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Article THE HISTORICAL DEGREES; ← Page 7 of 12 →
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The Historical Degrees;
The ritual savs that Moses , in obedience to the divine command ,
placed the brazen serpent upon the tau ' , and every one who looked upon it was directed to pronounce the word hataihi , "I have sinned " : and having done this he Avas immediately
healed . Commentators regard the Avord rendered , " pole . " in our translation , to mean standard , and the earliest form of the standard , of which we have a representation , the
--- - - - J JL Persian , is the figure of the tau . The hangings of the Lodge are red and blue . A transparency , representing the burning bush , with the incommunicable Name in the centre , is placed over the throne . There is only one light ; in
the centre of the apartment there is a mount accessible by five steps , upon the summit is placed the symbol of the degree . The Lodge is named the " Court of Sinai . " The presiding officer is styled Most Powerful Grand Master , and represents Moses ; the Wardens are called Ministers , and represent Aaron and Joshua ; the Orator is styled Pontiff , the Secretary Grand Graver , and the candidate ^ a traveller . ' * The jewel , ' which is suspended by a white ribbon , is a serpent-. entwined around a tau cross standing on a triangle , with the
inscription nthl . The legend states that this degree was founded in the time of the Crusades , by John Ralph , who established it in the Holy Land as a military and monastic order , and gave it the name it bears , in allusion to the healing and saving virtues of the brazen serpent among the Israelites in the wilderness , —it being part of the obligation of the knights to receive and gratuitously nurse sick travellers , protect them aaainst the attacks of the infidels , and escort them safely
through Palestine . The brazen serpent Avhich Moses set up was preserved as a memorial of this miracle till the time of Hezekiah—more than 700 years—who iu extirpating idolatry " removed the high places , and brake the images , and cut down the groves , and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made ; for until those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it . " This was a bold measure
for some kings , however bent on the extirpation of idolatry , would have hesitated at the destruction of that which was certainly in itself an . interesting memorial of a remarkable manifestation of the power of God . Serpent worship , under some form or other , was one of the most Aviclely diffused modes of idolatry of the ancient world ; it was the deified symbol of something good and beneficent . Among the Greeks and Romans it symbolized the good genius , and their worship
of the healing power ( the god / k . sculapins ) , under the same figure , was but an extension of the same general idea . In various points of vIcav yEsculapius corresponds to the Egyptian deities Serapis and Horns . Iu' the monuments upon which these divinities are figured , they bear serpents as the emblems of health , and carry the chalice or salutary
cup of nature surrounded by serpents . It is not improbable that the influence of the example of the Egyptians , combined Avith the remembrance of the benefits derived
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Historical Degrees;
The ritual savs that Moses , in obedience to the divine command ,
placed the brazen serpent upon the tau ' , and every one who looked upon it was directed to pronounce the word hataihi , "I have sinned " : and having done this he Avas immediately
healed . Commentators regard the Avord rendered , " pole . " in our translation , to mean standard , and the earliest form of the standard , of which we have a representation , the
--- - - - J JL Persian , is the figure of the tau . The hangings of the Lodge are red and blue . A transparency , representing the burning bush , with the incommunicable Name in the centre , is placed over the throne . There is only one light ; in
the centre of the apartment there is a mount accessible by five steps , upon the summit is placed the symbol of the degree . The Lodge is named the " Court of Sinai . " The presiding officer is styled Most Powerful Grand Master , and represents Moses ; the Wardens are called Ministers , and represent Aaron and Joshua ; the Orator is styled Pontiff , the Secretary Grand Graver , and the candidate ^ a traveller . ' * The jewel , ' which is suspended by a white ribbon , is a serpent-. entwined around a tau cross standing on a triangle , with the
inscription nthl . The legend states that this degree was founded in the time of the Crusades , by John Ralph , who established it in the Holy Land as a military and monastic order , and gave it the name it bears , in allusion to the healing and saving virtues of the brazen serpent among the Israelites in the wilderness , —it being part of the obligation of the knights to receive and gratuitously nurse sick travellers , protect them aaainst the attacks of the infidels , and escort them safely
through Palestine . The brazen serpent Avhich Moses set up was preserved as a memorial of this miracle till the time of Hezekiah—more than 700 years—who iu extirpating idolatry " removed the high places , and brake the images , and cut down the groves , and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made ; for until those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it . " This was a bold measure
for some kings , however bent on the extirpation of idolatry , would have hesitated at the destruction of that which was certainly in itself an . interesting memorial of a remarkable manifestation of the power of God . Serpent worship , under some form or other , was one of the most Aviclely diffused modes of idolatry of the ancient world ; it was the deified symbol of something good and beneficent . Among the Greeks and Romans it symbolized the good genius , and their worship
of the healing power ( the god / k . sculapins ) , under the same figure , was but an extension of the same general idea . In various points of vIcav yEsculapius corresponds to the Egyptian deities Serapis and Horns . Iu' the monuments upon which these divinities are figured , they bear serpents as the emblems of health , and carry the chalice or salutary
cup of nature surrounded by serpents . It is not improbable that the influence of the example of the Egyptians , combined Avith the remembrance of the benefits derived