Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fkeemasonky.
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF FKEEMASONKY .
BY ALBERT O . MACEEY , M . D . ^ ^ ( UKITEi ) STATES ) . The lectures of the English Lodges , which are far more philosophical than our own , although I do not believe that the system itself is in general so philosopliieally studied by our English Brethren as by ourselves , have beautifully defined Freemasonry to be-... " a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . "
But allegory itself is nothing else but verbal symbolism ; it is the symbol of an idea , or of a series of ideas , not presented to the mind in a tangible and visible form , but clothed in language and exhibited in the form of a narrative . And therefore the English definition amounts in fact to this , that Freemasonry is a science of morality
developed and inculcated by the ancient method of symbolism . It is this peculiar character as a symbolic institution—this entire adoption of the method of instruction by symbolism—which gives its whole identity to Freemasonry , and has caused it to differ from every other association that the ingenuity of man has devised . It is this that has bestowed upon it that attractive form which has always secured the attachment of its disciples and its own perpetuity .
The Soman Catholic Church ** is , perhaps , the only contemporaneous institution which continues to cultivate , in any degree , the beautiful system of symbolism . But that which in the Catholic Church is , in a great measure , incidental , and the fruit of development , is , in Freemasonry , the very life-blood and soul of the institution , born with it , at its birth—or , rather , the germ from which the tree has sprung—and still giving it support , nourishment , and
even existence , w ithdraw from Freemasonry its symbolism , and you take from the body its soul , leaving behind nothing but a lifeless mass of effete matter , fitted only for a rapid decay . Since , then , the science of symbolism forms so important a part of
the system of Freemasonry , it will be well to commence any discussion of that subject by an investigation of the nature of symbols in general . There is no science so ancient as that of symbolism , and no mode of instruction has ever been so universal as was the symbolic in
for-* 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 he 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 after-thought applied to the original , literal one ; in the latter , the symbolic was always the original signification of every ceremony .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fkeemasonky.
THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF FKEEMASONKY .
BY ALBERT O . MACEEY , M . D . ^ ^ ( UKITEi ) STATES ) . The lectures of the English Lodges , which are far more philosophical than our own , although I do not believe that the system itself is in general so philosopliieally studied by our English Brethren as by ourselves , have beautifully defined Freemasonry to be-... " a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . "
But allegory itself is nothing else but verbal symbolism ; it is the symbol of an idea , or of a series of ideas , not presented to the mind in a tangible and visible form , but clothed in language and exhibited in the form of a narrative . And therefore the English definition amounts in fact to this , that Freemasonry is a science of morality
developed and inculcated by the ancient method of symbolism . It is this peculiar character as a symbolic institution—this entire adoption of the method of instruction by symbolism—which gives its whole identity to Freemasonry , and has caused it to differ from every other association that the ingenuity of man has devised . It is this that has bestowed upon it that attractive form which has always secured the attachment of its disciples and its own perpetuity .
The Soman Catholic Church ** is , perhaps , the only contemporaneous institution which continues to cultivate , in any degree , the beautiful system of symbolism . But that which in the Catholic Church is , in a great measure , incidental , and the fruit of development , is , in Freemasonry , the very life-blood and soul of the institution , born with it , at its birth—or , rather , the germ from which the tree has sprung—and still giving it support , nourishment , and
even existence , w ithdraw from Freemasonry its symbolism , and you take from the body its soul , leaving behind nothing but a lifeless mass of effete matter , fitted only for a rapid decay . Since , then , the science of symbolism forms so important a part of
the system of Freemasonry , it will be well to commence any discussion of that subject by an investigation of the nature of symbols in general . There is no science so ancient as that of symbolism , and no mode of instruction has ever been so universal as was the symbolic in
for-* 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 he 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 after-thought applied to the original , literal one ; in the latter , the symbolic was always the original signification of every ceremony .