The Symbolism of Freemasonry by Albert G. Mackey

by Albert G. Mackey

[25] Les petits mystères ne consistoient qu'en cérémonies préparatoires.--Sainte Croix, i. 297.--As to the oath of secrecy, Bryant says, "The first thing at these awful meetings was to offer an oath of secrecy to all who were to be initiated, after which they proceeded to the ceremonies."--Anal. of Anc. Myth., vol. iii. p. 174.--The Orphic Argonautics allude to the oath: [Greek: meta d' o(rkia My/si~ais, k. t. l.], "after the oath was administered to the mystes," &c.--Orph.

  Argon., v. 11.

  [26] The satirical pen of Aristophanes has not spared the Dionysiac festivals. But the raillery and sarcasm of a comic writer must always be received with many grains of allowance. He has, at least, been candid enough to confess that no one could be initiated who had been guilty of any crime against his country or the public security.--Ranae, v.

  360-365.--Euripides makes the chorus in his Bacchae proclaim that the Mysteries were practised only for virtuous purposes. In Rome, however, there can be little doubt that the initiations partook at length of a licentious character. "On ne peut douter," says Ste. Croix, "que l'introduction des fêtes de Bacchus en Italie n'ait accéleré les progrès du libertinage et de la débauche dans cette contrée."--Myst. du Pag., tom. ii. p. 91.--St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. vii. c. xxi.) inveighs against the impurity of the ceremonies in Italy of the sacred rites of Bacchus. But even he does not deny that the motive with which they were performed was of a religious, or at least superstitious nature--"Sic videlicet Liber deus placandus fuerat." The propitiation of a deity was certainly a religious act.

  [27] Hist. Greece, vol. ii. p. 140.

  [28] This language is quoted from Robison (Proofs of a Conspiracy, p.

  20, Lond. edit. 1797), whom none will suspect or accuse of an undue veneration for the antiquity or the morality of the masonic order.

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

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

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

  sect. vii. art. iii. p. 89.

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

  [33] Vincentius Lirinensis or Vincent of Lirens, who lived in the fifth century of the Christian era, wrote a controversial treatise entitled "Commonitorium," remarkable for the blind veneration which it pays to the voice of tradition. The rule which he there lays down, and which is cited in the text, may be considered, in a modified application, as an axiom by which we may test the probability, at least, of all sorts of traditions.

  None out of the pale of Vincent's church will go so far as he did in making it the criterion of positive truth.

  [34] Prolog. zu einer wissenshaftlich. Mythologie.

  [35] In German hutten, in English lodges, whence the masonic term.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  [41] "Symbols," says Müller, "are evidently coeval with the human race; they result from the union of the soul with the body in man; nature has implanted the feeling for them in the human heart."--Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology, p. 196, Leitch's translation.--R.W.

  Mackay says, "The earliest instruments of education were symbols, the most universal symbols of the multitudinously present Deity, being earth or heaven, or some selected object, such as the sun or moon, a tree or a stone, familiarly seen in either of them."--Progress of the Intellect, vol. i p. 134.

  [42] Between the allegory, or parable, and the symbol, there is, as I have said, no essential difference. The Greek verb [Greek: paraballô], whence comes the word parable, and the verb [Greek: symballô] in the same language, which is the root of the word symbol, both have the synonymous meaning "to compare." A parable is only a spoken symbol. The definition of a parable given by Adam Clarke is equally applicable to a symbol, viz.: "A comparison or similitude, in which one thing is compared with another, especially spiritual things with natural, by which means these spiritual things are better understood, and make a deeper impression on the attentive mind."

  [43] North British Review, August, 1851. Faber passes a similar encomium.

  "Hence the language of symbolism, being so purely a language of ideas, is, in one respect, more perfect than any ordinary language can be: it possesses the variegated elegance of synonymes without any of the obscurity which arises from the use of ambiguous terms."--On the Prophecies, ii. p. 63.

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

  [45] "Animal worship among the Egyptians was the natural and unavoidable consequence of the misconception, by the vulgar, of those emblematical figures invented by the priests to record their own philosophical conception of absurd ideas. As the pictures and effigies suspended in early Christian churches, to commemorate a person or an event, became in time objects of worship to the vulgar, so, in Egypt, the esoteric or spiritual meaning of the emblems was lost in the gross materialism of the beholder. This esoteric and allegorical meaning was, however, preserved by the priests, and communicated in the mysteries alo
ne to the initiated, while the uninstructed retained only the grosser conception."--GLIDDON, Otia Aegyptiaca, p. 94.

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

  [47] Philo Judaeus says, that "Moses had been initiated by the Egyptians into the philosophy of symbols and hieroglyphics, as well as into the ritual of the holy animals." And Hengstenberg, in his learned work on "Egypt and the Books of Moses," conclusively shows, by numerous examples, how direct were the Egyptian references of the Pentateuch; in which fact, indeed, he recognizes "one of the most powerful arguments for its credibility and for its composition by Moses."--HENGSTENBERG, p. 239, Robbins's trans.

  [48] Josephus, Antiq. book iii. ch. 7.

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

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

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

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

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

  [54]

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

  [55] Theologians have always given a spiritual application to the temple of Solomon, referring it to the mysteries of the Christian dispensation.

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

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

  [57] I Kings vi. 7.

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

  [59] "Each of the pagan gods had (besides the public and open) a secret worship paid unto him; to which none were admitted but those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation. This secret-worship was termed the Mysteries."--WARBURTON, Div. Leg. I. i.

  p. 189.

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

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

  od. 3.

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

  [63] It is worth noticing that the verb natzach, from which the title of the menatzchim (the overseers or Master Masons in the ancient temple), is derived, signifies also in Hebrew to be perfected, to be completed. The third degree is the perfection of the symbolism of the temple, and its lessons lead us to the completion of life. In like manner the Mysteries, says Christie, "were termed [Greek: teletai], perfections, because they were supposed to induce a perfectness of life. Those who were purified by them were styled [Greek: teloume/noi], and [Greek: tetelesme/noi], that is, brought to perfection."--Observations on Ouvaroff's Essay on the Eleusinian Mysteries, p. 183.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  Connection. i. 216.

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