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Article FREEMASONRY AND ITS TEACHINGS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Freemasonry And Its Teachings.
the philosophers , all the legislators , we remark , who have added lustre to antiquity , owed their eminence to their initiation . You may easily understand , my dear brethren , that such an institution , whose aim is , by the discovery of the truth , the emancipation of human intellectmust necessarily haA'e awakened the
, suspicions of governments in every age , and excited the hatred of men , who , in order the more effectually to keep the people in subjection , desired to leave them steeped in ignorance . With a view to secure its permanency and its onward progress through the course of ages , our
institution has , then , found it necessary to surround itself with mysteries , with cautions or safeguards , and with ceremonies , often perhaps futile , hut indispensable to its existence . It has assumed a variety of masks ; it has enveloped itself in veils . Nevertheless , the mysteries have not failed to extend themselves among all the peoples of the earth . Eroin the shores of the
Nile they first passed into Asia , to Tyre ; then from that city to the Jewish nation hy means of Tyrian architects , at the period of the erection of King Solomon ' s Temple . I insist on this point , for it is one which it is most important for us to know . I maintain , then , that the Phcenicians transmitted to
the Hebrews a knowledge of the mysteries . Erom the account given in Scripture of the building of King Solomon ' s Temple , it is evident thafc ivhen that King proposed to construct a house to the honour of the Grod of Israel ( a house which was to be wonderfully magnificent ) , he could not find among his own subjects
men sufficiently skilled in the arts to put his plans and designs into execution . He was , therefore , obliged to solicit from Hiram , King of Tyre , a workman who could superintend the whole ; and the necessary materials in wood and in stone , which the Tyrians supplied , for Solomon said , in his letter to the King of Tyre , " Thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians . "
However , the work advanced , under the superintendence of a Tyrian architect , assisted by Tyrian craftsmen , Avho performed the duties of overlookers of the workshops ( foremen , as we now call them ) , in which were carved the wood and the stone ; Avorkmen of King Solomon were under the orders of these overlookers ; the greater part . of the ornaments of the
Temple clearly marked the skill of the Phoenician architect . The two columns of brass , cast under the direction of Hiram , and which were placed before the porch , ivere copied , if not in form , at least in position , from the pillars which Herodotus tells us were situated before the Temple of Baalor Herculesat Tyreand
, , , from the obelisks AA'hich stood in front of the Egyptian temples , to which the Jewish temple , copied from the 'Tabernacle , tore- a great resemblance . The pomegranates which adorned the columns were emblems well knoAvn in the mysteries ; and , if these pillars really bore a globe on their summit , as we see them in our
lodges , their resemblance to sacred pillars in general becomes more remarkable . Let us remark , further , that these tAvo pillars are not mentioned in the plan of the Temple given before his death by King David to his son Solomon ; they are , without doubt , an addition made by the architect Hiram . However this may be , it is very certain that all the circumstances combine to prove that from that period the Masons were united in lodges in Judea , and it is impossible to
find any evidence , even in our OAVU traditions , which carries back the practice of the Masonic ceremonies among the Jews to an earlier period . Moreover , it is very expressly stated in history , that similar ceremonies existed a long time previously at Tyre , which leads us to the conclusion that the people who had them not
in their ori gin must have received them from those who possessed them at a preceding period . In the ceremonies practised at initiation into the ancient mysteries , the candidate , after having passed through different trials , as well moral as physical , sustained the part of a human being who Avas let
down into a tomb , or enclosed in a coffin ; after a certain space of time , he was restored to life . By this allegorical return to a second birth , the candidate was supposed to be regenerated , penetrated with a certain purity of mind , and enlightened by the rays of Divine wisdom .
Those of the Jews who iA ere initiated adapted to their own creed these mysteries ' , of which they preserved the foundation and the form ; and as , since the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem , its restoration has always been the VOAV and desire of the Jewish people , it is probable that those who Avere initiated , such of them at least as afterwards became Christians
, adopted as the object of their mysteries the erection of a symbolical Temple , Avhich may have made them assume the title of Ereemasons . They preserved the Bible as a sacred book , Avhich supplied to the new form of initiation the Hebrew words and formulas , Ai'ith which the greater part of our ceremonies abound ,
especially in the Scottish rite . Thus it is that the institution has been handed doivn to us . With respect to the legend of Hiram , we may be fully persuaded that the ancient ritual of the mysteries has undergone an extraordinary metamorphosis , in consequence of a remarkable ,
substitution of personages . I trvist that I have satisfactorily proved that the death of the Master Mason Hiram is only an allegory . It now only remains for me to lay before you its moral interpretation . The first degree of symbolical Masonry is the emblem of infancy , or of the spring time of life . It
also represents the origin of human societies . The recipient thereof is presented in the lodge , his eyes being covered with a thick bandage ; the physical darkness of his body depicts the mental darkness of his heart . Deprived of his clothing , the candidate in this state represents the natural man ; when initiated
he 'immediately receives a vestment , the apron ; subsequently he is taught the means of recognition by his brethren , first by signs ancl grips , the earliest test of the human understanding ; then the first word which is communicated is spelt to him , to teach him the mechanism of languages , and the second step of our intellect . This is the Sacred Word . The second
word , called a pass-word , is pronounced by sy llables . The third step towards completion , and the first point of departure with a vieAV to instruction and study , the figurative age of the apprentice , is three years . That of the ECIIOAV Craft is five years . This degree is the emblem of youth , of that period of life when the man , after having subdued the passions AA'hich haA'e hurried him along in the preceding age , strengthens himself by the study of the sciences , of literature , of philosophy , cultivates his reason , learns
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry And Its Teachings.
the philosophers , all the legislators , we remark , who have added lustre to antiquity , owed their eminence to their initiation . You may easily understand , my dear brethren , that such an institution , whose aim is , by the discovery of the truth , the emancipation of human intellectmust necessarily haA'e awakened the
, suspicions of governments in every age , and excited the hatred of men , who , in order the more effectually to keep the people in subjection , desired to leave them steeped in ignorance . With a view to secure its permanency and its onward progress through the course of ages , our
institution has , then , found it necessary to surround itself with mysteries , with cautions or safeguards , and with ceremonies , often perhaps futile , hut indispensable to its existence . It has assumed a variety of masks ; it has enveloped itself in veils . Nevertheless , the mysteries have not failed to extend themselves among all the peoples of the earth . Eroin the shores of the
Nile they first passed into Asia , to Tyre ; then from that city to the Jewish nation hy means of Tyrian architects , at the period of the erection of King Solomon ' s Temple . I insist on this point , for it is one which it is most important for us to know . I maintain , then , that the Phcenicians transmitted to
the Hebrews a knowledge of the mysteries . Erom the account given in Scripture of the building of King Solomon ' s Temple , it is evident thafc ivhen that King proposed to construct a house to the honour of the Grod of Israel ( a house which was to be wonderfully magnificent ) , he could not find among his own subjects
men sufficiently skilled in the arts to put his plans and designs into execution . He was , therefore , obliged to solicit from Hiram , King of Tyre , a workman who could superintend the whole ; and the necessary materials in wood and in stone , which the Tyrians supplied , for Solomon said , in his letter to the King of Tyre , " Thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians . "
However , the work advanced , under the superintendence of a Tyrian architect , assisted by Tyrian craftsmen , Avho performed the duties of overlookers of the workshops ( foremen , as we now call them ) , in which were carved the wood and the stone ; Avorkmen of King Solomon were under the orders of these overlookers ; the greater part . of the ornaments of the
Temple clearly marked the skill of the Phoenician architect . The two columns of brass , cast under the direction of Hiram , and which were placed before the porch , ivere copied , if not in form , at least in position , from the pillars which Herodotus tells us were situated before the Temple of Baalor Herculesat Tyreand
, , , from the obelisks AA'hich stood in front of the Egyptian temples , to which the Jewish temple , copied from the 'Tabernacle , tore- a great resemblance . The pomegranates which adorned the columns were emblems well knoAvn in the mysteries ; and , if these pillars really bore a globe on their summit , as we see them in our
lodges , their resemblance to sacred pillars in general becomes more remarkable . Let us remark , further , that these tAvo pillars are not mentioned in the plan of the Temple given before his death by King David to his son Solomon ; they are , without doubt , an addition made by the architect Hiram . However this may be , it is very certain that all the circumstances combine to prove that from that period the Masons were united in lodges in Judea , and it is impossible to
find any evidence , even in our OAVU traditions , which carries back the practice of the Masonic ceremonies among the Jews to an earlier period . Moreover , it is very expressly stated in history , that similar ceremonies existed a long time previously at Tyre , which leads us to the conclusion that the people who had them not
in their ori gin must have received them from those who possessed them at a preceding period . In the ceremonies practised at initiation into the ancient mysteries , the candidate , after having passed through different trials , as well moral as physical , sustained the part of a human being who Avas let
down into a tomb , or enclosed in a coffin ; after a certain space of time , he was restored to life . By this allegorical return to a second birth , the candidate was supposed to be regenerated , penetrated with a certain purity of mind , and enlightened by the rays of Divine wisdom .
Those of the Jews who iA ere initiated adapted to their own creed these mysteries ' , of which they preserved the foundation and the form ; and as , since the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem , its restoration has always been the VOAV and desire of the Jewish people , it is probable that those who Avere initiated , such of them at least as afterwards became Christians
, adopted as the object of their mysteries the erection of a symbolical Temple , Avhich may have made them assume the title of Ereemasons . They preserved the Bible as a sacred book , Avhich supplied to the new form of initiation the Hebrew words and formulas , Ai'ith which the greater part of our ceremonies abound ,
especially in the Scottish rite . Thus it is that the institution has been handed doivn to us . With respect to the legend of Hiram , we may be fully persuaded that the ancient ritual of the mysteries has undergone an extraordinary metamorphosis , in consequence of a remarkable ,
substitution of personages . I trvist that I have satisfactorily proved that the death of the Master Mason Hiram is only an allegory . It now only remains for me to lay before you its moral interpretation . The first degree of symbolical Masonry is the emblem of infancy , or of the spring time of life . It
also represents the origin of human societies . The recipient thereof is presented in the lodge , his eyes being covered with a thick bandage ; the physical darkness of his body depicts the mental darkness of his heart . Deprived of his clothing , the candidate in this state represents the natural man ; when initiated
he 'immediately receives a vestment , the apron ; subsequently he is taught the means of recognition by his brethren , first by signs ancl grips , the earliest test of the human understanding ; then the first word which is communicated is spelt to him , to teach him the mechanism of languages , and the second step of our intellect . This is the Sacred Word . The second
word , called a pass-word , is pronounced by sy llables . The third step towards completion , and the first point of departure with a vieAV to instruction and study , the figurative age of the apprentice , is three years . That of the ECIIOAV Craft is five years . This degree is the emblem of youth , of that period of life when the man , after having subdued the passions AA'hich haA'e hurried him along in the preceding age , strengthens himself by the study of the sciences , of literature , of philosophy , cultivates his reason , learns