En: MACKEY - T: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen
(En: MACKEY - T) |
K (Grafik beigefügt) |
||
(4 dazwischenliegende Versionen desselben Benutzers werden nicht angezeigt) | |||
Zeile 1: | Zeile 1: | ||
== MACKEY – T == | == MACKEY – T == | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[Datei:Albert Mackeywww.jpg|thumb|350px]] | ||
:'''Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry''' | :'''Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry''' | ||
− | + | *T | |
+ | |||
+ | The twentieth letter of the English alphabet, and the twenty second and last of the Hebrew. As a symbol, it is conspicuous in Freemasonry. Its numerical value as Teth, is 9, but as Thau, it is 400 (see Tau). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *T. S. G. A. O. T. U. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The brief article entitled GOD on page 409 (see also page 1035), and which states that belief in God is a Landmark of the Order, is one with which critics can find no fault—unless it be that it is better to employ the Masonic name for the Deity, which is The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe. The distinction made bar that name is not altogether an idle one, as a subsequent paragraph will show. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In neither this nor in any other encyclopedia or book about Freemasonry (and for Freemasons) would it be suitable for a writer to undertake to expound a doctrine of God; the Fraternity itself has never (lone so, nor has any Grand Lodge, nor does the Ritual, because Freemasonry is clearly conscious of the fact that it is not a church or a handmaid of one, has no theology of its own, and espouses no set of religious doctrines—not because it is indifferent to religion, but because its work lies in another field. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If this be true (and Freemasons over the world unanimously agree that it is) how explain the fact that belief in God is a Landmark, that a Volume of the Sacred Law lies open on the Altar, that Chaplains lead the Craft in prayer, and that those who go in Search Thor That Which Was Lost know that immortality is one of the secrets in that for which they are Searching? Is it not a self-contradiction to proclaim as with one breath that Freemasonry has no theology of its own, and then to proclaim with the next that each and every Mason believes in T. .S. .G. .A. .O. .T. .U. .? The solution of that apparent contradiction is found in a number of facts Which are implicit in the Craft, and which must therefore be searched out, and assembled, and interpreted: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. Freemasonry does not believe. and for centuries has not believed, that religion is or ever can be a private property owned by any one religion or church or theology or creed. It belongs to men without qualification or exception solely in their capacity as men. and it is there for each man to use without asking another man s consent. It is religion which brings churches into existence; it is not churches which create religion. If Freemasonry has the right to use religion although it is not a church it is because it is composed of men and men anywhere have the right to use religion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. In the Middle Ages it was universally believed that work was a disgrace. The Church taught and acted on the dogma that it was a curse pronounced on men as a punishment for the sin committed by Adam and Eve- the aristocratic classes did not believe that men belonged to a single humanity but that God had created it in species, so that men in one species (or " class ") were " made of a different stuff " from men in another, and that this is true forever Servile and mental laborers belonged to the bottom-most class, and were bought and sold as serfs or slaves; intelligent, skilled workingmen, among whom Masons were numbered. belonged to a class slightly above them; and this caste system was carried out in customs, social life, marriage, money, laws, etc. | ||
+ | |||
+ | God Himself was the chieftain of the highest class (French poets addressed Him as Beau sire Dieu) and any thought that He would work, or put forth effort was held to be blasphemous; He ruled by fiat. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Freemasons denied this whole Medieval dogma about work and the working man, in practice as well as in thought, and among themselves, and in their Lodges, taught that work is the highest estate of man, that to be a working man is to stand above drones and parasites. that the tools and clothing of their work were more honorable distinctions than badges and titles; they even taught— and it was for this reason that priests and monks were opposed to them—that work is one of the Divine attributes; that God himself is a worker. This is the significance of their name for Him, The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. An Apprentice was a youth, and in some ninety per cent of instances came from what were called " the lower classes, " nevertheless he was led to the center of the Lodge Room and there was told to stand Upright before the Altar, and was taught that he meant to God what any priest, or king, or noble. or any other man meant, he " needeth not to be ashamed " of being a workman because in God's eyes it was impossible to be in a more honorable station. Thus there was rooted in Freemasonry a genuine, a universal. an absolute democracy of men, a democracy grounded in the nature of God, and when Masons sale that belief in God is the first Landmark, and "the fundamental doctrine of the Craft" this is what is meant, and that doctrine. again, is enshrined in the title of The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe. The democracy of the world is not one of privilege but of nature, men are in a universal brotherhood because "of the way they are made " and the fact has nothing to do with sentiments and ideals." We are members of the same body, brothers in blood and bone, whether we like it or not, and can be nothing else. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABAOR, TOFFET, EDOM | ||
+ | |||
+ | Three obsolete names which are sometimes given to the three Elect in the Eleventh Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABERNACLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many Masonic students have greatly erred in the way in which they have referred to the Sinaitic Tabernacle, as if it were represented by the Tabernacle said in the legends to have been erected by Zerubbabel at Jerusalem at the time of the building of the second Temple. The belief that the Tabernacle of Zerubbabel was an exact representation of that erected by Moses, arose from the numerous allusions to it in the writings of Doctor Oliver, but in this country principally from the teachings of Thomas Smith Webb and Jeremy L. Cross. It is, however, true, that although the symbols of the Ark, the Golden Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and some others were taken, not from the Tabernacle, but from the Temple, the symbolism of the veils was derived from the latter, but in a form by no means similar to the original disposition. It is therefore necessary that some notice should be taken of the real Tabernacle, that we may be enabled to know how far the Masonic is connected with the Sinaitic edifice. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The word tabernacle means a tent. It is the diminutive of the Latin word taberna, and was used by the Romans to denote a soldier's tent. It was constructed of planks and covered with skins, and its outward appearance presented the precise form of the Jewish Tabernacle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jews called it sometimes mishcan, which, like the Latin taberna, meant a dwelling-place, but more commonly ohel, which meant, like tabernaculum, a tent. In shape it resembled a tent, and is supposed to have derived its form from the tents used by the Patriarchs during their nomadic life. There are three Tabernacles mentioned in Scripture history—the Ante Sinaitic, the Sinaitic, and the Davidic | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The Ante-Sinaitic Tabernacle was the tent used, perhaps from the beginning of the Exodus, for the transaction of business, and was situated at some distance from the camp. It was used only provisionally and was superseded by the Tabernacle proper. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. The Sinaitic Tabernacle. This was constructed by Aholiab and Bezaleel under the immediate direction of Moses. The costliness and splendor of this edifice exceeded, says Kitto, in proportion to the means of the people who constructed it, the magnificence of any Cathedral of the present day. It was situated in the very center of the camp, with its door or entrance facing the East, and was placed toward the western part of an enclosure or outward court, which was one hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide, and surrounded by canvas screens seven and a half feet high, so as to prevent any one on the outside from overlooking the Court. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Tabernacle itself was, according to Josephus, forty-five feet long by fifteen wide; its greater length being from East to West. The sides were fifteen feet high, and there was a sloping roof. There was no aperture or place of entrance except at the eastern end, which was covered by curtains. Internally, the Tabernacle was divided into two apartments by a richly decorated curtain. The one at the western end was fifteen feet long, making, therefore, a perfect cube. This was the Holy of Holies, into which no one entered, not even the High Priest, except on extraordinary occasions. In it was placed the Ark of the Covenant, against the western wall. The Holy of Holies was separated from the Sanctuary by a curtain embroidered with figures of Cherubim, and supported by four golden pillars. The Sanctuary, or eastern apartment, was in the form of a double cube, being fifteen feet high, fifteen feet wide, and thirty feet long. In it were placed the Table of Shewbread on the northern side, the Golden Candlestick on the southern, and the Altar of Incense between them. The Tabernacle thus constructed was decorated with rich curtains. These were of four colors—white or fine twined linen, blue, purple, and red. They were so suspended as to cover the sides and top of the tabernacle, not being distributed as veils separating it into apartments, as in the Masonic Tabernacle. Josephus, in describing the symbolic signification of the Tabernacle, says that it was an imitation of the system of the world; the Holy of Holies, into which not even the Priests were admitted, was axis it were a heaven peculiar to God; but the Sanctuary, where the people were allowed to assemble for worship, represented the sea and land on which men live. But the symbolism of the Tabernacle was far more complex than anything that Josephus has said upon the Subject would lead us to suppose. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Its connection would, however, lead us to an inquiry into the religious life of the ancient Hebrews, and into an investigation of the question how much Moses was, in the appointment of ceremonies, influenced by his previous Egyptian life; topics whose consideration would throw no light on the Masonic symbolism of the Tabernacle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. The Davidic Tabernacle in time took the place of that which had been constructed by Moses. The old or Sinaitic Tabernacle accompanied the Israelites in all their wanderings, and was their old Temple until David obtained possession of Jerusalem. From that time it remained at Gibeon, and we have no account of its removal thence. But when David removed the Ark to Jerusalem, he erected a Tabernacle for its reception Here the Priests performed their daily service, until Solomon erected the Temple, when the ark was deposited in the Holy of Holies, and the Davidie Tabernaele put away as a relic. At the subsequent destruction of the Temple it was most probably burned. From the time of Solomon we altogether lose sight of the Sinaitic Tabernacle, which perhaps became a victim to carelessness and the corroding influence of time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The three Tabernacles just described are the only ones mentioned in Scripture or in Josephus. Masonic tradition, however, enumerates a fourth—the Tabernacle erected by Zerubbabel on his arrival at Jerusalem with his countrymen, who had been restored from captivity by Cyrus for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. Ezra tells us that on their arrival they built the Altar of Burnt-Offerings and offered sacrifice. This would not, however, necessitate the building of a house, because the Altar of Sacrifices had always been erected in the open court, both of the old Tabernacle and Temple. Yet as the Priests and Levites were there, and it is said that the religious ordinances of Moses were observed, it is not unlikely that some sort of temporary shelter was erected for the performance of divine worship. But of the form and character of such a building we have no account. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nevertheless, a Masonic legend has, for symbolical purposes, supplied that deficiency. This legend is, however, peculiar to the American modification of the Royal Arch Degree. In the English system a Royal Arch Chapter represents the "ancient Sanhedrim," where Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Joshua administer the law. In the American system a Chapter is said to represent "the Tabernacle erected by our ancient Brethren near the ruins of King Solomon's Temple." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the erection of this tabernacle, we have said that there is no historical evidence. It is simply a myth, but a myth constructed, of course, for a symbolical purpose. In its legendary description, it bears no resemblance whatsoever, except in the colors of its curtains or veils, to the Sinaitic Tabernacle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the latter the Holy of Holies was in the western extremity, in the former it was in the eastern; in that was contained the Ark of the Covenant with the overshadowing Cherubim and the Shekinah; in this there are no such articles; in that the most holy was inaccessible to all purposes, even to the priests; in this it is the seat of the three presiding officers, and is readily accessible by proper means. In that the curtains were attached to the sides of the tent; in this they are suspended across, dividing it into four apartments. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Masonic Tabernacle used in the American Royal Arch Degree is not, therefore, a representation of the ancient Tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness, but must be supposed to be simply a temporary construction for purposes of shelter, of consultation, and of worship. It was, in the strictest sense of the word, a Tabernacle, a tent. As a myth, with no historical foundation, it would be valueless, were it not that it is used, and was undoubtedly fabricated, for the purpose of developing a symbolism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And this symbolism is found in its veils. There is no harm in calling it a Tabernacle any more than there is in calling it a Sanhedrim, provided we do not fall into the error of supposing that either was actually its character. As a myth, and only as a myth, must it be viewed, and there its symbolic meaning presents, as in all other Masonic myths, a fund of useful instruction (for an interpretation of that symbolism, see Veils, Symbolism of the). | ||
+ | |||
+ | In some Chapters a part of the furniture is called the Tahernacle; in other words, a piece of frame work is erected inside of the room, and is called the Tabernacle. This is incorrect. According to the ritual the whole Chapter room represents the Tabernacle, and the veils should be suspended from wall to wall. Indeed, we have reasons for believing that this interior Tabernacle is an innovation of little more than comparatively a few years standing. The oldest Chapter rooms that Doctor Mackey had seen were constructed on the correct principle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | No one who studies the construction of the Tabernacle as described in the Bible but will be somewhat perplexed by the several difficulties pertaining to the structure as well as its equipment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There will be suggested the unexpected wealth of material and the artistic skill necessary for its construction and A. R. S. Kennedy in writing upon this subject for Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible says (page 888), "Modern students of the Pentateuch find the picture of the desert Sanctuary and its worship irreconcilable with the historical development of religion and the cultus in Israel. In Exodus 25 and following chapters we are dealing not with historical fact, but with the product of religious idealism; and surely these devout idealists of the Exile should command our admiration as they deserve our gratitude. If the Tabernacle is an ideal, it is truly an ideal worthy of Him for whose worship it seeks to provide. Nor must it be forgotten, that in reproducing in portable form, as they unquestionably do, the several parts and appointments of the Temple of Solomon, including even its brazen altar, the author or authors of the Tabernacle believed, in all good faith, that they were reproducing the essential features of the Mosaic sanctuary, of which the Temple was supposed to be the replica and the legitimate successor. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABERNACLE, CHIEF OF THESee Chief of the Tabernacle | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABERNACLE, HOLY KNIGHT OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Called Aaronic Priest, a grade said to have come into England (York) from Ireland about 1780. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABERNACLE, PRINCE OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Prince of the Tabernacle | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABLEAUX | ||
+ | |||
+ | French Masonic name for roster of members and also applied to the trestle-board or tracing-board. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABLE LODGE | ||
+ | |||
+ | After the labors of the Lodge have been completed, Freemasons frequently meet at tables to enjoy a repast in common. In England and America, this repast is generally called a banquet, and the Lodge is said to be, during its continuance, at refreshment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Master, of course, presides, assisted by the Wardens, and it is considered most proper that no profanes should be present. But with these exceptions, there are no rules specially laid down for the government of Masonic banquets. It will be seen, by an inspection of the article Refreshment in this work, that during a the eighteenth century, and even at the commencement of the nineteenth, refreshments in a English Lodges were taken during the sessions of the Lodge and in the Lodge room, and then, of course, a rigid rules were in existence for the government of the Fraternity, and for the regulation of the forms in which the refreshments should be partaken. But this system has long grown obsolete, and the Masonic banquets of the present day differ very little from those of other societies, except, perhaps, in a more Strict observance of the rules of order, and in the exclusion of all non-Masonic visitors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But French Freemasons have prescribed a very formal system of rules for what they call a Loge de Table, or Table Lodge. The room in which the banquet takes place is as much protected by its isolation from observation as the Lodge-room itself. Table Lodges are always held in the Apprentice's Degree, and none but Freemasons are permitted to be present. Even the attendants are taken from the class known as Serving Brethren, that is to say, waiters who have received the First Degree for the special purpose of entitling them to be present on such occasions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The table is in the form of a horseshoe or elongated semicircle. The Master sits at the head, the Senior Warden at the northwest extremity, and the Junior Warden at the southwest The Deacons or equivalent officers sit between the two Wardens. The Brethren are placed around the exterior margin of the table, facing each other; and the void space between the sides is occupied by the serving Brethren or attendants. It is probable that the form of the table was really adopted at first from motives of convenience. But M. Hermitte (Bulletin, Grand Orient, 1869, page 83) assigns for it a symbolism. He says that as the entire circle represents the year, or the complete revolution of the earth around the sun, the semicircle represents the half of that revolution, or a period of six months, and therefore refers to each the two solstitial points of summer and winter, or the two great festivals of the Order in June and December, when the most important Table Lodges are held. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Table Lodge is formally opened with an invocation to the Grand Architect. During the banquet seven toasts are given. These are called Santes d' Obligation, or obligatory toasts. They are drunk with certain ceremonies which are prescribed by the ritual, and from which no departure is permitted. These toasts are: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. The health of the Sovereign or Chief Magistrate of the State. | ||
+ | :2. Grand Master and the Supreme power of the Order, that is, the Grand Orient or the Grand Lodge. | ||
+ | :3. Master of the Lodge; this is offered by the Senior Warden. | ||
+ | :4. The two Wardens. | ||
+ | :5. Visiting Brethren. | ||
+ | :6. The other officers of the Lodge, and the new initiates or affiliates if there be any. | ||
+ | :7. All Freemasons wheresoever spread over the face of the globe (see Toasts). | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ragon (Tuileur General, page 17) refers these seven toasts of obligation to the seven libations made by the ancients in their banquets in honor of the seven planets, the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn, and the seven days of the week which are named after them; and he assigns some striking reasons for the reference. But this symbolism, although very beautiful, is evidently very modern. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Table Lodge is then closed with the fraternal kiss, which is passed from the Master around the table, and with the usual forms. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the most curious things about these Table Lodges is the vocabulary used. The instant that the Lodge is opened, a change takes place in the names of things, and no person is permitted to call a plate a plate, or a knife a knife, or anything else by the appellation by which it is known in ordinary conversation. Such a custom formerly prevailed in England, if we may judge from a passage in Doctor Oliver's Revelations of a Square (page 215), where an instance is given of its use in 1780, when the French vocabulary was employed. It would seem, from the same authority, that the custom was introduced into England from France by Captain George Smith, the author of the Use and Abuse of Freemasonry, who was initiated in a Continental Lodge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The vocabulary of the Table Lodge as used at French Masonic banquets is as follows, the various references being followed in each ease by the Masonic names applied to them by the Brethren: | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABLETS, ENGRAVED | ||
+ | |||
+ | A designation frequently used in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the book of minutes or record; as in the Rose Croix Chapter is used the term engraved columns. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABLETS OF HIRAM ABIFF | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the traditions of the Order there is a legend referring to the tablets used by Hiram Abiff as a Trestle-Board on which to lay down his designs. This legend, of course, can lay no claim to authenticity, but is intended simply as a symbol inculcating the duty of every man to work in the daily labor of life after a design that will construct in his body a spiritual temple (see Hiram Abiff). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TABLIER | ||
+ | |||
+ | French for Apron | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TACITURNITY | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the earliest catechisms of the eighteenth century it is said that "the three particular points that pertain to a Mason are Fraternity, Fidelity, and Taciturnity," and that they "represent Love, Relief, and Truth among all Right Masons." The symbol became obsolete. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TACTICS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The importance that has for many years been given to the military element in the Order of Masonic Knights Templar in America has made it necessary that special manuals should be prepared for the instruction of Knights in the elementary principles of military movements. Popular works of this kind have been: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. Knights Templar Tactics and Drill for the use of Commanderies, and the Burial Service of the Orders of Masonic Knighthood, prepared by Sir Orrin Welsh, Past Grand Commander, State of New York. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. Knights Templar, Tactics and Drill, with the Working, Tezt, and Burial Service of the Orders of Knighthood, as adopted by the Grand Commandery of the State of Michigan by Ellery Irving Garfield, E. G. C. G. Grand Commandery of Michigan. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. Tactics for Knights Templar, and Appendant Orders, prepared by E. Sir Knight George Wingate Chase, of Massachusetts. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. Knights Templar tactics, by Henry B. Grant, Grand Secretary, Kentucky. These works contain the necessary instructions in the School of the Knight, or the proper method of marching, halting, saluting, handling the sword, etc., and the School of the Commandery, or directions for properly performing the evolutions on a public parade. Books of this kind have now become as necessary and as common to the Knights Templar as Monitors are to the Master Mason. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TALISMAN | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the Hebrew tselem and the Chaldaie tsalma, meaning an image or idol. A talisman signifies an implement or instrument, either of wood, or metal, or some precious stone, or even parchment, of various forms, such as a triangle, a cross, a circle, and sometimes a human head or human figure, generally inscribed with characters and constructed with mystical rites and ceremonies. The talisman thus constructed was supposed by the ancients, and even in the Middle Ages, to be invested with supernatural powers and a capacity for protecting its wearer or possessor from evil influences, and for securing to him good fortune and success in his undertakings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The word amulet, from the Latin amuletum, which comes from the Arabic hamalet, anything worn, though sometimes confounded with the talisman, has a less general signification. For while the talisman served both to procure good and to avert evil, the powers of the amulet were entirely of a protective nature. Frequently, however, the two words are indifferently used. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The use of talismans was introduced in the Middle Ages from the Gnostics. Of the Gnostie talismans none were more frequent than those which were inscribed with divine names. Of these the most common were Iao and Sabao, although we find also the Tetragrammaton, and Elohim, Elohi, Adonai, and other Hebrew appellations of the Deity. Sometimes the talisman contained, not one of the names of God, but that of some mystical person, or the expression of some mystical idea. Thus, on some of the Gnostic talismanic gems, we find the names of the three mythical kings of Cologne, or the saered Abrazas. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The orthodox Christians of the early days of the church were necessarily influenced, by the popular belief in talismans, to adopt many of them; although, of course, they sought to divest them of their magical signification, and to use them simply as symbols. Hence we find among these Christians the Constantinian monogram, composed of the letters X and P. or the Vesica Piscis, as a symbol of Christ, and the image of a little fish as a token of Christian recognition, and the anchor as a mark of Christian hope. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of the symbols and symbolic expressions which were in use by the alchemists, the astrologers, and by the Rosicrucians, are to be traced to the Gnostic talismans. The talisman was, it is true, converted from an instrument of incantation into a symbol; lout the symbol was accompanied with a mystical signification which gave it a sacred character. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It has been said that in the Gnostie talislnans the most important element was some one or more of the sacred names of God, derived either from the Hebrews, the Arabians, or from their own abstruse philosophy; sometimes even in the same talisman from all these sources combined Thus there is a Gnostic talisman, said by G. W. King to be still current in Germany as an amulet against plague. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It consists of a silver plate, on which are inscribed various names of God surrounding a magic square, whose figures computed every way make the number thirty-four. In this Gnostic talisman, we will observe the presence not only of sacred names, but also of mystical. And it is to the influence of these talismanic forms, developed in the symbols of the Secret societies of the Middle Ages, and even in the architectural decorations of the builders of the same period, such as the Triangle, the Pentalpha, the Double Triangle, etc., that we are to attribute the prevalence of sacred names and sacred numbers in the symbolic system of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We do not need a better instance of this trans mutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic symbols, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Medieval architectures than a plate to be found in the Azoth Philosophorum of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic philosopher, who flourished in the seventeenth century. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This plate, which is Hermetic in its design, but is full of Masonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle within a square, and on it reposes a dragon. On the latter stands a human figure with two hands and two heads, surrounded by the sun, the moon, and five stars representing the seven planets. One of the heads is that of a male, the other of a female. That hand attached to the male part of the figure holds the Compasses, that to the female, a Square. The Square and Compasses thus distributed seem to indicate that originally a phallic meaning was attached to these symbols as there was to the Point within the Circle, which in this plate also appears in the center of the globe. The Compasses held by the male figure would represent the male generative principle, and the Square held by the female, the female productive principle. The subsequent interpretation given to the combined Square and Compasses was the transmutation from the Hermetic talisman to the Masonic symbol. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TALITH | ||
+ | |||
+ | An oblong shawl worn over the head or shoulders and is made of wool or camel's hair, among the Orthodox Jews; more commonly of silk, among the more modern. Four threads, one of which must be blue, are passed through eyelet holes made in the four corners. The threads being double make eight. Seven are of equal length; the eighth must twist five times round the rest and be tied into five knots, and yet remain equal in length to the other seven. The five knots and eight threads make thirteen, which, with the value 600 of the Hebrew word tsitsith (or fringes, upon which the holiness of the talith depends) aggregates 613, the number of precepts of the moral law, and which is the number of the letters in Hebrew composing the Deealogue. 613 represents 248 positive precepts, or members of the human body, and 365 negative precepts, or number of human veins. Jesus of Nazareth wore the tsitsith: "And behold a woman . . . came behind him and touched the hem of his garment" (Matthew IN, 20); and he rebuked the Pharisces for their ostentation in enlarging the borders, the Greek fringes of their garments (Matthew XXIII, 5). The Arba Canphoth (see illustration) is worn under the upper garments during the whole day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TALJAHAD | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rendered in Hebrew thus mnw meaning Angel of Water, and found in the Twenty-ninth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ritual. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TALMUD | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word signifying doctrine. The Jews say that Moses received on Mount Sinai not only the written law which is contained in the Pentateuch but an oral law, which was first communicated by him to Aaron, then by them to the seventy elders, and finally by these to the people, and thus transmitted by memory, from generation to generation This oral law was never committed to writing until about the beginning of the third century, when Rabbi Jehuda the Holy, finding that there was a possibility of its being lost, from the decrease of students of the law, collected all the traditionary laws into one book, which is called the Mishap, a word signifying repetition, because it is, as it were, a repetition of the written law. The Mishna was at once received with great veneration and many wise men among the Jews devoted themselves to its study. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Toward the end of the fourth century, these opinions were collected into a book of commentaries, called the Gernara, by the school at Tiberias. This work has been falsely attributed to Rabbi Jochanan; but he died in 279, a hundred years before its composition. The Mishna and its Commentary, the Gemara, are, in their collected form, called the Talmlud. The Jews in Chaldea, not being satisfied with the interpretations in this work composed others, which were collected together by Rabbi Ashe into another Gemara. The former work has since been known as the Jerusalem Talmud, and that of Rabbi Ashe as the Babylonian Talmud, from the places in which they were respectively compiled. In both works the Mishna or law is the same; it is only the Gemara or Commentary that is different. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jewish scholars place so high a value on the Talmud as to compare the Bible to water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to spiced wine; or the first to salt, the second to pepper, and the third to spices. For a long time after its composition it seemed to absorb all the powers of the Jewish intellect, and the labors of Hebrew writers were confined to treatises and speculations on Talmudical opinions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Mishna is divided into six divisions called Sederim, whose subjects are: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. The productions of the earth; | ||
+ | :2. Festivals; | ||
+ | :3. The rights and duties of women; | ||
+ | :4. Damages and injuries; | ||
+ | :5. Sacrifices; | ||
+ | :6. Purification. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Each of these Sederim is again divided into Massicoth, or treatises, of which there are altogether sixty-three. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Gemara, which differs in the Jerusalem and Babylonian redactions, consists of commentaries on these Massicoth, or treatises. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the Talmud, Lightfoot has said that the matters it contains "do everywhere abound with trifles in that manner, as though they had no mind to be read; with obscurities and difficulties, as though they had no mind to be understood; so that the reader has need of patience all along to enable him to bear both trifling in sense and roughness in expression." Stehelin concurs in a similar opinion; but Steinschneider, as learned a Hebraist as either, has expressed a more favorable judgment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the Talmud does indeed contain many passages whose peculiarities found little favor with Doctor Mackey, he deemed it, nevertheless, extremely serviceable as an elaborate compendium of Jewish customs, and it has therefore been much used in the cretinism of the Old and New Testaments. It furnishes also many curious illustrations of the Masonic system; and several of the traditions and legends, especially of the higher Degrees, are either found in or corroborated by the Talmud. The treatise entitled Middoth, for instance, gives us the best description extant of the Temple of Solomon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAMARISK | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sacred tree of the Osirian Mysteries, classically called the Erica, which see | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAMMUZ | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word. The tenth month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding to the months June and July, beginning with the new moon of the former. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TANGA TANGO | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Peruvian triune symbol, signifying one in three and three in one. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TANNEHILL, WILKINS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Born in Tennessee, in 1787. He was one of the founders, in 1813, of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, and was for seven years Grand Master of that Body. He was also a contributor to the literature of Freemasonry, having published in 1845 a Master Mason's Manual; which was, however, little more than a compilation from the preceding labors of Preston and Webb. In 1847, he commenced the publication of a Masonic periodical under the title of the Portfolio. This was a work of considerable merit, but he was compelled to discontinue it in 1850, in consequence of an attack of amaurosis, loss of sight. One who knew him well, has paid this just tribute to his character: "Simple in feeling as a child, with a heart warm and tender to the infirmities of his Brethren, generous even to a fault, he passed through the temptations and trying Scenes of an eventful life without a soil upon the purity of his garments." He died June 2, 1858, aged seventy-one years. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAPIS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The name given in German Lodges to the Carpet or Floor-Cloth on which formerly the emblems of Freemasonry were drawn in chalk. It is also sometimes called the Teppich. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAROT | ||
+ | |||
+ | A playing card, seventy-eight to the pack; fifty-six are called the Lesser Arcana and are divided into four suits; the wands or clubs, the cups or hearts, the Swords or spades, and the pentacles or diamonds. Each suit contains four court cards, the King, Queen, Knight and Page, with ten spot cards, numbered from ace to ten. The spots are usually presented in geometrical designs and sometimes combined with pictures illustrating the inner meaning of the cards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The rest of the cards, known as the Greater Arcana, comprises a series of symbolic pictures. Each of the cards has a special title and a number. The doctrine behind these symbols has many forms and meanings; veiled as it is by symbols, it speaks many languages, and its emblems convey a message to students of alchemy and astrology. As one writer upon the Subject says "it is full of meaning no matter by what path the student may have approached the truth which is at the head of the ancient mysteries, and though its symbolism expresses Universal ideas it also represents a particular version of sacred science, being a Symbolic alphabet of the occult philosophy of Israel.;' In its present form the Tarot dates from the fourteenth century, but many authorities believe it to have come down to us from a much earlier Source. Those who credit the cards with a more modern origin derive the name from Tarote, meaning spotted, and in French frequently applied to the checker work on the backs of playing cards. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those who connect the cards with many more centuries of age refer the name to Thoth, an Egyptian Deity resembling the Greek Clod Hermes, anti later identified with Hermes Trismegistus. Thoth was the God of intelligence, magic, Science and invention, who taught the people to write and calculate. The philosophical aspects of the subject are treated in Les 22 Arcanes du Tarot Kabbalistique, LeSymbolisme Hermétique, also the beautiful treatise Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Age with specially designed set of the symbolical cards, all three of these works by Oswald Wirth of Paris; the Tarot of Bohemians, by Papus, the pen name of Dr. Gerard Encausse; An Introduction to the Study of Tarot by Paul F. Case, New York, 1920, and a general discussion is in Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards, by Mrs. John King Van Rennselaer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TARSEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the earliest Catechisms of the eighteenth century, it is said that the furniture of a Lodge consists of a "Mosaic Pavement, Blazing Star, and Indented Tarsel." In more modern catechisms, the expression is "indented tassel," which is incorrectly defined to mean a tessellated border. Indented Tarsel is evidently a corruption of indented tassel, for a definition of which see Tessellated Borden. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TARSEL BOARD | ||
+ | |||
+ | We meet with this expression in some of the old Catechisms as a corruption of Trestle-Board | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TARSHATHA | ||
+ | |||
+ | Used in the Degree of Knight of the East in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, according to the modern ritual of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, for Tirshatha, and applied to the presiding officer of a Council of Princes of Jerusalem (see Tirshatha). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TASMANIA | ||
+ | |||
+ | An island forming the seventh state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Grand Lodge of Ireland established a Lodge in this country in 1823 which did not long remain active. The first English Lodge, Tasmanian Union, No. 781, was constituted at Hobart Town in 1846. English Freemasonry, however, had many difficulties to contend with before it was firmly established. Hope Lodge had been granted a Dispensation in 1852 and the Rev. R. K. Ewing was elected Master. In 1856 two Lodges were formed from it, namely, Faith and Charity, and Brother Ewing was appointed Provincial Grand Master for the two. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tasmanian Union Lodge did not countenance these proceedings and was suspended by Brother Ewing. It remained closed for nine months. When Brother Ewing left Tasmania in 1870 the Provincial Grand Lodge ceased to exist, but in 1875 a new one under Brother W. S. Hammond was opened. Towards 1876 the clouds began to disperse and by 1885 there were seven Lodges under each of the English and Irish Grand Lodges and four under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. On June 26, 1890, the Grand Lodge of Tasmania was constituted with all due ceremony. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TASSELS | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the English and French Tracing Boards of the First Degree, there are four tassels, one at each angle, which are attached to a cord that surrounds a tracing-board, and which constitutes the true tessellated border. These four cords are described as referring to the four principal points, the Guttural, Pectoral, Manual, and Pedal, and through them to the four cardinal virtues, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice (see Tessellated Border, also Tulith). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word tsitsith means both fringes and tassels in the Old Testament. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Note Deuteronomy (xx, 12), where the older translation has fringes and the Revised Version gives borders, the latter agreeing with border of Mark (vi, 56) and Luke (viii, 44). Where the Revised Version has border throughout, the Authorized Version has hem in Matthew (ix, and xiv 36). As symbols of great importance their use was ordered in Numbers (xv, 3S, 40), "Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TASTING AND SMELLING | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the five senses hearing, seeing, and feeling only are deemed essential to Freemasons. Tasting and smelling are therefore not referred to in the instructions, except as making up the sacred number five. Preston says: "Smelling and Tasting are inseparably connected; and it is by the unnatural kind of life which men commonly lead in society that these senses are rendered less fit to perform their natural duties." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TATNAI AND SHETHAR-BOZNAI | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tatnai was a Persian Satrap or Governor of the Province west of the Euphrates in the time of Darius and Zerubbabel; Shethar-Boznai was an officer under his command The two united with the Apharsachites in trying to obstruct the building of the Second Temple, and in writing a letter to Darius, of which a copy is preserved in Ezra (6-17). | ||
+ | |||
+ | In this letter they reported that "the house of the great God" in Judea was being built with great stones, and that the work was going on fast, on the alleged authority of a Degree from Cyrus. They requested that search might be made in the Rolls Court whether such a Degree was ever given, and asked for the King's pleasure in the matter. The decree was found at Ecbatana, and a letter was sent to Tatnai and Shethar-Boznai from Darius, ordering them no more to obstruct, but, on the contrary, to aid the Elders of the Jews in rebuilding the Temple by supplying them both with money and with beasts, corn, salt, wine, and oil for the sacrifices. Shethar-Boznai, after the receipt of this Decree, offered no further obstruction to the Jews. Their names have been hence introduced into some of the high Degrees in Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAU | ||
+ | |||
+ | The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Tau, and it has the power of the Roman T. In its present form n, in the square character now in use, it has no resemblance to a cross; but in the ancient Hebrew alphabet, its figure X, or +, was that of a cross. Hence, when it is said, in the vision of Ezekiel (ix, 4) "Go through the midst of the city, and set a mark (in the original"n, tau) upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof"— which mark was to distinguish them as persons to be saved, on account of their sorrow for sin, from those who, as idolaters, were to be slain—the evident allusion is to a cross. The form of this cross was X or +, a form familiar to the people of that day. But as the Greek letter tau subsequently assumed the form which is still preserved in the Roman T. the tau or tau cross was made also to assume the same form; so that the mark tau is now universally recognized in this form, T. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This tau, tau cross, or tau mark, was of very universal use as a sacred symbol among the ancient From the passage of Ezekiel just cited, it. is evident that the Hebrews recognized it as a sign of salvation; according to the Talmudists, the symbol was much older than the time of Ezekiel, for they say that when Moses anointed Aaron as the High Priest, he marked his forehead with this sign. Speaking of the use of the tau cross in the Old Testament, Didron says in his Christian Iconography (page 370) that "it saved the youthful Isaac from death, redeemed from destruction an entire people whose houses were marked with that symbol, healed the envenomed bites of those who looked at the serpent raised in the form of a tau upon a pole, and called back the soul into the dead body of the son of that poor widow who had given bread to the prophet." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hence, in Christian iconography, the tau cross, or cross of the Old Testament, is called the Anticipatory Cross, because it anticipated the four-limbed Cross of the Passion, and the typical cross because it was its type. It is also called the Cross of Saint Anthony, because on it that saint is supposed to have suffered martyrdom. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, refers to it the tiluk, or mark worn by the devotees of Brahma. Davies, in his Celtic Researches, says that the Gallicum tau, or the tau of the ancient Gauls, was among the Druids a symbol of their supreme god, or Jupiter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the Egyptians, the tau, with an oval ring or handle, became the Crux Ansata, and was used by them as the constant symbol of life. Doctor Clarke says (Travels v, page 311) that the tau cross was a monogram of Thoth, "the symbolical or mystical name of Hidden Wisdom among the ancient Egyptians." Dupuy, in his History of the Templars, says that the tau was a Templar emblem. Von Hammer, who lets no opportunity of maligning the Order escape him, adduces this as a proof of the idolatrous tendencies of the Knights. He explains the tau, which, he says, was inscribed on the forehead of the Baphomet or Templar idols as a figure of the phallus; hence he comes to the conclusion that the Knights Templar were addicted the obscene worship of that symbol. It is, how ever, entirely doubtful, notwithstanding the authority of Dupuy, whether the tau was a symbol of the Templars. But if it was, its origin is rather to be looked for in the supposed Hebrew idea as a symbol of preservation. It is in this sense, as a symbol of salvation from death and of eternal life, that it has been adopted into the Masonic system, and presents itself, especially under its triple combination, as a badge of Royal Arch Masonry (see Triple Tau). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAU CROSS | ||
+ | |||
+ | A cross of three limbs, so called because it presents the figure of the Greek letter T (see Tau). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TAXATION OF MASONIC PROPERTY | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a survey of 41 of the 49 Grand Jurisdictions made in 1932 the Masonic Service Association, Washington, D. C., summarized its findings: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Masonic property used wholly for fraternal purposes is tax free in 24 of the 41 Grand Jurisdictions. Where it is not used wholly for Masonic purposes it is tax free in 16 of 41 Jurisdictions. If it is partly commercial (as when rooms in a Masonic Temple are rented for offices and stores) it is tax free in 4 of the 41 Jurisdictions, but is taxed, or may be taxed, in 35, the "may be" accounting for the discrepancy in the figures. These figures may have changed during the decade since but on the whole they represent the meldence of taxation State by State. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question has been in courts from 200 to 300 times in the majority of cases the legal arguments have hinged upon one or another, or both, of two questions: How shall Freemasonry be defined, and under what laws does the definition bring it; is it, for example, a religion, educational, charitable organization or note If a Masonic property is partly commercial, partly not should the whole of it be taxed; or only the commercially used portion? Masonic lawyers who have opposed taxation have had difficulty in their arguments because the Grand Body they represent has seldom possessed a legal definition of itself—perhaps because to do so would involve a formal and official definition of Freemasonry, which is something it prefers to avoid. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In at least two States (and perhaps more) this difficulty has been circumvented by asking the State legislature to adopt a law covering Freemasonry by name. This would appear to be just and non-discriminatory because Freemasonry is sui generis and cannot be subsumed under any general classification. On the other side, members of legislatures who favor taxation of Masonic properties have difficulty with the fact that even if a Masonic Body receives rents or interest from endowments the money is not profit, goes into nobody's pocket, but is used for fraternal and benevolent purposes; and also they are in the dilemma of having to decide whether if they tax Masonic properties they ought not also to tax churches, and hospitals not owned by the State. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TCHANDALAS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Mentioned in the Institutes of Manu as a class of pariahs, or the lowest in society, but are referred to as the inventors of brick for building purposes, as is attested by Vina-Snati and Veda Vyasa. In the course of time they were banished from the towns, the rites of burial, and the use of rice, water, and fire. They finally emigrated, and became the progenitors of great nations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEAM | ||
+ | |||
+ | Royal Arch Masons in America apply this word rather inelegantly to designate the three candidates upon whom the Degree is conferred at the same time. It is also used generally in referring to any group of workers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEARS | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Master's degree in some of the Continental Rites, and in all the advanced Degrees where the legend of the Degree and the ceremony of reception are intended to express grief, the hangings of the Lodge are black strewn with tears. The figures representing tears are in the form depicted in the illustration. The symbolism is borrowed from the science of heraldry, where these figures are called buttes, and are defined to be "drops of anything that is by nature liquid or liquefied by art." The heralds have six of these Charges, namely, yellow, or drops of liquid gold; white, or drops of liquid silver; red, or drops of blood; blue, or drops of tears, black, or drops of pitch; and greens or drops of oil. In funeral hatchments, a black velvet cloth, sprinkled with these "drops of tears," is placed in front of the house of a deceased nobleman and thrown over his bier; but there, as in Freemasonry, the guttes de larmes, or drops of tears, are not painted blue, but white. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEBETH | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word The fourth month of the Hebrew civil year, corresponding to the months December and January, beginning with the new moon of the former. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TELAMONES | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Caryatides | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SOLOMON'S, AND THE DEGREES | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Seventeenth Century German archeology, full of vigor and beginning to employ "scientific methods," discovered so many things about ancient Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple that a great public interest was aroused. One of the manifestations of the latter was the excitement occasioned by the exhibition of a large scale model of the Temple, attributed to Chancellor Schott. This was taken over to London in 1723 and again in 1730, and there attracted endless throngs; newspapers were filled with it; clergymen preached about it; the Royal Family held a special view. At the same period John Senex, publisher, sold innumerable copies of a plan and drawings, which was at about the time he was publishing Anderson's 1723 Book of Constitutions, and was Junior Grand Warden. A long description of the Temple written by the al ready-famous Sir Isaac Newton some years before his death was published, and ran through one edition after another. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Previously the states of Holland employed Rabbi Leon to build a replica of the Temple. He constructed a model as large as a room, complete in detail; Holland gave up the project on amount of the cost (as the World's Fair at Philadelphia was to do two centuries later, when it began a like project), and made a present of the "great model" to the Rabbi. He in turn took it over to London (after exhibiting it in Paris and Sienna), secured a patent from the King to display it in the British Capital, published an explanatory brochure to accompany it, put it on exhibit, and aroused great popular enthusiasm. It was carefully preserved and again exhibited in London some eighty years later with equal success. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Irish Lodges, already full of speculation about the symbolism of Solomon's Temple, became more interested in the Temple than ever. An oratorio of "Solomon's Temple" was given in Dublin, and it was inserted by Laurence Dermott in editions of his Ahiman Rezon (Book of Constitution) of the Ancient Grand Lodge; and in his Preface Dermott gives a florid account of Leon's model. Also, the Arms of the Ancient Grand Lodge were taken from one of Leon's works—he was one of the most respected and learned Hebrew scholars in Europe, as is shown by the biographical treatise on him (a brilliant essay), "Rabbi Jacob Jehudah Leon," contributed to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum; Vol. 12; page 150; by J. Chetwode Crawley. By one of those seemingly impossible coincidences which are seldom found in history, an older and far more popular and lasting and important tradition of another Temple had come to England to change the architectural face and living habits of the country; and much more profoundly affected the Mason Craft than the Hebrew enthusiasm was to do. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Only, this was not a Jewish Temple, or Solomon's, but a Greek Temple. (To call Jehovah's House at Jerusalem a "temple" is a misnomer; the word is pure Greek; so was the style and type and uses of the building.) Palladio of Venice was Europe's supreme architect from the Renaissance until now. He drew a line across architecture and divided it into before and after, brought Gothic to an end, taught the principles, then recently re-discovered, of Greek architecture first to Italian Masons and through them to Europe; was the Shakespeare of his art. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After Inigo Jones King's Commissioner of buildings, visited Venice he returned to England and introduced the Palladian (also called the Italian, or the Classic, or the Neo Classic) there, and Mason Lodges and clubs of amateur artists began studying Palladio as the Primitive Christians had studied their Gospels, and with as much zealousness. After the Lodge of Antiquity had become a Lodge under the Grand Lodge, its Master or Lecturer read Palladio to the Lodge; and its "old Master," Sir Christopher Wren, had carried the Palladian style to its supreme glory in St. Paul's Cathedral Palladio had found that almost the whole set of principles (they were principles of proportion) of the Greek style could be exhibited, and therein studied and mastered, in five columns, which he caned the Five Orders. A model which he himself had made when building St. Paul's was used by Sir Christopher Wren while he was Master of Antiquity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If any Mason will ponder the Allegory of the Temple in the Second Degree and the Rite of HA.-. in the Third he can see for himself how weighty is the hypothesis that both were fabricated in their present form at the time when the Jewish Temple and the Greek Temple, as it were, met in London. Two great traditions crossed, and the point of crossing lay in the center of Freemasonry. It is obvious that the form and inspiration of the Allegory in the Second Degree is Greek in origin, and that in the Third it is Hebrem. It is possible, and to an unknown extent it is probable, that the germ, or first simple form, of each had existed in the Craft long before Palladio; but the form as now used has stamped on it too many of the hall-marks of the Eighteenth Century to make any doubt feasible of its origin. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And, more extraordinary still, Freemasonry itself had received its origin, form, and substance from the Gothic, begun in the Twelfth Century, and Masonry was probably always pure Gothic until the Palladian period; thus the three greatest architectural styles—and an architectural style is the principal public form always taken by a culture— became embodied together in the Three Degrees. Matthew Arnold was later to say that European civilization consists of a union of two civilizations, the Greek and the Hebraic; in reality it was a union of three, for the great Medieval civilization had as large a part in shaping our modern civilization as either of the other two; and it helps to explain the largeness, the power, the inexhaustibleness of Freemasonry, that it combined the three within itself. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (John Bunyan wrote a whole book on the symbolism of Solomon's Temple, as fine a work of literature as his Pilgrim's Progress, but not having the latter's popular appeal. See elsewhere in this Supplement ARCHITECTURE, FIRST & CHIEF GROUNDS"; for a number of other articles consult Index.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLES, THE JERUSALEM | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. Solomon began the building of his Temple about 967 B.C., and completed it in about six and one-half years. This was in reality a collection of buildings, inside a wall, and the Temple proper was probably at or near the center, a structure 90 to 100 feet long, about 30 to 35 feet in width and at its highest about 50 feet. The entire system of buildings, taken as a unit, was the greatest single building feat ever undertaken by the Jewish people before or since. This was the First Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | For nearly five centuries it was the center and capital of Hebrew peoples, not only in Palestine but wherever they might live. It and the city were looted and w destroyed by the Babylonian hordes under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B-C- (It may be more than a coincidence that the only successful—though temporary— attempt ever made by the Egyptians to achieve monotheism occurred while this First Temple was still standing It is likewise interesting to note that many of the tales, traditions, legends, and historical occurrences about Solomon or his Temple need not refer to so early a date as 967 B.C. but may refer to it as of any date as between 967 B-C. and 586 B.C.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. When after a half century Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem they began almost at once to rebuild the Temple under their "prince," or leader, Sheshbazzar, who began work in 536 B.C. it was completed by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. after twenty years of slow, hard labor by a poverty-stricken people, and then was only half restored. After 168 B.C. this building was looted, attacked, razed, rebuilt, and finally destroyed almost completely. This was the Second Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. One of the looters was Herod. In 40 B.C. Antony and Octavius gave him the title "King of Judea." Between 20 B.C. and 19 B.C., and for political reasons of his own, he began to rebuild the Temple, and on a larger scale. It was not completed until between 62 A.D. and 64 A.D. Only two years after this latter date the Jews began their revolt against Roman rule; in about four years, or 70 A.D., the whole "Temple was burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed.?' This was the Third Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Historians long were skeptical about the descriptions of the three Temples on the ground that structures of such size and elaborateness called for a technical knowledge which did not exist in ancient times. Modern archeological discoveries have removed that objection by proving that as early as 1000 B.C. many of the technical arts were at a high stage of development. Thus, and to cite only two examples, Tutankhamen's physicians had the use of complete sets of surgical instruments, and practiced many forms of anesthesia; shorthand, a technique without which modern business could hardly function, was known to ancient Egypt; in 1934 the Egypt Exploration Society published a book Greek Shorthand Manuals compiled from papyri and waxed tablets unearthed by archeologic excavations.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPELHERR | ||
+ | |||
+ | German for Knights Templar (see also Ritter). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPELORDEN or TEMPELHERRENORDEN | ||
+ | |||
+ | The title in German of the Order of Knights Templar. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPERANCE | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the four cardinal virtues; the practice of which is inculcated in the First Degree. The Freemason who properly appreciates the secrets which he has solemnly promised never to reveal, will not, by yielding to the unrestrained call of appetite, permit reason and judgment to lose their seats and subject himself, by the indulgence in habits of excess, to discover that which should be concealed, and thus merit and receive the scorn and detestation of his Brethren. And lest any Brother should forget the danger to which he is exposed in the unguarded hours of dissipation, the virtue of temperance is wisely impressed upon is memory, lay its reference to one of the most solemn portions of the ceremony of initiation. Some Freemasons, very properly condemning the vice of intemperance and abhorring its effects, have been unwisely led to confound temperance with total abstinence in a Masonic application, and resolutions have sometimes been proposed in Grand Lodges which declare the use of stimulating liquors in any quantity a Masonic offense. Put the law of Freemasonry authorizes no such regulation. It leaves to every man the indulgence of his own tastes within due limits, and demands not abstinence, but only moderation and temperance, in anything not actually wrongs | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLAR | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Knights Templar | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLARIUS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Latin title of a Knight Templar. Commonly used in the Middle Ages. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLAR LAND | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Order of Knights Templar was dissolved in England, by an Act of Parliament, in the seventeenth. year of the reign of Edward II, and their possessions transferred to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, or Knights Hospitaler. Subsequently, in the thirty-second year of the reign of Henry VII, their possessions were transferred to the King. One of the privileges possessed by the English Templars was that their lands should be free of tithes; and these privileges still adhere to these lands, so that a farm being What is termed Templar land, is still exempt from the imposition of tithes, if it is occupied by the owner; an exemption which ceases when the farm is worked under a lease. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE OF SOLOMON | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first Temple of the Jews was called hecal Jehovah or beth Jehovah, the Palace or the House of Jehovah, to indicate its splendor and magnificence, and that it was intended to be the perpetual dwelling-place of the Lord. It was King David who first proposed to substitute for the Nomadic Tabernacle a permanent place of worship for his people; but although he had made the necessary arrangements, and even collected many of the materials, he was not permitted to commence the undertaking, and the execution of the task was left to his son and successor, Solomon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Accordingly, that monarch laid the foundations of the edifice in the fourth year of his reign, 1012 B.C., and, with the assistance of his friend and ally, Hiram, King of Tyre, completed it in about seven years and a half, dedicating it to the service of the Most High in 1004 B.C. This was the year of the world 3000, according to the Hebrew chronology; and although there has been much difference among chronologists in relation to the precise date, this is the one that has been generally accepted, and it is therefore adopted by Freemasons in their calculations of different epochs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Temple stood on Mount Moriah, one of the eminences of the ridge which was known as Mount Zion, and which was originally the property of Ornan the Jebusite, who used it as a threshing-floor, and from whom it was purchased by David for the purpose of erecting an altar on it. The Temple retained its original splendor for only thirty-three years. In the year of the world 3033, Shishak, King of Egypt, having made war upon Rehoboam, King of Judah, took Jerusalem, and carried away the choicest treasures. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From that time to the period of its final destruction the history of the Temple is but a history of alternate spoliations and repairs, of profanations to idolatry and subsequent restorations to the purity of worship. One hundred and thirteen years after the conquest of Shishak, Joash, King of Judah, collected silver for the repairs of the Temple, and restored it to its former condition in the year of the world 3148. In the year 3264, Ahaz, King of Judah, robbed the Temple of its riches, and gave them to Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, who had united with him in a war against the Kings of Israel and Damascus. Ahaz also profaned the Temple by the worship of idols. In 3276, Hezekiah, the son and successor of Ahaz, repaired the portions of the Temple which his father had destroyed, and restored the pure worship. But fifteen years after he was compelled to give the treasures of the Temple as a ransom to Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who had invaded the land of Judah. But Hezekiah is supposed, after his enemy had retired, to have restored the Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Manasseh, the son and successor of Hezekiah, fell away to the worship of Sahianism, and desecrated the Temple in 3306 by setting up altars to the host of heaven. Manasseh was then conquered by the King of Babylon, who in 3328 carried him beyond the Euphrates. But subsequently repenting of his sins he was released from captivity, and having returned to Jerusalem he destroyed the idols, and restored the Altar of Burnt-Offerings. In 3380, Josiah, who was then King of Judah, devoted his efforts to the repairs of the Temple, portions of which had been demolished or neglected by his predecessors, and replaced the Ark in the Sanctuary. In 3398, in the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, then King of Chaldea, carried a part of the sacred vessels to Babylon. Seven years afterward, during the reign of Jeehoniah, he took away another lot; and finally, in 3416, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, he took the city of Jerusalem, and entirely destroyed the Temple, and carried many of the inhabitants captives to Babylon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Temple was originally built on a very hard rock, encompassed with frightful precipices. The foundations were laid very deep, with immense labor and expense. It was surrounded with a wall of great height, exceeding in the lowest part four hundred and fifty feet, constructed entirely of white marble. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The body of the Temple was in size much less than many a modern parish church, for its length was but ninety feet, or, including the porch, one hundred and five, and its width but thirty. It was its outer court, its numerous terraces, and the magnificence of its external and internal decorations, together with its elevated position above the surrounding dwellings which produced that splendor of appearance that attracted the admiration of all who beheld it, and gives a color of probability to the legend that tells us how the Queen of Sheba, when it first broke upon her view, exclaimed in admiration, "A most excellent Master must have done this!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Temple itself which consisted of the porch, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies, was but a small part of the edifice on Count Moriah. It was surrounded with spacious courts, and the whole Structure occupied at least half a mile circumference. Upon passing through the outer wall, you came to the first Court, called the Court of the Gentiles, because the Gentiles were admitted into it, but were prohibited from passing farther. It was surrounded by a range of porticoes or cloisters, above which were galleries or apartments, supported by pillars of white marble. Passing through the Court of the Gentiles, you entered the Court of the Children of Israel, which was separated by a low stone wall, and an ascent of fifteen steps, into two divisions, the outer one being occupied by the women, and the inner by the men Here the Jews were in the habit of resorting daily for the purposes of prayer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Within the Court of the Israelites, and separated from it by a wall one cubit in height, was the Court of the Priests. In the-center of this Court was the Altar of Burnt-Offerings, to which the people brought their oblations and sacrifices, but none but the Priests were permitted to enter it. From this court, twelve steps ascended to the Temple, Strictly so called, which as we have already said, was divided into three parts, the Porch, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. The Porch of the Temple was twenty cubits in length, and the same in breadth. At its entrance was a gate made entirely of Corinthian brass, the most precious metal known to the ancients. Besides this gate there were the two pillars Jachin and Boaz, which had been constructed by Hiram Abif. the architect whom the King of Tyre had sent to Solomon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the porch you entered the Sanctuary by a portal, which, instead of folding doors, was furnished with a magnificent veil of many colors, which mystically represented the universe. The breadth of the sanctuary was twenty cubits, and its length forty, or just twice that of the porch and Holy of Holies. It occupied, therefore, one-half of the body of the Temple. In the Sanctuary were placed the various utensils necessary for the daily worship of the Temple, such as the Altar of Incense, on which incense was daily burnt by the officiating Priest; the ten Golden Candlesticks; and the ten Tables on which the offerings were laid previous to the sacrifice. The Holy of Holies, or innermost chamber, was separated from the Sanctuary by doors of olive, richly sculptured and inlaid with gold, and covered with veils of blue, purple, scarlet, and the finest linen. The size of the Holy of Holies was the same as that of the porch, namely, twenty cubits square. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which had been transferred into it from the Tabernacle, with its overshadowing Cherubim and its Mercy-Seat. Into the most sacred place, the High Priest alone could enter, and that only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Temple, thus constructed, must have been one of the most magnificent Structures of the ancient world. For its erection, David had collected more than four thousand millions of dollars, by Doctor Mackey's computation, and one hundred and eighty-four thousand, six hundred men were engaged on the building for more than seven years; and on its completion it was dedicated by Solomon with solemn prayer and seven days of feasting; during which a peace-offering of twenty thousand oxen and six times that number of sheep was made, to consume which the holy fire came down from heaven. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Freemasonry, the Temple of Solomon has played a most important part. Time was when every Masonic writer subscribed with unhesitating faith to the theory that freemasonry was there first organized; that there Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abif presided as Grand Masters over the Lodges which they had established; that there the Symbolic Degrees were instituted and systems of initiation were invented; and that from that period to the present Freemasonry has passed down the stream of Time in unbroken succession and unaltered form. But the modern method of reading Masonic history has swept away this edifice of imagination with as unsparing a hand, and as effectual a power, as those with which the Babylonian King demolished the structure upon which they are founded. No writer who values his reputation as a critical historian would now attempt to defend this theory. Yet it has done its work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the long period in which the hypothesis was accepted as a fact, its influence was being exerted in molding the Masonic organizations into a form closely connected with all the events and characteristics of the Solomonic Temple. So that now almost all the Symbolism of Freemasonry rests upon or is derived from the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. So closely are the two connected, that to attempt to separate the one from the other would be fatal to the further existence of Freemasonry. Each Lodge is and must be a symbol of the Jewish Temple, each Master in the chair representing the Jewish King, and every Freemason a personation of the Jewish Workman. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus must it ever be while Freemasonry endures. We must receive the myths and legends that Connect it with the Temple, not indeed as historic facts, but as allegories; not as events that have really transpired, but as symbols; and must accept these allegories and these symbols for what their inventors really meant that they should be—the foundation of a Science of morality. The Subject of King Solomon's Temple and particularly the foundation chamber of this Structure is discussed by Brother W. J Chetsvode Crawley (pages 244, voluble xxiv, 1911, Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge) from which we have made the following extracts: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The version and legend of the Royal Arch authorized by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England today differs widely from the corresponding version authorized by the Supreme Grand Chapter of Ireland. The two versions are identical in purport and dogma, and to a certain extent similar in method. But there the resemblance ceases. It would be impossible for an English Royal Arch Mason to work his way into an Irish Chapter, or conversely, without other unmistakable credentials. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The episodes, on which the legends are severally founded, are quite distinct, each from the other. The English version refers to the building of the second temple by Zerubbabel: the Irish version to the repairing of the Temple of Solomon by King Josiah. The nomenclature of dramatis personae of the two versions are dissimilar. So far as the present writer is aware, the names of the three presiding officers of the English version were never heard in an Irish Royal Arch Chapter, save during the ill-devised and conspicuously unsuccessful attempt to introduce the English version into Dublin Chapters, which lasted intermittently from 1829 to 1859. If indeed the Irish version were held to be a survival of the original idea of Doctor Anderson's " well built Arch," and the English legend admitted to be a competing legend of later construction, many historical difficulties would disappear. Our American Royal Arch Masons, who derive their origin from the Strand Lodge of the Ancient, would find the hypothesis especially helpful in regard to the introduction and development of the Cryptic Degrees, which would in their turn await an easy birth in the preliminary stages of the Irish ritual. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Irish legend the carefully Selected articles that bear the burden of the tale require an adequate reason for their deposition, no less than for their discovers. In this respect, enlightenment has come from an unexpected quarter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the 1910 volume of the Memoires of the Academie des Inscriptions appears a noteworthily paper by Dr. Edouard Naville, summarized in the Midsummer number of the Athenaeum for 1910, on La Décourerte de la Loi sous le Roi Josias, meaning the discovery of the law under King .Josiah, in which the illustrious writer sets up a comparatively new theory respecting the deposit discovered in the temple at Jerusalem by "Hilkiah the High Priest," which has been generally assumed to have been the book of Deuterononly M. Naville contends that this was really a foundation deposit, and he quotes many instances—both from the rubries of the Book of the Dead and from excavations like those of M. de Morgan at Dahchur—of similar deposits, made either in a Specially prepared loculus in or under the walls of a building, or at the base of the statue of a god. He goes on to discuss the probable nature of the document itself, and comes to the conclusion that it Was a summary of the Mosaic law by analogy with the similar So-called chapters of the Book of the Dead, and that it was contemporaneous with the foundation of the Temple of Solomon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This would make it a good deal earlier than the dates assigned to it by modern critics, among whom Doctor Driver puts its composition in the reign of Manasseh: and Professor Westphal the reign earlier under Hezekiah, while Professors Wellhausen and Kuenen will have it to be a forgery made ad hoc by some one in Josiah's confidence. Doctor Naville is also of the opinion that the document must have been written in cruciform characters, and thinks that the same might be said for the other Mosaic books, Moses, as an educated Egyptian, being according to him quite competent to use the cuneiform script which under the Eighteenth Dynasty was current throughout western Asia. He thinks, however, that the language used was even then Hebrew, and he mentions incidentally that the name Moses or Moshah may be the Egyptian word Mesu, signifying infant, as the biblical Succoth is certainly the Egyptian Thuket or Thukot. She kind of polyglot pawn whereby the Hebrew scribes made the first of these names into a word meaning drawn out and the second into tents, accords very well with other national characteristics as noted by Plutarch and others. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Naville's essay almost brings the Irish version of the Royal Arch legend within the possibilities of history. If—much virtue in an if—the principle of the Arch were known to the master builders of King Solomon's temple, what more natural than that they should use Doctor Anderson s well built Arch for the preservation of the sacred deposit? The case for the Irish legend is so simple, the inference so obvious, that the enthusiastic student who relies on tradition may be tempted to belittle the initiate historical difficulty of showing that the principle of the Arch was known to our master builders, or indeed to any builders of that date. Be that as it may the alternative version has no such incident as that recorded in Chronicles to fall back upon, nor does it gain any fresh support from Doctor Edouard Naville's learned labors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, ORDER OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the Knights Templar had, on account of their power and wealth, excited the fears and the cupidity of Pope Clement V, and King Philip the Fair, of France, the Order was soon compelled to succumb to the combined animosity of a spiritual and a temporal sovereign, neither of whom was capable of being controlled by a spirit of honor or a dictate of conscience The melancholy story of the sufferings of the Knights, and of the dissolution of their Order, forms a disgraceful record, with which the history of the fourteenth century begins. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the 11th of March, in the year 1314, and in the refined city of Paris, James de Molay, the last of a long and illustrious line of Grand Masters of the Order of Knights Templar, testified at the stake his fidelity to his vows; and eleven years of service in the cause of religion were terminated, not by the sword of a Saracen, but by the iniquitous sentence of a Roman Catholic Pope and a perverted Christian King | ||
+ | |||
+ | The manufacturers of Masonic legends have found in the death of De Molay and the dissolution of the Order of Templars a fertile source from which to draw materials for their fanciful theories and surreptitious documents Among these legends there was, for instance, one which maintained that during his captivity in the Bastile the Grand Master of the Templars established four Chiefs of the Order in the North, the South, the East, and the West of Europe, whose seats of government were respectively at Stockholm, Naples, Paris, and Edinburgh. Another invention of these Masonic speculators was the forgery of that document so well known as the Charter of Larmenius, of which we shall presently take notice Previously, however, to any consideration of this document, sve must advert to the condition of the Templar Order in Portugal, because there is an intimate connection between the society there organized and the Order of the Temple in France, which is more particularly the Subject of the present article | ||
+ | |||
+ | Surprising as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that the Templars did not receive that check in Portugal to which they were Subjected in France, in England, and some other countries of Europe on the contrary, they were there maintained by King Denis in all their rights and privileges; and although compelled, by a Bull of Clement V, to change their names to that of the Knights of Christ, they continued to be governed by the same rules and to wear the same costume as their predecessors, excepting the slight addition of placing a white Latin cross in the center of the usual red one of the ancient Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the degree of establishment it was expressly declared that the King, in creating this new Order, intended only to effect a reform in that of the Templars In 1420, John I, of Portugal, gave the Knights of Christ the control of the possessions of Portugal in the Indies, and succeeding monarchs granted them the proprietorship of all countries which they might discover, reserving, of course, the royal prerogative of sovereignty In process of time the wealth and the power of the Order became so great, that the King of Portugal found it expedient to reduce their rights to a considerable extent; but the Order itself was permitted to continue in existence, the Grand Mastership, however, being for the future vested in the Sovereign | ||
+ | |||
+ | We are now prepared to investigate understandingly the history of the Charter of Larmenius, and of the Order of the Temple at Paris, which was founded on the assumed authenticity of that document The writings of Thory, of Ragon, and of Clavel, with the passing remarks of a few other Masonic writers, will furnish us with abundant materials for this narrative, interesting to all Freemasons, but more especially so to Masonic Knights Templar In the year 1682, and in the reign of Louis XIV, a licentious society was established by several young noblemen, which took the name of La Petite Résurrection des Templiers, or The Little Resurrection of the Templars. The members wore concealed upon their shirts a decoration in the form of a cross, on which was embossed the figure of a man trampling on a woman, who lay prostrate at his feet The emblematic Signification of this symbol was, it is apparent, as unworthy of the character of man as it was derogatory to the condition and claims of woman The lying, having been informed of the infamous proceedings which took place at the meetings, dissolved the Society, which it was said was on the eve of initiating the dauphin; caused its leader, a Prince of the blood, to be ignominiously published, and banished the members from the Court; the heaviest penalty that, in those days of servile submission to the throne, could be inflicted on a courtier | ||
+ | |||
+ | In 1705, Philip of Orleans, who was subsequently the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV, collected together the remnants of this Society, which still secretly existed, but had changed its object from a licentious to one of a political character. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He caused new Statutes to be constructed; and an Italian Jesuit, by name Father Bonani, who was a learned antiquary and an excellent designer, fabricated the document now known as the Charter of Larmenius, and thus pretended to attach the new society to the ancient Order of the Templars. As this Charter is not the least interesting of those forged documents with which the history of Freemasonry unfortunately abounds, a full description of it here will not be out of place. The theory of the Duke of Orleans and his accomplice Bonani was, and the theory is still maintained by the Order of the Temple at Paris, that when James de Moray was about to suffer at the stake, be sent for Larmenius, and in prison, with the consent and approbation of such of his knights as were present, appointed him his Successor, with the right of making a similar appointment before his death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On the demise of De Molay, Larmenius accordingly assumed the office of Grand Master, and ten years after issued this Charter, transmitting his authority to Theobaldus Alexandrinus, by whom it was in like manner transmitted through a long line of Grand Masters, until in 1705 it reached Philip, Duke of Orleans. It will be seen hereafter that the list was subsequently continued to a later period. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The signatures of all these Grand Masters are affixed to the Charter, Which is beautifully executed on parchment, illuminated in the choicest style of Medieval chirography, and composed in the Latin language, but written in the Templar cipher. From the copy of the document given by Thory in his Acta Latomorum (ii, page 145) five make the following translation: | ||
+ | |||
+ | I, Brother John Mark Larmenius, of Jerusalem, by the grace of God and the secret decree of the most venerable and holy martyr, the Grand Master of the Soldiery of the temple, to whom be all honor and glory, confirmed by the common council or the Brethren, being endowed with the Supreme Grand Mastership of the whole Order of the Temple, to every one who shall see these Letters Decretal thrice greeting: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Be it known to all, both present and to come, that the failure of my strength, on amount of extreme age, my poverty, and the weight of government being well considered I, the aforesaid humble Master of the Soldiery of the temple, have determined, for the greater glory of God and the protection and safety of the Order, the Brethren, and the statutes, to resign the Grand Mastership into stronger hands. | ||
+ | |||
+ | On which account, God helping, and with the consent of a Supreme Convention of Knights, I have conferred and by the present decree do confer, for life, the authority and prerogatives of Grand Master of the Order of the Temple upon the Eminent Commander and very dear Brother, Francis Thomas Theobald Alexandrinus, with the power, according to time and circumstances, of conferring the Grand Mastership of the Order of the Temple and the supreme authority upon another Brother, most eminent for the nobility of his education and talent and decorum of his manners: which is done for the purpose of maintaining a perpetual succession of Grand Masters, an uninterrupted series of successors, and the integrity of the statutes. Nevertheless, I command that the Grand Mastership shall not be transmitted without the consent of a General Convention of the fellow-soldiers of the Temples as often as that Supreme Convention desires to be convened, and, matters being thus conducted, the successor shell be elected at the pleasure of the knights. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Butt lest the powers of the supreme office should fall into decay, now and for ever let there be four Vicars of the Grand Master, possessing Supreme power, eminence, and authority over the whole Order, With the reservation of the rights of the Grand Master, which Vicars of the (Grand Masters shall be chosen from among the alders, according to the order of their profession. Which is decreed in according with the above-mentioned wish, commended to me and to the Brethren by our most venerable and most blessed Master, the martyr, to whom be honor and glory. Amen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Finally, on consequence of a decree of a Supreme Convention of the Brethren, and by the supreme authority to me committed, I will, declare, and command that the Scottish exemplars, as deserters from the Order, are to be accursed, and that they and the brethren of Saint John of Jerusalem, upon whom may God have mercy, as spoliators of the domains of our soldiery are now and hereafter to be considered as beyond the pale of the Temple I have therefore established signs, unknown to our false Brethren, and not to be known by them, to be orally communicated to our fellow-soldiers, and in which way I have already been pleased to communicate them in the Supreme Convention. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But these signs are only to be made known after due profession and knightly consecrations according to the Statutes, Rites, and Usages of the fellow-soldiery of the Temple, transmitted by me to the above-named Eminent Commander as they there delivered into my hands by the venerable and most holy martyr, our Grand Master, to whom be honor and glory. Let it be done as I have said. So mote it be. Amen. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I, John Clark Larmenius, have done this on the thirteenth day of February, 1324. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I, Francis Thomas Theobaldus Alexandrinus, God helping, have accepted the Grand Mastership, 1324. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And then follow the acceptances and signatures of twenty-two succeeding Grand Masters—the last, Bernard Raymund Fabré, under the date of 1804. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Brother Hawkins here wishes to point out that after having disappeared for many years, the original of this Charter was rediscovered and purchased by Brother F. J. ART. Crowe, of Chichester, England, who thought it too important and valuable to remain in private hands, and it was accordingly placed in the possession of the Great Priory of England. A transcript of the document, differing slightly from that given above, has been published by Brother Crowe (see Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xxiv). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Society, continues Doctor Mackey, thus organized by the Duke of Orleans in 1705, under this Charter, which purported to contain the signatures manupropria in their own hands, of eighteen Grand Masters in regular succession, commencing with Larmenius and ending with himself, attempted to obtain a recognition by the Order of Christ, which we have already said was established in Portugal as the legitimate successor of the old Templars, and of Which King John V was al that time the Grand Master. For this purpose the Duke of Orleans ordered two of his members to proceed to Lisbon, and there to open negotiations with the Order of Christ. The king caused inquiries to be made of Don Luis de Cunha, his ambassador at Paris, upon whose report he gave orders for the arrest of the two French Templars. One of them escaped to Gibraltar; but the other, less fortunate, after an imprisonment of two years, was banished to Angola, in Africa, where he died. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Society, however, continued secretly to exist for many years in France, and is supposed by some to have been the same which, in 1879. was known by the name of the Societe d'Aloyau, a title which might be translated into English as the Society of the Sirloin —a name much more appropriate to a club of bons vivants, good livers, than to an association of knights. The members of this Society were dispersed at the time of the French Revolution, the Duke of Casse Brissac, who was massacred at Versailles in 1732, being its Grand Master at the period of its dispersion. Thory says that the members of this association claimed to be the successors of the Templars, and to be in possession of their Charters. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A certain Brother Ledru, one of the sons of the learned Nicholas Philip Ledru, was the physician of Casse Brissac. On the death of that nobleman and the sale of his property, Ledru purchased a piece of furniture, probably an escritoire, in which was concealed the celebrated Charter of Larmenius, the manuscript Statutes of 1705, and the journal of proceedings of the order of the Temple. Clavel says that about the year 1804, Ledru showed these articles to two of his friends—de ,Saintot and Fabré Palaprat; the latter of whom had formerly been an ecclesiastic. The sight of these documents suggested to them the idea of reviving the Order of the Temple. They proposed to constitute Ledru the Grand Master, but he refused the offer, and nominated Claudius Matheus Radix de Chevillon for the office, who would accept it only under the title of Vicar; and he is inscribed as such on the list attached to the Charter of Larmenius, his name immediatel following that of Casse Brissac, who is recorded as the last Grand Master. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These four restorers of the Order were of opinion that it would be most expedient to place it under the patronage of some distinguished personage; and while making the effort to carry this design into execution, Chevillon, excusing himself from further official labor on account of his advanced age, proposed that Fahré Palaprat should be elected Grand Master, but for one year only, and with the understanding that he would resign the dignity as soon as some notable person could be found who would be willing to accept it. But Fabré, having once been invested with the Grand Mastership, ever afterward refused to surrender the dignity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the persons who were soon after admitted into the Order Were Decourchant, a notary's clerk; Leblond, an official of the Imperial Library; and Arnal, an ironmonger, all of whom were entrusted with the secret of the fraud, and at once engaged in the construction of what have Since been designated the Relics of the Order. Of these relics, which are preserved in the treasury of the Order of the Temple at Paris, an inventory was made on May 18, I810, being, it is probable, soon after their construction. Doctor Burnes, who was a firm believer in the legitimacy of the Parisian Order and in the authenticity of its archives, has given in his Sketch of the history of the Knights Templar (Appendix, page xii), a copy of this inventory in the original French. Thory gives it also in his ActaLatomorum (ii, page 143). A brief synopsis of it may not be uninteresting. The relics consist of twelve pieces— a round dozen —and are as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The Charter of Larmellius, already described. But to the eighteen signatures of Grand Masters in the Charter, which was in 1705 in possession of Philip, Duke of Orieans, are added six more carrying the Succession on from the last-named to Fabré Palaprat, who attests as Grand Master in 1804. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. A volume of twenty-seven paper sheets in folio bount in crimson velvet, satin, and gold, containing the Statutes of the Order in manuscript, and signed Philip | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. A small copper religuary, in the shape of a Gothic church, containing four fragments of burnt bones, wrapped in a piece of linen. These are said to have been taken front the funeral pile of the martyred Templars | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. A sword, said to be one wich belonged to James de Molay. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5. A helmet, supposed to have been that of Guy, the Dauphin of Auvergne. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 6. An old gilt spur. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 7. A bronze patina, a plate or dish, in the interior of which is engraved in extended hand, having the ring and little fingers bent in upon the palm, which is the form of the Episcopal. Benediction given in the Roman Catholic Church. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 8. A pax or tablet in gilt bronzes containing a representation of Saint John, under a Gothic arch. The pax is a small plate of gold, silver (or other rich material carried round by the Priest to communicate the Kiss of Peace.. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 9. Three Gothic seals. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 10 A tall ivory Cross and three Miters, richly ornamented. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 11. The Beauseant, in white linen, with the Cross of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 12. The War Standard in white linen, with four black rays. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of these relics, Clavel, who, as being on the spot, may be supposed to know something of the truth, tells us that the copper reliquary the sword, the ivory cross, and the three miters vere bought by Leblond from an old iron shop in the market of Saint Jean, and from a maker of church vestments in the suburbs of Paris, while the helmet was taken by Arnal front one of the government armories. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Francisco Alvaro da Sylva Freyre de Porto, a knight of the Order of Christ, and a Secret agent of John VI, King of Portugal, was admitted into the Order in 1805, and continued a member until 1815. He was one of the few, Clavel says, whom Fahré and the other founder's admitted into their full confidence, and in 1812 he held the of fire of Grand Master's Secretary. Fahré having signified to him his desire to be recognized as the Successor of James de Molaw by the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, Da Sylvà sent a copy of the Charter of Larmenius to John VI, who was then in Brazil; but the request for recognition was refused. The Order of the Temple, which had thus been ingeniously organized by Fabré Palaprat and his colleagues, began now to assume high prerogatives as the only representative of Ancient Templarism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Grand Master was distinguished by the sounding titles of Most Eminent Highness, Very Great, Powerful, and Excellent Prince, and Most Serene Lord. The whole world was divided into different Jurisdictions, under the names of Provinces, Bailiwicks, Priories, and Commanderies, all of which were distributed among the members; and proofs of nobility were demanded of all candidates; but if they were not able to give these proofs, they were furnished by the Grand Master with the necessary Patents. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ceremonies of initiation were divided into three houses, again subdivided into eight Degrees, and were as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | I HOUSE OF INITIATION | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. Initiate. This is the Entered Apprentice's Degree of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | :2. Initiate of the Interior. This is the Fellow craft. | ||
+ | :3. Adept. This is the Master Mason. | ||
+ | :4. Adept of the East. The Elu of Fifteen of the Scottish Rite . | ||
+ | :5. Grand Adept of the Black Eagle of Saint Joann. The Elu of Nine of the Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | II. HOUSE OF POSTULANCE | ||
+ | |||
+ | :6. Postulant of the Order. The Rose Croix Degree. | ||
+ | |||
+ | III. COUNCIL | ||
+ | |||
+ | :7. Esquire. Merely a preparation for the Eighth Degree . | ||
+ | :8. Knigth or Levite of the Interior Guard. The Philosophical Kadosh. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At first the members of the Order professed the Roman Catholic religion, and hence, on various occasions, Protestants and Jews were denied admission. But about the year 1814, the Grand Master having obtained possession of a manuscript copy of a spurious Gospel of Saint John, which is supposed to have been forged in the fifteenth century, and which contradicted in many particulars the canonical Gospel, he caused it to be adopted as the doctrine of the Order; and thus, as Clavel says, at once transformed an Order which had always been perfectly orthodox into a Schismatic sect. Out of this spurious Gospel and an Introduction and Commentary called the Levitikon, said to have been written by Nicephorus, a Greek monk of Athens, Fabré and his colleagues composed a liturgy, and established a religious sect to which they gave the name of Johannism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The consequence of this change of religious views was a schism in the Order. The orthodox party, however, appears to have been the stronger; and after the others had for a short time exhibited themselves as soi-disant, or so-called, Priests in a Johannite Church Which they erected, and in which they publicly chanted the liturgy which they had composed, the church and the liturgy were given up, and they retired once more into the secrecy of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such is the brief history of the rise and progress of the celebrated Order of the Temple, which thus continued to exist at Paris, with, however, a much abridged exercise, if not with less assumption of prerogative. It claimed to be the only true depository of the powers and privileges of the ancient Order of Knights Templar, denouncing all other Templars as spurious, and its Grand Master has proclaimed himself the legal successor of James de Molay; with how much truth the narrative already given will enable every reader to decide. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The question of the legality of the Order of the Temple, as the only true body of Knights Templar in modern days, is to be settled only after three other points have been determined: First, was the Charter of Larmenius, which was brought for the first time to light in 1705 by the Duke of Orleans, an authentic or a forged document? Next, even if authentic, was the story that Larmenius was invested with the Grand Mastership and the power of transmission by De Molay a fact or a fable? And, lastly, was the power exercised by Ledru, in reorganizing the Order in 1804, assumed by himself or actually derived from Casse Brissae, the previous Grand Master? There are many other questions of subordinate but necessary importance to be examined and settled before we can consent to give the Order of the Temple the high and, as regards Templarism, the exclusive position that it claims | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLAR ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY | ||
+ | |||
+ | The theory that Freemasonry originated in the Holy Land during the Crusades, and was instituted by the Knights Templar, was advanced by the Chevalier Ramsay, for the purpose, it is supposed, of giving an aristocratic character to the association It was subsequently adopted by the College of Clermont, and was accepted by the Baron von Hund as the basis upon which he erected his Rite of Strict Observance. The legend of the Clermont College is thus detailed by M. Berage in his work entitled Les Plus Secrets Mysteres des Hauts Grades, Most Secret Mysteries of the High Degrees (iii, page 194). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Order of Freemasonry was instituted by Godfrey de bouillon, in Palestine in l330, after the defeat of the Christian armies, and was communicated only to a few of the French Freemasons, some time afterwards, as a reward for the services which they had rendered to the English and Scottish Knights. From these latter true Freemasonry is derived. Their Mother Lodge is situated on the mountain of Heredom where the first Lodge in Europe was held, which still exists in all its splendor. The Council General is always held there, and it is the seat of the Sovereign Grand Master for the time being. This mountain is situated between the west and the north of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinhurgh. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are other secrets in Freemasonry which were never known among the French, and which have no relation to the Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Degrees which were constructed for the general class of Freemasons. The high Degrees, which developed the true design of Freemasonry and its true secrets, have never been known to them. The Saracens having obtained possession of the holy places in Palestine, where all the mysteries of the Order were practiced, made use of them for most profane purposes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Christians then leagued together to conquer this beautiful country, and to drive all these barbarians from the land. They succeeded in obtaining a footing on these shores under the protection of numerous armies of Crusaders which had been sent out there by the Christian princes. The losses which they subsequently experienced put an end to the Christian power, and the crusaders who remained were subjected to the persecutions of the Saracens, who massacred all who publicly proclaimed the Christian faiths This induced Godfrey de Bouillon, towards the end of the third center, to conceal the mysteries of religion under the veil of figures, emblems and allegories. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hence the Christians selected the temple of Solomon because it has so close a relation to the Christian Church of which its holiness and its magnificence make it the true symbol. So the Christians concealed the mystery of the building up of the Church under that of the construction of the Temple, and gave themselves the title of Masons Architects or Builders, because they were occupied in building the faith. They assembled under the pretext of making plans of architecture to practice the rites of their religion, with all the emblems and allegories that Freemasonry could furnish, and thus protect themselves from the cruelty of the Saracens. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the mysteries of Freemasonry were in their principles, and still are only those of the Christian religion they were extremely scrupulous to confide this important secret only to those whose discretion had been tried and who had been found worthy. For this purpose they fabricated Degrees as a test of those to whom they wished to confide it, and they gave them at first only the symbolic secret of Hiram, on which all the mystery of blue Masonry is founded, and which is, in fact, the only secret of that Order which has no relation to true Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They explained nothing else to them as they were afraid of being betrayed, and they conferred these Degrees as a proper means of recognizing each other, surrounded as they were by barbarians. To succeed more effectually in this they made use of different Signs and words for each Degree so as not only to distinguish themselves from the profane Saracens, but to designate the different Degrees. These they fixed at the number of seven, in imitation of the Grand Architect, who built the Universe in six days and rested on the seventh, and also because Solomon was seven years in constructing the Temple, which they had selected as the figurative basis of Freemasonry. Under the name of Hiram they gave a false application to the Masters, and developed the true secret of Freemasonry only to the higher Degrees. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such is the theory of the Templar origin of Freemasonry, which, mythical as it is, and wholly unsupported by the authority of history, has exercised a vast influence in the fabrication of advanced Degrees and the invention of Continental Rites. Indeed, of all the systems propounded during the eighteenth century, so fertile in the construction of extravagant systems, none has played so important a part as this in the history of Freemasonry. Although the theory is no longer maintained, its effects are everywhere seen and felt. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLARS OF ENGLAND | ||
+ | |||
+ | An important change in the organization of Templarism in England Ireland took place in 1873. By it a union took place of the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templar of England and the Grand Conclave of High Knights Templar of Ireland into one body, under the title of the "Convent General of the United Religious and Military Orders of the Temple and of Saint John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta." The following is a summary of the Statutes by which the new Order is governed, as given by Eminent Sir Knight W. J. B. McLeod Moore, Grand Prior, in his circular to the Preceptors of Canada: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The existing Grand Masters in the Empire are to be termed Great Priors, and Grand Conclaves or Encampments, Great Priories, under and subordinate to one Grand Master, as in the early days of the Order. and one Supreme Governing Body, the Convent General. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. The term Great is adopted instead of Grand, the latter being a French word; and grand in English is not grand in French Great is the proper translation of Magnus and Magnus Supremus. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3 The Great Priories of each nationality—England, Scotland, and Ireland, with their Dependencies in the Colonies—retain their internal government and legislation, and appoint their Provincial Priors, doing nothing consistent with the Supreme Statutes of the Convent General. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. The title Masonic is not continued; the Order being purely Christian, none but Christians can be admitted consequently it cannot be considered Strictly as a Masonic body: Freemasonry, while inculcating the highest reverence for the Supreme Being, and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, does not teach a belief in one particular creed, or unbelief in any. The connection with Freemasonry is, however, strengthened still more, as a candidate must now be two years a Master Mason, in addition to his qualification as a Royal Arch Mason. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5. The titles Eminent Commander and Encampment have been discontinued and the original name Preceptor and Precentor substituted, as also the titles Constable and Marshal for First and Second Captains. Encampment is a modern term, adopted probably when, as our traditions inform us, "at the suppression of the ancient Military Order of the Temple, some of their number sought refuge and held Conclaves in the Masonic Society, being independent small bodies, without any governing head." Prior is the correct and original title for the head of a langue or nationality and Preceptor for the subordinate bodies. The Preceptories were the ancient Houses of the Templar Order; Commander and Commanderies was the title used by the Order of Saint John, commonly known as Knights of Malta | ||
+ | |||
+ | 6. The title by which the Order is now known is that of The United Religius and Military Orders of the Temple and of Saint John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta." The Order of the Temple originally had no connection with that of Malta or Order of Saint John, but the combined title appears to have been adopted in commemoration of the union which took place in Scotland with "The Temple and Hospital of Saint John,'' when their lands were in common, at the time of the Reformation. But our Order of "Saint Solon of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta," has no connection with the present Knights of Malta in the Papal States, or of the Protestant branches of the Order, the lineal successors of the ancient Knights of Saint John, the sixth or English league of which is still in existence, and presided over, in London, by His Grace the Duke of Manchester. The Order, when it occupied the Island of Malta as a sovereign body, was totally unconnected with Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 7. Honorary past rank is abolished substituting the chivalric dignities of Grand Crosses and Commanders, limited in numbers and confined to Preceptors. These honors to be conferred by His Royal Highness the Grand Master, the Fountain of Grace and Dignity; and it is contemplated to create an Order of Merits to be conferred in like manner, as a reward to Knights who have served the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 8. A. Preceptor holds a Degree as well as rank, and will always retain his rank and privileges as long as he belongs to a Precentor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 9. The abolition of honorary past rank is not retrospective, as their rank and privileges are reserved to all those who now enjoy them | ||
+ | |||
+ | 10. The number of officers entitled to precedence has been reduced to seven; but others may be appointed at discretion, who do not, however, enjoy any precedence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ll. Equerries, or Serving Brethren, are not to receive the accolade, or use any but a brown habit, and shall not wear any insignia or jewel: they are to be addressed as Frater, not Sir Knight. In the early days of the Order they were not entitled to the accolade, and, with the esquires and men-at-arms, wore a dark habit, to distinguish them from the knights, who wore white, to signify that they were bound by their vows to cast away the works of darkness and lead a new life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 12. The Apron is altogether discontinued, and a few and a few immaterial alterations in the insignia will be duly regulated and promulgated: they do not, however, affect the present, but only apply to future members of the Order. The apron was of recent introduction, to accord with Masonic usage: but reflection will at once show that, as an emblem of care and toil, it is entirely inappropriate to a Military Order, whose badge is the sword. A proposition to confine the wearing of the star to the Preceptors was negatived; the star and ribbon being in fact as much a part of the ritual as of the insignia of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 13. From the number of instances of persons totally unfitted having obtained admission into the Order, the qualification of candidates has been increased. A declaration is now required, to be signed by every candidate that he is of the full age of twenty-one years, and in addition to being a Royal Arch Masons that he is a Master Mason of two years' standings professing the doctrines of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, and willing to submit to the Statutes and Ordinances, present and future, of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLARS OF SCOTLAND | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Statutes of the Grand Priory of the Temple of Scotland prescribe for the Order of Knights Templar in that kingdom an organization very different from that which prevails in other countries. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The Religious and Military Order of the Temple" in Scotland consists of two classes: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. Novice and Esquire. | ||
+ | :2. Knight Templar. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Knights are again divided into four classes: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. Knights created by Priories. | ||
+ | :2. Knights elected from the companions on memorial to the Grand Master and Council, supported by the recommendation of the Priories to which they belong. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :3. Knights Commanders. | ||
+ | :4. Knights Grand Crosses, to be nominated by the Grand Master. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The supreme legislative authority of the Order is the Chapter General, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Knights Grand Crosses, and the Knights Commanders. One Chapter is held annually, at which the Grand Master, if present, acts as President. The anniversary of the death of James de Molay, March 11, is Selected as the time of this meeting, at which the Grand Officers are elected. During all intervals of the meetings of the Chapter General, the affairs of the Order, with the exception of altering any Statutes, is entrusted to the Grand Master's Council, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Grand Priors of Foreign Langues (or Districts), and the Knights Grand Crosses. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Grand Officers, with the exception of the Past Grand Masters, who remain so for life, the Grand Master, who is elected triennially and the Grand Aides-de-Camp, who are appointed by him and removed at his pleasure, are elected annually. They are as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Grand Master | ||
+ | :Past Grand Masters, | ||
+ | :Grand Seneschal | ||
+ | :Preceptor and Grand Prior of Scotland, | ||
+ | :Grand Constable and Marshal | ||
+ | :Grand Admiral | ||
+ | :Grand Almoner or Hospitaler, | ||
+ | :Grand Chancellor | ||
+ | :Grand Treasurer, | ||
+ | :Grand Registrar, | ||
+ | :Primate or Grand Prelate | ||
+ | :Grand Provost or Governor-General, | ||
+ | :Grand Standard Bearer or Beaucennifer | ||
+ | :Grand Bearer of the Vexillum Belli, War Flag. | ||
+ | :Grand Camberlain, | ||
+ | :Grand Steward. | ||
+ | :Two Grand Aides-de-Camp. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Grand Priory may be instituted by the Chapter General in any nation, colony, or langue, to be placed under the authority of a Grand Prior, who is elected for life, unless superseded by the Chapter General. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Priory, which is equivalent to an American Commandery, consists of the following officers: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Prior | ||
+ | :Superior, | ||
+ | :Mareschal or Master of Ceremonies, | ||
+ | :Hospitaler or Almoner, | ||
+ | :Chancellor, | ||
+ | :Treasurer, | ||
+ | :Secretary, | ||
+ | :Chaplain panel Instructor, | ||
+ | :Beaucennifer, or bearer of the Beauseant | ||
+ | :Bearer of the Red Cross Banner, or Vexillum Belli, | ||
+ | :Chamberlain, | ||
+ | :Two Aides-de Camp. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Chapter General or Grand Priory may unite two or more Priories into a Commandery, to be governed by a Provincial Commander, who is elected by the Chapter General. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The costume of the Knights, with the exception of a few slight variations to designate difference of rank, is the same as the ancient costume. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLARS ORDER OF THE AMERICAN STAR | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Free and Accepted Americans | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLARS, RULE OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Rule of the Templars | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLAR STATISTICS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Statistics of the Order of the Temple | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The symbolism of Speculative Freemasonry is so intimately connected with temple building and temple worship, that some notice of these edifices seems necessary. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrews called a temple beth, which literally signifies a house or dwelling, and finds its root in a word which signifies "to remain or pass the night," or hecal, which means a palace, and comes from an obsolete word signifying magnificent. So that they seem to have had two ideas in reference to a Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When they called it beth Jehovah, or the House of Jehovah they referred to the continued presence of God in it; and when they called it hecal Jehovah, or the Palace of Jehovah, they referred to the splendor of the edifice which was selected as his residence. The Hebrew idea was undoubtedly borrowed from the Egyptian, where the same hieroglyphic signified both a house and a temple. Thus, from an inscription at Philae, Champollion (Egyptian Dictionary), cites the sentence, "He has made his devotions in the house of his mother Isis." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The classical idea was more abstract and philosophical. The Latin word templum comes from a root which signifies to cut of, thus referring to any space, whether open or occupied by a building, which was cut off, or separated for a sacred purpose, from the surrounding profane ground. The word properly denoted a sacred enclosure where the omens were observed by the augurs. Hence Varro (De Langua Latina vi, 81,) defines a temple to be "a place for auguries and auspices." As the same practice of worshiping under the sky in open places prevailed among the northern nations, we might deduce from these facts that the temple of the sky was the Aryan idea, and the temple of the house was Semitic. It is true, that afterward, the augurs having for their own convenience erected a tent within the enclosure where they made their observations, or, literally their contemplations, this in time gave rise among the Greeks and the Romans to permanent edifices like those of the Egyptians and the Hebrews. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Freemasonry has derived its temple symbolisms as it has almost all its symbolic ideas, from the Hebrew type, and thus makes the temple the symbol of a Lodge. But of the Roman temple worship it has not been neglectful, and has borrowed from it one of the most significant and important words in its vocabulary. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Latin word specular means to observe to look around. When the augur, standing within the sacred precincts of his open temple on the Capitoline hill, watched the flight of birds, that from it he night deduce his auspices of good or bad fortune, he was said, specular, to speculate. Hence the word came at length to denote, like contemplate from templum, an investigation of sacred things, and thus we got into our technical language the title of Speculative Masonry, as distinguished by its religious design from Operative or Practical Masonry, which, is devoted to more material objects. The Egyptian Temple was the real archetype of the Mosaic Tabernacle, as was that of the Temple of Jerusalem. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The direction of an Egyptian temple was usually from East to West, the entrance being at the East. It was a quadrangular building, much longer than its width, and was situated in the western part of a sacred enclosure. The approach through this enclosure to the Temple proper was frequently by a double row of sphinxes. In front of the entrance were a pair of tall obelisks, which will remind the reader of the two pillars at the porch of Solomon's Temple. The Temple was divided into a spacious hall, the sanctuary where the great body of the worshipers assembled. Beyond it, in the western extremity, was the cell or sekos, equivalent to the Jewish Holy of Holier, into which the Priests only entered; and in the remotest part, behind a curtain, appeared the image of the god seated on his shrine, or the sacred animal which represented him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Grecian Temples, like the Egyptian and the Hebrew, were placed within an enclosure, which was separated from the profane land around it, in early times, by ropes, but afterward by a wall. The Temple was usually quadrangular, although some were circular in form. It was divided into two parts, the porch or vestibule, and the cell. In this latter part the statue of the god was placed surrounded by a balustrade. In Temples connected with the Mysteries, the cell was called the aavrov the Latin word is adyturn, and to it only the Priests and the initiates had access; and we learn from Pausanias that various stories were related of calamities that had befallen persons who had unlawfully ventured to cross the threshold. Vitruvius says that the entrance of Greek Temples was always toward the West; but this statement is contradicted by the appearance of the Temples still partly existing in Attica, Ionia, and Sicily. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Roman Temples, after they emerged from their primitive Simplicity, were constructed much upon the model of the Grecian. There were the same vestibule and cells, or adybum, borrowed, as with the Greeks, from the holy and the most holy place of the Egypttians. Vicruvius says that the entrance of a Roman Temple was, if possible, to the West, so that the worshipers, when they offered prayers or sacrifices might look toward the East; but this rule was not always observed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It thus appears, notwithstanding what Montfaucon (Antiquities ii, 1, 2) says to the contrary, that the Egyptian form of a Temple was the type from which other nations borrowed their idea. This Egyptian form of a Temple was borrowed by the Jews, and with some modifications adopted by the Greeks and Romans, whence it passed over into modern Europe. The idea of a separation into a holy and a most holy place has everywhere been preserved. The same idea is maintained in the construction of Masonic Lodges, which are but imitations, in spirit, of the ancient Temples. But there has been a transposition of parts, the most holy place, which with the Egyptians and the Jews was in the West, being placed in Lodges in the East. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, GATES OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Gates of the Temple | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, GRAND COMMANDER OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The French title is Grand Commandeer du Temple. The Fifty-eighth Degree of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France. It is the name of the Knight Commander of the Temple of the Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE OF EZEKIEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | An ideal Temple seen by the Prophet Ezekiel, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, while residing in Babylon. It is supposed by Calmet, that the description given by the prophet was that of the Temple of Solomon, which he must have seen before its destruction. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But an examination of its measurements will show that this could not have been the fact, and that the whole area of Jerusalem would not have been sufficient to contain a building of its magnitude. Yet, as Ferguson observes (Sir William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible), the description, notwithstanding its ideal character, is curious, as showing what were the aspirations of the Jews in that direction, and how different they were from those of other nations; and also because it influenced Herod to some extent in his restoration of the temple of Zerubbabel. between the visionary Temple of Ezekiel and the symbolic city of the New Jerusalem, as described by the Evangelist, there is a striking resemblance, and hence it finds a place among the symbols in the Apocalyptic Degrees. But with Symbolic or with Royal Arch Masonry it has no connection. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE OF HEROD | ||
+ | |||
+ | This was not the construction of a third Temple, but only a restoration and extensive enlargement of the second, which had been built by Zerubbabel. To the Christian Freemason it is interesting, even more than that of Solomon, bee cause it was the scene of our Lord's ministrations, and was the temple from which the Knights Templar derived their name. It was begun by Herod 7 B.C., finished 4 A.D., and destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., having subsisted only seventy-seven years. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE OF ZERUBBABEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the fifty-two years that succeeded the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar that city saw nothing but the ruins of its ancient Temple. Out in the year of the world 3468 and 536 B.C. Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and there to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Forty-two thousand three hundred and sixths of the liberated captives ret urned under the guidance of Joshua, then the High Priest, Zerubbabel, the Prince or Governor, and Haggai, the Scribe, and a year later they laid the foundations of the second Temple. They were, however, much disturbed in their labors by the Samaritans, whose offer to unite with them in the building they had rejected. Artaxerxes, known in profane history as Cambyses, having succeeded Cyrus on the throne of Persia, forbade the Jews to proceed with the work, and so the Temple remained in an unfinished state until the death of Artaxerxes and the succession of King Darius to the throne. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As in early life there had been a great intimacy between this sovereign and Zerubbabel, the latter went to Babylon, and obtained permission from the monarch to resume the labor. Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem, and notwithstanding some further delays, consequent upon the enmity of the neighboring nations, the second Temple, or, as it may be called by way of distinction from the first, the Temple of Zerubbabel, was completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, 515 B.C., and just twenty years after its commencement. It was then dedicated vith all the solemnities that accompanied the dedication of the first Temple (see the two amounts of this rebuilding of the Temple in Ezra and Haggai). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The general plan of this second Temple was similar to that of the first. But it exceeded it in almost every dimension by one-third. The decorations of gold and other ornaments in the first Temple must have far surpassed those bestowed upon the second, for we are told by Josephus (Antiquities xi, 4) that the Priests and Levites and Elders of families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuous the old Temple was than the one which, on amount of their poverty, they had just been able to erect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jews also say that there were five things wanting in the second Temple which had been in the first, namely, the Ark, the Urim and Thummim, the fire from heaven, the Divine Presence or Cloud of Glory, and the spirit of prophecy and power of miracles. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such are the most important events that relate to the construction of this second Temple But there is a Masonic legend connected with it which, though it may have no historical foundation, is yet so closely interwoven with the Temple system of Freemasonry, that it is necessary it should be recounted. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It was, says the legend, while the workmen were engaged in making the necessary excavations for laying the foundation, and while numbers continued to arrive at Jerusalem from Babylon, that three worn and weary Sojourners, after plodding on foot over the rough and devious roads between the two cities, offered themselves to the Grand Council as willing participants in the labor of erection Who these Sojourners were, we have no historical means of discovering; but there is a Masonic tradition, entitled, perhaps, to but little weight, that they were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, three holy men, who are better known to general readers by their Chaklaie names of Shaclrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as having been miraculously preserved from the fieldsy furnace of Nebuchadnezzar | ||
+ | |||
+ | Their services were accepted, and from their diligent labors resulted that important discovery, the perpetuation and preservation of which constitute the great end and design of the Royal Arch Degree. As the symbolism of the first or Solomonic Temple is connected with and refers entirely to the Symbolic Degrees, so that of the second, or Temple of Zerubbabel, forms the basis of the Royal Arch in the York and American Rites, and of several advanced Degrees in other Rites | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SECOND | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Temple constructed by Zerubbabel is so called (see Temple of Zerubbabel). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Sovereign commander of the temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SOVEREIGN OF THE SOVEREIGNS GRAND COMMANDER OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The French title is Souverain des Souverains Grands Commandeurs du temple. A Degree in the collection of Lemanceau and Le Page. It is said to be a part of the Order of Christ or Portuguese Templarism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SPIRITUAL | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Spiritual Temple | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, SYMBOLISM OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of all the objects which constitute the Masonic science of symbolism, the most important, the most cherished by Freemasons, and by far the most significant, is the great Temple of Jerusalem. The spiritualizing of the Temple is the first, the most prominent, and the most pervading of all symbols of Freemasonry. It is that as high most emphatically gives it its religious character. Take from Freemasonry its dependence on the Temple; leave out of its ritual all reference to that sacred edifice, and to the legends and traditions connected with it, and the system itself would at once decay and die, or at best remain only as some fossilized bone, serving merely to show the nature of the once living body to which it had belonged. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Temple worship is in itself an ancient type of the religious sentiment in its progress toward spiritual elevation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As soon as sw nation emerged out of Fetishism, or the worship of risible objects, which is the most degraded form of idolatry, its people began to establish a Priesthood, and to erect Temples. The Goths, the Celts, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, however much they may have differed in the ritual, and in the objects of their polytheistic worship, were all in the possession of Priests and of Temples. The Jews, complying with this law of our religious nature, first constructed their Tabernacle, or portable Temple, and then, when time and opportunity permitted, transferred their monotheistic worship to that more permanent edifice which towered in all its magnificence above the pinnacle of Mount Moriah. The Mosque of the Mohammedan and the Church or Chapel of the Christian is but an embodiment of the same idea of temple worship in a simpler form. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The adaptation, therefore, of the Temple of Jerusalem to a science of symbolism, would be an easy task to the mind of those Jews and Tvrians who were engaged in its construction. Doubtless, at its original conception, the idea of this Temple Symbolism was rude and unembellished. It was to be perfected and polished only by future aggregations of succeeding intellects. And yet no Biblical nor Masonic scholar will venture to deny that there was, in the mode of building and in all the circumstances connected with the construction of King Solomon's Temple, an apparent design to establish a foundation for symbolism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Freemasons have, at all events, seized with avidity the idea of representing in their symbolic language the interior and spiritual man by a material Temple. They have the doctrine of the great Apostle, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (First Corinthians iii, 16). The great body of the Masonic Craft, looking only to this first Temple erected by the wisdom of King Solomon, make it the symbol of life; and as the great object of Freemasonry is the search after truth, they are directed to build up this Temple as a fitting receptacle for truth when found, a place where it may dwell, just as the ancient Jews built up their great Temple as a dwelling-place for Him who is the Author of all truth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | To the Master Mason, this Temple of Solomon is truly the symbol of human life; for, like life, it was to have its end. For four centuries it glittered on the hills of Jerusalem in all its gorgeous magnificence; now, under some pious descendant of the wise King of Israel, the spot from whose altars arose the burnt offerings to a living God! and now polluted by some recreant monarch of Judah to the Service of Baal; until at length it received the divine punishment through the mighty King of Babylon, and, having been despoiled of all its treasures, Wars burnt to the ground, so that nothing was left of all its splendor but a smoldering heap of ashes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Variable in its purposes, evanescent in its existence, now a gorgeous pile of architectural beauty, and anon a ruin over which the resistless power of fire had passed, it becomes a fit symbol of human life occupied in the search after divine truth, which is nowhere to be found; now sinning and now repentant; now vigorous with health and strength, and anon a senseless and decaying corpse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such is the symbolism of the first Temple, that of Solomon, as familiar to the class of Master Masons. But there is a second and higher class of the Fraternity, the Freemasons of the Royal Arch, by whom thus Temple Symbolism is still further developed. This second class leaving their early symbolism and looking beyond this Temple of Solomon, find in Scriptural history another Temple, which, years after the destruction of the first one, was erected upon its ruins; and they have Selected the second Temple, the Temple of Zerubbabel, as their prominent symbol. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And as the first class of Freemasons find in their Temple the symbol of mortal life, limited and perishable, they, on the contrary, see in this second Temple, built upon the foundations of the first, a symbol of life eternal, where the lost truth shall be found, where new incense shall arise from a new altar, and whose perpetuity their great Plaster had promised when, in the very spirit of synlbolism, file exclaimed, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And so to these two classes or Orders of Freemasons the symbolism of the Temple presents itself in a connected and continuous form. To the Master Mason, the Temple of Solomon is the symbol of this life; to the Royal Arch Mason, the Temple of Zerubbabel is the symbol of the future life To the former his Temple is the symbol of the search for truth; to the latter, his is the symbol of the discovery of truth; thus the circle is completed, the system made perfect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLES, THE JERUSALEM | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. Solomon began the building of his Temple about 967 B.C., and completed it in about six and one-half years. This was in reality a collection of buildings, inside a wall, and the Temple proper was probably at or near the center, a structure 90 to 100 feet long, about 30 to 35 feet in width and at its highest about 50 feet. The entire system of buildings, taken as a unit, was the greatest single building feat ever undertaken by the Jewish people before or since. This was the First Temple. For nearly five centuries it was the center and capital of Hebrew peoples, not only in Palestine but wherever they might live. It and the city were looted and w destroyed by the Babylonian hordes under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B-C- (It may be more than a coincidence that the only successful—though temporary— attempt ever made by the Egyptians to achieve monotheism occurred while this First Temple was still standing It is likewise interesting to note that many of the tales, traditions, legends, and historical occurrenees about Solomon or his Temple need not refer to so early a date as 967 B.C. but may refer to it as of any date as between 967 B-C. and 586 B.C.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. When after a half century Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem they began almost at once to rebuild the Temple under their "prince," or leader, Sheshbazzar, who began work in 536 B.C.; it was completed by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. after twenty years of slow, hard labor by a poverty-stricken people, and then was only half restored. After 168 B.C. this building was looted, attacked, razed, rebuilt, and finally destroyed almost completely. This was the Second Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. One of the looters was Herod. In 40 B.C. Antony and Octavius gave him the title "King of Judea." Between 20 B.C. and 19 B.C., and for political reasons of his own, he began to rebuild the Temple, and on a larger scale. It was not completed until between 62 A.D. and 64 A.D. Only two years after this latter date the Jews began their revolt against Roman rule; in about four years, or 70 A.D., the whole "Temple was burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed.?' This was the Third Temple. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (Historians long were skeptical about the descriptions of the three Temples on the ground that structures of such size and elaborateness called for a technical knowledge which did not exist in ancient times. Modern archeological discoveries have removed that objection by proving that as early as 1000 B.C. many of the technical arts were at a high stage of development. Thus, and to cite only two examples, Tutankhamen's physicians had the use of complete sets of surgical instruments, and practiced many forms of anesthesia; shorthand, a technique without which modern business could hardly function, was known to ancient Egypt; in 1934 the Egypt Exploration Society published a book Greek Shorthand Manuals compiled from papyri and waxed tablets unearthed by archeologic excavations.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLE, WORKMEN AT THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Workmen at the Temple | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLIER | ||
+ | |||
+ | The title of a Knight Templar in French. The expression Chevalier Templier is scarcely ever used by French writers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEMPLUM HIEROSOLYMAE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Latin for the Temple of Jerusalem. It is supposed by some to be a phrase concealed under the monogram of the Triple Tau, which see. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEN | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ten cannot be considered as a sacred number in Freemasonry. But by the Pythagoreans it was honored as a symbol of the perfection and consummation of all things. It was constituted of the monad and duad, the active and passive principles, the triad or their result, and the quaternior or first square, and hence they referred it to their saered tetractys. They said that ten contained all the relations of numbers and harmony (see Tetractys). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEN EXPRESSIONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Using, as do the Rabbis, the expression, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," as one, we find nine other expressions in the first chapter of Genesis in which "God said"; thus making ten expressions by which the world was created. There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show that God was long-suffering before he deluged the earth. For a similar reason, says the Talmud, there were ten generations from Noah to Abraham, until the latter "took the reward of them all." Abraham was proved with ten trials. Ten miracles were wrought for the children of Israel in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea. Ten plagues afflicted the Egyptians in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea. And ten miracles were wrought in the Holy Temple (see Ten). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TENGU | ||
+ | |||
+ | A significant word in the advanced Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The original old French rituals explain it, and say that it and two other words that accompany are formed out of the initials of the words of a particular sentence which has reference to the Sacred Treasure of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEST WORD | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the year 1829, during the anti- Masonic excitement in America, the Grand Lodge of New York proposed, as a safeguard against "the introduction of impostors among the workmen," a test word to be used in all examinations in addition to the legitimate tests. But as this was deemed an innovation on the Landmarks, and as it was impossible that it could ever become universal, the Grand Lodges of the United States very properly rejected it, and it was never used. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TETRACTYS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Greek word signifies, literally, the number four, and is therefore synonymous with the quaternion; but it has been peculiarly applied to a symbol of the Pythagoreans, which is composed of ten dots arranged in a triangular form of four rows. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This figure was in itself, as a whole, emblematic of the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of four letters, for tetractys, in Greek, means Jour, and was undoubtedly learned by Pythagoras during his visit to Babylon. But the parts of which it is composed were also pregnant symbols. Thus the one point was a symbol of the Active Principle or Creator, the two points of the Passive Principle or Matter, the three of the world proceeding from their union, and the four of the liberal arts and sciences, which may be said to complete and perfect that world. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This arrangement of the ten points in a triangular form was called the tetractys or number four, because each of the sides of the triangle consisted of four points, and the whole number of ten was made up by the summation of the first four figures, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hierocles says, in his Commentaries on the Golden Verses (v, page 47): "But how comes God to be the Tetractys? This thou mayst learn in the sacred book ascribed to Pythagoras, in which God is celebrated as the number of numbers. For if all things exist by His eternal decrees, it is evident that in each species of things the number depends on the cause that produces them.... Now the power of ten is four; for before we come to a complete and perfect decade, we discover all the virtue and perfection of the ten in the four. Thus, in assembling all numbers from one to four inclusive, the whole composition makes ten," etc. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Dacier, in his notes on these Commentaries and on this particular passage, remarks that "Pythagoras, having learned in Egypt the name of the true God, the Mysterious and Ineffable Name Jehovah, and finding that in the original tongue it was composed of four letters, translated it into his own language by the word tetractys, and gave the true explanation of it, saying that it properly signified the source of nature that perpetually rolls along." | ||
+ | |||
+ | So much did the disciples of Pythagoras venerate tetractys, that it is said that they took their most solemn oaths, especially that of initiation, upon it. The exact words of the oath are given in the Golden Verses, and are referred to by Jamblichus in his Life of Pythagoras. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I swear it by Him who has transmitted into our soul the sacred tetractys The source of nature, whose course is eternal. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jamblichus gives a different phraseology of the oath, but with substantially the same meaning. In the symbols of Freemasonry, we will find the sacred Delta bearing the nearest analogy to the tectractys of the Pythagoreans. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The outline of these points form, it will be perceived, a triangle; and if we draw short lines from point to point, we will have within this great triangle nine smaller ones. Doctor Hemming, in his revision of the English lectures, adopted in 1813, thus explains this symbol: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The great triangle is generally denominated Pythsoorean, because it served as a principal illustration of that philosopher's system. This emblem powerfully elucidates the mystical relation between the numerical and geometrical symbols. It is Composed of ten points so arranged as to form one great equilateral triangle and at the same time to divide it into nine similar triangles of smaller dimensions. The first of these, representing unity, is Called a monad, and answers to what is denominated a point in geometry, each being the principle by the multiplication of which all Combinations of form and number are respectively generated. The next two points are denominated a dead, representing the number two, and answers to the geometrical line which, consisting of length without breadth, is hounded by two extreme points. The three following points are called the triad, representing the number three, and may be considered asks having an indissoluble relation to all superficies which consist of length and breadth, when Contemplated as abstraeted from thickness. Doctor Hemming does not appear to have improved on the Pythagorean symbolization. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TETRADITES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Believers in the occult powers of the numeral four, and in a Godhead of four persons in lien of three In this connection, the figure is worthy of examination, it being a star of five points enclosing the three letters of the ineffable Names but forming the Tetragrammaton, the Shem Hamphorash. This figure has been claimed to represent the Godhead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TETRAGRAMMATON | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Greek, it signifies, a word of four letters. It is the title given by the Talmudists to the name of God, Jehovah, which in the original Hebrew Consists of four letters (see Jehovah) . | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEUTONIC KNIGHTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The origin of this Order was a humble but a pious one. During the Crusades a wealthy gentleman of Germany, who resided at Jerusalem, commiserating the condition of his countrymen who came there as pilgrims, made his house their receptacle, and afterward built a hospital, to which, by the permission of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, he added an oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Other Germans coming from Lubeck and Bremen contributed to the extension of this charity, and erected at Acre, during the third Crusade, a sumptuous hospital, and assumed the title of Teutonic Knights, or Brethren of the Hospital of our Lady of the Germans of Jerusalem. They elected Henry Walpott their first Master, and adopted for their government a Rule closely approximating to that both of the Templars and the Hospitalers, with an additional one that none but Germans should be admitted into the Order. Their dress consisted of a white mantle, with a black cross embroidered in gold. Clark says (History of Knighthood ii, page 60) that the original badge, which was assigned to them by the Emperor Henry VI, was a black cross potent; and that form of cross has ever Since been known as a Teutonic Cross. John, King of Jerusalem, added the cross double potent gold, that is, a cross potent of gold on the black cross. The word potent means a staff, the crossed or crutched ends of the cross arms suggesting the head of a walking stick. The Emperor Frederick II gave them the black double-headed eagle, to be borne in an inescutcheon, a small shield borne on another, in the center of the cross; and Saint Louis, of France, added to it, as an augmentation, a blue chief strewn with fleur-de-lis. | ||
+ | |||
+ | During the siege of Acre they did good service to the Christian cause; but on the fall of that city, the main body returned to Europe with Frederick II. For many years they were busily occupied in Crusades against the pagan inhabitants of Prussia and Poland. Ashmole says that in 1340 they built the city of Maryburg, and there established the residence of their Grand Master. They were for a long time engaged in contests with the Kings of Poland on account of the invasion of their territory. They were also excommunicated by Pope John XXII, but relying on their great strength, and the remoteness of their province, they bid defiance to ecclesiastical censures and the contest resulted in their receiving Prussia proper as a trust from the Kings of Poland. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In 1511, Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, was elected their Grand Master. In 1525 he abandoned the vows of his Order; became a Protestant, and exchanged his title of Grand Master for that of Duke of Eastern Prussia; and thus the dominion of the Knights was brought to an end, and the foundation laid of the future Kingdom of Prussia. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Order, however, still continued its existence, the seat of the Grand Master being at Mergentheim, in Swabia. By the peace of Presburg, in 1805, the Emperor Francis II obtained the Grand Mastership, with all its rights and privileges. In 1809 Napoleon abolished the Order, but it continued a titular existence in Austria. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Attempts have been made to incorporate the Teutonic Knights into Freemasonry, and their cross has been adopted in some of the advanced Degrees. But we fail to find in history the slightest traces of any actual connection between the two Orders. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TEXAS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first Masonic meeting in Texas was held in a grove at Brazoria where in March, 1835, five Master Masons, John H. Wharton, Asa Brigham, James A. E. Phelps, Alexander Russell and Anson Jones, decided to open a Lodge. A Dispensation was granted by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and in spite of the danger attendant upon secret meetings at this time the Lodge was opened as Holland, No. 26, on December 27, 1835. War with Mexico interrupted the work of the Lodge, but it remained in existence until February, 1836. | ||
+ | |||
+ | When Brazoria was captured the records and all the belongings of the Lodge were destroyed and the members scattered. A Charter, however, had been issued and was brought to Texas by John M. Allen, and, in October, 1837, the only Lodge in Texas which existed prior to her separation from Mexico was reopened at Houston. Three Lodges, Milam, No. 40; McFarlane, No. 41, and Holland, No. 36, held a Convention at Houston in the winter of 1837-8 to form a Grand Lodge. The following officers were elected: Grand Master, Anson Jones; Deputy Grand Master, Adolphus Sterne; Senior Grand Warden, Jefferson Wright; Junior Grand Warden, Christopher Dart; Grand Secretary, G. H. Winched; Grand Treasurer, Thomas G. Western. The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was adopted and the first Annual Communication arranged for April 1639. | ||
+ | |||
+ | December 9, 1835, on the application of Companions Samuel M. Williams, James H. C. Miller and others the General Grand Chapter decided to issue a Charter to San Filipe de Austin Chanter, No. 1. It was not established, however, until June 2, 1840, when Texas was no longer part of Mexico, and in the interval Dugald McFarlane had organized Cyrus Chapter under the authority of Matagorda Chapter. To consider the organization of a Grand Chapter, delegates from San Felipe de Austin, Cyrus, Lone Star, and Rising Star Chapters met in Austin December 14. 1841. On December 21 a Constitution was adopted. The Grand Lodge of Texas relinquished authority over the Chapters but the General Grand Chapter refused to recognize the new Grand Chapter because it had been instituted without authority. At its organization on December 30, 1850, four Chapters were represented, namely, San Felipe de Austin, No. 1; Washington, No. 2; Brenham, No. 5, and Brazos, No. 8. In 1861 it separated from the General Grand Chapter of the United States. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Minutes of Columbian Council, No. 1, of New York City, is mention of three Degrees conferred upon Companions John N. Reed and Ebenezer B. Nichols of Houston Chapter, No. 8. A Warrant, ratified January 31, 1848, was issued to them and William D. Smith, by the Grand Master, for Houston Council, No. 10. Columbia, No. 1; Alabama, No. 12, and Coleman Councils then sent delegates to Huntsville and organized a Grand Council which existed until 1865. William T. Austin of Galveston Council was elected Grand Master but his name was not in the Report of the Committee on Credentials and Galveston Council was not added to the roll until 1859. In 1864 it was arranged to surrender control of the Degrees to the Grand Chapter of Texas. From 1865 until December 3, 1907, they were worked in Council under the authority of a Chapter. In 1907 the Grand Council met again at Waco and resumed control of the Degrees. On November 9, 1909, the Grand Council was recognized, though still retaining its independence, by the General Grand Council. | ||
+ | |||
+ | San Felipe de Austin Cornmandery was chartered December 10, 1835, at Galveston. On December 13, 1853, the General Grand Master issued a Warrant for a Grand Encampment of Texas. Three Commanderies, San Filipe de Austin, No. 1; Ruthven, No. 2, and Palestine, No. 3, took part in its institution on January 18, 1855. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, began in Texas with the San Felipe, No. 1, Lodge of Perfection, chartered at Galveston, May 15, 1867. The Phillip C. Tucker Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1, was chartered January 31, 1882; the Pike-Tueker Couneil of Kadosh, No. 1, on October 6, 1898, and the Texas Consistory, No. 1, on November 18, 1899. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *T. G. A. O. T. U. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The initials of The Grand Architect of the Universe. Often used in this abbreviated form by Masonic writers. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THAMMUZ | ||
+ | |||
+ | Spelled also Tammuz. A deity worshiped by the apostate Jews in the time of Ezekiel, and supposed by most commentators to be identical with the Syrian god Adonis (see Adonis, Mysteries of). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THANKS | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is a usage of French Freemasonry, and in the advanced Degrees of some other Rites, for a candidate, after his initiation and the address of the orator to him, to return thanks to the Lodge for the honor that has been conferred upon him. It is a voluntary and not an obligatory duty, and is not practiced in the Lodges of the York and American Rites. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEISM | ||
+ | |||
+ | Theological writers have defined theism as being the belief in the existence of a Deity who, having created the world, directs its government by the constant exercise of His beneficent power, in contradistinction to atheism, which denies the existence of any such Creative and Superintending Being. In this sense, theism is the fundamental religion of Freemasonry, on which is Superimposed the additional and peculiar tenets of each of its disciples. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is a term invented by Dr. G. Oliver to indicate that view of Freemasonry which intimately connects its symbols With the teachings of pure religion, and traces them to the primeval revelations of God to man, so that the philosophy of Freemasonry shall develop the continual government of the Divine Being. Hence he says: "It is the Theocracies Philosophy of Freemasonry that commands our unqualified esteem, and seals in our heart that love for the Institution which will produce an active religious faith and practice, and lead in the end to 'a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' "He has developed this system in one of his works entitled The Theocratic Pilllosopy of Freemasonry, in twelve lectures on its Speculative, Operative, and Spurious Branches. In this work he enters with great minuteness into an examination of the speculative character of the Institution and of its operative division, which he contends had been practiced as an exclusively scientific pursuit from the earliest times in every country in the world. Many of the legendary speculations advanced in this work will be rejected at this day as unsound and untenable, but his views of the true philosophy of Freemasonry are worthy of profound study. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Under the name of the Cardinal Virtues, because all the other virtues hinged upon them, the ancient Pagans gave the most prominent place in their system of ethics to Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice. But the three virtues taught in the theology of Saint Paul. Faith, Hope, and Charity, as such were unknown to them. To these, as taking a higher place and being more intimately connected with the relations of man to God, Christian writers have given the name of the Theological Virtues. They have been admitted into the system of Freemasonry, and are symbolized in the Theological Ladder of Jacob. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEOPASCHITES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Followers of Peter the Fuller, who flourished in the fifth century, and believed in the crucifixion of all three of the Godhead. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEORICUS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Second Grade of the First Order of the ,Society of Rosicrucians (see Rosicrucianism). This is also the Twelfth Degree of the Cerman Rose Croix. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEOSOPHISTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | There were many theosophists —enthusiasts whom Vaughan calls "noble Specimens of the mystic" but those with whom the history of Freemasonry has most to do were the mystical religious thinkers of the eighteenth century, who supposed that they were possessed of a knowledge of the Divinity and His works by supernatural inspiration, or who regarded the foundation of their mystical tenets as resting on a sort of divine intuition. Such were ,Swedenborg, who, if not himself a Masonic reformer, has supplied the materials of many Degrees; the Moravian Brethren, the original object of Whose association is said to have been the propagation of the Gospel under the Masonic veil; Saint Martin, founder of the Philalethans; Pernettv, to whom we owe the Order of the Illuminati at Avignon; and Chastallier. who was the inventor of the Rite of Illuminated Theosophists. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 'The object proposed in all these theosophic Degrees was the regeneration of man, and his reintegration into the primitive innocence from which he had fallen by original sin. Theosophic Freemasonry was, in fact, nothing else than an application of the speculative ideas of Jacob Böhme, of Swedenborg, and other mystical philosophers of the same class. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vaughan, in his Hours with the Mystics (ii, page 46) thus describes the earlier theosophists of the four-teenth century "They believed devoutly in the genuineness of the Cabala. They were persuaded that, beneath all the floods of change, this oral tradition had perpetuated its life unharmed from the days of Moses downward—even as Jewish fable taught them that the cedars alone, of all trees, had continued to spread the strength of their invulnerable arms below the waters of the deluge. They rejoiced in the hidden lore of that book as in a treasure rich with the germs of all philosophy. They maintained that from its marvelous leaves man might learn the angelic heraldry of the skies, the mysteries of the Divine Nature the means of converse with the potentates of heaven." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Add to this an equal reverence for the unfathomable mysteries contained in the prophecies of Daniel and the vision of the Evangelist, with a proneness to give to everything Divine a symbolic interpretation, and you have the true character of those later theosophists who labored to invent their particular systems of Freemasonry. For more of this subject, see the article on Saint Martin. Nothing now remains of theosophic Freemasonry except the few traces left through the influence of Zinnendorf in the Swedish system, and what we find in the Apocalyptic Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The system of Swedenborg, Pernetty, Paschalis, Saint Martin, and Chastanier have all become obsolete. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THERAPEUTAE | ||
+ | |||
+ | An ascetic sect of Jews in the first century after Christ, whom Milman calls the ancestors of the Christian monks and hermits. They resided near Alexandria, in Egypt, and bore a striking resemblance in their doctrines to those of the Essenians. They were, however, much influenced by the mystical school of Alexandria, and, while they borrowed much from the Cabala, partook also in their speculation of Pythagorean and Orphic ideas. Their system pervades some of the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry. The best amount of them is by Philo Judaeus. Name is from Greek meaning healing agents. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THERIOG | ||
+ | |||
+ | The six hundred and thirteen precepts into which the Jews divided the Mosaical law. Thus the Hebrew letters :8nn numerically express 613 (see description of Talith). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THEURGY | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the Greek Theos, meaning God and Ergon, work. The ancients thus called the whole art of magic—magic being understood here as the powers, influences or practices of supposed or pretended supernatural or occult art—because they believed its operations to be the result of an intercourse with the gods. But the moderns have appropriated it to that species of magic which operate by celestial means as opposed to natural magic, which is effected by a knowledge of the occult powers of nature, and necromancy or magic effected by the aid of evil spirits. Attempts have been made by some speculative authors to apply this high medics as it is also called, to an interpretation of Masonic symbolism. A most prolific writer is Alphonse Louis Constant, who, under the name of Eliphaz Levi, has given to the world numerous works on the dogma and ritual, the history and the interpretation, of this theurgic Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THIRD DEGREE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Master Mason | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THIRTEEN, THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Has had reference to a couple of organizations. A Parisian society claiming to exercise an occult influence during the First Empire. A society of formerly growing proportions in the United States, intended to confound and uproot superstition, with an indirect reference to King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table and the Judas of infamy at the Last Supper of the twelve Apostles with the Master (Matthew xxvi, 2S5). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THIRTY-SECOND DEGREE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THIRTY-SIX | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers, thirty-six symbolized the male and female powers of nature united, because it is composed of the sum of the four odd numbers, 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16, added to the sum of the four even numbers, 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20, for 16 + 20 = 36. It has, however, no place among the sacred numbers of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Sovereign Grand Inspector General | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOKATH | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word meaning Strength. An expression known to the Brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the Twelfth Degree. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOMAS, ISAIAH | ||
+ | |||
+ | Grand Master, Massachusetts, 1803 and 1805 at the same time that Right Worshipful Henry Fowle served the same Grand Lodge as Junior Grand Deacon; an American printer and publisher of several patriotic magazines just previous to the American Revolution. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1749, apprenticed to Zechariah Fowle, a printer, 1755, he owned the Massachusetts Spy advocating the Whig policies and the Government endeavored to suppress the publication. Three days before the Battle of Concord, April 16, 1775, he moved his printing presses to Worcester. He was postmaster for a time and here also he published books, built a paper-mill and bindery, and distributed the Spy until 1802. The paper was discontinued, however, during the stormy interval between 1776 and 1778 and again between 1786 and 1788. This publication was an ardent supporter of Washington and the Federalists. Brother Thomas published the Royal American Magazine in 1774 which contained from time to time numerous engravings by the famous Paul Revere, afterwards Grand Master. Between 1775 and 1803 Thomas brought out the New England Almanac, which his son continued until 1819. In Boston he published monthly from 1789 to 1793 the Massachusetts Magazine. At Walpole, New Hampshire, he edited the Farmer's Museum. Among the noteworthy deeds of Brother Thomas was the founding of the American Antiquarian Society in 1812. His death occurred in 1831, April 4, at Worcester. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOMISTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | An ancient Christian church in Malabar, said to have been founded by Saint Thomas | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOMSON, MATTHEW McBLAIN | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Clang destine | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOR or THORR | ||
+ | |||
+ | contracted from Thonar, and sometimes known as Donar. This deity presided over the mischievous spirits in the elements, and was the son of Odin and Freya. These three were known in mythology as the triune deity—the Father, Son, and Spirit Thor's great weapon of destruction or force was the Miolner, the hammer or mallet, which had the marvelous property of invariably returning to its owner after having been launched upon its mission, and having performed its work of destruction. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE FIRES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Guardians of the Sixty-seventh Degree of the Modern Rite of Memphis. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREEFOLD CORD | ||
+ | |||
+ | A triple cord whose strands are of different colors; it is used in several Rites as an instructive symbol (see Seneclar). A striking allusion to the strength of a triple cord is found in Ecclesiastics (iv, 12) "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Yet we must remember, as Whittier says in the Moral Warfare of the cause at heart, So let it be in God's own might We gird us for the coming fight And, strong in Him whose cause is ours In conflict with unholy powers, We grasp the weapons He has given,— The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE GLOBES, RITE OF THE GRAND LODGE OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | On September 13, 1740, the Lodge of the Three Globes. zu den drei Wellkugeln, was established in the City of Berlin, Prussia. In 1744 it assumed the rank and title of a Grand Mother Lodge. At first it worked, like all the other Lodges of Germany, in the English system of three Degrees, and adopted the English Book of Constitutions as its law. But it subsequently became infected with the advanced Degrees, which were at one time so popular in Germany, and especially with the Striet Observance system of Von Hund, which it accepted in 1766. At the extinction of that system the Grand Lodge adopted one of its own, in doing which it was assisted by the labors of Dr. I. F. Zollner, the Grand Master. Its Rite became one of seven higher Degrees added to the three primitive. The latter were under the control of the Grand Lodge; but the seven higher ones were governed by an Internal or Inner Supreme Orient, whose members were, however, elected by the Grand Lodge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE GRAND OFFERINGS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Ground Floor of the Lodge | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE POINTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Three points in a triangular form are placed after letters in a Masonic document to indicate that such letters are the initials of a Masonic title or of a technical word in Freemasonry, as G. M. for Grand Master, or G. L. for Grand Lodge. It is not a symbol, but simply a mark of abbreviation. The attempt, therefore, to trace it to the Hebrew three yods, a Cabalistic sign of the Tetragrammaton, or any other ancient symbol, is futile. It is an abbreviation, and nothing more; although it is probable that the idea was suggested by the sacred character of the number three as a Masonic number, and these tree dots might refer to the position of the three officers in a French Lodge. Ragon says (Orthodoxie Maçonnique, page 71) that the mark was first used by the Grand Orient of France in a circular issued August 12, 1774, in which we read "G. O. de France." A common expression of anti-Masonic writers in France when referring to the Brethren of the Craft is Fréres Trois Points, Three Point Brothers, a term cultivated in their mischief survives in honor because reminding the brotherhood of cherished association and symbols. The abbreviation is now constantly used in French documents, and, although not accepted by the English Freemasons, has been very generally adopted in other countries. In the United States, the use of this abbreviation is gradually extending. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE SACRED UTENSILS | ||
+ | |||
+ | These were the vessels of the Tabernacle as to which the Rev. W Joseph Barclay, LL.D., makes the following quotation: "Rabbi José, son of Rabbi Judah, said a fiery Ark, and a fiery Table, and a fiery Candlestick descended from heaven. And Moses saw them, and made according to their similitude"; and thus comments: "They also think that the Ark of the Covenant is concealed in a chamber under the Temple Enclosure, and that it and all the holy vessels will be found at the coming of the Messiah." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Apocrypha, however, informs us that Jeremiah laid the Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Altar of Incense in a "hollow cave, in the mountain, where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God. And the place shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them into Mercy" (Second Maccabees ii, 7). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sacred vessels, which were taken to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and are now seen Sculptured on the Arch of Titus, were carried off to Africa by the Vandals under Genseric. Belisarius took them to Constantinople in 520 A D. They were afterward sent back to Jerusalem, and thence they are supposed to have been carried to Persia, When Chosroes plundered the Holy City, in June, 614 A.D. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE SENSES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of the five human senses, the three which are the most important in Masonic symbolism are Seeing, Hearing, and Feeling, because of their respective reference to certain modes of recognition, and because, by their use, Freemasons are enabled to practice that universal language the possession of which is the boast of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE STEPS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Steps on the Master's Carpet | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THRESHING FLOOR | ||
+ | |||
+ | among the Hebrews, circular spots of hard ground were used, as now, for the purpose of threshing corn. After they were properly prepared for the purpose, they became permanent possessions. One of these, the property of Ornan the Jehusite, was on Mount Moriah (First Chronieles xxi, 15 28). It was purchased by David, for a place of sacrifice, for six hundred shekels of gold, and on it the Temple was afterward built. Hence it is sometimes used as a symbolic name for the Temple of Solomon or for a Master's Lodge. Thus it is said in the instructions that the Freemason comes "from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost" and that he is traveling "to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The interpretation of this rather abstruse symbolic expression is that on his initiation the Freemason comes out of the profane world, where there is ignorance and darkness and Confusion as there was at Babel, and that he is approaching the Masonic world, where, as at the Temple built on Ornan's threshing floor, there is knowledge and light and order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THRONE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The seat occupied by the Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of England is called the throne, in allusion, probably, to the throne of Solomon. In American Grand Lodges it is styled the Oriental Chair of King Solomon, a title which is also given to the seat of the Master of a subordinate Lodge. In ecclesiology, the seat in a Cathedral occupied by a Bishop is called a throne; and in the Middle Ages, according to Du Cange, the same title was not only applied to the seats of Bishops, but often also to those of Abbots, or even Priests who were in possession of titles or churches. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THUGS | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Hindu Association that offered human sacrifices to their divinity Kali. It was dreaded for its violence and the fierceness of its members, who were termed either Stranglers or Aspirants. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THUMMIM | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Urim and Thummim | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THURIBLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | From Thur, or Thus meaning frankincentse, and ible which has here the same significance as the English suffix able, as in serviceable, the word Thurible, is in Latin Thuribulum. A metallic censer for burning incense. It is of various forms, but generally in that of an ornamental cup suspended bv chains, whereby the Thurlfer or center bearer keeps the incense burning and diffuses the perfume. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THURIFER | ||
+ | |||
+ | The bearer of the thurible, or center, prepared with frankincense, and used by the Roman Catholic Church at Mass and other ceremonials; ats also in the Philosophic Degrees of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THURSDAY | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fifth day of the week. So called from its being originally consecrated to Thor, or the Icelandic Thorr, the god of thunder, answering to the Jove of the Romans. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first clause in the Covenant of Freemasonry which refers to the preservation of the secrets is technically called the tie. It is substantially the same in the Covenant of each Degree, from the lowest to the highest. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIE, MYSTIC | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Mystic Tie | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIERCE, DE LA | ||
+ | |||
+ | He was the first translator of Anderson's Constitutions into French, the manuscript of which he says that he prepared during his residence in London. He afterward published it at Frankfort, in 1743, with the title of Histoire, Obligations et Statuts de la tres venerable Confraternite des Francs-Maçons, tires de leurs archives et conformis auz traditions les pluts anciennes, etc., History, Obligations and Statutes of the very venerable Confraternity of the Freemasons, taken from their archives and agreeable to the most ancient traditions, etc. His work contains a translation into French of the Old Charges — the General Regulations — and manner of constituting a new Lodge, as given by Anderson in 1723. De la Tierce is said to have been, while in London, an intimate friend of Anderson, the first edition of whose Constitutions he used when he compiled his manuscript in 1725. But he improved on Anderson's work by dividing the history in epochs. This course Anderson pursued in his second edition; which circumstance has led Schneider, in the Neuen Journale zur Freimaurerei, to suppose that in writing that second edition, Anderson was aided by the previous labors of De la Tierce, of whose work he was most probably in possession. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TILE | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Lodge is said to be tiled when the necessary precautions have been taken to prevent the approach of unauthorized persons; and it is said to be the first duty of every Freemason to see that this is done before the Lodge is opened. The words to tile are sometimes used in the same sense as to examine, as when it is said that a visitor has been tiled, that is, has been examined. But the expression is not in general use, and does not seem to be a correct employment of the term. The English expression close tyled means that a Lodge is formally secluded against all persons not fully qualified and authorized to enter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TILER | ||
+ | |||
+ | An officer of a Symbolic Lodge, whose duty is to guard the door of the Lodge, and to permit no one to pass in who is not duly qualified, and who has not the permission of the Master. A necessary qualification of a Tiler is, therefore, that he should be a Master Mason. Although the Lodge may be opened in an inferior Degree, no one who has not advanced to the Third Degree can legally discharge the functions of Tiler. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the Tiler is always compensated for his services, he is considered, in some sense, as the servant of the Lodge. It is, therefore, his duty to prepare the Lodge for its meetings, to arrange the furniture in its proper place, and to make all other arrangements for the convenience of the Lodge. The Tiler need not be a member of the Lodge which he tiles; and in fact, in large cities, one Brother very often performs the duties of Tiler of several Lodges. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is a very important office, and, like that of the Master and Wardens, owes its existence, not to any conventional regulations, but to the very landmarks of the order; for, from the peculiar nature of our Institution, it is evident that there never could have been a meeting of Freemasons for Masonic purposes, unless a Tiler had been present to guard the Lodge from intrusion. The title is derived from the Operative Art; for as in Operative MasGnry the Tiler, when the edifice is erected, finishes and covers it with the roof of tiles, so in Speculative Masonry, when the Lodge is duly organized, the Tiler closes the door and covers the sacred precincts from all intrusion. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TlLER'S OATH | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Oath, Tiler's | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TILER'S SWORD, BREAKING | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Sword, Tiler's | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TILLY DE GRASSE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Grasse, Tilly de | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TILUK | ||
+ | |||
+ | The sacred impress made upon the forehead of the Brahman, like unto the Tau to the Hebrew, or the Cross to the Christian. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIMBRE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The French Freemasons so call a stamp, consisting of the initials or monogram of the Lodge, which is impressed in black or red ink upon every official document emanating from the Lodge. When such a document has the seal also attached, it is said to be timbrée et scene that is, stamped tend sealed. The timbre, which differs from the seal, is not used in English or American Lodges. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIME | ||
+ | |||
+ | The image of Tizee, under the conventional figure of a winged old man with the customary scythe and hour-glass, has been adopted as one of the modern symbols in the Third Degree. He is represented as attempting to disentangle the ringlets of a weeping virgin who stands before him. This, which is apparently a never-ending task, but one which Time undertakes to perform, is intended to teach the Freemasons that time, patience and perseverance will enable him to accomplish the great object of a Freemason's labor, and at last to obtain the true Word which is the symbol of Divine Truth. Time, therefore, is in this connection the symbol of well-directed perseverance in the performance of duty. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This symbol with the broken column, so familiar to all Freemasons in the United States is probably an American innovation (see Aroken Column, also Monument, and Weeping Virgin). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES | ||
+ | |||
+ | The answer to the question "Has he made suitable proficiency?" has been sometimes made, "Such as time and circumstances would permit." This is an error, and may be a mischievous one, as leading to a careless preparation of the candidate for qualification to advancement. The correct answer is "Ele has" (see Advancement, Hurried) . | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIMOR ISLAND | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Oceania | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TIRSHATHA | ||
+ | |||
+ | The title given to the Persian governors of Judea. It was borne by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. It is supposed to be derived from the Persian borsch, meaning austere or severe, and is therefore, says Gesenius, equivalent to Your Seventy. It is in the modern ritual of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States the title of the presiding officer of a Council of Princes of Jerusalem. It is also the title of the presiding officer of the Royal Order of Heredom of Kilwinning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TISRI | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word. The first month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding to the month of September and October, beginning with the new moon of the former. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TITAN OF THE CAUCASUS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fifty-third Degree of the Memphis Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TITLES | ||
+ | |||
+ | The titles conferred in the rituals of Freemasonry upon various officers are often apparently grandiloquent, lofty, and have given occasion to some, who have not fully understood their true meaning, to call them absurd and bombastic. On this subject Brother Albert Pike has, in the following remarks, given a just significance to Masonic titles: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some of these titles we retain, but they have with us meanings entirely consistent with the spirit of equality, which is the foundation and peremptory law of its being, of all Freemasonry. The Knight, with us, is he who devotes his hand, his heart, his brain to the service of freemasonry, and professes himself the sworn soldier of truth: the Prince is he who aims to be chief, Princeps. first, leader among his equals, in virtue and good deeds: the Sovereign is he who, one of an Order whose members are all sovereigns, is supreme only because the law and Constitutions are so which he administers, and by which he like every other Brother, is governed. The titles Puissant, Potent, Wise, and Venerable indicate that power of virtue, intelligence, and wisdom which those ought to strive to attain who are placed in high offices by the suffrages of their Brethren, and all our other titles and designations have an esoteric meaning consistent with modesty and equality and which those who receive them should fully understand. | ||
+ | |||
+ | (See also Sermons, Masonic.) | ||
+ | |||
+ | A further welcome consideration of the subject is by Canon J. W. Horsley, who compares Masonic titles with those of the Episcopal Church, particularly the Church of England. Brother Horsley writes in Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1910 (part 2, volume X.Viii, page 98) that it may be obvious to the observing, but all people do not observe, that many of the names and titles used in Freemasonry and its organization have been borrowed directly and in their proper order from the Church of England. He invited an examination of the following illustrations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The Church of England has at its head the two Primates of Canterbury and of York, and their official title is The Most Reverend. Masonry therefore has The Most Worshipful Grand Master, and Pro-Grand Master. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. Under them in the hierarchy come the Right Reverend the Bishops. So Masonry puts next to its heads The Right Worshipful the Deputy Grand Master, The Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Masters, and The Right Worshipful Grand Wardens. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. The next title of honor or office in the Church is that of Very Reverend applied to Deans or Heads of Cathedral Chapters. Hence Very Worshipful as designating Grand Chaplain, Grand Treasurers, Registrar, Secretary, Director of Ceremonies, and President of the Board of Benevolence. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. The unit of the Parish brings us to the parallel of The Reverend Parish Priests and The Worshipful the Master of a Lodge. Each is assisted by two Wardens and the association for many legal and administrative purposes of Rector and Church Wardens is as real and close as that of Master and Wardens. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5. One might here note the resemblance between the ceremony of the induction of the Priest into the benefice or care of a Parish and that of the installation of a Mason as Master of a Lodge. In the case of the more formal appointing of a Canon the resemblance is more marked by the ecclesiastical use of the word "installation" and moreover by the character of the physical act whereby the Bishop puts the new Canon into his Stall with a ritual that comes with no novelty to one who has previously been installed as the Master of a Lodge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 6. Reverting to the fact that of the two Primates the Archbishop of Canterbury is termed Primate of All England and the Archbishop of York the Primate of England, we may recall the time when in the early part of the 18th century there was a Grand Lodge of All England and a Grand Lodge of England. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 7. Why certain groupings of Lodges are called Provinces may have puzzled some. Not so, however, those who as Churchmen were familiar with the division of lingland into the Province of Canterbury and the Province of York. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TITLES OF GRAND LODGES | ||
+ | |||
+ | The title of the Grand Lodge of England is "The United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. " That of Ireland is "The Grand Masonic Lodge. " Of Scotland, "The Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons." Those of France are "The Grand Lodge of France," "The National Independent and Regular Grand Lodge of France and the French Colonies," and "The Grand Orient." The same title is taken by the Grand Lodges or Supreme Masonic authorities of Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Greece, and also by the Grand Lodges of all the South American States. Of the German Grand Lodged the only three that have distinctive titles are "The Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three Globes," "The Grand National Lodge of Germany," and "The Grand Lodge Royal York of Friendship." In Sweden and Denmark they are simply called "Grand Lodges." In the English possessions of North America they are also called "Grand Lodges." | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the United States the title of the Grand Lodge of Maine, of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, of Alabama, of Illinois, of Iowa, of Wisconsin, of Minnesota, of Worth Carolina, and of Oregon, is the "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons"; of Pennsylvania, "The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, and Masonic Jurisdiction There unto Belonging"; of Ohio, "The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons"; of New Hampshire, of Vermont, of New York, of New Jersey, of Arkansas, and of Indiana, it is "The Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons"; of Maryland, of the District of Columbia, of Florida, of Michigan, of Missouri, and of California, is "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons"; of South Carolina is "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons"; of all the other States the title is simply the "Grand Lodge." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TITO | ||
+ | |||
+ | A significant word in the advanced Degrees. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite rituals give the name of Tito, Prince Harodim, to him who they say was the first who was appointed by Solomon a Provost and Judge. This person appears to be altogether mythical; the word is not found in the Hebrew language, nor has any meaning been given to it. He is represented as having been a favorite of the King of Israel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He is said to have ruled over the Lodge of the Intendants of the Building, and to have been one of the twelve illustrious knights who were set over the Twelve Tribes, that of Naphtali being placed under his care. The whole of this legend is, of course, connected with the symbolic signification of those Degrees. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOASTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOASTE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Anderson says (Constitutions, 1738, page 110) that in 1719 Doctor Desaguliers, having been installed Grand Master, "forthwith revived the old, regular, and peculiar toasts or healths of the Freemasons." If Anderson's statements could be implicitly trusted as historical facts, we should have to conclude that a system of regulated toasts prevailed in the Lodges before the revival. The custom of drinking healths at banquets is a very old one, and can be traced to the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans. From them it was handed down to the moderns, and especially in England we find the "waeshael" of the Saxons, a term used in drinking, and equivalent to the modern phrase, "Your health." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Steele, in the Tatler, intimates that the word toast began to be applied to the drinking of healths in the early part of the eighteenth century. And although his account of the origin of the word has been contested, it is very evident that the drinking of toasts was a universal custom in the clubs and festive associations which were common in London about the time of the revival of Freemasonry. It is therefore to be presumed that the Masonic Lodges did not escape the influences of the convivial spirit of that age, and drinking in the Lodge-room during the hours of refreshment was a usual custom, but, as Doctor Oliver observes, all excess was avoided, and the confidentialities of freemasonry were regulated by the Old Charges, which directed the Brethren to enjoy themselves with decent mirth, not forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination, nor hindering him from going home when he pleased The drinking was conducted by rule, the Master giving the toast, but first inquiring of the Senior Wardens "Are sou charged in the West, Brother Senior?" and of the Junior Wardens "Are you charged in the South, brother Junior?" to which appropriate replies being made, the toast was drunk with honors peculiar to the Institution. In an old Masonic song, the following stanza occurs: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :"Are you charged in the West? are you charged in the South? " | ||
+ | :The Worshipful Master cries. | ||
+ | :"We are charged in the West, we are charged in the South.' | ||
+ | :Each Warden prompt replies. | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the catechetical works of the eighteenth century thus described the drinking customs of the Freemasons of that period: "The table being plentifully supplied with seine and punch, every man has a glass set before him, and fills it with what he chooses. But he must drink his glass in turn, or at least keep the motion with the rest. When, therefore, a public health is given, the Master fills first, and desires the Brethren to charge their glasses; and when this is supposed to be done, the Master says, Brethren, are -you all charged? The Senior and Junior Wardens answer, we are all charged in the South and West. Then they all stand up, and observing the Master's motions, like the soldier his right-hand man, drink their glasses off." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another Work of the same period says that the first toast given was, The Sting and the Craft." But a still older work gives what it calls "A Free-Mason's Health" in the following words: "Here's a health to our Society and to every faithful Brother that keeps his oath of secrecy. As we are sworn to love each other, the world no Order knows lice this our noble and ancient Fraternity. Let them wonder at the Mystery. Here, brother, I drink to thee." | ||
+ | |||
+ | In time the toasts improved in their style, and were deemed of so much importance that lists of them, for the benefit of those who were deficient of inventive genius, were published in all the pocketbooks, calendars, and song books of the Order. thus a large collection is to be found in the Masonic Miscellanies of Stephen Jones. A few of them will show their technical character: "To the secret and silent"; "To the memory of the distinguished Three." "To all that live within compass and square"; "To the memory of the Tyrian Artists." "To him that first the word began," etc. But there was a regular series of toasts which, besides these voluntary ones, were always given at the refreshments of the Brethren. Thus, whether or no the reigning sovereign happened to be a member of the Fraternity, the first toast given was always "The King and the Craft." And the final toast by the Tiler, common in most English speaking countries still never be forgotten. In the French Lodges the drinking of toasts was, with the word itself, borrowed from England. It was, however, Subjected to strict rules, from which there could be no departure. Seven toasts were called Santas d'obligation, the Obligatory Healths, because drinking them was made obligatory, and could not be omitted at the Lodge banquet. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They were as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. The health of the Sovereign and his family. | ||
+ | :2. That of the Grand Master and the chiefs of the Order. | ||
+ | :3. That of the Master of the Lodge. 4. That of the Wardens. | ||
+ | :5. That of the other officers.. | ||
+ | :6. That of the Visitors. | ||
+ | :7. That of all Freemasons wheresoever spread over the two hemispheres. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In 1872, the Grand Orient, after long discussions reduced the number of Santés d'obligation from seven to four, and changed their character. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They were revised thus. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. To the Grand Orient of France, the Lodges of its correspondences and foreign Grand Orients. | ||
+ | :2. To the Master of the Lodge. | ||
+ | :3 To the Wardens, the officers, affiliated Lodges, and Visiting Brethren. | ||
+ | :4. To all Freemasons existing on each hemisphere. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The systematized method of drinking toasts, which in an elaborate fashion once prevailed in the Lodges of the English-speaking countries, has been, to some extent, abandoned; yet a few toasts still remain, which, although not absolutely obligatory, are still never omitted. Thus no Masonic Lodge would neglect at its banquet to offer, as its first toast, a sentiment expressive of respect for the Grand Lodge. With the temperance movement there has been a grooving check upon the use of stimulants with these expressions of good will and affection, and in the United States old customs have been modified materially. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The venerable Doctor Oliver was a great admirer of the custom of drinking Masonic toasts, and panegyrizes it in his Book of the Lodge (page 147). He says that at the time of refreshment in a Masonic Lodge "the song appeared to have more zest than in a private company; the toast thrilled more vividly upon the recollection; and the Small modicum of punch with which it was honored retained a higher flavor than the same potation if produced at a private board." And he adds, as a specimen, the following "characteristic toast," which he says has always received with a "profound expression of pleasure." | ||
+ | |||
+ | :To him that all things understood | ||
+ | :To him that found the stone and wood, | ||
+ | :To him that hapless lost his blood | ||
+ | :In doing of his duty | ||
+ | :To that blest age and that blest morn | ||
+ | :Whereon those three great men were born | ||
+ | :Our noble science to adorn | ||
+ | :With Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is not surprising that he should afterward pathetically deplore the discontinuance of the custom. Brother Sir Walter Scott has in the Knight's Toast beautifully expressed a sentiment of sincere affection evoked by a demand in some jovial company that the speaker would voice his homage of some cherished loved one for the honor of their united applause, a versification by our Brother Craftsman deserving of record here as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Saint Leon raised his kindling eve | ||
+ | :And lifts the sparkling cup on high; | ||
+ | :"I drink to one,' he said, | ||
+ | :' Whose image never may depart, | ||
+ | :Deep graven on this grateful heart | ||
+ | :Till memory be dead." | ||
+ | :Saint Leon paused, as if he would | ||
+ | :Not breathe her name in careless mood | ||
+ | :Thus lightly to another; | ||
+ | :Then bent his noble heads as though | ||
+ | :To give the word the reverence due, | ||
+ | :And gently said, My mother! | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOFFET | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Tabaor | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOKEN | ||
+ | |||
+ | The word token is derived from the Anglo-Saxon tacen, which means a sign, presage, type, or representation, that which points out something; and this is traced to taecan, to teach, show, or instruct, because by a token we show or instruct others as to what we are. Bailey, whose Dictionary was published soon after the Revival, defines it as "a sign or mark"; but it is singular that the word is not found in either of the dictionaries of Phillips or Blount, which were the most popular glossaries in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The word was, however, well known to the Fraternity, and was in use at the time of the Revival with precisely the same meaning that is now given to it as a mode of recognition. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word oth, is frequently used in Scripture to signify a sign or memorial of something past, some covenant made or promise given. thus God says to Noah, of the rainbow, "it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth"; and to Abraham he says of circumcision, " it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." In Freemasonry, the grip of recognition is called a token, because it is an outward sign of the covenant of friendship and fellowship entered into between the members of the Fraternity, and is to be considered as a memorial of that covenant which was made, when it was first received by the candidate, between him and the Order into which he was then initiated. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Neither the French nor the German Freemasons have a word precisely equivalent to token. Krause translates it by merkmale, a sign or representation, but which has no technical Masonic Signification.. The French have only attachment, which means the act of touching or clasping hands; and the Germans, griff, which is the same as the English grip. In the technical use of the word token, the English-speaking Freemasons have an advantage not possessed by those of any other country. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOLAND, JOHN | ||
+ | |||
+ | Born on November 30, 1670, near Londonderry, Ireland; died March 11, 1722/3, near London, England. An industrious and independent writer upon religious matters he frequently became involved in disputes. His last work, Pantheisticon (a title derived mainly from two Greek words and meaning God is all and all is God), gave much offense to those who deemed it a presumptuous imitation of the forms for church worship. Whether there were really Such Societies of pantheists was also questioned (see John Poland, un Pretcurseur de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Lantoine, Paris, 1927, which also contains copy of the Pantheisticon). Toland describes the Meeting — actual or imaginary as it may have been - of a society where the mutual understanding of philosophy and morals is by question and answer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOLERANCE LODGE | ||
+ | |||
+ | When the initiation of Jews was forbidden in the Prussian Lodges, two brethren of Berlin, Von Hirschfeld and Catter, induced by a spirit of toleration, organized a Lodge in Berlin for the express purpose of initiating Jews, to which they gave the appropriate name of Tolerance Lodge. This Lodge was not recognized by the Masonic authorities. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOLERATION | ||
+ | |||
+ | The grand characteristic of Freemasonry is its toleration in religion and polities. In respect to the latter, its toleration has no limit. The question of a man's political opinions is not permitted to be broached in the Lodge; in reference to the former, it requires only that, to use the language of the Old Charge, Freemasons shall be of "that Religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves" (Constitutions, 17:23, page 63). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The same Old Charges say (page 68), You may enjoy yourselves with innocent Mirth treating one another according to ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination, or hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying any thing offensive or that may forbid an easy and free Conversation, for that would blast our Harmony, and defeat our laudable Purposes. Therefore no private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, being only, as Masons, of the Catholic Religion above-mentioned: we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages, and are resolved against all Politicks, as what never yet conduced to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoined and observed; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain, or the Dissent and Secession of these Nations from the Communion of Rome. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOMB OF ADONIRAM | ||
+ | |||
+ | Margoliouth, in his History of the Jews, tells the legend that at Saguntum in Spain, a sepulcher was found four hundred years ago, with the following Hebrew inscription: | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute and died on the day—" Margoliouth, who believes the mythical story, says that the Jesuit Villepandus, being desirous of ascertaining if the statements concerning the tomb were true, directed the Jesuit students who resided at Murviedro a small village erected upon the ruins of Saguntum, to make diligent search for the tomb and inscription. After thorough investigation, the Jesuit Students were shown a stone on which appeared a Hebrew inscription, much defaced and nearly obliterated. which the natives stated was the stone of Solomon's collector. Still unsatisfied, they made further search , and discovered a manuscript written in antique Spanish and carefully preserved in the citadel in which the following entry was made:"At Saguntum in the citadel, in the year of our Lord 1480, a little more or less, was discovered a sepulchre of surprising antiquity. It contained an embalmed corpse, not of the usual stature, but taller than is common. It had and still retains on the front two lines in the Hebrew language and characters, the sense of which is: 'The sepulchre of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came hither to collect tribute." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The story has far more the appearance of a Talmudic or a Rosicrucian legend than that of a historical narrative. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOMB OF HIRAM ABIF | ||
+ | |||
+ | All that is said of it in Freemasonry is more properly referred to in the article on the Monument in the Third Degree (see Monument). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOMB OF HIRAM OF TYRE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Five miles to the East of the City of Tyre is an ancient monument, called by the natives Kabr Hairan, or the Comb of Hiram. The tradition that the King of Tyre was there interred rests only on the authority of the natives. It bears about it, however, the unmistakable marks of extreme antiquity, and, as Thompson says (The Land and The Boots, page 196), there is nothing in the monument itself inconsistent with the idea that it marks the final resting-place of that friend of Solomon. He thus describes it: | ||
− | *T | + | The base consists of two tiers of great stones, each three feet thick, thirteen feet long, and eight feet eight inches broad. Above this is one huge stone, a little more than fifteen feet long, ten broad, and three feet four inches thick. Over this is another, twelve feet three inches long eight broad, and six high. The top stone is a little smaller every way, and only five feet thick. The entire height is twenty-one feet. There is nothing like it in this country, and it may even have stood, as it now does, ever since the days of Solomon. These large broken sarcophagi scattered around it are assigned by tradition to Hiram's mother wife, and family. |
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Morris, who visited the spot in 1868, gives a different measurement, which is probably more accurate than that of Thompson. According to him, the first tier is 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 4 feet thick. Second tier, 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 2 feet 10 inches thick. Third tier, 15 feet 1 inch long, 9 feet 11 inches broad, 2 feet 11 inches thick. Fourth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad, 6 feet 5 inches thick. Fifth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad. and 3 feet 6 inches thick. He makes the height of the whole 19 feet 8 inches. Travelers have been disposed to give more credit to the tradition which makes this monument the tomb of the King of Tyre than to most of the other legends which refer to ancient sepulchers in the Hols Land. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TONGUE | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the early rituals of the eighteenth century, the tongue is called the key to the secrets of a Freemason; and one of the toasts that was given in the Lodge was in these words: "To that excellent key of a Mason's tongues which ought always to speak as well in the absence of a Brother as in his presence; and when that cannot be done with honor, justice, or propriety, that adopts the virtue of a Mason, which is Silence." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TONGUE OF GOOD REPORT | ||
+ | |||
+ | Being "under the tongue of good report" is equivalent, in Masonic technical language, to being of good character or reputation. It is required that the candidate for initiation should be one of whom no tongue speaks evil. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the eighteenth century. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOPAZ | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Hebrew, pitdah. It was the second stone in the first row of the high priest's breastplate, and was referred to Simeon. The ancient topaz, says King (Antique Gems, page 56), was the present chrysolite, which was furnished from an island in the Red Sea. It is of a bright greenish yellow and the softest of all precious stones | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOPES | ||
+ | |||
+ | Pillars, also signifying towers and tumuli. This is a corruption of the Sanskrit word Stoopa, meaning mounds, heaps, karns. The Topes of the Karli temple, a Buddhist shrine, which may be seen up the Western Ghats from Bombay to Poona, are presumed to be Phallic pillars placed in front, precisely as Solomon placed his Jachin and Boaz. Some travelers state that only one of these pillars stands at present. The pillars were shaft plain, with a capital carrying four lions, representing power of cat-like salaciousness. Between these pillars may be seen the great window which lights all the Temple, arched in the form of a horseshoe, which is the Isian headdress and Maiya's holy sign, and after which the Roman Catholic Church adopts one of Mary's favorite head-dresses. It is the Crown of Venus Urania. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These pillars are prominent features of Buddhist sacred buildings, and when composed of a single stone are called a Lat. They are frequently ornamented with honeysuckles. The oldest monument hitherto discovered in India is a group of these monoliths set up by Asoka in the middle of the third century before Christ. They were all alike in form, inscribed with four short Edits containing the creed and principle doctrines of Buddhism. These pillars stood originally in front of some sacred buildings which have perished; they are polished, 45 feet each in height, and surmounted by lions. The Thuparamya Tope, in Ceylon, has 184 handsome monoliths, 26 feet in height, round the center holy mound (see Mound Builders). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TORCH BEARER | ||
+ | |||
+ | The fifteenth officer in the High Council of the Society of Rosicrucians; also known as an officer in the Appendant Order of the Holy Sepllleher. One who bears a torch. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TORCHES | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ancients made use of torches both at marriages and funerals. They were also employed in the ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries. They have been introduced into the advanced Degrees, especially on the Continent, principally as marks of honor in the reception of distinguished visitors, on which occasion they are technically called stars. Du Cange mentions their use during the Middle Ages on funeral occasions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TORGAU, CONSTITUTIONS OF | ||
+ | |||
+ | Torgau is a fortified town on the Elbe, in the Prussian Province of Saxony. It was there that Luther and his friends wrote the Book of Torgau, which was the foundation of the subsequent Augsburg Confession, and it was there that the Lutherans concluded a league with the Elector Frederick the Wise. The Stone-Masons, whose seat was there in the fifteenth century, had, with the other Masons of Saxony, accepted the Constitutions enacted in 1459 at Strasbourg. But finding it necessary to make some special regulations for their own internal government, they drew up, in 1462, Constitutions in one hundred and twelve articles, which are known as the Torgau Ordinances. A duplicate of these Constitutions was deposited, in 1486, in the StoneMason's hütte or Lodge at Rochlitz. An authenticated copy of this document was published by C. L. Stieglitz at Leipsic, in 1829, in a work entitled Ueber die Kirche der heiligen Kunigunde zu Rochlitz und die Steinmetzhütte daselbst, Concerning the Church of the Holy Kunigunde at Rochlilz and the Stone-Masons Lodge here An abstract of these Ordinances, with critical comparisons with other Constitutions, was published by Kloss in his Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung, Freemasons in their True Meaning. The Torgau Ordinances are important because with those of Strasbourg, they are the only authentic Constitutions of the German Stone-Masons extant except the Brother-Book of 1563. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TORRUBIA, JOSEPH | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Franciscan monk, who in 1751 was the censor and reviser of the Inquisition in Spain. Torrubia, that he might be the better enabled to carry into effect a persecution of the Freemasons, obtained under an assumed name, and in the character of a secular priest, initiation into one of the Lodges, having first received from the Grand Penitentiary a dispensation for the act, and an absolution from the oath of secrecy. Having thus acquired an exact list of the Lodges in Spain, and the names of their members, he caused hundreds of Freemasons to be arrested and punished, and succeeded in having the Order prohibited by a decree of King Ferdinand VI. Torrubia combined in his character the bigotry of an intolerant priest and the villainy of the deceitful traitor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOURNON, M | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Frenchman and Freemason, who had been invited into Spain by the government in order to establish a manufactory of brass buttons, and to instruct the Spanish workmen. In 1757, he was arrested by the Inquisition on the charge of being a Freemason, and of having invited his pupils to join the Institution. He was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, after which he was banished from Spain, being conducted under an escort to the frontiers of France. Tournon was indebted for this clemency to his want of firmness and fidelity to the Order —he having solemnly abjured it, and promised never again to attend its assemblies. Llorente, in his History of the Inquisition, gives an account of Tournon's trial. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOW, CABLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Cable Toto | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOWER, DEGREE OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The French expression is Grade de la Tour. A name sometimes given to the Second Degree of the Royal Order of Scotland. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOWER OF BABEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Babel | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOWN, SALEM | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Rev. Salem Town, LL.D., was born at Belchertown, in the State of Massachusetts, March 5, 1779. He received a classical education, and obtained at college the degree of Master of Arts, and later in life that of Doctor of Laws. For some years he was the Principal of an Academy, and his writings give the evidence that he was endowed with more than ordinary abilities. He was ardently attached to Freemasonry, and was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter, and Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of New York. In 1818 he published a small work of two hundred and eighty-three pages entitled A System of Speculative Masonry. This work is of course tinged with all the legendary ideas of the origin of the Institution which prevailed at that period, and would not now be accepted as authoritative; but it contains, outside of its historical errors, many valuable and suggestive thoughts. Brother Town was highly respected for his many virtues, the consistency of his life, and his unwearied devotion to the Masonic Order. He died at Greencastle, Indiana, February 24, 1864. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TOWNSHEND, SIMEON | ||
+ | |||
+ | The putative author of a book entitled Observations and Inquiries relating to the Brotherhood of the Free Masons, which is said to have been printed at London in 1712. Boileau, Levesque, Thory, Oliver, and Kloss mention it by name. None of them, however, appear to have seen it. Kloss calls it a doubtful book. If such a work is in existence, it will be a valuable and much needed contribution to the conditions of Freemasonry in the South of England just before the Revival, and may tend to settle some mooted questions. Levesque (Aperçu—meaning Fleeting Glance or Synopsis—page 47) says he has consulted - it; but his manner of referring to it throws suspicion on the statement, and it is doubtful if he ever saw it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRACING-BOARD | ||
+ | |||
+ | The same as a FloorCloth, which see | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRADE GILDS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Gilds | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRADITION | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are two kinds of traditions in Freemasonry: First, those which detail events, either historically, authentic in part, or in whole, or consisting altogether of arbitrary fiction, and intended simply to convey an allegorical or symbolic meaning; and second of traditions which refer to customs and usages of the Fraternity, especially in matters of ritual observance. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first class has already been discussed in this work in the article on Legend, to which the reader is referred. The second class is now to be considered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The traditions which control and direct the usages of the Fraternity constitute its unwritten law, and are almost wholly applicable to its ritual, although they are sometimes of use in the interpretation of doubtful points in its written law. Between the written and the unwritten law, the latter is always paramount. This is evident from the definition of a tradition as it is given by the monk Vincent of Lerins: Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est; that is, tradition is that which has been handled down at all times, and in ad places, and by all persons. The law which thus has antiquity, universality, and common consent for its support, must override all subsequent laws which are modern, local, and have only partial agreement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is then important that those traditions of Freemasonry which prescribe its ritual observances and its landmarks should be thoroughly understood, because it is only by attention to them that uniformity in the esoteric construction and work of the Order can be preserved. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Cicero has wisely said that a well-constituted Commonwealth must be governed not by the written law alone, but also by the unwritten law or tradition and usage; and this is especially the case, because the written law, however perspicuous it may be, can be diverted into various senses, unless the Republic is maintained and preserved by its usages and traditions, which, although mute and as it were, dead, yet speak with a living voice, and give the true interpretation of that which is written. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This axiom is not less true in Freemasonry than it is in a Commonwealth. No matter what changes may be made in its Statutes and Regulations of today and its recent customs, there is no danger of losing the identity of its modern with its ancient form and spirit while its traditions are recognized and maintained. Such of the traditions of our Institution that support our established rules and practices may be deemed the very common law of the Craft. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THORY, CLAUDE ANTOINE | ||
+ | |||
+ | A distinguished French Masonic writer, who was born at Paris, May 26, 1759. He was by profession an advocate, and held the official position of Registrar of the Criminal Court of the Chatelet, and afterward of first adjunct of the Mayor of Paris. He was a member of several learned societies, and a naturalist of considerable reputation. He devoted his attention more particularly to botany, and published several valuable works on the genus Rosa, and also one on strawberries, which was published after his death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thory took an important part, both as an actor and a writer, in the Masonic history of France. He s as a member Or bhe Lotltge Saint Alexalldre d'Eeosse and of the Contrat Soeial, out of whose incorporation into one proceeded the Mother Lodge of the Philosophie Scottish Rite, of which Thory may be justly called the founder. He was at its constitution made the presiding officer, and afterward its Treasurer, and Keeper of its Archives. In his last capacity, he made a collection of rare and valuable manuscripts, books, medals, seals, jewels, bronze figures, and other objects connected with Freemasonry. Under his administration, the Library and Museum of the Mother Lodge became perhaps the most valuable collection of the kind in France or in any other country. After the Mother Lodge ceased its labors in 1826, this fine collection passed by a previous stipulation into the possession of the Lodge of Wont Thabor, which was the oldest of the Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thory, while making collections for the Lodge, had amassed for himself a fund of the most valuable materials toward the history of Freemasonry, which he used with great effect in his subsequent publications. In 1813 he published the Annales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis, ou Histoire de la Fondation du Grand Orient de France, History of the Foundation of the Grand Orient of France, in one volume; and in 1815 his Acta Latomorum, ou Chronologie de l'Histoire de la Franche-Mafonnerie, Francaise et Etrangere, Masonic Proceedings, or Chronology of the History of French and Foreign Freemasonry, in two volumes. The value of these worlds, especially of the latter, if not as well-digested histories, certainly as important contributions to Masonic history cannot be denied. Yet they have been variously appreciated by his contemporaries. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Rebold (History of the Three Grand Lodges, page 530) saxs of the Annales, that it is one of the best historical productions that French Masonic literature possesses; while 13esuchet (Précis If istoriquc} Historical Summary ii, page 275) charges that he has attempted to discharge the functions of a historian without exactitude and without impartiality. These discordant views are to be attributed to the active part that Thory took in the contests between the Grand Orient and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and the opposition which he offered to the claims of the former to the Supreme Masonic authority. Posterity will form its judgment on the character of Thory as a Masonic historian without reference to the evanescent rivalry of parties He died in October, 1827. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THOUX DE SALVERTE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Founder in 1767, at Warsaw, of the Academy of-Ancients, which see. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREAD OF LIFE | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century, we find this Catechism: | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Have you the key of the Lodge? | ||
+ | :Yes, I have. | ||
+ | :What is its virtue? | ||
+ | :To open and shut, and shut and open | ||
+ | :Where do you keep it? | ||
+ | :In an ivory box. between my tongue and rny teeth, or within my heart, where all my secrets are kept. | ||
+ | :Have you the chain to the key? | ||
+ | :Yes, I have. | ||
+ | :How long is it? | ||
+ | :As long as from my tongue to my heart. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In a later lecture, this key is said to "hang by a tow line nine inches or a span." And later still, in the old Prestonian lecture, it is said to hang by "the thread of life, in the passage of elltrallee, nine inches or a span long, the supposed distance between guttural and pectoral All of which is intended simply to symbolize the close connection which in every Freemason should exist between his tongue and his heart, so that the one may utter nothing that the other does not truly dictate. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *THREE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Everywhere among the ancients the number three was deemed the most sacred of numbers. A reverence for its mystical virtues is to be found even among the Chinese, who say that numbers begin at one and are made perfect at three, and hence they denote the multiplicity of any object by repeating the character which stands for it three times. In the philosophy of Plato, it was the image of the Supreme Being, because it includes in itself the properties of the two first numbers, and because, as Aristötle says, it contains within itself a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Pythagoreans called it perfect harmony. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Bible contains significant references to threes. Christ is thus mentioned (Matthew xii, 40): "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Another allusion is "Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then, said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. " (John ii, 1>91.) David had his choice between three evils extended respectively over three years, or three months, or three days, "Choose thee either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now, therefore, advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sentele" (First Chronicles xxi! 11, 12). Where is also the division of life, land, sea, stars, sun an(l moon, day and night into thirds as described in the New Testament (Revelation viii, 7-13). | ||
+ | |||
+ | Gideon's array of three hundred was divided also into three parts (Judges vii, 16). three of the sacrifices to the Lord God well each to be three years old (Genesis xv, 9). In fact, the first book of the Old Testament alone has about twenty-eight references to three of various kinds. Threescore is also a frequent number in the Bible as in Genesis (xxx, 7, 26) and Revelation (xi, 3; xii, 6, and xiii, 18) and there is the familiar "A three-fold cord is not easily broken" of Ecclesiastes (iv, 12). | ||
+ | |||
+ | So sacred was this number deemed by the ancients, that we find it designating some of the attributes of almost all the gods. The thunderbolt of Jove was three-forked; the scepter of Neptune was a trident; Cerberus, the dog of Pluto, was three-headed; there were three Fates and three Furies; the sun had three names, Apollo, Sol, and Liber; and the moon these three, Diana, Luna, and Hecate. In all incantations, three was a favorite number, for, aws Virgil says, Numero Deus impari gaudet, that is God delights in an odd number. A triple cord was used, each cord of three different colors, wilite, red, and black; and a small image of the Subject of charm visas carried thrice around the altar, as we see in Virgil's eighth Eclogue (line 73): Terna taxi hacc prinzuarl, triplici dirersa colore Licia circumdo, terQtte haec altaria circum Effigem duco | ||
+ | |||
+ | First I surround thee with these three pieces of list or thread, and I earrv thy image three times round the altars . | ||
+ | |||
+ | Shakespeare (Macbeth, act i, scene iv) refers to the three-fold sorceries of the three witches. The author, T. G. Limollett in his novel Peregrine Pickle quotes as a well-known proverb the expression "Number three is always fortunate." Oliver Wendell Holmes has in "The Last Leaf" employed an old three-cornered hat as some excuse for mirth and there are many other references of interest in literature. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Druids paid no less respect to this sacred number. Throughout their whole system, a reference is constantly made to its influence; and so far did their veneration for it extend, that even their sacred poetry was composed in triads. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In all the Mysteries, from Egypt to Scandinavia, we find a sacred regard for the number three, as in the father, mother and child deities, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. In the Rites of Mithras, the Empyrean was said to be supported by three intelligences, Ormuzd, Mithra, and Mithras. In the Rites of Hindustan, there was the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. It was, in short, a general character of the Mysteries to have three principal officers and three grades of initiation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Freemasonry, the ternary is the most sacred of all the mystical numbers. Beginning with the old axiom of the Roman Artificers, that tres factunt colleyfum, or it requires three to make a college, they have established the rule that no less than three shall congregate to form a Lodge. Then in all the hits, whatever may be the number of superimposed grades, there lie at the basis the three Symbolic Degrees. There are in all the Degrees three principal officers, three supports, three greater and three lesser lights, three movable and three improvable jewels, three principal tenets, three working-tools of a Fellow Craft, three principal orders of architectures three chief human senses, three Ancient Grand Masters. In fact, everywhere in the system the number three is presented as a prominent Symbol. So much is this the case, that all the other mystical members depend upon it, for each is a multiple of three, its square or its cube, or derived from them. Thus, 9, 27, 81* are formed by the multiplication f three, as 3 X 3 = 9, and 32 X 3 = 27, and 32 X 32 = 81 (see Triad also 'three Points). But in nothing is the Masonic signification of the ternary made more interesting than its collection with the sacred delta, the symbol of Deity (see Triangle). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAMPING MASONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Unworthy members of the Order, who, using their privileges for interested purposes, traveling from city to city and from Lodge to Codger that they may seek relief by tales of fictitious distress, have been called tramping Masons. The true Brother should ever obtain assistance; the tramper should be driven from the door of every Lodge or the house of every Freemason where he seeks to intrude his imposture. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRANSFER OF WARRANT | ||
+ | |||
+ | The English Constitutions (Rule 221) enact that "No Warrant can be transferred under any circumstances." Similarly the Scotch Constitution (Rule 148) says "A Charter cannot be transferred under any circumstances." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRANSIENT BRETHREN | ||
+ | |||
+ | Freemasons who do not reside in a particular place, but only temporarily visit it, are called Transient Brethren. They are, if worthy, to be cordially welcomed, but are never to be admitted into a Lodge until, after the proper precautions, they have been proved to be "true and trusty." This usage of hospitality has the authority of all the Old Constitutions, which are careful to inculcate it. Thus the Lansdowne Manuscript charges "that every Mason receive or cherish Strange Fellows when they come over the country, and sett them on work if they will work, as the manner is, that is to say, if the Mason have any mold stone in his place, on work; and if he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next Lodge. " Although Speculative Freemasons no longer visit Lodges for the sake of work or wages, the usage of our Operative predecessors has been spiritualized in our symbolic system. Hence visitors are often invited to take a part in the labors of the Lodge, and receive their portion of the Light and Truth which constitute symbolic pay of a Speculative Freemason. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRANSITION PERIOD | ||
+ | |||
+ | Findel calls that period in the history of Freemasonry, when it was gradually changing its character from that of an Operative to that of a Speculative Society, the Transition Period. It began in 1600, and terminated in 1717 by the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in London, after which, says Findel (History, English Translation page 131), "modern Freemasonry was now to be taught as a spiritualizing art, and the Fraternity of Operative Masons was exalted to a Brotherhood of Symbolic Builders, who, in the place of visible, perishable Temples, are engaged in the erection of that one, invisible, eternal Temple of the heart and mind." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRANSMISSION, CHARTER OF | ||
+ | |||
+ | A deed said to have been granted by James de Molay, just before his death, to Mark Larmenius, by which he transmitted to him and to his successors the office of Grand Master of the Templars. It is the foundation deed of the Order of the Temple. After having disappeared for many rears it was rediscovered and purchased by Brother Fred J. W. Crowe of Chichester, England, who thought it too important and valuable to remain in private hands, and it was placed in the possession of the threat Priory of England. It is written in a Latin cipher on a large folio sheet of parchment. The outward appearance of the document is of great antiquity. but it lacks internal evidence of authenticity. It is, therefore, by many authorities, considered a forgery (see Temple, Order of the). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAPPISTS, ORDER OF RELIGIOUS | ||
+ | |||
+ | An order founded by that devotee of secret organizations, Count La Perche, in 1140. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAVEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the symbolic language of Freemasonry, a Freemason always travels from West to East in search of light—he travels from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Freemasonry lost, to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Freemasonry found. The Master Mason also travels into foreign countries in search of wages. All this is pure symbolism, unintelligible, in any other sense (for its interpretation, see Foreign Country and Threshing Floor) . | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAVELING MASONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is no portion of the history of the Order so interesting to the Masonic scholar as that which is embraced by the Middle Ages of Christendom, beginning with about the tenth century, when the whole of civilized Europe was perambulated by those associations of workmen, who passed from country to country and from city to city under the name of Traveling Masons, for the purpose of erecting religious edifices. There is not a country of Europe which does not at this day contain honorable evidences of the skill and industry of our Masonic ancestors. We therefore propose, in the present article, to give a brief sketch of the origin, the progress, and the character of these traveling architects. | ||
+ | |||
+ | George Godwin, in a lecture published in the Builder (volume ix, page 463), says: "There are few points in the Middle Ages more pleasing to look back upon than the existence of the associated Masons; they are the bright spot in the general darkness of that period, the patch of verdure when all around is barren. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de la FrancMaçonnerie, has traced the organization of these associations to the "Collegia Artificum," or Colleges of Artisans, which were instituted at Rome, by Numa, in the year 714 B.C., and whose members were originally Greeks, imported by this lawgiver for the purpose of embellishing the city over which he reigned. They continued to exist as well-established corporations throughout all the succeeding years of the Kingdom, the Republic, and the Empire (see Roman Colleges of Artificers). | ||
+ | |||
+ | These "sodalitates," or fraternities, began, upon the invasion of the barbarians, to decline in number in respectability, and in power. But on the conversion of the whole Empire, they, or others of a similar character, began again to flourish. The Priests of the Christian Church became their patrons, and under their guidance they devoted themselves to the building of churches and monasteries. In the tenth century, they were established as a free Gild or Corporation in Lombardy. For when, after the decline and fall of the empire, the City of Rome was abandoned by its sovereigns for other secondary cities of Italy, such as Milan and Ravenna, and new courts and new capitals were formed, the Kingdom of Lombardy sprang into existence as the great center of all w energy in trade and industry, and of refinements in art and literature. Como was a free Republic to which many fled during the invasions of the Vandals and Goths. It was in Lombardy, as a consequence of the great center of life from Rome, and the development not only of commercial business, but of all sorts of trades and handicrafts, that the corporations known as Gilds were first organized. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the arts practiced by the Lombards, that of building held a pre-eminent rank. And Muratori tells us that the inhabitants of Como, a principal city of Lombardy, Italy, had become so superior as Masons, that the appellation of Magistri Comacini, or Masters from Como, had become generic to all of the profession. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thomas Hope, in his Historical Essay on Architecture, has treated this subject almost exhaustively. He says: | ||
+ | |||
+ | We cannot then wonder that, at a period when artificers and artists of every class, from those of the most mechanical, to those of the most intellectual nature formed themselves into exclusive Corporations, architects—whose art may be said to offer the most exact medium between those of the most urgent necessity and those of mere ornament, or, indeed, in its wide span to embrace both—should, above all others, have associated themselves into similar bodies, which, in conformity to the general style of such Corporations assumed that of Free and Accepted Masons, and was composed of those members who, after a regular passage through the different fixed stages of apprenticeship were received as Masters, and entitled to exercise the profession on their own account. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In an age, however, in which lay individuals, from the lowest subject to the sovereign himself, seldom built except for mere shelter and safety—seldom sought, nay rather avoided, in their dwellings an elegance which might lessen their security, in which even the community collectively, in its public and general capacity, divided into component parts less numerous and less varied required not those numerous public edifices which we possess either for business or pleasure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus, when neither domestic nor civic architecture of any sort demanded great ability or afforded great employment churches and monasteries were the only buildings required to combine extent and elegance, and sacred architecture alone could furnish an extensive field for the exercise of great skill, Lombardy itself, opulent and thriving as it was, compared to other countries, soon became nearly saturated with the requisite edifices, and unable to give these Companies of Free and Accepted Masons a longer continuance of sufficient custom, or to render the further maintenance of their exclusive privileges of great benefit to them at home. But if, to the south of the Alps, an earlier civilization had at last caused the number of architects to exceed that of new buildings wanted, it fared otherwise in the north of Europe, where a gradually spreading Christianity began on every side to produce a want of sacred edifices of churches and monasteries, to design which architects existed not on the spot. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those Italian Corporations of Builders, therefore, whose services ceased to be necessary in the countries where they had arisen, now began to look abroad towards those northern climes for that employment which they no longer found at home: and a certain number united and formed themselves into a single greater Association, or Fraternity, which proposed to seek for occupation beyond its native land; and in any ruder foreign region, however remote, where new religious edifices and skillful artists to erect them, were wanted to offer their services, and bend their steps to undertake the work. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From Lombardy they passed beyond the Alps into all the countries where Christianity, but recently established, required the erection of churches. A monopoly was granted to them for the erection of all religious edifices; they Were declared independent of the sovereign in whose dominions they might he temporarily residing, and Subject only to their own private laws; they were permitted to regulate the amount of their wages; were exempted from all kinds of taxation; and no Freemason, not belonging to their Association, was permitted to compete with or oppose them in the pursuit of employment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After filling the Continent with cathedrals, parochial churches, and monasteries, and increasing their own numbers by accessions of new members from all the countries in which they had been laboring, they passed over into England, and there introduced their peculiar style of building. Thence they traveled to Scotland, and there have rendered their existence ever memorable by establishing, in the Parish of Kilwinning, where they erected an abbey, the germ of Scottish Freemasonry, with halls regularly descended through the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the present day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thomas Hope accounts for the introduction of the non-working or unprofessional members into these associations by a theory which is confirmed by contemporary history. He says: Often obliged, from regions the most distant, singly to seek the common place of rendezvous and departure of the troop, or singly to follow its earlier detachments to places of employment equally distant, and that, at an era when travelers met on the road every obstruction and no convenience, when no inns existed at which to purchase hospitality, but lords dwelt everywhere, who only prohibited their tenants from waylaying the traveler because they considered this, like killing game, one of their own exclusive privileges; the members of these communities contrived to render their journeys more easy and safe by engaging with each other, and perhaps even, in many places, with individuals not directly participating in their profession, in compacts of mutual assistance, hospitality and good services, most valuable to men so circumstanced. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They endeavored to compensate for the perils which attended their expeditions by institutions for their needy or disabled brothers, but lest such as belonged not to their communities should benefit surreptitiously by these arrangements for its advantage, they framed signs of mutual recognition, as carefully concealed from the knowledge of the uninitiated, as the mysteries of their art themselves. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus supplied with whatever could facilitate such distant journeys and labors as they contemplated, the members of these Corporations were ready to obey any summons with the utmost alacrity, and they soon received the encouragement they anticipated. The militia of the Church of Rome, which diffused itself all over Europe in the shape of missionaries, to instruct nations and to establish their allegiance to the Pope, took care not only to make them feel the want of churches and monasteries, but likewise to learn the manner in which the want might be supplied. Indeed, they themselves generally undertook the supply; and it may be asserted that a new apostle of the Gospel no sooner arrived in the remotest corner of Europe, either to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, or to introduce among them a new religious order, than speedily followed a tribe of itinerant Freemasons to back him, and to provide the inhabitants with the necessary places to worship or reception. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Thus ushered in, by their interior arrangements assured of assistance and of safety on the road, and, by the Bulls of the Pope and the support of his ministers abroad, of every species of immunity and preference at the place of their destination, bodies of Freemasons dispersed themselves in every direction every day began to advance further, and to proceed from country to country, to the utmost verge of the faithful, in order to answer the increasing demand for them, or to seek more distant custom. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The government of these Fraternities, whenever they might be for the time located, was very regular and uniform. When about to commence the erection of a religious edifice, they first built huts, or, as they were termed, Lodges, in the vicinity, in which they resided for the sake of economy as well as convenience. It is from these that the present name of our places of meeting is derived. Over every ten men was placed a Warden, who paid them wages, and tool care that there should be no needless expenditure of materials and no careless loss of implements. Over the whole, a surveyor or Master, called in their old documents Magister, presided, anti directed the general labor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Abbé Grandidier, in a letter at the end of the Marquis Luchet's Essai sur les Illuminés, has quoted from the ancient register of the Freemasons at Strassburg the Regulations of the Association which built the splendid cathedral of that city. Its great rarity renders it difficult to obtain a sight of the original work, but the l'Histoire Pittoresque of Clavel supplies the most prominent details of all that Grandidier has preserved. The Cathedral of Strassburg was commenced in the year 1277, under the direction of Erwin of Steinbach. The Freemasons, who, under his directions, were engaged in the construction of this noblest specimen of the Gothic style of architecture, were divided into the separate ranks of Masters, Craftsmen, and Apprentices. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The place where they assembled was called a Hutte, a German word equivalent to our English term Lodge. They employed the implements of Freemasonry as emblems, and wore them as insignia. They had certain signs and words of recognition, and received their new members with peculiar and secret ceremonies, admitting, as has already been said many eminent persons, and especially ecclesiastics, who were not Operative Masons, but who gave to them their patronage and protection. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Fraternity of Strassburg became celebrated throughout Germany, their superiority was acknowledged by the kindred associations, and they in time received the appellation of the Haupt Hütte, or Grand Lodge, and exercised supremacy over the hütten of Suabia, Hesse, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, and the countries bordering on the river Moselle. The Masters of these several Lodges assembled at Ratisbon in 1459, and on the 25th of April contracted an Act of Union, declaring the chief of the Strassburg Cathedral the only and perpetual Grand Master of the General Fraternity of Freemasons of Germany. This Act of Union was definitely adopted and promulgated at a meeting held soon afterward at Strassburg. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Similar institutions existed in France and in Switzerland, for wherever Christianity had penetrated, there churches and cathedrals were to be built, and the Traveling Freemasons hastened to undertake the labor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They entered England and Scotland at an early period. Whatever may be thought of the authenticity of the York and Kilwinning legends, there is ample evidence of the existence of organized Associations Gilds, or Corporations of Operative Freemasons at an epoch not long after their departure from Lombardy. From that period, the Fraternity, with various intermissions, continued to pursue their labors, and constructed many edifices which still remain as monuments of their skill as workmen and their taste as architects. Kings, in many instances became their patrons, and their labors were superintended by powerful noblemen and eminent prelates who, for this purpose, were admitted as members of the Fraternity. Many of the old Charges for the better government of their Lodges have been preserved, and are still to be found in our Books of Constitutions, every line of which indicates that they were originally drawn up for Associations strictly and exclusively Operative in their character. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In glancing over the history of this singular body of architects, we are struck with several important peculiarities. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the first place, they were Strictly ecclesiastical in their Constitution. The Pope, the Supreme Pontiff of the Church, was their patron and protector. They were supported and encouraged by Bishops and Abbots, and hence their chief employment appears to have been in the construction of religious edifices. | ||
+ | |||
+ | They were originally all Operative Masons. But the artisans of that period were not educated men, and they were compelled to seek among the clergy, the only men of learning, for those whose wisdom might contrive, and whose cultivated taste might adorn, the plans which they, by their practical skill, were to carry into effect. Hence the germ of that Speculative Masonry which, once dividing the character of the Fraternity Mirth the Operative, now completely occupies it, to the entire exclusion of the latter. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Brother E. E. Cauthorne has a few words of comment: "There probably never was a time when the Operative Masons did not furnish the architect. When an ecclesiastic performed this function it was an exception, and there were few of them. The profession of the architect seems to have been a distinct profession since Theoretic established himself at Ravenna, in 493, and appointed an official architects All through the Lombard period and at all later periods the architect or Master was distinctive" (see also the Reviser's paragraph in Stone-Masons of the Middle Ages) . | ||
+ | |||
+ | But lastly, from the circumstance of their union and concert arose a uniformity of design in all the public buildings of that period—a uniformity so remarkable as to find its explanation only in the fact that there construction was committed throughout the whole of Europe, if not always to the same individuals, at least to members of the same Association. The remarks of Thomas Hope on this subject are well worthy of perusal: | ||
+ | |||
+ | The architects of all the sacred edifices of the Latin Church, wherever such arose,—North, South, East, or West,—thus derived their science from the same central school, obeyed in their designs the same hierarchy were directed in their constructions by the same principles of propriety and taste; kept up with each other, in the most distant parts to which they might be sent, the most constant correspondence; and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body and a new conquest of the art. The result of this unanimity was, that at each successive period of the monastic dynasty, on whatever point a new church or new monastery might be erected, it resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place, however distant from it as if both had been built in the same place by the same artist. For instance, we find, at particular epochs, churches as far distant from each other as the north of Scotland and the south of Italy, to be minutely similar in all the essential characteristics. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In conclusion, we may remark, that the world is indebted to this Association for the introduction of the Gothic, or, as it has lately been denominated, the Pointed Style of architecture. This style—so different from the Greek; and Roman Orders, whose pointed arches and minute tracery distinguish the solemn temples of the olden time, and whose ruins arrest the attention and claim the admiration of the spectator—has been universally acknowledged to be the invention of the Traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages. And it is to this Association of operative Artists that, by gradual changes into a Speculative System, we are to trace the Freemasons of the present day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAVELING WARRANTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Warrants under which military Lodges are organized, and so called because the Lodges which act under them are permitted to travel from place to place with the regiments to which they are attached (see Military Lodges). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRAVENOL, LOUIS | ||
+ | |||
+ | A zealous and devoted French Freemason of much ability, who wrote several Masonic works, which the author published under the assumed name of Leonard Gabanon. The most valuable of his productions is one entitled Catéchisme des Francs-Maçons, précédé d'un Abrégé de l'Histoire d'Adoram, etc. (Catechism of Free Masons, preceded by an Abridged History of Adoram), published by him at Paris in 1743. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREASURE, INCOMPARABLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | This was a phrase of mystical import with the Alchemists and Hermetic Philosophers. Pernetty (Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique), thus defines it: "The incomparable treasure is the powder of projection, the source of all that is good, since it procures unbounded riches, and a long life, without infirmities, to enjoy them." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The "powder of projection" was the instrument by which they expected to attain to the full perfection of their work. What was this incomparable treasure was the great secret of the Hermetic Philosophers. They concealed the true object of their art under a symbolic language. "Believest thou, O fool," says Artephius, one of them, "that we plainly teach this secret of secrets, taking our words according to their literal signification?" But we do know that it was not, as the world supposed, the transmutation of metals, or the discovery of an elixir of life, but the acquisition of Divine Truth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Many of the advanced Degrees which were fabricated in the eighteenth century were founded on the Hermetic Philosophy; and they, too, borrowed from it the idea of an incomparable treasure. Thus in the Ultimate Degree of the Council of the Emperors of East and West, which Degree became afterwards the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret of the ,Scottish Rite, we find this very expression. In the old French instructions we meet with this Sentence: "Let us now offer to the invincible Xerxes our sacred incomparable Treasure, and we shall succeed victoriously" And out of the initial letters of the words of this Sentence in the original French they fabricated the three most important words of the Degree. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This "incomparable treasure" is to the Freemasons precisely what it was to the Hermetic Philosophers— Divine Truth. "As for the Treasure," says one of these books, the Lumen de Lumine, cited by Hitchcock, "it is not yet discovered, but it is very near." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREASURER | ||
+ | |||
+ | An officer, found in all Masonic Bodies, whose duty it is to take charge of the funds and pay them out under proper regulations. He is simply the banker of the Lodge or Chapter, and has nothing to do with the collection of money, which should be made by the Secretary. He is in the United States an elective officer.. The Treasurer's jewel is a key, as a symbol that he controls the chest of the Lodge. His position in a Lodge of the United States is on the right of the Worshipful Masters in front. In an English Lodge however, he is placed in the north. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREASURER, GRAND | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Grand treasurer | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREASURER, HERMETIC | ||
+ | |||
+ | The French title is Tresorier hermetique. A Degree in the manuscript collection of Peuvret. This collection contains eight other Degrees with a similar title, namely: Illustrious Treasurer, Treasurer of Paracelsus, Treasurer of Solomon, Treasurer of the Masonic Mysteries, Treasurer of the Number Seven, Sublime Treasurer, Depositor of the Key of the Grand Work, and, lastly, one with the grandiloquent title of Grand and Sublime Treasurer, or Depositor of the Great Solomon, Faithful Guardian of Jehovah. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREDIC | ||
+ | |||
+ | The King highest in rank in the Scandinavian Mysteries. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREE ALPHABET | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are alphabets used among the Persians and Arabs as secret ciphers, which it can scarcely be doubted were original, and ages ago adopted and recognized as the ordinary business mode of communication among mankind. Of these ciphers the Tree Alphabet is the most common. The Philosopher Dioscorides wrote several works on the subject of trees and herbs, and made prominent the secret characters of this alphabet, which became known by his name, and was adopted and used by others. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The characters were distinguishable by the number of branches on either side of the tree; thus, the T H is recognizable from the S. H, notwithstanding each has three limbs on the left hand of the stem or trunk, by the one having six and the other seven branches on the right-hand side. As an example, there are in the illustration nine of the mystic characters and their relative values.The characters in the lower line given in the engraving are the relative value, and known as the Alphabet of Hermes or Mercury. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TREE WORSHIP | ||
+ | |||
+ | The important position whit h this peculiar faith occupied among the peoples in the earliest ages of the world is apt to be overlooked in the multitude of succeeding beliefs, to which it gave many of its forms and ceremonies, and with which it became materially blended. In fact, Tree and Serpent worship were Combined almost at their inception. So prominent a position does Tree worship take in the opinion of Fergusson, in his absorbing work on free and Serpent Worship, that he designates the Tree as the first of Faiths; and adds that "long before the Theban gods existed, Tree and Serpent Faiths flourished. The Methidy tree was brought into the later religion, to shade with holy reverence the tomb of Osiris; the Sycamore was holy to Netpe, and the Persea to Athor, whilst the Tamarisk planed an important part in all the rites and ceremonies of Osiris and Isis; and all who are orthodox will acknowledge that Abram seemed to consider that he could not worship his Jove till he had planted his grove and dug a well (Genesis xxi, 33). | ||
+ | |||
+ | His Oak or Terebinth, or turpentine tree, on the plains of Mamre, was commonly worshiped till the fourth century after Christ, and it is revered by Jews to the present hour." And again: "That long ere Buddha or his saints were represented by images and adored, long ere the eaves and temples of that faith had sanctuaries for holy relies, the first actual symbol-worship he can trace is that of the Bo tree, which he describes as upon a bas-relief in a cave called the Jodea Gopa at Katak, Bengal, proving how early that worship was introduced, and how pre-eminent it was among the Buddhists of those days" and says J. G. R. Forlong, in his Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man, "before Vedic days (the period in India of about 1600 B.C.) and can be found in almost every cave and temple allied to the Phallic faith as certainly as can be found ever standing at the entrance of these Houses of God the Phallic pillar or pillars. It is the old story whether we turn to Solomon's temple, 1000 B.C., or to the Karli Buddhist temples, which gaze down upon us from Bombay to Poona, and which date from about the Christian era." | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Bael tree, as a representative of the triad and monad, was always offered at Lingam worship, and the god was commonly to be found under an umbrageous or leafy-screened Bael. All nations, Aryans in particular, considered tree planting a sacred duty. The grand old trees became centers of life and of great traditions, and the character of the foliage had its symbolic meanings. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, at the autumnal harvest, lews are ordered to hang boughs of trees, laden with fruit, round the borders of their booths also boughs of barren trees. The worshipers go to the Synagogue carrying in their right hand one palm branch, three myrtles, and two willows, all tied together; and in the left hand a citron branch with fruit on it. These they make touch each other, and wave to the East, then South, then West, and then North. this is termed Hosanna, an exclamation of praise to God, the Hebrew word meaning "Save, I pray." On the seventh day of the Feast, all save the willow bough must be laid asides. The Palm, as a tree, yields more to man than any other class of trees. Nineveh shows the Palm surrounded by winged deities holding the pine-cone— symbol of life, which there takes the place of the Crux Ansata, or Cross with circle. The Phoenix resting on the Palm signifies Resurrection to eternal life. The four Evangelists are depicted in "an evangelum," in the library of the British Museum, as all looking up to the Palm-tree. Christians, for a similar ideal, erected a cross-bar, and placed an Alpha and an Omega on it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | At Najran, in Yemen, Arabia, Sir William Ouseley describes the most perfect tree-worship as still existing close to the city. The tree is the Palm or Sacred Date. The Palm has always borne a most important part in all the faiths of the world down to the present day. The Jews gave the Palm a distinguished place in architecture. The tree and its lotus top, says Kitto, took the place of the Egyptian column on Solomon's famous phalli, the Jachim and Boaz. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The two trees in Genesis were those of Life and Knowledge, and were probably drawn from the Egyptian and Zoroastrian stories. But no further reverence is taken in the Bible of the Tree of Knowledge after Genesis, but to that of Life, or the "Tree which gives Life," as in the Apocalypse (ii, 7). This is also the Eastern name and significance of the Lingam or Pillar; and when covered with carved inscriptions, the Toth or Pillar in Egypt became known as the Tree of Knowledge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRESTLE-BOARD | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Trestle-Board is defined to be the board upon which the Master inscribes the designs by which the Craft are to be directed in their labors. The French and German Freemasons have confounded the Trestle-Board with the Tracing-Board; and Doctor Oliver (Landmarks I, page 132) has not avoided the error. The two things are entirely different. The trestle is a framework for a table—in Scotch, trest; the Trestle-Board is the board placed for convenience of drawing on that frame. It contains nothing but a few diagrams, usually geometrical figures. The Tracing-Board is a picture formerly drawn on the floor of the Lodge, whence it was called The Floor-Cloth or Carpet. It contains a delineation of the symbols of the Degree to which it belongs. The Trestle-Board is to be found only in the Entered Apprentice's Degree. There is a Tracing-Board in every Degree, from the first to the highest. And, lastly, the Trestle-Board is a symbol; the Tracing-Board is a piece of furniture or picture containing the representation of many symbols. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is probable that the Trestle-Board, from its necessary use in Operative Masonry, was one of the earliest symbols introduced into the Speculative system. It is not, however, mentioned in the Grand Mystery, published in 1724. But Prichard, who wrote only six years afterward, describes it, under the corrupted name of Trestle-Board, as one of the immovable jewels of an Apprentice's Lodge. Browne, in 1880, following Preston, fell into the error of calling it a Tracing-Board, and gives from the Prestonian lecture what he terms "a beautiful degree of comparison," in which the Bible is compared to a Tracing-Board. But the Bible is not a collection of symbols, which a Tracing-Board is, but a Trestle-Board that contains se plan for the construction of a spiritual Temple. Webb, however, when he arranged his system of lectures, took the proper view, and restored the true word, Trestle-Board. | ||
+ | |||
+ | notwithstanding these changes in the name, Trestle-Board, Trestle-Board, Tracing-Board, and Trestle-Board again, the definition has continued from the earliest part of the eighteenth century to the present Day the same. It has always been enumerated among the jewels of the Lodge, although the English system says that it is immovable and the American movable; and it has always been defined as "a Board for the Master Workman to draw his designs upon." In Operative Masonry, the Trestle-Board is of vast importance. It was on such an implement that the genius of the ancient Masters worked out those problems of architecture that have reflected an unfading luster on their skill. The Trestle-Board was the cradle that nursed the infancy of such mighty monuments as the cathedrals of Strassburg and Cologne; and as they advanced in stature, the Trestle board became the guardian spirit that directed their growth. Often have those old Builders pondered by the midnight lamp upon their Trestle-Board, working out its designs with consummate taste and knowledge—here springing an arch, and turning an angle there, until the embryo edifice Stood forth in all the wisdom, strength, and beauty of the Master's art. | ||
+ | |||
+ | What, then, is its true Symbolism in Speculative Freemasonry? To construct his earthly Temple, the Operative Mason followed the architectural designs laid down on the Trestle-Board, or book of plans of the architect. By these he hewed and squared his materials; by these he raised his walls; by these he Constructed his arches; and by these strength and durability, combined with grace and beauty, were bestowed upon the edifice which he was constructing. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Masonic Ritual, the Speculative Freemason is reminded that, as the Operative Artists erects his temporal building in accordance with the rules and designs laid down on the Trestle-Board of the Master Workman, so should he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type, in obedience to the rules and designs, the precepts and commands, laid down by the Grand Architect of the Universe in those great books of nature and revelation which constitute the spiritual Trestle-Board of every Freemason. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Trestle-Board is then the Symbol of the natural and moral law. Like every other Symbol of the Order, it is universal and tolerant in its application, and while, as Christian Freemasons, we cling with unfaltering integrity to the explanation which makes the Scriptures of both Dispensations our Trestle-Board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan Brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament or Koran. Freemasonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of any one's religious faith. All that it asks is that the interpretation of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the revealed will of his creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the symbol shall be preserved and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the atheist from its communion, because, believing in no Supreme Being—no Divine Architect—he must necessarily be without a spiritual Trestle-Board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for his direction (see Floor cloth). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIAD | ||
+ | |||
+ | In all the ancient mythologies there were triads, which consisted of a mysterious union of three deities. Each triad was generally explained as consisting of a creator, a preserver, and a destroyer. The principal heathen triads were as follows: The Egyptian, Osiris, Isis, and Horus; the Orphic, Phanes Uranus, and Kronos; the Zoroastric, Ormuzd, Mithras, and Ahriman; the Indian, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the Cabirie, Axereos, Axiokersa, and Axiokersos; the Phenician, Ashtaroth, Mileom, and Chemosh; the Tyrian, Behls, Venus, and Thammuz; the Grecian, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades; the Roman, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; the Eleusinian, Iacchus, Persephone, and Demeter; the Platonie, Tagathon, Nous, and Psyche; the Celtic, Hu, Ceridwen, and Creirwy; the Teutonic, Fenris, Midgard, and Hela; the Gothic, Woden, Friga, and Thor; and the Seandinavians, Odin, Vile, and Ve. Even the Mexicans had their triads, which were Vitzliputzli, Kaloc, and Tescalipuca. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This system of triads has, indeed, been so predominant in all the old religions, as to be invested with a mystical idea; and hence it has become the type in Freemasonry of the triad of three governing officers, who are to be found in almost every Degree. The Master and the two Wardens in the Lodge give rise to the Priest, the King, and the Seribe in the Royal Arch; to the Commander, the Generalissimo, and the Captain-General in Templarism; and in most of the higher Degrees to a triad which presides under various names. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We must, perhaps, look for the origin of the triads in mythology, as we certainly must in Freemasonry, to the three positions and functions of the sun. The rising sun or creator of light, the meridian sun or its preserver, and the setting sun or its destroyer (see Three). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIAD SOCIETY OF CHINA | ||
+ | |||
+ | The San Hop Hwai, or Triad Society, is a secret political association in China, which has been mistaken by some writers for a species of Chinese Freemasonry; but it has in reality no connection whatsoever with the Masonic Order. In its principles, which are far from innocent, it is entirely antagonistic to Freemasonry. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of British Freemasonry in China made a statement to this effect in 1855, in Notes and Queries (first series, volume xii, page 233). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIALS, MASONIC | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the only object of a trial should be to seek the truth and fairly to administer justice, in a Masonic trial, especially, no recourse should ever be had to legal technicalities whose use in ordinary courts appears simply to be to afford a means of escape for the guilty. Masonic trials are, therefore, to be conducted in the simplest and least technical method, that will preserve at once the rights of the Order and of the accused, and which will enable the Lodge to obtain a thorough knowledge of all the facts in the case. The rules to be observed in conducting such trials have been laid down by Doctor Mackey in his Jurisprudence of Freemasonry and he refers to them in the present article. They are as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The preliminary step in every trial is the accusation or charge. The charge should always be made in writing, signed by the accuser, delivered to the Secretary, and read by that officer at the next Regular Communication of the Lodge. The accused should then be furnished with an attested copy of the charge, and be at the same time informed of the time and place appointed by the Lodge for the trial. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Any Master Mason may be the accuser of another, but a profane cannot be permitted to prefer charges against a Freemason. Yet, if circumstances are known to a profane upon which charges ought to be predicated, a Master Mason, may justly avail himself of that information, and out of it frame an accusation, to be presented to the Lodge. Such an accusation will he received and investigated, although remotely derived from one who is not a member of the Order. It is not necessary that the accuser should be a member of the same Lodge. It is sufficient if he is an affiliated Freemason. We say an affiliated Freemason, for it is generally held, and we believe correctly, that an unaffiliated Freemason is no more competent to prefer charges than a profane. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. If the accused is living beyond the geographical jurisdiction of the Lodge, the charges should be communicated to him by means of a registered letter through the post-office, and a reasonable time should be allowed for his answer, before the Lodge proceeds to trial. But if his residence be unknown, or if it be impossible to hold communication with him, the Lodge may then proceed to trial—care being had that no undue advantage be taken of his absence, and that the investigation be as full and impartial as the nature of the circumstances will permit. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. The trial must commence at a Regular Communication, for reasons which have already been stated; but having commenced, it may be continued at Special Communications, called for that purpose; for, if it was allowed only to be continued at regular meetings, which take place but once a month, the long duration of time occupied would materially tend to defeat the ends of justice. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. The Lodge must be opened in the highest Degree to which the accuser has attained, and the examinations of all witnesses must take place in the presence of the amused and the accuser, if they desire it. It is competent for the amused to employ counsel for the better protection of his interests, provided such counsel is a Master Mason. But if the counsel be a member of the Lodge, he forfeits, in Doctor Mackey's opinion, by his professional advocacy of the accused, the right to vote at the final decision of the question. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5. The final decision of the charge, and the rendering of the verdict, whatever be the rank of the accused, must always be made in a Lodge opened on the Third Degree; and at the time of such decision, both the accuser and the accused, as well as his counsel, if he have any, should withdraw from the Lodge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 6. It is a general and an excellent rule, that no visitors shall be permitted to be present during a trial. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 7. The testimony of Master Masons is usually taken on their honor, as such. That of others should be by affidavit, or in such other manner as both the accuser and accused may agree upon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 8. The testimony of profanes, or of those who are of a lower Degree than the accused, is to be taken by a Committee and reported to the Lodge, or, if convenient, by the whole Lodge, when closed and sitting as a Committee. But both the accused and the accuser have a right to be present on such occasions. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 9. When the trial is concluded, the accuser and the accused must retire, and the Master will then put the question of guilty, or not guilty, to the Lodge. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not less than two-thirds of the votes should be required to declare the accused guilty. A bare majority is hardly sufficient to divest a Brother of his good character, and render him subject to what may perhaps be an ignominious punishment. But on this subject the authorities differ. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 10. If the verdict is guilty, the Master must then put the question as to the nature and extent of the punishment to be inflicted, beginning with expulsion and proceeding, if necessary, to indefinite suspension and public and private reprimand. To inflict expulsion or suspension, a vote of two-thirds of those present is required, but for a mere reprimand, a majority will be sufficient. The votes on the nature of the punishment should be viva voce, the living voice, or, rather, according to Masonic usage, by a show of hands. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Trials in a Grand Lodge are to be conducted on the same general principles; but here, in consequence of the largeness of the Body, and the inconvenience which would result from holding the examinations in open Lodge, and in the presence of all the members, it is more usual to appoint a Committee, before whom the case is tried, and upon whose full report of the testimony the Grand Lodge bases its action. And the forms of trial in such Committees must conform, in all respects, to the general usage already detailed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is no symbol more important in its significance, more various in its application, or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of Freemasonry, than the triangle. An examination of it, therefore, cannot fail to be interesting to the Masonic student. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the nations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity, in some of his forms or emanations, and hence, probably, the prevailing influence of this symbol was carried into the Jewish system, where the yod within the triangle was made to represent the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The equilateral triangle, says Brother D. W. Nash (Freemasons Magazine iv, page 294), "viewed in the light of the doctrines of those who gave it currency as a divine symbol, represents the Great First Cause, the Creator and Container of all things, as one and indivisible, manifesting Himself in an infinity of forms and attributes in this visible universe." Among the Egyptians, the darkness through which the candidate for initiation was made to pass was symbolized by the trowel, an important Masonic implement, which, in their system of hieroglyphics, has the form of a triangle. The equilateral triangle they considered as the most perfect of figures, and a representative of the great principle of animated existence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of creation, the animal, vegetable, and mineral. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The equilateral triangle is to be found scattered throughout the Masonic system. It forms in the Royal Arch the figure within which the jewels of the officers are suspended. It is in the Ineffable Degrees the sacred Delta, everywhere presenting itself as the symbol of the Grand Architect of the Universe. In Ancient Craft Masonry, it is constantly exhibited as the element of important ceremonies. The seats of the principal officers are arranged in a triangular form, the three Lesser Lights have the same situation, and the Square and Compasses form, by their union on the greater light, two triangles meeting at their bases. In short, the equilateral triangle may be considered as one of the most constant forms of Masonic symbolism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The right-angled triangle is another form of this figure which is deserving of attention. Among the Egyptians, it was the symbol of universal nature; the base representing Osiris, or the male principle; the perpendicular, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypotenuse, Horus, their son, or the product of the male and female principle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This symbol was received by Pythagoras from the Egyptians during his long sojourn in that country, and with it he also learned the peculiar property it possessed, namely, that the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the longest side—symbolically expressed by the formula, that the product of Osiris and Isis is Horus. This figure has been adopted in the Third Degree of Freemasonry, and will be there recognized as the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid (see Geometry, Circle, Square, and Forty-seventh Problem). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE AND SQUARE | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the Delta was the initial letter of Deity with the ancients, so its synonym is among modern nations, It is a type of the Eternal, the All-Powerful, the Self Existent. The material world is typified by the Square as passive matter, in opposition to force symbolized by the Triangle. The Square is also an emblem of humanity, as the Delta or Triangle typifies Deity. The delta, Triangle, and Compasses are essentially the same. The raising one point, and then another, signifies that the divine or higher portion of our nature should increase in power, and control the baser tendencies. This is the real, the practical "journey toward the Last." The interlacing Triangles or Deltas (figure 1) symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe. The two Triangles "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Triangl2.jpg-19704,0K", one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of the two apparent powers in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Triangle and Square together form the Pyramid (Figure 3), as seen l in the Entered Apprentice's Apron. In this combination the Pyramid is the metaphor for units of matter and force, as well as the oneness of man and God. The numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, have their places in the parts and points of the Square and Triangle when in pyramidal form, and imply Perfection (see Pointed Cubical Stone and Broached Thurnel). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE, DOUBLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Seal of Solomon and Shield of David | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE OF PYTHAGORAS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Pentalpha | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE, RADIATED | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Triangle placed within and surrounded by a circle of rays. This circle is called in Christian art, a Glory. When this Glory is distinct from the Triangle, and surrounds it in the form of a circle, it is then an emblem of God's Eternal glory. This is the usual form in religious uses. But when, as is most usual in the Masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the center of the Triangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic of the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the Pagans referred these rays of light to their sun-god and their Sabian worship. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But the true Masonic idea of this Glory is, that it symbolizes that Eternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as a Sea of Glory, and from Him as a common center emanates to the universe of His creation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIANGLE, TRIPLE | ||
+ | |||
+ | The perdalpha, or Triangle of Pythagoras, is usually called also the Triple Triangle, because three triangles are formed by the intersection of its sides. But there is another variety of the Triple Triangle which is more properly entitled to the appellation, and which is seen in the illustration. It will be familiar to the Knight Templar as the form of the jewel worn by the Prelate of his Order. Like every modification of the triangle, it is a symbol of the Deity; but as the Degree of Knights Templar appertains exclusively to Christian Freemasonry, the Triple Triangle there alludes to the Mystery of the Trinity. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Degree of Knight of the East the symbol is also said to refer to the triple essence of Deity; but the symbolism is made still more mystical by supposing that it represents the sacred number 81, each side of the three triangles being equivalent to 9, which again is the square of 3, the most sacred number in Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Twentieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or that of "Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges," it is said that the number 81 refers to the triple covenant of God, symbolized by a Triple Triangle said to have been seen by Solomon when he consecrated the Temple. Indeed, throughout the Ineffable and the Philosophic Degrees, the allusions to the triple triangle are much more frequent than they are in Ancient Craft Masonry. The Indian Trimourti, or Triple Triangle of the Hindus is of a different form, consisting of three concentric triangles. In the center is the sacred triliteral name, Aum. The interior triangle symbolizes Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the middle one Creation, Preservation, and Destruction; and the exterior one, Earth, Water, and Air. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIBES OF ISRAEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | All the twelve Tribes of Israel were engaged in the construction of the first Temple. But long before its destruction, ten of them revolted, and formed the nation of Israel; while the remaining two, the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin, retained possession of the Temple, and of Jerusalem under the name of the Kingdom of Judah. To these two Tribes alone, after the return from the captivity, was entrusted the building of the second Temple. Hence in the advanced Degrees, which, of course are connected for the most part with the Temple of Zerubbabel, or with events that occurred subsequent to the destruction of that of Solomon, the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin only are referred to. But in the primary Degrees, which are based on the first Temple, the Masonic references always are to the twelve Tribes. Hence in the old lectures the twelve original points are explained by a reference to the twelve Tribes (see Twelve Original Points of Freemasonry). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIBUNAL | ||
+ | |||
+ | The modern Statutes of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States direct trials of Masonic offenses, committed by any Brethren of the Rite above the Eighteenth Degree, to be held in a court called a Tribunal of the Thirty-first Degree, to be composed of not less nor more than nine members. An appeal lies from such a Tribunal of Inspectors Inquisitors to the Grand Consistory or the Supreme Council. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIBUNAL, SUPREME | ||
+ | |||
+ | This has two distinct references for us. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :1. The Seventy-first Degree of the Rite of Mizraim. | ||
+ | :2. The meeting of Inspectors Inquisitors of the Thirty-first Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite according to the more recent practice of the Mother Council. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIFELS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The name of the ruined castle, four miles from Madenburg, on a mountain slope, where Sir Richard Coeur de Lion was a prisoner for more than a year, by decree of the Emperor Henry III, and until his liberation by the faithful Blondel. Naught remains but thirty feet of the tower and some fragments of wall. It is recorded that there may be seen engraved deep in the window-stone of the tower this Mark: the Passion Cross standing upon the square with an apex upward, and having upon it an inverted Tau of proportionate size at an inclination of about forty-nine Degrees. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRILITERAL NAME | ||
+ | |||
+ | Three-lettered Name. The sacred name of God among the Hindus is so called because it consists of the three letters, A U M (see A Otto). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRILITHON | ||
+ | |||
+ | Three stones, two of which are placed parallel on their ends, and Crossed by the third at the top. Many curious combinations of this rude but imposing construction are to be found in Europe, as at Stonehenge in England and Brittany in France. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRINIDAD | ||
+ | |||
+ | Freemasonry was introduced into the island of Trinidad by the establishment of a Lodge called Les Freres Unis, United Brothers, under a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in 1797. A Charter had been granted the year before by the Grand Orient of France, but never acted on, in consequence of the suspension of that body by the French revolutions In 1804, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in its capitular capacity, granted a Charter for a Royal Arch Chapter, which continued to meet until 1813, when it obtained a new Warrant of Constitution from the Supreme Chapter of .Scotland. In 1814, exemplar Masonry was established by a Deuchar Warrant from the Grand Conclave of Scotland. In 1819, a Council of Royal and Select Masters was established. Trinidad has also had established a Provincial Grand Lodge under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and some Lodges under the government Grand Lodge of England. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRINITARIANS, ORDER OF | ||
+ | |||
+ | An androgynous, both sexes, Order founded in 1198, in the time of lnnocent III, for the purpose of ransoming Christians from the Moors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRINITY, RELIGIOUS FRATERNITY OF THE HOLY | ||
+ | |||
+ | Instituted at Rome by Saint Philip Neri in 1548. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRINOSOPHS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Lodge of the Trinosophs was instituted at Paris by the celebrated Ragon, October 15, 1816, and installed by the Grand Orient, January 11, 1817. The Word Triposophs is derived from the Greek and signifies Students of three Sciences, in allusion to the three primitive degrees, which were the especial object of study by the members; although they adopted both the French and Scottish Rites, to whose high Degrees, however, they gave their own philosophical interpretation. It was before this Lodge that Ragon delivered his Interpretative and Philosophic Course of Initations. The dodge was composed of some of the most learned freemasons of France, and played an important part in Masonic literature. | ||
+ | |||
+ | No Lodge in France has obtained so much celebrity as did the Trinosophs. It was connected with a Chapter and Council in which the advanced Degrees were conferred, but the Lodge confined itself to the three Symbolic Degrees, which it faithfully sought to preserve in the utmost purity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIPITAKA | ||
+ | |||
+ | A compound Word among the Hindus, Tri, meaning three and Pitaka, basket. The canonical book of the Buddhists, written two hundred years after the third Ecumenical Council, or about 60 B.C. The former Asiatic doctrines having become intolerable Sakya, a reformer in religion, rejected the god Brahma, and the holy books of the Veda, the sacrifices at other rites, and said: "My law is grace for all." These Sacred writings of the Hindus were called the Three Baskets. the Basket of Laws, the Basket of Discipline, and the Basket of Doctrincs. The first Basket is called Dharma, and relates to the law for man; the second, Vinaya, and relates to the discipline of the priests; and the third, Abhidharma, and pertains to the gods. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIPLE ALLIANCE | ||
+ | |||
+ | An expression in the advanced Degrees, which, having been translated from the French instructions, should have more properly been the Triple Covenant. It is represented by the Triple Triangle, and refers to the Covenant of God With his people, that of King Solomon with Hiram of Tyre, and that which binds the Fraternity of Freemasons. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIPLE TAU | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Tau Cross, or Cross of Saint Anthony, is a Cross in the form of a Greek T. The Triple Tau is a figure formed by three of these crosses meeting in a point, and therefore resembling a letter T resting on the traverse bar of an H. This emblem, placed in the center of a Triangle and Circle—both emblems of the Deity—constitutes the jewel of the Royal .Arch as practiced in England where it is so highly esteemed as to be called the ''emblem of all emblems,'' and "the grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry." It was adopted in the same form as the Royal Arch badge, by the General Grand Chapter of the United States in 1859; although it had previously been very generally recognized by American Freemasons. It is also found in the Capitular Freemasonry of Scotland (see Royal Arch Badge). | ||
+ | |||
+ | The original signification of this emblem has been variously explained. Some suppose it to include the initials of the Temple of Jerusalem, T. H., Templum Hierosolymse; others, that it is a symbol of the mystical union of the Father and Son, H. signifying Jehovah, and T. or the cross, the Son. A writer in Moore's Magazine ingeniously supposes it to be a representation of three T-squares, and that it alludes to the three jewels of the three ancient Grand Masters. It has also been said that it is the monogram of Hiram of Tyre; and others assert that it is only a modification of the Hebrew letter shin, 0, which was one of the Jewish abbreviations of the sacred name. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Doctor Oliver thinks, from its connection with the circle and triangle in the Royal Arch jewel, that it was intended to typify the a sacred name as the Author of Eternal Life. Old English Royal Arch lectures say that by its intersection it forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five regular combinations; and, reduced, their amount in right angles will be found equal to the five Platonic bodies which represent the four elements and the sphere of the Universe." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Amid so many speculations, Doctor Mackey felt that he need not hesitate to offer one of his own. The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of the tau or tau cross as the Mark distinguishing those who were to he saved, on account of their sorrow for their sins, from those who, as idolaters, were to be slain. It was a mark or sign of favorable distinction; and with this allusion we may, therefore, suppose the triple tau to be used in the Royal Arch Degree as a mark designating and separating those who know and worship the true name of God from those who are ignorant of that August mystery (see Three). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIPOLI | ||
+ | |||
+ | Italian territory in Northern Africa on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The Grand Orient of Italy controls three Lodges at Tripoli City and others at Bengazi, Derna and Homs. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRIVIUM | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Quadrivium and Liberal Arts and Sciences. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TROWEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | An implement of Operative Masonry, which has been adopted by Speculative Freemasons as the peculiar working-tool of the Master's Degree. By this implement, and its use in Operative Masonry to spread the cement which binds all the parts of the building into one common mass, we are taught to spread the cement of affection and kindness, which unites all the members of the Masonic family, wheresoever dispersed over the globe, into one companionship of Brotherly Love and an old custom in an Oxford Lodge, England, gave it prominence as a jewel, and as a symbol it goes back to the practice of the Ancient. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Today this implement is considered the appropriate working-tool of a Master Mason, because, in Operative Masonry, while the Apprentice is engaged in preparing the rude materials, which require only the Gage and Gavel to give them their proper shape. the Fellow Craft places them in their proper position by means of the Plumb, Level, and Square; but the Master Mason alone, having examined their correctness and proved them true and trusty, secures them permanently in their place by spreading, with the trowel, the cement that irrevocably binds them together. The Trowel has also been adopted as the jewel of the Select Master. But its uses in this Degree are not symbolical. They are simply connected with the historical legend of the Degree. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TROWEL AND SWORD | ||
+ | |||
+ | When Nehemiah received from Artaxerxes Longimanus the appointment of Governor of Judea, and was permitted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to restore the city to its former fortified condition, he met with great opposition from the Persian Satraps, or Governors, who were envious of his favor with the King, and from the heathen inhabitants of Samaria, who were unwilling to see the city again resume its pristine importance. The former undertook to injure him with Artaxerxes by false reports of his seditious designs to restore the independent Kingdom of Judea. The latter sought to obstruct the workmen of Nehemiah in their labors, and openly attacked them. Nehemiah took the most active measures to refute the insidious accusations of the first, and to repel the more open violence of the latter. Josephus says in his Antiquities (Book xi, chapter vi, section 8), that he gave orders that the Builders should keep their ranks, and have their armor on while they were building; and, accordingly, the Mason had his sword on as well as he that brought the materials for building. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Zerubbabel had met with similar opposition from the Samaritans while rebuilding the Temple; and although the events connected with Nehemiah's restoration of the walls occurred long after the completion of the second Temple, yet the Freemasons have in the advanced Degrees referred them to the time of Zerubbabel. Hence in the Fifteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or the Knight of the East, which refers to the building of the Temple of Zerubbabel, we find this combination of the Trowel and the Sword adopted as a symbol. The old instructions of that degree say that Zerubbabel, being informed of the hostile intentions of the false Brethren from Samaria, bordered that all the workmen should be armed with the Trowel in one hand and the Sword in the other, that while they worked with the one they might be enabled to defend themselves with the other, and ever repulse the enemy if they should dare to present themselves." | ||
+ | |||
+ | In reference to this idea, but not with chronological accuracy, the Trowel and Sword have been placed crosswise as symbols on the Tracing-Board of the English Royal Arch. Doctor Oliver correctly interprets the symbol of the Trowel and Sword as signifying that, "next to obedience to lawful authority, a manly and determined resistance to lawless violence is an essential part of social duty." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TROWEL, SOCIETY OF THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vasari, in his Loves of the Painters and Sculptors, and referring to the life of G. F. Rustici, says that about the year 1512 there was established at Florence an Association which counted among its members some of the most distinguished and learned inhabitants of the city. It was the Societa delta Cucchiara, or the Society of the Trowel. Vasari adds that its symbols were the trowel, the Hammer, the Square, and the Level, and had for its patron Saint Andrew, which makes Reghellini think, rather illogically, that it had some relation to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Lenning, too, says that this Society was the first appearance of Freemasonry in Florence. It is to be regretted that such misstatements of Masonic history should be encouraged by writers of learning and distinction. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The perusal of the account of the formation of this society, as given by Vasari, shows that it had not the slightest connection with Freemasonry. It was simply a festive association, or dinner-club of Florentine artists; and it derived its title from the accidental circumstance that certain painters and sculptors, dining together in a garden, found not far from their table a mass of mortar, in which a trowel was sticking. Some rough jokes passed thereupon, in the casting of the mortar on each other, and the calling for the trowel to scrape it off. Whereupon they resolved to form an association to dine together annually, and, in memorial of the ludicrous event that had led to their establishment, they called themselves the Society of the Trowel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRUE KINDRED, ORDER OF | ||
+ | |||
+ | Benjamin Franklin is credited in the literature of the Order with receiving the degrees in England and bringing the Ritual to America where we are also told it was conferred upon George Washington, he in turn communicating the ceremonies to his wife and that for years it therefore received the name of the Martha Washington Degree. The legend and instruction are taken from the Bible, particularly Genesis iv, 18-23; Ruth I-ii; First Kings vii, 21; Second Chronicles iii, 17, and Proverbs xxxi, 19. Members must be the own kin — hence the Name — of Master Masons. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are three Degrees, True Kindred, Heroine of Jericho, and Good Samaritan, the second obtained after six months probation, the third after one year of the second. A Royal Arch Mason, Prude Parsons of Whitewater, Wisconsin, conferred the Degree in 1853 upon his daughter and the daughter of a Masonic friend. Mrs. J. Mathews of Rockland, Wisconsin, received the Degree in the early fifties which then was known as the Lady Washington or Martha Washington Degree which during the first part of the Civil War period is credited with many members in Virginia. Several Freemasons in 1894 at San Francisco organized Conclaves. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Among the Californian members was Mrs. M. E. De Geer Gilmore who moved to Chicago and continued the work there until 1905. In the fall of that year the Order was reorganized at the request of several Conclaves. Rituals of 1847, 1851, and 1895 were reported, a Ritual Committee appointed, and a Supreme National Conclave established. The work of the Committee was adopted, but at a meeting of the National Body in Chicago, March 2-3, 1911, a Committee was again appointed which exemplified a Ritual and this, with amendments, was approved, April 10-17, 1911. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRUE LIGHT | ||
+ | |||
+ | Relating to the Latin expression, Sit lux et lux fuit, meaning Let there be Light, and there was Light (see Fiat Lux et Lux fit). However, the Latin edition of the Bible gives the words Fiat Lux et facta est Lux (Genesis I, 3). The words Sit Lox et Lux Suit are on a jewel dated 5758 (1758) owned by Brother John T. Thorp, Lodge of Research, Leicester, England. The translation from the Hebrew Bible Of this passage (Genesis I, 1-5! so often quoted in Freemasonry, is: | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Here we may appropriately introduce an old verse of rare quaintness and appeal, credited to Adam de Saint Victor by the Roberts edition of Hoyt's Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations, and taken from a Latin hymn said to have been sung at the deathbed of William the Conqueror, King of England, who died in 1087 A. D. | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Now that the sun is gleaming bright, | ||
+ | :Implore we, bending low, | ||
+ | :That He, the Uncreated Light | ||
+ | :Play guide us as we go. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRUE MASONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Academy of True Masons | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRURO CATHEDRAL | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Protestant edifice erected at a seaport of Cornwall, England, standing at the junction of two rivers, the Allen and the Kenwyn. On the 20th of May, 1880, the Grand Master of Freemasons, the Prince of Wales, laid two cornerstones of the Cathedral with great pageantry, pomp, and ceremony. This was the first time a Grand Master of Freemasons m England was known to lay the corner-stone of an ecclesiastical structure; this was, also, the first occasion on which the then Grand Master had performed such a service, in Masonic clothing, surrounded with his staff and officers, in rich robes and in the costume of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRUST IN GOD | ||
+ | |||
+ | Every candidate on his initiation is required to declare that his trust is in God. He who denies the existence of a Supreme Being is debarred the privilege of initiation, for atheism is a disqualification for Freemasonry. This pious principle has distinguished the Fraternity from the earliest period; and it is a happy coincidence, that the Company of Operative Masons instituted in 1477 should have adopted, as their motto, the truly Masonic sentiment, "The Lord is all our Trust." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRUTH | ||
+ | |||
+ | The real object of Freemasonry, in a philosophical and religious sense, is the search for truth. This truth is, therefore, symbolized by the Word. From the first entrance of the Apprentice into the Lodge, until his reception of the highest degree, this search is continued. It is not always found and a substitute must sometimes be provided. Yet whatever be the labors he performs, whatever the ceremonies through which he passes, whatever the symbols in which he may be instructed, whatever the final reward he may obtain, the true end of all is the attainment of Truth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This idea of truth is not the same as that expressed in the lecture of the First Degree, where Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth are there said to be the "three great tenets of a Mason's profession." In that connection, Truth, which is called a "Divine Attribute, the foundation of every virtue," is synonymous with Sincerity, honesty of expression, and plain dealing. The higher idea of truth which pervades the whole Masonic system, and which is symbolized by the Word, is that which is properly expressed to a knowledge of God. There was an Egyptian goddess named in the Hebrew, Thm, or Thme, meaning integritas, or Justice and Truth. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This one of the three great Masonic principles is represented among the Egyptians by an ostrich feather; and the judicial officer was also thus represented, "because that bird, unlike others, has all its feathers equal," Horapollo. The Hebrew word ion, signifies an Ostrich, as also a Council; and the word Rnne, is interpreted, poetically, an ostrich, and also a song of joy, or of Praise; hence, "the happy souls thus ornamented, under the inspection of the lords of the heart's joy, gathered fruits from celestial trees." In the judgment in Amenti, the soul advances toward the goddess Thme, who wears on her head the ostrich feather. In the scale, Anubis and Horus weigh the actions of the deceased On one side is the ostrich feather, and on the other the vase containing the heart. Should the weight of the heart be greater than the feather, the soul is entitled to be received into the celestial courts. The forty-two judges, with heads ornamented with ostrich feathers, sit aloft to pronounce judgment (see Book of the Dead ). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TRYONISTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those Pythagoreans who abstained from animal food. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TSAPHIEL | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word Mirans Deus, the angel governing the Moon, in accordance with the Cabalistical system. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TSCHOUDY, LOUIS THEODORE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Miehaud spells the name Tschudi, but Lenning, Thory, Ragon, Oliver, and all other Masonic writers, give the name as Tschoudy, which form, therefore, we adopt as the most usual, if not the most correct, spelling. Baron de Tschoudy was born at Metz, in 1720. He was descended from a family originally of the Swiss Canton of Glaris, but which had been established in France since the commencement of the sixteenth century. He was a Counselor of State and member of the Parliament of Metz; but the most important events of his life are those which connect him with the Masonic institution, of which he was a zealous and learned investigator. He was one of the most active apostles of the school of Ramsay, and adopted his theory of the Templar origin of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having obtained permission from the King to travel, he went to Italy, in 1752, under the assumed name of the Chevalier de Lussy. There he excited the anger of the Papal Court by the publication at the Hague, in the same year, of a book entitled Etrenne au Pape, ou les Francs-Maçons Vengés, that is, A New Year's Gift for the Pope, or the Free Masons Avenged. This was a caustic commentary on the Bull of Benedict XIV excommunicating the Freemasons. It was followed, in the same year, by another work entitled, Le Vatican Vengé that is, The Vatican Avenged; an ironical apology, intended as a Sequence to the former book. these two works subjected him to such persecution by the Church that he was soon compelled to Seek safety in flight. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Brother Tschoudy next repaired to Russia, where his means of living became so much impaired that, Michaud says, he was compelled to enter the company of comedians of the Empress Elizabeth. From this condition he was relieved by Count Ivan Schouwalon, who made him his Private Secretary. He was also appointed the Secretary of the Academy of Moscow, and Governor of the pages at the Court. But this advancement of his fortunes, and the fact of his being a Frenchman, created for him many enemies, and he was compelled at length to leave Russia, and return to France. There, however, the persecutions of his enemies pursued him, and on his arrival at Paris he was sent to the Bastile. But the intercession of his mother with the Empress Elizabeth and with the Grand Duke Peter was successful, and he was speedily restored to liberty. He then retired to Metz, and for the rest of his life devoted himself to the task of Masonic reform and the fabrication of new systems. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Council of Knights of the East was established in 1762, at Paris. Ragon says (Orthodoxie Maçonnique, page 137) that "its ritual was corrected by the Baron de Tschoudy, the author of the Blazing Star." But this is an error. Tschoudy was then at Metz, and his work and system of the Blazing Star did not appear until four years afterward. It is at a later date that Tschoudy became connected with the Council. | ||
+ | |||
+ | He published, in connection with Bardon-Duhamel, his most important work, in 1766, entitled L'Etoile Flamboyante, ou la Societé d es Francs-Maçons considerée sous tous les Aspects, that is, The Blazing Star, or the Society of Freemasons considered under Every Point of View. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The same year he repaired to Paris, with the declared object of extending his Masonic system. He then attached himself to the Council of Knights of the East, which, under the guidance of the tailor Pirlet, had seceded from the Council of Emperors of the East and West. Tschoudy availed himself of the ignorance and of the boldness of Pirlet to put his plan of reform into execution by the creation of new Degrees. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Tschoudy's system, however, as developed in the L'Etoile Flamboyante, he does not show himself to be the advocate of the advanced Degrees, which, he says, are "an occasion of expense to their dupes, and an abundant and lucrative resource for those who make a profitable traffic of their pretended instructions." He recognizes the three Symbolic Degrees because their gradations are necessary in the Lodge, which he viewed as a school; and to these he adds a superior class, which may be called the architects, or by any other name, provided we attach to it the proper meaning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | All the advanced Degrees he calls "Masonic reveries," excepting two, which he regards as containing the secret, the object, and the essence of Freemasonry, namely, the Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew and the Knight of Palestine. The former of these Degrees was composer by Tschoudy, and its ritual, which he bequeathed, with other manuscripts, to the Council of Knights of the East and West, was published in 1780, under the title of Ecossais de Saint André, contenant le développement total de l'art royal de la Franche-Maçonnerie, or Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew, containing the entire development of the Royal Arch of Freemasonry Subsequently, on the organization of the Ancient and Accepted ,Scottish Rite, the Degree was adopted as the Twenty-ninth of its series, and is considered as one of the most important and Philosophic of the ,Scottish system. Its fabrication is, indeed, an evidence of the intellectual genius of its inventor. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ragon, in his Orthodoxie Maçonnique , attributes to Tschoudy the fabrication of the Rite of Adoniramite Freemasonry, and the authorship of the Recueil Precieux, meaning Choice Collection, which contains the description of the Rite. But the first edition of the Recueil, with the acknowledged authorship of Guillemain de Saint Victor, appeared in 1781. This is probably about the date of the introduction of the Rite, and is just twelve years after Tschoudy had gone to his eternal rest. Tschoudy also indulged in light literature, and several romances are attributed to him, the only one of whieh now known, entitled Thérese Philosophe, does not add to his reputation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Chemins Despontés (Encyclopédie Maçonnique i, page 143) says: "The Baron Tschoudy, whose birth gave him a distinguished rank in society, left behind him the reputation of an excellent man, equally remarkable for his social virtues, his genius, and his military talents." Such appears to have been the general opinion of those who were his contemporaries or his immediate successors He died at Paris, May 28, 1769 | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TSEDAKAH | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word, meaning Justice The first step of the Mystical Ladder, known to the Kadosh, Thirtieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted, Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TSIDONI | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hebrew word, the Latin Venator meaning also Hunter, Seeker or Inquirer A name used in the Twenty-second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TSOIM | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew word, A term used infrequently to designate visitors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUAPHOLL | ||
+ | |||
+ | A term employed by the Druids to designate an unhallowed circumambulation of the sacred Cairn, or altar; the movement being against the sun, that is, from West to East by the North, the Cairn being on the left hand of the circumambulator. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUBAL CAIN | ||
+ | |||
+ | Of Tubal Cain, the sacred writings, as well as the Masonic legends, give us but scanty information. All that we hear of him in the Book of Genesis is that he was the son of Lamech and Zillah, and was "an instructor of every artifices in brass and iron." The Hebrew original does not justify the common version, for lotesh, does not mean "an instructor," but "a sharpener "—one who whets or sharpens instruments. Hence Doctor Raphall translates the passage as one "who sharpened various tools in copper and iron." The authorized version has, however, almost indelibly impressed the character of Tubal Cain as the Father of Artificers; and it is in this sense that he has been introduced from a very early period into the legendary history of Freemasonry. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The first Masonic reference to Tubal Cain is found in the Legend of the Craft, where he is called the Founder of Smith-Craft, an explanation agreeing closely with modern biblical scholarship which designates him as the "Founder of the Gild of Smiths or Metal Workers." We cite this part of the legend from the Dowland Manuscript simply because of its more modern orthography; but the story is substantially the same in all the old manuscript Constitutions. In that manuscript we five find the following account of Tubal Cain: | ||
+ | |||
+ | Before Noah's flood there was a man called Lamedh, as it is written in the Bible, in the fourth Chapter of Genesis; and this Lamedh had two wives, the one named Ada and the other named Zilla by his first wife Ada, he got two sons, the one Jubal, and the other Jabal: and by the other wife he got a son and a daughter. And these four children founded the beginning of all the sciences in the world. The elder son Jabal, founded the science geometry, and he carried flocks of sheep and lambs into the fields, and first built houses of stone and wood, as it is noted in the chapter above named. And his brother Jubal founded the science of music and songs of the tongue, the harp and organ. And the third brothers Tubal Cain, founded smith-craft , of gold, silver, copper, iron, and steel, and the daughter founded the art of weaving. And these children knew well that God would take vengeance for sin, either by fire or water, wherefore they wrote the sciences that they lead found, on two pillars that they might be found after Noah's flood. The one pillar was marble, for that would not burn with fire, and the other was clepped laterns and would not drown in no water. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Similar to this an old Rabbillical tradition, which asserts that Jubal, who was the inventor of writing as well as of music, having heard Adam say that the universe would be twice destroyed, once by fire and once by water, inquired Which catastrophe would first occur; but Adam refusing to inform him he inscribed the system of music Which he had invented upon two pillars of stone and briefs A more modern Masonic tradition ascribes the construction of these pillars to Enoch. To this amount of Tubal Cain must he added the additional particulars, recorded by Josephus, that he exceeded all men in strength, and was renowned for his warlike achievements. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The only other account of the proto-metallurgist that we meet with in any ancient author is that which is contained in the celebrated fragment of Sanconiatho, who refers to him under the name of Chrysor, which is evidently, as Bochart affirms, a corruption of the Hebrew chores ur, a worker in fire, that is, a smith. Sanconiatho was a Phenician author, who is supposed to have flourished before the Trojan war, probably, as Sir William Drummond suggests, about the time when Gideon was Judge of Israel, and who collected the different accounts and traditions of the origin of the world which were extant at the period in which he lived. A fragment only of this cork has been preserved, which, translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, was inserted by Eusebitls in his Praepario Evangelica, and has thus been handed down to the present day. That portion of the history by Sanconiatho, which refers to Tubal Cain, is contained in the following words: | ||
+ | |||
+ | A long time after the generation of Hypsoaranios. the inventors of hunting and fishing, Agreas and Alieas, were born: after whom the people were called hunters and fishers, and from whom sprang two brothers, when discovered iron, and the manner of working it. one of these two, called Chrysor, was skilled in eloquence, and composed verses and prophecies. He was the .same with Hephaistos, and invented fishing-hooks, bait for taking fishes cordage and rafts, and was the first of all mankind who had navigated. He was therefore worshiped as a god after his death, and was called Diamichios. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is said that these brothers were the first who contrived partition walls of brick. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Hephaistos, it will be observed, is the Greek of the god who was called by the Romans Vulcan. Hence the remark of Sanconiatho, and the apparent similarity of names as well as occupations, have led some writers of the last, and even of the present, century to derive Vulcan from Tubal Cain by a process not very devious and therefore familiar to etymologists. By the omission in Tubal Cain of the initial T. which is the Phenician article, and its valueless vowel, we get Balcan, which, by the interchangeable nature of B and V, is easily transformed to Vulcan. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "That Tubal Cain," says Bishop Edw. Stillingfleet (Origines Sacrae, or a Rational Account of the Christian faith as to the Truth and Divine Authority of the Scriptures and the Matters therein contained, 1662, page 292), "gave first occasion to the name and worship of Vulcan, hath been very probably conceived, both from the very great affinity of the names, and that Tubal Cain is expressly mentioned to be an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, and as near relation as Apollo had to Vulcan, tubal had to Tubal Cain, who was the inventor of music, or the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, which the Greeks attribute to Apollo." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vossius, in his treatise De Idolatria (book i, chapter 36), makes this derivation of Vulcan from Tubal Cain. But Bryant, in his Analysis of Ancient Mythology (volume i, page 139), denies the etymology and says that among the Egyptians and Babylonians, Vulcan was equivalent to Horus or Osiris, symbols of the sun. He traces the name to the words Baal Cahen, Holy Bel, or Sacred Lord. Bryant's etymology may be adopted, however, without any interference with the identity of Vulcan and Tubal Cain. He who discovered the uses of fire, may well, in the corruptions of idolatry, have typified the solar orb, the source of all heat. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It might seem that Tubal is an attribute compounded of the definite particle T and the word Baal, signifying Lord. Tubal Cain would then signify the Lord Cain. Again, dhu or du, in Arabic, signifies Lord, and we trace the same signification of this affix in its various interchangeable forms of Du, Tu, and Di, in many Semitic words. But the question of the identical origin of Tubal Cain and Vulcan has at length been settled by the researches of comparative philologists. Tubal Cain is Semitic in origin, and Vulcan is Aryan. The latter may be traced to the Sanskrit ulka, meaning a firebrand, from which we get also the Latin fulgur and fulmen, names of the lightning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | From the mention made of Tubal Cain in the Legend of the Craft, the word was long ago adopted as significant in the primary Degrees, and various attempts have been made to give it an interpretation. Hutchinson, in an article in his Spirit of Masonry, devoted to the consideration of the Third Degree, has the following reference (page 162) to the word: The Mason advancing to this state of Masonry, pronounces his own sentence as confessional of the imperfection of the second stage of his profession, and as probationary of the exalted Degree to which he aspires, in this Greek distich, T, Struo tumulum. I prepare mar sepulchre. I make my grave in the pollutions of the earth. I am under the shadow of death. This distich has been vulgarly corrupted among us. and an expression takes place scarcely similar in sound, and entirely inconsistent with Masonry, and unmeaning in itself . | ||
+ | |||
+ | But however ingenious this interpretation of our Brother Hutchinson may be, it is generally admitted to be incorrect. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The modern English Freemasons, and through them the French, have derived Tubal Cain from the Hebrew tebel, meaning earth and kanah to acquire possession, and, with little respect for the grammatical rules of the Hebrew language, interpret it as meaning worldly possessions. In the Hemming lectures, now the authorized English system, we find that the answer to the question, "What does Tubal Cain denote?" is "Worldly possessions." And Delaunay, in his Thuilleur (page 17), denies the reference to the proto-smith, and says: "If we reflect on the meaning of the two Hebrew words, we will easily recognize in their connection the secret wish of the hierophant, of the Templar, of the Freemason, and of every mystical sect, to govern the world in accordance with its own principles and its own laws." It is fortunate, we think, that the true meaning of the words will authorize no such interpretation. The fact is, that even if Tubal Cain were derived from tebel and kanah, the precise rules of Hebrew construction would forbid affixing to their union any such meaning as "worldly possessions." Such an interpretation of it in the French and English systems was, therefore, in Doctor Mackey's opinion, a very forced and inaccurate one. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The use of Tubal Cain as a significant word in the Masonic instructions is derived from the Legend of the Craft, by which the name was made familiar to the Operative and then to the Speculative Freemasons; and it refers not symbolically, but historically to his Scriptural and traditional reputation as an artificer. If he symbolized anything, it would be labor; and a Freemason's labor is to acquire truth, and not worldly possessions. The English and French interpretation has never been introduced into the United States. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUB BAANI AMAL ABAL | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Hebrew phrase, meaning it is just to reward labor. An expression found in the Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUGENDVEREIN | ||
+ | |||
+ | German, Society of Virtue. See Concordists. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUNE, FREEMASONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The air of the song written by Matthew Birkhcad, and published in the Book of Constitutions of 1723, with the title of the Entered Prentice's Song, is familiarly and distinctively known as the Freemasons' Tune. William Chappell, in a work entitled Popular Music of the Olden Time, gives the following interesting account of it: | ||
+ | |||
+ | This tune was very popular at the time of the ballad operas, and I am informed that the same words are still sung to it at Masonic meetings. The air was introduced in The Village Opera The Chambermaid, The Lottery The Grub-Street Opera and The Lover his own Rival. It is contained in the third volume of The Dancing Master, and of Walsh's New Country Dancing Master. Words and music are included in Watt's Musical Miscellany (iii, page ~2)l and in British Melody or The Musical Magazine (folio 1739). They were also printed on broadsides. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the Gentlemen s Magazine for October, 1731, the first stanza is printed as ad Health, by Mr. Birkhead. It seems to be there quoted from the Constitutions of the freemasons, by the Rev. James Anderson, A.M., one of the Worshipful Masters. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There are several versions of the tune. one in Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719, ii, page 230), has a second part but that being almost a repetition of the first taken an octave higher, is out of the compass of ordinary voices, and has therefore been generally rejected. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In A Complete Collection of Old and New English and Scotch Songs (1735 ii, page 172) the name is given as Ye Commoners and Peers; but Leveridge composed another tune to these words. In Tile Musical Mason, or Freemasons' Pocket Companion, being a collection of songs used in all Lodges, to which are added the Freemasons' March and Ode (1791), this is entitled The Entered Apprentice's Song. Many stanzas have been added from time to time, and others have been altered. | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Birkhead, Matthew; Entered Prentice's Song, and Songs of Freemasonry | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUNIS | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Northern Africa, between Algeria and Tripoli, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Several Lodges have been constituted in Tunis and on July 17, 1879, a Grand Lodge was formed. In 1917 its Grand Master was Gustavus Daemons and it controlled about six Lodges. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TURANIAN | ||
+ | |||
+ | One of the three historical divisions of religion—the other two being the Aryan and the Semitic—and embraces the two sacred codes of China, namely, those of Confucius and Lao-tse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TURBAN | ||
+ | |||
+ | The usual head-dress worn in Eastern nations, consisting of a quilted cap, without rim, and a sash or scarf of cotton or linen wound about the cap. In Royal Arch Chapters, the turban, of a purple color, constitutes the head-dress of the Scribe, because that officer represents the Jewish prophet Haggai. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TURCOPOLIER | ||
+ | |||
+ | The third dignity in the Order of Knights Hospitaler of Saint John, or Knights of Malta. It took its name from the Turcopoles, a sort of light horse mentioned in the history of the Christian wars in Palestine. The office of Turcopolier was held by the Conventional Bailiff, or Head of the Langue, the national division, of England. He had the command of the Cavalry of the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TURKEY | ||
+ | |||
+ | A writer in the Freemasons Quarterly Review (1844, page 21), says that there was a Masonic meeting in Constantinople, at which some Turks were initiated, but that the government prohibited the w future meetings. This must have been an irregular Lodge. Many and various authorities have founded Lodges in Turkey. Mention of Lodges at Smyrna and Aleppo occurred in a London newspaper as early as 1738. Oriental Lodge under the Grand Lodge of England has been active since 1856 at Constantinople. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A Grand Lodge of Turkey formed by Ionic, Anatolia, and Benzenzia Lodges was declared illegal in 1859 by the Grand Lodge of England. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A District Grand Lodge was established in 1861 with Sir Henry Bulwer, British Ambassador, as District Grand Master. A Supreme Council was opened in 1869 and a Grand Orient of Turkey in 1908. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Since 1894 the Grand Lodge of Hamburg has had a Lodge working in German, Die Leuchte am goldenen Horn, meaning Liszt at the Golden Horn, these last two words referring to the crescent-shaped strait, the Bosporus, on which Constantinople is situated. The Grand Orient of Italy has three Lodges, the Grand Orient of France one, all at Constantinople. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Grand Orient of France has two Lodges at Smyrna, Homere from 1909 and Meles from 1913; Barkai from 1905 at Jaffa, and Moriah Lodge at Jerusalem since 1913. The Grand Orient has also had a Lodge at Beyrouth in Syria, Le Liban from 1858; and at Zahle, also in Syria, Etoile du Liban, meaning in French Star of the Laban, since 1913. The Grand Orient of Italy has Lodges at Adana and Angora, two at Smyrna, one at Syrian Tripoli, and another at Rodi. | ||
+ | |||
+ | In these Lodges many native Mohammedans have been initiated. The Turks, however, have always had secret societies of their own, which has led some writers to suppose, erroneously, that Freemasonry existed long before the date of its actual introduction. Thus, the Begtaschi form a secret society in Turkey, numbering many thousands of Mussulmans in its ranks, and none but a true Moslem can be admitted to the Brotherhood. It is a religious Order, and was founded in the year 1328 by the Hadji Begtaseh, a famous dervish, from whom it derives its name. The Begtaschi have certain signs and passwords by which they are enabled to recognize the "true Brethren," and by which they are protected from vagabond impostors. | ||
+ | |||
+ | A writer in Notes and Queries says, in allusion to this Society, that "One day, during the summer of 1855, an English merchant captain, while walking through the streets of a Turkish quarter of Constantinople, encountered a Turk, who made use of various signs of Freemasonry, some of which, the captain being a Mason, he understood and others he did not." It is, however, probable in this instances considering the date, that the Turk was really a Freemason, and possessed some higher Degrees, which had not been attained by the English captain. There is also another equally celebrated Order in Turkey, the Melewi, who have secret modes of recognition. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TURQUOISE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Oliver says (Landmarks ii, page 521) that the first stone in the third row of the High Priest's Breastplate "was a figure, hyacinth, or turquoise." The stone was a figure; but Doctor Oliver is incorrect in supposing that it is a synonym of either a hyacinth or a turquoise, which are stones of a very different nature (see Breast plate) . | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TUSCAN ORDER | ||
+ | |||
+ | The simplest of the five Orders of Architecture, as its columns are never fluted, and it does not allow the introduction of any kind of ornament. It is one of the two modern Orders, not being found in any ancient example. Hence it is of no value in Masonic symbolism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWELVE | ||
+ | |||
+ | Twelve being composed of the mystical numbers 7+5 or of 3X4, the triad multiplied by the quaternion, was a number of considerable value in ancient systems. Thus there were twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve months in the year, twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve stones in the pectoral, and twelve oxen supporting the molten sea in the Temple. There were twelve apostles in the new law, and the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve foundations, is twelve thousand furlongs square, and the number of the sealed is twelve times twelve thousand. Even the Pagans respected this number, for there were in their mythology twelve superior and twelve inferior gods. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWELVE COMPANIONS, THE | ||
+ | |||
+ | See Companions, The Twelve | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWELVE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Eleventh Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; more correctly Sublime Knight Elected, which see. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWELVE LETTERED NAME | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Jews had among their Divine names, besides the Tetragrammaton, a two-lettered name, which was Jah, as well as a twelve-lettered and a forty-two-lettered name. None of these, however, were so sacred and unutterable as the Tetragrammaton. Maimonides says of the twelve-lettered name, that it was formerly used in stead of Adonai, as being more emphatic, in place of the Tetragrammaton, whenever they came to that sacred name in reading. It v-as not, however, like the Tetragrammaton, communicated only to their disciples, but was imparted to any that desired its knowledge. But after the death of Simeon the Just, the Tetragrammaton ceasing to be used at all, the twelve lettered name was substituted in blessing the people; and then it became a secret name, and was communicated only to the most pious of the Priests. What was the twelve-lettered name is uncertain, though all agree that it was not a name, but a sentence composed of twelve letters. Rabbi Bechai says it was formed by a triple combination and permutation of the four letters of the Tctragrammaton; and there are other explanations equally unsatisfactory. | ||
+ | |||
+ | There was also a forty-two-lettered name, composed, says Bechai, of the first forty-two letters of the Book of Genesis. Another and a better explanation has been propounded by Franek, that it is formed out of the names of the ten Sephiroth, which with the l, vau, or and, amount exactly to forty-two letters. There was another name of seventy-two letters, which is still more inexplicable. Of all these names, Maimonides (more Nebuhim I, Ixii) says that, as they could not possibly constitute one word, they must have been composed of several words, and he adds: | ||
+ | |||
+ | There is no doubt that these wards Conveyed certain ideas, which were designed to bring man nearer to the true conception of the Divine Essence, through the process we have already described. These words, composed of numerous letters, have been designated as a single name, because, like all accidental proper names, they indicate one single object: and to make the object more intelligible several words are employed, as many words are sometimes used to express one single thing. This must be well understood, that they taught the ideas indicated by these names, and not the simple pronunciation of the meaningless letters. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWELVE ORIGINAL POINTS OF FREEMASONRY | ||
+ | |||
+ | The old English lectures, which were abrogated by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, when it adopted the system of Hemming, contained the following passage: "There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system, and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation. Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be, legally and essentially received into the Order. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Every person who is made a Mason must go through these twelve forms and ceremonies, not only in the first degree, but in every subsequent one " Hence, it will be seen that our ancient Brethren deemed these Twelve Original Points of Freemasonry, as they were called, of the highest importance to the ceremony of initiation, and they consequently took much pains, and exercised much ingenuity, in giving them a symbolical explanation. But as, by the decree of the Grand Lodge, they no longer constitute a part of the English lectures, and were never introduced into the United States of America, there can be no impropriety in presenting a brief explanation of them, for which we are indebted to the industry of Doctor Oliver, who has treated of them at great length in the eleventh lecture of his historical Landmarks. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The ceremony of initiation, when these points constituted a portion of the ritual, u as divided into twelve parts, in allusion to the twelve Tribes of Israel, to each of which one of the points was referred, as follows: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 1. The opening of the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Reuben, because Reuben was the first-born of his father Jacob, who called him "the beginning of his strength." He was, therefore, appropriately adopted as the emblem of that ceremony which is essentially the beginning of every initiation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 2. The preparation of the candidate was symbolized by the Tribe of Simeon, because Simeon prepared the instruments for the slaughter of the Shechemites, and that part of the ceremony which relates to offensive weapons, was used as a token of our abhorrence for the cruelty exercised on that occasion | ||
+ | |||
+ | 3. The report of the Senior Deacon referred to the Tribe of Levi, because, in the slaughter of the Shechemites Levi was supposed to have made a signal or report to Simeon his brother, with whom he was engaged in attacking these unhappy people while unprepared for defense. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 4. The entrance of the candidate into the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Judah, because they were the first to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land coming from the darkness and servitude, as it were, of the wilderness into the light and liberty of Canaan. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5. Tile prayer was symbolized by the Tribe of Zebulun because the blessing and prayer of Jacob were given to Zebulun, in preference to his brother Issachar. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 6. The Circumambulation referred to the Tribe of Issaehar, because, as a thriftless and indolent Tribe, they required a leader to advance them to an equal elevation with the other tribes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 7. Advancing to the altar was symbolized by the Tribe of Dan, to teach us, by contrast, that we should advance to truth and holiness as rapidly as that bribe advanced to idolatry, among whon1 the golden serpent was first set up to receive adoration. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 8. The obligation referred to the Tribe of Gad, in allusion to the solemn vow which was made by Jephthah, Judge of Israel, who was of that Tribe. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 9. The entrusting of the candidate with the mysteries was symbolized by the Tribe of Asher, because he was then presented with the rich fruits of Masonic knowledge. as Asher was said to be the inheritor of fatness and royal dainties. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 10. The investiture of the lambskin, by which the candidate is declared free, referred to the Tribe of Naphtali, which was invested by Moses with a peculiar freedom when he said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the West and the South." | ||
+ | |||
+ | 11. The ceremony of the northeast corner of the Lodge referred to Joseph, because, as this ceremony reminds us of the most superficial part of Freemasonry, so the two half Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, of which the Tribe of Joseph was composed, were accounted to be more superficial than the rest as they were descendants of the grandsons only of Jacot. | ||
+ | |||
+ | 12. The closing of the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Benjamin, who was the youngest of the sons of Jacob, and thus closed his father's strength. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Such were the celebrated twelve original points of freemasonry of the ancient English lectures. Whey were never introduced into the United States of America, and they are now disused in England. But it will be seen that, while some of the allusions are perhaps abstruse, many of them are ingenious and appropriate. It will not, perhaps, be regretted that they have become obsolete; yet it cannot be denied that they added something to the symbolism and to the religious reference of Freemasonry. At all events, they are matters of Masonic antiquity, and, as such, are not unworthy of attention. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWENTY-FOUR-INCH GAGE | ||
+ | |||
+ | A rule two feet long, which is divided by marks into twenty-four parts each one inch in length. The Operative Mason uses it to take the necessary dimensions of the stone that he is about to prepare. It has been adopted as one of the working-tools of the Entered Apprentice in Speculative Freemasonry, where its divisions are supposed to represent hours. Hence its symbolic use is to teach him to measure his time so that, of the twenty-four hours of the day, he may devote eight hours to the service of God and a worthy distressed Brother, eight hours to his usual vocation, and eight to refreshment and sleep. In the twenty-four-inch gage is a symbol of time well employed, following as best we can the example of the lines told to us by Longfellow in the Psalm of Life, | ||
+ | |||
+ | :Lives of great men all remind us | ||
+ | :We can make our lives sublime, | ||
+ | :And departing leave behind us | ||
+ | :Footprints on the sands of time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Masonic essence of the lesson is ability, preparedness and readiness, recalling the suggestion of William Shakespeare to the workman in Julius Caesar (act I, scene I, line 5), Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on? | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWENTY-ONE | ||
+ | |||
+ | A number of mystical import, partly because it is the product of 3 and 7, the most sacred of the odd numbers, but especially because it is the sum of the numerical value of the letters of the Divine Name, Eheyeil, thus: | ||
+ | |||
+ | 5 + 10 + 5+ 1 = 21. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is little valued in Freemasonry, but is deemed of great importance in the Cabala and in Alchemy; in the latter, because it refers to the twenty-one days of distillation necessary for the conversion of the grosser metals into silver (see Numbers and Numeration by Letters). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWENTY-SEVEN | ||
+ | |||
+ | Although the number twenty-seven is found in the Degree of Select Master and in some of the other advanced Degrees, it can scarcely be called in itself a sacred number. It derives its importance from the fact that it is produced by the multiplication of the square of three by three, thus: 3 X 3 X 3 = 27 (see Three). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWENTY-SIX | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is considered by the Cabalists as the most sacred of mystical numbers, because it is equal to the numerical value of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, thus: 5+6+5+10=26. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TWO-LETTERED NAME | ||
+ | |||
+ | The title given by the Talmudists to the name of God, the Hebrew word, Jah, which see. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYLER | ||
+ | |||
+ | Tyle and Tyler are the old and now obsolete spelling of Tile and Tiler, which see. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYPE | ||
+ | |||
+ | In the science of symbology it is the picture or model of something of which it is considered as a symbol. Hence the words type and symbol are in this sense synonymous. Thus the Tabernacle was a type of the Tempel as the Thempel is a type of the Lodge | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYPHON | ||
+ | |||
+ | The brother and slayer of Osiris, in the Egyptian mythology. As Osiris was a type or symbol of the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter, when the vigor, heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and of darkness as opposed to light. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYRE | ||
+ | |||
+ | An ancient city of Phenicia, which in the time of King Solomon was celebrated as the residence of King Hiram, to whom that monarch and his father David were indebted for great assistance in the construction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Tyre was distant from Jerusalem about one hundred and twenty miles by sea, and was thirty miles nearer by land. An intercourse between the two cities and their respective monarchs was, therefore, easily cultivated The inhabitants of Tyre were distinguished for their skill as artificers, especially as workers in brass and other metals; and it is said to have been a principal seat of that skillful body of architects known as the Dionysiac Fraternity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The City of Sidon, which was under the Tyrian government, was but twenty miles from Tyre, and situated in the forest of Leballon. The Sidonians were, therefore, naturally wood-cutters, and were engaged in felling the trees, which were afterward sent on floats by sea from Tyre to Joppa, and thence carried by land to Jerusalem, to be employed in the Temple building. Doctor Morris, who visited Tyre in 1868, describes it in his Freemasonry in the Holy Land (page 91) as a city underground, lying, like Jerusalem, twenty to fifty feet beneath the debris or rubbish of many centuries. It consists, to use the language of a writer he has cited, of "prostrate and broken columns, dilapidated temples, and mounds of buried fragments." | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYRE , QUARRIES OF | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is an error of Doctor Oliver, and some other writers, to suppose that the stones of the Temple of Jerusalem were furnished from the Quarries of Tyre. If there were such quarries, they were not used for that purpose, as the stones were taken from the immediate vicinity of the edifice (see Quarries). | ||
+ | |||
+ | *TYRIAN FREEMASONS | ||
+ | |||
+ | Those who sustain the hypothesis that Freemasonry originated at the Temple of Solomon have advanced the theory that the Tyrian Freemasons were the members of the Society of Dionysian Artificers, who at the time of the building of Solomon's Temple flourished at Tyre. Many of them were sent to Jerusalem by Hiram, King of Tyre, to assist King Solomon in the construction of his Temple. There, uniting with the Jews, who had only a knowledge of the speculative principles of Freemasonry, which had been transmitted to them from Noah, through the patriarchs, the Tyrian Freemasons organized that combined system of Operative and Speculative Masonry which continued for many centuries, until the beginning of the eighteenths to characterize the Institution. This hypothesis is maintained with great ingenuity by Lawrie in his History of Freemasonry, or by Doctor Brewster, if he was really the author of that work, and until recently it has been the most popular theory respecting the origin of Freemasonry. Out as it is wanting he the support of historical evidence, it has yielded to the more plausible speculations of recent writers. | ||
== See also == | == See also == | ||
Zeile 29: | Zeile 1.966: | ||
*[[En: MACKEY - R]] | *[[En: MACKEY - R]] | ||
*[[En: MACKEY - S]] | *[[En: MACKEY - S]] | ||
− | |||
*[[En: MACKEY - U]] | *[[En: MACKEY - U]] | ||
*[[En: MACKEY - V]] | *[[En: MACKEY - V]] |
Aktuelle Version vom 20. Juni 2016, 15:28 Uhr
MACKEY – T
- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
- T
The twentieth letter of the English alphabet, and the twenty second and last of the Hebrew. As a symbol, it is conspicuous in Freemasonry. Its numerical value as Teth, is 9, but as Thau, it is 400 (see Tau).
- T. S. G. A. O. T. U.
The brief article entitled GOD on page 409 (see also page 1035), and which states that belief in God is a Landmark of the Order, is one with which critics can find no fault—unless it be that it is better to employ the Masonic name for the Deity, which is The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe. The distinction made bar that name is not altogether an idle one, as a subsequent paragraph will show.
In neither this nor in any other encyclopedia or book about Freemasonry (and for Freemasons) would it be suitable for a writer to undertake to expound a doctrine of God; the Fraternity itself has never (lone so, nor has any Grand Lodge, nor does the Ritual, because Freemasonry is clearly conscious of the fact that it is not a church or a handmaid of one, has no theology of its own, and espouses no set of religious doctrines—not because it is indifferent to religion, but because its work lies in another field.
If this be true (and Freemasons over the world unanimously agree that it is) how explain the fact that belief in God is a Landmark, that a Volume of the Sacred Law lies open on the Altar, that Chaplains lead the Craft in prayer, and that those who go in Search Thor That Which Was Lost know that immortality is one of the secrets in that for which they are Searching? Is it not a self-contradiction to proclaim as with one breath that Freemasonry has no theology of its own, and then to proclaim with the next that each and every Mason believes in T. .S. .G. .A. .O. .T. .U. .? The solution of that apparent contradiction is found in a number of facts Which are implicit in the Craft, and which must therefore be searched out, and assembled, and interpreted:
1. Freemasonry does not believe. and for centuries has not believed, that religion is or ever can be a private property owned by any one religion or church or theology or creed. It belongs to men without qualification or exception solely in their capacity as men. and it is there for each man to use without asking another man s consent. It is religion which brings churches into existence; it is not churches which create religion. If Freemasonry has the right to use religion although it is not a church it is because it is composed of men and men anywhere have the right to use religion.
2. In the Middle Ages it was universally believed that work was a disgrace. The Church taught and acted on the dogma that it was a curse pronounced on men as a punishment for the sin committed by Adam and Eve- the aristocratic classes did not believe that men belonged to a single humanity but that God had created it in species, so that men in one species (or " class ") were " made of a different stuff " from men in another, and that this is true forever Servile and mental laborers belonged to the bottom-most class, and were bought and sold as serfs or slaves; intelligent, skilled workingmen, among whom Masons were numbered. belonged to a class slightly above them; and this caste system was carried out in customs, social life, marriage, money, laws, etc.
God Himself was the chieftain of the highest class (French poets addressed Him as Beau sire Dieu) and any thought that He would work, or put forth effort was held to be blasphemous; He ruled by fiat.
Freemasons denied this whole Medieval dogma about work and the working man, in practice as well as in thought, and among themselves, and in their Lodges, taught that work is the highest estate of man, that to be a working man is to stand above drones and parasites. that the tools and clothing of their work were more honorable distinctions than badges and titles; they even taught— and it was for this reason that priests and monks were opposed to them—that work is one of the Divine attributes; that God himself is a worker. This is the significance of their name for Him, The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe.
3. An Apprentice was a youth, and in some ninety per cent of instances came from what were called " the lower classes, " nevertheless he was led to the center of the Lodge Room and there was told to stand Upright before the Altar, and was taught that he meant to God what any priest, or king, or noble. or any other man meant, he " needeth not to be ashamed " of being a workman because in God's eyes it was impossible to be in a more honorable station. Thus there was rooted in Freemasonry a genuine, a universal. an absolute democracy of men, a democracy grounded in the nature of God, and when Masons sale that belief in God is the first Landmark, and "the fundamental doctrine of the Craft" this is what is meant, and that doctrine. again, is enshrined in the title of The Sovereign Grand Architect of the Universe. The democracy of the world is not one of privilege but of nature, men are in a universal brotherhood because "of the way they are made " and the fact has nothing to do with sentiments and ideals." We are members of the same body, brothers in blood and bone, whether we like it or not, and can be nothing else.
- TABAOR, TOFFET, EDOM
Three obsolete names which are sometimes given to the three Elect in the Eleventh Degree in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
- TABERNACLE
Many Masonic students have greatly erred in the way in which they have referred to the Sinaitic Tabernacle, as if it were represented by the Tabernacle said in the legends to have been erected by Zerubbabel at Jerusalem at the time of the building of the second Temple. The belief that the Tabernacle of Zerubbabel was an exact representation of that erected by Moses, arose from the numerous allusions to it in the writings of Doctor Oliver, but in this country principally from the teachings of Thomas Smith Webb and Jeremy L. Cross. It is, however, true, that although the symbols of the Ark, the Golden Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and some others were taken, not from the Tabernacle, but from the Temple, the symbolism of the veils was derived from the latter, but in a form by no means similar to the original disposition. It is therefore necessary that some notice should be taken of the real Tabernacle, that we may be enabled to know how far the Masonic is connected with the Sinaitic edifice.
The word tabernacle means a tent. It is the diminutive of the Latin word taberna, and was used by the Romans to denote a soldier's tent. It was constructed of planks and covered with skins, and its outward appearance presented the precise form of the Jewish Tabernacle.
The Jews called it sometimes mishcan, which, like the Latin taberna, meant a dwelling-place, but more commonly ohel, which meant, like tabernaculum, a tent. In shape it resembled a tent, and is supposed to have derived its form from the tents used by the Patriarchs during their nomadic life. There are three Tabernacles mentioned in Scripture history—the Ante Sinaitic, the Sinaitic, and the Davidic
1. The Ante-Sinaitic Tabernacle was the tent used, perhaps from the beginning of the Exodus, for the transaction of business, and was situated at some distance from the camp. It was used only provisionally and was superseded by the Tabernacle proper.
2. The Sinaitic Tabernacle. This was constructed by Aholiab and Bezaleel under the immediate direction of Moses. The costliness and splendor of this edifice exceeded, says Kitto, in proportion to the means of the people who constructed it, the magnificence of any Cathedral of the present day. It was situated in the very center of the camp, with its door or entrance facing the East, and was placed toward the western part of an enclosure or outward court, which was one hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide, and surrounded by canvas screens seven and a half feet high, so as to prevent any one on the outside from overlooking the Court.
The Tabernacle itself was, according to Josephus, forty-five feet long by fifteen wide; its greater length being from East to West. The sides were fifteen feet high, and there was a sloping roof. There was no aperture or place of entrance except at the eastern end, which was covered by curtains. Internally, the Tabernacle was divided into two apartments by a richly decorated curtain. The one at the western end was fifteen feet long, making, therefore, a perfect cube. This was the Holy of Holies, into which no one entered, not even the High Priest, except on extraordinary occasions. In it was placed the Ark of the Covenant, against the western wall. The Holy of Holies was separated from the Sanctuary by a curtain embroidered with figures of Cherubim, and supported by four golden pillars. The Sanctuary, or eastern apartment, was in the form of a double cube, being fifteen feet high, fifteen feet wide, and thirty feet long. In it were placed the Table of Shewbread on the northern side, the Golden Candlestick on the southern, and the Altar of Incense between them. The Tabernacle thus constructed was decorated with rich curtains. These were of four colors—white or fine twined linen, blue, purple, and red. They were so suspended as to cover the sides and top of the tabernacle, not being distributed as veils separating it into apartments, as in the Masonic Tabernacle. Josephus, in describing the symbolic signification of the Tabernacle, says that it was an imitation of the system of the world; the Holy of Holies, into which not even the Priests were admitted, was axis it were a heaven peculiar to God; but the Sanctuary, where the people were allowed to assemble for worship, represented the sea and land on which men live. But the symbolism of the Tabernacle was far more complex than anything that Josephus has said upon the Subject would lead us to suppose.
Its connection would, however, lead us to an inquiry into the religious life of the ancient Hebrews, and into an investigation of the question how much Moses was, in the appointment of ceremonies, influenced by his previous Egyptian life; topics whose consideration would throw no light on the Masonic symbolism of the Tabernacle.
3. The Davidic Tabernacle in time took the place of that which had been constructed by Moses. The old or Sinaitic Tabernacle accompanied the Israelites in all their wanderings, and was their old Temple until David obtained possession of Jerusalem. From that time it remained at Gibeon, and we have no account of its removal thence. But when David removed the Ark to Jerusalem, he erected a Tabernacle for its reception Here the Priests performed their daily service, until Solomon erected the Temple, when the ark was deposited in the Holy of Holies, and the Davidie Tabernaele put away as a relic. At the subsequent destruction of the Temple it was most probably burned. From the time of Solomon we altogether lose sight of the Sinaitic Tabernacle, which perhaps became a victim to carelessness and the corroding influence of time.
The three Tabernacles just described are the only ones mentioned in Scripture or in Josephus. Masonic tradition, however, enumerates a fourth—the Tabernacle erected by Zerubbabel on his arrival at Jerusalem with his countrymen, who had been restored from captivity by Cyrus for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. Ezra tells us that on their arrival they built the Altar of Burnt-Offerings and offered sacrifice. This would not, however, necessitate the building of a house, because the Altar of Sacrifices had always been erected in the open court, both of the old Tabernacle and Temple. Yet as the Priests and Levites were there, and it is said that the religious ordinances of Moses were observed, it is not unlikely that some sort of temporary shelter was erected for the performance of divine worship. But of the form and character of such a building we have no account.
Nevertheless, a Masonic legend has, for symbolical purposes, supplied that deficiency. This legend is, however, peculiar to the American modification of the Royal Arch Degree. In the English system a Royal Arch Chapter represents the "ancient Sanhedrim," where Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Joshua administer the law. In the American system a Chapter is said to represent "the Tabernacle erected by our ancient Brethren near the ruins of King Solomon's Temple."
Of the erection of this tabernacle, we have said that there is no historical evidence. It is simply a myth, but a myth constructed, of course, for a symbolical purpose. In its legendary description, it bears no resemblance whatsoever, except in the colors of its curtains or veils, to the Sinaitic Tabernacle.
In the latter the Holy of Holies was in the western extremity, in the former it was in the eastern; in that was contained the Ark of the Covenant with the overshadowing Cherubim and the Shekinah; in this there are no such articles; in that the most holy was inaccessible to all purposes, even to the priests; in this it is the seat of the three presiding officers, and is readily accessible by proper means. In that the curtains were attached to the sides of the tent; in this they are suspended across, dividing it into four apartments.
The Masonic Tabernacle used in the American Royal Arch Degree is not, therefore, a representation of the ancient Tabernacle erected by Moses in the wilderness, but must be supposed to be simply a temporary construction for purposes of shelter, of consultation, and of worship. It was, in the strictest sense of the word, a Tabernacle, a tent. As a myth, with no historical foundation, it would be valueless, were it not that it is used, and was undoubtedly fabricated, for the purpose of developing a symbolism.
And this symbolism is found in its veils. There is no harm in calling it a Tabernacle any more than there is in calling it a Sanhedrim, provided we do not fall into the error of supposing that either was actually its character. As a myth, and only as a myth, must it be viewed, and there its symbolic meaning presents, as in all other Masonic myths, a fund of useful instruction (for an interpretation of that symbolism, see Veils, Symbolism of the).
In some Chapters a part of the furniture is called the Tahernacle; in other words, a piece of frame work is erected inside of the room, and is called the Tabernacle. This is incorrect. According to the ritual the whole Chapter room represents the Tabernacle, and the veils should be suspended from wall to wall. Indeed, we have reasons for believing that this interior Tabernacle is an innovation of little more than comparatively a few years standing. The oldest Chapter rooms that Doctor Mackey had seen were constructed on the correct principle.
No one who studies the construction of the Tabernacle as described in the Bible but will be somewhat perplexed by the several difficulties pertaining to the structure as well as its equipment.
There will be suggested the unexpected wealth of material and the artistic skill necessary for its construction and A. R. S. Kennedy in writing upon this subject for Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible says (page 888), "Modern students of the Pentateuch find the picture of the desert Sanctuary and its worship irreconcilable with the historical development of religion and the cultus in Israel. In Exodus 25 and following chapters we are dealing not with historical fact, but with the product of religious idealism; and surely these devout idealists of the Exile should command our admiration as they deserve our gratitude. If the Tabernacle is an ideal, it is truly an ideal worthy of Him for whose worship it seeks to provide. Nor must it be forgotten, that in reproducing in portable form, as they unquestionably do, the several parts and appointments of the Temple of Solomon, including even its brazen altar, the author or authors of the Tabernacle believed, in all good faith, that they were reproducing the essential features of the Mosaic sanctuary, of which the Temple was supposed to be the replica and the legitimate successor. "
- TABERNACLE, CHIEF OF THESee Chief of the Tabernacle
- TABERNACLE, HOLY KNIGHT OF THE
Called Aaronic Priest, a grade said to have come into England (York) from Ireland about 1780.
- TABERNACLE, PRINCE OF THE
See Prince of the Tabernacle
- TABLEAUX
French Masonic name for roster of members and also applied to the trestle-board or tracing-board.
- TABLE LODGE
After the labors of the Lodge have been completed, Freemasons frequently meet at tables to enjoy a repast in common. In England and America, this repast is generally called a banquet, and the Lodge is said to be, during its continuance, at refreshment.
The Master, of course, presides, assisted by the Wardens, and it is considered most proper that no profanes should be present. But with these exceptions, there are no rules specially laid down for the government of Masonic banquets. It will be seen, by an inspection of the article Refreshment in this work, that during a the eighteenth century, and even at the commencement of the nineteenth, refreshments in a English Lodges were taken during the sessions of the Lodge and in the Lodge room, and then, of course, a rigid rules were in existence for the government of the Fraternity, and for the regulation of the forms in which the refreshments should be partaken. But this system has long grown obsolete, and the Masonic banquets of the present day differ very little from those of other societies, except, perhaps, in a more Strict observance of the rules of order, and in the exclusion of all non-Masonic visitors.
But French Freemasons have prescribed a very formal system of rules for what they call a Loge de Table, or Table Lodge. The room in which the banquet takes place is as much protected by its isolation from observation as the Lodge-room itself. Table Lodges are always held in the Apprentice's Degree, and none but Freemasons are permitted to be present. Even the attendants are taken from the class known as Serving Brethren, that is to say, waiters who have received the First Degree for the special purpose of entitling them to be present on such occasions.
The table is in the form of a horseshoe or elongated semicircle. The Master sits at the head, the Senior Warden at the northwest extremity, and the Junior Warden at the southwest The Deacons or equivalent officers sit between the two Wardens. The Brethren are placed around the exterior margin of the table, facing each other; and the void space between the sides is occupied by the serving Brethren or attendants. It is probable that the form of the table was really adopted at first from motives of convenience. But M. Hermitte (Bulletin, Grand Orient, 1869, page 83) assigns for it a symbolism. He says that as the entire circle represents the year, or the complete revolution of the earth around the sun, the semicircle represents the half of that revolution, or a period of six months, and therefore refers to each the two solstitial points of summer and winter, or the two great festivals of the Order in June and December, when the most important Table Lodges are held.
The Table Lodge is formally opened with an invocation to the Grand Architect. During the banquet seven toasts are given. These are called Santes d' Obligation, or obligatory toasts. They are drunk with certain ceremonies which are prescribed by the ritual, and from which no departure is permitted. These toasts are:
- 1. The health of the Sovereign or Chief Magistrate of the State.
- 2. Grand Master and the Supreme power of the Order, that is, the Grand Orient or the Grand Lodge.
- 3. Master of the Lodge; this is offered by the Senior Warden.
- 4. The two Wardens.
- 5. Visiting Brethren.
- 6. The other officers of the Lodge, and the new initiates or affiliates if there be any.
- 7. All Freemasons wheresoever spread over the face of the globe (see Toasts).
Ragon (Tuileur General, page 17) refers these seven toasts of obligation to the seven libations made by the ancients in their banquets in honor of the seven planets, the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn, and the seven days of the week which are named after them; and he assigns some striking reasons for the reference. But this symbolism, although very beautiful, is evidently very modern.
The Table Lodge is then closed with the fraternal kiss, which is passed from the Master around the table, and with the usual forms.
One of the most curious things about these Table Lodges is the vocabulary used. The instant that the Lodge is opened, a change takes place in the names of things, and no person is permitted to call a plate a plate, or a knife a knife, or anything else by the appellation by which it is known in ordinary conversation. Such a custom formerly prevailed in England, if we may judge from a passage in Doctor Oliver's Revelations of a Square (page 215), where an instance is given of its use in 1780, when the French vocabulary was employed. It would seem, from the same authority, that the custom was introduced into England from France by Captain George Smith, the author of the Use and Abuse of Freemasonry, who was initiated in a Continental Lodge.
The vocabulary of the Table Lodge as used at French Masonic banquets is as follows, the various references being followed in each ease by the Masonic names applied to them by the Brethren:
- TABLETS, ENGRAVED
A designation frequently used in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the book of minutes or record; as in the Rose Croix Chapter is used the term engraved columns.
- TABLETS OF HIRAM ABIFF
Among the traditions of the Order there is a legend referring to the tablets used by Hiram Abiff as a Trestle-Board on which to lay down his designs. This legend, of course, can lay no claim to authenticity, but is intended simply as a symbol inculcating the duty of every man to work in the daily labor of life after a design that will construct in his body a spiritual temple (see Hiram Abiff).
- TABLIER
French for Apron
- TACITURNITY
In the earliest catechisms of the eighteenth century it is said that "the three particular points that pertain to a Mason are Fraternity, Fidelity, and Taciturnity," and that they "represent Love, Relief, and Truth among all Right Masons." The symbol became obsolete.
- TACTICS
The importance that has for many years been given to the military element in the Order of Masonic Knights Templar in America has made it necessary that special manuals should be prepared for the instruction of Knights in the elementary principles of military movements. Popular works of this kind have been:
1. Knights Templar Tactics and Drill for the use of Commanderies, and the Burial Service of the Orders of Masonic Knighthood, prepared by Sir Orrin Welsh, Past Grand Commander, State of New York.
2. Knights Templar, Tactics and Drill, with the Working, Tezt, and Burial Service of the Orders of Knighthood, as adopted by the Grand Commandery of the State of Michigan by Ellery Irving Garfield, E. G. C. G. Grand Commandery of Michigan.
3. Tactics for Knights Templar, and Appendant Orders, prepared by E. Sir Knight George Wingate Chase, of Massachusetts.
4. Knights Templar tactics, by Henry B. Grant, Grand Secretary, Kentucky. These works contain the necessary instructions in the School of the Knight, or the proper method of marching, halting, saluting, handling the sword, etc., and the School of the Commandery, or directions for properly performing the evolutions on a public parade. Books of this kind have now become as necessary and as common to the Knights Templar as Monitors are to the Master Mason.
- TALISMAN
From the Hebrew tselem and the Chaldaie tsalma, meaning an image or idol. A talisman signifies an implement or instrument, either of wood, or metal, or some precious stone, or even parchment, of various forms, such as a triangle, a cross, a circle, and sometimes a human head or human figure, generally inscribed with characters and constructed with mystical rites and ceremonies. The talisman thus constructed was supposed by the ancients, and even in the Middle Ages, to be invested with supernatural powers and a capacity for protecting its wearer or possessor from evil influences, and for securing to him good fortune and success in his undertakings.
The word amulet, from the Latin amuletum, which comes from the Arabic hamalet, anything worn, though sometimes confounded with the talisman, has a less general signification. For while the talisman served both to procure good and to avert evil, the powers of the amulet were entirely of a protective nature. Frequently, however, the two words are indifferently used.
The use of talismans was introduced in the Middle Ages from the Gnostics. Of the Gnostie talismans none were more frequent than those which were inscribed with divine names. Of these the most common were Iao and Sabao, although we find also the Tetragrammaton, and Elohim, Elohi, Adonai, and other Hebrew appellations of the Deity. Sometimes the talisman contained, not one of the names of God, but that of some mystical person, or the expression of some mystical idea. Thus, on some of the Gnostic talismanic gems, we find the names of the three mythical kings of Cologne, or the saered Abrazas.
The orthodox Christians of the early days of the church were necessarily influenced, by the popular belief in talismans, to adopt many of them; although, of course, they sought to divest them of their magical signification, and to use them simply as symbols. Hence we find among these Christians the Constantinian monogram, composed of the letters X and P. or the Vesica Piscis, as a symbol of Christ, and the image of a little fish as a token of Christian recognition, and the anchor as a mark of Christian hope.
Many of the symbols and symbolic expressions which were in use by the alchemists, the astrologers, and by the Rosicrucians, are to be traced to the Gnostic talismans. The talisman was, it is true, converted from an instrument of incantation into a symbol; lout the symbol was accompanied with a mystical signification which gave it a sacred character.
It has been said that in the Gnostie talislnans the most important element was some one or more of the sacred names of God, derived either from the Hebrews, the Arabians, or from their own abstruse philosophy; sometimes even in the same talisman from all these sources combined Thus there is a Gnostic talisman, said by G. W. King to be still current in Germany as an amulet against plague.
It consists of a silver plate, on which are inscribed various names of God surrounding a magic square, whose figures computed every way make the number thirty-four. In this Gnostic talisman, we will observe the presence not only of sacred names, but also of mystical. And it is to the influence of these talismanic forms, developed in the symbols of the Secret societies of the Middle Ages, and even in the architectural decorations of the builders of the same period, such as the Triangle, the Pentalpha, the Double Triangle, etc., that we are to attribute the prevalence of sacred names and sacred numbers in the symbolic system of Freemasonry.
We do not need a better instance of this trans mutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic symbols, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and Medieval architectures than a plate to be found in the Azoth Philosophorum of Basil Valentine, the Hermetic philosopher, who flourished in the seventeenth century.
This plate, which is Hermetic in its design, but is full of Masonic symbolism, represents a winged globe inscribed with a triangle within a square, and on it reposes a dragon. On the latter stands a human figure with two hands and two heads, surrounded by the sun, the moon, and five stars representing the seven planets. One of the heads is that of a male, the other of a female. That hand attached to the male part of the figure holds the Compasses, that to the female, a Square. The Square and Compasses thus distributed seem to indicate that originally a phallic meaning was attached to these symbols as there was to the Point within the Circle, which in this plate also appears in the center of the globe. The Compasses held by the male figure would represent the male generative principle, and the Square held by the female, the female productive principle. The subsequent interpretation given to the combined Square and Compasses was the transmutation from the Hermetic talisman to the Masonic symbol.
- TALITH
An oblong shawl worn over the head or shoulders and is made of wool or camel's hair, among the Orthodox Jews; more commonly of silk, among the more modern. Four threads, one of which must be blue, are passed through eyelet holes made in the four corners. The threads being double make eight. Seven are of equal length; the eighth must twist five times round the rest and be tied into five knots, and yet remain equal in length to the other seven. The five knots and eight threads make thirteen, which, with the value 600 of the Hebrew word tsitsith (or fringes, upon which the holiness of the talith depends) aggregates 613, the number of precepts of the moral law, and which is the number of the letters in Hebrew composing the Deealogue. 613 represents 248 positive precepts, or members of the human body, and 365 negative precepts, or number of human veins. Jesus of Nazareth wore the tsitsith: "And behold a woman . . . came behind him and touched the hem of his garment" (Matthew IN, 20); and he rebuked the Pharisces for their ostentation in enlarging the borders, the Greek fringes of their garments (Matthew XXIII, 5). The Arba Canphoth (see illustration) is worn under the upper garments during the whole day.
- TALJAHAD
Rendered in Hebrew thus mnw meaning Angel of Water, and found in the Twenty-ninth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ritual.
- TALMUD
The Hebrew word signifying doctrine. The Jews say that Moses received on Mount Sinai not only the written law which is contained in the Pentateuch but an oral law, which was first communicated by him to Aaron, then by them to the seventy elders, and finally by these to the people, and thus transmitted by memory, from generation to generation This oral law was never committed to writing until about the beginning of the third century, when Rabbi Jehuda the Holy, finding that there was a possibility of its being lost, from the decrease of students of the law, collected all the traditionary laws into one book, which is called the Mishap, a word signifying repetition, because it is, as it were, a repetition of the written law. The Mishna was at once received with great veneration and many wise men among the Jews devoted themselves to its study.
Toward the end of the fourth century, these opinions were collected into a book of commentaries, called the Gernara, by the school at Tiberias. This work has been falsely attributed to Rabbi Jochanan; but he died in 279, a hundred years before its composition. The Mishna and its Commentary, the Gemara, are, in their collected form, called the Talmlud. The Jews in Chaldea, not being satisfied with the interpretations in this work composed others, which were collected together by Rabbi Ashe into another Gemara. The former work has since been known as the Jerusalem Talmud, and that of Rabbi Ashe as the Babylonian Talmud, from the places in which they were respectively compiled. In both works the Mishna or law is the same; it is only the Gemara or Commentary that is different.
The Jewish scholars place so high a value on the Talmud as to compare the Bible to water, the Mishna to wine, and the Gemara to spiced wine; or the first to salt, the second to pepper, and the third to spices. For a long time after its composition it seemed to absorb all the powers of the Jewish intellect, and the labors of Hebrew writers were confined to treatises and speculations on Talmudical opinions.
The Mishna is divided into six divisions called Sederim, whose subjects are:
- 1. The productions of the earth;
- 2. Festivals;
- 3. The rights and duties of women;
- 4. Damages and injuries;
- 5. Sacrifices;
- 6. Purification.
Each of these Sederim is again divided into Massicoth, or treatises, of which there are altogether sixty-three.
The Gemara, which differs in the Jerusalem and Babylonian redactions, consists of commentaries on these Massicoth, or treatises.
Of the Talmud, Lightfoot has said that the matters it contains "do everywhere abound with trifles in that manner, as though they had no mind to be read; with obscurities and difficulties, as though they had no mind to be understood; so that the reader has need of patience all along to enable him to bear both trifling in sense and roughness in expression." Stehelin concurs in a similar opinion; but Steinschneider, as learned a Hebraist as either, has expressed a more favorable judgment.
Although the Talmud does indeed contain many passages whose peculiarities found little favor with Doctor Mackey, he deemed it, nevertheless, extremely serviceable as an elaborate compendium of Jewish customs, and it has therefore been much used in the cretinism of the Old and New Testaments. It furnishes also many curious illustrations of the Masonic system; and several of the traditions and legends, especially of the higher Degrees, are either found in or corroborated by the Talmud. The treatise entitled Middoth, for instance, gives us the best description extant of the Temple of Solomon.
- TAMARISK
The sacred tree of the Osirian Mysteries, classically called the Erica, which see
- TAMMUZ
The Hebrew word. The tenth month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding to the months June and July, beginning with the new moon of the former.
- TANGA TANGO
A Peruvian triune symbol, signifying one in three and three in one.
- TANNEHILL, WILKINS
Born in Tennessee, in 1787. He was one of the founders, in 1813, of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, and was for seven years Grand Master of that Body. He was also a contributor to the literature of Freemasonry, having published in 1845 a Master Mason's Manual; which was, however, little more than a compilation from the preceding labors of Preston and Webb. In 1847, he commenced the publication of a Masonic periodical under the title of the Portfolio. This was a work of considerable merit, but he was compelled to discontinue it in 1850, in consequence of an attack of amaurosis, loss of sight. One who knew him well, has paid this just tribute to his character: "Simple in feeling as a child, with a heart warm and tender to the infirmities of his Brethren, generous even to a fault, he passed through the temptations and trying Scenes of an eventful life without a soil upon the purity of his garments." He died June 2, 1858, aged seventy-one years.
- TAPIS
The name given in German Lodges to the Carpet or Floor-Cloth on which formerly the emblems of Freemasonry were drawn in chalk. It is also sometimes called the Teppich.
- TAROT
A playing card, seventy-eight to the pack; fifty-six are called the Lesser Arcana and are divided into four suits; the wands or clubs, the cups or hearts, the Swords or spades, and the pentacles or diamonds. Each suit contains four court cards, the King, Queen, Knight and Page, with ten spot cards, numbered from ace to ten. The spots are usually presented in geometrical designs and sometimes combined with pictures illustrating the inner meaning of the cards.
The rest of the cards, known as the Greater Arcana, comprises a series of symbolic pictures. Each of the cards has a special title and a number. The doctrine behind these symbols has many forms and meanings; veiled as it is by symbols, it speaks many languages, and its emblems convey a message to students of alchemy and astrology. As one writer upon the Subject says "it is full of meaning no matter by what path the student may have approached the truth which is at the head of the ancient mysteries, and though its symbolism expresses Universal ideas it also represents a particular version of sacred science, being a Symbolic alphabet of the occult philosophy of Israel.;' In its present form the Tarot dates from the fourteenth century, but many authorities believe it to have come down to us from a much earlier Source. Those who credit the cards with a more modern origin derive the name from Tarote, meaning spotted, and in French frequently applied to the checker work on the backs of playing cards.
Those who connect the cards with many more centuries of age refer the name to Thoth, an Egyptian Deity resembling the Greek Clod Hermes, anti later identified with Hermes Trismegistus. Thoth was the God of intelligence, magic, Science and invention, who taught the people to write and calculate. The philosophical aspects of the subject are treated in Les 22 Arcanes du Tarot Kabbalistique, LeSymbolisme Hermétique, also the beautiful treatise Le Tarot des Imagiers du Moyen Age with specially designed set of the symbolical cards, all three of these works by Oswald Wirth of Paris; the Tarot of Bohemians, by Papus, the pen name of Dr. Gerard Encausse; An Introduction to the Study of Tarot by Paul F. Case, New York, 1920, and a general discussion is in Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards, by Mrs. John King Van Rennselaer.
- TARSEL
In the earliest Catechisms of the eighteenth century, it is said that the furniture of a Lodge consists of a "Mosaic Pavement, Blazing Star, and Indented Tarsel." In more modern catechisms, the expression is "indented tassel," which is incorrectly defined to mean a tessellated border. Indented Tarsel is evidently a corruption of indented tassel, for a definition of which see Tessellated Borden.
- TARSEL BOARD
We meet with this expression in some of the old Catechisms as a corruption of Trestle-Board
- TARSHATHA
Used in the Degree of Knight of the East in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, according to the modern ritual of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, for Tirshatha, and applied to the presiding officer of a Council of Princes of Jerusalem (see Tirshatha).
- TASMANIA
An island forming the seventh state of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Grand Lodge of Ireland established a Lodge in this country in 1823 which did not long remain active. The first English Lodge, Tasmanian Union, No. 781, was constituted at Hobart Town in 1846. English Freemasonry, however, had many difficulties to contend with before it was firmly established. Hope Lodge had been granted a Dispensation in 1852 and the Rev. R. K. Ewing was elected Master. In 1856 two Lodges were formed from it, namely, Faith and Charity, and Brother Ewing was appointed Provincial Grand Master for the two.
Tasmanian Union Lodge did not countenance these proceedings and was suspended by Brother Ewing. It remained closed for nine months. When Brother Ewing left Tasmania in 1870 the Provincial Grand Lodge ceased to exist, but in 1875 a new one under Brother W. S. Hammond was opened. Towards 1876 the clouds began to disperse and by 1885 there were seven Lodges under each of the English and Irish Grand Lodges and four under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. On June 26, 1890, the Grand Lodge of Tasmania was constituted with all due ceremony.
- TASSELS
In the English and French Tracing Boards of the First Degree, there are four tassels, one at each angle, which are attached to a cord that surrounds a tracing-board, and which constitutes the true tessellated border. These four cords are described as referring to the four principal points, the Guttural, Pectoral, Manual, and Pedal, and through them to the four cardinal virtues, Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, and Justice (see Tessellated Border, also Tulith).
The Hebrew word tsitsith means both fringes and tassels in the Old Testament.
Note Deuteronomy (xx, 12), where the older translation has fringes and the Revised Version gives borders, the latter agreeing with border of Mark (vi, 56) and Luke (viii, 44). Where the Revised Version has border throughout, the Authorized Version has hem in Matthew (ix, and xiv 36). As symbols of great importance their use was ordered in Numbers (xv, 3S, 40), "Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments, throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God."
- TASTING AND SMELLING
Of the five senses hearing, seeing, and feeling only are deemed essential to Freemasons. Tasting and smelling are therefore not referred to in the instructions, except as making up the sacred number five. Preston says: "Smelling and Tasting are inseparably connected; and it is by the unnatural kind of life which men commonly lead in society that these senses are rendered less fit to perform their natural duties."
- TATNAI AND SHETHAR-BOZNAI
Tatnai was a Persian Satrap or Governor of the Province west of the Euphrates in the time of Darius and Zerubbabel; Shethar-Boznai was an officer under his command The two united with the Apharsachites in trying to obstruct the building of the Second Temple, and in writing a letter to Darius, of which a copy is preserved in Ezra (6-17).
In this letter they reported that "the house of the great God" in Judea was being built with great stones, and that the work was going on fast, on the alleged authority of a Degree from Cyrus. They requested that search might be made in the Rolls Court whether such a Degree was ever given, and asked for the King's pleasure in the matter. The decree was found at Ecbatana, and a letter was sent to Tatnai and Shethar-Boznai from Darius, ordering them no more to obstruct, but, on the contrary, to aid the Elders of the Jews in rebuilding the Temple by supplying them both with money and with beasts, corn, salt, wine, and oil for the sacrifices. Shethar-Boznai, after the receipt of this Decree, offered no further obstruction to the Jews. Their names have been hence introduced into some of the high Degrees in Freemasonry.
- TAU
The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is called Tau, and it has the power of the Roman T. In its present form n, in the square character now in use, it has no resemblance to a cross; but in the ancient Hebrew alphabet, its figure X, or +, was that of a cross. Hence, when it is said, in the vision of Ezekiel (ix, 4) "Go through the midst of the city, and set a mark (in the original"n, tau) upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof"— which mark was to distinguish them as persons to be saved, on account of their sorrow for sin, from those who, as idolaters, were to be slain—the evident allusion is to a cross. The form of this cross was X or +, a form familiar to the people of that day. But as the Greek letter tau subsequently assumed the form which is still preserved in the Roman T. the tau or tau cross was made also to assume the same form; so that the mark tau is now universally recognized in this form, T.
This tau, tau cross, or tau mark, was of very universal use as a sacred symbol among the ancient From the passage of Ezekiel just cited, it. is evident that the Hebrews recognized it as a sign of salvation; according to the Talmudists, the symbol was much older than the time of Ezekiel, for they say that when Moses anointed Aaron as the High Priest, he marked his forehead with this sign. Speaking of the use of the tau cross in the Old Testament, Didron says in his Christian Iconography (page 370) that "it saved the youthful Isaac from death, redeemed from destruction an entire people whose houses were marked with that symbol, healed the envenomed bites of those who looked at the serpent raised in the form of a tau upon a pole, and called back the soul into the dead body of the son of that poor widow who had given bread to the prophet."
Hence, in Christian iconography, the tau cross, or cross of the Old Testament, is called the Anticipatory Cross, because it anticipated the four-limbed Cross of the Passion, and the typical cross because it was its type. It is also called the Cross of Saint Anthony, because on it that saint is supposed to have suffered martyrdom.
Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, refers to it the tiluk, or mark worn by the devotees of Brahma. Davies, in his Celtic Researches, says that the Gallicum tau, or the tau of the ancient Gauls, was among the Druids a symbol of their supreme god, or Jupiter.
Among the Egyptians, the tau, with an oval ring or handle, became the Crux Ansata, and was used by them as the constant symbol of life. Doctor Clarke says (Travels v, page 311) that the tau cross was a monogram of Thoth, "the symbolical or mystical name of Hidden Wisdom among the ancient Egyptians." Dupuy, in his History of the Templars, says that the tau was a Templar emblem. Von Hammer, who lets no opportunity of maligning the Order escape him, adduces this as a proof of the idolatrous tendencies of the Knights. He explains the tau, which, he says, was inscribed on the forehead of the Baphomet or Templar idols as a figure of the phallus; hence he comes to the conclusion that the Knights Templar were addicted the obscene worship of that symbol. It is, how ever, entirely doubtful, notwithstanding the authority of Dupuy, whether the tau was a symbol of the Templars. But if it was, its origin is rather to be looked for in the supposed Hebrew idea as a symbol of preservation. It is in this sense, as a symbol of salvation from death and of eternal life, that it has been adopted into the Masonic system, and presents itself, especially under its triple combination, as a badge of Royal Arch Masonry (see Triple Tau).
- TAU CROSS
A cross of three limbs, so called because it presents the figure of the Greek letter T (see Tau).
- TAXATION OF MASONIC PROPERTY
In a survey of 41 of the 49 Grand Jurisdictions made in 1932 the Masonic Service Association, Washington, D. C., summarized its findings:
Masonic property used wholly for fraternal purposes is tax free in 24 of the 41 Grand Jurisdictions. Where it is not used wholly for Masonic purposes it is tax free in 16 of 41 Jurisdictions. If it is partly commercial (as when rooms in a Masonic Temple are rented for offices and stores) it is tax free in 4 of the 41 Jurisdictions, but is taxed, or may be taxed, in 35, the "may be" accounting for the discrepancy in the figures. These figures may have changed during the decade since but on the whole they represent the meldence of taxation State by State.
The question has been in courts from 200 to 300 times in the majority of cases the legal arguments have hinged upon one or another, or both, of two questions: How shall Freemasonry be defined, and under what laws does the definition bring it; is it, for example, a religion, educational, charitable organization or note If a Masonic property is partly commercial, partly not should the whole of it be taxed; or only the commercially used portion? Masonic lawyers who have opposed taxation have had difficulty in their arguments because the Grand Body they represent has seldom possessed a legal definition of itself—perhaps because to do so would involve a formal and official definition of Freemasonry, which is something it prefers to avoid.
In at least two States (and perhaps more) this difficulty has been circumvented by asking the State legislature to adopt a law covering Freemasonry by name. This would appear to be just and non-discriminatory because Freemasonry is sui generis and cannot be subsumed under any general classification. On the other side, members of legislatures who favor taxation of Masonic properties have difficulty with the fact that even if a Masonic Body receives rents or interest from endowments the money is not profit, goes into nobody's pocket, but is used for fraternal and benevolent purposes; and also they are in the dilemma of having to decide whether if they tax Masonic properties they ought not also to tax churches, and hospitals not owned by the State.
- TCHANDALAS
Mentioned in the Institutes of Manu as a class of pariahs, or the lowest in society, but are referred to as the inventors of brick for building purposes, as is attested by Vina-Snati and Veda Vyasa. In the course of time they were banished from the towns, the rites of burial, and the use of rice, water, and fire. They finally emigrated, and became the progenitors of great nations.
- TEAM
Royal Arch Masons in America apply this word rather inelegantly to designate the three candidates upon whom the Degree is conferred at the same time. It is also used generally in referring to any group of workers.
- TEARS
In the Master's degree in some of the Continental Rites, and in all the advanced Degrees where the legend of the Degree and the ceremony of reception are intended to express grief, the hangings of the Lodge are black strewn with tears. The figures representing tears are in the form depicted in the illustration. The symbolism is borrowed from the science of heraldry, where these figures are called buttes, and are defined to be "drops of anything that is by nature liquid or liquefied by art." The heralds have six of these Charges, namely, yellow, or drops of liquid gold; white, or drops of liquid silver; red, or drops of blood; blue, or drops of tears, black, or drops of pitch; and greens or drops of oil. In funeral hatchments, a black velvet cloth, sprinkled with these "drops of tears," is placed in front of the house of a deceased nobleman and thrown over his bier; but there, as in Freemasonry, the guttes de larmes, or drops of tears, are not painted blue, but white.
- TEBETH
The Hebrew word The fourth month of the Hebrew civil year, corresponding to the months December and January, beginning with the new moon of the former.
- TELAMONES
See Caryatides
- TEMPLE, SOLOMON'S, AND THE DEGREES
In the Seventeenth Century German archeology, full of vigor and beginning to employ "scientific methods," discovered so many things about ancient Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple that a great public interest was aroused. One of the manifestations of the latter was the excitement occasioned by the exhibition of a large scale model of the Temple, attributed to Chancellor Schott. This was taken over to London in 1723 and again in 1730, and there attracted endless throngs; newspapers were filled with it; clergymen preached about it; the Royal Family held a special view. At the same period John Senex, publisher, sold innumerable copies of a plan and drawings, which was at about the time he was publishing Anderson's 1723 Book of Constitutions, and was Junior Grand Warden. A long description of the Temple written by the al ready-famous Sir Isaac Newton some years before his death was published, and ran through one edition after another.
Previously the states of Holland employed Rabbi Leon to build a replica of the Temple. He constructed a model as large as a room, complete in detail; Holland gave up the project on amount of the cost (as the World's Fair at Philadelphia was to do two centuries later, when it began a like project), and made a present of the "great model" to the Rabbi. He in turn took it over to London (after exhibiting it in Paris and Sienna), secured a patent from the King to display it in the British Capital, published an explanatory brochure to accompany it, put it on exhibit, and aroused great popular enthusiasm. It was carefully preserved and again exhibited in London some eighty years later with equal success.
Irish Lodges, already full of speculation about the symbolism of Solomon's Temple, became more interested in the Temple than ever. An oratorio of "Solomon's Temple" was given in Dublin, and it was inserted by Laurence Dermott in editions of his Ahiman Rezon (Book of Constitution) of the Ancient Grand Lodge; and in his Preface Dermott gives a florid account of Leon's model. Also, the Arms of the Ancient Grand Lodge were taken from one of Leon's works—he was one of the most respected and learned Hebrew scholars in Europe, as is shown by the biographical treatise on him (a brilliant essay), "Rabbi Jacob Jehudah Leon," contributed to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum; Vol. 12; page 150; by J. Chetwode Crawley. By one of those seemingly impossible coincidences which are seldom found in history, an older and far more popular and lasting and important tradition of another Temple had come to England to change the architectural face and living habits of the country; and much more profoundly affected the Mason Craft than the Hebrew enthusiasm was to do.
Only, this was not a Jewish Temple, or Solomon's, but a Greek Temple. (To call Jehovah's House at Jerusalem a "temple" is a misnomer; the word is pure Greek; so was the style and type and uses of the building.) Palladio of Venice was Europe's supreme architect from the Renaissance until now. He drew a line across architecture and divided it into before and after, brought Gothic to an end, taught the principles, then recently re-discovered, of Greek architecture first to Italian Masons and through them to Europe; was the Shakespeare of his art.
After Inigo Jones King's Commissioner of buildings, visited Venice he returned to England and introduced the Palladian (also called the Italian, or the Classic, or the Neo Classic) there, and Mason Lodges and clubs of amateur artists began studying Palladio as the Primitive Christians had studied their Gospels, and with as much zealousness. After the Lodge of Antiquity had become a Lodge under the Grand Lodge, its Master or Lecturer read Palladio to the Lodge; and its "old Master," Sir Christopher Wren, had carried the Palladian style to its supreme glory in St. Paul's Cathedral Palladio had found that almost the whole set of principles (they were principles of proportion) of the Greek style could be exhibited, and therein studied and mastered, in five columns, which he caned the Five Orders. A model which he himself had made when building St. Paul's was used by Sir Christopher Wren while he was Master of Antiquity.
If any Mason will ponder the Allegory of the Temple in the Second Degree and the Rite of HA.-. in the Third he can see for himself how weighty is the hypothesis that both were fabricated in their present form at the time when the Jewish Temple and the Greek Temple, as it were, met in London. Two great traditions crossed, and the point of crossing lay in the center of Freemasonry. It is obvious that the form and inspiration of the Allegory in the Second Degree is Greek in origin, and that in the Third it is Hebrem. It is possible, and to an unknown extent it is probable, that the germ, or first simple form, of each had existed in the Craft long before Palladio; but the form as now used has stamped on it too many of the hall-marks of the Eighteenth Century to make any doubt feasible of its origin.
And, more extraordinary still, Freemasonry itself had received its origin, form, and substance from the Gothic, begun in the Twelfth Century, and Masonry was probably always pure Gothic until the Palladian period; thus the three greatest architectural styles—and an architectural style is the principal public form always taken by a culture— became embodied together in the Three Degrees. Matthew Arnold was later to say that European civilization consists of a union of two civilizations, the Greek and the Hebraic; in reality it was a union of three, for the great Medieval civilization had as large a part in shaping our modern civilization as either of the other two; and it helps to explain the largeness, the power, the inexhaustibleness of Freemasonry, that it combined the three within itself.
(John Bunyan wrote a whole book on the symbolism of Solomon's Temple, as fine a work of literature as his Pilgrim's Progress, but not having the latter's popular appeal. See elsewhere in this Supplement ARCHITECTURE, FIRST & CHIEF GROUNDS"; for a number of other articles consult Index.)
- TEMPLES, THE JERUSALEM
1. Solomon began the building of his Temple about 967 B.C., and completed it in about six and one-half years. This was in reality a collection of buildings, inside a wall, and the Temple proper was probably at or near the center, a structure 90 to 100 feet long, about 30 to 35 feet in width and at its highest about 50 feet. The entire system of buildings, taken as a unit, was the greatest single building feat ever undertaken by the Jewish people before or since. This was the First Temple.
For nearly five centuries it was the center and capital of Hebrew peoples, not only in Palestine but wherever they might live. It and the city were looted and w destroyed by the Babylonian hordes under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B-C- (It may be more than a coincidence that the only successful—though temporary— attempt ever made by the Egyptians to achieve monotheism occurred while this First Temple was still standing It is likewise interesting to note that many of the tales, traditions, legends, and historical occurrences about Solomon or his Temple need not refer to so early a date as 967 B.C. but may refer to it as of any date as between 967 B-C. and 586 B.C.)
2. When after a half century Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem they began almost at once to rebuild the Temple under their "prince," or leader, Sheshbazzar, who began work in 536 B.C. it was completed by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. after twenty years of slow, hard labor by a poverty-stricken people, and then was only half restored. After 168 B.C. this building was looted, attacked, razed, rebuilt, and finally destroyed almost completely. This was the Second Temple.
3. One of the looters was Herod. In 40 B.C. Antony and Octavius gave him the title "King of Judea." Between 20 B.C. and 19 B.C., and for political reasons of his own, he began to rebuild the Temple, and on a larger scale. It was not completed until between 62 A.D. and 64 A.D. Only two years after this latter date the Jews began their revolt against Roman rule; in about four years, or 70 A.D., the whole "Temple was burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed.?' This was the Third Temple.
(Historians long were skeptical about the descriptions of the three Temples on the ground that structures of such size and elaborateness called for a technical knowledge which did not exist in ancient times. Modern archeological discoveries have removed that objection by proving that as early as 1000 B.C. many of the technical arts were at a high stage of development. Thus, and to cite only two examples, Tutankhamen's physicians had the use of complete sets of surgical instruments, and practiced many forms of anesthesia; shorthand, a technique without which modern business could hardly function, was known to ancient Egypt; in 1934 the Egypt Exploration Society published a book Greek Shorthand Manuals compiled from papyri and waxed tablets unearthed by archeologic excavations.)
- TEMPELHERR
German for Knights Templar (see also Ritter).
- TEMPELORDEN or TEMPELHERRENORDEN
The title in German of the Order of Knights Templar.
- TEMPERANCE
One of the four cardinal virtues; the practice of which is inculcated in the First Degree. The Freemason who properly appreciates the secrets which he has solemnly promised never to reveal, will not, by yielding to the unrestrained call of appetite, permit reason and judgment to lose their seats and subject himself, by the indulgence in habits of excess, to discover that which should be concealed, and thus merit and receive the scorn and detestation of his Brethren. And lest any Brother should forget the danger to which he is exposed in the unguarded hours of dissipation, the virtue of temperance is wisely impressed upon is memory, lay its reference to one of the most solemn portions of the ceremony of initiation. Some Freemasons, very properly condemning the vice of intemperance and abhorring its effects, have been unwisely led to confound temperance with total abstinence in a Masonic application, and resolutions have sometimes been proposed in Grand Lodges which declare the use of stimulating liquors in any quantity a Masonic offense. Put the law of Freemasonry authorizes no such regulation. It leaves to every man the indulgence of his own tastes within due limits, and demands not abstinence, but only moderation and temperance, in anything not actually wrongs
- TEMPLAR
See Knights Templar
- TEMPLARIUS
The Latin title of a Knight Templar. Commonly used in the Middle Ages.
- TEMPLAR LAND
The Order of Knights Templar was dissolved in England, by an Act of Parliament, in the seventeenth. year of the reign of Edward II, and their possessions transferred to the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, or Knights Hospitaler. Subsequently, in the thirty-second year of the reign of Henry VII, their possessions were transferred to the King. One of the privileges possessed by the English Templars was that their lands should be free of tithes; and these privileges still adhere to these lands, so that a farm being What is termed Templar land, is still exempt from the imposition of tithes, if it is occupied by the owner; an exemption which ceases when the farm is worked under a lease.
- TEMPLE OF SOLOMON
The first Temple of the Jews was called hecal Jehovah or beth Jehovah, the Palace or the House of Jehovah, to indicate its splendor and magnificence, and that it was intended to be the perpetual dwelling-place of the Lord. It was King David who first proposed to substitute for the Nomadic Tabernacle a permanent place of worship for his people; but although he had made the necessary arrangements, and even collected many of the materials, he was not permitted to commence the undertaking, and the execution of the task was left to his son and successor, Solomon.
Accordingly, that monarch laid the foundations of the edifice in the fourth year of his reign, 1012 B.C., and, with the assistance of his friend and ally, Hiram, King of Tyre, completed it in about seven years and a half, dedicating it to the service of the Most High in 1004 B.C. This was the year of the world 3000, according to the Hebrew chronology; and although there has been much difference among chronologists in relation to the precise date, this is the one that has been generally accepted, and it is therefore adopted by Freemasons in their calculations of different epochs.
The Temple stood on Mount Moriah, one of the eminences of the ridge which was known as Mount Zion, and which was originally the property of Ornan the Jebusite, who used it as a threshing-floor, and from whom it was purchased by David for the purpose of erecting an altar on it. The Temple retained its original splendor for only thirty-three years. In the year of the world 3033, Shishak, King of Egypt, having made war upon Rehoboam, King of Judah, took Jerusalem, and carried away the choicest treasures.
From that time to the period of its final destruction the history of the Temple is but a history of alternate spoliations and repairs, of profanations to idolatry and subsequent restorations to the purity of worship. One hundred and thirteen years after the conquest of Shishak, Joash, King of Judah, collected silver for the repairs of the Temple, and restored it to its former condition in the year of the world 3148. In the year 3264, Ahaz, King of Judah, robbed the Temple of its riches, and gave them to Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, who had united with him in a war against the Kings of Israel and Damascus. Ahaz also profaned the Temple by the worship of idols. In 3276, Hezekiah, the son and successor of Ahaz, repaired the portions of the Temple which his father had destroyed, and restored the pure worship. But fifteen years after he was compelled to give the treasures of the Temple as a ransom to Sennacherib, King of Assyria, who had invaded the land of Judah. But Hezekiah is supposed, after his enemy had retired, to have restored the Temple.
Manasseh, the son and successor of Hezekiah, fell away to the worship of Sahianism, and desecrated the Temple in 3306 by setting up altars to the host of heaven. Manasseh was then conquered by the King of Babylon, who in 3328 carried him beyond the Euphrates. But subsequently repenting of his sins he was released from captivity, and having returned to Jerusalem he destroyed the idols, and restored the Altar of Burnt-Offerings. In 3380, Josiah, who was then King of Judah, devoted his efforts to the repairs of the Temple, portions of which had been demolished or neglected by his predecessors, and replaced the Ark in the Sanctuary. In 3398, in the reign of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, then King of Chaldea, carried a part of the sacred vessels to Babylon. Seven years afterward, during the reign of Jeehoniah, he took away another lot; and finally, in 3416, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah, he took the city of Jerusalem, and entirely destroyed the Temple, and carried many of the inhabitants captives to Babylon.
The Temple was originally built on a very hard rock, encompassed with frightful precipices. The foundations were laid very deep, with immense labor and expense. It was surrounded with a wall of great height, exceeding in the lowest part four hundred and fifty feet, constructed entirely of white marble.
The body of the Temple was in size much less than many a modern parish church, for its length was but ninety feet, or, including the porch, one hundred and five, and its width but thirty. It was its outer court, its numerous terraces, and the magnificence of its external and internal decorations, together with its elevated position above the surrounding dwellings which produced that splendor of appearance that attracted the admiration of all who beheld it, and gives a color of probability to the legend that tells us how the Queen of Sheba, when it first broke upon her view, exclaimed in admiration, "A most excellent Master must have done this!"
The Temple itself which consisted of the porch, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies, was but a small part of the edifice on Count Moriah. It was surrounded with spacious courts, and the whole Structure occupied at least half a mile circumference. Upon passing through the outer wall, you came to the first Court, called the Court of the Gentiles, because the Gentiles were admitted into it, but were prohibited from passing farther. It was surrounded by a range of porticoes or cloisters, above which were galleries or apartments, supported by pillars of white marble. Passing through the Court of the Gentiles, you entered the Court of the Children of Israel, which was separated by a low stone wall, and an ascent of fifteen steps, into two divisions, the outer one being occupied by the women, and the inner by the men Here the Jews were in the habit of resorting daily for the purposes of prayer.
Within the Court of the Israelites, and separated from it by a wall one cubit in height, was the Court of the Priests. In the-center of this Court was the Altar of Burnt-Offerings, to which the people brought their oblations and sacrifices, but none but the Priests were permitted to enter it. From this court, twelve steps ascended to the Temple, Strictly so called, which as we have already said, was divided into three parts, the Porch, the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. The Porch of the Temple was twenty cubits in length, and the same in breadth. At its entrance was a gate made entirely of Corinthian brass, the most precious metal known to the ancients. Besides this gate there were the two pillars Jachin and Boaz, which had been constructed by Hiram Abif. the architect whom the King of Tyre had sent to Solomon.
From the porch you entered the Sanctuary by a portal, which, instead of folding doors, was furnished with a magnificent veil of many colors, which mystically represented the universe. The breadth of the sanctuary was twenty cubits, and its length forty, or just twice that of the porch and Holy of Holies. It occupied, therefore, one-half of the body of the Temple. In the Sanctuary were placed the various utensils necessary for the daily worship of the Temple, such as the Altar of Incense, on which incense was daily burnt by the officiating Priest; the ten Golden Candlesticks; and the ten Tables on which the offerings were laid previous to the sacrifice. The Holy of Holies, or innermost chamber, was separated from the Sanctuary by doors of olive, richly sculptured and inlaid with gold, and covered with veils of blue, purple, scarlet, and the finest linen. The size of the Holy of Holies was the same as that of the porch, namely, twenty cubits square. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which had been transferred into it from the Tabernacle, with its overshadowing Cherubim and its Mercy-Seat. Into the most sacred place, the High Priest alone could enter, and that only once a year, on the Day of Atonement.
The Temple, thus constructed, must have been one of the most magnificent Structures of the ancient world. For its erection, David had collected more than four thousand millions of dollars, by Doctor Mackey's computation, and one hundred and eighty-four thousand, six hundred men were engaged on the building for more than seven years; and on its completion it was dedicated by Solomon with solemn prayer and seven days of feasting; during which a peace-offering of twenty thousand oxen and six times that number of sheep was made, to consume which the holy fire came down from heaven.
In Freemasonry, the Temple of Solomon has played a most important part. Time was when every Masonic writer subscribed with unhesitating faith to the theory that freemasonry was there first organized; that there Solomon, Hiram of Tyre, and Hiram Abif presided as Grand Masters over the Lodges which they had established; that there the Symbolic Degrees were instituted and systems of initiation were invented; and that from that period to the present Freemasonry has passed down the stream of Time in unbroken succession and unaltered form. But the modern method of reading Masonic history has swept away this edifice of imagination with as unsparing a hand, and as effectual a power, as those with which the Babylonian King demolished the structure upon which they are founded. No writer who values his reputation as a critical historian would now attempt to defend this theory. Yet it has done its work.
During the long period in which the hypothesis was accepted as a fact, its influence was being exerted in molding the Masonic organizations into a form closely connected with all the events and characteristics of the Solomonic Temple. So that now almost all the Symbolism of Freemasonry rests upon or is derived from the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. So closely are the two connected, that to attempt to separate the one from the other would be fatal to the further existence of Freemasonry. Each Lodge is and must be a symbol of the Jewish Temple, each Master in the chair representing the Jewish King, and every Freemason a personation of the Jewish Workman.
Thus must it ever be while Freemasonry endures. We must receive the myths and legends that Connect it with the Temple, not indeed as historic facts, but as allegories; not as events that have really transpired, but as symbols; and must accept these allegories and these symbols for what their inventors really meant that they should be—the foundation of a Science of morality. The Subject of King Solomon's Temple and particularly the foundation chamber of this Structure is discussed by Brother W. J Chetsvode Crawley (pages 244, voluble xxiv, 1911, Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge) from which we have made the following extracts:
The version and legend of the Royal Arch authorized by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England today differs widely from the corresponding version authorized by the Supreme Grand Chapter of Ireland. The two versions are identical in purport and dogma, and to a certain extent similar in method. But there the resemblance ceases. It would be impossible for an English Royal Arch Mason to work his way into an Irish Chapter, or conversely, without other unmistakable credentials.
The episodes, on which the legends are severally founded, are quite distinct, each from the other. The English version refers to the building of the second temple by Zerubbabel: the Irish version to the repairing of the Temple of Solomon by King Josiah. The nomenclature of dramatis personae of the two versions are dissimilar. So far as the present writer is aware, the names of the three presiding officers of the English version were never heard in an Irish Royal Arch Chapter, save during the ill-devised and conspicuously unsuccessful attempt to introduce the English version into Dublin Chapters, which lasted intermittently from 1829 to 1859. If indeed the Irish version were held to be a survival of the original idea of Doctor Anderson's " well built Arch," and the English legend admitted to be a competing legend of later construction, many historical difficulties would disappear. Our American Royal Arch Masons, who derive their origin from the Strand Lodge of the Ancient, would find the hypothesis especially helpful in regard to the introduction and development of the Cryptic Degrees, which would in their turn await an easy birth in the preliminary stages of the Irish ritual.
In the Irish legend the carefully Selected articles that bear the burden of the tale require an adequate reason for their deposition, no less than for their discovers. In this respect, enlightenment has come from an unexpected quarter.
In the 1910 volume of the Memoires of the Academie des Inscriptions appears a noteworthily paper by Dr. Edouard Naville, summarized in the Midsummer number of the Athenaeum for 1910, on La Décourerte de la Loi sous le Roi Josias, meaning the discovery of the law under King .Josiah, in which the illustrious writer sets up a comparatively new theory respecting the deposit discovered in the temple at Jerusalem by "Hilkiah the High Priest," which has been generally assumed to have been the book of Deuterononly M. Naville contends that this was really a foundation deposit, and he quotes many instances—both from the rubries of the Book of the Dead and from excavations like those of M. de Morgan at Dahchur—of similar deposits, made either in a Specially prepared loculus in or under the walls of a building, or at the base of the statue of a god. He goes on to discuss the probable nature of the document itself, and comes to the conclusion that it Was a summary of the Mosaic law by analogy with the similar So-called chapters of the Book of the Dead, and that it was contemporaneous with the foundation of the Temple of Solomon.
This would make it a good deal earlier than the dates assigned to it by modern critics, among whom Doctor Driver puts its composition in the reign of Manasseh: and Professor Westphal the reign earlier under Hezekiah, while Professors Wellhausen and Kuenen will have it to be a forgery made ad hoc by some one in Josiah's confidence. Doctor Naville is also of the opinion that the document must have been written in cruciform characters, and thinks that the same might be said for the other Mosaic books, Moses, as an educated Egyptian, being according to him quite competent to use the cuneiform script which under the Eighteenth Dynasty was current throughout western Asia. He thinks, however, that the language used was even then Hebrew, and he mentions incidentally that the name Moses or Moshah may be the Egyptian word Mesu, signifying infant, as the biblical Succoth is certainly the Egyptian Thuket or Thukot. She kind of polyglot pawn whereby the Hebrew scribes made the first of these names into a word meaning drawn out and the second into tents, accords very well with other national characteristics as noted by Plutarch and others.
Doctor Naville's essay almost brings the Irish version of the Royal Arch legend within the possibilities of history. If—much virtue in an if—the principle of the Arch were known to the master builders of King Solomon's temple, what more natural than that they should use Doctor Anderson s well built Arch for the preservation of the sacred deposit? The case for the Irish legend is so simple, the inference so obvious, that the enthusiastic student who relies on tradition may be tempted to belittle the initiate historical difficulty of showing that the principle of the Arch was known to our master builders, or indeed to any builders of that date. Be that as it may the alternative version has no such incident as that recorded in Chronicles to fall back upon, nor does it gain any fresh support from Doctor Edouard Naville's learned labors.
- TEMPLE, ORDER OF THE
When the Knights Templar had, on account of their power and wealth, excited the fears and the cupidity of Pope Clement V, and King Philip the Fair, of France, the Order was soon compelled to succumb to the combined animosity of a spiritual and a temporal sovereign, neither of whom was capable of being controlled by a spirit of honor or a dictate of conscience The melancholy story of the sufferings of the Knights, and of the dissolution of their Order, forms a disgraceful record, with which the history of the fourteenth century begins.
On the 11th of March, in the year 1314, and in the refined city of Paris, James de Molay, the last of a long and illustrious line of Grand Masters of the Order of Knights Templar, testified at the stake his fidelity to his vows; and eleven years of service in the cause of religion were terminated, not by the sword of a Saracen, but by the iniquitous sentence of a Roman Catholic Pope and a perverted Christian King
The manufacturers of Masonic legends have found in the death of De Molay and the dissolution of the Order of Templars a fertile source from which to draw materials for their fanciful theories and surreptitious documents Among these legends there was, for instance, one which maintained that during his captivity in the Bastile the Grand Master of the Templars established four Chiefs of the Order in the North, the South, the East, and the West of Europe, whose seats of government were respectively at Stockholm, Naples, Paris, and Edinburgh. Another invention of these Masonic speculators was the forgery of that document so well known as the Charter of Larmenius, of which we shall presently take notice Previously, however, to any consideration of this document, sve must advert to the condition of the Templar Order in Portugal, because there is an intimate connection between the society there organized and the Order of the Temple in France, which is more particularly the Subject of the present article
Surprising as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that the Templars did not receive that check in Portugal to which they were Subjected in France, in England, and some other countries of Europe on the contrary, they were there maintained by King Denis in all their rights and privileges; and although compelled, by a Bull of Clement V, to change their names to that of the Knights of Christ, they continued to be governed by the same rules and to wear the same costume as their predecessors, excepting the slight addition of placing a white Latin cross in the center of the usual red one of the ancient Order.
In the degree of establishment it was expressly declared that the King, in creating this new Order, intended only to effect a reform in that of the Templars In 1420, John I, of Portugal, gave the Knights of Christ the control of the possessions of Portugal in the Indies, and succeeding monarchs granted them the proprietorship of all countries which they might discover, reserving, of course, the royal prerogative of sovereignty In process of time the wealth and the power of the Order became so great, that the King of Portugal found it expedient to reduce their rights to a considerable extent; but the Order itself was permitted to continue in existence, the Grand Mastership, however, being for the future vested in the Sovereign
We are now prepared to investigate understandingly the history of the Charter of Larmenius, and of the Order of the Temple at Paris, which was founded on the assumed authenticity of that document The writings of Thory, of Ragon, and of Clavel, with the passing remarks of a few other Masonic writers, will furnish us with abundant materials for this narrative, interesting to all Freemasons, but more especially so to Masonic Knights Templar In the year 1682, and in the reign of Louis XIV, a licentious society was established by several young noblemen, which took the name of La Petite Résurrection des Templiers, or The Little Resurrection of the Templars. The members wore concealed upon their shirts a decoration in the form of a cross, on which was embossed the figure of a man trampling on a woman, who lay prostrate at his feet The emblematic Signification of this symbol was, it is apparent, as unworthy of the character of man as it was derogatory to the condition and claims of woman The lying, having been informed of the infamous proceedings which took place at the meetings, dissolved the Society, which it was said was on the eve of initiating the dauphin; caused its leader, a Prince of the blood, to be ignominiously published, and banished the members from the Court; the heaviest penalty that, in those days of servile submission to the throne, could be inflicted on a courtier
In 1705, Philip of Orleans, who was subsequently the Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV, collected together the remnants of this Society, which still secretly existed, but had changed its object from a licentious to one of a political character.
He caused new Statutes to be constructed; and an Italian Jesuit, by name Father Bonani, who was a learned antiquary and an excellent designer, fabricated the document now known as the Charter of Larmenius, and thus pretended to attach the new society to the ancient Order of the Templars. As this Charter is not the least interesting of those forged documents with which the history of Freemasonry unfortunately abounds, a full description of it here will not be out of place. The theory of the Duke of Orleans and his accomplice Bonani was, and the theory is still maintained by the Order of the Temple at Paris, that when James de Moray was about to suffer at the stake, be sent for Larmenius, and in prison, with the consent and approbation of such of his knights as were present, appointed him his Successor, with the right of making a similar appointment before his death.
On the demise of De Molay, Larmenius accordingly assumed the office of Grand Master, and ten years after issued this Charter, transmitting his authority to Theobaldus Alexandrinus, by whom it was in like manner transmitted through a long line of Grand Masters, until in 1705 it reached Philip, Duke of Orleans. It will be seen hereafter that the list was subsequently continued to a later period.
The signatures of all these Grand Masters are affixed to the Charter, Which is beautifully executed on parchment, illuminated in the choicest style of Medieval chirography, and composed in the Latin language, but written in the Templar cipher. From the copy of the document given by Thory in his Acta Latomorum (ii, page 145) five make the following translation:
I, Brother John Mark Larmenius, of Jerusalem, by the grace of God and the secret decree of the most venerable and holy martyr, the Grand Master of the Soldiery of the temple, to whom be all honor and glory, confirmed by the common council or the Brethren, being endowed with the Supreme Grand Mastership of the whole Order of the Temple, to every one who shall see these Letters Decretal thrice greeting:
Be it known to all, both present and to come, that the failure of my strength, on amount of extreme age, my poverty, and the weight of government being well considered I, the aforesaid humble Master of the Soldiery of the temple, have determined, for the greater glory of God and the protection and safety of the Order, the Brethren, and the statutes, to resign the Grand Mastership into stronger hands.
On which account, God helping, and with the consent of a Supreme Convention of Knights, I have conferred and by the present decree do confer, for life, the authority and prerogatives of Grand Master of the Order of the Temple upon the Eminent Commander and very dear Brother, Francis Thomas Theobald Alexandrinus, with the power, according to time and circumstances, of conferring the Grand Mastership of the Order of the Temple and the supreme authority upon another Brother, most eminent for the nobility of his education and talent and decorum of his manners: which is done for the purpose of maintaining a perpetual succession of Grand Masters, an uninterrupted series of successors, and the integrity of the statutes. Nevertheless, I command that the Grand Mastership shall not be transmitted without the consent of a General Convention of the fellow-soldiers of the Temples as often as that Supreme Convention desires to be convened, and, matters being thus conducted, the successor shell be elected at the pleasure of the knights.
Butt lest the powers of the supreme office should fall into decay, now and for ever let there be four Vicars of the Grand Master, possessing Supreme power, eminence, and authority over the whole Order, With the reservation of the rights of the Grand Master, which Vicars of the (Grand Masters shall be chosen from among the alders, according to the order of their profession. Which is decreed in according with the above-mentioned wish, commended to me and to the Brethren by our most venerable and most blessed Master, the martyr, to whom be honor and glory. Amen.
Finally, on consequence of a decree of a Supreme Convention of the Brethren, and by the supreme authority to me committed, I will, declare, and command that the Scottish exemplars, as deserters from the Order, are to be accursed, and that they and the brethren of Saint John of Jerusalem, upon whom may God have mercy, as spoliators of the domains of our soldiery are now and hereafter to be considered as beyond the pale of the Temple I have therefore established signs, unknown to our false Brethren, and not to be known by them, to be orally communicated to our fellow-soldiers, and in which way I have already been pleased to communicate them in the Supreme Convention.
But these signs are only to be made known after due profession and knightly consecrations according to the Statutes, Rites, and Usages of the fellow-soldiery of the Temple, transmitted by me to the above-named Eminent Commander as they there delivered into my hands by the venerable and most holy martyr, our Grand Master, to whom be honor and glory. Let it be done as I have said. So mote it be. Amen.
I, John Clark Larmenius, have done this on the thirteenth day of February, 1324.
I, Francis Thomas Theobaldus Alexandrinus, God helping, have accepted the Grand Mastership, 1324.
And then follow the acceptances and signatures of twenty-two succeeding Grand Masters—the last, Bernard Raymund Fabré, under the date of 1804.
Brother Hawkins here wishes to point out that after having disappeared for many years, the original of this Charter was rediscovered and purchased by Brother F. J. ART. Crowe, of Chichester, England, who thought it too important and valuable to remain in private hands, and it was accordingly placed in the possession of the Great Priory of England. A transcript of the document, differing slightly from that given above, has been published by Brother Crowe (see Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, volume xxiv).
The Society, continues Doctor Mackey, thus organized by the Duke of Orleans in 1705, under this Charter, which purported to contain the signatures manupropria in their own hands, of eighteen Grand Masters in regular succession, commencing with Larmenius and ending with himself, attempted to obtain a recognition by the Order of Christ, which we have already said was established in Portugal as the legitimate successor of the old Templars, and of Which King John V was al that time the Grand Master. For this purpose the Duke of Orleans ordered two of his members to proceed to Lisbon, and there to open negotiations with the Order of Christ. The king caused inquiries to be made of Don Luis de Cunha, his ambassador at Paris, upon whose report he gave orders for the arrest of the two French Templars. One of them escaped to Gibraltar; but the other, less fortunate, after an imprisonment of two years, was banished to Angola, in Africa, where he died.
The Society, however, continued secretly to exist for many years in France, and is supposed by some to have been the same which, in 1879. was known by the name of the Societe d'Aloyau, a title which might be translated into English as the Society of the Sirloin —a name much more appropriate to a club of bons vivants, good livers, than to an association of knights. The members of this Society were dispersed at the time of the French Revolution, the Duke of Casse Brissac, who was massacred at Versailles in 1732, being its Grand Master at the period of its dispersion. Thory says that the members of this association claimed to be the successors of the Templars, and to be in possession of their Charters.
A certain Brother Ledru, one of the sons of the learned Nicholas Philip Ledru, was the physician of Casse Brissac. On the death of that nobleman and the sale of his property, Ledru purchased a piece of furniture, probably an escritoire, in which was concealed the celebrated Charter of Larmenius, the manuscript Statutes of 1705, and the journal of proceedings of the order of the Temple. Clavel says that about the year 1804, Ledru showed these articles to two of his friends—de ,Saintot and Fabré Palaprat; the latter of whom had formerly been an ecclesiastic. The sight of these documents suggested to them the idea of reviving the Order of the Temple. They proposed to constitute Ledru the Grand Master, but he refused the offer, and nominated Claudius Matheus Radix de Chevillon for the office, who would accept it only under the title of Vicar; and he is inscribed as such on the list attached to the Charter of Larmenius, his name immediatel following that of Casse Brissac, who is recorded as the last Grand Master.
These four restorers of the Order were of opinion that it would be most expedient to place it under the patronage of some distinguished personage; and while making the effort to carry this design into execution, Chevillon, excusing himself from further official labor on account of his advanced age, proposed that Fahré Palaprat should be elected Grand Master, but for one year only, and with the understanding that he would resign the dignity as soon as some notable person could be found who would be willing to accept it. But Fabré, having once been invested with the Grand Mastership, ever afterward refused to surrender the dignity.
Among the persons who were soon after admitted into the Order Were Decourchant, a notary's clerk; Leblond, an official of the Imperial Library; and Arnal, an ironmonger, all of whom were entrusted with the secret of the fraud, and at once engaged in the construction of what have Since been designated the Relics of the Order. Of these relics, which are preserved in the treasury of the Order of the Temple at Paris, an inventory was made on May 18, I810, being, it is probable, soon after their construction. Doctor Burnes, who was a firm believer in the legitimacy of the Parisian Order and in the authenticity of its archives, has given in his Sketch of the history of the Knights Templar (Appendix, page xii), a copy of this inventory in the original French. Thory gives it also in his ActaLatomorum (ii, page 143). A brief synopsis of it may not be uninteresting. The relics consist of twelve pieces— a round dozen —and are as follows:
1. The Charter of Larmellius, already described. But to the eighteen signatures of Grand Masters in the Charter, which was in 1705 in possession of Philip, Duke of Orieans, are added six more carrying the Succession on from the last-named to Fabré Palaprat, who attests as Grand Master in 1804.
2. A volume of twenty-seven paper sheets in folio bount in crimson velvet, satin, and gold, containing the Statutes of the Order in manuscript, and signed Philip
3. A small copper religuary, in the shape of a Gothic church, containing four fragments of burnt bones, wrapped in a piece of linen. These are said to have been taken front the funeral pile of the martyred Templars
4. A sword, said to be one wich belonged to James de Molay.
5. A helmet, supposed to have been that of Guy, the Dauphin of Auvergne.
6. An old gilt spur.
7. A bronze patina, a plate or dish, in the interior of which is engraved in extended hand, having the ring and little fingers bent in upon the palm, which is the form of the Episcopal. Benediction given in the Roman Catholic Church.
8. A pax or tablet in gilt bronzes containing a representation of Saint John, under a Gothic arch. The pax is a small plate of gold, silver (or other rich material carried round by the Priest to communicate the Kiss of Peace..
9. Three Gothic seals.
10 A tall ivory Cross and three Miters, richly ornamented.
11. The Beauseant, in white linen, with the Cross of the Order.
12. The War Standard in white linen, with four black rays.
Of these relics, Clavel, who, as being on the spot, may be supposed to know something of the truth, tells us that the copper reliquary the sword, the ivory cross, and the three miters vere bought by Leblond from an old iron shop in the market of Saint Jean, and from a maker of church vestments in the suburbs of Paris, while the helmet was taken by Arnal front one of the government armories.
Francisco Alvaro da Sylva Freyre de Porto, a knight of the Order of Christ, and a Secret agent of John VI, King of Portugal, was admitted into the Order in 1805, and continued a member until 1815. He was one of the few, Clavel says, whom Fahré and the other founder's admitted into their full confidence, and in 1812 he held the of fire of Grand Master's Secretary. Fahré having signified to him his desire to be recognized as the Successor of James de Molaw by the Grand Master of the Order of Christ, Da Sylvà sent a copy of the Charter of Larmenius to John VI, who was then in Brazil; but the request for recognition was refused. The Order of the Temple, which had thus been ingeniously organized by Fabré Palaprat and his colleagues, began now to assume high prerogatives as the only representative of Ancient Templarism.
The Grand Master was distinguished by the sounding titles of Most Eminent Highness, Very Great, Powerful, and Excellent Prince, and Most Serene Lord. The whole world was divided into different Jurisdictions, under the names of Provinces, Bailiwicks, Priories, and Commanderies, all of which were distributed among the members; and proofs of nobility were demanded of all candidates; but if they were not able to give these proofs, they were furnished by the Grand Master with the necessary Patents.
The ceremonies of initiation were divided into three houses, again subdivided into eight Degrees, and were as follows:
I HOUSE OF INITIATION
- 1. Initiate. This is the Entered Apprentice's Degree of Freemasonry.
- 2. Initiate of the Interior. This is the Fellow craft.
- 3. Adept. This is the Master Mason.
- 4. Adept of the East. The Elu of Fifteen of the Scottish Rite .
- 5. Grand Adept of the Black Eagle of Saint Joann. The Elu of Nine of the Scottish Rite.
II. HOUSE OF POSTULANCE
- 6. Postulant of the Order. The Rose Croix Degree.
III. COUNCIL
- 7. Esquire. Merely a preparation for the Eighth Degree .
- 8. Knigth or Levite of the Interior Guard. The Philosophical Kadosh.
At first the members of the Order professed the Roman Catholic religion, and hence, on various occasions, Protestants and Jews were denied admission. But about the year 1814, the Grand Master having obtained possession of a manuscript copy of a spurious Gospel of Saint John, which is supposed to have been forged in the fifteenth century, and which contradicted in many particulars the canonical Gospel, he caused it to be adopted as the doctrine of the Order; and thus, as Clavel says, at once transformed an Order which had always been perfectly orthodox into a Schismatic sect. Out of this spurious Gospel and an Introduction and Commentary called the Levitikon, said to have been written by Nicephorus, a Greek monk of Athens, Fabré and his colleagues composed a liturgy, and established a religious sect to which they gave the name of Johannism.
The consequence of this change of religious views was a schism in the Order. The orthodox party, however, appears to have been the stronger; and after the others had for a short time exhibited themselves as soi-disant, or so-called, Priests in a Johannite Church Which they erected, and in which they publicly chanted the liturgy which they had composed, the church and the liturgy were given up, and they retired once more into the secrecy of the Order.
Such is the brief history of the rise and progress of the celebrated Order of the Temple, which thus continued to exist at Paris, with, however, a much abridged exercise, if not with less assumption of prerogative. It claimed to be the only true depository of the powers and privileges of the ancient Order of Knights Templar, denouncing all other Templars as spurious, and its Grand Master has proclaimed himself the legal successor of James de Molay; with how much truth the narrative already given will enable every reader to decide.
The question of the legality of the Order of the Temple, as the only true body of Knights Templar in modern days, is to be settled only after three other points have been determined: First, was the Charter of Larmenius, which was brought for the first time to light in 1705 by the Duke of Orleans, an authentic or a forged document? Next, even if authentic, was the story that Larmenius was invested with the Grand Mastership and the power of transmission by De Molay a fact or a fable? And, lastly, was the power exercised by Ledru, in reorganizing the Order in 1804, assumed by himself or actually derived from Casse Brissae, the previous Grand Master? There are many other questions of subordinate but necessary importance to be examined and settled before we can consent to give the Order of the Temple the high and, as regards Templarism, the exclusive position that it claims
- TEMPLAR ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY
The theory that Freemasonry originated in the Holy Land during the Crusades, and was instituted by the Knights Templar, was advanced by the Chevalier Ramsay, for the purpose, it is supposed, of giving an aristocratic character to the association It was subsequently adopted by the College of Clermont, and was accepted by the Baron von Hund as the basis upon which he erected his Rite of Strict Observance. The legend of the Clermont College is thus detailed by M. Berage in his work entitled Les Plus Secrets Mysteres des Hauts Grades, Most Secret Mysteries of the High Degrees (iii, page 194).
The Order of Freemasonry was instituted by Godfrey de bouillon, in Palestine in l330, after the defeat of the Christian armies, and was communicated only to a few of the French Freemasons, some time afterwards, as a reward for the services which they had rendered to the English and Scottish Knights. From these latter true Freemasonry is derived. Their Mother Lodge is situated on the mountain of Heredom where the first Lodge in Europe was held, which still exists in all its splendor. The Council General is always held there, and it is the seat of the Sovereign Grand Master for the time being. This mountain is situated between the west and the north of Scotland, sixty miles from Edinhurgh.
There are other secrets in Freemasonry which were never known among the French, and which have no relation to the Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Degrees which were constructed for the general class of Freemasons. The high Degrees, which developed the true design of Freemasonry and its true secrets, have never been known to them. The Saracens having obtained possession of the holy places in Palestine, where all the mysteries of the Order were practiced, made use of them for most profane purposes.
The Christians then leagued together to conquer this beautiful country, and to drive all these barbarians from the land. They succeeded in obtaining a footing on these shores under the protection of numerous armies of Crusaders which had been sent out there by the Christian princes. The losses which they subsequently experienced put an end to the Christian power, and the crusaders who remained were subjected to the persecutions of the Saracens, who massacred all who publicly proclaimed the Christian faiths This induced Godfrey de Bouillon, towards the end of the third center, to conceal the mysteries of religion under the veil of figures, emblems and allegories.
Hence the Christians selected the temple of Solomon because it has so close a relation to the Christian Church of which its holiness and its magnificence make it the true symbol. So the Christians concealed the mystery of the building up of the Church under that of the construction of the Temple, and gave themselves the title of Masons Architects or Builders, because they were occupied in building the faith. They assembled under the pretext of making plans of architecture to practice the rites of their religion, with all the emblems and allegories that Freemasonry could furnish, and thus protect themselves from the cruelty of the Saracens.
As the mysteries of Freemasonry were in their principles, and still are only those of the Christian religion they were extremely scrupulous to confide this important secret only to those whose discretion had been tried and who had been found worthy. For this purpose they fabricated Degrees as a test of those to whom they wished to confide it, and they gave them at first only the symbolic secret of Hiram, on which all the mystery of blue Masonry is founded, and which is, in fact, the only secret of that Order which has no relation to true Freemasonry.
They explained nothing else to them as they were afraid of being betrayed, and they conferred these Degrees as a proper means of recognizing each other, surrounded as they were by barbarians. To succeed more effectually in this they made use of different Signs and words for each Degree so as not only to distinguish themselves from the profane Saracens, but to designate the different Degrees. These they fixed at the number of seven, in imitation of the Grand Architect, who built the Universe in six days and rested on the seventh, and also because Solomon was seven years in constructing the Temple, which they had selected as the figurative basis of Freemasonry. Under the name of Hiram they gave a false application to the Masters, and developed the true secret of Freemasonry only to the higher Degrees.
Such is the theory of the Templar origin of Freemasonry, which, mythical as it is, and wholly unsupported by the authority of history, has exercised a vast influence in the fabrication of advanced Degrees and the invention of Continental Rites. Indeed, of all the systems propounded during the eighteenth century, so fertile in the construction of extravagant systems, none has played so important a part as this in the history of Freemasonry. Although the theory is no longer maintained, its effects are everywhere seen and felt.
- TEMPLARS OF ENGLAND
An important change in the organization of Templarism in England Ireland took place in 1873. By it a union took place of the Grand Conclave of Masonic Knights Templar of England and the Grand Conclave of High Knights Templar of Ireland into one body, under the title of the "Convent General of the United Religious and Military Orders of the Temple and of Saint John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta." The following is a summary of the Statutes by which the new Order is governed, as given by Eminent Sir Knight W. J. B. McLeod Moore, Grand Prior, in his circular to the Preceptors of Canada:
1. The existing Grand Masters in the Empire are to be termed Great Priors, and Grand Conclaves or Encampments, Great Priories, under and subordinate to one Grand Master, as in the early days of the Order. and one Supreme Governing Body, the Convent General.
2. The term Great is adopted instead of Grand, the latter being a French word; and grand in English is not grand in French Great is the proper translation of Magnus and Magnus Supremus.
3 The Great Priories of each nationality—England, Scotland, and Ireland, with their Dependencies in the Colonies—retain their internal government and legislation, and appoint their Provincial Priors, doing nothing consistent with the Supreme Statutes of the Convent General.
4. The title Masonic is not continued; the Order being purely Christian, none but Christians can be admitted consequently it cannot be considered Strictly as a Masonic body: Freemasonry, while inculcating the highest reverence for the Supreme Being, and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, does not teach a belief in one particular creed, or unbelief in any. The connection with Freemasonry is, however, strengthened still more, as a candidate must now be two years a Master Mason, in addition to his qualification as a Royal Arch Mason.
5. The titles Eminent Commander and Encampment have been discontinued and the original name Preceptor and Precentor substituted, as also the titles Constable and Marshal for First and Second Captains. Encampment is a modern term, adopted probably when, as our traditions inform us, "at the suppression of the ancient Military Order of the Temple, some of their number sought refuge and held Conclaves in the Masonic Society, being independent small bodies, without any governing head." Prior is the correct and original title for the head of a langue or nationality and Preceptor for the subordinate bodies. The Preceptories were the ancient Houses of the Templar Order; Commander and Commanderies was the title used by the Order of Saint John, commonly known as Knights of Malta
6. The title by which the Order is now known is that of The United Religius and Military Orders of the Temple and of Saint John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta." The Order of the Temple originally had no connection with that of Malta or Order of Saint John, but the combined title appears to have been adopted in commemoration of the union which took place in Scotland with "The Temple and Hospital of Saint John, when their lands were in common, at the time of the Reformation. But our Order of "Saint Solon of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes, and Malta," has no connection with the present Knights of Malta in the Papal States, or of the Protestant branches of the Order, the lineal successors of the ancient Knights of Saint John, the sixth or English league of which is still in existence, and presided over, in London, by His Grace the Duke of Manchester. The Order, when it occupied the Island of Malta as a sovereign body, was totally unconnected with Freemasonry.
7. Honorary past rank is abolished substituting the chivalric dignities of Grand Crosses and Commanders, limited in numbers and confined to Preceptors. These honors to be conferred by His Royal Highness the Grand Master, the Fountain of Grace and Dignity; and it is contemplated to create an Order of Merits to be conferred in like manner, as a reward to Knights who have served the Order.
8. A. Preceptor holds a Degree as well as rank, and will always retain his rank and privileges as long as he belongs to a Precentor.
9. The abolition of honorary past rank is not retrospective, as their rank and privileges are reserved to all those who now enjoy them
10. The number of officers entitled to precedence has been reduced to seven; but others may be appointed at discretion, who do not, however, enjoy any precedence.
ll. Equerries, or Serving Brethren, are not to receive the accolade, or use any but a brown habit, and shall not wear any insignia or jewel: they are to be addressed as Frater, not Sir Knight. In the early days of the Order they were not entitled to the accolade, and, with the esquires and men-at-arms, wore a dark habit, to distinguish them from the knights, who wore white, to signify that they were bound by their vows to cast away the works of darkness and lead a new life.
12. The Apron is altogether discontinued, and a few and a few immaterial alterations in the insignia will be duly regulated and promulgated: they do not, however, affect the present, but only apply to future members of the Order. The apron was of recent introduction, to accord with Masonic usage: but reflection will at once show that, as an emblem of care and toil, it is entirely inappropriate to a Military Order, whose badge is the sword. A proposition to confine the wearing of the star to the Preceptors was negatived; the star and ribbon being in fact as much a part of the ritual as of the insignia of the Order.
13. From the number of instances of persons totally unfitted having obtained admission into the Order, the qualification of candidates has been increased. A declaration is now required, to be signed by every candidate that he is of the full age of twenty-one years, and in addition to being a Royal Arch Masons that he is a Master Mason of two years' standings professing the doctrines of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, and willing to submit to the Statutes and Ordinances, present and future, of the Order.
- TEMPLARS OF SCOTLAND
The Statutes of the Grand Priory of the Temple of Scotland prescribe for the Order of Knights Templar in that kingdom an organization very different from that which prevails in other countries.
'The Religious and Military Order of the Temple" in Scotland consists of two classes:
- 1. Novice and Esquire.
- 2. Knight Templar.
The Knights are again divided into four classes:
- 1. Knights created by Priories.
- 2. Knights elected from the companions on memorial to the Grand Master and Council, supported by the recommendation of the Priories to which they belong.
- 3. Knights Commanders.
- 4. Knights Grand Crosses, to be nominated by the Grand Master.
The supreme legislative authority of the Order is the Chapter General, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Knights Grand Crosses, and the Knights Commanders. One Chapter is held annually, at which the Grand Master, if present, acts as President. The anniversary of the death of James de Molay, March 11, is Selected as the time of this meeting, at which the Grand Officers are elected. During all intervals of the meetings of the Chapter General, the affairs of the Order, with the exception of altering any Statutes, is entrusted to the Grand Master's Council, which consists of the Grand Officers, the Grand Priors of Foreign Langues (or Districts), and the Knights Grand Crosses.
The Grand Officers, with the exception of the Past Grand Masters, who remain so for life, the Grand Master, who is elected triennially and the Grand Aides-de-Camp, who are appointed by him and removed at his pleasure, are elected annually. They are as follows:
- Grand Master
- Past Grand Masters,
- Grand Seneschal
- Preceptor and Grand Prior of Scotland,
- Grand Constable and Marshal
- Grand Admiral
- Grand Almoner or Hospitaler,
- Grand Chancellor
- Grand Treasurer,
- Grand Registrar,
- Primate or Grand Prelate
- Grand Provost or Governor-General,
- Grand Standard Bearer or Beaucennifer
- Grand Bearer of the Vexillum Belli, War Flag.
- Grand Camberlain,
- Grand Steward.
- Two Grand Aides-de-Camp.
A Grand Priory may be instituted by the Chapter General in any nation, colony, or langue, to be placed under the authority of a Grand Prior, who is elected for life, unless superseded by the Chapter General.
A Priory, which is equivalent to an American Commandery, consists of the following officers:
- Prior
- Superior,
- Mareschal or Master of Ceremonies,
- Hospitaler or Almoner,
- Chancellor,
- Treasurer,
- Secretary,
- Chaplain panel Instructor,
- Beaucennifer, or bearer of the Beauseant
- Bearer of the Red Cross Banner, or Vexillum Belli,
- Chamberlain,
- Two Aides-de Camp.
The Chapter General or Grand Priory may unite two or more Priories into a Commandery, to be governed by a Provincial Commander, who is elected by the Chapter General.
The costume of the Knights, with the exception of a few slight variations to designate difference of rank, is the same as the ancient costume.
- TEMPLARS ORDER OF THE AMERICAN STAR
See Free and Accepted Americans
- TEMPLARS, RULE OF THE
See Rule of the Templars
- TEMPLAR STATISTICS
See Statistics of the Order of the Temple
- TEMPLE
The symbolism of Speculative Freemasonry is so intimately connected with temple building and temple worship, that some notice of these edifices seems necessary.
The Hebrews called a temple beth, which literally signifies a house or dwelling, and finds its root in a word which signifies "to remain or pass the night," or hecal, which means a palace, and comes from an obsolete word signifying magnificent. So that they seem to have had two ideas in reference to a Temple.
When they called it beth Jehovah, or the House of Jehovah they referred to the continued presence of God in it; and when they called it hecal Jehovah, or the Palace of Jehovah, they referred to the splendor of the edifice which was selected as his residence. The Hebrew idea was undoubtedly borrowed from the Egyptian, where the same hieroglyphic signified both a house and a temple. Thus, from an inscription at Philae, Champollion (Egyptian Dictionary), cites the sentence, "He has made his devotions in the house of his mother Isis."
The classical idea was more abstract and philosophical. The Latin word templum comes from a root which signifies to cut of, thus referring to any space, whether open or occupied by a building, which was cut off, or separated for a sacred purpose, from the surrounding profane ground. The word properly denoted a sacred enclosure where the omens were observed by the augurs. Hence Varro (De Langua Latina vi, 81,) defines a temple to be "a place for auguries and auspices." As the same practice of worshiping under the sky in open places prevailed among the northern nations, we might deduce from these facts that the temple of the sky was the Aryan idea, and the temple of the house was Semitic. It is true, that afterward, the augurs having for their own convenience erected a tent within the enclosure where they made their observations, or, literally their contemplations, this in time gave rise among the Greeks and the Romans to permanent edifices like those of the Egyptians and the Hebrews.
Freemasonry has derived its temple symbolisms as it has almost all its symbolic ideas, from the Hebrew type, and thus makes the temple the symbol of a Lodge. But of the Roman temple worship it has not been neglectful, and has borrowed from it one of the most significant and important words in its vocabulary.
The Latin word specular means to observe to look around. When the augur, standing within the sacred precincts of his open temple on the Capitoline hill, watched the flight of birds, that from it he night deduce his auspices of good or bad fortune, he was said, specular, to speculate. Hence the word came at length to denote, like contemplate from templum, an investigation of sacred things, and thus we got into our technical language the title of Speculative Masonry, as distinguished by its religious design from Operative or Practical Masonry, which, is devoted to more material objects. The Egyptian Temple was the real archetype of the Mosaic Tabernacle, as was that of the Temple of Jerusalem.
The direction of an Egyptian temple was usually from East to West, the entrance being at the East. It was a quadrangular building, much longer than its width, and was situated in the western part of a sacred enclosure. The approach through this enclosure to the Temple proper was frequently by a double row of sphinxes. In front of the entrance were a pair of tall obelisks, which will remind the reader of the two pillars at the porch of Solomon's Temple. The Temple was divided into a spacious hall, the sanctuary where the great body of the worshipers assembled. Beyond it, in the western extremity, was the cell or sekos, equivalent to the Jewish Holy of Holier, into which the Priests only entered; and in the remotest part, behind a curtain, appeared the image of the god seated on his shrine, or the sacred animal which represented him.
Grecian Temples, like the Egyptian and the Hebrew, were placed within an enclosure, which was separated from the profane land around it, in early times, by ropes, but afterward by a wall. The Temple was usually quadrangular, although some were circular in form. It was divided into two parts, the porch or vestibule, and the cell. In this latter part the statue of the god was placed surrounded by a balustrade. In Temples connected with the Mysteries, the cell was called the aavrov the Latin word is adyturn, and to it only the Priests and the initiates had access; and we learn from Pausanias that various stories were related of calamities that had befallen persons who had unlawfully ventured to cross the threshold. Vitruvius says that the entrance of Greek Temples was always toward the West; but this statement is contradicted by the appearance of the Temples still partly existing in Attica, Ionia, and Sicily.
Roman Temples, after they emerged from their primitive Simplicity, were constructed much upon the model of the Grecian. There were the same vestibule and cells, or adybum, borrowed, as with the Greeks, from the holy and the most holy place of the Egypttians. Vicruvius says that the entrance of a Roman Temple was, if possible, to the West, so that the worshipers, when they offered prayers or sacrifices might look toward the East; but this rule was not always observed.
It thus appears, notwithstanding what Montfaucon (Antiquities ii, 1, 2) says to the contrary, that the Egyptian form of a Temple was the type from which other nations borrowed their idea. This Egyptian form of a Temple was borrowed by the Jews, and with some modifications adopted by the Greeks and Romans, whence it passed over into modern Europe. The idea of a separation into a holy and a most holy place has everywhere been preserved. The same idea is maintained in the construction of Masonic Lodges, which are but imitations, in spirit, of the ancient Temples. But there has been a transposition of parts, the most holy place, which with the Egyptians and the Jews was in the West, being placed in Lodges in the East.
- TEMPLE, GATES OF THE
See Gates of the Temple
- TEMPLE, GRAND COMMANDER OF THE
The French title is Grand Commandeer du Temple. The Fifty-eighth Degree of the collection of the Metropolitan Chapter of France. It is the name of the Knight Commander of the Temple of the Scottish Rite.
- TEMPLE OF EZEKIEL
An ideal Temple seen by the Prophet Ezekiel, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, while residing in Babylon. It is supposed by Calmet, that the description given by the prophet was that of the Temple of Solomon, which he must have seen before its destruction.
But an examination of its measurements will show that this could not have been the fact, and that the whole area of Jerusalem would not have been sufficient to contain a building of its magnitude. Yet, as Ferguson observes (Sir William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible), the description, notwithstanding its ideal character, is curious, as showing what were the aspirations of the Jews in that direction, and how different they were from those of other nations; and also because it influenced Herod to some extent in his restoration of the temple of Zerubbabel. between the visionary Temple of Ezekiel and the symbolic city of the New Jerusalem, as described by the Evangelist, there is a striking resemblance, and hence it finds a place among the symbols in the Apocalyptic Degrees. But with Symbolic or with Royal Arch Masonry it has no connection.
- TEMPLE OF HEROD
This was not the construction of a third Temple, but only a restoration and extensive enlargement of the second, which had been built by Zerubbabel. To the Christian Freemason it is interesting, even more than that of Solomon, bee cause it was the scene of our Lord's ministrations, and was the temple from which the Knights Templar derived their name. It was begun by Herod 7 B.C., finished 4 A.D., and destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., having subsisted only seventy-seven years.
- TEMPLE OF ZERUBBABEL
For the fifty-two years that succeeded the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar that city saw nothing but the ruins of its ancient Temple. Out in the year of the world 3468 and 536 B.C. Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and there to rebuild the Temple of the Lord.
Forty-two thousand three hundred and sixths of the liberated captives ret urned under the guidance of Joshua, then the High Priest, Zerubbabel, the Prince or Governor, and Haggai, the Scribe, and a year later they laid the foundations of the second Temple. They were, however, much disturbed in their labors by the Samaritans, whose offer to unite with them in the building they had rejected. Artaxerxes, known in profane history as Cambyses, having succeeded Cyrus on the throne of Persia, forbade the Jews to proceed with the work, and so the Temple remained in an unfinished state until the death of Artaxerxes and the succession of King Darius to the throne.
As in early life there had been a great intimacy between this sovereign and Zerubbabel, the latter went to Babylon, and obtained permission from the monarch to resume the labor. Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem, and notwithstanding some further delays, consequent upon the enmity of the neighboring nations, the second Temple, or, as it may be called by way of distinction from the first, the Temple of Zerubbabel, was completed in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, 515 B.C., and just twenty years after its commencement. It was then dedicated vith all the solemnities that accompanied the dedication of the first Temple (see the two amounts of this rebuilding of the Temple in Ezra and Haggai).
The general plan of this second Temple was similar to that of the first. But it exceeded it in almost every dimension by one-third. The decorations of gold and other ornaments in the first Temple must have far surpassed those bestowed upon the second, for we are told by Josephus (Antiquities xi, 4) that the Priests and Levites and Elders of families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuous the old Temple was than the one which, on amount of their poverty, they had just been able to erect.
The Jews also say that there were five things wanting in the second Temple which had been in the first, namely, the Ark, the Urim and Thummim, the fire from heaven, the Divine Presence or Cloud of Glory, and the spirit of prophecy and power of miracles.
Such are the most important events that relate to the construction of this second Temple But there is a Masonic legend connected with it which, though it may have no historical foundation, is yet so closely interwoven with the Temple system of Freemasonry, that it is necessary it should be recounted.
It was, says the legend, while the workmen were engaged in making the necessary excavations for laying the foundation, and while numbers continued to arrive at Jerusalem from Babylon, that three worn and weary Sojourners, after plodding on foot over the rough and devious roads between the two cities, offered themselves to the Grand Council as willing participants in the labor of erection Who these Sojourners were, we have no historical means of discovering; but there is a Masonic tradition, entitled, perhaps, to but little weight, that they were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, three holy men, who are better known to general readers by their Chaklaie names of Shaclrach, Meshach, and Abednego, as having been miraculously preserved from the fieldsy furnace of Nebuchadnezzar
Their services were accepted, and from their diligent labors resulted that important discovery, the perpetuation and preservation of which constitute the great end and design of the Royal Arch Degree. As the symbolism of the first or Solomonic Temple is connected with and refers entirely to the Symbolic Degrees, so that of the second, or Temple of Zerubbabel, forms the basis of the Royal Arch in the York and American Rites, and of several advanced Degrees in other Rites
- TEMPLE, SECOND
The Temple constructed by Zerubbabel is so called (see Temple of Zerubbabel).
- TEMPLE, SOVEREIGN COMMANDER OF THE
See Sovereign commander of the temple.
- TEMPLE, SOVEREIGN OF THE SOVEREIGNS GRAND COMMANDER OF THE
The French title is Souverain des Souverains Grands Commandeurs du temple. A Degree in the collection of Lemanceau and Le Page. It is said to be a part of the Order of Christ or Portuguese Templarism.
- TEMPLE, SPIRITUAL
See Spiritual Temple
- TEMPLE, SYMBOLISM OF THE
Of all the objects which constitute the Masonic science of symbolism, the most important, the most cherished by Freemasons, and by far the most significant, is the great Temple of Jerusalem. The spiritualizing of the Temple is the first, the most prominent, and the most pervading of all symbols of Freemasonry. It is that as high most emphatically gives it its religious character. Take from Freemasonry its dependence on the Temple; leave out of its ritual all reference to that sacred edifice, and to the legends and traditions connected with it, and the system itself would at once decay and die, or at best remain only as some fossilized bone, serving merely to show the nature of the once living body to which it had belonged.
Temple worship is in itself an ancient type of the religious sentiment in its progress toward spiritual elevation.
As soon as sw nation emerged out of Fetishism, or the worship of risible objects, which is the most degraded form of idolatry, its people began to establish a Priesthood, and to erect Temples. The Goths, the Celts, the Egyptians, and the Greeks, however much they may have differed in the ritual, and in the objects of their polytheistic worship, were all in the possession of Priests and of Temples. The Jews, complying with this law of our religious nature, first constructed their Tabernacle, or portable Temple, and then, when time and opportunity permitted, transferred their monotheistic worship to that more permanent edifice which towered in all its magnificence above the pinnacle of Mount Moriah. The Mosque of the Mohammedan and the Church or Chapel of the Christian is but an embodiment of the same idea of temple worship in a simpler form.
The adaptation, therefore, of the Temple of Jerusalem to a science of symbolism, would be an easy task to the mind of those Jews and Tvrians who were engaged in its construction. Doubtless, at its original conception, the idea of this Temple Symbolism was rude and unembellished. It was to be perfected and polished only by future aggregations of succeeding intellects. And yet no Biblical nor Masonic scholar will venture to deny that there was, in the mode of building and in all the circumstances connected with the construction of King Solomon's Temple, an apparent design to establish a foundation for symbolism.
The Freemasons have, at all events, seized with avidity the idea of representing in their symbolic language the interior and spiritual man by a material Temple. They have the doctrine of the great Apostle, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (First Corinthians iii, 16). The great body of the Masonic Craft, looking only to this first Temple erected by the wisdom of King Solomon, make it the symbol of life; and as the great object of Freemasonry is the search after truth, they are directed to build up this Temple as a fitting receptacle for truth when found, a place where it may dwell, just as the ancient Jews built up their great Temple as a dwelling-place for Him who is the Author of all truth.
To the Master Mason, this Temple of Solomon is truly the symbol of human life; for, like life, it was to have its end. For four centuries it glittered on the hills of Jerusalem in all its gorgeous magnificence; now, under some pious descendant of the wise King of Israel, the spot from whose altars arose the burnt offerings to a living God! and now polluted by some recreant monarch of Judah to the Service of Baal; until at length it received the divine punishment through the mighty King of Babylon, and, having been despoiled of all its treasures, Wars burnt to the ground, so that nothing was left of all its splendor but a smoldering heap of ashes.
Variable in its purposes, evanescent in its existence, now a gorgeous pile of architectural beauty, and anon a ruin over which the resistless power of fire had passed, it becomes a fit symbol of human life occupied in the search after divine truth, which is nowhere to be found; now sinning and now repentant; now vigorous with health and strength, and anon a senseless and decaying corpse.
Such is the symbolism of the first Temple, that of Solomon, as familiar to the class of Master Masons. But there is a second and higher class of the Fraternity, the Freemasons of the Royal Arch, by whom thus Temple Symbolism is still further developed. This second class leaving their early symbolism and looking beyond this Temple of Solomon, find in Scriptural history another Temple, which, years after the destruction of the first one, was erected upon its ruins; and they have Selected the second Temple, the Temple of Zerubbabel, as their prominent symbol.
And as the first class of Freemasons find in their Temple the symbol of mortal life, limited and perishable, they, on the contrary, see in this second Temple, built upon the foundations of the first, a symbol of life eternal, where the lost truth shall be found, where new incense shall arise from a new altar, and whose perpetuity their great Plaster had promised when, in the very spirit of synlbolism, file exclaimed, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And so to these two classes or Orders of Freemasons the symbolism of the Temple presents itself in a connected and continuous form. To the Master Mason, the Temple of Solomon is the symbol of this life; to the Royal Arch Mason, the Temple of Zerubbabel is the symbol of the future life To the former his Temple is the symbol of the search for truth; to the latter, his is the symbol of the discovery of truth; thus the circle is completed, the system made perfect.
- TEMPLES, THE JERUSALEM
1. Solomon began the building of his Temple about 967 B.C., and completed it in about six and one-half years. This was in reality a collection of buildings, inside a wall, and the Temple proper was probably at or near the center, a structure 90 to 100 feet long, about 30 to 35 feet in width and at its highest about 50 feet. The entire system of buildings, taken as a unit, was the greatest single building feat ever undertaken by the Jewish people before or since. This was the First Temple. For nearly five centuries it was the center and capital of Hebrew peoples, not only in Palestine but wherever they might live. It and the city were looted and w destroyed by the Babylonian hordes under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B-C- (It may be more than a coincidence that the only successful—though temporary— attempt ever made by the Egyptians to achieve monotheism occurred while this First Temple was still standing It is likewise interesting to note that many of the tales, traditions, legends, and historical occurrenees about Solomon or his Temple need not refer to so early a date as 967 B.C. but may refer to it as of any date as between 967 B-C. and 586 B.C.)
2. When after a half century Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Jerusalem they began almost at once to rebuild the Temple under their "prince," or leader, Sheshbazzar, who began work in 536 B.C.; it was completed by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C. after twenty years of slow, hard labor by a poverty-stricken people, and then was only half restored. After 168 B.C. this building was looted, attacked, razed, rebuilt, and finally destroyed almost completely. This was the Second Temple.
3. One of the looters was Herod. In 40 B.C. Antony and Octavius gave him the title "King of Judea." Between 20 B.C. and 19 B.C., and for political reasons of his own, he began to rebuild the Temple, and on a larger scale. It was not completed until between 62 A.D. and 64 A.D. Only two years after this latter date the Jews began their revolt against Roman rule; in about four years, or 70 A.D., the whole "Temple was burnt to the ground and utterly destroyed.?' This was the Third Temple.
(Historians long were skeptical about the descriptions of the three Temples on the ground that structures of such size and elaborateness called for a technical knowledge which did not exist in ancient times. Modern archeological discoveries have removed that objection by proving that as early as 1000 B.C. many of the technical arts were at a high stage of development. Thus, and to cite only two examples, Tutankhamen's physicians had the use of complete sets of surgical instruments, and practiced many forms of anesthesia; shorthand, a technique without which modern business could hardly function, was known to ancient Egypt; in 1934 the Egypt Exploration Society published a book Greek Shorthand Manuals compiled from papyri and waxed tablets unearthed by archeologic excavations.)
- TEMPLE, WORKMEN AT THE
See Workmen at the Temple
- TEMPLIER
The title of a Knight Templar in French. The expression Chevalier Templier is scarcely ever used by French writers.
- TEMPLUM HIEROSOLYMAE
Latin for the Temple of Jerusalem. It is supposed by some to be a phrase concealed under the monogram of the Triple Tau, which see.
- TEN
Ten cannot be considered as a sacred number in Freemasonry. But by the Pythagoreans it was honored as a symbol of the perfection and consummation of all things. It was constituted of the monad and duad, the active and passive principles, the triad or their result, and the quaternior or first square, and hence they referred it to their saered tetractys. They said that ten contained all the relations of numbers and harmony (see Tetractys).
- TEN EXPRESSIONS
Using, as do the Rabbis, the expression, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," as one, we find nine other expressions in the first chapter of Genesis in which "God said"; thus making ten expressions by which the world was created. There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show that God was long-suffering before he deluged the earth. For a similar reason, says the Talmud, there were ten generations from Noah to Abraham, until the latter "took the reward of them all." Abraham was proved with ten trials. Ten miracles were wrought for the children of Israel in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea. Ten plagues afflicted the Egyptians in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea. And ten miracles were wrought in the Holy Temple (see Ten).
- TENGU
A significant word in the advanced Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The original old French rituals explain it, and say that it and two other words that accompany are formed out of the initials of the words of a particular sentence which has reference to the Sacred Treasure of Freemasonry.
- TEST WORD
In the year 1829, during the anti- Masonic excitement in America, the Grand Lodge of New York proposed, as a safeguard against "the introduction of impostors among the workmen," a test word to be used in all examinations in addition to the legitimate tests. But as this was deemed an innovation on the Landmarks, and as it was impossible that it could ever become universal, the Grand Lodges of the United States very properly rejected it, and it was never used.
- TETRACTYS
The Greek word signifies, literally, the number four, and is therefore synonymous with the quaternion; but it has been peculiarly applied to a symbol of the Pythagoreans, which is composed of ten dots arranged in a triangular form of four rows.
This figure was in itself, as a whole, emblematic of the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of four letters, for tetractys, in Greek, means Jour, and was undoubtedly learned by Pythagoras during his visit to Babylon. But the parts of which it is composed were also pregnant symbols. Thus the one point was a symbol of the Active Principle or Creator, the two points of the Passive Principle or Matter, the three of the world proceeding from their union, and the four of the liberal arts and sciences, which may be said to complete and perfect that world.
This arrangement of the ten points in a triangular form was called the tetractys or number four, because each of the sides of the triangle consisted of four points, and the whole number of ten was made up by the summation of the first four figures, 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10.
Hierocles says, in his Commentaries on the Golden Verses (v, page 47): "But how comes God to be the Tetractys? This thou mayst learn in the sacred book ascribed to Pythagoras, in which God is celebrated as the number of numbers. For if all things exist by His eternal decrees, it is evident that in each species of things the number depends on the cause that produces them.... Now the power of ten is four; for before we come to a complete and perfect decade, we discover all the virtue and perfection of the ten in the four. Thus, in assembling all numbers from one to four inclusive, the whole composition makes ten," etc.
Dacier, in his notes on these Commentaries and on this particular passage, remarks that "Pythagoras, having learned in Egypt the name of the true God, the Mysterious and Ineffable Name Jehovah, and finding that in the original tongue it was composed of four letters, translated it into his own language by the word tetractys, and gave the true explanation of it, saying that it properly signified the source of nature that perpetually rolls along."
So much did the disciples of Pythagoras venerate tetractys, that it is said that they took their most solemn oaths, especially that of initiation, upon it. The exact words of the oath are given in the Golden Verses, and are referred to by Jamblichus in his Life of Pythagoras.
I swear it by Him who has transmitted into our soul the sacred tetractys The source of nature, whose course is eternal.
Jamblichus gives a different phraseology of the oath, but with substantially the same meaning. In the symbols of Freemasonry, we will find the sacred Delta bearing the nearest analogy to the tectractys of the Pythagoreans.
The outline of these points form, it will be perceived, a triangle; and if we draw short lines from point to point, we will have within this great triangle nine smaller ones. Doctor Hemming, in his revision of the English lectures, adopted in 1813, thus explains this symbol:
The great triangle is generally denominated Pythsoorean, because it served as a principal illustration of that philosopher's system. This emblem powerfully elucidates the mystical relation between the numerical and geometrical symbols. It is Composed of ten points so arranged as to form one great equilateral triangle and at the same time to divide it into nine similar triangles of smaller dimensions. The first of these, representing unity, is Called a monad, and answers to what is denominated a point in geometry, each being the principle by the multiplication of which all Combinations of form and number are respectively generated. The next two points are denominated a dead, representing the number two, and answers to the geometrical line which, consisting of length without breadth, is hounded by two extreme points. The three following points are called the triad, representing the number three, and may be considered asks having an indissoluble relation to all superficies which consist of length and breadth, when Contemplated as abstraeted from thickness. Doctor Hemming does not appear to have improved on the Pythagorean symbolization.
- TETRADITES
Believers in the occult powers of the numeral four, and in a Godhead of four persons in lien of three In this connection, the figure is worthy of examination, it being a star of five points enclosing the three letters of the ineffable Names but forming the Tetragrammaton, the Shem Hamphorash. This figure has been claimed to represent the Godhead.
- TETRAGRAMMATON
In Greek, it signifies, a word of four letters. It is the title given by the Talmudists to the name of God, Jehovah, which in the original Hebrew Consists of four letters (see Jehovah) .
- TEUTONIC KNIGHTS
The origin of this Order was a humble but a pious one. During the Crusades a wealthy gentleman of Germany, who resided at Jerusalem, commiserating the condition of his countrymen who came there as pilgrims, made his house their receptacle, and afterward built a hospital, to which, by the permission of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, he added an oratory dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Other Germans coming from Lubeck and Bremen contributed to the extension of this charity, and erected at Acre, during the third Crusade, a sumptuous hospital, and assumed the title of Teutonic Knights, or Brethren of the Hospital of our Lady of the Germans of Jerusalem. They elected Henry Walpott their first Master, and adopted for their government a Rule closely approximating to that both of the Templars and the Hospitalers, with an additional one that none but Germans should be admitted into the Order. Their dress consisted of a white mantle, with a black cross embroidered in gold. Clark says (History of Knighthood ii, page 60) that the original badge, which was assigned to them by the Emperor Henry VI, was a black cross potent; and that form of cross has ever Since been known as a Teutonic Cross. John, King of Jerusalem, added the cross double potent gold, that is, a cross potent of gold on the black cross. The word potent means a staff, the crossed or crutched ends of the cross arms suggesting the head of a walking stick. The Emperor Frederick II gave them the black double-headed eagle, to be borne in an inescutcheon, a small shield borne on another, in the center of the cross; and Saint Louis, of France, added to it, as an augmentation, a blue chief strewn with fleur-de-lis.
During the siege of Acre they did good service to the Christian cause; but on the fall of that city, the main body returned to Europe with Frederick II. For many years they were busily occupied in Crusades against the pagan inhabitants of Prussia and Poland. Ashmole says that in 1340 they built the city of Maryburg, and there established the residence of their Grand Master. They were for a long time engaged in contests with the Kings of Poland on account of the invasion of their territory. They were also excommunicated by Pope John XXII, but relying on their great strength, and the remoteness of their province, they bid defiance to ecclesiastical censures and the contest resulted in their receiving Prussia proper as a trust from the Kings of Poland.
In 1511, Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, was elected their Grand Master. In 1525 he abandoned the vows of his Order; became a Protestant, and exchanged his title of Grand Master for that of Duke of Eastern Prussia; and thus the dominion of the Knights was brought to an end, and the foundation laid of the future Kingdom of Prussia.
The Order, however, still continued its existence, the seat of the Grand Master being at Mergentheim, in Swabia. By the peace of Presburg, in 1805, the Emperor Francis II obtained the Grand Mastership, with all its rights and privileges. In 1809 Napoleon abolished the Order, but it continued a titular existence in Austria.
Attempts have been made to incorporate the Teutonic Knights into Freemasonry, and their cross has been adopted in some of the advanced Degrees. But we fail to find in history the slightest traces of any actual connection between the two Orders.
- TEXAS
The first Masonic meeting in Texas was held in a grove at Brazoria where in March, 1835, five Master Masons, John H. Wharton, Asa Brigham, James A. E. Phelps, Alexander Russell and Anson Jones, decided to open a Lodge. A Dispensation was granted by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana, and in spite of the danger attendant upon secret meetings at this time the Lodge was opened as Holland, No. 26, on December 27, 1835. War with Mexico interrupted the work of the Lodge, but it remained in existence until February, 1836.
When Brazoria was captured the records and all the belongings of the Lodge were destroyed and the members scattered. A Charter, however, had been issued and was brought to Texas by John M. Allen, and, in October, 1837, the only Lodge in Texas which existed prior to her separation from Mexico was reopened at Houston. Three Lodges, Milam, No. 40; McFarlane, No. 41, and Holland, No. 36, held a Convention at Houston in the winter of 1837-8 to form a Grand Lodge. The following officers were elected: Grand Master, Anson Jones; Deputy Grand Master, Adolphus Sterne; Senior Grand Warden, Jefferson Wright; Junior Grand Warden, Christopher Dart; Grand Secretary, G. H. Winched; Grand Treasurer, Thomas G. Western. The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana was adopted and the first Annual Communication arranged for April 1639.
December 9, 1835, on the application of Companions Samuel M. Williams, James H. C. Miller and others the General Grand Chapter decided to issue a Charter to San Filipe de Austin Chanter, No. 1. It was not established, however, until June 2, 1840, when Texas was no longer part of Mexico, and in the interval Dugald McFarlane had organized Cyrus Chapter under the authority of Matagorda Chapter. To consider the organization of a Grand Chapter, delegates from San Felipe de Austin, Cyrus, Lone Star, and Rising Star Chapters met in Austin December 14. 1841. On December 21 a Constitution was adopted. The Grand Lodge of Texas relinquished authority over the Chapters but the General Grand Chapter refused to recognize the new Grand Chapter because it had been instituted without authority. At its organization on December 30, 1850, four Chapters were represented, namely, San Felipe de Austin, No. 1; Washington, No. 2; Brenham, No. 5, and Brazos, No. 8. In 1861 it separated from the General Grand Chapter of the United States.
In the Minutes of Columbian Council, No. 1, of New York City, is mention of three Degrees conferred upon Companions John N. Reed and Ebenezer B. Nichols of Houston Chapter, No. 8. A Warrant, ratified January 31, 1848, was issued to them and William D. Smith, by the Grand Master, for Houston Council, No. 10. Columbia, No. 1; Alabama, No. 12, and Coleman Councils then sent delegates to Huntsville and organized a Grand Council which existed until 1865. William T. Austin of Galveston Council was elected Grand Master but his name was not in the Report of the Committee on Credentials and Galveston Council was not added to the roll until 1859. In 1864 it was arranged to surrender control of the Degrees to the Grand Chapter of Texas. From 1865 until December 3, 1907, they were worked in Council under the authority of a Chapter. In 1907 the Grand Council met again at Waco and resumed control of the Degrees. On November 9, 1909, the Grand Council was recognized, though still retaining its independence, by the General Grand Council.
San Felipe de Austin Cornmandery was chartered December 10, 1835, at Galveston. On December 13, 1853, the General Grand Master issued a Warrant for a Grand Encampment of Texas. Three Commanderies, San Filipe de Austin, No. 1; Ruthven, No. 2, and Palestine, No. 3, took part in its institution on January 18, 1855.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, began in Texas with the San Felipe, No. 1, Lodge of Perfection, chartered at Galveston, May 15, 1867. The Phillip C. Tucker Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1, was chartered January 31, 1882; the Pike-Tueker Couneil of Kadosh, No. 1, on October 6, 1898, and the Texas Consistory, No. 1, on November 18, 1899.
- T. G. A. O. T. U.
The initials of The Grand Architect of the Universe. Often used in this abbreviated form by Masonic writers.
- THAMMUZ
Spelled also Tammuz. A deity worshiped by the apostate Jews in the time of Ezekiel, and supposed by most commentators to be identical with the Syrian god Adonis (see Adonis, Mysteries of).
- THANKS
It is a usage of French Freemasonry, and in the advanced Degrees of some other Rites, for a candidate, after his initiation and the address of the orator to him, to return thanks to the Lodge for the honor that has been conferred upon him. It is a voluntary and not an obligatory duty, and is not practiced in the Lodges of the York and American Rites.
- THEISM
Theological writers have defined theism as being the belief in the existence of a Deity who, having created the world, directs its government by the constant exercise of His beneficent power, in contradistinction to atheism, which denies the existence of any such Creative and Superintending Being. In this sense, theism is the fundamental religion of Freemasonry, on which is Superimposed the additional and peculiar tenets of each of its disciples.
- THEOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY
This is a term invented by Dr. G. Oliver to indicate that view of Freemasonry which intimately connects its symbols With the teachings of pure religion, and traces them to the primeval revelations of God to man, so that the philosophy of Freemasonry shall develop the continual government of the Divine Being. Hence he says: "It is the Theocracies Philosophy of Freemasonry that commands our unqualified esteem, and seals in our heart that love for the Institution which will produce an active religious faith and practice, and lead in the end to 'a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' "He has developed this system in one of his works entitled The Theocratic Pilllosopy of Freemasonry, in twelve lectures on its Speculative, Operative, and Spurious Branches. In this work he enters with great minuteness into an examination of the speculative character of the Institution and of its operative division, which he contends had been practiced as an exclusively scientific pursuit from the earliest times in every country in the world. Many of the legendary speculations advanced in this work will be rejected at this day as unsound and untenable, but his views of the true philosophy of Freemasonry are worthy of profound study.
- THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
Under the name of the Cardinal Virtues, because all the other virtues hinged upon them, the ancient Pagans gave the most prominent place in their system of ethics to Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude, and Justice. But the three virtues taught in the theology of Saint Paul. Faith, Hope, and Charity, as such were unknown to them. To these, as taking a higher place and being more intimately connected with the relations of man to God, Christian writers have given the name of the Theological Virtues. They have been admitted into the system of Freemasonry, and are symbolized in the Theological Ladder of Jacob.
- THEOPASCHITES
Followers of Peter the Fuller, who flourished in the fifth century, and believed in the crucifixion of all three of the Godhead.
- THEORICUS
The Second Grade of the First Order of the ,Society of Rosicrucians (see Rosicrucianism). This is also the Twelfth Degree of the Cerman Rose Croix.
- THEOSOPHISTS
There were many theosophists —enthusiasts whom Vaughan calls "noble Specimens of the mystic" but those with whom the history of Freemasonry has most to do were the mystical religious thinkers of the eighteenth century, who supposed that they were possessed of a knowledge of the Divinity and His works by supernatural inspiration, or who regarded the foundation of their mystical tenets as resting on a sort of divine intuition. Such were ,Swedenborg, who, if not himself a Masonic reformer, has supplied the materials of many Degrees; the Moravian Brethren, the original object of Whose association is said to have been the propagation of the Gospel under the Masonic veil; Saint Martin, founder of the Philalethans; Pernettv, to whom we owe the Order of the Illuminati at Avignon; and Chastallier. who was the inventor of the Rite of Illuminated Theosophists.
'The object proposed in all these theosophic Degrees was the regeneration of man, and his reintegration into the primitive innocence from which he had fallen by original sin. Theosophic Freemasonry was, in fact, nothing else than an application of the speculative ideas of Jacob Böhme, of Swedenborg, and other mystical philosophers of the same class.
Vaughan, in his Hours with the Mystics (ii, page 46) thus describes the earlier theosophists of the four-teenth century "They believed devoutly in the genuineness of the Cabala. They were persuaded that, beneath all the floods of change, this oral tradition had perpetuated its life unharmed from the days of Moses downward—even as Jewish fable taught them that the cedars alone, of all trees, had continued to spread the strength of their invulnerable arms below the waters of the deluge. They rejoiced in the hidden lore of that book as in a treasure rich with the germs of all philosophy. They maintained that from its marvelous leaves man might learn the angelic heraldry of the skies, the mysteries of the Divine Nature the means of converse with the potentates of heaven."
Add to this an equal reverence for the unfathomable mysteries contained in the prophecies of Daniel and the vision of the Evangelist, with a proneness to give to everything Divine a symbolic interpretation, and you have the true character of those later theosophists who labored to invent their particular systems of Freemasonry. For more of this subject, see the article on Saint Martin. Nothing now remains of theosophic Freemasonry except the few traces left through the influence of Zinnendorf in the Swedish system, and what we find in the Apocalyptic Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The system of Swedenborg, Pernetty, Paschalis, Saint Martin, and Chastanier have all become obsolete.
- THERAPEUTAE
An ascetic sect of Jews in the first century after Christ, whom Milman calls the ancestors of the Christian monks and hermits. They resided near Alexandria, in Egypt, and bore a striking resemblance in their doctrines to those of the Essenians. They were, however, much influenced by the mystical school of Alexandria, and, while they borrowed much from the Cabala, partook also in their speculation of Pythagorean and Orphic ideas. Their system pervades some of the advanced Degrees of Freemasonry. The best amount of them is by Philo Judaeus. Name is from Greek meaning healing agents.
- THERIOG
The six hundred and thirteen precepts into which the Jews divided the Mosaical law. Thus the Hebrew letters :8nn numerically express 613 (see description of Talith).
- THEURGY
From the Greek Theos, meaning God and Ergon, work. The ancients thus called the whole art of magic—magic being understood here as the powers, influences or practices of supposed or pretended supernatural or occult art—because they believed its operations to be the result of an intercourse with the gods. But the moderns have appropriated it to that species of magic which operate by celestial means as opposed to natural magic, which is effected by a knowledge of the occult powers of nature, and necromancy or magic effected by the aid of evil spirits. Attempts have been made by some speculative authors to apply this high medics as it is also called, to an interpretation of Masonic symbolism. A most prolific writer is Alphonse Louis Constant, who, under the name of Eliphaz Levi, has given to the world numerous works on the dogma and ritual, the history and the interpretation, of this theurgic Freemasonry.
- THIRD DEGREE
See Master Mason
- THIRTEEN, THE
Has had reference to a couple of organizations. A Parisian society claiming to exercise an occult influence during the First Empire. A society of formerly growing proportions in the United States, intended to confound and uproot superstition, with an indirect reference to King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table and the Judas of infamy at the Last Supper of the twelve Apostles with the Master (Matthew xxvi, 2S5).
- THIRTY-SECOND DEGREE
See Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret
- THIRTY-SIX
In the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers, thirty-six symbolized the male and female powers of nature united, because it is composed of the sum of the four odd numbers, 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16, added to the sum of the four even numbers, 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20, for 16 + 20 = 36. It has, however, no place among the sacred numbers of Freemasonry.
- THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE
See Sovereign Grand Inspector General
- THOKATH
The Hebrew word meaning Strength. An expression known to the Brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in the Twelfth Degree.
- THOMAS, ISAIAH
Grand Master, Massachusetts, 1803 and 1805 at the same time that Right Worshipful Henry Fowle served the same Grand Lodge as Junior Grand Deacon; an American printer and publisher of several patriotic magazines just previous to the American Revolution. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 19, 1749, apprenticed to Zechariah Fowle, a printer, 1755, he owned the Massachusetts Spy advocating the Whig policies and the Government endeavored to suppress the publication. Three days before the Battle of Concord, April 16, 1775, he moved his printing presses to Worcester. He was postmaster for a time and here also he published books, built a paper-mill and bindery, and distributed the Spy until 1802. The paper was discontinued, however, during the stormy interval between 1776 and 1778 and again between 1786 and 1788. This publication was an ardent supporter of Washington and the Federalists. Brother Thomas published the Royal American Magazine in 1774 which contained from time to time numerous engravings by the famous Paul Revere, afterwards Grand Master. Between 1775 and 1803 Thomas brought out the New England Almanac, which his son continued until 1819. In Boston he published monthly from 1789 to 1793 the Massachusetts Magazine. At Walpole, New Hampshire, he edited the Farmer's Museum. Among the noteworthy deeds of Brother Thomas was the founding of the American Antiquarian Society in 1812. His death occurred in 1831, April 4, at Worcester.
- THOMISTS
An ancient Christian church in Malabar, said to have been founded by Saint Thomas
- THOMSON, MATTHEW McBLAIN
See Clang destine
- THOR or THORR
contracted from Thonar, and sometimes known as Donar. This deity presided over the mischievous spirits in the elements, and was the son of Odin and Freya. These three were known in mythology as the triune deity—the Father, Son, and Spirit Thor's great weapon of destruction or force was the Miolner, the hammer or mallet, which had the marvelous property of invariably returning to its owner after having been launched upon its mission, and having performed its work of destruction.
- THREE FIRES
Guardians of the Sixty-seventh Degree of the Modern Rite of Memphis.
- THREEFOLD CORD
A triple cord whose strands are of different colors; it is used in several Rites as an instructive symbol (see Seneclar). A striking allusion to the strength of a triple cord is found in Ecclesiastics (iv, 12) "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Yet we must remember, as Whittier says in the Moral Warfare of the cause at heart, So let it be in God's own might We gird us for the coming fight And, strong in Him whose cause is ours In conflict with unholy powers, We grasp the weapons He has given,— The Light, and Truth, and Love of Heaven.
- THREE GLOBES, RITE OF THE GRAND LODGE OF THE
On September 13, 1740, the Lodge of the Three Globes. zu den drei Wellkugeln, was established in the City of Berlin, Prussia. In 1744 it assumed the rank and title of a Grand Mother Lodge. At first it worked, like all the other Lodges of Germany, in the English system of three Degrees, and adopted the English Book of Constitutions as its law. But it subsequently became infected with the advanced Degrees, which were at one time so popular in Germany, and especially with the Striet Observance system of Von Hund, which it accepted in 1766. At the extinction of that system the Grand Lodge adopted one of its own, in doing which it was assisted by the labors of Dr. I. F. Zollner, the Grand Master. Its Rite became one of seven higher Degrees added to the three primitive. The latter were under the control of the Grand Lodge; but the seven higher ones were governed by an Internal or Inner Supreme Orient, whose members were, however, elected by the Grand Lodge.
- THREE GRAND OFFERINGS
See Ground Floor of the Lodge
- THREE POINTS
Three points in a triangular form are placed after letters in a Masonic document to indicate that such letters are the initials of a Masonic title or of a technical word in Freemasonry, as G. M. for Grand Master, or G. L. for Grand Lodge. It is not a symbol, but simply a mark of abbreviation. The attempt, therefore, to trace it to the Hebrew three yods, a Cabalistic sign of the Tetragrammaton, or any other ancient symbol, is futile. It is an abbreviation, and nothing more; although it is probable that the idea was suggested by the sacred character of the number three as a Masonic number, and these tree dots might refer to the position of the three officers in a French Lodge. Ragon says (Orthodoxie Maçonnique, page 71) that the mark was first used by the Grand Orient of France in a circular issued August 12, 1774, in which we read "G. O. de France." A common expression of anti-Masonic writers in France when referring to the Brethren of the Craft is Fréres Trois Points, Three Point Brothers, a term cultivated in their mischief survives in honor because reminding the brotherhood of cherished association and symbols. The abbreviation is now constantly used in French documents, and, although not accepted by the English Freemasons, has been very generally adopted in other countries. In the United States, the use of this abbreviation is gradually extending.
- THREE SACRED UTENSILS
These were the vessels of the Tabernacle as to which the Rev. W Joseph Barclay, LL.D., makes the following quotation: "Rabbi José, son of Rabbi Judah, said a fiery Ark, and a fiery Table, and a fiery Candlestick descended from heaven. And Moses saw them, and made according to their similitude"; and thus comments: "They also think that the Ark of the Covenant is concealed in a chamber under the Temple Enclosure, and that it and all the holy vessels will be found at the coming of the Messiah."
The Apocrypha, however, informs us that Jeremiah laid the Tabernacle, and the Ark, and the Altar of Incense in a "hollow cave, in the mountain, where Moses climbed up and saw the heritage of God. And the place shall be unknown until the time that God gather his people again together, and receive them into Mercy" (Second Maccabees ii, 7).
The sacred vessels, which were taken to Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and are now seen Sculptured on the Arch of Titus, were carried off to Africa by the Vandals under Genseric. Belisarius took them to Constantinople in 520 A D. They were afterward sent back to Jerusalem, and thence they are supposed to have been carried to Persia, When Chosroes plundered the Holy City, in June, 614 A.D.
- THREE SENSES
Of the five human senses, the three which are the most important in Masonic symbolism are Seeing, Hearing, and Feeling, because of their respective reference to certain modes of recognition, and because, by their use, Freemasons are enabled to practice that universal language the possession of which is the boast of the Order.
- THREE STEPS
See Steps on the Master's Carpet
- THRESHING FLOOR
among the Hebrews, circular spots of hard ground were used, as now, for the purpose of threshing corn. After they were properly prepared for the purpose, they became permanent possessions. One of these, the property of Ornan the Jehusite, was on Mount Moriah (First Chronieles xxi, 15 28). It was purchased by David, for a place of sacrifice, for six hundred shekels of gold, and on it the Temple was afterward built. Hence it is sometimes used as a symbolic name for the Temple of Solomon or for a Master's Lodge. Thus it is said in the instructions that the Freemason comes "from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Masonry lost" and that he is traveling "to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Masonry found."
The interpretation of this rather abstruse symbolic expression is that on his initiation the Freemason comes out of the profane world, where there is ignorance and darkness and Confusion as there was at Babel, and that he is approaching the Masonic world, where, as at the Temple built on Ornan's threshing floor, there is knowledge and light and order.
- THRONE
The seat occupied by the Grand Master in the Grand Lodge of England is called the throne, in allusion, probably, to the throne of Solomon. In American Grand Lodges it is styled the Oriental Chair of King Solomon, a title which is also given to the seat of the Master of a subordinate Lodge. In ecclesiology, the seat in a Cathedral occupied by a Bishop is called a throne; and in the Middle Ages, according to Du Cange, the same title was not only applied to the seats of Bishops, but often also to those of Abbots, or even Priests who were in possession of titles or churches.
- THUGS
A Hindu Association that offered human sacrifices to their divinity Kali. It was dreaded for its violence and the fierceness of its members, who were termed either Stranglers or Aspirants.
- THUMMIM
See Urim and Thummim
- THURIBLE
From Thur, or Thus meaning frankincentse, and ible which has here the same significance as the English suffix able, as in serviceable, the word Thurible, is in Latin Thuribulum. A metallic censer for burning incense. It is of various forms, but generally in that of an ornamental cup suspended bv chains, whereby the Thurlfer or center bearer keeps the incense burning and diffuses the perfume.
- THURIFER
The bearer of the thurible, or center, prepared with frankincense, and used by the Roman Catholic Church at Mass and other ceremonials; ats also in the Philosophic Degrees of Freemasonry.
- THURSDAY
The fifth day of the week. So called from its being originally consecrated to Thor, or the Icelandic Thorr, the god of thunder, answering to the Jove of the Romans.
- TIE
The first clause in the Covenant of Freemasonry which refers to the preservation of the secrets is technically called the tie. It is substantially the same in the Covenant of each Degree, from the lowest to the highest.
- TIE, MYSTIC
See Mystic Tie
- TIERCE, DE LA
He was the first translator of Anderson's Constitutions into French, the manuscript of which he says that he prepared during his residence in London. He afterward published it at Frankfort, in 1743, with the title of Histoire, Obligations et Statuts de la tres venerable Confraternite des Francs-Maçons, tires de leurs archives et conformis auz traditions les pluts anciennes, etc., History, Obligations and Statutes of the very venerable Confraternity of the Freemasons, taken from their archives and agreeable to the most ancient traditions, etc. His work contains a translation into French of the Old Charges — the General Regulations — and manner of constituting a new Lodge, as given by Anderson in 1723. De la Tierce is said to have been, while in London, an intimate friend of Anderson, the first edition of whose Constitutions he used when he compiled his manuscript in 1725. But he improved on Anderson's work by dividing the history in epochs. This course Anderson pursued in his second edition; which circumstance has led Schneider, in the Neuen Journale zur Freimaurerei, to suppose that in writing that second edition, Anderson was aided by the previous labors of De la Tierce, of whose work he was most probably in possession.
- TILE
A Lodge is said to be tiled when the necessary precautions have been taken to prevent the approach of unauthorized persons; and it is said to be the first duty of every Freemason to see that this is done before the Lodge is opened. The words to tile are sometimes used in the same sense as to examine, as when it is said that a visitor has been tiled, that is, has been examined. But the expression is not in general use, and does not seem to be a correct employment of the term. The English expression close tyled means that a Lodge is formally secluded against all persons not fully qualified and authorized to enter.
- TILER
An officer of a Symbolic Lodge, whose duty is to guard the door of the Lodge, and to permit no one to pass in who is not duly qualified, and who has not the permission of the Master. A necessary qualification of a Tiler is, therefore, that he should be a Master Mason. Although the Lodge may be opened in an inferior Degree, no one who has not advanced to the Third Degree can legally discharge the functions of Tiler.
As the Tiler is always compensated for his services, he is considered, in some sense, as the servant of the Lodge. It is, therefore, his duty to prepare the Lodge for its meetings, to arrange the furniture in its proper place, and to make all other arrangements for the convenience of the Lodge. The Tiler need not be a member of the Lodge which he tiles; and in fact, in large cities, one Brother very often performs the duties of Tiler of several Lodges.
This is a very important office, and, like that of the Master and Wardens, owes its existence, not to any conventional regulations, but to the very landmarks of the order; for, from the peculiar nature of our Institution, it is evident that there never could have been a meeting of Freemasons for Masonic purposes, unless a Tiler had been present to guard the Lodge from intrusion. The title is derived from the Operative Art; for as in Operative MasGnry the Tiler, when the edifice is erected, finishes and covers it with the roof of tiles, so in Speculative Masonry, when the Lodge is duly organized, the Tiler closes the door and covers the sacred precincts from all intrusion.
- TlLER'S OATH
See Oath, Tiler's
- TILER'S SWORD, BREAKING
See Sword, Tiler's
- TILLY DE GRASSE
See Grasse, Tilly de
- TILUK
The sacred impress made upon the forehead of the Brahman, like unto the Tau to the Hebrew, or the Cross to the Christian.
- TIMBRE
The French Freemasons so call a stamp, consisting of the initials or monogram of the Lodge, which is impressed in black or red ink upon every official document emanating from the Lodge. When such a document has the seal also attached, it is said to be timbrée et scene that is, stamped tend sealed. The timbre, which differs from the seal, is not used in English or American Lodges.
- TIME
The image of Tizee, under the conventional figure of a winged old man with the customary scythe and hour-glass, has been adopted as one of the modern symbols in the Third Degree. He is represented as attempting to disentangle the ringlets of a weeping virgin who stands before him. This, which is apparently a never-ending task, but one which Time undertakes to perform, is intended to teach the Freemasons that time, patience and perseverance will enable him to accomplish the great object of a Freemason's labor, and at last to obtain the true Word which is the symbol of Divine Truth. Time, therefore, is in this connection the symbol of well-directed perseverance in the performance of duty.
This symbol with the broken column, so familiar to all Freemasons in the United States is probably an American innovation (see Aroken Column, also Monument, and Weeping Virgin).
- TIME AND CIRCUMSTANCES
The answer to the question "Has he made suitable proficiency?" has been sometimes made, "Such as time and circumstances would permit." This is an error, and may be a mischievous one, as leading to a careless preparation of the candidate for qualification to advancement. The correct answer is "Ele has" (see Advancement, Hurried) .
- TIMOR ISLAND
See Oceania
- TIRSHATHA
The title given to the Persian governors of Judea. It was borne by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. It is supposed to be derived from the Persian borsch, meaning austere or severe, and is therefore, says Gesenius, equivalent to Your Seventy. It is in the modern ritual of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States the title of the presiding officer of a Council of Princes of Jerusalem. It is also the title of the presiding officer of the Royal Order of Heredom of Kilwinning.
- TISRI
The Hebrew word. The first month of the Hebrew civil year, and corresponding to the month of September and October, beginning with the new moon of the former.
- TITAN OF THE CAUCASUS
The fifty-third Degree of the Memphis Rite.
- TITLES
The titles conferred in the rituals of Freemasonry upon various officers are often apparently grandiloquent, lofty, and have given occasion to some, who have not fully understood their true meaning, to call them absurd and bombastic. On this subject Brother Albert Pike has, in the following remarks, given a just significance to Masonic titles:
Some of these titles we retain, but they have with us meanings entirely consistent with the spirit of equality, which is the foundation and peremptory law of its being, of all Freemasonry. The Knight, with us, is he who devotes his hand, his heart, his brain to the service of freemasonry, and professes himself the sworn soldier of truth: the Prince is he who aims to be chief, Princeps. first, leader among his equals, in virtue and good deeds: the Sovereign is he who, one of an Order whose members are all sovereigns, is supreme only because the law and Constitutions are so which he administers, and by which he like every other Brother, is governed. The titles Puissant, Potent, Wise, and Venerable indicate that power of virtue, intelligence, and wisdom which those ought to strive to attain who are placed in high offices by the suffrages of their Brethren, and all our other titles and designations have an esoteric meaning consistent with modesty and equality and which those who receive them should fully understand.
(See also Sermons, Masonic.)
A further welcome consideration of the subject is by Canon J. W. Horsley, who compares Masonic titles with those of the Episcopal Church, particularly the Church of England. Brother Horsley writes in Transactions, Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1910 (part 2, volume X.Viii, page 98) that it may be obvious to the observing, but all people do not observe, that many of the names and titles used in Freemasonry and its organization have been borrowed directly and in their proper order from the Church of England. He invited an examination of the following illustrations.
1. The Church of England has at its head the two Primates of Canterbury and of York, and their official title is The Most Reverend. Masonry therefore has The Most Worshipful Grand Master, and Pro-Grand Master.
2. Under them in the hierarchy come the Right Reverend the Bishops. So Masonry puts next to its heads The Right Worshipful the Deputy Grand Master, The Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Masters, and The Right Worshipful Grand Wardens.
3. The next title of honor or office in the Church is that of Very Reverend applied to Deans or Heads of Cathedral Chapters. Hence Very Worshipful as designating Grand Chaplain, Grand Treasurers, Registrar, Secretary, Director of Ceremonies, and President of the Board of Benevolence.
4. The unit of the Parish brings us to the parallel of The Reverend Parish Priests and The Worshipful the Master of a Lodge. Each is assisted by two Wardens and the association for many legal and administrative purposes of Rector and Church Wardens is as real and close as that of Master and Wardens.
5. One might here note the resemblance between the ceremony of the induction of the Priest into the benefice or care of a Parish and that of the installation of a Mason as Master of a Lodge. In the case of the more formal appointing of a Canon the resemblance is more marked by the ecclesiastical use of the word "installation" and moreover by the character of the physical act whereby the Bishop puts the new Canon into his Stall with a ritual that comes with no novelty to one who has previously been installed as the Master of a Lodge.
6. Reverting to the fact that of the two Primates the Archbishop of Canterbury is termed Primate of All England and the Archbishop of York the Primate of England, we may recall the time when in the early part of the 18th century there was a Grand Lodge of All England and a Grand Lodge of England.
7. Why certain groupings of Lodges are called Provinces may have puzzled some. Not so, however, those who as Churchmen were familiar with the division of lingland into the Province of Canterbury and the Province of York.
- TITLES OF GRAND LODGES
The title of the Grand Lodge of England is "The United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. " That of Ireland is "The Grand Masonic Lodge. " Of Scotland, "The Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons." Those of France are "The Grand Lodge of France," "The National Independent and Regular Grand Lodge of France and the French Colonies," and "The Grand Orient." The same title is taken by the Grand Lodges or Supreme Masonic authorities of Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Greece, and also by the Grand Lodges of all the South American States. Of the German Grand Lodged the only three that have distinctive titles are "The Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three Globes," "The Grand National Lodge of Germany," and "The Grand Lodge Royal York of Friendship." In Sweden and Denmark they are simply called "Grand Lodges." In the English possessions of North America they are also called "Grand Lodges."
In the United States the title of the Grand Lodge of Maine, of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, of Alabama, of Illinois, of Iowa, of Wisconsin, of Minnesota, of Worth Carolina, and of Oregon, is the "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons"; of Pennsylvania, "The Right Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, and Masonic Jurisdiction There unto Belonging"; of Ohio, "The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons"; of New Hampshire, of Vermont, of New York, of New Jersey, of Arkansas, and of Indiana, it is "The Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons"; of Maryland, of the District of Columbia, of Florida, of Michigan, of Missouri, and of California, is "Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons"; of South Carolina is "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons"; of all the other States the title is simply the "Grand Lodge."
- TITO
A significant word in the advanced Degrees. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite rituals give the name of Tito, Prince Harodim, to him who they say was the first who was appointed by Solomon a Provost and Judge. This person appears to be altogether mythical; the word is not found in the Hebrew language, nor has any meaning been given to it. He is represented as having been a favorite of the King of Israel.
He is said to have ruled over the Lodge of the Intendants of the Building, and to have been one of the twelve illustrious knights who were set over the Twelve Tribes, that of Naphtali being placed under his care. The whole of this legend is, of course, connected with the symbolic signification of those Degrees.
- TOASTS
- TOASTE
Anderson says (Constitutions, 1738, page 110) that in 1719 Doctor Desaguliers, having been installed Grand Master, "forthwith revived the old, regular, and peculiar toasts or healths of the Freemasons." If Anderson's statements could be implicitly trusted as historical facts, we should have to conclude that a system of regulated toasts prevailed in the Lodges before the revival. The custom of drinking healths at banquets is a very old one, and can be traced to the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans. From them it was handed down to the moderns, and especially in England we find the "waeshael" of the Saxons, a term used in drinking, and equivalent to the modern phrase, "Your health."
Steele, in the Tatler, intimates that the word toast began to be applied to the drinking of healths in the early part of the eighteenth century. And although his account of the origin of the word has been contested, it is very evident that the drinking of toasts was a universal custom in the clubs and festive associations which were common in London about the time of the revival of Freemasonry. It is therefore to be presumed that the Masonic Lodges did not escape the influences of the convivial spirit of that age, and drinking in the Lodge-room during the hours of refreshment was a usual custom, but, as Doctor Oliver observes, all excess was avoided, and the confidentialities of freemasonry were regulated by the Old Charges, which directed the Brethren to enjoy themselves with decent mirth, not forcing any Brother to eat or drink beyond his inclination, nor hindering him from going home when he pleased The drinking was conducted by rule, the Master giving the toast, but first inquiring of the Senior Wardens "Are sou charged in the West, Brother Senior?" and of the Junior Wardens "Are you charged in the South, brother Junior?" to which appropriate replies being made, the toast was drunk with honors peculiar to the Institution. In an old Masonic song, the following stanza occurs:
- "Are you charged in the West? are you charged in the South? "
- The Worshipful Master cries.
- "We are charged in the West, we are charged in the South.'
- Each Warden prompt replies.
One of the catechetical works of the eighteenth century thus described the drinking customs of the Freemasons of that period: "The table being plentifully supplied with seine and punch, every man has a glass set before him, and fills it with what he chooses. But he must drink his glass in turn, or at least keep the motion with the rest. When, therefore, a public health is given, the Master fills first, and desires the Brethren to charge their glasses; and when this is supposed to be done, the Master says, Brethren, are -you all charged? The Senior and Junior Wardens answer, we are all charged in the South and West. Then they all stand up, and observing the Master's motions, like the soldier his right-hand man, drink their glasses off."
Another Work of the same period says that the first toast given was, The Sting and the Craft." But a still older work gives what it calls "A Free-Mason's Health" in the following words: "Here's a health to our Society and to every faithful Brother that keeps his oath of secrecy. As we are sworn to love each other, the world no Order knows lice this our noble and ancient Fraternity. Let them wonder at the Mystery. Here, brother, I drink to thee."
In time the toasts improved in their style, and were deemed of so much importance that lists of them, for the benefit of those who were deficient of inventive genius, were published in all the pocketbooks, calendars, and song books of the Order. thus a large collection is to be found in the Masonic Miscellanies of Stephen Jones. A few of them will show their technical character: "To the secret and silent"; "To the memory of the distinguished Three." "To all that live within compass and square"; "To the memory of the Tyrian Artists." "To him that first the word began," etc. But there was a regular series of toasts which, besides these voluntary ones, were always given at the refreshments of the Brethren. Thus, whether or no the reigning sovereign happened to be a member of the Fraternity, the first toast given was always "The King and the Craft." And the final toast by the Tiler, common in most English speaking countries still never be forgotten. In the French Lodges the drinking of toasts was, with the word itself, borrowed from England. It was, however, Subjected to strict rules, from which there could be no departure. Seven toasts were called Santas d'obligation, the Obligatory Healths, because drinking them was made obligatory, and could not be omitted at the Lodge banquet.
They were as follows:
- 1. The health of the Sovereign and his family.
- 2. That of the Grand Master and the chiefs of the Order.
- 3. That of the Master of the Lodge. 4. That of the Wardens.
- 5. That of the other officers..
- 6. That of the Visitors.
- 7. That of all Freemasons wheresoever spread over the two hemispheres.
In 1872, the Grand Orient, after long discussions reduced the number of Santés d'obligation from seven to four, and changed their character.
They were revised thus.
- 1. To the Grand Orient of France, the Lodges of its correspondences and foreign Grand Orients.
- 2. To the Master of the Lodge.
- 3 To the Wardens, the officers, affiliated Lodges, and Visiting Brethren.
- 4. To all Freemasons existing on each hemisphere.
The systematized method of drinking toasts, which in an elaborate fashion once prevailed in the Lodges of the English-speaking countries, has been, to some extent, abandoned; yet a few toasts still remain, which, although not absolutely obligatory, are still never omitted. Thus no Masonic Lodge would neglect at its banquet to offer, as its first toast, a sentiment expressive of respect for the Grand Lodge. With the temperance movement there has been a grooving check upon the use of stimulants with these expressions of good will and affection, and in the United States old customs have been modified materially.
The venerable Doctor Oliver was a great admirer of the custom of drinking Masonic toasts, and panegyrizes it in his Book of the Lodge (page 147). He says that at the time of refreshment in a Masonic Lodge "the song appeared to have more zest than in a private company; the toast thrilled more vividly upon the recollection; and the Small modicum of punch with which it was honored retained a higher flavor than the same potation if produced at a private board." And he adds, as a specimen, the following "characteristic toast," which he says has always received with a "profound expression of pleasure."
- To him that all things understood
- To him that found the stone and wood,
- To him that hapless lost his blood
- In doing of his duty
- To that blest age and that blest morn
- Whereon those three great men were born
- Our noble science to adorn
- With Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
It is not surprising that he should afterward pathetically deplore the discontinuance of the custom. Brother Sir Walter Scott has in the Knight's Toast beautifully expressed a sentiment of sincere affection evoked by a demand in some jovial company that the speaker would voice his homage of some cherished loved one for the honor of their united applause, a versification by our Brother Craftsman deserving of record here as follows:
- Saint Leon raised his kindling eve
- And lifts the sparkling cup on high;
- "I drink to one,' he said,
- ' Whose image never may depart,
- Deep graven on this grateful heart
- Till memory be dead."
- Saint Leon paused, as if he would
- Not breathe her name in careless mood
- Thus lightly to another;
- Then bent his noble heads as though
- To give the word the reverence due,
- And gently said, My mother!
- TOFFET
See Tabaor
- TOKEN
The word token is derived from the Anglo-Saxon tacen, which means a sign, presage, type, or representation, that which points out something; and this is traced to taecan, to teach, show, or instruct, because by a token we show or instruct others as to what we are. Bailey, whose Dictionary was published soon after the Revival, defines it as "a sign or mark"; but it is singular that the word is not found in either of the dictionaries of Phillips or Blount, which were the most popular glossaries in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The word was, however, well known to the Fraternity, and was in use at the time of the Revival with precisely the same meaning that is now given to it as a mode of recognition.
The Hebrew word oth, is frequently used in Scripture to signify a sign or memorial of something past, some covenant made or promise given. thus God says to Noah, of the rainbow, "it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth"; and to Abraham he says of circumcision, " it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you." In Freemasonry, the grip of recognition is called a token, because it is an outward sign of the covenant of friendship and fellowship entered into between the members of the Fraternity, and is to be considered as a memorial of that covenant which was made, when it was first received by the candidate, between him and the Order into which he was then initiated.
Neither the French nor the German Freemasons have a word precisely equivalent to token. Krause translates it by merkmale, a sign or representation, but which has no technical Masonic Signification.. The French have only attachment, which means the act of touching or clasping hands; and the Germans, griff, which is the same as the English grip. In the technical use of the word token, the English-speaking Freemasons have an advantage not possessed by those of any other country.
- TOLAND, JOHN
Born on November 30, 1670, near Londonderry, Ireland; died March 11, 1722/3, near London, England. An industrious and independent writer upon religious matters he frequently became involved in disputes. His last work, Pantheisticon (a title derived mainly from two Greek words and meaning God is all and all is God), gave much offense to those who deemed it a presumptuous imitation of the forms for church worship. Whether there were really Such Societies of pantheists was also questioned (see John Poland, un Pretcurseur de la Franc-Maçonnerie, Lantoine, Paris, 1927, which also contains copy of the Pantheisticon). Toland describes the Meeting — actual or imaginary as it may have been - of a society where the mutual understanding of philosophy and morals is by question and answer.
- TOLERANCE LODGE
When the initiation of Jews was forbidden in the Prussian Lodges, two brethren of Berlin, Von Hirschfeld and Catter, induced by a spirit of toleration, organized a Lodge in Berlin for the express purpose of initiating Jews, to which they gave the appropriate name of Tolerance Lodge. This Lodge was not recognized by the Masonic authorities.
- TOLERATION
The grand characteristic of Freemasonry is its toleration in religion and polities. In respect to the latter, its toleration has no limit. The question of a man's political opinions is not permitted to be broached in the Lodge; in reference to the former, it requires only that, to use the language of the Old Charge, Freemasons shall be of "that Religion in which all men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves" (Constitutions, 17:23, page 63).
The same Old Charges say (page 68), You may enjoy yourselves with innocent Mirth treating one another according to ability, but avoiding all Excess, or forcing any brother to eat or drink beyond his Inclination, or hindering him from going when his Occasions call him, or doing or saying any thing offensive or that may forbid an easy and free Conversation, for that would blast our Harmony, and defeat our laudable Purposes. Therefore no private Piques or Quarrels must be brought within the Door of the Lodge, far less any Quarrels about Religion, or Nations, or State Policy, being only, as Masons, of the Catholic Religion above-mentioned: we are also of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages, and are resolved against all Politicks, as what never yet conduced to the Welfare of the Lodge, nor ever will. This Charge has been always strictly enjoined and observed; but especially ever since the Reformation in Britain, or the Dissent and Secession of these Nations from the Communion of Rome.
- TOMB OF ADONIRAM
Margoliouth, in his History of the Jews, tells the legend that at Saguntum in Spain, a sepulcher was found four hundred years ago, with the following Hebrew inscription:
This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute and died on the day—" Margoliouth, who believes the mythical story, says that the Jesuit Villepandus, being desirous of ascertaining if the statements concerning the tomb were true, directed the Jesuit students who resided at Murviedro a small village erected upon the ruins of Saguntum, to make diligent search for the tomb and inscription. After thorough investigation, the Jesuit Students were shown a stone on which appeared a Hebrew inscription, much defaced and nearly obliterated. which the natives stated was the stone of Solomon's collector. Still unsatisfied, they made further search , and discovered a manuscript written in antique Spanish and carefully preserved in the citadel in which the following entry was made:"At Saguntum in the citadel, in the year of our Lord 1480, a little more or less, was discovered a sepulchre of surprising antiquity. It contained an embalmed corpse, not of the usual stature, but taller than is common. It had and still retains on the front two lines in the Hebrew language and characters, the sense of which is: 'The sepulchre of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came hither to collect tribute."
The story has far more the appearance of a Talmudic or a Rosicrucian legend than that of a historical narrative.
- TOMB OF HIRAM ABIF
All that is said of it in Freemasonry is more properly referred to in the article on the Monument in the Third Degree (see Monument).
- TOMB OF HIRAM OF TYRE
Five miles to the East of the City of Tyre is an ancient monument, called by the natives Kabr Hairan, or the Comb of Hiram. The tradition that the King of Tyre was there interred rests only on the authority of the natives. It bears about it, however, the unmistakable marks of extreme antiquity, and, as Thompson says (The Land and The Boots, page 196), there is nothing in the monument itself inconsistent with the idea that it marks the final resting-place of that friend of Solomon. He thus describes it:
The base consists of two tiers of great stones, each three feet thick, thirteen feet long, and eight feet eight inches broad. Above this is one huge stone, a little more than fifteen feet long, ten broad, and three feet four inches thick. Over this is another, twelve feet three inches long eight broad, and six high. The top stone is a little smaller every way, and only five feet thick. The entire height is twenty-one feet. There is nothing like it in this country, and it may even have stood, as it now does, ever since the days of Solomon. These large broken sarcophagi scattered around it are assigned by tradition to Hiram's mother wife, and family.
Doctor Morris, who visited the spot in 1868, gives a different measurement, which is probably more accurate than that of Thompson. According to him, the first tier is 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 4 feet thick. Second tier, 14 feet long, 8 feet 8 inches broad, 2 feet 10 inches thick. Third tier, 15 feet 1 inch long, 9 feet 11 inches broad, 2 feet 11 inches thick. Fourth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad, 6 feet 5 inches thick. Fifth tier, 12 feet 11 inches long, 7 feet 8 inches broad. and 3 feet 6 inches thick. He makes the height of the whole 19 feet 8 inches. Travelers have been disposed to give more credit to the tradition which makes this monument the tomb of the King of Tyre than to most of the other legends which refer to ancient sepulchers in the Hols Land.
- TONGUE
In the early rituals of the eighteenth century, the tongue is called the key to the secrets of a Freemason; and one of the toasts that was given in the Lodge was in these words: "To that excellent key of a Mason's tongues which ought always to speak as well in the absence of a Brother as in his presence; and when that cannot be done with honor, justice, or propriety, that adopts the virtue of a Mason, which is Silence."
- TONGUE OF GOOD REPORT
Being "under the tongue of good report" is equivalent, in Masonic technical language, to being of good character or reputation. It is required that the candidate for initiation should be one of whom no tongue speaks evil. The phrase is an old one, and is found in the earliest rituals of the eighteenth century.
- TOPAZ
In Hebrew, pitdah. It was the second stone in the first row of the high priest's breastplate, and was referred to Simeon. The ancient topaz, says King (Antique Gems, page 56), was the present chrysolite, which was furnished from an island in the Red Sea. It is of a bright greenish yellow and the softest of all precious stones
- TOPES
Pillars, also signifying towers and tumuli. This is a corruption of the Sanskrit word Stoopa, meaning mounds, heaps, karns. The Topes of the Karli temple, a Buddhist shrine, which may be seen up the Western Ghats from Bombay to Poona, are presumed to be Phallic pillars placed in front, precisely as Solomon placed his Jachin and Boaz. Some travelers state that only one of these pillars stands at present. The pillars were shaft plain, with a capital carrying four lions, representing power of cat-like salaciousness. Between these pillars may be seen the great window which lights all the Temple, arched in the form of a horseshoe, which is the Isian headdress and Maiya's holy sign, and after which the Roman Catholic Church adopts one of Mary's favorite head-dresses. It is the Crown of Venus Urania.
These pillars are prominent features of Buddhist sacred buildings, and when composed of a single stone are called a Lat. They are frequently ornamented with honeysuckles. The oldest monument hitherto discovered in India is a group of these monoliths set up by Asoka in the middle of the third century before Christ. They were all alike in form, inscribed with four short Edits containing the creed and principle doctrines of Buddhism. These pillars stood originally in front of some sacred buildings which have perished; they are polished, 45 feet each in height, and surmounted by lions. The Thuparamya Tope, in Ceylon, has 184 handsome monoliths, 26 feet in height, round the center holy mound (see Mound Builders).
- TORCH BEARER
The fifteenth officer in the High Council of the Society of Rosicrucians; also known as an officer in the Appendant Order of the Holy Sepllleher. One who bears a torch.
- TORCHES
The ancients made use of torches both at marriages and funerals. They were also employed in the ceremonies of the Eleusinian Mysteries. They have been introduced into the advanced Degrees, especially on the Continent, principally as marks of honor in the reception of distinguished visitors, on which occasion they are technically called stars. Du Cange mentions their use during the Middle Ages on funeral occasions.
- TORGAU, CONSTITUTIONS OF
Torgau is a fortified town on the Elbe, in the Prussian Province of Saxony. It was there that Luther and his friends wrote the Book of Torgau, which was the foundation of the subsequent Augsburg Confession, and it was there that the Lutherans concluded a league with the Elector Frederick the Wise. The Stone-Masons, whose seat was there in the fifteenth century, had, with the other Masons of Saxony, accepted the Constitutions enacted in 1459 at Strasbourg. But finding it necessary to make some special regulations for their own internal government, they drew up, in 1462, Constitutions in one hundred and twelve articles, which are known as the Torgau Ordinances. A duplicate of these Constitutions was deposited, in 1486, in the StoneMason's hütte or Lodge at Rochlitz. An authenticated copy of this document was published by C. L. Stieglitz at Leipsic, in 1829, in a work entitled Ueber die Kirche der heiligen Kunigunde zu Rochlitz und die Steinmetzhütte daselbst, Concerning the Church of the Holy Kunigunde at Rochlilz and the Stone-Masons Lodge here An abstract of these Ordinances, with critical comparisons with other Constitutions, was published by Kloss in his Die Freimaurerei in ihrer wahren Bedeutung, Freemasons in their True Meaning. The Torgau Ordinances are important because with those of Strasbourg, they are the only authentic Constitutions of the German Stone-Masons extant except the Brother-Book of 1563.
- TORRUBIA, JOSEPH
A Franciscan monk, who in 1751 was the censor and reviser of the Inquisition in Spain. Torrubia, that he might be the better enabled to carry into effect a persecution of the Freemasons, obtained under an assumed name, and in the character of a secular priest, initiation into one of the Lodges, having first received from the Grand Penitentiary a dispensation for the act, and an absolution from the oath of secrecy. Having thus acquired an exact list of the Lodges in Spain, and the names of their members, he caused hundreds of Freemasons to be arrested and punished, and succeeded in having the Order prohibited by a decree of King Ferdinand VI. Torrubia combined in his character the bigotry of an intolerant priest and the villainy of the deceitful traitor.
- TOURNON, M
A Frenchman and Freemason, who had been invited into Spain by the government in order to establish a manufactory of brass buttons, and to instruct the Spanish workmen. In 1757, he was arrested by the Inquisition on the charge of being a Freemason, and of having invited his pupils to join the Institution. He was sentenced to imprisonment for one year, after which he was banished from Spain, being conducted under an escort to the frontiers of France. Tournon was indebted for this clemency to his want of firmness and fidelity to the Order —he having solemnly abjured it, and promised never again to attend its assemblies. Llorente, in his History of the Inquisition, gives an account of Tournon's trial.
- TOW, CABLE
See Cable Toto
- TOWER, DEGREE OF THE
The French expression is Grade de la Tour. A name sometimes given to the Second Degree of the Royal Order of Scotland.
- TOWER OF BABEL
See Babel
- TOWN, SALEM
The Rev. Salem Town, LL.D., was born at Belchertown, in the State of Massachusetts, March 5, 1779. He received a classical education, and obtained at college the degree of Master of Arts, and later in life that of Doctor of Laws. For some years he was the Principal of an Academy, and his writings give the evidence that he was endowed with more than ordinary abilities. He was ardently attached to Freemasonry, and was for many years Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter, and Grand Prelate of the Grand Commandery of New York. In 1818 he published a small work of two hundred and eighty-three pages entitled A System of Speculative Masonry. This work is of course tinged with all the legendary ideas of the origin of the Institution which prevailed at that period, and would not now be accepted as authoritative; but it contains, outside of its historical errors, many valuable and suggestive thoughts. Brother Town was highly respected for his many virtues, the consistency of his life, and his unwearied devotion to the Masonic Order. He died at Greencastle, Indiana, February 24, 1864.
- TOWNSHEND, SIMEON
The putative author of a book entitled Observations and Inquiries relating to the Brotherhood of the Free Masons, which is said to have been printed at London in 1712. Boileau, Levesque, Thory, Oliver, and Kloss mention it by name. None of them, however, appear to have seen it. Kloss calls it a doubtful book. If such a work is in existence, it will be a valuable and much needed contribution to the conditions of Freemasonry in the South of England just before the Revival, and may tend to settle some mooted questions. Levesque (Aperçu—meaning Fleeting Glance or Synopsis—page 47) says he has consulted - it; but his manner of referring to it throws suspicion on the statement, and it is doubtful if he ever saw it.
- TRACING-BOARD
The same as a FloorCloth, which see
- TRADE GILDS
See Gilds
- TRADITION
There are two kinds of traditions in Freemasonry: First, those which detail events, either historically, authentic in part, or in whole, or consisting altogether of arbitrary fiction, and intended simply to convey an allegorical or symbolic meaning; and second of traditions which refer to customs and usages of the Fraternity, especially in matters of ritual observance.
The first class has already been discussed in this work in the article on Legend, to which the reader is referred. The second class is now to be considered.
The traditions which control and direct the usages of the Fraternity constitute its unwritten law, and are almost wholly applicable to its ritual, although they are sometimes of use in the interpretation of doubtful points in its written law. Between the written and the unwritten law, the latter is always paramount. This is evident from the definition of a tradition as it is given by the monk Vincent of Lerins: Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus traditum est; that is, tradition is that which has been handled down at all times, and in ad places, and by all persons. The law which thus has antiquity, universality, and common consent for its support, must override all subsequent laws which are modern, local, and have only partial agreement.
It is then important that those traditions of Freemasonry which prescribe its ritual observances and its landmarks should be thoroughly understood, because it is only by attention to them that uniformity in the esoteric construction and work of the Order can be preserved.
Cicero has wisely said that a well-constituted Commonwealth must be governed not by the written law alone, but also by the unwritten law or tradition and usage; and this is especially the case, because the written law, however perspicuous it may be, can be diverted into various senses, unless the Republic is maintained and preserved by its usages and traditions, which, although mute and as it were, dead, yet speak with a living voice, and give the true interpretation of that which is written.
This axiom is not less true in Freemasonry than it is in a Commonwealth. No matter what changes may be made in its Statutes and Regulations of today and its recent customs, there is no danger of losing the identity of its modern with its ancient form and spirit while its traditions are recognized and maintained. Such of the traditions of our Institution that support our established rules and practices may be deemed the very common law of the Craft.
- THORY, CLAUDE ANTOINE
A distinguished French Masonic writer, who was born at Paris, May 26, 1759. He was by profession an advocate, and held the official position of Registrar of the Criminal Court of the Chatelet, and afterward of first adjunct of the Mayor of Paris. He was a member of several learned societies, and a naturalist of considerable reputation. He devoted his attention more particularly to botany, and published several valuable works on the genus Rosa, and also one on strawberries, which was published after his death.
Thory took an important part, both as an actor and a writer, in the Masonic history of France. He s as a member Or bhe Lotltge Saint Alexalldre d'Eeosse and of the Contrat Soeial, out of whose incorporation into one proceeded the Mother Lodge of the Philosophie Scottish Rite, of which Thory may be justly called the founder. He was at its constitution made the presiding officer, and afterward its Treasurer, and Keeper of its Archives. In his last capacity, he made a collection of rare and valuable manuscripts, books, medals, seals, jewels, bronze figures, and other objects connected with Freemasonry. Under his administration, the Library and Museum of the Mother Lodge became perhaps the most valuable collection of the kind in France or in any other country. After the Mother Lodge ceased its labors in 1826, this fine collection passed by a previous stipulation into the possession of the Lodge of Wont Thabor, which was the oldest of the Rite.
Thory, while making collections for the Lodge, had amassed for himself a fund of the most valuable materials toward the history of Freemasonry, which he used with great effect in his subsequent publications. In 1813 he published the Annales Originis Magni Galliarum Orientis, ou Histoire de la Fondation du Grand Orient de France, History of the Foundation of the Grand Orient of France, in one volume; and in 1815 his Acta Latomorum, ou Chronologie de l'Histoire de la Franche-Mafonnerie, Francaise et Etrangere, Masonic Proceedings, or Chronology of the History of French and Foreign Freemasonry, in two volumes. The value of these worlds, especially of the latter, if not as well-digested histories, certainly as important contributions to Masonic history cannot be denied. Yet they have been variously appreciated by his contemporaries.
Rebold (History of the Three Grand Lodges, page 530) saxs of the Annales, that it is one of the best historical productions that French Masonic literature possesses; while 13esuchet (Précis If istoriquc} Historical Summary ii, page 275) charges that he has attempted to discharge the functions of a historian without exactitude and without impartiality. These discordant views are to be attributed to the active part that Thory took in the contests between the Grand Orient and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and the opposition which he offered to the claims of the former to the Supreme Masonic authority. Posterity will form its judgment on the character of Thory as a Masonic historian without reference to the evanescent rivalry of parties He died in October, 1827.
- THOUX DE SALVERTE
Founder in 1767, at Warsaw, of the Academy of-Ancients, which see.
- THREAD OF LIFE
In the earliest lectures of the eighteenth century, we find this Catechism:
- Have you the key of the Lodge?
- Yes, I have.
- What is its virtue?
- To open and shut, and shut and open
- Where do you keep it?
- In an ivory box. between my tongue and rny teeth, or within my heart, where all my secrets are kept.
- Have you the chain to the key?
- Yes, I have.
- How long is it?
- As long as from my tongue to my heart.
In a later lecture, this key is said to "hang by a tow line nine inches or a span." And later still, in the old Prestonian lecture, it is said to hang by "the thread of life, in the passage of elltrallee, nine inches or a span long, the supposed distance between guttural and pectoral All of which is intended simply to symbolize the close connection which in every Freemason should exist between his tongue and his heart, so that the one may utter nothing that the other does not truly dictate.
- THREE
Everywhere among the ancients the number three was deemed the most sacred of numbers. A reverence for its mystical virtues is to be found even among the Chinese, who say that numbers begin at one and are made perfect at three, and hence they denote the multiplicity of any object by repeating the character which stands for it three times. In the philosophy of Plato, it was the image of the Supreme Being, because it includes in itself the properties of the two first numbers, and because, as Aristötle says, it contains within itself a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Pythagoreans called it perfect harmony.
The Bible contains significant references to threes. Christ is thus mentioned (Matthew xii, 40): "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Another allusion is "Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then, said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. " (John ii, 1>91.) David had his choice between three evils extended respectively over three years, or three months, or three days, "Choose thee either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now, therefore, advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sentele" (First Chronicles xxi! 11, 12). Where is also the division of life, land, sea, stars, sun an(l moon, day and night into thirds as described in the New Testament (Revelation viii, 7-13).
Gideon's array of three hundred was divided also into three parts (Judges vii, 16). three of the sacrifices to the Lord God well each to be three years old (Genesis xv, 9). In fact, the first book of the Old Testament alone has about twenty-eight references to three of various kinds. Threescore is also a frequent number in the Bible as in Genesis (xxx, 7, 26) and Revelation (xi, 3; xii, 6, and xiii, 18) and there is the familiar "A three-fold cord is not easily broken" of Ecclesiastes (iv, 12).
So sacred was this number deemed by the ancients, that we find it designating some of the attributes of almost all the gods. The thunderbolt of Jove was three-forked; the scepter of Neptune was a trident; Cerberus, the dog of Pluto, was three-headed; there were three Fates and three Furies; the sun had three names, Apollo, Sol, and Liber; and the moon these three, Diana, Luna, and Hecate. In all incantations, three was a favorite number, for, aws Virgil says, Numero Deus impari gaudet, that is God delights in an odd number. A triple cord was used, each cord of three different colors, wilite, red, and black; and a small image of the Subject of charm visas carried thrice around the altar, as we see in Virgil's eighth Eclogue (line 73): Terna taxi hacc prinzuarl, triplici dirersa colore Licia circumdo, terQtte haec altaria circum Effigem duco
First I surround thee with these three pieces of list or thread, and I earrv thy image three times round the altars .
Shakespeare (Macbeth, act i, scene iv) refers to the three-fold sorceries of the three witches. The author, T. G. Limollett in his novel Peregrine Pickle quotes as a well-known proverb the expression "Number three is always fortunate." Oliver Wendell Holmes has in "The Last Leaf" employed an old three-cornered hat as some excuse for mirth and there are many other references of interest in literature.
The Druids paid no less respect to this sacred number. Throughout their whole system, a reference is constantly made to its influence; and so far did their veneration for it extend, that even their sacred poetry was composed in triads.
In all the Mysteries, from Egypt to Scandinavia, we find a sacred regard for the number three, as in the father, mother and child deities, Osiris, Isis, and Horus. In the Rites of Mithras, the Empyrean was said to be supported by three intelligences, Ormuzd, Mithra, and Mithras. In the Rites of Hindustan, there was the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. It was, in short, a general character of the Mysteries to have three principal officers and three grades of initiation.
In Freemasonry, the ternary is the most sacred of all the mystical numbers. Beginning with the old axiom of the Roman Artificers, that tres factunt colleyfum, or it requires three to make a college, they have established the rule that no less than three shall congregate to form a Lodge. Then in all the hits, whatever may be the number of superimposed grades, there lie at the basis the three Symbolic Degrees. There are in all the Degrees three principal officers, three supports, three greater and three lesser lights, three movable and three improvable jewels, three principal tenets, three working-tools of a Fellow Craft, three principal orders of architectures three chief human senses, three Ancient Grand Masters. In fact, everywhere in the system the number three is presented as a prominent Symbol. So much is this the case, that all the other mystical members depend upon it, for each is a multiple of three, its square or its cube, or derived from them. Thus, 9, 27, 81* are formed by the multiplication f three, as 3 X 3 = 9, and 32 X 3 = 27, and 32 X 32 = 81 (see Triad also 'three Points). But in nothing is the Masonic signification of the ternary made more interesting than its collection with the sacred delta, the symbol of Deity (see Triangle).
- TRAMPING MASONS
Unworthy members of the Order, who, using their privileges for interested purposes, traveling from city to city and from Lodge to Codger that they may seek relief by tales of fictitious distress, have been called tramping Masons. The true Brother should ever obtain assistance; the tramper should be driven from the door of every Lodge or the house of every Freemason where he seeks to intrude his imposture.
- TRANSFER OF WARRANT
The English Constitutions (Rule 221) enact that "No Warrant can be transferred under any circumstances." Similarly the Scotch Constitution (Rule 148) says "A Charter cannot be transferred under any circumstances."
- TRANSIENT BRETHREN
Freemasons who do not reside in a particular place, but only temporarily visit it, are called Transient Brethren. They are, if worthy, to be cordially welcomed, but are never to be admitted into a Lodge until, after the proper precautions, they have been proved to be "true and trusty." This usage of hospitality has the authority of all the Old Constitutions, which are careful to inculcate it. Thus the Lansdowne Manuscript charges "that every Mason receive or cherish Strange Fellows when they come over the country, and sett them on work if they will work, as the manner is, that is to say, if the Mason have any mold stone in his place, on work; and if he have none, the Mason shall refresh him with money unto the next Lodge. " Although Speculative Freemasons no longer visit Lodges for the sake of work or wages, the usage of our Operative predecessors has been spiritualized in our symbolic system. Hence visitors are often invited to take a part in the labors of the Lodge, and receive their portion of the Light and Truth which constitute symbolic pay of a Speculative Freemason.
- TRANSITION PERIOD
Findel calls that period in the history of Freemasonry, when it was gradually changing its character from that of an Operative to that of a Speculative Society, the Transition Period. It began in 1600, and terminated in 1717 by the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in London, after which, says Findel (History, English Translation page 131), "modern Freemasonry was now to be taught as a spiritualizing art, and the Fraternity of Operative Masons was exalted to a Brotherhood of Symbolic Builders, who, in the place of visible, perishable Temples, are engaged in the erection of that one, invisible, eternal Temple of the heart and mind."
- TRANSMISSION, CHARTER OF
A deed said to have been granted by James de Molay, just before his death, to Mark Larmenius, by which he transmitted to him and to his successors the office of Grand Master of the Templars. It is the foundation deed of the Order of the Temple. After having disappeared for many rears it was rediscovered and purchased by Brother Fred J. W. Crowe of Chichester, England, who thought it too important and valuable to remain in private hands, and it was placed in the possession of the threat Priory of England. It is written in a Latin cipher on a large folio sheet of parchment. The outward appearance of the document is of great antiquity. but it lacks internal evidence of authenticity. It is, therefore, by many authorities, considered a forgery (see Temple, Order of the).
- TRAPPISTS, ORDER OF RELIGIOUS
An order founded by that devotee of secret organizations, Count La Perche, in 1140.
- TRAVEL
In the symbolic language of Freemasonry, a Freemason always travels from West to East in search of light—he travels from the lofty tower of Babel, where language was confounded and Freemasonry lost, to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where language was restored and Freemasonry found. The Master Mason also travels into foreign countries in search of wages. All this is pure symbolism, unintelligible, in any other sense (for its interpretation, see Foreign Country and Threshing Floor) .
- TRAVELING MASONS
There is no portion of the history of the Order so interesting to the Masonic scholar as that which is embraced by the Middle Ages of Christendom, beginning with about the tenth century, when the whole of civilized Europe was perambulated by those associations of workmen, who passed from country to country and from city to city under the name of Traveling Masons, for the purpose of erecting religious edifices. There is not a country of Europe which does not at this day contain honorable evidences of the skill and industry of our Masonic ancestors. We therefore propose, in the present article, to give a brief sketch of the origin, the progress, and the character of these traveling architects.
George Godwin, in a lecture published in the Builder (volume ix, page 463), says: "There are few points in the Middle Ages more pleasing to look back upon than the existence of the associated Masons; they are the bright spot in the general darkness of that period, the patch of verdure when all around is barren. "
Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de la FrancMaçonnerie, has traced the organization of these associations to the "Collegia Artificum," or Colleges of Artisans, which were instituted at Rome, by Numa, in the year 714 B.C., and whose members were originally Greeks, imported by this lawgiver for the purpose of embellishing the city over which he reigned. They continued to exist as well-established corporations throughout all the succeeding years of the Kingdom, the Republic, and the Empire (see Roman Colleges of Artificers).
These "sodalitates," or fraternities, began, upon the invasion of the barbarians, to decline in number in respectability, and in power. But on the conversion of the whole Empire, they, or others of a similar character, began again to flourish. The Priests of the Christian Church became their patrons, and under their guidance they devoted themselves to the building of churches and monasteries. In the tenth century, they were established as a free Gild or Corporation in Lombardy. For when, after the decline and fall of the empire, the City of Rome was abandoned by its sovereigns for other secondary cities of Italy, such as Milan and Ravenna, and new courts and new capitals were formed, the Kingdom of Lombardy sprang into existence as the great center of all w energy in trade and industry, and of refinements in art and literature. Como was a free Republic to which many fled during the invasions of the Vandals and Goths. It was in Lombardy, as a consequence of the great center of life from Rome, and the development not only of commercial business, but of all sorts of trades and handicrafts, that the corporations known as Gilds were first organized.
Among the arts practiced by the Lombards, that of building held a pre-eminent rank. And Muratori tells us that the inhabitants of Como, a principal city of Lombardy, Italy, had become so superior as Masons, that the appellation of Magistri Comacini, or Masters from Como, had become generic to all of the profession.
Thomas Hope, in his Historical Essay on Architecture, has treated this subject almost exhaustively. He says:
We cannot then wonder that, at a period when artificers and artists of every class, from those of the most mechanical, to those of the most intellectual nature formed themselves into exclusive Corporations, architects—whose art may be said to offer the most exact medium between those of the most urgent necessity and those of mere ornament, or, indeed, in its wide span to embrace both—should, above all others, have associated themselves into similar bodies, which, in conformity to the general style of such Corporations assumed that of Free and Accepted Masons, and was composed of those members who, after a regular passage through the different fixed stages of apprenticeship were received as Masters, and entitled to exercise the profession on their own account.
In an age, however, in which lay individuals, from the lowest subject to the sovereign himself, seldom built except for mere shelter and safety—seldom sought, nay rather avoided, in their dwellings an elegance which might lessen their security, in which even the community collectively, in its public and general capacity, divided into component parts less numerous and less varied required not those numerous public edifices which we possess either for business or pleasure.
Thus, when neither domestic nor civic architecture of any sort demanded great ability or afforded great employment churches and monasteries were the only buildings required to combine extent and elegance, and sacred architecture alone could furnish an extensive field for the exercise of great skill, Lombardy itself, opulent and thriving as it was, compared to other countries, soon became nearly saturated with the requisite edifices, and unable to give these Companies of Free and Accepted Masons a longer continuance of sufficient custom, or to render the further maintenance of their exclusive privileges of great benefit to them at home. But if, to the south of the Alps, an earlier civilization had at last caused the number of architects to exceed that of new buildings wanted, it fared otherwise in the north of Europe, where a gradually spreading Christianity began on every side to produce a want of sacred edifices of churches and monasteries, to design which architects existed not on the spot.
Those Italian Corporations of Builders, therefore, whose services ceased to be necessary in the countries where they had arisen, now began to look abroad towards those northern climes for that employment which they no longer found at home: and a certain number united and formed themselves into a single greater Association, or Fraternity, which proposed to seek for occupation beyond its native land; and in any ruder foreign region, however remote, where new religious edifices and skillful artists to erect them, were wanted to offer their services, and bend their steps to undertake the work.
From Lombardy they passed beyond the Alps into all the countries where Christianity, but recently established, required the erection of churches. A monopoly was granted to them for the erection of all religious edifices; they Were declared independent of the sovereign in whose dominions they might he temporarily residing, and Subject only to their own private laws; they were permitted to regulate the amount of their wages; were exempted from all kinds of taxation; and no Freemason, not belonging to their Association, was permitted to compete with or oppose them in the pursuit of employment.
After filling the Continent with cathedrals, parochial churches, and monasteries, and increasing their own numbers by accessions of new members from all the countries in which they had been laboring, they passed over into England, and there introduced their peculiar style of building. Thence they traveled to Scotland, and there have rendered their existence ever memorable by establishing, in the Parish of Kilwinning, where they erected an abbey, the germ of Scottish Freemasonry, with halls regularly descended through the Grand Lodge of Scotland to the present day.
Thomas Hope accounts for the introduction of the non-working or unprofessional members into these associations by a theory which is confirmed by contemporary history. He says: Often obliged, from regions the most distant, singly to seek the common place of rendezvous and departure of the troop, or singly to follow its earlier detachments to places of employment equally distant, and that, at an era when travelers met on the road every obstruction and no convenience, when no inns existed at which to purchase hospitality, but lords dwelt everywhere, who only prohibited their tenants from waylaying the traveler because they considered this, like killing game, one of their own exclusive privileges; the members of these communities contrived to render their journeys more easy and safe by engaging with each other, and perhaps even, in many places, with individuals not directly participating in their profession, in compacts of mutual assistance, hospitality and good services, most valuable to men so circumstanced.
They endeavored to compensate for the perils which attended their expeditions by institutions for their needy or disabled brothers, but lest such as belonged not to their communities should benefit surreptitiously by these arrangements for its advantage, they framed signs of mutual recognition, as carefully concealed from the knowledge of the uninitiated, as the mysteries of their art themselves.
Thus supplied with whatever could facilitate such distant journeys and labors as they contemplated, the members of these Corporations were ready to obey any summons with the utmost alacrity, and they soon received the encouragement they anticipated. The militia of the Church of Rome, which diffused itself all over Europe in the shape of missionaries, to instruct nations and to establish their allegiance to the Pope, took care not only to make them feel the want of churches and monasteries, but likewise to learn the manner in which the want might be supplied. Indeed, they themselves generally undertook the supply; and it may be asserted that a new apostle of the Gospel no sooner arrived in the remotest corner of Europe, either to convert the inhabitants to Christianity, or to introduce among them a new religious order, than speedily followed a tribe of itinerant Freemasons to back him, and to provide the inhabitants with the necessary places to worship or reception.
Thus ushered in, by their interior arrangements assured of assistance and of safety on the road, and, by the Bulls of the Pope and the support of his ministers abroad, of every species of immunity and preference at the place of their destination, bodies of Freemasons dispersed themselves in every direction every day began to advance further, and to proceed from country to country, to the utmost verge of the faithful, in order to answer the increasing demand for them, or to seek more distant custom.
The government of these Fraternities, whenever they might be for the time located, was very regular and uniform. When about to commence the erection of a religious edifice, they first built huts, or, as they were termed, Lodges, in the vicinity, in which they resided for the sake of economy as well as convenience. It is from these that the present name of our places of meeting is derived. Over every ten men was placed a Warden, who paid them wages, and tool care that there should be no needless expenditure of materials and no careless loss of implements. Over the whole, a surveyor or Master, called in their old documents Magister, presided, anti directed the general labor.
The Abbé Grandidier, in a letter at the end of the Marquis Luchet's Essai sur les Illuminés, has quoted from the ancient register of the Freemasons at Strassburg the Regulations of the Association which built the splendid cathedral of that city. Its great rarity renders it difficult to obtain a sight of the original work, but the l'Histoire Pittoresque of Clavel supplies the most prominent details of all that Grandidier has preserved. The Cathedral of Strassburg was commenced in the year 1277, under the direction of Erwin of Steinbach. The Freemasons, who, under his directions, were engaged in the construction of this noblest specimen of the Gothic style of architecture, were divided into the separate ranks of Masters, Craftsmen, and Apprentices.
The place where they assembled was called a Hutte, a German word equivalent to our English term Lodge. They employed the implements of Freemasonry as emblems, and wore them as insignia. They had certain signs and words of recognition, and received their new members with peculiar and secret ceremonies, admitting, as has already been said many eminent persons, and especially ecclesiastics, who were not Operative Masons, but who gave to them their patronage and protection.
The Fraternity of Strassburg became celebrated throughout Germany, their superiority was acknowledged by the kindred associations, and they in time received the appellation of the Haupt Hütte, or Grand Lodge, and exercised supremacy over the hütten of Suabia, Hesse, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony, Thuringia, and the countries bordering on the river Moselle. The Masters of these several Lodges assembled at Ratisbon in 1459, and on the 25th of April contracted an Act of Union, declaring the chief of the Strassburg Cathedral the only and perpetual Grand Master of the General Fraternity of Freemasons of Germany. This Act of Union was definitely adopted and promulgated at a meeting held soon afterward at Strassburg.
Similar institutions existed in France and in Switzerland, for wherever Christianity had penetrated, there churches and cathedrals were to be built, and the Traveling Freemasons hastened to undertake the labor.
They entered England and Scotland at an early period. Whatever may be thought of the authenticity of the York and Kilwinning legends, there is ample evidence of the existence of organized Associations Gilds, or Corporations of Operative Freemasons at an epoch not long after their departure from Lombardy. From that period, the Fraternity, with various intermissions, continued to pursue their labors, and constructed many edifices which still remain as monuments of their skill as workmen and their taste as architects. Kings, in many instances became their patrons, and their labors were superintended by powerful noblemen and eminent prelates who, for this purpose, were admitted as members of the Fraternity. Many of the old Charges for the better government of their Lodges have been preserved, and are still to be found in our Books of Constitutions, every line of which indicates that they were originally drawn up for Associations strictly and exclusively Operative in their character.
In glancing over the history of this singular body of architects, we are struck with several important peculiarities.
In the first place, they were Strictly ecclesiastical in their Constitution. The Pope, the Supreme Pontiff of the Church, was their patron and protector. They were supported and encouraged by Bishops and Abbots, and hence their chief employment appears to have been in the construction of religious edifices.
They were originally all Operative Masons. But the artisans of that period were not educated men, and they were compelled to seek among the clergy, the only men of learning, for those whose wisdom might contrive, and whose cultivated taste might adorn, the plans which they, by their practical skill, were to carry into effect. Hence the germ of that Speculative Masonry which, once dividing the character of the Fraternity Mirth the Operative, now completely occupies it, to the entire exclusion of the latter.
Brother E. E. Cauthorne has a few words of comment: "There probably never was a time when the Operative Masons did not furnish the architect. When an ecclesiastic performed this function it was an exception, and there were few of them. The profession of the architect seems to have been a distinct profession since Theoretic established himself at Ravenna, in 493, and appointed an official architects All through the Lombard period and at all later periods the architect or Master was distinctive" (see also the Reviser's paragraph in Stone-Masons of the Middle Ages) .
But lastly, from the circumstance of their union and concert arose a uniformity of design in all the public buildings of that period—a uniformity so remarkable as to find its explanation only in the fact that there construction was committed throughout the whole of Europe, if not always to the same individuals, at least to members of the same Association. The remarks of Thomas Hope on this subject are well worthy of perusal:
The architects of all the sacred edifices of the Latin Church, wherever such arose,—North, South, East, or West,—thus derived their science from the same central school, obeyed in their designs the same hierarchy were directed in their constructions by the same principles of propriety and taste; kept up with each other, in the most distant parts to which they might be sent, the most constant correspondence; and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body and a new conquest of the art. The result of this unanimity was, that at each successive period of the monastic dynasty, on whatever point a new church or new monastery might be erected, it resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place, however distant from it as if both had been built in the same place by the same artist. For instance, we find, at particular epochs, churches as far distant from each other as the north of Scotland and the south of Italy, to be minutely similar in all the essential characteristics.
In conclusion, we may remark, that the world is indebted to this Association for the introduction of the Gothic, or, as it has lately been denominated, the Pointed Style of architecture. This style—so different from the Greek; and Roman Orders, whose pointed arches and minute tracery distinguish the solemn temples of the olden time, and whose ruins arrest the attention and claim the admiration of the spectator—has been universally acknowledged to be the invention of the Traveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages. And it is to this Association of operative Artists that, by gradual changes into a Speculative System, we are to trace the Freemasons of the present day.
- TRAVELING WARRANTS
Warrants under which military Lodges are organized, and so called because the Lodges which act under them are permitted to travel from place to place with the regiments to which they are attached (see Military Lodges).
- TRAVENOL, LOUIS
A zealous and devoted French Freemason of much ability, who wrote several Masonic works, which the author published under the assumed name of Leonard Gabanon. The most valuable of his productions is one entitled Catéchisme des Francs-Maçons, précédé d'un Abrégé de l'Histoire d'Adoram, etc. (Catechism of Free Masons, preceded by an Abridged History of Adoram), published by him at Paris in 1743.
- TREASURE, INCOMPARABLE
This was a phrase of mystical import with the Alchemists and Hermetic Philosophers. Pernetty (Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique), thus defines it: "The incomparable treasure is the powder of projection, the source of all that is good, since it procures unbounded riches, and a long life, without infirmities, to enjoy them."
The "powder of projection" was the instrument by which they expected to attain to the full perfection of their work. What was this incomparable treasure was the great secret of the Hermetic Philosophers. They concealed the true object of their art under a symbolic language. "Believest thou, O fool," says Artephius, one of them, "that we plainly teach this secret of secrets, taking our words according to their literal signification?" But we do know that it was not, as the world supposed, the transmutation of metals, or the discovery of an elixir of life, but the acquisition of Divine Truth.
Many of the advanced Degrees which were fabricated in the eighteenth century were founded on the Hermetic Philosophy; and they, too, borrowed from it the idea of an incomparable treasure. Thus in the Ultimate Degree of the Council of the Emperors of East and West, which Degree became afterwards the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret of the ,Scottish Rite, we find this very expression. In the old French instructions we meet with this Sentence: "Let us now offer to the invincible Xerxes our sacred incomparable Treasure, and we shall succeed victoriously" And out of the initial letters of the words of this Sentence in the original French they fabricated the three most important words of the Degree.
This "incomparable treasure" is to the Freemasons precisely what it was to the Hermetic Philosophers— Divine Truth. "As for the Treasure," says one of these books, the Lumen de Lumine, cited by Hitchcock, "it is not yet discovered, but it is very near."
- TREASURER
An officer, found in all Masonic Bodies, whose duty it is to take charge of the funds and pay them out under proper regulations. He is simply the banker of the Lodge or Chapter, and has nothing to do with the collection of money, which should be made by the Secretary. He is in the United States an elective officer.. The Treasurer's jewel is a key, as a symbol that he controls the chest of the Lodge. His position in a Lodge of the United States is on the right of the Worshipful Masters in front. In an English Lodge however, he is placed in the north.
- TREASURER, GRAND
See Grand treasurer
- TREASURER, HERMETIC
The French title is Tresorier hermetique. A Degree in the manuscript collection of Peuvret. This collection contains eight other Degrees with a similar title, namely: Illustrious Treasurer, Treasurer of Paracelsus, Treasurer of Solomon, Treasurer of the Masonic Mysteries, Treasurer of the Number Seven, Sublime Treasurer, Depositor of the Key of the Grand Work, and, lastly, one with the grandiloquent title of Grand and Sublime Treasurer, or Depositor of the Great Solomon, Faithful Guardian of Jehovah.
- TREDIC
The King highest in rank in the Scandinavian Mysteries.
- TREE ALPHABET
There are alphabets used among the Persians and Arabs as secret ciphers, which it can scarcely be doubted were original, and ages ago adopted and recognized as the ordinary business mode of communication among mankind. Of these ciphers the Tree Alphabet is the most common. The Philosopher Dioscorides wrote several works on the subject of trees and herbs, and made prominent the secret characters of this alphabet, which became known by his name, and was adopted and used by others.
The characters were distinguishable by the number of branches on either side of the tree; thus, the T H is recognizable from the S. H, notwithstanding each has three limbs on the left hand of the stem or trunk, by the one having six and the other seven branches on the right-hand side. As an example, there are in the illustration nine of the mystic characters and their relative values.The characters in the lower line given in the engraving are the relative value, and known as the Alphabet of Hermes or Mercury.
- TREE WORSHIP
The important position whit h this peculiar faith occupied among the peoples in the earliest ages of the world is apt to be overlooked in the multitude of succeeding beliefs, to which it gave many of its forms and ceremonies, and with which it became materially blended. In fact, Tree and Serpent worship were Combined almost at their inception. So prominent a position does Tree worship take in the opinion of Fergusson, in his absorbing work on free and Serpent Worship, that he designates the Tree as the first of Faiths; and adds that "long before the Theban gods existed, Tree and Serpent Faiths flourished. The Methidy tree was brought into the later religion, to shade with holy reverence the tomb of Osiris; the Sycamore was holy to Netpe, and the Persea to Athor, whilst the Tamarisk planed an important part in all the rites and ceremonies of Osiris and Isis; and all who are orthodox will acknowledge that Abram seemed to consider that he could not worship his Jove till he had planted his grove and dug a well (Genesis xxi, 33).
His Oak or Terebinth, or turpentine tree, on the plains of Mamre, was commonly worshiped till the fourth century after Christ, and it is revered by Jews to the present hour." And again: "That long ere Buddha or his saints were represented by images and adored, long ere the eaves and temples of that faith had sanctuaries for holy relies, the first actual symbol-worship he can trace is that of the Bo tree, which he describes as upon a bas-relief in a cave called the Jodea Gopa at Katak, Bengal, proving how early that worship was introduced, and how pre-eminent it was among the Buddhists of those days" and says J. G. R. Forlong, in his Rivers of Life, or Faiths of Man, "before Vedic days (the period in India of about 1600 B.C.) and can be found in almost every cave and temple allied to the Phallic faith as certainly as can be found ever standing at the entrance of these Houses of God the Phallic pillar or pillars. It is the old story whether we turn to Solomon's temple, 1000 B.C., or to the Karli Buddhist temples, which gaze down upon us from Bombay to Poona, and which date from about the Christian era."
The Bael tree, as a representative of the triad and monad, was always offered at Lingam worship, and the god was commonly to be found under an umbrageous or leafy-screened Bael. All nations, Aryans in particular, considered tree planting a sacred duty. The grand old trees became centers of life and of great traditions, and the character of the foliage had its symbolic meanings.
At the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, at the autumnal harvest, lews are ordered to hang boughs of trees, laden with fruit, round the borders of their booths also boughs of barren trees. The worshipers go to the Synagogue carrying in their right hand one palm branch, three myrtles, and two willows, all tied together; and in the left hand a citron branch with fruit on it. These they make touch each other, and wave to the East, then South, then West, and then North. this is termed Hosanna, an exclamation of praise to God, the Hebrew word meaning "Save, I pray." On the seventh day of the Feast, all save the willow bough must be laid asides. The Palm, as a tree, yields more to man than any other class of trees. Nineveh shows the Palm surrounded by winged deities holding the pine-cone— symbol of life, which there takes the place of the Crux Ansata, or Cross with circle. The Phoenix resting on the Palm signifies Resurrection to eternal life. The four Evangelists are depicted in "an evangelum," in the library of the British Museum, as all looking up to the Palm-tree. Christians, for a similar ideal, erected a cross-bar, and placed an Alpha and an Omega on it.
At Najran, in Yemen, Arabia, Sir William Ouseley describes the most perfect tree-worship as still existing close to the city. The tree is the Palm or Sacred Date. The Palm has always borne a most important part in all the faiths of the world down to the present day. The Jews gave the Palm a distinguished place in architecture. The tree and its lotus top, says Kitto, took the place of the Egyptian column on Solomon's famous phalli, the Jachim and Boaz.
The two trees in Genesis were those of Life and Knowledge, and were probably drawn from the Egyptian and Zoroastrian stories. But no further reverence is taken in the Bible of the Tree of Knowledge after Genesis, but to that of Life, or the "Tree which gives Life," as in the Apocalypse (ii, 7). This is also the Eastern name and significance of the Lingam or Pillar; and when covered with carved inscriptions, the Toth or Pillar in Egypt became known as the Tree of Knowledge.
- TRESTLE-BOARD
The Trestle-Board is defined to be the board upon which the Master inscribes the designs by which the Craft are to be directed in their labors. The French and German Freemasons have confounded the Trestle-Board with the Tracing-Board; and Doctor Oliver (Landmarks I, page 132) has not avoided the error. The two things are entirely different. The trestle is a framework for a table—in Scotch, trest; the Trestle-Board is the board placed for convenience of drawing on that frame. It contains nothing but a few diagrams, usually geometrical figures. The Tracing-Board is a picture formerly drawn on the floor of the Lodge, whence it was called The Floor-Cloth or Carpet. It contains a delineation of the symbols of the Degree to which it belongs. The Trestle-Board is to be found only in the Entered Apprentice's Degree. There is a Tracing-Board in every Degree, from the first to the highest. And, lastly, the Trestle-Board is a symbol; the Tracing-Board is a piece of furniture or picture containing the representation of many symbols.
It is probable that the Trestle-Board, from its necessary use in Operative Masonry, was one of the earliest symbols introduced into the Speculative system. It is not, however, mentioned in the Grand Mystery, published in 1724. But Prichard, who wrote only six years afterward, describes it, under the corrupted name of Trestle-Board, as one of the immovable jewels of an Apprentice's Lodge. Browne, in 1880, following Preston, fell into the error of calling it a Tracing-Board, and gives from the Prestonian lecture what he terms "a beautiful degree of comparison," in which the Bible is compared to a Tracing-Board. But the Bible is not a collection of symbols, which a Tracing-Board is, but a Trestle-Board that contains se plan for the construction of a spiritual Temple. Webb, however, when he arranged his system of lectures, took the proper view, and restored the true word, Trestle-Board.
notwithstanding these changes in the name, Trestle-Board, Trestle-Board, Tracing-Board, and Trestle-Board again, the definition has continued from the earliest part of the eighteenth century to the present Day the same. It has always been enumerated among the jewels of the Lodge, although the English system says that it is immovable and the American movable; and it has always been defined as "a Board for the Master Workman to draw his designs upon." In Operative Masonry, the Trestle-Board is of vast importance. It was on such an implement that the genius of the ancient Masters worked out those problems of architecture that have reflected an unfading luster on their skill. The Trestle-Board was the cradle that nursed the infancy of such mighty monuments as the cathedrals of Strassburg and Cologne; and as they advanced in stature, the Trestle board became the guardian spirit that directed their growth. Often have those old Builders pondered by the midnight lamp upon their Trestle-Board, working out its designs with consummate taste and knowledge—here springing an arch, and turning an angle there, until the embryo edifice Stood forth in all the wisdom, strength, and beauty of the Master's art.
What, then, is its true Symbolism in Speculative Freemasonry? To construct his earthly Temple, the Operative Mason followed the architectural designs laid down on the Trestle-Board, or book of plans of the architect. By these he hewed and squared his materials; by these he raised his walls; by these he Constructed his arches; and by these strength and durability, combined with grace and beauty, were bestowed upon the edifice which he was constructing.
In the Masonic Ritual, the Speculative Freemason is reminded that, as the Operative Artists erects his temporal building in accordance with the rules and designs laid down on the Trestle-Board of the Master Workman, so should he erect that spiritual building, of which the material is a type, in obedience to the rules and designs, the precepts and commands, laid down by the Grand Architect of the Universe in those great books of nature and revelation which constitute the spiritual Trestle-Board of every Freemason.
The Trestle-Board is then the Symbol of the natural and moral law. Like every other Symbol of the Order, it is universal and tolerant in its application, and while, as Christian Freemasons, we cling with unfaltering integrity to the explanation which makes the Scriptures of both Dispensations our Trestle-Board, we permit our Jewish and Mohammedan Brethren to content themselves with the books of the Old Testament or Koran. Freemasonry does not interfere with the peculiar form or development of any one's religious faith. All that it asks is that the interpretation of the symbol shall be according to what each one supposes to be the revealed will of his creator. But so rigidly exacting is it that the symbol shall be preserved and, in some rational way, interpreted, that it peremptorily excludes the atheist from its communion, because, believing in no Supreme Being—no Divine Architect—he must necessarily be without a spiritual Trestle-Board on which the designs of that Being may be inscribed for his direction (see Floor cloth).
- TRIAD
In all the ancient mythologies there were triads, which consisted of a mysterious union of three deities. Each triad was generally explained as consisting of a creator, a preserver, and a destroyer. The principal heathen triads were as follows: The Egyptian, Osiris, Isis, and Horus; the Orphic, Phanes Uranus, and Kronos; the Zoroastric, Ormuzd, Mithras, and Ahriman; the Indian, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the Cabirie, Axereos, Axiokersa, and Axiokersos; the Phenician, Ashtaroth, Mileom, and Chemosh; the Tyrian, Behls, Venus, and Thammuz; the Grecian, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades; the Roman, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; the Eleusinian, Iacchus, Persephone, and Demeter; the Platonie, Tagathon, Nous, and Psyche; the Celtic, Hu, Ceridwen, and Creirwy; the Teutonic, Fenris, Midgard, and Hela; the Gothic, Woden, Friga, and Thor; and the Seandinavians, Odin, Vile, and Ve. Even the Mexicans had their triads, which were Vitzliputzli, Kaloc, and Tescalipuca.
This system of triads has, indeed, been so predominant in all the old religions, as to be invested with a mystical idea; and hence it has become the type in Freemasonry of the triad of three governing officers, who are to be found in almost every Degree. The Master and the two Wardens in the Lodge give rise to the Priest, the King, and the Seribe in the Royal Arch; to the Commander, the Generalissimo, and the Captain-General in Templarism; and in most of the higher Degrees to a triad which presides under various names.
We must, perhaps, look for the origin of the triads in mythology, as we certainly must in Freemasonry, to the three positions and functions of the sun. The rising sun or creator of light, the meridian sun or its preserver, and the setting sun or its destroyer (see Three).
- TRIAD SOCIETY OF CHINA
The San Hop Hwai, or Triad Society, is a secret political association in China, which has been mistaken by some writers for a species of Chinese Freemasonry; but it has in reality no connection whatsoever with the Masonic Order. In its principles, which are far from innocent, it is entirely antagonistic to Freemasonry. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of British Freemasonry in China made a statement to this effect in 1855, in Notes and Queries (first series, volume xii, page 233).
- TRIALS, MASONIC
As the only object of a trial should be to seek the truth and fairly to administer justice, in a Masonic trial, especially, no recourse should ever be had to legal technicalities whose use in ordinary courts appears simply to be to afford a means of escape for the guilty. Masonic trials are, therefore, to be conducted in the simplest and least technical method, that will preserve at once the rights of the Order and of the accused, and which will enable the Lodge to obtain a thorough knowledge of all the facts in the case. The rules to be observed in conducting such trials have been laid down by Doctor Mackey in his Jurisprudence of Freemasonry and he refers to them in the present article. They are as follows:
1. The preliminary step in every trial is the accusation or charge. The charge should always be made in writing, signed by the accuser, delivered to the Secretary, and read by that officer at the next Regular Communication of the Lodge. The accused should then be furnished with an attested copy of the charge, and be at the same time informed of the time and place appointed by the Lodge for the trial.
Any Master Mason may be the accuser of another, but a profane cannot be permitted to prefer charges against a Freemason. Yet, if circumstances are known to a profane upon which charges ought to be predicated, a Master Mason, may justly avail himself of that information, and out of it frame an accusation, to be presented to the Lodge. Such an accusation will he received and investigated, although remotely derived from one who is not a member of the Order. It is not necessary that the accuser should be a member of the same Lodge. It is sufficient if he is an affiliated Freemason. We say an affiliated Freemason, for it is generally held, and we believe correctly, that an unaffiliated Freemason is no more competent to prefer charges than a profane.
2. If the accused is living beyond the geographical jurisdiction of the Lodge, the charges should be communicated to him by means of a registered letter through the post-office, and a reasonable time should be allowed for his answer, before the Lodge proceeds to trial. But if his residence be unknown, or if it be impossible to hold communication with him, the Lodge may then proceed to trial—care being had that no undue advantage be taken of his absence, and that the investigation be as full and impartial as the nature of the circumstances will permit.
3. The trial must commence at a Regular Communication, for reasons which have already been stated; but having commenced, it may be continued at Special Communications, called for that purpose; for, if it was allowed only to be continued at regular meetings, which take place but once a month, the long duration of time occupied would materially tend to defeat the ends of justice.
4. The Lodge must be opened in the highest Degree to which the accuser has attained, and the examinations of all witnesses must take place in the presence of the amused and the accuser, if they desire it. It is competent for the amused to employ counsel for the better protection of his interests, provided such counsel is a Master Mason. But if the counsel be a member of the Lodge, he forfeits, in Doctor Mackey's opinion, by his professional advocacy of the accused, the right to vote at the final decision of the question.
5. The final decision of the charge, and the rendering of the verdict, whatever be the rank of the accused, must always be made in a Lodge opened on the Third Degree; and at the time of such decision, both the accuser and the accused, as well as his counsel, if he have any, should withdraw from the Lodge.
6. It is a general and an excellent rule, that no visitors shall be permitted to be present during a trial.
7. The testimony of Master Masons is usually taken on their honor, as such. That of others should be by affidavit, or in such other manner as both the accuser and accused may agree upon.
8. The testimony of profanes, or of those who are of a lower Degree than the accused, is to be taken by a Committee and reported to the Lodge, or, if convenient, by the whole Lodge, when closed and sitting as a Committee. But both the accused and the accuser have a right to be present on such occasions.
9. When the trial is concluded, the accuser and the accused must retire, and the Master will then put the question of guilty, or not guilty, to the Lodge.
Not less than two-thirds of the votes should be required to declare the accused guilty. A bare majority is hardly sufficient to divest a Brother of his good character, and render him subject to what may perhaps be an ignominious punishment. But on this subject the authorities differ.
10. If the verdict is guilty, the Master must then put the question as to the nature and extent of the punishment to be inflicted, beginning with expulsion and proceeding, if necessary, to indefinite suspension and public and private reprimand. To inflict expulsion or suspension, a vote of two-thirds of those present is required, but for a mere reprimand, a majority will be sufficient. The votes on the nature of the punishment should be viva voce, the living voice, or, rather, according to Masonic usage, by a show of hands.
Trials in a Grand Lodge are to be conducted on the same general principles; but here, in consequence of the largeness of the Body, and the inconvenience which would result from holding the examinations in open Lodge, and in the presence of all the members, it is more usual to appoint a Committee, before whom the case is tried, and upon whose full report of the testimony the Grand Lodge bases its action. And the forms of trial in such Committees must conform, in all respects, to the general usage already detailed.
- TRIANGLE
There is no symbol more important in its significance, more various in its application, or more generally diffused throughout the whole system of Freemasonry, than the triangle. An examination of it, therefore, cannot fail to be interesting to the Masonic student.
The equilateral triangle appears to have been adopted by nearly all the nations of antiquity as a symbol of the Deity, in some of his forms or emanations, and hence, probably, the prevailing influence of this symbol was carried into the Jewish system, where the yod within the triangle was made to represent the Tetragrammaton, or sacred name of God.
The equilateral triangle, says Brother D. W. Nash (Freemasons Magazine iv, page 294), "viewed in the light of the doctrines of those who gave it currency as a divine symbol, represents the Great First Cause, the Creator and Container of all things, as one and indivisible, manifesting Himself in an infinity of forms and attributes in this visible universe." Among the Egyptians, the darkness through which the candidate for initiation was made to pass was symbolized by the trowel, an important Masonic implement, which, in their system of hieroglyphics, has the form of a triangle. The equilateral triangle they considered as the most perfect of figures, and a representative of the great principle of animated existence, each of its sides referring to one of the three departments of creation, the animal, vegetable, and mineral.
The equilateral triangle is to be found scattered throughout the Masonic system. It forms in the Royal Arch the figure within which the jewels of the officers are suspended. It is in the Ineffable Degrees the sacred Delta, everywhere presenting itself as the symbol of the Grand Architect of the Universe. In Ancient Craft Masonry, it is constantly exhibited as the element of important ceremonies. The seats of the principal officers are arranged in a triangular form, the three Lesser Lights have the same situation, and the Square and Compasses form, by their union on the greater light, two triangles meeting at their bases. In short, the equilateral triangle may be considered as one of the most constant forms of Masonic symbolism.
The right-angled triangle is another form of this figure which is deserving of attention. Among the Egyptians, it was the symbol of universal nature; the base representing Osiris, or the male principle; the perpendicular, Isis, or the female principle; and the hypotenuse, Horus, their son, or the product of the male and female principle.
This symbol was received by Pythagoras from the Egyptians during his long sojourn in that country, and with it he also learned the peculiar property it possessed, namely, that the sum of the squares of the two shorter sides is equal to the square of the longest side—symbolically expressed by the formula, that the product of Osiris and Isis is Horus. This figure has been adopted in the Third Degree of Freemasonry, and will be there recognized as the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid (see Geometry, Circle, Square, and Forty-seventh Problem).
- TRIANGLE AND SQUARE
As the Delta was the initial letter of Deity with the ancients, so its synonym is among modern nations, It is a type of the Eternal, the All-Powerful, the Self Existent. The material world is typified by the Square as passive matter, in opposition to force symbolized by the Triangle. The Square is also an emblem of humanity, as the Delta or Triangle typifies Deity. The delta, Triangle, and Compasses are essentially the same. The raising one point, and then another, signifies that the divine or higher portion of our nature should increase in power, and control the baser tendencies. This is the real, the practical "journey toward the Last." The interlacing Triangles or Deltas (figure 1) symbolize the union of the two principles or forces, the active and passive, male and female, pervading the universe. The two Triangles "TYPE=PICT;ALT=Triangl2.jpg-19704,0K", one white and the other black, interlacing, typify the mingling of the two apparent powers in nature, darkness and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life.
The Triangle and Square together form the Pyramid (Figure 3), as seen l in the Entered Apprentice's Apron. In this combination the Pyramid is the metaphor for units of matter and force, as well as the oneness of man and God. The numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, have their places in the parts and points of the Square and Triangle when in pyramidal form, and imply Perfection (see Pointed Cubical Stone and Broached Thurnel).
- TRIANGLE, DOUBLE
See Seal of Solomon and Shield of David
- TRIANGLE OF PYTHAGORAS
See Pentalpha
- TRIANGLE, RADIATED
A Triangle placed within and surrounded by a circle of rays. This circle is called in Christian art, a Glory. When this Glory is distinct from the Triangle, and surrounds it in the form of a circle, it is then an emblem of God's Eternal glory. This is the usual form in religious uses. But when, as is most usual in the Masonic symbol, the rays emanate from the center of the Triangle, and, as it were, enshroud it in their brilliancy, it is symbolic of the Divine Light. The perverted ideas of the Pagans referred these rays of light to their sun-god and their Sabian worship.
But the true Masonic idea of this Glory is, that it symbolizes that Eternal Light of Wisdom which surrounds the Supreme Architect as a Sea of Glory, and from Him as a common center emanates to the universe of His creation.
- TRIANGLE, TRIPLE
The perdalpha, or Triangle of Pythagoras, is usually called also the Triple Triangle, because three triangles are formed by the intersection of its sides. But there is another variety of the Triple Triangle which is more properly entitled to the appellation, and which is seen in the illustration. It will be familiar to the Knight Templar as the form of the jewel worn by the Prelate of his Order. Like every modification of the triangle, it is a symbol of the Deity; but as the Degree of Knights Templar appertains exclusively to Christian Freemasonry, the Triple Triangle there alludes to the Mystery of the Trinity. In the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Degree of Knight of the East the symbol is also said to refer to the triple essence of Deity; but the symbolism is made still more mystical by supposing that it represents the sacred number 81, each side of the three triangles being equivalent to 9, which again is the square of 3, the most sacred number in Freemasonry.
In the Twentieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or that of "Grand Master of all Symbolic Lodges," it is said that the number 81 refers to the triple covenant of God, symbolized by a Triple Triangle said to have been seen by Solomon when he consecrated the Temple. Indeed, throughout the Ineffable and the Philosophic Degrees, the allusions to the triple triangle are much more frequent than they are in Ancient Craft Masonry. The Indian Trimourti, or Triple Triangle of the Hindus is of a different form, consisting of three concentric triangles. In the center is the sacred triliteral name, Aum. The interior triangle symbolizes Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva; the middle one Creation, Preservation, and Destruction; and the exterior one, Earth, Water, and Air.
- TRIBES OF ISRAEL
All the twelve Tribes of Israel were engaged in the construction of the first Temple. But long before its destruction, ten of them revolted, and formed the nation of Israel; while the remaining two, the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin, retained possession of the Temple, and of Jerusalem under the name of the Kingdom of Judah. To these two Tribes alone, after the return from the captivity, was entrusted the building of the second Temple. Hence in the advanced Degrees, which, of course are connected for the most part with the Temple of Zerubbabel, or with events that occurred subsequent to the destruction of that of Solomon, the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin only are referred to. But in the primary Degrees, which are based on the first Temple, the Masonic references always are to the twelve Tribes. Hence in the old lectures the twelve original points are explained by a reference to the twelve Tribes (see Twelve Original Points of Freemasonry).
- TRIBUNAL
The modern Statutes of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States direct trials of Masonic offenses, committed by any Brethren of the Rite above the Eighteenth Degree, to be held in a court called a Tribunal of the Thirty-first Degree, to be composed of not less nor more than nine members. An appeal lies from such a Tribunal of Inspectors Inquisitors to the Grand Consistory or the Supreme Council.
- TRIBUNAL, SUPREME
This has two distinct references for us.
- 1. The Seventy-first Degree of the Rite of Mizraim.
- 2. The meeting of Inspectors Inquisitors of the Thirty-first Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite according to the more recent practice of the Mother Council.
- TRIFELS
The name of the ruined castle, four miles from Madenburg, on a mountain slope, where Sir Richard Coeur de Lion was a prisoner for more than a year, by decree of the Emperor Henry III, and until his liberation by the faithful Blondel. Naught remains but thirty feet of the tower and some fragments of wall. It is recorded that there may be seen engraved deep in the window-stone of the tower this Mark: the Passion Cross standing upon the square with an apex upward, and having upon it an inverted Tau of proportionate size at an inclination of about forty-nine Degrees.
- TRILITERAL NAME
Three-lettered Name. The sacred name of God among the Hindus is so called because it consists of the three letters, A U M (see A Otto).
- TRILITHON
Three stones, two of which are placed parallel on their ends, and Crossed by the third at the top. Many curious combinations of this rude but imposing construction are to be found in Europe, as at Stonehenge in England and Brittany in France.
- TRINIDAD
Freemasonry was introduced into the island of Trinidad by the establishment of a Lodge called Les Freres Unis, United Brothers, under a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in 1797. A Charter had been granted the year before by the Grand Orient of France, but never acted on, in consequence of the suspension of that body by the French revolutions In 1804, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in its capitular capacity, granted a Charter for a Royal Arch Chapter, which continued to meet until 1813, when it obtained a new Warrant of Constitution from the Supreme Chapter of .Scotland. In 1814, exemplar Masonry was established by a Deuchar Warrant from the Grand Conclave of Scotland. In 1819, a Council of Royal and Select Masters was established. Trinidad has also had established a Provincial Grand Lodge under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, and some Lodges under the government Grand Lodge of England.
- TRINITARIANS, ORDER OF
An androgynous, both sexes, Order founded in 1198, in the time of lnnocent III, for the purpose of ransoming Christians from the Moors.
- TRINITY, RELIGIOUS FRATERNITY OF THE HOLY
Instituted at Rome by Saint Philip Neri in 1548.
- TRINOSOPHS
The Lodge of the Trinosophs was instituted at Paris by the celebrated Ragon, October 15, 1816, and installed by the Grand Orient, January 11, 1817. The Word Triposophs is derived from the Greek and signifies Students of three Sciences, in allusion to the three primitive degrees, which were the especial object of study by the members; although they adopted both the French and Scottish Rites, to whose high Degrees, however, they gave their own philosophical interpretation. It was before this Lodge that Ragon delivered his Interpretative and Philosophic Course of Initations. The dodge was composed of some of the most learned freemasons of France, and played an important part in Masonic literature.
No Lodge in France has obtained so much celebrity as did the Trinosophs. It was connected with a Chapter and Council in which the advanced Degrees were conferred, but the Lodge confined itself to the three Symbolic Degrees, which it faithfully sought to preserve in the utmost purity.
- TRIPITAKA
A compound Word among the Hindus, Tri, meaning three and Pitaka, basket. The canonical book of the Buddhists, written two hundred years after the third Ecumenical Council, or about 60 B.C. The former Asiatic doctrines having become intolerable Sakya, a reformer in religion, rejected the god Brahma, and the holy books of the Veda, the sacrifices at other rites, and said: "My law is grace for all." These Sacred writings of the Hindus were called the Three Baskets. the Basket of Laws, the Basket of Discipline, and the Basket of Doctrincs. The first Basket is called Dharma, and relates to the law for man; the second, Vinaya, and relates to the discipline of the priests; and the third, Abhidharma, and pertains to the gods.
- TRIPLE ALLIANCE
An expression in the advanced Degrees, which, having been translated from the French instructions, should have more properly been the Triple Covenant. It is represented by the Triple Triangle, and refers to the Covenant of God With his people, that of King Solomon with Hiram of Tyre, and that which binds the Fraternity of Freemasons.
- TRIPLE TAU
The Tau Cross, or Cross of Saint Anthony, is a Cross in the form of a Greek T. The Triple Tau is a figure formed by three of these crosses meeting in a point, and therefore resembling a letter T resting on the traverse bar of an H. This emblem, placed in the center of a Triangle and Circle—both emblems of the Deity—constitutes the jewel of the Royal .Arch as practiced in England where it is so highly esteemed as to be called the emblem of all emblems, and "the grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry." It was adopted in the same form as the Royal Arch badge, by the General Grand Chapter of the United States in 1859; although it had previously been very generally recognized by American Freemasons. It is also found in the Capitular Freemasonry of Scotland (see Royal Arch Badge).
The original signification of this emblem has been variously explained. Some suppose it to include the initials of the Temple of Jerusalem, T. H., Templum Hierosolymse; others, that it is a symbol of the mystical union of the Father and Son, H. signifying Jehovah, and T. or the cross, the Son. A writer in Moore's Magazine ingeniously supposes it to be a representation of three T-squares, and that it alludes to the three jewels of the three ancient Grand Masters. It has also been said that it is the monogram of Hiram of Tyre; and others assert that it is only a modification of the Hebrew letter shin, 0, which was one of the Jewish abbreviations of the sacred name.
Doctor Oliver thinks, from its connection with the circle and triangle in the Royal Arch jewel, that it was intended to typify the a sacred name as the Author of Eternal Life. Old English Royal Arch lectures say that by its intersection it forms a given number of angles that may be taken in five regular combinations; and, reduced, their amount in right angles will be found equal to the five Platonic bodies which represent the four elements and the sphere of the Universe."
Amid so many speculations, Doctor Mackey felt that he need not hesitate to offer one of his own. The Prophet Ezekiel speaks of the tau or tau cross as the Mark distinguishing those who were to he saved, on account of their sorrow for their sins, from those who, as idolaters, were to be slain. It was a mark or sign of favorable distinction; and with this allusion we may, therefore, suppose the triple tau to be used in the Royal Arch Degree as a mark designating and separating those who know and worship the true name of God from those who are ignorant of that August mystery (see Three).
- TRIPOLI
Italian territory in Northern Africa on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The Grand Orient of Italy controls three Lodges at Tripoli City and others at Bengazi, Derna and Homs.
- TRIVIUM
See Quadrivium and Liberal Arts and Sciences.
- TROWEL
An implement of Operative Masonry, which has been adopted by Speculative Freemasons as the peculiar working-tool of the Master's Degree. By this implement, and its use in Operative Masonry to spread the cement which binds all the parts of the building into one common mass, we are taught to spread the cement of affection and kindness, which unites all the members of the Masonic family, wheresoever dispersed over the globe, into one companionship of Brotherly Love and an old custom in an Oxford Lodge, England, gave it prominence as a jewel, and as a symbol it goes back to the practice of the Ancient.
Today this implement is considered the appropriate working-tool of a Master Mason, because, in Operative Masonry, while the Apprentice is engaged in preparing the rude materials, which require only the Gage and Gavel to give them their proper shape. the Fellow Craft places them in their proper position by means of the Plumb, Level, and Square; but the Master Mason alone, having examined their correctness and proved them true and trusty, secures them permanently in their place by spreading, with the trowel, the cement that irrevocably binds them together. The Trowel has also been adopted as the jewel of the Select Master. But its uses in this Degree are not symbolical. They are simply connected with the historical legend of the Degree.
- TROWEL AND SWORD
When Nehemiah received from Artaxerxes Longimanus the appointment of Governor of Judea, and was permitted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and to restore the city to its former fortified condition, he met with great opposition from the Persian Satraps, or Governors, who were envious of his favor with the King, and from the heathen inhabitants of Samaria, who were unwilling to see the city again resume its pristine importance. The former undertook to injure him with Artaxerxes by false reports of his seditious designs to restore the independent Kingdom of Judea. The latter sought to obstruct the workmen of Nehemiah in their labors, and openly attacked them. Nehemiah took the most active measures to refute the insidious accusations of the first, and to repel the more open violence of the latter. Josephus says in his Antiquities (Book xi, chapter vi, section 8), that he gave orders that the Builders should keep their ranks, and have their armor on while they were building; and, accordingly, the Mason had his sword on as well as he that brought the materials for building.
Zerubbabel had met with similar opposition from the Samaritans while rebuilding the Temple; and although the events connected with Nehemiah's restoration of the walls occurred long after the completion of the second Temple, yet the Freemasons have in the advanced Degrees referred them to the time of Zerubbabel. Hence in the Fifteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, or the Knight of the East, which refers to the building of the Temple of Zerubbabel, we find this combination of the Trowel and the Sword adopted as a symbol. The old instructions of that degree say that Zerubbabel, being informed of the hostile intentions of the false Brethren from Samaria, bordered that all the workmen should be armed with the Trowel in one hand and the Sword in the other, that while they worked with the one they might be enabled to defend themselves with the other, and ever repulse the enemy if they should dare to present themselves."
In reference to this idea, but not with chronological accuracy, the Trowel and Sword have been placed crosswise as symbols on the Tracing-Board of the English Royal Arch. Doctor Oliver correctly interprets the symbol of the Trowel and Sword as signifying that, "next to obedience to lawful authority, a manly and determined resistance to lawless violence is an essential part of social duty."
- TROWEL, SOCIETY OF THE
Vasari, in his Loves of the Painters and Sculptors, and referring to the life of G. F. Rustici, says that about the year 1512 there was established at Florence an Association which counted among its members some of the most distinguished and learned inhabitants of the city. It was the Societa delta Cucchiara, or the Society of the Trowel. Vasari adds that its symbols were the trowel, the Hammer, the Square, and the Level, and had for its patron Saint Andrew, which makes Reghellini think, rather illogically, that it had some relation to the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. Lenning, too, says that this Society was the first appearance of Freemasonry in Florence. It is to be regretted that such misstatements of Masonic history should be encouraged by writers of learning and distinction.
The perusal of the account of the formation of this society, as given by Vasari, shows that it had not the slightest connection with Freemasonry. It was simply a festive association, or dinner-club of Florentine artists; and it derived its title from the accidental circumstance that certain painters and sculptors, dining together in a garden, found not far from their table a mass of mortar, in which a trowel was sticking. Some rough jokes passed thereupon, in the casting of the mortar on each other, and the calling for the trowel to scrape it off. Whereupon they resolved to form an association to dine together annually, and, in memorial of the ludicrous event that had led to their establishment, they called themselves the Society of the Trowel.
- TRUE KINDRED, ORDER OF
Benjamin Franklin is credited in the literature of the Order with receiving the degrees in England and bringing the Ritual to America where we are also told it was conferred upon George Washington, he in turn communicating the ceremonies to his wife and that for years it therefore received the name of the Martha Washington Degree. The legend and instruction are taken from the Bible, particularly Genesis iv, 18-23; Ruth I-ii; First Kings vii, 21; Second Chronicles iii, 17, and Proverbs xxxi, 19. Members must be the own kin — hence the Name — of Master Masons.
There are three Degrees, True Kindred, Heroine of Jericho, and Good Samaritan, the second obtained after six months probation, the third after one year of the second. A Royal Arch Mason, Prude Parsons of Whitewater, Wisconsin, conferred the Degree in 1853 upon his daughter and the daughter of a Masonic friend. Mrs. J. Mathews of Rockland, Wisconsin, received the Degree in the early fifties which then was known as the Lady Washington or Martha Washington Degree which during the first part of the Civil War period is credited with many members in Virginia. Several Freemasons in 1894 at San Francisco organized Conclaves.
Among the Californian members was Mrs. M. E. De Geer Gilmore who moved to Chicago and continued the work there until 1905. In the fall of that year the Order was reorganized at the request of several Conclaves. Rituals of 1847, 1851, and 1895 were reported, a Ritual Committee appointed, and a Supreme National Conclave established. The work of the Committee was adopted, but at a meeting of the National Body in Chicago, March 2-3, 1911, a Committee was again appointed which exemplified a Ritual and this, with amendments, was approved, April 10-17, 1911.
- TRUE LIGHT
Relating to the Latin expression, Sit lux et lux fuit, meaning Let there be Light, and there was Light (see Fiat Lux et Lux fit). However, the Latin edition of the Bible gives the words Fiat Lux et facta est Lux (Genesis I, 3). The words Sit Lox et Lux Suit are on a jewel dated 5758 (1758) owned by Brother John T. Thorp, Lodge of Research, Leicester, England. The translation from the Hebrew Bible Of this passage (Genesis I, 1-5! so often quoted in Freemasonry, is:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Here we may appropriately introduce an old verse of rare quaintness and appeal, credited to Adam de Saint Victor by the Roberts edition of Hoyt's Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations, and taken from a Latin hymn said to have been sung at the deathbed of William the Conqueror, King of England, who died in 1087 A. D.
- Now that the sun is gleaming bright,
- Implore we, bending low,
- That He, the Uncreated Light
- Play guide us as we go.
- TRUE MASONS
See Academy of True Masons
- TRURO CATHEDRAL
A Protestant edifice erected at a seaport of Cornwall, England, standing at the junction of two rivers, the Allen and the Kenwyn. On the 20th of May, 1880, the Grand Master of Freemasons, the Prince of Wales, laid two cornerstones of the Cathedral with great pageantry, pomp, and ceremony. This was the first time a Grand Master of Freemasons m England was known to lay the corner-stone of an ecclesiastical structure; this was, also, the first occasion on which the then Grand Master had performed such a service, in Masonic clothing, surrounded with his staff and officers, in rich robes and in the costume of Freemasonry.
- TRUST IN GOD
Every candidate on his initiation is required to declare that his trust is in God. He who denies the existence of a Supreme Being is debarred the privilege of initiation, for atheism is a disqualification for Freemasonry. This pious principle has distinguished the Fraternity from the earliest period; and it is a happy coincidence, that the Company of Operative Masons instituted in 1477 should have adopted, as their motto, the truly Masonic sentiment, "The Lord is all our Trust."
- TRUTH
The real object of Freemasonry, in a philosophical and religious sense, is the search for truth. This truth is, therefore, symbolized by the Word. From the first entrance of the Apprentice into the Lodge, until his reception of the highest degree, this search is continued. It is not always found and a substitute must sometimes be provided. Yet whatever be the labors he performs, whatever the ceremonies through which he passes, whatever the symbols in which he may be instructed, whatever the final reward he may obtain, the true end of all is the attainment of Truth.
This idea of truth is not the same as that expressed in the lecture of the First Degree, where Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth are there said to be the "three great tenets of a Mason's profession." In that connection, Truth, which is called a "Divine Attribute, the foundation of every virtue," is synonymous with Sincerity, honesty of expression, and plain dealing. The higher idea of truth which pervades the whole Masonic system, and which is symbolized by the Word, is that which is properly expressed to a knowledge of God. There was an Egyptian goddess named in the Hebrew, Thm, or Thme, meaning integritas, or Justice and Truth.
This one of the three great Masonic principles is represented among the Egyptians by an ostrich feather; and the judicial officer was also thus represented, "because that bird, unlike others, has all its feathers equal," Horapollo. The Hebrew word ion, signifies an Ostrich, as also a Council; and the word Rnne, is interpreted, poetically, an ostrich, and also a song of joy, or of Praise; hence, "the happy souls thus ornamented, under the inspection of the lords of the heart's joy, gathered fruits from celestial trees." In the judgment in Amenti, the soul advances toward the goddess Thme, who wears on her head the ostrich feather. In the scale, Anubis and Horus weigh the actions of the deceased On one side is the ostrich feather, and on the other the vase containing the heart. Should the weight of the heart be greater than the feather, the soul is entitled to be received into the celestial courts. The forty-two judges, with heads ornamented with ostrich feathers, sit aloft to pronounce judgment (see Book of the Dead ).
- TRYONISTS
Those Pythagoreans who abstained from animal food.
- TSAPHIEL
The Hebrew word Mirans Deus, the angel governing the Moon, in accordance with the Cabalistical system.
- TSCHOUDY, LOUIS THEODORE
Miehaud spells the name Tschudi, but Lenning, Thory, Ragon, Oliver, and all other Masonic writers, give the name as Tschoudy, which form, therefore, we adopt as the most usual, if not the most correct, spelling. Baron de Tschoudy was born at Metz, in 1720. He was descended from a family originally of the Swiss Canton of Glaris, but which had been established in France since the commencement of the sixteenth century. He was a Counselor of State and member of the Parliament of Metz; but the most important events of his life are those which connect him with the Masonic institution, of which he was a zealous and learned investigator. He was one of the most active apostles of the school of Ramsay, and adopted his theory of the Templar origin of Freemasonry.
Having obtained permission from the King to travel, he went to Italy, in 1752, under the assumed name of the Chevalier de Lussy. There he excited the anger of the Papal Court by the publication at the Hague, in the same year, of a book entitled Etrenne au Pape, ou les Francs-Maçons Vengés, that is, A New Year's Gift for the Pope, or the Free Masons Avenged. This was a caustic commentary on the Bull of Benedict XIV excommunicating the Freemasons. It was followed, in the same year, by another work entitled, Le Vatican Vengé that is, The Vatican Avenged; an ironical apology, intended as a Sequence to the former book. these two works subjected him to such persecution by the Church that he was soon compelled to Seek safety in flight.
Brother Tschoudy next repaired to Russia, where his means of living became so much impaired that, Michaud says, he was compelled to enter the company of comedians of the Empress Elizabeth. From this condition he was relieved by Count Ivan Schouwalon, who made him his Private Secretary. He was also appointed the Secretary of the Academy of Moscow, and Governor of the pages at the Court. But this advancement of his fortunes, and the fact of his being a Frenchman, created for him many enemies, and he was compelled at length to leave Russia, and return to France. There, however, the persecutions of his enemies pursued him, and on his arrival at Paris he was sent to the Bastile. But the intercession of his mother with the Empress Elizabeth and with the Grand Duke Peter was successful, and he was speedily restored to liberty. He then retired to Metz, and for the rest of his life devoted himself to the task of Masonic reform and the fabrication of new systems.
The Council of Knights of the East was established in 1762, at Paris. Ragon says (Orthodoxie Maçonnique, page 137) that "its ritual was corrected by the Baron de Tschoudy, the author of the Blazing Star." But this is an error. Tschoudy was then at Metz, and his work and system of the Blazing Star did not appear until four years afterward. It is at a later date that Tschoudy became connected with the Council.
He published, in connection with Bardon-Duhamel, his most important work, in 1766, entitled L'Etoile Flamboyante, ou la Societé d es Francs-Maçons considerée sous tous les Aspects, that is, The Blazing Star, or the Society of Freemasons considered under Every Point of View.
The same year he repaired to Paris, with the declared object of extending his Masonic system. He then attached himself to the Council of Knights of the East, which, under the guidance of the tailor Pirlet, had seceded from the Council of Emperors of the East and West. Tschoudy availed himself of the ignorance and of the boldness of Pirlet to put his plan of reform into execution by the creation of new Degrees.
In Tschoudy's system, however, as developed in the L'Etoile Flamboyante, he does not show himself to be the advocate of the advanced Degrees, which, he says, are "an occasion of expense to their dupes, and an abundant and lucrative resource for those who make a profitable traffic of their pretended instructions." He recognizes the three Symbolic Degrees because their gradations are necessary in the Lodge, which he viewed as a school; and to these he adds a superior class, which may be called the architects, or by any other name, provided we attach to it the proper meaning.
All the advanced Degrees he calls "Masonic reveries," excepting two, which he regards as containing the secret, the object, and the essence of Freemasonry, namely, the Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew and the Knight of Palestine. The former of these Degrees was composer by Tschoudy, and its ritual, which he bequeathed, with other manuscripts, to the Council of Knights of the East and West, was published in 1780, under the title of Ecossais de Saint André, contenant le développement total de l'art royal de la Franche-Maçonnerie, or Scottish Knight of Saint Andrew, containing the entire development of the Royal Arch of Freemasonry Subsequently, on the organization of the Ancient and Accepted ,Scottish Rite, the Degree was adopted as the Twenty-ninth of its series, and is considered as one of the most important and Philosophic of the ,Scottish system. Its fabrication is, indeed, an evidence of the intellectual genius of its inventor.
Ragon, in his Orthodoxie Maçonnique , attributes to Tschoudy the fabrication of the Rite of Adoniramite Freemasonry, and the authorship of the Recueil Precieux, meaning Choice Collection, which contains the description of the Rite. But the first edition of the Recueil, with the acknowledged authorship of Guillemain de Saint Victor, appeared in 1781. This is probably about the date of the introduction of the Rite, and is just twelve years after Tschoudy had gone to his eternal rest. Tschoudy also indulged in light literature, and several romances are attributed to him, the only one of whieh now known, entitled Thérese Philosophe, does not add to his reputation.
Chemins Despontés (Encyclopédie Maçonnique i, page 143) says: "The Baron Tschoudy, whose birth gave him a distinguished rank in society, left behind him the reputation of an excellent man, equally remarkable for his social virtues, his genius, and his military talents." Such appears to have been the general opinion of those who were his contemporaries or his immediate successors He died at Paris, May 28, 1769
- TSEDAKAH
The Hebrew word, meaning Justice The first step of the Mystical Ladder, known to the Kadosh, Thirtieth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted, Scottish Rite.
- TSIDONI
Hebrew word, the Latin Venator meaning also Hunter, Seeker or Inquirer A name used in the Twenty-second Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
- TSOIM
The Hebrew word, A term used infrequently to designate visitors.
- TUAPHOLL
A term employed by the Druids to designate an unhallowed circumambulation of the sacred Cairn, or altar; the movement being against the sun, that is, from West to East by the North, the Cairn being on the left hand of the circumambulator.
- TUBAL CAIN
Of Tubal Cain, the sacred writings, as well as the Masonic legends, give us but scanty information. All that we hear of him in the Book of Genesis is that he was the son of Lamech and Zillah, and was "an instructor of every artifices in brass and iron." The Hebrew original does not justify the common version, for lotesh, does not mean "an instructor," but "a sharpener "—one who whets or sharpens instruments. Hence Doctor Raphall translates the passage as one "who sharpened various tools in copper and iron." The authorized version has, however, almost indelibly impressed the character of Tubal Cain as the Father of Artificers; and it is in this sense that he has been introduced from a very early period into the legendary history of Freemasonry.
The first Masonic reference to Tubal Cain is found in the Legend of the Craft, where he is called the Founder of Smith-Craft, an explanation agreeing closely with modern biblical scholarship which designates him as the "Founder of the Gild of Smiths or Metal Workers." We cite this part of the legend from the Dowland Manuscript simply because of its more modern orthography; but the story is substantially the same in all the old manuscript Constitutions. In that manuscript we five find the following account of Tubal Cain:
Before Noah's flood there was a man called Lamedh, as it is written in the Bible, in the fourth Chapter of Genesis; and this Lamedh had two wives, the one named Ada and the other named Zilla by his first wife Ada, he got two sons, the one Jubal, and the other Jabal: and by the other wife he got a son and a daughter. And these four children founded the beginning of all the sciences in the world. The elder son Jabal, founded the science geometry, and he carried flocks of sheep and lambs into the fields, and first built houses of stone and wood, as it is noted in the chapter above named. And his brother Jubal founded the science of music and songs of the tongue, the harp and organ. And the third brothers Tubal Cain, founded smith-craft , of gold, silver, copper, iron, and steel, and the daughter founded the art of weaving. And these children knew well that God would take vengeance for sin, either by fire or water, wherefore they wrote the sciences that they lead found, on two pillars that they might be found after Noah's flood. The one pillar was marble, for that would not burn with fire, and the other was clepped laterns and would not drown in no water.
Similar to this an old Rabbillical tradition, which asserts that Jubal, who was the inventor of writing as well as of music, having heard Adam say that the universe would be twice destroyed, once by fire and once by water, inquired Which catastrophe would first occur; but Adam refusing to inform him he inscribed the system of music Which he had invented upon two pillars of stone and briefs A more modern Masonic tradition ascribes the construction of these pillars to Enoch. To this amount of Tubal Cain must he added the additional particulars, recorded by Josephus, that he exceeded all men in strength, and was renowned for his warlike achievements.
The only other account of the proto-metallurgist that we meet with in any ancient author is that which is contained in the celebrated fragment of Sanconiatho, who refers to him under the name of Chrysor, which is evidently, as Bochart affirms, a corruption of the Hebrew chores ur, a worker in fire, that is, a smith. Sanconiatho was a Phenician author, who is supposed to have flourished before the Trojan war, probably, as Sir William Drummond suggests, about the time when Gideon was Judge of Israel, and who collected the different accounts and traditions of the origin of the world which were extant at the period in which he lived. A fragment only of this cork has been preserved, which, translated into Greek by Philo Byblius, was inserted by Eusebitls in his Praepario Evangelica, and has thus been handed down to the present day. That portion of the history by Sanconiatho, which refers to Tubal Cain, is contained in the following words:
A long time after the generation of Hypsoaranios. the inventors of hunting and fishing, Agreas and Alieas, were born: after whom the people were called hunters and fishers, and from whom sprang two brothers, when discovered iron, and the manner of working it. one of these two, called Chrysor, was skilled in eloquence, and composed verses and prophecies. He was the .same with Hephaistos, and invented fishing-hooks, bait for taking fishes cordage and rafts, and was the first of all mankind who had navigated. He was therefore worshiped as a god after his death, and was called Diamichios.
It is said that these brothers were the first who contrived partition walls of brick.
Hephaistos, it will be observed, is the Greek of the god who was called by the Romans Vulcan. Hence the remark of Sanconiatho, and the apparent similarity of names as well as occupations, have led some writers of the last, and even of the present, century to derive Vulcan from Tubal Cain by a process not very devious and therefore familiar to etymologists. By the omission in Tubal Cain of the initial T. which is the Phenician article, and its valueless vowel, we get Balcan, which, by the interchangeable nature of B and V, is easily transformed to Vulcan.
"That Tubal Cain," says Bishop Edw. Stillingfleet (Origines Sacrae, or a Rational Account of the Christian faith as to the Truth and Divine Authority of the Scriptures and the Matters therein contained, 1662, page 292), "gave first occasion to the name and worship of Vulcan, hath been very probably conceived, both from the very great affinity of the names, and that Tubal Cain is expressly mentioned to be an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron, and as near relation as Apollo had to Vulcan, tubal had to Tubal Cain, who was the inventor of music, or the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, which the Greeks attribute to Apollo."
Vossius, in his treatise De Idolatria (book i, chapter 36), makes this derivation of Vulcan from Tubal Cain. But Bryant, in his Analysis of Ancient Mythology (volume i, page 139), denies the etymology and says that among the Egyptians and Babylonians, Vulcan was equivalent to Horus or Osiris, symbols of the sun. He traces the name to the words Baal Cahen, Holy Bel, or Sacred Lord. Bryant's etymology may be adopted, however, without any interference with the identity of Vulcan and Tubal Cain. He who discovered the uses of fire, may well, in the corruptions of idolatry, have typified the solar orb, the source of all heat.
It might seem that Tubal is an attribute compounded of the definite particle T and the word Baal, signifying Lord. Tubal Cain would then signify the Lord Cain. Again, dhu or du, in Arabic, signifies Lord, and we trace the same signification of this affix in its various interchangeable forms of Du, Tu, and Di, in many Semitic words. But the question of the identical origin of Tubal Cain and Vulcan has at length been settled by the researches of comparative philologists. Tubal Cain is Semitic in origin, and Vulcan is Aryan. The latter may be traced to the Sanskrit ulka, meaning a firebrand, from which we get also the Latin fulgur and fulmen, names of the lightning.
From the mention made of Tubal Cain in the Legend of the Craft, the word was long ago adopted as significant in the primary Degrees, and various attempts have been made to give it an interpretation. Hutchinson, in an article in his Spirit of Masonry, devoted to the consideration of the Third Degree, has the following reference (page 162) to the word: The Mason advancing to this state of Masonry, pronounces his own sentence as confessional of the imperfection of the second stage of his profession, and as probationary of the exalted Degree to which he aspires, in this Greek distich, T, Struo tumulum. I prepare mar sepulchre. I make my grave in the pollutions of the earth. I am under the shadow of death. This distich has been vulgarly corrupted among us. and an expression takes place scarcely similar in sound, and entirely inconsistent with Masonry, and unmeaning in itself .
But however ingenious this interpretation of our Brother Hutchinson may be, it is generally admitted to be incorrect.
The modern English Freemasons, and through them the French, have derived Tubal Cain from the Hebrew tebel, meaning earth and kanah to acquire possession, and, with little respect for the grammatical rules of the Hebrew language, interpret it as meaning worldly possessions. In the Hemming lectures, now the authorized English system, we find that the answer to the question, "What does Tubal Cain denote?" is "Worldly possessions." And Delaunay, in his Thuilleur (page 17), denies the reference to the proto-smith, and says: "If we reflect on the meaning of the two Hebrew words, we will easily recognize in their connection the secret wish of the hierophant, of the Templar, of the Freemason, and of every mystical sect, to govern the world in accordance with its own principles and its own laws." It is fortunate, we think, that the true meaning of the words will authorize no such interpretation. The fact is, that even if Tubal Cain were derived from tebel and kanah, the precise rules of Hebrew construction would forbid affixing to their union any such meaning as "worldly possessions." Such an interpretation of it in the French and English systems was, therefore, in Doctor Mackey's opinion, a very forced and inaccurate one.
The use of Tubal Cain as a significant word in the Masonic instructions is derived from the Legend of the Craft, by which the name was made familiar to the Operative and then to the Speculative Freemasons; and it refers not symbolically, but historically to his Scriptural and traditional reputation as an artificer. If he symbolized anything, it would be labor; and a Freemason's labor is to acquire truth, and not worldly possessions. The English and French interpretation has never been introduced into the United States.
- TUB BAANI AMAL ABAL
The Hebrew phrase, meaning it is just to reward labor. An expression found in the Thirteenth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
- TUGENDVEREIN
German, Society of Virtue. See Concordists.
- TUNE, FREEMASONS
The air of the song written by Matthew Birkhcad, and published in the Book of Constitutions of 1723, with the title of the Entered Prentice's Song, is familiarly and distinctively known as the Freemasons' Tune. William Chappell, in a work entitled Popular Music of the Olden Time, gives the following interesting account of it:
This tune was very popular at the time of the ballad operas, and I am informed that the same words are still sung to it at Masonic meetings. The air was introduced in The Village Opera The Chambermaid, The Lottery The Grub-Street Opera and The Lover his own Rival. It is contained in the third volume of The Dancing Master, and of Walsh's New Country Dancing Master. Words and music are included in Watt's Musical Miscellany (iii, page ~2)l and in British Melody or The Musical Magazine (folio 1739). They were also printed on broadsides.
In the Gentlemen s Magazine for October, 1731, the first stanza is printed as ad Health, by Mr. Birkhead. It seems to be there quoted from the Constitutions of the freemasons, by the Rev. James Anderson, A.M., one of the Worshipful Masters.
There are several versions of the tune. one in Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719, ii, page 230), has a second part but that being almost a repetition of the first taken an octave higher, is out of the compass of ordinary voices, and has therefore been generally rejected.
In A Complete Collection of Old and New English and Scotch Songs (1735 ii, page 172) the name is given as Ye Commoners and Peers; but Leveridge composed another tune to these words. In Tile Musical Mason, or Freemasons' Pocket Companion, being a collection of songs used in all Lodges, to which are added the Freemasons' March and Ode (1791), this is entitled The Entered Apprentice's Song. Many stanzas have been added from time to time, and others have been altered.
See Birkhead, Matthew; Entered Prentice's Song, and Songs of Freemasonry
- TUNIS
In Northern Africa, between Algeria and Tripoli, on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Several Lodges have been constituted in Tunis and on July 17, 1879, a Grand Lodge was formed. In 1917 its Grand Master was Gustavus Daemons and it controlled about six Lodges.
- TURANIAN
One of the three historical divisions of religion—the other two being the Aryan and the Semitic—and embraces the two sacred codes of China, namely, those of Confucius and Lao-tse.
- TURBAN
The usual head-dress worn in Eastern nations, consisting of a quilted cap, without rim, and a sash or scarf of cotton or linen wound about the cap. In Royal Arch Chapters, the turban, of a purple color, constitutes the head-dress of the Scribe, because that officer represents the Jewish prophet Haggai.
- TURCOPOLIER
The third dignity in the Order of Knights Hospitaler of Saint John, or Knights of Malta. It took its name from the Turcopoles, a sort of light horse mentioned in the history of the Christian wars in Palestine. The office of Turcopolier was held by the Conventional Bailiff, or Head of the Langue, the national division, of England. He had the command of the Cavalry of the Order.
- TURKEY
A writer in the Freemasons Quarterly Review (1844, page 21), says that there was a Masonic meeting in Constantinople, at which some Turks were initiated, but that the government prohibited the w future meetings. This must have been an irregular Lodge. Many and various authorities have founded Lodges in Turkey. Mention of Lodges at Smyrna and Aleppo occurred in a London newspaper as early as 1738. Oriental Lodge under the Grand Lodge of England has been active since 1856 at Constantinople.
A Grand Lodge of Turkey formed by Ionic, Anatolia, and Benzenzia Lodges was declared illegal in 1859 by the Grand Lodge of England.
A District Grand Lodge was established in 1861 with Sir Henry Bulwer, British Ambassador, as District Grand Master. A Supreme Council was opened in 1869 and a Grand Orient of Turkey in 1908.
Since 1894 the Grand Lodge of Hamburg has had a Lodge working in German, Die Leuchte am goldenen Horn, meaning Liszt at the Golden Horn, these last two words referring to the crescent-shaped strait, the Bosporus, on which Constantinople is situated. The Grand Orient of Italy has three Lodges, the Grand Orient of France one, all at Constantinople.
The Grand Orient of France has two Lodges at Smyrna, Homere from 1909 and Meles from 1913; Barkai from 1905 at Jaffa, and Moriah Lodge at Jerusalem since 1913. The Grand Orient has also had a Lodge at Beyrouth in Syria, Le Liban from 1858; and at Zahle, also in Syria, Etoile du Liban, meaning in French Star of the Laban, since 1913. The Grand Orient of Italy has Lodges at Adana and Angora, two at Smyrna, one at Syrian Tripoli, and another at Rodi.
In these Lodges many native Mohammedans have been initiated. The Turks, however, have always had secret societies of their own, which has led some writers to suppose, erroneously, that Freemasonry existed long before the date of its actual introduction. Thus, the Begtaschi form a secret society in Turkey, numbering many thousands of Mussulmans in its ranks, and none but a true Moslem can be admitted to the Brotherhood. It is a religious Order, and was founded in the year 1328 by the Hadji Begtaseh, a famous dervish, from whom it derives its name. The Begtaschi have certain signs and passwords by which they are enabled to recognize the "true Brethren," and by which they are protected from vagabond impostors.
A writer in Notes and Queries says, in allusion to this Society, that "One day, during the summer of 1855, an English merchant captain, while walking through the streets of a Turkish quarter of Constantinople, encountered a Turk, who made use of various signs of Freemasonry, some of which, the captain being a Mason, he understood and others he did not." It is, however, probable in this instances considering the date, that the Turk was really a Freemason, and possessed some higher Degrees, which had not been attained by the English captain. There is also another equally celebrated Order in Turkey, the Melewi, who have secret modes of recognition.
- TURQUOISE
Oliver says (Landmarks ii, page 521) that the first stone in the third row of the High Priest's Breastplate "was a figure, hyacinth, or turquoise." The stone was a figure; but Doctor Oliver is incorrect in supposing that it is a synonym of either a hyacinth or a turquoise, which are stones of a very different nature (see Breast plate) .
- TUSCAN ORDER
The simplest of the five Orders of Architecture, as its columns are never fluted, and it does not allow the introduction of any kind of ornament. It is one of the two modern Orders, not being found in any ancient example. Hence it is of no value in Masonic symbolism.
- TWELVE
Twelve being composed of the mystical numbers 7+5 or of 3X4, the triad multiplied by the quaternion, was a number of considerable value in ancient systems. Thus there were twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve months in the year, twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve stones in the pectoral, and twelve oxen supporting the molten sea in the Temple. There were twelve apostles in the new law, and the New Jerusalem has twelve gates, twelve foundations, is twelve thousand furlongs square, and the number of the sealed is twelve times twelve thousand. Even the Pagans respected this number, for there were in their mythology twelve superior and twelve inferior gods.
- TWELVE COMPANIONS, THE
See Companions, The Twelve
- TWELVE ILLUSTRIOUS KNIGHTS
The Eleventh Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; more correctly Sublime Knight Elected, which see.
- TWELVE LETTERED NAME
The Jews had among their Divine names, besides the Tetragrammaton, a two-lettered name, which was Jah, as well as a twelve-lettered and a forty-two-lettered name. None of these, however, were so sacred and unutterable as the Tetragrammaton. Maimonides says of the twelve-lettered name, that it was formerly used in stead of Adonai, as being more emphatic, in place of the Tetragrammaton, whenever they came to that sacred name in reading. It v-as not, however, like the Tetragrammaton, communicated only to their disciples, but was imparted to any that desired its knowledge. But after the death of Simeon the Just, the Tetragrammaton ceasing to be used at all, the twelve lettered name was substituted in blessing the people; and then it became a secret name, and was communicated only to the most pious of the Priests. What was the twelve-lettered name is uncertain, though all agree that it was not a name, but a sentence composed of twelve letters. Rabbi Bechai says it was formed by a triple combination and permutation of the four letters of the Tctragrammaton; and there are other explanations equally unsatisfactory.
There was also a forty-two-lettered name, composed, says Bechai, of the first forty-two letters of the Book of Genesis. Another and a better explanation has been propounded by Franek, that it is formed out of the names of the ten Sephiroth, which with the l, vau, or and, amount exactly to forty-two letters. There was another name of seventy-two letters, which is still more inexplicable. Of all these names, Maimonides (more Nebuhim I, Ixii) says that, as they could not possibly constitute one word, they must have been composed of several words, and he adds:
There is no doubt that these wards Conveyed certain ideas, which were designed to bring man nearer to the true conception of the Divine Essence, through the process we have already described. These words, composed of numerous letters, have been designated as a single name, because, like all accidental proper names, they indicate one single object: and to make the object more intelligible several words are employed, as many words are sometimes used to express one single thing. This must be well understood, that they taught the ideas indicated by these names, and not the simple pronunciation of the meaningless letters.
- TWELVE ORIGINAL POINTS OF FREEMASONRY
The old English lectures, which were abrogated by the United Grand Lodge of England in 1813, when it adopted the system of Hemming, contained the following passage: "There are in Freemasonry twelve original points, which form the basis of the system, and comprehend the whole ceremony of initiation. Without the existence of these points, no man ever was, or can be, legally and essentially received into the Order.
Every person who is made a Mason must go through these twelve forms and ceremonies, not only in the first degree, but in every subsequent one " Hence, it will be seen that our ancient Brethren deemed these Twelve Original Points of Freemasonry, as they were called, of the highest importance to the ceremony of initiation, and they consequently took much pains, and exercised much ingenuity, in giving them a symbolical explanation. But as, by the decree of the Grand Lodge, they no longer constitute a part of the English lectures, and were never introduced into the United States of America, there can be no impropriety in presenting a brief explanation of them, for which we are indebted to the industry of Doctor Oliver, who has treated of them at great length in the eleventh lecture of his historical Landmarks.
The ceremony of initiation, when these points constituted a portion of the ritual, u as divided into twelve parts, in allusion to the twelve Tribes of Israel, to each of which one of the points was referred, as follows:
1. The opening of the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Reuben, because Reuben was the first-born of his father Jacob, who called him "the beginning of his strength." He was, therefore, appropriately adopted as the emblem of that ceremony which is essentially the beginning of every initiation.
2. The preparation of the candidate was symbolized by the Tribe of Simeon, because Simeon prepared the instruments for the slaughter of the Shechemites, and that part of the ceremony which relates to offensive weapons, was used as a token of our abhorrence for the cruelty exercised on that occasion
3. The report of the Senior Deacon referred to the Tribe of Levi, because, in the slaughter of the Shechemites Levi was supposed to have made a signal or report to Simeon his brother, with whom he was engaged in attacking these unhappy people while unprepared for defense.
4. The entrance of the candidate into the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Judah, because they were the first to cross the Jordan and enter the promised land coming from the darkness and servitude, as it were, of the wilderness into the light and liberty of Canaan.
5. Tile prayer was symbolized by the Tribe of Zebulun because the blessing and prayer of Jacob were given to Zebulun, in preference to his brother Issachar.
6. The Circumambulation referred to the Tribe of Issaehar, because, as a thriftless and indolent Tribe, they required a leader to advance them to an equal elevation with the other tribes.
7. Advancing to the altar was symbolized by the Tribe of Dan, to teach us, by contrast, that we should advance to truth and holiness as rapidly as that bribe advanced to idolatry, among whon1 the golden serpent was first set up to receive adoration.
8. The obligation referred to the Tribe of Gad, in allusion to the solemn vow which was made by Jephthah, Judge of Israel, who was of that Tribe.
9. The entrusting of the candidate with the mysteries was symbolized by the Tribe of Asher, because he was then presented with the rich fruits of Masonic knowledge. as Asher was said to be the inheritor of fatness and royal dainties.
10. The investiture of the lambskin, by which the candidate is declared free, referred to the Tribe of Naphtali, which was invested by Moses with a peculiar freedom when he said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord, possess thou the West and the South."
11. The ceremony of the northeast corner of the Lodge referred to Joseph, because, as this ceremony reminds us of the most superficial part of Freemasonry, so the two half Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, of which the Tribe of Joseph was composed, were accounted to be more superficial than the rest as they were descendants of the grandsons only of Jacot.
12. The closing of the Lodge was symbolized by the Tribe of Benjamin, who was the youngest of the sons of Jacob, and thus closed his father's strength.
Such were the celebrated twelve original points of freemasonry of the ancient English lectures. Whey were never introduced into the United States of America, and they are now disused in England. But it will be seen that, while some of the allusions are perhaps abstruse, many of them are ingenious and appropriate. It will not, perhaps, be regretted that they have become obsolete; yet it cannot be denied that they added something to the symbolism and to the religious reference of Freemasonry. At all events, they are matters of Masonic antiquity, and, as such, are not unworthy of attention.
- TWENTY-FOUR-INCH GAGE
A rule two feet long, which is divided by marks into twenty-four parts each one inch in length. The Operative Mason uses it to take the necessary dimensions of the stone that he is about to prepare. It has been adopted as one of the working-tools of the Entered Apprentice in Speculative Freemasonry, where its divisions are supposed to represent hours. Hence its symbolic use is to teach him to measure his time so that, of the twenty-four hours of the day, he may devote eight hours to the service of God and a worthy distressed Brother, eight hours to his usual vocation, and eight to refreshment and sleep. In the twenty-four-inch gage is a symbol of time well employed, following as best we can the example of the lines told to us by Longfellow in the Psalm of Life,
- Lives of great men all remind us
- We can make our lives sublime,
- And departing leave behind us
- Footprints on the sands of time.
The Masonic essence of the lesson is ability, preparedness and readiness, recalling the suggestion of William Shakespeare to the workman in Julius Caesar (act I, scene I, line 5), Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
- TWENTY-ONE
A number of mystical import, partly because it is the product of 3 and 7, the most sacred of the odd numbers, but especially because it is the sum of the numerical value of the letters of the Divine Name, Eheyeil, thus:
5 + 10 + 5+ 1 = 21.
It is little valued in Freemasonry, but is deemed of great importance in the Cabala and in Alchemy; in the latter, because it refers to the twenty-one days of distillation necessary for the conversion of the grosser metals into silver (see Numbers and Numeration by Letters).
- TWENTY-SEVEN
Although the number twenty-seven is found in the Degree of Select Master and in some of the other advanced Degrees, it can scarcely be called in itself a sacred number. It derives its importance from the fact that it is produced by the multiplication of the square of three by three, thus: 3 X 3 X 3 = 27 (see Three).
- TWENTY-SIX
This is considered by the Cabalists as the most sacred of mystical numbers, because it is equal to the numerical value of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, thus: 5+6+5+10=26.
- TWO-LETTERED NAME
The title given by the Talmudists to the name of God, the Hebrew word, Jah, which see.
- TYLER
Tyle and Tyler are the old and now obsolete spelling of Tile and Tiler, which see.
- TYPE
In the science of symbology it is the picture or model of something of which it is considered as a symbol. Hence the words type and symbol are in this sense synonymous. Thus the Tabernacle was a type of the Tempel as the Thempel is a type of the Lodge
- TYPHON
The brother and slayer of Osiris, in the Egyptian mythology. As Osiris was a type or symbol of the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter, when the vigor, heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and of darkness as opposed to light.
- TYRE
An ancient city of Phenicia, which in the time of King Solomon was celebrated as the residence of King Hiram, to whom that monarch and his father David were indebted for great assistance in the construction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Tyre was distant from Jerusalem about one hundred and twenty miles by sea, and was thirty miles nearer by land. An intercourse between the two cities and their respective monarchs was, therefore, easily cultivated The inhabitants of Tyre were distinguished for their skill as artificers, especially as workers in brass and other metals; and it is said to have been a principal seat of that skillful body of architects known as the Dionysiac Fraternity.
The City of Sidon, which was under the Tyrian government, was but twenty miles from Tyre, and situated in the forest of Leballon. The Sidonians were, therefore, naturally wood-cutters, and were engaged in felling the trees, which were afterward sent on floats by sea from Tyre to Joppa, and thence carried by land to Jerusalem, to be employed in the Temple building. Doctor Morris, who visited Tyre in 1868, describes it in his Freemasonry in the Holy Land (page 91) as a city underground, lying, like Jerusalem, twenty to fifty feet beneath the debris or rubbish of many centuries. It consists, to use the language of a writer he has cited, of "prostrate and broken columns, dilapidated temples, and mounds of buried fragments."
- TYRE , QUARRIES OF
It is an error of Doctor Oliver, and some other writers, to suppose that the stones of the Temple of Jerusalem were furnished from the Quarries of Tyre. If there were such quarries, they were not used for that purpose, as the stones were taken from the immediate vicinity of the edifice (see Quarries).
- TYRIAN FREEMASONS
Those who sustain the hypothesis that Freemasonry originated at the Temple of Solomon have advanced the theory that the Tyrian Freemasons were the members of the Society of Dionysian Artificers, who at the time of the building of Solomon's Temple flourished at Tyre. Many of them were sent to Jerusalem by Hiram, King of Tyre, to assist King Solomon in the construction of his Temple. There, uniting with the Jews, who had only a knowledge of the speculative principles of Freemasonry, which had been transmitted to them from Noah, through the patriarchs, the Tyrian Freemasons organized that combined system of Operative and Speculative Masonry which continued for many centuries, until the beginning of the eighteenths to characterize the Institution. This hypothesis is maintained with great ingenuity by Lawrie in his History of Freemasonry, or by Doctor Brewster, if he was really the author of that work, and until recently it has been the most popular theory respecting the origin of Freemasonry. Out as it is wanting he the support of historical evidence, it has yielded to the more plausible speculations of recent writers.
See also
- En:Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
- En:Albert Mackey
- Albert Mackey
- En: MACKEY - A
- En: MACKEY - B
- En: MACKEY - C
- En: MACKEY - E
- En: MACKEY - F
- En: MACKEY - G
- En: MACKEY - H
- En: MACKEY - I
- En: MACKEY - J
- En: MACKEY - K
- En: MACKEY - L
- En: MACKEY - M
- En: MACKEY - N
- En: MACKEY - O
- En: MACKEY - P
- En: MACKEY - Q
- En: MACKEY - R
- En: MACKEY - S
- En: MACKEY - U
- En: MACKEY - V
- En: MACKEY - W
- En: MACKEY - X
- En: MACKEY - Y
- En: MACKEY - Z
Links
- Phoenixmasonry http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/mackeys_encyclopedia/t.htm