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Article THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF FKE... ← Page 2 of 15 →
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The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
mer ages . . " The first learning in the world / ' says the great antiquary , Dr . btukeley , " consisted chiefly of symbols . The wisdom of the Chaldeans , Phoenicians , Egyptians , Jews ; of Zoroaster , Sanconiathon , Pherecydes , Syr us , Pythagoras , Socrates , Plato—of all the ancients that is come to our hand , is symbolic . " And the learned Paber remarks , that ¦ ¦ " allegory and personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of antiquity , and the simplicity of truth was
continually sacrificed at the slirine of poetical decoration . ' \ In fact ; man ' s earliest instruction was by symbols . The objective character of a symbol is best calcnlated to be grasped by the infant mind , whether the infancy of that mind be considered nationally or individually . And hence , in the first ages of the world—in its infancy—all propositions , theological , political , or scientific , were
expressed m the form of symbols . Thus , the first religions were eminently symbolical , because , as that great philosophical historian , Grrote , has remarked , " at a time when language was yet in its infancy , visible symbols were the most vivid of acting npon
the minds of ignorant hearers . " Again : children receive their elementary teaching in symbols . " A was an archer "—what is this but symbolism ? The archer becomes to the infant mind the symbol of the letter A , just as , in after life , the letter becomes , to the more advanced mind , the symbol of a certain sound of the human voice . f The first lesson received by a child in acquiring his alphabet , is thus conveyed by symbolism . Even in the very formation of language , the medium of
communication between man and man , and which must hence have been an elementary step in the progress of human improvement , it was found necessary to have recourse to symbols , for words are only and truly certain arbitrary symbols , by which and through which we give an utterance to our ideas . The construction of language was , therefore , one of the first products of the science of symbolism .
We must constantly bear this fact in mind , of the primary existence and predominance of symbolism in the earliest times ,: } when we are investigating the nature of the ancient religions with Avhich the history of Freemasonry is so intimately connected . The older the religion the more the symbolism abounds . Modern religions may convey their dogmas in abstract propositions ; ancient religions always conveyed them in symbols . Thus , there is more symbolism
* The distinguished German mythologist , Miiller , defines a symbol to be " eternal , visible sign , with which a spiritual feeling , emotion , or idea , is connected . " I am not aware of a more comprehensive , and , at the same time , distinctive , definition . t And it may be added , that the word becomes a symbol of an idea ; and hence Harris , in his " Hermes , " defines language to be " a system of articulate voices , the symbols of our ideas—but of those principally which are general or universal . " —Hermes , b . hi ., cli . 3 . : |; "Symbols , " says Muller , " are evidently coeval with the human race ; they result from the union of the soul with the body in nnui ; nature has implanted the feeling for them in the human heart . " —Introduction to a Scientific fit / sfem oj Mythology , p . 190 , . Lcitch ' s Translation .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
mer ages . . " The first learning in the world / ' says the great antiquary , Dr . btukeley , " consisted chiefly of symbols . The wisdom of the Chaldeans , Phoenicians , Egyptians , Jews ; of Zoroaster , Sanconiathon , Pherecydes , Syr us , Pythagoras , Socrates , Plato—of all the ancients that is come to our hand , is symbolic . " And the learned Paber remarks , that ¦ ¦ " allegory and personification were peculiarly agreeable to the genius of antiquity , and the simplicity of truth was
continually sacrificed at the slirine of poetical decoration . ' \ In fact ; man ' s earliest instruction was by symbols . The objective character of a symbol is best calcnlated to be grasped by the infant mind , whether the infancy of that mind be considered nationally or individually . And hence , in the first ages of the world—in its infancy—all propositions , theological , political , or scientific , were
expressed m the form of symbols . Thus , the first religions were eminently symbolical , because , as that great philosophical historian , Grrote , has remarked , " at a time when language was yet in its infancy , visible symbols were the most vivid of acting npon
the minds of ignorant hearers . " Again : children receive their elementary teaching in symbols . " A was an archer "—what is this but symbolism ? The archer becomes to the infant mind the symbol of the letter A , just as , in after life , the letter becomes , to the more advanced mind , the symbol of a certain sound of the human voice . f The first lesson received by a child in acquiring his alphabet , is thus conveyed by symbolism . Even in the very formation of language , the medium of
communication between man and man , and which must hence have been an elementary step in the progress of human improvement , it was found necessary to have recourse to symbols , for words are only and truly certain arbitrary symbols , by which and through which we give an utterance to our ideas . The construction of language was , therefore , one of the first products of the science of symbolism .
We must constantly bear this fact in mind , of the primary existence and predominance of symbolism in the earliest times ,: } when we are investigating the nature of the ancient religions with Avhich the history of Freemasonry is so intimately connected . The older the religion the more the symbolism abounds . Modern religions may convey their dogmas in abstract propositions ; ancient religions always conveyed them in symbols . Thus , there is more symbolism
* The distinguished German mythologist , Miiller , defines a symbol to be " eternal , visible sign , with which a spiritual feeling , emotion , or idea , is connected . " I am not aware of a more comprehensive , and , at the same time , distinctive , definition . t And it may be added , that the word becomes a symbol of an idea ; and hence Harris , in his " Hermes , " defines language to be " a system of articulate voices , the symbols of our ideas—but of those principally which are general or universal . " —Hermes , b . hi ., cli . 3 . : |; "Symbols , " says Muller , " are evidently coeval with the human race ; they result from the union of the soul with the body in nnui ; nature has implanted the feeling for them in the human heart . " —Introduction to a Scientific fit / sfem oj Mythology , p . 190 , . Lcitch ' s Translation .