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  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • July 18, 1863
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, July 18, 1863: Page 3

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    Article THE CRAFT LECTURES, OF FIFTEEN SECTIONS. ← Page 3 of 3
    Article ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS. Page 1 of 5 →
Page 3

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Craft Lectures, Of Fifteen Sections.

others , who were the mere exponents of other men ' s ideas , whilst such really gifted men as Dunckerley and Preston are cast aside . In' Hutchinson ' s time , while he was spreading Ms system in the North , one of the greatest

benefactors Freemasonry can count arose in the South . William Preston , whose Illustrations of Masonry has passed through nearly tAventy editions in England ,: and been translated into every language where Freemasonry flourishes , coalesced with

Hutchinson and produced a system Avhich , for nearly half a century , has been regarded as the best yet produced , and his lectures and his book may be proudly looked to as being the inauguration of a new era in esoteric Freemasonry .

We now come to the last authorised revision upon the union of the ancient and modern lodges , in 1813 , Avhen Dr . Hemming was entrusted to revise our lectures , but OAving to a failure in his health before completing his allotted task , Bro .

Williams , Prov . G . M . for Dorsetshire , a Freemason of some eminence , Avas invited to do so . Apparently too proud to complete Avhat another had begun , he commenced de novo , and the result of . the labours of these two brethren , both systems

being allowed to be disseminated , was to deteriorate the language , turn the Preston system upside doAvn , and produce a jargon which is remarkable only for retaining some feAV good passages from pre \ ious systems , linked together by

ideas in which poverty of diction , the absence of a knoAvledge of craft symbolism , and general want of erudition , are mainly conspicuous .

We hear that the lectures are to be again reraed , and that the matter is to be settled betAveen the two instructors of East and West-end fame . Let every Freemason oppose such an utter absurdit y , for Ave are too far advanced in the 19 th century to

take for gospel all that the disci ples of one or two men Avould force upon us , and it will be better to stick to the ills Ave have than fl y to those of Avhich we cannot imagine the cost to our order .

When our lectures are again revised , before they are accepted by the craft , or receive any authority from the Grand Lodge or Grand Master , we trust they will be submitted to the consideration of a board of gentlemen and scholars , who will be

capable of expunging the anachronisms and the false grammar with which they at present abound —at least , as usuall y given in the majority of so called Lodges of Instruction .

On" Geometrical And Other Symbols.

ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS .

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL KEY . ( From Hie Builder . ) It appears , then , that Freemasonic symbols , such as the hexalpha ; the square and compasses crossed ; the cross itselfand the symbolical Nin all their varied

, , modifications ; with many others , relate , or at least must have originally related , to " the architecture of the heart , " or "the inward man , " as " the temple " of the illuminative Spirit of God ; which Spirit , when it shines as the light in its temple , crucifies the flesh , or so transfigures and entrances the man as to make

him dead in the flesh ( by the shadow , or semblance , of a voluntary death , as the coffin symbolises ) ; hut quickened by the Spirit , * as is denoted by other emblematical formulte , such as hy the sudden relief from blind folding , in the light of holy night and of the new birth ; and by the refreshment and

recreation of the Free and Accepted Masons with wine or spirits . And as Freemasonry and ancient religious mysteries in general , —on both of which the consideration of Masons' marks has obliged me to enlarge much more than I intended at the outset , —are believed to have been identical in their nature and

purpose ; and as the invocation of the oracular and divine Spirit in high and ecstatic entraneement , or in the semblance of a voluntary death , appears to haA e been a leading feature in these mysteries ; we thus have indicated to us something still more definite as

to those 2 irecise regions of the inward man to which Freemasonry and its coffin ; its blindfolding 1 ; its ultranatural " " Light" aud " Spirit" of the high noon oi * nigbb ; aud its Jachiii and Boaz—its work-life and its rest-life and refreshment in the Spirit ; as also Itsgeometrical symbols of the inward church or temple ; engraven on so many outward churches— -all

ex-, plicitly point our attention ; and not merely to moral perfection therefore , but to the very roots and foundations of life itself ; as involving a mystery to be yet revealed ; and as being the source of a neAV and higher developement of hman life , to be yet evolved into physical and divine perfection , as Avell as into

moral and intellectual . The tenets of the Freemasons , in fact , as Indicated in their initiations and their symbols , agree with those of the hierophanta of the ancient mysteries , as well as with mystical Christian doctrine , in regard to mystical as well as' to mental and moral developement , maturization , or perfeetnienfc ,

and immortalization , by the efficacious means of that entrancing and illuminative Spirit , or inward "Light , " which , —till evoked , or invoked , hy ( true and not merely by figurative or emblematical ) initiation , — smoulders or slumbers in the human temple of the Divinity , as the sleeping God in the Avaking man ( according to the Brahrainical doctrine ) ,: ready for sudden transfiguration , by entraneement , into " the waking God in the sleeping man ; " as I have ' shown iu

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1863-07-18, Page 3” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 10 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_18071863/page/3/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
THE CRAFT LECTURES, OF FIFTEEN SECTIONS. Article 1
ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS. Article 3
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 7
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 9
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 9
THE BOYS' SCHOOL. Article 9
METROPOLITAN. Article 9
PROVINCIAL. Article 10
TURKEY. Article 15
ROYAL ARCH. Article 15
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. Article 15
NOTES ON MUSIC AND THE DRAMA. Article 16
THE WEEK. Article 16
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Craft Lectures, Of Fifteen Sections.

others , who were the mere exponents of other men ' s ideas , whilst such really gifted men as Dunckerley and Preston are cast aside . In' Hutchinson ' s time , while he was spreading Ms system in the North , one of the greatest

benefactors Freemasonry can count arose in the South . William Preston , whose Illustrations of Masonry has passed through nearly tAventy editions in England ,: and been translated into every language where Freemasonry flourishes , coalesced with

Hutchinson and produced a system Avhich , for nearly half a century , has been regarded as the best yet produced , and his lectures and his book may be proudly looked to as being the inauguration of a new era in esoteric Freemasonry .

We now come to the last authorised revision upon the union of the ancient and modern lodges , in 1813 , Avhen Dr . Hemming was entrusted to revise our lectures , but OAving to a failure in his health before completing his allotted task , Bro .

Williams , Prov . G . M . for Dorsetshire , a Freemason of some eminence , Avas invited to do so . Apparently too proud to complete Avhat another had begun , he commenced de novo , and the result of . the labours of these two brethren , both systems

being allowed to be disseminated , was to deteriorate the language , turn the Preston system upside doAvn , and produce a jargon which is remarkable only for retaining some feAV good passages from pre \ ious systems , linked together by

ideas in which poverty of diction , the absence of a knoAvledge of craft symbolism , and general want of erudition , are mainly conspicuous .

We hear that the lectures are to be again reraed , and that the matter is to be settled betAveen the two instructors of East and West-end fame . Let every Freemason oppose such an utter absurdit y , for Ave are too far advanced in the 19 th century to

take for gospel all that the disci ples of one or two men Avould force upon us , and it will be better to stick to the ills Ave have than fl y to those of Avhich we cannot imagine the cost to our order .

When our lectures are again revised , before they are accepted by the craft , or receive any authority from the Grand Lodge or Grand Master , we trust they will be submitted to the consideration of a board of gentlemen and scholars , who will be

capable of expunging the anachronisms and the false grammar with which they at present abound —at least , as usuall y given in the majority of so called Lodges of Instruction .

On" Geometrical And Other Symbols.

ON" GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS .

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL KEY . ( From Hie Builder . ) It appears , then , that Freemasonic symbols , such as the hexalpha ; the square and compasses crossed ; the cross itselfand the symbolical Nin all their varied

, , modifications ; with many others , relate , or at least must have originally related , to " the architecture of the heart , " or "the inward man , " as " the temple " of the illuminative Spirit of God ; which Spirit , when it shines as the light in its temple , crucifies the flesh , or so transfigures and entrances the man as to make

him dead in the flesh ( by the shadow , or semblance , of a voluntary death , as the coffin symbolises ) ; hut quickened by the Spirit , * as is denoted by other emblematical formulte , such as hy the sudden relief from blind folding , in the light of holy night and of the new birth ; and by the refreshment and

recreation of the Free and Accepted Masons with wine or spirits . And as Freemasonry and ancient religious mysteries in general , —on both of which the consideration of Masons' marks has obliged me to enlarge much more than I intended at the outset , —are believed to have been identical in their nature and

purpose ; and as the invocation of the oracular and divine Spirit in high and ecstatic entraneement , or in the semblance of a voluntary death , appears to haA e been a leading feature in these mysteries ; we thus have indicated to us something still more definite as

to those 2 irecise regions of the inward man to which Freemasonry and its coffin ; its blindfolding 1 ; its ultranatural " " Light" aud " Spirit" of the high noon oi * nigbb ; aud its Jachiii and Boaz—its work-life and its rest-life and refreshment in the Spirit ; as also Itsgeometrical symbols of the inward church or temple ; engraven on so many outward churches— -all

ex-, plicitly point our attention ; and not merely to moral perfection therefore , but to the very roots and foundations of life itself ; as involving a mystery to be yet revealed ; and as being the source of a neAV and higher developement of hman life , to be yet evolved into physical and divine perfection , as Avell as into

moral and intellectual . The tenets of the Freemasons , in fact , as Indicated in their initiations and their symbols , agree with those of the hierophanta of the ancient mysteries , as well as with mystical Christian doctrine , in regard to mystical as well as' to mental and moral developement , maturization , or perfeetnienfc ,

and immortalization , by the efficacious means of that entrancing and illuminative Spirit , or inward "Light , " which , —till evoked , or invoked , hy ( true and not merely by figurative or emblematical ) initiation , — smoulders or slumbers in the human temple of the Divinity , as the sleeping God in the Avaking man ( according to the Brahrainical doctrine ) ,: ready for sudden transfiguration , by entraneement , into " the waking God in the sleeping man ; " as I have ' shown iu

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