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AA - ACA
ABBREVIATIONS
ACC - ADONI
ADONIS - AHIAH
AHIM - ALLE
ALLI - AMER
AMERICAN (MILITARY) UNION LODGE
AMET - ANDRE
ANDREA - ANTOI
ANTON - ARCHIT
ARCHIV - ASHLAR
ASHM - AZ
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ADONIS, MYSTERIES OF
An investigation of the Mysteries of Adonis peculiarity claims the attention of the Masonic student. First, because, in their symbolism and in their esoteric doctrine, the religious object for which they were instituted, and the mode in which that object is attained they bear a nearer analogical resemblance to the Institution of Freemasonry than do any of the other mysteries or systems of initiation of the ancient world. Secondly, because their chief locality brings them into a very close connection with the early history and reputed origin of Freemasonry. These ceremonies were principally celebrated at Byblos, a city of Phoenicia, whose Scriptural name was Gebal, and whose inhabitants were the Giblites or Gebalites, who are referred to in the First Book of Kings (v; 18), as being the stone-squares employed by King Solomon in building the Temple (see Gebal and Giblin). Henee there must have evidently been a very intimate connection, or at least certainly a very frequent intercommunication, between the workmen of the first Temple and the inhabitants of Byblos, the seat of the Adonisian Mysteries, and the place whence the worshipers of that Rite were spread over other regions of country.
These historical circumstances invite us to an examination of the system of initiation which was practiced at Byblos, because we may find in it something that was probably suggestive of the symbolic system of instruction which was subsequently so prominent a feature in the system of Freemasonry.
Let us first examine the myth on which the Adonisiac initiation was founded. The mythological legend of Adonis is that he was the son of Myrrha and Cinyras, King of Cyprus. Adonis was possessed of such surpassing beauty, that Venus became enamored of him, and adopted him as her favorite. Subsequently Adonis, who was a great hunter, died from a wound inflicted by a wild boar on Mount Lebanon. Venus flew to the succor of her favorite, but she came too late Adonis was dead. On his descent to the infernal regions, Proserpine became, like Venus, so attracted by his beauty, that, notwithstanding the entreaties of the goddess of love, she refused to restore him to earth. At length the prayers of the desponding Venus were listened to with favor by Jupiter, who reconciled the dispute between the two goddesses, and by whose decree Proserpine was compelled to consent that Adonis should spend six months of each year alternately with herself and Venus.
This is the story on which the Greek poet Bion founded his exquisite idyll entitled the Epitaph of Adonis, the beginning of which has been thus rather inefficiently "done into English":
I and the Loves Adonis dead deplore:
The beautiful Adonia is indeed Departed, parted from us.
Sleep no more In purple, Cypris but in watchet weed,
All wretched beat thy breast and all aread-
"Adonis is no more". The Loves and I Lament him.
"Oh! her grief to see him bleed,
Smitten by white tooth on whiter thigh,
Out-breathing life's faint sigh upon the mountain high".
It is evident that Bion referred the contest of Venus and Proserpine for Adonis to a period subsequent to his death, from the concluding lines, in which he says:
"The Muses, too, lament the son of Cinyras, and invoke him in their song; but he does not heed them, not because he does not wish, but because Proserpine will not release him".
This was, indeed, the favorite form of the myth, and on it was framed the symbolism of the ancient mystery. But there are other Grecian mythologies that relate the tale of Adonis differently. According to these, he was the product of the incestuous connection of Cinyras and his daughter Myrrha. Cinyras subsequently, on discovering the crime of his daughter, pursued her with a drawn sword, intending to kill her.
Myrrha entreated the gods to make her invisible, and they changed her into a myrrh tree. Ten months after the myrrh tree opened, and the young Adonis was born. This is the form of the myth that has been adopted by the poet Ovid, who gives it with all its moral horrors in the Tenth Book (lines 298-559) of his Metamorphoses.
Venus, who was delighted with the extraordinary beauty of the boy, put him in a coffer or chest, unknown to all the gods, and gave him to Proserpine to keep and to nurture in the under world. But Proserpine had no sooner beheld him than she became enamored of him and refused, when Venus applied for him, to surrender him to her rival. The subject was then referred to Jupiter, who decreed that Adonis should have one-third of the year to himself, should be another third with Venus, and the remainder of the time with Proserpine. Adonis gave his own portion to Venus, and lived happily with her till, having offended Diana, he was killed by a wild boar.
The mythographer Pharnutus gives a still different story, and says that Adonis was the grandson of Cinyras, and fled with his father, Ammon, into Egypt, whose people he civilized, taught them agriculture, and enacted many wise laws for their government. He subsequently passed over into Syria, and was wounded in the thigh by a wild boar while hunting on Mount Lebanon.
His wife, Isis, or Astarte, and the people of Phoenicia and Egypt, supposing that the wound was mortal, profoundly deplored his death. But he afterward recovered, and their grief was replaced by transports of joy.
All the myths, it wi1l be seen, agree in his actual or supposed death by violence, in the grief for his loss, in his recovery or restoration to life, and in the consequent joy thereon. On these facts are founded the Adonisian mysteries which were established in his honor.
While, therefore, we may grant the possibility that there was originally some connection between the Sabean worship of the sun and the celebration of the Adonisian festival, we cannot forget that these mysteries, in common with all the other sacred initiations of the ancient world, had been originally established to promulgate among the initiates the once hidden doctrine of a future life.
The myth of Adonis in Syria, like that of Osiris in Egypt, of Atys in Samothrace, or of Dionysus in Greece, presented, symbolically, the two great ideas of decay and restoration. This doctrine sometimes figured as darkness and light, sometimes as winter and summer, sometimes as death and life, but always maintaining, no matter what was the framework of the allegory, the inseparable ideas of something that was lost and afterward recovered, as its interpretation, and so teaching, as does Freemasonry at this day, by a similar system of allegorizing, that after the death of the body comes the eternal life of the soul. The inquiring Freemason will thus readily see the analogy in the symbolism that exists between Adonis in the Mysteries of the Gebalites at Byblos and Hiram the Builder in his own Institution.
ADOPTION MASONIC
The adoption by the Lodge of the child of a Freemason is practiced with peculiar ceremonies in some of the French and German Lodges, and has been introduced, but not with the general approval of the Craft, into one or two Lodges of this country.
Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc-Maçonnerie, meaning in French The Picturesque History of Freemasonry (page 40, third edition), gives the following account of the ceremonies of Adoption :
"It is a custom, in many Lodges, when the wife of a Freemason is near the period of her confinement, for the Hospitaller, if he is a physician, and if not, for some other Brother who is, to visit her, inquire after her health, in the name of the Lodge, and to offer her his professional services, and even pecuniary aid if he thinks she needs it.
Nine days after the birth of her child, the Master and Wardens call upon her to congratulate her on the happy event. If the infant is a boy, a special communication of the Lodge is convened for the purpose of proceeding to its adoption.
The hall is decorated with flowers and foliage, and censers are prepared for burning incense. Before the commencement of labor, the child and its nurse are introduced into an anteroom. The Lodge is then opened, and the Wardens, who are to act as godfathers, repair to the infant at the head of a deputation of five Brethren. The chief of the deputation, then addressing the nurse, exhorts her not only to watch over the health of the child that has been intrusted to her care, but also to cultivate his youthful intellect, and to instruct him with truthful and sensible conversation. The child is then taken from the nurse, placed by its father upon a cushion, and carried by the deputation into the Lodge room. The procession advances beneath an arch of foliage to the pedestal of the east, where it halts while the Master and Senior Warden rehearse this dialogue:
"'Whom bring you here, my Brethren? says the Master to the godfathers.
"The son of one of our Brethren whom the Lodge is desirous of adopting, is the reply of the Senior Warden."
"What are his names, and what Masonic name will you give him?"
The Warden replies, adding to the baptismal and surname of the child a characteristic name, such as Truth, Devotion, Benevolence, or some other of a similar nature.
The Master then descends from his seat, approaches the Louveteau or Lewis, for such is the appellation given to the son of a Freemason, and extending his hands over its head, offers up a prayer that the child may render itself worthy of the love and care which the Lodge intends to bestow upon it.
He then casts incense into the censers, and pronounces the Apprentice's obligation, which the godfathers repeat after him in the name of the Louveteau.
Afterwards he puts a white apron on the infant, proclaiming it to be the adopted child of the Lodge, and causes this proclamation to be received with honors.
As soon as this ceremony has been performed, the Master returns to his seat, and having caused the Wardens with the child to be placed in front of the north column, he recounts to the former the duties which they have assumed as godfathers. After the Wardens have made a suitable response, the deputation which had brought the child into the Lodge room is again formed, carries it out, and restores it to its nurse in the anteroom.
The adoption of a Louveteau binds all the members of the Lodge to watch over his education, and subsequently to aid him, if it be necessary, in establishing himself in life. A circumstantial account of the ceremony is drawn up, which having been signed by all the members is delivered to the father of the child.
This document serves as a Dispensation, which relieves him from the necessity of passing through the ordinary preliminary examinations when, at the proper age, he is desirous of participating in the labors of Freemasonry. He is then only required to renew his obligations. Louveteau in French with Lewis in English, mean the same. Two meanings may be applied to each of the words in both countries. Among members of the trade as distinct from Brethren of the Craft, a Louveteau or Lewis means a wedge of iron or steel to support a stone when raising it, a chain or rope being attached to the wedge which grips a place cut for it in the stone.
The words Louveteau and Lewis are thus applied to sons of Freemasons as supports of their fathers.
In the United States, the ceremony has been practiced by a few Lodges, the earliest instance being that of Foyer Maçonnique Lodge of New Orleans, in 1859.
The Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, has published the ritual of Masonic Adoption for the use of the members of that Rite. This ritual under the title of offices of Masonic Baptism, Reception of a Louveleau and Adoption, is a very beautiful one, and is the composition of Brother Albert Pike. It is scarcely necessary to say that the word Baptism there used has not the slightest reference to the Christian sacrament of the same name (see Lewis).
ADOPTIVE FREEMASONRY, AMERICAN
The Rite of Adoption as practiced on the continent of Europe, and especially in France, has never been introduced into America. The system does not accord, with the manners or habits of the people, and undoubtedly never would become popular. But Rob Morris attempted, in 1855, to introduce an imitation of it, which he had invented under the name of the American Adoptive Rite. This consisted of a ceremony of initiation, which was intended as a preliminary trial of the candidate, and of five degrees, named as follows:
The whole assemblage of the five degrees was called the Eastern Star.
The objects of this Rite, as expressed by the framer, were "to associate in one common bond the worthy wives, widows, daughters, and sisters of Freemasons, so as to make their adoptive privileges available for all the purposes contemplated in Freemasonry; to secure to them the advantages of their claim in a moral, social, and charitable point of view, and from them the performance of corresponding duties." Hence, no females but those holding the above recited relations to Freemasons were eligible for admission.
The male members were called Protectors; the female, Stellae; the reunions of these members were styled Constellations; and the Rite was presided over and governed by a Supreme Constellation. There is some ingenuity and even beauty in many of the ceremonies, although it is by no means equal in this respect to the French Adoptive system.
Much dissatisfaction was, however, expressed by the leading Freemasons of the country at the time of its attempted organization; and therefore, notwithstanding very strenuous efforts were made by its founder and his friends to establish it in some of the Western States, it was slow in winning popularity.
It has, however, gained much growth under the name of The Eastern Star. Brother Albert Pike has also printed, for the use of Scottish Rite Freemasons, The Masonry of Adoption.
It is in seven degrees, and is a translation from the French system, but greatly enlarged, and is far superior to the original.
The last phrase of this Female Freemasonry to which our attention is directed is the system of androgynous degrees which are practiced to some extent in the United States.
This term androgynous is derived from two Greek words, a man, and a woman, and it is equivalent to the English compound, masculo-feminine. It is applied to those side degrees which are conferred on both males and females.
The essential regulation prevailing in these degrees, is that they can be conferred only on Master Masons, and in some instances only on Royal Arch Masons, and on their female relatives, the peculiar relationship differing in the various degrees.
Thus there is a degree generally called the Mason's Wife, which can be conferred only on Master Masons, their wives, unmarried daughters and sisters, and their widowed mothers. Another degree, called the Heroine of Jericho, is conferred only on the wives and daughters of Royal Arch Masons; and the third, the only one that has much pretension of ceremony or ritual, is the Good Samaritan, whose privileges are confined to Royal Arch Masons and their wives.
In some parts of the United States these degrees are very popular, while in other places they are never practiced, and are strongly condemned as modern innovations.
The fact is, that by their friends as well as their enemies these so-called degrees have been greatly misrepresented. When females are told that in receiving these degrees they are admitted into the Masonic Order, and are obtaining Masonic information, under the name of Ladies' Freemasonry, they are simply deceived. When a woman is informed that, by passing through the brief and unimpressive ceremony of any one of these degrees, she has become a Freemason, the deception is still more gross and inexcusable. But it is true that every woman who is related by ties of consanguinity to a Master Mason is at all times and under all circumstances peculiarly entitled to Masonic protection and assistance.
Now, if the recipient of an androgynous degree is candidly instructed that, by the use of these degrees, the female relatives of Freemasons are put in possession of the means of making their claims known by what may be called a sort of oral testimony, which, unlike a written certificate, can be neither lost nor destroyed; but that, by her initiation as a Mason's Wife or as a Heroine of Jericho, she is brought no nearer to the inner portal of Freemasonry than she was before - if she is honestly told all this, then there can hardly be any harm, and there may be some good in these forms if prudently bestowed. But all attempts to make Freemasonry of them, and especially that anomalous thing called Female Freemasonry, are reprehensible, and are well calculated to produce opposition among the well-informed and cautious members of the Fraternity.
ADOPTIVE FREEMASONRY, EGYPTIAN
A system invented by Cagliostro (see Cagliostro).
ADORATION
The act of paying divine worship. The Latin word adorare is derived from ad, to, and os, oris, the mouth, and we thus etymologically learn that the primitive and most general method of adoration was by the application of the fingers to the mouth.
Hence we read in Job (xxxi, 26).
"If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God that is above".
Here the mouth kissing the hand is equal in meaning and force to adoration, as if he had said, if I have adored the sun or the moon.
This mode of adoration is said to have originated among the Persians, who, as worshipers of the sun, always turned their faces to the east and kissed their hands to that luminary. The gesture was first used as a token of respect to their monarchs, and was easily transferred to objects of worship. Other additional forms of adoration were used in various countries, but in almost all of them this reference to kissing was in some degree preserved.
It is yet a practice of quite common usage for Orientals to kiss what they deem sacred or that which they wish to adore as, for example, Wailing Place of the Jews at Jerusalem, the nearest wall to the Temple where they were permitted by the Mahommedans to approach and on which their tears and kisses were affectionately bestowed before the British General Allenby, took possession of the city in the World War and equalized the rights of the inhabitants.
The marble toes of the statue of Saint Peter in the Cathedral of Saint Peter's at Rome have been worn away by the kissings of Roman Catholics and have been replaced by bronze.
Among the ancient Romans the act of adoration was thus performed:
The worshiper, having his head covered, applied his right hand to his lips, thumb erect, and the forefinger resting on it, and then,
bowing his head, he turned round from right to left. Hence, Lucius Apuleius, a Roman author, born in the first century, in his
Apologia sive oratio de magia, a defense against the charge of witchcraft, uses the expression to apply the hand to the lips, manum
labris admovere, to express the act of adoration.
The Grecian mode of adoration differed from the Roman in having the head uncovered, which practice was adopted by the Christians. The Oriental nations cover the head, but uncover the feet.
They also express the act of adoration by prostrating themselves on their faces and applying their foreheads to the ground.
The ancient Jews adored by kneeling, sometimes by prostration of the whole body, and by kissing the hand. This act, therefore, of kissing the hand was an early and a very general symbol of adoration.
But we must not be led into the error of supposing that a somewhat similar gesture used in some of the high degrees of Freemasonry has any allusion to an act of worship. It refers to that symbol of silence and secrecy which is figured in the statues of Harpocrates, the god of silence.
The Masonic idea of adoration has been well depicted by the medieval Christian painters, who represented the act by angels prostrated before a luminous triangle.
ADULTERINE GILDS
In the Anglo-Saxon period of English history the majority of gilds ("frith gilds," "crich ten gilds") were religious, military,
or social fraternities. In the Twelfth Century a number of "secular gilds" began to arise, and it was these which later came to be
called City Companies or (because certain of their members wore a prescribed costume) Livery Companies. The Exchequer Rolls of London
show that by 1180 a number of these were legally organized; and because they could enforce laws, enact rules, levy fines and other
penalties, etc., they had to have legal sanction for these governmental functions. This sanction was obtained in two ways:
first, by having their rules and records approved at certain times by the Court of Aldermen, which was called Prescription;
or, second, by receiving a Charter of Incorporation from the King.
If a company, society, fraternity, or gild undertook to perform gild functions without the required legal authorization it was called an Adulterine (illegal) Gild; and after being tried and found guilty was heavily fined or otherwise punished, or was destroyed.
In 1181 no fewer than 18 such gilds were found in London, and each was heavily fined. The fact is important in Masonic history because it shows why Masons attached so much importance to their Charters, Old Charges, etc. To act in association or hold assemblies or enforce rules and regulations without legal authorization would have made of them an adulterine Gild. The Masons Company of London became a recognized body not later than 1220, and by prescription. In 1481 it received its "Enfranchisement," or permission to wear Livery. In 1677 it received a Charter (a very expensive luxury) from Charles II. What Prescription, Enfranchisement, and Charter were to a City Company, the Old Charges must have been to Lodges; once such a Lodge set itself up as a permanent society its first thought would be to have a written sanction lest it be condemned as adulterine. By the same token the new Grand Lodge of 1717 began as soon as possible to have a written legal instrument of its own, which took the form of the Book of Constitutions in 1723, and it compelled each new Lodge to have written warrant from it, and later, it began to issue Charters of its own to new Lodges.
A clandestine Lodge of the present time, which is a body without a regular Charter, is nothing other than the modern form of the ancient "adulterine gild".
ADVANCED
This word has two technical meanings in Freemasonry:
The Master Mason is thus said to be "advanced to the honorary degree of a Mark Master", to indicate either that he has now been promoted one step beyond the degrees of Ancient Craft Freemasonry on his way to the Royal Arch, or to express the fact that he has been elevated from the common class of Fellow Crafts to that higher and more select one which, according to the traditions of Freemasonry, constituted, at the first Temple, the class of Mark Masters (see Mark Master).
ADVANCEMENT HURRIED
Nothing can be more certain than that the proper qualifications of a Candidate for admission into the mysteries of Freemasonry, and the necessary proficiency of a Freemason who seeks advancement to a higher degree, are the two great bulwarks which are to protect the purity and integrity of our Institution. Indeed, we know not which is the more hurtful-to admit an applicant who is Unworthy, or to promote a candidate who is ignorant of his first lessons. The one affects the external, the other the internal character of the Institution. The one brings discredit upon the Order among the profane, who already regard us, too often, with suspicion and dislike; the other introduces ignorance and incapacity into our ranks, and dishonors the science of freemasonry in our own eyes. The one covers our walls with imperfect and worthless stones, which mar the outward beauty and impair the strength of our temple the other fills our interior apartments with confusion and disorder, and leaves the edifice, though externally strong, both inefficient and inappropriate for its destined uses.
But, to the candidate himself, a too hurried advancement is often attended with the most disastrous effects. As in geometry, so in Freemasonry, there is no royal road to perfection. A knowledge of its principles and its science, and consequently an acquaintance with its beauties, can only be acquired by long and diligent study. To the careless observer it seldom offers, at a hasty glance, much to attract his attention or secure his interest. The gold must be deprived, by careful manipulation, of the dark and worthless ore which surrounds and envelops it, before its metallic luster and value can be seen and appreciated.
Hence, the candidate who hurriedly passes through his degrees without a due examination of the moral and intellectual purposes of each, arrives at the summit of our edifice without a due and necessary appreciation of the general symmetry and connection that pervade the whole system. The candidate, thus hurried through the elements of our science, and unprepared, by a knowledge of its fundamental principles, for the reception and comprehension of the corollaries which are to be deduced from them, is apt to view the whole system as a rude and undigested mass of frivolous ceremonies and puerile conceits, whose intrinsic value will not adequately pay him for the time, the trouble, and expense that he has incurred in his forced initiation. To him, Freemasonry is as incomprehensible as was the veiled statue of Isis to its blind worshipers, and he becomes, in consequence, either a useless drone in our hive, or speedily retire in disgust from all participation in our labors.
But the candidate who by slow and painful steps has proceeded through each apartment of our mystic Temple, from its porch to its sanctuary, pausing in his progress to admire the beauties and to study the uses of each, learning, as he advances, line upon line, and precept upon precept, is gradually and almost imperceptibly imbued with so much admiration of the Institution, so much love for its principles, so much just appreciation of its design as a conservator of divine truth, and an agent of human civilization, that he is inclined, on beholding, at last, the whole beauty of the finished building, to exclaim, as did the wondering Queen of Sheba: "A Most Excellent Master must have done all this!"
The usage in many jurisdictions of the United States, when the question is asked in the ritual whether the candidate has made suitable proficiency in his preceding degree, is to reply, "Such as time and circumstances would permit". We have no doubt that this was an innovation originally invented to evade the law, which has always required a due proficiency. To such a question no other answer ought to be given than the positive and unequivocal one that "He has". Neither lime nor circumstances of candidate should be permitted to interfere with his attainment of the necessary knowledge, nor excuse its absence. This, with the wholesome rule, very generally existing, which requires an interval between the conferring of the degrees, would go far to remedy the evil of too hurried and unqualified advancement of which all intelligent Freemasons are now complaining.
After these views of the necessity of a careful examination of the claims of a candidate for advancement in Freemasonry, and the necessity, for his own good as well as that of the Order, that each one should fully prepare himself for this promotion, it is proper that we should next inquire into the laws of Freemasonry, by which the wisdom and experience of our predecessors have thought proper to guard as well the rights of those who claim advancement as the interests of the Lodge which is called upon to grant it. This subject has been so fully treated in Mackey's Text Book of Masonic Jurisprudence that we shall not hesitate to incorporate the views in that work into the present article.
The subject of the petition of a candidate for advancement involves three questions of great importance:
First, how soon, after receiving the First Degree, can he apply for the Second?
Second, what number of black balls is necessary to constitute a rejection?
Third, what time must elapse, after a first rejection, before the Apprentice can renew his application for advancement?
How soon, after receiving a former degree, can a candidate apply for advancement to the next? The necessity of a full comprehension of the mysteries of one degree, before any attempt is made to acquire those of a second, seems to have been thoroughly appreciated from the earliest times; thus the Thirteenth Article in the Regius Manuscript, which is the oldest Masonic document now extant, provides that "if the master a prentice have, he shall teach him thoroughly and tell him measurable points, that he may know the Craft ably, wherever he goes under the sun". Similar direction is found in most all the Manuscripts.
But if there be an obligation on the part of the Master to instruct his Apprentice, there must be, of course, a correlative obligation on the part of the latter to receive and profit by those instructions. Accordingly, unless this obligation is discharged, and the Apprentice makes himself acquainted with the mysteries of the degree that he has already received, it is, by general consent, admitted that he has no right to be entrusted with further and more important information.
The modern ritual sustains this doctrine, by requiring that the candidate, as a qualification in passing onward, shall have made suitable proficiency in the preceding degree. This is all that the general law prescribes. Suitable proficiency must have been attained, and the period in which that condition will be acquired must necessarily depend on the mental capacity of the candidate. Some men will become proficient in a shorter time than others, and of this fact the Master and the Lodge are to be the judges.
An examination should therefore take place in open Lodge, and a ballot immediately following will express the opinion of the Lodge on the result of that examination, and the qualification of the candidate. Such ballot, however, is not usual in Lodges under the English Constitution.
Several modern Grand Lodges, looking with disapprobation on the rapidity with which the degrees are sometimes conferred upon candidates wholly incompetent, have adopted special regulations, prescribing a determinate period of probation for each degree.
Thus the Grand Lodge of England requires an interval of not less than four weeks before a higher degree can be conferred. This, however, is a local law, to be obeyed only in those jurisdictions in which it is in force. The general law of Freemasonry makes no such determinate provision of time, and demands only that the candidate shall give evidence of suitable proficiency.
What number of black balls is necessary to constitute a rejection? Here we are entirely without the guidance of any express law, as all the Ancient Constitutions are completely silent upon the subject. It would seem, however, that in the advancement of an Apprentice or Fellow Craft, as well as in the election of a profane, the ballot should be unanimous. This is strictly in accordance with the principles of Freemasonry, which require unanimity in admission, lest improper persons be intruded, and harmony impaired.
Greater qualifications are certainly not required of a profane applying for initiation than of an initiate seeking advancement; nor can there be any reason why the test of those qualifications should not be as rigid in the one case as in the other. It may be laid down as a rule, therefore, that in all cases of balloting for advancement in any of the degrees of Freemasonry, a single black ball will reject.
Now, the rejection of his petition for advancement by the Lodge does not impair his right to apply again, because it does not affect his rights and standing as an Apprentice; it is simply the expression of the opinion that the Lodge does not at present deem him qualified for further progress in Freemasonry.
We must never forget the difference between the right of applying for advancement and the right of advancement. Every Apprentice possesses the former, but no one can claim the latter until it is given to him by the unanimous vote of the Lodge. As, therefore, this right of application or petition is not impaired by its rejection at a particular time, and as the Apprentice remains precisely in the same position in his own degree, after the rejection, as he did before, it seems to follow, as an irresistible deduction, that he may again apply at the next regular communication, and, if a second time rejected, repeat his applications at all future meetings. The Entered Apprentices of a Lodge are competent, at all regular communications of their Lodge, to petition for advancement. Whether that petition shall be granted or rejected is quite another thing, and depends altogether on the favor of the Lodge. What is here said of an Apprentice, in relation tn advancement to the Second Degree, may be equally said of a Fellow Craft in reference to advancement to the Third Degree.
This opinion has not, it is true, been universally adopted, though no force of authority, short of an opposing landmark, could make one doubt its correctness. For instance, the Grand Lodge of California decided, in 1857, that "the application of Apprentices or Fellow Crafts for advancement should, after they have been once rejected by ballot, be governed by the same principles which regulate the ballot on petitions for initiation, and which require a probation of one year". Brother Mackey commented on this action as follows:
"This appears to be a singular decision of Masonic law. If the reasons which prevent the advancement of an Apprentice or Fellow Craft to a higher degree are of such a nature as to warrant the delay of one year, it is far better to prefer charges against the petitioner, and to give him the opportunity of a fair and impartial trial. In many cases a candidate for advancement is retarded in his progress from an opinion, on the part of the Lodge, that he is not yet sufficiently prepared for promotion by a knowledge of the preceding degree - an objection which may sometimes be removed before the recurrence of the next monthly meeting.
In such a case, a decision like that of the Grand Lodge of California would be productive of manifest injustice. It is, therefore, a more consistent rule, that the candidate for advancement has a right to apply at every regular meeting, and that whenever any moral objections exist to his taking a higher degree, these objections should be made in the form of charges, and their truth tested by an impartial trial. To this, too, the candidate is undoubtedly entitled, on all the principles of justice and equity".
ADYTUM
The most retired and secret part of the ancient temples, into which the people were not permitted to enter, but which was accessible to the priests only, was called the adytum. Hence the derivation of the word from the Greek privative prefix a, and, to enter = that which is not to be entered. In the adytum was generally to be found a or tomb, or some relics or sacred images of the god to whom the temple was consecrated. It being supposed that temples owed their origin to the superstitious reverence paid by the ancients to their deceased friends, and as most of the gods were men who had been deified on account of their virtues, temples were, perhaps, at first only stately monuments erected in honor of the dead. Thus the interior of the temple was originally nothing more than a cavity regarded as a Place for the reception of a person interred, and in it was to be found the ‚or coffin, the T…os, or tomb, or, among the Scandinavians, the barrow or mound grave. In time, the statue or image of a god took the place of the coffin; but the reverence for the spot as one of peculiar sanctity remained, and this interior part of the temple became, among the Greeks, the ....or Chapel, among the Romans the adytum, or forbidden place, and among the Jews the kodesh hakodashim, the Holy of Holies (see Holy of Holies). "The sanctity thus acquired", says Dudley ( Naology, page 393 ), "by the Cell of interment might readily and with propriety be assigned to any fabric capable of containing the body of the departed friend, or the relic, or even the symbol, of the presence or existence of a divine personage". Thus it has happened that there was in every ancient temple an adytum or most holy place.
The adytum of the small temple of Pompeii is still in excellent preservation. It is carried some steps above the level of the main building, and, like the Jewish sanctuary, is without light.
AENEID
Bishop Warburton (Divine Legation of Moses Demonstrated) has contended, and his opinion has been sustained by the great majority of subsequent commentators, that Vergil, in the Sixth Book of his immortal epic, has, under the figure of the descent of Aeneas into the infernal regions, described the ceremony of initiation into the Ancient Mysteries.
An equally noteworthy allusion is to be found in the Third Book of the Aeneid by Vergil. Here the hero, Aeneas, by means of a message given to him by the uprooting of a plant on the hillside, discovers the grave of a lost prince. A free translation is given as follows of this interesting story by the ancient Roman poet:
"Near at hand there chanced to be sloping ground crested by trees and with a myrtle rough with spear like branches. Unto it I came. There I strove to tear from the earth its forest growth of foliage that the altars I might cover with the leafy boughs. But at that I saw a dreadful wonder, marvelous to tell.
That tree when torn from the soil, as its rooted fibers were wrenched asunder, distilled black blood in drops and gore smeared the ground. My limbs shook with cold terror and the chill veins froze with fear.
"Again I essayed to tear off one slender branch from another and thus thoroughly search for the hidden cause. From the bark of that bough there descended purpled blood. Awaking in my mind many an anxious thought, I reverently beseeched the rural divinities and father Mars, who presides over these Thracian territories, to kindly bless the vision and divert the evil of the omen. So a third time I grasped the boughs with greater vigor and on my knees struggled again with the opposing ground. Then I heard a piteous groan from the depths of the hill and unto mine ears there issued forth a voice:
"'Aeneas, why dost thou strive with an unhappy wretch? Now that I am in my grave spare me. Forbear with guilt to pollute thy pious hands. To you Troy brought me forth no stranger. Oh, flee this barbarous land, flee the greedy shore. Polydore am I. Here an iron crop of darts hath me overwhelmed, transfixed, and over me shoots up pointed javelins'.
"Then indeed, depressed with perplexing fear at heart, was I stunned. On end stood my hair, to my jaws clung my tongue. This Polydore unhappy Priam formerly had sent in secrecy with a great weight of gold to be stored safely with the King of Thrace when Priam began to distrust the arms of Troy and saw the city blocked up by close siege.
The King of Thrace, as soon as the power of the Trojans was crushed and gone their fortune, broke every sacred bond, killed Polydore and by violence took his gold. Cursed greed of gold, to what don't thou not urge the hearts of men! When fear left my bones I reported the warnings of the gods to our chosen leaders and especially to my father, and their opinion asked. All agreed to quit that accursed country, abandon the corrupt associations, and spread our sails to the winds. Thereupon we renewed funeral rites to Polydore. A large hill of earth was heaped for the tomb. A memorial altar was reared to his soul and mournfully bedecked with grey wreaths and gloomy cypress. Around it the Trojan matrons stood with hair disheveled according to the custom. We offered the sacrifices to the dead, bowls foaming with warm milk, and goblets of the sacred blood. We gave the soul repose in the grave, and with loud voice addressed to him the last farewell."
Egyptian mythology also supplies us with a similar legend to the above in the story of the search for the body of slain Osiris. This was placed in a coffin and thrown into the sea, being cast upon the shores of Phoenicia at the base of a tamarisk tree. Here it was found by Isis and brought back to Egypt for ceremonious burial (see Mysteries).
AEON
This word, in its original Greek, signifies the age or duration of anything. The Gnostics, however, used it in a peculiar mode to designate the intelligent, intellectual, and material powers or natures which flowed as emanations from the B.... or Infinite Abyss of Deity, and which were connected with their divine fountain as rays of light are with the sun (see Gnostics).
AERA ARCHITECTONICA
This is used in some modern Masonic lapidary or monument inscriptions to designate the date more commonly known as anno lucis, the year of light.
AFFILIATE, FREE
The French gave the name of Free Affiliates to those members of a Lodge who are exempted from the payment of dues, and neither hold office nor vote. These Brethren are known among English-speaking Freemasons as honorary members. There is a quite common use of Affiliate in Lodges of the United States to designate one who has joined a Lodge by demit.
AFFILIATED FREEMASON
A Freemason who holds membership in some Lodge. The word affiliation in Freemasonry is akin to the French affilier, which Richelet, Dictionnaire de la langue Française, Dictionary of the French Language, defines, "to communicate to any one a participation in the spiritual benefits of a religious order", and he says that such a communication is called an affiliation. The word, as a technical term, is not found in any of the old Masonic writers, who always use admission instead of affiliation.
There is no precept more explicitly expressed in the Ancient Constitutions than that every Freemason should belong to a Lodge. The foundation of the law which imposes this duty is to be traced as far back as the Regius Manuscript, which is the oldest Masonic document now extant, and of which the "Secunde poynt" requires that the Freemason work upon the workday as truly as he can in order to deserve his hire for the holiday, and that he shall "truly labor on his deed that he may well deserve to have his meed" (see lines 269-74). The obligation that every Freemason should thus labor is implied in all the subsequent Constitutions, which always speak of Freemasons as working members of the Fraternity, until we come to the Charges approved in 1722, which explicitly state that "every Brother ought to belong to a Lodge, and to be subject to its By-Laws and the General Regulations". Opportunity to resign one's membership should therefore involve a duty to affiliate.
AFFIRMATION
The question has been mooted whether a Quaker, or other person having peculiar religious scruples in reference to taking oaths, can receive the degrees of Freemasonry by taking an affirmation. Now, as the obligations of Freemasonry are symbolic in their character, and the forms in which they are administered constitute the essence of the symbolism, there cannot be a doubt that the prescribed mode is the only one that ought to be used, and that affirmations are entirely inadmissible.
The London Freemason's Quarterly (1828, page 28G) says that "a Quaker's affirmation is binding". This is not denied. The only question is whether it is admissible. Can the obligations be assumed in any but one way, unless the ritual be entirely changed?
Can any "man or body of men" at this time make such a change without affecting the universality of Freemasonry? Brother Chase (Masonic Digest, page 448) says that "Conferring the degrees on affirmation is no violation of the spirit of Freemasonry, and neither overthrows nor affects a landmark". In this he is sustained by the Grand Lodge of Maine (1823).
On the report of a Committee, concurred in by the Grand Lodge of Washington in 1883 and duly incorporated in the Masonic Code of that State (see the 1913 edition, page 130), the following was adopted: "The solemn obligation required from all persons receiving the degrees may be made equally binding by either an oath or an affirmation without any change in the time-honored Landmarks". A decision of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island on November 13, 1867 (see also the 1918 edition of the Constitution, General Regulations, etc., of that State, page 34) was to the effect that "An affirmation can be administered instead of an oath to any person who refuses, on conscientious grounds, to take the latter". But the other Grand Lodges which expressed an opinion on this subject-namely, those of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Delaware, Virginia, and Pennsylvania made an opposite decision.
During the latest revision of this work the Masonic authorities in each of these States were invited to give the latest practice in their respective Jurisdictions. Their replies are given substantially as below, and in the main the early custom has been continued.
Missouri has not recognized the word affirmation in the work, and unless the candidate is willing to conform to the wording of the obligation the instructions have been to not accept him and this has been the rule of successive Grand Masters in that State.
Tennessee has not made any change in the law, and in 1919 the Grand Lodge held that the Grand Master had no right to allow the Ritual to be changed in order to suit the religious views of a profane.
There has been no change in the attitude of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky in the matter of affirmation. That State has required the candidate to take the obligation in the usual manner. Delaware reported that there had been no change in the approved decision adopted by the Grand Lodge in 1890 which is as follows: "An applicant who desires to affirm instead of swear to the obligation cannot be received". The Grand Lodge of Virginia allows the use of an affirmation, not by the written law, but by the decision of a Grand Master of that State.
In Pennsylvania a petitioner becomes a member of the Lodge by initiation and dues begin from that time. He may, if he desires, remain an Entered Apprentice Freemason, a member of the Lodge, or he may resign as such. There is only one way of making an Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, or Master Freemason, in this Jurisdiction, which is by use of the greater lights, without any equivocation, deviation, or substitution.
One decision of Grand Master Africa of Pennsylvania, on October 24, 1892, does not state precisely at what point the candidate for initiation refused to obey, and even the original letter written by Grand Master Africa does not show it.
Presumably the reference was in regard to the candidate's belief in a supreme Being, yet it covers other points as follows:
"After having been duly prepared to receive the First Degree in Freemasonry, a candidate refused to conform with and obey certain landmarks of the craft. This refusal disqualifies him from initiation in any Lodge in this jurisdiction, and you will direct your Secretary to make proper record thereof, and , to make report to the Grand Secretary accordingly.
Freemasonry does not proselyte. Those who desire its privileges must seek them of their own free will, and must accept and obey, without condition or reservation, all of its ancient usages, customs, and landmarks".
The general practice of Lodges in America is also against the use of an affirmation. But in England Quakers have been initiated after affirmation, the principle being that a form of obligation which the candidate accepts as binding will suffice.
AFRICA
Anderson (Constitutions, 1738, page195) has recorded that in 1735 Richard Hull, Esq., was appointed "Provincial Grand Master at Gambay in West Africa", that in 1736 David Creighton, M.D., was appointed "Provincial Grand Master at Cape Coast, Castle in Africa", and that in 1737 Capt. William Douglas was appointed "Provincial Grand Master on the Coast of Africa and in the Islands of America, excepting such places where a Provincial Grand Master is already deputed". However, in spite of these appointments having been made by the Grand Lodge of England, there is no trace of the establishment of any Lodges in West Africa until 1792, in which year a Lodge numbered 586 was constituted at Bulam, followed in 1810 by the Torridzonian Lodge at Cape Coast Castle. There have been, on the West Coast of Africa, Lodges Warranted by the Grand Lodge of England, or holding an Irish Warrant, as Lodge 197 at Calabar, founded in 1896, or under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, or by authority from Grand Bodies in Germany. In the Negro Republic of Liberia a Grand Lodge was constituted in 1867, with nine daughter Lodges subordinate to it, and with headquarters at Monrovia.
In the north of Africa there was founded the Grand Lodge of Egypt with headquarters at Cairo. Both England and Scotland have established District Grand Lodges in Egypt by consent of the former. While Italy, France, and Germany have organized Lodges at Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said and Suez.
In Algeria and Morocco French influence has been predominant, but in Tunis an independent Grand Lodge was established in 1881.
Freemasonry was introduced into South Africa by the erection of a Dutch Lodge, De Goede Hoop, at Cape Town in 1772, followed by another under the same Jurisdiction in 1802. Not until nine years later was it that the first English Lodge was established there, which was gradually followed by others. The Dutch and English Freemasons worked side by side with such harmony that the English Provincial Grand Master for the District who was appointed in 1829 was also Deputy Grand Master for the Netherlands. In 1860 a Scotch Lodge was set up at Cape Town. Thirty-five years later a Lodge was erected at Johannesburg, under the Grand Lodge of Ireland, so that there have been four independent Masonic Bodies exercising jurisdiction and working amicably together in South Africa, namely, the Grand Lodges of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and the Grand Orient of the Netherlands.
Under the Grand Lodge of England the subordinate Lodges were arranged in five Districts, namely, Central, Eastern and Western South Africa, Natal, and the Transvaal. At the same time there were Lodges owing allegiance to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, as well as those under the Scotch Constitution, divided among the Districts of Cape Colony, Cape Colony Western Province, Natal, Orange River Colony, Rhodesia, and the Transvaal, and those under the Jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands, in addition to the German Lodges at Johannesburg.
Under the Jurisdiction of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands there was appointed a Deputy Grand Master and two Districts, one being the Provincial Grand Lodge of South Africa and the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Transvaal. The first of these had its headquarters at Cape Town, the other at Johannesburg.
The Grand Orient of Belgium chartered a Lodge in 1912 at Elizabethville, in Northern Rhodesia. On the East Coast of the Dark Continent there were erected two Lodges at Nairobi, one of them being English and the other Scotch, and there was also established in 1903 an English Lodge at Zanzibar.
(See also the following references to other geographical divisions of Africa: Abyssinia, Algeria, Belgian Congo, British East Africa, Cape Colony, Cape Verde Islands, Egypt, Eritrea, French Guinea, German Southwest Africa, Liberia, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Nigeria, Nyasaland, Portuguese East Africa, Portuguese West Africa, Reunion Island, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, St. Helena, Somaliland, Tripoli, Tunis and Uganda.)
AFRICA
In the French Rite of Adoption, the South of the Lodge is called Africa.
AFRICA, GERMAN SOUTHWEST
See German Southwest Africa.
AFRICAN ARCHITECTS, ORDER OF
Sometimes called African Builders; or in French, Architectes de l'Afrique; and in German, Afrikanische Bauherren.
Of all the new sects and modern Degrees of Freemasonry which sprang up on the continent of Europe during the eighteenth century, there was none which, for the time, maintained so high an intellectual position as the Order of African Architects, called by the French Architectes de l'Afrique, and by the Germans Afrikanische Bauherren. A Masonic sect of this name had originally been established in Germany in the year 1756, but it does not appear to have attracted much attention, or indeed to have deserved it; and hence, amid the multitude of Masonic innovations to which almost every day was giving birth and ephemeral existence it soon disappeared.
But the Society which is the subject of the present article, although it assumed the name of the original African Architects, was of a very different character.
It may, however, be considered, as it was established only eleven years afterward, as a remodification of it.
The Society admitted to membership those possessing high intellectual attainments rather than those possessing wealth or preferment.
There was probably no real connection between this Order and the Freemasonry of Germany, even if the members of the latter organization did profess kindly feelings for it. Brethren of the former based their Order on the degrees of Freemasonry, as the fist of degrees shows, but their work began in the Second Temple. while they had a quasi-connection with Freemasonry, we cannot call them a Masonic body according to the present day standards.
| First Temple | 1. | Apprentice. |
| 2. | Fellow Craft. | |
| 3. | Master Mason. | |
| Second Temple | 4. | Architect, or Apprentice of Egyptian Secrets. Thory (Acta Latomorum I, page 297) gives the title as Bosonien. |
| 5. | Initiate into Egyptian Secrets. (Acta Latomorum I, page 292) gives the title as Alethophile. |
|
| 6. | Cosmopolitan Brother. | |
| 7. | Christian Philosopher Thory calls this the Fourth Degree in his Acta Latomorum (I, page 632). | |
| 8. | Master of Egyptian Secrets. | |
| 9. | Esquire of the Order. | |
| 10. | Soldier of the Order. | |
| 11. | Knight of the Order. |
The last three were called superior Degrees, and were conferred only, as a second or higher class, with great discrimination, upon those who had proved their worthiness to receive promotion.
The assemblies of the Brethren were called Chapters.
The central or superintending power was styled a Grand Chapter, and it was governed by the following twelve officers:
Mackenzie says the Order was instituted between 1756 and 1767, under the patronage of Frederick II of Prussia, by Baucheren, and that the objects were chiefly historical but the ritual was a compound of Freemasonry, Christianity, Alchemy, and Chivalry. He quotes from its claims thus:
"When the Architects were by wars reduced to a very small number, they determined to travel together into Europe, and there to form together new establishments. Many of them came to England with Prince Edward, son of Henry III, and were shortly afterward called into Scotland by Lord Stewart. They received the protection of King Ing of Sweden in l125; of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, King of England in l190; and of Alexander III of Scotland in 1284".
He further states that the Order came to an end in 1786, that the three last degrees conferred offices for life, that the Order possessed a large building for the Meetings of the Grand Chapter, containing a library, a museum, a chemical laboratory, and that for many, years they gave annually a gold medal of the value of fifty ducats for the best essay on the history of Freemasonry, Lenning does not mention any connection of Frederick the Great with the Order and Woodford is inclined to limit its activity to ten years, presumably from 1767, though he points out that it has been said to have had an existence into the year 1806. A claim has been made that it was but an enlargement of a Lodge in action at Hamburg in 1747, and the further assertion has been offered of the French origin of the Order. The names of the degrees have also been named as:
The members are said by Woodford to have all been Freemasons and men of learning, the proceedings being, it is claimed, conducted in the Latin language, a circumstance that has a parallel in the Roman Eagle Lodge, No. 160, Edinburgh, Scotland, founded in 1785. This Lodge had its By-Laws and Minutes written in Latin, the object being "to erect and maintain a Lodge whose working and records should be in the classical Latin tongue" (see Historical Notes, Alfred A. A. Murray, Edinburgh, 1908, also The Jacobite Lodge at Romne, William J. Hughan, 1910, page 14).
For a helpful guide to the conditions under Frederick the Great's control favoring the existence of such organizations as the African Architects. the student may refer to volume ii, pages 60--73, The Beautiful Miss Craven, by Broadley and Melville, 1914.
The African Architects was not the only society which in the eighteenth century sought to rescue Freemasonry from the impure hands of the charlatans into which it had well-nigh fallen.
AFRICAN BROTHER
One of the degrees of the Rite of the Clerks of Strict Observance, according to Thory (Acta Latorum 1, page 291), but it is not mentioned in other lists of the degrees of that Rite.
AFRICAN BROTHERS
One of the titles given to the African Architects, which see.
AFRICAN BUILDERS
See African Architects
AFRICA, CONTINENT OF
The historic mission of Freemasonry in Africa has been for its Lodges and other Bodies to serve as a center of union and unity in communities of which the majority of citizens belong to a conglomerate of nationalities, languages, and races. The first Lodge in South Africa was Goede Hoop, of Holland origins, constituted in the Transvaal in 1772. (See article in this Supplement under Slavery, etc.) The English founded British Lodge, No. 334, at Cape Town, in 1811. In 1860 a Lodge under Scotland was constituted as Southern Cross, No. 398. The earliest Lodge under an Irish warrant was Abercom No. 159, in 1895. Haille Selassie, the Emperor, was preparing to establish Lodges in Abyssinia shortly before the Italian conquest.
By 1936 there were on the Continent 389 Lodges recognized by Grand Lodges in the United States, and an undiscoverable number not recognized, many of the latter being of French, Spanish, and Italian origin. There were 254 Lodges under English Constitutions 103 under Scotland, 31 under Ireland. Since very little of Africa is under any Exclusive Territorial Jurisdiction the way is open for Lodges for America; nationals, of which there are many in port cities businessmen, sailors, men of the Navy, airmen etc. In size African Lodges range from 25 to 301 members.
Egypt at the Sudan had in 1936, 25 Lodges; Province of Natal, 46; Union of South Africa and the Transvaal, 228; Johannesburg, 31; Cape Town, 12 Nigeria, 21; Rhodesia, 24; West Africa, 17;East Africa, 11; Tanganyika Territory, 6; Cape Colony, 9 Orange Free State, 2; etc.
The English Lodges have five District Grand Lodges, Ireland has a Provincial Grand Lodge of South Africa, Southern. The Scottish Rite has two Grand Inspectors General among Lodges under English Constitutions. The Knights Templar and the Royal Arch are vigorous. The Transvaal Bodies have a Masonic Home. The majority of Bodies have a Benevolence Fund. A possible United Grand Lodge for South Africa is discussed, but appears unlikely.
AFRICAN LODGE
See Negro Lodges
AGAPAE
The Agapae, or love feasts, were banquets held during the first three centuries in the Christian Church. They were called love feasts, because, including the partaking of the Sacrament, the Brethren met, both rich and poor, at a common feast-the former furnishing the provisions, and the latter, who had nothing, being relieved and refreshed by their more opulent Brethren. Tertullian (Apologia, chapter xxxix) thus describes these banquets:
"We do not sit down before we have first offered up prayers to God; we eat and drink only to satisfy hunger and thirst, remembering still that we are to worship God by night:
we discourse as in the presence of God, knowing that He hears us:
then, after water to wash our hands, and lights brought in, every one is moved to sing some hymn to God, either out of the Scripture, or, as he is able, of his own composing.Prayer again concludes our feast, and we depart, not to fight and quarrel, or to abuse those we meet, but to pursue the same care of modesty and chastity, as men that have fed at a supper of philosophy and discipline, rather than a corporeal feast".
The agapae united the group meal and the Lord's Supper because that Sacrament was first observed at a feast (see Matthew xxvi, 26-9). This custom was readily adopted among Gentile converts as such meals were usual practices by both the Greeks and Romans. Even in Bible times the observance was not always free of fault as is shown by Paul's rebuke at Corinth (see First Corinthians xi, 17-34; also in this connection note Second Peter 11, 13; and Jude 12).
These disorders marred the religious value of the function and led to its suppression in churches. The merit of the purpose, when properly carried out. gives substantial service to right living and has therefore much ceremonial and social importance.
Dr. August Kestner, Professor of Theology, published in Jena, in 1819, a work in which he maintains that the agapae, established at Rome by Clemens, in the reign of Domitian, were mysteries which partook of a Masonic, symbolic, and religious character.
In the Rosicurcian Degrees of Freemasonry we find an imitation of these love feasts of the primitive Christians; and the ceremonies of the banquet in the Degree of Rose Croix of the Ancient and accepted Rite, especially as practiced by French Chapters, are arranged with reference to the ancient agapae.
Reghellini, indeed, finds an analogy between the Table Lodges of modern Freemasonry and these love feasts of the primitive Christians.
AGATE
A stone varying in color, but of great hardness, being a variety of the flint. The agate, in Hebrew, SheBO, was the center stone of the third row in the breastplate of the High Priest.
Agates often contain representations of leaves, mosses, etc., depicted by the hand of nature. Some of the representations on these are exceedingly singular. Thus, on one side of one in the possession of Velschius was a half moon, and on the other a star.
Kircher mentions one which had a representation of an armed heroine ; another, in the church of Saint Mark in Venice, which had a representation of a king's head, adorned with a diadem; and a third which contained the letters I. N. R. I. (see Oliver's Historical Landmarks ii, page 522). In the collections of antiquaries are also to be found many gems of agate on which mystical inscriptions have been engraved, the significations of which are for the most part no longer understood.
AGATE, STONE OF
Among the Masonic traditions is one which asserts that the Stone of Foundation was formed of agate. This, like everything connected with the legend of the stone, is to be mystically interpreted. In this view, agate is a symbol of strength and beauty, a symbolism derived from the peculiar character of the agate, which is distinguished for its compact formation and the ornamental character of its surface (see Stone of Foundation).
AGATHOPADES
A liberal ecclesiastical order founded in Brussels in the sixteenth century. Revived and revised by Schayes in 1846. It had for its sacred sign the pentastigma, a term meaning the stamp of the five points.
AGBATANA
See Echatana
AGE, LAWFUL
One of the qualifications for candidates is that they shall be of lawful age. What that age must be is not settled by any universal law or landmark of the Order. The Ancient Regulations do not express any determinate number of years at the expiration of which a candidate becomes legally entitled to apply for admission.
The language used is, that he must be of "mature and discreet age".
But the usage of the Craft has differed in various countries as to the construction of the time when this period of maturity and discretion is supposed to have arrived. The sixth of the Regulations, which are said to have been made in 1663, prescribes that "no person shall be accepted a Freemason unless he be one and twenty years old or more"; but the subsequent Regulations are less explicit. At Frankfort-on-the-Main, the age required is twenty; in the Lodges of Switzerland, it has been fixed at twenty-one. The Grand Lodge of Hanover prescribes the age of twenty-five, but permits the son of a Freemason to be admitted at eighteen see Lewis).
The Grand Lodge of Hamburg decrees that the lawful age for initiation shall be that which in any country has been determined by the laws of the land to be the age of majority. The Grand Orient of France requires the candidate to be twenty-one, unless he be the son of a Freemason who has performed some important service to the Order, or unless he be a young man who has served six months in the army, when the initiation may take place at the age of eighteen.
In Prussia the required age is twenty-five. Under the Grand Lodge of England the Constitutions of 1723 provided that no man should be made a Freemason under the age of twenty-five unless by Dispensation from the Grand Master. This remained the necessary age until it was lowered in the Constitutions of 1784 to twenty-one years, as at present, though the Ancient Freemasons still retained the requirement of twenty-five until the Union of 1813. Under the Scotch Constitution the age was eighteen until 1891, when it was raised to twenty-one. Under the Irish Constitution the age was twenty-one until 1741, when it was raised to twenty-five and so remained until 1817, when it was lowered again to twenty-one. In the United States, the usage is general that the candidate shall not be less than twenty-one years of age at the time of his initiation, and no Dispensation can issue for conferring the degrees at an earlier period.
AGE, MASONIC
In some Masonic Rites a mystical age is appropriated to each degree, and the initiate who has received the degree is said to be of such an age. Thus, the age of an Entered Apprentice is said to be three years; that of a Fellow Craft, five; and that of a Master Mason, seven. These ages are not arbitrarily selected, but have a reference to the mystical value of numbers and their relation to the different degrees.
Thus, three is the symbol of peace and concord, and has been called in the Pythagorean system the number of perfect harmony, and is appropriated to that degree, which is the initiation into an Order whose fundamental principles are harmony and brotherly love. Five is the symbol of active life, the union of the female principle two and the male principle three, and refers in this way to the active duties of man as a denizen of the world, which constitutes the symbolism of the Fellow Craft's Degree; and seven, as a venerable and perfect number, is symbolic of that perfection which is supposed to be attained in the Master's Degree. In a way similar to this, all the ages of the other degrees are symbolically and mystically explained.
The Masonic ages are - and it will thus be seen that they are all mystic numbers - 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 27, 63, 81.
AGENDA
A Latin word meaning things to be done. Thus an "Agenda Paper" is a list of the matters to be brought before a meeting.
AGLA
One of the Cabalistic names of God, which is composed of the initials of the words of the following sentence:
Atah Gibor Lolam Adonai, meaning "Thou art mighty forever, O Lord". This name the Cabalists arranged seven times in the center and at
the intersecting points of two interlacing triangles, which figure they called the Shield of David, and used as a talisman, believing
that it would cure wounds, extinguish fires, and perform other wonders (see Shield of David). The four Hebrew letters forming the
initials of the above words were used on the floor cloths of Lodges in the eighteenth century.
AGNOSTUS, IRENAEUS
This is supposed by Kloss (Bibliographie der Friemaurerei, Nos. 2442, 2497, etc.) to have been a nom-de-plume or pen name of Gotthardus Arthusius, a co-rector in the Gymnasium of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and a writer of some local celebrity in the beginning of the seventeenth century (see Arthusius).
Under this assumed name of Irenaeus Agnostus, he published, between the years 1617 and 1620, many works on the subject of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, which John Valentine Andrea had about that time established in Germany. Among those works were the Fortaliciuni Scientiae, 1617; Clypeum Veritatis, 1618; Speculum Constantiae, 1618; Fons Gratiae, 1619; Frater non Frater, 1619; Thesaurus Fidei, 1619; Portus Tranquillitatis, 1620, and several others of a similar character and equally quaint title.
AGNUS DEI
The Agnus Dei, meaning the Lamb of God, also called the Paschal Lamb, or the Lamb offered in the Pascal Sacrifice, is one of the jewels of a Commandery of Knights Templar in America, and is worn by the Generalissimo.
The lamb is one of the earliest symbols of Christ in the iconography of the Church, and as such was a representation of the Savior, derived from that expression of Saint John the Baptist (John 1, 29), who, on beholding Christ, exclaimed, "Behold the Lamb of God".
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"Christ", says Didron (Christian Iconography 1, page 318), "shedding his blood for our redemption, is the Lamb slain by the children of Israel, and with the blood of which the houses to be preserved from the wrath of God were marked with the celestial tau. The Paschal Lamb eaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure from Egypt is the type of that other divine Lamb of whom Christians are to partake at Easter, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they are held by vice". The earliest representation that is found in Didron of the Agnus Dei is of the sixth century, and consists of a lamb supporting in his right foot a cross. In the eleventh century we find a banneret attached to this cross, and the lamb is then said to support "the banner of the resurrection". This is the modern form in which the Agnus Dei is represented. |
AGRIPPA, HENRY CORNELIUS
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Born in 1486 at Cologne, Germany, his real name being Von Nettesheim. Died in 1535 at Grenoble, France. Author of On the Vanity of the Sciences, published in 1527 at Cologne, and Libri Tres de Occulta Philosophia, published in 1533 at the same place. A scholarly and learned man whose writings led him into many controversies. Lenning and Gädicke say that Agrippa founded a secret literary and mystical society at Paris and during his life was reputed to have been a magician (see Henry Morley's Life of Cornelius Agrippa). Agrippa was, as well as being a writer, a soldier, a physician and a well-known alchemist. A writer in the Quarterly Review of 1798 states that Cornelius Agrippa came to London in 1510 and founded there a secret alchemical society and was practically the founder of Freemasonry. There does not seem to be any foundation for such a statement. Many of his writings dealt with Rosicrucianism. |
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AHABATH OLAM
Two Hebrew words signifying eternal love. The name of a prayer which was used by the Jews dispersed over the whole Roman Empire during the times of Christ. It was inserted by Dermott in his Ahiman Rezon (page 45, edition 1764), and copied into several others, with the title of A Prayer repeated in the Royal Arch Lodge at Jerusalem. The prayer was most probably adopted by Dermott and attributed to a Royal Arch Lodge in consequence of the allusion in it to the "holy, great, mighty, and terrible name of God".
AHIAH
So spelled in the common version of the Bible (First Kings iv, 3 ), but according to the Hebrew orthography the word should be spelled and pronounced Achiah, or akh-ee-yaw according to Strong.
He and Elihoreph or Elichoreph were the Sopherim, the Scribes or Secretaries of King Solomon. In the ritual of the Seventh Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, according to the modern American system, these personages are represented by the two Wardens.
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© 2008 Lodge St. Andrew #518
