Ancient Symbolism Illustrated.

ANCIENT SYMBOLISM ILLUSTRATED .

liY BRO . ROBERT MARTIN , P . R . C . S ., PAST D . PROV . GRAND MASTER OP SUPPOLK ; AND r ' . E . COM . OP KNICHTS TEMPLAR , ETC . As Masons , we are members of a society which professes to adopt " a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . " . There is , perhaps , scarcely a brother of our Craft who would not consider it an offence to have his knowledof this fact doubtedbut from many causes , and

ge , foremost among them want of opportunity , few of us extend our inquiry into the origin , tlie interpretation , or the actual value of these symbols , which , even according to our OAVII admission , form the language of our Order . Impressed and satisfied with the conviction that brotherly love , relief and truth constitute its three grand principlesa routine of

, Masonic ivork as practised by our ancient brethren has been considered the ne plus ultra of necessary exertion ; and consequently we have , while receiving from our predecessors and handing down to our successors certain forms , observances , and sj'mbols , p laced ourselves in a- situation resembling that of men at a fire—receiving buckets ivith one hand and

passing them on with the other , thinking only of their destination , while of their source and contents Ave remain in ignorance . The inquiring sp irit of the age iu all other sciences disdains the trammels of the olden times , ancl Masonry , whose benign influence is universally acknoAvledged , must not be permitted to rest in the shadoAV of obscurity ,

while other institutions are , by industry and inquiry , enlightened iu the paths of virtue ancl science . Every step connected with Masonry is symbolical ; our signs , our ceremonies , our badges , jewels , movable and immovable , all are symbols ; nor are they a chance assemblage of emblems , but have been assorted and arranged with ingenuity and skill

unintelligible to the " popular world , " not being Masons , but furnishing the means of communion , by night as well as by day , between those who have been initiated into the secrets ancl mysteries * of our Order . Where , as in the case of some of our rites , ceremonies and observances , many ages have passed , each adding to the

obscurity of their origin and primary signification , considerable difficulty will attend their clear illustration ; but a thoughtful perusal of the notes I have thrown together , assures me that , although the task is difficult , it is not insurmountable , and that there is no symbol , or observance of our Order , which may not be traced to its earliest institution .

Thus a connecting chain can be established betAveen ourselves in the nineteenth century of the Christian era and the first inhabitants of this sublunary world . I shall commence with an elucidation of the causes for tho origin and nature of symbols in general , and in continuation of the subject , will bring before your notice as future opportunity may permit , the several emblems and observances of the Craft of Antient

Free and Accepted Masons . But as Masonry is that grand and universal science which comprises all others , it will be impossible to treat of it without occasionally touching on its collateral sciences , more especially astronomy , which , as at a future occasion I hope to make apparent , was , is , and ever must be , intimately connected with our mysteries .

No custom , now or in any former age practised by man , can boast such hig h authority for its adoption , such antiquity of establishment , or such perpetual observance , as the employment of signs and symbols—they having been instituted " by the Creator in the first hour of man ' s existence , and made by him the means of holding communication with intercourse

his creature . For , although we read of betAveen the Great Architect of all ancl our progenitor Adam , we are assured that no man hath " seen God at any time , " ( St . John iv . ) , except through symbols . The first visible symbol of which we read bears the date of man ' s first disobedience . It was manifested at the gate or entrance to the garden of Eden , to guard the Tree of Life , in the semblance of a siycrd like 3 pointed flame ; consequently fire was the

first visible symbol , and it was one subsequently chosen by the Deity to represent Himself " The Lord thy God , " says Moses , "is a consuming fire . " He , the great I AM , appeared to Moses in the " burning bush "—to Isaiah , Ezekiel , and St . John in the midst of fire—in this form he rested on the

heads of the apostles on the day of Pentecost , and Isaiah tells us , " Behold the Lord ivill come with fire ! " In the first instance on record , the sword pointed flame of fire was placed between the cherubims , or glorious angels ( according to the Hebrew interpretation ) , and thereby furnished the archetype of the Shekinah first seen in the Tabernacle of the Wildernessand afterwards glorifying the temple of our

, Master , Solomon , communicating a peculiar sanctity to the place , and entitling it to the apellation of " Holy of Holies , " where it remained as a symbol of Divine presence till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans , and where , 011 the same hallowed spot , it again manifested itself in an awful manner about the three hundred and sixty-fourth year of

the Christian era as a symbol of the dread presence of an insulted Deity . For the sins of the JeAvish nation the temple of Solomon had been overthrown ; the temple of Zerubbabel ( magnificently repaired by Herod ) , had been , in the fulfilment of prophecy , levelled with the ground ; not one stone was left upon another ; the plough had passed over the site of the glory of the HebreAVS , and the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlastimr destruction had been

pronounced against the whole of the fabric of the Mosaic laAv . Coiistantius , the Christian Emperor of Rome , had been gathered to his fathers , and his successor Julian , the apostate from the Christian faith , desirous to reestablish the Avorship of the pagans , craftily imagined that could he controvert the prophecies respecting the temple and the Isr-ielitish nationhe should overcome the greatest obstacle

, in his way , namely—the rising importance of the Christian sect . He determined to rebuild the temple on Mount Moriah in all its pristine glory . The desire of rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel ; and as in the time of Zerubbabel , when those whom he congratulated on their noble ancestry and

recognized as brethren of the first tribes ancl families , " declared that to be employed in any department of the house would by them be deemed an honour , " so at the call of their great deliverer Julian , the JCAVS , from all the provinces of the empire , assembled on . the holy mountain of their fathers . In this propitious moment the men forgot

their avarice , and became prodigal of their wealth , for they caused spades and p ickaxes of silver to be made for the rebuilding of the temple ; even the women , regardless of the delicacy of their constitutions , laboured with the men , and carried away the rubbish in mantles of silk and purple ! Every purse ivas opened in liberal contributions , every hand claimed a share in the pious labour , ivhile the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of an excited people .

But the joint evils of poiver and enthusiasm avail but little against the decrees of Him who rides ujion the whirlwind ; and despite of their united efforts , the ground on which hael stood the Jewish temple continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation . The awful event , with a host of authorities , is detailed in the following words of Gibbon ' s decline and fall of tlie Roman Empire :

" Whilst Alyppns , hy order of Julian , assisted by the governor of the province , urged Avith vigour and diligence the execution of the work , terrible balls of fire , breaking out near the foundations with frequent and reiterated attacks , rendered the place from time to time inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen , till the undertaking AA'as at length abandoned in despair . " Fire having been by Divine appointment received as a symbol of the Deity , the ceremonials of burnt offerings or sacrifices in which the offerings were made to God through the medium of His symbol were next ipst-ituted ,, It , is