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Article THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON AS A SYMBOL OF FKE... ← Page 12 of 15 →
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The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
Apprentice receives these simple implements as the emblematic working tools of his profession , with their appropriate symbolical instruction . To the operative mason their mechanical and practical use alone is signified , and nothing more of value does their presence
convey to his mind . To the speculative Mason the sight of them is suggestive of far nobler and sublimer thoughts : they teach him to measure , not stones , but time ; not to smooth and polish the marble for the builder ' s use , but to purify and cleanse his heart from every vice and imperfection , that would render it unfit for a place in the spiritual temple of his body .
In the symbolic alphabet of Freemasonry , therefore , the twentyfour inch guage is a symbol of time well employed ; the common gavel , of the purification of the heart . Here we may pause for a moment to refer to one of the coincidences between Freemasonry and those mysteries * which formed so important a part of the ancient religions , and which coincidences
have led the writers on this subject to the formation of a well-supported theory that there was a common connection between them . The coincidence to which I at present allude is this : in all these mysteries —the incipient ceremony of initiation—the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or purification . The aspirant was not permitted to enter the sacred vestibule , or take any part in the secret
formula of initiation , until , by water or by fire , he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of the w orld which he was about to leave behind . I need not , after this , do more than suggest the similarity of this formula , in principle , to a corresponding one in Freemasonry , where the first symbols presented to the apprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart , of which the purification of the body in the ancient mysteries was symbolic .
We no longer use the bath or the fountain , because in our philosophical system the symbolization is more abstract , if I may use the term , but we present the aspirant with the ' lamb skin apron , the guage , and the gavel , as symbols of a spiritual purification . The design is the same , but the mode in which it is accomplished is different . Let us now resume the connected series of Temple symbolism .
At the building of the temple , the stones having been thus prepared by the workmen of the lowest degree , ( the apprentices , as we now call them , the novices of the ancient mysteries , ) we are informed that they were transported to the site of the edifice on Mount Moriah , and were there placed in the hands of another class of workmen , who are
now technically called the Fellow Crafts , and who correspond to the Mystes , or those who had received the second degree of the ancient mysteries . At this stage of the operative work more extensive and important labours were to be performed , and accordingly a greater amount of skill and knowledge was required of those to whom these
* " Each of the pagan gods had ( besides the public and open ) a secret worship paid unto him ; to which none were admitted Lut those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies , called Initiation . This secret worship was termed the Mysteries . "— Wart ) urton , Vw . Leg . I . i . « . 189 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Temple Of Solomon As A Symbol Of Fke...
Apprentice receives these simple implements as the emblematic working tools of his profession , with their appropriate symbolical instruction . To the operative mason their mechanical and practical use alone is signified , and nothing more of value does their presence
convey to his mind . To the speculative Mason the sight of them is suggestive of far nobler and sublimer thoughts : they teach him to measure , not stones , but time ; not to smooth and polish the marble for the builder ' s use , but to purify and cleanse his heart from every vice and imperfection , that would render it unfit for a place in the spiritual temple of his body .
In the symbolic alphabet of Freemasonry , therefore , the twentyfour inch guage is a symbol of time well employed ; the common gavel , of the purification of the heart . Here we may pause for a moment to refer to one of the coincidences between Freemasonry and those mysteries * which formed so important a part of the ancient religions , and which coincidences
have led the writers on this subject to the formation of a well-supported theory that there was a common connection between them . The coincidence to which I at present allude is this : in all these mysteries —the incipient ceremony of initiation—the first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or purification . The aspirant was not permitted to enter the sacred vestibule , or take any part in the secret
formula of initiation , until , by water or by fire , he was emblematically purified from the corruptions of the w orld which he was about to leave behind . I need not , after this , do more than suggest the similarity of this formula , in principle , to a corresponding one in Freemasonry , where the first symbols presented to the apprentice are those which inculcate a purification of the heart , of which the purification of the body in the ancient mysteries was symbolic .
We no longer use the bath or the fountain , because in our philosophical system the symbolization is more abstract , if I may use the term , but we present the aspirant with the ' lamb skin apron , the guage , and the gavel , as symbols of a spiritual purification . The design is the same , but the mode in which it is accomplished is different . Let us now resume the connected series of Temple symbolism .
At the building of the temple , the stones having been thus prepared by the workmen of the lowest degree , ( the apprentices , as we now call them , the novices of the ancient mysteries , ) we are informed that they were transported to the site of the edifice on Mount Moriah , and were there placed in the hands of another class of workmen , who are
now technically called the Fellow Crafts , and who correspond to the Mystes , or those who had received the second degree of the ancient mysteries . At this stage of the operative work more extensive and important labours were to be performed , and accordingly a greater amount of skill and knowledge was required of those to whom these
* " Each of the pagan gods had ( besides the public and open ) a secret worship paid unto him ; to which none were admitted Lut those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies , called Initiation . This secret worship was termed the Mysteries . "— Wart ) urton , Vw . Leg . I . i . « . 189 .