the
hands of the priests, who were the sole depositaries of learning, and were
alone acquainted with the religious formularies that in Egypt controlled
all the public and private actions of the life of every inhabitant.

ELEPHANTA. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for the stupendous
caverns artificially excavated out of the solid rock, which were
appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Indian Mysteries.

ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES. Of all the Mysteries of the ancients these were the
most popular. They were celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near Athens,
and were dedicated to Demeter. In them the loss and the restoration of
Persephone were scenically represented, and the doctrines of the unity of
God and the immortality of the soul were taught. See _Demeter_.

ENTERED APPRENTICE. The first degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous
to the aspirant in the Lesser Mysteries.

It is viewed as a symbol of childhood, and is considered as a preparation
and purification for something higher.

EPOPT. (From the Greek ἐπόπτης, _an eye witness_.) One who, having been
initiated in the Greater Mysteries of paganism, has seen the aporrheta.

ERA OF MASONRY. The legendary statement that the origin of Masonry is
coeval with the beginning of the world, is only a philosophical myth to
indicate the eternal nature of its principles.

ERICA. The tree heath; a sacred plant among the Egyptians, and used in the
Osirian Mysteries as the symbol of immortality, and the analogue of the
masonic acacia.

ESSENES. A society or sect of the Jews, who combined labor with religious
exercises, whose organization partook of a secret character, and who have
been claimed to be the descendants of the builders of the temple of
Solomon.

EUCLID. The masonic legend which refers to Euclid is altogether
historically untrue. It is really a philosophical myth intended to convey
a masonic truth.

EURESIS. (From the Greek εὔρεσις, _a discovery_.) That part of the
initiation in the ancient Mysteries which represented the finding of the
body of the god or hero whose death was the subject of the initiation.

The euresis has been adopted in Freemasonry, and forms an essential part
of the ritual of the third degree.

EVERGREEN. A symbol of the immortality of the soul.

Planted by the Hebrews and other ancient peoples at the heads of graves.

For this purpose the Hebrews preferred the acacia, because its wood was
incorruptible, and because, as the material of the ark, it was already
considered as a sacred plant.

EYE, ALL-SEEING. A symbol of the omniscient and watchful providence of
God. It is a very ancient symbol, and is supposed by some to be a relic of
the primitive sun-worship. Volney says (_Les Ruines_, p. 186) that in most
of the ancient languages of Asia, the _eye_ and the _sun_ are expressed by
the same word. Among the Egyptians the eye was the symbol of their supreme
god, Osiris, or the sun.



F


FABER. The works of the Rev. G.S. Faber, on the Origin of Pagan Idolatry,
and on the Cabiri, are valuable contributions to the science of mythology.
They abound in matters of interest to the investigator of masonic
symbolism and philosophy, but should be read with a careful view of the
preconceived theory of the learned author, who refers everything in the
ancient religions to the influences of the Noachic cataclysm, and the
arkite worship which he supposes to have resulted from it.

FELLOW CRAFT. The second degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the
mystes in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbol of a youth setting forth on the journey of life.

FETICHISM. The worship of uncouth and misshapen idols, practised only by
the most ignorant and debased peoples, and to be found at this day among
some of the least civilized of the negro tribes of Africa. "Their
fetiches," says Du Chaillu, speaking of some of the African races,
"consisted of fingers and tails of monkeys; of human hair, skin, teeth,
bones; of clay, old nails, copper chains; shells, feathers, claws, and
skulls of birds; pieces of iron, copper, or wood; seeds of plants, ashes
of various substances, and I cannot tell what more." _Equatorial Africa_,
p. 93.

FIFTEEN. A sacred number, symbolic of the name of God, because the letters
of the holy name הי, JAH, are equal, in the Hebrew mode of
numeration by the letters of the alphabet, to fifteen; for י is
equal to ten, and ה is equal to five. Hence, from veneration for
this sacred name, the Hebrews do not, in ordinary computations, when they
wish to express the number 15, make use of these two letters, but of two
others, which are equivalent to 9 and 6.

FORTY-SEVENTH PROBLEM. The forty-seventh problem of the first book of
Euclid is, that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described
upon the side subtending the right angle is equal to the squares described
upon the sides which contain the right angle. It is said to have been
discovered by Pythagoras while in Egypt, but was most probably taught to
him by the priests of that country, in whose rites he had been initiated;
it is a symbol of the production of the world by the generative and
prolific powers of the Creator; hence the Egyptians made the perpendicular
and base the representatives of Osiris and Isis, while the hypothenuse
represented their child Horus. Dr. Lardner says (_Com. on Euclid_, p. 60)
of this problem, "Whether we consider the forty-seventh proposition with
reference to the peculiar and beautiful relation established by it, or to
its innumerable uses in every department of mathematical science, or to
its fertility in the consequences derivable from it, it must certainly be
esteemed the most celebrated and important in the whole of the elements,
if not in the whole range of mathematical science."

FOURTEEN. Some symbologists have referred the fourteen pieces into which
the mutilated body of Osiris was divided, and the fourteen days during
which the body of the builder was buried, to the fourteen days of the
disappearance of the moon. The Sabian worshippers of "the hosts of heaven"
were impressed with the alternate appearance and disappearance of the
moon, which at length became a symbol of death and resurrection. Hence
fourteen was a sacred number. As such it was viewed in the Osirian
Mysteries, and may have been introduced into Freemasonry with other relics
of the old worship of the sun and planets.

FREEMASONRY, DEFINITION OF. See _Definition_.

FREEMASONS, TRAVELLING. The travelling Freemasons were a society existing
in the middle ages, and consisting of learned men and prelates, under whom
were operative masons. The operative masons performed the labors of the
craft, and travelling from country to country, were engaged in the
construction of cathedrals, monasteries, and castles. "There are few
points in the history of the middle ages," says Godwin, "more pleasing to
look back upon than the existence of the associated masons; they are the
bright spot in the general darkness of that period; the patch of verdure
when all around is barren." _The Builder_, ix. 463



G


G. The use of the letter G in the Fellow Craft's degree is an anachronism.
It is really a corruption of, or perhaps rather a substitution for, the
Hebrew letter י (yod), which is the initial of the ineffable
name. As such, it is a symbol of the life-giving and life-sustaining power
of God.

G.A.O.T.U. A masonic abbreviation used as a symbol of the name of God, and
signifying the _Grand Architect of the Universe_. It was adopted by the
Freemasons in accordance with a similar practice among all the nations of
antiquity of noting the Divine Name by a symbol.

GAVEL. What is called in Masonry a common gavel is a stone-cutter's
hammer; it is one of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice, and is a
symbol of the purification of the heart.

GLOVES. On the continent of Europe they are given to candidates at the
same time that they are invested with the apron; the same custom formerly
prevailed in England; but although the investiture of the gloves is
abandoned as a ceremony both there and in America, they are worn as a part
of masonic clothing.

They are a symbol of purification of life.

In the middle ages gloves were worn by operative masons.

GOD, UNITY OF. See _Unity of God_.

GOD, NAME OF. See _Name_.

GOLGOTHA. In Hebrew and Syriac it means _a skull_; a name of Mount
Calvary, and so called, probably, because it was the place of public
execution. The Latin _Calvaria_, whence Mount Calvary, means also a skull.

GRAVE. In the Master's degree, a symbol which is the analogue of the
pastos, or couch, in the ancient Mysteries.

The symbolism has been Christianized by some masonic writers, and the
grave has thus been referred to the sepulchre of Christ.

GRIPS AND SIGNS. They are valuable only for social purposes as modes of
recognition.



H


HAND. The hand is a symbol of human actions; pure hands symbolize pure
actions, and impure or unclean hands symbolize impure actions.

HARE. Among the Egyptians the hare was a hieroglyphic of _eyes that are
open_, and was the symbol of initiation into the Mysteries of Osiris. The
Hebrew word for _hare_ is _arnabet_, and this is compounded of two words
that signify _to behold the light_. The connection of ideas is apparent.

HELLENISM. The religion of the Helles, or ancient Greeks who immediately
succeeded the Pelasgians in the settlement of that country. It was, in
consequence of the introduction of the poetic element, more refined than
the old Pelasgic worship for which it was substituted. Its myths were more
philosophical and less gross than those of the religion to which it
succeeded.

HERMAE. Stones of a cubical form, which were originally unhewn, by which
the Greeks at first represented all their deities. They came in the
progress of time to be especially dedicated by the Greeks to the god
Hermes, whence the name, and by the Romans to the god Terminus, who
presided over landmarks.

HERO WORSHIP. The worship of men deified after death. It is a theory of
some, both ancient and modern writers, that all the pagan gods were once
human beings, and that the legends and traditions of mythology are mere
embellishments of the acts of these personages when alive. It was the
doctrine taught by Euhemerus among the ancients, and has been maintained
among the moderns by such distinguished authorities as Bochart, Bryant,
Voss, and Banier.

HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY. The system of the Alchemists, the Adepts, or seekers
of the philosopher's stone. No system has been more misunderstood than
this. It was secret, esoteric, and highly symbolical. No one has so well
revealed its true design as E.A. Hitchcock, who, in his delightful work
entitled "Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists," says, "The genuine
Alchemists were religious men, who passed their time in legitimate
pursuits, earning an honest subsistence, and in religious contemplation,
studying how to realize in themselves the union of the divine and human
nature, expressed in man by an enlightened submission to God's will; and
they thought out and published, after a manner of their own, a method of
attaining or entering upon this state, as the only rest of the soul."
There is a very great similarity between their doctrines and those of the
Freemasons; so much so that the two associations have sometimes been
confounded.

HIEROPHANT. (From the Greek ἱερὸς, _holy, sacred_, and φαίνω _to show_.)
One who instructs in sacred things; the explainer of the aporrheta, or
secret doctrines, to the initiates in the ancient Mysteries. He was the
presiding officer, and his rank and duties were analogous to those of the
master of a masonic lodge.

HIRAM ABIF. The architect of Solomon's temple. The word "Abif" signifies
in Hebrew "his father," and is used by the writer of Second Chronicles
(iv. 16) when he says, "These things did _Hiram his father_ [in the
original _Hiram Abif _] do for King Solomon.".

The legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of vast
importance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great
philosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality of
the soul.

Hence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human
nature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.

HIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon, whom
he supplied with men and materials for building the temple. In the recent,
or what I am inclined to call the grand lecturer's symbolism of Masonry (a
sort of symbolism for which I have very little veneration), Hiram of Tyre
is styled the symbol of strength, as Hiram Abif is of beauty. But I doubt
the antiquity or authenticity of any such symbolism. Hiram of Tyre can
only be considered, historically, as being necessary to complete the myth
and symbolism of Hiram Abif. The king of Tyre is an historical personage,
and there is no necessity for transforming him into a symbol, while his
historical character lends credit and validity to the philosophical myth
of the third degree of Masonry.

HIRAM THE BUILDER. An epithet of Hiram Abif. For the full significance of
the term, see the word _Builder_.

HO-HI. A cabalistic pronunciation of the tetragrammaton, or ineffable name
of God; it is most probably the true one; and as it literally means
HE-SHE, it is supposed to denote the hermaphroditic essence of Jehovah, as
containing within himself the male and the female principle,--the
generative and the prolific energy of creation.

HO The sacred name of God among the Druids. Bryant supposes that by it
they intended the Great Father Noah; but it is very possible that it was a
modification of the Hebrew tetragrammaton, being the last syllable read
cabalistically (see _ho-hi_); if so, it signified the great male principle
of nature. But HU, in Hebrew אוה, is claimed by Talmudic writers
to be one of the names of God; and the passage in Isaiah xlii. 8, in the
original _ani Jehovah, Hu shemi_, which is in the common version "I am the
LORD; that is my name," they interpret, "I am Jehovah; my name is Hu."

HUTCHINSON, WILLIAM. A distinguished masonic writer of England, who lived
in the eighteenth century. He is the author of "The Spirit of Masonry,"
published in 1775. This was the first English work of any importance that
sought to give a scientific interpretation of the symbols of Freemasonry;
it is, in fact, the earliest attempt of any kind to treat Freemasonry as a
science of symbolism. Hutchinson, however, has to some extent impaired the
value of his labors by contending that the institution is exclusively
Christian in its character and design.



I


IH-HO. See _Ho-hi_.

IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. This is one of the two religious dogmas which
have always been taught in Speculative Masonry.

It was also taught in all the Rites and Mysteries of antiquity.

The doctrine was taught as an abstract proposition by the ancient
priesthood of the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity, but was
conveyed to the mind of the initiate, and impressed upon him by a scenic
representation in the ancient Mysteries, or the Spurious Freemasonry of
the ancients.

INCOMMUNICABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton, so called because it was not
common to, and could not be bestowed upon, nor shared by, any other being.
It was proper to the true God alone. Thus Drusius (Tetragrammaton, sive de
Nomine Dei proprio, p. 108) says, "Nomen quatuor literarum proprie et
absolute non tribui nisi Deo vero. Unde doctores catholici dicunt
_incommunicabile_ [not common] esse creaturae."

INEFFABLE NAME. The tetragrammaton. So called because it is _ineffabile_,
or unpronounceable. See _Tetragrammaton_.

INTRUSTING, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which
consists in communicating to the aspirant or candidate the aporrheta, or
secrets of the mystery.

INUNCTION. The act of anointing. This was a religious ceremony practised
from the earliest times. By the pouring on of oil, persons and things were
consecrated to sacred purposes.

INVESTITURE, RITE OF. That part of the ceremony of initiation which
consists of clothing the candidate masonically. It is a symbol of purity.

ISH CHOTZEB. Hebrew בצה שיא, _hewers of stones_. The Fellow
Crafts at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).

ISH SABAL. Hebrew לבס שיא, _bearers of burdens_. The Apprentices
at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.).



J


JAH. It is in Hebrew הי whence Maimonides calls it "the two-lettered
name," and derives it from the tetragrammaton, of which it is an
abbreviation. Others have denied this, and assert that _Jah_ is a name
independent of Jehovah, but expressing the same idea of the divine
essenee. See Gataker, _De Nom. Tetrag._.

JEHOVAH. The incommunicable, ineffable name of God, in Hebrew הוהי, and
called, from the four letters of which it consists, the tetragrammaton, or
four-lettered name.



L


LABOR. Since the article on the Symbolism of Labor was written, I have met
with an address delivered in 1868 by brother Troué, before St. Peter's
Lodge in Martinico, which contains sentiments on the relation of Masonry
to labor which are well worth a translation from the original French. See
_Bulletin du Grand Orient de France_, December, 1868.

"Our name of Mason, and our emblems, distinctly announce that our object
is the elevation of labor.

"We do not, as masons, consider labor as a punishment inflicted on man;
but on the contrary, we elevate it in our thought to the height of a
religious act, which is the most acceptable to God because it is the most
useful to man and to society.

"We decorate ourselves with the emblems of labor to affirm that our
doctrine is an incessant protest against the stigma branded on the law of
labor, and which an error of apprehension, proceeding from the ignorance
of men in primitive times has erected into a dogma; an error that has
resulted in the production of this anti-social phenomenon which we meet
with every day; namely, that the degradation of the workman is the greater
as his labor is more severe, and the elevation of the idler is higher as
his idleness is more complete. But the study of the laws which maintain
order in nature, released from the fetters of preconceived ideas, has led
the Freemasons to that doctrine, far more moral than the contrary belief,
that labor is not an expiation, but a law of harmony, from the subjection
to which man cannot be released without impairing his own happiness, and
deranging the order of creation. The design of Freemasons is, then, the
rehabilitation of labor, which is indicated by the apron which we wear,
and the gavel, the trowel, and the level, which are found among our
symbols."

Hence the doctrine of this work is, that Freemasonry teaches not only the
necessity, but the nobility, of labor.

And that labor is the proper worship due by man to God.

LADDER. A symbol of progressive advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere, which is common to Masonry, and to many, if not all, of the
ancient Mysteries.

LADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma.
It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe.

LADDER, MITHRAITIC. The symbolic ladder used in the Persian Mysteries of
Mithras. It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven planets and the seven
metals.

LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.
Dr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the
symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.

LADDER, THEOLOGICAL. The symbolic ladder of the masonic Mysteries. It
refers to the ladder seen by Jacob in his vision, and consists, like all
symbolical ladders, of seven rounds, alluding to the four cardinal and the
three theological virtues.

LAMB. A symbol of innocence. A very ancient symbol.

LAMB, PASCHAL. See _Paschal Lamb_.

LAMBSKIN APRON. See _Apron_.

LAW, ORAL. See _Oral Law_.

LEGEND. A narrative, whether true or false, that has been traditionally
preserved from the time of its first oral communication. Such is the
definition of a masonic legend. The authors of the Conversations-Lexicon,
referring to the monkish Lives of the Saints which originated in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, say that the title _legend_ was given to
all fictions which make pretensions to truth. Such a remark, however
correct it may be in reference to these monkish narratives, which were
often invented as ecclesiastical exercises, is by no means applicable to
the legends of Freemasonry. These are not necessarily fictitious, but are
either based on actual and historical facts which have been but slightly
modificd, or they are the offspring and expansion of some symbolic idea in
which latter respect they differ entirely from the monastic legends, which
often have only the fertile imagination of some studious monk for the
basis of their construction.

LEGEND OF THE ROYAL ARCH DEGREE. Much of this legend is a mythical
history; but some portion of it is undoubtedly a philosophical myth. The
destruction and the reëdification of the temple, the captivity and the
return of the captives, are matters of history; but many of the details
have been invented and introduced for the purpose of giving form to a
symbolic idea.

LEGEND OF THE THIRD DEGREE. In all probability this legend is a mythical
history, in which truth is very largely and preponderatingly mixed with
fiction.

It is the most important and significant of the legendary symbols of
Freemasonry.

Has descended from age to age by oral tradition, and has been preserved in
every masonic rite.

No essential alteration of it has ever been made in any masonic system,
but the interpretations of it have been various; the most general one is,
that it is a symbol of the resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

Some continental writers have supposed that it was a symbol of the
downfall of the Order of Templars, and its hoped-for restoration. In some
of the high philosophical degrees it is supposed to be a symbol of the
sufferings, death, and resurrection Christ. Hutchinson thought it a symbol
of the decadence of the Jewish religion, and the rise of the Christian on
its ruins. Oliver says that it symbolically refers to the murder of Abel,
the death of our race through Adam, and its restoration through Christ.

Ragon thinks that it is a symbol of the sun shorn of its vigor by the
three winter months, and restored to generative power by the spring. And
lastly, Des Etangs says that it is a symbol of eternal reason, whose
enemies are the vices that deprave and finally destroy humanity.

But none of these interpretations, except the first, can be sustained.

LETTUCE. The sacred plant of the Mysteries of Adonis; a symbol of
immortality, and the analogue of the acacia.

LEVEL. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft. It is a symbol of the
equality of station of all men before God.

LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES. In the seventh century, all learning was
limited to the seven liberal arts and sciences; their introduction into
Freemasonry, referring to this theory, is a symbol of the completion of
human learning.

LIGHT. It denotes truth and knowledge, and is so explained in all the
ancient systems; in initiation, it is not material but intellectual light
that is sought.

It is predominant as a symbol in all the ancient initiations.

There it was revered because it was an emanation trom the sun, the common
object of worship; but the theory advanced by some writers, that the
veneration of light originally proceeded from its physical qualities, is
not correct.

Pythagoras called it the good principle in nature; and the Cabalists
taught that eternal light filled all space before the creation, and that
after creation it retired to a central spot, and became the instrument of
the Divine Mind in creating matter.

It is the symbol of the autopsy, or the full perfection and fruition of
initiation.

It is therefore a fundamental symbol in Freemasonry, and contains within
itself the very essence of the speculative science.

LINGAM. The phallus was so called by the Indian nations of the East. See
_Phallus_.

LODGE. The place where Freemasons meet, and also the congregation of
masons so met. The word is derived from the _lodges_ occupied by the
travelling Freemasons of the middle ages.

It is a symbol of the world, or universe.

Its form, an oblong square, is symbolic of the supposed oblong form of the
world as known to the ancients.

LOST WORD. There is a masonic myth that there was a certain word which was
lost and afterwards recovered.

It is not material what the word was, nor how lost, nor when recovered:
the symbolism refers only to the abstract idea of a loss and a recovery.

It is a symbol of divine truth.

The search for it was also made by the philosophers and priests in the
Mysteries of the Spurious Freemasonry.

LOTUS. The sacred plant of the Brahminical Mysteries, and the analogue of
the acacia.

It was also a sacred plant among the Egyptians.

LUSTRATION. A purification by washing the hands or body in consecrated
water, practised in the ancient Mysteries. See _Purification_.

LUX (_light_). One of the appellations bestowed upon Freemasonry, to
indicate that it is that sublime doctrine of truth by which the pathway of
him who has attained it is to be illumined in the pilgrimage of life.
Among the Rosicrucians, light was the knowledge of the philosopher's
stone; and Mosheim says that in chemical language the cross was an emblem
of light, because it contains within its figure the forms of the three
figures of which LVX, or light, is composed.

LUX E TENEBRIS (_light out of darkness_). A motto of the Masonic Order,
which is equivalent to "truth out of initiation;" light being the symbol
of truth, and darkness the symbol of initiation commenced.



M


MAN. Repeatedly referred to by Christ and the apostles as the symbol of a
temple.

MASTER MASON. The third degree of Ancient Craft Masonry, analogous to the
epopt of the ancient Mysteries.

MENATZCHIM. Hebrew םיהצנמ _superintendents_, or _overseers_. The
Master Masons at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.)

MENU. In the Indian mythology, Menu is the son of Brahma, and the founder
of the Hindoo religion. Thirteen other Menus are said to exist, seven of
whom have already reigned on earth. But it is the first one whose
instructions constitute the whole civil and religious polity of the
Hindoos. The code attributed to him by the Brahmins has been translated by
Sir William Jones, with the title of "The Institutes of Menu."

MIDDLE CHAMBER. A part of the Solomonic temple, which was approached by
winding stairs, but which was certainly not appropriated to the purpose
indicated in the Fellow Craft's degree.

The legend of the Winding Stairs is therefore only a philosophical myth.

It is a symbol of this life and its labors.

MISTLETOE. The sacred plant of Druidism; commemorated also in the
Scandinavian rites. It is the analogue of the acacia, and like all the
other sacred plants of antiquity, is a symbol of the immortality of the
soul. Lest the language of the text should be misunderstood, it may be
remarked here that the Druidical and the Scandinavian rites are not
identical. The former are Celtic, the latter Gothic. But the fact that in
both the mistletoe was a sacred plant affords a violent presumption that
there must have been a common point from which both religions started.
There was, as I have said, an identity of origin for the same ancient and
general symbolic idea.

MITHRAS. He was the god worshipped by the ancient Persians, and celebrated
in their Mysteries as the symbol of the sun. In the initiation in these
Mysteries, the candidate passed through many terrible trials, and his
courage and fortitude were exposed to the most rigorous tests. Among
others, after ascending the mystical ladder of seven steps, he passed
through a scenic representation of Hades, or the infernal regions; out of
this and the surrounding darkness he was admitted into the full light of
Elysium, where he was obligated by an oath of secrecy, and invested by the
Archimagus, or High Priest, with the secret instructions of the rite,
among which was a knowledge of the Ineffable Name.

MOUNT CALVARY. A small hill of Jerusalem, in a westerly direction, and not
far from Mount Moriah. In the legends of Freemasonry it is known as "a
small hill near Mount Moriah," and is referred to in the third degree.
This "small hill" having been determined as the burial-place of Jesus, the
symbol has been Christianized by many modern masons.

There are many masonic traditions, principally borrowed from the Talmud,
connected with Mount Calvary; such as, that it was the place where Adam
was buried, &c.

MOUNT MORIAH. The hill in Jerusalem on which the temple of Solomon was
built.

MYRTLE. The sacred plant in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and, as symbolic of
a resurrection and immortality, the analogue of the acacia.

MYSTERIES. A secret worship paid by the ancients to several of the pagan
gods, to which none were admitted but those who had been solemnly
initiated. The object of instruction in these Mysteries was, to teach the
unity of God and the immortality of the soul. They were divided into
Lesser and Greater Mysteries. The former were merely preparatory. In the
latter the whole knowledge was communicated. Speaking of the doctrine that
was communicated to the initiates, Philo Judaeus says that "it is an
incorruptible treasure, not like gold or silver, but more precious than
everything beside; for it is the knowledge of the Great Cause, and of
nature, and of that which is born of both." And his subsequent language
shows that there was a confraternity existing among the initiates like
that of the masonic institution; for he says, with his peculiar mysticism,
"If you meet an initiate, besiege him with your prayers that he conceal
from you no new mysteries that he may know; and rest not until you have
obtained them. For me, although I was initiated into the Great Mysteries
by Moses, the friend of God, yet, having seen Jeremiah, I recognized him
not only as an Initiate, but as a Hierophant; and I followed his school."
So, too, the mason acknowledges every initiate as his brother, and is ever
ready and anxious to receive all the light that can be bestowed on the
Mysteries in which he has been indoctrinated.

MYSTES. (From the Greek μύω, _to shut the eyes_.) One who had been
initiated into the Lesser Mysteries of paganism. He was now blind, but
when he was initiated into the Greater Mysteries he was called an Epopt,
or one who saw.

MYTH. Grote's definition of the myth, which is cited in the text, may be
applied without modification to the myths of Freemasonry, although
intended by the author only for the myths of the ancient Greek religion.

The myth, then, is a narrative of remote date, not necessarily true or
false, but whose truth can only be certified by internal evidence. The
word was first applied to those fables of the pagan gods which have
descended from the remotest antiquity, and in all of which there prevails
a symbolic idea, not always, however, capable of a positive
interpretation. As applied to Freemasonry, the words _myth_ and _legend_
are synonymous.

From this definition it will appear that the myth is really only the
interpretation of an idea. But how we are to read these myths will best
appear from these noble words of Max Müller: "Everything is true, natural,
significant, if we enter with a reverent spirit into the meaning of
ancient art and ancient language. Everything becomes false, miraculous,
and unmeaning, if we interpret the deep and mighty words of the seers of
old in the shallow and feeble sense of modern chroniclers." (Science of
Language, 2d Ser. p. 578.).

MYTH, HISTORICAL. An historical myth is a myth that has a known and
recognized foundation in historical truth, but with the admixture of a
preponderating amount of fiction in the introduction of personages and
circumstances. Between the historical myth and the mythical history, the
distinction as laid down in the text cannot always be preserved, because
we are not always able to determine whether there is a preponderance of
truth or of fiction in the legend or narrative under examination.

MYTHICAL HISTORY. A myth or legend in which the historical and truthful
greatly preponderate over the inventions of fiction.

MYTHOLOGY. Literally, the science of myths; and this is a very appropriate
definition, for mythology is the science which treats of the religion of
the ancient pagans, which was almost altogether founded on myths, or
popular traditions and legendary tales; and hence Keightly (Mythol. of
Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 2) says that "mythology may be regarded as
the repository of the early religion of the people." Its interest to a
masonic student arises from the constant antagonism that existed between
its doctrines and those of the Primitive Freemasonry of antiquity and the
light that the mythological Mysteries throw upon the ancient organization
of Speculative Masonry.

MYTH, PHILOSOPHICAL. This is a myth or legend that is almost wholly
unhistorical, and which has been invented only for the purpose of
enunciating and illustrating a particular thought or dogma.



N


NAME. All Hebrew names are significant, and were originally imposed with
reference to some fact or feature in the history or character of the
persons receiving them. Camden says that the same custom prevailed among
all the nations of antiquity. So important has this subject been
considered, that "Onomastica," or treatises on the signification of names
have been written by Eusebius and St. Jerome, by Simonis and Hillerus, and
by several other scholars, of whom Eusebe Salverte is the most recent and
the most satisfactory. Shuckford (Connect. ii. 377) says that the Jewish
Rabbins thought that the true knowledge of names was a science preferable
to the study of the written law.

NAME OF GOD. The true pronunciation, and consequently the signification,
of the name of God can only be obtained through a cabalistical
interpretation.

It is a symbol of divine truth. None but those who are familiar with the
subject can have any notion of the importance bestowed on this symbol by
the Orientalists. The Arabians have a science called _Ism Allah_, or the
_science of the name of God_; and the Talmudists and Rabbins have written
copiously on the same subject. The Mussulmans, says Salverte (Essai sur
les Noms, ii. 7), have one hundred names of God, which they repeat while
counting the beads of a rosary.

NEOPHYTE. (From the Greek νέον and φυιὸν, _a new plant_.) One who has been
recently initiated in the Mysteries. St. Paul uses the same word (I Tim.
iii. 6) to denote one who had been recently converted to the Christian
faith.

NOACHIDAE. The descendants of Noah, and the transmitters of his religious
dogmas, which were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul. The
name has from the earliest times been bestowed upon the Freemasons, who
teach the same doctrines. Thus in the "old charges," as quoted by Anderson
(Const. edit. 1738, p. 143), it is said, "A mason is obliged by his tenure
to observe the moral law as a true Noachidae."

NOACHITES. The same as _Noachidae_, which see.

NORTH. That part of the earth which, being most removed from the influence
of the sun at his meridian height, is in Freemasonry called "a place of
darkness." Hence it is a symbol of the profane world.

NORTH-EAST CORNER. An important ceremony of the first degree, which refers
to the north-east corner of the lodge, is explained by the symbolism of
the corner-stone.

The corner-stone of a building is always laid in the north-east corner,
for symbolic reasons.

The north-east point of the heavens was especially sacred among the
Hindoos.

In the symbolism of Freemasonry, the north refers to the outer or profane
world, and the east to the inner world of Masonry; and hence the
north-east is symbolic of the double position of the neophyte, partly in
the darkness of the former, partly in the light of the latter.

NUMBERS. The symbolism of sacred numbers, which prevails very extensively
in Freemasonry, was undoubtedly borrowed from the school of Pythagoras;
but it is just as likely that he got it from Egypt or Babylon, or from
both. The Pythagorean doctrine was, according to Aristotle (Met. xii. 8),
that all things proceed from numbers. M. Dacier, however, in his life of
the philosopher, denies that the doctrine of numbers was taught by
Pythagoras himself, but attributes it to his later disciples. But his
arguments are not conclusive or satisfactory.



O


OATH OF SECRECY. It was always administered to the candidate in the
ancient Mysteries.

ODD NUMBERS. In the system of Pythagoras, odd numbers were symbols of
perfection. Hence the sacred numbers of Freemasonry are all odd. They are
3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 33, and 81.

OIL. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of prosperity
and happiness, is intended, under the name of the "oil of joy," to
indicate the expected propitious results of the consecration of any thing
or person to a sacred purpose.

OLIVE. In a secondary sense, the symbol of peace and of victory; but in
its primary meaning, like all the other Sacred plants of antiquity, a
symbol of immortality; and thus in the Mysteries it was the analogue of
the acacia of the Freemasons.

OLIVER. The Rev. George Oliver, D.D., of Lincolnshire, England, who died
in 1868, is by far the most distinguished and the most voluminous of the
English writers on Freemasonry. Looking to his vast labors and researches
in the arcana of the science, no student of masonry can speak of his name
or his memory without profound reverence for his learning, and deep
gratitude for the services that he has accomplished. To the author of this
work the recollection will ever be most grateful that he enjoyed the
friendship of so good and so great a man; one of whom we may testify, as
Johnson said of Goldsmith, that "nihil quod tetigit non ornavit." In his
writings he has traversed the whole field of masonic literature and
science, and has treated, always with great ability and wonderful
research, of its history, its antiquities, its rites and ceremonies, its
ethics, and its symbols. Of all his works, his "Historical Landmarks," in
two volumes, is the most important, the most useful, and the one which
will perhaps the longest perpetuate his memory. In the study of his works,
the student must be careful not to follow too implicitly all his
conclusions. These were in his own mind controlled by the theory which he
had adopted, and which he continuously maintained, that Freemasonry was a
Christian institution, and that the connection between it and the
Christian religion was absolute and incontrovertible. He followed in the
footsteps of Hutchinson, but with a far more expanded view of the masonic
system.

OPERATIVE MASONRY. Masonry considered merely as a useful art, intended for
the protection and the convenience of man by the erection of edifices
which may supply his intellectual, religious, and physical wants.

In contradistinction to Speculative Masonry, therefore, it is said to be
engaged in the construction of a material temple.

ORAL LAW. The oral law among the Jews was the commentary on and the
interpretation of the written contained in the Pentateuch; and the
tradition is, that it was delivered to Moses at the same time, accompanied
by the divine command, "Thou shalt not divulge the words which I have said
to thee out of my mouth." The oral law was, therefore, never intrusted to
books; but being preserved in the memories of the judges, prophets,
priests, and wise men, was handed down from one to the other through a
long succession of ages. But after the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans under Adrian, A.D. 135, and the final dispersion of the Jews, fears
being entertained that the oral law would be lost, it was then committed
to writing, and now constitutes the text of the Talmud.

ORMUZD. Worshipped by the disciples of Zoroaster as the principle of good,
and symbolized by light. See _Ahriman_.

OSIRIS. The chief god of the ancient Egyptians, and worshipped as a symbol
of the sun, and more philosophically as the male or generative principle.
Isis, his wife, was the female or prolific principle; and Horus, their
child, was matter, or the world--the product of the two principles.

OSIRIS, MYSTERIES OF. The Osirian Mysteries consisted in a scenic
representation of the murder of Osiris by Typhon, the subsequent recovery
of his mutilated body by Isis, and his deification, or restoration to
immortal life.

OVAL TEMPLES. Temples of an oval form were representations of the mundane
egg, a symbol of the world.



P


PALM TREE. In its secondary sense the palm tree is a symbol of victory;
but in its primary signification it is a symbol of the victory over death,
that is, immortality.

PARABLE. A narrative in which one thing is compared with another. It is in
principle the same as a symbol or an allegory.

PARALLEL LINES. The lines touching the circle in the symbol of the point
within a circle. They are said to represent St. John the Baptist and St.
John the Evangelist; but they really refer to the solstitial points Cancer
and Capricorn, in the zodiac.

PASTOS. (From the Greek παστὸς, _a nuptial couch_.) The coffin or grave
which contained the body of the god or hero whose death was scenically
represented in the ancient Mysteries.

It is the analogue of the grave in the third degree of Masonry.

PELASGIAN RELIGION. The Pelasgians were the oldest if not the aboriginal
inhabitants of Greece. Their religion differed from that of the Hellenes
who succeeded them in being less poetical, less mythical, and more
abstract. We know little of their religious worship, except by conjecture;
but we may suppose it resembled in some respects the doctrines of the
Primitive Freemasonry. Creuzer thinks that the Pelasgians were either a
nation of priests or a nation ruled by priests.

PHALLUS. A representation of the virile member, which was venerated as a
religious symbol very universally, and without the slightest
lasciviousness, by the ancients. It was one of the modifications of sun
worship, and was a symbol of the fecundating power of that luminary. The
masonic point within a circle is undoubtedly of phallic origin.

PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY. The dogmas taught in the masonic system
constitute its philosophy. These consist in the contemplation of God as
one and eternal, and of man as immortal. In other words, the philosophy of
Freemasonry inculcates the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.

PLUMB. One of the working tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol of
rectitude of conduct.

POINT WITHIN A CIRCLE. It is derived from the ancient sun worship, and is
in reality of phallic origin. It is a symbol of the universe, the sun
being represented by the point, while the circumference is the universe.

PORCH OF THE TEMPLE. A symbol of the entrance into life.

PRIMITIVE FREEMASONRY. The Primitive Freemasonry of the antediluvians is a
term for which we are indebted to Oliver, although the theory was broached
by earlier writers, and among them by the Chevalier Ramsay. The theory is,
that the principles and doctrines of Freemasonry existed in the earliest
ages of the world, and were believed and practised by a primitive people,
or priesthood, under the name of Pure or Primitive Freemasonry. That this
Freemasonry, that is to say, the religious doctrine inculcated by it, was,
after the flood, corrupted by the pagan philosophers and priests, and,
receiving the title of _Spurious Freemasory_, was exhibited in the ancient
Mysteries. The Noachidae, however, preserved the principles of the
Primitive Freemasonry, and transmitted them to succeeding ages, when at
length they assumed the name of _Speculative Masonry_. The Primitive
Freemasonry was probably without ritual or symbolism, and consisted only
of a series of abstract propositions derived from antediluvian traditions.
Its dogmas were the unity of God and the immortality of the soul.

PROFANE. One who has not been initiated as a Freemason. In the technical
language of the Order, all who are not Freemasons are profanes. The term
is derived from the Latin words _pro fano_, which literally signify "in
front of the temple," because those in the ancient religions who were not
initiated in the sacred rites or Mysteries of any deity were not permitted
to enter the temple, but were compelled to remain outside, or in front of
it. They were kept on the outside. The expression a _profane_ is not
recognized as a noun substantive in the general usage of the language; but
it has been adopted as a technical term in the dialect of Freemasonry, in
the same relative sense in which the word _layman_ is used in the
professions of law and divinity.

PURE FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. The same as Primitive Freemasonry,--which
see.

PURIFICATION. A religious rite practised by the ancients, and which was
performed before any act of devotion. It consisted in washing the hands,
and sometimes the whole body, in lustral or consecrated water. It was
intended as a symbol of the internal purification of the heart. It was a
ceremony preparatory to initiation in all the ancient Mysteries.

PYTHAGORAS. A Grecian philosopher, supposed to have been born in the
island of Samos, about 584 B.C. He travelled extensively for the purpose
of acquiring knowledge. In Egypt he was initiated in the Mysteries of that
country by the priests. He also repaired to Babylon, where he became
acquainted with the mystical learning of the Chaldeans, and had, no doubt,
much communication with the Israelitish captives who had been exiled from
Jerusalem, and were then dwelling in Babylon. On his return to Europe he
established a school, which in its organization, as well as its doctrines,
bore considerable resemblance to Speculative Masonry; for which reason he
has been claimed as "an ancient friend and brother" by the modern
Freemasons.



R


RESURRECTION. This doctrine was taught in the ancient Mysteries, as it is
in Freemasonry, by a scenic representation. The initiation was death, the
autopsy was resurrection. Freemasonry does not interest itself with the
precise mode of the resurrection, or whether the body buried and the body
raised are in all their parts identical. Satisfied with the general
teaching of St. Paul, concerning the resurrection that "it is sown a
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body," Freemasonry inculcates by
its doctrine of the resurrection the simple fact of a progressive
advancement from a lower to a higher sphere, and the raising of the soul
from the bondage of death to its inheritance of eternal life.

RITUAL. The forms and ceremonies used in conferring the degrees, or in
conducting the labors, of a lodge are called the ritual. There are many
rites of Freemasonry, which differ from each other in the number and
division of the degrees, and in their rituals, or forms and ceremonies.
But the great principles of Freemasonry, its philosophy and its
symbolism, are alike in all. It is evident, then, that in an investigation
of the symbolism of Freemasonry, we have no concern with its ritual, which
is but an outer covering that is intended to conceal the treasure that is
within.

ROSICRUCIANS. A sect of hermetical philosophers, founded in the fifteenth
century, who were engaged in the study of abstruse sciences. It was a
secret society much resembling the masonic in its organization, and in
some of the subjects of its investigation; but it was in no other way
connected with Freemasonry. It is, however, well worth the study of the
masonic student on account of the light that it throws upon many of the
masonic symbols.

ROYAL ART. Freemasonry is so called because it is supposed to have been
founded by two kings,--the kings of Israel and Tyre,--and because it has
been subsequently encouraged and patronized by monarchs in all countries.



S


SABIANISM, or SABAISM. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, the
םימשה אבצ TSABA _Hashmaim_, "the host of heaven." It was
practised in Persia, Chaldea, India, and other Oriental countries, at an
early period of the world's history. Sun-worship has had a powerful
influence on subsequent and more rational religions, and relics of it are
to be found even in the symbolism of Freemasonry.

SACELLUM. A sacred place consecrated to a god, and containing an altar.

SAINTE CROIX. The work of the Baron de Sainte Croix, in two volumes,
entitled, "Recherches Historiques et Critiques sur les Mystères du
Paganisme," is one of the most valuable and instructive works that we have
in any language on the ancient Mysteries,--those religious associations
whose history and design so closely connect them with Freemasonry. To the
student of masonic philosophy and symbolism this work of Sainte Croix is
absolutely essential.

SALSETTE. An island in the Bay of Bombay, celebrated for stupendous
caverns excavated artificially out of the solid rock, and which were
appropriated to the initiations in the ancient Mysteries of India.

SENSES, FIVE HUMAN. A symbol of intellectual cultivation.

SETH. It is the masonic theory that the principles of the Pure or
Primitive Freemasonry were preserved in the race of Seth, which had always
kept separate from that of Cain, but that after the flood they became
corrupted, by a secession of a portion of the Sethites, who established
the Spurious Freemasonry of the Gentiles.

SEVEN. A sacred number among the Jews and the Gentiles, and called by
Pythagoras a "venerable number."

SHEM HAMPHORASH. (שריפמה םש _the declaratory name_.) The
tetragrammaton is so called, because, of all the names of God, it alone
distinctly declares his nature and essence as self-existent and eternal.

SHOE. See _Investiture, Rite of_.

SIGNS. There is abundant evidence that they were used in the ancient
Mysteries. They are valuable only as modes of recognition. But while they
are absolutely conventional, they have, undoubtedly, in Freemasonry, a
symbolic reference.

SIVA. One of the manifestations of the supreme deity of the Hindoos, and a
symbol of the sun in its meridian.

SONS OF LIGHT. Freemasons are so called because _Lux_, or _Light_, is one
of the names of Speculative Masonry.

SOLOMON. The king of Israel, and the founder of the temple of Jerusalem
and of the temple organization of Freemasonry.

That his mind was eminently symbolic in its propensities, is evident from
all the writings that are attributed to him.

SPECULATIVE MASONRY. Freemasonry considered as a science which speculates
on the character of God and man, and is engaged in philosophical
investigations of the soul and a future existence, for which purpose it
uses the terms of an operative art.

It is engaged symbolically in the construction of a spiritual temple.

There is in it always a progress--an advancement from a lower to a higher
sphere.

SPIRITUAL TEMPLE. The body of man; that temple alluded to by Christ and
St. Paul; the temple, in the construction of which the Speculative Mason
is engaged, in contradistinction to that material temple which occupies
the labors of the Operative Mason.

SPURIOUS FREEMASONRY OF ANTIQUITY. A term applied to the initiations in
the Mysteries of the ancient pagan world, and to the doctrines taught in
those Mysteries. See _Mysteries_.

SQUARE. A geometric figure consisting of four equal sides and equal
angles. In Freemasonry it is a symbol of morality, or the strict
performance of every duty. The Greeks deemed it a figure of perfection,
and the "square man" was a man of unsullied integrity.

SQUARE, TRYING. One of the working-tools of a Fellow Craft, and a symbol
of morality.

STONE OF FOUNDATION. A very important symbol in the masonic system. It is
like the _word_, the symbol of divine truth.

STONE WORSHIP. A very early form of fetichism. The Pelasgians are supposed
to have given to their statues of the gods the general form of cubical
stones, whence in Hellenic times came the Hermae, or images of Hermes.

SUBSTITUTE WORD. A symbol of the unsuccessful search after divine truth,
and the discovery in this life of only an approximation to it.

SUN, RISING. In the Sabian worship the rising sun was adored on its
resurrection from the apparent death of its evening setting. Hence, in the
ancient Mysteries, the rising sun was a symbol of the regeneration of the
soul.

SUN-WORSHIP. The most ancient of all superstitions. It prevailed
especially in Phoenicia, Chaldea. and Egypt, and traces of it have been
discovered in Peru and Mexico. Its influence was felt in the ancient
Mysteries, and abundant allusions to it are to be found in the symbolism
of Freemasonry.

SWEDENBORG. A Swedish philosopher, and the founder of a religious sect.
Clavel, Ragon, and some other writers have sought to make him the founder
of a masonic rite also, but without authority. In 1767 Chastanier
established the rite of Illuminated Theosophists, whose instructions are
derived from the writings of Swedenborg, but the sage himself had nothing
to do with it. Yet it cannot be denied that the mind of Swedenborg was
eminently symbolic in character, and that the masonic student may derive
many valuable ideas from portions of his numerous works, especially from
his "Celestial Arcana" and his "Apocalypse Revealed."

SYMBOL. A visible sign with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or idea is
connected.--_Müller_. Every natural thing which is made the sign or
representation of a moral idea is a symbol.

SYMBOL, COMPOUND. A species of symbol not unusual in Freemasonry, where
the symbol is to be taken in a double sense, meaning in its general
application one thing, and then in a special application another.

SYMBOLISM, SCIENCE OF. To what has been said in the text, may be added the
following apposite remarks of Squier: "In the absence of a written
language or forms of expression capable of conveying abstract ideas, we
can readily comprehend the necessity, among a primitive people, of a
symbolic system. That symbolism in a great degree resulted from this
necessity, is very obvious; and that, associated with man's primitive
religious systems, it was afterwards continued, when in the advanced stage
of the human mind, the previous necessity no longer existed, is equally
undoubted. It thus came to constitute a kind of sacred language, and
became invested with an esoteric significance understood only by the
few."--_The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 19.



T


TABERNACLE. Erected by Moses in the wilderness as a temporary place for
divine worship. It was the antitype of the temple of Jerusalem, and, like
it, was a symbol of the universe.

TALISMAN. A figure either carved in metal or stone, or delineated on
parchment or paper, made with superstitious ceremonies under what was
supposed to be the special influence of the planetary bodies, and believed
to possess occult powers of protecting the maker or possessor from danger.
The figure in the text is a talisman, and among the Orientals no talisman
was more sacred than this one where the nine digits are so disposed as to
make 15 each way. The Arabians called it _zahal_, which was the name of
the planet Saturn, because the nine digits added together make 45, and the
letters of the word _zahal_ are, according to the numerical powers of the
Arabic alphabet, equivalent to 45. The cabalists esteem it because 15 was
the numerical power of the letters composing the word JAH, which is one of
the names of God.

TALMUD. The mystical philosophy of the Jewish Rabbins is contained in the
Talmud, which is a collection of books divided into two parts, the
_Mishna_, which contains the record of the oral law, first committed to
writing in the second or third century, and the _Gemara_, or commentaries
on it. In the Talmud much will be found of great interest to the masonic
student.

TEMPLE. The importance of the temple in the symbolism of Freemasonry will
authorize the following citation from the learned Montfaucon (_Ant._
ii. 1. ii. ch. ii.): "Concerning the origin of _temples_, there is a
variety of opinions. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians were the first
that made altars, statues, and temples. It does not, however, appear that
there were any in Egypt in the time of Moses, for he never mentions them,
although he had many opportunities for doing so. Lucian says that the
Egyptians were the first people who built temples, and that the Assyrians
derived the custom from them, all of which is, however, very uncertain.
The first allusion to the subject in Scripture is the Tabernacle, which
was, in fact, a portable temple, and contained one place within it more
holy and secret than the others, called the _Holy of Holies_, and to which
the _adytum_ in the pagan temples corresponded. The first heathen temple
mentioned in Scripture is that of Dagon, the god of the Philistines. The
Greeks, who were indebted to the Phoenicians for many things, may be
supposed to have learned from them the art of building temples; and it is
certain that the Romans borrowed from the Greeks both the worship of the
gods and the construction of temples."

TEMPLE BUILDER. The title by which Hiram Abif is sometimes designated.

TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. The building erected by King Solomon on Mount Moriah,
in Jerusalem, has been often called "the cradle of Freemasonry," because
it was there that that union took place between the operative and
speculative masons, which continued for centuries afterwards to present
the true organization of the masonic system.

As to the size of the temple, the dimensions given in the text may be
considered as accurate so far as they agree with the description given in
the First Book of Kings. Josephus gives a larger measure, and makes the
length 105 feet, the breadth 35 feet, and the height 210 feet; but even
these will not invalidate the statement in the text, that in size it was
surpassed by many a parish church.

TEMPLE SYMBOLISM. That symbolism which is derived from the temple of
Solomon. It is the most fertile of all kinds of symbolism in the
production of materials for the masonic science.

TERMINUS. One of the most ancient of the Roman deities. He was the god of
boundaries and landmarks, and his statue consisted only of a cubical
stone, without arms or legs, to show that he was immovable.

TETRACTYS. A figure used by Pythagoras, consisting of ten points, arranged
in a triangular form so as to represent the monad, duad, triad, and
quarterniad. It was considered as very sacred by the Pythagoreans, and was
to them what the tetragrammaton was to the Jews.

TETRAGRAMMATON. (From the Greek τετρὰς, _four_, and γρὰμμα, a letter). The
four-lettered name of God in the Hebrew language, which consisted of four
letters, viz. הוהי commonly, but incorrectly, pronounced _Jehovah_. As a
symbol it greatly pervaded the rites of antiquity, and was perhaps the
earliest symbol corrupted by the Spurious Freemasonry of the pagan
Mysteries.

It was held by the Jews in profound veneration, and its origin supposed to
have been by divine revelation at the burning bush.

The word was never pronounced, but wherever met with _Adonai_ was
substituted for it, which custom was derived from the perverted reading of
a, passage in the Pentateuch. The true pronunciation consequently was
utterly lost; this is explained by the want of vowels in the Hebrew
alphabet, so that the true vocalization of a word cannot be learned from
the letters of which it is composed.

The true pronunciation was intrusted to the high priest; but lest the
knowledge of it should be lost by his sudden death, it was also
communicated to his assistant; it was known also, probably, to the kings
of Israel.

The Cabalists and Talmudists enveloped it in a host of superstitions.

It was also used by the Essenes in their sacred rites, and by the
Egyptians as a pass-word.

Cabalistically read and pronounced, it means the male and female principle
of nature, the generative and prolific energy of creation.

THAMMUZ. A Syrian god, who was worshipped by those women of the Hebrews
who had fallen into idolatry. The idol was the same as the Phoenician
Adonis, and the Mysteries of the two were identical.

TRAVELLING FREEMASONS. See _Freemasons, Travelling_.

TRESTLE BOARD. The board or tablet on which the designs of the architect
are inscribed. It is a symbol of the moral law as set forth in the
revealed will of God.

Every man must have his trestle board, because it is the duty of every man
to work out the task which God, the chief Architect, has assigned to him.

TRIANGLE. A symbol of Deity.

This symbolism is found in many of the ancient religions.

Among the Egyptians it was a symbol of universal nature, or of the
protection of the world by the male and female energies of creation.

TRIANGLE, RADIATED. A triangle placed within a circle of rays. In
Christian art it is a symbol of God; then the rays are called a _glory_.
When they surround the triangle in the form of a circle, the triangle is a
symbol of the glory of God. When the rays emanate from the centre of the
triangle, it is a symbol of divine light. This is the true form of the
masonic radiated triangle.

TRILITERAL NAME. This is the word AUM, which is the ineffable name of God
among the Hindoos, and symbolizes the three manifestations of the
Brahminical supreme god, Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu. It was never to be
pronounced aloud, and was analogous to the sacred tetragrammaton of the
Jews.

TROWEL. One of the working tools of a Master Mason. It is a symbol of
brotherly love.

TRUTH. It was not always taught publicly by the ancient philosophers to
the people.

The search for it is the object of Freemasonry. It is never found on
earth, but a substitute for it is provided.

TUAPHOLL. A term used by the Druids to designate an unhallowed
circumambulation around the sacred cairn, or altar, the movement being
against the sun, that is, from west to east by the north, the cairn being
on the left hand of the circumambulator.

TUBAL CAIN. Of the various etymologies of this name, only one is given in
the text; but most of the others in some way identify him with Vulcan.
Wellsford (_Mithridates Minor_ p. 4) gives a singular etymology, deriving
the name of the Hebrew patriarch from the definite article ה converted
into ת, or _T_ and _Baal_, "Lord," with the Arabic _kayn_, "a blacksmith,"
so that the word would then signify "the lord of the blacksmiths." Masonic
writers have, however, generally adopted the more usual derivation of
_Cain_, from a word signifying _possession_; and Oliver descants on Tubal
Cain as a symbol of worldly possessions. As to the identity of Vulcan with
Tubal Cain, we may learn something from the definition of the offices of
the former, as given by Diodorus Siculus: "Vulcan was the first founder of
works in iron, brass, gold, silver, and all fusible metals; and he taught
the uses to which fire can be applied in the arts." See Genesis: "Tubal
Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron."

TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE. A two-foot rule. One of the working-tools of an
Entered Apprentice, and a symbol of time well employed.

TYPHON. The brother and slayer of Osiris in the Egyptian mythology. As
Osiris was a type or symbol of the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter,
when the vigor, heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and
of darkness as opposed to light.

TYRE. A city of Phoenicia, the residence of King Hiram, the friend and
ally of Solomon, whom he supplied with men and materials for the
construction of the temple.

TYRIAN FREEMASONS. These were the members of the Society of Dionysiac
Artificers, who at the time of the building of Solomon's temple flourished
at Tyre. Many of them were sent to Jerusalem by Hiram, King of Tyre, to
assist King Solomon in the construction of his temple. There, uniting with
the Jews, who had only a knowledge of the speculative principles of
Freemasonry, which had been transmitted to them from Noah, through the
patriarchs, the Tyrian Freemasons organized that combined system of
Operative and Speculative Masonry which continued for many centuries,
until the beginning of the eighteenth, to characterize the institution.
See _Dionysiac Artificers_.



U


UNION. The union of the operative with the speculative element of
Freemasonry took place at the building of King Solomon's temple.

UNITY OF GOD. This, as distinguished from the pagan doctrine of
polytheism, or a multitude of gods, is one of the two religious truths
taught in Speculative Masonry, the other being the immortality of the
soul.



W


WEARY SOJOURNERS. The legend of the "three weary sojourners" in the Royal
Arch degree is undoubtedly a philosophical myth, symbolizing the search
after truth.

WHITE. A symbol of innocence and purity.

Among the Pythagoreans it was a symbol of the good principle in nature,
equivalent to light.

WIDOW'S SON. An epithet bestowed upon the chief architect of the temple,
because he was "a widow's son of the tribe of Naphthali." 1 Kings vii. 14.

WINDING STAIRS, LEGEND OF. A legend in the Fellow Craft's degree having no
historical truth, but being simply a philosophical myth or legendary
symbol intended to communicate a masonic dogma.

It is the symbol of an ascent from a lower to a higher sphere.

It commences at the porch of the temple, which is a symbol of the entrance
into life.

The number of steps are always odd, because odd numbers are a symbol of
perfection.

But the fifteen steps in the American system are a symbol of the name of
God, _Jah_.

WINE. An element of masonic consecration, and, as a symbol of the inward
refreshment of a good conscience, is intended under the name of the "wine
of refreshment," to remind us of the eternal refreshments which the good
are to receive in the future life for the faithful performance of duty in
the present.

WORD. In Freemasonry this is a technical and symbolic term, and signifies
divine truth. The search after this word constitutes the whole system of
speculative masonry.

WORD, LOST. See _Lost Word_.

WORD, SUBSTITUTE. See _Substitute Word_.

WORK. In Freemasonry the initiation of a candidate is called _work_. It is
suggestive of the doctrine that labor is a masonic duty.



Y


YGGDRASIL. The sacred ash tree in the Scandinavian Mysteries. Dr. Oliver
propounds the theory that it is the analogue of the theological ladder in
the Masonic Mysteries. But it is doubtful whether this theory is tenable.

YOD. A Hebrew letter, in form thus י, and about equivalent to
the English I or Y. It is the initial letter of the tetragrammaton, and is
often used, especially enclosed within a triangle, as a substitute for, or
an abridgement of, that sacred word.

It is a symbol of the life-giving and sustaining power of God.

YONI. Among the nations and religions of India the yoni was the
representation of the female organ of generation, and was the symbol of
the prolific power of nature. It is the same as the _cteis_ among the
Occidental nations.



Z


ZENNAAR. The sacred girdle of the Hindoos. It is supposed to be the
analogue of the masonic apron.

ZOROASTER. A distinguished philosopher and reformer, whose doctrines were
professed by the ancient Persians. The religion of Zoroaster was a
dualism, in which the two antagonizing principles were Ormuzd and Abriman,
symbols of Light and Darkness. It was a modification and purification of
the old fire-worship, in which the fire became a symbol of the sun, so
that it was really a species of sun-worship. Mithras, representing the
sun, becomes the mediator between Ormuzd, or the principle of Darkness,
and the world.




Footnotes



[1] "The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, if it is a real
advantage, follows unavoidably from the idea of God. The _best_ Being, he
must _will_ the best of good things; the _wisest_, he must devise plans
for that effect; the _most powerful_, he must bring it about. None can
deny this."--THEO. PARKER, _Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion_,
b. ii. ch. viii. p. 205.

[2] "This institution of religion, like society, friendship, and marriage,
comes out of a principle, deep and permanent in the heart: as humble, and
transient, and partial institutions come out of humble, transient, and
partial wants, and are to be traced to the senses and the phenomena of
life, so this sublime, permanent, and useful institution came out from
sublime, permanent, and universal wants, and must be referred to the soul,
and the unchanging realities of life."--PARKER, _Discourse of Religion_,
b. i. ch. i. p. 14.

[3] "The sages of all nations, ages, and religions had some ideas of these
sublime doctrines, though more or less degraded, adulterated and obscured;
and these scattered hints and vestiges of the most sacred and exalted
truths were originally rays and emanations of ancient and primitive
traditions, handed down from, generation to generation, since the
beginning of the world, or at least since the fall of man, to all
mankind."--CHEV. RAMSAY, _Philos. Princ. of Nat. and Rev. Relig._, vol ii.
p. 8.

[4] "In this form, not only the common objects above enumerated, but gems,
metals, stones that fell from heaven, images, carved bits of wood, stuffed
skins of beasts, like the medicine-bags of the North American Indians, are
reckoned as divinities, and so become objects of adoration. But in this
case, the visible object, is idealized; not worshipped as the brute thing
really is, but as the type and symbol of God."--PARKER, _Disc. of Relig._
b. i. ch. v. p. 50.

[5] A recent writer thus eloquently refers to the universality, in ancient
times, of sun-worship: "Sabaism, the worship of light, prevailed amongst
all the leading nations of the early world. By the rivers of India, on the
mountains of Persia, in the plains of Assyria, early mankind thus adored,
the higher spirits in each country rising in spiritual thought from the
solar orb up to Him whose vicegerent it seems--to the Sun of all being,
whose divine light irradiates and purifies the world of soul, as the solar
radiance does the world of sense. Egypt, too, though its faith be but
dimly known to us, joined in this worship; Syria raised her grand temples
to the sun; the joyous Greeks sported with the thought while feeling it,
almost hiding it under the mythic individuality which their lively fancy
superimposed upon it. Even prosaic China makes offerings to the yellow orb
of day; the wandering Celts and Teutons held feasts to it, amidst the
primeval forests of Northern Europe; and, with a savagery characteristic
of the American aborigines, the sun temples of Mexico streamed with human
blood in honor of the beneficent orb."--_The Castes and Creeds of India_,
Blackw. Mag., vol. lxxxi. p. 317.--"There is no people whose religion is
known to us," says the Abbé Banier, "neither in our own continent nor in
that of America, that has not paid the sun a religious worship, if we
except some inhabitants of the torrid zone, who are continually cursing
the sun for scorching them with his beams."--_Mythology_, lib. iii. ch.
iii.--Macrobius, in his _Saturnalia_, undertakes to prove that all the
gods of Paganism may be reduced to the sun.

[6] "Varro de religionibus loquens, evidenter dicit, multa esse vera, quae
vulgo scire non sit utile; multaque, quae tametsi falsa sint, aliter
existimare populum expediat."--St. AUGUSTINE, _De Civil. Dei._--We must
regret, with the learned Valloisin, that the sixteen books of Varro, on
the religious antiquities of the ancients, have been lost; and the regret
is enhanced by the reflection that they existed until the beginning of the
fourteenth century, and disappeared only when their preservation for less
than two centuries more would, by the discovery of printing, have secured
their perpetuity.

[7] Strabo, Geog., lib. i.

[8] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 297.

[9] Div. Leg., vol. i. b. ii. § iv. p. 193, 10th Lond. edit.

[10] The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality of
the soul were taught originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid
and Bacchus.--WARBURTON, apud Spence's _Anecdotes_, p. 309.

[11] Isoc. Paneg., p. 59.

[12] Apud Arrian. Dissert., lib. iii. c. xxi.

[13] Phaedo.

[14] Dissert. on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, in the Pamphleteer,
vol. viii. p. 53.

[15] Symbol. und Mythol. der Alt. Völk.

[16] In these Mysteries, after the people had for a long time bewailed the
loss of a particular person, he was at last supposed to be restored to
life.--BRYANT, _Anal. of Anc. Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 176.

[17] Herod. Hist., lib. iii. c. clxxi.

[18] The legend says it was cut into _fourteen_ pieces. Compare this with
the _fourteen_ days of burial in the masonic legend of the third degree.
Why the particular number in each? It has been thought by some, that in
the latter legend there was a reference to the half of the moon's age, or
its dark period, symbolic of the darkness of death, followed by the
fourteen days of bright moon, or restoration to life.

[19] Mystères du Paganisme, tom. i. p. 6.

[20] Notes to Rawlinson's Herodotus, b. ii. ch. clxxi. Mr. Bryant
expresses the same opinion: "The principal rites in Egypt were confessedly
for a person lost and consigned for a time to darkness, who was at last
found. This person I have mentioned to have been described under the
character of Osiris."--_Analysis of Ancient Mythology_, vol. iii. p. 177.

[21] Spirit of Masonry, p. 100.

[22] Varro, according to St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, vi. 5), says that
among the ancients there were three kinds of theology--a _mythical_, which
was used by the poets; a _physical_, by the philosophers, and a _civil_,
by the people.

[23] "Tous les ans," says Sainte Croix, "pendant les jours consacrés au
souvenir de sa mort, tout étoit plongé dans la tristesse: on ne cessoit de
pousser des gémissemens; on alloit même jusqu'à se flageller et se donner
des coups. Le dernier jour de ce deuil, on faisoit des sacrifices funèbres
en l'honneur de ce dieu. Le jour suivant, on recevoit la nouvelle
qu'Adonis venoit d'être rappelé à la vie, qui mettoit fin à leur
deuil."--_Recherches sur les Myst. du Paganisme_, tom. ii. p. 105.

[24] Clement of Alexandria calls them μυστήρια τὰ πρὸ μυστηρίων, "the
mysteries before the mysteries."

[25] Les petits mystères ne consistoient qu'en cérémonies
préparatoires.--_Sainte Croix_, i. 297.--As to the oath of secrecy, Bryant
says, "The first thing at these awful meetings was to offer an oath of
secrecy to all who were to be initiated, after which they proceeded to the
ceremonies."--_Anal. of Anc. Myth._, vol. iii. p. 174.--The Orphic
Argonautics allude to the oath: μετὰ δ' ὁρϗια Μύσῖαις, ϗ. τ. λ., "after
the oath was administered to the mystes," &c.--_Orph. Argon._, v. 11.

[26] The satirical pen of Aristophanes has not spared the Dionysiac
festivals. But the raillery and sarcasm of a comic writer must always be
received with many grains of allowance. He has, at least, been candid
enough to confess that no one could be initiated who had been guilty of
any crime against his country or the public security.--_Ranae_, v.
360-365.--Euripides makes the chorus in his Bacchae proclaim that the
Mysteries were practised only for virtuous purposes. In Rome, however,
there can be little doubt that the initiations partook at length of a
licentious character. "On ne peut douter," says Ste. Croix, "que
l'introduction des fêtes de Bacchus en Italie n'ait accéleré les progrès
du libertinage et de la débauche dans cette contrée."--_Myst. du Pag._,
tom. ii. p. 91.--St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. vii. c. xxi.) inveighs
against the impurity of the ceremonies in Italy of the sacred rites of
Bacchus. But even he does not deny that the motive with which they were
performed was of a religious, or at least superstitious nature--"Sic
videlicet Liber deus placandus fuerat." The propitiation of a deity was
certainly a religious act.

[27] Hist. Greece, vol. ii. p. 140.

[28] This language is quoted from Robison (_Proofs of a Conspiracy_, p.
20, Lond. edit. 1797), whom none will suspect or accuse of an undue
veneration for the antiquity or the morality of the masonic order.

[29] We must not confound these Asiatic builders with the play-actors, who
were subsequently called by the Greeks, as we learn from Aulus Gellius
(lib. xx. cap. 4), "artificers of Dionysus"--Διονυσιαϗοι τεχνιταὶ.

[30] There is abundant evidence, among ancient authors, of the existence
of signs and passwords in the Mysteries. Thus Apuleius, in his Apology,
says, "Si qui forte adest eorundem Solemnium mihi particeps, signum dato,"
etc.; that is, "If any one happens to be present who has been initiated
into the same rites as myself, if he will give me the sign, he shall then
be at liberty to hear what it is that I keep with so much care." Plautus
also alludes to this usage, when, in his "Miles Gloriosus," act iv. sc. 2,
he makes Milphidippa say to Pyrgopolonices, "Cedo signum, si harunc
Baccharum es;" i.e., "Give the sign if you are one of these Bacchae," or
initiates into the Mysteries of Bacchus. Clemens Alexandrinus calls these
modes of recognition σωθηματα, as if _means of safety_. Apuleius elsewhere
uses _memoracula_, I think to denote passwords, when he says, "sanctissimè
sacrorum signa et memoracula custodire," which I am inclined to translate,
"most scrupulously to preserve the signs and passwords of the sacred
rites."

[31] The Baron de Sainte Croix gives this brief view of the ceremonies:
"Dans ces mystères on employoit, pour remplir l'âme des assistans d'une
sainte horreur, les mêmes moyens qu'à Eleusis. L'apparition de fantômes et
de divers objets propres à effrayer, sembloit disposer les esprits à la
crédulité. Ils en avoient sans doute besoin, pour ajouter foi à toutes les
explications des mystagogues: elles rouloient sur le massacre de Bacchus
par les Titans," &c.--_Recherches sur les Mystères du Paganisme_, tom. ii.
sect. vii. art. iii. p. 89.

[32] Lawrie, Hist. of Freemasonry, p. 27.

[33] Vincentius Lirinensis or Vincent of Lirens, who lived in the fifth
century of the Christian era, wrote a controversial treatise entitled
"Commonitorium," remarkable for the blind veneration which it pays to the
voice of tradition. The rule which he there lays down, and which is cited
in the text, may be considered, in a modified application, as an axiom by
which we may test the _probability_, at least, of all sorts of traditions.
None out of the pale of Vincent's church will go so far as he did in
making it the criterion of positive truth.

[34] Prolog. zu einer wissenshaftlich. Mythologie.

[35] In German _hutten_, in English _lodges_, whence the masonic term.

[36] Historical Essay on Architecture, ch. xxi.

[37] Bishop England, in his "Explanation of the Mass," says that in every
ceremony we must look for three meanings: "the first, the literal,
natural, and, it may be said, the original meaning; the second, the
figurative or emblematic signification; and thirdly, the pious or
religious meaning: frequently the two last will be found the same;
sometimes all three will be found combined." Here lies the true difference
between the symbolism of the church and that of Masonry. In the former,
the symbolic meaning was an afterthought applied to the original, literal
one; in the latter, the symbolic was always the original signification of
every ceremony.

[38] /P "Was not all the knowledge Of the Egyptians writ in mystic
symbols? Speak not the Scriptures oft in parables? Are not the choicest
fables of the poets, That were the fountains and first springs of wisdom,
Wrapped in perplexed allegories?"

BEN JONSON, _Alchemist_, act ii. sc. i. P/

[39] The distinguished German mythologist Müller defines a symbol to be
"an eternal, visible sign, with which a spiritual feeling, emotion, or
idea is connected." I am not aware of a more comprehensive, and at the
same time distinctive, definition.

[40] And it may be added, that the word becomes a symbol of an idea; and
hence, Harris, in his "Hermes," defines language to be "a system of
articulate voices, the symbols of our ideas, but of those principally
which are general or universal."--_Hermes_, book iii. ch. 3.

[41] "Symbols," says Müller, "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 multitudinously 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.

[42] Between the allegory, or parable, and the symbol, there is, as I have
said, no essential difference. The Greek verb παραβαλλω, whence comes the
word _parable_, and the verb συμβαλλω in the same language, which is the
root of the word _symbol_, both have the synonymous meaning "to compare."
A parable is only a spoken symbol. The definition of a parable given by
Adam Clarke is equally applicable 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."

[43] North British Review, August, 1851. Faber passes a similar encomium.
"Hence the language of symbolism, being so purely a language of ideas, is,
in one respect, more perfect than any ordinary 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.

[44] "By speculative Masonry we learn to subdue our passions, to act upon
the square, to keep a tongue of good report, to maintain secrecy, and
practise charity."--_Lect. of Fel. Craft._ But this is a very meagre
definition, unworthy of the place it occupies in the lecture of the second
degree.

[45] "Animal worship among the Egyptians was the natural and unavoidable
consequence of the misconception, by the vulgar, of those emblematical
figures invented by the priests to record their own philosophical
conception of absurd ideas. As the pictures and effigies suspended in
early Christian churches, to commemorate 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 allegorical meaning was, however, preserved by
the priests, and communicated in the mysteries alone to the initiated,
while the uninstructed retained only the grosser conception."--GLIDDON,
_Otia Aegyptiaca_, p. 94.

[46] "To perpetuate the esoteric signification of these symbols to the
initiated, there were established the Mysteries, of which institution we
have still a trace in Freemasonry."--GLIDDON, _Otia Aegyp._ p. 95.

[47] Philo Judaeus says, that "Moses had been initiated by the Egyptians
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 references of the Pentateuch; in which fact,
indeed, he recognizes "one of the most powerful arguments for its
credibility and for its composition by Moses."--HENGSTENBERG, p. 239,
Robbins's trans.

[48] Josephus, _Antiq._ book iii. ch. 7.

[49] 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 conducted into the temple,
and deposited on a stand. The representations we have of it bear a
striking resemblance to the Jewish ark, of which it is now admitted to
have been the prototype.

[50] "The Egyptian reference in the Urim and Thummim is especially
distinct and incontrovertible."--HENGSTENBERG, p. 158.

[51] 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.

[52] "Thus did our wise Grand Master contrive a plan, by mechanical and
practical allusions, to instruct the craftsmen in principles of the most
sublime speculative philosophy, tending to the glory of God, and to secure
to them temporal blessings here and eternal life hereafter, as well as to
unite the speculative and operative Masons, thereby forming a twofold
advantage, from the principles of geometry and architecture on the one
part, and the precepts of wisdom and ethics on the other."--CALCOTT,
_Candid Disquisition_, p. 31, ed. 1769.

[53] This proposition I ask to be conceded; the evidences of its truth
are, however, abundant, were it necessary to produce them. The craft,
generally, will, I presume, assent to it.

[54]

"The groves were God's first temples. Ere man learned
To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,
And spread the roof above them--ere he framed
The lofty vault, to gather and roll back
The sound of anthems--in the darkling wood,
Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks
And supplication."--BRYANT.

[55] Theologians have always given a spiritual application to the temple
of Solomon, referring it to the mysteries of the Christian dispensation.
For this, consult all the biblical commentators. But I may particularly
mention, on this subject, Bunyan's "Solomon's Temple Spiritualized," and a
rare work in folio, by Samuel Lee, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford,
published at London in 1659, and entitled "Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple
of Solomon portrayed by Scripture Light." A copy of this scarce work,
which treats very learnedly of "the spiritual mysteries of the gospel
veiled under the temple," I have lately been, by good fortune, enabled to
add to my library.

[56] Veluti pecora, quae natura finxit prona et obedientia
ventri.--SALLUST, _Bell. Catil._ i.

[57] I Kings vi. 7.

[58] In further illustration of the wisdom of these temple contrivances,
it may be mentioned that, by marks placed upon the materials which had
been thus prepared at a distance, the individual production of every
craftsman was easily ascertained, and the means were provided of rewarding
merit and punishing indolence.

[59] "Each of the pagan gods had (besides the _public_ and _open_) a
_secret worship_ paid unto him; to which none were admitted but those who
had been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation. This
_secret-worship_ was termed the Mysteries."--WARBURTON, _Div. Leg. I. i.
p. 189_.

[60] It must be remarked, however, that many of the Fellow Crafts were
also stone-cutters in the mountains, _chotzeb bahor_, and, with their
nicer implements, more accurately adjusted the stones which had been
imperfectly prepared by the apprentices. This fact does not at all affect
the character of the symbolism we are describing. The due preparation of
the materials, the symbol of purification, was necessarily continued in
all the degrees. The task of purification never ceases.

[61] The classical reader will here be reminded of that beautiful passage
of Horace, commencing with "Justum et tenacem propositi virum."--Lib. iii.
od. 3.

[62] "Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque
turres."--HOR. lib. i. od. 4.

[63] It is worth noticing that the verb _natzach_, from which the title of
the _menatzchim_ (the overseers or Master Masons in the ancient temple),
is derived, signifies also in Hebrew _to be perfected, to be completed_.
The third degree is the perfection of the symbolism of the temple, and its
lessons lead us to the completion of life. In like manner the Mysteries,
says Christie, "were termed τελεταὶ, _perfections_, because they were
supposed to induce a perfectness of life. Those who were purified by them
were styled τελουμένοι, and τετελεσμένοι, that is, brought to
perfection."--_Observations on Ouvaroff's Essay on the Eleusinian
Mysteries_, p. 183.

[64] Dr. Oliver, in the first or preliminary lecture of his "Historical
Landmarks," very accurately describes the difference between the pure or
primitive Freemasonry of the Noachites, and the spurious Freemasonry of
the heathens.

[65] The idea of the world, as symbolically representing God's temple, has
been thus beautifully developed in a hymn by N.P. Willis, written for the
dedication of a church:--

"The perfect world by Adam trod
Was the first temple built by God;
His fiat laid the corner stone,
And heaved its pillars, one by one.

"He hung its starry roof on high--
The broad, illimitable sky;
He spread its pavement, green and bright,
And curtained it with morning light.

"The mountains in their places stood,
The sea, the sky, and 'all was good;'
And when its first pure praises rang,
The 'morning stars together sang.'

"Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea,
And earth, and sky, a house for thee;
But in thy sight our offering stands,
A humbler temple, made with hands."

[66] "The idea," says Dudley, "that the earth is a level surface, and of a
square form, is so likely to have been entertained by persons of little
experience and limited observation, that it may be justly supposed to have
prevailed generally in the early ages of the world."--_Naology_, p. 7.

[67] The quadrangular form of the earth is preserved in almost all the
scriptural allusions that are made to it. Thus Isaiah (xi. 12) says, "The
Lord shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the _four corners_
of the earth;" and we find in the Apocalypse (xx. 9) the prophetic version
of "four angels standing on the _four corners_ of the earth."

[68] "The form of the lodge ought to be a double cube, as an expressive
emblem of the powers of darkness and light in the creation."--OLIVER,
_Landmarks_, i. p. 135, note 37.

[69] Not that whole visible universe, in its modern signification, as
including solar systems upon solar systems, rolling in illimitable space,
but in the more contracted view of the ancients, where the earth formed
the floor, and the sky the ceiling. "To the vulgar and untaught eye," says
Dudley, "the heaven or sky above the earth appears to be co-extensive with
the earth, and to take the same form, enclosing a cubical space, of which
the earth was the base, the heaven or sky the upper surface."--_Naology_,
7.--And it is to this notion of the universe that the masonic symbol of
the lodge refers.

[70] "These rocky shrines, the formation of which Mr. Grose supposes to
have been a labor equal to that of erecting the Pyramids of Egypt, are of
various height, extent, and depth. They are partitioned out, by the labor
of the hammer and the chisel, into many separate chambers, and the roof,
which in the pagoda of Elephanta is flat, but in that of Salsette is
arched, is supported by rows of pillars of great thickness, and arranged
with much regularity. The walls are crowded with gigantic figures of men
and women, engaged in various actions, and portrayed in various whimsical
attitudes; and they are adorned with several evident symbols of the
religion now prevailing in India. Above, as in a sky, once probably
adorned with gold and azure, in the same manner as Mr. Savary lately
observed in the ruinous remains of some ancient Egyptian temples, are seen
floating the children of imagination, genii and dewtahs, in multitudes,
and along the cornice, in high relief, are the figures of elephants,
horses, and lions, executed with great accuracy. Two of the principal
figures at Salsette are twenty-seven feet in height, and of proportionate
magnitude; the very bust only of the triple-headed deity in the grand
pagoda of Elephanta measures fifteen feet from the base to the top of the
cap, while the face of another, if Mr. Grose, who measured it, may be
credited, is above five feet in length, and of corresponding
breadth."--MAURICE, _Ind. Ant._ vol. ii. p. 135.

[71] According to Faber, the egg was a symbol of the world or megacosm,
and also of the ark, or microcosm, as the lunette or crescent was a symbol
of the Great Father, the egg and lunette--which was the hieroglyphic of
the god Lunus, at Heliopolis--was a symbol of the world proceeding from
the Great Father.--_Pagan Idolatry_, vol. i. b. i. ch. iv.

[72] Zoroaster taught that the sun was the most perfect fire of God, the
throne of his glory, and the residence of his divine presence, and he
therefore instructed his disciples "to direct all their worship to God
first towards the sun (which they called Mithras), and next towards their
sacred fires, as being the things in which God chiefly dwelt; and their
ordinary way of worship was to do so towards both. For when they came
before these fires to worship, _they always approached them on the west
side_, that, having their faces towards them and also towards the rising
sun at the same time, they might direct their worship to both. And in this
posture they always performed every act of their worship."--PRIDEAUX.
_Connection._ i. 216.

[73] "The mysteries of Ceres (or Eleusis) are principally distinguished
from all others as having been the depositories of certain traditions
coeval with the world."--OUVAROFF, _Essay on the Mysteries of Eleusis_, p.
6.

[74] The dadouchus, or torch-bearer, carried a symbol of the sun.

[75] "Indeed, the most ancient superstition of all nations," says Maurice,
"has been the worship of the sun, as the lord of heaven and the governor
of the world; and in particular it prevailed in Phoenicia, Chaldaea,
Egypt, and from later information we may add, Peru and Mexico, represented
in a variety of ways, and concealed under a multitude of fanciful names.
Through all the revolutions of time the great luminary of heaven hath
exacted from the generations of men the tribute of devotion."--_Indian
Antiquities_, vol. ii. p. 91.

[76] Facciolatus thus defines the Phallus: "penis ligneus, vel vitreus,
vel coriaceus, quem in Bacchi festis plaustro impositum per rura et urbes
magno honore circumferebant."--_Lex. in voc._

[77] The exhibition of these images in a colossal form, before the gates
of ancient temples, was common. Lucian tells us of two colossal Phalli,
each one hundred and eighty feet high, which stood in the fore court of
the temple at Hierapolis. Mailer, in his "Ancient Art and its Remains,"
mentions, on the authority of Leake, the fact that a colossal Phallus,
which once stood on the top of the tomb of the Lydian king Halyattes, is
now lying near the same spot; it is not an entire Phallus, but only the
head of one; it is twelve feet in diameter below and nine feet over the
glands. The Phallus has even been found, so universal was this worship,
among the savages of America. Dr. Arthaut discovered, in the year 1790, a
marble Phallic image in a cave of the island of St. Domingo.--CLAVEL,
_Hist. Pittoresq. des Religions_, p. 9.

[78] Sonnerat (Voyage aux Indes Orient, i. p. 118) observes, that the
professors of this worship were of the purest principles and most
unblemished conduct, and it seems never to have entered into the heads of
the Indian legislator and people that anything natural could be grossly
obscene.--Sir William Jones remarks (Asiatic Researches, i. 254), that
from the earliest periods the women of Asia, Greece, and Italy wore this
symbol as a jewel, and Clavel tells us that a similar usage prevails at
this day among the women in some of the villages of Brittany. Seely tells
us that the Lingam, or Indian Phallus, is an emblem as frequently met with
in Hindostan as the cross is in Catholic countries.--_Wonders of Elora._
p. 278.

[79] Num. xxv. 1-3. See also Psalm cvi. 28: "They joined themselves also
unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." This last expression,
according to Russel, has a distinct reference to the physical qualities of
matter, and to the time when death, by the winter absence of the solar
heat, gets, as it were, possession of the earth. Baal-peor was, he says,
the sun exercising his powers of fecundity.--_Connection of Sacred and
Profane History_

[80] Is there not a seeming reference to this thought of divine
hermaphrodism in the well-known passage of Genesis? "So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him: _male and female_
created he them." And so being created "male and female," they were "in
the image of God."

[81] The world being animated by man, says Creuzer, in his learned work on
Symbolism, received from him the two sexes, represented by heaven and the
earth. Heaven, as the fecundating principle, was male, and the source of
fire; the earth, as the fecundated, was female, and the source of
humidity. All things issued from the alliance of these two principles. The
vivifying powers of the heavens are concentrated in the sun, and the
earth, eternally fixed in the place which it occupies, receives the
emanations from the sun, through the medium of the moon, which sheds upon
the earth the germs which the sun had deposited in its fertile bosom. The
Lingam is at once the symbol and the mystery of this religious idea.

[82] Such was the opinion of some of the ancient sun-worshippers, whose
adorations were always performed in the open air, because they thought no
temple was spacious enough to contain the sun; and hence the saying,
"Mundus universus est templum solis"--the universe is the temple of the
sun. Like our ancient brethren, they worshipped only on _the highest
hills_. Another analogy.

[83] _Asgard_, the abode of the gods, is shaded by the ash tree,
_Ydrasil_, where the gods assemble every day to do justice. The branches
of this tree extend themselves over the whole world, and reach above the
heavens. It hath three roots, extremely distant from each other: one of
them is among the gods; the second is among the giants, where the abyss
formerly was; the third covers _Niflheim_, or hell, and under this root is
the fountain _Vergelmer_, whence flow the infernal rivers.--_Edda, Fab._
8.

[84] Exod. iii. 5.

[85] Commentaries _in loco_.

[86] Commentary on Exod. iii. 5.

[87] Iamblichi Vita Pythag. c. 105. In another place he says, "Θύειν χρὴ
ἀνυπόδετον, ϗαι πρὸς τα ἱερὰ προστιέναι,"--We must sacrifice and enter
temples with the shoes off. Ibid. c. 85.

[88] "Quod etiam nunc apud plerasque Orientis nationes piaculum sit,
calceato pede templorum pavimenta calcasse."

[89] Beth Habbechirah, cap. vii.

[90] Histor. Landm. vol. ii. p. 481.

[91] "Non datur nobis potestas adeundi templum nisi nudibus pedibus."

[92] Commentaries, _ut supra_.

[93] See a paper "on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus," by H.T.
Colebrooke, Esq. in the Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 357.

[94] A Specimen of the Critical History of the Celtic Religion and
Learning. Letter ii. § xvii.

[95] Dr. Oliver, referring to the "twelve grand points in Masonry," which
formed a part of the old English lectures, says, "When the candidate was
_intrusted_, he represented Asher, for he was then presented with the
glorious fruit of masonic knowledge, as Asher was represented by fatness
and royal dainties."--_Hist. Landm._, vol. i. lect. xi. p. 313.

[96] From the Greek αὐτοψία, signifying _a seeing with ones own eyes_. The
candidate, who had previously been called a _mystes_, or a _blind man_,
from μίω, to _shut the eyes_, began at this point to change his title to
that of an _epopt_, or an _eye-witness_.

[97] ךדא יהיו ךדא יהי _Yehi aur va yehi aur._

[98] Robert William Mackay, Progress of the Intellect, vol. i. p. 93.

[99] "And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the
Thummim."--_Exod._ xxviii. 30.--The Egyptian judges also wore
breastplates, on which was represented the figure of _Ra_, the sun, and
_Thme_, the goddess of Truth, representing, says Gliddon, "_Ra_, or the
sun, in a double capacity--physical and intellectual light; and _Thme_, in
a double capacity--justice and truth."--_Ancient Egypt_, p. 33.

[100] We owe this interesting discovery to F. Portal, who has given it in
his elaborate work on Egyptian symbols as compared with those of the
Hebrews. To those who cannot consult the original work in French, I can
safely recommend the excellent translation by my esteemed friend, Bro.
John W. Simons, of New York, and which will be found in the thirtieth
volume of the "Universal Masonic Library."

[101] "The most early defection to Idolatry," says Bryant, "consisted in
the adoration of the sun and the worship of demons, styled
Baalim."--_Analysts of Anc. Mythol._ vol. iii. p. 431.

[102] The remarks of Mr. Duncan on this subject are well worth perusal.
"Light has always formed one of the primary objects of heathen adoration.
The glorious spectacle of animated nature would lose all its interest if
man were deprived of vision, and light extinguished; for that which is
unseen and unknown becomes, for all practical purposes, as valueless as if
it were non-existent. Light is a source of positive happiness; without it,
man could barely exist; and since all religious opinion is based on the
ideas of pleasure and pain, and the corresponding sensations of hope and
fear, it is not to be wondered if the heathen reverenced light. Darkness,
on the contrary, by replunging nature, as it were, into a state of
nothingness, and depriving man of the pleasurable emotions conveyed
through the organ of sight, was ever held in abhorrence, as a source of
misery and fear. The two opposite conditions in which man thus found
himself placed, occasioned by the enjoyment or the banishment of light,
induced him to imagine the existence of two antagonist principles in
nature, to whose dominion he was alternately subject. Light multiplied his
enjoyments, and darkness diminished them. The former, accordingly, became
his friend, and the latter his enemy. The words 'light' and 'good,' and
'darkness' and 'evil,' conveyed similar ideas, and became, in sacred
language, synonymous terms. But as good and evil were not supposed to flow
from one and the same source, no more than light and darkness were
supposed to have a common origin, two distinct and independent principles
were established, totally different in their nature, of opposite
characters, pursuing a conflicting line of action, and creating
antagonistic effects. Such was the origin of this famous dogma, recognized
by all the heathens, and incorporated with all the sacred fables,
cosmogonies, and mysteries of antiquity."--_The Religions of Profane
Antiquity_, p. 186.

[103] See the "Bhagvat Geeta," one of the religious books of Brahminism. A
writer in Blackwood, in an article on the "Castes and Creeds of India,"
vol. lxxxi. p. 316, thus accounts for the adoration of light by the early
nations of the world: "Can we wonder at the worship of light by those
early nations? Carry our thoughts back to their remote times, and our only
wonder would be if they did not so adore it. The sun is life as well as
light to all that is on the earth--as we of the present day know even
better than they of old. Moving in dazzling radiance or brilliant-hued
pageantry through the sky, scanning in calm royalty all that passes below,
it seems the very god of this fair world, which lives and blooms but in
his smile."

[104] The _Institutes of Menu_, which are the acknowledged code of the
Brahmins, inform us that "the world was all darkness, undiscernible,
undistinguishable altogether, as in a profound sleep, till the
self-existent, invisible God, making it manifest with five elements and
other glorious forms, perfectly dispelled the gloom."--Sir WILLIAM JONES,
_On the Gods of Greece. Asiatic Researches_, i. 244.

Among the Rosicrucians, who have, by some, been improperly confounded with
the Freemasons, the word _lux_ was used to signify a knowledge of the
philosopher's stone, or the great desideratum of a universal elixir and a
universal menstruum. This was their _truth_.

[105] On Symbolic Colors, p. 23, Inman's translation.

[106] Freemasonry having received the name of _lux_, or light, its
disciples have, very appropriately, been called "the Sons of Light." Thus
Burns, in his celebrated Farewell:--

"Oft have I met your social band,
And spent the cheerful, festive night;
Oft, honored with supreme command,
Presided o'er the _sons of light_."

[107] Thus defined: "The stone which lies at the corner of two walls, and
unites them; the principal stone, and especially the stone which forms the
corner of the foundation of an edifice."--Webster.

[108] Among the ancients the corner-stone of important edifices was laid
with impressive ceremonies. These are well described by Tacitus, in his
history of the rebuilding of the Capitol. After detailing the preliminary
ceremonies which consisted in a procession of vestals, who with chaplets
of flowers encompassed the ground and consecrated it by libations of
living water, he adds that, after solemn prayer, Helvidius, to whom the
care of rebuilding the Capitol had been committed, "laid his hand upon the
fillets that adorned the foundation stone, and also the cords by which it
was to be drawn to its place. In that instant the magistrates, the
priests, the senators, the Roman knights, and a number of citizens, all
acting with one effort and general demonstrations of joy, laid hold of the
ropes and dragged the ponderous load to its destined spot. They then threw
in ingots of gold and silver, and other metals, which had never been
melted in the furnace, but still retained, untouched by human art, their
first formation in the bowels of the earth."--_Tac. Hist._, 1. iv. c. 53,
Murphy's transl.

[109] As, for instance, in Psalm cxviii. 22, "The stone which the builders
refused is become the head-stone of the corner," which, Clarke says,
"seems to have been originally spoken of David, who was at first rejected
by the Jewish rulers, but was afterwards chosen by the Lord to be the
great ruler of his people in Israel;" and in Isaiah xxviii. 16, "Behold, I
lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
corner-stone, a sure foundation," which clearly refers to the promised
Messiah.

[110] 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.

[111] "The square teaches us to regulate our conduct by the principles 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 finished."

[112] Aristotle.

[113] "The cube is a symbol of truth, of wisdom, and moral perfection. 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.

[114] 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."

[115] "Give unto Jehovah the glory due unto His name; worship Jehovah in
the beauty of holiness."--_Psalm_ xxix. 2.

[116] It is at least a singular coincidence that in the Brahminical
religion great respect was paid to the north-east point of the heavens.
Thus it is said in the Institutes of Menu, "If he has any incurable
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."

[117] This symbolism of the double position of the corner-stone has not
escaped the attention of the religious symbologists. Etsius, an early
commentator, in 1682, referring to the passage in Ephesians ii. 20, says,
"That is called the corner-stone, or chief corner-stone, which is placed
in the extreme angle of a foundation, conjoining 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 century, 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 aequata moderatione
conjungit, i.e., Veteris et Novi Testamenti in unum colligit gentes."--_De
Errore profan. Religionum_, chap. xxi.

[118] This permanence of position was also attributed to those cubical
stones among the Romans which represented the statues of the god Terminus.
They could never lawfully be removed from the spot which they occupied.
Hence, 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, says Dudley, "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."--DUDLEY'S
_Naology_, p 145.

[119] Dudley's Naology, p. 476.

[120] Masonic Discourses, Dis. iv. p. 81.

[121] "The act of consecration chiefly consisted in the unction, which was
a ceremony derived from the most primitive antiquity. The sacred
tabernacle, with all the vessels and utensils, as also the altar and the
priests themselves, were consecrated in this manner by Moses, at the
divine command. It is well known that the Jewish kings and prophets were
admitted to their several offices by unction. The patriarch Jacob, by the
same right, consecrated the altars which he made use of; in doing which it
is more probable that he followed the tradition of his forefathers, than
that he was the author of this custom. The same, or something like it, was
also continued down to the times of Christianity."--POTTER'S
_Archaeologia Graeca_, b. ii. p. 176.

[122] From the Greek τετρὰς, four, and γράμμα, letter, because it is
composed of four Hebrew letters. Brande thus defines it: "Among several
ancient nations, the name of the mystic number _four_, which was often
symbolized to represent the Deity, whose name was expressed by four
letters." But this definition is incorrect. The tetragrammaton is not the
name of the number _four_, but the word which expresses the name of God in
four letters, and is always applied to the Hebrew word only.

[123] Exod. iii. 15. In our common version of the Bible, the word "Lord"
is substituted for "Jehovah," whence the true import of the original is
lost.

[124] Exod. vi. 2. 3.

[125] "The Jews have many superstitious stories and opinions relative to
this name, which, because they were forbidden to mention _in vain_, they
would not mention _at all_. They substituted _Adonai_, &c., in its room,
whenever it occurred to them in reading or speaking, or else simply and
emphatically styled it םשה _the Name_. Some of them attributed
to a certain repetition of this name the virtue of a charm, and others
have had the boldness to assert that our blessed Savior wrought all his
miracles (for they do not deny them to be such) by that mystical use of
this venerable name. See the _Toldoth Jeschu_, an infamously scurrilous
life of Jesus, written by a Jew not later than the thirteenth century. On
p. 7, edition of Wagenseilius, 1681, is a succinct detail of the manner in
which our Savior is said to have entered the temple and obtained
possession of the Holy Name. Leusden says that he had offered to give a
sum of money to a very poor Jew at Amsterdam, if he would only once
deliberately pronounce the name _Jehovah_; but he refused it by saying
that he did not dare."--_Horae Solitariae_, vol. i. p. 3.--"A Brahmin will
not pronounce the name of the Almighty, without drawing down his sleeve
and placing it on his mouth with fear and trembling."--MURRAY, _Truth of
Revelation_, p. 321.

[126] The same scrupulous avoidance of a strict translation has been
pursued in other versions. For Jehovah, the Septuagint substitutes
"Κύριος," the Vulgate "Dominus," and the German "der Herr," all
equivalent to "the Lord." The French version uses the title "l'Eternel."
But, with a better comprehension of the value of the word, Lowth in his
"Isaiah," the Swedenborgian version of the Psalms, and some other recent
versions, have restored the original name.

[127] In the Talmudical treatise, _Majan Hachochima_, quoted by Stephelin
(Rabbinical Literature, i. p. 131), we are informed that rightly to
understand the shem hamphorash is a key to the unlocking of all mysteries.
"There," says the treatise, "shalt thou understand the words of men, the
words of cattle, the singing of birds, the language of beasts, the barking
of dogs, the language of devils, the language of ministering angels, the
language of date-trees, the motion of the sea, the unity of hearts, and
the murmuring of the tongue--nay, even the thoughts of the reins."

[128] The gamma, Γ, or Greek letter G, is said to have been sacred among
the Pythagoreans as the initial of Γεωμειρία or Geometry.

[129] Vide Oliver, _Hist. Init._ p. 68, note.

[130] Jamblichus says that Pythagoras passed over from Miletus to Sidon,
thinking that he could thence go more easily into Egypt, and that while
there he caused himself to be initiated into all the mysteries of Byblos
and Tyre, and those which were practised in many parts of Syria, not
because he was under the influence of any superstitious motives, but from
the fear that if he were not to avail himself of these opportunities, he
might neglect to acquire some knowledge in those rites which was worthy of
observation. But as these mysteries were originally received by the
Phoenicians from Egypt, he passed over into that country, where he
remained twenty-two years, occupying himself in the study of geometry,
astronomy, and all the initiations of the gods (πάσας θεῶν τελετάς), until
he was carried a captive into Babylon by the soldiers of Cambyses, and
that twelve years afterwards he returned to Samos at the age of sixty
years.--_Vit. Pythag_, cap. iii., iv.

[131] "The sacred words were intrusted to him, of which the Ineffable
Tetractys, or name of God, was the chief."--OLIVER, _Hist. Init._ p. 109.

[132] "Hu, the mighty, whose history as a patriarch is precisely that of
Noah, was promoted to the rank of the principal demon-god among the
Britons; and, as his chariot was composed of rays of the sun, it may be
presumed that he was worshipped in conjunction with that luminary, and to
the same superstition we may refer what is said of his light and swift
course."--DAVIES, _Mythol. and Rites of the Brit. Druids_, p. 110.

[133] "All the male gods (of the ancients) may be reduced to one, the
generative energy; and all the female to one, the prolific principle. In
fact, they may all be included in the one great Hermaphrodite, the
ἀῥῤενοθηλυς who combines in his nature all the elements of production, and
who continues to support the vast creation which originally proceeded from
his will."--RUSSELL'S _Connection_, i. p. 402.

[134] It is a tradition that it was pronounced in the following seven
different ways by the patriarchs, from Methuselah to David, viz.: _Juha,
Jeva, Jova, Jevo, Jeveh, Johe_, and _Jehovah_. In all these words the _j_
is to be pronounced as _y_, the _a_ as _ah_, the _e_ as a, and the _v_ as
_w_.

[135] The _i_ is to be pronounced as _e_, and the whole word as if spelled
in English _ho-he_.

[136] In the apocryphal "Book of the Conversation of God with Moses on
Mount Sinai," translated by the Rev. W. Cureton from an Arabic MS. of the
fifteenth century, and published by the Philobiblon Society of London, the
idea of the eternal watchfulness of God is thus beautifully allegorized:--

"Then Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, dost thou sleep or not? The Lord
said unto Moses, I never sleep: but take a cup and fill it with water.
Then Moses took a cup and filled it with water, as the Lord commanded him.
Then the Lord cast into the heart of Moses the breath of slumber; so he
slept, and the cup fell from his hand, and the water which was therein was
spilled. Then Moses awoke from his sleep. Then said God to Moses, I
declare by my power, and by my glory, that if I were to withdraw my
providence from the heavens and the earth for no longer a space of time
than thou hast slept, they would at once fall to ruin and confusion, like
as the cup fell from thy hand."

[137] I have in my possession a rare copy of the Vulgate Bible, in black
letter, printed at Lyons, in 1522. The frontispiece is a coarsely executed
wood cut, divided into six compartments, and representing the six days of
the creation. The Father is, in each compartment, pictured as an aged man
engaged in his creative task.

[138] Christian Iconography, Millington's trans., vol. i. p. 59.

[139] The triangle, or delta, is the symbol of Deity for this reason. In
geometry a single line cannot represent a perfect figure; neither can two
lines; three lines, however, constitute the triangle or first perfect and
demonstrable figure. Hence this figure symbolizes the Eternal God,
infinitely perfect in his nature. But the triangle properly refers to God
only in his quality as an Eternal Being, its three sides representing the
Past, the Present, and the Future. Some Christian symbologists have made
the three sides represent the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but they
evidently thereby destroy the divine unity, making a trinity of Gods in
the unity of a Godhead. The Gnostic trinity of Manes consisted of one God
and two principles, one of good and the other of evil. The Indian trinity,
symbolized also by the triangle, consisted of Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu,
the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, represented by Earth, Water, and
Air. This symbolism of the Eternal God by the triangle is the reason why a
trinitarian scheme has been so prevalent in all religions--the three sides
naturally suggesting the three divisions of the Godhead. But in the Pagan
and Oriental religions this trinity was nothing else but a tritheism.

[140] Noachidae, or Noachites, the descendants of Noah. This patriarch
having alone preserved the true name and worship of God amid a race of
impious idolaters, the Freemasons claim to be his descendants, because
they preserve that pure religion which distinguished this second father of
the human race from the rest of the world. (See the author's _Lexicon of
Freemasonry_.) The Tyrian workmen at the temple of Solomon were the
descendants of that other division of the race who fell off, at Shinar,
from the true worship, and repudiated the principles of Noah. The Tyrians,
however, like many other ancient mystics, had recovered some portion of
the lost light, and the complete repossession was finally achieved by
their union with the Jewish masons, who were Noachidae.

[141] "A mythis omnis priscorum hominum tum historia tum philosophia
procedit."--_Ad Apollod. Athen. Biblioth. not._ f. p. 3.--And Faber says,
"Allegory and personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of
antiquity; and the simplicity of truth was continually sacrificed at the
shrine of poetical decoration."--_On the Cabiri._

[142] See Grote, History of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 479, whence this
definition has been substantially derived. The definitions of Creuzer,
Hermann, Buttmann, Heyne, Welcker, Voss, and Müller are none of them
Better, and some of them not as good.

[143] Hist. of Greece, vol. i. ch. xvi. p. 579. The idea of the existence
of an enlightened people, who lived at a remote era, and came from the
East, was a very prevalent notion among the ancient traditions. It is
corroborative of this that the Hebrew word םדֶקֶ, _kedem_,
signifies, in respect to place, _the east_, and, in respect to time,
_olden time, ancient days_. The phrase in Isaiah xix. 11, which reads, "I
am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings," might just as well have
been translated "the son of kings of the East." In a note to the passage
Ezek. xliii. 2, "the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the
East," Adam Clarke says, "All knowledge, all religion, and all arts and
sciences, have travelled, according to the _course of the sun_, FROM EAST
TO WEST!" Bazot tells us (in his Manuel du Franc-maçon, p. 154) that "the
veneration which masons entertain for the east confirms an opinion
previously announced, that the religious system of Masonry came from the
east, and has reference to the _primitive religion_, whose first
corruption was the worship of the sun." And lastly, the masonic reader
will recollect the answer given in the Leland MS. to the question
respecting the origin of Masonry, namely, "It did begin" (I modernize the
orthography) "with the first men in the east, which were before the first
men of the west; and coming westerly, it hath brought herewith all
comforts to the wild and comfortless." Locke's commentary on this answer
may conclude this note: "It should seem, by this, that masons believe
there were men in the east before Adam, who is called the 'first man of
the west,' and that arts and sciences began in the east. Some authors, of
great note for learning, have been of the same opinion; and it is certain
that Europe and Africa (which, in respect to Asia, may be called western
countries) were wild and savage long after arts and politeness of manners
were in great perfection in China and the Indies." The Talmudists make the
same allusions to the superiority of the east. Thus, Rabbi Bechai says,
"Adam was created with his face towards the east that he might behold the
light and the rising sun, whence the east was to him the anterior part of
the world."

[144] Strauss makes a division of myths into historical, philosophical,
and poetical.--_Leben Jesu._--His poetical myth agrees with my first
division, his philosophical with my second, and his historical with my
third. But I object to the word _poetical_, as a distinctive term, because
all myths have their foundation in the poetic idea.

[145] Ulmann, for instance, distinguishes between a myth and a legend--the
former containing, to a great degree, fiction combined with history, and
the latter having but a few faint echoes of mythical history.

[146] In his "Prolegomena zu einer wissenshaftlichen Mythologie," cap. iv.
This valuable work was translated in 1844, by Mr. John Leitch.

[147] Historical Landmarks, i. 53.

[148] See an article, by the author, on "The Unwritten Landmarks of
Freemasonry," in the first volume of the Masonic Miscellany, in which this
subject is treated at considerable length.

[149] As a matter of some interest to the curious reader, I insert the
legend as published in the Gentleman's Magazine of June, 1815, from, it is
said, a parchment roll supposed to have been written early in the
seventeenth century, and which, if so, was in all probability copied from
one of an older date:--

"Moreover, when Abraham and Sara his wife went into Egipt, there he taught
the Seaven Scyences to the Egiptians; and he had a worthy Scoller that
height Ewclyde, and he learned right well, and was a master of all the vij
Sciences liberall. And in his dayes it befell that the lord and the
estates of the realme had soe many sonns that they had gotten some by
their wifes and some by other ladyes of the realme; for that land is a
hott land and a plentious of generacion. And they had not competent
livehode to find with their children; wherefor they made much care. And
then the King of the land made a great counsell and a parliament, to witt,
how they might find their children honestly as gentlemen. And they could
find no manner of good way. And then they did crye through all the realme,
if there were any man that could enforme them, that he should come to
them, and he should be soe rewarded for his travail, that he should hold
him pleased.

"After that this cry was made, then came this worthy clarke Ewclyde, and
said to the King and to all his great lords: 'If yee will, take me your
children to governe, and to teach them one of the Seaven Scyences,
wherewith they may live honestly as gentlemen should, under a condicion
that yee will grant mee and them a commission that I may have power to
rule them after the manner that the science ought to be ruled.' And that
the Kinge and all his counsell granted to him anone, and sealed their
commission. And then this worthy tooke to him these lords' sonns, and
taught them the science of Geometric in practice, for to work in stones
all manner of worthy worke that belongeth to buildinge churches, temples,
castells, towres, and mannors, and all other manner of buildings."

[150] Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. I p. 393.

[151] 1 Kings vi. 8.

[152] An allusion to this symbolism is retained in one of the well-known
mottoes of the order--"_Lux e tenebris._"

[153] "An allegory is that in which, under borrowed characters and
allusions, is shadowed some real action or moral instruction; or, to keep
more strictly to its derivation (ἄλλος, _alius_, and ἀγορεύω, _dico_), it
is that in which one thing is related and another thing is understood.
Hence it is apparent that an allegory must have two senses--the literal
and mystical; and for that reason it must convey its instruction under
borrowed characters and allusions throughout."--_The Antiquity, Evidence,
and Certainty of Christianity canvassed, or Dr. Middleton's Examination of
the Bishop of London's Discourses on Prophecy. By Anselm Bayly, LL.B.,
Minor Canon of St. Paul's._ Lond, 1751.

[154] The words themselves are purely classical, but the meanings here
given to them are of a mediaeval or corrupt Latinity. Among the old
Romans, a _trivium_ meant a place where three ways met, and a _quadrivium_
where four, or what we now call a _cross-road_. When we speak of the
_paths of learning_, we readily discover the origin of the signification
given by the scholastic philosophers to these terms.

[155] Hist. of Philos. vol. ii. p. 337.

[156] Such a talisman was the following figure:--

-----------
| 8 | 1 | 6 |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 5 | 7 |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 9 | 2 |
-----------


[157] Anderson's Constitutions, 2d ed. 1738, p. 14.

[158] Anderson's Constitutions, 3d ed. 1756, p. 24.

[159] "The hidden doctrines of the unity of the Deity and the immortality
of the soul were originally in all the Mysteries, even those of Cupid and
Bacchus."--WARBURTON, _in Spence's Anecdotes_, p. 309.

[160] "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."--GROTE, _Hist. of Greece_, vol. i. ch. xvi. p.
579.--And the Chevalier Ramsay corroborates this theory: "Vestiges of the
most sublime truths are to be found in the sages of all nations, times,
and religions, both sacred and profane, and these vestiges are emanations
of the antediluvian and noevian tradition, more or less disguised and
adulterated."--_Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion
unfolded in a Geometrical Order_, vol. 1, p. iv.

[161] Of this there is abundant evidence in all the ancient and modern
writers on the Mysteries. Apuleius, cautiously describing his initiation
into the Mysteries of Isis, says, "I approached the confines of death, and
having trod on the threshold of Proserpine, I returned therefrom, being
borne through all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its
brilliant light; and I approached the presence of the gods beneath, and
the gods of heaven, and stood near and worshipped them."--_Metam._ lib.
vi. The context shows that all this was a scenic representation.

[162] _Aish hakam iodea binah_, "a cunning man, endued with
understanding," is the description given by the king of Tyre of Hiram
Abif. See 2 Chron. ii. 13. It is needless to say that "cunning" is a good
old Saxon word meaning _skilful_.

[163]

"Pronaque cum spectent animalia cætera terram;
Os homini sublime dedit: coelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus."

OVID, _Met._ i. 84. P/

"Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies."

DRYDEN.

[164] "Ἀφανισμὸς, disappearance, destruction, a perishing, death, from
ἀφανίζω, to remove from one's view, to conceal," &c.--_Schrevel. Lex._

[165] "Εῦρεσις, a finding, invention, discovery."--_Schrevel. Lex._

[166] A French writer of the last century, speaking of the degree of "Très
Parfait Maitre," says, "C'est ici qu'on voit réellement qu'Hiram n'a été
que le type de Jésus Christ, que le temple et les autres symboles
maçonniques sont des allegories relatives à l'Eglise, à la Foi, et aux
bonnes moeurs."--_Origine et Objet de la Franchemaçonnerie, par le F.B._
Paris, 1774.

[167] "This our order is a positive contradiction to the Judaic blindness
and infidelity, and testifies our faith concerning the resurrection of the
body."--HUTCHINSON, _Spirit of Masonry_, lect. ix. p. 101.--The whole
lecture is occupied in advancing and supporting his peculiar theory.

[168] "Thus, then, it appears that the historical reference of the legend
of Speculative Freemasonry, in all ages of the world, was--to our death in
Adam and life in Christ. What, then, was the origin of our tradition? Or,
in other words, to what particular incident did the legend of initiation
refer before the flood? I conceive it to have been the offering and
assassination of Abel by his brother Cain; the escape of the murderer; the
discovery of the body by his disconsolate parents, and its subsequent
interment, under a certain belief of its final resurrection from the dead,
and of the detection and punishment of Cain by divine vengeance."--OLIVER,
_Historical Landmarks of Freemasonry_, vol. ii. p. 171.

[169] "Le grade de Maître va donc nous retracer allegoriquement la mort du
_dieu-lumière_--mourant en hiver pour reparaître et ressusciter au
printemps."--RAGON, _Cours Philos. et Interp. des Init._ p. 158.

[170] "Dans l'ordre moral, Hiram n'est autre chose que la raison
éternelle, par qui tout est pondéré, réglé, conservé."--DES ETANGS,
_Œuvres Maçonniques_, p. 90.

[171] With the same argument would I meet the hypothesis that Hiram was
the representative of Charles I. of England--an hypothesis now so
generally abandoned, that I have not thought it worth noticing in the
text.

[172] "The initiation into the Mysteries," he says, "scenically
represented the mythic descent into Hades and the return from thence to
the light of day; by which was meant the entrance into the Ark and the
subsequent liberation from its dark enclosure. Such Mysteries were
established in almost every part of the pagan world; and those of Ceres
were substantially the same as the Orgies of Adonis, Osiris, Hu, Mithras,
and the Cabiri. They all equally related to the allegorical disappearance,
or death, or descent of the great father at their commencement, and to his
invention, or revival, or return from Hades, at their conclusion."--_Origin
of Pagan Idolatry_, vol. iv. b. iv. ch. v. p. 384--But this Arkite
theory, as it is called, has not met with the general approbation of
subsequent writers.

[173] Mount Calvary is a small hill or eminence, situated in a westerly
direction from that Mount Moriah on which the temple of Solomon was built.
It was originally a hillock of notable eminence, but has, in modern times,
been greatly reduced by the excavations made in it for the construction of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Buckingham, in his Palestine, p. 283,
says, "The present rock, called Calvary, and enclosed within the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, bears marks, in every part that is naked, of its
having been a round nodule of rock standing above the common level of the
surface."

[174] Dr. Beard, in the art. "Golgotha," in Kitto's Encyc. of Bib. Lit.,
reasons in a similar method as to the place of the crucifixion, and
supposing that the soldiers, from the fear of a popular tumult, would
hurry Jesus to the most convenient spot for execution, says, "Then the
road to Joppa or Damascus would be most convenient, and no spot in the
vicinity would probably be so suitable as the slight rounded elevation
which bore the name of Calvary."

[175] Some have supposed that it was so called because it was the place of
public execution. _Gulgoleth_ in Hebrew, or _gogultho_ in Syriac, means _a
skull_.

[176] Quoted in Oliver, _Landmarks_, vol. i. p. 587, note.

[177] Oliver's idea (_Landmarks_, ii. 149) that _cassia_ has, since the
year 1730, been corrupted into _acacia_, is contrary to all etymological
experience. Words are corrupted, not by lengthening, but by abbreviating
them. The uneducated and the careless are always prone to cut off a
syllable, not to add a new one.

[178] And yet I have been surprised by seeing, once or twice, the word
"Cassia" adopted as the name of a lodge. "Cinnamon" or "sandal wood" would
have been as appropriate, for any masonic meaning or symbolism.

[179] Eclog. ii. 49.

"Pallentes violas et summa papavera carpens,
Narcissum et florem jungit benè olentis anethi:
Tum casia, atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis,
Mollia luteola pingit vaccinia, caltha."

[180] Exod. xxx. 24, Ezek. xxvii. 9, and Ps. xlv. 8.

[181] Oliver, it is true, says, that "there is not the smallest trace of
any tree of the kind growing so far north as Jerusalem" (_Landm._ ii.
136); but this statement is refuted by the authority of Lieutenant Lynch,
who saw it growing in great abundance at Jericho, and still farther
north.--_Exped. to the Dead Sea_, p. 262.--The Rabbi Joseph Schwarz, who
is excellent authority, says, "The Acacia (Shittim) Tree, Al Sunt, is
found in Palestine of different varieties; it looks like the Mulberry
tree, attains a great height, and has a hard wood. The gum which is
obtained from it is the gum Arabic."--_Descriptive Geography and
Historical Sketch of Palestine_, p. 308, Leeser's translation. Phila.,
1850.--Schwarz was for sixteen years a resident of Palestine, and wrote
from personal observation. The testimony of Lynch and Schwarz should,
therefore, forever settle the question of the existence of the acacia in
Palestine.

[182] Calmet, Parkhurst, Gesenius, Clarke, Shaw, and all the best
authorities, concur in saying that the _otzi shittim_, or shittim wood of
Exodus, was the common acacia or mimosa nilotica of Linnæus.

[183] "This custom among the Hebrews arose from this circumstance.
Agreeably to their laws, no dead bodies were allowed to be interred within
the walls of the city; and as the Cohens, or priests, were prohibited from
crossing a grave, it was necessary to place marks thereon, that they might
avoid them. For this purpose the acacia was used."--DALCHO, _Oration_, p.
27, note.--I object to the reason assigned by Dalcho; but of the existence
of the custom there can be no question, notwithstanding the denial or
doubt of Dr. Oliver. Blount (_Travels in the Levant_, p. 197) says,
speaking of the Jewish burial customs, "those who bestow a marble stone
over any [grave] have a hole a yard long and a foot broad, in which _they
plant an evergreen_, which seems to grow from the body, and is carefully
watched." Hasselquist (_Travels_, p. 28) confirms his testimony. I borrow
the citations from Brown (_Antiquities of the Jews_, vol. ii. p. 356), but
have verified the reference to Hasselquist. The work of Blount I have not
been enabled to consult.

[184] Antiquities of Greece, p. 569.

[185] Dr. Crucefix, MS., quoted by Oliver, _Landmarks_, ii. 2.

[186] Spirit of Masonry, lect. ix. p. 99.

[187] The Temple of Solomon, ch. ix. p. 233.

[188] It is probable that the quince derived this symbolism, like the
acacia, from its name; for there seems to be some connection between the
Greek word ϗυδώνιος, which means _a quince_, and the participle ϗυδίων,
which signifies _rejoicing, exulting_. But this must have been an
afterthought, for the name is derived from Cydon, in Crete, of which
island the quince is a native.

[189] Desprez, speaking of the palm as an emblem of victory, says
(_Comment. in Horat. Od._ I. i. 5), "Palma verò signum victoriae passim
apud omnes statuitur, ex Plutarcho, propterea quod ea est ejus natura
ligni, ut urgentibus opprimentibusque minimè cedat. Unde est illud Alciati
epigramma,--

'Nititur in pondus palma, et consurgit in altum:
Quoque magis premitur, hoc magè tollit onus.'"

It is in the eighth book of his Symposia that Plutarch states this
peculiar property of the palm to resist the oppression of any
superincumbent weight, and to rise up against it, whence it was adopted as
the symbol of victory. Cowley also alludes to it in his _Davideis_.

"Well did he know how palms by oppression speed
Victorious, and the victor's sacred meed."


[190] "Rosemary was anciently supposed to strengthen the memory, and was
not only carried at funerals, but worn at weddings."--STEEVENS, _Notes on
Hamlet_, a. iv. s. 5.--Douce (_Illustrations of Shakspeare_, i. 345) gives
the following old song in reference to this subject:--

"Rosemarie is for remembrance
Betweene us daie and night,
Wishing that I might always have
You present in my sight."

[191] Ste. Croix (_Recherches sur les Mystères_, i. 56) says that in the
Samothracian Mysteries it was forbidden to put parsley on the table,
because, according to the mystagogues, it had been produced by the blood
of Cadmillus, slain by his brothers.

[192] "The Hindoos," says Faber, "represent their mundane lotus, as having
four large leaves and four small leaves placed alternately, while from the
centre of the flower rises a protuberance. Now, the circular cup formed by
the eight leaves they deem a symbol of the earth, floating on the surface
of the ocean, and consisting of four large continents and four
intermediate smaller islands; while the centrical protuberance is viewed
by them as representing their sacred Mount Menu."--_Communication to Gent.
Mag._ vol. lxxxvi. p. 408.

[193] The _erica arborea_ or tree heath.

[194] Ragon thus alludes to this mystical event: "Isis found the body of
Osiris in the neighborhood of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the
_erica_. Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a
fountain, whose waters issued from a rock. This rock is the _small hill
_mentioned in the ritual; the erica has been replaced by the acacia, and
the grief of Isis has been changed for that of the fellow crafts."--_Cours
des Initiations_, p. 151.

[195] It is singular, and perhaps significant, that the word _eriko_, in
Greek, ἐρίϗω, whence _erica_ is probably derived, means _to break in
pieces, to mangle_.

[196] Histoire Pittoresque des Religions, t. i. p. 217.

[197] According to Toland (_Works_, i. 74), the festival of searching,
cutting, and consecrating the mistletoe, took place on the 10th of March,
or New Year's day. "This," he says, "is the ceremony to which Virgil
alludes, by his _golden branch_, in the Sixth Book of the Æneid." No doubt
of it; for all these sacred plants had a common origin in some ancient and
general symbolic idea.

[198] "Under this branch is figured the wreath of myrtle, with which the
initiated were crowned at the celebration of the Mysteries."--WARBURTON,
_Divine Legation_, vol. i. p. 299.

[199] "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Gen. iii. 19. Bush
interprets the decree to mean that "some species of toilsome occupation is
the appointed lot of all men."

[200] Aristotle says, "He that cannot contract society with others, or
who, through his own self-sufficiency αὐτάρϗειαν, does not need it, forms
no part of the community, but is either a wild beast or a god."

[201] "Der Arbeiter," says Lenning, "ist der symbolische Name eines
Freimaurers"--the Workman is the symbolic name of a Freemason.--_Encyclop.
der Fraumererei._

[202] John iii. 19-21.

[203] I Corinth, iii. 9.

[204] Orbis Miraculum, or the Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture
Light, ch. ix. p. 192. London, 1659.

[205] Swedenborg a Hermetic Philosopher, &c., p. 210. The object of the
author is to show that the Swedish sage was an adept, and that his
writings may be interpreted from the point of view of Hermetic philosophy.

[206] Cours Philosophique et Interprétatif des Initiations Anciennes et
Modernes, p. 99.

[207] Ibid., p. 176.

[208] Histoire Générale de la Franc-maçonnerie, p. 52.

[209] Histoire de la Magie, liv. v. ch. vii. p. 100.

[210] Vorlesung über das Symbol des Tempels, in the "Jarbüchern der Gross.
Loge Roy. York zur Freundschaft," cited by Lenning, Encyc., voc. _Tempel_.

[211] In an Essay on the Masonic Idea of Man's Destination, cited by
Lenning, _ut supra_, from the Altenburg _Zeitschift der Freimaurerei_.

[212] Cited by Lenning, _ut sup._

[213] Thus Dr. Oliver, while treating of the relation of the temple to the
lodge, thus briefly alludes to this important symbol: "As our ancient
brethren erected a material temple, without the use of axe, hammer, or
metal tool, so is our moral temple constructed."--_Historical Landmarks_,
lect. xxxi.

[214] System of Speculative Masonry, ch. vi. p. 63.

[215] On the Speculative Temple--an essay read in 1861 before the Grand
Lodge of Alabama.

[216] A portion of this essay, but in a very abridged form, was used by
the author in his work on "Cryptic Masonry."

[217] Hist. Landmarks, i. 459, note 52.

[218] הייתש ךבא See the Gemara and Buxtorf Lex. Talm., p. 2541.

[219] Job xxxviii. 4-7.

[220] A New Translation of the Book of Job, notes, p. 196.

[221] In voc. הייתש, where some other curious extracts from the
Talmud and Talmudic writers on the subject of the Stone of Foundation are
given.

[222] Sepher Toldoth Jeshu, p. 6. The abominably scurrilous character of
this work aroused the indignation of the Christians, who, in the fifteenth
century, were not distinguished for a spirit of tolerance, and the Jews,
becoming alarmed, made every effort to suppress it. But, in 1681, it was
republished by Wagenselius in his "Tela Ignea Satanae," with a Latin
translation.

[223] Comment, on Gen. xxviii. 18.

[224] "Ni fallit fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem, regnare
tenentur ibidem."

[225] Old and New Testament connected, vol. i. p. 148.

[226] The Temple of Solomon, pourtrayed by Scripture Light, ch. ix. p.
194. Of the Mysteries laid up in the Foundation of the Temple.

[227] See Pausanias, lib. iv.

[228] The "Disputationes adversus Gentes" of Arnobius supplies us with a
fund of information on the symbolism of the classic mythology.

[229] Naology, ch. iii. p. 119.

[230] Cornut. de Nat. Deor. c. 16.

[231] Essais sur les Fables, t. i. lett. 2. p. 9.

[232] Bosworth (_Aug. Sax. Dict._) defines _treowth_ to signify "troth,
truth, treaty, league, pledge, covenant."





End of Project Gutenberg's The Symbolism of Freemasonry, by Albert G. Mackey