The
two virtues which it is particularly the symbolical design of the
Select Master's degree to inculcate are secrecy and silence. They
are, indeed, called the cardinal virtues of a Select Master, because
the necessity of their practice is prominently set before the
candidate in the legend, as well as in all the ceremonies of the
degree. But these virtues constitute the very essence of all Masonic
character; they are the safeguard of the institution, giving to it
all its security and perpetuity, and are enforced by frequent
admonitions in all the degrees, from the lowest to the highest. The
Entered Apprentice begins his Masonic career by learning the duty of
secrecy and silence. Hence it is appropriate that in that degree
which is the consummation of initiation, in which the whole cycle of
Masonic science is completed, the abstruse machinery of symbolism
should be employed to impress the same important virtues on the mind
of the neophyte.
The
same principles of secrecy and silence existed in all the ancient
mysteries and systems of worship. When Aristotle was asked what
thing appeared to him to be most difficult of performance, he
replied, “To be secret and silent.”
“If
we turn our eyes back to antiquity,” says Calcott, “we
shall find that the old Egyptians had so great a regard for silence
and secrecy in the mysteries of their religion that they set up the
god Harpocrates, to whom they paid peculiar honor and veneration; who
was represented with the right hand placed near the heart, and the
left down by his side, covered with a skin before, full of eyes and
ears; to signify that of many things to be seen and heard few are to
be published.” [Calcott, Wellins. Candid Disquisition of the
Principles of Freemasonry. p. 104.]
Apuleius,
who was an initiate in the mysteries of Isis, says: “By no
peril will I ever be compelled to disclose to the uninitiated the
things that I have had intrusted to me on condition of silence.”
Lobeck,
in his “Aglaophamus,” has collected several examples of
the reluctance with which the ancients approached a mystical subject,
and the manner in which they shrunk from divulging any explanation or
fable which had been related to them at the mysteries under the seal
of secrecy and silence.
And
lastly, in the school of Pythagoras these lessons were taught by the
sage to his disciples. A novitiate of five years was imposed upon
each pupil, which period was to be passed in total silence and
religious and philosophical contemplation. And at length, when he
was admitted to full fellowship in the society, an oath of secrecy
was administered to him on the sacred tetractys, which was equivalent
to the Jewish tetragrammaton.
Select
Masters therefore work in secrecy and silence, that they may prepare
and preserve the sacred deposits of truth until the time shall come
for its full revelation. And so should all men do, working now,
yet not for the present time alone, but that their labor may
bring forth fruit in the future; laboring here amid the foundations
of the first temple of this transient life, that when their hours of
work are finished on earth, the deeds which they have done may be
brought to light, and the reward be bestowed in the second temple of
eternal life.
This
is the true symbolism of the Select Master's degree.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY.
The
circumstances referred to in the degree of Royal Master occurred
during the building of the first temple, and at a period of time
which lies between the death of the Builder and the completion of the
edifice. Those referred to in the degree of Select Master also
occurred during the construction of the Solomonic temple, but
anterior to the Builder's death. Hence in the order of time the
events commemorated in the Select Master's degree took place anterior
to the occurrence of those which are related in the degree of Royal
Master, although in the Masonic sequence the latter degree is
conferred before the former. This apparent anachronism is however
reconciled by the explanation, that the secrets of the Select
Master's degree were not brought to light until long after the
existence of the Royal Master's degree had been known and
acknowledged.
In
other words, to speak only from the traditional point of view, Select
Masters had been designated, had performed the task for which they
had been selected, and had closed their labors, without ever being
openly recognized as a class in the temple of Solomon. Their
occupation and their very existence, according to the legend, were
unknown in the first temple. The Royal Master's degree, on the
contrary, as there was no reason for concealment, was publicly
conferred and acknowledged during the latter part of the construction
of the temple of Solomon; whereas the degree of Select Master and the
important incidents on which it was founded are not supposed to have
been revealed to the Craft until the building of the Temple of
Zerubbabel. Hence the Royal Master's degree is always conferred
anterior to that of the Select Master.
COUNCIL OF SELECT MASTERS.
The
symbolic colors of a Select Master, like those of a Royal Master, are
black and red, but the symbolism is different. The black is
significant of the secrecy, silence, and darkness in which the Select
Masters performed their labors, and the red, of their fervency and
zeal. Hence the apron and collar of a Select Master must be black,
lined and edged with red. The apron should be of a triangular form,
in allusion to the sacred delta. In some Councils it is decorated
with nine stars, three placed in each angle of the apron, and in the
center the letters I. S., or what would be better, the equivalent
Hebrew letters
יס.
The jewel of a Select Master is a silver trowel within a triangle of
the same metal, and this worn suspended from collar by every officer
and member.
The
place of meeting represents a secret vault or crypt beneath the
temple; and hence that part of the Masonic system which refers to the
degrees of Royal and Select Master is usually called “Cryptic
Masonry.”
A
Council of Select Masters is supposed to consist of neither more nor
less than twenty-seven, although a smaller number, if not less than
nine, is competent to proceed to work or business. The nine should
be exclusive of the Steward, who is not considered as one of the
Council.
A
candidate is said to be “chosen as a Select Master.”
PRAYER AT THE OPENING OF A COUNCIL OF SELECT MASTERS.
May
the Supreme Grand Master graciously preside over all our counsels,
and direct, approve, and bless all our labors. May our professions
as Masons be the rule of our conduct as men. May our secret retreat
ever be the resort of the just and merciful; the seat
of the moral virtues, and the home of the select. So mote it be. Amen.
RECEPTION.
The
following passages of Scripture are deemed applicable to the
reception into this degree, as explanatory of the events which it
records:—
“So
King Solomon was King over all Israel. And Azariah, the son of
Nathan, was over the officers: and Zabud, the son of Nathan, was
principal officer and the King's friend: and Ahishar was over the
household: and Adoniram, the son of Abda, was over the tribute.”
— 1 Kings 4:1, 5-6.
“And
the King commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones and
hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's
builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stone-squarers:
so they prepared timber and stones to build the
house.” — 1 Kings 5:17-18.
“And
King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. He was a widow's
son, of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a
worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom and understanding, and
cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon and
worked all his work.” — 1 Kings 7:13-14.
The
word here translated “stone-squarers,” is in the original
Giblim. See the explanation on a subsequent page.
THE CIRCLE OF PERFECTION.
The
ceremonies of reception into the degree of Select Master are of a
compound nature, because they refer to two entirely distinct events.
The earliest monitorial instruction that was given to the public on
the subject of this degree, states that it rationally accounts for
the concealment and preservation of those essentials of the craft
which were brought to light at the erection of the second temple, and
which lay concealed from the Masonic eye for four hundred and seventy
years.
The
inculcation of this doctrine—the imparting of this
knowledge—undoubtedly constitutes the important object of the
degree. It is because of its thus rationally accounting for the
concealment and preservation of these fundamental mysteries of
Freemasonry, filling up an hiatus between the Master's and the Royal
Arch degrees, that the initiates into the Select Master's degree are
said to have “passed the circle of perfection.”
The
idea of comparing the progress of Masonic science to a circle, with
whomsoever it originated, is a good one. The true signification of
the phrase may be readily illustrated. Let us, then, suppose that
the science of Freemasonry, or, in more definite words, the science
of Masonic symbolism, is represented by a circle. This circle will
be divided into three portions or arcs: One arc will be occupied by
the degrees of the Lodge, or Ancient Craft Masonry; another by the
degrees of the Chapter, or Royal Arch Masonry; and the third by the
degrees of the Council, or Cryptic Masonry. Now, if a neophyte
begins at any point of the circle, and passes over one-third of its
circumference, he will arrive at the Master's degree, and will then
discover that, so far, the consummation of his Masonic labor is to
know only that that for which he has been striving has been LOST,
and, instead of the key to all Masonic science, he receives only a
substitute for truth.
Dissatisfied
with this, let him, in his further search, proceed through another
arc, or third of the circumference of the Masonic circle, and he will
arrive at the Royal Arch degree. Here, in this second arc, that key
which had been LOST in the first arc is FOUND.
But
the circle has not yet been completed. It is true that the neophyte
now knows that the lost has been found. He is perhaps even put in
possession of the sacred treasure. But the process by which the
restoration was accomplished is still unknown to him, and all the
events of Masonic mythical history which form the links between the
loss and the recovery, and all the sublime symbolism which is
connected with these events, are withheld from him. He knows what he
has obtained, but he knows not why nor how he obtained it. To
acquire this knowledge he passes through the remaining arc, and, by
arriving at the degree of Select Master, consummates and perfects his
knowledge of the representative symbol of Divine Truth, and thus
passes the circle of perfection in Masonic science.
But
the same early monitorial instruction informs us that in this degree
is exemplified an instance of justice and mercy by our ancient
patron, toward one of the Craft who was led to disobey his commands
by an over-zealous attachment for the institution. The event here
referred to, however striking may be its dramatic effect, is really
totally unconnected with the true symbolism of the degree. It is
merely an interesting episode, which was introduced into the body of
the Masonic epic by some ingenious but modern ritualist. So little
is it really connected with the mythical symbolism of the degree,
that it might actually be dismissed from the ceremonies of initiation
without in the slightest manner affecting the great design of the
degree, or in any way impairing the completeness of that circle of
perfection to which we have just alluded. The science of the degree,
as connected with the loss and the recovery of the
truth, would not be at all impaired by its removal from the ritual.
But it has been so long retained as a part of the ceremonial
observance, that it could not at this late day be dispensed with, and
it must therefore remain, like a superfluous stone in the edifice,
which adds no strength to the building; a ceremony in Masonry without
a symbolism, or at most only intended to exemplify the union and the
practice of the two virtues, mercy and justice.
THE ALTAR.
The
Altar, in a Council of Royal and Select Masters, represents the
celebrated Stone of Foundation in the temple, a notice of which will
be found in a subsequent part of this volume. It should, therefore,
unlike other Masonic altars, be constructed to represent a cubical
stone without other ornaments, and on it should be deposited the
Substitute Ark. As the Masonic legend places the Stone of Foundation
in the Sanctum Sanctorum of the second temple, but immediately
beneath it in the first, and as
that point is represented by the ninth arch in a Council of Select
Masters, it is evident that during a reception, at least, the altar
should be placed within that arch, and not, as is too often done,
outside of it, or even in the center of the room.
THE SECRET VAULT.
Considered
simply as an historical question, there can be no doubt of the
existence of immense vaults beneath the superstructure of the
original temple of Solomon. Prime, Robison, and other writers who in
recent times have described the topography of Jerusalem, speak of the
existence of these structures, which they visited, and, in some
instances, carefully examined.
After
the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the Roman Emperor Hadrian
erected on the site of the “House of the Lord” a temple
of Venus, which in its turn was destroyed, and the place subsequently
became a depository of all manner of filth. But the Caliph Omar,
after his conquest of Jerusalem, sought out the ancient site, and,
having caused it to be cleansed of its impurities, he directed a
mosque to be erected on the rock which rises in the center of the
mountain. Fifty years afterward the Sultan Abd-el-Meluk displaced
the edifice of Omar, and erected that splendid building which remains
to this day, and is still incorrectly called by Christians the mosque
of Omar, but known to Mussulmans as El-kubbut-es-Sukhrah, or the Dome
of the Rock. This is supposed to occupy the exact site of the
original Solomonic temple, and is viewed with equal reverence by Jews
and Mahommedans, the former of whom, says Mr. Prime, “have a
faith that the ark is within its bosom now.” [Prime, William.
Tent Life in the Holy Land. p. 183.]
Bartlett,
in describing a vault beneath this mosque of Omar, says: “Beneath
the dome, at the southeast angle of the temple wall, conspicuous from
all points, is a small subterraneous place of prayer, forming the
entrance to the extensive vaults which support the level platform of
the mosque above.” [Bartlett, William. Walks about the City
of Jerusalem. p. 170.]
Dr.
Barclay [City of the Great King.] describes,
in many places of his
interesting topography of Jerusalem, the vaults and subterranean
chambers which are to be found beneath the site of the old temple.
Conformably
with this historical account is the Talmudical legend, in which the
Jewish Rabbins state that, in preparing the foundations of the
temple, the workmen discovered a subterranean vault sustained by
seven arches, rising from as many pairs of pillars. This vault
escaped notice at the destruction of Jerusalem, in consequence of its
being filled with rubbish. The legend adds, that Josiah, foreseeing
the destruction of the temple, commanded the Levites to deposit the
ark of the covenant in this vault, where it was found by some of the
workmen of Zerubbabel, at the building of the second temple.
In
the earliest ages the cave or vault was deemed sacred. The first
worship was in cave temples, which were either natural, or formed by
art to resemble the excavations of nature. Of such great extent was
this practice of subterranean worship by the nations of antiquity,
that many of the forms of heathen temples, as well as the naves,
aisles, and chancels of churches subsequently built for Christian
worship, are said to owe their origin to the religious use of caves.
From
this, too, arose the fact, that the initiation into the ancient
mysteries was almost always performed in subterranean edifices; and
when the place of initiation, as in some of the Egyptian temples, was
really above ground, it was so constructed as to give to the neophyte
the appearance, in its approaches and its internal structure, of a
vault. As the great doctrine taught in the mysteries was the
resurrection from the dead, as to die and to be initiated
were synonymous terms, it was deemed proper that there should be
some formal resemblance between a descent into the grave and a
descent into the place of initiation. “Happy is the man,”
says the Greek poet Pindar, “who descends beneath the hollow
earth, having beheld these mysteries, for he knows the end as well as
the divine origin of life;” and in a like spirit Sophocles
exclaims, “Thrice happy are they who descend to the shades
below after having beheld these sacred rites, for they alone have
life in Hades, while all others suffer there every kind of evil.”
The
vault was, therefore, in the ancient mysteries, symbolic of the
grave; for initiation was symbolic of death, where alone Divine Truth
is to be found. The Masons have adopted the same idea. They teach
that death is but the beginning of life; that if the first or
evanescent temple of our transitory life be on the surface, we must
descend into the secret vault of death before we can find that
sacred deposit of truth which is to adorn our second temple of
eternal life. Looking, therefore, to this reference of initiation to
that subterranean house of our last dwelling, we significantly speak
of the place of initiation as “the secret vault, where reign
silence, secrecy, and darkness.” It is in this sense of an
entrance through the grave into eternal life, that the Select Master
is to view the recondite but beautiful symbolism of the secret vault.
Like every other myth and allegory of Masonry, the historical
relation may be true or it may be false; it may be founded on fact or
the invention of imagination; the lesson is still there, and the
symbolism teaches it exclusive of the history.
ACHISHAR.
This
is the person named in the First Book of Kings 4:6, under the name of
Ahishar, and there described as being “over the
household” of King Solomon. Adam Clarke describes him as “the
king's chamberlain,” but the original title of al-bait
properly signifies, as Gesenius remarks, “the dispenser or
steward who had charge of the household affairs and of the other
servants.” The very same words are used in Genesis 44:1, and
there translated “the steward of his house.” Achishar is
therefore properly described in this degree as the steward of the
household.
As
to the legend of his conduct and his punishment, it has no known
foundation in history, and may be considered simply as a mythical
symbol.
IZABUD.
This,
like Achishar, is an historical personage, although the events
recorded of him as peculiar to this degree are altogether legendary.
The word is one of those
corruptions of Hebrew names unfortunately too common in Masonry. The
true name is Zabud; and he is mentioned in the First Book of Kings
4:5, where it is said, “Zabud, the son of Nathan, was principal
officer and the King's friend.” Kitto says of Zabud and of his
brother Azariah, that their advancement in the household of King
Solomon “may doubtless be ascribed not only to the young king's
respect for the venerable prophet (their father), who had been his
instructor, but to the friendship he had contracted with his sons
during the course of education. The office, or rather honor of
'friend of the King' we find in all the despotic governments of the
East. It gives high power, without the public responsibility which
the holding of a regular office in the state necessarily imposes. It
implies the possession of the utmost confidence of, and familiar
intercourse with, the monarch, to whose person 'the friend' at all
times has access, and whoso influence is therefore often far greater,
even in matters of state, than that of the recognized ministers of
government.” [Kitto, John, ed. Cyclopaedia of Biblical
Literature, vol. II. p. 977, see Zabud.]
It
is scarcely necessary to say how closely all this has been observed
in the legend of the Select Master's degree. It is time, however,
that the word Zabud should be substituted for the corrupt form
Izabud, now constantly used.
CHESED.
This
word, which is most generally corrupted into HESED, is the Hebrew
הסד,
and signifies mercy. Hence it very appropriately refers
to that act of kindness and compassion which is commemorated in this
degree.
ISH SODI.
This
expression is composed of the two Hebrew words,
יש ISH, and
סוד
SOD. The first of these words, ISH, means a man, and SOD signifies
primarily a couch on which one reclines. Hence ISH SODI would
mean, first, a man of my couch, one who reclines with me on
the same seat, an indication of great familiarity and confidence.
Thence followed the secondary meaning given to SOD of familiar
intercourse, consultation, or intimacy. Job (19:19) applies it in
this sense when, using MATI, a word synonymous with ISH, he speaks of
MATI SODI in the passage which the common version has translated
thus: “all my inward friends abhorred me,” but
which the marginal interpretation has more correctly rendered, “all
the men of my secret.” Ish Sodi, therefore, in this
degree very clearly means, a man of my intimate counsel, a man of
my choice, one selected to share with me a secret task or labor.
Such was the position of every Select Master to King Solomon, and in
this view those are not wrong who have interpreted Ish Sodi as
meaning a Select Master.
THE SUBSTITUTE ARK.
The
Ark or Coffer which necessarily constitutes a part of the
paraphernalia of a Council of Select Masters, is the same as that
which forms a part of the furniture of a Chapter of the Royal Arch.
But it must he distinctly understood that neither of these represents
that Ark of the Covenant which had been constructed in the wilderness
by Moses, Aholiah, and Bezaleel, which had been placed in the
tabernacle, and afterwards, at the dedication of the Temple of
Solomon was removed to the Holy of Holies. The later history of this
ark is buried in obscurity. It is supposed that upon the destruction
of the first temple by the Chaldeans, it was carried to Babylon among
the other sacred utensils which became the spoil of the conquerors.
But of its subsequent fate all traces have been lost. It is,
however, certain that it was not brought back to Jerusalem by
Zerubbabel. The Talmudists say that there were five things which
were the glory of the first temple that were wanting in the second;
namely, the Ark of the Covenant, the Shechinah, or Divine Presence,
the Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and the spirit of
prophecy. The Rev. Salem Town [System of Speculative Masonry.
p. 222 et seq.], it is true, has endeavored to
prove, by a very ingenious argument, that the original Ark of the Covenant
was concealed by Josiah or by others, at some time previous to the
destruction of Jerusalem, and that it was afterwards, at the building
of the second temple, discovered and brought to light. But such a
theory is entirely at variance with all the legends of the degree of
Select Master and of Royal Arch Masonry. To admit it would lead to
endless confusion and contradictions in the traditions of the order.
It is besides in conflict with the opinions of the Rabbinical writers
and every Hebrew scholar. Josephus and the Rabbins allege that in
the second temple the Holy of Holies was empty, or contained only the
stone of foundation which marked the place which the ark should have
occupied.
But
Prideaux [Old and New Testament Connected, vol. I.],
on the authority
of Lightfoot, contends that as an ark was indispensable to the
Israelitish worship, there was in the second temple an ark which had
been expressly made for the purpose of supplying the place of the
first or original ark, and which, without possessing any of its
prerogatives or honors, was of precisely the same shape and
dimensions, and was deposited in the same place.
These
are historical problems which it would be vain for us to attempt at
this late day to solve. The Masonic legend, however, whether
authentic or not, is simple and connected. It teaches that there was
an ark in the second temple, but that it was neither the Ark of the
Covenant, which had been in the Holy of Holies of the first temple,
nor one that had been constructed as a substitute for it after the
building of the second temple. It was that ark which is presented to
us in the Select Master's degree, and which, being an exact copy of
the Mosaical ark, and intended to replace it in case of its loss, is
best known to Freemasons as the Substitute Ark.
GIBLEMITES.
This
is peculiarly a Masonic form for the more usual word Giblites. It
designates the inhabitants of Gebal, a city of Phoenicia, on the
shore of the Mediterranean, and under Mount Lebanon. The Hebrew word is
גבלים,
Giblim, and is to be found in
1 Kings 5:18, where it is translated, in our common version,
“stone-squarers” in the following passage: “And
Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the
stone-squarers; so they prepared timber and stones to build the
house.” The translation would be more correctly thus: “And
Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Giblemites did hew
them.”
The
Giblemites, or inhabitants of Gebal, were subject to the King of
Tyre, and were distinguished for their skill as builders. The town
of Gebal was called Byblos by the Greeks, and was celebrated as the
principal seat of the worship of Adonis, whose mysteries, and the
initiation accompanying it, more nearly resembled, in its symbolism
and allegorical teaching, the initiation into Masonry than any other
of the ancient rites. It is not, therefore, unnatural to suppose
that the Giblemites held a higher place in the confidence of King
Solomon than any other of the Temple builders.
THE NINE ARCHES.
Of
all the superstitious notions which prevailed among the ancient
philosophers, there was none more prevalent than that which
attributed a mystical meaning and a divine virtue to numbers. Nor
did the idea die with antiquity. It was a favorite theory of many of
the Christian Fathers, and even as late as the sixteenth century we
find Cornelius Agrippa asserting that “there lies wonderful
efficacy and virtue in numbers, as well for good as for evil.”
[De Occulta Philosophia, Lib. II. Cap. iii.] The doctrine was
especially taught in the school of Pythagoras, and afterwards by the
Cabbalists, whence it has evidently descended to Freemasonry, of whose
symbolical science it constitutes an interesting portion. But the
numeral symbolism of Masonry very materially differs from that of the
Pythagoreans as well as the Cabbalists.
With
the Masons, odd numbers alone are considered mystical, which was
according to the ancient doctrine, where it was taught that odd
numbers were pleasing to the gods. [“Numero deus impare
gaudet.” Virgil. Eclogae, VIII.] Hence three,
five, seven, and nine, are deemed Masonic
numbers. Three is the foundation of the Masonic symbolism of
numbers, because it is the first odd number after unity, and it is
particularly applicable to the lower degrees. When we ascend to the
higher grades, nine comes into play as the square of three,
and twenty-seven, which is the cube of three, and lastly
eighty-one which is the square of nine.
The
number nine is the sacred number of the Select degree, which,
however, also refers to twenty-seven, simply because that is
the product of nine multiplied by three.
Nine
was called by the Pythagoreans teieios, or the number of
completion, and as such it is appropriate to that degree which
professes to complete the circle of Masonic science. But the lecture
of the Select Master teaches us that the number nine alludes
to the nine attributes of the Deity, which are said to be: 1.
Beauty. 2. Wisdom. 3. Power. 4. Eternity. 5. Infinity. 6.
Omniscience. 7. Justice. 8. Mercy. 9. Perfection.
THE STONE OF FOUNDATION.
The
Stone of Foundation, which in this degree is represented by the altar
on which is placed the Substitute Ark, constitutes one of the most
important as well as abstruse of the symbols of Freemasonry. It is,
it is true, scarcely alluded to, except in a very general way, in the
primitive degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry, but is peculiarly
appropriate to the Royal Arch, and especially to the degree of Select
Master, where it is really the most essential symbol of the degree.
The
Stone of Foundation must, however, be distinguished, both in its
symbolism and in its legendary history, from other stones which play
an important part in the Masonic ritual, but which are entirely
distinct from it. Such are the corner-stone, which was always
placed in the northeast corner of the building about to be erected,
and to which such a beautiful reference is made in the ceremonies of
the first degree; or the keystone, which constitutes an
interesting part of the Mark Master's degree; or, lastly, the
cape-stone, upon which all the ritual of the Most Excellent
Master's degree is founded. These are all, in their proper places,
highly interesting and instructive symbols, but have no connection
whatever with the Stone of Foundation, whose symbolism it is our
present object to discuss. Nor, although the Stone of Foundation is
said, for peculiar reasons, to have been of a cubical form, must it
be confounded with that stone called by the continental Masons the
cubical stone—the pierre cubique of the French,
and the cubik stein of the German Masons, but which in the
English system is known as the perfect ashlar. This has a
legendary history and a symbolic signification which are peculiar to
itself, and which, differing from the history and meaning which
belong to these other stones, particularly connect it with the degree
of Select Master.
The
Stone of Foundation is supposed, in the science
of Masonic symbolism, to have been a stone placed at one time within
the foundations of the first temple, or that of Solomon, and
afterward, during the building of the second temple, transported to
the Holy of Holies. It was in form a perfect cube, and had inscribed
upon its upper face, within a delta or triangle, the sacred
tetragrammaton, or Ineffable Name of God.
Oliver,
speaking with the solemnity of a historian, says that Solomon thought
that he had rendered the house of God worthy, so far as human
adornment could effect, for the dwelling of God, “when he had
placed the celebrated Stone of Foundation, on which the sacred name
was mystically engraven, with solemn ceremonies, in that sacred
depository on Mount Moriah, along with the foundations of Dan and
Asher, the center of the Most Holy Place, where the ark was
overshadowed by the shekinah of God.”
The
Hebrew Talmudists, who thought as much of this stone and had as many
legends concerning it as the Masonic Talmudists, called it eben
shatijah, or “Stone of Foundation,” because, as they
said, it had been laid by Jehovah, as the foundation of the world,
and hence the apocryphal book of Enoch speaks of the “stone
which supports the corners of the earth.”
The
Masonic legends of the Stone of Foundation are very numerous, and
many of them contradictory and unsatisfactory. The series of legends
which is now very generally adopted by Masonic scholars is that which
commences with the patriarch Enoch, who is supposed to have been the
first consecrator of the Stone of Foundation.
This
legend in full is as follows: Enoch, under the inspiration of the
Most High, and in obedience to the instructions which he had received
in a vision, built a temple under ground on Mount Moriah, and
dedicated it to God. His son, Methuselah, constructed the building,
although he was not acquainted with his father's motives for the
erection. This temple consisted of nine vaults, situated
perpendicularly beneath each other, and communicating by apertures
left in each vault.
Enoch
then caused a triangular plate of gold to be made, each side of which
was a cubit long; he enriched it with the most precious stones, and
incrusted the plate upon a stone of agate of the same form. On the
plate he engraved the true name of God, or the tetragrammaton, and,
placing it on a cubical stone, known thereafter as the Stone of
Foundation, he deposited the whole within the lowest arch.
When
this subterranean building was completed, he made a door of stone,
and attaching to it a ring of iron, by which it might be occasionally
raised, he placed it over the opening of the uppermost arch, and so
covered it that the aperture could not be discovered. Enoch himself
was not permitted to enter it but once a year, and on the deaths of
Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech, and the destruction of the world by
the deluge, all knowledge of the vault or subterranean temple and of
the Stone of Foundation with the Ineffable Name inscribed upon it,
was lost for ages to the world.
At
the building of the first temple of Jerusalem the Stone of Foundation
again makes its appearance. According to the legend, when King
Solomon was digging the foundations of the temple he discovered this
stone of Enoch, which for wise purposes he deposited in a secure and
secret place, that the Ineffable Name upon it might be preserved for
future times.
The
Foundation Stone of Masonry appears to be intimately connected with
the stone worship of the ancients. History affords abundant examples
which prove that the worship of a cubical stone formed an important
feature of the religions of the primitive nations. But Cudworth,
Bryant, Faber, and all other distinguished writers who have treated
the subject, have long since established the theory that the Pagan
religions were eminently symbolic. Thus, to use the language of
Dudley, the pillar of stone “was adopted as a symbol of
strength and firmness— a symbol, also, of the divine power,
and, by a ready inference, a symbol or idol of the Deity himself.”
And this symbolism is confirmed by Phurnutus, whom Toland quotes as
saying that the god Hermes was represented without hands or feet,
being a cubical stone, because the cubical figure betokened his
solidity and stability.
Profane
and Masonic history combined seem to establish the following series
of facts: First, that there was
a very general prevalence among the earliest nations of antiquity of
the worship of stones as the representatives of Deity; secondly, that
in almost every ancient temple there was a legend of a sacred or
mystical stone; thirdly, that this legend is found in the Masonic
system; and, lastly, that the mystical stone there has received the
name of the “Stone of Foundation.”
Now,
as in all the other systems the stone is admitted to be symbolic, and
the tradition connected with it mystical, we are compelled to assume
the same predicates of the Masonic stone. It, too, is symbolic, and
its legend a myth or an allegory.
The
fact that the mystical stone in all the ancient religions was a
symbol of the Deity, leads us necessarily to the conclusion that the
Stone of Foundation was also a symbol of Deity. And this symbolic
idea is strengthened by the tetragrammaton or sacred name of God that
was inscribed upon it. This Ineffable Name sanctifies the stone upon
which it is engraved as the symbol of the Grand Architect. It takes
from it its heathen signification as an idol, and consecrates it to
the worship of the true God.
The
predominant idea of the Deity, in the Masonic system, connects him
with his creative and formative power. God is to the Freemason
Al-Gabil, as the Arabians called him, that is, The Builder;
or, as expressed in his Masonic title, the Grand Architect of
the Universe, by common consent abbreviated in the formula G:.
A:. O:. T:. U:. Now, it is evident that no symbol could so
appropriately suit Him in this character as the Stone of Foundation,
upon which He is allegorically supposed to have erected His world.
Such a symbol closely connects the creative work of God, as a pattern
and exemplar, with the workman's erection of his temporal building on
a similar foundation-stone.
But
this Masonic idea is still further to be extended. The great object
of all Masonic labor is divine truth. The search for the lost
word is the search for truth. But divine truth is a term
synonymous with God. The Ineffable Name is a symbol of truth,
because God, and God alone, is truth. It is properly a Scriptural
idea. The Book of Psalms abounds with this sentiment. Thus it is
said that the truth of the Lord “reacheth unto the clouds,”
and that “His truth endureth unto all generations.” If,
then, God is truth, and the Stone of Foundation is the Masonic symbol
of God, it follows that it must
also be the symbol of divine truth.
When
we have arrived at this point in our speculations, we are ready to
show how all the myths and legends of the Stone of Foundation may be
rationally explained as parts of that beautiful “science of
morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols,” which
is the acknowledged definition of Freemasonry.
In
the Masonic system there are two temples; the first temple, in which
the degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry are concerned, and the second
temple, with which the higher degrees, and especially the Royal Arch,
are related. The first temple is symbolic of the present life; the
second temple is symbolic of the life to come. The first temple, the
present life, must be destroyed; on its foundations the second
temple, the life eternal, must be built.
But
the mystical stone was placed by King Solomon in the foundations of
the first temple. That is to say, the first temple of our present
life must be built on the sure foundation of divine truth, “for
other foundation can no man lay.”
But
although the present life is necessarily built upon the foundation of
truth, yet we never thoroughly attain it in this sublunary sphere.
The Foundation Stone is concealed in the first temple, and the Master
Mason knows it not. He has not the true word. He receives only a
substitute.
But
in the second temple of the future life we have passed from the
grave, which had been the end of our labors in the first. We have
removed the rubbish, and have found that Stone of Foundation which
had been hitherto concealed from our eyes. We now throw aside the
substitute for truth, which had contented us in the former temple,
and the brilliant effulgence of the tetragrammaton and the Stone of
Foundation are discovered, and thenceforth we are the possessors of
the true word—of divine truth. And in this way the Stone of
Foundation, or divine truth, concealed in the first temple, but
discovered and brought to light in the second, will explain that
passage of the Apostle: “For now we see through a glass
darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I
know even as also I am known.”
And
so we arrive at this result, that the Masonic Stone of Foundation, so
conspicuous in the degree of Select Master, is a symbol of divine
truth, upon which all Speculative Masonry is built; and the legends
and traditions which refer to it are intended to describe, in an
allegorical way, the progress of truth in the soul, the search for
which is a Mason's labor; and the discovery of which is to be his
reward.
CHARGE TO THE NEW SELECT MASTER.
Companion:
Having attained to this degree, you have passed the circle of
perfection in ancient Masonry. In the capacity of a Select
Master, you must be sensible that your obligations are increased in
proportion to your privileges. Let it be your constant care to prove
yourself worthy of the confidence that has been reposed in you, and
of the high honor that has been conferred upon you in admitting you
to this select degree. Let uprightness and integrity attend your
steps; let justice and mercy mark your conduct; let
fervency and zeal stimulate you in the discharge of the
various duties incumbent on you; but suffer not an idle and
impertinent curiosity to lead you astray or betray you into
danger. Be deaf to every insinuation which would have a tendency to
weaken your resolution, or tempt you to an act of disobedience. Be
voluntarily dumb and blind when the exercise of those
faculties would endanger the peace of your mind or the probity of
your conduct; and let silence and secrecy, those
cardinal virtues of a Select Master, on all necessary occasions be
scrupulously observed. By a steady adherence to the important
instructions contained in this degree, you will merit the approbation
of the select number with whom you are associated, and will enjoy the
high satisfaction of having acted well your part in the important
enterprise in which you are engaged; and after having wrought your
regular hours, may you be permitted to participate in all the
privileges of a Select Master, and to enter the Celestial Council,
where you will behold that divine Stone of Foundation on which
rests Eternal Truth.
CHARGE AT THE CLOSING OF A COUNCIL OF SELECT MASTERS.
Companions:
Being about to quit this sacred retreat to mix again with the world,
let us not forget, amid the cares and vicissitudes of active life,
the bright example of sincere friendship, so beautifully illustrated
in the lives of the founders of this degree. Let us take the lesson
home with us, and may it strengthen the bands of fraternal love
between us, unite our hearts to duty, and our desires to wisdom. Let
us exercise Charity, cherish Hope, and walk in Faith. And may that
moral principle which is the mystic cement of our fellowship remain
with and bless us. So mote it be. Amen.