Origin And Beauty Of Masonic Symbolism.

Besides this , that at some time in remote ages , many of the wisest of those ancient fraternities had set up their temples , or tabernacles , throughout all portions of the habitable globe , and under names which we have never heard or read , and by the

laAvs of Geometry , aud by representations drawn from natural things , they symbolized the true theism , the order of life and gOA'ernment , and the landmarks of universal religion . At Avhatever time the particular society

IIOAV called Freemasons Avas organized as to its peculiar work and landmarks , it seems certain that its principal features have existed in all lands and in all ages , so that nothing more ancient or widely spread is to be found among human institutions

existing or extinct . AVhether our Institution may be considered as a descendant from any one of the past systems , or has been collected and collated from several of them , or was a contemporary institution which alone has

survived the conflicts and changes of the ages , Avho is able to declare ? Vet to each aud to all of them it seems to have been somewhat related .

If the sun rising in the East to " open and govern the day" is a significant lesson in the opening of the lodge , Ave see the same symbolism in the golden emblem blazoned above the hi gh altar in the east of the most holy place ; in the temples

dedicated to the Avorship of Montezuma ; and in the morning worship of the Avise men of the East on the hills of Persia . If the parallel lines and point within a circle teach in the lod ge the course of the sun between the lines of the tropics in his

apparent circle in the heavens , and in a higher sense the lines of charity and truth , between which only can Ave possibl y advance to reach and stand upon the centre ; the unhewn pillars of the Druids worn Avith the storms of ages , still mark upon the

plains the figures of the same sublime lessons , though empires have risen and disappeared about them since the hands that reared them Avere dust of the valleys . If tlie circumambulation of the craftsman folloAvs the course of the heavenlbodies

y , the ancient zodiac of Denderah still bears Avitness that it Avas so among the Egyptian mystics before the Pharoahs swayed the sceptre of the Nile If the squaa-e and compasses—that is ,

the right angle and the equilateral triangles which they contain—are two of the great lights of the lodge to-day , so they were the geometric symbols of matter with its laws and science thereof , and of the first great cause , Avith its character and worship

among the artists and architects of Elephantine and Babylonian temples . If the lodge to-day is opened on the mountain of Moriah , in like manner the temples and groves of Baal , Odin , Aum and Jupiter stood , as that of Jehovah , on the summits of the hills .

If the lion , the ox , the man and the eagle , are blazoned on the banners of the . Royal Arch , and together constitute the cherubic standard of Ancient Craft Masonry , Ave find them among the twelve signs of the ancient zodiac , and set forth in the blessing of the twelve tribes of

Jacob , and sculptured combined in the winged bulls of Nineveh , more ancient than the cherubs of the Mosaic tabernacle . Iu like manner , the Master ' s gavel is the great hammer of Thor , the " slaughter Aveapon" of Ezekiel ' s vision , and the

thunderbolt of Jupiter . The problem of Pythagoras is still an indispensable figure on the Master ' s carpet , and . is to-day the key to masonic science , as it Avas Avhen it first bore the inscription , " The Priests of Isis send this to King Solomon . "

If the Master and the king sit covered , Avhat is this but the type of the sun crowned with rays on his celestial throne , the visible and representative lord of the universe—the scarlet robe of royal ty is but his vestment of gloAving fire , and the blue collar Avith its stars is the circle of the

zodiac m the blue heaven , AVith its tAvelve constellations . But more important than these are the analogies between the legends of the Craft and those which severally formed the p rincipal features of the different ancient mysteries .

In all cases , the principal personage represented Avas the God of Light , always the same being , whether called Montezuma , Balder , Osiris , Mithra or Adonis—one Avho Avas represented by the sun at hig h meridian . In every casethe character of

, this Light god Avas such that he was well represented by the sun , and the circumstances aud incidents of his life and death conform to the facts and conditions of the