THE BUILDER
JANUARY 1921
THIRD STEPS

QUESTIONS ON "THE EMBLEMS"


THE WEEPING VIRGIN
Recite the monitorial lecture on the Weeping Virgin monument.

Was the Weeping Virgin monument know to the ritual of the
eighteenth century? Is it now generally found in European systems
and in all American jurisdictions? Is there a brother present from
a jurisdiction where this emblem does not appear in the monitor of
his mother jurisdiction? By whom is the emblem supposed to have
been invented? Who was Jeremy Cross? What is the tradition as to
where Cross borrowed the emblem? What is another theory? How should
we view this emblem in the light of such meagre information
concerning its origin as we now possess?

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

Recite the monitorial lecture describing the Temple of Solomon.

Where was the Temple erected? For what other things was the hill on
which the Temple was erected noted in Hebrew tradition? How was the
hill described by the Mohammedans? What great event in the life of
Mohammed is claimed by him to have occurred there?

What influence did the temple have on the legends, history and
traditions of the people of early times?

Until how long ago was it the general belief that our present-day
Masonic organization was formed at the time of the building of the
Temple? After receiving your degrees did you believe this to be a
fact? (A general question) What sort of marks have been discovered
on the original foundation stones of the Temple? Are we certain of
an actual historical connection between the Phoenicians and our
present organization? How is the Masonry of today interested in the
Temple legend?

How did the Temple find its way into our Masonic system?

What is Vibert's contention? What was the theory of it having been
adopted in 1724? What is the position of Johnston and Rylands on
the subject?

What is Brother Waite's theory?

How does Brother Haywood compare our "work" with the building of
the Temple?

In what manner did the Temple differ from our present-day houses of
worship? In what manner did it differ from other temples? Vast is
our object in building a "spiritual" temple?

THE POT OF INCENSE

Recite the monitorial-lecture on the Pot of Incense.

Why was incense burned in ancient days? What is the reason for
using it today? Of what is incense an emblem, in both the Old and
New Testament?

How is incense used in Masonry of today? What should we bear in
mind regarding the symbol?

THE BEEHIVE

Recite the monitorial lecture on the beehive.

Of what was the bee an emblem to the Hindus? What may be believed
to be the origin of the custom of using the bee as a symbol of
immortality? Why did Napoleon adopt the bee as his royal emblem?

How was the bee symbolism used by the Greeks and some of their
modern imitators?

How did the beehive come to be used in Christian symbolism?

Why did the Egyptians call the bees "an obedient people"? How does
the beehive symbolize a lodge of Masons? Are there any "drones" in
the "hive" of Masonry? Can you suggest how these "drones" might be
transformed into "workers"?

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

THE BUILDER:

Vol. IV. - Bee Hive, p. 323; Marble Monument, p. 322; Pot of
Incense, p. 323.
Vol. V. - Building of the Temple at Jerusalem, p. 235.

Mackey's Encyclopedia:

Cross, Jeremy L., p. 188; Mount Moriah, p. 492; Temple of Solomon,
p. 767; Webb, Thomas  Smith,  p.  841;  Weeping Virgin, p.842.

THIRD STEPS

BY BRO.  H. L. HAYWOOD, IOWA


THE WEEPING VIRGIN

THIS MONUMENT symbol was unknown to the ritual in the eighteenth
century; it is not now found in European systems, nor even in some
American jurisdictions.  According to such slender evidence as we
possess it seems to have been invented by Jeremy Cross, the famous
New Hampshire ritualist and pupil of Thomas Smith Webb.  According
to one tradition, Cross borrowed the idea from a tombstone;
according to another he adapted an old picture of Isis weeping over
the dead Osiris.  Whatever may be the truth of the matter, the
symbol is of no such importance as many others.  It is an elaborate
continuance, utterly lacking in that quality of naturalness and
inevitableness which is found in all the older emblems so that its
very artificiality and complexity invites every man to fashion his
own interpretation.  Until new light is thrown on its origin we can
make no better use of it than is made by, the lecture itself, where
it is transformed into a kind of allegorical picture of the tragedy
of Hiram's death.

THE TEMPLE

The great Temple of Solomon was erected on a table of rock which
crowned a Jerusalem hill called Mt.Moriah.  This hill itself
occupies a most conspicuous place in Hebrew tradition, according to
which it was the spot where Adam was created, where Cain and Abel
sacrificed, where Noah built his altar at the subsidence of the
flood, where Abraham offered Isaac, and David erected his altar. 
The Mohammedans, who inherited so much from the Jews, described it
as the "Centre of the World," and "The Gate of Heaven," and
Mohammed persuaded his followers that it was from this same hill
that he had made his famous ascent to heaven.

The temple which Solomon erected there by the assistance of Hiram
of Tyre has had an even larger place in the traditions of mankind. 
Few realize how high that temple on Mount Moriah towered in the
history of the olden world, and how the story of its building
haunted the legends and traditions of the times following.  Many a
church in the Middle Ages was patterned on it and many a writer,
such as Durandus and Bunyan, used it as a symbol of religious
truth.  In making so much of their symbolism to cluster about this
dream-haunted building the early Masons were only following in the
footsteps of many others.

Until a half century ago Masonic writers believed that our Craft
had been organized during the building of the Temple, even in
detail, and that the Order had from then until the resent.  Today,
there is no need to say, we can not hold that position, we have a
fairly accurate conception of the size and form of the structure,
and we know that it was built by Phoenician workmen, even as our
legend asserts, for archaeologists have uncovered Phoenician
masons' marks on the original foundation stones.  What was the
actual historical connection between the Temple building and our
own Fraternity still remains covered by obscurity.  But while we
wait for future research to establish that connection, or lack of
connection, we need not abate our interest in the Temple or
minimize its importance to our ritual, for the Masonry of today is
interested in it as a symbol rather than as history.

How the Temple found its way into our system is also a debated
question.  If we accept Vibert's contention that "there is no
evidence that we possessed it at all before the eighteenth century"
we are still left with the question on our hands, How did it come
to be adopted at that time? In 1724 Villalpandus exhibited a large
model in London, accompanied by an explanatory handbook, and this
created an immense amount of interest in the subject.  Some have
believed that the Freemasons of that period were so caught by this
wave of interest that they worked it into their symbolism, but
Brother S.P. Johnston, who went through the records with a
fine-toothed comb, announced that he was unable to find one shred
of evidence to support this theory. (A.Q.C., vol. 12, p. 195). 
Brother Rylands, who was second to none as a Masonic scholar,
supported this position in the following statement: "No
satisfactory reason has so far been offered why the Temple of
Solomon and its builders have been selected to play an important
part in one division of our legendary history."

Since Brother Rylands wrote the above sentence, Brother A.E. Waite
has come forth with a theory that seems reasonable whether it can
be accepted as a "satisfactory" reason or not.  Holding as he does
that many of the Speculatives who were "accepted" during the
eighteenth century were Kabbalists in one degree or another he
believes that we may have inherited the Temple symbolism from that
source. The Kabbalists had made the Temple one of their principal
symbols for more than a millennium and many of their
interpretations were strikingly similar to ours.  If we accept the
theory of Kabbalistic influence - as I, myself, am inclined to do,
at least to a certain extent - we may well believe that our use of
the Temple was borrowed from that very influential group of
teachers.  Be that as it may, we shall always keep the Temple
symbolism for nothing could more adequately portray that which is
the great ideal of our Craft - the building up of a Divine human
brotherhood here among men.

The Temple was built of wood, stone and metals taken from the
earth; but these materials were so prepared, and so adjusted one to
another that a miracle of solemn beauty resulted.  We also are
gathering together materials which seem earthy or common - men with
their fleshly nature, their appetites and passion - and we hope so
to prepare and to shape them that in the very act of brotherly
union a holy structure of heavenly loveliness will come into
existence, a House not made with Hands, in which our human nature
will be transfigured.

The Temple of Solomon was not an ordinary house of worship, for the
worshippers remained in the outer courts; nor was it patterned
after the earth or the sun as other temples were, for its entrance
faced the East instead of the West.  By its orientation and its
construction it suggested the system of heaven and it was designed
to be God's dwelling place among men.  We also would build a House
for God; but whereas the Jews would have Him dwell in a Temple of
Stone, we would fain prepare for him a Temple of Flesh; and our
hope is that through the regeneration of men, and through their
banding together in a fraternity, the All Highest will tabernacle
with us, so that God and man may abide together in a Holy Eternal
House.

THE POT OF INCENSE

The use of incense in worship is almost as old and as universal as
religion itself.  In ancient days when the gods were merely
magnified invisible human beings it was supposed that they would
enjoy sweet odours as much as men did, so incense was burned on the
altar that they might inhale its "unctuous smoke." Where the custom
of slaughtering animals on the altar was in use incense was also
employed to cover up the odour; this was especially necessary in
warm climates where the malodorousness of a dead carcass soon
became unendurable.  As religious rites became more spiritualized
the burning of incense was usually retained but in a more symbolic
way.  Thus, in both the Old and the New Testaments, incense is used
as an emblem of prayer, as many texts will testify.  In the early
Christian period when occultism began to take root, the occultists
employed incense in their magic rites, believing it to possess some
mysterious potency, like a spell. At the time of the Reformation
the custom of using incense in Christian churches became almost
abandoned, at least by Protestant bodies but there is a tendency
abroad now to renew the custom, not for any occult or theological
purpose, but simply to add to the pleasures of the church ritual.

In Masonry, incense is now used only as a symbol "typifying
prayer," and such is its significance in the lecture.  But it must
be noted - for it is usually oven looked, in spite of the ritual's
insistence on it - that our symbol is not so much the incense
itself, as the pot, or vessel, in which it is kept.  If incense
means prayer then the pot of incense means the human heart  from
which prayers arise, and the purport of the symbol is to remind us
that only such prayers are acceptable to God as rise from a heart
guileless and pure.

THE BEEHIVE

Both the bee and the beehive have been used symbolically from a
very old time.  In some cases, for what reason it is not hard to
guess, the bee was made the emblems of heaven, as may be seen in
certain old Hindu pictures of the god Krishna wherein bees hover
over the deity's head, and also in similar early pictures of Jesus. 
Both the Persians and the Egyptians sometimes embalmed their dead
in honey because they believed it to possess antiseptic properties;
out of this custom, we may believe, arose the latter habit of using
the bee as a symbol of immortality. Alexander the Great, so it is
said, was embalmed in this manner; and so, also, were certain of
the Merovingian kings.  The last fact may explain why the bee has
so often been used symbolically by the French, and why Napoleon, to
lend lustre of age to his upstart dynasty, adopted the insect as
his royal emblems.  The bee was used as a symbol of immortality by
the Mithraic cult, so popular in the time of the Caesars, and by
the early Christians, as the catacomb pictures still witness.

The bee was also made use of by another order of symbolism.
Theocritus tells a charming tale in his Idylls of how Cupid
complained to Venus of bee stings and how the goddess archly
replied: "Thou too art like a bee, for altho a tiny child, yet how
terrible are the wounds thou dost ineict!" Anacreon includes the
same conceit in his Odes as do other Greek poets, as well as, a few
of their more modern imitators, such as Manuel de Villegas, the
Castilian, Felice Zappi, and even the German Lessing. Sometimes one
will see bees flying about the head of Cupid on old Greek pottery;
this is to suggest that as bees steal honey from the rose so does
love steal honey from the lips of maidens; and as the stings of the
bee axe very painful so are the sharp darts of love.

Bees were not domesticated in Europe until the age of the
monasteries, when the monks considered a hive an essential part of
the equipment; owing to this custom the beehive came to be used
frequently in Christian symbolism.  In the exhortations to the
monks the church fathers would point to the hive as an example of
industry. In the old Ely cathedral of England a woman weeping over
a broken beehive evidently represents a home when ravaged by
indolence or drunkenness.

The Egyptians called the bees "an obedient people" because of their
faithfulness to the rules of the hive and to order.  They are a
far-sighted people, always preparing for the future, and their
industriousness has become proverbial.  How admirably, therefore,
does the beehive symbolize a lodge of Masons which should ever be
the home of industry, cooperation and order! Alas! as many Masters
have learned, in the lodge as in the hive, there are often many
drones! The brother who could discover a remedy for the drone evil
would lay the whole Fraternity under everlasting indebtedness to
his genius.  The bees, as we know, kill their drones with scant
ceremony; that would be a swift, but unhappy manner of disposing of
ours! How to destroy the dronishness without killing the drone,
that, as Hamlet would say, is the problem!


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