The Symbolism of Freemasonry by Albert G. Mackey

by Albert G. Mackey

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

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

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

  LADDER, BRAHMINICAL. The symbolic ladder used in the Mysteries of Brahma.

  It had seven steps, symbolic of the seven worlds of the Indian universe.

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

  LADDER, SCANDINAVIAN. The symbolic ladder used in the Gothic Mysteries.

  Dr. Oliver refers it to the Yggrasil, or sacred ash tree. But the symbolism is either very abstruse or very doubtful.

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

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

  LAMB, PASCHAL. See Paschal Lamb.

  LAMBSKIN APRON. See Apron.

  LAW, ORAL. See Oral Law.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  It is a symbol of the world, or universe.

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

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

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

  It is a symbol of divine truth.

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

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

  It was also a sacred plant among the Egyptians.

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

  LUX (light). One of the appellations bestowed upon Freemasonry, to indicate that it is that sublime doctrine of truth by which the pathway of him who has attained it is to be illumined in the pilgrimage of life.

  Among the Rosicrucians, light was the knowledge of the philosopher's stone; and Mosheim says that in chemical language the cross was an emblem of light, because it contains within its figure the forms of the three figures of which LVX, or light, is composed.

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

  M

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

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

  MENATZCHIM. Hebrew superintendents, or overseers. The Master Masons at the temple of Solomon. (2 Chron. ii. 2.)

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

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

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

  It is a symbol of this life and its labors.

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

  There was, as I have said, an identity of origin for the same ancient and general symbolic idea.

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

  MOUNT CALVARY. A small hill of Jerusalem, in a westerly direction, and not far from Mount Moriah. In the legends of Freemasonry it is known as "a small hill near Mount Moriah," and is referred to in the third degree.

  This "small hill" having been determined as the burial-place of Jesus, the symbol has been Christianized by many modern masons.

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

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

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

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

  MYSTES. (From the Greek [Greek: my/ô], to shut the eyes.) One who had been initiated into the Lesser Mysteries of paganism. He was now blind, but when he was initiated into the Greater Mysteries he was called an Epopt, or one who saw.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  N

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

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

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

  NEOPHYTE. (From the Greek [Greek: ne/on] and [Greek: phyion], a new plant.) One who has been recently initiated in the Mysteries. St. Paul uses the same word (I Tim. iii. 6) to denote one who had been recently converted to the Christian faith.

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

  NOACHITES. The same as Noachidae, which see.

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

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

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

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

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

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