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Article SYMBOLIZATION. ← Page 6 of 7 →
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Symbolization.
Christian churches and Masonic Lodges have this disposition , that the Garden of Eden was p laced in the east , and man expelled towards the west ; wherefore Christians pray , says Basil , looking towards the east , in earnest expectation of a better country ; and our places of Christian worship are hence placed due east and west ; the Holy Altar being in
the eastern sanctum . Clement of Alexandria refers it to another cause . The east , he says , is the birth of day , and from thence the lig ht springeth ; and therefore we pray towards the east . Again , the custom has been referred to the crucifixion ; for as the Redeemer was sacrificed with his face towards the west , Christians ought to look towards
him from whom they expect salvation ; thus turning their face to the east . And it has also been considered to have respect to the general judgment , because the angels revealed to the discip les who were witnesses of Christ ' s ascension tmoards the east , that the same Jesus which is taken up into heaven , shall so come , in like manner , as you have seen him
go into heaven . And , indeed , the very same thing had been alread y communicated to them b y Christ himself , in these remarkable words , — ' as the li g htning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west , so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be . '" ( vol . i ., pp . 192 , 202 . ) Mr . Holden then proceeds to explain a very significant Masonic emblem—the Triangle .
" There again we find either the Holy Cross figured by the branchingtransept , or the blessed Trinity betokened by the triple steps of the Altar , or by the triple lights in the eastern window , or more commonly by the three aisles uniting in the chancel , the Three in One . In the Triangle they saw the Trinity ; in the Circle , Eternity ; in all the numbers , from one to twelve , they saw something which imaged forth to them the mysteries of their creed . " ( pp . 9 , IS . )
As Mr . Holden becomes animated with his subject he proceeds with more enthusiasm , and has embodied in a single page such a cloud of Masonic images and symbols , that it would be inexcusable to omit them . He says : — " ' The whole scenery of Paradise' it has been well said , ' was disposed into an hieroglypbical school for the instruction of the first man . '
The universe was to him a Bible in which he read the goodness , the greatness , the unity and eternity of his Maker . And when for the sin of man the earth was cursed , did the thorn and the thistle superadd no lesson to the original teaching of Creation—a lesson truly in which the simplest rustic may always read the history of God's dealings with our race , so long as ' the whole Creation' shall ' groan and travail in pain ? ' Did the patriarchs see nothing in the Deluge , or in the Rainbow , that ' faithful witness in heaven , ' to tell them of the majesty as well as the mercy of their Maker ? Hail the Ark and the waters no mys-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Symbolization.
Christian churches and Masonic Lodges have this disposition , that the Garden of Eden was p laced in the east , and man expelled towards the west ; wherefore Christians pray , says Basil , looking towards the east , in earnest expectation of a better country ; and our places of Christian worship are hence placed due east and west ; the Holy Altar being in
the eastern sanctum . Clement of Alexandria refers it to another cause . The east , he says , is the birth of day , and from thence the lig ht springeth ; and therefore we pray towards the east . Again , the custom has been referred to the crucifixion ; for as the Redeemer was sacrificed with his face towards the west , Christians ought to look towards
him from whom they expect salvation ; thus turning their face to the east . And it has also been considered to have respect to the general judgment , because the angels revealed to the discip les who were witnesses of Christ ' s ascension tmoards the east , that the same Jesus which is taken up into heaven , shall so come , in like manner , as you have seen him
go into heaven . And , indeed , the very same thing had been alread y communicated to them b y Christ himself , in these remarkable words , — ' as the li g htning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west , so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be . '" ( vol . i ., pp . 192 , 202 . ) Mr . Holden then proceeds to explain a very significant Masonic emblem—the Triangle .
" There again we find either the Holy Cross figured by the branchingtransept , or the blessed Trinity betokened by the triple steps of the Altar , or by the triple lights in the eastern window , or more commonly by the three aisles uniting in the chancel , the Three in One . In the Triangle they saw the Trinity ; in the Circle , Eternity ; in all the numbers , from one to twelve , they saw something which imaged forth to them the mysteries of their creed . " ( pp . 9 , IS . )
As Mr . Holden becomes animated with his subject he proceeds with more enthusiasm , and has embodied in a single page such a cloud of Masonic images and symbols , that it would be inexcusable to omit them . He says : — " ' The whole scenery of Paradise' it has been well said , ' was disposed into an hieroglypbical school for the instruction of the first man . '
The universe was to him a Bible in which he read the goodness , the greatness , the unity and eternity of his Maker . And when for the sin of man the earth was cursed , did the thorn and the thistle superadd no lesson to the original teaching of Creation—a lesson truly in which the simplest rustic may always read the history of God's dealings with our race , so long as ' the whole Creation' shall ' groan and travail in pain ? ' Did the patriarchs see nothing in the Deluge , or in the Rainbow , that ' faithful witness in heaven , ' to tell them of the majesty as well as the mercy of their Maker ? Hail the Ark and the waters no mys-