Biblical Content and/or Christian Interpretation of Masonry

[Rev Wayne]

1

Dr. George W. Gilmore, Editor of the Homiletic Review, and Chaplain of Anglo-Saxon Lodge, No. 137, New York City, prepared for us the following address for use in presenting a Bible to the newly raised Freemason: My Brother: Already this evening your earnest attention has been called to the three Great Lights in Masonry, especially to the Holy Bible. its importance to the whole Masonic structure has been emphasized. As you observe it now on the sacred Altar of the Brotherhood, its position is emblematic of the significance already taught you. Just as it is the basis on which the other two Great Lights rest, so its highest teachings are the foundation on which Freemasonry is erected, and they have been commended to you as the basis of your own faith and practice.
There is, however, a condition in this recommendation implicit, in part, in the circumstances under which you entered this lodge. Among the qualifications claimed for you as warranting your admission to this place one was that you are " of lawful age."
This was not insignificant. it meant that the Lodge was receiving you as one possessing mature judgment and the ability of a man to follow his judgment with the appropriate will to action. Freemasonry, my Brother, looks for no blind obedience to its commands. lt expects that its adherents will focus upon its mandates their God-given powers of intellect, and is confident that its precepts and its works will be justified by a mature and considered estimate of their worth. Hence, in so important a matter as that which concerns your own "faith and practice," you are commanded to study this sacred book and "learn the way to everlasting life," to read it intelligently and with as full appreciation of its origin and growth as you may command.
You should realize, first, that this Book is not, speaking humanly, the product of a single mind, the reflection of one generation. It is a double collection of many tracts or treatises.
How many hands contributed to the composition we do not now know and probably never shall.
Some of its parts are highly complex, the product of whole schools of thought, ritual, and learning.
Its outstanding unity, however, rests upon the sublime fact that the mind of the Great Architect of the Universe has, in all ages and places, been in contact with the mind of His sons, imparting to them as their capacities permitted, inspiring their sublimest thoughts and guiding to their noblest action, and was in contact with those who penned these books.
Second, this sacred volume covers in the period when it was actually written possibly nearly or quite thirteen hundred years-at least from the time of Moses to ths day, when 2 Peter was written.
And much earlier traditions, handed down by word of mouth (just as the teachings of Freemasonry are transmitted), are embodied within its pages.
The Old Testament records the history of a people from that people's unification out of clans and tribes to its formation as a monarchy, its division, its subsequent decline and fall as a kingdom, and its rebirth as a church state or theocracy. External history, not recorded within the Bible, tells of the extinction of this church-state by the Romans.
The history recorded in the Old Testament relates not only to external events, but to the more important matters of religion and ethics. It embraces not only the perfected thought of 1000 years of development, but also the crude morality of nomad tribes when "an eye tor an eye" registered the current conception of justice.
It is a far cry from that crude and cruel morality to the teaching of Micah: ''What doth Jehovah require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And the advance proceeds as we reach the New Testament. There we find such a consummate climax of religion and morality as is reached in the summary of the commandments:" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God With all thy heart and With all thy soul and With all thy mind and With all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself," conjoined with such peaks of self-control as in the command: " Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you."
The Bible is not, then, one dead level of ethics, religion, or culture. It is the register of a progress from a primitive stage of morals to the highest yet known. Not the inferior starting points of this morality are commended to you, but that level of action which best befits a man who would act on the square in this age of enlightenment.
If, therefore, you find in the record the sharp-practice of a Jacob or the polygamy of a Jacob or a Solomon, it is not there as a pattern. for your own life and practice. It is, just a record, faithful to fact and the witness to fidelity in recording.
You are not to reproduce in this age the life and morals of 1200 B. C., or of an earlier age. You are to exercise the judgment of one living in the light of the prophets, of Jesus Christ, and of the great teachers and moralists who have followed them.
The highest pattern is yours to follow, that, as the Supreme Teacher expressed it, "Ye may be sons of your Father in heaven.'' This is the spirit and this the method in and by which you are encouraged to approach this masterpiece of literature, ethics, and religion, to draw from it the principles of the conduct you as a Macon shall exhibit in the lodge and in the world.
My brother, it is the beautiful practice of this lodge to present to each of the initiates a copy of the Great Light. It is my present pleasing duty to make this presentation in the name of the Worshipful Master and in behalf of the Lodge.
Receive, it, read it with painstaking care, study it sympathetically, appropriate its most exalted teachings, exemplify them in your life.
Therein is found " the way to life eternal." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Bible”)

The Blazing Star, which is not, however, to be confounded with the Five-Pointed Star, is one of the most important symbols of Freemasonry, and makes its appearance in several of the Degrees. Hutchinson says "It is the first and most exalted object that demands our attention in the Lodge." It undoubtedly derives this importance, first, from the repeated use that is made of it as a Masonic emblem; and secondly, from its great antiquity as a symbol derived from older systems.
Extensive as has been the application of this symbol in the Masonic ceremonies, it is not surprising that there has been a great difference of opinion in relation to its true signification.
But this difference of opinion has been almost entirely confined to its use in the First Degree. In the higher Degrees, where there has been less opportunity of innovation, the uniformity of meaning attached to the Star has been carefully preserved.
In the Twenty-eighth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, the explanation given of the Blazing Star, is, that it is symbolic of a the Freemason, who, by perfecting himself in the way of truth, that is to say, by advancing in knowledge, becomes like a blazing star, shining with brilliancy in the midst of darkness. The star is, therefore, in this degree, a symbol of truth.
In the Fourth Degree of the same Rite, the star is again said to be a symbol of the light of Divine Providence pointing out the way of truth.
In the Ninth Degree this symbol is called the star of direction; and while it primitively alludes to an especia1 guidance given for a particular purpose expressed in the degree, it still retains, in a remoter sense, its usual signification as an emblem of Divine Providence guiding and directing the pilgrim in his journey through life.
When, however, we refer to Ancient Craft Freemasonry, we shall find a considerable diversity in the application of this symbol.
In the earliest monitors, immediately after the revival of 1717, the Blazing Star is not mentioned, but it was not long before it was introduced. In the instructions of 1735 it is detailed as a part of the furniture of a Lodge, with the explanation that the "Mosaic Pavement is the Ground Floor of the Lodge, the Blazing Star, the Center, and the Indented Tarsal, the Border round about it!''
In a primitive Tracing Board of the Entered Apprentice, copied by Oliver, in his Historical Landmark (I, 133), without other date than that it was published early in the last century," the Blazing Star occupies a prominent position in the center of the Tracing Board. Oliver says that it represented BEAUTY, and was called the glory in the center.
In the lectures credited to Dunckerley, and adopted by the Grand Lodge, the Blazing Star was mid to represent "the star which led the wise men to Bethlehem, proclaiming to mankind the nativity of the Son of God, and here conducting our spiritua1 progress to the Author of our redemption. "
In the Prestonian lecture, the Blazing Star, with the Mosaic Pavement and the Tesselated Border, are called the Ornaments of the Lodge, and the Blazing Star is thus explained:
"The Blazing Star, or glory in the center, reminds us of that awful period when the Almighty delivered the two tables of stone, containing the ten commandments, to His faithful servant Moses on Mount Sinai, when the rays of His divine glory shone so bright that none could behold it without fear and trembling. It also reminds us of the omnipresence of the Almighty, overshadowing us with His divine love, and dispensing His blessings amongst us; and by its being placed in the center, it further reminds us, that wherever we may be assembled together, God is in the midst of us, seeing our actions, and observing the secret intents and movements of our hearts."
In the lectures taught by Webb, and very generally adopted in the United States, the Blazing Star is said to be "commemorative of the star which appeared to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Savior's nativity," and it is subsequently explained as hieroglyphically representing Divine Providence.
But the commemorative allusion to the Star of Bethlehem seeming to some to be objectionable, from its peculiar application to the Christian religion, at the revision of the lectures made in 1843 by the Baltimore Convention, this explanation was omitted, and the allusion to Divine Providence alone retained.
In Hutchinson's system, the Blazing Star is considered a symbol of Prudence. "It is placed," says he, "in the center, ever to be present to the eye of the Mason, that his heart may be attentive to her dictates and steadfast in her laws;-for Prudence is the rule of all Virtues; Prudence is the path which leads to every degree of propriety; Prudence is the channel where self-approbation flows for ever; she leads us forth to worthy actions, and, as a Blazing Star, enlighteneth us through the dreary and darksome paths of this life'' (Spirit of Masonry, edition of 1775, Lecture v, page 111).
Hutchinson also adopted Dunckerley's allusion to the Star of Bethlehem, but only as a secondary symbolism.
In another series of lectures formerly in use in America, but which we believe is now abandoned, the Blazing Star is said to be "emblematical of that Prudence which ought to appear conspicuous in the conduct of every Mason; and is more especially commemorative of the star which appeared in the east to guide the wise men to Bethlehem, and proclaim the birth and the presence of the Son of God."
The Freemasons on the Continent of Europe, speaking of the symbol, say: "It is no matter whether the figure of which the Blazing Star forms the center be a square, triangle, or circle, it still represents the sacred name of God, as an universal spirit who enlivens our hearts, who purifies our reason, who increases our knowledge, and who makes us wiser and better men."
And lastly, in the lectures revised by Doctor Hemming and adopted by the Grand Lodge of England at the Union in 1813, and now constituting the approved lectures of that jurisdiction, we find the following definition:
"The Blazing Star, or glory in the center, refers us to the sun, which enlightens the earth with its refulgent rays, dispensing its blessings to mankind at large, and giving light and life to all things here below." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Blazing Star”)

The application of the Blazing Star as an emblem of the Savior has been made by those writers who give a Christian explanation of our emblems, and to the Christian Freemason such an application will not be objectionable.
But those who desire to refrain from anything that may tend to impair the tolerance of our system, will be disposed to embrace a more universal explanation, which may be received alike by all the disciples of the Order, whatever may be their peculiar religious views. Such persons will rather accept the expression of Doctor Oliver, who, though much disposed to give a Christian character to our Institution, says in his Symbol of Glory (page 292), "The Great Architect of the Universe is therefore symbolized in Freemasonry by the Blazing Star, as the Herald of our salvation." Before concluding, a few words may be said as to the form of the Masonic symbol. It is not a heraldic star or estella, for that always consists of six points, while the Masonic star is made with five points. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Blazing Star”)

 

[Rev Wayne]

.

Mount Calvary has always retained an important place in the legendary history of Freemasonry, and there are many traditions connected with it that are highly interesting in their import.
One of the traditions is, that it was the burial place of Adam, in order, says the old legend, that where he lay, who effected the ruin of mankind, there also might the Savior of the world suffer, die, and be buried. Sir R. Torkington, who published a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1517, says that ''under the Mount of Calvary is another chapel of our Blessed Lady and St. John the Evangelist, that was called Golgatha; and there, right under the mortise of the cross, was found the head of our forefather, Adam." Golgotha, it will be remembered, means, in Hebrew, the place of a skull ; and there may be some connection between this tradition and the name of Golgotha, by which, the Evangelists inform us, in the time of Christ, Mount Calvary was known. Calvary, or Calvaria, has the same signification in Latin.
Another tradition states that it was in the bowels of Mount Calvary that Enoch erected his nine-arched vault, and deposited on the foundation-stone of Freemasonry that Ineffable Name, whose investigation, as a symbol of Divine truth, is the great object of Speculative Freemasonry. A third tradition details the subsequent discovery of Enoch's deposit, by King Solomon, whilst making excavations in Mount Calvary during the building of the Temple.
On this hallowed spot was Christ the Redeemer slain and buried. It was there that, rising on the third day from his sepulcher, He gave, by that act the demonstrative evidence of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.
And it is this spot that has been selected, in the legendary history of Freemasonry, to teach the same sublime truth, the development of which by a symbol evidently forms the design of the Third or Master's Degree. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Calvary&#8221

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing" (First Corinthians xiii,1-2).
Such was the language of an eminent apostle of the Christian church, and such is the sentiment that constitutes the cementing bond of Freemasonry. The apostle, in comparing it with faith and hope, calls it the greatest of the three, and hence in Freemasonry it is made the topmost round of its mystic ladder.
We must not fall into the too common error that charity is only that sentiment of commiseration which leads us to assist the poor with pecuniary donations.
Its Masonic, as well as its Christian application, is more noble and more extensive.
The word used by the apostle is, in the original, love, a word denoting that kindly state of mind which renders a person full of good-will and affectionate regard toward others.
John Wesley expressed his regret that the Greek had not been correctly translated as love instead of charity, so that the apostolic triad of virtues would have been, not "faith, hope, and charity," but "faith, hope, and love."
Then would we have understood the comparison made by Saint Paul, when he said, "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."
Guided by this sentiment, the true Freemason will "suffer long and be kind."
He will be slow to anger and easy to forgive.
He will stay his falling Brother by gentle admonition, and warn him with kindness of approaching danger, He will not open his ear to the slanderers, and will lose his lips against all reproach.
His faults and his follies will be locked in his breast, and the prayer for mercy will ascend to Jehovah for his Brother's sins.
Nor will these sentiments of benevolence be confined to those who are bound to him by ties of kindred or worldly friendship alone; but, extending them throughout. the globe, he will love and cherish all who sit beneath the broad canopy of our universal Lodge. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Charity&#8221

The meeting of a Lodge is so called. There is a peculiar significance in this term. To communicate, which, in the Old English form, was to common, originally meant to share in common with others. The great sacrament of the Christian Church, which denotes a participation in the mysteries of the religion and a fellowship in the church, is called a communion, which is fundamentally the same as a communication, for be who partakes of the communion is said to communicate. Hence the meetings of Masonic Lodges are called communications, to signify that it is not simply the ordinary meeting of a society for the transaction of business, but that such meeting is the fellowship of men engaged in a common pursuit, and governed by a common principle, and that there is therein a communication or participation of those feelings and sentiments that constitute a true brotherhood. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Communication&#8221

We can find no symbolism of the cross in the primitive Degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry. It does not appear among the symbols of the Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, the Master, or the Royal Arch. This is undoubtedly to be attributed to the fact that the cross was considered, by those who invented those Degrees, only in reference to its character as a Christian sign. The subsequent archeological investigations that have given to the cross a more universal place in iconography were unknown to the old rituals. It is true, that it is referred to, under the name of the rode or rood, in a manuscript of the fourteenth century, published by Halliwell; this was, however, one of the Constitutions of the Operative Freemasons, who were fond of the symbol, and were indebted for it to their ecclesiastical origin, and to their connection with the Gnostics, among whom the cross was a much used symbol. But on the revival in I7I7, when the ritual was remodified, and differed very greatly from that meager one in practice among the medieval Freemasons, all allusion to the cross was left out, because the revivalists laid down the principle that the religion of Speculative Freemasonry was not sectarian but universal. And although this principle was in some points, as in the lines parallel, neglected, the reticence as to the Christian sign of salvation has continued to the present day so that the cross cannot be considered as a symbol in the primary and original Degrees of Freemasonry.
But in the advanced Degrees, the cross has been introduced as an important symbol. In some of them - those which are to be traced to the Temple system of Ramsay-it is to be viewed with reference to its Christian origin and meaning.
Thus, in the original Rose Croix and Kadosh-no matter what may be the modern interpretation given to it-it was simply a representation of the cross of Christ. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Cross&#8221

A robe worn by deacons in some Christian Churches. Originally made of linen, as shown by early Christian paintings on the walls of the catacombs at Rome, but now generally made of heavy woolen or silk material, as the planate or outer vestment worn by the priest. This article of dress has become quite common in many of the Degrees of various Rites. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Dalmatic&#8221

Our ancestors finding that the Church, according to its usage of purifying Pagan festivals by Christian application, had appropriated two days near those solstitial periods to the memory of two eminent saints, incorporated these festivals by the lapse of a few days into the Masonic calendar, and adopted these worthies as patrons of our Order. To this change, the earlier Christian Freemasons were the more persuaded by the peculiar character of these saints. Saint John the Baptist, by announcing the approach of Christ, and by the mystic ablution to which he subjected his proselytes, and which was afterward adopted in the ceremony of initiation into Christianity, might well be considered as the Grand Hierophant of the Church; while the mysterious and emblematic nature of the Apocalypse assimilated the mode of instruction adopted by Saint John the Evangelist to that practiced by the Fraternity.
We are thus led to the conclusion that the connection of the Saints John with the Masonic Institution is rather of a symbolic than of a historical character In dedicating our Lodges to them, we do not so much declare our belief that they were eminent members of the Order, as demonstrate our reverence for the great Architect of the Universe in the symbol of His most splendid creation, the great light of day. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Dedication of a Lodge&#8221

The religious and military orders of knighthood which existed in the Middle Ages, such as the Knights Templar and Knights of Malta, which were incorporated into the Masonic system and conferred as Masonic degrees, have been called Degrees of Chivalry. They are Christian in character, and seek to perpetuate in a symbolic form the idea on which the original Orders were founded. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Degrees of Chivalry&#8221

There is still better evidence to be found in the old records of Freemasonry during several preceding centuries, when the Operative was its dominant character, and when the dogmas of Christianity were fully recognized, which must necessarily have been the case, since Freemasonry during that period was under the patronage of the Church. There is, in fact, no evidence to sustain Findel's theory, that in the transition stage from the Operative to the Speculative, when such men as the deeply religious Ashmole were among its members, the Deists could have infused any of their principles into its organization or exercised any influence in changing its character.
Freemasonry, at that time sectarian, demanded almost a Christian belief—at all events, a Christian allegiance—from its disciples. It is now more tolerant, and Deism presents no disqualification for initiation. An atheist would be rejected, but none would now be refused admission on religious grounds who subscribed to the dogmas of a belief in God and a resurrection to eternal life. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Deism&#8221

The First, or Entered Apprentice's Degree, in which but little Masonic light is communicated, and which, indeed, is only preparatory and introductory to the two succeeding Degrees, is said to symbolize the first, or Patriarchal Dispensation, the earliest revelation, where the knowledge of God was necessarily imperfect, His worship only a few simple rites of devotion, and the religious dogmas merely a general system of morality.
The Second, or Fellow Craft's Degree, is symbolic of the second or Mosaic Dispensation, in which, while there were still many imperfections, there was also a great increase of religious knowledge, and a nearer approximation to Divine truth, with a promise in the future of a better theodicy. But the Third, or Master Mason's Degree, which, in its original conception, before it was dismembered by the innovations of the Royal Arch, was perfect and complete in its consummation of all Masonic light, symbolizes the last, or Christian Dispensation, where the great and consoling doctrine of the resurrection to eternal life is the crowning lesson taught by its Divine Founder. This subject is very fully treated by the Rev. James Watson, in an address delivered at Laneaster, England, in 1795, and contained in Jones's Masonic Miscellanies (page 245); better, in Brother Mackey's opinion, by him than even by Hutchinson.
Beautiful as this symbolism may be, and appropriately fitting in all its parts to the laws of symbolic science, it is evident that its origin cannot be traced farther back than to the period when Freemasonry was first divided into three distinctive Degrees; nor could it have been invented later than the time when Freemasonry was deemed, if not an exclusively Christian organization, at least to be founded on and fitly illustrated by Christian dogmas. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Dispensations of Religion&#8221

 

[Rev Wayne]

Among the ancient iconologists, students of likenesses, equality was symbolized by a female figure holding in one hand a pair of scales equipoised and in the other a nest of swallows. The moderns have substituted a level for the scales. And this is the Masonic idea. In Freemasonry, the level is the symbol of that equality which, as Godfrey Higgins (.Anacalypsis i, 790) says, is the very essence of Freemasonry. "All, let their rank in life be what it may, when in the Lodge are brothers—brethren with the Father at their head. No person can read the Evangelists and not see that this is correctly Gospel Christianity." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Equality”)

The difference, however, in Brother Mackey's opinion, between Freemasonry and Essenism lies in the spirit of universal tolerance prominent in the one and absent in the other. Freemasonry is Christian as to its membership in general, but recognizing and tolerating in its bosom all other religions: Essenism, on the contrary, was exclusively and intensely Jewish in its membership, its usages, and its doctrines. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Essenes”)

Thus we have the Ethics of Theology, which is founded on that science which teaches the nature and attributes of God; and, as this forms a part of all religious systems, every religion whether it be Christianity or Judaism, Brahmanism or Buddhism, or any other form of recognized worship, has within its bosom a science of theological ethics which teaches, according to the lights of that religion, the duties which are incumbent on man from his relations to a Supreme Being. And then we have the Ethics of Christianity, which being founded on the Scriptures, recognized by Christians as the revealed will of God, is nothing other than theological ethics applied to and limited by Christianity.
Then, again, we have the Ethics of Philosophy, which is altogether speculative, and derived from and founded on man's speculations concerning God and himself. There might be a sect of philosophers who denied the existence of a Superintending Providence; but it would still have a science of ethics referring to the relations of man to man, although that system would be without strength, because it would have no Divine sanction for its enforcement.
Lastly, we have the Ethics of Freemasonry, whose character combines those of the three others. The first and second systems in the series above enumerated are founded on religious dogmas; the third on philosophical speculations. Now, as Freemasonry claims to be a religion, in so far as it is founded on a recognition of the relations of man and God, and a philosophy in so far as it is engaged in speculations on the nature of man, as an immortal, social, and responsible being, the ethics of Freemasonry will be both religious and philosophical.
The symbolism of Freemasonry, which is its peculiar mode of instruction, inculcates all the duties which we owe to God as being his children, and to men as being their Brethren. "There is," says Doctor Oliver, "scarcely a point of duty or morality which man has been presumed to owe to God, his neighbor, or himself, under the Patriarchal, the Mosaic, or the Christian dispensation, which, in the construction of our symbolical system, has been left untouched." Hence, he says, that these symbols all unite to form "a code of moral and theological philosophy" the term of which expression would have been better if he had called it a "code of philosophical and theological ethics." At a very early period of his initiation, the Freemason is instructed that he owes a threefold duty to God, his neighbor, and himself—and the inculcation of these duties constitutes the ethics of Freemasonry. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Ethics of Freemasonry”)

The eagle, as a symbol, is of great antiquity. In Egypt, Greece, and Persia, this bird was sacred to the sun. Among the Pagans it was an emblem of Jupiter, and with the Druids it was a symbol of their supreme god. In the Scriptures, a distinguished reference is in many instances made to the eagle; especially do we find Moses (Exodus xix, 4) representing Jehovah as saying, in allusion to the belief that this bird assists its feeble young in their flight by bearing them upon its own pinions, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." Not less elevated was the symbolism of the eagle among the Pagans. Thus, Cicero, speaking of the myth of Ganymede carried up to Jove on an eagle's back, says that it teaches us that the truly wise, irradiated by the shining light of virtue, become more and more like God, until by wisdom they are borne aloft and soar to Him. The heralds explain the eagle as signifying the same thing among birds as the lion does among quadrupeds. It is, they say, the most swift, strong, laborious, generous, and bold of all birds, and for this reason it has been made, both by ancients and moderns, the symbol of majesty. In the jewel of the Rose Croix Degree is found an eagle displayed at the foot of the cross; and it is there very appropriately selected as a symbol of Christ, in His Divine character, bearing the children of His adoption on His wings, teaching them with unequaled love and tenderness to poise their unfledged wings and soar from the dull corruption's of earth to a higher and holier sphere. Thus the eagle in the jewel of that Degree is significantly represented with wings displayed as if in flight. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Eagle”)

Easter Sunday, being the day celebrated by the Christian church in commemoration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, is appropriately kept as a feast day by Rose Croix Freemasons. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Easter”)

A candidate is said to be exalted, when he receives the Degree of Holy Royal Arch, the seventh in American Freemasonry. Exalted means elevated or lifted up, and is applicable both to a peculiar ceremony of the Degree, and to the fact that this Degree, in the Rite in which it is practiced, constitutes the summit of ancient Freemasonry.
The rising of the sun of spring from his wintry sleep into the glory of the vernal equinox was called by the old sun-worshipers his exaltation; and the Fathers of the Church afterward applied the same term to the resurrection of Christ. Saint Athanasius says that by the expression, "God hath exalted him," Saint Paul meant the resurrection. Exaltation, therefore, technically means a rising from a lower to a higher sphere, and in Royal Arch Masonry may be supposed to refer to the being lifted up out of the first temple of this life into the second temple of the future life. The candidate is raised in the Master's Degree, he is exalted in the Royal Arch. In both the symbolic idea is the same. Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Exalted”)

The Greek word for fish is IZ0T2. Now these five letters are the initials of the five words X ous Xp~vros Leon TLos Zxrr/p, that is, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior. Hence the early Christians adopted the fish as a Christian symbol; and it is to be found on many of their tombs, and was often worn as an ornament. Clement of Alexandria, in writing of the ornaments that a Christian may constantly wear, mentions the fish as a proper device for a ring, as serving to remind the Christian of the origin of his spiritual life, the fish referring to the waters of baptism. The Vesica Piscis, which is an oval figure, pointed at both ends, and representing the air bladder of a fish, was adopted, and is still often used as the form of the seal of religious houses and con-fraternities, Margoliouth (Vestiges of General Freemasonry, 45) says: "In former days, the Grand Master of our Order used to wear a silver fish on his person; but it is to be regretted that, amongst the many innovations which have been of late introduced into the Society to conciliate the prejudices of some who cannot consistently be members of it, this beautiful emblem has disappeared" (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Fish”)

A term in use in England during the eighteenth and early in the following century. By the primitive regulations of the Grand Chapter, an applicant for the Royal Arch Degree was required to produce a certificate that he was "a Geometrical Master Maeon," and had Paseed the Chair. The word Geometrical was, in Doctor Mackey's opinion, thus synonymous with Speculative. Later researches proved that there was actually a Degree of this name. Brother George W. Speth in 1899 (Transactions, Quatour Coronati Lodge, volume xii, page 205) mentions the ritual of the Most Excellent Order of Geometrical Master Masons as being about 1819 to 1820 but that the Degree is probably much older. He says there are nine Lectures. Much of the ritual is in very rough verse, archaic, containing allusions to matters which were in use early in the eighteenth century, such as the broached thurnell, which had disappeared from Craft Masonry long before the nineteenth century. On the other hand, much of it will be recognized by members of so-called Higher Degrees as at present in use. The Degree was given apparently after the Three Craft Degrees but is unconnected with the Royal Arch. It was conferred in a Chapter, not in a Lodge, and is Christian throughout. Both Doctor Mackey and Brother Woodford give the name Geometrical Master Masons in the Encyclopedias for which they are responsible, but neither seems to have realized that it represented an actual Degree. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Geometrical Master Mason”)

When Jesus was relating (Luke - xv) the parable in which one having lost a sheep goes into the wilderness to search for it, He said: "And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." Hettner, a German writer on Greek customs, says: "When the Greek carries home his lamb, he slings it round his neck, holding it by the feet crossed over the breast. This is to be seen with us also, but the sight is especially attractive at Athens, for it was in this manner that the ancients represented Hermes as the guardian and multiplier of flocks; so stood the statue of Hermes at Olympia. Occhalia and Tanagra Small marble statues of this kind have even come down to us , one of which is to be seen in the Pembroke collection at Wilton House; another , a smaller one, in the Stoa of Hadrian, at Athens. This representation, however, appears most frequently in the oldest works of Christian arts in which the laden Hermes is turned into a laden Christ who often called himself the Good Shepherd, and expressly says in the Gospel of Saint Luke, that when the shepherd finds the sheep, he lays it joyfully on his shoulder." Now, although the idea of the Good Shepherd may have been of pagan origin, yet derived from the parable of our Savior in Saint Luke and his language in Saint John, it was early adopted by the Christians as a religious emblem. The Good Shepherd bearing the sheep upon his shoulders, the two hands of the Shepherd crossed upon his breast and holding the legs of the sheep, is a very common subject in the paintings of the earliest Christian era. It is an expressive symbol of the Savior's love of Him who taught us to build the new temple of eternal life— and, consequently, as Didron says, "the heart and imagination of Christians have dwelt fondly upon this theme; it has been unceasingly repeated under every possible aspect, and may be almost said to have been worn threadbare by Christian art. From the earliest ages, Christianity completely made it her own." And hence the Christian Degree of Rose Croix has very naturally appropriated the sign of the Good Shepherd, the representation of Christ bearing his once lost but now recovered sheep upon his shoulders, as one of its most impressive symbols. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Good Shepherd, Sign of the”)

[Note: Lodges I have been in use the same sign with every prayer.]

The peculiar theory of Hutchinson in reference to the symbolic design of Freemasonry is set forth more particularly in his ninth lecture, entitled "The Master Mason's Order." His doctrine was that the Lost Word was typical of the lost religious purity, which had been occasioned by the corruptions of the Jewish faith. The piety which had planted the Temple at Jerusalem had been expunged, and the reverence and adoration due to God had been buried in the filth and rubbish of the world, so that it might well be said "that the guide to heaven was lost, and the master of the works of righteousness was smitten." In the same way he extends the symbolism. "True religion," he says, "was fled. Those who sought her through the wisdom of the ancients were not able to raise her. She eluded the grasp, and their polluted hands were stretched forth in vain for her restoration. Those who sought her by the old law were frustrated, for death had stepped between, and corruption defiled the embrace."
Hence the Hutchinsonian theory is, that the Third Degree of Freemasonry symbolizes the new law of Christ, taking the place of the old law of Judaism, which had become dead and corrupt. With him, Hiram or Huram is only the Greek huramen, meaning I have found it, and acacia, from the same Greek, signifies freedom from sin; and "thus the Master Mason represents a man, under the Christian doctrine saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation."
(Mackey, Encyclopedia, “William Hutchinson”)

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[Rev Wayne]

Pray we now to God almight, (almighty)
And to his mother Mary bright,
That we may keep these articles here,
And these points well all y-fere, (together)
As did these holy martyrs four,
That in this craft were of great honour;
They were as good masons as on earth shall go,
Gravers and image-makers they were also.
For they were workmen of the best,
The emperor had to them great luste; (liking)
He willed of them an image to make
That might be worshipped for his sake;
Such monuments he had in his dawe, (day)
To turn the people from Christ's law.
XL
But they were steadfast in Christ's lay (law)
And to their craft without nay; (doubt)
They loved well God and all his lore,
And were in his service ever more.
True men they were in that dawe, (day)
And lived well in God's law;
They thought no monuments for to make
For no good that they might take,
To believe on that monument for their God,
They would not do so, though he were wod; (furious)
For they would not forsake their true fay (faith)
XLI
And belleve on his false lay. (law)
The emperor let take them soon anon,
And put them in a deep prison;
The more sorely he punished them in that place,
The more joy was to them of Crist' s grace.
Then when he saw no other one,
To death he let them then gon, (go)
Whose will of their life yet more know.
By the book he might it show
In the legend of sanetorum (holy ones)
The names of quatuor coronàtorum (four crowned ones) (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Halliwell Manuscript”)

For this vou must know nede, (needs)
But much more you must wyten, (know)
Than you find here written.
If thee fail thereto wit
Pray to God to send thee it:
For Christ himself, he teacheth out (us)
That holy church is God's house,
That is made for nothing ellus (else)
But for to pray in, as the book tellus; (tells us)
There the people shall gather in,
To pray and weep for their sln.
Look thou come not to church late
For to speak harlotry by the gate;


XLVII
Then to church when thou dost fare,
Have in thy mind ever mare (more)
To worship they lord God both day and night,
With all thy wits and even thy might.
To the church door when thou dost come
Of that holy water there some thou nome"t
For every drop thou feelest there
Quencheth a venial sin, be thou ser. (sure)
But first thou must do down thy hood,
For his love that died on the rood.
Into the ehureh when thou dost gon, (go)
Pull up thy heart to Christ, anon; XLIX.
XLVIII
Upon the rood thou look up then,
And kneel down fair upon thy knew (knees)
Then pray to him so here to worche (work)
After the law of holy church,
For to keep the commandments ten,
That God gave to all men;
And pray to him with mild steven (voice)
To keep thee from the sins seven,
That thou here may, in this life,
Keep thee well from care and strife;
Furthermore he grant thee grace,
In heaven's bliss to have a place.
In holy church leave trifling words
Of lewd speech and foul bordes, (jests)
find put away all vanity,
And say thy pater noster and thine ave;
Look also that thou make no bere, (noise)
But always to be in thy prayer;
If thou wilt not thyself pray,
Hinder no other man by no way.
In that place neither sit nor stand,
But kneel fair down on the ground,
And when the Gospel me read shall,
Fairly thou stand up from the wall,
And bless the fare if that thou can,
When gloria tibi is begun;
And when the gospel is done,
Again thou might kneel down,
On both thy knees down thou fall,
For his love that bought us all;
And when thou hearest the bell ring
To that holy sakerynge, (sacrament)
Kneel you must both young and old,
And both your hands fair uphold,
And say then in this manner.
XLIX
Fair and solf without bere; (noise)
"Jesu Lord welcome thou be,
In form of bread as I thee see,
Now Jesu for thine holy name,
Shield me from sin and shame;
Shrift and Eucharist thou grant me bo, (both)
Ere that I shall hence go,
And very contrition for my sin,
That I never, Lord, die therein;
And as thou were of maid y-bore (born)
Suffer me never to be y-lore- (dot)
But when I shall hence wend,
L
Grant me the bliss without end;
Amen! Amen! so mote it be!
Now sweet lady pray for me."
Thus thou might say, or some other thing
When thou kneelest at the sakerynge, (sacrament)
For covetousness after good, spare thou nought
To worship him that all hath wrought;
For glad may a man that day be,
That once in the day may him see;
It is so much worth, without nay, (doubt)
The virtue thereof no man tell may
But so much good doth that sight,
LI
That Saint Austin telleth full right,
That day thou seest God's body
Thou shalt have these full securely:
Meet and drink at thy need
None that day shalt thou gnede; (lack)
Idle oaths and words bo, (both)
God forgiveth thee also;
Sudden death that same day
Thee dare not dread by no way
Also that day, I thee plight
Thou shalt not lose thy eye sight;
And each foot that thou goest then,
LII
That holy sight for to sen (see)
They shall be told to stand instead
When thou hast thereto great need
That messenger the angel Gabriel
Will keep them to thee full well.
From thls matter now I may pass
To tell more benefits of the mass
To church come yet, if thou may
And hear the mass each day
If thou may not come to church,
Where that ever thou dost worche, (work)
When thou hearest the mass knylle, (toll)
LIII
Pray to God with heart still
To give they part of that service,
That in church there done is.
Furthermore yet, I will you preach
To your fellows, it for to teach,
When thou comest before a lord
In hall, in bower, or at the board,
Hood or cap that thou off do,
Ere thou come him entirely to
Twice or thrice, without doubt,
To that lord thou must lowte; (bow)
With thy right knee let it be do, (done) LVII.
(Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Halliwell Manuscript”)

It must be observed that the expression The Word is not to be understood as a watchword only, after the manner of those annexed to the several Degrees of the Craft, but also theologically, as a term, thereby to convey to the mind some idea of that Grand Being Who is the sole author of our existence, and to carry along with it the most solemn veneration of His sacred Name and Word, as well as the most clear and perfect elucidation of His power and attributes that the human mind is capable of receiving. And this is the light in which the Name and Word hath always been considered, from the remotest ages, amongst us Christians and the Jews. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Jehovah”)

The symbolic name of the Christian Church (Revelations xxi, 2-21; in, 12). The Apostle John (Revelations xxi), from the summit of a high mountain, beheld, in a pictorial symbol or scenic representation, a city resplendent with celestial brightness, which seemed to descend from the heavens to the earth. It was stated to be a square of about 400 miles, or 12,000 stadia, equal to about 16,000 miles in circumference—of course, a mystical number, denoting that the city was capable of holding almost countless myriads of inhabitants. The New Jerusalem was beheld, like Jacob's ladder, extending from earth to heaven. It plays an important part in the ceremony of the Nineteenth Degree, or Grand Pontiff of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, where the descent of the New Jerusalem is a symbol of the descent of the Empire of Light and Truth upon the earth. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Jerusalem, New”)

In Ancient Craft Masonry the Lamb is the symbol of innocence; thus in the instructions of the First Degree: "In all ages the Lamb has been deemed an emblem of innocence." Hence it is required that a Freemason's Apron should be made of lambskin. In the advanced Degrees, and in the Degrees of chivalry, as in Christian iconography, or station, the lamb is a symbol of Jesus Christ. The introduction of this Christian symbolism of the lamb comes from the expression of Saint John the Baptist, who exclaimed, on seeing Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God"; which was undoubtedly derived from the prophetic writers, who compare the Messiah suffering on the cross to a lamb under the knife of a butcher. In the vision of Saint John, in the Apocalypse, Christ is seen, under the form of a lamb, wounded in the throat, and opening the book with the seven seals. Hence, in one of the Degrees of the Scottish Rite, the Seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West, the lamb lying on the book with the seven seals is a part of the jewel. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Lamb”)

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[Rev Wayne]

The Paschal Lamb, sometimes called the Holy Lamb, was the lamb offered up by the Jews at the paschal feast, the Passover. This has been transferred to Christian symbolism, to Easter, and naturally to Chivalric Freemasonry; and hence we find it among the symbols of modern Templarism. The paschal lamb, as a Christian and Masonic symbol, called also the Agnw Dez, or Lamb of God, first appeared in Christian art after the sixth century.
This is depicted as a lamb standing on the ground, holding by the left forefoot a banner, on which a cross is inscribed. This paschal lamb, or Lamb of God, has been adopted as a symbol by the Knights Templar, being borne in one of the banners of the Order, and constituting, with the square which it surmounts, the jewel of the Generalissimo of a Commandery. The lamb is a symbol of Christ; the cross, of His passion; and the banner, of His victory over death and hell. Barrington states (Archaeologia ix, page 134) that in a Deed of the English Knights Templar, granting lands in Cambridgeshire. the seal is a Holy Land, and the arms of the Master of the Temple at London were argent, a cross gules, and on the nombril point thereof a Holy Lamb, that is, a Paschal or Holy Lamb on the center of a red cross in a white field. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Lamb, Paschal”)

From 1717 the Craft had been engaged in something less profitable, but more congenial than the cultivation of Masonic science. The pleasant suppers, the modicums of punch, the harmony of song, the miserable puns, which would have provoked the ire of Johnson beyond anything that Boswell has recorded, left no time for inquiry into abstruser matters. The revelations of Doctor Oliver's square furnish us abundant positive evidence of the low state of Masonic literature in those days; and if we need negative proof, we will find it in the entire absence of any readable book on Scientific Freemasonry, until the appearance of Hutchinson's and Preston's works. Preston's lectures were, therefore, undoubtedly the inauguration of a new era in the esoteric system of Freemasonry.
These lectures continued for nearly half a century to be the authoritative text of the Order in England. But in 1813 the two Grand Lodges the Moderns and the Ancients, as they were called after years of antagonism, were happily united, and then, as the first exercise of this newly combined authority, it was determined "to revise" the system of lectures.
This duty was entrusted to the Rev. Dr. Hemming, the Senior Grand Warden, and the result was the Union or Hemming Lectures, which are now the authoritative standard of English Freemasonry. In these lectures many alterations of the Prestonian system were made, and some of the most cherished symbols of the Fraternity were abandoned, as, for instance, the twelve grand points, the initiation of the freeborn, and the lines parallel (as to free born in particular, see Landmarks). Preston's lectures were rejected in consequence, it is said, of their Christian references; and Doctor Hemming, in attempting to avoid this error, fell into a greater one, of omitting in his new course some of the important ritualistic landmarks of the Order. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Lectures, History of the”)

The connection of Solomon, as the Chief of the Tribe of Judah, with the Lion, which was the achievement of the Tribe, has caused this expression to be referred, in the Third Degree, to Him who brought life and immortality to light. The old Christian interpretation of the Masonic symbols here prevails; and in Ancient Craft Masonry all allusions to the Lion, as the Lion's Paw, the Lton's Grip, etc., refer to the doctrine of the resurrection taught by Him who is known as "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah." The expression is borrowed from the Apocalypse (v, 5): "Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the Seven Seals thereof." The lion was also a Medieval symbol of the resurrection, the idea being founded on a legend. The poets of that age were fond of referring to this legend ary symbol in connection with the Scriptural idea of the Tribe of Judah. Thus Adam de Saint Victor, in his poem De Resurrectione Domini, says:
Sic de Juda Leo fortis,
Fractis portis dirae mortis
Die surgit tertia,
Rugiente voce Patris.
Thus the strong lion of Judah
The gates of cruel death being broken,
Arose on the third day
At the loud-sounding voice of the Father.
The Lion was the symbol of strength and sovereignty, in the human-headed figures of the Nimrod Gateway, and in other Babylonish remains. In Egypt, it was worshiped at the City of Leontopolis as typical of Dom, the Egyptian Hercules. Plutarch says that the Egyptians ornamented their Temples with gaping lions' mouths, because the Nile began to rise when the sun was in the Constellation Leo. Among the Talmudists there was a tradition of the lion, which has been introduced into the higher Degrees of Freemasonry.
But in the symbolism of Ancient Craft Masonry, where the lion is introduced, as in the Third Degree, in connection with the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, he becomes simply a symbol of the resurrection; thus restoring the symbology of the Medieval Ages, which was founded on a legend that the lion's whelp was born dead, and only brought to life by the roaring of its sire. Philip de Thaun, in his Bestiary, written in the twelfth century, gives the legend, which has thus been translated by Wright from the original old Norman Freneh: "Know that the lioness, if she bring forth a dead cub, she holds her cub and the lion arrives; he goes about and cries, till it revives on the third day.... Know that the lioness signifies Saint Mary, and the lion Christ, who gave Himself to death for the people; three days He lay in the earth to gain our souls....By the cry of the lion they understand the power of God, by which Christ was restored to life and robbed hell."
The phrase, "Lion of the Tribe of Judah, " therefore, when used in the Masonic instructions, referred in its original interpretation to Christ, Him who "brought life and immortality to light." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Lion of the Tribe of Judah”)

Man has been called the Microcosm, or little world, in contradistinction to the Macrocosm, or great world, by some fanciful writers on metaphysics, by reason of a supposed correspondence between the different parts and qualities of his nature and those of the universe. But in Masonic symbolism the idea is borrowed from Christ and the Apostles, who repeatedly refer to man as a symbol of the Temple. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Man”)

Dr. Thomas Manningham was a physician, of London, of much repute in the eighteenth century. He took an active interest in the concerns of Freemasonry, being Deputy Grand Master of England, 1752-6. According to Oliver (Revelations of a Square, page 86), he was the author of the prayer now so well known to the Fraternity, which was presented by him to the Grand Lodge, and adopted as a form of prayer to be used at the initiation of a candidate. Before that period, no prayer was used on such occasions, and the one composed by Manningham, Oliver says with the assistance of Anderson, which is doubtful, as Anderson died in 1739, is here given as a document of the time. It will be seen that in our day it has been somewhat modified, Preston making the first change; and that, originally used as one prayer, it has since been divided, in this country at least, into two, the first part being used as a prayer at the opening of a Lodge, and the latter at the initiation of a candidate.
Most Holy and Glorious Lord God, thou Architect of Heaven and Earth, who art the Giver of all good Gifts and Graces- and hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in thy Name, thou wilt be in the Midst of them- in thy Name we assemble and meet together, most humbly beseeching thee to bless us in all our Undertakings: to give us thy Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds with Wisdom and Understanding- that we may know and serve thee aright, that all our Doinhs may tend to thy Glory and the Salvation of our Souls. And we beseech thee, O Lord God, to bless this our present Undertaking, and to grant that this our Brother may dedicate his Life to thy Service, and be a true and faithful Brother amongst us. undue him with Divine Wisdom, that he may, with the secrets of Masonry, be able to unfold the Mysteries of Godliness and Christianity This we humbly beg, in the Name and for the Sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Amen. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Manningham, Thomas”)

In Continental Freemasonry the monument in the Master's Degree is often made in the form of an obelisk, with the letters M. B. inscribed upon it. And this form is appropriate, because in Masonic, as in Christian iconography, the obelisk is a symbol of the resurrection. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Obelisk”)

The regular octagon is a geometrical figure of eight equal sides and angles. It is a favorite form in Christian ecclesiology, and most of the Chapter-Houses of the cathedrals in England are eight sided. It is sometimes used in the lectures of the Knights of Malta, and then, like the eight-pointed cross of the same Order, is referred symbolically to the eight beatitudes of Jesus (Matthew, volumes 1-11). Doctor Mackey in this comparison regards, as has been the case with other authorities (see Peak's Commentary on the Bible, 1919, page 704) the nine references to the beatitudes in as many verses to be counted as eight declarations of special blessedness m the Sermon on the Mount, verses 10-2 to have a single import. We may also compare the four references in Luke vi, 20-2. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Octagon”)

The Hebrew words meaning Love of God. This and Oheb Karobo, meaning Love of our Neighbor, are the names of the two supports of the Ladder of Kadosh. Collectively, they allude to that Divine passage, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew xxii, 37-40)." Hence the Ladder of Kadosh is supported by these two Christian commandments. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Oheb Eloah”)

The Pagans, although they had slight glimmerings of the Masonic truths which had been taught by Noah, greatly corrupted them, and presented in their mysteries a system of initiation to which he gave the name of the Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity. These views he [Oliver] had developed and enlarged and adorned out of the similar but less definitely expressed teachings of Hutchinson. Like that writer also, while freely admitting the principle of religious tolerance, he contended for the strictly Christian character of the Institution, and that, too, in the narrowest sectarian view, since he believed that the earliest symbols taught the dogma of the Trinity, and that Christ was meant by the Masonic reference to the Deity under the title of Grand Architect of the Universe. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “George Oliver”)

The Christian Church also, in the age immediately succeeding the apostolic period, observed the same custom of oral instruction. The early Fathers were eminently cautious not to commit certain of the mysterious dogmas of their religion to writing, lest the surrounding Pagans should be made acquainted with what they could neither understand nor appreciate. Saint Basil (De Spiritu Sancto), treating of this subject in the fourth century, says: "We receive the dogmas transmitted to us by writing, and those which have descended to us from the apostles, beneath the mystery of oral tradition; for several things have been handed down to us without writings lest the vulgar, too familiar with our dogmas, should lose a due respect for them." And he further asks, "How should it ever be becoming to write and circulate among the people an account of those things which the uninitiated are not permitted to contemplate? A custom, so ancient as this, of keeping the landmarks unwritten, and one so invariably observed by the Masonic Fraternity, it may very naturally be presumed, must have been originally established with the wisest intentions; and, as the usage was adopted by many other institutions whose organization was similar to that of Freemasonry, it may also be supposed that it was connected, in some way, with the character of an esoteric instruction. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Oral Instruction”)

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[Rev Wayne]

As to the original interpretation of the usage, there is no doubt that the Masonic was derived from the ecclesiastical, that is, that Lodges were at first built East and West because churches were; nor can we help believing that the church borrowed and Christianized its symbol from the Pagan reverence for the place of sunrising. The admitted reverence in Freemasonry for the east as the place of light, gives to the usage the modern Masonic interpretation of the symbol of orientation. The Fardle of Facions, printed in 1555, has a quaint description of church arrangement. This curious essay is found in the Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornaments 1906, John M. Neale and Benjamin Webb. Fardle, by the way, means package or bundle. The importance of the direction of the building is indicated by the positive instructions. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Orientatio”)

In every well-regulated Lodge there is found a point within a circle, which circle is embroidered by two perpendicular parallel lines. These lines are representative of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, the two great patrons of Freemasonry to whom our Lodges are dedicated, and who are said to have been "perfect parallels in Christianity as well as Freemasonry" In those English Lodges which have adopted the Union System established by the Grand Lodge of England in 1813, and where the dedication is "to God and his service," the lines parallel represent Moses and Solomon. As a symbol, the parallel lines are not to be found in the earlier instructions of Freemasonry. Though Oliver defines the symbol on the authority of what he calls the Old Lectures, it is not to be found , any anterior to Preston, and even he only refers to the parallelism of the two Saints John. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Parallel Lines”)

Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. At an early period we find that the Christian church adopted the usage of selecting for every trade and occupation its own patron saint, who is supposed to have taken it under his especial charge. The selection was generally made in reference to some circumstance in the life of the saint, which traditionally connected him with the profession of which he was appointed the patron. Thus Saint Crispin, because he was a shoemaker, is the patron saint of the Gentle Craft, and Saint Dunstan, who was a blacksmith, is the patron of blacksmiths. The reason why the two Saints John were selected as the patron saints of Freemasonry will be seen under the head of Dedication of Lodges. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Patrons of Freemasonry”)

The agreement of the principles of Freemasonry with those of Christianity can only be denied by the malevolent or those totally unacquainted with the Craft. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, under “Paul, Saint, the Apostle”)

The pelican feeding her young with her blood is a prominent symbol of the Eighteenth or Rose Croix Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and was adopted as such from the fact that the pelican, in ancient Christian art, was considered as an emblem of the Savior. Now this symbolism of the pelican, as a representative of the Savior, is almost universally supposed to be derived from the common belief that the pelican feeds her young with her blood, as the Savior shed his blood for mankind; and hence the bird is always represented as sitting on her nest, and surrounded by her brood of young ones, who are dipping their bills into a wound in their mother's breast. But this is not the exact idea of the symbolism, which really refers to the resurrection, and is, in this point of view, more applicable to Christ, as well as to the Masonic Degree of which the resurrection is a doctrine. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Pelica”)

Who is responsible for having two different versions of the Lord's Prayer in our Services, I am unable to state. It is a mistaken assumption that the Committee on Revision of 1910 (Grand Encampment Knights Templar of the United States) prepared a Burial Service containing the Lord's Prayer, in which the words "Trespass and Trespasses"' were used. The committee did prepare and present a short form of Burial Service. but it was not acted upon by the Grand Encampment in 1910, the further consideration of it was postponed, and it has never been acted upon (see Proceedings, 1910, middle and perhaps the beginning of the eighteenth page 203). The proper words to be used with the Lord's Prayer in the Asylum of the Commandery are debts and Debtors," and at Burial Services "Trespass and Trespasses (see Proceedings, 1916, pages 36-8 Brother Newby also says of the two expressions:
Our Savior upon two occasions instructed His people how to pray, first in His Sermon on the Mount, and second. about two years afterward; but in neither prayer did He use the words "Trespass and Trespasses" (see St. Matthew vi, 12; St. Luke xi, 1-13). In His Sermon on the Mount He did say to the people: "If ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses." These statements were made in a sermon and not in a prayer. As the form of the Lord's prayer used by the members of other Churches contains the words "debts and debtors," it is not for a layman to determine the question as to which form is correct, yet it is rather remarkable that those who prepared our Ceremonies did not agree upon the Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer should also be examined in the light of the translation by Professor Edgar J. Goodspeed, University of Chicago, whose English of the New Testament aims to reproduce the ease, boldness, and unpretending vigor of the original Greek, in the common language of everyday life during the era of one Savior.
The frequently observed expression "for Thine is the power and glory for ever," is a conclusion not to be found in any of the oldest manuscripts but in most of the later copies of Matthew only. It occurs the Didache, the teachings of the Apostles, a discovery at Constantinople in early Christian literature which a copy finished by the writer, Leo, on June 1, 1156, was found in the Library of the Jerusalem Monastery.
Of the prayer itself several points have aroused discussion. Daily bread, for example, was given various interpretations by the old authorities. Hastings dictionary of the Bible (page 553) suggests for consideration the two aspects, "the word bread may be taken in an earthly or a heavenly sense. The fullness of Scriptural language justifies the widest application of the term, whatsoever is needed for the coming day, to be sought in daily morning prayer—"give us today" or whatsoever is needed for the coming days of life. The petition becomes a prayer for the presence of Him who has revealed Himself as "the Bread." The clause "as we forgive our debtors" is by some old authorities read "as we have forgiven our debtors." The conclusion of the prayer is usually repeated as "deliver us from evil" but the Greek ending is indefinite and Hastings says this may be read "the evil one," or "the evil," or "whatsoever is evil." However, as to these variations, they can be heeded in the spirit of the poet, Coleridge (Ancient Mariner, Part vii):
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Prayer”)

An old prayer was given in the Printing Art, and was contributed by us to the American Freemason, June, 1910. Appearing in the Wolangerichtete Buchdruckerei of Ernesti it is a reminder of the pronounced religious fervor of craftsmen. The sentiment of loyalty and respect to the craft was so commonly observed that when a German traveling workman entered a town and found his way to the local place of his trade the usual salutation was "God bless the Art," Gott grus die kunst. Here is the prayer:
Oh Lord, Almighty God, printing is a glorious and a noble art—a blessing Thou hast reserved for mankind in these latter days, an art by which all conditions of men, and especially Thy Holy Church, are greatly nourished. And since, good Lord, Thou hast of Thy free grace given me an opportunity of exercising an Art and Craft so exalted, I pray Thee to guide me by Thy Holy Spirit in using the same to Thy honor. Thou knowest, dear Lord, the great diligence, continual care and accurate knowledge of the characters of many languages are needful in this Art, therefore I call to Thee for help; that I may be earnest and careful, both in the setting up of types, and in printing the same. Preserve my soul in the constant love of Thy Holy Word and truth, and my body in sobriety and purity, that so, after a life here befitting a printer, I may hereafter, at the last coming of my most worthy Savior, Jesus Christ, be found a good workman in his sight, and wear the everlasting crown in His presence. Hear me, dearest God, for Thy honor and my welfare, Amen.
Another Masonic prayer, one used by the Worshipful Master, Henry Pears, Tyrian Lodge, No. 370, Cleveland, Ohio, is here submitted as when first heard there by us many years ago:
Almighty and Eternal God—there is no number of Thy days nor of Thy mercies. Thou has sent us into the world to serve Thee, but we wander from Thee in the paths of error. Our days are but a span in length, yet tedious because of calamities that surround us on every side. The days of our pilgrimage are few and full of evil. our bodies are frail, our passions violent and distempered, our understanding weak and our will perverse. Look thou, Almighty Father, upon us with pity and with mercy. We adore Thy majesty, and trust like little children in Thy infinite goodness. Give us patience to live well; and firmness to resist evil. even as our departed Brother resisted. Give us faith and confidence in Thee, and enable us so to live that when we come to die, we may lie down in the grave like one who composes himself to sleep, and may we hereafter be worthy to be held in the memories of men. Bless us, O God, and bless our fraternity throughout the world. May we live and emulate the example of our departed Grand Master, and finally may we attain in this world a knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Prayer”)

The Twenty-sixth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, called also Scottish Trinitarian or Ecossais Trinitaire. It is one of the eight Degrees which were added on the organization of the Scottish Rite to the original twenty-five of the Rite of Perfection.
It is a Christian Degree in its construction, and treats of the triple covenant of mercy which God made with man; first with Abraham by circumcision; next, with the Israelites in the wilderness, by the intermediation of Moses; and lastly, with all mankind, by the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Prince of Mercy”)

Literally, My Master, equivalent to the pure Hebrew, Adoni. As a significant word in the advanced Degrees, it has been translated as most Excellent Master, and its usage by the later Jews will justify that interpretation. Buxtorf (Talt mudic Lexicon) tells us that about the time of Christ this title arose in the School of Hillel, and was given to only seven of their wise men who were preeminent for their learning.
Jahn (Biblical Archeology, page 106) says that Gamaliel, the preceptor of Saint Paul, was one of these. They styled themselves the children of wisdom, which is an expression very nearly corresponding to the Greek. The word occurs once, as applied to Christ, in the New Testament (John xx, 16), "Jesus said unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." The Masonic myth in the Most Excellent Master's Degree, that it was the title addressed by the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon on beholding the magnificence and splendor of the Temple, lacks the element of plausibility, inasmuch as the word was not in use in the time of Solomon. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Rabboni”)

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[Rev Wayne]

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When a candidate has received the Third Degree, he is said to have been raised to the sublime Degree of a Master Mason. The expression refers, materially, to a portion of the ceremony of initiation, but symbolically, to the resurrection, which it is the object of the Degree to exemplify.
A curious sidelight upon the use of the expression is that obtained by considering the word as also meaning the acceptance or adoption of the candidate officially by the Fraternity. There is an ancient and striking parallel for this understanding. Among the Roman customs connected with the birth of children that was the most remarkable which left it to the arbitrary will of the father whether his new-born child should be preserved or left to perish. The midwife always placed the child on the ground. If the father wished to preserve its life he raised it from the ground and this was said to be tollere infantem, the raising of the child. This was an intimation of his purpose to acknowledge and educate it as his own If the father did not choose to do this, he left the child on the ground, and thus expressed his wish to expose or abandon it, exponere. This exposing of a newborn child was an unnatural custom borrowed from the Greeks by which children were left in the streets and abandoned to their fate (see Fiske's Classical Antiquities, page 287).
Some highly significant pictorial instances of resurrection are found in old churches. The altar picture from Holyrood at Edinburgh, Scotland (see illustration), is a good example. Here the First Person of the Trinity supports or raises the Son. Usually the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, is also represented symbolically in such cases, the dove being as a rule selected to indicate the complete threefold unity of the Godhead. The altar symbolism from Holyrood is therefore a typical specimen of the Trinity portrayal and of the resurrection occurrence.
Brother J. E. Barton discusses the symbolism of the other illustration, the Trinity Boss in the West Porch of Peterborough Cathedral in England. This porch is from architectural details dated about 1375. Old writers would call the porch a "Galilee," a ritualistic provision for such occasions as Palm Sunday, and for processions generally on the Sabbath. The promise to the disciples, that the risen Christ should go before them into Galilee, is no doubt the origin of the name; for the chief ecclesiastical dignitary, who brought up the rear of the procession, here went first, and entered the porch through the ranks of his subordinates, as a Master in taking his seat in the Lodge.
Three probabilities are to be taken into account in considering this boss. It is the central ornament of a porch having special reference to the feast of the Resurrection. It was designed by a Gild—itself probably dedicated to the Holy Trinity, as at the Newark Parish Church, which would naturally wish the porch dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Its designers were inspired by a desire to connect, in a manner not unnatural to Freemasons with their own grades and ritual, the two ideas of the Holy Trinity and of the Resurrection.
Presumably the Masonic Gild, perhaps the chief Gild in Peterborough, was about to vault the porch it had given, and looked about for a suitable composition for its main boss. The first and inevitable suggestion was a Trinity subject, so common in sculptures stained glass, and on monumental brasses The usual Trinity is a design of God the Father sups porting the Son upon the Cross, with the Holy Spirit added in the form of a Dove. Next it was suggested that the Trinity should here be modified in form, so as to deplete a Risen, not a Crucified Lord, as being suitable to a Galilee Porch.
Last came the unifying suggestion that by the use Of a Masonic symbol the Resurrection of Christ, in the Trinity subject, should be marked at the point where Our Lord is about to be raised to Heaven by the hands of the Father; one hand gripping, and the other blessing. Hence the Second Person in the Trinity, who has already passed from the earthly Incarnation, is here at a singular position. His pierced hands show Him already crucified and rising from the grave, with the attitude common to medieval paintings of the Resurrection and the loin cloths still about Him. He is about to be raised to the sublime Degree, and God the Father, in order more expressly to note the Masonic idea, is figured like the Sun at its meridian.
What more appropriate than two figures typical of the Elect, redeemed by Christ, and raised and crowned with Him? Hence the two crowned figures, one apparently an ecclesiastic with an amice, whose diadems have the Trinity symbol of the trefoil, like the Father's crown in the Chester boss. In this Peterborough boss, indeed, each foil of the trefoil is itself trefoiled, as if to insist on the threefold notion. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Raised”)

There has been a needless expenditure of ingenuity and talent, by a large number of Masonic orators and essayists, in the endeavor to prove that Freemasonry is not a religion. This has usually arisen from a well-intended but erroneous view that has been assumed of the connection between religion and Freemasonry, and from a fear that if the complete disseverance of the two was not made manifest, the opponents of Freemasonry would be enabled successfully to establish a theory which they have been fond of advancing, that the Freemasons were disposed to substitute the teachings of their Order for the truths of Christianity.
Now we have never for a moment believed that any such unwarrantable assumption, as that Freemasonry is intended to be a substitute for Christianity, could ever obtain admission into any well-regulated mind, and, therefore, us are not disposed to yield on the subject of the religious character of Freemasonry, quite so much as has been yielded by more timid Brethren. On the contrary, we contend, without any sort of hesitation, that Freemasonry is, in every sense of the word, except one, and that its least philosophical, an eminently religious institution—that it is indebted solely to the religious element it contains for its origin as well as its continued existence, and that without this religious element it would scarcely be worthy of cultivate on by the wise and good. But, that we may be truly understood, it will be well first to agree upon the true definition of religion. There is nothing more illogical than to reason upon undefined terms. Webster has given four distinct definitions of religion:
1. Religion, in a comprehensive sense, includes, he says a belief in the being and perfections of God—in the revelation of His will to man—in man's obligation to obey His commands—in a state of reward and punishment, and in man's accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of life, with the practise of all moral duties.
2. His second definition is, that religion, as distinct from theology, is godliness or real piety in practise, consisting in the performance of all known duties to God and our fellow-men, in obedience to divine command, or from love to food and His law.
3. Again, he says that religion, as distinct from virtue or morality, consists in the performance of the duties we owe directly to God, from a principle of obedience to His will.
4. Lastly, he defines religion to be any system of faith or worship and in this sense, he says, religion comprehends the belief and worship of Pagans and Mohammedans as well as of Christians—any religion consisting in the belief of a superior power, or powers, governing the world, and in the worship of such power or powers. It is in this sense that we speak of the Turkish religion, or the Jewish religion, as well as of the Christian.
Now, it is plain that, in either of the first three senses in which we may take the word religion, and they do not vary materially differ from each other, Freemasonry may rightfully claim to be called a religious institution. Closely and accurately examined, it will be found to answer to any one of the requirements of either of these three definitions. So much does it "include a belief in the being and perfections of God," that the public profession of such a faith is essentially necessary to gain admission into the Order. No disbeliever in the existence of a God can be made a Freemason. The "revelation of his call to man" is technically called the "spiritual, moral, and Masonic Trestle-Board" of every Freemason, according to the rules and designs of which he is to erect the spiritual edifice of his eternal life.
A "state of reward and punishment" is necessarily included in the very idea of an obligation, which, without the belief in such a state, could be of no binding force or efficacy. And "true godliness or piety of life" is inculcated as the invariable duty of every Freemason, from the inception of the first to the end of the very last Degree that he takes. So, again, in reference to the second and third definitions, all this practical piety and performance of the duties we owe to God and to our fellow men arise from and are founded on a principle of obedience to the divine will. Else whence, or from what other will, could they have arisen?
It is the voice of the G. A. O. T. U. symbolized to us in every ceremony of our ritual and from every portion of the furniture of our Lodge, that speaks to the true Freemason, commanding him to fear God and to love the Brethren. It is idle to say that the Freemason does good simply in obedience to the Statutes of the Order. These very Statutes owe their Sanction to the Masonic idea of the nature and perfections of God, a belief that has come down to us from the earliest history of the Institution, and the promulgation of which idea was the very object and design of its origin.
But it must be confessed that the fourth definition does not appear to be strictly applicable to Freemasonry. It has no pretension to assume a place among the religions of the world as a sectarian "system of faith and worship," in the sense in which we distinguish Christianity from Judaism, or Judaism from Mohammedanism. In this meaning of the word we do not and can not speak of the Masonic religion, nor say of a man that he is not a Christian, but a Freemason. Here it is that the opponents of Freemasonry have assumed mistaken ground in confounding the idea of a religious Institution with that of the Christian religion as a peculiar form of worship, and in supposing, because Freemasonry teaches religious truth, that it is offered as a substitute for Christian truth and Christian obligation. Its warmest and most enlightened friends have never advanced nor supported such a claim. Freemasonry is not Christianity, nor a substitute for it. It is not intended to supersede it nor any other form of worship or system of faith. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental religious truth— not enough to do away with the necessity of the Christian scheme of salvation, but more than enough to show, to demonstrate, that it is, in every philosophical sense of the word, a religious Institution, and one, too, in which the true Christian Freemason will find if he earnestly seeks for them, abundant types and shadows of his own exalted and divinely inspired faith.
The tendency of all true Freemasonry is toward religion. If it make any progress, its progress is to that holy end. Look at its ancient landmarks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols and allegories—all inculcating religious doctrine, commanding religious observance, and teaching religious truth, and who can deny that it is eminently a religious Institution? But, besides, Freemasonry is, in all its forms, thoroughly tinctured with a true devotional spirit. We open and close our Lodges with prayer; we invoke the blessing of the Most High upon all our labors; we demand of our neophytes a profession of trusting belief in the existence and the superintending ear of God; and we teach them to bow with humility and reverence at His awful name, while His Holy Law is widely opened upon our altars. Freemasonry is thus identified with religion; and although a man may be eminently religious without being a Freemason, it is impossible that a Freemason can be "true and trusty" to his Order unless he is a respecter of religion and an observer of religious principle.
But the religion of Freemasonry is not sectarian It admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom, rejecting none and approving none for his peculiar faith. It is not Judaism, though there is nothing in it to offend a Jew; it is not Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive revelation—handed down to us from some ancient and Patriarchal Priesthood—in which all men may agree and in which no men can differ. It inculcates the practise of virtue, but it supplies no scheme of redemption for sin. It points its disciples to the path of righteousness, but it does not claim to be "the way, the truth, and the life." In so far, therefore, it cannot become a substitute for Christianity, but its tendency is thitherward; and, as the handmaid of religion, it may, and often does, act as the porch that introduces its votaries into the temple of divine truth. Freemasonry, then, is indeed a religious institution; and on this ground mainly, if not alone, should the religious Freemason defend it. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Religion of Freemasonry”)

 

[Rev Wayne]

If I were to define Freemasonry as an art, I should say that it was an art which taught the construction of a spiritual temple, just as the art of architecture teaches the construction of a material temple. And I should illustrate the train of ideas by which the Freemasons were led to symbolize the Temple of Solomon as a spiritual temple of man's nature, by borrowing the language of St. Peter, who says to his Christian initiates: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." And with greater emphasis, and as still more illustrative, would I cite the language of the Apostle of the Gentiles — that Apostle who, of all others, most delighted in symbolism, and who says: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
And this is the reason why Freemasonry is called an art.
Having thus determined the conditions under which Freemasonry becomes an art, the next inquiry will be why it has been distinguished from all other arts in being designated, par excellence, the Royal Art. And here we must abandon all thought that this title comes in any way from the connection of Freemasonry with earthly monarchs — from the patronage or the membership of kings. Freemasonry obtains no addition to its intrinsic value from a connection with the political heads of states. Kings, when they enter within its sacred portals, are no longer kings, but brethren. In the Lodge all men are on an equality, and there can be no distinction or preference, except that which is derived from virtue and intelligence. Although a great king once said that Freemasons made the best and truest subjects, yet in the Lodge is there no subjection save to the law of love — that law which, for its excellence above all other laws, has been called by an Apostle the "royal law," just as Freemasonry, for its excellence above all other arts, has been called the "Royal Art."
St. James says, in his general Epistle: "If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well." Dr. Adam Clarke, in his commentary on this passage — which is so appropriate to the subject we are investigating, and so thoroughly explanatory of this expression in its application to Freemasonry, that it is well worth a citation —uses the following language:
Speaking of the expression of St. James, nomon basilicon, "the royal law," he says: "This epithet, of all the New Testament writers, is peculiar to James; but it is frequent among the Greek writers in the sense in which it appears St. James uses it. Basilikos, royal, is used to signify anything that is of general concern, is suitable to all, and necessary for all, as brotherly love is. This commandment, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself, is a royal law; not only because it is ordained of God, proceeds from his kingly authority over men, but because it is so useful, suitable, and necessary to the present state of man; and as it was given us particularly by Christ himself, who is our king, as well as prophet and priest, it should ever put us in mind of his authority over us, and our subjection to him. As the regal state is the most excellent for secular dignity and civil utility that exists among men, hence we give the epithet royal to whatever is excellent, noble, grand, or useful."
How beautifully and appropriately does all this definition apply to Freemasonry as a Royal Art. It has already been shown how the art of Freemasonry consisted in a symbolization of the technical language and implements and labors of an operative society to a moral and spiritual purpose. The Temple which was constructed by the builders at Jerusalem was taken as the groundwork. Out of this the Freemasons have developed an admirable science of symbolism, which on account of its design, and on account of the means by which that design is accomplished, is well entitled, for its "excellence, nobility, grandeur, and utility," to be called the "Royal Art."
The stone-masons at Jerusalem were engaged in the construction of a material temple. But the Freemasons who succeeded them are occupied in the construction of a moral and spiritual temple, man being considered, through the process of the act of symbolism, that holy house. And in this symbolism the Freemasons have only developed the same idea that was present to St. Paul when he said to the Corinthians that they were "God's building," of which building he, "as a wise master builder. had laid the foundation"; and when, still further extending the metaphor, he told the Ephesians that they were "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom also ye are builded together for a habitation of God through the spirit."
This, then, is the true art of Freemasonry. It is an art which teaches the right method of symbolizing the technical language and the material Tabors of a handicraft, so as to build up in man a holy house for the habitation of God's spirit; to give perfection to man's nature; to give purity to humanity, and to unite mankind in one common bond. It is singular, and well worthy of notice, how this symbolism of building up man's body into a holy temple, so common with the New Testament writers, and even with Christ himself — for he speaks of man as a temple which, being destroyed, he could raise up in three days; in which, as St. John says, "he spake of the temple of his body" — gave rise to a new word or to a word with a new meaning in all the languages over which Christianity exercises any influence.
The old Greeks had from the two words oikos, "a house," and domein, "to
build," constructed the word oikodomein, which of course signified "to build a house."
In this plain and exclusive sense it is used by the Attic writers. In like manner. the Romans, out of the two words cedea, "a house," and focere, "to make," constructed their word cedificare, which always meant simply "to build a house," and in this plain sense it is used by Horace, Cicero, and all the old writers. But when the New Testament writers began to symbolize man as a temple or holy house for the habitation of the Lord, and when they spoke of building up this symbolic house, although it was a moral and spiritual growth to which they alluded, they used the Greek word oikodomein, and their first translators, the Latin word edificare in a new sense, meaning "to build up morally," that is, to educate, to instruct. And as modern nations learned the faith of Christianity, they imbibed this symbolic idea of a moral building, and adapted for its expression a new word or pave to an old word a new meaning, so that it has come to pass that in French edifitr, in Italian edificare, in Spanish edificar, in German erbauen, and in English edify, each of which literally and etymologically means "to build a house," has also the other signification, "to instruct, to improve, to educate."
And thus we speak of a marble building as a magnificent edifice, and of a wholesome doctrine as something that will edify its hearers. There are but few who, when using the word in this latter sense, think of that grand science of symbolism which gave birth to this new meaning, and which constitutes the very essence of the Royal Art of Freemasonry. For when this temple is built up, it is to be held together only by the cement of love. Brotherly love, the love of our neighbor as ourself — that love which suffereth long and is kind, which is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil — that love pervades the 'whole system of Freemasonry, not only binding all the moral parts of man's nature into one harmonious whole, the building' being thus, in the language of St. Paul, "fitly framed together," but binding; man to man, and man to God. And hence Freemasonry is called a "'Royal' Art," because it is of all arts the most noble; the art which teaches man how to perfect his temple of virtue by pursuing the "royal law" of universal love. (From Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, under the main heading of "ROYAL," and sub-heading of "Royal Art")

One of the Patron Saints of Freemasonry, and at one time, indeed, the only one, the name of Saint John the Evangelist having been introduced subsequent to the sixteenth century. His festival occurs on the 24th of June, and is very generally celebrated by the Masonic Fraternity. Dalcho (Ahiman Rezon, page 150) says that "the stern integrity of Saint John the Baptist, which induced him to forego every minor consideration in discharging the obligations he owed to God; the unshaken firmness with which he met martyrdom rather than betray his duty to his Master; his steady reproval of vice, and continued preaching of repentance and virtue. make him a fit patron of the Masonic institution." The Charter of Cologne says: "We celebrate, annually, the memory of Saint John, the Forerunner of Christ and the Patron of our Community." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Saint John the Baptist”)

In the Ancient Mysteries scenic representations were employed to illustrate the doctrines of the resurrection, which it was their object to inculcate. Thus the allegory of the initiation has more deeply impressed, by being brought vividly to the sight as well as to the mind of the aspirant. Thus, too, in the religious mysteries of the Middle Ages, the moral lessons of Scripture were dramatized for the benefit of the people who beheld them.
The Christian virtues and graces often assumed the form of personages in these religious plays, and fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice appeared before the spectators as living and acting beings, inculcating by their actions and by the plot of the drama those lessons which would not have been so well received or so thoroughly understood, if given merely in a didactic form.
The advantage of these scenic representations, consecrated by antiquity and tested by long experience, is well exemplified in the ritual of the Third Degree of Freemasonry, where the dramatization of the great legend gives to the initiation a singular force and beauty. It is surprising therefore, that the English system never adopted, or if adopted, speedily discarded, the drama of the Third Degree, but gives only in the form of a narrative what the American system more wisely and more usefully presents by living action. Throughout the United States, in every State excepting Pennsylvania, the initiation into the Third Degree constitutes a scenic representation. The latter State preserves the didactic method of the English system. The ceremonies on the Continent of Europe pursue the same scenic form of initiation, and in Doctor Mackey's opinion it is therefore most probable that this was the ancient usage, and that the present English arrangement of this feature is of comparatively recent date (see Ritual). (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Scenic Representations”)

The Grand Lodge of Ohio resolved in 1820, that "in the first degrees of Masonry religious tests shall not be a barrier to the admission or advancement of applicants, provided they profess a belief in God and His Holy Word"; and in 1854 the same Body adopted a resolution declaring that "Masonry, as we have received it from our fathers, teaches the Divine Authenticity of the Holy Scriptures." In 1845, the Grand Lodge of Illinois declared a belief in the authenticity of the Scriptures a necessary qualification for initiation. Although in Christendom very few Freemasons deny the Divine authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, yet to require, as a preliminary to initiation, the declaration of such a belief, Doctor Mackey was of opinion, is directly in opposition to the express regulations of the Order, which demand a belief in God and, by implication, in the immortality of the soul as the only religious tests (see Bible). (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Scriptures, Belief in the”)

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[Rev Wayne]

The doctrine of a resurrection to a future and eternal life constitutes an indispensable portion of the religious faith of Freemasonry. It is not authoritatively inculcated as a point of dogmatic creed, but is impressively taught by the symbolism of the Third Degree. This dogma has existed among almost all nations from a very early period. The Egyptians, in their mysteries, taught a final resurrection of the soul. Although the Jews, in escaping from their Egyptian thraldom, did not carry this doctrine with them into the desert—for it formed no part of the Mosaic theology—yet they subsequently, after the captivity, borrowed it from the Zoroastrians.
The Brahmans and Buddhists of the East, the Etruseans of the South, and the Druids and the Scandinavian Skalds of the West, nursed the faith of a resurrection to future life. The Greeks and the Romans subscribed to it; and it was one of the great objects of their mysteries to teach it. It is, as we all know, an essential part of the Christian faith, and was exemplified, in His own resurrection, by Christ to His followers. In Freemasonry, a particular Degree, the Master's, has been appropriated to teach it by an impressive symbolism. "Thus, " says Hutchinson (Spirit of Masonry, page 164), "our Order is a positive contradiction to Judaic blindness and infidelity, and testifies our faith concerning the resurrection of the body." (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Resurrection”)

The symbolism of the rose among the ancients was twofold. First, as it was dedicated to Venus as the goddess of love, it became the symbol of secrecy, and hence came the expression "under the rose," to indicate that which was spoken in confidence. Again, as it was dedicated to Venus as the personification of the generative energy of nature, it became the symbol of immortality. In this latter and more recondite sense it was, in Christian symbology, transferred to Christ, through whom "life and immortality were brought to light." The "Rose of Sharon" of the Book of Canticles is always applied to Christ, and hence Fuller, Pisgah Sight of Palestine, calls Him "that prime rose and lily." Thus we see the significance of the rose on the cross as a part of the jewel of the Rose Croix Degree. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Rose”)

The rose is the symbol of Christ, and the cross, the symbol of His death—the two united, the rose suspended on the cross—signify His death on the cross, whereby the secret of immortality was taught to the world. In a word, the rose on the cross is Christ crucified. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Rose”)

The great discovery which was made in the Royal Arch ceases to be of value in this Degree; for it another is substituted of more Christian application; the Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty which supported the ancient Temple are replaced by the Christian pillars of Faith, Hope and Charity; the Great Lights, of course, remain, because they are of the very essence of Freemasonry; but the three lesser give way to the thirty-three, which allude to the years of the Messiah's sojourning on earth. Everything, in short, about the Degree, is Christian; but, as we have already said, the Christian teachings of the Degree have been applied to the sublime principles of a universal system, and an interpretation and illustration of the doctrines of the Master of Nazareth, so adapted to the Masonic dogma of tolerance, that men of every faith may embrace and respect them. It thus performs a noble mission. It obliterates, alike, the intolerance of those Christians who sought to erect an impassable barrier around the sheepfold, and the equal intolerance of those of other religions who would be ready to exclaim, "Can any good thing come out of -Nazareth?" (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Rose Croix, Prince of”)

By an ancient usage of the Craft, the Book of the Law is always spread open in the Lodge. There is in this, as in everything else that is Masonic, an appropriate symbolism. The Book of the Law is the Great Light of Freemasonry. To close it would be to intercept the rays of divine light which emanate from it, and hence it is spread open, to indicate that the Lodge is not in darkness, but under the influence of its illuminating power. Freemasons in this respect obey the suggestion of the Divine Founder of the Christian religion, "Neither do men light a Candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house."
A closed book, a sealed book, indicates that its contents are secret; and a ,book or roll folded up was the symbol, says Wemyss, of a law abrogated, or of a thing of no further use. Hence, as the reverse of all this, the Book of the Law is opened in our Lodges, to teach us that its contents are to be studied, that the law which it inculcates is still in force, and is to be "the rule and guide of our conduct."
But the Book of the Law is not opened at random. In each Degree there are appropriate passages, whose allusion to the design of the Degree, or to some part of its ritual, makes it expedient that the book should be opened upon those passages. Masonic usage has not always been constant, nor is it now universal in relation to what particular passages shall be unfolded in each Degree. The custom in the United States of America, at least since the publication of Webb's Monitor, has been fairly uniform, and in general is as follows:
In the First Degree the Bible is opened at Psalm cxxxiii, an eloquent description of the beauty of brotherly love, and hence most appropriate as the illustration of a society whose existence is dependent on that noble principle.
In the Second Degree the passage adopted is Amos vii, 7 and 8, in which the allusion is evidently to the plumb line, an important emblem of that Degree.
In the Third Degree the Bible is opened at Ecclesiastes xii, 1-7, in which the description of old age and death is appropriately applied to the sacred object of this Degree.
But, as has been said, the choice of these passages has not always been the same. At different periods various passages have been selected, but always with great appropriateness, as may be seen from the following brief sketch. Formerly, the Book of the Law was opened in the First Degree at the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, which gives an account of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac.

As this event constituted the first grand offering commemorated by our ancient Brethren, by which the ground floor of the Apprentice's Lodge was consecrated, it seems to have been very appropriately selected as the passage for this Degree. That part of the twenty-eighth chapter of Genesis which records the vision of Jacob's ladder was also, with equal appositeness, selected as the passage for the First Degree. The following passage from First Kings vi, 8, was, during one part of the eighteenth century, used in the Second Degree: "The door of the middle chamber was in the right side of the house, and they went up with grinding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third." The appositeness of this passage to the Fellow Craft's Degree will hardly be disputed.
At another time the following passage from Second Chronicles iii, 17, was selected for the Second Degree its appropriateness will be equally evident: "And he reared up the pillars before the Temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and he called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz."
The words of Amos v, 25 and 26, were sometimes adopted as the passage for the Third Degree: "Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves." The allusions in this paragraph are not so evident as the others. They refer to historical matters, which were once embodied in the ancient lectures of Freemasonry. In them the sacrifices of the Israelites to Moloch were fully described, and a tradition, belonging to the Third Degree, informs us that Hiram Abif did much to extirpate this idolatrous worship from the religious system of Tyre.
The sixth chapter of Second Chronicles, which contains the prayer of King Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, was also used at one time for the Third Degree. Perhaps, however, this was with less fitness than any other of the passages quoted, since the events commemorated in the Third Degree took place at a somewhat earlier period than the dedication. Such a passage might more appropriately be annexed to the ceremonies of the Most Excellent Master as practiced in the United States.
At present the usage in England differs in respect to the choice of passages from that adopted in the United States of America. There the Bible is opened, in the First Degree, at Ruth iv, 7: "Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: and this was a testimony in Israel."
In the Second Degree the passage is opened at Judges xii, 6: "Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth; for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan. And there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. " Let not the reader hastily assume that there is but one meaning to be given these figures. The suggestion is offered that the reference may be taken as readily for two thousand and forty as forty-two thousand. We must not overlook the probable size of the population nor for that matter, the tendency in the East for exuberance of expression.
In the Third Degree the passage is opened at First Kings vii, 13 and 14: "And King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the Tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work." While from the force of habit, as well as from the extrinsic excellence of the passages themselves, the American Freemason will, perhaps, prefer the selections made in the Lodges of the United States, especially for the First and Third Degrees, he at the same time will not fail to admire the taste and ingenuity of the English Brethren in the selections that they have made. In the Second Degree the passage from Judges is undoubtedly preferable to that used in the United States.
In conclusion it may be observed, that to give these passages their due Masonic importance it is essential that they should be covered by the Square and Compasses. The Bible, square, and compasses are significant symbols of Freemasonry. They are said to allude to the peculiar characteristics of our ancient Grand Masters. The Bible is emblematic of the wisdom of King Solomon; the Square, of the power of Hiram; and the Compasses, of the skill of the Chief Builder. Some Masonic writers have still further spiritualized these symbols by supposing them to symbolize the wisdom, truth, and justice of the Great Architect of the Universe. In any view they become instructive and inseparably connected portions of the true Masonic Ritual, which, to be under stood, must be studied together (see Bible). (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Scriptures, Reading of the”)

A stamp on which letters and a device are carved for the purpose of making an impression, and also the wax or paper on which the impression is made. Lord Coke defines a seal to be an impression on wax, sigillum est cera impressa, and wax was originally the legal material of a seal. Many old Masonic Diplomas and Charters are still in existence, where the seal consists of a circular tin box filled with wax, on which the seal is impressed, the box being attached by a ribbon to the parchment But now the seal is placed generally on a piece of circular paper.
The form of a seal is circular; oval seals were formerly appropriated to ecclesiastical dignitaries and religious houses, and the shape alluded to the old Christian symbol of the Vesica Piscis. No Masonic document is valid unless it has appended to it the seal of the Lodge or Grand Lodge. Foreign Grand Lodges never recognize the transactions of subordinate Lodges out of their Jurisdictions, if the standing of the Lodges is not guaranteed by the seal of the Grand Lodge and the signatures of the open officers. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Seal”)

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[Rev Wayne]

As to any objections that have been raised against this Society, they are as ridiculous as they are groundless.
For what can discover more egregious folly in any man than to attempt to vilify what he knows nothing of? He might with equal justice abuse or calumniate anything else that he is unacquainted with. But there are some peculiar customs amongst us: surely these can be liable to no censure. Has not every Society some peculiarities which are not to be revealed to men of different communities?
But some among us behave not so well as might be expected: we fear this is too true, and are heartily sorry for it. But it might be inferred by parity of reason that the misconduct of a Christian is argument against Christianity, a conclusion which, I presume no man will allow. Let us rejoice in every opportunity of serving and obliging each other, for then, and only then, are we answering the great need of our institution.
Brotherly love, relief, and truth oblige us not only to be compassionate and benevolent, but to demonstrate that relief and comfort which the compassion of any members requires and we can bestow without manifest inconvenience to ourselves. The regulations of this Society are calculated not only for the prevention of enmity wrath, and dissension; but for the promotion of love peace, and friendship.
He who neither contrives mischief against others, nor suspects any against himself, has his mind always serene and his affections composed; all the faculties rejoice in harmony and proportion: by these our society subsists and upon these depend its wisdom, strength, and beauty. What are our secrets? If a Brother in necessity seeks relief, 'tis an inviolable secret, because true charity vaunteth not itself. If an overtaken Brother be admonished, 'tis in secret, because charity is kind. If possibly little differences, feuds, or animosities should invade our peaceful walls, they are still kept secret, for charity suffereth long, is not easily provoked thinketh no evil. . . .

In 1801 the Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, published at Charlestown, Massachusetts, a volume of Discourses delivered on Public Occasions, illustrating the Principles, displaying the Tendency, and vindicating the Design of Freenssonr1y. This work has also been annotated in a new edition by Doctor Oliver, and republished in his Golden Remains of Early Masonic Writers. During this nineteenth century there has been an abundance of single sermons preached and published, but for a long period no other collected volume of any by one and the same author has been given to the public since those of Doctor Harris. Yet the fact that annually in Great Britain and America hundreds of sermons in praise or in defense of Freemasonry are delivered from Christian pulpits, is a valuable testimony given by the clergy to the purity of the Institution. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Sermons, Masonic”)

A symbol used in the Degrees of Knights Templar and Knight of the Brazen Serpent. The cross is a tau cross T. and the serpent is twined around. Its origin is found in Numbers xxi, 9, where it is said, "Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole." The Hebrew word Nes, here translated a pole, literally means a standard, or something elevated on high as a signal, and may be represented by a cross as well as by a pole. Indeed, Justin Martvr calls it a cross. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Serpent and Cross”)

The days on which the sun reaches is greatest northern and southern declination, which are June 21 and December 22. Near these days are those in which the Christian church commemorates Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist, who have been selected as the patron saints of Freemasonry for reasons which are explained in the article on the Dedication of a Lodge, which see. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Solstices”)

A Freemason is bound, say the Old Charges, to obey the moral law, and of this law the very keystone is the divine precept—the Golden Rule of our Lord—to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Speculative Freemasonry”)

The idea of making the temple a symbol of the body is not, it is true, exclusively Masonic. It had occurred to the first teachers of Christianity. Christ himself alluded to it when he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"; and Saint Paul extends the idea, in the first of his Epistles to the Corinthians (iii, 16), in the following language: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" And again, in a subsequent passage of the same Epistle (vi, 19) he reiterates the idea in a more positive form: "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Spiritual Temple”)

The Blazing Star is thus called by those who entertain the theory that there is "an intimate and necessary connection between Masonry and Christianity." This doctrine, which Doctor Oliver thinks is "the fairest gem that Masonry can boast," is defended by him in his early work entitled The Star in the East. The whole subject is discussed in the article Blazing Star, which see. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Star in the East”)

Under the name of the Cardinal Virtues, because all the other virtues hinged upon them, the ancient Pagans gave the most prominent place in their system of ethics to Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice. But the three virtues taught in the theology of Saint Paul. Faith, Hope, and Charity, as such were unknown to them. To these, as taking a higher place and being more intimately connected with the relations of man to God, Christian writers have given the name of the Theological Virtues. They have been admitted into the system of Freemasonry, and are symbolized in the Theological Ladder of Jacob. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Theological Virtues”)

In the Masonic Ritual, the Speculative Freemason is reminded that, as the Operative Artists erects his temporal building in accordance with the rules and designs laid down on the Trestle-Board of the Master Workman, so should he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type, in obedience to the rules and designs, the precepts and commands, laid down by the Grand Architect of the Universe in those great books of nature and revelation which constitute the spiritual Trestle-Board of every Freemason.
The Trestle-Board is then the Symbol of the natural and moral law. Like every other Symbol of the Order, it is universal and tolerant in its application, and while, as Christian Freemasons, we cling with unfaltering integrity to the explanation which makes the Scriptures of both Dispensations our Trestle-Board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan Brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament or Koran. Freemasonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of any one's religious faith. All that it asks is that the interpretation of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the revealed will of his creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the symbol shall be preserved and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the atheist from its communion, because, believing in no Supreme Being—no Divine Architect—he must necessarily be without a spiritual Trestle-Board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for his direction (see Floor cloth). (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Trestle-Board”)

Like every modification of the triangle, it is a symbol of the Deity; but as the Degree of Knights Templar appertains exclusively to Christian Freemasonry, the Triple Triangle there alludes to the Mystery of the Trinity. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Degree of Knight of the East the symbol is also said to refer to the triple essence of Deity. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Triple Triangle”)

On the advent of Christianity, this Jewish custom of worshiping privately in an upper room was adopted by the apostles and disciples, and the New Testament contains many instances of the practice, the word Alijah being, as we have already remarked, translated by the Greek huperoon, which has a similar meaning. Thus in Acts (i,13), we find the apostles praying in an upper room; and again, in the twentieth chapter, the disciples are represented as having met at Ephesus in an upper room, where Peter preached to them. But it is unnecessary to multiply instances of this usage. The evidence is complete that the Jews, and after them the primitive Christians, performed their devotions in upper rooms. And the care with which Alijah, huperoon, or upper chamber, is always used to designate the place of devotion, abundantly indicates that any other place would have been considered improper.
Hence we may trace the practise of holding Lodges in upper rooms to this ancient custom. (Mackey, Encyclopedia, “Upper Chambers”)

In an old ritual of the Fellow-Craft's degree, used about the middle of the last century, we find the following passage in reference equally to the first step of the winding staircase, the Point, and the letter G: 'God, the great Architect of the Universe, whom it is at all times our duty to worship and obey.' In a ritual still more ancient, the same meaning is rather differently expressed, viz., 'the Grand Architect and Contriver of the Universe; or He that was taken up to the topmost pinnacle of the Holy Temple (Mackey, History of Freemasonry, 1898, p. 1745)

Step by step, as the candidate advances in each degree, he learns the value of the gradation in moral lessons, by which his future life is to be guided. All of these are primarily referable to his first declaration of "Faith in God," "Hope in Immortality," and "Charity or Love to all Mankind." In these we recognize the several "duties" incumbent upon all men, which were inculcated in every system of morality taught by the ancient patriarchs and philosophers — our duty to God, our duty to ourselves, and our duty to all men. In these are found the realisms of Masonry, and not in our legends and allegories, by which they are veiled and concealed. Albert Mackey, History of Freemasonry, p. 1756)

It has been well said that "Freemasonry is the Science of Morality, veiled in Allegory, and illustrated by Symbols." We personally do not claim for Freemasonry the title of a science, but we do insist that it comprehends all true philosophy. Its fundamental principle is a belief in God, without which there can be neither morality or philosophy. The second principle taught in Masonry is the immortality of the soul ; and the third principle is the resurrection of the body. These constitute the philosophy of Freemasonry. It is upon these principles that all the ancient religions were founded. (Mackey, History of Freemasonry, p. 1757)

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[Rev Wayne]

The very spirit of all of our lectures proves conclusively that when they were formulated they were designed to teach pure trinitarian Christianity, and while the Jewish scriptures did forecast the intermediary of a Christos, as all the ancient heathen mysteries did also, yet Jesus Christ as shown and demonstrated in the writings of the New Testament, was not understood by the Jewish writers of the Old Testament, nor by but very few of that faith since. The first three degrees taken in connection with the Holy Royal Arch, as they have always been with our Brethren of England, certainly show pure Christianity, as taught throughout the writings of the New Testament scriptures. (Mackey, History of Freemasonry, p. 1769)

In the language of the learned and zealous Hutchinson, somewhat enlarged in its allusion, "the Master Mason represents a man under the doctrine of love, saved from the grave of iniquity, and raised to the faith of salvation. It testifies our faith in the resurrection of the body, and, while it inculcates a practical lesson of prudence and unshrinking fidelity, it inspires the most cheering hope of that final reward which belongs alone to the "just made perfect."
This was the last and highest of the three degrees in existence at the construction of the first Temple, and it is, therefore, called "the perfection of ancient craft masonry." From the sublimity of the truths developed in it, and from the solemn nature of the ceremonies, it has received the appellation of the "sublime degree." (Mackey, Lexicon of Freemasonry, p. 209)

Resurrection.—A resurrection from the grave and a future immortality were the great lessons which it was the design of the ancient mysteries to inculcate. In like manner, by a symbolic ceremony of great impressiveness, the same sublime truths are made to constitute the end and object of Freemasonry in the third degree, or as it has been called by Hutchinson, "the Master's Order." (Mackey, Lexicon of Freemasonry, p. 290)

Masonic tradition tells us that our ancient Brethren dedicated their
lodges to King Solomon, because he was their first Most Excellent Grand
Master; but that modern Masons dedicate theirs to St. John the Baptist and
St. John the Evangelist, because they were two eminent patrons of Masonry.
A more appropriate selection of patrons to whom to dedicate the lodge,
could not easily have been made; since St. John the Baptist, by
announcing the approach of Christ, and by the mystical ablution to which he subjected his proselytes, and which was afterwards adopted in the ceremony of initiation into Christianity, might well be considered as the Grand Hierophant of the Church; while the mysterious and emblematic nature of the Apocalypse assimilated the mode of teaching adopted by St. John the Evangelist to that practiced by the fraternity. Our Jewish Brethren usually dedicate their lodges to King Solomon, thus retaining their ancient patron, although they thereby lose the benefit of that portion of the Lectures which refers to the "lines parallel." The Grand Lodge of England, at the union in 1813, agreed to dedicate to Solomon and Moses, applying the parallels to the framer of the tabernacle and the builder of the temple; but they have no warranty for this in ancient usage, and it is unfortunately not the only innovation on the ancient landmarks that that Grand Lodge has lately permitted. (Mackey, Principles of Masonic Law)

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Mount Calvary is consecrated to the Christian as the place where his crucified Lord gave the last great proof of the second life, and fully established the doctrine of the resurrection which he had come to teach. It was the sepulchre of him

"Who captive led captivity,
Who robbed the grave of victory,
And took the sting from death."

It is consecrated to the Mason, also, as the scene of the euresis, the place of the discovery, where the same consoling doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul are shadowed forth in profoundly symbolic forms.

These great truths constitute the very essence of Christianity, in which it differs from and excels all religious systems that preceded it; they constitute, also, the end, aim, and object of all Freemasonry, but more especially that of the Third Degree, whose peculiar legend, symbolically considered, teaches nothing more nor less than that there is an immortal and better part within us, which, as an emanation from that divine spirit which pervades all nature, can never die. (Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 204)

And as to the adoption of the Christian reference, Hutchinson, and after him Oliver, profoundly philosophical as are the masonic speculations of both, have, I am constrained to believe, fallen into a great error in calling the Master Mason's degree a Christian institution. It is true that it embraces within its scheme the great truths of Christianity upon the subject of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body; but this was to be presumed, because Freemasonry is truth, and Christianity is truth, and all truth must be identical. But the origin of each is different; their histories are dissimilar. (Mackey, Symbolism, p. 206)

The temple is now completed. The stones having been hewed, squared, and numbered in the quarries by the apprentices,—having been properly adjusted by the craftsmen, and finally secured in their appropriate places, with the strongest and purest cement, by the master builders,—the temple of King Solomon presented, in its finished condition, so noble an appearance of sublimity and grandeur as to well deserve to be selected, as it has been, for the type or symbol of that immortal temple of the body, to which Christ significantly and symbolically alluded when he said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
This idea of representing the interior and spiritual man by a material temple is so apposite in all its parts as to have occurred on more than one occasion to the first teachers of Christianity. Christ himself repeatedly alludes to it in other passages, and the eloquent and figurative St. Paul beautifully extends the idea in one of his Epistles to the Corinthians, in the following language: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" And again, in a subsequent passage of the same Epistle, he reiterates the idea in a more positive form: "What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" And Dr. Adam Clarke, while commenting on this latter passage, makes the very allusions which have been the topic of discussion in the present essay. "As truly," says he, "as the living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle and in the temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians; and as the temple and all its utensils were holy, separated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the service of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are holy, and should be employed in the service of God alone." (Mackey, Symbolism, Chap. 12)

The trestle-board is, then, the symbol of the natural and moral law. Like every other symbol of the order, it is universal and tolerant in its application; and while, as Christian Masons, we cling with unfaltering integrity to that explanation which makes the Scriptures of both dispensations our trestle-board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament, or the Koran. Masonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of any one's religious faith. All that it asks is, that the interpretation of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the revealed will of his Creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the symbol shall be preserved, and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the Atheist from its communion, because, believing in no Supreme Being, no divine Architect, he must necessarily be without a spiritual trestle-board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for his direction. (Mackey, Symbolism, Chap. 12)

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As to the material of the apron, this is imperatively required to be of lamb-skin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be substituted without entirely destroying the symbolism of the vestment. Now, the lamb has, as the ritual expresses it, "been, in all ages, deemed an emblem of innocence;" but more particularly in the Jewish and Christian churches has this symbolism been observed. Instances of this need hardly be cited. They abound throughout the Old Testament, where we learn that a lamb was selected by the Israelites for their sin and burnt offerings, and in the New, where the word lamb is almost constantly employed as synonymous with innocence. "The paschal lamb," says Didron, "which was eaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure, is the type of that other divine Lamb, of whom Christians are to partake at Easter, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they are held by vice." The paschal lamb, a lamb bearing a cross, was, therefore, from an early period, depicted by the Christians as referring to Christ crucified, "that spotless Lamb of God, who was slain from the foundation of the world."
The material, then, of the apron, unites with its color to give to the investiture of a mason the symbolic signification of purity. This, then, together with the fact which I have already shown, that the ceremony of investiture was common to all the ancient religious rites, will form another proof of the identity of origin between these and the masonic institution. (Mackey, Symbolism, Chap. 13)

Returning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of three explanations. It is a symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of initiation. But these three significations are closely connected, and that connection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation of the symbol. thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the initiation of life, of which the initiation in the third degree is simply emblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length, however, to be called, by the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to a blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place where the sprig of acacia was planted, and which I have heretofore shown to be Mount Calvary, the place of sepulture of Him who “brought life and immortality to light,” and who in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he is in Scripture, as “the lion of the tribe of Judah,” and remember, too, that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of the acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but which is really and truly the most important and significant one in Masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future. Thus read (and thus all our symbols should be read), Masonry proves something more to its disciples than a mere social society or a charitable association. It becomes a “lamp to our feet,” whose spiritual light shines on the darkness of the deathbed, and dissipates the gloomy shadows of the grave. (Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 226-27)

No essential alteration of it [third degree legend] 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. (Mackey, Symbolism, p. 326)

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[Rev Wayne]

Any allusion to the mythological fables of their Gentile neighbors, any celebration of the myths of pagan theology, would have been equally offensive to the taste and repugnant to the religious prejudices of a nation educated, from generation to generation, in the worship of a divine being jealous of his prerogatives, and who had made himself known to his people as the JEHOVAH, the God of time present, past, and future. How this obstacle would have been surmounted by the Israelitish founder of the order I am unable to say: a substitute would, no doubt, have been invented, which would have met all the symbolic requirements of the legend of the Mysteries, or Spurious Freemasonry, without violating the religious principles of the Primitive Freemasonry of the Jews; but the necessity for such invention never existed, and before the completion of the temple a melancholy event is said to have occurred, which served to cut the Gordian knot, and the death of its chief architect has supplied Freemasonry with its appropriate legend—a legend which, like the legends of all the Mysteries, is used to testify our faith in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul. (Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 344)

If Masonry were simply a Christian institution, the Jew and the Moslem, the Brahmin and the Buddhist, could not conscientiously partake of its illumination; but its universality is its boast. In its language citizens of every nation may converse; at its altar men of all religions may kneel; to its creed disciples of every faith may subscribe.

Yet it cannot be denied, that since the advent of Christianity a Christian element has been almost imperceptibly infused into the masonic system, at least among Christian Masons. This has been a necessity; for it is the tendency of every predominant religion to pervade with its influences all that surrounds it, or is about it, whether religious, political, or social. This arises from a need of the human heart. To the man deeply imbued with the spirit of his religion there is an almost unconscious desire to accommodate and adapt all the business and the amusements of life, the labors and the employments of his every-day existence, to the indwelling faith of his soul.

The Christian Mason, therefore, while acknowledging and justly appreciating the great doctrines taught in Masonry, and while grateful that these doctrines were preserved in the bosom of his ancient order at a time when they were unknown to the multitudes of the surrounding nations, is still anxious to give to them a Christian character, to invest them, in some measure, with the peculiarities of his own creed, and to bring the interpretation of their symbolism more nearly home to his own religious sentiments.

The feeling is an instinctive one, belonging to the noblest aspirations of our human nature; and hence we find Christian masonic writers indulging in it almost to an unwarrantable excess, and by the extent of their sectarian interpretations materially affecting the cosmopolitan character of the institution.

This tendency to Christianization has, in some instances, been so universal, and has prevailed for so long a period, that certain symbols and myths have been, in this way, so deeply and thoroughly imbued with the Christian element as to leave those who have not penetrated into the cause of this peculiarity, in doubt whether they should attribute to the symbol an ancient or a modern and Christian origin. (Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, Chapter 27)

[Note: Compare this with many comments made in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, published later in his life, and the difference between the statements made here, and those later, can easily be seen. Mackey was much more disposed toward Christian interpretations after he had disavowed his earlier presuppositions about early origins of Msaonry.]

On this hallowed spot was Christ the Redeemer slain and buried. It was there that, rising on the third day from his sepulchre, he gave, by that act, the demonstrative evidence of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.
And it was on this spot that the same great lesson was taught in Masonry—the same sublime truth—the development of which evidently forms the design of the Third or Master Mason's degree.
There is in these analogies a sublime beauty as well as a wonderful coincidence between the two systems of Masonry and Christianity, that must, at an early period, have attracted the attention of the Christian Masons.
Mount Calvary is consecrated to the Christian as the place where his crucified Lord gave the last great proof of the second life, and fully established the doctrine of the resurrection which he had come to teach. It was the sepulchre of him

"Who captive led captivity,
Who robbed the grave of victory,
And took the sting from death."

It is consecrated to the Mason, also, as the scene of the euresis, the place of the discovery, where the same consoling doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul are shadowed forth in profoundly symbolic forms.

These great truths constitute the very essence of Christianity, in which it differs from and excels all religious systems that preceded it; they constitute, also, the end, aim, and object of all Freemasonry, but more especially that of the Third Degree, whose peculiar legend, symbolically considered, teaches nothing more nor less than that there is an immortal and better part within us, which, as an emanation from that divine spirit which pervades all nature, can never die.

The identification of the spot on which this divine truth was promulgated in both systems—the Christian and the Masonic—affords an admirable illustration of the readiness with which the religious spirit of the former may be infused into the symbolism of the latter. And hence Hutchinson, thoroughly imbued with these Christian views of Masonry, has called the Master Mason's order a Christian degree, and thus Christianizes the whole symbolism of its mythical history.
"The Great Father of all, commiserating the miseries of the world, sent his only Son, who was innocence itself, to teach the doctrine of salvation—by whom man was raised from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness—from the tomb of corruption unto the chamber of hope—from the darkness of despair to the celestial beams of faith; and not only working for us this redemption, but making with us the covenant of regeneration; whence we are become the children of the Divinity, and inheritors of the realms of heaven.
"We, Masons, describing the deplorable estate of religion under the Jewish law, speak in figures: 'Her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast forth of the temple, and acacia wove its branches over her monuments;' akakia being the Greek word for innocence, or being free from sin; implying that the sins and corruptions of the old law, and devotees of the Jewish altar, had hid Religion from those who sought her, and she was only to be found where innocence survived, and under the banner of the Divine Lamb, and, as to ourselves, professing that we were to be distinguished by our Acacy, or as true Acacians in our religious faiths and tenets.
"The acquisition of the doctrine of redemption is expressed in the typical character of Huramen (I have found it.—Greek), and by the applications of that name with Masons, it is implied that we have discovered the knowledge of God and his salvation, and have been redeemed from the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution and unrighteousness.
"Thus the Master Mason represents a man, under the Christian doctrine, saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation."

It is in this way that Masonry has, by a sort of inevitable process (when we look to the religious sentiment of the interpreters), been Christianized by some of the most illustrious and learned writers on masonic science—by such able men as Hutchinson and Oliver in England, and by Harris, by Scott, by Salem Towne, and by several others in this country.
I do not object to the system when the interpretation is not strained, but is plausible, consistent, and productive of the same results as in the instance of Mount Calvary: all that I contend for is, that such interpretations are modern, and that they do not belong to, although they may often be deduced from, the ancient system.

Returning, then, to the acacia, we find that it is capable of three explanations. It is a symbol of immortality, of innocence, and of initiation. But these three significations are closely connected, and that connection must be observed, if we desire to obtain a just interpretation of the symbol. Thus, in this one symbol, we are taught that in the initiation of life, of which the initiation in the third-degree is simply emblematic, innocence must for a time lie in the grave, at length, however, to be called, by the word of the Grand Master of the Universe, to a blissful immortality. Combine with this the recollection of the place where the sprig of acacia was planted, and which I have heretofore shown to be Mount Calvary, the place of sepulture of Him who "brought life and immortality to light," and who, in Christian Masonry, is designated, as he is in Scripture, as "the lion of the tribe of Judah," and remember, too, that in the mystery of his death, the wood of the cross takes the place of the acacia, and in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but which is really and truly the most important and significant one in masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future. Thus read (and thus all our symbols should be read), Masonry proves something more to its disciples than a mere social society or a charitable association. It becomes a "lamp to our feet," whose spiritual light shines on the darkness of the deathbed, and dissipates the gloomy shadows of the grave. (Mackey, Symbolism of Freemasonry, Chapter 28)

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This symbolism, which represents man as a temple, a house, a sacred building in which God is to dwell, is not new, nor peculiar to the masonic science. It was known to the Jewish, and is still recognized by the Christian, system. The Talmudists had a saying that the threefold repetition of the words "Temple of Jehovah," in the seventh chapter and fourth verse of the book of Jeremiah, was intended to allude to the existence of three temples; and hence in one of their treatises it is said, "Two temples have been destroyed, but the third will endure forever," in which it is manifest that they referred to the temple of the immortal soul in man.
By a similar allusion, which, however, the Jews chose wilfully to misunderstand, Christ declared, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And the beloved disciple, who records the conversation, does not allow us to doubt of the Saviour's meaning.
"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
"But he spake of the temple of his body."
In more than one place the apostle Paul has fondly dwelt upon this metaphor. Thus he tells the Corinthians that they are "God's building," and he calls himself the "wise master builder," who was to lay the foundation in his truthful doctrine, upon which they were to erect the edifice. And he says to them immediately afterwards, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (Mackey, Symbolism, Chap. 29)

117. This symbolism of the double position of the cornerstone 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 cornerstone, or chief cornerstone, 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 cornerstone, 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. (Mackey, Symbolism, n. 117)

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[Skip Sampson]

Thank you for muddying up the real picture, in which the name of Allah is welcome only by choice, and only by a Muslim taking his obligation. So obviously, you would prefer that someone who doesn't take the Bible as his book of faith, be required to be obligated upon it anyway?

The real picture remains clear. The VSL is the Great Light; the Bible, Koran and so forth merely parts of it. The VSL is the rule & guide; the Bible, Koran and so forth merely parts of it. And as your quotes showed, they are all just symbols of the revealed will of God, whatever his name might be, each equally valid. Only that and nothing more.

As to the muslim, if the Bible really had such an important place in Masonry, all candidates would have to take their obligation on it. But they don't and it isn't.

A couple of things you missed.

Not really. As already noted, the VSL is the Great Light, which most American jurisdictions select the Bible to be thus classified; however, it is still the VSL that IS the Great Light, and all its parts meet that definition as well. That the Bible is used merely reflects a decision on the part of the GL, and one that could be changed.

It would be ludicrous to suggest that the Christian would view anything as the VSL but the Holy Bible.

Well, since there are none in Masonry, that's debatable. But the concept is very Masonic. You would find nothing wrong with participating in an EA degree for a Muslim using the Koran, and the alterations in the ritual that would come with that. Therefore, you would agree by your presence that they are interchangeable.

You guys have rehashed this one since the time it was first presented,

And we have shown that it is the VSL that is the Great Light. Your MSA quote proves that:

Volume of the Sacred Law. An open volume of the Sacred Law, "the rule and guide of life," is an essential part of every Masonic meeting. The Volume of the Sacred Law in the Judeo/Christian tradition is the Bible; to Freemasons of other faiths, it is the book held holy by them.

They're pretty clear that the VSL is the 'rule and guide' and that one must be there. It's also clear that any book held to be holy meets the criteria for a VSL. Despite the practices of masonic lodges, the Bible is directly equated to the Book of Mormon and the Koran as examples, or symbols, of God's will revealed to man.

I submit, once again, that the main reason for this failure to connect the dots, is the fundamental error of confusing "VSL" with the term "Great Light"; these are two separate symbols and thus two separate issues in Masonry. ... And yes, there have been a couple of occasions where someone has caught even a Masonic source making the same error of confusing "VSL" and "Great Light," but those have clearly been the exception and not the rule.

Other, and more knowledgeable, Masons would disagree:

Symbol of the Volume of Sacred Law. In English speaking countries, it is universally one of the three Great Lights of Masonry. In lands predominantly Christian it is the Volume of the Sacred Law, as is its Old Testament to Jews. In other lands the holy book of the common faith becomes the Great Light upon the Altar. (Pocket Encyclopedia of Masonic Symbols, pgs. 13 – 14, MSA, 1953, by Carl Claudy)

The Great Light in Freemasonry is the Volume of the Sacred Law and it is an indispensable part of the furniture of the Lodge. The Grand Lodges of the United States use the Holy Bible as the V.S.L. on their altars. In other countries the candidate who is not a Christian or a Jew is entitled to have his own sacred book substituted for the Bible. In some Lodges in other countries the altars of Masonry have more than one Volume of the Sacred Law on them and the candidate may choose the one on which he is obligated. (FL GL Mentor’s Manual, date unknown, pg. 10)

The Great Light of Freemasonry is the Volume of the Sacred Law (no matter what religion), and it is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Lodge. The Grand Lodges of the United States use as the volume of Sacred Law, the Holy Bible on their altars. In other countries, the candidate who is not a Christian or a Jew is entitled to have his own sacred book included on the Altar with the Bible. In some Lodges, in other countries, the altars of Masonry have more than one Book of Sacred Law on them, and the candidate may choose the one on which he properly is to be obligated. (NE GL, Mentoring Manual, 2006, Pg. 27)

The Great Light of Freemasonry is the Volume of the Sacred Law and it is an indispensable part of the furniture of a Lodge. The Grand Lodges of the United States use the Holy Bible as the V.S.L. on their altars. In other countries the candidate who is not a Christian or a Jew is entitled to have his own sacred book substituted for the Bible. In some Lodges in other countries the altars of Masonry have more than one Volume of the Sacred Law on them and the candidate may choose the one on which he is obligated. (MS GL, Mentor’s Manual, 1986, pg. 10)

What is meant by the Volume of the Sacred Law? The holy book of one's prevailing faith and the Great Light in Freemasonry. (PA GL, 100 questions)

The Three Great Lights of Masonry are the Holy Bible, or Volume of the Sacred Law (VSL), the square, and the compass. (CA GL, EA Guide)

Upon the Lodge’s altar are the three Great Lights of Masonry. One of these Great Lights is the Holy Book of your faith, which is sometimes called the Volume of Sacred Law. All Masonry centers on this Great Light. The specific holy book varies from country to country and Lodge to Lodge, depending upon the religious faith of its members. The fact that Freemasonry’s sole religious requirement is a belief in Deity is a striking example of its support for the individual’s right to his own religious convictions. (OH GL, EA Handbook)

You are simply, and yet spectacularly, mistaken. Cordially, Skip.

 

[Skip Sampson]

Wayne:
This is one of your quotes:

"Now imagine me standing in lodge with my head bowed in prayer between Brother Mohammed Bokhary and Brother Arjun Melwani. To neither of them is the Great Architect of the Universe perceived as the Holy Trinity. To Brother Bokhary He has been revealed as Allah; to Brother Melwani He is probably perceived as Vishnu. Since I believe that there is only one God, I am confronted with three possibilities:

They are praying to the devil whilst I am praying to God;
They are praying to nothing, as their gods do not exist;
They are praying to the same God as I, yet their understanding of His nature is partly incomplete (as indeed is mine — 1 Cor 13:12)

It is without hesitation that I accept the third possibility." (Christopher Haffner, Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Freemason, p. 39.)

Do you agree with his thoughts in that matter? I'd say it's a perfect example of Masonic thought. Cordially, Skip.

 

[Rev Wayne]

Do you agree with his thoughts in that matter?

Well, let's look at it:

I am confronted with three possibilities:

They are praying to the devil whilst I am praying to God;
They are praying to nothing, as their gods do not exist;
They are praying to the same God as I, yet their understanding of His nature is partly incomplete (as indeed is mine — 1 Cor 13:12)

Well, those DO seem to be the three possibilities.

Where we differ is, I don't try to presume upon God, who is the only one who REALLY knows the answer, and so I leave that up to Him, firm in the assurance that I DO know who I am praying to.

And thanks for not disappointing me with your predictability. I knew before I ever posted all this, that you'd be certain to single this out for a response.

 

[Rev Wayne]

The real picture remains clear. The VSL is the Great Light; the Bible, Koran and so forth merely parts of it. The VSL is the rule & guide; the Bible, Koran and so forth merely parts of it. And as your quotes showed, they are all just symbols of the revealed will of God, whatever his name might be, each equally valid. Only that and nothing more.

As to the muslim, if the Bible really had such an important place in Masonry, all candidates would have to take their obligation on it. But they don't and it isn't.

Not really. As already noted, the VSL is the Great Light, which most American jurisdictions select the Bible to be thus classified; however, it is still the VSL that IS the Great Light, and all its parts meet that definition as well. That the Bible is used merely reflects a decision on the part of the GL, and one that could be changed.

Well, since there are none in Masonry, that's debatable. But the concept is very Masonic. You would find nothing wrong with participating in an EA degree for a Muslim using the Koran, and the alterations in the ritual that would come with that. Therefore, you would agree by your presence that they are interchangeable.

And we have shown that it is the VSL that is the Great Light. Your MSA quote proves that:

They're pretty clear that the VSL is the 'rule and guide' and that one must be there. It's also clear that any book held to be holy meets the criteria for a VSL. Despite the practices of masonic lodges, the Bible is directly equated to the Book of Mormon and the Koran as examples, or symbols, of God's will revealed to man.

Other, and more knowledgeable, Masons would disagree:







You are simply, and yet spectacularly, mistaken. Cordially, Skip.

Pretty slick angling, but you still overlook the fact that by the title of the thread, the only "VSL" under consideration here is the Holy Bible.

As for your "other, more knowledgeable, Masons would disagree," I already indicated there were exceptions. I'm not surprised that you would go to the trouble to locate them. But you have mis-stated matters on a couple of particulars:

they are all just symbols of the revealed will of God, whatever his name might be, each equally valid.

Masonry makes no statement, nor any determination, of "validity." And it seems to be a standard feature, in discussing VSL's, to speak of "OTHER jurisdictions." In the U.S., it's the Bible. I notice most of your sources are careful to point that out as well.

if the Bible really had such an important place in Masonry, all candidates would have to take their obligation on it.

It's the one book upon which all its principles are based. No manner of taking obligations will change that.

That the Bible is used merely reflects a decision on the part of the GL, and one that could be changed.

In the U.S., it's the Bible. When that does change, you be sure and get back with me, hear?

Despite the practices of masonic lodges, the Bible is directly equated to the Book of Mormon and the Koran as examples, or symbols, of God's will revealed to man.

No "equation" to it. "VSL" is the symbol, as the term is generally understood. The traditional statement USED to be that it was the Bible that was the symbol. But since you insist on following the trend of removing the Bible, the term VSL must be used. And the meaning of the symbolic "VSL" depends on the individual. The Bible is used in the U.S., because Masons in the U.S. are generally Christians. To a Christian, the Bible is not "equal" with books of other faiths, it is the only book we use. You are trying to confuse neutrality with equality, which won't hold up no matter how you choose to prop it.

And we have shown that it is the VSL that is the Great Light. Your MSA quote proves that:

Volume of the Sacred Law. An open volume of the Sacred Law, "the rule and guide of life," is an essential part of every Masonic meeting. The Volume of the Sacred Law in the Judeo/Christian tradition is the Bible; to Freemasons of other faiths, it is the book held holy by them.

Funny thing, this "proof" of yours. I don't see "Great Light" anywhere in that quote at all. Must be that wonderful imagination of yours.

 

[Rev Wayne]

The phrase in the Masonic ritual, "The lion of the tribe of Judah," is Messianic and refers to Christ, the anointed of God and royal head of God's Kingdom. (Missouri Lodge of Research, “Key Masonic Words and Phrases”)

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The four superior tribes had for their bearings, the component parts of the Cherubic symbol of the Deity, who accompanied and afforded protection to the host in the sacred pillar of a cloud and of fire. Under each of these great banners, the four principal divisions were arranged. The standard of Judah was borne by Nahshon, its Prince. It was designated by a lion couchant surmounted by a crown and sceptre; because from this tribe the Messiah, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, was destined to spring. (Charles Whitlock Moore, The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXII, p. 313)

AN IMPORTANT REPORT ON THE RELATIONS OF FREEMASONRY
TO CHRISTIANITY.


Whatever may be the views either of Jewish, or of many Christian Brethren, as to the nature and mission of Jesus Christ, who that reads the narrative of his pure and holy and loving life — that one continuous life-lesson of Love to Man — can fail to see therein an embodiment of Masonry's fundamental principles? His sermon on the Mount, might it not well be accepted as the Code of Masonic Law? "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God: If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift: — Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away: Judge not, that ye be not judged: Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
If CHARITY — BROTHERLY LOVE — be the very Life-essence of Masonry, (and who will deny it?) surely nowhere else can be found a more comprehensive summary and inculcation of its duties and practice, than in these utterances of the Saviour! And, if we turn from the view of these as they issued from His lips and were illustrated in every act of His life, to the preaching of him who, while humbly calling himself the least, was really the greatest of His apostles, do we not find the same glorious lesson of Masonic Love — good will to man — once more emphatically enunciated in that truly Masonic address, which closes with the grand peroration — "Now there remaineth Faith, Hope, Charity, these three, and the greatest of these is Charity!"

5
As the great Roman orator, when defending the civic rights of the poet Archias, exclaimed — "Surely, if this man were not already a citizen, he would most justly deserve to be forthwith adopted as a citizen of Rome" — so might we well say, if there had hitherto been no acceptance or endorsement of such teachings and preachings as these of Jesus Christ and His apostles in our Ritual, it were high time that they were at once adopted and embodied therein. But, as Archias had been fully naturalized as a Roman Citizen, long before Cicero was called to defend his rights, so, as has been shown, so far back as we can trace the history of Masonry, we find incontrovertible proofs of an acknowledgment of, and reference to, these Christian teachings: and, therefore, while to eliminate them from the work of the Lodge would be no more, nor less, than to remove the strongest props of the Masonic Edifice, so by retaining and cherishing them — free from all sectarian bias or prejudice — we are really "keeping our faith with the fathers, and maintaining the ancient landmarks." (Charles Whitlock Moore, The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 1)

IN GRAND LODGE, SEPT. 13, 1871.
The Committee charged by the Grand Lodge to consider the petition of Bro. Samuel Evans and two hundred and twenty nine others, stating that certain portions, or features of a theological, or sectarian character, contrary to the letter as well as the spirit of Freemasonry, exist in the ritual and work of the order, and desiring an investigation whether the universality of Freemasonry has been overthrown, or disregarded; and seeking a remedy: as is more fully set forth in the said petition:
REPORT.
The investigation of the subjects referred to your Committee has been made with the aid of all the available light, which the learning and acuteness of those who represented the petitioners, and those charged to search on the part of the Committee, could procure. It is known to this Grand Lodge that Masonic historians are divided into two schools, supporting with research and ingenuity contrary opinions of the origin of our Craft: the one, following the traditions, believe Masonry to have had its ancient landmarks handed down to our day, and its secrets preserved by unwritten traditions; but the other, disclaims faith in the existence of speculative Masonry before the organization of a Grand Lodge in London, in 1717, and ascribes the origin of our traditions and landmarks to that body. If they could truly lift the veil
of time, and show our mysteries to be the invention of those men of 1717, our rites would lose much of the reverence we now attach to them because of their antiquity. As a consequence of this theory of modern origin, some of its supporters draw from the London Constitution of 1721, a theory that true Masonry should banish not merely religious disputes from the Lodge, but all traces of religion, in which by possibility men of all the creeds of the world may not actually agree. In this light it has been represented to your Committee that usages, allusions and symbols, which can be connected in interpretation with any of the creeds of Christianity, are sectarian, and ought to be extirpated from the Craft; but it has not been claimed that those which may be so connected with Jewish or Pagan creeds should also be extirpated; and no reason has been offered your Committee why Christianity alone should be discriminated against in the proposed reform.
It has also been suggested that the Craft have in this jurisdiction departed from the ancient landmarks, and introduced various symbols and allusions of a strictly sectarian Christian character. The objects specially instanced are, the use of the Bible in Lodges; that one of the three dedications of a Lodge is to Saint John; that in the prayers the aid of Christ is often invoked by the Chaplain; that the Cross should be taken off Masonic certificates and out of the Lodge; and that of the parallel lines a sectarian explanation is given. (Charles Whitlock Moore, The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine, Vol. 31, No. 1)

Every well grounded lodge is furnished with the Holy Bible, the Square, and the Compass; the Bible points out the path that leads to happiness, and is dedicated to God;
(Joshua Bradley, Some of the Beauties of Freemasonry, p. 56)

The Bible is dedicated to the service of God, because it is the inestimable gift of God to man; the Square to the Master, because, being the proper Masonick emblem of his office, it is constantly to remind him of the duty he owes to the lodge over which he is appointed to preside; and the Compass to the Craft, because by a due attention to its Use, they are taught to regulate their desires, and keep their passions within due bounds. The ornamental parts of a lodge, displayed in this section, are, the Mosaick pavement, the indented tessel, and the blazing star The Mosaick pavement is a representation of the ground floor of king Solomon's Temple; the indented tessel, that beautiful tesselated border, or skirting, which surrounded it; and the Blazing star, in the centre, is commemorative of the star which appeared, to guide the wise men of the East to the place of our Saviour's nativity.
(Joshua Bradley, Some of the Beauties of Freemasonry, p. 57)

The various implements of the profession, are emblematical of our conduct in life, and upon this occasion, I present you with the Holy Writings, that great light in Masonry, will guide you to all truth; it will direct your paths to the temple o! happiness, and point out to you the whole duty of man.
(Joshua Bradley, Some of the Beauties of Freemasonry, p. 107)

Upon his Apron was no stain;
His work had no defect;
The OVERSEER accepted all,
There was nothing to reject.
He lived in peace with God and man;
He died in glorious hope.
That CHRIST, the LION, JUDAH'S PRIDE,
Would raise his body up,--
This true old-time Freemason,
OUR BROTHER WASHINGTON.
(Robert Morris, “Tribute to George Washington,” Masonic Odes & Poems, p. 31)

Freemasonry is always taught, and still continues to teach, a system of national morality, pure in its origin and efficacious in its end. It adopts the firmest and surest basis of principle upon which constituted authority can rest; and it presents the broadest and clearest platform of action to which humanity can aspire. "The greatest happiness of the greatest number:' is accepted universally as the direction and controlling maxim of statesmen whose aim is to establish thrones in righteousness and uphold kingdoms or communities is influence and power. No maxim of government short of this can satisfy intellectual or moral man, and no maxim not up to this has ever satisfied, or can ever satisfy, a brotherhood who, while keeping themselves free from the conflicts of political parties, and refusing to embroil themselves in disputes as to forms of government, have, as the chief purpose of their organization, to promote general concord and the universal well-being of the nation in which they find protection, labor, and a home. " Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you," comprehends the results of the highest wisdom, applicable to nations as well as to individuals; and this heavenly injunction, interpreted in its true and best sense, every Free and Accepted Mason believes in and desires to act out in all its relations to the great human family, wherever found or governed under whatever name. Freemasonry is thus at once national and cosmopolitan—patriotic, as respects home: human, as respects the world. It is eminently Christian, too; for, while Catholic in the most comprehensive sense of the term, and agreeing to differ on all those minor points and doctrines which provoke the rancor of sectarians and inflame the passion of zealots, it accepts the sum and substance of all law and gospel as comprehended in the one emphatic commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. and thy neighbor as thyself.' It recognizes as the fountain and safe-guard of all the social moralities that Decalogue which was given amid the thunders, lightnings, and terrors of Mount Sinai, to promote peace, purity, and love throughout the utmost boundaries of the habitable globe: and by the inculcation and practice of the cardinal virtues—temperance, justice, prudence, truth, chastity, brotherly love, and charity—it seeks to propagate and perpetuate those 'peaceable fruits of righteousness,' which are, wherever they flourish, to the honor of the Deity and the best interests of man. (James Billings, ed., “Freemasonry in Relation to Civil Authority,” The Mystic Star, July-Dec. 1871, Chicago and Detroit, Mystic Star, 1873, p. 75)

From the time when it was agreed to dedicate the Lodges to these Saints, there has been represented in every well governed Lodge, a certain Point within a Circle, embordered by two parallel perpendicular lines, representing these two Saints, while the Holy Scriptures rest upon the vortex of it. This emblem is evidence of an early belief of the fact, that they were Christian patrons of Free Masonry. We cannot avoid the conclusion, for as we pass around the circle we must touch the two lines, as well as the Holy Scriptures. (The Mystic Star, ed. James Billings, 1873, p. 103.

This tribe produced many princes, who eminently fulfilled this prediction, and literally trod upon the necks of their enemies; particularly Jesus Christ, who is denominated the lion of the tribe of Judah, and will ultimately subdue all things to himself; " for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet." (George Oliver, The Antiquities of Free-Masonry, p. 306-07)

 

[Rev Wayne]

.

After all — I speak from experience," the Square continued, — "the real exercise of power was generally in the hands of a few individuals, and sometimes of a single person, who, by his influence, was able to dispose of every motion at pleasure. This superiority was exercised in succession, during the eighteenth century, by Brothers Desaguliers, Manningham, Dunckerley, Hesletine, and White. "In these happy times — they were times of real enjoyment — labour was conducted with great seriousness; and perhaps you will be surprised, when I tell you — and if you are not, there are those in this latitudinarian age who will — that the Book of Common Prayer, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, was an established Lodge book, as it was considered to contain all the moral principles of the Order. And in the examinations, Brothers Desaguliers, Anderson, and Payne, placed the following passages as unalterable landmarks to designate the religious character of the Order.
"'Why due east and west?
"' Because all Christian churches and chapels are or ought to be so.
" 'What does it denote? " '
The Grand Architect of the Universe, or Him that was taken up to the topmost pinnacle of the Holy Temple.' " (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 16-17)

At one of our Lodges during the Mastership of Martin Clare, a question was mooted respecting the meaning of the sixth Ancient Charge: 'No private piques, no quarrels about nations, families, religions, or politics, must be brought within the door of the Lodge; for, as Masons, we are of the oldest Catholic religion above hinted; which refers to the following passage in the first Charge: 'In ancient times the Christian Masons were charged to comply with the Christian usages of each country, where they travelled or worked; but Masonry being found in all nations, even of divers religions, they are now only charged to adhere to that religion in which all men agree.'"
A Brother present opened the Book of Common Prayer, which was always in the Lodge, and explained the phrase, oldest Catholic religion, by a reference to the Te Deum composed in the 4th century by St. Ambrose — 'The Holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;' concluding that it must mean Christianity, which was typified in the two earliest dispensations known in the world, viz., those of the Patriarchs and the Jews; when Martin Clare delivered his opinion in words to the following effect: 'I have had several long and interesting conversations with Bros. Payne, Desaguliers, and Anderson on this very subject: and it is evident from their researches, that the belief of our ancient Brethren favoured the opinion that Masonry is essentially Christian; that it is indebted to Christianity for its principles; that in all ages the English Fraternity consisted exclusively of Christians; and that therefore the religion in which all men agree was the Christian religion. The ancient Charges, which are now before us, were extracted from old Masonic records of Lodges, not only in Great Britain, but in foreign countries; and at the time when those records were originally compiled, the religion in which all men agreed was the general religion of Christendom — of the Holy Church throughout all the world, which, as has been justly observed, the Te Deum pronounces to be Christianity. The most ancient manuscript which passed through the hands of Bros. Desaguliers and Anderson during their researches, gives a decided affirmation to this doctrine, as may be gathered from the following passage:
Bysechynge hym of hya hye grace,
To stonde with zow yn every place,
To conferme the statutes of kynge Adelston,
That he ordeynt to thys Craft by good reson,
Pray we now to God aJmyght,
And to hys swete moder Mary bryght,
That we mowe kepe these arlyculus here,
And these poyntes wel al y-fere, *****
And as thou were of a mayd y-bore,
Sofre me never to be y-lore;
But when y sohal hennus wende,
Grante me the blysse withoute ende;
Amen ! amen ! so mot hyt be.
This manuscript is supposed to have been compiled in the time of Athelstan, and I should therefore conceive its authority to be decisive.' " (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 67-69)

We heard, about this time, that certain Jews were implicated in the unauthorised innovations of our continental Brethren, if indeed they were not the chief movers of them, as was asserted by some authorities ;4 and it was the first notice we ever received of the descendants of Abraham being admitted to a participation in our Christian privileges. From their success in procuring initiation into the surreptitious Masonry of the continent,5 the English Jews soon became successful candidates for admission into our symbolical Order for it was justly contended that, as Jews were not excluded from attending Christian churches, it would be impolitic and uncharitable to close a Christian Lodge against them. From that period they have been received into Masonry as members of an universal Order, whose principles, like those of the Christian religion, are destined to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 75-76)[/font]

Our Hebrew Brother was too tenacious of the truth of his argument to abandon it without an effort, and he triumphantly contended that as the Tabernacle and Temple, with their appendages, are constituent and indispensable objects of illustration in the system of Freemasonry, its Levitical origin is thereby unequivocally proved." Dr. Manningham denied the premises, on the ground that the application of these religious edifices in the lectures of Masonry is merely symbolical of a better and more perfect dispensation. 'In a word,' he continued, 'if Masonry be universal, it can only be applied to a universal religion, which Judaism confessedly is not. And, therefore, it follows, that, if there be a religion which, in God's good time, shall embrace all mankind, and bring them into one
fold under one shepherd, that is the religion in which all men will ultimately agree. It is a consummation to which every true Mason looks forward with delight, as a season when a universal religion shall cement all mankind in the bonds of a universal brotherhood ; when the dove shall hold out the olive-branch of peace to all the kindreds of the earth ; when swords shall be beat into ploughshares ; when nation shall not rise against nation, neither shall there be war any more. This completion of the everlasting design of the Most High will render Masonic secrecy unnecessary, and Christ shall be all in all.' "
The Jew persisted that, in applying Masonry to Christianity, we placed ourselves in a worse situation than in admitting its Jewish tendency, because its universality was thus destroyed by the adoption of a principle exclusively sectarian."'
What,' Dr. Manningham replied, 'sectarian to assimilate a universal system to a universal religion?'"
'But I deny,' said the Jew, 'that Christianity is a universal religion. I believe that Judaism is the only true way of worshipping God, and that it will ultimately prevail over all others.' "Dr. Manningham here referred to the book of Common Prayer, which always lay on the table, and read from the 7th article as follows : ' The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for in both everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only mediator between God and Man; and the law given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, does not bind Christian men.' He admitted that it may be perfectly consistent in a Jew to apply Masonry to the requirements of his own religion ; but, he said, it was impossible for the Christian to copy his example. And for this plain reason. If he be firmly persuaded that Christianity is a universal religion, which he must be if he believes the Gospel to be true, he cannot, without inconsistency, affirm, that by making Masonry a Christian institution, its universality is affected. If, on the contrary, he really thinks that Freemasonry is a Jewish institution, he must necessarily believe in the eternity of Judaism, and is of course a doubtful Christian, because St. Paul affirms that the Levitical institutions were abolished by the mission of Jesus Christ. "'
But,' said the Jew, reserving his strongest argument to the last, ' What can the repeated references in Freemasonry to the Great Creator of the Universe, JEHOVAH, the Tetragrammaton of the Jews, mean, if they do not point out the Jewish origin of Masonry ?' " 'These references,' Dr. Manningham replied, 'are decisive of the question at issue. T. G. A. O. T. U. is an undoubted landmark of ancient Masonry, acknowledged at the revival in 1717, and explained in the authorized lectures to mean, HIM that was placed on the topmost pinnacle of the temple: and it is not possible by any process of reasoning to apply it otherwise than to Christ, without questioning the truth of Sacred Writ; for no other person that the world ever saw had been placed in that position. It follows, therefore, that the founder of Christianity constitutes an authentic and unalterable landmark of ancient Masonry. Read,' continued the Master, 'read the fundamental principles of the Order, as recorded in a manuscript in the Royal Library, said to have been originally written in the tenth century, of which I have here a copy.' And he produced the transcript, from which he read the following "passage, amidst a variety of directions to the Craft, all to the same purport: —
"Into the churche when thou dost gon,
Pulle uppe thy herte to Crist, anon!
Uppon the rode thou loke uppe then,
And knele down fayre on bothe thy knen;
Then pray to hym so hyr to worche,
After the lawe of holy churche,
For to kepe the commandmentes ten,
That God gaf to alle men;
And pray to him with mylde steven
To kepe the from the synnes seven.
" 'Such were the landmarks of Masonry in the time of Athelstan,' Dr. Manningham concluded, 'when the first English Grand Lodge was established at York, and they are unalterable, and continue the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' "
The Jew was silenced, but not convinced. "You see, sir," my strange instructor proceeded,"
that this point was argued dogmatically by our intelligent Master; and he had an undoubted right to do so, for he was not only the representative of WISDOM, but had also the advantages of study and experience. The subject was repeatedly discussed in our Lodges, and I have heard the opinions of every Mason during the eighteenth century who held any authority in the Craft, and they all agreed in the above interpretation of the connection between Freemasonry and the religion in which all men agree." (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 78-82)

These innovations, as might be expected, produced the most disastrous results, and were the commencement of that unhappy schism which divided the Society into two sections for more than half a century." At this period we had no authorized form of prayer to be used at initiations, which led to some slight irregularities since the admission of Jewish Brethren. Each Master of a Lodge had been left to his own discretion in this particular, although the general practice was, to select an appropriate form from the Liturgy of the Church. Dr. Manningham saw the evil, and determined to apply a remedy. He consulted with Dr. Anderson on the subject, and together they drew up a prayer for that particular ceremony, which was submitted to the Grand Lodge for its sanction; and that being obtained, Dr. Manningham introduced it in person to the metropolitan Lodges, by whom it was gratefully received. From thence it spread into the provinces, and was generally adopted throughout the kingdom.

(Note 10) This prayer continued in use till the time of Preston, who altered, without improving it. It was printed in the "Freemasons' Pocket Companion," and other Masonic publications.
I subjoin the form: "Most Holy and Glorious Lord God, thou Architect of heaven and earth, who art the giver of all good gifts and graces; and hath promised that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou wilt be in the midst of them; in thy Name we assemble and meet together, most humbly beseeching thee to bless us in all our undertakings: to give us thy Holy Spirit, to enlighten our minds with wisdom and understanding ; that we may know and serve thee aright, that all our doings may tend to thy glory and the salvation of our souls. And we beseech thee, O Lord God, to bless this our present undertaking, and to grant that this our Brother may dedicate his life to thy service, and be a true and faithful Brother amongst us. Endue him with Divine wisdom, that he may, with the secrets of Masonry, be able to unfold the mysteries of godliness and Christianity. This we humbly beg, in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen." — See the original in " Scott's Pocket Companion."
Ed. 1754. (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 86, and n. 10, p. 86-87)

 

[Rev Wayne]

A few weeks, or it might be months, afterwards," my gossiping companion went on to say, " our R. W. M. was requested to preach a sermon in St. Paul's church, at Deptford, for the benefit of some Masonic charity — I forget what it was — and an assertion which he made from the pulpit, that Freemasonry, according to its present management, is almost exclusively a Christian institution, gave rise to an interesting discussion respecting the tendency of the Order towards Christianity, when practised in a Christian country."
At the next Lodge, when the K. W. M. made the customary inquiry, whether any Brother had anything to propose for the good of Masonry in general, or this Lodge in particular a young man named Franco, who attained the rank of President to the Board of Grand Stewards in 1 780, rose and said, that he had an observation to make, with permission of the Chair, which he trusted would neither be out of order, as coming within the category of religious disputes, — which was far from his intention, — nor uninteresting to the Brethren."
Leave being granted, Bro. Franco proceeded to express a doubt whether such a prayer as we now use at the initiation of a candidate, concluding with the words: 'Endue him with divine wisdom, that he may, with the secrets of Masonry, be able to unfold the mysteries of godliness and Christianity. This we humbly beg in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour,' can be reasonably applied to an universal institution like Freemasonry, which deduces its origin, not only from a period long anterior to the advent of Christ, but beyond the reach of all accredited history. He could not but conclude such an appropriation to be sectarian ; and he had been much surprised to hear the same doctrine publicly advocated from the pulpit by an eminent Christian minister. This observation produced a debate.
"The defence of the Order," continued the Square, "was in good and sufficient hands. The K. W. M. immediately rose with great solemnity, and said: 'Brethren, in reply to our worthy Brother's observation, I will take thisopportunity of explaining my views respecting the nature and character of Freemasonry as a religious and moral institution.
You are all aware that the revivers of our symbolical Order, at the beginning of the present century, applied themselves with great diligence to the collection of ancient documents and charges ; and, amongst the rest, they found the identical prayer that was used in the Lodges of those worthy and inimitable artists who built our noble ecclesiastical edifices; and Brothers Desaguliers and Anderson exercised a sound discretion in retaining it in our improved ceremonial as a landmark or beacon, to point out to succeeding ages the religious character of the institution.
And for this reason I did not hesitate to affirm my belief from the pulpit that Freemasonry, as it is received in this country, is essentially — although perhaps not exclusively — Christian. I am not, indeed, ignorant that an adverse opinion, unknown in former times, has recently been started, on the assumption indicated by Bro. Franco, that the Order originated long before the Christian era. Although a question of great importance, I considered it of too exclusive a nature for discussion in a pulpit discourse, which is more particularly intended for general edification. But, as we have a little spare time, if Bro. Franco will state his objections in detail, I will endeavour, as far as my abilities extend, to satisfy his inquiries, and give him the advantage of my own researches on this momentous subject.'"
Bro. Franco expressed his gratification at the courtesy of the R. W. M., and added, that nothing would afford him greater pleasure than to be enlightened on such an intricate inquiry. He was mistrustful of his own ability to contend with such a learned man and excellent Mason as Dr. Dodd, and should content himself with simply naming an argument which appeared to militate against the Christian hypothesis. He confessed he had not thought very deeply on the subject, but he would suggest, for the consideration of the Brethren, whether Masonry, being coeval with the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, which was erected by the Jews, must not of necessity be a Jewish institution ; and, if this be admitted, it cannot possibly have any connection with Christianity, although practised by Christians in common with the twelve tribes of Israel. If it be indebted to the latter for its existence, and its landmarks be unalterable, its fundamental principles must be exclusively Jewish. " Bro. Dodd replied, that he conceived the argument to be based on a fallacy arising out of an erroneous view of the facts. ' A very slight insight into the design of Freemasonry will show,' he said, that, although its morality is more particularly adapted to the genius of Christianity than to any other religion, it is, in reality, neither exclusively Jewish, patriarchal, nor Christian, but cosmopolite; and, amongst all peoples where it ever flourished, it inculcated the morality of their peculiar religion, and selected its patrons, or parallels, from eminent men of their own tribe and kindred. Thus, for example, amongst the Noachidae, the parallels of Masonry were Noah and Abraham; subsequently, Moses and Solomon were substituted; and the Christians chose the two St. Johns. "'This,' he continued, ' was, beyond all doubt, the doctrine promulgated by Grand Masters Sayer and Payne, and their associates Desaguliers and Anderson, at the revival, and established as a permanent and unalterable landmark of the Order. Freemasonry would sink into disrepute if it were degraded into a religious sect. How it could enter into Bro. Franco's imagination that Freemasonry is a Jewish institution, I am at a loss to conjecture, for the Jews never practised Masonry themselves, or encouraged it in others; and it may be safely conjectured that, even at the present day, there are not a dozen Jewish Masons in England, and at the revival, in 1717, there was not one in all the world. As a Christian, and an unworthy member of the Church, I believe Jesus to be the Son of God ; and, as He has said that His religion shall ultimately be " one fold under one shepherd," I believe that Christianity, like the rod of Moses, will swallow up all others ; and that Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, bond and free, will embrace this universal system, and Christ shall be all in all. And I confess I was not prepared to hear a professing Christian cast a reflection on his Redeemer, by doubting the universality of his religion, and pronouncing it to be nothing more than a sect.' " Here the E,. W. M. resumed his seat," said the Square, " and Bro. Dunckerley rose, and, addressing himself to the chair, observed that he concurred in pronouncing the general construction of Masonry to be cosmopolite, and, consequently democratic ; yet he would submit to the consideration of the Lodge, whether the Lectures which we use are not essentially Christian. He conceived that the exclusive appropriation of Masonry to the Jews, according to Bro. Franco's hypothesis, would be a far greater error than making it altogether Christian ; because, amongst the many hundreds of Christian Lodges, which are spread over the four quarters of the globe, it is very doubtful whether there be a single Jewish Lodge in existence. ' Besides,' he added, ' what claim can the Jews, as a nation, have to be conservators of an institution which they certainly never practised, if we except a few Grand Superintendents and the Entered Apprentices, during the seven years which were occupied in preparing the materials for, and building the Temple at Jerusalem ? The expert Masons, the Fellowcrafts, and Masters, were the Dionysiacs, i. e. Tynans and Egyptians ; and they were ranged in separate Lodges, under Hiram Abiff, Tito Zadok, and their fellows. When the Temple and Solomon's other buildings were finished, I cannot find that these accomplished men held any further communication with the people of Israel ; but spread themselves abroad, and practised the art amongst other nations, till their posterity became famous as the CoUegice Fabrorum of Rome, from whom the Freemasons of the middle ages, who built our matchless churches and cathedrals, received it, and transmitted it faithfully to us. "'
The argument appears clear and decisive,' said the E.. W. M., ' and if Bro. Franco does not see it in the same light, perhaps he would have the kindness to state his peculiar opinions, as I am .curious to hear what can be said on the opposite side of the question.' "Bro. Franco, being thus appealed to, put theobjection in another form. 'I argue,' said he, ' as a humble follower of Jesus, who was born a Jew and died a Jew. During his lifetime, he publicly acknowledged that Moses, and the prophets, and the kings of Israel, were his predecessors in the great scheme which he himself accomplished. But while I believe in Jesus, I cannot close my eyes to the fact that these very predecessors were the original founders of Freemasonry, and therefore, though adopted by Christians, it has no claim to a Christian origination.'" Dr. Sequiera then rose," said the Square, "and submitted to the chair that the argument used by Bro. Franco was not sustainable. ' Christ,' he said, ' had no predecessors. He himself asserted that he existed before Abraham ; and our great patron and parallel, St. John, says that he was not only before the worlds, but that he was the Maker of them. It is evident, therefore, that this Divine Being was anterior to Solomon, or Moses, or Abraham, or Noah, or Adam, the first created man. I consider it an open question,' he continued, ' whether the origin of Masonry may be dated from the building of Solomon's Temple, or from some earlier period ; but, at all events, it cannot be an institution exclusively Jewish, — because the Mosaic dispensation itself was not that universal religion which it was predicted should ultimately " cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." That system was only intended by the Most High to be temporary, and was strictly limited to the period when " the sceptre should depart from Judah," and the Messiah be commissioned to usher in a more perfect dispensation, which, in God's good time, should supersede every other system, and bring all mankind into the sanctuary of Christ.' "Bro. Franco explained, and expressed his- curiosity to know with what propriety, under these circumstances, Freemasonry can be termed a universal institution."'
For this reason,' said Capt. Smith, 'because it is an appendage to a universal religion, of which those of the patriarchs and Jews were only types and symbols, and were never intended to be final. And this accounts for the introduction into our lectures of all the chief types of Christ contained in the sacred records. For instance, one of our Masonic landmarks refers to Moses at the Burning Bush, where Jehovah commanded him to take the shoes from off his feet, because the place where he stood was holy. From this spot he was divinely commissioned to deliver the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage. And when thus miraculously liberated, they were led by the self-same Shekinah, who was no other than the Second Person in the Sacred Trinity, whom we Masons denominate T. G. A. 0. T. U.' "
Bro. Franco would not confess himself conquered," said the Square, " but continued the battle with great gallantry. He urged that a single historical fact introduced into the Lectures, by accident probably, could be no valid proof of a general principle.'
Bro. Dunckerley has asserted that the Lectures are, as a whole, if I understood him correctly, essentially Christian. That learned Brother will not, I trust, consider me intrusive, if I request his proofs of that important fact.'" Bro. Dunckerley immediately replied that nothing would afford him greater pleasure than to convince Bro. Franco of the real tendency of the Lectures, which, he might safely say, he had studied with the utmost attention. The prayer which Bro. Franco has referred to is not the only one which was in use amongst our ancient Brethren ; hut being the best adapted to the revised order in a Protestant country, it was agreed by the Grand Lodge to incorporate it into the ceremonial as an unalterable landmark, in preference to others, which were more peculiarly allied to the Romish ritual.'"'
Perhaps,' interposed Bro. Franco, 'our learned Brother would favour us with a specimen of these Masonic prayers.' " '
With great pleasure,' Bro. Dunckerley replied.'
One ancient Masonic invocation was in this form.
Pray we to God Almigghty and to hys swete moder Mary. Another runs thus, Jhesu, for thyn holy name, schulde me from synne and schame. Others ran in a similar strain. It will therefore be seen that the most .comprehensive formula was adopted, and has ever since been retained in use. The Lectures of Masonry,' continued Bro. Dunckerley, ' are full of landmarks which refer to the subject under discussion. The sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah was an indisputable type of the great atonement; and this constitutes an unalterable landmark to consecrate the floor of our Lodges. The construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness is another landmark to account for the Masonic custom of building our Lodges due East and West ; and the Tabernacle and its appendages were all symbolical of corresponding events in the Christian dispensation. The H. P. was a type of Christ, and the blood of the covenant was a symbol of his blood shed upon the Cross.
Why need I enumerate those other landmarks of Masonry which bear an undoubted reference to Christ and his religion, when you are all as familiar with them as myself ? And I think, when Bro. Franco considers seriously these striking coincidences, he will find it impossible to put any other construction on the design of the Masonic system, than as a development of the chief truths of our most holy faith, leading to the inculcation of a pure morality, and the duty of doing to others as we would have them do to us.'"
The K. W. M. then rose and said, 'I appeal to the Brethren present, whether these are not the received doctrines of the Order, as they are inculcated in all our Lodges.' "
The Brethren responded unanimously by the usual token of concurrence, and Bro. Franco found himself in a minority of one. " (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 165-76)

.

 

[Rev Wayne]

SHOWING THE ANALOGY WHICH EXISTS BETWEEN THE LECTURES
OF MASONRY, THE MECHANISM OF INITIATION INTO ITS
MYSTERIES, AND THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
This new edition has undergone a thorough revision, and is illustrated by »
copious addition of Notes, &c., as will be more clearly shown by the Author's
PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. "
A new edition of this work is now presented to the Masonic public. It has
been long called for, and its delay has been owing to other and more pressing avocations. I hope, however, that its appearance in a new form will be acceptable to the Craft. The additions, which are principally in the form of Notes, will be found to contain much novel information, alike illustrative of the subject and of the present state of the Author's feelings on this important question. A great revolution has taken place in the public mind on all points connected with Freemasonry since the first publication of this little manual, - . This is decidedly favourable to the view here taken of the connection which subsists between Masonry and Religion; and the addition of some high authorities will not diminish its value. My inquiries have been directed to one object — the discovery of truth ; and increasing years and experience, as well as a more extensive reading, have tended to strengthen my opinion that the conclusions are correct. I commit myself, therefore, once more to the judgment of my Brethren, assured of au impartial tribunal, and an indulgent sentence. " G. O. " Scopwick Vicarage."
other opinion on the Star in the East, which we have read with a grateful sense of the obligation conferred on the Craft, than that it is a shining light, by which the Apprentice, the Craftsman, the Master, and the perfect Master, may equally see their way." — Freemasons' Quarterly Review. (Oliver, Revelations of a Square, p. 473)

　

This pure and primitive system was founded on Brotherly Love or Charity. I am aware that there exists in the world, and I am afraid also amongst the brethren, a mistaken opinion respecting this great principle of Freemasonry. The error arises from a superficial consleration of the true meaning of' the word Charity. Taken in its literal and more obvious sense, it is supposed to be embodied in our benevolent institutions. We have, however, a diffeirent name for the sensible and material virtue which operates so beneficially for the advantage of our widows, orphans, and brethren in distress. And that is Relief, which constitutes one division of the principal Point of Freemasonry. Thus, if a person give profusely that his name may appear to advantage on a subscription list;-if self-love incite him to acts of' liberality that he may receive the homage of those amongst whom he lives-would it be correct to attribute to such a man the practice of true Masonic or Christian Charity? Far from it. His benevolence is laudable, because it is beneficial. But it is not Charity-it is Relief. To speak masonically, it may be Faith, it may be Hope, but it cannot be Charity. These are distinct things. An inspired writer has enumerated them, and informed us which is the greatest.1 Again, the same quality may be exercised to establish a name, or to acquire a reputation. And I confess the applause of the world is one of its greatest comforts. That man's heart must be cold indeed which is insensible to it. The blessing of' the poor-the glistening eye of the widow as she pours forth her gratitude for benefits received-the cheerful greeting of the orphan, are amongst the gratifications which it may be right to covet. But if our benevolence have only this end, we shall fall short of that b-eautiful-that masonic Charity which believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. And why? Because the principle of doing good, merely to enjoy the pleasure of being thanked for it, is selfish and unprofitable; because the praise of men is at best but an uncertain support-a broken reed.' It will assuredly give way. And when this shall happen, all our imaginary honours, if they base their existence on this hope only, will be prostrated and scattered to the winds of heaven. And if we fall-we fall like Lucifer, Never to rise again. But let bright-eyed Charity be practised in its pure disinterestedness; —let there be no alloy-no unworthy motives when you exercise liberality;-no secret wish for an equivalent, or covert desire to establish a reputation for benevolence; and you will never be disappointed of your reward-the unsullied pleasure of doing good. You will have chosen for your support the pillars of Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty, and they are based upon the eternal Rock of ages. Calumny, with envenomed tooth may attack-reproach may vility-envy may exercise its cankerous cravings to afflict and wound-still, in the midst of all these pelting storms, you are at peace; conscious rectitude is your sheet anchor; your foundation is Freemasonry, which cannot be shaken; and all attempts to impeach your integrity will be impotent and unsuccessful. In order to form a clear idea of this supereminent principle, it will be necessary to define the three Theological Virtues, and compare their respective merits and ex'cellencies. By'this process we shall, perhaps, discover what Freemasonry, under its designation of Charity. really is. Faith and Hope are essentially necessary to our happiness both here and hereafter. Without the former, it will be impossible to perform our duty to God with. satisfaction to our own consciences; and the latter is the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. Thus Faith and Hope are essentials both of Masonry and religion; and indispensably necessary to a successful progress, not merely through our masonic career, but, what is of greater importance, through the vicissitudes of a life of trial, if we wish to finish our course with joy. But greater than this is Charity. Faith in God, and Hope in futurity, are not enough; they must be animated by Charity, or the universal love of' God and man; else they will be ineffectual to draw aside the veil which conceals the Holy of Holies from profane inspection; they will fail to exalt us to that superb Temple above, where the Great I AM eternally dwells amidst pure Light and undivided Charity. This is the Charity which animates the system of Freemasonry; and reveals the Theological Ladder, by virtue of which we hope to ascend from earth to heaven. (Oliver, Theocratic Philosophy of Freemasonry, p. 20-22)

In the Tracing Board before us, the candidate's progress in Masonry bears a great resemblance to that of the baptized Christian on his road to heaven, according to the system recommended and practised in the earliest ages of Christianity. He enters into Covenant at the Font, which is placed at the west end of the church, where, by his sponsors, he makes profession of his faith, receives the 0. B., and becomes entitled to the white robe as a catechumen, in imitation probably of the Levites, who were selected by King Solomon to carry the ark of the covenant into the temple at Jerusalem. The white garment was delivered with a solemn charge in this form :—"Receive the white and immaculate garment, which thou mayest bring forth without spot before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest have eternal life." Such is the commencement of his career in the Church militant, where, if he contend faithfully to the end, he will attain the Church triumphant in heaven.
In like manner the candidate for Masonry, being duly prepared, is introduced into the Lodge at the west end, and having made profession of his faith, by the assistance of his guide, he receives the 0. B.; light dawns upon his darkened mind, and he is invested by the officer in the west with a white or lambskin apron, which he is told is more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honourable than the Star and Garter, or any other Order under the sun which could be conferred upon him at that time or any other, by king, prince, or potentate, except he be a Mason. If his Masonic course, thus commenced in order, be conducted with decency, it affords a rational prospect of being closed with decorum, and terminating in the Grand Lodge above.
The catechumen, having been thus introduced into Christianity, was then placed in an inferior rank in the Church, with a lighted taper in his hand, that he might be instructed in the mysteries of his religion. He is stationed before the altar as an emblem of that glory which is to come ; the taper is a symbol of the light of faith wherewith bright and virgin souls go forth to meet the bridegroom.
The candidate for Masonry, having been obligated and invested, is placed at the north-east angle of the Lodge, near the pedestal or altar of Masonry, with the lights burning before him, to receive instruction ; and the Tracing Board being spread abroad for that purpose, the W.M. points out in succession the ground, situation, extent, support, and covering of the Lodge, all of which are explained in detail. To ensure his serious attention to the business in hand, he is told that the Lodge is situated on holy ground, for which assertion three cogent reasons are assigned, either of which would be sufficient to convince him that any kind of levity would be unsuitable to the place, and subject the offender to very severe reprehension. (Oliver, The Book of the Lodge; or, Officer’s Manual, 1864, pp. 176-77)