Masonic Symbolism*

And in the same connection he observes : — " The researches in Egypt have given us dates as authentic as the monuments themselves , which confound the current chronologies , and open the past to our view somewhat as the discoveries of Columbus opened the world to the geographers of modern Europe . " ( Baldwin ' s Pre-Historic Nations , page 32 ) . I have in my library a copy of this book , which once belonged to Hon . Sidney Breeseformerly and for many

, years a judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois , and which contains many annotations in his handwriting . He says , among other things : " There can be no doubt that India is the birthplace of civilization . " Again he says : " The Egyptians derived their knowledge from India , which was civilized ages before E gypt . " If the judge was correct about this the monuments found in India connect usindeedwith an antiquity more remote than is generallimagined .

, , y By inscriptions coining to light within a very recent period , the race inhabiting a given country , the date of their habitancy , and the countries they had previously emigrated from , with the courses they had travelled , are told with as much accuracy as will be found on the pages of modern history . Their battles , their religious faith , even the character of their ordinary pursuits , are marked in indelible charactersand become as an open book to the modern

, scientist . In Egjptj Ai-abia , India , Greece , Phoenicia , Chalcha , Italy , mid even in Great Britain ( as it is now known ) , as shown b y archasological investigation , the use of symbols as a ready and enduring means of perpetuating events and conveying information to " all nations , kindreds , and tongues , " was common long ages before the building of King Solomon ' s temple .

It is not strange that nations possessed of the ingenuity and ability to construct the pyramids of Egypt and the wonderful architectural excavations found in India should find means , long before the day of books , and while the science of language was in its infancy , to leave behind them symbolic revelations concerning themselves and their histories , which are legible and intelligible to scholars of the present day , through whose industry and learning their mysteries are interpreted to us all . Thus are we made acquainted with the

work of hands of whose history nothing is known to save by the symbols engraved by themselves . Even on this continent , and particularly in Mexico and Central America , there have been found reli gious symbols and devices nearl y identical with those found in the old world . They indicate planet worship , and convinced Humboldt that ages before Columbus was dreamed of communication existed

between the two hemispheres . According to the early Spanish writers , the symbols which abounded in the Aztec temples at the period of the conquest of Mexico , as well as the inscri ptions upon their public monuments , alike proved their unity of origin with the ancient inhabitants of Asia . In view of the above , and in view of the universality and age of ancient Freemasonry , it is not singular that our society should be in its historyits

, work , and its methods of imparting instruction , so essentially symbolic . That Freemasonry has stood the test of ages—that it is to-day an acknowledged factor in morals , in religion , and in civilization , I believe to be very largel y due to its symbolic character , as much so perhaps as to the truth and purity of its teachings , perhaps even more so , since without its symbolism its teachings might long since have been forgotten . These symbols speak the same

language to-day that they did at the birth of Masonry ; they bear the same construction and significance ; they lead to the same moral reflections and point to the same results ; and as they have never varied in the evidence they have given , it is impossible to suspect their integrity or impeach their veracit y . They are founded on the eternal principles of right , justice , and morality , and who shall venture to doubt that will endure for ever ? The Bible tells that after the Delug-e " the whole earth was of one language and of one speech , " and it so continued until God saw fit to rebuke