ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
FREEMASONRY
AND ITS KINDRED SCIENCES
by ALBERT C. MACKEY M. D.



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.

l. Versuch einer Geschichte des Tempelherren ordens, that is, An Essay on the Order of Knights Templar, at Leipzig, 1779.

2. Untersuchung uber das Gehemniss und die Gebrauche der Tempelherren, that is, An Inquiry into the Mystery and Usages of the Knights Templar, at Dessau, 1782.

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.


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.


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).


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.


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."

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.

"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.

"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.


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.


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: first, from the decision of the Master; second, from the decision of the Lodge.

Each of these will require a distinct consideration.

1. Appeals from the Decision of the Master. It is now a settled. doctrine in Masonic law that there can be no appeal from the decision of a Master of a Lodge to the Lodge itself. But an appeal always lies from such decision to the Grand Lodge, which is bound to entertain the appeal and to inquire into the correctness of the decision.

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.

2. Appeals from the Decisions of the Lodge. Appeals may be made to the Grand Lodge from the decisions of a Lodge, on any subject except the admission of members, or the election of candidates; but these appeals are more frequently made in reference to conviction and punishment after trial.

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.


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.


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


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:

1. Apprentice Architect; Apprenti Architecte, a Grade in title collection of Fustier.
2. Apprentice Perfect ,Architect; Apprenti Architecte Parfait, in Le Page's collection.
3. Apprentice Prussian Architect ; Apprenti Arehitecte Prussien, in Le Page's collection.
4. Apprentice Cabalistic; Apprenti Cabalistique.
5. Apprentice Cohen; Apprenti Coën: these two in the archives of the Mother Lodge of the Philosophic Scottish Rite.
6. Apprentice Egyptian ; Apprenti Egyptien, the First Degree of the Egyptian Rite of Cagliostro.
7. Apprentice of Paracelsus; Apprenti de Paracelse, found in the collection of Peuvret.
8. Apprentice of Egyptian Secrets; Apprenti des Secrets Egyptiens, the First Grade of the African Architects.
9. Apprentice Scottish; Apprenti Ecossais.
10. Apprentice Scottish Trinitarian ; Apprenti Ecossais Trinitaire, in the collection of Pyron.
11. Apprentice Hermetie; Apprenti Hermétique, the Third Grade, Ninth Series, of the Metropolitan Chapter of France.
12. Apprentice Mystical; Apprenti Mystique, grade in the collection of Pyron.
13. Apprentice Philosophical, or Number Nine; Apprenti Philosophique ou Nombre Neuf, a Grade in Peuvret's collection.
14. Apprentice Philosophical Hermetic; Apprenti Philosophique Hermétique.
15. Apprentice Philosophical by the Number Three; Apprenti Philosophique par le Nombre Trois.
16. Apprentice Theosophical; Apprenti Théosophe, name of a Swedenborgian Rite.


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.

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.

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.

''The apron,'' says Doctor Oliver (Signs and Symbols of Freemasonry, lecture and, page 196),

"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 lid 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.

1. As to its color. The color of a Freemason's apron should be pure unspotted white. This color has, in all ages and countries, been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity. It was with this reference that a portion of the vestments of the Jewish priesthood was directed to be white. In the Ancient Mysteries the candidate was always clothed in white. "The priests of the Romans,''says Festus, ''were accustomed to wear white garments when they sacrificed.'' In the Scandinavian Rites it has been seen that the shield presented to the candidate was white. The Druids changed the color of the garment presented to their initiates with each degree; white, however, was the color appropriated to the last, or degree of perfection. And it was, according to their ritual, intended to teach the aspirant that none were admitted to that honor but such as were cleansed from all impurities both of body and mind.

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.

2. as to its material. A Freemason's apron must be made of lambskin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin, could be substituted without entirely destroying the emblematic character of the apron, for the material of the Freemason's apron constitutes one of the most important symbols of his profession. The lamb has always been considered as an appropriate emblem of innocence. Hence we are taught, in the ritual of the First Degree, that, "by the lambskin, the Mason is reminded of that purity of life and rectitude of conduct which is so essentially necessary to his gaining admission into the Celestial Lodge above, where the Supreme Architect of the Universe forever presides.''

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.

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.

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.

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

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.


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

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.


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).


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.


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:
1. The Sixth Degree of the Rite of Martinism.
2. The Fourth Degree of the Rite of Elect Cohens.
3. The Twenty-third Degree of the Rite of Mizraim.
4. The Twenty-fourth Degree of the third series in the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France.


ARCHITECT, GRAND MASTER

See Grand Master Architect


ARCHITECT, LITTLE

The French expression is Petit Architecte and refers to the following :
1. The Twenty-third Degree of the third series of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of Franee.
2. The Twenty-second Degree of the Rite of Mizraim.


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 Doric, the Ionic, the Corinthian, the Tuscan, and the Composite. 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. lt 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.


ARCHIVES

This word means, properly, a place of deposit for records; but it means also the records themselves. Hence the archives of a Lodge are its records and other documents. The legend in the Second Degree, that the pillars of the Temple were made hollow to contain the archives of Freemasonry is simply a myth, and a modern one.


ARCHIVES, GRAND GUARDIAN OF THE

An officer in the Grand Council of Rites of Ireland who performs the duties of Secretary General.


ARCHIVES, GRAND KEEPER OF THE

An officer in some of the Bodies of the advanced degrees a whose duties are indicated by the name. In the Grand Orient of France he is called Grand Garde des Timbres et Sceaux, as he combines the duties of a keeper of the archives and a keeper of the seals.


ARCHIVISTE

An officer in French Lodges who has charge of the archives. The Germans call him the Archivar.


ARDAREL

A word in the advanced degrees, used as the name of the angel of fire. It is a distorted form of Adariel, or aw-dar-ale, meaning in Hebrew the splendor of God.


ARELIM

A word used in some of the rituals of the advanced degrees. It is found in Isaiah (xxxiii, 7), where it is translated, in the authorized version, "valiant ones," and by Lowth, ''mighty men.'' It is a doubtful word, and is probably formed from Ariel, meaning in Hebrew the lion of God. D'Herbelot says that Mohammed called his uncle Hamseh, on account of his valor, the lion of God. In the Cabala, Arelim is the name of the third angel or sephirah, one of the ten attributes of God.


AREOPAGUS

The third apartment in a Council of Kadosh is so called. The place represents a tribunal, and the name is derived from the celebrated court of Athens.


ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

A federal republic of south America. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania granted a Charter on September 5, 1825, to Southern Star Lodge, No. 205, at Buenos Aires. This was the first Lodge established in the Argentine Republic, but in 1846, with other Lodges which had been formed, it was suppressed.

It was reported that a Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite had existed in 1856 but it did not flourish for long. On April 22, 1858, however, the Supreme Council and Grand Orient of Uruguay constituted a Body similar to itself at Montevideo. About this time it is said that a Roman Catholic Bishop in Buenos Aires was active against the Freemasons to such an extent that an appeal was made against one of his Degrees to Pope Pius IX at Rome. As a result of the appeal it was claimed that a the Pope had, when a young man, taken the Degrees in 1816. This story, however, is also told with some variations in reference to there people and places.

In 1861 the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient of the Argentine agreed that the latter had the power to establish Lodges in La Plata and to appoint a District Grand Master to preside over the District Grand Lodge.

The Grand Orient of Spain has chartered two Lodges at Buenos Aires, the Grand Orient of Italy has authorized three Lodges at Bahia Blanca, four at Buenos Aires, two at Boca del Riachuclo, and one at La Plata ; the Grand Lodge of Hamburg has a Lodge at Rosario de Santa Fe and another at Buenos Aires; the Grand Orient of France has also one at Buenos Aires which has been active since July 8, 1852, and the Grand Lodge of England has twenty-two 'scattered through the country, two being at Rosario, and seven at the capital. .


ARGONAUTS, ORDER OF

A German androgynous or male and female society founded in 1775, by Brethren of the Rite of Strict Observance.

The name is from a Greek myth of those who sailed with Jason on the ship Argo in search of the golden fleece. Much of the myth of the Argonauts was introduced into the forms and ceremonies, and many of the symbols taken from this source, such as meeting upon the deck of a Vessel, the chief officer being called Grand Admiral, and the nomenclature of parts of the vessel being used. The motto was Es Lebe die Freude, or Joy forever.


ARIEL

In the demonology of the Cabala, the word is applied to the spirit of air; the guardian angel of innocence and purity : hence the Masonic aynonym.

A name applied to Jerusalem ; and to a water spirit.


ARITHMETIC

That science which is engaged in considering the properties and powers of numbers, and ,which, from its manifest necessity in all the operations of weighing, numbering, and measuring, must have had its origin in the remotest ages of the world.

In the lecture of the degree of Grand Master Architect, the application of this science to Freemasonry is made to consist in its reminding the Freemason that he is continually to add to his knowledge, never to subtract anything from the character of his neighbor, to multiply his benevolence to his fellow creatures, and to divide his means with a suffering Brother.


ARIZONA

The year 1866 saw the first Lodge established in Arizona when, on October 11, Aztlan Lodge at Prescott was chartered by the Grand Lodge of California. On March 23, 1882, delegates of three Lodges : Arizona, No. 257 ; Tucson, No. 263, and White Mountain, No. 5, held a Convention at Tucson, and the representatives of Solomon Lodge, under dispensation, were invited to take part in the proceedings. After adopting a Constitution a Lodge of Master Masons was opened, and the Grand Officers were elected.

Two days later the Grand Officers were installed, the Convention closed, and the Grand Lodge duly opened.

A Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Arizona No. l, at Phoenix, Maricopa County, was chartered August 24, 1880.

On the invitation of Companion Past High Priest George J. Roskruge, of Tucson Chapter, No. 3, a Convention of Royal Arch Masons met in the hall of Tucson Lodge, No. 4, on November 13, 1889, to consider the organization of a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the Territory of Arizona. Five Chapters were represented: Arizona, No. l ; Preseott, No. 2; Tucson, No. 3; Cochise, No. 4 and Flagstaff No. 5. The Grand Chapter of Arizona was opened in Ample Form, Martin W. Kales was elected Grand High Priest, and G. J. Roskruge. Grand Secretary.

By a Dispensation dated July 1, 1893, a Council of Royal and Select Masters, Olive No. l, was organized at Prescott. It was chartered on August 22, 1893 but this Charter was annulled on October 6, 1903. Phoenix Council at Phoenix had a Dispensation dated April 4 1895, but this was surrendered, February 17, 1897, and a Dispensation dated April 5, 1895, was surrendered on September 2, 1897, by Tucson Council at Tucson. At a Convention in Tucson, February 14, 1922, General Grand Master Fay Hempstead presiding, representatives from Huachuca Council No. l, chartered August 31, 191a of Bisbee; Hiram Council No. 2, chartered August 31, 1915, of Prescott; Gila Council No. 3, chartered September 27, 1921, of Globe, and Phoenix Council No. 4, chartered September 27, 1921, of Phoenix, formed the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Arizona, with M. I. Riekmer N. Frederieks of Preseott as Grand Master, and R. I. George J. Roakruge of Tuewn as Grand Recorder. "

On February 22, 1883, Arizona Commandery, No. l, was established by Dispensation at Tuewn, Pima County. Its Charter was granted on August 23, 1883. The Grand Commandery of Arizona was formed by Warrant from the Grand Encampment of the United States on November 16, 1893. Sir George J. Roskruge, acting as proxy for Sir Hugh Mccurdy, Grand Master of Knights Templar, summoned together on November 14, 1893, in the Asylum of Phoenix Commandery, No. 3, the representatives of the three chartered Commanderies in Arizona-Arizona, No. l; Ivanhoe, No. 2; Phoenix, No. 3. A Constitution was adopted and Grand Officers elected. The following day at the same place the Grand Officers were installed and Sir George J. Roskruge declared the Grand Commandery then assembled to be duly constituted. A Charter was granted to Arizona, No. l, as a Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, at Tucson on October 20, 1909, and on the same date to a Council of Kadosh, Santa Cruz, No. I. A Chapter of Rose Croix, Santa Catalina, No. l, was chartered on October 23, 1907, and a Lodge of Perfection, Santa Rita, No. l, on April 25, 1883.


ARJUNA SOCIETY

Arjuna is the name of a personification in the Sanskrit poem, the Bhagavad Gita, and was given to a society formed at Manchester, New Hampshire, on January 1, 1893, for archeological studies, by S. C. Gould who became president. The latter published Notes and Queries monthly up to his death in 1909, some thirty-seven volumes, and in this publication only a few meetings of the Arjuna Society are recorded.


ARK

In the ritual of the American Royal Arch Degree three arks are mentioned:
1. The Ark of Safety, or of Noah ;
2. The Ark of the Covenant, or of Moses;
3. The Substitute Ark, or the Ark of Zerubbabel. In what is technically called the passing of the veils, each of these arks has its commemorative illustration, and in the order in which they have been named.

The first was constructed by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; the second by Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel ; and the third was discovered by Joshua, Haggai, and Zerubbabel.


ARK AND ANCHOR

See Anchor and Ark


ARK AND DOVE

An illustrative Degree, preparatory to the Royal Arch, and usually conferred, when conferred at all, immediately before the solemn ceremony of exaltation.

The name of Noachite, sometimes given to it, is incorrect, as this belongs to a Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. It is very probable that the Degree, which now, however, has lost much of its significance, was derived from a much older one called the Royal Ark Mariners, to which the reader is referred.

The legend and symbolism of the ark and dove formed an important part of the spurious Freemasonry of the ancients.


ARKANSAS

The modern school of historians, Masonic and profane, write history, from original sources when possible, but in this case that method is no longer possible, as all the records of the Grand Lodge of this State were burned in 1864 and again in 1876 when all records gathered since 1864 were destroyed-depriving them of all early records.

On November 29, 1819, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky issued a Dispensation to Arkansas Lodge, at the Post of Arkansas. Its Charter was granted on August 29, 1820, but was surrendered on August 28, 1822. Brother Robert Johnson was named in the Charter as Worshipful Master. Representatives of four Lodges, Washington, Morning Star, Western Star, and Mount Horeb, under dispensation, attended a Convention on November 21, 1838, and adopted a Constitution. Officers were elected and the Grand Lodge duly constituted.

The first Chapter in Arkansas was chartered by the General Grand Chapter of the United States on September 17, 1841. With three others this Chapter organized the Grand Chapter of Arkansas, at a Convention held on April 28, 1851. Far West Chapter, No. l, joined in 1852.

Companion Elbert H. English was elected the first Grand High Priest, and when the General Grand Chapter of the United States held its Convocation at Nashville on November 24, 1874, he was elected General Grand High Priest. Companion Albert Pike, elected Grand High Priest on November 10, 1853, and also on November 11, 1854, is said to have originated the Ritual employed in Arkansas, which is somewhat different from that in general use.

The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the Southern Jurisdiction chartered five Councils in the State of which four formed the Grand Council, November 6, 1860. The Convention is said by Brother Robertson to have been called at the invitation of the Southern Supreme Council, one provision of its Constitution being that all members of that Supreme Council, resident in the State, and all the members of the Convention, should be members of the Grand Council as long as they were members of Councils in the State (see History of the Cryptic Rite, page 95).

The Hugh de Payens, No. l, Commandery was organized at Little Rock, December 20, 1853, and received a Charter September 10, 1856. On May 23, 1872, the Grand Commandery of Arkansas was constituted.

Arkansas, No. l, was established a Consistory at Little Rock by Charter dated October 10, 1892. On September 10, 1891, Charters were granted to a Council of Kadosh, Godfrey de Saint Omar, No. l, to a Chapter of Rose Croix, Excelsior, No. 1, and to a Lodge of Perfection, Acacia, No. l, all of which were located at Little Rock.


ARKITE WORSHIP

The almost universal prevalence among the nations of antiquity of some tradition of a long past deluge, gave rise to certain mythological doctrines and religious ceremonies, to which has been given the name of Arkite Worship, which was Very extensively diffused.

The evidence of this is to be found in the neared feeling which was entertained for the sacredness of high mountains, derived, it is supposed, from recollections of an Ararat, and from the presence in all the Mysteries of a basket, chest, or coffer, whose mystical character bore apparently a reference to the ark of Noah.

On the subject. of this Arkite Worship, Jacob Bryant in A New System or an analysis of ancient Mythology, George Stanley Faber in a Dissertation on the Mysteries of the Cabiri, Godfrey Higgins in the Anacalypas, the Abbé Antoine de Banier, and many other writers, have made learned investigations, which may be consulted with advantage by the Masonic archeologist.


ARK MARINER, JEWEL OF ROYAL

The jewel of this Degree prefigures the teachings, which are unique, and draws their symbols from the sea, rain, ark, dove, olive-branch, and Rainbow. This last symbol, as the Almighty's sign, overshadows the ark, which really is the sign of Ishtar.

The ark is said to have contained all the elements of Elohim's creative power, and in ''about nine months and three days there came forth the pent-up energies of Maiya" ; her symbol is the dove with the mystic olive, which are sacred to her. The whole underlying thought is that of creation.


ARK MARINERS

See Royal Ark Mariners


ARK, NOAH'S

Known also as the Ark of Safety. Constructed by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, under the superintendence of Noah, and in it, as a chosen tabernacle of refuge, the patriarch's family took refuge. This ark has been called by many commentators a tabernacle of Jehovah ; and Doctor Jarvis, speaking of the Hebrew word , pronounced Zo-har, which has been translated window, says that, in all other passages of Scripture where this word occurs, it signifies the meridian light, the brightest effulgence of day, and therefore it could not have been an aperture, but a source of light itself. He supposes it therefore to have been the Divine Shekinah, or Glory of Jehovah which afterward dwelt between the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant in the tabernacle and the Temple (see the Church of the Redeemed, 1, 20).


ARK OF THE COVENANT

The Ark of the Covenant or of the Testimony was a chest, originally constructed by Moses at God's command (Exodus xxv, 10), in which were kept the two tables of stone, on which were engraved the Ten Commandments.

This ark contained, likewise, a golden pot filled with manna, Aaron's rod, and the tables of the covenant.

It was at first deposited in the most sacred place of the tabernacle and afterward placed by Solomon in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Temple, and was lost upon the destruction of that building by the Chaldeans.

The later history of this ark is buried in obscurity.

It is supposed that, upon the destruction of the first Temple by the Chaldeans, it was carried to Babylon among the other sacred utensils which became the spoil of the conquerors. But of its subsequent fate all traces have been lost.

However, it is certain that it was not brought back to Jerusalem by Zerubbabel. The Talmudists say that there were five things which were the glory of the first Temple that were wanting in the second; namely, the Ark of the Covenant, the Shekinah or Divine Presence, the Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and the spirit of prophecy. The Rev. Salem Towne, it is true, has endeavored to Prove, by a Very ingenious argument, that the original Ark of the Covenant was concealed by Josiah, or by others, at some time previous to the destruction of Jerusalem, and that it was afterward, at the building of the second Temple, discovered and brought to light.

But such a theory is entirely at Variance with all the legends of the Degree of Select Master and of Royal Arch Freemasonry. To admit it would lead to endless confusion and contradictions in the traditions of the Order. Besides, it is in conflict with the opinions of the Rabbinical Writers and every Hebrew scholar. Josephus and the Rabbis allege that in the second Temple the Holy of Holies was empty, or contained only the Stone of Foundation which marked the place which the ark should have occupied.

The ark was made of shittim wood, which is a species of acacia, overlaid, within and without, with pure gold, and was about three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, and of the same extent in depth. It had on the side two rings of gold, through which were placed staves of shittim wood, by which, when necessary, the ark was home by the Levites.

Its covering was of pure gold, over which was placed two figures called cherubim, an order of exalted angelic beings, with expanded wings. The covering of the ark was called nana, a Hebrew word pronounced kap-po-reth, from the word ana, pronounced kaw-far and meaning to blot out or pardon, and hence its English name of mercy-seat, as being the place where the intercession for sin was made.

The researches of archeologists in the last few years have thrown much light on the Egyptian mysteries. Among the ceremonies of that ancient people was one called the Procession of Shrines, which is mentioned in the Rosetta stone, and depicted on the Temple walls. One of these shrines was an ark, which was carried in procession by the priests, who supported it on their shoulders by staves passing through metal rings.

This ark was thus brought into the Temple and deposited on a stand or altar, that the ceremonies prescribed in the ritual might be performed before it. The contents of these arks were various, but always of a mystical character. Sometimes the ark would contain symbols of Life and Stability; sometimes the sacred beetle, the symbol of the Sun; and there was always a representation of two figures of the goddess Theme or Truth and Justice, which overshadowed the ark with their wings. These coincidences of the Egyptian and Hebrew arks must have been more than accidental.


ARK, SUBSTITUTE

The chest or coffer which constitutes a part of the furniture, and is used in the ceremonies of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and in a Council of Select Masters according to the American system, is called by Freemasons the Substitute Ark, to distinguish it from the other ark, that which was constructed in the wilderness under the direction of Moses, and which is known as the ark of the Covenant. This the Substitute Ark was made to represent under circumstances that are recorded in the Masonic traditions, and especially in those of the Select Degree.

The ark used in Royal Arch and Cryptic Freemasonry in the United States is generally of this form:

Prideaux, on the authority of Lightfoot, contends that, as an ark was indispensable to the Israelitish worship, there was in the second Temple an ark which had been expressly made for the purpose of supplying the place of the first or original ark, and which, without possessing any of its prerogatives or honors, was of precisely the same shape and dimensions, and was deposited in the same place. The Masonic legend, whether authentic or not, is simple and connected. It teaches that there was an ark in the second Temple, but that it was neither the Ark of the Covenant, which had been in the Holy of Holies of the first Temple, nor one that had been constructed as a substitute for it after the building of the second Temple. It was that ark which was presented to us in the Select Master's Degree, and which being an exact copy of the Mosaical ark, and intended to replace it in case of its loss, which is best known to Freemasons as the Substitute Ark.

Lightfoot gives these Talmudic legends, in his Prospect of the Temple, in the following language:
"It is fancied by the Jews, that Solomon, when he built the Temple, foreseeing that the Temple should be destroyed, caused very obscure and intricate vaults under ground to be made, wherein to hide the ark when any such danger came; that howsoever it went with the Temple, yet the ark, which was the very life of the Temple, might be saved. And they understand that passage in the Second Chronicles ixxxv, 3), 'Josiah said unto the Levites, Put the holy ark into the house which Solomon, the son of David, did build, etc., as if Josiah, having heard by the reading of Moses' manuscript, and Huldah's prophecy of the danger that hung over Jerusalem, commanded to convey the ark into this vault, that it might be secured; and with it, say they, they laid up Aaron's rod, the pot of manna, and the anointing oil. For while the ark stood in its place upon the stone mentioned-they hold that Aaron's rod and the pot of manna stood before it ; but, now, were all conveyed into obscurity-and the stone upon which the ark stood lay over the mouth of the Vault. But Rabbi Solomon, which useth not, ordinarily, to forsake such traditions, hath given a more serious gloss upon the place ; namely, that whereas Manasseh and Amon had removed the ark out of its habitation, and set up images and abominations there of their own-Joshua speaketh to the priests to restore it to its please again.

What became of the ark, at the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, we read not; it is most likely it went to the fire also. However it sped, it was not in the second Temple; and is one of the five choice things that the Jews reckon wanting there. Yet they had an ark there also of their own making, as they had a breastplate of judgment; which, though they both wanted the glory of the former, which was giving of oracles, yet did they stand current as to the other matters of their worship, as the former breastplate and ark had done."

The idea of the concealment of an ark and its accompanying treasures always prevailed in the Jewish church. The account given by the Talmudists is undoubtedly mythical; but there must, as certainly, have been some foundation for the myth, for every myth has a substratum of truth. The Masonic tradition differs from the Rabbinical, but is in every way more reconcilable with truth, or at least with probability. The ark constructed by Moses, Aholiab, and Bezaleel was burned at the destruction of the first Temple; but there was an exact representation of it in the second.


ARMENBUCHSE

The poor-box; the name given by German Freemasons to the box in which collections of money are made at a Table-Lodge for the relief of poor Brethren and their families.


ARMES

A corrupted form of Hermes, found in the Lansdowne and some other old manuscripts.


ARMIGER

1. A bearer of arms. The title given by Heralds to the Esquire who waited on a Knight.
2. The Sixth Degree of the Order of African Architects.


ARMOR

In English statutes, the word armor means the whole apparatus of war ; offensive and defensive arms. In the Order of the Temple pieces of armor are used to a limited extent. In the Chivalric Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in order to carry out the symbolism as well as to render effect to its dramas, armor pieces and articles for the use of knights become necessary, with mantling, crest, mottoes, etc. Some of these are herein enumerated as follows:

AILLETTES-Square shields for the shoulders, the original of the present epaulet.
ANLACE-A broad two-edged dagger or short sword once hung at the belt or girdle.
BALDRIC-Belt diagonally crossing the body.
BATTLE-Ax-Weapon with ax blade and spearhead. ,
BEAVER-Front of helmet, which is raised to admit food and drink or permit the recognition by a View Of the face.
BEAKER-The drinking-cup with mouth-lip.
BELT-For body. Badge of knightly rank.
BRASSARD-armor to protect the arm from elbow to shoulder.
BUCKLER-A round shield for protecting the body.
CORSELET-Breastplate or body armor.
CREST-Ornament on helmet designating rank and in heraldry as well to show identity.
CUIRASS-Defensive armor covering the entire upper part of the trunk and including breastplate and backplate, but has also been applied to breastplate alone.
GADLING-Sharp metallic knuckles on gauntlet.
GAUNTLET-Mailed gloves.
GORGET-Armor between the neck guard and breastplate.
GREAVES-Guards for calves of legs.
HALBERD-Battle-ax and spearhead on long staff formerly used as weapon but later became an emblem of authority at ceremonials.
HAUBERK-Shirt of mail, of rings or scales.
HELMET or CASQUE-Armor for the head.
JAMBEUX-Armor for the legs.
JUPON-Sleeveless jacket, to the hips.
LANCE-Long spear with metallic head and pennon or small pointed flag bearing personal device.
MACE-Heavy short staff of metal, ending with spiked ball.
MANTLE-Outer cloak.
MORION-Head armor without vizor.
PENNON-A pennant, or short streamer, pointed or forked.
PLUME-The designation of knighthood.
SALLET-Light helmet for foot-soldiers.
SOLLERETS-Shoes of mail.
VIZOR-Front of helmet (slashed), moving on pivots.


ARMORY

An apartment attached to the asylum of a Commandery of Knights Templars, in which the swords and other parts of the costume of the knights are deposited for safe-keeping.


ARMS OF FREEMASONRY

Stow says that the Freemasons were incorporated as a company in the twelfth year of Henry 1412. Their arms were granted to them, in 1472, by William Hawkesloe, Clarenceux King-at-Arms, and are azure on a chevron between three castles argent; a pair of compasses somewhat extended, of the first. Crest, a castle of the second. They were adopted, subsequently, by the Grand Lodge of England.

The Atholl Grand Lodge objected to this as an unlawful assumption by the Modern Grand Lodge of Speculative Freemasons of the arms of the Operative Freemasons.

They accordingly adopted another coat, which Laurence Dermott blazons as follows: Quarterly per squares, counter changed vert. In the first quarter, azure, a lion rampant, or. In the second quarter, or, an ox passant sable. In the third quarter, or, a man with hands erect proper, robed crimson and ermine. In the fourth quarter, azure, an eagle displayed or. Crest, the holy ark of the covenant proper, supported by cherubim. Motto, Kodes la Adonai, that is, Holiness to the Lord.

The reader in following the above language of heraldry will note, with reference to the colors, that of the words in French, taking them in order, azure means blue, argent means silver, vert means green, or means gold, sable means black.

These arms as described by Dermott and adopted by his Grand Lodge are derived from the tetrarchical, as Sir Thos. Browne calls them, or general banners of the four principal tribes ; for it is said that the twelve tribes, during their passage through the wilderness, were encamped in a hollow square, three on each side, as follows : Judah, Zebulun, and Issachar, in the East, under the general banner of Judah ; Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, in the North; under the banner of Dan; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, in the West, under the banner of Ephraim; and Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, in the South, under Reuben (see Banners).


ARNOLD, BENEDICT

Born at Norwich, Connecticut, January 14, 1741, and died at London, England, June l4, 1801. Settled in New Haven, 1762, and as captain of the local militia offered his services in Revolutionary War, becoming Major-General in 1777, and a trusted associate of Washington but his progress embroiled by several serious conflicts with other officers and his sensitive waywardness matching his bravery, his vexations resulted in an attempt to betray West Point to the British. The plot was discovered but Arnold escaped and as Brigadier-General led an attack upon the Americans at Richmond, Virginia, and New London, Connecticut. The same year, 1781, he removed to England. The published history, 1917, Hiram Lodge No. l, New Haven, Connecticut, page 20, Past Grand Master Wallace S. Moyle writes, "The first record in Book 2 states that "Br. Benedict Arnold is by R. W. (Nathan Whiting) proposed to be made a member (i.e. an affiliate) of this R. W. Lodge. . . and is accordingly made a member in this Lodge." Arnold is recorded as being present as a visiting Brother. Page 82 of the history gives the date as April 10, 1765. Past Master George E. Frisbie, Secretary of Hiram Lodge, was, however, of the opinion (letter dated October 21, 1926) ArnoldAmold was made a Freemason in Hiram Lodge and held membership there until his death.

A temperate account is the Life of Benedict Arnold by Isaac N. Arnold, 1880, Chicago. Nathan Whiting was Master for several years, was with the Colonial Army in the wars against Canada, was at the fall of Quebec, 1761, and from the outbreak of hostilities to the end Whiting, with other members of the Lodge, was at the front.


AROBA

Pledge, covenant, agreement. Latin, Arrhabo, a token or pledge. Hebrew, Arab, pronounced aw-rab, which is the root of Arubbah, pronounced ar-oob-baw, surety, hostage. This important word, in the Fourteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, is used when the initiate partakes of the Ancient Aroba, the pledge or covenant of friendship, by eating and drinking with his new companions. The expression is of greater import than that implied in mere hospitality. The word aroba appears nowhere in English works, and seems to have been omitted by Masonic writers.

The root arab is one of the oldest in the Hebrew language, and means to interweave or to mingle, to exchange, to become surety for anyone, and to pledge even the life of one person for another, or the strongest pledge that can be given. Judah pleads with Israel to let Benjamin go with him to be presented in Egypt to Joseph, as the latter had requested. He says:

"Send the lad with me; I will be surety for him" (Genesis xliii, 9) ; and before Joseph he makes the same remark in Genesis (xliv, 32). Job (xvii, 3), appealing to God, says: "Put me in a surety with thee ; who is he that will strike hands with me?" (see also First Samuel xvii, 18). In its pure form, the word arubbah occurs only once in the Old Testament (Proverbs xvii, 18) : "A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend." In Latin, Plautus makes use of the following phrase : Hunc arrhabonem amoris a me accipe, meaning Accept from me this pledge of love, or more freely, Accept this pledge of my love.


ARRAS, PRIMORDIAL CHAPTER OF

Arras is a town in France in the department of Pas de Calais, where, in the year 1747, Charles Edward Stuart, the Pretender, is said to have established a Sovereign Primordial and Metropolitan Chapter of Rosicrucian Freemasons. A portion of the charter of this body is given by Ragon in his Orthodoxie Maçonnique. In 1853, the Count de Hamel, prefect of the department, discovered an authentic copy, in parchment, of this document bearing the date of April 15, 1747, which he deposited in the departmental archives. This document is as follows:

We, Charles Edward, King of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, and as such Substitute Grand Master of the Chapter of H., known by the title of Knight of the Eagle and Pelican, and since our sorrows and misfortunes by that of Rose Cross, wishing to testify our gratitude to the Masons of Artois, and the officers of the city of Arras, for the numerous marks of kindness which they in conjunction with the officers of the garricon of Arras have lavished upon us, and their attachment to our person, shown during a residence of six months in that city.

We have in favor of them created and erected, and do create and erect by the present Bull, in the aforesaid city of Arras, a Sovereign Primordial Chapter of Rose Croix, under the distinctive title of Scottish Jacobite, to be ruled and governed by the Knights Lagneau and Robespierre; Avocats Hazard, and his two sons, physician ; J. B. Luoet, our upholsterer, and Jérome Cellier. our clockmaker, giving to them and to their successors the power not only to make knights, but even to create a Chapter in whatever town they may thank fit, provided that two Chapters shall not be created in the same town however populous it may be.

And that credit may be given to our present Bull, we have signed it with our hand and caused to be affixed there unto the secret seal, and countersigned by the Secretary of our Cabinet, Thursday, 15th of the second month of the Year of the Incarnation, 1747.


ARREARS, EXCLUSION FOR

See Exclusion


ARREST OF CHARTER

To arrest the Charter of a Lodge is a technical phrase by which is meant to suspend the work of a Lodge, to prevent it from holding its usual communications, and to forbid it to transact any business or to do any work. A Grand Master cannot revoke the Warrant of a Lodge; but if, in his opinion, the good of Freemasonry or any other sufficient cause requires it, he may suspend the operation of the Warrant until the next Communication of the Grand Lodge, which Body is alone competent to revise or approve of his action.


ARS QUATUOR CORONATORUM

Ars Quatuor Coronatorum are the volumes of Transactions published each year since its constitution in 1886 by the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research, No. 2076, London, England.

They contain the treatises read before the Lodge, discussions, Minutes of the Lodge, miscellaneous short articles, many illustrations as informative as the text, book reviews, obituaries, lists of members, etc. The typical treatise is a one-part essay (though some are of two or more parts) prepared with much care and labor by a specialist in some chosen field of Masonic study or research; it usually contains a bibliography, and is followed by discussions, written out with care and oftentimes in advance, which have in many instances been as weighty and as instructive as the treatise they have criticized.

Treatises and discussions both are independent, responsible, uncolored by personal feelings ; are critical of each other. With their more than fifty volumes the Ars are now a larger set of books than the Encyclopedia Britannica, and perform the function for Masonic knowledge that is performed by the Britannica and similar works for general knowledge; since almost every contributor to the Ars has been a trained scholar, at least has been a specialist in some field of scholarship, the academic standards are higher than those of popular encyclopedias.

Book dealers' catalogs for 1945 (to give one year for purposes of comparison) list complete sets at from $500 to $ 1200. Masonic students however need not wholly deny themselves ownership of Ars because the lack of early volumes has created a scarcity value for the whole set ; there is no continuity from one volume to another, therefore without reader's loss he can start with whatever earliest volume he can find.

In its Masonic Papers, Vol. l, page 263, Research Lodge, No. 281, Seattle, Washington, publishes a complete Index of Ars Quatuor Coronatorum; Part I, an index of titles; Part II, an index of authors. The last item in Part I is numbered 770 ; this is somewhat in excess of the total number of treatises in A.C. because of cross-indexing and because inaugural Addresses, etc., are included. The treatises on Freemasonry in the United States (which is 200 years old and in which are some 90% of the Masons of the world) are: "Freemasonry in America," by C. P. Maccalla (very brief) ; III, p. 123. "The Carmick MS." (of Philadelphia), by WV. J. Hughan; XXII, pg 5.
"Distribution in the U. S. of Anderson's Constitutions" (brief and incomplete), by Charles S. Plumb; XLIII, p. 227. "Josiah H. Drummond" (a short biographical sketch), by R. F. Gould ; X, p. 165. "Benjamin Franklin" (brief), by H. C. de Lafontaine ; XLI, p. 3. "Masonry in West Florida and the 31st Foot" (brief), by R. F. Gould; XIII, p. 69. "Morgan Incident of 1826," by J. Hugo Tatsch; XXXIV, p. 196. "Theodore Sutton Parvin" (brief biographical sketch), by R. F. Gould; XV, p. 29. "Albert Pike" (brief biographical sketch), by R. F. Gould ; lV, p. 116.


ARTHUSIUS, GOTTHARDUS

A learned native of Dantzic, Rector of the Gymnasium at Frankfort-the-Main, who wrote many works on Rosicrucianism, under the assumed name of Irenaeus Agnostus (see agnostus).


ARTILLERY COMPANY, ANCIENT

Like the Worshipful Company of Musicians (which see) the history of the Ancient and Honorary Artillery Company of England runs a cotirse singularly parallel with the course of Masonic history, so that each throws light on the other.

The parent Company received its charter in England, in 1537. Because artillery was a modern invention (first used by the Turks when they captured Constantinople) this gild, "art," or society was not as ancient as others, but it claimed to be an integral part of the art of war, and on that ground had traditions and legends as old as any and older than most. A branch company was set up in Boston, Mass with a charter from the parent company dated January 13, 1638; the relation between the two was similar to the relations between an American Provincial Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge at London. (see The Historic Book, by Justin H. Smith ; printed privately, by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co. .in Town of Boston ; 1903. )


ARTISAN, CHIEF

An officer in the Council of Knights of Constantinople.


ART, ROYAL

See Royal art


ARTS

In the Masonic phrase, "arts, parts, and points of the Mysteries of Freemasonry" ; arts means the knowledge, or things. made known, parts the degrees into which Freemasonry is divided, and points the rules and usages (see Parts, and also Points).


ARTS, LIBERAL

See Liberal Arts and Sciences.


ARUNDEL, THOMAS HOWARD, EARL OF

Tradition places Arundel as the Grand Master of English Freemasons from 1633 to 1635. This claim is in accordance with the accounts of Anderson and Preston.


ARYAN

One of the three historical divisions of religion - the other two being the Turanian and the Shemitic. It produced Brahmanism, Buddism, and the Code of Zoroaster.


ASAROTA

A variegated pavement used for flooring in temples and ancient edifices.


ASCENSION DAY

Also called Holy Thursday. A festival of the Christian church held in commemoration of the ascension of our Lord forty days after Easter. It is celebrated as a feast day by Chapters of Rose Croix.


ASES

The twelve gods and as many goddesses in the Scandinavian mythology.


ASHE, D.D., REV. JONATHAN

A literary plagiarist who resided in Bristol, England. In 1814 he published The Masonic Manual; or Lectures on Freemasonry. Ashe does not, it is true, pretend to originality, but abstains from giving credit to Hutchinson, from whom he has taken at least two-thirds of his book. A second edition appeared in 1825, and in 1843 an edition was published by Spencer, with valuable notes by Dr. Oliver.


ASHER, DR. CARL WILHELM

The first translator into German of the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, which he published at Hamburg, in 1842, under the title of Alteste Urkunde der Freimaurerei in England. This work contains both the original English document and the translation.


ASHLAR

This is defined by Bailey as "Freestone as it comes out of the quarry." In speculative Freemasonry we adopt the ashlar, in two different states, as symbols in the Apprentice's Degree. The Rough Ashlar, or stone in its rude and unpolished condition, is emblematic of man in his natural state---ignorant, uncultivated, and vicious. But when education has exerted its wholesome influence in expanding his intellect, restraining his passions, and purifying his life, he then is represented by the Perfect Ashlar, which, under the skillful hands of the workmen, has been smoothed, and squared, and fitted for its place in the building. In the older lectures of the eighteenth century the Perfect Ashlar is not mentioned, but its place was supplied by the Broached Thurnel.


ASHLAR, PERFECT

The publication of a number of Minute Books of old Lodges since it was written calls for a revision of the paragraph on ASHLAR, on page 107. In one of his memoranda on the building of St. Paul s, Sir Christopher Wren shows by the context that as the word was there and then used an ashlar was a stone, ready-dressed from the quarries (costing about $5.00 in our money), for use in walls ; and that a "perpend asheler" was one with polished ends each of which would lie in a surface of the wall ; in that case a "rough" ashlar was not a formless mass of rock, but was a stone ready for use, no surface of which would appear in the building walls; it was unfinished in the sense of unpolished. In other records, of which only a few have been found, a "perpend" ashlar was of stone cut with a key in it so as to interlock with a second stone cut correspondingly.

It is doubtful if the Symbolic Ashlars were widely used among the earliest Lodges; on the other hand they are mentioned in Lodge inventories often enough to make it certain that at least a few of the old Lodges used them ; and since records were so meagerly kept it is possible that their use may have been more common than has been believed. On April 11, 1754, Old Dundee Lodge in Wapping, London, "Resolved that A New Perpend Ashlar Inlaid with Devices of Masonry Valued at £2 12s. 6d. be purchased. " The word ''new'' proves that the Lodge had used an Ashlar before 1754, perhaps for many years before; the word "devices" suggests long years of symbolic use.
It is obvious that the Ashlars as referred to in the above were not like our own Perfect and Imperfect Ashlars. It is certain that our use of them did not originate in America ; there are no known data to show when or where they originated, but it is reasonable to suppose that Webb received them from Preston, or else from English Brethren in person who knew the Work in Preston's period. Operative Masons doubtless used the word in more than one sense, depending on time and place ; and no rule can be based on their Practice.

The Speculative Masons after 1717, as shown above, must have used "Perfect Ashlar" in the sense of "Perpend Ashlar" ; nevertheless the general purpose of the symbolism has been the same throughout - a reminder to the Candidate that he is to think of himself as if he were a building stone and that he will be expected to polish himself in manners and character in order to find a place in the finished Work of Masonry. The contrast between the Rough Ashlar and the Perfect Ashlar is not as between one man and another man, thereby generating a snobbish sense of superiority; but as between what a man is at one stage of his own self-development and what he is at another stage.

In Sir Christopher Wren's use of "ashlar" (he was member of Lodge of Antiquity) the stone had a dimension of 1 x 1 x 2 feet; and many building records, some of them very old, mention similar dimensions; certainly, the "perpend" or "perfect" ashlar almost never was a cube, because there are few places in a wall where a cube will serve. Because in our own symbolism the Perfect Ashlar is a cube, a number of commentators on symbolism have drawn out of it pages of speculation on the properties of the cube, and on esoteric meanings they believe those properties to possess; the weight possessed by those theorizing is proportionate to the knowledge and intelligence of the commentator; but in any event these cubic interpretations do not have the authority of Masonic history behind them.

NOTE. During the many years of building and re-building at Westminster Abbey the clerk of the works kept a detailed account of money expended, money received, wages, etc. These records, still in existence, are called Fabric Rolls. In the Fabric Roll for 1253 the word "asselers" occurs many times, and means dressed stones, or ashlars. A "perpens" or "parpens," or "perpent-stone" was "a through stone," presumably because it was so cut that each end was flush with a face of the wall. It proves that "perpend ashlar" was not a "perfect ashlar" in the present sense of being a cube.


ASHMOLE, ELIAS

A celebrated antiquary, celebrated author of, among other works, the well-known History of the Order of the Garter, and founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. He was born at Litchfield, in England, on the 23d of May, 1617, and 23rd at London on the 18th of May, 1692. He was made a Freemason on the 16th of October, He gives the following account of his reception in his Dairy page 303:

"1646. Oct: 16. 4,30 P.M., I was made a Freemason at Warington, in Lancashire, with Colonel Henry Mainwaring, of Karincham, in Cheshire. The names of those that were then of the Lodge, Mr. Richard Penket Warden, Mr. James Collier, Mr. Rich: Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Rich: Ellam and Hugh Brewer."

In his Diary, page 362, he again speaks of his attendance at a meeting, and thirty-six years afterward makes the following entry:

"1682. March 10. About 5 PM, I received a summons to appear at a Lodge to be held the next day at Masons' Hall, London. ". Accordingly, I went, and about Noone [sic] were admitted into the Fellowship of Freemasons, Sir William Wilson, knight, Capt. Richard Borthwick, Mr. William Woodman, Mr. William Wise" I was the senior fellow among them, (it being thirty-five years since I was admitted;) there was present besides myself the Fellows after named: Mr. Thomas Wise, Master of the Masons company this present year; Mr. Thomas Shorthofe, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt,-Waindsford, Esq., Mr. Nicholas Young, Mr. John Shorthofe, Mr. William Hamon, Mr. John Thompson, and Mr. William Stanton. We all dined at the half Moone Taveme in Cheapeside, at a noble dinner prepared at the charge of the new Accepted' Masons."

It is to be regretted that the intention expressed by Ashmole to write a history of Freemasonry was never carried into effect. His laborious research as evinced in his exhaustive work on the Order of the Garter, would lead us to have expected from his antiquarian pen a record of the origin and early progress of our Institution more valuable than any that we now possess. The following remarks on this subject, contained in a letter from Doctor Knipe, of Christ Church, Oxford, to the publisher of Asmole's Life, while it enables us to form some estimate of the loss that Masonic literature has suffered, supplies interesting particulars which are worthy of preservation.

"As to the ancient society of Freemasons, concerning whom you are desirous of knowing what may be known with certainty, I shall only tell you, that if our worthy Brother, E. Ashmole, Esq., had executed his intended design, our Fraternity had been as much obliged to him as the Brethren of the most noble Order of the Garter. I would not have you surprised at this expression, or think it all too assuming.

The sovereigns of that Order have not disdained our fellowship, and there have been times when emperors were also Freemasons. What from Mr. E. Ashmole's collection I could gather was, that the report of our society's taking rise from a bull granted by the Pope, in the reign of Henry III, to some Italian architects to travel over all Europe, to erect chapels, was ill-founded. Such a bull there was, and those architects were Masons; but this bull, in the opinion of the learned Mr. Ashmole, was confirmative only, and did not by any means create our Fraternity, or even establish them in this kingdom.

But as to the time and manner of that establishment, something I shall relate from the same collections. Saint Alban the Proto-Martyr of England, established Masonry here; and from his time it flourished more or less, according as the world went, down to the days of King Athelstan, who, for the sake of his brother Edwin, granted the Masons a charter.

Under our Norman princes, they frequently received extraordinary marks of royal favor. There is no doubt to be made, that the skill of Masons, which was always transcendent, even in the most barbarous times,-their wonderful kindness and attachment to each other, how different soever in condition, and their inviolable fidelity in keeping religiously their secret, must expose them in ignorant, troublesome, and suspicious times to a vast variety of adventures, according to the different fate of parties and other alterations in government.

By the way, I shall note that the Masons were always loyal, which exposed them to great severities when power wore the trappings of justice, and those who committed treason punished true men as traitors.

Thus, in the third year of the reign of Henry VI, an act of Parliament was passed to abolish the society of Masons, and to hinder, under grievous penalties, the holding Chapters, Lodges, or other regular assemblies.

Yet this act was afterwards repealed, and even before that, King Henry VI, and several of the principal Lords of his court, became fellows of the Craft."

But the most difficult question for the student is to find an answer to the following: What induced men like Ashmole and others to be made Masons early in the seventeenth century? Was it for 'cake and ale'? Surely not. Was it for company sake? perhaps; but then why so much mystery ?

It is certain that men like Dr. Plot, John Aubrey, Randle Holme, and Elias Ashmole were attracted to the subject for something more than what we find given at length in the Manuscript Constitutions."-Edward Conder, in Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge (volume xvi, page 15, 1903). Another question a the influence exerted by such Brethren at and after their initiation and possibly up .to the time of the notable organization of the Grand Lodge of 1717. Our old friend Brother Trevaman W. Hugo wrote among his last contributions---printed after his death-for the Daluth Masonic Calendar (March, 1923), a biographical article on Elias Ashmole and he concludes thus:

" The object of going into those details is to enable the writer, and you who may read it, to have in mind the personage for whom we want to find a place between the date of his death, 1687 and 1717. We do not know whether there is some place in between there where such a personage could have made an impression on the Operative Masons at that time, so that his influence, when the time came, would make them willing to fall in and join with the Speculative Brethren, or vice versa, or whether the Speculative Brethren were able to deliver to the Operative Masons in 1717, the Astrologic, Philosophic, Symbolic Lore, which they held in regard to the order of Free Masons. There is an unquestionable 'hole in the Ballad' somewhere between 1646 and 1717."


ASHMOLE'S LODGE

Elias Ashmole was made a Mason in the Lodge at Warrington, in Lancashire, England, October 16, 1646. This event was for some decades given prominent space in Masonic histories, partly because of the great eminence of Ashmole himself (see page 107), more largely because in records then known Ashmole was the first of non-Operatives to be admitted to a Masonic Lodge.

It is odd that those who attributed this seniority to Ashmole did not see that the very document which proved Ashmole's acceptance proved also, and in the act, that others had been accepted before Ashmole! For in his Diary he writes that Col. Henry Mainwaring was accepted at the same time (thereby making him coeval) and also that other non-operatives already were in the Lodge and had been so from the beginning of it, among them Sankey, Littler, Ellam, etc., each one "a gentleman."

Ashmole's Diary therefore did not prove him to be the first, but proved the latter men to have been before him. (Richard Ellam described himself in his will as "Freemason.")

Whence came this Lodge? A reasonable answer is given on page 10 of The Time Immemorial Lodge at Chester, by John Armstrong (Chester; 1900) : "From the magnitude of the buildings in Chester we may safely assume that the Old Chester Lodge was of such strength, that like the Old Scotch Lodges, it threw off branches, and in this way the Old Warrington Lodge of Elias Ashmole would originate about the time the old church was built in that town. A number of Masons proceeding from Chester to Warrington, and as was the custom in those days would meet as a Lodge, looking up to Chester as the mother Lodge; here also when building operations ceased, non- Operatives were admitted and ultimately in 1646 we find it purely speculative and presided over by the gentry of the district.

The Warrington Lodge with its 7 members in 1646 as against 26 in the Chester Lodge points to Chester as being then the great seat of Masonry, as it had been from Roman times, the chief town and only borough in the North Western Provinces of England." The 26 members of the Lodge at Chester struck Bro. Armstrong as a show of "great strength" ; at the present remove in time it strikes a Mason by its smallness; for either there were few Masons in the county, or else only a small number belonged to the Lodge. If the latter was the case, perhaps the Lodge at Chester was itself "Speculative,'' or at least partly so? Of one fact it is reasonable to feel certain : the old Lodge at Chester would have neither approved nor countenanced a Speculative daughter Lodge at Warrington had it been an innovation ; which would mean that (a reasonable guess) at least as early as 1625 Speculative Freemasonry was nothing new in that area.

Why did Ashmole join the Lodge? It is known that he was interested in Rosicrucianism; Bro. Arthur Edward Waite argued from this that the Lodge itself must therefore have been a Rosicrucian center, and sought thereby to bolster his thesis that it had been an infiltration of Rosicrucianism and other forms of mysticism and occultism which had transformed the Craft from within from an Operative into a Speculative Fraternity. But why should he thus arbitrarily select Ashmole's interest in Rosicrucianism? Ashmole was also an encyclopedist, a natural museum maker, who had a long chain of interests ; any one of them as dear to him as what was the then (miscalled) Rosicrucianism, such as heraldry, rare books, Medieval manuscripts, alchemy;. astrology, Kabbalism, medals, ruins, folk-lore, old sciences, botany, old customs, architecture, and so on through half a hundred.

Perhaps, and remembering that he was both an intelligent and a sincere man, he joined the Lodge solely because he believed in Freemasonry itself as it already was; the fact would be consonant with his known plan to write a history of the Fraternity. Ashmole neither made nor changed the Lodge at Warrington; and there were other members there and at Chester who were not Rosicrucians. It can be argued that Ashmole's own interest in Rosicrucianism was academic, and not for practice, like his interest in other subjects, and pursued in the spirit of the antiquarian, the lover of erudition, the seeker for curio sa, moreover he was a Christian, and was not likely to take up with heresies.

Against the notion that he was credulous, occultistic, superstitious in practice is a description of him when a student in Oxford: he "applied himself vigorously to the sciences, but more particularly to natural philosophy [physics and chemistry], mathematics and astronomy." The entry in the Diary begins: "1646. Oct. 16, 4 :30 P.M." (In his brochure, Elias Ashmole, Bro. Dudley Wright twice makes the error of giving the year as 1645.) The practices found in Lodges a half century later suggest that the ceremonies were followed by a dinner, or feast ; that the Brethren remained at table until late at night; and that portions of the ceremonies were given while seated. In their books and treatises Bros. Knoop and Jones have advanced the theory that in the Seventeenth Century the Ritual was a brief and bare ceremony, consisting of an oath and the giving of the Mason Word ; if that had been true it is difficult to understand why, as at Warrington, the "making" took so much time (that is but one of many difficulties in their theory). It is not likely that a group of seven men would meet together for six or seven hours as a Lodge merely to eat, drink, and talk together, because "gentlemen" of the times had large houses staffed with servants and were much given to entertainment where a mere social gathering would have been more convenient. It is more reasonable to believe that there were more ceremonies in 1646 than in 1746, not fewer ; the old Lodges kept no minutes or other records or else made them so brief that they are almost cryptic, but it does not follow that because the records were brief and bare, therefore the ceremonies had been brief and bare.

The entry also shows that Ashmole "was made a Free Mason" during this one meeting, and there is nothing to indicate that the ceremonies were shortened especially for him ; in the language of a later period he was Entered, Passed, and Raised at one time.

From this record, and from others like it, Hughan argued that the pre-1717 Lodges had only one Degree; Gould argued that there had been two Degrees but that they had been conferred one after the other at the same Communication, and that the names Fellowcraft and Master Mason were used interchangeably for the second step; and they both repeated at different places in their books the since-familiar phrases about how the pre-1717 ceremonies must have been pure, simple, brief, etc. It is a curious quirk of the historical fancy to assume that what came first always must have been rudimentary. In history it is often the other way about-the first Gothic building was extraordinarily large and rich and complex; the first printed books were better works of printing than any since, etc., etc. ; and it is certain that in the sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries men were much more given to elaborateness of ceremony than they ever have been since. (Read a detailed description of the ceremonies of receiving the Spanish Ambassador in which Shakespeare had a part ; it lasted four days.) It is more reasonable to believe that the Warrington Lodge met for five or six hours because the Masonic ceremonies were so full and rich than to believe that they consisted of nothing more than a password and an oath. When the post-1717 Lodges divided their ceremonies into three Degrees, the last was of itself so long that it contained what later was separated off into the Royal Arch Degree ; any student who is familiar with the workings of the Masonic mind in the earliest Lodges. knows that Masons did not manufacture hours of new ceremonies within eight or ten years of time, for one of their most powerful instincts was to preserve and to perpetuate the old.

The Hughan-Gould debate as between the ''one Degree " theory and the " two Degree " theory continues to be argued. As against both of those theories may be presented a third which shifts the argument to another ground, and for which (in these pages) the writer is solely responsible; it is more reasonable to think that until the approach of the 1717 period the Lodges did not have any Degrees-that is, separately organized and complete units of ceremonies, each with its own name; but that they had a large and indeterminate number of ceremonies, rites, symbols, among them being an oath for Apprentices, an oath for Fellowcrafts, etc. . that these ceremonies were used very flexibly so that a Lodge might use twice as many in one meeting as at another; and that they differed from one Lodge to another in many details, so that one Lodge might employ a ceremony (such as Installation of the Master) which another would not. This last named supposition would explain why there were side degrees and intimations of "higher" degrees (vide Dr. Stukeley; early records in Ireland, etc. ) before or at 1717. This theory would explain why it was that, soon after 1717, so many Lodges made Prentices and Fellows in one sitting, conducted Lodge business with Prentices present, had separate Masters' Lodges, and in the very early years of Speculative Lodges gave an immediate welcome to the formation of a separate Royal Arch Degree, to the Scotch Mason rites, etc. The probabilities are that on the day after his making Ashmole lid not think of himself as having passed through one Degree, or two Degrees, or even three, but as having been ''made a Free Mason " by the total (whatever it was) of the ceremonies used; it is also reasonable to believe that by " acceptance into Masonry " he would have thought not of architectural ceremonies but of his acceptance into a new circle of friends and associates.

(It is not to be supposed that even in the earliest Operative periods, and when a Lodge was still a mere adjunct to a building enterprise, such ceremonies, etc., as were used therefore were solely utilitarian; every skilled Craft was organized as a gild, fraternity, company, and each had a rich array of ceremonies, symbols, rites, etc., even the blacksmiths; and it was a common practice for them to admit Honorary Members from outside their own " operative " ranks. Symbolical ceremonies and ''accepted'' members in Seventeenth Century Lodges were not innovations.)


ASIA

In the French Rite of Adoption, the East end of the Lodge is called Asia. The Lodge-room is divided into quarters called Realms, the French word being Climat, the East is Asia; the West, Europe; the North, America, and the South, Africa.


ASIA, INITIATED KNIGHTS AND BROTHERS OF

This Order was introduced in Berlin, or, as some say, in Vienna, in the year 1780, by a schism of several members of the German Rose Croix. They adopted a mixture of Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan ceremonies, to indicate, as Ragon supposes, their entire religious tolerance. Their object was the study of the natural sciences and the search for the universal panacea to prolong life. Thory charges them with this ; but may it not have been, as with the Alchemists, merely a symbol of immortality?

They forbade all inquiries into the art of transmutation of metals. The Grand Synédrion, properly the Grand Sanhedrim, which consisted of seventy-two members and was the head of the Order, had its seat at Vienna.

The Order was founded on the three symbolic degrees, and attached to them nine others, as follows :
4 Seekers;
5. Sufferers;
6. Initiated Knights and Brothers of Asia in Europe;
7. Masters and Sages;
8. Royal Priests, or True Brothers of Rose Croix;
9. Melchizedek.

The Order no longer exists. Many details of it will be found in Luchet's Essai sur les Illumines.


AISIA, PERFECT INITIATES OF

A rite of very little importance, consisting of seven Degrees, and said to have been invented at Lyons. A very voluminous manuscript, translated from the German, was sold at Paris, in 1821, to M. Bailleul, and came into the possession of Ragon, who reduced its size, and, with the assistance of Des Etangs, modified it. We have no knowledge that it was ever worked.


ASIATIC TURKEY

The dominions of Turkey in Asia. Smyrna has one Lodge under the Grand Lodge of England and two under the Grand Orient of France. There are two Italian Lodges in the town and several others throughout the country.


ASK, SEEK, KNOCK

In referring to the passage of Matthew (vii, 7), "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you " Doctor Clarke says : "These three words ask, seek, knock---include the ideas of want loss, and earnestness." The application made to the passage theologically is equally appropriate to it in a Masonic Lodge. You ask for acceptance, you seek for light, you knock for initiation, which includes the other two.


ASPIRANT

One who eagerly seeks to know or to attain something. Thus, Warburton speaks of "the aspirant to the Mysteries." The word is applied also to one about to be initiated into Freemasonry. There seems, however, to be a shade of difference in meaning between the words candidate and aspirant. The candidate is one who asks for admission ; so called from the Latin word candidatus, meaning one who is clothed in white, because candidates for office at Rome wore a white dress. The aspirant is one already elected and in process of initiation, and coming from aspiro, to seek eagerly, refers to the earnestness with which he prosecutes his search for light and truth.


ASSASSINS

The Ishmaelites, or Assassins, constituted a sect or confraternity, which was founded by Hassan Sabah, about the year 1090, in Persia. The name is derived, it is supposed, from their immoderate use of the plant haschish, or henbane, which produced a delirious frenzy. The title given to the chief of the Order was Scheikh-el-Jebel, which has been translated the Old Man of the Mountain, but which Higgins has shown in his Anacalypsis (i, 700) to mean literally The Sage of the Cabala or Traditions. Von Hammer has written a History of the Assassins, but his opposition to secret societies has led him to speak with so much prejudice that, although his historical statements are interesting, his philosophical deductions have to be taken with many grains of allowance.

Godfrey Higgins has probably erred on the other side, and by a too ready adherence to a preconceived theory has, in his Annacalypsis, confounded them with the Templars, whom he considers as the precursors of the Freemasons. In this, as in most things, the middle course appears to be the most truthful.

The Assassins were a secret society, that is to say, they had a secret esoteric doctrine, which was imparted only to the initiated. Hammer says that they had a graduated series of initiations, the names of which he gives as Apprentices, Fellows, and Masters ; they had, too, an oath of passive obedience, and resembled, he asserts, in many respects, the secret societies that subsequently existed in Europe. They were governed by a Grand Master and Priors, and had regulations and a special religious code, in all of which Von Hammer finds a close resemblance to the Templars, the Hospitalers, and the Teutonic Knights. Between the Assassins and the Templars history records that there were several amicable transactions not at all consistent with the religious vows of the latter and the supposed religious faith of the former, and striking coincidences of feeling, of which Higgins has not been slow to avail himself in his attempt to prove the close connection, if not absolute identity, of the two Orders.

It is most probable, as Sir John Malcolm contends, that they were a race of Sofis, the teachers of the secret doctrine of Mohammed.

Von Hammer admits that they produced a great number of treatises on mathematics and jurisprudence ; and, forgetting for a time his bigotry and his prejudice, he attributes to Hassan, their founder, a profound knowledge of philosophy and mathematical and metaphysical sciences, and an enlightened spirit, under whose influence the civilization of Persia attained a high degree ; so that during his reign of forty-six years the Persian literature attained a point of excellence beyond that of Alexandria under the Ptolemies, and of France under Francis I.

The old belief that they were a confederacy of murderers-whence we have taken our English word assassins---must now be abandoned as a figment of the credulity of past centuries, and we must be content to look upon them as a secret society of philosophers, whose political relations, however merged them into a dynasty. If we interpret Freemasonry as a generic term, signifying a philosophic sect which teaches truth by a mystical initiation and secret symbols, then Higgins was not very far in error in calling them the Freemasons of the East.


ASSASSINS, CULT OF

At the time he wrote the article about the Assassins on page 108 Dr. Albert G. Mackey was endeavoring to enlarge the scope of Masonic studies, to open up new paths in many directions. The article has been taken by some critics of the Craft in too narrow a sense; perhaps because Mackey used the word "Freemasonry " in a sense too broad. One of the legends about a so-called Cult of Assassins stems from a story about Omar Khayyam, author of The Rubaiyat, and tells how a boyhood friend of his, a certain Hassan, became a sort of Persian Robin Hood. Another legend is that Crusaders were harassed by an organized band of land pirates, who were a species of dacoits; in one version of this story the leader was named Hassan, hence his followers were Called Hassanites, or Assassins; also he was called the Old Man of the Mountains, fabled never to die.

Another version is that the Assassins were so called from their use of hashish, or Indian hemp (indicans cabanis), an opiate. But there is the fourth possibility that no such man as Hassan ever lived, but was created, like our Paul Bunyan, out of those tall tales which Near Eastern peoples have vastly preferred to history; countenance is given to this theory by the fact that a tale about The Old Man of the Mountains was one of the stock-in trade of minstrels before the Crusades went into the Holy land. In a Thirteenth Century Romance in verse by a pupil of Chrestien of Troyes entitled Flamenica one of the sections is little more than an inventory of that stock; one title is listed as "The Old Man of the Mountains and his Assassins," wedged in among such other fabulous tales as the Fisher King, the Fall of Lucifer, and how Icarus was drowned. Of only one thing can any Masonic student be certain : whether he was legend or was history the Fraternity never had any connection, not even a remote one, or any similarity, with the Old Man of the Mountains.

Note. Anacalypsis, by Godfrey Higgins, quoted by Mackey on page 108, is a monster of a book, ''With a million of quotations in it," somewhat on the order of Burton's Anotomy of Melancholy; of it a cynical critic has said : "a Mason should read all of it and believe none of it"-which is perhaps too harsh, though Higgins' philology is one long verbal insanity.


ASSASSINS OF THE THIRD DEGREE

There is in Freemasonry a legend of certain unworthy Craftsmen who entered into a conspiracy to extort from a distinguished Brother a secret of which he was the possessor. The legend is altogether symbolic, and when its symbolism is truly comprehended, becomes a surpassingly beautiful. By those who look at it as having the pretension of an historical fact, it is sometimes treated with indifference, and sometimes considered an absurdity.

But it is not thus that the legends and symbols of Freemasonry must be read, if we would learn their true spirit. To behold the goddess in all her glorious beauty, the veil that conceals her statue must be withdrawn. Masonic writers who have sought to interpret the symbolism of the legend of the conspiracy of the three assassins, have not agreed always in the interpretation, although they have finally arrived at the same result, namely, that it has a spiritual signification. Those who trace Speculative Freemasonry to the ancient solar worship, of whom Ragon may be considered as the exponent, find in this legend a symbol of the conspiracy of the three winter months to destroy the life-giving heat of the sun.

Those who, like the disciples of the Rite of Strict Observance, trace Freemasonry to a Templar origin, a explain the legend as referring to the conspiracy of the three renegade knights who falsely accused the Order, and thus aided King Philip and Pope Clement to abolish Templarism, and to slay its Grand Master. Hutchinson and Oliver, who labored to give a Christian interpretation to all the symbols of Freemasonry, referred the legend to the crucifixion of the Messiah, the type of which is, of course, the slaying of Abel by his brother Cain.

Others, of whom the Chevalier Ramsay has been set forth as the leader, sought to give it a political significance; and, making Charles I the type of the Builder, symbolized Cromwell and his adherents as the conspirators.

The Masonic scholars whose aim has been to identify the modern system of Freemasonry with the Ancient Mysteries, and especially with the Egyptian, which they supposed to be the germ of all the others, interpret the conspirators as the symbol of the Evil Principle, or Typhon, slaying the Good Principle, or Osiris; or, when they refer to the Zoroastic Mysteries of Persia, as Ahriman contending against Ormuzd.

Lastly, in the Philosophic Degrees, the myth is interpreted as signifying the war of Falsehood, Ignorance, and Superstition against Truth. Of the supposed names of the three Assassins, there is hardly any end of variations, for they materially differ in all the principal rites. Thus, we have Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum in the York and American Rites. In the Adonhiramite system we have Romvel, Gravelot, and Abiram. Romvel has been claimed as a corruption of Cromwell. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite we find the names given in the old rituals as Jubelum Akirop, sometimes Abiram, Jubelo Romvel, and Jubela Gravelot. Schterke and Oterfut are in some of the German rituals, while other Scottish rituals have Abiram, Romvel, and Hobhen. In all these names there is manifest corruption, and the patience of many Masonic scholars has been well-nigh exhausted in seeking for some plausible and satisfactory derivation.


ASSEMBLY

The meetings of the Craft during the operative period in the Middle Ages, were called Assemblies, which appear to have been tantamount to the modern Lodges, and they are constantly spoken of in the Old Constitutions. The word Assembly was also often used in these documents to indicate a larger meeting of the whole Craft, which was equivalent to the modern Grand Lodge, and which was held annually. The York Manuscript No. l, about the year 1600, says ''that Edwin procured of ye King his father a charter and commission to hold every year an assembly wherever they would within ye realm of England,'' and this statement, whether true or false, is repeated in all the old records. Preston says, speaking of that medieval period, that''a sufficient number of Masons met together within a certain district, with the consent of the sheriff or chief magistrate of the place, were empowered at this time to make Masons, etc. To this assembly, every Freemason was bound, when summoned, to appear.

Thus, in the Harleian Manuscript, about 1660, it is ordained that "every Master and Fellow come to the Assembly, if it be within five miles about him, if he have any warning." The term General Assembly, to indicate the annual meeting, is said to have been first used at the meeting, held on December 27, 1663, as quoted by Preston. In the Old Constitutions printed in 1722 by Roberts, and which claims to be taken from a manuscript of the eighteenth century, the term used is Yearly Assembly. Anderson speaks of an Old Constitution which used the word General; but his quotations are not always verbally accurate.


ASSISTANCE

See Aid and Assistance


ASSOCIATES OF THE TEMPLE

During the Middle Ages, many persons of rank, who were desirous of participating in the spiritual advantages supposed to be enjoyed by the Templars in consequence of the good works done by the Fraternity, but who were unwilling to submit to the discipline of the Brethren made valuable donations to the Order, and were, in consequence, admitted into a sort of spiritual connection with it.

These persons were termed Associates of the Temple. The custom was most probably confined to England, and many of these Associates had monuments and effigies erected to them in the Temple Church at London


ASSOCIATION

Although an association a properly the union of men into society for a common purpose, the word is scarcely ever applied to the Order of Freemasonry. Yet its employment, although unusual, would not be incorrect, for Freemasonry is an association of men for a common purpose. Washington uses the term when he calls Freemasonry "an association whose principles lead to purity of morals, and are beneficial of action," from his letter to the Grand Lodge of South Carolina.


ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE

The discovery in 1882 of the remains of a town, cloto and north of Nineveh, built by Sargon, about 721 B.C., in size about a mile square, with its angles facing the cardinal points, and the enclosure containing the finest specimens of their architecture, revived much interest in archeologists. The chief place of regard is the royal palace, which was like unto a city of itself, everything being on a colossal scale. The walls of the town were 45 feet thick. The inclined approach to the palace was flanked by strangely formed bulls from 15 to 19 feet high. There were terraces, courts, and page-ways to an innermost square of 150 feet, surrounded by state apartments and temples. The Hall of Judgment was prominent, as also the astronomical observatory. All entrances to great buildings were ornamented by colossal animals and porcelain decorations and inscriptions.


ASTOR, JOHN JACOB

Born in lvaldorf, Germany, July 17, 1763, left an orphan as a boy, Astor came to New York City to join a brother, working his way, and arrived in 1784. He was founder of the American fur trade, a founder of the Territory of Oregon where Astoria is named after him, was in the "fur wars " with Indians and with Canadian trappers, was pioneer and founder of the American trade with China, as a real estate dealer was a founder of Greater New York, was founder of the Astor Library, was the largest financial backer of the War of 1812, and in his will left $400,000 for building the Astor Library, equivalent to one million at present money values. He was one of the first founders of Holland Lodge, No. 8; and was Worshipful Master in 1798. From June 6, 1798, to .June 25, 1801, he was Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge; the books which he wrote out in his own copper-plate hand are still in the vaults of Masonic Hall, New York City.


ASTRAEA

The Grand Lodge established in Russia, on the 30th of August, 1815, assumed the title of the Grand Lodge of Astraea. It held its Grand East at St. Petersburg, and continued in existence until 1822, when the Czar issued a Ukase, or proclamation dated August 1, 1822, closing all Lodges in Russia and forbidding them to reopen at any future time.


ASTROLOGY

The word astrology is not a true term because it always has been ambiguous, meaning one thing in one country or period of time, another thing in some other country or time, and one contradicting the other. The nearest to any acceptable definition is to say that there has never been astrology, there have been astrologies, these astrologies among themselves vary from a form of astromical book-keeping practiced in China for calendar purposes, to the pseudo-religion which, to judge from the newsstands, has become a flourishing and also a financially profitable cult in America. As a further complication, at one or two periods in the late Middle Ages the word astrology was a synonym for astronomy. As a generalization it may be said that any particular astrology will teach the notion that a star is not what an astronomer says it is but is something more or something other; such as, that it is a god (or goddess!), or a saint, or an angel, or a fate, or possesses magical powers, etc. and that what it is, or some attribute it possesses, has some direct influence on men.

There is nowhere any trace of evidence to show that at any time astrology has been accepted by Freemasonry, or taught by it, or is one of the elements in the Ritual. If the mere mention of the skies, or the sun, or moon, etc., were to be considered to be astrology, then each and every man is an astrologist; so is each and every astronomer, every maker of calendars, almost every poet, the majority of composers of music, and many historians. The sun and moon are conspicuous in the Ritual, but not with any astrology meanings. For five or six centuries it was a "custom " of the Craft to work from sunrise to sunset, and usually contracts would set two lengths of work days for the year, the midpoint of one set falling on St. John the Baptist's Day when the daylight was longest, one on the Evangelist's Day when it was shortest ; and the moon represented the night; this old "custom" very probably was the origin of the two Masonic symbols of the Sun and the Moon.

Amateur Masonic occultists have attempted to connect Masonry with the zodiac, one of the conspicuous features of astrologies ; but here again there is no one zodiac, but many zodiacs throughout the world. The idea of a zodiac itself is one of the largest hoaxes with which men have ever befuddled themselves, and could never have been true to facts. The discovery of dark stars of great magnitude; that what in ancient times was taken for one star was two or more or even a whole galaxy; and the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes, has made the zodiac meaningless. It is a toy of the mind. There is nothing of the zodiac in the present Masonic Ritual; there was never a mention of it in the oldest Speculative Lodges ; in Medieval times it was a heresy, and Operative Freemasons would have abhorred the thought of it.

It can safely be laid down as a law of the Fraternity that anything and everything in the Ritual is understandable and knowable by any normal man, and nothing in it calls for erudition; it could not be otherwise where so many millions are admitted to membership. When the Candidate is told that if he finds anything puzzling he can consult well-informed Brethren it is presupposed that in any Lodge there will be such Brethren. This principle, which also is a practice, disposes at a stroke the notion that there has ever been in the Craft any form of occultism which calls for erudition, or for adepts specially trained, or for a kind of knowledge not available to the rank and file of ordinary Masons. Astrology, in its present-day American form, is self-confessedly not open to common knowledge but is understandable only by experts, who for that reason charge a fee for the use of their supposedly erudite knowledge ; and it shares that practice with the majority of other forms of occultism.


ASTROLOGY

A whence demanding the respect of the scholar, notwithstanding its designation as a black art, and, in a reflective sense, an occult science; a system of divination foretelling results by the relative positions of the planets and other heavenly bodies toward the earth. Men of eminence have adhered to the doctrines of astrology as a science. It is a study well considered in, and forming an important part of, the ceremonies of the Philosophus, or fourth grade of the First Order of the Society of Rosicrucians. Astrology has been deemed the twin science of astronomy, grasping knowledge from the heavenly bodies, and granting a proper understanding of many of the startling forces in nature. It is claimed that the constellations of the zodiac govern the earthly animals, and that every star has its peculiar nature, property, and function, the seal and character of which it impresses through its rays upon plants, minerals, and animal life. This science was known to the ancients as the divine art (see Magic).

The word astrology is not a true term because it always has been ambiguous, meaning one thing in one country or period of time, another thing in some other country or time, and one contradicting the other. The nearest to any acceptable definition is to say that there has never been astrology, there have been astrologies, these astrologies among themselves vary from a form of astromical book-keeping practiced in China for calendar purposes, to the pseudo-religion which, to judge from the newsstands, has become a flourishing and also a financially profitable cult in America. As a further complication, at one or two periods in the late Middle Ages the word astrology was a synonym for astronomy. As a generalization it may be said that any particular astrology will teach the notion that a star is not what an astronomer says it is but is something more or something other; such as, that it is a god (or goddess !), or a saint, or an angel, or a fate, or possesses magical powers, etc. ; and that what it is, or some attribute it possesses, has some direct influence on men.

There is nowhere any trace of evidence to show that at any time astrology has been accepted by Freemasonry, or taught by it, or is one of the elements in the Ritual. If the mere mention of the skies, or the sun, or moon, etc., were to be considered to be astrology, then each and every man is an astrologist; so is each and every astronomer, every maker of calendars, almost every poet, the majority of composers of music, and many historians. The sun and moon are conspicuous in the Ritual, but not with any astrologic meanings. For five or six centuries it was a "custom " of the Craft to work from sunrise to sunset, and usually contracts would set two lengths of work days for the year, the midpoint of one set falling on St. John the Baptist's Day when the daylight was longest, one on the Evangelist's Day when it was shortest ; and the moon represented the night; this old "custom" very probably was the origin of the two Masonic symbols of the Sun and the Moon.

Amateur Masonic occultists have attempted to connect Masonry with the zodiac, one of the conspicuous features of astrologies ; but here again there is no one zodiac, but many zodiacs throughout the world. The idea of a zodiac itself is one of the largest hoaxes with which men have ever befuddled themselves, and could never have been true to facts. The discovery of dark stars of great magnitude; that what in ancient times was taken for one star was two or more or even a whole galaxy; and the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes, has made the zodiac meaningless. It is a toy of the mind. There is nothing of the zodiac in the present Masonic Ritual ; there was never a mention of it in the oldest Speculative Lodges ; in Medieval times it was a heresy, and Operative Freemasons would have abhorred the thought of it.

It can safely be laid down as a law of the Fraternity that anything and everything in the Ritual is understandable and knowable by any normal man, and nothing in it calls for erudition ; it could not be otherwise where so many millions are admitted to membership. When the Candidate is told that if he finds anything puzzling he can consult well-informed Brethren it is presupposed that in any Lodge there will be such Brethren. This principle, which also is a practice, disposes at a stroke the notion that there has ever been in the Craft any form of occultism which calls for erudition, or for adepts specially trained, or for a kind of knowledge not available to the rank and file of ordinary Masons.

Astrology, in its present-day American form, is self-confessedly not open to common knowledge but is understandable only by experts, who for that reason charge a fee for the use of their supposedly erudite knowledge ; and it shares that practice with the majority of other forms of occultism.


ASTRONOMY.

The science which instructs us in the laws that govern the heavenly bodies. Its origin is lost in the mists of antiquity ; for the earliest inhabitants of the earth must have been attracted by the splendor of the glorious firmament above them, and would have sought in the motions of its luminaries for the readiest and most certain method of measuring time. With astronomy the system of Freemasonry is intimately connected. From that science many of our most significant emblems are borrowed.

The Lodge itself is a representation of the world; it is adorned with the images of the sun and moon, whose regularity and precision furnish a lesson of wisdom and prudence; its pillars of strength and establishment have been compared to have two columns which the ancients placed at the equinoctial points as supporters of the arch of heaven; the blazing star which was among the Egyptians a symbol of Anubis, or the dog-star, which sitting foretold the overflowing of the Nile, shines in the East; while the clouded canopy is decorated with the beautiful Pleiades, a group of stars in the constellation Taurus, or the Bull, about seven of which are visible to the naked eye.

The connection between our Order and astronomy is still more manifest in the .spurious Freemasonry of antiquity, where, the pure principles of our system being lost, the symbolic instruction of the heavenly bodies gave place to the corrupt Sabean worship of the sun, and moon, and stars-a worship whose influences are seen in all the mysteries of Paganism.
ASYLUM. During the session of a Commandery of Knights Templar, a part of the premises is called the asylum; the word has been adopted, by the figure in rhetoric synecdoche, in which the whole may be represented by a part, to signify the place of meeting of a Commandery.


ASYLUM

During the session of a Commandery of Knights Templar, a part of the premises is called the asylum; the word has hence been adopted, by the figure in rhetoric synecdoche, in which the whole may be represented by a part, to signify the place of meeting of a Commandery.


ASYLUM FOR AGED FREEMASONS

The Asylum for Aged and Decayed Freemasons is a magnificent edifice at Croydon in Surrey, England. The charity was established by Doctor Crucefix, after sixteen years of herculean toil, such as few men but himself could have sustained. He did not live to see it in full operation, but breathed his last at the very time when the capstone was placed on the building (see Annuities).


ATELIER.

The French thus call the place where the Lodge meets, or the Lodge-room. The word signifies a workshop or place where several workmen are assembled under the same master. The word is applied in French Freemasonry not only to the place of meeting of a Lodge, but also to that of a Chapter, Council, or any other Masonic body. Bazot says in the Manual du Franc-Maçon (page 65) that atelier is more particularly applied to the Table Lodge, or Lodge when at banquet, but that the word is also used to designate any reunion of the Lodge.


ATHEIST.

One who does not believe in the existence of God. Such a state of mind can only arise from the ignorance of stupidity or a corruption of principle, since the whole universe is filled with the moral and physical proofs of a Creator. He who does not look to a superior and superintending power as his maker and his judge, is without that coercive principle of salutary fear which should prompt him to do good and to eschew evil, and his oath can, of necessity, be no stronger than his word. Freemasons, looking to the dangerous tendency of such a tenet, have wisely discouraged it, by declaring that no atheist can be admitted to participate in their Fraternity; and the better to carry this law into effect, every candidate, before passing through any of the ceremonies of initiation, is required, publicly and solemnly, to declare his trust in God.


ATHELSTAN

The grandson of the great Alfred ascended the throne of England in 924, and died in 940. The Old Constitutions describe him as a great patron of Freemasonry. Thus, one of them, the Roberts Manuscript, printed in 1722, and claiming to be five hundred years old, says: "He began to build many Abbeys, Monasteries, and other religious houses, as also castles and divers Fortresses for defense of his realm. He loved Masons more than his father; he greatly studied Geometry, and sent into many lands for men expert in the science. He gave them a very large charter to hold a yearly assembly, and power to correct offenders in the said science; and the king himself caused a General Assembly of all Masons in his realm, at York, and there made many Masons, and gave them a deep charge for observation of all such articles as belonged unto Masonry, and delivered them the said Charter to keep.''


ATHELSTAN AND THE OLD CHARGES

On Page 110 is given a quotation from the Roberts MS. to the effect that Athelstan (King in England, 924-940) was a great lover of Masonry and gave Masons their Charter. In other versions of the Old Charges it is said that Athelstan made his son Prince Edwin Patron, or head, of the Masons. Scholars have not accepted the historicity of this tradition because of difficulties and self-contradictions in the text itself, because there is no supporting evidence in chronicles of the Tenth Century, and also because they have not believed that Masonry was as widely developed at the time as the Old Charges presuppose, or that Athelstan himself took any interest in the Craft. As regards the first two difficulties they continue in force, and make it hard to take seriously the confused or garbled accounts in the versions of the Old Charges; but as regards the last-named difficulty, that Athelstan himself had no interest in the Craft, there are data to show that the Old Charges have the support of historical evidence.

In his History of the Norman Conquest Prof. Henry A. Freeman (Vol. I ; page 190) writes: "Among the Laws of Athelstan none are more remarkable than those which deal with the internal affairs of London and with the regulation of her earliest commercial corporations." These laws are given in Thorpe's Laws and Institutes; Vol. I; page 228. They show that London was being built up, with walls, bridges, churches and many new buildings, and that King Athelstan took a large personal interest in the building, and that among his laws were regulations for the builders.

Athelstan must also have had an equally active interest in the builders at York, always a great architectural center and a free city from time immemorial ; in Vol. V, page 316, Prof. Freeman says, "The men of York had their Hanse-house." A hansa was a gild (hence "Hanseatic League'') and if the crafts in York had a building of their own, it means that they were strong and well organized, the Masons among them. Even more striking is Prof. Freeman's account of Exeter. This had been a Welsh city, or town, at least partly so. Athelstan removed the Welsh and rebuilt it as an English town, "surrounded by a wall of dressed stone." He helped to lay out the city, and supervised its building, which would include the supervision of its builders.

These data prove that Athelstan was both practically and intellectually interested in the arts of building and took an active part in its practice, not only once but in three cities ; and to that extent they give some foundation to the tradition embedded in the Old Charges.

See The History of the Norman Conquest in England, and its Resutts, by Henry A. Freeman; six volumes; Oxford; 1873 ; revised American Edition.


ATHOLL MASONS

The Ancient Freemasons are sometimes called Atholl Freemasons, because they were presided over by the Third Duke of Atholl as their Grand Master from 1771 to 1774, and by the Fourth Duke from 1775 to 1781, and also from 1791 to 1813 (see Ancient Freemasons).


ATOSSA.

The daughter of King Cyrus of Persia, queen of Cambyses, and afterward of Darius Hystaspes, to whom she bore Xerxes. Referred to in the degree of Prince of Jerusalem, the Sixteenth of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.


ATTENDANCE.

See Absence.


ATTOUCHEMENT.

The name given by the French Freemasons to what the English brethren call the grip.


ATTRIBUTES.

The collar and jewel appropriate to an officer are called his attributes. The working tools and implements of Freemasonry are also called its attributes. The word in these senses is much more used by French than by English Freemasons.


ATWOOD, HENRY C.

At one time of considerable prominence in the Masonic history of New York. He was born in Connecticut about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and removed to the city of New York about 1825, in which year he organized a Lodge for the purpose of introducing the system taught by Jeremy L. Cross, of whom Atwood was a pupil. This system met with great opposition from some of the most distinguished Freemasons of the State, who favored the ancient ritual, with had existed before the system of Webb had been invented, from whom Cross received his lectures. Atwood, by great diplomacy and untiring energy, succeeded in a making the system which he taught eventually popular. He took great interest in Freemasonry, and being intellectually clever, although not learned, he collected a great number of admirers, while the tenacity with which he maintained his opinions, however unpopular they might be, secured for him as many enemies. He was greatly instrumental in establishing, in 1837, the independent body known as the St. John's Grand Lodge, and was its Grand Master at the time of its union, in 1850, with the legitimate Grand Lodge of New York. Atwood edited a small periodical called The Sentinel, which was remarkable for the Virulent and un-Masonic tone of its articles. He was also the author of a Masonic Monitor of some pretensions. He died in 1860.


ATYS

The Mysteries of Atys in Phrygia, and those of Cybele his mistress, like their worship, much resembled those of Adonis and Bacchus, Osiris and Isis. Their Asiatic origin is universally admitted, and was with great plausibility claimed by Phrygia, which contested the palm of antiquity with Egypt. They, more than any other people, mingled allegory with their religious worship, and were great inventors of fables; and their sacred traditions as to Cybele and Atys, whom all admit to be Phrygian gods, were very various. In all, as we learn from Julius Firmicus, they represented by allegory the phenomena of nature and the succession of physical facts under the veil of a marvelous history. Their feasts occurred at the equinoxes, commencing with lamentation, mourning, groans, and pitiful cries for the death of Atys, and ending with rejoicings at his restoration to life.


AUDI, VIDE, TACE.

Latin, meaning Hear, see, and be silent. A motto frequently found on Masonic medals, and often appropriately used in the documents of the Craft.

It was adopted as its motto by the United Grand Lodge of England at the union between the Antients and the Moderns in 1813.


AUDITOR.

An officer in the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. His duty is, with the Committee on Finance, to examine and report on the accounts of the Inspector and other officers. This duty of auditing the accounts of the Secretary and Treasurer is generally entrusted, in Masonic bodies, to a special committee appointed for the purpose. In the Grand Lodge of England, the accounts are examined and reported upon annually by a professional auditor, who must be a Master Mason.


AUDITORS.

The first class of the secret system adopted by the Christians in their early days. The second class were Catechumens, and the third were The Faithful.


AUDLEY, LORD JOHN TOUCHET.

Anderson gives him as Grand Master of England, 1540-8, a patron of the building art in Magdalen College.


AUFSEHER

The German name for the Warden of a Lodge. The Senior Warden is called Erste Aufseher, and the Junior Warden, Zweite Aufseher. The word literally means an overseer. Its Masonic application is technical.


AUGER

An implement used as a symbol in the Ark Mariners Degree.


AUGUSTINE, ST.

See Saint Augustine.


AUGUSTUS WILLIAM, PRINCE OF PRUSSIA.

Born in 1722, died in 1758. Brother of Frederick the Great, and father of King Frederick William II. A member of Lodge Drei WeltkugeIn, or Three Globes, Berlin.


AUM

A mystic syllable among the Hindus, signifying the Supreme God of Gods, which the Brahmans, from its awful and sacred meaning, hesitate to pronounce aloud, and in doing so place one of their hands before the mouth so as to deaden the sound. This triliteral name of God which is as sacred among the Hindus as the Tetragrammaton is among the Jews, is composed of three Sanskrit letters, sounding Aum. The first letter, A, stands for the Creator; the second, U, for the Preserver; and the third, M, for the Destroyer, or Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.

Benfey, in his Sanskrit English Dictionary, defines the word as "a particle of reminiscence" ; and this may explain the Brahmanical saying, that a Brahman beginning or ending the reading of a part of the Veda or Sacred Books, must always pronounce, to himself, the syllable Aum; for unless that syllable precede, his learning will slip away from him, and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained. An old passage in the Parana says, "All the rites ordained in the Vedas, the sacrifices to fire, and all sacred purifications, shall pass away, but the word Aum shall never pass away, for it is the symbol of the Lord of all things. " The word has been indifferently spelled, O'm, Aom, and Aum; but the last is evidently the most proper, as the second letter is in the Sanskrit alphabet (see On).


AUMONT

Said to have been the successor of Molay as Grand Master, and hence called the Restorer of the Order of the Templars. There is a tradition, altogether fabulous, however, which states that he, with seven other Templars, fled, after the dissolution of the Order, into Scotland, disguised as Operative Freemasons, and there secretly and under another name founded a new Order ; and to preserve as much as possible the ancient name of Templars, as well as to retain the remembrance of the clothing of Freemasons, in which disguise they had fled, they chose the name of Freemasons, and thus founded Freemasonry. The society thus formed, instead of conquering or rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem, was to erect symbolical temples.

This is one of the forms of the Templar theory of the origin of Freemasonry.


AURORA

In Hebrew the light is called Aur, and in its dual capacity Aurim. Hence Urim, lights-as, Thme, Thummim, perfections. Ra is the sun, the symbolic god of the Egyptians, and Ouro, royalty. Hence we have Aur, Ouro, Ra, which is the double symbolic capacity of Light. Referring to the Urim and Thummim, Re is physical and intellectual light, while Thme is the divinity of truth and justice. Aurora is the color of the baldric worn by the Brethren in the Sixteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, which in the legend is said to have been presented by King Darius to the captive Zerubbabel on presentation of his liberty, and that of all his people, who had been slaves in Babylon for seventy years.


AUSERWAHLTEN

German for Elu or Elect. AUSTIN. See Saint Augustine.


AUSTRALASIA.

The first Masonic Lodge in this region was held in 1803 at Sydney, but was suppressed by the Governor, and it was not until the year 1820 that the parent Lodge of Australasia was warranted to meet at Sydney by the Grand Lodge of Ireland; it is now No. l on the New South Wales register and named the Australian Social Mother Lodge. After that many Lodges were warranted under the three Constitutions of England, Scotland and Ireland, out of which in course of time no less than six independent Grand Lodges have been formed, viz., South Australia founded in 1884, New South Wales 1888; Victoria, 1889 ; Tasmania, 1890; New Zealand, 1890, and Western Australia, 1900.


AUSTRIA

Freemasonry was introduced into Austria in 1742 by the establishment at Vienna of the Lodge of the Three Cannons. But it was broken up by the government in the following year, and thirty of its members were imprisoned for having met in contempt of the authorities. Maria Theresa was an enemy of the Institution, and prohibited it in 1764. Lodges, however, continued to meet secretly in Vienna and Prague. In 1780, Joseph II ascended the throne, and under his liberal administration Freemasonry, if not actually encouraged, was at least tolerated, and many new Lodges were established in Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Transylvania, under the authority of the Grand Lodge of Germany, in Berlin. Delegates from these Lodges met at Vienna in 1784, and organized the Grand Lodge of Austria, electing the Count of Dietrichstein, Grand Master. The attempt of the Grand Lodge at Berlin to make this a Provincial Grand Lodge was successful for only a short time, and in 1785 the Grand Lodge of Austria again proclaimed its independence.

During the reign of Joseph II, Austrian Freemasonry was prosperous. Notwithstanding the efforts of its enemies, the monarch could never be persuaded to prohibit it. But in 1785 he was induced to issue instructions by which the number of the Lodges was reduced, so that not more than three were permitted to exist in each city ; and he ordered that a list of the members and a note of the times of meeting of each Lodge should be annually delivered to the magistrates.

Joseph died in 1790, and Leopold II expressed himself as not unfriendly to the Fraternity, but his successor in 1792, Francis II, yielded to the machinations of the anti-Freemasons, and dissolved the Lodges. In 1801 he issued a decree which forbade the employment of anyone in the public service who was attached to any secret society. Freemasonry has continued in operation in Austria, as it is in most non-Masonic countries. The World War developed the activities of the Grand Lodge of Vienna which received recognition abroad, the Grand Lodge of Kentucky so voting on October 20, 1926.


AUSTRIA HUNGARY AND CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

Freemasonry in these countries began when Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, husband of the Empress Maria Theresia was made Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft in 1731 in a Lodge of which Doctor Desaguliers was Worshipful Master. On September 17, 1742, a Lodge was instituted at Vienna but it was closed during the following year by order of the Empires. Various Lodges were established by German authority but in 1764 a Royal Decree was issued against Freemasonry, although the Emperor Francis was at the time Worshipful Master of the first Lodge at Vienna.

By 1784, 45 Lodges under six Provincial Grand Lodges had been instituted in Austria. The Provincial Grand Lodges of Vienna, Bohemia, Hungary and Sieberburgen formed a National Grand Lodge of the Austrian States. Count Dietrichstein was elected Grand Master but when the new body was opposed by the National Grand Lodge at Berlin he accepted the rank of Provincial Grand Master. In 1785 the Emperor ordered the new Grand Lodge to be independent and he was obeyed. During the next few years edicts directed against secret societies were issued by the Emperor and all activity of the Craft ceased. Some Lodges were formed or revived but they soon disappeared again.

In 1867 Austria and Hungary were separated into two Kingdoms and the Brethren took advantage of there being no law in Hungary against Freemasonry to open several Lodges. A Convention of Unity Lodge and others at Temesvar, Oedenburg, Baja, Pressburg, Budapest and Arad met on January 30, 1870 and established the National Grand Lodge of Hungary. For the Austrian Freemasons the only thing left to do was to form social clubs which, when they met as Lodges, were convened in the neighboring country of Hungary. The great World War changed these conditions. A Grand Lodge of Vienna was formed on December 8, 1918. The formation in 1919 of the Republic of Czecho-Slovakia resulted in the establishment of the National Grand Lodge of Jugoslavia for the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.


AUTHENTIC

Formerly, in the science of diplomatica, ancient manuscripts were termed authentic when they were originals, and in opposition to copies.

But in modern times the acceptation of the word has been enlarged, and it is now applied to instruments which, although they may be copies, bear the evidence of having been executed by proper authority.

So of the old records of Freemasonry, the originals of many have been lost, or at least have not yet been found. Yet the copies, if they can be traced to unsuspected sources within the body of the Craft and show the internal marks of historical accuracy, are to be reckoned as authentic. But if their origin is altogether unknown, and their statements or style conflict with the known character of the Order at their assumed date, their authenticity is to be doubted or denied.


AUTHENTICITY OF THE SCRIPTURES

A belief in the authenticity of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as a religious qualification of initiation does not constitute one of the laws of Freemasonry, for such a regulation would destroy the universality of the Institution, and under its action none but Christians could become eligible for admission. But in 1856 the Grand Lodge of Ohio declared "that a distinct avowal of a belief in the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures should be required of every one who is admitted to the privileges of Masonry, and that a denial of the same is an offence against the Institution, calling for exemplary discipline.'' It is hardly necessary to say that the enunciation of this principle met with the almost universal condemnation of the Grand Lodges and Masonic jurists of this country. The Grand Lodge of Ohio subsequently repealed the regulation. In 1857 the Grand Lodge In 1857 was adopted a similar resolution; but the general sense of the Fraternity has rejected all religious tests except a belief in God.


AUTOPSY

Greek, meaning a seeing with one's own eyes. The complete communication of the secrets in the Ancient Mysteries, when the aspirant was admitted into the sacellum, or most sacred place, and was invested by the hierophant with all the aporrheta, or sacred things, which constituted the perfect knowledge of the initiate. A similar ceremony in Freemasonry is called the Rite of Intrusting (see Mysteries).


AUXILIARY DEGREES

According to Oliver, in his Historical Landmarks, ii, page 345, the Supreme Council of France, in addition to the thirty-three regular degrees of the Rite, confers six others, which he calls Auxiliary Degrees. They are,
1. Elu de Perignan.
2. Petit Architecte.
3. Grand Architecte, or Compagnon Ecossais.
4. Maitre Ecossais.
5. Knight of the East.
6. Knight Rose Croix.


AVENUE

Forming an avenue is a ceremony sometimes practiced in the lower degrees, but more generally in the higher ones, on certain occasions of paying honors to superior officers. The Brethren form in two ranks facing each other. If the degree is one in which swords are used, these are drawn and elevated, being crossed each with the opposite sword- The swords thus crossed constitute what is called the arch of steel. The person to whom honor is to be paid passes between the opposite ranks and under the arch of steel.


AVIGNON

Town on the River Rhone in the south of France about 75 miles north-west of the seaport of Marseilles which was the headquarters of the Hermetic Grades from 1740 to the French Revolution. A drastic persecution was set in motion in 1757 by the Archbishop J. de Guyon de Crochans and the Inquisitor P. Mabille, at which time the Mother Lodge was dissolved as the result of a direct attack by these two.


AVIGNON, ILLUMINATI OF

The French expression is Illuminés d'Avignon. A rite instituted by Pernetti at Avignon, in France, in 1770, and transferred in the year 1778 to Montpellier, under the name of the Academy of True Masons The Academy of Avignon consisted of only four degrees, the three of symbolic or St. John's Freemasonry, and a fourth called the True Freemason, which was made up of instructions, Hermetical and Swedenborgian (see Pernetti).


AVOUCHMENT

See Vouching


AWARD

In law, the judgment pronounced by one or more arbitrators, at the request of two parties who are at variance. "If any complaint be brought," say the Charges published by Anderson, "the brother found guilty shall stand to the award and determination of the Lodge" (see the Constitutions, edition of 1723, page 54).


AYES AND NOES

It is not according to Masonic usage to call for the ayes and noes on any question pending before a Lodge. By a show of hands is the old and usual custom of determining the will of the Brethren.


AYNON

Aynon, Agnon, Ajuon, and Dyon are all used in the old manuscript Constitutions for one whom they call the son of the King of Tyre, but it is evidently meant for Hiram Abif. Each of these words is most probably a corruption of the Hebrew Adon or Lord, so that the reference would clearly be to Adon Hiram or Adoniram, with whom Hiram was often confounded; a confusion to be found in later times in the Adonhiramite Rite.


AYTOUN, WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE

Poet and humorist. Studied law but said "though he followed the law, he could never overtake it.'' Professor of rhetoric and literature, University of Edinburgh.

Active member of the Scottish Grand Lodge and representative there of the Grand Lodge Royal York of Germany. Born June 21, 1813, his poetry brought him world-wide fame, the most popular being Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers.

Brother Aytoun died on August 4, 1865.


AZARIAH

The old French rituals have Azarias.
A name in the advanced degrees signifying Helped of God.


AZAZEL

Scapegoat, the demon of dry places.

Understood by others to be the fallen angel mentioned in the Book of Enoch, and identical with Sammael, the Angel of Death. Symmachus says, the goat that departs; Josephus, the averter of ills, caper emissarius.

Two he-goats, in all respects alike and equal, were brought forward for the day of atonement. The urn was shaken and two lots cast; one was For the Name, and the other For Azazel. A scarlet tongue-shaped piece of wood was twisted on the head of the goat to be sent away, and he was placed before the gate and delivered to his conductor. The High Priest, placing his two bands on the goat, made confession for the people, and pronounced THE NAME clearly, which the people hearing, they knelt and worshiped, and fell on their faces and mid, Blessed be the Name.

The Honor of His kingdom forever and ever.

The goat was then led forth to the mountainside and rolled down to death.


AZRAEL

From the Hebrew, meaning Help of God. In the Jewish and the Mohammedan mythology, the name of the angel who watches over the dying and separates the soul from the body. Prior to the intercession of Mohammed, Azrael inflicted the death penalty visibly, by striking down before the eyes of the living those whose time for death was come (see Henry W. Longfellow's exquisite poem Azrael).

Azrael is also known as Raphael, and with Gabriel, Michael, and Uriel, identified as the four archangels. As the angel of death to the Moslems, he is regarded as similar to Fate, and Jewish. tradition almost makes him an evil genius.


AZTECS

Native name of one of the tribes in Mexico at the arrival of the Spaniards in America, and frequently used as meaning Mexicans. Early records and other remains of the Aztecs studied by Nuttall, Peabody Museum Papers (volume ii, pages 522, 525, 532, 535, 538, and elsewhere), show a striking similarity of civilization to that from Phoenician sources and may be due to the migrations of the Men of Tyre.


AZURE

The clear blue color of the sky. Cerulean is also used to mean sky-blue but is really from a Latin word, Caeruleus, meaning dark blue. The appropriate color of the symbolic degrees; sometimes termed Blue Degrees. Azure means blue in heraldry and in the engraving to show coats of arms it is represented by horizontal lines of shading.


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