Chapter V.

(Continued From Page 299.)

his R. W. M., whose name, for various reasons, I have purposely omitted to mention, as if determined to give the Lodge its coup de grâce, introduced a contest for superiority between the old and several young members who understood very imperfectly the true principles of the Order, and entered warmly into the dispute for the sake of excitement and mischief. The juniors were at first always defeated in the numerious motions and subjects of discussion which they nightly poured forth upon the Lodge with as little judgment as Sancho Panza exhibited in the application of his proverbs; but being encouraged by the Master, they succeeded in procuring an accession to their numbers by the introduction of candidates for initiation, till at length, the old members were in a minority. The undisguised marks of triumph which the juniors displayed, so disgusted their more sedate Brethren, that they dropped off gradually, until the Lodge was left to the sole management of the injudicious Master and his superficial associates. I need not tell you the result. After the pæns of victory had subsided, and the excitement of the contest was at an end, these boon companions found Masonry but a dull affair, and soon followed the example of those worthy Brethren whom they had driven from the Lodge, by discontinuing their attendance; until at length, we received a summons, dated 17th October, 1766, and signed 'Samuel Spencer, Grand Secretary,' requiring us, under the penalty of erasure, to show cause, at the ensuing Quarterly Communication, why the Lodge had not been represented in Grand Lodge for the last two years, and no subscriptions paid. Fortunately, the remaining few members who had faithfully adhered to the Lodge amidst all its fluctuations,—if not by actual attendance, at least by continuing on the books,—interfered, and by inviting an active and scientific member, Bro. James Hesletine, who had served the office of Warden under Bro. Entick, to take the chair, restored the peace and unanimity of the Lodge.

"Many of the continental fancies and innovations, extracted from the Jewish Talmuds, and introduced into their surreptitious Masonry, were much talked of in our Lodges at this period; and some of them were absolutely incorporated into our symbolical ritual, which was one reason why an authorized mode of working was considered by all genuine Masons to be essentially necessary. The rage for something new in England, as formerly in Athens, was not easily suppressed, and a knowledge of these traditions was deemed indispensible for every Brother who was ambitious of enjoying the reputation of being an adept in Masonry. One of these traditions you will like to hear, as it continued for a great length of time a cherished figment amongst us. It refers to the history of the Foundation Stone of Solomon's Temple, which was traced in the legend from Enoch through Noah, Abraham, and Solomon to the apostate Emperor Julian by the following process. They described it as a double cube, every side, except the base on which it stood, being inscribed. The first face of the cube was said to have been engraved by Noah with an instrument of page 334 porphyry when the Ark was building; the second, by Abraham, with the horn of the ram—credat Judæus!—which was substituted for his son on Mount Moriah! the third, with a porphyry tool of Moses; the fourth, by Joshua; and the fifth by Hiram Abiff, before it was deposited in its final bed at the north-east angle of the Temple. Having been placed by Enoch in the basement of his subterranean edifice, it was discovered by Noah, and used as an anchor to fix the Ark on Mount Ararat. Abraham took it thence to Mount Moriah, where it constituted the altar on which he offered Isaac. It formed the pillow of Jacob when he saw the celestial vision of the ladder, and accompanied him in all his wanderings. He bequeathed it to Joseph in Egypt, who directed it to be placed over his grave. Moses took it with him, at the great deliverance, into the wilderness of Arabia. He stood upon this remarkable stone when the Red Sea was divided, and when the Amalekites were defeated: knelt on it when the Tables of the Law were delivered on Mount Sinai; and finally commended it to the care of Joshua, who built his altar on it at Mount Ebal. It was deposited in the Sanctuary at Shilo until the Temple was erected at Jerusalem, when Solomon directed it to be placed in the foundation as the chief corner-stone. Here it remained undisturbed either by Zerubabel or Herod, as it was destined to defeat the insane attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple, which it effected by destroying his workmen through the agency of fire.^a

A similar fiction about the Rod of Moses was also imported from the Continent, which was traced from the Paradisiacal Tree of Knowledge;^b another about the institution of Templary, which, as it was said, had its origin in Egypt before the Exodus;^c

that Moses and Aaron, having been initiated into its mysteries, brought it with them into Judæa: that thence it passed through the two St. John's to the Crusades, &c.; and a fourth, about the imaginary travels of Peleg, and the erection of his triangular Temple. ^d

We had another, which recounted the pseudo-history of Hiram Abiff; and many similar ones, which it would be a waste of time to mention. It may be necessary to add, that these fables were not countenanced by any but some young and inexperienced Brethren, who were ambitious of being accounted cleverer and brighter Masons than their fellows. And you would have been astonished to see the absurd airs of importance which the possessors of these fabulous conceits assumed when the conversation of a Lodge happened to turn upon the abstruse subject of cabalistical acquirements."

My tongue itched to inquire into the particulars of the history of Hiram Abiff, and I had some difficulty to restrain my curiosity. My companion observed the movement, and interpreted it correctly. "You wish to learn

^a These legends are equally apocryphal with those of the Scottish fabulists about the same stone. They feign that, from the time of Jacob, who used this stone for a pillow, it was preserved in Spain till Gathol, king of the Scots, ruled over Gallicia, and that he used it for a throne. That Sitmon Brech, another Scottish monarch, about 700 years before Christ, or about the time when Rome was built, conveyed it into Ireland, where it remained for three or four centuries before it was translated into Scotland. When there, it was installed in the Abbey of Scone, as a palladium, and enclosed in an oaken chair by king Kenneth, on which the following verse was engraven:—

"Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum.
Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem."

This stone and chair were deposited in Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1296, where they still remain. Utrum horum mavis accipe!

^b This legend may be found in the Hist. Landmarks, vol. ii. p. 599.

^c Ibid. vol. ii. p. 24.

^d Ibid. vol. i. p. 63.

page 335 something of the reputed private history of this eminent Freemason," he said; "but I am not quite sure that I shall be able to gratify your curiosity for conjecture, after all, is no great authority. You shall hear some of the legends, however, if it will afford you any satisfaction. Our continental Brethren identified Hiram Abiff with Jesus Christ, and endeavoured to prove that his history was an allegory of the Crucifixion. They contended that * * * He that existed from all eternity—T. G. A. O. T. U.—Christ; and asserted that in ancient times seven days was the legitimate interval between the ceremony of raising a candidate, and communicating to him the secrets of a Master Mason, in allusion to the period of mourning for his death, which amongst the Jews was seven days, as in the recorded instance of the lamentations of Joseph for his father Jacob; and the same period intervened between the resurrection of Christ and his public appearance to his deciples to remove the unbelief of Thomas. And, in recounting the history of Masonry, they feigned that the art and mystery of the Order was first introduced at the building of the tower of Babel; and from thence handed down by Euclid, a worthy and excellent mathematician of Egypt; that he communicated it to Hiram Abiff, under whom, at the building of the Temple of Solomon, was an expert architect called Mannon Grecus, who, travelling westward after the Temple was completed, taught the art of Masonry to Carolus Marcel, King of France, from whence it was transplanted into England in the time of Athelstan, who commanded the Brethren to assemble annually in the City of York.

"They further stated that the Stylus with which Hiram Abiff drew his plans and designs, and engraved that mysterious diagram on the foundation-stone of the Temple, which is now known as the 47th Proposition of Euclid, was found on his person at his raising, and was ordered by Solomon to be placed in his monument. I omit the fable of his marriage with the sister of Prince Adoniram, his death, burial, monument, obelisk, with its circles, squares, and columns, and Solomon's bitter mourning, together with the distraction and suicide of his widow, because I dare say you are heartily sick of this absurd jumble of truth and fiction, where Euclid is made contemporary with the dispersion from Shinar, and Hiram Abiff brother to the Carthaginian Hanno.

"Our brethren, however, amidst all their fondness for continental innovations and Jewish legends, were not so ungallant to the softer sex as to introduce that graceless illustration of the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or the holy ground on which the Lodge is placed, that was used by the French Mason's viz., as 'a place of peace, harmony, and concord, where cock never crows, women never brawl, nor lion ever roars.'"^a

Presentation to Bro. Andrew Dunnett, I.P.M.

Winchester Lodge, No. 1737, E.C.—A very pleasing ceremony took place at the above Lodge on Monday, the 16th inst., when I.P.M. Bro. Andrew Dunnett was made the recipient of a Past Master's Jewel by the members of the Lodge.

Brethren from all the sister Lodges in the neighbourhood were present in large numbers.

The presentation was made by the W.M. Bro. Samuel Gould, who in a few well chosen remarks expressed the pleasure it gave him in presenting this special mark of the esteem in which Bro. Andrew Dunnett was held by the brethren of the Lodge, and as further evincing the entire satisfaction he had given while Master of the Lodge, and hoped that Bro. Dunnett might be spared many years to wear the jewel.

In reply, Bro. Dunnett said: "He felt at a loss for words to adequately express his appreciation of their, kindness, and of the honor they had put upon him in making him the recipient of a gift of this nature, one so valuable, and one so prized by a Mason. Nothing he assured them, that he could receive, would please him more than this, for not only should he always be proud of the jewel, but would at all times look upon it as a souvenir, that carried with it the kind feelings and hearty good wishes of his mother Lodge, and as such it could never fail both to remind him of the brethren and to recall many pleasant reminiscences. He felt however that he had not fully earned it, for although he may have performed the ceremonies of the various degrees in a manner that may have pleased himself, and perhaps in a way that may have satisfied the brethren, yet he had felt on more occasions than one when dealing with other matters that came before the Lodge during his term of office, that he lacked the wisdom, and perhaps the tact too, that such matters required. He could, however, only say that he ever endeavored to do his best, and it gratified him now, beyond measure, to be told that his humble endeavors were appreciated. Although he had left the district, he would still remain on the books of the Lodge. Again thanking the brethren for their gift, Bro. Dunnett concluded by wishing prosperity to his mother Lodge.

The jewel, the design of which was much admired by the brethren, was made of colonial gold, and of the orthodox form of the square, and the 47th prop, of Euclid hanging from the internal angle, the broad face of the square being richly chased with beautiful scroll work, the edges being raised and burnished, as was also the problem itself, the square was suspended from a blue ribbon upon which were three bars bearing respectively the words, Winchester Lodge, No. 1737. The letters and borders of the bars being raised and burnished upon a "freezed" back, and a pierced monogram of the receipient was also attached to the ribbon, an appropriate inscription being upon the back of the square, and was from the well-known firm of Coates & Co., of Christchurch, which is of itself a guarantee that both the workmanship and quality of the material were of the best description.

Hebrew Almanac

For 1885 Indicating The First Days Of The Month With The Corresponding Dates Of The Vulgar Or Common Era, Together With The Feast Days To Be Observed By Chapters Of Rose Croix.