Part 26 (2/2)
These symbols need no other interpretation.
The obligations of our Ancient Brethren of the Rose were to fulfill all the duties of friends.h.i.+p, cheerfulness, charity, peace, liberality, temperance and chast.i.ty: and scrupulously to avoid impurity, haughtiness, hatred, anger, and every other kind of vice. They took their philosophy from the old Theology of the Egyptians, as Moses and Solomon had done, and borrowed its hieroglyphics and the ciphers of the Hebrews. Their princ.i.p.al rules were, to exercise the profession of medicine charitably and without fee, to advance the cause of virtue, enlarge the sciences, and induce men to live as in the primitive times of the world.
When this Degree had its origin, it is not important to inquire; nor with what different rites it has been practised in different countries and at various times. It is of very high antiquity. Its ceremonies differ with the degrees of lat.i.tude and longitude, and it receives variant interpretations. If we were to examine all the different ceremonials, their emblems, and their formulas, we should see that all that belongs to the primitive and essential elements of the order, is respected in every sanctuary. All alike practise virtue, that it may product fruit. All labor, like us, for the extirpation of vice, the purification of man, the development of the arts and sciences, and the relief of humanity.
None admit an adept to their lofty philosophical knowledge, and mysterious sciences, until he has been purified at the altar of the symbolic Degrees. Of what importance are differences of opinion as to the age and genealogy of the Degree, or variance in the practice, ceremonial and liturgy, or the shade of color of the banner under which each tribe of Israel marched, if all revere the Holy Arch of the symbolic Degrees, first and unalterable source of Free Masonry; if all revere our conservative principles, and are with us in the great purposes of our organization?
If, anywhere, brethren of a particular religious belief have been excluded from this Degree, it merely shows how gravely the purposes and plan of Masonry may be misunderstood. For whenever the door of any Degree is closed against him who believes in one G.o.d and the soul's immortality, on account of the other tenets of his faith, that Degree is Masonry no longer. No Mason has the right to interpret the symbols of this Degree for another, or to refuse him its mysteries, if he will not take them with the explanation and commentary superadded.
Listen, my brother, to _our_ explanation of the symbols of the Degree, and then give them such further interpretation as you think fit.
The _Cross_ has been a sacred symbol from the earliest Antiquity. It is found upon all the enduring monuments of the world, in Egypt, in a.s.syria, in Hindostan, in Persia, and on the Buddhist towers of Ireland.
Buddha was said to have died upon it. The Druids cut an oak into its shape and held it sacred, and built their temples in that form. Pointing to the four quarters of the world, it was the symbol of universal nature. It was on a cruciform tree, that Chrishna was said to have expired, pierced with arrows. It was revered in Mexico.
But its peculiar meaning in this Degree, is that given to it by the Ancient Egyptians. _Thoth_ or _Phtha_ is represented on the oldest monuments carrying in his hand the _Crux Ansata_, or _Ankh_, [a Tau cross, with a ring or circle over it]. He is so seen on the double tablet of Shufu and Noh Shufu, builders of the greatest of the Pyramids, at Wady Meghara, in the peninsula of Sinai. It was the hieroglyphic for _life_, and with a triangle prefixed meant _life-giving_. To us therefore it is the symbol of _Life_--of that life that emanated from the Deity, and of that Eternal Life for which all hope; through our faith in G.o.d's infinite goodness.
The ROSE was anciently sacred to Aurora and the Sun. It is symbol of _Dawn_, of the resurrection of Light and the renewal of life, and therefore of the dawn of the first day, and more particularly of the resurrection: and the Cross and Rose together are therefore hieroglyphically to be read, _the Dawn of Eternal Life_ which all Nations have hoped for by the advent of a Redeemer.
The _Pelican_ feeding her young is an emblem of the large and bountiful beneficence of Nature, of the Redeemer of fallen man, and of that humanity and charity that ought to distinguish a Knight of this Degree.
The Eagle was the living Symbol of the Egyptian G.o.d _Mendes_ or _Menthra_, whom _Sesostris-Ramses_ made one with _Amun-Re_, the G.o.d of Thebes and Upper Egypt, and the representative of the Sun, the word RE meaning _Sun_ or _King_.
The _Compa.s.s_ surmounted with a crown signifies that notwithstanding the high rank attained in Masonry by a Knight of the Rose Croix, equity and impartiality are invariably to govern his conduct.
To the word INRI, inscribed on the Crux Ansata over the Master's Seat, many meanings have been a.s.signed. The Christian Initiate reverentially sees in it the initials of the inscription upon the cross on which Christ suffered--_Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum_. The sages of Antiquity connected it with one of the greatest secrets of Nature, that of universal regeneration. They interpreted it thus, _Igne Natura renovatur Integra_; [entire nature is renovated by fire]: The Alchemical or Hermetic Masons framed for it this aphorism, _Igne nitrum roris invenitur_. And the Jesuits are charged with having applied to it this odious axiom, _Justum necare reges impios_. The four letters are the initials of the Hebrew words that represent the four elements--_Iammim_, the seas or water; _Hour_, fire; _Rouach_, the air, and _Iebeschah_, the dry earth. How we read it, I need not repeat to you.
The CROSS, [Ill.u.s.tration: Glyph] was the Sign of the Creative Wisdom or Logos, the Son of G.o.d. Plato says, ”He expressed him upon the Universe in the figure of the letter X. The next Power to the Supreme G.o.d Was decussated or figured in the shape of a Cross on Universe.” Mithras signed his soldiers on the forehead with a Cross. [Glyph] is the mark of 600, the mysterious cycle of the Incarnations.
We constantly see the Tau and the Resh united thus [Glyph]. These two letters, in the old Samaritan, as found in Arius, stand, the first for 400, the second for 200-600. This is the Staff of Osiris, also, and his monogram, and was adopted by the Christians as a Sign. On a medal of Constantius is this inscription, ”_In hoc signo victor cris_ [Glyph].”
An inscription in the Duomo at Milan reads, ”[Glyph] et [Glyph].
_Christi-Nomina-Sancta-Tene_.”
The Egyptians used as a Sign of their G.o.d Can.o.bus, a [Glyph] or a [Glyph] indifferently. The Vaishnavas of India have also the same Sacred Tau, which they also mark with Crosses, thus [Glyph], and with triangles, thus, [Glyph]. The vestments of the priests of Horus were covered with these Crosses [Glyph]. So was the dress of the Lama of Thibet. The Sectarian marks of the Jains are [Glyph]. The distinctive badge of the Sect of Xac j.a.ponicus is [Glyph]. It is the Sign of Fo, identical with the Cross of Christ.
On the ruins of Mandore, in India, among other mystic emblems, are the mystic triangle, and the interlaced triangle, [Glyph]. This is also found on ancient coins and medals, excavated from the ruins of Oojein and other ancient cities of India.
You entered here amid gloom and into shadow, and are clad in the apparel of sorrow. Lament, with us, the sad condition of the Human race, in this vale of tears! the calamities of men and the agonies of nations! the darkness of the bewildered soul, oppressed by doubt and apprehension!
There is no human soul that is not sad at times. There is no thoughtful soul that does not at times despair. There is perhaps none, of all that think at all of anything beyond the needs and interests of the body, that is not at times startled and terrified by the awful questions which, feeling as though it were a guilty thing for doing so, it whispers to itself in its inmost depths. Some Demon seems to torture it with doubts, and to crush it with despair, asking whether, after all, it is certain that its convictions are true and its faith well founded: whether it is indeed sure that a G.o.d of Infinite Love and Beneficence rules the Universe, or only some great remorseless Fate and iron Necessity, hid in impenetrable gloom, and to which men and their sufferings and sorrows, their hopes and joys, their ambitions and deeds, are of no more interest or importance than the motes that dance in the suns.h.i.+ne; or a Being that amuses Himself with the incredible vanity and folly, the writhings and contortions of the insignificant insects that compose Humanity, and idly imagine that they resemble the Omnipotent.
”What are we,” the Tempter asks, ”but puppets in a show-box? O Omnipotent destiny, pull our strings gently! Dance us mercifully off our miserable little stage!”
”Is it not,” the Demon whispers, ”merely the inordinate vanity of man that causes him now to pretend to himself that he is like unto G.o.d in intellect, sympathies and pa.s.sions, as it was that which, at the beginning, made him believe that he was, in his bodily shape and organs, the very image of the Deity? Is not his G.o.d merely his own shadow, projected in gigantic outlines upon the clouds? Does he not create for himself a G.o.d out of himself, by merely adding indefinite extension to his own faculties, powers, and pa.s.sions?”
”Who,” the Voice that will not be always silent whispers, ”has ever thoroughly satisfied himself with his own arguments in respect to his own nature? Who ever demonstrated to himself, with a conclusiveness that elevated the belief to certainty, that he was an immortal spirit, dwelling only temporarily in the house and envelope of the body, and to live on forever after that shall have decayed? Who ever has demonstrated or ever can demonstrate that the intellect of Man differs from that of the wiser animals, otherwise than in degree? Who has ever done more than to utter nonsense and incoherencies in regard to the difference between the instincts of the dog and the reason of Man? The horse, the dog, the elephant, are as conscious of their ident.i.ty as we are. They think, dream, remember, argue with themselves, devise, plan, and _reason_. What is the intellect and intelligence of the man but the intellect of the animal in a higher degree or larger quant.i.ty?” In the _real_ explanation of a single thought of a dog, all metaphysics will be condensed.
And with still more terrible significance, the Voice asks, in what Respect the ma.s.ses of men, the vast swarms of the human race, have proven themselves either wiser or better than the animals in whose eyes a higher intelligence s.h.i.+nes than in _their_ dull, unintellectual orbs; in what respect they have proven themselves worthy of or suited for an immortal life. Would that be a prize of any value to the vast majority?
Do they show, here upon earth, any capacity to improve, any fitness for a state of existence in which they could not crouch to power, like hounds dreading the lash or tyrannize over defenceless weakness; in which they could not hate and persecute, and torture, and exterminate; in which they could not trade, and speculate, and over-reach, and entrap the unwary and cheat the confiding and gamble and thrive, and sniff with self-righteousness at the short-comings of others, and thank G.o.d that they were not like other men? What, to immense numbers of men, would be the value of a Heaven where they could not lie and libel, and ply base avocations for profitable returns?
<script>