The Mysteries of Free Masonry: Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's LodgeMorgan, William
Religion
The Mysteries of Free Masonry: Containing All the Degrees of the Order Conferred in a Master's Lodge
Morgan, William
Freemasonry -- United States -- Rituals
Q. By what way? A. Through a long porch, or alley.
Q. Did anything particular strike your attention on your return? A.
There did; viz.: Two large columns, or pillars, one on the left hand,
and the other on the right.
Q. What was the name of the one on the left hand? A. BOAZ, to denote
strength.
Q. What was the name of the one on the right hand? A. JACHIN, denoting
establishment.
Q. What do they collectively allude to? A. A passage in Scripture,
wherein God has declared in his word, "In strength shall this house be
established."
Q. What were their dimensions? A. Eighteen cubits in height, twelve in
circumference, and four in diameter.
Q. Were they adorned with anything? A. They were; with two large
chapiters, one on each.
Q. Were they ornamented with anything? A. They were; with wreaths of
net work, lily work, and pomegranates.
Q. What do they denote? A. Unity, Peace, and Plenty.
Q. Why so? A. Net work, from its connection, denotes union; lily work,
from its whiteness and purity, denotes peace; and pomegranates, from
the exuberance of its seed, denotes plenty.
Q. Were those columns adorned with anything further? A. They were;
viz.: Two large globes, or balls, one on each.
Q. Did they contain anything? A. They did; viz.; All the maps and
charts of the celestial and terrestrial bodies.
Q. Why are they said to be so extensive? A. To denote the universality
of Masonry, and that a Mason's charity ought to be equally extensive.
Q. What was their composition? A. Molten, or cast brass.
Q. Who cast them? A. Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff.
Q. Where were they cast? A. On the banks of the river Jordan, in the
clay ground between Succoth and Zaradatha, where King Solomon ordered
these and all other holy vessels to be cast.
Q. Were they cast solid or hollow? A. Hollow.
Q. What was their thickness? A. Four inches, or a hand's breadth.
Q. Why were they cast hollow? A. The better to withstand inundations
or conflagrations; were the archives of Masonry, and contained the
constitution, rolls, and records.
Q. What did you next come to? A. A long, winding staircase, with
three, five, seven steps, or more.
Q. What does the three steps allude to? A. The three principal
supports in Masonry, viz., Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.
Q. What does the five steps allude to? A. The five orders in
architecture, and the five human senses.
Q. What are the five orders in architecture? A. The Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.
Q. What are the five human senses? A. Hearing, Seeing, Feeling,
Smelling, and Tasting; the first three of which have ever been deemed
highly essential among Masons: Hearing, to hear the word; Seeing, to
see the sign; and Feeling, to feel the grip, whereby one Mason may
know another in the dark as well as in the light.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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