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Article ANCIENT MASONS' MARKS. Page 1 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Masons' Marks.
ANCIENT MASONS' MARKS .
" Then is the past so gloomy non-That it may never boar , The open smile of Nature's brow Or meet tho sunny air . I know not that " U . E . AYTOUN .
THAT Masonry is ancient , we cannot doubt ; that it is illustrated by symbols forms a leading feature in its definition . Of its antiquity as an institution , an eminent writer says , "it is beyond all question the oldest of any that is now known in the world ; it goes back to the remotest period of Egyptian story , prior to the departure of the
Israelites from the land of Pharaoh ; it is found flourishingin vigour , at the time of the building of the temple of Jerusalem by Solomon . " * That Masonic symbols have been used from time immemorial , the science of architecture , as practised in all ages , clearly shows . That science , the handmaid of reliion" the sure test of civilization" f which
g , , , whether practised on the plains of Shinar , or the banks of the Nile or Ganges , the mountains of Asia , or the wilds of Central America , has left so many lasting proofs of the grandeur of mighty nations , now long since past awa }* , and filled up so many voids in the history of our planet . We do not here refer to memorials of stone to commemorate an
event , such as that of Bethel , those of the early princes of Egypt , or the Northmen of the twelfth century , nor to the position and form of the building , whether like the Indian temple , deep and gloomy it pierces the living rock , or like the Gothic spire , raises its tapering point into the stormdrifting heavens , through which shines , as brightly as in the
fairest clime , the eye of the All-seeing God . Our object in the present instance is , to bring together from various well-known sources , some of those marks on buildings , known as builder ' s signs , Mason-marks , astronomical characters , and compare them with others found on modern buildings in Malta . Concerning their origin , we may here simply state , that the traditions of the Fraternity record , what the walls of the most ancient buildings in ex-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Masons' Marks.
ANCIENT MASONS' MARKS .
" Then is the past so gloomy non-That it may never boar , The open smile of Nature's brow Or meet tho sunny air . I know not that " U . E . AYTOUN .
THAT Masonry is ancient , we cannot doubt ; that it is illustrated by symbols forms a leading feature in its definition . Of its antiquity as an institution , an eminent writer says , "it is beyond all question the oldest of any that is now known in the world ; it goes back to the remotest period of Egyptian story , prior to the departure of the
Israelites from the land of Pharaoh ; it is found flourishingin vigour , at the time of the building of the temple of Jerusalem by Solomon . " * That Masonic symbols have been used from time immemorial , the science of architecture , as practised in all ages , clearly shows . That science , the handmaid of reliion" the sure test of civilization" f which
g , , , whether practised on the plains of Shinar , or the banks of the Nile or Ganges , the mountains of Asia , or the wilds of Central America , has left so many lasting proofs of the grandeur of mighty nations , now long since past awa }* , and filled up so many voids in the history of our planet . We do not here refer to memorials of stone to commemorate an
event , such as that of Bethel , those of the early princes of Egypt , or the Northmen of the twelfth century , nor to the position and form of the building , whether like the Indian temple , deep and gloomy it pierces the living rock , or like the Gothic spire , raises its tapering point into the stormdrifting heavens , through which shines , as brightly as in the
fairest clime , the eye of the All-seeing God . Our object in the present instance is , to bring together from various well-known sources , some of those marks on buildings , known as builder ' s signs , Mason-marks , astronomical characters , and compare them with others found on modern buildings in Malta . Concerning their origin , we may here simply state , that the traditions of the Fraternity record , what the walls of the most ancient buildings in ex-