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The Beginning of Masonry
is the modern survival, gives the date of its incep-
tion, as that at which the above "Cardinal Signs"
commenced their reign, viz. 3995 B. C., commonly reck-
oned as 4000 B. C., which, added to the current year, gives
us our
Masnnic
date.
T
HE ancient Cosmic Science, of which Freemasonry
INDEX
PAGE
Frontispiece
-Zodiac
of 4000 B.C
3
Avant Propos
5
First Books of Masonry, by Victor Hugo
7
Beginning of Masonry
11
Theosophy and Masonry
13
The Ancient Mysteries
14
The Secret Doctrine
15
The Hermetic Philosophy
16
Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry
20
God and Masonry
22
Masonry's Real Secret
25
Pythagoras and Freemasonry
27
The Forty-seventh Problem
28
The Number-Letter System
33
Three Times Three
34
Gematria
(Table of Number-Letters, Greek and Hebrew)
35
The Number "Seven
39
The "Pi" Proportion and Genesis
41
Masonry in a Snowflake
44
King Solomon's Temple
47
The Working Tools of E. A
53
The Middle Chamber
56
Dedication of the Lodge
60
Pillars of the Porch
63
The Lodge Room Floor
67
The Candidate
70
Whom Does the Candidate Represent
72
The Widow's Son
74
The Lodge Heads
78
Our Three Grand Masters
81
The Twelve Fellowc1afts
84
The Cable Tow
87
Angles
90
Signs
93
Circumambulation
96
Origin of the Sabbath
99
The Letter
"
G "
102
The East
105
The Lodge on High
108
Clothing of a Master Mason
111
The Symbolic Trowel
112
The Lion in Freemasonry
114
The Acacia
117
Color in Masonry
121
Light in Masonry
124
Avant Propos
This is a very small essay concerning a very big subject . Volumes
have been written upon the presumed connection of Freemasonry with
that vague
gnosis
of the past, called "the Ancient Mysteries, " but con-
cerning the intimate nature of the teaching imparted to initiates, follow-
ing upon the ceremonies of reception, of which classic writers have given
us some notion, nothing remains to us but widely scattered symbols.
It has been the pleasant life-work of the writer to join together, as
best lie could, the scattered pieces of this stupendous "cut out" puzzle
and reconstitute the ancient fabric in such a manner as would stand the
test of scientific examination and deserves to live for the benefit of future
generations of men and Masons. These papers have been written as an
elementary course designed to arouse interest in a far deeper investiga-
tion of the whole subject.
Notwithstanding the designedly universal character of the craft, the
externals of Freemasonry possess an altogether human tendency to be-
come reflexes of the communities in which they flourish
.
The re-nascent Masonic intellectual activity of the past few years,
no more splendid example of which can be cited than the foundation
and
upbuilding of the National Masonic Research Society, throws strongly
into relief the fact that our American Masonry, has, until quite recently,
exerted little effort on other than social and fraternal lines . The won
derful development of Masonic benevolent institutions throughout the
United States, has reflected the brotherhood and liberality of Masonic
manhood, but it has been accomplished in the presence of an almost total
oblivion of what was once the principal reason for the existence of
Masonic associations.
This consisted in the enlightenment of those who were found worthy
and well qualified to receive deeper insight into the philosophy of exist-
ence and hidden historical truths of a nature too disturbing of common
acceptances to' be spread broadcast among the masses. So, in the absence
of fostering interest, American Masonry has been, little by little, so
divested of all connection with the pursuit of the deeper Masonic sig-
nificances, as to have become, on the side of progressive speculation, a
pale shadow of the Old World Craft. The true philosophic mission of
Masonry, such as was the original intention of the "symbolic" Lodge,
no
less than the Scottish Rite, could scarcely be better expressed, than
in
the
5
following translation from the Spanish, of a lecture intended for the
edification of a foreign Lodge.
"Know, Brother, by that which has already been shewn you and
may yet come to your knowledge through the enlightening medium of
History, that in the days of antiquity, in India, in Persia, in Egypt and
in Greece and Rome, the first initiates in the principles, designed in their
purity to serve as the foundation of universal Masonry, especially the
sacerdotal and other privileged classes, profiting by the knowledge gained
and iniquitously turning awry the straight path of progress in under-
standing, instead of fulfilling a mission of noble civilization
. mounted
and grasping the reins of inordinate power, especially throughout the
Eastern world, tyrannized over the Nations.
"Initiation, during the ages to which I refer, consisted in the com-
munication of certain philosophical truths, of a Natural order, enabling
man to profit by the productive periods of Mother Earth, who is prodigal
of her fruits at certain epochs but at others displays herself less liberal,
also in the imparting of certain liberal Arts, which gave special ad-
vantages to those who exercised them, while at the same time uplifting
them spiritually.
"These truths, useful practices and elevating arts, at the cost of
terrific struggles, sustained century after century, have finally become
the patrimony of all mankind, with exception, perhaps, of the relatively
few which, through various circumstances remain beyond the grasp of
ordinary humanity
.
"In the ages of which I speak, that which was most important, was a
correct knowledge of the seasons of the year, with especial reference to
the productiveness of the earth, and as there were no industries directed
to the multiplication, cultivation and preservation of her gifts, this
knowledge constituted the bread of the hungry and the daily food of
entire peoples.
"Thus it was that astronomical notions were deified and that the Sun,
observed as the genius of good and considered the Creator, in perpetual
strife with the principles of Evil, residing in the mists and darkness sup-
plied by the terrors of human imagination, became the origin of mytho-
logical allegories, more or less poetical in character, according to the
varied spirituality of the races of mankind
."
The following pages accommodate little more than a series of allu-
sions, but it has been sought to render them sufficiently consecutive, to
present a comprehensive picture, to the reader, of the ground over which
he must travel in search of true Masonic origins and significances.
FRANK C
. HIGGINS.
New York, October, 1916 .
6
The First Books of Masonry
d part of Victor Hugo's famous chapter, "This Will Destroy That,"
from
his "Notre Dame de Paris," in which he elaborates upon the part
that architecture had
in
recording the knowledge
of
the ancients and
moderns down to the 15th century
.
From the very beginning
of
things down to the 15th century, archi-
tecture is the great book of the human race, man's chief means of ex-
pressing the various stages of his development, whether physical or
mental.
When the memory of the primitive races began to be surcharged,
when the load of tradition carried about by the human family grew so
heavy and disordered that the Word, naked and fleeting, ran danger of
being lost by the way, they transcribed it on the ground by the most
visible, the most lasting, and at the same time most natural means . They
inclosed each tradition in a monument
.
The first monuments were simply squares of rock "which had not
been touched by iron," as says Moses
. Architecture began like all writ-
ing
. It was first an alphabet
. A stone was planted upright, and it was a
letter, and each letter was a hieroglyph, and on every hieroglyph rested
a group of ideas, like the capital on the column
. Thus did the primitive
races act at the same moment over the entire face of the globe
. One finds
the "upright stone" of the Celts in Asiatic Siberia and on the pampas of
America.
Presently they constructed words
. Stone was laid upon stone, these
granite syllables were coupled together, the Word essayed some combina-
tions. The Celtic
dolmen and
cromlech, the Etruscan tumulus, the He-
brew
gligal, are words
; some of them, the tumulus in particular, are
proper names
. Occasionally, when there were many stones and. a vast
expanse of ground, they wrote a sentence
. The immense mass of stones
at Karnae is already a complete formula.
Last of all they made books
. Traditions had ended by bringing forth
symbols, under which they disappeared like the trunk of a tree under its
foliage.
These symbols, in which all humanity believed, continued to
grow and multiply, becoming more and more complex
.
Of necessity the symbol must expand into the edifice.
7
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