112 Magazine May 2022 Issue No. 21

112

On The Level

Masonic Magazine for St. John Fisherrow No.112 Issue No. 21 May 2022

From the Editor

Brethren welcome to this edition, No. 21 of “On The Level” May 2022. For this magazine to prosper, your involvement as well as interest is necessary. This is for you not only for learning but also to share.

We are all students of the “Craft” and should share and learn with each other in Brotherly Love and Friendship. We are taught to spread the cement of Brotherly Love and affection binding us to each other just the same as cement to stone to create one common mass. So let Brotherly Love and Friendship unite not only the brethren of 112 but our wonderful fraternity as an edifice of knowledge and understanding.

Let us learn from each other by sharing our interests to enrich our masonic experience.

Brethren, any brother who cannot view the magazines on our website and would like to receive a printed copy please contact Brother Derek Mather JD. There are printed copies and these can be obtained when “Derek’s Diner” is open most week days Wednesday - Thursday 10am -2pm.

Bro. Willie Doyle P.M. presented 50 Easter eggs to Sick Children’s Hospital Edinburgh on behalf of the Lodge. Here pictured above is Bro. Willie with one of the nurses at the hospital.

Quote:~ Masons do not pretend to claim for their society, a purity which does not belong to

any other human institution. They know and they regret, that although the light has been offered to all, many are still groping in darkness, and they perceive too often, with unavailing sorrow, that the brightest jewels of the craft are dimmed, and their lustre diminished, by the vicious conduct of those who unworthily wear them. But this is the lot of man, with whom there can be nothing perfect—nothing free in all its parts from error—nothing which does not bear upon its face some traces of the serpent's trail. Albert Mackey - The Mystic Tie

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The Right Worshipful Master Hello Brethren, it hardly seems like 6 months I was being installed into the chair of King Solomon and I have absolutely no idea where the time as gone. It has also been somewhat a strange 6 months too after catching the virus in the middle of March and suffering a sore head for a few days, then having to cancel our meeting on the 16th March whilst the refurbishment of the lounge and back corridors where underway. These have now been completed with only the Kitchen and the gents toilets to be done. The Hall and the bar will be ripped out during the summer recess and hopefully in time for our Special meeting in July.

As the Summer recess is fast approaching with only our Mark Degree this month before the break, may I take this opportunity to thank my Office Bearers for all their hard work and commitment they have given to their Mother Lodge, I can assure you it is most appreciated and I hope you enjoy the recess spending the time with your families.

On another positive note Bro. Douglas Hoy P.M. has now came through the first part of his treatment having 6 sessions of Chemotherapy and awaiting his the results back from his scans.

He has kept himself active when feeling to it by keeping the lodge Treasurers books up to date and stocking the bar for functions that have been held in the Harmony Hall.

Bro. Gilbert Meikle P.M. who has been unwell too has had a stent fitted and feeling a lot better. It will be great to see both Bro. Douglas and Gilbert back with us soon.

Brethren hopefully when the refurbishment is completed we can have a organise a family day with a bbq and refreshments for all to enjoy.

Please stay safe and enjoy the break and I look forward to seeing you all again in July for our Summer Special.

Bro. Tom Edgar R.W.M.

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~ Our Lodge Our History ~

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JEPHTHAH

up negotiations with the Ammonites but they would not listen to anything he had to say.

In the Fellowcraft Degree in Craft Masonry is the first time we hear of this man Jephthah. All we are told of him is "..Jephthah, a judge of Israel," and "..after which Jephthah ruled quietly in Israel until the time of his death, in all six years." When Jephthah's father Gilead was a young man he succumbed to temptation and took up with another woman, Jephthah was the result of this union. Jephthah grew to be a man of valour but when Gilead's legitimate sons came of age they drove Jephthah from his home and his lands saying to him "You will have none of our inheritance you are the son of another woman."

(The Ammonites were the descendants of Lot's son, and inhabited a tract of country east of the river Jordanand had always been hostile towards the Israelites.) So as he marched into battle against the Ammonites he made a vow; "If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."

Jephthah secured a great victory "..from Aroer as far as Minnith -- twenty cities -- and to Able Keramin." It was a very bloody battle with much loss of life and many great prizes were captured and the Ammonites "..were subdued before the children of Israel."

We are told in the book of Judges Chapter 11 that Jephthah went into exile in the land of Tob "..and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went our raiding with him." This gives us the idea that Jephthah seemed to be a good leader and that he had organized a small army that followed him and were quite successful in their endeavours.

Upon Jephthah's return home his daughter came dancing and singing from the house to honour her father and to celebrate his great victory. But, Jephthah, seeing this said to his daughter, "Alas, my daughter, you have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it."

It came to pass that the people of Ammon made war on the Israelites. The Israelites had no leaders of stature to fight the Ammonites, so, a delegation of elders were sent to seek the aid of Jephthah. Jephthah reminded them that they were the ones that permitted his brothers to exile him from Israel and his people. The elders desperate to protect their lands and families told Jephthah that if he would return and lead the army against the Ammonites he would be made head of Gilead.

Jephthah's daughter agreed that the vow must be carried out but begged to be given two months, "...that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I." Jephthah permitted this and when the two months were over the vow was carried out. To this day the daughter's of Israel go four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

Jephthah replied "If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?" To which the elders replied "The LORD will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words."

Jephthah returned to Gilead and in Mizpah they made him commander over the army and the head or leader of Gilead. Jephthah then set

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Now the Ephraimites started causing some trouble for Jephthah, the Ephraimites inhabited the centre of Judea between the Mediterranean and the river Jordan. They were described as "a stiff-necked and rebellious people," which coincides with history, which describes them as haughty and tenacious. The problem was that they had not been called

An Ear of Corn

upon to take part in the war with the Ammonites and felt that they had been deprived of their share of the rich spoils of the war. The Ephraimites attacked Jephthah's army and were defeated with great losses. The land of Gilead was on the west side of the Jordan river and the Ephraimites lived on the east. After their defeat they attempted to retreat to their lands but Jephthah set sentries at the fords of the river. His army detected their enemy by a defect in their dialect. They spoke the same language as the other tribes of Juda, they had a different pronunciation of some words and could not pronounce any word begging with "SH", which they pronounced "S". So, when called upon to say SHIBBOLETH they pronounced it SIBBOLETH, "which trifling defect" says the ritual, "proved them to be enemies."

This test to a Hebrew was a palpable one, for the two words have an entirely different signification: shibboleth means an ear of corn, and, sibboleth means a burden.

Because the Ephraimites could not to pronounce this word their fell on the field of battle that day forty and two thousand. From that day on it seems that Jephthah lived a life of peace and was a Judge in Israel until his death some six years later. Thus, is the story of Jephthah a man highly regarded by Masons, not because of his use of this word that we have adopted in our Ritual, but, because he was a man of honour, of truth and of duty.

A man of honour in that he pleased the Grand Architect of the Universe, and he held to his word. This promise which was so painful and costly; he knew his duty and carried it out.

Can we as Masons be any less, we must hold fast to our honour, our duties, and our obligations. Ever remembering those sacred promises solemnly, we all made at the sacred Altar of Freemasonry.

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An ear of corn is a symbol of plenty, and both expresses and teaches gratitude to him who is the giver of all good, who has appointed the seed time and the harvest, who sends rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness; causes the grass to grow for the service of man, and the earth to yield her increase, and so crowns the year with his goodness. This symbol is very natural and very ancient. The Greeks and Romans employed it. In their mythology, Demeter or Ceres — Demeter being the Greek name, and Ceres the Roman or Latin, and the former apparently a corruption of Gemeter, i.e. — Mother Earth — was the goddess of corn and of harvests, and she was represented with a garland on her head composed of ears of corn, whilst in one of her hands she bore a cluster of ears of corn mingled with poppies. The Hebrew word which signifies an ear of corn is shibboleth, which also signifies a flood of water, the two meanings being connected by the idea of abundance, and the word being derived from a root, shabal, which signifies to flow abundantly. The Freemason, meditating on this symbol, may fitly call to his aid many passages of Scripture; for example these verses of the sixty-fifth Psalm: “Thou visitest just the earth and waterest it: Thou greatly and richest it with the river of God, which is full of water; Thou prepare us to them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thou settlest the furrows thereof; Thou makest it soft with showers; Thou blessest us to the springing thereof: Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys are also covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing” (Ps. lxy 9–13). We may call to mind also the words of Paul, when contending against idolatry at Lystra, he said that even where the light of Revelation did not shine, God “left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness”

Did Ye Ken.........

(Acts xiv. 17). — The intelligent and worthy Mason cannot contemplate this simple symbol, the Ear of Corn, without lifting up his heart in thankful acknowledgement of the goodness of God, and all the benefits bestowed by his hand.

The Doric is the second of the Five Orders of Architecture and the first and simplest of the Greek Orders. It is plain and natural and is the most ancient. Its column is eight diameters high and has seldom any ornaments on base or capital, except mouldings; though the frieze is distinguished by triglyphs and metopes, and the triglyphs compose the ornaments of the frieze. The solid composition of this order gives it a preference in structures where strength and a noble simplicity are chiefly required. The Doric is the best proportioned of all the orders.Historic tradition has it that, in about 1,000 B.C., the Dorians, a tribe from the region to the north of the Gulf of Corinth, invaded and conquered southern Greece. The Dorian’s, then being the dominant race, gave their name to the style of architecture.

Did Yi Ken..... As commanding General

at the fall of Savannah during the American Civil War, Brother John W. Geary placed federal troops around Solomon's Lodge No.1 to save it from looting and damage.

Geary was made a Mason at Sight on January 4, 1847, in Pennsylvania (Philanthropy Lodge No.255), just before he left with his troops to fight in the Mexican War. During the Civil War, he was the commanding Union general at the fall of Savannah, Georgia. Later, while Geary was governor of Pennsylvania, the Lodge sent him a resolution of thanks. He answered by claiming it was the principles and tenets of Freemasonry that helped reconstruction to be as successful as it finally turned out to be. In this reply, he said: "... I feel again justified in referring to our beloved institution, by saying that to Freemasonry the people of the country are indebted for many mitigations of the suffering caused by the direful passions of war."

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The Hour Glass my Brother is an emblem of human life. Behold how swiftly the sands run and how rapidly our lives are drawing to a close. We cannot without astonishment behold the several particles contained within this machine, or how they pass away almost imperceptibly and yet within the short space of an hour they are all exhausted. Thus wastes man. Today he puts forth his tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms and bears his blushing honours thick upon him, the next day there comes a frost which nips the shoot and when he thinks his greatness is still aspiring, he falls like autumn leaves to enrich our mother Earth.

Famous Scottish Freemasons

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) Author of the Detective Shelock Holmes Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, where, His father, was a moderately successful artist. His mother, was a vivacious and well educated young woman with a passion for books and was a master storyteller.

At the age of 9, he spent seven years in a Jesuit boarding school, where his only moments of happiness were when he practised sports, mainly cricket, at which he was very good.

It was during these difficult years that Arthur realized he also had a talent for storytelling, often surrounded by younger students listening to the amazing stories he made up to amuse them.

Family tradition would have dictated the pursuit of an artistic career, yet Arthur decided to follow a medical one at the University of Edinburgh, A couple of years into his studies, Arthur decided to try his pen at writing a short story. The result entitled The Mystery of Sasassa Valley. It was accepted in an Edinburgh magazine called Chamber's Journal,

Arthur Conan Doyle's was twenty years old and in his third year of medical studies when a chance for adventure knocked on his door. He was offered the post of ship's surgeon on a whaling boat, about to leave for the Arctic Circle. This adventure found its way into his first story about the sea, a chilling tale called Captain of the Pole-Star. Conan Doyle returned to his studies in the autumn of 1880, graduating a year later. Dr Arthur Conan Doyle's first employment was as a medical officer on a battered old vessel navigating between Liverpool and the west coast of Africa.

Unfortunately he did not find Africa to be as seductive as the Arctic, so he gave up that position as soon as the boat landed back in England, where he set up practice in Portsmouth. During the next years, he divided his time between trying to be a good doctor and struggling to become a recognized author. In August of 1885, he married a young woman called Louisa Hawkins, the sister of one of his patients.

In March 1886, Conan Doyle started writing the novel which catapulted him to fame. At first it was named A Tangled Skein and the two main characters were called Sheridan Hope and Ormond Sacker. Two years later this novel was republished, under the title A Study in Scarlet which introduced us to the immortal Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Conan Doyle opened a practice in Upper Wimpole Street in London where, not a single patient ever crossed his door and he made the most profitable decision of his life, to become a full time author.

In May of 1891 he wrote a series of short for The Strand magazine featuring Sherlock Holmes.

The "image" of Holmes was created by the illustrator Sidney Paget who took his handsome brother Walter as a model for the great detective. This collaboration lasted for many decades and was instrumental in making the author, the magazine and the artist, world famous.

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Very Little is known about his Masonic Connections but Doyle was initiated into Phoenix Lodge No.257 in Portsmouth in 1893. On his return to Edinburgh he was made an Honorary Member of The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel No.1) on 26th March 1901. Below is an article that was found in the Leeds Mercury paper and states:

Freemasonry is sometimes laughed at by the uninitiated, but Dr. Conan Doyle, on being admitted an honorary member of St. Mary's Chapel Lodge of Freemasons, at Edinburgh, in recognition of his literary merits, "and particularly for his services as a medical man among our soldiers in South Africa," told the brethren he believed that many of the British troops, when taken prisoners the Boers, found personal benefit from the fact that they were Masons. The ranks of the Boers, Dr. Conan Doyle declared, were filled with Masons, who also found the mystic brotherhood an advantage when they were taken captive by the British. Although the Pope and Dr. Dowie, of Chicago, agree in anathematising Freemasonry, it is evident, from what Dr. Conan Doyle says, that the signs and password of the order are very useful when one falls into the hands of the enemies of one's country.

He served as a doctor in the Boer War During the few months he spent in Africa, he saw more soldiers and medical staff die of typhoid fever, than of war wounds. Exhausted and disappointed, Conan Doyle opted for yet another change of direction when he returned to England. He threw himself head first into politics by running for a seat in Central Edinburgh, he lost the election by only a narrow margin and returned to London to continue writing.

The inspiration for his next novel came from a prolonged stay in the Devonshire moors, which included a visit to Dartmoor prison.

As the novel progressed, he came to realize that his story lacked a hero. He is quoted as having said, "Why should I invent such a character, when I already have him in the form of Sherlock Holmes." However, rather than resurrecting the detective, the author wrote the story as if it was a previously untold adventure.

To the delight of thousands of frustrated fans, The Strand magazine published the first episode of The Hound of the Baskervilles in August 1901.

A year later, King Edward VII knighted Conan Doyle for services rendered to the Crown during the Boer War. Gossip has it, that the King was such an avid Sherlock Holmes fan, that he had put the author's name on his Honours List to encourage him to write new stories.

The toll of the Great War was cruel on Conan Doyle. He lost his son, his brother, his two brothers-in-law and his two nephews. In 1928 his last twelve stories about the exploits of the immortal detective were compiled in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

In the autumn of 1929, despite being very ill, Conan Doyle went off for his last tour to Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Unfortunately, he was forced to return home and died peacefully on July 7, 1930.

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~ Our Lodge Our History ~ Part 9

At a Regular Meeting Held on 21st March 1906 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Deputation from Provincial Grand Lodge of Midlothian headed by Bro. Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, Provincial Grand Master, was received in due form. In his report he drew attention to some discrepancies which had occurred and said that no doubt they would be remedied. (Full report on page 138 of the Minute Book).

The Thirteenth Annual Golf Match between Lodge Canongate Kilwinning No. 2 and Lodge St. John Fisherrow No.112 was played at Barnton. These matches had hitherto been scored on the number of holes won but on this occasion it was agreed that the result would be decided by the number of matches won. The teams consisted of twelve players on each side and the result was a win for the Honest Toun Masons by 6 matches to 4 matches. After the Match the brethren dined in the Barnton Hotel when the usual courteous greetings were exchanged. Bro Inglis spoke on behalf of No.2 and Bro. Walker on behalf of No.112.

At the Regular Meeting of the Lodge held on 17th April 1907 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Deputation from Provincial Grand Lodge headed by Bro. Col. L.A. Hope, Provincial Grand Master was received in due form. The report was favourable. The Provincial Master congratulated the R.W.M. on the very satisfactory improvement in the internal management of the Lodge affairs and also in Office Bearers on the very impressive manner in which they had conferred the Master Mason Degree.

Lodge Committee Meeting held on 1st May 1907 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was reported that the Minute Book for 1843 recently presented to the Lodge was missing.

A small committee was appointed to look into the matter.

Regular Meeting held on 18th December 1907 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bro. John Anderson was installed as Right Worshipful Master for the year 1907.

Regular Meeting held on 26th February 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A letter was read from the Provincial Grand Secretary asking for a donation of 10/- to help in clearing off Provincial Grand Debt. It was agreed to donate same.

At the Lodge Committee Meeting held on 1st April 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The R.W.M. reported the gift of a Bible from the Depute Master Bro. William Constable.

At the Regular Meeting held on 15th April 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was unanimously agreed to convey the heartiest congratulations of the Lodge to Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, Grand Master Mason of Scotland and Provincial Grand Master of Midlothian on his appointment by his Majesty the King and Governor of Victoria, and to wish him every success in his important office.

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At the Regular Meeting held on 18th November 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was agreed to increase the Initiation Fee to three and one half guineas.

A Reception Meeting was held in the Town Hall, Musselburgh on 25th November 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Deputations from 17 Lodges were received and welcomed. The Lodge was then called from labour to refreshment when the usual Masonic, Loyal and Patriotic Toasts were given and responded to. After an evening spent in social harmony the Lodge was closed by the R.W.M. in due and ancient form and with prayer.

At a Special Meeting of the Lodge held on 28th December 1908 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bro. John Anderson was installed as the R.W.M. for the year 1909. A Deputation from the Provincial Grand Lodge headed by Bro. Col. L.A. Hope Provincial Grand Master was received in due form at in due form.

At a Special Meeting of the Lodge held on 22nd December 1909 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bro. Andrew Colville was installed as the R.W.M for the year 1910. Bro. Matthew L. Young was installed as Secretary and also as Depute Master.

At the Regular Meeting of 16th March 1910 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Deputation from Provincial Grand Lodge headed by Bro. John A. Forrest, Depute Provincial Grand Master was received in due form.

At the Regular Meeting held on 18th May 1910 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bro. John Anderson, I.P.M. referring to the passing of King Edward V11 paid a very sincere tribute to his memory. He finished his remarks by saying “by none is he more sincerely mourned than by the Craft of which he was for many years the most distinguished head”. At a Special Meeting held on 25th May 1910 the I.P.M. explained that a letter had been received from the Provincial Grand Lodge in which the Provincial Grand Master expressed a desire that the Lodge should attend the Memorial Service to be held on the funeral day. The letter had not been received in time to permit the necessary arrangements to be made.

At the Regular Meeting on 21st September 1910 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The I.P.M. Bro. John Anderson reported the receipt of a Trowel from the R.W.M. Bro. Colville.

It was agreed to thank the R.W.M. for the gift and to express the hope that the would soon be able to be in the Lodge again.

At the Lodge Committee Meeting held on 26th October 1910 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Sub-Committee was appointed to make enquiries regarding the working of the Mark Degree.

It was agreed to recommend that the Initiation Fee be increased to four guineas and this was accepted at the Regular Meeting on 16th November 1910.

At the Regular Meeting held on 21st December 1910 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bro. Matthew L. Young was installed as the Right Worshipful Master for the year 1911.

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Egyptian Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry

Many noted scholars who were well versed in ancient religions and occult philosophies were initiated into Freemasonry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Perhaps these students introduced the theosophic symbols of the Neo-Platonists, Cabbalists, Gnostics, and Mediaeval Rosicrucians into the Craft. There is authority for the support of such a belief.

Says Gould (History of Freemasonry, p.26): "According to Mackey, an instance of the transmutation of Gnostic talismans into Masonic symbols, by a gradual transmission through alchemy, Rosicrucianism, and mediaeval architecture, is afforded by a plate 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 of 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. The hand attached to the male part of the figure holds the compasses, that to the female a square. The square and compasses thus distributed appear to have convinced Dr. Mackey 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 centre 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."

An interesting question now presents itself: What relationship, - if any, do the Egyptian Mysteries bear to Freemasonry? Dr. Mackey, a well-known writer on Masonic themes, in an examination of the analogies between the Ancient Mysteries and the rites of modern Freemasonry, lays particular stress upon "the identity of design and method in the two systems, as illustrated by the division— into steps, classes, or degrees—to which both were subjected, viz., lustration (purification, or preparation), initiation, and perfection"

The "Old Charges" are nearly all unanimous in claiming Egypt as the birthplace of the art of masonry (or mystery). How far the legends of the Craft are to be relied upon in this regard is a matter for learned investigation.

Heckethorne (Secret Societies of all Ages and Countries, Vol. I.) is not very partial to the Fraternity, but he says: "The Mysteries as they have come down to us and are still perpetuated in a corrupted and aimless manner in Freemasonry, have chiefly an astronomical bearing."

A hundred or more works have been written to prove that Freemasonry is the lineal descendant of the Mysteries. Similar claims have been made in favour of the following systems or sects: (1) The Pythagoreans; (2) The Essenes; (3) The Roman Collegia; (4) The Culdees; (5) The Druids; (6) The Knights Templars; (7) The Rosicrucians; (8) The Mediaeval Cathedral Builders. The truth of the matter seems to be in favour of the latter,—the Mediaeval operative masons, who built those superb Gothic edifices, such as the cathedrals of Cologne, Rheims, Strasburg, Notre Dame, and Westminster Abbey. Originally an operative institution, Freemasonry became a "speculative society to promote the practice of the moral, fraternal, and charitable principles which had characterised the old organisation."

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Just how much was borrowed from older systems by modern scholars, or how much was inherited from the guilds of operative masons, is a mooted question. The "Old Charges" are silent on the subject of the secret

work of the Order. In those days the esoteric part of the ritual was better kept.

Many writers, however, have claimed that the operative masons of mediaeval times possessed no particular legends or symbols.

The ceremony of initiation into a lodge was very simple, the candidate being taught nothing but a few trite ethical lessons, and the grips and words whereby to make himself known to his fellow-craftsmen, when travelling from city to city in quest of work.

of his dying by violence. The story of GrandMaster Hiram Abiff is now regarded as a fable, pure and simple, by all Masonic scholars. It has no historical significance whatever, any more than the story of Isis and Osiris. It is, in the opinion of many eminent authorities, a solar allegory.

When, or how, the legend of Hiram came into the Masonic Fraternity is shrouded in mystery. Some claim that it was inherited from the Egyptian Mysteries, through Jewish, Grecian, or Mithraic channels, being a sort of paraphrase of the Osiris myth. Other writers assert that it was introduced into the Craft at a late date, probably during the speculative epoch. The astronomical significance of the legend has been lost to Freemasonry, so far as the explanations of the ritual are concerned. It is a pity! Masonry should not only be in possession of ethical and spiritual truths, but scientific as well. Nothing is grander than the contemplation of the heavenly bodies, and facts connected with their mysterious orbits.

From either standpoint—that of inheritance or late borrowing —much of the wisdom of the ancient temples of Egypt and Greece has undoubtedly filtered into the Fraternity, although it has been sadly misunderstood and misinterpreted by Masons in general. The esoteric student, however, is able to draw aside the veil of Isis and discover the true meaning of the symbols and legends of the Craft. Gen. Albert Pike, than whom no greater unfolder of Masonic mysteries ever lived, has done this to a great extent in his remarkable book The Morals and Dogma of the Scottish Rite. Robert Hewitt Brown has performed a similar work in his interesting treatise Stellar Theology and Masonic Astronomy. Brown emphasises the astronomical origin of the rites of Freemasonry, tracing them back to the Mysteries. Heckethorne supports this view. It is a very plausible one in some respects, particularly as regards the third degree of Masonry. In almost all of the Mysteries of the ancient world we see this solar allegory cropping out,—the death and resurrection of the sun-god, and the lessons to be drawn therefrom as regards the life of man.

In Freemasonry we have the curious legend of Hiram Abiff, the widow's son. The Hiram who cast the great pillars of brass, which ornamented the portal of Solomon's Temple, and the numerous holy vessels used in the Jewish ceremonial, was not assassinated. Neither in the Bible nor in the writings of Josephus is there any account

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Gen. Albert Pike shows that the name "Hiram" is a corruption of Khairum or Khurum, a compound word, having reference, in one of its meanings, to the sun. Khairum in Hebrew signifies "was raised up to life, or living." In Arabic hirm, an unused root, meant, "was high," "made great," "exalted," and Hirm means an ox, the symbol of the sun in Taurus, at the vernal equinox. I have not the space to follow the learned author in all of his philological dissertations upon this point. The reader is referred to the work itself (Morals ayid Dogtna, etc., pp. 78-88) for detailed explanations. The raising of Hiram (or the sun) from the grave of winter to life and power is the substance of the allegory.

On the 21st of June, when the sun arrives at the summer solstice, the constellation Leo—being but 30° in advance of the sun — appears to be leading the way, and to aid by his powerful paw in lifting the sun up to the summit of the zodiacal arch.

April and May are therefore said to fail in their attempt to raise the sun; June alone succeeds, by the aid of Leo. When, at a more remote period, the summer solstice was in Leo, and the sun actually entered the stars of that constellation at the time of his exaltation, the connection was more intimate, and the allegory still more perfect.

and the beginning, progress, and end of the inundation of the Nile. Speaking of the figure, John Fellows says: "The sign of the lion is transformed into a couch, upon which Osiris is laid out as dead; under which are four canopy of various capacities, indicating the state of the Nile at different periods. The first is terminated by the head of the dog-star, which gives warning of the approach of the overflow of the river; the second, by the head of a hawk, the symbol of the Etesian wind, which tends to swell the waters ; the third, by the head of a heron, the sign of the south wind, which contributes to propel the water into the Mediterranean sea ; and the fourth, by that of the virgin ; which indicates that when the sun had passed that sign, the inundation would have nearly subsided.

Says Brown: "The visible connection between the constellation Leo and the return of the sun to his place of power and glory, at the summit of the Royal Arch of heaven, was the principal reason why that constellation was held in such high esteem and reverence by the ancients. The astrologers distinguished Leo as the 'sole house of the sun,' and taught that the world was created when the sun was in that sign. 'The lion was adored in the East and West by the Egyptians and the Mexicans. The Chief Druid of Britain was styled a lion. The national banner of the ancient Persians bore the device of the sun in Leo. A lion couchant with the sun rising at his back was sculptured on their palaces.'

To the above is superadded a large Anubis, who with an emphatic gesture turning towards Isis who has an empty throne on her head, intimates that the sun, by the aid of the lion, had cleared the difficult pass of the Tropic of Cancer, and was now in the sign of the latter, and, although in a state of exhaustion, would soon be in a condition to proceed on his way to the South ; at the same time gives to the husbandman the important warning of retiring to avoid the inundation. The empty throne is indicative of its being vacated by the supposed death of Osiris.

After the sun leaves Leo, the days begin to grow unequivocally shorter as the sun declines toward the autumnal equinox, to be again slain by the three autumnal months, lie dead through the three winter ones, and be raised again by the three vernal ones. Each year the great tragedy is repeated, and the glorious resurrection takes place.

The raising of Hiram is evidently copied from this fable…. "It may be remarked that the lamentations uttered for the death of grand master Hiram is in exact accordance with the customs of the Egyptians in their celebrations of the fabled death of Osiris, the sun; of the Phoenicians for the loss of Adonis; and of the Greeks, in their mystic rites of the Eleusinian Ceres.

Thus, as long as this allegory is remembered, the leading truths of astronomy will be perpetuated, and the sublime doctrine of the immortal nature of man, and other great moral lessons they are thus made to teach, will be illustrated and preserved.

There is an emblematic figure, copied by Pluche from the collection of Mountfancon, and painted on a mummy case at the Austin friars' of La Place des Victoires, which represents the death and resurrection of Osiris,

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It is through the instrumentality of Leo that Osiris, the sun, is retrieved from his perilous condition. The strong paw of the lion wrests him from the clutches of Typhon, and places

him in his wonted course. Anubis, the dog-star, is the herald of this event.

Egyptians of the Time of the Pharaohs, p. 86, woodcut 62), and which, the same author says, 'always had their place on the altar of the gods' (page 13). The emblem placed between the votive jars of wine is more obscure. It may be the thyrsus, but is more probably a floral offering. (See Ancient Egyptians, Vol. I., woodcut 260, no. 5.) There can be no doubt but that the whole device is a symbolical picture of the initiation of some important person into the Mysteries, not of Osiris, however, as Paterson thinks, but of Isis, who, represented by the Grand Hierophant, stands behind the altar, giving the command to raise from death Osiris, who lies before it.

An ancient Egyptian drawing, found in the sarcophagus of one of the kings of Egypt, entombed in the pyramid erected to his memory, constitutes "startling testimony of the entire correctness of the astronomical solution of the legend of Osiris and that of Hiram.

Stellar Theology (p. 49) thus explains the emblem: "The form that lies dead before the altar is that of Osiris, the personified sun-god, whom the candidate represents in the drama of initiation, lying dead at the winter solstice. The cross upon his breast refers to the great celestial cross, or intersection of the celestial equator by the ecliptic. The figure of the lion grasping the dead sun- god by the hand alludes to the constellation Leo and the summer solstice, at which point the sun is raised to life and glory, as has been just explained in the allegory of the resurrection of the sun, and denotes that the candidate is about to be raised from a symbolical death to life and power by the grip of the lion's paw. This is made clearly manifest from the fact that the lion holds in his other paw the ancient Egyptian symbol of eternal life, or the Crux Ansata. The tablet at the feet of the candidate has inscribed upon it in hieroglyphics the sacred names of Amon and of Mut, the wife of Amon Ra, and probably that of the royal candidate. The figure erect at the altar is that of the Grand Hierophant, attired as Isis, with the vacant throne upon his head, emblematic of the departed sun-god. She has her hand raised in an attitude of command, her arm forming a right angle; her eyes fixed upon the emblematic lion as she gives the sign of command that the candidate be raised from death and darkness to light and life.

The objects on the altar are two of those peculiar-shaped jars, with pointed bases, in which wine was kept (see Wilkinson's

The reader will find in Stellar Theology the astronomical significance of many other important Masonic symbols—symbols that teach not only scientific facts, but typify the unity of God, and the immortal progress of the soul. He says: "Though in all parts of our ritual, from the threshold to the altar to the penetralia (as in the ancient Mysteries, from which Freemasonry has descended), the profoundest truths of science and true religion are taught and illustrated by astronomical allegories, yet nowhere do we find, even in its most ancient portions, any prayers, invocations, or adorations, addressed to the heavenly bodies themselves. The sun and the hosts of heaven are only used as emblems of the Deity. , . .The Mysteries themselves, in their primitive and uncorrupted form, taught the unity of God and the immortality of man as their cardinal doctrines, and that the sun was but a symbol of Him whom 'the sun, moon, and stars obey, and beneath whose all-seeing eye even comets perform their stupendous revolutions (Masonic Lecture).

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In the great mysteries of Eleusis," says Albert G. Mackey (Symbolism of Freemasonry, pp.

108-109), "we learn from St.Chrysostom, as well as other authorities, that the temple of initiation was symbolic of the universe,

and we know that one of the officers (the dadouchos, or torch-bearer) represented the sun." The myth of Demeter searching for her daughter in the realms of Pluto, or the underworld, is the old solar allegory with a Grecian tinge.

This is the symbolic form of a Masonic Lodge, and it finds its prototype in many of the structures of our ancient Brethren. The Ark of Noah, the Camp of the Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and, lastly, the Temple of Solomon, were all oblong squares.

All places of initiation in the ancient days typified the universe— Hindoo, Egyptian, Persian, and Grecian. The Masonic lodge is a symbol of the world and the three principal officers represent the sun at its rising, its setting, and its meridian height.

Did Yi Ken..........Compasses

This is the plural of compass, from the Latin corn, meaning "together," and passus, meaning a pass, step, way, or route. cunning, encompass, pass, pace derive from the same roots. A circle was once described as a compass because all the steps in making it were ''together," that is, of the same distance from the center; and the word, natural transition, became applied to the familiar two-legged' instrument for drawing a circle.

Some Masons use the word in the singular, as in "square and compass," hut the plural form "square and compasses" would appear to he preferable, especially since it immediately distinguishes the working tool from the mariner's compass, with which it might be otherwise confused by the uninformed.

Egyptian Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry.

by Henry Ridgely Evans 1903.

Oblong Square

A parallelogram, or four-sided figure, all of whose angles are equal, but two of whose sides are longer than the others. Of course the term oblong square is strictly without any meaning, but it is used to denote two squares joined together to form a rectangle.

Brother Sir Walter Scott (in chapter vii of his novel Ivanhoe) has a description of a tournament and tells of the enclosures forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length, and about half as broad. The form of the enclosure was an oblong square, save that the corners were considerably rounded off in order to afford more convenience for the spectators."

Brother C. C. Hunt (Builder, volume ii, page 128), says it is the survival of a term once common but now obsolete; that at one time the word square meant right-angled, and the term a square referred to a four sided figure, having four right angles, without regard to the proportionate length of adjacent sides. There were thus two classes of squares; those having all four sides equal, and those having two parallel sides longer than the other two. The first class was called perfect squares and the second class oblong squares

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