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ANTON, DR. CARL GOTTLOB VON
A German Masonic writer of considerable reputation, who died at Gorlitz on the 17th of November, 1818. He is the author of two historical works on Templarism, both of which are much esteemed.
He also published at Gorlitz, in 1805, and again in 1819, a brief essay on the Culdees, entitled Ueber die Culdeer.
ANTON HIERONYMUS
In the examination of a German stanmetz, or stonemason, this is said to have been the name of the first Freemason. The expression is unquestionably a corruption of Adon Hiram.
ANTRIM, EARL WILLIAM OF
Brother W. J. Hughan's Memorials of the Union says the Earl of Antrim was Grand Master from 1782 to 1790 of the Ancient or Athol Masters.
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ANUBIS OR ANEPU Egyptian deity, son of Osiris and Nephthys. He was an equivalent to the Greek Hermes. Having the head of a jackal, with pointed ears and snout, which the Greeks frequently changed to those of a dog. At times represented as wearing a double crown. His duty was to accompany the souls of the deceased to Hades or Amenthes, and assist Horus in weighing their actions under the inspection of Osiris. |
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APE AND LION, KNIGHT OF THE
See Knight of the Ape and Lion.
APEX, RITE OF
See Sat B'hai, Order of
APHANISM
In the Ancient Mysteries there was always a legend of the death or disappearance of some hero god, and the subsequent discovery of the body and its resurrection.
The concealment of this body by those who had slain it was called the aphanism, from the Greek, abavatw, to conceal. As these Mysteries may be considered as a type of Freemasonry, as some suppose, and as, according to others, both the Mysteries and Freemasonry are derived from one common and ancient type, the aphanism, or concealing of the body, is of course to be found in the Third Degree. Indeed, the purest kind of Masonic aphanism is the loss or concealment of the word (see Mysteries, and Euresis).
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APIS The sacred bull, held in high reverence by the Egyptians as possessing Divine powers, especially the gift of prophecy. As it was deemed essential the animal should be peculiarly marked by nature, much difficulty was experienced in procuring it. The bull was required to be black, with a white triangle on its forehead, a white crescent on its side, and a knotted growth, like a scarabaeus or sacred beetle, under the tongue. Such an animal being found, it was fed for four months in a building facing the East. At new moon it was embarked on a special vessel, prepared with exquisite care, and with solemn ceremony conveyed to Heliopolis, where for forty days it was fed by priests and women. In its sanctified condition it was taken to Memphis and housed in a temple with two chapels and a court wherein to exercise. The omen was good or evil in accordance with which chapel it entered from the court. At the age of twenty-five years it was led to its death, amid great mourning and lamentations. The bull or apis was an important religious factor in the Isian worship, and was continued as a creature of reverence during the Roman domination of Egypt. |
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APOCALYPSE, FREEMASONRY OF THE
The Greek word apocalypsis means a revelation and thus is frequently applied to the last book of the New Testament. The adoption of Saint John the Evangelist as one of the patrons of our Lodges, has given rise, among the writers on Freemasonry, to a variety of theories as to the original cause of his being thus, connected with the Institution. Several traditions have been handed down from remote periods, which claim him as a brother, among which the Masonic student will be familiar with that which represents him as having assumed the government of the Craft, as Grand Master, after the demise of John the Baptist.
We confess that we are not willing to place implicit confidence in the correctness of this legend, and we candidly subscribe to the prudence of Dalcho's remark, that "it is unwise to assert more than we can prove, and to argue against probability".
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There must have been, however, in some way, a connection more or less direct between the Evangelist and the institution of Freemasonry, or he would not from the earliest times have been so universally claimed as one of its patrons. If it was simply a Christian feeling - a religious veneration - which gave rise to this general homage, we see no reason why Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, or Saint Luke might not as readily and appropriately have been selected as one, of the lines parallel. But the fact is that there is something, both in the life and in the writings of Saint John the Evangelist, which closely connects him with our mystic Institution. He may not have been a Freemason in the sense in which we now use the term. But it will be sufficient, if it can be shown that he was familiar with other mystical institutions, which are themselves generally admitted to have been more or less intimately connected with Freemasonry by deriving their existence from a common origin. |
Such a society was the Essenian Fraternity a mystical association of speculative philosophers among the Jews, whose organization very closely resembled that of the Freemasons, and who are even supposed by some to have derived their tenets and their discipline from the builders of the Temple. As Oliver observes, their institution "may be termed Freemasonry, retaining the same form but practised under another name". Now there is little doubt that Saint John the Evangelist was an Essene. Calmet positively asserts it; and the writings and life of Saint John seem to furnish sufficient internal evidence that he was originally of that brotherhood. Brother Dudley Wright has taken the position that Jesus was also an Essene and that the baptism of Jesus by John marked the formal admission of the former into the Essenic community at the end of a novitiate or, as it may be termed, an apprenticeship (see page 25, Was Jesus an Essene ? ). Brother Wright says further (page 29) that when Jesus pronounced John the Baptist to be Elijah there was evidently intended to be conveyed the information that he had already attained to that acquisition of spirit and degree of power which the Essenes strove to secure in their highest state of purity.
But it seemed to Doctor Mackey that Saint John the Evangelist was more particularly selected as a patron of Freemasonry in consequence of the mysterious and emblematic nature of the Apocalypse, which evidently assimilated the mode of teaching adopted by the Evangelist to that practised by the Fraternity. If anyone who has investigated the ceremonies performed in the Ancient Mysteries, the Spurious Freemasonry, as it has been called, of the Pagans, will compare them with the mystical machinery used in the Book of Revelations, he will find himself irresistibly led to the conclusion that Saint John the Evangelist was intimately acquainted with the whole process of initiation into these mystic associations, and that he has selected its imagery for the ground-work of his prophetic book.
George S. Faber, in his origin of Pagan idolatry (volume ii, book vi, chapter 6), has, with great ability and deftness, shown that Saint John in the Apocalypse applies the ritual of the ancient initiations to a spiritual and prophetic purpose.
"The whole machinery of the Apocalypse" says Faber, "from beginning to end, seems to me very plainly to have been borrowed from the machinery of the Ancient Mysteries; and this, if we consider the nature of the subject, was done with the very strictest attention to poetical decorum". Saint John himself is made to personate an aspirant about to be initiated; and, accordingly, the images presented to his mind's eye closely resemble the pageants of the Mysteries both in nature and in order of succession.
"The prophet first beholds a door opened in the magnificent temple of heaven; and into this he is invited to enter by the voice of one who plays the hierophant.
Here he Witnesses the unsealing of a sacred book, and forthwith he is appalled by a troop of ghastly apparitions, which flit in horrid succession before his eyes. Among these are pre-eminently conspicuous a vast serpent, the well-known symbol of the great father; and two portentous wild beasts, which severally come up out of the sea and out of the earth.
Such hideous figures correspond with the canine phantoms of the Orgies, which seem to rise out of the ground, and With the polymorphic images of the hero god who was universally deemed the offspring of the sea.
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"Passing these terrific monsters in safety, the prophet, constantly attended by his angel hierophant, who acts the part of an interpreter, is conducted into the presence of a female, who is described as closely resembling the great mother of pagan theology. Like Isis emerging from the sea and exhibiting herself to the aspirant Apuleius, this female divinity, up born upon the marine wild beast, appears to float upon the surface of many waters. She is said to be an open and systematical harlot, just as the great mother was the declared female principle of fecundity; and as she was always propitiated by literal fornication reduced to a religious system, and as the initiated were made to drink a prepared liquor out of a sacred goblet, so this harlot is represented as intoxicating the kings of the earth with the golden cup of her prostitution. On her forehead the very name of MYSTERY is inscribed; and the label teaches us that, in point, of character, she is the great universal mother of idolatry. |
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"The nature of this mystery the officiating hierophant undertakes to explain; and an important prophecy is most curiously and artfully veiled under the very language and imagery of the Orgies. To the sea-born great father was ascribed a threefold state he lived, he died, and he revived; and these changes of condition were duly exhibited in the Mysteries. To the sea-born wild beast is similarly ascribed a threefold state he lives, he dies, he revives.
While dead, he lies floating on the mighty ocean, just like Horus or Osiris, or Siva or Vishnu. When he revives again, like those kindred deities, he emerges from the waves; and, whether dead or alive, he bears seven heads and ten horns, corresponding in number with the seven ark-preserved Rishis and the ten aboriginal patriarchs. Nor is this all: as the worshipers of the great father bore his special mark or stigma, and were distinguished by his name, so the worshipers of the maritime beast equally bear his mark and are equally decorated by his appellation.
"At length, however, the first or doleful part of these Sacred Mysteries draws to a close, and the last or joyful part is rapidly approaching.
After the prophet has beheld the enemies of God plunged into a dreadful lake or inundation of liquid fire, which corresponds with the infernal lake or deluge of the Orgies, he is introduced into a splendidly-illuminated region, expressly adorned with the characteristics of that Paradise which was the ultimate scope of the ancient aspirants; while without the holy gate of admission are the whole multitude of the profane, dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie".
Such was the imagery of the Apocalypse. The close resemblance to the machinery of the Mysteries, and the intimate connection between their system and that of Freemasonry, very naturally induced our ancient brethren to claim the patronage of an apostle so pre-eminently mystical in his writings, and whose last and crowning work bore so much of the appearance, in an outward form, of a ritual of initiation.
APOCALYPSE, ORDER OF THE
An Order instituted about the end of the seventeenth century, by one Gabrino, who called himself the Prince of the Septenary Number or Monarch of the Holy Trinity.
He enrolled a great number of artisans in his ranks who went about their ordinary occupations with swords at their sides. According to Thory, some of the provincial Lodges of France made a degree out of Gabrino's system. The arms of the Order were a naked sword and a blazing star (see the Acta Latomorum, 1, 294). Reghellini, in Freemasonry considered as a result of the Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian Religions, or La Maçonnerie considérée comme le résultat des religions égyptienne, juive et chrêtienne (iii, 72), thinks that this Order was the precursor of the degrees afterward introduced by the Freemasons who practised the Templar system.
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APOCALYPTIC DEGREES Those degrees which are founded on the Revelation of Saint John, or whose symbols and machinery of initiation are derived from that work, are called Apocalyptic Degrees. Of this nature are several of the advanced degrees: such, for instance, as the Seventeenth, or Knight of the East and West of the Scottish Rite. |
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APORRHETA
Greek. The holy things in the Ancient Mysteries which were known only to the initiates, and were not to be disclosed to the profane, were called the aporrheta.
What are the aporrheta of Freemasonry? What are the arcana of which there can be no disclosure? These are questions that for years past have given rise to much discussion among the disciples of the Institution. If the sphere and number of these aporrheta be very considerably extended, it is evident that much valuable investigation by public discussion of the science of Freemasonry will be prohibited. On the other hand, if the aporrheta are restricted to only a few points, much of the beauty, the permanency, and the efficacy of Freemasonry which are dependent on its organization as a secret and mystical association will be lost.
We move between Scylia and Charybdis, between the rock and the whirlpool, and it is difficult for a Masonic writer to know how to steer so as, in avoiding too frank an exposition of the principles of the Order, not to fall by too much reticence, into obscurity. The European Freemasons are far more liberal in their views of the obligation of secrecy than the English or the American. There are few things, indeed, which a French or German Masonic writer will refuse to discuss with the utmost frankness. It is now beginning to be very generally admitted, and English and American writers are acting on the admission, that the only real aporrheta of Freemasonry are the modes of recognition, and the peculiar and distinctive ceremonies of the Order; and to these last it is claimed that reference may be publicly made for the purpose of scientific investigation, provided that the reference be so made as to be obscure to the profane, and intelligible only to the initiated.
APPEAL, RIGHT OF
The right of appeal is an inherent right belonging to every Freemason, and the Grand Lodge is the appellate body to whom the appeal is to be made.
Appeals are of two kinds:
Each of these will require a distinct consideration.
Some writers have endeavored to restrain the despotic authority of the Master to decisions in matters strictly relating to the work of the Lodge, while they contend that on all questions of business an appeal may be taken from his decision to the Lodge.
But it would be unsafe, and often impracticable, to draw this distinction, and accordingly the highest Masonic authorities have rejected the theory, and denied the power in a Lodge to entertain an appeal from any decision of the presiding officer.
The wisdom of this law must be apparent to anyone who examines the nature of the organization of the Masonic Institution. The Master is responsible to the Grand Lodge for the good conduct of his Lodge. To him and to him alone the supreme Masonic authority looks for the preservation of order, and the observance of the Constitutions and the Landmarks of the Order in the body over which he presides. It is manifest, then, that it would be highly unjust to throw around a presiding officer so heavy a responsibility, if it were in the power of the Lodge to overrule his decisions or to control his authority.
When a Freemason, in consequence of charges preferred against him, has been tried, convicted, and sentenced by his Lodge, he has an inalienable right to appeal to the Grand Lodge from such conviction and sentence.
His appeal may be either general or specific. That is, he may appeal on the ground, generally, that the whole of the proceedings have been irregular or illegal, or he may appeal specifically against some particular portion of the trial; or lastly, admitting the correctness of the verdict, and acknowledging the truth of the charges, he may appeal from the sentence, as being too severe or disproportionate to the offense.
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APPENDANT ORDERS In the Templar system of the United States, the degrees of Knight of the Red Cross and Knight of Malta are called Appendant Orders because they are conferred as appendages to that of the Order of the Temple, or Knight Templar, which is the principal degree of the Commandery. |
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APPLE-TREE TAVERN
The place where the four Lodges of London met in 1717, and organized the Grand Lodge of England. This tavern was situated in Charles Street, Covent Garden.
APPRENTI
French for Apprentice
APPRENTI ET COMPAGNON DE SAINT
For some reason the definition here has been lost, the form of the definition below has been based on that above.
French for Apprentice and Companion of Saint
APPRENTICE
See Apprentice, Entered
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT
The French expression is Apprenti Architecte. A degree in the collection of Fustier.
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT, PERFECT
The French being Apprenti Architecte, Parfait. A degree in the collection of Le Page.
APPRENTICE ARCHITECT, PRUSSIAN
The French being Apprenti Architecte, Prussien. A degree in the collection of Le Page.
APPRENTICE, CABALISTIC
The French is Apprenti Cabalistique. A degree in the collection of the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Rite.
APPRENTICE COHEN
The French being Apprenti Coën. A degree in the collection of the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Rite.
APPRENTICE DEGREES
Thory gives this list of the various rites:
APPRENTICE, EGYPTIAN
The French being Apprenti, Egyptien. The First Degree of the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro.
APPRENTICE, ENTERED
The First Degree of Freemasonry, in all the rites, is that of Entered Apprentice.
In French it is called apprenti;
in Spanish, aprendiz;
in Italian, apprendente;
and in German, lehrling;
in all of which the radical or root meaning of the word is a learner.
Like the lesser Mysteries of the ancient initiations, it is in Freemasonry a preliminary degree, intended to prepare the candidate for the higher and fuller instructions of the succeeding degrees. It is, therefore, although supplying no valuable historical information, replete, in its lecture, With instructions on the internal structure of the Order.
Until late in the seventeenth century, Apprentices do not seem to have been considered as forming any part of the confraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.
Although Apprentices are incidentally mentioned in the old Constitutions of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, these records refer only to Masters and Fellows as constituting the Craft, and this distinction seems to have been one rather of position than of degree. The Sloane Manuscript, No. 3,329, which Findel supposes to have been written at the end of the seventeenth century, describes a just and perfect Lodge as consisting of "two Entered apentics, two Fellow Crafts, and two Masters", which shows that by that time the Apprentices had been elevated to a recognized rank in the Fraternity.
In the Manuscript signed "Mark Kipling", which Hughan entitles the York Manuscript, No. 4, the date of which is 1693, there is a still further recognition in what is there called "the Apprentice Charge", one item of which is, that "he shall keep council in all things spoken in Lodge or chamber by any Masons, Fellows, or Freemasons". This indicates they had close communion with members of the Craft. But notwithstanding these recognitions, all the manuscripts up to 1704 show that only "Masters and Fellows" were summoned to the Assembly.
During all this time, when Freemasonry was in fact an operative art, there was but one Degree in the modern sense of the word. Early. in the eighteenth century, if not earlier, Apprentices must have been admitted to the possession of this Degree; for after what is called the revival of 1717, Entered Apprentices constituted the bulk of the Craft, and they only were initiated in the Lodges, the Degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason being conferred by the Grand Lodge.
This is not left to conjecture. The thirteenth of the General Regulations, approved in 1721, says that "Apprentices must be admitted Masters and Fellow Crafts only in the Grand Lodge, unless by a Dispensation".
But this in practice, having been found very inconvenient, on the 22nd of November, 1725, the Grand Lodge repealed the article, and decreed that the Master of a Lodge, with his Wardens and a competent number of the Lodge assembled in due form, can make Masters and Fellows at discretion.
The mass of the Fraternity being at that time composed of Apprentices, they exercised a great deal of influence in the legislation of the Order; for although they could not represent their Lodge in the Quarterly Communications of the Grand Lodge - a duty which could only be discharged by a Master or Fellow - yet they were always permitted to be present at the grand feast, and no General Regulation could be altered or repealed Without their consent; and, of course, in all the business of their particular Lodges, they took the most prominent part, for there were but few Masters or Fellows in a Lodge, in consequence of the difficulty and inconvenience of obtaining the Degree, which could only be done at a Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge.
But as soon as the subordinate Lodges were invested with the power of conferring all the Degrees, the Masters began rapidly to increase in numbers and in corresponding influence. And now, the bulk of the Fraternity consisting of Master Masons, the legislation of the Order is done exclusively by them, and the Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts have sunk into comparative obscurity, their Degrees being considered only as preparatory to the greater initiation of the Master's Degree.
APPRENTICE, HERMETIC
The French is Apprenti Hermétique. The Thirteenth Degree, ninth series, of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France.
APPRENTICE MASON
The French is Apprenti Maçon. The Entered Apprentice of French Freemasonry.
APPRENTICE MASONESS
The French is Apprentie Maçonne. The First Degree of the French Rite of Adoption. The word Masoness is a neologism, perhaps an unsanctioned novelty, but it is in accordance with the genius of our language, and it is difficult to know how else to translate into English the French word Maçonne, which means a woman who has received the Degrees of the Rite of Adoption, unless by the use of the awkward phrase, Female Freemason. To express this idea, we might introduce as a technicality the word Masoness.
APPRENTICE MASONESS, EGYPTIAN
The French is Apprentie Maçonne Egyptienne. The First Degree of Cagliostro's Egyptian Rite of Adoption.
APPRENTICE, MYSTIC
The French is Apprenti Mystique. A Degree in the collection of M. Pyron.
APPRENTICE OF PARACELSUS.
The French is Apprenti de Paracelse. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret. There existed a series of these Paracelsian Degrees Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master. They were all most probably forms of Hermetic Freemasonry.
APPRENTICE OF THE EGYPTIAN SECRETS
The French is Apprenti des secrets Egyptiens. The First Degree of the Order of African Architects.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, BY THE NUMBER 3
The French is Apprenti Philosophe par le Nombre 3. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER, HERMETIC
The French is Apprenti Philosophe Herm‚tique. A degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PHILOSOPHER TO THE NUMBER 9
The French is Apprenti Philosophe au Nombre 9. A Degree in the collection of M. Peuvret.
APPRENTICE PILLAR
See Prentice Pillar
APPRENTICE, SCOTTISH
The French is Apprenti Ecossais. This Degree and that of Trinitarian Scottish Apprentice, which in French is Apprenti Ecossais Trinitaire, are contained in the collection of Pyron.
APPRENTICE THEOSOPHIST
The French is Apprenti Théosophe. The First Degree of the Rite of Swedenborg.
APPRENTI ET COMPAGNON DE SAINT ANDRE
French for Apprentice and Companion of Saint Andrew, the Fourth Grade of the Swedish system. The Fifth Grade is known as Maître de Saint André or Master of Sint Andrew, and the Ninth Degree being known as Les Favoris de Saint Andréé (the Favored of Saiut Andrew), sometimes called Knight of the Purple Band or Collar.APRON
There is no one of the symbols of Speculative Freemasonry more important in its teachings, or more interesting in its history, than the lambskin, or white leathern apron. Commencing its lessons at an early period in the Freemason's progress, it is impressed upon his memory as the first gift which he receives, the first symbol which is explained to him, and the first tangible evidence which he possesses of his admission into the Fraternity.
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Whatever may be his future advancement in the "royal art", into whatsoever deeper arcana his devotion to the mystic Institution or his thirst for knowledge may subsequently lead him, with the lambskin apron his first investiture he never parts. Changing, perhaps, its form and its decorations, and conveying, at each step, some new but still beautiful allusion, its substance is still there, and it continues to claim the honored title by which it was first made known to him, on the night of his initiation, as the badge of a Mason. If in less important portions of our ritual there are abundant allusions to the manners and customs of the ancient world, it is not to be supposed that the Masonic Rite of investiture-the ceremony of clothing the newly initiated candidate with this distinctive badge of his profession is without its archetype in the times and practices long passed away. It would, indeed, be strange, while all else in Freemasonry is covered with the veil of antiquity, that the apron alone, its most significant symbol, should be indebted far its existence to the invention of a modern mind. |
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On the contrary, we shall find the most satisfactory evidence that the use of the apron, or some equivalent mode of investiture, as a mystic symbol, was common to all the nations of the earth from the earliest periods.
Among the Israelites the girdle formed a part of the investiture of the priesthood. In the mysteries of Mithras, in Persia, the candidate was invested with a white apron. In the initiations practiced in Hindostan, the ceremony of investiture was preserved, but a sash, called the sacred zennar, was substituted for the apron.
The Jewish sect of the Essences clothed their novices with a white robe. The celebrated traveler Kaempfer informs us that the Japanese, who practice certain rites of initiation, invest their candidates with a white apron, bound round the loins with a zone or girdle. In the Scandinavian Rites, the military genius of the people caused them to substitute a white shield, but its presentation was accompanied by an emblematic instruction not unlike that which is connected with the Freemason's apron.
Doctor Oliver (Signs and Symbols of Freemasonry, lecture and, page 196) says:
"The apron appears to have been, in ancient times, an honorary badge of distinction. In the Jewish economy, none but the superior orders of the priesthood were permitted to adorn themselves with ornamented girdles, which were made of blue, purple, and crimson, decorated with gold upon a ground of fine white linen; while the inferior priests wore only plain white. The Indian, the Persian, the Jewish, the Ethiopian, and the Egyptian aprons, though equally superb, all bore a character distinct from each other. Some were plain white, others striped with blue, purple, and crimson; some were of wrought gold, others adorned and decorated with superb tassels and fringes".
In a word, though the principal honor of the apron may consist in its reference to innocence of conduct, and purity of heart, yet it certainly appears, through all ages, to have been a most exalted badge of distinction. In primitive times it was rather an ecclesiastical than a civil decoration, although in some cases the apron was elevated to great superiority as a national trophy. The Royal Standard of Persia was originally an apron in form and dimensions. At this day it is connected with ecclesiastical honors; for the chief dignitaries of the Christian church, wherever a legitimate establishment, with the necessary degrees of rank and subordination is formed, are invested with aprons as a peculiar badge of distinction; which is a collateral proof of the fact that Freemasonry was originally incorporated with the various systems of divine worship used by every people in the ancient world. Freemasonry retains the symbol or shadow; at cannot have renounced the reality or substance.
A curious commentary by Thomas Carlyle upon the apron is worth consideration and is found in his Sartor Resartus (chapter vi), and is as follows:
"One of the most unsatisfactory sections in the whole volume is that upon aprons. What though stout old Gao, the Persian blacksmith, 'whose apron now indeed hidden under jewels, because raised in revolt which proved successful, is still the royal standard of that country'; what though John Knox's daughter, 'who threatened Sovereign Majesty that she would catch her husband's head in her apron, rather than he should be and be a bishop'; what though the Landgravine Elizabeth, with many other apron worthies-figure here? An idle, wire-drawing spirit, sometimes even a tone of levity, approaching to conventional satire, is too clearly dissemble.
What, for example, are we to make of such sentences as the following:
Aprons are defenses, against injury to cleanliness, to safety, to modesty, sometimes to roguery. From the thin slip of notched silk (as it were, the emblem and beatified ghost of an apron), which some highest-bred housewife, sitting at Nurnberg Workboxes and Toy-boxes, has gracefully fastened on, to the thick-tanned hide, girt around him with thongs, wherein the Builder builds, and at evening sticks his trowel, or in these jingling sheet-iron aprons, wherein your otherwise half-naked Vulcans hammer and swelter in their smelt furnace is there not range enough in the fashion and uses of this vestment?
How much has been concealed, how much has been defended in Aprons! Nay, rightfully considered, what is your whole Military and Police establishment, charged at uncalculated millions, but a huge scarlet-colored, iron-fastened Apron, wherein Society works (uneasily enough), guarding itself from some soil and stithy-sparks in this Devil's smithy of a world? But of all aprons the most puzzling to me hitherto has been the Episcopal or Cassock. Wherein consists the usefulness of this Apron?
The Overseer of Souls, I notice, has tucked in the corner of it, as if his day's work were done. What does he shadow forth thereby?
Brother John Barr read a paper on The Whys and Wherefores of the Masonic Apron before the Masters and Past Masters Lodge No. 130, Christ Church, New Zealand, from which (Transactions, May, 1925) we take the following information:
"What we know as Freemasonry today can fairly easily be traced, with but slight breaks, to what is known in history as the Comacini Gild, or what Leader Scott, in her very interesting work calls The Cathedral Builders. Their officers were similar to our own, that is, with respect to the most important; they had the signs, symbols and secrets used in the main by us today; and, what affects this article, they wore white aprons, not only while actively engaged as operatives, but when meeting together for instruction and improvement in their Lodges. When members of the Fraternity first landed in Britain is not known. We have evidence that 'Benedict, the Abbot of Wearmouth, 676 A.D., crossed the ocean to Gaul and brought back stone-masons to make a church after the Roman fashion'. It is also known that stone-masons, that is members of the Comacini Gild, were in Britain before that date, and it is assumed that Benedict had to go for more, as all in Britain were fully employed".
One could dwell on that part of our history at considerable length; but my object is not that of tracing the history of the old operative mason, whether Comacini or Gild Mason. I have merely touched on it for the reason that I believe it to be the stream or spring that is the source of the goodly river whose waters it should be our endeavor to keep dear and pure. It is to the ancient Operative Masons we go for the origin of the present apron.
"Our apron is derived from that of the Mason who was a master of his Craft, who was free-born and at liberty to go where he chose in the days when it was the rule that the toiler was either a bondsman or a gildsman, and, in each case, as a rule, confined to one locality.
He was one who had a true love for his art, who designed the structure and built it, and whose anxiety to build fair work and square work was greater than his anxiety to build the greatest number of feet per day. He was skilled in the speculative, or religious and educative side of the craft as well as the operative, and, in the absence of what we know as the three R's, was yet highly educated, was able to find sermons in stone, and books in the running brooks.
He was one to whom the very ground plan of his building was according to the symbolism of his belief, and he was able to see, in the principal tools of his calling, lessons that enabled him to guide his footsteps in the paths of rectitude and science. If from his working tools he learned lessons that taught him to walk upright in the sight of God and man, why not from the apron that was always with him during his working hours, no matter how he changed tool for tool. It was part of him, one may say, while he converted the rough stone into a thing of beauty, fit for its place in the structure designed by the Master, or fitted it to its place in the building".
According to Leader Scott, there is "in the Church of Saint Clemente, Rome, an ancient fresco of the eighth century. Here we see a veritable Roman Magister, Master Mason, directing his men. He stands in Magisterial Toga, and surely one may descry a Masonic Apron beneath it, in the moving of a marble column". The apron referred to by Leader Scott, seems, judging by the photograph, to have a certain amount of ornamentation, but the ordinary aprons of the brethren while working were akin to that worn by Masons to this day, that is operative Masons. As I know from tools found during the demolishing of old buildings, the tools were the same as the principal ones used today by the operative.
From my knowledge of the Operative side of Masonry, I feel sure the apron was substantially the same also. Many Masons wear today at the banker, aprons not only similar in form to those worn by our ancient brethren, but symbolically the same as those worn by brethren around me.
Let us examine an Operative Mason's Apron. The body shows four right angles, thus forming a square, symbolical of matter. The bib, as it is called in Operative Masonry, runs to the form of an equilateral triangle, symbolizing spirit. When used to moralize upon, the flap is dropped, thereby representing the descent of spirit into matter-the soul to the body.
In Operative Masonry the apex of the triangle was laced or buttoned to the vest, according to the period; in due course this was altered, and the apex of the triangle was cut away, while the strings, which were long enough to go around the body and finish at the front, were tied there. So that it is just possible, as one writer surmises, that the strings hanging down with frayed edges, may have their representation in the tassels of our Master Masons' Aprons.
"While we have no proof, so far as I know, that is written proof, that our ancient operative brethren did moralize on the Apron after the manner of the working tool, there is nothing to show that he did not. To me the weight of evidence is in favor of an educational value being attached to the Apron, or, to use our usual term, a symbolical value.
The more we study and the more we read, the more we become impressed with the idea that symbolism was the breath of life to the ancient Mason; he was cradled in it, brought up in it; he was hardly able to build a fortification without cutting symbols somewhere on it. He never erected a temple or church but what he make of it a book, so clear and plentiful were his symbols. In addition to the evidence one may glean from the writings of various investigators, one can see the tatters of what was once a solemn service in a custom in use amongst Operative Masons a generation back.
The custom was that of 'The washing of the apron'. This custom is referred to by Hugh Miller in his Schools and Schoolmasters. In the days referred to by Miller, the Apprentice was seldom allowed to try his hand on a stone, during his first year, as during that time he helped, if at the building, in carrying mortar and stone, and setting out the tools as they came from the blacksmith.
If in the quarry, he might in addition to doing odd jobs, be allowed to block out rubble or a piece of rough ashlar. If he shaped well and was to be allowed to proceed, the day came when he was told he could bring out his Apron. This was a big day for him, as now he was really to begin his life's work, and you may be sure it was a white apron, for it was an unwritten law, even in my day, that you started your week's work with your apron as white as it was possible to make it. The real ceremony had of course disappeared, and all that took its place were the tatters I referred to, which consisted principally of the providing of a reasonable amount of liquid refreshment with which the Masons cleared their throats of the stone dust. If a serious minded journeyman was present, certain advice was given the young Mason about the importance of the Craft, and the necessity for good workmanship and his future behavior. Unfortunately, there was a time when the washing of the apron was rather overdone, even in Speculative Masonry".
With regard to the above custom, I having referred to it in a paper read before the members of Lodge Sumner, No. 242, the worthy and esteemed Chaplain of the Lodge Brother Rev. W McAra, informed me that as a young man, close on sixty years ago, he attended with the grownup members of his family, who were builders in Scotland, the washing of the Apprentices' Aprons; and according to the Rev. Brother, there was 'a very nice little ceremony, although he could not mind the particulars', and he added, 'Although I was a total abstainer in those days, they were not all that, for I can mind that the apron was well washed'.
"I am further of opinion that, had there not been great importance attached to the apron, it would have been set aside, at least among English Masons, shortly after the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, as a certain section who got into the order at that time took strong exception to the apron on the plea that 'It made them look like mechanics'. lt must be remembered it was full length at that time, and remained so for considerable period after the formation of the first Grand Lodge.
"The material also differed in early days, both in the purely operative and in the early speculative. It was not that it differed according to the country, as both linen and cotton and skin were used in different parts of the one country.
One who has studied the operative side and who, as I am, is himself an Operative Mason, can fully understand the reason for the different materials being used, although they have caused some little confusion amongst the purely speculative investigators. I feel convinced that, in purely operative times, among the Cathedral Builders and those who carried on the Craft working after them, both materials were used, as both materials were used by Masons outside the Craft Lodges at a later stage.
The cloth apron was used largely by the Mason who never left the banker, that is, by him who kept to the work of hewing or carving. I can hardly fancy a hewer polishing a column, a panel, or any piece of work and drying his hands on a leather apron.
They would be full of cracks the second day in cold weather, and in the early days there was a considerable amount of polished work. Take, for instance, the churches built by Wilfrid Bishop of York.
The one built at Hexham in A.D. 674 - 680 had 'Round headed arches within the church supported by lofty columns of polished stone. The walls were covered with square stones of divers colors, and polished'.
"At ordinary unpolished work, all that was required was protection from dust. On the other hand, the skin apron was largely used by him who had to fix or build the stone. In those early days the builder had to do more heavy lifting than in later years, when derricks and cranes came into more common use.
What happened was just what may be experienced on a country job at a present day. If your wall were, say, three feet high, and a heavy bondstone is to be lifted, you may have to lift it and steady it on your knee and then place it on the wall, or the wall may be of such a height as necessitates your lifting the stone first on the knee, then on the breast, and from there to the wall. Cloth being a poor protection where such work had to be done frequently, skin was used. "We must remember also that so far as the Cathedral Builders were concerned in Britain, as elsewhere, all building tradesmen were within the guild, carpenters and tylers; while the mason could never do without his blacksmith, and the aprons were doubtless of material suitable to their departments. Skin aprons were worn by operative masons well into the 19th century. R. W. Portgate, who refers to the matter in his Builder's History, page 19, writes: 'In 1824 nearly all the Glasgow Master Masons employed between 70 and 170 Journeymen Masons each. One of them, noted as very droulhy, is marked as being the last to wear a leather apron'". That is the last of the masters who had now become what we know as 'the employer', but, from reminiscences of old Masons I have listened to, it was used by setters and builders throughout Scotland up to a much later period.
"At the date of the formation of the Grand Lodge of England, the apron was white no ornaments at first, and full size, similar in every respect to that of the Operative. In the first public account of a Masonic funeral, which appears in Read's Weekly Journal for January 12th, 1723, it is set forth that, 'Both the pallbearers and others were in their white aprons'; and in Hogarth's picture of Night, the Tyler is shown conducting the newly installed Master to his home, both wearing the long Apron of the Operative and with what appears to be the flap bundled or rolled snugly among the top, with strings coming to the front and keeping the whole in place.
"The first attempt to create uniformity in the apron appears to have been in 1731, when a motion covering the whole question was submitted to the Grand Lodge of England by Dr. Desagulier. The motion was submitted on March 17, and was carried unanimously. As that, however, only referred to one section of the Freemasons, even in England, it lid not appear to effect much alteration. At that time many of the aprons varied in form, and some were very costly and elaborately decorated, according to the fancy of the owners. But all this was altered at the Union of Grand Lodges in 1813, and as Brother F. J. W. Crowe points out, 'The clothing to be worn under the United Grand Lodge of England was clearly laid down according to present usage'". In the Masonic apron two things are essential to the due preservation of its symbolic character-its color and its material:
In the early ages of the Christian church a white garment was always placed upon the catechumen who had been newly baptized, to
denote that he had been cleansed from his former sins, and was thence-forth to lead a life of purity. Hence it was presented to him
with this solemn charge:
"Receive the white and undefiled garment, and produce it unspotted before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that you may obtain eternal life".
From all these instances we learn that white apparel was anciently used as an emblem of purity, and for this reason the color has been preserved in the apron of the Freemason.
The true apron of a Freemason must, then, be of unspotted lambskin, from fourteen to sixteen inches wide, from twelve to fourteen deep, with a fall about three or four inches deep, square at the bottom, and without device or ornament of any kind. The usage of the Craft in the United States of America has, for a few years past, allowed a narrow edging of blue ribbon in the symbolic degrees, to denote the universal friendship which constitutes the bond of the society, and of which virtue blue is the Masonic emblem. But this undoubtedly is an innovation, in the opinion of Doctor Mackey, for the ancient apron was without any edging or ornament. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts has adopted a law that "The Apron of a Master Mason shall be a plain white lambskin, fourteen inches wide by twelve inches deep.
The Apron may be adorned with sky blue lining and edging, and three rosettes of the same color. No other color shall be allowed, and no other ornament shall be worn except by officers and past officers.
In the Royal Arch Degree the lambskin, of course, continues to be used, but, according to the same modern custom, there is an edging of red, to denote the zeal and fervency which should distinguish the possessors of that degree.
All extraneous ornaments and devices are in bad taste, and detract from the symbolic character of the investiture. But the silk or satin aprons, bespangled and painted and embroidered, which have been gradually creeping into our Lodges, have no sort of connection with Ancient Craft Freemasonry. They are an innovation of our French Brethren, who are never pleased with simplicity, and have, by their love of display in their various newly invented ceremonies, effaced many of the most beautiful and impressive symbols of our Institution. A Freemason who understands and appreciates the true symbolic meaning of his apron, would no more tolerate a painted or embroidered satin one than an artist would a gilded statue. By him, the lambskin, and the lambskin alone, would be considered as the badge "more ancient than the Golden Fleece, or Roman Eagle, and more honorable than the Star and Garter". The Grand Lodge of England is precise in its regulations for the decorations of the apron which are thus laid down in its Constitution:
- "Entered Apprentices. A plain white lambskin, from fourteen to sixteen inches wide, twelve to fourteen inches deep, square at bottom, and without ornament; white strings.
- "Fellow Craft. A plain white lambskin, similar to that of the Entered Apprentices, with the addition only of two sky-blue rosettes at the bottom.
- "Master Masons. The same, with sky-blue lining and edging, not more than two inches deep, and an additional rosette on the fall or flap, and silver tassels.
"No other color or ornament shall be allowed except to officers and past officers of Lodges who may have the emblems of their offices in silver or white in the center of the apron; and except as to the members of the Prince of Wales Lodge, No. 259, who are allowed to wear the internal half of the edging of garter-blue three-fourths of an inch wide.
"Grand Stewards, present and past-Aprons of the same dimensions lined with crimson, edging of the same color three and a half inches, and silver tassels.
"Provincial and District Grand Stewards, present and past, the same, except that the edging is only two inches wide. The collars of the Grand Steward's Lodge to be crimson ribbon, four inches broad.
"Grand Officers of the United Grand Lodge, present and past. Aprons of the same dimensions, lined with garter-blue, edging three and a half inches, ornamented with gold, and blue strings; and they may have the emblems of their offices, in gold or blue, in the center.
"Provincial Grand Officers, present and past. Aprons of the same dimensions, lined with garter-blue, and ornamented with gold and with blue strings:
they must have the emblems of their offices in gold or blue in the center within a double circle, in the margin of which must be inserted the name of the Province."The garter-blue edging to the aprons must not exceed two inches in width.
"The apron of the Deputy Grand Master to have the emblem of his office in gold embroidery in the center, and the pomegranate and lotus alternately embroidered in gold on the edging.
"The apron of the Grand Master is ornamented with the blazing sun embroidered in gold in the center; on the edging the pomegranate and lotus with the seven eared wheat at each comer, and also on the fall; all in gold embroidery; the fringe of gold bullion. The apron of the Pro Grand Master the same.
"The Masters and Past Masters of Lodges to wear, in the place of the three rosettes on the Master Mason's apron, perpendicular lines upon horizontal lines, thereby forming three several sets of two right angles; the length of the horizontal lines to be two inches and a half each, and of the perpendicular lines one inch; these emblems to be of silver or of ribbon, half an inch broad, and of the same color as the lining and edging of the apron. If Grand Officers, similar emblems of garter-blue or gold".
In the United States, although there is evidence in some old aprons, still existing, that rosettes were formerly worn, there are now no distinctive decorations for the aprons of the different symbolic degrees.
The only mark of distinction is in the mode of wearing; and this differs in the different jurisdictions, some wearing the Master's apron turned up at the corner, and others the Fellow Craft's. The authority of Cross, in his plate of the Royal Master's Degree in the older editions of his Hieroglyphic Chart, conclusively shows that he taught the former method.
As we advance to the higher degrees, we find the apron varying in its decorations and in the color of in border, which are, however, always symbolical of some idea taught in the degree.
APRON LECTURE
The coming years may bring to you success,
The victory laurel wreath may deck your brow,
And you may feel Love's hallowed caress,
And have withal domestic tenderness,
And fortune's god may smile on you as now,
And jewels fit for Eastern potentate
Hang over your ambitious heart, and Fate
May call thee "Prince of Men", or "King of Hearts",
While Cupid strives to pierce you with his darts.
Nay, even more than these, with coming light
Your feet may press fame's loftiest dazzling height,
And looking down upon the world below
You may exclaim, "I can not greater grow!"
But, nevermore, O worthy Brother mine,
Can innocence and purity combine
With all that's sweet and tender here below
As in this emblem which I now bestow.
'Tis yours to wear throughout a life of Love,
And when your spirit wings to realms above
'Twill with your cold clay rest beneath the sod,
While breeze-kissed flowers whisper of your God.
O, may its stainless, spotless surface be
An emblem of that perfect purity
Distinguished far above all else on earth
And sacred as the virtue of the hearth,
And when at last your naked soul shall stand
Before the throne in yon great temple grand,
O, may it be your portion there to hear "Well done," and find a host of brothers near
To join the angel choir in glad refrain
Till Northeast comer echoes come again
Then while the hosts in silent grandeur stand
The Supreme Builder smiling in command
Shall say to you to whom this emblem's given,
"Welcome art thou to all the joys of heaven".
And then shall dawn within your 'lightened soul
The purpose divine that held control
The full fruition of the Builder's plan
The Fatherhood of God
The Brotherhood of man.
The above lines were written by Captain Jack Crawford for Dr. Walter C. Miller of Webb's Lodge No. 166, Augusta, Georgia.
"Lambskin or white leathern apron. It is an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason: more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, and when worthily worn, more honorable than the Star and a Garter, or any other Order that can be conferred upon you at this or any future period by king, prince, potentate, or any other person, except he be a Mason and within the Body of a just and legally constituted Lodge of such.
"It may be that, in the years to come, upon your head shall rest the laurel wreaths of victory; pendant from your breast may hang jewels fit to grace the diadem of an eastern potentate; yea, more than these: for with the coming light your ambitious feet may tread round after round the ladder that leads to fame in our mystic circle, and even the purple of our Fraternity may rest upon your honored shoulders; but never again by mortal hands, never again until your enfranchised spirit shall have passed upward and inward through the gates of pearl, shall any honor so distinguished, so emblematic of purity and all perfection, be bestowed upon you as this, which I now confer. It is yours; yours to wear through an honorable life, and at your death to be placed upon the coffin which contains your earthly remains, and with them laid beneath the silent clods of the valley.
"Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of 'purity of life, of rectitude of conduct, a never-ending argument for higher thoughts, for nobler deeds, for greater achievements; and when at last your weary feet shall have reached the end of their toilsome journey, and from your nerveless grasp forever drop the working tools of a busy life, may the record of your life and conduct be as pure and spotless as this fair emblem which I place within your hands tonight; and when your trembling soul shall stand naked and alone before the great white throne, there to receive judgment for the deeds done while here in the body, may it be your portion to hear from Him who sitteth as Judge Supreme these welcome words: 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord'.
"I charge you - take it, wear it with pleasure to yourself and honor to the Fraternity."
The above is from the New Kentucky Monitor arranged by Brother Henry Pirtle, 1918, for the Grand Lodge of that State.
"This emblem is now yours; to wear, we hope, with equal pleasure to yourself, and honor to the Fraternity.
If you disgrace it, the disgrace will be augmented by the consciousness that you have been taught, in this Lodge, the principles of a correct and manly life. It is yours to wear as a Mason so long as the vital spark shall animate your mortal frame, and at last, whether in youth, manhood or age, your spirit having Winged its flight to that 'House not made with hands', when amid the tears and sorrows of surviving relatives and friends, and by the hands of sympathizing Brother Masons, your body shall be lowered to the confines of that narrow house appointed for all living, it will still be yours, yours to be placed with the evergreen upon the coffin that shall enclose your remains, and to be buried with them.
"My Brother, may you so wear this emblem of spotless white that no act of yours shall ever stain its purity, or cast a reflection upon this ancient and honorable institution that has outlived the fortunes of Kings and the mutations of Empires.
"May you so wear it and
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan that moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
The above extract is from the Shaver Monitor, compiled by Brothers William M. Shaver, Past Grand Master, and Albert K. Wilson, Grand Secretary, of the Grand Lodge of Kansas. The concluding lines of verse are from William Cullen Bryant's famous poem Thanatopsis.
APRONS, GEORGE WASHINGTON'S MASONIC
Two aprons of a Masonic and historic character were owned by General George Washington. One of these was brought to this country by our Masonic Brother, the Marquis de Lafayette, in 1784.
An object of his visit was to present to General Washington a beautiful white satin apron bearing the National colors, red, white and blue, and embroidered elaborately with Masonic emblems, the whole being the handiwork of Madame la Marquise de Lafayette. This apron, according to Brother Julius F. Sachse in his book, History of Brother General Lafayette's Fraternal Connections with the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (page 5), was enclosed in a handsome rosewood box when presented to Brother George Washington.
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Another apron was presented to General Washington. This gift was also made in France and the similarity of purpose and of origin has caused some confusion as to the identity of the two aprons that happily were preserved and proudly cherished by their later owners after the death of Brother Washington.
The gift of the second apron was due to the fraternal generosity of Brother Elkanah Watson and his partner, M. Cassoul, of Nantes, France. The name Cassoul in the old records is also spelled Cossouland Cosson. Watson and Cassoulacted as confidential agents abroad for the American Government during the revolutionary period, the former being also a bearer of dispatches to Dr. Benjamin Franklin.
Brother Sachse, in the above-mentioned work, quotes Brother Watson from a book Men and Times of the Revolution, or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, (New York, 1856, pages 135-6), as follows:"Wishing to pay some mark of respect to our beloved Washington, I employed, in conjunction with my friend M. Cossoul, nuns in one of the convents at Nantes to prepare some elegant Masonic ornaments and gave them a plan for combining the American and French flags on the apron designed for this use.
They were executed in a superior and expensive style. We transmitted them to America, accompanied by an appropriate address".
An autograph reply to the address was written by Brother Washington and this letter was purchased from the Watson family and thus came into the possession of the Grand Lodge of New York.
The Washington apron owned by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania was first given by the legatees of Brother George Washington to the Washington Benevolent Society on October 26, 1816, sind was presented to the Grand Lodge on July 3, 1829.
The other Washington apron and sash came into the possession of Alexandria Washington Lodge No. 22, at Alexandria, Virginia, on June 3, 1812, and as recorded in the Lodge of Washington (page 90), were presented, with the box made in France which contained them, by Major Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of Washington, on behalf of his son, Master Lorenzo Lewis. The pamphlet, George Washington the Man and the Mason, prepared by the Research Committee, Brother C. C. Hunt, Chairman, of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, 1921, raises the question as to the number of degrees conferred upon Brother Washington.
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Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Brother Washington received his Masonic Degrees, conferred the Royal Arch Degree under the authority of its Lodge Warrant. In fact, the first known record of this degree being conferred anywhere is in the Minutes of this Lodge under date of December 22, 1753. There is a reference to the degree by the Grand Committee of the Ancient, September 2, 1752, and the books of Vernon Lodge, No. 123, Coleraine in Ireland, show that "a Master and Royal Arch Mason" was proposed for membership, April 16, 1752, and also that a Royal Arch reception was held on March 11, 1745 (see Miscellanea Latomorum, volume ix, page 138). On the flap of the apron presented to Washington are the familiar letters H T W S S T K S arranged in the usual circular form. Within the circle is a beehive which may indicate the Mark selected by the wearer. |
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The above pamphlet points out that as this apron was made especially for Washington it is probable that he was a Mark Master Mason at least, and that it is not likely that this emblem would have been placed on the apron had the facts been otherwise. Certainly the beehive as an emblem of industry was an appropriate Mark for Washington to select.
APULEIUS, LUCIUS
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Roman author, born at Madaura in northern Africa about 125 to 130 A.D. Well educated, widely traveled, he became notable as lecturer and advocate at Rome and Carthage. Accused of Witchcraft by the relatives of a rich widow he had married, he made a spirited and entertaining defense that is still in existence, and tells us something of his life. His chief work, the Metamorphoses or Golden Ass, tells of the adventures of the hero in the form of an ass but who is restored to human shape by the goddess Isis, his initiation into the Mysteries as is is described and his progress in the priesthood discussed; he became a provincial priest, collected the temple funds and administered them. The works of Apuleius are valuable for the light they throw upon ancient manners and references to them during the centuries by Saint Augustine and others show the interest this writer excited in his studies of religion, philosophy and magic. |
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ARABIA
This country is a peninsula forming the southwestern extreme of Asia. The Lodge of Integrity attached to the 14th Regiment of Foot, warranted June 17, 1846, and constituted on October 20 at Halifax, Nova Scotia, the same year, min 1878878 at Aden.
There is at present in existence a Lodge at Aden chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland under the name of Felix Lodge.
ARABICI
An Arabian sect of the second century, who believed that the soul died with the body, to be again revived with it at the general resurrection.
ARANYAKA
An appendage to the Veda of the Indians supplementary to the Brahmanas, but giving more prominence to the mystical sense of the rites of worship.
ARAUNAH
See Ornan
ARBITRATION
In the Old Charges Freemasons are advised, in all cases of dispute or controversy, to submit to the arbitration of the Masters and Fellows, rather than to go to law.
For example, the Old Charges, adopted by the Grand Lodge of Ohio as part of the Constitution of that Masonic Jurisdiction, provide in the Code and Supplement of 1914 and 1919 (page 16), that:
"Finally, all these Charges you are to observe, and also those that shall be communicated to you in another way; cultivating Brotherly-Love, the foundation and Cap-stone, the Cement and Glory of this ancient Fraternity, avoiding all Wrangling and Quarreling, all Slander and Backbiting, nor permitting others to slander any honest Brother, but defending his Character, and doing him all good Offices, as far as is consistent with your Honor and safety, and no farther. And if any of them do you Injury, you must apply to your own or his Lodge; and from thence you may appeal to the Grand Lodge at the Quarterly Communication, and from thence to the annual Grand Lodge; as has been the ancient laudable Conduct of our Forefathers in every Nation; never taking a legal Course but when the Case cannot be otherwise decided, and patiently listening to the honest and friendly Advice of Master and Fellows, when they would prevent you going to Law with strangers, or would excite you to put a speedy Period to all Law Suits, that so you may mind the Affair of Masonry with the more Alacrity and Success; but with respect to Brothers or Fellows at Law, the Master and Brethren should kindly offer their Mediation, which ought to be thankfully submitted to by the contending Brethren, and if that submission is impracticable, they must however carry on their Process, or Law-suit, without Wrath and Rancor, (not in the common way,) saying or doing nothing which may hinder Brotherly-Love, and good Offices to be renewed and continued; that all may see the benign Influence of Masonry, as all true Masons have done from the Beginning of the World, and will do to the End of Time".
ARBROATH, ABBEY OF
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Erected in Scotland during the twelfth century. Rev. Charles Cordinet, in his description of the mins of North Britain, has given an account of a seal of the Abbey Arbroath marked "Initiation". The seal was ancient before the abbey had an existence, and contains a perfectly distinct characteristic of the Scottish Rite. The town is also known as Aberbrotack and is a seaport in Forfarshire. |
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ARCADE DE LA PELLETERIE
The name of derision even to the Orient Clermont in France, that is to say, to the Old Grand Lodge, before the union in 1799.
ARCANA
Latin, meaning secrets or inner mystery.
ARCANI DISCIPLINA
The mode of initiation into the primitive Christian church (see Discipline of the Secret).
ARCH, ANTIQUITY OF THE
Writers on architecture have, until within a few years, been accustomed to suppose that the invention of the arch and keystone was not before the era of Augustus. But the researches of modern antiquaries have traced the existence of the arch as far back as 460 years before the building of King Solomon's Temple, and thus rescued Masonic traditions from the charge of anachronism or error in date (see Keystone).
ARCH, CATENARIAN
See Catenarian Arch
ARCH OF ENOCH
The Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is sometimes so called (see Knight of the Ninth Arch).
ARCH OF HEAVEN
Job (xvi, 11) compares heaven to an arch supported by pillars. "The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof".
Doctor Cutbush, on this passage, remarks, "The arch in this instance is allegorical, not only of the arch of heaven, but of the higher degree of Masonry, commonly called the Holy Royal Arch. The pillars which support the arch are emblematical of Wisdom and Strength; the former denoting the wisdom of the Supreme Architect, and the latter the stability of the Universe" (see the American edition of Brewster's Encyclopedia).
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ARCH OF SOLOMON, ROYAL The Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite is sometimes so called, by which it is distinguished from the Royal Arch Degree of the English and American systems. |
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ARCH OF STEEL
The grand honors are conferred, in the French Rite, by two ranks of Brethren elevating and crossing their drawn swords. They call it in French the Voute d'Acier.
ARCH OF ZERUBBABEL, ROYAL
The seventh Degree of the American Rite is sometimes so called to distinguish it from the Royal Arch of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which is called the Royal Arch of Solomon.
ARCH, ROYAL
See Royal Arch Degree
ARCHEOLOGY
The science which is engaged in the study of those minor branches of antiquities which do not enter into the course of general history, such as national architecture, genealogies, manners, customs heraldic subjects, and others of a similar nature. The archaeology of Freemasonry has been made within a recent period, a very interesting study, and is much indebted for its successful pursuit to the labors of Kloss, Findel, and Begemann in Germany, and to Thory and Ragon in France, and to Oliver, Lyon, Hughan, Gould, Sadler, Dr. Chetwode Crawley, Hawkins, Songhurst, and others in Great Britain.
The scholars of this science have especially directed their attention to the collection of old records, and the inquiry into the condition and organization of Masonic and other secret associations during the Middle Ages. In America, William S Rockwell, Albert Pike and Enoch Carson were diligent students of Masonic archeology, and several others in the United States have labored assiduously in the same inviting field.
ARCHEOLOGY AND FREEMASONRY
Archeology underwent at about the turn of the century a transformation which turned it from an almost esoteric specialty or hobby, engaged in by a small number of experts, into a large and ever-expanding profession which has covered the world with a network of activities, and is about to take its place alongside history and literature as one of the subjects for every well-read man to know. This transformation came about when a number of very highly specialized sciences and forms of research found in it a center and a meeting place. In consequence, archeology is now being carried on by a combined corps of specialists or experts in philology, in the history of art, in geology in paleontology, in philology, in ethnology, in chemistry, in geography, of experts on documents, of symbologists, of specialists in ethnic literatures, and of technologists who manage and carry on the work of expeditions, explorations, and excavations.
The public is not yet aware of the immensity of the findings, or to what an extent those findings are already effecting fundamental revisions in the writing of political, religions, and social history. Archeology has not absorbed antiquarianism on the one hand, nor historical research on the other, but it has become so dove-tailed into both that it is impossible to draw sharp boundaries between them. Masonic research under a have debt to this new archeology; especially is so, when antiquarian and historical research are added to it. In it Masonic students possess new bodies of facts which belong to their own field.
Among these are such as: masses of data about the Ancient Mysteries in general and about Mithraism in particular; about the Collegia; about the origins of the gild system; about the beginnings of European architecture; about the documents, customs, and practices of the earliest stages of Freemasonry; about the earliest Medieval social and cultural system in which the earliest Freemasonry was molded; about the arts, the engineering, and the mathematics of the period when Freemasonry began; and about rites, societies, symbols, etc., which alliterate Freemasonry or were in action in other parts of the World; about the Crusades; and about the earliest present time larger part of the findings of archeology are in the form of reports of archaeological societies or expeditions, in archaeological journals, and in brochures and treatises not often found in bookstores. Only a small portion of this material has any bearing on the origin and history of Freemasonry; but that portion is decisive for many questions and in the future must be included among the sources for Masonic history and research.
ARCHETYPE
The principal type, figure, pattern, or example whereby and whereon a thing is formed. In the science of symbolism, the archetype is the thing adopted as a symbol, whence the symbolic idea is derived. Thus, we say the Temple is the archetype of the Lodge, because the former is the symbol whence all the Temple symbolism of the latter is derived.
ARCHIMAGUS
The chief officer of the Mithraic Mysteries in Persia. He was the representative of Ormudz, or Ormazd, the type of the good, the true, and the beautiful, who overcame Ahriman, the spirit of evil, of the base, and of darkness.
ARCHITECT
In laying the corner-stones of Masonic edifices, and in dedicating them after they are finished, the architect of the building, although he may be a profane, is required to take a part in the ceremonies. In the former case, the square, level, and plumb are delivered to him with a charge by the Grand Master; and in the latter case they are returned by him to that officer.
ARCHITECT, AFRICAN
See African Architects
ARCHITECT AND MASTER OF MASONS
Medieval Freemasons were organized as a body when employed on a cathedral, a castle, an abbey, or any other large building. This body, or Lodge, though its own officers were members of it, and though it as a body made many decisions, was not a soviet, or commune, nor was it a "democratic" body working through committees, but it worked under and was sworn to obey a chief officer, or Master of Masons (called by a number of titles). This Master of Masons, however, was not an architect, but rather was a superintendent; the making of plans and specifications was done by the Lodge itself, and in many places it had a separate room or building for that purpose.
In the course of time, however, the development of architectural practices brought about a divorce between the making of plans, designs, and specifications, and the carrying on of the daily work called for by the plans. The modern office of architect came into use.
This architect might have his own quarters at a distance from the building; he need not be a member of the Craft; after he had made the drawings, models, and plans, the Craftsmen were then to carry them out under a Master who had become merely a superintendent of workmen. It is impossible to mark the new system with a date but the beginning of the office of architect as a profession may be signalized (in England) by the career of Inigo Jones (z.d) This transition to an entirely new basis for the art was essentially brought about by an intellectual advance, which can be best described briefly by comparing it with a similar revolution more than 2,000 years before. In Egypt many trained workmen were employed by the state or by cities to do surveying, to measure the water allotments for irrigation, to lay off building sites, etc. This called for geometry, and especially for trigonometry; but the Egyptians had their knowledge of these things only in an empirical, piecemeal, rule-of-thumb form, and did not try to dissociate geometry from surveying and empirical measurements and calculations. The Greeks discovered that these surveying formulas and rules could be divorced from surveying land, could be cast in abstract form, and could then be used for countless purposes. They transferred geometry from the land to the mind; found it to power certain necessities in thought; made of it a system of principles; perfected it as a pure science what had begun as land-surveying became geometry.
The Medieval Mason is comparable to the Egyptian surveyor. He was trained, rather than educated; was an apprentice rather than a student; and was taught how to perform certain given tasks. These were empirical. He did not dissociate them from the style and structure of the type of building on which he was working. Then came the discovery that there are a number of principles, formulas, and processes which hold not for one type of building but for any building. Then architecture became independent, free, an art, a science, and men could study it in universities and learn it in architects offices. In both cases there was, as it were, a transition from an Operative (or empirical) Craft to a Speculative one.
An account of the rise of the profession of architect is invariably given in any one of the modern standard histories of
architecture. See in addition
The Cathedral Builders in England, by Edward S. Prior; E. P. Dutton & Co.; New York; 1905.
The
Builders of Florence, by J. Wood Brown; Methuen & Co; London; 1909.
Notes on the Superintendents of English Buildings in the
Middle Ages, by Wyatt Papworth.
An Historical Essay on Architecture, by Thomas Hope; John Murray; London.
Medieval Architecture by
Arthur Kingsley Porter.
The Guilds of Florence, by Edgcumbe Staley.
Westminster Abbey and the Kings' Craftsmen, and Architecture,
both by W. R. Lethaby.
Gothic Architecture in England, by Francis Bond; B. T. Bostfood; London; 1905.
A Short History of the
Building Crafts, by Martin S. Briggs, Oxford; 1925.
The Master Masons to the Croun of Scotland, by Robert Scott Myine; Scott &
Ferguson; 1893.
ARCHITECT, ENGINEER AND
An officer in the French Rite, whose duty, it is to take charge of the furniture of the Lodge. In the Scottish Rite such officer in the Consistory has charge of the general arrangement of all preparatory matters for the working or ceremonial of the degrees.
ARCHITECT BY 3, 5, AND 7, GRAND
The French expression is Grande Architecte par 3, 5, et 7. A degree in the manuscript of Peuvret's collection.
ARCHITECT, GRAND
The French expression is Grande Architecte and is used in reference to the following:
ARCHITECT, GRAND MASTER
See Grand Master Architect
ARCHITECT, LITTLE
The French expression is Petit Architecte and refers to the following:
ARCHITECT OF SOLOMON
The French expression is Architecte de Salomon. A degree in the manuscript collection of M. Peuvret.
ARCHITECT, PERFECT
The French phrase is, Parfait Architecte.
The Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh Degrees of the Rite of Mizraim are:
Apprentice
Fellow Craft
and Master Perfect Architect.
ARCHITECT, PERFECT AND SUBLIME GRAND
The French is Parfait et Sublime Grande Architecte. A degree in the collection of the Loge de Saint Louis des Amis Réunis at Calais.
ARCHITECTONICUS
A Greek word, adopted in Latin, signifying belonging to architecture. Thus, Vitruvius writes, rationes architectonicae, meaning the rules of architecture.
But as Architecton signifies a Master Builder, the Grand Lodge of Scotland, in some Latin inscriptions, has used the word architectonicus, to denote Masonic or relating to Freemasonry. In the inscription on the corner-stone of the Royal Exchange of Edinburgh, we find fratres architectonici used for Freemasons; and in the Grand Lodge diplomas, a Lodge is called societas architectonica; but the usage of the word in this sense has not been generally adopted.
ARCHITECTURE
The urge toward art of constructing dwellings, as a shelter from the heat of summer and the cold of winter, must have been resorted to from the very first moment in which man became subjected to the power of the elements. Architecture is, therefore, not only one of the most important, but one of the most ancient of sciences. Rude and imperfect must, however, have been the first efforts of the human race, resulting in the erection of huts clumsy in their appearance, and ages must have elapsed ere wisdom of design combined strength of material with beauty of execution.
As Geometry is the science on which Freemasonry is founded, Architecture is the art from which it borrows the language of its symbolic instruction. In the earlier ages of the Order every Freemason was either an operative mechanic or a superintending architect.
Therefore something more than a superficial knowledge of the principles of architecture is absolutely essential to the Freemason who would either understand the former history of the Institution or appreciate its present objects.
There are five orders of architecture:
The first three are the original orders, and were invented in Greece; the last two are of later formation, and owe their existence to Italy. Each of these orders, as well as the other terms of architecture, so far as they are connected with Freemasonry, will be found under its appropriate head throughout this work.
The Books of Constitutions, commenced by Anderson and continued by Entick and Noorthouck, contain, under the title of a History of Freemasonry, in reality a history of the progress of architecture from the earliest ages. In the older manuscript, Constitutions, the science of Geometry, as well as Architecture, is made identical with Freemasonry; so that he who would rightly understand the true history of Freemasonry must ever bear in mind the distinction between Geometry, Architecture, and Freemasonry, which is constantly lost sight of in these old records.
ARCHITECTURE, FIRST & CHIEF GROUNDES OF
In the year of our Lord 1912 Laurence Weaver, F.S.A., Hon. A.R.I.B.A., set up for himself a fair and durable monument by reproducing an exact facsimile of the original edition of The First & Chief Grounds of Architecture, by John Shute, Paynter and Archytecte. First Printed in 1663. lt is the first book, known to exist, to have been printed on architecture in England. In 1550, the Duke of Cumberland sent Shute "to confer with the doings of the skilful masters in architecture" in Italy, and he was probably abroad for two or three years.
He had his book ready for print in 1553, but the Duke losing his head that year for a conspiracy against Bloody Queen Mary it was delayed until 1563, the year of its author's own death. This was seven years before the publication of Palladio's treatise at Venice in 1570 (sundry old London Lodges studied Palladio), which, when Inigo Jones brought it back with him from his tour in Italy, was, via Jones' own genius, to transform English architecture; and incidentally was to leave certain permanent traces in the Ritual of Speculative Masonry. It is very curious that Shute wrote out a "Discourse on the beginnings of Architecture" which is reminiscent of the Legend in our Old Charters, one that is equally fabulous, though from Greek sources, and doubtless picked up in Italy.
The extraordinary interest of Shute's book to Freemasons is that it consists wholly (after an Introductory treatise) of chapters illustrated by himself (it is thought he may have been the first English engraver) on the Five Orders, one to each Order in turn.
A path of history lies from Shute to Inigo Jones to Sir Christopher Wren, and-very possibly-to William Preston ! In the Minutes of Lodge of Antiquity, No. 2, Nov. 27,1839 is this entry: "Mr. Elmes, the Architect," gave the Lodge the opportunity of buying, "a set of Five Columns representing the five Orders in Architecture which belonged originally to Brother Sir Christopher Wren, and were made use of by him at the time he presided over the Lodge of Antiquity as W. Master". (The price asked was 5200.) Preston was Master of the same Lodge; he and its members studied Palladio together; it is easy to believe that the lecture he wrote on the Five Orders, still in our Webb Preston work, was there and then suggested.
ARCHITECTURE, PIECE OF
The French expression is Morçeau d'architecture. The name given in French Lodges to the Minutes and has also been applied to the literary, musical, or other contributions of any Brother and especially to such offerings by a new member.
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