ELEVEN
In the Prestonian lectures, eleven was a
mystical number, and was the final series of steps in the winding
stairs of the Fellow Craft, which were said to consist of 3, 5,
7, 9, and 11. The eleven was referred to the eleven apostles after
the defection of Judas, and to the eleven sons of Jacob after
Joseph went into Egypt. But when the lectures were revived by
Henning, the eleven was struck out. In Templar Freemasonry, however,
eleven is still significant as being the constitutional number
required to open a Commandery; and here it is evidently allusive
of the eleven true disciples.
ELIGIBILITY FOR INITIATION
See Qualifications of Candidates
ELIHOREPH
One of Solomon's secretaries (see Ahiah)
ELIOT, JOHN
Born August 5, 1604, at Widford, near London,
England. Some biographies give the place of his birth as Nazing,
a few miles from Widford, but John Eliot was eight years of age
when his father moved to Nazing. The date of his emigration to
New England is not known but it is probable that he arrived in
Boston on the ship Lyon, November 12, 1631, and by 1654 he had
published a little catechism, supposed to be the first book printed
in the Indian language, as well as an Indian grammar, which is
now in the Harvard College Library.
Eliot completed his famous Indian Bible
in 1663; he had brought out the Book of Genesis in 1655, some
of the Psalrns in 1658, and the New Testament in 1661. The entire
work on the Bible had to be worked out by him without the assistance
of previous knowledge or record and, as stated by Edward Everett,
"The history of the Christian Church does not contain an
example of untiring successful labor superior to that of translating
the entire Scriptures into the language of the native inhabitants
of Massachusetts, a dialect as imperfect, as unformed, as unmanageable,
as any spoken on earth." He endured great physical hardship
in his missionary work, but great was his zeal. In 1645 he established
the Roxbury Latin School and inl689 founded the Eliot School.
There is no doubt but that his work among the Indians was largely
instrumental in frustrating the plans of the Indian leader, King
Philip, when he started out with the New York Nations to exterminate
the entire Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies. The first
Indian Church was founded by Eliot in the year 1660 at Natick,
Massachusetts. After almost sixty years labor, during which entire
time he was pastor of the church at Roxbury, near Boston, Massachusetts,
he died on May 1, 1690, his remains being placed in the Ministers'
Tomb in the First Burying Ground.
Masonic records during that
early period of American colonization were very few and those
in existence are fragmentary in the information set down. The
only reference to John Eliot which has come down to us is one
of the earliest we have in America containing suggestions of a
Masonic type. A Minute in the Plymouth Colony Records mentions
the receipt of a package of goods sent from Coopers' Hall, London,
in March 1654, and received by the Colony of New Haven. This parcel
was marked in a peculiar manner which identified it from among
the other packages contained in the consignment and which marks
seem to be intended to represent the square and compasses.
The same marks were attached to a letter
of instruction which reads as follows: "Among the goods sent
this year we find one, Bale, No. 19, which cost there thirty-four
pounds, nine shillings, five pence, and with the advance amounts
to forty-five pounds, nineteen shillings, three pence, directed
to Mr. Eliote for the use of the Indian work, but why it is severed
from the Rest of the psell and consigned to him is not expressed;
It seems different from the course yourselves approved, and may
prove inconvenient if it be continued; but this psell shall bee
delivered according to your desire.... Newhaven, the 15th September,
1655." It is not unreasonable to suppose that both the sender
and recipient of this parcel were familiar with the peculiar significance
of the emblems marked upon the package, although nothing more
definite can be said on this point (see pages 1319-20, Mackey's
revised History of Freemasonry).
ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND
Anderson (Constitutions, 1738, page 80)
states that the following circumstance is recorded of this sovereign:
Hearing that the Freemasons were in possession of secrets which
they would not reveal, and being jealous of all secret assemblies,
she sent an armed force to York with intent to break up their
annual Grand Lodge.
This design, however, was happily frustrated
by the interposition of Sir Thomas Sackville, who took care to
initiate some of the chief officers whom she had sent on this
duty. They joined in communication with the Freemasons, and made
so favorable a report to the queen on their return that she countermanded
her orders, and never afterward attempted to disturb the meetings
of the Fraternity. What authority, if any, Anderson had for the
story is unknown.
ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL
In May, 1792, this queen, having conceived
a suspicion of the Lodges in Madeira, gave an order to the governor
to arrest all the Freemasons in the island, and deliver them over
to the Inquisition. The rigorous execution of this order occasioned
an emigration of many families, ten of whom repaired to New York,
and were liberally assisted by the Freemasons of that city.
ELMES, JAMES
English architect. Wrote life of Sir Christopher
Wren (1823).
ELOHIM
Hebrew, off. A name, pronounced El-o-heem',
and applied in Hebrew to any deity, but sometimes also to the
true God. According to Lanci, it means the most beware. It is
not, however, much used in Freemasonry.
It is an expression used throughout the
first chapter of Genesis, as applied to God in the exercise of
His creative power, and signifies the Divine Omnipotence, the
Source of all power, the Power of ad powers, which was in activity
at the Creation. After which the expression used for Deity is
Jehovah, which implies the Providence of God, and which could
not have been created by Elohim.
ELOQUENCE OF FREEMASONRY
Lawyers boast of the eloquence of the bar,
and point to the arguments of counsel in well-known cases; the
clergy have the eloquence of the pulpit exhibited in sermons,
many of which have a world-wide reputation; and statesmen vaunt
of the eloquence of Congress some of the speeches, however, being
indebted, it is said, for their power and beauty, to the talent
of the stenographic reporter rather than to the member who is
supposed to be the author. Freemasonry, too, has its eloquence,
which is sometimes, although not always, of a very high order.
This eloquence is to be found in the address,
orations, and discourses which have usually been delivered on
the great festivals of the Order, at consecrations of Lodges,
dedications of halls, and the laying of foundation-stones. These
addresses constitute, in fact, the principal part of the early
literature of Freemasonry (see Addresses, Masonic).
ELU
The Fourth Degree of the French Rite (see
Flus)
ELUL
The sixth month of the ecclesiastical and
the twelfth of the civil year of the Jews. The twelfth also, therefore,
of the Masonic calendar used in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite. It begins on the new moon of August or September, and consists
of twenty-nine days.
ELUS
The French word elu means elected; and the
Degrees, whose object is to detail the detection and punishment
of the actors in the crime traditionally related among the Craft,
are called Elus, or the Degrees of the Elected, because they referred
to those of the Craft who were chosen or elected to make the discovery,
and to inflict the punishment.
They form a particular system of Freemasonry,
and are to be found in every Rite, if not in all in name, at least
in principle. In the York and American Rites, the Elu is incorporated
in the Master's Degree; in the French Rite it constitutes an independent
Degree; and in the Scottish Rite it consists of three Degrees,
the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh.
Ragon counts the five preceding Degrees
among the Elus, but they more properly belong to the Order of
Masters. The symbolism of these Elu Degrees has been greatly mistaken
and perverted by anti-Masonic writers, who have thus attributed
to Freemasonry a spirit of vengeance which is not its characteristic.
They must be looked upon as conveying only a symbolic meaning.
Those higher Degrees, in which the object
of the election is changed and connected with Templarism, are
more properly called Kadoshes. Thory says that all the Elus are
derived from the Degree of Kadosh, which preceded them. The reverse,
we think, is the truth. The Elu system sprang naturally from the
Master's Degree, and was only applied to Templarism when DeMolay
was substituted for Hiram the Builder.
EMANATION
Literally, the word means a flowing forth.
The doctrine of emanations was a theory predominant in many of
the Oriental religions, such, especially, as Brahmanism and Parseeism,
and subsequently adopted by the Cabalists and the Gnostics, and
taught by Philo and Plato. It assumed that all things emanated,
flowed forth, which is the literal meaning of the word, or were
developed and descended by degrees from the Supreme Being.
Thus, in the ancient religion of India,
the anima mundi, or soul of the word, the mysterious source of
all life, was identified with Brahma, the Supreme God.
The doctrine of Gnosticism was that all
things emanated from the Deity; that there was a progressive degeneration
of these beings from the highest to the lowest emanation, and
a final redemption and return of all to the purity of the Creator.
Philo taught that the Supreme Being was the Primitive Light or
the Archetype of Light, whose rays illuminate, as from a common
source, all souls. The theory of emanations is interesting to
the Freemason, because of the reference in many of the advanced
Degrees to the doctrines of Philo, the Gnostics, and the Cabalists.
EMANUEL
A sacred word in some of the advanced Degrees,
being one of the names applied in Scripture to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is a Greek form from the Hebrew, Immanuel, xxxxx, and
signifies God is with us.
EMBASSY
The Embassy of Zerrubbabel and four other
Jewish chiefs to the court of Darius, to obtain the protection
of that monarch from the encroachments of the Samaritans, who
interrupted a the labors in the reconstruction of the Temple,
constitutes the legend of the Sixteenth Degree of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite, and also of the Red Cross Degree of
the American Rite, which seems borrowed from the former. The history
of this Embassy is found in the eleventh book of the Antiquities
of Josephus, whence the Masonic ritualists have undoubtedly taken
it. The only authority of Josephus is the apocryphal record of
Esdras, and the authenticity of the whole transaction is doubted
or denied by modern historians.
EMBLEM
The emblem is an occult representation of
something unknown or concealed by a sign or thing that is known.
Thus, a square is in Freemasonry an emblem of morality; a plumb
line, of rectitude of conduct; and a level, of equality of human
conditions.
Emblem is very generally used as synonymous
with symbol, although the two words do not express exactly the
same meaning. An emblem is properly a representation of an idea
by a visible object, as in the examples quoted above; but a symbol
is more extensive in its application, includes every representation
of an idea by an image, whether that image is presented immediately
to the senses as a visible and tangible substance, or only brought
before the mind by words.
Hence an action or event as described, a
myth or legend, may be a symbol; and hence, too, it follows that
while all emblems are symbols, all symbols are not emblems (see
Symbol).
EMERALD
In Hebrew, caphak. This or the carbuncle
was the first stone in the first row of the high priest's breastplate,
and was referred to Levi. Adam Clarke says it is the same stone
as the smaragdus, and is of a bright green color. Josephus, the
Septuagint, and the Jerusalem Targum understood by the Hebrew
word the carbuncle, which is red. The modern emerald, as everybody
knows, is green (see Breast plate) .
EMERGENCY
The general law of Freemasonry requires
a month to elapse between the time of receiving a petition for
initiation and that of balloting for the candidate, and also that
there shall be an interval of one month between the reception
of each of the Degrees of Craft Freemasonry. Cases sometimes occur
when a Lodge desires this probationary period to be dispensed
with, so that the candidates petition may be received and balloted
for at the same Communication, or so that the Degrees may be conferred
at much shorter intervals. As some reason must be assigned for
the application to the Grand Master for the Dispensation, such
reason is generally stated to be that the candidate is about to
go on a long journey, or some other equally valid. Cases of this
kind are called, in the technical language of Freemasonry, Cases
of Emergency. It is evident that the emergency is made for the
sake of the candidate, and not for. that of the Lodge or of Freemasonry.
The too frequent occurrence of applications
for Dispensations in cases of emergency have been a fruitful source
of evil, as thereby unworthy persons, escaping the ordeal of an
investigation into character. have been introduced into the Order;
and even where the candidates have been worthy, the rapid passing
through the Degrees prevents a due impression from being made
on the mind, and the candidate fails to justly appreciate the
beauties and merits of the Masonic system.
Hence, these cases of emergency have been
very unpopular with the most distinguished members of the Fraternity.
In the olden time the Master and the Wardens of the Lodge were
vested with the prerogative of deciding what was a case of emergency;
but modern law and usage, in the United States, at least, make
the Grand Master the sole judge of what constitutes a case of
emergency. Under the English Constitution (see Rule 185) the emergency
must be real in the opinion of the Master of the Lodge concerned.
EMERGENT LODGE
A Lodge held at an emergent meeting
EMERGENT MEETING
The meeting of a Lodge called to elect a
candidate, and confer the Degrees in a case of emergency, or for
any other sudden and unexpected cause, has been called an Emergent
Meetings The term is not very common, but it has been used by
Brother W. S. Mitchell and a few other writers.
EMERITUS
Latin; plural, emeriti. The Romans applied
this word which comes from the verb emerete, meaning to gain by
service to a soldier who had served out his time; hence, in the
Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, an
active member, who resigns his seat by reason of age, infirmity,
or for other cause deemed good by the Council, may be elected
an Emeritus Member, and will possess the privilege of proposing
measures and being heard in debate, but not of voting.
EMETH
Hebrew, not One of the words in the advanced
Degrees. It signifies integrity, fidelity, firmness, and constancy
in keeping a promise, and especially truth, as opposed to falsehood.
In the Scottish Rite, the Sublime Knights Elect of Twelve of the
Eleventh Degree are called Princes Emeth, which plainly means
men of exalted character who are devoted to truth.
EMINENT
The title given to the Commander or presiding
officer of a Commandery of Knights Templar, and to all officers
below the Grand Commander in a Grand Commandery.
The Grand Commander is styled Right Eminent,
and the Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of the United States,
Most Eminent. The word is from the Latin eminens, meaning standing
above, and literally signifies exalted in rank.
Hence, it is a title given to the cardinals
in the Roman Church.
EMOUNAH
Fidelity, Truth. The name of the Fourth
Step of the mystic ladder of the Kadosh of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite.
EMPEROR OF LEBANON
The French is Empereur du Liban. This Degree,
says Thory (Acta Latomorum i, 311), which was a part of the collection
of M. Le Rouge, was composed in the isle of Bourbon, in 1778,
by the Marquis de Beurnonville, who was then National Grand Master
of all the Lodges in India.
EMPERORS OF THE EAST AND WEST
In 1758 there was established in Paris a
Chapter called the Council of Emperors of the East and West. The
members assumed the titles of Sovereign Prince Masons Substitutes
General of the Royal Art, Grand Superintendents and OMJiDcers
of the Grand and Sovereign Lodye of Saint John of Jerusalem. Their
ritual, which was based on the Templar system, consisted of twenty-five
Degrees, as follows:
1 to 19, the same as the Scottish Rite;
20, Grand Patriarch Noachite;
21, Key of Masonry;
22, Prince of Lebanon;
23, Knight of the Sun;
24, Kadosh;
25, Prince of the Royal Secret.
It granted Warrants for Lodges of the advanced
Degrees, appointed Grand Inspectors and Deputies, and established
several subordinate Bodies in the interior of France, among which
was a Council of Princes of the Royal Secret, at Bordeaux. In
1763, one Princemaille, the Master of the Lodge La Candeur, meaning
in French Frankness, at Metz, began to publish an exposition of
these Degrees in the serial numbers of a work entitled Conversations
Allégoriques sur la Franche-Maçonnerie, or Allegorical
Conversation on Freemasonry. In 1764, the Grand Lodge of France
offered him three hundred livres to suppress the book. Pincemaille
accepted the bribe, but continued the publication, which lasted
until 1766. The year of their establishment in France, in 1758,
as reported bv Doctor Mackey, the Degrees of this Rite of Heredom,
or of Perfection, as it was called, were carried bv Marquis de
Bernez to Berlin, and adopted by the Grand Lodge of the Three
Globes.
Between the years 1760 and 1765, there was
much dissension in the Rite. A new Council, called the Knights
of the East, was established at Paris, in 1760, as the rival of
the Emperors of the East and West. The controversies of these
two Bodies were carried into the Grand Lodge, which, in 1766,
was compelled, for the sake of peace, to issue a decree of opposition
to the advanced Degrees, excluding the malcontents, and forbidding
the symbolical Lodges to recognize the authority of these Chapters.
But the excluded Freemasons continued to work clandestinely and
to grant Warrants.
From that time until its dissolution, the
history of the Council of the Emperors of the East and \Nest is
but a history of continued disputes with the Grand Lodge of France.
At length, in 1781, it was completely absorbed in the Grand Orient,
and has no longer an existence.
The assertion of Thory (Acta Latomorum),
and of Ragon (Orthodozie Maçonnique), that the Council
of the Emperors of the East and West was the origin of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite, although it has been denied, does
not seem destitute of truth. It is very certain, if the documentary
evidence is authentic, that the Constitutions of 1672 were framed
by this Council; and it is equally certain that under these Constitutions
a patent was granted to Stephen Morin, through whom the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite was established in America.
EMULATION LODGE OF IMPROVEMENT
At the time of the Union of the English
Lodges in 1813, a Lodge of Reconciliation was constituted with
an equal number of chosen workers from each Constitution for the
purpose of arranging a uniformity in the Making, Passing, and
Raising of Freemasons in all of England. After this was done,
the ritual and ceremonies established, the Lodge was dissolved
in 1816, having received the authority and sanction of the United
Grand Lodge. For making these known to the Craft generally a system
of Lodges of Instruction was set up and Past Masters who were
qualified went from Lodge to Lodge as teachers or Preceptors as
they were later called. The most eminent and earliest of these
was Peter Gilkes (which see). As a continuation of the work of
the Lodge of Reconciliation the Emulation Lodge of Improvement
for Master Freemasons was formed for instruction in 1823 with
government entrusted to a Committee of Lecturers. The Committee
is elected annually by the working members of the Lodge, the senior
member acting as leader. About 1830 the Lectures began to give
place to rehearsal of ceremonies. Minute Books prior to 1859 were
destroyed by fire.
Therefore such records as are available
are from pages of the Freemasons Quarterly Review, the Public
Ledger and the Minutes of various Lodges with which Peter Gilkes
was associated. The celebration of the Centenary of this School
of Masonic ritualism was held in the Grand Temple at Freemasons
Hall in Great Queen Street, London, on March 2, 1993, presided
over by the Pro Grand Master, the Right Honorable Lord Ampthill.
No English Lodge is compelled to conform to Emulation working
and there are Lodges working independently, but for over a hundred
years the ritual and ceremonies as taught by the Emulation Lodge
of Improvement have been the standard recognized method. We are
indebted to Brother George Rankin, Senior Member of Committee
of Lecturers, London, for the above details (see also Illustrated
history of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, Henry Sadler, London,
1904).
EMUNAH
A Hebrew word, pronounced em-oo-naw. Sometimes
spelled Amunah, but not in accordance with the Masonic points.
A significant word in the advanced Degrees signifying Alelity,
especially in fulfilling one's promises.
ENCAMPMENT
All the regular assemblies of Knights Templar
were formerly called Encampments. They are now styled Commanderies
in America, and Grand Encampments of the States are called Grand
Commanderies. In other countries they are now known as Preceptories
(see Commandery and Commandery, Grand).
ENCAMPMENT, GENERAL GRAND
The old title, before the adoption of the
Constitution in 1856, of the Grand Encampment of the United States.
ENCAMPMENT, GRAND
The Grand Encampment of the United States
was instituted on June 22, 1816, in the city of New York. It consists
of a Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, and other Grand Officers
who are` similar to those of a Grand Commandery, with Past Grand
Officers and the representatives of the various Grand Commanderies,
and of the subordinate Commanderies deriving their Warrants immediately
from it. It exercises jurisdiction over all the Templars of the
United States, and meets triennially.
The term Encampment is borrowed from military
usage, and is very properly applied to the temporary congregation
at stated periods of the army of Templars, who may be said to
be, for the time being, in camp.
ENCYCLICAL
Circular communication; sent to many places
or persons. Encyclical letters, containing information, advice,
or admonition, are sometimes issued by Grand Lodges or Grand Masters
to the Lodges and Freemasons of a jurisdiction. The word is not
in very common use; but in 1848 the Grand Lodge of South Carolina
issued "an enevelieal letter of advice, of admonition, and
of direction" to the subordinate Lodges under her jurisdiction;
and a similar letter was issued in 1865 by the Grand Master of
Iowa.
ENDLESS SERPENT
The serpent with its tail in its mouth was
an ancient emblem of eternity and chosen therefore as a pattern
for the English centenary jewel.
EN FAMILLE
French, meaning as a family. In French Lodges,
during the reading of the Minutes, and sometimes when the Lodge
is engaged in the discussion of delicate matters affecting only
itself, the Lodge is said to meet en Camille, at which time visitors
are not admitted.
ENGBUND
Close union. The German Brethren organized
in 1797 to restrict the esoteric teaching to the three Symbolic
Degrees, eliminating higher grades and returning to the purest
and simplest forms. Brothers Mossdorf, Fessler, Schroder, Schneider,
Krause, and Bode were interested in the movement. At one time
the society was also called Vertrauten Bruder, or Trusty Brethren.
See Schroeder, Diedrich Ludwig.
ENGLAND
The following is a brief review of she history
of Freemasonry in England as it has hitherto been written, and
is now generally received by the Fraternity. It is but right,
however, to say that recent researches have thrown doubts on the
authenticity of many of the statementsthat the legend of
Prince Edwin has been doubted; the establishment of Grand Lodge
at York in the beginning of the eighteenth century denied; and
the existence of anything but Operative Masonry before 1717 is
controverted. These questions are still in dispute; but the labors
of Masonic antiquaries, through which many old records and ancient
constitutions are being continually exhumed from the British Museum
and from Lodge libraries, will eventually enable us to settle
upon the truth. According to Anderson and Preston, the first Charter
granted in England to the Freemasons, as a Body, was bestowed
by King Athelstan, in 926, upon the application of his brother,
Prince Edwin. "Accordingly," says Anderson, quoting
from the Old Constitutions (see the Constitutions of 1738, page
64), "Prince Edwin summoned all the Free and Accepted Masons
in the Realm, to meet him in a Congregation at York, who came
and formed the Grand Lodge under him as their Grand Master, 926
A.D.
"They brought with them many old Writings
and Records of the Craft, some in Greek, some in Latin, some in
French, and other Languages; and from the Contents thereof, they
framed the Constitutions of the English Lodges, and made a Law
for Themselves, to preserve and observe the same in all Time coming,
Ac, &c, &c."
From this assembly at York, the rise of
Freemasonry in England is generally dated; from the statutes there
enacted are derived the English Masonic Constitutions; and from
the place of meeting, the ritual of the English Lodges is designated
as the Ancient York Rite. For a long time the York Assembly exercised
the Masonic jurisdiction over all England; but in 1567 the Freemasons
of the southern part of the island elected Sir Thomas Gresham,
the celebrated merchant, their Grand Master, according to Anderson
(see Constitutions, 1738, page 81). He was succeeded by the Earl
of Effingham, the Earl of Huntington, and by the illustrious architect,
Inigo Jones.
In the beginning of the eighteenth century,
Freemasonry in the south of England had fallen into decay. The
disturbances of the revolution, which placed William III on the
throne, and the subsequent warmth of political feelings which
agitated the two parties of the state, had given this peaceful
society a wound fatal to its success. But in 1716 "the few
Lodges at London finding themselves neglected by Sir Christopher
Wren, thought fit to cement under a Grand Master as the Center
of Union and Harmony," and so four of the London Lodges "met
at the AppleTree Tavern; and having put into the chair the oldest
Master Mason, now the Master of a Lodge, they constituted themselves
a Grand Lodge, pro tempore, Latin for the time being, in due form,
and forthwith revived the quarterly communication of the officers
of Lodges, called the Grand Lodge, resolved to hold the annual
assembly and feast, and then to choose a Grand Master from among
themselves, till they should have the honor of a noble brother
at their head" (according to Anderson, Constitutions, 1738,
page 109).
Accordingly, on John the Baptist's Day,
1717, the annual assembly and feast were held, and Brother Anthony
Sayer duly proposed and elected Grand Master. The Grand Lodge
adopted, among its regulations, the following: "That the
privileges of assembling as Masons, which had hitherto been unlimited,
should be vested in certain Lodges or assemblies of Masons convened
in certain places; and that every Lodge to be hereafter convened,
except the four old Lodges at this time existing, should be legally
authorized to act by a warrant from the Grand Master for the time
being, granted to certain individuals by petition, with the consent
and approbation of the Grand Lodge in communication; and that,
without such warrant no Lodge should be hereafter deemed regular
or constitutional.
In compliment, however, to the four old
Lodges, the privileges which they had always possessed under the
old organization were particularly reserved to them; and it was
enacted that "no law, rule, or regulation, to be hereafter
made or passed in Grand` Lodge, should deprive them of such privilege,
or encroach on any landmark which was at that time established
as the standard of Masonic government" (as recorded by Preston,
Illustrations, edition of 1792, pages 248 and 249).
The Grand Lodges of York and of London kept up a friendly intercourse,
and mutual interchange of recognition, until the latter Body,
in 1725, granted a Warrant of constitution to some Freemasons
who had seceded from the former. This un-Masonic act was severely
reprobated by the York Grand Lodge, and produced the first interruption
to the harmony that had long subsisted between them. It was, however,
followed some years after by another unjustifiable act of interference.
In 1735, the Earl of Crawford, Grand Master of England, constituted
two Lodges within the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of York,
and granted, without its consent, Deputations for Lancaster, Durham,
and Northumberland. "This circumstance," says Preston
(Illustrationa; edition of 1792, page 279), "the Grand Lodge
at York highly resented, and ever afterward viewed the proceedings
of the Brethren in the south with a jealous eye. All friendly
intercourse ceased, and the York Masons, from that moment, considered
their interests distinct from the Masons under the Grand Lodge
in London."
Three years after, in 1738, several Brethren,
dissatisfied with the conduct of the Grand Lodge of England, seceded
from it, and held unauthorized meetings for the purpose of initiation.
Taking advantage of the breach between the Grand Lodges of York
and London. they assumed the character of York Freemasons. On
the Grand Lodge's determination to put strictly in execution the
laws against such seceders, they still further separated from
its jurisdiction, and assumed the appellation of Ancient York
Masons. They announced that the ancient landmarks were alone preserved
by them; and, declaring that the regular Lodges had adopted new
plans, and sanctioned innovations, they branded them with the
name of Modern Masons. In 1739, they established a new Grand Lodge
in London, under the name of the Grand Lodge of Ancient York:
Masons, and, persevering in the measures they had adopted, held
communications and appointed annual feasts. They were soon afterward
recognized by the Freemasons of Scotland and Ireland, and were
encouraged and fostered by many of the nobility. The two Grand
Lodges continued to exist, and to act in opposition to each other,
extending their schisms into other countries, especially into
America, until the year 1813, when, under the Grand Mastership
of the Duke of Sussex, they were united under the title of the
United Grand Lodge of England. Such is the history of Freemasonry
in England as uninterruptedly believed by all Freemasons and Masonic
writers for nearly a century and a half.
Recent researches have thrown great doubts
on its entire accuracy. Until the year 1717, the details are either
traditional, or supported only by manuscripts whose authenticity
has not yet been satisfactorily proved. Much of the history is
uncertain; some of it, especially as referring to York, is deemed
apocryphal by Brother Hughan and other industrious writers, and
Brother Henry Sadler in his Masonic Facts and Fictions has proved
that the Ancients were not really a schismatic body of seceders
from the Premier Grand Lodge of England, but were Irish Freemasons
settled in London, who, in 1751, established a body which they
called the Grand Lodge of England according to the 011 Institutions,
maintaining that they alone preserved the ancient tenets and practices
of Freemasonry (see Ancient Masons).
ENGLAND, GRAND LODGES IN
During one period of the eighteenth century
there existed four Grand Lodges in England:
1. The Grand Lodge of England, located at
London.
2. The Grand Lodge of all England, located at York.
3. The Grand Lodge of England according to the Old Institutions.
4. The Grand Lodge of England south of the river Trent.
The last two organizations had their Grand
east at London
Here we may appropriately insert the significant information (see
the Constitution of 1738, page 109):
And after the Rebellion was over, A.D. 1716, the few lodges at
London, finding themselves neglected by Sir Christopher Wren,
thought fit to cement under a Grand Master, as the Center of Union
and Harmony, viz., the Lodges that met
At the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in St. Pauls Churchyards
At the Crown Ale-house in Parkers Lane near Drury Lane.
At the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden.
At the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Channel Rosy, Westminster.
They and some old Brothers met at the said
Apple Tree, and having put into the chair the oldest Master Mason
(now the Master of a Lodge), they constituted a Grand Lodge pro
tempore in due form, and forthwith revived the Quarterly Communication
of the Officers of Lodges (called the Grand Lodge), resolved to
hold the annual Assembly and Feast and then to choose a Grand
Master from among themselves till they should have the Honor of
a noble Brother at their Head.
Accordingly on St. John Baptist day, in
the 3rd year of King George the 1st, A.D., 1717, The Assembly
and Feast of the Free and Accepted Masons was held at the for
said Goose and Gridiron Alehouse.
The Four Old Lodges is also
the title of a book by Brother Robert F. Gould, London, 1879,
treating of the Bodies founding modern Freemasonry, and of their
descendants, the progress of the Craft in England and of the career
of every regular Lodge down to the Union of 1813.
The first Grand
Lodge was formed in 1717. The second Grand Lodge bears date 1725,
and emanated from the immemorial Masonic Lodge that gave such
reverence to the city of York. The third was established in 1751
by some Irish Freemasons settled in London (see Ancient Masons).
And the fourth, whose existence lasted from 1779 to 1789, was
instituted by the York Grand Lodge in compliance with the request
of members of the Lodge of Antiquity, of London; but its existence
was ephemeral, in consequence of the removal of the disturbing
cause with the regular Grand Lodge. Recently evidence has been
found pointing to the existence in London from 1770 to 1775 of
a fifth Grand Lodge, formed by Scotch Freemasons, with some four
or five Lodges under its control (see ATS Quatuor Coronatorum
xviii, pages 69 to 90).
All subordinate Lodges existing at present,
which had their being prior to the Union, in December, 1813, were
subjects of either the first or third of the above designated
four Grand Lodges, and known respectively as the Moderns or the
Ancient, these titles, however, having no recognized force as
to the relative antiquity of either.
ENGLAND, THE FIRST RECORD OF GRAND LODGE
OF
Brother R. F. Gould (History of Freemasonry
ii, page 373) furnishes the valuable information that the Minutes
of Grand Lodge commence 24th June, 1723, and those bearing such
date are signed by "John Theophilus Desaguliers, Deputy Grand
Master." They are entered in a different handwriting, under
date of 25th November, 1723, 19th February, 1723/4, 28th "April
1724," and are not signed at foot. On 24th June, 1724, the
Earl of Dalkeith presided in Grand Lodge, and the following signatures
are appended to the recorded Minutes thus:
Dalkeith, G. M., 1724.
J. T Desaguliers,
G. M. Fra Sorrell, Senr., G. W.
John Senex, Junr.
The Minutes of 21st November, 1724, 17th
March, 20th May, 24th June, and 27th November, 1725, are unsigned.
But to those of 27th December, 1725, are appended the signatures
of
Richmond & Lenox, G. M., 1725,
M. ffolkes, D. G. M., and
two Grand Wardens.
Signatures are again wanting to the proceedings
of 28th February and 12th December, 1726, but reappear under date
of 27th February 1726," or 1727, namely:
Paisley, G. Mr.,
1726, and the next three succeeding officers.
The Minutes of the following 10th May, 1727,
were signed by "Inchiquin, G. M., 1727," and the three
officers next in rank.
The earliest Minutes were not signed on
confirmation at the next meeting but were verified by the four
Grand Officers, or such of them as took part in the proceedings
recorded. In consequence of the re-selection of Doctor Desaguliers
as Deputy Grand Master, the Minutes say that "the late Grand
Master went away from the Hall without any ceremony."
ENGLET
A corruption of Euclid, found in the Old
Constitutions known as the Matthew Cooke,"wherefore ye forsayde
maister Englet ordeynet thei were passing of conying schold be
passing honored" (see lines 674 to 677). Perhaps the copyist
mistook a badly made old English u for an n, and the original
had Euglet, which would be a nearer approximation to Euclid.
ENGRAVE
In French Lodges, buriner, meaning to engrave,
is used instead of écrire, to write. The engraved tablets
are the written records.
ENLIGHTENED
This word, equivalent to the Latin illuminatus,
is frequently used to designate a Freemason as one who has been
rescued from darkness, and received intellectual light. Webster's
definition shows its appositeness: "Illuminated; instructed;
informed; furnished with clear views." Many old Latin Diplomas
commence with the heading, Omnibus illuminatis, meaning that it
is addressed to ad the enlightened.
ENLIGHTENMENT, SHOCK OF
See Shock of Enlightenment
ENOCH
Though the Scriptures furnish but a meager
account of Enoch, the traditions of Freemasonry closely connect
him, by numerous circumstances, with the early history of the
Institution. All, indeed, that we learn from the Book of Genesis
on the subject of his life is, that he was the seventh of the
patriarchs; the son of Jared, and the great-grandfather of Noah;
that he was born in the year of the world 622; that his life was
one of eminent virtue, so much so, that he is described as "walking
with God"; and that in the year 987 his earthly pilgrimage
was terminated, as the commentators generally suppose, not by
death, but by a bodily translation to heaven. In the very commencement
of our inquiries, we shall find circumstances in the life of this
great patriarch that shadow forth, as it were, something of that
mysticism with which the traditions of Freemasonry have connected
him.
His name, in the Hebrew language, Sol, Henoch,
signifies to initiate and to instruct, and seems intended to express
the fact that he was, as Oliver remarks, the first to give a decisive
character to the rite of initiation and to add to the practice
of Divine worship the study and application of human science.
In confirmation of this view, a writer in the Freemasons Quarterly
Review says, on this subject, that "it seems probable that
Enoch introduced the speculative principles into the Masonic creed,
and that he originated its exclusive character," which theory
must be taken, if it is accepted at all, with very considerable
reservations.
The years of his life may also be supposed
to contain a mystic meaning, for they amounted to three hundred
and sixty-five, being exactly equal to a solar revolution. In
all the ancient rites this number has occupied a prominent place,
because it was the representative of the annual course of that
luminary which, as the great fructifier of the earth, was the
peculiar object of divine worship.<
Of the early history of Enoch, we know nothing. It is, however,
probable that, like the other descendants of the pious Seth, he
passed his pastoral life in the neighborhood of Mount Moriah.
From the other patriarchs he differed only in this, that, enlightened
by the Divine knowledge which has been imparted to him, he instructed
his contemporaries in the practice of those rites, and in the
study of those sciences, with which he had himself become acquainted.
The Oriental writers abound in traditionary
evidence of the learning of the venerable patriarch. One tradition
states that he received from God the gift of wisdom and knowledge,
and that God sent him thirty volumes from heaven, filled with
all the secrets of the most mysterious sciences. The Babylonians
supposed him to have been intimately acquainted with the nature
of the stars; and they attribute to him the invention of astrology.
The Rabbis maintain that he was taught by God and Adam how to
sacrifice, and how to worship the Deity aright. The Cabalistic
book of Raziel says that he received the Divine mysteries from
Adam, through the direct line of the preceding patriarchs.
The Greek Christians supposed him to have
been identical with the first Egyptian Hermes, who dwelt at Sais.
They say he was the first to give instruction on the celestial
bodies; that he foretold the deluge that was to overwhelm his
descendants; and that he built the Pyramids, engraving thereon
figures of artificial instruments and the elements of the sciences,
fearing lest the memory of man should perish in that general destruction.
Eupolemus, a Grecian writer, makes him the same as Atlas, and
attributes to him, as the Pagans did to that deity, the invention
of astronomy. Wait (Oriental Antiquities) quotes a passage from
Bar Hebraeus, a Jewish writer, which asserts that Enoch was the
first who invented books and writing; that he taught men the art
of building cities; that he discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac
and the course of the planets; and that he inculcated the worship
of God by fasting, prayer, alms, votive offering, and tithes.
Bar Hebraeus adds, that he also appointed festivals for sacrifices
to the sun at the periods when that luminary entered each of the
zodiacal signs; but this statement, which would make him the author
of idolatry, is entirely inconsistent with all that we know of
his character, from both history and tradition, and arose, as
Oliver supposes, most probably from a blending of the characters
of Enos and Enoch.
In the study of the sciences, in teaching
them to his children and his contemporaries, and in instituting
the Tites of initiation, Enoch is supposed to have passed the
years of his peaceful, his pious, and his useful life, until the
crimes of mankind had increased to such a height that, in the
expressive words of holy Writ, "every imagination of the
thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually." It was
then, according to a Masonic tradition, that Enoch, disgusted
with the wickedness that surrounded him, and appalled at the thought
of its inevitable consequences, fled to the solitude and secrecy
of Mount Moriah, and devoted himself to prayer and pious contemplation.
It was on that spot then first consecrated by this patriarchal
hermitage, and afterward to be made still more holy by the sacrifices
of Abraham, of David, and of Solomonthat we are informed
that the Shekinah, or sacred presence, appeared to him, and gave
him those instructions which were to preserve the wisdom of the
antediluvians to their posterity when the world, with the exception
of but one family, should have been destroyed by the forthcoming
flood. The circumstances which occurred at that time are recorded
in a tradition which forms what has been called the great Masonic
legend of Enoch, and which runs to this effect: Enoch, being inspired
by the Most High, and in commemoration of a wonderful vision,
built a temple underground, and dedicated it to God. His son,
Methuselah, constructed the building; although he was not acquainted
with his father's motives for the erection. This temple consisted
of nine brick vaults, situated perpendicularly beneath each other
and communicating by apertures left in the arch of each vault.
Enoch then caused a triangular plate of
gold to be made, each side of which was a cubit long; he enriched
it with the most precious stones, and encrusted the plate upon
a stone of agate of the same form. On the grave he engraved, in
ineffable characters, the true name of Deity, and, placing it
on a cubical pedestal of white marble, he deposited the whole
within the deepest arch. When this subterranean building was completed,
he made a door of stone, and attaching to it a ring of iron, by
which it might be occasionally raised, he placed it over the opening
of the uppermost arch, and so covered it over that the aperture
could not be discovered. Enoch himself was permitted to enter
it but once a year; and on the death of Enoch, Methuselah, and
Lamech, and the destruction of the world by the deluge, all knowledge
of this temple, and of the sacred treasure which it contained,
was lost until, in after times, it was accidentally discovered
by another worthy of Freemasonry, who, like Enoch, leas engaged
in the erection of a temple on the same spot.
The legend goes on to inform us that after
Enoch had completed the subterranean temple, fearing that the
principles of those arts and sciences which he had cultivated
with so much assiduity would be lost in that general destruction
of which he had received a prophetic vision, he erected two pillarsthe
one of marble, to withstand the influence of fire, and the other
of brass, to resist the action of water. On the pillar of brass
he engraved the history of creation, the principles of the arts
and sciences, and the doctrines of Speculative Freemasonry as
they were practiced in his times; and on the one of marble he
inscribed characters in hieroglyphics, importing that near the
spot where they stood a precious treasure was deposited in a subterranean
vault.
Josephus gives an account of these pillars
in the first book of his Antiquities. He ascribes them to the
children of Seth, which is by no means a contradiction of the
Masonic tradition, since Enoch was one of these children. "That
their inventions," says the historian, "might not be
lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam's prediction
that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of
fire and at another time by the violence and quantity of water,
they made two pillarsthe one of brick, the other of stone;
they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the
pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of
stone might remain and exhibit those discoveries to mankind, and
also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected
by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day."
Enoch, having completed these labors, called
his descendants around him on Mount Moriah, and having warned
them in the most solemn manner of the consequences of their wickedness,
exhorted them to forsake their idolatries and return once more
to the worship of the true God. Masonic tradition informs us that
he then delivered up the government of the Craft to his grandson,
Lamech, and disappeared from earth.
Doctor Mackey refers above to the discoveries
made at the attempt by Julian the Apostate to rebuild the Temple.
These are of especial interest to Brethren of various Degrees
and the two leading accounts of these legends may well be included
here as a matter of information. First we have the one given by
the Greek historian Nicephorus Calistus in the fourteenth century,
in his Ecclesiastical Histories. He records the following remarkable
details of an occurrence that happened at the attempt to rebuild
the Temple:
When the foundations were being laid, as
has been said one of the stones attached to the lowest part of
the foundation was removed from its place and showed the mouth
of a cavern which had been cut out of the rock. But as the cave
could not be distinctly seen, those who had charge of the work,
wishing to explore it that they might be better acquainted with
the place, sent one of the workmen down tied to a long rope.
When he got to the bottom he found water
up to his legs. Searching the cavern on every side, he found,
by touching with his hands, that it was of a quadrangular form.
When he was returning to the mouth, he discovered a certain pillar
standing up scarcely above the water. Feeling with his hand. he
found a little book placed upon it, and wrapped up in very fine
and clean linen. Taking possession of it, he gave the signal with
the rope that those who had sent him down, should draw him up.
Being received above, as soon as the book was shown, all were
struck with astonishment, especially as it appeared untouched
and fresh notwithstanding that it had been found in so dismal
and dark a place. But when the book was unfolded, not only the
Jews but the Greeks were astounded. For even at the beginning
it declared in large letters: " In the beginning was the
Word with God, and the Word was God." To speak plainly, the
writing embraced the whole Gospel which was announced in the divine
tongue of the (beloved) disciple and the Virgin.
This legend as
here quoted is in the Ecclesiasticae Historicae, Nicephori Callisti,
tome ii, lib. x, cap. xxxiii, and is also in the Patrologza Graeca,
Migne, volume cxlvi, pages 542-3. Another description of the same
occurrence is given in the Epitome of the Ecclesiastical History
of Philostorgius, compiled by Photius in the ninth century and
translated by Edward Walford; published by Henry G. Bohn at London,
1855, chapter xiv, page 482, and this reads:
T
he work of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem
by Julian was checked by many prodigies from Heaven; and especially
during the preparation of the foundations, one of the stones which
was placed at the lowest part of the base suddenly started from
its place and opened the door of a certain cave hollowed out in
the rock. Owing to its depth, it was difficult to see what was
within this cave; so persons were appointed to investigate the
matter, who, being anxious to find out the truth, let down one
of their workmen by means of a rope.
On being lowered down he found stagnant
water reaching to his knees; and having gone around the place
and felt the walls on every side, he found the cave to be a perfect
square.
Then, in his return, he stood near about
the middle, and struck his foot against a column which stood rising
slightly above the water. As soon as he touched this pillar, he
found lying upon it a book wrapped up in a very fine and thin
linen cloth; and as soon as he had lifted it up just as he had
found it, he gave a signal to his companions to draw him up again.
As soon as he regained the light, he showed them the book, which
struck them all with astonishment, especially because it appeared
so new and fresh, considering the place where it had been found.
This book, which appeared such a mighty
prodigy in the eyes of both heathens and Jews, as soon as it was
opened, showed the following words in large letters. "In
the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. ' In fact the volume contained that entire Gospel
which had been declared by the divine tongue of the (beloved)
disciple and the Virgin.
ENOCH, BROTHER
The French expression is Frére Enoch.
Evidently the nom de plume, or pen name, of a French writer and
the inventor of a Masonic rite. He published at Liege, in 1773,
two works:
1. Le Vrai Franc Maçon, meaning The
True Freemason, in 276 pages.
2. Let1eres Mafonniques pour servir de Sup payment au Vrai Franc-Maf
on, or Masonic Letters supplementing the True Freemason.
The design of the former of these works
was to give an account of the origin and object of Freemasonry,
a description of all the Degrees, and an answer to the objections
urged against the Institution. The historical theories of Frere
Enoch were exceedingly fanciful and wholly untenable. Thus, he
asserts that in the year 814, Louis the Fair of France, being
flattered by the fidelity and devotion of the Operative Masons,
organized them into a society of four Degrees, granting the Masters
the privilege of wearing swords in the Lodge a custom still continued
in French Lodges and, having been received into the Order
himself, accepted the Grand Mastership on the festival of Saint
John the Evangelist in the year 814. Other equally extravagant
opinions make his book rather a source of amusement than of instruction.
His definition of Freemasonry is, however, good. He says that
it is "a holy and religious society of men who are friends,
which has for its fourtion, discretion; for its object, the service
of God, fidelity to the sovereign, and love of our neighbor; and
for its doctrine, the erection of an allegorical building dedicated
to the virtues, which it teaches with certain signs of recognition.
ENOCH, LEGEND OF
This legend is detailed in a preceding article.
It never formed any part of the old system of Freemasonry, and
was first introduced from Talmudic and Rabbinical sources into
the advanced Degrees, where, however, it is really to be viewed
rather as symbolical than as historical. Enoch himself is but
the symbol of initiation, and his legend is intended symbolically
to express the doctrine that the true Word or Divine truth was
preserved in the ancient initiations.
ENOCHIAN ALPHABET
One of the most important alphabets, or
ciphers, known to historic Freemasons is the Enochian, in consequence
of the revelations made in that character. Tradition says the
Christian princes were accompanied in their journey to Palestine
by Freemasons, who fought by their side, and who, when at the
Holy City, discovered important manuscripts, on which some of
the historic Degrees were founded; that some of these manuscripts
were in Syriac and others in Enochian characters; and that on
their return, when at Venice, it was ascertained that the characters
were identical with those in the Syriac column, spoken of by Josephus,
and with the oldest copies in which the Book of Enoch was written,
and are of great antiquity The Brethren in the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite are largely instructed as to matters pertaining
hereto in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Degrees.
We present an exact copy of the alphabet,
as may be found by comparison with that in the Bodleian Library.
The name He No C H. in Hebrew, signifies
taught, or, more properly, dedicated. In the Koran Enoch is called
Edris, from darasa, to study, which word, more liberally translated,
means, to read or to study With attention (see Enoch).
ENOCH, RITE OF
A Rite attempted to be established at Liege,
in France, about the year 1773. It consisted of four Degrees,
namely:
1. Manouvre, or Apprentice, whose object
was friendship and benevolence.
2. Ouvrier, or Fellow Craft, whose object was fidelity to the
Sovereign.
3. Maître, or master, whose object was submission to the
Supreme Being.
4. Architecte, whose object was the perfection of all the virtues.
The Rite never made much progress.
EN SOPH
The pronunciation of the Hebrew DID AH.
In the Cabalistic doctrines, the Divine Word, or Supreme Creator,
is called the En Soph, or rather the Or En Soph, the Infinite
Intellectual Light. The theory is, that all things emanated from
this Primeval Light (see Cabala).
ENTERED APPRENTICE'S SONG
The author was Matthew Birkhead and his
effort appeared in print, Read's Weekly Journal, December 1, 1722,
and has continued to be popular ever since, being frequently sung
in British Lodges (see Birkhead, Matthew). The song is also called
The Freemasons Health. Brother Birkhead, a singer and actor, Drury
Lane Theater, was Worshipful Master, Lodge V, London. The words
and music of the song were printed in the first edition of the
Book of Constitutions published by the Freemasons in 1723. Under
the reference Tune, Freemasons, in this Encyclopedia we give an
account of the various appearances of it in print. While the verses
are frequently printed with alteration 3 according to the taste
of their respective editors, their first appearance was as follows:
Come let us prepare,
We Brothers that are
Met together on merry Occasion;
Let's drink, laugh and sing,
Our Wine has a Spring
'Tis a Health to an accepted Mason.
The World is in pain
Our secret to gain,
But still let them wonder and gaze on;
Till they're shown the Light
They'l ne'er know the Right
Word or Sign of an accepted Mason. <
'Tis this, and 'tis that,
They cannot tell what
Why so many great Men of the Nation,
Should Aprons put on,
To make themselves one,
With a Free or an accepted Mason.
Great Kings, Dukes and Lords,
Have laid by their swords
This our Mistry to put a good Grace on
And neter been ashamed
To hear themselves named
With a Free or an accepted Mason.
Antiquity's pride
We have on our side
It makes each Man just in his station
There's nought but what's good
To be understood,
By a Free or an accepted Mason.
Then joyn Hand in Hand,
T'each other firm stand
Let's be merry, and put a bright Face on;
What mortal can boast So noble a Toast
As a Free or an accepted Mason?
Another verse was added to the original
by Brother Springett Penn, who became Deputy Grand Master of Munster,
Ireland, and was also a member of a Lodge at London. This addition
to the song was made about 1730 and printed by Dr. James Anderson
in his edition of 1738. Brother Penn's version runs thus:
We're true and sincere
And just to the Fair
They'll trust us on any Occasion:
No Mortal can more
The Ladies adore,
Than a Free and an Accepted Mason.
So rousing a song did not fail of attack
by the enemy and a parody upon it with the venom of the time appeared
in the London Journal of 1725 entitled An Answer to the Freemasons
Health, as follows:
Good people give ear
And the truth shall appear,
For we scorn to put any grimace on:
We've been bammed long enough
With this damn'd silly stuff
Of a Free and an Accepted Mason.
The dear Brotherhood,
As they certainly shou'd,
Their follies do put a good face on:
But it's only a gin,
To draw other fools in,
So sly is an Accepted Mason.
With their aprons before 'em,
For better decorum,
Themselves they employ all their praise on:
In aprons array'd,
Of calves leather made
True type of an Accepted Mason.
They know this and that,
The devil knows what,
Of secrets they talk wou'd amaze one
But know by the by,
That no one can Iye
Like a Free and an Accepted Mason.
On a house ne'er so high,
If a Brother they spy
As his trowel he dext'rousiy lays on:
He must leave off his work,
And come down with a jerk
At the sign of an Accepted Mason.
A Brother one time,
Being hang'd for some crime
His Brethren did stupidly gaze on:
They made signs without end,
But fast hung their friend
Like a Free and an Accepted Mason.
They tell us fine things
How yt lords, dukes, and kings,
Their mis'tries have put a good grace on:
For their credit be't said
Many a skip has been made
A Free and an Accepted Mason.
From whence I conclude
Tho' it seem somewhat rude
No credit their tribe we should piace on:
Since a cool we may see
Of any degree,
May commence an Accepted Mason.
ENTERED
When a candidate receives the First Degree
of Freemasonry he is said to be entered. It is used in the sense
of admitted, or introduced; a common as well as a Masonic employment
of the word, as when we say, "the youth entered college"
or, "the soldier entered the service."
ENTERED APPRENTICE
See Apprentice, Entered
ENTICK, JOHN
An English clergyman, born about 1703, who
took much interest in Freemasonry about the middle of the eighteenth
century. He revised the third edition of Anderson's Constitutions
by order of the Grand Lodge, which was published in 1756. The
next issue of the Book of Constitutions, in 1767, also has his
name on the title page as successor to Doctor Anderson, and is
often attributed to him, but it is described as "A new edition
. . . by a Committee appointed by the Grand Lodge," and it
does not appear that he had anything to do with its preparation
(see Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, 1908, xxi, paps 80).
Entick was also the author of many Masonic
sermons, a few of which were published. Oliver speaks of him as
a man of grave and sober habits, a good Master of his Lodge, a
fair disciplinarian, and popular with the Craft. But Entick did
not confine his literary labors to Freemasonry. He was the author
of a History of the War which ended in 1763, in five volumes,
and a History of London, in four volumes. As an orthoepist he
had considerable reputation and published a Latin and English
Dictionary, and an English Spelling Dictionary. He died in 1773.
ENTOMBMENT
An impressive ceremony in the degree of
Perfect Master of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
ENTRANCE, POINTS OF
See Points of Entrance, Perfect
ENTRANCE, SHOCKS OF
See Shock of Entrance
ENTRUSTING
That portion of the ceremony of initiation
which consists in communicating to the candidate the modes of
recognition.
ENVY
This meanest of vices has always been discouraged
in Freemasonry. The fifth of the Old Charges says: "None
shall discover envy at the prosperity of a brother" (see
Constitutions, 1723, page 53).
EONS
In the doctrine of Gnosticism, Divine spirits
occupying the intermediate state which was supposed to exist between
the Supreme Being and the Jehovah of the Jewish theology, whom
the Gnostics called only a secondary deity. These spiritual beings
were indeed no more than abstractions, such as Wisdom, Faith,
Prudence, etc. They derived their name from the Greek azure, meaning
an age, in reference to the long duration of their existence.
Valentinius said there were but thirty of them; but Basilides
reckons them as three hundred and sixty-five, which certainly
has an allusion to the days of the solar year.
In some of the philosophical degrees, references
are made to the Eons, whose introduction into them is doubtless
to be attributed to the connection of Gnosticism with certain
of the advanced degrees.
EONS, RITE OF THE
Ragon (Juilleur General, a handbook of the
Degrees, page 186) describes this rite as one full of beautiful
and learned instruction, but scarcely known, and practiced only
in Asia, being founded on the religious dogmas of Zoroaster. The
existence of it as a genuine rite is doubtful, for Ragon's information
is very meager.
EOSTRE
Easter, the usual word in French is Pâque,
a name given to the day when the resurrection of Christ is celebrated
by a festival, in the spring of the year. Sometimes called the
Paschal Festival but paschal refers to the Jewish Passover as
well as the Christian Easter.
EPHOD
The sacred vestment worn by the high priest
of the Jews over the tunic and outer garment. It was without sleeves,
and divided below the arm pits into two parts or halves, one falling
before and the other behind, and both reaching to the middle of
the thighs. They were joined above on the shoulders by buckles
and two large precious stones, on which were inscribed the names
of the twelve tribes, six on each.
The ephod was a distinctive mark of the
priesthood. It was of two kinds, one of plain linen for the priests,
and another, richer and embroidered, for the high priest, which
was composed of blue, purple, crimson, and fine linen. The robe
worn by the High Priest or First Principal in a Royal Arch Chapter
is intended to be a representation, but hardly can be called an
imitation, of the ephod.
EPHRAIMITES
The descendants of Ephraim. They inhabited
the center of Judea between the Mediterranean and the river Jordan.
The character given to them in a certain degree of being a stiff
necked and rebellious people, coincides with history which describes
them as haughty, tenacious to a fault of their rights, and ever
ready to resist the pretensions of the other tribes, and more
especially that of Judah, of which they were peculiarly jealous.
The circumstance in their history which has been appropriated
for a symbolic purpose in the ceremonies of the Second Degree
of Freemasonry, may be briefly related thus. The Ammonites, who
were the descendants of the younger son of Lot, and inhabited
a tract of country east of the river Jordan, had been always engaged
in hostility against the Israelites. On the occasion referred
to, they had commenced a war on the pretext that the Israelites
had deprived them of a portion of their territory. Jephthah, having
been called by the Israelites to the head of their army, defeated
the Ammonites, but had not called upon the Ephraimites to assist
in the victory.
Hence, that high-spirited people were incensed,
and more especially as they had no share in the rich spoils obtained
by Jephthah from the Ammonites.
They accordingly gave him battle, but were
defeated with great slaughter by the Gileadites, or countrymen
of Jephthah, with whom alone he resisted their attack. As the
land of Gilead, the residence of Jephthah, was on the west side
of the Jordan, and as the Ephraimites lived on the east side,
in making their invasion it was necessary that they should cross
the river, and after their defeat, in attempting to effect a retreat
to their own country, they were compelled to recross the river.
But Jephthah, aware of this, had placed forces at the different
fords of the river, who intercepted the Ephraimites, and detected
their nationality by a peculiar defect in their pronunciation.
For although the Ephraimites did not speak a dialect different
from that of the other tribes, they had a different pronunciation
of some words and an inability to pronounce the letter r or sh,
which they pronounced as if it were D or s. Thus, when called
upon to say Shibboleth, they pronounced it Sibboleth, "which
trifling defect," as we are told, "proved them to be
enemies." The test to a Hebrew was a palpable one, for the
two words have an entirely different signification; shibboleth
meaning an ear of corn, and sibboleth, a burden. The biblical
relation will be found in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Judges
(see Shibboleth).
EPOCH
In chronology, a certain point of time marked
by some memorable event at which the calculation of years begins.
The various peoples have different epochs or epocha. Thus, the
epoch of Christians is the birth of Christ; that of Jews, the
creation of the world; and that of Mohammedans, the flight of
their prophet from Mecca (see Calendar).
EPOPT
This was the name given to one who had passed
through the Great Mysteries, and been permitted to behold what
was concealed from the mystoe, who had only been initiated into
the Lesser. It signifies an eye-untness, and is derived from the
Greek, esoofax, to look over, to behold. The epopts repeated the
oath of secrecy which had been administered to them on their initiation
into the Lesser Mysteries, and were then conducted into the lighted
interior of the sanctuary and permitted to behold what the Greeks
emphatically termed the sight, abrofta. The epopts alone were
admitted to the sanctuary, for the mystae were confined to the
vestibule of the temple. The epopts were, in fact, the Master
Masons of the Mysteries, while the mystae were the Apprentices
and Fellow Crafts; these words being used, of course, only in
a comparative sense.
EPREMENIL, JEAN JACQUES DUVAL D'
Surname sometimes spelled Esprémesnil,
also Eprémesnil. French magistrate. Born at Pondicherry,
India, December 5, 1745; educated at Paris; member of French Parliament,
he vigorously defended its rights against royalty and was imprisoned
on the Island of Saint Marguerite for four months. Brother Amiable
says he was there a year. He returned to Paris a popular hero
but on being chosen first deputy by the nobility he defended monarchy
and the rising tide of revolution engulfed him.
Publicly attacked by a mob, wounded seriously,
rescued by the National Guard, he escaped to his property near
Havre. He was arrested there, condemned to death by the revolutionary
tribunal at Paris, and was guillotined on April 22, 1794. He was
a member of the Lodge of the Nine Sisters at Paris, his name being
on the calendar for 1788 where he ranked as the Deputy of the
Lodge (see Une Loge Magonnique d' AvanX 1789, Louis Amiable, Paris,
1897, page 268).
EQUALITY
Among the ancient iconologists, students
of likenesses, equality was symbolized by a female figure holding
in one hand a pair of scales equipoised and in the other a nest
of swallows. The moderns have substituted a level for the scales.
And this is the Masonic idea. In Freemasonry, the level is the
symbol of that equality which, as Godfrey Higgins (Anacalypsis
i, 790) says, is the very essence of Freemasonry. "All, let
their rank in life be what it may, when in the Lodge are brothersbrethren
with the Father at their head. No person can read the Evangelists
and not see that this is correctly Gospel Christianity."
EQUERRY
An officer in various royal courts who has
the charge of horses. For some now unknown reason the title has
been introduced into certain of the advanced degrees.
EQUES.
A Latin word signifying knight. Every member
of the Rite of Strict Observance, on attaining to the seventh
or highest degree, received what has been termed a characteristic
name, which was formed in Latin by the addition of a noun in the
ablative case, governed by the preposition a or ab, to the word
Eques, as Eques à Serpente, or Knight of the Serpent, Eques
ab Aquila, or Knight of the Eagle, etc., and by this name he was
ever afterward known in the Order.
Thus Bode, one of the founders of the Rite,
was recognized as Eques à Lilio Convallium, or Knight of
the icily of the Valleys, and the Baron Hund, another founder,
as Eques ab Ense, or Knight of the Sword. A similar custom prevailed
among the Illuminati and in the Royal Order of Scotland. Eques
signified among the Romans a knight, but in the Middle Ages the
knight was called miles; although the Latin word mites denoted
only a soldier, yet, by the usage of chivalry, it received the
nobler signification. Indeed, NIuratori says, on the authority
of an old inscription, that Eques was inferior in dignity to Miles
(see Miles).
EQUES PROFESSUS
A Latin expression for Professed Rnight.
The seventh and last degree of the Rite of Strict Observance.
This ceremony was added, it is said, to the original series by
Von Hund.
EQUILATERAL TRIANGLE
See Triangle
EQUITY
The equipoised balance, an instrument for
weighing, is an ancient symbol of equity. On the medals, this
virtue is represented by a female holding in the right hand a
balance, and in the left a measuring wand, to indicate that she
gives to each one his just measure. In the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite, the thirty-first Degree, or Grand Inspector Inquisitor
Commander, is illustrative of the virtue of equity; and hence
the balance is a prominent symbol of that degree, as it is also
of the Sixteenth Degree, or Princes of Jerusalem, because according
to the old books, the members were Chiefs in Freemasonry, and
administered justice to the inferior degrees.
EQUIVOCATION
Derived from two Latin words meaning equal
and voice, and indicating doubtful interpretation, something most
questionable. To equivocate is to say something with the intention
to deceive. The words of the covenant of Freemasonry require that
it should be made without evasion, equivocation or mental reservation.
This is exactly in accordance with the law of ethics in relation
to promises made.
And it properly applies in this case, because
the covenant, as it is called, is simply a promise, or series
of promises, made by the candidate to the Fraternity to the Brotherhood
into whose association he is about to be admitted. In making a
promise, an evasion is the eluding or avoiding the terms of the
promise; and this is done, or attempted to be done, by equivocation,
which is by giving to the words used a secret signification, different
from that which they were intended to convey by him who imposed
the promise, so as to mislead, or by a mental reservation, which
is a concealment or withholding in the mind of the promiser of
certain conditions under which he makes it, which conditions are
not known to the one to whom the promise is made.
All of this is in direct violation of the
law of veracity. The doctrine of the Jesuits is very different.
Suarez, one of their most distinguished casuists, lays it down
as good law, that if any one makes a promise or contract, he may
secretly understand that he does not sincerely promise, or that
he promises without any intention of fulfilling the promise. This
is not the rule of Freemasonry, which requires that the words
of the covenant be taken in the patent sense which they were intended
by the ordinary use of language to convey. It adheres to the true
rule of ethics, which is, as Paley says, that a promise is binding
in the sense in which the promiser supposed the promisee to receive
it (see Mental Reservation).
ERANOI
Among the ancient Greeks there were friendly
societies, whose object was, like the modern Masonic Lodges, to
relieve the distresses of their necessitous members. They were
permanently organized, and had a common fund by the voluntary
contributions of the members. If a member was reduced to poverty,
or was in temporary distress for money, he applied to the eranos,
and, if worthy, received the necessary assistance, which was,
however, advanced rather as a loan than a gift, and the amount
was to be returned when the recipient was in better circumstances.
In the days of the Roman Empire these friendly societies were
frequent among the Greek cities, and were looked on with suspicion
by the emperors, as tending to political combinations. Smith says
(Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) that the Anglo-Saxon
gilds, or fraternities for mutual aid, resembled the eranoi of
the Greeks. In their spirit, these Grecian confraternities partook
more of the Masonic character, as charitable associations, than
of the modern friendly societies, where relief is based on a system
of mutual insurance; for the assistance was given only to cases
of actual need, and did not depend on any calculation of natural
contingencies.
ERECTING LODGES
To erect a Lodge is the authorized and time-honored
formula to denote the foundation of a new Lodge of Freemasons.
It is so employed in the earliest Lodge Charters, or Warrants,
as they are styled nowadays, ever issued by any Grand Lodge. The
very first of them opens as follows: whereas our Trusted and Well-Beloved
Brothers have besought us that we would be pleased to Erect a
Lodge off tree Masons, etc., etc.
This is in the Warrant of Lodge No. 1, Grand
Lodge of Ireland, February 1, 1731-2. Thus sanctioned by authority,
and approved by usage, the phrase held the field among English-speaking
Freemasons at home and abroad during the half century that preceded
the Union of 1813, and still remains a constitutional formula
among Grand Lodges that derive their powers from the Grand Lodge
of Ireland, or from its step-daughter, the Grand Lodge of the
Ancient. In view of such unfamiliarity with the documents that
embody the history of our organization, it is well to bear in
mind that in 1748 there were no Lodge Charters in existence, save
those issued under the seal of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Several
years had to elapse before the Irish practice, now so universal,
was followed by the Grand Lodge of England.
These comments were made by Brother W. J.
Chetwode Crawley, 1901 (Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge,
volume xiv, page 15).
ERI, ROYAL ORDER OF
The legendary founder in 1695 B.C. of this
organization comprising Freemasons only, was Eremon, King of Ulster,
Ireland, and the Order is reputed to have ceased its military
activities sometime about 1649 to 1659 A.D.
An ancient book Annals of the Four Masters
of Ireland, tells of the Knights of the Collar of Eri as instituted
by King Eamhuin and his eight princes, the chiefs of the armies
of the four provinces of Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connaught.
Headquarters were at the city of Armagh, where a palace and royal
court existed until destroyed by fire in 332 A.D. The palace of
the early kings of Ireland and the Great Hall of the Knights were
then located at Tara in the County Meath, with a military hospital,
named Bronbheagor or House of the Sorrowful Soldier, and a famous
college, a noted seat of Celtic learning.
This ancient Order comprised knights and
teachers, the Ollamhs, Brehons or judges, Crimtears or priest-astronomers,
and Bards, poets and musicians. The modern ceremonies include
the grades in order of Man-at-Arms, Esquire, and Knight, Knights
Commanders, who are chosen by the Knights Grand Cross, and the
latter selected by the Senior Grand Cross who represents the Sovereign,
for whom an empty chair is placed at every Assembly. The latter
is called the Faslairt, or Camp, and represents a green field.
The General Assembly is termed the Foleith.
ERICA
The Egyptians selected the erica as a sacred
plant.
The origin of the consecration of this plant
will be peculiarly interesting to the Masonic student
There was a legend in the mysteries of Osiris, which related that
Isis, when in search of the body of her murdered husband, discovered
it interred at the brow of a hill near which an erica grew; and
hence, after the recovery of the body and the resurrection of
the god, when she established the mysteries to commemorate her
loss and her recovery, she adopted the erica as a sacred plant,
in memory of its having pointed out the spot where the mangled
remains of Osiris were concealed
Ragon (Cours des Initiations, page 151) thus alludes to this mystical
event:
Isis found the body of Osiris in the neighborhood
of Biblos, and near a tall plant called the Erica.
Oppressed with grief, she seated herself on the margin of a fountain
whose waters issued from a rock.
This rock is the small hill familiar to Freemasons; the Ertca
has been replaced by the Acacza. and the grief of Isis has been
changed for that of the Fellow Craits.
The lexicographers define ApeA77 as the
heath or heather; but it is really, as Plutarch asserts, the tamarisk
tree; and Schwenk tDie Mythologie der Semiten, The Semitic Mythology,
relating to the Assyrians, Arameans, Hebraeo-Phenicians, Arabs
and Abyssinians, page 248) says that Phyloe, so renowned among
the ancients as one of the burial places of Osiris, and among
the moderns for its wealth of architectural remains, contains
monuments in which the grave of Osiris is overshadowed by the
tamarisk.
ERITREA
This country is on the western shores of
the Red Sea, and on the northeastern coast of Africa, between
Egypt and Abyssinia. The Grand Orient off Italy instituted one
Lodge in this country at Asmara.
ERLKING
A name found in one of the sacred sagas
of the Scandinavian mythology, entitled Sir Olaf and the Erlking's
Daughter, and applied to the mischievous goblin haunting the black
forest of Thuringia.
ERNEST AND FALK
More fully in German, Ernst und Falk, Gesprache
.fur Frei1naurer, meaning "Ernest and Falk. Conversations
for Freemasons," is the title of a work written by Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing, and first published in 1778. Ernest is an inquirer,
and Falk a Freemason, who gives to his interlocutor a very philosophical
idea of the character, aims, and objects of the Institution. The
work has been faithfully translated by Brother Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie,
F.S.A., in the London Freemasons Quarterly Magazine, in 1854,
and continued and finished, so far as the author had completed
it, in the London Freemason in 1872. Findel says ( History of
Freemasonry, page 373) of this work, that it "is one of the
best things that has ever been written upon Freemasonry."
A translation of it also appeared in the Builder (1915, volume
i, pages 20 and 59), by Brother Louis Block, P. G. M. of Iowa.
ERWIN VON STEINBACH
A distinguished German, who was born, as
his name imports, at Steinbach, near Buhl, about the middle of
the thirteenth century. He was the master of the works at the
Cathedral of Strasburg, the tower of which he commenced in 1275.
He finished the tower and doorway before his death, which was
in 1318. He was at the head of the German Fraternity of Stonemasons,
who were the precursors of the modern Freemasons (see Strasburg).
ESOTERIC MASONRY
That secret portion of Freemasonry which
is known only to the initiates as distinguished from Esoteric
Freemasonry, or monitorial, which is accessible to all who choose
to read the manuals and published works of the Order.
The words are from the Greek, bxreptzAs,
internal, and rKeptK85, external, and were first used by Pythagoras,
whose philosophy was divided into the exoteric, or that taught
to all, and the esoteric, or that taught to a select few; and
thus his disciples were divided into two classes, according to
the Degree of initiation to which they had attained, as being
either fully admitted into the society, and invested with all
the knowledge that the Master could communicate, or as merely
postulants, enjoying only the public instructions of the school,
and awaiting the gradual reception of further knowledge. This
double mode of instruction was borrowed by Pythagoras from the
Egyptian priests, whose theology was of two kindsthe one
exoteric, and addressed to the people in general; the other esoteric,
and confined to a select number of the priests and to those who
possessed, or were to possess, the regal power.
And the mystical nature of this concealed
doctrine was expressed in their symbolic language by the images
of sphinxes placed at the entrance of their temples. Two centuries
later, Aristotle adopted the system of Pythagoras, and, in the
Lyceum at Athens, delivered in the morning to his select disciples
his subtle and concealed doctrines concerning God, Nature, and
Life, and in the evening lectures on more elementary subjects
to a promiscuous audience. These different lectures he called
his Morning and his Evening Walk.
ESPERANCE
Under the name of Cheualiers et Dames de
l'Esperance, a French expression meaning Knights and Lazifes of
Hope, was founded first in France, and subsequently and androgynous,
both sexes, order in Germany. It is said to have been instituted
by Louis XV, at the request of the Marquis de Chatelet, and was
active about 1750. The Lodge Irene, at Hamburg, was founded in
1757.
ESSENES
Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, in
replying to the objection, that if the Fraternity of Freemasons
had flourished during the reign of Solomon, it would have existed
in Judea in after ages, attempts to meet the argument by showing
that there did exist, after the building of the Temple, an association
of men resembling Freemasons in the nature, ceremonies, and object
of their institution (see his page 33). The association to which
he here alludes is that of the Essenes, whom he subsequently describes
as an ancient Fraternity originating from an association of architects
who were connected with the building of Solomon's Temple.
Lawrie evidently seeks to connect historically
the Essenes with the Freemasons, and to impress his readers with
the identity of the two Institutions. Brother Mackey was not prepared
to go so far; but there is such a similarity between the two,
and such remarkable coincidences in many of their usages, as to
render this Jewish sect an interesting study to every Freemason,
to whom therefore some account of the usages and doctrines of
this holy brotherhood will not, perhaps, be unacceptable.
At the time of the advent of Jesus Christ,
there were three religious sects in Judeathe Pharisees,
the Sadducees, and the Essenes; and to one of these seets every
Jew was compelled to unite himself. The Savior has been supposed
by many writers to have been an Essene, because, while repeatedly
denouncing the errors of the two other sects, he has nowhere uttered
a word of censure against the Essenes; and because, also, many
of the precepts of the New Testament are to be found among the
laws of this sect.
In ancient authors, such as Josephus, Philo,
Porphyry, Eusebius, and Pliny, who have had occasion to refer
to the subject, the notices of this singular sect have been so
brief and unsatisfactory, that modern writers have found great
difficulty in properly understanding the true character of Essenism.
And yet our antiquaries, never weary of the task of investigation,
have at length, succeeded in eliciting, from the collation of
all that has been previously written on the subject, very correct
details of the doctrines and practices of the Essenes. Of these
writers none have been more successful than the laborious German
cities Frankel and Rappaport. Their investigations have been ably
and thoroughly condensed by Dr. Christian D. Ginsburg, whose essay
on The Essenes, their History and Doctrines, published at London
in 1864, has supplied the most material facts contained in the
present article.
It is impossible to ascertain the precise
date of the development of Essenism as a distinct organization.
The old writers are so exaggerated in their statements, that they
are worth nothing as historical authorities. Philo says, for instance,
that Moses himself instituted the order, and Josephus that it
existed ever since the ancient time of the Fathers; while Pliny
asserts, with mythical liberality, that it has continued for thousands
of ages. Doctor Ginsburg thinks that Essenism was a gradual development
of the prevalent religious notions out of Judaism, a theory which
Doctor Döllinger repudiates.
But Rappaport, who was a learned Jew, thoroughly
conversant with the Talmud and other Hebrew writings, and who
is hence called by Ginsburg the Corypheus (meaning Leader or Chief,
from the Latin and Greek) of Jewish critics, asserts that the
Essenes were not a distinct sect, in the strict sense of the word,
but simply an order of Judaism, and that there never was a rupture
between them and the rest of the Jewish community. This theory
is sustained by Frankel, a scholarly German, who maintains that
the Essenes were simply an intensification of the Pharisaic sect,
and that they were the same as the Chasidim, whom Lawrie calls
the Rasstdeans, and of whom he speaks as the guardians of King
Solomon's Temple.
If this view be the correct one, and there
is no good reason to doubt it, then there will be another feature
of resemblance and coincidence between the Freemasons and the
Essenes; for, as the latter was not a religious sect, but merely
a development of Judaism, an order of Jews entertaining no heterodox
opinions, but simply carrying out the religious dogmas of their
faith with an unusual strictness of observance, so are the Freemasons
not a religious sect, but simply a development of the religious
idea of the age.
The difference, however, in Brother Mackey's
opinion, between Freemasonry and Essenism lies in the spirit of
universal tolerance prominent in the one and absent in the other.
Freemasonry is Christian as to its membership in general, but
recognizing and tolerating in its bosom all other religions: Essenism,
on the contrary, was exclusively and intensely Jewish in its membership,
its usages, and its doctrines. The Essenes are first mentioned
by Josephus as existing in the days of Jonathan the Maccabean,
one hundred and sixty-six years before Christ. The Jewish historian
repeatedly speaks of them at subsequent periods; and there is
no doubt that they constituted one of the three sects which divided
the Jewish religious world at the advent of our Savior, and of
this sect he is supposed, as has been already said, to have been
a member.
On this subject, Ginsburg says: "Jesus,
who in all things conformed to the Jewish law, and who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, would, therefore,
naturally associate himself with that order of Judaism which was
most congenial to his holy nature. Moreover, the fact that Christ,
with the exception of once, was not heard of in public till his
thirtieth year, implying that he lived in seclusion with this
Fraternity, and that, though he frequently rebuked the Scribes,
Pharisees, and Sadducees, he never denounced the Essenes, strongly
confirms this decision." But he admits that Christ neither
adopted nor preached their extreme doctrines of asceticism. After
the establishment of Christianity, the Essenes fade out of notice,
and it has been supposed that they were among the earliest converts
to the new faith. Indeed, De Quincey rather paradoxically asserts
that they were a disguised portion of the early Christians.
The etymology of the word has not been settled.
E et, among the contending opinions, the preferable one seems
to be that it is derived from the Hebrew Chasid meaning holy out
which connects the Essenes with the Chasidim, a sect which preceded
them, and of whom Lawrie says, quoting from Scaliger, that they
were "an order of the Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem,
who bound themselves to adorn the porches of that magnificent
structure, and to preserve it from injury and decay" (see
LanTie's History of Freemasonry, page 38).
The Essenes were so strict in the observance
of the Mosaic laws of purity, that they were compelled for the
purpose of avoiding contamination, to withdraw altogether from
the rest of the Jewish nation and to form a separate community,
which thus became a brotherhood. The same scruples which led them
to withdraw from their less strict Jewish Brethren induced most
of them to abstain from marriage, and hence the unavoidable depletion
of their membership by death could only be repaired by the initiation
of converts.
They had a common treasury, in which was
deposited whatever anyone of them possessed, and from this the
wants of the whole community were supplied by stewards appointed
by the brotherhood, so that they had everything in common. Hence
there was no distinction among them of rich and poor, or masters
and servants; but the only gradation of rank which they recognized
was derived from the Degrees or orders into which the members
were divided, and which depended on holiness alone. They lived
peaceably with all men, reprobated slavery and war, and would
not even manufacture any warlike instruments. They were governed
by a president, who was elected by the whole community; and members
who had violated their rules were, after due trial, excommunicated
or expelled.
As they held no communication outside of
their own fraternity, they had to raise their own supplies, and
some were engaged in tilling, some in tending flocks, others in
making clothing, and others in preparing food They got up before
sunrise, and, after singing a hymn of praise for the return of
light, which they did with their faces turned to the East, each
one repaired to his appropriate task. At the fifth hour, or eleven
in the forenoon, the morning labor terminated. The Brethren then
again assembled, and after a lustration in cold water, they put
on white garments and proceeded to the refectory, where they partook
of the common meal, which was always of the most frugal character.
A mysterious silence was observed during this meal, which, to
Some extent, had the character of a sacrament. The feast being
ended, and the priest having returned thanks, the Brethren withdrew
and put off their white garments, resumed their working-clothes
and their several employments until evening, when they again assembled
as before, to partake of a common meal.
They observed the Sabbath with more than
Judaic strictness, regarding even the removal of a vessel as a
desecration of the holy day. On that day, each took his seat in
the synagogue in becoming attire; and, as they had no ordained
ministers, any one that liked read out of the Scriptures, and
another, experienced in spiritual matters, expounded the passages
that had been read. The distinctive ordinances of the brotherhood
and the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the angelic
worlds were the prominent topics of Sabbatical instruction. In
particular, did they pay attention to the mysteries connected
with the Tetragrammaton, or the Shem hamphorash, the Expository
Name, and the other names of God which plays so important a part
in the mystical theosophy of the Jewish Cabalists, a great deal
of which has descended to the Freemasonry of our own age.
Josephus describes them as being distinguished
for their brotherly love, and for their charity in helping the
needy, and showing mercy. He says that they are just dispensers
of their anger, curbers of their passions, representatives of
fidelity, ministers of peace, and every word with them is of more
force than an oath.
They avoid taking an oath, and regard it
as worse than perjury; for they say that he who is not believed
without calling on God to witness, is already condemned of perjury.
Josephus also states that they studied with great assiduity the
writings of the ancients on distempers and their remedies, alluding,
as it is supposed, to the magical works imputed by the Talmudists
to Solomon.
It has already been observed that, in consequence of the celibacy
of the Essenes, it was found necessary to recruit their ranks
by the introduction of converts, who were admitted by a solemn
of initiation. The candidate, or aspirant, was required to pass
through a novitiate of two stages, which extended over three years,
before he was admitted to a full participation in the privileges
of the Order. Upon entering the first stage, which lasted for
twelve months, the novice cast all his possessions into the common
treasury. He then received a copy of the regulations of the brotherhood,
and was presented with a spade, and apron, and a white robe. The
spade was employed to bury excrement, the apron was used at the
daily illustrations, and the white robe was worn as a symbol of
purity.
During all this period the aspirant was
considered as being outside the Order, and, although required
to observe some of the ascetic rules of the society, he was not
admitted to the common meal. At the end of the probationary year,
the aspirant, if approved, was advanced to the second stage, which
lasted two years, and was then called an Approacher. During this
period he was permitted to unite with the Brethren in their illustrations,
but was not admitted to the common meal, nor to hold any office.
Should this second stage of probation be passed with approval,
the approacher became an Associate, and was admitted into full
membership, and at length allowed to partake of the common meal.
There was a third rank or Degree called
the Disciple or Companion, in which there was a still closer union.
Upon admission to this highest grade, the candidate was bound
by a solemn oath to love God, to be just to all men, to practice
charity, maintain truth, and to conceal the secrets of the society
and the mysteries connected with the Tetragrammaton and the other
names of God. These three sections of Degrees, of Aspirant, Associate
and Companion, were subdivided into four orders or ranks, distinguished
from each other by different Degrees of holiness; and so marked
were these distinctions, that if one belonging to a higher Degree
of purity touched one of a lower order, he immediately became
impure, and could only regain his purity by a series of illustrations.
The earnestness and determination of these
Essenes says Ginsburg, to advance to the highest state of holiness,
were seen in their self-denying and godly life; and it may fairly
be questioned whether any religious system has ever produced such
a community of saints. Their absolute confidence in God and resignation
to the dealings of Providence; their uniformly holy and unselfish
life; their unbounded love of virtue and utter contempt for worldly
fame, riches, and pleasures; their industry, temperance, modesty,
and simplicity of life; their contentment of mind and cheerfulness
of temper; their love of order, and abhorrence of even the semblance
of falsehood; their benevolence and philanthropy; their love for
the Brethren, and their following peace with all men; their hatred
of slavery and war; their tender regard for children, and reverence
and anxious care for the aged; their attendance on the sick, and
readiness to relieve the distressed; their humility and magnanirnity;
their firmness of character and power to subdue their passions;
their heroic endurance under the most agonizing sufferings for
righteousness' sake; and their cheerfully looking forward to death,
as releasing their immortal souls from the bonds of the body,
to be forever in a state of bliss with their Creator,have
hardly found a parallel in the history of mankind.
Lawrie, in his History of Freemasonry, gives
(see pages 34 and 35) on the authority of Pictet, of Basnage,
and of Philo, the following condensed recapitulation of what has
been said in the preceding pages of the usages of the Essences:
When a candidate was proposed for admission
the strictest scrutiny nas made into his character. If his life
had hitherto been exemplary and if he appeared capable of curbing
his passions, arid regulating his conduct. according to the virtuous,
though austere maxims of their Order, he was presented at the
expiration of his novitiate, with a white garment as an emblem
of the regularity of his conduct and the purity of his heart.
A solemn oath was then administered to him,
that he would never divulge the mysteries of the Order: that he
would make no innovations on the doctrines of the society and
that he would continue in that honorable course of piety and virtue
which he had begun to pursue. Like Frees masons they instructed
the young member in the knowledge which they derived from their
ancestors They admitted no women into their order. They had particular
signs for recognizing each other, which have a strong resemblance
to those of Freemasons. They had colleges or places of retirement,
where they resorted to practice their rites and settle the affairs
of the society and, after the performance of these duties, they
assembled in a large hall, where an entertainment was provided
for them by the president, or master of the college who allotted
a certain quantity of provisions to every individual. They abolished
all distinctions of rank and if preference was ever given, it
was given to piety, liberality, and virtue. Treasurers were appointed
in every town, to supply the wants of indigent strangers.
Dr. W. Wynn Westcott (page 72, volume xxviu,
1915, Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge) takes exception to
Brother Lawrie's claim that the Essences "had particular
signs for recognizing each other, which have a strong resemblance
to those of Freemasons." Brother Westcott could find no such
statement made either by Philo, Josephus, or Pliny.
Lawrie thinks that this remarkable coincidence
between the chief features of the Masonic and Essenian fraternities
can be accounted for only by referring them to the same origin;
and, to sustain this view, he attempts to trace them to the Rasideans,
or Assideans, more properly the Chassidim, "an association
of architects who were connected with the building of Solomon's
Temple " But, aside from the consideration that there is
no evidence that the Chassidirn were a Body of architects for
they were really a sect of Jewish puritans, who held the Temple
in especial honorwe cannot conclude, from a mere coincidence
of doctrines and usages, that the origin of the Essenes and the
Freemasons is identical. Such a course of reasoning would place
the Pythagoreans in the same category: a theory that has been
rejected by the best modern critics.
The truth appears to be that the Essenes,
the School of Pythagoras, and the Freemasons, derive their similarity
from the spirit of brotherhood which has prevailed in all ages
of the civilized world, the inherent principles of which, as the
results of any fraternity all the members of which are engaged
in the same pursuit and assenting to the same religious creed
are brotherly love, charity, and that secrecy which gives them
their exclusiveness. And hence, between all fraternities, ancient
and modern, these remarkable coincidences will be found. The intricate
and most interesting aspect of the Essences as a monastic sort
of order within the pale of Judaism is examined in Hasting's Dictionary
of the Bible. Brother Dudley Wright considers this difficult angle
of the subject in his book Was Jesus an Esserze?
ES SELAMU ALEIKUM
See SeZamu Aleikum, Es: also Salaam
ESTHER
The Third Degree of the American Adoptive
Rite of the Eastern Star. It is also called the Wife's Degree,
and in its ceremonies comprises the history of Esther the wife
and queen of Ahasuerus, fling of Persia, as related in the Book
of Esther.
ETERNAL LIFE
The doctrine of eternal life is taught in
the Master's Degree, as it was in the Ancient Mysteries of all
nations (see Immortality of the Soul).
ETERNITY
The ancient symbol of eternity was a serpent
in the form of a circle, the tail being placed in the mouth. The
simple circle, the figure which has neither beginning nor end,
but returns continually into itself, was also a symbol of eternity.
ETHANIM OR TISHRI
The seventh sacred month, or the first month
of the Hebrew civil year, commencing with the new moon in September.
ETHICS OF FREEMASONRY
There is a Greek word, Sos, ethos, which
signifies custom, from which Aristotle derives another word Pros,
ethos, which means ethics; because, as he says, from the custom
of doing good acts arises the habit of moral virtue. Ethics, then,
is the science of morals teaching the theory and practice of all
that is good in relation to God and to man, to the state and the
individual; it is, in short, to use the emphatic expression of
a German writer, "the science of the good." Ethics being
thus engaged in the inculcation of moral duties, there must be
a standard of these duties, an authoritative ground-principle
on which they depend, a doctrine that requires their performance,
making certain acts just those that ought to be done, and which,
therefore, are duties, and that forbid the performance of others
which are therefore, offenses.
Ethics, therefore, as a science, is divisible
into several species, varying in name and character, according
to the foundation on which it is built.
Thus we have the Ethics of Theology, which
is founded on that science which teaches the nature and attributes
of God; and, as this forms a part of all religious systems, every
religion whether it be Christianity or Judaism, Brahmanism or
Buddhism, or any other form of recognized worship, has within
its bosom a science of theological ethics which teaches, according
to the lights of that religion, the duties which are incumbent
on man from his relations to a Supreme Being. And then we have
the Ethics of Christianity, which being founded on the Scriptures,
recognized by Christians as the revealed will of God, is nothing
other than theological ethics applied to and limited by Christianity.
Then, again, we have the Ethics of Philosophy,
which is altogether speculative, and derived from and founded
on man's speculations concerning God and himself. There might
be a sect of philosophers who denied the existence of a Superintending
Providence; but it would still have a science of ethics referring
to the relations of man to man, although that system would be
without strength, because it would have no Divine sanction for
its enforcement.
Lastly, we have the Ethics of Freemasonry,
whose character combines those of the three others. The first
and second systems in the series above enumerated are founded
on religious dogmas; the third on philosophical speculations.
Now, as Freemasonry claims to be a religion, in so far as it is
founded on a recognition of the relations of man and God, and
a philosophy in so far as it is engaged in speculations on the
nature of man, as an immortal, social, and responsible being,
the ethics of Freemasonry will be both religious and philosophical.
The symbolism of Freemasonry, which is its
peculiar mode of instruction, inculcates all the duties which
we owe to God as being his children, and to men as being their
Brethren. "There is," says Doctor Oliver, "scarcely
a point of duty or morality which man has been presumed to owe
to God, his neighbor, or himself, under the Patriarchal, the Mosaic,
or the Christian dispensation, which, in the construction of our
symbolical system, has been left untouched." Hence, he says,
that these symbols all unite to form "a code of moral and
theological philosophy" the term of which expression would
have been better if he had called it a "code of philosophical
and theological ethics." At a very early period of his initiation,
the Freemason is instructed that he owes a threefold duty to God,
his neighbor, and himselfand the inculcation of these duties
constitutes the ethics of Freemasonry.
Now, the Tetragrammaton, the letter G. and
many other symbols of a like character, impressively inculcate
the lesson that there is a God in whom "we live, and move,
and have our being," and of whom the apostle, quoting from
the Greek poet, tells us that "we are His offspring."
To Him, then, as the Universal Father, does the ethics of Freemasonry
teach us that we owe the duty of loving and obedient children.
And, then, the vast extent of the Lodge,
making the whole world the common home of all Freemasons, and
the temple, in which we all labor for the building up of our bodies
as a spiritual house, are significant symbols, which teach us
that we are not only the children of the Father, but fellow-workers,
laboring together in the same task and owing a common servitude
to God as the Grand Architect of the universe the Algabil
or Master Builder of the world and all that is therein; and thus
these symbols of a joint labor, for a joint purpose, tell us that
there is a brotherhood of man: to that brotherhood does the ethics
of Freemasonry teach us that we owe the duty of fraternal kindness
in all its manifold phases.
And so we find that the ethics of Freemasonry
is really founded on the two great ideas of the universal fatherhood
of God and the universal brotherhood of man.
ETHIOPIA
A tract of country to the south of Egypt,
and watered by the upper Nile. The reference to Ethiopia, familiar
to Freemasons, as a place of attempted escape for certain criminals,
is not to be found in the English or French accounts, and Brother
Mackey was inclined to think that this addition to the Hiramic
legend is an American interpolation. The selection of Ethiopia,
by the old authorities, as a place of refuge, seems to be rather
inappropriate when we consider what must have been the character
of that country in the age of Solomon.
ETYMOLOGY
For the etymology of the word Masons see
Mason, Derivation of the Word.
EUCLID
In the Year of the World, 3650, Anno Mundi,
which was 646 years after the building of King Solomon's Temple,
Euclid, the celebrated geometrician, was born. His name has been
always associated with the history of Freemasonry, and in the
reign of Ptolemy Soter, the Order is said to have greatly flourished
in Egypt, under his auspices. The well-known forty-seventh problem
of his first book, although not discovered by him, but long credited
to Pythagoras, has been adopted as a symbol in Masonic instruction.
EUCLID, LEGEND OF
All the old manuscript Constitutions contain
the well known legend of Euclid, whose name is presented to us
as the Worthy Clerk Euclid in every conceivable variety of corrupted
form. The legend as given in the Dowland Manuscript is in the
following words:
Moreover, when Abraham and Sara his wife
went into Egypt, there he taught the Seven Sciences to the Egiptians
and he had a worthy Scoller that height Ewelyde, and he learned
right well, and was a master of all the vij Sciences liberal.
And in his days it befell that the lord and the estates of the
realms had so many sons that they had gotten some by their wives
and some by other ladies of the realm, for that land is a hot
land and a plenteous of generation. And they had not competent
livelode to find with their children; wherefore they made much
care. And then the King of the land made a great Counsel and a parllament
to witt, how they might find their children honestly as gentlemen;
And they could find no manner of good way And then they did cry
through all the realms. if their were any man that could inform
them, that he should come to them, and he should be so awarded
for his travail that he hold him pleased.
After that this cry was made, then came
this worthy Clarke Ewclyde and said to the King and to all his
great lords: If yee will, take me your children to govern, and
to teach them one of the Seven Scyences wherewith they may live
honestly as gentlemen should, under a condicion, that yee will
grant me and them a commission that I may have power to rule them
after the manner that the science ought to be ruled. And that
the King and all his counsel granted to him alone, and sealed
their communion. And then this worthy Doctor took to him these
lords' sons, and taught them the science of Geometric in practice,
for to work in stones all manner of worthy works that belongeth
to buildings churches temples, castles, towers, and manors. and
all other manner of buildings; and he gave them a charge on this
manner.
Here follow the usual "charges"
of a Freemason as given in all the old Constitutions; and then
the legend concludes with these words: "And thus was the
science grounded there; and that worthy Mr. Ewelyde gave it the
name of Geo7netrie. And now it is called through all this land
Masonry" (see Brother Hughan's Old Charges, edition of 1872,
page 26).
This legend, considered historically, is
certainly absurd, and the anachronism which makes Euclid the contemporary
of Abraham adds, if possible, to the absurdity. But interpreted
as all Masonic legends should be interpreted, as merely intended
to convey a Masonic truth in symbolic language, it loses its absurdity,
and becomes invested with an importance that we should not otherwise
attach to it.
Euclid is here very appropriately used as
a type of geometry, that science of which he was so eminent a
teacher; and the myth or legend then symbolizes the fact that
there was in Egypt a close connection between that science and
the great moral and religious system which was among the Egyptians,
as well as other ancient nations, what Freemasonry is at the present
daya secret institution, established for the inculcation
of the same principles, and inculcating them in the same symbolic
manner. So interpreted this legend corresponds to all the developments
of Egyptian history, which teach us how close a connection existed
in that country between the religious and scientific systems.
Thus Kenrick (Ancient egypt i, 383) tells us that "when we
read of foreigners in Egypt being obliged to submit to painful
and tedious ceremonies of initiation, it was not that they might
learn the secret meaning of the rites of Osiris or Isis but that
they might partake of the knowledge of astronomy, physic, geometry,
and theology." The legend of Euclid belongs to that class
of narrations which, in another work, Doctor Mackey calls The
Mythical Symbols of Freemasonry.
EULOGY
Spoken or written praise of a person's life
or character. Freemasonry delights to do honor to the memory of
departed Brethren by the delivery of eulogies of their worth and
merit, which are either delivered at the time of their burial,
or at some future period. The eulogy forms the most important
part of the ceremonies of a Sorrow Lodge. But the language of
the eulogist should be restrained within certain limits; while
the veil of charity should be thrown over the frailties of the
deceased, the praise of his virtues should not be expressed with
exaggerated adulation, slavish flattery Eulogy, just and affectionate
is one thing; panegyric, suggesting hypocritical compliment, is
something else.
EUMOLPUS
A king of Eleusis, who founded, about the
year 1374 B.C., the Mysteries of Eleusis. His descendants, the
Eumoipidae, presided for twelve hundred years over these Mysteries
as Hierophants.
EUNUCH
It is usual, in the most correct Masonic
instruction, especially to name eunuchs as being incapable of
initiation. In none of the old Constitutions and Charges is this
class of persons alluded to by name, although of course they are
comprehended in the general prohibition against making Freemasons
of persons who have any blemish or maim. However, in the Charges
which were published by Doctor Anderson, in his second edition
(see Constitution, 1738, page 144) they are included in the list
of prohibited candidates. It is probable from this evidence that
at the time it was usual to name them in the point of obligation
above referred to; and this presumption derives strength from
the fact that Dermott, in copying his Charges from those of Anderson's
second edition, added a note complaining of the Moderns for having
disregarded this ancient law, in at least one instance (see Brother
Lawrence Dermott's Ahiman Rezon, edition of 1778). The question
is, however, not worth discussion, except as a matter of interest
in the history of our ceremonies, since the legal principle is
already determined that eunuchs cannot be initiated because they
are not perfect men, "having no maim ox defect in their bodies."
EUPHRATES
One of the largest and most celebrated rivers
of Asia. Rising in the mountains of Armenia and flowing into the
Persian gulf, it necessarily lies between Jerusalem and Babylon.
In the advanced degrees it is referred to as the stream over which
the Knights of the East won a passage by their arms in returning
from Babylon to Jerusalem.
EURESIS
From the Greeli, xxpfatS, meaning a discovery.
That part of the initiation in the Ancient Masteries which represented
the finding of the body of the god or hero whose death and resurrection
was the subject of the initiation. The Euresis has been adopted
in Freemasonry, and forms an essential incident of Craft instruction.
EUROPE
An appellation or name at times given to
the west end of the Lodge.
EVA
The acclamation or cry used in the French
Rite of Adoption.
EVANGELICON
The gospel belonging to the so-called Ordre
du Temple at Paris, and professedly a relic of the real Templars.
Some believe in its antiquity; but others, from external and internal
evidence, fix its date subsequent to the fifteenth century. It
is apparently a garbled version of Saint John's Gospel. It is
sometimes confounded with the Leviticon but, though bound up in
the same printed volume, it is entirely distinct.
EVANGELIST
See Saint John the Evangelist.
EVATES
The second Degree in the Druidical system.
Of the three Degrees the first was the Bards, the second Evates
or Prophets, and the third Druids or Sanctified Authorities.
EVEILLES, SECTE DES
Meaning in French, Sect of the Enlightened.
According to Thory (Acta Latomorum i, 31?) a society presumed
to be a branch of Weishaupt's Illumines that existed in Italy.
EVERGETEN, BUND DER
A German expression meaning League of Doers
of Good, a term taken from the Greek word fVfpefmS, a benefactor.
A secret order after the manner of the Illuminati. It was founded
in Silesia about 1792, by a certain Zerboni of Glogau, Lieut.
von Leipzinger, the merchant Contessa, Herr von Reibnitz, and
five others; that Fessler worked in it- that it used Masonic forms.
Some of the members were imprisoned at Breslau in 1796, and about
1801 the society became defunct.
EVERGREEN
An evergreen plant is a symbol of the immortality
of the soul. The ancients, therefore, as well as the moderns,
planted evergreens at the heads of graves. Freemasons wear evergreens
at the funerals of their Brethren, and cast them into the graves.
The acacia is the plant which should be used on these occasions,
but w here it cannot be obtained, some other evergreen plant,
especially the cedar, or box, is used as a substitute (see Acacia).
EVORA, KNIGHTS OF
There is a very ancient city in Portugal,
of 1200 population, bearing the name of Evora. Quintus Sertorius
took it 80 B.C. The Roman antiquities are unrivaled. The aqueduct
erected by Sertorius has at one end a marvelous architectural
tower rising high above the city, perfect in its condition as
when built, 70 B.C. In 1147, King Alfonso I, of Portugal, instituted
the Order of the New Militia in consequence of the prowess exhibited
by the troops in the siege of Lisbon against the Moors. When they
conquered Evora in 1166, the king by decree changed their name
to Knights of Evora.
EXALTED
A candidate is said to be exalted, when
he receives the Degree of Holy Royal Arch, the seventh in American
Freemasonry. Exalted means elevated or lifted up, and is applicable
both to a peculiar ceremony of the Degree, and to the fact that
this Degree, in the Rite in which it is practiced, constitutes
the summit of ancient Freemasonry.
The rising of the sun of spring from his
wintry sleep into the glory of the vernal equinox was called by
the old sun-worshipers his exaltation; and the Fathers of the
Church afterward applied the same term to the resurrection of
Christ. Saint Athanasius says that by the expression, "God
hath exalted him," Saint Paul meant the resurrection. Exaltation,
therefore, technically means a rising from a lower to a higher
sphere, and in Royal Arch Masonry may be supposed to refer to
the being lifted up out of the first temple of this life into
the second temple of the future life. The candidate is raised
in the Master's Degree, he is exalted in the Royal Arch. In
both the symbolic idea is the same.
EXAMINATION OF CANDIDATES
It is an almost universal rule of the modern
Constitutions of Freemasonry, that an examination upon the subjects
which had been taught in the preceding Degree shall be required
of every Brother who is desirous of receiving a further Degree;
and it is directed that this examination shall take place in an
open Lodge of the Degree upon which the examination is made, that
all the members present may have an opportunity of judging from
actual inspection of the proficiency and fitness of the candidate
for the advancement to which he aspires.
The necessity of an adequate comprehension
of the mysteries of one Degree, before any attempt is made to
acquire a further one, seems to have been duly appreciated from
the earliest times; and hence the 13th Article of the Regius Manuscript
requires that if a Master has an Apprentice he shall teach him
fully, that he may know his Craft ably wherever he may go. (see
lines 239 to 244). But there is no evidence that the system of
examining candidates as to their proficiency, before their advancement,
is other than a modern improvement, and first adopted not very
early in the last century.
EXAMINATION OF THE BALLOT BOX
This is sometimes done after the ballot
for a candidate, by presenting the box first to the Junior Warden,
then to the Senior, and lastly to the Master, each of whom proclaims
the result as clear or foul. This order is adopted so that the
declaration of the inferior officer, as to the state of the ballots,
may be confirmed and substantiated by his superior.
EXAMINATION OF VISITORS
The due examination of strangers who claim
the right to visit, should be entrusted only to the most skillful
and prudent Brethren of the Lodge. And the examining committee
should never forget, that no man applying for admission is to
be considered as a Freemason, however strong may be his recommendations,
until by undeniable evidence he has proved himself to be such.
All the necessary forms and antecedent cautions should be observed.
Inquiries should be made as to the time and place of initiation,
as a preliminary step the Tiler's pledge, of course, never being
omitted.
Then remember the good old rule of "commencing at the beginning."
Let everything proceed in regular course, not varying in the slightest
degree from the order in which it is to be supposed that the information
sought was originally received. Whatever be the suspicions of
imposture, let no expression of those suspicions be made until
the final decree for rejection is uttered. And let that decree
be uttered in general terms, such as, "I am not satisfied,"
or "I do not recognize you," and not in more specific
language, such as, "You did not answer this inquiry,"
or thou are ignorant on that point," The candidate for examination
is only entitled to know that he has not complied generally with
the requisitions of his examiner. To descend to particulars is
always improper and often dangerous.
Above all, never ask what the lawyers call
leading questions, which include in themselves the answers, nor
in any manner aid the memory or prompt the forgetfulness of the
party examined, by the slightest hints. If he has it in him it
will come out without assistance, and if he has it not, he is
clearly entitled to no aid. The Freemason who is so unmindful
of his obligations as to have forgotten the instructions he has
received, must pay the penalty of his carelessness, and be deprived
of his contemplated visit to that society whose secret modes of
recognition he has so little valued as not to have treasured them
in his memory.
And, lastly, never should an unjustifiable
delicacy weaken the rigor of these rules. Remember, that for the
wisest and most evident reasons, the merciful maxim of the law,
which says that it is better that ninety-nine guilty men should
escape than that one innocent man should be punished, is with
us reversed, and that in Freemasonry it is better that ninety
anal nine true men should be turned away from the door of a Lodge
than that one cowan should be admitted.
EXCALIBAR
King Arthur's famous sword, which he withdrew
from a miraculous stone after the unavailing efforts of 200 of
his most puissant barons. Hence, Arthur was proclaimed King. When
dying, Arthur commanded a servant to throw the sword into a neighboring
lake, but the servant twice eluded this command. When he finally
complied, a hand and arm arose from the water, seized the sword
by the hilt, waved it thrice, then sinking into the lake, was
seen no more.
EXCAVATIONS
Excavations beneath Jerusalem have for years
past been in progress, under the direction of the English society,
which controls the "Palestine Exploration Fund," and
many important discoveries, especially interesting to Freemasons,
have been made.
EXCELLENT
A title conferred on the Grand Captain of
the Host, and Grand Principal Sojourner of a Grand Chapter, and
on the King and Scribe of a subordinate Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons in America.
EXCELLENT MASONS
Doctor Oliver ( Historical Landmarks I,
420-8) gives a tradition that at the building of Solomon's Temple
there were several Lodges of Excellent Masons, having nine members
in each, which were distributed as follows: six Lodges, or fifty-four
Excellent Masons in the quarries; three Lodges, or twenty-seven
Excellent Masons in the forest of Lebanon; eight Lodges, or seventy-two
Excellent Masons engaged in preparing the materials; and nine
Lodges, or eighty-one Excellent Masons subsequently employed in
building the Temple. Of this tradition there is not the lightest
support in authentic history, and it must have been invented altogether
for 3 symbolic purpose, in reference perhaps to the musical numbers
which it details.
EXCELLENT MASTER
A Degree which, with that of Super-Excellent
blaster, was at one time given as preparatory to the Royal Arch.
The latter Degree nova forms part of what is known as Cryptic
Masonry. Crypt is a word from the Latin language as well as the
Greek, meaning hidden, and frequently applied to a vault or secret
chamber.
EXCELLENT, MOST
See Most Excellent
EXCELLENT, RIGHT
See Right Excellent
EXCELLENT, SUPER
See Super-Excellent Masons
EXCLUSION
In England the Grand Lodge alone can expel
from the rights and privileges of Freemasonry. But a subordinate
Lodge may exclude a member after giving him due notice of the
charge preferred against him and of the time appointed for its
consideration.
The name of any one so excluded, and the
cause of his exclusion must be sent to the Grand Secretary and
to the Provincial or District Grand Secretary if the Lodge be
in a Province or District. No Freemason excluded is eligible to
any other Lodge until the Lodge to which he applies has been made
acquainted with his exclusion, and the cause, so that the Brethren
may exercise their discretion as to his admission (Constitutions,
Rules 210 and 212). However, it was enacted by the Grand Lodge
of England in 1902 that when a member is three years in arrears
he ceases to hold membership in his Lodge and can regain his former
standing only by submitting a regular petition and passing the
ballot (see Book of Constitutions, Article 175).
In the United States of America the expression
used as synonymous with Exclusion is striking from the roll, except
that the latter punishment is inflicted for non-payment of Lodge
dues. The general practice is to suspend for non-payment of dues,
the Brother regaining his standing, if there be no other objection
to him, by paying the arrearages that he owed.
EXCLUSIVENESS OF FREEMASONRY
The exclusiveness of Masonic benevolence
is a charge that has frequently been made against the Order; and
it is said that the charity of which it boasts is always conferred
on its own members in preference to strangers. It cannot be denied
that Freemasons, simply as Freemasons, have ever been more constant
and more profuse in their charities to their own Brethren than
to the rest of the world; that in apportioning the alms which
God has given them to bestow, they have first looked for the poor
in their own home before they sought those who were abroad; and
that their hearts have felt more deeply for the destitution of
a Brother than a stranger.
The principle that governs the Institution
of Freemasonry, in the distribution of its charities, and the
exercise of all the friendly affections, is that which was laid
down by Saint Paul for the government of the infant church at
Galatia: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good
unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of
faith" (Galatians vi, 10).
This sentiment of preference for those of one's own faith, thus
sanctioned by apostolic authority, is the dictate of human nature,
and the words of Scripture find their echo in every heart. "Blood,"
says the Spanish proverb, "is thicker than water," and
the claims of kindred, of friends and comrades to our affections,
must not be weighed in the same scale with those of the stranger,
who has no stronger tie to bind him to our sympathies, than that
of a common origin from the founder of our race. All associations
of men act on this principle. It is acknowledged in the church
which follows with strict obedience the injunction of the apostle;
and in the relief it affords to the distressed, in the comforts
and consolations which it imparts to the afflicted, and in the
rights and privileges which it bestows upon its own members, distinguishes
between those who have no community with it of religious belief,
and those who, by worshiping at the same altar, have established
the higher claim of being of the household of faith.
It is recognized by all other societies,
which, however they may, from time to time, and under the pressure
of peculiar circumstances, extend temporary aid to accidental
cases of distress, carefully preserve their own peculiar funds
for the relief of those who, by their election as members, by
their subscription to a written constitution, and by the regular
payment of arrears, have assumed the relationship which Saint
Paul defines as being of the household of faith.
It is recognized by governments, which,
however liberally they may frame their laws, so that every burden
may bear equally on all, and each may enjoy the same civil and
religious rights, never fail, in the privileges which they bestow,
to discriminate between the alien and foreigner, whose visit is
but temporary or whose allegiance is elsewhere, and their own
citizens.
This principle of preference is universally
diffused, and it is well that it is so. It is well that those
who are nearer should be dearer; and that a similitude of blood,
an identity of interest, or a community of purpose, should give
additional strength to the ordinary ties that bind man to man.
man, in the weakness of his nature, requires this security by
his own unaided efforts, he cannot accomplish the objects of his
life nor supply the necessary wants of his existence. In this
state of utter helplessness, God has wisely and mercifully provided
a remedy by implanting in the human breast a love of union and
an ardent desire for society.
Guided by this instinct of preservation,
man eagerly seeks communion of man, and the weakness of the individual
is compensated by the strength of association. It is to this consciousness
of mutual dependence, that nations are indebted for their existence,
and governments for their durability. And under the impulse of
the same instinct of society, brotherhoods and associations are
formed, whose members, concentrating their efforts for the attainment
of one common object, bind themselves by voluntary ties of love
and friendship, more powerful than those which arise from the
ordinary feelings of human nature.
EXCLUSIVE TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION
Grand Lodges in the United States have adhered
to State lines as the limits of their activities, but this has
not been so strictly the custom elsewhere. Some particulars of
the situations arising from the contact of different practices
may be seen in the following statement of the action taken by
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania against the Grand Orient of France.
At the Annual Grand Communication of the
Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, held
at Philadelphia, December 27, 1924, Right Worshipful Past Grand
Master Brother Abraham M. Beitler, Chairman of Committee on Clandestine
Lodges in Pennsylvania, presented the following report, when,
on motion, the resolutions attached thereto were unanimously adopted.
The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana
at its fifty-seventh Annual Communication held February, 1869,
delivered an address, in the course of which he said:
"It has become my painful duty to bring
to your notice the action of the Grand Orient of France, with
whom we have for many years been upon the most friendly and brotherly
terms of esteem and regard. The Grand Orient of France has aided
and assisted this Grand Lodge in times of trouble and anxiety,
by her firm adherence to constitutional law and Masonic justice.
In the month of December I received from the office of the Grand
Orient through the post office an official bulletin containing
a decree which certainly surprised me. It has, with a strange
perversion, and unaccountable want of consistency, recognized
a clandestine body in this city, calling itself the Supreme Council
of the Sovereign and Independent State of Louisiana.
"It will become your painful duty to
take notice of this action of the Grand Orient of France, and
make such decree as in your wisdom may be found expedient and
necessary, to sustain the dignity of this Grand Lodge and maintain
its authority over Craft Masonry in this Jurisdiction. There can
be no divided authority. Upon one principle we are all agreed,
and while we have life we will sustain it. The Grand Lodge of
Louisiana will never submit to a divided jurisdiction, and in
this position she will be sustained by every Grand Lodge in North
America, for all are interested alike in sustaining each other.
This principle once abandoned, the power of Masonry for good is
gone. Discord and confusion will reign supreme, and the sun of
Masonry will set in a sea of darkness."
The Committee on Foreign Correspondence
submitted a report on the Grand Orient's action, with full translations
of the decrees and debates relating to its recognition of the
"Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
in and for the Sovereign State of Louisiana" and entering
into fraternal relations with that clandestine Body. The report
concluded with these words:
"This spirit, which seeks to impair
the honor and subvert the dignity of this Grand Lodge, will, we
doubt not, be properly appreciated by our sister Grand Lodges,
and in submitting the following resolutions, your committee feel
confident that the Grand Lodge will receive from her American
sisters the same sympathy and support which they so generously
extended to the Grand Lodge of New York, when her jurisdiction
was invaded by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg."
The resolutions
offered with the above report were:
RESOLVED, I That all Masonic correspondence
and fraternal relations between the Grand Lodge of Louisiana and
the Grand Orient of France cease and be discontinued and no Mason
owing allegiance to that Grand Body be recognized as such in
this jurisdiction
RESOLVED, II
That a duly authenticated copy of the above report and resolution
be transmitted to the Grand Orient of France and to all regularly
constituted American and European Grand Lodges. The report and
the resolutions were adopted.
In his address at the Annual Grand Communication
of the same Grand Lodge, December 27, 1869, the retiring Right
Worshipful Grand Master Brother Richard Vaux, said:
"Within the past year, the action of
the Grand Orient of France in recognizing a spurious Grand Lodge
within the Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, has been
considered by most of the Grand Lodges of the United States. In
each case our sister Grand Lodges have denounced this action as
un-masonic. New York and Massachusetts have exhaustively discussed
the question and acted accordingly. I am most happy to find that
the principle the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania has ever proclaimed,
that a Grand Lodge must be supreme and sovereign within its jurisdiction,
is thus acknowledged. But in the case before us, another principle
which this Grand Lodge has maintained is also accepted as Masonic
law. We have asserted that one Grand Lodge will not permit any
interference, by any other Grand Lodge, with her sovereignty as
a Grand Body; that her power within her jurisdiction tolerates
no rival; and when an effort is made to that end, it is the solemn
duty of all Grand Lodges to protest, and take such other action
as the ease demands. The facts are so clear, in this unjustifiable
interference in Louisiana, that I deem it proper to state, that
all correspondence between the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and
the Grand Orient of France should cease, till the latter recalls
its presumptuous interceding with the affairs of our sister Grand
Lodge of Louisiana, and yields assent to that paramount principle
of American Free masonry, which lies at the foundation of the
supreme sovereignty of Grand Lodges of Freemasons in the United
States."
The Grand Master of Louisiana at the fifty-eighth
Annual Communication, held February 14, 1870, said:
"The Grand Orient of France still maintains
the anomalous position which it so unwisely assumed now more than
a year ago, and still holds in its embrace a spurious and clandestine
body, without any legal title whatever to be called Masonic. From
our Brethren in every quarter of the globe come messages of approval
of the course taken by our Grand Lodge and in no instance, where
the matter of difference has been clearly understood, has Louisiana
been condemned for the firm stand she has taken. Even the Supreme
Council of England, of the Scottish Rite, has adopted resolutions
censuring the Grand Orient of France for having accorded recognition
to a spurious body of men, who indeed claim to be Masons, but
who have never been elsewhere recognized as such, and who have
no legal or proper right to the title, upon so specious and so
false a plea as that given by Grand Master Mellinet, and for its
improper infringement of the jurisdiction rights of our Grand
Lodge." At that Annual Communication the Committee on Foreign
Correspondence in its report said: "The action of our Grand
Lodge, suspending fraternal relations with the Grand Orient of
France on account of its recognition of the spurious Supreme Council
of Louisiana, which has established Symbolic Lodges in our jurisdiction,
has been fully sustained at home and abroad. The principle, that
the Grand Lodge of each state has exclusive jurisdiction over
the symbolic degrees within its territorial limits, is so well
established in the United States, that we confidently relied on
our sister Grand Lodges extending to us the same generous sympathy
and support which New York received when its jurisdictional rights
were invaded by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg.
"Nor have we been disappointed; New
York led the van in declaring non-intercourse with the foreign
invader. Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee,
Texas, and Wisconsin have followed its example; Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Ohio have protested in a firm, butt courteous manner,
against the act of the Grand Orient; Vermont and a number of other
states have also spoken in terms not to be misunderstood, but
we have not yet received official notice of their action. So far
as the proceedings received in season for this report give the
action of the Grand Lodges or the views of their committees on
the subject, we have submitted them without note or comment the
able manner in which the question has been discussed from every
point of view, precluding any remarks of our own.
"Here, however, we may be permitted
to remark that the question is one which appeals to every Grand
Lodge, for if the act of the Grand Orient had been permitted to
pass unrebuked, the sovereignty of each Grand Lodge would have
been endangered, as what is our case today may be theirs tomorrow
and in defending our rights they are maintaining their own. yet
not the less gratefully do we acknowledge the fraternal spirit
which has been displayed in sustaining the action of our Grand
Lodge, and, while we regret the occasion ever arose, it is a matter
of congratulation that it has shown to the Masonic powers of the
world that the Grand Lodges of the United States will submit to
no foreign interference with their rights. It has demonstrated
that any attempt in that direction will only unite them more closely
together in the bonds of Masonic fellowship, and that, while "separate
as the billows, they are one as the sea."
The following further
comments were made by Brother Beitler:
"Your Committee on Clandestine Lodges
in Pennsylvania have within the past month learned that a clandestine
body in our State calling itself Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite
Universal Free Masonry' and claiming the right to confer the first
three degrees in Freemasonry has been taken under the wind of
the Grand Orient of France. The two bodies have entered into formal
contract, some of the provisions of which were interesting.
"It provides that the body in our State
shall pay annually to the Grand Orient of France the sum of $10,
for each active lodge; that it shall buy all diplomas it may require
of the Grand Orient at the price of 15 francs each, the diplomas
to be on parchment, printed in both English and French. "The
body working under the Grand Orient is to have the right to institute
new Lodges in the United States wherever it may deem convenient.
It shall receive for them warrants issued from the Grand Orient
of France, but it is not to be permitted to create Lodges in territories
of the United States outside of Pennsylvania with which the Grand
Orient of France is in fraternal relations. These territories
are stated as being Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island and
New Jersey.
"lt is further provided that should
there be at any time in the future a cessation of the relations
of the Grand Orient of France with one or more of these states,
then the body in Pennsylvania shall have 'plenitude of action.'
"The body in Pennsylvania is given
the right to practice the Scottish Rite including the Symbolic
Degrees.
"In the official records of the Grand
Orient of France for December, 1923, the Grand Secretary submits
a report which was adopted. In it he said:
"'The Regional Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania
was abandoned by the Grand Orient of Spain. They now ask the Grand
Orient of France to take it under its wings. You will recall that
we entered into relations with the Grand Master of this Grand
Lodge through the intermediation of our Brother Beni, Past Master
of L'Atlantide.... The correspondence with the Pennsylvania Brethren
was through a Brother Gould, Lawyer.
"We feel that Pennsylvania should with
the utmost emphasis denounce this action of the Grand Orient of
France. We cannot acknowledge the right of any other Grand Body
outside of our Grand Jurisdiction (whether regarded by us as legitimate
or notwhether in fraternal relations with us or not) to
invade the territory of our Grand Lodge.
"The association which the Grand Secretary
of the Grand Orient of France styles the 'Regional Grand Lodge
of Pennsylvania' and which we have called the 'Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite Universal Freemasonry,' is not lawfully in possession
of the rights which the Grand Orient attempted to give.
"We deem it our duty to call the matter
to the attention of the Grand Lodge. We ask the adoption of the
following:
RESOLVED, III
That the Grand Secretary forward to each of the Grand Lodges in
the United States a copy of this report, calling their attention
to the fact that the body which the Grand Orient of France has
"taken under its wings is authorized by the Grand Orient
of France to create Lodges in every State, excepting Alabama,
Iowa, Missouri, Rhode Island and New Jersey, and that its power
is to extend to those States if and when the fraternal relations
nos existing between the several Grand Lodges of those States
and the Grand Orient of France cease.
RESOLVED FURTHER
That this Grand Lodge, which has always firmly held and still
holds the views expressed by our Right Worshipful Grand Plaster
Brother Richard Vaux (set out in the foregoing report) respectfully
and confidently asks its sister jurisdictions to adopt those views
as fundamental in Freemasonry and requests those Grand Lodges
which are in fraternal relations with the Grand Orient of France
to give their adherence to those views and sever further relations
with the said Grand Orient.
The above resolutions presented by Brother
Beitler, Chairman of the Committee on Clandestine Lodges in Pennsylvania,
were unanimously adopted by the Grand Lodge of that State (see
Territorial Jurisdiction).
EXCUSE
Lodges in the eighteenth century and at
the beginning of the nineteenth inflicted fines for nonattendance
at Lodge meetings, and of course excuses were then required to
avoid the penalty. But this has now grown out of use. Freemasonry
being considered a voluntary institution, fines for absence are
not inflicted, and excuses are therefore not now required. The
infliction of a fine would, it is supposed, detract from the solemnity
of the obligation which makes attendance a duty. The old Constitutions,
however, required excuses for non-attendance, although no penalty
was prescribed for a violation of the rule. Thus, in the Matthew
Cooke Manuscript (of the fifteenth century) it is said, "that
every master of this art should be warned to come to his congregation
that they come duly, but if (unless) they may be excused by some
manner of cause" (see lines 7404). And in the Regius Manuscript
(lines 107-12) it is written: That every master, that is a Mason;
Must ben at the generate congregaeyon
So that he hyt resonebly y-tolde
Where that the semble shall be holde;
And to that semble he must nede gon
But he have a resenabul skwsacyon.
EXECUTIVE POWERS OF A GRAND LODGE
See Grand Lodge
EXEGETICAL AND PHILANTHROPICAL SOCIETY
According to Thory (Acta Latomorumi i 312)
founded at Stockholm in 1787. It united Magnetism to Swedenborgianism,
the religious doctrines of the celebrated Swedish philosopher;
it was at first secret, but when it became known it was killed
by ridicule.
EXEMPLIFICATION OF THE WORK
This term is of frequent use in American
Freemasonry. When a lecturer or teacher performs the ceremonies
of a Degree for instruction, using generally one of the Freemasons
present as a substitute for the candidate, he is said "to
exemplify the work." It is done for instruction, or to enable
the members of the Grand or subordinate Lodge to determine on
the character of the ritual that is taught by the exemplifies..
EXODUS
The date of the Exodus has been determined
by the excavations recently made at Tel elMaskhtta. This is the
name of large mounds near Tel el-Reber, excavated by M. Naville
for the Egyptian Exploration Fund, wherein he found inscriptions
showing that they represent the ancient City of Pithom or Succoth,
the "treasure-cities" (Exodus i, 11), and that Ramses
II, was the founder. This was the Pharaoh of the oppression. The
walls of the treasure chambers were about six hundred and fifty
feet square and twenty-two feet thick. From Pithom, or Succoth,
where the Israelites were at work, they started on their exodus
toward Etham (Khetam), then to Pihachiroth (Exodus xiv, 2), and
so on north and east. The exodus took place under Meneptah II,
who ascended the throne 1325 B.C., and reigned but a short period.
It was along the isthmus that the Egyptian army perished pursuing
the retreating Israelites as they crossed between Lake Serbonis
and the waters of the Mediterranean, amidst the "sea of papyrus
reeds," the yam suph, that has often proved disastrous to
single or congregated travelers (see S. Birch, LL.D., in Ancient
History from the Monuments, Brugsch-Bey's lecture, 17th September,
1874; but more particularly the discoveries above referred to,
in Fresh Lights, etc., by A. H. Sayce).
EXOTERIC
From the Greek combining word, ego, meaning
outside. Public, not secret, belonging to the uninitiated (see
also Esoteric).
EXPERT
In Lodges of the French Rite, there are
two officers called First and Second Experts, whose duty it is
to assist the Master of Ceremonies in the initiation of a candidate.
In Lodges of Perfection of the Scottish Rite, there are similar
officers who are known as the Senior and Junior Expert.
EXPERT, PERFECT
Conferred in three grades, and cited in
Fustier's collection (see Thory, Acta Latomorum i, 312).
EXPERT, SUBLIME ENGLISH
Mentioned in Fustier's collection (see Thory,
Acta Latomorum i, 312).
EXPOSITIONS
Very early after the revival of Freemasonry,
in the beginning of the eighteenth century, pretended expositions
of the ritual of Freemasonry began to be published.
There have been several American expositions
but the compilers have only been servile copyists of Morgan, Bernard,
and Allyn. The undertaking has been, and continues to be, simply
the pouring out of one vial into another.
The expositions which abound in the French,
German, and other continental languages, are not attacks upon
Freemasonry, but are written often under authority, for the use
of the Fraternity.
The usages of continental Freemasonry permit a freedom of publication
that would scarcely be tolerated by the English or American Craft.
EXPULSION
Expulsion is, of all Masonic penalties,
the most severe that can be inflicted on a member of the Order,
and hence it has been often called a Masonic death. It deprives
the expelled of all the rights and privileges that he ever enjoyed,
not only as a member of the particular Lodge from which he has
been ejected, but also of those which were inherent in him as
a member of the Fraternity at large. He is at once as completely
divested of his Masonic character as though he had never been
admitted, so far as regards his rights, while his duties and obligations
remain as firm as ever, it being impossible for any human power
to cancel them. He can no longer demand the aid of his Brethren
nor require from them the performance of any of the duties to
which he was formerly entitled, nor visit any Lodge, nor unite
in any of the public or private ceremonies of the Order. He is
considered as being without the pale, and it would be criminal
in any Brother, aware of his expulsion, to hold communication
with him on Masonic subjects.
The only proper tribunal to impose this
heavy punishment is a Grand Lodge. A subordinate Lodge tries its
delinquent member, and if guilty declares him expelled. But the
sentence is of no force until the Grand Lodge, under whose jurisdiction
it is working, has confirmed it. And it is optional with the Grand
Lodge to do so. or, as is frequently done, to reverse the decision
and reinstate the brother. Some of the Lodges in this country
claim the right to expel independently of the action of the Grand
Lodge, but the claim in Brother Mackey's opinion is not valid.
He held that the very fact that an expulsion is a penalty, affecting
the general relations of the punished Brother with the whole Fraternity,
proves that its exercise never could with propriety be entrusted
to a Body so circumscribed in its authority as a subordinate Lodge.
Besides, the general practice of the Fraternity is against it.
The English Constitutions vest the powers to expel exclusively
in the Grand Lodge. A Private Lodge has only the power to exclude
an offending member from its own meetings.
All Freemasons, whether members of Lodges
or not, are subject to the infliction of this punishment when
found to merit it. Resignation or withdrawal from the Order does
not cancel a Freemason's obligations, nor exempt him from that
wholesome control which the Order exercises over the moral conduct
of its members. The fact that a Freemason, not a member of any
particular Lodge, who has been guilty of immoral or un-masonic
conduct, can be tried and punished by any Lodge within whose jurisdiction
he may be residing, is a point on which there is no doubt.
Immoral conduct, such as would subject a
candidate for admission to rejection, should be the only offense
visited with expulsion. As the punishment is general, affecting
the relation of the one expelled with the whole Fraternity, it
should not be lightly imposed for the violation of any Masonic
act not general in its character. The commission of a grossly
immoral act is a violation of the contract entered into between
each Freemason and his Order. If sanctioned by silence or impunity,
it would bring discredit on the Institution, and tend to impair
its usefulness. A Freemason who is a bad man is to the Fraternity
what a mortified limb is to the body, and should be treated with
the same mode of cure he should be cut off, lest his example spread,
and disease be propagated through the constitution.
Expulsion from one of what is called the
higher Degrees of Freemasonry, such as a Chapter or an Encampment,
does not affect the relations of the expelled party to Blue Masonry.
A Chapter of Royal Arch Masons is not and cannot be recognized
as a Masonic Body by a Lodge of Master Masons by any of the modes
of recognition known to Freemasonry. The acts, therefore, of a
Chapter cannot be recognized by a Master Mason's Lodge any more
than the acts of a literary or charitable society wholly unconnected
with the Order.
Besides, by the present organization of
Freemasonry, Grand Lodges are the supreme Masonic tribunals. If,
therefore, expulsion from a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons involved
expulsion from a Blue Lodge, the right of the Grand Lodge to hear
and determine causes, and to regulate the internal concerns of
the Institution, would be interfered with by another Body beyond
its control. But the converse of this proposition does not hold
good. Expulsion from a Blue Lodge involves expulsion from all
the other Degrees; because, as they are composes of what Brother
Mackey here terms Blue Masons, the members could not of right
sit and hold communications on Masonic subjects with one who was
an expelled Freemason.
EXTENDED WINGS OF THE CHERUBIM
An expression used in the ceremonies of
Royal Master, a Degree of the American Rite, and intended to teach
symbolically that he who comes to ask and to seek Divine Truth
symbolized by the True Word, should begin by placing himself under
the protection of that Divine Power who alone is Truth, and from
whom alone Truth can be obtained. Of Him the cherubim with extended
wings in the Holy of Holies were a type.
EXTENT OF THE LODGE
The extent of a Freemason's Lodge is said
to be in height from the earth to the highest heavens; in depth,
from the surface to the center; in length, from east to west;
and in breadth, from north to south. The expression is a symbolic
one, and is intended to teach the extensive boundaries of Freemasonry
and the in terminal extension of Masonic charity (see Form of
the Lodge).
EXTERIOR
The name of the First Degree of the Rite
d'Orient, or East, according to the nomenclature of M. Fustier
(see Thory, Acta Latomarum i, 31 ).
EXTERNAL QUALIFICATIONS
The eternal qualifications of candidates
for initiation are those which refer to their outward fitness,
based upon the exhibited moral and religious character, the established
reputation, the frame of body, the constitution of the mind, and
social position. Hence they are divided into Moral, Religious,
Physical, Mental, and Political for which see Qualifications of
Candidates.
The expression in the instruction, that "it is the internal
and not the external qualifications that recommend a man to be
made a Freemason," it is evident, from the context, refers
entirely to "worldly wealth and honors," which, of course,
are not to be taken into consideration in inquiring into the qualifications
of a candidate.
EXTINCT LODGE
A Lodge is said to be extinct which has
ceased to exist and work, which is no longer on the registry of
the Grand Lodge, and whose Charter had been revoked for misuse
or forfeited for non-use.
EXTRA COMMUNICATION
The same as Special Communication (see Communication).
EXTRANEOUS
From the Latin and applied to that which
is outside, and thus said among the Craft to be not regularly
made; clandestine. The word is now obsolete in this signification,
but was so used by the Grand Lodge of England in a motion adopted
March 31, 1735, and reported by Anderson in his 1738 edition of
the Constitutions (page 182). "No extraneous brothers, that
is, not regularly made, but clandestinely, . . . shall be ever
qualified to partake of the Mason's general charity."
EXTRUSION
Used in the Constitution of the Royal Order
of Scotland for expulsion. "If a brother shall be convicted
of crime by any Court of Justice, such brother shall be permanently
extruded" (see Section 29). Not in use elsewhere as a Masonic
term.
EYE
See All Seeing Eye
EZEKIEL, TEMPLE OF
See Temple of Ezekiel
EZEL
In Hebrew, iRK-U t:R eben hahezel, meaning
the stone of departure, namely, a mile-stone. n old testimonial
stone in the neighborhood of Saul's residence, the scene of the
parting of David and Jonathan, and the mark beyond which the falling
of Jonathan's arrow indicated danger (see First Samuel xx, 19).
Hence, a word adopted in the honorary Degree that is called the
Mason's XVife and Daughter.
EZRA
There are two persons named Etra who are
recorded in Scripture.
1. Etra, a leading priest among the first
colonists who came up to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, and who is
mentioned by Nehemiah (xii, i); and, 2. Ezra, the celebrated Jewish
scribe and restorer of the law, who visited Jerusalem forty-two
years after the second temple had been completed. Calmet, however,
says that this second Ezra had visited Jerusalem previously in
company with Zerubbabel. Some explanation of this kind is necessary
to reconcile an otherwise apparent inconsistency in the English
system of the Royal Arch, which makes two of its officers represent
Ezra and Nehemiah under the title of scribes, while at the same
time it makes the time of the ceremony refer to the laying of
the foundation of the second Temple, and yet places in the scene,
as a prominent actor, the later Ezra, who did not go up to Jerusalem
until more than forty years after the completion of the building.
It is more probable that the Ezra who is said in the work to have
wrought with Joshua, Haggai, and Zerubbabel, was intended by the
original framer of the ceremony to refer to the first Ezra, who
is recorded by Nehemiah as having been present; and that the change
was made in the reference without due consideration, by some succeeding
author whose mistake has been carelessly perpetuated by those
who followed him. Dr. George Oliver (see Historical Landmarks
ii, 428) attempts to reconcile the difficulty, and to remove the
anachronism, by saying that Esdras was the scribe under Joshua,
Haggai, and Zerubbabel, and that he was succeeded in this important
office by Ezra and Nehemiah. But the English ceremonies make no
allusion to this change of succession; and if it did, it would
not enable us to understand how Ezra and Nehemiah could be present
as scribes when the foundations of the second Temple were laid,
and the important secrets of the Royal Arch Degree were brought
to light, unless the Ezra meant is the one who came to Jerusalem
with Nehemiah. Brother Mackey suggested that there is a confusion
in all this which should be rectified.
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